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sounded to the girl like the growling of an enraged beast. As Tarzan drew nearer
he called aloud to the ape and the girl heard from the human lips the same
sounds that had fallen from those of the anthropoid.
"
"
I will not harm your she," Go-lat called to Tarzan.
I know it," replied the ape-man, "but she does not. She is like Numa and Sheeta,
who do not understand our talk. She thinks you come to harm her."
By this time Tarzan was beside the girl. "He will not harm you," he said to her.
"You need not be afraid. This ape has learned his lesson. He has learned that
Tarzan is lord of the jungle. He will not harm that which is Tarzan's."
The girl cast a quick glance at the man's face. It was evident to her that the words
he had spoken meant nothing to him and that the assumed proprietorship over
her was, like the boma, only another means for her protection.
"But I am afraid of him," she said.
"You must not show your fear. You will be often surrounded by these apes. At
such times you will be safest. Before I leave you I will give you the means of
protecting yourself against them should one of them chance to turn upon you. If I
were you I would seek their society. Few are the animals of the jungle that dare
attack the great apes when there are several of them together. If you let them
know that you are afraid of them, they will take advantage of it and your life will
be constantly menaced. The shes especially would attack you. I will let them
know that you have the means of protecting yourself and of killing them. If
necessary, I will show you how and then they will respect and fear you."
"I will try," said the girl, "but I am afraid that it will be difficult. He is the most
frightful creature I ever have seen." Tarzan smiled. "Doubtless he thinks the same
of you," he said.
By this time other apes had entered the clearing and they were now the center of
a considerable group, among which were several bulls, some young shes, and
some older ones with their little balus clinging to their backs or frolicking around
at their feet. Though they had seen the girl the night of the Dum-Dum when
Sheeta had forced her to leap from her concealment into the arena where the
apes were dancing, they still evinced a great curiosity regarding her. Some of the
shes came very close and plucked at her garments, commenting upon them to
one another in their strange tongue. The girl, by the exercise of all the will power
she could command, succeeded in passing through the ordeal without evincing
any of the terror and revulsion that she felt. Tarzan watched her closely, a half-
smile upon his face. He was not so far removed from recent contact with civilized
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