"There were four men and either a woman or a youth here with my friend," said Tarzan. "Four of them were low countrymen from Pheli," said Thoar, "and the other was a woman of Zoram." "How do you know?" asked Tarzan, who was always anxious to add to his store of woodcraft. "The low-country sandals are never shaped to the foot as closely as are those of the mountain tribes," replied Thoar, "and the soles are much thinner, being made usually of the hides of the thag, which is tough enough for people who do not walk often upon anything but soft grasses or in soggy marshland. The sandals of the mountain tribes are soled with the thick hide of Maj, the cousin of Tandor. If you will look at the spoor you will see that they are not worn at all, while there are holes in the sandals of these dead men of Pheli." "Are we near Zoram?" asked Tarzan. "No," replied Thoar. "It lies across the highest range ahead of us." "When we first met, Thoar, you told me that you were from Zoram." "Yes, that is my country," replied Thoar. "Then, perhaps, this woman is someone whom you know?" "She is my sister," replied Thoar. Tarzan of the Apes looked at him in surprise. "How do you know?" he demanded. "I found an imprint where there was no turf, only soft earth, and there the spoor was so distinct that I could recognize the sandals as hers. So familiar with her work am I that I could recognize the stitching alone, where the sole is joined to the upper part of the sandal, and in addition there are the notches, which indicate the tribe. The people of Zoram have three notches in the underside of the sole at the toe of the left sandal." "What was your sister doing so far from her own country and how is it that she is with my friend?" "It is quite plain," replied Thoar. "These men of Pheli sought to capture her. One of them wanted her for his mate, but she eluded them and they pursued her across the Mountains of the Thipdars and down into this valley, where she was set upon by jaloks. The man from your country came and killed the jaloks and two of the Phelians and drove the other two away. It is evident that my sister could not escape him, and he captured her." Tarzan of the Apes smiled. "The spoor does not indicate that she ever made any effort to escape him," he said. Thoar scratched his head. "That is true," he replied, "and I cannot understand it, for the women of my tribe do not care to mate with the men of other tribes and I know that Jana, my sister, would rather die than mate outside the Mountains of the Thipdars. Many times has she said so and Jana is not given to idle talk." "My friend would not take her by force," said Tarzan. "If she has gone with him, she has gone with him willingly. And I think that when we find them you will discover that he is simply accompanying her back to Zoram, for he is the sort of man who would not permit a woman to go alone and unprotected."