fruits which hung far out upon the frail bough of the jungle's waving
crest were brought to her by these tiny, nimble allies. Sometimes they
played tricks upon her; but she was always kind and gentle with them
and in their wild, half-human way they were kind to her and
affectionate. Their language being similar to that of the great apes
Meriem could converse with them though the poverty of their vocabulary
rendered these exchanges anything but feasts of reason. For familiar
objects they had names, as well as for those conditions which induced
pain or pleasure, joy, sorrow, or rage. These root words were so
similar to those in use among the great anthropoids as to suggest that
the language of the Manus was the mother tongue. Dreams, aspirations,
hopes, the past, the sordid exchange. Dreams, aspirations, hopes, the
past, the future held no place in the conversation of Manu, the monkey.
All was of the present--particularly of filling his belly and catching
lice.

Poor food was this to nourish the mental appetite of a girl just upon
the brink of womanhood. And so, finding Manu only amusing as an
occasional playfellow or pet, Meriem poured out her sweetest soul
thoughts into the deaf ears of Geeka's ivory head. To Geeka she spoke
in Arabic, knowing that Geeka, being but a doll, could not understand
the language of Korak and Akut, and that the language of Korak and Akut
being that of male apes contained nothing of interest to an Arab doll.

Geeka had undergone a transformation since her little mother had left
the village of The Sheik. Her garmenture now reflected in miniature
that of Meriem. A tiny bit of leopard skin covered her ratskin torso
from shoulder to splinter knee. A band of braided grasses about her
brow held in place a few gaudy feathers from the parakeet, while other
bits of grass were fashioned into imitations of arm and leg ornaments
of metal. Geeka was a perfect little savage; but at heart she was
unchanged, being the same omnivorous listener as of yore. An excellent
trait in Geeka was that she never interrupted in order to talk about
herself. Today was no exception. She had been listening attentively
to Meriem for an hour, propped against the bole of a tree while her
lithe, young mistress stretched catlike and luxurious along a swaying
branch before her.

"Little Geeka," said Meriem, "our Korak has been gone for a long time
today. We miss him, little Geeka, do we not? It is dull and lonesom