al recognition always eludes me."

"I doubt if you ever heard their language spoken," said the man.
"These people must have lived in this out-of-the-way valley for
ages and even if they had retained the original language of their
ancestors without change, which is doubtful, it must be some tongue
that is no longer spoken in the outer world."

At one point where a stream of water crossed the trail the party
halted while the lions and the men drank. They motioned to their
captors to drink too, and as Bertha Kircher and Smith-Oldwick,
lying prone upon the ground drank from the clear, cool water of the
rivulet, they were suddenly startled by the thunderous roar of a
lion a short distance ahead of them. Instantly the lions with them
set up a hideous response, moving restlessly to and fro with their
eyes always either turned in the direction from which the roar had
come or toward their masters, against whom the tawny beasts slunk.
The men loosened the sabers in their scabbards, the weapons that
had aroused Smith-Oldwick's curiosity as they had Tarzan's, and
grasped their spears more firmly.

Evidently there were lions and lions, and while they evinced no
fear of the beasts which accompanied them, it was quite evident
that the voice of the newcomer had an entirely different effect
upon them, although the men seemed less terrified than the lions.
Neither, however, showed any indication of an inclination to flee;
on the contrary the entire party advanced along the trail in the
direction of the menacing roars, and presently there appeared in
the center of the path a black lion of gigantic proportions. To
Smith-Oldwick and the girl he appeared to be the same lion that
they had encountered at the plane and from which Tarzan had rescued
them. But it was not Numa of the pit, although he resembled him
closely.

The black beast stood directly in the center of the trail lashing
his tail and growling menacingly at the advancing party. The men
urged on their own beasts, who growled and whined but hesitated
to charge. Evidently becoming impatient, and in full consciousness
of his might the intruder raised his tail stiffly erect and shot
forward. Several of the defending lions made a half-hearted attempt to
obstruct his passage, but they might as well have placed themselves
in the path of an express train, as hurling them aside the great
beast leaped straight for one of the men. A dozen spears were
launched at him and a dozen sabers l