Others then must have escaped from the campong.
Von Horn loosened his guns in their holsters,
and took a fresh grip upon his bull whip as he
urged Sing forward upon the trail. He wondered
which one it was, but not once did it occur to him
that the latest result of Professor Maxon's experiments
could be the rescuer of Virginia Maxon. In his mind he
could see only the repulsive features of one of the others.

Quite unexpectedly they came upon the two, and with a
shout von Horn leaped forward, his bull whip upraised.
Number Thirteen turned in surprise at the cry, and
sensing a new danger for her who lay in his arms,
he set her gently upon the ground behind him
and advanced to meet his assailant.

"Out of the way, you--monstrosity," cried von Horn.
"If you have harmed Miss Maxon I'll put a bullet in
your heart!"

Number Thirteen did not understand the words that the
other addressed to him but he interpreted the man's
actions as menacing, not to himself, but to the
creature he now considered his particular charge;
and so he met the advancing man, more to keep him from
the girl than to offer him bodily injury for he recognized
him as one of the two who had greeted his first dawning
consciousness.

Von Horn, possibly intentionally, misinterpreted the