'But why should the distance be shorter returning than going?' demanded the ape-man.
'Because when they are returning they are usually pursued by the warriors of Zoram,' replied Ovan.
Inwardly Tarzan smiled at the naivete of Ovan's reasoning, while it again impressed upon him the impossibility of measuring distances or computing time under the anomalous condition obtaining in Pellucidar.
As the two made their way toward Clovi, the boy gradually abandoned his suspicious attitude toward Tarzan and presently seemed to accept him quite as he would have a member of his own tribe. He noticed the wound made by the talons of the thipdar on Tarzan's back and shoulders and when he had wormed the story from his companion he marvelled at the courage, resourcefulness and strength that had won escape for this stranger from what a Pellucidarian would have considered an utterly hopeless situation.
Ovan saw that the wounds were inflamed and realized that they must be causing Tarzan considerable pain and discomfort, and so when first their way led near a brook he insisted upon cleansing them thoroughly, and collecting the leaves of a particular shrub he crushed them and applied the juices to the open wounds.
The pain of the inflammation had been as nothing compared to the acute agony caused by the application thus made by Ovan and yet the boy noticed that not even by the tremor of a single muscle did the stranger evidence the agony that Ovan well knew he was enduring, and once again his admiration for his new-found companion was increased.
'It may hurt,' he said, 'but it will keep the wounds from rotting and afterward they will heal quickly.'
For a short time after they resumed their march the pain continued to be excruciating, but it lessened gradually until it finally disappeared, and thereafter the ape-man felt no discomfort.
The way led to a forest where there were straight, tough, young saplings, and here Tarzan tarried long enough to fashion a new spear and to split and scrape half a dozen additional arrows.
Ovan was much interested in Tarzan's steel-bladed knife and in his bow and arrows, although secretly he looked with contempt upon the latter, which he referred to as little spears for young children. But when they became hungry and Tarzan bowled over a mountain sheep with a single shaft, the lad's contempt was changed to admiration and thereafter he not only evinced great respect for the bow and arrows, but begged to be taught how to make and to use them.
The little Clovian was a lad after the heart of the ape-man and the two became fast friends as they made their way toward the land of Clovi, for Ovan possessed the quiet dignity of the wild beast; nor was he given to that garrulity which is at once the pride and the curse of civilized man—there were no boy orators in the peaceful Pliocene.
'We are almost there,' announced Ovan, halting at the brink of a canyon. 'Below lie the caves of the Clovi. I hope that Avan, the chief, will receive you as a friend, but that I cannot promise. Perhaps it might be better for you to go your way and not come to the caves of the Clovi. I do not want you to be killed.'
'They will not kill me,' said Tarzan. 'I come as a friend.' But in his heart he knew that the chances were that these primitive savages might never accept a stranger among them upon an equal or a friendly footing.
'Come, then,' said Ovan, as he started the descent into the canyon. Part way down the trail turned up along the canyon side in the direction of the head of the gorge. It was a level trail here, well kept and much used, with indications that no little engineering skill had entered into its construction. It was by no means the haphazard trail of beasts, but rather the work of intelligent, even though savage and primitive men.
They had proceeded no great distance along the trail when Ovan sounded a low whistle, which, a moment later, was answered from around the bend in the trail ahead, and when the two had passed this turn Tarzan saw before him a wide, natural ledge of rock entirely overhung by beetling cliffs and in the depth of the recess thus formed in the cliffside he saw the dark mouth of a cavern.
Upon the flat surface of the ledge, which comprised some two acres, were congregated fully a hundred men, women and children.
All eyes were turned in their direction as they came into view and on sight of Tarzan the warriors sprang to their feet, seizing spears and knives. The women called their children to them and moved quickly toward the entrance to the cavern.
'Do not fear,' cried the boy. 'It is only Ovan and his friend, Tarzan.'
'We kill,' growled some of the warriors.
'Where is Avan the chief?' demanded the boy.
'Here is Avan the chief,' announced a deep gruff voice, and Tarzan shifted his gaze to the figure of a stalwart, brawny savage emerging from the mouth of the cavern.
'What have you there, Ovan?' demanded the chief. 'If you have brought a prisoner of war, you should have disarmed him first.'
'He is no prisoner,' replied Ovan. 'He is a stranger in Pellucidar and he comes as a friend and not as an enemy.'
'He is a stranger,' replied Avan, 'and you should have killed him. He has learned the way to the caverns of Clovi and if we do not kill him he will return to his people and lead them against us.'
'He has no people and he does not know how to return to his own country,' said the boy.
'Then he does not speak true words, for that is not possible,' said Avan. 'There can be no man who does not know the way to his own country. Come! Stand aside, Ovan, while I destroy him.'
The lad drew himself stiffly erect in front of Tarzan. 'Who would kill the friend of Ovan,' he said, 'must first kill Ovan,'
A tall warrior, standing near the chief, laid his hand upon Avan's arm. 'Ovan has always been a good boy,' he said. 'There is none in Clovi near his age whose words are as full of wisdom as his. If he says that this stranger is his friend and if he does not wish us to kill him, he must have a reason and we should listen to him before we decide to destroy the stranger.'
'Very well,' said the chief; 'perhaps you are right, Ulan. We shall see. Speak, boy, and tell us why we should not kill the stranger.'
'Because at the risk of his life he saved mine. Hand to hand he fought with a great ryth from which I could not have escaped had it not been for him; nor did he offer to harm me, and what enemy of the Clovi is there, even among the people of Zoram and Daroz who are of our own blood, that would not slay a Clovi youth who was so soon to become a warrior? Not only is he very brave, but he is a great hunter. It would be well for the tribe of Clovi if he came to live with us as a friend.'
Avan bowed his head in thought. 'When Carb returns we shall call a council and decide what to do,' he said. 'In the meantime the stranger must remain here as a prisoner.'
'I shall not remain as a prisoner,' said Tarzan. 'I came as a friend and I shall remain as a friend, or I shall not remain at all.'
'Let him stay as a friend,' said Ulan. 'He has marched with Ovan and has not harmed him. Why should we think that he will harm us when we are many and he only one?'
'Perhaps he has come to steal a woman,' suggested Avan.
'No,' said Ovan, 'that is not so. Let him remain and with my life I will guarantee that he will harm no one.'
'Let him stay,' said some of the other warriors, for Ovan had long been the pet of the tribe so that they were accustomed to humoring him and so unspoiled was he that they still found pleasure in doing so.
'Very well,' said Avan. 'Let him remain. But Ovan and Ulan shall be responsible for his conduct.'
There were only a few of the Clovians who accepted Tarzan without suspicion, and among these was Maral, the mother of Ovan, and Rela, his sister. These two accepted him without question because Ovan had accepted him. Ulan's friendship, too, had been apparent from the first; nor was it without great value for Ulan, because of his intelligence, courage and ability was a force in the councils of the Clovi.
Tarzan, accustomed to the tribal life of primitive people, took his place naturally among them, paying no attention to those who paid no attention to him, observing scrupulously the ethics of tribal life and conforming to the customs of the Clovi in every detail of his relations with them. He liked to talk with Maral because of her sunny disposition and her marked intelligence. She told him that she was from Zoram, having been captured by Avan when, as a young warrior, he had decided to take a mate. And to her nativity he attributed her great beauty, for it seemed to be an accepted fact among the Clovis that the women of Zoram were the most beautiful of all women.
Ulan he had liked from the first, being naturally attracted to him because he had been the first of the Clovians
