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diff --git a/old/1401-h.zip b/old/1401-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..39c7d1b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1401-h.zip diff --git a/old/1401-h/1401-h.htm b/old/1401-h/1401-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a22e394 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1401-h/1401-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,15516 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Tarzan the Untamed, by Edgar Rice Burroughs +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: 80%; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tarzan the Untamed, by Edgar Rice Burroughs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Tarzan the Untamed + +Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs + +Posting Date: January 28, 2010 [EBook #1401] +Release Date: August, 1998 +First Posted: November 6, 2001 +[Last updated: July 29, 2012] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TARZAN THE UNTAMED *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Boss + + + + + +</pre> + + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +Tarzan the Untamed +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +By +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Edgar Rice Burroughs +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">Murder and Pillage</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">The Lion's Cave</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">In the German Lines</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">When the Lion Fed</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">The Golden Locket</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">Vengeance and Mercy</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">When Blood Told</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">Tarzan and the Great Apes</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">Dropped from the Sky</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">In the Hands of Savages</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">Finding the Airplane</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">The Black Flier</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">Usanga's Reward</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">The Black Lion</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">Mysterious Footprints</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">The Night Attack</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">The Walled City</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">Among the Maniacs</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">The Queen's Story</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">Came Tarzan</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">In the Alcove</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">Out of the Niche</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">The Flight from Xuja</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">The Tommies</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Murder and Pillage +</H3> + +<P> +Hauptmann Fritz Schneider trudged wearily through the somber aisles +of the dark forest. Sweat rolled down his bullet head and stood +upon his heavy jowls and bull neck. His lieutenant marched beside +him while Underlieutenant von Goss brought up the rear, following +with a handful of askaris the tired and all but exhausted porters +whom the black soldiers, following the example of their white officer, +encouraged with the sharp points of bayonets and the metal-shod +butts of rifles. +</P> + +<P> +There were no porters within reach of Hauptmann Schneider so he +vented his Prussian spleen upon the askaris nearest at hand, yet +with greater circumspection since these men bore loaded rifles—and +the three white men were alone with them in the heart of Africa. +</P> + +<P> +Ahead of the hauptmann marched half his company, behind him the +other half—thus were the dangers of the savage jungle minimized +for the German captain. At the forefront of the column staggered +two naked savages fastened to each other by a neck chain. These +were the native guides impressed into the service of Kultur and upon +their poor, bruised bodies Kultur's brand was revealed in divers +cruel wounds and bruises. +</P> + +<P> +Thus even in darkest Africa was the light of German civilization +commencing to reflect itself upon the undeserving natives just as +at the same period, the fall of 1914, it was shedding its glorious +effulgence upon benighted Belgium. +</P> + +<P> +It is true that the guides had led the party astray; but this is +the way of most African guides. Nor did it matter that ignorance +rather than evil intent had been the cause of their failure. It +was enough for Hauptmann Fritz Schneider to know that he was lost +in the African wilderness and that he had at hand human beings less +powerful than he who could be made to suffer by torture. That he +did not kill them outright was partially due to a faint hope that +they might eventually prove the means of extricating him from his +difficulties and partially that so long as they lived they might +still be made to suffer. +</P> + +<P> +The poor creatures, hoping that chance might lead them at last +upon the right trail, insisted that they knew the way and so led +on through a dismal forest along a winding game trail trodden deep +by the feet of countless generations of the savage denizens of the +jungle. +</P> + +<P> +Here Tantor, the elephant, took his long way from dust wallow to +water. Here Buto, the rhinoceros, blundered blindly in his solitary +majesty, while by night the great cats paced silently upon their +padded feet beneath the dense canopy of overreaching trees toward +the broad plain beyond, where they found their best hunting. +</P> + +<P> +It was at the edge of this plain which came suddenly and unexpectedly +before the eyes of the guides that their sad hearts beat with +renewed hope. Here the hauptmann drew a deep sigh of relief, for +after days of hopeless wandering through almost impenetrable jungle +the broad vista of waving grasses dotted here and there with open +park like woods and in the far distance the winding line of green +shrubbery that denoted a river appeared to the European a veritable +heaven. +</P> + +<P> +The Hun smiled in his relief, passed a cheery word with his lieutenant, +and then scanned the broad plain with his field glasses. Back and +forth they swept across the rolling land until at last they came +to rest upon a point near the center of the landscape and close to +the green-fringed contours of the river. +</P> + +<P> +"We are in luck," said Schneider to his companions. "Do you see +it?" +</P> + +<P> +The lieutenant, who was also gazing through his own glasses, +finally brought them to rest upon the same spot that had held the +attention of his superior. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he said, "an English farm. It must be Greystoke's, for there +is none other in this part of British East Africa. God is with us, +Herr Captain." +</P> + +<P> +"We have come upon the English schweinhund long before he can have +learned that his country is at war with ours," replied Schneider. +"Let him be the first to feel the iron hand of Germany." +</P> + +<P> +"Let us hope that he is at home," said the lieutenant, "that we +may take him with us when we report to Kraut at Nairobi. It will +go well indeed with Herr Hauptmann Fritz Schneider if he brings in +the famous Tarzan of the Apes as a prisoner of war." +</P> + +<P> +Schneider smiled and puffed out his chest. "You are right, my +friend," he said, "it will go well with both of us; but I shall +have to travel far to catch General Kraut before he reaches Mombasa. +These English pigs with their contemptible army will make good time +to the Indian Ocean." +</P> + +<P> +It was in a better frame of mind that the small force set out across +the open country toward the trim and well-kept farm buildings of +John Clayton, Lord Greystoke; but disappointment was to be their +lot since neither Tarzan of the Apes nor his son was at home. +</P> + +<P> +Lady Jane, ignorant of the fact that a state of war existed between +Great Britain and Germany, welcomed the officers most hospitably +and gave orders through her trusted Waziri to prepare a feast for +the black soldiers of the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +Far to the east, Tarzan of the Apes was traveling rapidly from +Nairobi toward the farm. At Nairobi he had received news of the +World War that had already started, and, anticipating an immediate +invasion of British East Africa by the Germans, was hurrying homeward +to fetch his wife to a place of greater security. With him were a +score of his ebon warriors, but far too slow for the ape-man was +the progress of these trained and hardened woodsmen. +</P> + +<P> +When necessity demanded, Tarzan of the Apes sloughed the thin +veneer of his civilization and with it the hampering apparel that +was its badge. In a moment the polished English gentleman reverted +to the naked ape man. +</P> + +<P> +His mate was in danger. For the time, that single thought dominated. +He did not think of her as Lady Jane Greystoke, but rather as the +she he had won by the might of his steel thews, and that he must +hold and protect by virtue of the same offensive armament. +</P> + +<P> +It was no member of the House of Lords who swung swiftly and grimly +through the tangled forest or trod with untiring muscles the wide +stretches of open plain—it was a great he ape filled with a single +purpose that excluded all thoughts of fatigue or danger. +</P> + +<P> +Little Manu, the monkey, scolding and chattering in the upper +terraces of the forest, saw him pass. Long had it been since he had +thus beheld the great Tarmangani naked and alone hurtling through +the jungle. Bearded and gray was Manu, the monkey, and to his dim +old eyes came the fire of recollection of those days when Tarzan +of the Apes had ruled supreme, Lord of the Jungle, over all the +myriad life that trod the matted vegetation between the boles of +the great trees, or flew or swung or climbed in the leafy fastness +upward to the very apex of the loftiest terraces. +</P> + +<P> +And Numa, the lion, lying up for the day close beside last night's +successful kill, blinked his yellow-green eyes and twitched his +tawny tail as he caught the scent spoor of his ancient enemy. +</P> + +<P> +Nor was Tarzan senseless to the presence of Numa or Manu or any of +the many jungle beasts he passed in his rapid flight towards the +west. No particle had his shallow probing of English society dulled +his marvelous sense faculties. His nose had picked out the presence +of Numa, the lion, even before the majestic king of beasts was +aware of his passing. +</P> + +<P> +He had heard noisy little Manu, and even the soft rustling of the +parting shrubbery where Sheeta passed before either of these alert +animals sensed his presence. +</P> + +<P> +But however keen the senses of the ape-man, however swift his +progress through the wild country of his adoption, however mighty +the muscles that bore him, he was still mortal. Time and space +placed their inexorable limits upon him; nor was there another who +realized this truth more keenly than Tarzan. He chafed and fretted +that he could not travel with the swiftness of thought and that the +long tedious miles stretching far ahead of him must require hours +and hours of tireless effort upon his part before he would swing +at last from the final bough of the fringing forest into the open +plain and in sight of his goal. +</P> + +<P> +Days it took, even though he lay up at night for but a few hours +and left to chance the finding of meat directly on his trail. If +Wappi, the antelope, or Horta, the boar, chanced in his way when +he was hungry, he ate, pausing but long enough to make the kill +and cut himself a steak. +</P> + +<P> +Then at last the long journey drew to its close and he was passing +through the last stretch of heavy forest that bounded his estate +upon the east, and then this was traversed and he stood upon the +plain's edge looking out across his broad lands towards his home. +</P> + +<P> +At the first glance his eyes narrowed and his muscles tensed. Even +at that distance he could see that something was amiss. A thin +spiral of smoke arose at the right of the bungalow where the barns +had stood, but there were no barns there now, and from the bungalow +chimney from which smoke should have arisen, there arose nothing. +</P> + +<P> +Once again Tarzan of the Apes was speeding onward, this time even +more swiftly than before, for he was goaded now by a nameless fear, +more product of intuition than of reason. Even as the beasts, +Tarzan of the Apes seemed to possess a sixth sense. Long before he +reached the bungalow, he had almost pictured the scene that finally +broke upon his view. +</P> + +<P> +Silent and deserted was the vine-covered cottage. Smoldering embers +marked the site of his great barns. Gone were the thatched huts of +his sturdy retainers, empty the fields, the pastures, and corrals. +Here and there vultures rose and circled above the carcasses of +men and beasts. +</P> + +<P> +It was with a feeling as nearly akin to terror as he ever had +experienced that the ape-man finally forced himself to enter his +home. The first sight that met his eyes set the red haze of hate +and bloodlust across his vision, for there, crucified against the +wall of the living-room, was Wasimbu, giant son of the faithful +Muviro and for over a year the personal bodyguard of Lady Jane. +</P> + +<P> +The overturned and shattered furniture of the room, the brown pools +of dried blood upon the floor, and prints of bloody hands on walls +and woodwork evidenced something of the frightfulness of the battle +that had been waged within the narrow confines of the apartment. +Across the baby grand piano lay the corpse of another black warrior, +while before the door of Lady Jane's boudoir were the dead bodies +of three more of the faithful Greystoke servants. +</P> + +<P> +The door of this room was closed. With drooping shoulders and dull +eyes Tarzan stood gazing dumbly at the insensate panel which hid +from him what horrid secret he dared not even guess. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly, with leaden feet, he moved toward the door. Gropingly his +hand reached for the knob. Thus he stood for another long minute, +and then with a sudden gesture he straightened his giant frame, +threw back his mighty shoulders and, with fearless head held high, +swung back the door and stepped across the threshold into the +room which held for him the dearest memories and associations of +his life. No change of expression crossed his grim and stern-set +features as he strode across the room and stood beside the little +couch and the inanimate form which lay face downward upon it; the +still, silent thing that had pulsed with life and youth and love. +</P> + +<P> +No tear dimmed the eye of the ape-man, but the God who made him alone +could know the thoughts that passed through that still half-savage +brain. For a long time he stood there just looking down upon the +dead body, charred beyond recognition, and then he stooped and lifted +it in his arms. As he turned the body over and saw how horribly +death had been meted he plumbed, in that instant, the uttermost +depths of grief and horror and hatred. +</P> + +<P> +Nor did he require the evidence of the broken German rifle in the +outer room, or the torn and blood-stained service cap upon the +floor, to tell him who had been the perpetrators of this horrid +and useless crime. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment he had hoped against hope that the blackened corpse was +not that of his mate, but when his eyes discovered and recognized +the rings upon her fingers the last faint ray of hope forsook him. +</P> + +<P> +In silence, in love, and in reverence he buried, in the little +rose garden that had been Jane Clayton's pride and love, the poor, +charred form and beside it the great black warriors who had given +their lives so futilely in their mistress' protection. +</P> + +<P> +At one side of the house Tarzan found other newly made graves +and in these he sought final evidence of the identity of the real +perpetrators of the atrocities that had been committed there in +his absence. +</P> + +<P> +Here he disinterred the bodies of a dozen German askaris and found +upon their uniforms the insignia of the company and regiment to +which they had belonged. This was enough for the ape-man. White +officers had commanded these men, nor would it be a difficult task +to discover who they were. +</P> + +<P> +Returning to the rose garden, he stood among the Hun trampled +blooms and bushes above the grave of his dead—with bowed head he +stood there in a last mute farewell. As the sun sank slowly behind +the towering forests of the west, he turned slowly away upon the +still-distinct trail of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and his blood-stained +company. +</P> + +<P> +His was the suffering of the dumb brute—mute; but though voiceless +no less poignant. At first his vast sorrow numbed his other faculties +of thought—his brain was overwhelmed by the calamity to such an +extent that it reacted to but a single objective suggestion: She is +dead! She is dead! She is dead! Again and again this phrase beat +monotonously upon his brain—a dull, throbbing pain, yet mechanically +his feet followed the trail of her slayer while, subconsciously, +his every sense was upon the alert for the ever-present perils of +the jungle. +</P> + +<P> +Gradually the labor of his great grief brought forth another +emotion so real, so tangible, that it seemed a companion walking +at his side. It was Hate—and it brought to him a measure of solace +and of comfort, for it was a sublime hate that ennobled him as +it has ennobled countless thousands since—hatred for Germany and +Germans. It centered about the slayer of his mate, of course; but +it included everything German, animate or inanimate. As the thought +took firm hold upon him he paused and raising his face to Goro, the +moon, cursed with upraised hand the authors of the hideous crime +that had been perpetrated in that once peaceful bungalow behind +him; and he cursed their progenitors, their progeny, and all their +kind the while he took silent oath to war upon them relentlessly +until death overtook him. +</P> + +<P> +There followed almost immediately a feeling of content, for, where +before his future at best seemed but a void, now it was filled +with possibilities the contemplation of which brought him, if not +happiness, at least a surcease of absolute grief, for before him +lay a great work that would occupy his time. +</P> + +<P> +Stripped not only of all the outward symbols of civilization, Tarzan +had also reverted morally and mentally to the status of the savage +beast he had been reared. Never had his civilization been more than +a veneer put on for the sake of her he loved because he thought it +made her happier to see him thus. In reality he had always held the +outward evidences of so-called culture in deep contempt. Civilization +meant to Tarzan of the Apes a curtailment of freedom in all its +aspects—freedom of action, freedom of thought, freedom of love, +freedom of hate. Clothes he abhorred—uncomfortable, hideous, +confining things that reminded him somehow of bonds securing him to +the life he had seen the poor creatures of London and Paris living. +Clothes were the emblems of that hypocrisy for which civilization +stood—a pretense that the wearers were ashamed of what the clothes +covered, of the human form made in the semblance of God. Tarzan +knew how silly and pathetic the lower orders of animals appeared in +the clothing of civilization, for he had seen several poor creatures +thus appareled in various traveling shows in Europe, and he knew, +too, how silly and pathetic man appears in them since the only men +he had seen in the first twenty years of his life had been, like +himself, naked savages. The ape-man had a keen admiration for a +well-muscled, well-proportioned body, whether lion, or antelope, +or man, and it had ever been beyond him to understand how clothes +could be considered more beautiful than a clear, firm, healthy +skin, or coat and trousers more graceful than the gentle curves of +rounded muscles playing beneath a flexible hide. +</P> + +<P> +In civilization Tarzan had found greed and selfishness and cruelty +far beyond that which he had known in his familiar, savage jungle, +and though civilization had given him his mate and several friends +whom he loved and admired, he never had come to accept it as you +and I who have known little or nothing else; so it was with a sense +of relief that he now definitely abandoned it and all that it stood +for, and went forth into the jungle once again stripped to his loin +cloth and weapons. +</P> + +<P> +The hunting knife of his father hung at his left hip, his bow and +his quiver of arrows were slung across his shoulders, while around +his chest over one shoulder and beneath the opposite arm was coiled +the long grass rope without which Tarzan would have felt quite as +naked as would you should you be suddenly thrust upon a busy highway +clad only in a union suit. A heavy war spear which he sometimes +carried in one hand and again slung by a thong about his neck so +that it hung down his back completed his armament and his apparel. +The diamond-studded locket with the pictures of his mother and +father that he had worn always until he had given it as a token +of his highest devotion to Jane Clayton before their marriage was +missing. She always had worn it since, but it had not been upon +her body when he found her slain in her boudoir, so that now his +quest for vengeance included also a quest for the stolen trinket. +</P> + +<P> +Toward midnight Tarzan commenced to feel the physical strain of +his long hours of travel and to realize that even muscles such as +his had their limitations. His pursuit of the murderers had not +been characterized by excessive speed; but rather more in keeping +with his mental attitude, which was marked by a dogged determination +to require from the Germans more than an eye for an eye and more +than a tooth for a tooth, the element of time entering but slightly +into his calculations. +</P> + +<P> +Inwardly as well as outwardly Tarzan had reverted to beast and in +the lives of beasts, time, as a measurable aspect of duration, has +no meaning. The beast is actively interested only in NOW, and as +it is always NOW and always shall be, there is an eternity of time +for the accomplishment of objects. The ape-man, naturally, had a +slightly more comprehensive realization of the limitations of time; +but, like the beasts, he moved with majestic deliberation when no +emergency prompted him to swift action. +</P> + +<P> +Having dedicated his life to vengeance, vengeance became his natural +state and, therefore, no emergency, so he took his time in pursuit. +That he had not rested earlier was due to the fact that he had +felt no fatigue, his mind being occupied by thoughts of sorrow and +revenge; but now he realized that he was tired, and so he sought +a jungle giant that had harbored him upon more than a single other +jungle night. +</P> + +<P> +Dark clouds moving swiftly across the heavens now and again eclipsed +the bright face of Goro, the moon, and forewarned the ape-man +of impending storm. In the depth of the jungle the cloud shadows +produced a thick blackness that might almost be felt—a blackness +that to you and me might have proven terrifying with its accompaniment +of rustling leaves and cracking twigs, and its even more suggestive +intervals of utter silence in which the crudest of imaginations +might have conjured crouching beasts of prey tensed for the fatal +charge; but through it Tarzan passed unconcerned, yet always alert. +Now he swung lightly to the lower terraces of the overarching +trees when some subtle sense warned him that Numa lay upon a kill +directly in his path, or again he sprang lightly to one side as +Buto, the rhinoceros, lumbered toward him along the narrow, deep-worn +trail, for the ape-man, ready to fight upon necessity's slightest +pretext, avoided unnecessary quarrels. +</P> + +<P> +When he swung himself at last into the tree he sought, the moon was +obscured by a heavy cloud, and the tree tops were waving wildly in +a steadily increasing wind whose soughing drowned the lesser noises +of the jungle. Upward went Tarzan toward a sturdy crotch across which +he long since had laid and secured a little platform of branches. +It was very dark now, darker even than it had been before, for +almost the entire sky was overcast by thick, black clouds. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the man-beast paused, his sensitive nostrils dilating as +he sniffed the air about him. Then, with the swiftness and agility of +a cat, he leaped far outward upon a swaying branch, sprang upward +through the darkness, caught another, swung himself upon it and +then to one still higher. What could have so suddenly transformed +his matter-of-fact ascent of the giant bole to the swift and wary +action of his detour among the branches? You or I could have seen +nothing—not even the little platform that an instant before had +been just above him and which now was immediately below—but as he +swung above it we should have heard an ominous growl; and then as +the moon was momentarily uncovered, we should have seen both the +platform, dimly, and a dark mass that lay stretched upon it—a dark +mass that presently, as our eyes became accustomed to the lesser +darkness, would take the form of Sheeta, the panther. +</P> + +<P> +In answer to the cat's growl, a low and equally ferocious growl +rumbled upward from the ape-man's deep chest—a growl of warning +that told the panther he was trespassing upon the other's lair; but +Sheeta was in no mood to be dispossessed. With upturned, snarling +face he glared at the brown-skinned Tarmangani above him. Very slowly +the ape-man moved inward along the branch until he was directly +above the panther. In the man's hand was the hunting knife of his +long-dead father—the weapon that had first given him his real +ascendancy over the beasts of the jungle; but he hoped not to be +forced to use it, knowing as he did that more jungle battles were +settled by hideous growling than by actual combat, the law of bluff +holding quite as good in the jungle as elsewhere—only in matters +of love and food did the great beasts ordinarily close with fangs +and talons. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan braced himself against the bole of the tree and leaned closer +toward Sheeta. +</P> + +<P> +"Stealer of balus!" he cried. The panther rose to a sitting position, +his bared fangs but a few feet from the ape-man's taunting face. +Tarzan growled hideously and struck at the cat's face with his +knife. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he roared. "This is Tarzan's +lair. Go, or I will kill you." +</P> + +<P> +Though he spoke in the language of the great apes of the jungle, +it is doubtful that Sheeta understood the words, though he knew +well enough that the hairless ape wished to frighten him from his +well-chosen station past which edible creatures might be expected +to wander sometime during the watches of the night. +</P> + +<P> +Like lightning the cat reared and struck a vicious blow at his +tormentor with great, bared talons that might well have torn away +the ape-man's face had the blow landed; but it did not land—Tarzan +was even quicker than Sheeta. As the panther came to all fours +again upon the little platform, Tarzan un-slung his heavy spear and +prodded at the snarling face, and as Sheeta warded off the blows, +the two continued their horrid duet of blood-curdling roars and +growls. +</P> + +<P> +Goaded to frenzy the cat presently determined to come up after this +disturber of his peace; but when he essayed to leap to the branch +that held Tarzan he found the sharp spear point always in his +face, and each time as he dropped back he was prodded viciously in +some tender part; but at length, rage having conquered his better +judgment, he leaped up the rough bole to the very branch upon which +Tarzan stood. Now the two faced each other upon even footing and +Sheeta saw a quick revenge and a supper all in one. The hairless +ape-thing with the tiny fangs and the puny talons would be helpless +before him. +</P> + +<P> +The heavy limb bent beneath the weight of the two beasts as Sheeta +crept cautiously out upon it and Tarzan backed slowly away, growling. +The wind had risen to the proportions of a gale so that even the +greatest giants of the forest swayed, groaning, to its force and +the branch upon which the two faced each other rose and fell like +the deck of a storm-tossed ship. Goro was now entirely obscured, +but vivid flashes of lightning lit up the jungle at brief intervals, +revealing the grim tableau of primitive passion upon the swaying +limb. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan backed away, drawing Sheeta farther from the stem of the +tree and out upon the tapering branch, where his footing became +ever more precarious. The cat, infuriated by the pain of spear +wounds, was overstepping the bounds of caution. Already he had +reached a point where he could do little more than maintain a secure +footing, and it was this moment that Tarzan chose to charge. With +a roar that mingled with the booming thunder from above he leaped +toward the panther, who could only claw futilely with one huge paw +while he clung to the branch with the other; but the ape-man did +not come within that parabola of destruction. Instead he leaped +above menacing claws and snapping fangs, turning in mid-air and +alighting upon Sheeta's back, and at the instant of impact his knife +struck deep into the tawny side. Then Sheeta, impelled by pain and +hate and rage and the first law of Nature, went mad. Screaming +and clawing he attempted to turn upon the ape-thing clinging to +his back. For an instant he toppled upon the now wildly gyrating +limb, clutched frantically to save himself, and then plunged downward +into the darkness with Tarzan still clinging to him. Crashing +through splintering branches the two fell. Not for an instant did +the ape-man consider relinquishing his death-hold upon his adversary. +He had entered the lists in mortal combat and true to the primitive +instincts of the wild—the unwritten law of the jungle—one or both +must die before the battle ended. +</P> + +<P> +Sheeta, catlike, alighted upon four out-sprawled feet, the weight +of the ape-man crushing him to earth, the long knife again imbedded +in his side. Once the panther struggled to rise; but only to sink +to earth again. Tarzan felt the giant muscles relax beneath him. +Sheeta was dead. Rising, the ape-man placed a foot upon the body of +his vanquished foe, raised his face toward the thundering heavens, +and as the lightning flashed and the torrential rain broke upon +him, screamed forth the wild victory cry of the bull ape. +</P> + +<P> +Having accomplished his aim and driven the enemy from his lair, +Tarzan gathered an armful of large fronds and climbed to his dripping +couch. Laying a few of the fronds upon the poles he lay down and +covered himself against the rain with the others, and despite the +wailing of the wind and the crashing of the thunder, immediately +fell asleep. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Lion's Cave +</H3> + +<P> +The rain lasted for twenty-four hours and much of the time it fell +in torrents so that when it ceased, the trail he had been following +was entirely obliterated. Cold and uncomfortable—it was a savage +Tarzan who threaded the mazes of the soggy jungle. Manu, the +monkey, shivering and chattering in the dank trees, scolded and fled +at his approach. Even the panthers and the lions let the growling +Tarmangani pass unmolested. +</P> + +<P> +When the sun shone again upon the second day and a wide, open plain +let the full heat of Kudu flood the chilled, brown body, Tarzan's +spirits rose; but it was still a sullen, surly brute that moved +steadily onward into the south where he hoped again to pick up the +trail of the Germans. He was now in German East Africa and it was +his intention to skirt the mountains west of Kilimanjaro, whose +rugged peaks he was quite willing to give a wide berth, and then +swing eastward along the south side of the range to the railway that +led to Tanga, for his experience among men suggested that it was +toward this railroad that German troops would be likely to converge. +</P> + +<P> +Two days later, from the southern slopes of Kilimanjaro, he heard +the boom of cannon far away to the east. The afternoon had been +dull and cloudy and now as he was passing through a narrow gorge a +few great drops of rain began to splatter upon his naked shoulders. +Tarzan shook his head and growled his disapproval; then he cast his +eyes about for shelter, for he had had quite enough of the cold and +drenching. He wanted to hasten on in the direction of the booming +noise, for he knew that there would be Germans fighting against the +English. For an instant his bosom swelled with pride at the thought +that he was English and then he shook his head again viciously. +"No!" he muttered, "Tarzan of the Apes is not English, for the +English are men and Tarzan is Tarmangani;" but he could not hide +even from his sorrow or from his sullen hatred of mankind in general +that his heart warmed at the thought it was Englishmen who fought +the Germans. His regret was that the English were human and not +great white apes as he again considered himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Tomorrow," he thought, "I will travel that way and find the Germans," +and then he set himself to the immediate task of discovering some +shelter from the storm. Presently he espied the low and narrow +entrance to what appeared to be a cave at the base of the cliffs +which formed the northern side of the gorge. With drawn knife he +approached the spot warily, for he knew that if it were a cave it +was doubtless the lair of some other beast. Before the entrance lay +many large fragments of rock of different sizes, similar to others +scattered along the entire base of the cliff, and it was in Tarzan's +mind that if he found the cave unoccupied he would barricade the +door and insure himself a quiet and peaceful night's repose within +the sheltered interior. Let the storm rage without—Tarzan would +remain within until it ceased, comfortable and dry. A tiny rivulet +of cold water trickled outward from the opening. +</P> + +<P> +Close to the cave Tarzan kneeled and sniffed the ground. A low +growl escaped him and his upper lip curved to expose his fighting +fangs. "Numa!" he muttered; but he did not stop. Numa might not be +at home—he would investigate. The entrance was so low that the +ape-man was compelled to drop to all fours before he could poke +his head within the aperture; but first he looked, listened, and +sniffed in each direction at his rear—he would not be taken by +surprise from that quarter. +</P> + +<P> +His first glance within the cave revealed a narrow tunnel with +daylight at its farther end. The interior of the tunnel was not so +dark but that the ape-man could readily see that it was untenanted +at present. Advancing cautiously he crawled toward the opposite +end imbued with a full realization of what it would mean if Numa +should suddenly enter the tunnel in front of him; but Numa did not +appear and the ape-man emerged at length into the open and stood +erect, finding himself in a rocky cleft whose precipitous walls +rose almost sheer on every hand, the tunnel from the gorge passing +through the cliff and forming a passageway from the outer world +into a large pocket or gulch entirely enclosed by steep walls of +rock. Except for the small passageway from the gorge, there was no +other entrance to the gulch which was some hundred feet in length +and about fifty in width and appeared to have been worn from the +rocky cliff by the falling of water during long ages. A tiny stream +from Kilimanjaro's eternal snow cap still trickled over the edge +of the rocky wall at the upper end of the gulch, forming a little +pool at the bottom of the cliff from which a small rivulet wound +downward to the tunnel through which it passed to the gorge beyond. +A single great tree flourished near the center of the gulch, while +tufts of wiry grass were scattered here and there among the rocks +of the gravelly floor. +</P> + +<P> +The bones of many large animals lay about and among them were +several human skulls. Tarzan raised his eyebrows. "A man-eater," +he murmured, "and from appearances he has held sway here for a long +time. Tonight Tarzan will take the lair of the man-eater and Numa +may roar and grumble upon the outside." +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man had advanced well into the gulch as he investigated +his surroundings and now as he stood near the tree, satisfied that +the tunnel would prove a dry and quiet retreat for the night, he +turned to retrace his way to the outer end of the entrance that he +might block it with boulders against Numa's return, but even with +the thought there came something to his sensitive ears that froze +him into statuesque immobility with eyes glued upon the tunnel's +mouth. A moment later the head of a huge lion framed in a great +black mane appeared in the opening. The yellow-green eyes glared, +round and unblinking, straight at the trespassing Tarmangani, a low +growl rumbled from the deep chest, and lips curled back to expose +the mighty fangs. +</P> + +<P> +"Brother of Dango!" shouted Tarzan, angered that Numa's return should +have been so timed as to frustrate his plans for a comfortable +night's repose. "I am Tarzan of the Apes, Lord of the Jungle. +Tonight I lair here—go!" +</P> + +<P> +But Numa did not go. Instead he rumbled forth a menacing roar and +took a few steps in Tarzan's direction. The ape-man picked up a +rock and hurled it at the snarling face. One can never be sure of +a lion. This one might turn tail and run at the first intimation +of attack—Tarzan had bluffed many in his time—but not now. The +missile struck Numa full upon the snout—a tender part of a cat's +anatomy—and instead of causing him to flee it transformed him into +an infuriated engine of wrath and destruction. +</P> + +<P> +Up went his tail, stiff and erect, and with a series of frightful +roars he bore down upon the Tarmangani at the speed of an express +train. Not an instant too soon did Tarzan reach the tree and swing +himself into its branches and there he squatted, hurling insults at +the king of beasts while Numa paced a circle beneath him, growling +and roaring in rage. +</P> + +<P> +It was raining now in earnest adding to the ape-man's discomfort +and disappointment. He was very angry; but as only direct necessity +had ever led him to close in mortal combat with a lion, knowing +as he did that he had only luck and agility to pit against the +frightful odds of muscle, weight, fangs, and talons, he did not now +even consider descending and engaging in so unequal and useless a +duel for the mere reward of a little added creature comfort. And +so he sat perched in the tree while the rain fell steadily and the +lion padded round and round beneath, casting a baleful eye upward +after every few steps. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan scanned the precipitous walls for an avenue of escape. They +would have baffled an ordinary man; but the ape-man, accustomed +to climbing, saw several places where he might gain a foothold, +precarious possibly; but enough to give him reasonable assurance +of escape if Numa would but betake himself to the far end of the +gulch for a moment. Numa, however, notwithstanding the rain, gave +no evidence of quitting his post so that at last Tarzan really +began to consider seriously if it might not be as well to take the +chance of a battle with him rather than remain longer cold and wet +and humiliated in the tree. +</P> + +<P> +But even as he turned the matter over in his mind Numa turned +suddenly and walked majestically toward the tunnel without even a +backward glance. The instant that he disappeared, Tarzan dropped +lightly to the ground upon the far side of the tree and was away at +top speed for the cliff. The lion had no sooner entered the tunnel +than he backed immediately out again and, pivoting like a flash, +was off across the gulch in full charge after the flying ape-man; +but Tarzan's lead was too great—if he could find finger or foothold +upon the sheer wall he would be safe; but should he slip from the +wet rocks his doom was already sealed as he would fall directly into +Numa's clutches where even the Great Tarmangani would be helpless. +</P> + +<P> +With the agility of a cat Tarzan ran up the cliff for thirty feet +before he paused, and there finding a secure foothold, he stopped +and looked down upon Numa who was leaping upward in a wild and +futile attempt to scale the rocky wall to his prey. Fifteen or +twenty feet from the ground the lion would scramble only to fall +backward again defeated. Tarzan eyed him for a moment and then +commenced a slow and cautious ascent toward the summit. Several +times he had difficulty in finding holds but at last he drew himself +over the edge, rose, picked up a bit of loose rock, hurled it at +Numa and strode away. +</P> + +<P> +Finding an easy descent to the gorge, he was about to pursue his +journey in the direction of the still-booming guns when a sudden +thought caused him to halt and a half-smile to play about his lips. +Turning, he trotted quickly back to the outer opening of Numa's +tunnel. Close beside it he listened for a moment and then rapidly +began to gather large rocks and pile them within the entrance. +He had almost closed the aperture when the lion appeared upon the +inside—a very ferocious and angry lion that pawed and clawed at +the rocks and uttered mighty roars that caused the earth to tremble; +but roars did not frighten Tarzan of the Apes. At Kala's shaggy +breast he had closed his infant eyes in sleep upon countless nights +in years gone by to the savage chorus of similar roars. Scarcely a +day or night of his jungle life—and practically all his life had +been spent in the jungle—had he not heard the roaring of hungry +lions, or angry lions, or love-sick lions. Such sounds affected +Tarzan as the tooting of an automobile horn may affect you—if you +are in front of the automobile it warns you out of the way, if you +are not in front of it you scarcely notice it. Figuratively Tarzan +was not in front of the automobile—Numa could not reach him and +Tarzan knew it, so he continued deliberately to choke the entrance +until there was no possibility of Numa's getting out again. When +he was quite through he made a grimace at the hidden lion beyond +the barrier and resumed his way toward the east. "A man-eater who +will eat no more men," he soliloquized. +</P> + +<P> +That night Tarzan lay up under an overhanging shelf of rock. The +next morning he resumed his journey, stopping only long enough to +make a kill and satisfy his hunger. The other beasts of the wild +eat and lie up; but Tarzan never let his belly interfere with his +plans. In this lay one of the greatest differences between the ape-man +and his fellows of the jungles and forests. The firing ahead rose +and fell during the day. He had noticed that it was highest at +dawn and immediately after dusk and that during the night it almost +ceased. In the middle of the afternoon of the second day he came +upon troops moving up toward the front. They appeared to be raiding +parties, for they drove goats and cows along with them and there +were native porters laden with grain and other foodstuffs. He saw +that these natives were all secured by neck chains and he also saw +that the troops were composed of native soldiers in German uniforms. +The officers were white men. No one saw Tarzan, yet he was here and +there about and among them for two hours. He inspected the insignia +upon their uniforms and saw that they were not the same as that +which he had taken from one of the dead soldiers at the bungalow +and then he passed on ahead of them, unseen in the dense bush. He +had come upon Germans and had not killed them; but it was because +the killing of Germans at large was not yet the prime motive of +his existence—now it was to discover the individual who slew his +mate. +</P> + +<P> +After he had accounted for him he would take up the little matter +of slaying ALL Germans who crossed his path, and he meant that many +should cross it, for he would hunt them precisely as professional +hunters hunt the man-eaters. +</P> + +<P> +As he neared the front lines the troops became more numerous. There +were motor trucks and ox teams and all the impedimenta of a small +army and always there were wounded men walking or being carried +toward the rear. He had crossed the railroad some distance back and +judged that the wounded were being taken to it for transportation +to a base hospital and possibly as far away as Tanga on the coast. +</P> + +<P> +It was dusk when he reached a large camp hidden in the foothills of +the Pare Mountains. As he was approaching from the rear he found +it but lightly guarded and what sentinels there were, were not +upon the alert, and so it was an easy thing for him to enter after +darkness had fallen and prowl about listening at the backs of tents, +searching for some clew to the slayer of his mate. +</P> + +<P> +As he paused at the side of a tent before which sat a number of +native soldiers he caught a few words spoken in native dialect that +riveted his attention instantly: "The Waziri fought like devils; +but we are greater fighters and we killed them all. When we were +through the captain came and killed the woman. He stayed outside +and yelled in a very loud voice until all the men were killed. +Underlieutenant von Goss is braver—he came in and stood beside the +door shouting at us, also in a very loud voice, and bade us nail +one of the Waziri who was wounded to the wall, and then he laughed +loudly because the man suffered. We all laughed. It was very funny." +</P> + +<P> +Like a beast of prey, grim and terrible, Tarzan crouched in the +shadows beside the tent. What thoughts passed through that savage +mind? Who may say? No outward sign of passion was revealed by the +expression of the handsome face; the cold, gray eyes denoted only +intense watchfulness. Presently the soldier Tarzan had heard first +rose and with a parting word turned away. He passed within ten +feet of the ape-man and continued on toward the rear of the camp. +Tarzan followed and in the shadows of a clump of bushes overtook +his quarry. There was no sound as the man beast sprang upon the +back of his prey and bore it to the ground for steel fingers closed +simultaneously upon the soldier's throat, effectually stifling +any outcry. By the neck Tarzan dragged his victim well into the +concealment of the bushes. +</P> + +<P> +"Make no sound," he cautioned in the man's own tribal dialect as +he released his hold upon the other's throat. +</P> + +<P> +The fellow gasped for breath, rolling frightened eyes upward to +see what manner of creature it might be in whose power he was. In +the darkness he saw only a naked brown body bending above him; but +he still remembered the terrific strength of the mighty muscles +that had closed upon his wind and dragged him into the bushes as +though he had been but a little child. If any thought of resistance +had crossed his mind he must have discarded it at once, as he made +no move to escape. +</P> + +<P> +"What is the name of the officer who killed the woman at the bungalow +where you fought with the Waziri?" asked Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"Hauptmann Schneider," replied the black when he could again command +his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is he?" demanded the ape-man. +</P> + +<P> +"He is here. It may be that he is at headquarters. Many of the +officers go there in the evening to receive orders." +</P> + +<P> +"Lead me there," commanded Tarzan, "and if I am discovered I will +kill you immediately. Get up!" +</P> + +<P> +The black rose and led the way by a roundabout route back through +the camp. Several times they were forced to hide while soldiers +passed; but at last they reached a great pile of baled hay from about +the corner of which the black pointed out a two-story building in +the distance. +</P> + +<P> +"Headquarters," he said. "You can go no farther unseen. There are +many soldiers about." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan realized that he could not proceed farther in company with +the black. He turned and looked at the fellow for a moment as though +pondering what disposition to make of him. +</P> + +<P> +"You helped to crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri," he accused in a low +yet none the less terrible tone. +</P> + +<P> +The black trembled, his knees giving beneath him. "He ordered us +to do it," he plead. +</P> + +<P> +"Who ordered it done?" demanded Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"Underlieutenant von Goss," replied the soldier. "He, too, is here." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall find him," returned Tarzan, grimly. "You helped to crucify +Wasimbu, the Waziri, and, while he suffered, you laughed." +</P> + +<P> +The fellow reeled. It was as though in the accusation he read also +his death sentence. With no other word Tarzan seized the man again +by the neck. As before there was no outcry. The giant muscles tensed. +The arms swung quickly upward and with them the body of the black +soldier who had helped to crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri, described a +circle in the air—once, twice, three times, and then it was flung +aside and the ape-man turned in the direction of General Kraut's +headquarters. +</P> + +<P> +A single sentinel in the rear of the building barred the way. +Tarzan crawled, belly to the ground, toward him, taking advantage +of cover as only the jungle-bred beast of prey can do. When the +sentinel's eyes were toward him, Tarzan hugged the ground, motionless +as stone; when they were turned away, he moved swiftly forward. +Presently he was within charging distance. He waited until the man +had turned his back once more and then he rose and sped noiselessly +down upon him. Again there was no sound as he carried the dead +body with him toward the building. +</P> + +<P> +The lower floor was lighted, the upper dark. Through the windows +Tarzan saw a large front room and a smaller room in rear of it. +In the former were many officers. Some moved about talking to one +another, others sat at field tables writing. The windows were open +and Tarzan could hear much of the conversation; but nothing that +interested him. It was mostly about the German successes in Africa +and conjectures as to when the German army in Europe would reach +Paris. Some said the Kaiser was doubtlessly already there, and +there was a great deal of damning Belgium. +</P> + +<P> +In the smaller back room a large, red-faced man sat behind a table. +Some other officers were also sitting a little in rear of him, +while two stood at attention before the general, who was questioning +them. As he talked, the general toyed with an oil lamp that stood +upon the table before him. Presently there came a knock upon the +door and an aide entered the room. He saluted and reported: "Fräulein +Kircher has arrived, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Bid her enter," commanded the general, and then nodded to the two +officers before him in sign of dismissal. +</P> + +<P> +The Fräulein, entering, passed them at the door. The officers in +the little room rose and saluted, the Fräulein acknowledging the +courtesy with a bow and a slight smile. She was a very pretty +girl. Even the rough, soiled riding habit and the caked dust upon +her face could not conceal the fact, and she was young. She could +not have been over nineteen. +</P> + +<P> +She advanced to the table behind which the general stood and, taking +a folded paper from an inside pocket of her coat, handed it to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Be seated, Fräulein," he said, and another officer brought her +a chair. No one spoke while the general read the contents of the +paper. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan appraised the various people in the room. He wondered if one +might not be Hauptmann Schneider, for two of them were captains. +The girl he judged to be of the intelligence department—a spy. +Her beauty held no appeal for him—without a glimmer of compunction +he could have wrung that fair, young neck. She was German and that +was enough; but he had other and more important work before him. +He wanted Hauptmann Schneider. +</P> + +<P> +Finally the general looked up from the paper. +</P> + +<P> +"Good," he said to the girl, and then to one of his aides, "Send +for Major Schneider." +</P> + +<P> +Major Schneider! Tarzan felt the short hairs at the back of his +neck rise. Already they had promoted the beast who had murdered +his mate—doubtless they had promoted him for that very crime. +</P> + +<P> +The aide left the room and the others fell into a general conversation +from which it became apparent to Tarzan that the German East African +forces greatly outnumbered the British and that the latter were +suffering heavily. The ape-man stood so concealed in a clump of +bushes that he could watch the interior of the room without being +seen from within, while he was at the same time hidden from the view +of anyone who might chance to pass along the post of the sentinel +he had slain. Momentarily he was expecting a patrol or a relief to +appear and discover that the sentinel was missing, when he knew an +immediate and thorough search would be made. +</P> + +<P> +Impatiently he awaited the coming of the man he sought and at +last he was rewarded by the reappearance of the aide who had been +dispatched to fetch him accompanied by an officer of medium size +with fierce, upstanding mustaches. The newcomer strode to the table, +halted and saluted, reporting. The general acknowledged the salute +and turned toward the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Fräulein Kircher," he said, "allow me to present Major Schneider—" +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan waited to hear no more. Placing a palm upon the sill of +the window he vaulted into the room into the midst of an astounded +company of the Kaiser's officers. With a stride he was at the table +and with a sweep of his hand sent the lamp crashing into the fat +belly of the general who, in his mad effort to escape cremation, +fell over backward, chair and all, upon the floor. Two of the aides +sprang for the ape-man who picked up the first and flung him in the +face of the other. The girl had leaped from her chair and stood +flattened against the wall. The other officers were calling aloud +for the guard and for help. Tarzan's purpose centered upon but +a single individual and him he never lost sight of. Freed from +attack for an instant he seized Major Schneider, threw him over his +shoulder and was out of the window so quickly that the astonished +assemblage could scarce realize what had occurred. +</P> + +<P> +A single glance showed him that the sentinel's post was still vacant +and a moment later he and his burden were in the shadows of the +hay dump. Major Schneider had made no outcry for the very excellent +reason that his wind was shut off. Now Tarzan released his grasp +enough to permit the man to breathe. +</P> + +<P> +"If you make a sound you will be choked again," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Cautiously and after infinite patience Tarzan passed the final +outpost. Forcing his captive to walk before him he pushed on toward +the west until, late into the night, he re-crossed the railway where +he felt reasonably safe from discovery. The German had cursed and +grumbled and threatened and asked questions; but his only reply +was another prod from Tarzan's sharp war spear. The ape-man herded +him along as he would have driven a hog with the difference that +he would have had more respect and therefore more consideration +for a hog. +</P> + +<P> +Until now Tarzan had given little thought to the details of revenge. +Now he pondered what form the punishment should take. Of only one +thing was he certain—it must end in death. Like all brave men +and courageous beasts Tarzan had little natural inclination to +torture—none, in fact; but this case was unique in his experience. +An inherent sense of justice called for an eye for an eye and his +recent oath demanded even more. Yes, the creature must suffer even +as he had caused Jane Clayton to suffer. Tarzan could not hope to +make the man suffer as he had suffered, since physical pain may +never approach the exquisiteness of mental torture. +</P> + +<P> +All through the long night the ape-man goaded on the exhausted and +now terrified Hun. The awful silence of his captor wrought upon the +German's nerves. If he would only speak! Again and again Schneider +tried to force or coax a word from him; but always the result was +the same—continued silence and a vicious and painful prod from the +spear point. Schneider was bleeding and sore. He was so exhausted +that he staggered at every step, and often he fell only to be +prodded to his feet again by that terrifying and remorseless spear. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until morning that Tarzan reached a decision and it came +to him then like an inspiration from above. A slow smile touched +his lips and he immediately sought a place to lie up and rest—he +wished his prisoner to be fit now for what lay in store for him. +Ahead was a stream which Tarzan had crossed the day before. He knew +the ford for a drinking place and a likely spot to make an easy +kill. Cautioning the German to utter silence with a gesture the +two approached the stream quietly. Down the game trail Tarzan saw +some deer about to leave the water. He shoved Schneider into the +brush at one side and, squatting next him, waited. The German +watched the silent giant with puzzled, frightened eyes. In the new +dawn he, for the first time, was able to obtain a good look at his +captor, and, if he had been puzzled and frightened before, those +sensations were nothing to what he experienced now. +</P> + +<P> +Who and what could this almost naked, white savage be? He had +heard him speak but once—when he had cautioned him to silence—and +then in excellent German and the well-modulated tones of culture. +He watched him now as the fascinated toad watches the snake that +is about to devour it. He saw the graceful limbs and symmetrical +body motionless as a marble statue as the creature crouched in the +concealment of the leafy foliage. Not a muscle, not a nerve moved. +He saw the deer coming slowly along the trail, down wind and +unsuspecting. He saw a buck pass—an old buck—and then a young and +plump one came opposite the giant in ambush, and Schneider's eyes +went wide and a scream of terror almost broke from his lips as he +saw the agile beast at his side spring straight for the throat of +the young buck and heard from those human lips the hunting roar of +a wild beast. Down went the buck and Tarzan and his captive had +meat. The ape-man ate his raw, but he permitted the German to build +a fire and cook his portion. +</P> + +<P> +The two lay up until late in the afternoon and then took up the +journey once again—a journey that was so frightful to Schneider +because of his ignorance of its destination that he at times groveled +at Tarzan's feet begging for an explanation and for mercy; but on +and on in silence the ape-man went, prodding the failing Hun whenever +the latter faltered. +</P> + +<P> +It was noon of the third day before they reached their destination. +After a steep climb and a short walk they halted at the edge of +a precipitous cliff and Schneider looked down into a narrow gulch +where a single tree grew beside a tiny rivulet and sparse grass +broke from a rock-strewn soil. Tarzan motioned him over the edge; +but the German drew back in terror. The Ape-man seized him and +pushed him roughly toward the brink. "Descend," he said. It was +the second time he had spoken in three days and perhaps his very +silence, ominous in itself, had done more to arouse terror in the +breast of the Boche than even the spear point, ever ready as it +always was. +</P> + +<P> +Schneider looked fearfully over the edge; but was about to essay +the attempt when Tarzan halted him. "I am Lord Greystoke," he +said. "It was my wife you murdered in the Waziri country. You will +understand now why I came for you. Descend." +</P> + +<P> +The German fell upon his knees. "I did not murder your wife," +he cried. "Have mercy! I did not murder your wife. I do not know +anything about—" +</P> + +<P> +"Descend!" snapped Tarzan, raising the point of his spear. He knew +that the man lied and was not surprised that he did. A man who +would murder for no cause would lie for less. Schneider still +hesitated and pled. The ape-man jabbed him with the spear and Schneider +slid fearfully over the top and began the perilous descent. Tarzan +accompanied and assisted him over the worst places until at last +they were within a few feet of the bottom. +</P> + +<P> +"Be quiet now," cautioned the ape-man. He pointed at the entrance +to what appeared to be a cave at the far end of the gulch. "There +is a hungry lion in there. If you can reach that tree before +he discovers you, you will have several days longer in which to +enjoy life and then—when you are too weak to cling longer to the +branches of the tree Numa, the man-eater, will feed again for the +last time." He pushed Schneider from his foothold to the ground +below. "Now run," he said. +</P> + +<P> +The German trembling in terror started for the tree. He had almost +reached it when a horrid roar broke from the mouth of the cave and +almost simultaneously a gaunt, hunger mad lion leaped into the +daylight of the gulch. Schneider had but a few yards to cover; +but the lion flew over the ground to circumvent him while Tarzan +watched the race with a slight smile upon his lips. +</P> + +<P> +Schneider won by a slender margin, and as Tarzan scaled the cliff +to the summit, he heard behind him mingled with the roaring of the +baffled cat, the gibbering of a human voice that was at the same +time more bestial than the beast's. +</P> + +<P> +Upon the brink of the cliff the ape-man turned and looked back +into the gulch. High in the tree the German clung frantically to +a branch across which his body lay. Beneath him was Numa—waiting. +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man raised his face to Kudu, the sun, and from his mighty +chest rose the savage victory cry of the bull ape. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +In the German Lines +</H3> + +<P> +Tarzan was not yet fully revenged. There were many millions of +Germans yet alive—enough to keep Tarzan pleasantly occupied the +balance of his life, and yet not enough, should he kill them all, +to recompense him for the great loss he had suffered—nor could +the death of all those million Germans bring back his loved one. +</P> + +<P> +While in the German camp in the Pare Mountains, which lie just +east of the boundary line between German and British East Africa, +Tarzan had overheard enough to suggest that the British were getting +the worst of the fighting in Africa. At first he had given the +matter but little thought, since, after the death of his wife, the +one strong tie that had held him to civilization, he had renounced +all mankind, considering himself no longer man, but ape. +</P> + +<P> +After accounting for Schneider as satisfactorily as lay within his +power he circled Kilimanjaro and hunted in the foothills to the +north of that mightiest of mountains as he had discovered that in +the neighborhood of the armies there was no hunting at all. Some +pleasure he derived through conjuring mental pictures from time to +time of the German he had left in the branches of the lone tree at +the bottom of the high-walled gulch in which was penned the starving +lion. He could imagine the man's mental anguish as he became weakened +from hunger and maddened by thirst, knowing that sooner or later he +must slip exhausted to the ground where waited the gaunt man-eater. +Tarzan wondered if Schneider would have the courage to descend to +the little rivulet for water should Numa leave the gulch and enter +the cave, and then he pictured the mad race for the tree again +when the lion charged out to seize his prey as he was certain to +do, since the clumsy German could not descend to the rivulet without +making at least some slight noise that would attract Numa's attention. +</P> + +<P> +But even this pleasure palled, and more and more the ape-man found +himself thinking of the English soldiers fighting against heavy +odds and especially of the fact that it was Germans who were beating +them. The thought made him lower his head and growl and it worried +him not a little—a bit, perhaps, because he was finding it difficult +to forget that he was an Englishman when he wanted only to be an +ape. And at last the time came when he could not longer endure the +thought of Germans killing Englishmen while he hunted in safety a +bare march away. +</P> + +<P> +His decision made, he set out in the direction of the German camp, +no well-defined plan formulated; but with the general idea that +once near the field of operations he might find an opportunity to +harass the German command as he so well knew how to do. His way +took him along the gorge close to the gulch in which he had left +Schneider, and, yielding to a natural curiosity, he scaled the cliffs +and made his way to the edge of the gulch. The tree was empty, nor +was there sign of Numa, the lion. Picking up a rock he hurled it +into the gulch, where it rolled to the very entrance to the cave. +Instantly the lion appeared in the aperture; but such a different-looking +lion from the great sleek brute that Tarzan had trapped there two +weeks before. Now he was gaunt and emaciated, and when he walked +he staggered. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is the German?" shouted Tarzan. "Was he good eating, or only +a bag of bones when he slipped and fell from the tree?" +</P> + +<P> +Numa growled. "You look hungry, Numa," continued the ape-man. "You +must have been very hungry to eat all the grass from your lair and +even the bark from the tree as far up as you can reach. Would you +like another German?" and smiling he turned away. +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later he came suddenly upon Bara, the deer, asleep +beneath a tree, and as Tarzan was hungry he made a quick kill, +and squatting beside his prey proceeded to eat his fill. As he +was gnawing the last morsel from a bone his quick ears caught the +padding of stealthy feet behind him, and turning he confronted +Dango, the hyena, sneaking upon him. With a growl the ape-man +picked up a fallen branch and hurled it at the skulking brute. "Go +away, eater of carrion!" he cried; but Dango was hungry and being +large and powerful he only snarled and circled slowly about as +though watching for an opportunity to charge. Tarzan of the Apes +knew Dango even better than Dango knew himself. He knew that the +brute, made savage by hunger, was mustering its courage for an +attack, that it was probably accustomed to man and therefore more +or less fearless of him and so he un-slung his heavy spear and +laid it ready at his side while he continued his meal, all the time +keeping a watchful eye upon the hyena. +</P> + +<P> +He felt no fear, for long familiarity with the dangers of his wild +world had so accustomed him to them that he took whatever came as +a part of each day's existence as you accept the homely though no +less real dangers of the farm, the range, or the crowded metropolis. +Being jungle bred he was ready to protect his kill from all comers +within ordinary limitations of caution. Under favorable conditions +Tarzan would face even Numa himself and, if forced to seek safety +by flight, he could do so without any feeling of shame. There was +no braver creature roamed those savage wilds and at the same time +there was none more wise—the two factors that had permitted him +to survive. +</P> + +<P> +Dango might have charged sooner but for the savage growls of the +ape-man—growls which, coming from human lips, raised a question +and a fear in the hyena's heart. He had attacked women and children +in the native fields and he had frightened their men about their +fires at night; but he never had seen a man-thing who made this +sound that reminded him more of Numa angry than of a man afraid. +</P> + +<P> +When Tarzan had completed his repast he was about to rise and hurl +a clean-picked bone at the beast before he went his way, leaving +the remains of his kill to Dango; but a sudden thought stayed him +and instead he picked up the carcass of the deer, threw it over +his shoulder, and set off in the direction of the gulch. For a +few yards Dango followed, growling, and then realizing that he was +being robbed of even a taste of the luscious flesh he cast discretion +to the winds and charged. Instantly, as though Nature had given him +eyes in the back of his head, Tarzan sensed the impending danger +and, dropping Bara to the ground, turned with raised spear. Far +back went the brown, right hand and then forward, lightning-like, +backed by the power of giant muscles and the weight of his brawn +and bone. The spear, released at the right instant, drove straight +for Dango, caught him in the neck where it joined the shoulders +and passed through the body. +</P> + +<P> +When he had withdrawn the shaft from the hyena Tarzan shouldered +both carcasses and continued on toward the gulch. Below lay Numa +beneath the shade of the lone tree and at the ape-man's call he +staggered slowly to his feet, yet weak as he was, he still growled +savagely, even essaying a roar at the sight of his enemy. Tarzan +let the two bodies slide over the rim of the cliff. "Eat, Numa!" +he cried. "It may be that I shall need you again." He saw the lion, +quickened to new life at the sight of food, spring upon the body +of the deer and then he left him rending and tearing the flesh as +he bolted great pieces into his empty maw. +</P> + +<P> +The following day Tarzan came within sight of the German lines. +From a wooded spur of the hills he looked down upon the enemy's +left flank and beyond to the British lines. His position gave him +a bird's-eye view of the field of battle, and his keen eyesight +picked out many details that would not have been apparent to a man +whose every sense was not trained to the highest point of perfection +as were the ape-man's. He noted machine-gun emplacements cunningly +hidden from the view of the British and listening posts placed well +out in No Man's Land. +</P> + +<P> +As his interested gaze moved hither and thither from one point of +interest to another he heard from a point upon the hillside below +him, above the roar of cannon and the crack of rifle fire, a single +rifle spit. Immediately his attention was centered upon the spot +where he knew a sniper must be hid. Patiently he awaited the next +shot that would tell him more surely the exact location of the +rifleman, and when it came he moved down the steep hillside with +the stealth and quietness of a panther. Apparently he took no +cognizance of where he stepped, yet never a loose stone was disturbed +nor a twig broken—it was as though his feet saw. +</P> + +<P> +Presently, as he passed through a clump of bushes, he came to the +edge of a low cliff and saw upon a ledge some fifteen feet below +him a German soldier prone behind an embankment of loose rock and +leafy boughs that hid him from the view of the British lines. The +man must have been an excellent shot, for he was well back of the +German lines, firing over the heads of his fellows. His high-powered +rifle was equipped with telescope sights and he also carried +binoculars which he was in the act of using as Tarzan discovered +him, either to note the effect of his last shot or to discover +a new target. Tarzan let his eye move quickly toward that part of +the British line the German seemed to be scanning, his keen sight +revealing many excellent targets for a rifle placed so high above +the trenches. +</P> + +<P> +The Hun, evidently satisfied with his observations, laid aside +his binoculars and again took up his rifle, placed its butt in the +hollow of his shoulder and took careful aim. At the same instant a +brown body sprang outward from the cliff above him. There was no +sound and it is doubtful that the German ever knew what manner of +creature it was that alighted heavily upon his back, for at the +instant of impact the sinewy fingers of the ape-man circled the +hairy throat of the Boche. There was a moment of futile struggling +followed by the sudden realization of dissolution—the sniper was +dead. +</P> + +<P> +Lying behind the rampart of rocks and boughs, Tarzan looked down +upon the scene below. Near at hand were the trenches of the Germans. +He could see officers and men moving about in them and almost in +front of him a well-hidden machine gun was traversing No Man's Land +in an oblique direction, striking the British at such an angle as +to make it difficult for them to locate it. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan watched, toying idly with the rifle of the dead German. +Presently he fell to examining the mechanism of the piece. He +glanced again toward the German trenches and changed the adjustment +of the sights, then he placed the rifle to his shoulder and took +aim. Tarzan was an excellent shot. With his civilized friends he +had hunted big game with the weapons of civilization and though he +never had killed except for food or in self-defense he had amused +himself firing at inanimate targets thrown into the air and had +perfected himself in the use of firearms without realizing that +he had done so. Now indeed would he hunt big game. A slow smile +touched his lips as his finger closed gradually upon the trigger. +The rifle spoke and a German machine gunner collapsed behind his +weapon. In three minutes Tarzan picked off the crew of that gun. +Then he spotted a German officer emerging from a dugout and the +three men in the bay with him. Tarzan was careful to leave no one +in the immediate vicinity to question how Germans could be shot in +German trenches when they were entirely concealed from enemy view. +</P> + +<P> +Again adjusting his sights he took a long-range shot at a distant +machine-gun crew to his right. With calm deliberation he wiped them +out to a man. Two guns were silenced. He saw men running through +the trenches and he picked off several of them. By this time the +Germans were aware that something was amiss—that an uncanny sniper +had discovered a point of vantage from which this sector of the +trenches was plainly visible to him. At first they sought to discover +his location in No Man's Land; but when an officer looking over +the parapet through a periscope was struck full in the back of the +head with a rifle bullet which passed through his skull and fell +to the bottom of the trench they realized that it was beyond the +parados rather than the parapet that they should search. +</P> + +<P> +One of the soldiers picked up the bullet that had killed his +officer, and then it was that real excitement prevailed in that +particular bay, for the bullet was obviously of German make. Hugging +the parados, messengers carried the word in both directions and +presently periscopes were leveled above the parados and keen eyes +were searching out the traitor. It did not take them long to locate +the position of the hidden sniper and then Tarzan saw a machine +gun being trained upon him. Before it had gotten into action its +crew lay dead about it; but there were other men to take their +places, reluctantly perhaps; but driven on by their officers they +were forced to it and at the same time two other machine guns were +swung around toward the ape-man and put into operation. +</P> + +<P> +Realizing that the game was about up Tarzan with a farewell shot +laid aside the rifle and melted into the hills behind him. For many +minutes he could hear the sputter of machinegun fire concentrated +upon the spot he had just quit and smiled as he contemplated the +waste of German ammunition. +</P> + +<P> +"They have paid heavily for Wasimbu, the Waziri, whom they crucified, +and for his slain fellows," he mused; "but for Jane they can never +pay—no, not if I killed them all." +</P> + +<P> +After dark that night he circled the flanks of both armies and +passed through the British out-guards and into the British lines. +No man saw him come. No man knew that he was there. +</P> + +<P> +Headquarters of the Second Rhodesians occupied a sheltered position +far enough back of the lines to be comparatively safe from enemy +observation. Even lights were permitted, and Colonel Capell sat +before a field table, on which was spread a military map, talking +with several of his officers. A large tree spread above them, a +lantern sputtered dimly upon the table, while a small fire burned +upon the ground close at hand. The enemy had no planes and no other +observers could have seen the lights from the German lines. +</P> + +<P> +The officers were discussing the advantage in numbers possessed by +the enemy and the inability of the British to more than hold their +present position. They could not advance. Already they had sustained +severe losses in every attack and had always been driven back by +overwhelming numbers. There were hidden machine guns, too, that +bothered the colonel considerably. It was evidenced by the fact +that he often reverted to them during the conversation. +</P> + +<P> +"Something silenced them for a while this afternoon," said one of +the younger officers. "I was observing at the time and I couldn't +make out what the fuss was about; but they seemed to be having a +devil of a time in a section of trench on their left. At one time I +could have sworn they were attacked in the rear—I reported it to +you at the time, sir, you'll recall—for the blighters were pepperin' +away at the side of that bluff behind them. I could see the dirt +fly. I don't know what it could have been." +</P> + +<P> +There was a slight rustling among the branches of the tree above +them and simultaneously a lithe, brown body dropped in their midst. +Hands moved quickly to the butts of pistols; but otherwise there +was no movement among the officers. First they looked wonderingly +at the almost naked white man standing there with the firelight +playing upon rounded muscles, took in the primitive attire and +the equally primitive armament and then all eyes turned toward the +colonel. +</P> + +<P> +"Who the devil are you, sir?" snapped that officer. +</P> + +<P> +"Tarzan of the Apes," replied the newcomer. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Greystoke!" cried a major, and stepped forward with outstretched +hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Preswick," acknowledged Tarzan as he took the proffered hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't recognize you at first," apologized the major. "The +last time I saw you you were in London in evening dress. Quite a +difference—'pon my word, man, you'll have to admit it." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan smiled and turned toward the colonel. "I overheard your +conversation," he said. "I have just come from behind the German +lines. Possibly I can help you." +</P> + +<P> +The colonel looked questioningly toward Major Preswick who quickly +rose to the occasion and presented the ape-man to his commanding +officer and fellows. Briefly Tarzan told them what it was that +brought him out alone in pursuit of the Germans. +</P> + +<P> +"And now you have come to join us?" asked the colonel. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan shook his head. "Not regularly," he replied. "I must fight +in my own way; but I can help you. Whenever I wish I can enter the +German lines." +</P> + +<P> +Capell smiled and shook his head. "It's not so easy as you think," +he said; "I've lost two good officers in the last week trying it—and +they were experienced men; none better in the Intelligence Department." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it more difficult than entering the British lines?" asked +Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +The colonel was about to reply when a new thought appeared to occur +to him and he looked quizzically at the ape-man. "Who brought you +here?" he asked. "Who passed you through our out-guards?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have just come through the German lines and yours and passed +through your camp," he replied. "Send word to ascertain if anyone +saw me." +</P> + +<P> +"But who accompanied you?" insisted Capell. +</P> + +<P> +"I came alone," replied Tarzan and then, drawing himself to +his full height, "You men of civilization, when you come into the +jungle, are as dead among the quick. Manu, the monkey, is a sage +by comparison. I marvel that you exist at all—only your numbers, +your weapons, and your power of reasoning save you. Had I a few +hundred great apes with your reasoning power I could drive the +Germans into the ocean as quickly as the remnant of them could +reach the coast. Fortunate it is for you that the dumb brutes cannot +combine. Could they, Africa would remain forever free of men. But +come, can I help you? Would you like to know where several machinegun +emplacements are hidden?" +</P> + +<P> +The colonel assured him that they would, and a moment later Tarzan +had traced upon the map the location of three that had been bothering +the English. "There is a weak spot here," he said, placing a finger +upon the map. "It is held by blacks; but the machine guns out in +front are manned by whites. If—wait! I have a plan. You can fill +that trench with your own men and enfilade the trenches to its +right with their own machine guns." +</P> + +<P> +Colonel Capell smiled and shook his head. "It sounds very easy," +he said. +</P> + +<P> +"It IS easy—for me," replied the ape-man. "I can empty that section +of trench without a shot. I was raised in the jungle—I know the +jungle folk—the Gomangani as well as the others. Look for me again +on the second night," and he turned to leave. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait," said the colonel. "I will send an officer to pass you +through the lines." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan smiled and moved away. As he was leaving the little group +about headquarters he passed a small figure wrapped in an officer's +heavy overcoat. The collar was turned up and the visor of the +military cap pulled well down over the eyes; but, as the ape-man +passed, the light from the fire illuminated the features of the +newcomer for an instant, revealing to Tarzan a vaguely familiar +face. Some officer he had known in London, doubtless, he surmised, +and went his way through the British camp and the British lines +all unknown to the watchful sentinels of the out-guard. +</P> + +<P> +Nearly all night he moved across Kilimanjaro's foothills, tracking +by instinct an unknown way, for he guessed that what he sought would +be found on some wooded slope higher up than he had come upon his +other recent journeys in this, to him, little known country. Three +hours before dawn his keen nostrils apprised him that somewhere in +the vicinity he would find what he wanted, and so he climbed into +a tall tree and settled himself for a few hours' sleep. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +When the Lion Fed +</H3> + +<P> +Kudu, the sun, was well up in the heavens when Tarzan awoke. The +ape-man stretched his giant limbs, ran his fingers through his thick +hair, and swung lightly down to earth. Immediately he took up the +trail he had come in search of, following it by scent down into +a deep ravine. Cautiously he went now, for his nose told him that +the quarry was close at hand, and presently from an overhanging +bough he looked down upon Horta, the boar, and many of his kinsmen. +Un-slinging his bow and selecting an arrow, Tarzan fitted the shaft +and, drawing it far back, took careful aim at the largest of the +great pigs. In the ape-man's teeth were other arrows, and no sooner +had the first one sped, than he had fitted and shot another bolt. +Instantly the pigs were in turmoil, not knowing from whence the +danger threatened. They stood stupidly at first and then commenced +milling around until six of their number lay dead or dying about +them; then with a chorus of grunts and squeals they started off at +a wild run, disappearing quickly in the dense underbrush. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan then descended from the tree, dispatched those that were not +already dead and proceeded to skin the carcasses. As he worked, +rapidly and with great skill, he neither hummed nor whistled as +does the average man of civilization. It was in numerous little +ways such as these that he differed from other men, due, probably, +to his early jungle training. The beasts of the jungle that he had +been reared among were playful to maturity but seldom thereafter. +His fellow-apes, especially the bulls, became fierce and surly as +they grew older. Life was a serious matter during lean seasons—one +had to fight to secure one's share of food then, and the habit once +formed became lifelong. Hunting for food was the life labor of the +jungle bred, and a life labor is a thing not to be approached with +levity nor prosecuted lightly. So all work found Tarzan serious, +though he still retained what the other beasts lost as they grew +older—a sense of humor, which he gave play to when the mood suited +him. It was a grim humor and sometimes ghastly; but it satisfied +Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +Then, too, were one to sing and whistle while working on the ground, +concentration would be impossible. Tarzan possessed the ability to +concentrate each of his five senses upon its particular business. +Now he worked at skinning the six pigs and his eyes and his fingers +worked as though there was naught else in all the world than these +six carcasses; but his ears and his nose were as busily engaged +elsewhere—the former ranging the forest all about and the latter +assaying each passing zephyr. It was his nose that first discovered +the approach of Sabor, the lioness, when the wind shifted for a +moment. +</P> + +<P> +As clearly as though he had seen her with his eyes, Tarzan knew +that the lioness had caught the scent of the freshly killed pigs +and immediately had moved down wind in their direction. He knew +from the strength of the scent spoor and the rate of the wind about +how far away she was and that she was approaching from behind him. +He was finishing the last pig and he did not hurry. The five pelts +lay close at hand—he had been careful to keep them thus together +and near him—an ample tree waved its low branches above him. +</P> + +<P> +He did not even turn his head for he knew she was not yet in sight; +but he bent his ears just a bit more sharply for the first sound +of her nearer approach. When the final skin had been removed he +rose. Now he heard Sabor in the bushes to his rear, but not yet +too close. Leisurely he gathered up the six pelts and one of the +carcasses, and as the lioness appeared between the boles of two +trees he swung upward into the branches above him. Here he hung +the hides over a limb, seated himself comfortably upon another with +his back against the bole of the tree, cut a hind quarter from +the carcass he had carried with him and proceeded to satisfy his +hunger. Sabor slunk, growling, from the brush, cast a wary eye +upward toward the ape-man and then fell upon the nearest carcass. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan looked down upon her and grinned, recalling an argument he +had once had with a famous big-game hunter who had declared that +the king of beasts ate only what he himself had killed. Tarzan knew +better for he had seen Numa and Sabor stoop even to carrion. +</P> + +<P> +Having filled his belly, the ape-man fell to work upon the hides—all +large and strong. First he cut strips from them about half an inch +wide. When he had sufficient number of these strips he sewed two of +the hides together, afterwards piercing holes every three or four +inches around the edges. Running another strip through these +holes gave him a large bag with a drawstring. In similar fashion he +produced four other like bags, but smaller, from the four remaining +hides and had several strips left over. +</P> + +<P> +All this done he threw a large, juicy fruit at Sabor, cached the +remainder of the pig in a crotch of the tree and swung off toward +the southwest through the middle terraces of the forest, carrying +his five bags with him. Straight he went to the rim of the gulch +where he had imprisoned Numa, the lion. Very stealthily he approached +the edge and peered over. Numa was not in sight. Tarzan sniffed +and listened. He could hear nothing, yet he knew that Numa must be +within the cave. He hoped that he slept—much depended upon Numa +not discovering him. +</P> + +<P> +Cautiously he lowered himself over the edge of the cliff, and with +utter noiselessness commenced the descent toward the bottom of the +gulch. He stopped often and turned his keen eyes and ears in the +direction of the cave's mouth at the far end of the gulch, some +hundred feet away. As he neared the foot of the cliff his danger +increased greatly. If he could reach the bottom and cover half +the distance to the tree that stood in the center of the gulch he +would feel comparatively safe for then, even if Numa appeared, he +felt that he could beat him either to the cliff or to the tree, +but to scale the first thirty feet of the cliff rapidly enough to +elude the leaping beast would require a running start of at least +twenty feet as there were no very good hand- or footholds close +to the bottom—he had had to run up the first twenty feet like +a squirrel running up a tree that other time he had beaten an +infuriated Numa to it. He had no desire to attempt it again unless +the conditions were equally favorable at least, for he had escaped +Numa's raking talons by only a matter of inches on the former +occasion. +</P> + +<P> +At last he stood upon the floor of the gulch. Silent as a disembodied +spirit he advanced toward the tree. He was half way there and no +sign of Numa. He reached the scarred bole from which the famished +lion had devoured the bark and even torn pieces of the wood itself +and yet Numa had not appeared. As he drew himself up to the lower +branches he commenced to wonder if Numa were in the cave after +all. Could it be possible that he had forced the barrier of rocks +with which Tarzan had plugged the other end of the passage where +it opened into the outer world of freedom? Or was Numa dead? The +ape-man doubted the verity of the latter suggestion as he had fed +the lion the entire carcasses of a deer and a hyena only a few +days since—he could not have starved in so short a time, while the +little rivulet running across the gulch furnished him with water +a-plenty. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan started to descend and investigate the cavern when it occurred +to him that it would save effort were he to lure Numa out instead. +Acting upon the thought he uttered a low growl. Immediately he was +rewarded by the sound of a movement within the cave and an instant +later a wild-eyed, haggard lion rushed forth ready to face the +devil himself were he edible. When Numa saw Tarzan, fat and sleek, +perched in the tree he became suddenly the embodiment of frightful +rage. His eyes and his nose told him that this was the creature +responsible for his predicament and also that this creature was +good to eat. Frantically the lion sought to scramble up the bole of +the tree. Twice he leaped high enough to catch the lowest branches +with his paws, but both times he fell backward to the earth. Each +time he became more furious. His growls and roars were incessant +and horrible and all the time Tarzan sat grinning down upon him, +taunting him in jungle billingsgate for his inability to reach +him and mentally exulting that always Numa was wasting his already +waning strength. +</P> + +<P> +Finally the ape-man rose and un-slung his rope. He arranged the +coils carefully in his left hand and the noose in his right, and +then he took a position with each foot on one of two branches that +lay in about the same horizontal plane and with his back pressed +firmly against the stem of the tree. There he stood hurling insults +at Numa until the beast was again goaded into leaping upward at +him, and as Numa rose the noose dropped quickly over his head and +about his neck. A quick movement of Tarzan's rope hand tightened +the coil and when Numa slipped backward to the ground only his hind +feet touched, for the ape-man held him swinging by the neck. +</P> + +<P> +Moving slowly outward upon the two branches Tarzan swung Numa out +so that he could not reach the bole of the tree with his raking +talons, then he made the rope fast after drawing the lion clear +of the ground, dropped his five pigskin sacks to earth and leaped +down himself. Numa was striking frantically at the grass rope with +his fore claws. At any moment he might sever it and Tarzan must, +therefore, work rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +First he drew the larger bag over Numa's head and secured it about +his neck with the draw string, then he managed, after considerable +effort, during which he barely escaped being torn to ribbons by +the mighty talons, to hog-tie Numa—drawing his four legs together +and securing them in that position with the strips trimmed from +the pigskins. +</P> + +<P> +By this time the lion's efforts had almost ceased—it was evident +that he was being rapidly strangled and as that did not at all +suit the purpose of the Tarmangani the latter swung again into the +tree, unfastened the rope from above and lowered the lion to the +ground where he immediately followed it and loosed the noose about +Numa's neck. Then he drew his hunting knife and cut two round holes +in the front of the head bag opposite the lion's eyes for the double +purpose of permitting him to see and giving him sufficient air to +breathe. +</P> + +<P> +This done Tarzan busied himself fitting the other bags, one over +each of Numa's formidably armed paws. Those on the hind feet he +secured not only by tightening the draw strings but also rigged +garters that fastened tightly around the legs above the hocks. +He secured the front-feet bags in place similarly above the great +knees. Now, indeed, was Numa, the lion, reduced to the harmlessness +of Bara, the deer. +</P> + +<P> +By now Numa was showing signs of returning life. He gasped for +breath and struggled; but the strips of pigskin that held his four +legs together were numerous and tough. Tarzan watched and was sure +that they would hold, yet Numa is mightily muscled and there was +the chance, always, that he might struggle free of his bonds after +which all would depend upon the efficacy of Tarzan's bags and draw +strings. +</P> + +<P> +After Numa had again breathed normally and was able to roar +out his protests and his rage, his struggles increased to Titanic +proportions for a short time; but as a lion's powers of endurance +are in no way proportionate to his size and strength he soon tired +and lay quietly. Amid renewed growling and another futile attempt +to free himself, Numa was finally forced to submit to the further +indignity of having a rope secured about his neck; but this time +it was no noose that might tighten and strangle him; but a bowline +knot, which does not tighten or slip under strain. +</P> + +<P> +The other end of the rope Tarzan fastened to the stem of the tree, +then he quickly cut the bonds securing Numa's legs and leaped aside +as the beast sprang to his feet. For a moment the lion stood with +legs far outspread, then he raised first one paw and then another, +shaking them energetically in an effort to dislodge the strange +footgear that Tarzan had fastened upon them. Finally he began to paw +at the bag upon his head. The ape-man, standing with ready spear, +watched Numa's efforts intently. Would the bags hold? He sincerely +hoped so. Or would all his labor prove fruitless? +</P> + +<P> +As the clinging things upon his feet and face resisted his every +effort to dislodge them, Numa became frantic. He rolled upon the +ground, fighting, biting, scratching, and roaring; he leaped to his +feet and sprang into the air; he charged Tarzan, only to be brought +to a sudden stop as the rope securing him to the tree tautened. +Then Tarzan stepped in and rapped him smartly on the head with the +shaft of his spear. Numa reared upon his hind feet and struck at +the ape-man and in return received a cuff on one ear that sent him +reeling sideways. When he returned to the attack he was again sent +sprawling. After the fourth effort it appeared to dawn upon the king +of beasts that he had met his master, his head and tail dropped and +when Tarzan advanced upon him he backed away, though still growling. +</P> + +<P> +Leaving Numa tied to the tree Tarzan entered the tunnel and removed +the barricade from the opposite end, after which he returned to +the gulch and strode straight for the tree. Numa lay in his path +and as Tarzan approached growled menacingly. The ape-man cuffed +him aside and unfastened the rope from the tree. Then ensued a +half-hour of stubbornly fought battle while Tarzan endeavored to +drive Numa through the tunnel ahead of him and Numa persistently +refused to be driven. At last, however, by dint of the unrestricted +use of his spear point, the ape-man succeeded in forcing the lion +to move ahead of him and eventually guided him into the passageway. +Once inside, the problem became simpler since Tarzan followed closely +in the rear with his sharp spear point, an unremitting incentive +to forward movement on the part of the lion. If Numa hesitated he +was prodded. If he backed up the result was extremely painful and +so, being a wise lion who was learning rapidly, he decided to keep +on going and at the end of the tunnel, emerging into the outer +world, he sensed freedom, raised his head and tail and started off +at a run. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan, still on his hands and knees just inside the entrance, was +taken unaware with the result that he was sprawled forward upon +his face and dragged a hundred yards across the rocky ground before +Numa was brought to a stand. It was a scratched and angry Tarzan +who scrambled to his feet. At first he was tempted to chastise +Numa; but, as the ape-man seldom permitted his temper to guide him +in any direction not countenanced by reason, he quickly abandoned +the idea. +</P> + +<P> +Having taught Numa the rudiments of being driven, he now urged him +forward and there commenced as strange a journey as the unrecorded +history of the jungle contains. The balance of that day was eventful +both for Tarzan and for Numa. From open rebellion at first the lion +passed through stages of stubborn resistance and grudging obedience +to final surrender. He was a very tired, hungry, and thirsty lion +when night overtook them; but there was to be no food for him that +day or the next—Tarzan did not dare risk removing the head bag, +though he did cut another hole which permitted Numa to quench his +thirst shortly after dark. Then he tied him to a tree, sought food +for himself, and stretched out among the branches above his captive +for a few hours' sleep. +</P> + +<P> +Early the following morning they resumed their journey, winding over +the low foothills south of Kilimanjaro, toward the east. The beasts +of the jungle who saw them took one look and fled. The scent spoor +of Numa, alone, might have been enough to have provoked flight in +many of the lesser animals, but the sight of this strange apparition +that smelled like a lion, but looked like nothing they ever had +seen before, being led through the jungles by a giant Tarmangani +was too much for even the more formidable denizens of the wild. +</P> + +<P> +Sabor, the lioness, recognizing from a distance the scent of her +lord and master intermingled with that of a Tarmangani and the +hide of Horta, the boar, trotted through the aisles of the forest +to investigate. Tarzan and Numa heard her coming, for she voiced +a plaintive and questioning whine as the baffling mixture of odors +aroused her curiosity and her fears, for lions, however terrible +they may appear, are often timid animals and Sabor, being of the +gentler sex, was, naturally, habitually inquisitive as well. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan un-slung his spear for he knew that he might now easily have +to fight to retain his prize. Numa halted and turned his outraged +head in the direction of the coming she. He voiced a throaty growl +that was almost a purr. Tarzan was upon the point of prodding him +on again when Sabor broke into view, and behind her the ape-man saw +that which gave him instant pause—four full-grown lions trailing +the lioness. +</P> + +<P> +To have goaded Numa then into active resistance might have brought +the whole herd down upon him and so Tarzan waited to learn first +what their attitude would be. He had no idea of relinquishing his +lion without a battle; but knowing lions as he did, he knew that +there was no assurance as to just what the newcomers would do. +</P> + +<P> +The lioness was young and sleek, and the four males were in their +prime—as handsome lions as he ever had seen. Three of the males +were scantily maned but one, the foremost, carried a splendid, +black mane that rippled in the breeze as he trotted majestically +forward. The lioness halted a hundred feet from Tarzan, while the +lions came on past her and stopped a few feet nearer. Their ears +were upstanding and their eyes filled with curiosity. Tarzan could +not even guess what they might do. The lion at his side faced them +fully, standing silent now and watchful. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the lioness gave vent to another little whine, at which +Tarzan's lion voiced a terrific roar and leaped forward straight +toward the beast of the black mane. The sight of this awesome +creature with the strange face was too much for the lion toward +which he leaped, dragging Tarzan after him, and with a growl the +lion turned and fled, followed by his companions and the she. +</P> + +<P> +Numa attempted to follow them; Tarzan held him in leash and when +he turned upon him in rage, beat him unmercifully across the head +with his spear. Shaking his head and growling, the lion at last moved +off again in the direction they had been traveling; but it was an +hour before he ceased to sulk. He was very hungry—half famished +in fact—and consequently of an ugly temper, yet so thoroughly +subdued by Tarzan's heroic methods of lion taming that he was +presently pacing along at the ape-man's side like some huge St. +Bernard. +</P> + +<P> +It was dark when the two approached the British right, after a +slight delay farther back because of a German patrol it had been +necessary to elude. A short distance from the British line of +out-guard sentinels Tarzan tied Numa to a tree and continued on +alone. He evaded a sentinel, passed the out-guard and support, and +by devious ways came again to Colonel Capell's headquarters, where +he appeared before the officers gathered there as a disembodied +spirit materializing out of thin air. +</P> + +<P> +When they saw who it was that came thus unannounced they smiled +and the colonel scratched his head in perplexity. +</P> + +<P> +"Someone should be shot for this," he said. "I might just as well +not establish an out-post if a man can filter through whenever he +pleases." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan smiled. "Do not blame them," he said, "for I am not a man. +I am Tarmangani. Any Mangani who wished to, could enter your camp +almost at will; but if you have them for sentinels no one could +enter without their knowledge." +</P> + +<P> +"What are the Mangani?" asked the colonel. "Perhaps we might enlist +a bunch of the beggars." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan shook his head. "They are the great apes," he explained; "my +people; but you could not use them. They cannot concentrate long +enough upon a single idea. If I told them of this they would be +much interested for a short time—I might even hold the interest +of a few long enough to get them here and explain their duties to +them; but soon they would lose interest and when you needed them +most they might be off in the forest searching for beetles instead +of watching their posts. They have the minds of little children—that +is why they remain what they are." +</P> + +<P> +"You call them Mangani and yourself Tarmangani—what is the +difference?" asked Major Preswick. +</P> + +<P> +"Tar means white," replied Tarzan, "and Mangani, great ape. My name—the +name they gave me in the tribe of Kerchak—means White-skin. When +I was a little balu my skin, I presume, looked very white indeed +against the beautiful, black coat of Kala, my foster mother +and so they called me Tarzan, the Tarmangani. They call you, too, +Tarmangani," he concluded, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +Capell smiled. "It is no reproach, Greystoke," he said; "and, by +Jove, it would be a mark of distinction if a fellow could act the +part. And now how about your plan? Do you still think you can empty +the trench opposite our sector?" +</P> + +<P> +"Is it still held by Gomangani?" asked Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"What are Gomangani?" inquired the colonel. "It is still held by +native troops, if that is what you mean." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied the ape-man, "the Gomangani are the great black +apes—the Negroes." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you intend doing and what do you want us to do?" asked +Capell. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan approached the table and placed a finger on the map. "Here +is a listening post," he said; "they have a machine gun in it. A +tunnel connects it with this trench at this point." His finger moved +from place to place on the map as he talked. "Give me a bomb and +when you hear it burst in this listening post let your men start +across No Man's Land slowly. Presently they will hear a commotion +in the enemy trench; but they need not hurry, and, whatever they +do, have them come quietly. You might also warn them that I may be +in the trench and that I do not care to be shot or bayoneted." +</P> + +<P> +"And that is all?" queried Capell, after directing an officer to +give Tarzan a hand grenade; "you will empty the trench alone?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not exactly alone," replied Tarzan with a grim smile; "but I shall +empty it, and, by the way, your men may come in through the tunnel +from the listening post if you prefer. In about half an hour, +Colonel," and he turned and left them. +</P> + +<P> +As he passed through the camp there flashed suddenly upon the screen +of recollection, conjured there by some reminder of his previous +visit to headquarters, doubtless, the image of the officer he had +passed as he quit the colonel that other time and simultaneously +recognition of the face that had been revealed by the light from +the fire. He shook his head dubiously. No, it could not be and +yet the features of the young officer were identical with those of +Fräulein Kircher, the German spy he had seen at German headquarters +the night he took Major Schneider from under the nose of the Hun +general and his staff. +</P> + +<P> +Beyond the last line of sentinels Tarzan moved quickly in the +direction of Numa, the lion. The beast was lying down as Tarzan +approached, but he rose as the ape-man reached his side. A low +whine escaped his muzzled lips. Tarzan smiled for he recognized in +the new note almost a supplication—it was more like the whine of +a hungry dog begging for food than the voice of the proud king of +beasts. +</P> + +<P> +"Soon you will kill—and feed," he murmured in the vernacular of +the great apes. +</P> + +<P> +He unfastened the rope from about the tree and, with Numa close +at his side, slunk into No Man's Land. There was little rifle fire +and only an occasional shell vouched for the presence of artillery +behind the opposing lines. As the shells from both sides were +falling well back of the trenches, they constituted no menace to +Tarzan; but the noise of them and that of the rifle fire had a marked +effect upon Numa who crouched, trembling, close to the Tarmangani +as though seeking protection. +</P> + +<P> +Cautiously the two beasts moved forward toward the listening post +of the Germans. In one hand Tarzan carried the bomb the English had +given him, in the other was the coiled rope attached to the lion. +At last Tarzan could see the position a few yards ahead. His keen +eyes picked out the head and shoulders of the sentinel on watch. +The ape-man grasped the bomb firmly in his right hand. He measured +the distance with his eye and gathered his feet beneath him, then +in a single motion he rose and threw the missile, immediately +flattening himself prone upon the ground. +</P> + +<P> +Five seconds later there was a terrific explosion in the center of +the listening post. Numa gave a nervous start and attempted to break +away; but Tarzan held him and, leaping to his feet, ran forward, +dragging Numa after him. At the edge of the post he saw below him +but slight evidence that the position had been occupied at all, +for only a few shreds of torn flesh remained. About the only thing +that had not been demolished was a machine gun which had been +protected by sand bags. +</P> + +<P> +There was not an instant to lose. Already a relief might be crawling +through the communication tunnel, for it must have been evident to +the sentinels in the Hun trenches that the listening post had been +demolished. Numa hesitated to follow Tarzan into the excavation; +but the ape-man, who was in no mood to temporize, jerked him roughly +to the bottom. Before them lay the mouth of the tunnel that led +back from No Man's Land to the German trenches. Tarzan pushed Numa +forward until his head was almost in the aperture, then as though +it were an afterthought, he turned quickly and, taking the machine +gun from the parapet, placed it in the bottom of the hole close +at hand, after which he turned again to Numa, and with his knife +quickly cut the garters that held the bags upon his front paws. +Before the lion could know that a part of his formidable armament +was again released for action, Tarzan had cut the rope from his +neck and the head bag from his face, and grabbing the lion from +the rear had thrust him partially into the mouth of the tunnel. +</P> + +<P> +Then Numa balked, only to feel the sharp prick of Tarzan's knife +point in his hind quarters. Goading him on the ape-man finally +succeeded in getting the lion sufficiently far into the tunnel +so that there was no chance of his escaping other than by going +forward or deliberately backing into the sharp blade at his rear. +Then Tarzan cut the bags from the great hind feet, placed his +shoulder and his knife point against Numa's seat, dug his toes +into the loose earth that had been broken up by the explosion of +the bomb, and shoved. +</P> + +<P> +Inch by inch at first Numa advanced. He was growling now and presently +he commenced to roar. Suddenly he leaped forward and Tarzan knew +that he had caught the scent of meat ahead. Dragging the machine +gun beside him the ape-man followed quickly after the lion whose +roars he could plainly hear ahead mingled with the unmistakable +screams of frightened men. Once again a grim smile touched the lips +of this man-beast. +</P> + +<P> +"They murdered my Waziri," he muttered; "they crucified Wasimbu, +son of Muviro." +</P> + +<P> +When Tarzan reached the trench and emerged into it there was no one +in sight in that particular bay, nor in the next, nor the next as +he hurried forward in the direction of the German center; but in the +fourth bay he saw a dozen men jammed in the angle of the traverse +at the end while leaping upon them and rending with talons and fangs +was Numa, a terrific incarnation of ferocity and ravenous hunger. +</P> + +<P> +Whatever held the men at last gave way as they fought madly with +one another in their efforts to escape this dread creature that +from their infancy had filled them with terror, and again they +were retreating. Some clambered over the parados and some even over +the parapet preferring the dangers of No Man's Land to this other +soul-searing menace. +</P> + +<P> +As the British advanced slowly toward the German trenches, they +first met terrified blacks who ran into their arms only too willing +to surrender. That pandemonium had broken loose in the Hun trench +was apparent to the Rhodesians not only from the appearance of the +deserters, but from the sounds of screaming, cursing men which came +clearly to their ears; but there was one that baffled them for it +resembled nothing more closely than the infuriated growling of an +angry lion. +</P> + +<P> +And when at last they reached the trench, those farthest on the left +of the advancing Britishers heard a machine gun sputter suddenly +before them and saw a huge lion leap over the German parados with +the body of a screaming Hun soldier between his jaws and vanish +into the shadows of the night, while squatting upon a traverse to +their left was Tarzan of the Apes with a machine gun before him +with which he was raking the length of the German trenches. +</P> + +<P> +The foremost Rhodesians saw something else—they saw a huge German +officer emerge from a dugout just in rear of the ape-man. They saw +him snatch up a discarded rifle with bayonet fixed and creep upon +the apparently unconscious Tarzan. They ran forward, shouting +warnings; but above the pandemonium of the trenches and the machine +gun their voices could not reach him. The German leaped upon the +parapet behind him—the fat hands raised the rifle butt aloft for +the cowardly downward thrust into the naked back and then, as moves +Ara, the lightning, moved Tarzan of the Apes. +</P> + +<P> +It was no man who leaped forward upon that Boche officer, striking +aside the sharp bayonet as one might strike aside a straw in a +baby's hand—it was a wild beast and the roar of a wild beast was +upon those savage lips, for as that strange sense that Tarzan owned +in common with the other jungle-bred creatures of his wild domain +warned him of the presence behind him and he had whirled to meet +the attack, his eyes had seen the corps and regimental insignia upon +the other's blouse—it was the same as that worn by the murderers +of his wife and his people, by the despoilers of his home and his +happiness. +</P> + +<P> +It was a wild beast whose teeth fastened upon the shoulder of the +Hun—it was a wild beast whose talons sought that fat neck. And +then the boys of the Second Rhodesian Regiment saw that which will +live forever in their memories. They saw the giant ape-man pick +the heavy German from the ground and shake him as a terrier might +shake a rat—as Sabor, the lioness, sometimes shakes her prey. +They saw the eyes of the Hun bulge in horror as he vainly struck +with his futile hands against the massive chest and head of his +assailant. They saw Tarzan suddenly spin the man about and placing +a knee in the middle of his back and an arm about his neck bend +his shoulders slowly backward. The German's knees gave and he sank +upon them, but still that irresistible force bent him further and +further. He screamed in agony for a moment—then something snapped +and Tarzan cast him aside, a limp and lifeless thing. +</P> + +<P> +The Rhodesians started forward, a cheer upon their lips—a cheer +that never was uttered—a cheer that froze in their throats, for +at that moment Tarzan placed a foot upon the carcass of his kill +and, raising his face to the heavens, gave voice to the weird and +terrifying victory cry of the bull ape. +</P> + +<P> +Underlieutenant von Goss was dead. +</P> + +<P> +Without a backward glance at the awe-struck soldiers Tarzan leaped +the trench and was gone. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Golden Locket +</H3> + +<P> +The little British army in East Africa, after suffering severe +reverses at the hands of a numerically much superior force, was +at last coming into its own. The German offensive had been broken +and the Huns were now slowly and doggedly retreating along the +railway to Tanga. The break in the German lines had followed the +clearing of a section of their left-flank trenches of native soldiers +by Tarzan and Numa, the lion, upon that memorable night that the +ape-man had loosed a famishing man-eater among the superstitious +and terror-stricken blacks. The Second Rhodesian Regiment had +immediately taken possession of the abandoned trench and from this +position their flanking fire had raked contiguous sections of the +German line, the diversion rendering possible a successful night +attack on the part of the balance of the British forces. +</P> + +<P> +Weeks had elapsed. The Germans were contesting stubbornly every +mile of waterless, thorn-covered ground and clinging desperately +to their positions along the railway. The officers of the Second +Rhodesians had seen nothing more of Tarzan of the Apes since he +had slain Underlieutenant von Goss and disappeared toward the very +heart of the German position, and there were those among them who +believed that he had been killed within the enemy lines. +</P> + +<P> +"They may have killed him," assented Colonel Capell; "but I fancy +they never captured the beggar alive." +</P> + +<P> +Nor had they, nor killed him either. Tarzan had spent those intervening +weeks pleasantly and profitably. He had amassed a considerable +fund of knowledge concerning the disposition and strength of German +troops, their methods of warfare, and the various ways in which a +lone Tarmangani might annoy an army and lower its morale. +</P> + +<P> +At present he was prompted by a specific desire. There was a certain +German spy whom he wished to capture alive and take back to the +British. When he had made his first visit to German headquarters, +he had seen a young woman deliver a paper to the German general, +and later he had seen that same young woman within the British +lines in the uniform of a British officer. The conclusions were +obvious—she was a spy. +</P> + +<P> +And so Tarzan haunted German headquarters upon many nights hoping +to see her again or to pick up some clew as to her whereabouts, +and at the same time he utilized many an artifice whereby he might +bring terror to the hearts of the Germans. That he was successful +was often demonstrated by the snatches of conversation he overheard as +he prowled through the German camps. One night as he lay concealed +in the bushes close beside a regimental headquarters he listened to +the conversation of several Boche officers. One of the men reverted +to the stories told by the native troops in connection with their +rout by a lion several weeks before and the simultaneous appearance +in their trenches of a naked, white giant whom they were perfectly +assured was some demon of the jungle. +</P> + +<P> +"The fellow must have been the same as he who leaped into the +general's headquarters and carried off Schneider," asserted one. +"I wonder how he happened to single out the poor major. They say +the creature seemed interested in no one but Schneider. He had von +Kelter in his grasp, and he might easily have taken the general +himself; but he ignored them all except Schneider. Him he pursued +about the room, seized and carried off into the night. Gott knows +what his fate was." +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Fritz Schneider has some sort of theory," said another. +"He told me only a week or two ago that he thinks he knows why his +brother was taken—that it was a case of mistaken identity. He was +not so sure about it until von Goss was killed, apparently by the +same creature, the night the lion entered the trenches. Von Goss was +attached to Schneider's company. One of Schneider's men was found +with his neck wrung the same night that the major was carried off +and Schneider thinks that this devil is after him and his +command—that it came for him that night and got his brother by +mistake. He says Kraut told him that in presenting the major to +Fräulein Kircher the former's name was no sooner spoken than this +wild man leaped through the window and made for him." +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the little group became rigid—listening. "What was that?" +snapped one, eyeing the bushes from which a smothered snarl had +issued as Tarzan of the Apes realized that through his mistake the +perpetrator of the horrid crime at his bungalow still lived—that +the murderer of his wife went yet unpunished. +</P> + +<P> +For a long minute the officers stood with tensed nerves, every eye +riveted upon the bushes from whence the ominous sound had issued. +Each recalled recent mysterious disappearances from the heart of +camps as well as from lonely out-guards. Each thought of the silent +dead he had seen, slain almost within sight of their fellows by some +unseen creature. They thought of the marks upon dead throats—made +by talons or by giant fingers, they could not tell which—and those +upon shoulders and jugulars where powerful teeth had fastened and +they waited with drawn pistols. +</P> + +<P> +Once the bushes moved almost imperceptibly and an instant later +one of the officers, without warning, fired into them; but Tarzan +of the Apes was not there. In the interval between the moving of +the bushes and the firing of the shot he had melted into the night. +Ten minutes later he was hovering on the outskirts of that part +of camp where were bivouacked for the night the black soldiers of +a native company commanded by one Hauptmann Fritz Schneider. The +men were stretched upon the ground without tents; but there were +tents pitched for the officers. Toward these Tarzan crept. It was +slow and perilous work, as the Germans were now upon the alert for +the uncanny foe that crept into their camps to take his toll by +night, yet the ape-man passed their sentinels, eluded the vigilance +of the interior guard, and crept at last to the rear of the officers' +line. +</P> + +<P> +Here he flattened himself against the ground close behind the +nearest tent and listened. From within came the regular breathing +of a sleeping man—one only. Tarzan was satisfied. With his knife +he cut the tie strings of the rear flap and entered. He made no +noise. The shadow of a falling leaf, floating gently to earth upon +a still day, could have been no more soundless. He moved to the +side of the sleeping man and bent low over him. He could not know, +of course, whether it was Schneider or another, as he had never seen +Schneider; but he meant to know and to know even more. Gently he +shook the man by the shoulder. The fellow turned heavily and grunted +in a thick guttural. +</P> + +<P> +"Silence!" admonished the ape-man in a low whisper. "Silence—I +kill." +</P> + +<P> +The Hun opened his eyes. In the dim light he saw a giant figure +bending over him. Now a mighty hand grasped his shoulder and another +closed lightly about his throat. +</P> + +<P> +"Make no outcry," commanded Tarzan; "but answer in a whisper my +questions. What is your name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Luberg," replied the officer. He was trembling. The weird presence +of this naked giant filled him with dread. He, too, recalled the +men mysteriously murdered in the still watches of the night camps. +"What do you want?" +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Hauptmann Fritz Schneider?" asked Tarzan, "Which is his +tent?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is not here," replied Luberg. "He was sent to Wilhelmstal +yesterday." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall not kill you—now," said the ape-man. "First I shall go +and learn if you have lied to me and if you have your death shall +be the more terrible. Do you know how Major Schneider died?" +</P> + +<P> +Luberg shook his head negatively. +</P> + +<P> +"I do," continued Tarzan, "and it was not a nice way to die—even +for an accursed German. Turn over with your face down and cover +your eyes. Do not move or make any sound." +</P> + +<P> +The man did as he was bid and the instant that his eyes were turned +away, Tarzan slipped from the tent. An hour later he was outside +the German camp and headed for the little hill town of Wilhelmstal, +the summer seat of government of German East Africa. +</P> + +<P> +Fräulein Bertha Kircher was lost. She was humiliated and angry—it +was long before she would admit it, that she, who prided herself +upon her woodcraft, was lost in this little patch of country between +the Pangani and the Tanga railway. She knew that Wilhelmstal lay +southeast of her about fifty miles; but, through a combination of +untoward circumstances, she found herself unable to determine which +was southeast. +</P> + +<P> +In the first place she had set out from German headquarters on a +well-marked road that was being traveled by troops and with every +reason to believe that she would follow that road to Wilhelmstal. +Later she had been warned from this road by word that a strong +British patrol had come down the west bank of the Pangani, effected +a crossing south of her, and was even then marching on the railway +at Tonda. +</P> + +<P> +After leaving the road she found herself in thick bush and as the +sky was heavily overcast she presently had recourse to her compass +and it was not until then that she discovered to her dismay that +she did not have it with her. So sure was she of her woodcraft, +however, that she continued on in the direction she thought west +until she had covered sufficient distance to warrant her in feeling +assured that, by now turning south, she could pass safely in rear +of the British patrol. +</P> + +<P> +Nor did she commence to feel any doubts until long after she had +again turned toward the east well south, as she thought, of the +patrol. It was late afternoon—she should long since have struck +the road again south of Tonda; but she had found no road and now +she began to feel real anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +Her horse had traveled all day without food or water, night +was approaching and with it a realization that she was hopelessly +lost in a wild and trackless country notorious principally for its +tsetse flies and savage beasts. It was maddening to know that she +had absolutely no knowledge of the direction she was traveling—that +she might be forging steadily further from the railway, deeper +into the gloomy and forbidding country toward the Pangani; yet it +was impossible to stop—she must go on. +</P> + +<P> +Bertha Kircher was no coward, whatever else she may have been, but +as night began to close down around her she could not shut out from +her mind entirely contemplation of the terrors of the long hours +ahead before the rising sun should dissipate the Stygian gloom—the +horrid jungle night—that lures forth all the prowling, preying +creatures of destruction. +</P> + +<P> +She found, just before dark, an open meadow-like break in the +almost interminable bush. There was a small clump of trees near the +center and here she decided to camp. The grass was high and thick, +affording feed for her horse and a bed for herself, and there was +more than enough dead wood lying about the trees to furnish a good +fire well through the night. Removing the saddle and bridle from +her mount she placed them at the foot of a tree and then picketed +the animal close by. Then she busied herself collecting firewood +and by the time darkness had fallen she had a good fire and enough +wood to last until morning. +</P> + +<P> +From her saddlebags she took cold food and from her canteen a +swallow of water. She could not afford more than a small swallow +for she could not know how long a time it might be before she should +find more. It filled her with sorrow that her poor horse must go +waterless, for even German spies may have hearts and this one was +very young and very feminine. +</P> + +<P> +It was now dark. There was neither moon nor stars and the light +from her fire only accentuated the blackness beyond. She could see +the grass about her and the boles of the trees which stood out in +brilliant relief against the solid background of impenetrable night, +and beyond the firelight there was nothing. +</P> + +<P> +The jungle seemed ominously quiet. Far away in the distance she +heard faintly the boom of big guns; but she could not locate their +direction. She strained her ears until her nerves were on the point +of breaking; but she could not tell from whence the sound came. And +it meant so much to her to know, for the battle-lines were north +of her and if she could but locate the direction of the firing she +would know which way to go in the morning. +</P> + +<P> +In the morning! Would she live to see another morning? She squared +her shoulders and shook herself together. Such thoughts must be +banished—they would never do. Bravely she hummed an air as she +arranged her saddle near the fire and pulled a quantity of long +grass to make a comfortable seat over which she spread her saddle +blanket. Then she un-strapped a heavy, military coat from the cantle +of her saddle and donned it, for the air was already chill. +</P> + +<P> +Seating herself where she could lean against the saddle she prepared +to maintain a sleepless vigil throughout the night. For an hour +the silence was broken only by the distant booming of the guns and +the low noises of the feeding horse and then, from possibly a mile +away, came the rumbling thunder of a lion's roar. The girl started +and laid her hand upon the rifle at her side. A little shudder ran +through her slight frame and she could feel the goose flesh rise +upon her body. +</P> + +<P> +Again and again was the awful sound repeated and each time she was +certain that it came nearer. She could locate the direction of this +sound although she could not that of the guns, for the origin of +the former was much closer. The lion was up wind and so could not +have caught her scent as yet, though he might be approaching to +investigate the light of the fire which could doubtless be seen +for a considerable distance. +</P> + +<P> +For another fear-filled hour the girl sat straining her eyes and +ears out into the black void beyond her little island of light. +During all that time the lion did not roar again; but there was +constantly the sensation that it was creeping upon her. Again and +again she would start and turn to peer into the blackness beyond +the trees behind her as her overwrought nerves conjured the stealthy +fall of padded feet. She held the rifle across her knees at the +ready now and she was trembling from head to foot. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly her horse raised his head and snorted, and with a little +cry of terror the girl sprang to her feet. The animal turned and +trotted back toward her until the picket rope brought him to a stand, +and then he wheeled about and with ears up-pricked gazed out into +the night; but the girl could neither see nor hear aught. +</P> + +<P> +Still another hour of terror passed during which the horse often +raised his head to peer long and searchingly into the dark. The girl +replenished the fire from time to time. She found herself becoming +very sleepy. Her heavy lids persisted in drooping; but she dared +not sleep. Fearful lest she might be overcome by the drowsiness +that was stealing through her she rose and walked briskly to and +fro, then she threw some more wood on the fire, walked over and +stroked her horse's muzzle and returned to her seat. +</P> + +<P> +Leaning against the saddle she tried to occupy her mind with plans +for the morrow; but she must have dozed. With a start she awoke. +It was broad daylight. The hideous night with its indescribable +terrors was gone. +</P> + +<P> +She could scarce believe the testimony of her senses. She had slept +for hours, the fire was out and yet she and the horse were safe +and alive, nor was there sign of savage beast about. And, best of +all, the sun was shining, pointing the straight road to the east. +Hastily she ate a few mouthfuls of her precious rations, which with +a swallow of water constituted her breakfast. Then she saddled her +horse and mounted. Already she felt that she was as good as safe +in Wilhelmstal. +</P> + +<P> +Possibly, however, she might have revised her conclusions could she +have seen the two pairs of eyes watching her every move intently +from different points in the bush. +</P> + +<P> +Light-hearted and unsuspecting, the girl rode across the clearing +toward the bush while directly before her two yellow-green eyes +glared round and terrible, a tawny tail twitched nervously and +great, padded paws gathered beneath a sleek barrel for a mighty +spring. The horse was almost at the edge of the bush when Numa, +the lion, launched himself through the air. He struck the animal's +right shoulder at the instant that it reared, terrified, to wheel +in flight. The force of the impact hurled the horse backward to the +ground and so quickly that the girl had no opportunity to extricate +herself; but fell to the earth with her mount, her left leg pinned +beneath its body. +</P> + +<P> +Horror-stricken, she saw the king of beasts open his mighty jaws +and seize the screaming creature by the back of its neck. The +great jaws closed, there was an instant's struggle as Numa shook +his prey. She could hear the vertebrae crack as the mighty fangs +crunched through them, and then the muscles of her faithful friend +relaxed in death. +</P> + +<P> +Numa crouched upon his kill. His terrifying eyes riveted themselves +upon the girl's face—she could feel his hot breath upon her cheek +and the odor of the fetid vapor nauseated her. For what seemed +an eternity to the girl the two lay staring at each other and then +the lion uttered a menacing growl. +</P> + +<P> +Never before had Bertha Kircher been so terrified—never before had +she had such cause for terror. At her hip was a pistol—a formidable +weapon with which to face a man; but a puny thing indeed with +which to menace the great beast before her. She knew that at best +it could but enrage him and yet she meant to sell her life dearly, +for she felt that she must die. No human succor could have availed +her even had it been there to offer itself. For a moment she tore +her gaze from the hypnotic fascination of that awful face and +breathed a last prayer to her God. She did not ask for aid, for she +felt that she was beyond even divine succor—she only asked that +the end might come quickly and with as little pain as possible. +</P> + +<P> +No one can prophesy what a lion will do in any given emergency. +This one glared and growled at the girl for a moment and then fell +to feeding upon the dead horse. Fräulein Kircher wondered for an +instant and then attempted to draw her leg cautiously from beneath +the body of her mount; but she could not budge it. She increased +the force of her efforts and Numa looked up from his feeding to +growl again. The girl desisted. She hoped that he might satisfy +his hunger and then depart to lie up, but she could not believe +that he would leave her there alive. Doubtless he would drag the +remains of his kill into the bush for hiding and, as there could +be no doubt that he considered her part of his prey, he would +certainly come back for her, or possibly drag her in first and kill +her. +</P> + +<P> +Again Numa fell to feeding. The girl's nerves were at the breaking +point. She wondered that she had not fainted under the strain +of terror and shock. She recalled that she often had wished she +might see a lion, close to, make a kill and feed upon it. God! how +realistically her wish had been granted. +</P> + +<P> +Again she bethought herself of her pistol. As she had fallen, the +holster had slipped around so that the weapon now lay beneath her. +Very slowly she reached for it; but in so doing she was forced to +raise her body from the ground. Instantly the lion was aroused. +With the swiftness of a cat he reached across the carcass of the +horse and placed a heavy, taloned paw upon her breast, crushing her +back to earth, and all the time he growled and snarled horribly. +His face was a picture of frightful rage incarnate. For a moment +neither moved and then from behind her the girl heard a human voice +uttering bestial sounds. +</P> + +<P> +Numa suddenly looked up from the girl's face at the thing beyond +her. His growls increased to roars as he drew back, ripping the +front of the girl's waist almost from her body with his long talons, +exposing her white bosom, which through some miracle of chance the +great claws did not touch. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan of the Apes had witnessed the entire encounter from the +moment that Numa had leaped upon his prey. For some time before, +he had been watching the girl, and after the lion attacked her he +had at first been minded to let Numa have his way with her. What +was she but a hated German and a spy besides? He had seen her at +General Kraut's headquarters, in conference with the German staff +and again he had seen her within the British lines masquerading as +a British officer. It was the latter thought that prompted him to +interfere. Doubtless General Jan Smuts would be glad to meet and +question her. She might be forced to divulge information of value +to the British commander before Smuts had her shot. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan had recognized not only the girl, but the lion as well. All +lions may look alike to you and me; but not so to their intimates +of the jungle. Each has his individual characteristics of face and +form and gait as well defined as those that differentiate members +of the human family, and besides these the creatures of the jungle +have a still more positive test—that of scent. Each of us, man or +beast, has his own peculiar odor, and it is mostly by this that +the beasts of the jungle, endowed with miraculous powers of scent, +recognize individuals. +</P> + +<P> +It is the final proof. You have seen it demonstrated a thousand +times—a dog recognizes your voice and looks at you. He knows your +face and figure. Good, there can be no doubt in his mind but that +it is you; but is he satisfied? No, sir—he must come up and smell +of you. All his other senses may be fallible, but not his sense of +smell, and so he makes assurance positive by the final test. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan recognized Numa as he whom he had muzzled with the hide of +Horta, the boar—as he whom he handled by a rope for two days and +finally loosed in a German front-line trench, and he knew that Numa +would recognize him—that he would remember the sharp spear that +had goaded him into submission and obedience and Tarzan hoped that +the lesson he had learned still remained with the lion. +</P> + +<P> +Now he came forward calling to Numa in the language of the great +apes—warning him away from the girl. It is open to question that +Numa, the lion, understood him; but he did understand the menace of +the heavy spear that the Tarmangani carried so ready in his brown, +right hand, and so he drew back, growling, trying to decide in his +little brain whether to charge or flee. +</P> + +<P> +On came the ape-man with never a pause, straight for the lion. "Go +away, Numa," he cried, "or Tarzan will tie you up again and lead +you through the jungle without food. See Arad, my spear! Do you +recall how his point stuck into you and how with his haft I beat +you over the head? Go, Numa! I am Tarzan of the Apes!" +</P> + +<P> +Numa wrinkled the skin of his face into great folds, until his +eyes almost disappeared and he growled and roared and snarled and +growled again, and when the spear point came at last quite close +to him he struck at it viciously with his armed paw; but he drew +back. Tarzan stepped over the dead horse and the girl lying behind +him gazed in wide-eyed astonishment at the handsome figure driving +an angry lion deliberately from its kill. +</P> + +<P> +When Numa had retreated a few yards, the ape-man called back to +the girl in perfect German, "Are you badly hurt?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think not," she replied; "but I cannot extricate my foot from +beneath my horse." +</P> + +<P> +"Try again," commanded Tarzan. "I do not know how long I can hold +Numa thus." +</P> + +<P> +The girl struggled frantically; but at last she sank back upon an +elbow. +</P> + +<P> +"It is impossible," she called to him. +</P> + +<P> +He backed slowly until he was again beside the horse, when he +reached down and grasped the cinch, which was still intact. Then +with one hand he raised the carcass from the ground. The girl +freed herself and rose to her feet. +</P> + +<P> +"You can walk?" asked Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she said; "my leg is numb; but it does not seem to be +injured." +</P> + +<P> +"Good," commented the ape-man. "Back slowly away behind me—make +no sudden movements. I think he will not charge." +</P> + +<P> +With utmost deliberation the two backed toward the bush. Numa +stood for a moment, growling, then he followed them, slowly. Tarzan +wondered if he would come beyond his kill or if he would stop there. +If he followed them beyond, then they could look for a charge, and +if Numa charged it was very likely that he would get one of them. +When the lion reached the carcass of the horse Tarzan stopped and +so did Numa, as Tarzan had thought that he would and the ape-man +waited to see what the lion would do next. He eyed them for a +moment, snarled angrily and then looked down at the tempting meat. +Presently he crouched upon his kill and resumed feeding. +</P> + +<P> +The girl breathed a deep sigh of relief as she and the ape-man +resumed their slow retreat with only an occasional glance from the +lion, and when at last they reached the bush and had turned and +entered it, she felt a sudden giddiness overwhelm her so that she +staggered and would have fallen had Tarzan not caught her. It was +only a moment before she regained control of herself. +</P> + +<P> +"I could not help it," she said, in half apology. "I was so close +to death—such a horrible death—it unnerved me for an instant; +but I am all right now. How can I ever thank you? It was so +wonderful—you did not seem to fear the frightful creature in the +least; yet he was afraid of you. Who are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"He knows me," replied Tarzan, grimly—"that is why he fears me." +</P> + +<P> +He was standing facing the girl now and for the first time +he had a chance to look at her squarely and closely. She was very +beautiful—that was undeniable; but Tarzan realized her beauty only +in a subconscious way. It was superficial—it did not color her +soul which must be black as sin. She was German—a German spy. He +hated her and desired only to compass her destruction; but he would +choose the manner so that it would work most grievously against +the enemy cause. +</P> + +<P> +He saw her naked breasts where Numa had torn her clothing from her +and dangling there against the soft, white flesh he saw that which +brought a sudden scowl of surprise and anger to his face—the +diamond-studded, golden locket of his youth—the love token that +had been stolen from the breast of his mate by Schneider, the Hun. +The girl saw the scowl but did not interpret it correctly. Tarzan +grasped her roughly by the arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Where did you get this?" he demanded, as he tore the bauble from +her. +</P> + +<P> +The girl drew herself to her full height. "Take your hand from me," +she demanded, but the ape-man paid no attention to her words, only +seizing her more forcibly. +</P> + +<P> +"Answer me!" he snapped. "Where did you get this?" +</P> + +<P> +"What is it to you?" she countered. +</P> + +<P> +"It is mine," he replied. "Tell me who gave it to you or I will +throw you back to Numa." +</P> + +<P> +"You would do that?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" he queried. "You are a spy and spies must die if they +are caught." +</P> + +<P> +"You were going to kill me, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was going to take you to headquarters. They would dispose of +you there; but Numa can do it quite as effectively. Which do you +prefer?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hauptmann Fritz Schneider gave it to me," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Headquarters it will be then," said Tarzan. "Come!" The girl +moved at his side through the bush and all the time her mind worked +quickly. They were moving east, which suited her, and as long as +they continued to move east she was glad to have the protection +of the great, white savage. She speculated much upon the fact that +her pistol still swung at her hip. The man must be mad not to take +it from her. +</P> + +<P> +"What makes you think I am a spy?" she asked after a long silence. +</P> + +<P> +"I saw you at German headquarters," he replied, "and then again +inside the British lines." +</P> + +<P> +She could not let him take her back to them. She must reach +Wilhelmstal at once and she was determined to do so even if she +must have recourse to her pistol. She cast a side glance at the +tall figure. What a magnificent creature! But yet he was a brute +who would kill her or have her killed if she did not slay him. And +the locket! She must have that back—it must not fail to reach +Wilhelmstal. Tarzan was now a foot or two ahead of her as the path +was very narrow. Cautiously she drew her pistol. A single shot would +suffice and he was so close that she could not miss. As she figured +it all out her eyes rested on the brown skin with the graceful muscles +rolling beneath it and the perfect limbs and head and the carriage +that a proud king of old might have envied. A wave of revulsion +for her contemplated act surged through her. No, she could not +do it—yet, she must be free and she must regain possession of +the locket. And then, almost blindly, she swung the weapon up and +struck Tarzan heavily upon the back of the head with its butt. Like +a felled ox he dropped in his tracks. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Vengeance and Mercy +</H3> + +<P> +It was an hour later that Sheeta, the panther, hunting, chanced to +glance upward into the blue sky where his attention was attracted +by Ska, the vulture, circling slowly above the bush a mile away and +downwind. For a long minute the yellow eyes stared intently at the +gruesome bird. They saw Ska dive and rise again to continue his +ominous circling and in these movements their woodcraft read that +which, while obvious to Sheeta, would doubtless have meant nothing +to you or me. +</P> + +<P> +The hunting cat guessed that on the ground beneath Ska was some +living thing of flesh—either a beast feeding upon its kill or a +dying animal that Ska did not yet dare attack. In either event it +might prove meat for Sheeta, and so the wary feline stalked by a +circuitous route, upon soft, padded feet that gave forth no sound, +until the circling aasvogel and his intended prey were upwind. Then, +sniffing each vagrant zephyr, Sheeta, the panther, crept cautiously +forward, nor had he advanced any considerable distance before his +keen nostrils were rewarded with the scent of man—a Tarmangani. +</P> + +<P> +Sheeta paused. He was not a hunter of men. He was young and in his +prime; but always before he had avoided this hated presence. Of +late he had become more accustomed to it with the passing of many +soldiers through his ancient hunting ground, and as the soldiers +had frightened away a great part of the game Sheeta had been wont +to feed upon, the days had been lean, and Sheeta was hungry. +</P> + +<P> +The circling Ska suggested that this Tarmangani might be helpless +and upon the point of dying, else Ska would not have been interested +in him, and so easy prey for Sheeta. With this thought in mind the +cat resumed his stalking. Presently he pushed through the thick +bush and his yellow-green eyes rested gloatingly upon the body of +an almost naked Tarmangani lying face down in a narrow game trail. +</P> + +<P> +Numa, sated, rose from the carcass of Bertha Kircher's horse and +seized the partially devoured body by the neck and dragged it into +the bush; then he started east toward the lair where he had left +his mate. Being uncomfortably full he was inclined to be sleepy +and far from belligerent. He moved slowly and majestically with no +effort at silence or concealment. The king walked abroad, unafraid. +</P> + +<P> +With an occasional regal glance to right or left he moved along a +narrow game trail until at a turn he came to a sudden stop at what +lay revealed before him—Sheeta, the panther, creeping stealthily +upon the almost naked body of a Tarmangani lying face down in the +deep dust of the pathway. Numa glared intently at the quiet body +in the dust. Recognition came. It was his Tarmangani. A low growl +of warning rumbled from his throat and Sheeta halted with one paw +upon Tarzan's back and turned suddenly to eye the intruder. +</P> + +<P> +What passed within those savage brains? Who may say? The panther +seemed debating the wisdom of defending his find, for he growled +horribly as though warning Numa away from the prey. And Numa? Was +the idea of property rights dominating his thoughts? The Tarmangani +was his, or he was the Tarmangani's. Had not the Great White Ape +mastered and subdued him and, too, had he not fed him? Numa recalled +the fear that he had felt of this man-thing and his cruel spear; +but in savage brains fear is more likely to engender respect than +hatred and so Numa found that he respected the creature who had +subdued and mastered him. He saw Sheeta, upon whom he looked with +contempt, daring to molest the master of the lion. Jealousy and +greed alone might have been sufficient to prompt Numa to drive Sheeta +away, even though the lion was not sufficiently hungry to devour +the flesh that he thus wrested from the lesser cat; but then, too, +there was in the little brain within the massive head a sense of +loyalty, and perhaps this it was that sent Numa quickly forward, +growling, toward the spitting Sheeta. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment the latter stood his ground with arched back and +snarling face, for all the world like a great, spotted tabby. +</P> + +<P> +Numa had not felt like fighting; but the sight of Sheeta daring +to dispute his rights kindled his ferocious brain to sudden fire. +His rounded eyes glared with rage, his undulating tail snapped to +stiff erectness as, with a frightful roar, he charged this presuming +vassal. +</P> + +<P> +It came so suddenly and from so short a distance that Sheeta had +no chance to turn and flee the rush, and so he met it with raking +talons and snapping jaws; but the odds were all against him. To +the larger fangs and the more powerful jaws of his adversary were +added huge talons and the preponderance of the lion's great weight. +At the first clash Sheeta was crushed and, though he deliberately +fell upon his back and drew up his powerful hind legs beneath Numa +with the intention of disemboweling him, the lion forestalled him +and at the same time closed his awful jaws upon Sheeta's throat. +</P> + +<P> +It was soon over. Numa rose, shaking himself, and stood above the +torn and mutilated body of his foe. His own sleek coat was cut and +the red blood trickled down his flank; though it was but a minor +injury, it angered him. He glared down at the dead panther and +then, in a fit of rage, he seized and mauled the body only to drop +it in a moment, lower his head, voice a single terrific roar, and +turn toward the ape-man. +</P> + +<P> +Approaching the still form he sniffed it over from head to foot. +Then he placed a huge paw upon it and turned it over with its face +up. Again he smelled about the body and at last with his rough tongue +licked Tarzan's face. It was then that Tarzan opened his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Above him towered the huge lion, its hot breath upon his face, its +rough tongue upon his cheek. The ape-man had often been close to +death; but never before so close as this, he thought, for he was +convinced that death was but a matter of seconds. His brain was +still numb from the effects of the blow that had felled him, and +so he did not, for a moment, recognize the lion that stood over +him as the one he had so recently encountered. +</P> + +<P> +Presently, however, recognition dawned upon him and with it +a realization of the astounding fact that Numa did not seem bent +on devouring him—at least not immediately. His position was a +delicate one. The lion stood astraddle Tarzan with his front paws. +The ape-man could not rise, therefore, without pushing the lion away +and whether Numa would tolerate being pushed was an open question. +Too, the beast might consider him already dead and any movement that +indicated the contrary was true would, in all likelihood, arouse +the killing instinct of the man-eater. +</P> + +<P> +But Tarzan was tiring of the situation. He was in no mood to lie +there forever, especially when he contemplated the fact that the +girl spy who had tried to brain him was undoubtedly escaping as +rapidly as possible. +</P> + +<P> +Numa was looking right into his eyes now evidently aware that he was +alive. Presently the lion cocked his head on one side and whined. +Tarzan knew the note, and he knew that it spelled neither rage nor +hunger, and then he risked all on a single throw, encouraged by +that low whine. +</P> + +<P> +"Move, Numa!" he commanded and placing a palm against the tawny +shoulder he pushed the lion aside. Then he rose and with a hand +on his hunting knife awaited that which might follow. It was then +that his eyes fell for the first time on the torn body of Sheeta. +He looked from the dead cat to the live one and saw the marks of +conflict upon the latter, too, and in an instant realized something +of what had happened—Numa had saved him from the panther! +</P> + +<P> +It seemed incredible and yet the evidence pointed clearly to the +fact. He turned toward the lion and without fear approached and +examined his wounds which he found superficial, and as Tarzan knelt +beside him Numa rubbed an itching ear against the naked, brown +shoulder. Then the ape-man stroked the great head, picked up his +spear, and looked about for the trail of the girl. This he soon +found leading toward the east, and as he set out upon it something +prompted him to feel for the locket he had hung about his neck. It +was gone! +</P> + +<P> +No trace of anger was apparent upon the ape-man's face unless it +was a slight tightening of the jaws; but he put his hand ruefully +to the back of his head where a bump marked the place where the +girl had struck him and a moment later a half-smile played across +his lips. He could not help but admit that she had tricked him +neatly, and that it must have taken nerve to do the thing she did +and to set out armed only with a pistol through the trackless waste +that lay between them and the railway and beyond into the hills +where Wilhelmstal lies. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan admired courage. He was big enough to admit it and admire +it even in a German spy, but he saw that in this case it only added +to her resourcefulness and made her all the more dangerous and the +necessity for putting her out of the way paramount. He hoped to +overtake her before she reached Wilhelmstal and so he set out at +the swinging trot that he could hold for hours at a stretch without +apparent fatigue. +</P> + +<P> +That the girl could hope to reach the town on foot in less than two +days seemed improbable, for it was a good thirty miles and part +of it hilly. Even as the thought crossed his mind he heard the +whistle of a locomotive to the east and knew that the railway was +in operation again after a shutdown of several days. If the train +was going south the girl would signal it if she had reached the +right of way. His keen ears caught the whining of brake shoes on +wheels and a few minutes later the signal blast for brakes off. +The train had stopped and started again and, as it gained headway +and greater distance, Tarzan could tell from the direction of the +sound that it was moving south. +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man followed the trail to the railway where it ended +abruptly on the west side of the track, showing that the girl had +boarded the train, just as he thought. There was nothing now but +to follow on to Wilhelmstal, where he hoped to find Captain Fritz +Schneider, as well as the girl, and to recover his diamond-studded +locket. +</P> + +<P> +It was dark when Tarzan reached the little hill town of Wilhelmstal. +He loitered on the outskirts, getting his bearings and trying to +determine how an almost naked white man might explore the village +without arousing suspicion. There were many soldiers about and +the town was under guard, for he could see a lone sentinel walking +his post scarce a hundred yards from him. To elude this one would +not be difficult; but to enter the village and search it would be +practically impossible, garbed, or un-garbed, as he was. +</P> + +<P> +Creeping forward, taking advantage of every cover, lying flat and +motionless when the sentry's face was toward him, the ape-man at +last reached the sheltering shadows of an outhouse just inside the +lines. From there he moved stealthily from building to building +until at last he was discovered by a large dog in the rear of one of +the bungalows. The brute came slowly toward him, growling. Tarzan +stood motionless beside a tree. He could see a light in the bungalow +and uniformed men moving about and he hoped that the dog would not +bark. He did not; but he growled more savagely and, just at the +moment that the rear door of the bungalow opened and a man stepped +out, the animal charged. +</P> + +<P> +He was a large dog, as large as Dango, the hyena, and he charged +with all the vicious impetuosity of Numa, the lion. As he came +Tarzan knelt and the dog shot through the air for his throat; but +he was dealing with no man now and he found his quickness more +than matched by the quickness of the Tarmangani. His teeth never +reached the soft flesh—strong fingers, fingers of steel, seized +his neck. He voiced a single startled yelp and clawed at the naked +breast before him with his talons; but he was powerless. The mighty +fingers closed upon his throat; the man rose, snapped the clawing +body once, and cast it aside. At the same time a voice from the +open bungalow door called: "Simba!" +</P> + +<P> +There was no response. Repeating the call the man descended the +steps and advanced toward the tree. In the light from the doorway +Tarzan could see that he was a tall, broad-shouldered man in the +uniform of a German officer. The ape-man withdrew into the shadow +of the tree's stem. The man came closer, still calling the dog—he +did not see the savage beast, crouching now in the shadow, awaiting +him. When he had approached within ten feet of the Tarmangani, +Tarzan leaped upon him—as Sabor springs to the kill, so sprang the +ape-man. The momentum and weight of his body hurled the German to +the ground, powerful fingers prevented an outcry and, though the +officer struggled, he had no chance and a moment later lay dead +beside the body of the dog. +</P> + +<P> +As Tarzan stood for a moment looking down upon his kill and regretting +that he could not risk voicing his beloved victory cry, the sight +of the uniform suggested a means whereby he might pass to and +fro through Wilhelmstal with the minimum chance of detection. Ten +minutes later a tall, broad-shouldered officer stepped from the +yard of the bungalow leaving behind him the corpses of a dog and +a naked man. +</P> + +<P> +He walked boldly along the little street and those who passed him +could not guess that beneath Imperial Germany's uniform beat a +savage heart that pulsed with implacable hatred for the Hun. Tarzan's +first concern was to locate the hotel, for here he guessed he would +find the girl, and where the girl was doubtless would be Hauptmann +Fritz Schneider, who was either her confederate, her sweetheart, +or both, and there, too, would be Tarzan's precious locket. +</P> + +<P> +He found the hotel at last, a low, two-storied building with +a veranda. There were lights on both floors and people, mostly +officers, could be seen within. The ape-man considered entering +and inquiring for those he sought; but his better judgment finally +prompted him to reconnoiter first. Passing around the building he +looked into all the lighted rooms on the first floor and, seeing +neither of those for whom he had come, he swung lightly to the roof +of the veranda and continued his investigations through windows of +the second story. +</P> + +<P> +At one corner of the hotel in a rear room the blinds were drawn; +but he heard voices within and once he saw a figure silhouetted +momentarily against the blind. It appeared to be the figure +of a woman; but it was gone so quickly that he could not be sure. +Tarzan crept close to the window and listened. Yes, there was a +woman there and a man—he heard distinctly the tones of their voices +although he could overhear no words, as they seemed to be whispering. +</P> + +<P> +The adjoining room was dark. Tarzan tried the window and found it +unlatched. All was quiet within. He raised the sash and listened +again—still silence. Placing a leg over the sill he slipped within +and hurriedly glanced about. The room was vacant. Crossing to the +door he opened it and looked out into the hall. There was no one +there, either, and he stepped out and approached the door of the +adjoining room where the man and woman were. +</P> + +<P> +Pressing close to the door he listened. Now he distinguished +words, for the two had raised their voices as though in argument. +The woman was speaking. +</P> + +<P> +"I have brought the locket," she said, "as was agreed upon between +you and General Kraut, as my identification. I carry no other +credentials. This was to be enough. You have nothing to do but give +me the papers and let me go." +</P> + +<P> +The man replied in so low a tone that Tarzan could not catch the +words and then the woman spoke again—a note of scorn and perhaps +a little of fear in her voice. +</P> + +<P> +"You would not dare, Hauptmann Schneider," she said, and then: "Do +not touch me! Take your hands from me!" +</P> + +<P> +It was then that Tarzan of the Apes opened the door and stepped +into the room. What he saw was a huge, bull-necked German officer +with one arm about the waist of Fräulein Bertha Kircher and a hand +upon her forehead pushing her head back as he tried to kiss her +on the mouth. The girl was struggling against the great brute; but +her efforts were futile. Slowly the man's lips were coming closer +to hers and slowly, step by step, she was being carried backward. +</P> + +<P> +Schneider heard the noise of the opening and closing door behind +him and turned. At sight of this strange officer he dropped the +girl and straightened up. +</P> + +<P> +"What is the meaning of this intrusion, Lieutenant?" he demanded, +noting the other's epaulettes. "Leave the room at once." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan made no articulate reply; but the two there with him heard +a low growl break from those firm lips—a growl that sent a shudder +through the frame of the girl and brought a pallor to the red face +of the Hun and his hand to his pistol but even as he drew his weapon +it was wrested from him and hurled through the blind and window to +the yard beyond. Then Tarzan backed against the door and slowly +removed the uniform coat. +</P> + +<P> +"You are Hauptmann Schneider," he said to the German. +</P> + +<P> +"What of it?" growled the latter. +</P> + +<P> +"I am Tarzan of the Apes," replied the ape-man. "Now you know why +I intrude." +</P> + +<P> +The two before him saw that he was naked beneath the coat which he +threw upon the floor and then he slipped quickly from the trousers +and stood there clothed only in his loin cloth. The girl had +recognized him by this time, too. +</P> + +<P> +"Take your hand off that pistol," Tarzan admonished her. Her hand +dropped at her side. "Now come here!" +</P> + +<P> +She approached and Tarzan removed the weapon and hurled it after +the other. At the mention of his name Tarzan had noted the sickly +pallor that overspread the features of the Hun. At last he had found +the right man. At last his mate would be partially avenged—never +could she be entirely avenged. Life was too short and there were +too many Germans. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want of me?" demanded Schneider. +</P> + +<P> +"You are going to pay the price for the thing you did at the little +bungalow in the Waziri country," replied the ape-man. +</P> + +<P> +Schneider commenced to bluster and threaten. Tarzan turned the key +in the lock of the door and hurled the former through the window +after the pistols. Then he turned to the girl. "Keep out of the +way," he said in a low voice. "Tarzan of the Apes is going to kill." +</P> + +<P> +The Hun ceased blustering and began to plead. "I have a wife and +children at home," he cried. "I have done nothing, I—" +</P> + +<P> +"You are going to die as befits your kind," said Tarzan, "with blood +on your hands and a lie on your lips." He started across the room +toward the burly Hauptmann. Schneider was a large and powerful +man—about the height of the ape-man but much heavier. He saw that +neither threats nor pleas would avail him and so he prepared to +fight as a cornered rat fights for its life with all the maniacal +rage, cunning, and ferocity that the first law of nature imparts +to many beasts. +</P> + +<P> +Lowering his bull head he charged for the ape-man and in the center +of the floor the two clinched. There they stood locked and swaying +for a moment until Tarzan succeeded in forcing his antagonist backward +over a table which crashed to the floor, splintered by the weight +of the two heavy bodies. +</P> + +<P> +The girl stood watching the battle with wide eyes. She saw the two +men rolling hither and thither across the floor and she heard with +horror the low growls that came from the lips of the naked giant. +Schneider was trying to reach his foe's throat with his fingers +while, horror of horrors, Bertha Kircher could see that the other +was searching for the German's jugular with his teeth! +</P> + +<P> +Schneider seemed to realize this too, for he redoubled his efforts +to escape and finally succeeded in rolling over on top of the ape-man +and breaking away. Leaping to his feet he ran for the window; but +the ape-man was too quick for him and before he could leap through +the sash a heavy hand fell upon his shoulder and he was jerked +back and hurled across the room to the opposite wall. There Tarzan +followed him, and once again they locked, dealing each other terrific +blows, until Schneider in a piercing voice screamed, "Kamerad! +Kamerad!" +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan grasped the man by the throat and drew his hunting knife. +Schneider's back was against the wall so that though his knees +wobbled he was held erect by the ape-man. Tarzan brought the sharp +point to the lower part of the German's abdomen. +</P> + +<P> +"Thus you slew my mate," he hissed in a terrible voice. "Thus +shall you die!" +</P> + +<P> +The girl staggered forward. "Oh, God, no!" she cried. "Not that. +You are too brave—you cannot be such a beast as that!" +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan turned at her. "No," he said, "you are right, I cannot do +it—I am no German," and he raised the point of his blade and sunk +it deep into the putrid heart of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider, putting +a bloody period to the Hun's last gasping cry: "I did not do it! +She is not—" +</P> + +<P> +Then Tarzan turned toward the girl and held out his hand. "Give +me my locket," he said. +</P> + +<P> +She pointed toward the dead officer. "He has it." Tarzan searched +him and found the trinket. "Now you may give me the papers," he said +to the girl, and without a word she handed him a folded document. +</P> + +<P> +For a long time he stood looking at her before ho spoke again. +</P> + +<P> +"I came for you, too," he said. "It would be difficult to take you +back from here and so I was going to kill you, as I have sworn to +kill all your kind; but you were right when you said that I was +not such a beast as that slayer of women. I could not slay him as +he slew mine, nor can I slay you, who are a woman." +</P> + +<P> +He crossed to the window, raised the sash and an instant later he +had stepped out and disappeared into the night. And then Fräulein +Bertha Kircher stepped quickly to the corpse upon the floor, slipped +her hand inside the blouse and drew forth a little sheaf of papers +which she tucked into her waist before she went to the window and +called for help. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +When Blood Told +</H3> + +<P> +Tarzan of the Apes was disgusted. He had had the German spy, Bertha +Kircher, in his power and had left her unscathed. It is true that he +had slain Hauptmann Fritz Schneider, that Underlieutenant von Goss +had died at his hands, and that he had otherwise wreaked vengeance +upon the men of the German company who had murdered, pillaged, and +raped at Tarzan's bungalow in the Waziri country. There was still +another officer to be accounted for, but him he could not find. +It was Lieutenant Obergatz he still sought, though vainly, for at +last he learned that the man had been sent upon some special mission, +whether in Africa or back to Europe Tarzan's informant either did +not know or would not divulge. +</P> + +<P> +But the fact that he had permitted sentiment to stay his hand when +he might so easily have put Bertha Kircher out of the way in the +hotel at Wilhelmstal that night rankled in the ape-man's bosom. +He was shamed by his weakness, and when he had handed the paper +she had given him to the British chief of staff, even though +the information it contained permitted the British to frustrate a +German flank attack, he was still much dissatisfied with himself. +And possibly the root of this dissatisfaction lay in the fact that +he realized that were he again to have the same opportunity he +would still find it as impossible to slay a woman as it had been +in Wilhelmstal that night. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan blamed this weakness, as he considered it, upon his association +with the effeminizing influences of civilization, for in the bottom +of his savage heart he held in contempt both civilization and its +representatives—the men and women of the civilized countries of +the world. Always was he comparing their weaknesses, their vices, +their hypocrisies, and their little vanities with the open, +primitive ways of his ferocious jungle mates, and all the while +there battled in that same big heart with these forces another mighty +force—Tarzan's love and loyalty for his friends of the civilized +world. +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man, reared as he had been by savage beasts amid savage +beasts, was slow to make friends. Acquaintances he numbered by the +hundreds; but of friends he had few. These few he would have died +for as, doubtless, they would have died for him; but there were +none of these fighting with the British forces in East Africa, and +so, sickened and disgusted by the sight of man waging his cruel +and inhuman warfare, Tarzan determined to heed the insistent call +of the remote jungle of his youth, for the Germans were now on the +run and the war in East Africa was so nearly over that he realized +that his further services would be of negligible value. +</P> + +<P> +Never regularly sworn into the service of the King, he was under +no obligation to remain now that the moral obligation had been +removed, and so it was that he disappeared from the British camp +as mysteriously as he had appeared a few months before. +</P> + +<P> +More than once had Tarzan reverted to the primitive only to return +again to civilization through love for his mate; but now that she +was gone he felt that this time he had definitely departed forever +from the haunts of man, and that he should live and die a beast +among beasts even as he had been from infancy to maturity. +</P> + +<P> +Between him and his destination lay a trackless wilderness of untouched +primeval savagery where, doubtless in many spots, his would be the +first human foot to touch the virgin turf. Nor did this prospect +dismay the Tarmangani—rather was it an urge and an inducement, for +rich in his veins flowed that noble strain of blood that has made +most of the earth's surface habitable for man. +</P> + +<P> +The question of food and water that would have risen paramount in +the mind of an ordinary man contemplating such an excursion gave +Tarzan little concern. The wilderness was his natural habitat +and woodcraft as inherent to him as breathing. Like other jungle +animals he could scent water from a great distance and, where you +or I might die of thirst, the ape-man would unerringly select the +exact spot at which to dig and find water. +</P> + +<P> +For several days Tarzan traversed a country rich in game +and watercourses. He moved slowly, hunting and fishing, or again +fraternizing or quarreling with the other savage denizens of +the jungle. Now it was little Manu, the monkey, who chattered and +scolded at the mighty Tarmangani and in the next breath warned him +that Histah, the snake, lay coiled in the long grass just ahead. +Of Manu Tarzan inquired concerning the great apes—the Mangani—and +was told that few inhabited this part of the jungle, and that even +these were hunting farther to the north this season of the year. +</P> + +<P> +"But there is Bolgani," said Manu. "Would you like to see Bolgani?" +</P> + +<P> +Manu's tone was sneering, and Tarzan knew that it was because little +Manu thought all creatures feared mighty Bolgani, the gorilla. +Tarzan arched his great chest and struck it with a clinched fist. +"I am Tarzan," he cried. "While Tarzan was yet a balu he slew a +Bolgani. Tarzan seeks the Mangani, who are his brothers, but Bolgani +he does not seek, so let Bolgani keep from the path of Tarzan." +</P> + +<P> +Little Manu, the monkey, was much impressed, for the way of the +jungle is to boast and to believe. It was then that he condescended +to tell Tarzan more of the Mangani. +</P> + +<P> +"They go there and there and there," he said, making a wide sweep +with a brown hand first toward the north, then west, and then south +again. "For there," and he pointed due west, "is much hunting; but +between lies a great place where there is no food and no water, +so they must go that way," and again he swung his hand through the +half-circle that explained to Tarzan the great detour the apes made +to come to their hunting ground to the west. +</P> + +<P> +That was all right for the Mangani, who are lazy and do not care to +move rapidly; but for Tarzan the straight road would be the best. +He would cross the dry country and come to the good hunting in a third +of the time that it would take to go far to the north and circle +back again. And so it was that he continued on toward the west, and +crossing a range of low mountains came in sight of a broad plateau, +rock strewn and desolate. Far in the distance he saw another range +of mountains beyond which he felt must lie the hunting ground of +the Mangani. There he would join them and remain for a while before +continuing on toward the coast and the little cabin that his father +had built beside the land-locked harbor at the jungle's edge. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan was full of plans. He would rebuild and enlarge the cabin +of his birth, constructing storage houses where he would make the +apes lay away food when it was plenty against the times that were +lean—a thing no ape ever had dreamed of doing. And the tribe would +remain always in the locality and he would be king again as he had +in the past. He would try to teach them some of the better things +that he had learned from man, yet knowing the ape-mind as only +Tarzan could, he feared that his labors would be for naught. +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man found the country he was crossing rough in the extreme, +the roughest he ever had encountered. The plateau was cut by frequent +canyons the passage of which often entailed hours of wearing effort. +The vegetation was sparse and of a faded brown color that lent to +the whole landscape a most depressing aspect. Great rocks were strewn +in every direction as far as the eye could see, lying partially +embedded in an impalpable dust that rose in clouds about him at +every step. The sun beat down mercilessly out of a cloudless sky. +</P> + +<P> +For a day Tarzan toiled across this now hateful land and at the +going down of the sun the distant mountains to the west seemed no +nearer than at morn. Never a sign of living thing had the ape-man +seen, other than Ska, that bird of ill omen, that had followed him +tirelessly since he had entered this parched waste. +</P> + +<P> +No littlest beetle that he might eat had given evidence that life +of any sort existed here, and it was a hungry and thirsty Tarzan who +lay down to rest in the evening. He decided now to push on during +the cool of the night, for he realized that even mighty Tarzan had +his limitations and that where there was no food one could not eat +and where there was no water the greatest woodcraft in the world +could find none. It was a totally new experience to Tarzan to find +so barren and terrible a country in his beloved Africa. Even the +Sahara had its oases; but this frightful world gave no indication +of containing a square foot of hospitable ground. +</P> + +<P> +However, he had no misgivings but that he would fare forth into +the wonder country of which little Manu had told him, though it +was certain that he would do it with a dry skin and an empty belly. +And so he fought on until daylight, when he again felt the need +of rest. He was at the edge of another of those terrible canyons, +the eighth he had crossed, whose precipitous sides would have taxed +to the uttermost the strength of an untired man well fortified by +food and water, and for the first time, as he looked down into the +abyss and then at the opposite side that he must scale, misgivings +began to assail his mind. +</P> + +<P> +He did not fear death—with the memory of his murdered mate still +fresh in his mind he almost courted it, yet strong within him +was that primal instinct of self-preservation—the battling force +of life that would keep him an active contender against the Great +Reaper until, fighting to the very last, he should be overcome by +a superior power. +</P> + +<P> +A shadow swung slowly across the ground beside him, and looking +up, the ape-man saw Ska, the vulture, wheeling a wide circle above +him. The grim and persistent harbinger of evil aroused the man +to renewed determination. He arose and approached the edge of the +canyon, and then, wheeling, with his face turned upward toward the +circling bird of prey, he bellowed forth the challenge of the bull +ape. +</P> + +<P> +"I am Tarzan," he shouted, "Lord of the Jungle. Tarzan of the Apes +is not for Ska, eater of carrion. Go back to the lair of Dango +and feed off the leavings of the hyenas, for Tarzan will leave no +bones for Ska to pick in this empty wilderness of death." +</P> + +<P> +But before he reached the bottom of the canyon he again was forced +to the realization that his great strength was waning, and when he +dropped exhausted at the foot of the cliff and saw before him the +opposite wall that must be scaled, he bared his fighting fangs and +growled. For an hour he lay resting in the cool shade at the foot +of the cliff. All about him reigned utter silence—the silence of +the tomb. No fluttering birds, no humming insects, no scurrying +reptiles relieved the deathlike stillness. This indeed was the +valley of death. He felt the depressing influence of the horrible +place settling down upon him; but he staggered to his feet, shaking +himself like a great lion, for was he not still Tarzan, mighty +Tarzan of the Apes? Yes, and Tarzan the mighty he would be until +the last throb of that savage heart! +</P> + +<P> +As he crossed the floor of the canyon he saw something lying close +to the base of the side wall he was approaching—something that +stood out in startling contrast to all the surroundings and yet +seemed so much a part and parcel of the somber scene as to suggest +an actor amid the settings of a well-appointed stage, and, as though +to carry out the allegory, the pitiless rays of flaming Kudu topped +the eastern cliff, picking out the thing lying at the foot of the +western wall like a giant spotlight. +</P> + +<P> +And as Tarzan came nearer he saw the bleached skull and bones of +a human being about which were remnants of clothing and articles +of equipment that, as he examined them, filled the ape-man with +curiosity to such an extent that for a time he forgot his own +predicament in contemplation of the remarkable story suggested by +these mute evidences of a tragedy of a time long past. +</P> + +<P> +The bones were in a fair state of preservation and indicated by +their intactness that the flesh had probably been picked from them +by vultures as none was broken; but the pieces of equipment bore +out the suggestion of their great age. In this protected spot where +there were no frosts and evidently but little rainfall, the bones +might have lain for ages without disintegrating, for there were +here no other forces to scatter or disturb them. +</P> + +<P> +Near the skeleton lay a helmet of hammered brass and a corroded +breastplate of steel while at one side was a long, straight sword +in its scabbard and an ancient harquebus. The bones were those of +a large man—a man of wondrous strength and vitality Tarzan knew +he must have been to have penetrated thus far through the dangers +of Africa with such a ponderous yet at the same time futile armament. +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man felt a sense of deep admiration for this nameless +adventurer of a bygone day. What a brute of a man he must have been +and what a glorious tale of battle and kaleidoscopic vicissitudes +of fortune must once have been locked within that whitened skull! +Tarzan stooped to examine the shreds of clothing that still lay +about the bones. Every particle of leather had disappeared, doubtless +eaten by Ska. No boots remained, if the man had worn boots, but +there were several buckles scattered about suggesting that a great +part of his trappings had been of leather, while just beneath the +bones of one hand lay a metal cylinder about eight inches long and +two inches in diameter. As Tarzan picked it up he saw that it had +been heavily lacquered and had withstood the slight ravages of +time so well as to be in as perfect a state of preservation today +as it had been when its owner dropped into his last, long sleep +perhaps centuries ago. +</P> + +<P> +As he examined it he discovered that one end was closed with +a friction cover which a little twisting force soon loosened and +removed, revealing within a roll of parchment which the ape-man +removed and opened, disclosing a number of age-yellowed sheets +closely written upon in a fine hand in a language which he guessed +to be Spanish but which he could not decipher. Upon the last sheet +was a roughly drawn map with numerous reference points marked upon +it, all unintelligible to Tarzan, who, after a brief examination +of the papers, returned them to their metal case, replaced the top +and was about to toss the little cylinder to the ground beside the +mute remains of its former possessor when some whim of curiosity +unsatisfied prompted him to slip it into the quiver with his arrows, +though as he did so it was with the grim thought that possibly +centuries hence it might again come to the sight of man beside his +own bleached bones. +</P> + +<P> +And then, with a parting glance at the ancient skeleton, he turned +to the task of ascending the western wall of the canyon. Slowly +and with many rests he dragged his weakening body upwards. Again and +again he slipped back from sheer exhaustion and would have fallen +to the floor of the canyon but for merest chance. How long it took +him to scale that frightful wall he could not have told, and when +at last he dragged himself over the top it was to lie weak and +gasping, too spent to rise or even to move a few inches farther +from the perilous edge of the chasm. +</P> + +<P> +At last he arose, very slowly and with evident effort gaining his +knees first and then staggering to his feet, yet his indomitable +will was evidenced by a sudden straightening of his shoulders and +a determined shake of his head as he lurched forward on unsteady +legs to take up his valiant fight for survival. Ahead he scanned +the rough landscape for sign of another canyon which he knew would +spell inevitable doom. The western hills rose closer now though +weirdly unreal as they seemed to dance in the sunlight as though +mocking him with their nearness at the moment that exhaustion was +about to render them forever unattainable. +</P> + +<P> +Beyond them he knew must be the fertile hunting grounds of which Manu +had told. Even if no canyon intervened, his chances of surmounting +even low hills seemed remote should he have the fortune to reach +their base; but with another canyon hope was dead. Above them Ska +still circled, and it seemed to the ape-man that the ill-omened +bird hovered ever lower and lower as though reading in that failing +gait the nearing of the end, and through cracked lips Tarzan growled +out his defiance. +</P> + +<P> +Mile after mile Tarzan of the Apes put slowly behind him, borne up +by sheer force of will where a lesser man would have lain down to +die and rest forever tired muscles whose every move was an agony of +effort; but at last his progress became practically mechanical—he +staggered on with a dazed mind that reacted numbly to a single +urge—on, on, on! The hills were now but a dim, ill-defined blur +ahead. Sometimes he forgot that they were hills, and again he +wondered vaguely why he must go on forever through all this torture +endeavoring to overtake them—the fleeing, elusive hills. Presently +he began to hate them and there formed within his half-delirious +brain the hallucination that the hills were German hills, that they +had slain someone dear to him, whom he could never quite recall, +and that he was pursuing to slay them. +</P> + +<P> +This idea, growing, appeared to give him strength—a new and +revivifying purpose—so that for a time he no longer staggered; but +went forward steadily with head erect. Once he stumbled and fell, +and when he tried to rise he found that he could not—that his +strength was so far gone that he could only crawl forward on his +hands and knees for a few yards and then sink down again to rest. +</P> + +<P> +It was during one of these frequent periods of utter exhaustion +that he heard the flap of dismal wings close above him. With his +remaining strength he turned himself over on his back to see Ska +wheel quickly upward. With the sight Tarzan's mind cleared for a +while. +</P> + +<P> +"Is the end so near as that?" he thought. "Does Ska know that I am +so near gone that he dares come down and perch upon my carcass?" +And even then a grim smile touched those swollen lips as into the +savage mind came a sudden thought—the cunning of the wild beast +at bay. Closing his eyes he threw a forearm across them to protect +them from Ska's powerful beak and then he lay very still and waited. +</P> + +<P> +It was restful lying there, for the sun was now obscured by clouds +and Tarzan was very tired. He feared that he might sleep and something +told him that if he did he would never awaken, and so he concentrated +all his remaining powers upon the one thought of remaining awake. +Not a muscle moved—to Ska, circling above, it became evident that +the end had come—that at last he should be rewarded for his long +vigil. +</P> + +<P> +Circling slowly he dropped closer and closer to the dying man. Why +did not Tarzan move? Had he indeed been overcome by the sleep of +exhaustion, or was Ska right—had death at last claimed that mighty +body? Was that great, savage heart stilled forever? It is unthinkable. +</P> + +<P> +Ska, filled with suspicions, circled warily. Twice he almost alighted +upon the great, naked breast only to wheel suddenly away; but the +third time his talons touched the brown skin. It was as though the +contact closed an electric circuit that instantaneously vitalized +the quiet clod that had lain motionless so long. A brown hand swept +downward from the brown forehead and before Ska could raise a wing +in flight he was in the clutches of his intended victim. +</P> + +<P> +Ska fought, but he was no match for even a dying Tarzan, and +a moment later the ape-man's teeth closed upon the carrion-eater. +The flesh was coarse and tough and gave off an unpleasant odor and +a worse taste; but it was food and the blood was drink and Tarzan +only an ape at heart and a dying ape into the bargain—dying of +starvation and thirst. +</P> + +<P> +Even mentally weakened as he was the ape-man was still master +of his appetite and so he ate but sparingly, saving the rest, and +then, feeling that he now could do so safely, he turned upon his +side and slept. +</P> + +<P> +Rain, beating heavily upon his body, awakened him and sitting up he +cupped his hands and caught the precious drops which he transferred +to his parched throat. Only a little he got at a time; but that +was best. The few mouthfuls of Ska that he had eaten, together with +the blood and rain water and the sleep had refreshed him greatly +and put new strength into his tired muscles. +</P> + +<P> +Now he could see the hills again and they were close and, though +there was no sun, the world looked bright and cheerful, for Tarzan +knew that he was saved. The bird that would have devoured him, and +the providential rain, had saved him at the very moment that death +seemed inevitable. +</P> + +<P> +Again partaking of a few mouthfuls of the unsavory flesh of Ska, +the vulture, the ape-man arose with something of his old force +and set out with steady gait toward the hills of promise rising +alluringly ahead. Darkness fell before he reached them; but he +kept on until he felt the steeply rising ground that proclaimed +his arrival at the base of the hills proper, and then he lay down +and waited until morning should reveal the easiest passage to the +land beyond. The rain had ceased, but the sky still was overcast +so that even his keen eyes could not penetrate the darkness farther +than a few feet. And there he slept, after eating again of what +remained of Ska, until the morning sun awakened him with a new +sense of strength and well-being. +</P> + +<P> +And so at last he came through the hills out of the valley of death +into a land of park-like beauty, rich in game. Below him lay a deep +valley through the center of which dense jungle vegetation marked +the course of a river beyond which a primeval forest extended +for miles to terminate at last at the foot of lofty, snow-capped +mountains. It was a land that Tarzan never had looked upon before, +nor was it likely that the foot of another white man ever had +touched it unless, possibly, in some long-gone day the adventurer +whose skeleton he had found bleaching in the canyon had traversed +it. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Tarzan and the Great Apes +</H3> + +<P> +Three days the ape-man spent in resting and recuperating, eating +fruits and nuts and the smaller animals that were most easily +bagged, and upon the fourth he set out to explore the valley and +search for the great apes. Time was a negligible factor in the +equation of life—it was all the same to Tarzan if he reached the +west coast in a month or a year or three years. All time was his and +all Africa. His was absolute freedom—the last tie that had bound +him to civilization and custom had been severed. He was alone but +he was not exactly lonely. The greater part of his life had been +spent thus, and though there was no other of his kind, he was at +all times surrounded by the jungle peoples for whom familiarity had +bred no contempt within his breast. The least of them interested +him, and, too, there were those with whom he always made friends +easily, and there were his hereditary enemies whose presence gave a +spice to life that might otherwise have become humdrum and monotonous. +</P> + +<P> +And so it was that on the fourth day he set out to explore the +valley and search for his fellow-apes. He had proceeded southward +for a short distance when his nostrils were assailed by the scent +of man, of Gomangani, the black man. There were many of them, and +mixed with their scent was another-that of a she Tarmangani. +</P> + +<P> +Swinging through the trees Tarzan approached the authors of these +disturbing scents. He came warily from the flank, but paying no +attention to the wind, for he knew that man with his dull senses +could apprehend him only through his eyes or ears and then only +when comparatively close. Had he been stalking Numa or Sheeta he +would have circled about until his quarry was upwind from him, thus +taking practically all the advantage up to the very moment that +he came within sight or hearing; but in the stalking of the dull +clod, man, he approached with almost contemptuous indifference, +so that all the jungle about him knew that he was passing—all but +the men he stalked. +</P> + +<P> +From the dense foliage of a great tree he watched them pass—a +disreputable mob of blacks, some garbed in the uniform of German +East African native troops, others wearing a single garment of the +same uniform, while many had reverted to the simple dress of their +forbears—approximating nudity. There were many black women with +them, laughing and talking as they kept pace with the men, all of +whom were armed with German rifles and equipped with German belts +and ammunition. +</P> + +<P> +There were no white officers there, but it was none the less apparent +to Tarzan that these men were from some German native command, +and he guessed that they had slain their officers and taken to the +jungle with their women, or had stolen some from native villages +through which they must have passed. It was evident that they were +putting as much ground between themselves and the coast as possible +and doubtless were seeking some impenetrable fastness of the vast +interior where they might inaugurate a reign of terror among the +primitively armed inhabitants and by raiding, looting, and rape +grow rich in goods and women at the expense of the district upon +which they settled themselves. +</P> + +<P> +Between two of the black women marched a slender white girl. She +was hatless and with torn and disheveled clothing that had evidently +once been a trim riding habit. Her coat was gone and her waist half +torn from her body. Occasionally and without apparent provocation +one or the other of the Negresses struck or pushed her roughly. +Tarzan watched through half-closed eyes. His first impulse was to +leap among them and bear the girl from their cruel clutches. He had +recognized her immediately and it was because of this fact that he +hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +What was it to Tarzan of the Apes what fate befell this enemy +spy? He had been unable to kill her himself because of an inherent +weakness that would not permit him to lay hands upon a woman, all +of which of course had no bearing upon what others might do to +her. That her fate would now be infinitely more horrible than the +quick and painless death that the ape-man would have meted to her +only interested Tarzan to the extent that the more frightful the +end of a German the more in keeping it would be with what they all +deserved. +</P> + +<P> +And so he let the blacks pass with Fräulein Bertha Kircher in their +midst, or at least until the last straggling warrior suggested to +his mind the pleasures of black-baiting—an amusement and a sport +in which he had grown ever more proficient since that long-gone day +when Kulonga, the son of Mbonga, the chief, had cast his unfortunate +spear at Kala, the ape-man's foster mother. +</P> + +<P> +The last man, who must have stopped for some purpose, was fully a +quarter of a mile in rear of the party. He was hurrying to catch +up when Tarzan saw him, and as he passed beneath the tree in which +the ape-man perched above the trail, a silent noose dropped deftly +about his neck. The main body still was in plain sight, and as the +frightened man voiced a piercing shriek of terror, they looked back +to see his body rise as though by magic straight into the air and +disappear amidst the leafy foliage above. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment the blacks stood paralyzed by astonishment and fear; +but presently the burly sergeant, Usanga, who led them, started +back along the trail at a run, calling to the others to follow +him. Loading their guns as they came the blacks ran to succor their +fellow, and at Usanga's command they spread into a thin line that +presently entirely surrounded the tree into which their comrade +had vanished. +</P> + +<P> +Usanga called but received no reply; then he advanced slowly with +rifle at the ready, peering up into the tree. He could see no +one—nothing. The circle closed in until fifty blacks were searching +among the branches with their keen eyes. What had become of their +fellow? They had seen him rise into the tree and since then many +eyes had been fastened upon the spot, yet there was no sign of him. +One, more venturesome than his fellows, volunteered to climb into +the tree and investigate. He was gone but a minute or two and +when he dropped to earth again he swore that there was no sign of +a creature there. +</P> + +<P> +Perplexed, and by this time a bit awed, the blacks drew slowly +away from the spot and with many backward glances and less laughing +continued upon their journey until, when about a mile beyond the +spot at which their fellow had disappeared, those in the lead saw +him peering from behind a tree at one side of the trail just in +front of them. With shouts to their companions that he had been +found they ran forwards; but those who were first to reach the +tree stopped suddenly and shrank back, their eyes rolling fearfully +first in one direction and then in another as though they expected +some nameless horror to leap out upon them. +</P> + +<P> +Nor was their terror without foundation. Impaled upon the end of +a broken branch the head of their companion was propped behind the +tree so that it appeared to be looking out at them from the opposite +side of the bole. +</P> + +<P> +It was then that many wished to turn back, arguing that they +had offended some demon of the wood upon whose preserve they had +trespassed; but Usanga refused to listen to them, assuring them +that inevitable torture and death awaited them should they return +and fall again into the hands of their cruel German masters. At +last his reasoning prevailed to the end that a much-subdued and +terrified band moved in a compact mass, like a drove of sheep, +forward through the valley and there were no stragglers. +</P> + +<P> +It is a happy characteristic of the Negro race, which they hold +in common with little children, that their spirits seldom remain +depressed for a considerable length of time after the immediate +cause of depression is removed, and so it was that in half an hour +Usanga's band was again beginning to take on to some extent its +former appearance of carefree lightheartedness. Thus were the heavy +clouds of fear slowly dissipating when a turn in the trail brought +them suddenly upon the headless body of their erstwhile companion +lying directly in their path, and they were again plunged into the +depth of fear and gloomy forebodings. +</P> + +<P> +So utterly inexplicable and uncanny had the entire occurrence been +that there was not a one of them who could find a ray of comfort +penetrating the dead blackness of its ominous portent. What had +happened to one of their number each conceived as being a wholly +possible fate for himself—in fact quite his probable fate. If such +a thing could happen in broad daylight what frightful thing might +not fall to their lot when night had enshrouded them in her mantle +of darkness. They trembled in anticipation. +</P> + +<P> +The white girl in their midst was no less mystified than they; but +far less moved, since sudden death was the most merciful fate to +which she might now look forward. So far she had been subjected +to nothing worse than the petty cruelties of the women, while, on +the other hand, it had alone been the presence of the women that +had saved her from worse treatment at the hands of some of the +men—notably the brutal, black sergeant, Usanga. His own woman +was of the party—a veritable giantess, a virago of the first +magnitude—and she was evidently the only thing in the world of +which Usanga stood in awe. Even though she was particularly cruel +to the young woman, the latter believed that she was her sole +protection from the degraded black tyrant. +</P> + +<P> +Late in the afternoon the band came upon a small palisaded village +of thatched huts set in a clearing in the jungle close beside +a placid river. At their approach the villagers came pouring out, +and Usanga advanced with two of his warriors to palaver with the +chief. The experiences of the day had so shaken the nerves of the +black sergeant that he was ready to treat with these people rather +than take their village by force of arms, as would ordinarily have +been his preference; but now a vague conviction influenced him +that there watched over this part of the jungle a powerful demon +who wielded miraculous power for evil against those who offended +him. First Usanga would learn how these villagers stood with this +savage god and if they had his good will Usanga would be most +careful to treat them with kindness and respect. +</P> + +<P> +At the palaver it developed that the village chief had food, +goats, and fowl which he would be glad to dispose of for a proper +consideration; but as the consideration would have meant parting +with precious rifles and ammunition, or the very clothing from their +backs, Usanga began to see that after all it might be forced upon +him to wage war to obtain food. +</P> + +<P> +A happy solution was arrived at by a suggestion of one of his +men—that the soldiers go forth the following day and hunt for the +villagers, bringing them in so much fresh meat in return for their +hospitality. This the chief agreed to, stipulating the kind and +quantity of game to be paid in return for flour, goats, and fowl, +and a certain number of huts that were to be turned over to the +visitors. The details having been settled after an hour or more +of that bickering argument of which the native African is so fond, +the newcomers entered the village where they were assigned to huts. +</P> + +<P> +Bertha Kircher found herself alone in a small hut close to the palisade +at the far end of the village street, and though she was neither +bound nor guarded, she was assured by Usanga that she could not +escape the village without running into almost certain death in the +jungle, which the villagers assured them was infested by lions of +great size and ferocity. "Be good to Usanga," he concluded, "and +no harm will befall you. I will come again to see you after the +others are asleep. Let us be friends." +</P> + +<P> +As the brute left her the girl's frame was racked by a convulsive +shudder as she sank to the floor of the hut and covered her face +with her hands. She realized now why the women had not been left +to guard her. It was the work of the cunning Usanga, but would not +his woman suspect something of his intentions? She was no fool and, +further, being imbued with insane jealousy she was ever looking +for some overt act upon the part of her ebon lord. Bertha Kircher +felt that only she might save her and that she would save her if +word could be but gotten to her. But how? +</P> + +<P> +Left alone and away from the eyes of her captors for the first time +since the previous night, the girl immediately took advantage of +the opportunity to assure herself that the papers she had taken +from the body of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider were still safely sewn +inside one of her undergarments. +</P> + +<P> +Alas! Of what value could they now ever be to her beloved country? +But habit and loyalty were so strong within her that she still clung +to the determined hope of eventually delivering the little packet +to her chief. +</P> + +<P> +The natives seemed to have forgotten her existence—no one came +near the hut, not even to bring her food. She could hear them at +the other end of the village laughing and yelling and knew that +they were celebrating with food and native beer—knowledge which +only increased her apprehension. To be prisoner in a native village +in the very heart of an unexplored region of Central Africa—the +only white woman among a band of drunken Negroes! The very thought +appalled her. Yet there was a slight promise in the fact that she +had so far been unmolested—the promise that they might, indeed, +have forgotten her and that soon they might become so hopelessly +drunk as to be harmless. +</P> + +<P> +Darkness had fallen and still no one came. The girl wondered if +she dared venture forth in search of Naratu, Usanga's woman, for +Usanga might not forget that he had promised to return. No one was +near as she stepped out of the hut and made her way toward the part +of the village where the revelers were making merry about a fire. +As she approached she saw the villagers and their guests squatting +in a large circle about the blaze before which a half-dozen naked +warriors leaped and bent and stamped in some grotesque dance. +Pots of food and gourds of drink were being passed about among +the audience. Dirty hands were plunged into the food pots and the +captured portions devoured so greedily that one might have thought +the entire community had been upon the point of starvation. The +gourds they held to their lips until the beer ran down their chins +and the vessels were wrested from them by greedy neighbors. The +drink had now begun to take noticeable effect upon most of them, +with the result that they were beginning to give themselves up to +utter and licentious abandon. +</P> + +<P> +As the girl came nearer, keeping in the shadow of the huts, looking +for Naratu she was suddenly discovered by one upon the edge of the +crowd—a huge woman, who rose, shrieking, and came toward her. From +her aspect the white girl thought that the woman meant literally +to tear her to pieces. So utterly wanton and uncalled-for was the +attack that it found the girl entirely unprepared, and what would +have happened had not a warrior interfered may only be guessed. +And then Usanga, noting the interruption, came lurching forward to +question her. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want," he cried, "food and drink? Come with me!" and +he threw an arm about her and dragged her toward the circle. +</P> + +<P> +"No!" she cried, "I want Naratu. Where is Naratu?" +</P> + +<P> +This seemed to sober the black for a moment as though he +had temporarily forgotten his better half. He cast quick, fearful +glances about, and then, evidently assured that Naratu had noticed +nothing, he ordered the warrior who was still holding the infuriated +black woman from the white girl to take the latter back to her hut +and to remain there on guard over her. +</P> + +<P> +First appropriating a gourd of beer for himself the warrior +motioned the girl to precede him, and thus guarded she returned to +her hut, the fellow squatting down just outside the doorway, where +he confined his attentions for some time to the gourd. +</P> + +<P> +Bertha Kircher sat down at the far side of the hut awaiting she +knew not what impending fate. She could not sleep so filled was her +mind with wild schemes of escape though each new one must always be +discarded as impractical. Half an hour after the warrior had returned +her to her prison he rose and entered the hut, where he tried to +engage in conversation with her. Groping across the interior he +leaned his short spear against the wall and sat down beside her, +and as he talked he edged closer and closer until at last he could +reach out and touch her. Shrinking, she drew away. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not touch me!" she cried. "I will tell Usanga if you do not +leave me alone, and you know what he will do to you." +</P> + +<P> +The man only laughed drunkenly, and, reaching out his hand, grabbed +her arm and dragged her toward him. She fought and cried aloud for +Usanga and at the same instant the entrance to the hut was darkened +by the form of a man. +</P> + +<P> +"What is the matter?" shouted the newcomer in the deep tones that +the girl recognized as belonging to the black sergeant. He had +come, but would she be any better off? She knew that she would not +unless she could play upon Usanga's fear of his woman. +</P> + +<P> +When Usanga found what had happened he kicked the warrior out of +the hut and bade him begone, and when the fellow had disappeared, +muttering and grumbling, the sergeant approached the white girl. He +was very drunk, so drunk that several times she succeeded in eluding +him and twice she pushed him so violently away that he stumbled +and fell. +</P> + +<P> +Finally he became enraged and rushing upon her, seized her in his +long, apelike arms. Striking at his face with clenched fists she +tried to protect herself and drive him away. She threatened him +with the wrath of Naratu, and at that he changed his tactics and +began to plead, and as he argued with her, promising her safety +and eventual freedom, the warrior he had kicked out of the hut made +his staggering way to the hut occupied by Naratu. +</P> + +<P> +Usanga finding that pleas and promises were as unavailing as +threats, at last lost both his patience and his head, seizing the +girl roughly, and simultaneously there burst into the hut a raging +demon of jealousy. Naratu had come. Kicking, scratching, striking, +biting, she routed the terrified Usanga in short order, and +so obsessed was she by her desire to inflict punishment upon her +unfaithful lord and master that she quite forgot the object of his +infatuation. +</P> + +<P> +Bertha Kircher heard her screaming down the village street at Usanga's +heels and trembled at the thought of what lay in store for her at +the hands of these two, for she knew that tomorrow at the latest +Naratu would take out upon her the full measure of her jealous +hatred after she had spent her first wrath upon Usanga. +</P> + +<P> +The two had departed but a few minutes when the warrior guard +returned. He looked into the hut and then entered. "No one will +stop me now, white woman," he growled as he stepped quickly across +the hut toward her. