Yet every time she said this
she laughed again, and so infectious were her tones that I could only
join her. It was only natural, too, that she should be mystified by my
inability to comprehend her or to make her comprehend me, for from the
club-men, the lowest human type in Caspak to have speech, to the golden
race of Galus, the tongues of the various tribes are identical--except
for amplifications in the rising scale of evolution. She, who is a
Galu, can understand one of the Bo-lu and make herself understood to
him, or to a hatchet-man, a spear-man or an archer. The Ho-lus, or
apes, the Alus and myself were the only creatures of human semblance
with which she could hold no converse; yet it was evident that her
intelligence told her that I was neither Ho-lu nor Alu, neither
anthropoid ape nor speechless man.

Yet she did not despair, but set out to teach me her language; and had
it not been that I worried so greatly over the fate of Bowen and my
companions of the Toreador, I could have wished the period of
instruction prolonged.

I never have been what one might call a ladies' man, though I like
their company immensely, and during my college days and since have made
various friends among the sex. I think that I rather appeal to a
certain type of girl for the reason that I never make love to them; I
leave that to the numerous others who do it infinitely better than I
could hope to, and take my pleasure out of girls' society in what seem
to be more rational ways--dancing, golfing, boating, riding, tennis,
and the like. Yet in the company of this half-naked little savage I
found a new pleasure that was entirely distinct from any that I ever
had experienced. When she touched me, I thrilled as I had never before
thrilled in contact with another woman. I could not quite understand
it, for I am sufficiently sophisticated to know that this is a symptom
of love and I certainly did not love this filthy little barbarian with
her broken, unkempt nails and her skin so besmeared with mud and the
green of crushed foliage that it was difficult to say what color it
originally had been. But if she was outwardly uncouth, her clear eyes
and strong white, even teeth, her silvery laugh and her queenly
carriage, bespoke an innate fineness which dirt could not quite
successfully conceal.

The sun was low in the heavens when we came upon a little river which
emptied into a large bay at the foot of low cliffs. Our journey so far