When Super-Apes Plot

The murmur grew louder, and presently Hardin could distinguish a shrill jabber which told him that the voices came from a number of apemen, who were all talking at once, as was their custom when aroused.

At the end of a few minutes they came into view, a dozen of them; squat, powerful, hairy creatures, red-brown in color, with apelike limbs, and perfectly naked save for their sirats, or loin clothes. In their hands they carried spears and clubs, and as they ambled along they jabbered at each other excitedly.

Hardin's eyes ran over them almost unseeingly. He had eyes for no one except the man and woman--especially the woman--who walked in their midst. He could have picked that golden head out of a thousand. It was his wife, walking with her hands tied behind her back, and by her side walked her uncle, Doctor Thorold Dumont, similarly bound.

For a little, too dumfounded at the sight even to breathe, Hardin started