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan of the Apes, feasting well upon a juicy haunch from Bara, +the deer, was vaguely conscious of a troubled mind. He should +have been at peace with himself and all the world, for was he not +in his native element surrounded by game in plenty and rapidly +filling his belly with the flesh he loved best? But Tarzan of +the Apes was haunted by the picture of a slight, young girl being +shoved and struck by brutal Negresses, and in imagination could +see her now camped in this savage country a prisoner among degraded +blacks. +</P> + +<P> +Why was it so difficult to remember that she was only a hated German +and a spy? Why would the fact that she was a woman and white always +obtrude itself upon his consciousness? He hated her as he hated +all her kind, and the fate that was sure to be hers was no more +terrible than she in common with all her people deserved. The matter +was settled and Tarzan composed himself to think of other things, +yet the picture would not die—it rose in all its details and annoyed +him. He began to wonder what they were doing to her and where they +were taking her. He was very much ashamed of himself as he had been +after the episode in Wilhelmstal when his weakness had permitted +him to spare this spy's life. Was he to be thus weak again? No! +</P> + +<P> +Night came and he settled himself in an ample tree to rest until +morning; but sleep would not come. Instead came the vision of a +white girl being beaten by black women, and again of the same girl +at the mercy of the warriors somewhere in that dark and forbidding +jungle. +</P> + +<P> +With a growl of anger and self-contempt Tarzan arose, shook himself, +and swung from his tree to that adjoining, and thus, through the +lower terraces, he followed the trail that Usanga's party had taken +earlier in the afternoon. He had little difficulty as the band had +followed a well-beaten path and when toward midnight the stench +of a native village assailed his delicate nostrils he guessed that +his goal was near and that presently he should find her whom he +sought. +</P> + +<P> +Prowling stealthily as prowls Numa, the lion, stalking a wary +prey, Tarzan moved noiselessly about the palisade, listening and +sniffing. At the rear of the village he discovered a tree whose +branches extended over the top of the palisade and a moment later +he had dropped quietly into the village. +</P> + +<P> +From hut to hut he went searching with keen ears and nostrils some +confirming evidence of the presence of the girl, and at last, faint +and almost obliterated by the odor of the Gomangani, he found it +hanging like a delicate vapor about a small hut. The village was +quiet now, for the last of the beer and the food had been disposed +of and the blacks lay in their huts overcome by stupor, yet Tarzan +made no noise that even a sober man keenly alert might have heard. +</P> + +<P> +He passed around to the entrance of the hut and listened. From +within came no sound, not even the low breathing of one awake; yet +he was sure that the girl had been here and perhaps was even now, +and so he entered, slipping in as silently as a disembodied spirit. +For a moment he stood motionless just within the entranceway, +listening. No, there was no one here, of that he was sure, but he +would investigate. As his eyes became accustomed to the greater +darkness within the hut an object began to take form that presently +outlined itself in a human form supine upon the floor. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan stepped closer and leaned over to examine it—it was the dead +body of a naked warrior from whose chest protruded a short spear. +Then he searched carefully every square foot of the remaining floor +space and at last returned to the body again where he stooped and +smelled of the haft of the weapon that had slain the black. A slow +smile touched his lips—that and a slight movement of his head +betokened that he understood. +</P> + +<P> +A rapid search of the balance of the village assured him that the +girl had escaped and a feeling of relief came over him that no harm +had befallen her. That her life was equally in jeopardy in the +savage jungle to which she must have flown did not impress him +as it would have you or me, since to Tarzan the jungle was not +a dangerous place—he considered one safer there than in Paris or +London by night. +</P> + +<P> +He had entered the trees again and was outside the palisade when +there came faintly to his ears from far beyond the village an old, +familiar sound. Balancing lightly upon a swaying branch he stood, +a graceful statue of a forest god, listening intently. For a minute +he stood thus and then there broke from his lips the long, weird +cry of ape calling to ape and he was away through the jungle toward +the sound of the booming drum of the anthropoids leaving behind him +an awakened and terrified village of cringing blacks, who would +forever after connect that eerie cry with the disappearance of +their white prisoner and the death of their fellow-warrior. +</P> + +<P> +Bertha Kircher, hurrying through the jungle along a well-beaten +game trail, thought only of putting as much distance as possible +between herself and the village before daylight could permit pursuit +of her. Whither she was going she did not know, nor was it a matter +of great moment since death must be her lot sooner or later. +</P> + +<P> +Fortune favored her that night, for she passed unscathed through +as savage and lion-ridden an area as there is in all Africa—a +natural hunting ground which the white man has not yet discovered, +where deer and antelope and zebra, giraffe and elephant, buffalo, +rhinoceros, and the other herbivorous animals of central Africa +abound unmolested by none but their natural enemies, the great +cats which, lured here by easy prey and immunity from the rifles +of big-game hunters, swarm the district. +</P> + +<P> +She had fled for an hour or two, perhaps, when her attention was +arrested by the sound of animals moving about, muttering and growling +close ahead. Assured that she had covered a sufficient distance +to insure her a good start in the morning before the blacks could +take to her trail, and fearful of what the creatures might be, +she climbed into a large tree with the intention of spending the +balance of the night there. +</P> + +<P> +She had no sooner reached a safe and comfortable branch when she +discovered that the tree stood upon the edge of a small clearing +that had been hidden from her by the heavy undergrowth upon the +ground below, and simultaneously she discovered the identity of +the beasts she had heard. +</P> + +<P> +In the center of the clearing below her, clearly visible in the +bright moonlight, she saw fully twenty huge, manlike apes—great, +shaggy fellows who went upon their hind feet with only slight +assistance from the knuckles of their hands. The moonlight glanced +from their glossy coats, the numerous gray-tipped hairs imparting +a sheen that made the hideous creatures almost magnificent in their +appearance. +</P> + +<P> +The girl had watched them but a minute or two when the little band +was joined by others, coming singly and in groups until there were +fully fifty of the great brutes gathered there in the moonlight. +Among them were young apes and several little ones clinging tightly +to their mothers' shaggy shoulders. Presently the group parted to +form a circle about what appeared to be a small, flat-topped mound +of earth in the center of the clearing. Squatting close about this +mound were three old females armed with short, heavy clubs with +which they presently began to pound upon the flat top of the earth +mound which gave forth a dull, booming sound, and almost immediately +the other apes commenced to move about restlessly, weaving in and +out aimlessly until they carried the impression of a moving mass +of great, black maggots. +</P> + +<P> +The beating of the drum was in a slow, ponderous cadence, at first +without time but presently settling into a heavy rhythm to which +the apes kept time with measured tread and swaying bodies. Slowly +the mass separated into two rings, the outer of which was composed +of shes and the very young, the inner of mature bulls. The former +ceased to move and squatted upon their haunches, while the bulls +now moved slowly about in a circle the center of which was the drum +and all now in the same direction. +</P> + +<P> +It was then that there came faintly to the ears of the girl from +the direction of the village she had recently quitted a weird and +high-pitched cry. The effect upon the apes was electrical—they +stopped their movements and stood in attitudes of intent listening +for a moment, and then one fellow, huger than his companions, raised +his face to the heavens and in a voice that sent the cold shudders +through the girl's slight frame answered the far-off cry. +</P> + +<P> +Once again the beaters took up their drumming and the slow dance +went on. There was a certain fascination in the savage ceremony +that held the girl spellbound, and as there seemed little likelihood +of her being discovered, she felt that she might as well remain +the balance of the night in her tree and resume her flight by the +comparatively greater safety of daylight. +</P> + +<P> +Assuring herself that her packet of papers was safe she sought as +comfortable a position as possible among the branches, and settled +herself to watch the weird proceedings in the clearing below her. +</P> + +<P> +A half-hour passed, during which the cadence of the drum increased +gradually. Now the great bull that had replied to the distant call +leaped from the inner circle to dance alone between the drummers +and the other bulls. He leaped and crouched and leaped again, now +growling and barking, again stopping to raise his hideous face +to Goro, the moon, and, beating upon his shaggy breast, uttered +a piercing scream-the challenge of the bull ape, had the girl but +known it. +</P> + +<P> +He stood thus in the full glare of the great moon, motionless after +screaming forth his weird challenge, in the setting of the primeval +jungle and the circling apes a picture of primitive savagery and +power—a mightily muscled Hercules out of the dawn of life—when +from close behind her the girl heard an answering scream, and an +instant later saw an almost naked white man drop from a near-by +tree into the clearing. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly the apes became a roaring, snarling pack of angry beasts. +Bertha Kircher held her breath. What maniac was this who dared +approach these frightful creatures in their own haunts, alone against +fifty? She saw the brown-skinned figure bathed in moonlight walk +straight toward the snarling pack. She saw the symmetry and the +beauty of that perfect body—its grace, its strength, its wondrous +proportioning, and then she recognized him. It was the same creature +whom she had seen carry Major Schneider from General Kraut's +headquarters, the same who had rescued her from Numa, the lion; +the same whom she had struck down with the butt of her pistol and +escaped when he would have returned her to her enemies, the same +who had slain Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and spared her life that +night in Wilhelmstal. +</P> + +<P> +Fear-filled and fascinated she watched him as he neared the apes. +She heard sounds issue from his throat—sounds identical with +those uttered by the apes—and though she could scarce believe the +testimony of her own ears, she knew that this godlike creature was +conversing with the brutes in their own tongue. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan halted just before he reached the shes of the outer circle. +"I am Tarzan of the Apes!" he cried. "You do not know me because +I am of another tribe, but Tarzan comes in peace or he comes to +fight—which shall it be? Tarzan will talk with your king," and so +saying he pushed straight forward through the shes and the young +who now gave way before him, making a narrow lane through which he +passed toward the inner circle. +</P> + +<P> +Shes and balus growled and bristled as he passed closer, but none +hindered him and thus he came to the inner circle of bulls. Here +bared fangs menaced him and growling faces hideously contorted. "I +am Tarzan," he repeated. "Tarzan comes to dance the Dum-Dum with +his brothers. Where is your king?" Again he pressed forward and the +girl in the tree clapped her palms to her cheeks as she watched, +wide-eyed, this madman going to a frightful death. In another instant +they would be upon him, rending and tearing until that perfect form +had been ripped to shreds; but again the ring parted, and though +the apes roared and menaced him they did not attack, and at last +he stood in the inner circle close to the drum and faced the great +king ape. +</P> + +<P> +Again he spoke. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he cried. "Tarzan comes +to live with his brothers. He will come in peace and live in peace +or he will kill; but he has come and he will stay. Which—shall +Tarzan dance the Dum-Dum in peace with his brothers, or shall Tarzan +kill first?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am Go-lat, King of the Apes," screamed the great bull. "I kill! +I kill! I kill!" and with a sullen roar he charged the Tarmangani. +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man, as the girl watched him, seemed entirely unprepared +for the charge and she looked to see him borne down and slain at +the first rush. The great bull was almost upon him with huge hands +outstretched to seize him before Tarzan made a move, but when he +did move his quickness would have put Ara, the lightning, to shame. +As darts forward the head of Histah, the snake, so darted forward +the left hand of the man-beast as he seized the left wrist of his +antagonist. A quick turn and the bull's right arm was locked beneath +the right arm of his foe in a jujutsu hold that Tarzan had learned +among civilized men—a hold with which he might easily break the +great bones, a hold that left the ape helpless. +</P> + +<P> +"I am Tarzan of the Apes!" screamed the ape-man. "Shall Tarzan +dance in peace or shall Tarzan kill?'' +</P> + +<P> +"I kill! I kill! I kill!" shrieked Go-lat. +</P> + +<P> +With the quickness of a cat Tarzan swung the king ape over one hip +and sent him sprawling to the ground. "I am Tarzan, King of all +the Apes!" he shouted. "Shall it be peace?" +</P> + +<P> +Go-lat, infuriated, leaped to his feet and charged again, shouting +his war cry: "I kill! I kill! I kill!" and again Tarzan met him +with a sudden hold that the stupid bull, being ignorant of, could +not possibly avert—a hold and a throw that brought a scream of +delight from the interested audience and suddenly filled the girl +with doubts as to the man's madness—evidently he was quite safe +among the apes, for she saw him swing Go-lat to his back and then +catapult him over his shoulder. The king ape fell upon his head +and lay very still. +</P> + +<P> +"I am Tarzan of the Apes!" cried the ape-man. "I come to dance the +Dum-Dum with my brothers," and he made a motion to the drummers, +who immediately took up the cadence of the dance where they had +dropped it to watch their king slay the foolish Tarmangani. +</P> + +<P> +It was then that Go-lat raised his head and slowly crawled to his +feet. Tarzan approached him. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he cried. +"Shall Tarzan dance the Dum-Dum with his brothers now, or shall he +kill first?" +</P> + +<P> +Go-lat raised his bloodshot eyes to the face of the Tarmangani. +"Kagoda!" he cried. "Tarzan of the Apes will dance the Dum-Dum with +his brothers and Go-lat will dance with him!" +</P> + +<P> +And then the girl in the tree saw the savage man leaping, bending, and +stamping with the savage apes in the ancient rite of the Dum-Dum. +His roars and growls were more beastly than the beasts. His +handsome face was distorted with savage ferocity. He beat upon his +great breast and screamed forth his challenge as his smooth, brown +hide brushed the shaggy coats of his fellows. It was weird; it +was wonderful; and in its primitive savagery it was not without +beauty—the strange scene she looked upon, such a scene as no other +human being, probably, ever had witnessed—and yet, withal, it was +horrible. +</P> + +<P> +As she gazed, spell-bound, a stealthy movement in the tree behind +her caused her to turn her head, and there, back of her, blazing +in the reflected moonlight, shone two great, yellow-green eyes. +Sheeta, the panther, had found her out. +</P> + +<P> +The beast was so close that it might have reached out and touched +her with a great, taloned paw. There was no time to think, no +time to weigh chances or to choose alternatives. Terror-inspired +impulse was her guide as, with a loud scream, she leaped from the +tree into the clearing. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly the apes, now maddened by the effects of the dancing and +the moonlight, turned to note the cause of the interruption. They +saw this she Tarmangani, helpless and alone and they started for +her. Sheeta, the panther, knowing that not even Numa, the lion, +unless maddened by starvation, dares meddle with the great apes at +their Dum-Dum, had silently vanished into the night, seeking his +supper elsewhere. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan, turning with the other apes toward the cause of the +interruption, saw the girl, recognized her and also her peril. +Here again might she die at the hands of others; but why consider +it! He knew that he could not permit it, and though the acknowledgment +shamed him, it had to be admitted. +</P> + +<P> +The leading shes were almost upon the girl when Tarzan leaped among +them, and with heavy blows scattered them to right and left; and +then as the bulls came to share in the kill they thought this new +ape-thing was about to make that he might steal all the flesh for +himself, they found him facing them with an arm thrown about the +creature as though to protect her. +</P> + +<P> +"This is Tarzan's she," he said. "Do not harm her." It was the only +way he could make them understand that they must not slay her. He +was glad that she could not interpret the words. It was humiliating +enough to make such a statement to wild apes about this hated enemy. +</P> + +<P> +So once again Tarzan of the Apes was forced to protect a Hun. +Growling, he muttered to himself in extenuation: +</P> + +<P> +"She is a woman and I am not a German, so it could not be otherwise!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Dropped from the Sky +</H3> + +<P> +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, Royal Air Service, was on +reconnaissance. A report, or it would be better to say a rumor, +had come to the British headquarters in German East Africa that +the enemy had landed in force on the west coast and was marching +across the dark continent to reinforce their colonial troops. In +fact the new army was supposed to be no more than ten or twelve days' +march to the west. Of course the thing was ridiculous—preposterous—but +preposterous things often happen in war; and anyway no good general +permits the least rumor of enemy activity to go uninvestigated. +</P> + +<P> +Therefore Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick flew low toward +the west, searching with keen eyes for signs of a Hun army. Vast +forests unrolled beneath him in which a German army corps might +have lain concealed, so dense was the overhanging foliage of the +great trees. Mountain, meadowland, and desert passed in lovely +panorama; but never a sight of man had the young lieutenant. +</P> + +<P> +Always hoping that he might discover some sign of their passage—a +discarded lorry, a broken limber, or an old camp site—he continued +farther and farther into the west until well into the afternoon. +Above a tree-dotted plain through the center of which flowed a +winding river he determined to turn about and start for camp. It +would take straight flying at top speed to cover the distance before +dark; but as he had ample gasoline and a trustworthy machine there +was no doubt in his mind but that he could accomplish his aim. It +was then that his engine stalled. +</P> + +<P> +He was too low to do anything but land, and that immediately, +while he had the more open country accessible, for directly east of +him was a vast forest into which a stalled engine could only have +plunged him to certain injury and probable death; and so he came +down in the meadowland near the winding river and there started to +tinker with his motor. +</P> + +<P> +As he worked he hummed a tune, some music-hall air that had been +popular in London the year before, so that one might have thought +him working in the security of an English flying field surrounded +by innumerable comrades rather than alone in the heart of an unexplored +African wilderness. It was typical of the man that he should be +wholly indifferent to his surroundings, although his looks entirely +belied any assumption that he was of particularly heroic strain. +</P> + +<P> +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick was fair-haired, blue-eyed, +and slender, with a rosy, boyish face that might have been molded +more by an environment of luxury, indolence, and ease than the more +strenuous exigencies of life's sterner requirements. +</P> + +<P> +And not only was the young lieutenant outwardly careless of the +immediate future and of his surroundings, but actually so. That +the district might be infested by countless enemies seemed not to +have occurred to him in the remotest degree. He bent assiduously +to the work of correcting the adjustment that had caused his motor +to stall without so much as an upward glance at the surrounding +country. The forest to the east of him, and the more distant jungle +that bordered the winding river, might have harbored an army of +bloodthirsty savages, but neither could elicit even a passing show +of interest on the part of Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick. +</P> + +<P> +And even had he looked, it is doubtful if he would have seen the +score of figures crouching in the concealment of the undergrowth +at the forest's edge. There are those who are reputed to be endowed +with that which is sometimes, for want of a better appellation, +known as the sixth sense—a species of intuition which apprises +them of the presence of an unseen danger. The concentrated gaze of +a hidden observer provokes a warning sensation of nervous unrest in +such as these, but though twenty pairs of savage eyes were gazing +fixedly at Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, the fact aroused +no responsive sensation of impending danger in his placid breast. +He hummed peacefully and, his adjustment completed, tried out his +motor for a minute or two, then shut it off and descended to the +ground with the intention of stretching his legs and taking a smoke +before continuing his return flight to camp. Now for the first time +he took note of his surroundings, to be immediately impressed by +both the wildness and the beauty of the scene. In some respects the +tree-dotted meadowland reminded him of a park-like English forest, +and that wild beasts and savage men could ever be a part of so +quiet a scene seemed the remotest of contingencies. +</P> + +<P> +Some gorgeous blooms upon a flowering shrub at a little distance +from his machine caught the attention of his aesthetic eye, and as +he puffed upon his cigarette, he walked over to examine the flowers +more closely. As he bent above them he was probably some hundred +yards from his plane and it was at this instant that Numabo, chief +of the Wamabo, chose to leap from his ambush and lead his warriors +in a sudden rush upon the white man. +</P> + +<P> +The young Englishman's first intimation of danger was a chorus of +savage yells from the forest behind him. Turning, he saw a score +of naked, black warriors advancing rapidly toward him. They moved +in a compact mass and as they approached more closely their rate +of speed noticeably diminished. Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick realized +in a quick glance that the direction of their approach and their +proximity had cut off all chances of retreating to his plane, and +he also understood that their attitude was entirely warlike and +menacing. He saw that they were armed with spears and with bows and +arrows, and he felt quite confident that notwithstanding the fact +that he was armed with a pistol they could overcome him with the +first rush. What he did not know about their tactics was that at +any show of resistance they would fall back, which is the nature of +the native Negroes, but that after numerous advances and retreats, +during which they would work themselves into a frenzy of rage by +much shrieking, leaping, and dancing, they would eventually come +to the point of a determined and final assault. +</P> + +<P> +Numabo was in the forefront, a fact which taken in connection with +his considerably greater size and more warlike appearance, indicated +him as the natural target and it was at Numabo that the Englishman +aimed his first shot. Unfortunately for him it missed its target, +as the killing of the chief might have permanently dispersed +the others. The bullet passed Numabo to lodge in the breast of a +warrior behind him and as the fellow lunged forward with a scream +the others turned and retreated, but to the lieutenant's chagrin +they ran in the direction of the plane instead of back toward the +forest so that he was still cut off from reaching his machine. +</P> + +<P> +Presently they stopped and faced him again. They were talking loudly +and gesticulating, and after a moment one of them leaped into the +air, brandishing his spear and uttering savage war cries, which +soon had their effect upon his fellows so that it was not long ere +all of them were taking part in the wild show of savagery, which +would bolster their waning courage and presently spur them on to +another attack. +</P> + +<P> +The second charge brought them closer to the Englishman, and though +he dropped another with his pistol, it was not before two or three +spears had been launched at him. He now had five shots remaining +and there were still eighteen warriors to be accounted for, so that +unless he could frighten them off, it was evident that his fate +was sealed. +</P> + +<P> +That they must pay the price of one life for every attempt to take +his had its effect upon them and they were longer now in initiating +a new rush and when they did so it was more skillfully ordered than +those that had preceded it, for they scattered into three bands +which, partially surrounding him, came simultaneously toward him +from different directions, and though he emptied his pistol with +good effect, they reached him at last. They seemed to know that +his ammunition was exhausted, for they circled close about him now +with the evident intention of taking him alive, since they might +easily have riddled him with their sharp spears with perfect safety +to themselves. +</P> + +<P> +For two or three minutes they circled about him until, at a word +from Numabo, they closed in simultaneously, and though the slender +young lieutenant struck out to right and left, he was soon overwhelmed +by superior numbers and beaten down by the hafts of spears in brawny +hands. +</P> + +<P> +He was all but unconscious when they finally dragged him to his +feet, and after securing his hands behind his back, pushed him +roughly along ahead of them toward the jungle. +</P> + +<P> +As the guard prodded him along the narrow trail, Lieutenant +Smith-Oldwick could not but wonder why they had wished to take him +alive. He knew that he was too far inland for his uniform to have +any significance to this native tribe to whom no inkling of the +World War probably ever had come, and he could only assume that he +had fallen into the hands of the warriors of some savage potentate +upon whose royal caprice his fate would hinge. +</P> + +<P> +They had marched for perhaps half an hour when the Englishman saw +ahead of them, in a little clearing upon the bank of the river, +the thatched roofs of native huts showing above a crude but strong +palisade; and presently he was ushered into a village street where +he was immediately surrounded by a throng of women and children +and warriors. Here he was soon the center of an excited mob whose +intent seemed to be to dispatch him as quickly as possible. The +women were more venomous than the men, striking and scratching him +whenever they could reach him, until at last Numabo, the chief, was +obliged to interfere to save his prisoner for whatever purpose he +was destined. +</P> + +<P> +As the warriors pushed the crowd back, opening a space through +which the white man was led toward a hut, Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick +saw coming from the opposite end of the village a number of Negroes +wearing odds and ends of German uniforms. He was not a little +surprised at this, and his first thought was that he had at last +come in contact with some portion of the army which was rumored to +be crossing from the west coast and for signs of which he had been +searching. +</P> + +<P> +A rueful smile touched his lips as he contemplated the unhappy +circumstances which surrounded the accession of this knowledge for +though he was far from being without hope, he realized that only +by the merest chance could he escape these people and regain his +machine. +</P> + +<P> +Among the partially uniformed blacks was a huge fellow in the tunic +of a sergeant and as this man's eyes fell upon the British officer, +a loud cry of exultation broke from his lips, and immediately his +followers took up the cry and pressed forward to bait the prisoner. +</P> + +<P> +"Where did you get the Englishman?" asked Usanga, the black sergeant, +of the chief Numabo. "Are there many more with him?" +</P> + +<P> +"He came down from the sky," replied the native chief, "in a strange +thing which flies like a bird and which frightened us very much at +first; but we watched for a long time and saw that it did not seem +to be alive, and when this white man left it we attacked him and +though he killed some of my warriors, we took him, for we Wamabos +are brave men and great warriors." +</P> + +<P> +Usanga's eyes went wide. "He flew here through the sky?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Numabo. "In a great thing which resembled a bird he +flew down out of the sky. The thing is still there where it came +down close to the four trees near the second bend in the river. We +left it there because, not knowing what it was, we were afraid to +touch it and it is still there if it has not flown away again." +</P> + +<P> +"It cannot fly," said Usanga, "without this man in it. It is a +terrible thing which filled the hearts of our soldiers with terror, +for it flew over our camps at night and dropped bombs upon us. +It is well that you captured this white man, Numabo, for with his +great bird he would have flown over your village tonight and killed +all your people. These Englishmen are very wicked white men." +</P> + +<P> +"He will fly no more," said Numabo. "It is not intended that a man +should fly through the air; only wicked demons do such things as +that and Numabo, the chief, will see that this white man does not +do it again," and with the words he pushed the young officer roughly +toward a hut in the center of the village, where he was left under +guard of two stalwart warriors. +</P> + +<P> +For an hour or more the prisoner was left to his own devices, which +consisted in vain and unremitting attempts to loosen the strands +which fettered his wrists, and then he was interrupted by the +appearance of the black sergeant Usanga, who entered his hut and +approached him. +</P> + +<P> +"What are they going to do with me?" asked the Englishman. "My +country is not at war with these people. You speak their language. +Tell them that I am not an enemy, that my people are the friends +of the black people and that they must let me go in peace." +</P> + +<P> +Usanga laughed. "They do not know an Englishman from a German," he +replied. "It is nothing to them what you are, except that you are +a white man and an enemy." +</P> + +<P> +"Then why did they take me alive?" asked the lieutenant. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," said Usanga and he led the Englishman to the doorway of +the hut. "Look," he said, and pointed a black forefinger toward +the end of the village street where a wider space between the huts +left a sort of plaza. +</P> + +<P> +Here Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick saw a number of Negresses +engaged in laying fagots around a stake and in preparing fires +beneath a number of large cooking vessels. The sinister suggestion +was only too obvious. +</P> + +<P> +Usanga was eyeing the white man closely, but if he expected to be +rewarded by any signs of fear, he was doomed to disappointment and +the young lieutenant merely turned toward him with a shrug: "Really +now, do you beggars intend eating me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not my people," replied Usanga. "We do not eat human flesh, but +the Wamabos do. It is they who will eat you, but we will kill you +for the feast, Englishman." +</P> + +<P> +The Englishman remained standing in the doorway of the hut, an +interested spectator of the preparations for the coming orgy that +was so horribly to terminate his earthly existence. It can hardly +be assumed that he felt no fear; yet, if he did, he hid it perfectly +beneath an imperturbable mask of coolness. Even the brutal Usanga +must have been impressed by the bravery of his victim since, though +he had come to abuse and possibly to torture the helpless prisoner, +he now did neither, contenting himself merely with berating whites +as a race and Englishmen especially, because of the terror the +British aviators had caused Germany's native troops in East Africa. +</P> + +<P> +"No more," he concluded, "will your great bird fly over our people +dropping death among them from the skies—Usanga will see to that," +and he walked abruptly away toward a group of his own fighting men +who were congregated near the stake where they were laughing and +joking with the women. +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later the Englishman saw them pass out of the village +gate, and once again his thoughts reverted to various futile plans +for escape. +</P> + +<P> +Several miles north of the village on a little rise of ground close +to the river where the jungle, halting at the base of a knoll, had +left a few acres of grassy land sparsely wooded, a man and a girl +were busily engaged in constructing a small boma, in the center of +which a thatched hut already had been erected. +</P> + +<P> +They worked almost in silence with only an occasional word of +direction or interrogation between them. +</P> + +<P> +Except for a loin cloth, the man was naked, his smooth skin tanned +to a deep brown by the action of sun and wind. He moved with the +graceful ease of a jungle cat and when he lifted heavy weights, +the action seemed as effortless as the raising of empty hands. +</P> + +<P> +When he was not looking at her, and it was seldom that he did, the +girl found her eyes wandering toward him, and at such times there +was always a puzzled expression upon her face as though she found +in him an enigma which she could not solve. As a matter of fact, +her feelings toward him were not un-tinged with awe, since in +the brief period of their association she had discovered in this +handsome, godlike giant the attributes of the superman and the +savage beast closely intermingled. At first she had felt only that +unreasoning feminine terror which her unhappy position naturally +induced. +</P> + +<P> +To be alone in the heart of an unexplored wilderness of Central +Africa with a savage wild man was in itself sufficiently appalling, +but to feel also that this man was a blood enemy, that he hated her +and her kind and that in addition thereto he owed her a personal +grudge for an attack she had made upon him in the past, left no +loophole for any hope that he might accord her even the minutest +measure of consideration. +</P> + +<P> +She had seen him first months since when he had entered the +headquarters of the German high command in East Africa and carried +off the luckless Major Schneider, of whose fate no hint had ever +reached the German officers; and she had seen him again upon that +occasion when he had rescued her from the clutches of the lion and, +after explaining to her that he had recognized her in the British +camp, had made her prisoner. It was then that she had struck him +down with the butt of her pistol and escaped. That he might seek +no personal revenge for her act had been evidenced in Wilhelmstal +the night that he had killed Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and left +without molesting her. +</P> + +<P> +No, she could not fathom him. He hated her and at the same time +he had protected her as had been evidenced again when he had kept +the great apes from tearing her to pieces after she had escaped +from the Wamabo village to which Usanga, the black sergeant, had +brought her a captive; but why was he saving her? For what sinister +purpose could this savage enemy be protecting her from the other +denizens of his cruel jungle? She tried to put from her mind the +probable fate which awaited her, yet it persisted in obtruding +itself upon her thoughts, though always she was forced to admit that +there was nothing in the demeanor of the man to indicate that her +fears were well grounded. She judged him perhaps by the standards +other men had taught her and because she looked upon him as a savage +creature, she felt that she could not expect more of chivalry from +him than was to be found in the breasts of the civilized men of +her acquaintance. +</P> + +<P> +Fräulein Bertha Kircher was by nature a companionable and cheerful +character. She was not given to morbid forebodings, and above all +things she craved the society of her kind and that interchange of +thought which is one of the marked distinctions between man and +the lower animals. Tarzan, on the other hand, was sufficient unto +himself. Long years of semi-solitude among creatures whose powers +of oral expression are extremely limited had thrown him almost +entirely upon his own resources for entertainment. +</P> + +<P> +His active mind was never idle, but because his jungle mates could +neither follow nor grasp the vivid train of imaginings that his +man-mind wrought, he had long since learned to keep them to himself; +and so now he found no need for confiding them in others. This +fact, linked with that of his dislike for the girl, was sufficient +to seal his lips for other than necessary conversation, and so they +worked on together in comparative silence. Bertha Kircher, however, +was nothing if not feminine and she soon found that having someone +to talk to who would not talk was extremely irksome. Her fear of +the man was gradually departing, and she was full of a thousand +unsatisfied curiosities as to his plans for the future in so far as +they related to her, as well as more personal questions regarding +himself, since she could not but wonder as to his antecedents and +his strange and solitary life in the jungle, as well as his friendly +intercourse with the savage apes among which she had found him. +</P> + +<P> +With the waning of her fears she became sufficiently emboldened +to question him, and so she asked him what he intended doing after +the hut and boma were completed. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going to the west coast where I was born," replied Tarzan. +"I do not know when. I have all my life before me and in the jungle +there is no reason for haste. We are not forever running as fast +as we can from one place to another as are you of the outer world. +When I have been here long enough I will go on toward the west, +but first I must see that you have a safe place in which to sleep, +and that you have learned how to provide yourself with necessaries. +That will take time." +</P> + +<P> +"You are going to leave me here alone?" cried the girl; her tones +marked the fear which the prospect induced. "You are going to leave +me here alone in this terrible jungle, a prey to wild beasts and +savage men, hundreds of miles from a white settlement and in a +country which gives every evidence of never having been touched by +the foot of civilized men?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" asked Tarzan. "I did not bring you here. Would one of +your men accord any better treatment to an enemy woman?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she exclaimed. "They certainly would. No man of my race +would leave a defenseless white woman alone in this horrible place." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan shrugged his broad shoulders. The conversation seemed +profitless and it was further distasteful to him for the reason +that it was carried on in German, a tongue which he detested as +much as he did the people who spoke it. He wished that the girl +spoke English and then it occurred to him that as he had seen her +in disguise in the British camp carrying on her nefarious work as +a German spy, she probably did speak English and so he asked her. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I speak English," she exclaimed, "but I did not know +that you did." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan looked his wonderment but made no comment. He only wondered why +the girl should have any doubts as to the ability of an Englishman +to speak English, and then suddenly it occurred to him that she +probably looked upon him merely as a beast of the jungle who by +accident had learned to speak German through frequenting the district +which Germany had colonized. It was there only that she had seen +him and so she might not know that he was an Englishman by birth, +and that he had had a home in British East Africa. It was as well, +he thought, that she knew little of him, as the less she knew the +more he might learn from her as to her activities in behalf of the +Germans and of the German spy system of which she was a representative; +and so it occurred to him to let her continue to think that he was +only what he appeared to be—a savage denizen of his savage jungle, +a man of no race and no country, hating all white men impartially; +and this in truth, was what she did think of him. It explained +perfectly his attacks upon Major Schneider and the Major's brother, +Hauptmann Fritz. +</P> + +<P> +Again they worked on in silence upon the boma which was now nearly +completed, the girl helping the man to the best of her small +ability. Tarzan could not but note with grudging approval the +spirit of helpfulness she manifested in the oft-times painful labor +of gathering and arranging the thorn bushes which constituted the +temporary protection against roaming carnivores. Her hands and arms +gave bloody token of the sharpness of the numerous points that had +lacerated her soft flesh, and even though she were an enemy Tarzan +could not but feel compunction that he had permitted her to do this +work, and at last he bade her stop. +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" she asked. "It is no more painful to me than it must be to +you, and, as it is solely for my protection that you are building +this boma, there is no reason why I should not do my share." +</P> + +<P> +"You are a woman," replied Tarzan. "This is not a woman's work. If +you wish to do something, take those gourds I brought this morning +and fill them with water at the river. You may need it while I am +away." +</P> + +<P> +"While you are away—" she said. "You are going away?" +</P> + +<P> +"When the boma is built I am going out after meat," he replied. +"Tomorrow I will go again and take you and show you how you may +make your own kills after I am gone." +</P> + +<P> +Without a word she took the gourds and walked toward the river. As +she filled them, her mind was occupied with painful forebodings of +the future. She knew that Tarzan had passed a death sentence upon +her, and that the moment that he left her, her doom was sealed, +for it could be but a question of time—a very short time—before +the grim jungle would claim her, for how could a lone woman hope +successfully to combat the savage forces of destruction which +constituted so large a part of existence in the jungle? +</P> + +<P> +So occupied was she with the gloomy prophecies that she had neither +ears nor eyes for what went on about her. Mechanically she filled +the gourds and, taking them up, turned slowly to retrace her steps +to the boma only to voice immediately a half-stifled scream and +shrink back from the menacing figure looming before her and blocking +her way to the hut. +</P> + +<P> +Go-lat, the king ape, hunting a little apart from his tribe, had seen +the woman go to the river for water, and it was he who confronted +her when she turned back with her filled gourds. Go-lat was not +a pretty creature when judged by standards of civilized humanity, +though the shes of his tribe and even Go-lat himself, considered +his glossy black coat shot with silver, his huge arms dangling to +his knees, his bullet head sunk between his mighty shoulders, marks +of great personal beauty. His wicked, bloodshot eyes and broad +nose, his ample mouth and great fighting fangs only enhanced the +claim of this Adonis of the forest upon the affections of his shes. +</P> + +<P> +Doubtless in the little, savage brain there was a well-formed +conviction that this strange she belonging to the Tarmangani must +look with admiration upon so handsome a creature as Go-lat, for +there could be no doubt in the mind of any that his beauty entirely +eclipsed such as the hairless white ape might lay claim to. +</P> + +<P> +But Bertha Kircher saw only a hideous beast, a fierce and terrible +caricature of man. Could Go-lat have known what passed through her +mind, he must have been terribly chagrined, though the chances are +that he would have attributed it to a lack of discernment on her +part. Tarzan heard the girl's cry and looking up saw at a glance +the cause of her terror. Leaping lightly over the boma, he ran +swiftly toward her as Go-lat lumbered closer to the girl the while +he voiced his emotions in low gutturals which, while in reality the +most amicable of advances, sounded to the girl like the growling +of an enraged beast. As Tarzan drew nearer he called aloud to the +ape and the girl heard from the human lips the same sounds that +had fallen from those of the anthropoid. +</P> + +<P> +"I will not harm your she," Go-lat called to Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"I know it," replied the ape-man, "but she does not. She is like +Numa and Sheeta, who do not understand our talk. She thinks you +come to harm her." +</P> + +<P> +By this time Tarzan was beside the girl. "He will not harm you," +he said to her. "You need not be afraid. This ape has learned his +lesson. He has learned that Tarzan is lord of the jungle. He will +not harm that which is Tarzan's." +</P> + +<P> +The girl cast a quick glance at the man's face. It was evident to +her that the words he had spoken meant nothing to him and that the +assumed proprietorship over her was, like the boma, only another +means for her protection. +</P> + +<P> +"But I am afraid of him," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"You must not show your fear. You will be often surrounded by these +apes. At such times you will be safest. Before I leave you I will +give you the means of protecting yourself against them should one +of them chance to turn upon you. If I were you I would seek their +society. Few are the animals of the jungle that dare attack the +great apes when there are several of them together. If you let +them know that you are afraid of them, they will take advantage of +it and your life will be constantly menaced. The shes especially +would attack you. I will let them know that you have the means of +protecting yourself and of killing them. If necessary, I will show +you how and then they will respect and fear you." +</P> + +<P> +"I will try," said the girl, "but I am afraid that it will be +difficult. He is the most frightful creature I ever have seen." +Tarzan smiled. "Doubtless he thinks the same of you," he said. +</P> + +<P> +By this time other apes had entered the clearing and they were now +the center of a considerable group, among which were several bulls, +some young shes, and some older ones with their little balus clinging +to their backs or frolicking around at their feet. Though they had +seen the girl the night of the Dum-Dum when Sheeta had forced her +to leap from her concealment into the arena where the apes were +dancing, they still evinced a great curiosity regarding her. Some +of the shes came very close and plucked at her garments, commenting +upon them to one another in their strange tongue. The girl, by +the exercise of all the will power she could command, succeeded in +passing through the ordeal without evincing any of the terror and +revulsion that she felt. Tarzan watched her closely, a half-smile +upon his face. He was not so far removed from recent contact with +civilized people that he could not realize the torture that she +was undergoing, but he felt no pity for this woman of a cruel enemy +who doubtless deserved the worst suffering that could be meted to +her. Yet, notwithstanding his sentiments toward her, he was forced +to admire her fine display of courage. Suddenly he turned to the +apes. +</P> + +<P> +"Tarzan goes to hunt for himself and his she," he said. "The she +will remain there," and he pointed toward the hut. "See that no +member of the tribe harms her. Do you understand?" +</P> + +<P> +The apes nodded. "We will not harm her," said Go-lat. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Tarzan. "You will not. For if you do, Tarzan will kill +you," and then turning to the girl, "Come," he said, "I am going to +hunt now. You had better remain at the hut. The apes have promised +not to harm you. I will leave my spear with you. It will be the best +weapon you could have in case you should need to protect yourself, +but I doubt if you will be in any danger for the short time that +I am away." +</P> + +<P> +He walked with her as far as the boma and when she had entered he +closed the gap with thorn bushes and turned away toward the forest. +She watched him moving across the clearing, noting the easy, catlike +tread and the grace of every movement that harmonized so well with +the symmetry and perfection of his figure. At the forest's edge +she saw him swing lightly into a tree and disappear from view, and +then, being a woman, she entered the hut and, throwing herself upon +the ground, burst into tears. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +In the Hands of Savages +</H3> + +<P> +Tarzan sought Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, for of all the +jungle animals he doubted if any would prove more palatable to the +white woman, but though his keen nostrils were ever on the alert, +he traveled far without being rewarded with even the faintest +scent spoor of the game he sought. Keeping close to the river where +he hoped to find Bara or Horta approaching or leaving a drinking +place he came at last upon the strong odor of the Wamabo village +and being ever ready to pay his hereditary enemies, the Gomangani, +an undesired visit, he swung into a detour and came up in the rear +of the village. From a tree which overhung the palisade he looked +down into the street where he saw the preparations going on which +his experience told him indicated the approach of one of those +frightful feasts the piece de resistance of which is human flesh. +</P> + +<P> +One of Tarzan's chief divertissements was the baiting of the blacks. +He realized more keen enjoyment through annoying and terrifying them +than from any other source of amusement the grim jungle offered. +To rob them of their feast in some way that would strike terror +to their hearts would give him the keenest of pleasure, and so +he searched the village with his eyes for some indication of the +whereabouts of the prisoner. His view was circumscribed by the +dense foliage of the tree in which he sat, and, so that he might +obtain a better view, he climbed further aloft and moved cautiously +out upon a slender branch. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan of the Apes possessed a woodcraft scarcely short of the +marvelous but even Tarzan's wondrous senses were not infallible. +The branch upon which he made his way outward from the bole was no +smaller than many that had borne his weight upon countless other +occasions. Outwardly it appeared strong and healthy and was in full +foliage, nor could Tarzan know that close to the stem a burrowing +insect had eaten away half the heart of the solid wood beneath the +bark. +</P> + +<P> +And so when he reached a point far out upon the limb, it snapped +close to the bole of the tree without warning. Below him were no +larger branches that he might clutch and as he lunged downward his +foot caught in a looped creeper so that he turned completely over +and alighted on the flat of his back in the center of the village +street. +</P> + +<P> +At the sound of the breaking limb and the crashing body falling +through the branches the startled blacks scurried to their huts +for weapons, and when the braver of them emerged, they saw the +still form of an almost naked white man lying where he had fallen. +Emboldened by the fact that he did not move they approached more +closely, and when their eyes discovered no signs of others of his +kind in the tree, they rushed forward until a dozen warriors stood +about him with ready spears. At first they thought that the falling +had killed him, but upon closer examination they discovered that +the man was only stunned. One of the warriors was for thrusting a +spear through his heart, but Numabo, the chief, would not permit +it. +</P> + +<P> +"Bind him," he said. "We will feed well tonight." +</P> + +<P> +And so they bound his hands and feet with thongs of gut and carried +him into the hut where Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick awaited +his fate. The Englishman had also been bound hand and foot by this +time for fear that at the last moment he might escape and rob them +of their feast. A great crowd of natives were gathered about the +hut attempting to get a glimpse of the new prisoner, but Numabo +doubled the guard before the entrance for fear that some of his +people, in the exuberance of their savage joy, might rob the others +of the pleasures of the death dance which would precede the killing +of the victims. +</P> + +<P> +The young Englishman had heard the sound of Tarzan's body crashing +through the tree to the ground and the commotion in the village +which immediately followed, and now, as he stood with his back +against the wall of the hut, he looked upon the fellow-prisoner that +the blacks carried in and laid upon the floor with mixed feelings +of surprise and compassion. He realized that he never had seen +a more perfect specimen of manhood than that of the unconscious +figure before him, and he wondered to what sad circumstances the +man owed his capture. It was evident that the new prisoner was +himself as much a savage as his captors if apparel and weapons were +any criterion by which to judge; yet it was also equally evident +that he was a white man and from his well-shaped head and clean-cut +features that he was not one of those unhappy halfwits who so often +revert to savagery even in the heart of civilized communities. +</P> + +<P> +As he watched the man, he presently noticed that his eyelids were +moving. Slowly they opened and a pair of gray eyes looked blankly +about. With returning consciousness the eyes assumed their natural +expression of keen intelligence, and a moment later, with an +effort, the prisoner rolled over upon his side and drew himself to +a sitting position. He was facing the Englishman, and as his eyes +took in the bound ankles and the arms drawn tightly behind the +other's back, a slow smile lighted his features. +</P> + +<P> +"They will fill their bellies tonight," he said. +</P> + +<P> +The Englishman grinned. "From the fuss they made," he said, "the +beggars must be awfully hungry. They like to have eaten me alive +when they brought me in. How did they get you?" +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan shrugged his head ruefully. "It was my own fault," he +replied. "I deserve to be eaten. I crawled out upon a branch that +would not bear my weight and when it broke, instead of alighting +on my feet, I caught my foot in a trailer and came down on my head. +Otherwise they would not have taken me—alive." +</P> + +<P> +"Is there no escape?" asked the Englishman. +</P> + +<P> +"I have escaped them before," replied Tarzan, "and I have seen +others escape them. I have seen a man taken away from the stake +after a dozen spear thrusts had pierced his body and the fire had +been lighted about his feet." +</P> + +<P> +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick shuddered. "God!" he exclaimed, "I hope I +don't have to face that. I believe I could stand anything but the +thought of the fire. I should hate like the devil to go into a funk +before the devils at the last moment." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't worry," said Tarzan. "It doesn't last long and you won't +funk. It is really not half as bad as it sounds. There is only a +brief period of pain before you lose consciousness. I have seen it +many times before. It is as good a way to go as another. We must +die sometime. What difference whether it be tonight, tomorrow night, +or a year hence, just so that we have lived—and I have lived!" +</P> + +<P> +"Your philosophy may be all right, old top," said the young +lieutenant, "but I can't say that it is exactly satisfying." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan laughed. "Roll over here," he said, "where I can get at +your bonds with my teeth." The Englishman did as he was bid and +presently Tarzan was working at the thongs with his strong white +teeth. He felt them giving slowly beneath his efforts. In another +moment they would part, and then it would be a comparatively simple +thing for the Englishman to remove the remaining bonds from Tarzan +and himself. +</P> + +<P> +It was then that one of the guards entered the hut. In an instant he +saw what the new prisoner was doing and raising his spear, struck +the ape-man a vicious blow across the head with its shaft. Then he +called in the other guards and together they fell upon the luckless +men, kicking and beating them unmercifully, after which they bound +the Englishman more securely than before and tied both men fast on +opposite sides of the hut. When they had gone Tarzan looked across +at his companion in misery. +</P> + +<P> +"While there is life," he said, "there is hope," but he grinned as +he voiced the ancient truism. +</P> + +<P> +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick returned the other's smile. +"I fancy," he said, "that we are getting short on both. It must +be close to supper time now." +</P> + +<P> +Zu-tag hunted alone far from the balance of the tribe of Go-lat, +the great ape. Zu-tag (Big-neck) was a young bull but recently +arrived at maturity. He was large, powerful, and ferocious and at +the same time far above the average of his kind in intelligence as +was denoted by a fuller and less receding forehead. Already Go-lat +saw in this young ape a possible contender for the laurels of his +kingship and consequently the old bull looked upon Zu-tag with +jealousy and disfavor. It was for this reason, possibly, as much +as another that Zu-tag hunted so often alone; but it was his utter +fearlessness that permitted him to wander far afield away from the +protection which numbers gave the great apes. One of the results +of this habit was a greatly increased resourcefulness which found +him constantly growing in intelligence and powers of observation. +</P> + +<P> +Today he had been hunting toward the south and was returning along +the river upon a path he often followed because it led by the +village of the Gomangani whose strange and almost apelike actions +and peculiar manners of living had aroused his interest and curiosity. +As he had done upon other occasions he took up his position in a +tree from which he could overlook the interior of the village and +watch the blacks at their vocations in the street below. +</P> + +<P> +Zu-tag had scarcely more than established himself in his tree when, +with the blacks, he was startled by the crashing of Tarzan's body +from the branches of another jungle giant to the ground within the +palisade. He saw the Negroes gather about the prostrate form and +later carry it into the hut; and once he rose to his full height +upon the limb where he had been squatting and raised his face to +the heavens to scream out a savage protest and a challenge, for he +had recognized in the brown-skinned Tarmangani the strange white +ape who had come among them a night or two before in the midst of +their Dum-Dum, and who by so easily mastering the greatest among +them, had won the savage respect and admiration of this fierce +young bull. +</P> + +<P> +But Zu-tag's ferocity was tempered by a certain native cunning and +caution. Before he had voiced his protest there formed in his mind +the thought that he would like to save this wonderful white ape +from the common enemy, the Gomangani, and so he screamed forth no +challenge, wisely determining that more could be accomplished by +secrecy and stealth than by force of muscle and fang. +</P> + +<P> +At first he thought to enter the village alone and carry off the +Tarmangani; but when he saw how numerous were the warriors and that +several sat directly before the entrance to the lair into which the +prisoner had been carried, it occurred to him that this was work +for many rather than one, and so, as silently as he had come, he +slipped away through the foliage toward the north. +</P> + +<P> +The tribe was still loitering about the clearing where stood the hut +that Tarzan and Bertha Kircher had built. Some were idly searching +for food just within the forest's edge, while others squatted +beneath the shade of trees within the clearing. +</P> + +<P> +The girl had emerged from the hut, her tears dried and was gazing +anxiously toward the south into the jungle where Tarzan had disappeared. +Occasionally she cast suspicious glances in the direction of the +huge shaggy anthropoids about her. How easy it would be for one +of those great beasts to enter the boma and slay her. How helpless +she was, even with the spear that the white man had left her, she +realized as she noted for the thousandth time the massive shoulders, +the bull necks, and the great muscles gliding so easily beneath the +glossy coats. Never, she thought, had she seen such personifications +of brute power as were represented by these mighty bulls. Those +huge hands would snap her futile spear as she might snap a match in +two, while their lightest blow could crush her into insensibility +and death. +</P> + +<P> +It was while she was occupied with these depressing thoughts that +there dropped suddenly into the clearing from the trees upon the +south the figure of a mighty young bull. At that time all of the +apes looked much alike to Bertha Kircher, nor was it until some +time later that she realized that each differed from the others +in individual characteristics of face and figure as do individuals +of the human races. Yet even then she could not help but note +the wondrous strength and agility of this great beast, and as he +approached she even found herself admiring the sheen of his heavy, +black, silvershot coat. +</P> + +<P> +It was evident that the newcomer was filled with suppressed excitement. +His demeanor and bearing proclaimed this even from afar, nor was +the girl the only one to note it. For as they saw him coming many +of the apes arose and advanced to meet him, bristling and growling +as is their way. Go-lat was among these latter, and he advanced +stiffly with the hairs upon his neck and down his spine erect, +uttering low growls and baring his fighting fangs, for who might +say whether Zu-tag came in peace or otherwise? The old king had +seen other young apes come thus in his day filled with a sudden +resolution to wrest the kingship from their chief. He had seen +bulls about to run amuck burst thus suddenly from the jungle upon +the members of the tribe, and so Go-lat took no chances. +</P> + +<P> +Had Zu-tag come indolently, feeding as he came, he might have +entered the tribe without arousing notice or suspicion, but when +one comes thus precipitately, evidently bursting with some emotion +out of the ordinary, let all apes beware. There was a certain amount +of preliminary circling, growling, and sniffing, stiff-legged and +stiff-haired, before each side discovered that the other had no +intention of initiating an attack and then Zu-tag told Go-lat what +he had seen among the lairs of the Gomangani. +</P> + +<P> +Go-lat grunted in disgust and turned away. "Let the white ape take +care of himself," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"He is a great ape," said Zu-tag. "He came to live in peace with +the tribe of Go-lat. Let us save him from the Gomangani." +</P> + +<P> +Go-lat grunted again and continued to move away. +</P> + +<P> +"Zu-tag will go alone and get him," cried the young ape, "if Go-lat +is afraid of the Gomangani." +</P> + +<P> +The king ape wheeled in anger, growling loudly and beating upon +his breast. "Go-lat is not afraid," he screamed, "but he will not +go, for the white ape is not of his tribe. Go yourself and take +the Tarmangani's she with you if you wish so much to save the white +ape." +</P> + +<P> +"Zu-tag will go," replied the younger bull, "and he will take the +Tarmangani's she and all the bulls of Go-lat who are not cowards," +and so saying he cast his eyes inquiringly about at the other apes. +"Who will go with Zu-tag to fight the Gomangani and bring away our +brother," he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +Eight young bulls in the full prime of their vigor pressed forward +to Zu-tag's side, but the old bulls with the conservatism and +caution of many years upon their gray shoulders, shook their heads +and waddled away after Go-lat. +</P> + +<P> +"Good," cried Zu-tag. "We want no old shes to go with us to fight +the Gomangani for that is work for the fighters of the tribe." +</P> + +<P> +The old bulls paid no attention to his boastful words, but the eight +who had volunteered to accompany him were filled with self-pride so +that they stood around vaingloriously beating upon their breasts, +baring their fangs and screaming their hideous challenge until the +jungle reverberated to the horrid sound. +</P> + +<P> +All this time Bertha Kircher was a wide-eyed and terrified spectator to +what, as she thought, could end only in a terrific battle between +these frightful beasts, and when Zu-tag and his followers began +screaming forth their fearsome challenge, the girl found herself +trembling in terror, for of all the sounds of the jungle there is +none more awe inspiring than that of the great bull ape when he +issues his challenge or shrieks forth his victory cry. +</P> + +<P> +If she had been terrified before she was almost paralyzed with +fear now as she saw Zu-tag and his apes turn toward the boma and +approach her. With the agility of a cat Zu-tag leaped completely +over the protecting wall and stood before her. Valiantly she held +her spear before her, pointing it at his breast. He commenced to +jabber and gesticulate, and even with her scant acquaintance with +the ways of the anthropoids, she realized that he was not menacing +her, for there was little or no baring of fighting fangs and his +whole expression and attitude was of one attempting to explain a +knotty problem or plead a worthy cause. At last he became evidently +impatient, for with a sweep of one great paw he struck the spear +from her hand and coming close, seized her by the arm, but not +roughly. She shrank away in terror and yet some sense within her +seemed to be trying to assure her that she was in no danger from +this great beast. Zu-tag jabbered loudly, ever and again pointing +into the jungle toward the south and moving toward the boma, +pulling the girl with him. He seemed almost frantic in his efforts +to explain something to her. He pointed toward the boma, herself, +and then to the forest, and then, at last, as though by a sudden +inspiration, he reached down and, seizing the spear, repeatedly +touched it with his forefinger and again pointed toward the south. +Suddenly it dawned upon the girl that what the ape was trying +to explain to her was related in some way to the white man whose +property they thought she was. Possibly her grim protector was in +trouble and with this thought firmly established, she no longer +held back, but started forward as though to accompany the young +bull. At the point in the boma where Tarzan had blocked the entrance, +she started to pull away the thorn bushes, and, when Zu-tag saw +what she was doing, he fell to and assisted her so that presently +they had an opening through the boma through which she passed with +the great ape. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately Zu-tag and his eight apes started off rapidly toward +the jungle, so rapidly that Bertha Kircher would have had to run +at top speed to keep up with them. This she realized she could not +do, and so she was forced to lag behind, much to the chagrin of +Zu-tag, who constantly kept running back and urging her to greater +speed. Once he took her by the arm and tried to draw her along. +Her protests were of no avail since the beast could not know that +they were protests, nor did he desist until she caught her foot in +some tangled grass and fell to the ground. Then indeed was Zu-tag +furious and growled hideously. His apes were waiting at the edge +of the forest for him to lead them. He suddenly realized that this +poor weak she could not keep up with them and that if they traveled +at her slow rate they might be too late to render assistance to the +Tarmangani, and so without more ado, the giant anthropoid picked +Bertha Kircher bodily from the ground and swung her to his back. +Her arms were about his neck and in this position he seized her +wrists in one great paw so that she could not fall off and started +at a rapid rate to join his companions. +</P> + +<P> +Dressed as she was in riding breeches with no entangling skirts to +hinder or catch upon passing shrubbery, she soon found that she +could cling tightly to the back of the mighty bull and when a moment +later he took to the lower branches of the trees, she closed her +eyes and clung to him in terror lest she be precipitated to the +ground below. +</P> + +<P> +That journey through the primeval forest with the nine great apes +will live in the memory of Bertha Kircher for the balance of her +life, as clearly delineated as at the moment of its enactment. +</P> + +<P> +The first overwhelming wave of fear having passed, she was at last +able to open her eyes and view her surroundings with increased +interest and presently the sensation of terror slowly left her to +be replaced by one of comparative security when she saw the ease +and surety with which these great beasts traveled through the trees; +and later her admiration for the young bull increased as it became +evident that even burdened with her additional weight, he moved more +rapidly and with no greater signs of fatigue than his unburdened +fellows. +</P> + +<P> +Not once did Zu-tag pause until he came to a stop among the branches +of a tree no great distance from the native village. They could +hear the noises of the life within the palisade, the laughing and +shouting of the Negroes, and the barking of dogs, and through the +foliage the girl caught glimpses of the village from which she had +so recently escaped. She shuddered to think of the possibility of +having to return to it and of possible recapture, and she wondered +why Zu-tag had brought her here. +</P> + +<P> +Now the apes advanced slowly once more and with great caution, +moving as noiselessly through the trees as the squirrels themselves +until they had reached a point where they could easily overlook +the palisade and the village street below. +</P> + +<P> +Zu-tag squatted upon a great branch close to the bole of the tree +and by loosening the girl's arms from about his neck, indicated +that she was to find a footing for herself and when she had done +so, he turned toward her and pointed repeatedly at the open doorway +of a hut upon the opposite side of the street below them. By various +gestures he seemed to be trying to explain something to her and at +last she caught at the germ of his idea—that her white man was a +prisoner there. +</P> + +<P> +Beneath them was the roof of a hut onto which she saw that she +could easily drop, but what she could do after she had entered the +village was beyond her. +</P> + +<P> +Darkness was already falling and the fires beneath the cooking pots +had been lighted. The girl saw the stake in the village street and +the piles of fagots about it and in terror she suddenly realized +the portent of these grisly preparations. Oh, if she but only had +some sort of a weapon that might give her even a faint hope, some +slight advantage against the blacks. Then she would not hesitate +to venture into the village in an attempt to save the man who had +upon three different occasions saved her. She knew that he hated her +and yet strong within her breast burned the sense of her obligation +to him. She could not fathom him. Never in her life had she seen a +man at once so paradoxical and dependable. In many of his ways he +was more savage than the beasts with which he associated and yet, +on the other hand, he was as chivalrous as a knight of old. For +several days she had been lost with him in the jungle absolutely +at his mercy, yet she had come to trust so implicitly in his honor +that any fear she had had of him was rapidly disappearing. +</P> + +<P> +On the other hand, that he might be hideously cruel was evidenced +to her by the fact that he was planning to leave her alone in the +midst of the frightful dangers which menaced her by night and by +day. +</P> + +<P> +Zu-tag was evidently waiting for darkness to fall before carrying +out whatever plans had matured in his savage little brain, for he +and his fellows sat quietly in the tree about her, watching the +preparations of the blacks. Presently it became apparent that some +altercation had arisen among the Negroes, for a score or more of +them were gathered around one who appeared to be their chief, and +all were talking and gesticulating heatedly. The argument lasted +for some five or ten minutes when suddenly the little knot broke +and two warriors ran to the opposite side of the village from whence +they presently returned with a large stake which they soon set up +beside the one already in place. The girl wondered what the purpose +of the second stake might be, nor did she have long to wait for an +explanation. +</P> + +<P> +It was quite dark by this time, the village being lighted by the +fitful glare of many fires, and now she saw a number of warriors +approach and enter the hut Zu-tag had been watching. A moment later +they reappeared, dragging between them two captives, one of whom +the girl immediately recognized as her protector and the other as +an Englishman in the uniform of an aviator. This, then, was the +reason for the two stakes. +</P> + +<P> +Arising quickly she placed a hand upon Zu-tag's shoulder and pointed +down into the village. "Come," she said, as if she had been talking +to one of her own kind, and with the word she swung lightly to the +roof of the hut below. From there to the ground was but a short drop +and a moment later she was circling the hut upon the side farthest +from the fires, keeping in the dense shadows where there was little +likelihood of being discovered. She turned once to see that Zu-tag +was directly behind her and could see his huge bulk looming up +in the dark, while beyond was another one of his eight. Doubtless +they had all followed her and this fact gave her a greater sense +of security and hope than she had before experienced. +</P> + +<P> +Pausing beside the hut next to the street, she peered cautiously +about the corner. A few inches from her was the open doorway of the +structure, and beyond, farther down the village street, the blacks +were congregating about the prisoners, who were already being bound +to the stakes. All eyes were centered upon the victims, and there +was only the remotest chance that she and her companions would +be discovered until they were close upon the blacks. She wished, +however, that she might have some sort of a weapon with which to +lead the attack, for she could not know, of course, for a certainty +whether the great apes would follow her or not. Hoping that she +might find something within the hut, she slipped quickly around +the corner and into the doorway and after her, one by one, came +the nine bulls. Searching quickly about the interior, she presently +discovered a spear, and, armed with this, she again approached the +entrance. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan of the Apes and Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick were +bound securely to their respective stakes. Neither had spoken for +some time. The Englishman turned his head so that he could see his +companion in misery. Tarzan stood straight against his stake. His +face was entirely expressionless in so far as either fear or anger +were concerned. His countenance portrayed bored indifference though +both men knew that they were about to be tortured. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye, old top," whispered the young lieutenant. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan turned his eyes in the direction of the other and smiled. +"Good-bye," he said. "If you want to get it over in a hurry, inhale +the smoke and flames as rapidly as you can." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks," replied the aviator and though he made a wry face, he +drew himself up very straight and squared his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +The women and children had seated themselves in a wide circle about +the victims while the warriors, hideously painted, were forming +slowly to commence the dance of death. Again Tarzan turned to his +companion. "If you'd like to spoil their fun," he said, "don't +make any fuss no matter how much you suffer. If you can carry on to +the end without changing the expression upon your face or uttering +a single word, you will deprive them of all the pleasures of this +part of the entertainment. Good-bye again and good luck." +</P> + +<P> +The young Englishman made no reply but it was evident from the set +of his jaws that the Negroes would get little enjoyment out of him. +</P> + +<P> +The warriors were circling now. Presently Numabo would draw first +blood with his sharp spear which would be the signal for the +beginning of the torture after a little of which the fagots would +be lighted around the feet of the victims. +</P> + +<P> +Closer and closer danced the hideous chief, his yellow, sharp-filed +teeth showing in the firelight between his thick, red lips. Now +bending double, now stamping furiously upon the ground, now leaping +into the air, he danced step by step in the narrowing circle that +would presently bring him within spear reach of the intended feast. +</P> + +<P> +At last the spear reached out and touched the ape-man on the +breast and when it came away, a little trickle of blood ran down +the smooth, brown hide and almost simultaneously there broke from +the outer periphery of the expectant audience a woman's shriek which +seemed a signal for a series of hideous screamings, growlings and +barkings, and a great commotion upon that side of the circle. The +victims could not see the cause of the disturbance, but Tarzan did +not have to see, for he knew by the voices of the apes the identity +of the disturbers. He only wondered what had brought them and what +the purpose of the attack, for he could not believe that they had +come to rescue him. +</P> + +<P> +Numabo and his warriors broke quickly from the circle of their dance +to see pushing toward them through the ranks of their screaming +and terrified people the very white girl who had escaped them a +few nights before, and at her back what appeared to their surprised +eyes a veritable horde of the huge and hairy forest men upon whom +they looked with considerable fear and awe. +</P> + +<P> +Striking to right and left with his heavy fists, tearing with +his great fangs, came Zu-tag, the young bull, while at his heels, +emulating his example, surged his hideous apes. Quickly they came +through the old men and the women and children, for straight toward +Numabo and his warriors the girl led them. It was then that they +came within range of Tarzan's vision and he saw with unmixed surprise +who it was that led the apes to his rescue. +</P> + +<P> +To Zu-tag he shouted: "Go for the big bulls while the she unbinds +me," and to Bertha Kircher: "Quick! Cut these bonds. The apes will +take care of the blacks." +</P> + +<P> +Turning from her advance the girl ran to his side. She had no knife +and the bonds were tied tightly but she worked quickly and coolly +and as Zu-tag and his apes closed with the warriors, she succeeded +in loosening Tarzan's bonds sufficiently to permit him to extricate +his own hands so that in another minute he had freed himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Now unbind the Englishman," he cried, and, leaping forward, ran +to join Zu-tag and his fellows in their battle against the blacks. +Numabo and his warriors, realizing now the relatively small numbers +of the apes against them, had made a determined stand and with +spears and other weapons were endeavoring to overcome the invaders. +Three of the apes were already down, killed or mortally wounded, +when Tarzan, realizing that the battle must eventually go against +the apes unless some means could be found to break the morale of +the Negroes, cast about him for some means of bringing about the +desired end. And suddenly his eye lighted upon a number of weapons +which he knew would accomplish the result. A grim smile touched +his lips as he snatched a vessel of boiling water from one of the +fires and hurled it full in the faces of the warriors. Screaming +with terror and pain they fell back though Numabo urged them to +rush forward. +</P> + +<P> +Scarcely had the first cauldron of boiling water spilled its +contents upon them ere Tarzan deluged them with a second, nor was +there any third needed to send them shrieking in every direction +to the security of their huts. +</P> + +<P> +By the time Tarzan had recovered his own weapons the girl had released +the young Englishman, and, with the six remaining apes, the three +Europeans moved slowly toward the village gate, the aviator arming +himself with a spear discarded by one of the scalded warriors, as +they eagerly advanced toward the outer darkness. +</P> + +<P> +Numabo was unable to rally the now thoroughly terrified and +painfully burned warriors so that rescued and rescuers passed out +of the village into the blackness of the jungle without further +interference. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan strode through the jungle in silence. Beside him walked Zu-tag, +the great ape, and behind them strung the surviving anthropoids +followed by Fräulein Bertha Kircher and Lieutenant Harold Percy +Smith-Oldwick, the latter a thoroughly astonished and mystified +Englishman. +</P> + +<P> +In all his life Tarzan of the Apes had been obliged to acknowledge +but few obligations. He won his way through his savage world by the +might of his own muscle, the superior keenness of his five senses +and his God-given power to reason. Tonight the greatest of +all obligations had been placed upon him—his life had been saved +by another and Tarzan shook his head and growled, for it had been +saved by one whom he hated above all others. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Finding the Airplane +</H3> + +<P> +Tarzan of the Apes, returning from a successful hunt, with the +body of Bara, the deer, across one sleek, brown shoulder, paused +in the branches of a great tree at the edge of a clearing and gazed +ruefully at two figures walking from the river to the boma-encircled +hut a short distance away. +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man shook his tousled head and sighed. His eyes wandered +toward the west and his thoughts to the far-away cabin by the +land-locked harbor of the great water that washed the beach of his +boyhood home—to the cabin of his long-dead father to which the +memories and treasures of a happy childhood lured him. Since the +loss of his mate, a great longing had possessed him to return to +the haunts of his youth—to the untracked jungle wilderness where +he had lived the life he loved best long before man had invaded +the precincts of his wild stamping grounds. There he hoped in a +renewal of the old life under the old conditions to win surcease +from sorrow and perhaps some measure of forgetfulness. +</P> + +<P> +But the little cabin and the land-locked harbor were many long, +weary marches away, and he was handicapped by the duty which he +felt he owed to the two figures walking in the clearing before him. +One was a young man in a worn and ragged uniform of the British Royal +Air Forces, the other, a young woman in the even more disreputable +remnants of what once had been trim riding togs. +</P> + +<P> +A freak of fate had thrown these three radically different types +together. One was a savage, almost naked beast-man, one an English +army officer, and the woman, she whom the ape-man knew and hated +as a German spy. +</P> + +<P> +How he was to get rid of them Tarzan could not imagine unless +he accompanied them upon the weary march back to the east coast, +a march that would necessitate his once more retracing the long, +weary way he already had covered towards his goal, yet what else +could be done? These two had neither the strength, endurance, nor +jungle-craft to accompany him through the unknown country to the +west, nor did he wish them with him. The man he might have tolerated, +but he could not even consider the presence of the girl in the +far-off cabin, which had in a way become sacred to him through +its memories, without a growl or anger rising to his lips. There +remained, then, but the one way, since he could not desert them. +He must move by slow and irksome marches back to the east coast, +or at least to the first white settlement in that direction. +</P> + +<P> +He had, it is true, contemplated leaving the girl to her fate but +that was before she had been instrumental in saving him from torture +and death at the hands of the black Wamabos. He chafed under the +obligation she had put upon him, but no less did he acknowledge +it and as he watched the two, the rueful expression upon his face +was lightened by a smile as he thought of the helplessness of them. +What a puny thing, indeed, was man! How ill equipped to combat the +savage forces of nature and of nature's jungle. Why, even the tiny +balu of the tribe of Go-lat, the great ape, was better fitted to +survive than these, for a balu could at least escape the numerous +creatures that menaced its existence, while with the possible +exception of Kota, the tortoise, none moved so slowly as did helpless +and feeble man. +</P> + +<P> +Without him these two doubtless would starve in the midst of plenty, +should they by some miracle escape the other forces of destruction +which constantly threatened them. That morning Tarzan had brought +them fruit, nuts, and plantain, and now he was bringing them the +flesh of his kill, while the best that they might do was to fetch +water from the river. Even now, as they walked across the clearing +toward the boma, they were in utter ignorance of the presence +of Tarzan near them. They did not know that his sharp eyes were +watching them, nor that other eyes less friendly were glaring at +them from a clump of bushes close beside the boma entrance. They +did not know these things, but Tarzan did. No more than they could +he see the creature crouching in the concealment of the foliage, yet +he knew that it was there and what it was and what its intentions, +precisely as well as though it had been lying in the open. +</P> + +<P> +A slight movement of the leaves at the top of a single stem had +apprised him of the presence of a creature there, for the movement +was not that imparted by the wind. It came from pressure at the +bottom of the stem which communicates a different movement to the +leaves than does the wind passing among them, as anyone who has +lived his lifetime in the jungle well knows, and the same wind that +passed through the foliage of the bush brought to the ape-man's +sensitive nostrils indisputable evidence of the fact that Sheeta, +the panther, waited there for the two returning from the river. +</P> + +<P> +They had covered half the distance to the boma entrance when Tarzan +called to them to stop. They looked in surprise in the direction +from which his voice had come to see him drop lightly to the ground +and advance toward them. +</P> + +<P> +"Come slowly toward me," he called to them. "Do not run for if you +run Sheeta will charge." +</P> + +<P> +They did as he bid, their faces filled with questioning wonderment. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" asked the young Englishman. "Who is Sheeta?" +but for answer the ape-man suddenly hurled the carcass of Bara, the +deer, to the ground and leaped quickly toward them, his eyes upon +something in their rear; and then it was that the two turned and +learned the identity of Sheeta, for behind them was a devil-faced +cat charging rapidly toward them. +</P> + +<P> +Sheeta with rising anger and suspicion had seen the ape-man leap +from the tree and approach the quarry. His life's experiences backed +by instinct told him that the Tarmangani was about to rob him of +his prey and as Sheeta was hungry, he had no intention of being +thus easily deprived of the flesh he already considered his own. +</P> + +<P> +The girl stifled an involuntary scream as she saw the proximity +of the fanged fury bearing down upon them. She shrank close to the +man and clung to him and all unarmed and defenseless as he was, the +Englishman pushed her behind him and shielding her with his body, +stood squarely in the face of the panther's charge. Tarzan noted +the act, and though accustomed as he was to acts of courage, he +experienced a thrill from the hopeless and futile bravery of the +man. +</P> + +<P> +The charging panther moved rapidly, and the distance which separated +the bush in which he had concealed himself from the objects of his +desire was not great. In the time that one might understandingly +read a dozen words the strong-limbed cat could have covered the +entire distance and made his kill, yet if Sheeta was quick, quick +too was Tarzan. The English lieutenant saw the ape-man flash by him +like the wind. He saw the great cat veer in his charge as though +to elude the naked savage rushing to meet him, as it was evidently +Sheeta's intention to make good his kill before attempting to +protect it from Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick saw these things and then with increasing +wonder he saw the ape-man swerve, too, and leap for the spotted cat +as a football player leaps for a runner. He saw the strong, brown +arms encircling the body of the carnivore, the left arm in front +of the beast's left shoulder and the right arm behind his right +foreleg, and with the impact the two together rolling over and over +upon the turf. He heard the snarls and growls of bestial combat, +and it was with a feeling of no little horror that he realized that +the sounds coming from the human throat of the battling man could +scarce be distinguished from those of the panther. +</P> + +<P> +The first momentary shock of terror over, the girl released her +grasp upon the Englishman's arm. "Cannot we do something?" she +asked. "Cannot we help him before the beast kills him?" +</P> + +<P> +The Englishman looked upon the ground for some missile with which +to attack the panther and then the girl uttered an exclamation and +started at a run toward the hut. "Wait there," she called over her +shoulder. "I will fetch the spear that he left me." +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick saw the raking talons of the panther searching for +the flesh of the man and the man on his part straining every muscle +and using every artifice to keep his body out of range of them. The +muscles of his arms knotted under the brown hide. The veins stood +out upon his neck and forehead as with ever-increasing power he +strove to crush the life from the great cat. The ape-man's teeth +were fastened in the back of Sheeta's neck and now he succeeded +in encircling the beast's torso with his legs which he crossed and +locked beneath the cat's belly. Leaping and snarling, Sheeta sought +to dislodge the ape-man's hold upon him. He hurled himself upon +the ground and rolled over and over. He reared upon his hind legs +and threw himself backwards but always the savage creature upon +his back clung tenaciously to him, and always the mighty brown arms +crushed tighter and tighter about his chest. +</P> + +<P> +And then the girl, panting from her quick run, returned with the +short spear Tarzan had left her as her sole weapon of protection. +She did not wait to hand it to the Englishman who ran forward to +receive it, but brushed past him and leaped into close quarters +beside the growling, tumbling mass of yellow fur and smooth brown +hide. Several times she attempted to press the point home into +the cat's body, but on both occasions the fear of endangering the +ape-man caused her to desist, but at last the two lay motionless +for a moment as the carnivore sought a moment's rest from the +strenuous exertions of battle, and then it was that Bertha Kircher +pressed the point of the spear to the tawny side and drove it deep +into the savage heart. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan rose from the dead body of Sheeta and shook himself after +the manner of beasts that are entirely clothed with hair. Like +many other of his traits and mannerisms this was the result of +environment rather than heredity or reversion, and even though he +was outwardly a man, the Englishman and the girl were both impressed +with the naturalness of the act. It was as though Numa, emerging +from a fight, had shaken himself to straighten his rumpled mane and +coat, and yet, too, there was something uncanny about it as there +had been when the savage growls and hideous snarls issued from +those clean-cut lips. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan looked at the girl, a quizzical expression upon his face. +Again had she placed him under obligations to her, and Tarzan of +the Apes did not wish to be obligated to a German spy; yet in his +honest heart he could not but admit a certain admiration for her +courage, a trait which always greatly impressed the ape-man, he +himself the personification of courage. +</P> + +<P> +"Here is the kill," he said, picking the carcass of Bara from the +ground. "You will want to cook your portion, I presume, but Tarzan +does not spoil his meat with fire." +</P> + +<P> +They followed him to the boma where he cut several pieces of meat +from the carcass for them, retaining a joint for himself. The +young lieutenant prepared a fire, and the girl presided over the +primitive culinary rights of their simple meal. As she worked some +little way apart from them, the lieutenant and the ape-man watched +her. +</P> + +<P> +"She is wonderful. Is she not?" murmured Smith-Oldwick. +</P> + +<P> +"She is a German and a spy," replied Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +The Englishman turned quickly upon him. "What do you mean?" he +cried. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean what I say," replied the ape-man. "She is a German and a +spy." +</P> + +<P> +"I do not believe it!" exclaimed the aviator. +</P> + +<P> +"You do not have to," Tarzan assured him. "It is nothing to me +what you believe. I saw her in conference with the Boche general +and his staff at the camp near Taveta. They all knew her and called +her by name and she handed him a paper. The next time I saw her +she was inside the British lines in disguise, and again I saw her +bearing word to a German officer at Wilhelmstal. She is a German +and a spy, but she is a woman and therefore I cannot destroy her." +</P> + +<P> +"You really believe that what you say is true?" asked the young +lieutenant. "My God! I cannot believe it. She is so sweet and brave +and good." +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man shrugged his shoulders. "She is brave," he said, "but +even Pamba, the rat, must have some good quality, but she is what +I have told you and therefore I hate her and you should hate her." +</P> + +<P> +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick buried his face in his hands. +"God forgive me," he said at last. "I cannot hate her." +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man cast a contemptuous look at his companion and arose. +"Tarzan goes again to hunt," he said. "You have enough food for +two days. By that time he will return." +</P> + +<P> +The two watched him until he had disappeared in the foliage of the +trees at the further side of the clearing. +</P> + +<P> +When he had gone the girl felt a vague sense of apprehension that +she never experienced when Tarzan was present. The invisible menaces +lurking in the grim jungle seemed more real and much more imminent +now that the ape-man was no longer near. While he had been there +talking with them, the little thatched hut and its surrounding +thorn boma had seemed as safe a place as the world might afford. +She wished that he had remained—two days seemed an eternity in +contemplation—two days of constant fear, two days, every moment of +which would be fraught with danger. She turned toward her companion. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish that he had remained," she said. "I always feel so much +safer when he is near. He is very grim and very terrible, and yet +I feel safer with him than with any man I ever have known. He seems +to dislike me and yet I know that he would let no harm befall me. +I cannot understand him." +</P> + +<P> +"Neither do I understand him," replied the Englishman; "but I know +this much—our presence here is interfering with his plans. He would +like to be rid of us, and I half imagine that he rather hopes to +find when he returns that we have succumbed to one of the dangers +which must always confront us in this savage land. +</P> + +<P> +"I think that we should try to return to the white settlements. This +man does not want us here, nor is it reasonable to assume that we +could long survive in such a savage wilderness. I have traveled and +hunted in several parts of Africa, but never have I seen or heard +of any single locality so overrun with savage beasts and dangerous +natives. If we set out for the east coast at once we would be in +but little more danger than we are here, and if we could survive +a day's march, I believe that we will find the means of reaching +the coast in a few hours, for my plane must still be in the same +place that I landed just before the blacks captured me. Of course +there is no one here who could operate it nor is there any reason +why they should have destroyed it. As a matter of fact, the natives +would be so fearful and suspicious of so strange and incomprehensible +a thing that the chances are they would not dare approach it. Yes, +it must be where I left it and all ready to carry us safely to the +settlements." +</P> + +<P> +"But we cannot leave," said the girl, "until he returns. We could +not go away like that without thanking him or bidding him farewell. +We are under too great obligations to him." +</P> + +<P> +The man looked at her in silence for a moment. He wondered if +she knew how Tarzan felt toward her and then he himself began to +speculate upon the truth of the ape-man's charges. The longer he +looked at the girl, the less easy was it to entertain the thought +that she was an enemy spy. He was upon the point of asking +her point-blank but he could not bring himself to do so, finally +determining to wait until time and longer acquaintance should reveal +the truth or falsity of the accusation. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe," he said as though there had been no pause in their +conversation, "that the man would be more than glad to find us +gone when he returns. It is not necessary to jeopardize our lives +for two more days in order that we may thank him, however much +we may appreciate his services to us. You have more than balanced +your obligations to him and from what he told me I feel that you +especially should not remain here longer." +</P> + +<P> +The girl looked up at him in astonishment. "What do you mean?" she +asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not like to tell," said the Englishman, digging nervously at +the turf with the point of a stick, "but you have my word that he +would rather you were not here." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me what he said," she insisted, "I have a right to know." +</P> + +<P> +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick squared his shoulders and raised his eyes +to those of the girl. "He said that he hated you," he blurted. "He +has only aided you at all from a sense of duty because you are a +woman." +</P> + +<P> +The girl paled and then flushed. "I will be ready to go," she said, +"in just a moment. We had better take some of this meat with us. +There is no telling when we will be able to get more." +</P> + +<P> +And so the two set out down the river toward the south. The man +carried the short spear that Tarzan had left with the girl, while +she was entirely unarmed except for a stick she had picked up from +among those left after the building of the hut. Before departing +she had insisted that the man leave a note for Tarzan thanking him +for his care of them and bidding him goodbye. This they left pinned +to the inside wall of the hut with a little sliver of wood. +</P> + +<P> +It was necessary that they be constantly on the alert since they +never knew what might confront them at the next turn of the winding +jungle trail or what might lie concealed in the tangled bushes at +either side. There was also the ever-present danger of meeting some +of Numabo's black warriors and as the village lay directly in their +line of march, there was the necessity for making a wide detour +before they reached it in order to pass around it without being +discovered. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not so much afraid of the native blacks," said the girl, "as +I am of Usanga and his people. He and his men were all attached +to a German native regiment. They brought me along with them when +they deserted, either with the intention of holding me ransom or +selling me into the harem of one of the black sultans of the north. +Usanga is much more to be feared than Numabo for he has had the +advantage of European military training and is armed with more or +less modern weapons and ammunition." +</P> + +<P> +"It is lucky for me," remarked the Englishman, "that it was the +ignorant Numabo who discovered and captured me rather than the +worldly wise Usanga. He would have felt less fear of the giant +flying machine and would have known only too well how to wreck it." +</P> + +<P> +"Let us pray that the black sergeant has not discovered it," said +the girl. +</P> + +<P> +They made their way to a point which they guessed was about a mile +above the village, then they turned into the trackless tangle of +undergrowth to the east. So dense was the verdure at many points +that it was with the utmost difficulty they wormed their way through, +sometimes on hands and knees and again by clambering over numerous +fallen tree trunks. Interwoven with dead limbs and living branches +were the tough and ropelike creepers which formed a tangled network +across their path. +</P> + +<P> +South of them in an open meadowland a number of black warriors were +gathered about an object which elicited much wondering comment. The +blacks were clothed in fragments of what had once been uniforms of +a native German command. They were a most unlovely band and chief +among them in authority and repulsiveness was the black sergeant +Usanga. The object of their interest was a British aeroplane. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately after the Englishman had been brought to Numabo's village +Usanga had gone out in search of the plane, prompted partially by +curiosity and partially by an intention to destroy it, but when he +had found it, some new thought had deterred him from carrying out +his design. The thing represented considerable value as he well +knew and it had occurred to him that in some way he might turn his +prize to profit. Every day he had returned to it, and while at +first it had filled him with considerable awe, he eventually came +to look upon it with the accustomed eye of a proprietor, so that +he now clambered into the fuselage and even advanced so far as to +wish that he might learn to operate it. +</P> + +<P> +What a feat it would be indeed to fly like a bird far above the +highest tree top! How it would fill his less favored companions +with awe and admiration! If Usanga could but fly, so great would be +the respect of all the tribesmen throughout the scattered villages +of the great interior, they would look upon him as little less than +a god. +</P> + +<P> +Usanga rubbed his palms together and smacked his thick lips. Then +indeed, would he be very rich, for all the villages would pay +tribute to him and he could even have as many as a dozen wives. +With that thought, however, came a mental picture of Naratu, the +black termagant, who ruled him with an iron hand. Usanga made a +wry face and tried to forget the extra dozen wives, but the lure of +the idea remained and appealed so strongly to him that he presently +found himself reasoning most logically that a god would not be much +of a god with less than twenty-four wives. +</P> + +<P> +He fingered the instruments and the control, half hoping and half +fearing that he would alight upon the combination that would put +the machine in flight. Often had he watched the British air-men +soaring above the German lines and it looked so simple he was quite +sure that he could do it himself if there was somebody who could +but once show him how. There was, of course, always the hope that +the white man who came in the machine and who had escaped from +Numabo's village might fall into Usanga's hands and then indeed +would he be able to learn how to fly. It was in this hope that +Usanga spent so much time in the vicinity of the plane, reasoning +as he did that eventually the white man would return in search of +it. +</P> + +<P> +And at last he was rewarded, for upon this very day after he had +quit the machine and entered the jungle with his warriors, he heard +voices to the north and when he and his men had hidden in the dense +foliage upon either side of the trail, Usanga was presently filled +with elation by the appearance of the British officer and the white +girl whom the black sergeant had coveted and who had escaped him. +</P> + +<P> +The Negro could scarce restrain a shout of elation, for he had not +hoped that fate would be so kind as to throw these two whom he most +desired into his power at the same time. +</P> + +<P> +As the two came down the trail all unconscious of impending danger, +the man was explaining that they must be very close to the point +at which the plane had landed. Their entire attention was centered +on the trail directly ahead of them, as they momentarily expected +it to break into the meadowland where they were sure they would +see the plane that would spell life and liberty for them. +</P> + +<P> +The trail was broad, and they were walking side by side so that at +a sharp turn the park-like clearing was revealed to them simultaneously +with the outlines of the machine they sought. +</P> + +<P> +Exclamations of relief and delight broke from their lips, and at +the same instant Usanga and his black warriors rose from the bushes +all about them. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Black Flier +</H3> + +<P> +The girl was almost crushed by terror and disappointment. To have +been thus close to safety and then to have all hope snatched away +by a cruel stroke of fate seemed unendurable. The man was disappointed, +too, but more was he angry. He noted the remnants of the uniforms +upon the blacks and immediately he demanded to know where were +their officers. +</P> + +<P> +"They cannot understand you," said the girl and so in the bastard +tongue that is the medium of communication between the Germans and +the blacks of their colony, she repeated the white man's question. +</P> + +<P> +Usanga grinned. "You know where they are, white woman," he replied. +"They are dead, and if this white man does not do as I tell him, +he, too, will be dead." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want of him?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"I want him to teach me how to fly like a bird," replied Usanga. +</P> + +<P> +Bertha Kircher looked her astonishment, but repeated the demand to +the lieutenant. +</P> + +<P> +The Englishman meditated for a moment. "He wants to learn to fly, +does he?" he repeated. "Ask him if he will give us our freedom if +I teach him to fly." +</P> + +<P> +The girl put the question to Usanga, who, degraded, cunning, and +entirely unprincipled, was always perfectly willing to promise +anything whether he had any intentions of fulfilling his promises +or not, and so immediately assented to the proposition. +</P> + +<P> +"Let the white man teach me to fly," he said, "and I will take you +back close to the settlements of your people, but in return for +this I shall keep the great bird," and he waved a black hand in +the direction of the aeroplane. +</P> + +<P> +When Bertha Kircher had repeated Usanga's proposition to the +aviator, the latter shrugged his shoulders and with a wry face +finally agreed. "I fancy there is no other way out of it," he said. +"In any event the plane is lost to the British government. If I +refuse the black scoundrel's request, there is no doubt but what +he will make short work of me with the result that the machine will +lie here until it rots. If I accept his offer it will at least be +the means of assuring your safe return to civilization and that" +he added, "is worth more to me than all the planes in the British +Air Service." +</P> + +<P> +The girl cast a quick glance at him. These were the first words he +had addressed to her that might indicate that his sentiments toward +her were more than those of a companion in distress. She regretted +that he had spoken as he had and he, too, regretted it almost +instantly as he saw the shadow cross her face and realized that +he had unwittingly added to the difficulties of her already almost +unbearable situation. +</P> + +<P> +"Forgive me," he said quickly. "Please forget what that remark +implied. I promise you that I will not offend again, if it does +offend you, until after we are both safely out of this mess." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled and thanked him, but the thing had been said and could +never be unsaid, and Bertha Kircher knew even more surely than as +though he had fallen upon his knees and protested undying devotion +that the young English officer loved her. +</P> + +<P> +Usanga was for taking his first lesson in aviation immediately. The +Englishman attempted to dissuade him, but immediately the black +became threatening and abusive, since, like all those who are +ignorant, he was suspicious that the intentions of others were +always ulterior unless they perfectly coincided with his wishes. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, old top," muttered the Englishman, "I will give you +the lesson of your life," and then turning to the girl: "Persuade +him to let you accompany us. I shall be afraid to leave you here +with these devilish scoundrels." But when she put the suggestion +to Usanga the black immediately suspected some plan to thwart +him—possibly to carry him against his will back to the German +masters he had traitorously deserted, and glowering at her savagely, +he obstinately refused to entertain the suggestion. +</P> + +<P> +"The white woman will remain here with my people," he said. "They +will not harm her unless you fail to bring me back safely." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell him," said the Englishman, "that if you are not standing in +plain sight in this meadow when I return, I will not land, but will +carry Usanga back to the British camp and have him hanged." +</P> + +<P> +Usanga promised that the girl would be in evidence upon their +return, and took immediate steps to impress upon his warriors that +under penalty of death they must not harm her. Then, followed +by the other members of his party, he crossed the clearing toward +the plane with the Englishman. Once seated within what he already +considered his new possession, the black's courage began to wane +and when the motor was started and the great propeller commenced +to whir, he screamed to the Englishman to stop the thing and permit +him to alight, but the aviator could neither hear nor understand +the black above the noise of the propeller and exhaust. By this +time the plane was moving along the ground and even then Usanga was +upon the verge of leaping out, and would have done so had he been +able to unfasten the strap from about his waist. Then the plane rose +from the ground and in a moment soared gracefully in a wide circle +until it topped the trees. The black sergeant was in a veritable +collapse of terror. He saw the earth dropping rapidly from beneath +him. He saw the trees and river and at a distance the little clearing +with the thatched huts of Numabo's village. He tried hard not to +think of the results of a sudden fall to the rapidly receding ground +below. He attempted to concentrate his mind upon the twenty-four +wives which this great bird most assuredly would permit him to +command. Higher and higher rose the plane, swinging in a wide circle +above the forest, river, and meadowland and presently, much to his +surprise, Usanga discovered that his terror was rapidly waning, so +that it was not long before there was forced upon him a consciousness +of utter security, and then it was that he began to take notice of +the manner in which the white man guided and manipulated the plane. +</P> + +<P> +After half an hour of skillful maneuvering, the Englishman rose +rapidly to a considerable altitude, and then, suddenly, without +warning, he looped and flew with the plane inverted for a few +seconds. +</P> + +<P> +"I said I'd give this beggar the lesson of his life," he murmured as +he heard, even above the whir of the propeller, the shriek of the +terrified Negro. A moment later Smith-Oldwick had righted the machine +and was dropping rapidly toward the earth. He circled slowly a few +times above the meadow until he had assured himself that Bertha +Kircher was there and apparently unharmed, then he dropped gently +to the ground so that the machine came to a stop a short distance +from where the girl and the warriors awaited them. +</P> + +<P> +It was a trembling and ashen-hued Usanga who tumbled out of the +fuselage, for his nerves were still on edge as a result of the +harrowing experience of the loop, yet with terra firma once more +under foot, he quickly regained his composure. Strutting about +with great show and braggadocio, he strove to impress his followers +with the mere nothingness of so trivial a feat as flying birdlike +thousands of yards above the jungle, though it was long until he +had thoroughly convinced himself by the force of autosuggestion +that he had enjoyed every instant of the flight and was already +far advanced in the art of aviation. +</P> + +<P> +So jealous was the black of his new-found toy that he would not +return to the village of Numabo, but insisted on making camp close +beside the plane, lest in some inconceivable fashion it should be +stolen from him. For two days they camped there, and constantly +during daylight hours Usanga compelled the Englishman to instruct +him in the art of flying. +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick, in recalling the long months of arduous training he +had undergone himself before he had been considered sufficiently +adept to be considered a finished flier, smiled at the conceit of +the ignorant African who was already demanding that he be permitted +to make a flight alone. +</P> + +<P> +"If it was not for losing the machine," the Englishman explained to +the girl, "I'd let the bounder take it up and break his fool neck +as he would do inside of two minutes." +</P> + +<P> +However, he finally persuaded Usanga to bide his time for a few +more days of instruction, but in the suspicious mind of the Negro +there was a growing conviction that the white man's advice was prompted +by some ulterior motive; that it was in the hope of escaping with +the machine himself by night that he refused to admit that Usanga +was entirely capable of handling it alone and therefore in no further +need of help or instruction, and so in the mind of the black there +formed a determination to outwit the white man. The lure of the +twenty-four seductive wives proved in itself a sufficient incentive +and there, too, was added his desire for the white girl whom he +had long since determined to possess. +</P> + +<P> +It was with these thoughts in mind that Usanga lay down to sleep +in the evening of the second day. Constantly, however, the thought +of Naratu and her temper arose to take the keen edge from his pleasant +imaginings. If he could but rid himself of her! The thought having +taken form persisted, but always it was more than outweighed by the +fact that the black sergeant was actually afraid of his woman, so +much afraid of her in fact that he would not have dared to attempt +to put her out of the way unless he could do so secretly while +she slept. However, as one plan after another was conjured by the +strength of his desires, he at last hit upon one which came to him +almost with the force of a blow and brought him sitting upright +among his sleeping companions. +</P> + +<P> +When morning dawned Usanga could scarce wait for an opportunity to +put his scheme into execution, and the moment that he had eaten, +he called several of his warriors aside and talked with them for +some moments. +</P> + +<P> +The Englishman, who usually kept an eye upon his black captor, +saw now that the latter was explaining something in detail to his +warriors, and from his gestures and his manner it was apparent that +he was persuading them to some new plan as well as giving them +instructions as to what they were to do. Several times, too, he +saw the eyes of the Negroes turned upon him and once they flashed +simultaneously toward the white girl. +</P> + +<P> +Everything about the occurrence, which in itself seemed trivial enough, +aroused in the mind of the Englishman a well-defined apprehension +that something was afoot that boded ill for him and for the girl. +He could not free himself of the idea and so he kept a still closer +watch over the black although, as he was forced to admit to himself, +he was quite powerless to avert any fate that lay in store for +them. Even the spear that he had had when captured had been taken +away from him, so that now he was unarmed and absolutely at the +mercy of the black sergeant and his followers. +</P> + +<P> +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick did not have long to wait +before discovering something of Usanga's plan, for almost immediately +after the sergeant finished giving his instructions, a number of +warriors approached the Englishman, while three went directly to +the girl. +</P> + +<P> +Without a word of explanation the warriors seized the young officer +and threw him to the ground upon his face. For a moment he struggled +to free himself and succeeded in landing a few heavy blows among +his assailants, but he was too greatly outnumbered to hope to more +than delay them in the accomplishment of their object which he +soon discovered was to bind him securely hand and foot. When they +had finally secured him to their satisfaction, they rolled him +over on his side and then it was he saw Bertha Kircher had been +similarly trussed. +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick lay in such a position that he could see nearly the +entire expanse of meadow and the aeroplane a short distance away. +Usanga was talking to the girl who was shaking her head in vehement +negatives. +</P> + +<P> +"What is he saying?" called the Englishman. +</P> + +<P> +"He is going to take me away in the plane," the girl called back. +"He is going to take me farther inland to another country where +he says that he will be king and I am to be one of his wives," and +then to the Englishman's surprise she turned a smiling face toward +him, "but there is no danger," she continued, "for we shall both +be dead within a few minutes—just give him time enough to get +the machine under way, and if he can rise a hundred feet from the +ground I shall never need fear him more." +</P> + +<P> +"God!" cried the man. "Is there no way that you can dissuade him? +Promise him anything. Anything that you want. I have money, more +money than that poor fool could imagine there was in the whole +world. With it he can buy anything that money will purchase, fine +clothes and food and women, all the women he wants. Tell him this +and tell him that if he will spare you I give him my word that I +will fetch it all to him." +</P> + +<P> +The girl shook her head. "It is useless," she said. "He would not +understand and if he did understand, he would not trust you. The +blacks are so unprincipled themselves that they can imagine no +such thing as principle or honor in others, and especially do these +blacks distrust an Englishman whom the Germans have taught them to +believe are the most treacherous and degraded of people. No, it is +better thus. I am sorry that you cannot go with us, for if he goes +high enough my death will be much easier than that which probably +awaits you." +</P> + +<P> +Usanga had been continually interrupting their brief conversation +in an attempt to compel the girl to translate it to him, for he +feared that they were concocting some plan to thwart him, and to +quiet and appease him, she told him that the Englishman was merely +bidding her farewell and wishing her good luck. Suddenly she turned +to the black. "Will you do something for me?" she asked. "If I go +willingly with you?" +</P> + +<P> +"What is it you want?" he inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell your men to free the white man after we are gone. He can +never catch us. That is all I ask of you. If you will grant him +his freedom and his life, I will go willingly with you. +</P> + +<P> +"You will go with me anyway," growled Usanga. "It is nothing to +me whether you go willingly or not. I am going to be a great king +and you will do whatever I tell you to do." +</P> + +<P> +He had in mind that he would start properly with this woman. There +should be no repetition of his harrowing experience with Naratu. +This wife and the twenty-four others should be carefully selected +and well trained. Hereafter Usanga would be master in his own house. +</P> + +<P> +Bertha Kircher saw that it was useless to appeal to the brute +and so she held her peace though she was filled with sorrow in +contemplating the fate that awaited the young officer, scarce more +than a boy, who had impulsively revealed his love for her. +</P> + +<P> +At Usanga's order one of the blacks lifted her from the ground and +carried her to the machine, and after Usanga had clambered aboard, +they lifted her up and he reached down and drew her into the fuselage +where he removed the thongs from her wrists and strapped her into +her seat and then took his own directly ahead of her. +</P> + +<P> +The girl turned her eyes toward the Englishman. She was very pale +but her lips smiled bravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye!" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye, and God bless you!" he called back—his voice the least +bit husky—and then: "The thing I wanted to say—may I say it now, +we are so very near the end?" +</P> + +<P> +Her lips moved but whether they voiced consent or refusal he did +not know, for the words were drowned in the whir of the propeller. +</P> + +<P> +The black had learned his lesson sufficiently well so that the +motor was started without bungling and the machine was soon under +way across the meadowland. A groan escaped the lips of the distracted +Englishman as he watched the woman he loved being carried to almost +certain death. He saw the plane tilt and the machine rise from +the ground. It was a good take-off—as good as Lieutenant Harold +Percy Smith-Oldwick could make himself but he realized that it was +only so by chance. At any instant the machine might plunge to earth +and even if, by some miracle of chance, the black could succeed +in rising above the tree tops and make a successful flight, there +was not one chance in one hundred thousand that he could ever land +again without killing his fair captive and himself. +</P> + +<P> +But what was that? His heart stood still. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Usanga's Reward +</H3> + +<P> +For two days Tarzan of the Apes had been hunting leisurely to the +north, and swinging in a wide circle, he had returned to within +a short distance of the clearing where he had left Bertha Kircher +and the young lieutenant. He had spent the night in a large tree +that overhung the river only a short distance from the clearing, +and now in the early morning hours he was crouching at the water's +edge waiting for an opportunity to capture Pisah, the fish, thinking +that he would take it back with him to the hut where the girl could +cook it for herself and her companion. +</P> + +<P> +Motionless as a bronze statue was the wily ape-man, for well he knew +how wary is Pisah, the fish. The slightest movement would frighten +him away and only by infinite patience might he be captured at +all. Tarzan depended upon his own quickness and the suddenness of +his attack, for he had no bait or hook. His knowledge of the ways +of the denizens of the water told him where to wait for Pisah. It +might be a minute or it might be an hour before the fish would swim +into the little pool above which he crouched, but sooner or later +one would come. That the ape-man knew, so with the patience of the +beast of prey he waited for his quarry. +</P> + +<P> +At last there was a glint of shiny scales. Pisah was coming. In a +moment he would be within reach and then with the swiftness of light +two strong, brown hands would plunge into the pool and seize him, +but, just at the moment that the fish was about to come within reach, +there was a great crashing in the underbrush behind the ape-man. +Instantly Pisah was gone and Tarzan, growling, had wheeled about +to face whatever creature might be menacing him. The moment that +he turned he saw that the author of the disturbance was Zu-tag. +</P> + +<P> +"What does Zu-tag want?" asked the ape-man. +</P> + +<P> +"Zu-tag comes to the water to drink," replied the ape. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is the tribe?" asked Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"They are hunting for pisangs and scimatines farther back in the +forest," replied Zu-tag. +</P> + +<P> +"And the Tarmangani she and bull—" asked Tarzan, "are they safe?" +</P> + +<P> +"They have gone away," replied Zu-tag. "Kudu has come out of his +lair twice since they left." +</P> + +<P> +"Did the tribe chase them away?" asked Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied the ape. "We did not see them go. We do not know why +they left." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan swung quickly through the trees toward the clearing. The +hut and boma were as he had left them, but there was no sign of +either the man or the woman. Crossing the clearing, he entered the +boma and then the hut. Both were empty, and his trained nostrils +told him that they had been gone for at least two days. As he was +about to leave the hut he saw a paper pinned upon the wall with a +sliver of wood and taking it down, he read: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +After what you told me about Miss Kircher, and knowing that you +dislike her, I feel that it is not fair to her and to you that we +should impose longer upon you. I know that our presence is keeping +you from continuing your journey to the west coast, and so I +have decided that it is better for us to try and reach the white +settlements immediately without imposing further upon you. We both +thank you for your kindness and protection. If there was any way +that I might repay the obligation I feel, I should be only too glad +to do so. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was signed by Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan shrugged his shoulders, crumpled the note in his hand and +tossed it aside. He felt a certain sense of relief from responsibility +and was glad that they had taken the matter out of his hands. They +were gone and would forget, but somehow he could not forget. He +walked out across the boma and into the clearing. He felt uneasy +and restless. Once he started toward the north in response to +a sudden determination to continue his way to the west coast. He +would follow the winding river toward the north a few miles where +its course turned to the west and then on toward its source across +a wooded plateau and up into the foothills and the mountains. Upon +the other side of the range he would search for a stream running +downward toward the west coast, and thus following the rivers he +would be sure of game and water in plenty. +</P> + +<P> +But he did not go far. A dozen steps, perhaps, and he came to +a sudden stop. "He is an Englishman," he muttered, "and the other +is a woman. They can never reach the settlements without my help. +I could not kill her with my own hands when I tried, and if I let +them go on alone, I will have killed her just as surely as though +I had run my knife into her heart. No," and again he shook his +head. "Tarzan of the Apes is a fool and a weak, old woman," and he +turned back toward the south. +</P> + +<P> +Manu, the monkey, had seen the two Tarmangani pass two days before. +Chattering and scolding, he told Tarzan all about it. They had +gone in the direction of the village of the Gomangani, that much +had Manu seen with his own eyes, so the ape-man swung on through +the jungle in a southerly direction and though with no concentrated +effort to follow the spoor of those he trailed, he passed numerous +evidences that they had gone this way—faint suggestions of their +scent spoor clung lightly to leaf or branch or bole that one +or the other had touched, or in the earth of the trail their feet +had trod, and where the way wound through the gloomy depth of dank +forest, the impress of their shoes still showed occasionally in +the damp mass of decaying vegetation that floored the way. +</P> + +<P> +An inexplicable urge spurred Tarzan to increasing, speed. The +same still, small voice that chided him for having neglected them +seemed constantly whispering that they were in dire need of him +now. Tarzan's conscience was troubling him, which accounted for +the fact that he compared himself to a weak, old woman, for the +ape-man, reared in savagery and inured to hardships and cruelty, +disliked to admit any of the gentler traits that in reality were +his birthright. +</P> + +<P> +The trail made a detour to the east of the village of the Wamabos, +and then returned to the wide elephant path nearer to the river, +where it continued in a southerly direction for several miles. At +last there came to the ears of the ape-man a peculiar whirring, +throbbing sound. For an instant he paused, listening intently, "An +aeroplane!" he muttered, and hastened forward at greatly increased +speed. +</P> + +<P> +When Tarzan of the Apes finally reached the edge of the meadowland +where Smith-Oldwick's plane had landed, he took in the entire scene +in one quick glance and grasped the situation, although he could +scarce give credence to the things he saw. Bound and helpless, +the English officer lay upon the ground at one side of the meadow, +while around him stood a number of the black deserters from the +German command. Tarzan had seen these men before and knew who they +were. Coming toward him down the meadow was an aeroplane piloted +by the black Usanga and in the seat behind the pilot was the white +girl, Bertha Kircher. How it befell that the ignorant savage could +operate the plane, Tarzan could not guess nor had he time in which +to speculate upon the subject. His knowledge of Usanga, together +with the position of the white man, told him that the black sergeant +was attempting to carry off the white girl. Why he should be doing +this when he had her in his power and had also captured and secured +the only creature in the jungle who might wish to defend her in so +far as the black could know, Tarzan could not guess, for he knew +nothing of Usanga's twenty-four dream wives nor of the black's +fear of the horrid temper of Naratu, his present mate. He did not +know, then, that Usanga had determined to fly away with the white +girl never to return, and to put so great a distance between himself +and Naratu that the latter never could find him again; but it was +this very thing that was in the black's mind although not even his +own warriors guessed it. He had told them that he would take the +captive to a sultan of the north and there obtain a great price for +her and that when he returned they should have some of the spoils. +</P> + +<P> +These things Tarzan did not know. All he knew was what he saw—a +Negro attempting to fly away with a white girl. Already the +machine was slowly leaving the ground. In a moment more it would +rise swiftly out of reach. At first Tarzan thought of fitting an +arrow to his bow and slaying Usanga, but as quickly he abandoned +the idea because he knew that the moment the pilot was slain the +machine, running wild, would dash the girl to death among the trees. +</P> + +<P> +There was but one way in which he might hope to succor her—a way +which if it failed must send him to instant death and yet he did +not hesitate in an attempt to put it into execution. +</P> + +<P> +Usanga did not see him, being too intent upon the unaccustomed duties +of a pilot, but the blacks across the meadow saw him and they ran +forward with loud and savage cries and menacing rifles to intercept +him. They saw a giant white man leap from the branches of a tree +to the turf and race rapidly toward the plane. They saw him take +a long grass rope from about his shoulders as he ran. They saw the +noose swinging in an undulating circle above his head. They saw +the white girl in the machine glance down and discover him. +</P> + +<P> +Twenty feet above the running ape-man soared the huge plane. The +open noose shot up to meet it, and the girl, half guessing the +ape-man's intentions, reached out and caught the noose and, bracing +herself, clung tightly to it with both hands. Simultaneously Tarzan +was dragged from his feet and the plane lurched sideways in response +to the new strain. Usanga clutched wildly at the control and the +machine shot upward at a steep angle. Dangling at the end of the +rope the ape-man swung pendulum-like in space. The Englishman, lying +bound upon the ground, had been a witness of all these happenings. +His heart stood still as he saw Tarzan's body hurtling through the +air toward the tree tops among which it seemed he must inevitably +crash; but the plane was rising rapidly, so that the beast-man +cleared the top-most branches. Then slowly, hand over hand, he +climbed toward the fuselage. The girl, clinging desperately to the +noose, strained every muscle to hold the great weight dangling at +the lower end of the rope. +</P> + +<P> +Usanga, all unconscious of what was going on behind him, drove the +plane higher and higher into the air. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan glanced downward. Below him the tree tops and the river +passed rapidly to the rear and only a slender grass rope and the +muscles of a frail girl stood between him and the death yawning +there thousands of feet below. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed to Bertha Kircher that the fingers of her hands were dead. +The numbness was running up her arms to her elbows. How much longer +she could cling to the straining strands she could not guess. It +seemed to her that those lifeless fingers must relax at any instant +and then, when she had about given up hope, she saw a strong brown +hand reach up and grasp the side of the fuselage. Instantly the +weight upon the rope was removed and a moment later Tarzan of the +Apes raised his body above the side and threw a leg over the edge. +He glanced forward at Usanga and then, placing his mouth close to +the girl's ear he cried: "Have you ever piloted a plane?" The girl +nodded a quick affirmative. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you the courage to climb up there beside the black and seize +the control while I take care of him?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl looked toward Usanga and shuddered. "Yes," she replied, +"but my feet are bound." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan drew his hunting knife from its sheath and reaching down, +severed the thongs that bound her ankles. Then the girl unsnapped +the strap that held her to her seat. With one hand Tarzan grasped +the girl's arm and steadied her as the two crawled slowly across +the few feet which intervened between the two seats. A single slight +tip of the plane would have cast them both into eternity. Tarzan +realized that only through a miracle of chance could they reach +Usanga and effect the change in pilots and yet he knew that that +chance must be taken, for in the brief moments since he had first +seen the plane, he had realized that the black was almost without +experience as a pilot and that death surely awaited them in any +event should the black sergeant remain at the control. +</P> + +<P> +The first intimation Usanga had that all was not well with him was +when the girl slipped suddenly to his side and grasped the control +and at the same instant steel-like fingers seized his throat. A brown +hand shot down with a keen blade and severed the strap about his +waist and giant muscles lifted him bodily from his seat. Usanga +clawed the air and shrieked but he was helpless as a babe. Far +below the watchers in the meadow could see the aeroplane careening +in the sky, for with the change of control it had taken a sudden +dive. They saw it right itself and, turning in a short circle, return +in their direction, but it was so far above them and the light of +the sun so strong that they could see nothing of what was going on +within the fuselage; but presently Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick gave +a gasp of dismay as he saw a human body plunge downward from the +plane. Turning and twisting in mid-air it fell with ever-increasing +velocity and the Englishman held his breath as the thing hurtled +toward them. +</P> + +<P> +With a muffled thud it flattened upon the turf near the center of +the meadow, and when at last the Englishman could gain the courage +to again turn his eyes upon it, he breathed a fervent prayer of +thanks, for the shapeless mass that lay upon the blood-stained turf +was covered with an ebon hide. Usanga had reaped his reward. +</P> + +<P> +Again and again the plane circled above the meadow. The blacks, at +first dismayed at the death of their leader, were now worked to a +frenzy of rage and a determination to be avenged. The girl and the +ape-man saw them gather in a knot about the body of their fallen +chief. They saw as they circled above the meadow the black fists +shaken at them, and the rifles brandishing a menace toward them. +Tarzan still clung to the fuselage directly behind the pilot's seat. +His face was close beside Bertha Kircher's, and at the top of his +voice, above the noise of propeller, engine and exhaust, he screamed +a few words of instruction into her ear. +</P> + +<P> +As the girl grasped the significance of his words she paled, but +her lips set in a hard line and her eyes shone with a sudden fire +of determination as she dropped the plane to within a few feet of +the ground and at the opposite end of the meadow from the blacks +and then at full speed bore down upon the savages. So quickly the +plane came that Usanga's men had no time to escape it after they +realized its menace. It touched the ground just as it struck among +them and mowed through them, a veritable juggernaut of destruction. +When it came to rest at the edge of the forest the ape-man leaped +quickly to the ground and ran toward the young lieutenant, and as +he went he glanced at the spot where the warriors had stood, ready +to defend himself if necessary, but there was none there to oppose +him. Dead and dying they lay strewn for fifty feet along the turf. +</P> + +<P> +By the time Tarzan had freed the Englishman the girl joined them. +She tried to voice her thanks to the ape-man but he silenced her +with a gesture. +</P> + +<P> +"You saved yourself," he insisted, "for had you been unable to +pilot the plane, I could not have helped you, and now," he said, +"you two have the means of returning to the settlements. The day +is still young. You can easily cover the distance in a few hours +if you have sufficient petrol." He looked inquiringly toward the +aviator. +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick nodded his head affirmatively. "I have plenty," he +replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Then go at once," said the ape-man. "Neither of you belong in the +jungle." A slight smile touched his lips as he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +The girl and the Englishman smiled too. "This jungle is no place +for us at least," said Smith-Oldwick, "and it is no place for any +other white man. Why don't you come back to civilization with us?" +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan shook his head. "I prefer the jungle," he said. +</P> + +<P> +The aviator dug his toe into the ground and still looking down, +blurted something which he evidently hated to say. "If it is a +matter of living, old top," he said, "er—money, er—you know—" +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan laughed. "No," he said. "I know what you are trying to say. +It is not that. I was born in the jungle. I have lived all my life +in the jungle, and I shall die in the jungle. I do not wish to +live or die elsewhere." +</P> + +<P> +The others shook their heads. They could not understand him. +</P> + +<P> +"Go," said the ape-man. "The quicker you go, the quicker you will +reach safety." +</P> + +<P> +They walked to the plane together. Smith-Oldwick pressed the +ape-man's hand and clambered into the pilot's seat. "Good-bye," +said the girl as she extended her hand to Tarzan. "Before I go +won't you tell me you don't hate me any more?" Tarzan's face clouded. +Without a word he picked her up and lifted her to her place behind +the Englishman. An expression of pain crossed Bertha Kircher's +face. The motor started and a moment later the two were being borne +rapidly toward the east. +</P> + +<P> +In the center of the meadow stood the ape-man watching them. "It +is too bad that she is a German and a spy," he said, "for she is +very hard to hate." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Black Lion +</H3> + +<P> +Numa, the lion, was hungry. He had come out of the desert country +to the east into a land of plenty but though he was young and strong, +the wary grass-eaters had managed to elude his mighty talons each +time he had thought to make a kill. +</P> + +<P> +Numa, the lion, was hungry and very savage. For two days he had +not eaten and now he hunted in the ugliest of humors. No more did +Numa roar forth a rumbling challenge to the world but rather he +moved silent and grim, stepping softly that no cracking twig might +betray his presence to the keen-eared quarry he sought. +</P> + +<P> +Fresh was the spoor of Bara, the deer, that Numa picked up in the +well-beaten game trail he was following. No hour had passed since +Bara had come this way; the time could be measured in minutes and +so the great lion redoubled the cautiousness of his advance as he +crept stealthily in pursuit of his quarry. +</P> + +<P> +A light wind was moving through the jungle aisles, and it wafted +down now to the nostrils of the eager carnivore the strong scent +spoor of the deer, exciting his already avid appetite to a point +where it became a gnawing pain. Yet Numa did not permit himself to +be carried away by his desires into any premature charge such as +had recently lost him the juicy meat of Pacco, the zebra. Increasing +his gait but slightly he followed the tortuous windings of the +trail until suddenly just before him, where the trail wound about +the bole of a huge tree, he saw a young buck moving slowly ahead +of him. +</P> + +<P> +Numa judged the distance with his keen eyes, glowing now like two +terrible spots of yellow fire in his wrinkled, snarling face. He +could do it—this time he was sure. One terrific roar that would +paralyze the poor creature ahead of him into momentary inaction, +and a simultaneous charge of lightning-like rapidity and Numa, the +lion, would feed. The sinuous tail, undulating slowly at its tufted +extremity, whipped suddenly erect. It was the signal for the charge +and the vocal organs were shaped for the thunderous roar when, as +lightning out of a clear sky, Sheeta, the panther, leaped suddenly +into the trail between Numa and the deer. +</P> + +<P> +A blundering charge made Sheeta, for with the first crash of his +spotted body through the foliage verging the trail, Bara gave a +single startled backward glance and was gone. +</P> + +<P> +The roar that was intended to paralyze the deer broke horribly from +the deep throat of the great cat—an angry roar of rage against +the meddling Sheeta who had robbed him of his kill, and the charge +that was intended for Bara was launched against the panther; but +here too Numa was doomed to disappointment, for with the first notes +of his fearsome roar Sheeta, considering well the better part of +valor, leaped into a near-by tree. +</P> + +<P> +A half-hour later it was a thoroughly furious Numa who came +unexpectedly upon the scent of man. Heretofore the lord of the jungle +had disdained the unpalatable flesh of the despised man-thing. Such +meat was only for the old, the toothless, and the decrepit who no +longer could make their kills among the fleet-footed grass-eaters. +Bara, the deer, Horta, the boar, and, best and wariest, Pacco, the +zebra, were for the young, the strong, and the agile, but Numa was +hungry—hungrier than he ever had been in the five short years of +his life. +</P> + +<P> +What if he was a young, powerful, cunning, and ferocious beast? +In the face of hunger, the great leveler, he was as the old, the +toothless, and the decrepit. His belly cried aloud in anguish and +his jowls slavered for flesh. Zebra or deer or man, what mattered +it so that it was warm flesh, red with the hot juices of life? +Even Dango, the hyena, eater of offal, would, at the moment, have +seemed a tidbit to Numa. +</P> + +<P> +The great lion knew the habits and frailties of man, though he never +before had hunted man for food. He knew the despised Gomangani as +the slowest, the most stupid, and the most defenseless of creatures. +No woodcraft, no cunning, no stealth was necessary in the hunting +of man, nor had Numa any stomach for either delay or silence. +</P> + +<P> +His rage had become an almost equally consuming passion with +his hunger, so that now, as his delicate nostrils apprised him of +the recent passage of man, he lowered his head and rumbled forth +a thunderous roar, and at a swift walk, careless of the noise he +made, set forth upon the trail of his intended quarry. +</P> + +<P> +Majestic and terrible, regally careless of his surroundings, the +king of beasts strode down the beaten trail. The natural caution +that is inherent to all creatures of the wild had deserted him. +What had he, lord of the jungle, to fear and, with only man to hunt, +what need of caution? And so he did not see or scent what a more +wary Numa might readily have discovered until, with the cracking of +twigs and a tumbling of earth, he was precipitated into a cunningly +devised pit that the wily Wamabos had excavated for just this +purpose in the center of the game trail. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan of the Apes stood in the center of the clearing watching the +plane shrinking to diminutive toy-like proportions in the eastern +sky. He had breathed a sigh of relief as he saw it rise safely with +the British flier and Fräulein Bertha Kircher. For weeks he had +felt the hampering responsibility of their welfare in this savage +wilderness where their utter helplessness would have rendered them +easy prey for the savage carnivores or the cruel Wamabos. Tarzan +of the Apes loved unfettered freedom, and now that these two were +safely off his hands, he felt that he could continue upon his +journey toward the west coast and the long-untenanted cabin of his +dead father. +</P> + +<P> +And yet, as he stood there watching the tiny speck in the east, +another sigh heaved his broad chest, nor was it a sigh of relief, +but rather a sensation which Tarzan had never expected to feel +again and which he now disliked to admit even to himself. It could +not be possible that he, the jungle bred, who had renounced forever +the society of man to return to his beloved beasts of the wilds, +could be feeling anything akin to regret at the departure of these +two, or any slightest loneliness now that they were gone. Lieutenant +Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick Tarzan had liked, but the woman whom he +had known as a German spy he had hated, though he never had found it +in his heart to slay her as he had sworn to slay all Huns. He had +attributed this weakness to the fact that she was a woman, although +he had been rather troubled by the apparent inconsistency of +his hatred for her and his repeated protection of her when danger +threatened. +</P> + +<P> +With an irritable toss of his head he wheeled suddenly toward the +west as though by turning his back upon the fast disappearing plane +he might expunge thoughts of its passengers from his memory. At +the edge of the clearing he paused; a giant tree loomed directly +ahead of him and, as though actuated by sudden and irresistible +impulse, he leaped into the branches and swung himself with apelike +agility to the topmost limbs that would sustain his weight. There, +balancing lightly upon a swaying bough, he sought in the direction +of the eastern horizon for the tiny speck that would be the British +plane bearing away from him the last of his own race and kind that +he expected ever again to see. +</P> + +<P> +At last his keen eyes picked up the ship flying at a considerable +altitude far in the east. For a few seconds he watched it speeding +evenly eastward, when, to his horror, he saw the speck dive suddenly +downward. The fall seemed interminable to the watcher and he +realized how great must have been the altitude of the plane before +the drop commenced. Just before it disappeared from sight its +downward momentum appeared to abate suddenly, but it was still +moving rapidly at a steep angle when it finally disappeared from +view behind the far hills. +</P> + +<P> +For half a minute the ape-man stood noting distant landmarks that +he judged might be in the vicinity of the fallen plane, for no +sooner had he realized that these people were again in trouble than +his inherent sense of duty to his own kind impelled him once more +to forego his plans and seek to aid them. +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man feared from what he judged of the location of the machine +that it had fallen among the almost impassable gorges of the arid +country just beyond the fertile basin that was bounded by the +hills to the east of him. He had crossed that parched and desolate +country of the dead himself and he knew from his own experience +and the narrow escape he had had from succumbing to its relentless +cruelty no lesser man could hope to win his way to safety from +any considerable distance within its borders. Vividly he recalled +the bleached bones of the long-dead warrior in the bottom of the +precipitous gorge that had all but proved a trap for him as well. +He saw the helmet of hammered brass and the corroded breastplate of +steel and the long straight sword in its scabbard and the ancient +harquebus—mute testimonials to the mighty physique and the +warlike spirit of him who had somehow won, thus illy caparisoned +and pitifully armed, to the center of savage, ancient Africa; and +he saw the slender English youth and the slight figure of the girl +cast into the same fateful trap from which this giant of old had +been unable to escape—cast there wounded and broken perhaps, if +not killed. +</P> + +<P> +His judgment told him that the latter possibility was probably +the fact, and yet there was a chance that they might have landed +without fatal injuries, and so upon this slim chance he started out +upon what he knew would be an arduous journey, fraught with many +hardships and unspeakable peril, that he might attempt to save them +if they still lived. +</P> + +<P> +He had covered a mile perhaps when his quick ears caught the sound +of rapid movement along the game trail ahead of him. The sound, +increasing in volume, proclaimed the fact that whatever caused it +was moving in his direction and moving rapidly. Nor was it long +before his trained senses convinced him that the footfalls were +those of Bara, the deer, in rapid flight. Inextricably confused in +Tarzan's character were the attributes of man and of beasts. Long +experience had taught him that he fights best or travels fastest +who is best nourished, and so, with few exceptions, Tarzan could +delay his most urgent business to take advantage of an opportunity +to kill and feed. This perhaps was the predominant beast trait in +him. The transformation from an English gentleman, impelled by the +most humanitarian motives, to that of a wild beast crouching in the +concealment of a dense bush ready to spring upon its approaching +prey, was instantaneous. +</P> + +<P> +And so, when Bara came, escaping the clutches of Numa and Sheeta, +his terror and his haste precluded the possibility of his sensing +that other equally formidable foe lying in ambush for him. Abreast +of the ape-man came the deer; a light-brown body shot from the +concealing verdure of the bush, strong arms encircled the sleek +neck of the young buck and powerful teeth fastened themselves in +the soft flesh. Together the two rolled over in the trail and a +moment later the ape-man rose, and, with one foot upon the carcass +of his kill, raised his voice in the victory cry of the bull ape. +</P> + +<P> +Like an answering challenge came suddenly to the ears of the +ape-man the thunderous roar of a lion, a hideous angry roar in which +Tarzan thought that he discerned a note of surprise and terror. In +the breast of the wild things of the jungle, as in the breasts of +their more enlightened brothers and sisters of the human race, the +characteristic of curiosity is well developed. Nor was Tarzan far +from innocent of it. The peculiar note in the roar of his hereditary +enemy aroused a desire to investigate, and so, throwing the carcass +of Bara, the deer, across his shoulder, the ape-man took to the +lower terraces of the forest and moved quickly in the direction +from which the sound had come, which was in line with the trail he +had set out upon. +</P> + +<P> +As the distance lessened, the sounds increased in volume, which +indicated that he was approaching a very angry lion and presently, +where a jungle giant overspread the broad game trail that countless +thousands of hoofed and padded feet had worn and trampled into a +deep furrow during perhaps countless ages, he saw beneath him the +lion pit of the Wamabos and in it, leaping futilely for freedom +such a lion as even Tarzan of the Apes never before had beheld. A +mighty beast it was that glared up at the ape-man—large, powerful +and young, with a huge black mane and a coat so much darker than +any Tarzan ever had seen that in the depths of the pit it looked +almost black—a black lion! +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan who had been upon the point of taunting and reviling his +captive foe was suddenly turned to open admiration for the beauty +of the splendid beast. What a creature! How by comparison the +ordinary forest lion was dwarfed into insignificance! Here indeed +was one worthy to be called king of beasts. With his first sight of +the great cat the ape-man knew that he had heard no note of terror +in that initial roar; surprise doubtless, but the vocal chords of +that mighty throat never had reacted to fear. +</P> + +<P> +With growing admiration came a feeling of quick pity for the hapless +situation of the great brute rendered futile and helpless by the +wiles of the Gomangani. Enemy though the beast was, he was less an +enemy to the ape-man than those blacks who had trapped him, for +though Tarzan of the Apes claimed many fast and loyal friends among +certain tribes of African natives, there were others of degraded +character and bestial habits that he looked upon with utter loathing, +and of such were the human flesh-eaters of Numabo the chief. For +a moment Numa, the lion, glared ferociously at the naked man-thing +upon the tree limb above him. Steadily those yellow-green eyes +bored into the clear eyes of the ape-man, and then the sensitive +nostrils caught the scent of the fresh blood of Bara and the eyes +moved to the carcass lying across the brown shoulder, and there +came from the cavernous depths of the savage throat a low whine. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan of the Apes smiled. As unmistakably as though a human voice +had spoken, the lion had said to him "I am hungry, even more than +hungry. I am starving," and the ape-man looked down upon the lion +beneath him and smiled, a slow quizzical smile, and then he shifted +the carcass from his shoulder to the branch before him and, drawing +the long blade that had been his father's, deftly cut off a hind +quarter and, wiping the bloody blade upon Bara's smooth coat, he +returned it to its scabbard. Numa, with watering jaws, looked up +at the tempting meat and whined again and the ape-man smiled down +upon him his slow smile and, raising the hind quarter in his strong +brown hands buried his teeth in the tender, juicy flesh. +</P> + +<P> +For the third time Numa, the lion, uttered that low pleading whine +and then, with a rueful and disgusted shake of his head, Tarzan of +the Apes raised the balance of the carcass of Bara, the deer, and +hurled it to the famished beast below. +</P> + +<P> +"Old woman," muttered the ape-man. "Tarzan has become a weak old +woman. Presently he would shed tears because he has killed Bara, +the deer. He cannot see Numa, his enemy, go hungry, because Tarzan's +heart is turning to water by contact with the soft, weak creatures +of civilization." But yet he smiled, nor was he sorry that he had +given way to the dictates of a kindly impulse. +</P> + +<P> +As Tarzan tore the flesh from that portion of the kill he had retained +for himself his eyes were taking in each detail of the scene below. +He saw the avidity with which Numa devoured the carcass; he noted +with growing admiration the finer points of the beast, and also +the cunning construction of the trap. The ordinary lion pit with +which Tarzan was familiar had stakes imbedded in the bottom, upon +whose sharpened points the hapless lion would be impaled, but this +pit was not so made. Here the short stakes were set at intervals of +about a foot around the walls near the top, their sharpened points +inclining downward so that the lion had fallen unhurt into the trap +but could not leap out because each time he essayed it his head +came in contact with the sharp end of a stake above him. +</P> + +<P> +Evidently, then, the purpose of the Wamabos was to capture a lion +alive. As this tribe had no contact whatsoever with white men in +so far as Tarzan knew, their motive was doubtless due to a desire +to torture the beast to death that they might enjoy to the utmost +his dying agonies. +</P> + +<P> +Having fed the lion, it presently occurred to Tarzan that his act +would be futile were he to leave the beast to the mercies of the +blacks, and then too it occurred to him that he could derive more +pleasure through causing the blacks discomfiture than by leaving +Numa to his fate. But how was he to release him? By removing two +stakes there would be left plenty of room for the lion to leap from +the pit, which was not of any great depth. However, what assurance +had Tarzan that Numa would not leap out instantly the way to +freedom was open, and before the ape-man could gain the safety of +the trees? Regardless of the fact that Tarzan felt no such fear +of the lion as you and I might experience under like circumstances, +he yet was imbued with the sense of caution that is necessary to +all creatures of the wild if they are to survive. Should necessity +require, Tarzan could face Numa in battle, although he was not so +egotistical as to think that he could best a full-grown lion in +mortal combat other than through accident or the utilization of the +cunning of his superior man-mind. To lay himself liable to death +futilely, he would have considered as reprehensible as to have +shunned danger in time of necessity; but when Tarzan elected to do +a thing he usually found the means to accomplish it. +</P> + +<P> +He had now fully determined to liberate Numa, and having so determined, +he would accomplish it even though it entailed considerable personal +risk. He knew that the lion would be occupied with his feeding for +some time, but he also knew that while feeding he would be doubly +resentful of any fancied interference. Therefore Tarzan must work +with caution. +</P> + +<P> +Coming to the ground at the side of the pit, he examined the stakes +and as he did so was rather surprised to note that Numa gave no +evidence of anger at his approach. Once he turned a searching gaze +upon the ape-man for a moment and then returned to the flesh of +Bara. Tarzan felt of the stakes and tested them with his weight. +He pulled upon them with the muscles of his strong arms, presently +discovering that by working them back and forth he could loosen +them: and then a new plan was suggested to him so that he fell to +work excavating with his knife at a point above where one of the +stakes was imbedded. The loam was soft and easily removed, and it +was not long until Tarzan had exposed that part of one of the stakes +which was imbedded in the wall of the pit to almost its entire +length, leaving only enough imbedded to prevent the stake from +falling into the excavation. Then he turned his attention to an +adjoining stake and soon had it similarly exposed, after which he +threw the noose of his grass rope over the two and swung quickly +to the branch of the tree above. Here he gathered in the slack of +the rope and, bracing himself against the bole of the tree, pulled +steadily upward. Slowly the stakes rose from the trench in which +they were imbedded and with them rose Numa's suspicion and growling. +</P> + +<P> +Was this some new encroachment upon his rights and his liberties? +He was puzzled and, like all lions, being short of temper, he +was irritated. He had not minded it when the Tarmangani squatted +upon the verge of the pit and looked down upon him, for had not +this Tarmangani fed him? But now something else was afoot and the +suspicion of the wild beast was aroused. As he watched, however, +Numa saw the stakes rise slowly to an erect position, tumble +against each other and then fall backwards out of his sight upon +the surface of the ground above. Instantly the lion grasped the +possibilities of the situation, and, too, perhaps he sensed the fact +that the man-thing had deliberately opened a way for his escape. +Seizing the remains of Bara in his great jaws, Numa, the lion, +leaped agilely from the pit of the Wamabos and Tarzan of the Apes +melted into the jungles to the east. +</P> + +<P> +On the surface of the ground or through the swaying branches of the +trees the spoor of man or beast was an open book to the ape-man, but +even his acute senses were baffled by the spoorless trail of the +airship. Of what good were eyes, or ears, or the sense of smell +in following a thing whose path had lain through the shifting +air thousands of feet above the tree tops? Only upon his sense of +direction could Tarzan depend in his search for the fallen plane. +He could not even judge accurately as to the distance it might +lie from him, and he knew that from the moment that it disappeared +beyond the hills it might have traveled a considerable distance at +right angles to its original course before it crashed to earth. If +its occupants were killed or badly injured the ape-man might search +futilely in their immediate vicinity for some time before finding +them. +</P> + +<P> +There was but one thing to do and that was to travel to a point +as close as possible to where he judged the plane had landed, and +then to follow in ever-widening circles until he picked up their +scent spoor. And this he did. +</P> + +<P> +Before he left the valley of plenty he made several kills and +carried the choicest cuts of meat with him, leaving all the dead +weight of bones behind. The dense vegetation of the jungle terminated +at the foot of the western slope, growing less and less abundant +as he neared the summit beyond which was a sparse growth of sickly +scrub and sunburned grasses, with here and there a gnarled and hardy +tree that had withstood the vicissitudes of an almost waterless +existence. +</P> + +<P> +From the summit of the hills Tarzan's keen eyes searched the arid +landscape before him. In the distance he discerned the ragged +tortuous lines that marked the winding course of the hideous gorges +which scored the broad plain at intervals—the terrible gorges that +had so nearly claimed his life in punishment for his temerity in +attempting to invade the sanctity of their ancient solitude. +</P> + +<P> +For two days Tarzan sought futilely for some clew to the whereabouts +of the machine or its occupants. He cached portions of his kills at +different points, building cairns of rock to mark their locations. +He crossed the first deep gorge and circled far beyond it. Occasionally +he stopped and called aloud, listening for some response but +only silence rewarded him—a sinister silence that his cries only +accentuated. +</P> + +<P> +Late in the evening of the second day he came to the well-remembered +gorge in which lay the clean-picked bones of the ancient adventurer, +and here, for the first time, Ska, the vulture, picked up his trail. +"Not this time, Ska," cried the ape-man in a taunting voice, "for +now indeed is Tarzan Tarzan. Before, you stalked the grim skeleton +of a Tarmangani and even then you lost. Waste not your time upon +Tarzan of the Apes in the full of his strength." But still Ska, the +vulture, circled and soared above him, and the ape-man, notwithstanding +his boasts, felt a shudder of apprehension. Through his brain ran +a persistent and doleful chant to which he involuntarily set two +words, repeated over and over again in horrible monotony: "Ska +knows! Ska knows!" until, shaking himself in anger, he picked up +a rock and hurled it at the grim scavenger. +</P> + +<P> +Lowering himself over the precipitous side of the gorge Tarzan half +clambered and half slid to the sandy floor beneath. He had come +upon the rift at almost the exact spot at which he had clambered +from it weeks before, and there he saw, just as he had left it, +just, doubtless, as it had lain for centuries, the mighty skeleton +and its mighty armor. +</P> + +<P> +As he stood looking down upon this grim reminder that another man +of might had succumbed to the cruel powers of the desert, he was +brought to startled attention by the report of a firearm, the sound +of which came from the depths of the gorge to the south of him, +and reverberated along the steep walls of the narrow rift. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Mysterious Footprints +</H3> + +<P> +As the British plane piloted by Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick +rose above the jungle wilderness where Bertha Kircher's life had +so often been upon the point of extinction, and sped toward the +east, the girl felt a sudden contraction of the muscles of her +throat. She tried very hard to swallow something that was not there. +It seemed strange to her that she should feel regret in leaving +behind her such hideous perils, and yet it was plain to her that +such was the fact, for she was also leaving behind something beside +the dangers that had menaced her—a unique figure that had entered +her life, and for which she felt an unaccountable attraction. +</P> + +<P> +Before her in the pilot's seat sat an English officer and gentleman +whom, she knew, loved her, and yet she dared to feel regret in his +company at leaving the stamping ground of a wild beast! +</P> + +<P> +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick, on his part, was in the seventh heaven +of elation. He was in possession again of his beloved ship, he was +flying swiftly in the direction of his comrades and his duty, and +with him was the woman he loved. The fly in the ointment, however, +was the accusation Tarzan had made against this woman. He had said +that she was a German, and a spy, and from the heights of bliss the +English officer was occasionally plunged to the depths of despair +in contemplation of the inevitable, were the ape-man's charges to +prove true. He found himself torn between sentiments of love and +honor. On the one hand he could not surrender the woman he loved +to the certain fate that must be meted out to her if she were in +truth an enemy spy, while on the other it would be equally impossible +for him as an Englishman and an officer to give her aid or protection. +</P> + +<P> +The young man contented himself therefore with repeated mental +denials of her guilt. He tried to convince himself that Tarzan was +mistaken, and when he conjured upon the screen of recollection the +face of the girl behind him, he was doubly reassured that those +lines of sweet femininity and character, those clear and honest +eyes, could not belong to one of the hated alien race. +</P> + +<P> +And so they sped toward the east, each wrapped in his own thoughts. +Below them they saw the dense vegetation of the jungle give place +to the scantier growth upon the hillside, and then before them +there spread the wide expanse of arid wastelands marked by the deep +scarring of the narrow gorges that long-gone rivers had cut there +in some forgotten age. +</P> + +<P> +Shortly after they passed the summit of the ridge which formed +the boundary between the desert and the fertile country, Ska, the +vulture, winging his way at a high altitude toward his aerie, caught +sight of a strange new bird of gigantic proportions encroaching upon +the preserves of his aerial domain. Whether with intent to give +battle to the interloper or merely impelled by curiosity, Ska rose +suddenly upward to meet the plane. Doubtless he misjudged the speed +of the newcomer, but be that as it may, the tip of the propeller +blade touched him and simultaneously many things happened. The +lifeless body of Ska, torn and bleeding, dropped plummet-like toward +the ground; a bit of splintered spruce drove backward to strike +the pilot on the forehead; the plane shuddered and trembled and +as Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick sank forward in momentary +unconsciousness the ship dived headlong toward the earth. +</P> + +<P> +Only for an instant was the pilot unconscious, but that instant +almost proved their undoing. When he awoke to a realization of +their peril it was also to discover that his motor had stalled. +The plane had attained frightful momentum, and the ground seemed +too close for him to hope to flatten out in time to make a safe +landing. Directly beneath him was a deep rift in the plateau, a +narrow gorge, the bottom of which appeared comparatively level and +sand covered. +</P> + +<P> +In the brief instant in which he must reach a decision, the safest +plan seemed to attempt a landing in the gorge, and this he did, but +not without considerable damage to the plane and a severe shaking-up +for himself and his passenger. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately neither of them was injured but their condition seemed +indeed a hopeless one. It was a grave question as to whether the +man could repair his plane and continue the journey, and it seemed +equally questionable as to their ability either to proceed on foot +to the coast or retrace their way to the country they had just +left. The man was confident that they could not hope to cross the +desert country to the east in the face of thirst and hunger, while +behind them in the valley of plenty lay almost equal danger in the +form of carnivores and the warlike natives. +</P> + +<P> +After the plane came to its sudden and disastrous stop, Smith-Oldwick +turned quickly to see what the effect of the accident had been on +the girl. He found her pale but smiling, and for several seconds +the two sat looking at each other in silence. +</P> + +<P> +"This is the end?" the girl asked. +</P> + +<P> +The Englishman shook his head. "It is the end of the first leg, +anyway," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +"But you can't hope to make repairs here," she said dubiously. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he said, "not if they amount to anything, but I may be able +to patch it up. I will have to look her over a bit first. Let us +hope there is nothing serious. It's a long, long way to the Tanga +railway." +</P> + +<P> +"We would not get far," said the girl, a slight note of hopelessness +in her tone. "Entirely unarmed as we are, it would be little less +than a miracle if we covered even a small fraction of the distance." +</P> + +<P> +"But we are not unarmed," replied the man. "I have an extra pistol +here, that the beggars didn't discover," and, removing the cover +of a compartment, he drew forth an automatic. +</P> + +<P> +Bertha Kircher leaned back in her seat and laughed aloud, a mirthless, +half-hysterical laugh. "That popgun!" she exclaimed. "What earthly +good would it do other than to infuriate any beast of prey you +might happen to hit with it?" +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick looked rather crestfallen. "But it is a weapon," he +said. "You will have to admit that, and certainly I could kill a +man with it." +</P> + +<P> +"You could if you happened to hit him," said the girl, "or the +thing didn't jam. Really, I haven't much faith in an automatic. I +have used them myself." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, of course," he said ironically, "an express rifle would be +better, for who knows but we might meet an elephant here in the +desert." +</P> + +<P> +The girl saw that he was hurt, and she was sorry, for she realized +that there was nothing he would not do in her service or protection, +and that it was through no fault of his that he was so illy armed. +Doubtless, too, he realized as well as she the futility of his +weapon, and that he had only called attention to it in the hope of +reassuring her and lessening her anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +"Forgive me," she said. "I did not mean to be nasty, but this +accident is the proverbial last straw. It seems to me that I have +borne all that I can. Though I was willing to give my life in the +service of my country, I did not imagine that my death agonies would +be so long drawn out, for I realize now that I have been dying for +many weeks." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean!" he exclaimed; "what do you mean by that! You +are not dying. There is nothing the matter with you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, not that," she said, "I did not mean that. What I mean is that +at the moment the black sergeant, Usanga, and his renegade German +native troops captured me and brought me inland, my death warrant +was signed. Sometimes I have imagined that a reprieve has been +granted. Sometimes I have hoped that I might be upon the verge of +winning a full pardon, but really in the depths of my heart I have +known that I should never live to regain civilization. I have done +my bit for my country, and though it was not much I can at least +go with the realization that it was the best I was able to offer. +All that I can hope for now, all that I ask for, is a speedy +fulfillment of the death sentence. I do not wish to linger any more +to face constant terror and apprehension. Even physical torture +would be preferable to what I have passed through. I have no doubt +that you consider me a brave woman, but really my terror has been +boundless. The cries of the carnivores at night fill me with a dread +so tangible that I am in actual pain. I feel the rending talons +in my flesh and the cruel fangs munching upon my bones—it is as +real to me as though I were actually enduring the horrors of such +a death. I doubt if you can understand it—men are so different." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he said, "I think I can understand it, and because I understand +I can appreciate more than you imagine the heroism you have shown +in your endurance of all that you have passed through. There can +be no bravery where there is no fear. A child might walk into a +lion's den, but it would take a very brave man to go to its rescue." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," she said, "but I am not brave at all, and now I am +very much ashamed of my thoughtlessness for your own feelings. I +will try and take a new grip upon myself and we will both hope for +the best. I will help you all I can if you will tell me what I may +do." +</P> + +<P> +"The first thing," he replied, "is to find out just how serious +our damage is, and then to see what we can do in the way of repairs." +</P> + +<P> +For two days Smith-Oldwick worked upon the damaged plane—worked +in the face of the fact that from the first he realized the case +was hopeless. And at last he told her. +</P> + +<P> +"I knew it," she said, "but I believe that I felt much as you must +have; that however futile our efforts here might be, it would be +infinitely as fatal to attempt to retrace our way to the jungle we +just left or to go on toward the coast. You know and I know that we +could not reach the Tanga railway on foot. We should die of thirst +and starvation before we had covered half the distance, and if we +return to the jungle, even were we able to reach it, it would be +but to court an equally certain, though different, fate." +</P> + +<P> +"So we might as well sit here and wait for death as to uselessly +waste our energies in what we know would be a futile attempt at +escape?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"No," she replied, "I shall never give up like that. What I meant +was that it was useless to attempt to reach either of the places +where we know that there is food and water in abundance, so we +must strike out in a new direction. Somewhere there may be water +in this wilderness and if there is, the best chance of our finding +it would be to follow this gorge downward. We have enough food and +water left, if we are careful of it, for a couple of days and in +that time we might stumble upon a spring or possibly even reach +the fertile country which I know lies to the south. When Usanga +brought me to the Wamabo country from the coast he took a southerly +route along which there was usually water and game in plenty. It +was not until we neared our destination that the country became +overrun with carnivores. So there is hope if we can reach the +fertile country south of us that we can manage to pull through to +the coast." +</P> + +<P> +The man shook his head dubiously. "We can try it," he said. +"Personally, I do not fancy sitting here waiting for death." +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick was leaning against the ship, his dejected gaze +directed upon the ground at his feet. The girl was looking south +down the gorge in the direction of their one slender chance of +life. Suddenly she touched him on the arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Look," she whispered. +</P> + +<P> +The man raised his eyes quickly in the direction of her gaze to +see the massive head of a great lion who was regarding them from +beyond a rocky projection at the first turning of the gorge. +</P> + +<P> +"Phew!" he exclaimed, "the beggars are everywhere." +</P> + +<P> +"They do not go far from water do they," asked the girl hopefully. +</P> + +<P> +"I should imagine not," he replied; "a lion is not particularly +strong on endurance." +</P> + +<P> +"Then he is a harbinger of hope," she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +The man laughed. "Cute little harbinger of hope!" he said. "Reminds +me of Cock Robin heralding spring." +</P> + +<P> +The girl cast a quick glance at him. "Don't be silly, and I don't +care if you do laugh. He fills me with hope." +</P> + +<P> +"It is probably mutual," replied Smith-Oldwick, "as we doubtless +fill him with hope." +</P> + +<P> +The lion evidently having satisfied himself as to the nature of +the creatures before him advanced slowly now in their direction. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," said the man, "let's climb aboard," and he helped the girl +over the side of the ship. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't he get in here?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I think he can," said the man. +</P> + +<P> +"You are reassuring," she returned. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't feel so." He drew his pistol. +</P> + +<P> +"For heaven's sake," she cried, "don't shoot at him with that thing. +You might hit him." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't intend to shoot at him but I might succeed in frightening +him away if he attempts to reach us here. Haven't you ever seen a +trainer work with lions? He carries a silly little pop-gun loaded +with blank cartridges. With that and a kitchen chair he subdues +the most ferocious of beasts." +</P> + +<P> +"But you haven't a kitchen chair," she reminded him. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he said, "Government is always muddling things. I have always +maintained that airplanes should be equipped with kitchen chairs." +</P> + +<P> +Bertha Kircher laughed as evenly and with as little hysteria as +though she were moved by the small talk of an afternoon tea. +</P> + +<P> +Numa, the lion, came steadily toward them; his attitude seemed +more that of curiosity than of belligerency. Close to the side of +the ship he stopped and stood gazing up at them. +</P> + +<P> +"Magnificent, isn't he?" exclaimed the man. +</P> + +<P> +"I never saw a more beautiful creature," she replied, "nor one with +such a dark coat. Why, he is almost black." +</P> + +<P> +The sound of their voices seemed not to please the lord of the +jungle, for he suddenly wrinkled his great face into deep furrows +as he bared his fangs beneath snarling lips and gave vent to an +angry growl. Almost simultaneously he crouched for a spring and +immediately Smith-Oldwick discharged his pistol into the ground in +front of the lion. The effect of the noise upon Numa seemed but to +enrage him further, and with a horrid roar he sprang for the author +of the new and disquieting sound that had outraged his ears. +</P> + +<P> +Simultaneously Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick vaulted nimbly +out of the cockpit on the opposite side of his plane, calling to +the girl to follow his example. The girl, realizing the futility +of leaping to the ground, chose the remaining alternative and +clambered to the top of the upper plane. +</P> + +<P> +Numa, unaccustomed to the idiosyncrasies of construction of an +airship and having gained the forward cockpit, watched the girl +clamber out of his reach without at first endeavoring to prevent +her. Having taken possession of the plane his anger seemed suddenly +to leave him and he made no immediate move toward following +Smith-Oldwick. The girl, realizing the comparative safety of her +position, had crawled to the outer edge of the wing and was calling +to the man to try and reach the opposite end of the upper plane. +</P> + +<P> +It was this scene upon which Tarzan of the Apes looked as he +rounded the bend of the gorge above the plane after the pistol shot +had attracted his attention. The girl was so intent upon watching +the efforts of the Englishman to reach a place of safety, and the +latter was so busily occupied in attempting to do so that neither +at once noticed the silent approach of the ape-man. +</P> + +<P> +It was Numa who first noticed the intruder. The lion immediately +evinced his displeasure by directing toward him a snarling countenance +and a series of warning growls. His action called the attention of +the two upon the upper plane to the newcomer, eliciting a stifled +"Thank God!" from the girl, even though she could scarce credit the +evidence of her own eyes that it was indeed the savage man, whose +presence always assured her safety, who had come so providentially +in the nick of time. +</P> + +<P> +Almost immediately both were horrified to see Numa leap from the +cockpit and advance upon Tarzan. The ape-man, carrying his stout +spear in readiness, moved deliberately onward to meet the carnivore, +which he had recognized as the lion of the Wamabos' pit. He knew +from the manner of Numa's approach what neither Bertha Kircher nor +Smith-Oldwick knew—that there was more of curiosity than belligerency +in it, and he wondered if in that great head there might not be a +semblance of gratitude for the kindness that Tarzan had done him. +</P> + +<P> +There was no question in Tarzan's mind but that Numa recognized +him, for he knew his fellows of the jungle well enough to know that +while they oft-times forgot certain sensations more quickly than +man there are others which remain in their memories for years. A +well-defined scent spoor might never be forgotten by a beast if it +had first been sensed under unusual circumstances, and so Tarzan +was confident that Numa's nose had already reminded him of all the +circumstances of their brief connection. +</P> + +<P> +Love of the sporting chance is inherent in the Anglo-Saxon race and +it was not now Tarzan of the Apes but rather John Clayton, Lord +Greystoke, who smilingly welcomed the sporting chance which he must +take to discover how far-reaching was Numa's gratitude. +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick and the girl saw the two nearing each other. The +former swore softly beneath his breath while he nervously fingered +the pitiful weapon at his hip. The girl pressed her open palms to +her cheeks as she leaned forward in stony-eyed, horror-stricken +silence. While she had every confidence in the prowess of the godlike +creature who thus dared brazenly to face the king of beasts, she +had no false conception of what must certainly happen when they +met. She had seen Tarzan battle with Sheeta, the panther, and she +had realized then that powerful as the man was, it was only agility, +cunning, and chance that placed him upon anywhere near an equal +footing with his savage adversary, and that of the three factors +upon his side chance was the greatest. +</P> + +<P> +She saw the man and the lion stop simultaneously, not more than +a yard apart. She saw the beast's tail whipping from side to side +and she could hear his deep-throated growls rumbling from his +cavernous breast, but she could read correctly neither the movement +of the lashing tail nor the notes of the growl. +</P> + +<P> +To her they seemed to indicate nothing but bestial rage while to +Tarzan of the Apes they were conciliatory and reassuring in the +extreme. And then she saw Numa move forward again until his nose +touched the man's naked leg and she closed her eyes and covered +them with her palms. For what seemed an eternity she waited for +the horrid sound of the conflict which she knew must come, but all +she heard was an explosive sigh of relief from Smith-Oldwick and +a half-hysterical "By Jove! Just fancy it!" +</P> + +<P> +She looked up to see the great lion rubbing his shaggy head against +the man's hip, and Tarzan's free hand entangled in the black mane +as he scratched Numa, the lion, behind a back-laid ear. +</P> + +<P> +Strange friendships are often formed between the lower animals +of different species, but less often between man and the savage +felidae, because of the former's inherent fear of the great cats. +And so after all, therefore, the friendship so suddenly developed +between the savage lion and the savage man was not inexplicable. +</P> + +<P> +As Tarzan approached the plane Numa walked at his side, and when +Tarzan stopped and looked up at the girl and the man Numa stopped +also. +</P> + +<P> +"I had about given up hope of finding you," said the ape-man, "and +it is evident that I found you just in time." +</P> + +<P> +"But how did you know we were in trouble?" asked the English officer. +</P> + +<P> +"I saw your plane fall," replied Tarzan. "I was watching you from +a tree beside the clearing where you took off. I didn't have much +to locate you by other than the general direction, but it seems +that you volplaned a considerable distance toward the south after +you disappeared from my view behind the hills. I have been looking +for you further toward the north. I was just about to turn back +when I heard your pistol shot. Is your ship beyond repair?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Smith-Oldwick, "it is hopeless." +</P> + +<P> +"What are your plans, then? What do you wish to do?" Tarzan directed +his question to the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"We want to reach the coast," she said, "but it seems impossible +now." +</P> + +<P> +"I should have thought so a little while ago," replied the ape-man, +"but if Numa is here there must be water within a reasonable +distance. I ran across this lion two days ago in the Wamabo country. +I liberated him from one of their pits. To have reached this spot +he must have come by some trail unknown to me—at least I crossed +no game trail and no spoor of any animal after I came over the hills +out of the fertile country. From which direction did he come upon +you?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was from the south," replied the girl. "We thought, too, that +there must be water in that direction." +</P> + +<P> +"Let's find out then," said Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"But how about the lion?" asked Smith-Oldwick. +</P> + +<P> +"That we will have to discover," replied the ape-man, "and we can +only do so if you will come down from your perch." +</P> + +<P> +The officer shrugged his shoulders. The girl turned her gaze upon +him to note the effect of Tarzan's proposal. The Englishman grew +suddenly very white, but there was a smile upon his lips as without +a word he slipped over the edge of the plane and clambered to the +ground behind Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +Bertha Kircher realized that the man was afraid nor did she blame +him, and she also realized the remarkable courage that he had shown +in thus facing a danger that was very real to him. +</P> + +<P> +Numa standing close to Tarzan's side raised his head and glared at +the young Englishman, growled once, and looked up at the ape-man. +Tarzan retained a hold upon the beast's mane and spoke to him in +the language of the great apes. To the girl and Smith-Oldwick the +growling gutturals falling from human lips sounded uncanny in the +extreme, but whether Numa understood them or not they appeared to +have the desired effect upon him, as he ceased growling, and as +Tarzan walked to Smith-Oldwick's side Numa accompanied him, nor +did he offer to molest the officer. +</P> + +<P> +"What did you say to him?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan smiled. "I told him," he replied, "that I am Tarzan of the +Apes, mighty hunter, killer of beasts, lord of the jungle, and that +you are my friends. I have never been sure that all of the other +beasts understand the language of the Mangani. I know that Manu, +the monkey, speaks nearly the same tongue and I am sure that Tantor, +the elephant, understands all that I say to him. We of the jungle +are great boasters. In our speech, in our carriage, in every detail +of our demeanor we must impress others with our physical power and +our ferocity. That is why we growl at our enemies. We are telling +them to beware or we shall fall upon them and tear them to pieces. +Perhaps Numa does not understand the words that I use but I believe +that my tones and my manner carry the impression that I wish them +to convey. Now you may come down and be introduced." +</P> + +<P> +It required all the courage that Bertha Kircher possessed to lower +herself to the ground within reach of the talons and fangs of this +untamed forest beast, but she did it. Nor did Numa do more than +bare his teeth and growl a little as she came close to the ape-man. +</P> + +<P> +"I think you are safe from him as long as I am present," said the +ape-man. "The best thing to do is simply to ignore him. Make no +advances, but be sure to give no indication of fear and, if possible +always keep me between you and him. He will go away presently I am +sure and the chances are that we shall not see him again." +</P> + +<P> +At Tarzan's suggestion Smith-Oldwick removed the remaining water +and provisions from the plane and, distributing the burden among +them, they set off toward the south. Numa did not follow them, but +stood by the plane watching until they finally disappeared from +view around a bend in the gorge. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan had picked up Numa's trail with the intention of following +it southward in the belief that it would lead to water. In the sand +that floored the bottom of the gorge tracks were plain and easily +followed. At first only the fresh tracks of Numa were visible, but +later in the day the ape-man discovered the older tracks of other +lions and just before dark he stopped suddenly in evident surprise. +His two companions looked at him questioningly, and in answer to +their implied interrogations he pointed at the ground directly in +front of him. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at those," he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +At first neither Smith-Oldwick nor the girl saw anything but a +confusion of intermingled prints of padded feet in the sand, but +presently the girl discovered what Tarzan had seen, and an exclamation +of surprise broke from her lips. +</P> + +<P> +"The imprint of human feet!" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"But there are no toes," the girl pointed out. +</P> + +<P> +"The feet were shod with a soft sandal," explained Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"Then there must be a native village somewhere in the vicinity," +said Smith-Oldwick. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied the ape-man, "but not the sort of natives which we +would expect to find here in this part of Africa where others all +go unshod with the exception of a few of Usanga's renegade German +native troops who wear German army shoes. I don't know that you can +notice it, but it is evident to me that the foot inside the sandal +that made these imprints were not the foot of a Negro. If you will +examine them carefully you will notice that the impression of the +heel and ball of the foot are well marked even through the sole of +the sandal. The weight comes more nearly in the center of a Negro's +footprint." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you think these were made by a white person?" +</P> + +<P> +"It looks that way," replied Tarzan, and suddenly, to the surprise +of both the girl and Smith-Oldwick, he dropped to his hands and +knees and sniffed at the tracks—again a beast utilizing the senses +and woodcraft of a beast. Over an area of several square yards his +keen nostrils sought the identity of the makers of the tracks. At +length he rose to his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not the spoor of the Gomangani," he said, "nor is it exactly +like that of white men. There were three who came this way. They +were men, but of what race I do not know." +</P> + +<P> +There was no apparent change in the nature of the gorge except that +it had steadily grown deeper as they followed it downward until now +the rocky and precipitous sides rose far above them. At different +points natural caves, which appeared to have been eroded by the action +of water in some forgotten age, pitted the side walls at various +heights. Near them was such a cavity at the ground's level—an +arched cavern floored with white sand. Tarzan indicated it with a +gesture of his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"We will lair here tonight," he said, and then with one of his +rare, slow smiles: "We will CAMP here tonight." +</P> + +<P> +Having eaten their meager supper Tarzan bade the girl enter the +cavern. +</P> + +<P> +"You will sleep inside," he said. "The lieutenant and I will lie +outside at the entrance." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Night Attack +</H3> + +<P> +As the girl turned to bid them good night, she thought that she +saw a shadowy form moving in the darkness beyond them, and almost +simultaneously she was sure that she heard the sounds of stealthy +movement in the same direction. +</P> + +<P> +"What is that?" she whispered. "There is something out there in +the darkness." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Tarzan, "it is a lion. It has been there for some +time. Hadn't you noticed it before?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" cried the girl, breathing a sigh of relief, "is it our lion?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Tarzan, "it is not our lion; it is another lion and he +is hunting." +</P> + +<P> +"He is stalking us?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"He is," replied the ape-man. Smith-Oldwick fingered the grip of +his pistol. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan saw the involuntary movement and shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Leave that thing where it is, Lieutenant," he said. +</P> + +<P> +The officer laughed nervously. "I couldn't help it, you know, old +man," he said; "instinct of self-preservation and all that." +</P> + +<P> +"It would prove an instinct of self-destruction," said Tarzan. +"There are at least three hunting lions out there watching us. If +we had a fire or the moon were up you would see their eyes plainly. +Presently they may come after us but the chances are that they will +not. If you are very anxious that they should, fire your pistol +and hit one of them." +</P> + +<P> +"What if they do charge?" asked the girl; "there is no means of +escape." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, we should have to fight them," replied Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"What chance would we three have against them?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man shrugged his shoulders. "One must die sometime," he +said. "To you doubtless it may seem terrible—such a death; but +Tarzan of the Apes has always expected to go out in some such way. +Few of us die of old age in the jungle, nor should I care to die +thus. Some day Numa will get me, or Sheeta, or a black warrior. +These or some of the others. What difference does it make which +it is, or whether it comes tonight or next year or in ten years? +After it is over it will be all the same." +</P> + +<P> +The girl shuddered. "Yes," she said in a dull, hopeless voice, +"after it is over it will be all the same." +</P> + +<P> +Then she went into the cavern and lay down upon the sand. Smith-Oldwick +sat in the entrance and leaned against the cliff. Tarzan squatted +on the opposite side. +</P> + +<P> +"May I smoke?" questioned the officer of Tarzan. "I have been +hoarding a few cigarettes and if it won't attract those bouncers +out there I would like to have one last smoke before I cash in. +Will you join me?" and he proffered the ape-man a cigarette. +</P> + +<P> +"No, thanks," said Tarzan, "but it will be all right if you smoke. +No wild animal is particularly fond of the fumes of tobacco so it +certainly won't entice them any closer." +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick lighted his cigarette and sat puffing slowly upon +it. He had proffered one to the girl but she had refused, and thus +they sat in silence for some time, the silence of the night ruffled +occasionally by the faint crunching of padded feet upon the soft +sands of the gorge's floor. +</P> + +<P> +It was Smith-Oldwick who broke the silence. "Aren't they unusually +quiet for lions?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied the ape-man; "the lion that goes roaring around the +jungle does not do it to attract prey. They are very quiet when +they are stalking their quarry." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish they would roar," said the officer. "I wish they would +do anything, even charge. Just knowing that they are there and +occasionally seeing something like a shadow in the darkness and the +faint sounds that come to us from them are getting on my nerves. +But I hope," he said, "that all three don't charge at once." +</P> + +<P> +"Three?" said Tarzan. "There are seven of them out there now." +</P> + +<P> +"Good Lord! exclaimed Smith-Oldwick. +</P> + +<P> +"Couldn't we build a fire," asked the girl, "and frighten them +away?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know that it would do any good," said Tarzan, "as I have +an idea that these lions are a little different from any that we +are familiar with and possibly for the same reason which at first +puzzled me a little—I refer to the apparent docility in the +presence of a man of the lion who was with us today. A man is out +there now with those lions." +</P> + +<P> +"It is impossible!" exclaimed Smith-Oldwick. "They would tear him +to pieces." +</P> + +<P> +"What makes you think there is a man there?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan smiled and shook his head. "I am afraid you would not +understand," he replied. "It is difficult for us to understand +anything that is beyond our own powers." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean by that?" asked the officer. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Tarzan, "if you had been born without eyes you could +not understand sense impressions that the eyes of others transmit +to their brains, and as you have both been born without any sense +of smell I am afraid you cannot understand how I can know that +there is a man there." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean that you scent a man?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan nodded affirmatively. +</P> + +<P> +"And in the same way you know the number of lions?" asked the man. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Tarzan. "No two lions look alike, no two have the same +scent." +</P> + +<P> +The young Englishman shook his head. "No," he said, "I cannot +understand." +</P> + +<P> +"I doubt if the lions or the man are here necessarily for the purpose +of harming us," said Tarzan, "because there has been nothing to +prevent their doing so long before had they wished to. I have a +theory, but it is utterly preposterous." +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"I think they are here," replied Tarzan, "to prevent us from going +some place that they do not wish us to go; in other words we are +under surveillance, and possibly as long as we don't go where we +are not wanted we shall not be bothered." +</P> + +<P> +"But how are we to know where they don't want us to go?" asked +Smith-Oldwick. +</P> + +<P> +"We can't know," replied Tarzan, "and the chances are that the very +place we are seeking is the place they don't wish us to trespass +on." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean the water?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +For some time they sat in silence which was broken only by an +occasional sound of movement from the outer darkness. It must have +been an hour later that the ape-man rose quietly and drew his long +blade from its sheath. Smith-Oldwick was dozing against the rocky +wall of the cavern entrance, while the girl, exhausted by the +excitement and fatigue of the day, had fallen into deep slumber. An +instant after Tarzan arose, Smith-Oldwick and the girl were aroused +by a volley of thunderous roars and the noise of many padded feet +rushing toward them. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan of the Apes stood directly before the entrance to the cavern, +his knife in his hand, awaiting the charge. The ape-man had not +expected any such concerted action as he now realized had been taken +by those watching them. He had known for some time that other men +had joined those who were with the lions earlier in the evening, +and when he arose to his feet it was because he knew that the lions +and the men were moving cautiously closer to him and his party. +He might easily have eluded them, for he had seen that the face of +the cliff rising above the mouth of the cavern might be scaled by +as good a climber as himself. It might have been wiser had he tried +to escape, for he knew that in the face of such odds even he was +helpless, but he stood his ground though I doubt if he could have +told why. +</P> + +<P> +He owed nothing either of duty or friendship to the girl sleeping +in the cavern, nor could he longer be of any protection to her or +her companion. Yet something held him there in futile self-sacrifice. +</P> + +<P> +The great Tarmangani had not even the satisfaction of striking a +blow in self-defense. A veritable avalanche of savage beasts rolled +over him and threw him heavily to the ground. In falling his head +struck the rocky surface of the cliff, stunning him. +</P> + +<P> +It was daylight when he regained consciousness. The first dim +impression borne to his awakening mind was a confusion of savage +sounds which gradually resolved themselves into the growling +of lions, and then, little by little, there came back to him the +recollections of what had preceded the blow that had felled him. +</P> + +<P> +Strong in his nostrils was the scent of Numa, the lion, and against +one naked leg he could feel the coat of some animal. Slowly Tarzan +opened his eyes. He was lying on his side and as he looked down his +body, he saw that a great lion stood straddling him—a great lion +who growled hideously at something which Tarzan could not see. +</P> + +<P> +With the full return of his senses Tarzan's nose told him that the +beast above him was Numa of the Wamabo pit. +</P> + +<P> +Thus reassured, the ape-man spoke to the lion and at the same time +made a motion as though he would arise. Immediately Numa stepped +from above him. As Tarzan raised his head, he saw that he still +lay where he had fallen before the opening of the cliff where the +girl had been sleeping and that Numa, backed against the cliffside, +was apparently defending him from two other lions who paced to and +fro a short distance from their intended victim. +</P> + +<P> +And then Tarzan turned his eyes into the cave and saw that the girl +and Smith-Oldwick were gone. +</P> + +<P> +His efforts had been for naught. With an angry toss of his head, +the ape-man turned upon the two lions who had continued to pace +back and forth a few yards from him. Numa of the lion pit turned a +friendly glance in Tarzan's direction, rubbed his head against the +ape-man's side, and then directed his snarling countenance toward +the two hunters. +</P> + +<P> +"I think," said Tarzan to Numa, "that you and I together can make +these beasts very unhappy." He spoke in English, which, of course, +Numa did not understand at all, but there must have been something +reassuring in the tone, for Numa whined pleadingly and moved +impatiently to and fro parallel with their antagonists. