he change. In her he had just seen a sweet and
lovely flower of refinement and civilization, and he shuddered as he
recalled the fate that he himself had planned for her--to be the mate
of an ape-man, his mate, in the savage jungle. Then he had seen no
wrong in it, for he had loved her, and the way he had planned had been
the way of the jungle which they two had chosen as their home; but now,
after having seen the Meriem of civilized attire, he realized the
hideousness of his once cherished plan, and he thanked God that chance
and the blacks of Kovudoo had thwarted him.

Yet he still loved her, and jealousy seared his soul as he recalled the
sight of her in the arms of the dapper young Englishman. What were his
intentions toward her? Did he really love her? How could one not love
her? And she loved him, of that Korak had had ample proof. Had she
not loved him she would not have accepted his kisses. His Meriem loved
another! For a long time he let that awful truth sink deep, and from
it he tried to reason out his future plan of action. In his heart was
a great desire to follow the man and slay him; but ever there rose in
his consciousness the thought: She loves him. Could he slay the
creature Meriem loved? Sadly he shook his head. No, he could not.
Then came a partial decision to follow Meriem and speak with her. He
half started, and then glanced down at his nakedness and was ashamed.
He, the son of a British peer, had thus thrown away his life, had thus
degraded himself to the level of a beast that he was ashamed to go to
the woman he loved and lay his love at her feet. He was ashamed to go
to the little Arab maid who had been his jungle playmate, for what had
he to offer her?

For years circumstances had prevented a return to his father and
mother, and at last pride had stepped in and expunged from his mind the
last vestige of any intention to return. In a spirit of boyish
adventure he had cast his lot with the jungle ape. The killing of the
crook in the coast inn had filled his childish mind with terror of the
law, and driven him deeper into the wilds. The rebuffs that he had met
at the hands of men, both black and white, had had their effect upon
his mind while yet it was in a formative state, and easily influenced.

He had come to believe that the hand of man was against him, and then
he had found in Meriem the only human association he required or
craved. When she had been snatched from him his