Her blood tingled to the almost forgotten sensation
and it was with difficulty that she restrained a glad triumphant
cry as she clambered from the quiet waters and stood upon the silent
beach.
Before her loomed a forest, darkly, and from its depths came those
nameless sounds that are a part of the night life of the jungle--the
rustling of leaves in the wind, the rubbing together of contiguous
branches, the scurrying of a rodent, all magnified by the darkness
to sinister and awe-inspiring proportions; the hoot of an owl, the
distant scream of a great cat, the barking of wild dogs, attested
the presence of the myriad life she could not see--the savage life,
the free life of which she was now a part. And then there came to
her, possibly for the first time since the giant ape-man had come
into her life, a fuller realization of what the jungle meant to him,
for though alone and unprotected from its hideous dangers she yet
felt its lure upon her and an exaltation that she had not dared
hope to feel again.
Ah, if that mighty mate of hers were but by her side! What utter
joy and bliss would be hers! She longed for no more than this. The
parade of cities, the comforts and luxuries of civilization held
forth no allure half as insistent as the glorious freedom of the
jungle.
A lion moaned in the blackness to her right, eliciting delicious
thrills that crept along her spine.
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