And all the while Meriem was scarce a hundred miles away.
Chapter 16
To Meriem, in her new home, the days passed quickly. At first she
was all anxiety to be off into the jungle searching for her Korak.
Bwana, as she insisted upon calling her benefactor, dissuaded her
from making the attempt at once by dispatching a head man with
a party of blacks to Kovudoo's village with instructions to learn
from the old savage how he came into possession of the white girl
and as much of her antecedents as might be culled from the black
chieftain. Bwana particularly charged his head man with the duty
of questioning Kovudoo relative to the strange character whom the
girl called Korak, and of searching for the ape-man if he found the
slightest evidence upon which to ground a belief in the existence
of such an individual. Bwana was more than fully convinced that
Korak was a creature of the girl's disordered imagination. He
believed that the terrors and hardships she had undergone during
captivity among the blacks and her frightful experience with the
two Swedes had unbalanced her mind but as the days passed and he
became better acquainted with her and able to observe her under the
ordinary conditions of the quiet of his African home he was forced
to admit that her strange tale puzzled him not a little, for there
was no other evidence whatever that Meriem was not in full possession
of her normal faculties.
Pages:
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277