Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-02-06

ed from every hut. Mothers gathered
their babies In their arms and fled to-
ward the gates as they saw the horrid
horde pouring into the village street.
Kovudoo marshaled his fighting men
about him and. lenping and yelling to
arouse their courage, offered bris-
Ting, spear-tipped front to the charg-
ing horde.
Korak, as he had led the march, led
the charge. The blacks were struck
with horror and dismay at the sight Of
this white-skinned youth at the head
Of a pack Of hideous balloons.
For an instant they held their
ground, hurting their spears once at
the advancing multitude. But before
they could fit arrows to their bows
they wavered, gave and turned In ter
rified rout. Into their ranks. upon
their backs, sinking strong fangs into
the muscles Of their necks, sprang the
balloons. and first among them. most
ferocious, most bloodthirsty, most ter
rible, was Korak, the Killer.
At the village gates, through which
the blacks poured In panic, Korak left
them to the tender mercies of his al
lies and turned himself eagerly toward
the hut in which Meriem had been a
prisoner.
1t was empty. One after another
the filthy interiors revealed the same
disheartening fact-Meriem was in
none Of them. That she had not been
taken by the blacks in their fight from
the village Korak knew. for he had
watched carefully for glimpse Of her
among the fugitives.
To the mind Of the ape man. know
ing sas he did the proclivities of the
savages, there was but single ex-
planation-Meriem had been killed and
eaten. With the conviction that Me
riem was dead, there surged through
Korak's brain wave Of blood-red
rage against those he believed to be
her murderers. In the distance he
could hear the snarling of the balloons
mixed with the screams of their vic
TINS, and toward this he made his
way.
In the distance Kovudoo was gath
ering his scattered tribesmen and tax
ing account of injuries and losses. His
people were panic-stricken. Nothing
could prevail upon them to remain
longer in this country. They would
not even return to the village for their
belongings. Instead they insisted upon
continuing their flight until they had
put many miles between themselves
and the stamping ground Of the white
demon whose hordes had so bitterly
attacked them.
And thus 1t befell that Korak drove
from their homes the only people who
might have aided him in a search for
Meriem and cut off the only connect
ing link between him and her from
whomsoever might come in search of
him from the dOuar Of the kindly Bwa-
ma who had befriended his little jungle
sweetheart.
1t was sour and savage Korak who
bid farewell to his baboon allies upon
the following morning. They wished
him to accompany them, but the ape
man had no heart for society. Jungle
life had encouraged taciturnity in him.
His sorrow Mad deepened this to a sui
len oSorOseneSS that could not brook
even the savage companionship of the
ill-natured babocns.
Brootling and respondent, he took
his solitary way into the deepest jun
gle. He moved along the ground when
he knew that Numa was abroad and
hungry. He took to the same trees
that harbored Sheeta. the panther. He
courted death in hundred ways and
hundred FORMS His mind was ever
occupied with "reminiscences of Merit
EN- and the happy years that they had
spent together.
He realized now to the full what she
had meant to him. The sweet face,
the tanned. supple little body, the
bright smile that always had welcomed
his return from the hunt, haunted him
continually. 90.
lQQcEtco 60. :.-c. -c-cd him with