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"No," said the man, "I have been trying to figure that out. It's not like any of the
few native dialects of which I have any knowledge."
"It doesn't sound at all like the native language," said the girl, "but there is
something familiar about it. You know, every now and then I feel that I am just
on the verge of understanding what they are saying, or at least that somewhere I
have heard their tongue before, but final recognition always eludes me."
"I doubt if you ever heard their language spoken," said the man. "These people
must have lived in this out-of-the-way valley for ages and even if they had
retained the original language of their ancestors without change, which is
doubtful, it must be some tongue that is no longer spoken in the outer world."
At one point where a stream of water crossed the trail the party halted while the
lions and the men drank. They motioned to their captors to drink too, and as
Bertha Kircher and Smith-Oldwick, lying prone upon the ground drank from the
clear, cool water of the rivulet, they were suddenly startled by the thunderous
roar of a lion a short distance ahead of them. Instantly the lions with them set up
a hideous response, moving restlessly to and fro with their eyes always either
turned in the direction from which the roar had come or toward their masters,
against whom the tawny beasts slunk. The men loosened the sabers in their
scabbards, the weapons that had aroused Smith-Oldwick's curiosity as they had
Tarzan's, and grasped their spears more firmly.
Evidently there were lions and lions, and while they evinced no fear of the beasts
which accompanied them, it was quite evident that the voice of the newcomer had
an entirely different effect upon them, although the men seemed less terrified
than the lions. Neither, however, showed any indication of an inclination to flee;
on the contrary the entire party advanced along the trail in the direction of the
menacing roars, and presently there appeared in the center of the path a black
lion of gigantic proportions. To Smith-Oldwick and the girl he appeared to be the
same lion that they had encountered at the plane and from which Tarzan had
rescued them. But it was not Numa of the pit, although he resembled him closely.
The black beast stood directly in the center of the trail lashing his tail and
growling menacingly at the advancing party. The men urged on their own beasts,
who growled and whined but hesitated to charge. Evidently becoming impatient,
and in full consciousness of his might the intruder raised his tail stiffly erect and
shot forward. Several of the defending lions made a half-hearted attempt to
obstruct his passage, but they might as well have placed themselves in the path
of an express train, as hurling them aside the great beast leaped straight for one
of the men. A dozen spears were launched at him and a dozen sabers leaped from
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