? ? ? ? "No!" she exclaimed vehemently, much too vehemently he thought. "It could not be. They were savages."
? ? ? ? Clayton looked puzzled.
? ? ? ? "He is a strange, half-savage creature of the jungle, Miss Porter. We know nothing of him. He neither speaks nor understands any European tongue--and his ornaments and weapons are those of the West Coast savages."
? ? ? ? Clayton was speaking rapidly.
? ? ? ? "There are no other human beings than savages within hundreds of miles, Miss Porter. He must belong to the tribes which attacked us, or to some other equally savage--he may even be a cannibal."
? ? ? ? Jane blanched.
? ? ? ? "I will not believe it," she half whispered. "It is not true. You shall see," she said, addressing Clayton, "that he will come back and that he will prove that you are wrong. You do not know him as I do. I tell you that he is a gentleman."
? ? ? ? Clayton was a generous and chivalrous man, but something in the girl's breathless defense of the forest man stirred him to unreasoning jealousy, so that for the instant he forgot all that they owed to this wild demi-god, and he answered her with a half sneer upon his lip.
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