ed the
apes themselves, which were like a formidable army at their backs, as
protection against the other beasts of the wilds.

Bentley watched the great she continue her rude first aid for Apeman.
Apeman was still moaning, though less fitfully, like a child that
nuzzles the milk bottle, but is drifting away into sleep. The she gave
the travesty her full attention. There was something horribly human
about her maternal care of this creature before her. Her great arms
held Apeman close while her tongue caressed his wounds. Bentley knew
that that tongue was an excellent antiseptic, too. All animals licked
their own wounds, and those wounds healed. Only human beings knew the
dangers of infection, because they had departed from Nature's
doctrines and had tried to cheat her with substitutes. Only the
animals, like that great she, still were Nature's children, healing
their own wounds in Nature's way.

* * * * *

Satisfied that the apes would not molest Ellen, so long as she kept
her distance from Apeman, Bentley decided to seek food, which Ellen
must sorely need. The need for water was urgent, too. Bentley knew the
danger of drinking water found in the jungle--but an ape could
scarcely be expected to build a fire with which to boil the water, nor
to produce a miracle in the shape of something to hold it in over the
fire.

Here were many makeshifts indicated, then. Bentley smiled inwardly,
the only way he could smile. He must feed himself, too. He must go
wandering through the woods, feeding the body of Manape with grubs,
worms and such nauseous provender, because it was the food to which
Manape was accustomed. Apeman, when he was well enough to eat, would
sicken the body of Bentley with the same sort of food, because the
brain of Apeman would not know what was good or bad for the body of a
human being--nor even would understand that his body was human. What
_did_ Apeman think of his condition, anyway?

That question, of course, would never be answered--unless Barter could
really speak the language of the great apes and somehow managed to
secure from Apeman, if Apeman lived, a recital of these hours in the
jungle.

What food should Manape secure for Ellen? What fruits were edible,
what poisonous? How could he tell? He watched the other apes, which
were scattering here and there now, tipping over rocks and sticks to
search for grubs and worms--to see what fruits they ate, if any. They
wou