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," said Tarzan suddenly and grasping the lion's mane with his +left hand he moved toward the other lions, his companion pacing +at his side. As the two advanced the others drew slowly back and, +finally separating, moved off to either side. Tarzan and Numa +passed between them but neither the great black-maned lion nor the +man failed to keep an eye upon the beast nearer him so that they +were not caught unawares when, as though at some preconcerted +signal, the two cats charged simultaneously from opposite directions. +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man met the charge of his antagonist after the same fashion +of fighting that he had been accustomed to employing in previous +encounters with Numa and Sheeta. To have attempted to meet the +full shock of a lion's charge would have been suicidal even for +the giant Tarmangani. Instead he resorted to methods of agility and +cunning, for quick as are the great cats, even quicker is Tarzan +of the Apes. +</P> + +<P> +With outspread, raking talons and bared fangs Numa sprang for the +naked chest of the ape-man. Throwing up his left arm as a boxer might +ward off a blow, Tarzan struck upward beneath the left forearm of +the lion, at the same time rushing in with his shoulder beneath +the animal's body and simultaneously drove his blade into the tawny +hide behind the shoulder. With a roar of pain Numa wheeled again, +the personification of bestial rage. Now indeed would he exterminate +this presumptuous man-thing who dared even to think that he could +thwart the king of beasts in his desires. But as he wheeled, his +intended quarry wheeled with him, brown fingers locked in the heavy +mane on the powerful neck and again the blade struck deep into the +lion's side. +</P> + +<P> +Then it was that Numa went mad with hate and pain and at the same +instant the ape-man leaped full upon his back. Easily before had +Tarzan locked his legs beneath the belly of a lion while he clung +to its long mane and stabbed it until his point reached its heart. +So easy it had seemed before that he experienced a sharp feeling of +resentment that he was unable to do so now, for the quick movements +of the lion prevented him, and presently, to his dismay, as the +lion leaped and threw him about, the ape-man realized that he was +swinging inevitably beneath those frightful talons. +</P> + +<P> +With a final effort he threw himself from Numa's back and sought, +by his quickness, to elude the frenzied beast for the fraction of +an instant that would permit him to regain his feet and meet the +animal again upon a more even footing. But this time Numa was too +quick for him and he was but partially up when a great paw struck +him on the side of the head and bowled him over. +</P> + +<P> +As he fell he saw a black streak shoot above him and another lion +close upon his antagonist. Rolling from beneath the two battling lions +Tarzan regained his feet, though he was half dazed and staggering +from the impact of the terrible blow he had received. Behind him +he saw a lifeless lion lying torn and bleeding upon the sand, and +before him Numa of the pit was savagely mauling the second lion. +</P> + +<P> +He of the black coat tremendously outclassed his adversary in +point of size and strength as well as in ferocity. The battling +beasts made a few feints and passes at each other before the larger +succeeded in fastening his fangs in the other's throat, and then, +as a cat shakes a mouse, the larger lion shook the lesser, and when +his dying foe sought to roll beneath and rake his conqueror with +his hind claws, the other met him halfway at his own game, and as +the great talons buried themselves in the lower part of the other's +chest and then were raked downward with all the terrific strength +of the mighty hind legs, the battle was ended. +</P> + +<P> +As Numa rose from his second victim and shook himself, Tarzan could +not but again note the wondrous proportions and symmetry of the +beast. The lions they had bested were splendid specimens themselves +and in their coats Tarzan noted a suggestion of the black which +was such a strongly marked characteristic of Numa of the pit. Their +manes were just a trifle darker than an ordinary black-maned lion +but the tawny shade on the balance of their coats predominated. +However, the ape-man realized that they were a distinct species +from any he had seen as though they had sprung originally from a +cross between the forest lion of his acquaintance and a breed of +which Numa of the pit might be typical. +</P> + +<P> +The immediate obstruction in his way having been removed, Tarzan was +for setting out in search of the spoor of the girl and Smith-Oldwick, +that he might discover their fate. He suddenly found himself +tremendously hungry and as he circled about over the sandy bottom +searching among the tangled network of innumerable tracks for those +of his proteges, there broke from his lips involuntarily the whine +of a hungry beast. Immediately Numa of the pit pricked up his ears +and, regarding the ape-man steadily for a moment, he answered the +call of hunger and started briskly off toward the south, stopping +occasionally to see if Tarzan was following. +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man realized that the beast was leading him to food, and so +he followed and as he followed his keen eyes and sensitive nostrils +sought for some indication of the direction taken by the man and +the girl. Presently out of the mass of lion tracks, Tarzan picked +up those of many sandaled feet and the scent spoor of the members +of the strange race such as had been with the lions the night +before, and then faintly he caught the scent spoor of the girl and +a little later that of Smith-Oldwick. Presently the tracks thinned +and here those of the girl and the Englishman became well marked. +</P> + +<P> +They had been walking side by side and there had been men and +lions to the right and left of them, and men and lions in front and +behind. The ape-man was puzzled by the possibilities suggested by +the tracks, but in the light of any previous experience he could +not explain satisfactorily to himself what his perceptions indicated. +</P> + +<P> +There was little change in the formation of the gorge; it still +wound its erratic course between precipitous cliffs. In places it +widened out and again it became very narrow and always deeper the +further south they traveled. Presently the bottom of the gorge began +to slope more rapidly. Here and there were indications of ancient +rapids and waterfalls. The trail became more difficult but was well +marked and showed indications of great antiquity, and, in places, +the handiwork of man. They had proceeded for a half or three-quarters +of a mile when, at a turning of the gorge, Tarzan saw before him a +narrow valley cut deep into the living rock of the earth's crust, +with lofty mountain ranges bounding it upon the south. How far it +extended east and west he could not see, but apparently it was no +more than three or four miles across from north to south. +</P> + +<P> +That it was a well-watered valley was indicated by the wealth of +vegetation that carpeted its floor from the rocky cliffs upon the +north to the mountains on the south. +</P> + +<P> +Over the edge of the cliffs from which the ape-man viewed the valley +a trail had been hewn that led downward to the base. Preceded by +the lion Tarzan descended into the valley, which, at this point, +was forested with large trees. Before him the trail wound onward +toward the center of the valley. Raucous-voiced birds of brilliant +plumage screamed among the branches while innumerable monkeys +chattered and scolded above him. +</P> + +<P> +The forest teemed with life, and yet there was borne in upon the +ape-man a sense of unutterable loneliness, a sensation that he +never before had felt in his beloved jungles. There was unreality +in everything about him—in the valley itself, lying hidden +and forgotten in what was supposed to be an arid waste. The birds +and the monkeys, while similar in type to many with which he was +familiar, were identical with none, nor was the vegetation without +its idiosyncrasies. It was as though he had been suddenly transported +to another world and he felt a strange restlessness that might +easily have been a premonition of danger. +</P> + +<P> +Fruits were growing among the trees and some of these he saw that +Manu, the monkey, ate. Being hungry he swung to the lower branches +and, amidst a great chattering of the monkeys, proceeded to eat +such of the fruit as he saw the monkeys ate in safety. When he had +partially satisfied his hunger, for meat alone could fully do so, +he looked about him for Numa of the pit to discover that the lion +had gone. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Walled City +</H3> + +<P> +Dropping to the ground once more he picked up the trail of the girl +and her captors, which he followed easily along what appeared to +be a well-beaten trail. It was not long before he came to a small +stream, where he quenched his thirst, and thereafter he saw that +the trail followed in the general direction of the stream, which +ran southwesterly. Here and there were cross trails and others +which joined the main avenue, and always upon each of them were the +tracks and scent of the great cats, of Numa, the lion, and Sheeta, +the panther. +</P> + +<P> +With the exception of a few small rodents there appeared to be no +other wild life on the surface of the valley. There was no indication +of Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, or of Gorgo, the buffalo, +Buto, Tantor, or Duro. Histah, the snake, was there. He saw him in +the trees in greater numbers than he ever had seen Histah before; +and once beside a reedy pool he caught a scent that could have +belonged to none other than Gimla the crocodile, but upon none of +these did the Tarmangani care to feed. +</P> + +<P> +And so, as he craved meat, he turned his attention to the birds +above him. His assailants of the night before had not disarmed +him. Either in the darkness and the rush of the charging lions the +human foe had overlooked him or else they had considered him dead; +but whatever the reason he still retained his weapons—his spear +and his long knife, his bow and arrows, and his grass rope. +</P> + +<P> +Fitting a shaft to his bow Tarzan awaited an opportunity to bring +down one of the larger birds, and when the opportunity finally +presented itself he drove the arrow straight to its mark. As the +gaily plumaged creature fluttered to earth its companions and the +little monkeys set up a most terrific chorus of wails and screaming +protests. The whole forest became suddenly a babel of hoarse screams +and shrill shrieks. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan would not have been surprised had one or two birds in the +immediate vicinity given voice to terror as they fled, but that the +whole life of the jungle should set up so weird a protest filled +him with disgust. It was an angry face that he turned up toward +the monkeys and the birds as there suddenly stirred within him a +savage inclination to voice his displeasure and his answer to what +he considered their challenge. And so it was that there broke upon +this jungle for the first time Tarzan's hideous scream of victory +and challenge. +</P> + +<P> +The effect upon the creatures above him was instantaneous. Where +before the air had trembled to the din of their voices, now utter +silence reigned and a moment later the ape-man was alone with his +puny kill. +</P> + +<P> +The silence following so closely the previous tumult carried +a sinister impression to the ape-man, which still further aroused +his anger. Picking the bird from where it had fallen he withdrew +his arrow from the body and returned it to his quiver. Then with +his knife he quickly and deftly removed the skin and feathers +together. He ate angrily, growling as though actually menaced by +a near-by foe, and perhaps, too, his growls were partially induced +by the fact that he did not care for the flesh of birds. Better +this, however, than nothing and from what his senses had told him +there was no flesh in the vicinity such as he was accustomed to +and cared most for. How he would have enjoyed a juicy haunch from +Pacco, the zebra, or a steak from the loin of Gorgo, the buffalo! +The very thought made his mouth water and increased his resentment +against this unnatural forest that harbored no such delicious +quarry. +</P> + +<P> +He had but partially consumed his kill when he suddenly became +aware of a movement in the brush at no great distance from him +and downwind, and a moment later his nostrils picked up the scent +of Numa from the opposite direction, and then upon either side he +caught the fall of padded feet and the brushing of bodies against +leafy branches. The ape-man smiled. What stupid creature did they +think him, to be surprised by such clumsy stalkers? Gradually the +sounds and scents indicated that lions were moving upon him from +all directions, that he was in the center of a steadily converging +circle of beasts. Evidently they were so sure of their prey that +they were making no effort toward stealth, for he heard twigs crack +beneath their feet, and the brushing of their bodies against the +vegetation through which they forced their way. +</P> + +<P> +He wondered what could have brought them. It seemed unreasonable +to believe that the cries of the birds and the monkeys should +have summoned them, and yet, if not, it was indeed a remarkable +coincidence. His judgment told him that the death of a single bird +in this forest which teemed with birds could scarce be of sufficient +moment to warrant that which followed. Yet even in the face of reason +and past experience he found that the whole affair perplexed him. +</P> + +<P> +He stood in the center of the trail awaiting the coming of the lions +and wondering what would be the method of their attack or if they +would indeed attack. Presently a maned lion came into view along +the trail below him. At sight of him the lion halted. The beast was +similar to those that had attacked him earlier in the day, a trifle +larger and a trifle darker than the lions of his native jungles, +but neither so large nor so black as Numa of the pit. +</P> + +<P> +Presently he distinguished the outlines of other lions in the +surrounding brush and among the trees. Each of them halted as it +came within sight of the ape-man and there they stood regarding +him in silence. Tarzan wondered how long it would be before they +charged and while he waited he resumed his feeding, though with +every sense constantly alert. +</P> + +<P> +One by one the lions lay down, but always their faces were toward +him and their eyes upon him. There had been no growling and no +roaring—just the quiet drawing of the silent circle about him. +It was all so entirely foreign to anything that Tarzan ever before +had seen lions do that it irritated him so that presently, having +finished his repast, he fell to making insulting remarks to first +one and then another of the lions, after the habit he had learned +from the apes of his childhood. +</P> + +<P> +"Dango, eater of carrion," he called them, and he compared them most +unfavorably with Histah, the snake, the most loathed and repulsive +creature of the jungle. Finally he threw handfuls of earth at them +and bits of broken twigs, and then the lions growled and bared +their fangs, but none of them advanced. +</P> + +<P> +"Cowards," Tarzan taunted them. "Numa with a heart of Bara, the +deer." He told them who he was, and after the manner of the jungle +folk he boasted as to the horrible things he would do to them, but +the lions only lay and watched him. +</P> + +<P> +It must have been a half hour after their coming that Tarzan caught +in the distance along the trail the sound of footsteps approaching. +They were the footsteps of a creature who walked upon two legs, +and though Tarzan could catch no scent spoor from that direction +he knew that a man was approaching. Nor had he long to wait before +his judgment was confirmed by the appearance of a man who halted +in the trail directly behind the first lion that Tarzan had seen. +</P> + +<P> +At sight of the newcomer the ape-man realized that here was one +similar to those who had given off the unfamiliar scent spoor that +he had detected the previous night, and he saw that not only in +the matter of scent did the man differ from other human beings with +whom Tarzan was familiar. +</P> + +<P> +The fellow was strongly built with skin of a leathery appearance, +like parchment yellowed with age. His hair, which was coal black +and three or four inches in length, grew out stiffly at right angles +to his scalp. His eyes were close set and the irises densely black +and very small, so that the white of the eyeball showed around +them. The man's face was smooth except for a few straggly hairs on +his chin and upper lip. The nose was aquiline and fine, but the +hair grew so far down on the forehead as to suggest a very low +and brutal type. The upper lip was short and fine while the lower +lip was rather heavy and inclined to be pendulous, the chin being +equally weak. Altogether the face carried the suggestion of a +once strong and handsome countenance entirely altered by physical +violence or by degraded habits and thoughts. The man's arms were +long, though not abnormally so, while his legs were short, though +straight. +</P> + +<P> +He was clothed in tight-fitting nether garments and a loose, +sleeveless tunic that fell just below his hips, while his feet +were shod in soft-soled sandals, the wrappings of which extended +halfway to his knees, closely resembling a modern spiral military +legging. He carried a short, heavy spear, and at his side swung +a weapon that at first so astonished the ape-man that he could +scarcely believe the evidence of his senses—a heavy saber in +a leather-covered scabbard. The man's tunic appeared to have been +fabricated upon a loom—it was certainly not made of skins, while +the garments that covered his legs were quite as evidently made +from the hides of rodents. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan noted the utter unconcern with which the man approached the +lions, and the equal indifference of Numa to him. The fellow paused +for a moment as though appraising the ape-man and then pushed on +past the lions, brushing against the tawny hide as he passed him +in the trail. +</P> + +<P> +About twenty feet from Tarzan the man stopped, addressing the former +in a strange jargon, no syllable of which was intelligible to the +Tarmangani. His gestures indicated numerous references to the lions +surrounding them, and once he touched his spear with the forefinger +of his left hand and twice he struck the saber at his hip. +</P> + +<P> +While he spoke Tarzan studied the fellow closely, with the result +that there fastened itself upon his mind a strange conviction—that +the man who addressed him was what might only be described as a +rational maniac. As the thought came to the ape-man he could not +but smile, so paradoxical the description seemed. Yet a closer +study of the man's features, carriage, and the contour of his head +carried almost incontrovertibly the assurance that he was insane, +while the tones of his voice and his gestures resembled those of +a sane and intelligent mortal. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the man had concluded his speech and appeared to be waiting +questioningly Tarzan's reply. The ape-man spoke to the other first +in the language of the great apes, but he soon saw that the words +carried no conviction to his listener. Then with equal futility +he tried several native dialects but to none of these did the man +respond. +</P> + +<P> +By this time Tarzan began to lose patience. He had wasted sufficient +time by the road, and as he had never depended much upon speech in +the accomplishment of his ends, he now raised his spear and advanced +toward the other. This, evidently, was a language common to both, +for instantly the fellow raised his own weapon and at the same time +a low call broke from his lips, a call which instantly brought to +action every lion in the hitherto silent circle. A volley of roars +shattered the silence of the forest and simultaneously lions sprang +into view upon all sides as they closed in rapidly upon their +quarry. The man who had called them stepped back, his teeth bared +in a mirthless grin. +</P> + +<P> +It was then that Tarzan first noticed that the fellow's upper canines +were unusually long and exceedingly sharp. It was just a flashing +glimpse he got of them as he leaped agilely from the ground and, to +the consternation of both the lions and their master, disappeared +in the foliage of the lower terrace, flinging back over his shoulder +as he swung rapidly away: "I am Tarzan of the Apes; mighty hunter; +mighty fighter! None in the jungle more powerful, none more cunning +than Tarzan!" +</P> + +<P> +A short distance beyond the point at which they had surrounded him, +Tarzan came to the trail again and sought for the spoor of Bertha +Kircher and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick. He found them quickly and +continued upon his search for the two. The spoor lay directly along +the trail for another half-mile when the way suddenly debouched +from the forest into open land and there broke upon the astonished +view of the ape-man the domes and minarets of a walled city. +</P> + +<P> +Directly before him in the wall nearest him Tarzan saw a low-arched +gateway to which a well-beaten trail led from that which he had +been following. In the open space between the forest and the city +walls, quantities of garden stuff was growing, while before him +at his feet, in an open man-made ditch, ran a stream of water! The +plants in the garden were laid out in well-spaced, symmetrical rows +and appeared to have been given excellent attention and cultivation. +Tiny streams were trickling between the rows from the main ditch +before him and at some distance to his right he could see people +at work among the plants. +</P> + +<P> +The city wall appeared to be about thirty feet in height, its +plastered expanse unbroken except by occasional embrasures. Beyond +the wall rose the domes of several structures and numerous minarets +dotted the sky line of the city. The largest and central dome +appeared to be gilded, while others were red, or blue, or yellow. +The architecture of the wall itself was of uncompromising simplicity. +It was of a cream shade and appeared to be plastered and painted. +At its base was a line of well-tended shrubs and at some distance +towards its eastern extremity it was vine covered to the top. +</P> + +<P> +As he stood in the shadow of the trail, his keen eyes taking in every +detail of the picture before him, he became aware of the approach +of a party in his rear and there was borne to him the scent of the +man and the lions whom he had so readily escaped. Taking to the +trees Tarzan moved a short distance to the west and, finding a +comfortable crotch at the edge of the forest where he could watch +the trail leading through the gardens to the city gate, he awaited +the return of his would-be captors. And soon they came—the strange +man followed by the pack of great lions. Like dogs they moved along +behind him down the trail among the gardens to the gate. +</P> + +<P> +Here the man struck upon the panels of the door with the butt of +his spear, and when it opened in response to his signal he passed +in with his lions. Beyond the open door Tarzan, from his distant +perch, caught but a fleeting glimpse of life within the city, just +enough to indicate that there were other human creatures who abode +there, and then the door closed. +</P> + +<P> +Through that door he knew that the girl and the man whom he sought +to succor had been taken into the city. What fate lay in store +for them or whether already it had been meted out to them he could +not even guess, nor where, within that forbidding wall, they were +incarcerated he could not know. But of one thing he was assured: +that if he were to aid them he could not do it from outside the +wall. He must gain entrance to the city first, nor did he doubt, +that once within, his keen senses would eventually reveal the +whereabouts of those whom he sought. +</P> + +<P> +The low sun was casting long shadows across the gardens when Tarzan +saw the workers returning from the eastern field. A man came first, +and as he came he lowered little gates along the large ditch of +running water, shutting off the streams that had run between the rows +of growing plants; and behind him came other men carrying burdens +of fresh vegetables in great woven baskets upon their shoulders. +Tarzan had not realized that there had been so many men working in +the field, but now as he sat there at the close of the day he saw +a procession filing in from the east, bearing the tools and the +produce back into the city. +</P> + +<P> +And then, to gain a better view, the ape-man ascended to the topmost +branches of a tall tree where he overlooked the nearer wall. From +this point of vantage he saw that the city was long and narrow, and +that while the outer walls formed a perfect rectangle, the streets +within were winding. Toward the center of the city there appeared +to be a low, white building around which the larger edifices of +the city had been built, and here, in the fast-waning light, Tarzan +thought that between two buildings he caught the glint of water, +but of that he was not sure. His experience of the centers of +civilization naturally inclined him to believe that this central +area was a plaza about which the larger buildings were grouped +and that there would be the most logical place to search first for +Bertha Kircher and her companion. +</P> + +<P> +And then the sun went down and darkness quickly enveloped the +city—a darkness that was accentuated for the ape-man rather than +relieved by the artificial lights which immediately appeared in +many of the windows visible to him. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan had noticed that the roofs of most of the buildings were +flat, the few exceptions being those of what he imagined to be the +more pretentious public structures. How this city had come to exist +in this forgotten part of unexplored Africa the ape-man could not +conceive. Better than another, he realized something of the unsolved +secrets of the Great Dark Continent, enormous areas of which have +as yet been untouched by the foot of civilized man. Yet he could +scarce believe that a city of this size and apparently thus well +constructed could have existed for the generations that it must +have been there, without intercourse with the outer world. Even +though it was surrounded by a trackless desert waste, as he knew +it to be, he could not conceive that generation after generation +of men could be born and die there without attempting to solve the +mysteries of the world beyond the confines of their little valley. +</P> + +<P> +And yet, here was the city surrounded by tilled land and filled +with people! +</P> + +<P> +With the coming of night there arose throughout the jungle the cries +of the great cats, the voice of Numa blended with that of Sheeta, +and the thunderous roars of the great males reverberated through +the forest until the earth trembled, and from within the city came +the answering roars of other lions. +</P> + +<P> +A simple plan for gaining entrance to the city had occurred to +Tarzan, and now that darkness had fallen he set about to put it +into effect. Its success hinged entirely upon the strength of the +vines he had seen surmounting the wall toward the east. In this +direction he made his way, while from out of the forest about him +the cries of the flesh-eaters increased in volume and ferocity. A +quarter of a mile intervened between the forest and the city wall—a +quarter of a mile of cultivated land unrelieved by a single tree. +Tarzan of the Apes realized his limitations and so he knew that +it would undoubtedly spell death for him to be caught in the open +space by one of the great black lions of the forest if, as he had +already surmised, Numa of the pit was a specimen of the forest lion +of the valley. +</P> + +<P> +He must, therefore, depend entirely upon his cunning and his speed, +and upon the chance that the vine would sustain his weight. +</P> + +<P> +He moved through the middle terrace, where the way is always +easiest, until he reached a point opposite the vine-clad portion +of the wall, and there he waited, listening and scenting, until he +might assure himself that there was no Numa within his immediate +vicinity, or, at least, none that sought him. And when he was quite +sure that there was no lion close by in the forest, and none in +the clearing between himself and the wall, he dropped lightly to +the ground and moved stealthily out into the open. +</P> + +<P> +The rising moon, just topping the eastern cliffs, cast its bright +rays upon the long stretch of open garden beneath the wall. And, too, +it picked out in clear relief for any curious eyes that chanced to +be cast in that direction, the figure of the giant ape-man moving +across the clearing. It was only chance, of course, that a great +lion hunting at the edge of the forest saw the figure of the man +halfway between the forest and the wall. Suddenly there broke upon +Tarzan's ears a menacing sound. It was not the roar of a hungry +lion, but the roar of a lion in rage, and, as he glanced back in +the direction from which the sound came, he saw a huge beast moving +out from the shadow of the forest toward him. +</P> + +<P> +Even in the moonlight and at a distance Tarzan saw that the lion +was huge; that it was indeed another of the black-maned monsters +similar to Numa of the pit. For an instant he was impelled to turn +and fight, but at the same time the thought of the helpless girl +imprisoned in the city flashed through his brain and, without an +instant's hesitation, Tarzan of the Apes wheeled and ran for the +wall. Then it was that Numa charged. +</P> + +<P> +Numa, the lion, can run swiftly for a short distance, but he lacks +endurance. For the period of an ordinary charge he can cover the +ground with greater rapidity possibly than any other creature in +the world. Tarzan, on the other hand, could run at great speed for +long distances, though never as rapidly as Numa when the latter +charged. +</P> + +<P> +The question of his fate, then, rested upon whether, with his start +he could elude Numa for a few seconds; and, if so, if the lion would +then have sufficient stamina remaining to pursue him at a reduced +gait for the balance of the distance to the wall. +</P> + +<P> +Never before, perhaps, was staged a more thrilling race, and yet it +was run with only the moon and stars to see. Alone and in silence +the two beasts sped across the moonlit clearing. Numa gained with +appalling rapidity upon the fleeing man, yet at every bound Tarzan +was nearer to the vine-clad wall. Once the ape-man glanced back. +Numa was so close upon him that it seemed inevitable that at the +next bound he should drag him down; so close was he that the ape-man +drew his knife as he ran, that he might at least give a good account +of himself in the last moments of his life. +</P> + +<P> +But Numa had reached the limit of his speed and endurance. Gradually +he dropped behind but he did not give up the pursuit, and now Tarzan +realized how much hinged upon the strength of the untested vines. +</P> + +<P> +If, at the inception of the race, only Goro and the stars had looked +down upon the contestants, such was not the case at its finish, +since from an embrasure near the summit of the wall two close-set +black eyes peered down upon the two. Tarzan was a dozen yards +ahead of Numa when he reached the wall. There was no time to stop +and institute a search for sturdy stems and safe handholds. His +fate was in the hands of chance and with the realization he gave a +final spurt and running catlike up the side of the wall among the +vines, sought with his hands for something that would sustain his +weight. Below him Numa leaped also. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Among the Maniacs +</H3> + +<P> +As the lions swarmed over her protectors, Bertha Kircher shrank +back in the cave in a momentary paralysis of fright super-induced, +perhaps, by the long days of terrific nerve strain which she had +undergone. +</P> + +<P> +Mingled with the roars of the lions had been the voices of men, +and presently out of the confusion and turmoil she felt the near +presence of a human being, and then hands reached forth and seized +her. It was dark and she could see but little, nor any sign of the +English officer or the ape-man. The man who seized her kept the +lions from her with what appeared to be a stout spear, the haft of +which he used to beat off the beasts. The fellow dragged her from +the cavern the while he shouted what appeared to be commands and +warnings to the lions. +</P> + +<P> +Once out upon the light sands of the bottom of the gorge objects +became more distinguishable, and then she saw that there were +other men in the party and that two half led and half carried the +stumbling figure of a third, whom she guessed must be Smith-Oldwick. +</P> + +<P> +For a time the lions made frenzied efforts to reach the two captives +but always the men with them succeeded in beating them off. The +fellows seemed utterly unafraid of the great beasts leaping and +snarling about them, handling them much the same as one might handle +a pack of obstreperous dogs. Along the bed of the old watercourse +that once ran through the gorge they made their way, and as the +first faint lightening of the eastern horizon presaged the coming +dawn, they paused for a moment upon the edge of a declivity, which +appeared to the girl in the strange light of the waning night as a +vast, bottomless pit; but, as their captors resumed their way and +the light of the new day became stronger, she saw that they were +moving downward toward a dense forest. +</P> + +<P> +Once beneath the over-arching trees all was again Cimmerian darkness, +nor was the gloom relieved until the sun finally arose beyond the +eastern cliffs, when she saw that they were following what appeared +to be a broad and well-beaten game trail through a forest of great +trees. The ground was unusually dry for an African forest and +the underbrush, while heavily foliaged, was not nearly so rank +and impenetrable as that which she had been accustomed to find +in similar woods. It was as though the trees and the bushes grew +in a waterless country, nor was there the musty odor of decaying +vegetation or the myriads of tiny insects such as are bred in damp +places. +</P> + +<P> +As they proceeded and the sun rose higher, the voices of the +arboreal jungle life rose in discordant notes and loud chattering +about them. Innumerable monkeys scolded and screamed in the branches +overhead, while harsh-voiced birds of brilliant plumage darted +hither and thither. She noticed presently that their captors often +cast apprehensive glances in the direction of the birds and on +numerous occasions seemed to be addressing the winged denizens of +the forest. +</P> + +<P> +One incident made a marked impression on her. The man who immediately +preceded her was a fellow of powerful build, yet, when a brilliantly +colored parrot swooped downward toward him, he dropped upon his knees +and covering his face with his arms bent forward until his head +touched the ground. Some of the others looked at him and laughed +nervously. Presently the man glanced upward and seeing that the +bird had gone, rose to his feet and continued along the trail. +</P> + +<P> +It was at this brief halt that Smith-Oldwick was brought to her +side by the men who had been supporting him. He had been rather +badly mauled by one of the lions; but was now able to walk alone, +though he was extremely weak from shock and loss of blood. +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty mess, what?" he remarked with a wry smile, indicating his +bloody and disheveled state. +</P> + +<P> +"It is terrible," said the girl. "I hope you are not suffering." +</P> + +<P> +"Not as much as I should have expected," he replied, "but I feel +as weak as a fool. What sort of creatures are these beggars, anyway?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," she replied, "there is something terribly uncanny +about their appearance." +</P> + +<P> +The man regarded one of their captors closely for a moment and +then, turning to the girl asked, "Did you ever visit a madhouse?" +</P> + +<P> +She looked up at him in quick understanding and with a horrified +expression in her eyes. "That's it!" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +"They have all the earmarks," he said. "Whites of the eyes showing +all around the irises, hair growing stiffly erect from the scalp +and low down upon the forehead—even their mannerisms and their +carriage are those of maniacs." +</P> + +<P> +The girl shuddered. +</P> + +<P> +"Another thing about them," continued the Englishman, "that doesn't +appear normal is that they are afraid of parrots and utterly fearless +of lions." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the girl; "and did you notice that the birds seem utterly +fearless of them—really seem to hold them in contempt? Have you +any idea what language they speak?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," said the man, "I have been trying to figure that out. It's not +like any of the few native dialects of which I have any knowledge." +</P> + +<P> +"It doesn't sound at all like the native language," said the girl, +"but there is something familiar about it. You know, every now and +then I feel that I am just on the verge of understanding what they +are saying, or at least that somewhere I have heard their tongue +before, but final recognition always eludes me." +</P> + +<P> +"I doubt if you ever heard their language spoken," said the man. +"These people must have lived in this out-of-the-way valley for +ages and even if they had retained the original language of their +ancestors without change, which is doubtful, it must be some tongue +that is no longer spoken in the outer world." +</P> + +<P> +At one point where a stream of water crossed the trail the party +halted while the lions and the men drank. They motioned to their +captives to drink too, and as Bertha Kircher and Smith-Oldwick, +lying prone upon the ground drank from the clear, cool water of the +rivulet, they were suddenly startled by the thunderous roar of a +lion a short distance ahead of them. Instantly the lions with them +set up a hideous response, moving restlessly to and fro with their +eyes always either turned in the direction from which the roar had +come or toward their masters, against whom the tawny beasts slunk. +The men loosened the sabers in their scabbards, the weapons that +had aroused Smith-Oldwick's curiosity as they had Tarzan's, and +grasped their spears more firmly. +</P> + +<P> +Evidently there were lions and lions, and while they evinced no +fear of the beasts which accompanied them, it was quite evident +that the voice of the newcomer had an entirely different effect +upon them, although the men seemed less terrified than the lions. +Neither, however, showed any indication of an inclination to flee; +on the contrary the entire party advanced along the trail in the +direction of the menacing roars, and presently there appeared in +the center of the path a black lion of gigantic proportions. To +Smith-Oldwick and the girl he appeared to be the same lion that +they had encountered at the plane and from which Tarzan had rescued +them. But it was not Numa of the pit, although he resembled him +closely. +</P> + +<P> +The black beast stood directly in the center of the trail lashing +his tail and growling menacingly at the advancing party. The men +urged on their own beasts, who growled and whined but hesitated +to charge. Evidently becoming impatient, and in full consciousness +of his might the intruder raised his tail stiffly erect and shot +forward. Several of the defending lions made a half-hearted attempt to +obstruct his passage, but they might as well have placed themselves +in the path of an express train, as hurling them aside the great +beast leaped straight for one of the men. A dozen spears were +launched at him and a dozen sabers leaped from their scabbards; +gleaming, razor-edged weapons they were, but for the instant rendered +futile by the terrific speed of the charging beast. +</P> + +<P> +Two of the spears entering his body but served to further enrage +him as, with demoniacal roars, he sprang upon the hapless man he +had singled out for his prey. Scarcely pausing in his charge he +seized the fellow by the shoulder and, turning quickly at right +angles, leaped into the concealing foliage that flanked the trail, +and was gone, bearing his victim with him. +</P> + +<P> +So quickly had the whole occurrence transpired that the formation +of the little party was scarcely altered. There had been no +opportunity for flight, even if it had been contemplated; and now +that the lion was gone with his prey the men made no move to pursue +him. They paused only long enough to recall the two or three of +their lions that had scattered and then resumed the march along +the trail. +</P> + +<P> +"Might be an everyday occurrence from all the effect it has on +them," remarked Smith-Oldwick to the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she said. "They seem to be neither surprised nor disconcerted, +and evidently they are quite sure that the lion, having got what +he came for, will not molest them further." +</P> + +<P> +"I had thought," said the Englishman, "that the lions of the Wamabo +country were about the most ferocious in existence, but they are +regular tabby cats by comparison with these big black fellows. +Did you ever see anything more utterly fearless or more terribly +irresistible than that charge?" +</P> + +<P> +For a while, as they walked side by side, their thoughts and +conversation centered upon this latest experience, until the trail +emerging from the forest opened to their view a walled city and an +area of cultivated land. Neither could suppress an exclamation of +surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, that wall is a regular engineering job," exclaimed Smith-Oldwick. +</P> + +<P> +"And look at the domes and minarets of the city beyond," cried the +girl. "There must be a civilized people beyond that wall. Possibly +we are fortunate to have fallen into their hands." +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick shrugged his shoulders. "I hope so," he said, "though +I am not at all sure about people who travel about with lions and +are afraid of parrots. There must be something wrong with them." +</P> + +<P> +The party followed the trail across the field to an arched gateway +which opened at the summons of one of their captors, who beat upon +the heavy wooden panels with his spear. Beyond, the gate opened +into a narrow street which seemed but a continuation of the jungle +trail leading from the forest. Buildings on either hand adjoined +the wall and fronted the narrow, winding street, which was only +visible for a short distance ahead. The houses were practically +all two-storied structures, the upper stories flush with the street +while the walls of the first story were set back some ten feet, +a series of simple columns and arches supporting the front of the +second story and forming an arcade on either side of the narrow +thoroughfare. +</P> + +<P> +The pathway in the center of the street was unpaved, but the floors +of the arcades were cut stone of various shapes and sizes but all +carefully fitted and laid without mortar. These floors gave evidence +of great antiquity, there being a distinct depression down the +center as though the stone had been worn away by the passage of +countless sandaled feet during the ages that it had lain there. +</P> + +<P> +There were few people astir at this early hour, and these were of +the same type as their captors. At first those whom they saw were +only men, but as they went deeper into the city they came upon a +few naked children playing in the soft dust of the roadway. Many +they passed showed the greatest surprise and curiosity in the +prisoners, and often made inquiries of the guards, which the two +assumed must have been in relation to themselves, while others +appeared not to notice them at all. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish we could understand their bally language," exclaimed +Smith-Oldwick. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the girl, "I would like to ask them what they are going +to do with us." +</P> + +<P> +"That would be interesting," said the man. "I have been doing +considerable wondering along that line myself." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't like the way their canine teeth are filed," said the girl. +"It's too suggestive of some of the cannibals I have seen." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't really believe they are cannibals, do you?" asked the +man. "You don't think white people are ever cannibals, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Are these people white?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"They're not Negroes, that's certain," rejoined the man. "Their +skin is yellow, but yet it doesn't resemble the Chinese exactly, +nor are any of their features Chinese." +</P> + +<P> +It was at this juncture that they caught their first glimpse of a +native woman. She was similar in most respects to the men though +her stature was smaller and her figure more symmetrical. Her face +was more repulsive than that of the men, possibly because of the fact +that she was a woman, which rather accentuated the idiosyncrasies +of eyes, pendulous lip, pointed tusks and stiff, low-growing hair. +The latter was longer than that of the men and much heavier. It +hung about her shoulders and was confined by a colored bit of some +lacy fabric. Her single garment appeared to be nothing more than +a filmy scarf which was wound tightly around her body from below +her naked breasts, being caught up some way at the bottom near her +ankles. Bits of shiny metal resembling gold, ornamented both the +headdress and the skirt. Otherwise the woman was entirely without +jewelry. Her bare arms were slender and shapely and her hands and +feet well proportioned and symmetrical. +</P> + +<P> +She came close to the party as they passed her, jabbering to the +guards who paid no attention to her. The prisoners had an opportunity +to observe her closely as she followed at their side for a short +distance. +</P> + +<P> +"The figure of a houri," remarked Smith-Oldwick, "with the face of +an imbecile." +</P> + +<P> +The street they followed was intersected at irregular intervals by +crossroads which, as they glanced down them, proved to be equally +as tortuous as that through which they were being conducted. The +houses varied but little in design. Occasionally there were bits +of color, or some attempt at other architectural ornamentation. +Through open windows and doors they could see that the walls of +the houses were very thick and that all apertures were quite small, +as though the people had built against extreme heat, which they +realized must have been necessary in this valley buried deep in an +African desert. +</P> + +<P> +Ahead they occasionally caught glimpses of larger structures, and +as they approached them, came upon what was evidently a part of +the business section of the city. There were numerous small shops +and bazaars interspersed among the residences, and over the doors +of these were signs painted in characters strongly suggesting Greek +origin and yet it was not Greek as both the Englishman and the girl +knew. +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick was by this time beginning to feel more acutely the +pain of his wounds and the consequent weakness that was greatly +aggravated by loss of blood. He staggered now occasionally and the +girl, seeing his plight, offered him her arm. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he expostulated, "you have passed through too much yourself +to have any extra burden imposed upon you." But though he made a +valiant effort to keep up with their captors he occasionally lagged, +and upon one such occasion the guards for the first time showed +any disposition toward brutality. +</P> + +<P> +It was a big fellow who walked at Smith-Oldwick's left. Several +times he took hold of the Englishman's arm and pushed him forward +not ungently, but when the captive lagged again and again the +fellow suddenly, and certainly with no just provocation, flew into +a perfect frenzy of rage. He leaped upon the wounded man, striking +him viciously with his fists and, bearing him to the ground, grasped +his throat in his left hand while with his right he drew his long +sharp saber. Screaming terribly he waved the blade above his head. +</P> + +<P> +The others stopped and turned to look upon the encounter with no +particular show of interest. It was as though one of the party had +paused to readjust a sandal and the others merely waited until he +was ready to march on again. +</P> + +<P> +But if their captors were indifferent, Bertha Kircher was not. The +close-set blazing eyes, the snarling fanged face, and the frightful +screams filled her with horror, while the brutal and wanton attack +upon the wounded man aroused within her the spirit of protection +for the weak that is inherent in all women. Forgetful of everything +other than that a weak and defenseless man was being brutally murdered +before her eyes, the girl cast aside discretion and, rushing to +Smith-Oldwick's assistance, seized the uplifted sword arm of the +shrieking creature upon the prostrate Englishman. +</P> + +<P> +Clinging desperately to the fellow she surged backward with all her +weight and strength with the result that she overbalanced him and +sent him sprawling to the pavement upon his back. In his efforts +to save himself he relaxed his grasp upon the grip of his saber +which had no sooner fallen to the ground than it was seized upon by +the girl. Standing erect beside the prostrate form of the English +officer Bertha Kircher, the razor-edged weapon grasped firmly in +her hand, faced their captors. +</P> + +<P> +She was a brave figure; even her soiled and torn riding togs and +disheveled hair detracted nothing from her appearance. The creature +she had felled scrambled quickly to his feet and in the instant +his whole demeanor changed. From demoniacal rage he became suddenly +convulsed with hysterical laughter although it was a question in +the girl's mind as to which was the more terrifying. His companions +stood looking on with vacuous grins upon their countenances, while +he from whom the girl had wrested the weapon leaped up and down +shrieking with laughter. If Bertha Kircher had needed further +evidence to assure her that they were in the hands of a mentally +deranged people the man's present actions would have been sufficient +to convince her. The sudden uncontrolled rage and now the equally +uncontrolled and mirthless laughter but emphasized the facial +attributes of idiocy. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly realizing how helpless she was in the event any one of the +men should seek to overpower her, and moved by a sudden revulsion +of feeling that brought on almost a nausea of disgust, the girl +hurled the weapon upon the ground at the feet of the laughing maniac +and, turning, kneeled beside the Englishman. +</P> + +<P> +"It was wonderful of you," he said, "but you shouldn't have done +it. Don't antagonize them: I believe that they are all mad and you +know they say that one should always humor a madman." +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head. "I couldn't see him kill you," she said. +</P> + +<P> +A sudden light sprang to the man's eyes as he reached out a hand and +grasped the girl's fingers. "Do you care a little now?" he asked. +"Can't you tell me that you do—just a bit?" +</P> + +<P> +She did not withdraw her hand from his but she shook her head +sadly. "Please don't," she said. "I am sorry that I can only like +you very much." +</P> + +<P> +The light died from his eyes and his fingers relaxed their grasp on +hers. "Please forgive me," he murmured. "I intended waiting until +we got out of this mess and you were safe among your own people. +It must have been the shock or something like that, and seeing you +defending me as you did. Anyway, I couldn't help it and really it +doesn't make much difference what I say now, does it?" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" she asked quickly. +</P> + +<P> +He shrugged and smiled ruefully. "I will never leave this city +alive," he said. "I wouldn't mention it except that I realize that +you must know it as well as I. I was pretty badly torn up by the +lion and this fellow here has about finished me. There might be +some hope if we were among civilized people, but here with these +frightful creatures what care could we get even if they were +friendly?" +</P> + +<P> +Bertha Kircher knew that he spoke the truth, and yet she could not +bring herself to an admission that Smith-Oldwick would die. She +was very fond of him, in fact her great regret was that she did +not love him, but she knew that she did not. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed to her that it could be such an easy thing for any girl +to love Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick—an English officer +and a gentleman, the scion of an old family and himself a man of +ample means, young, good-looking and affable. What more could a +girl ask for than to have such a man love her and that she possessed +Smith-Oldwick's love there was no doubt in Bertha Kircher's mind. +</P> + +<P> +She sighed, and then, laying her hand impulsively on his forehead, +she whispered, "Do not give up hope, though. Try to live for my +sake and for your sake I will try to love you." +</P> + +<P> +It was as though new life had suddenly been injected into the +man's veins. His face lightened instantly and with strength that +he himself did not know he possessed he rose slowly to his feet, +albeit somewhat unsteadily. The girl helped him and supported him +after he had arisen. +</P> + +<P> +For the moment they had been entirely unconscious of their +surroundings and now as she looked at their captors she saw that +they had fallen again into their almost habitual manner of stolid +indifference, and at a gesture from one of them the march was +resumed as though no untoward incident had occurred. +</P> + +<P> +Bertha Kircher experienced a sudden reaction from the momentary +exaltation of her recent promise to the Englishman. She knew that +she had spoken more for him than for herself but now that it was +over she realized, as she had realized the moment before she had +spoken, that it was unlikely she would ever care for him the way +he wished. But what had she promised? Only that she would try to +love him. "And now?" she asked herself. +</P> + +<P> +She realized that there might be little hope of their ever returning +to civilization. Even if these people should prove friendly and +willing to let them depart in peace, how were they to find their +way back to the coast? With Tarzan dead, as she fully believed him +after having seen his body lying lifeless at the mouth of the cave +when she had been dragged forth by her captor, there seemed no +power at their command which could guide them safely. +</P> + +<P> +The two had scarcely mentioned the ape-man since their capture, for +each realized fully what his loss meant to them. They had compared +notes relative to those few exciting moments of the final attack +and capture and had found that they agreed perfectly upon all that +had occurred. Smith-Oldwick had even seen the lion leap upon Tarzan +at the instant that the former was awakened by the roars of the +charging beasts, and though the night had been dark, he had been +able to see that the body of the savage ape-man had never moved +from the instant that it had come down beneath the beast. +</P> + +<P> +And so, if at other times within the past few weeks Bertha Kircher +had felt that her situation was particularly hopeless, she was now +ready to admit that hope was absolutely extinct. +</P> + +<P> +The streets were beginning to fill with the strange men and women +of this strange city. Sometimes individuals would notice them +and seem to take a great interest in them, and again others would +pass with vacant stares, seemingly unconscious of their immediate +surroundings and paying no attention whatsoever to the prisoners. +Once they heard hideous screams up a side street, and looking they +saw a man in the throes of a demoniacal outburst of rage, similar +to that which they had witnessed in the recent attack upon +Smith-Oldwick. This creature was venting his insane rage upon a +child which he repeatedly struck and bit, pausing only long enough +to shriek at frequent intervals. Finally, just before they passed +out of sight the creature raised the limp body of the child high +above his head and cast it down with all his strength upon the +pavement, and then, wheeling and screaming madly at the top of his +lungs, he dashed headlong up the winding street. +</P> + +<P> +Two women and several men had stood looking on at the cruel attack. +They were at too great a distance for the Europeans to know whether +their facial expressions portrayed pity or rage, but be that as it +may, none offered to interfere. +</P> + +<P> +A few yards farther on a hideous hag leaned from a second story +window where she laughed and jibbered and made horrid grimaces at +all who passed her. Others went their ways apparently attending to +whatever duties called them, as soberly as the inhabitants of any +civilized community. +</P> + +<P> +"God," muttered Smith-Oldwick, "what an awful place!" +</P> + +<P> +The girl turned suddenly toward him. "You still have your pistol?" +she asked him. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he replied. "I tucked it inside my shirt. They did not +search me and it was too dark for them to see whether I carried any +weapons or not. So I hid it in the hope that I might get through +with it." +</P> + +<P> +She moved closer to him and took hold of his hand. "Save one +cartridge for me, please?" she begged. +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick looked down at her and blinked his eyes very rapidly. +An unfamiliar and disconcerting moisture had come into them. He +had realized, of course, how bad a plight was theirs but somehow +it had seemed to affect him only: it did not seem possible that +anyone could harm this sweet and beautiful girl. +</P> + +<P> +And that she should have to be destroyed—destroyed by him! It +was too hideous: it was unbelievable, unthinkable! If he had been +filled with apprehension before, he was doubly perturbed now. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe I could do it, Bertha," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Not even to save me from something worse?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head dismally. "I could never do it," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +The street that they were following suddenly opened upon a wide +avenue, and before them spread a broad and beautiful lagoon, the +quiet surface of which mirrored the clear cerulean of the sky. Here +the aspect of all their surroundings changed. The buildings were +higher and much more pretentious in design and ornamentation. +The street itself was paved in mosaics of barbaric but stunningly +beautiful design. In the ornamentation of the buildings there was +considerable color and a great deal of what appeared to be gold +leaf. In all the decorations there was utilized in various ways the +conventional figure of the parrot, and, to a lesser extent, that +of the lion and the monkey. +</P> + +<P> +Their captors led them along the pavement beside the lagoon for a +short distance and then through an arched doorway into one of the +buildings facing the avenue. Here, directly within the entrance +was a large room furnished with massive benches and tables, many of +which were elaborately hand carved with the figures of the inevitable +parrot, the lion, or the monkey, the parrot always predominating. +</P> + +<P> +Behind one of the tables sat a man who differed in no way that the +captives could discover from those who accompanied them. Before +this person the party halted, and one of the men who had brought +them made what seemed to be an oral report. Whether they were +before a judge, a military officer, or a civil dignitary they could +not know, but evidently he was a man of authority, for, after +listening to whatever recital was being made to him the while +he closely scrutinized the two captives, he made a single futile +attempt to converse with them and then issued some curt orders to +him who had made the report. +</P> + +<P> +Almost immediately two of the men approached Bertha Kircher and +signaled her to accompany them. Smith-Oldwick started to follow her +but was intercepted by one of their guards. The girl stopped then +and turned back, at the same time looking at the man at the table +and making signs with her hands, indicating, as best she could, +that she wished Smith-Oldwick to remain with her, but the fellow +only shook his head negatively and motioned to the guards to remove +her. The Englishman again attempted to follow but was restrained. +He was too weak and helpless even to make an attempt to enforce +his wishes. He thought of the pistol inside his shirt and then of +the futility of attempting to overcome an entire city with the few +rounds of ammunition left to him. +</P> + +<P> +So far, with the single exception of the attack made upon him, they +had no reason to believe that they might not receive fair treatment +from their captors, and so he reasoned that it might be wiser to +avoid antagonizing them until such a time as he became thoroughly +convinced that their intentions were entirely hostile. He saw the +girl led from the building and just before she disappeared from +his view she turned and waved her hand to him: +</P> + +<P> +"Good luck!" she cried, and was gone. +</P> + +<P> +The lions that had entered the building with the party had, during +their examination by the man at the table, been driven from the +apartment through a doorway behind him. Toward this same doorway +two of the men now led Smith-Oldwick. He found himself in a long +corridor from the sides of which other doorways opened, presumably +into other apartments of the building. At the far end of the corridor +he saw a heavy grating beyond which appeared an open courtyard. +Into this courtyard the prisoner was conducted, and as he entered +it with the two guards he found himself in an opening which was +bounded by the inner walls of the building. It was in the nature +of a garden in which a number of trees and flowering shrubs grew. +Beneath several of the trees were benches and there was a bench +along the south wall, but what aroused his most immediate attention +was the fact that the lions who had assisted in their capture and +who had accompanied them upon the return to the city, lay sprawled +about upon the ground or wandered restlessly to and fro. +</P> + +<P> +Just inside the gate his guard halted. The two men exchanged a few +words and then turned and reentered the corridor. The Englishman +was horror-stricken as the full realization of his terrible plight +forced itself upon his tired brain. He turned and seized the grating +in an attempt to open it and gain the safety of the corridor, but +he found it securely locked against his every effort, and then he +called aloud to the retreating figure of the men within. The only +reply he received was a high-pitched, mirthless laugh, and then +the two passed through the doorway at the far end of the corridor +and he was alone with the lions. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Queen's Story +</H3> + +<P> +In the meantime Bertha Kircher was conducted the length of the +plaza toward the largest and most pretentious of the buildings +surrounding it. This edifice covered the entire width of one end +of the plaza. It was several stories in height, the main entrance +being approached by a wide flight of stone steps, the bottom of +which was guarded by enormous stone lions, while at the top there +were two pedestals flanking the entrance and of the same height, +upon each of which was the stone image of a large parrot. As the +girl neared these latter images she saw that the capital of each +column was hewn into the semblance of a human skull upon which +the parrots perched. Above the arched doorway and upon the walls +of the building were the figures of other parrots, of lions, and +of monkeys. Some of these were carved in bas-relief; others were +delineated in mosaics, while still others appeared to have been +painted upon the surface of the wall. +</P> + +<P> +The colorings of the last were apparently much subdued by age +with the result that the general effect was soft and beautiful. +The sculpturing and mosaic work were both finely executed, giving +evidence of a high degree of artistic skill. Unlike the first +building into which she had been conducted, the entrance to which +had been doorless, massive doors closed the entrance which she now +approached. In the niches formed by the columns which supported +the door's arch, and about the base of the pedestals of the stone +parrots, as well as in various other places on the broad stairway, +lolled some score of armed men. The tunics of these were all of a +vivid yellow and upon the breast and back of each was embroidered +the figure of a parrot. +</P> + +<P> +As she was conducted up the stairway one of these yellow-coated +warriors approached and halted her guides at the top of the steps. +Here they exchanged a few words and while they were talking the +girl noticed that he who had halted them, as well as those whom +she could see of his companions, appeared to be, if possible, of +a lower mentality than her original captors. +</P> + +<P> +Their coarse, bristling hair grew so low upon their foreheads as, +in some instances, to almost join their eyebrows, while the irises +were smaller, exposing more of the white of the eyeball. +</P> + +<P> +After a short parley the man in charge of the doorway, for such +he seemed to be, turned and struck upon one of the panels with +the butt of his spear, at the same time calling to several of his +companions, who rose and came forward at his command. Soon the great +doors commenced slowly to swing creakingly open, and presently, +as they separated, the girl saw behind them the motive force which +operated the massive doors—to each door a half-dozen naked Negroes. +</P> + +<P> +At the doorway her two guards were turned back and their places taken +by a half dozen of the yellow-coated soldiery. These conducted her +through the doorway which the blacks, pulling upon heavy chains, +closed behind them. And as the girl watched them she noted with +horror that the poor creatures were chained by the neck to the +doors. +</P> + +<P> +Before her led a broad hallway in the center of which was a little +pool of clear water. Here again in floor and walls was repeated in +new and ever-changing combinations and designs, the parrots, the +monkeys, and the lions, but now many of the figures were of what +the girl was convinced must be gold. The walls of the corridor +consisted of a series of open archways through which, upon either +side, other spacious apartments were visible. The hallway was +entirely unfurnished, but the rooms on either side contained benches +and tables. Glimpses of some of the walls revealed the fact that +they were covered with hangings of some colored fabric, while upon +the floors were thick rugs of barbaric design and the skins of +black lions and beautifully marked leopards. +</P> + +<P> +The room directly to the right of the entrance was filled with men +wearing the yellow tunics of her new guard while the walls were hung +with numerous spears and sabers. At the far end of the corridor a +low flight of steps led to another closed doorway. Here the guard +was again halted. One of the guards at this doorway, after receiving +the report of one of those who accompanied her, passed through the +door, leaving them standing outside. It was fully fifteen minutes +before he returned, when the guard was again changed and the girl +conducted into the chamber beyond. +</P> + +<P> +Through three other chambers and past three more massive doors, at +each of which her guard was changed, the girl was conducted before +she was ushered into a comparatively small room, back and forth +across the floor of which paced a man in a scarlet tunic, upon the +front and back of which was embroidered an enormous parrot and upon +whose head was a barbaric headdress surmounted by a stuffed parrot. +</P> + +<P> +The walls of this room were entirely hidden by hangings upon which +hundreds, even thousands, of parrots were embroidered. Inlaid in +the floor were golden parrots, while, as thickly as they could be +painted, upon the ceiling were brilliant-hued parrots with wings +outspread as though in the act of flying. +</P> + +<P> +The man himself was larger of stature than any she had yet seen +within the city. His parchment-like skin was wrinkled with age and +he was much fatter than any other of his kind that she had seen. +His bared arms, however, gave evidence of great strength and his +gait was not that of an old man. His facial expression denoted almost +utter imbecility and he was quite the most repulsive creature that +ever Bertha Kircher had looked upon. +</P> + +<P> +For several minutes after she was conducted into his presence +he appeared not to be aware that she was there but continued his +restless pacing to and fro. Suddenly, without the slightest warning, +and while he was at the far end of the room from her with his back +toward her, he wheeled and rushed madly at her. Involuntarily the +girl shrank back, extending her open palms toward the frightful +creature as though to hold him aloof but a man upon either side of +her, the two who had conducted her into the apartment, seized and +held her. +</P> + +<P> +Although he rushed violently toward her the man stopped without +touching her. For a moment his horrid white-rimmed eyes glared +searchingly into her face, immediately following which he burst +into maniacal laughter. For two or three minutes the creature gave +himself over to merriment and then, stopping as suddenly as he +had commenced to laugh, he fell to examining the prisoner. He felt +of her hair, her skin, the texture of the garment she wore and by +means of signs made her understand she was to open her mouth. In +the latter he seemed much interested, calling the attention of one +of the guards to her canine teeth and then baring his own sharp +fangs for the prisoner to see. +</P> + +<P> +Presently he resumed pacing to and fro across the floor, and it +was fully fifteen minutes before he again noticed the prisoner, and +then it was to issue a curt order to her guards, who immediately +conducted her from the apartment. +</P> + +<P> +The guards now led the girl through a series of corridors and +apartments to a narrow stone stairway which led to the floor above, +finally stopping before a small door where stood a naked Negro armed +with a spear. At a word from one of her guards the Negro opened the +door and the party passed into a low-ceiled apartment, the windows +of which immediately caught the girl's attention through the fact +that they were heavily barred. The room was furnished similarly to +those that she had seen in other parts of the building, the same +carved tables and benches, the rugs upon the floor, the decorations +upon the walls, although in every respect it was simpler than +anything she had seen on the floor below. In one corner was a low +couch covered with a rug similar to those on the floor except that +it was of a lighter texture, and upon this sat a woman. +</P> + +<P> +As Bertha Kircher's eyes alighted upon the occupant of the room +the girl gave a little gasp of astonishment, for she recognized +immediately that here was a creature more nearly of her own kind +than any she had seen within the city's walls. An old woman it was +who looked at her through faded blue eyes, sunken deep in a wrinkled +and toothless face. But the eyes were those of a sane and intelligent +creature, and the wrinkled face was the face of a white woman. +</P> + +<P> +At sight of the girl the woman rose and came forward, her gait so +feeble and unsteady that she was forced to support herself with a +long staff which she grasped in both her hands. One of the guards +spoke a few words to her and then the men turned and left the +apartment. The girl stood just within the door waiting in silence +for what might next befall her. +</P> + +<P> +The old woman crossed the room and stopped before her, raising +her weak and watery eyes to the fresh young face of the newcomer. +Then she scanned her from head to foot and once again the old eyes +returned to the girl's face. Bertha Kircher on her part was not +less frank in her survey of the little old woman. It was the latter +who spoke first. In a thin, cracked voice she spoke, hesitatingly, +falteringly, as though she were using unfamiliar words and speaking +a strange tongue. +</P> + +<P> +"You are from the outer world?" she asked in English. "God grant +that you may speak and understand this tongue." +</P> + +<P> +"English?" the girl exclaimed, "Yes, of course, I speak English." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God!" cried the little old woman. "I did not know whether I +myself might speak it so that another could understand. For sixty +years I have spoken only their accursed gibberish. For sixty years +I have not heard a word in my native language. Poor creature! Poor +creature!" she mumbled. "What accursed misfortune threw you into +their hands?" +</P> + +<P> +"You are an English woman?" asked Bertha Kircher. "Did I understand +you aright that you are an English woman and have been here for +sixty years?" +</P> + +<P> +The old woman nodded her head affirmatively. "For sixty years I +have never been outside of this palace. Come," she said, stretching +forth a bony hand. "I am very old and cannot stand long. Come and +sit with me on my couch." +</P> + +<P> +The girl took the proffered hand and assisted the old lady back +to the opposite side of the room and when she was seated the girl +sat down beside her. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor child! Poor child!" moaned the old woman. "Far better to have +died than to have let them bring you here. At first I might have +destroyed myself but there was always the hope that someone would +come who would take me away, but none ever comes. Tell me how they +got you." +</P> + +<P> +Very briefly the girl narrated the principal incidents which led +up to her capture by some of the creatures of the city. +</P> + +<P> +"Then there is a man with you in the city?" asked the old woman. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the girl, "but I do not know where he is nor what are +their intentions in regard to him. In fact, I do not know what +their intentions toward me are." +</P> + +<P> +"No one might even guess," said the old woman. "They do not know +themselves from one minute to the next what their intentions are, +but I think you can rest assured, my poor child, that you will +never see your friend again." +</P> + +<P> +"But they haven't slain you," the girl reminded her, "and you have +been their prisoner, you say, for sixty years." +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied her companion, "they have not killed me, nor will +they kill you, though God knows before you have lived long in this +horrible place you will beg them to kill you." +</P> + +<P> +"Who are they—" asked Bertha Kircher, "what kind of people? They +differ from any that I ever have seen. And tell me, too, how you +came here." +</P> + +<P> +"It was long ago," said the old woman, rocking back and forth on +the couch. "It was long ago. Oh, how long it was! I was only twenty +then. Think of it, child! Look at me. I have no mirror other than +my bath, I cannot see what I look like for my eyes are old, but +with my fingers I can feel my old and wrinkled face, my sunken eyes, +and these flabby lips drawn in over toothless gums. I am old and +bent and hideous, but then I was young and they said that I was +beautiful. No, I will not be a hypocrite; I was beautiful. My glass +told me that. +</P> + +<P> +"My father was a missionary in the interior and one day there came +a band of Arabian slave raiders. They took the men and women of +the little native village where my father labored, and they took +me, too. They did not know much about our part of the country so +they were compelled to rely upon the men of our village whom they +had captured to guide them. They told me that they never before +had been so far south and that they had heard there was a country +rich in ivory and slaves west of us. They wanted to go there and +from there they would take us north, where I was to be sold into +the harem of some black sultan. +</P> + +<P> +"They often discussed the price I would bring, and that that price +might not lessen, they guarded me jealously from one another so +the journeys were made as little fatiguing for me as possible. I +was given the best food at their command and I was not harmed. +</P> + +<P> +"But after a short time, when we had reached the confines of the +country with which the men of our village were familiar and had +entered upon a desolate and arid desert waste, the Arabs realized +at last that we were lost. But they still kept on, ever toward +the west, crossing hideous gorges and marching across the face of +a burning land beneath the pitiless sun. The poor slaves they had +captured were, of course, compelled to carry all the camp equipage +and loot and thus heavily burdened, half starved and without water, +they soon commenced to die like flies. +</P> + +<P> +"We had not been in the desert land long before the Arabs were +forced to kill their horses for food, and when we reached the first +gorge, across which it would have been impossible to transport the +animals, the balance of them were slaughtered and the meat loaded +upon the poor staggering blacks who still survived. +</P> + +<P> +"Thus we continued for two more days and now all but a handful of +blacks were dead, and the Arabs themselves had commenced to succumb +to hunger and thirst and the intense heat of the desert. As far as +the eye could reach back toward the land of plenty from whence we +had come, our route was marked by circling vultures in the sky and +by the bodies of the dead who lay down in the trackless waste for +the last time. The ivory had been abandoned tusk by tusk as the +blacks gave out, and along the trail of death was strewn the camp +equipage and the horse trappings of a hundred men. +</P> + +<P> +"For some reason the Arab chief favored me to the last, possibly +with the idea that of all his other treasures I could be most easily +transported, for I was young and strong and after the horses were +killed I had walked and kept up with the best of the men. We English, +you know, are great walkers, while these Arabians had never walked +since they were old enough to ride a horse. +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot tell you how much longer we kept on but at last, with +our strength almost gone, a handful of us reached the bottom of a +deep gorge. To scale the opposite side was out of the question and +so we kept on down along the sands of what must have been the bed +of an ancient river, until finally we came to a point where we +looked out upon what appeared to be a beautiful valley in which we +felt assured that we would find game in plenty. +</P> + +<P> +"By then there were only two of us left—the chief and myself. I +do not need to tell you what the valley was, for you found it in +much the same way as I did. So quickly were we captured that it +seemed they must have been waiting for us, and I learned later that +such was the case, just as they were waiting for you. +</P> + +<P> +"As you came through the forest you must have seen the monkeys +and parrots and since you have entered the palace, how constantly +these animals, and the lions, are used in the decorations. At home +we were all familiar with talking parrots who repeated the things +that they were taught to say, but these parrots are different +in that they all talk in the same language that the people of the +city use, and they say that the monkeys talk to the parrots and the +parrots fly to the city and tell the people what the monkeys say. +And, although it is hard to believe, I have learned that this is +so, for I have lived here among them for sixty years in the palace +of their king. +</P> + +<P> +"They brought me, as they brought you, directly to the palace. The +Arabian chief was taken elsewhere. I never knew what became of him. +Ago XXV was king then. I have seen many kings since that day. He +was a terrible man; but then, they are all terrible." +</P> + +<P> +"What is the matter with them?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"They are a race of maniacs," replied the old woman. "Had you not +guessed it? Among them are excellent craftsmen and good farmers +and a certain amount of law and order, such as it is. +</P> + +<P> +"They reverence all birds, but the parrot is their chief deity. +There is one who is held here in the palace in a very beautiful +apartment. He is their god of gods. He is a very old bird. If what +Ago told me when I came is true, he must be nearly three hundred +years old by now. Their religious rites are revolting in the +extreme, and I believe that it may be the practice of these rites +through ages that has brought the race to its present condition of +imbecility. +</P> + +<P> +"And yet, as I said, they are not without some redeeming qualities. +If legend may be credited, their forebears—a little handful of +men and women who came from somewhere out of the north and became +lost in the wilderness of central Africa—found here only a barren +desert valley. To my own knowledge rain seldom, if ever, falls +here, and yet you have seen a great forest and luxuriant vegetation +outside of the city as well as within. This miracle is accomplished +by the utilization of natural springs which their ancestors developed, +and upon which they have improved to such an extent that the entire +valley receives an adequate amount of moisture at all times. +</P> + +<P> +"Ago told me that many generations before his time the forest was +irrigated by changing the course of the streams which carried the +spring water to the city but that when the trees had sent their +roots down to the natural moisture of the soil and required no +further irrigation, the course of the stream was changed and other +trees were planted. And so the forest grew until today it covers +almost the entire floor of the valley except for the open space +where the city stands. I do not know that this is true. It may be +that the forest has always been here, but it is one of their legends +and it is borne out by the fact that there is not sufficient rainfall +here to support vegetation. +</P> + +<P> +"They are peculiar people in many respects, not only in their form +of worship and religious rites but also in that they breed lions +as other people breed cattle. You have seen how they use some of +these lions but the majority of them they fatten and eat. At first, +I imagine, they ate lion meat as a part of their religious ceremony +but after many generations they came to crave it so that now it is +practically the only flesh they eat. They would, of course, rather +die than eat the flesh of a bird, nor will they eat monkey's meat, +while the herbivorous animals they raise only for milk, hides, +and flesh for the lions. Upon the south side of the city are the +corrals and pastures where the herbivorous animals are raised. +Boar, deer, and antelope are used principally for the lions, while +goats are kept for milk for the human inhabitants of the city." +</P> + +<P> +"And you have lived here all these years," exclaimed the girl, +"without ever seeing one of your own kind?" +</P> + +<P> +The old woman nodded affirmatively. +</P> + +<P> +"For sixty years you have lived here," continued Bertha Kircher, +"and they have not harmed you!" +</P> + +<P> +"I did not say they had not harmed me," said the old woman, "they +did not kill me, that is all." +</P> + +<P> +"What"—the girl hesitated—"what," she continued at last, "was +your position among them? Pardon me," she added quickly, "I think +I know but I should like to hear from your own lips, for whatever +your position was, mine will doubtless be the same." +</P> + +<P> +The old woman nodded. "Yes," she said, "doubtless; if they can keep +you away from the women." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"For sixty years I have never been allowed near a woman. They would +kill me, even now, if they could reach me. The men are frightful, +God knows they are frightful! But heaven keep you from the women!" +</P> + +<P> +"You mean," asked the girl, "that the men will not harm me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ago XXV made me his queen," said the old woman. "But he had many +other queens, nor were they all human. He was not murdered for ten +years after I came here. Then the next king took me, and so it has +been always. I am the oldest queen now. Very few of their women live +to a great age. Not only are they constantly liable to assassination +but, owing to their subnormal mentalities, they are subject to +periods of depression during which they are very likely to destroy +themselves." +</P> + +<P> +She turned suddenly and pointed to the barred windows. "You see +this room," she said, "with the black eunuch outside? Wherever +you see these you will know that there are women, for with very +few exceptions they are never allowed out of captivity. They are +considered and really are more violent than the men." +</P> + +<P> +For several minutes the two sat in silence, and then the younger +woman turned to the older. +</P> + +<P> +"Is there no way to escape?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +The old woman pointed again to the barred windows and then to the +door, saying: "And there is the armed eunuch. And if you should +pass him, how could you reach the street? And if you reached the +street, how could you pass through the city to the outer wall? And +even if, by some miracle, you should gain the outer wall, and, by +another miracle, you should be permitted to pass through the gate, +could you ever hope to traverse the forest where the great black +lions roam and feed upon men? No!" she exclaimed, answering her +own question, "there is no escape, for after one had escaped from +the palace and the city and the forest it would be but to invite +death in the frightful desert land beyond. +</P> + +<P> +"In sixty years you are the first to find this buried city. In +a thousand no denizen of this valley has ever left it, and within +the memory of man, or even in their legends, none had found them +prior to my coming other than a single warlike giant, the story of +whom has been handed down from father to son. +</P> + +<P> +"I think from the description that he must have been a Spaniard, +a giant of a man in buckler and helmet, who fought his way through +the terrible forest to the city gate, who fell upon those who were +sent out to capture him and slew them with his mighty sword. And +when he had eaten of the vegetables from the gardens, and the fruit +from the trees and drank of the water from the stream, he turned +about and fought his way back through the forest to the mouth of +the gorge. But though he escaped the city and the forest he did +not escape the desert. For a legend runs that the king, fearful +that he would bring others to attack them, sent a party after him +to slay him. +</P> + +<P> +"For three weeks they did not find him, for they went in the wrong +direction, but at last they came upon his bones picked clean by +the vultures, lying a day's march up the same gorge through which +you and I entered the valley. I do not know," continued the old +woman, "that this is true. It is just one of their many legends." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the girl, "it is true. I am sure it is true, for I have +seen the skeleton and the corroded armor of this great giant." +</P> + +<P> +At this juncture the door was thrown open without ceremony and a +Negro entered bearing two flat vessels in which were several smaller +ones. These he set down on one of the tables near the women, and, +without a word, turned and left. With the entrance of the man +with the vessels, a delightful odor of cooked food had aroused the +realization in the girl's mind that she was very hungry, and at +a word from the old woman she walked to the table to examine the +viands. The larger vessels which contained the smaller ones were +of pottery while those within them were quite evidently of hammered +gold. To her intense surprise she found lying between the smaller +vessels a spoon and a fork, which, while of quaint design, were quite +as serviceable as any she had seen in more civilized communities. +The tines of the fork were quite evidently of iron or steel, the +girl did not know which, while the handle and the spoon were of +the same material as the smaller vessels. +</P> + +<P> +There was a highly seasoned stew with meat and vegetables, a dish +of fresh fruit, and a bowl of milk beside which was a little jug +containing something which resembled marmalade. So ravenous was she +that she did not even wait for her companion to reach the table, +and as she ate she could have sworn that never before had she tasted +more palatable food. The old woman came slowly and sat down on one +of the benches opposite her. +</P> + +<P> +As she removed the smaller vessels from the larger and arranged +them before her on the table a crooked smile twisted her lips as +she watched the younger woman eat. +</P> + +<P> +"Hunger is a great leveler," she said with a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"I venture to say that a few weeks ago you would have been nauseated +at the idea of eating cat." +</P> + +<P> +"Cat?" exclaimed the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the old woman. "What is the difference—a lion is a +cat." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean I am eating lion now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the old woman, "and as they prepare it, it is very +palatable. You will grow very fond of it." +</P> + +<P> +Bertha Kircher smiled a trifle dubiously. "I could not tell it," +she said, "from lamb or veal." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said the woman, "it tastes as good to me. But these lions +are very carefully kept and very carefully fed and their flesh is +so seasoned and prepared that it might be anything so far as taste +is concerned." +</P> + +<P> +And so Bertha Kircher broke her long fast upon strange fruits, lion +meat, and goat's milk. +</P> + +<P> +Scarcely had she finished when again the door opened and there +entered a yellow-coated soldier. He spoke to the old woman. +</P> + +<P> +"The king," she said, "has commanded that you be prepared and brought +to him. You are to share these apartments with me. The king knows +that I am not like his other women. He never would have dared to +put you with them. Herog XVI has occasional lucid intervals. You +must have been brought to him during one of these. Like the rest +of them he thinks that he alone of all the community is sane, but +more than once I have thought that the various men with whom I have +come in contact here, including the kings themselves, looked upon +me as, at least, less mad than the others. Yet how I have retained +my senses all these years is beyond me." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean by prepare?" asked Bertha Kircher. "You said +that the king had commanded I be prepared and brought to him." +</P> + +<P> +"You will be bathed and furnished with a robe similar to that which +I wear." +</P> + +<P> +"Is there no escape?" asked the girl. "Is there no way even in +which I can kill myself?" +</P> + +<P> +The woman handed her the fork. "This is the only way," she said, +"and you will notice that the tines are very short and blunt." +</P> + +<P> +The girl shuddered and the old woman laid a hand gently upon her +shoulder. "He may only look at you and send you away," she said. +"Ago XXV sent for me once, tried to talk with me, discovered +that I could not understand him and that he could not understand +me, ordered that I be taught the language of his people, and then +apparently forgot me for a year. Sometimes I do not see the king +for a long period. There was one king who ruled for five years +whom I never saw. There is always hope; even I whose very memory +has doubtless been forgotten beyond these palace walls still hope, +though none knows better how futilely." +</P> + +<P> +The old woman led Bertha Kircher to an adjoining apartment in +the floor of which was a pool of water. Here the girl bathed and +afterward her companion brought her one of the clinging garments +of the native women and adjusted it about her figure. The material +of the robe was of a gauzy fabric which accentuated the rounded +beauty of the girlish form. +</P> + +<P> +"There," said the old woman, as she gave a final pat to one of the +folds of the garment, "you are a queen indeed!" +</P> + +<P> +The girl looked down at her naked breasts and but half-concealed +limbs in horror. "They are going to lead me into the presence of +men in this half-nude condition!" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +The old woman smiled her crooked smile. "It is nothing," she said. +"You will become accustomed to it as did I who was brought up in +the home of a minister of the gospel, where it was considered little +short of a crime for a woman to expose her stockinged ankle. By +comparison with what you will doubtless see and the things that +you may be called upon to undergo, this is but a trifle." +</P> + +<P> +For what seemed hours to the distraught girl she paced the floor +of her apartment, awaiting the final summons to the presence of the +mad king. Darkness had fallen and the oil flares within the palace +had been lighted long before two messengers appeared with instructions +that Herog demanded her immediate presence and that the old woman, +whom they called Xanila, was to accompany her. The girl felt some +slight relief when she discovered that she was to have at least +one friend with her, however powerless to assist her the old woman +might be. +</P> + +<P> +The messengers conducted the two to a small apartment on the floor +below. Xanila explained that this was one of the anterooms off +the main throneroom in which the king was accustomed to hold court +with his entire retinue. A number of yellow-tunicked warriors sat +about upon the benches within the room. For the most part their +eyes were bent upon the floor and their attitudes that of moody +dejection. As the two women entered several glanced indifferently +at them, but for the most part no attention was paid to them. +</P> + +<P> +While they were waiting in the anteroom there entered from another +apartment a young man uniformed similarly to the others with the +exception that upon his head was a fillet of gold, in the front of +which a single parrot feather rose erectly above his forehead. As +he entered, the other soldiers in the room rose to their feet. +</P> + +<P> +"That is Metak, one of the king's sons," Xanila whispered to the +girl. +</P> + +<P> +The prince was crossing the room toward the audience chamber when +his glance happened to fall upon Bertha Kircher. He halted in his +tracks and stood looking at her for a full minute without speaking. +The girl, embarrassed by his bold stare and her scant attire, flushed +and, dropping her gaze to the floor, turned away. Metak suddenly +commenced to tremble from head to foot and then, without warning +other than a loud, hoarse scream he sprang forward and seized the +girl in his arms. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly pandemonium ensued. The two messengers who had been charged +with the duty of conducting the girl to the king's presence danced, +shrieking, about the prince, waving their arms and gesticulating +wildly as though they would force him to relinquish her, the +while they dared not lay hands upon royalty. The other guardsmen, +as though suffering in sympathy the madness of their prince, ran +forward screaming and brandishing their sabers. +</P> + +<P> +The girl fought to release herself from the horrid embrace of the +maniac, but with his left arm about her he held her as easily as +though she had been but a babe, while with his free hand he drew +his saber and struck viciously at those nearest him. +</P> + +<P> +One of the messengers was the first to feel the keen edge of +Metak's blade. With a single fierce cut the prince drove through +the fellow's collar bone and downward to the center of his chest. +With a shrill shriek that rose above the screaming of the other +guardsmen the man dropped to the floor, and as the blood gushed +from the frightful wound he struggled to rise once more to his feet +and then sank back again and died in a great pool of his own blood. +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime Metak, still clinging desperately to the girl, +had backed toward the opposite door. At the sight of the blood two +of the guardsmen, as though suddenly aroused to maniacal frenzy, +dropped their sabers to the floor and fell upon each other with +nails and teeth, while some sought to reach the prince and some +to defend him. In a corner of the room sat one of the guardsmen +laughing uproariously and just as Metak succeeded in reaching the +door and taking the girl through, she thought that she saw another +of the men spring upon the corpse of the dead messenger and bury +his teeth in its flesh. +</P> + +<P> +During the orgy of madness Xanila had kept closely at the girl's +side but at the door of the room Metak had seen her and, wheeling +suddenly, cut viciously at her. Fortunately for Xanila she was +halfway through the door at the time, so that Metak's blade but +dented itself upon the stone arch of the portal, and then Xanila, +guided doubtless by the wisdom of sixty years of similar experiences, +fled down the corridor as fast as her old and tottering legs would +carry her. +</P> + +<P> +Metak, once outside the door, returned his saber to its scabbard +and lifting the girl bodily from the ground carried her off in the +opposite direction from that taken by Xanila. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Came Tarzan +</H3> + +<P> +Just before dark that evening, an almost exhausted flier entered +the headquarters of Colonel Capell of the Second Rhodesians and +saluted. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Thompson," asked the superior, "what luck? The others have +all returned. Never saw a thing of Oldwick or his plane. I guess +we shall have to give it up unless you were more successful." +</P> + +<P> +"I was," replied the young officer. "I found the plane." +</P> + +<P> +"No!" ejaculated Colonel Capell. "Where was it? Any sign of Oldwick?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is in the rottenest hole in the ground you ever saw, quite a +bit inland. Narrow gorge. Saw the plane all right but can't reach +it. There was a regular devil of a lion wandering around it. I +landed near the edge of the cliff and was going to climb down and +take a look at the plane. But this fellow hung around for an hour +or more and I finally had to give it up." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think the lions got Oldwick?" asked the colonel. +</P> + +<P> +"I doubt it," replied Lieutenant Thompson, "from the fact that there +was no indication that the lion had fed anywhere about the plane. +I arose after I found it was impossible to get down around the +plane and reconnoitered up and down the gorge. Several miles to the +south I found a small, wooded valley in the center of which—please +don't think me crazy, sir—is a regular city—streets, buildings, +a central plaza with a lagoon, good-sized buildings with domes and +minarets and all that sort of stuff." +</P> + +<P> +The elder officer looked at the younger compassionately. "You're +all wrought up, Thompson," he said. "Go and take a good sleep. You +have been on this job now for a long while and it must have gotten +on your nerves." +</P> + +<P> +The young man shook his head a bit irritably. "Pardon me, sir," he +said, "but I am telling you the truth. I am not mistaken. I circled +over the place several times. It may be that Oldwick has found his +way there—or has been captured by these people." +</P> + +<P> +"Were there people in the city?" asked the colonel. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I saw them in the streets." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think cavalry could reach the valley?" asked the colonel. +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied Thompson, "the country is all cut up with these +deep gorges. Even infantry would have a devil of a time of it, and +there is absolutely no water that I could discover for at least a +two days' march." +</P> + +<P> +It was at this juncture that a big Vauxhall drew up in front of the +headquarters of the Second Rhodesians and a moment later General +Smuts alighted and entered. Colonel Capell arose from his chair and +saluted his superior, and the young lieutenant saluted and stood +at attention. +</P> + +<P> +"I was passing," said the general, "and I thought I would stop for +a chat. By the way, how is the search for Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick +progressing? I see Thompson here and I believe he was one of those +detailed to the search." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Capell, "he was. He is the last to come in. He found the +lieutenant's ship," and then he repeated what Lieutenant Thompson +had reported to him. The general sat down at the table with Colonel +Capell, and together the two officers, with the assistance of the +flier, marked the approximate location of the city which Thompson +had reported he'd discovered. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a mighty rough country," remarked Smuts, "but we can't leave +a stone unturned until we have exhausted every resource to find +that boy. We will send out a small force; a small one will be more +likely to succeed than a large one. About one company, Colonel, +or say two, with sufficient motor lorries for transport of rations +and water. Put a good man in command and let him establish a base +as far to the west as the motors can travel. You can leave one +company there and send the other forward. I am inclined to believe +you can establish your base within a day's march of the city and +if such is the case the force you send ahead should have no trouble +on the score of lack of water as there certainly must be water +in the valley where the city lies. Detail a couple of planes for +reconnaissance and messenger service so that the base can keep in +touch at all times with the advance party. When can your force move +out?" +</P> + +<P> +"We can load the lorries tonight," replied Capell, "and march about +one o'clock tomorrow morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Good," said the general, "keep me advised," and returning the +others' salutes he departed. +</P> + +<P> +As Tarzan leaped for the vines he realized that the lion was +close upon him and that his life depended upon the strength of the +creepers clinging to the city walls; but to his intense relief he +found the stems as large around as a man's arm, and the tendrils +which had fastened themselves to the wall so firmly fixed, that his +weight upon the stem appeared to have no appreciable effect upon +them. +</P> + +<P> +He heard Numa's baffled roar as the lion slipped downward clawing +futilely at the leafy creepers, and then with the agility of the +apes who had reared him, Tarzan bounded nimbly aloft to the summit +of the wall. +</P> + +<P> +A few feet below him was the flat roof of the adjoining building +and as he dropped to it his back was toward the niche from which +an embrasure looked out upon the gardens and the forest beyond, so +that he did not see the figure crouching there in the dark shadow. +But if he did not see he was not long in ignorance of the fact that +he was not alone, for scarcely had his feet touched the roof when +a heavy body leaped upon him from behind and brawny arms encircled +him about the waist. +</P> + +<P> +Taken at a disadvantage and lifted from his feet, the ape-man was, +for the time being, helpless. Whatever the creature was that had +seized him, it apparently had a well-defined purpose in mind, for +it walked directly toward the edge of the roof so that it was soon +apparent to Tarzan that he was to be hurled to the pavement below—a +most efficacious manner of disposing of an intruder. That he would +be either maimed or killed the ape-man was confident; but he had +no intention of permitting his assailant to carry out the plan. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan's arms and legs were free but he was in such a disadvantageous +position that he could not use them to any good effect. His only +hope lay in throwing the creature off its balance, and to this end +Tarzan straightened his body and leaned as far back against his +captor as he could, and then suddenly lunged forward. The result was +as satisfactory as he could possibly have hoped. The great weight +of the ape-man thrown suddenly out from an erect position caused +the other also to lunge violently forward with the result that to +save himself he involuntarily released his grasp. Catlike in his +movements, the ape-man had no sooner touched the roof than he was +upon his feet again, facing his adversary, a man almost as large +as himself and armed with a saber which he now whipped from its +scabbard. Tarzan, however, had no mind to allow the use of this +formidable weapon and so he dove for the other's legs beneath the +vicious cut that was directed at him from the side, and as a football +player tackles an opposing runner, Tarzan tackled his antagonist, +carrying him backward several yards and throwing him heavily to +the roof upon his back. +</P> + +<P> +No sooner had the man touched the roof than the ape-man was upon +his chest, one brawny hand sought and found the sword wrist and +the other the throat of the yellow-tunicked guardsman. Until then +the fellow had fought in silence but just as Tarzan's fingers +touched his throat he emitted a single piercing shriek that the +brown fingers cut off almost instantly. The fellow struggled to +escape the clutch of the naked creature upon his breast but equally +as well might he have fought to escape the talons of Numa, the +lion. +</P> + +<P> +Gradually his struggles lessened, his pin-point eyes popped from +their sockets, rolling horribly upward, while from his foam-flecked +lips his swollen tongue protruded. As his struggles ceased Tarzan +arose, and placing a foot upon the carcass of his kill, was upon +the point of screaming forth his victory cry when the thought that +the work before him required the utmost caution sealed his lips. +</P> + +<P> +Walking to the edge of the roof he looked down into the narrow, +winding street below. At intervals, apparently at each street +intersection, an oil flare sputtered dimly from brackets set +in the walls a trifle higher than a man's head. For the most part +the winding alleys were in dense shadow and even in the immediate +vicinity of the flares the illumination was far from brilliant. +In the restricted area of his vision he could see that there were +still a few of the strange inhabitants moving about the narrow +thoroughfares. +</P> + +<P> +To prosecute his search for the young officer and the girl he must +be able to move about the city as freely as possible, but to pass +beneath one of the corner flares, naked as he was except for a +loin cloth, and in every other respect markedly different from the +inhabitants of the city, would be but to court almost immediate +discovery. As these thoughts flashed through his mind and he cast +about for some feasible plan of action, his eyes fell upon the +corpse upon the roof near him, and immediately there occurred to +him the possibility of disguising himself in the raiment of his +conquered adversary. +</P> + +<P> +It required but a few moments for the ape-man to clothe himself +in the tights, sandals, and parrot emblazoned yellow tunic of the +dead soldier. Around his waist he buckled the saber belt but beneath +the tunic he retained the hunting knife of his dead father. His +other weapons he could not lightly discard, and so, in the hope +that he might eventually recover them, he carried them to the edge +of the wall and dropped them among the foliage at its base. At the +last moment he found it difficult to part with his rope, which, +with his knife, was his most accustomed weapon, and one which he +had used for the greatest length of time. He found that by removing +the saber belt he could wind the rope about his waist beneath his +tunic, and then replacing the belt still retain it entirely concealed +from chance observation. +</P> + +<P> +At last, satisfactorily disguised, and with even his shock of black +hair adding to the verisimilitude of his likeness to the natives +of the city, he sought for some means of reaching the street below. +While he might have risked a drop from the eaves of the roof he +feared to do so lest he attract the attention of passers-by, and +probable discovery. The roofs of the buildings varied in height but +as the ceilings were all low he found that he could easily travel +along the roof tops and this he did for some little distance, until +he suddenly discovered just ahead of him several figures reclining +upon the roof of a near-by building. +</P> + +<P> +He had noticed openings in each roof, evidently giving ingress to +the apartments below, and now, his advance cut off by those ahead +of him, he decided to risk the chance of reaching the street +through the interior of one of the buildings. Approaching one of +the openings he leaned over the black hole, and listened for sounds +of life in the apartment below. Neither his ears nor his nose +registered evidence of the presence of any living creature in the +immediate vicinity, and so without further hesitation the ape-man +lowered his body through the aperture and was about to drop +when his foot came in contact with the rung of a ladder, which he +immediately took advantage of to descend to the floor of the room +below. +</P> + +<P> +Here, all was almost total darkness until his eyes became accustomed +to the interior, the darkness of which was slightly alleviated +by the reflected light from a distant street flare which shone +intermittently through the narrow windows fronting the thoroughfare. +Finally, assured that the apartment was unoccupied, Tarzan sought +for a stairway to the ground floor. This he found in a dark hallway +upon which the room opened—a flight of narrow stone steps leading +downward toward the street. Chance favored him so that he reached +the shadows of the arcade without encountering any of the inmates +of the house. +</P> + +<P> +Once on the street he was not at a loss as to the direction in which +he wished to go, for he had tracked the two Europeans practically +to the gate, which he felt assured must have given them entry to +the city. His keen sense of direction and location made it possible +for him to judge with considerable accuracy the point within the +city where he might hope to pick up the spoor of those whom he +sought. +</P> + +<P> +The first need, however, was to discover a street paralleling the +northern wall along which he could make his way in the direction of +the gate he had seen from the forest. Realizing that his greatest +hope of success lay in the boldness of his operations he moved off +in the direction of the nearest street flare without making any +other attempt at concealment than keeping in the shadows of the +arcade, which he judged would draw no particular attention to him +in that he saw other pedestrians doing likewise. The few he passed +gave him no heed, and he had almost reached the nearest intersection +when he saw several men wearing yellow tunics identical to that +which he had taken from his prisoner. +</P> + +<P> +They were coming directly toward him and the ape-man saw that should +he continue on he would meet them directly at the intersection +of the two streets in the full light of the flare. His first +inclination was to go steadily on, for personally he had no objection +to chancing a scrimmage with them; but a sudden recollection of the +girl, possibly a helpless prisoner in the hands of these people, +caused him to seek some other and less hazardous plan of action. +</P> + +<P> +He had almost emerged from the shadow of the arcade into the full +light of the flare and the approaching men were but a few yards +from him, when he suddenly kneeled and pretended to adjust the +wrappings of his sandals—wrappings, which, by the way, he was +not at all sure that he had adjusted as their makers had intended +them to be adjusted. He was still kneeling when the soldiers came +abreast of him. Like the others he had passed they paid no attention +to him and the moment they were behind him he continued upon his +way, turning to the right at the intersection of the two streets. +</P> + +<P> +The street he now took was, at this point, so extremely winding +that, for the most part, it received no benefit from the flares at +either corner, so that he was forced practically to grope his way +in the dense shadows of the arcade. The street became a little +straighter just before he reached the next flare, and as he came +within sight of it he saw silhouetted against a patch of light the +figure of a lion. The beast was coming slowly down the street in +Tarzan's direction. +</P> + +<P> +A woman crossed the way directly in front of it and the lion paid +no attention to her, nor she to the lion. An instant later a little +child ran after the woman and so close did he run before the lion +that the beast was forced to turn out of its way a step to avoid +colliding with the little one. The ape-man grinned and crossed +quickly to the opposite side of the street, for his delicate senses +indicated that at this point the breeze stirring through the city +streets and deflected by the opposite wall would now blow from the +lion toward him as the beast passed, whereas if he remained upon +the side of the street upon which he had been walking when he +discovered the carnivore, his scent would have been borne to the +nostrils of the animal, and Tarzan was sufficiently jungle-wise +to realize that while he might deceive the eyes of man and beast +he could not so easily disguise from the nostrils of one of the +great cats that he was a creature of a different species from the +inhabitants of the city, the only human beings, possibly, that Numa +was familiar with. In him the cat would recognize a stranger, and, +therefore, an enemy, and Tarzan had no desire to be delayed by an +encounter with a savage lion. His ruse worked successfully, the +lion passing him with not more than a side glance in his direction. +</P> + +<P> +He had proceeded for some little distance and had about reached a +point where he judged he would find the street which led up from +the city gate when, at an intersection of two streets, his nostrils +caught the scent spoor of the girl. Out of a maze of other scent +spoors the ape-man picked the familiar odor of the girl and, a second +later, that of Smith-Oldwick. He had been forced to accomplish +it, however, by bending very low at each street intersection in +repeated attention to his sandal wrappings, bringing his nostrils +as close to the pavement as possible. +</P> + +<P> +As he advanced along the street through which the two had been +conducted earlier in the day he noted, as had they, the change +in the type of buildings as he passed from a residence district +into that portion occupied by shops and bazaars. Here the number +of flares was increased so that they appeared not only at street +intersections but midway between as well, and there were many +more people abroad. The shops were open and lighted, for with the +setting of the sun the intense heat of the day had given place to +a pleasant coolness. Here also the number of lions, roaming loose +through the thoroughfares, increased, and also for the first time +Tarzan noted the idiosyncrasies of the people. +</P> + +<P> +Once he was nearly upset by a naked man running rapidly through +the street screaming at the top of his voice. And again he nearly +stumbled over a woman who was making her way in the shadows of one +of the arcades upon all fours. At first the ape-man thought she was +hunting for something she had dropped, but as he drew to one side +to watch her, he saw that she was doing nothing of the kind—that +she had merely elected to walk upon her hands and knees rather +than erect upon her feet. In another block he saw two creatures +struggling upon the roof of an adjacent building until finally one +of them, wrenching himself free from the grasp of the other, gave +his adversary a mighty push which hurled him to the pavement below, +where he lay motionless upon the dusty road. For an instant a wild +shriek re-echoed through the city from the lungs of the victor and +then, without an instant's hesitation, the fellow leaped headfirst +to the street beside the body of his victim. A lion moved out from +the dense shadows of a doorway and approached the two bloody and +lifeless things before him. Tarzan wondered what effect the odor +of blood would have upon the beast and was surprised to see that +the animal only sniffed at the corpses and the hot red blood and +then lay down beside the two dead men. +</P> + +<P> +He had passed the lion but a short distance when his attention was +called to the figure of a man lowering himself laboriously from the +roof of a building upon the east side of the thoroughfare. Tarzan's +curiosity was aroused. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +In the Alcove +</H3> + +<P> +As Smith-Oldwick realized that he was alone and practically defenseless +in an enclosure filled with great lions he was, in his weakened +condition, almost in a state verging upon hysterical terror. +Clinging to the grating for support he dared not turn his head in +the direction of the beasts behind him. He felt his knees giving +weakly beneath him. Something within his head spun rapidly around. +He became very dizzy and nauseated and then suddenly all went +black before his eyes as his limp body collapsed at the foot of +the grating. +</P> + +<P> +How long he lay there unconscious he never knew; but as reason +slowly reasserted itself in his semi-conscious state he was aware +that he lay in a cool bed upon the whitest of linen in a bright +and cheery room, and that upon one side close to him was an open +window, the delicate hangings of which were fluttering in a soft +summer breeze which blew in from a sun-kissed orchard of ripening +fruit which he could see without—an old orchard in which soft, +green grass grew between the laden trees, and where the sun filtered +through the foliage; and upon the dappled greensward a little child +was playing with a frolicsome puppy. +</P> + +<P> +"God," thought the man, "what a horrible nightmare I have passed +through!" and then he felt a hand stroking his brow and cheek—a +cool and gentle hand that smoothed away his troubled recollections. +For a long minute Smith-Oldwick lay in utter peace and content +until gradually there was forced upon his sensibilities the fact +that the hand had become rough, and that it was no longer cool but +hot and moist; and suddenly he opened his eyes and looked up into +the face of a huge lion. +</P> + +<P> +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick was not only an English +gentleman and an officer in name, he was also what these implied—a +brave man; but when he realized that the sweet picture he had looked +upon was but the figment of a dream, and that in reality he still +lay where he had fallen at the foot of the grating with a lion +standing over him licking his face, the tears sprang to his eyes +and ran down his cheeks. Never, he thought, had an unkind fate +played so cruel a joke upon a human being. +</P> + +<P> +For some time he lay feigning death while the lion, having ceased +to lick him, sniffed about his body. There are some things than which +death is to be preferred; and there came at last to the Englishman +the realization that it would be better to die swiftly than to +lie in this horrible predicament until his mind broke beneath the +strain and he went mad. +</P> + +<P> +And so, deliberately and without haste, he rose, clinging to the +grating for support. At his first move the lion growled, but after +that he paid no further attention to the man, and when at last +Smith-Oldwick had regained his feet the lion moved indifferently +away. Then it was that the man turned and looked about the enclosure. +</P> + +<P> +Sprawled beneath the shade of the trees and lying upon the long bench +beside the south wall the great beasts rested, with the exception +of two or three who moved restlessly about. It was these that the +man feared and yet when two more of them had passed him by he began +to feel reassured, recalling the fact that they were accustomed to +the presence of man. +</P> + +<P> +And yet he dared not move from the grating. As the man examined his +surroundings he noted that the branches of one of the trees near +the further wall spread close beneath an open window. If he could +reach that tree and had strength to do so, he could easily climb +out upon the branch and escape, at least, from the enclosure of the +lions. But in order to reach the tree he must pass the full length +of the enclosure, and at the very bole of the tree itself two lions +lay sprawled out in slumber. +</P> + +<P> +For half an hour the man stood gazing longingly at this seeming +avenue of escape, and at last, with a muttered oath, he straightened +up and throwing back his shoulders in a gesture of defiance, he +walked slowly and deliberately down the center of the courtyard. +One of the prowling lions turned from the side wall and moved +toward the center directly in the man's path, but Smith-Oldwick was +committed to what he considered his one chance, for even temporary +safety, and so he kept on, ignoring the presence of the beast. The +lion slouched to his side and sniffed him and then, growling, he +bared his teeth. +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick drew the pistol from his shirt. "If he has made up +his mind to kill me," he thought. "I can't see that it will make +any difference in the long run whether I infuriate him or not. The +beggar can't kill me any deader in one mood than another." +</P> + +<P> +But with the man's movement in withdrawing the weapon from his shirt +the lion's attitude suddenly altered and though he still growled +he turned and sprang away, and then at last the Englishman stood +almost at the foot of the tree that was his goal, and between him +and safety sprawled a sleeping lion. +</P> + +<P> +Above him was a limb that ordinarily he could have leaped for and +reached with ease; but weak from his wounds and loss of blood he +doubted his ability to do so now. There was even a question as to +whether he would be able to ascend the tree at all. There was just +one chance: the lowest branch left the bole within easy reach of a +man standing on the ground close to the tree's stem, but to reach +a position where the branch would be accessible he must step over +the body of a lion. Taking a deep breath he placed one foot between +the sprawled legs of the beast and gingerly raised the other to plant +it upon the opposite side of the tawny body. "What," he thought, +"if the beggar should happen to wake now?" The suggestion sent a +shudder through his frame but he did not hesitate or withdraw his +foot. Gingerly he planted it beyond the lion, threw his weight +forward upon it and cautiously brought his other foot to the side +of the first. He had passed and the lion had not awakened. +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick was weak from loss of blood and the hardships he had +undergone, but the realization of his situation impelled him to a +show of agility and energy which he probably could scarcely have +equaled when in possession of his normal strength. With his life +depending upon the success of his efforts, he swung himself quickly +to the lower branches of the tree and scrambled upward out of reach +of possible harm from the lions below—though the sudden movement +in the branches above them awakened both the sleeping beasts. The +animals raised their heads and looked questioningly up for a moment +and then lay back again to resume their broken slumber. +</P> + +<P> +So easily had the Englishman succeeded thus far that he suddenly +began to question as to whether he had at any time been in real +danger. The lions, as he knew, were accustomed to the presence of +men, but yet they were still lions and he was free to admit that +he breathed more easily now that he was safe above their clutches. +</P> + +<P> +Before him lay the open window he had seen from the ground. He +was now on a level with it and could see an apparently unoccupied +chamber beyond, and toward this he made his way along a stout +branch that swung beneath the opening. It was not a difficult feat +to reach the window, and a moment later he drew himself over the +sill and dropped into the room. +</P> + +<P> +He found himself in a rather spacious apartment, the floor of which +was covered with rugs of barbaric design, while the few pieces of +furniture were of a similar type to that which he had seen in the +room on the first floor into which he and Bertha Kircher had been +ushered at the conclusion of their journey. At one end of the room +was what appeared to be a curtained alcove, the heavy hangings of +which completely hid the interior. In the wall opposite the window +and near the alcove was a closed door, apparently the only exit +from the room. +</P> + +<P> +He could see, in the waning light without, that the close of the +day was fast approaching, and he hesitated while he deliberated the +advisability of waiting until darkness had fallen, or of immediately +searching for some means of escape from the building and the city. +He at last decided that it would do no harm to investigate beyond +the room, that he might have some idea as how best to plan his +escape after dark. To this end he crossed the room toward the door +but he had taken only a few steps when the hangings before the +alcove separated and the figure of a woman appeared in the opening. +</P> + +<P> +She was young and beautifully formed; the single drapery wound around +her body from below her breasts left no detail of her symmetrical +proportions unrevealed, but her face was the face of an imbecile. +At sight of her Smith-Oldwick halted, momentarily expecting that +his presence would elicit screams for help from her. On the contrary +she came toward him smiling, and when she was close her slender, +shapely fingers touched the sleeve of his torn blouse as a curious +child might handle a new toy, and still with the same smile she +examined him from head to foot, taking in, in childish wonderment, +every detail of his apparel. +</P> + +<P> +Presently she spoke to him in a soft, well-modulated voice which +contrasted sharply with her facial appearance. The voice and the +girlish figure harmonized perfectly and seemed to belong to each +other, while the head and face were those of another creature. +Smith-Oldwick could understand no word of what she said, but +nevertheless he spoke to her in his own cultured tone, the effect +of which upon her was evidently most gratifying, for before he +realized her intentions or could prevent her she had thrown both +arms about his neck and was kissing him with the utmost abandon. +</P> + +<P> +The man tried to free himself from her rather surprising attentions, +but she only clung more tightly to him, and suddenly, as he recalled +that he had always heard that one must humor the mentally deficient, +and at the same time seeing in her a possible agency of escape, he +closed his eyes and returned her embraces. +</P> + +<P> +It was at this juncture that the door opened and a man entered. +With the sound from the first movement of the latch, Smith-Oldwick +opened his eyes, but though he endeavored to disengage himself +from the girl he realized that the newcomer had seen their rather +compromising position. The girl, whose back was toward the door, +seemed at first not to realize that someone had entered, but when +she did she turned quickly and as her eyes fell upon the man whose +terrible face was now distorted with an expression of hideous rage +she turned, screaming, and fled toward the alcove. The Englishman, +flushed and embarrassed, stood where she had left him. With the +sudden realization of the futility of attempting an explanation, +came that of the menacing appearance of the man, whom he now +recognized as the official who had received them in the room below. +The fellow's face, livid with insane rage and, possibly, jealousy, +was twitching violently, accentuating the maniacal expression that +it habitually wore. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment he seemed paralyzed by anger, and then with a loud +shriek that rose into an uncanny wail, he drew his curved saber +and sprang toward the Englishman. To Smith-Oldwick there seemed +no possible hope of escaping the keen-edged weapon in the hands of +the infuriated man, and though he felt assured that it would draw +down upon him an equally sudden and possibly more terrible death, +he did the only thing that remained for him to do—drew his pistol +and fired straight for the heart of the oncoming man. Without even +so much as a groan the fellow lunged forward upon the floor at +Smith-Oldwick's feet—killed instantly with a bullet through the +heart. For several seconds the silence of the tomb reigned in the +apartment. +</P> + +<P> +The Englishman, standing over the prostrate figure of the dead +man, watched the door with drawn weapon, expecting momentarily to +hear the rush of feet of those whom he was sure would immediately +investigate the report of the pistol. But no sounds came from below +to indicate that anyone there had heard the explosion, and presently +the man's attention was distracted from the door to the alcove, +between the hangings of which the face of the girl appeared. The +eyes were widely dilated and the lower jaw dropped in an expression +of surprise and awe. +</P> + +<P> +The girl's gaze was riveted upon the figure upon the floor, and +presently she crept stealthily into the room and tiptoed toward +the corpse. She appeared as though constantly poised for flight, +and when she had come to within two or three feet of the body she +stopped and, looking up at Smith-Oldwick, voiced some interrogation +which he could not, of course, understand. Then she came close to +the side of the dead man and kneeling upon the floor felt gingerly +of the body. +</P> + +<P> +Presently she shook the corpse by the shoulder, and then with a +show of strength which her tenderly girlish form belied, she turned +the body over on its back. If she had been in doubt before, one +glance at the hideous features set in death must have convinced +her that life was extinct, and with the realization there broke +from her lips peal after peal of mad, maniacal laughter as with her +little hands she beat upon the upturned face and breast of the dead +man. It was a gruesome sight from which the Englishman involuntarily +drew back—a gruesome, disgusting sight such as, he realized, might +never be witnessed outside a madhouse or this frightful city. +</P> + +<P> +In the midst of her frenzied rejoicing at the death of the man, +and Smith-Oldwick could attribute her actions to no other cause, +she suddenly desisted from her futile attacks upon the insensate +flesh and, leaping to her feet, ran quickly to the door, where +she shot a wooden bolt into its socket, thus securing them from +interference from without. Then she returned to the center of the +room and spoke rapidly to the Englishman, gesturing occasionally +toward the body of the slain man. When he could not understand, +she presently became provoked and in a sudden hysteria of madness +she rushed forward as though to strike the Englishman. Smith-Oldwick +dropped back a few steps and leveled his pistol upon her. Mad though +she must have been, she evidently was not so mad but what she had +connected the loud report, the diminutive weapon, and the sudden +death of the man in whose house she dwelt, for she instantly desisted +and quite as suddenly as it had come upon her, her homicidal mood +departed. +</P> + +<P> +Again the vacuous, imbecile smile took possession of her features, +and her voice, dropping its harshness, resumed the soft, well-modulated +tones with which she had first addressed him. Now she attempted by +signs to indicate her wishes, and motioning Smith-Oldwick to follow +her she went to the hangings and opening them disclosed the alcove. +It was rather more than an alcove, being a fair-sized room heavy +with rugs and hangings and soft, pillowed couches. Turning at the +entrance she pointed to the corpse upon the floor of the outer +room, and then crossing the alcove she raised some draperies which +covered a couch and fell to the floor upon all sides, disclosing +an opening beneath the furniture. +</P> + +<P> +To this opening she pointed and then again to the corpse, indicating +plainly to the Englishman that it was her desire that the body be +hidden here. But if he had been in doubt, she essayed to dispel it +by grasping his sleeve and urging him in the direction of the body +which the two of them then lifted and half carried and half dragged +into the alcove. At first they encountered some difficulty when +they endeavored to force the body of the man into the small space +she had selected for it, but eventually they succeeded in doing +so. Smith-Oldwick was again impressed by the fiendish brutality of +the girl. In the center of the room lay a blood-stained rug which +the girl quickly gathered up and draped over a piece of furniture +in such a way that the stain was hidden. By rearranging the other +rugs and by bringing one from the alcove she restored the room to +order so no outward indication of the tragedy so recently enacted +there was apparent. +</P> + +<P> +These things attended to, and the hangings draped once more about +the couch that they might hide the gruesome thing beneath, the girl +once more threw her arms about the Englishman's neck and dragged him +toward the soft and luxurious pillows above the dead man. Acutely +conscious of the horror of his position, filled with loathing, +disgust, and an outraged sense of decency, Smith-Oldwick was also +acutely alive to the demands of self-preservation. He felt that +he was warranted in buying his life at almost any price; but there +was a point at which his finer nature rebelled. +</P> + +<P> +It was at this juncture that a loud knock sounded upon the door of +the outer room. Springing from the couch, the girl seized the man +by the arm and dragged him after her to the wall close by the head +of the couch. Here she drew back one of the hangings, revealing a +little niche behind, into which she shoved the Englishman and dropped +the hangings before him, effectually hiding him from observation +from the rooms beyond. +</P> + +<P> +He heard her cross the alcove to the door of the outer room, and +heard the bolt withdrawn followed by the voice of a man mingled +with that of the girl. The tones of both seemed rational so that +he might have been listening to an ordinary conversation in some +foreign tongue. Yet with the gruesome experiences of the day behind +him, he could not but momentarily expect some insane outbreak from +beyond the hangings. +</P> + +<P> +He was aware from the sounds that the two had entered the alcove, +and, prompted by a desire to know what manner of man he might +next have to contend with, he slightly parted the heavy folds that +hid the two from his view and looking out saw them sitting on the +couch with their arms about each other, the girl with the same +expressionless smile upon her face that she had vouchsafed him. +He found he could so arrange the hangings that a very narrow slit +between two of them permitted him to watch the actions of those in +the alcove without revealing himself or increasing his liability +of detection. +</P> + +<P> +He saw the girl lavishing her kisses upon the newcomer, a much +younger man than he whom Smith-Oldwick had dispatched. Presently +the girl disengaged herself from the embrace of her lover as though +struck by a sudden memory. Her brows puckered as in labored thought +and then with a startled expression, she threw a glance backward +toward the hidden niche where the Englishman stood, after which she +whispered rapidly to her companion, occasionally jerking her head +in the direction of the niche and on several occasions making a +move with one hand and forefinger, which Smith-Oldwick could not +mistake as other than an attempt to describe his pistol and its +use. +</P> + +<P> +It was evident then to him that she was betraying him, and without +further loss of time he turned his back toward the hangings and +commenced a rapid examination of his hiding place. In the alcove +the man and the girl whispered, and then cautiously and with great +stealth, the man rose and drew his curved saber. On tiptoe he +approached the hangings, the girl creeping at his side. Neither +spoke now, nor was there any sound in the room as the girl sprang +forward and with outstretched arm and pointing finger indicated +a point upon the curtain at the height of a man's breast. Then +she stepped to one side, and her companion, raising his blade to +a horizontal position, lunged suddenly forward and with the full +weight of his body and his right arm, drove the sharp point through +the hangings and into the niche behind for its full length. +</P> + +<P> +Bertha Kircher, finding her struggles futile and realizing that she +must conserve her strength for some chance opportunity of escape, +desisted from her efforts to break from the grasp of Prince Metak +as the fellow fled with her through the dimly lighted corridors +of the palace. Through many chambers the prince fled, bearing his +prize. It was evident to the girl that, though her captor was the +king's son, he was not above capture and punishment for his deeds, +as otherwise he would not have shown such evident anxiety to escape +with her, as well as from the results of his act. +</P> + +<P> +From the fact that he was constantly turning affrighted eyes behind +them, and glancing suspiciously into every nook and corner that +they passed, she guessed that the prince's punishment might be both +speedy and terrible were he caught. +</P> + +<P> +She knew from their route that they must have doubled back several +times although she had quite lost all sense of direction; but she +did not know that the prince was as equally confused as she, and +that really he was running in an aimless, erratic manner, hoping +that he might stumble eventually upon a place of refuge. +</P> + +<P> +Nor is it to be wondered at that this offspring of maniacs should +have difficulty in orienting himself in the winding mazes of a +palace designed by maniacs for a maniac king. Now a corridor turned +gradually and almost imperceptibly in a new direction, again one +doubled back upon and crossed itself; here the floor rose gradually +to the level of another story, or again there might be a spiral +stairway down which the mad prince rushed dizzily with his burden. +Upon what floor they were or in what part of the palace even Metak +had no idea until, halting abruptly at a closed door, he pushed +it open to step into a brilliantly lighted chamber filled with +warriors, at one end of which sat the king upon a great throne; +beside this, to the girl's surprise, she saw another throne where +was seated a huge lioness, recalling to her the words of Xanila +which, at the time, had made no impression on her: "But he had many +other queens, nor were they all human." +</P> + +<P> +At sight of Metak and the girl, the king rose from his throne and +started across the chamber, all semblance of royalty vanishing in +the maniac's uncontrollable passion. And as he came he shrieked +orders and commands at the top of his voice. No sooner had Metak so +unwarily opened the door to this hornets' nest than he immediately +withdrew and, turning, fled again in a new direction. But now +a hundred men were close upon his heels, laughing, shrieking, and +possibly cursing. He dodged hither and thither, distancing them for +several minutes until, at the bottom of a long runway that inclined +steeply downward from a higher level, he burst into a subterranean +apartment lighted by many flares. +</P> + +<P> +In the center of the room was a pool of considerable size, the +level of the water being but a few inches below the floor. Those +behind the fleeing prince and his captive entered the chamber in +time to see Metak leap into the water with the girl and disappear +beneath the surface taking his captive with him, nor, though they +waited excitedly around the rim of the pool, did either of the two +again emerge. +</P> + +<P> +When Smith-Oldwick turned to investigate his hiding place, his +hands, groping upon the rear wall, immediately came in contact with +the wooden panels of a door and a bolt such as that which secured +the door of the outer room. Cautiously and silently drawing the +wooden bar he pushed gently against the panel to find that the door +swung easily and noiselessly outward into utter darkness. Moving +carefully and feeling forward for each step he passed out of the +niche, closing the door behind him. +</P> + +<P> +Feeling about, he discovered that he was in a narrow corridor which +he followed cautiously for a few yards to be brought up suddenly +by what appeared to be a ladder across the passageway. He felt of +the obstruction carefully with his hands until he was assured that +it was indeed a ladder and that a solid wall was just beyond it, +ending the corridor. Therefore, as he could not go forward and as +the ladder ended at the floor upon which he stood, and as he did +not care to retrace his steps, there was no alternative but to climb +upward, and this he did, his pistol ready in a side pocket of his +blouse. +</P> + +<P> +He had ascended but two or three rungs when his head came suddenly +and painfully in contact with a hard surface above him. Groping +about with one hand over his head he discovered that the obstacle +seemed to be the covering to a trap door in the ceiling which, +with a little effort, he succeeded in raising a couple of inches, +revealing through the cracks the stars of a clear African night. +</P> + +<P> +With a sigh of relief, but with unabated caution, he gently slid +the trapdoor to one side far enough to permit him to raise his +eyes above the level of the roof. A quick glance assured him that +there was none near enough to observe his movements, nor, in fact, +as far as he could see, was anyone in sight. +</P> + +<P> +Drawing himself quickly through the aperture he replaced the cover +and endeavored to regain his bearings. Directly to the south of him +the low roof he stood upon adjoined a much loftier portion of the +building, which rose several stories above his head. A few yards +to the west he could see the flickering light of the flares of a +winding street, and toward this he made his way. +</P> + +<P> +From the edge of the roof he looked down upon the night life of +the mad city. He saw men and women and children and lions, and of +all that he saw it was quite evident to him that only the lions were +sane. With the aid of the stars he easily picked out the points of +the compass, and following carefully in his memory the steps that +had led him into the city and to the roof upon which he now stood, +he knew that the thoroughfare upon which he looked was the same +along which he and Bertha Kircher had been led as prisoners earlier +in the day. +</P> + +<P> +If he could reach this he might be able to pass undetected in the +shadows of the arcade to the city gate. He had already given up as +futile the thought of seeking out the girl and attempting to succor +her, for he knew that alone and with the few remaining rounds of +ammunition he possessed, he could do nothing against this city-full +of armed men. That he could live to cross the lion-infested forest +beyond the city was doubtful, and having, by some miracle, won to +the desert beyond, his fate would be certainly sealed; but yet he +was consumed with but one desire—to leave behind him as far as +possible this horrid city of maniacs. +</P> + +<P> +He saw that the roofs rose to the same level as that upon which +he stood unbroken to the north to the next street intersection. +Directly below him was a flare. To reach the pavement in safety +it was necessary that he find as dark a portion of the avenue as +possible. And so he sought along the edge of the roofs for a place +where he might descend in comparative concealment. +</P> + +<P> +He had proceeded some little way beyond a point where the street curved +abruptly to the east before he discovered a location sufficiently +to his liking. But even here he was compelled to wait a considerable +time for a satisfactory moment for his descent, which he had +decided to make down one of the pillars of the arcade. Each time +he prepared to lower himself over the edge of the roofs, footsteps +approaching in one direction or another deterred him until at last +he had almost come to the conclusion that he would have to wait +for the entire city to sleep before continuing his flight. +</P> + +<P> +But finally came a moment which he felt propitious and though +with inward qualms, it was with outward calm that he commenced the +descent to the street below. +</P> + +<P> +When at last he stood beneath the arcade he was congratulating +himself upon the success that had attended his efforts up to this +point when, at a slight sound behind him, he turned to see a tall +figure in the yellow tunic of a warrior confronting him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Out of the Niche +</H3> + +<P> +Numa, the lion, growled futilely in baffled rage as he slipped +back to the ground at the foot of the wall after his unsuccessful +attempt to drag down the fleeing ape-man. He poised to make a +second effort to follow his escaping quarry when his nose picked +up a hitherto unnoticed quality in the scent spoor of his intended +prey. Sniffing at the ground that Tarzan's feet had barely touched, +Numa's growl changed to a low whine, for he had recognized the +scent spoor of the man-thing that had rescued him from the pit of +the Wamabos. +</P> + +<P> +What thoughts passed through that massive head? Who may say? But +now there was no indication of baffled rage as the great lion turned +and moved majestically eastward along the wall. At the eastern end +of the city he turned toward the south, continuing his way to the +south side of the wall along which were the pens and corrals where +the herbivorous flocks were fattened for the herds of domesticated +lions within the city. The great black lions of the forest fed +with almost equal impartiality upon the flesh of the grass-eaters +and man. Like Numa of the pit they occasionally made excursions across +the desert to the fertile valley of the Wamabos, but principally +they took their toll of meat from the herds of the walled city of +Herog, the mad king, or seized upon some of his luckless subjects. +</P> + +<P> +Numa of the pit was in some respects an exception to the rule which +guided his fellows of the forest in that as a cub he had been +trapped and carried into the city, where he was kept for breeding +purposes, only to escape in his second year. They had tried to teach +him in the city of maniacs that he must not eat the flesh of man, +and the result of their schooling was that only when aroused to +anger or upon that one occasion that he had been impelled by the +pangs of hunger, did he ever attack man. +</P> + +<P> +The animal corrals of the maniacs are protected by an outer wall +or palisade of upright logs, the lower ends of which are imbedded +in the ground, the logs themselves being placed as close together +as possible and further reinforced and bound together by withes. +At intervals there are gates through which the flocks are turned +on to the grazing land south of the city during the daytime. It is +at such times that the black lions of the forest take their greatest +toll from the herds, and it is infrequent that a lion attempts to +enter the corrals at night. But Numa of the pit, having scented the +spoor of his benefactor, was minded again to pass into the walled +city, and with that idea in his cunning brain he crept stealthily +along the outer side of the palisade, testing each gateway with a +padded foot until at last he discovered one which seemed insecurely +fastened. Lowering his great head he pressed against the gate, surging +forward with all the weight of his huge body and the strength of +his giant sinews—one mighty effort and Numa was within the corral. +</P> + +<P> +The enclosure contained a herd of goats which immediately upon the +advent of the carnivore started a mad stampede to the opposite end +of the corral which was bounded by the south wall of the city. Numa +had been within such a corral as this before, so that he knew that +somewhere in the wall was a small door through which the goatherd +might pass from the city to his flock; toward this door he made his +way, whether by plan or accident it is difficult to say, though in +the light of ensuing events it seems possible that the former was +the case. +</P> + +<P> +To reach the gate he must pass directly through the herd which had +huddled affrightedly close to the opening so that once again there +was a furious rush of hoofs as Numa strode quickly to the side of +the portal. If Numa had planned, he had planned well, for scarcely +had he reached his position when the door opened and a herder's head +was projected into the enclosure, the fellow evidently seeking an +explanation of the disturbance among his flock. Possibly he discovered +the cause of the commotion, but it is doubtful, for it was dark +and the great, taloned paw that reached up and struck downward a +mighty blow that almost severed his head from his body, moved so +quickly and silently that the man was dead within a fraction of +a second from the moment that he opened the door, and then Numa, +knowing now his way, passed through the wall into the dimly lighted +streets of the city beyond. +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick's first thought when he was accosted by the figure in +the yellow tunic of a soldier was to shoot the man dead and trust +to his legs and the dimly lighted, winding streets to permit his +escape, for he knew that to be accosted was equivalent to recapture +since no inhabitant of this weird city but would recognize him +as an alien. It would be a simple thing to shoot the man from the +pocket where the pistol lay without drawing the weapon, and with +this purpose in mind the Englishman slipped his hands into the +side pocket of his blouse, but simultaneously with this action his +wrist was seized in a powerful grasp and a low voice whispered in +English: "Lieutenant, it is I, Tarzan of the Apes." +</P> + +<P> +The relief from the nervous strain under which he had been laboring +for so long, left Smith-Oldwick suddenly as weak as a babe, so that +he was forced to grasp the ape-man's arm for support—and when he +found his voice all he could do was to repeat: "You? You? I thought +you were dead!" +</P> + +<P> +"No, not dead," replied Tarzan, "and I see that you are not either. +But how about the girl?" +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't seen her," replied the Englishman, "since we were +brought here. We were taken into a building on the plaza close by +and there we were separated. She was led away by guards and I was +put into a den of lions. I haven't seen her since." +</P> + +<P> +"How did you escape?" asked the ape-man. +</P> + +<P> +"The lions didn't seem to pay much attention to me and I climbed +out of the place by way of a tree and through a window into a room +on the second floor. Had a little scrimmage there with a fellow and +was hidden by one of their women in a hole in the wall. The loony +thing then betrayed me to another bounder who happened in, but I +found a way out and up onto the roof where I have been for quite +some time now waiting for a chance to get down into the street +without being seen. That's all I know, but I haven't the slightest +idea in the world where to look for Miss Kircher." +</P> + +<P> +"Where were you going now?" asked Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick hesitated. "I—well, I couldn't do anything here +alone and I was going to try to get out of the city and in some +way reach the British forces east and bring help." +</P> + +<P> +"You couldn't do it," said Tarzan. "Even if you got through the +forest alive you could never cross the desert country without food +or water." +</P> + +<P> +"What shall we do, then?" asked the Englishman. +</P> + +<P> +"We will see if we can find the girl," replied the ape-man, and +then, as though he had forgotten the presence of the Englishman and +was arguing to convince himself, "She may be a German and a spy, +but she is a woman—a white woman—I can't leave her here." +</P> + +<P> +"But how are we going to find her?" asked the Englishman. +</P> + +<P> +"I have followed her this far," replied Tarzan, "and unless I am +greatly mistaken I can follow her still farther." +</P> + +<P> +"But I cannot accompany you in these clothes without exposing us +both to detection and arrest," argued Smith-Oldwick. +</P> + +<P> +"We will get you other clothes, then," said Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"How?" asked the Englishman. +</P> + +<P> +"Go back to the roof beside the city wall where I entered," replied +the ape-man with a grim smile, "and ask the naked dead man there +how I got my disguise." +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick looked quickly up at his companion. "I have it," he +exclaimed. "I know where there is a fellow who doesn't need his +clothes anymore, and if we can get back on this roof I think we can +find him and get his apparel without much resistance. Only a girl +and a young fellow whom we could easily surprise and overcome." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" asked Tarzan. "How do you know that the man +doesn't need his clothes any more." +</P> + +<P> +"I know he doesn't need them," replied the Englishman, "because I +killed him." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" exclaimed the ape-man, "I see. I guess it might be easier +that way than to tackle one of these fellows in the street where +there is more chance of our being interrupted." +</P> + +<P> +"But how are we going to reach the roof again, after all?" queried +Smith-Oldwick. +</P> + +<P> +"The same way you came down," replied Tarzan. "This roof is low +and there is a little ledge formed by the capital of each column; +I noticed that when you descended. Some of the buildings wouldn't +have been so easy to negotiate." +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick looked up toward the eaves of the low roof. "It's +not very high," he said, "but I am afraid I can't make it. I'll +try—I've been pretty weak since a lion mauled me and the guards +beat me up, and too, I haven't eaten since yesterday." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan thought a moment. "You've got to go with me," he said at +last. "I can't leave you here. The only chance you have of escape +is through me and I can't go with you now until we have found the +girl." +</P> + +<P> +"I want to go with you," replied Smith-Oldwick. "I'm not much good +now but at that two of us may be better than one." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Tarzan, "come on," and before the Englishman +realized what the other contemplated Tarzan had picked him up +and thrown him across his shoulder. "Now, hang on," whispered the +ape-man, and with a short run he clambered apelike up the front of the +low arcade. So quickly and easily was it done that the Englishman +scarcely had time to realize what was happening before he was +deposited safely upon the roof. +</P> + +<P> +"There," remarked Tarzan. "Now, lead me to the place you speak of." +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick had no difficulty in locating the trap in the roof +through which he had escaped. Removing the cover the ape-man bent +low, listening and sniffing. "Come," he said after a moment's +investigation and lowered himself to the floor beneath. Smith-Oldwick +followed him, and together the two crept through the darkness toward +the door in the back wall of the niche in which the Englishman +had been hidden by the girl. They found the door ajar and opening +it Tarzan saw a streak of light showing through the hangings that +separated it from the alcove. +</P> + +<P> +Placing his eye close to the aperture he saw the girl and the young +man of which the Englishman had spoken seated on opposite sides of +a low table upon which food was spread. Serving them was a giant +Negro and it was he whom the ape-man watched most closely. Familiar +with the tribal idiosyncrasies of a great number of African tribes +over a considerable proportion of the Dark Continent, the Tarmangani +at last felt reasonably assured that he knew from what part of +Africa this slave had come, and the dialect of his people. There +was, however, the chance that the fellow had been captured in +childhood and that through long years of non-use his native language +had become lost to him, but then there always had been an element +of chance connected with nearly every event of Tarzan's life, so he +waited patiently until in the performance of his duties the black +man approached a little table which stood near the niche in which +Tarzan and the Englishman hid. +</P> + +<P> +As the slave bent over some dish which stood upon the table his +ear was not far from the aperture through which Tarzan looked. +Apparently from a solid wall, for the Negro had no knowledge of +the existence of the niche, came to him in the tongue of his own +people, the whispered words: "If you would return to the land of +the Wamabo say nothing, but do as I bid you." +</P> + +<P> +The black rolled terrified eyes toward the hangings at his side. +The ape-man could see him tremble and for a moment was fearful that +in his terror he would betray them. "Fear not," he whispered, "we +are your friends." +</P> + +<P> +At last the Negro spoke in a low whisper, scarcely audible even to +the keen ears of the ape-man. "What," he asked, "can poor Otobu do +for the god who speaks to him out of the solid wall?" +</P> + +<P> +"This," replied Tarzan. "Two of us are coming into this room. Help +us prevent this man and woman from escaping or raising an outcry +that will bring others to their aid." +</P> + +<P> +"I will help you," replied the Negro, "to keep them within this +room, but do not fear that their outcries will bring others. These +walls are built so that no sound may pass through, and even if it +did what difference would it make in this village which is constantly +filled with the screams of its mad people. Do not fear their cries. +No one will notice them. I go to do your bidding." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan saw the black cross the room to the table upon which he +placed another dish of food before the feasters. Then he stepped +to a place behind the man and as he did so raised his eyes to the +point in the wall from which the ape-man's voice had come to him, +as much as to say, "Master, I am ready." +</P> + +<P> +Without more delay Tarzan threw aside the hangings and stepped +into the room. As he did so the young man rose from the table to be +instantly seized from behind by the black slave. The girl, whose +back was toward the ape-man and his companion, was not at first +aware of their presence but saw only the attack of the slave upon +her lover, and with a loud scream she leaped forward to assist the +latter. Tarzan sprang to her side and laid a heavy hand upon her +arm before she could interfere with Otobu's attentions to the young +man. At first, as she turned toward the ape-man, her face reflected +only mad rage, but almost instantly this changed into the vapid +smile with which Smith-Oldwick was already familiar and her slim +fingers commenced their soft appraisement of the newcomer. +</P> + +<P> +Almost immediately she discovered Smith-Oldwick but there was +neither surprise nor anger upon her countenance. Evidently the poor +mad creature knew but two principal moods, from one to the other +of which she changed with lightning-like rapidity. +</P> + +<P> +"Watch her a moment," said Tarzan to the Englishman, "while I disarm +that fellow," and stepping to the side of the young man whom Otobu +was having difficulty in subduing Tarzan relieved him of his saber. +"Tell them," he said to the Negro, "if you speak their language, +that we will not harm them if they leave us alone and let us depart +in peace." +</P> + +<P> +The black had been looking at Tarzan with wide eyes, evidently +not comprehending how this god could appear in so material a form, +and with the voice of a white bwana and the uniform of a warrior +of this city to which he quite evidently did not belong. But +nevertheless his first confidence in the voice that offered him +freedom was not lessened and he did as Tarzan bid him. +</P> + +<P> +"They want to know what you want," said Otobu, after he had spoken +to the man and the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell them that we want food for one thing," said Tarzan, "and +something else that we know where to find in this room. Take the +man's spear, Otobu; I see it leaning against the wall in the corner +of the room. And you, Lieutenant, take his saber," and then again +to Otobu, "I will watch the man while you go and bring forth that +which is beneath the couch over against this wall," and Tarzan +indicated the location of the piece of furniture. +</P> + +<P> +Otobu, trained to obey, did as he was bid. The eyes of the man and +the girl followed him, and as he drew back the hangings and dragged +forth the corpse of the man Smith-Oldwick had slain, the girl's lover +voiced a loud scream and attempted to leap forward to the side of +the corpse. Tarzan, however, seized him and then the fellow turned +upon him with teeth and nails. It was with no little difficulty +that Tarzan finally subdued the man, and while Otobu was removing +the outer clothing from the corpse, Tarzan asked the black to +question the young man as to his evident excitement at the sight +of the body. +</P> + +<P> +"I can tell you Bwana," replied Otobu. "This man was his father." +</P> + +<P> +"What is he saying to the girl?" asked Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"He is asking her if she knew that the body of his father was under +the couch. And she is saying that she did not know it." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan repeated the conversation to Smith-Oldwick, who smiled. "If +the chap could have seen her removing all evidence of the crime and +arranging the hangings of the couch so that the body was concealed +after she had helped me drag it across the room, he wouldn't have +very much doubt as to her knowledge of the affair. The rug you see +draped over the bench in the corner was arranged to hide the blood +stain—in some ways they are not so loony after all." +</P> + +<P> +The black man had now removed the outer garments from the dead +man, and Smith-Oldwick was hastily drawing them on over his own +clothing. "And now," said Tarzan, "we will sit down and eat. One +accomplishes little on an empty stomach." As they ate the ape-man +attempted to carry on a conversation with the two natives through +Otobu. He learned that they were in the palace which had belonged +to the dead man lying upon the floor beside them. He had held an +official position of some nature, and he and his family were of +the ruling class but were not members of the court. +</P> + +<P> +When Tarzan questioned them about Bertha Kircher, the young man +said that she had been taken to the king's palace; and when asked +why replied: "For the king, of course." +</P> + +<P> +During the conversation both the man and the girl appeared quite +rational, even asking some questions as to the country from which +their uninvited guests had come, and evidencing much surprise when +informed that there was anything but waterless wastes beyond their +own valley. +</P> + +<P> +When Otobu asked the man, at Tarzan's suggestion, if he was familiar +with the interior of the king's palace, he replied that he was; +that he was a friend of Prince Metak, one of the king's sons, and +that he often visited the palace and that Metak also came here to +his father's palace frequently. As Tarzan ate he racked his brain +for some plan whereby he might utilize the knowledge of the young +man to gain entrance to the palace, but he had arrived at nothing +which he considered feasible when there came a loud knocking upon +the door of the outer room. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment no one spoke and then the young man raised his voice +and cried aloud to those without. Immediately Otobu sprang for the +fellow and attempted to smother his words by clapping a palm over +his mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"What is he saying?" asked Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"He is telling them to break down the door and rescue him and the +girl from two strangers who entered and made them prisoners. If +they enter they will kill us all." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell him," said Tarzan, "to hold his peace or I will slay him." +</P> + +<P> +Otobu did as he was instructed and the young maniac lapsed into +scowling silence. Tarzan crossed the alcove and entered the outer +room to note the effect of the assaults upon the door. Smith-Oldwick +followed him a few steps, leaving Otobu to guard the two prisoners. +The ape-man saw that the door could not long withstand the heavy +blows being dealt the panels from without. "I wanted to use that +fellow in the other room," he said to Smith-Oldwick, "but I am +afraid we will have to get out of here the way we came. We can't +accomplish anything by waiting here and meeting these fellows. +From the noise out there there must be a dozen of them. Come," he +said, "you go first and I will follow." +</P> + +<P> +As the two turned back from the alcove they witnessed an entirely +different scene from that upon which they had turned their backs +but a moment or two before. Stretched on the floor and apparently +lifeless lay the body of the black slave, while the two prisoners +had vanished completely. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Flight from Xuja +</H3> + +<P> +As Metak bore Bertha Kircher toward the edge of the pool, the girl +at first had no conception of the deed he contemplated but when, as +they approached the edge, he did not lessen his speed she guessed +the frightful truth. As he leaped head foremost with her into the +water, she closed her eyes and breathed a silent prayer, for she +was confident that the maniac had no other purpose than to drown +himself and her. And yet, so potent is the first law of nature that +even in the face of certain death, as she surely believed herself, +she clung tenaciously to life, and while she struggled to free +herself from the powerful clutches of the madman, she held her +breath against the final moment when the asphyxiating waters must +inevitably flood her lungs. +</P> + +<P> +Through the frightful ordeal she maintained absolute control of +her senses so that, after the first plunge, she was aware that the +man was swimming with her beneath the surface. He took perhaps not +more than a dozen strokes directly toward the end wall of the pool +and then he arose; and once again she knew that her head was above +the surface. She opened her eyes to see that they were in a corridor +dimly lighted by gratings set in its roof—a winding corridor, +water filled from wall to wall. +</P> + +<P> +Along this the man was swimming with easy powerful strokes, at the +same time holding her chin above the water. For ten minutes he swam +thus without stopping and the girl heard him speak to her, though +she could not understand what he said, as he evidently immediately +realized, for, half floating, he shifted his hold upon her so that +he could touch her nose and mouth with the fingers of one hand. She +grasped what he meant and immediately took a deep breath, whereat +he dove quickly beneath the surface pulling her down with him and +again for a dozen strokes or more he swam thus wholly submerged. +</P> + +<P> +When they again came to the surface, Bertha Kircher saw that they +were in a large lagoon and that the bright stars were shining high +above them, while on either hand domed and minareted buildings were +silhouetted sharply against the starlit sky. Metak swam swiftly to +the north side of the lagoon where, by means of a ladder, the two +climbed out upon the embankment. There were others in the plaza +but they paid but little if any attention to the two bedraggled +figures. As Metak walked quickly across the pavement with the girl +at his side, Bertha Kircher could only guess at the man's intentions. +She could see no way in which to escape and so she went docilely +with him, hoping against hope that some fortuitous circumstance +might eventually arise that would give her the coveted chance for +freedom and life. +</P> + +<P> +Metak led her toward a building which, as she entered, she recognized +as the same to which she and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick had been led +when they were brought into the city. There was no man sitting +behind the carved desk now, but about the room were a dozen or more +warriors in the tunics of the house to which they were attached, in +this case white with a small lion in the form of a crest or badge +upon the breast and back of each. +</P> + +<P> +As Metak entered and the men recognized him they arose, and in answer +to a query he put, they pointed to an arched doorway at the rear +of the room. Toward this Metak led the girl, and then, as though +filled with a sudden suspicion, his eyes narrowed cunningly and +turning toward the soldiery he issued an order which resulted in +their all preceding him through the small doorway and up a flight +of stairs a short distance beyond. +</P> + +<P> +The stairway and the corridor above were lighted by small flares +which revealed several doors in the walls of the upper passageway. +To one of these the men led the prince. Bertha Kircher saw them +knock upon the door and heard a voice reply faintly through the +thick door to the summons. The effect upon those about her was +electrical. Instantly excitement reigned, and in response to orders +from the king's son the soldiers commenced to beat heavily upon the +door, to throw their bodies against it and to attempt to hew away +the panels with their sabers. The girl wondered at the cause of +the evident excitement of her captors. +</P> + +<P> +She saw the door giving to each renewed assault, but what she did +not see just before it crashed inward was the figures of the two +men who alone, in all the world, might have saved her, pass between +the heavy hangings in an adjoining alcove and disappear into a dark +corridor. +</P> + +<P> +As the door gave and the warriors rushed into the apartment followed +by the prince, the latter became immediately filled with baffled +rage, for the rooms were deserted except for the dead body of the +owner of the palace, and the still form of the black slave, Otobu, +where they lay stretched upon the floor of the alcove. +</P> + +<P> +The prince rushed to the windows and looked out, but as the suite +overlooked the barred den of lions from which, the prince thought, +there could be no escape, his puzzlement was only increased. Though +he searched about the room for some clue to the whereabouts of its +former occupants he did not discover the niche behind the hangings. +With the fickleness of insanity he quickly tired of the search, +and, turning to the soldiers who had accompanied him from the floor +below, dismissed them. +</P> + +<P> +After setting up the broken door as best they could, the men left +the apartment and when they were again alone Metak turned toward +the girl. As he approached her, his face distorted by a hideous +leer, his features worked rapidly in spasmodic twitches. The girl, +who was standing at the entrance of the alcove, shrank back, her +horror reflected in her face. Step by step she backed across the +room, while the crouching maniac crept stealthily after her with +claw-like fingers poised in anticipation of the moment they should +leap forth and seize her. +</P> + +<P> +As she passed the body of the Negro, her foot touched some obstacle +at her side, and glancing down she saw the spear with which Otobu +had been supposed to hold the prisoners. Instantly she leaned forward +and snatched it from the floor with its sharp point directed at +the body of the madman. The effect upon Metak was electrical. From +stealthy silence he broke into harsh peals of laughter, and drawing +his saber danced to and fro before the girl, but whichever way he +went the point of the spear still threatened him. +</P> + +<P> +Gradually the girl noticed a change in the tone of the creature's +screams that was also reflected in the changing expression upon his +hideous countenance. His hysterical laughter was slowly changing +into cries of rage while the silly leer upon his face was supplanted +by a ferocious scowl and up-curled lips, which revealed the sharpened +fangs beneath. +</P> + +<P> +He now ran rapidly in almost to the spear's point, only to jump +away, run a few steps to one side and again attempt to make an +entrance, the while he slashed and hewed at the spear with such +violence that it was with difficulty the girl maintained her guard, +and all the time was forced to give ground step by step. She had +reached the point where she was standing squarely against the couch +at the side of the room when, with an incredibly swift movement, +Metak stooped and grasping a low stool hurled it directly at her +head. +</P> + +<P> +She raised the spear to fend off the heavy missile, but she was +not entirely successful, and the impact of the blow carried her +backward upon the couch, and instantly Metak was upon her. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan and Smith-Oldwick gave little thought as to what had become +of the other two occupants of the room. They were gone, and so far +as these two were concerned they might never return. Tarzan's one +desire was to reach the street again, where, now that both of them +were in some sort of disguise, they should be able to proceed with +comparative safety to the palace and continue their search for the +girl. +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick preceded Tarzan along the corridor and as they reached +the ladder he climbed aloft to remove the trap. He worked for a +moment and then, turning, addressed Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"Did we replace the cover on this trap when we came down? I don't +recall that we did." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Tarzan, "it was left open." +</P> + +<P> +"So I thought," said Smith-Oldwick, "but it's closed now and locked. +I cannot move it. Possibly you can," and he descended the ladder. +</P> + +<P> +Even Tarzan's immense strength, however, had no effect other than +to break one of the rungs of the ladder against which he was pushing, +nearly precipitating him to the floor below. After the rung broke +he rested for a moment before renewing his efforts, and as he stood +with his head near the cover of the trap, he distinctly heard voices +on the roof above him. +</P> + +<P> +Dropping down to Oldwick's side he told him what he had heard. "We +had better find some other way out," he said, and the two started +to retrace their steps toward the alcove. Tarzan was again in the +lead, and as he opened the door in the back of the niche, he was +suddenly startled to hear, in tones of terror and in a woman's +voice, the words: "O God, be merciful" from just beyond the hangings. +</P> + +<P> +Here was no time for cautious investigation and, not even waiting +to find the aperture and part the hangings, but with one sweep of +a brawny hand dragging them from their support, the ape-man leaped +from the niche into the alcove. +</P> + +<P> +At the sound of his entry the maniac looked up, and as he saw at +first only a man in the uniform of his father's soldiers, he shrieked +forth an angry order, but at the second glance, which revealed the +face of the newcomer, the madman leaped from the prostrate form +of his victim and, apparently forgetful of the saber which he had +dropped upon the floor beside the couch as he leaped to grapple +with the girl, closed with bare hands upon his antagonist, his +sharp-filed teeth searching for the other's throat. +</P> + +<P> +Metak, the son of Herog, was no weakling. Powerful by nature and +rendered still more so in the throes of one of his maniacal fits +of fury he was no mean antagonist, even for the mighty ape-man, +and to this a distinct advantage for him was added by the fact that +almost at the outset of their battle Tarzan, in stepping backward, +struck his heel against the corpse of the man whom Smith-Oldwick +had killed, and fell heavily backward to the floor with Metak upon +his breast. +</P> + +<P> +With the quickness of a cat the maniac made an attempt to fasten +his teeth in Tarzan's jugular, but a quick movement of the latter +resulted in his finding a hold only upon the Tarmangani's shoulder. +Here he clung while his fingers sought Tarzan's throat, and it was +then that the ape-man, realizing the possibility of defeat, called +to Smith-Oldwick to take the girl and seek to escape. +</P> + +<P> +The Englishman looked questioningly at Bertha Kircher, who had now +risen from the couch, shaking and trembling. She saw the question +in his eyes and with an effort she drew herself to her full height. +"No," she cried, "if he dies here I shall die with him. Go if you +wish to. You can do nothing here, but I—I cannot go." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan had now regained his feet, but the maniac still clung to +him tenaciously. The girl turned suddenly to Smith-Oldwick. "Your +pistol!" she cried. "Why don't you shoot him?" +</P> + +<P> +The man drew the weapon from his pocket and approached the two +antagonists, but by this time they were moving so rapidly that there +was no opportunity for shooting one without the danger of hitting +the other. At the same time Bertha Kircher circled about them with +the prince's saber, but neither could she find an opening. Again +and again the two men fell to the floor, until presently Tarzan +found a hold upon the other's throat, against which contingency +Metak had been constantly battling, and slowly, as the giant fingers +closed, the other's mad eyes protruded from his livid face, his jaws +gaped and released their hold upon Tarzan's shoulder, and then in +a sudden excess of disgust and rage the ape-man lifted the body +of the prince high above his head and with all the strength of his +great arms hurled it across the room and through the window where +it fell with a sickening thud into the pit of lions beneath. +</P> + +<P> +As Tarzan turned again toward his companions, the girl was standing +with the saber still in her hand and an expression upon her face +that he never had seen there before. Her eyes were wide and misty +with unshed tears, while her sensitive lips trembled as though she +were upon the point of giving way to some pent emotion which her +rapidly rising and falling bosom plainly indicated she was fighting +to control. +</P> + +<P> +"If we are going to get out of here," said the ape-man, "we can't +lose any time. We are together at last and nothing can be gained by +delay. The question now is the safest way. The couple who escaped +us evidently departed through the passageway to the roof and secured +the trap against us so that we are cut off in that direction. What +chance have we below? You came that way," and he turned toward +the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"At the foot of the stairs," she said, "is a room full of armed +men. I doubt if we could pass that way." +</P> + +<P> +It was then that Otobu raised himself to a sitting posture. "So +you are not dead after all," exclaimed the ape-man. "Come, how +badly are you hurt?" +</P> + +<P> +The Negro rose gingerly to his feet, moved his arms and legs and +felt of his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Otobu does not seem to be hurt at all, Bwana," he replied, "only +for a great ache in his head." +</P> + +<P> +"Good," said the ape-man. "You want to return to the Wamabo country?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Bwana." +</P> + +<P> +"Then lead us from the city by the safest way." +</P> + +<P> +"There is no safe way," replied the black, "and even if we reach +the gates we shall have to fight. I can lead you from this building +to a side street with little danger of meeting anyone on the way. +Beyond that we must take our chance of discovery. You are all +dressed as are the people of this wicked city so perhaps we may +pass unnoticed, but at the gate it will be a different matter, for +none is permitted to leave the city at night." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," replied the ape-man, "let us be on our way." +</P> + +<P> +Otobu led them through the broken door of the outer room, and part +way down the corridor he turned into another apartment at the right. +This they crossed to a passageway beyond, and, finally, traversing +several rooms and corridors, he led them down a flight of steps +to a door which opened directly upon a side street in rear of the +palace. +</P> + +<P> +Two men, a woman, and a black slave were not so extraordinary +a sight upon the streets of the city as to arouse comment. When +passing beneath the flares the three Europeans were careful to +choose a moment when no chance pedestrian might happen to get a view +of their features, but in the shadow of the arcades there seemed +little danger of detection. They had covered a good portion of the +distance to the gate without mishap when there came to their ears +from the central portion of the city sounds of a great commotion. +</P> + +<P> +"What does that mean?" Tarzan asked of Otobu, who was now trembling +violently. +</P> + +<P> +"Master," he replied, "they have discovered that which has happened +in the palace of Veza, mayor of the city. His son and the girl +escaped and summoned soldiers who have now doubtless discovered +the body of Veza." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder," said Tarzan, "if they have discovered the party I threw +through the window." +</P> + +<P> +Bertha Kircher, who understood enough of the dialect to follow their +conversation, asked Tarzan if he knew that the man he had thrown +from the window was the king's son. The ape-man laughed. "No," he +said, "I did not. That rather complicates matters—at least if they +have found him." +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly there broke above the turmoil behind them the clear strains +of a bugle. Otobu increased his pace. "Hurry, Master," he cried, +"it is worse than I had thought." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" asked Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"For some reason the king's guard and the king's lions are being +called out. I fear, O Bwana, that we cannot escape them. But why +they should be called out for us I do not know." +</P> + +<P> +But if Otobu did not know, Tarzan at least guessed that they had +found the body of the king's son. Once again the notes of the bugle +rose high and clear upon the night air. "Calling more lions?" asked +Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Master," replied Otobu. "It is the parrots they are calling." +</P> + +<P> +They moved on rapidly in silence for a few minutes when their +attention was attracted by the flapping of the wings of a bird +above them. They looked up to discover a parrot circling about over +their heads. +</P> + +<P> +"Here are the parrots, Otobu," said Tarzan with a grin. "Do they +expect to kill us with parrots?" +</P> + +<P> +The Negro moaned as the bird darted suddenly ahead of them toward +the city wall. "Now indeed are we lost, Master," cried the black. +"The bird that found us has flown to the gate to warn the guard." +</P> + +<P> +"Come, Otobu, what are you talking about?" exclaimed Tarzan irritably. +"Have you lived among these lunatics so long that you are yourself +mad?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Master," replied Otobu. "I am not mad. You do not know them. +These terrible birds are like human beings without hearts or souls. +They speak the language of the people of this city of Xuja. They +are demons, Master, and when in sufficient numbers they might even +attack and kill us." +</P> + +<P> +"How far are we from the gate?" asked Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"We are not very far," replied the Negro. "Beyond this next turn +we will see it a few paces ahead of us. But the bird has reached +it before us and by now they are summoning the guard," the truth +of which statement was almost immediately indicated by sounds of +many voices raised evidently in commands just ahead of them, while +from behind came increased evidence of approaching pursuit—loud +screams and the roars of lions. +</P> + +<P> +A few steps ahead a narrow alley opened from the east into the +thoroughfare they were following and as they approached it there +emerged from its dark shadows the figure of a mighty lion. Otobu +halted in his tracks and shrank back against Tarzan. "Look, Master," +he whimpered, "a great black lion of the forest!" +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan drew the saber which still hung at his side. "We cannot go +back," he said. "Lions, parrots, or men, it must be all the same," +and he moved steadily forward in the direction of the gate. What +wind was stirring in the city street moved from Tarzan toward the +lion and when the ape-man had approached to within a few yards +of the beast, who had stood silently eyeing them up to this time, +instead of the expected roar, a whine broke from the beast's throat. +The ape-man was conscious of a very decided feeling of relief. "It's +Numa of the pit," he called back to his companions, and to Otobu, +"Do not fear, this lion will not harm us." +</P> + +<P> +Numa moved forward to the ape-man's side and then turning, paced +beside him along the narrow street. At the next turn they came in +sight of the gate, where, beneath several flares, they saw a group +of at least twenty warriors prepared to seize them, while from the +opposite direction the roars of the pursuing lions sounded close +upon them, mingling with the screams of numerous parrots which now +circled about their heads. Tarzan halted and turned to the young +aviator. "How many rounds of ammunition have you left?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I have seven in the pistol," replied Smith-Oldwick, "and perhaps +a dozen more cartridges in my blouse pocket." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to rush them," said Tarzan. "Otobu, you stay at the side +of the woman. Oldwick, you and I will go ahead, you upon my left. +I think we need not try to tell Numa what to do," for even then +the great lion was baring his fangs and growling ferociously at the +guardsmen, who appeared uneasy in the face of this creature which, +above all others, they feared. +</P> + +<P> +"As we advance, Oldwick," said the ape-man, "fire one shot. It +may frighten them, and after that fire only when necessary. All +ready? Let's go!" and he moved forward toward the gate. At the +same time, Smith-Oldwick discharged his weapon and a yellow-coated +warrior screamed and crumpled forward upon his face. For a minute +the others showed symptoms of panic but one, who seemed to be an +officer, rallied them. "Now," said Tarzan, "all together!" and he +started at a run for the gate. Simultaneously the lion, evidently +scenting the purpose of the Tarmangani, broke into a full charge +toward the guard. +</P> + +<P> +Shaken by the report of the unfamiliar weapon, the ranks of the +guardsmen broke before the furious assault of the great beast. +The officer screamed forth a volley of commands in a mad fury of +uncontrolled rage but the guardsmen, obeying the first law of nature +as well as actuated by their inherent fear of the black denizen of +the forest scattered to right and left to elude the monster. With +ferocious growls Numa wheeled to the right, and with raking talons +struck right and left among a little handful of terrified guardsmen +who were endeavoring to elude him, and then Tarzan and Smith-Oldwick +closed with the others. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment their most formidable antagonist was the officer in +command. He wielded his curved saber as only an adept might as he +faced Tarzan, to whom the similar weapon in his own hand was most +unfamiliar. Smith-Oldwick could not fire for fear of hitting the +ape-man when suddenly to his dismay he saw Tarzan's weapon fly from +his grasp as the Xujan warrior neatly disarmed his opponent. With +a scream the fellow raised his saber for the final cut that would +terminate the earthly career of Tarzan of the Apes when, to the +astonishment of both the ape-man and Smith-Oldwick, the fellow +stiffened rigidly, his weapon dropped from the nerveless fingers +of his upraised hand, his mad eyes rolled upward and foam flecked +his bared lip. Gasping as though in the throes of strangulation +the fellow pitched forward at Tarzan's feet. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan stooped and picked up the dead man's weapon, a smile upon +his face as he turned and glanced toward the young Englishman. +</P> + +<P> +"The fellow is an epileptic," said Smith-Oldwick. "I suppose +many of them are. Their nervous condition is not without its good +points—a normal man would have gotten you." +</P> + +<P> +The other guardsmen seemed utterly demoralized at the loss of their +leader. They were huddled upon the opposite side of the street at +the left of the gate, screaming at the tops of their voices and +looking in the direction from which sounds of reinforcements were +coming, as though urging on the men and lions that were already too +close for the comfort of the fugitives. Six guardsmen still stood +with their backs against the gate, their weapons flashing in the +light of the flares and their parchment-like faces distorted in +horrid grimaces of rage and terror. +</P> + +<P> +Numa had pursued two fleeing warriors down the street which paralleled +the wall for a short distance at this point. The ape-man turned to +Smith-Oldwick. "You will have to use your pistol now," he said, "and +we must get by these fellows at once;" and as the young Englishman +fired, Tarzan rushed in to close quarters as though he had not +already discovered that with the saber he was no match for these +trained swordsmen. Two men fell to Smith-Oldwick's first two shots +and then he missed, while the four remaining divided, two leaping +for the aviator and two for Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man rushed in in an effort to close with one of his +antagonists where the other's saber would be comparatively useless. +Smith-Oldwick dropped one of his assailants with a bullet through +the chest and pulled his trigger on the second, only to have the +hammer fall futilely upon an empty chamber. The cartridges in his +weapon were exhausted and the warrior with his razor-edged, gleaming +saber was upon him. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan raised his own weapon but once and that to divert a vicious +cut for his head. Then he was upon one of his assailants and +before the fellow could regain his equilibrium and leap back after +delivering his cut, the ape-man had seized him by the neck and +crotch. Tarzan's other antagonist was edging around to one side +where he might use his weapon, and as he raised the blade to strike +at the back of the Tarmangani's neck, the latter swung the body of +his comrade upward so that it received the full force of the blow. +The blade sank deep into the body of the warrior, eliciting a single +frightful scream, and then Tarzan hurled the dying man in the face +of his final adversary. +</P> + +<P> +Smith-Oldwick, hard pressed and now utterly defenseless, had given +up all hope in the instant that he realized his weapon was empty, +when, from his left, a living bolt of black-maned ferocity shot +past him to the breast of his opponent. Down went the Xujan, his +face bitten away by one snap of the powerful jaws of Numa of the +pit. +</P> + +<P> +In the few seconds that had been required for the consummation +of these rapidly ensuing events, Otobu had dragged Bertha Kircher +to the gate which he had unbarred and thrown open, and with the +vanquishing of the last of the active guardsmen, the party passed +out of the maniac city of Xuja into the outer darkness beyond. At +the same moment a half dozen lions rounded the last turn in the +road leading back toward the plaza, and at sight of them Numa of +the pit wheeled and charged. For a moment the lions of the city +stood their ground, but only for a moment, and then before the +black beast was upon them, they turned and fled, while Tarzan and +his party moved rapidly toward the blackness of the forest beyond +the garden. +</P> + +<P> +"Will they follow us out of the city?" Tarzan asked Otobu. +</P> + +<P> +"Not at night," replied the black. "I have been a slave here for +five years but never have I known these people to leave the city +by night. If they go beyond the forest in the daytime they usually +wait until the dawn of another day before they return, as they fear +to pass through the country of the black lions after dark. No, I +think, Master, that they will not follow us tonight, but tomorrow +they will come, and, O Bwana, then will they surely get us, or +those that are left of us, for at least one among us must be the +toll of the black lions as we pass through their forest." +</P> + +<P> +As they crossed the garden, Smith-Oldwick refilled the magazine +of his pistol and inserted a cartridge in the chamber. The girl +moved silently at Tarzan's left, between him and the aviator. Suddenly +the ape-man stopped and turned toward the city, his mighty frame, +clothed in the yellow tunic of Herog's soldiery, plainly visible +to the others beneath the light of the stars. They saw him raise +his head and they heard break from his lips the plaintive note of +a lion calling to his fellows. Smith-Oldwick felt a distinct shudder +pass through his frame, while Otobu, rolling the whites of his eyes +in terrified surprise, sank tremblingly to his knees. But the girl +thrilled and she felt her heart beat in a strange exultation, and +then she drew nearer to the beast-man until her shoulder touched his +arm. The act was involuntary and for a moment she scarce realized +what she had done, and then she stepped silently back, thankful +that the light of the stars was not sufficient to reveal to the +eyes of her companions the flush which she felt mantling her cheek. +Yet she was not ashamed of the impulse that had prompted her, but +rather of the act itself which she knew, had Tarzan noticed it, +would have been repulsive to him. +</P> + +<P> +From the open gate of the city of maniacs came the answering cry +of a lion. The little group waited where they stood until presently +they saw the majestic proportions of the black lion as he approached +them along the trail. When he had rejoined them Tarzan fastened +the fingers of one hand in the black mane and started on once more +toward the forest. Behind them, from the city, rose a bedlam of +horrid sounds, the roaring of lions mingling with the raucous voices +of the screaming parrots and the mad shrieks of the maniacs. As +they entered the Stygian darkness of the forest the girl once again +involuntarily shrank closer to the ape-man, and this time Tarzan +was aware of the contact. +</P> + +<P> +Himself without fear, he yet instinctively appreciated how terrified +the girl must be. Actuated by a sudden kindly impulse he found +her hand and took it in his own and thus they continued upon their +way, groping through the blackness of the trail. Twice they were +approached by forest lions, but upon both occasions the deep growls +of Numa of the pit drove off their assailants. Several times they +were compelled to rest, for Smith-Oldwick was constantly upon the +verge of exhaustion, and toward morning Tarzan was forced to carry +him on the steep ascent from the bed of the valley. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XXIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Tommies +</H3> + +<P> +Daylight overtook them after they had entered the gorge, but, tired +as they all were with the exception of Tarzan, they realized that +they must keep on at all costs until they found a spot where they +might ascend the precipitous side of the gorge to the floor of the +plateau above. Tarzan and Otobu were both equally confident that +the Xujans would not follow them beyond the gorge, but though they +scanned every inch of the frowning cliffs upon either hand noon +came and there was still no indication of any avenue of escape +to right or left. There were places where the ape-man alone might +have negotiated the ascent but none where the others could hope +successfully to reach the plateau, nor where Tarzan, powerful and +agile as he was, could have ventured safely to carry them aloft. +</P> + +<P> +For half a day the ape-man had been either carrying or supporting +Smith-Oldwick and now, to his chagrin, he saw that the girl was +faltering. He had realized well how much she had undergone and +how greatly the hardships and dangers and the fatigue of the past +weeks must have told upon her vitality. He saw how bravely she +attempted to keep up, yet how often she stumbled and staggered as +she labored through the sand and gravel of the gorge. Nor could +he help but admire her fortitude and the uncomplaining effort she +was making to push on. +</P> + +<P> +The Englishman must have noticed her condition too, for some time +after noon, he stopped suddenly and sat down in the sand. "It's +no use," he said to Tarzan. "I can go no farther. Miss Kircher is +rapidly weakening. You will have to go on without me." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said the girl, "we cannot do that. We have all been through +so much together and the chances of our escape are still so remote +that whatever comes, let us remain together, unless," and she looked +up at Tarzan, "you, who have done so much for us to whom you are +under no obligations, will go on without us. I for one wish that +you would. It must be as evident to you as it is to me that you +cannot save us, for though you succeeded in dragging us from the +path of our pursuers, even your great strength and endurance could +never take one of us across the desert waste which lies between +here and the nearest fertile country." +</P> + +<P> +The ape-man returned her serious look with a smile. "You are +not dead," he said to her, "nor is the lieutenant, nor Otobu, nor +myself. One is either dead or alive, and until we are dead we should +plan only upon continuing to live. Because we remain here and rest +is no indication that we shall die here. I cannot carry you both +to the country of the Wamabos, which is the nearest spot at which +we may expect to find game and water, but we shall not give up on +that account. So far we have found a way. Let us take things as +they come. Let us rest now because you and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick +need the rest, and when you are stronger we will go on again." +</P> + +<P> +"But the Xujans—?" she asked, "may they not follow us here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he said, "they probably will. But we need not be concerned +with them until they come." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish," said the girl, "that I possessed your philosophy but I +am afraid it is beyond me." +</P> + +<P> +"You were not born and reared in the jungle by wild beasts and +among wild beasts, or you would possess, as I do, the fatalism of +the jungle." +</P> + +<P> +And so they moved to the side of the gorge beneath the shade of an +overhanging rock and lay down in the hot sand to rest. Numa wandered +restlessly to and fro and finally, after sprawling for a moment +close beside the ape-man, rose and moved off up the gorge to be +lost to view a moment later beyond the nearest turn. +</P> + +<P> +For an hour the little party rested and then Tarzan suddenly +rose and, motioning the others to silence, listened. For a minute +he stood motionless, his keen ears acutely receptive to sounds so +faint and distant that none of the other three could detect the +slightest break in the utter and deathlike quiet of the gorge. +Finally the ape-man relaxed and turned toward them. "What is it?" +asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"They are coming," he replied. "They are yet some distance away, +though not far, for the sandaled feet of the men and the pads of +the lions make little noise upon the soft sands." +</P> + +<P> +"What shall we do—try to go on?" asked Smith-Oldwick. "I believe +I could make a go of it now for a short way. I am much rested. How +about you Miss Kircher?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes," she said, "I am much stronger. Yes, surely I can go on." +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan knew that neither of them quite spoke the truth, that people +do not recover so quickly from utter exhaustion, but he saw no +other way and there was always the hope that just beyond the next +turn would be a way out of the gorge. +</P> + +<P> +"You help the lieutenant, Otobu," he said, turning to the black, +"and I will carry Miss Kircher," and though the girl objected, +saying that he must not waste his strength, he lifted her lightly +in his arms and moved off up the canyon, followed by Otobu and +the Englishman. They had gone no great distance when the others of +the party became aware of the sounds of pursuit, for now the lions +were whining as though the fresh scent spoor of their quarry had +reached their nostrils. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish that your Numa would return," said the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Tarzan, "but we shall have to do the best we can +without him. I should like to find some place where we can barricade +ourselves against attack from all sides. Possibly then we might +hold them off. Smith-Oldwick is a good shot and if there are not +too many men he might be able to dispose of them provided they can +only come at him one at a time. The lions don't bother me so much. +Sometimes they are stupid animals, and I am sure that these that +pursue us, and who are so dependent upon the masters that have +raised and trained them, will be easily handled after the warriors +are disposed of." +</P> + +<P> +"You think there is some hope, then?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"We are still alive," was his only answer. +</P> + +<P> +"There," he said presently, "I thought I recalled this very spot." +He pointed toward a fragment that had evidently fallen from the +summit of the cliff and which now lay imbedded in the sand a few +feet from the base. It was a jagged fragment of rock which rose some +ten feet above the surface of the sand, leaving a narrow aperture +between it and the cliff behind. Toward this they directed their +steps and when finally they reached their goal they found a space +about two feet wide and ten feet long between the rock and the +cliff. To be sure it was open at both ends but at least they could +not be attacked upon all sides at once. +</P> + +<P> +They had scarcely concealed themselves before Tarzan's quick ears +caught a sound upon the face of the cliff above them, and looking +up he saw a diminutive monkey perched upon a slight projection—an +ugly-faced little monkey who looked down upon them for a moment and +then scampered away toward the south in the direction from which +their pursuers were coming. Otobu had seen the monkey too. "He will +tell the parrots," said the black, "and the parrots will tell the +madmen." +</P> + +<P> +"It is all the same," replied Tarzan; "the lions would have found +us here. We could not hope to hide from them." +</P> + +<P> +He placed Smith-Oldwick, with his pistol, at the north opening of +their haven and told Otobu to stand with his spear at the Englishman's +shoulder, while he himself prepared to guard the southern approach. +Between them he had the girl lie down in the sand. "You will be +safe there in the event that they use their spears," he said. +</P> + +<P> +The minutes that dragged by seemed veritable eternities to Bertha +Kircher and then at last, and almost with relief, she knew that the +pursuers were upon them. She heard the angry roaring of the lions +and the cries of the madmen. For several minutes the men seemed to +be investigating the stronghold which their quarry had discovered. +She could hear them both to the north and south and then from +where she lay she saw a lion charging for the ape-man before her. +She saw the giant arm swing back with the curved saber and she +saw it fall with terrific velocity and meet the lion as he rose to +grapple with the man, cleaving his skull as cleanly as a butcher +opens up a sheep. +</P> + +<P> +Then she heard footsteps running rapidly toward Smith-Oldwick and, +as his pistol spoke, there was a scream and the sound of a falling +body. Evidently disheartened by the failure of their first attempt +the assaulters drew off, but only for a short time. Again they came, +this time a man opposing Tarzan and a lion seeking to overcome +Smith-Oldwick. Tarzan had cautioned the young Englishman not +to waste his cartridges upon the lions and it was Otobu with the +Xujan spear who met the beast, which was not subdued until both +he and Smith-Oldwick had been mauled, and the latter had succeeded +in running the point of the saber the girl had carried, into the +beast's heart. The man who opposed Tarzan inadvertently came too +close in an attempt to cut at the ape-man's head, with the result +that an instant later his corpse lay with the neck broken upon the +body of the lion. +</P> + +<P> +Once again the enemy withdrew, but again only for a short time, +and now they came in full force, the lions and the men, possibly +a half dozen of each, the men casting their spears and the lions +waiting just behind, evidently for the signal to charge. +</P> + +<P> +"Is this the end?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"No," cried the ape-man, "for we still live!" +</P> + +<P> +The words had scarcely passed his lips when the remaining warriors, +rushing in, cast their spears simultaneously from both sides. In +attempting to shield the girl, Tarzan received one of the shafts +in the shoulder, and so heavily had the weapon been hurled that it +bore him backward to the ground. Smith-Oldwick fired his pistol +twice when he too was struck down, the weapon entering his right +leg midway between hip and knee. Only Otobu remained to face the +enemy, for the Englishman, already weak from his wounds and from +the latest mauling he had received at the claws of the lion, had +lost consciousness as he sank to the ground with this new hurt. +</P> + +<P> +As he fell his pistol dropped from his fingers, and the girl, seeing, +snatched it up. As Tarzan struggled to rise, one of the warriors +leaped full upon his breast and bore him back as, with fiendish +shrieks, he raised the point of his saber above the other's heart. +Before he could drive it home the girl leveled Smith-Oldwick's +pistol and fired point-blank at the fiend's face. +</P> + +<P> +Simultaneously there broke upon the astonished ears of both attackers +and attacked a volley of shots from the gorge. With the sweetness +of the voice of an angel from heaven the Europeans heard the +sharp-barked commands of an English noncom. Even above the roars +of the lions and the screams of the maniacs, those beloved tones +reached the ears of Tarzan and the girl at the very moment that +even the ape-man had given up the last vestige of hope. +</P> + +<P> +Rolling the body of the warrior to one side Tarzan struggled to +his feet, the spear still protruding from his shoulder. The girl +rose too, and as Tarzan wrenched the weapon from his flesh and stepped +out from behind the concealment of their refuge, she followed at +his side. The skirmish that had resulted in their rescue was soon +over. Most of the lions escaped but all of the pursuing Xujans +had been slain. As Tarzan and the girl came into full view of the +group, a British Tommy leveled his rifle at the ape-man. Seeing the +fellow's actions and realizing instantly the natural error that +Tarzan's yellow tunic had occasioned the girl sprang between him +and the soldier. "Don't shoot," she cried to the latter, "we are +both friends." +</P> + +<P> +"Hold up your hands, you, then," he commanded Tarzan. "I ain't +taking no chances with any duffer with a yellow shirt." +</P> + +<P> +At this juncture the British sergeant who had been in command of +the advance guard approached and when Tarzan and the girl spoke +to him in English, explaining their disguises, he accepted their +word, since they were evidently not of the same race as the creatures +which lay dead about them. Ten minutes later the main body of the +expedition came into view. Smith-Oldwick's wounds were dressed, +as well as were those of the ape-man, and in half an hour they were +on their way to the camp of their rescuers. +</P> + +<P> +That night it was arranged that the following day Smith-Oldwick and +Bertha Kircher should be transported to British headquarters near +the coast by aeroplane, the two planes attached to the expeditionary +force being requisitioned for the purpose. Tarzan and Otobu declined +the offers of the British captain to accompany his force overland +on the return march as Tarzan explained that his country lay to +the west, as did Otobu's, and that they would travel together as +far as the country of the Wamabos. +</P> + +<P> +"You are not going back with us, then?