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degraded habits and thoughts. The man's arms were long, though not abnormally

so, while his legs were short, though straight.

He was clothed in tight-fitting nether garments and a loose, sleeveless tunic that

fell just below his hips, while his feet were shod in soft-soled sandals, the

wrappings of which extended halfway to his knees, closely resembling a modern

spiral military legging. He carried a short, heavy spear, and at his side swung a

weapon that at first so astonished the ape-man that he could scarcely believe the

evidence of his senses--a heavy saber in a leather-covered scabbard. The man's

tunic appeared to have been fabricated upon a loom--it was certainly not made of

skins, while the garments that covered his legs were quite as evidently made from

the hides of rodents.

Tarzan noted the utter unconcern with which the man approached the lions, and

the equal indifference of Numa to him. The fellow paused for a moment as though

appraising the ape-man and then pushed on past the lions, brushing against the

tawny hide as he passed him in the trail.

About twenty feet from Tarzan the man stopped, addressing the former in a

strange jargon, no syllable of which was intelligible to the Tarmangani. His

gestures indicated numerous references to the lions surrounding them, and once

he touched his spear with the forefinger of his left hand and twice he struck the

saber at his hip.

While he spoke Tarzan studied the fellow closely, with the result that there

fastened itself upon his mind a strange conviction--that the man who addressed

him was what might only be described as a rational maniac. As the thought came

to the ape-man he could not but smile, so paradoxical the description seemed.

Yet a closer study of the man's features, carriage, and the contour of his head

carried almost incontrovertibly the assurance that he was insane, while the tones

of his voice and his gestures resembled those of a sane and intelligent mortal.

Presently the man had concluded his speech and appeared to be waiting

questioningly Tarzan's reply. The ape-man spoke to the other first in the language

of the great apes, but he soon saw that the words carried no conviction to his

listener. Then with equal futility he tried several native dialects but to none of

these did the man respond.

By this time Tarzan began to lose patience. He had wasted sufficient time by the

road, and as he had never depended much upon speech in the accomplishment of

his ends, he now raised his spear and advanced toward the other. This, evidently,

was a language common to both, for instantly the fellow raised his own weapon

and at the same time a low call broke from his lips, a call which instantly brought

168

Tarzan the Untamed