Page:Tarzan and the Ant Men.pdf/95

Rh village of Obebe, the chief; but she dared not call aloud to attract them lest the sharp point of Mi­randa’s knife slip into her young heart, and so she heard them come and go until, their voices lost in the distance, the Spaniard arose and dragged her back upon the trail, where they took up, what seemed to Uhha, their endless and fruitless wanderings through the jungle.

In the village of the ant-men Tarzan found a warm welcome and having decided to remain for a while that he might study them and their cus­toms he set to work, as was his wont when thrown among strange peoples, to learn their language as quickly as possible. Having already mastered several languages and numerous dialects the apeman never found it difficult to add to his linguis­tic attainments, and so it was only a mat­ter of a comparatively short time before he found it possible to understand his hosts and to make himself understood by them. It was then that he learned that they had at first thought that he was some form of Alalus and had consequently believed that it ever would be impossible to communicate with him by other means than signs. They were greatly de­lighted therefore when it had become apparent that he could utter vocal sounds identical to theirs, and when they comprehended that he desired to learn their tongue, Adendrohahkis, the king,