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied the ape-man. "My home is upon the west coast. I will +continue my journey in that direction." +</P> + +<P> +She cast appealing eyes toward him. "You will go back into that +terrible jungle?" she asked. "We shall never see you again?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her a moment in silence. "Never," he said, and without +another word turned and walked away. +</P> + +<P> +In the morning Colonel Capell came from the base camp in one of the +planes that was to carry Smith-Oldwick and the girl to the east. +Tarzan was standing some distance away as the ship landed and +the officer descended to the ground. He saw the colonel greet his +junior in command of the advance detachment, and then he saw him +turn toward Bertha Kircher who was standing a few paces behind the +captain. Tarzan wondered how the German spy felt in this situation, +especially when she must know that there was one there who knew her +real status. He saw Colonel Capell walk toward her with outstretched +hands and smiling face and, although he could not hear the words of +his greeting, he saw that it was friendly and cordial to a degree. +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan turned away scowling, and if any had been close by they +might have heard a low growl rumble from his chest. He knew that +his country was at war with Germany and that not only his duty to +the land of his fathers, but also his personal grievance against +the enemy people and his hatred of them, demanded that he expose +the girl's perfidy, and yet he hesitated, and because he hesitated +he growled—not at the German spy but at himself for his weakness. +</P> + +<P> +He did not see her again before she entered a plane and was borne +away toward the east. He bid farewell to Smith-Oldwick and received +again the oft-repeated thanks of the young Englishman. And then +he saw him too borne aloft in the high circling plane and watched +until the ship became a speck far above the eastern horizon to +disappear at last high in air. +</P> + +<P> +The Tommies, their packs and accouterments slung, were waiting the +summons to continue their return march. Colonel Capell had, through +a desire to personally observe the stretch of country between the +camp of the advance detachment and the base, decided to march back +his troops. Now that all was in readiness for departure he turned to +Tarzan. "I wish you would come back with us, Greystoke," he said, +"and if my appeal carries no inducement possibly that of Smith-Oldwick +and the young lady who just left us may. They asked me to urge +you to return to civilization." +</P> + +<P> +"No;" said Tarzan, "I shall go my own way. Miss Kircher and +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick were only prompted by a sense of gratitude +in considering my welfare." +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Kircher?" exclaimed Capell and then he laughed, "You know +her then as Bertha Kircher, the German spy?" +</P> + +<P> +Tarzan looked at the other a moment in silence. It was beyond him +to conceive that a British officer should thus laconically speak +of an enemy spy whom he had had within his power and permitted to +escape. "Yes," he replied, "I knew that she was Bertha Kircher, +the German spy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Is that all you knew?" asked Capell. +</P> + +<P> +"That is all," said the ape-man. +</P> + +<P> +"She is the Honorable Patricia Canby," said Capell, "one of the +most valuable members of the British Intelligence Service attached +to the East African forces. Her father and I served in India together +and I have known her ever since she was born. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, here's a packet of papers she took from a German officer and +has been carrying it through all her vicissitudes—single-minded +in the performance of her duty. Look! I haven't yet had time to +examine them but as you see here is a military sketch map, a bundle +of reports, and the diary of one Hauptmann Fritz Schneider." +</P> + +<P> +"The diary of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider!" repeated Tarzan in a +constrained voice. "May I see it, Capell? He is the man who murdered +Lady Greystoke." +</P> + +<P> +The Englishman handed the little volume over to the other without +a word. Tarzan ran through the pages quickly looking for a certain +date—the date that the horror had been committed—and when he found +it he read rapidly. Suddenly a gasp of incredulity burst from his +lips. Capell looked at him questioningly. +</P> + +<P> +"God!" exclaimed the ape-man. "Can this be true? Listen!" and he +read an excerpt from the closely written page: +</P> + +<P> +"'Played a little joke on the English pig. When he comes home he +will find the burned body of his wife in her boudoir—but he will +only think it is his wife. Had von Goss substitute the body of a +dead Negress and char it after putting Lady Greystoke's rings on +it—Lady G will be of more value to the High Command alive than +dead.'" +</P> + +<P> +"She lives!" cried Tarzan. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God!" exclaimed Capell. "And now?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will return with you, of course. How terribly I have wronged +Miss Canby, but how could I know? I even told Smith-Oldwick, who +loves her, that she was a German spy. +</P> + +<P> +"Not only must I return to find my wife but I must right this +wrong." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't worry about that," said Capell, "she must have convinced him +that she is no enemy spy, for just before they left this morning +he told me she had promised to marry him." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<PRE> + Note: I have made the following changes to the text: + + PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO + 25 10 noislessly noiselessly + 40 34 hole bole + 41 45 later latter + 53 43 but "but + 66 19 half-smiled half-smile + 69 45 to many too many + 75 16 fine find + 81 3 forth fourth + 86 14 hoplessly hopelessly + 86 42 interferred interfered + 93 15 born borne + 101 40 Englishman Englishmen + 108 16 divertisements divertissements + 110 29 asid said + 127 14 apppreciate appreciate + 128 45 fuseluge fuselage + 138 25 as the at the + 142 34 girls' girl's + 146 44 sourroundings, surroundings, + 148 30 spirit on spirit of + 149 33 upon upon. + 153 3 immediately immediate + 153 39 nothwithstanding notwithstanding + 159 43 "The The + 163 45 known know + 171 8 one the on the + 172 8 sandled sandaled + 175 2 junlgle jungle + 181 46 swifty swiftly + 189 23 not, not. + 198 45 "Come," Come," + 219 1 still sill + 225 21 sigh or sigh of + 227 20 occasionaly occasionally + 228 5 gazing grazing + 234 24 prisoners. prisoners. + 237 11 qiuckly quickly + 237 16 opproached approached + 243 16 is his in his + 244 32 second seconds + +I have also omitted the page-wide line beneath each chapter +heading. +</PRE> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Tarzan the Untamed, by Edgar Rice Burroughs + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TARZAN THE UNTAMED *** + +***** This file should be named 1401-h.htm or 1401-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/0/1401/ + +Produced by Judith Boss + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Tarzan the Untamed + +Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs + +Posting Date: January 28, 2010 [EBook #1401] +Release Date: August, 1998 +First Posted: November 6, 2001 +[Last updated: July 29, 2012] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TARZAN THE UNTAMED *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Boss + + + + + + + + + +Tarzan the Untamed + + +By + +Edgar Rice Burroughs + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I Murder and Pillage + II The Lion's Cave + III In the German Lines + IV When the Lion Fed + V The Golden Locket + VI Vengeance and Mercy + VII When Blood Told + VIII Tarzan and the Great Apes + IX Dropped from the Sky + X In the Hands of Savages + XI Finding the Airplane + XII The Black Flier + XIII Usanga's Reward + XIV The Black Lion + XV Mysterious Footprints + XVI The Night Attack + XVII The Walled City + XVIII Among the Maniacs + XIX The Queen's Story + XX Came Tarzan + XXI In the Alcove + XXII Out of the Niche + XXIII The Flight from Xuja + XXIV The Tommies + + + + +Chapter I + +Murder and Pillage + + +Hauptmann Fritz Schneider trudged wearily through the somber aisles +of the dark forest. Sweat rolled down his bullet head and stood +upon his heavy jowls and bull neck. His lieutenant marched beside +him while Underlieutenant von Goss brought up the rear, following +with a handful of askaris the tired and all but exhausted porters +whom the black soldiers, following the example of their white officer, +encouraged with the sharp points of bayonets and the metal-shod +butts of rifles. + +There were no porters within reach of Hauptmann Schneider so he +vented his Prussian spleen upon the askaris nearest at hand, yet +with greater circumspection since these men bore loaded rifles--and +the three white men were alone with them in the heart of Africa. + +Ahead of the hauptmann marched half his company, behind him the +other half--thus were the dangers of the savage jungle minimized +for the German captain. At the forefront of the column staggered +two naked savages fastened to each other by a neck chain. These +were the native guides impressed into the service of Kultur and upon +their poor, bruised bodies Kultur's brand was revealed in divers +cruel wounds and bruises. + +Thus even in darkest Africa was the light of German civilization +commencing to reflect itself upon the undeserving natives just as +at the same period, the fall of 1914, it was shedding its glorious +effulgence upon benighted Belgium. + +It is true that the guides had led the party astray; but this is +the way of most African guides. Nor did it matter that ignorance +rather than evil intent had been the cause of their failure. It +was enough for Hauptmann Fritz Schneider to know that he was lost +in the African wilderness and that he had at hand human beings less +powerful than he who could be made to suffer by torture. That he +did not kill them outright was partially due to a faint hope that +they might eventually prove the means of extricating him from his +difficulties and partially that so long as they lived they might +still be made to suffer. + +The poor creatures, hoping that chance might lead them at last +upon the right trail, insisted that they knew the way and so led +on through a dismal forest along a winding game trail trodden deep +by the feet of countless generations of the savage denizens of the +jungle. + +Here Tantor, the elephant, took his long way from dust wallow to +water. Here Buto, the rhinoceros, blundered blindly in his solitary +majesty, while by night the great cats paced silently upon their +padded feet beneath the dense canopy of overreaching trees toward +the broad plain beyond, where they found their best hunting. + +It was at the edge of this plain which came suddenly and unexpectedly +before the eyes of the guides that their sad hearts beat with +renewed hope. Here the hauptmann drew a deep sigh of relief, for +after days of hopeless wandering through almost impenetrable jungle +the broad vista of waving grasses dotted here and there with open +park like woods and in the far distance the winding line of green +shrubbery that denoted a river appeared to the European a veritable +heaven. + +The Hun smiled in his relief, passed a cheery word with his lieutenant, +and then scanned the broad plain with his field glasses. Back and +forth they swept across the rolling land until at last they came +to rest upon a point near the center of the landscape and close to +the green-fringed contours of the river. + +"We are in luck," said Schneider to his companions. "Do you see +it?" + +The lieutenant, who was also gazing through his own glasses, +finally brought them to rest upon the same spot that had held the +attention of his superior. + +"Yes," he said, "an English farm. It must be Greystoke's, for there +is none other in this part of British East Africa. God is with us, +Herr Captain." + +"We have come upon the English schweinhund long before he can have +learned that his country is at war with ours," replied Schneider. +"Let him be the first to feel the iron hand of Germany." + +"Let us hope that he is at home," said the lieutenant, "that we +may take him with us when we report to Kraut at Nairobi. It will +go well indeed with Herr Hauptmann Fritz Schneider if he brings in +the famous Tarzan of the Apes as a prisoner of war." + +Schneider smiled and puffed out his chest. "You are right, my +friend," he said, "it will go well with both of us; but I shall +have to travel far to catch General Kraut before he reaches Mombasa. +These English pigs with their contemptible army will make good time +to the Indian Ocean." + +It was in a better frame of mind that the small force set out across +the open country toward the trim and well-kept farm buildings of +John Clayton, Lord Greystoke; but disappointment was to be their +lot since neither Tarzan of the Apes nor his son was at home. + +Lady Jane, ignorant of the fact that a state of war existed between +Great Britain and Germany, welcomed the officers most hospitably +and gave orders through her trusted Waziri to prepare a feast for +the black soldiers of the enemy. + +Far to the east, Tarzan of the Apes was traveling rapidly from +Nairobi toward the farm. At Nairobi he had received news of the +World War that had already started, and, anticipating an immediate +invasion of British East Africa by the Germans, was hurrying homeward +to fetch his wife to a place of greater security. With him were a +score of his ebon warriors, but far too slow for the ape-man was +the progress of these trained and hardened woodsmen. + +When necessity demanded, Tarzan of the Apes sloughed the thin +veneer of his civilization and with it the hampering apparel that +was its badge. In a moment the polished English gentleman reverted +to the naked ape man. + +His mate was in danger. For the time, that single thought dominated. +He did not think of her as Lady Jane Greystoke, but rather as the +she he had won by the might of his steel thews, and that he must +hold and protect by virtue of the same offensive armament. + +It was no member of the House of Lords who swung swiftly and grimly +through the tangled forest or trod with untiring muscles the wide +stretches of open plain--it was a great he ape filled with a single +purpose that excluded all thoughts of fatigue or danger. + +Little Manu, the monkey, scolding and chattering in the upper +terraces of the forest, saw him pass. Long had it been since he had +thus beheld the great Tarmangani naked and alone hurtling through +the jungle. Bearded and gray was Manu, the monkey, and to his dim +old eyes came the fire of recollection of those days when Tarzan +of the Apes had ruled supreme, Lord of the Jungle, over all the +myriad life that trod the matted vegetation between the boles of +the great trees, or flew or swung or climbed in the leafy fastness +upward to the very apex of the loftiest terraces. + +And Numa, the lion, lying up for the day close beside last night's +successful kill, blinked his yellow-green eyes and twitched his +tawny tail as he caught the scent spoor of his ancient enemy. + +Nor was Tarzan senseless to the presence of Numa or Manu or any of +the many jungle beasts he passed in his rapid flight towards the +west. No particle had his shallow probing of English society dulled +his marvelous sense faculties. His nose had picked out the presence +of Numa, the lion, even before the majestic king of beasts was +aware of his passing. + +He had heard noisy little Manu, and even the soft rustling of the +parting shrubbery where Sheeta passed before either of these alert +animals sensed his presence. + +But however keen the senses of the ape-man, however swift his +progress through the wild country of his adoption, however mighty +the muscles that bore him, he was still mortal. Time and space +placed their inexorable limits upon him; nor was there another who +realized this truth more keenly than Tarzan. He chafed and fretted +that he could not travel with the swiftness of thought and that the +long tedious miles stretching far ahead of him must require hours +and hours of tireless effort upon his part before he would swing +at last from the final bough of the fringing forest into the open +plain and in sight of his goal. + +Days it took, even though he lay up at night for but a few hours +and left to chance the finding of meat directly on his trail. If +Wappi, the antelope, or Horta, the boar, chanced in his way when +he was hungry, he ate, pausing but long enough to make the kill +and cut himself a steak. + +Then at last the long journey drew to its close and he was passing +through the last stretch of heavy forest that bounded his estate +upon the east, and then this was traversed and he stood upon the +plain's edge looking out across his broad lands towards his home. + +At the first glance his eyes narrowed and his muscles tensed. Even +at that distance he could see that something was amiss. A thin +spiral of smoke arose at the right of the bungalow where the barns +had stood, but there were no barns there now, and from the bungalow +chimney from which smoke should have arisen, there arose nothing. + +Once again Tarzan of the Apes was speeding onward, this time even +more swiftly than before, for he was goaded now by a nameless fear, +more product of intuition than of reason. Even as the beasts, +Tarzan of the Apes seemed to possess a sixth sense. Long before he +reached the bungalow, he had almost pictured the scene that finally +broke upon his view. + +Silent and deserted was the vine-covered cottage. Smoldering embers +marked the site of his great barns. Gone were the thatched huts of +his sturdy retainers, empty the fields, the pastures, and corrals. +Here and there vultures rose and circled above the carcasses of +men and beasts. + +It was with a feeling as nearly akin to terror as he ever had +experienced that the ape-man finally forced himself to enter his +home. The first sight that met his eyes set the red haze of hate +and bloodlust across his vision, for there, crucified against the +wall of the living-room, was Wasimbu, giant son of the faithful +Muviro and for over a year the personal bodyguard of Lady Jane. + +The overturned and shattered furniture of the room, the brown pools +of dried blood upon the floor, and prints of bloody hands on walls +and woodwork evidenced something of the frightfulness of the battle +that had been waged within the narrow confines of the apartment. +Across the baby grand piano lay the corpse of another black warrior, +while before the door of Lady Jane's boudoir were the dead bodies +of three more of the faithful Greystoke servants. + +The door of this room was closed. With drooping shoulders and dull +eyes Tarzan stood gazing dumbly at the insensate panel which hid +from him what horrid secret he dared not even guess. + +Slowly, with leaden feet, he moved toward the door. Gropingly his +hand reached for the knob. Thus he stood for another long minute, +and then with a sudden gesture he straightened his giant frame, +threw back his mighty shoulders and, with fearless head held high, +swung back the door and stepped across the threshold into the +room which held for him the dearest memories and associations of +his life. No change of expression crossed his grim and stern-set +features as he strode across the room and stood beside the little +couch and the inanimate form which lay face downward upon it; the +still, silent thing that had pulsed with life and youth and love. + +No tear dimmed the eye of the ape-man, but the God who made him alone +could know the thoughts that passed through that still half-savage +brain. For a long time he stood there just looking down upon the +dead body, charred beyond recognition, and then he stooped and lifted +it in his arms. As he turned the body over and saw how horribly +death had been meted he plumbed, in that instant, the uttermost +depths of grief and horror and hatred. + +Nor did he require the evidence of the broken German rifle in the +outer room, or the torn and blood-stained service cap upon the +floor, to tell him who had been the perpetrators of this horrid +and useless crime. + +For a moment he had hoped against hope that the blackened corpse was +not that of his mate, but when his eyes discovered and recognized +the rings upon her fingers the last faint ray of hope forsook him. + +In silence, in love, and in reverence he buried, in the little +rose garden that had been Jane Clayton's pride and love, the poor, +charred form and beside it the great black warriors who had given +their lives so futilely in their mistress' protection. + +At one side of the house Tarzan found other newly made graves +and in these he sought final evidence of the identity of the real +perpetrators of the atrocities that had been committed there in +his absence. + +Here he disinterred the bodies of a dozen German askaris and found +upon their uniforms the insignia of the company and regiment to +which they had belonged. This was enough for the ape-man. White +officers had commanded these men, nor would it be a difficult task +to discover who they were. + +Returning to the rose garden, he stood among the Hun trampled +blooms and bushes above the grave of his dead--with bowed head he +stood there in a last mute farewell. As the sun sank slowly behind +the towering forests of the west, he turned slowly away upon the +still-distinct trail of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and his blood-stained +company. + +His was the suffering of the dumb brute--mute; but though voiceless +no less poignant. At first his vast sorrow numbed his other faculties +of thought--his brain was overwhelmed by the calamity to such an +extent that it reacted to but a single objective suggestion: She is +dead! She is dead! She is dead! Again and again this phrase beat +monotonously upon his brain--a dull, throbbing pain, yet mechanically +his feet followed the trail of her slayer while, subconsciously, +his every sense was upon the alert for the ever-present perils of +the jungle. + +Gradually the labor of his great grief brought forth another +emotion so real, so tangible, that it seemed a companion walking +at his side. It was Hate--and it brought to him a measure of solace +and of comfort, for it was a sublime hate that ennobled him as +it has ennobled countless thousands since--hatred for Germany and +Germans. It centered about the slayer of his mate, of course; but +it included everything German, animate or inanimate. As the thought +took firm hold upon him he paused and raising his face to Goro, the +moon, cursed with upraised hand the authors of the hideous crime +that had been perpetrated in that once peaceful bungalow behind +him; and he cursed their progenitors, their progeny, and all their +kind the while he took silent oath to war upon them relentlessly +until death overtook him. + +There followed almost immediately a feeling of content, for, where +before his future at best seemed but a void, now it was filled +with possibilities the contemplation of which brought him, if not +happiness, at least a surcease of absolute grief, for before him +lay a great work that would occupy his time. + +Stripped not only of all the outward symbols of civilization, Tarzan +had also reverted morally and mentally to the status of the savage +beast he had been reared. Never had his civilization been more than +a veneer put on for the sake of her he loved because he thought it +made her happier to see him thus. In reality he had always held the +outward evidences of so-called culture in deep contempt. Civilization +meant to Tarzan of the Apes a curtailment of freedom in all its +aspects--freedom of action, freedom of thought, freedom of love, +freedom of hate. Clothes he abhorred--uncomfortable, hideous, +confining things that reminded him somehow of bonds securing him to +the life he had seen the poor creatures of London and Paris living. +Clothes were the emblems of that hypocrisy for which civilization +stood--a pretense that the wearers were ashamed of what the clothes +covered, of the human form made in the semblance of God. Tarzan +knew how silly and pathetic the lower orders of animals appeared in +the clothing of civilization, for he had seen several poor creatures +thus appareled in various traveling shows in Europe, and he knew, +too, how silly and pathetic man appears in them since the only men +he had seen in the first twenty years of his life had been, like +himself, naked savages. The ape-man had a keen admiration for a +well-muscled, well-proportioned body, whether lion, or antelope, +or man, and it had ever been beyond him to understand how clothes +could be considered more beautiful than a clear, firm, healthy +skin, or coat and trousers more graceful than the gentle curves of +rounded muscles playing beneath a flexible hide. + +In civilization Tarzan had found greed and selfishness and cruelty +far beyond that which he had known in his familiar, savage jungle, +and though civilization had given him his mate and several friends +whom he loved and admired, he never had come to accept it as you +and I who have known little or nothing else; so it was with a sense +of relief that he now definitely abandoned it and all that it stood +for, and went forth into the jungle once again stripped to his loin +cloth and weapons. + +The hunting knife of his father hung at his left hip, his bow and +his quiver of arrows were slung across his shoulders, while around +his chest over one shoulder and beneath the opposite arm was coiled +the long grass rope without which Tarzan would have felt quite as +naked as would you should you be suddenly thrust upon a busy highway +clad only in a union suit. A heavy war spear which he sometimes +carried in one hand and again slung by a thong about his neck so +that it hung down his back completed his armament and his apparel. +The diamond-studded locket with the pictures of his mother and +father that he had worn always until he had given it as a token +of his highest devotion to Jane Clayton before their marriage was +missing. She always had worn it since, but it had not been upon +her body when he found her slain in her boudoir, so that now his +quest for vengeance included also a quest for the stolen trinket. + +Toward midnight Tarzan commenced to feel the physical strain of +his long hours of travel and to realize that even muscles such as +his had their limitations. His pursuit of the murderers had not +been characterized by excessive speed; but rather more in keeping +with his mental attitude, which was marked by a dogged determination +to require from the Germans more than an eye for an eye and more +than a tooth for a tooth, the element of time entering but slightly +into his calculations. + +Inwardly as well as outwardly Tarzan had reverted to beast and in +the lives of beasts, time, as a measurable aspect of duration, has +no meaning. The beast is actively interested only in NOW, and as +it is always NOW and always shall be, there is an eternity of time +for the accomplishment of objects. The ape-man, naturally, had a +slightly more comprehensive realization of the limitations of time; +but, like the beasts, he moved with majestic deliberation when no +emergency prompted him to swift action. + +Having dedicated his life to vengeance, vengeance became his natural +state and, therefore, no emergency, so he took his time in pursuit. +That he had not rested earlier was due to the fact that he had +felt no fatigue, his mind being occupied by thoughts of sorrow and +revenge; but now he realized that he was tired, and so he sought +a jungle giant that had harbored him upon more than a single other +jungle night. + +Dark clouds moving swiftly across the heavens now and again eclipsed +the bright face of Goro, the moon, and forewarned the ape-man +of impending storm. In the depth of the jungle the cloud shadows +produced a thick blackness that might almost be felt--a blackness +that to you and me might have proven terrifying with its accompaniment +of rustling leaves and cracking twigs, and its even more suggestive +intervals of utter silence in which the crudest of imaginations +might have conjured crouching beasts of prey tensed for the fatal +charge; but through it Tarzan passed unconcerned, yet always alert. +Now he swung lightly to the lower terraces of the overarching +trees when some subtle sense warned him that Numa lay upon a kill +directly in his path, or again he sprang lightly to one side as +Buto, the rhinoceros, lumbered toward him along the narrow, deep-worn +trail, for the ape-man, ready to fight upon necessity's slightest +pretext, avoided unnecessary quarrels. + +When he swung himself at last into the tree he sought, the moon was +obscured by a heavy cloud, and the tree tops were waving wildly in +a steadily increasing wind whose soughing drowned the lesser noises +of the jungle. Upward went Tarzan toward a sturdy crotch across which +he long since had laid and secured a little platform of branches. +It was very dark now, darker even than it had been before, for +almost the entire sky was overcast by thick, black clouds. + +Presently the man-beast paused, his sensitive nostrils dilating as +he sniffed the air about him. Then, with the swiftness and agility of +a cat, he leaped far outward upon a swaying branch, sprang upward +through the darkness, caught another, swung himself upon it and +then to one still higher. What could have so suddenly transformed +his matter-of-fact ascent of the giant bole to the swift and wary +action of his detour among the branches? You or I could have seen +nothing--not even the little platform that an instant before had +been just above him and which now was immediately below--but as he +swung above it we should have heard an ominous growl; and then as +the moon was momentarily uncovered, we should have seen both the +platform, dimly, and a dark mass that lay stretched upon it--a dark +mass that presently, as our eyes became accustomed to the lesser +darkness, would take the form of Sheeta, the panther. + +In answer to the cat's growl, a low and equally ferocious growl +rumbled upward from the ape-man's deep chest--a growl of warning +that told the panther he was trespassing upon the other's lair; but +Sheeta was in no mood to be dispossessed. With upturned, snarling +face he glared at the brown-skinned Tarmangani above him. Very slowly +the ape-man moved inward along the branch until he was directly +above the panther. In the man's hand was the hunting knife of his +long-dead father--the weapon that had first given him his real +ascendancy over the beasts of the jungle; but he hoped not to be +forced to use it, knowing as he did that more jungle battles were +settled by hideous growling than by actual combat, the law of bluff +holding quite as good in the jungle as elsewhere--only in matters +of love and food did the great beasts ordinarily close with fangs +and talons. + +Tarzan braced himself against the bole of the tree and leaned closer +toward Sheeta. + +"Stealer of balus!" he cried. The panther rose to a sitting position, +his bared fangs but a few feet from the ape-man's taunting face. +Tarzan growled hideously and struck at the cat's face with his +knife. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he roared. "This is Tarzan's +lair. Go, or I will kill you." + +Though he spoke in the language of the great apes of the jungle, +it is doubtful that Sheeta understood the words, though he knew +well enough that the hairless ape wished to frighten him from his +well-chosen station past which edible creatures might be expected +to wander sometime during the watches of the night. + +Like lightning the cat reared and struck a vicious blow at his +tormentor with great, bared talons that might well have torn away +the ape-man's face had the blow landed; but it did not land--Tarzan +was even quicker than Sheeta. As the panther came to all fours +again upon the little platform, Tarzan un-slung his heavy spear and +prodded at the snarling face, and as Sheeta warded off the blows, +the two continued their horrid duet of blood-curdling roars and +growls. + +Goaded to frenzy the cat presently determined to come up after this +disturber of his peace; but when he essayed to leap to the branch +that held Tarzan he found the sharp spear point always in his +face, and each time as he dropped back he was prodded viciously in +some tender part; but at length, rage having conquered his better +judgment, he leaped up the rough bole to the very branch upon which +Tarzan stood. Now the two faced each other upon even footing and +Sheeta saw a quick revenge and a supper all in one. The hairless +ape-thing with the tiny fangs and the puny talons would be helpless +before him. + +The heavy limb bent beneath the weight of the two beasts as Sheeta +crept cautiously out upon it and Tarzan backed slowly away, growling. +The wind had risen to the proportions of a gale so that even the +greatest giants of the forest swayed, groaning, to its force and +the branch upon which the two faced each other rose and fell like +the deck of a storm-tossed ship. Goro was now entirely obscured, +but vivid flashes of lightning lit up the jungle at brief intervals, +revealing the grim tableau of primitive passion upon the swaying +limb. + +Tarzan backed away, drawing Sheeta farther from the stem of the +tree and out upon the tapering branch, where his footing became +ever more precarious. The cat, infuriated by the pain of spear +wounds, was overstepping the bounds of caution. Already he had +reached a point where he could do little more than maintain a secure +footing, and it was this moment that Tarzan chose to charge. With +a roar that mingled with the booming thunder from above he leaped +toward the panther, who could only claw futilely with one huge paw +while he clung to the branch with the other; but the ape-man did +not come within that parabola of destruction. Instead he leaped +above menacing claws and snapping fangs, turning in mid-air and +alighting upon Sheeta's back, and at the instant of impact his knife +struck deep into the tawny side. Then Sheeta, impelled by pain and +hate and rage and the first law of Nature, went mad. Screaming +and clawing he attempted to turn upon the ape-thing clinging to +his back. For an instant he toppled upon the now wildly gyrating +limb, clutched frantically to save himself, and then plunged downward +into the darkness with Tarzan still clinging to him. Crashing +through splintering branches the two fell. Not for an instant did +the ape-man consider relinquishing his death-hold upon his adversary. +He had entered the lists in mortal combat and true to the primitive +instincts of the wild--the unwritten law of the jungle--one or both +must die before the battle ended. + +Sheeta, catlike, alighted upon four out-sprawled feet, the weight +of the ape-man crushing him to earth, the long knife again imbedded +in his side. Once the panther struggled to rise; but only to sink +to earth again. Tarzan felt the giant muscles relax beneath him. +Sheeta was dead. Rising, the ape-man placed a foot upon the body of +his vanquished foe, raised his face toward the thundering heavens, +and as the lightning flashed and the torrential rain broke upon +him, screamed forth the wild victory cry of the bull ape. + +Having accomplished his aim and driven the enemy from his lair, +Tarzan gathered an armful of large fronds and climbed to his dripping +couch. Laying a few of the fronds upon the poles he lay down and +covered himself against the rain with the others, and despite the +wailing of the wind and the crashing of the thunder, immediately +fell asleep. + + + + +Chapter II + +The Lion's Cave + + +The rain lasted for twenty-four hours and much of the time it fell +in torrents so that when it ceased, the trail he had been following +was entirely obliterated. Cold and uncomfortable--it was a savage +Tarzan who threaded the mazes of the soggy jungle. Manu, the +monkey, shivering and chattering in the dank trees, scolded and fled +at his approach. Even the panthers and the lions let the growling +Tarmangani pass unmolested. + +When the sun shone again upon the second day and a wide, open plain +let the full heat of Kudu flood the chilled, brown body, Tarzan's +spirits rose; but it was still a sullen, surly brute that moved +steadily onward into the south where he hoped again to pick up the +trail of the Germans. He was now in German East Africa and it was +his intention to skirt the mountains west of Kilimanjaro, whose +rugged peaks he was quite willing to give a wide berth, and then +swing eastward along the south side of the range to the railway that +led to Tanga, for his experience among men suggested that it was +toward this railroad that German troops would be likely to converge. + +Two days later, from the southern slopes of Kilimanjaro, he heard +the boom of cannon far away to the east. The afternoon had been +dull and cloudy and now as he was passing through a narrow gorge a +few great drops of rain began to splatter upon his naked shoulders. +Tarzan shook his head and growled his disapproval; then he cast his +eyes about for shelter, for he had had quite enough of the cold and +drenching. He wanted to hasten on in the direction of the booming +noise, for he knew that there would be Germans fighting against the +English. For an instant his bosom swelled with pride at the thought +that he was English and then he shook his head again viciously. +"No!" he muttered, "Tarzan of the Apes is not English, for the +English are men and Tarzan is Tarmangani;" but he could not hide +even from his sorrow or from his sullen hatred of mankind in general +that his heart warmed at the thought it was Englishmen who fought +the Germans. His regret was that the English were human and not +great white apes as he again considered himself. + +"Tomorrow," he thought, "I will travel that way and find the Germans," +and then he set himself to the immediate task of discovering some +shelter from the storm. Presently he espied the low and narrow +entrance to what appeared to be a cave at the base of the cliffs +which formed the northern side of the gorge. With drawn knife he +approached the spot warily, for he knew that if it were a cave it +was doubtless the lair of some other beast. Before the entrance lay +many large fragments of rock of different sizes, similar to others +scattered along the entire base of the cliff, and it was in Tarzan's +mind that if he found the cave unoccupied he would barricade the +door and insure himself a quiet and peaceful night's repose within +the sheltered interior. Let the storm rage without--Tarzan would +remain within until it ceased, comfortable and dry. A tiny rivulet +of cold water trickled outward from the opening. + +Close to the cave Tarzan kneeled and sniffed the ground. A low +growl escaped him and his upper lip curved to expose his fighting +fangs. "Numa!" he muttered; but he did not stop. Numa might not be +at home--he would investigate. The entrance was so low that the +ape-man was compelled to drop to all fours before he could poke +his head within the aperture; but first he looked, listened, and +sniffed in each direction at his rear--he would not be taken by +surprise from that quarter. + +His first glance within the cave revealed a narrow tunnel with +daylight at its farther end. The interior of the tunnel was not so +dark but that the ape-man could readily see that it was untenanted +at present. Advancing cautiously he crawled toward the opposite +end imbued with a full realization of what it would mean if Numa +should suddenly enter the tunnel in front of him; but Numa did not +appear and the ape-man emerged at length into the open and stood +erect, finding himself in a rocky cleft whose precipitous walls +rose almost sheer on every hand, the tunnel from the gorge passing +through the cliff and forming a passageway from the outer world +into a large pocket or gulch entirely enclosed by steep walls of +rock. Except for the small passageway from the gorge, there was no +other entrance to the gulch which was some hundred feet in length +and about fifty in width and appeared to have been worn from the +rocky cliff by the falling of water during long ages. A tiny stream +from Kilimanjaro's eternal snow cap still trickled over the edge +of the rocky wall at the upper end of the gulch, forming a little +pool at the bottom of the cliff from which a small rivulet wound +downward to the tunnel through which it passed to the gorge beyond. +A single great tree flourished near the center of the gulch, while +tufts of wiry grass were scattered here and there among the rocks +of the gravelly floor. + +The bones of many large animals lay about and among them were +several human skulls. Tarzan raised his eyebrows. "A man-eater," +he murmured, "and from appearances he has held sway here for a long +time. Tonight Tarzan will take the lair of the man-eater and Numa +may roar and grumble upon the outside." + +The ape-man had advanced well into the gulch as he investigated +his surroundings and now as he stood near the tree, satisfied that +the tunnel would prove a dry and quiet retreat for the night, he +turned to retrace his way to the outer end of the entrance that he +might block it with boulders against Numa's return, but even with +the thought there came something to his sensitive ears that froze +him into statuesque immobility with eyes glued upon the tunnel's +mouth. A moment later the head of a huge lion framed in a great +black mane appeared in the opening. The yellow-green eyes glared, +round and unblinking, straight at the trespassing Tarmangani, a low +growl rumbled from the deep chest, and lips curled back to expose +the mighty fangs. + +"Brother of Dango!" shouted Tarzan, angered that Numa's return should +have been so timed as to frustrate his plans for a comfortable +night's repose. "I am Tarzan of the Apes, Lord of the Jungle. +Tonight I lair here--go!" + +But Numa did not go. Instead he rumbled forth a menacing roar and +took a few steps in Tarzan's direction. The ape-man picked up a +rock and hurled it at the snarling face. One can never be sure of +a lion. This one might turn tail and run at the first intimation +of attack--Tarzan had bluffed many in his time--but not now. The +missile struck Numa full upon the snout--a tender part of a cat's +anatomy--and instead of causing him to flee it transformed him into +an infuriated engine of wrath and destruction. + +Up went his tail, stiff and erect, and with a series of frightful +roars he bore down upon the Tarmangani at the speed of an express +train. Not an instant too soon did Tarzan reach the tree and swing +himself into its branches and there he squatted, hurling insults at +the king of beasts while Numa paced a circle beneath him, growling +and roaring in rage. + +It was raining now in earnest adding to the ape-man's discomfort +and disappointment. He was very angry; but as only direct necessity +had ever led him to close in mortal combat with a lion, knowing +as he did that he had only luck and agility to pit against the +frightful odds of muscle, weight, fangs, and talons, he did not now +even consider descending and engaging in so unequal and useless a +duel for the mere reward of a little added creature comfort. And +so he sat perched in the tree while the rain fell steadily and the +lion padded round and round beneath, casting a baleful eye upward +after every few steps. + +Tarzan scanned the precipitous walls for an avenue of escape. They +would have baffled an ordinary man; but the ape-man, accustomed +to climbing, saw several places where he might gain a foothold, +precarious possibly; but enough to give him reasonable assurance +of escape if Numa would but betake himself to the far end of the +gulch for a moment. Numa, however, notwithstanding the rain, gave +no evidence of quitting his post so that at last Tarzan really +began to consider seriously if it might not be as well to take the +chance of a battle with him rather than remain longer cold and wet +and humiliated in the tree. + +But even as he turned the matter over in his mind Numa turned +suddenly and walked majestically toward the tunnel without even a +backward glance. The instant that he disappeared, Tarzan dropped +lightly to the ground upon the far side of the tree and was away at +top speed for the cliff. The lion had no sooner entered the tunnel +than he backed immediately out again and, pivoting like a flash, +was off across the gulch in full charge after the flying ape-man; +but Tarzan's lead was too great--if he could find finger or foothold +upon the sheer wall he would be safe; but should he slip from the +wet rocks his doom was already sealed as he would fall directly into +Numa's clutches where even the Great Tarmangani would be helpless. + +With the agility of a cat Tarzan ran up the cliff for thirty feet +before he paused, and there finding a secure foothold, he stopped +and looked down upon Numa who was leaping upward in a wild and +futile attempt to scale the rocky wall to his prey. Fifteen or +twenty feet from the ground the lion would scramble only to fall +backward again defeated. Tarzan eyed him for a moment and then +commenced a slow and cautious ascent toward the summit. Several +times he had difficulty in finding holds but at last he drew himself +over the edge, rose, picked up a bit of loose rock, hurled it at +Numa and strode away. + +Finding an easy descent to the gorge, he was about to pursue his +journey in the direction of the still-booming guns when a sudden +thought caused him to halt and a half-smile to play about his lips. +Turning, he trotted quickly back to the outer opening of Numa's +tunnel. Close beside it he listened for a moment and then rapidly +began to gather large rocks and pile them within the entrance. +He had almost closed the aperture when the lion appeared upon the +inside--a very ferocious and angry lion that pawed and clawed at +the rocks and uttered mighty roars that caused the earth to tremble; +but roars did not frighten Tarzan of the Apes. At Kala's shaggy +breast he had closed his infant eyes in sleep upon countless nights +in years gone by to the savage chorus of similar roars. Scarcely a +day or night of his jungle life--and practically all his life had +been spent in the jungle--had he not heard the roaring of hungry +lions, or angry lions, or love-sick lions. Such sounds affected +Tarzan as the tooting of an automobile horn may affect you--if you +are in front of the automobile it warns you out of the way, if you +are not in front of it you scarcely notice it. Figuratively Tarzan +was not in front of the automobile--Numa could not reach him and +Tarzan knew it, so he continued deliberately to choke the entrance +until there was no possibility of Numa's getting out again. When +he was quite through he made a grimace at the hidden lion beyond +the barrier and resumed his way toward the east. "A man-eater who +will eat no more men," he soliloquized. + +That night Tarzan lay up under an overhanging shelf of rock. The +next morning he resumed his journey, stopping only long enough to +make a kill and satisfy his hunger. The other beasts of the wild +eat and lie up; but Tarzan never let his belly interfere with his +plans. In this lay one of the greatest differences between the ape-man +and his fellows of the jungles and forests. The firing ahead rose +and fell during the day. He had noticed that it was highest at +dawn and immediately after dusk and that during the night it almost +ceased. In the middle of the afternoon of the second day he came +upon troops moving up toward the front. They appeared to be raiding +parties, for they drove goats and cows along with them and there +were native porters laden with grain and other foodstuffs. He saw +that these natives were all secured by neck chains and he also saw +that the troops were composed of native soldiers in German uniforms. +The officers were white men. No one saw Tarzan, yet he was here and +there about and among them for two hours. He inspected the insignia +upon their uniforms and saw that they were not the same as that +which he had taken from one of the dead soldiers at the bungalow +and then he passed on ahead of them, unseen in the dense bush. He +had come upon Germans and had not killed them; but it was because +the killing of Germans at large was not yet the prime motive of +his existence--now it was to discover the individual who slew his +mate. + +After he had accounted for him he would take up the little matter +of slaying ALL Germans who crossed his path, and he meant that many +should cross it, for he would hunt them precisely as professional +hunters hunt the man-eaters. + +As he neared the front lines the troops became more numerous. There +were motor trucks and ox teams and all the impedimenta of a small +army and always there were wounded men walking or being carried +toward the rear. He had crossed the railroad some distance back and +judged that the wounded were being taken to it for transportation +to a base hospital and possibly as far away as Tanga on the coast. + +It was dusk when he reached a large camp hidden in the foothills of +the Pare Mountains. As he was approaching from the rear he found +it but lightly guarded and what sentinels there were, were not +upon the alert, and so it was an easy thing for him to enter after +darkness had fallen and prowl about listening at the backs of tents, +searching for some clew to the slayer of his mate. + +As he paused at the side of a tent before which sat a number of +native soldiers he caught a few words spoken in native dialect that +riveted his attention instantly: "The Waziri fought like devils; +but we are greater fighters and we killed them all. When we were +through the captain came and killed the woman. He stayed outside +and yelled in a very loud voice until all the men were killed. +Underlieutenant von Goss is braver--he came in and stood beside the +door shouting at us, also in a very loud voice, and bade us nail +one of the Waziri who was wounded to the wall, and then he laughed +loudly because the man suffered. We all laughed. It was very funny." + +Like a beast of prey, grim and terrible, Tarzan crouched in the +shadows beside the tent. What thoughts passed through that savage +mind? Who may say? No outward sign of passion was revealed by the +expression of the handsome face; the cold, gray eyes denoted only +intense watchfulness. Presently the soldier Tarzan had heard first +rose and with a parting word turned away. He passed within ten +feet of the ape-man and continued on toward the rear of the camp. +Tarzan followed and in the shadows of a clump of bushes overtook +his quarry. There was no sound as the man beast sprang upon the +back of his prey and bore it to the ground for steel fingers closed +simultaneously upon the soldier's throat, effectually stifling +any outcry. By the neck Tarzan dragged his victim well into the +concealment of the bushes. + +"Make no sound," he cautioned in the man's own tribal dialect as +he released his hold upon the other's throat. + +The fellow gasped for breath, rolling frightened eyes upward to +see what manner of creature it might be in whose power he was. In +the darkness he saw only a naked brown body bending above him; but +he still remembered the terrific strength of the mighty muscles +that had closed upon his wind and dragged him into the bushes as +though he had been but a little child. If any thought of resistance +had crossed his mind he must have discarded it at once, as he made +no move to escape. + +"What is the name of the officer who killed the woman at the bungalow +where you fought with the Waziri?" asked Tarzan. + +"Hauptmann Schneider," replied the black when he could again command +his voice. + +"Where is he?" demanded the ape-man. + +"He is here. It may be that he is at headquarters. Many of the +officers go there in the evening to receive orders." + +"Lead me there," commanded Tarzan, "and if I am discovered I will +kill you immediately. Get up!" + +The black rose and led the way by a roundabout route back through +the camp. Several times they were forced to hide while soldiers +passed; but at last they reached a great pile of baled hay from about +the corner of which the black pointed out a two-story building in +the distance. + +"Headquarters," he said. "You can go no farther unseen. There are +many soldiers about." + +Tarzan realized that he could not proceed farther in company with +the black. He turned and looked at the fellow for a moment as though +pondering what disposition to make of him. + +"You helped to crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri," he accused in a low +yet none the less terrible tone. + +The black trembled, his knees giving beneath him. "He ordered us +to do it," he plead. + +"Who ordered it done?" demanded Tarzan. + +"Underlieutenant von Goss," replied the soldier. "He, too, is here." + +"I shall find him," returned Tarzan, grimly. "You helped to crucify +Wasimbu, the Waziri, and, while he suffered, you laughed." + +The fellow reeled. It was as though in the accusation he read also +his death sentence. With no other word Tarzan seized the man again +by the neck. As before there was no outcry. The giant muscles tensed. +The arms swung quickly upward and with them the body of the black +soldier who had helped to crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri, described a +circle in the air--once, twice, three times, and then it was flung +aside and the ape-man turned in the direction of General Kraut's +headquarters. + +A single sentinel in the rear of the building barred the way. +Tarzan crawled, belly to the ground, toward him, taking advantage +of cover as only the jungle-bred beast of prey can do. When the +sentinel's eyes were toward him, Tarzan hugged the ground, motionless +as stone; when they were turned away, he moved swiftly forward. +Presently he was within charging distance. He waited until the man +had turned his back once more and then he rose and sped noiselessly +down upon him. Again there was no sound as he carried the dead +body with him toward the building. + +The lower floor was lighted, the upper dark. Through the windows +Tarzan saw a large front room and a smaller room in rear of it. +In the former were many officers. Some moved about talking to one +another, others sat at field tables writing. The windows were open +and Tarzan could hear much of the conversation; but nothing that +interested him. It was mostly about the German successes in Africa +and conjectures as to when the German army in Europe would reach +Paris. Some said the Kaiser was doubtlessly already there, and +there was a great deal of damning Belgium. + +In the smaller back room a large, red-faced man sat behind a table. +Some other officers were also sitting a little in rear of him, +while two stood at attention before the general, who was questioning +them. As he talked, the general toyed with an oil lamp that stood +upon the table before him. Presently there came a knock upon the +door and an aide entered the room. He saluted and reported: "Fraulein +Kircher has arrived, sir." + +"Bid her enter," commanded the general, and then nodded to the two +officers before him in sign of dismissal. + +The Fraulein, entering, passed them at the door. The officers in +the little room rose and saluted, the Fraulein acknowledging the +courtesy with a bow and a slight smile. She was a very pretty +girl. Even the rough, soiled riding habit and the caked dust upon +her face could not conceal the fact, and she was young. She could +not have been over nineteen. + +She advanced to the table behind which the general stood and, taking +a folded paper from an inside pocket of her coat, handed it to him. + +"Be seated, Fraulein," he said, and another officer brought her +a chair. No one spoke while the general read the contents of the +paper. + +Tarzan appraised the various people in the room. He wondered if one +might not be Hauptmann Schneider, for two of them were captains. +The girl he judged to be of the intelligence department--a spy. +Her beauty held no appeal for him--without a glimmer of compunction +he could have wrung that fair, young neck. She was German and that +was enough; but he had other and more important work before him. +He wanted Hauptmann Schneider. + +Finally the general looked up from the paper. + +"Good," he said to the girl, and then to one of his aides, "Send +for Major Schneider." + +Major Schneider! Tarzan felt the short hairs at the back of his +neck rise. Already they had promoted the beast who had murdered +his mate--doubtless they had promoted him for that very crime. + +The aide left the room and the others fell into a general conversation +from which it became apparent to Tarzan that the German East African +forces greatly outnumbered the British and that the latter were +suffering heavily. The ape-man stood so concealed in a clump of +bushes that he could watch the interior of the room without being +seen from within, while he was at the same time hidden from the view +of anyone who might chance to pass along the post of the sentinel +he had slain. Momentarily he was expecting a patrol or a relief to +appear and discover that the sentinel was missing, when he knew an +immediate and thorough search would be made. + +Impatiently he awaited the coming of the man he sought and at +last he was rewarded by the reappearance of the aide who had been +dispatched to fetch him accompanied by an officer of medium size +with fierce, upstanding mustaches. The newcomer strode to the table, +halted and saluted, reporting. The general acknowledged the salute +and turned toward the girl. + +"Fraulein Kircher," he said, "allow me to present Major Schneider--" + +Tarzan waited to hear no more. Placing a palm upon the sill of +the window he vaulted into the room into the midst of an astounded +company of the Kaiser's officers. With a stride he was at the table +and with a sweep of his hand sent the lamp crashing into the fat +belly of the general who, in his mad effort to escape cremation, +fell over backward, chair and all, upon the floor. Two of the aides +sprang for the ape-man who picked up the first and flung him in the +face of the other. The girl had leaped from her chair and stood +flattened against the wall. The other officers were calling aloud +for the guard and for help. Tarzan's purpose centered upon but +a single individual and him he never lost sight of. Freed from +attack for an instant he seized Major Schneider, threw him over his +shoulder and was out of the window so quickly that the astonished +assemblage could scarce realize what had occurred. + +A single glance showed him that the sentinel's post was still vacant +and a moment later he and his burden were in the shadows of the +hay dump. Major Schneider had made no outcry for the very excellent +reason that his wind was shut off. Now Tarzan released his grasp +enough to permit the man to breathe. + +"If you make a sound you will be choked again," he said. + +Cautiously and after infinite patience Tarzan passed the final +outpost. Forcing his captive to walk before him he pushed on toward +the west until, late into the night, he re-crossed the railway where +he felt reasonably safe from discovery. The German had cursed and +grumbled and threatened and asked questions; but his only reply +was another prod from Tarzan's sharp war spear. The ape-man herded +him along as he would have driven a hog with the difference that +he would have had more respect and therefore more consideration +for a hog. + +Until now Tarzan had given little thought to the details of revenge. +Now he pondered what form the punishment should take. Of only one +thing was he certain--it must end in death. Like all brave men +and courageous beasts Tarzan had little natural inclination to +torture--none, in fact; but this case was unique in his experience. +An inherent sense of justice called for an eye for an eye and his +recent oath demanded even more. Yes, the creature must suffer even +as he had caused Jane Clayton to suffer. Tarzan could not hope to +make the man suffer as he had suffered, since physical pain may +never approach the exquisiteness of mental torture. + +All through the long night the ape-man goaded on the exhausted and +now terrified Hun. The awful silence of his captor wrought upon the +German's nerves. If he would only speak! Again and again Schneider +tried to force or coax a word from him; but always the result was +the same--continued silence and a vicious and painful prod from the +spear point. Schneider was bleeding and sore. He was so exhausted +that he staggered at every step, and often he fell only to be +prodded to his feet again by that terrifying and remorseless spear. + +It was not until morning that Tarzan reached a decision and it came +to him then like an inspiration from above. A slow smile touched +his lips and he immediately sought a place to lie up and rest--he +wished his prisoner to be fit now for what lay in store for him. +Ahead was a stream which Tarzan had crossed the day before. He knew +the ford for a drinking place and a likely spot to make an easy +kill. Cautioning the German to utter silence with a gesture the +two approached the stream quietly. Down the game trail Tarzan saw +some deer about to leave the water. He shoved Schneider into the +brush at one side and, squatting next him, waited. The German +watched the silent giant with puzzled, frightened eyes. In the new +dawn he, for the first time, was able to obtain a good look at his +captor, and, if he had been puzzled and frightened before, those +sensations were nothing to what he experienced now. + +Who and what could this almost naked, white savage be? He had +heard him speak but once--when he had cautioned him to silence--and +then in excellent German and the well-modulated tones of culture. +He watched him now as the fascinated toad watches the snake that +is about to devour it. He saw the graceful limbs and symmetrical +body motionless as a marble statue as the creature crouched in the +concealment of the leafy foliage. Not a muscle, not a nerve moved. +He saw the deer coming slowly along the trail, down wind and +unsuspecting. He saw a buck pass--an old buck--and then a young and +plump one came opposite the giant in ambush, and Schneider's eyes +went wide and a scream of terror almost broke from his lips as he +saw the agile beast at his side spring straight for the throat of +the young buck and heard from those human lips the hunting roar of +a wild beast. Down went the buck and Tarzan and his captive had +meat. The ape-man ate his raw, but he permitted the German to build +a fire and cook his portion. + +The two lay up until late in the afternoon and then took up the +journey once again--a journey that was so frightful to Schneider +because of his ignorance of its destination that he at times groveled +at Tarzan's feet begging for an explanation and for mercy; but on +and on in silence the ape-man went, prodding the failing Hun whenever +the latter faltered. + +It was noon of the third day before they reached their destination. +After a steep climb and a short walk they halted at the edge of +a precipitous cliff and Schneider looked down into a narrow gulch +where a single tree grew beside a tiny rivulet and sparse grass +broke from a rock-strewn soil. Tarzan motioned him over the edge; +but the German drew back in terror. The Ape-man seized him and +pushed him roughly toward the brink. "Descend," he said. It was +the second time he had spoken in three days and perhaps his very +silence, ominous in itself, had done more to arouse terror in the +breast of the Boche than even the spear point, ever ready as it +always was. + +Schneider looked fearfully over the edge; but was about to essay +the attempt when Tarzan halted him. "I am Lord Greystoke," he +said. "It was my wife you murdered in the Waziri country. You will +understand now why I came for you. Descend." + +The German fell upon his knees. "I did not murder your wife," +he cried. "Have mercy! I did not murder your wife. I do not know +anything about--" + +"Descend!" snapped Tarzan, raising the point of his spear. He knew +that the man lied and was not surprised that he did. A man who +would murder for no cause would lie for less. Schneider still +hesitated and pled. The ape-man jabbed him with the spear and Schneider +slid fearfully over the top and began the perilous descent. Tarzan +accompanied and assisted him over the worst places until at last +they were within a few feet of the bottom. + +"Be quiet now," cautioned the ape-man. He pointed at the entrance +to what appeared to be a cave at the far end of the gulch. "There +is a hungry lion in there. If you can reach that tree before +he discovers you, you will have several days longer in which to +enjoy life and then--when you are too weak to cling longer to the +branches of the tree Numa, the man-eater, will feed again for the +last time." He pushed Schneider from his foothold to the ground +below. "Now run," he said. + +The German trembling in terror started for the tree. He had almost +reached it when a horrid roar broke from the mouth of the cave and +almost simultaneously a gaunt, hunger mad lion leaped into the +daylight of the gulch. Schneider had but a few yards to cover; +but the lion flew over the ground to circumvent him while Tarzan +watched the race with a slight smile upon his lips. + +Schneider won by a slender margin, and as Tarzan scaled the cliff +to the summit, he heard behind him mingled with the roaring of the +baffled cat, the gibbering of a human voice that was at the same +time more bestial than the beast's. + +Upon the brink of the cliff the ape-man turned and looked back +into the gulch. High in the tree the German clung frantically to +a branch across which his body lay. Beneath him was Numa--waiting. + +The ape-man raised his face to Kudu, the sun, and from his mighty +chest rose the savage victory cry of the bull ape. + + + + +Chapter III + +In the German Lines + + +Tarzan was not yet fully revenged. There were many millions of +Germans yet alive--enough to keep Tarzan pleasantly occupied the +balance of his life, and yet not enough, should he kill them all, +to recompense him for the great loss he had suffered--nor could +the death of all those million Germans bring back his loved one. + +While in the German camp in the Pare Mountains, which lie just +east of the boundary line between German and British East Africa, +Tarzan had overheard enough to suggest that the British were getting +the worst of the fighting in Africa. At first he had given the +matter but little thought, since, after the death of his wife, the +one strong tie that had held him to civilization, he had renounced +all mankind, considering himself no longer man, but ape. + +After accounting for Schneider as satisfactorily as lay within his +power he circled Kilimanjaro and hunted in the foothills to the +north of that mightiest of mountains as he had discovered that in +the neighborhood of the armies there was no hunting at all. Some +pleasure he derived through conjuring mental pictures from time to +time of the German he had left in the branches of the lone tree at +the bottom of the high-walled gulch in which was penned the starving +lion. He could imagine the man's mental anguish as he became weakened +from hunger and maddened by thirst, knowing that sooner or later he +must slip exhausted to the ground where waited the gaunt man-eater. +Tarzan wondered if Schneider would have the courage to descend to +the little rivulet for water should Numa leave the gulch and enter +the cave, and then he pictured the mad race for the tree again +when the lion charged out to seize his prey as he was certain to +do, since the clumsy German could not descend to the rivulet without +making at least some slight noise that would attract Numa's attention. + +But even this pleasure palled, and more and more the ape-man found +himself thinking of the English soldiers fighting against heavy +odds and especially of the fact that it was Germans who were beating +them. The thought made him lower his head and growl and it worried +him not a little--a bit, perhaps, because he was finding it difficult +to forget that he was an Englishman when he wanted only to be an +ape. And at last the time came when he could not longer endure the +thought of Germans killing Englishmen while he hunted in safety a +bare march away. + +His decision made, he set out in the direction of the German camp, +no well-defined plan formulated; but with the general idea that +once near the field of operations he might find an opportunity to +harass the German command as he so well knew how to do. His way +took him along the gorge close to the gulch in which he had left +Schneider, and, yielding to a natural curiosity, he scaled the cliffs +and made his way to the edge of the gulch. The tree was empty, nor +was there sign of Numa, the lion. Picking up a rock he hurled it +into the gulch, where it rolled to the very entrance to the cave. +Instantly the lion appeared in the aperture; but such a different-looking +lion from the great sleek brute that Tarzan had trapped there two +weeks before. Now he was gaunt and emaciated, and when he walked +he staggered. + +"Where is the German?" shouted Tarzan. "Was he good eating, or only +a bag of bones when he slipped and fell from the tree?" + +Numa growled. "You look hungry, Numa," continued the ape-man. "You +must have been very hungry to eat all the grass from your lair and +even the bark from the tree as far up as you can reach. Would you +like another German?" and smiling he turned away. + +A few minutes later he came suddenly upon Bara, the deer, asleep +beneath a tree, and as Tarzan was hungry he made a quick kill, +and squatting beside his prey proceeded to eat his fill. As he +was gnawing the last morsel from a bone his quick ears caught the +padding of stealthy feet behind him, and turning he confronted +Dango, the hyena, sneaking upon him. With a growl the ape-man +picked up a fallen branch and hurled it at the skulking brute. "Go +away, eater of carrion!" he cried; but Dango was hungry and being +large and powerful he only snarled and circled slowly about as +though watching for an opportunity to charge. Tarzan of the Apes +knew Dango even better than Dango knew himself. He knew that the +brute, made savage by hunger, was mustering its courage for an +attack, that it was probably accustomed to man and therefore more +or less fearless of him and so he un-slung his heavy spear and +laid it ready at his side while he continued his meal, all the time +keeping a watchful eye upon the hyena. + +He felt no fear, for long familiarity with the dangers of his wild +world had so accustomed him to them that he took whatever came as +a part of each day's existence as you accept the homely though no +less real dangers of the farm, the range, or the crowded metropolis. +Being jungle bred he was ready to protect his kill from all comers +within ordinary limitations of caution. Under favorable conditions +Tarzan would face even Numa himself and, if forced to seek safety +by flight, he could do so without any feeling of shame. There was +no braver creature roamed those savage wilds and at the same time +there was none more wise--the two factors that had permitted him +to survive. + +Dango might have charged sooner but for the savage growls of the +ape-man--growls which, coming from human lips, raised a question +and a fear in the hyena's heart. He had attacked women and children +in the native fields and he had frightened their men about their +fires at night; but he never had seen a man-thing who made this +sound that reminded him more of Numa angry than of a man afraid. + +When Tarzan had completed his repast he was about to rise and hurl +a clean-picked bone at the beast before he went his way, leaving +the remains of his kill to Dango; but a sudden thought stayed him +and instead he picked up the carcass of the deer, threw it over +his shoulder, and set off in the direction of the gulch. For a +few yards Dango followed, growling, and then realizing that he was +being robbed of even a taste of the luscious flesh he cast discretion +to the winds and charged. Instantly, as though Nature had given him +eyes in the back of his head, Tarzan sensed the impending danger +and, dropping Bara to the ground, turned with raised spear. Far +back went the brown, right hand and then forward, lightning-like, +backed by the power of giant muscles and the weight of his brawn +and bone. The spear, released at the right instant, drove straight +for Dango, caught him in the neck where it joined the shoulders +and passed through the body. + +When he had withdrawn the shaft from the hyena Tarzan shouldered +both carcasses and continued on toward the gulch. Below lay Numa +beneath the shade of the lone tree and at the ape-man's call he +staggered slowly to his feet, yet weak as he was, he still growled +savagely, even essaying a roar at the sight of his enemy. Tarzan +let the two bodies slide over the rim of the cliff. "Eat, Numa!" +he cried. "It may be that I shall need you again." He saw the lion, +quickened to new life at the sight of food, spring upon the body +of the deer and then he left him rending and tearing the flesh as +he bolted great pieces into his empty maw. + +The following day Tarzan came within sight of the German lines. +From a wooded spur of the hills he looked down upon the enemy's +left flank and beyond to the British lines. His position gave him +a bird's-eye view of the field of battle, and his keen eyesight +picked out many details that would not have been apparent to a man +whose every sense was not trained to the highest point of perfection +as were the ape-man's. He noted machine-gun emplacements cunningly +hidden from the view of the British and listening posts placed well +out in No Man's Land. + +As his interested gaze moved hither and thither from one point of +interest to another he heard from a point upon the hillside below +him, above the roar of cannon and the crack of rifle fire, a single +rifle spit. Immediately his attention was centered upon the spot +where he knew a sniper must be hid. Patiently he awaited the next +shot that would tell him more surely the exact location of the +rifleman, and when it came he moved down the steep hillside with +the stealth and quietness of a panther. Apparently he took no +cognizance of where he stepped, yet never a loose stone was disturbed +nor a twig broken--it was as though his feet saw. + +Presently, as he passed through a clump of bushes, he came to the +edge of a low cliff and saw upon a ledge some fifteen feet below +him a German soldier prone behind an embankment of loose rock and +leafy boughs that hid him from the view of the British lines. The +man must have been an excellent shot, for he was well back of the +German lines, firing over the heads of his fellows. His high-powered +rifle was equipped with telescope sights and he also carried +binoculars which he was in the act of using as Tarzan discovered +him, either to note the effect of his last shot or to discover +a new target. Tarzan let his eye move quickly toward that part of +the British line the German seemed to be scanning, his keen sight +revealing many excellent targets for a rifle placed so high above +the trenches. + +The Hun, evidently satisfied with his observations, laid aside +his binoculars and again took up his rifle, placed its butt in the +hollow of his shoulder and took careful aim. At the same instant a +brown body sprang outward from the cliff above him. There was no +sound and it is doubtful that the German ever knew what manner of +creature it was that alighted heavily upon his back, for at the +instant of impact the sinewy fingers of the ape-man circled the +hairy throat of the Boche. There was a moment of futile struggling +followed by the sudden realization of dissolution--the sniper was +dead. + +Lying behind the rampart of rocks and boughs, Tarzan looked down +upon the scene below. Near at hand were the trenches of the Germans. +He could see officers and men moving about in them and almost in +front of him a well-hidden machine gun was traversing No Man's Land +in an oblique direction, striking the British at such an angle as +to make it difficult for them to locate it. + +Tarzan watched, toying idly with the rifle of the dead German. +Presently he fell to examining the mechanism of the piece. He +glanced again toward the German trenches and changed the adjustment +of the sights, then he placed the rifle to his shoulder and took +aim. Tarzan was an excellent shot. With his civilized friends he +had hunted big game with the weapons of civilization and though he +never had killed except for food or in self-defense he had amused +himself firing at inanimate targets thrown into the air and had +perfected himself in the use of firearms without realizing that +he had done so. Now indeed would he hunt big game. A slow smile +touched his lips as his finger closed gradually upon the trigger. +The rifle spoke and a German machine gunner collapsed behind his +weapon. In three minutes Tarzan picked off the crew of that gun. +Then he spotted a German officer emerging from a dugout and the +three men in the bay with him. Tarzan was careful to leave no one +in the immediate vicinity to question how Germans could be shot in +German trenches when they were entirely concealed from enemy view. + +Again adjusting his sights he took a long-range shot at a distant +machine-gun crew to his right. With calm deliberation he wiped them +out to a man. Two guns were silenced. He saw men running through +the trenches and he picked off several of them. By this time the +Germans were aware that something was amiss--that an uncanny sniper +had discovered a point of vantage from which this sector of the +trenches was plainly visible to him. At first they sought to discover +his location in No Man's Land; but when an officer looking over +the parapet through a periscope was struck full in the back of the +head with a rifle bullet which passed through his skull and fell +to the bottom of the trench they realized that it was beyond the +parados rather than the parapet that they should search. + +One of the soldiers picked up the bullet that had killed his +officer, and then it was that real excitement prevailed in that +particular bay, for the bullet was obviously of German make. Hugging +the parados, messengers carried the word in both directions and +presently periscopes were leveled above the parados and keen eyes +were searching out the traitor. It did not take them long to locate +the position of the hidden sniper and then Tarzan saw a machine +gun being trained upon him. Before it had gotten into action its +crew lay dead about it; but there were other men to take their +places, reluctantly perhaps; but driven on by their officers they +were forced to it and at the same time two other machine guns were +swung around toward the ape-man and put into operation. + +Realizing that the game was about up Tarzan with a farewell shot +laid aside the rifle and melted into the hills behind him. For many +minutes he could hear the sputter of machinegun fire concentrated +upon the spot he had just quit and smiled as he contemplated the +waste of German ammunition. + +"They have paid heavily for Wasimbu, the Waziri, whom they crucified, +and for his slain fellows," he mused; "but for Jane they can never +pay--no, not if I killed them all." + +After dark that night he circled the flanks of both armies and +passed through the British out-guards and into the British lines. +No man saw him come. No man knew that he was there. + +Headquarters of the Second Rhodesians occupied a sheltered position +far enough back of the lines to be comparatively safe from enemy +observation. Even lights were permitted, and Colonel Capell sat +before a field table, on which was spread a military map, talking +with several of his officers. A large tree spread above them, a +lantern sputtered dimly upon the table, while a small fire burned +upon the ground close at hand. The enemy had no planes and no other +observers could have seen the lights from the German lines. + +The officers were discussing the advantage in numbers possessed by +the enemy and the inability of the British to more than hold their +present position. They could not advance. Already they had sustained +severe losses in every attack and had always been driven back by +overwhelming numbers. There were hidden machine guns, too, that +bothered the colonel considerably. It was evidenced by the fact +that he often reverted to them during the conversation. + +"Something silenced them for a while this afternoon," said one of +the younger officers. "I was observing at the time and I couldn't +make out what the fuss was about; but they seemed to be having a +devil of a time in a section of trench on their left. At one time I +could have sworn they were attacked in the rear--I reported it to +you at the time, sir, you'll recall--for the blighters were pepperin' +away at the side of that bluff behind them. I could see the dirt +fly. I don't know what it could have been." + +There was a slight rustling among the branches of the tree above +them and simultaneously a lithe, brown body dropped in their midst. +Hands moved quickly to the butts of pistols; but otherwise there +was no movement among the officers. First they looked wonderingly +at the almost naked white man standing there with the firelight +playing upon rounded muscles, took in the primitive attire and +the equally primitive armament and then all eyes turned toward the +colonel. + +"Who the devil are you, sir?" snapped that officer. + +"Tarzan of the Apes," replied the newcomer. + +"Oh, Greystoke!" cried a major, and stepped forward with outstretched +hand. + +"Preswick," acknowledged Tarzan as he took the proffered hand. + +"I didn't recognize you at first," apologized the major. "The +last time I saw you you were in London in evening dress. Quite a +difference--'pon my word, man, you'll have to admit it." + +Tarzan smiled and turned toward the colonel. "I overheard your +conversation," he said. "I have just come from behind the German +lines. Possibly I can help you." + +The colonel looked questioningly toward Major Preswick who quickly +rose to the occasion and presented the ape-man to his commanding +officer and fellows. Briefly Tarzan told them what it was that +brought him out alone in pursuit of the Germans. + +"And now you have come to join us?" asked the colonel. + +Tarzan shook his head. "Not regularly," he replied. "I must fight +in my own way; but I can help you. Whenever I wish I can enter the +German lines." + +Capell smiled and shook his head. "It's not so easy as you think," +he said; "I've lost two good officers in the last week trying it--and +they were experienced men; none better in the Intelligence Department." + +"Is it more difficult than entering the British lines?" asked +Tarzan. + +The colonel was about to reply when a new thought appeared to occur +to him and he looked quizzically at the ape-man. "Who brought you +here?" he asked. "Who passed you through our out-guards?" + +"I have just come through the German lines and yours and passed +through your camp," he replied. "Send word to ascertain if anyone +saw me." + +"But who accompanied you?" insisted Capell. + +"I came alone," replied Tarzan and then, drawing himself to +his full height, "You men of civilization, when you come into the +jungle, are as dead among the quick. Manu, the monkey, is a sage +by comparison. I marvel that you exist at all--only your numbers, +your weapons, and your power of reasoning save you. Had I a few +hundred great apes with your reasoning power I could drive the +Germans into the ocean as quickly as the remnant of them could +reach the coast. Fortunate it is for you that the dumb brutes cannot +combine. Could they, Africa would remain forever free of men. But +come, can I help you? Would you like to know where several machinegun +emplacements are hidden?" + +The colonel assured him that they would, and a moment later Tarzan +had traced upon the map the location of three that had been bothering +the English. "There is a weak spot here," he said, placing a finger +upon the map. "It is held by blacks; but the machine guns out in +front are manned by whites. If--wait! I have a plan. You can fill +that trench with your own men and enfilade the trenches to its +right with their own machine guns." + +Colonel Capell smiled and shook his head. "It sounds very easy," +he said. + +"It IS easy--for me," replied the ape-man. "I can empty that section +of trench without a shot. I was raised in the jungle--I know the +jungle folk--the Gomangani as well as the others. Look for me again +on the second night," and he turned to leave. + +"Wait," said the colonel. "I will send an officer to pass you +through the lines." + +Tarzan smiled and moved away. As he was leaving the little group +about headquarters he passed a small figure wrapped in an officer's +heavy overcoat. The collar was turned up and the visor of the +military cap pulled well down over the eyes; but, as the ape-man +passed, the light from the fire illuminated the features of the +newcomer for an instant, revealing to Tarzan a vaguely familiar +face. Some officer he had known in London, doubtless, he surmised, +and went his way through the British camp and the British lines +all unknown to the watchful sentinels of the out-guard. + +Nearly all night he moved across Kilimanjaro's foothills, tracking +by instinct an unknown way, for he guessed that what he sought would +be found on some wooded slope higher up than he had come upon his +other recent journeys in this, to him, little known country. Three +hours before dawn his keen nostrils apprised him that somewhere in +the vicinity he would find what he wanted, and so he climbed into +a tall tree and settled himself for a few hours' sleep. + + + + +Chapter IV + +When the Lion Fed + + +Kudu, the sun, was well up in the heavens when Tarzan awoke. The +ape-man stretched his giant limbs, ran his fingers through his thick +hair, and swung lightly down to earth. Immediately he took up the +trail he had come in search of, following it by scent down into +a deep ravine. Cautiously he went now, for his nose told him that +the quarry was close at hand, and presently from an overhanging +bough he looked down upon Horta, the boar, and many of his kinsmen. +Un-slinging his bow and selecting an arrow, Tarzan fitted the shaft +and, drawing it far back, took careful aim at the largest of the +great pigs. In the ape-man's teeth were other arrows, and no sooner +had the first one sped, than he had fitted and shot another bolt. +Instantly the pigs were in turmoil, not knowing from whence the +danger threatened. They stood stupidly at first and then commenced +milling around until six of their number lay dead or dying about +them; then with a chorus of grunts and squeals they started off at +a wild run, disappearing quickly in the dense underbrush. + +Tarzan then descended from the tree, dispatched those that were not +already dead and proceeded to skin the carcasses. As he worked, +rapidly and with great skill, he neither hummed nor whistled as +does the average man of civilization. It was in numerous little +ways such as these that he differed from other men, due, probably, +to his early jungle training. The beasts of the jungle that he had +been reared among were playful to maturity but seldom thereafter. +His fellow-apes, especially the bulls, became fierce and surly as +they grew older. Life was a serious matter during lean seasons--one +had to fight to secure one's share of food then, and the habit once +formed became lifelong. Hunting for food was the life labor of the +jungle bred, and a life labor is a thing not to be approached with +levity nor prosecuted lightly. So all work found Tarzan serious, +though he still retained what the other beasts lost as they grew +older--a sense of humor, which he gave play to when the mood suited +him. It was a grim humor and sometimes ghastly; but it satisfied +Tarzan. + +Then, too, were one to sing and whistle while working on the ground, +concentration would be impossible. Tarzan possessed the ability to +concentrate each of his five senses upon its particular business. +Now he worked at skinning the six pigs and his eyes and his fingers +worked as though there was naught else in all the world than these +six carcasses; but his ears and his nose were as busily engaged +elsewhere--the former ranging the forest all about and the latter +assaying each passing zephyr. It was his nose that first discovered +the approach of Sabor, the lioness, when the wind shifted for a +moment. + +As clearly as though he had seen her with his eyes, Tarzan knew +that the lioness had caught the scent of the freshly killed pigs +and immediately had moved down wind in their direction. He knew +from the strength of the scent spoor and the rate of the wind about +how far away she was and that she was approaching from behind him. +He was finishing the last pig and he did not hurry. The five pelts +lay close at hand--he had been careful to keep them thus together +and near him--an ample tree waved its low branches above him. + +He did not even turn his head for he knew she was not yet in sight; +but he bent his ears just a bit more sharply for the first sound +of her nearer approach. When the final skin had been removed he +rose. Now he heard Sabor in the bushes to his rear, but not yet +too close. Leisurely he gathered up the six pelts and one of the +carcasses, and as the lioness appeared between the boles of two +trees he swung upward into the branches above him. Here he hung +the hides over a limb, seated himself comfortably upon another with +his back against the bole of the tree, cut a hind quarter from +the carcass he had carried with him and proceeded to satisfy his +hunger. Sabor slunk, growling, from the brush, cast a wary eye +upward toward the ape-man and then fell upon the nearest carcass. + +Tarzan looked down upon her and grinned, recalling an argument he +had once had with a famous big-game hunter who had declared that +the king of beasts ate only what he himself had killed. Tarzan knew +better for he had seen Numa and Sabor stoop even to carrion. + +Having filled his belly, the ape-man fell to work upon the hides--all +large and strong. First he cut strips from them about half an inch +wide. When he had sufficient number of these strips he sewed two of +the hides together, afterwards piercing holes every three or four +inches around the edges. Running another strip through these +holes gave him a large bag with a drawstring. In similar fashion he +produced four other like bags, but smaller, from the four remaining +hides and had several strips left over. + +All this done he threw a large, juicy fruit at Sabor, cached the +remainder of the pig in a crotch of the tree and swung off toward +the southwest through the middle terraces of the forest, carrying +his five bags with him. Straight he went to the rim of the gulch +where he had imprisoned Numa, the lion. Very stealthily he approached +the edge and peered over. Numa was not in sight. Tarzan sniffed +and listened. He could hear nothing, yet he knew that Numa must be +within the cave. He hoped that he slept--much depended upon Numa +not discovering him. + +Cautiously he lowered himself over the edge of the cliff, and with +utter noiselessness commenced the descent toward the bottom of the +gulch. He stopped often and turned his keen eyes and ears in the +direction of the cave's mouth at the far end of the gulch, some +hundred feet away. As he neared the foot of the cliff his danger +increased greatly. If he could reach the bottom and cover half +the distance to the tree that stood in the center of the gulch he +would feel comparatively safe for then, even if Numa appeared, he +felt that he could beat him either to the cliff or to the tree, +but to scale the first thirty feet of the cliff rapidly enough to +elude the leaping beast would require a running start of at least +twenty feet as there were no very good hand- or footholds close +to the bottom--he had had to run up the first twenty feet like +a squirrel running up a tree that other time he had beaten an +infuriated Numa to it. He had no desire to attempt it again unless +the conditions were equally favorable at least, for he had escaped +Numa's raking talons by only a matter of inches on the former +occasion. + +At last he stood upon the floor of the gulch. Silent as a disembodied +spirit he advanced toward the tree. He was half way there and no +sign of Numa. He reached the scarred bole from which the famished +lion had devoured the bark and even torn pieces of the wood itself +and yet Numa had not appeared. As he drew himself up to the lower +branches he commenced to wonder if Numa were in the cave after +all. Could it be possible that he had forced the barrier of rocks +with which Tarzan had plugged the other end of the passage where +it opened into the outer world of freedom? Or was Numa dead? The +ape-man doubted the verity of the latter suggestion as he had fed +the lion the entire carcasses of a deer and a hyena only a few +days since--he could not have starved in so short a time, while the +little rivulet running across the gulch furnished him with water +a-plenty. + +Tarzan started to descend and investigate the cavern when it occurred +to him that it would save effort were he to lure Numa out instead. +Acting upon the thought he uttered a low growl. Immediately he was +rewarded by the sound of a movement within the cave and an instant +later a wild-eyed, haggard lion rushed forth ready to face the +devil himself were he edible. When Numa saw Tarzan, fat and sleek, +perched in the tree he became suddenly the embodiment of frightful +rage. His eyes and his nose told him that this was the creature +responsible for his predicament and also that this creature was +good to eat. Frantically the lion sought to scramble up the bole of +the tree. Twice he leaped high enough to catch the lowest branches +with his paws, but both times he fell backward to the earth. Each +time he became more furious. His growls and roars were incessant +and horrible and all the time Tarzan sat grinning down upon him, +taunting him in jungle billingsgate for his inability to reach +him and mentally exulting that always Numa was wasting his already +waning strength. + +Finally the ape-man rose and un-slung his rope. He arranged the +coils carefully in his left hand and the noose in his right, and +then he took a position with each foot on one of two branches that +lay in about the same horizontal plane and with his back pressed +firmly against the stem of the tree. There he stood hurling insults +at Numa until the beast was again goaded into leaping upward at +him, and as Numa rose the noose dropped quickly over his head and +about his neck. A quick movement of Tarzan's rope hand tightened +the coil and when Numa slipped backward to the ground only his hind +feet touched, for the ape-man held him swinging by the neck. + +Moving slowly outward upon the two branches Tarzan swung Numa out +so that he could not reach the bole of the tree with his raking +talons, then he made the rope fast after drawing the lion clear +of the ground, dropped his five pigskin sacks to earth and leaped +down himself. Numa was striking frantically at the grass rope with +his fore claws. At any moment he might sever it and Tarzan must, +therefore, work rapidly. + +First he drew the larger bag over Numa's head and secured it about +his neck with the draw string, then he managed, after considerable +effort, during which he barely escaped being torn to ribbons by +the mighty talons, to hog-tie Numa--drawing his four legs together +and securing them in that position with the strips trimmed from +the pigskins. + +By this time the lion's efforts had almost ceased--it was evident +that he was being rapidly strangled and as that did not at all +suit the purpose of the Tarmangani the latter swung again into the +tree, unfastened the rope from above and lowered the lion to the +ground where he immediately followed it and loosed the noose about +Numa's neck. Then he drew his hunting knife and cut two round holes +in the front of the head bag opposite the lion's eyes for the double +purpose of permitting him to see and giving him sufficient air to +breathe. + +This done Tarzan busied himself fitting the other bags, one over +each of Numa's formidably armed paws. Those on the hind feet he +secured not only by tightening the draw strings but also rigged +garters that fastened tightly around the legs above the hocks. +He secured the front-feet bags in place similarly above the great +knees. Now, indeed, was Numa, the lion, reduced to the harmlessness +of Bara, the deer. + +By now Numa was showing signs of returning life. He gasped for +breath and struggled; but the strips of pigskin that held his four +legs together were numerous and tough. Tarzan watched and was sure +that they would hold, yet Numa is mightily muscled and there was +the chance, always, that he might struggle free of his bonds after +which all would depend upon the efficacy of Tarzan's bags and draw +strings. + +After Numa had again breathed normally and was able to roar +out his protests and his rage, his struggles increased to Titanic +proportions for a short time; but as a lion's powers of endurance +are in no way proportionate to his size and strength he soon tired +and lay quietly. Amid renewed growling and another futile attempt +to free himself, Numa was finally forced to submit to the further +indignity of having a rope secured about his neck; but this time +it was no noose that might tighten and strangle him; but a bowline +knot, which does not tighten or slip under strain. + +The other end of the rope Tarzan fastened to the stem of the tree, +then he quickly cut the bonds securing Numa's legs and leaped aside +as the beast sprang to his feet. For a moment the lion stood with +legs far outspread, then he raised first one paw and then another, +shaking them energetically in an effort to dislodge the strange +footgear that Tarzan had fastened upon them. Finally he began to paw +at the bag upon his head. The ape-man, standing with ready spear, +watched Numa's efforts intently. Would the bags hold? He sincerely +hoped so. Or would all his labor prove fruitless? + +As the clinging things upon his feet and face resisted his every +effort to dislodge them, Numa became frantic. He rolled upon the +ground, fighting, biting, scratching, and roaring; he leaped to his +feet and sprang into the air; he charged Tarzan, only to be brought +to a sudden stop as the rope securing him to the tree tautened. +Then Tarzan stepped in and rapped him smartly on the head with the +shaft of his spear. Numa reared upon his hind feet and struck at +the ape-man and in return received a cuff on one ear that sent him +reeling sideways. When he returned to the attack he was again sent +sprawling. After the fourth effort it appeared to dawn upon the king +of beasts that he had met his master, his head and tail dropped and +when Tarzan advanced upon him he backed away, though still growling. + +Leaving Numa tied to the tree Tarzan entered the tunnel and removed +the barricade from the opposite end, after which he returned to +the gulch and strode straight for the tree. Numa lay in his path +and as Tarzan approached growled menacingly. The ape-man cuffed +him aside and unfastened the rope from the tree. Then ensued a +half-hour of stubbornly fought battle while Tarzan endeavored to +drive Numa through the tunnel ahead of him and Numa persistently +refused to be driven. At last, however, by dint of the unrestricted +use of his spear point, the ape-man succeeded in forcing the lion +to move ahead of him and eventually guided him into the passageway. +Once inside, the problem became simpler since Tarzan followed closely +in the rear with his sharp spear point, an unremitting incentive +to forward movement on the part of the lion. If Numa hesitated he +was prodded. If he backed up the result was extremely painful and +so, being a wise lion who was learning rapidly, he decided to keep +on going and at the end of the tunnel, emerging into the outer +world, he sensed freedom, raised his head and tail and started off +at a run. + +Tarzan, still on his hands and knees just inside the entrance, was +taken unaware with the result that he was sprawled forward upon +his face and dragged a hundred yards across the rocky ground before +Numa was brought to a stand. It was a scratched and angry Tarzan +who scrambled to his feet. At first he was tempted to chastise +Numa; but, as the ape-man seldom permitted his temper to guide him +in any direction not countenanced by reason, he quickly abandoned +the idea. + +Having taught Numa the rudiments of being driven, he now urged him +forward and there commenced as strange a journey as the unrecorded +history of the jungle contains. The balance of that day was eventful +both for Tarzan and for Numa. From open rebellion at first the lion +passed through stages of stubborn resistance and grudging obedience +to final surrender. He was a very tired, hungry, and thirsty lion +when night overtook them; but there was to be no food for him that +day or the next--Tarzan did not dare risk removing the head bag, +though he did cut another hole which permitted Numa to quench his +thirst shortly after dark. Then he tied him to a tree, sought food +for himself, and stretched out among the branches above his captive +for a few hours' sleep. + +Early the following morning they resumed their journey, winding over +the low foothills south of Kilimanjaro, toward the east. The beasts +of the jungle who saw them took one look and fled. The scent spoor +of Numa, alone, might have been enough to have provoked flight in +many of the lesser animals, but the sight of this strange apparition +that smelled like a lion, but looked like nothing they ever had +seen before, being led through the jungles by a giant Tarmangani +was too much for even the more formidable denizens of the wild. + +Sabor, the lioness, recognizing from a distance the scent of her +lord and master intermingled with that of a Tarmangani and the +hide of Horta, the boar, trotted through the aisles of the forest +to investigate. Tarzan and Numa heard her coming, for she voiced +a plaintive and questioning whine as the baffling mixture of odors +aroused her curiosity and her fears, for lions, however terrible +they may appear, are often timid animals and Sabor, being of the +gentler sex, was, naturally, habitually inquisitive as well. + +Tarzan un-slung his spear for he knew that he might now easily have +to fight to retain his prize. Numa halted and turned his outraged +head in the direction of the coming she. He voiced a throaty growl +that was almost a purr. Tarzan was upon the point of prodding him +on again when Sabor broke into view, and behind her the ape-man saw +that which gave him instant pause--four full-grown lions trailing +the lioness. + +To have goaded Numa then into active resistance might have brought +the whole herd down upon him and so Tarzan waited to learn first +what their attitude would be. He had no idea of relinquishing his +lion without a battle; but knowing lions as he did, he knew that +there was no assurance as to just what the newcomers would do. + +The lioness was young and sleek, and the four males were in their +prime--as handsome lions as he ever had seen. Three of the males +were scantily maned but one, the foremost, carried a splendid, +black mane that rippled in the breeze as he trotted majestically +forward. The lioness halted a hundred feet from Tarzan, while the +lions came on past her and stopped a few feet nearer. Their ears +were upstanding and their eyes filled with curiosity. Tarzan could +not even guess what they might do. The lion at his side faced them +fully, standing silent now and watchful. + +Suddenly the lioness gave vent to another little whine, at which +Tarzan's lion voiced a terrific roar and leaped forward straight +toward the beast of the black mane. The sight of this awesome +creature with the strange face was too much for the lion toward +which he leaped, dragging Tarzan after him, and with a growl the +lion turned and fled, followed by his companions and the she. + +Numa attempted to follow them; Tarzan held him in leash and when +he turned upon him in rage, beat him unmercifully across the head +with his spear. Shaking his head and growling, the lion at last moved +off again in the direction they had been traveling; but it was an +hour before he ceased to sulk. He was very hungry--half famished +in fact--and consequently of an ugly temper, yet so thoroughly +subdued by Tarzan's heroic methods of lion taming that he was +presently pacing along at the ape-man's side like some huge St. +Bernard. + +It was dark when the two approached the British right, after a +slight delay farther back because of a German patrol it had been +necessary to elude. A short distance from the British line of +out-guard sentinels Tarzan tied Numa to a tree and continued on +alone. He evaded a sentinel, passed the out-guard and support, and +by devious ways came again to Colonel Capell's headquarters, where +he appeared before the officers gathered there as a disembodied +spirit materializing out of thin air. + +When they saw who it was that came thus unannounced they smiled +and the colonel scratched his head in perplexity. + +"Someone should be shot for this," he said. "I might just as well +not establish an out-post if a man can filter through whenever he +pleases." + +Tarzan smiled. "Do not blame them," he said, "for I am not a man. +I am Tarmangani. Any Mangani who wished to, could enter your camp +almost at will; but if you have them for sentinels no one could +enter without their knowledge." + +"What are the Mangani?" asked the colonel. "Perhaps we might enlist +a bunch of the beggars." + +Tarzan shook his head. "They are the great apes," he explained; "my +people; but you could not use them. They cannot concentrate long +enough upon a single idea. If I told them of this they would be +much interested for a short time--I might even hold the interest +of a few long enough to get them here and explain their duties to +them; but soon they would lose interest and when you needed them +most they might be off in the forest searching for beetles instead +of watching their posts. They have the minds of little children--that +is why they remain what they are." + +"You call them Mangani and yourself Tarmangani--what is the +difference?" asked Major Preswick. + +"Tar means white," replied Tarzan, "and Mangani, great ape. My name--the +name they gave me in the tribe of Kerchak--means White-skin. When +I was a little balu my skin, I presume, looked very white indeed +against the beautiful, black coat of Kala, my foster mother +and so they called me Tarzan, the Tarmangani. They call you, too, +Tarmangani," he concluded, smiling. + +Capell smiled. "It is no reproach, Greystoke," he said; "and, by +Jove, it would be a mark of distinction if a fellow could act the +part. And now how about your plan? Do you still think you can empty +the trench opposite our sector?" + +"Is it still held by Gomangani?" asked Tarzan. + +"What are Gomangani?" inquired the colonel. "It is still held by +native troops, if that is what you mean." + +"Yes," replied the ape-man, "the Gomangani are the great black +apes--the Negroes." + +"What do you intend doing and what do you want us to do?" asked +Capell. + +Tarzan approached the table and placed a finger on the map. "Here +is a listening post," he said; "they have a machine gun in it. A +tunnel connects it with this trench at this point." His finger moved +from place to place on the map as he talked. "Give me a bomb and +when you hear it burst in this listening post let your men start +across No Man's Land slowly. Presently they will hear a commotion +in the enemy trench; but they need not hurry, and, whatever they +do, have them come quietly. You might also warn them that I may be +in the trench and that I do not care to be shot or bayoneted." + +"And that is all?" queried Capell, after directing an officer to +give Tarzan a hand grenade; "you will empty the trench alone?" + +"Not exactly alone," replied Tarzan with a grim smile; "but I shall +empty it, and, by the way, your men may come in through the tunnel +from the listening post if you prefer. In about half an hour, +Colonel," and he turned and left them. + +As he passed through the camp there flashed suddenly upon the screen +of recollection, conjured there by some reminder of his previous +visit to headquarters, doubtless, the image of the officer he had +passed as he quit the colonel that other time and simultaneously +recognition of the face that had been revealed by the light from +the fire. He shook his head dubiously. No, it could not be and +yet the features of the young officer were identical with those of +Fraulein Kircher, the German spy he had seen at German headquarters +the night he took Major Schneider from under the nose of the Hun +general and his staff. + +Beyond the last line of sentinels Tarzan moved quickly in the +direction of Numa, the lion. The beast was lying down as Tarzan +approached, but he rose as the ape-man reached his side. A low +whine escaped his muzzled lips. Tarzan smiled for he recognized in +the new note almost a supplication--it was more like the whine of +a hungry dog begging for food than the voice of the proud king of +beasts. + +"Soon you will kill--and feed," he murmured in the vernacular of +the great apes. + +He unfastened the rope from about the tree and, with Numa close +at his side, slunk into No Man's Land. There was little rifle fire +and only an occasional shell vouched for the presence of artillery +behind the opposing lines. As the shells from both sides were +falling well back of the trenches, they constituted no menace to +Tarzan; but the noise of them and that of the rifle fire had a marked +effect upon Numa who crouched, trembling, close to the Tarmangani +as though seeking protection. + +Cautiously the two beasts moved forward toward the listening post +of the Germans. In one hand Tarzan carried the bomb the English had +given him, in the other was the coiled rope attached to the lion. +At last Tarzan could see the position a few yards ahead. His keen +eyes picked out the head and shoulders of the sentinel on watch. +The ape-man grasped the bomb firmly in his right hand. He measured +the distance with his eye and gathered his feet beneath him, then +in a single motion he rose and threw the missile, immediately +flattening himself prone upon the ground. + +Five seconds later there was a terrific explosion in the center of +the listening post. Numa gave a nervous start and attempted to break +away; but Tarzan held him and, leaping to his feet, ran forward, +dragging Numa after him. At the edge of the post he saw below him +but slight evidence that the position had been occupied at all, +for only a few shreds of torn flesh remained. About the only thing +that had not been demolished was a machine gun which had been +protected by sand bags. + +There was not an instant to lose. Already a relief might be crawling +through the communication tunnel, for it must have been evident to +the sentinels in the Hun trenches that the listening post had been +demolished. Numa hesitated to follow Tarzan into the excavation; +but the ape-man, who was in no mood to temporize, jerked him roughly +to the bottom. Before them lay the mouth of the tunnel that led +back from No Man's Land to the German trenches. Tarzan pushed Numa +forward until his head was almost in the aperture, then as though +it were an afterthought, he turned quickly and, taking the machine +gun from the parapet, placed it in the bottom of the hole close +at hand, after which he turned again to Numa, and with his knife +quickly cut the garters that held the bags upon his front paws. +Before the lion could know that a part of his formidable armament +was again released for action, Tarzan had cut the rope from his +neck and the head bag from his face, and grabbing the lion from +the rear had thrust him partially into the mouth of the tunnel. + +Then Numa balked, only to feel the sharp prick of Tarzan's knife +point in his hind quarters. Goading him on the ape-man finally +succeeded in getting the lion sufficiently far into the tunnel +so that there was no chance of his escaping other than by going +forward or deliberately backing into the sharp blade at his rear. +Then Tarzan cut the bags from the great hind feet, placed his +shoulder and his knife point against Numa's seat, dug his toes +into the loose earth that had been broken up by the explosion of +the bomb, and shoved. + +Inch by inch at first Numa advanced. He was growling now and presently +he commenced to roar. Suddenly he leaped forward and Tarzan knew +that he had caught the scent of meat ahead. Dragging the machine +gun beside him the ape-man followed quickly after the lion whose +roars he could plainly hear ahead mingled with the unmistakable +screams of frightened men. Once again a grim smile touched the lips +of this man-beast. + +"They murdered my Waziri," he muttered; "they crucified Wasimbu, +son of Muviro." + +When Tarzan reached the trench and emerged into it there was no one +in sight in that particular bay, nor in the next, nor the next as +he hurried forward in the direction of the German center; but in the +fourth bay he saw a dozen men jammed in the angle of the traverse +at the end while leaping upon them and rending with talons and fangs +was Numa, a terrific incarnation of ferocity and ravenous hunger. + +Whatever held the men at last gave way as they fought madly with +one another in their efforts to escape this dread creature that +from their infancy had filled them with terror, and again they +were retreating. Some clambered over the parados and some even over +the parapet preferring the dangers of No Man's Land to this other +soul-searing menace. + +As the British advanced slowly toward the German trenches, they +first met terrified blacks who ran into their arms only too willing +to surrender. That pandemonium had broken loose in the Hun trench +was apparent to the Rhodesians not only from the appearance of the +deserters, but from the sounds of screaming, cursing men which came +clearly to their ears; but there was one that baffled them for it +resembled nothing more closely than the infuriated growling of an +angry lion. + +And when at last they reached the trench, those farthest on the left +of the advancing Britishers heard a machine gun sputter suddenly +before them and saw a huge lion leap over the German parados with +the body of a screaming Hun soldier between his jaws and vanish +into the shadows of the night, while squatting upon a traverse to +their left was Tarzan of the Apes with a machine gun before him +with which he was raking the length of the German trenches. + +The foremost Rhodesians saw something else--they saw a huge German +officer emerge from a dugout just in rear of the ape-man. They saw +him snatch up a discarded rifle with bayonet fixed and creep upon +the apparently unconscious Tarzan. They ran forward, shouting +warnings; but above the pandemonium of the trenches and the machine +gun their voices could not reach him. The German leaped upon the +parapet behind him--the fat hands raised the rifle butt aloft for +the cowardly downward thrust into the naked back and then, as moves +Ara, the lightning, moved Tarzan of the Apes. + +It was no man who leaped forward upon that Boche officer, striking +aside the sharp bayonet as one might strike aside a straw in a +baby's hand--it was a wild beast and the roar of a wild beast was +upon those savage lips, for as that strange sense that Tarzan owned +in common with the other jungle-bred creatures of his wild domain +warned him of the presence behind him and he had whirled to meet +the attack, his eyes had seen the corps and regimental insignia upon +the other's blouse--it was the same as that worn by the murderers +of his wife and his people, by the despoilers of his home and his +happiness. + +It was a wild beast whose teeth fastened upon the shoulder of the +Hun--it was a wild beast whose talons sought that fat neck. And +then the boys of the Second Rhodesian Regiment saw that which will +live forever in their memories. They saw the giant ape-man pick +the heavy German from the ground and shake him as a terrier might +shake a rat--as Sabor, the lioness, sometimes shakes her prey. +They saw the eyes of the Hun bulge in horror as he vainly struck +with his futile hands against the massive chest and head of his +assailant. They saw Tarzan suddenly spin the man about and placing +a knee in the middle of his back and an arm about his neck bend +his shoulders slowly backward. The German's knees gave and he sank +upon them, but still that irresistible force bent him further and +further. He screamed in agony for a moment--then something snapped +and Tarzan cast him aside, a limp and lifeless thing. + +The Rhodesians started forward, a cheer upon their lips--a cheer +that never was uttered--a cheer that froze in their throats, for +at that moment Tarzan placed a foot upon the carcass of his kill +and, raising his face to the heavens, gave voice to the weird and +terrifying victory cry of the bull ape. + +Underlieutenant von Goss was dead. + +Without a backward glance at the awe-struck soldiers Tarzan leaped +the trench and was gone. + + + + +Chapter V + +The Golden Locket + + +The little British army in East Africa, after suffering severe +reverses at the hands of a numerically much superior force, was +at last coming into its own. The German offensive had been broken +and the Huns were now slowly and doggedly retreating along the +railway to Tanga. The break in the German lines had followed the +clearing of a section of their left-flank trenches of native soldiers +by Tarzan and Numa, the lion, upon that memorable night that the +ape-man had loosed a famishing man-eater among the superstitious +and terror-stricken blacks. The Second Rhodesian Regiment had +immediately taken possession of the abandoned trench and from this +position their flanking fire had raked contiguous sections of the +German line, the diversion rendering possible a successful night +attack on the part of the balance of the British forces. + +Weeks had elapsed. The Germans were contesting stubbornly every +mile of waterless, thorn-covered ground and clinging desperately +to their positions along the railway. The officers of the Second +Rhodesians had seen nothing more of Tarzan of the Apes since he +had slain Underlieutenant von Goss and disappeared toward the very +heart of the German position, and there were those among them who +believed that he had been killed within the enemy lines. + +"They may have killed him," assented Colonel Capell; "but I fancy +they never captured the beggar alive." + +Nor had they, nor killed him either. Tarzan had spent those intervening +weeks pleasantly and profitably. He had amassed a considerable +fund of knowledge concerning the disposition and strength of German +troops, their methods of warfare, and the various ways in which a +lone Tarmangani might annoy an army and lower its morale. + +At present he was prompted by a specific desire. There was a certain +German spy whom he wished to capture alive and take back to the +British. When he had made his first visit to German headquarters, +he had seen a young woman deliver a paper to the German general, +and later he had seen that same young woman within the British +lines in the uniform of a British officer. The conclusions were +obvious--she was a spy. + +And so Tarzan haunted German headquarters upon many nights hoping +to see her again or to pick up some clew as to her whereabouts, +and at the same time he utilized many an artifice whereby he might +bring terror to the hearts of the Germans. That he was successful +was often demonstrated by the snatches of conversation he overheard as +he prowled through the German camps. One night as he lay concealed +in the bushes close beside a regimental headquarters he listened to +the conversation of several Boche officers. One of the men reverted +to the stories told by the native troops in connection with their +rout by a lion several weeks before and the simultaneous appearance +in their trenches of a naked, white giant whom they were perfectly +assured was some demon of the jungle. + +"The fellow must have been the same as he who leaped into the +general's headquarters and carried off Schneider," asserted one. +"I wonder how he happened to single out the poor major. They say +the creature seemed interested in no one but Schneider. He had von +Kelter in his grasp, and he might easily have taken the general +himself; but he ignored them all except Schneider. Him he pursued +about the room, seized and carried off into the night. Gott knows +what his fate was." + +"Captain Fritz Schneider has some sort of theory," said another. +"He told me only a week or two ago that he thinks he knows why his +brother was taken--that it was a case of mistaken identity. He was +not so sure about it until von Goss was killed, apparently by the +same creature, the night the lion entered the trenches. Von Goss was +attached to Schneider's company. One of Schneider's men was found +with his neck wrung the same night that the major was carried off +and Schneider thinks that this devil is after him and his +command--that it came for him that night and got his brother by +mistake. He says Kraut told him that in presenting the major to +Fraulein Kircher the former's name was no sooner spoken than this +wild man leaped through the window and made for him." + +Suddenly the little group became rigid--listening. "What was that?" +snapped one, eyeing the bushes from which a smothered snarl had +issued as Tarzan of the Apes realized that through his mistake the +perpetrator of the horrid crime at his bungalow still lived--that +the murderer of his wife went yet unpunished. + +For a long minute the officers stood with tensed nerves, every eye +riveted upon the bushes from whence the ominous sound had issued. +Each recalled recent mysterious disappearances from the heart of +camps as well as from lonely out-guards. Each thought of the silent +dead he had seen, slain almost within sight of their fellows by some +unseen creature. They thought of the marks upon dead throats--made +by talons or by giant fingers, they could not tell which--and those +upon shoulders and jugulars where powerful teeth had fastened and +they waited with drawn pistols. + +Once the bushes moved almost imperceptibly and an instant later +one of the officers, without warning, fired into them; but Tarzan +of the Apes was not there. In the interval between the moving of +the bushes and the firing of the shot he had melted into the night. +Ten minutes later he was hovering on the outskirts of that part +of camp where were bivouacked for the night the black soldiers of +a native company commanded by one Hauptmann Fritz Schneider. The +men were stretched upon the ground without tents; but there were +tents pitched for the officers. Toward these Tarzan crept. It was +slow and perilous work, as the Germans were now upon the alert for +the uncanny foe that crept into their camps to take his toll by +night, yet the ape-man passed their sentinels, eluded the vigilance +of the interior guard, and crept at last to the rear of the officers' +line. + +Here he flattened himself against the ground close behind the +nearest tent and listened. From within came the regular breathing +of a sleeping man--one only. Tarzan was satisfied. With his knife +he cut the tie strings of the rear flap and entered. He made no +noise. The shadow of a falling leaf, floating gently to earth upon +a still day, could have been no more soundless. He moved to the +side of the sleeping man and bent low over him. He could not know, +of course, whether it was Schneider or another, as he had never seen +Schneider; but he meant to know and to know even more. Gently he +shook the man by the shoulder. The fellow turned heavily and grunted +in a thick guttural. + +"Silence!" admonished the ape-man in a low whisper. "Silence--I +kill." + +The Hun opened his eyes. In the dim light he saw a giant figure +bending over him. Now a mighty hand grasped his shoulder and another +closed lightly about his throat. + +"Make no outcry," commanded Tarzan; "but answer in a whisper my +questions. What is your name?" + +"Luberg," replied the officer. He was trembling. The weird presence +of this naked giant filled him with dread. He, too, recalled the +men mysteriously murdered in the still watches of the night camps. +"What do you want?" + +"Where is Hauptmann Fritz Schneider?" asked Tarzan, "Which is his +tent?" + +"He is not here," replied Luberg. "He was sent to Wilhelmstal +yesterday." + +"I shall not kill you--now," said the ape-man. "First I shall go +and learn if you have lied to me and if you have your death shall +be the more terrible. Do you know how Major Schneider died?" + +Luberg shook his head negatively. + +"I do," continued Tarzan, "and it was not a nice way to die--even +for an accursed German. Turn over with your face down and cover +your eyes. Do not move or make any sound." + +The man did as he was bid and the instant that his eyes were turned +away, Tarzan slipped from the tent. An hour later he was outside +the German camp and headed for the little hill town of Wilhelmstal, +the summer seat of government of German East Africa. + +Fraulein Bertha Kircher was lost. She was humiliated and angry--it +was long before she would admit it, that she, who prided herself +upon her woodcraft, was lost in this little patch of country between +the Pangani and the Tanga railway. She knew that Wilhelmstal lay +southeast of her about fifty miles; but, through a combination of +untoward circumstances, she found herself unable to determine which +was southeast. + +In the first place she had set out from German headquarters on a +well-marked road that was being traveled by troops and with every +reason to believe that she would follow that road to Wilhelmstal. +Later she had been warned from this road by word that a strong +British patrol had come down the west bank of the Pangani, effected +a crossing south of her, and was even then marching on the railway +at Tonda. + +After leaving the road she found herself in thick bush and as the +sky was heavily overcast she presently had recourse to her compass +and it was not until then that she discovered to her dismay that +she did not have it with her. So sure was she of her woodcraft, +however, that she continued on in the direction she thought west +until she had covered sufficient distance to warrant her in feeling +assured that, by now turning south, she could pass safely in rear +of the British patrol. + +Nor did she commence to feel any doubts until long after she had +again turned toward the east well south, as she thought, of the +patrol. It was late afternoon--she should long since have struck +the road again south of Tonda; but she had found no road and now +she began to feel real anxiety. + +Her horse had traveled all day without food or water, night +was approaching and with it a realization that she was hopelessly +lost in a wild and trackless country notorious principally for its +tsetse flies and savage beasts. It was maddening to know that she +had absolutely no knowledge of the direction she was traveling--that +she might be forging steadily further from the railway, deeper +into the gloomy and forbidding country toward the Pangani; yet it +was impossible to stop--she must go on. + +Bertha Kircher was no coward, whatever else she may have been, but +as night began to close down around her she could not shut out from +her mind entirely contemplation of the terrors of the long hours +ahead before the rising sun should dissipate the Stygian gloom--the +horrid jungle night--that lures forth all the prowling, preying +creatures of destruction. + +She found, just before dark, an open meadow-like break in the +almost interminable bush. There was a small clump of trees near the +center and here she decided to camp. The grass was high and thick, +affording feed for her horse and a bed for herself, and there was +more than enough dead wood lying about the trees to furnish a good +fire well through the night. Removing the saddle and bridle from +her mount she placed them at the foot of a tree and then picketed +the animal close by. Then she busied herself collecting firewood +and by the time darkness had fallen she had a good fire and enough +wood to last until morning. + +From her saddlebags she took cold food and from her canteen a +swallow of water. She could not afford more than a small swallow +for she could not know how long a time it might be before she should +find more. It filled her with sorrow that her poor horse must go +waterless, for even German spies may have hearts and this one was +very young and very feminine. + +It was now dark. There was neither moon nor stars and the light +from her fire only accentuated the blackness beyond. She could see +the grass about her and the boles of the trees which stood out in +brilliant relief against the solid background of impenetrable night, +and beyond the firelight there was nothing. + +The jungle seemed ominously quiet. Far away in the distance she +heard faintly the boom of big guns; but she could not locate their +direction. She strained her ears until her nerves were on the point +of breaking; but she could not tell from whence the sound came. And +it meant so much to her to know, for the battle-lines were north +of her and if she could but locate the direction of the firing she +would know which way to go in the morning. + +In the morning! Would she live to see another morning? She squared +her shoulders and shook herself together. Such thoughts must be +banished--they would never do. Bravely she hummed an air as she +arranged her saddle near the fire and pulled a quantity of long +grass to make a comfortable seat over which she spread her saddle +blanket. Then she un-strapped a heavy, military coat from the cantle +of her saddle and donned it, for the air was already chill. + +Seating herself where she could lean against the saddle she prepared +to maintain a sleepless vigil throughout the night. For an hour +the silence was broken only by the distant booming of the guns and +the low noises of the feeding horse and then, from possibly a mile +away, came the rumbling thunder of a lion's roar. The girl started +and laid her hand upon the rifle at her side. A little shudder ran +through her slight frame and she could feel the goose flesh rise +upon her body. + +Again and again was the awful sound repeated and each time she was +certain that it came nearer. She could locate the direction of this +sound although she could not that of the guns, for the origin of +the former was much closer. The lion was up wind and so could not +have caught her scent as yet, though he might be approaching to +investigate the light of the fire which could doubtless be seen +for a considerable distance. + +For another fear-filled hour the girl sat straining her eyes and +ears out into the black void beyond her little island of light. +During all that time the lion did not roar again; but there was +constantly the sensation that it was creeping upon her. Again and +again she would start and turn to peer into the blackness beyond +the trees behind her as her overwrought nerves conjured the stealthy +fall of padded feet. She held the rifle across her knees at the +ready now and she was trembling from head to foot. + +Suddenly her horse raised his head and snorted, and with a little +cry of terror the girl sprang to her feet. The animal turned and +trotted back toward her until the picket rope brought him to a stand, +and then he wheeled about and with ears up-pricked gazed out into +the night; but the girl could neither see nor hear aught. + +Still another hour of terror passed during which the horse often +raised his head to peer long and searchingly into the dark. The girl +replenished the fire from time to time. She found herself becoming +very sleepy. Her heavy lids persisted in drooping; but she dared +not sleep. Fearful lest she might be overcome by the drowsiness +that was stealing through her she rose and walked briskly to and +fro, then she threw some more wood on the fire, walked over and +stroked her horse's muzzle and returned to her seat. + +Leaning against the saddle she tried to occupy her mind with plans +for the morrow; but she must have dozed. With a start she awoke. +It was broad daylight. The hideous night with its indescribable +terrors was gone. + +She could scarce believe the testimony of her senses. She had slept +for hours, the fire was out and yet she and the horse were safe +and alive, nor was there sign of savage beast about. And, best of +all, the sun was shining, pointing the straight road to the east. +Hastily she ate a few mouthfuls of her precious rations, which with +a swallow of water constituted her breakfast. Then she saddled her +horse and mounted. Already she felt that she was as good as safe +in Wilhelmstal. + +Possibly, however, she might have revised her conclusions could she +have seen the two pairs of eyes watching her every move intently +from different points in the bush. + +Light-hearted and unsuspecting, the girl rode across the clearing +toward the bush while directly before her two yellow-green eyes +glared round and terrible, a tawny tail twitched nervously and +great, padded paws gathered beneath a sleek barrel for a mighty +spring. The horse was almost at the edge of the bush when Numa, +the lion, launched himself through the air. He struck the animal's +right shoulder at the instant that it reared, terrified, to wheel +in flight. The force of the impact hurled the horse backward to the +ground and so quickly that the girl had no opportunity to extricate +herself; but fell to the earth with her mount, her left leg pinned +beneath its body. + +Horror-stricken, she saw the king of beasts open his mighty jaws +and seize the screaming creature by the back of its neck. The +great jaws closed, there was an instant's struggle as Numa shook +his prey. She could hear the vertebrae crack as the mighty fangs +crunched through them, and then the muscles of her faithful friend +relaxed in death. + +Numa crouched upon his kill. His terrifying eyes riveted themselves +upon the girl's face--she could feel his hot breath upon her cheek +and the odor of the fetid vapor nauseated her. For what seemed +an eternity to the girl the two lay staring at each other and then +the lion uttered a menacing growl. + +Never before had Bertha Kircher been so terrified--never before had +she had such cause for terror. At her hip was a pistol--a formidable +weapon with which to face a man; but a puny thing indeed with +which to menace the great beast before her. She knew that at best +it could but enrage him and yet she meant to sell her life dearly, +for she felt that she must die. No human succor could have availed +her even had it been there to offer itself. For a moment she tore +her gaze from the hypnotic fascination of that awful face and +breathed a last prayer to her God. She did not ask for aid, for she +felt that she was beyond even divine succor--she only asked that +the end might come quickly and with as little pain as possible. + +No one can prophesy what a lion will do in any given emergency. +This one glared and growled at the girl for a moment and then fell +to feeding upon the dead horse. Fraulein Kircher wondered for an +instant and then attempted to draw her leg cautiously from beneath +the body of her mount; but she could not budge it. She increased +the force of her efforts and Numa looked up from his feeding to +growl again. The girl desisted. She hoped that he might satisfy +his hunger and then depart to lie up, but she could not believe +that he would leave her there alive. Doubtless he would drag the +remains of his kill into the bush for hiding and, as there could +be no doubt that he considered her part of his prey, he would +certainly come back for her, or possibly drag her in first and kill +her. + +Again Numa fell to feeding. The girl's nerves were at the breaking +point. She wondered that she had not fainted under the strain +of terror and shock. She recalled that she often had wished she +might see a lion, close to, make a kill and feed upon it. God! how +realistically her wish had been granted. + +Again she bethought herself of her pistol. As she had fallen, the +holster had slipped around so that the weapon now lay beneath her. +Very slowly she reached for it; but in so doing she was forced to +raise her body from the ground. Instantly the lion was aroused. +With the swiftness of a cat he reached across the carcass of the +horse and placed a heavy, taloned paw upon her breast, crushing her +back to earth, and all the time he growled and snarled horribly. +His face was a picture of frightful rage incarnate. For a moment +neither moved and then from behind her the girl heard a human voice +uttering bestial sounds. + +Numa suddenly looked up from the girl's face at the thing beyond +her. His growls increased to roars as he drew back, ripping the +front of the girl's waist almost from her body with his long talons, +exposing her white bosom, which through some miracle of chance the +great claws did not touch. + +Tarzan of the Apes had witnessed the entire encounter from the +moment that Numa had leaped upon his prey. For some time before, +he had been watching the girl, and after the lion attacked her he +had at first been minded to let Numa have his way with her. What +was she but a hated German and a spy besides? He had seen her at +General Kraut's headquarters, in conference with the German staff +and again he had seen her within the British lines masquerading as +a British officer. It was the latter thought that prompted him to +interfere. Doubtless General Jan Smuts would be glad to meet and +question her. She might be forced to divulge information of value +to the British commander before Smuts had her shot. + +Tarzan had recognized not only the girl, but the lion as well. All +lions may look alike to you and me; but not so to their intimates +of the jungle. Each has his individual characteristics of face and +form and gait as well defined as those that differentiate members +of the human family, and besides these the creatures of the jungle +have a still more positive test--that of scent. Each of us, man or +beast, has his own peculiar odor, and it is mostly by this that +the beasts of the jungle, endowed with miraculous powers of scent, +recognize individuals. + +It is the final proof. You have seen it demonstrated a thousand +times--a dog recognizes your voice and looks at you. He knows your +face and figure. Good, there can be no doubt in his mind but that +it is you; but is he satisfied? No, sir--he must come up and smell +of you. All his other senses may be fallible, but not his sense of +smell, and so he makes assurance positive by the final test. + +Tarzan recognized Numa as he whom he had muzzled with the hide of +Horta, the boar--as he whom he handled by a rope for two days and +finally loosed in a German front-line trench, and he knew that Numa +would recognize him--that he would remember the sharp spear that +had goaded him into submission and obedience and Tarzan hoped that +the lesson he had learned still remained with the lion. + +Now he came forward calling to Numa in the language of the great +apes--warning him away from the girl. It is open to question that +Numa, the lion, understood him; but he did understand the menace of +the heavy spear that the Tarmangani carried so ready in his brown, +right hand, and so he drew back, growling, trying to decide in his +little brain whether to charge or flee. + +On came the ape-man with never a pause, straight for the lion. "Go +away, Numa," he cried, "or Tarzan will tie you up again and lead +you through the jungle without food. See Arad, my spear! Do you +recall how his point stuck into you and how with his haft I beat +you over the head? Go, Numa! I am Tarzan of the Apes!" + +Numa wrinkled the skin of his face into great folds, until his +eyes almost disappeared and he growled and roared and snarled and +growled again, and when the spear point came at last quite close +to him he struck at it viciously with his armed paw; but he drew +back. Tarzan stepped over the dead horse and the girl lying behind +him gazed in wide-eyed astonishment at the handsome figure driving +an angry lion deliberately from its kill. + +When Numa had retreated a few yards, the ape-man called back to +the girl in perfect German, "Are you badly hurt?" + +"I think not," she replied; "but I cannot extricate my foot from +beneath my horse." + +"Try again," commanded Tarzan. "I do not know how long I can hold +Numa thus." + +The girl struggled frantically; but at last she sank back upon an +elbow. + +"It is impossible," she called to him. + +He backed slowly until he was again beside the horse, when he +reached down and grasped the cinch, which was still intact. Then +with one hand he raised the carcass from the ground. The girl +freed herself and rose to her feet. + +"You can walk?" asked Tarzan. + +"Yes," she said; "my leg is numb; but it does not seem to be +injured." + +"Good," commented the ape-man. "Back slowly away behind me--make +no sudden movements. I think he will not charge." + +With utmost deliberation the two backed toward the bush. Numa +stood for a moment, growling, then he followed them, slowly. Tarzan +wondered if he would come beyond his kill or if he would stop there. +If he followed them beyond, then they could look for a charge, and +if Numa charged it was very likely that he would get one of them. +When the lion reached the carcass of the horse Tarzan stopped and +so did Numa, as Tarzan had thought that he would and the ape-man +waited to see what the lion would do next. He eyed them for a +moment, snarled angrily and then looked down at the tempting meat. +Presently he crouched upon his kill and resumed feeding. + +The girl breathed a deep sigh of relief as she and the ape-man +resumed their slow retreat with only an occasional glance from the +lion, and when at last they reached the bush and had turned and +entered it, she felt a sudden giddiness overwhelm her so that she +staggered and would have fallen had Tarzan not caught her. It was +only a moment before she regained control of herself. + +"I could not help it," she said, in half apology. "I was so close +to death--such a horrible death--it unnerved me for an instant; +but I am all right now. How can I ever thank you? It was so +wonderful--you did not seem to fear the frightful creature in the +least; yet he was afraid of you. Who are you?" + +"He knows me," replied Tarzan, grimly--"that is why he fears me." + +He was standing facing the girl now and for the first time +he had a chance to look at her squarely and closely. She was very +beautiful--that was undeniable; but Tarzan realized her beauty only +in a subconscious way. It was superficial--it did not color her +soul which must be black as sin. She was German--a German spy. He +hated her and desired only to compass her destruction; but he would +choose the manner so that it would work most grievously against +the enemy cause. + +He saw her naked breasts where Numa had torn her clothing from her +and dangling there against the soft, white flesh he saw that which +brought a sudden scowl of surprise and anger to his face--the +diamond-studded, golden locket of his youth--the love token that +had been stolen from the breast of his mate by Schneider, the Hun. +The girl saw the scowl but did not interpret it correctly. Tarzan +grasped her roughly by the arm. + +"Where did you get this?" he demanded, as he tore the bauble from +her. + +The girl drew herself to her full height. "Take your hand from me," +she demanded, but the ape-man paid no attention to her words, only +seizing her more forcibly. + +"Answer me!" he snapped. "Where did you get this?" + +"What is it to you?" she countered. + +"It is mine," he replied. "Tell me who gave it to you or I will +throw you back to Numa." + +"You would do that?" she asked. + +"Why not?" he queried. "You are a spy and spies must die if they +are caught." + +"You were going to kill me, then?" + +"I was going to take you to headquarters. They would dispose of +you there; but Numa can do it quite as effectively. Which do you +prefer?" + +"Hauptmann Fritz Schneider gave it to me," she said. + +"Headquarters it will be then," said Tarzan. "Come!" The girl +moved at his side through the bush and all the time her mind worked +quickly. They were moving east, which suited her, and as long as +they continued to move east she was glad to have the protection +of the great, white savage. She speculated much upon the fact that +her pistol still swung at her hip. The man must be mad not to take +it from her. + +"What makes you think I am a spy?" she asked after a long silence. + +"I saw you at German headquarters," he replied, "and then again +inside the British lines." + +She could not let him take her back to them. She must reach +Wilhelmstal at once and she was determined to do so even if she +must have recourse to her pistol. She cast a side glance at the +tall figure. What a magnificent creature! But yet he was a brute +who would kill her or have her killed if she did not slay him. And +the locket! She must have that back--it must not fail to reach +Wilhelmstal. Tarzan was now a foot or two ahead of her as the path +was very narrow. Cautiously she drew her pistol. A single shot would +suffice and he was so close that she could not miss. As she figured +it all out her eyes rested on the brown skin with the graceful muscles +rolling beneath it and the perfect limbs and head and the carriage +that a proud king of old might have envied. A wave of revulsion +for her contemplated act surged through her. No, she could not +do it--yet, she must be free and she must regain possession of +the locket. And then, almost blindly, she swung the weapon up and +struck Tarzan heavily upon the back of the head with its butt. Like +a felled ox he dropped in his tracks. + + + + +Chapter VI + +Vengeance and Mercy + + +It was an hour later that Sheeta, the panther, hunting, chanced to +glance upward into the blue sky where his attention was attracted +by Ska, the vulture, circling slowly above the bush a mile away and +downwind. For a long minute the yellow eyes stared intently at the +gruesome bird. They saw Ska dive and rise again to continue his +ominous circling and in these movements their woodcraft read that +which, while obvious to Sheeta, would doubtless have meant nothing +to you or me. + +The hunting cat guessed that on the ground beneath Ska was some +living thing of flesh--either a beast feeding upon its kill or a +dying animal that Ska did not yet dare attack. In either event it +might prove meat for Sheeta, and so the wary feline stalked by a +circuitous route, upon soft, padded feet that gave forth no sound, +until the circling aasvogel and his intended prey were upwind. Then, +sniffing each vagrant zephyr, Sheeta, the panther, crept cautiously +forward, nor had he advanced any considerable distance before his +keen nostrils were rewarded with the scent of man--a Tarmangani. + +Sheeta paused. He was not a hunter of men. He was young and in his +prime; but always before he had avoided this hated presence. Of +late he had become more accustomed to it with the passing of many +soldiers through his ancient hunting ground, and as the soldiers +had frightened away a great part of the game Sheeta had been wont +to feed upon, the days had been lean, and Sheeta was hungry. + +The circling Ska suggested that this Tarmangani might be helpless +and upon the point of dying, else Ska would not have been interested +in him, and so easy prey for Sheeta. With this thought in mind the +cat resumed his stalking. Presently he pushed through the thick +bush and his yellow-green eyes rested gloatingly upon the body of +an almost naked Tarmangani lying face down in a narrow game trail. + +Numa, sated, rose from the carcass of Bertha Kircher's horse and +seized the partially devoured body by the neck and dragged it into +the bush; then he started east toward the lair where he had left +his mate. Being uncomfortably full he was inclined to be sleepy +and far from belligerent. He moved slowly and majestically with no +effort at silence or concealment. The king walked abroad, unafraid. + +With an occasional regal glance to right or left he moved along a +narrow game trail until at a turn he came to a sudden stop at what +lay revealed before him--Sheeta, the panther, creeping stealthily +upon the almost naked body of a Tarmangani lying face down in the +deep dust of the pathway. Numa glared intently at the quiet body +in the dust. Recognition came. It was his Tarmangani. A low growl +of warning rumbled from his throat and Sheeta halted with one paw +upon Tarzan's back and turned suddenly to eye the intruder. + +What passed within those savage brains? Who may say? The panther +seemed debating the wisdom of defending his find, for he growled +horribly as though warning Numa away from the prey. And Numa? Was +the idea of property rights dominating his thoughts? The Tarmangani +was his, or he was the Tarmangani's. Had not the Great White Ape +mastered and subdued him and, too, had he not fed him? Numa recalled +the fear that he had felt of this man-thing and his cruel spear; +but in savage brains fear is more likely to engender respect than +hatred and so Numa found that he respected the creature who had +subdued and mastered him. He saw Sheeta, upon whom he looked with +contempt, daring to molest the master of the lion. Jealousy and +greed alone might have been sufficient to prompt Numa to drive Sheeta +away, even though the lion was not sufficiently hungry to devour +the flesh that he thus wrested from the lesser cat; but then, too, +there was in the little brain within the massive head a sense of +loyalty, and perhaps this it was that sent Numa quickly forward, +growling, toward the spitting Sheeta. + +For a moment the latter stood his ground with arched back and +snarling face, for all the world like a great, spotted tabby. + +Numa had not felt like fighting; but the sight of Sheeta daring +to dispute his rights kindled his ferocious brain to sudden fire. +His rounded eyes glared with rage, his undulating tail snapped to +stiff erectness as, with a frightful roar, he charged this presuming +vassal. + +It came so suddenly and from so short a distance that Sheeta had +no chance to turn and flee the rush, and so he met it with raking +talons and snapping jaws; but the odds were all against him. To +the larger fangs and the more powerful jaws of his adversary were +added huge talons and the preponderance of the lion's great weight. +At the first clash Sheeta was crushed and, though he deliberately +fell upon his back and drew up his powerful hind legs beneath Numa +with the intention of disemboweling him, the lion forestalled him +and at the same time closed his awful jaws upon Sheeta's throat. + +It was soon over. Numa rose, shaking himself, and stood above the +torn and mutilated body of his foe. His own sleek coat was cut and +the red blood trickled down his flank; though it was but a minor +injury, it angered him. He glared down at the dead panther and +then, in a fit of rage, he seized and mauled the body only to drop +it in a moment, lower his head, voice a single terrific roar, and +turn toward the ape-man. + +Approaching the still form he sniffed it over from head to foot. +Then he placed a huge paw upon it and turned it over with its face +up. Again he smelled about the body and at last with his rough tongue +licked Tarzan's face. It was then that Tarzan opened his eyes. + +Above him towered the huge lion, its hot breath upon his face, its +rough tongue upon his cheek. The ape-man had often been close to +death; but never before so close as this, he thought, for he was +convinced that death was but a matter of seconds. His brain was +still numb from the effects of the blow that had felled him, and +so he did not, for a moment, recognize the lion that stood over +him as the one he had so recently encountered. + +Presently, however, recognition dawned upon him and with it +a realization of the astounding fact that Numa did not seem bent +on devouring him--at least not immediately. His position was a +delicate one. The lion stood astraddle Tarzan with his front paws. +The ape-man could not rise, therefore, without pushing the lion away +and whether Numa would tolerate being pushed was an open question. +Too, the beast might consider him already dead and any movement that +indicated the contrary was true would, in all likelihood, arouse +the killing instinct of the man-eater. + +But Tarzan was tiring of the situation. He was in no mood to lie +there forever, especially when he contemplated the fact that the +girl spy who had tried to brain him was undoubtedly escaping as +rapidly as possible. + +Numa was looking right into his eyes now evidently aware that he was +alive. Presently the lion cocked his head on one side and whined. +Tarzan knew the note, and he knew that it spelled neither rage nor +hunger, and then he risked all on a single throw, encouraged by +that low whine. + +"Move, Numa!" he commanded and placing a palm against the tawny +shoulder he pushed the lion aside. Then he rose and with a hand +on his hunting knife awaited that which might follow. It was then +that his eyes fell for the first time on the torn body of Sheeta. +He looked from the dead cat to the live one and saw the marks of +conflict upon the latter, too, and in an instant realized something +of what had happened--Numa had saved him from the panther! + +It seemed incredible and yet the evidence pointed clearly to the +fact. He turned toward the lion and without fear approached and +examined his wounds which he found superficial, and as Tarzan knelt +beside him Numa rubbed an itching ear against the naked, brown +shoulder. Then the ape-man stroked the great head, picked up his +spear, and looked about for the trail of the girl. This he soon +found leading toward the east, and as he set out upon it something +prompted him to feel for the locket he had hung about his neck. It +was gone! + +No trace of anger was apparent upon the ape-man's face unless it +was a slight tightening of the jaws; but he put his hand ruefully +to the back of his head where a bump marked the place where the +girl had struck him and a moment later a half-smile played across +his lips. He could not help but admit that she had tricked him +neatly, and that it must have taken nerve to do the thing she did +and to set out armed only with a pistol through the trackless waste +that lay between them and the railway and beyond into the hills +where Wilhelmstal lies. + +Tarzan admired courage. He was big enough to admit it and admire +it even in a German spy, but he saw that in this case it only added +to her resourcefulness and made her all the more dangerous and the +necessity for putting her out of the way paramount. He hoped to +overtake her before she reached Wilhelmstal and so he set out at +the swinging trot that he could hold for hours at a stretch without +apparent fatigue. + +That the girl could hope to reach the town on foot in less than two +days seemed improbable, for it was a good thirty miles and part +of it hilly. Even as the thought crossed his mind he heard the +whistle of a locomotive to the east and knew that the railway was +in operation again after a shutdown of several days. If the train +was going south the girl would signal it if she had reached the +right of way. His keen ears caught the whining of brake shoes on +wheels and a few minutes later the signal blast for brakes off. +The train had stopped and started again and, as it gained headway +and greater distance, Tarzan could tell from the direction of the +sound that it was moving south. + +The ape-man followed the trail to the railway where it ended +abruptly on the west side of the track, showing that the girl had +boarded the train, just as he thought. There was nothing now but +to follow on to Wilhelmstal, where he hoped to find Captain Fritz +Schneider, as well as the girl, and to recover his diamond-studded +locket. + +It was dark when Tarzan reached the little hill town of Wilhelmstal. +He loitered on the outskirts, getting his bearings and trying to +determine how an almost naked white man might explore the village +without arousing suspicion. There were many soldiers about and +the town was under guard, for he could see a lone sentinel walking +his post scarce a hundred yards from him. To elude this one would +not be difficult; but to enter the village and search it would be +practically impossible, garbed, or un-garbed, as he was. + +Creeping forward, taking advantage of every cover, lying flat and +motionless when the sentry's face was toward him, the ape-man at +last reached the sheltering shadows of an outhouse just inside the +lines. From there he moved stealthily from building to building +until at last he was discovered by a large dog in the rear of one of +the bungalows. The brute came slowly toward him, growling. Tarzan +stood motionless beside a tree. He could see a light in the bungalow +and uniformed men moving about and he hoped that the dog would not +bark. He did not; but he growled more savagely and, just at the +moment that the rear door of the bungalow opened and a man stepped +out, the animal charged. + +He was a large dog, as large as Dango, the hyena, and he charged +with all the vicious impetuosity of Numa, the lion. As he came +Tarzan knelt and the dog shot through the air for his throat; but +he was dealing with no man now and he found his quickness more +than matched by the quickness of the Tarmangani. His teeth never +reached the soft flesh--strong fingers, fingers of steel, seized +his neck. He voiced a single startled yelp and clawed at the naked +breast before him with his talons; but he was powerless. The mighty +fingers closed upon his throat; the man rose, snapped the clawing +body once, and cast it aside. At the same time a voice from the +open bungalow door called: "Simba!" + +There was no response. Repeating the call the man descended the +steps and advanced toward the tree. In the light from the doorway +Tarzan could see that he was a tall, broad-shouldered man in the +uniform of a German officer. The ape-man withdrew into the shadow +of the tree's stem. The man came closer, still calling the dog--he +did not see the savage beast, crouching now in the shadow, awaiting +him. When he had approached within ten feet of the Tarmangani, +Tarzan leaped upon him--as Sabor springs to the kill, so sprang the +ape-man. The momentum and weight of his body hurled the German to +the ground, powerful fingers prevented an outcry and, though the +officer struggled, he had no chance and a moment later lay dead +beside the body of the dog. + +As Tarzan stood for a moment looking down upon his kill and regretting +that he could not risk voicing his beloved victory cry, the sight +of the uniform suggested a means whereby he might pass to and +fro through Wilhelmstal with the minimum chance of detection. Ten +minutes later a tall, broad-shouldered officer stepped from the +yard of the bungalow leaving behind him the corpses of a dog and +a naked man. + +He walked boldly along the little street and those who passed him +could not guess that beneath Imperial Germany's uniform beat a +savage heart that pulsed with implacable hatred for the Hun. Tarzan's +first concern was to locate the hotel, for here he guessed he would +find the girl, and where the girl was doubtless would be Hauptmann +Fritz Schneider, who was either her confederate, her sweetheart, +or both, and there, too, would be Tarzan's precious locket. + +He found the hotel at last, a low, two-storied building with +a veranda. There were lights on both floors and people, mostly +officers, could be seen within. The ape-man considered entering +and inquiring for those he sought; but his better judgment finally +prompted him to reconnoiter first. Passing around the building he +looked into all the lighted rooms on the first floor and, seeing +neither of those for whom he had come, he swung lightly to the roof +of the veranda and continued his investigations through windows of +the second story. + +At one corner of the hotel in a rear room the blinds were drawn; +but he heard voices within and once he saw a figure silhouetted +momentarily against the blind. It appeared to be the figure +of a woman; but it was gone so quickly that he could not be sure. +Tarzan crept close to the window and listened. Yes, there was a +woman there and a man--he heard distinctly the tones of their voices +although he could overhear no words, as they seemed to be whispering. + +The adjoining room was dark. Tarzan tried the window and found it +unlatched. All was quiet within. He raised the sash and listened +again--still silence. Placing a leg over the sill he slipped within +and hurriedly glanced about. The room was vacant. Crossing to the +door he opened it and looked out into the hall. There was no one +there, either, and he stepped out and approached the door of the +adjoining room where the man and woman were. + +Pressing close to the door he listened. Now he distinguished +words, for the two had raised their voices as though in argument. +The woman was speaking. + +"I have brought the locket," she said, "as was agreed upon between +you and General Kraut, as my identification. I carry no other +credentials. This was to be enough. You have nothing to do but give +me the papers and let me go." + +The man replied in so low a tone that Tarzan could not catch the +words and then the woman spoke again--a note of scorn and perhaps +a little of fear in her voice. + +"You would not dare, Hauptmann Schneider," she said, and then: "Do +not touch me! Take your hands from me!" + +It was then that Tarzan of the Apes opened the door and stepped +into the room. What he saw was a huge, bull-necked German officer +with one arm about the waist of Fraulein Bertha Kircher and a hand +upon her forehead pushing her head back as he tried to kiss her +on the mouth. The girl was struggling against the great brute; but +her efforts were futile. Slowly the man's lips were coming closer +to hers and slowly, step by step, she was being carried backward. + +Schneider heard the noise of the opening and closing door behind +him and turned. At sight of this strange officer he dropped the +girl and straightened up. + +"What is the meaning of this intrusion, Lieutenant?" he demanded, +noting the other's epaulettes. "Leave the room at once." + +Tarzan made no articulate reply; but the two there with him heard +a low growl break from those firm lips--a growl that sent a shudder +through the frame of the girl and brought a pallor to the red face +of the Hun and his hand to his pistol but even as he drew his weapon +it was wrested from him and hurled through the blind and window to +the yard beyond. Then Tarzan backed against the door and slowly +removed the uniform coat. + +"You are Hauptmann Schneider," he said to the German. + +"What of it?" growled the latter. + +"I am Tarzan of the Apes," replied the ape-man. "Now you know why +I intrude." + +The two before him saw that he was naked beneath the coat which he +threw upon the floor and then he slipped quickly from the trousers +and stood there clothed only in his loin cloth. The girl had +recognized him by this time, too. + +"Take your hand off that pistol," Tarzan admonished her. Her hand +dropped at her side. "Now come here!" + +She approached and Tarzan removed the weapon and hurled it after +the other. At the mention of his name Tarzan had noted the sickly +pallor that overspread the features of the Hun. At last he had found +the right man. At last his mate would be partially avenged--never +could she be entirely avenged. Life was too short and there were +too many Germans. + +"What do you want of me?" demanded Schneider. + +"You are going to pay the price for the thing you did at the little +bungalow in the Waziri country," replied the ape-man. + +Schneider commenced to bluster and threaten. Tarzan turned the key +in the lock of the door and hurled the former through the window +after the pistols. Then he turned to the girl. "Keep out of the +way," he said in a low voice. "Tarzan of the Apes is going to kill." + +The Hun ceased blustering and began to plead. "I have a wife and +children at home," he cried. "I have done nothing, I--" + +"You are going to die as befits your kind," said Tarzan, "with blood +on your hands and a lie on your lips." He started across the room +toward the burly Hauptmann. Schneider was a large and powerful +man--about the height of the ape-man but much heavier. He saw that +neither threats nor pleas would avail him and so he prepared to +fight as a cornered rat fights for its life with all the maniacal +rage, cunning, and ferocity that the first law of nature imparts +to many beasts. + +Lowering his bull head he charged for the ape-man and in the center +of the floor the two clinched. There they stood locked and swaying +for a moment until Tarzan succeeded in forcing his antagonist backward +over a table which crashed to the floor, splintered by the weight +of the two heavy bodies. + +The girl stood watching the battle with wide eyes. She saw the two +men rolling hither and thither across the floor and she heard with +horror the low growls that came from the lips of the naked giant. +Schneider was trying to reach his foe's throat with his fingers +while, horror of horrors, Bertha Kircher could see that the other +was searching for the German's jugular with his teeth! + +Schneider seemed to realize this too, for he redoubled his efforts +to escape and finally succeeded in rolling over on top of the ape-man +and breaking away. Leaping to his feet he ran for the window; but +the ape-man was too quick for him and before he could leap through +the sash a heavy hand fell upon his shoulder and he was jerked +back and hurled across the room to the opposite wall. There Tarzan +followed him, and once again they locked, dealing each other terrific +blows, until Schneider in a piercing voice screamed, "Kamerad! +Kamerad!" + +Tarzan grasped the man by the throat and drew his hunting knife. +Schneider's back was against the wall so that though his knees +wobbled he was held erect by the ape-man. Tarzan brought the sharp +point to the lower part of the German's abdomen. + +"Thus you slew my mate," he hissed in a terrible voice. "Thus +shall you die!" + +The girl staggered forward. "Oh, God, no!" she cried. "Not that. +You are too brave--you cannot be such a beast as that!" + +Tarzan turned at her. "No," he said, "you are right, I cannot do +it--I am no German," and he raised the point of his blade and sunk +it deep into the putrid heart of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider, putting +a bloody period to the Hun's last gasping cry: "I did not do it! +She is not--" + +Then Tarzan turned toward the girl and held out his hand. "Give +me my locket," he said. + +She pointed toward the dead officer. "He has it." Tarzan searched +him and found the trinket. "Now you may give me the papers," he said +to the girl, and without a word she handed him a folded document. + +For a long time he stood looking at her before ho spoke again. + +"I came for you, too," he said. "It would be difficult to take you +back from here and so I was going to kill you, as I have sworn to +kill all your kind; but you were right when you said that I was +not such a beast as that slayer of women. I could not slay him as +he slew mine, nor can I slay you, who are a woman." + +He crossed to the window, raised the sash and an instant later he +had stepped out and disappeared into the night. And then Fraulein +Bertha Kircher stepped quickly to the corpse upon the floor, slipped +her hand inside the blouse and drew forth a little sheaf of papers +which she tucked into her waist before she went to the window and +called for help. + + + + +Chapter VII + +When Blood Told + + +Tarzan of the Apes was disgusted. He had had the German spy, Bertha +Kircher, in his power and had left her unscathed. It is true that he +had slain Hauptmann Fritz Schneider, that Underlieutenant von Goss +had died at his hands, and that he had otherwise wreaked vengeance +upon the men of the German company who had murdered, pillaged, and +raped at Tarzan's bungalow in the Waziri country. There was still +another officer to be accounted for, but him he could not find. +It was Lieutenant Obergatz he still sought, though vainly, for at +last he learned that the man had been sent upon some special mission, +whether in Africa or back to Europe Tarzan's informant either did +not know or would not divulge. + +But the fact that he had permitted sentiment to stay his hand when +he might so easily have put Bertha Kircher out of the way in the +hotel at Wilhelmstal that night rankled in the ape-man's bosom. +He was shamed by his weakness, and when he had handed the paper +she had given him to the British chief of staff, even though +the information it contained permitted the British to frustrate a +German flank attack, he was still much dissatisfied with himself. +And possibly the root of this dissatisfaction lay in the fact that +he realized that were he again to have the same opportunity he +would still find it as impossible to slay a woman as it had been +in Wilhelmstal that night. + +Tarzan blamed this weakness, as he considered it, upon his association +with the effeminizing influences of civilization, for in the bottom +of his savage heart he held in contempt both civilization and its +representatives--the men and women of the civilized countries of +the world. Always was he comparing their weaknesses, their vices, +their hypocrisies, and their little vanities with the open, +primitive ways of his ferocious jungle mates, and all the while +there battled in that same big heart with these forces another mighty +force--Tarzan's love and loyalty for his friends of the civilized +world. + +The ape-man, reared as he had been by savage beasts amid savage +beasts, was slow to make friends. Acquaintances he numbered by the +hundreds; but of friends he had few. These few he would have died +for as, doubtless, they would have died for him; but there were +none of these fighting with the British forces in East Africa, and +so, sickened and disgusted by the sight of man waging his cruel +and inhuman warfare, Tarzan determined to heed the insistent call +of the remote jungle of his youth, for the Germans were now on the +run and the war in East Africa was so nearly over that he realized +that his further services would be of negligible value. + +Never regularly sworn into the service of the King, he was under +no obligation to remain now that the moral obligation had been +removed, and so it was that he disappeared from the British camp +as mysteriously as he had appeared a few months before. + +More than once had Tarzan reverted to the primitive only to return +again to civilization through love for his mate; but now that she +was gone he felt that this time he had definitely departed forever +from the haunts of man, and that he should live and die a beast +among beasts even as he had been from infancy to maturity. + +Between him and his destination lay a trackless wilderness of untouched +primeval savagery where, doubtless in many spots, his would be the +first human foot to touch the virgin turf. Nor did this prospect +dismay the Tarmangani--rather was it an urge and an inducement, for +rich in his veins flowed that noble strain of blood that has made +most of the earth's surface habitable for man. + +The question of food and water that would have risen paramount in +the mind of an ordinary man contemplating such an excursion gave +Tarzan little concern. The wilderness was his natural habitat +and woodcraft as inherent to him as breathing. Like other jungle +animals he could scent water from a great distance and, where you +or I might die of thirst, the ape-man would unerringly select the +exact spot at which to dig and find water. + +For several days Tarzan traversed a country rich in game +and watercourses. He moved slowly, hunting and fishing, or again +fraternizing or quarreling with the other savage denizens of +the jungle. Now it was little Manu, the monkey, who chattered and +scolded at the mighty Tarmangani and in the next breath warned him +that Histah, the snake, lay coiled in the long grass just ahead. +Of Manu Tarzan inquired concerning the great apes--the Mangani--and +was told that few inhabited this part of the jungle, and that even +these were hunting farther to the north this season of the year. + +"But there is Bolgani," said Manu. "Would you like to see Bolgani?" + +Manu's tone was sneering, and Tarzan knew that it was because little +Manu thought all creatures feared mighty Bolgani, the gorilla. +Tarzan arched his great chest and struck it with a clinched fist. +"I am Tarzan," he cried. "While Tarzan was yet a balu he slew a +Bolgani. Tarzan seeks the Mangani, who are his brothers, but Bolgani +he does not seek, so let Bolgani keep from the path of Tarzan." + +Little Manu, the monkey, was much impressed, for the way of the +jungle is to boast and to believe. It was then that he condescended +to tell Tarzan more of the Mangani. + +"They go there and there and there," he said, making a wide sweep +with a brown hand first toward the north, then west, and then south +again. "For there," and he pointed due west, "is much hunting; but +between lies a great place where there is no food and no water, +so they must go that way," and again he swung his hand through the +half-circle that explained to Tarzan the great detour the apes made +to come to their hunting ground to the west. + +That was all right for the Mangani, who are lazy and do not care to +move rapidly; but for Tarzan the straight road would be the best. +He would cross the dry country and come to the good hunting in a third +of the time that it would take to go far to the north and circle +back again. And so it was that he continued on toward the west, and +crossing a range of low mountains came in sight of a broad plateau, +rock strewn and desolate. Far in the distance he saw another range +of mountains beyond which he felt must lie the hunting ground of +the Mangani. There he would join them and remain for a while before +continuing on toward the coast and the little cabin that his father +had built beside the land-locked harbor at the jungle's edge. + +Tarzan was full of plans. He would rebuild and enlarge the cabin +of his birth, constructing storage houses where he would make the +apes lay away food when it was plenty against the times that were +lean--a thing no ape ever had dreamed of doing. And the tribe would +remain always in the locality and he would be king again as he had +in the past. He would try to teach them some of the better things +that he had learned from man, yet knowing the ape-mind as only +Tarzan could, he feared that his labors would be for naught. + +The ape-man found the country he was crossing rough in the extreme, +the roughest he ever had encountered. The plateau was cut by frequent +canyons the passage of which often entailed hours of wearing effort. +The vegetation was sparse and of a faded brown color that lent to +the whole landscape a most depressing aspect. Great rocks were strewn +in every direction as far as the eye could see, lying partially +embedded in an impalpable dust that rose in clouds about him at +every step. The sun beat down mercilessly out of a cloudless sky. + +For a day Tarzan toiled across this now hateful land and at the +going down of the sun the distant mountains to the west seemed no +nearer than at morn. Never a sign of living thing had the ape-man +seen, other than Ska, that bird of ill omen, that had followed him +tirelessly since he had entered this parched waste. + +No littlest beetle that he might eat had given evidence that life +of any sort existed here, and it was a hungry and thirsty Tarzan who +lay down to rest in the evening. He decided now to push on during +the cool of the night, for he realized that even mighty Tarzan had +his limitations and that where there was no food one could not eat +and where there was no water the greatest woodcraft in the world +could find none. It was a totally new experience to Tarzan to find +so barren and terrible a country in his beloved Africa. Even the +Sahara had its oases; but this frightful world gave no indication +of containing a square foot of hospitable ground. + +However, he had no misgivings but that he would fare forth into +the wonder country of which little Manu had told him, though it +was certain that he would do it with a dry skin and an empty belly. +And so he fought on until daylight, when he again felt the need +of rest. He was at the edge of another of those terrible canyons, +the eighth he had crossed, whose precipitous sides would have taxed +to the uttermost the strength of an untired man well fortified by +food and water, and for the first time, as he looked down into the +abyss and then at the opposite side that he must scale, misgivings +began to assail his mind. + +He did not fear death--with the memory of his murdered mate still +fresh in his mind he almost courted it, yet strong within him +was that primal instinct of self-preservation--the battling force +of life that would keep him an active contender against the Great +Reaper until, fighting to the very last, he should be overcome by +a superior power. + +A shadow swung slowly across the ground beside him, and looking +up, the ape-man saw Ska, the vulture, wheeling a wide circle above +him. The grim and persistent harbinger of evil aroused the man +to renewed determination. He arose and approached the edge of the +canyon, and then, wheeling, with his face turned upward toward the +circling bird of prey, he bellowed forth the challenge of the bull +ape. + +"I am Tarzan," he shouted, "Lord of the Jungle. Tarzan of the Apes +is not for Ska, eater of carrion. Go back to the lair of Dango +and feed off the leavings of the hyenas, for Tarzan will leave no +bones for Ska to pick in this empty wilderness of death." + +But before he reached the bottom of the canyon he again was forced +to the realization that his great strength was waning, and when he +dropped exhausted at the foot of the cliff and saw before him the +opposite wall that must be scaled, he bared his fighting fangs and +growled. For an hour he lay resting in the cool shade at the foot +of the cliff. All about him reigned utter silence--the silence of +the tomb. No fluttering birds, no humming insects, no scurrying +reptiles relieved the deathlike stillness. This indeed was the +valley of death. He felt the depressing influence of the horrible +place settling down upon him; but he staggered to his feet, shaking +himself like a great lion, for was he not still Tarzan, mighty +Tarzan of the Apes? Yes, and Tarzan the mighty he would be until +the last throb of that savage heart! + +As he crossed the floor of the canyon he saw something lying close +to the base of the side wall he was approaching--something that +stood out in startling contrast to all the surroundings and yet +seemed so much a part and parcel of the somber scene as to suggest +an actor amid the settings of a well-appointed stage, and, as though +to carry out the allegory, the pitiless rays of flaming Kudu topped +the eastern cliff, picking out the thing lying at the foot of the +western wall like a giant spotlight. + +And as Tarzan came nearer he saw the bleached skull and bones of +a human being about which were remnants of clothing and articles +of equipment that, as he examined them, filled the ape-man with +curiosity to such an extent that for a time he forgot his own +predicament in contemplation of the remarkable story suggested by +these mute evidences of a tragedy of a time long past. + +The bones were in a fair state of preservation and indicated by +their intactness that the flesh had probably been picked from them +by vultures as none was broken; but the pieces of equipment bore +out the suggestion of their great age. In this protected spot where +there were no frosts and evidently but little rainfall, the bones +might have lain for ages without disintegrating, for there were +here no other forces to scatter or disturb them. + +Near the skeleton lay a helmet of hammered brass and a corroded +breastplate of steel while at one side was a long, straight sword +in its scabbard and an ancient harquebus. The bones were those of +a large man--a man of wondrous strength and vitality Tarzan knew +he must have been to have penetrated thus far through the dangers +of Africa with such a ponderous yet at the same time futile armament. + +The ape-man felt a sense of deep admiration for this nameless +adventurer of a bygone day. What a brute of a man he must have been +and what a glorious tale of battle and kaleidoscopic vicissitudes +of fortune must once have been locked within that whitened skull! +Tarzan stooped to examine the shreds of clothing that still lay +about the bones. Every particle of leather had disappeared, doubtless +eaten by Ska. No boots remained, if the man had worn boots, but +there were several buckles scattered about suggesting that a great +part of his trappings had been of leather, while just beneath the +bones of one hand lay a metal cylinder about eight inches long and +two inches in diameter. As Tarzan picked it up he saw that it had +been heavily lacquered and had withstood the slight ravages of +time so well as to be in as perfect a state of preservation today +as it had been when its owner dropped into his last, long sleep +perhaps centuries ago. + +As he examined it he discovered that one end was closed with +a friction cover which a little twisting force soon loosened and +removed, revealing within a roll of parchment which the ape-man +removed and opened, disclosing a number of age-yellowed sheets +closely written upon in a fine hand in a language which he guessed +to be Spanish but which he could not decipher. Upon the last sheet +was a roughly drawn map with numerous reference points marked upon +it, all unintelligible to Tarzan, who, after a brief examination +of the papers, returned them to their metal case, replaced the top +and was about to toss the little cylinder to the ground beside the +mute remains of its former possessor when some whim of curiosity +unsatisfied prompted him to slip it into the quiver with his arrows, +though as he did so it was with the grim thought that possibly +centuries hence it might again come to the sight of man beside his +own bleached bones. + +And then, with a parting glance at the ancient skeleton, he turned +to the task of ascending the western wall of the canyon. Slowly +and with many rests he dragged his weakening body upwards. Again and +again he slipped back from sheer exhaustion and would have fallen +to the floor of the canyon but for merest chance. How long it took +him to scale that frightful wall he could not have told, and when +at last he dragged himself over the top it was to lie weak and +gasping, too spent to rise or even to move a few inches farther +from the perilous edge of the chasm. + +At last he arose, very slowly and with evident effort gaining his +knees first and then staggering to his feet, yet his indomitable +will was evidenced by a sudden straightening of his shoulders and +a determined shake of his head as he lurched forward on unsteady +legs to take up his valiant fight for survival. Ahead he scanned +the rough landscape for sign of another canyon which he knew would +spell inevitable doom. The western hills rose closer now though +weirdly unreal as they seemed to dance in the sunlight as though +mocking him with their nearness at the moment that exhaustion was +about to render them forever unattainable. + +Beyond them he knew must be the fertile hunting grounds of which Manu +had told. Even if no canyon intervened, his chances of surmounting +even low hills seemed remote should he have the fortune to reach +their base; but with another canyon hope was dead. Above them Ska +still circled, and it seemed to the ape-man that the ill-omened +bird hovered ever lower and lower as though reading in that failing +gait the nearing of the end, and through cracked lips Tarzan growled +out his defiance. + +Mile after mile Tarzan of the Apes put slowly behind him, borne up +by sheer force of will where a lesser man would have lain down to +die and rest forever tired muscles whose every move was an agony of +effort; but at last his progress became practically mechanical--he +staggered on with a dazed mind that reacted numbly to a single +urge--on, on, on! The hills were now but a dim, ill-defined blur +ahead. Sometimes he forgot that they were hills, and again he +wondered vaguely why he must go on forever through all this torture +endeavoring to overtake them--the fleeing, elusive hills. Presently +he began to hate them and there formed within his half-delirious +brain the hallucination that the hills were German hills, that they +had slain someone dear to him, whom he could never quite recall, +and that he was pursuing to slay them. + +This idea, growing, appeared to give him strength--a new and +revivifying purpose--so that for a time he no longer staggered; but +went forward steadily with head erect. Once he stumbled and fell, +and when he tried to rise he found that he could not--that his +strength was so far gone that he could only crawl forward on his +hands and knees for a few yards and then sink down again to rest. + +It was during one of these frequent periods of utter exhaustion +that he heard the flap of dismal wings close above him. With his +remaining strength he turned himself over on his back to see Ska +wheel quickly upward. With the sight Tarzan's mind cleared for a +while. + +"Is the end so near as that?" he thought. "Does Ska know that I am +so near gone that he dares come down and perch upon my carcass?" +And even then a grim smile touched those swollen lips as into the +savage mind came a sudden thought--the cunning of the wild beast +at bay. Closing his eyes he threw a forearm across them to protect +them from Ska's powerful beak and then he lay very still and waited. + +It was restful lying there, for the sun was now obscured by clouds +and Tarzan was very tired. He feared that he might sleep and something +told him that if he did he would never awaken, and so he concentrated +all his remaining powers upon the one thought of remaining awake. +Not a muscle moved--to Ska, circling above, it became evident that +the end had come--that at last he should be rewarded for his long +vigil. + +Circling slowly he dropped closer and closer to the dying man. Why +did not Tarzan move? Had he indeed been overcome by the sleep of +exhaustion, or was Ska right--had death at last claimed that mighty +body? Was that great, savage heart stilled forever? It is unthinkable. + +Ska, filled with suspicions, circled warily. Twice he almost alighted +upon the great, naked breast only to wheel suddenly away; but the +third time his talons touched the brown skin. It was as though the +contact closed an electric circuit that instantaneously vitalized +the quiet clod that had lain motionless so long. A brown hand swept +downward from the brown forehead and before Ska could raise a wing +in flight he was in the clutches of his intended victim. + +Ska fought, but he was no match for even a dying Tarzan, and +a moment later the ape-man's teeth closed upon the carrion-eater. +The flesh was coarse and tough and gave off an unpleasant odor and +a worse taste; but it was food and the blood was drink and Tarzan +only an ape at heart and a dying ape into the bargain--dying of +starvation and thirst. + +Even mentally weakened as he was the ape-man was still master +of his appetite and so he ate but sparingly, saving the rest, and +then, feeling that he now could do so safely, he turned upon his +side and slept. + +Rain, beating heavily upon his body, awakened him and sitting up he +cupped his hands and caught the precious drops which he transferred +to his parched throat. Only a little he got at a time; but that +was best. The few mouthfuls of Ska that he had eaten, together with +the blood and rain water and the sleep had refreshed him greatly +and put new strength into his tired muscles. + +Now he could see the hills again and they were close and, though +there was no sun, the world looked bright and cheerful, for Tarzan +knew that he was saved. The bird that would have devoured him, and +the providential rain, had saved him at the very moment that death +seemed inevitable. + +Again partaking of a few mouthfuls of the unsavory flesh of Ska, +the vulture, the ape-man arose with something of his old force +and set out with steady gait toward the hills of promise rising +alluringly ahead. Darkness fell before he reached them; but he +kept on until he felt the steeply rising ground that proclaimed +his arrival at the base of the hills proper, and then he lay down +and waited until morning should reveal the easiest passage to the +land beyond. The rain had ceased, but the sky still was overcast +so that even his keen eyes could not penetrate the darkness farther +than a few feet. And there he slept, after eating again of what +remained of Ska, until the morning sun awakened him with a new +sense of strength and well-being. + +And so at last he came through the hills out of the valley of death +into a land of park-like beauty, rich in game. Below him lay a deep +valley through the center of which dense jungle vegetation marked +the course of a river beyond which a primeval forest extended +for miles to terminate at last at the foot of lofty, snow-capped +mountains. It was a land that Tarzan never had looked upon before, +nor was it likely that the foot of another white man ever had +touched it unless, possibly, in some long-gone day the adventurer +whose skeleton he had found bleaching in the canyon had traversed +it. + + + + +Chapter VIII + +Tarzan and the Great Apes + + +Three days the ape-man spent in resting and recuperating, eating +fruits and nuts and the smaller animals that were most easily +bagged, and upon the fourth he set out to explore the valley and +search for the great apes. Time was a negligible factor in the +equation of life--it was all the same to Tarzan if he reached the +west coast in a month or a year or three years. All time was his and +all Africa. His was absolute freedom--the last tie that had bound +him to civilization and custom had been severed. He was alone but +he was not exactly lonely. The greater part of his life had been +spent thus, and though there was no other of his kind, he was at +all times surrounded by the jungle peoples for whom familiarity had +bred no contempt within his breast. The least of them interested +him, and, too, there were those with whom he always made friends +easily, and there were his hereditary enemies whose presence gave a +spice to life that might otherwise have become humdrum and monotonous. + +And so it was that on the fourth day he set out to explore the +valley and search for his fellow-apes. He had proceeded southward +for a short distance when his nostrils were assailed by the scent +of man, of Gomangani, the black man. There were many of them, and +mixed with their scent was another-that of a she Tarmangani. + +Swinging through the trees Tarzan approached the authors of these +disturbing scents. He came warily from the flank, but paying no +attention to the wind, for he knew that man with his dull senses +could apprehend him only through his eyes or ears and then only +when comparatively close. Had he been stalking Numa or Sheeta he +would have circled about until his quarry was upwind from him, thus +taking practically all the advantage up to the very moment that +he came within sight or hearing; but in the stalking of the dull +clod, man, he approached with almost contemptuous indifference, +so that all the jungle about him knew that he was passing--all but +the men he stalked. + +From the dense foliage of a great tree he watched them pass--a +disreputable mob of blacks, some garbed in the uniform of German +East African native troops, others wearing a single garment of the +same uniform, while many had reverted to the simple dress of their +forbears--approximating nudity. There were many black women with +them, laughing and talking as they kept pace with the men, all of +whom were armed with German rifles and equipped with German belts +and ammunition. + +There were no white officers there, but it was none the less apparent +to Tarzan that these men were from some German native command, +and he guessed that they had slain their officers and taken to the +jungle with their women, or had stolen some from native villages +through which they must have passed. It was evident that they were +putting as much ground between themselves and the coast as possible +and doubtless were seeking some impenetrable fastness of the vast +interior where they might inaugurate a reign of terror among the +primitively armed inhabitants and by raiding, looting, and rape +grow rich in goods and women at the expense of the district upon +which they settled themselves. + +Between two of the black women marched a slender white girl. She +was hatless and with torn and disheveled clothing that had evidently +once been a trim riding habit. Her coat was gone and her waist half +torn from her body. Occasionally and without apparent provocation +one or the other of the Negresses struck or pushed her roughly. +Tarzan watched through half-closed eyes. His first impulse was to +leap among them and bear the girl from their cruel clutches. He had +recognized her immediately and it was because of this fact that he +hesitated. + +What was it to Tarzan of the Apes what fate befell this enemy +spy? He had been unable to kill her himself because of an inherent +weakness that would not permit him to lay hands upon a woman, all +of which of course had no bearing upon what others might do to +her. That her fate would now be infinitely more horrible than the +quick and painless death that the ape-man would have meted to her +only interested Tarzan to the extent that the more frightful the +end of a German the more in keeping it would be with what they all +deserved. + +And so he let the blacks pass with Fraulein Bertha Kircher in their +midst, or at least until the last straggling warrior suggested to +his mind the pleasures of black-baiting--an amusement and a sport +in which he had grown ever more proficient since that long-gone day +when Kulonga, the son of Mbonga, the chief, had cast his unfortunate +spear at Kala, the ape-man's foster mother. + +The last man, who must have stopped for some purpose, was fully a +quarter of a mile in rear of the party. He was hurrying to catch +up when Tarzan saw him, and as he passed beneath the tree in which +the ape-man perched above the trail, a silent noose dropped deftly +about his neck. The main body still was in plain sight, and as the +frightened man voiced a piercing shriek of terror, they looked back +to see his body rise as though by magic straight into the air and +disappear amidst the leafy foliage above. + +For a moment the blacks stood paralyzed by astonishment and fear; +but presently the burly sergeant, Usanga, who led them, started +back along the trail at a run, calling to the others to follow +him. Loading their guns as they came the blacks ran to succor their +fellow, and at Usanga's command they spread into a thin line that +presently entirely surrounded the tree into which their comrade +had vanished. + +Usanga called but received no reply; then he advanced slowly with +rifle at the ready, peering up into the tree. He could see no +one--nothing. The circle closed in until fifty blacks were searching +among the branches with their keen eyes. What had become of their +fellow? They had seen him rise into the tree and since then many +eyes had been fastened upon the spot, yet there was no sign of him. +One, more venturesome than his fellows, volunteered to climb into +the tree and investigate. He was gone but a minute or two and +when he dropped to earth again he swore that there was no sign of +a creature there. + +Perplexed, and by this time a bit awed, the blacks drew slowly +away from the spot and with many backward glances and less laughing +continued upon their journey until, when about a mile beyond the +spot at which their fellow had disappeared, those in the lead saw +him peering from behind a tree at one side of the trail just in +front of them. With shouts to their companions that he had been +found they ran forwards; but those who were first to reach the +tree stopped suddenly and shrank back, their eyes rolling fearfully +first in one direction and then in another as though they expected +some nameless horror to leap out upon them. + +Nor was their terror without foundation. Impaled upon the end of +a broken branch the head of their companion was propped behind the +tree so that it appeared to be looking out at them from the opposite +side of the bole. + +It was then that many wished to turn back, arguing that they +had offended some demon of the wood upon whose preserve they had +trespassed; but Usanga refused to listen to them, assuring them +that inevitable torture and death awaited them should they return +and fall again into the hands of their cruel German masters. At +last his reasoning prevailed to the end that a much-subdued and +terrified band moved in a compact mass, like a drove of sheep, +forward through the valley and there were no stragglers. + +It is a happy characteristic of the Negro race, which they hold +in common with little children, that their spirits seldom remain +depressed for a considerable length of time after the immediate +cause of depression is removed, and so it was that in half an hour +Usanga's band was again beginning to take on to some extent its +former appearance of carefree lightheartedness. Thus were the heavy +clouds of fear slowly dissipating when a turn in the trail brought +them suddenly upon the headless body of their erstwhile companion +lying directly in their path, and they were again plunged into the +depth of fear and gloomy forebodings. + +So utterly inexplicable and uncanny had the entire occurrence been +that there was not a one of them who could find a ray of comfort +penetrating the dead blackness of its ominous portent. What had +happened to one of their number each conceived as being a wholly +possible fate for himself--in fact quite his probable fate. If such +a thing could happen in broad daylight what frightful thing might +not fall to their lot when night had enshrouded them in her mantle +of darkness. They trembled in anticipation. + +The white girl in their midst was no less mystified than they; but +far less moved, since sudden death was the most merciful fate to +which she might now look forward. So far she had been subjected +to nothing worse than the petty cruelties of the women, while, on +the other hand, it had alone been the presence of the women that +had saved her from worse treatment at the hands of some of the +men--notably the brutal, black sergeant, Usanga. His own woman +was of the party--a veritable giantess, a virago of the first +magnitude--and she was evidently the only thing in the world of +which Usanga stood in awe. Even though she was particularly cruel +to the young woman, the latter believed that she was her sole +protection from the degraded black tyrant. + +Late in the afternoon the band came upon a small palisaded village +of thatched huts set in a clearing in the jungle close beside +a placid river. At their approach the villagers came pouring out, +and Usanga advanced with two of his warriors to palaver with the +chief. The experiences of the day had so shaken the nerves of the +black sergeant that he was ready to treat with these people rather +than take their village by force of arms, as would ordinarily have +been his preference; but now a vague conviction influenced him +that there watched over this part of the jungle a powerful demon +who wielded miraculous power for evil against those who offended +him. First Usanga would learn how these villagers stood with this +savage god and if they had his good will Usanga would be most +careful to treat them with kindness and respect. + +At the palaver it developed that the village chief had food, +goats, and fowl which he would be glad to dispose of for a proper +consideration; but as the consideration would have meant parting +with precious rifles and ammunition, or the very clothing from their +backs, Usanga began to see that after all it might be forced upon +him to wage war to obtain food. + +A happy solution was arrived at by a suggestion of one of his +men--that the soldiers go forth the following day and hunt for the +villagers, bringing them in so much fresh meat in return for their +hospitality. This the chief agreed to, stipulating the kind and +quantity of game to be paid in return for flour, goats, and fowl, +and a certain number of huts that were to be turned over to the +visitors. The details having been settled after an hour or more +of that bickering argument of which the native African is so fond, +the newcomers entered the village where they were assigned to huts. + +Bertha Kircher found herself alone in a small hut close to the palisade +at the far end of the village street, and though she was neither +bound nor guarded, she was assured by Usanga that she could not +escape the village without running into almost certain death in the +jungle, which the villagers assured them was infested by lions of +great size and ferocity. "Be good to Usanga," he concluded, "and +no harm will befall you. I will come again to see you after the +others are asleep. Let us be friends." + +As the brute left her the girl's frame was racked by a convulsive +shudder as she sank to the floor of the hut and covered her face +with her hands. She realized now why the women had not been left +to guard her. It was the work of the cunning Usanga, but would not +his woman suspect something of his intentions? She was no fool and, +further, being imbued with insane jealousy she was ever looking +for some overt act upon the part of her ebon lord. Bertha Kircher +felt that only she might save her and that she would save her if +word could be but gotten to her. But how? + +Left alone and away from the eyes of her captors for the first time +since the previous night, the girl immediately took advantage of +the opportunity to assure herself that the papers she had taken +from the body of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider were still safely sewn +inside one of her undergarments. + +Alas! Of what value could they now ever be to her beloved country? +But habit and loyalty were so strong within her that she still clung +to the determined hope of eventually delivering the little packet +to her chief. + +The natives seemed to have forgotten her existence--no one came +near the hut, not even to bring her food. She could hear them at +the other end of the village laughing and yelling and knew that +they were celebrating with food and native beer--knowledge which +only increased her apprehension. To be prisoner in a native village +in the very heart of an unexplored region of Central Africa--the +only white woman among a band of drunken Negroes! The very thought +appalled her. Yet there was a slight promise in the fact that she +had so far been unmolested--the promise that they might, indeed, +have forgotten her and that soon they might become so hopelessly +drunk as to be harmless. + +Darkness had fallen and still no one came. The girl wondered if +she dared venture forth in search of Naratu, Usanga's woman, for +Usanga might not forget that he had promised to return. No one was +near as she stepped out of the hut and made her way toward the part +of the village where the revelers were making merry about a fire. +As she approached she saw the villagers and their guests squatting +in a large circle about the blaze before which a half-dozen naked +warriors leaped and bent and stamped in some grotesque dance. +Pots of food and gourds of drink were being passed about among +the audience. Dirty hands were plunged into the food pots and the +captured portions devoured so greedily that one might have thought +the entire community had been upon the point of starvation. The +gourds they held to their lips until the beer ran down their chins +and the vessels were wrested from them by greedy neighbors. The +drink had now begun to take noticeable effect upon most of them, +with the result that they were beginning to give themselves up to +utter and licentious abandon. + +As the girl came nearer, keeping in the shadow of the huts, looking +for Naratu she was suddenly discovered by one upon the edge of the +crowd--a huge woman, who rose, shrieking, and came toward her. From +her aspect the white girl thought that the woman meant literally +to tear her to pieces. So utterly wanton and uncalled-for was the +attack that it found the girl entirely unprepared, and what would +have happened had not a warrior interfered may only be guessed. +And then Usanga, noting the interruption, came lurching forward to +question her. + +"What do you want," he cried, "food and drink? Come with me!" and +he threw an arm about her and dragged her toward the circle. + +"No!" she cried, "I want Naratu. Where is Naratu?" + +This seemed to sober the black for a moment as though he +had temporarily forgotten his better half. He cast quick, fearful +glances about, and then, evidently assured that Naratu had noticed +nothing, he ordered the warrior who was still holding the infuriated +black woman from the white girl to take the latter back to her hut +and to remain there on guard over her. + +First appropriating a gourd of beer for himself the warrior +motioned the girl to precede him, and thus guarded she returned to +her hut, the fellow squatting down just outside the doorway, where +he confined his attentions for some time to the gourd. + +Bertha Kircher sat down at the far side of the hut awaiting she +knew not what impending fate. She could not sleep so filled was her +mind with wild schemes of escape though each new one must always be +discarded as impractical. Half an hour after the warrior had returned +her to her prison he rose and entered the hut, where he tried to +engage in conversation with her. Groping across the interior he +leaned his short spear against the wall and sat down beside her, +and as he talked he edged closer and closer until at last he could +reach out and touch her. Shrinking, she drew away. + +"Do not touch me!" she cried. "I will tell Usanga if you do not +leave me alone, and you know what he will do to you." + +The man only laughed drunkenly, and, reaching out his hand, grabbed +her arm and dragged her toward him. She fought and cried aloud for +Usanga and at the same instant the entrance to the hut was darkened +by the form of a man. + +"What is the matter?" shouted the newcomer in the deep tones that +the girl recognized as belonging to the black sergeant. He had +come, but would she be any better off? She knew that she would not +unless she could play upon Usanga's fear of his woman. + +When Usanga found what had happened he kicked the warrior out of +the hut and bade him begone, and when the fellow had disappeared, +muttering and grumbling, the sergeant approached the white girl. He +was very drunk, so drunk that several times she succeeded in eluding +him and twice she pushed him so violently away that he stumbled +and fell. + +Finally he became enraged and rushing upon her, seized her in his +long, apelike arms. Striking at his face with clenched fists she +tried to protect herself and drive him away. She threatened him +with the wrath of Naratu, and at that he changed his tactics and +began to plead, and as he argued with her, promising her safety +and eventual freedom, the warrior he had kicked out of the hut made +his staggering way to the hut occupied by Naratu. + +Usanga finding that pleas and promises were as unavailing as +threats, at last lost both his patience and his head, seizing the +girl roughly, and simultaneously there burst into the hut a raging +demon of jealousy. Naratu had come. Kicking, scratching, striking, +biting, she routed the terrified Usanga in short order, and +so obsessed was she by her desire to inflict punishment upon her +unfaithful lord and master that she quite forgot the object of his +infatuation. + +Bertha Kircher heard her screaming down the village street at Usanga's +heels and trembled at the thought of what lay in store for her at +the hands of these two, for she knew that tomorrow at the latest +Naratu would take out upon her the full measure of her jealous +hatred after she had spent her first wrath upon Usanga. + +The two had departed but a few minutes when the warrior guard +returned. He looked into the hut and then entered. "No one will +stop me now, white woman," he growled as he stepped quickly across +the hut toward her. + +Tarzan of the Apes, feasting well upon a juicy haunch from Bara, +the deer, was vaguely conscious of a troubled mind. He should +have been at peace with himself and all the world, for was he not +in his native element surrounded by game in plenty and rapidly +filling his belly with the flesh he loved best? But Tarzan of +the Apes was haunted by the picture of a slight, young girl being +shoved and struck by brutal Negresses, and in imagination could +see her now camped in this savage country a prisoner among degraded +blacks. + +Why was it so difficult to remember that she was only a hated German +and a spy? Why would the fact that she was a woman and white always +obtrude itself upon his consciousness? He hated her as he hated +all her kind, and the fate that was sure to be hers was no more +terrible than she in common with all her people deserved. The matter +was settled and Tarzan composed himself to think of other things, +yet the picture would not die--it rose in all its details and annoyed +him. He began to wonder what they were doing to her and where they +were taking her. He was very much ashamed of himself as he had been +after the episode in Wilhelmstal when his weakness had permitted +him to spare this spy's life. Was he to be thus weak again? No! + +Night came and he settled himself in an ample tree to rest until +morning; but sleep would not come. Instead came the vision of a +white girl being beaten by black women, and again of the same girl +at the mercy of the warriors somewhere in that dark and forbidding +jungle. + +With a growl of anger and self-contempt Tarzan arose, shook himself, +and swung from his tree to that adjoining, and thus, through the +lower terraces, he followed the trail that Usanga's party had taken +earlier in the afternoon. He had little difficulty as the band had +followed a well-beaten path and when toward midnight the stench +of a native village assailed his delicate nostrils he guessed that +his goal was near and that presently he should find her whom he +sought. + +Prowling stealthily as prowls Numa, the lion, stalking a wary +prey, Tarzan moved noiselessly about the palisade, listening and +sniffing. At the rear of the village he discovered a tree whose +branches extended over the top of the palisade and a moment later +he had dropped quietly into the village. + +From hut to hut he went searching with keen ears and nostrils some +confirming evidence of the presence of the girl, and at last, faint +and almost obliterated by the odor of the Gomangani, he found it +hanging like a delicate vapor about a small hut. The village was +quiet now, for the last of the beer and the food had been disposed +of and the blacks lay in their huts overcome by stupor, yet Tarzan +made no noise that even a sober man keenly alert might have heard. + +He passed around to the entrance of the hut and listened. From +within came no sound, not even the low breathing of one awake; yet +he was sure that the girl had been here and perhaps was even now, +and so he entered, slipping in as silently as a disembodied spirit. +For a moment he stood motionless just within the entranceway, +listening. No, there was no one here, of that he was sure, but he +would investigate. As his eyes became accustomed to the greater +darkness within the hut an object began to take form that presently +outlined itself in a human form supine upon the floor. + +Tarzan stepped closer and leaned over to examine it--it was the dead +body of a naked warrior from whose chest protruded a short spear. +Then he searched carefully every square foot of the remaining floor +space and at last returned to the body again where he stooped and +smelled of the haft of the weapon that had slain the black. A slow +smile touched his lips--that and a slight movement of his head +betokened that he understood. + +A rapid search of the balance of the village assured him that the +girl had escaped and a feeling of relief came over him that no harm +had befallen her. That her life was equally in jeopardy in the +savage jungle to which she must have flown did not impress him +as it would have you or me, since to Tarzan the jungle was not +a dangerous place--he considered one safer there than in Paris or +London by night. + +He had entered the trees again and was outside the palisade when +there came faintly to his ears from far beyond the village an old, +familiar sound. Balancing lightly upon a swaying branch he stood, +a graceful statue of a forest god, listening intently. For a minute +he stood thus and then there broke from his lips the long, weird +cry of ape calling to ape and he was away through the jungle toward +the sound of the booming drum of the anthropoids leaving behind him +an awakened and terrified village of cringing blacks, who would +forever after connect that eerie cry with the disappearance of +their white prisoner and the death of their fellow-warrior. + +Bertha Kircher, hurrying through the jungle along a well-beaten +game trail, thought only of putting as much distance as possible +between herself and the village before daylight could permit pursuit +of her. Whither she was going she did not know, nor was it a matter +of great moment since death must be her lot sooner or later. + +Fortune favored her that night, for she passed unscathed through +as savage and lion-ridden an area as there is in all Africa--a +natural hunting ground which the white man has not yet discovered, +where deer and antelope and zebra, giraffe and elephant, buffalo, +rhinoceros, and the other herbivorous animals of central Africa +abound unmolested by none but their natural enemies, the great +cats which, lured here by easy prey and immunity from the rifles +of big-game hunters, swarm the district. + +She had fled for an hour or two, perhaps, when her attention was +arrested by the sound of animals moving about, muttering and growling +close ahead. Assured that she had covered a sufficient distance +to insure her a good start in the morning before the blacks could +take to her trail, and fearful of what the creatures might be, +she climbed into a large tree with the intention of spending the +balance of the night there. + +She had no sooner reached a safe and comfortable branch when she +discovered that the tree stood upon the edge of a small clearing +that had been hidden from her by the heavy undergrowth upon the +ground below, and simultaneously she discovered the identity of +the beasts she had heard. + +In the center of the clearing below her, clearly visible in the +bright moonlight, she saw fully twenty huge, manlike apes--great, +shaggy fellows who went upon their hind feet with only slight +assistance from the knuckles of their hands. The moonlight glanced +from their glossy coats, the numerous gray-tipped hairs imparting +a sheen that made the hideous creatures almost magnificent in their +appearance. + +The girl had watched them but a minute or two when the little band +was joined by others, coming singly and in groups until there were +fully fifty of the great brutes gathered there in the moonlight. +Among them were young apes and several little ones clinging tightly +to their mothers' shaggy shoulders. Presently the group parted to +form a circle about what appeared to be a small, flat-topped mound +of earth in the center of the clearing. Squatting close about this +mound were three old females armed with short, heavy clubs with +which they presently began to pound upon the flat top of the earth +mound which gave forth a dull, booming sound, and almost immediately +the other apes commenced to move about restlessly, weaving in and +out aimlessly until they carried the impression of a moving mass +of great, black maggots. + +The beating of the drum was in a slow, ponderous cadence, at first +without time but presently settling into a heavy rhythm to which +the apes kept time with measured tread and swaying bodies. Slowly +the mass separated into two rings, the outer of which was composed +of shes and the very young, the inner of mature bulls. The former +ceased to move and squatted upon their haunches, while the bulls +now moved slowly about in a circle the center of which was the drum +and all now in the same direction. + +It was then that there came faintly to the ears of the girl from +the direction of the village she had recently quitted a weird and +high-pitched cry. The effect upon the apes was electrical--they +stopped their movements and stood in attitudes of intent listening +for a moment, and then one fellow, huger than his companions, raised +his face to the heavens and in a voice that sent the cold shudders +through the girl's slight frame answered the far-off cry. + +Once again the beaters took up their drumming and the slow dance +went on. There was a certain fascination in the savage ceremony +that held the girl spellbound, and as there seemed little likelihood +of her being discovered, she felt that she might as well remain +the balance of the night in her tree and resume her flight by the +comparatively greater safety of daylight. + +Assuring herself that her packet of papers was safe she sought as +comfortable a position as possible among the branches, and settled +herself to watch the weird proceedings in the clearing below her. + +A half-hour passed, during which the cadence of the drum increased +gradually. Now the great bull that had replied to the distant call +leaped from the inner circle to dance alone between the drummers +and the other bulls. He leaped and crouched and leaped again, now +growling and barking, again stopping to raise his hideous face +to Goro, the moon, and, beating upon his shaggy breast, uttered +a piercing scream-the challenge of the bull ape, had the girl but +known it. + +He stood thus in the full glare of the great moon, motionless after +screaming forth his weird challenge, in the setting of the primeval +jungle and the circling apes a picture of primitive savagery and +power--a mightily muscled Hercules out of the dawn of life--when +from close behind her the girl heard an answering scream, and an +instant later saw an almost naked white man drop from a near-by +tree into the clearing. + +Instantly the apes became a roaring, snarling pack of angry beasts. +Bertha Kircher held her breath. What maniac was this who dared +approach these frightful creatures in their own haunts, alone against +fifty? She saw the brown-skinned figure bathed in moonlight walk +straight toward the snarling pack. She saw the symmetry and the +beauty of that perfect body--its grace, its strength, its wondrous +proportioning, and then she recognized him. It was the same creature +whom she had seen carry Major Schneider from General Kraut's +headquarters, the same who had rescued her from Numa, the lion; +the same whom she had struck down with the butt of her pistol and +escaped when he would have returned her to her enemies, the same +who had slain Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and spared her life that +night in Wilhelmstal. + +Fear-filled and fascinated she watched him as he neared the apes. +She heard sounds issue from his throat--sounds identical with +those uttered by the apes--and though she could scarce believe the +testimony of her own ears, she knew that this godlike creature was +conversing with the brutes in their own tongue. + +Tarzan halted just before he reached the shes of the outer circle. +"I am Tarzan of the Apes!" he cried. "You do not know me because +I am of another tribe, but Tarzan comes in peace or he comes to +fight--which shall it be? Tarzan will talk with your king," and so +saying he pushed straight forward through the shes and the young +who now gave way before him, making a narrow lane through which he +passed toward the inner circle. + +Shes and balus growled and bristled as he passed closer, but none +hindered him and thus he came to the inner circle of bulls. Here +bared fangs menaced him and growling faces hideously contorted. "I +am Tarzan," he repeated. "Tarzan comes to dance the Dum-Dum with +his brothers. Where is your king?" Again he pressed forward and the +girl in the tree clapped her palms to her cheeks as she watched, +wide-eyed, this madman going to a frightful death. In another instant +they would be upon him, rending and tearing until that perfect form +had been ripped to shreds; but again the ring parted, and though +the apes roared and menaced him they did not attack, and at last +he stood in the inner circle close to the drum and faced the great +king ape. + +Again he spoke. