nearby jungle attracted his attention for a moment. His eyes did
not again return to Jane Clayton, and presently he left her, walked
over to the remains of Taglat, and crouching down upon his kill
with his back toward the girl, proceeded to devour the ape.

It was upon this scene that Jane Clayton at last opened her eyes.
Inured to danger, she maintained her self-possession in the face of
the startling surprise which her new-found consciousness revealed
to her. She neither cried out nor moved a muscle, until she had
taken in every detail of the scene which lay within the range of
her vision.

She saw that the lion had killed the ape, and that he was devouring
his prey less than fifty feet from where she lay; but what could
she do? Her hands and feet were bound. She must wait then, in
what patience she could command, until Numa had eaten and digested
the ape, when, without doubt, he would return to feast upon her,
unless, in the meantime, the dread hyenas should discover her, or
some other of the numerous prowling carnivora of the jungle.

As she lay tormented by these frightful thoughts, she suddenly
became conscious that the bonds at her wrists and ankles no longer
hurt her, and then of the fact that her hands were separated, one
lying upon either side of her, instead of both being confined at
her back.

Wonderingly she moved a hand. What miracle had been performed?
It was not bound! Stealthily and noiselessly she moved her other
limbs, only to discover that she was free. She could not know how
the thing had happened, that Taglat, gnawing upon them for sinister