Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-06
7 EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
ouAprTn xxI-toontlnued,.
Author Of the Tarzan Tales


rIoRAK saw the man take both her hands
IN. and draw her close to his breast. He
saw the mans face concealed for a moment
beneath the same broad brim that hid the
eirl's He could imagine their lips meet
ing, and twinge of sorrow and sweet
recollection combined to close his eyes for
an instant in that involuntary muscular
act with which we attempt to shut out
from the minds eye narrowing reflections.
when he looked again they had drawn
.nart and were converslng earnestly. Korak
could see the man urging something It
was equally evident that the girl was hold
ing back There were many Of her
ssstures. and the way in which she tossed
her head up ana to the right, Uplifting her
chin. that reminded Korak still more
stronRly of Meriem. And then the con-
versaton was over, and the man took the
airl in his arms again to kiss her good-by.
she turned and rode toward the point
bis horse watching her. At the edge of the
jlngle she turned to wave him final fare
we'll
mroniRbt =" she cried, throwing back her
head as she called the words to him across
the little distance which separated them
throwing back her head and revealing her
face for the first time to the eyes or the
Killer in the tree above.
KoralS started as though pierced through
the heart with an arrow. he trempleu ana
shook like n leaf He closed his eyes. press
ing his palms across them, ana then he
\ ouened them again and looked.
But the girl was gone-only the waving
foliage of the jungles rim marked where
phe had disappeared
i II was impossible! 1t could not be truel
And vet with his own eyes he had seen
his Meriem--older little, with figure more
rounded by neater maturity, and subtly
changed in other ways; more beautiful than
ever. vet still his little Meriem. Yes, he
had seen the dead alive again. he had seen
his Meriem in the flesh. She lived! She
had not died!
He had seen her-he had seen his Mer-
iem-in the arms of another man! And
that man sat below him now, within easy
reach.
Korak. the Killer fondled his heavy
smear. He played with the grass rope
dangling from his geestring. He stroked
the hunting knife at his hip. And the man
beneath him called to his drowsy guide,
bent the rein to his ponys neck and
q moved off toward the north.
Still sat Korak, the Killer, alone among
the trees Now his hands hung idly at his
sides His weapons and what he had In
landed were forgotten for the moment.
Korak was thinking
He had noted that subtle change in
Meriem. When last he had seen her she
had been his little, half-naked Mangani-
wild savage and uncouth. She had not
eeemed uncouth to him then! but now In the
!change that had come over her, he knew
that such she had been; yet no more un-
couth than be, and he was still uncouth.
!. In her had taken place the change. In
her he had Just seen a sweet and lovely
flower of refinement and civilization, and
he shuddered as he recalled the fate that he
himself had planned for her-to be the
mate of an apeman, his mate, in the saw
ago Jungle.
D Then he had seen no wrong in 1t, for he
had loved her. and the way he had planned
had been the way of the jungle which they
two had chosen as their home; but now,
after having seen the Meriem of civilized
attire he realized the hideousness of his
once-cherlshed plan, and he thanked his
God that chance and the blacks of Kovu-
doc had thwarted him.
Yet he still loved her. and jealousy
Ii scared his soul as he recalled the sight of