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he cried. "Tarzan comes +to live with his brothers. He will come in peace and live in peace +or he will kill; but he has come and he will stay. Which--shall +Tarzan dance the Dum-Dum in peace with his brothers, or shall Tarzan +kill first?" + +"I am Go-lat, King of the Apes," screamed the great bull. "I kill! +I kill! I kill!" and with a sullen roar he charged the Tarmangani. + +The ape-man, as the girl watched him, seemed entirely unprepared +for the charge and she looked to see him borne down and slain at +the first rush. The great bull was almost upon him with huge hands +outstretched to seize him before Tarzan made a move, but when he +did move his quickness would have put Ara, the lightning, to shame. +As darts forward the head of Histah, the snake, so darted forward +the left hand of the man-beast as he seized the left wrist of his +antagonist. A quick turn and the bull's right arm was locked beneath +the right arm of his foe in a jujutsu hold that Tarzan had learned +among civilized men--a hold with which he might easily break the +great bones, a hold that left the ape helpless. + +"I am Tarzan of the Apes!" screamed the ape-man. "Shall Tarzan +dance in peace or shall Tarzan kill?'' + +"I kill! I kill! I kill!" shrieked Go-lat. + +With the quickness of a cat Tarzan swung the king ape over one hip +and sent him sprawling to the ground. "I am Tarzan, King of all +the Apes!" he shouted. "Shall it be peace?" + +Go-lat, infuriated, leaped to his feet and charged again, shouting +his war cry: "I kill! I kill! I kill!" and again Tarzan met him +with a sudden hold that the stupid bull, being ignorant of, could +not possibly avert--a hold and a throw that brought a scream of +delight from the interested audience and suddenly filled the girl +with doubts as to the man's madness--evidently he was quite safe +among the apes, for she saw him swing Go-lat to his back and then +catapult him over his shoulder. The king ape fell upon his head +and lay very still. + +"I am Tarzan of the Apes!" cried the ape-man. "I come to dance the +Dum-Dum with my brothers," and he made a motion to the drummers, +who immediately took up the cadence of the dance where they had +dropped it to watch their king slay the foolish Tarmangani. + +It was then that Go-lat raised his head and slowly crawled to his +feet. Tarzan approached him. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he cried. +"Shall Tarzan dance the Dum-Dum with his brothers now, or shall he +kill first?" + +Go-lat raised his bloodshot eyes to the face of the Tarmangani. +"Kagoda!" he cried. "Tarzan of the Apes will dance the Dum-Dum with +his brothers and Go-lat will dance with him!" + +And then the girl in the tree saw the savage man leaping, bending, and +stamping with the savage apes in the ancient rite of the Dum-Dum. +His roars and growls were more beastly than the beasts. His +handsome face was distorted with savage ferocity. He beat upon his +great breast and screamed forth his challenge as his smooth, brown +hide brushed the shaggy coats of his fellows. It was weird; it +was wonderful; and in its primitive savagery it was not without +beauty--the strange scene she looked upon, such a scene as no other +human being, probably, ever had witnessed--and yet, withal, it was +horrible. + +As she gazed, spell-bound, a stealthy movement in the tree behind +her caused her to turn her head, and there, back of her, blazing +in the reflected moonlight, shone two great, yellow-green eyes. +Sheeta, the panther, had found her out. + +The beast was so close that it might have reached out and touched +her with a great, taloned paw. There was no time to think, no +time to weigh chances or to choose alternatives. Terror-inspired +impulse was her guide as, with a loud scream, she leaped from the +tree into the clearing. + +Instantly the apes, now maddened by the effects of the dancing and +the moonlight, turned to note the cause of the interruption. They +saw this she Tarmangani, helpless and alone and they started for +her. Sheeta, the panther, knowing that not even Numa, the lion, +unless maddened by starvation, dares meddle with the great apes at +their Dum-Dum, had silently vanished into the night, seeking his +supper elsewhere. + +Tarzan, turning with the other apes toward the cause of the +interruption, saw the girl, recognized her and also her peril. +Here again might she die at the hands of others; but why consider +it! He knew that he could not permit it, and though the acknowledgment +shamed him, it had to be admitted. + +The leading shes were almost upon the girl when Tarzan leaped among +them, and with heavy blows scattered them to right and left; and +then as the bulls came to share in the kill they thought this new +ape-thing was about to make that he might steal all the flesh for +himself, they found him facing them with an arm thrown about the +creature as though to protect her. + +"This is Tarzan's she," he said. "Do not harm her." It was the only +way he could make them understand that they must not slay her. He +was glad that she could not interpret the words. It was humiliating +enough to make such a statement to wild apes about this hated enemy. + +So once again Tarzan of the Apes was forced to protect a Hun. +Growling, he muttered to himself in extenuation: + +"She is a woman and I am not a German, so it could not be otherwise!" + + + + +Chapter IX + +Dropped from the Sky + + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, Royal Air Service, was on +reconnaissance. A report, or it would be better to say a rumor, +had come to the British headquarters in German East Africa that +the enemy had landed in force on the west coast and was marching +across the dark continent to reinforce their colonial troops. In +fact the new army was supposed to be no more than ten or twelve days' +march to the west. Of course the thing was ridiculous--preposterous--but +preposterous things often happen in war; and anyway no good general +permits the least rumor of enemy activity to go uninvestigated. + +Therefore Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick flew low toward +the west, searching with keen eyes for signs of a Hun army. Vast +forests unrolled beneath him in which a German army corps might +have lain concealed, so dense was the overhanging foliage of the +great trees. Mountain, meadowland, and desert passed in lovely +panorama; but never a sight of man had the young lieutenant. + +Always hoping that he might discover some sign of their passage--a +discarded lorry, a broken limber, or an old camp site--he continued +farther and farther into the west until well into the afternoon. +Above a tree-dotted plain through the center of which flowed a +winding river he determined to turn about and start for camp. It +would take straight flying at top speed to cover the distance before +dark; but as he had ample gasoline and a trustworthy machine there +was no doubt in his mind but that he could accomplish his aim. It +was then that his engine stalled. + +He was too low to do anything but land, and that immediately, +while he had the more open country accessible, for directly east of +him was a vast forest into which a stalled engine could only have +plunged him to certain injury and probable death; and so he came +down in the meadowland near the winding river and there started to +tinker with his motor. + +As he worked he hummed a tune, some music-hall air that had been +popular in London the year before, so that one might have thought +him working in the security of an English flying field surrounded +by innumerable comrades rather than alone in the heart of an unexplored +African wilderness. It was typical of the man that he should be +wholly indifferent to his surroundings, although his looks entirely +belied any assumption that he was of particularly heroic strain. + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick was fair-haired, blue-eyed, +and slender, with a rosy, boyish face that might have been molded +more by an environment of luxury, indolence, and ease than the more +strenuous exigencies of life's sterner requirements. + +And not only was the young lieutenant outwardly careless of the +immediate future and of his surroundings, but actually so. That +the district might be infested by countless enemies seemed not to +have occurred to him in the remotest degree. He bent assiduously +to the work of correcting the adjustment that had caused his motor +to stall without so much as an upward glance at the surrounding +country. The forest to the east of him, and the more distant jungle +that bordered the winding river, might have harbored an army of +bloodthirsty savages, but neither could elicit even a passing show +of interest on the part of Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick. + +And even had he looked, it is doubtful if he would have seen the +score of figures crouching in the concealment of the undergrowth +at the forest's edge. There are those who are reputed to be endowed +with that which is sometimes, for want of a better appellation, +known as the sixth sense--a species of intuition which apprises +them of the presence of an unseen danger. The concentrated gaze of +a hidden observer provokes a warning sensation of nervous unrest in +such as these, but though twenty pairs of savage eyes were gazing +fixedly at Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, the fact aroused +no responsive sensation of impending danger in his placid breast. +He hummed peacefully and, his adjustment completed, tried out his +motor for a minute or two, then shut it off and descended to the +ground with the intention of stretching his legs and taking a smoke +before continuing his return flight to camp. Now for the first time +he took note of his surroundings, to be immediately impressed by +both the wildness and the beauty of the scene. In some respects the +tree-dotted meadowland reminded him of a park-like English forest, +and that wild beasts and savage men could ever be a part of so +quiet a scene seemed the remotest of contingencies. + +Some gorgeous blooms upon a flowering shrub at a little distance +from his machine caught the attention of his aesthetic eye, and as +he puffed upon his cigarette, he walked over to examine the flowers +more closely. As he bent above them he was probably some hundred +yards from his plane and it was at this instant that Numabo, chief +of the Wamabo, chose to leap from his ambush and lead his warriors +in a sudden rush upon the white man. + +The young Englishman's first intimation of danger was a chorus of +savage yells from the forest behind him. Turning, he saw a score +of naked, black warriors advancing rapidly toward him. They moved +in a compact mass and as they approached more closely their rate +of speed noticeably diminished. Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick realized +in a quick glance that the direction of their approach and their +proximity had cut off all chances of retreating to his plane, and +he also understood that their attitude was entirely warlike and +menacing. He saw that they were armed with spears and with bows and +arrows, and he felt quite confident that notwithstanding the fact +that he was armed with a pistol they could overcome him with the +first rush. What he did not know about their tactics was that at +any show of resistance they would fall back, which is the nature of +the native Negroes, but that after numerous advances and retreats, +during which they would work themselves into a frenzy of rage by +much shrieking, leaping, and dancing, they would eventually come +to the point of a determined and final assault. + +Numabo was in the forefront, a fact which taken in connection with +his considerably greater size and more warlike appearance, indicated +him as the natural target and it was at Numabo that the Englishman +aimed his first shot. Unfortunately for him it missed its target, +as the killing of the chief might have permanently dispersed +the others. The bullet passed Numabo to lodge in the breast of a +warrior behind him and as the fellow lunged forward with a scream +the others turned and retreated, but to the lieutenant's chagrin +they ran in the direction of the plane instead of back toward the +forest so that he was still cut off from reaching his machine. + +Presently they stopped and faced him again. They were talking loudly +and gesticulating, and after a moment one of them leaped into the +air, brandishing his spear and uttering savage war cries, which +soon had their effect upon his fellows so that it was not long ere +all of them were taking part in the wild show of savagery, which +would bolster their waning courage and presently spur them on to +another attack. + +The second charge brought them closer to the Englishman, and though +he dropped another with his pistol, it was not before two or three +spears had been launched at him. He now had five shots remaining +and there were still eighteen warriors to be accounted for, so that +unless he could frighten them off, it was evident that his fate +was sealed. + +That they must pay the price of one life for every attempt to take +his had its effect upon them and they were longer now in initiating +a new rush and when they did so it was more skillfully ordered than +those that had preceded it, for they scattered into three bands +which, partially surrounding him, came simultaneously toward him +from different directions, and though he emptied his pistol with +good effect, they reached him at last. They seemed to know that +his ammunition was exhausted, for they circled close about him now +with the evident intention of taking him alive, since they might +easily have riddled him with their sharp spears with perfect safety +to themselves. + +For two or three minutes they circled about him until, at a word +from Numabo, they closed in simultaneously, and though the slender +young lieutenant struck out to right and left, he was soon overwhelmed +by superior numbers and beaten down by the hafts of spears in brawny +hands. + +He was all but unconscious when they finally dragged him to his +feet, and after securing his hands behind his back, pushed him +roughly along ahead of them toward the jungle. + +As the guard prodded him along the narrow trail, Lieutenant +Smith-Oldwick could not but wonder why they had wished to take him +alive. He knew that he was too far inland for his uniform to have +any significance to this native tribe to whom no inkling of the +World War probably ever had come, and he could only assume that he +had fallen into the hands of the warriors of some savage potentate +upon whose royal caprice his fate would hinge. + +They had marched for perhaps half an hour when the Englishman saw +ahead of them, in a little clearing upon the bank of the river, +the thatched roofs of native huts showing above a crude but strong +palisade; and presently he was ushered into a village street where +he was immediately surrounded by a throng of women and children +and warriors. Here he was soon the center of an excited mob whose +intent seemed to be to dispatch him as quickly as possible. The +women were more venomous than the men, striking and scratching him +whenever they could reach him, until at last Numabo, the chief, was +obliged to interfere to save his prisoner for whatever purpose he +was destined. + +As the warriors pushed the crowd back, opening a space through +which the white man was led toward a hut, Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick +saw coming from the opposite end of the village a number of Negroes +wearing odds and ends of German uniforms. He was not a little +surprised at this, and his first thought was that he had at last +come in contact with some portion of the army which was rumored to +be crossing from the west coast and for signs of which he had been +searching. + +A rueful smile touched his lips as he contemplated the unhappy +circumstances which surrounded the accession of this knowledge for +though he was far from being without hope, he realized that only +by the merest chance could he escape these people and regain his +machine. + +Among the partially uniformed blacks was a huge fellow in the tunic +of a sergeant and as this man's eyes fell upon the British officer, +a loud cry of exultation broke from his lips, and immediately his +followers took up the cry and pressed forward to bait the prisoner. + +"Where did you get the Englishman?" asked Usanga, the black sergeant, +of the chief Numabo. "Are there many more with him?" + +"He came down from the sky," replied the native chief, "in a strange +thing which flies like a bird and which frightened us very much at +first; but we watched for a long time and saw that it did not seem +to be alive, and when this white man left it we attacked him and +though he killed some of my warriors, we took him, for we Wamabos +are brave men and great warriors." + +Usanga's eyes went wide. "He flew here through the sky?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Numabo. "In a great thing which resembled a bird he +flew down out of the sky. The thing is still there where it came +down close to the four trees near the second bend in the river. We +left it there because, not knowing what it was, we were afraid to +touch it and it is still there if it has not flown away again." + +"It cannot fly," said Usanga, "without this man in it. It is a +terrible thing which filled the hearts of our soldiers with terror, +for it flew over our camps at night and dropped bombs upon us. +It is well that you captured this white man, Numabo, for with his +great bird he would have flown over your village tonight and killed +all your people. These Englishmen are very wicked white men." + +"He will fly no more," said Numabo. "It is not intended that a man +should fly through the air; only wicked demons do such things as +that and Numabo, the chief, will see that this white man does not +do it again," and with the words he pushed the young officer roughly +toward a hut in the center of the village, where he was left under +guard of two stalwart warriors. + +For an hour or more the prisoner was left to his own devices, which +consisted in vain and unremitting attempts to loosen the strands +which fettered his wrists, and then he was interrupted by the +appearance of the black sergeant Usanga, who entered his hut and +approached him. + +"What are they going to do with me?" asked the Englishman. "My +country is not at war with these people. You speak their language. +Tell them that I am not an enemy, that my people are the friends +of the black people and that they must let me go in peace." + +Usanga laughed. "They do not know an Englishman from a German," he +replied. "It is nothing to them what you are, except that you are +a white man and an enemy." + +"Then why did they take me alive?" asked the lieutenant. + +"Come," said Usanga and he led the Englishman to the doorway of +the hut. "Look," he said, and pointed a black forefinger toward +the end of the village street where a wider space between the huts +left a sort of plaza. + +Here Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick saw a number of Negresses +engaged in laying fagots around a stake and in preparing fires +beneath a number of large cooking vessels. The sinister suggestion +was only too obvious. + +Usanga was eyeing the white man closely, but if he expected to be +rewarded by any signs of fear, he was doomed to disappointment and +the young lieutenant merely turned toward him with a shrug: "Really +now, do you beggars intend eating me?" + +"Not my people," replied Usanga. "We do not eat human flesh, but +the Wamabos do. It is they who will eat you, but we will kill you +for the feast, Englishman." + +The Englishman remained standing in the doorway of the hut, an +interested spectator of the preparations for the coming orgy that +was so horribly to terminate his earthly existence. It can hardly +be assumed that he felt no fear; yet, if he did, he hid it perfectly +beneath an imperturbable mask of coolness. Even the brutal Usanga +must have been impressed by the bravery of his victim since, though +he had come to abuse and possibly to torture the helpless prisoner, +he now did neither, contenting himself merely with berating whites +as a race and Englishmen especially, because of the terror the +British aviators had caused Germany's native troops in East Africa. + +"No more," he concluded, "will your great bird fly over our people +dropping death among them from the skies--Usanga will see to that," +and he walked abruptly away toward a group of his own fighting men +who were congregated near the stake where they were laughing and +joking with the women. + +A few minutes later the Englishman saw them pass out of the village +gate, and once again his thoughts reverted to various futile plans +for escape. + +Several miles north of the village on a little rise of ground close +to the river where the jungle, halting at the base of a knoll, had +left a few acres of grassy land sparsely wooded, a man and a girl +were busily engaged in constructing a small boma, in the center of +which a thatched hut already had been erected. + +They worked almost in silence with only an occasional word of +direction or interrogation between them. + +Except for a loin cloth, the man was naked, his smooth skin tanned +to a deep brown by the action of sun and wind. He moved with the +graceful ease of a jungle cat and when he lifted heavy weights, +the action seemed as effortless as the raising of empty hands. + +When he was not looking at her, and it was seldom that he did, the +girl found her eyes wandering toward him, and at such times there +was always a puzzled expression upon her face as though she found +in him an enigma which she could not solve. As a matter of fact, +her feelings toward him were not un-tinged with awe, since in +the brief period of their association she had discovered in this +handsome, godlike giant the attributes of the superman and the +savage beast closely intermingled. At first she had felt only that +unreasoning feminine terror which her unhappy position naturally +induced. + +To be alone in the heart of an unexplored wilderness of Central +Africa with a savage wild man was in itself sufficiently appalling, +but to feel also that this man was a blood enemy, that he hated her +and her kind and that in addition thereto he owed her a personal +grudge for an attack she had made upon him in the past, left no +loophole for any hope that he might accord her even the minutest +measure of consideration. + +She had seen him first months since when he had entered the +headquarters of the German high command in East Africa and carried +off the luckless Major Schneider, of whose fate no hint had ever +reached the German officers; and she had seen him again upon that +occasion when he had rescued her from the clutches of the lion and, +after explaining to her that he had recognized her in the British +camp, had made her prisoner. It was then that she had struck him +down with the butt of her pistol and escaped. That he might seek +no personal revenge for her act had been evidenced in Wilhelmstal +the night that he had killed Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and left +without molesting her. + +No, she could not fathom him. He hated her and at the same time +he had protected her as had been evidenced again when he had kept +the great apes from tearing her to pieces after she had escaped +from the Wamabo village to which Usanga, the black sergeant, had +brought her a captive; but why was he saving her? For what sinister +purpose could this savage enemy be protecting her from the other +denizens of his cruel jungle? She tried to put from her mind the +probable fate which awaited her, yet it persisted in obtruding +itself upon her thoughts, though always she was forced to admit that +there was nothing in the demeanor of the man to indicate that her +fears were well grounded. She judged him perhaps by the standards +other men had taught her and because she looked upon him as a savage +creature, she felt that she could not expect more of chivalry from +him than was to be found in the breasts of the civilized men of +her acquaintance. + +Fraulein Bertha Kircher was by nature a companionable and cheerful +character. She was not given to morbid forebodings, and above all +things she craved the society of her kind and that interchange of +thought which is one of the marked distinctions between man and +the lower animals. Tarzan, on the other hand, was sufficient unto +himself. Long years of semi-solitude among creatures whose powers +of oral expression are extremely limited had thrown him almost +entirely upon his own resources for entertainment. + +His active mind was never idle, but because his jungle mates could +neither follow nor grasp the vivid train of imaginings that his +man-mind wrought, he had long since learned to keep them to himself; +and so now he found no need for confiding them in others. This +fact, linked with that of his dislike for the girl, was sufficient +to seal his lips for other than necessary conversation, and so they +worked on together in comparative silence. Bertha Kircher, however, +was nothing if not feminine and she soon found that having someone +to talk to who would not talk was extremely irksome. Her fear of +the man was gradually departing, and she was full of a thousand +unsatisfied curiosities as to his plans for the future in so far as +they related to her, as well as more personal questions regarding +himself, since she could not but wonder as to his antecedents and +his strange and solitary life in the jungle, as well as his friendly +intercourse with the savage apes among which she had found him. + +With the waning of her fears she became sufficiently emboldened +to question him, and so she asked him what he intended doing after +the hut and boma were completed. + +"I am going to the west coast where I was born," replied Tarzan. +"I do not know when. I have all my life before me and in the jungle +there is no reason for haste. We are not forever running as fast +as we can from one place to another as are you of the outer world. +When I have been here long enough I will go on toward the west, +but first I must see that you have a safe place in which to sleep, +and that you have learned how to provide yourself with necessaries. +That will take time." + +"You are going to leave me here alone?" cried the girl; her tones +marked the fear which the prospect induced. "You are going to leave +me here alone in this terrible jungle, a prey to wild beasts and +savage men, hundreds of miles from a white settlement and in a +country which gives every evidence of never having been touched by +the foot of civilized men?" + +"Why not?" asked Tarzan. "I did not bring you here. Would one of +your men accord any better treatment to an enemy woman?" + +"Yes," she exclaimed. "They certainly would. No man of my race +would leave a defenseless white woman alone in this horrible place." + +Tarzan shrugged his broad shoulders. The conversation seemed +profitless and it was further distasteful to him for the reason +that it was carried on in German, a tongue which he detested as +much as he did the people who spoke it. He wished that the girl +spoke English and then it occurred to him that as he had seen her +in disguise in the British camp carrying on her nefarious work as +a German spy, she probably did speak English and so he asked her. + +"Of course I speak English," she exclaimed, "but I did not know +that you did." + +Tarzan looked his wonderment but made no comment. He only wondered why +the girl should have any doubts as to the ability of an Englishman +to speak English, and then suddenly it occurred to him that she +probably looked upon him merely as a beast of the jungle who by +accident had learned to speak German through frequenting the district +which Germany had colonized. It was there only that she had seen +him and so she might not know that he was an Englishman by birth, +and that he had had a home in British East Africa. It was as well, +he thought, that she knew little of him, as the less she knew the +more he might learn from her as to her activities in behalf of the +Germans and of the German spy system of which she was a representative; +and so it occurred to him to let her continue to think that he was +only what he appeared to be--a savage denizen of his savage jungle, +a man of no race and no country, hating all white men impartially; +and this in truth, was what she did think of him. It explained +perfectly his attacks upon Major Schneider and the Major's brother, +Hauptmann Fritz. + +Again they worked on in silence upon the boma which was now nearly +completed, the girl helping the man to the best of her small +ability. Tarzan could not but note with grudging approval the +spirit of helpfulness she manifested in the oft-times painful labor +of gathering and arranging the thorn bushes which constituted the +temporary protection against roaming carnivores. Her hands and arms +gave bloody token of the sharpness of the numerous points that had +lacerated her soft flesh, and even though she were an enemy Tarzan +could not but feel compunction that he had permitted her to do this +work, and at last he bade her stop. + +"Why?" she asked. "It is no more painful to me than it must be to +you, and, as it is solely for my protection that you are building +this boma, there is no reason why I should not do my share." + +"You are a woman," replied Tarzan. "This is not a woman's work. If +you wish to do something, take those gourds I brought this morning +and fill them with water at the river. You may need it while I am +away." + +"While you are away--" she said. "You are going away?" + +"When the boma is built I am going out after meat," he replied. +"Tomorrow I will go again and take you and show you how you may +make your own kills after I am gone." + +Without a word she took the gourds and walked toward the river. As +she filled them, her mind was occupied with painful forebodings of +the future. She knew that Tarzan had passed a death sentence upon +her, and that the moment that he left her, her doom was sealed, +for it could be but a question of time--a very short time--before +the grim jungle would claim her, for how could a lone woman hope +successfully to combat the savage forces of destruction which +constituted so large a part of existence in the jungle? + +So occupied was she with the gloomy prophecies that she had neither +ears nor eyes for what went on about her. Mechanically she filled +the gourds and, taking them up, turned slowly to retrace her steps +to the boma only to voice immediately a half-stifled scream and +shrink back from the menacing figure looming before her and blocking +her way to the hut. + +Go-lat, the king ape, hunting a little apart from his tribe, had seen +the woman go to the river for water, and it was he who confronted +her when she turned back with her filled gourds. Go-lat was not +a pretty creature when judged by standards of civilized humanity, +though the shes of his tribe and even Go-lat himself, considered +his glossy black coat shot with silver, his huge arms dangling to +his knees, his bullet head sunk between his mighty shoulders, marks +of great personal beauty. His wicked, bloodshot eyes and broad +nose, his ample mouth and great fighting fangs only enhanced the +claim of this Adonis of the forest upon the affections of his shes. + +Doubtless in the little, savage brain there was a well-formed +conviction that this strange she belonging to the Tarmangani must +look with admiration upon so handsome a creature as Go-lat, for +there could be no doubt in the mind of any that his beauty entirely +eclipsed such as the hairless white ape might lay claim to. + +But Bertha Kircher saw only a hideous beast, a fierce and terrible +caricature of man. Could Go-lat have known what passed through her +mind, he must have been terribly chagrined, though the chances are +that he would have attributed it to a lack of discernment on her +part. Tarzan heard the girl's cry and looking up saw at a glance +the cause of her terror. Leaping lightly over the boma, he ran +swiftly toward her as Go-lat lumbered closer to the girl the while +he voiced his emotions in low gutturals which, while in reality the +most amicable of advances, sounded to the girl like the growling +of an enraged beast. As Tarzan drew nearer he called aloud to the +ape and the girl heard from the human lips the same sounds that +had fallen from those of the anthropoid. + +"I will not harm your she," Go-lat called to Tarzan. + +"I know it," replied the ape-man, "but she does not. She is like +Numa and Sheeta, who do not understand our talk. She thinks you +come to harm her." + +By this time Tarzan was beside the girl. "He will not harm you," +he said to her. "You need not be afraid. This ape has learned his +lesson. He has learned that Tarzan is lord of the jungle. He will +not harm that which is Tarzan's." + +The girl cast a quick glance at the man's face. It was evident to +her that the words he had spoken meant nothing to him and that the +assumed proprietorship over her was, like the boma, only another +means for her protection. + +"But I am afraid of him," she said. + +"You must not show your fear. You will be often surrounded by these +apes. At such times you will be safest. Before I leave you I will +give you the means of protecting yourself against them should one +of them chance to turn upon you. If I were you I would seek their +society. Few are the animals of the jungle that dare attack the +great apes when there are several of them together. If you let +them know that you are afraid of them, they will take advantage of +it and your life will be constantly menaced. The shes especially +would attack you. I will let them know that you have the means of +protecting yourself and of killing them. If necessary, I will show +you how and then they will respect and fear you." + +"I will try," said the girl, "but I am afraid that it will be +difficult. He is the most frightful creature I ever have seen." +Tarzan smiled. "Doubtless he thinks the same of you," he said. + +By this time other apes had entered the clearing and they were now +the center of a considerable group, among which were several bulls, +some young shes, and some older ones with their little balus clinging +to their backs or frolicking around at their feet. Though they had +seen the girl the night of the Dum-Dum when Sheeta had forced her +to leap from her concealment into the arena where the apes were +dancing, they still evinced a great curiosity regarding her. Some +of the shes came very close and plucked at her garments, commenting +upon them to one another in their strange tongue. The girl, by +the exercise of all the will power she could command, succeeded in +passing through the ordeal without evincing any of the terror and +revulsion that she felt. Tarzan watched her closely, a half-smile +upon his face. He was not so far removed from recent contact with +civilized people that he could not realize the torture that she +was undergoing, but he felt no pity for this woman of a cruel enemy +who doubtless deserved the worst suffering that could be meted to +her. Yet, notwithstanding his sentiments toward her, he was forced +to admire her fine display of courage. Suddenly he turned to the +apes. + +"Tarzan goes to hunt for himself and his she," he said. "The she +will remain there," and he pointed toward the hut. "See that no +member of the tribe harms her. Do you understand?" + +The apes nodded. "We will not harm her," said Go-lat. + +"No," said Tarzan. "You will not. For if you do, Tarzan will kill +you," and then turning to the girl, "Come," he said, "I am going to +hunt now. You had better remain at the hut. The apes have promised +not to harm you. I will leave my spear with you. It will be the best +weapon you could have in case you should need to protect yourself, +but I doubt if you will be in any danger for the short time that +I am away." + +He walked with her as far as the boma and when she had entered he +closed the gap with thorn bushes and turned away toward the forest. +She watched him moving across the clearing, noting the easy, catlike +tread and the grace of every movement that harmonized so well with +the symmetry and perfection of his figure. At the forest's edge +she saw him swing lightly into a tree and disappear from view, and +then, being a woman, she entered the hut and, throwing herself upon +the ground, burst into tears. + + + + +Chapter X + +In the Hands of Savages + + +Tarzan sought Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, for of all the +jungle animals he doubted if any would prove more palatable to the +white woman, but though his keen nostrils were ever on the alert, +he traveled far without being rewarded with even the faintest +scent spoor of the game he sought. Keeping close to the river where +he hoped to find Bara or Horta approaching or leaving a drinking +place he came at last upon the strong odor of the Wamabo village +and being ever ready to pay his hereditary enemies, the Gomangani, +an undesired visit, he swung into a detour and came up in the rear +of the village. From a tree which overhung the palisade he looked +down into the street where he saw the preparations going on which +his experience told him indicated the approach of one of those +frightful feasts the piece de resistance of which is human flesh. + +One of Tarzan's chief divertissements was the baiting of the blacks. +He realized more keen enjoyment through annoying and terrifying them +than from any other source of amusement the grim jungle offered. +To rob them of their feast in some way that would strike terror +to their hearts would give him the keenest of pleasure, and so +he searched the village with his eyes for some indication of the +whereabouts of the prisoner. His view was circumscribed by the +dense foliage of the tree in which he sat, and, so that he might +obtain a better view, he climbed further aloft and moved cautiously +out upon a slender branch. + +Tarzan of the Apes possessed a woodcraft scarcely short of the +marvelous but even Tarzan's wondrous senses were not infallible. +The branch upon which he made his way outward from the bole was no +smaller than many that had borne his weight upon countless other +occasions. Outwardly it appeared strong and healthy and was in full +foliage, nor could Tarzan know that close to the stem a burrowing +insect had eaten away half the heart of the solid wood beneath the +bark. + +And so when he reached a point far out upon the limb, it snapped +close to the bole of the tree without warning. Below him were no +larger branches that he might clutch and as he lunged downward his +foot caught in a looped creeper so that he turned completely over +and alighted on the flat of his back in the center of the village +street. + +At the sound of the breaking limb and the crashing body falling +through the branches the startled blacks scurried to their huts +for weapons, and when the braver of them emerged, they saw the +still form of an almost naked white man lying where he had fallen. +Emboldened by the fact that he did not move they approached more +closely, and when their eyes discovered no signs of others of his +kind in the tree, they rushed forward until a dozen warriors stood +about him with ready spears. At first they thought that the falling +had killed him, but upon closer examination they discovered that +the man was only stunned. One of the warriors was for thrusting a +spear through his heart, but Numabo, the chief, would not permit +it. + +"Bind him," he said. "We will feed well tonight." + +And so they bound his hands and feet with thongs of gut and carried +him into the hut where Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick awaited +his fate. The Englishman had also been bound hand and foot by this +time for fear that at the last moment he might escape and rob them +of their feast. A great crowd of natives were gathered about the +hut attempting to get a glimpse of the new prisoner, but Numabo +doubled the guard before the entrance for fear that some of his +people, in the exuberance of their savage joy, might rob the others +of the pleasures of the death dance which would precede the killing +of the victims. + +The young Englishman had heard the sound of Tarzan's body crashing +through the tree to the ground and the commotion in the village +which immediately followed, and now, as he stood with his back +against the wall of the hut, he looked upon the fellow-prisoner that +the blacks carried in and laid upon the floor with mixed feelings +of surprise and compassion. He realized that he never had seen +a more perfect specimen of manhood than that of the unconscious +figure before him, and he wondered to what sad circumstances the +man owed his capture. It was evident that the new prisoner was +himself as much a savage as his captors if apparel and weapons were +any criterion by which to judge; yet it was also equally evident +that he was a white man and from his well-shaped head and clean-cut +features that he was not one of those unhappy halfwits who so often +revert to savagery even in the heart of civilized communities. + +As he watched the man, he presently noticed that his eyelids were +moving. Slowly they opened and a pair of gray eyes looked blankly +about. With returning consciousness the eyes assumed their natural +expression of keen intelligence, and a moment later, with an +effort, the prisoner rolled over upon his side and drew himself to +a sitting position. He was facing the Englishman, and as his eyes +took in the bound ankles and the arms drawn tightly behind the +other's back, a slow smile lighted his features. + +"They will fill their bellies tonight," he said. + +The Englishman grinned. "From the fuss they made," he said, "the +beggars must be awfully hungry. They like to have eaten me alive +when they brought me in. How did they get you?" + +Tarzan shrugged his head ruefully. "It was my own fault," he +replied. "I deserve to be eaten. I crawled out upon a branch that +would not bear my weight and when it broke, instead of alighting +on my feet, I caught my foot in a trailer and came down on my head. +Otherwise they would not have taken me--alive." + +"Is there no escape?" asked the Englishman. + +"I have escaped them before," replied Tarzan, "and I have seen +others escape them. I have seen a man taken away from the stake +after a dozen spear thrusts had pierced his body and the fire had +been lighted about his feet." + +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick shuddered. "God!" he exclaimed, "I hope I +don't have to face that. I believe I could stand anything but the +thought of the fire. I should hate like the devil to go into a funk +before the devils at the last moment." + +"Don't worry," said Tarzan. "It doesn't last long and you won't +funk. It is really not half as bad as it sounds. There is only a +brief period of pain before you lose consciousness. I have seen it +many times before. It is as good a way to go as another. We must +die sometime. What difference whether it be tonight, tomorrow night, +or a year hence, just so that we have lived--and I have lived!" + +"Your philosophy may be all right, old top," said the young +lieutenant, "but I can't say that it is exactly satisfying." + +Tarzan laughed. "Roll over here," he said, "where I can get at +your bonds with my teeth." The Englishman did as he was bid and +presently Tarzan was working at the thongs with his strong white +teeth. He felt them giving slowly beneath his efforts. In another +moment they would part, and then it would be a comparatively simple +thing for the Englishman to remove the remaining bonds from Tarzan +and himself. + +It was then that one of the guards entered the hut. In an instant he +saw what the new prisoner was doing and raising his spear, struck +the ape-man a vicious blow across the head with its shaft. Then he +called in the other guards and together they fell upon the luckless +men, kicking and beating them unmercifully, after which they bound +the Englishman more securely than before and tied both men fast on +opposite sides of the hut. When they had gone Tarzan looked across +at his companion in misery. + +"While there is life," he said, "there is hope," but he grinned as +he voiced the ancient truism. + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick returned the other's smile. +"I fancy," he said, "that we are getting short on both. It must +be close to supper time now." + +Zu-tag hunted alone far from the balance of the tribe of Go-lat, +the great ape. Zu-tag (Big-neck) was a young bull but recently +arrived at maturity. He was large, powerful, and ferocious and at +the same time far above the average of his kind in intelligence as +was denoted by a fuller and less receding forehead. Already Go-lat +saw in this young ape a possible contender for the laurels of his +kingship and consequently the old bull looked upon Zu-tag with +jealousy and disfavor. It was for this reason, possibly, as much +as another that Zu-tag hunted so often alone; but it was his utter +fearlessness that permitted him to wander far afield away from the +protection which numbers gave the great apes. One of the results +of this habit was a greatly increased resourcefulness which found +him constantly growing in intelligence and powers of observation. + +Today he had been hunting toward the south and was returning along +the river upon a path he often followed because it led by the +village of the Gomangani whose strange and almost apelike actions +and peculiar manners of living had aroused his interest and curiosity. +As he had done upon other occasions he took up his position in a +tree from which he could overlook the interior of the village and +watch the blacks at their vocations in the street below. + +Zu-tag had scarcely more than established himself in his tree when, +with the blacks, he was startled by the crashing of Tarzan's body +from the branches of another jungle giant to the ground within the +palisade. He saw the Negroes gather about the prostrate form and +later carry it into the hut; and once he rose to his full height +upon the limb where he had been squatting and raised his face to +the heavens to scream out a savage protest and a challenge, for he +had recognized in the brown-skinned Tarmangani the strange white +ape who had come among them a night or two before in the midst of +their Dum-Dum, and who by so easily mastering the greatest among +them, had won the savage respect and admiration of this fierce +young bull. + +But Zu-tag's ferocity was tempered by a certain native cunning and +caution. Before he had voiced his protest there formed in his mind +the thought that he would like to save this wonderful white ape +from the common enemy, the Gomangani, and so he screamed forth no +challenge, wisely determining that more could be accomplished by +secrecy and stealth than by force of muscle and fang. + +At first he thought to enter the village alone and carry off the +Tarmangani; but when he saw how numerous were the warriors and that +several sat directly before the entrance to the lair into which the +prisoner had been carried, it occurred to him that this was work +for many rather than one, and so, as silently as he had come, he +slipped away through the foliage toward the north. + +The tribe was still loitering about the clearing where stood the hut +that Tarzan and Bertha Kircher had built. Some were idly searching +for food just within the forest's edge, while others squatted +beneath the shade of trees within the clearing. + +The girl had emerged from the hut, her tears dried and was gazing +anxiously toward the south into the jungle where Tarzan had disappeared. +Occasionally she cast suspicious glances in the direction of the +huge shaggy anthropoids about her. How easy it would be for one +of those great beasts to enter the boma and slay her. How helpless +she was, even with the spear that the white man had left her, she +realized as she noted for the thousandth time the massive shoulders, +the bull necks, and the great muscles gliding so easily beneath the +glossy coats. Never, she thought, had she seen such personifications +of brute power as were represented by these mighty bulls. Those +huge hands would snap her futile spear as she might snap a match in +two, while their lightest blow could crush her into insensibility +and death. + +It was while she was occupied with these depressing thoughts that +there dropped suddenly into the clearing from the trees upon the +south the figure of a mighty young bull. At that time all of the +apes looked much alike to Bertha Kircher, nor was it until some +time later that she realized that each differed from the others +in individual characteristics of face and figure as do individuals +of the human races. Yet even then she could not help but note +the wondrous strength and agility of this great beast, and as he +approached she even found herself admiring the sheen of his heavy, +black, silvershot coat. + +It was evident that the newcomer was filled with suppressed excitement. +His demeanor and bearing proclaimed this even from afar, nor was +the girl the only one to note it. For as they saw him coming many +of the apes arose and advanced to meet him, bristling and growling +as is their way. Go-lat was among these latter, and he advanced +stiffly with the hairs upon his neck and down his spine erect, +uttering low growls and baring his fighting fangs, for who might +say whether Zu-tag came in peace or otherwise? The old king had +seen other young apes come thus in his day filled with a sudden +resolution to wrest the kingship from their chief. He had seen +bulls about to run amuck burst thus suddenly from the jungle upon +the members of the tribe, and so Go-lat took no chances. + +Had Zu-tag come indolently, feeding as he came, he might have +entered the tribe without arousing notice or suspicion, but when +one comes thus precipitately, evidently bursting with some emotion +out of the ordinary, let all apes beware. There was a certain amount +of preliminary circling, growling, and sniffing, stiff-legged and +stiff-haired, before each side discovered that the other had no +intention of initiating an attack and then Zu-tag told Go-lat what +he had seen among the lairs of the Gomangani. + +Go-lat grunted in disgust and turned away. "Let the white ape take +care of himself," he said. + +"He is a great ape," said Zu-tag. "He came to live in peace with +the tribe of Go-lat. Let us save him from the Gomangani." + +Go-lat grunted again and continued to move away. + +"Zu-tag will go alone and get him," cried the young ape, "if Go-lat +is afraid of the Gomangani." + +The king ape wheeled in anger, growling loudly and beating upon +his breast. "Go-lat is not afraid," he screamed, "but he will not +go, for the white ape is not of his tribe. Go yourself and take +the Tarmangani's she with you if you wish so much to save the white +ape." + +"Zu-tag will go," replied the younger bull, "and he will take the +Tarmangani's she and all the bulls of Go-lat who are not cowards," +and so saying he cast his eyes inquiringly about at the other apes. +"Who will go with Zu-tag to fight the Gomangani and bring away our +brother," he demanded. + +Eight young bulls in the full prime of their vigor pressed forward +to Zu-tag's side, but the old bulls with the conservatism and +caution of many years upon their gray shoulders, shook their heads +and waddled away after Go-lat. + +"Good," cried Zu-tag. "We want no old shes to go with us to fight +the Gomangani for that is work for the fighters of the tribe." + +The old bulls paid no attention to his boastful words, but the eight +who had volunteered to accompany him were filled with self-pride so +that they stood around vaingloriously beating upon their breasts, +baring their fangs and screaming their hideous challenge until the +jungle reverberated to the horrid sound. + +All this time Bertha Kircher was a wide-eyed and terrified spectator to +what, as she thought, could end only in a terrific battle between +these frightful beasts, and when Zu-tag and his followers began +screaming forth their fearsome challenge, the girl found herself +trembling in terror, for of all the sounds of the jungle there is +none more awe inspiring than that of the great bull ape when he +issues his challenge or shrieks forth his victory cry. + +If she had been terrified before she was almost paralyzed with +fear now as she saw Zu-tag and his apes turn toward the boma and +approach her. With the agility of a cat Zu-tag leaped completely +over the protecting wall and stood before her. Valiantly she held +her spear before her, pointing it at his breast. He commenced to +jabber and gesticulate, and even with her scant acquaintance with +the ways of the anthropoids, she realized that he was not menacing +her, for there was little or no baring of fighting fangs and his +whole expression and attitude was of one attempting to explain a +knotty problem or plead a worthy cause. At last he became evidently +impatient, for with a sweep of one great paw he struck the spear +from her hand and coming close, seized her by the arm, but not +roughly. She shrank away in terror and yet some sense within her +seemed to be trying to assure her that she was in no danger from +this great beast. Zu-tag jabbered loudly, ever and again pointing +into the jungle toward the south and moving toward the boma, +pulling the girl with him. He seemed almost frantic in his efforts +to explain something to her. He pointed toward the boma, herself, +and then to the forest, and then, at last, as though by a sudden +inspiration, he reached down and, seizing the spear, repeatedly +touched it with his forefinger and again pointed toward the south. +Suddenly it dawned upon the girl that what the ape was trying +to explain to her was related in some way to the white man whose +property they thought she was. Possibly her grim protector was in +trouble and with this thought firmly established, she no longer +held back, but started forward as though to accompany the young +bull. At the point in the boma where Tarzan had blocked the entrance, +she started to pull away the thorn bushes, and, when Zu-tag saw +what she was doing, he fell to and assisted her so that presently +they had an opening through the boma through which she passed with +the great ape. + +Immediately Zu-tag and his eight apes started off rapidly toward +the jungle, so rapidly that Bertha Kircher would have had to run +at top speed to keep up with them. This she realized she could not +do, and so she was forced to lag behind, much to the chagrin of +Zu-tag, who constantly kept running back and urging her to greater +speed. Once he took her by the arm and tried to draw her along. +Her protests were of no avail since the beast could not know that +they were protests, nor did he desist until she caught her foot in +some tangled grass and fell to the ground. Then indeed was Zu-tag +furious and growled hideously. His apes were waiting at the edge +of the forest for him to lead them. He suddenly realized that this +poor weak she could not keep up with them and that if they traveled +at her slow rate they might be too late to render assistance to the +Tarmangani, and so without more ado, the giant anthropoid picked +Bertha Kircher bodily from the ground and swung her to his back. +Her arms were about his neck and in this position he seized her +wrists in one great paw so that she could not fall off and started +at a rapid rate to join his companions. + +Dressed as she was in riding breeches with no entangling skirts to +hinder or catch upon passing shrubbery, she soon found that she +could cling tightly to the back of the mighty bull and when a moment +later he took to the lower branches of the trees, she closed her +eyes and clung to him in terror lest she be precipitated to the +ground below. + +That journey through the primeval forest with the nine great apes +will live in the memory of Bertha Kircher for the balance of her +life, as clearly delineated as at the moment of its enactment. + +The first overwhelming wave of fear having passed, she was at last +able to open her eyes and view her surroundings with increased +interest and presently the sensation of terror slowly left her to +be replaced by one of comparative security when she saw the ease +and surety with which these great beasts traveled through the trees; +and later her admiration for the young bull increased as it became +evident that even burdened with her additional weight, he moved more +rapidly and with no greater signs of fatigue than his unburdened +fellows. + +Not once did Zu-tag pause until he came to a stop among the branches +of a tree no great distance from the native village. They could +hear the noises of the life within the palisade, the laughing and +shouting of the Negroes, and the barking of dogs, and through the +foliage the girl caught glimpses of the village from which she had +so recently escaped. She shuddered to think of the possibility of +having to return to it and of possible recapture, and she wondered +why Zu-tag had brought her here. + +Now the apes advanced slowly once more and with great caution, +moving as noiselessly through the trees as the squirrels themselves +until they had reached a point where they could easily overlook +the palisade and the village street below. + +Zu-tag squatted upon a great branch close to the bole of the tree +and by loosening the girl's arms from about his neck, indicated +that she was to find a footing for herself and when she had done +so, he turned toward her and pointed repeatedly at the open doorway +of a hut upon the opposite side of the street below them. By various +gestures he seemed to be trying to explain something to her and at +last she caught at the germ of his idea--that her white man was a +prisoner there. + +Beneath them was the roof of a hut onto which she saw that she +could easily drop, but what she could do after she had entered the +village was beyond her. + +Darkness was already falling and the fires beneath the cooking pots +had been lighted. The girl saw the stake in the village street and +the piles of fagots about it and in terror she suddenly realized +the portent of these grisly preparations. Oh, if she but only had +some sort of a weapon that might give her even a faint hope, some +slight advantage against the blacks. Then she would not hesitate +to venture into the village in an attempt to save the man who had +upon three different occasions saved her. She knew that he hated her +and yet strong within her breast burned the sense of her obligation +to him. She could not fathom him. Never in her life had she seen a +man at once so paradoxical and dependable. In many of his ways he +was more savage than the beasts with which he associated and yet, +on the other hand, he was as chivalrous as a knight of old. For +several days she had been lost with him in the jungle absolutely +at his mercy, yet she had come to trust so implicitly in his honor +that any fear she had had of him was rapidly disappearing. + +On the other hand, that he might be hideously cruel was evidenced +to her by the fact that he was planning to leave her alone in the +midst of the frightful dangers which menaced her by night and by +day. + +Zu-tag was evidently waiting for darkness to fall before carrying +out whatever plans had matured in his savage little brain, for he +and his fellows sat quietly in the tree about her, watching the +preparations of the blacks. Presently it became apparent that some +altercation had arisen among the Negroes, for a score or more of +them were gathered around one who appeared to be their chief, and +all were talking and gesticulating heatedly. The argument lasted +for some five or ten minutes when suddenly the little knot broke +and two warriors ran to the opposite side of the village from whence +they presently returned with a large stake which they soon set up +beside the one already in place. The girl wondered what the purpose +of the second stake might be, nor did she have long to wait for an +explanation. + +It was quite dark by this time, the village being lighted by the +fitful glare of many fires, and now she saw a number of warriors +approach and enter the hut Zu-tag had been watching. A moment later +they reappeared, dragging between them two captives, one of whom +the girl immediately recognized as her protector and the other as +an Englishman in the uniform of an aviator. This, then, was the +reason for the two stakes. + +Arising quickly she placed a hand upon Zu-tag's shoulder and pointed +down into the village. "Come," she said, as if she had been talking +to one of her own kind, and with the word she swung lightly to the +roof of the hut below. From there to the ground was but a short drop +and a moment later she was circling the hut upon the side farthest +from the fires, keeping in the dense shadows where there was little +likelihood of being discovered. She turned once to see that Zu-tag +was directly behind her and could see his huge bulk looming up +in the dark, while beyond was another one of his eight. Doubtless +they had all followed her and this fact gave her a greater sense +of security and hope than she had before experienced. + +Pausing beside the hut next to the street, she peered cautiously +about the corner. A few inches from her was the open doorway of the +structure, and beyond, farther down the village street, the blacks +were congregating about the prisoners, who were already being bound +to the stakes. All eyes were centered upon the victims, and there +was only the remotest chance that she and her companions would +be discovered until they were close upon the blacks. She wished, +however, that she might have some sort of a weapon with which to +lead the attack, for she could not know, of course, for a certainty +whether the great apes would follow her or not. Hoping that she +might find something within the hut, she slipped quickly around +the corner and into the doorway and after her, one by one, came +the nine bulls. Searching quickly about the interior, she presently +discovered a spear, and, armed with this, she again approached the +entrance. + +Tarzan of the Apes and Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick were +bound securely to their respective stakes. Neither had spoken for +some time. The Englishman turned his head so that he could see his +companion in misery. Tarzan stood straight against his stake. His +face was entirely expressionless in so far as either fear or anger +were concerned. His countenance portrayed bored indifference though +both men knew that they were about to be tortured. + +"Good-bye, old top," whispered the young lieutenant. + +Tarzan turned his eyes in the direction of the other and smiled. +"Good-bye," he said. "If you want to get it over in a hurry, inhale +the smoke and flames as rapidly as you can." + +"Thanks," replied the aviator and though he made a wry face, he +drew himself up very straight and squared his shoulders. + +The women and children had seated themselves in a wide circle about +the victims while the warriors, hideously painted, were forming +slowly to commence the dance of death. Again Tarzan turned to his +companion. "If you'd like to spoil their fun," he said, "don't +make any fuss no matter how much you suffer. If you can carry on to +the end without changing the expression upon your face or uttering +a single word, you will deprive them of all the pleasures of this +part of the entertainment. Good-bye again and good luck." + +The young Englishman made no reply but it was evident from the set +of his jaws that the Negroes would get little enjoyment out of him. + +The warriors were circling now. Presently Numabo would draw first +blood with his sharp spear which would be the signal for the +beginning of the torture after a little of which the fagots would +be lighted around the feet of the victims. + +Closer and closer danced the hideous chief, his yellow, sharp-filed +teeth showing in the firelight between his thick, red lips. Now +bending double, now stamping furiously upon the ground, now leaping +into the air, he danced step by step in the narrowing circle that +would presently bring him within spear reach of the intended feast. + +At last the spear reached out and touched the ape-man on the +breast and when it came away, a little trickle of blood ran down +the smooth, brown hide and almost simultaneously there broke from +the outer periphery of the expectant audience a woman's shriek which +seemed a signal for a series of hideous screamings, growlings and +barkings, and a great commotion upon that side of the circle. The +victims could not see the cause of the disturbance, but Tarzan did +not have to see, for he knew by the voices of the apes the identity +of the disturbers. He only wondered what had brought them and what +the purpose of the attack, for he could not believe that they had +come to rescue him. + +Numabo and his warriors broke quickly from the circle of their dance +to see pushing toward them through the ranks of their screaming +and terrified people the very white girl who had escaped them a +few nights before, and at her back what appeared to their surprised +eyes a veritable horde of the huge and hairy forest men upon whom +they looked with considerable fear and awe. + +Striking to right and left with his heavy fists, tearing with +his great fangs, came Zu-tag, the young bull, while at his heels, +emulating his example, surged his hideous apes. Quickly they came +through the old men and the women and children, for straight toward +Numabo and his warriors the girl led them. It was then that they +came within range of Tarzan's vision and he saw with unmixed surprise +who it was that led the apes to his rescue. + +To Zu-tag he shouted: "Go for the big bulls while the she unbinds +me," and to Bertha Kircher: "Quick! Cut these bonds. The apes will +take care of the blacks." + +Turning from her advance the girl ran to his side. She had no knife +and the bonds were tied tightly but she worked quickly and coolly +and as Zu-tag and his apes closed with the warriors, she succeeded +in loosening Tarzan's bonds sufficiently to permit him to extricate +his own hands so that in another minute he had freed himself. + +"Now unbind the Englishman," he cried, and, leaping forward, ran +to join Zu-tag and his fellows in their battle against the blacks. +Numabo and his warriors, realizing now the relatively small numbers +of the apes against them, had made a determined stand and with +spears and other weapons were endeavoring to overcome the invaders. +Three of the apes were already down, killed or mortally wounded, +when Tarzan, realizing that the battle must eventually go against +the apes unless some means could be found to break the morale of +the Negroes, cast about him for some means of bringing about the +desired end. And suddenly his eye lighted upon a number of weapons +which he knew would accomplish the result. A grim smile touched +his lips as he snatched a vessel of boiling water from one of the +fires and hurled it full in the faces of the warriors. Screaming +with terror and pain they fell back though Numabo urged them to +rush forward. + +Scarcely had the first cauldron of boiling water spilled its +contents upon them ere Tarzan deluged them with a second, nor was +there any third needed to send them shrieking in every direction +to the security of their huts. + +By the time Tarzan had recovered his own weapons the girl had released +the young Englishman, and, with the six remaining apes, the three +Europeans moved slowly toward the village gate, the aviator arming +himself with a spear discarded by one of the scalded warriors, as +they eagerly advanced toward the outer darkness. + +Numabo was unable to rally the now thoroughly terrified and +painfully burned warriors so that rescued and rescuers passed out +of the village into the blackness of the jungle without further +interference. + +Tarzan strode through the jungle in silence. Beside him walked Zu-tag, +the great ape, and behind them strung the surviving anthropoids +followed by Fraulein Bertha Kircher and Lieutenant Harold Percy +Smith-Oldwick, the latter a thoroughly astonished and mystified +Englishman. + +In all his life Tarzan of the Apes had been obliged to acknowledge +but few obligations. He won his way through his savage world by the +might of his own muscle, the superior keenness of his five senses +and his God-given power to reason. Tonight the greatest of +all obligations had been placed upon him--his life had been saved +by another and Tarzan shook his head and growled, for it had been +saved by one whom he hated above all others. + + + + +Chapter XI + +Finding the Airplane + + +Tarzan of the Apes, returning from a successful hunt, with the +body of Bara, the deer, across one sleek, brown shoulder, paused +in the branches of a great tree at the edge of a clearing and gazed +ruefully at two figures walking from the river to the boma-encircled +hut a short distance away. + +The ape-man shook his tousled head and sighed. His eyes wandered +toward the west and his thoughts to the far-away cabin by the +land-locked harbor of the great water that washed the beach of his +boyhood home--to the cabin of his long-dead father to which the +memories and treasures of a happy childhood lured him. Since the +loss of his mate, a great longing had possessed him to return to +the haunts of his youth--to the untracked jungle wilderness where +he had lived the life he loved best long before man had invaded +the precincts of his wild stamping grounds. There he hoped in a +renewal of the old life under the old conditions to win surcease +from sorrow and perhaps some measure of forgetfulness. + +But the little cabin and the land-locked harbor were many long, +weary marches away, and he was handicapped by the duty which he +felt he owed to the two figures walking in the clearing before him. +One was a young man in a worn and ragged uniform of the British Royal +Air Forces, the other, a young woman in the even more disreputable +remnants of what once had been trim riding togs. + +A freak of fate had thrown these three radically different types +together. One was a savage, almost naked beast-man, one an English +army officer, and the woman, she whom the ape-man knew and hated +as a German spy. + +How he was to get rid of them Tarzan could not imagine unless +he accompanied them upon the weary march back to the east coast, +a march that would necessitate his once more retracing the long, +weary way he already had covered towards his goal, yet what else +could be done? These two had neither the strength, endurance, nor +jungle-craft to accompany him through the unknown country to the +west, nor did he wish them with him. The man he might have tolerated, +but he could not even consider the presence of the girl in the +far-off cabin, which had in a way become sacred to him through +its memories, without a growl or anger rising to his lips. There +remained, then, but the one way, since he could not desert them. +He must move by slow and irksome marches back to the east coast, +or at least to the first white settlement in that direction. + +He had, it is true, contemplated leaving the girl to her fate but +that was before she had been instrumental in saving him from torture +and death at the hands of the black Wamabos. He chafed under the +obligation she had put upon him, but no less did he acknowledge +it and as he watched the two, the rueful expression upon his face +was lightened by a smile as he thought of the helplessness of them. +What a puny thing, indeed, was man! How ill equipped to combat the +savage forces of nature and of nature's jungle. Why, even the tiny +balu of the tribe of Go-lat, the great ape, was better fitted to +survive than these, for a balu could at least escape the numerous +creatures that menaced its existence, while with the possible +exception of Kota, the tortoise, none moved so slowly as did helpless +and feeble man. + +Without him these two doubtless would starve in the midst of plenty, +should they by some miracle escape the other forces of destruction +which constantly threatened them. That morning Tarzan had brought +them fruit, nuts, and plantain, and now he was bringing them the +flesh of his kill, while the best that they might do was to fetch +water from the river. Even now, as they walked across the clearing +toward the boma, they were in utter ignorance of the presence +of Tarzan near them. They did not know that his sharp eyes were +watching them, nor that other eyes less friendly were glaring at +them from a clump of bushes close beside the boma entrance. They +did not know these things, but Tarzan did. No more than they could +he see the creature crouching in the concealment of the foliage, yet +he knew that it was there and what it was and what its intentions, +precisely as well as though it had been lying in the open. + +A slight movement of the leaves at the top of a single stem had +apprised him of the presence of a creature there, for the movement +was not that imparted by the wind. It came from pressure at the +bottom of the stem which communicates a different movement to the +leaves than does the wind passing among them, as anyone who has +lived his lifetime in the jungle well knows, and the same wind that +passed through the foliage of the bush brought to the ape-man's +sensitive nostrils indisputable evidence of the fact that Sheeta, +the panther, waited there for the two returning from the river. + +They had covered half the distance to the boma entrance when Tarzan +called to them to stop. They looked in surprise in the direction +from which his voice had come to see him drop lightly to the ground +and advance toward them. + +"Come slowly toward me," he called to them. "Do not run for if you +run Sheeta will charge." + +They did as he bid, their faces filled with questioning wonderment. + +"What do you mean?" asked the young Englishman. "Who is Sheeta?" +but for answer the ape-man suddenly hurled the carcass of Bara, the +deer, to the ground and leaped quickly toward them, his eyes upon +something in their rear; and then it was that the two turned and +learned the identity of Sheeta, for behind them was a devil-faced +cat charging rapidly toward them. + +Sheeta with rising anger and suspicion had seen the ape-man leap +from the tree and approach the quarry. His life's experiences backed +by instinct told him that the Tarmangani was about to rob him of +his prey and as Sheeta was hungry, he had no intention of being +thus easily deprived of the flesh he already considered his own. + +The girl stifled an involuntary scream as she saw the proximity +of the fanged fury bearing down upon them. She shrank close to the +man and clung to him and all unarmed and defenseless as he was, the +Englishman pushed her behind him and shielding her with his body, +stood squarely in the face of the panther's charge. Tarzan noted +the act, and though accustomed as he was to acts of courage, he +experienced a thrill from the hopeless and futile bravery of the +man. + +The charging panther moved rapidly, and the distance which separated +the bush in which he had concealed himself from the objects of his +desire was not great. In the time that one might understandingly +read a dozen words the strong-limbed cat could have covered the +entire distance and made his kill, yet if Sheeta was quick, quick +too was Tarzan. The English lieutenant saw the ape-man flash by him +like the wind. He saw the great cat veer in his charge as though +to elude the naked savage rushing to meet him, as it was evidently +Sheeta's intention to make good his kill before attempting to +protect it from Tarzan. + +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick saw these things and then with increasing +wonder he saw the ape-man swerve, too, and leap for the spotted cat +as a football player leaps for a runner. He saw the strong, brown +arms encircling the body of the carnivore, the left arm in front +of the beast's left shoulder and the right arm behind his right +foreleg, and with the impact the two together rolling over and over +upon the turf. He heard the snarls and growls of bestial combat, +and it was with a feeling of no little horror that he realized that +the sounds coming from the human throat of the battling man could +scarce be distinguished from those of the panther. + +The first momentary shock of terror over, the girl released her +grasp upon the Englishman's arm. "Cannot we do something?" she +asked. "Cannot we help him before the beast kills him?" + +The Englishman looked upon the ground for some missile with which +to attack the panther and then the girl uttered an exclamation and +started at a run toward the hut. "Wait there," she called over her +shoulder. "I will fetch the spear that he left me." + +Smith-Oldwick saw the raking talons of the panther searching for +the flesh of the man and the man on his part straining every muscle +and using every artifice to keep his body out of range of them. The +muscles of his arms knotted under the brown hide. The veins stood +out upon his neck and forehead as with ever-increasing power he +strove to crush the life from the great cat. The ape-man's teeth +were fastened in the back of Sheeta's neck and now he succeeded +in encircling the beast's torso with his legs which he crossed and +locked beneath the cat's belly. Leaping and snarling, Sheeta sought +to dislodge the ape-man's hold upon him. He hurled himself upon +the ground and rolled over and over. He reared upon his hind legs +and threw himself backwards but always the savage creature upon +his back clung tenaciously to him, and always the mighty brown arms +crushed tighter and tighter about his chest. + +And then the girl, panting from her quick run, returned with the +short spear Tarzan had left her as her sole weapon of protection. +She did not wait to hand it to the Englishman who ran forward to +receive it, but brushed past him and leaped into close quarters +beside the growling, tumbling mass of yellow fur and smooth brown +hide. Several times she attempted to press the point home into +the cat's body, but on both occasions the fear of endangering the +ape-man caused her to desist, but at last the two lay motionless +for a moment as the carnivore sought a moment's rest from the +strenuous exertions of battle, and then it was that Bertha Kircher +pressed the point of the spear to the tawny side and drove it deep +into the savage heart. + +Tarzan rose from the dead body of Sheeta and shook himself after +the manner of beasts that are entirely clothed with hair. Like +many other of his traits and mannerisms this was the result of +environment rather than heredity or reversion, and even though he +was outwardly a man, the Englishman and the girl were both impressed +with the naturalness of the act. It was as though Numa, emerging +from a fight, had shaken himself to straighten his rumpled mane and +coat, and yet, too, there was something uncanny about it as there +had been when the savage growls and hideous snarls issued from +those clean-cut lips. + +Tarzan looked at the girl, a quizzical expression upon his face. +Again had she placed him under obligations to her, and Tarzan of +the Apes did not wish to be obligated to a German spy; yet in his +honest heart he could not but admit a certain admiration for her +courage, a trait which always greatly impressed the ape-man, he +himself the personification of courage. + +"Here is the kill," he said, picking the carcass of Bara from the +ground. "You will want to cook your portion, I presume, but Tarzan +does not spoil his meat with fire." + +They followed him to the boma where he cut several pieces of meat +from the carcass for them, retaining a joint for himself. The +young lieutenant prepared a fire, and the girl presided over the +primitive culinary rights of their simple meal. As she worked some +little way apart from them, the lieutenant and the ape-man watched +her. + +"She is wonderful. Is she not?" murmured Smith-Oldwick. + +"She is a German and a spy," replied Tarzan. + +The Englishman turned quickly upon him. "What do you mean?" he +cried. + +"I mean what I say," replied the ape-man. "She is a German and a +spy." + +"I do not believe it!" exclaimed the aviator. + +"You do not have to," Tarzan assured him. "It is nothing to me +what you believe. I saw her in conference with the Boche general +and his staff at the camp near Taveta. They all knew her and called +her by name and she handed him a paper. The next time I saw her +she was inside the British lines in disguise, and again I saw her +bearing word to a German officer at Wilhelmstal. She is a German +and a spy, but she is a woman and therefore I cannot destroy her." + +"You really believe that what you say is true?" asked the young +lieutenant. "My God! I cannot believe it. She is so sweet and brave +and good." + +The ape-man shrugged his shoulders. "She is brave," he said, "but +even Pamba, the rat, must have some good quality, but she is what +I have told you and therefore I hate her and you should hate her." + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick buried his face in his hands. +"God forgive me," he said at last. "I cannot hate her." + +The ape-man cast a contemptuous look at his companion and arose. +"Tarzan goes again to hunt," he said. "You have enough food for +two days. By that time he will return." + +The two watched him until he had disappeared in the foliage of the +trees at the further side of the clearing. + +When he had gone the girl felt a vague sense of apprehension that +she never experienced when Tarzan was present. The invisible menaces +lurking in the grim jungle seemed more real and much more imminent +now that the ape-man was no longer near. While he had been there +talking with them, the little thatched hut and its surrounding +thorn boma had seemed as safe a place as the world might afford. +She wished that he had remained--two days seemed an eternity in +contemplation--two days of constant fear, two days, every moment of +which would be fraught with danger. She turned toward her companion. + +"I wish that he had remained," she said. "I always feel so much +safer when he is near. He is very grim and very terrible, and yet +I feel safer with him than with any man I ever have known. He seems +to dislike me and yet I know that he would let no harm befall me. +I cannot understand him." + +"Neither do I understand him," replied the Englishman; "but I know +this much--our presence here is interfering with his plans. He would +like to be rid of us, and I half imagine that he rather hopes to +find when he returns that we have succumbed to one of the dangers +which must always confront us in this savage land. + +"I think that we should try to return to the white settlements. This +man does not want us here, nor is it reasonable to assume that we +could long survive in such a savage wilderness. I have traveled and +hunted in several parts of Africa, but never have I seen or heard +of any single locality so overrun with savage beasts and dangerous +natives. If we set out for the east coast at once we would be in +but little more danger than we are here, and if we could survive +a day's march, I believe that we will find the means of reaching +the coast in a few hours, for my plane must still be in the same +place that I landed just before the blacks captured me. Of course +there is no one here who could operate it nor is there any reason +why they should have destroyed it. As a matter of fact, the natives +would be so fearful and suspicious of so strange and incomprehensible +a thing that the chances are they would not dare approach it. Yes, +it must be where I left it and all ready to carry us safely to the +settlements." + +"But we cannot leave," said the girl, "until he returns. We could +not go away like that without thanking him or bidding him farewell. +We are under too great obligations to him." + +The man looked at her in silence for a moment. He wondered if +she knew how Tarzan felt toward her and then he himself began to +speculate upon the truth of the ape-man's charges. The longer he +looked at the girl, the less easy was it to entertain the thought +that she was an enemy spy. He was upon the point of asking +her point-blank but he could not bring himself to do so, finally +determining to wait until time and longer acquaintance should reveal +the truth or falsity of the accusation. + +"I believe," he said as though there had been no pause in their +conversation, "that the man would be more than glad to find us +gone when he returns. It is not necessary to jeopardize our lives +for two more days in order that we may thank him, however much +we may appreciate his services to us. You have more than balanced +your obligations to him and from what he told me I feel that you +especially should not remain here longer." + +The girl looked up at him in astonishment. "What do you mean?" she +asked. + +"I do not like to tell," said the Englishman, digging nervously at +the turf with the point of a stick, "but you have my word that he +would rather you were not here." + +"Tell me what he said," she insisted, "I have a right to know." + +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick squared his shoulders and raised his eyes +to those of the girl. "He said that he hated you," he blurted. "He +has only aided you at all from a sense of duty because you are a +woman." + +The girl paled and then flushed. "I will be ready to go," she said, +"in just a moment. We had better take some of this meat with us. +There is no telling when we will be able to get more." + +And so the two set out down the river toward the south. The man +carried the short spear that Tarzan had left with the girl, while +she was entirely unarmed except for a stick she had picked up from +among those left after the building of the hut. Before departing +she had insisted that the man leave a note for Tarzan thanking him +for his care of them and bidding him goodbye. This they left pinned +to the inside wall of the hut with a little sliver of wood. + +It was necessary that they be constantly on the alert since they +never knew what might confront them at the next turn of the winding +jungle trail or what might lie concealed in the tangled bushes at +either side. There was also the ever-present danger of meeting some +of Numabo's black warriors and as the village lay directly in their +line of march, there was the necessity for making a wide detour +before they reached it in order to pass around it without being +discovered. + +"I am not so much afraid of the native blacks," said the girl, "as +I am of Usanga and his people. He and his men were all attached +to a German native regiment. They brought me along with them when +they deserted, either with the intention of holding me ransom or +selling me into the harem of one of the black sultans of the north. +Usanga is much more to be feared than Numabo for he has had the +advantage of European military training and is armed with more or +less modern weapons and ammunition." + +"It is lucky for me," remarked the Englishman, "that it was the +ignorant Numabo who discovered and captured me rather than the +worldly wise Usanga. He would have felt less fear of the giant +flying machine and would have known only too well how to wreck it." + +"Let us pray that the black sergeant has not discovered it," said +the girl. + +They made their way to a point which they guessed was about a mile +above the village, then they turned into the trackless tangle of +undergrowth to the east. So dense was the verdure at many points +that it was with the utmost difficulty they wormed their way through, +sometimes on hands and knees and again by clambering over numerous +fallen tree trunks. Interwoven with dead limbs and living branches +were the tough and ropelike creepers which formed a tangled network +across their path. + +South of them in an open meadowland a number of black warriors were +gathered about an object which elicited much wondering comment. The +blacks were clothed in fragments of what had once been uniforms of +a native German command. They were a most unlovely band and chief +among them in authority and repulsiveness was the black sergeant +Usanga. The object of their interest was a British aeroplane. + +Immediately after the Englishman had been brought to Numabo's village +Usanga had gone out in search of the plane, prompted partially by +curiosity and partially by an intention to destroy it, but when he +had found it, some new thought had deterred him from carrying out +his design. The thing represented considerable value as he well +knew and it had occurred to him that in some way he might turn his +prize to profit. Every day he had returned to it, and while at +first it had filled him with considerable awe, he eventually came +to look upon it with the accustomed eye of a proprietor, so that +he now clambered into the fuselage and even advanced so far as to +wish that he might learn to operate it. + +What a feat it would be indeed to fly like a bird far above the +highest tree top! How it would fill his less favored companions +with awe and admiration! If Usanga could but fly, so great would be +the respect of all the tribesmen throughout the scattered villages +of the great interior, they would look upon him as little less than +a god. + +Usanga rubbed his palms together and smacked his thick lips. Then +indeed, would he be very rich, for all the villages would pay +tribute to him and he could even have as many as a dozen wives. +With that thought, however, came a mental picture of Naratu, the +black termagant, who ruled him with an iron hand. Usanga made a +wry face and tried to forget the extra dozen wives, but the lure of +the idea remained and appealed so strongly to him that he presently +found himself reasoning most logically that a god would not be much +of a god with less than twenty-four wives. + +He fingered the instruments and the control, half hoping and half +fearing that he would alight upon the combination that would put +the machine in flight. Often had he watched the British air-men +soaring above the German lines and it looked so simple he was quite +sure that he could do it himself if there was somebody who could +but once show him how. There was, of course, always the hope that +the white man who came in the machine and who had escaped from +Numabo's village might fall into Usanga's hands and then indeed +would he be able to learn how to fly. It was in this hope that +Usanga spent so much time in the vicinity of the plane, reasoning +as he did that eventually the white man would return in search of +it. + +And at last he was rewarded, for upon this very day after he had +quit the machine and entered the jungle with his warriors, he heard +voices to the north and when he and his men had hidden in the dense +foliage upon either side of the trail, Usanga was presently filled +with elation by the appearance of the British officer and the white +girl whom the black sergeant had coveted and who had escaped him. + +The Negro could scarce restrain a shout of elation, for he had not +hoped that fate would be so kind as to throw these two whom he most +desired into his power at the same time. + +As the two came down the trail all unconscious of impending danger, +the man was explaining that they must be very close to the point +at which the plane had landed. Their entire attention was centered +on the trail directly ahead of them, as they momentarily expected +it to break into the meadowland where they were sure they would +see the plane that would spell life and liberty for them. + +The trail was broad, and they were walking side by side so that at +a sharp turn the park-like clearing was revealed to them simultaneously +with the outlines of the machine they sought. + +Exclamations of relief and delight broke from their lips, and at +the same instant Usanga and his black warriors rose from the bushes +all about them. + + + + +Chapter XII + +The Black Flier + + +The girl was almost crushed by terror and disappointment. To have +been thus close to safety and then to have all hope snatched away +by a cruel stroke of fate seemed unendurable. The man was disappointed, +too, but more was he angry. He noted the remnants of the uniforms +upon the blacks and immediately he demanded to know where were +their officers. + +"They cannot understand you," said the girl and so in the bastard +tongue that is the medium of communication between the Germans and +the blacks of their colony, she repeated the white man's question. + +Usanga grinned. "You know where they are, white woman," he replied. +"They are dead, and if this white man does not do as I tell him, +he, too, will be dead." + +"What do you want of him?" asked the girl. + +"I want him to teach me how to fly like a bird," replied Usanga. + +Bertha Kircher looked her astonishment, but repeated the demand to +the lieutenant. + +The Englishman meditated for a moment. "He wants to learn to fly, +does he?" he repeated. "Ask him if he will give us our freedom if +I teach him to fly." + +The girl put the question to Usanga, who, degraded, cunning, and +entirely unprincipled, was always perfectly willing to promise +anything whether he had any intentions of fulfilling his promises +or not, and so immediately assented to the proposition. + +"Let the white man teach me to fly," he said, "and I will take you +back close to the settlements of your people, but in return for +this I shall keep the great bird," and he waved a black hand in +the direction of the aeroplane. + +When Bertha Kircher had repeated Usanga's proposition to the +aviator, the latter shrugged his shoulders and with a wry face +finally agreed. "I fancy there is no other way out of it," he said. +"In any event the plane is lost to the British government. If I +refuse the black scoundrel's request, there is no doubt but what +he will make short work of me with the result that the machine will +lie here until it rots. If I accept his offer it will at least be +the means of assuring your safe return to civilization and that" +he added, "is worth more to me than all the planes in the British +Air Service." + +The girl cast a quick glance at him. These were the first words he +had addressed to her that might indicate that his sentiments toward +her were more than those of a companion in distress. She regretted +that he had spoken as he had and he, too, regretted it almost +instantly as he saw the shadow cross her face and realized that +he had unwittingly added to the difficulties of her already almost +unbearable situation. + +"Forgive me," he said quickly. "Please forget what that remark +implied. I promise you that I will not offend again, if it does +offend you, until after we are both safely out of this mess." + +She smiled and thanked him, but the thing had been said and could +never be unsaid, and Bertha Kircher knew even more surely than as +though he had fallen upon his knees and protested undying devotion +that the young English officer loved her. + +Usanga was for taking his first lesson in aviation immediately. The +Englishman attempted to dissuade him, but immediately the black +became threatening and abusive, since, like all those who are +ignorant, he was suspicious that the intentions of others were +always ulterior unless they perfectly coincided with his wishes. + +"All right, old top," muttered the Englishman, "I will give you +the lesson of your life," and then turning to the girl: "Persuade +him to let you accompany us. I shall be afraid to leave you here +with these devilish scoundrels." But when she put the suggestion +to Usanga the black immediately suspected some plan to thwart +him--possibly to carry him against his will back to the German +masters he had traitorously deserted, and glowering at her savagely, +he obstinately refused to entertain the suggestion. + +"The white woman will remain here with my people," he said. "They +will not harm her unless you fail to bring me back safely." + +"Tell him," said the Englishman, "that if you are not standing in +plain sight in this meadow when I return, I will not land, but will +carry Usanga back to the British camp and have him hanged." + +Usanga promised that the girl would be in evidence upon their +return, and took immediate steps to impress upon his warriors that +under penalty of death they must not harm her. Then, followed +by the other members of his party, he crossed the clearing toward +the plane with the Englishman. Once seated within what he already +considered his new possession, the black's courage began to wane +and when the motor was started and the great propeller commenced +to whir, he screamed to the Englishman to stop the thing and permit +him to alight, but the aviator could neither hear nor understand +the black above the noise of the propeller and exhaust. By this +time the plane was moving along the ground and even then Usanga was +upon the verge of leaping out, and would have done so had he been +able to unfasten the strap from about his waist. Then the plane rose +from the ground and in a moment soared gracefully in a wide circle +until it topped the trees. The black sergeant was in a veritable +collapse of terror. He saw the earth dropping rapidly from beneath +him. He saw the trees and river and at a distance the little clearing +with the thatched huts of Numabo's village. He tried hard not to +think of the results of a sudden fall to the rapidly receding ground +below. He attempted to concentrate his mind upon the twenty-four +wives which this great bird most assuredly would permit him to +command. Higher and higher rose the plane, swinging in a wide circle +above the forest, river, and meadowland and presently, much to his +surprise, Usanga discovered that his terror was rapidly waning, so +that it was not long before there was forced upon him a consciousness +of utter security, and then it was that he began to take notice of +the manner in which the white man guided and manipulated the plane. + +After half an hour of skillful maneuvering, the Englishman rose +rapidly to a considerable altitude, and then, suddenly, without +warning, he looped and flew with the plane inverted for a few +seconds. + +"I said I'd give this beggar the lesson of his life," he murmured as +he heard, even above the whir of the propeller, the shriek of the +terrified Negro. A moment later Smith-Oldwick had righted the machine +and was dropping rapidly toward the earth. He circled slowly a few +times above the meadow until he had assured himself that Bertha +Kircher was there and apparently unharmed, then he dropped gently +to the ground so that the machine came to a stop a short distance +from where the girl and the warriors awaited them. + +It was a trembling and ashen-hued Usanga who tumbled out of the +fuselage, for his nerves were still on edge as a result of the +harrowing experience of the loop, yet with terra firma once more +under foot, he quickly regained his composure. Strutting about +with great show and braggadocio, he strove to impress his followers +with the mere nothingness of so trivial a feat as flying birdlike +thousands of yards above the jungle, though it was long until he +had thoroughly convinced himself by the force of autosuggestion +that he had enjoyed every instant of the flight and was already +far advanced in the art of aviation. + +So jealous was the black of his new-found toy that he would not +return to the village of Numabo, but insisted on making camp close +beside the plane, lest in some inconceivable fashion it should be +stolen from him. For two days they camped there, and constantly +during daylight hours Usanga compelled the Englishman to instruct +him in the art of flying. + +Smith-Oldwick, in recalling the long months of arduous training he +had undergone himself before he had been considered sufficiently +adept to be considered a finished flier, smiled at the conceit of +the ignorant African who was already demanding that he be permitted +to make a flight alone. + +"If it was not for losing the machine," the Englishman explained to +the girl, "I'd let the bounder take it up and break his fool neck +as he would do inside of two minutes." + +However, he finally persuaded Usanga to bide his time for a few +more days of instruction, but in the suspicious mind of the Negro +there was a growing conviction that the white man's advice was prompted +by some ulterior motive; that it was in the hope of escaping with +the machine himself by night that he refused to admit that Usanga +was entirely capable of handling it alone and therefore in no further +need of help or instruction, and so in the mind of the black there +formed a determination to outwit the white man. The lure of the +twenty-four seductive wives proved in itself a sufficient incentive +and there, too, was added his desire for the white girl whom he +had long since determined to possess. + +It was with these thoughts in mind that Usanga lay down to sleep +in the evening of the second day. Constantly, however, the thought +of Naratu and her temper arose to take the keen edge from his pleasant +imaginings. If he could but rid himself of her! The thought having +taken form persisted, but always it was more than outweighed by the +fact that the black sergeant was actually afraid of his woman, so +much afraid of her in fact that he would not have dared to attempt +to put her out of the way unless he could do so secretly while +she slept. However, as one plan after another was conjured by the +strength of his desires, he at last hit upon one which came to him +almost with the force of a blow and brought him sitting upright +among his sleeping companions. + +When morning dawned Usanga could scarce wait for an opportunity to +put his scheme into execution, and the moment that he had eaten, +he called several of his warriors aside and talked with them for +some moments. + +The Englishman, who usually kept an eye upon his black captor, +saw now that the latter was explaining something in detail to his +warriors, and from his gestures and his manner it was apparent that +he was persuading them to some new plan as well as giving them +instructions as to what they were to do. Several times, too, he +saw the eyes of the Negroes turned upon him and once they flashed +simultaneously toward the white girl. + +Everything about the occurrence, which in itself seemed trivial enough, +aroused in the mind of the Englishman a well-defined apprehension +that something was afoot that boded ill for him and for the girl. +He could not free himself of the idea and so he kept a still closer +watch over the black although, as he was forced to admit to himself, +he was quite powerless to avert any fate that lay in store for +them. Even the spear that he had had when captured had been taken +away from him, so that now he was unarmed and absolutely at the +mercy of the black sergeant and his followers. + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick did not have long to wait +before discovering something of Usanga's plan, for almost immediately +after the sergeant finished giving his instructions, a number of +warriors approached the Englishman, while three went directly to +the girl. + +Without a word of explanation the warriors seized the young officer +and threw him to the ground upon his face. For a moment he struggled +to free himself and succeeded in landing a few heavy blows among +his assailants, but he was too greatly outnumbered to hope to more +than delay them in the accomplishment of their object which he +soon discovered was to bind him securely hand and foot. When they +had finally secured him to their satisfaction, they rolled him +over on his side and then it was he saw Bertha Kircher had been +similarly trussed. + +Smith-Oldwick lay in such a position that he could see nearly the +entire expanse of meadow and the aeroplane a short distance away. +Usanga was talking to the girl who was shaking her head in vehement +negatives. + +"What is he saying?" called the Englishman. + +"He is going to take me away in the plane," the girl called back. +"He is going to take me farther inland to another country where +he says that he will be king and I am to be one of his wives," and +then to the Englishman's surprise she turned a smiling face toward +him, "but there is no danger," she continued, "for we shall both +be dead within a few minutes--just give him time enough to get +the machine under way, and if he can rise a hundred feet from the +ground I shall never need fear him more." + +"God!" cried the man. "Is there no way that you can dissuade him? +Promise him anything. Anything that you want. I have money, more +money than that poor fool could imagine there was in the whole +world. With it he can buy anything that money will purchase, fine +clothes and food and women, all the women he wants. Tell him this +and tell him that if he will spare you I give him my word that I +will fetch it all to him." + +The girl shook her head. "It is useless," she said. "He would not +understand and if he did understand, he would not trust you. The +blacks are so unprincipled themselves that they can imagine no +such thing as principle or honor in others, and especially do these +blacks distrust an Englishman whom the Germans have taught them to +believe are the most treacherous and degraded of people. No, it is +better thus. I am sorry that you cannot go with us, for if he goes +high enough my death will be much easier than that which probably +awaits you." + +Usanga had been continually interrupting their brief conversation +in an attempt to compel the girl to translate it to him, for he +feared that they were concocting some plan to thwart him, and to +quiet and appease him, she told him that the Englishman was merely +bidding her farewell and wishing her good luck. Suddenly she turned +to the black. "Will you do something for me?" she asked. "If I go +willingly with you?" + +"What is it you want?" he inquired. + +"Tell your men to free the white man after we are gone. He can +never catch us. That is all I ask of you. If you will grant him +his freedom and his life, I will go willingly with you. + +"You will go with me anyway," growled Usanga. "It is nothing to +me whether you go willingly or not. I am going to be a great king +and you will do whatever I tell you to do." + +He had in mind that he would start properly with this woman. There +should be no repetition of his harrowing experience with Naratu. +This wife and the twenty-four others should be carefully selected +and well trained. Hereafter Usanga would be master in his own house. + +Bertha Kircher saw that it was useless to appeal to the brute +and so she held her peace though she was filled with sorrow in +contemplating the fate that awaited the young officer, scarce more +than a boy, who had impulsively revealed his love for her. + +At Usanga's order one of the blacks lifted her from the ground and +carried her to the machine, and after Usanga had clambered aboard, +they lifted her up and he reached down and drew her into the fuselage +where he removed the thongs from her wrists and strapped her into +her seat and then took his own directly ahead of her. + +The girl turned her eyes toward the Englishman. She was very pale +but her lips smiled bravely. + +"Good-bye!" she cried. + +"Good-bye, and God bless you!" he called back--his voice the least +bit husky--and then: "The thing I wanted to say--may I say it now, +we are so very near the end?" + +Her lips moved but whether they voiced consent or refusal he did +not know, for the words were drowned in the whir of the propeller. + +The black had learned his lesson sufficiently well so that the +motor was started without bungling and the machine was soon under +way across the meadowland. A groan escaped the lips of the distracted +Englishman as he watched the woman he loved being carried to almost +certain death. He saw the plane tilt and the machine rise from +the ground. It was a good take-off--as good as Lieutenant Harold +Percy Smith-Oldwick could make himself but he realized that it was +only so by chance. At any instant the machine might plunge to earth +and even if, by some miracle of chance, the black could succeed +in rising above the tree tops and make a successful flight, there +was not one chance in one hundred thousand that he could ever land +again without killing his fair captive and himself. + +But what was that? His heart stood still. + + + + +Chapter XIII + +Usanga's Reward + + +For two days Tarzan of the Apes had been hunting leisurely to the +north, and swinging in a wide circle, he had returned to within +a short distance of the clearing where he had left Bertha Kircher +and the young lieutenant. He had spent the night in a large tree +that overhung the river only a short distance from the clearing, +and now in the early morning hours he was crouching at the water's +edge waiting for an opportunity to capture Pisah, the fish, thinking +that he would take it back with him to the hut where the girl could +cook it for herself and her companion. + +Motionless as a bronze statue was the wily ape-man, for well he knew +how wary is Pisah, the fish. The slightest movement would frighten +him away and only by infinite patience might he be captured at +all. Tarzan depended upon his own quickness and the suddenness of +his attack, for he had no bait or hook. His knowledge of the ways +of the denizens of the water told him where to wait for Pisah. It +might be a minute or it might be an hour before the fish would swim +into the little pool above which he crouched, but sooner or later +one would come. That the ape-man knew, so with the patience of the +beast of prey he waited for his quarry. + +At last there was a glint of shiny scales. Pisah was coming. In a +moment he would be within reach and then with the swiftness of light +two strong, brown hands would plunge into the pool and seize him, +but, just at the moment that the fish was about to come within reach, +there was a great crashing in the underbrush behind the ape-man. +Instantly Pisah was gone and Tarzan, growling, had wheeled about +to face whatever creature might be menacing him. The moment that +he turned he saw that the author of the disturbance was Zu-tag. + +"What does Zu-tag want?" asked the ape-man. + +"Zu-tag comes to the water to drink," replied the ape. + +"Where is the tribe?" asked Tarzan. + +"They are hunting for pisangs and scimatines farther back in the +forest," replied Zu-tag. + +"And the Tarmangani she and bull--" asked Tarzan, "are they safe?" + +"They have gone away," replied Zu-tag. "Kudu has come out of his +lair twice since they left." + +"Did the tribe chase them away?" asked Tarzan. + +"No," replied the ape. "We did not see them go. We do not know why +they left." + +Tarzan swung quickly through the trees toward the clearing. The +hut and boma were as he had left them, but there was no sign of +either the man or the woman. Crossing the clearing, he entered the +boma and then the hut. Both were empty, and his trained nostrils +told him that they had been gone for at least two days. As he was +about to leave the hut he saw a paper pinned upon the wall with a +sliver of wood and taking it down, he read: + + +After what you told me about Miss Kircher, and knowing that you +dislike her, I feel that it is not fair to her and to you that we +should impose longer upon you. I know that our presence is keeping +you from continuing your journey to the west coast, and so I +have decided that it is better for us to try and reach the white +settlements immediately without imposing further upon you. We both +thank you for your kindness and protection. If there was any way +that I might repay the obligation I feel, I should be only too glad +to do so. + + +It was signed by Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick. + +Tarzan shrugged his shoulders, crumpled the note in his hand and +tossed it aside. He felt a certain sense of relief from responsibility +and was glad that they had taken the matter out of his hands. They +were gone and would forget, but somehow he could not forget. He +walked out across the boma and into the clearing. He felt uneasy +and restless. Once he started toward the north in response to +a sudden determination to continue his way to the west coast. He +would follow the winding river toward the north a few miles where +its course turned to the west and then on toward its source across +a wooded plateau and up into the foothills and the mountains. Upon +the other side of the range he would search for a stream running +downward toward the west coast, and thus following the rivers he +would be sure of game and water in plenty. + +But he did not go far. A dozen steps, perhaps, and he came to +a sudden stop. "He is an Englishman," he muttered, "and the other +is a woman. They can never reach the settlements without my help. +I could not kill her with my own hands when I tried, and if I let +them go on alone, I will have killed her just as surely as though +I had run my knife into her heart. No," and again he shook his +head. "Tarzan of the Apes is a fool and a weak, old woman," and he +turned back toward the south. + +Manu, the monkey, had seen the two Tarmangani pass two days before. +Chattering and scolding, he told Tarzan all about it. They had +gone in the direction of the village of the Gomangani, that much +had Manu seen with his own eyes, so the ape-man swung on through +the jungle in a southerly direction and though with no concentrated +effort to follow the spoor of those he trailed, he passed numerous +evidences that they had gone this way--faint suggestions of their +scent spoor clung lightly to leaf or branch or bole that one +or the other had touched, or in the earth of the trail their feet +had trod, and where the way wound through the gloomy depth of dank +forest, the impress of their shoes still showed occasionally in +the damp mass of decaying vegetation that floored the way. + +An inexplicable urge spurred Tarzan to increasing, speed. The +same still, small voice that chided him for having neglected them +seemed constantly whispering that they were in dire need of him +now. Tarzan's conscience was troubling him, which accounted for +the fact that he compared himself to a weak, old woman, for the +ape-man, reared in savagery and inured to hardships and cruelty, +disliked to admit any of the gentler traits that in reality were +his birthright. + +The trail made a detour to the east of the village of the Wamabos, +and then returned to the wide elephant path nearer to the river, +where it continued in a southerly direction for several miles. At +last there came to the ears of the ape-man a peculiar whirring, +throbbing sound. For an instant he paused, listening intently, "An +aeroplane!" he muttered, and hastened forward at greatly increased +speed. + +When Tarzan of the Apes finally reached the edge of the meadowland +where Smith-Oldwick's plane had landed, he took in the entire scene +in one quick glance and grasped the situation, although he could +scarce give credence to the things he saw. Bound and helpless, +the English officer lay upon the ground at one side of the meadow, +while around him stood a number of the black deserters from the +German command. Tarzan had seen these men before and knew who they +were. Coming toward him down the meadow was an aeroplane piloted +by the black Usanga and in the seat behind the pilot was the white +girl, Bertha Kircher. How it befell that the ignorant savage could +operate the plane, Tarzan could not guess nor had he time in which +to speculate upon the subject. His knowledge of Usanga, together +with the position of the white man, told him that the black sergeant +was attempting to carry off the white girl. Why he should be doing +this when he had her in his power and had also captured and secured +the only creature in the jungle who might wish to defend her in so +far as the black could know, Tarzan could not guess, for he knew +nothing of Usanga's twenty-four dream wives nor of the black's +fear of the horrid temper of Naratu, his present mate. He did not +know, then, that Usanga had determined to fly away with the white +girl never to return, and to put so great a distance between himself +and Naratu that the latter never could find him again; but it was +this very thing that was in the black's mind although not even his +own warriors guessed it. He had told them that he would take the +captive to a sultan of the north and there obtain a great price for +her and that when he returned they should have some of the spoils. + +These things Tarzan did not know. All he knew was what he saw--a +Negro attempting to fly away with a white girl. Already the +machine was slowly leaving the ground. In a moment more it would +rise swiftly out of reach. At first Tarzan thought of fitting an +arrow to his bow and slaying Usanga, but as quickly he abandoned +the idea because he knew that the moment the pilot was slain the +machine, running wild, would dash the girl to death among the trees. + +There was but one way in which he might hope to succor her--a way +which if it failed must send him to instant death and yet he did +not hesitate in an attempt to put it into execution. + +Usanga did not see him, being too intent upon the unaccustomed duties +of a pilot, but the blacks across the meadow saw him and they ran +forward with loud and savage cries and menacing rifles to intercept +him. They saw a giant white man leap from the branches of a tree +to the turf and race rapidly toward the plane. They saw him take +a long grass rope from about his shoulders as he ran. They saw the +noose swinging in an undulating circle above his head. They saw +the white girl in the machine glance down and discover him. + +Twenty feet above the running ape-man soared the huge plane. The +open noose shot up to meet it, and the girl, half guessing the +ape-man's intentions, reached out and caught the noose and, bracing +herself, clung tightly to it with both hands. Simultaneously Tarzan +was dragged from his feet and the plane lurched sideways in response +to the new strain. Usanga clutched wildly at the control and the +machine shot upward at a steep angle. Dangling at the end of the +rope the ape-man swung pendulum-like in space. The Englishman, lying +bound upon the ground, had been a witness of all these happenings. +His heart stood still as he saw Tarzan's body hurtling through the +air toward the tree tops among which it seemed he must inevitably +crash; but the plane was rising rapidly, so that the beast-man +cleared the top-most branches. Then slowly, hand over hand, he +climbed toward the fuselage. The girl, clinging desperately to the +noose, strained every muscle to hold the great weight dangling at +the lower end of the rope. + +Usanga, all unconscious of what was going on behind him, drove the +plane higher and higher into the air. + +Tarzan glanced downward. Below him the tree tops and the river +passed rapidly to the rear and only a slender grass rope and the +muscles of a frail girl stood between him and the death yawning +there thousands of feet below. + +It seemed to Bertha Kircher that the fingers of her hands were dead. +The numbness was running up her arms to her elbows. How much longer +she could cling to the straining strands she could not guess. It +seemed to her that those lifeless fingers must relax at any instant +and then, when she had about given up hope, she saw a strong brown +hand reach up and grasp the side of the fuselage. Instantly the +weight upon the rope was removed and a moment later Tarzan of the +Apes raised his body above the side and threw a leg over the edge. +He glanced forward at Usanga and then, placing his mouth close to +the girl's ear he cried: "Have you ever piloted a plane?" The girl +nodded a quick affirmative. + +"Have you the courage to climb up there beside the black and seize +the control while I take care of him?" + +The girl looked toward Usanga and shuddered. "Yes," she replied, +"but my feet are bound." + +Tarzan drew his hunting knife from its sheath and reaching down, +severed the thongs that bound her ankles. Then the girl unsnapped +the strap that held her to her seat. With one hand Tarzan grasped +the girl's arm and steadied her as the two crawled slowly across +the few feet which intervened between the two seats. A single slight +tip of the plane would have cast them both into eternity. Tarzan +realized that only through a miracle of chance could they reach +Usanga and effect the change in pilots and yet he knew that that +chance must be taken, for in the brief moments since he had first +seen the plane, he had realized that the black was almost without +experience as a pilot and that death surely awaited them in any +event should the black sergeant remain at the control. + +The first intimation Usanga had that all was not well with him was +when the girl slipped suddenly to his side and grasped the control +and at the same instant steel-like fingers seized his throat. A brown +hand shot down with a keen blade and severed the strap about his +waist and giant muscles lifted him bodily from his seat. Usanga +clawed the air and shrieked but he was helpless as a babe. Far +below the watchers in the meadow could see the aeroplane careening +in the sky, for with the change of control it had taken a sudden +dive. They saw it right itself and, turning in a short circle, return +in their direction, but it was so far above them and the light of +the sun so strong that they could see nothing of what was going on +within the fuselage; but presently Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick gave +a gasp of dismay as he saw a human body plunge downward from the +plane. Turning and twisting in mid-air it fell with ever-increasing +velocity and the Englishman held his breath as the thing hurtled +toward them. + +With a muffled thud it flattened upon the turf near the center of +the meadow, and when at last the Englishman could gain the courage +to again turn his eyes upon it, he breathed a fervent prayer of +thanks, for the shapeless mass that lay upon the blood-stained turf +was covered with an ebon hide. Usanga had reaped his reward. + +Again and again the plane circled above the meadow. The blacks, at +first dismayed at the death of their leader, were now worked to a +frenzy of rage and a determination to be avenged. The girl and the +ape-man saw them gather in a knot about the body of their fallen +chief. They saw as they circled above the meadow the black fists +shaken at them, and the rifles brandishing a menace toward them. +Tarzan still clung to the fuselage directly behind the pilot's seat. +His face was close beside Bertha Kircher's, and at the top of his +voice, above the noise of propeller, engine and exhaust, he screamed +a few words of instruction into her ear. + +As the girl grasped the significance of his words she paled, but +her lips set in a hard line and her eyes shone with a sudden fire +of determination as she dropped the plane to within a few feet of +the ground and at the opposite end of the meadow from the blacks +and then at full speed bore down upon the savages. So quickly the +plane came that Usanga's men had no time to escape it after they +realized its menace. It touched the ground just as it struck among +them and mowed through them, a veritable juggernaut of destruction. +When it came to rest at the edge of the forest the ape-man leaped +quickly to the ground and ran toward the young lieutenant, and as +he went he glanced at the spot where the warriors had stood, ready +to defend himself if necessary, but there was none there to oppose +him. Dead and dying they lay strewn for fifty feet along the turf. + +By the time Tarzan had freed the Englishman the girl joined them. +She tried to voice her thanks to the ape-man but he silenced her +with a gesture. + +"You saved yourself," he insisted, "for had you been unable to +pilot the plane, I could not have helped you, and now," he said, +"you two have the means of returning to the settlements. The day +is still young. You can easily cover the distance in a few hours +if you have sufficient petrol." He looked inquiringly toward the +aviator. + +Smith-Oldwick nodded his head affirmatively. "I have plenty," he +replied. + +"Then go at once," said the ape-man. "Neither of you belong in the +jungle." A slight smile touched his lips as he spoke. + +The girl and the Englishman smiled too. "This jungle is no place +for us at least," said Smith-Oldwick, "and it is no place for any +other white man. Why don't you come back to civilization with us?" + +Tarzan shook his head. "I prefer the jungle," he said. + +The aviator dug his toe into the ground and still looking down, +blurted something which he evidently hated to say. "If it is a +matter of living, old top," he said, "er--money, er--you know--" + +Tarzan laughed. "No," he said. "I know what you are trying to say. +It is not that. I was born in the jungle. I have lived all my life +in the jungle, and I shall die in the jungle. I do not wish to +live or die elsewhere." + +The others shook their heads. They could not understand him. + +"Go," said the ape-man. "The quicker you go, the quicker you will +reach safety." + +They walked to the plane together. Smith-Oldwick pressed the +ape-man's hand and clambered into the pilot's seat. "Good-bye," +said the girl as she extended her hand to Tarzan. "Before I go +won't you tell me you don't hate me any more?" Tarzan's face clouded. +Without a word he picked her up and lifted her to her place behind +the Englishman. An expression of pain crossed Bertha Kircher's +face. The motor started and a moment later the two were being borne +rapidly toward the east. + +In the center of the meadow stood the ape-man watching them. "It +is too bad that she is a German and a spy," he said, "for she is +very hard to hate." + + + + +Chapter XIV + +The Black Lion + + +Numa, the lion, was hungry. He had come out of the desert country +to the east into a land of plenty but though he was young and strong, +the wary grass-eaters had managed to elude his mighty talons each +time he had thought to make a kill. + +Numa, the lion, was hungry and very savage. For two days he had +not eaten and now he hunted in the ugliest of humors. No more did +Numa roar forth a rumbling challenge to the world but rather he +moved silent and grim, stepping softly that no cracking twig might +betray his presence to the keen-eared quarry he sought. + +Fresh was the spoor of Bara, the deer, that Numa picked up in the +well-beaten game trail he was following. No hour had passed since +Bara had come this way; the time could be measured in minutes and +so the great lion redoubled the cautiousness of his advance as he +crept stealthily in pursuit of his quarry. + +A light wind was moving through the jungle aisles, and it wafted +down now to the nostrils of the eager carnivore the strong scent +spoor of the deer, exciting his already avid appetite to a point +where it became a gnawing pain. Yet Numa did not permit himself to +be carried away by his desires into any premature charge such as +had recently lost him the juicy meat of Pacco, the zebra. Increasing +his gait but slightly he followed the tortuous windings of the +trail until suddenly just before him, where the trail wound about +the bole of a huge tree, he saw a young buck moving slowly ahead +of him. + +Numa judged the distance with his keen eyes, glowing now like two +terrible spots of yellow fire in his wrinkled, snarling face. He +could do it--this time he was sure. One terrific roar that would +paralyze the poor creature ahead of him into momentary inaction, +and a simultaneous charge of lightning-like rapidity and Numa, the +lion, would feed. The sinuous tail, undulating slowly at its tufted +extremity, whipped suddenly erect. It was the signal for the charge +and the vocal organs were shaped for the thunderous roar when, as +lightning out of a clear sky, Sheeta, the panther, leaped suddenly +into the trail between Numa and the deer. + +A blundering charge made Sheeta, for with the first crash of his +spotted body through the foliage verging the trail, Bara gave a +single startled backward glance and was gone. + +The roar that was intended to paralyze the deer broke horribly from +the deep throat of the great cat--an angry roar of rage against +the meddling Sheeta who had robbed him of his kill, and the charge +that was intended for Bara was launched against the panther; but +here too Numa was doomed to disappointment, for with the first notes +of his fearsome roar Sheeta, considering well the better part of +valor, leaped into a near-by tree. + +A half-hour later it was a thoroughly furious Numa who came +unexpectedly upon the scent of man. Heretofore the lord of the jungle +had disdained the unpalatable flesh of the despised man-thing. Such +meat was only for the old, the toothless, and the decrepit who no +longer could make their kills among the fleet-footed grass-eaters. +Bara, the deer, Horta, the boar, and, best and wariest, Pacco, the +zebra, were for the young, the strong, and the agile, but Numa was +hungry--hungrier than he ever had been in the five short years of +his life. + +What if he was a young, powerful, cunning, and ferocious beast? +In the face of hunger, the great leveler, he was as the old, the +toothless, and the decrepit. His belly cried aloud in anguish and +his jowls slavered for flesh. Zebra or deer or man, what mattered +it so that it was warm flesh, red with the hot juices of life? +Even Dango, the hyena, eater of offal, would, at the moment, have +seemed a tidbit to Numa. + +The great lion knew the habits and frailties of man, though he never +before had hunted man for food. He knew the despised Gomangani as +the slowest, the most stupid, and the most defenseless of creatures. +No woodcraft, no cunning, no stealth was necessary in the hunting +of man, nor had Numa any stomach for either delay or silence. + +His rage had become an almost equally consuming passion with +his hunger, so that now, as his delicate nostrils apprised him of +the recent passage of man, he lowered his head and rumbled forth +a thunderous roar, and at a swift walk, careless of the noise he +made, set forth upon the trail of his intended quarry. + +Majestic and terrible, regally careless of his surroundings, the +king of beasts strode down the beaten trail. The natural caution +that is inherent to all creatures of the wild had deserted him. +What had he, lord of the jungle, to fear and, with only man to hunt, +what need of caution? And so he did not see or scent what a more +wary Numa might readily have discovered until, with the cracking of +twigs and a tumbling of earth, he was precipitated into a cunningly +devised pit that the wily Wamabos had excavated for just this +purpose in the center of the game trail. + +Tarzan of the Apes stood in the center of the clearing watching the +plane shrinking to diminutive toy-like proportions in the eastern +sky. He had breathed a sigh of relief as he saw it rise safely with +the British flier and Fraulein Bertha Kircher. For weeks he had +felt the hampering responsibility of their welfare in this savage +wilderness where their utter helplessness would have rendered them +easy prey for the savage carnivores or the cruel Wamabos. Tarzan +of the Apes loved unfettered freedom, and now that these two were +safely off his hands, he felt that he could continue upon his +journey toward the west coast and the long-untenanted cabin of his +dead father. + +And yet, as he stood there watching the tiny speck in the east, +another sigh heaved his broad chest, nor was it a sigh of relief, +but rather a sensation which Tarzan had never expected to feel +again and which he now disliked to admit even to himself. It could +not be possible that he, the jungle bred, who had renounced forever +the society of man to return to his beloved beasts of the wilds, +could be feeling anything akin to regret at the departure of these +two, or any slightest loneliness now that they were gone. Lieutenant +Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick Tarzan had liked, but the woman whom he +had known as a German spy he had hated, though he never had found it +in his heart to slay her as he had sworn to slay all Huns. He had +attributed this weakness to the fact that she was a woman, although +he had been rather troubled by the apparent inconsistency of +his hatred for her and his repeated protection of her when danger +threatened. + +With an irritable toss of his head he wheeled suddenly toward the +west as though by turning his back upon the fast disappearing plane +he might expunge thoughts of its passengers from his memory. At +the edge of the clearing he paused; a giant tree loomed directly +ahead of him and, as though actuated by sudden and irresistible +impulse, he leaped into the branches and swung himself with apelike +agility to the topmost limbs that would sustain his weight. There, +balancing lightly upon a swaying bough, he sought in the direction +of the eastern horizon for the tiny speck that would be the British +plane bearing away from him the last of his own race and kind that +he expected ever again to see. + +At last his keen eyes picked up the ship flying at a considerable +altitude far in the east. For a few seconds he watched it speeding +evenly eastward, when, to his horror, he saw the speck dive suddenly +downward. The fall seemed interminable to the watcher and he +realized how great must have been the altitude of the plane before +the drop commenced. Just before it disappeared from sight its +downward momentum appeared to abate suddenly, but it was still +moving rapidly at a steep angle when it finally disappeared from +view behind the far hills. + +For half a minute the ape-man stood noting distant landmarks that +he judged might be in the vicinity of the fallen plane, for no +sooner had he realized that these people were again in trouble than +his inherent sense of duty to his own kind impelled him once more +to forego his plans and seek to aid them. + +The ape-man feared from what he judged of the location of the machine +that it had fallen among the almost impassable gorges of the arid +country just beyond the fertile basin that was bounded by the +hills to the east of him. He had crossed that parched and desolate +country of the dead himself and he knew from his own experience +and the narrow escape he had had from succumbing to its relentless +cruelty no lesser man could hope to win his way to safety from +any considerable distance within its borders. Vividly he recalled +the bleached bones of the long-dead warrior in the bottom of the +precipitous gorge that had all but proved a trap for him as well. +He saw the helmet of hammered brass and the corroded breastplate of +steel and the long straight sword in its scabbard and the ancient +harquebus--mute testimonials to the mighty physique and the +warlike spirit of him who had somehow won, thus illy caparisoned +and pitifully armed, to the center of savage, ancient Africa; and +he saw the slender English youth and the slight figure of the girl +cast into the same fateful trap from which this giant of old had +been unable to escape--cast there wounded and broken perhaps, if +not killed. + +His judgment told him that the latter possibility was probably +the fact, and yet there was a chance that they might have landed +without fatal injuries, and so upon this slim chance he started out +upon what he knew would be an arduous journey, fraught with many +hardships and unspeakable peril, that he might attempt to save them +if they still lived. + +He had covered a mile perhaps when his quick ears caught the sound +of rapid movement along the game trail ahead of him. The sound, +increasing in volume, proclaimed the fact that whatever caused it +was moving in his direction and moving rapidly. Nor was it long +before his trained senses convinced him that the footfalls were +those of Bara, the deer, in rapid flight. Inextricably confused in +Tarzan's character were the attributes of man and of beasts. Long +experience had taught him that he fights best or travels fastest +who is best nourished, and so, with few exceptions, Tarzan could +delay his most urgent business to take advantage of an opportunity +to kill and feed. This perhaps was the predominant beast trait in +him. The transformation from an English gentleman, impelled by the +most humanitarian motives, to that of a wild beast crouching in the +concealment of a dense bush ready to spring upon its approaching +prey, was instantaneous. + +And so, when Bara came, escaping the clutches of Numa and Sheeta, +his terror and his haste precluded the possibility of his sensing +that other equally formidable foe lying in ambush for him. Abreast +of the ape-man came the deer; a light-brown body shot from the +concealing verdure of the bush, strong arms encircled the sleek +neck of the young buck and powerful teeth fastened themselves in +the soft flesh. Together the two rolled over in the trail and a +moment later the ape-man rose, and, with one foot upon the carcass +of his kill, raised his voice in the victory cry of the bull ape. + +Like an answering challenge came suddenly to the ears of the +ape-man the thunderous roar of a lion, a hideous angry roar in which +Tarzan thought that he discerned a note of surprise and terror. In +the breast of the wild things of the jungle, as in the breasts of +their more enlightened brothers and sisters of the human race, the +characteristic of curiosity is well developed. Nor was Tarzan far +from innocent of it. The peculiar note in the roar of his hereditary +enemy aroused a desire to investigate, and so, throwing the carcass +of Bara, the deer, across his shoulder, the ape-man took to the +lower terraces of the forest and moved quickly in the direction +from which the sound had come, which was in line with the trail he +had set out upon. + +As the distance lessened, the sounds increased in volume, which +indicated that he was approaching a very angry lion and presently, +where a jungle giant overspread the broad game trail that countless +thousands of hoofed and padded feet had worn and trampled into a +deep furrow during perhaps countless ages, he saw beneath him the +lion pit of the Wamabos and in it, leaping futilely for freedom +such a lion as even Tarzan of the Apes never before had beheld. A +mighty beast it was that glared up at the ape-man--large, powerful +and young, with a huge black mane and a coat so much darker than +any Tarzan ever had seen that in the depths of the pit it looked +almost black--a black lion! + +Tarzan who had been upon the point of taunting and reviling his +captive foe was suddenly turned to open admiration for the beauty +of the splendid beast. What a creature! How by comparison the +ordinary forest lion was dwarfed into insignificance! Here indeed +was one worthy to be called king of beasts. With his first sight of +the great cat the ape-man knew that he had heard no note of terror +in that initial roar; surprise doubtless, but the vocal chords of +that mighty throat never had reacted to fear. + +With growing admiration came a feeling of quick pity for the hapless +situation of the great brute rendered futile and helpless by the +wiles of the Gomangani. Enemy though the beast was, he was less an +enemy to the ape-man than those blacks who had trapped him, for +though Tarzan of the Apes claimed many fast and loyal friends among +certain tribes of African natives, there were others of degraded +character and bestial habits that he looked upon with utter loathing, +and of such were the human flesh-eaters of Numabo the chief. For +a moment Numa, the lion, glared ferociously at the naked man-thing +upon the tree limb above him. Steadily those yellow-green eyes +bored into the clear eyes of the ape-man, and then the sensitive +nostrils caught the scent of the fresh blood of Bara and the eyes +moved to the carcass lying across the brown shoulder, and there +came from the cavernous depths of the savage throat a low whine. + +Tarzan of the Apes smiled. As unmistakably as though a human voice +had spoken, the lion had said to him "I am hungry, even more than +hungry. I am starving," and the ape-man looked down upon the lion +beneath him and smiled, a slow quizzical smile, and then he shifted +the carcass from his shoulder to the branch before him and, drawing +the long blade that had been his father's, deftly cut off a hind +quarter and, wiping the bloody blade upon Bara's smooth coat, he +returned it to its scabbard. Numa, with watering jaws, looked up +at the tempting meat and whined again and the ape-man smiled down +upon him his slow smile and, raising the hind quarter in his strong +brown hands buried his teeth in the tender, juicy flesh. + +For the third time Numa, the lion, uttered that low pleading whine +and then, with a rueful and disgusted shake of his head, Tarzan of +the Apes raised the balance of the carcass of Bara, the deer, and +hurled it to the famished beast below. + +"Old woman," muttered the ape-man. "Tarzan has become a weak old +woman. Presently he would shed tears because he has killed Bara, +the deer. He cannot see Numa, his enemy, go hungry, because Tarzan's +heart is turning to water by contact with the soft, weak creatures +of civilization." But yet he smiled, nor was he sorry that he had +given way to the dictates of a kindly impulse. + +As Tarzan tore the flesh from that portion of the kill he had retained +for himself his eyes were taking in each detail of the scene below. +He saw the avidity with which Numa devoured the carcass; he noted +with growing admiration the finer points of the beast, and also +the cunning construction of the trap. The ordinary lion pit with +which Tarzan was familiar had stakes imbedded in the bottom, upon +whose sharpened points the hapless lion would be impaled, but this +pit was not so made. Here the short stakes were set at intervals of +about a foot around the walls near the top, their sharpened points +inclining downward so that the lion had fallen unhurt into the trap +but could not leap out because each time he essayed it his head +came in contact with the sharp end of a stake above him. + +Evidently, then, the purpose of the Wamabos was to capture a lion +alive. As this tribe had no contact whatsoever with white men in +so far as Tarzan knew, their motive was doubtless due to a desire +to torture the beast to death that they might enjoy to the utmost +his dying agonies. + +Having fed the lion, it presently occurred to Tarzan that his act +would be futile were he to leave the beast to the mercies of the +blacks, and then too it occurred to him that he could derive more +pleasure through causing the blacks discomfiture than by leaving +Numa to his fate. But how was he to release him? By removing two +stakes there would be left plenty of room for the lion to leap from +the pit, which was not of any great depth. However, what assurance +had Tarzan that Numa would not leap out instantly the way to +freedom was open, and before the ape-man could gain the safety of +the trees? Regardless of the fact that Tarzan felt no such fear +of the lion as you and I might experience under like circumstances, +he yet was imbued with the sense of caution that is necessary to +all creatures of the wild if they are to survive. Should necessity +require, Tarzan could face Numa in battle, although he was not so +egotistical as to think that he could best a full-grown lion in +mortal combat other than through accident or the utilization of the +cunning of his superior man-mind. To lay himself liable to death +futilely, he would have considered as reprehensible as to have +shunned danger in time of necessity; but when Tarzan elected to do +a thing he usually found the means to accomplish it. + +He had now fully determined to liberate Numa, and having so determined, +he would accomplish it even though it entailed considerable personal +risk. He knew that the lion would be occupied with his feeding for +some time, but he also knew that while feeding he would be doubly +resentful of any fancied interference. Therefore Tarzan must work +with caution. + +Coming to the ground at the side of the pit, he examined the stakes +and as he did so was rather surprised to note that Numa gave no +evidence of anger at his approach. Once he turned a searching gaze +upon the ape-man for a moment and then returned to the flesh of +Bara. Tarzan felt of the stakes and tested them with his weight. +He pulled upon them with the muscles of his strong arms, presently +discovering that by working them back and forth he could loosen +them: and then a new plan was suggested to him so that he fell to +work excavating with his knife at a point above where one of the +stakes was imbedded. The loam was soft and easily removed, and it +was not long until Tarzan had exposed that part of one of the stakes +which was imbedded in the wall of the pit to almost its entire +length, leaving only enough imbedded to prevent the stake from +falling into the excavation. Then he turned his attention to an +adjoining stake and soon had it similarly exposed, after which he +threw the noose of his grass rope over the two and swung quickly +to the branch of the tree above. Here he gathered in the slack of +the rope and, bracing himself against the bole of the tree, pulled +steadily upward. Slowly the stakes rose from the trench in which +they were imbedded and with them rose Numa's suspicion and growling. + +Was this some new encroachment upon his rights and his liberties? +He was puzzled and, like all lions, being short of temper, he +was irritated. He had not minded it when the Tarmangani squatted +upon the verge of the pit and looked down upon him, for had not +this Tarmangani fed him? But now something else was afoot and the +suspicion of the wild beast was aroused. As he watched, however, +Numa saw the stakes rise slowly to an erect position, tumble +against each other and then fall backwards out of his sight upon +the surface of the ground above. Instantly the lion grasped the +possibilities of the situation, and, too, perhaps he sensed the fact +that the man-thing had deliberately opened a way for his escape. +Seizing the remains of Bara in his great jaws, Numa, the lion, +leaped agilely from the pit of the Wamabos and Tarzan of the Apes +melted into the jungles to the east. + +On the surface of the ground or through the swaying branches of the +trees the spoor of man or beast was an open book to the ape-man, but +even his acute senses were baffled by the spoorless trail of the +airship. Of what good were eyes, or ears, or the sense of smell +in following a thing whose path had lain through the shifting +air thousands of feet above the tree tops? Only upon his sense of +direction could Tarzan depend in his search for the fallen plane. +He could not even judge accurately as to the distance it might +lie from him, and he knew that from the moment that it disappeared +beyond the hills it might have traveled a considerable distance at +right angles to its original course before it crashed to earth. If +its occupants were killed or badly injured the ape-man might search +futilely in their immediate vicinity for some time before finding +them. + +There was but one thing to do and that was to travel to a point +as close as possible to where he judged the plane had landed, and +then to follow in ever-widening circles until he picked up their +scent spoor. And this he did. + +Before he left the valley of plenty he made several kills and +carried the choicest cuts of meat with him, leaving all the dead +weight of bones behind. The dense vegetation of the jungle terminated +at the foot of the western slope, growing less and less abundant +as he neared the summit beyond which was a sparse growth of sickly +scrub and sunburned grasses, with here and there a gnarled and hardy +tree that had withstood the vicissitudes of an almost waterless +existence. + +From the summit of the hills Tarzan's keen eyes searched the arid +landscape before him. In the distance he discerned the ragged +tortuous lines that marked the winding course of the hideous gorges +which scored the broad plain at intervals--the terrible gorges that +had so nearly claimed his life in punishment for his temerity in +attempting to invade the sanctity of their ancient solitude. + +For two days Tarzan sought futilely for some clew to the whereabouts +of the machine or its occupants. He cached portions of his kills at +different points, building cairns of rock to mark their locations. +He crossed the first deep gorge and circled far beyond it. Occasionally +he stopped and called aloud, listening for some response but +only silence rewarded him--a sinister silence that his cries only +accentuated. + +Late in the evening of the second day he came to the well-remembered +gorge in which lay the clean-picked bones of the ancient adventurer, +and here, for the first time, Ska, the vulture, picked up his trail. +"Not this time, Ska," cried the ape-man in a taunting voice, "for +now indeed is Tarzan Tarzan. Before, you stalked the grim skeleton +of a Tarmangani and even then you lost. Waste not your time upon +Tarzan of the Apes in the full of his strength." But still Ska, the +vulture, circled and soared above him, and the ape-man, notwithstanding +his boasts, felt a shudder of apprehension. Through his brain ran +a persistent and doleful chant to which he involuntarily set two +words, repeated over and over again in horrible monotony: "Ska +knows! Ska knows!" until, shaking himself in anger, he picked up +a rock and hurled it at the grim scavenger. + +Lowering himself over the precipitous side of the gorge Tarzan half +clambered and half slid to the sandy floor beneath. He had come +upon the rift at almost the exact spot at which he had clambered +from it weeks before, and there he saw, just as he had left it, +just, doubtless, as it had lain for centuries, the mighty skeleton +and its mighty armor. + +As he stood looking down upon this grim reminder that another man +of might had succumbed to the cruel powers of the desert, he was +brought to startled attention by the report of a firearm, the sound +of which came from the depths of the gorge to the south of him, +and reverberated along the steep walls of the narrow rift. + + + + +Chapter XV + +Mysterious Footprints + + +As the British plane piloted by Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick +rose above the jungle wilderness where Bertha Kircher's life had +so often been upon the point of extinction, and sped toward the +east, the girl felt a sudden contraction of the muscles of her +throat. She tried very hard to swallow something that was not there. +It seemed strange to her that she should feel regret in leaving +behind her such hideous perils, and yet it was plain to her that +such was the fact, for she was also leaving behind something beside +the dangers that had menaced her--a unique figure that had entered +her life, and for which she felt an unaccountable attraction. + +Before her in the pilot's seat sat an English officer and gentleman +whom, she knew, loved her, and yet she dared to feel regret in his +company at leaving the stamping ground of a wild beast! + +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick, on his part, was in the seventh heaven +of elation. He was in possession again of his beloved ship, he was +flying swiftly in the direction of his comrades and his duty, and +with him was the woman he loved. The fly in the ointment, however, +was the accusation Tarzan had made against this woman. He had said +that she was a German, and a spy, and from the heights of bliss the +English officer was occasionally plunged to the depths of despair +in contemplation of the inevitable, were the ape-man's charges to +prove true. He found himself torn between sentiments of love and +honor. On the one hand he could not surrender the woman he loved +to the certain fate that must be meted out to her if she were in +truth an enemy spy, while on the other it would be equally impossible +for him as an Englishman and an officer to give her aid or protection. + +The young man contented himself therefore with repeated mental +denials of her guilt. He tried to convince himself that Tarzan was +mistaken, and when he conjured upon the screen of recollection the +face of the girl behind him, he was doubly reassured that those +lines of sweet femininity and character, those clear and honest +eyes, could not belong to one of the hated alien race. + +And so they sped toward the east, each wrapped in his own thoughts. +Below them they saw the dense vegetation of the jungle give place +to the scantier growth upon the hillside, and then before them +there spread the wide expanse of arid wastelands marked by the deep +scarring of the narrow gorges that long-gone rivers had cut there +in some forgotten age. + +Shortly after they passed the summit of the ridge which formed +the boundary between the desert and the fertile country, Ska, the +vulture, winging his way at a high altitude toward his aerie, caught +sight of a strange new bird of gigantic proportions encroaching upon +the preserves of his aerial domain. Whether with intent to give +battle to the interloper or merely impelled by curiosity, Ska rose +suddenly upward to meet the plane. Doubtless he misjudged the speed +of the newcomer, but be that as it may, the tip of the propeller +blade touched him and simultaneously many things happened. The +lifeless body of Ska, torn and bleeding, dropped plummet-like toward +the ground; a bit of splintered spruce drove backward to strike +the pilot on the forehead; the plane shuddered and trembled and +as Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick sank forward in momentary +unconsciousness the ship dived headlong toward the earth. + +Only for an instant was the pilot unconscious, but that instant +almost proved their undoing. When he awoke to a realization of +their peril it was also to discover that his motor had stalled. +The plane had attained frightful momentum, and the ground seemed +too close for him to hope to flatten out in time to make a safe +landing. Directly beneath him was a deep rift in the plateau, a +narrow gorge, the bottom of which appeared comparatively level and +sand covered. + +In the brief instant in which he must reach a decision, the safest +plan seemed to attempt a landing in the gorge, and this he did, but +not without considerable damage to the plane and a severe shaking-up +for himself and his passenger. + +Fortunately neither of them was injured but their condition seemed +indeed a hopeless one. It was a grave question as to whether the +man could repair his plane and continue the journey, and it seemed +equally questionable as to their ability either to proceed on foot +to the coast or retrace their way to the country they had just +left. The man was confident that they could not hope to cross the +desert country to the east in the face of thirst and hunger, while +behind them in the valley of plenty lay almost equal danger in the +form of carnivores and the warlike natives. + +After the plane came to its sudden and disastrous stop, Smith-Oldwick +turned quickly to see what the effect of the accident had been on +the girl. He found her pale but smiling, and for several seconds +the two sat looking at each other in silence. + +"This is the end?" the girl asked. + +The Englishman shook his head. "It is the end of the first leg, +anyway," he replied. + +"But you can't hope to make repairs here," she said dubiously. + +"No," he said, "not if they amount to anything, but I may be able +to patch it up. I will have to look her over a bit first. Let us +hope there is nothing serious. It's a long, long way to the Tanga +railway." + +"We would not get far," said the girl, a slight note of hopelessness +in her tone. "Entirely unarmed as we are, it would be little less +than a miracle if we covered even a small fraction of the distance." + +"But we are not unarmed," replied the man. "I have an extra pistol +here, that the beggars didn't discover," and, removing the cover +of a compartment, he drew forth an automatic. + +Bertha Kircher leaned back in her seat and laughed aloud, a mirthless, +half-hysterical laugh. "That popgun!" she exclaimed. "What earthly +good would it do other than to infuriate any beast of prey you +might happen to hit with it?" + +Smith-Oldwick looked rather crestfallen. "But it is a weapon," he +said. "You will have to admit that, and certainly I could kill a +man with it." + +"You could if you happened to hit him," said the girl, "or the +thing didn't jam. Really, I haven't much faith in an automatic. I +have used them myself." + +"Oh, of course," he said ironically, "an express rifle would be +better, for who knows but we might meet an elephant here in the +desert." + +The girl saw that he was hurt, and she was sorry, for she realized +that there was nothing he would not do in her service or protection, +and that it was through no fault of his that he was so illy armed. +Doubtless, too, he realized as well as she the futility of his +weapon, and that he had only called attention to it in the hope of +reassuring her and lessening her anxiety. + +"Forgive me," she said. "I did not mean to be nasty, but this +accident is the proverbial last straw. It seems to me that I have +borne all that I can. Though I was willing to give my life in the +service of my country, I did not imagine that my death agonies would +be so long drawn out, for I realize now that I have been dying for +many weeks." + +"What do you mean!" he exclaimed; "what do you mean by that! You +are not dying. There is nothing the matter with you." + +"Oh, not that," she said, "I did not mean that. What I mean is that +at the moment the black sergeant, Usanga, and his renegade German +native troops captured me and brought me inland, my death warrant +was signed. Sometimes I have imagined that a reprieve has been +granted. Sometimes I have hoped that I might be upon the verge of +winning a full pardon, but really in the depths of my heart I have +known that I should never live to regain civilization. I have done +my bit for my country, and though it was not much I can at least +go with the realization that it was the best I was able to offer. +All that I can hope for now, all that I ask for, is a speedy +fulfillment of the death sentence. I do not wish to linger any more +to face constant terror and apprehension. Even physical torture +would be preferable to what I have passed through. I have no doubt +that you consider me a brave woman, but really my terror has been +boundless. The cries of the carnivores at night fill me with a dread +so tangible that I am in actual pain. I feel the rending talons +in my flesh and the cruel fangs munching upon my bones--it is as +real to me as though I were actually enduring the horrors of such +a death. I doubt if you can understand it--men are so different." + +"Yes," he said, "I think I can understand it, and because I understand +I can appreciate more than you imagine the heroism you have shown +in your endurance of all that you have passed through. There can +be no bravery where there is no fear. A child might walk into a +lion's den, but it would take a very brave man to go to its rescue." + +"Thank you," she said, "but I am not brave at all, and now I am +very much ashamed of my thoughtlessness for your own feelings. I +will try and take a new grip upon myself and we will both hope for +the best. I will help you all I can if you will tell me what I may +do." + +"The first thing," he replied, "is to find out just how serious +our damage is, and then to see what we can do in the way of repairs." + +For two days Smith-Oldwick worked upon the damaged plane--worked +in the face of the fact that from the first he realized the case +was hopeless. And at last he told her. + +"I knew it," she said, "but I believe that I felt much as you must +have; that however futile our efforts here might be, it would be +infinitely as fatal to attempt to retrace our way to the jungle we +just left or to go on toward the coast. You know and I know that we +could not reach the Tanga railway on foot. We should die of thirst +and starvation before we had covered half the distance, and if we +return to the jungle, even were we able to reach it, it would be +but to court an equally certain, though different, fate." + +"So we might as well sit here and wait for death as to uselessly +waste our energies in what we know would be a futile attempt at +escape?" he asked. + +"No," she replied, "I shall never give up like that. What I meant +was that it was useless to attempt to reach either of the places +where we know that there is food and water in abundance, so we +must strike out in a new direction. Somewhere there may be water +in this wilderness and if there is, the best chance of our finding +it would be to follow this gorge downward. We have enough food and +water left, if we are careful of it, for a couple of days and in +that time we might stumble upon a spring or possibly even reach +the fertile country which I know lies to the south. When Usanga +brought me to the Wamabo country from the coast he took a southerly +route along which there was usually water and game in plenty. It +was not until we neared our destination that the country became +overrun with carnivores. So there is hope if we can reach the +fertile country south of us that we can manage to pull through to +the coast." + +The man shook his head dubiously. "We can try it," he said. +"Personally, I do not fancy sitting here waiting for death." + +Smith-Oldwick was leaning against the ship, his dejected gaze +directed upon the ground at his feet. The girl was looking south +down the gorge in the direction of their one slender chance of +life. Suddenly she touched him on the arm. + +"Look," she whispered. + +The man raised his eyes quickly in the direction of her gaze to +see the massive head of a great lion who was regarding them from +beyond a rocky projection at the first turning of the gorge. + +"Phew!" he exclaimed, "the beggars are everywhere." + +"They do not go far from water do they," asked the girl hopefully. + +"I should imagine not," he replied; "a lion is not particularly +strong on endurance." + +"Then he is a harbinger of hope," she exclaimed. + +The man laughed. "Cute little harbinger of hope!" he said. "Reminds +me of Cock Robin heralding spring." + +The girl cast a quick glance at him. "Don't be silly, and I don't +care if you do laugh. He fills me with hope." + +"It is probably mutual," replied Smith-Oldwick, "as we doubtless +fill him with hope." + +The lion evidently having satisfied himself as to the nature of +the creatures before him advanced slowly now in their direction. + +"Come," said the man, "let's climb aboard," and he helped the girl +over the side of the ship. + +"Can't he get in here?" she asked. + +"I think he can," said the man. + +"You are reassuring," she returned. + +"I don't feel so." He drew his pistol. + +"For heaven's sake," she cried, "don't shoot at him with that thing. +You might hit him." + +"I don't intend to shoot at him but I might succeed in frightening +him away if he attempts to reach us here. Haven't you ever seen a +trainer work with lions? He carries a silly little pop-gun loaded +with blank cartridges. With that and a kitchen chair he subdues +the most ferocious of beasts." + +"But you haven't a kitchen chair," she reminded him. + +"No," he said, "Government is always muddling things. I have always +maintained that airplanes should be equipped with kitchen chairs." + +Bertha Kircher laughed as evenly and with as little hysteria as +though she were moved by the small talk of an afternoon tea. + +Numa, the lion, came steadily toward them; his attitude seemed +more that of curiosity than of belligerency. Close to the side of +the ship he stopped and stood gazing up at them. + +"Magnificent, isn't he?" exclaimed the man. + +"I never saw a more beautiful creature," she replied, "nor one with +such a dark coat. Why, he is almost black." + +The sound of their voices seemed not to please the lord of the +jungle, for he suddenly wrinkled his great face into deep furrows +as he bared his fangs beneath snarling lips and gave vent to an +angry growl. Almost simultaneously he crouched for a spring and +immediately Smith-Oldwick discharged his pistol into the ground in +front of the lion. The effect of the noise upon Numa seemed but to +enrage him further, and with a horrid roar he sprang for the author +of the new and disquieting sound that had outraged his ears. + +Simultaneously Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick vaulted nimbly +out of the cockpit on the opposite side of his plane, calling to +the girl to follow his example. The girl, realizing the futility +of leaping to the ground, chose the remaining alternative and +clambered to the top of the upper plane. + +Numa, unaccustomed to the idiosyncrasies of construction of an +airship and having gained the forward cockpit, watched the girl +clamber out of his reach without at first endeavoring to prevent +her. Having taken possession of the plane his anger seemed suddenly +to leave him and he made no immediate move toward following +Smith-Oldwick. The girl, realizing the comparative safety of her +position, had crawled to the outer edge of the wing and was calling +to the man to try and reach the opposite end of the upper plane. + +It was this scene upon which Tarzan of the Apes looked as he +rounded the bend of the gorge above the plane after the pistol shot +had attracted his attention. The girl was so intent upon watching +the efforts of the Englishman to reach a place of safety, and the +latter was so busily occupied in attempting to do so that neither +at once noticed the silent approach of the ape-man. + +It was Numa who first noticed the intruder. The lion immediately +evinced his displeasure by directing toward him a snarling countenance +and a series of warning growls. His action called the attention of +the two upon the upper plane to the newcomer, eliciting a stifled +"Thank God!" from the girl, even though she could scarce credit the +evidence of her own eyes that it was indeed the savage man, whose +presence always assured her safety, who had come so providentially +in the nick of time. + +Almost immediately both were horrified to see Numa leap from the +cockpit and advance upon Tarzan. The ape-man, carrying his stout +spear in readiness, moved deliberately onward to meet the carnivore, +which he had recognized as the lion of the Wamabos' pit. He knew +from the manner of Numa's approach what neither Bertha Kircher nor +Smith-Oldwick knew--that there was more of curiosity than belligerency +in it, and he wondered if in that great head there might not be a +semblance of gratitude for the kindness that Tarzan had done him. + +There was no question in Tarzan's mind but that Numa recognized +him, for he knew his fellows of the jungle well enough to know that +while they oft-times forgot certain sensations more quickly than +man there are others which remain in their memories for years. A +well-defined scent spoor might never be forgotten by a beast if it +had first been sensed under unusual circumstances, and so Tarzan +was confident that Numa's nose had already reminded him of all the +circumstances of their brief connection. + +Love of the sporting chance is inherent in the Anglo-Saxon race and +it was not now Tarzan of the Apes but rather John Clayton, Lord +Greystoke, who smilingly welcomed the sporting chance which he must +take to discover how far-reaching was Numa's gratitude. + +Smith-Oldwick and the girl saw the two nearing each other. The +former swore softly beneath his breath while he nervously fingered +the pitiful weapon at his hip. The girl pressed her open palms to +her cheeks as she leaned forward in stony-eyed, horror-stricken +silence. While she had every confidence in the prowess of the godlike +creature who thus dared brazenly to face the king of beasts, she +had no false conception of what must certainly happen when they +met. She had seen Tarzan battle with Sheeta, the panther, and she +had realized then that powerful as the man was, it was only agility, +cunning, and chance that placed him upon anywhere near an equal +footing with his savage adversary, and that of the three factors +upon his side chance was the greatest. + +She saw the man and the lion stop simultaneously, not more than +a yard apart. She saw the beast's tail whipping from side to side +and she could hear his deep-throated growls rumbling from his +cavernous breast, but she could read correctly neither the movement +of the lashing tail nor the notes of the growl. + +To her they seemed to indicate nothing but bestial rage while to +Tarzan of the Apes they were conciliatory and reassuring in the +extreme. And then she saw Numa move forward again until his nose +touched the man's naked leg and she closed her eyes and covered +them with her palms. For what seemed an eternity she waited for +the horrid sound of the conflict which she knew must come, but all +she heard was an explosive sigh of relief from Smith-Oldwick and +a half-hysterical "By Jove! Just fancy it!" + +She looked up to see the great lion rubbing his shaggy head against +the man's hip, and Tarzan's free hand entangled in the black mane +as he scratched Numa, the lion, behind a back-laid ear. + +Strange friendships are often formed between the lower animals +of different species, but less often between man and the savage +felidae, because of the former's inherent fear of the great cats. +And so after all, therefore, the friendship so suddenly developed +between the savage lion and the savage man was not inexplicable. + +As Tarzan approached the plane Numa walked at his side, and when +Tarzan stopped and looked up at the girl and the man Numa stopped +also. + +"I had about given up hope of finding you," said the ape-man, "and +it is evident that I found you just in time." + +"But how did you know we were in trouble?" asked the English officer. + +"I saw your plane fall," replied Tarzan. "I was watching you from +a tree beside the clearing where you took off. I didn't have much +to locate you by other than the general direction, but it seems +that you volplaned a considerable distance toward the south after +you disappeared from my view behind the hills. I have been looking +for you further toward the north. I was just about to turn back +when I heard your pistol shot. Is your ship beyond repair?" + +"Yes," replied Smith-Oldwick, "it is hopeless." + +"What are your plans, then? What do you wish to do?" Tarzan directed +his question to the girl. + +"We want to reach the coast," she said, "but it seems impossible +now." + +"I should have thought so a little while ago," replied the ape-man, +"but if Numa is here there must be water within a reasonable +distance. I ran across this lion two days ago in the Wamabo country. +I liberated him from one of their pits. To have reached this spot +he must have come by some trail unknown to me--at least I crossed +no game trail and no spoor of any animal after I came over the hills +out of the fertile country. From which direction did he come upon +you?" + +"It was from the south," replied the girl. "We thought, too, that +there must be water in that direction." + +"Let's find out then," said Tarzan. + +"But how about the lion?" asked Smith-Oldwick. + +"That we will have to discover," replied the ape-man, "and we can +only do so if you will come down from your perch." + +The officer shrugged his shoulders. The girl turned her gaze upon +him to note the effect of Tarzan's proposal. The Englishman grew +suddenly very white, but there was a smile upon his lips as without +a word he slipped over the edge of the plane and clambered to the +ground behind Tarzan. + +Bertha Kircher realized that the man was afraid nor did she blame +him, and she also realized the remarkable courage that he had shown +in thus facing a danger that was very real to him. + +Numa standing close to Tarzan's side raised his head and glared at +the young Englishman, growled once, and looked up at the ape-man. +Tarzan retained a hold upon the beast's mane and spoke to him in +the language of the great apes. To the girl and Smith-Oldwick the +growling gutturals falling from human lips sounded uncanny in the +extreme, but whether Numa understood them or not they appeared to +have the desired effect upon him, as he ceased growling, and as +Tarzan walked to Smith-Oldwick's side Numa accompanied him, nor +did he offer to molest the officer. + +"What did you say to him?" asked the girl. + +Tarzan smiled. "I told him," he replied, "that I am Tarzan of the +Apes, mighty hunter, killer of beasts, lord of the jungle, and that +you are my friends. I have never been sure that all of the other +beasts understand the language of the Mangani. I know that Manu, +the monkey, speaks nearly the same tongue and I am sure that Tantor, +the elephant, understands all that I say to him. We of the jungle +are great boasters. In our speech, in our carriage, in every detail +of our demeanor we must impress others with our physical power and +our ferocity. That is why we growl at our enemies. We are telling +them to beware or we shall fall upon them and tear them to pieces. +Perhaps Numa does not understand the words that I use but I believe +that my tones and my manner carry the impression that I wish them +to convey. Now you may come down and be introduced." + +It required all the courage that Bertha Kircher possessed to lower +herself to the ground within reach of the talons and fangs of this +untamed forest beast, but she did it. Nor did Numa do more than +bare his teeth and growl a little as she came close to the ape-man. + +"I think you are safe from him as long as I am present," said the +ape-man. "The best thing to do is simply to ignore him. Make no +advances, but be sure to give no indication of fear and, if possible +always keep me between you and him. He will go away presently I am +sure and the chances are that we shall not see him again." + +At Tarzan's suggestion Smith-Oldwick removed the remaining water +and provisions from the plane and, distributing the burden among +them, they set off toward the south. Numa did not follow them, but +stood by the plane watching until they finally disappeared from +view around a bend in the gorge. + +Tarzan had picked up Numa's trail with the intention of following +it southward in the belief that it would lead to water. In the sand +that floored the bottom of the gorge tracks were plain and easily +followed. At first only the fresh tracks of Numa were visible, but +later in the day the ape-man discovered the older tracks of other +lions and just before dark he stopped suddenly in evident surprise. +His two companions looked at him questioningly, and in answer to +their implied interrogations he pointed at the ground directly in +front of him. + +"Look at those," he exclaimed. + +At first neither Smith-Oldwick nor the girl saw anything but a +confusion of intermingled prints of padded feet in the sand, but +presently the girl discovered what Tarzan had seen, and an exclamation +of surprise broke from her lips. + +"The imprint of human feet!" she cried. + +Tarzan nodded. + +"But there are no toes," the girl pointed out. + +"The feet were shod with a soft sandal," explained Tarzan. + +"Then there must be a native village somewhere in the vicinity," +said Smith-Oldwick. + +"Yes," replied the ape-man, "but not the sort of natives which we +would expect to find here in this part of Africa where others all +go unshod with the exception of a few of Usanga's renegade German +native troops who wear German army shoes. I don't know that you can +notice it, but it is evident to me that the foot inside the sandal +that made these imprints were not the foot of a Negro. If you will +examine them carefully you will notice that the impression of the +heel and ball of the foot are well marked even through the sole of +the sandal. The weight comes more nearly in the center of a Negro's +footprint." + +"Then you think these were made by a white person?" + +"It looks that way," replied Tarzan, and suddenly, to the surprise +of both the girl and Smith-Oldwick, he dropped to his hands and +knees and sniffed at the tracks--again a beast utilizing the senses +and woodcraft of a beast. Over an area of several square yards his +keen nostrils sought the identity of the makers of the tracks. At +length he rose to his feet. + +"It is not the spoor of the Gomangani," he said, "nor is it exactly +like that of white men. There were three who came this way. They +were men, but of what race I do not know." + +There was no apparent change in the nature of the gorge except that +it had steadily grown deeper as they followed it downward until now +the rocky and precipitous sides rose far above them. At different +points natural caves, which appeared to have been eroded by the action +of water in some forgotten age, pitted the side walls at various +heights. Near them was such a cavity at the ground's level--an +arched cavern floored with white sand. Tarzan indicated it with a +gesture of his hand. + +"We will lair here tonight," he said, and then with one of his +rare, slow smiles: "We will CAMP here tonight." + +Having eaten their meager supper Tarzan bade the girl enter the +cavern. + +"You will sleep inside," he said. "The lieutenant and I will lie +outside at the entrance." + + + + +Chapter XVI + +The Night Attack + + +As the girl turned to bid them good night, she thought that she +saw a shadowy form moving in the darkness beyond them, and almost +simultaneously she was sure that she heard the sounds of stealthy +movement in the same direction. + +"What is that?" she whispered. "There is something out there in +the darkness." + +"Yes," replied Tarzan, "it is a lion. It has been there for some +time. Hadn't you noticed it before?" + +"Oh!" cried the girl, breathing a sigh of relief, "is it our lion?" + +"No," said Tarzan, "it is not our lion; it is another lion and he +is hunting." + +"He is stalking us?" asked the girl. + +"He is," replied the ape-man. Smith-Oldwick fingered the grip of +his pistol. + +Tarzan saw the involuntary movement and shook his head. + +"Leave that thing where it is, Lieutenant," he said. + +The officer laughed nervously. "I couldn't help it, you know, old +man," he said; "instinct of self-preservation and all that." + +"It would prove an instinct of self-destruction," said Tarzan. +"There are at least three hunting lions out there watching us. If +we had a fire or the moon were up you would see their eyes plainly. +Presently they may come after us but the chances are that they will +not. If you are very anxious that they should, fire your pistol +and hit one of them." + +"What if they do charge?" asked the girl; "there is no means of +escape." + +"Why, we should have to fight them," replied Tarzan. + +"What chance would we three have against them?" asked the girl. + +The ape-man shrugged his shoulders. "One must die sometime," he +said. "To you doubtless it may seem terrible--such a death; but +Tarzan of the Apes has always expected to go out in some such way. +Few of us die of old age in the jungle, nor should I care to die +thus. Some day Numa will get me, or Sheeta, or a black warrior. +These or some of the others. What difference does it make which +it is, or whether it comes tonight or next year or in ten years? +After it is over it will be all the same." + +The girl shuddered. "Yes," she said in a dull, hopeless voice, +"after it is over it will be all the same." + +Then she went into the cavern and lay down upon the sand. Smith-Oldwick +sat in the entrance and leaned against the cliff. Tarzan squatted +on the opposite side. + +"May I smoke?" questioned the officer of Tarzan. "I have been +hoarding a few cigarettes and if it won't attract those bouncers +out there I would like to have one last smoke before I cash in. +Will you join me?" and he proffered the ape-man a cigarette. + +"No, thanks," said Tarzan, "but it will be all right if you smoke. +No wild animal is particularly fond of the fumes of tobacco so it +certainly won't entice them any closer." + +Smith-Oldwick lighted his cigarette and sat puffing slowly upon +it. He had proffered one to the girl but she had refused, and thus +they sat in silence for some time, the silence of the night ruffled +occasionally by the faint crunching of padded feet upon the soft +sands of the gorge's floor. + +It was Smith-Oldwick who broke the silence. "Aren't they unusually +quiet for lions?" he asked. + +"No," replied the ape-man; "the lion that goes roaring around the +jungle does not do it to attract prey. They are very quiet when +they are stalking their quarry." + +"I wish they would roar," said the officer. "I wish they would +do anything, even charge. Just knowing that they are there and +occasionally seeing something like a shadow in the darkness and the +faint sounds that come to us from them are getting on my nerves. +But I hope," he said, "that all three don't charge at once." + +"Three?" said Tarzan. "There are seven of them out there now." + +"Good Lord! exclaimed Smith-Oldwick. + +"Couldn't we build a fire," asked the girl, "and frighten them +away?" + +"I don't know that it would do any good," said Tarzan, "as I have +an idea that these lions are a little different from any that we +are familiar with and possibly for the same reason which at first +puzzled me a little--I refer to the apparent docility in the +presence of a man of the lion who was with us today. A man is out +there now with those lions." + +"It is impossible!" exclaimed Smith-Oldwick. "They would tear him +to pieces." + +"What makes you think there is a man there?" asked the girl. + +Tarzan smiled and shook his head. "I am afraid you would not +understand," he replied. "It is difficult for us to understand +anything that is beyond our own powers." + +"What do you mean by that?" asked the officer. + +"Well," said Tarzan, "if you had been born without eyes you could +not understand sense impressions that the eyes of others transmit +to their brains, and as you have both been born without any sense +of smell I am afraid you cannot understand how I can know that +there is a man there." + +"You mean that you scent a man?" asked the girl. + +Tarzan nodded affirmatively. + +"And in the same way you know the number of lions?" asked the man. + +"Yes," said Tarzan. "No two lions look alike, no two have the same +scent." + +The young Englishman shook his head. "No," he said, "I cannot +understand." + +"I doubt if the lions or the man are here necessarily for the purpose +of harming us," said Tarzan, "because there has been nothing to +prevent their doing so long before had they wished to. I have a +theory, but it is utterly preposterous." + +"What is it?" asked the girl. + +"I think they are here," replied Tarzan, "to prevent us from going +some place that they do not wish us to go; in other words we are +under surveillance, and possibly as long as we don't go where we +are not wanted we shall not be bothered." + +"But how are we to know where they don't want us to go?" asked +Smith-Oldwick. + +"We can't know," replied Tarzan, "and the chances are that the very +place we are seeking is the place they don't wish us to trespass +on." + +"You mean the water?" asked the girl. + +"Yes," replied Tarzan. + +For some time they sat in silence which was broken only by an +occasional sound of movement from the outer darkness. It must have +been an hour later that the ape-man rose quietly and drew his long +blade from its sheath. Smith-Oldwick was dozing against the rocky +wall of the cavern entrance, while the girl, exhausted by the +excitement and fatigue of the day, had fallen into deep slumber. An +instant after Tarzan arose, Smith-Oldwick and the girl were aroused +by a volley of thunderous roars and the noise of many padded feet +rushing toward them. + +Tarzan of the Apes stood directly before the entrance to the cavern, +his knife in his hand, awaiting the charge. The ape-man had not +expected any such concerted action as he now realized had been taken +by those watching them. He had known for some time that other men +had joined those who were with the lions earlier in the evening, +and when he arose to his feet it was because he knew that the lions +and the men were moving cautiously closer to him and his party. +He might easily have eluded them, for he had seen that the face of +the cliff rising above the mouth of the cavern might be scaled by +as good a climber as himself. It might have been wiser had he tried +to escape, for he knew that in the face of such odds even he was +helpless, but he stood his ground though I doubt if he could have +told why. + +He owed nothing either of duty or friendship to the girl sleeping +in the cavern, nor could he longer be of any protection to her or +her companion. Yet something held him there in futile self-sacrifice. + +The great Tarmangani had not even the satisfaction of striking a +blow in self-defense. A veritable avalanche of savage beasts rolled +over him and threw him heavily to the ground. In falling his head +struck the rocky surface of the cliff, stunning him. + +It was daylight when he regained consciousness. The first dim +impression borne to his awakening mind was a confusion of savage +sounds which gradually resolved themselves into the growling +of lions, and then, little by little, there came back to him the +recollections of what had preceded the blow that had felled him. + +Strong in his nostrils was the scent of Numa, the lion, and against +one naked leg he could feel the coat of some animal. Slowly Tarzan +opened his eyes. He was lying on his side and as he looked down his +body, he saw that a great lion stood straddling him--a great lion +who growled hideously at something which Tarzan could not see. + +With the full return of his senses Tarzan's nose told him that the +beast above him was Numa of the Wamabo pit. + +Thus reassured, the ape-man spoke to the lion and at the same time +made a motion as though he would arise. Immediately Numa stepped +from above him. As Tarzan raised his head, he saw that he still +lay where he had fallen before the opening of the cliff where the +girl had been sleeping and that Numa, backed against the cliffside, +was apparently defending him from two other lions who paced to and +fro a short distance from their intended victim. + +And then Tarzan turned his eyes into the cave and saw that the girl +and Smith-Oldwick were gone. + +His efforts had been for naught. With an angry toss of his head, +the ape-man turned upon the two lions who had continued to pace +back and forth a few yards from him. Numa of the lion pit turned a +friendly glance in Tarzan's direction, rubbed his head against the +ape-man's side, and then directed his snarling countenance toward +the two hunters. + +"I think," said Tarzan to Numa, "that you and I together can make +these beasts very unhappy." He spoke in English, which, of course, +Numa did not understand at all, but there must have been something +reassuring in the tone, for Numa whined pleadingly and moved +impatiently to and fro parallel with their antagonists. + +"Come," said Tarzan suddenly and grasping the lion's mane with his +left hand he moved toward the other lions, his companion pacing +at his side. As the two advanced the others drew slowly back and, +finally separating, moved off to either side. Tarzan and Numa +passed between them but neither the great black-maned lion nor the +man failed to keep an eye upon the beast nearer him so that they +were not caught unawares when, as though at some preconcerted +signal, the two cats charged simultaneously from opposite directions. + +The ape-man met the charge of his antagonist after the same fashion +of fighting that he had been accustomed to employing in previous +encounters with Numa and Sheeta. To have attempted to meet the +full shock of a lion's charge would have been suicidal even for +the giant Tarmangani. Instead he resorted to methods of agility and +cunning, for quick as are the great cats, even quicker is Tarzan +of the Apes. + +With outspread, raking talons and bared fangs Numa sprang for the +naked chest of the ape-man. Throwing up his left arm as a boxer might +ward off a blow, Tarzan struck upward beneath the left forearm of +the lion, at the same time rushing in with his shoulder beneath +the animal's body and simultaneously drove his blade into the tawny +hide behind the shoulder. With a roar of pain Numa wheeled again, +the personification of bestial rage. Now indeed would he exterminate +this presumptuous man-thing who dared even to think that he could +thwart the king of beasts in his desires. But as he wheeled, his +intended quarry wheeled with him, brown fingers locked in the heavy +mane on the powerful neck and again the blade struck deep into the +lion's side. + +Then it was that Numa went mad with hate and pain and at the same +instant the ape-man leaped full upon his back. Easily before had +Tarzan locked his legs beneath the belly of a lion while he clung +to its long mane and stabbed it until his point reached its heart. +So easy it had seemed before that he experienced a sharp feeling of +resentment that he was unable to do so now, for the quick movements +of the lion prevented him, and presently, to his dismay, as the +lion leaped and threw him about, the ape-man realized that he was +swinging inevitably beneath those frightful talons. + +With a final effort he threw himself from Numa's back and sought, +by his quickness, to elude the frenzied beast for the fraction of +an instant that would permit him to regain his feet and meet the +animal again upon a more even footing. But this time Numa was too +quick for him and he was but partially up when a great paw struck +him on the side of the head and bowled him over. + +As he fell he saw a black streak shoot above him and another lion +close upon his antagonist. Rolling from beneath the two battling lions +Tarzan regained his feet, though he was half dazed and staggering +from the impact of the terrible blow he had received. Behind him +he saw a lifeless lion lying torn and bleeding upon the sand, and +before him Numa of the pit was savagely mauling the second lion. + +He of the black coat tremendously outclassed his adversary in +point of size and strength as well as in ferocity. The battling +beasts made a few feints and passes at each other before the larger +succeeded in fastening his fangs in the other's throat, and then, +as a cat shakes a mouse, the larger lion shook the lesser, and when +his dying foe sought to roll beneath and rake his conqueror with +his hind claws, the other met him halfway at his own game, and as +the great talons buried themselves in the lower part of the other's +chest and then were raked downward with all the terrific strength +of the mighty hind legs, the battle was ended. + +As Numa rose from his second victim and shook himself, Tarzan could +not but again note the wondrous proportions and symmetry of the +beast. The lions they had bested were splendid specimens themselves +and in their coats Tarzan noted a suggestion of the black which +was such a strongly marked characteristic of Numa of the pit. Their +manes were just a trifle darker than an ordinary black-maned lion +but the tawny shade on the balance of their coats predominated. +However, the ape-man realized that they were a distinct species +from any he had seen as though they had sprung originally from a +cross between the forest lion of his acquaintance and a breed of +which Numa of the pit might be typical. + +The immediate obstruction in his way having been removed, Tarzan was +for setting out in search of the spoor of the girl and Smith-Oldwick, +that he might discover their fate. He suddenly found himself +tremendously hungry and as he circled about over the sandy bottom +searching among the tangled network of innumerable tracks for those +of his proteges, there broke from his lips involuntarily the whine +of a hungry beast. Immediately Numa of the pit pricked up his ears +and, regarding the ape-man steadily for a moment, he answered the +call of hunger and started briskly off toward the south, stopping +occasionally to see if Tarzan was following. + +The ape-man realized that the beast was leading him to food, and so +he followed and as he followed his keen eyes and sensitive nostrils +sought for some indication of the direction taken by the man and +the girl. Presently out of the mass of lion tracks, Tarzan picked +up those of many sandaled feet and the scent spoor of the members +of the strange race such as had been with the lions the night +before, and then faintly he caught the scent spoor of the girl and +a little later that of Smith-Oldwick. Presently the tracks thinned +and here those of the girl and the Englishman became well marked. + +They had been walking side by side and there had been men and +lions to the right and left of them, and men and lions in front and +behind. The ape-man was puzzled by the possibilities suggested by +the tracks, but in the light of any previous experience he could +not explain satisfactorily to himself what his perceptions indicated. + +There was little change in the formation of the gorge; it still +wound its erratic course between precipitous cliffs. In places it +widened out and again it became very narrow and always deeper the +further south they traveled. Presently the bottom of the gorge began +to slope more rapidly. Here and there were indications of ancient +rapids and waterfalls. The trail became more difficult but was well +marked and showed indications of great antiquity, and, in places, +the handiwork of man. They had proceeded for a half or three-quarters +of a mile when, at a turning of the gorge, Tarzan saw before him a +narrow valley cut deep into the living rock of the earth's crust, +with lofty mountain ranges bounding it upon the south. How far it +extended east and west he could not see, but apparently it was no +more than three or four miles across from north to south. + +That it was a well-watered valley was indicated by the wealth of +vegetation that carpeted its floor from the rocky cliffs upon the +north to the mountains on the south. + +Over the edge of the cliffs from which the ape-man viewed the valley +a trail had been hewn that led downward to the base. Preceded by +the lion Tarzan descended into the valley, which, at this point, +was forested with large trees. Before him the trail wound onward +toward the center of the valley. Raucous-voiced birds of brilliant +plumage screamed among the branches while innumerable monkeys +chattered and scolded above him. + +The forest teemed with life, and yet there was borne in upon the +ape-man a sense of unutterable loneliness, a sensation that he +never before had felt in his beloved jungles. There was unreality +in everything about him--in the valley itself, lying hidden +and forgotten in what was supposed to be an arid waste. The birds +and the monkeys, while similar in type to many with which he was +familiar, were identical with none, nor was the vegetation without +its idiosyncrasies. It was as though he had been suddenly transported +to another world and he felt a strange restlessness that might +easily have been a premonition of danger. + +Fruits were growing among the trees and some of these he saw that +Manu, the monkey, ate. Being hungry he swung to the lower branches +and, amidst a great chattering of the monkeys, proceeded to eat +such of the fruit as he saw the monkeys ate in safety. When he had +partially satisfied his hunger, for meat alone could fully do so, +he looked about him for Numa of the pit to discover that the lion +had gone. + + + + +Chapter XVII + +The Walled City + + +Dropping to the ground once more he picked up the trail of the girl +and her captors, which he followed easily along what appeared to +be a well-beaten trail. It was not long before he came to a small +stream, where he quenched his thirst, and thereafter he saw that +the trail followed in the general direction of the stream, which +ran southwesterly. Here and there were cross trails and others +which joined the main avenue, and always upon each of them were the +tracks and scent of the great cats, of Numa, the lion, and Sheeta, +the panther. + +With the exception of a few small rodents there appeared to be no +other wild life on the surface of the valley. There was no indication +of Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, or of Gorgo, the buffalo, +Buto, Tantor, or Duro. Histah, the snake, was there. He saw him in +the trees in greater numbers than he ever had seen Histah before; +and once beside a reedy pool he caught a scent that could have +belonged to none other than Gimla the crocodile, but upon none of +these did the Tarmangani care to feed. + +And so, as he craved meat, he turned his attention to the birds +above him. His assailants of the night before had not disarmed +him. Either in the darkness and the rush of the charging lions the +human foe had overlooked him or else they had considered him dead; +but whatever the reason he still retained his weapons--his spear +and his long knife, his bow and arrows, and his grass rope. + +Fitting a shaft to his bow Tarzan awaited an opportunity to bring +down one of the larger birds, and when the opportunity finally +presented itself he drove the arrow straight to its mark. As the +gaily plumaged creature fluttered to earth its companions and the +little monkeys set up a most terrific chorus of wails and screaming +protests. The whole forest became suddenly a babel of hoarse screams +and shrill shrieks. + +Tarzan would not have been surprised had one or two birds in the +immediate vicinity given voice to terror as they fled, but that the +whole life of the jungle should set up so weird a protest filled +him with disgust. It was an angry face that he turned up toward +the monkeys and the birds as there suddenly stirred within him a +savage inclination to voice his displeasure and his answer to what +he considered their challenge. And so it was that there broke upon +this jungle for the first time Tarzan's hideous scream of victory +and challenge. + +The effect upon the creatures above him was instantaneous. Where +before the air had trembled to the din of their voices, now utter +silence reigned and a moment later the ape-man was alone with his +puny kill. + +The silence following so closely the previous tumult carried +a sinister impression to the ape-man, which still further aroused +his anger. Picking the bird from where it had fallen he withdrew +his arrow from the body and returned it to his quiver. Then with +his knife he quickly and deftly removed the skin and feathers +together. He ate angrily, growling as though actually menaced by +a near-by foe, and perhaps, too, his growls were partially induced +by the fact that he did not care for the flesh of birds. Better +this, however, than nothing and from what his senses had told him +there was no flesh in the vicinity such as he was accustomed to +and cared most for. How he would have enjoyed a juicy haunch from +Pacco, the zebra, or a steak from the loin of Gorgo, the buffalo! +The very thought made his mouth water and increased his resentment +against this unnatural forest that harbored no such delicious +quarry. + +He had but partially consumed his kill when he suddenly became +aware of a movement in the brush at no great distance from him +and downwind, and a moment later his nostrils picked up the scent +of Numa from the opposite direction, and then upon either side he +caught the fall of padded feet and the brushing of bodies against +leafy branches. The ape-man smiled. What stupid creature did they +think him, to be surprised by such clumsy stalkers? Gradually the +sounds and scents indicated that lions were moving upon him from +all directions, that he was in the center of a steadily converging +circle of beasts. Evidently they were so sure of their prey that +they were making no effort toward stealth, for he heard twigs crack +beneath their feet, and the brushing of their bodies against the +vegetation through which they forced their way. + +He