It was Ta-den
hunting alone in the gorge of his friend, the chief of Kor-ul-ja.
He contemplated the stranger with surprise but no wonder, since he
recognized in him a member of the race with which his experience
of Tarzan the Terrible had made him familiar and also, thanks to
his friendship for the ape-man, he looked upon the newcomer without
hostility.
The latter was the first to make outward sign of his intentions,
raising his palm toward Ta-den in that gesture which has been
a symbol of peace from pole to pole since man ceased to walk upon
his knuckles. Simultaneously he advanced a few paces and halted.
Ta-den, assuming that one so like Tarzan the Terrible must be a
fellow-tribesman of his lost friend, was more than glad to accept
this overture of peace, the sign of which he returned in kind as
he ascended the trail to where the other stood. "Who are you?" he
asked, but the newcomer only shook his head to indicate that he
did not understand.
By signs he tried to carry to the Ho-don the fact that he was
following a trail that had led him over a period of many days from
some place beyond the mountains and Ta-den was convinced that the
newcomer sought Tarzan-jad-guru. He wished, however, that he might
discover whether as friend or foe.
The stranger perceived the Ho-don's prehensile thumbs and great toes
and his long tail with an astonishment which he sought to conceal,
but greater than all was the sense of relief that the first inhabitant
of this strange country whom he had met had proven friendly, so
greatly would he have been handicapped by the necessity for forcing
his way through a hostile land.
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