Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-05-31
BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
Author of the Tarzan Tales
CHAPTER XVII
A Lion and a Lamb

mo MERIEM, in her new bone IN.
i days passed quickly. At first sne VA
all anxiety TO be Off into the Jungle. sesrch
ing for her Koral.
Bwana, as she insisted upon catl,ns he,
benefactor, dssuaded her from n,sLirs
the attempt at once by dispatehine a head
man with a party OF blacks TO Ko,udoo,s
village, with instructions to learn from IN.
old savage how he came into possesalon ~
the white girl and as much of her ante.
cedents as might be culled from ihs btari,
chieftain. Bwana particularly CHARGED the
headman with the duty of questioning Ko
vudoo relative to the strange cbaractar
whom the girl called Korak, and of search.
ing for the apeman II he found the slight.
est evidence upon which to ground a belief
in the existence of such an individual.
Bwana was convinced that Korak was
creature of the girls disordered imepi.
nation He believed that the terrors ara
hardships she had undergone during can.
tivity among the blacks and her frightfii
experience with the two Swedes had unbat.
anced her mind; but as the days passed.
and he became better acquainted with her
and able to observe her under the ordinary
conditions of the quiet Of his African home.
he was forced to admit that her strange
tale puzzled him not a lttle for there was
no other evidence whatever that Meriep,
was not in full possession of her normal
faculties.
The white mans wife, whom Meriem had
christened MY Dear" from having first
heard her thus addressed by Bwana, took
not only n deep interest I'm the little Jungle
waif because of her forlorn and friendless
state. but grew to love her as we'll for her
sunny disposition and natural charm of
temperament. And Meriem, similarly i'm.
pressed by like attributes in the gentle,
cultured woman, reciprocated the others
regard and affection.
And so the days flew by while Meriem
waited the return of the headman and
his party from the country of Kovudoo.
They were short days. for into them was
crowded many hours of insidious instruc.
ton of the unlettered child by the lonely
woman.
She commenced at once to teach the
girl English. without forcing it upon her
as task. She varied the instruction with
lessons in sewing and department, nor once
did she let Merem guess that 1t was not
all play. Nor was this difficult since the
girl was avid to learn.
Then there were pretty dresses to be
made 2 to take the place OF the single
leopard skin, and in this she found the
child as responsive and enthusiastic as any
civilized miss of her acquaintance.
A month passed before the headman re-
turned--a month that had transformed the
savage little half-naked Mangani into
daintlly frocked girl >of at least outward
civilization Merem had progressed rap
Idly with the intricacies of the English
language, for Bwana and My Dear per-
sistently refused to speak Arabic from the
time they had decided that Meriem must
learn English, which had been a day or
two after her introduction into their home.
But docle as Meriem was in these mat
ters, there was one thing that she insisted
on during her entire stay with the kind
white folk; and that was her personal free
dom to make excursions into the jungle,
attired very much as she had been when
with Korak, whenever she chose. Bwana
and My Dear got used, in time, to finding
her room empty and to have her turn UP
hours later, flushed and radiant after
Wild romp through the trees and jungle.
Thus it was that. despite the civilized
hoes she wore and the confining feminine