wondered what could have brought them. It seemed unreasonable +to believe that the cries of the birds and the monkeys should +have summoned them, and yet, if not, it was indeed a remarkable +coincidence. His judgment told him that the death of a single bird +in this forest which teemed with birds could scarce be of sufficient +moment to warrant that which followed. Yet even in the face of reason +and past experience he found that the whole affair perplexed him. + +He stood in the center of the trail awaiting the coming of the lions +and wondering what would be the method of their attack or if they +would indeed attack. Presently a maned lion came into view along +the trail below him. At sight of him the lion halted. The beast was +similar to those that had attacked him earlier in the day, a trifle +larger and a trifle darker than the lions of his native jungles, +but neither so large nor so black as Numa of the pit. + +Presently he distinguished the outlines of other lions in the +surrounding brush and among the trees. Each of them halted as it +came within sight of the ape-man and there they stood regarding +him in silence. Tarzan wondered how long it would be before they +charged and while he waited he resumed his feeding, though with +every sense constantly alert. + +One by one the lions lay down, but always their faces were toward +him and their eyes upon him. There had been no growling and no +roaring--just the quiet drawing of the silent circle about him. +It was all so entirely foreign to anything that Tarzan ever before +had seen lions do that it irritated him so that presently, having +finished his repast, he fell to making insulting remarks to first +one and then another of the lions, after the habit he had learned +from the apes of his childhood. + +"Dango, eater of carrion," he called them, and he compared them most +unfavorably with Histah, the snake, the most loathed and repulsive +creature of the jungle. Finally he threw handfuls of earth at them +and bits of broken twigs, and then the lions growled and bared +their fangs, but none of them advanced. + +"Cowards," Tarzan taunted them. "Numa with a heart of Bara, the +deer." He told them who he was, and after the manner of the jungle +folk he boasted as to the horrible things he would do to them, but +the lions only lay and watched him. + +It must have been a half hour after their coming that Tarzan caught +in the distance along the trail the sound of footsteps approaching. +They were the footsteps of a creature who walked upon two legs, +and though Tarzan could catch no scent spoor from that direction +he knew that a man was approaching. Nor had he long to wait before +his judgment was confirmed by the appearance of a man who halted +in the trail directly behind the first lion that Tarzan had seen. + +At sight of the newcomer the ape-man realized that here was one +similar to those who had given off the unfamiliar scent spoor that +he had detected the previous night, and he saw that not only in +the matter of scent did the man differ from other human beings with +whom Tarzan was familiar. + +The fellow was strongly built with skin of a leathery appearance, +like parchment yellowed with age. His hair, which was coal black +and three or four inches in length, grew out stiffly at right angles +to his scalp. His eyes were close set and the irises densely black +and very small, so that the white of the eyeball showed around +them. The man's face was smooth except for a few straggly hairs on +his chin and upper lip. The nose was aquiline and fine, but the +hair grew so far down on the forehead as to suggest a very low +and brutal type. The upper lip was short and fine while the lower +lip was rather heavy and inclined to be pendulous, the chin being +equally weak. Altogether the face carried the suggestion of a +once strong and handsome countenance entirely altered by physical +violence or by degraded habits and thoughts. The man's arms were +long, though not abnormally so, while his legs were short, though +straight. + +He was clothed in tight-fitting nether garments and a loose, +sleeveless tunic that fell just below his hips, while his feet +were shod in soft-soled sandals, the wrappings of which extended +halfway to his knees, closely resembling a modern spiral military +legging. He carried a short, heavy spear, and at his side swung +a weapon that at first so astonished the ape-man that he could +scarcely believe the evidence of his senses--a heavy saber in +a leather-covered scabbard. The man's tunic appeared to have been +fabricated upon a loom--it was certainly not made of skins, while +the garments that covered his legs were quite as evidently made +from the hides of rodents. + +Tarzan noted the utter unconcern with which the man approached the +lions, and the equal indifference of Numa to him. The fellow paused +for a moment as though appraising the ape-man and then pushed on +past the lions, brushing against the tawny hide as he passed him +in the trail. + +About twenty feet from Tarzan the man stopped, addressing the former +in a strange jargon, no syllable of which was intelligible to the +Tarmangani. His gestures indicated numerous references to the lions +surrounding them, and once he touched his spear with the forefinger +of his left hand and twice he struck the saber at his hip. + +While he spoke Tarzan studied the fellow closely, with the result +that there fastened itself upon his mind a strange conviction--that +the man who addressed him was what might only be described as a +rational maniac. As the thought came to the ape-man he could not +but smile, so paradoxical the description seemed. Yet a closer +study of the man's features, carriage, and the contour of his head +carried almost incontrovertibly the assurance that he was insane, +while the tones of his voice and his gestures resembled those of +a sane and intelligent mortal. + +Presently the man had concluded his speech and appeared to be waiting +questioningly Tarzan's reply. The ape-man spoke to the other first +in the language of the great apes, but he soon saw that the words +carried no conviction to his listener. Then with equal futility +he tried several native dialects but to none of these did the man +respond. + +By this time Tarzan began to lose patience. He had wasted sufficient +time by the road, and as he had never depended much upon speech in +the accomplishment of his ends, he now raised his spear and advanced +toward the other. This, evidently, was a language common to both, +for instantly the fellow raised his own weapon and at the same time +a low call broke from his lips, a call which instantly brought to +action every lion in the hitherto silent circle. A volley of roars +shattered the silence of the forest and simultaneously lions sprang +into view upon all sides as they closed in rapidly upon their +quarry. The man who had called them stepped back, his teeth bared +in a mirthless grin. + +It was then that Tarzan first noticed that the fellow's upper canines +were unusually long and exceedingly sharp. It was just a flashing +glimpse he got of them as he leaped agilely from the ground and, to +the consternation of both the lions and their master, disappeared +in the foliage of the lower terrace, flinging back over his shoulder +as he swung rapidly away: "I am Tarzan of the Apes; mighty hunter; +mighty fighter! None in the jungle more powerful, none more cunning +than Tarzan!" + +A short distance beyond the point at which they had surrounded him, +Tarzan came to the trail again and sought for the spoor of Bertha +Kircher and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick. He found them quickly and +continued upon his search for the two. The spoor lay directly along +the trail for another half-mile when the way suddenly debouched +from the forest into open land and there broke upon the astonished +view of the ape-man the domes and minarets of a walled city. + +Directly before him in the wall nearest him Tarzan saw a low-arched +gateway to which a well-beaten trail led from that which he had +been following. In the open space between the forest and the city +walls, quantities of garden stuff was growing, while before him +at his feet, in an open man-made ditch, ran a stream of water! The +plants in the garden were laid out in well-spaced, symmetrical rows +and appeared to have been given excellent attention and cultivation. +Tiny streams were trickling between the rows from the main ditch +before him and at some distance to his right he could see people +at work among the plants. + +The city wall appeared to be about thirty feet in height, its +plastered expanse unbroken except by occasional embrasures. Beyond +the wall rose the domes of several structures and numerous minarets +dotted the sky line of the city. The largest and central dome +appeared to be gilded, while others were red, or blue, or yellow. +The architecture of the wall itself was of uncompromising simplicity. +It was of a cream shade and appeared to be plastered and painted. +At its base was a line of well-tended shrubs and at some distance +towards its eastern extremity it was vine covered to the top. + +As he stood in the shadow of the trail, his keen eyes taking in every +detail of the picture before him, he became aware of the approach +of a party in his rear and there was borne to him the scent of the +man and the lions whom he had so readily escaped. Taking to the +trees Tarzan moved a short distance to the west and, finding a +comfortable crotch at the edge of the forest where he could watch +the trail leading through the gardens to the city gate, he awaited +the return of his would-be captors. And soon they came--the strange +man followed by the pack of great lions. Like dogs they moved along +behind him down the trail among the gardens to the gate. + +Here the man struck upon the panels of the door with the butt of +his spear, and when it opened in response to his signal he passed +in with his lions. Beyond the open door Tarzan, from his distant +perch, caught but a fleeting glimpse of life within the city, just +enough to indicate that there were other human creatures who abode +there, and then the door closed. + +Through that door he knew that the girl and the man whom he sought +to succor had been taken into the city. What fate lay in store +for them or whether already it had been meted out to them he could +not even guess, nor where, within that forbidding wall, they were +incarcerated he could not know. But of one thing he was assured: +that if he were to aid them he could not do it from outside the +wall. He must gain entrance to the city first, nor did he doubt, +that once within, his keen senses would eventually reveal the +whereabouts of those whom he sought. + +The low sun was casting long shadows across the gardens when Tarzan +saw the workers returning from the eastern field. A man came first, +and as he came he lowered little gates along the large ditch of +running water, shutting off the streams that had run between the rows +of growing plants; and behind him came other men carrying burdens +of fresh vegetables in great woven baskets upon their shoulders. +Tarzan had not realized that there had been so many men working in +the field, but now as he sat there at the close of the day he saw +a procession filing in from the east, bearing the tools and the +produce back into the city. + +And then, to gain a better view, the ape-man ascended to the topmost +branches of a tall tree where he overlooked the nearer wall. From +this point of vantage he saw that the city was long and narrow, and +that while the outer walls formed a perfect rectangle, the streets +within were winding. Toward the center of the city there appeared +to be a low, white building around which the larger edifices of +the city had been built, and here, in the fast-waning light, Tarzan +thought that between two buildings he caught the glint of water, +but of that he was not sure. His experience of the centers of +civilization naturally inclined him to believe that this central +area was a plaza about which the larger buildings were grouped +and that there would be the most logical place to search first for +Bertha Kircher and her companion. + +And then the sun went down and darkness quickly enveloped the +city--a darkness that was accentuated for the ape-man rather than +relieved by the artificial lights which immediately appeared in +many of the windows visible to him. + +Tarzan had noticed that the roofs of most of the buildings were +flat, the few exceptions being those of what he imagined to be the +more pretentious public structures. How this city had come to exist +in this forgotten part of unexplored Africa the ape-man could not +conceive. Better than another, he realized something of the unsolved +secrets of the Great Dark Continent, enormous areas of which have +as yet been untouched by the foot of civilized man. Yet he could +scarce believe that a city of this size and apparently thus well +constructed could have existed for the generations that it must +have been there, without intercourse with the outer world. Even +though it was surrounded by a trackless desert waste, as he knew +it to be, he could not conceive that generation after generation +of men could be born and die there without attempting to solve the +mysteries of the world beyond the confines of their little valley. + +And yet, here was the city surrounded by tilled land and filled +with people! + +With the coming of night there arose throughout the jungle the cries +of the great cats, the voice of Numa blended with that of Sheeta, +and the thunderous roars of the great males reverberated through +the forest until the earth trembled, and from within the city came +the answering roars of other lions. + +A simple plan for gaining entrance to the city had occurred to +Tarzan, and now that darkness had fallen he set about to put it +into effect. Its success hinged entirely upon the strength of the +vines he had seen surmounting the wall toward the east. In this +direction he made his way, while from out of the forest about him +the cries of the flesh-eaters increased in volume and ferocity. A +quarter of a mile intervened between the forest and the city wall--a +quarter of a mile of cultivated land unrelieved by a single tree. +Tarzan of the Apes realized his limitations and so he knew that +it would undoubtedly spell death for him to be caught in the open +space by one of the great black lions of the forest if, as he had +already surmised, Numa of the pit was a specimen of the forest lion +of the valley. + +He must, therefore, depend entirely upon his cunning and his speed, +and upon the chance that the vine would sustain his weight. + +He moved through the middle terrace, where the way is always +easiest, until he reached a point opposite the vine-clad portion +of the wall, and there he waited, listening and scenting, until he +might assure himself that there was no Numa within his immediate +vicinity, or, at least, none that sought him. And when he was quite +sure that there was no lion close by in the forest, and none in +the clearing between himself and the wall, he dropped lightly to +the ground and moved stealthily out into the open. + +The rising moon, just topping the eastern cliffs, cast its bright +rays upon the long stretch of open garden beneath the wall. And, too, +it picked out in clear relief for any curious eyes that chanced to +be cast in that direction, the figure of the giant ape-man moving +across the clearing. It was only chance, of course, that a great +lion hunting at the edge of the forest saw the figure of the man +halfway between the forest and the wall. Suddenly there broke upon +Tarzan's ears a menacing sound. It was not the roar of a hungry +lion, but the roar of a lion in rage, and, as he glanced back in +the direction from which the sound came, he saw a huge beast moving +out from the shadow of the forest toward him. + +Even in the moonlight and at a distance Tarzan saw that the lion +was huge; that it was indeed another of the black-maned monsters +similar to Numa of the pit. For an instant he was impelled to turn +and fight, but at the same time the thought of the helpless girl +imprisoned in the city flashed through his brain and, without an +instant's hesitation, Tarzan of the Apes wheeled and ran for the +wall. Then it was that Numa charged. + +Numa, the lion, can run swiftly for a short distance, but he lacks +endurance. For the period of an ordinary charge he can cover the +ground with greater rapidity possibly than any other creature in +the world. Tarzan, on the other hand, could run at great speed for +long distances, though never as rapidly as Numa when the latter +charged. + +The question of his fate, then, rested upon whether, with his start +he could elude Numa for a few seconds; and, if so, if the lion would +then have sufficient stamina remaining to pursue him at a reduced +gait for the balance of the distance to the wall. + +Never before, perhaps, was staged a more thrilling race, and yet it +was run with only the moon and stars to see. Alone and in silence +the two beasts sped across the moonlit clearing. Numa gained with +appalling rapidity upon the fleeing man, yet at every bound Tarzan +was nearer to the vine-clad wall. Once the ape-man glanced back. +Numa was so close upon him that it seemed inevitable that at the +next bound he should drag him down; so close was he that the ape-man +drew his knife as he ran, that he might at least give a good account +of himself in the last moments of his life. + +But Numa had reached the limit of his speed and endurance. Gradually +he dropped behind but he did not give up the pursuit, and now Tarzan +realized how much hinged upon the strength of the untested vines. + +If, at the inception of the race, only Goro and the stars had looked +down upon the contestants, such was not the case at its finish, +since from an embrasure near the summit of the wall two close-set +black eyes peered down upon the two. Tarzan was a dozen yards +ahead of Numa when he reached the wall. There was no time to stop +and institute a search for sturdy stems and safe handholds. His +fate was in the hands of chance and with the realization he gave a +final spurt and running catlike up the side of the wall among the +vines, sought with his hands for something that would sustain his +weight. Below him Numa leaped also. + + + + +Chapter XVIII + +Among the Maniacs + + +As the lions swarmed over her protectors, Bertha Kircher shrank +back in the cave in a momentary paralysis of fright super-induced, +perhaps, by the long days of terrific nerve strain which she had +undergone. + +Mingled with the roars of the lions had been the voices of men, +and presently out of the confusion and turmoil she felt the near +presence of a human being, and then hands reached forth and seized +her. It was dark and she could see but little, nor any sign of the +English officer or the ape-man. The man who seized her kept the +lions from her with what appeared to be a stout spear, the haft of +which he used to beat off the beasts. The fellow dragged her from +the cavern the while he shouted what appeared to be commands and +warnings to the lions. + +Once out upon the light sands of the bottom of the gorge objects +became more distinguishable, and then she saw that there were +other men in the party and that two half led and half carried the +stumbling figure of a third, whom she guessed must be Smith-Oldwick. + +For a time the lions made frenzied efforts to reach the two captives +but always the men with them succeeded in beating them off. The +fellows seemed utterly unafraid of the great beasts leaping and +snarling about them, handling them much the same as one might handle +a pack of obstreperous dogs. Along the bed of the old watercourse +that once ran through the gorge they made their way, and as the +first faint lightening of the eastern horizon presaged the coming +dawn, they paused for a moment upon the edge of a declivity, which +appeared to the girl in the strange light of the waning night as a +vast, bottomless pit; but, as their captors resumed their way and +the light of the new day became stronger, she saw that they were +moving downward toward a dense forest. + +Once beneath the over-arching trees all was again Cimmerian darkness, +nor was the gloom relieved until the sun finally arose beyond the +eastern cliffs, when she saw that they were following what appeared +to be a broad and well-beaten game trail through a forest of great +trees. The ground was unusually dry for an African forest and +the underbrush, while heavily foliaged, was not nearly so rank +and impenetrable as that which she had been accustomed to find +in similar woods. It was as though the trees and the bushes grew +in a waterless country, nor was there the musty odor of decaying +vegetation or the myriads of tiny insects such as are bred in damp +places. + +As they proceeded and the sun rose higher, the voices of the +arboreal jungle life rose in discordant notes and loud chattering +about them. Innumerable monkeys scolded and screamed in the branches +overhead, while harsh-voiced birds of brilliant plumage darted +hither and thither. She noticed presently that their captors often +cast apprehensive glances in the direction of the birds and on +numerous occasions seemed to be addressing the winged denizens of +the forest. + +One incident made a marked impression on her. The man who immediately +preceded her was a fellow of powerful build, yet, when a brilliantly +colored parrot swooped downward toward him, he dropped upon his knees +and covering his face with his arms bent forward until his head +touched the ground. Some of the others looked at him and laughed +nervously. Presently the man glanced upward and seeing that the +bird had gone, rose to his feet and continued along the trail. + +It was at this brief halt that Smith-Oldwick was brought to her +side by the men who had been supporting him. He had been rather +badly mauled by one of the lions; but was now able to walk alone, +though he was extremely weak from shock and loss of blood. + +"Pretty mess, what?" he remarked with a wry smile, indicating his +bloody and disheveled state. + +"It is terrible," said the girl. "I hope you are not suffering." + +"Not as much as I should have expected," he replied, "but I feel +as weak as a fool. What sort of creatures are these beggars, anyway?" + +"I don't know," she replied, "there is something terribly uncanny +about their appearance." + +The man regarded one of their captors closely for a moment and +then, turning to the girl asked, "Did you ever visit a madhouse?" + +She looked up at him in quick understanding and with a horrified +expression in her eyes. "That's it!" she cried. + +"They have all the earmarks," he said. "Whites of the eyes showing +all around the irises, hair growing stiffly erect from the scalp +and low down upon the forehead--even their mannerisms and their +carriage are those of maniacs." + +The girl shuddered. + +"Another thing about them," continued the Englishman, "that doesn't +appear normal is that they are afraid of parrots and utterly fearless +of lions." + +"Yes," said the girl; "and did you notice that the birds seem utterly +fearless of them--really seem to hold them in contempt? Have you +any idea what language they speak?" + +"No," said the man, "I have been trying to figure that out. It's not +like any of the few native dialects of which I have any knowledge." + +"It doesn't sound at all like the native language," said the girl, +"but there is something familiar about it. You know, every now and +then I feel that I am just on the verge of understanding what they +are saying, or at least that somewhere I have heard their tongue +before, but final recognition always eludes me." + +"I doubt if you ever heard their language spoken," said the man. +"These people must have lived in this out-of-the-way valley for +ages and even if they had retained the original language of their +ancestors without change, which is doubtful, it must be some tongue +that is no longer spoken in the outer world." + +At one point where a stream of water crossed the trail the party +halted while the lions and the men drank. They motioned to their +captives to drink too, and as Bertha Kircher and Smith-Oldwick, +lying prone upon the ground drank from the clear, cool water of the +rivulet, they were suddenly startled by the thunderous roar of a +lion a short distance ahead of them. Instantly the lions with them +set up a hideous response, moving restlessly to and fro with their +eyes always either turned in the direction from which the roar had +come or toward their masters, against whom the tawny beasts slunk. +The men loosened the sabers in their scabbards, the weapons that +had aroused Smith-Oldwick's curiosity as they had Tarzan's, and +grasped their spears more firmly. + +Evidently there were lions and lions, and while they evinced no +fear of the beasts which accompanied them, it was quite evident +that the voice of the newcomer had an entirely different effect +upon them, although the men seemed less terrified than the lions. +Neither, however, showed any indication of an inclination to flee; +on the contrary the entire party advanced along the trail in the +direction of the menacing roars, and presently there appeared in +the center of the path a black lion of gigantic proportions. To +Smith-Oldwick and the girl he appeared to be the same lion that +they had encountered at the plane and from which Tarzan had rescued +them. But it was not Numa of the pit, although he resembled him +closely. + +The black beast stood directly in the center of the trail lashing +his tail and growling menacingly at the advancing party. The men +urged on their own beasts, who growled and whined but hesitated +to charge. Evidently becoming impatient, and in full consciousness +of his might the intruder raised his tail stiffly erect and shot +forward. Several of the defending lions made a half-hearted attempt to +obstruct his passage, but they might as well have placed themselves +in the path of an express train, as hurling them aside the great +beast leaped straight for one of the men. A dozen spears were +launched at him and a dozen sabers leaped from their scabbards; +gleaming, razor-edged weapons they were, but for the instant rendered +futile by the terrific speed of the charging beast. + +Two of the spears entering his body but served to further enrage +him as, with demoniacal roars, he sprang upon the hapless man he +had singled out for his prey. Scarcely pausing in his charge he +seized the fellow by the shoulder and, turning quickly at right +angles, leaped into the concealing foliage that flanked the trail, +and was gone, bearing his victim with him. + +So quickly had the whole occurrence transpired that the formation +of the little party was scarcely altered. There had been no +opportunity for flight, even if it had been contemplated; and now +that the lion was gone with his prey the men made no move to pursue +him. They paused only long enough to recall the two or three of +their lions that had scattered and then resumed the march along +the trail. + +"Might be an everyday occurrence from all the effect it has on +them," remarked Smith-Oldwick to the girl. + +"Yes," she said. "They seem to be neither surprised nor disconcerted, +and evidently they are quite sure that the lion, having got what +he came for, will not molest them further." + +"I had thought," said the Englishman, "that the lions of the Wamabo +country were about the most ferocious in existence, but they are +regular tabby cats by comparison with these big black fellows. +Did you ever see anything more utterly fearless or more terribly +irresistible than that charge?" + +For a while, as they walked side by side, their thoughts and +conversation centered upon this latest experience, until the trail +emerging from the forest opened to their view a walled city and an +area of cultivated land. Neither could suppress an exclamation of +surprise. + +"Why, that wall is a regular engineering job," exclaimed Smith-Oldwick. + +"And look at the domes and minarets of the city beyond," cried the +girl. "There must be a civilized people beyond that wall. Possibly +we are fortunate to have fallen into their hands." + +Smith-Oldwick shrugged his shoulders. "I hope so," he said, "though +I am not at all sure about people who travel about with lions and +are afraid of parrots. There must be something wrong with them." + +The party followed the trail across the field to an arched gateway +which opened at the summons of one of their captors, who beat upon +the heavy wooden panels with his spear. Beyond, the gate opened +into a narrow street which seemed but a continuation of the jungle +trail leading from the forest. Buildings on either hand adjoined +the wall and fronted the narrow, winding street, which was only +visible for a short distance ahead. The houses were practically +all two-storied structures, the upper stories flush with the street +while the walls of the first story were set back some ten feet, +a series of simple columns and arches supporting the front of the +second story and forming an arcade on either side of the narrow +thoroughfare. + +The pathway in the center of the street was unpaved, but the floors +of the arcades were cut stone of various shapes and sizes but all +carefully fitted and laid without mortar. These floors gave evidence +of great antiquity, there being a distinct depression down the +center as though the stone had been worn away by the passage of +countless sandaled feet during the ages that it had lain there. + +There were few people astir at this early hour, and these were of +the same type as their captors. At first those whom they saw were +only men, but as they went deeper into the city they came upon a +few naked children playing in the soft dust of the roadway. Many +they passed showed the greatest surprise and curiosity in the +prisoners, and often made inquiries of the guards, which the two +assumed must have been in relation to themselves, while others +appeared not to notice them at all. + +"I wish we could understand their bally language," exclaimed +Smith-Oldwick. + +"Yes," said the girl, "I would like to ask them what they are going +to do with us." + +"That would be interesting," said the man. "I have been doing +considerable wondering along that line myself." + +"I don't like the way their canine teeth are filed," said the girl. +"It's too suggestive of some of the cannibals I have seen." + +"You don't really believe they are cannibals, do you?" asked the +man. "You don't think white people are ever cannibals, do you?" + +"Are these people white?" asked the girl. + +"They're not Negroes, that's certain," rejoined the man. "Their +skin is yellow, but yet it doesn't resemble the Chinese exactly, +nor are any of their features Chinese." + +It was at this juncture that they caught their first glimpse of a +native woman. She was similar in most respects to the men though +her stature was smaller and her figure more symmetrical. Her face +was more repulsive than that of the men, possibly because of the fact +that she was a woman, which rather accentuated the idiosyncrasies +of eyes, pendulous lip, pointed tusks and stiff, low-growing hair. +The latter was longer than that of the men and much heavier. It +hung about her shoulders and was confined by a colored bit of some +lacy fabric. Her single garment appeared to be nothing more than +a filmy scarf which was wound tightly around her body from below +her naked breasts, being caught up some way at the bottom near her +ankles. Bits of shiny metal resembling gold, ornamented both the +headdress and the skirt. Otherwise the woman was entirely without +jewelry. Her bare arms were slender and shapely and her hands and +feet well proportioned and symmetrical. + +She came close to the party as they passed her, jabbering to the +guards who paid no attention to her. The prisoners had an opportunity +to observe her closely as she followed at their side for a short +distance. + +"The figure of a houri," remarked Smith-Oldwick, "with the face of +an imbecile." + +The street they followed was intersected at irregular intervals by +crossroads which, as they glanced down them, proved to be equally +as tortuous as that through which they were being conducted. The +houses varied but little in design. Occasionally there were bits +of color, or some attempt at other architectural ornamentation. +Through open windows and doors they could see that the walls of +the houses were very thick and that all apertures were quite small, +as though the people had built against extreme heat, which they +realized must have been necessary in this valley buried deep in an +African desert. + +Ahead they occasionally caught glimpses of larger structures, and +as they approached them, came upon what was evidently a part of +the business section of the city. There were numerous small shops +and bazaars interspersed among the residences, and over the doors +of these were signs painted in characters strongly suggesting Greek +origin and yet it was not Greek as both the Englishman and the girl +knew. + +Smith-Oldwick was by this time beginning to feel more acutely the +pain of his wounds and the consequent weakness that was greatly +aggravated by loss of blood. He staggered now occasionally and the +girl, seeing his plight, offered him her arm. + +"No," he expostulated, "you have passed through too much yourself +to have any extra burden imposed upon you." But though he made a +valiant effort to keep up with their captors he occasionally lagged, +and upon one such occasion the guards for the first time showed +any disposition toward brutality. + +It was a big fellow who walked at Smith-Oldwick's left. Several +times he took hold of the Englishman's arm and pushed him forward +not ungently, but when the captive lagged again and again the +fellow suddenly, and certainly with no just provocation, flew into +a perfect frenzy of rage. He leaped upon the wounded man, striking +him viciously with his fists and, bearing him to the ground, grasped +his throat in his left hand while with his right he drew his long +sharp saber. Screaming terribly he waved the blade above his head. + +The others stopped and turned to look upon the encounter with no +particular show of interest. It was as though one of the party had +paused to readjust a sandal and the others merely waited until he +was ready to march on again. + +But if their captors were indifferent, Bertha Kircher was not. The +close-set blazing eyes, the snarling fanged face, and the frightful +screams filled her with horror, while the brutal and wanton attack +upon the wounded man aroused within her the spirit of protection +for the weak that is inherent in all women. Forgetful of everything +other than that a weak and defenseless man was being brutally murdered +before her eyes, the girl cast aside discretion and, rushing to +Smith-Oldwick's assistance, seized the uplifted sword arm of the +shrieking creature upon the prostrate Englishman. + +Clinging desperately to the fellow she surged backward with all her +weight and strength with the result that she overbalanced him and +sent him sprawling to the pavement upon his back. In his efforts +to save himself he relaxed his grasp upon the grip of his saber +which had no sooner fallen to the ground than it was seized upon by +the girl. Standing erect beside the prostrate form of the English +officer Bertha Kircher, the razor-edged weapon grasped firmly in +her hand, faced their captors. + +She was a brave figure; even her soiled and torn riding togs and +disheveled hair detracted nothing from her appearance. The creature +she had felled scrambled quickly to his feet and in the instant +his whole demeanor changed. From demoniacal rage he became suddenly +convulsed with hysterical laughter although it was a question in +the girl's mind as to which was the more terrifying. His companions +stood looking on with vacuous grins upon their countenances, while +he from whom the girl had wrested the weapon leaped up and down +shrieking with laughter. If Bertha Kircher had needed further +evidence to assure her that they were in the hands of a mentally +deranged people the man's present actions would have been sufficient +to convince her. The sudden uncontrolled rage and now the equally +uncontrolled and mirthless laughter but emphasized the facial +attributes of idiocy. + +Suddenly realizing how helpless she was in the event any one of the +men should seek to overpower her, and moved by a sudden revulsion +of feeling that brought on almost a nausea of disgust, the girl +hurled the weapon upon the ground at the feet of the laughing maniac +and, turning, kneeled beside the Englishman. + +"It was wonderful of you," he said, "but you shouldn't have done +it. Don't antagonize them: I believe that they are all mad and you +know they say that one should always humor a madman." + +She shook her head. "I couldn't see him kill you," she said. + +A sudden light sprang to the man's eyes as he reached out a hand and +grasped the girl's fingers. "Do you care a little now?" he asked. +"Can't you tell me that you do--just a bit?" + +She did not withdraw her hand from his but she shook her head +sadly. "Please don't," she said. "I am sorry that I can only like +you very much." + +The light died from his eyes and his fingers relaxed their grasp on +hers. "Please forgive me," he murmured. "I intended waiting until +we got out of this mess and you were safe among your own people. +It must have been the shock or something like that, and seeing you +defending me as you did. Anyway, I couldn't help it and really it +doesn't make much difference what I say now, does it?" + +"What do you mean?" she asked quickly. + +He shrugged and smiled ruefully. "I will never leave this city +alive," he said. "I wouldn't mention it except that I realize that +you must know it as well as I. I was pretty badly torn up by the +lion and this fellow here has about finished me. There might be +some hope if we were among civilized people, but here with these +frightful creatures what care could we get even if they were +friendly?" + +Bertha Kircher knew that he spoke the truth, and yet she could not +bring herself to an admission that Smith-Oldwick would die. She +was very fond of him, in fact her great regret was that she did +not love him, but she knew that she did not. + +It seemed to her that it could be such an easy thing for any girl +to love Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick--an English officer +and a gentleman, the scion of an old family and himself a man of +ample means, young, good-looking and affable. What more could a +girl ask for than to have such a man love her and that she possessed +Smith-Oldwick's love there was no doubt in Bertha Kircher's mind. + +She sighed, and then, laying her hand impulsively on his forehead, +she whispered, "Do not give up hope, though. Try to live for my +sake and for your sake I will try to love you." + +It was as though new life had suddenly been injected into the +man's veins. His face lightened instantly and with strength that +he himself did not know he possessed he rose slowly to his feet, +albeit somewhat unsteadily. The girl helped him and supported him +after he had arisen. + +For the moment they had been entirely unconscious of their +surroundings and now as she looked at their captors she saw that +they had fallen again into their almost habitual manner of stolid +indifference, and at a gesture from one of them the march was +resumed as though no untoward incident had occurred. + +Bertha Kircher experienced a sudden reaction from the momentary +exaltation of her recent promise to the Englishman. She knew that +she had spoken more for him than for herself but now that it was +over she realized, as she had realized the moment before she had +spoken, that it was unlikely she would ever care for him the way +he wished. But what had she promised? Only that she would try to +love him. "And now?" she asked herself. + +She realized that there might be little hope of their ever returning +to civilization. Even if these people should prove friendly and +willing to let them depart in peace, how were they to find their +way back to the coast? With Tarzan dead, as she fully believed him +after having seen his body lying lifeless at the mouth of the cave +when she had been dragged forth by her captor, there seemed no +power at their command which could guide them safely. + +The two had scarcely mentioned the ape-man since their capture, for +each realized fully what his loss meant to them. They had compared +notes relative to those few exciting moments of the final attack +and capture and had found that they agreed perfectly upon all that +had occurred. Smith-Oldwick had even seen the lion leap upon Tarzan +at the instant that the former was awakened by the roars of the +charging beasts, and though the night had been dark, he had been +able to see that the body of the savage ape-man had never moved +from the instant that it had come down beneath the beast. + +And so, if at other times within the past few weeks Bertha Kircher +had felt that her situation was particularly hopeless, she was now +ready to admit that hope was absolutely extinct. + +The streets were beginning to fill with the strange men and women +of this strange city. Sometimes individuals would notice them +and seem to take a great interest in them, and again others would +pass with vacant stares, seemingly unconscious of their immediate +surroundings and paying no attention whatsoever to the prisoners. +Once they heard hideous screams up a side street, and looking they +saw a man in the throes of a demoniacal outburst of rage, similar +to that which they had witnessed in the recent attack upon +Smith-Oldwick. This creature was venting his insane rage upon a +child which he repeatedly struck and bit, pausing only long enough +to shriek at frequent intervals. Finally, just before they passed +out of sight the creature raised the limp body of the child high +above his head and cast it down with all his strength upon the +pavement, and then, wheeling and screaming madly at the top of his +lungs, he dashed headlong up the winding street. + +Two women and several men had stood looking on at the cruel attack. +They were at too great a distance for the Europeans to know whether +their facial expressions portrayed pity or rage, but be that as it +may, none offered to interfere. + +A few yards farther on a hideous hag leaned from a second story +window where she laughed and jibbered and made horrid grimaces at +all who passed her. Others went their ways apparently attending to +whatever duties called them, as soberly as the inhabitants of any +civilized community. + +"God," muttered Smith-Oldwick, "what an awful place!" + +The girl turned suddenly toward him. "You still have your pistol?" +she asked him. + +"Yes," he replied. "I tucked it inside my shirt. They did not +search me and it was too dark for them to see whether I carried any +weapons or not. So I hid it in the hope that I might get through +with it." + +She moved closer to him and took hold of his hand. "Save one +cartridge for me, please?" she begged. + +Smith-Oldwick looked down at her and blinked his eyes very rapidly. +An unfamiliar and disconcerting moisture had come into them. He +had realized, of course, how bad a plight was theirs but somehow +it had seemed to affect him only: it did not seem possible that +anyone could harm this sweet and beautiful girl. + +And that she should have to be destroyed--destroyed by him! It +was too hideous: it was unbelievable, unthinkable! If he had been +filled with apprehension before, he was doubly perturbed now. + +"I don't believe I could do it, Bertha," he said. + +"Not even to save me from something worse?" she asked. + +He shook his head dismally. "I could never do it," he replied. + +The street that they were following suddenly opened upon a wide +avenue, and before them spread a broad and beautiful lagoon, the +quiet surface of which mirrored the clear cerulean of the sky. Here +the aspect of all their surroundings changed. The buildings were +higher and much more pretentious in design and ornamentation. +The street itself was paved in mosaics of barbaric but stunningly +beautiful design. In the ornamentation of the buildings there was +considerable color and a great deal of what appeared to be gold +leaf. In all the decorations there was utilized in various ways the +conventional figure of the parrot, and, to a lesser extent, that +of the lion and the monkey. + +Their captors led them along the pavement beside the lagoon for a +short distance and then through an arched doorway into one of the +buildings facing the avenue. Here, directly within the entrance +was a large room furnished with massive benches and tables, many of +which were elaborately hand carved with the figures of the inevitable +parrot, the lion, or the monkey, the parrot always predominating. + +Behind one of the tables sat a man who differed in no way that the +captives could discover from those who accompanied them. Before +this person the party halted, and one of the men who had brought +them made what seemed to be an oral report. Whether they were +before a judge, a military officer, or a civil dignitary they could +not know, but evidently he was a man of authority, for, after +listening to whatever recital was being made to him the while +he closely scrutinized the two captives, he made a single futile +attempt to converse with them and then issued some curt orders to +him who had made the report. + +Almost immediately two of the men approached Bertha Kircher and +signaled her to accompany them. Smith-Oldwick started to follow her +but was intercepted by one of their guards. The girl stopped then +and turned back, at the same time looking at the man at the table +and making signs with her hands, indicating, as best she could, +that she wished Smith-Oldwick to remain with her, but the fellow +only shook his head negatively and motioned to the guards to remove +her. The Englishman again attempted to follow but was restrained. +He was too weak and helpless even to make an attempt to enforce +his wishes. He thought of the pistol inside his shirt and then of +the futility of attempting to overcome an entire city with the few +rounds of ammunition left to him. + +So far, with the single exception of the attack made upon him, they +had no reason to believe that they might not receive fair treatment +from their captors, and so he reasoned that it might be wiser to +avoid antagonizing them until such a time as he became thoroughly +convinced that their intentions were entirely hostile. He saw the +girl led from the building and just before she disappeared from +his view she turned and waved her hand to him: + +"Good luck!" she cried, and was gone. + +The lions that had entered the building with the party had, during +their examination by the man at the table, been driven from the +apartment through a doorway behind him. Toward this same doorway +two of the men now led Smith-Oldwick. He found himself in a long +corridor from the sides of which other doorways opened, presumably +into other apartments of the building. At the far end of the corridor +he saw a heavy grating beyond which appeared an open courtyard. +Into this courtyard the prisoner was conducted, and as he entered +it with the two guards he found himself in an opening which was +bounded by the inner walls of the building. It was in the nature +of a garden in which a number of trees and flowering shrubs grew. +Beneath several of the trees were benches and there was a bench +along the south wall, but what aroused his most immediate attention +was the fact that the lions who had assisted in their capture and +who had accompanied them upon the return to the city, lay sprawled +about upon the ground or wandered restlessly to and fro. + +Just inside the gate his guard halted. The two men exchanged a few +words and then turned and reentered the corridor. The Englishman +was horror-stricken as the full realization of his terrible plight +forced itself upon his tired brain. He turned and seized the grating +in an attempt to open it and gain the safety of the corridor, but +he found it securely locked against his every effort, and then he +called aloud to the retreating figure of the men within. The only +reply he received was a high-pitched, mirthless laugh, and then +the two passed through the doorway at the far end of the corridor +and he was alone with the lions. + + + + +Chapter XIX + +The Queen's Story + + +In the meantime Bertha Kircher was conducted the length of the +plaza toward the largest and most pretentious of the buildings +surrounding it. This edifice covered the entire width of one end +of the plaza. It was several stories in height, the main entrance +being approached by a wide flight of stone steps, the bottom of +which was guarded by enormous stone lions, while at the top there +were two pedestals flanking the entrance and of the same height, +upon each of which was the stone image of a large parrot. As the +girl neared these latter images she saw that the capital of each +column was hewn into the semblance of a human skull upon which +the parrots perched. Above the arched doorway and upon the walls +of the building were the figures of other parrots, of lions, and +of monkeys. Some of these were carved in bas-relief; others were +delineated in mosaics, while still others appeared to have been +painted upon the surface of the wall. + +The colorings of the last were apparently much subdued by age +with the result that the general effect was soft and beautiful. +The sculpturing and mosaic work were both finely executed, giving +evidence of a high degree of artistic skill. Unlike the first +building into which she had been conducted, the entrance to which +had been doorless, massive doors closed the entrance which she now +approached. In the niches formed by the columns which supported +the door's arch, and about the base of the pedestals of the stone +parrots, as well as in various other places on the broad stairway, +lolled some score of armed men. The tunics of these were all of a +vivid yellow and upon the breast and back of each was embroidered +the figure of a parrot. + +As she was conducted up the stairway one of these yellow-coated +warriors approached and halted her guides at the top of the steps. +Here they exchanged a few words and while they were talking the +girl noticed that he who had halted them, as well as those whom +she could see of his companions, appeared to be, if possible, of +a lower mentality than her original captors. + +Their coarse, bristling hair grew so low upon their foreheads as, +in some instances, to almost join their eyebrows, while the irises +were smaller, exposing more of the white of the eyeball. + +After a short parley the man in charge of the doorway, for such +he seemed to be, turned and struck upon one of the panels with +the butt of his spear, at the same time calling to several of his +companions, who rose and came forward at his command. Soon the great +doors commenced slowly to swing creakingly open, and presently, +as they separated, the girl saw behind them the motive force which +operated the massive doors--to each door a half-dozen naked Negroes. + +At the doorway her two guards were turned back and their places taken +by a half dozen of the yellow-coated soldiery. These conducted her +through the doorway which the blacks, pulling upon heavy chains, +closed behind them. And as the girl watched them she noted with +horror that the poor creatures were chained by the neck to the +doors. + +Before her led a broad hallway in the center of which was a little +pool of clear water. Here again in floor and walls was repeated in +new and ever-changing combinations and designs, the parrots, the +monkeys, and the lions, but now many of the figures were of what +the girl was convinced must be gold. The walls of the corridor +consisted of a series of open archways through which, upon either +side, other spacious apartments were visible. The hallway was +entirely unfurnished, but the rooms on either side contained benches +and tables. Glimpses of some of the walls revealed the fact that +they were covered with hangings of some colored fabric, while upon +the floors were thick rugs of barbaric design and the skins of +black lions and beautifully marked leopards. + +The room directly to the right of the entrance was filled with men +wearing the yellow tunics of her new guard while the walls were hung +with numerous spears and sabers. At the far end of the corridor a +low flight of steps led to another closed doorway. Here the guard +was again halted. One of the guards at this doorway, after receiving +the report of one of those who accompanied her, passed through the +door, leaving them standing outside. It was fully fifteen minutes +before he returned, when the guard was again changed and the girl +conducted into the chamber beyond. + +Through three other chambers and past three more massive doors, at +each of which her guard was changed, the girl was conducted before +she was ushered into a comparatively small room, back and forth +across the floor of which paced a man in a scarlet tunic, upon the +front and back of which was embroidered an enormous parrot and upon +whose head was a barbaric headdress surmounted by a stuffed parrot. + +The walls of this room were entirely hidden by hangings upon which +hundreds, even thousands, of parrots were embroidered. Inlaid in +the floor were golden parrots, while, as thickly as they could be +painted, upon the ceiling were brilliant-hued parrots with wings +outspread as though in the act of flying. + +The man himself was larger of stature than any she had yet seen +within the city. His parchment-like skin was wrinkled with age and +he was much fatter than any other of his kind that she had seen. +His bared arms, however, gave evidence of great strength and his +gait was not that of an old man. His facial expression denoted almost +utter imbecility and he was quite the most repulsive creature that +ever Bertha Kircher had looked upon. + +For several minutes after she was conducted into his presence +he appeared not to be aware that she was there but continued his +restless pacing to and fro. Suddenly, without the slightest warning, +and while he was at the far end of the room from her with his back +toward her, he wheeled and rushed madly at her. Involuntarily the +girl shrank back, extending her open palms toward the frightful +creature as though to hold him aloof but a man upon either side of +her, the two who had conducted her into the apartment, seized and +held her. + +Although he rushed violently toward her the man stopped without +touching her. For a moment his horrid white-rimmed eyes glared +searchingly into her face, immediately following which he burst +into maniacal laughter. For two or three minutes the creature gave +himself over to merriment and then, stopping as suddenly as he +had commenced to laugh, he fell to examining the prisoner. He felt +of her hair, her skin, the texture of the garment she wore and by +means of signs made her understand she was to open her mouth. In +the latter he seemed much interested, calling the attention of one +of the guards to her canine teeth and then baring his own sharp +fangs for the prisoner to see. + +Presently he resumed pacing to and fro across the floor, and it +was fully fifteen minutes before he again noticed the prisoner, and +then it was to issue a curt order to her guards, who immediately +conducted her from the apartment. + +The guards now led the girl through a series of corridors and +apartments to a narrow stone stairway which led to the floor above, +finally stopping before a small door where stood a naked Negro armed +with a spear. At a word from one of her guards the Negro opened the +door and the party passed into a low-ceiled apartment, the windows +of which immediately caught the girl's attention through the fact +that they were heavily barred. The room was furnished similarly to +those that she had seen in other parts of the building, the same +carved tables and benches, the rugs upon the floor, the decorations +upon the walls, although in every respect it was simpler than +anything she had seen on the floor below. In one corner was a low +couch covered with a rug similar to those on the floor except that +it was of a lighter texture, and upon this sat a woman. + +As Bertha Kircher's eyes alighted upon the occupant of the room +the girl gave a little gasp of astonishment, for she recognized +immediately that here was a creature more nearly of her own kind +than any she had seen within the city's walls. An old woman it was +who looked at her through faded blue eyes, sunken deep in a wrinkled +and toothless face. But the eyes were those of a sane and intelligent +creature, and the wrinkled face was the face of a white woman. + +At sight of the girl the woman rose and came forward, her gait so +feeble and unsteady that she was forced to support herself with a +long staff which she grasped in both her hands. One of the guards +spoke a few words to her and then the men turned and left the +apartment. The girl stood just within the door waiting in silence +for what might next befall her. + +The old woman crossed the room and stopped before her, raising +her weak and watery eyes to the fresh young face of the newcomer. +Then she scanned her from head to foot and once again the old eyes +returned to the girl's face. Bertha Kircher on her part was not +less frank in her survey of the little old woman. It was the latter +who spoke first. In a thin, cracked voice she spoke, hesitatingly, +falteringly, as though she were using unfamiliar words and speaking +a strange tongue. + +"You are from the outer world?" she asked in English. "God grant +that you may speak and understand this tongue." + +"English?" the girl exclaimed, "Yes, of course, I speak English." + +"Thank God!" cried the little old woman. "I did not know whether I +myself might speak it so that another could understand. For sixty +years I have spoken only their accursed gibberish. For sixty years +I have not heard a word in my native language. Poor creature! Poor +creature!" she mumbled. "What accursed misfortune threw you into +their hands?" + +"You are an English woman?" asked Bertha Kircher. "Did I understand +you aright that you are an English woman and have been here for +sixty years?" + +The old woman nodded her head affirmatively. "For sixty years I +have never been outside of this palace. Come," she said, stretching +forth a bony hand. "I am very old and cannot stand long. Come and +sit with me on my couch." + +The girl took the proffered hand and assisted the old lady back +to the opposite side of the room and when she was seated the girl +sat down beside her. + +"Poor child! Poor child!" moaned the old woman. "Far better to have +died than to have let them bring you here. At first I might have +destroyed myself but there was always the hope that someone would +come who would take me away, but none ever comes. Tell me how they +got you." + +Very briefly the girl narrated the principal incidents which led +up to her capture by some of the creatures of the city. + +"Then there is a man with you in the city?" asked the old woman. + +"Yes," said the girl, "but I do not know where he is nor what are +their intentions in regard to him. In fact, I do not know what +their intentions toward me are." + +"No one might even guess," said the old woman. "They do not know +themselves from one minute to the next what their intentions are, +but I think you can rest assured, my poor child, that you will +never see your friend again." + +"But they haven't slain you," the girl reminded her, "and you have +been their prisoner, you say, for sixty years." + +"No," replied her companion, "they have not killed me, nor will +they kill you, though God knows before you have lived long in this +horrible place you will beg them to kill you." + +"Who are they--" asked Bertha Kircher, "what kind of people? They +differ from any that I ever have seen. And tell me, too, how you +came here." + +"It was long ago," said the old woman, rocking back and forth on +the couch. "It was long ago. Oh, how long it was! I was only twenty +then. Think of it, child! Look at me. I have no mirror other than +my bath, I cannot see what I look like for my eyes are old, but +with my fingers I can feel my old and wrinkled face, my sunken eyes, +and these flabby lips drawn in over toothless gums. I am old and +bent and hideous, but then I was young and they said that I was +beautiful. No, I will not be a hypocrite; I was beautiful. My glass +told me that. + +"My father was a missionary in the interior and one day there came +a band of Arabian slave raiders. They took the men and women of +the little native village where my father labored, and they took +me, too. They did not know much about our part of the country so +they were compelled to rely upon the men of our village whom they +had captured to guide them. They told me that they never before +had been so far south and that they had heard there was a country +rich in ivory and slaves west of us. They wanted to go there and +from there they would take us north, where I was to be sold into +the harem of some black sultan. + +"They often discussed the price I would bring, and that that price +might not lessen, they guarded me jealously from one another so +the journeys were made as little fatiguing for me as possible. I +was given the best food at their command and I was not harmed. + +"But after a short time, when we had reached the confines of the +country with which the men of our village were familiar and had +entered upon a desolate and arid desert waste, the Arabs realized +at last that we were lost. But they still kept on, ever toward +the west, crossing hideous gorges and marching across the face of +a burning land beneath the pitiless sun. The poor slaves they had +captured were, of course, compelled to carry all the camp equipage +and loot and thus heavily burdened, half starved and without water, +they soon commenced to die like flies. + +"We had not been in the desert land long before the Arabs were +forced to kill their horses for food, and when we reached the first +gorge, across which it would have been impossible to transport the +animals, the balance of them were slaughtered and the meat loaded +upon the poor staggering blacks who still survived. + +"Thus we continued for two more days and now all but a handful of +blacks were dead, and the Arabs themselves had commenced to succumb +to hunger and thirst and the intense heat of the desert. As far as +the eye could reach back toward the land of plenty from whence we +had come, our route was marked by circling vultures in the sky and +by the bodies of the dead who lay down in the trackless waste for +the last time. The ivory had been abandoned tusk by tusk as the +blacks gave out, and along the trail of death was strewn the camp +equipage and the horse trappings of a hundred men. + +"For some reason the Arab chief favored me to the last, possibly +with the idea that of all his other treasures I could be most easily +transported, for I was young and strong and after the horses were +killed I had walked and kept up with the best of the men. We English, +you know, are great walkers, while these Arabians had never walked +since they were old enough to ride a horse. + +"I cannot tell you how much longer we kept on but at last, with +our strength almost gone, a handful of us reached the bottom of a +deep gorge. To scale the opposite side was out of the question and +so we kept on down along the sands of what must have been the bed +of an ancient river, until finally we came to a point where we +looked out upon what appeared to be a beautiful valley in which we +felt assured that we would find game in plenty. + +"By then there were only two of us left--the chief and myself. I +do not need to tell you what the valley was, for you found it in +much the same way as I did. So quickly were we captured that it +seemed they must have been waiting for us, and I learned later that +such was the case, just as they were waiting for you. + +"As you came through the forest you must have seen the monkeys +and parrots and since you have entered the palace, how constantly +these animals, and the lions, are used in the decorations. At home +we were all familiar with talking parrots who repeated the things +that they were taught to say, but these parrots are different +in that they all talk in the same language that the people of the +city use, and they say that the monkeys talk to the parrots and the +parrots fly to the city and tell the people what the monkeys say. +And, although it is hard to believe, I have learned that this is +so, for I have lived here among them for sixty years in the palace +of their king. + +"They brought me, as they brought you, directly to the palace. The +Arabian chief was taken elsewhere. I never knew what became of him. +Ago XXV was king then. I have seen many kings since that day. He +was a terrible man; but then, they are all terrible." + +"What is the matter with them?" asked the girl. + +"They are a race of maniacs," replied the old woman. "Had you not +guessed it? Among them are excellent craftsmen and good farmers +and a certain amount of law and order, such as it is. + +"They reverence all birds, but the parrot is their chief deity. +There is one who is held here in the palace in a very beautiful +apartment. He is their god of gods. He is a very old bird. If what +Ago told me when I came is true, he must be nearly three hundred +years old by now. Their religious rites are revolting in the +extreme, and I believe that it may be the practice of these rites +through ages that has brought the race to its present condition of +imbecility. + +"And yet, as I said, they are not without some redeeming qualities. +If legend may be credited, their forebears--a little handful of +men and women who came from somewhere out of the north and became +lost in the wilderness of central Africa--found here only a barren +desert valley. To my own knowledge rain seldom, if ever, falls +here, and yet you have seen a great forest and luxuriant vegetation +outside of the city as well as within. This miracle is accomplished +by the utilization of natural springs which their ancestors developed, +and upon which they have improved to such an extent that the entire +valley receives an adequate amount of moisture at all times. + +"Ago told me that many generations before his time the forest was +irrigated by changing the course of the streams which carried the +spring water to the city but that when the trees had sent their +roots down to the natural moisture of the soil and required no +further irrigation, the course of the stream was changed and other +trees were planted. And so the forest grew until today it covers +almost the entire floor of the valley except for the open space +where the city stands. I do not know that this is true. It may be +that the forest has always been here, but it is one of their legends +and it is borne out by the fact that there is not sufficient rainfall +here to support vegetation. + +"They are peculiar people in many respects, not only in their form +of worship and religious rites but also in that they breed lions +as other people breed cattle. You have seen how they use some of +these lions but the majority of them they fatten and eat. At first, +I imagine, they ate lion meat as a part of their religious ceremony +but after many generations they came to crave it so that now it is +practically the only flesh they eat. They would, of course, rather +die than eat the flesh of a bird, nor will they eat monkey's meat, +while the herbivorous animals they raise only for milk, hides, +and flesh for the lions. Upon the south side of the city are the +corrals and pastures where the herbivorous animals are raised. +Boar, deer, and antelope are used principally for the lions, while +goats are kept for milk for the human inhabitants of the city." + +"And you have lived here all these years," exclaimed the girl, +"without ever seeing one of your own kind?" + +The old woman nodded affirmatively. + +"For sixty years you have lived here," continued Bertha Kircher, +"and they have not harmed you!" + +"I did not say they had not harmed me," said the old woman, "they +did not kill me, that is all." + +"What"--the girl hesitated--"what," she continued at last, "was +your position among them? Pardon me," she added quickly, "I think +I know but I should like to hear from your own lips, for whatever +your position was, mine will doubtless be the same." + +The old woman nodded. "Yes," she said, "doubtless; if they can keep +you away from the women." + +"What do you mean?" asked the girl. + +"For sixty years I have never been allowed near a woman. They would +kill me, even now, if they could reach me. The men are frightful, +God knows they are frightful! But heaven keep you from the women!" + +"You mean," asked the girl, "that the men will not harm me?" + +"Ago XXV made me his queen," said the old woman. "But he had many +other queens, nor were they all human. He was not murdered for ten +years after I came here. Then the next king took me, and so it has +been always. I am the oldest queen now. Very few of their women live +to a great age. Not only are they constantly liable to assassination +but, owing to their subnormal mentalities, they are subject to +periods of depression during which they are very likely to destroy +themselves." + +She turned suddenly and pointed to the barred windows. "You see +this room," she said, "with the black eunuch outside? Wherever +you see these you will know that there are women, for with very +few exceptions they are never allowed out of captivity. They are +considered and really are more violent than the men." + +For several minutes the two sat in silence, and then the younger +woman turned to the older. + +"Is there no way to escape?" she asked. + +The old woman pointed again to the barred windows and then to the +door, saying: "And there is the armed eunuch. And if you should +pass him, how could you reach the street? And if you reached the +street, how could you pass through the city to the outer wall? And +even if, by some miracle, you should gain the outer wall, and, by +another miracle, you should be permitted to pass through the gate, +could you ever hope to traverse the forest where the great black +lions roam and feed upon men? No!" she exclaimed, answering her +own question, "there is no escape, for after one had escaped from +the palace and the city and the forest it would be but to invite +death in the frightful desert land beyond. + +"In sixty years you are the first to find this buried city. In +a thousand no denizen of this valley has ever left it, and within +the memory of man, or even in their legends, none had found them +prior to my coming other than a single warlike giant, the story of +whom has been handed down from father to son. + +"I think from the description that he must have been a Spaniard, +a giant of a man in buckler and helmet, who fought his way through +the terrible forest to the city gate, who fell upon those who were +sent out to capture him and slew them with his mighty sword. And +when he had eaten of the vegetables from the gardens, and the fruit +from the trees and drank of the water from the stream, he turned +about and fought his way back through the forest to the mouth of +the gorge. But though he escaped the city and the forest he did +not escape the desert. For a legend runs that the king, fearful +that he would bring others to attack them, sent a party after him +to slay him. + +"For three weeks they did not find him, for they went in the wrong +direction, but at last they came upon his bones picked clean by +the vultures, lying a day's march up the same gorge through which +you and I entered the valley. I do not know," continued the old +woman, "that this is true. It is just one of their many legends." + +"Yes," said the girl, "it is true. I am sure it is true, for I have +seen the skeleton and the corroded armor of this great giant." + +At this juncture the door was thrown open without ceremony and a +Negro entered bearing two flat vessels in which were several smaller +ones. These he set down on one of the tables near the women, and, +without a word, turned and left. With the entrance of the man +with the vessels, a delightful odor of cooked food had aroused the +realization in the girl's mind that she was very hungry, and at +a word from the old woman she walked to the table to examine the +viands. The larger vessels which contained the smaller ones were +of pottery while those within them were quite evidently of hammered +gold. To her intense surprise she found lying between the smaller +vessels a spoon and a fork, which, while of quaint design, were quite +as serviceable as any she had seen in more civilized communities. +The tines of the fork were quite evidently of iron or steel, the +girl did not know which, while the handle and the spoon were of +the same material as the smaller vessels. + +There was a highly seasoned stew with meat and vegetables, a dish +of fresh fruit, and a bowl of milk beside which was a little jug +containing something which resembled marmalade. So ravenous was she +that she did not even wait for her companion to reach the table, +and as she ate she could have sworn that never before had she tasted +more palatable food. The old woman came slowly and sat down on one +of the benches opposite her. + +As she removed the smaller vessels from the larger and arranged +them before her on the table a crooked smile twisted her lips as +she watched the younger woman eat. + +"Hunger is a great leveler," she said with a laugh. + +"What do you mean?" asked the girl. + +"I venture to say that a few weeks ago you would have been nauseated +at the idea of eating cat." + +"Cat?" exclaimed the girl. + +"Yes," said the old woman. "What is the difference--a lion is a +cat." + +"You mean I am eating lion now?" + +"Yes," said the old woman, "and as they prepare it, it is very +palatable. You will grow very fond of it." + +Bertha Kircher smiled a trifle dubiously. "I could not tell it," +she said, "from lamb or veal." + +"No," said the woman, "it tastes as good to me. But these lions +are very carefully kept and very carefully fed and their flesh is +so seasoned and prepared that it might be anything so far as taste +is concerned." + +And so Bertha Kircher broke her long fast upon strange fruits, lion +meat, and goat's milk. + +Scarcely had she finished when again the door opened and there +entered a yellow-coated soldier. He spoke to the old woman. + +"The king," she said, "has commanded that you be prepared and brought +to him. You are to share these apartments with me. The king knows +that I am not like his other women. He never would have dared to +put you with them. Herog XVI has occasional lucid intervals. You +must have been brought to him during one of these. Like the rest +of them he thinks that he alone of all the community is sane, but +more than once I have thought that the various men with whom I have +come in contact here, including the kings themselves, looked upon +me as, at least, less mad than the others. Yet how I have retained +my senses all these years is beyond me." + +"What do you mean by prepare?" asked Bertha Kircher. "You said +that the king had commanded I be prepared and brought to him." + +"You will be bathed and furnished with a robe similar to that which +I wear." + +"Is there no escape?" asked the girl. "Is there no way even in +which I can kill myself?" + +The woman handed her the fork. "This is the only way," she said, +"and you will notice that the tines are very short and blunt." + +The girl shuddered and the old woman laid a hand gently upon her +shoulder. "He may only look at you and send you away," she said. +"Ago XXV sent for me once, tried to talk with me, discovered +that I could not understand him and that he could not understand +me, ordered that I be taught the language of his people, and then +apparently forgot me for a year. Sometimes I do not see the king +for a long period. There was one king who ruled for five years +whom I never saw. There is always hope; even I whose very memory +has doubtless been forgotten beyond these palace walls still hope, +though none knows better how futilely." + +The old woman led Bertha Kircher to an adjoining apartment in +the floor of which was a pool of water. Here the girl bathed and +afterward her companion brought her one of the clinging garments +of the native women and adjusted it about her figure. The material +of the robe was of a gauzy fabric which accentuated the rounded +beauty of the girlish form. + +"There," said the old woman, as she gave a final pat to one of the +folds of the garment, "you are a queen indeed!" + +The girl looked down at her naked breasts and but half-concealed +limbs in horror. "They are going to lead me into the presence of +men in this half-nude condition!" she exclaimed. + +The old woman smiled her crooked smile. "It is nothing," she said. +"You will become accustomed to it as did I who was brought up in +the home of a minister of the gospel, where it was considered little +short of a crime for a woman to expose her stockinged ankle. By +comparison with what you will doubtless see and the things that +you may be called upon to undergo, this is but a trifle." + +For what seemed hours to the distraught girl she paced the floor +of her apartment, awaiting the final summons to the presence of the +mad king. Darkness had fallen and the oil flares within the palace +had been lighted long before two messengers appeared with instructions +that Herog demanded her immediate presence and that the old woman, +whom they called Xanila, was to accompany her. The girl felt some +slight relief when she discovered that she was to have at least +one friend with her, however powerless to assist her the old woman +might be. + +The messengers conducted the two to a small apartment on the floor +below. Xanila explained that this was one of the anterooms off +the main throneroom in which the king was accustomed to hold court +with his entire retinue. A number of yellow-tunicked warriors sat +about upon the benches within the room. For the most part their +eyes were bent upon the floor and their attitudes that of moody +dejection. As the two women entered several glanced indifferently +at them, but for the most part no attention was paid to them. + +While they were waiting in the anteroom there entered from another +apartment a young man uniformed similarly to the others with the +exception that upon his head was a fillet of gold, in the front of +which a single parrot feather rose erectly above his forehead. As +he entered, the other soldiers in the room rose to their feet. + +"That is Metak, one of the king's sons," Xanila whispered to the +girl. + +The prince was crossing the room toward the audience chamber when +his glance happened to fall upon Bertha Kircher. He halted in his +tracks and stood looking at her for a full minute without speaking. +The girl, embarrassed by his bold stare and her scant attire, flushed +and, dropping her gaze to the floor, turned away. Metak suddenly +commenced to tremble from head to foot and then, without warning +other than a loud, hoarse scream he sprang forward and seized the +girl in his arms. + +Instantly pandemonium ensued. The two messengers who had been charged +with the duty of conducting the girl to the king's presence danced, +shrieking, about the prince, waving their arms and gesticulating +wildly as though they would force him to relinquish her, the +while they dared not lay hands upon royalty. The other guardsmen, +as though suffering in sympathy the madness of their prince, ran +forward screaming and brandishing their sabers. + +The girl fought to release herself from the horrid embrace of the +maniac, but with his left arm about her he held her as easily as +though she had been but a babe, while with his free hand he drew +his saber and struck viciously at those nearest him. + +One of the messengers was the first to feel the keen edge of +Metak's blade. With a single fierce cut the prince drove through +the fellow's collar bone and downward to the center of his chest. +With a shrill shriek that rose above the screaming of the other +guardsmen the man dropped to the floor, and as the blood gushed +from the frightful wound he struggled to rise once more to his feet +and then sank back again and died in a great pool of his own blood. + +In the meantime Metak, still clinging desperately to the girl, +had backed toward the opposite door. At the sight of the blood two +of the guardsmen, as though suddenly aroused to maniacal frenzy, +dropped their sabers to the floor and fell upon each other with +nails and teeth, while some sought to reach the prince and some +to defend him. In a corner of the room sat one of the guardsmen +laughing uproariously and just as Metak succeeded in reaching the +door and taking the girl through, she thought that she saw another +of the men spring upon the corpse of the dead messenger and bury +his teeth in its flesh. + +During the orgy of madness Xanila had kept closely at the girl's +side but at the door of the room Metak had seen her and, wheeling +suddenly, cut viciously at her. Fortunately for Xanila she was +halfway through the door at the time, so that Metak's blade but +dented itself upon the stone arch of the portal, and then Xanila, +guided doubtless by the wisdom of sixty years of similar experiences, +fled down the corridor as fast as her old and tottering legs would +carry her. + +Metak, once outside the door, returned his saber to its scabbard +and lifting the girl bodily from the ground carried her off in the +opposite direction from that taken by Xanila. + + + + +Chapter XX + +Came Tarzan + + +Just before dark that evening, an almost exhausted flier entered +the headquarters of Colonel Capell of the Second Rhodesians and +saluted. + +"Well, Thompson," asked the superior, "what luck? The others have +all returned. Never saw a thing of Oldwick or his plane. I guess +we shall have to give it up unless you were more successful." + +"I was," replied the young officer. "I found the plane." + +"No!" ejaculated Colonel Capell. "Where was it? Any sign of Oldwick?" + +"It is in the rottenest hole in the ground you ever saw, quite a +bit inland. Narrow gorge. Saw the plane all right but can't reach +it. There was a regular devil of a lion wandering around it. I +landed near the edge of the cliff and was going to climb down and +take a look at the plane. But this fellow hung around for an hour +or more and I finally had to give it up." + +"Do you think the lions got Oldwick?" asked the colonel. + +"I doubt it," replied Lieutenant Thompson, "from the fact that there +was no indication that the lion had fed anywhere about the plane. +I arose after I found it was impossible to get down around the +plane and reconnoitered up and down the gorge. Several miles to the +south I found a small, wooded valley in the center of which--please +don't think me crazy, sir--is a regular city--streets, buildings, +a central plaza with a lagoon, good-sized buildings with domes and +minarets and all that sort of stuff." + +The elder officer looked at the younger compassionately. "You're +all wrought up, Thompson," he said. "Go and take a good sleep. You +have been on this job now for a long while and it must have gotten +on your nerves." + +The young man shook his head a bit irritably. "Pardon me, sir," he +said, "but I am telling you the truth. I am not mistaken. I circled +over the place several times. It may be that Oldwick has found his +way there--or has been captured by these people." + +"Were there people in the city?" asked the colonel. + +"Yes, I saw them in the streets." + +"Do you think cavalry could reach the valley?" asked the colonel. + +"No," replied Thompson, "the country is all cut up with these +deep gorges. Even infantry would have a devil of a time of it, and +there is absolutely no water that I could discover for at least a +two days' march." + +It was at this juncture that a big Vauxhall drew up in front of the +headquarters of the Second Rhodesians and a moment later General +Smuts alighted and entered. Colonel Capell arose from his chair and +saluted his superior, and the young lieutenant saluted and stood +at attention. + +"I was passing," said the general, "and I thought I would stop for +a chat. By the way, how is the search for Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick +progressing? I see Thompson here and I believe he was one of those +detailed to the search." + +"Yes," said Capell, "he was. He is the last to come in. He found the +lieutenant's ship," and then he repeated what Lieutenant Thompson +had reported to him. The general sat down at the table with Colonel +Capell, and together the two officers, with the assistance of the +flier, marked the approximate location of the city which Thompson +had reported he'd discovered. + +"It's a mighty rough country," remarked Smuts, "but we can't leave +a stone unturned until we have exhausted every resource to find +that boy. We will send out a small force; a small one will be more +likely to succeed than a large one. About one company, Colonel, +or say two, with sufficient motor lorries for transport of rations +and water. Put a good man in command and let him establish a base +as far to the west as the motors can travel. You can leave one +company there and send the other forward. I am inclined to believe +you can establish your base within a day's march of the city and +if such is the case the force you send ahead should have no trouble +on the score of lack of water as there certainly must be water +in the valley where the city lies. Detail a couple of planes for +reconnaissance and messenger service so that the base can keep in +touch at all times with the advance party. When can your force move +out?" + +"We can load the lorries tonight," replied Capell, "and march about +one o'clock tomorrow morning." + +"Good," said the general, "keep me advised," and returning the +others' salutes he departed. + +As Tarzan leaped for the vines he realized that the lion was +close upon him and that his life depended upon the strength of the +creepers clinging to the city walls; but to his intense relief he +found the stems as large around as a man's arm, and the tendrils +which had fastened themselves to the wall so firmly fixed, that his +weight upon the stem appeared to have no appreciable effect upon +them. + +He heard Numa's baffled roar as the lion slipped downward clawing +futilely at the leafy creepers, and then with the agility of the +apes who had reared him, Tarzan bounded nimbly aloft to the summit +of the wall. + +A few feet below him was the flat roof of the adjoining building +and as he dropped to it his back was toward the niche from which +an embrasure looked out upon the gardens and the forest beyond, so +that he did not see the figure crouching there in the dark shadow. +But if he did not see he was not long in ignorance of the fact that +he was not alone, for scarcely had his feet touched the roof when +a heavy body leaped upon him from behind and brawny arms encircled +him about the waist. + +Taken at a disadvantage and lifted from his feet, the ape-man was, +for the time being, helpless. Whatever the creature was that had +seized him, it apparently had a well-defined purpose in mind, for +it walked directly toward the edge of the roof so that it was soon +apparent to Tarzan that he was to be hurled to the pavement below--a +most efficacious manner of disposing of an intruder. That he would +be either maimed or killed the ape-man was confident; but he had +no intention of permitting his assailant to carry out the plan. + +Tarzan's arms and legs were free but he was in such a disadvantageous +position that he could not use them to any good effect. His only +hope lay in throwing the creature off its balance, and to this end +Tarzan straightened his body and leaned as far back against his +captor as he could, and then suddenly lunged forward. The result was +as satisfactory as he could possibly have hoped. The great weight +of the ape-man thrown suddenly out from an erect position caused +the other also to lunge violently forward with the result that to +save himself he involuntarily released his grasp. Catlike in his +movements, the ape-man had no sooner touched the roof than he was +upon his feet again, facing his adversary, a man almost as large +as himself and armed with a saber which he now whipped from its +scabbard. Tarzan, however, had no mind to allow the use of this +formidable weapon and so he dove for the other's legs beneath the +vicious cut that was directed at him from the side, and as a football +player tackles an opposing runner, Tarzan tackled his antagonist, +carrying him backward several yards and throwing him heavily to +the roof upon his back. + +No sooner had the man touched the roof than the ape-man was upon +his chest, one brawny hand sought and found the sword wrist and +the other the throat of the yellow-tunicked guardsman. Until then +the fellow had fought in silence but just as Tarzan's fingers +touched his throat he emitted a single piercing shriek that the +brown fingers cut off almost instantly. The fellow struggled to +escape the clutch of the naked creature upon his breast but equally +as well might he have fought to escape the talons of Numa, the +lion. + +Gradually his struggles lessened, his pin-point eyes popped from +their sockets, rolling horribly upward, while from his foam-flecked +lips his swollen tongue protruded. As his struggles ceased Tarzan +arose, and placing a foot upon the carcass of his kill, was upon +the point of screaming forth his victory cry when the thought that +the work before him required the utmost caution sealed his lips. + +Walking to the edge of the roof he looked down into the narrow, +winding street below. At intervals, apparently at each street +intersection, an oil flare sputtered dimly from brackets set +in the walls a trifle higher than a man's head. For the most part +the winding alleys were in dense shadow and even in the immediate +vicinity of the flares the illumination was far from brilliant. +In the restricted area of his vision he could see that there were +still a few of the strange inhabitants moving about the narrow +thoroughfares. + +To prosecute his search for the young officer and the girl he must +be able to move about the city as freely as possible, but to pass +beneath one of the corner flares, naked as he was except for a +loin cloth, and in every other respect markedly different from the +inhabitants of the city, would be but to court almost immediate +discovery. As these thoughts flashed through his mind and he cast +about for some feasible plan of action, his eyes fell upon the +corpse upon the roof near him, and immediately there occurred to +him the possibility of disguising himself in the raiment of his +conquered adversary. + +It required but a few moments for the ape-man to clothe himself +in the tights, sandals, and parrot emblazoned yellow tunic of the +dead soldier. Around his waist he buckled the saber belt but beneath +the tunic he retained the hunting knife of his dead father. His +other weapons he could not lightly discard, and so, in the hope +that he might eventually recover them, he carried them to the edge +of the wall and dropped them among the foliage at its base. At the +last moment he found it difficult to part with his rope, which, +with his knife, was his most accustomed weapon, and one which he +had used for the greatest length of time. He found that by removing +the saber belt he could wind the rope about his waist beneath his +tunic, and then replacing the belt still retain it entirely concealed +from chance observation. + +At last, satisfactorily disguised, and with even his shock of black +hair adding to the verisimilitude of his likeness to the natives +of the city, he sought for some means of reaching the street below. +While he might have risked a drop from the eaves of the roof he +feared to do so lest he attract the attention of passers-by, and +probable discovery. The roofs of the buildings varied in height but +as the ceilings were all low he found that he could easily travel +along the roof tops and this he did for some little distance, until +he suddenly discovered just ahead of him several figures reclining +upon the roof of a near-by building. + +He had noticed openings in each roof, evidently giving ingress to +the apartments below, and now, his advance cut off by those ahead +of him, he decided to risk the chance of reaching the street +through the interior of one of the buildings. Approaching one of +the openings he leaned over the black hole, and listened for sounds +of life in the apartment below. Neither his ears nor his nose +registered evidence of the presence of any living creature in the +immediate vicinity, and so without further hesitation the ape-man +lowered his body through the aperture and was about to drop +when his foot came in contact with the rung of a ladder, which he +immediately took advantage of to descend to the floor of the room +below. + +Here, all was almost total darkness until his eyes became accustomed +to the interior, the darkness of which was slightly alleviated +by the reflected light from a distant street flare which shone +intermittently through the narrow windows fronting the thoroughfare. +Finally, assured that the apartment was unoccupied, Tarzan sought +for a stairway to the ground floor. This he found in a dark hallway +upon which the room opened--a flight of narrow stone steps leading +downward toward the street. Chance favored him so that he reached +the shadows of the arcade without encountering any of the inmates +of the house. + +Once on the street he was not at a loss as to the direction in which +he wished to go, for he had tracked the two Europeans practically +to the gate, which he felt assured must have given them entry to +the city. His keen sense of direction and location made it possible +for him to judge with considerable accuracy the point within the +city where he might hope to pick up the spoor of those whom he +sought. + +The first need, however, was to discover a street paralleling the +northern wall along which he could make his way in the direction of +the gate he had seen from the forest. Realizing that his greatest +hope of success lay in the boldness of his operations he moved off +in the direction of the nearest street flare without making any +other attempt at concealment than keeping in the shadows of the +arcade, which he judged would draw no particular attention to him +in that he saw other pedestrians doing likewise. The few he passed +gave him no heed, and he had almost reached the nearest intersection +when he saw several men wearing yellow tunics identical to that +which he had taken from his prisoner. + +They were coming directly toward him and the ape-man saw that should +he continue on he would meet them directly at the intersection +of the two streets in the full light of the flare. His first +inclination was to go steadily on, for personally he had no objection +to chancing a scrimmage with them; but a sudden recollection of the +girl, possibly a helpless prisoner in the hands of these people, +caused him to seek some other and less hazardous plan of action. + +He had almost emerged from the shadow of the arcade into the full +light of the flare and the approaching men were but a few yards +from him, when he suddenly kneeled and pretended to adjust the +wrappings of his sandals--wrappings, which, by the way, he was +not at all sure that he had adjusted as their makers had intended +them to be adjusted. He was still kneeling when the soldiers came +abreast of him. Like the others he had passed they paid no attention +to him and the moment they were behind him he continued upon his +way, turning to the right at the intersection of the two streets. + +The street he now took was, at this point, so extremely winding +that, for the most part, it received no benefit from the flares at +either corner, so that he was forced practically to grope his way +in the dense shadows of the arcade. The street became a little +straighter just before he reached the next flare, and as he came +within sight of it he saw silhouetted against a patch of light the +figure of a lion. The beast was coming slowly down the street in +Tarzan's direction. + +A woman crossed the way directly in front of it and the lion paid +no attention to her, nor she to the lion. An instant later a little +child ran after the woman and so close did he run before the lion +that the beast was forced to turn out of its way a step to avoid +colliding with the little one. The ape-man grinned and crossed +quickly to the opposite side of the street, for his delicate senses +indicated that at this point the breeze stirring through the city +streets and deflected by the opposite wall would now blow from the +lion toward him as the beast passed, whereas if he remained upon +the side of the street upon which he had been walking when he +discovered the carnivore, his scent would have been borne to the +nostrils of the animal, and Tarzan was sufficiently jungle-wise +to realize that while he might deceive the eyes of man and beast +he could not so easily disguise from the nostrils of one of the +great cats that he was a creature of a different species from the +inhabitants of the city, the only human beings, possibly, that Numa +was familiar with. In him the cat would recognize a stranger, and, +therefore, an enemy, and Tarzan had no desire to be delayed by an +encounter with a savage lion. His ruse worked successfully, the +lion passing him with not more than a side glance in his direction. + +He had proceeded for some little distance and had about reached a +point where he judged he would find the street which led up from +the city gate when, at an intersection of two streets, his nostrils +caught the scent spoor of the girl. Out of a maze of other scent +spoors the ape-man picked the familiar odor of the girl and, a second +later, that of Smith-Oldwick. He had been forced to accomplish +it, however, by bending very low at each street intersection in +repeated attention to his sandal wrappings, bringing his nostrils +as close to the pavement as possible. + +As he advanced along the street through which the two had been +conducted earlier in the day he noted, as had they, the change +in the type of buildings as he passed from a residence district +into that portion occupied by shops and bazaars. Here the number +of flares was increased so that they appeared not only at street +intersections but midway between as well, and there were many +more people abroad. The shops were open and lighted, for with the +setting of the sun the intense heat of the day had given place to +a pleasant coolness. Here also the number of lions, roaming loose +through the thoroughfares, increased, and also for the first time +Tarzan noted the idiosyncrasies of the people. + +Once he was nearly upset by a naked man running rapidly through +the street screaming at the top of his voice. And again he nearly +stumbled over a woman who was making her way in the shadows of one +of the arcades upon all fours. At first the ape-man thought she was +hunting for something she had dropped, but as he drew to one side +to watch her, he saw that she was doing nothing of the kind--that +she had merely elected to walk upon her hands and knees rather +than erect upon her feet. In another block he saw two creatures +struggling upon the roof of an adjacent building until finally one +of them, wrenching himself free from the grasp of the other, gave +his adversary a mighty push which hurled him to the pavement below, +where he lay motionless upon the dusty road. For an instant a wild +shriek re-echoed through the city from the lungs of the victor and +then, without an instant's hesitation, the fellow leaped headfirst +to the street beside the body of his victim. A lion moved out from +the dense shadows of a doorway and approached the two bloody and +lifeless things before him. Tarzan wondered what effect the odor +of blood would have upon the beast and was surprised to see that +the animal only sniffed at the corpses and the hot red blood and +then lay down beside the two dead men. + +He had passed the lion but a short distance when his attention was +called to the figure of a man lowering himself laboriously from the +roof of a building upon the east side of the thoroughfare. Tarzan's +curiosity was aroused. + + + + +Chapter XXI + +In the Alcove + + +As Smith-Oldwick realized that he was alone and practically defenseless +in an enclosure filled with great lions he was, in his weakened +condition, almost in a state verging upon hysterical terror. +Clinging to the grating for support he dared not turn his head in +the direction of the beasts behind him. He felt his knees giving +weakly beneath him. Something within his head spun rapidly around. +He became very dizzy and nauseated and then suddenly all went +black before his eyes as his limp body collapsed at the foot of +the grating. + +How long he lay there unconscious he never knew; but as reason +slowly reasserted itself in his semi-conscious state he was aware +that he lay in a cool bed upon the whitest of linen in a bright +and cheery room, and that upon one side close to him was an open +window, the delicate hangings of which were fluttering in a soft +summer breeze which blew in from a sun-kissed orchard of ripening +fruit which he could see without--an old orchard in which soft, +green grass grew between the laden trees, and where the sun filtered +through the foliage; and upon the dappled greensward a little child +was playing with a frolicsome puppy. + +"God," thought the man, "what a horrible nightmare I have passed +through!" and then he felt a hand stroking his brow and cheek--a +cool and gentle hand that smoothed away his troubled recollections. +For a long minute Smith-Oldwick lay in utter peace and content +until gradually there was forced upon his sensibilities the fact +that the hand had become rough, and that it was no longer cool but +hot and moist; and suddenly he opened his eyes and looked up into +the face of a huge lion. + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick was not only an English +gentleman and an officer in name, he was also what these implied--a +brave man; but when he realized that the sweet picture he had looked +upon was but the figment of a dream, and that in reality he still +lay where he had fallen at the foot of the grating with a lion +standing over him licking his face, the tears sprang to his eyes +and ran down his cheeks. Never, he thought, had an unkind fate +played so cruel a joke upon a human being. + +For some time he lay feigning death while the lion, having ceased +to lick him, sniffed about his body. There are some things than which +death is to be preferred; and there came at last to the Englishman +the realization that it would be better to die swiftly than to +lie in this horrible predicament until his mind broke beneath the +strain and he went mad. + +And so, deliberately and without haste, he rose, clinging to the +grating for support. At his first move the lion growled, but after +that he paid no further attention to the man, and when at last +Smith-Oldwick had regained his feet the lion moved indifferently +away. Then it was that the man turned and looked about the enclosure. + +Sprawled beneath the shade of the trees and lying upon the long bench +beside the south wall the great beasts rested, with the exception +of two or three who moved restlessly about. It was these that the +man feared and yet when two more of them had passed him by he began +to feel reassured, recalling the fact that they were accustomed to +the presence of man. + +And yet he dared not move from the grating. As the man examined his +surroundings he noted that the branches of one of the trees near +the further wall spread close beneath an open window. If he could +reach that tree and had strength to do so, he could easily climb +out upon the branch and escape, at least, from the enclosure of the +lions. But in order to reach the tree he must pass the full length +of the enclosure, and at the very bole of the tree itself two lions +lay sprawled out in slumber. + +For half an hour the man stood gazing longingly at this seeming +avenue of escape, and at last, with a muttered oath, he straightened +up and throwing back his shoulders in a gesture of defiance, he +walked slowly and deliberately down the center of the courtyard. +One of the prowling lions turned from the side wall and moved +toward the center directly in the man's path, but Smith-Oldwick was +committed to what he considered his one chance, for even temporary +safety, and so he kept on, ignoring the presence of the beast. The +lion slouched to his side and sniffed him and then, growling, he +bared his teeth. + +Smith-Oldwick drew the pistol from his shirt. "If he has made up +his mind to kill me," he thought. "I can't see that it will make +any difference in the long run whether I infuriate him or not. The +beggar can't kill me any deader in one mood than another." + +But with the man's movement in withdrawing the weapon from his shirt +the lion's attitude suddenly altered and though he still growled +he turned and sprang away, and then at last the Englishman stood +almost at the foot of the tree that was his goal, and between him +and safety sprawled a sleeping lion. + +Above him was a limb that ordinarily he could have leaped for and +reached with ease; but weak from his wounds and loss of blood he +doubted his ability to do so now. There was even a question as to +whether he would be able to ascend the tree at all. There was just +one chance: the lowest branch left the bole within easy reach of a +man standing on the ground close to the tree's stem, but to reach +a position where the branch would be accessible he must step over +the body of a lion. Taking a deep breath he placed one foot between +the sprawled legs of the beast and gingerly raised the other to plant +it upon the opposite side of the tawny body. "What," he thought, +"if the beggar should happen to wake now?" The suggestion sent a +shudder through his frame but he did not hesitate or withdraw his +foot. Gingerly he planted it beyond the lion, threw his weight +forward upon it and cautiously brought his other foot to the side +of the first. He had passed and the lion had not awakened. + +Smith-Oldwick was weak from loss of blood and the hardships he had +undergone, but the realization of his situation impelled him to a +show of agility and energy which he probably could scarcely have +equaled when in possession of his normal strength. With his life +depending upon the success of his efforts, he swung himself quickly +to the lower branches of the tree and scrambled upward out of reach +of possible harm from the lions below--though the sudden movement +in the branches above them awakened both the sleeping beasts. The +animals raised their heads and looked questioningly up for a moment +and then lay back again to resume their broken slumber. + +So easily had the Englishman succeeded thus far that he suddenly +began to question as to whether he had at any time been in real +danger. The lions, as he knew, were accustomed to the presence of +men, but yet they were still lions and he was free to admit that +he breathed more easily now that he was safe above their clutches. + +Before him lay the open window he had seen from the ground. He +was now on a level with it and could see an apparently unoccupied +chamber beyond, and toward this he made his way along a stout +branch that swung beneath the opening. It was not a difficult feat +to reach the window, and a moment later he drew himself over the +sill and dropped into the room. + +He found himself in a rather spacious apartment, the floor of which +was covered with rugs of barbaric design, while the few pieces of +furniture were of a similar type to that which he had seen in the +room on the first floor into which he and Bertha Kircher had been +ushered at the conclusion of their journey. At one end of the room +was what appeared to be a curtained alcove, the heavy hangings of +which completely hid the interior. In the wall opposite the window +and near the alcove was a closed door, apparently the only exit +from the room. + +He could see, in the waning light without, that the close of the +day was fast approaching, and he hesitated while he deliberated the +advisability of waiting until darkness had fallen, or of immediately +searching for some means of escape from the building and the city. +He at last decided that it would do no harm to investigate beyond +the room, that he might have some idea as how best to plan his +escape after dark. To this end he crossed the room toward the door +but he had taken only a few steps when the hangings before the +alcove separated and the figure of a woman appeared in the opening. + +She was young and beautifully formed; the single drapery wound around +her body from below her breasts left no detail of her symmetrical +proportions unrevealed, but her face was the face of an imbecile. +At sight of her Smith-Oldwick halted, momentarily expecting that +his presence would elicit screams for help from her. On the contrary +she came toward him smiling, and when she was close her slender, +shapely fingers touched the sleeve of his torn blouse as a curious +child might handle a new toy, and still with the same smile she +examined him from head to foot, taking in, in childish wonderment, +every detail of his apparel. + +Presently she spoke to him in a soft, well-modulated voice which +contrasted sharply with her facial appearance. The voice and the +girlish figure harmonized perfectly and seemed to belong to each +other, while the head and face were those of another creature. +Smith-Oldwick could understand no word of what she said, but +nevertheless he spoke to her in his own cultured tone, the effect +of which upon her was evidently most gratifying, for before he +realized her intentions or could prevent her she had thrown both +arms about his neck and was kissing him with the utmost abandon. + +The man tried to free himself from her rather surprising attentions, +but she only clung more tightly to him, and suddenly, as he recalled +that he had always heard that one must humor the mentally deficient, +and at the same time seeing in her a possible agency of escape, he +closed his eyes and returned her embraces. + +It was at this juncture that the door opened and a man entered. +With the sound from the first movement of the latch, Smith-Oldwick +opened his eyes, but though he endeavored to disengage himself +from the girl he realized that the newcomer had seen their rather +compromising position. The girl, whose back was toward the door, +seemed at first not to realize that someone had entered, but when +she did she turned quickly and as her eyes fell upon the man whose +terrible face was now distorted with an expression of hideous rage +she turned, screaming, and fled toward the alcove. The Englishman, +flushed and embarrassed, stood where she had left him. With the +sudden realization of the futility of attempting an explanation, +came that of the menacing appearance of the man, whom he now +recognized as the official who had received them in the room below. +The fellow's face, livid with insane rage and, possibly, jealousy, +was twitching violently, accentuating the maniacal expression that +it habitually wore. + +For a moment he seemed paralyzed by anger, and then with a loud +shriek that rose into an uncanny wail, he drew his curved saber +and sprang toward the Englishman. To Smith-Oldwick there seemed +no possible hope of escaping the keen-edged weapon in the hands of +the infuriated man, and though he felt assured that it would draw +down upon him an equally sudden and possibly more terrible death, +he did the only thing that remained for him to do--drew his pistol +and fired straight for the heart of the oncoming man. Without even +so much as a groan the fellow lunged forward upon the floor at +Smith-Oldwick's feet--killed instantly with a bullet through the +heart. For several seconds the silence of the tomb reigned in the +apartment. + +The Englishman, standing over the prostrate figure of the dead +man, watched the door with drawn weapon, expecting momentarily to +hear the rush of feet of those whom he was sure would immediately +investigate the report of the pistol. But no sounds came from below +to indicate that anyone there had heard the explosion, and presently +the man's attention was distracted from the door to the alcove, +between the hangings of which the face of the girl appeared. The +eyes were widely dilated and the lower jaw dropped in an expression +of surprise and awe. + +The girl's gaze was riveted upon the figure upon the floor, and +presently she crept stealthily into the room and tiptoed toward +the corpse. She appeared as though constantly poised for flight, +and when she had come to within two or three feet of the body she +stopped and, looking up at Smith-Oldwick, voiced some interrogation +which he could not, of course, understand. Then she came close to +the side of the dead man and kneeling upon the floor felt gingerly +of the body. + +Presently she shook the corpse by the shoulder, and then with a +show of strength which her tenderly girlish form belied, she turned +the body over on its back. If she had been in doubt before, one +glance at the hideous features set in death must have convinced +her that life was extinct, and with the realization there broke +from her lips peal after peal of mad, maniacal laughter as with her +little hands she beat upon the upturned face and breast of the dead +man. It was a gruesome sight from which the Englishman involuntarily +drew back--a gruesome, disgusting sight such as, he realized, might +never be witnessed outside a madhouse or this frightful city. + +In the midst of her frenzied rejoicing at the death of the man, +and Smith-Oldwick could attribute her actions to no other cause, +she suddenly desisted from her futile attacks upon the insensate +flesh and, leaping to her feet, ran quickly to the door, where +she shot a wooden bolt into its socket, thus securing them from +interference from without. Then she returned to the center of the +room and spoke rapidly to the Englishman, gesturing occasionally +toward the body of the slain man. When he could not understand, +she presently became provoked and in a sudden hysteria of madness +she rushed forward as though to strike the Englishman. Smith-Oldwick +dropped back a few steps and leveled his pistol upon her. Mad though +she must have been, she evidently was not so mad but what she had +connected the loud report, the diminutive weapon, and the sudden +death of the man in whose house she dwelt, for she instantly desisted +and quite as suddenly as it had come upon her, her homicidal mood +departed. + +Again the vacuous, imbecile smile took possession of her features, +and her voice, dropping its harshness, resumed the soft, well-modulated +tones with which she had first addressed him. Now she attempted by +signs to indicate her wishes, and motioning Smith-Oldwick to follow +her she went to the hangings and opening them disclosed the alcove. +It was rather more than an alcove, being a fair-sized room heavy +with rugs and hangings and soft, pillowed couches. Turning at the +entrance she pointed to the corpse upon the floor of the outer +room, and then crossing the alcove she raised some draperies which +covered a couch and fell to the floor upon all sides, disclosing +an opening beneath the furniture. + +To this opening she pointed and then again to the corpse, indicating +plainly to the Englishman that it was her desire that the body be +hidden here. But if he had been in doubt, she essayed to dispel it +by grasping his sleeve and urging him in the direction of the body +which the two of them then lifted and half carried and half dragged +into the alcove. At first they encountered some difficulty when +they endeavored to force the body of the man into the small space +she had selected for it, but eventually they succeeded in doing +so. Smith-Oldwick was again impressed by the fiendish brutality of +the girl. In the center of the room lay a blood-stained rug which +the girl quickly gathered up and draped over a piece of furniture +in such a way that the stain was hidden. By rearranging the other +rugs and by bringing one from the alcove she restored the room to +order so no outward indication of the tragedy so recently enacted +there was apparent. + +These things attended to, and the hangings draped once more about +the couch that they might hide the gruesome thing beneath, the girl +once more threw her arms about the Englishman's neck and dragged him +toward the soft and luxurious pillows above the dead man. Acutely +conscious of the horror of his position, filled with loathing, +disgust, and an outraged sense of decency, Smith-Oldwick was also +acutely alive to the demands of self-preservation. He felt that +he was warranted in buying his life at almost any price; but there +was a point at which his finer nature rebelled. + +It was at this juncture that a loud knock sounded upon the door of +the outer room. Springing from the couch, the girl seized the man +by the arm and dragged him after her to the wall close by the head +of the couch. Here she drew back one of the hangings, revealing a +little niche behind, into which she shoved the Englishman and dropped +the hangings before him, effectually hiding him from observation +from the rooms beyond. + +He heard her cross the alcove to the door of the outer room, and +heard the bolt withdrawn followed by the voice of a man mingled +with that of the girl. The tones of both seemed rational so that +he might have been listening to an ordinary conversation in some +foreign tongue. Yet with the gruesome experiences of the day behind +him, he could not but momentarily expect some insane outbreak from +beyond the hangings. + +He was aware from the sounds that the two had entered the alcove, +and, prompted by a desire to know what manner of man he might +next have to contend with, he slightly parted the heavy folds that +hid the two from his view and looking out saw them sitting on the +couch with their arms about each other, the girl with the same +expressionless smile upon her face that she had vouchsafed him. +He found he could so arrange the hangings that a very narrow slit +between two of them permitted him to watch the actions of those in +the alcove without revealing himself or increasing his liability +of detection. + +He saw the girl lavishing her kisses upon the newcomer, a much +younger man than he whom Smith-Oldwick had dispatched. Presently +the girl disengaged herself from the embrace of her lover as though +struck by a sudden memory. Her brows puckered as in labored thought +and then with a startled expression, she threw a glance backward +toward the hidden niche where the Englishman stood, after which she +whispered rapidly to her companion, occasionally jerking her head +in the direction of the niche and on several occasions making a +move with one hand and forefinger, which Smith-Oldwick could not +mistake as other than an attempt to describe his pistol and its +use. + +It was evident then to him that she was betraying him, and without +further loss of time he turned his back toward the hangings and +commenced a rapid examination of his hiding place. In the alcove +the man and the girl whispered, and then cautiously and with great +stealth, the man rose and drew his curved saber. On tiptoe he +approached the hangings, the girl creeping at his side. Neither +spoke now, nor was there any sound in the room as the girl sprang +forward and with outstretched arm and pointing finger indicated +a point upon the curtain at the height of a man's breast. Then +she stepped to one side, and her companion, raising his blade to +a horizontal position, lunged suddenly forward and with the full +weight of his body and his right arm, drove the sharp point through +the hangings and into the niche behind for its full length. + +Bertha Kircher, finding her struggles futile and realizing that she +must conserve her strength for some chance opportunity of escape, +desisted from her efforts to break from the grasp of Prince Metak +as the fellow fled with her through the dimly lighted corridors +of the palace. Through many chambers the prince fled, bearing his +prize. It was evident to the girl that, though her captor was the +king's son, he was not above capture and punishment for his deeds, +as otherwise he would not have shown such evident anxiety to escape +with her, as well as from the results of his act. + +From the fact that he was constantly turning affrighted eyes behind +them, and glancing suspiciously into every nook and corner that +they passed, she guessed that the prince's punishment might be both +speedy and terrible were he caught. + +She knew from their route that they must have doubled back several +times although she had quite lost all sense of direction; but she +did not know that the prince was as equally confused as she, and +that really he was running in an aimless, erratic manner, hoping +that he might stumble eventually upon a place of refuge. + +Nor is it to be wondered at that this offspring of maniacs should +have difficulty in orienting himself in the winding mazes of a +palace designed by maniacs for a maniac king. Now a corridor turned +gradually and almost imperceptibly in a new direction, again one +doubled back upon and crossed itself; here the floor rose gradually +to the level of another story, or again there might be a spiral +stairway down which the mad prince rushed dizzily with his burden. +Upon what floor they were or in what part of the palace even Metak +had no idea until, halting abruptly at a closed door, he pushed +it open to step into a brilliantly lighted chamber filled with +warriors, at one end of which sat the king upon a great throne; +beside this, to the girl's surprise, she saw another throne where +was seated a huge lioness, recalling to her the words of Xanila +which, at the time, had made no impression on her: "But he had many +other queens, nor were they all human." + +At sight of Metak and the girl, the king rose from his throne and +started across the chamber, all semblance of royalty vanishing in +the maniac's uncontrollable passion. And as he came he shrieked +orders and commands at the top of his voice. No sooner had Metak so +unwarily opened the door to this hornets' nest than he immediately +withdrew and, turning, fled again in a new direction. But now +a hundred men were close upon his heels, laughing, shrieking, and +possibly cursing. He dodged hither and thither, distancing them for +several minutes until, at the bottom of a long runway that inclined +steeply downward from a higher level, he burst into a subterranean +apartment lighted by many flares. + +In the center of the room was a pool of considerable size, the +level of the water being but a few inches below the floor. Those +behind the fleeing prince and his captive entered the chamber in +time to see Metak leap into the water with the girl and disappear +beneath the surface taking his captive with him, nor, though they +waited excitedly around the rim of the pool, did either of the two +again emerge. + +When Smith-Oldwick turned to investigate his hiding place, his +hands, groping upon the rear wall, immediately came in contact with +the wooden panels of a door and a bolt such as that which secured +the door of the outer room. Cautiously and silently drawing the +wooden bar he pushed gently against the panel to find that the door +swung easily and noiselessly outward into utter darkness. Moving +carefully and feeling forward for each step he passed out of the +niche, closing the door behind him. + +Feeling about, he discovered that he was in a narrow corridor which +he followed cautiously for a few yards to be brought up suddenly +by what appeared to be a ladder across the passageway. He felt of +the obstruction carefully with his hands until he was assured that +it was indeed a ladder and that a solid wall was just beyond it, +ending the corridor. Therefore, as he could not go forward and as +the ladder ended at the floor upon which he stood, and as he did +not care to retrace his steps, there was no alternative but to climb +upward, and this he did, his pistol ready in a side pocket of his +blouse. + +He had ascended but two or three rungs when his head came suddenly +and painfully in contact with a hard surface above him. Groping +about with one hand over his head he discovered that the obstacle +seemed to be the covering to a trap door in the ceiling which, +with a little effort, he succeeded in raising a couple of inches, +revealing through the cracks the stars of a clear African night. + +With a sigh of relief, but with unabated caution, he gently slid +the trapdoor to one side far enough to permit him to raise his +eyes above the level of the roof. A quick glance assured him that +there was none near enough to observe his movements, nor, in fact, +as far as he could see, was anyone in sight. + +Drawing himself quickly through the aperture he replaced the cover +and endeavored to regain his bearings. Directly to the south of him +the low roof he stood upon adjoined a much loftier portion of the +building, which rose several stories above his head. A few yards +to the west he could see the flickering light of the flares of a +winding street, and toward this he made his way. + +From the edge of the roof he looked down upon the night life of +the mad city. He saw men and women and children and lions, and of +all that he saw it was quite evident to him that only the lions were +sane. With the aid of the stars he easily picked out the points of +the compass, and following carefully in his memory the steps that +had led him into the city and to the roof upon which he now stood, +he knew that the thoroughfare upon which he looked was the same +along which he and Bertha Kircher had been led as prisoners earlier +in the day. + +If he could reach this he might be able to pass undetected in the +shadows of the arcade to the city gate. He had already given up as +futile the thought of seeking out the girl and attempting to succor +her, for he knew that alone and with the few remaining rounds of +ammunition he possessed, he could do nothing against this city-full +of armed men. That he could live to cross the lion-infested forest +beyond the city was doubtful, and having, by some miracle, won to +the desert beyond, his fate would be certainly sealed; but yet he +was consumed with but one desire--to leave behind him as far as +possible this horrid city of maniacs. + +He saw that the roofs rose to the same level as that upon which +he stood unbroken to the north to the next street intersection. +Directly below him was a flare. To reach the pavement in safety +it was necessary that he find as dark a portion of the avenue as +possible. And so he sought along the edge of the roofs for a place +where he might descend in comparative concealment. + +He had proceeded some little way beyond a point where the street curved +abruptly to the east before he discovered a location sufficiently +to his liking. But even here he was compelled to wait a considerable +time for a satisfactory moment for his descent, which he had +decided to make down one of the pillars of the arcade. Each time +he prepared to lower himself over the edge of the roofs, footsteps +approaching in one direction or another deterred him until at last +he had almost come to the conclusion that he would have to wait +for the entire city to sleep before continuing his flight. + +But finally came a moment which he felt propitious and though +with inward qualms, it was with outward calm that he commenced the +descent to the street below. + +When at last he stood beneath the arcade he was congratulating +himself upon the success that had attended his efforts up to this +point when, at a slight sound behind him, he turned to see a tall +figure in the yellow tunic of a warrior confronting him. + + + + +Chapter XXII + +Out of the Niche + + +Numa, the lion, growled futilely in baffled rage as he slipped +back to the ground at the foot of the wall after his unsuccessful +attempt to drag down the fleeing ape-man. He poised to make a +second effort to follow his escaping quarry when his nose picked +up a hitherto unnoticed quality in the scent spoor of his intended +prey. Sniffing at the ground that Tarzan's feet had barely touched, +Numa's growl changed to a low whine, for he had recognized the +scent spoor of the man-thing that had rescued him from the pit of +the Wamabos. + +What thoughts passed through that massive head? Who may say? But +now there was no indication of baffled rage as the great lion turned +and moved majestically eastward along the wall. At the eastern end +of the city he turned toward the south, continuing his way to the +south side of the wall along which were the pens and corrals where +the herbivorous flocks were fattened for the herds of domesticated +lions within the city. The great black lions of the forest fed +with almost equal impartiality upon the flesh of the grass-eaters +and man. Like Numa of the pit they occasionally made excursions across +the desert to the fertile valley of the Wamabos, but principally +they took their toll of meat from the herds of the walled city of +Herog, the mad king, or seized upon some of his luckless subjects. + +Numa of the pit was in some respects an exception to the rule which +guided his fellows of the forest in that as a cub he had been +trapped and carried into the city, where he was kept for breeding +purposes, only to escape in his second year. They had tried to teach +him in the city of maniacs that he must not eat the flesh of man, +and the result of their schooling was that only when aroused to +anger or upon that one occasion that he had been impelled by the +pangs of hunger, did he ever attack man. + +The animal corrals of the maniacs are protected by an outer wall +or palisade of upright logs, the lower ends of which are imbedded +in the ground, the logs themselves being placed as close together +as possible and further reinforced and bound together by withes. +At intervals there are gates through which the flocks are turned +on to the grazing land south of the city during the daytime. It is +at such times that the black lions of the forest take their greatest +toll from the herds, and it is infrequent that a lion attempts to +enter the corrals at night. But Numa of the pit, having scented the +spoor of his benefactor, was minded again to pass into the walled +city, and with that idea in his cunning brain he crept stealthily +along the outer side of the palisade, testing each gateway with a +padded foot until at last he discovered one which seemed insecurely +fastened. Lowering his great head he pressed against the gate, surging +forward with all the weight of his huge body and the strength of +his giant sinews--one mighty effort and Numa was within the corral. + +The enclosure contained a herd of goats which immediately upon the +advent of the carnivore started a mad stampede to the opposite end +of the corral which was bounded by the south wall of the city. Numa +had been within such a corral as this before, so that he knew that +somewhere in the wall was a small door through which the goatherd +might pass from the city to his flock; toward this door he made his +way, whether by plan or accident it is difficult to say, though in +the light of ensuing events it seems possible that the former was +the case. + +To reach the gate he must pass directly through the herd which had +huddled affrightedly close to the opening so that once again there +was a furious rush of hoofs as Numa strode quickly to the side of +the portal. If Numa had planned, he had planned well, for scarcely +had he reached his position when the door opened and a herder's head +was projected into the enclosure, the fellow evidently seeking an +explanation of the disturbance among his flock. Possibly he discovered +the cause of the commotion, but it is doubtful, for it was dark +and the great, taloned paw that reached up and struck downward a +mighty blow that almost severed his head from his body, moved so +quickly and silently that the man was dead within a fraction of +a second from the moment that he opened the door, and then Numa, +knowing now his way, passed through the wall into the dimly lighted +streets of the city beyond. + +Smith-Oldwick's first thought when he was accosted by the figure in +the yellow tunic of a soldier was to shoot the man dead and trust +to his legs and the dimly lighted, winding streets to permit his +escape, for he knew that to be accosted was equivalent to recapture +since no inhabitant of this weird city but would recognize him +as an alien. It would be a simple thing to shoot the man from the +pocket where the pistol lay without drawing the weapon, and with +this purpose in mind the Englishman slipped his hands into the +side pocket of his blouse, but simultaneously with this action his +wrist was seized in a powerful grasp and a low voice whispered in +English: "Lieutenant, it is I, Tarzan of the Apes." + +The relief from the nervous strain under which he had been laboring +for so long, left Smith-Oldwick suddenly as weak as a babe, so that +he was forced to grasp the ape-man's arm for support--and when he +found his voice all he could do was to repeat: "You? You? I thought +you were dead!" + +"No, not dead," replied Tarzan, "and I see that you are not either. +But how about the girl?" + +"I haven't seen her," replied the Englishman, "since we were +brought here. We were taken into a building on the plaza close by +and there we were separated. She was led away by guards and I was +put into a den of lions. I haven't seen her since." + +"How did you escape?" asked the ape-man. + +"The lions didn't seem to pay much attention to me and I climbed +out of the place by way of a tree and through a window into a room +on the second floor. Had a little scrimmage there with a fellow and +was hidden by one of their women in a hole in the wall. The loony +thing then betrayed me to another bounder who happened in, but I +found a way out and up onto the roof where I have been for quite +some time now waiting for a chance to get down into the street +without being seen. That's all I know, but I haven't the slightest +idea in the world where to look for Miss Kircher." + +"Where were you going now?" asked Tarzan. + +Smith-Oldwick hesitated. "I--well, I couldn't do anything here +alone and I was going to try to get out of the city and in some +way reach the British forces east and bring help." + +"You couldn't do it," said Tarzan. "Even if you got through the +forest alive you could never cross the desert country without food +or water." + +"What shall we do, then?" asked the Englishman. + +"We will see if we can find the girl," replied the ape-man, and +then, as though he had forgotten the presence of the Englishman and +was arguing to convince himself, "She may be a German and a spy, +but she is a woman--a white woman--I can't leave her here." + +"But how are we going to find her?" asked the Englishman. + +"I have followed her this far," replied Tarzan, "and unless I am +greatly mistaken I can follow her still farther." + +"But I cannot accompany you in these clothes without exposing us +both to detection and arrest," argued Smith-Oldwick. + +"We will get you other clothes, then," said Tarzan. + +"How?" asked the Englishman. + +"Go back to the roof beside the city wall where I entered," replied +the ape-man with a grim smile, "and ask the naked dead man there +how I got my disguise." + +Smith-Oldwick looked quickly up at his companion. "I have it," he +exclaimed. "I know where there is a fellow who doesn't need his +clothes anymore, and if we can get back on this roof I think we can +find him and get his apparel without much resistance. Only a girl +and a young fellow whom we could easily surprise and overcome." + +"What do you mean?" asked Tarzan. "How do you know that the man +doesn't need his clothes any more." + +"I know he doesn't need them," replied the Englishman, "because I +killed him." + +"Oh!" exclaimed the ape-man, "I see. I guess it might be easier +that way than to tackle one of these fellows in the street where +there is more chance of our being interrupted." + +"But how are we going to reach the roof again, after all?" queried +Smith-Oldwick. + +"The same way you came down," replied Tarzan. "This roof is low +and there is a little ledge formed by the capital of each column; +I noticed that when you descended. Some of the buildings wouldn't +have been so easy to negotiate." + +Smith-Oldwick looked up toward the eaves of the low roof. "It's +not very high," he said, "but I am afraid I can't make it. I'll +try--I've been pretty weak since a lion mauled me and the guards +beat me up, and too, I haven't eaten since yesterday." + +Tarzan thought a moment. "You've got to go with me," he said at +last. "I can't leave you here. The only chance you have of escape +is through me and I can't go with you now until we have found the +girl." + +"I want to go with you," replied Smith-Oldwick. "I'm not much good +now but at that two of us may be better than one." + +"All right," said Tarzan, "come on," and before the Englishman +realized what the other contemplated Tarzan had picked him up +and thrown him across his shoulder. "Now, hang on," whispered the +ape-man, and with a short run he clambered apelike up the front of the +low arcade. So quickly and easily was it done that the Englishman +scarcely had time to realize what was happening before he was +deposited safely upon the roof. + +"There," remarked Tarzan. "Now, lead me to the place you speak of." + +Smith-Oldwick had no difficulty in locating the trap in the roof +through which he had escaped. Removing the cover the ape-man bent +low, listening and sniffing. "Come," he said after a moment's +investigation and lowered himself to the floor beneath. Smith-Oldwick +followed him, and together the two crept through the darkness toward +the door in the back wall of the niche in which the Englishman +had been hidden by the girl. They found the door ajar and opening +it Tarzan saw a streak of light showing through the hangings that +separated it from the alcove. + +Placing his eye close to the aperture he saw the girl and the young +man of which the Englishman had spoken seated on opposite sides of +a low table upon which food was spread. Serving them was a giant +Negro and it was he whom the ape-man watched most closely. Familiar +with the tribal idiosyncrasies of a great number of African tribes +over a considerable proportion of the Dark Continent, the Tarmangani +at last felt reasonably assured that he knew from what part of +Africa this slave had come, and the dialect of his people. There +was, however, the chance that the fellow had been captured in +childhood and that through long years of non-use his native language +had become lost to him, but then there always had been an element +of chance connected with nearly every event of Tarzan's life, so he +waited patiently until in the performance of his duties the black +man approached a little table which stood near the niche in which +Tarzan and the Englishman hid. + +As the slave bent over some dish which stood upon the table his +ear was not far from the aperture through which Tarzan looked. +Apparently from a solid wall, for the Negro had no knowledge of +the existence of the niche, came to him in the tongue of his own +people, the whispered words: "If you would return to the land of +the Wamabo say nothing, but do as I bid you." + +The black rolled terrified eyes toward the hangings at his side. +The ape-man could see him tremble and for a moment was fearful that +in his terror he would betray them. "Fear not," he whispered, "we +are your friends." + +At last the Negro spoke in a low whisper, scarcely audible even to +the keen ears of the ape-man. "What," he asked, "can poor Otobu do +for the god who speaks to him out of the solid wall?" + +"This," replied Tarzan. "Two of us are coming into this room. Help +us prevent this man and woman from escaping or raising an outcry +that will bring others to their aid." + +"I will help you," replied the Negro, "to keep them within this +room, but do not fear that their outcries will bring others. These +walls are built so that no sound may pass through, and even if it +did what difference would it make in this village which is constantly +filled with the screams of its mad people. Do not fear their cries. +No one will notice them. I go to do your bidding." + +Tarzan saw the black cross the room to the table upon which he +placed another dish of food before the feasters. Then he stepped +to a place behind the man and as he did so raised his eyes to the +point in the wall from which the ape-man's voice had come to him, +as much as to say, "Master, I am ready." + +Without more delay Tarzan threw aside the hangings and stepped +into the room. As he did so the young man rose from the table to be +instantly seized from behind by the black slave. The girl, whose +back was toward the ape-man and his companion, was not at first +aware of their presence but saw only the attack of the slave upon +her lover, and with a loud scream she leaped forward to assist the +latter. Tarzan sprang to her side and laid a heavy hand upon her +arm before she could interfere with Otobu's attentions to the young +man. At first, as she turned toward the ape-man, her face reflected +only mad rage, but almost instantly this changed into the vapid +smile with which Smith-Oldwick was already familiar and her slim +fingers commenced their soft appraisement of the newcomer. + +Almost immediately she discovered Smith-Oldwick but there was +neither surprise nor anger upon her countenance. Evidently the poor +mad creature knew but two principal moods, from one to the other +of which she changed with lightning-like rapidity. + +"Watch her a moment," said Tarzan to the Englishman, "while I disarm +that fellow," and stepping to the side of the young man whom Otobu +was having difficulty in subduing Tarzan relieved him of his saber. +"Tell them," he said to the Negro, "if you speak their language, +that we will not harm them if they leave us alone and let us depart +in peace." + +The black had been looking at Tarzan with wide eyes, evidently +not comprehending how this god could appear in so material a form, +and with the voice of a white bwana and the uniform of a warrior +of this city to which he quite evidently did not belong. But +nevertheless his first confidence in the voice that offered him +freedom was not lessened and he did as Tarzan bid him. + +"They want to know what you want," said Otobu, after he had spoken +to the man and the girl. + +"Tell them that we want food for one thing," said Tarzan, "and +something else that we know where to find in this room. Take the +man's spear, Otobu; I see it leaning against the wall in the corner +of the room. And you, Lieutenant, take his saber," and then again +to Otobu, "I will watch the man while you go and bring forth that +which is beneath the couch over against this wall," and Tarzan +indicated the location of the piece of furniture. + +Otobu, trained to obey, did as he was bid. The eyes of the man and +the girl followed him, and as he drew back the hangings and dragged +forth the corpse of the man Smith-Oldwick had slain, the girl's lover +voiced a loud scream and attempted to leap forward to the side of +the corpse. Tarzan, however, seized him and then the fellow turned +upon him with teeth and nails. It was with no little difficulty +that Tarzan finally subdued the man, and while Otobu was removing +the outer clothing from the corpse, Tarzan asked the black to +question the young man as to his evident excitement at the sight +of the body. + +"I can tell you Bwana," replied Otobu. "This man was his father." + +"What is he saying to the girl?" asked Tarzan. + +"He is asking her if she knew that the body of his father was under +the couch. And she is saying that she did not know it." + +Tarzan repeated the conversation to Smith-Oldwick, who smiled. "If +the chap could have seen her removing all evidence of the crime and +arranging the hangings of the couch so that the body was concealed +after she had helped me drag it across the room, he wouldn't have +very much doubt as to her knowledge of the affair. The rug you see +draped over the bench in the corner was arranged to hide the blood +stain--in some ways they are not so loony after all." + +The black man had now removed the outer garments from the dead +man, and Smith-Oldwick was hastily drawing them on over his own +clothing. "And now," said Tarzan, "we will sit down and eat. One +accomplishes little on an empty stomach." As they ate the ape-man +attempted to carry on a conversation with the two natives through +Otobu. He learned that they were in the palace which had belonged +to the dead man lying upon the floor beside them. He had held an +official position of some nature, and he and his family were of +the ruling class but were not members of the court. + +When Tarzan questioned them about Bertha Kircher, the young man +said that she had been taken to the king's palace; and when asked +why replied: "For the king, of course." + +During the conversation both the man and the girl appeared quite +rational, even asking some questions as to the country from which +their uninvited guests had come, and evidencing much surprise when +informed that there was anything but waterless wastes beyond their +own valley. + +When Otobu asked the man, at Tarzan's suggestion, if he was familiar +with the interior of the king's palace, he replied that he was; +that he was a friend of Prince Metak, one of the king's sons, and +that he often visited the palace and that Metak also came here to +his father's palace frequently. As Tarzan ate he racked his brain +for some plan whereby he might utilize the knowledge of the young +man to gain entrance to the palace, but he had arrived at nothing +which he considered feasible when there came a loud knocking upon +the door of the outer room. + +For a moment no one spoke and then the young man raised his voice +and cried aloud to those without. Immediately Otobu sprang for the +fellow and attempted to smother his words by clapping a palm over +his mouth. + +"What is he saying?" asked Tarzan. + +"He is telling them to break down the door and rescue him and the +girl from two strangers who entered and made them prisoners. If +they enter they will kill us all." + +"Tell him," said Tarzan, "to hold his peace or I will slay him." + +Otobu did as he was instructed and the young maniac lapsed into +scowling silence. Tarzan crossed the alcove and entered the outer +room to note the effect of the assaults upon the door. Smith-Oldwick +followed him a few steps, leaving Otobu to guard the two prisoners. +The ape-man saw that the door could not long withstand the heavy +blows being dealt the panels from without. "I wanted to use that +fellow in the other room," he said to Smith-Oldwick, "but I am +afraid we will have to get out of here the way we came. We can't +accomplish anything by waiting here and meeting these fellows. +From the noise out there there must be a dozen of them. Come," he +said, "you go first and I will follow." + +As the two turned back from the alcove they witnessed an entirely +different scene from that upon which they had turned their backs +but a moment or two before. Stretched on the floor and apparently +lifeless lay the body of the black slave, while the two prisoners +had vanished completely. + + + + +Chapter XXIII + +The Flight from Xuja + + +As Metak bore Bertha Kircher toward the edge of the pool, the girl +at first had no conception of the deed he contemplated but when, as +they approached the edge, he did not lessen his speed she guessed +the frightful truth. As he leaped head foremost with her into the +water, she closed her eyes and breathed a silent prayer, for she +was confident that the maniac had no other purpose than to drown +himself and her. And yet, so potent is the first law of nature that +even in the face of certain death, as she surely believed herself, +she clung tenaciously to life, and while she struggled to free +herself from the powerful clutches of the madman, she held her +breath against the final moment when the asphyxiating waters must +inevitably flood her lungs. + +Through the frightful ordeal she maintained absolute control of +her senses so that, after the first plunge, she was aware that the +man was swimming with her beneath the surface. He took perhaps not +more than a dozen strokes directly toward the end wall of the pool +and then he arose; and once again she knew that her head was above +the surface. She opened her eyes to see that they were in a corridor +dimly lighted by gratings set in its roof--a winding corridor, +water filled from wall to wall. + +Along this the man was swimming with easy powerful strokes, at the +same time holding her chin above the water. For ten minutes he swam +thus without stopping and the girl heard him speak to her, though +she could not understand what he said, as he evidently immediately +realized, for, half floating, he shifted his hold upon her so that +he could touch her nose and mouth with the fingers of one hand. She +grasped what he meant and immediately took a deep breath, whereat +he dove quickly beneath the surface pulling her down with him and +again for a dozen strokes or more he swam thus wholly submerged. + +When they again came to the surface, Bertha Kircher saw that they +were in a large lagoon and that the bright stars were shining high +above them, while on either hand domed and minareted buildings were +silhouetted sharply against the starlit sky. Metak swam swiftly to +the north side of the lagoon where, by means of a ladder, the two +climbed out upon the embankment. There were others in the plaza +but they paid but little if any attention to the two bedraggled +figures. As Metak walked quickly across the pavement with the girl +at his side, Bertha Kircher could only guess at the man's intentions. +She could see no way in which to escape and so she went docilely +with him, hoping against hope that some fortuitous circumstance +might eventually arise that would give her the coveted chance for +freedom and life. + +Metak led her toward a building which, as she entered, she recognized +as the same to which she and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick had been led +when they were brought into the city. There was no man sitting +behind the carved desk now, but about the room were a dozen or more +warriors in the tunics of the house to which they were attached, in +this case white with a small lion in the form of a crest or badge +upon the breast and back of each. + +As Metak entered and the men recognized him they arose, and in answer +to a query he put, they pointed to an arched doorway at the rear +of the room. Toward this Metak led the girl, and then, as though +filled with a sudden suspicion, his eyes narrowed cunningly and +turning toward the soldiery he issued an order which resulted in +their all preceding him through the small doorway and up a flight +of stairs a short distance beyond. + +The stairway and the corridor above were lighted by small flares +which revealed several doors in the walls of the upper passageway. +To one of these the men led the prince. Bertha Kircher saw them +knock upon the door and heard a voice reply faintly through the +thick door to the summons. The effect upon those about her was +electrical. Instantly excitement reigned, and in response to orders +from the king's son the soldiers commenced to beat heavily upon the +door, to throw their bodies against it and to attempt to hew away +the panels with their sabers. The girl wondered at the cause of +the evident excitement of her captors. + +She saw the door giving to each renewed assault, but what she did +not see just before it crashed inward was the figures of the two +men who alone, in all the world, might have saved her, pass between +the heavy hangings in an adjoining alcove and disappear into a dark +corridor. + +As the door gave and the warriors rushed into the apartment followed +by the prince, the latter became immediately filled with baffled +rage, for the rooms were deserted except for the dead body of the +owner of the palace, and the still form of the black slave, Otobu, +where they lay stretched upon the floor of the alcove. + +The prince rushed to the windows and looked out, but as the suite +overlooked the barred den of lions from which, the prince thought, +there could be no escape, his puzzlement was only increased. Though +he searched about the room for some clue to the whereabouts of its +former occupants he did not discover the niche behind the hangings. +With the fickleness of insanity he quickly tired of the search, +and, turning to the soldiers who had accompanied him from the floor +below, dismissed them. + +After setting up the broken door as best they could, the men left +the apartment and when they were again alone Metak turned toward +the girl. As he approached her, his face distorted by a hideous +leer, his features worked rapidly in spasmodic twitches. The girl, +who was standing at the entrance of the alcove, shrank back, her +horror reflected in her face. Step by step she backed across the +room, while the crouching maniac crept stealthily after her with +claw-like fingers poised in anticipation of the moment they should +leap forth and seize her. + +As she passed the body of the Negro, her foot touched some obstacle +at her side, and glancing down she saw the spear with which Otobu +had been supposed to hold the prisoners. Instantly she leaned forward +and snatched it from the floor with its sharp point directed at +the body of the madman. The effect upon Metak was electrical. From +stealthy silence he broke into harsh peals of laughter, and drawing +his saber danced to and fro before the girl, but whichever way he +went the point of the spear still threatened him. + +Gradually the girl noticed a change in the tone of the creature's +screams that was also reflected in the changing expression upon his +hideous countenance. His hysterical laughter was slowly changing +into cries of rage while the silly leer upon his face was supplanted +by a ferocious scowl and up-curled lips, which revealed the sharpened +fangs beneath. + +He now ran rapidly in almost to the spear's point, only to jump +away, run a few steps to one side and again attempt to make an +entrance, the while he slashed and hewed at the spear with such +violence that it was with difficulty the girl maintained her guard, +and all the time was forced to give ground step by step. She had +reached the point where she was standing squarely against the couch +at the side of the room when, with an incredibly swift movement, +Metak stooped and grasping a low stool hurled it directly at her +head. + +She raised the spear to fend off the heavy missile, but she was +not entirely successful, and the impact of the blow carried her +backward upon the couch, and instantly Metak was upon her. + +Tarzan and Smith-Oldwick gave little thought as to what had become +of the other two occupants of the room. They were gone, and so far +as these two were concerned they might never return. Tarzan's one +desire was to reach the street again, where, now that both of them +were in some sort of disguise, they should be able to proceed with +comparative safety to the palace and continue their search for the +girl. + +Smith-Oldwick preceded Tarzan along the corridor and as they reached +the ladder he climbed aloft to remove the trap. He worked for a +moment and then, turning, addressed Tarzan. + +"Did we replace the cover on this trap when we came down? I don't +recall that we did." + +"No," said Tarzan, "it was left open." + +"So I thought," said Smith-Oldwick, "but it's closed now and locked. +I cannot move it. Possibly you can," and he descended the ladder. + +Even Tarzan's immense strength, however, had no effect other than +to break one of the rungs of the ladder against which he was pushing, +nearly precipitating him to the floor below. After the rung broke +he rested for a moment before renewing his efforts, and as he stood +with his head near the cover of the trap, he distinctly heard voices +on the roof above him. + +Dropping down to Oldwick's side he told him what he had heard. "We +had better find some other way out," he said, and the two started +to retrace their steps toward the alcove. Tarzan was again in the +lead, and as he opened the door in the back of the niche, he was +suddenly startled to hear, in tones of terror and in a woman's +voice, the words: "O God, be merciful" from just beyond the hangings. + +Here was no time for cautious investigation and, not even waiting +to find the aperture and part the hangings, but with one sweep of +a brawny hand dragging them from their support, the ape-man leaped +from the niche into the alcove. + +At the sound of his entry the maniac looked up, and as he saw at +first only a man in the uniform of his father's soldiers, he shrieked +forth an angry order, but at the second glance, which revealed the +face of the newcomer, the madman leaped from the prostrate form +of his victim and, apparently forgetful of the saber which he had +dropped upon the floor beside the couch as he leaped to grapple +with the girl, closed with bare hands upon his antagonist, his +sharp-filed teeth searching for the other's throat. + +Metak, the son of Herog, was no weakling. Powerful by nature and +rendered still more so in the throes of one of his maniacal fits +of fury he was no mean antagonist, even for the mighty ape-man, +and to this a distinct advantage for him was added by the fact that +almost at the outset of their battle Tarzan, in stepping backward, +struck his heel against the corpse of the man whom Smith-Oldwick +had killed, and fell heavily backward to the floor with Metak upon +his breast. + +With the quickness of a cat the maniac made an attempt to fasten +his teeth in Tarzan's jugular, but a quick movement of the latter +resulted in his finding a hold only upon the Tarmangani's shoulder. +Here he clung while his fingers sought Tarzan's throat, and it was +then that the ape-man, realizing the possibility of defeat, called +to Smith-Oldwick to take the girl and seek to escape. + +The Englishman looked questioningly at Bertha Kircher, who had now +risen from the couch, shaking and trembling. She saw the question +in his eyes and with an effort she drew herself to her full height. +"No," she cried, "if he dies here I shall die with him. Go if you +wish to. You can do nothing here, but I--I cannot go." + +Tarzan had now regained his feet, but the maniac still clung to +him tenaciously. The girl turned suddenly to Smith-Oldwick. "Your +pistol!" she cried. "Why don't you shoot him?" + +The man drew the weapon from his pocket and approached the two +antagonists, but by this time they were moving so rapidly that there +was no opportunity for shooting one without the danger of hitting +the other. At the same time Bertha Kircher circled about them with +the prince's saber, but neither could she find an opening. Again +and again the two men fell to the floor, until presently Tarzan +found a hold upon the other's throat, against which contingency +Metak had been constantly battling, and slowly, as the giant fingers +closed, the other's mad eyes protruded from his livid face, his jaws +gaped and released their hold upon Tarzan's shoulder, and then in +a sudden excess of disgust and rage the ape-man lifted the body +of the prince high above his head and with all the strength of his +great arms hurled it across the room and through the window where +it fell with a sickening thud into the pit of lions beneath. + +As Tarzan turned again toward his companions, the girl was standing +with the saber still in her hand and an expression upon her face +that he never had seen there before. Her eyes were wide and misty +with unshed tears, while her sensitive lips trembled as though she +were upon the point of giving way to some pent emotion which her +rapidly rising and falling bosom plainly indicated she was fighting +to control. + +"If we are going to get out of here," said the ape-man, "we can't +lose any time. We are together at last and nothing can be gained by +delay. The question now is the safest way. The couple who escaped +us evidently departed through the passageway to the roof and secured +the trap against us so that we are cut off in that direction. What +chance have we below? You came that way," and he turned toward +the girl. + +"At the foot of the stairs," she said, "is a room full of armed +men. I doubt if we could pass that way." + +It was then that Otobu raised himself to a sitting posture. "So +you are not dead after all," exclaimed the ape-man. "Come, how +badly are you hurt?" + +The Negro rose gingerly to his feet, moved his arms and legs and +felt of his head. + +"Otobu does not seem to be hurt at all, Bwana," he replied, "only +for a great ache in his head." + +"Good," said the ape-man. "You want to return to the Wamabo country?" + +"Yes, Bwana." + +"Then lead us from the city by the safest way." + +"There is no safe way," replied the black, "and even if we reach +the gates we shall have to fight. I can lead you from this building +to a side street with little danger of meeting anyone on the way. +Beyond that we must take our chance of discovery. You are all +dressed as are the people of this wicked city so perhaps we may +pass unnoticed, but at the gate it will be a different matter, for +none is permitted to leave the city at night." + +"Very well," replied the ape-man, "let us be on our way." + +Otobu led them through the broken door of the outer room, and part +way down the corridor he turned into another apartment at the right. +This they crossed to a passageway beyond, and, finally, traversing +several rooms and corridors, he led them down a flight of steps +to a door which opened directly upon a side street in rear of the +palace. + +Two men, a woman, and a black slave were not so extraordinary +a sight upon the streets of the city as to arouse comment. When +passing beneath the flares the three Europeans were careful to +choose a moment when no chance pedestrian might happen to get a view +of their features, but in the shadow of the arcades there seemed +little danger of detection. They had covered a good portion of the +distance to the gate without mishap when there came to their ears +from the central portion of the city sounds of a great commotion. + +"What does that mean?" Tarzan asked of Otobu, who was now trembling +violently. + +"Master," he replied, "they have discovered that which has happened +in the palace of Veza, mayor of the city. His son and the girl +escaped and summoned soldiers who have now doubtless discovered +the body of Veza." + +"I wonder," said Tarzan, "if they have discovered the party I threw +through the window." + +Bertha Kircher, who understood enough of the dialect to follow their +conversation, asked Tarzan if he knew that the man he had thrown +from the window was the king's son. The ape-man laughed. "No," he +said, "I did not. That rather complicates matters--at least if they +have found him." + +Suddenly there broke above the turmoil behind them the clear strains +of a bugle. Otobu increased his pace. "Hurry, Master," he cried, +"it is worse than I had thought." + +"What do you mean?" asked Tarzan. + +"For some reason the king's guard and the king's lions are being +called out. I fear, O Bwana, that we cannot escape them. But why +they should be called out for us I do not know." + +But if Otobu did not know, Tarzan at least guessed that they had +found the body of the king's son. Once again the notes of the bugle +rose high and clear upon the night air. "Calling more lions?" asked +Tarzan. + +"No, Master," replied Otobu. "It is the parrots they are calling." + +They moved on rapidly in silence for a few minutes when their +attention was attracted by the flapping of the wings of a bird +above them. They looked up to discover a parrot circling about over +their heads. + +"Here are the parrots, Otobu," said Tarzan with a grin. "Do they +expect to kill us with parrots?" + +The Negro moaned as the bird darted suddenly ahead of them toward +the city wall. "Now indeed are we lost, Master," cried the black. +"The bird that found us has flown to the gate to warn the guard." + +"Come, Otobu, what are you talking about?" exclaimed Tarzan irritably. +"Have you lived among these lunatics so long that you are yourself +mad?" + +"No, Master," replied Otobu. "I am not mad. You do not know them. +These terrible birds are like human beings without hearts or souls. +They speak the language of the people of this city of Xuja. They +are demons, Master, and when in sufficient numbers they might even +attack and kill us." + +"How far are we from the gate?" asked Tarzan. + +"We are not very far," replied the Negro. "Beyond this next turn +we will see it a few paces ahead of us. But the bird has reached +it before us and by now they are summoning the guard," the truth +of which statement was almost immediately indicated by sounds of +many voices raised evidently in commands just ahead of them, while +from behind came increased evidence of approaching pursuit--loud +screams and the roars of lions. + +A few steps ahead a narrow alley opened from the east into the +thoroughfare they were following and as they approached it there +emerged from its dark shadows the figure of a mighty lion. Otobu +halted in his tracks and shrank back against Tarzan. "Look, Master," +he whimpered, "a great black lion of the forest!" + +Tarzan drew the saber which still hung at his side. "We cannot go +back," he said. "Lions, parrots, or men, it must be all the same," +and he moved steadily forward in the direction of the gate. What +wind was stirring in the city street moved from Tarzan toward the +lion and when the ape-man had approached to within a few yards +of the beast, who had stood silently eyeing them up to this time, +instead of the expected roar, a whine broke from the beast's throat. +The ape-man was conscious of a very decided feeling of relief. "It's +Numa of the pit," he called back to his companions, and to Otobu, +"Do not fear, this lion will not harm us." + +Numa moved forward to the ape-man's side and then turning, paced +beside him along the narrow street. At the next turn they came in +sight of the gate, where, beneath several flares, they saw a group +of at least twenty warriors prepared to seize them, while from the +opposite direction the roars of the pursuing lions sounded close +upon them, mingling with the screams of numerous parrots which now +circled about their heads. Tarzan halted and turned to the young +aviator. "How many rounds of ammunition have you left?" he asked. + +"I have seven in the pistol," replied Smith-Oldwick, "and perhaps +a dozen more cartridges in my blouse pocket." + +"I'm going to rush them," said Tarzan. "Otobu, you stay at the side +of the woman. Oldwick, you and I will go ahead, you upon my left. +I think we need not try to tell Numa what to do," for even then +the great lion was baring his fangs and growling ferociously at the +guardsmen, who appeared uneasy in the face of this creature which, +above all others, they feared. + +"As we advance, Oldwick," said the ape-man, "fire one shot. It +may frighten them, and after that fire only when necessary. All +ready? Let's go!" and he moved forward toward the gate. At the +same time, Smith-Oldwick discharged his weapon and a yellow-coated +warrior screamed and crumpled forward upon his face. For a minute +the others showed symptoms of panic but one, who seemed to be an +officer, rallied them. "Now," said Tarzan, "all together!" and he +started at a run for the gate. Simultaneously the lion, evidently +scenting the purpose of the Tarmangani, broke into a full charge +toward the guard. + +Shaken by the report of the unfamiliar weapon, the ranks of the +guardsmen broke before the furious assault of the great beast. +The officer screamed forth a volley of commands in a mad fury of +uncontrolled rage but the guardsmen, obeying the first law of nature +as well as actuated by their inherent fear of the black denizen of +the forest scattered to right and left to elude the monster. With +ferocious growls Numa wheeled to the right, and with raking talons +struck right and left among a little handful of terrified guardsmen +who were endeavoring to elude him, and then Tarzan and Smith-Oldwick +closed with the others. + +For a moment their most formidable antagonist was the officer in +command. He wielded his curved saber as only an adept might as he +faced Tarzan, to whom the similar weapon in his own hand was most +unfamiliar. Smith-Oldwick could not fire for fear of hitting the +ape-man when suddenly to his dismay he saw Tarzan's weapon fly from +his grasp as the Xujan warrior neatly disarmed his opponent. With +a scream the fellow raised his saber for the final cut that would +terminate the earthly career of Tarzan of the Apes when, to the +astonishment of both the ape-man and Smith-Oldwick, the fellow +stiffened rigidly, his weapon dropped from the nerveless fingers +of his upraised hand, his mad eyes rolled upward and foam flecked +his bared lip. Gasping as though in the throes of strangulation +the fellow pitched forward at Tarzan's feet. + +Tarzan stooped and picked up the dead man's weapon, a smile upon +his face as he turned and glanced toward the young Englishman. + +"The fellow is an epileptic," said Smith-Oldwick. "I suppose +many of them are. Their nervous condition is not without its good +points--a normal man would have gotten you." + +The other guardsmen seemed utterly demoralized at the loss of their +leader. They were huddled upon the opposite side of the street at +the left of the gate, screaming at the tops of their voices and +looking in the direction from which sounds of reinforcements were +coming, as though urging on the men and lions that were already too +close for the comfort of the fugitives. Six guardsmen still stood +with their backs against the gate, their weapons flashing in the +light of the flares and their parchment-like faces distorted in +horrid grimaces of rage and terror. + +Numa had pursued two fleeing warriors down the street which paralleled +the wall for a short distance at this point. The ape-man turned to +Smith-Oldwick. "You will have to use your pistol now," he said, "and +we must get by these fellows at once;" and as the young Englishman +fired, Tarzan rushed in to close quarters as though he had not +already discovered that with the saber he was no match for these +trained swordsmen. Two men fell to Smith-Oldwick's first two shots +and then he missed, while the four remaining divided, two leaping +for the aviator and two for Tarzan. + +The ape-man rushed in in an effort to close with one of his +antagonists where the other's saber would be comparatively useless. +Smith-Oldwick dropped one of his assailants with a bullet through +the chest and pulled his trigger on the second, only to have the +hammer fall futilely upon an empty chamber. The cartridges in his +weapon were exhausted and the warrior with his razor-edged, gleaming +saber was upon him. + +Tarzan raised his own weapon but once and that to divert a vicious +cut for his head. Then he was upon one of his assailants and +before the fellow could regain his equilibrium and leap back after +delivering his cut, the ape-man had seized him by the neck and +crotch. Tarzan's other antagonist was edging around to one side +where he might use his weapon, and as he raised the blade to strike +at the back of the Tarmangani's neck, the latter swung the body of +his comrade upward so that it received the full force of the blow. +The blade sank deep into the body of the warrior, eliciting a single +frightful scream, and then Tarzan hurled the dying man in the face +of his final adversary. + +Smith-Oldwick, hard pressed and now utterly defenseless, had given +up all hope in the instant that he realized his weapon was empty, +when, from his left, a living bolt of black-maned ferocity shot +past him to the breast of his opponent. Down went the Xujan, his +face bitten away by one snap of the powerful jaws of Numa of the +pit. + +In the few seconds that had been required for the consummation +of these rapidly ensuing events, Otobu had dragged Bertha Kircher +to the gate which he had unbarred and thrown open, and with the +vanquishing of the last of the active guardsmen, the party passed +out of the maniac city of Xuja into the outer darkness beyond. At +the same moment a half dozen lions rounded the last turn in the +road leading back toward the plaza, and at sight of them Numa of +the pit wheeled and charged. For a moment the lions of the city +stood their ground, but only for a moment, and then before the +black beast was upon them, they turned and fled, while Tarzan and +his party moved rapidly toward the blackness of the forest beyond +the garden. + +"Will they follow us out of the city?" Tarzan asked Otobu. + +"Not at night," replied the black. "I have been a slave here for +five years but never have I known these people to leave the city +by night. If they go beyond the forest in the daytime they usually +wait until the dawn of another day before they return, as they fear +to pass through the country of the black lions after dark. No, I +think, Master, that they will not follow us tonight, but tomorrow +they will come, and, O Bwana, then will they surely get us, or +those that are left of us, for at least one among us must be the +toll of the black lions as we pass through their forest." + +As they crossed the garden, Smith-Oldwick refilled the magazine +of his pistol and inserted a cartridge in the chamber. The girl +moved silently at Tarzan's left, between him and the aviator. Suddenly +the ape-man stopped and turned toward the city, his mighty frame, +clothed in the yellow tunic of Herog's soldiery, plainly visible +to the others beneath the light of the stars. They saw him raise +his head and they heard break from his lips the plaintive note of +a lion calling to his fellows. Smith-Oldwick felt a distinct shudder +pass through his frame, while Otobu, rolling the whites of his eyes +in terrified surprise, sank tremblingly to his knees. But the girl +thrilled and she felt her heart beat in a strange exultation, and +then she drew nearer to the beast-man until her shoulder touched his +arm. The act was involuntary and for a moment she scarce realized +what she had done, and then she stepped silently back, thankful +that the light of the stars was not sufficient to reveal to the +eyes of her companions the flush which she felt mantling her cheek. +Yet she was not ashamed of the impulse that had prompted her, but +rather of the act itself which she knew, had Tarzan noticed it, +would have been repulsive to him. + +From the open gate of the city of maniacs came the answering cry +of a lion. The little group waited where they stood until presently +they saw the majestic proportions of the black lion as he approached +them along the trail. When he had rejoined them Tarzan fastened +the fingers of one hand in the black mane and started on once more +toward the forest. Behind them, from the city, rose a bedlam of +horrid sounds, the roaring of lions mingling with the raucous voices +of the screaming parrots and the mad shrieks of the maniacs. As +they entered the Stygian darkness of the forest the girl once again +involuntarily shrank closer to the ape-man, and this time Tarzan +was aware of the contact. + +Himself without fear, he yet instinctively appreciated how terrified +the girl must be. Actuated by a sudden kindly impulse he found +her hand and took it in his own and thus they continued upon their +way, groping through the blackness of the trail. Twice they were +approached by forest lions, but upon both occasions the deep growls +of Numa of the pit drove off their assailants. Several times they +were compelled to rest, for Smith-Oldwick was constantly upon the +verge of exhaustion, and toward morning Tarzan was forced to carry +him on the steep ascent from the bed of the valley. + + + + +Chapter XXIV + +The Tommies + + +Daylight overtook them after they had entered the gorge, but, tired +as they all were with the exception of Tarzan, they realized that +they must keep on at all costs until they found a spot where they +might ascend the precipitous side of the gorge to the floor of the +plateau above. Tarzan and Otobu were both equally confident that +the Xujans would not follow them beyond the gorge, but though they +scanned every inch of the frowning cliffs upon either hand noon +came and there was still no indication of any avenue of escape +to right or left. There were places where the ape-man alone might +have negotiated the ascent but none where the others could hope +successfully to reach the plateau, nor where Tarzan, powerful and +agile as he was, could have ventured safely to carry them aloft. + +For half a day the ape-man had been either carrying or supporting +Smith-Oldwick and now, to his chagrin, he saw that the girl was +faltering. He had realized well how much she had undergone and +how greatly the hardships and dangers and the fatigue of the past +weeks must have told upon her vitality. He saw how bravely she +attempted to keep up, yet how often she stumbled and staggered as +she labored through the sand and gravel of the gorge. Nor could +he help but admire her fortitude and the uncomplaining effort she +was making to push on. + +The Englishman must have noticed her condition too, for some time +after noon, he stopped suddenly and sat down in the sand. "It's +no use," he said to Tarzan. "I can go no farther. Miss Kircher is +rapidly weakening. You will have to go on without me." + +"No," said the girl, "we cannot do that. We have all been through +so much together and the chances of our escape are still so remote +that whatever comes, let us remain together, unless," and she looked +up at Tarzan, "you, who have done so much for us to whom you are +under no obligations, will go on without us. I for one wish that +you would. It must be as evident to you as it is to me that you +cannot save us, for though you succeeded in dragging us from the +path of our pursuers, even your great strength and endurance could +never take one of us across the desert waste which lies between +here and the nearest fertile country." + +The ape-man returned her serious look with a smile. "You are +not dead," he said to her, "nor is the lieutenant, nor Otobu, nor +myself. One is either dead or alive, and until we are dead we should +plan only upon continuing to live. Because we remain here and rest +is no indication that we shall die here. I cannot carry you both +to the country of the Wamabos, which is the nearest spot at which +we may expect to find game and water, but we shall not give up on +that account. So far we have found a way. Let us take things as +they come. Let us rest now because you and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick +need the rest, and when you are stronger we will go on again." + +"But the Xujans--?" she asked, "may they not follow us here?" + +"Yes," he said, "they probably will. But we need not be concerned +with them until they come." + +"I wish," said the girl, "that I possessed your philosophy but I +am afraid it is beyond me." + +"You were not born and reared in the jungle by wild beasts and +among wild beasts, or you would possess, as I do, the fatalism of +the jungle." + +And so they moved to the side of the gorge beneath the shade of an +overhanging rock and lay down in the hot sand to rest. Numa wandered +restlessly to and fro and finally, after sprawling for a moment +close beside the ape-man, rose and moved off up the gorge to be +lost to view a moment later beyond the nearest turn. + +For an hour the little party rested and then Tarzan suddenly +rose and, motioning the others to silence, listened. For a minute +he stood motionless, his keen ears acutely receptive to sounds so +faint and distant that none of the other three could detect the +slightest break in the utter and deathlike quiet of the gorge. +Finally the ape-man relaxed and turned toward them. "What is it?" +asked the girl. + +"They are coming," he replied. "They are yet some distance away, +though not far, for the sandaled feet of the men and the pads of +the lions make little noise upon the soft sands." + +"What shall we do--try to go on?" asked Smith-Oldwick. "I believe +I could make a go of it now for a short way. I am much rested. How +about you Miss Kircher?" + +"Oh, yes," she said, "I am much stronger. Yes, surely I can go on." + +Tarzan knew that neither of them quite spoke the truth, that people +do not recover so quickly from utter exhaustion, but he saw no +other way and there was always the hope that just beyond the next +turn would be a way out of the gorge. + +"You help the lieutenant, Otobu," he said, turning to the black, +"and I will carry Miss Kircher," and though the girl objected, +saying that he must not waste his strength, he lifted her lightly +in his arms and moved off up the canyon, followed by Otobu and +the Englishman. They had gone no great distance when the others of +the party became aware of the sounds of pursuit, for now the lions +were whining as though the fresh scent spoor of their quarry had +reached their nostrils. + +"I wish that your Numa would return," said the girl. + +"Yes," said Tarzan, "but we shall have to do the best we can +without him. I should like to find some place where we can barricade +ourselves against attack from all sides. Possibly then we might +hold them off. Smith-Oldwick is a good shot and if there are not +too many men he might be able to dispose of them provided they can +only come at him one at a time. The lions don't bother me so much. +Sometimes they are stupid animals, and I am sure that these that +pursue us, and who are so dependent upon the masters that have +raised and trained them, will be easily handled after the warriors +are disposed of." + +"You think there is some hope, then?" she asked. + +"We are still alive," was his only answer. + +"There," he said presently, "I thought I recalled this very spot." +He pointed toward a fragment that had evidently fallen from the +summit of the cliff and which now lay imbedded in the sand a few +feet from the base. It was a jagged fragment of rock which rose some +ten feet above the surface of the sand, leaving a narrow aperture +between it and the cliff behind. Toward this they directed their +steps and when finally they reached their goal they found a space +about two feet wide and ten feet long between the rock and the +cliff. To be sure it was open at both ends but at least they could +not be attacked upon all sides at once. + +They had scarcely concealed themselves before Tarzan's quick ears +caught a sound upon the face of the cliff above them, and looking +up he saw a diminutive monkey perched upon a slight projection--an +ugly-faced little monkey who looked down upon them for a moment and +then scampered away toward the south in the direction from which +their pursuers were coming. Otobu had seen the monkey too. "He will +tell the parrots," said the black, "and the parrots will tell the +madmen." + +"It is all the same," replied Tarzan; "the lions would have found +us here. We could not hope to hide from them." + +He placed Smith-Oldwick, with his pistol, at the north opening of +their haven and told Otobu to stand with his spear at the Englishman's +shoulder, while he himself prepared to guard the southern approach. +Between them he had the girl lie down in the sand. "You will be +safe there in the event that they use their spears," he said. + +The minutes that dragged by seemed veritable eternities to Bertha +Kircher and then at last, and almost with relief, she knew that the +pursuers were upon them. She heard the angry roaring of the lions +and the cries of the madmen. For several minutes the men seemed to +be investigating the stronghold which their quarry had discovered. +She could hear them both to the north and south and then from +where she lay she saw a lion charging for the ape-man before her. +She saw the giant arm swing back with the curved saber and she +saw it fall with terrific velocity and meet the lion as he rose to +grapple with the man, cleaving his skull as cleanly as a butcher +opens up a sheep. + +Then she heard footsteps running rapidly toward Smith-Oldwick and, +as his pistol spoke, there was a scream and the sound of a falling +body. Evidently disheartened by the failure of their first attempt +the assaulters drew off, but only for a short time. Again they came, +this time a man opposing Tarzan and a lion seeking to overcome +Smith-Oldwick. Tarzan had cautioned the young Englishman not +to waste his cartridges upon the lions and it was Otobu with the +Xujan spear who met the beast, which was not subdued until both +he and Smith-Oldwick had been mauled, and the latter had succeeded +in running the point of the saber the girl had carried, into the +beast's heart. The man who opposed Tarzan inadvertently came too +close in an attempt to cut at the ape-man's head, with the result +that an instant later his corpse lay with the neck broken upon the +body of the lion. + +Once again the enemy withdrew, but again only for a short time, +and now they came in full force, the lions and the men, possibly +a half dozen of each, the men casting their spears and the lions +waiting just behind, evidently for the signal to charge. + +"Is this the end?" asked the girl. + +"No," cried the ape-man, "for we still live!" + +The words had scarcely passed his lips when the remaining warriors, +rushing in, cast their spears simultaneously from both sides. In +attempting to shield the girl, Tarzan received one of the shafts +in the shoulder, and so heavily had the weapon been hurled that it +bore him backward to the ground. Smith-Oldwick fired his pistol +twice when he too was struck down, the weapon entering his right +leg midway between hip and knee. Only Otobu remained to face the +enemy, for the Englishman, already weak from his wounds and from +the latest mauling he had received at the claws of the lion, had +lost consciousness as he sank to the ground with this new hurt. + +As he fell his pistol dropped from his fingers, and the girl, seeing, +snatched it up. As Tarzan struggled to rise, one of the warriors +leaped full upon his breast and bore him back as, with fiendish +shrieks, he raised the point of his saber above the other's heart. +Before he could drive it home the girl leveled Smith-Oldwick's +pistol and fired point-blank at the fiend's face. + +Simultaneously there broke upon the astonished ears of both attackers +and attacked a volley of shots from the gorge. With the sweetness +of the voice of an angel from heaven the Europeans heard the +sharp-barked commands of an English noncom. Even above the roars +of the lions and the screams of the maniacs, those beloved tones +reached the ears of Tarzan and the girl at the very moment that +even the ape-man had given up the last vestige of hope. + +Rolling the body of the warrior to one side Tarzan struggled to +his feet, the spear still protruding from his shoulder. The girl +rose too, and as Tarzan wrenched the weapon from his flesh and stepped +out from behind the concealment of their refuge, she followed at +his side. The skirmish that had resulted in their rescue was soon +over. Most of the lions escaped but all of the pursuing Xujans +had been slain. As Tarzan and the girl came into full view of the +group, a British Tommy leveled his rifle at the ape-man. Seeing the +fellow's actions and realizing instantly the natural error that +Tarzan's yellow tunic had occasioned the girl sprang between him +and the soldier. "Don't shoot," she cried to the latter, "we are +both friends." + +"Hold up your hands, you, then," he commanded Tarzan. "I ain't +taking no chances with any duffer with a yellow shirt." + +At this juncture the British sergeant who had been in command of +the advance guard approached and when Tarzan and the girl spoke +to him in English, explaining their disguises, he accepted their +word, since they were evidently not of the same race as the creatures +which lay dead about them. Ten minutes later the main body of the +expedition came into view. Smith-Oldwick's wounds were dressed, +as well as were those of the ape-man, and in half an hour they were +on their way to the camp of their rescuers. + +That night it was arranged that the following day Smith-Oldwick and +Bertha Kircher should be transported to British headquarters near +the coast by aeroplane, the two planes attached to the expeditionary +force being requisitioned for the purpose. Tarzan and Otobu declined +the offers of the British captain to accompany his force overland +on the return march as Tarzan explained that his country lay to +the west, as did Otobu's, and that they would travel together as +far as the country of the Wamabos. + +"You are not going back with us, then?" asked the girl. + +"No," replied the ape-man. "My home is upon the west coast. I will +continue my journey in that direction." + +She cast appealing eyes toward him. "You will go back into that +terrible jungle?" she asked. "We shall never see you again?" + +He looked at her a moment in silence. "Never," he said, and without +another word turned and walked away. + +In the morning Colonel Capell came from the base camp in one of the +planes that was to carry Smith-Oldwick and the girl to the east. +Tarzan was standing some distance away as the ship landed and +the officer descended to the ground. He saw the colonel greet his +junior in command of the advance detachment, and then he saw him +turn toward Bertha Kircher who was standing a few paces behind the +captain. Tarzan wondered how the German spy felt in this situation, +especially when she must know that there was one there who knew her +real status. He saw Colonel Capell walk toward her with outstretched +hands and smiling face and, although he could not hear the words of +his greeting, he saw that it was friendly and cordial to a degree. + +Tarzan turned away scowling, and if any had been close by they +might have heard a low growl rumble from his chest. He knew that +his country was at war with Germany and that not only his duty to +the land of his fathers, but also his personal grievance against +the enemy people and his hatred of them, demanded that he expose +the girl's perfidy, and yet he hesitated, and because he hesitated +he growled--not at the German spy but at himself for his weakness. + +He did not see her again before she entered a plane and was borne +away toward the east. He bid farewell to Smith-Oldwick and received +again the oft-repeated thanks of the young Englishman. And then +he saw him too borne aloft in the high circling plane and watched +until the ship became a speck far above the eastern horizon to +disappear at last high in air. + +The Tommies, their packs and accouterments slung, were waiting the +summons to continue their return march. Colonel Capell had, through +a desire to personally observe the stretch of country between the +camp of the advance detachment and the base, decided to march back +his troops. Now that all was in readiness for departure he turned to +Tarzan. "I wish you would come back with us, Greystoke," he said, +"and if my appeal carries no inducement possibly that of Smith-Oldwick +and the young lady who just left us may. They asked me to urge +you to return to civilization." + +"No;" said Tarzan, "I shall go my own way. Miss Kircher and +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick were only prompted by a sense of gratitude +in considering my welfare." + +"Miss Kircher?" exclaimed Capell and then he laughed, "You know +her then as Bertha Kircher, the German spy?" + +Tarzan looked at the other a moment in silence. It was beyond him +to conceive that a British officer should thus laconically speak +of an enemy spy whom he had had within his power and permitted to +escape. "Yes," he replied, "I knew that she was Bertha Kircher, +the German spy?" + +"Is that all you knew?" asked Capell. + +"That is all," said the ape-man. + +"She is the Honorable Patricia Canby," said Capell, "one of the +most valuable members of the British Intelligence Service attached +to the East African forces. Her father and I served in India together +and I have known her ever since she was born. + +"Why, here's a packet of papers she took from a German officer and +has been carrying it through all her vicissitudes--single-minded +in the performance of her duty. Look! I haven't yet had time to +examine them but as you see here is a military sketch map, a bundle +of reports, and the diary of one Hauptmann Fritz Schneider." + +"The diary of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider!" repeated Tarzan in a +constrained voice. "May I see it, Capell? He is the man who murdered +Lady Greystoke." + +The Englishman handed the little volume over to the other without +a word. Tarzan ran through the pages quickly looking for a certain +date--the date that the horror had been committed--and when he found +it he read rapidly. Suddenly a gasp of incredulity burst from his +lips. Capell looked at him questioningly. + +"God!" exclaimed the ape-man. "Can this be true? Listen!" and he +read an excerpt from the closely written page: + +"'Played a little joke on the English pig. When he comes home he +will find the burned body of his wife in her boudoir--but he will +only think it is his wife. Had von Goss substitute the body of a +dead Negress and char it after putting Lady Greystoke's rings on +it--Lady G will be of more value to the High Command alive than +dead.'" + +"She lives!" cried Tarzan. + +"Thank God!" exclaimed Capell. "And now?" + +"I will return with you, of course. How terribly I have wronged +Miss Canby, but how could I know? I even told Smith-Oldwick, who +loves her, that she was a German spy. + +"Not only must I return to find my wife but I must right this +wrong." + +"Don't worry about that," said Capell, "she must have convinced him +that she is no enemy spy, for just before they left this morning +he told me she had promised to marry him." + + + + + + Note: I have made the following changes to the text: + + PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO + 25 10 noislessly noiselessly + 40 34 hole bole + 41 45 later latter + 53 43 but "but + 66 19 half-smiled half-smile + 69 45 to many too many + 75 16 fine find + 81 3 forth fourth + 86 14 hoplessly hopelessly + 86 42 interferred interfered + 93 15 born borne + 101 40 Englishman Englishmen + 108 16 divertisements divertissements + 110 29 asid said + 127 14 apppreciate appreciate + 128 45 fuseluge fuselage + 138 25 as the at the + 142 34 girls' girl's + 146 44 sourroundings, surroundings, + 148 30 spirit on spirit of + 149 33 upon upon. + 153 3 immediately immediate + 153 39 nothwithstanding notwithstanding + 159 43 "The The + 163 45 known know + 171 8 one the on the + 172 8 sandled sandaled + 175 2 junlgle jungle + 181 46 swifty swiftly + 189 23 not, not. + 198 45 "Come," Come," + 219 1 still sill + 225 21 sigh or sigh of + 227 20 occasionaly occasionally + 228 5 gazing grazing + 234 24 prisoners. prisoners. + 237 11 qiuckly quickly + 237 16 opproached approached + 243 16 is his in his + 244 32 second seconds + +I have also omitted the page-wide line beneath each chapter +heading. + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Tarzan the Untamed, by Edgar Rice Burroughs + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TARZAN THE UNTAMED *** + +***** This file should be named 1401.txt or 1401.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/0/1401/ + +Produced by Judith Boss + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Judy Boss, Omaha, NE + + + + + +TARZAN +THE UNTAMED + +Edgar Rice Burroughs + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + I Murder and Pillage + II The Lion's Cave + III In the German Lines + IV When the Lion Fed + V The Golden Locket + VI Vengeance and Mercy + VII When Blood Told + VIII Tarzan and the Great Apes + IX Dropped from the Sky + X In the Hands of Savages + XI Finding the Airplane + XII The Black Flier + XIII Usanga's Reward + XIV The Black Lion + XV Mysterious Footprints + XVI The Night Attack + XVII The Walled City +XVIII Among the Maniacs + XIX The Queen's Story + XX Came Tarzan + XXI In the Alcove + XXII Out of the Niche +XXIII The Flight from Xuja + XXIV The Tommies + + + + +TARZAN +THE UNTAMED + +Edgar Rice Burroughs + + + + +Murder and Pillage + +Hauptmann Fritz Schneider trudged wearily through +the somber aisles of the dark forest. Sweat rolled down +his bullet head and stood upon his heavy jowls and bull +neck. His lieutenant marched beside him while Underlieutenant +von Goss brought up the rear, following with a handful of +askaris the tired and all but exhausted porters whom the black +soldiers, following the example of their white officer, en- +couraged with the sharp points of bayonets and the metal-shod +butts of rifles. + +There were no porters within reach of Hauptmann Schnei- +der so he vented his Prussian spleen upon the askaris nearest +at hand, yet with greater circumspection since these men bore +loaded rifles -- and the three white men were alone with them +in the heart of Africa. + +Ahead of the hauptmann marched half his company, be- +hind him the other half -- thus were the dangers of the savage +jungle minimized for the German captain. At the forefront +of the column staggered two naked savages fastened to each +other by a neck chain. These were the native guides im- +pressed into the service of Kultur and upon their poor, bruised +bodies Kultur's brand was revealed in divers cruel wounds and +bruises. + +Thus even in darkest Africa was the light of German civili- +zation commencing to reflect itself upon the undeserving na- +tives just as at the same period, the fall of 1914, it was shed- +ding its glorious effulgence upon benighted Belgium. + +It is true that the guides had led the party astray; but this +is the way of most African guides. Nor did it matter that ig- +norance rather than evil intent had been the cause of their +failure. It was enough for Hauptmann Fritz Schneider to +know that he was lost in the African wilderness and that he +had at hand human beings less powerful than he who could be +made to suffer by torture. That he did not kill them outright +was partially due to a faint hope that they might eventually +prove the means of extricating him from his difficulties and +partially that so long as they lived they might still be made +to suffer. + +The poor creatures, hoping that chance might lead them at +last upon the right trail, insisted that they knew the way and +so led on through a dismal forest along a winding game trail +trodden deep by the feet of countless generations of the sav- +age denizens of the jungle. + +Here Tantor, the elephant, took his long way from dust +wallow to water. Here Buto, the rhinoceros, blundered blindly +in his solitary majesty, while by night the great cats paced +silently upon their padded feet beneath the dense canopy of +overreaching trees toward the broad plain beyond, where they +found their best hunting. + +It was at the edge of this plain which came suddenly and +unexpectedly before the eyes of the guides that their sad hearts +beat with renewed hope. Here the hauptmann drew a deep +sigh of relief, for after days of hopeless wandering through +almost impenetrable jungle the broad vista of waving grasses +dotted here and there with open parklike woods and in the +far distance the winding line of green shrubbery that denoted +a river appeared to the European a veritable heaven. + +The Hun smiled in his relief, passed a cheery word with his +lieutenant, and then scanned the broad plain with his field +glasses. Back and forth they swept across the rolling land +until at last they came to rest upon a point near the center of +the landscape and close to the green-fringed contours of the +river. + +"We are in luck," said Schneider to his companions. "Do +you see it?" + +The lieutenant, who was also gazing through his own glasses, +finally brought them to rest upon the same spot that had +held the attention of his superior. + +"Yes," he said, "an English farm. It must be Greystoke's, +for there is none other in this part of British East Africa. God +is with us, Herr Captain." + +"We have come upon the English schweinhund long before +he can have learned that his country is at war with ours," +replied Schneider. "Let him be the first to feel the iron hand +of Germany." + +"Let us hope that he is at home," said the lieutenant, "that +we may take him with us when we report to Kraut at Nairobi. +It will go well indeed with Herr Hauptmann Fritz Schneider +if he brings in the famous Tarzan of the Apes as a prisoner +of war." + +Schneider smiled and puffed out his chest. "You are right, +my friend," he said, "it will go well with both of us; but I +shall have to travel far to catch General Kraut before he +reaches Mombasa. These English pigs with their contemptible +army will make good time to the Indian Ocean." + +It was in a better frame of mind that the small force set +out across the open country toward the trim and well-kept +farm buildings of John Clayton, Lord Greystoke; but disap- +pointment was to be their lot since neither Tarzan of the Apes +nor his son was at home. + +Lady Jane, ignorant of the fact that a state of war existed +between Great Britain and Germany, welcomed the officers +most hospitably and gave orders through her trusted Waziri +to prepare a feast for the black soldiers of the enemy. + +Far to the east, Tarzan of the Apes was traveling rapidly +from Nairobi toward the farm. At Nairobi he had received +news of the World War that had already started, and, antici- +pating an immediate invasion of British East Africa by the +Germans, was hurrying homeward to fetch his wife to a place +of greater security. With him were a score of his ebon war- +riors, but far too slow for the ape-man was the progress of +these trained and hardened woodsmen. + +When necessity demanded, Tarzan of the Apes sloughed +the thin veneer of his civilization and with it the hampering +apparel that was its badge. In a moment the polished Eng- +lish gentleman reverted to the naked ape man. + +His mate was in danger. For the time, that single thought +dominated. He did not think of her as Lady Jane Greystoke, +but rather as the she he had won by the might of his steel +thews, and that he must hold and protect by virtue of the +same offensive armament. + +It was no member of the House of Lords who swung +swiftly and grimly through the tangled forest or trod with +untiring muscles the wide stretches of open plain -- it was a +great he ape filled with a single purpose that excluded all +thoughts of fatigue or danger. + +Little Manu, the monkey, scolding and chattering in the +upper terraces of the forest, saw him pass. Long had it been +since he had thus beheld the great Tarmangani naked and +alone hurtling through the jungle. Bearded and gray was +Manu, the monkey, and to his dim old eyes came the fire of +recollection of those days when Tarzan of the Apes had ruled +supreme, Lord of the Jungle, over all the myriad life that trod +the matted vegetation between the boles of the great trees, +or flew or swung or climbed in the leafy fastness upward +to the very apex of the loftiest terraces. + +And Numa, the lion, lying up for the day close beside last +night's successful kill, blinked his yellow-green eyes and +twitched his tawny tail as he caught the scent spoor of his +ancient enemy. + +Nor was Tarzan senseless to the presence of Numa or Manu +or any of the many jungle beasts he passed in his rapid flight +towards the west. No particle had his shallow probing of +English society dulled his marvelous sense faculties. His nose +had picked out the presence of Numa, the lion, even before +the majestic king of beasts was aware of his passing. + +He had heard noisy little Manu, and even the soft rustling +of the parting shrubbery where Sheeta passed before either +of these alert animals sensed his presence. + +But however keen the senses of the ape-man, however +swift his progress through the wild country of his adoption, +however mighty the muscles that bore him, he was still mortal. +Time and space placed their inexorable limits upon him; nor +was there another who realized this truth more keenly than +Tarzan. He chafed and fretted that he could not travel with +the swiftness of thought and that the long tedious miles +stretching far ahead of him must require hours and hours of +tireless effort upon his part before he would swing at last from +the final bough of the fringing forest into the open plain and +in sight of his goal. + +Days it took, even though he lay up at night for but a few +hours and left to chance the finding of meat directly on his +trail. If Wappi, the antelope, or Horta, the boar, chanced in +his way when he was hungry, he ate, pausing but long +enough to make the kill and cut himself a steak. + +Then at last the long journey drew to its close and he was +passing through the last stretch of heavy forest that bounded +his estate upon the east, and then this was traversed and he +stood upon the plain's edge looking out across his broad +lands towards his home. + +At the first glance his eyes narrowed and his muscles tensed. +Even at that distance he could see that something was amiss. +A thin spiral of smoke arose at the right of the bungalow +where the barns had stood, but there were no barns there +now, and from the bungalow chimney from which smoke +should have arisen, there arose nothing. + +Once again Tarzan of the Apes was speeding onward, this +time even more swiftly than before, for he was goaded now +by a nameless fear, more product of intuition than of reason. +Even as the beasts, Tarzan of the Apes seemed to possess a +sixth sense. Long before he reached the bungalow, he had +almost pictured the scene that finally broke upon his view. + +Silent and deserted was the vine-covered cottage. Smolder- +ing embers marked the site of his great barns. Gone were +the thatched huts of his sturdy retainers, empty the fields, the +pastures, and corrals. Here and there vultures rose and circled +above the carcasses of men and beasts. + +It was with a feeling as nearly akin to terror as he ever had +experienced that the ape-man finally forced himself to enter +his home. The first sight that met his eyes set the red haze +of hate and bloodlust across his vision, for there, crucified +against the wall of the living-room, was Wasimbu, giant son +of the faithful Muviro and for over a year the personal body- +guard of Lady Jane. + +The overturned and shattered furniture of the room, the +brown pools of dried blood upon the floor, and prints of +bloody hands on walls and woodwork evidenced something +of the frightfulness of the battle that had been waged within +the narrow confines of the apartment. Across the baby grand +piano lay the corpse of another black warrior, while before +the door of Lady Jane's boudoir were the dead bodies of three +more of the faithful Greystoke servants. + +The door of this room was closed. With drooping shoulders +and dull eyes Tarzan stood gazing dumbly at the insensate +panel which hid from him what horrid secret he dared not +even guess. + +Slowly, with leaden feet, he moved toward the door. Grop- +ingly his hand reached for the knob. Thus he stood for +another long minute, and then with a sudden gesture he +straightened his giant frame, threw back his mighty shoulders +and, with fearless head held high, swung back the door and +stepped across the threshold into the room which held for +him the dearest memories and associations of his life. No +change of expression crossed his grim and stern-set features +as he strode across the room and stood beside the little couch +and the inanimate form which lay face downward upon it; the +still, silent thing that had pulsed with life and youth and +love. + +No tear dimmed the eye of the ape-man, but the God who +made him alone could know the thoughts that passed through +that still half-savage brain. For a long time he stood there +just looking down upon the dead body, charred beyond +recognition, and then he stooped and lifted it in his arms. +As he turned the body over and saw how horribly death had +been meted he plumbed, in that instant, the uttermost depths +of grief and horror and hatred. + +Nor did he require the evidence of the broken German +rifle in the outer room, or the torn and blood-stained service +cap upon the floor, to tell him who had been the perpetrators +of this horrid and useless crime. + +For a moment he had hoped against hope that the black- +ened corpse was not that of his mate, but when his eyes dis- +covered and recognized the rings upon her fingers the last +faint ray of hope forsook him. + +In silence, in love, and in reverence he buried, in the little +rose garden that had been Jane Clayton's pride and love, the +poor, charred form and beside it the great black warriors who +had given their lives so futilely in their mistress' protection. + +At one side of the house Tarzan found other newly made +graves and in these he sought final evidence of the identity +of the real perpetrators of the atrocities that had been com- +mitted there in his absence. + +Here he disinterred the bodies of a dozen German askaris +and found upon their uniforms the insignia of the company +and regiment to which they had belonged. This was enough +for the ape-man. White officers had commanded these men, +nor would it be a difficult task to discover who they were. + +Returning to the rose garden, he stood among the Hun- +trampled blooms and bushes above the grave of his dead -- +with bowed head he stood there in a last mute farewell. As +the sun sank slowly behind the towering forests of the west, +he turned slowly away upon the still-distinct trail of Haupt- +mann Fritz Schneider and his blood-stained company. + +His was the suffering of the dumb brute -- mute; but though +voiceless no less poignant. At first his vast sorrow numbed +his other faculties of thought -- his brain was overwhelmed by +the calamity to such an extent that it reacted to but a single +objective suggestion: She is dead! She is dead! She is dead! +Again and again this phrase beat monotonously upon his brain +-- a dull, throbbing pain, yet mechanically his feet followed +the trail of her slayer while, subconsciously, his every sense +was upon the alert for the ever-present perils of the jungle. + +Gradually the labor of his great grief brought forth another +emotion so real, so tangible, that it seemed a companion walk- +ing at his side. It was Hate -- and it brought to him a measure +of solace and of comfort, for it was a sublime hate that en- +nobled him as it has ennobled countless thousands since -- +hatred for Germany and Germans. It centered about the +slayer of his mate, of course; but it included everything Ger- +man, animate or inanimate. As the thought took firm hold +upon him he paused and raising his face to Goro, the moon, +cursed with upraised hand the authors of the hideous crime +that had been perpetrated in that once peaceful bungalow +behind him; and he cursed their progenitors, their progeny, +and all their kind the while he took silent oath to war upon +them relentlessly until death overtook him. + +There followed almost immediately a feeling of content, +for, where before his future at best seemed but a void, now it +was filled with possibilities the contemplation of which +brought him, if not happiness, at least a surcease of absolute +grief, for before him lay a great work that would occupy his +time. + +Stripped not only of all the outward symbols of civilization, +Tarzan had also reverted morally and mentally to the status +of the savage beast he had been reared. Never had his +civilization been more than a veneer put on for the sake of +her he loved because he thought it made her happier to see +him thus. In reality he had always held the outward evi- +dences of so-called culture in deep contempt. Civilization +meant to Tarzan of the Apes a curtailment of freedom in all +its aspects -- freedom of action, freedom of thought, freedom +of love, freedom of hate. Clothes he abhorred -- uncomfort- +able, hideous, confining things that reminded him somehow +of bonds securing him to the life he had seen the poor crea- +tures of London and Paris living. Clothes were the emblems +of that hypocrisy for which civilization stood -- a pretense that +the wearers were ashamed of what the clothes covered, of the +human form made in the semblance of God. Tarzan knew how +silly and pathetic the lower orders of animals appeared in +the clothing of civilization, for he had seen several poor +creatures thus appareled in various traveling shows in Europe, +and he knew, too, how silly and pathetic man appears in them +since the only men he had seen in the first twenty years of +his life had been, like himself, naked savages. The ape-man +had a keen admiration for a well-muscled, well-proportioned +body, whether lion, or antelope, or man, and it had ever been +beyond him to understand how clothes could be considered +more beautiful than a clear, firm, healthy skin, or coat and +trousers more graceful than the gentle curves of rounded +muscles playing beneath a flexible hide. + +In civilization Tarzan had found greed and selfishness and +cruelty far beyond that which he had known in his familiar, +savage jungle, and though civilization had given him his mate +and several friends whom he loved and admired, he never +had come to accept it as you and I who have known little or +nothing else; so it was with a sense of relief that he now +definitely abandoned it and all that it stood for, and went +forth into the jungle once again stripped to his loin cloth and +weapons. + +The hunting knife of his father hung at his left hip, his bow +and his quiver of arrows were slung across his shoulders, +while around his chest over one shoulder and beneath the +opposite arm was coiled the long grass rope without which +Tarzan would have felt quite as naked as would you should +you be suddenly thrust upon a busy highway clad only in a +union suit. A heavy war spear which he sometimes carried in +one hand and again slung by a thong about his neck so that +it hung down his back completed his armament and his +apparel. The diamond-studded locket with the pictures of +his mother and father that he had worn always until he had +given it as a token of his highest devotion to Jane Clayton +before their marriage was missing. She always had worn it +since, but it had not been upon her body when he found her +slain in her boudoir, so that now his quest for vengeance in- +cluded also a quest for the stolen trinket. + +Toward midnight Tarzan commenced to feel the physical +strain of his long hours of travel and to realize that even +muscles such as his had their limitations. His pursuit of the +murderers had not been characterized by excessive speed; but +rather more in keeping with his mental attitude, which was +marked by a dogged determination to require from the Ger- +mans more than an eye for an eye and more than a tooth for +a tooth, the element of time entering but slightly into his +calculations. + +Inwardly as well as outwardly Tarzan had reverted to beast +and in the lives of beasts, time, as a measurable aspect of +duration, has no meaning. The beast is actively interested +only in NOW, and as it is always NOW and always shall be, there +is an eternity of time for the accomplishment of objects. The +ape-man, naturally, had a slightly more comprehensive realiza- +tion of the limitations of time; but, like the beasts, he moved +with majestic deliberation when no emergency prompted him +to swift action. + +Having dedicated his life to vengeance, vengeance became +his natural state and, therefore, no emergency, so he took his +time in pursuit. That he had not rested earlier was due to +the fact that he had felt no fatigue, his mind being occupied +by thoughts of sorrow and revenge; but now he realized that +he was tired, and so he sought a jungle giant that had harbored +him upon more than a single other jungle night. + +Dark clouds moving swiftly across the heavens now and +again eclipsed the bright face of Goro, the moon, and fore- +warned the ape-man of impending storm. In the depth of +the jungle the cloud shadows produced a thick blackness that +might almost be felt -- a blackness that to you and me might +have proven terrifying with its accompaniment of rustling +leaves and cracking twigs, and its even more suggestive inter- +vals of utter silence in which the crudest of imaginations +might have conjured crouching beasts of prey tensed for the +fatal charge; but through it Tarzan passed unconcerned, yet +always alert. Now he swung lightly to the lower terraces +of the overarching trees when some subtle sense warned him +that Numa lay upon a kill directly in his path, or again he +sprang lightly to one side as Buto, the rhinoceros, lumbered +toward him along the narrow, deep-worn trail, for the ape- +man, ready to fight upon necessity's slightest pretext, avoided +unnecessary quarrels. + +When he swung himself at last into the tree he sought, the +moon was obscured by a heavy cloud, and the tree tops were +waving wildly in a steadily increasing wind whose soughing +drowned the lesser noises of the jungle. Upward went Tarzan +toward a sturdy crotch across which he long since had laid +and secured a little platform of branches. It was very dark +now, darker even than it had been before, for almost the +entire sky was overcast by thick, black clouds. + +Presently the man-beast paused, his sensitive nostrils dilat- +ing as he sniffed the air about him. Then, with the swiftness +and agility of a cat, he leaped far outward upon a swaying +branch, sprang upward through the darkness, caught another, +swung himself upon it and then to one still higher. What +could have so suddenly transformed his matter-of-fact ascent +of the giant bole to the swift and wary action of his detour +among the branches? You or I could have seen nothing -- +not even the little platform that an instant before had been +just above him and which now was immediately below -- but +as he swung above it we should have heard an ominous growl; +and then as the moon was momentarily uncovered, we should +have seen both the platform, dimly, and a dark mass that lay +stretched upon it -- a dark mass that presently, as our eyes +became accustomed to the lesser darkness, would take the +form of Sheeta, the panther. + +In answer to the cat's growl, a low and equally ferocious +growl rumbled upward from the ape-man's deep chest -- a +growl of warning that told the panther he was trespassing +upon the other's lair; but Sheeta was in no mood to be dis- +possessed. With upturned, snarling face he glared at the +brown-skinned Tarmangani above him. Very slowly the +ape-man moved inward along the branch until he was directly +above the panther. In the man's hand was the hunting knife +of his long-dead father -- the weapon that had first given him +his real ascendancy over the beasts of the jungle; but he hoped +not to be forced to use it, knowing as he did that more jungle +battles were settled by hideous growling than by actual com- +bat, the law of bluff holding quite as good in the jungle as +elsewhere -- only in matters of love and food did the great +beasts ordinarily close with fangs and talons. + +Tarzan braced himself against the bole of the tree and +leaned closer toward Sheeta. + +"Stealer of balus!" he cried. The panther rose to a sitting +position, his bared fangs but a few feet from the ape-man's +taunting face. Tarzan growled hideously and struck at the +cat's face with his knife. