n at last opened her eyes.
Inured to danger, she maintained her self-possession in the face of the
startling surprise which her new-found consciousness revealed to her.
She neither cried out nor moved a muscle, until she had taken in every
detail of the scene which lay within the range of her vision.

She saw that the lion had killed the ape, and that he was devouring his
prey less than fifty feet from where she lay; but what could she do?
Her hands and feet were bound. She must wait then, in what patience
she could command, until Numa had eaten and digested the ape, when,
without doubt, he would return to feast upon her, unless, in the
meantime, the dread hyenas should discover her, or some other of the
numerous prowling carnivora of the jungle.

As she lay tormented by these frightful thoughts, she suddenly became
conscious that the bonds at her wrists and ankles no longer hurt her,
and then of the fact that her hands were separated, one lying upon
either side of her, instead of both being confined at her back.

Wonderingly she moved a hand. What miracle had been performed? It was
not bound! Stealthily and noiselessly she moved her other limbs, only
to discover that she was free. She could not know how the thing had
happened, that Taglat, gnawing upon them for sinister purposes of his
own, had cut them through but an instant before Numa had frightened him
from his victim.

For a moment Jane Clayton was overwhelmed with joy and thanksgiving;
but only for a moment. What good was her new-found liberty in the face
of the frightful beast crouching so close beside her? If she could
have had this chance under different conditions, how happily she would
have taken advantage of it; but now it was given to her when escape was
practically impossible.

The nearest tree was a hundred feet away, the lion less than fifty. To
rise and attempt to reach the safety of those tantalizing branches
would be but to invite instant destruction, for Numa would doubtless be
too jealous of this future meal to permit it to escape with ease. And
yet, too, there was another possibility--a chance which hinged entirely
upon the unknown temper of the great beast.

His belly already partially filled, he might watch with indifference
the departure of the girl; yet could she afford to chance so improbable
a contingency? She doubted it. Upon the other hand she was no more
minded to allow this frail opportunity for life to entirely elude he