"There is no danger near?" he asked.
"None," replied the boy. "I saw nothing move while you drank."
"Your eyes will help you but little in the jungle," said the ape.
"Here, if you would live, you must depend upon your ears and your
nose but most upon your nose. When we came down to drink I knew
that no danger lurked near upon this side of the water hole, for
else the zebras would have discovered it and fled before we came;
but upon the other side toward which the wind blows danger might
lie concealed. We could not smell it for its scent is being blown
in the other direction, and so I bent my ears and eyes down wind
where my nose cannot travel."
"And you found--nothing?" asked the lad, with a laugh.
"I found Numa crouching in that clump of bushes where the tall
grasses grow," and Akut pointed.
"A lion?" exclaimed the boy. "How do you know? I can see nothing."
"Numa is there, though," replied the great ape. "First I heard
him sigh. To you the sigh of Numa may sound no different from the
other noises which the wind makes among the grasses and the trees;
but later you must learn to know the sigh of Numa.
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