When the doctor first made connection with the eyes of his agent, he
instinctively concluded that he, at least, had got in touch with a being
more or less like himself. The whole thing was so natural; he was
surveying a sunny, brush-covered landscape from eyes whose height from
the ground, and other details, were decidedly those of a human.
For a moment there was comparative silence. Then his unknown agent
swiftly raised something--a hand, presumably--to a mouth, and gave out a
piercing cry. Whereupon the doctor learned something that jarred him a
trifle. His agent was--a woman!
He had time to congratulate himself upon the fact that he was (1) a
doctor, (2) a married man, (3) the father of a daughter or two, before
his agent repeated her cry. Almost immediately it was answered by
another exactly like it, from an unseen point not far away. The Sanusian
plainly chuckled to herself with satisfaction.
A moment later there came, rather faintly, two more calls, each from a
different direction in the dun-colored brush. Still without moving from
the spot, the doctor's agent replied two or three times, meanwhile
watching her surroundings very closely. Within half a minute the first
of her friends came in sight.
It was a young woman. At a distance of about twenty yards she appeared
to be about five feet tall and sturdily built. She was dressed in a
single garment, made of the skin of some yellow, short-haired animal. It
may have been a lion cub. Around her waist was a strip of hide, which
served as a belt, and held a small, stone-headed tomahawk. One shoulder
and both legs were left quite bare, revealing a complexion so deeply
tanned that the doctor instantly thought: "Spanish!"
In a way, the girl's face gave the same impression. Large, dark-brown
eyes, full lips and a healthy glow beneath her tan, all made it possible
for her to pass as a Spaniard. However, there was nothing in the least
coquettish about her; she had a remarkably independent manner, and a
gaze as frank and direct as it was pure and untroubled.
In one hand she carried a branch from some large-leafed shrub. The eyes
which Kinney was using became fixed upon this branch; and even as the
newcomer cried out in joyous response to the other's greeting, her
expression changed and she turned and fled, laughing, as the doctor's
agent darted toward her. She did not get away, and immediately the two
were struggling over the possession of the branch.
In the midst of the tussle another figure made its appearance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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