"Well," said Gridley, looking about him at the bodies of the four
hyaenodons and the corpses of the two men, "this is a great little
country, but I'll be gosh-darned if I see how anyone grows up to enjoy
it."
The Red Flower of Zoram stood looking at him admiringly. Everything
about this stranger aroused her interest, piqued her curiosity and
stimulated her imagination. In no particular was he like any other man
she had ever seen. Not one item of his strange apparel corresponded
to anything that any other human being of her acquaintance wore. The
remarkable weapon, which spat smoke and fire to the accompaniment of
a loud roar, left her dazed with awe and admiration; but perhaps the
outstanding cause for astonishment, when she gave it thought, was
the fact that she was not afraid of this man. Not only was the fear
of strangers inherent in her, but from earliest childhood she had
been taught to expect only the worst from men who were not of her own
tribe and to flee from them upon any and all occasions. Perhaps it
was his smile that had disarmed her, or possibly there was something
in his friendly, honest eyes that had won her immediate trust and
confidence. Whatever the cause, however, the fact remained that The Red
Flower of Zoram made no effort to escape from Jason Gridley, who now
found himself completely lost in a strange world, which in itself was
quite sad enough without having added to it responsibilities for the
protection of a strange, young woman, who could understand nothing that
he said to her and whom, in turn, he could not understand.
VIII
JANA AND JASON
Tar-Gash and Thoar looked with wonder upon the wreckage of the plane
and Tarzan hastily searched it for the body of the pilot. The ape-man
experienced at least temporary relief when he discovered that there
was no body there, and a moment later he found footprints in the turf
upon the opposite side of the plane--the prints of a booted foot which
he recognized immediately as having been made by Jason Gridley--and
this evidence assured him that the American had not been killed and
apparently not even badly injured by the fall. And then he discovered
something else which puzzled him exceedingly. Mingling with the
footprints of Gridley and evidently made at the same time were those of
a small sandaled foot.
A further brief examination revealed the fact that two persons, one
of them Gridley and the other apparently a female or a youth of some
Pellucidarian tribe, who had accompanied him, had approached the plane
after it had crashed, remained in its vicinity for a short time and
then returned in the direction from which they had come. With the spoor
plain before him there was nothing for Tarzan to do other than to
follow it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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