How could you speak the language of beasts?"
"They are not hideous, and they are not degraded," replied Meriem.
"Friends are never that. I lived among them for years before
Bwana found me and brought me here. I scarce knew any other tongue
than that of the mangani. Should I refuse to know them now simply
because I happen, for the present, to live among humans?"
"For the present!" ejaculated the Hon. Morison. "You cannot mean
that you expect to return to live among them? Come, come, what
foolishness are we talking! The very idea! You are spoofing me,
Miss Meriem. You have been kind to these baboons here and they know
you and do not molest you; but that you once lived among them--no,
that is preposterous."
"But I did, though," insisted the girl, seeing the real horror that
the man felt in the presence of such an idea reflected in his tone
and manner, and rather enjoying baiting him still further. "Yes,
I lived, almost naked, among the great apes and the lesser apes. I
dwelt among the branches of the trees. I pounced upon the smaller
prey and devoured it--raw.
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