They were coming directly toward him and the ape-man saw that should
he continue on he would meet them directly at the intersection
of the two streets in the full light of the flare. His first
inclination was to go steadily on, for personally he had no objection
to chancing a scrimmage with them; but a sudden recollection of the
girl, possibly a helpless prisoner in the hands of these people,
caused him to seek some other and less hazardous plan of action.
He had almost emerged from the shadow of the arcade into the full
light of the flare and the approaching men were but a few yards
from him, when he suddenly kneeled and pretended to adjust the
wrappings of his sandals--wrappings, which, by the way, he was
not at all sure that he had adjusted as their makers had intended
them to be adjusted. He was still kneeling when the soldiers came
abreast of him. Like the others he had passed they paid no attention
to him and the moment they were behind him he continued upon his
way, turning to the right at the intersection of the two streets.
The street he now took was, at this point, so extremely winding
that, for the most part, it received no benefit from the flares at
either corner, so that he was forced practically to grope his way
in the dense shadows of the arcade. The street became a little
straighter just before he reached the next flare, and as he came
within sight of it he saw silhouetted against a patch of light the
figure of a lion.
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