THE CAVE GIRL [Illustration: The Cave Girl saves Waldo's life.] THE CAVE GIRL BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS AUTHOR OF TARZAN AND THE ANT MEN, THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, PELLUCIDAR, Etc. [Illustration] GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Made in the United States of America Copyright Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. 1925 Published March, 1925 _Copyrighted in Great Britain_ _Printed in the United States of America_ CONTENTS PART I CHAPTER PAGE I Flotsam 1 II The Wild People 14 III The Little Eden 24 IV Death's Doorway 38 V Awakening 53 VI A Choice 70 VII Thandar, the Seeker 80 VIII Nadara Again 90 IX The Seeker 97 X The Trail's End 111 XI Capture 124 PART II I King Big Fist 147 II King Thandar 161 III The Great Nagoola 177 IV The Battle 189 V The Abduction of Nadara 202 VI The Search 212 VII First Mate Stark 226 VIII The Wild Men 246 IX Building the Boat 260 X The Head-Hunters 275 XI The Rescue 288 XII Pirates 304 XIII Homeward Bound 321 PART I THE CAVE GIRL CHAPTER I FLOTSAM The dim shadow of the thing was but a blur against the dim shadows of the wood behind it. The young man could distinguish no outline that might mark the presence as either brute or human. He could see no eyes, yet he knew that somewhere from out of that noiseless mass stealthy eyes were fixed upon him. This was the fourth time that the thing had crept from out the wood as darkness was settling--the fourth time during those three horrible weeks since he had been cast upon that lonely shore that he had watched, terror-stricken, while night engulfed the shadowy form that lurked at the forest's edge. It had never attacked him, but to his distorted imagination it seemed to slink closer and closer as night fell--waiting, always waiting for the moment that it might find him unprepared. Waldo Emerson Smith-Jones was not overly courageous. He had been reared among surroundings of culture plus and ultra-intellectuality in the exclusive Back Bay home of his ancestors. He had been taught to look with contempt upon all that savored of muscular superiority--such things were gross, brutal, primitive. It had been a giant intellect only that he had craved--he and a fond mother--and their wishes had been fulfilled. At twenty-one Waldo was an animated encyclopedia--and about as muscular as a real one.