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he +roared. "This is Tarzan's lair. Go, or I will kill you." +Though +he spoke in the language of the great apes of the jungle, it is +doubtful that Sheeta understood the words, though he knew +well enough that the hairless ape wished to frighten him from +his well-chosen station past which edible creatures might be +expected to wander sometime during the watches of the night. + +Like lightning the cat reared and struck a vicious blow at +his tormentor with great, bared talons that might well have +torn away the ape-man's face had the blow landed; but it did +not land -- Tarzan was even quicker than Sheeta. As the +panther came to all fours again upon the little platform, Tar- +zan unslung his heavy spear and prodded at the snarling face, +and as Sheeta warded off the blows, the two continued their +horrid duet of blood-curdling roars and growls. + +Goaded to frenzy the cat presently determined to come up +after this disturber of his peace; but when he essayed to leap +to the branch that held Tarzan he found the sharp spear point +always in his face, and each time as he dropped back he was +prodded viciously in some tender part; but at length, rage +having conquered his better judgment, he leaped up the +rough bole to the very branch upon which Tarzan stood. +Now the two faced each other upon even footing and Sheeta +saw a quick revenge and a supper all in one. The hairless +ape-thing with the tiny fangs and the puny talons would be +helpless before him. + +The heavy limb bent beneath the weight of the two beasts +as Sheeta crept cautiously out upon it and Tarzan backed +slowly away, growling. The wind had risen to the proportions +of a gale so that even the greatest giants of the forest swayed, +groaning, to its force and the branch upon which the two +faced each other rose and fell like the deck of a storm-tossed +ship. Goro was now entirely obscured, but vivid flashes of +lightning lit up the jungle at brief intervals, revealing the +grim +tableau of primitive passion upon the swaying limb. + +Tarzan backed away, drawing Sheeta farther from the stem +of the tree and out upon the tapering branch, where his footing +became ever more precarious. The cat, infuriated by the pain +of spear wounds, was overstepping the bounds of caution. +Already he had reached a point where he could do little more +than maintain a secure footing, and it was this moment that +Tarzan chose to charge. With a roar that mingled with the +booming thunder from above he leaped toward the panther, +who could only claw futilely with one huge paw while he +clung to the branch with the other; but the ape-man did not +come within that parabola of destruction. Instead he leaped +above menacing claws and snapping fangs, turning in mid-air +and alighting upon Sheeta's back, and at the instant of impact +his knife struck deep into the tawny side. Then Sheeta, im- +pelled by pain and hate and rage and the first law of Nature, +went mad. Screaming and clawing he attempted to turn +upon the ape-thing clinging to his back. For an instant he +toppled upon the now wildly gyrating limb, clutched franti- +cally to save himself, and then plunged downward into the +darkness with Tarzan still clinging to him. Crashing through +splintering branches the two fell. Not for an instant did the +ape-man consider relinquishing his death-hold upon his ad- +versary. He had entered the lists in mortal combat and true +to the primitive instincts of the wild -- the unwritten law of +the jungle -- one or both must die before the battle ended. + +Sheeta, catlike, alighted upon four out-sprawled feet, the +weight of the ape-man crushing him to earth, the long knife +again imbedded in his side. Once the panther struggled to +rise; but only to sink to earth again. Tarzan felt the giant +muscles relax beneath him. Sheeta was dead. Rising, the +ape-man placed a foot upon the body of his vanquished foe, +raised his face toward the thundering heavens, and as the +lightning flashed and the torrential rain broke upon him, +screamed forth the wild victory cry of the bull ape. + +Having accomplished his aim and driven the enemy from +his lair, Tarzan gathered an armful of large fronds and +climbed to his dripping couch. Laying a few of the fronds +upon the poles he lay down and covered himself against the +rain with the others, and despite the wailing of the wind and +the crashing of the thunder, immediately fell asleep. + + + + +The Lion's Cave + +The rain lasted for twenty-four hours and much of the time +it fell in torrents so that when it ceased, the trail he had +been following was entirely obliterated. Cold and uncom- +fortable -- it was a savage Tarzan who threaded the mazes of +the soggy jungle. Manu, the monkey, shivering and chatter- +ing in the dank trees, scolded and fled at his approach. Even +the panthers and the lions let the growling Tarmangani pass +unmolested. + +When the sun shone again upon the second day and a wide, +open plain let the full heat of Kudu flood the chilled, brown +body, Tarzan's spirits rose; but it was still a sullen, surly +brute +that moved steadily onward into the south where he hoped +again to pick up the trail of the Germans. He was now in +German East Africa and it was his intention to skirt the moun- +tains west of Kilimanjaro, whose rugged peaks he was quite +willing to give a wide berth, and then swing eastward along +the south side of the range to the railway that led to Tanga, +for his experience among men suggested that it was toward +this railroad that German troops would be likely to converge. + +Two days later, from the southern slopes of Kilimanjaro, he +heard the boom of cannon far away to the east. The after- +noon had been dull and cloudy and now as he was passing +through a narrow gorge a few great drops of rain began to +splatter upon his naked shoulders. Tarzan shook his head +and growled his disapproval; then he cast his eyes about for +shelter, for he had had quite enough of the cold and drenching. +He wanted to hasten on in the direction of the booming noise, +for he knew that there would be Germans fighting against the +English. For an instant his bosom swelled with pride at the +thought that he was English and then he shook his head +again viciously. "No!" he muttered, "Tarzan of the Apes is +not English, for the English are men and Tarzan is Tarman- +gani;" but he could not hide even from his sorrow or from his +sullen hatred of mankind in general that his heart warmed +at the thought it was Englishmen who fought the Germans. +His regret was that the English were human and not great +white apes as he again considered himself. + +"Tomorrow," he thought, "I will travel that way and find +the Germans," and then he set himself to the immediate task +of discovering some shelter from the storm. Presently he +espied the low and narrow entrance to what appeared to be +a cave at the base of the cliffs which formed the northern side +of the gorge. With drawn knife he approached the spot +warily, for he knew that if it were a cave it was doubtless the +lair of some other beast. Before the entrance lay many large +fragments of rock of different sizes, similar to others scattered +along the entire base of the cliff, and it was in Tarzan's mind +that if he found the cave unoccupied he would barricade the +door and insure himself a quiet and peaceful night's repose +within the sheltered interior. Let the storm rage without -- +Tarzan would remain within until it ceased, comfortable and +dry. A tiny rivulet of cold water trickled outward from the +opening. + +Close to the cave Tarzan kneeled and sniffed the ground. +A low growl escaped him and his upper lip curved to expose +his fighting fangs. "Numa!" he muttered; but he did not +stop. Numa might not be at home -- he would investigate. +The entrance was so low that the ape-man was compelled to +drop to all fours before he could poke his head within the +aperture; but first he looked, listened, and sniffed in each +direction at his rear -- he would not be taken by surprise from +that quarter. + +His first glance within the cave revealed a narrow tunnel +with daylight at its farther end. The interior of the tunnel +was not so dark but that the ape-man could readily see that +it was untenanted at present. Advancing cautiously he +crawled toward the opposite end imbued with a full realiza- +tion of what it would mean if Numa should suddenly enter +the tunnel in front of him; but Numa did not appear and the +ape-man emerged at length into the open and stood erect, +finding himself in a rocky cleft whose precipitous walls rose +almost sheer on every hand, the tunnel from the gorge passing +through the cliff and forming a passageway from the outer +world into a large pocket or gulch entirely inclosed by steep +walls of rock. Except for the small passageway from the +gorge, there was no other entrance to the gulch which was +some hundred feet in length and about fifty in width and +appeared to have been worn from the rocky cliff by the falling +of water during long ages. A tiny stream from Kilimanjaro's +eternal snow cap still trickled over the edge of the rocky wall +at the upper end of the gulch, forming a little pool at the +bottom of the cliff from which a small rivulet wound down- +ward to the tunnel through which it passed to the gorge +beyond. A single great tree flourished near the center of the +gulch, while tufts of wiry grass were scattered here and there +among the rocks of the gravelly floor. + +The bones of many large animals lay about and among them +were several human skulls. Tarzan raised his eyebrows. "A +man-eater," he murmured, "and from appearances he has held +sway here for a long time. Tonight Tarzan will take the lair +of the man-eater and Numa may roar and grumble upon the +outside." + +The ape-man had advanced well into the gulch as he in- +vestigated his surroundings and now as he stood near the +tree, satisfied that the tunnel would prove a dry and quiet +retreat for the night, he turned to retrace his way to the outer +end of the entrance that he might block it with bowlders +against Numa's return, but even with the thought there came +something to his sensitive ears that froze him into statuesque +immobility with eyes glued upon the tunnel's mouth. A +moment later the head of a huge lion framed in a great black +mane appeared in the opening. The yellow-green eyes glared, +round and unblinking, straight at the trespassing Tarmangani, +a low growl rumbled from the deep chest, and lips curled +back to expose the mighty fangs. + +"Brother of Dango!" shouted Tarzan, angered that Numa's +return should have been so timed as to frustrate his plans for +a comfortable night's repose. "I am Tarzan of the Apes, Lord +of the Jungle. Tonight I lair here -- go!" + +But Numa did not go. Instead he rumbled forth a menac- +ing roar and took a few steps in Tarzan's direction. The ape- +man picked up a rock and hurled it at the snarling face. One +can never be sure of a lion. This one might turn tail and run +at the first intimation of attack -- Tarzan had bluffed many in +his time -- but not now. The missile struck Numa full upon +the snout -- a tender part of a cat's anatomy -- and instead of +causing him to flee it transformed him into an infuriated +engine of wrath and destruction. + +Up went his tail, stiff and erect, and with a series of fright- +ful roars he bore down upon the Tarmangani at the speed of +an express train. Not an instant too soon did Tarzan reach +the tree and swing himself into its branches and there he +squatted, hurling insults at the king of beasts while Numa +paced a circle beneath him, growling and roaring in rage. + +It was raining now in earnest adding to the ape-man's dis- +comfort and disappointment. He was very angry; but as only +direct necessity had ever led him to close in mortal combat +with a lion, knowing as he did that he had only luck and +agility to pit against the frightful odds of muscle, weight, +fangs, and talons, he did not now even consider descending +and engaging in so unequal and useless a duel for the mere +reward of a little added creature comfort. And so he sat +perched in the tree while the rain fell steadily and the lion +padded round and round beneath, casting a baleful eye up- +ward after every few steps. + +Tarzan scanned the precipitous walls for an avenue of es- +cape. They would have baffled an ordinary man; but the +ape-man, accustomed to climbing, saw several places where +he might gain a foothold, precarious possibly; but enough to +give him reasonable assurance of escape if Numa would but +betake himself to the far end of the gulch for a moment. +Numa, however, notwithstanding the rain, gave no evidence +of quitting his post so that at last Tarzan really began to +consider seriously if it might not be as well to take the chance +of a battle with him rather than remain longer cold and wet +and humiliated in the tree. + +But even as he turned the matter over in his mind Numa +turned suddenly and walked majestically toward the tunnel +without even a backward glance. The instant that he disap- +peared, Tarzan dropped lightly to the ground upon the far +side of the tree and was away at top speed for the cliff. The +lion had no sooner entered the tunnel than he backed im- +mediately out again and, pivoting like a flash, was off across +the gulch in full charge after the flying ape-man; but Tarzan's +lead was too great -- if he could find finger or foothold upon +the sheer wall he would be safe; but should he slip from the +wet rocks his doom was already sealed as he would fall +directly into Numa's clutches where even the Great Tarman- +gani would be helpless. + +With the agility of a cat Tarzan ran up the cliff for thirty +feet before he paused, and there finding a secure foothold, +he stopped and looked down upon Numa who was leaping +upward in a wild and futile attempt to scale the rocky wall +to his prey. Fifteen or twenty feet from the ground the lion +would scramble only to fall backward again defeated. Tarzan +eyed him for a moment and then commenced a slow and +cautious ascent toward the summit. Several times he had +difficulty in finding holds but at last he drew himself over the +edge, rose, picked up a bit of loose rock, hurled it at Numa +and strode away. + +Finding an easy descent to the gorge, he was about to pursue +his journey in the direction of the still-booming guns when +a sudden thought caused him to halt and a half-smile to play +about his lips. Turning, he trotted quickly back to the outer +opening of Numa's tunnel. Close beside it he listened for a +moment and then rapidly began to gather large rocks and +pile them within the entrance. He had almost closed the +aperture when the lion appeared upon the inside -- a very +ferocious and angry lion that pawed and clawed at the rocks +and uttered mighty roars that caused the earth to tremble; +but roars did not frighten Tarzan of the Apes. At Kala's +shaggy breast he had closed his infant eyes in sleep upon +countless nights in years gone by to the savage chorus of +similar roars. Scarcely a day or night of his jungle life -- and +practically all his life had been spent in the jungle -- had +he not heard the roaring of hungry lions, or angry lions, +or love-sick lions. Such sounds affected Tarzan as the tooting +of an automobile horn may affect you -- if you are in front of +the automobile it warns you out of the way, if you are not in +front of it you scarcely notice it. Figuratively Tarzan was +not in front of the automobile -- Numa could not reach him +and Tarzan knew it, so he continued deliberately to choke the +entrance until there was no possibility of Numa's getting out +again. When he was quite through he made a grimace at the +hidden lion beyond the barrier and resumed his way toward +the east. "A man-eater who will eat no more men," he solilo- +quized. + +That night Tarzan lay up under an overhanging shelf of +rock. The next morning he resumed his journey, stopping +only long enough to make a kill and satisfy his hunger. The +other beasts of the wild eat and lie up; but Tarzan never let +his belly interfere with his plans. In this lay one of the great- +est differences between the ape-man and his fellows of the +jungles and forests. The firing ahead rose and fell during +the day. He had noticed that it was highest at dawn and +immediately after dusk and that during the night it almost +ceased. In the middle of the afternoon of the second day he +came upon troops moving up toward the front. They ap- +peared to be raiding parties, for they drove goats and cows +along with them and there were native porters laden with +grain and other foodstuffs. He saw that these natives were +all secured by neck chains and he also saw that the troops +were composed of native soldiers in German uniforms. The +officers were white men. No one saw Tarzan, yet he was here +and there about and among them for two hours. He inspected +the insignia upon their uniforms and saw that they were not +the same as that which he had taken from one of the dead +soldiers at the bungalow and then he passed on ahead of +them, unseen in the dense bush. He had come upon Germans +and had not killed them; but it was because the killing of +Germans at large was not yet the prime motive of his existence +-- now it was to discover the individual who slew his mate. + +After he had accounted for him he would take up the little +matter of slaying ALL Germans who crossed his path, and he +meant that many should cross it, for he would hunt them +precisely as professional hunters hunt the man-eaters. + +As he neared the front lines the troops became more numer- +ous. There were motor trucks and ox teams and all the +impedimenta of a small army and always there were wounded +men walking or being carried toward the rear. He had +crossed the railroad some distance back and judged that the +wounded were being taken to it for transportation to a base +hospital and possibly as far away as Tanga on the coast. + +It was dusk when he reached a large camp hidden in the +foothills of the Pare Mountains. As he was approaching from +the rear he found it but lightly guarded and what sentinels +there were, were not upon the alert, and so it was an easy +thing for him to enter after darkness had fallen and prowl +about listening at the backs of tents, searching for some clew +to the slayer of his mate. + +As he paused at the side of a tent before which sat a num- +ber of native soldiers he caught a few words spoken in native +dialect that riveted his attention instantly: "The Waziri fought +like devils; but we are greater fighters and we killed them all. +When we were through the captain came and killed the +woman. He stayed outside and yelled in a very loud voice +until all the men were killed. Underlieutenant von Goss is +braver -- he came in and stood beside the door shouting at us, +also in a very loud voice, and bade us nail one of the Waziri +who was wounded to the wall, and then he laughed loudly +because the man suffered. We all laughed. It was very +funny." + +Like a beast of prey, grim and terrible, Tarzan crouched in +the shadows beside the tent. What thoughts passed through +that savage mind? Who may say? No outward sign of +passion was revealed by the expression of the handsome face; +the cold, gray eyes denoted only intense watchfulness. Pres- +ently the soldier Tarzan had heard first rose and with a parting +word turned away. He passed within ten feet of the ape-man +and continued on toward the rear of the camp. Tarzan fol- +lowed and in the shadows of a clump of bushes overtook his +quarry. There was no sound as the man beast sprang upon +the back of his prey and bore it to the ground for steel fingers +closed simultaneously upon the soldier's throat, effectually +stifling any outcry. By the neck Tarzan dragged his victim +well into the concealment of the bushes. + +"Make no sound," he cautioned in the man's own tribal +dialect as he released his hold upon the other's throat. + +The fellow gasped for breath, rolling frightened eyes up- +ward to see what manner of creature it might be in whose +power he was. In the darkness he saw only a naked brown +body bending above him; but he still remembered the terrific +strength of the mighty muscles that had closed upon his wind +and dragged him into the bushes as though he had been but +a little child. If any thought of resistance had crossed his mind +he must have discarded it at once, as he made no move to +escape. + +"What is the name of the officer who killed the woman +at the bungalow where you fought with the Waziri?" asked +Tarzan. + +"Hauptmann Schneider," replied the black when he could +again command his voice. + +"Where is he?" demanded the ape-man. + +"He is here. It may be that he is at headquarters. Many +of the officers go there in the evening to receive orders." + +"Lead me there," commanded Tarzan, "and if I am dis- +covered I will kill you immediately. Get up!" + +The black rose and led the way by a roundabout route +back through the camp. Several times they were forced to +hide while soldiers passed; but at last they reached a great +pile of baled hay from about the corner of which the black +pointed out a two-story building in the distance. + +"Headquarters," he said. "You can go no farther unseen. +There are many soldiers about." + +Tarzan realized that he could not proceed farther in com- +pany with the black. He turned and looked at the fellow for +a moment as though pondering what disposition to make of +him. + +"You helped to crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri," he accused +in a low yet none the less terrible tone. + +The black trembled, his knees giving beneath him. "He +ordered us to do it," he plead. + +"Who ordered it done?" demanded Tarzan. + +"Underlieutenant von Goss," replied the soldier. "He, too, +is here." + +"I shall find him," returned Tarzan, grimly. "You helped to +crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri, and, while he suffered, you +laughed." + +The fellow reeled. It was as though in the accusation he +read also his death sentence. With no other word Tarzan +seized the man again by the neck. As before there was no +outcry. The giant muscles tensed. The arms swung quickly +upward and with them the body of the black soldier who +had helped to crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri, described a +circle in the air -- once, twice, three times, and then it was +flung aside and the ape-man turned in the direction of General +Kraut's headquarters. + +A single sentinel in the rear of the building barred the way. +Tarzan crawled, belly to the ground, toward him, taking ad- +vantage of cover as only the jungle-bred beast of prey can +do. When the sentinel's eyes were toward him, Tarzan hugged +the ground, motionless as stone; when they were turned away, +he moved swiftly forward. Presently he was within charging +distance. He waited until the man had turned his back once +more and then he rose and sped noiselessly down upon him. +Again there was no sound as he carried the dead body with +him toward the building. + +The lower floor was lighted, the upper dark. Through the +windows Tarzan saw a large front room and a smaller room +in rear of it. In the former were many officers. Some moved +about talking to one another, others sat at field tables writing. +The windows were open and Tarzan could hear much of the +conversation; but nothing that interested him. It was mostly +about the German successes in Africa and conjectures as to +when the German army in Europe would reach Paris. Some +said the Kaiser was doubtlessly already there, and there was a +great deal of damning Belgium. + +In the smaller back room a large, red-faced man sat be- +hind a table. Some other officers were also sitting a little in +rear of him, while two stood at attention before the general, +who was questioning them. As he talked, the general toyed +with an oil lamp that stood upon the table before him. Pres- +ently there came a knock upon the door and an aide entered +the room. He saluted and reported: "Fraulein Kircher has +arrived, sir." + +"Bid her enter," commanded the general, and then nodded +to the two officers before him in sign of dismissal. + +The Fraulein, entering, passed them at the door. The +officers in the little room rose and saluted, the Fraulein +acknowledging the courtesy with a bow and a slight smile. +She was a very pretty girl. Even the rough, soiled riding habit +and the caked dust upon her face could not conceal the fact, +and she was young. She could not have been over nineteen. + +She advanced to the table behind which the general stood +and, taking a folded paper from an inside pocket of her coat, +handed it to him. + +"Be seated, Fraulein," he said, and another officer brought +her a chair. No one spoke while the general read the con- +tents of the paper. + +Tarzan appraised the various people in the room. He +wondered if one might not be Hauptmann Schneider, for two +of them were captains. The girl he judged to be of the intel- +ligence department -- a spy. Her beauty held no appeal for +him -- without a glimmer of compunction he could have wrung +that fair, young neck. She was German and that was enough; +but he had other and more important work before him. He +wanted Hauptmann Schneider. + +Finally the general looked up from the paper. + +"Good," he said to the girl, and then to one of his aides, +"Send for Major Schneider." + +Major Schneider! Tarzan felt the short hairs at the back +of his neck rise. Already they had promoted the beast who +had murdered his mate -- doubtless they had promoted him +for that very crime. + +The aide left the room and the others fell into a general +conversation from which it became apparent to Tarzan that +the German East African forces greatly outnumbered the +British and that the latter were suffering heavily. The ape- +man stood so concealed in a clump of bushes that he could +watch the interior of the room without being seen from within, +while he was at the same time hidden from the view of any- +one who might chance to pass along the post of the sentinel +he had slain. Momentarily he was expecting a patrol or a +relief to appear and discover that the sentinel was missing, +when he knew an immediate and thorough search would be +made. + +Impatiently he awaited the coming of the man he sought +and at last he was rewarded by the reappearance of the aide +who had been dispatched to fetch him accompanied by an +officer of medium size with fierce, upstanding mustaches. The +newcomer strode to the table, halted and saluted, reporting. +The general acknowledged the salute and turned toward the +girl. + +"Fraulein Kircher," he said, "allow me to present Major +Schneider --" + +Tarzan waited to hear no more. Placing a palm upon the +sill of the window he vaulted into the room into the midst of +an astounded company of the Kaiser's officers. With a stride +he was at the table and with a sweep of his hand sent the +lamp crashing into the fat belly of the general who, in his +mad effort to escape cremation, fell over backward, chair and +all, upon the floor. Two of the aides sprang for the ape-man +who picked up the first and flung him in the face of the other. +The girl had leaped from her chair and stood flattened against +the wall. The other officers were calling aloud for the guard +and for help. Tarzan's purpose centered upon but a single +individual and him he never lost sight of. Freed from attack +for an instant he seized Major Schneider, threw him over his +shoulder and was out of the window so quickly that the +astonished assemblage could scarce realize what had occurred. + +A single glance showed him that the sentinel's post was +still vacant and a moment later he and his burden were in +the shadows of the hay dump. Major Schneider had made +no outcry for the very excellent reason that his wind was shut +off. Now Tarzan released his grasp enough to permit the man +to breathe. + +"If you make a sound you will be choked again," he said. + +Cautiously and after infinite patience Tarzan passed the final +outpost. Forcing his captive to walk before him he pushed +on toward the west until, late into the night, he recrossed the +railway where he felt reasonably safe from discovery. The +German had cursed and grumbled and threatened and asked +questions; but his only reply was another prod from Tarzan's +sharp war spear. The ape-man herded him along as he would +have driven a hog with the difference that he would have had +more respect and therefore more consideration for a hog. + +Until now Tarzan had given little thought to the details of +revenge. Now he pondered what form the punishment should +take. Of only one thing was he certain -- it must end in death. +Like all brave men and courageous beasts Tarzan had little +natural inclination to torture -- none, in fact; but this case +was +unique in his experience. An inherent sense of justice called +for an eye for an eye and his recent oath demanded even +more. Yes, the creature must suffer even as he had caused +Jane Clayton to suffer. Tarzan could not hope to make the +man suffer as he had suffered, since physical pain may never +approach the exquisiteness of mental torture. + +All through the long night the ape-man goaded on the +exhausted and now terrified Hun. The awful silence of his +captor wrought upon the German's nerves. If he would only +speak! Again and again Schneider tried to force or coax a +word from him; but always the result was the same -- con- +tinued silence and a vicious and painful prod from the spear +point. Schneider was bleeding and sore. He was so ex- +hausted that he staggered at every step, and often he fell only +to be prodded to his feet again by that terrifying and re- +morseless spear. + +It was not until morning that Tarzan reached a decision +and it came to him then like an inspiration from above. A +slow smile touched his lips and he immediately sought a +place to lie up and rest -- he wished his prisoner to be fit now +for what lay in store for him. Ahead was a stream which +Tarzan had crossed the day before. He knew the ford for a +drinking place and a likely spot to make an easy kill. Cau- +tioning the German to utter silence with a gesture the two +approached the stream quietly. Down the game trail Tarzan +saw some deer about to leave the water. He shoved Schneider +into the brush at one side and, squatting next him, waited. +The German watched the silent giant with puzzled, frightened +eyes. In the new dawn he, for the first time, was able to ob- +tain a good look at his captor, and, if he had been puzzled +and frightened before, those sensations were nothing to what +he experienced now. + +Who and what could this almost naked, white savage be? +He had heard him speak but once -- when he had cautioned +him to silence -- and then in excellent German and the well- +modulated tones of culture. He watched him now as the +fascinated toad watches the snake that is about to devour it. +He saw the graceful limbs and symmetrical body motionless +as a marble statue as the creature crouched in the conceal- +ment of the leafy foliage. Not a muscle, not a nerve moved. +He saw the deer coming slowly along the trail, down wind +and unsuspecting. He saw a buck pass -- an old buck -- and +then a young and plump one came opposite the giant in am- +bush, and Schneider's eyes went wide and a scream of terror +almost broke from his lips as he saw the agile beast at his side +spring straight for the throat of the young buck and heard +from those human lips the hunting roar of a wild beast. Down +went the buck and Tarzan and his captive had meat. The +ape-man ate his raw, but he permitted the German to build +a fire and cook his portion. + +The two lay up until late in the afternoon and then took up +the journey once again -- a journey that was so frightful to +Schneider because of his ignorance of its destination that he at +times groveled at Tarzan's feet begging for an explanation +and for mercy; but on and on in silence the ape-man went, +prodding the failing Hun whenever the latter faltered. + +It was noon of the third day before they reached their +destination. After a steep climb and a short walk they halted +at the edge of a precipitous cliff and Schneider looked down +into a narrow gulch where a single tree grew beside a tiny +rivulet and sparse grass broke from a rock-strewn soil. Tarzan +motioned him over the edge; but the German drew back in +terror. The Ape-man seized him and pushed him roughly +toward the brink. "Descend," he said. It was the second +time he had spoken in three days and perhaps his very silence, +ominous in itself, had done more to arouse terror in the breast +of the Boche than even the spear point, ever ready as it al- +ways was. + +Schneider looked fearfully over the edge; but was about +to essay the attempt when Tarzan halted him. "I am Lord +Greystoke," he said. "It was my wife you murdered in the +Waziri country. You will understand now why I came for you. +Descend." + +The German fell upon his knees. "I did not murder your +wife," he cried. "Have mercy! I did not murder your wife. +I do not know anything about --" + +"Descend!" snapped Tarzan, raising the point of his spear. +He knew that the man lied and was not surprised that he did. +A man who would murder for no cause would lie for less. +Schneider still hesitated and pled. The ape-man jabbed him +with the spear and Schneider slid fearfully over the top and +began the perilous descent. Tarzan accompanied and assisted +him over the worst places until at last they were within a few +feet of the bottom. + +"Be quiet now," cautioned the ape-man. He pointed at the +entrance to what appeared to be a cave at the far end of the +gulch. "There is a hungry lion in there. If you can reach +that tree before he discovers you, you will have several days +longer in which to enjoy life and then -- when you are too weak +to cling longer to the branches of the tree Numa, the man- +eater, will feed again for the last time." He pushed Schneider +from his foothold to the ground below. "Now run," he said. + +The German trembling in terror started for the tree. He +had almost reached it when a horrid roar broke from the +mouth of the cave and almost simultaneously a gaunt, hunger- +mad lion leaped into the daylight of the gulch. Schneider +had but a few yards to cover; but the lion flew over the ground +to circumvent him while Tarzan watched the race with a +slight smile upon his lips. + +Schneider won by a slender margin, and as Tarzan scaled +the cliff to the summit, he heard behind him mingled with the +roaring of the baffled cat, the gibbering of a human voice that +was at the same time more bestial than the beast's. + +Upon the brink of the cliff the ape-man turned and looked +back into the gulch. High in the tree the German clung +frantically to a branch across which his body lay. Beneath +him was Numa -- waiting. + +The ape-man raised his face to Kudu, the sun, and from +his mighty chest rose the savage victory cry of the bull ape. + + + + +In the German Lines + +Tarzan was not yet fully revenged. There were many +millions of Germans yet alive -- enough to keep Tarzan +pleasantly occupied the balance of his life, and yet not +enough, should he kill them all, to recompense him for the +great loss he had suffered -- nor could the death of all those +million Germans bring back his loved one. + +While in the German camp in the Pare Mountains, which +lie just east of the boundary line between German and British +East Africa, Tarzan had overheard enough to suggest that +the British were getting the worst of the fighting in Africa. At +first he had given the matter but little thought, since, after +the +death of his wife, the one strong tie that had held him to +civilization, he had renounced all mankind, considering him- +self no longer man, but ape. + +After accounting for Schneider as satisfactorily as lay within +his power he circled Kilimanjaro and hunted in the foothills +to the north of that mightiest of mountains as he had dis- +covered that in the neighborhood of the armies there was no +hunting at all. Some pleasure he derived through conjuring +mental pictures from time to time of the German he had left +in the branches of the lone tree at the bottom of the high- +walled gulch in which was penned the starving lion. He +could imagine the man's mental anguish as he became weak- +ened from hunger and maddened by thirst, knowing that +sooner or later he must slip exhausted to the ground where +waited the gaunt man-eater. Tarzan wondered if Schneider +would have the courage to descend to the little rivulet for +water should Numa leave the gulch and enter the cave, and +then he pictured the mad race for the tree again when the +lion charged out to seize his prey as he was certain to do, +since the clumsy German could not descend to the rivulet +without making at least some slight noise that would attract +Numa's attention. + +But even this pleasure palled, and more and more the ape- +man found himself thinking of the English soldiers fighting +against heavy odds and especially of the fact that it was Ger- +mans who were beating them. The thought made him lower +his head and growl and it worried him not a little -- a bit, per- +haps, because he was finding it difficult to forget that he was +an Englishman when he wanted only to be an ape. And at +last the time came when he could not longer endure the +thought of Germans killing Englishmen while he hunted in +safety a bare march away. + +His decision made, he set out in the direction of the German +camp, no well-defined plan formulated; but with the general +idea that once near the field of operations he might find an +opportunity to harass the German command as he so well +knew how to do. His way took him along the gorge close to +the gulch in which he had left Schneider, and, yielding to a +natural curiosity, he scaled the cliffs and made his way to the +edge of the gulch. The tree was empty, nor was there sign of +Numa, the lion. Picking up a rock he hurled it into the gulch, +where it rolled to the very entrance to the cave. Instantly the +lion appeared in the aperture; but such a different-looking lion +from the great sleek brute that Tarzan had trapped there two +weeks before. Now he was gaunt and emaciated, and when he +walked he staggered. + +"Where is the German?" shouted Tarzan. "Was he good +eating, or only a bag of bones when he slipped and fell from +the tree?" + +Numa growled. "You look hungry, Numa," continued the +ape-man. "You must have been very hungry to eat all the +grass from your lair and even the bark from the tree as far up +as you can reach. Would you like another German?" and +smiling he turned away. + +A few minutes later he came suddenly upon Bara, the deer, +asleep beneath a tree, and as Tarzan was hungry he made a +quick kill, and squatting beside his prey proceeded to eat his +fill. As he was gnawing the last morsel from a bone his quick +ears caught the padding of stealthy feet behind him, and +turning he confronted Dango, the hyena, sneaking upon him. +With a growl the ape-man picked up a fallen branch and +hurled it at the skulking brute. "Go away, eater of carrion!" +he cried; but Dango was hungry and being large and power- +ful he only snarled and circled slowly about as though watch- +ing for an opportunity to charge. Tarzan of the Apes knew +Dango even better than Dango knew himself. He knew that +the brute, made savage by hunger, was mustering its courage +for an attack, that it was probably accustomed to man and +therefore more or less fearless of him and so he unslung his +heavy spear and laid it ready at his side while he continued +his meal, all the time keeping a watchful eye upon the hyena. + +He felt no fear, for long familiarity with the dangers of his +wild world had so accustomed him to them that he took what- +ever came as a part of each day's existence as you accept the +homely though no less real dangers of the farm, the range, or +the crowded metropolis. Being jungle bred he was ready +to protect his kill from all comers within ordinary limitations +of caution. Under favorable conditions Tarzan would face +even Numa himself and, if forced to seek safety by flight, he +could do so without any feeling of shame. There was no +braver creature roamed those savage wilds and at the same +time there was none more wise -- the two factors that had +permitted him to survive. + +Dango might have charged sooner but for the savage +growls of the ape-man -- growls which, coming from human +lips, raised a question and a fear in the hyena's heart. He +had attacked women and children in the native fields and he +had frightened their men about their fires at night; but he +never had seen a man-thing who made this sound that re- +minded him more of Numa angry than of a man afraid. + +When Tarzan had completed his repast he was about to +rise and hurl a clean-picked bone at the beast before he went +his way, leaving the remains of his kill to Dango; but a sud- +den thought stayed him and instead he picked up the carcass +of the deer, threw it over his shoulder, and set off in the +direc- +tion of the gulch. For a few yards Dango followed, growling, +and then realizing that he was being robbed of even a taste +of the luscious flesh he cast discretion to the winds and +charged. Instantly, as though Nature had given him eyes in +the back of his head, Tarzan sensed the impending danger and, +dropping Bara to the ground, turned with raised spear. Far +back went the brown, right hand and then forward, lightning- +like, backed by the power of giant muscles and the weight of +his brawn and bone. The spear, released at the right instant, +drove straight for Dango, caught him in the neck where it +joined the shoulders and passed through the body. + +When he had withdrawn the shaft from the hyena Tarzan +shouldered both carcasses and continued on toward the gulch. +Below lay Numa beneath the shade of the lone tree and at the +ape-man's call he staggered slowly to his feet, yet weak as he +was, he still growled savagely, even essaying a roar at the sight +of his enemy. Tarzan let the two bodies slide over the rim +of the cliff. "Eat, Numa!" he cried. "It may be that I shall +need you again." He saw the lion, quickened to new life at +the sight of food, spring upon the body of the deer and then +he left him rending and tearing the flesh as he bolted great +pieces into his empty maw. + +The following day Tarzan came within sight of the German +lines. From a wooded spur of the hills he looked down upon +the enemy's left flank and beyond to the British lines. His +position gave him a bird's-eye view of the field of battle, and +his keen eyesight picked out many details that would not have +been apparent to a man whose every sense was not trained +to the highest point of perfection as were the ape-man's. He +noted machine-gun emplacements cunningly hidden from the +view of the British and listening posts placed well out in No +Man's Land. + +As his interested gaze moved hither and thither from one +point of interest to another he heard from a point upon the +hillside below him, above the roar of cannon and the crack +of rifle fire, a single rifle spit. Immediately his attention was +centered upon the spot where he knew a sniper must be hid. +Patiently he awaited the next shot that would tell him more +surely the exact location of the rifleman, and when it came he +moved down the steep hillside with the stealth and quietness +of a panther. Apparently he took no cognizance of where he +stepped, yet never a loose stone was disturbed nor a twig +broken -- it was as though his feet saw. + +Presently, as he passed through a clump of bushes, he came +to the edge of a low cliff and saw upon a ledge some fifteen +feet below him a German soldier prone behind an embank- +ment of loose rock and leafy boughs that hid him from the +view of the British lines. The man must have been an ex- +cellent shot, for he was well back of the German lines, firing +over the heads of his fellows. His high-powered rifle was +equipped with telescope sights and he also carried binoculars +which he was in the act of using as Tarzan discovered him, +either to note the effect of his last shot or to discover a new +target. Tarzan let his eye move quickly toward that part of +the British line the German seemed to be scanning, his keen +sight revealing many excellent targets for a rifle placed so high +above the trenches. + +The Hun, evidently satisfied with his observations, laid aside +his binoculars and again took up his rifle, placed its butt in +the hollow of his shoulder and took careful aim. At the same +instant a brown body sprang outward from the cliff above him. +There was no sound and it is doubtful that the German ever +knew what manner of creature it was that alighted heavily +upon his back, for at the instant of impact the sinewy fingers +of the ape-man circled the hairy throat of the Boche. There +was a moment of futile struggling followed by the sudden +realization of dissolution -- the sniper was dead. + +Lying behind the rampart of rocks and boughs, Tarzan +looked down upon the scene below. Near at hand were the +trenches of the Germans. He could see officers and men mov- +ing about in them and almost in front of him a well-hidden +machine gun was traversing No Man's Land in an oblique di- +rection, striking the British at such an angle as to make it dif- +ficult for them to locate it. + +Tarzan watched, toying idly with the rifle of the dead Ger- +man. Presently he fell to examining the mechanism of the +piece. He glanced again toward the German trenches and +changed the adjustment of the sights, then he placed the rifle to +his shoulder and took aim. Tarzan was an excellent shot. With +his civilized friends he had hunted big game with the weapons +of civilization and though he never had killed except for food +or in self-defense he had amused himself firing at inanimate +targets thrown into the air and had perfected himself in the +use of firearms without realizing that he had done so. Now +indeed would he hunt big game. A slow smile touched his lips +as his finger closed gradually upon the trigger. The rifle +spoke and a German machine gunner collapsed behind his +weapon. In three minutes Tarzan picked off the crew of that +gun. Then he spotted a German officer emerging from a dug- +out and the three men in the bay with him. Tarzan was care- +ful to leave no one in the immediate vicinity to question how +Germans could be shot in German trenches when they were +entirely concealed from enemy view. + +Again adjusting his sights he took a long-range shot at a +distant machine-gun crew to his right. With calm deliberation +he wiped them out to a man. Two guns were silenced. He +saw men running through the trenches and he picked off +several of them. By this time the Germans were aware that +something was amiss -- that an uncanny sniper had discovered +a point of vantage from which this sector of the trenches was +plainly visible to him. At first they sought to discover his +location in No Man's Land; but when an officer looking over +the parapet through a periscope was struck full in the back +of the head with a rifle bullet which passed through his skull +and fell to the bottom of the trench they realized that it was +beyond the parados rather than the parapet that they should +search. + +One of the soldiers picked up the bullet that had killed his +officer, and then it was that real excitement prevailed in that +particular bay, for the bullet was obviously of German make. +Hugging the parados, messengers carried the word in both +directions and presently periscopes were leveled above the +parados and keen eyes were searching out the traitor. It did +not take them long to locate the position of the hidden sniper +and then Tarzan saw a machine gun being trained upon him. +Before it had gotten into action its crew lay dead about it; but +there were other men to take their places, reluctantly perhaps; +but driven on by their officers they were forced to it and at +the same time two other machine guns were swung around to- +ward the ape-man and put into operation. + +Realizing that the game was about up Tarzan with a fare- +well shot laid aside the rifle and melted into the hills behind +him. For many minutes he could hear the sputter of machine- +gun fire concentrated upon the spot he had just quit and +smiled as he contemplated the waste of German ammunition. + +"They have paid heavily for Wasimbu, the Waziri, whom +they crucified, and for his slain fellows," he mused; "but for +Jane they can never pay -- no, not if I killed them all." + +After dark that night he circled the flanks of both armies +and passed through the British out-guards and into the British +lines. No man saw him come. No man knew that he was there. + +Headquarters of the Second Rhodesians occupied a shel- +tered position far enough back of the lines to be compara- +tively safe from enemy observation. Even lights were per- +mitted, and Colonel Capell sat before a field table, on which +was spread a military map, talking with several of his officers. +A large tree spread above them, a lantern sputtered dimly +upon the table, while a small fire burned upon the ground +close at hand. The enemy had no planes and no other ob- +servers could have seen the lights from the German lines. + +The officers were discussing the advantage in numbers pos- +sessed by the enemy and the inability of the British to more +than hold their present position. They could not advance. Al- +ready they had sustained severe losses in every attack and had +always been driven back by overwhelming numbers. There +were hidden machine guns, too, that bothered the colonel con- +siderably. It was evidenced by the fact that he often reverted +to them during the conversation. + +"Something silenced them for a while this afternoon," said +one of the younger officers. "I was observing at the time and +I couldn't make out what the fuss was about; but they seemed +to be having a devil of a time in a section of trench on their +left. At one time I could have sworn they were attacked in +the rear -- I reported it to you at the time, sir, you'll recall +-- +for the blighters were pepperin' away at the side of that bluff +behind them. I could see the dirt fly. I don't know what it +could have been." + +There was a slight rustling among the branches of the tree +above them and simultaneously a lithe, brown body dropped +in their midst. Hands moved quickly to the butts of pistols; +but otherwise there was no movement among the officers. +First they looked wonderingly at the almost naked white man +standing there with the firelight playing upon rounded muscles, +took in the primitive attire and the equally primitive arma- +ment and then all eyes turned toward the colonel. + +"Who the devil are you, sir?" snapped that officer. + +"Tarzan of the Apes," replied the newcomer. + +"Oh, Greystoke!" cried a major, and stepped forward with +outstretched hand. + +"Preswick," acknowledged Tarzan as he took the proffered +hand. + +"I didn't recognize you at first," apologized the major. "The +last time I saw you you were in London in evening dress. +Quite a difference -- 'pon my word, man, you'll have to admit +it. + +Tarzan smiled and turned toward the colonel. "I overheard +your conversation," he said. "I have just come from behind +the German lines. Possibly I can help you." + +The colonel looked questioningly toward Major Preswick +who quickly rose to the occasion and presented the ape-man +to his commanding officer and fellows. Briefly Tarzan told +them what it was that brought him out alone in pursuit of the +Germans. + +"And now you have come to join us?" asked the colonel. + +Tarzan shook his head. "Not regularly," he replied. "I +must fight in my own way; but I can help you. Whenever I +wish I can enter the German lines." + +Capell smiled and shook his head. "It's not so easy as you +think," he said; "I've lost two good officers in the last week +trying it -- and they were experienced men; none better in the +Intelligence Department." + +"Is it more difficult than entering the British lines?" asked +Tarzan. + +The colonel was about to reply when a new thought ap- +peared to occur to him and he looked quizzically at the ape- +man. "Who brought you here?" he asked. "Who passed you +through our out-guards?" + +"I have just come through the German lines and yours and +passed through your camp," he replied. "Send word to as- +certain if anyone saw me." + +"But who accompanied you?" insisted Capell. + +"I came alone," replied Tarzan and then, drawing himself to +his full height, "You men of civilization, when you come into +the jungle, are as dead among the quick. Manu, the monkey, +is a sage by comparison. I marvel that you exist at all -- only +your numbers, your weapons, and your power of reason- +ing save you. Had I a few hundred great apes with your reason- +ing power I could drive the Germans into the ocean as quickly +as the remnant of them could reach the coast. Fortunate it is +for you that the dumb brutes cannot combine. Could they, +Africa would remain forever free of men. But come, can I +help you? Would you like to know where several machine- +gun emplacements are hidden?" + +The colonel assured him that they would, and a moment +later Tarzan had traced upon the map the location of three +that had been bothering the English. "There is a weak spot +here," he said, placing a finger upon the map. "It is held by +blacks; but the machine guns out in front are manned by +whites. If -- wait! I have a plan. You can fill that trench +with your own men and enfilade the trenches to its right with +their own machine guns." + +Colonel Capell smiled and shook his head. "It sounds very +easy," he said. + +"It IS easy -- for me," replied the ape-man. "I can empty +that section of trench without a shot. I was raised in the +jungle -- I know the jungle folk -- the Gomangani as well as +the others. Look for me again on the second night," and he +turned to leave. + +"Wait," said the colonel. "I will send an officer to pass you +through the lines." + +Tarzan smiled and moved away. As he was leaving the +little group about headquarters he passed a small figure +wrapped in an officer's heavy overcoat. The collar was turned +up and the visor of the military cap pulled well down over the +eyes; but, as the ape-man passed, the light from the fire illumi- +nated the features of the newcomer for an instant, revealing +to Tarzan a vaguely familiar face. Some officer he had known +in London, doubtless, he surmised, and went his way through +the British camp and the British lines all unknown to the +watchful sentinels of the out-guard. + +Nearly all night he moved across Kilimanjaro's foothills, +tracking by instinct an unknown way, for he guessed that what +he sought would be found on some wooded slope higher up +than he had come upon his other recent journeys in this, to +him, little known country. Three hours before dawn his keen +nostrils apprised him that somewhere in the vicinity he would +find what he wanted, and so he climbed into a tall tree and +settled himself for a few hours' sleep. + + + + +When the Lion Fed + +Kudu, the sun, was well up in the heavens when Tarzan +awoke. The ape-man stretched his giant limbs, ran his +fingers through his thick hair, and swung lightly down to +earth. Immediately he took up the trail he had come in search +of, following it by scent down into a deep ravine. Cautiously +he went now, for his nose told him that the quarry was close +at hand, and presently from an overhanging bough he looked +down upon Horta, the boar, and many of his kinsmen. Un- +slinging his bow and selecting an arrow, Tarzan fitted the shaft +and, drawing it far back, took careful aim at the largest of the +great pigs. In the ape-man's teeth were other arrows, and +no sooner had the first one sped, than he had fitted and shot +another bolt. Instantly the pigs were in turmoil, not knowing +from whence the danger threatened. They stood stupidly at +first and then commenced milling around until six of their +number lay dead or dying about them; then with a chorus of +grunts and squeals they started off at a wild run, disappearing +quickly in the dense underbrush. + +Tarzan then descended from the tree, dispatched those that +were not already dead and proceeded to skin the carcasses. +As he worked, rapidly and with great skill, he neither hummed +nor whistled as does the average man of civilization. It was +in numerous little ways such as these that he differed from +other men, due, probably, to his early jungle training. The +beasts of the jungle that he had been reared among were +playful to maturity but seldom thereafter. His fellow-apes, +especially the bulls, became fierce and surly as they grew +older. Life was a serious matter during lean seasons -- one had +to fight to secure one's share of food then, and the habit once +formed became lifelong. Hunting for food was the life labor +of the jungle bred, and a life labor is a thing not to be ap- +proached with levity nor prosecuted lightly. So all work +found Tarzan serious, though he still retained what the other +beasts lost as they grew older -- a sense of humor, which he +gave play to when the mood suited him. It was a grim humor +and sometimes ghastly; but it satisfied Tarzan. + +Then, too, were one to sing and whistle while working on +the ground, concentration would be impossible. Tarzan pos- +sessed the ability to concentrate each of his five senses upon +its particular business. Now he worked at skinning the six +pigs and his eyes and his fingers worked as though there was +naught else in all the world than these six carcasses; but his +ears and his nose were as busily engaged elsewhere -- the +former ranging the forest all about and the latter assaying each +passing zephyr. It was his nose that first discovered the ap- +proach of Sabor, the lioness, when the wind shifted for a mo- +ment. + +As clearly as though he had seen her with his eyes, Tarzan +knew that the lioness had caught the scent of the freshly +killed pigs and immediately had moved down wind in their +direction. He knew from the strength of the scent spoor and +the rate of the wind about how far away she was and that she +was approaching from behind him. He was finishing the last +pig and he did not hurry. The five pelts lay close at hand -- +he had been careful to keep them thus together and near +him -- an ample tree waved its low branches above him. + +He did not even turn his head for he knew she was not yet +in sight; but he bent his ears just a bit more sharply for the +first sound of her nearer approach. When the final skin had +been removed he rose. Now he heard Sabor in the bushes to +his rear, but not yet too close. Leisurely he gathered up the +six pelts and one of the carcasses, and as the lioness appeared +between the boles of two trees he swung upward into the +branches above him. Here he hung the hides over a limb, +seated himself comfortably upon another with his back against +the bole of the tree, cut a hind quarter from the carcass he had +carried with him and proceeded to satisfy his hunger. Sabor +slunk, growling, from the brush, cast a wary eye upward +toward the ape-man and then fell upon the nearest carcass. + +Tarzan looked down upon her and grinned, recalling an +argument he had once had with a famous big-game hunter who +had declared that the king of beasts ate only what he himself +had killed. Tarzan knew better for he had seen Numa and +Sabor stoop even to carrion. + +Having filled his belly, the ape-man fell to work upon the +hides -- all large and strong. First he cut strips from them +about half an inch wide. When he had sufficient number +of these strips he sewed two of the hides together, afterwards +piercing holes every three or four inches around the edges. +Running another strip through these holes gave him a large +bag with a drawstring. In similar fashion he produced four +other like bags, but smaller, from the four remaining hides and +had several strips left over. + +All this done he threw a large, juicy fruit at Sabor, cached +the remainder of the pig in a crotch of the tree and swung off +toward the southwest through the middle terraces of the +forest, carrying his five bags with him. Straight he went to +the rim of the gulch where he had imprisoned Numa, the lion. +Very stealthily he approached the edge and peered over. +Numa was not in sight. Tarzan sniffed and listened. He could +hear nothing, yet he knew that Numa must be within the cave. +He hoped that he slept -- much depended upon Numa not +discovering him. + +Cautiously he lowered himself over the edge of the cliff, and +with utter noiselessness commenced the descent toward the +bottom of the gulch. He stopped often and turned his keen +eyes and ears in the direction of the cave's mouth at the far +end of the gulch, some hundred feet away. As he neared the +foot of the cliff his danger increased greatly. If he could +reach the bottom and cover half the distance to the tree that +stood in the center of the gulch he would feel comparatively +safe for then, even if Numa appeared, he felt that he could +beat him either to the cliff or to the tree, but to scale the +first thirty feet of the cliff rapidly enough to elude the +leaping +beast would require a running start of at least twenty feet as +there were no very good hand- or footholds dose to the bottom +-- he had had to run up the first twenty feet like a squirrel +running up a tree that other time he had beaten an infuriated +Numa to it. He had no desire to attempt it again unless the +conditions were equally favorable at least, for he had escaped +Numa's raking talons by only a matter of inches on the former +occasion. + +At last he stood upon the floor of the gulch. Silent as a +disembodied spirit he advanced toward the tree. He was half +way there and no sign of Numa. He reached the scarred bole +from which the famished lion had devoured the bark and even +torn pieces of the wood itself and yet Numa had not appeared. +As he drew himself up to the lower branches he commenced +to wonder if Numa were in the cave after all. Could it be +possible that he had forced the barrier of rocks with which +Tarzan had plugged the other end of the passage where it +opened into the outer world of freedom? Or was Numa dead? +The ape-man doubted the verity of the latter suggestion as +he had fed the lion the entire carcasses of a deer and a hyena +only a few days since -- he could not have starved in so short a +time, while the little rivulet running across the gulch furnished +him with water a-plenty. + +Tarzan started to descend and investigate the cavern when +it occurred to him that it would save effort were he to lure +Numa out instead. Acting upon the thought he uttered a low +growl. Immediately he was rewarded by the sound of a move- +ment within the cave and an instant later a wild-eyed, haggard +lion rushed forth ready to face the devil himself were he edible. +When Numa saw Tarzan, fat and sleek, perched in the tree +he became suddenly the embodiment of frightful rage. His +eyes and his nose told him that this was the creature respon- +sible for his predicament and also that this creature was good +to eat. Frantically the lion sought to scramble up the bole of +the tree. Twice he leaped high enough to catch the lowest +branches with his paws, but both times he fell backward to +the earth. Each time he became more furious. His growls +and roars were incessant and horrible and all the time Tarzan +sat grinning down upon him, taunting him in jungle billings- +gate for his inability to reach him and mentally exulting that +always Numa was wasting his already waning strength. + +Finally the ape-man rose and unslung his rope. He arranged +the coils carefully in his left hand and the noose in his right, +and then he took a position with each foot on one of two +branches that lay in about the same horizontal plane and with +his back pressed firmly against the stem of the tree. There +he stood hurling insults at Numa until the beast was again +goaded into leaping upward at him, and as Numa rose the +noose dropped quickly over his head and about his neck. A +quick movement of Tarzan's rope hand tightened the coil and +when Numa slipped backward to the ground only his hind +feet touched, for the ape-man held him swinging by the neck. + +Moving slowly outward upon the two branches Tarzan +swung Numa out so that he could not reach the bole of the +tree with his raking talons, then he made the rope fast after +drawing the lion clear of the ground, dropped his five pigskin +sacks to earth and leaped down himself. Numa was striking +frantically at the grass rope with his fore claws. At any mo- +ment he might sever it and Tarzan must, therefore, work +rapidly. + +First he drew the larger bag over Numa's head and secured +it about his neck with the draw string, then he managed, after +considerable effort, during which he barely escaped being torn +to ribbons by the mighty talons, to hog-tie Numa -- drawing +his four legs together and securing them in that position with +the strips trimmed from the pigskins. + +By this time the lion's efforts had almost ceased -- it was +evident that he was being rapidly strangled and as that did +not at all suit the purpose of the Tarmangani the latter swung +again into the tree, unfastened the rope from above and +lowered the lion to the ground where he immediately fol- +lowed it and loosed the noose about Numa's neck. Then he +drew his hunting knife and cut two round holes in the front +of the head bag opposite the lion's eyes for the double purpose +of permitting him to see and giving him sufficient air to +breathe. + +This done Tarzan busied himself fitting the other bags, one +over each of Numa's formidably armed paws. Those on the +hind feet he secured not only by tightening the draw strings +but also rigged garters that fastened tightly around the legs +above the hocks. He secured the front-feet bags in place +similarly above the great knees. Now, indeed, was Numa, the +lion, reduced to the harmlessness of Bara, the deer. + +By now Numa was showing signs of returning life. He +gasped for breath and struggled; but the strips of pigskin that +held his four legs together were numerous and tough. Tarzan +watched and was sure that they would hold, yet Numa is +mightily muscled and there was the chance, always, that he +might struggle free of his bonds after which all would depend +upon the efficacy of Tarzan's bags and draw strings. + +After Numa had again breathed normally and was able to +roar out his protests and his rage, his struggles increased to +Titanic proportions for a short time; but as a lion's powers of +endurance are in no way proportionate to his size and strength +he soon tired and lay quietly. Amid renewed growling and +another futile attempt to free himself, Numa was finally forced +to submit to the further indignity of having a rope secured +about his neck; but this time it was no noose that might +tighten and strangle him; but a bowline knot, which does not +tighten or slip under strain. + +The other end of the rope Tarzan fastened to the stem of +the tree, then he quickly cut the bonds securing Numa's legs +and leaped aside as the beast sprang to his feet. For a mo- +ment the lion stood with legs far outspread, then he raised +first one paw and then another, shaking them energetically in +an effort to dislodge the strange footgear that Tarzan had +fastened upon them. Finally he began to paw at the bag +upon his head. The ape-man, standing with ready spear, +watched Numa's efforts intently. Would the bags hold? He +sincerely hoped so. Or would all his labor prove fruitless? + +As the clinging things upon his feet and face resisted his +every effort to dislodge them, Numa became frantic. He +rolled upon the ground, fighting, biting, scratching, and roar- +ing; he leaped to his feet and sprang into the air; he charged +Tarzan, only to be brought to a sudden stop as the rope secur- +ing him to the tree tautened. Then Tarzan stepped in and +rapped him smartly on the head with the shaft of his spear. +Numa reared upon his hind feet and struck at the are-man +and in return received a cuff on one ear that sent him reeling +sideways. When he returned to the attack he was again sent +sprawling. After the fourth effort it appeared to dawn upon +the king of beasts that he had met his master, his head and +tail dropped and when Tarzan advanced upon him he backed +away, though still growling. + +Leaving Numa tied to the tree Tarzan entered the tunnel +and removed the barricade from the opposite end, after which +he returned to the gulch and strode straight for the tree. +Numa lay in his path and as Tarzan approached growled +menacingly. The ape-man cuffed him aside and unfastened +the rope from the tree. Then ensued a half-hour of stubbornly +fought battle while Tarzan endeavored to drive Numa through +the tunnel ahead of him and Numa persistently refused to be +driven. At last, however, by dint of the unrestricted use of +his spear point, the ape-man succeeded in forcing the lion to +move ahead of him and eventually guided him into the pas- +sageway. Once inside, the problem became simpler since +Tarzan followed closely in the rear with his sharp spear point, +an unremitting incentive to forward movement on the part of +the lion. If Numa hesitated he was prodded. If he backed +up the result was extremely painful and so, being a wise lion +who was learning rapidly, he decided to keep on going and +at the end of the tunnel, emerging into the outer world, he +sensed freedom, raised his head and tail and started off at a +run. + +Tarzan, still on his hands and knees just inside the entrance, +was taken unaware with the result that he was sprawled +forward upon his face and dragged a hundred yards across the +rocky ground before Numa was brought to a stand. It was +a scratched and angry Tarzan who scrambled to his feet. At +first he was tempted to chastise Numa; but, as the ape-man +seldom permitted his temper to guide him in any direction not +countenanced by reason, he quickly abandoned the idea. + +Having taught Numa the rudiments of being driven, he +now urged him forward and there commenced as strange a +journey as the unrecorded history of the jungle contains. The +balance of that day was eventful both for Tarzan and for +Numa. From open rebellion at first the lion passed through +stages of stubborn resistance and grudging obedience to final +surrender. He was a very tired, hungry, and thirsty lion when +night overtook them; but there was to be no food for him that +day or the next -- Tarzan did not dare risk removing the head +bag, though he did cut another hole which permitted Numa +to quench his thirst shortly after dark. Then he tied him to +a tree, sought food for himself, and stretched out among the +branches above his captive for a few hours' sleep. + +Early the following morning they resumed their journey, +winding over the low foothills south of Kilimanjaro, toward +the east. The beasts of the jungle who saw them took one +look and fled. The scent spoor of Numa, alone, might have +been enough to have provoked flight in many of the lesser +animals, but the sight of this strange apparition that smelled +like a lion, but looked like nothing they ever had seen before, +being led through the jungles by a giant Tarmangani was too +much for even the more formidable denizens of the wild. + +Sabor, the lioness, recognizing from a distance the scent of +her lord and master intermingled with that of a Tarmangani +and the hide of Horta, the boar, trotted through the aisles of +the forest to investigate. Tarzan and Numa heard her coming, +for she voiced a plaintive and questioning whine as the baffling +mixture of odors aroused her curiosity and her fears, for lions, +however terrible they may appear, are often timid animals and +Sabor, being of the gentler sex, was, naturally, habitually in- +quisitive as well. + +Tarzan unslung his spear for he knew that he might now +easily have to fight to retain his prize. Numa halted and +turned his outraged head in the direction of the coming she. +He voiced a throaty growl that was almost a purr. Tarzan +was upon the point of prodding him on again when Sabor +broke into view, and behind her the ape-man saw that which +gave him instant pause -- four full-grown lions trailing the +lioness. + +To have goaded Numa then into active resistance might +have brought the whole herd down upon him and so Tarzan +waited to learn first what their attitude would be. He had +no idea of relinquishing his lion without a battle; but knowing +lions as he did, he knew that there was no assurance as to +just what the newcomers would do. + +The lioness was young and sleek, and the four males were +in their prime -- as handsome lions as he ever had seen. Three +of the males were scantily maned but one, the foremost, car- +ried a splendid, black mane that rippled in the breeze as he +trotted majestically forward. The lioness halted a hundred +feet from Tarzan, while the lions came on past her and stopped +a few feet nearer. Their ears were upstanding and their eyes +filled with curiosity. Tarzan could not even guess what they +might do. The lion at his side faced them fully, standing +silent now and watchful. + +Suddenly the lioness gave vent to another little whine, at +which Tarzan's lion voiced a terrific roar and leaped forward +straight toward the beast of the black mane. The sight of this +awesome creature with the strange face was too much for the +lion toward which he leaped, dragging Tarzan after him, and +with a growl the lion turned and fled, followed by his com- +panions and the she. + +Numa attempted to follow them; Tarzan held him in +leash and when he turned upon him in rage, beat him un- +mercifully across the head with his spear. Shaking his head +and growling, the lion at last moved off again in the direction +they had been traveling; but it was an hour before he ceased +to sulk. He was very hungry -- half famished in fact -- and +consequently of an ugly temper, yet so thoroughly subdued +by Tarzan's heroic methods of lion taming that he was pres- +ently pacing along at the ape-man's side like some huge St. +Bernard. + +It was dark when the two approached the British right, after +a slight delay farther back because of a German patrol it had +been necessary to elude. A short distance from the British line +of out-guard sentinels Tarzan tied Numa to a tree and con- +tinued on alone. He evaded a sentinel, passed the out-guard +and support, and by devious ways came again to Colonel +Capell's headquarters, where he appeared before the officers +gathered there as a disembodied spirit materializing out of +thin air. + +When they saw who it was that came thus unannounced +they smiled and the colonel scratched his head in perplexity. + +"Someone should be shot for this," he said. "I might just +as well not establish an out-post if a man can filter through +whenever he pleases." + +Tarzan smiled. "Do not blame them," he said, "for I am not +a man. I am Tarmangani. Any Mangani who wished to, +could enter your camp almost at will; but if you have them for +sentinels no one could enter without their knowledge." + +"What are the Mangani?" asked the colonel. "Perhaps we +might enlist a bunch of the beggars." + +Tarzan shook his head. "They are the great apes," he +explained; "my people; but you could not use them. They +cannot concentrate long enough upon a single idea. If I told +them of this they would be much interested for a short time -- +I might even hold the interest of a few long enough to get +them here and explain their duties to them; but soon they +would lose interest and when you needed them most they +might be off in the forest searching for beetles instead of +watching their posts. They have the minds of little children +-- that is why they remain what they are." + +"You call them Mangani and yourself Tarmangani -- what is +the difference?" asked Major Preswick. + +"Tar means white," replied Tarzan, "and Mangani, great +ape. My name -- the name they gave me in the tribe of Ker- +chak -- means White-skin. When I was a little balu my skin, +I presume, looked very white indeed against the beautiful, +black coat of Kala, my foster mother and so they called me +Tarzan, the Tarmangani. They call you, too, Tarmangani," he +concluded, smiling. + +Capell smiled. "It is no reproach, Greystoke," he said; "and, +by Jove, it would be a mark of distinction if a fellow could +act the part. And now how about your plan? Do you still +think you can empty the trench opposite our sector?" + +"Is it still held by Gomangani?" asked Tarzan. + +"What are Gomangani?" inquired the colonel. "It is still +held by native troops, if that is what you mean." + +"Yes," replied the ape-man, "the Gomangani are the great +black apes -- the Negroes." + +"What do you intend doing and what do you want us to +do?" asked Capell. + +Tarzan approached the table and placed a finger on the +map. "Here is a listening post," he said; "they have a machine +gun in it. A tunnel connects it with this trench at this point." +His finger moved from place to place on the map as he talked. +"Give me a bomb and when you hear it burst in this listening +post let your men start across No Man's Land slowly. Pres- +ently they will hear a commotion in the enemy trench; but +they need not hurry, and, whatever they do, have them come +quietly. You might also warn them that I may be in the +trench and that I do not care to be shot or bayoneted." + +"And that is all?" queried Capell, after directing an officer +to give Tarzan a hand grenade; "you will empty the trench +alone?" + +"Not exactly alone," replied Tarzan with a grim smile; "but +I shall empty it, and, by the way, your men may come in +through the tunnel from the listening post if you prefer. In +about half an hour, Colonel," and he turned and left them. + +As he passed through the camp there flashed suddenly upon +the screen of recollection, conjured there by some reminder +of his previous visit to headquarters, doubtless, the image of +the officer he had passed as he quit the colonel that other +time and simultaneously recognition of the face that had been +revealed by the light from the fire. He shook his head dubi- +ously. No, it could not be and yet the features of the young +officer were identical with those of Fraulein Kircher, the Ger- +man spy he had seen at German headquarters the night he +took Major Schneider from under the nose of the Hun general +and his staff. + +Beyond the last line of sentinels Tarzan moved quickly in +the direction of Numa, the lion. The beast was lying down as +Tarzan approached, but he rose as the ape-man reached his +side. A low whine escaped his muzzled lips. Tarzan smiled +for he recognized in the new note almost a supplication -- it +was more like the whine of a hungry dog begging for food +than the voice of the proud king of beasts. + +"Soon you will kill -- and feed," he murmured in the ver- +nacular of the great apes. + +He unfastened the rope from about the tree and, with Numa +close at his side, slunk into No Man's Land. There was little +rifle fire and only an occasional shell vouched for the presence +of artillery behind the opposing lines. As the shells from +both sides were falling well back of the trenches, they consti- +tuted no menace to Tarzan; but the noise of them and that +of the rifle fire had a marked effect upon Numa who crouched, +trembling, close to the Tarmangani as though seeking protec- +tion. + +Cautiously the two beasts moved forward toward the listen- +ing post of the Germans. In one hand Tarzan carried the +bomb the English had given him, in the other was the coiled +rope attached to the lion. At last Tarzan could see the posi- +tion a few yards ahead. His keen eyes picked out the head +and shoulders of the sentinel on watch. The ape-man grasped +the bomb firmly in his right hand. He measured the distance +with his eye and gathered his feet beneath him, then in a +single motion he rose and threw the missile, immediately +flattening himself prone upon the ground. + +Five seconds later there was a terrific explosion in the center +of the listening post. Numa gave a nervous start and at- +tempted to break away; but Tarzan held him and, leaping to +his feet, ran forward, dragging Numa after him. At the edge +of the post he saw below him but slight evidence that the +position had been occupied at all, for only a few shreds of +torn flesh remained. About the only thing that had not been +demolished was a machine gun which had been protected by +sand bags. + +There was not an instant to lose. Already a relief might be +crawling through the communication tunnel, for it must have +been evident to the sentinels in the Hun trenches that the +listening post had been demolished. Numa hesitated to fol- +low Tarzan into the excavation; but the ape-man, who was in +no mood to temporize, jerked him roughly to the bottom. +Before them lay the mouth of the tunnel that led back from +No Man's Land to the German trenches. Tarzan pushed Numa +forward until his head was almost in the aperture, then as +though it were an afterthought, he turned quickly and, taking +the machine gun from the parapet, placed it in the bottom of +the hole close at hand, after which he turned again to Numa, +and with his knife quickly cut the garters that held the bags +upon his front paws. Before the lion could know that a part +of his formidable armament was again released for action, +Tarzan had cut the rope from his neck and the head bag from +his face, and grabbing the lion from the rear had thrust him +partially into the mouth of the tunnel. + +Then Numa balked, only to feel the sharp prick of Tarzan's +knife point in his hind quarters. Goading him on the ape-man +finally succeeded in getting the lion sufficiently far into the +tunnel so that there was no chance of his escaping other than +by going forward or deliberately backing into the sharp blade +at his rear. Then Tarzan cut the bags from the great hind +feet, placed his shoulder and his knife point against Numa's +seat, dug his toes into the loose earth that had been broken +up by the explosion of the bomb, and shoved. + +Inch by inch at first Numa advanced. He was growling +now and presently he commenced to roar. Suddenly he +leaped forward and Tarzan knew that he had caught the +scent of meat ahead. Dragging the machine gun beside him +the ape-man followed quickly after the lion whose roars he +could plainly hear ahead mingled with the unmistakable +screams of frightened men. Once again a grim smile touched +the lips of this man-beast. + +"They murdered my Waziri," he muttered; "they crucified +Wasimbu, son of Muviro." + +When Tarzan reached the trench and emerged into it there +was no one in sight in that particular bay, nor in the next, nor +the next as he hurried forward in the direction of the German +center; but in the fourth bay he saw a dozen men jammed in +the angle of the traverse at the end while leaping upon them +and rending with talons and fangs was Numa, a terrific in- +carnation of ferocity and ravenous hunger. + +Whatever held the men at last gave way as they fought +madly with one another in their efforts to escape this dread +creature that from their infancy had filled them with terror, +and again they were retreating. Some clambered over the +parados and some even over the parapet preferring the dan- +gers of No Man's Land to this other soul-searing menace. + +As the British advanced slowly toward the German trenches, +they first met terrified blacks who ran into their arms only +too willing to surrender. That pandemonium had broken +loose in the Hun trench was apparent to the Rhodesians not +only from the appearance of the deserters, but from the sounds +of screaming, cursing men which came clearly to their ears; +but there was one that baffled them for it resembled nothing +more closely than the infuriated growling of an angry lion. + +And when at last they reached the trench, those farthest on +the left of the advancing Britishers heard a machine gun +sputter suddenly before them and saw a huge lion leap over +the German parados with the body of a screaming Hun soldier +between his jaws and vanish into the shadows of the night, +while squatting upon a traverse to their left was Tarzan of +the Apes with a machine gun before him with which he was +raking the length of the German trenches. + +The foremost Rhodesians saw something else -- they saw a +huge German officer emerge from a dugout just in rear of the +ape-man. They saw him snatch up a discarded rifle with +bayonet fixed and creep upon the apparently unconscious Tar- +zan. They ran forward, shouting warnings; but above the +pandemonium of the trenches and the machine gun their +voices could not reach him. The German leaped upon the +parapet behind him -- the fat hands raised the rifle butt aloft +for the cowardly downward thrust into the naked back and +then, as moves Ara, the lightning, moved Tarzan of the Apes. + +It was no man who leaped forward upon that Boche officer, +striking aside the sharp bayonet as one might strike aside a +straw in a baby's hand -- it was a wild beast and the roar of +a wild beast was upon those savage lips, for as that strange +sense that Tarzan owned in common with the other jungle- +bred creatures of his wild domain warned him of the presence +behind him and he had whirled to meet the attack, his eyes +had seen the corps and regimental insignia upon the other's +blouse -- it was the same as that worn by the murderers of his +wife and his people, by the despoilers of his home and his +happiness. + +It was a wild beast whose teeth fastened upon the shoulder +of the Hun -- it was a wild beast whose talons sought that fat +neck. And then the boys of the Second Rhodesian Regiment +saw that which will live forever in their memories. They saw +the giant ape-man pick the heavy German from the ground +and shake him as a terrier might shake a rat -- as Sabor, the +lioness, sometimes shakes her prey. They saw the eyes of the +Hun bulge in horror as he vainly struck with his futile hands +against the massive chest and head of his assailant. They saw +Tarzan suddenly spin the man about and placing a knee in +the middle of his back and an arm about his neck bend his +shoulders slowly backward. The German's knees gave and +he sank upon them, but still that irresistible force bent him +further and further. He screamed in agony for a moment -- +then something snapped and Tarzan cast him aside, a limp +and lifeless thing. + +The Rhodesians started forward, a cheer upon their lips -- +a cheer that never was uttered -- a cheer that froze in their +throats, for at that moment Tarzan placed a foot upon the +carcass of his kill and, raising his face to the heavens, gave +voice to the weird and terrifying victory cry of the bull ape. + +Underlieutenant von Goss was dead. + +Without a backward glance at the awe-struck soldiers Tar- +zan leaped the trench and was gone. + + + + +The Golden Locket + +The little British army in East Africa, after suffering severe +reverses at the hands of a numerically much superior +force, was at last coming into its own. The German offen- +sive had been broken and the Huns were now slowly and dog- +gedly retreating along the railway to Tanga. The break in the +German lines had followed the clearing of a section of their +left-flank trenches of native soldiers by Tarzan and Numa, +the lion, upon that memorable night that the ape-man had +loosed a famishing man-eater among the superstitious and +terror-stricken blacks. The Second Rhodesian Regiment had +immediately taken possession of the abandoned trench and +from this position their flanking fire had raked contiguous sec- +tions of the German line, the diversion rendering possible a +successful night attack on the part of the balance of the +British forces. + +Weeks had elapsed. The Germans were contesting stub- +bornly every mile of waterless, thorn-covered ground and +clinging desperately to their positions along the railway. The +officers of the Second Rhodesians had seen nothing more of +Tarzan of the Apes since he had slain Underlieutenant von +Goss and disappeared toward the very heart of the German +position, and there were those among them who believed that +he had been killed within the enemy lines. + +"They may have killed him," assented Colonel Capell; "but +I fancy they never captured the beggar alive." + +Nor had they, nor killed him either. Tarzan had spent those +intervening weeks pleasantly and profitably. He had +amassed a considerable fund of knowledge concerning the +disposition and strength of German troops, their methods of +warfare, and the various ways in which a lone Tarmangani +might annoy an army and lower its morale. + +At present he was prompted by a specific desire. There was +a certain German spy whom he wished to capture alive and +take back to the British When he had made his first visit +to German headquarters, he had seen a young woman deliver +a paper to the German general, and later he had seen that +same young woman within the British lines in the uniform of a +British officer. The conclusions were obvious -- she was a spy. + +And so Tarzan haunted German headquarters upon many +nights hoping to see her again or to pick up some clew as to +her whereabouts, and at the same time he utilized many an +artifice whereby he might bring terror to the hearts of the +Germans. That he was successful was often demonstrated by +the snatches of conversation he overheard as he prowled +through the German camps. One night as he lay concealed +in the bushes close beside a regimental headquarters he +listened to the conversation of several Boche officers. One of +the men reverted to the stories told by the native troops in +connection with their rout by a lion several weeks before and +the simultaneous appearance in their trenches of a naked, +white giant whom they were perfectly assured was some +demon of the jungle. + +"The fellow must have been the same as he who leaped +into the general's headquarters and carried off Schneider," +asserted one. "I wonder how he happened to single out the +poor major. They say the creature seemed interested in no +one but Schneider. He had von Kelter in his grasp, and he +might easily have taken the general himself; but he ignored +them all except Schneider. Him he pursued about the room, +seized and carried off into the night. Gott knows what his +fate was." + +"Captain Fritz Schneider has some sort of theory," said +another. "He told me only a week or two ago that he thinks +he knows why his brother was taken -- that it was a case of +mistaken identity. He was not so sure about it until von Goss +was killed, apparently by the same creature, the night the +lion entered the trenches. Von Goss was attached to Schneid- +er's company. One of Schneider's men was found with his +neck wrung the same night that the major was carried off and +Schneider thinks that this devil is after him and his command +-- that it came for him that night and got his brother by +mistake. He says Kraut told him that in presenting the major +to Fraulein Kircher the former's name was no sooner spoken +than this wild man leaped through the window and made for +him." + +Suddenly the little group became rigid -- listening. "What +was that?" snapped one, eyeing the bushes from which a +smothered snarl had issued as Tarzan of the Apes realized +that through his mistake the perpetrator of the horrid crime at +his bungalow still lived -- that the murderer of his wife went +yet unpunished. + +For a long minute the officers stood with tensed nerves, +every eye rivetted upon the bushes from whence the ominous +sound had issued. Each recalled recent mysterious disap- +pearances from the heart of camps as well as from lonely +out-guards. Each thought of the silent dead he had seen, +slain almost within sight of their fellows by some unseen +creature. They thought of the marks upon dead throats -- +made by talons or by giant fingers, they could not tell which +-- and those upon shoulders and jugulars where powerful +teeth had fastened and they waited with drawn pistols. + +Once the bushes moved almost imperceptibly and an instant +later one of the officers, without warning, fired into them; but +Tarzan of the Apes was not there. In the interval between +the moving of the bushes and the firing of the shot he had +melted into the night. Ten minutes later he was hovering on +the outskirts of that part of camp where were bivouacked for +the night the black soldiers of a native company commanded +by one Hauptmann Fritz Schneider. The men were stretched +upon the ground without tents; but there were tents pitched +for the officers. Toward these Tarzan crept. It was slow +and perilous work, as the Germans were now upon the alert +for the uncanny foe that crept into their camps to take his toll +by night, yet the ape-man passed their sentinels, eluded the +vigilance of the interior guard, and crept at last to the rear of +the officers' line. + +Here he flattened himself against the ground close behind +the nearest tent and listened. From within came the regular +breathing of a sleeping man -- one only. Tarzan was satisfied. +With his knife he cut the tie strings of the rear flap and +entered. He made no noise. The shadow of a falling leaf, +floating gently to earth upon a still day, could have been no +more soundless. He moved to the side of the sleeping man +and bent low over him. He could not know, of course, +whether it was Schneider or another, as he had never seen +Schneider; but he meant to know and to know even more. +Gently he shook the man by the shoulder. The fellow turned +heavily and grunted in a thick guttural. + +"Silence!" admonished the ape-man in a low whisper. "Si- +lence -- I kill." + +The Hun opened his eyes. In the dim light he saw a giant +figure bending over him. Now a mighty hand grasped his +shoulder and another closed lightly about his throat. + +"Make no outcry," commanded Tarzan; "but answer in a +whisper my questions. What is your name?" + +"Luberg," replied the officer. He was trembling. The weird +presence of this naked giant filled him with dread. He, too, +recalled the men mysteriously murdered in the still watches of +the night camps. "What do you want?" + +"Where is Hauptmann Fritz Schneider?" asked Tarzan, +"Which is his tent?" + +"He is not here," replied Luberg. "He was sent to Wil- +helmstal yesterday." + +"I shall not kill you -- now," said the ape-man. "First I +shall go and learn if you have lied to me and if you have +your death shall be the more terrible. Do you know how +Major Schneider died?" + +Luberg shook his head negatively. + +"I do," continued Tarzan, "and it was not a nice way to die +-even for an accursed German. Turn over with your face +down and cover your eyes. Do not move or make any sound." + +The man did as he was bid and the instant that his eyes +were turned away, Tarzan slipped from the tent. An hour +later he was outside the German camp and headed for the +little hill town of Wilhelmstal, the summer seat of govern- +ment of German East Africa. + +Fraulein Bertha Kircher was lost. She was humiliated and +angry -- it was long before she would admit it, that she, who +prided herself upon her woodcraft, was lost in this little patch +of country between the Pangani and the Tanga railway. +She knew that Wilhelmstal lay southeast of her about fifty miles; +but, through a combination of untoward circumstances, she +found herself unable to determine which was southeast. + +In the first place she had set out from German headquarters +on a well-marked road that was being traveled by troops and +with every reason to believe that she would follow that road +to Wilhelmstal. Later she had been warned from this road +by word that a strong British patrol had come down the west +bank of the Pangani, effected a crossing south of her, and +was even then marching on the railway at Tonda. + +After leaving the road she found herself in thick bush and +as the sky was heavily overcast she presently had recourse to +her compass and it was not until then that she discovered to +her dismay that she did not have it with her. So sure was she +of her woodcraft, however, that she continued on in the +direction she thought west until she had covered sufficient +distance to warrant her in feeling assured that, by now turning +south, she could pass safely in rear of the British patrol. + +Nor did she commence to feel any doubts until long after +she had again turned toward the east well south, as she +thought, of the patrol. It was late afternoon -- she should +long since have struck the road again south of Tonda; but she +had found no road and now she began to feel real anxiety. + +Her horse had traveled all day without food or water, +night was approaching and with it a realization that she was +hopelessly lost in a wild and trackless country notorious princi- +pally for its tsetse flies and savage beasts. It was maddening +to know that she had absolutely no knowledge of the direction +she was traveling -- that she might be forging steadily further +from the railway, deeper into the gloomy and forbidding +country toward the Pangani; yet it was impossible to stop -- +she must go on. + +Bertha Kircher was no coward, whatever else she may have +been, but as night began to close down around her she could +not shut out from her mind entirely contemplation of the +terrors of the long hours ahead before the rising sun should +dissipate the Stygian gloom -- the horrid jungle night -- that +lures forth all the prowling, preying creatures of destruction. + +She found, just before dark, an open meadow-like break in +the almost interminable bush. There was a small clump of +trees near the center and here she decided to camp. The +grass was high and thick, affording feed for her horse and a +bed for herself, and there was more than enough dead wood +lying about the trees to furnish a good fire well through the +night. Removing the saddle and bridle from her mount she +placed them at the foot of a tree and then picketed the animal +close by. Then she busied herself collecting firewood and by +the time darkness had fallen she had a good fire and enough +wood to last until morning. + +From her saddlebags she took cold food and from her +canteen a swallow of water. She could not afford more than +a small swallow for she could not know how long a time it +might be before she should find more. It filled her with sor- +row that her poor horse must go waterless, for even German +spies may have hearts and this one was very young and very +feminine. + +It was now dark. There was neither moon nor stars and +the light from her fire only accentuated the blackness beyond. +She could see the grass about her and the boles of the trees +which stood out in brilliant relief against the solid background +of impenetrable night, and beyond the firelight there was +nothing. + +The jungle seemed ominously quiet. Far away in the dis- +tance she heard faintly the boom of big guns; but she could +not locate their direction. She strained her ears until her +nerves were on the point of breaking; but she could not tell +from whence the sound came. And it meant so much to her to +know, for the battle-lines were north of her and if she could +but locate the direction of the firing she would know which +way to go in the morning. + +In the morning! Would she live to see another morning? +She squared her shoulders and shook herself together. Such +thoughts must be banished -- they would never do. Bravely +she hummed an air as she arranged her saddle near the fire +and pulled a quantity of long grass to make a comfortable +seat over which she spread her saddle blanket. Then she +unstrapped a heavy, military coat from the cantle of her saddle +and donned it, for the air was already chill. + +Seating herself where she could lean against the saddle +she prepared to maintain a sleepless vigil throughout the +night. For an hour the silence was broken only by the distant +booming of the guns and the low noises of the feeding horse +and then, from possibly a mile away, came the rumbling +thunder of a lion's roar. The girl started and laid her hand +upon the rifle at her side. A little shudder ran through her +slight frame and she could feel the goose flesh rise upon her +body. + +Again and again was the awful sound repeated and each +time she was certain that it came nearer. She could locate +the direction of this sound although she could not that of the +guns, for the origin of the former was much closer. The lion +was up wind and so could not have caught her scent as yet, +though he might be approaching to investigate the light of +the fire which could doubtless be seen for a considerable +distance. + +For another fear-filled hour the girl sat straining her eyes +and ears out into the black void beyond her little island of +light. During all that time the lion did not roar again; but +there was constantly the sensation that it was creeping upon +her. Again and again she would start and turn to peer into +the blackness beyond the trees behind her as her overwrought +nerves conjured the stealthy fall of padded feet. She held the +rifle across her knees at the ready now and she was trembling +from head to foot. + +Suddenly her horse raised his head and snorted, and with +a little cry of terror the girl sprang to her feet. The animal +turned and trotted back toward her until the picket rope +brought him to a stand, and then he wheeled about and with +ears up-pricked gazed out into the night; but the girl could +neither see nor hear aught. + +Still another hour of terror passed during which the horse +often raised his head to peer long and searchingly into the +dark. The girl replenished the fire from time to time. She +found herself becoming very sleepy. Her heavy lids persisted +in drooping; but she dared not sleep. Fearful lest she might +be overcome by the drowsiness that was stealing through her +she rose and walked briskly to and fro, then she threw some +more wood on the fire, walked over and stroked her horse's +muzzle and returned to her seat. + +Leaning against the saddle she tried to occupy her mind +with plans for the morrow; but she must have dozed. With +a start she awoke. It was broad daylight. The hideous night +with its indescribable terrors was gone. + +She could scarce believe the testimony of her senses. She +had slept for hours, the fire was out and yet she and the horse +were safe and alive, nor was there sign of savage beast about. +And, best of all, the sun was shining, pointing the straight +road to the east. Hastily she ate a few mouthfuls of her preci- +ous rations, which with a swallow of water constituted her +breakfast. Then she saddled her horse and mounted. Already +she felt that she was as good as safe in Wilhelmstal. + +Possibly, however, she might have revised her conclusions +could she have seen the two pairs of eyes watching her every +move intently from different points in the bush. + +Light-hearted and unsuspecting, the girl rode across the +clearing toward the bush while directly before her two yellow- +green eyes glared round and terrible, a tawny tail twitched +nervously and great, padded paws gathered beneath a sleek barrel +for a mighty spring. The horse was almost at the edge +of the bush when Numa, the lion, launched himself through +the air. He struck the animal's right shoulder at the instant +that it reared, terrified, to wheel in flight. The force of the +impact hurled the horse backward to the ground and so +quickly that the girl had no opportunity to extricate herself; +but fell to the earth with her mount, her left leg pinned be- +neath its body. + +Horror-stricken, she saw the king of beasts open his mighty +jaws and seize the screaming creature by the back of its neck. +The great jaws closed, there was an instant's struggle as Numa +shook his prey. She could hear the vertebrae crack as the +mighty fangs crunched through them, and then the muscles +of her faithful friend relaxed in death. + +Numa crouched upon his kill. His terrifying eyes rivetted +themselves upon the girl's face -- she could feel his hot breath +upon her cheek and the odor of the fetid vapor nauseated her. +For what seemed an eternity to the girl the two lay staring at +each other and then the lion uttered a menacing growl. + +Never before had Bertha Kircher been so terrified -- never +before had she had such cause for terror. At her hip was a +pistol -- a formidable weapon with which to face a man; but +a puny thing indeed with which to menace the great beast +before her. She knew that at best it could but enrage him +and yet she meant to sell her life dearly, for she felt that she +must die. No human succor could have availed her even had +it been there to offer itself. For a moment she tore her gaze +from the hypnotic fascination of that awful face and breathed +a last prayer to her God. She did not ask for aid, for she felt +that she was beyond even divine succor -- she only asked that +the end might come quickly and with as little pain as possible. + +No one can prophesy what a lion will do in any given +emergency. This one glared and growled at the girl for a +moment and then fell to feeding upon the dead horse. Fraulein +Kircher wondered for an instant and then attempted to +draw her leg cautiously from beneath the body of her mount; +but she could not budge it. She increased the force of her +efforts and Numa looked up from his feeding to growl again. +The girl desisted. She hoped that he might satisfy his hunger +and then depart to lie up, but she could not believe that he +would leave her there alive. Doubtless he would drag the +remains of his kill into the bush for hiding and, as there could +be no doubt that he considered her part of his prey, he would +certainly come back for her, or possibly drag her in first and +kill her. + +Again Numa fell to feeding. The girl's nerves were at the +breaking point. She wondered that she had not fainted under +the strain of terror and shock. She recalled that she often had +wished she might see a lion, close to, make a kill and feed +upon it. God! how realistically her wish had been granted. + +Again she bethought herself of her pistol. As she had +fallen, the holster had slipped around so that the weapon now +lay beneath her. Very slowly she reached for it; but in so +doing she was forced to raise her body from the ground. +Instantly the lion was aroused. With the swiftness of a cat +he reached across the carcass of the horse and placed a heavy, +taloned paw upon her breast, crushing her back to earth, and +all the time he growled and snarled horribly. His face was a +picture of frightful rage incarnate. For a moment neither +moved and then from behind her the girl heard a human +voice uttering bestial sounds. + +Numa suddenly looked up from the girl's face at the thing +beyond her. His growls increased to roars as he drew back, +ripping the front of the girl's waist almost from her body with +his long talons, exposing her white bosom, which through +some miracle of chance the great claws did not touch. + +Tarzan of the Apes had witnessed the entire encounter +from the moment that Numa had leaped upon his prey. For +some time before, he had been watching the girl, and after the +lion attacked her he had at first been minded to let Numa have +his way with her. What was she but a hated German and a +spy besides? He had seen her at General Kraut's headquarters, +in conference with the German staff and again he had seen her +within the British lines masquerading as a British officer. It +was the latter thought that prompted him to interfere. Doubt- +less General Jan Smuts would be glad to meet and question +her. She might be forced to divulge information of value to +the British commander before Smuts had her shot. + +Tarzan had recognized not only the girl, but the lion as well. +All lions may look alike to you and me; but not so to their +intimates of the jungle. Each has his individual characteristics +of face and form and gait as well defined as those that dif- +ferentiate members of the human family, and besides these +the creatures of the jungle have a still more positive test -- +that of scent. Each of us, man or beast, has his own peculiar +odor, and it is mostly by this that the beasts of the jungle, +endowed with miraculous powers of scent, recognize indi- +viduals. + +It is the final proof. You have seen it demonstrated a thou- +sand times -- a dog recognizes your voice and looks at you. +He knows your face and figure. Good, there can be no doubt +in his mind but that it is you; but is he satisfied? No, sir -- +he +must come up and smell of you. All his other senses may be +fallible, but not his sense of smell, and so he makes assurance +positive by the final test. + +Tarzan recognized Numa as he whom he had muzzled with +the hide of Horta, the boar -- as he whom he handled by a +rope for two days and finally loosed in a German front-line +trench, and he knew that Numa would recognize him -- that +he would remember the sharp spear that had goaded him +into submission and obedience and Tarzan hoped that the +lesson he had learned still remained with the lion. + +Now he came forward calling to Numa in the language of +the great apes -- warning him away from the girl. It is open +to question that Numa, the lion, understood him; but he did +understand the menace of the heavy spear that the Tarman- +gani carried so ready in his brown, right hand, and so he drew +back, growling, trying to decide in his little brain whether +to charge or flee. + +On came the ape-man with never a pause, straight for the +lion. "Go away, Numa," he cried, "or Tarzan will tie you up +again and lead you through the jungle without food. See +Arad, my spear! Do you recall how his point stuck into you +and how with his haft I beat you over the head? Go, Numa! +I am Tarzan of the Apes!" + +Numa wrinkled the skin of his face into great folds, until +his eyes almost disappeared and he growled and roared and +snarled and growled again, and when the spear point came +at last quite close to him he struck at it viciously with his +armed paw; but he drew back. Tarzan stepped over the +dead horse and the girl lying behind him gazed in wide-eyed +astonishment at the handsome figure driving an angry lion +deliberately from its kill. + +When Numa had retreated a few yards, the ape-man called +back to the girl in perfect German, "Are you badly hurt?" + +"I think not," she replied; "but I cannot extricate my foot +from beneath my horse." + +"Try again," commanded Tarzan. "I do not know how long +I can hold Numa thus." + +The girl struggled frantically; but at last she sank back +upon an elbow. + +"It is impossible," she called to him. + +He backed slowly until he was again beside the horse, when +he reached down and grasped the cinch, which was still intact. +Then with one hand he raised the carcass from the ground. +The girl freed herself and rose to her feet. + +"You can walk?" asked Tarzan. + +"Yes," she said; "my leg is numb; but it does not seem to be +injured." + +"Good," commented the ape-man. "Back slowly away be- +hind me -- make no sudden movements. I think he will not +charge." + +With utmost deliberation the two backed toward the bush. +Numa stood for a moment, growling, then he followed them, +slowly. Tarzan wondered if he would come beyond his kill +or if he would stop there. If he followed them beyond, then +they could look for a charge, and if Numa charged it was +very likely that he would get one of them. When the lion +reached the carcass of the horse Tarzan stopped and so did +Numa, as Tarzan had thought that he would and the ape-man +waited to see what the lion would do next. He eyed them for +a moment, snarled angrily and then looked down at the tempt- +ing meat. Presently he crouched upon his kill and resumed +feeding. + +The girl breathed a deep sigh of relief as she and the ape- +man resumed their slow retreat with only an occasional glance +from the lion, and when at last they reached the bush and had +turned and entered it, she felt a sudden giddiness overwhelm +her so that she staggered and would have fallen had Tarzan +not caught her. It was only a moment before she regained +control of herself. + +"I could not help it," she said, in half apology. "I was so +close to death -- such a horrible death -- it unnerved me for an +instant; but I am all right now. How can I ever thank you? +It was so wonderful -- you did not seem to fear the frightful +creature in the least; yet he was afraid of you. Who are you?" + +"He knows me," replied Tarzan, grimly -- "that is why he +fears me." + +He was standing facing the girl now and for the first time +he had a chance to look at her squarely and closely. She was +very beautiful -- that was undeniable; but Tarzan realized her +beauty only in a subconscious way. It was superficial -- it did +not color her soul which must be black as sin. She was Ger- +man -- a German spy. He hated her and desired only to +compass her destruction; but he would choose the manner so +that it would work most grievously against the enemy cause. + +He saw her naked breasts where Numa had torn her clothing +from her and dangling there against the soft, white flesh he +saw that which brought a sudden scowl of surprise and anger +to his face -- the diamond-studded, golden locket of his youth +-- the love token that had been stolen from the breast of his +mate by Schneider, the Hun. The girl saw the scowl but did +not interpret it correctly. Tarzan grasped her roughly by the +arm. + +"Where did you get this?" he demanded, as he tore the +bauble from her. + +The girl drew herself to her full height. "Take your hand +from me," she demanded, but the ape-man paid no attention +to her words, only seizing her more forcibly. + +"Answer me!" he snapped. "Where did you get this?" + +"What is it to you?" she countered. + +"It is mine," he replied. "Tell me who gave it to you or I +will throw you back to Numa." + +"You would do that?" she asked. + +"Why not?" he queried. "You are a spy and spies must die +if they are caught." + +"You were going to kill me, then?" + +"I was going to take you to headquarters. They would +dispose of you there; but Numa can do it quite as effectively. +Which do you prefer?" + +"Hauptmann Fritz Schneider gave it to me," she said. + +"Headquarters it will be then," said Tarzan. "Come!" +The girl moved at his side through the bush and all the +time her mind worked quickly. They were moving east, which +suited her, and as long as they continued to move east she was +glad to have the protection of the great, white savage. She +speculated much upon the fact that her pistol still swung at her +hip. The man must be mad not to take it from her. + +"What makes you think I am a spy?" she asked after a long +silence. + +"I saw you at German headquarters," he replied, "and then +again inside the British lines." + +She could not let him take her back to them. She must +reach Wilhelmstal at once and she was determined to do so +even if she must have recourse to her pistol. She cast a side +glance at the tall figure. What a magnificent creature! But +yet he was a brute who would kill her or have her killed if she +did not slay him. And the locket! She must have that back +-- it must not fail to reach Wilhelmstal. Tarzan was now a +foot or two ahead of her as the path was very narrow. Cau- +tiously she drew her pistol. A single shot would suffice and +he was so close that she could not miss. As she figured it all +out her eyes rested on the brown skin with the graceful +muscles rolling beneath it and the perfect limbs and head +and the carriage that a proud king of old might have envied. +A wave of revulsion for her contemplated act surged through +her. No, she could not do it -- yet, she must be free and she +must regain possession of the locket. And then, almost blindly, +she swung the weapon up and struck Tarzan heavily upon the +back of the head with its butt. Like a felled ox he dropped in +his tracks. + + + + +Vengeance and Mercy + +It was an hour later that Sheeta, the panther, hunting, +chanced to glance upward into the blue sky where his at- +tention was attracted by Ska, the vulture, circling slowly +above the bush a mile away and downwind. For a long minute +the yellow eyes stared intently at the gruesome bird. They saw +Ska dive and rise again to continue his ominous circling and +in these movements their woodcraft read that which, while +obvious to Sheeta, would doubtless have meant nothing to +you or me. + +The hunting cat guessed that on the ground beneath Ska +was some living thing of flesh -- either a beast feeding upon +its kill or a dying animal that Ska did not yet dare attack. In +either event it might prove meat for Sheeta, and so the wary +feline stalked by a circuitous route, upon soft, padded feet +that gave forth no sound, until the circling aasvogel> and his +intended prey were upwind. Then, sniffing each vagrant +zephyr, Sheeta, the panther, crept cautiously forward, nor +had he advanced any considerable distance before his keen +nostrils were rewarded with the scent of man -- a Tarmangani. + +Sheeta paused. He was not a hunter of men. He was +young and in his prime; but always before he had avoided +this hated presence. Of late he had become more accustomed +to it with the passing of many soldiers through his ancient +hunting ground, and as the soldiers had frightened away a +great part of the game Sheeta had been wont to feed upon, the +days had been lean, and Sheeta was hungry. + +The circling Ska suggested that this Tarmangani might be +helpless and upon the point of dying, else Ska would not have +been interested in him, and so easy prey for Sheeta. With +this thought in mind the cat resumed his stalking. Presently +he pushed through the thick bush and his yellow-green eyes +rested gloatingly upon the body of an almost naked Tarman- +gani lying face down in a narrow game trail. + +Numa, sated, rose from the carcass of Bertha Kircher's +horse and seized the partially devoured body by the neck and +dragged it into the bush; then he started east toward the lair +where he had left his mate. Being uncomfortably full he was +inclined to be sleepy and far from belligerent. He moved +slowly and majestically with no effort at silence or conceal- +ment. The king walked abroad, unafraid. + +With an occasional regal glance to right or left he moved +along a narrow game trail until at a turn he came to a sudden +stop at what lay revealed before him -- Sheeta, the panther, +creeping stealthily upon the almost naked body of a Tar- +mangani lying face down in the deep dust of the pathway. +Numa glared intently at the quiet body in the dust. Recog- +nition came. It was his Tarmangani. A low growl of warning +rumbled from his throat and Sheeta halted with one paw +upon Tarzan's back and turned suddenly to eye the intruder. + +What passed within those savage brains? Who may say? +The panther seemed debating the wisdom of defending his +find, for he growled horribly as though warning Numa away +from the prey. And Numa? Was the idea of property rights +dominating his thoughts? The Tarmangani was his, or he +was the Tarmangani's. Had not the Great White Ape mas- +tered and subdued him and, too, had he not fed him? Numa +recalled the fear that he had felt of this man-thing and his +cruel spear; but in savage brains fear is more likely to en- +gender respect than hatred and so Numa found that he re- +spected the creature who had subdued and mastered him. +He saw Sheeta, upon whom he looked with contempt, daring +to molest the master of the lion. Jealousy and greed alone +might have been sufficient to prompt Numa to drive Sheeta +away, even though the lion was not sufficiently hungry to +devour the flesh that he thus wrested from the lesser cat; but +then, too, there was in the little brain within the massive head +a sense of loyalty, and perhaps this it was that sent Numa +quickly forward, growling, toward the spitting Sheeta. + +For a moment the latter stood his ground with arched back +and snarling face, for all the world like a great, spotted tabby. + +Numa had not felt like fighting; but the sight of Sheeta +daring to dispute his rights kindled his ferocious brain to +sudden fire. His rounded eyes glared with rage, his undulating +tail snapped to stiff erectness as, with a frightful roar, he +charged this presuming vassal. + +It came so suddenly and from so short a distance that Sheeta +had no chance to turn and flee the rush, and so he met it with +raking talons and snapping jaws; but the odds were all against +him. To the larger fangs and the more powerful jaws of his +adversary were added huge talons and the preponderance of +the lion's great weight. At the first clash Sheeta was crushed +and, though he deliberately fell upon his back and drew up +his powerful hind legs beneath Numa with the intention of +disemboweling him, the lion forestalled him and at the same +time closed his awful jaws upon Sheeta's throat. + +It was soon over. Numa rose, shaking himself, and stood +above the torn and mutilated body of his foe. His own sleek +coat was cut and the red blood trickled down his flank; though +it was but a minor injury, it angered him. He glared down +at the dead panther and then, in a fit of rage, he seized and +mauled the body only to drop it in a moment, lower his head, +voice a single terrific roar, and turn toward the ape-man. + +Approaching the still form he sniffed it over from head to +foot. Then he placed a huge paw upon it and turned it over +with its face up. Again he smelled about the body and at +last with his rough tongue licked Tarzan's face. It was then +that Tarzan opened his eyes. + +Above him towered the huge lion, its hot breath upon his +face, its rough tongue upon his cheek. The ape-man had +often been close to death; but never before so close as this, +he thought, for he was convinced that death was but a matter +of seconds. His brain was still numb from the effects of the +blow that had felled him, and so he did not, for a moment, +recognize the lion that stood over him as the one he had so +recently encountered. + +Presently, however, recognition dawned upon him and with +it a realization of the astounding fact that Numa did not seem +bent on devouring him -- at least not immediately. His po- +sition was a delicate one. The lion stood astraddle Tarzan with +his front paws. The ape-man could not rise, therefore, without +pushing the lion away and whether Numa would tolerate +being pushed was an open question. Too, the beast might con- +sider him already dead and any movement that indicated the +contrary was true would, in all likelihood, arouse the killing +instinct of the man-eater. + +But Tarzan was tiring of the situation. He was in no mood +to lie there forever, especially when he contemplated the fact +that the girl spy who had tried to brain him was undoubtedly +escaping as rapidly as possible. + +Numa was looking right into his eyes now evidently aware +that he was alive. Presently the lion cocked his head on one +side and whined. Tarzan knew the note, and he knew that it +spelled neither rage nor hunger, and then he risked all on a +single throw, encouraged by that low whine. + +"Move, Numa!" he commanded and placing a palm against +the tawny shoulder he pushed the lion aside. Then he rose +and with a hand on his hunting knife awaited that which might +follow. It was then that his eyes fell for the first time on the +torn body of Sheeta. He looked from the dead cat to the live +one and saw the marks of conflict upon the latter, too, and in +an instant realized something of what had happened -- Numa +had saved him from the panther! + +It seemed incredible and yet the evidence pointed clearly to +the fact. He turned toward the lion and without fear ap- +proached and examined his wounds which he found super- +ficial, and as Tarzan knelt beside him Numa rubbed an itching +ear against the naked, brown shoulder. Then the ape-man +stroked the great head, picked up his spear, and looked about +for the trail of the girl. This he soon found leading toward the +east, and as he set out upon it something prompted him to feel +for the locket he had hung about his neck. It was gone! + +No trace of anger was apparent upon the ape-man's face un- +less it was a slight tightening of the jaws; but he put his hand +ruefully to the back of his head where a bump marked the +place where the girl had struck him and a moment later a +half-smile played across his lips. He could not help but ad- +mit that she had tricked him neatly, and that it must have +taken nerve to do the thing she did and to set out armed only +with a pistol through the trackless waste that lay between +them and the railway and beyond into the hills where Wil- +helmstal lies. + +Tarzan admired courage. He was big enough to admit it +and admire it even in a German spy, but he saw that in this +case it only added to her resourcefulness and made her all +the more dangerous and the necessity for putting her out of +the way paramount. He hoped to overtake her before she +reached Wilhelmstal and so he set out at the swinging trot that +he could hold for hours at a stretch without apparent fatigue. + +That the girl could hope to reach the town on foot in less +than two days seemed improbable, for it was a good thirty +miles and part of it hilly. Even as the thought crossed his +mind he heard the whistle of a locomotive to the east and knew +that the railway was in operation again after a shutdown of +several days. If the train was going south the girl would sig- +nal it if she had reached the right of way. His keen ears +caught the whining of brake shoes on wheels and a few min- +utes later the signal blast for brakes off. The train had stopped +and started again and, as it gained headway and greater dis- +tance, Tarzan could tell from the direction of the sound that +it was moving south. + +The ape-man followed the trail to the railway where it +ended abruptly on the west side of the track, showing that the +girl had boarded the train, just as he thought. There was +nothing now but to follow on to Wilhelmstal, where he hoped +to find Captain Fritz Schneider, as well as the girl, and to re- +cover his diamond-studded locket. + +It was dark when Tarzan reached the little hill town of +Wilhelmstal. He loitered on the outskirts, getting his bear- +ings and trying to determine how an almost naked white man +might explore the village without arousing suspicion. There +were many soldiers about and the town was under guard, for +he could see a lone sentinel walking his post scarce a hundred +yards from him. To elude this one would not be difficult; but +to enter the village and search it would be practically impos- +sible, garbed, or ungarbed, as he was. + +Creeping forward, taking advantage of every cover, lying +flat and motionless when the sentry's face was toward him, the +ape-man at last reached the sheltering shadows of an outhouse +just inside the lines. From there he moved stealthily from +building to building until at last he was discovered by a large +dog in the rear of one of the bungalows. The brute came +slowly toward him, growling. Tarzan stood motionless be- +side a tree. He could see a light in the bungalow and uni- +formed men moving about and he hoped that the dog would +not bark. He did not; but he growled more savagely and, +just at the moment that the rear door of the bungalow opened +and a man stepped out, the animal charged. + +He was a large dog, as large as Dango, the hyena, and he +charged with all the vicious impetuosity of Numa, the lion. +As he came Tarzan knelt and the dog shot through the air for +his throat; but he was dealing with no man now and he found +his quickness more than matched by the quickness of the +Tarmangani. His teeth never reached the soft flesh -- strong +fingers, fingers of steel, seized his neck. He voiced a single +startled yelp and clawed at the naked breast before him with +his talons; but he was powerless. The mighty fingers closed +upon his throat; the man rose, snapped the clawing body once, +and cast it aside. At the same time a voice from the open +bungalow door called: "Simba!" + +There was no response. Repeating the call the man de- +scended the steps and advanced toward the tree. In the light +from the doorway Tarzan could see that he was a tall, broad- +shouldered man in the uniform of a German officer. The ape- +man withdrew into the shadow of the tree's stem. The man +came closer, still calling the dog -- he did not see the savage +beast, crouching now in the shadow, awaiting him. When +he had approached within ten feet of the Tarmangani, Tarzan +leaped upon him -- as Sabor springs to the kill, so sprang the +ape-man. The momentum and weight of his body hurled +the German to the ground, powerful fingers prevented an out- +cry and, though the officer struggled, he had no chance and a +moment later lay dead beside the body of the dog. + +As Tarzan stood for a moment looking down upon his kill +and regretting that he could not risk voicing his beloved vic- +tory cry, the sight of the uniform suggested a means whereby +he might pass to and fro through Wilhelmstal with the mini- +mum chance of detection. Ten minutes later a tall, broad- +shouldered officer stepped from the yard of the bungalow +leaving behind him the corpses of a dog and a naked man. + +He walked boldly along the little street and those who +passed him could not guess that beneath Imperial Germany's +uniform beat a savage heart that pulsed with implacable +hatred for the Hun. Tarzan's first concern was to locate the +hotel, for here he guessed he would find the girl, and where +the girl was doubtless would be Hauptmann Fritz Schneider, +who was either her confederate, her sweetheart, or both, and +there, too, would be Tarzan's precious locket. + +He found the hotel at last, a low, two-storied building with +a veranda. There were lights on both floors and people, +mostly officers, could be seen within. The ape-man considered +entering and inquiring for those he sought; but his better judg- +ment finally prompted him to reconnoiter first. Passing around +the building he looked into all the lighted rooms on the first +floor and, seeing neither of those for whom he had come, he +swung lightly to the roof of the veranda and continued his +investigations through windows of the second story. + +At one corner of the hotel in a rear room the blinds were +drawn; but he heard voices within and once he saw a figure +silhouetted momentarily against the blind. It appeared to be +the figure of a woman; but it was gone so quickly that he could +not be sure. Tarzan crept close to the window and listened. +Yes, there was a woman there and a man -- he heard distinctly +the tones of their voices although he could overhear no words, +as they seemed to be whispering. + +The adjoining room was dark. Tarzan tried the window +and found it unlatched. All was quiet within. He raised the +sash and listened again -- still silence. Placing a leg over the +sill he slipped within and hurriedly glanced about. The room +was vacant. Crossing to the door he opened it and looked out +into the hall. There was no one there, either, and he stepped +out and approached the door of the adjoining room where +the man and woman were. + +Pressing close to the door he listened. Now he distinguished +words, for the two had raised their voices as though in argu- +ment. The woman was speaking. + +"I have brought the locket," she said, "as was agreed upon +between you and General Kraut, as my identification. I carry +no other credentials. This was to be enough. You have noth- +ing to do but give me the papers and let me go." + +The man replied in so low a tone that Tarzan could not +catch the words and then the woman spoke again -- a note of +scorn and perhaps a little of fear in her voice. + +"You would not dare, Hauptmann Schneider," she said, and +then: "Do not touch me! Take your hands from me!" + +It was then that Tarzan of the Apes opened the door and +stepped into the room. What he saw was a huge, bull-necked +German officer with one arm about the waist of Fraulein +Bertha Kircher and a hand upon her forehead pushing her +head back as he tried to kiss her on the mouth. The girl was +struggling against the great brute; but her efforts were futile. +Slowly the man's lips were coming closer to hers and slowly, +step by step, she was being carried backward. + +Schneider heard the noise of the opening and closing door +behind him and turned. At sight of this strange officer he +dropped the girl and straightened up. + +"What is the meaning of this intrusion, Lieutenant?" he de- +manded, noting the other's epaulettes. "Leave the room at +once." + +Tarzan made no articulate reply; but the two there with +him heard a low growl break from those firm lips -- a growl +that sent a shudder through the frame of the girl and brought +a pallor to the red face of the Hun and his hand to his pistol +but even as he drew his weapon it was wrested from him and +hurled through the blind and window to the yard beyond. +Then Tarzan backed against the door and slowly removed the +uniform coat. + +"You are Hauptmann Schneider," he said to the German. + +"What of it?" growled the latter. + +"I am Tarzan of the Apes," replied the ape-man. "Now you +know why I intrude." + +The two before him saw that he was naked beneath the +coat which he threw upon the floor and then he slipped quickly +from the trousers and stood there clothed only in his loin cloth. +The girl had recognized him by this time, too. + +"Take your hand off that pistol," Tarzan admonished her. +Her hand dropped at her side. "Now come here!" + +She approached and Tarzan removed the weapon and +hurled it after the other. At the mention of his name Tarzan +had noted the sickly pallor that overspread the features of the +Hun. At last he had found the right man. At last his mate +would be partially avenged -- never could she be entirely +avenged. Life was too short and there were too many Germans. + +"What do you want of me?" demanded Schneider. + +"You are going to pay the price for the thing you did at the +little bungalow in the Waziri country," replied the ape-man. + +Schneider commenced to bluster and threaten. Tarzan turned +the key in the lock of the door and hurled the former through +the window after the pistols. Then he turned to the girl. "Keep +out of the way," he said in a low voice. "Tarzan of the Apes +is going to kill." + +The Hun ceased blustering and began to plead. "I have a +wife and children at home," he cried. "I have done nothing," +I --" + +"You are going to die as befits your kind," said Tarzan, +"with blood on your hands and a lie on your lips." He started +across the room toward the burly Hauptmann. Schneider was +a large and powerful man -- about the height of the ape-man +but much heavier. He saw that neither threats nor pleas would +avail him and so he prepared to fight as a cornered rat fights +for its life with all the maniacal rage, cunning, and ferocity +that the first law of nature imparts to many beasts. + +Lowering his bull head he charged for the ape-man and +in the center of the floor the two clinched. There they stood +locked and swaying for a moment until Tarzan succeeded in +forcing his antagonist backward over a table which crashed to +the floor, splintered by the weight of the two heavy bodies. + +The girl stood watching the battle with wide eyes. She saw +the two men rolling hither and thither across the floor and she +heard with horror the low growls that came from the lips of +the naked giant. Schneider was trying to reach his foe's +throat with his fingers while, horror of horrors, Bertha Kircher +could see that the other was searching for the German's +jugular with his teeth! + +Schneider seemed to realize this too, for he redoubled his +efforts to escape and finally succeeded in rolling over on top +of the ape-man and breaking away. Leaping to his feet he ran +for the window; but the ape-man was too quick for him and +before he could leap through the sash a heavy hand fell upon +his shoulder and he was jerked back and hurled across the +room to the opposite wall. There Tarzan followed him, and +once again they locked, dealing each other terrific blows, +until Schneider in a piercing voice screamed, "Kamerad! +Kamerad!" + +Tarzan grasped the man by the throat and drew his hunting +knife. Schneider's back was against the wall so that though +his knees wobbled he was held erect by the ape-man. Tarzan +brought the sharp point to the lower part of the German's +abdomen. + +"Thus you slew my mate," he hissed in a terrible voice. +"Thus shall you die!" + +The girl staggered forward. "Oh, God, no!" she cried. +"Not that. You are too brave -- you cannot be such a beast as +that!" + +Tarzan turned at her. "No," he said, "you are right, I cannot +do it -- I am no German," and he raised the point of his blade +and sunk it deep into the putrid heart of Hauptmann Fritz +Schneider, putting a bloody period to the Hun's last gasping +cry: "I did not do it! She is not --" + +Then Tarzan turned toward the girl and held out his hand. +"Give me my locket," he said. + +She pointed toward the dead officer. "He has it." Tarzan +searched him and found the trinket. "Now you may give me +the papers," he said to the girl, and without a word she handed +him a folded document. + +For a long time he stood looking at her before ho spoke +again. + +"I came for you, too," he said. "It would be difficult to take +you back from here and so I was going to kill you, as I have +sworn to kill all your kind; but you were right when you said +that I was not such a beast as that slayer of women. I could +not slay him as he slew mine, nor can I slay you, who are a +woman." + +He crossed to the window, raised the sash and an instant +later he had stepped out and disappeared into the night. And +then Fraulein Bertha Kircher stepped quickly to the corpse +upon the floor, slipped her hand inside the blouse and drew +forth a little sheaf of papers which she tucked into her waist +before she went to the window and called for help. + + + + +When Blood Told + +Tarzan of the Apes was disgusted. He had had the Ger- +man spy, Bertha Kircher, in his power and had left her +unscathed. It is true that he had slain Hauptmann Fritz +Schneider, that Underlieutenant von Goss had died at his +hands, and that he had otherwise wreaked vengeance upon the +men of the German company who had murdered, pillaged, and +raped at Tarzan's bungalow in the Waziri country. There was +still another officer to be accounted for, but him he could +not find. It was Lieutenant Obergatz he still sought, though +vainly, for at last he learned that the man had been sent upon +some special mission, whether in Africa or back to Europe +Tarzan's informant either did not know or would not divulge. + +But the fact that he had permitted sentiment to stay his +hand when he might so easily have put Bertha Kircher out of +the way in the hotel at Wilhelmstal that night rankled in the +ape-man's bosom. He was shamed by his weakness, and when +he had handed the paper she had given him to the British chief +of staff, even though the information it contained permitted +the British to frustrate a German flank attack, he was still much +dissatisfied with himself. And possibly the root of this +dissatis- +faction lay in the fact that he realized that were he again to +have the same opportunity he would still find it as impossible +to slay a woman as it had been in Wilhelmstal that night. + +Tarzan blamed this weakness, as he considered it, upon his +association with the effeminating influences of civilization, for +in the bottom of his savage heart he held in contempt both +civilization and its representatives -- the men and women of the +civilized countries of the world. Always was he comparing +their weaknesses, their vices, their hypocrisies, and their +little +vanities with the open, primitive ways of his ferocious jungle +mates, and all the while there battled in that same big heart +with these forces another mighty force -- Tarzan's love and +loyalty for his friends of the civilized world. + +The ape-man, reared as he had been by savage beasts amid +savage beasts, was slow to make friends. Acquaintances he +numbered by the hundreds; but of friends he had few. These +few he would have died for as, doubtless, they would have +died for him; but there were none of these fighting with the +British forces in East Africa, and so, sickened and disgusted +by the sight of man waging his cruel and inhuman warfare, +Tarzan determined to heed the insistent call of the remote +jungle of his youth, for the Germans were now on the run and +the war in East Africa was so nearly over that he realized that +his further services would be of negligible value. + +Never regularly sworn into the service of the King, he was +under no obligation to remain now that the moral obligation +had been removed, and so it was that he disappeared from +the British camp as mysteriously as he had appeared a few +months before. + +More than once had Tarzan reverted to the primitive only to +return again to civilization through love for his mate; but now +that she was gone he felt that this time he had definitely de- +parted forever from the haunts of man, and that he should live +and die a beast among beasts even as he had been from infancy +to maturity. + +Between him and destination lay a trackless wilderness +of untouched primeval savagery where, doubtless in many +spots, his would be the first human foot to touch the virgin +turf. Nor did this prospect dismay the Tarmangani -- rather +was it an urge and an inducement, for rich in his veins flowed +that noble strain of blood that has made most of the earth's +surface habitable for man. + +The question of food and water that would have risen +paramount in the mind of an ordinary man contemplating such +an excursion gave Tarzan little concern. The wilderness was +his natural habitat and woodcraft as inherent to him as breath- +ing. Like other jungle animals he could scent water from a +great distance and, where you or I might die of thirst, the ape- +man would unerringly select the exact spot at which to dig and +find water. + +For several days Tarzan traversed a country rich in game +and watercourses. He moved slowly, hunting and fishing, or +again fraternizing or quarreling with the other savage denizens +of the jungle. Now it was little Manu, the monkey, who +chattered and scolded at the mighty Tarmangani and in the +next breath warned him that Histah, the snake, lay coiled in +the long grass just ahead. Of Manu Tarzan inquired concern- +ing the great apes -- the Mangani -- and was told that few +inhabited this part of the jungle, and that even these were +hunting farther to the north this season of the year. + +"But there is Bolgani," said Manu. "Would you like to see +Bolgani?" + +Manu's tone was sneering, and Tarzan knew that it was be- +cause little Manu thought all creatures feared mighty Bolgani, +the gorilla. Tarzan arched his great chest and struck it with a +clinched fist. "I am Tarzan," he cried. "While Tarzan was +yet a balu he slew a Bolgani. Tarzan seeks the Mangani, who +are his brothers, but Bolgani he does not seek, so let Bolgani +keep from the path of Tarzan." + +Little Manu, the monkey, was much impressed, for the way +of the jungle is to boast and to believe. It was then that he +condescended to tell Tarzan more of the Mangani. + +"They go there and there and there," he said, making a wide +sweep with a brown hand first toward the north, then west, and +then south again. "For there," and he pointed due west, "is +much hunting; but between lies a great place where there is no +food and no water, so they must go that way," and again he +swung his hand through the half-circle that explained to +Tarzan the great detour the apes made to come to their hunt- +ing ground to the west. + +That was all right for the Mangani, who are lazy and do not +care to move rapidly; but for Tarzan the straight road would +be the best. He would cross the dry country and come to the +good hunting in a third of the time that it would take to go far +to the north and circle back again. And so it was that he con- +tinued on toward the west, and crossing a range of low moun- +tains came in sight of a broad plateau, rock strewn and deso- +late. Far in the distance he saw another range of mountains +beyond which he felt must lie the hunting ground of the +Mangani. There he would join them and remain for a while +before continuing on toward the coast and the little cabin +that his father had built beside the land-locked harbor at the +jungle's edge. + +Tarzan was full of plans. He would rebuild and enlarge +the cabin of his birth, constructing storage houses where he +would make the apes lay away food when it was plenty against +the times that were lean -- a thing no ape ever had dreamed of +doing. And the tribe would remain always in the locality and he +would be king again as he had in the past. He would try to +teach them some of the better things that he had learned from +man, yet knowing the ape-mind as only Tarzan could, he +feared that his labors would be for naught. + +The ape-man found the country he was crossing rough in +the extreme, the roughest he ever had encountered. The +plateau was cut by frequent canyons the passage of which +often entailed hours of wearing effort. The vegetation was +sparse and of a faded brown color that lent to the whole +landscape a most depressing aspect. Great rocks were strewn +in every direction as far as the eye could see, lying partially +embedded in an impalpable dust that rose in clouds about him +at every step. The sun beat down mercilessly out of a cloud- +less sky. + +For a day Tarzan toiled across this now hateful land and +at the going down of the sun the distant mountains to the west +seemed no nearer than at morn. Never a sign of living thing +had the ape-man seen, other than Ska, that bird of ill omen, +that had followed him tirelessly since he had entered this +parched waste. + +No littlest beetle that he might eat had given evidence that +life of any sort existed here, and it was a hungry and thirsty +Tarzan who lay down to rest in the evening. He decided now +to push on during the cool of the night, for he realized that +even mighty Tarzan had his limitations and that where there +was no food one could not eat and where there was no water +the greatest woodcraft in the world could find none. It was a +totally new experience to Tarzan to find so barren and terrible +a country in his beloved Africa. Even the Sahara had its +oases; but this frightful world gave no indication of containing +a square foot of hospitable ground. + +However, he had no misgivings but that he would fare forth +into the wonder country of which little Manu had told him, +though it was certain that he would do it with a dry skin and +an empty belly. And so he fought on until daylight, when he +again felt the need of rest. He was at the edge of another of +those terrible canyons, the eighth he had crossed, whose pre- +cipitous sides would have taxed to the uttermost the strength +of an untired man well fortified by food and water, and for the +first time, as he looked down into the abyss and then at the +opposite side that he must scale, misgivings began to assail +his mind. + +He did not fear death -- with the memory of his murdered +mate still fresh in his mind he almost courted it, yet strong +within him was that primal instinct of self-preservation -- the +battling force of life that would keep him an active contender +against the Great Reaper until, fighting to the very last, he +should be overcome by a superior power. + +A shadow swung slowly across the ground beside him, and +looking up, the ape-man saw Ska, the vulture, wheeling a wide +circle above him. The grim and persistent harbinger of evil +aroused the man to renewed determination. He arose and +approached the edge of the canyon, and then, wheeling, with +his face turned upward toward the circling bird of prey, he +bellowed forth the challenge of the bull ape. + +"I am Tarzan," he shouted, "Lord of the Jungle. Tarzan of +the Apes is not for Ska, eater of carrion. Go back to the lair +of Dango and feed off the leavings of the hyenas, for Tarzan +will leave no bones for Ska to pick in this empty wilderness of +death." + +But before he reached the bottom of the canyon he again +was forced to the realization that his great strength was +waning, and when he dropped exhausted at the foot of the +cliff and saw before him the opposite wall that must be scaled, +he bared his fighting fangs and growled. For an hour he lay +resting in the cool shade at the foot of the cliff. All about +him reigned utter silence -- the silence of the tomb. No flutter- +ing birds, no humming insects, no scurrying reptiles relieved +the deathlike stillness. This indeed was the valley of death. +He felt the depressing influence of the horrible place setting +down upon him; but he staggered to his feet, shaking himself +like a great lion, for was he not still Tarzan, mighty Tarzan +of the Apes? Yes, and Tarzan the mighty he would be until +the last throb of that savage heart! + +As he crossed the floor of the canyon he saw something +lying close to the base of the side wall he was approaching -- +something that stood out in startling contrast to all the sur- +roundings and yet seemed so much a part and parcel of the +somber scene as to suggest an actor amid the settings of a +well-appointed stage, and, as though to carry out the allegory, +the pitiless rays of flaming Kudu topped the eastern cliff, +picking out the thing lying at the foot of the western wall like +a giant spotlight. + +And as Tarzan came nearer he saw the bleached skull and +bones of a human being about which were remnants of +clothing and articles of equipment that, as he examined them, +filled the ape-man with curiosity to such an extent that for a +time he forgot his own predicament in contemplation of the +remarkable story suggested by these mute evidences of a +tragedy of a time long past. + +The bones were in a fair state of preservation and indicated +by their intactness that the flesh had probably been picked +from them by vultures as none was broken; but the pieces of +equipment bore out the suggestion of their great age. In this +protected spot where there were no frosts and evidently but +little rainfall, the bones might have lain for ages without +disintegrating, for there were here no other forces to scatter +or disturb them. + +Near the skeleton lay a helmet of hammered brass and a +corroded breastplate of steel while at one side was a long, +straight sword in its scabbard and an ancient harquebus. The +bones were those of a large man -- a man of wondrous strength +and vitality Tarzan knew he must have been to have pene- +trated thus far through the dangers of Africa with such a +ponderous yet at the same time futile armament. + +The ape-man felt a sense of deep admiration for this name- +less adventurer of a bygone day. What a brute of a man he +must have been and what a glorious tale of battle and kaleido- +scopic vicissitudes of fortune must once have been locked +within that whitened skull! Tarzan stooped to examine the +shreds of clothing that still lay about the bones. Every particle +of leather had disappeared, doubtless eaten by Ska. No boots +remained, if the man had worn boots, but there were several +buckles scattered about suggesting that a great part of his +trappings had been of leather, while just beneath the bones of +one hand lay a metal cylinder about eight inches long and two +inches in diameter. As Tarzan picked it up he saw that it +had been heavily lacquered and had withstood the slight +ravages of time so well as to be in as perfect a state of +perserva- +tion today as it had been when its owner dropped into his last, +long sleep perhaps centuries ago. + +As he examined it he discovered that one end was closed +with a friction cover which a little twisting force soon loosened +and removed, revealing within a roll of parchment which the +ape-man removed and opened, disclosing a number of age- +yellowed sheets closely written upon in a fine hand in a lan- +guage which he guessed to be Spanish but which he could not +decipher. Upon the last sheet was a roughly drawn map with +numerous reference points marked upon it, all unintelligible to +Tarzan, who, after a brief examination of the papers, returned +them to their metal case, replaced the top and was about to +toss the little cylinder to the ground beside the mute remains +of its former possessor when some whim of curiosity unsatisfied +prompted him to slip it into the quiver with his arrows, though +as he did so it was with the grim thought that possibly cen- +turies hence it might again come to the sight of man beside +his own bleached bones. + +And then, with a parting glance at the ancient skeleton, he +turned to the task of ascending the western wall of the canyon. +Slowly and with many rests he dragged his weakening body +upwards. Again and again he slipped back from sheer ex- +haustion and would have fallen to the floor of the canyon but +for merest chance. How long it took him to scale that +frightful wall he could not have told, and when at last he +dragged himself over the top it was to lie weak and gasping, +too spent to rise or even to move a few inches farther from the +perilous edge of the chasm. + +At last he arose, very slowly and with evident effort gaining +his knees first and then staggering to his feet, yet his indomi- +table will was evidenced by a sudden straightening of his +shoulders and a determined shake of his head as he lurched +forward on unsteady legs to take up his valiant fight for sur- +vival. Ahead he scanned the rough landscape for sign of an- +other canyon which he knew would spell inevitable doom. +The western hills rose closer now though weirdly unreal as +they seemed to dance in the sunlight as though mocking him +with their nearness at the moment that exhaustion was about +to render them forever unattainable. + +Beyond them he knew must be the fertile hunting grounds +of which Manu had told. Even if no canyon intervened, his +chances of surmounting even low hills seemed remote should +he have the fortune to reach their base; but with another +canyon hope was dead. Above them Ska still circled, and it +seemed to the ape-man that the ill-omened bird hovered ever +lower and lower as though reading in that failing gait the near- +ing of the end, and through cracked lips Tarzan growled out +his defiance. + +Mile after mile Tarzan of the Apes put slowly behind him, +borne up by sheer force of will where a lesser man would have +lain down to die and rest forever tired muscles whose every +move was an agony of effort; but at last his progress became +practically mechanical -- he staggered on with a dazed mind +that reacted numbly to a single urge -- on, on, on! The hills +were now but a dim, ill-defined blur ahead. Sometimes he +forgot that they were hills, and again he wondered vaguely +why he must go on forever through all this torture endeavoring +to overtake them -- the fleeing, elusive hills. Presently he +began to hate them and there formed within his half-delirious +brain the hallucination that the hills were German hills, that +they had slain someone dear to him, whom he could never +quite recall, and that he was pursuing to slay them. + +This idea, growing, appeared to give him strength -- a new +and revivifying purpose -- so that for a time he no longer +staggered; but went forward steadily with head erect. Once +he stumbled and fell, and when he tried to rise he found that +he could not -- that his strength was so far gone that he could +only crawl forward on his hands and knees for a few yards and +then sink down again to rest. + +It was during one of these frequent periods of utter exhaus- +tion that he heard the flap of dismal wings close above him. +With his remaining strength he turned himself over on his back +to see Ska wheel quickly upward. With the sight Tarzan's +mind cleared for a while. + +"Is the end so near as that?" he thought. "Does Ska know +that I am so near gone that he dares come down and perch +upon my carcass?" And even then a grim smile touched those +swollen lips as into the savage mind came a sudden thought -- +the cunning of the wild beast at bay. Closing his eyes he +threw a forearm across them to protect them from Ska's +powerful beak and then he lay very still and waited. + +It was restful lying there, for the sun was now obscured by +clouds and Tarzan was very tired. He feared that he might +sleep and something told him that if he did he would never +awaken, and so he concentrated all his remaining powers upon +the one thought of remaining awake. Not a muscle moved -- +to Ska, circling above, it became evident that the end had +come -- that at last he should be rewarded for his long vigil + +Circling slowly he dropped closer and closer to the dying +man. Why did not Tarzan move? Had he indeed been over- +come by the sleep of exhaustion, or was Ska right -- had death +at last claimed that mighty body? Was that great, savage +heart stilled forever? It is unthinkable. + +Ska, filled with suspicions, circled warily. Twice he almost +alighted upon the great, naked breast only to wheel suddenly +away; but the third time his talons touched the brown skin. +It was as though the contact closed an electric circuit that +instantaneously vitalized the quiet clod that had lain motion- +less so long. A brown hand swept downward from the brown +forehead and before Ska could raise a wing in flight he was in +the clutches of his intended victim. + +Ska fought, but he was no match for even a dying Tarzan, +and a moment later the ape-man's teeth closed upon the +carrion-eater. The flesh was coarse and tough and gave off +an unpleasant odor and a worse taste; but it was food and the +blood was drink and Tarzan only an ape at heart and a dying +ape into the bargain -- dying of starvation and thirst. + +Even mentally weakened as he was the ape-man was still +master of his appetite and so he ate but sparingly, saving the +rest, and then, feeling that he now could do so safely, he turned +upon his side and slept. + +Rain, beating heavily upon his body, awakened him and +sitting up he cupped his hands and caught the precious drops +which he transferred to his parched throat. Only a little he +got at a time; but that was best. The few mouthfuls of Ska +that he had eaten, together with the blood and rain water and +the sleep had refreshed him greatly and put new strength into +his tired muscles. + +Now he could see the hills again and they were close and, +though there was no sun, the world looked bright and cheerful, +for Tarzan knew that he was saved. The bird that would have +devoured him, and the providential rain, had saved him at the +very moment that death seemed inevitable. + +Again partaking of a few mouthfuls of the unsavory flesh of +Ska, the vulture, the ape-man arose with something of his old +force and set out with steady gait toward the hills of promise +rising alluringly ahead. Darkness fell before he reached them; +but he kept on until he felt the steeply rising ground that +proclaimed his arrival at the base of the hills proper, and then +he lay down and waited until morning should reveal the easiest +passage to the land beyond. The rain had ceased, but the sky +still was overcast so that even his keen eyes could not pene- +trate the darkness farther than a few feet. And there he slept, +after eating again of what remained of Ska, until the morning +sun awakened him with a new sense of strength and well- +being. + +And so at last he came through the hills out of the valley of +death into a land of parklike beauty, rich in game. Below him +lay a deep valley through the center of which dense jungle +vegetation marked the course of a river beyond which a +primeval forest extended for miles to terminate at last at the +foot of lofty, snow-capped mountains. It was a land that +Tarzan never had looked upon before, nor was it likely that +the foot of another white man ever had touched it unless, +possibly, in some long-gone day the adventurer whose skeleton +he had found bleaching in the canyon had traversed it. + + + +Tarzan and the Great Apes + +Three days the ape-man spent in resting and recuperating, +eating fruits and nuts and the smaller animals that were +most easily bagged, and upon the fourth he set out to +explore the valley and search for the great apes. Time was a +negligible factor in the equation of life -- it was all the same +to Tarzan if he reached the west coast in a month or a year +or three years. All time was his and all Africa. His was abso- +lute freedom -- the last tie that had bound him to civilization +and custom had been severed. He was alone but he was not +exactly lonely. The greater part of his life had been spent +thus, and though there was no other of his kind, he was at all +times surrounded by the jungle peoples for whom familiarity +had bred no contempt within his breast. The least of them in- +terested him, and, too, there were those with whom he always +made friends easily, and there were his hereditary enemies +whose presence gave a spice to life that might otherwise have +become humdrum and monotonous. + +And so it was that on the fourth day he set out to explore +the valley and search for his fellow-apes. He had proceeded +southward for a short distance when his nostrils were assailed +by the scent of man, of Gomangani, the black man. There +were many of them, and mixed with their scent was another -- +that of a she Tarmangani. + +Swinging through the trees Tarzan approached the authors +of these disturbing scents. He came warily from the flank, +but paying no attention to the wind, for he knew that man +with his dull senses could apprehend him only through his eyes +or ears and then only when comparatively close. Had he been +stalking Numa or Sheeta he would have circled about until his +quarry was upwind from him, thus taking practically all the +advantage up to the very moment that he came within sight +or hearing; but in the stalking of the dull clod, man, he ap- +proached with almost contemptuous indifference, so that all +the jungle about him knew that he was passing -- all but the +men he stalked. + +From the dense foliage of a great tree he watched them +pass -- a disreputable mob of blacks, some garbed in the uni- +form of German East African native troops, others wearing a +single garment of the same uniform, while many had reverted +to the simple dress of their forbears -- approximating nudity. +There were many black women with them, laughing and talk- +ing as they kept pace with the men, all of whom were armed +with German rifles and equipped with German belts and am- +munition. + +There were no white officers there, but it was none the less +apparent to Tarzan that these men were from some German +native command, and he guessed that they had slain their +officers and taken to the jungle with their women, or had stolen +some from native villages through which they must have +passed. It was evident that they were putting as much ground +between themselves and the coast as possible and doubtless +were seeking some impenetrable fastness of the vast interior +where they might inaugurate a reign of terror among the +primitively armed inhabitants and by raiding, looting, and +rape grow rich in goods and women at the expense of the +district upon which they settled themselves. + +Between two of the black women marched a slender white +girl. She was hatless and with torn and disheveled clothing +that had evidently once been a trim riding habit. Her coat +was gone and her waist half torn from her body. Occasionally +and without apparent provocation one or the other of the +Negresses struck or pushed her roughly. Tarzan watched +through half-closed eyes. His first impulse was to leap among +them and bear the girl from their cruel clutches. He had +recognized her immediately and it was because of this fact that +he hesitated. + +What was it to Tarzan of the Apes what fate befell this en- +emy spy? He had been unable to kill her himself because of +an inherent weakness that would not permit him to lay hands +upon a woman, all of which of course had no bearing upon +what others might do to her. That her fate would now be +infinitely more horrible than the quick and painless death that +the ape-man would have meted to her only interested Tarzan +to the extent that the more frightful the end of a German the +more in keeping it would be with what they all deserved. + +And so he let the blacks pass with Fraulein Bertha Kircher +in their midst, or at least until the last straggling warrior +sug- +gested to his mind the pleasures of blackbaiting -- an amuse- +ment and a sport in which he had grown ever more proficient +since that long-gone day when Kulonga, the son of Mbonga, +the chief, had cast his unfortunate spear at Kala, the ape-man's +foster mother. + +The last man, who must have stopped for some purpose, +was fully a quarter of a mile in rear of the party. He was +hurrying to catch up when Tarzan saw him, and as he passed +beneath the tree in which the ape-man perched above the trail, +a silent noose dropped deftly about his neck. The main body +still was in plain sight, and as the frightened man voiced a +piercing shriek of terror, they looked back to see his body rise +as though by magic straight into the air and disappear amidst +the leafy foliage above. + +For a moment the blacks stood paralyzed by astonishment +and fear; but presently the burly sergeant, Usanga, who led +them, started back along the trail at a run, calling to the +others +to follow him. Loading their guns as they came the blacks +ran to succor their fellow, and at Usanga's command they +spread into a thin line that presently entirely surrounded the +tree into which their comrade had vanished. + +Usanga called but received no reply; then he advanced +slowly with rifle at the ready, peering up into the tree. He +could see no one -- nothing. The circle closed in until fifty +blacks were searching among the branches with their keen +eyes. What had become of their fellow? They had seen him +rise into the tree and since then many eyes had been fastened +upon the spot, yet there was no sign of him. One, more ven- +turesome than his fellows, volunteered to climb into the tree +and investigate. He was gone but a minute or two and when +he dropped to earth again he swore that there was no sign of +a creature there. + +Perplexed, and by this time a bit awed, the blacks drew +slowly away from the spot and with many backward glances +and less laughing continued upon their journey until, when +about a mile beyond the spot at which their fellow had disap- +peared, those in the lead saw him peering from behind a tree +at one side of the trail just in front of them. With shouts to +their companions that he had been found they ran forwards; +but those who were first to reach the tree stopped suddenly +and shrank back, their eyes rolling fearfully first in one direc- +tion and then in another as though they expected some name- +less horror to leap out upon them. + +Nor was their terror without foundation. Impaled upon the +end of a broken branch the head of their companion was +propped behind the tree so that it appeared to be looking out +at them from the opposite side of the bole. + +It was then that many wished to turn back, arguing that they +had offended some demon of the wood upon whose preserve +they had trespassed; but Usanga refused to listen to them, +assuring them that inevitable torture and death awaited them +should they return and fall again into the hands of their cruel +German masters. At last his reasoning prevailed to the end +that a much-subdued and terrified band moved in a compact +mass, like a drove of sheep, forward through the valley and +there were no stragglers. + +It is a happy characteristic of the Negro race, which they +hold in common with little children, that their spirits seldom +remain depressed for a considerable length of time after the +immediate cause of depression is removed, and so it was that +in half an hour Usanga's band was again beginning to take +on to some extent its former appearance of carefree light- +heartedness. Thus were the heavy clouds of fear slowly dis- +sipating when a turn in the trail brought them suddenly upon +the headless body of their erstwhile companion lying directly +in their path, and they were again plunged into the depth of +fear and gloomy forebodings. + +So utterly inexplicable and uncanny had the entire occur- +rence been that there was not a one of them who could find +a ray of comfort penetrating the dead blackness of its ominous +portent. What had happened to one of their number each +conceived as being a wholly possible fate for himself -- in fact +quite his probable fate. If such a thing could happen in broad +daylight what frightful thing might not fall to their lot when +night had enshrouded them in her mantle of darkness. They +trembled in anticipation. + +The white girl in their midst was no less mystified than they; +but far less moved, since sudden death was the most merciful +fate to which she might now look forward. So far she had +been subjected to nothing worse than the petty cruelties of the +women, while, on the other hand, it had alone been the pres- +ence of the women that had saved her from worse treatment +at the hands of some of the men -- notably the brutal, black +sergeant, Usanga. His own woman was of the party -- a +veritable giantess, a virago of the first magnitude -- and she +was +evidently the only thing in the world of which Usanga stood +in awe. Even though she was particularly cruel to the young +woman, the latter believed that she was her sole protection +from the degraded black tyrant. + +Late in the afternoon the band came upon a small palisaded +village of thatched huts set in a clearing in the jungle close +beside a placid river. At their approach the villagers came +pouring out, and Usanga advanced with two of his warriors to +palaver with the chief. The experiences of the day had so +shaken the nerves of the black sergeant that he was ready to +treat with these people rather than take their village by force +of arms, as would ordinarily have been his preference; but now +a vague conviction influenced him that there watched over this +part of the jungle a powerful demon who wielded miraculous +power for evil against those who offended him. First Usanga +would learn how these villagers stood with this savage god +and if they had his good will Usanga would be most careful +to treat them with kindness and respect. + +At the palaver it developed that the village chief had food, +goats, and fowl which he would be glad to dispose of for +a proper consideration; but as the consideration would have +meant parting with precious rifles and ammunition, or the +very clothing from their backs, Usanga began to see that after +all it might be forced upon him to wage war to obtain food. + +A happy solution was arrived at by a suggestion of one of +his men -- that the soldiers go forth the following day and hunt +for the villagers, bringing them in so much fresh meat in re- +turn for their hospitality. This the chief agreed to, stipulating +the kind and quantity of game to be paid in return for flour, +goats, and fowl, and a certain number of huts that were to be +turned over to the visitors. The details having been settled +after an hour or more of that bickering argument of which the +native African is so fond, the newcomers entered the village +where they were assigned to huts. + +Bertha Kircher found herself alone in a small hut to the +palisade at the far end of the village street, and though she was +neither bound nor guarded, she was assured by Usanga +that she could not escape the village without running into almost +certain death in the jungle, which the villagers assured them +was infested by lions of great size and ferocity. "Be good to +Usanga," he concluded, "and no harm will befall you. I will +come again to see you after the others are asleep. Let us be +friends." + +As the brute left her the girl's frame was racked by a con- +vulsive shudder as she sank to the floor of the hut and cov- +ered her face with her hands. She realized now why the +women had not been left to guard her. It was the work of +the cunning Usanga, but would not his woman suspect some- +thing of his intentions? She was no fool and, further, being +imbued with insane jealousy she was ever looking for some +overt act upon the part of her ebon lord. Bertha Kircher felt +that only she might save her and that she would save her if +word could be but gotten to her. But how? + +Left alone and away from the eyes of her captors for the +first time since the previous night, the girl immediately took +advantage of the opportunity to assure herself that the papers +she had taken from the body of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider +were still safely sewn inside one of her undergarments. + +Alas! Of what value could they now ever be to her be- +loved country? But habit and loyalty were so strong within +her that she still clung to the determined hope of eventually +delivering the little packet to her chief. + +The natives seemed to have forgotten her existence -- no +one came near the hut, not even to bring her food. She could +hear them at the other end of the village laughing and yelling +and knew that they were celebrating with food and native +beer -- knowledge which only increased her apprehension. To +be prisoner in a native village in the very heart of an unex- +plored region of Central Africa -- the only white woman among +a band of drunken Negroes! The very thought appalled her. +Yet there was a slight promise in the fact that she had so far +been unmolested -- the promise that they might, indeed, have +forgotten her and that soon they might become so hopelessly +drunk as to be harmless. + +Darkness had fallen and still no one came. The girl won- +dered if she dared venture forth in search of Naratu, Usanga's +woman, for Usanga might not forget that he had promised to +return. No one was near as she stepped out of the hut and +made her way toward the part of the village where the revelers +were making merry about a fire. As she approached she +saw the villagers and their guests squatting in a large circle +about the blaze before which a half-dozen naked warriors +leaped and bent and stamped in some grotesque dance. Pots +of food and gourds of drink were being passed about among +the audience. Dirty hands were plunged into the food pots +and the captured portions devoured so greedily that one might +have thought the entire community had been upon the point +of starvation. The gourds they held to their lips until the +beer ran down their chins and the vessels were wrested from +them by greedy neighbors. The drink had now begun to +take noticeable effect upon most of them, with the result +that they were beginning to give themselves up to utter and +licentious abandon. + +As the girl came nearer, keeping in the shadow of the huts, +looking for Naratu she was suddenly discovered by one upon +the edge of the crowd -- a huge woman, who rose, shrieking, +and came toward her. From her aspect the white girl thought +that the woman meant literally to tear her to pieces. So ut- +terly wanton and uncalled-for was the attack that it found +the girl entirely unprepared, and what would have happened +had not a warrior interfered may only be guessed. And then +Usanga, noting the interruption, came lurching forward to +question her. + +"What do you want," he cried, "food and drink? Come +with me!" and he threw an arm about her and dragged her +toward the circle. + +"No!" she cried, "I want Naratu. Where is Naratu?" + +This seemed to sober the black for a moment as though he +had temporarily forgotten his better half. He cast quick, fear- +ful glances about, and then, evidently assured that Naratu +had noticed nothing, he ordered the warrior who was still +holding the infuriated black woman from the white girl to +take the latter back to her hut and to remain there on guard +over her. + +First appropriating a gourd of beer for himself the warrior +motioned the girl to precede him, and thus guarded she re- +turned to her hut, the fellow squatting down just outside the +doorway, where he confined his attentions for some time to +the gourd. + +Bertha Kircher sat down at the far side of the hut awaiting +she knew not what impending fate. She could not sleep so +filled was her mind with wild schemes of escape though each +new one must always be discarded as impractical. Half an +hour after the warrior had returned her to her prison he rose +and entered the hut, where he tried to engage in conversation +with her. Groping across the interior he leaned his short spear +against the wall and sat down beside her, and as he talked he +edged closer and closer until at last he could reach out and +touch her. Shrinking, she drew away. + +"Do not touch me!" she cried. "I will tell Usanga if you do +not leave me alone, and you know what he will do to you." + +The man only laughed drunkenly, and, reaching out his +hand, grabbed her arm and dragged her toward him. She +fought and cried aloud for Usanga and at the same instant the +entrance to the hut was darkened by the form of a man. + +"What is the matter?" shouted the newcomer in the deep +tones that the girl recognized as belonging to the black ser- +geant. He had come, but would she be any better off? She +knew that she would not unless she could play upon Usanga's +fear of his woman. + +When Usanga found what had happened he kicked the war- +rior out of the hut and bade him begone, and when the fel- +low had disappeared, muttering and grumbling, the sergeant +approached the white girl. He was very drunk, so drunk that +several times she succeeded in eluding him and twice she +pushed him so violently away that he stumbled and fell. + +Finally he became enraged and rushing upon her, seized her +in his long, apelike arms. Striking at his face with clenched +fists she tried to protect herself and drive him away. She +threatened him with the wrath of Naratu, and at that he +changed his tactics and began to plead, and as he argued with +her, promising her safety and eventual freedom, the warrior +he had kicked out of the hut made his staggering way to the +hut occupied by Naratu. + +Usanga finding that pleas and promises were as unavailing +as threats, at last lost both his patience and his head, seizing +the girl roughly, and simultaneously there burst into the hut +a raging demon of jealousy. Naratu had come. Kicking, +scratching, striking, biting, she routed the terrified Usanga in +short order, and so obsessed was she by her desire to inflict +punishment upon her unfaithful lord and master that she quite +forgot the object of his infatuation. + +Bertha Kircher heard her screaming down the village street +at Usanga's heels and trembled at the thought of what lay in +store for her at the hands of these two, for she knew that to- +morrow at the latest Naratu would take out upon her the full +measure of her jealous hatred after she had spent her first +wrath upon Usanga. + +The two had departed but a few minutes when the warrior +guard returned. He looked into the hut and then entered. +"No one will stop me now, white woman," he growled as he +stepped quickly across the hut toward her. + +Tarzan of the Apes, feasting well upon a juicy haunch from +Bara, the deer, was vaguely conscious of a troubled mind. +He should have been at peace with himself and all the world, +for was he not in his native element surrounded by game in +plenty and rapidly filling his belly with the flesh he loved +best? +But Tarzan of the Apes was haunted by the picture of a slight, +young girl being shoved and struck by brutal Negresses, and +in imagination could see her now camped in this savage coun- +try a prisoner among degraded blacks. + +Why was it so difficult to remember that she was only a +hated German and a spy? Why would the fact that she was a +woman and white always obtrude itself upon his conscious- +ness? He hated her as he hated all her kind, and the fate that +was sure to be hers was no more terrible than she in common +with all her people deserved. The matter was settled and Tar- +zan composed himself to think of other things, yet the picture +would not die -- it rose in all its details and annoyed him. He +began to wonder what they were doing to her and where they +were taking her. He was very much ashamed of himself as he +had been after the episode in Wilhelmstal when his weakness +had permitted him to spare this spy's life. Was he to be thus +weak again? No! + +Night came and he settled himself in an ample tree to rest +until morning; but sleep would not come. Instead came the +vision of a white girl being beaten by black women, and again +of the same girl at the mercy of the warriors somewhere in +that dark and forbidding jungle. + +With a growl of anger and self-contempt Tarzan arose, +shook himself, and swung from his tree to that adjoining, and +thus, through the lower terraces, he followed the trail that +Usanga's party had taken earlier in the afternoon. He had +little difficulty as the band had followed a well-beaten path +and when toward midnight the stench of a native village as- +sailed his delicate nostrils he guessed that his goal was near +and that presently he should find her whom he sought. + +Prowling stealthily as prowls Numa, the lion, stalking a +wary prey, Tarzan moved noiselessly about the palisade, lis- +tening and sniffing. At the rear of the village he discovered a +tree whose branches extended over the top of the palisade and +a moment later he had dropped quietly into the village. + +From hut to hut he went searching with keen ears and +nostrils some confirming evidence of the presence of the girl, +and at last, faint and almost obliterated by the odor of the +Gomangani, he found it hanging like a delicate vapor about a +small hut. The village was quiet now, for the last of the beer +and the food had been disposed of and the blacks lay in their +huts overcome by stupor, yet Tarzan made no noise that even +a sober man keenly alert might have heard. + +He passed around to the entrance of the hut and listened. +From within came no sound, not even the low breathing of +one awake; yet he was sure that the girl had been here and +perhaps was even now, and so he entered, slipping in as +silently as a disembodied spirit. For a moment he stood mo- +tionless just within the entranceway, listening. No, there was +no one here, of that he was sure, but he would investigate. +As his eyes became accustomed to the greater darkness within +the hut an object began to take form that presently outlined +itself in a human form supine upon the floor. + +Tarzan stepped closer and leaned over to examine it -- it +was the dead body of a naked warrior from whose chest pro- +truded a short spear. Then he searched carefully every square +foot of the remaining floor space and at last returned to the +body again where he stooped and smelled of the haft of the +weapon that had slain the black. A slow smile touched his +lips -- that and a slight movement of his head betokened that +he understood. + +A rapid search of the balance of the village assured him that +the girl had escaped and a feeling of relief came over him +that no harm had befallen her. That her life was equally in +jeopardy in the savage jungle to which she must have flown +did not impress him as it would have you or me, since to +Tarzan the jungle was not a dangerous place -- he considered +one safer there than in Paris or London by night. + +He had entered the trees again and was outside the palisade +when there came faintly to his ears from far beyond the vil- +lage an old, familiar sound. Balancing lightly upon a swaying +branch he stood, a graceful statue of a forest god, listening +intently. For a minute he stood thus and then there broke +from his lips the long, weird cry of ape calling to ape and he +was away through the jungle toward the sound of the boom- +ing drum of the anthropoids leaving behind him an awakened +and terrified village of cringing blacks, who would forever +after connect that eerie cry with the disappearance of their +white prisoner and the death of their fellow-warrior. + +Bertha Kircher, hurrying through the jungle along a well- +beaten game trail, thought only of putting as much distance as +possible between herself and the village before daylight could +permit pursuit of her. Whither she was going she did not +know, nor was it a matter of great moment since death must +be her lot sooner or later. + +Fortune favored her that night, for she passed unscathed +through as savage and lion-ridden an area as there is in all +Africa -- a natural hunting ground which the white man has +not yet discovered, where deer and antelope and zebra, giraffe +and elephant, buffalo, rhinoceros, and the other herbivorous +animals of central Africa abound unmolested by none but their +natural enemies, the great cats which, lured here by easy prey +and immunity from the rifles of big-game hunters, swarm the +district. + +She had fled for an hour or two, perhaps, when her attention +was arrested by the sound of animals moving about, muttering +and growling close ahead. Assured that she had covered a +sufficient distance to insure her a good start in the morning +before the blacks could take to her trail, and fearful of what +the creatures might be, she climbed into a large tree with the +intention of spending the balance of the night there. + +She had no sooner reached a safe and comfortable branch +when she discovered that the tree stood upon the edge of a +small clearing that had been hidden from her by the heavy +undergrowth upon the ground below, and simultaneously she +discovered the identity of the beasts she had heard. + +In the center of the clearing below her, clearly visible in +the bright moonlight, she saw fully twenty huge, manlike apes +-- great, shaggy fellows who went upon their hind feet with +only slight assistance from the knuckles of their hands. The +moonlight glanced from their glossy coats, the numerous gray- +tipped hairs imparting a sheen that made the hideous creatures +almost magnificent in their appearance. + +The girl had watched them but a minute or two when the +little band was joined by others, coming singly and in groups +until there were fully fifty of the great brutes gathered there +in the moonlight. Among them were young apes and several +little ones clinging tightly to their mothers' shaggy shoulders. +Presently the group parted to form a circle about what ap- +peared to be a small, flat-topped mound of earth in the center +of the clearing. Squatting close about this mound were three +old females armed with short, heavy clubs with which they +presently began to pound upon the flat top of the earth mound +which gave forth a dull, booming sound, and almost imme- +diately the other apes commenced to move about restlessly, +weaving in and out aimlessly until they carried the impression +of a moving mass of great, black maggots. + +The beating of the drum was in a slow, ponderous cadence, +at first without time but presently settling into a heavy rhythm +to which the apes kept time with measured tread and sway- +ing bodies. Slowly the mass separated into two rings, the +outer of which was composed of shes and the very young, the +inner of mature bulls. The former ceased to move and +squatted upon their haunches, while the bulls now moved +slowly about in a circle the center of which was the drum and +all now in the same direction. + +It was then that there came faintly to the ears of the girl +from the direction of the village she had recently quitted a +weird and high-pitched cry. The effect upon the apes was +electrical -- they stopped their movements and stood in atti- +tudes of intent listening for a moment, and then one fellow, +huger than his companions, raised his face to the heavens and +in a voice that sent the cold shudders through the girl's slight +frame answered the far-off cry. + +Once again the beaters took up their drumming and the slow +dance went on. There was a certain fascination in the savage +ceremony that held the girl spellbound, and as there seemed +little likelihood of her being discovered, she felt that she +might +as well remain the balance of the night in her tree and r‚sum‚ +her flight by the comparatively greater safety of daylight. + +Assuring herself that her packet of papers was safe she +sought as comfortable a position as possible among the +branches, and settled herself to watch the weird proceedings +in the clearing below her. + +A half-hour passed, during which the cadence of the drum +increased gradually. Now the great bull that had replied to +the distant call leaped from the inner circle to dance alone +between the drummers and the other bulls. He leaped and +crouched and leaped again, now growling and barking, again +stopping to raise his hideous face to Goro, the moon, and, +beating upon his shaggy breast, uttered a piercing scream -- +the challenge of the bull ape, had the girl but known it. + +He stood thus in the full glare of the great moon, motionless +after screaming forth his weird challenge, in the setting of the +primeval jungle and the circling apes a picture of primitive +savagery and power -- a mightily muscled Hercules out of the +dawn of life -- when from close behind her the girl heard an +answering scream, and an instant later saw an almost naked +white man drop from a near-by tree into the clearing. + +Instantly the apes became a roaring, snarling pack of angry +beasts. Bertha Kircher held her breath. What maniac was +this who dared approach these frightful creatures in their +own haunts, alone against fifty? She saw the brown-skinned +figure bathed in moonlight walk straight toward the snarling +pack. She saw the symmetry and the beauty of that perfect +body -- its grace, its strength, its wondrous proportioning, and +then she recognized him. It was the same creature whom she +had seen carry Major Schneider from General Kraut's head- +quarters, the same who had rescued her from Numa, the lion; +the same whom she had struck down with the butt of her +pistol and escaped when he would have returned her to her +enemies, the same who had slain Hauptmann Fritz Schneider +and spared her life that night in Wilhelmstal. + +Fear-filled and fascinated she watched him as he neared +the apes. She heard sounds issue from his throat -- sounds +identical with those uttered by the apes -- and though she +could scarce believe the testimony of her own ears, she knew +that this godlike creature was conversing with the brutes in +their own tongue. + +Tarzan halted just before he reached the shes of the outer +circle. "I am Tarzan of the Apes!" he cried. "You do not +know me because I am of another tribe, but Tarzan comes in +peace or he comes to fight -- which shall it be? Tarzan will +talk with your king," and so saying he pushed straight forward +through the shes and the young who now gave way before +him, making a narrow lane through which he passed toward +the inner circle. + +Shes and balus growled and bristled as he passed closer, +but none hindered him and thus he came to the inner circle of +bulls. Here bared fangs menaced him and growling faces +hideously contorted. "I am Tarzan," he repeated. "Tarzan +comes to dance the Dum-Dum with his brothers. Where is +your king?" Again he pressed forward and the girl in the tree +clapped her palms to her cheeks as she watched, wide-eyed, +this madman going to a frightful death. In another instant +they would be upon him, rending and tearing until that perfect +form had been ripped to shreds; but again the ring parted, +and though the apes roared and menaced him they did not +attack, and at last he stood in the inner circle close to the +drum +and faced the great king ape. + +Again he spoke. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he cried. +"Tarzan comes to live with his brothers. He will come in +peace and live in peace or he will kill; but he has come and +he will stay. Which -- shall Tarzan dance the Dum-Dum in +peace with his brothers, or shall Tarzan kill first?" + +"I am Go-lat, King of the Apes," screamed the great bull. +"I kill! I kill! I kill!" and with a sullen roar he charged the +Tarmangani. + +The ape-man, as the girl watched him, seemed entirely +unprepared for the charge and she looked to see him borne +down and slain at the first rush. The great bull was almost +upon him with huge hands outstretched to seize him before +Tarzan made a move, but when he did move his quickness +would have put Ara, the lightning, to shame. As darts for- +ward the head of Histah, the snake, so darted forward the +left hand of the man-beast as he seized the left wrist of his +antagonist. A quick turn and the bull's right arm was locked +beneath the right arm of his foe in a jujutsu hold that Tarzan +had learned among civilized men -- a hold with which he +might easily break the great bones, a hold that left the ape +helpless. + +"I am Tarzan of the Apes!" screamed the ape-man. "Shall +Tarzan dance in peace or shall Tarzan kill?'' + +"I kill! I kill! I kill!" shrieked Go-lat. + +With the quickness of a cat Tarzan swung the king ape +over one hip and sent him sprawling to the ground. "I am +Tarzan, King of all the Apes!" he shouted. "Shall it be peace?" + +Go-lat, infuriated, leaped to his feet and charged again, +shouting his war cry: "I kill! I kill! I kill!" and again Tarzan +met him with a sudden hold that the stupid bull, being ig- +norant of, could not possibly avert -- a hold and a throw that +brought a scream of delight from the interested audience and +suddenly filled the girl with doubts as to the man's madness +-- evidently he was quite safe among the apes, for she saw +him swing Go-lat to his back and then catapult him over his +shoulder. The king ape fell upon his head and lay very still. + +"I am Tarzan of the Apes!" cried the ape-man. "I come to +dance the Dum-Dum with my brothers," and he made a mo- +tion to the drummers, who immediately took up the cadence +of the dance where they had dropped it to watch their king +slay the foolish Tarmangani. + +It was then that Go-lat raised his head and slowly crawled +to his feet. Tarzan approached him. "I am Tarzan of the +Apes," he cried. "Shall Tarzan dance the Dum-Dum with his +brothers now, or shall he kill first?" + +Go-lat raised his bloodshot eyes to the face of the Tar- +mangani. "Kagoda!" he cried "Tarzan of the Apes will dance +the Dum-Dum with his brothers and Go-lat will dance with him!" + +And then the girl in the tree saw the savage man leaping, +bending, and stamping with the savage apes in the ancient +rite of the Dum-Dum. His roars and growls were more +beastly than the beasts. His handsome face was distorted +with savage ferocity. He beat upon his great breast and +screamed forth his challenge as his smooth, brown hide +brushed the shaggy coats of his fellows. It was weird; it was +wonderful; and in its primitive savagery it was not without +beauty -- the strange scene she looked upon, such a scene as +no other human being, probably, ever had witnessed -- and +yet, withal, it was horrible. + +As she gazed, spell-bound, a stealthy movement in the tree +behind her caused her to turn her head, and there, back of +her, blazing in the reflected moonlight, shone two great, yellow- +green eyes. Sheeta, the panther, had found her out. + +The beast was so close that it might have reached out and +touched her with a great, taloned paw. There was no time to +think, no time to weigh chances or to choose alternatives. +Terror-inspired impulse was her guide as, with a loud scream, +she leaped from the tree into the clearing. + +Instantly the apes, now maddened by the effects of the +dancing and the moonlight, turned to note the cause of the +interruption. They saw this she Tarmangani, helpless and +alone and they started for her. Sheeta, the panther, knowing +that not even Numa, the lion, unless maddened by starvation, +dares meddle with the great apes at their Dum-Dum, had +silently vanished into the night, seeking his supper elsewhere. + +Tarzan, turning with the other apes toward the cause of the +interruption, saw the girl, recognized her and also her peril. +Here again might she die at the hands of others; but why con- +sider it! He knew that he could not permit it, and though the +acknowledgment shamed him, it had to be admitted. + +The leading shes were almost upon the girl when Tarzan +leaped among them, and with heavy blows scattered them to +right and left; and then as the bulls came to share in the kill +they thought this new ape-thing was about to make that he +might steal all the flesh for himself, they found him facing +them with an arm thrown about the creature as though to +protect her. + +"This is Tarzan's she," he said. "Do not harm her." It was +the only way he could make them understand that they must +not slay her. He was glad that she could not interpret the +words. It was humiliating enough to make such a statement +to wild apes about this hated enemy. + +So once again Tarzan of the Apes was forced to protect a +Hun. Growling, he muttered to himself in extenuation: + +"She is a woman and I am not a German, so it could not be +otherwise!" + + + + +Dropped from the Sky + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, Royal Air +Service, was on reconnaissance. A report, or it would be +better to say a rumor, had come to the British headquar- +ters in German East Africa that the enemy had landed in +force on the west coast and was marching across the dark +continent to reinforce their colonial troops. In fact the new +army was supposed to be no more than ten or twelve days' +march to the west. Of course the thing was ridiculous -- pre- +posterous -- but preposterous things often happen in war; and +anyway no good general permits the least rumor of enemy +activity to go uninvestigated. + +Therefore Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick flew low +toward the west, searching with keen eyes for signs of a Hun +army. Vast forests unrolled beneath him in which a German +army corps might have lain concealed, so dense was the +overhanging foliage of the great trees. Mountain, meadow- +land, and desert passed in lovely panorama; but never a sight +of man had the young lieutenant. + +Always hoping that he might discover some sign of their +passage -- a discarded lorry, a broken limber, or an old camp +site -- he continued farther and farther into the west until well +into the afternoon. Above a tree-dotted plain through the +center of which flowed a winding river he determined to turn +about and start for camp. It would take straight flying at top +speed to cover the distance before dark; but as he had ample +gasoline and a trustworthy machine there was no doubt in his +mind but that he could accomplish his aim. It was then that +his engine stalled. + +He was too low to do anything but land, and that immedi- +ately, while he had the more open country accessible, for +directly east of him was a vast forest into which a stalled +engine could only have plunged him to certain injury and +probable death; and so he came down in the meadowland +near the winding river and there started to tinker with his +motor. + +As he worked he hummed a tune, some music-hall air that +had been popular in London the year before, so that one might +have thought him working in the security of an English flying +field surrounded by innumerable comrades rather than alone +in the heart of an unexplored African wilderness. It was +typical of the man that he should be wholly indifferent to his +surroundings, although his looks entirely belied any assump- +tion that he was of particularly heroic strain. + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick was fair-hatred, +blue-eyed, and slender, with a rosy, boyish face that might +have been molded more by an environment of luxury, indo- +lence, and ease than the more strenuous exigencies of life's +sterner requirements. + +And not only was the young lieutenant outwardly careless +of the immediate future and of his surroundings, but actually +so. That the district might be infested by countless enemies +seemed not to have occurred to him in the remotest degree. +He bent assiduously to the work of correcting the adjustment +that had caused his motor to stall without so much as an up- +ward glance at the surrounding country. The forest to the +east of him, and the more distant jungle that bordered the +winding river, might have harbored an army of bloodthirsty +savages, but neither could elicit even a passing show of inter- +est on the part of Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick + +And even had he looked, it is doubtful if he would have +seen the score of figures crouching in the concealment of the +undergrowth at the forest's edge. There are those who are +reputed to be endowed with that which is sometimes, for want +of a better appellation, known as the sixth sense -- a species of +intuition which apprises them of the presence of an unseen +danger. The concentrated gaze of a hidden observer provokes +a warning sensation of nervous unrest in such as these, but +though twenty pairs of savage eyes were gazing fixedly at +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, the fact aroused no +responsive sensation of impending danger in his placid breast. +He hummed peacefully and, his adjustment completed, tried +out his motor for a minute or two, then shut it off and de- +scended to the ground with the intention of stretching his legs +and taking a smoke before continuing his return flight to +camp. Now for the first time he took note of his surroundings, +to be immediately impressed by both the wildness and the +beauty of the scene. In some respects the tree-dotted meadow- +land reminded him of a parklike English forest, and that +wild beasts and savage men could ever be a part of so quiet +a scene seemed the remotest of contingencies. + +Some gorgeous blooms upon a flowering shrub at a little +distance from his machine caught the attention of his aesthetic +eye, and as he puffed upon his cigarette, he walked over to +examine the flowers more closely. As he bent above them he +was probably some hundred yards from his plane and it was +at this instant that Numabo, chief of the Wamabo, chose to +leap from his ambush and lead his warriors in a sudden rush +upon the white man. + +The young Englishman's first intimation of danger was a +chorus of savage yells from the forest behind him. Turning, +he saw a score of naked, black warriors advancing rapidly +toward him. They moved in a compact mass and as they +approached more closely their rate of speed noticeably di- +minished. Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick realized in a quick glance +that the direction of their approach and their proximity had +cut off all chances of retreating to his plane, and he also +understood that their attitude was entirely warlike and menac- +ing. He saw that they were armed with spears and with bows +and arrows, and he felt quite confident that notwithstanding +the fact that he was armed with a pistol they could overcome +him with the first rush. What he did not know about their +tactics was that at any show of resistance they would fall +back, which is the nature of the native Negroes, but that after +numerous advances and retreats, during which they would +work themselves into a frenzy of rage by much shrieking, +leaping, and dancing, they would eventually come to the point +of a determined and final assault. + +Numabo was in the forefront, a fact which taken in con- +nection with his considerably greater size and more warlike +appearance, indicated him as the natural target and it was at +Numabo that the Englishman aimed his first shot. Unfortu- +nately for him it missed its target, as the killing of the chief +might have permanently dispersed the others. The bullet +passed Numabo to lodge in the breast of a warrior behind him +and as the fellow lunged forward with a scream the others +turned and retreated, but to the lieutenant's chagrin they ran +in the direction of the plane instead of back toward the forest +so that he was still cut off from reaching his machine. + +Presently they stopped and faced him again. They were +talking loudly and gesticulating, and after a moment one of +them leaped into the air, brandishing his spear and uttering +savage war cries, which soon had their effect upon his fellows +so that it was not long ere all of them were taking part in the +wild show of savagery, which would bolster their waning +courage and presently spur them on to another attack. + +The second charge brought them closer to the Englishman, +and though he dropped another with his pistol, it was not +before two or three spears had been launched at him. He +now had five shots remaining and there were still eighteen +warriors to be accounted for, so that unless he could frighten +them off, it was evident that his fate was sealed. + +That they must pay the price of one life for every attempt +to take his had its effect upon them and they were longer now +in initiating a new rush and when they did so it was more +skilfully ordered than those that had preceded it, for they +scattered into three bands which, partially surrounding him, +came simultaneously toward him from different directions, +and though he emptied his pistol with good effect, they +reached him at last. They seemed to know that his ammuni- +tion was exhausted, for they circled close about him now with +the evident intention of taking him alive, since they might +easily have riddled him with their sharp spears with perfect +safety to themselves. + +For two or three minutes they circled about him until, at a +word from Numabo, they closed in simultaneously, and though +the slender young lieutenant struck out to right and left, he +was soon overwhelmed by superior numbers and beaten down +by the hafts of spears in brawny hands. + +He was all but unconscious when they finally dragged him +to his feet, and after securing his hands behind his back, +pushed him roughly along ahead of them toward the jungle. + +As the guard prodded him along the narrow trail, Lieuten- +ant Smith-Oldwick could not but wonder why they had +wished to take him alive. He knew that he was too far inland +for his uniform to have any significance to this native tribe to +whom no inkling of the World War probably ever had come, +and he could only assume that he had fallen into the hands +of the warriors of some savage potentate upon whose royal +caprice his fate would hinge. + +They had marched for perhaps half an hour when the +Englishman saw ahead of them, in a little clearing upon the +bank of the river, the thatched roofs of native huts showing +above a crude but strong palisade; and presently he was +ushered into a village street where he was immediately sur- +rounded by a throng of women and children and warriors. +Here he was soon the center of an excited mob whose intent +seemed to be to dispatch him as quickly as possible. The +women were more venomous than the men, striking and +scratching him whenever they could reach him, until at last +Numabo, the chief, was obliged to interfere to save his pris- +oner for whatever purpose he was destined. + +As the warriors pushed the crowd back, opening a space +through which the white man was led toward a hut, Lieu- +tenant Smith-Oldwick saw coming from the opposite end of +the village a number of Negroes wearing odds and ends of +German uniforms. He was not a little surprised at this, and +his first thought was that he had at last come in contact with +some portion of the army which was rumored to be crossing +from the west coast and for signs of which he had been search- +ing. + +A rueful smile touched his lips as he contemplated the +unhappy circumstances which surrounded the accession of +this knowledge for though he was far from being without +hope, he realized that only by the merest chance could he +escape these people and regain his machine. + +Among the partially uniformed blacks was a huge fellow +in the tunic of a sergeant and as this man's eyes fell upon the +British officer, a loud cry of exultation broke from his lips, +and immediately his followers took up the cry and pressed +forward to bait the prisoner. + +"Where did you get the Englishman?" asked Usanga, the +black sergeant, of the chief Numabo. "Are there many more +with him?" + +"He came down from the sky," replied the native chief +"in a strange thing which flies like a bird and which frightened +us very much at first; but we watched for a long time and +saw that it did not seem to be alive, and when this white man +left it we attacked him and though he killed some of my +warriors, we took him, for we Wamabos are brave men and +great warriors." + +Usanga's eyes went wide. "He flew here through the sky?" +he asked. + +"Yes," said Numabo. "In a great thing which resembled a +bird he flew down out of the sky. The thing is still there +where it came down close to the four trees near the second +bend in the river. We left it there because, not knowing what +it was, we were afraid to touch it and it is still there if it +has +not flown away again." + +"It cannot fly," said Usanga, "without this man in it. It is a +terrible thing which filled the hearts of our soldiers with ter- +ror, for it flew over our camps at night and dropped bombs +upon us. It is well that you captured this white man, Numabo, +for with his great bird he would have flown over your village +tonight and killed all your people. These Englishman are +very wicked white men." + +"He will fly no more," said Numabo "It is not intended +that a man should fly through the air; only wicked demons do +such things as that and Numabo, the chief, will see that this +white man does not do it again," and with the words he pushed +the young officer roughly toward a hut in the center of the +village, where he was left under guard of two stalwart warriors. + +For an hour or more the prisoner was left to his own devices, +which consisted in vain and unremitting attempts to loosen +the strands which fettered his wrists, and then he was inter- +rupted by the appearance of the black sergeant Usanga, who +entered his hut and approached him. + +"What are they going to do with me?" asked the English- +man. "My country is not at war with these people. You +speak their language. Tell them that I am not an enemy, that +my people are the friends of the black people and that they +must let me go in peace." + +Usanga laughed. "They do not know an Englishman from +a German," he replied. "It is nothing to them what you are, +except that you are a white man and an enemy." + +"Then why did they take me alive?" asked the lieutenant. + +"Come," said Usanga and he led the Englishman to the +doorway of the hut. "Look," he said, and pointed a black +forefinger toward the end of the village street where a wider +space between the huts left a sort of plaza. + +Here Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick saw a num- +ber of Negresses engaged in laying fagots around a stake and +in preparing fires beneath a number of large cooking vessels. +The sinister suggestion was only too obvious. + +Usanga was eyeing the white man closely, but if he expected +to be rewarded by any signs of fear, he was doomed to dis- +appointment and the young lieutenant merely turned toward +him with a shrug: "Really now, do you beggars intend eating +me?" + +"Not my people," replied Usanga. "We do not eat human +flesh, but the Wamabos do. It is they who will eat you, but +we will kill you for the feast, Englishman." + +The Englishman remained standing in the doorway of the +hut, an interested spectator of the preparations for the coming +orgy that was so horribly to terminate his earthly existence. It +can hardly be assumed that he felt no fear; yet, if he did, he +hid it perfectly beneath an imperturbable mask of coolness. +Even the brutal Usanga must have been impressed by the +bravery of his victim since, though he had come to abuse and +possibly to torture the helpless prisoner, he now did neither, +contenting himself merely with berating whites as a race and +Englishmen especially, because of the terror the British avia- +tors had caused Germany's native troops in East Africa. + +"No more," he concluded, "will your great bird fly over our +people dropping death among them from the skies -- Usanga +will see to that," and he walked abruptly away toward a group +of his own fighting men who were congregated near the stake +where they were laughing and joking with the women. + +A few minutes later the Englishman saw them pass out of +the village gate, and once again his thoughts reverted to various +futile plans for escape. + +Several miles north of the village on a little rise of ground +close to the river where the jungle, halting at the base of a +knoll, had left a few acres of grassy land sparsely wooded, a +man and a girl were busily engaged in constructing a small +boma, in the center of which a thatched hut already had been +erected. + +They worked almost in silence with only an occasional word +of direction or interrogation between them. + +Except for a loin cloth, the man was naked, his smooth skin +tanned to a deep brown by the action of sun and wind. He +moved with the graceful ease of a jungle cat and when he +lifted heavy weights, the action seemed as effortless as the +raising of empty hands. + +When he was not looking at her, and it was seldom that he +did, the girl found her eyes wandering toward him, and at such +times there was always a puzzled expression upon her face as +though she found in him an enigma which she could not solve. +As a matter of fact, her feelings toward him were not un- +tinged with awe, since in the brief period of their association +she had discovered in this handsome, godlike giant the attri- +butes of the superman and the savage beast closely intermin- +gled. At first she had felt only that unreasoning feminine terror +which her unhappy position naturally induced. + +To be alone in the heart of an unexplored wilderness of +Central Africa with a savage wild man was in itself sufficiently +appalling, but to feel also that this man was a blood enemy, +that he hated her and her kind and that in addition thereto he +owed her a personal grudge for an attack she had made upon +him in the past, left no loophole for any hope that he might +accord her even the minutest measure of consideration. + +She had seen him first months since when he had entered +the headquarters of the German high command in East Africa +and carried off the luckless Major Schneider, of whose fate +no hint had ever reached the German officers; and she had +seen him again upon that occasion when he had rescued her +from the clutches of the lion and, after explaining to her that +he had recognized her in the British camp, had made her +prisoner. It was then that she had struck him down with the +butt of her pistol and escaped. That he might seek no personal +revenge for her act had been evidenced in Wilhelmstal the +night that he had killed Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and left +without molesting her. + +No, she could not fathom him. He hated her and at the +same time he had protected her as had been evidenced again +when he had kept the great apes from tearing her to pieces +after she had escaped from the Wamabo village to which +Usanga, the black sergeant, had brought her a captive; but +why was he saving her? For what sinister purpose could this +savage enemy be protecting her from the other denizens of his +cruel jungle? She tried to put from her mind the probable +fate which awaited her, yet it persisted in obtruding itself +upon her thoughts, though always she was forced to admit +that there was nothing in the demeanor of the man to indicate +that her fears were well grounded. She judged him perhaps +by the standards other men had taught her and because she +looked upon him as a savage creature, she felt that she could +not expect more of chivalry from him than was to be found in +the breasts of the civilized men of her acquaintance. + +Fraulein Bertha Kircher was by nature a companionable +and cheerful character. She was not given to morbid fore- +bodings, and above all things she craved the society of her +kind and that interchange of thought which is one of the +marked distinctions between man and the lower animals. +Tarzan, on the other hand, was sufficient unto himself. Long +years of semi-solitude among creatures whose powers of oral +expression are extremely limited had thrown him almost en- +tirely upon his own resources for entertainment. + +His active mind was never idle, but because his jungle +mates could neither follow nor grasp the vivid train of imag- +inings that his man-mind wrought, he had long since learned +to keep them to himself; and so now he found no need for +confiding them in others. This fact, linked with that of his +dislike for the girl, was sufficient to seal his lips for other +than +necessary conversation, and so they worked on together in +comparative silence. Bertha Kircher, however, was nothing if +not feminine and she soon found that having someone to talk +to who would not talk was extremely irksome. Her fear of +the man was gradually departing, and she was full of a thou- +sand unsatisfied curiosities as to his plans for the future in so +far as they related to her, as well as more personal questions +regarding himself, since she could not but wonder as to his +antecedents and his strange and solitary life in the jungle, as +well as his friendly intercourse with the savage apes among +which she had found him. + +With the waning of her fears she became sufficiently em- +boldened to question him, and so she asked him what he in- +tended doing after the hut and boma were completed. + +"I am going to the west coast where I was born," replied +Tarzan. "I do not know when. I have all my life before me +and in the jungle there is no reason for haste. We are not +forever running as fast as we can from one place to another +as are you of the outer world. When I have been here long +enough I will go on toward the west, but first I must see that +you have a safe place in which to sleep, and that you have +learned how to provide yourself with necessaries. That will +take time." + +"You are going to leave me here alone?" cried the girl; her +tones marked the fear which the prospect induced. "You are +going to leave me here alone in this terrible jungle, a prey +to wild beasts and savage men, hundreds of miles from a +white settlement and in a country which gives every evidence +of never having been touched by the foot of civilized men?" + +"Why not?" asked Tarzan. "I did not bring you here. Would +one of your men accord any better treatment to an enemy +woman?" + +"Yes," she exclaimed. "They certainly would. No man of my +race would leave a defenseless white woman alone in this hor- +rible place." + +Tarzan shrugged his broad shoulders. The conversation +seemed profitless and it was further distasteful to him for the +reason that it was carried on in German, a tongue which he +detested as much as he did the people who spoke it. He wished +that the girl spoke English and then it occurred to him that as +he had seen her in disguise in the British camp carrying on her +nefarious work as a German spy, she probably did speak Eng- +lish and so he asked her. + +"Of course I speak English," she exclaimed, "but I did not +know that you did." + +Tarzan looked his wonderment but made no comment. He +only wondered why the girl should have any doubts as to the +ability of an Englishman to speak English, and then suddenly +it occurred to him that she probably looked upon him merely +as a beast of the jungle who by accident had learned to speak +German through frequenting the district which Germany had +colonized. It was there only that she had seen him and so +she might not know that he was an Englishman by birth, +and that he had had a home in British East Africa. It was as +well, he thought, that she knew little of him, as the less she +knew the more he might learn from her as to her activities +in behalf of the Germans and of the German spy system of +which she was a representative; and so it occurred to him to +let her continue to think that he was only what he appeared +to be -- a savage denizen of his savage jungle, a man of no +race and no country, hating all white men impartially; and +this in truth, was what she did think of him. It explained per- +fectly his attacks upon Major Schneider and the Major's +brother, Hauptmann Fritz. + +Again they worked on in silence upon the boma which was +now nearly completed, the girl helping the man to the best +of her small ability. Tarzan could not but note with grudging +approval the spirit of helpfulness she manifested in the oft- +times painful labor of gathering and arranging the thorn +bushes which constituted the temporary protection against +roaming carnivores. Her hands and arms gave bloody token +of the sharpness of the numerous points that had lacerated her +soft flesh, and even though she were an enemy Tarzan could +not but feel compunction that he had permitted her to do +this work, and at last he bade her stop. + +"Why?" she asked. "It is no more painful to me than it must +be to you, and, as it is solely for my protection that you are +building this boma, there is no reason why I should not do my +share." + +"You are a woman," replied Tarzan. "This is not a wom- +an's work. If you wish to do something, take those gourds +I brought this morning and fill them with water at the river. +You may need it while I am away." + +"While you are away --" she said. "You are going away?" + +"When the boma is built I am going out after meat," he +replied. "Tomorrow I will go again and take you and show +you how you may make your own kills after I am gone." + +Without a word she took the gourds and walked toward +the river. As she filled them, her mind was occupied with +painful forebodings of the future. She knew that Tarzan had +passed a death sentence upon her, and that the moment that +he left her, her doom was sealed, for it could be but a question +of time -- a very short time -- before the grim jungle would +claim her, for how could a lone woman hope successfully to +combat the savage forces of destruction which constituted so +large a part of existence in the jungle? + +So occupied was she with the gloomy prophecies that she +had neither ears nor eyes for what went on about her. Me- +chanically she filled the gourds and, taking them up, turned +slowly to retrace her steps to the boma only to voice im- +mediately a half-stifled scream and shrank back from the +menacing figure looming before her and blocking her way to +the hut. + +Go-lat, the king ape, hunting a little apart from his tribe, +had seen the woman go to the river for water, and it was he +who confronted her when she turned back with her filled +gourds. Go-lat was not a pretty creature when judged by +standards of civilized humanity, though the shes of his tribe +and even Go-lat himself, considered his glossy black coat shot +with silver, his huge arms dangling to his knees, his bullet +head sunk between his mighty shoulders, marks of great per- +sonal beauty. His wicked, bloodshot eyes and broad nose, his +ample mouth and great fighting fangs only enhanced the claim +of this Adonis of the forest upon the affections of his shes. + +Doubtless in the little, savage brain there was a well-formed +conviction that this strange she belonging to the Tarmangani +must look with admiration upon so handsome a creature as +Go-lat, for there could be no doubt in the mind of any that +his beauty entirely eclipsed such as the hairless white ape +might lay claim to. + +But Bertha Kircher saw only a hideous beast, a fierce and +terrible caricature of man. Could Go-lat have known what +passed through her mind, he must have been terribly cha- +grined, though the chances are that he would have attributed +it to a lack of discernment on her part. Tarzan heard the +girl's cry and looking up saw at a glance the cause of her +terror. Leaping lightly over the boma, he ran swiftly toward +her as Go-lat lumbered closer to the girl the while he voiced +his emotions in low gutturals which, while in reality the most +amicable of advances, sounded to the girl like the growling of +an enraged beast. As Tarzan drew nearer he called aloud to +the ape and the girl heard from the human lips the same +sounds that had fallen from those of the anthropoid. + +"I will not harm your she," Go-lat called to Tarzan. + +"I know it," replied the ape-man, "but she does not. She is +like Numa and Sheeta, who do not understand our talk. She +thinks you come to harm her." + +By this time Tarzan was beside the girl. "He will not harm +you," he said to her. "You need not be afraid. This ape has +learned his lesson. He has learned that Tarzan is lord of +the jungle. He will not harm that which is Tarzan's." + +The girl cast a quick glance at the man's face. It was evi- +dent to her that the words he had spoken meant nothing to +him and that the assumed proprietorship over her was, like +the boma, only another means for her protection. + +"But I am afraid of him," she said. + +"You must not show your fear. You will be often sur- +rounded by these apes. At such times you will be safest. Be- +fore I leave you I will give you the means of protecting your- +self against them should one of them chance to turn upon +you. If I were you I would seek their society. Few are the +animals of the jungle that dare attack the great apes when +there are several of them together. If you let them know that +you are afraid of them, they will take advantage of it and +your life will be constantly menaced. The shes especially would +attack you. I will let them know that you have the means of +protecting yourself and of killing them. If necessary, I will +show you how and then they will respect and fear you." + +"I will try," said the girl, "but I am afraid that it will be +difficult. He is the most frightful creature I ever have seen." +Tarzan smiled. "Doubtless he thinks the same of you," he +said. + +By this time other apes had entered the clearing and they +were now the center of a considerable group, among which +were several bulls, some young shes, and some older ones with +their little balus clinging to their backs or frolicking around +at their feet. Though they had seen the girl the night of the +Dum-Dum when Sheeta had forced her to leap from her con- +cealment into the arena where the apes were dancing, they +still evinced a great curiosity regarding her. Some of the shes +came very close and plucked at her garments, commenting +upon them to one another in their strange tongue. The girl, +by the exercise of all the will power she could command, suc- +ceeded in passing through the ordeal without evincing any of +the terror and revulsion that she felt. Tarzan watched her +closely, a half-smile upon his face. He was not so far removed +from recent contact with civilized people that he could not +realize the torture that she was undergoing, but he felt no +pity for this woman of a cruel enemy who doubtless deserved +the worst suffering that could be meted to her. Yet, not- +withstanding his sentiments toward her, he was forced to ad- +mire her fine display of courage. Suddenly he turned to the +apes. + +"Tarzan goes to hunt for himself and his she," he said. "The +she will remain there," and he pointed toward the hut. "See +that no member of the tribe harms her. Do you understand?" + +The apes nodded. "We will not harm her," said Go-lat. + +"No," said Tarzan. "You will not. For if you do, Tarzan +will kill you," and then turning to the girl, "Come," he said, +"I am going to hunt now. You had better remain at the hut. +The apes have promised not to harm you. I will leave my +spear with you. It will be the best weapon you could have in +case you should need to protect yourself, but I doubt if you +will be in any danger for the short time that I am away." + +He walked with her as far as the boma and when she had +entered he closed the gap with thorn bushes and turned away +toward the forest. She watched him moving across the clear- +ing, noting the easy, catlike tread and the grace of every move- +ment that harmonized so well with the symmetry and perfec- +tion of his figure. At the forest's edge she saw him swing +lightly +into a tree and disappear from view, and then, being a woman, +she entered the hut and, throwing herself upon the ground, +burst into tears. + + + + +In the Hands of Savages + +Tarzan sought Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, for of all +the jungle animals he doubted if any would prove more +palatable to the white woman, but though his keen nos- +trils were ever on the alert, he traveled far without being re- +warded with even the faintest scent spoor of the game he +sought. Keeping close to the river where he hoped to find +Bara or Horta approaching or leaving a drinking place he came +at last upon the strong odor of the Wamabo village and being +ever ready to pay his hereditary enemies, the Gomangani, an +undesired visit, he swung into a detour and came up in the +rear of the village. From a tree which overhung the palisade +he looked down into the street where he saw the preparations +going on which his experience told him indicated the approach +of one of those frightful feasts the piece de resistance of which +is human flesh. + +One of Tarzan's chief divertissements was the baiting of the +blacks. He realized more keen enjoyment through annoying +and terrifying them than from any other source of amusement +the grim jungle offered. To rob them of their feast in some +way that would strike terror to their hearts would give him +the keenest of pleasure, and so he searched the village with his +eyes for some indication of the whereabouts of the prisoner. +His view was circumscribed by the dense foliage of the tree +in which he sat, and, so that he might obtain a better view, he +climbed further aloft and moved cautiously out upon a slender +branch. + +Tarzan of the Apes possessed a woodcraft scarcely short of +the marvelous but even Tarzan's wondrous senses were not +infallible. The branch upon which he made his way outward +from the bole was no smaller than many that had borne his +weight upon countless other occasions. Outwardly it appeared +strong and healthy and was in full foliage, nor could Tarzan +know that close to the stem a burrowing insect had eaten away +half the heart of the solid wood beneath the bark. + +And so when he reached a point far out upon the limb, it +snapped close to the bole of the tree without warning. Below +him were no larger branches that he might clutch and as he +lunged downward his foot caught in a looped creeper so that +he turned completely over and alighted on the flat of his back +in the center of the village street. + +At the sound of the breaking limb and the crashing body +falling through the branches the startled blacks scurried to +their huts for weapons, and when the braver of them emerged, +they saw the still form of an almost naked white man lying +where he had fallen. Emboldened by the fact that he did not +move they approached more closely, and when their eyes dis- +covered no signs of others of his kind in the tree, they rushed +forward until a dozen warriors stood about him with ready +spears. At first they thought that the falling had killed him, +but upon closer examination they discovered that the man was +only stunned. One of the warriors was for thrusting a spear +through his heart, but Numabo, the chief, would not permit it. + +"Bind him," he said. "We will feed well tonight." + +And so they bound his hands and feet with thongs of gut +and carried him into the hut where Lieutenant Harold Percy +Smith-Oldwick awaited his fate. The Englishman had also been +bound hand and foot by this time for fear that at the last mo- +ment he might escape and rob them of their feast. A great +crowd of natives were gathered about the hut attempting to +get a glimpse of the new prisoner, but Numabo doubled the +guard before the entrance for fear that some of his people, in +the exuberance of their savage joy, might rob the others of +the pleasures of the death dance which would precede the +killing of the victims. + +The young Englishman had heard the sound of Tarzan's +body crashing through the tree to the ground and the commo- +tion in the village which immediately followed, and now, as +he stood with his back against the wall of the hut, he looked +upon the fellow-prisoner that the blacks carried in and laid +upon the floor with mixed feelings of surprise and compassion. +He realized that he never had seen a more perfect specimen +of manhood than that of the unconscious figure before him, +and he wondered to what sad circumstances the man owed his +capture. It was evident that the new prisoner was himself as +much a savage as his captors if apparel and weapons were any +criterion by which to judge; yet it was also equally evident that +he was a white man and from his well-shaped head and +clean-cut features that he was not one of those unhappy half- +wits who so often revert to savagery even in the heart of civ- +ilized communities. + +As he watched the man, he presently noticed that his eyelids +were moving. Slowly they opened and a pair of gray eyes +looked blankly about. With returning consciousness the eyes +assumed their natural expression of keen intelligence, and a +moment later, with an effort, the prisoner rolled over upon his +side and drew himself to a sitting position. He was facing +the Englishman, and as his eyes took in the bound ankles and +the arms drawn tightly behind the other's back, a slow smile +lighted his features. + +"They will fill their bellies tonight," he said. + +The Englishman grinned. "From the fuss they made," he +said, "the beggars must be awfully hungry. They like to have +eaten me alive when they brought me in. How did they get +you?" + +Tarzan shrugged his head ruefully. "It was my own fault," +he replied. "I deserve to be eaten. I crawled out upon a branch +that would not bear my weight and when it broke, instead +of alighting on my feet, I caught my foot in a trailer and +came down on my head. Otherwise they would not have taken +me -- alive." + +"Is there no escape?" asked the Englishman. + +"I have escaped them before," replied Tarzan, "and I have +seen others escape them. I have seen a man taken away from +the stake after a dozen spear thrusts had pierced his body and +the fire had been lighted about his feet." + +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick shuddered. "God!" he exclaimed, +"I hope I don't have to face that. I believe I could stand any- +thing but the thought of the fire. I should hate like the devil +to go into a funk before the devils at the last moment." + +"Don't worry," said Tarzan. "It doesn't last long and you +won't funk. It is really not half as bad as it sounds. There is +only a brief period of pain before you lose consciousness. I +have seen it many times before. It is as good a way to go as +another. We must die sometime. What difference whether it +be tonight, tomorrow night, or a year hence, just so that we +have lived -- and I have lived!" + +"Your philosophy may be all right, old top," said the young +lieutenant, "but I can't say that it is exactly satisfying." + +Tarzan laughed. "Roll over here," he said, "where I can get +at your bonds with my teeth." The Englishman did as he was +bid and presently Tarzan was working at the thongs with his +strong white teeth. He felt them giving slowly beneath his +efforts. In another moment they would part, and then it +would be a comparatively simple thing for the Englishman +to remove the remaining bonds from Tarzan and himself. + +It was then that one of the guards entered the hut. In an +instant he saw what the new prisoner was doing and raising +his spear, struck the ape-man a vicious blow across the head +with its shaft. Then he called in the other guards and together +they fell upon the luckless men, kicking and beating them un- +mercifully, after which they bound the Englishman more se- +curely than before and tied both men fast on opposite sides of +the hut. When they had gone Tarzan looked across at his +companion in misery. + +"While there is life," he said, "there is hope," but he grinned +as he voiced the ancient truism. + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick returned the other's +smile. "I fancy," he said, "that we are getting short on both. +It must be close to supper time now." + +Zu-tag hunted alone far from the balance of the tribe of +Go-lat, the great ape. Zu-tag (Big-neck) was a young bull +but recently arrived at maturity. He was large, powerful, and +ferocious and at the same time far above the average of his +kind in intelligence as was denoted by a fuller and less reced- +ing forehead. Already Go-lat saw in this young ape a possible +contender for the laurels of his kingship and consequently the +old bull looked upon Zu-tag with jealousy and disfavor. It was +for this reason, possibly, as much as another that Zu-tag +hunted so often alone; but it was his utter fearlessness that +permitted him to wander far afield away from the protection +which numbers gave the great apes. One of the results of this +habit was a greatly increased resourcefulness which found him +constantly growing in intelligence and powers of observation. + +Today he had been hunting toward the south and was +returning along the river upon a path he often followed be- +cause it led by the village of the Gomangani whose strange +and almost apelike actions and peculiar manners of living had +aroused his interest and curiosity. As he had done upon other +occasions he took up his position in a tree from which he could +overlook the interior of the village and watch the blacks at +their vocations in the street below. + +Zu-tag had scarcely more than established himself in his +tree when, with the blacks, he was startled by the crashing of +Tarzan's body from the branches of another jungle giant to +the ground within the palisade. He saw the Negroes gather +about the prostrate form and later carry it into the hut; and +once he rose to his full height upon the limb where he had +been squatting and raised his face to the heavens to scream +out a savage protest and a challenge, for he had recognized +in the brown-skinned Tarmangani the strange white ape who +had come among them a night or two before in the midst of +their Dum-Dum, and who by so easily mastering the greatest +among them, had won the savage respect and admiration of +this fierce young bull. + +But Zu-tag's ferocity was tempered by a certain native cun- +ning and caution. Before he had voiced his protest there formed +in his mind the thought that he would like to save this wonder- +ful white ape from the common enemy, the Gomangani, and +so he screamed forth no challenge, wisely determined that more +could be accomplished by secrecy and stealth than by force +of muscle and fang. + +At first he thought to enter the village alone and carry off +the Tarmangani; but when he saw how numerous were the +warriors and that several sat directly before the entrance to +the lair into which the prisoner had been carried, it occurred +to him that this was work for many rather than one, and so, +as silently as he had come, he slipped away though the foliage +toward the north. + +The tribe was still loitering about the clearing where stood +the hut that Tarzan and Bertha Kircher had built. Some were +idly searching for food just within the forest's edge, while +others squatted beneath the shade of trees within the clearing. + +The girl had emerged from the hut, her tears dried and was +gazing anxiously toward the south into the jungle where Tar- +zan had disappeared. Occasionally she cast suspicious glances +in the direction of the huge shaggy anthropoids about her. +How easy it would be for one of those great beasts to enter +the boma and slay her. How helpless she was, even with the +spear that the white man had left her, she realized as she +noted for the thousandth time the massive shoulders, the bull +necks, and the great muscles gliding so easily beneath the +glossy coats. Never, she thought, had she seen such personi- +fications of brute power as were represented by these mighty +bulls. Those huge hands would snap her futile spear as she +might snap a match in two, while their lightest blow could +crush her into insensibility and death. + +It was while she was occupied with these depressing thoughts +that there dropped suddenly into the clearing from the trees +upon the south the figure of a mighty young bull. At that time +all of the apes looked much alike to Bertha Kircher, nor was +it until some time later that she realized that each differed +from the others in individual characteristics of face and figure +as do individuals of the human races. Yet even then she could +not help but note the wondrous strength and agility of this +great beast, and as he approached she even found herself ad- +miring the sheen of his heavy, black, silvershot coat. + +It was evident that the newcomer was filled with suppressed +excitement. His demeanor and bearing proclaimed this even +from afar, nor was the girl the only one to note it. For as they +saw him coming many of the apes arose and advanced to meet +him, bristling and growling as is their way. Go-lat was among +these latter, and he advanced stiffly with the hairs upon his +neck and down his spine erect, uttering low growls and baring +his fighting fangs, for who might say whether Zu-tag came +in peace or otherwise? The old king had seen other young +apes come thus in his day filled with a sudden resolution to +wrest the kingship from their chief. He had seen bulls about +to run amuck burst thus suddenly from the jungle upon the +members of the tribe, and so Go-lat took no chances. + +Had Zu-tag come indolently, feeding as he came, he might +have entered the tribe without arousing notice or suspicion, +but when one comes thus precipitately, evidently bursting with +some emotion out of the ordinary, let all apes beware. There +was a certain amount of preliminary circling, growling, and +sniffing, stiff-legged and stiff-haired, before each side discov- +ered that the other had no intention of initiating an attack and +then Zu-tag told Go-lat what he had seen among the lairs +of the Gomangani. + +Go-lat grunted in disgust and turned away. "Let the white +ape take care of himself," he said. + +"He is a great ape," said Zu-tag. "He came to live in peace +with the tribe of Go-lat. Let us save him from the Goman- +gani." + +Go-lat grunted again and continued to move away. + +"Zu-tag will go alone and get him," cried the young ape, +"if Go-lat is afraid of the Gomangani." + +The king ape wheeled in anger, growling loudly and beating +upon his breast. "Go-lat is not afraid," he screamed, "but he +will not go, for the white ape is not of his tribe. Go yourself +and take the Tarmangani's she with you if you wish so much +to save the white ape." + +"Zu-tag will go," replied the younger bull, "and he will take +the Tarmangani's she and all the bulls of Go-lat who are not +cowards," and so saying he cast his eyes inquiringly about at +the other apes. "Who will go with Zu-tag to fight the Goman- +gani and bring away our brother," he demanded. + +Eight young bulls in the full prime of their vigor pressed +forward to Zu-tag's side, but the old bulls with the conserva- +tism and caution of many years upon their gray shoulders, +shook their heads and waddled away after Go-lat. + +"Good," cried Zu-tag. "We want no old shes to go with us +to fight the Gomangani for that is work for the fighters of the +tribe." + +The old bulls paid no attention to his boastful words, but the +eight who had volunteered to accompany him were filled with +self-pride so that they stood around vaingloriously beating +upon their breasts, baring their fangs and screaming their +hideous challenge until the jungle reverberated to the horrid +sound. + +All this time Bertha Kircher was a wide-eyed and terrified +spectator to what, as she thought, could end only in a terrific +battle between these frightful beasts, and when Zu-tag and +his followers began screaming forth their fearsome challenge, +the girl found herself trembling in terror, for of all the sounds +of the jungle there is none more awe inspiring than that of the +great bull ape when he issues his challenge or shrieks forth his +victory cry. + +If she had been terrified before she was almost paralyzed +with fear now as she saw Zu-tag and his apes turn toward the +boma and approach her. With the agility of a cat Zu-tag leaped +completely over the protecting wall and stood before her. Val- +iantly she held her spear before her, pointing it at his breast. +He commenced to jabber and gesticulate, and even with her +scant acquaintance with the ways of the anthropoids, she real- +ized that he was not menacing her, for there was little or no +baring of fighting fangs and his whole expression and attitude +was of one attempting to explain a knotty problem or plead +a worthy cause. At last he became evidently impatient, for +with a sweep of one great paw he struck the spear from her +hand and coming close, seized her by the arm, but not roughly. +She shrank away in terror and yet some sense within her +seemed to be trying to assure her that she was in no danger +from this great beast. Zu-tag jabbered loudly, ever and again +pointing into the jungle toward the south and moving toward +the boma, pulling the girl with him. He seemed almost frantic +in his efforts to explain something to her. He pointed toward +the boma, herself, and then to the forest, and then, at last, as +though by a sudden inspiration, he reached down and, seizing +the spear, repeatedly touched it with his forefinger and again +pointed toward the south. Suddenly it dawned upon the girl +that what the ape was trying to explain to her was related in +some way to the white man whose property they thought she +was. Possibly her grim protector was in trouble and with this +thought firmly established, she no longer held back, but started +forward as though to accompany the young bull. At the point +in the boma where Tarzan had blocked the entrance, she +started to pull away the thorn bushes, and, when Zu-tag saw +what she was doing, he fell to and assisted her so that presently +they had an opening through the boma through which she +passed with the great ape. + +Immediately Zu-tag and his eight apes started off rapidly +toward the jungle, so rapidly that Bertha Kircher would have +had to run at top speed to keep up with them. This she real- +ized she could not do, and so she was forced to lag behind, +much to the chagrin of Zu-tag, who constantly kept running +back and urging her to greater speed. Once he took her by the +arm and tried to draw her along. Her protests were of no avail +since the beast could not know that they were protests, nor did +he desist until she caught her foot in some tangled grass and +fell to the ground. Then indeed was Zu-tag furious and +growled hideously. His apes were waiting at the edge of the +forest for him to lead them. He suddenly realized that this +poor weak she could not keep up with them and that if they +traveled at her slow rate they might be too late to render as- +sistance to the Tarmangani, and so without more ado, the giant +anthropoid picked Bertha Kircher bodily from the ground and +swung her to his back. Her arms were about his neck and in +this position he seized her wrists in one great paw so that she +could not fall off and started at a rapid rate to join his com- +panions. + +Dressed as she was in riding breeches with no entangling +skirts to hinder or catch upon passing shrubbery, she soon +found that she could cling tightly to the back of the mighty +bull and when a moment later he took to the lower branches +of the trees, she closed her eyes and clung to him in terror +lest she be precipitated to the ground below. + +That journey through the primeval forest with the nine +great apes will live in the memory of Bertha Kircher for the +balance of her life, as clearly delineated as at the moment of +its enactment. + +The first overwhelming wave of fear having passed, she was +at last able to open her eyes and view her surroundings with +increased interest and presently the sensation of terror slowly +left her to be replaced by one of comparative security when +she saw the ease and surety with which these great beasts trav- +eled through the trees; and later her admiration for the young +bull increased as it became evident that even burdened with +her additional weight, he moved more rapidly and with no +greater signs of fatigue than his unburdened fellows. + +Not once did Zu-tag pause until he came to a stop among +the branches of a tree no great distance from the native village. +They could hear the noises of the life within the palisade, the +laughing and shouting of the Negroes, and the barking of dogs, +and through the foliage the girl caught glimpses of the village +from which she had so recently escaped. She shuddered to +think of the possibility of having to return to it and of possi- +ble recapture, and she wondered why Zu-tag had brought her +here. + +Now the apes advanced slowly once more and with great +caution, moving as noiselessly through the trees as the squirrels +themselves until they had reached a point where they could +easily overlook the palisade and the village street below. + +Zu-tag squatted upon a great branch close to the bole of +the tree and by loosening the girl's arms from about his neck, +indicated that she was to find a footing for herself and when +she had done so, he turned toward her and pointed repeatedly +at the open doorway of a hut upon the opposite side of the +street below them. By various gestures he seemed to be try- +ing to explain something to her and at last she caught at the +germ of his idea -- that her white man was a prisoner there. + +Beneath them was the roof of a hut onto which she saw that +she could easily drop, but what she could do after she had +entered the village was beyond her. + +Darkness was already falling and the fires beneath the cook- +ing pots had been lighted. The girl saw the stake in the village +street and the piles of fagots about it and in terror she sud- +denly realized the portent of these grisly preparations. Oh, if +she but only had some sort of a weapon that might give her +even a faint hope, some slight advantage against the blacks. +Then she would not hesitate to venture into the village in an at- +tempt to save the man who had upon three different occasions +saved her. She knew that he hated her and yet strong within +her breast burned the sense of her obligation to him. She could +not fathom him. Never in her life had she seen a man at once +so paradoxical and dependable. In many of his ways he was +more savage than the beasts with which he associated and yet, +on the other hand, he was as chivalrous as a knight of old. +For several days she had been lost with him in the jungle +absolutely at his mercy, yet she had come to trust so implicitly +in his honor that any fear she had had of him was rapidly dis- +appearing. + +On the other hand, that he might be hideously cruel was +evidenced to her by the fact that he was planning to leave +her alone in the midst of the frightful dangers which menaced +her by night and by day. + +Zu-tag was evidently waiting for darkness to fall before +carrying out whatever plans had matured in his savage little +brain, for he and his fellows sat quietly in the tree about her, +watching the preparations of the blacks. Presently it became +apparent that some altercation had arisen among the Negroes, +for a score or more of them were gathered around one who ap- +peared to be their chief, and all were talking and gesticulating +heatedly. The argument lasted for some five or ten minutes +when suddenly the little knot broke and two warriors ran to the +opposite side of the village from whence they presently re- +turned with a large stake which they soon set up beside the +one already in place. The girl wondered what the purpose of +the second stake might be, nor did she have long to wait for +an explanation. + +It was quite dark by this time, the village being lighted by +the fitful glare of many fires, and now she saw a number of +warriors approach and enter the hut Zu-tag had been watch- +ing. A moment later they reappeared, dragging between them +two captives, one of whom the girl immediately recognized as +her protector and the other as an Englishman in the uniform +of an aviator. This, then, was the reason for the two stakes. + +Arising quickly she placed a hand upon Zu-tag's shoulder +and pointed down into the village. "Come," she said, as if she +had been talking to one of her own kind, and with the word +she swung lightly to the roof of the hut below. From there to +the ground was but a short drop and a moment later she was +circling the hut upon the side farthest from the fires, keeping +in the dense shadows where there was little likelihood of being +discovered. She turned once to see that Zu-tag was directly +behind her and could see his huge bulk looming up in the dark, +while beyond was another one of his eight. Doubtless they +had all followed her and this fact gave her a greater sense of +security and hope than she had before experienced. + +Pausing beside the hut next to the street, she peered cau- +tiously about the corner. A few inches from her was the open +doorway of the structure, and beyond, farther down the village +street, the blacks were congregating about the prisoners, who +were already being bound to the stakes. All eyes were cen- +tered upon the victims, and there was only the remotest chance +that she and her companions would be discovered until they +were close upon the blacks. She wished, however, that she +might have some sort of a weapon with which to lead the at- +tack, for she could not know, of course, for a certainty whether +the great apes would follow her or not. Hoping that she might +find something within the hut, she slipped quickly around the +corner and into the doorway and after her, one by one, came +the nine bulls. Searching quickly about the interior, she pres- +ently discovered a spear, and, armed with this, she again ap- +proached the entrance. + +Tarzan of the Apes and Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith- +Oldwick were bound securely to their respective stakes. +Neither had spoken for some time. The Englishman turned +his head so that he could see his companion in misery. Tarzan +stood straight against his stake. His face was entirely expres- +sionless in so far as either fear or anger were concerned. His +countenance portrayed bored indifference though both men +knew that they were about to be tortured. + +"Good-bye, old top," whispered the young lieutenant. + +Tarzan turned his eyes in the direction of the other and +smiled. "Good-bye," he said. "If you want to get it over in a +hurry, inhale the smoke and flames as rapidly as you can." + +"Thanks," replied the aviator and though he made a wry +face, he drew himself up very straight and squared his shoul- +ders. + +The women and children had seated themselves in a wide +circle about the victims while the warriors, hideously painted, +were forming slowly to commence the dance of death. Again +Tarzan turned to his companion. "If you'd like to spoil their +fun," he said, "don't make any fuss no matter how much you +suffer. If you can carry on to the end without changing the +expression upon your face or uttering a single word, you will +deprive them of all the pleasures of this part of the entertain- +ment. Good-bye again and good luck." + +The young Englishman made no reply but it was evident +from the set of his jaws that the Negroes would get little enjoy- +ment out of him. + +The warriors were circling now. Presently Numabo would +draw first blood with his sharp spear which would be the +signal for the beginning of the torture after a little of which +the fagots would be lighted around the feet of the victims. + +Closer and closer danced the hideous chief, his yellow, +sharp-filed teeth showing in the firelight between his thick, red +lips. Now bending double, now stamping furiously upon the +ground, now leaping into the air, he danced step by step in +the narrowing circle that would presently bring him within +spear reach of the intended feast. + +At last the spear reached out and touched the ape-man on +the breast and when it came away, a little trickle of blood ran +down the smooth, brown hide and almost simultaneously there +broke from the outer periphery of the expectant audience a +woman's shriek which seemed a signal for a series of hideous +screamings, growlings and barkings, and a great commotion +upon that side of the circle. The victims could not see the +cause of the disturbance, but Tarzan did not have to see, for +he knew by the voices of the apes the identity of the disturbers. +He only wondered what had brought them and what the pur- +pose of the attack, for he could not believe that they had come +to rescue him. + +Numabo and his warriors broke quickly from the circle of +their dance to see pushing toward them through the ranks of +their screaming and terrified people the very white girl who had +escaped them a few nights before, and at her back what ap- +peared to their surprised eyes a veritable horde of the huge +and hairy forest men upon whom they looked with consider- +able fear and awe. + +Striking to right and left with his heavy fists, tearing with +his great fangs, came Zu-tag, the young bull, while at his heels, +emulating his example, surged his hideous apes. Quickly they +came through the old men and the women and children, for +straight toward Numabo and his warriors the girl led them. +It was then that they came within range of Tarzan's vision and +he saw with unmixed surprise who it was that led the apes to +his rescue. + +To Zu-tag he shouted: "Go for the big bulls while the she +unbinds me," and to Bertha Kircher: "Quick! Cut these bonds. +The apes will take care of the blacks." + +Turning from her advance the girl ran to his side. She had +no knife and the bonds were tied tightly but she worked quick- +ly and coolly and as Zu-tag and his apes closed with the war- +riors, she succeeded in loosening Tarzan's bonds sufficiently to +permit him to extricate his own hands so that in another min- +ute he had freed himself. + +"Now unbind the Englishman," he cried, and, leaping for- +ward, ran to join Zu-tag and his fellows in their battle against +the blacks. Numabo and his warriors, realizing now the rela- +tively small numbers of the apes against them, had made a +determined stand and with spears and other weapons were en- +deavoring to overcome the invaders. Three of the apes were +already down, killed or mortally wounded, when Tarzan, real- +izing that the battle must eventually go against the apes unless +some means could be found to break the morale of the Ne- +groes, cast about him for some means of bringing about the +desired end. And suddenly his eye lighted upon a number of +weapons which he knew would accomplish the result. A grim +smile touched his lips as he snatched a vessel of boiling water +from one of the fires and hurled it full in the faces of the +warriors. Screaming with terror and pain they fell back though +Numabo urged them to rush forward. + +Scarcely had the first cauldron of boiling water spilled its +contents upon them ere Tarzan deluged them with a second, +nor was there any third needed to send them shrieking in every +direction to the security of their huts. + +By the time Tarzan had recovered his own weapons the girl +had released the young Englishman, and, with the six remain- +ing apes, the three Europeans moved slowly toward the vil- +lage gate, the aviator arming himself with a spear discarded +by one of the scalded warriors, as they eagerly advanced to- +ward the outer darkness. + +Numabo was unable to rally the now thoroughly terrified +and painfully burned warriors so that rescued and rescuers +passed out of the village into the blackness of the jungle with- +out further interference. + +Tarzan strode through the jungle in silence. Beside him +walked Zu-tag, the great ape, and behind them strung the sur- +viving anthropoids followed by Fraulein Bertha Kircher and +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, the latter a thor- +oughly astonished and mystified Englishman. + +In all his life Tarzan of the Apes had been obliged to ac- +knowledge but few obligations. He won his way through his +savage world by the might of his own muscle, the superior +keenness of his five senses and his God-given power to reason. +Tonight the greatest of all obligations had been placed upon +him -- his life had been saved by another and Tarzan shook +his head and growled, for it had been saved by one whom he +hated above all others. + + + + +Finding the Airplane + +Tarzan of the Apes, returning from a successful hunt, with +the body of Bara, the deer, across one sleek, brown shoul- +der, paused in the branches of a great tree at the edge of +a clearing and gazed ruefully at two figures walking from the +river to the boma-encircled hut a short distance away. + +The ape-man shook his tousled head and sighed. His eyes +wandered toward the west and his thoughts to the far-away +cabin by the land-locked harbor of the great water that washed +the beach of his boyhood home -- to the cabin of his long-dead +father to which the memories and treasures of a happy child- +hood lured him. Since the loss of his mate, a great longing had +possessed him to return to the haunts of his youth -- to the +untracked jungle wilderness where he had lived the life he +loved best long before man had invaded the precincts of his +wild stamping grounds. There he hoped in a renewal of the +old life under the old conditions to win surcease from sorrow +and perhaps some measure of forgetfulness. + +But the little cabin and the land-locked harbor were many +long, weary marches away, and he was handicapped by the +duty which he felt he owed to the two figures walking in the +clearing before him. One was a young man in a worn and +ragged uniform of the British Royal Air Forces, the other, a +young woman in the even more disreputable remnants of what +once had been trim riding togs. + +A freak of fate had thrown these three radically different +types together. One was a savage, almost naked beast-man, +one an English army officer, and the woman, she whom the +ape-man knew and hated as a German spy. + +How he was to get rid of them Tarzan could not imagine +unless he accompanied them upon the weary march back to +the east coast, a march that would necessitate his once more +retracing the long, weary way he already had covered towards +his goal, yet what else could be done? These two had neither +the strength, endurance, nor jungle-craft to accompany him +through the unknown country to the west, nor did he wish +them with him. The man he might have tolerated, but he could +not even consider the presence of the girl in the far-off cabin, +which had in a way become sacred to him through its mem- +ories, without a growl or anger rising to his lips. There re- +mained, then, but the one way, since he could not desert them. +He must move by slow and irksome marches back to the east +coast, or at least to the first white settlement in that +direction. + +He had, it is true, contemplated leaving the girl to her fate +but that was before she had been instrumental in saving him +from torture and death at the hands of the black Wamabos. +He chafed under the obligation she had put upon him, but no +less did he acknowledge it and as he watched the two, the +rueful expression upon his face was lightened by a smile as +he thought of the helplessness of them. What a puny thing, +indeed, was man! How ill equipped to combat the savage forces +of nature and of nature's jungle. Why, even the tiny balu of +the tribe of Go-lat, the great ape, was better fitted to survive +than these, for a balu could at least escape the numerous crea- +tures that menaced its existence, while with the possible excep- +tion of Kota, the tortoise, none moved so slowly as did helpless +and feeble man. + +Without him these two doubtless would starve in the midst +of plenty, should they by some miracle escape the other forces +of destruction which constantly threatened them. That morning +Tarzan had brought them fruit, nuts, and plantain, and now +he was bringing them the flesh of his kill, while the best that +they might do was to fetch water from the river. Even now, as +they walked across the clearing toward the boma, they were in +utter ignorance of the presence of Tarzan near them. They did +not know that his sharp eyes were watching them, nor that +other eyes less friendly were glaring at them from a clump of +bushes close beside the boma entrance. They did not know +these things, but Tarzan did. No more than they could he see +the creature crouching in the concealment of the foliage, yet +he knew that it was there and what it was and what its inten- +tions, precisely as well as though it had been lying in the open. + +A slight movement of the leaves at the top of a single stem +had apprised him of the presence of a creature there, for the +movement was not that imparted by the wind. It came from +pressure at the bottom of the stem which communicates a dif- +ferent movement to the leaves than does the wind passing +among them, as anyone who has lived his lifetime in the jun- +gle well knows, and the same wind that passed through the +foliage of the bush brought to the ape-man's sensitive nos- +trils indisputable evidence of the fact that Sheeta, the panther, +waited there for the two returning from the river. + +They had covered half the distance to the boma entrance +when Tarzan called to them to stop. They looked in surprise +in the direction from which his voice had come to see him +drop lightly to the ground and advance toward them. + +"Come slowly toward me," he called to them. "Do not run +for if you run Sheeta will charge." + +They did as he bid, their faces filled with questioning won- +derment. + +"What do you mean?" asked the young Englishman. "Who +is Sheeta?" but for answer the ape-man suddenly hurled +the carcass of Bara, the deer, to the ground and leaped quickly +toward them, his eyes upon something in their rear; and then +it was that the two turned and learned the identity of Sheeta, +for behind them was a devil-faced cat charging rapidly toward +them. + +Sheeta with rising anger and suspicion had seen the ape-man +leap from the tree and approach the quarry. His life's expe- +riences backed by instinct told him that the Tarmangani was +about to rob him of his prey and as Sheeta was hungry, he had +no intention of being thus easily deprived of the flesh he al- +ready considered his own. + +The girl stifled an involuntary scream as she saw the prox- +imity of the fanged fury bearing down upon them. She shrank +close to the man and clung to him and all unarmed and de- +fenseless as he was, the Englishman pushed her behind him +and shielding her with his body, stood squarely in the face of +the panther's charge. Tarzan noted the act, and though accus- +tomed as he was to acts of courage, he experienced a thrill +from the hopeless and futile bravery of the man. + +The charging panther moved rapidly, and the distance which +separated the bush in which he had concealed himself from the +objects of his desire was not great. In the time that one might +understandingly read a dozen words the strong-limbed cat +could have covered the entire distance and made his kill, yet +if Sheeta was quick, quick too was Tarzan. The English lieu- +tenant saw the ape-man flash by him like the wind. He saw +the great cat veer in his charge as though to elude the naked +savage rushing to meet him, as it was evidently Sheeta's inten- +tion to make good his kill before attempting to protect it from +Tarzan. + +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick saw these things and then with +increasing wonder he saw the ape-man swerve, too, and leap +for the spotted cat as a football player leaps for a runner. He +saw the strong, brown arms encircling the body of the car- +nivore, the left arm in front of the beast's left shoulder and +the right arm behind his right foreleg, and with the impact the +two together rolling over and over upon the turf. He heard +the snarls and growls of bestial combat, and it was with a feel- +ing of no little horror that he realized that the sounds com- +ing from the human throat of the battling man could scarce +be distinguished from those of the panther. + +The first momentary shock of terror over, the girl released +her grasp upon the Englishman's arm. "Cannot we do some- +thing?" she asked. "Cannot we help him before the beast +kills him?" + +The Englishman looked upon the ground for some missile +with which to attack the panther and then the girl uttered an +exclamation and started at a run toward the hut. "Wait there," +she called over her shoulder. "I will fetch the spear that he +left +me." + +Smith-Oldwick saw the raking talons of the panther search- +ing for the flesh of the man and the man on his part straining +every muscle and using every artifice to keep his body out of +range of them. The muscles of his arms knotted under the +brown hide. The veins stood out upon his neck and forehead +as with ever-increasing power he strove to crush the life from +the great cat. The ape-man's teeth were fastened in the back +of Sheeta's neck and now he succeeded in encircling the beast's +torso with his legs which he crossed and locked beneath the +cat's belly. Leaping and snarling, Sheeta sought to dislodge +the ape-man's hold upon him. He hurled himself upon the +ground and rolled over and over. He reared upon his hind +legs and threw himself backwards but always the savage +creature upon his back clung tenaciously to him, and always +the mighty brown arms crushed tighter and tighter about his +chest. + +And then the girl, panting from her quick run, returned with +the short spear Tarzan had left her as her sole weapon of pro- +tection. She did not wait to hand it to the Englishman who +ran forward to receive it, but brushed past him and leaped +into close quarters beside the growling, tumbling mass of yel- +low fur and smooth brown hide. Several times she attempted +to press the point home into the cat's body, but on both occa- +sions the fear of endangering the ape-man caused her to de- +sist, but at last the two lay motionless for a moment as the +carnivore sought a moment's rest from the strenuous exertions +of battle, and then it was that Bertha Kircher pressed the point +of the spear to the tawny side and drove it deep into the savage +heart. + +Tarzan rose from the dead body of Sheeta and shook him- +self after the manner of beasts that are entirely clothed with +hair. Like many other of his traits and mannerisms this was +the result of environment rather than heredity or reversion, and +even though he was outwardly a man, the Englishman and +the girl were both impressed with the naturalness of the act. +It was as though Numa, emerging from a fight, had shaken +himself to straighten his rumpled mane and coat, and yet, too, +there was something uncanny about it as there had been when +the savage growls and hideous snarls issued from those clean- +cut lips. + +Tarzan looked at the girl, a quizzical expression upon his +face. Again had she placed him under obligations to her, and +Tarzan of the Apes did not wish to be obligated to a German +spy; yet in his honest heart he could not but admit a certain +admiration for her courage, a trait which always greatly im- +pressed the ape-man, he himself the personification of courage. + +"Here is the kill," he said, picking the carcass of Bara from +the ground. "You will want to cook your portion, I presume, +but Tarzan does not spoil his meat with fire." + +They followed him to the boma where he cut several pieces +of meat from the carcass for them, retaining a joint for him- +self. The young lieutenant prepared a fire, and the girl pre- +sided over the primitive culinary rights of their simple meal. +As she worked some little way apart from them, the lieuten- +ant and the ape-man watched her. + +"She is wonderful. Is she not?" murmured Smith-Oldwick. + +"She is a German and a spy," replied Tarzan. + +The Englishman turned quickly upon him. "What do you +mean?" he cried. + +"I mean what I say," replied the ape-man. "She is a German +and a spy." + +"I do not believe it!" exclaimed the aviator. + +"You do not have to," Tarzan assured him. "It is nothing to +me what you believe. I saw her in conference with the Boche +general and his staff at the camp near Taveta. They all knew +her and called her by name and she handed him a paper. The +next time I saw her she was inside the British lines in disguise, +and again I saw her bearing word to a German officer at +Wilhelmstal. She is a German and a spy, but she is a woman +and therefore I cannot destroy her." + +"You really believe that what you say is true?" asked the +young lieutenant. "My God! I cannot believe it. She is so sweet +and brave and good." + +The ape-man shrugged his shoulders. "She is brave," he +said, "but even Pamba, the rat, must have some good quality, +but she is what I have told you and therefore I hate her and +you should hate her." + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick buried his face in +his hands. "God forgive me," he said at last. "I cannot hate +her." + +The ape-man cast a contemptuous look at his companion +and arose. "Tarzan goes again to hunt," he said. "You have +enough food for two days. By that time he will return." + +The two watched him until he had disappeared in the foliage +of the trees at the further side of the clearing. + +When he had gone the girl felt a vague sense of apprehen- +sion that she never experienced when Tarzan was present. The +invisible menaces lurking in the grim jungle seemed more real +and much more imminent now that the ape-man was no longer +near. While he had been there talking with them, the little +thatched hut and its surrounding thorn boma had seemed as +safe a place as the world might afford. She wished that he had +remained -- two days seemed an eternity in contemplation -- +two days of constant fear, two days, every moment of which +would be fraught with danger. She turned toward her com- +panion. + +"I wish that he had remained," she said. "I always feel so +much safer when he is near. He is very grim and very terrible, +and yet I feel safer with him than with any man I ever have +known. He seems to dislike me and yet I know that he would +let no harm befall me. I cannot understand him." + +"Neither do I understand him," replied the Englishman; +"but I know this much -- our presence here is interfering with +his plans. He would like to be rid of us, and I half imagine +that he rather hopes to find when he returns that we have +succumbed to one of the dangers which must always confront +us in this savage land. + +"I think that we should try to return to the white settle- +ments. This man does not want us here, nor is it reasonable +to assume that we could long survive in such a savage wilder- +ness. I have traveled and hunted in several parts of Africa, +but never have I seen or heard of any single locality so over- +run with savage beasts and dangerous natives. If we set out +for the east coast at once we would be in but little more danger +than we are here, and if we could survive a day's march, I +believe that we will find the means of reaching the coast in a +few hours, for my plane must still be in the same place that +I landed just before the blacks captured me. Of course there +is no one here who could operate it nor is there any reason +why they should have destroyed it. As a matter of fact, the +natives would be so fearful and suspicious of so strange and +incomprehensible a thing that the chances are they would not +dare approach it. Yes, it must be where I left it and all ready +to carry us safely to the settlements." + +"But we cannot leave," said the girl, "until he returns. We +could not go away like that without thanking him or bidding +him farewell. We are under too great obligations to him." + +The man looked at her in silence for a moment. He won- +dered if she knew how Tarzan felt toward her and then he +himself began to speculate upon the truth of the ape-man's +charges. The longer he looked at the girl, the less easy was +it to entertain the thought that she was an enemy spy. He was +upon the point of asking her point-blank but he could not bring +himself to do so, finally determining to wait until time and +longer acquaintance should reveal the truth or falsity of the +accusation. + +"I believe," he said as though there had been no pause in +their conversation, "that the man would be more than glad +to find us gone when he returns. It is not necessary to jeop- +ardize our lives for two more days in order that we may thank +him, however much we may appreciate his services to us. You +have more than balanced your obligations to him and from +what he told me I feel that you especially should not remain +here longer." + +The girl looked up at him in astonishment. "What do you +mean?" she asked. + +"I do not like to tell," said the Englishman, digging nerv- +ously at the turf with the point of a stick, "but you have my +word that he would rather you were not here." + +"Tell me what he said," she insisted, "I have a right to +know." + +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick squared his shoulders and raised +his eyes to those of the girl. "He said that he hated you," he +blurted. "He has only aided you at all from a sense of duty +because you are a woman." + +The girl paled and then flushed. "I will be ready to go," +she said, "in just a moment. We had better take some of this +meat with us. There is no telling when we will be able to get +more." + +And so the two set out down the river toward the south. +The man carried the short spear that Tarzan had left with +the girl, while she was entirely unarmed except for a stick +she had picked up from among those left after the building of +the hut. Before departing she had insisted that the man leave +a note for Tarzan thanking him for his care of them and +bidding him goodbye. This they left pinned to the inside wall of +the hut with a little sliver of wood. + +It was necessary that they be constantly on the alert since +they never knew what might confront them at the next turn +of the winding jungle trail or what might lie concealed in the +tangled bushes at either side. There was also the ever-present +danger of meeting some of Numabo's black warriors and as +the village lay directly in their line of march, there was the +necessity for making a wide detour before they reached it in +order to pass around it without being discovered. + +"I am not so much afraid of the native blacks," said the girl, +"as I am of Usanga and his people. He and his men were all +attached to a German native regiment. They brought me +along with them when they deserted, either with the inten- +tion of holding me ransom or selling me into the harem +of one of the black sultans of the north. Usanga is much +more to be feared than Numabo for he has had the advantage +of European military training and is armed with more or less +modern weapons and ammunition." + +"It is lucky for me," remarked the Englishman, "that it was +the ignorant Numabo who discovered and captured me rather +than the worldly wise Usanga. He would have felt less fear +of the giant flying machine and would have known only too +well how to wreck it." + +"Let us pray that the black sergeant has not discovered it," +said the girl. + +They made their way to a point which they guessed was +about a mile above the village, then they turned into the +trackless tangle of undergrowth to the east. So dense was the +verdure at many points that it was with the utmost difficulty +they wormed their way through, sometimes on hands and +knees and again by clambering over numerous fallen tree +trunks. Interwoven with dead limbs and living branches were +the tough and ropelike creepers which formed a tangled net- +work across their path. + +South of them in an open meadowland a number of black +warriors were gathered about an object which elicited much +wondering comment. The blacks were clothed in fragments +of what had once been uniforms of a native German com- +mand. They were a most unlovely band and chief among +them in authority and repulsiveness was the black sergeant +Usanga. The object of their interest was a British aeroplane. + +Immediately after the Englishman had been brought to +Numabo's village Usanga had gone out in search of the plane, +prompted partially by curiosity and partially by an intention +to destroy it, but when he had found it, some new thought had +deterred him from carrying out his design. The thing repre- +sented considerable value as he well knew and it had occurred +to him that in some way he might turn his prize to profit. +Every day he had returned to it, and while at first it had filled +him with considerable awe, he eventually came to look upon +it with the accustomed eye of a proprietor, so that he now +clambered into the fuselage and even advanced so far as to +wish that he might learn to operate it. + +What a feat it would be indeed to fly like a bird far above +the highest tree top! How it would fill his less favored com- +panions with awe and admiration! If Usanga could but fly, +so great would be the respect of all the tribesmen throughout +the scattered villages of the great interior, they would look +upon him as little less than a god. + +Usanga rubbed his palms together and smacked his thick +lips. Then indeed, would he be very rich, for all the villages +would pay tribute to him and he could even have as many as +a dozen wives. With that thought, however, came a mental +picture of Naratu, the black termagant, who ruled him with +an iron hand. Usanga made a wry face and tried to forget +the extra dozen wives, but the lure of the idea remained and +appealed so strongly to him that he presently found himself +reasoning most logically that a god would not be much of a +god with less than twenty-four wives. + +He fingered the instruments and the control, half hoping +and half fearing that he would alight upon the combination +that would put the machine in flight. Often had he watched +the British air-men soaring above the German lines and it +looked so simple he was quite sure that he could do it him- +self if there was somebody who could but once show him +how. There was, of course, always the hope that the white +man who came in the machine and who had escaped from +Numabo's village might fall into Usanga's hands and then +indeed would he be able to learn how to fly. It was in this hope +that Usanga spent so much time in the vicinity of the plane, +reasoning as he did that eventually the white man would +return in search of it. + +And at last he was rewarded, for upon this very day after +he had quit the machine and entered the jungle with his war- +riors, he heard voices to the north and when he and his men +had hidden in the dense foliage upon either side of the trail, +Usanga was presently filled with elation by the appearance of +the British officer and the white girl whom the black sergeant +had coveted and who had escaped him. + +The Negro could scarce restrain a shout of elation, for he +had not hoped that fate would be so kind as to throw these +two whom he most desired into his power at the same time. + +As the two came down the trail all unconscious of impending +danger, the man was explaining that they must be very close +to the point at which the plane had landed. Their entire +attention was centered on the trail directly ahead of them, as +they momentarily expected it to break into the meadowland +where they were sure they would see the plane that would +spell life and liberty for them. + +The trail was broad, and they were walking side by side +so that at a sharp turn the parklike clearing was revealed to +them simultaneously with the outlines of the machine they +sought. + +Exclamations of relief and delight broke from their lips, and +at the same instant Usanga and his black warriors rose from +the bushes all about them. + + + + +The Black Flier + +The girl was almost crushed by terror and disappointment. +To have been thus close to safety and then to have all +hope snatched away by a cruel stroke of fate seemed +unendurable. The man was disappointed, too, but more was +he angry. He noted the remnants of the uniforms upon the +blacks and immediately he demanded to know where were +their officers. + +"They cannot understand you," said the girl and so in the +bastard tongue that is the medium of communication between +the Germans and the blacks of their colony, she repeated the +white man's question. + +Usanga grinned. "You know where they are, white woman," +he replied. "They are dead, and if this white man does not +do as I tell him, he, too, will be dead." + +"What do you want of him?" asked the girl. + +"I want him to teach me how to fly like a bird," replied +Usanga. + +Bertha Kircher looked her astonishment, but repeated the +demand to the lieutenant. + +The Englishman meditated for a moment. "He wants to +learn to fly, does he?" he repeated. "Ask him if he will give us +our freedom if I teach him to fly." + +The girl put the question to Usanga, who, degraded, cun- +ning, and entirely unprincipled, was always perfectly willing to +promise anything whether he had any intentions of fulfilling +his promises or not, and so immediately assented to the propo- +sition. + +"Let the white man teach me to fly," he said, "and I will +take you back close to the settlements of your people, but in +return for this I shall keep the great bird," and he waved a +black hand in the direction of the aeroplane. + +When Bertha Kircher had repeated Usanga's proposition +to the aviator, the latter shrugged his shoulders and with a +wry face finally agreed. "I fancy there is no other way out of +it," he said. "In any event the plane is lost to the British +government. If I refuse the black scoundrel's request, there is +no doubt but what he will make short work of me with the +result that the machine will lie here until it rots. If I accept +his offer it will at least be the means of assuring your safe +return to civilization and that" he added, "is worth more to +me than all the planes in the British Air Service." + +The girl cast a quick glance at him. These were the first +words he had addressed to her that might indicate that his +sentiments toward her were more than those of a companion +in distress. She regretted that he had spoken as he had and +he, too, regretted it almost instantly as he saw the shadow +cross her face and realized that he had unwittingly added to +the difficulties of her already almost unbearable situation. + +"Forgive me," he said quickly. "Please forget what that +remark implied. I promise you that I will not offend again, +if it does offend you, until after we are both safely out of this +mess." + +She smiled and thanked him, but the thing had been said +and could never be unsaid, and Bertha Kircher knew even +more surely than as though he had fallen upon his knees and +protested undying devotion that the young English officer +loved her. + +Usanga was for taking his first lesson in aviation immedi- +ately. The Englishman attempted to dissuade him, but im- +mediately the black became threatening and abusive, since, +like all those who are ignorant, he was suspicious that the +intentions of others were always ulterior unless they perfectly +coincided with his wishes. + +"All right, old top," muttered the Englishman, "I will give +you the lesson of your life," and then turning to the girl: +"Persuade him to let you accompany us. I shall be afraid to +leave you here with these devilish scoundrels." But when she +put the suggestion to Usanga the black immediately suspected +some plan to thwart him -- possibly to carry him against his +will back to the German masters he had traitorously deserted, +and glowering at her savagely, he obstinately refused to enter- +tain the suggestion. + +"The white woman will remain here with my people," he +said. "They will not harm her unless you fail to bring me +back safely." + +"Tell him," said the Englishman, "that if you are not stand- +ing in plain sight in this meadow when I return, I will not +land, but will carry Usanga back to the British camp and +have him hanged." + +Usanga promised that the girl would be in evidence upon +their return, and took immediate steps to impress upon his +warriors that under penalty of death they must not harm her. +Then, followed by the other members of his party, he crossed +the clearing toward the plane with the Englishman. Once +seated within what he already considered his new possession, +the black's courage began to wane and when the motor was +started and the great propeller commenced to whir, he +screamed to the Englishman to stop the thing and permit him +to alight, but the aviator could neither hear nor understand +the black above the noise of the propeller and exhaust. By +this time the plane was moving along the ground and even +then Usanga was upon the verge of leaping out, and would +have done so had he been able to unfasten the strap from +about his waist. Then the plane rose from the ground and in +a moment soared gracefully in a wide circle until it topped +the trees. The black sergeant was in a veritable collapse of +terror. He saw the earth dropping rapidly from beneath him. +He saw the trees and river and at a distance the little clearing +with the thatched huts of Numabo's village. He tried hard +not to think of the results of a sudden fall to the rapidly re- +ceding ground below. He attempted to concentrate his mind +upon the twenty-four wives which this great bird most as- +suredly would permit him to command. Higher and higher +rose the plane, swinging in a wide circle above the forest, +river, and meadowland and presently, much to his surprise, +Usanga discovered that his terror was rapidly waning, so that +it was not long before there was forced upon him a conscious- +ness of utter security, and then it was that he began to take +notice of the manner in which the white man guided and +manipulated the plane. + +After half an hour of skillful maneuvering, the Englishman +rose rapidly to a considerable altitude, and then, suddenly, +without warning, he looped and flew with the plane inverted +for a few seconds. + +"I said I'd give this beggar the lesson of his life," he mur- +mured as he heard, even above the whir of the propeller, the +shriek of the terrified Negro. A moment later Smith-Oldwick +had righted the machine and was dropping rapidly toward +the earth. He circled slowly a few times above the meadow +until he had assured himself that Bertha Kircher was there and +apparently unharmed, then he dropped gently to the ground +so that the machine came to a stop a short distance from where +the girl and the warriors awaited them. + +It was a trembling and ashen-hued Usanga who tumbled +out of the fuselage, for his nerves were still on edge as a +result +of the harrowing experience of the loop, yet with terra firma +once more under foot, he quickly regained his composure. +Strutting about with great show and braggadocio, he strove +to impress his followers with the mere nothingness of so trivial +a feat as flying birdlike thousands of yards above the jungle, +though it was long until he had thoroughly convinced himself +by the force of autosuggestion that he had enjoyed every +instant of the flight and was already far advanced in the art of +aviation. + +So jealous was the black of his new-found toy that he would +not return to the village of Numabo, but insisted on making +camp close beside the plane, lest in some inconceivable fashion +it should be stolen from him. For two days they camped +there, and constantly during daylight hours Usanga compelled +the Englishman to instruct him in the art of flying. + +Smith-Oldwick, in recalling the long months of arduous +training he had undergone himself before he had been con- +sidered sufficiently adept to be considered a finished flier, +smiled at the conceit of the ignorant African who was already +demanding that he be permitted to make a flight alone. + +"If it was not for losing the machine," the Englishman ex- +plained to the girl, "I'd let the bounder take it up and break +his fool neck as he would do inside of two minutes." + +However, he finally persuaded Usanga to bide his time for +a few more days of instruction, but in the suspicious mind of +the Negro there was a growing conviction that the white man's +advice was prompted by some ulterior motive; that it was in +the hope of escaping with the machine himself by night that +he refused to admit that Usanga was entirely capable of +handling it alone and therefore in no further need of help or +instruction, and so in the mind of the black there formed a +determination to outwit the white man. The lure of the twenty- +four seductive wives proved in itself a sufficient incentive and +there, too, was added his desire for the white girl whom he +had long since determined to possess. + +It was with these thoughts in mind that Usanga lay down +to sleep in the evening of the second day. Constantly, however, +the thought of Naratu and her temper arose to take the keen +edge from his pleasant imaginings. If he could but rid himself +of her! The thought having taken form persisted, but always +it was more than outweighed by the fact that the black sergeant +was actually afraid of his woman, so much afraid of her in +fact that he would not have dared to attempt to put her out of +the way unless he could do so secretly while she slept. How- +ever, as one plan after another was conjured by the strength of +his desires, he at last hit upon one which came to him almost +with the force of a blow and brought him sitting upright among +his sleeping companions. + +When morning dawned Usanga could scarce wait for an +opportunity to put his scheme into execution, and the moment +that he had eaten, he called several of his warriors aside and +talked with them for some moments. + +The Englishman, who usually kept an eye upon his black +captor, saw now that the latter was explaining something in +detail to his warriors, and from his gestures and his manner +it was apparent that he was persuading them to some new +plan as well as giving them instructions as to what they were +to do. Several times, too, he saw the eyes of the Negroes +turned upon him and once they flashed simultaneously toward +the white girl. + +Everything about the occurrence, which in itself seemed +trivial enough, aroused in the mind of the Englishman a well- +defined apprehension that something was afoot that boded ill +for him and for the girl. He could not free himself of the idea +and so he kept a still closer watch over the black although, as +he was forced to admit to himself, he was quite powerless to +avert any fate that lay in store for them. Even the spear that +he had had when captured had been taken away from him, so +that now he was unarmed and absolutely at the mercy of the +black sergeant and his followers. + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick did not have long +to wait before discovering something of Usanga's plan, for +almost immediately after the sergeant finished giving his in- +structions, a number of warriors approached the Englishman, +while three went directly to the girl. + +Without a word of explanation the warriors seized the young +officer and threw him to the ground upon his face. For a +moment he struggled to free himself and succeeded in landing +a few heavy blows among his assailants, but he was too greatly +outnumbered to hope to more than delay them in the accom- +plishment of their object which he soon discovered was to bind +him securely hand and foot. When they had finally secured +him to their satisfaction, they rolled him over on his side and +then it was he saw Bertha Kircher had been similarly trussed. + +Smith-Oldwick lay in such a position that he could see +nearly the entire expanse of meadow and the aeroplane a short +distance away. Usanga was talking to the girl who was shaking +her head in vehement negatives. + +"What is he saying?" called the Englishman. + +"He is going to take me away in the plane," the girl called +back. "He is going to take me farther inland to another coun- +try where he says that he will be king and I am to be one of his +wives," and then to the Englishman's surprise she turned a +smiling face toward him, "but there is no danger," she con- +tinued, "for we shall both be dead within a few minutes -- just +give him time enough to get the machine under way, and if he +can rise a hundred feet from the ground I shall never need +fear him more." + +"God!" cried the man. "Is there no way that you can dis- +suade him? Promise him anything. Anything that you want. +I have money, more money than that poor fool could imagine +there was in the whole world. With it he can buy anything +that money will purchase, fine clothes and food and women, all +the women he wants. Tell him this and tell him that if he will +spare you I give him my word that I will fetch it all to him." + +The girl shook her head. "It is useless," she said. "He would +not understand and if he did understand, he would not trust +you. The blacks are so unprincipled themselves that they can +imagine no such thing as principle or honor in others, and +especially do these blacks distrust an Englishman whom the +Germans have taught them to believe are the most treacherous +and degraded of people. No, it is better thus. I am sorry that +you cannot go with us, for if he goes high enough my death +will be much easier than that which probably awaits you." + +Usanga had been continually interrupting their brief con- +versation in an attempt to compel the girl to translate it to +him, +for he feared that they were concocting some plan to thwart +him, and to quiet and appease him, she told him that the +Englishman was merely bidding her farewell and wishing her +good luck. Suddenly she turned to the black. "Will you do +something for me?" she asked. "If I go willingly with you?" + +"What is it you want?" he inquired. + +"Tell your men to free the white man after we are gone. +He can never catch us. That is all I ask of you. If you will +grant him his freedom and his life, I will go willingly with +you. + +"You will go with me anyway," growled Usanga. "It is +nothing to me whether you go willingly or not. I am going +to be a great king and you will do whatever I tell you to do." + +He had in mind that he would start properly with this +woman. There should be no repetition of his harrowing experi- +ence with Naratu. This wife and the twenty-four others should +be carefully selected and well trained. Hereafter Usanga would +be master in his own house. + +Bertha Kircher saw that it was useless to appeal to the +brute and so she held her peace though she was filled with +sorrow in contemplating the fate that awaited the young +officer, scarce more than a boy, who had impulsively revealed +his love for her. + +At Usanga's order one of the blacks lifted her from the +ground and carried her to the machine, and after Usanga had +clambered aboard, they lifted her up and he reached down +and drew her into the fuselage where he removed the thongs +from her wrists and strapped her into her seat and then took +his own directly ahead of her. + +The girl turned her eyes toward the Englishman. She was +very pale but her lips smiled bravely. + +"Good-bye!" she cried. + +"Good-bye, and God bless you!" he called back -- his voice +the least bit husky -- and then: "The thing I wanted to say -- +may I say it now, we are so very near the end?" + +Her lips moved but whether they voiced consent or refusal +he did not know, for the words were drowned in the whir of +the propeller. + +The black had learned his lesson sufficiently well so that the +motor was started without bungling and the machine was soon +under way across the meadowland. A groan escaped the lips of +the distracted Englishman as he watched the woman he loved +being carried to almost certain death. He saw the plane tilt +and the machine rise from the ground. It was a good take-off +-- as good as Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick could +make himself but he realized that it was only so by chance. At +any instant the machine might plunge to earth and even if, by +some miracle of chance, the black could succeed in rising +above the tree tops and make a successful flight, there was not +one chance in one hundred thousand that he could ever land +again without killing his fair captive and himself. + +But what was that? His heart stood still. + + + + +Usanga's Reward + +For two days Tarzan of the Apes had been hunting leisurely +to the north, and swinging in a wide circle, he had re- +turned to within a short distance of the clearing where he +had left Bertha Kircher and the young lieutenant. He had spent +the night in a large tree that overhung the river only a short +distance from the clearing, and now in the early morning +hours he was crouching at the water's edge waiting for an +opportunity to capture Pisah, the fish, thinking that he would +take it back with him to the hut where the girl could cook it +for herself and her companion. + +Motionless as a bronze statue was the wily ape-man, for +well he knew how wary is Pisah, the fish. The slightest move- +ment would frighten him away and only by infinite patience +might he be captured at all. Tarzan depended upon his own +quickness and the suddenness of his attack, for he had no +bait or hook. His knowledge of the ways of the denizens of +the water told him where to wait for Pisah. It might be a +minute or it might be an hour before the fish would swim into +the little pool above which he crouched, but sooner or later +one would come. That the ape-man knew, so with the pa- +tience of the beast of prey he waited for his quarry. + +At last there was a glint of shiny scales. Pisah was coming. +In a moment he would be within reach and then with the +swiftness of light two strong, brown hands would plunge into +the pool and seize him, but, just at the moment that the fish +was about to come within reach, there was a great crashing in +the underbrush behind the ape-man. Instantly Pisah was +gone and Tarzan, growling, had wheeled about to face what- +ever creature might be menacing him. The moment that he +turned he saw that the author of the disturbance was Zu-tag. + +"What does Zu-tag want?" asked the ape-man. + +"Zu-tag comes to the water to drink," replied the ape. + +"Where is the tribe?" asked Tarzan. + +"They are hunting for pisangs and scimatines farther back +in the forest," replied Zu-tag. + +"And the Tarmangani she and bull --" asked Tarzan, "are +they safe?" + +"They have gone away," replied Zu-tag. "Kudu has come +out of his lair twice since they left." + +"Did the tribe chase them away?" asked Tarzan. + +"No," replied the ape. "We did not see them go. We do +not know why they left." + +Tarzan swung quickly through the trees toward the clearing. +The hut and boma were as he had left them, but there was no +sign of either the man or the woman. Crossing the clearing, he +entered the boma and then the hut. Both were empty, and his +trained nostrils told him that they had been gone for at +least two days. As he was about to leave the hut he saw a +paper pinned upon the wall with a sliver of wood and taking +it down, he read: + + +After what you told me about Miss Kircher, and knowing +that you dislike her, I feel that it is not fair to her and to +you +that we should impose longer upon you. I know that our +presence is keeping you from continuing your journey to the +west coast, and so I have decided that it is better for us to +try and reach the white settlements immediately without im- +posing further upon you. We both thank you for your kind- +ness and protection. If there was any way that I might repay +the obligation I feel, I should be only too glad to do so. + + +It was signed by Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick. + +Tarzan shrugged his shoulders, crumpled the note in his +hand and tossed it aside. He felt a certain sense of relief +from responsibility and was glad that they had taken the +matter out of his hands. They were gone and would for- +get, but somehow he could not forget. He walked out across +the boma and into the clearing. He felt uneasy and restless. +Once he started toward the north in response to a sudden +determination to continue his way to the west coast. He +would follow the winding river toward the north a few miles +where its course turned to the west and then on toward its +source across a wooded plateau and up into the foothills and +the mountains. Upon the other side of the range he would +search for a stream running downward toward the west coast, +and thus following the rivers he would be sure of game and +water in plenty. + +But he did not go far. A dozen steps, perhaps, and he came +to a sudden stop. "He is an Englishman," he muttered, "and +the other is a woman. They can never reach the settlements +without my help. I could not kill her with my own hands +when I tried, and if I let them go on alone, I will have killed +her just as surely as though I had run my knife into her heart. +No," and again he shook his head. "Tarzan of the Apes is a +fool and a weak, old woman," and he turned back toward the +south. + +Manu, the monkey, had seen the two Tarmangani pass two +days before. Chattering and scolding, he told Tarzan all about +it. They had gone in the direction of the village of the +Gomangani, that much had Manu seen with his own eyes, so +the ape-man swung on through the jungle in a southerly direc- +tion and though with no concentrated effort to follow the spoor +of those he trailed, he passed numerous evidences that they +had gone this way -- faint suggestions of their scent spoor +clung lightly to leaf or branch or bole that one or the other +had touched, or in the earth of the trail their feet had trod, +and where the way wound through the gloomy depth of dank +forest, the impress of their shoes still showed occasionally in +the damp mass of decaying vegetation that floored the way. + +An inexplicable urge spurred Tarzan to increasing, speed. +The same still, small voice that chided him for having neg- +lected them seemed constantly whispering that they were in +dire need of him now. Tarzan's conscience was troubling him, +which accounted for the fact that he compared himself to a +weak, old woman, for the ape-man, reared in savagery and +inured to hardships and cruelty, disliked to admit any of the +gentler traits that in reality were his birthright. + +The trail made a detour to the east of the village of the +Wamabos, and then returned to the wide elephant path nearer +to the river, where it continued in a southerly direction for +several miles. At last there came to the ears of the ape-man +a peculiar whirring, throbbing sound. For an instant he +paused, listening intently, "An aeroplane!" he muttered, and +hastened forward at greatly increased speed. + +When Tarzan of the Apes finally reached the edge of the +meadowland where Smith-Oldwick's plane had landed, he +took in the entire scene in one quick glance and grasped the +situation, although he could scarce give credence to the things +he saw. Bound and helpless, the English officer lay upon the +ground at one side of the meadow, while around him stood +a number of the black deserters from the German command. +Tarzan had seen these men before and knew who they were. +Coming toward him down the meadow was an aeroplane +piloted by the black Usanga and in the seat behind the pilot +was the white girl, Bertha Kircher. How it befell that the +ignorant savage could operate the plane, Tarzan could not +guess nor had he time in which to speculate upon the subject. +His knowledge of Usanga, together with the position of the +white man, told him that the black sergeant was attempting +to carry off the white girl. Why he should be doing this when +he had her in his power and had also captured and secured +the only creature in the jungle who might wish to defend her +in so far as the black could know, Tarzan could not guess, for +he knew nothing of Usanga's twenty-four dream wives nor of +the black's fear of the horrid temper of Naratu, his present +mate. He did not know, then, that Usanga had determined +to fly away with the white girl never to return, and to put so +great a distance between himself and Naratu that the latter +never could find him again; but it was this very thing that +was in the black's mind although not even his own warriors +guessed it. He had told them that he would take the captive +to a sultan of the north and there obtain a great price for her +and that when he returned they should have some of the spoils. + +These things Tarzan did not know. All he knew was what +he saw -- a Negro attempting to fly away with a white girl. +Already the machine was slowly leaving the ground. In a +moment more it would rise swiftly out of reach. At first Tar- +zan thought of fitting an arrow to his bow and slaying Usanga, +but as quickly he abandoned the idea because he knew that +the moment the pilot was slain the machine, running wild, +would dash the girl to death among the trees. + +There was but one way in which he might hope to succor +her -- a way which if it failed must send him to instant death +and yet he did not hesitate in an attempt to put it into execu- +tion. + +Usanga did not see him, being too intent upon the unac- +customed duties of a pilot, but the blacks across the meadow +saw him and they ran forward with loud and savage cries +and menacing rifles to intercept him. They saw a giant white +man leap from the branches of a tree to the turf and race +rapidly toward the plane. They saw him take a long grass +rope from about his shoulders as he ran. They saw the noose +swinging in an undulating circle above his head. They saw +the white girl in the machine glance down and discover him. + +Twenty feet above the running ape-man soared the huge +plane. The open noose shot up to meet it, and the girl, half +guessing the ape-man's intentions, reached out and caught +the noose and, bracing herself, clung tightly to it with both +hands. Simultaneously Tarzan was dragged from his feet +and the plane lurched sideways in response to the new strain. +Usanga clutched wildly at the control and the machine shot +upward at a steep angle. Dangling at the end of the rope the +ape-man swung pendulum-like in space. The Englishman, +lying bound upon the ground, had been a witness of all these +happenings. His heart stood still as he saw Tarzan's body +hurtling through the air toward the tree tops among which it +seemed he must inevitably crash; but the plane was rising +rapidly, so that the beast-man cleared the top-most branches. +Then slowly, hand over hand, he climbed toward the fuselage. +The girl, clinging desperately to the noose, strained every +muscle to hold the great weight dangling at the lower end of +the rope. + +Usanga, all unconscious of what was going on behind him, +drove the plane higher and higher into the air. + +Tarzan glanced downward. Below him the tree tops and +the river passed rapidly to the rear and only a slender grass +rope and the muscles of a frail girl stood between him and the +death yawning there thousands of feet below. + +It seemed to Bertha Kircher that the fingers of her hands +were dead. The numbness was running up her arms to her +elbows. How much longer she could cling to the straining +strands she could not guess. It seemed to her that those +lifeless fingers must relax at any instant and then, when she +had about given up hope, she saw a strong brown hand reach +up and grasp the side of the fuselage. Instantly the weight +upon the rope was removed and a moment later Tarzan of +the Apes raised his body above the side and threw a leg over +the edge. He glanced forward at Usanga and then, placing +his mouth close to the girl's ear he cried: "Have you ever +piloted a plane?" The girl nodded a quick affirmative. + +"Have you the courage to climb up there beside the black +and seize the control while I take care of him?" + +The girl looked toward Usanga and shuddered. "Yes," she +replied, "but my feet are bound." + +Tarzan drew his hunting knife from its sheath and reaching +down, severed the thongs that bound her ankles. Then the +girl unsnapped the strap that held her to her seat. With one +hand Tarzan grasped the girl's arm and steadied her as the +two crawled slowly across the few feet which intervened be- +tween the two seats. A single slight tip of the plane would +have cast them both into eternity. Tarzan realized that only +through a miracle of chance could they reach Usanga and +effect the change in pilots and yet he knew that that chance +must be taken, for in the brief moments since he had first seen +the plane, he had realized that the black was almost without +experience as a pilot and that death surely awaited them in +any event should the black sergeant remain at the control. + +The first intimation Usanga had that all was not well with +him was when the girl slipped suddenly to his side and +grasped the control and at the same instant steel-like fingers +seized his throat. A brown hand shot down with a keen +blade and severed the strap about his waist and giant muscles +lifted him bodily from his seat. Usanga clawed the air and +shrieked but he was helpless as a babe. Far below the +watchers in the meadow could see the aeroplane careening +in the sky, for with the change of control it had taken a sudden +dive. They saw it right itself and, turning in a short circle, +return in their direction, but it was so far above them and +the light of the sun so strong that they could see nothing of +what was going on within the fuselage; but presently Lieuten- +ant Smith-Oldwick gave a gasp of dismay as he saw a human +body plunge downward from the plane. Turning and twisting +in mid-air it fell with ever-increasing velocity and the English- +man held his breath as the thing hurtled toward them. + +With a muffled thud it flattened upon the turf near the +center of the meadow, and when at last the Englishman could +gain the courage to again turn his eyes upon it, he breathed +a fervent prayer of thanks, for the shapeless mass that lay +upon the blood-stained turf was covered with an ebon hide. +Usanga had reaped his reward. + +Again and again the plane circled above the meadow. The +blacks, at first dismayed at the death of their leader, were +now worked to a frenzy of rage and a determination to be +avenged. The girl and the ape-man saw them gather in a +knot about the body of their fallen chief. They saw as they +circled above the meadow the black fists shaken at them, and +the rifles brandishing a menace toward them. Tarzan still +clung to the fuselage directly behind the pilot's seat. His +face was close beside Bertha Kircher's, and at the top of his +voice, above the noise of propeller, engine and exhaust, he +screamed a few words of instruction into her ear. + +As the girl grasped the significance of his words she paled, +but her lips set in a hard line and her eyes shone with a sud- +den fire of determination as she dropped the plane to within +a few feet of the ground and at the opposite end of the +meadow from the blacks and then at full speed bore down +upon the savages. So quickly the plane came that Usanga's +men had no time to escape it after they realized its menace. +It touched the ground just as it struck among them and mowed +through them, a veritable juggernaut of destruction. When +it came to rest at the edge of the forest the ape-man leaped +quickly to the ground and ran toward the young lieutenant, +and as he went he glanced at the spot where the warriors had +stood, ready to defend himself if necessary, but there was +none there to oppose him. Dead and dying they lay strewn +for fifty feet along the turf. + +By the time Tarzan had freed the Englishman the girl +joined them. She tried to voice her thanks to the ape-man +but he silenced her with a gesture. + +"You saved yourself," he insisted, "for had you been unable +to pilot the plane, I could not have helped you, and now," he +said, "you two have the means of returning to the settlements. +The day is still young. You can easily cover the distance in a +few hours if you have sufficient petrol." He looked inquir- +ingly toward the aviator. + +Smith-Oldwick nodded his head affirmatively. "I have +plenty," he replied. + +"Then go at once," said the ape-man. "Neither of you +belong in the jungle." A slight smile touched his lips as he +spoke. + +The girl and the Englishman smiled too. "This jungle is +no place for us at least," said Smith-Oldwick, "and it is no +place for any other white man. Why don't you come back +to civilization with us?" + +Tarzan shook his head. "I prefer the jungle," he said. + +The aviator dug his toe into the ground and still looking +down, blurted something which he evidently hated to say. +"If it is a matter of living, old top," he said, "er -- money, er +-- +you know --" + +Tarzan laughed. "No" he said. "I know what you are +trying to say. It is not that. I was born in the jungle. I have +lived all my life in the jungle, and I shall die in the jungle. +I do not wish to live or die elsewhere." + +The others shook their heads. They could not understand +him. + +"Go," said the ape-man. "The quicker you go, the quicker +you will reach safety." + +They walked to the plane together. Smith-Oldwick pressed +the ape-man's hand and clambered into the pilot's seat. +"Good-bye," said the girl as she extended her hand to Tarzan. +"Before I go won't you tell me you don't hate me any +more?" Tarzan's face clouded. Without a word he picked +her up and lifted her to her place behind the Englishman. An +expression of pain crossed Bertha Kircher's face. The motor +started and a moment later the two were being borne rapidly +toward the east. + +In the center of the meadow stood the ape-man watching +them. "It is too bad that she is a German and a spy," he said, +"for she is very hard to hate." + + + + +The Black Lion + +Numa, the lion, was hungry. He had come out of the +desert country to the east into a land of plenty but +though he was young and strong, the wary grass-eaters +had managed to elude his mighty talons each time he had +thought to make a kill. + +Numa, the lion, was hungry and very savage. For two days +he had not eaten and now he hunted in the ugliest of humors. +No more did Numa roar forth a rumbling challenge to the +world but rather he moved silent and grim, stepping softly +that no cracking twig might betray his presence to the keen- +eared quarry he sought. + +Fresh was the spoor of Bara, the deer, that Numa picked +up in the well-beaten game trail he was following. No hour +had passed since Bara had come this way; the time could be +measured in minutes and so the great lion redoubled the +cautiousness of his advance as he crept stealthily in pursuit of +his quarry. + +A light wind was moving through the jungle aisles, and it +wafted down now to the nostrils of the eager carnivore the +strong scent spoor of the deer, exciting his already avid appe- +tite to a point where it became a gnawing pain. Yet Numa +did not permit himself to be carried away by his desires into +any premature charge such as had recently lost him the juicy +meat of Pacco, the zebra. Increasing his gait but slightly he +followed the tortuous windings of the trail until suddenly just +before him, where the trail wound about the bole of a huge +tree, he saw a young buck moving slowly ahead of him. + +Numa judged the distance with his keen eyes, glowing now +like two terrible spots of yellow fire in his wrinkled, snarling +face. He could do it -- this time he was sure. One terrific +roar that would paralyze the poor creature ahead of him into +momentary inaction, and a simultaneous charge of lightning- +like rapidity and Numa, the lion, would feed. The sinuous +tail, undulating slowly at its tufted extremity, whipped sud- +denly erect. It was the signal for the charge and the vocal +organs were shaped for the thunderous roar when, as light- +ning out of a clear sky, Sheeta, the panther, leaped suddenly +into the trail between Numa and the deer. + +A blundering charge made Sheeta, for with the first crash of +his spotted body through the foliage verging the trail, Bara +gave a single startled backward glance and was gone. + +The roar that was intended to paralyze the deer broke +horribly from the deep throat of the great cat -- an angry roar +of rage against the meddling Sheeta who had robbed him of +his kill, and the charge that was intended for Bara was +launched against the panther; but here too Numa was doomed +to disappointment, for with the first notes of his fearsome +roar Sheeta, considering well the better part of valor, leaped +into a near-by tree. + +A half-hour later it was a thoroughly furious Numa who +came unexpectedly upon the scent of man. Heretofore the +lord of the jungle had disdained the unpalatable flesh of the +despised man-thing. Such meat was only for the old, the +toothless, and the decrepit who no longer could make their +kills among the fleet-footed grass-eaters. Bara, the deer, Horta, +the boar, and, best and wariest, Pacco, the zebra, were for the +young, the strong, and the agile, but Numa was hungry -- +hungrier than he ever had been in the five short years of +his life. + +What if he was a young, powerful, cunning, and ferocious +beast? In the face of hunger, the great leveler, he was as the +old, the toothless, and the decrepit. His belly cried aloud in +anguish and his jowls slavered for flesh. Zebra or deer or +man, what mattered it so that it was warm flesh, red with the +hot juices of life? Even Dango, the hyena, eater of offal, +would, at the moment, have seemed a tidbit to Numa. + +The great lion knew the habits and frailties of man, though +he never before had hunted man for food. He knew the +despised Gomangani as the slowest, the most stupid, and the +most defenseless of creatures. No woodcraft, no cunning, no +stealth was necessary in the hunting of man, nor had Numa +any stomach for either delay or silence. + +His rage had become an almost equally consuming passion +with his hunger, so that now, as his delicate nostrils apprised +him of the recent passage of man, he lowered his head and +rumbled forth a thunderous roar, and at a swift walk, careless +of the noise he made, set forth upon the trail of his intended +quarry. + +Majestic and terrible, regally careless of his surroundings, +the king of beasts strode down the beaten trail. The natural +caution that is inherent to all creatures of the wild had de- +serted him. What had he, lord of the jungle, to fear and, with +only man to hunt, what need of caution? And so he did not +see or scent what a more wary Numa might readily have +discovered until, with the cracking of twigs and a tumbling +of earth, he was precipitated into a cunningly devised pit that +the wily Wamabos had excavated for just this purpose in the +center of the game trail. + +Tarzan of the Apes stood in the center of the clearing watch- +ing the plane shrinking to diminutive toylike proportions in +the eastern sky. He had breathed a sigh of relief as he saw it +rise safely with the British flier and Fraulein Bertha Kircher. +For weeks he had felt the hampering responsibility of their +welfare in this savage wilderness where their utter helplessness +would have rendered them easy prey for the savage carnivores +or the cruel Wamabos. Tarzan of the Apes loved unfettered +freedom, and now that these two were safely off his hands, he +felt that he could continue upon his journey toward the +west coast and the long-untenanted cabin of his dead father. + +And yet, as he stood there watching the tiny speck in the +east, another sigh heaved his broad chest, nor was it a sigh +of relief, but rather a sensation which Tarzan had never +expected to feel again and which he now disliked to admit +even to himself. It could not be possible that he, the jungle +bred, who had renounced forever the society of man to return +to his beloved beasts of the wilds, could be feeling anything +akin to regret at the departure of these two, or any slightest +loneliness now that they were gone. Lieutenant Harold Percy +Smith-Oldwick Tarzan had liked, but the woman whom he +had known as a German spy he had hated, though he never +had found it in his heart to slay her as he had sworn to slay +all Huns. He had attributed this weakness to the fact that +she was a woman, although he had been rather troubled by +the apparent inconsistency of his hatred for her and his re- +peated protection of her when danger threatened. + +With an irritable toss of his head he wheeled suddenly +toward the west as though by turning his back upon the fast +disappearing plane he might expunge thoughts of its passen- +gers from his memory. At the edge of the clearing he paused; +a giant tree loomed directly ahead of him and, as though +actuated by sudden and irresistible impulse, he leaped into +the branches and swung himself with apelike agility to the +topmost limbs that would sustain his weight. There, balanc- +ing lightly upon a swaying bough, he sought in the direction +of the eastern horizon for the tiny speck that would be the +British plane bearing away from him the last of his own race +and kind that he expected ever again to see. + +At last his keen eyes picked up the ship flying at a con- +siderable altitude far in the east. For a few seconds he +watched it speeding evenly eastward, when, to his horror, he +saw the speck dive suddenly downward. The fall seemed +interminable to the watcher and he realized how great must +have been the altitude of the plane before the drop com- +menced. Just before it disappeared from sight its downward +momentum appeared to abate suddenly, but it was still moving +rapidly at a steep angle when it finally disappeared from view +behind the far hills. + +For half a minute the ape-man stood noting distant land- +marks that he judged might be in the vicinity of the fallen +plane, for no sooner had he realized that these people were +again in trouble than his inherent sense of duty to his own +kind impelled him once more to forego his plans and seek to +aid them. + +The ape-man feared from what he judged of the location +of the machine that it had fallen among the almost impassable +gorges of the arid country just beyond the fertile basin that +was bounded by the hills to the east of him. He had crossed +that parched and desolate country of the dead himself and +he knew from his own experience and the narrow escape he +had had from succumbing to its relentless cruelty no lesser +man could hope to win his way to safety from any considerable +distance within its borders. Vividly he recalled the bleached +bones of the long-dead warrior in the bottom of the pre- +cipitous gorge that had all but proved a trap for him as well. +He saw the helmet of hammered brass and the corroded +breastplate of steel and the long straight sword in its scabbard +and the ancient harquebus -- mute testimonials to the mighty +physique and the warlike spirit of him who had somehow +won, thus illy caparisoned and pitifully armed, to the center +of savage, ancient Africa; and he saw the slender English +youth and the slight figure of the girl cast into the same fate- +ful trap from which this giant of old had been unable to escape +-- cast there wounded and broken perhaps, if not killed. + +His judgment told him that the latter possibility was prob- +ably the fact, and yet there was a chance that they might +have landed without fatal injuries, and so upon this slim +chance he started out upon what he knew would be an ardu- +ous journey, fraught with many hardships and unspeakable +peril, that he might attempt to save them if they still lived. + +He had covered a mile perhaps when his quick ears caught +the sound of rapid movement along the game trail ahead of +him. The sound, increasing in volume, proclaimed the fact +that whatever caused it was moving in his direction and +moving rapidly. Nor was it long before his trained senses +convinced him that the footfalls were those of Bara, the deer, +in rapid flight. Inextricably confused in Tarzan's character +were the attributes of man and of beasts. Long experience +had taught him that he fights best or travels fastest who is +best nourished, and so, with few exceptions, Tarzan could +delay his most urgent business to take advantage of an op- +portunity to kill and feed. This perhaps was the predominant +beast trait in him. The transformation from an English gentle- +man, impelled by the most humanitarian motives, to that of +a wild beast crouching in the concealment of a dense bush +ready to spring upon its approaching prey, was instantaneous. + +And so, when Bara came, escaping the clutches of Numa +and Sheeta, his terror and his haste precluded the possibility +of his sensing that other equally formidable foe lying in am- +bush for him. Abreast of the ape-man came the deer; a light- +brown body shot from the concealing verdure of the bush, +strong arms encircled the sleek neck of the young buck and +powerful teeth fastened themselves in the soft flesh. Together +the two rolled over in the trail and a moment later the ape- +man rose, and, with one foot upon the carcass of his kill, +raised his voice in the victory cry of the bull ape. + +Like an answering challenge came suddenly to the ears of +the ape-man the thunderous roar of a lion, a hideous angry +roar in which Tarzan thought that he discerned a note of +surprise and terror. In the breast of the wild things of the +jungle, as in the breasts of their more enlightened brothers +and sisters of the human race, the characteristic of curiosity +is well developed. Nor was Tarzan far from innocent of it. +The peculiar note in the roar of his hereditary enemy aroused +a desire to investigate, and so, throwing the carcass of Bara, +the deer, across his shoulder, the ape-man took to the lower +terraces of the forest and moved quickly in the direction +from which the sound had come, which was in line with the +trail he had set out upon. + +As the distance lessened, the sounds increased in volume, +which indicated that he was approaching a very angry lion +and presently, where a jungle giant overspread the broad game +trail that countless thousands of hoofed and padded feet had +worn and trampled into a deep furrow during perhaps count- +less ages, he saw beneath him the lion pit of the Wamabos and +in it, leaping futilely for freedom such a lion as even Tarzan +of the Apes never before had beheld. A mighty beast it was +that glared up at the ape-man -- large, powerful and young, +with a huge black mane and a coat so much darker than any +Tarzan ever had seen that in the depths of the pit it looked +almost black -- a black lion! + +Tarzan who had been upon the point of taunting and re- +viling his captive foe was suddenly turned to open admira- +tion for the beauty of the splendid beast. What a creature! +How by comparison the ordinary forest lion was dwarfed into +insignificance! Here indeed was one worthy to be called king +of beasts. With his first sight of the great cat the ape-man +knew that he had heard no note of terror in that initial roar; +surprise doubtless, but the vocal chords of that mighty throat +never had reacted to fear. + +With growing admiration came a feeling of quick pity for the +hapless situation of the great brute rendered futile and help- +less by the wiles of the Gomangani. Enemy though the beast +was, he was less an enemy to the ape-man than those blacks +who had trapped him, for though Tarzan of the Apes claimed +many fast and loyal friends among certain tribes of African +natives, there were others of degraded character and bestial +habits that he looked upon with utter loathing, and of such +were the human flesh-eaters of Numabo the chief. For a mo- +ment Numa, the lion, glared ferociously at the naked man- +thing upon the tree limb above him. Steadily those yellow- +green eyes bored into the clear eyes of the ape-man, and then +the sensitive nostrils caught the scent of the fresh blood of +Bara and the eyes moved to the carcass lying across the brown +shoulder, and there came from the cavernous depths of the +savage throat a low whine. + +Tarzan of the Apes smiled. As unmistakably as though a +human voice had spoken, the lion had said to him "I am hun- +gry, even more than hungry. I am starving," and the ape- +man looked down upon the lion beneath him and smiled, a +slow quizzical smile, and then he shifted the carcass from his +shoulder to the branch before him and, drawing the long +blade that had been his father's, deftly cut off a hind quarter +and, wiping the bloody blade upon Bara's smooth coat, he +returned it to its scabbard. Numa, with watering jaws, looked +up at the tempting meat and whined again and the ape-man +smiled down upon him his slow smile and, raising the hind +quarter in his strong brown hands buried his teeth in the ten- +der, juicy flesh. + +For the third time Numa, the lion, uttered that low pleading +whine and then, with a rueful and disgusted shake of his +head, Tarzan of the Apes raised the balance of the carcass of +Bara, the deer, and hurled it to the famished beast below. + +"Old woman," muttered the ape-man. "Tarzan has become +a weak old woman. Presently he would shed tears because he +has killed Bara, the deer. He cannot see Numa, his enemy, +go hungry, because Tarzan's heart is turning to water by con- +tact with the soft, weak creatures of civilization." But yet he +smiled, nor was he sorry that he had given way to the dic- +tates of a kindly impulse. + +As Tarzan tore the flesh from that portion of the kill he had +retained for himself his eyes were taking in each detail of the +scene below. He saw the avidity with which Numa devoured +the carcass; he noted with growing admiration the finer points +of the beast, and also the cunning construction of the trap. +The ordinary lion pit with which Tarzan was familiar had +stakes imbedded in the bottom, upon whose sharpened points +the hapless lion would be impaled, but this pit was not so +made. Here the short stakes were set at intervals of about a +foot around the walls near the top, their sharpened points in- +clining downward so that the lion had fallen unhurt into the +trap but could not leap out because each time he essayed it his +head came in contact with the sharp end of a stake above him. + +Evidently, then, the purpose of the Wamabos was to capture +a lion alive. As this tribe had no contact whatsoever with +white men in so far as Tarzan knew, their motive was doubt- +less due to a desire to torture the beast to death that they +might enjoy to the utmost his dying agonies. + +Having fed the lion, it presently occurred to Tarzan that his +act would be futile were he to leave the beast to the mercies +of the blacks, and then too it occurred to him that he could +derive more pleasure through causing the blacks discomfiture +than by leaving Numa to his fate. But how was he to release +him? By removing two stakes there would be left plenty of +room for the lion to leap from the pit, which was not of any +great depth. However, what assurance had Tarzan that Numa +would not leap out instantly the way to freedom was open, +and before the ape-man could gain the safety of the trees? +Regardless of the fact that Tarzan felt no such fear of the lion +as you and I might experience under like circumstances, he yet +was imbued with the sense of caution that is necessary to all +creatures of the wild if they are to survive. Should necessity +require, Tarzan could face Numa in battle, although he was +not so egotistical as to think that he could best a full-grown +lion in mortal combat other than through accident or the utili- +zation of the cunning of his superior man-mind. To lay him- +self liable to death futilely, he would have considered as repre- +hensible as to have shunned danger in time of necessity; but +when Tarzan elected to do a thing he usually found the means +to accomplish it. + +He had now fully determined to liberate Numa, and having +so determined, he would accomplish it even though it entailed +considerable personal risk. He knew that the lion would be +occupied with his feeding for some time, but he also knew +that while feeding he would be doubly resentful of any fancied +interference. Therefore Tarzan must work with caution. + +Coming to the ground at the side of the pit, he examined the +stakes and as he did so was rather surprised to note that Numa +gave no evidence of anger at his approach. Once he turned +a searching gaze upon the ape-man for a moment and then +returned to the flesh of Bara. Tarzan felt of the stakes and +tested them with his weight. He pulled upon them with the +muscles of his strong arms, presently discovering that by work- +ing them back and forth he could loosen them: and then a +new plan was suggested to him so that he fell to work excavat- +ing with his knife at a point above where one of the stakes +was imbedded. The loam was soft and easily removed, and +it was not long until Tarzan had exposed that part of one of +the stakes which was imbedded in the wall of the pit to almost +its entire length, leaving only enough imbedded to prevent the +stake from falling into the excavation. Then he turned his at- +tention to an adjoining stake and soon had it similarly ex- +posed, after which he threw the noose of his grass rope over +the two and swung quickly to the branch of the tree above. +Here he gathered in the slack of the rope and, bracing him- +self against the bole of the tree, pulled steadily upward. Slowly +the stakes rose from the trench in which they were imbedded +and with them rose Numa's suspicion and growling. + +Was this some new encroachment upon his rights and his +liberties? He was puzzled and, like all lions, being short of +temper, he was irritated. He had not minded it when the Tar- +mangani squatted upon the verge of the pit and looked down +upon him, for had not this Tarmangani fed him? But now +something else was afoot and the suspicion of the wild beast +was aroused. As he watched, however, Numa saw the stakes +rise slowly to an erect position, tumble against each other and +then fall backwards out of his sight upon the surface of the +ground above. Instantly the lion grasped the possibilities of +the situation, and, too, perhaps he sensed the fact that the +man-thing had deliberately opened a way for his escape. Seiz- +ing the remains of Bara in his great jaws, Numa, the lion, +leaped agilely from the pit of the Wamabos and Tarzan of the +Apes melted into the jungles to the east. + +On the surface of the ground or through the swaying +branches of the trees the spoor of man or beast was an open +book to the ape-man, but even his acute senses were baffled +by the spoorless trail of the airship. Of what good were eyes, +or ears, or the sense of smell in following a thing whose path +had lain through the shifting air thousands of feet above the +tree tops? Only upon his sense of direction could Tarzan de- +pend in his search for the fallen plane. He could not even +judge accurately as to the distance it might lie from him, and +he knew that from the moment that it disappeared beyond the +hills it might have traveled a considerable distance at right +angles to its original course before it crashed to earth. If its +occupants were killed or badly injured the ape-man might +search futilely in their immediate vicinity for some time be- +fore finding them. + +There was but one thing to do and that was to travel to a +point as close as possible to where he judged the plane had +landed, and then to follow in ever-widening circles until he +picked up their scent spoor. And this he did. + +Before he left the valley of plenty he made several kills and +carried the choicest cuts of meat with him, leaving all the dead +weight of bones behind. The dense vegetation of the jungle +terminated at the foot of the western slope, growing less and +less abundant as he neared the summit beyond which was a +sparse growth of sickly scrub and sunburned grasses, with here +and there a gnarled and hardy tree that had withstood the +vicissitudes of an almost waterless existence. + +From the summit of the hills Tarzan's keen eyes searched +the arid landscape before him. In the distance he discerned +the ragged tortuous lines that marked the winding course of the +hideous gorges which scored the broad plain at intervals -- the +terrible gorges that had so nearly claimed his life in punish- +ment for his temerity in attempting to invade the sanctity of +their ancient solitude. + +For two days Tarzan sought futilely for some clew to the +whereabouts of the machine or its occupants. He cached por- +tions of his kills at different points, building cairns of rock +to +mark their locations. He crossed the first deep gorge and cir- +cled far beyond it. Occasionally he stopped and called aloud, +listening for some response but only silence rewarded him -- +a sinister silence that his cries only accentuated. + +Late in the evening of the second day he came to the well- +remembered gorge in which lay the clean-picked bones of the +ancient adventurer, and here, for the first time, Ska, the vul- +ture, picked up his trail. "Not this time, Ska," cried the ape- +man in a taunting voice, "for now indeed is Tarzan Tarzan. +Before, you stalked the grim skeleton of a Tarmangani and +even then you lost. Waste not your time upon Tarzan of the +Apes in the full of his strength. But still Ska, the vulture, +circled +and soared above him, and the ape-man, notwithstanding his +boasts, felt a shudder of apprehension. Through his brain +ran a persistent and doleful chant to which he involuntarily +set two words, repeated over and over again in horrible mo- +notony: "Ska knows! Ska knows!" until, shaking himself in +anger, he picked up a rock and hurled it at the grim scav- +enger. + +Lowering himself over the precipitous side of the gorge Tar- +zan half clambered and half slid to the sandy floor beneath. +He had come upon the rift at almost the exact spot at which +he had clambered from it weeks before, and there he saw, just +as he had left it, just, doubtless, as it had lain for centuries, +the mighty skeleton and its mighty armor. + +As he stood looking down upon this grim reminder that an- +other man of might had succumbed to the cruel powers of the +desert, he was brought to startled attention by the report of a +firearm, the sound of which came from the depths of the gorge +to the south of him, and reverberated along the steep walls of +the narrow rift. + + + + +Mysterious Footprints + +As the British plane piloted by Lieutenant Harold Percy +Smith-Oldwick rose above the jungle wilderness where +Bertha Kircher's life had so often been upon the point +of extinction, and sped toward the east, the girl felt a sudden +contraction of the muscles of her throat. She tried very hard +to swallow something that was not there. It seemed strange to +her that she should feel regret in leaving behind her such +hideous perils, and yet it was plain to her that such was the +fact, for she was also leaving behind something beside the +dangers that had menaced her -- a unique figure that had en- +tered her life, and for which she felt an unaccountable at- +traction. + +Before her in the pilot's seat sat an English officer and gen- +tleman whom, she knew, loved her, and yet she dared to feel +regret in his company at leaving the stamping ground of a +wild beast! + +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick, on his part, was in the seventh +heaven of elation. He was in possession again of his beloved +ship, he was flying swiftly in the direction of his comrades and +his duty, and with him was the woman he loved. The fly in +the ointment, however, was the accusation Tarzan had made +against this woman. He had said that she was a German, and +a spy, and from the heights of bliss the English officer was +occasionally plunged to the depths of despair in contempla- +tion of the inevitable, were the ape-man's charges to prove +true. He found himself torn between sentiments of love and +honor. On the one hand he could not surrender the woman he +loved to the certain fate that must be meted out to her if she +were in truth an enemy spy, while on the other it would be +equally impossible for him as an Englishman and an officer +to give her aid or protection. + +The young man contented himself therefore with repeated +mental denials of her guilt. He tried to convince himself that +Tarzan was mistaken, and when he conjured upon the screen +of recollection the face of the girl behind him, he was doubly +reassured that those lines of sweet femininity and character, +those clear and honest eyes, could not belong to one of the +hated alien race. + +And so they sped toward the east, each wrapped in his own +thoughts. Below them they saw the dense vegetation of the +jungle give place to the scantier growth upon the hillside, and +then before them there spread the wide expanse of arid waste- +lands marked by the deep scarring of the narrow gorges that +long-gone rivers had cut there in some forgotten age. + +Shortly after they passed the summit of the ridge which +formed the boundary between the desert and the fertile coun- +try, Ska, the vulture, winging his way at a high altitude toward +his aerie, caught sight of a strange new bird of gigantic pro- +portions encroaching upon the preserves of his aerial domain. +Whether with intent to give battle to the interloper or merely +impelled by curiosity, Ska rose suddenly upward to meet the +plane. Doubtless he misjudged the speed of the newcomer, +but be that as it may, the tip of the propeller blade touched +him and simultaneously many things happened. The lifeless +body of Ska, torn and bleeding, dropped plummet-like toward +the ground; a bit of splintered spruce drove backward to strike +the pilot on the forehead; the plane shuddered and trembled +and as Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick sank forward +in momentary unconsciousness the ship dived headlong toward +the earth. + +Only for an instant was the pilot unconscious, but that in- +stant almost proved their undoing. When he awoke to a reali- +zation of their peril it was also to discover that his motor had +stalled. The plane had attained frightful momentum, and the +ground seemed too close for him to hope to flatten out in time +to make a safe landing. Directly beneath him was a deep rift in +the plateau, a narrow gorge, the bottom of which appeared +comparatively level and sand covered. + +In the brief instant in which he must reach a decision, the +safest plan seemed to attempt a landing in the gorge, and this +he did, but not without considerable damage to the plane and +a severe shaking-up for himself and his passenger. + +Fortunately neither of them was injured but their condition +seemed indeed a hopeless one. It was a grave question as to +whether the man could repair his plane and continue the jour- +ney, and it seemed equally questionable as to their ability +either to proceed on foot to the coast or retrace their way to +the country they had just left. The man was confident that +they could not hope to cross the desert country to the east in +the face of thirst and hunger, while behind them in the valley +of plenty lay almost equal danger in the form of carnivores +and the warlike natives. + +After the plane came to its sudden and disastrous stop, +Smith-Oldwick turned quickly to see what the effect of the +accident had been on the girl. He found her pale but smiling, +and for several seconds the two sat looking at each other in +silence. + +"This is the end?" the girl asked. + +The Englishman shook his head. "It is the end of the first +leg, anyway," he replied. + +"But you can't hope to make repairs here," she said du- +biously. + +"No," he said, "not if they amount to anything, but I may +be able to patch it up. I will have to look her over a bit first. +Let us hope there is nothing serious. It's a long, long way to +the Tanga railway." + +"We would not get far," said the girl, a slight note of hope- +lessness in her tone. "Entirely unarmed as we are, it would +be little less than a miracle if we covered even a small fraction +of the distance." + +"But we are not unarmed," replied the man. "I have an +extra pistol here, that the beggars didn't discover," and, re- +moving the cover of a compartment, he drew forth an auto- +matic. + +Bertha Kircher leaned back in her seat and laughed aloud, +a mirthless, half-hysterical laugh. "That popgun!" she ex- +claimed. "What earthly good would it do other than to in- +furiate any beast of prey you might happen to hit with it?" + +Smith-Oldwick looked rather crestfallen. "But it is a weap- +on," he said. "You will have to admit that, and certainly I +could kill a man with it." + +"You could if you happened to hit him," said the girl, "or +the thing didn't jam. Really, I haven't much faith in an auto- +matic. I have used them myself." + +"Oh, of course," he said ironically, "an express rifle would +be better, for who knows but we might meet an elephant here +in the desert." + +The girl saw that he was hurt, and she was sorry, for she +realized that there was nothing he would not do in her service +or protection, and that it was through no fault of his that he +was so illy armed. Doubtless, too, he realized as well as she +the futility of his weapon, and that he had only called attention +to it in the hope of reassuring her and lessening her anxiety. + +"Forgive me," she said. "I did not mean to be nasty, but +this accident is the proverbial last straw. It seems to me that +I have borne all that I can. Though I was willing to give my +life in the service of my country, I did not imagine that my +death agonies would be so long drawn out, for I realize now +that I have been dying for many weeks." + +"What do you mean!" he exclaimed; "what do you mean by +that! You are not dying. There is nothing the matter with you." + +"Oh, not that," she said, "I did not mean that. What I mean +is that at the moment the black sergeant, Usanga, and his rene- +gade German native troops captured me and brought me in- +land, my death warrant was signed. Sometimes I have imagined +that a reprieve has been granted. Sometimes I have hoped +that I might be upon the verge of winning a full pardon, but +really in the depths of my heart I have known that I should +never live to regain civilization. I have done my bit for my +country, and though it was not much I can at least go with the +realization that it was the best I was able to offer. All that I +can hope for now, all that I ask for, is a speedy fulfillment of +the death sentence. I do not wish to linger any more to face +constant terror and apprehension. Even physical torture would +be preferable to what I have passed through. I have no doubt +that you consider me a brave woman, but really my terror has +been boundless. The cries of the carnivores at night fill me +with a dread so tangible that I am in actual pain. I feel the +rending talons in my flesh and the cruel fangs munching upon +my bones -- it is as real to me as though I were actually +enduring the horrors of such a death. I doubt if you can under- +stand it -- men are so different." + +"Yes," he said, "I think I can understand it, and because I +understand I can appreciate more than you imagine the hero- +ism you have shown in your endurance of all that you have +passed through. There can be no bravery where there is no +fear. A child might walk into a lion's den, but it would take +a very brave man to go to its rescue." + +"Thank you," she said, "but I am not brave at all, and now +I am very much ashamed of my thoughtlessness for your own +feelings. I will try and take a new grip upon myself and we +will both hope for the best. I will help you all I can if you +will tell me what I may do." + +"The first thing," he replied, "is to find out just how serious +our damage is, and then to see what we can do in the way of +repairs." + +For two days Smith-Oldwick worked upon the damaged +plane -- worked in the face of the fact that from the first he +realized the case was hopeless. And at last he told her. + +'I knew it," she said, "but I believe that I felt much as you +must have; that however futile our efforts here might be, it +would be infinitely as fatal to attempt to retrace our way to +the jungle we just left or to go on toward the coast. You know +and I know that we could not reach the Tanga railway on foot. +We should die of thirst and starvation before we had covered +half the distance, and if we return to the jungle, even were we +able to reach it, it would be but to court an equally certain, +though different, fate." + +"So we might as well sit here and wait for death as to use- +lessly waste our energies in what we know would be a futile +attempt at escape?" he asked. + +"No," she replied, "I shall never give up like that. What I +meant was that it was useless to attempt to reach either of the +places where we know that there is food and water in abun- +dance, so we must strike out in a new direction. Somewhere +there may be water in this wilderness and if there is, the best +chance of our finding it would be to follow this gorge down- +ward. We have enough food and water left, if we are careful +of it, for a couple of days and in that time we might stumble +upon a spring or possibly even reach the fertile country which +I know lies to the south. When Usanga brought me to the +Wamabo country from the coast he took a southerly route +along which there was usually water and game in plenty. It +was not until we neared our destination that the country be- +came overrun with carnivores. So there is hope if we can reach +the fertile country south of us that we can manage to pull +through to the coast." + +The man shook his head dubiously. "We can try it," he said. +"Personally, I do not fancy sitting here waiting for death." + +Smith-Oldwick was leaning against the ship, his dejected +gaze directed upon the ground at his feet. The girl was looking +south down the gorge in the direction of their one slender +chance of life. Suddenly she touched him on the arm. + +"Look," she whispered. + +The man raised his eyes quickly in the direction of her gaze +to see the massive head of a great lion who was regarding them +from beyond a rocky projection at the first turning of the +gorge. + +"Phew!" he exclaimed, "the beggars are everywhere." + +"They do not go far from water do they," asked the girl +hopefully. + +"I should imagine not," he replied; "a lion is not particularly +strong on endurance." + +"Then he is a harbinger of hope," she exclaimed. + +The man laughed. "Cute little harbinger of hope!" he said. +"Reminds me of Cock Robin heralding spring." + +The girl cast a quick glance at him. "Don't be silly, and I +don't care if you do laugh. He fills me with hope." + +"It is probably mutual," replied Smith-Oldwick, "as we +doubtless fill him with hope." + +The lion evidently having satisfied himself as to the nature +of the creatures before him advanced slowly now in their di- +rection. + +"Come," said the man, 'let's climb aboard," and he helped +the girl over the side of the ship. + +"Can't he get in here?" she asked. + +"I think he can," said the man. + +"You are reassuring," she returned. + +"I don't feel so." He drew his pistol. + +"For heaven's sake," she cried, "don't shoot at him with that +thing. You might hit him." + +"I don't intend to shoot at him but I might succeed in fright- +ening him away if he attempts to reach us here. Haven't you +ever seen a trainer work with lions? He carries a silly little +pop-gun loaded with blank cartridges. With that and a kitchen +chair he subdues the most ferocious of beasts." + +"But you haven't a kitchen chair," she reminded him. + +"No," he said, "Government is always muddling things. I +have always maintained that airplanes should be equipped +with kitchen chairs." + +Bertha Kircher laughed as evenly and with as little hysteria +as though she were moved by the small talk of an afternoon +tea. + +Numa, the lion, came steadily toward them; his attitude +seemed more that of curiosity than of belligerency. Close to +the side of the ship he stopped and stood gazing up at them. + +"Magnificent, isn't he?" exclaimed the man. + +"I never saw a more beautiful creature," she replied, "nor +one with such a dark coat. Why, he is almost black." + +The sound of their voices seemed not to please the lord of +the jungle, for he suddenly wrinkled his great face into deep +furrows as he bared his fangs beneath snarling lips and gave +vent to an angry growl. Almost simultaneously he crouched +for a spring and immediately Smith-Oldwick discharged his +pistol into the ground in front of the lion. The effect of the +noise upon Numa seemed but to enrage him further, and with +a horrid roar he sprang for the author of the new and dis- +quieting sound that had outraged his ears. + +Simultaneously Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick +vaulted nimbly out of the cockpit on the opposite side of his +plane, calling to the girl to follow his example. The girl, real- +izing the futility of leaping to the ground, chose the remaining +alternative and clambered to the top of the upper plane. + +Numa, unaccustomed to the idiosyncrasies of construction +of an airship and having gained the forward cockpit, watched +the girl clamber out of his reach without at first endeavoring +to prevent her. Having taken possession of the plane his anger +seemed suddenly to leave him and he made no immediate +move toward following Smith-Oldwick. The girl, realizing the +comparative safety of her position, had crawled to the outer +edge of the wing and was calling to the man to try and reach +the opposite end of the upper plane. + +It was this scene upon which Tarzan of the Apes looked as +he rounded the bend of the gorge above the plane after the +pistol shot had attracted his attention. The girl was so intent +upon watching the efforts of the Englishman to reach a place +of safety, and the latter was so busily occupied in attempting +to do so that neither at once noticed the silent approach of the +ape-man. + +It was Numa who first noticed the intruder. The lion imme- +diately evinced his displeasure by directing toward him a +snarling countenance and a series of warning growls. His +action called the attention of the two upon the upper plane to +the newcomer, eliciting a stifled "Thank God!" from the girl, +even though she could scarce credit the evidence of her own +eyes that it was indeed the savage man, whose presence always +assured her safety, who had come so providentially in the nick +of time. + +Almost immediately both were horrified to see Numa leap +from the cockpit and advance upon Tarzan. The ape-man, +carrying his stout spear in readiness, moved deliberately on- +ward to meet the carnivore, which he had recognized as the +lion of the Wamabos' pit. He knew from the manner of +Numa's approach what neither Bertha Kircher nor Smith- +Oldwick knew -- that there was more of curiosity than bellig- +erency in it, and he wondered if in that great head there might +not be a semblance of gratitude for the kindness that Tarzan +had done him. + +There was no question in Tarzan's mind but that Numa +recognized him, for he knew his fellows of the jungle well +enough to know that while they ofttimes forgot certain sensa- +tions more quickly than man there are others which remain in +their memories for years. A well-defined scent spoor might +never be forgotten by a beast if it had first been sensed under +unusual circumstances, and so Tarzan was confident that +Numa's nose had already reminded him of all the circum- +stances of their brief connection. + +Love of the sporting chance is inherent in the Anglo-Saxon +race and it was not now Tarzan of the Apes but rather John +Clayton, Lord Greystoke, who smilingly welcomed the sport- +ing chance which he must take to discover how far-reaching +was Numa's gratitude. + +Smith-Oldwick and the girl saw the two nearing each other. +The former swore softly beneath his breath while he nervously +fingered the pitiful weapon at his hip. The girl pressed her +open palms to her cheeks as she leaned forward in stony-eyed, +horror-stricken silence. While she had every confidence in the +prowess of the godlike creature who thus dared brazenly to +face the king of beasts, she had no false conception of what +must certainly happen when they met. She had seen Tarzan +battle with Sheeta, the panther, and she had realized then that +powerful as the man was, it was only agility, cunning, and +chance that placed him upon anywhere near an equal footing +with his savage adversary, and that of the three factors upon +his side chance was the greatest. + +She saw the man and the lion stop simultaneously, not more +than a yard apart. She saw the beast's tail whipping from side +to side and she could hear his deep-throated growls rumbling +from his cavernous breast, but she could read correctly neither +the movement of the lashing tail nor the notes of the growl. + +To her they seemed to indicate nothing but bestial rage +while to Tarzan of the Apes they were conciliatory and reas- +suring in the extreme. And then she saw Numa move forward +again until his nose touched the man's naked leg and she closed +her eyes and covered them with her palms. For what seemed +an eternity she waited for the horrid sound of the conflict +which she knew must come, but all she heard was an explosive +sigh of relief from Smith-Oldwick and a half-hysterical "By +Jove! Just fancy it!" + +She looked up to see the great lion rubbing his shaggy head +against the man's hip, and Tarzan's free hand entangled in +the black mane as he scratched Numa, the lion, behind a back- +laid ear. + +Strange friendships are often formed between the lower +animals of different species, but less often between man and +the savage felidae, because of the former's inherent fear of +the great cats. And so after all, therefore, the friendship so +suddenly developed between the savage lion and the savage +man was not inexplicable. + +As Tarzan approached the plane Numa walked at his side, +and when Tarzan stopped and looked up at the girl and the +man Numa stopped also. + +"I had about given up hope of finding you," said the ape- +man, "and it is evident that I found you just in time." + +"But how did you know we were in trouble?" asked the +English officer. + +"I saw your plane fall," replied Tarzan. "I was watching +you from a tree beside the clearing where you took off. I +didn't have much to locate you by other than the general +direction, but it seems that you volplaned a considerable dis- +tance toward the south after you disappeared from my view +behind the hills. I have been looking for you further toward +the north. I was just about to turn back when I heard your +pistol shot. Is your ship beyond repair?" + +"Yes," replied Smith-Oldwick, "it is hopeless." + +"What are your plans, then? What do you wish to do?" +Tarzan directed his question to the girl. + +"We want to reach the coast," she said, "but it seems impos- +sible now." + +"I should have thought so a little while ago," replied the ape- +man, "but if Numa is here there must be water within a rea- +sonable distance. I ran across this lion two days ago in the +Wamabo country. I liberated him from one of their pits. To +have reached this spot he must have come by some trail un- +known to me -- at least I crossed no game trail and no spoor of +any animal after I came over the hills out of the fertile +country. +From which direction did he come upon you?" + +"It was from the south," replied the girl. "We thought, too, +that there must be water in that direction." + +"Let's find out then," said Tarzan. + +"But how about the lion?" asked Smith-Oldwick. + +"That we will have to discover," replied the ape-man, "and +we can only do so if you will come down from your perch." + +The officer shrugged his shoulders. The girl turned her gaze +upon him to note the effect of Tarzan's proposal. The English- +man grew suddenly very white, but there was a smile upon his +lips as without a word he slipped over the edge of the plane +and clambered to the ground behind Tarzan. + +Bertha Kircher realized that the man was afraid nor did she +blame him, and she also realized the remarkable courage that +he had shown in thus facing a danger that was very real to him. + +Numa standing close to Tarzan's side raised his head and +glared at the young Englishman, growled once, and looked up +at the ape-man. Tarzan retained a hold upon the beast's mane +and spoke to him in the language of the great apes. To the girl +and Smith-Oldwick the growling gutturals falling from human +lips sounded uncanny in the extreme, but whether Numa +understood them or not they appeared to have the desired +effect upon him, as he ceased growling, and as Tarzan walked +to Smith-Oldwick's side Numa accompanied him, nor did he +offer to molest the officer. + +"What did you say to him?" asked the girl. + +Tarzan smiled. "I told him," he replied, "that I am Tarzan +of the Apes, mighty hunter, killer of beasts, lord of the jungle, +and that you are my friends. I have never been sure that all of +the other beasts understand the language of the Mangani. I +know that Manu, the monkey, speaks nearly the same tongue +and I am sure that Tantor, the elephant, understands all that +I say to him. We of the jungle are great boasters. In our +speech, in our carriage, in every detail of our demeanor we +must impress others with our physical power and our ferocity. +That is why we growl at our enemies. We are telling them to +beware or we shall fall upon them and tear them to pieces. +Perhaps Numa does not understand the words that I use but +I believe that my tones and my manner carry the impression +that I wish them to convey. Now you may come down and be +introduced." + +It required all the courage that Bertha Kircher possessed to +lower herself to the ground within reach of the talons and +fangs of this untamed forest beast, but she did it. Nor did +Numa do more than bare his teeth and growl a little as she +came close to the ape-man. + +"I think you are safe from him as long as I am present," said +the ape-man. "The best thing to do is simply to ignore him. +Make no advances, but be sure to give no indication of fear +and, if possible always keep me between you and him. He will +go away presently I am sure and the chances are that we shall +not see him again." + +At Tarzan's suggestion Smith-Oldwick removed the remain- +ing water and provisions from the plane and, distributing the +burden among them, they set off toward the south. Numa did +not follow them, but stood by the plane watching until they +finally disappeared from view around a bend in the gorge. + +Tarzan had picked up Numa's trail with the intention of +following it southward in the belief that it would lead to water. +In the sand that floored the bottom of the gorge tracks were +plain and easily followed. At first only the fresh tracks of +Numa were visible, but later in the day the ape-man discovered +the older tracks of other lions and just before dark he stopped +suddenly in evident surprise. His two companions looked at +him questioningly, and in answer to their implied interroga- +tions he pointed at the ground directly in front of him. + +"Look at those," he exclaimed. + +At first neither Smith-Oldwick nor the girl saw anything +but a confusion of intermingled prints of padded feet in the +sand, but presently the girl discovered what Tarzan had seen, +and an exclamation of surprise broke from her lips. + +"The imprint of human feet!" she cried. + +Tarzan nodded. + +"But there are no toes," the girl pointed out. + +"The feet were shod with a soft sandal," explained Tarzan. + +"Then there must be a native village somewhere in the +vicinity," said Smith-Oldwick. + +"Yes," replied the ape-man, "but not the sort of natives +which we would expect to find here in this part of Africa +where others all go unshod with the exception of a few of +Usanga's renegade German native troops who wear German +army shoes. I don't know that you can notice it, but it is +evident to me that the foot inside the sandal that made these +imprints were not the foot of a Negro. If you will examine +them carefully you will notice that the impression of the heel +and ball of the foot are well marked even through the sole of +the sandal. The weight comes more nearly in the center of a +Negro's footprint. + +"Then you think these were made by a white person?" + +"It looks that way," replied Tarzan, and suddenly, to the +surprise of both the girl and Smith-Oldwick, he dropped to his +hands and knees and sniffed at the tracks -- again a beast +utilizing the senses and woodcraft of a beast. Over an area of +several square yards his keen nostrils sought the identity of the +makers of the tracks. At length he rose to his feet. + +"It is not the spoor of the Gomangani," he said, "nor is it +exactly like that of white men. There were three who came +this way. They were men, but of what race I do not know." + +There was no apparent change in the nature of the gorge +except that it had steadily grown deeper as they followed it +downward until now the rocky and precipitous sides rose far +above them. At different points natural caves, which appeared +to have been eroded by the action of water in some forgotten +age, pitted the side walls at various heights. Near them was +such a cavity at the ground's level -- an arched cavern floored +with white sand. Tarzan indicated it with a gesture of his hand. + +"We will lair here tonight," he said, and then with one of +his rare, slow smiles: "We will CAMP here tonight." + +Having eaten their meager supper Tarzan bade the girl enter +the cavern. + +"You will sleep inside," he said. "The lieutenant and I will +lie outside at the entrance." + + + + +The Night Attack + +As the girl turned to bid them good night, she thought that +she saw a shadowy form moving in the darkness beyond +them, and almost simultaneously she was sure that she +heard the sounds of stealthy movement in the same direction. + +"What is that?" she whispered. "There is something out +there in the darkness." + +"Yes," replied Tarzan, "it is a lion. It has been there for +some time. Hadn't you noticed it before?" + +"Oh!" cried the girl, breathing a sigh of relief, "is it our +lion?" + +"No," said Tarzan, "it is not our lion; it is another lion and +he is hunting." + +"He is stalking us?" asked the girl. + +"He is," replied the ape-man. Smith-Oldwick fingered the +grip of his pistol. + +Tarzan saw the involuntary movement and shook his head. + +"Leave that thing where it is, Lieutenant," he said. + +The officer laughed nervously. "I couldn't help it, you know, +old man," he said; "instinct of self-preservation and all that." + +"It would prove an instinct of self-destruction," said Tarzan. +"There are at least three hunting lions out there watching us. +If we had a fire or the moon were up you would see their eyes +plainly. Presently they may come after us but the chances are +that they will not. If you are very anxious that they should, +fire your pistol and hit one of them." + +"What if they do charge?" asked the girl; "there is no means +of escape." + +"Why, we should have to fight them," replied Tarzan. + +"What chance would we three have against them?" asked +the girl. + +The ape-man shrugged his shoulders. "One must die some- +time," he said. "To you doubtless it may seem terrible -- such +a death; but Tarzan of the Apes has always expected to go out +in some such way. Few of us die of old age in the jungle, nor +should I care to die thus. Some day Numa will get me, or +Sheeta, or a black warrior. These or some of the others. What +difference does it make which it is, or whether it comes tonight +or next year or in ten years? After it is over it will be all the +same." + +The girl shuddered. "Yes," she said in a dull, hopeless voice, +"after it is over it will be all the same." + +Then she went into the cavern and lay down upon the sand. +Smith-Oldwick sat in the entrance and leaned against the cliff. +Tarzan squatted on the opposite side. + +"May I smoke?" questioned the officer of Tarzan. "I have +been hoarding a few cigarettes and if it won't attract those +bouncers out there I would like to have one last smoke before +I cash in. Will you join me?" and he proffered the ape-man a +cigarette. + +"No, thanks," said Tarzan, "but it will be all right if you +smoke. No wild animal is particularly fond of the fumes of +tobacco so it certainly won't entice them any closer." + +Smith-Oldwick lighted his cigarette and sat puffing slowly +upon it. He had proffered one to the girl but she had refused, +and thus they sat in silence for some time, the silence of the +night ruffled occasionally by the faint crunching of padded +feet upon the soft sands of the gorge's floor. + +It was Smith-Oldwick who broke the silence. "Aren't they +unusually quiet for lions?" he asked. + +"No," replied the ape-man; "the lion that goes roaring +around the jungle does not do it to attract prey. They are very +quiet when they are stalking their quarry." + +"I wish they would roar," said the officer. "I wish they +would do anything, even charge. Just knowing that they are +there and occasionally seeing something like a shadow in the +darkness and the faint sounds that come to us from them are +getting on my nerves. But I hope," he said, "that all three +don't charge at once." + +"Three?" said Tarzan. "There are seven of them out there +now." + +"Good Lord! exclaimed Smith-Oldwick. + +"Couldn't we build a fire," asked the girl, "and frighten them +away?" + +"I don't know that it would do any good," said Tarzan, "as +I have an idea that these lions are a little different from any +that we are familiar with and possibly for the same reason +which at first puzzled me a little -- I refer to the apparent +docility in the presence of a man of the lion who was with us +today. A man is out there now with those lions." + +"It is impossible!" exclaimed Smith-Oldwick. "They would +tear him to pieces." + +"What makes you think there is a man there?" asked the +girl. + +Tarzan smiled and shook his head. "I am afraid you would +not understand," he replied. "It is difficult for us to under- +stand anything that is beyond our own powers." + +"What do you mean by that?" asked the officer. + +"Well," said Tarzan, "if you had been born without eyes you +could not understand sense impressions that the eyes of others +transmit to their brains, and as you have both been born with- +out any sense of smell I am afraid you cannot understand how +I can know that there is a man there." + +"You mean that you scent a man?" asked the girl. + +Tarzan nodded affirmatively. + +"And in the same way you know the number of lions?" +asked the man. + +"Yes," said Tarzan. "No two lions look alike, no two have +the same scent." + +The young Englishman shook his head. "No," he said, "I +cannot understand." + +"I doubt if the lions or the man are here necessarily for the +purpose of harming us," said Tarzan, "because there has been +nothing to prevent their doing so long before had they wished +to. I have a theory, but it is utterly preposterous." + +"What is it?" asked the girl. + +"I think they are here," replied Tarzan, "to prevent us from +going some place that they do not wish us to go; in other +words we are under surveillance, and possibly as long as we +don't go where we are not wanted we shall not be bothered." + +"But how are we to know where they don't want us to go?" +asked Smith-Oldwick. + +"We can't know," replied Tarzan, "and the chances are that +the very place we are seeking is the place they don't wish us +to trespass on." + +"You mean the water?" asked the girl. + +"Yes," replied Tarzan. + +For some time they sat in silence which was broken only by +an occasional sound of movement from the outer darkness. It +must have been an hour later that the ape-man rose quietly +and drew his long blade from its sheath. Smith-Oldwick was +dozing against the rocky wall of the cavern entrance, while the +girl, exhausted by the excitement and fatigue of the day, had +fallen into deep slumber. An instant after Tarzan arose, +Smith-Oldwick and the girl were aroused by a volley of +thunderous roars and the noise of many padded feet rushing +toward them. + +Tarzan of the Apes stood directly before the entrance to the +cavern, his knife in his hand, awaiting the charge. The ape- +man had not expected any such concerted action as he now +realized had been taken by those watching them. He had +known for some time that other men had joined those who +were with the lions earlier in the evening, and when he arose +to his feet it was because he knew that the lions and the men +were moving cautiously closer to him and his party. He might +easily have eluded them, for he had seen that the face of the +cliff rising above the mouth of the cavern might be scaled by +as good a climber as himself. It might have been wiser had +he tried to escape, for he knew that in the face of such odds +even he was helpless, but he stood his ground though I doubt +if he could have told why. + +He owed nothing either of duty or friendship to the girl +sleeping in the cavern, nor could he longer be of any protec- +tion to her or her companion. Yet something held him there in +futile self-sacrifice. + +The great Tarmangani had not even the satisfaction of +striking a blow in self-defense. A veritable avalanche of savage +beasts rolled over him and threw him heavily to the ground. +In falling his head struck the rocky surface of the cliff, stun- +ning him. + +It was daylight when he regained consciousness. The first +dim impression borne to his awakening mind was a confusion +of savage sounds which gradually resolved themselves into +the growling of lions, and then, little by little, there came +back +to him the recollections of what had preceded the blow that +had felled him. + +Strong in his nostrils was the scent of Numa, the lion, and +against one naked leg he could feel the coat of some animal. +Slowly Tarzan opened his eyes. He was lying on his side and +as he looked down his body, he saw that a great lion stood +straddling him -- a great lion who growled hideously at some- +thing which Tarzan could not see. + +With the full return of his senses Tarzan's nose told him +that the beast above him was Numa of the Wamabo pit. + +Thus reassured, the ape-man spoke to the lion and at the +same time made a motion as though he would arise. Immedi- +ately Numa stepped from above him. As Tarzan raised his +head, he saw that he still lay where he had fallen before the +opening of the cliff where the girl had been sleeping and that +Numa, backed against the cliffside, was apparently defending +him from two other lions who paced to and fro a short +distance from their intended victim. + +And then Tarzan turned his eyes into the cave and saw that +the girl and Smith-Oldwick were gone. + +His efforts had been for naught. With an angry toss of his +head, the ape-man turned upon the two lions who had con- +tinued to pace back and forth a few yards from him. Numa +of the lion pit turned a friendly glance in Tarzan's direction, +rubbed his head against the ape-man's side, and then directed +his snarling countenance toward the two hunters. + +"I think," said Tarzan to Numa, "that you and I together +can make these beasts very unhappy." He spoke in English, +which, of course, Numa did not understand at all, but there +must have been something reassuring in the tone, for Numa +whined pleadingly and moved impatiently to and fro parallel +with their antagonists. + +"Come," said Tarzan suddenly and grasping the lion's mane +with his left hand he moved toward the other lions, his com- +panion pacing at his side. As the two advanced the others drew +slowly back and, finally separating, moved off to either side. +Tarzan and Numa passed between them but neither the great +black-maned lion nor the man failed to keep an eye upon the +beast nearer him so that they were not caught unawares when, +as though at some preconcerted signal, the two cats charged +simultaneously from opposite directions. + +The ape-man met the charge of his antagonist after the same +fashion of fighting that he had been accustomed to employing +in previous encounters with Numa and Sheeta. To have at- +tempted to meet the full shock of a lion's charge would have +been suicidal even for the giant Tarmangani. Instead he re- +sorted to methods of agility and cunning, for quick as are the +great cats, even quicker is Tarzan of the Apes. + +With outspread, raking talons and bared fangs Numa sprang +for the naked chest of the ape-man. Throwing up his left arm +as a boxer might ward off a blow, Tarzan struck upward +beneath the left forearm of the lion, at the same time rushing +in with his shoulder beneath the animal's body and simul- +taneously drove his blade into the tawny hide behind the +shoulder. With a roar of pain Numa wheeled again, the per- +sonification of bestial rage. Now indeed would he exterminate +this presumptuous man-thing who dared even to think that he +could thwart the king of beasts in his desires. But as he +wheeled, his intended quarry wheeled with him, brown fingers +locked in the heavy mane on the powerful neck and again the +blade struck deep into the lion's side. + +Then it was that Numa went mad with hate and pain and +at the same instant the ape-man leaped full upon his back. +Easily before had Tarzan locked his legs beneath the belly of +a lion while he clung to its long mane and stabbed it until his +point reached its heart. So easy it had seemed before that he +experienced a sharp feeling of resentment that he was unable +to do so now, for the quick movements of the lion prevented +him, and presently, to his dismay, as the lion leaped and threw +him about, the ape-man realized that he was swinging in- +evitably beneath those frightful talons. + +With a final effort he threw himself from Numa's back and +sought, by his quickness, to elude the frenzied beast for the +fraction of an instant that would permit him to regain his +feet and meet the animal again upon a more even footing. But +this time Numa was too quick for him and he was but partially +up when a great paw struck him on the side of the head and +bowled him over. + +As he fell he saw a black streak shoot above him and an- +other lion close upon his antagonist. Rolling from beneath the +two battling lions Tarzan regained his feet, though he was half +dazed and staggering from the impact of the terrible blow he +had received. Behind him he saw a lifeless lion lying torn and +bleeding upon the sand, and before him Numa of the pit was +savagely mauling the second lion. + +He of the black coat tremendously outclassed his adversary +in point of size and strength as well as in ferocity. The +battling +beasts made a few feints and passes at each other before the +larger succeeded in fastening his fangs in the other's throat, +and then, as a cat shakes a mouse, the larger lion shook the +lesser, and when his dying foe sought to roll beneath and rake +his conqueror with his hind claws, the other met him halfway +at his own game, and as the great talons buried themselves in +the lower part of the other's chest and then were raked down- +ward with all the terrific strength of the mighty hind legs, the +battle was ended. + +As Numa rose from his second victim and shook himself, +Tarzan could not but again note the wondrous proportions and +symmetry of the beast. The lions they had bested were splendid +specimens themselves and in their coats Tarzan noted a sugges- +tion of the black which was such a strongly marked character- +istic of Numa of the pit. Their manes were just a trifle darker +than an ordinary black-maned lion but the tawny shade on the +balance of their coats predominated. However, the ape-man +realized that they were a distinct species from any he had seen +as though they had sprung originally from a cross between the +forest lion of his acquaintance and a breed of which Numa of +the pit might be typical. + +The immediate obstruction in his way having been removed, +Tarzan was for setting out in search of the spoor of the girl +and Smith-Oldwick, that he might discover their fate. He +suddenly found himself tremendously hungry and as he circled +about over the sandy bottom searching among the tangled net- +work of innumerable tracks for those of his proteges, there +broke from his lips involuntarily the whine of a hungry beast. +Immediately Numa of the pit pricked up his ears and, regard- +ing the ape-man steadily for a moment, he answered the call +of hunger and started briskly off toward the south, stopping +occasionally to see if Tarzan was following. + +The ape-man realized that the beast was leading him to +food, and so he followed and as he followed his keen eyes and +sensitive nostrils sought for some indication of the direction +taken by the man and the girl. Presently out of the mass of +lion tracks, Tarzan picked up those of many sandaled feet and +the scent spoor of the members of the strange race such as +had been with the lions the night before, and then faintly he +caught the scent spoor of the girl and a little later that of +Smith-Oldwick. Presently the tracks thinned and here those of +the girl and the Englishman became well marked. + +They had been walking side by side and there had been +men and lions to the right and left of them, and men and lions +in front and behind. The ape-man was puzzled by the possi- +bilities suggested by the tracks, but in the light of any +previous +experience he could not explain satisfactorily to himself what +his perceptions indicated. + +There was little change in the formation of the gorge; it still +wound its erratic course between precipitous cliffs. In places +it widened out and again it became very narrow and always +deeper the further south they traveled. Presently the bottom +of the gorge began to slope more rapidly. Here and there were +indications of ancient rapids and waterfalls. The trail became +more difficult but was well marked and showed indications of +great antiquity, and, in places, the handiwork of man. They +had proceeded for a half or three-quarters of a mile when, at +a turning of the gorge, Tarzan saw before him a narrow valley +cut deep into the living rock of the earth's crust, with lofty +mountain ranges bounding it upon the south. How far it ex- +tended east and west he could not see, but apparently it was +no more than three or four miles across from north to south. + +That it was a well-watered valley was indicated by the +wealth of vegetation that carpeted its floor from the rocky +cliffs upon the north to the mountains on the south. + +Over the edge of the cliffs from which the ape-man viewed +the valley a trail had been hewn that led downward to the +base. Preceded by the lion Tarzan descended into the valley, +which, at this point, was forested with large trees. Before him +the trail wound onward toward the center of the valley. +Raucous-voiced birds of brilliant plumage screamed among +the branches while innumerable monkeys chattered and +scolded above him. + +The forest teemed with life, and yet there was borne in upon +the ape-man a sense of unutterable loneliness, a sensation that +he never before had felt in his beloved jungles. There was +unreality in everything about him -- in the valley itself, lying +hidden and forgotten in what was supposed to be an arid +waste. The birds and the monkeys, while similar in type to +many with which he was familiar, were identical with none, +nor was the vegetation without its idiosyncrasies. It was as +though he had been suddenly transported to another world +and he felt a strange restlessness that might easily have been +a premonition of danger. + +Fruits were growing among the trees and some of these he +saw that Manu, the monkey, ate. Being hungry he swung to +the lower branches and, amidst a great chattering of the +monkeys, proceeded to eat such of the fruit as he saw the +monkeys ate in safety. When he had partially satisfied his +hunger, for meat alone could fully do so, he looked about him +for Numa of the pit to discover that the lion had gone. + + + + +The Walled City + +Dropping to the ground once more he picked up the trail +of the girl and her captors, which he followed easily +along what appeared to be a well-beaten trail. It was +not long before he came to a small stream, where he quenched +his thirst, and thereafter he saw that the trail followed in the +general direction of the stream, which ran southwesterly. Here +and there were cross trails and others which joined the main +avenue, and always upon each of them were the tracks and +scent of the great cats, of Numa, the lion, and Sheeta, the +panther. + +With the exception of a few small rodents there appeared to +be no other wild life on the surface of the valley. There was no +indication of Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, or of Gorgo, +the buffalo, Buto, Tantor, or Duro. Histah, the snake, was +there. He saw him in the trees in greater numbers than he ever +had seen Histah before; and once beside a reedy pool he +caught a scent that could have belonged to none other than +Gimla the crocodile, but upon none of these did the Tar- +mangani care to feed. + +And so, as he craved meat, he turned his attention to the +birds above him. His assailants of the night before had not +disarmed him. Either in the darkness and the rush of the +charging lions the human foe had overlooked him or else they +had considered him dead; but whatever the reason he still +retained his weapons -- his spear and his long knife, his bow +and arrows, and his grass rope. + +Fitting a shaft to his bow Tarzan awaited an opportunity to +bring down one of the larger birds, and when the opportunity +finally presented itself he drove the arrow straight to its mark. +As the gaily plumaged creature fluttered to earth its compan- +ions and the little monkeys set up a most terrific chorus of +wails and screaming protests. The whole forest became +suddenly a babel of hoarse screams and shrill shrieks. + +Tarzan would not have been surprised had one or two birds +in the immediate vicinity given voice to terror as they fled, but +that the whole life of the jungle should set up so weird a pro- +test filled him with disgust. It was an angry face that he turned +up toward the monkeys and the birds as there suddenly stirred +within him a savage inclination to voice his displeasure and +his answer to what he considered their challenge. And so it +was that there broke upon this jungle for the first time Tarzan's +hideous scream of victory and challenge. + +The effect upon the creatures above him was instantaneous. +Where before the air had trembled to the din of their voices, +now utter silence reigned and a moment later the ape-man was +alone with his puny kill. + +The silence following so closely the previous tumult carried +a sinister impression to the ape-man, which still further +aroused his anger. Picking the bird from where it had fallen +he withdrew his arrow from the body and returned it to his +quiver. Then with his knife he quickly and deftly removed the +skin and feathers together. He ate angrily, growling as though +actually menaced by a near-by foe, and perhaps, too, his +growls were partially induced by the fact that he did not care +for the flesh of birds. Better this, however, than nothing and +from what his senses had told him there was no flesh in the +vicinity such as he was accustomed to and cared most for. +How he would have enjoyed a juicy haunch from Pacco, the +zebra, or a steak from the loin of Gorgo, the buffalo! The very +thought made his mouth water and increased his resentment +against this unnatural forest that harbored no such delicious +quarry. + +He had but partially consumed his kill when he suddenly +became aware of a movement in the brush at no great distance +from him and downwind, and a moment later his nostrils +picked up the scent of Numa from the opposite direction, and +then upon either side he caught the fall of padded feet and the +brushing of bodies against leafy branches. The ape-man +smiled. What stupid creature did they think him, to be sur- +prised by such clumsy stalkers? Gradually the sounds and +scents indicated that lions were moving upon him from all +directions, that he was in the center of a steadily converging +circle of beasts. Evidently they were so sure of their prey that +they were making no effort toward stealth, for he heard twigs +crack beneath their feet, and the brushing of their bodies +against the vegetation through which they forced their way. + +He wondered what could have brought them. It seemed +unreasonable to believe that the cries of the birds and the +monkeys should have summoned them, and yet, if not, it was +indeed a remarkable coincidence. His judgment told him that +the death of a single bird in this forest which teemed with +birds could scarce be of sufficient moment to warrant that +which followed. Yet even in the face of reason and past experi- +ence he found that the whole affair perplexed him. + +He stood in the center of the trail awaiting the coming of +the lions and wondering what would be the method of their +attack or if they would indeed attack. Presently a maned lion +came into view along the trail below him. At sight of him the +lion halted. The beast was similar to those that had attacked +him earlier in the day, a trifle larger and a trifle darker than +the +lions of his native jungles, but neither so large nor so black as +Numa of the pit. + +Presently he distinguished the outlines of other lions in the +surrounding brush and among the trees. Each of them halted +as it came within sight of the ape-man and there they stood +regarding him in silence. Tarzan wondered how long it would +be before they charged and while he waited he resumed his +feeding, though with every sense constantly alert. + +One by one the lions lay down, but always their faces were +toward him and their eyes upon him. There had been no +growling and no roaring -- just the quiet drawing of the silent +circle about him. It was all so entirely foreign to anything that +Tarzan ever before had seen lions do that it irritated him so +that presently, having finished his repast, he fell to making +insulting remarks to first one and then another of the lions, +after the habit he had learned from the apes of his childhood. + +"Dango, eater of carrion," he called them, and he compared +them most unfavorably with Histah, the snake, the most +loathed and repulsive creature of the jungle. Finally he threw +handfuls of earth at them and bits of broken twigs, and then +the lions growled and bared their fangs, but none of them +advanced. + +"Cowards," Tarzan taunted them. "Numa with a heart of +Bara, the deer." He told them who he was, and after the +manner of the jungle folk he boasted as to the horrible things +he would do to them, but the lions only lay and watched him. + +It must have been a half hour after their coming that Tar- +zan caught in the distance along the trail the sound of foot- +steps approaching. They were the footsteps of a creature who +walked upon two legs, and though Tarzan could catch no +scent spoor from that direction he knew that a man was +approaching. Nor had he long to wait before his judgment +was confirmed by the appearance of a man who halted in the +trail directly behind the first lion that Tarzan had seen. + +At sight of the newcomer the ape-man realized that here +was one similar to those who had given off the unfamiliar +scent spoor that he had detected the previous night, and he +saw that not only in the matter of scent did the man differ +from other human beings with whom Tarzan was familiar. + +The fellow was strongly built with skin of a leathery ap- +pearance, like parchment yellowed with age. His hair, which +was coal black and three or four inches in length, grew out +stiffly at right angles to his scalp. His eyes were close set and +the irises densely black and very small, so that the white of +the eyeball showed around them. The man's face was smooth +except for a few straggly hairs on his chin and upper lip. +The nose was aquiline and fine, but the hair grew so far down +on the forehead as to suggest a very low and brutal type. +The upper lip was short and fine while the lower lip was +rather heavy and inclined to be pendulous, the chin being +equally weak. Altogether the face carried the suggestion of +a once strong and handsome countenance entirely altered by +physical violence or by degraded habits and thoughts. The +man's arms were long, though not abnormally so, while his +legs were short, though straight. + +He was clothed in tight-fitting nether garments and a loose, +sleeveless tunic that fell just below his hips, while his feet +were shod in soft-soled sandals, the wrappings of which ex- +tended halfway to his knees, closely resembling a modern +spiral military legging. He carried a short, heavy spear, and +at his side swung a weapon that at first so astonished the ape- +man that he could scarcely believe the evidence of his senses +-- a heavy saber in a leather-covered scabbard. The man's +tunic appeared to have been fabricated upon a loom -- it was +certainly not made of skins, while the garments that covered +his legs were quite as evidently made from the hides of +rodents. + +Tarzan noted the utter unconcern with which the man +approached the lions, and the equal indifference of Numa to +him. The fellow paused for a moment as though appraising +the ape-man and then pushed on past the lions, brushing +against the tawny hide as he passed him in the trail. + +About twenty feet from Tarzan the man stopped, addressing +the former in a strange jargon, no syllable of which was +intelligible to the Tarmangani. His gestures indicated numer- +ous references to the lions surrounding them, and once he +touched his spear with the forefinger of his left hand and +twice he struck the saber at his hip. + +While he spoke Tarzan studied the fellow closely, with the +result that there fastened itself upon his mind a strange con- +viction -- that the man who addressed him was what might +only be described as a rational maniac. As the thought came +to the ape-man he could not but smile, so paradoxical the +description seemed. Yet a closer study of the man's features, +carriage, and the contour of his head carried almost incon- +trovertibly the assurance that he was insane, while the tones +of his voice and his gestures resembled those of a sane and +intelligent mortal. + +Presently the man had concluded his speech and appeared +to be waiting questioningly Tarzan's reply. The ape-man +spoke to the other first in the language of the great apes, but +he soon saw that the words carried no conviction to his +listener. Then with equal futility he tried several native +dialects but to none of these did the man respond. + +By this time Tarzan began to lose patience. He had wasted +sufficient time by the road, and as he had never depended +much upon speech in the accomplishment of his ends, he now +raised his spear and advanced toward the other. This, evi- +dently, was a language common to both, for instantly the +fellow raised his own weapon and at the same time a low +call broke from his lips, a call which instantly brought to +action every lion in the hitherto silent circle. A volley of +roars shattered the silence of the forest and simultaneously +lions sprang into view upon all sides as they closed in rapidly +upon their quarry. The man who had called them stepped +back, his teeth bared in a mirthless grin. + +It was then that Tarzan first noticed that the fellow's upper +canines were unusually long and exceedingly sharp. It was +just a flashing glimpse he got of them as he leaped agilely +from the ground and, to the consternation of both the lions +and their master, disappeared in the foliage of the lower +terrace, flinging back over his shoulder as he swung rapidly +away: "I am Tarzan of the Apes; mighty hunter; mighty +fighter! None in the jungle more powerful, none more cun- +ning than Tarzan!" + +A short distance beyond the point at which they had sur- +rounded him, Tarzan came to the trail again and sought for +the spoor of Bertha Kircher and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick. +He found them quickly and continued upon his search for the +two. The spoor lay directly along the trail for another half- +mile when the way suddenly debouched from the forest into +open land and there broke upon the astonished view of the +ape-man the domes and minarets of a walled city. + +Directly before him in the wall nearest him Tarzan saw a +low-arched gateway to which a well-beaten trail led from +that which he had been following. In the open space between +the forest and the city walls, quantities of garden stuff was +growing, while before him at his feet, in an open man-made +ditch, ran a stream of water! The plants in the garden were +laid out in well-spaced, symmetrical rows and appeared to +have been given excellent attention and cultivation. Tiny +streams were trickling between the rows from the main ditch +before him and at some distance to his right he could see +people at work among the plants. + +The city wall appeared to be about thirty feet in height, +its plastered expanse unbroken except by occasional em- +brasures. Beyond the wall rose the domes of several struc- +tures and numerous minarets dotted the sky line of the city. +The largest and central dome appeared to be gilded, while +others were red, or blue, or yellow. The architecture of the +wall itself was of uncompromising simplicity. It was of a +cream shade and appeared to be plastered and painted. At +its base was a line of well-tended shrubs and at some distance +towards its eastern extremity it was vine covered to the top. + +As he stood in the shadow of the trail, his keen eyes taking +in every detail of the picture before him, he became aware of +the approach of a party in his rear and there was borne to +him the scent of the man and the lions whom he had so +readily escaped. Taking to the trees Tarzan moved a short +distance to the west and, finding a comfortable crotch at the +edge of the forest where he could watch the trail leading +through the gardens to the city gate, he awaited the return of +his would-be captors. And soon they came -- the strange man +followed by the pack of great lions. Like dogs they moved +along behind him down the trail among the gardens to the +gate. + +Here the man struck upon the panels of the door with the +butt of his spear, and when it opened in response to his signal +he passed in with his lions. Beyond the open door Tarzan, +from his distant perch, caught but a fleeting glimpse of life +within the city, just enough to indicate that there were other +human creatures who abode there, and then the door closed. + +Through that door he knew that the girl and the man whom +he sought to succor had been taken into the city. What fate +lay in store for them or whether already it had been meted +out to them he could not even guess, nor where, within that +forbidding wall, they were incarcerated he could not know. +But of one thing he was assured: that if he were to aid them +he could not do it from outside the wall. He must gain +entrance to the city first, nor did he doubt, that once within, +his keen senses would eventually reveal the whereabouts of +those whom he sought. + +The low sun was casting long shadows across the gardens +when Tarzan saw the workers returning from the eastern field. +A man came first, and as he came he lowered little gates along +the large ditch of running water, shutting off the streams that +had run between the rows of growing plants; and behind him +came other men carrying burdens of fresh vegetables in great +woven baskets upon their shoulders. Tarzan had not realized +that there had been so many men working in the field, but +now as he sat there at the close of the day he saw a procession +filing in from the east, bearing the tools and the produce back +into the city. + +And then, to gain a better view, the ape-man ascended to +the topmost branches of a tall tree where he overlooked the +nearer wall. From this point of vantage he saw that the city +was long and narrow, and that while the outer walls formed +a perfect rectangle, the streets within were winding. Toward +the center of the city there appeared to be a low, white +building around which the larger edifices of the city had been +built, and here, in the fast-waning light, Tarzan thought that +between two buildings he caught the glint of water, but of +that he was not sure. His experience of the centers of civiliza- +tion naturally inclined him to believe that this central area +was a plaza about which the larger buildings were grouped +and that there would be the most logical place to search first +for Bertha Kircher and her companion. + +And then the sun went down and darkness quickly en- +veloped the city -- a darkness that was accentuated for the +ape-man rather than relieved by the artificial lights which +immediately appeared in many of the windows visible to him. + +Tarzan had noticed that the roofs of most of the buildings +were flat, the few exceptions being those of what he imagined +to be the more pretentious public structures. How this city +had come to exist in this forgotten part of unexplored Africa +the ape-man could not conceive. Better than another, he +realized something of the unsolved secrets of the Great Dark +Continent, enormous areas of which have as yet been un- +touched by the foot of civilized man. Yet he could scarce +believe that a city of this size and apparently thus well con- +structed could have existed for the generations that it must +have been there, without intercourse with the outer world. +Even though it was surrounded by a trackless desert waste, as +he knew it to be, he could not conceive that generation after +generation of men could be born and die there without at- +tempting to solve the mysteries of the world beyond the +confines of their little valley. + +And yet, here was the city surrounded by tilled land and +filled with people! + +With the coming of night there arose throughout the jungle +the cries of the great cats, the voice of Numa blended with +that of Sheeta, and the thunderous roars of the great males +reverberated through the forest until the earth trembled, and +from within the city came the answering roars of other lions. + +A simple plan for gaining entrance to the city had occurred +to Tarzan, and now that darkness had fallen he set about to +put it into effect. Its success hinged entirely upon the strength +of the vines he had seen surmounting the wall toward the +east. In this direction he made his way, while from out of +the forest about him the cries of the flesh-eaters increased in +volume and ferocity. A quarter of a mile intervened between +the forest and the city wall -- a quarter of a mile of cultivated +land unrelieved by a single tree. Tarzan of the Apes realized +his limitations and so he knew that it would undoubtedly +spell death for him to be caught in the open space by one of +the great black lions of the forest if, as he had already sur- +mised, Numa of the pit was a specimen of the forest lion of the +valley. + +He must, therefore, depend entirely upon his cunning and +his speed, and upon the chance that the vine would sustain +his weight. + +He moved through the middle terrace, where the way is +always easiest, until he reached a point opposite the vine-clad +portion of the wall, and there he waited, listening and scenting, +until he might assure himself that there was no Numa within +his immediate vicinity, or, at least, none that sought him. And +when he was quite sure that there was no lion close by in the +forest, and none in the clearing between himself and the wall, +he dropped lightly to the ground and moved stealthily out into +the open. + +The rising moon, just topping the eastern cliffs, cast its +bright rays upon the long stretch of open garden beneath the +wall. And, too, it picked out in clear relief for any curious +eyes that chanced to be cast in that direction, the figure of the +giant ape-man moving across the clearing. It was only chance, +of course, that a great lion hunting at the edge of the forest +saw the figure of the man halfway between the forest and the +wall. Suddenly there broke upon Tarzan's ears a menacing +sound. It was not the roar of a hungry lion, but the roar of +a lion in rage, and, as he glanced back in the direction from +which the sound came, he saw a huge beast moving out from +the shadow of the forest toward him. + +Even in the moonlight and at a distance Tarzan saw that +the lion was huge; that it was indeed another of the black- +maned monsters similar to Numa of the pit. For an instant +he was impelled to turn and fight, but at the same time the +thought of the helpless girl imprisoned in the city flashed +through his brain and, without an instant's hesitation, Tarzan +of the Apes wheeled and ran for the wall. Then it was that +Numa charged. + +Numa, the lion, can run swiftly for a short distance, but he +lacks endurance. For the period of an ordinary charge he +can cover the ground with greater rapidity possibly than any +other creature in the world. Tarzan, on the other hand, could +run at great speed for long distances, though never as rapidly +as Numa when the latter charged. + +The question of his fate, then, rested upon whether, with +his start he could elude Numa for a few seconds; and, if so, +if the lion would then have sufficient stamina remaining to +pursue him at a reduced gait for the balance of the distance +to the wall. + +Never before, perhaps, was staged a more thrilling race, +and yet it was run with only the moon and stars to see. Alone +and in silence the two beasts sped across the moonlit clearing. +Numa gained with appalling rapidity upon the fleeing man, +yet at every bound Tarzan was nearer to the vine-clad wall. +Once the ape-man glanced back. Numa was so close upon +him that it seemed inevitable that at the next bound he should +drag him down; so close was he that the ape-man drew his +knife as he ran, that he might at least give a good account of +himself in the last moments of his life. + +But Numa had reached the limit of his speed and endurance. +Gradually he dropped behind but he did not give up the +pursuit, and now Tarzan realized how much hinged upon the +strength of the untested vines. + +If, at the inception of the race, only Goro and the stars had +looked down upon the contestants, such was not the case at +its finish, since from an embrasure near the summit of the +wall two close-set black eyes peered down upon the two. +Tarzan was a dozen yards ahead of Numa when he reached +the wall. There was no time to stop and institute a search +for sturdy stems and safe handholds. His fate was in the +hands of chance and with the realization he gave a final spurt +and running catlike up the side of the wall among the vines, +sought with his hands for something that would sustain his +weight. Below him Numa leaped also. + + + + +Among the Maniacs + +As the lions swarmed over her protectors, Bertha Kircher +shrank back in the cave in a momentary paralysis of +fright superinduced, perhaps, by the long days of ter- +rific nerve strain which she had undergone. + +Mingled with the roars of the lions had been the voices of +men, and presently out of the confusion and turmoil she felt +the near presence of a human being, and then hands reached +forth and seized her. It was dark and she could see but little, +nor any sign of the English officer or the ape-man. The +man who seized her kept the lions from her with what ap- +peared to be a stout spear, the haft of which he used to beat +off the beasts. The fellow dragged her from the cavern the +while he shouted what appeared to be commands and warn- +ings to the lions. + +Once out upon the light sands of the bottom of the gorge +objects became more distinguishable, and then she saw that +there were other men in the party and that two half led and +half carried the stumbling figure of a third, whom she guessed +must be Smith-Oldwick. + +For a time the lions made frenzied efforts to reach the two +captives but always the men with them succeeded in beating +them off. The fellows seemed utterly unafraid of the great +beasts leaping and snarling about them, handling them much +the same as one might handle a pack of obstreperous dogs. +Along the bed of the old watercourse that once ran through +the gorge they made their way, and as the first faint lightening +of the eastern horizon presaged the coming dawn, they paused +for a moment upon the edge of a declivity, which appeared to +the girl in the strange light of the waning night as a vast, +bottomless pit; but, as their captors resumed their way and +the light of the new day became stronger, she saw that they +were moving downward toward a dense forest. + +Once beneath the over-arching trees all was again Cim- +merian darkness, nor was the gloom relieved until the sun +finally arose beyond the eastern cliffs, when she saw that they +were following what appeared to be a broad and well-beaten +game trail through a forest of great trees. The ground was +unusually dry for an African forest and the underbrush, while +heavily foliaged, was not nearly so rank and impenetrable as +that which she had been accustomed to find in similar woods. +It was as though the trees and the bushes grew in a waterless +country, nor was there the musty odor of decaying vegetation +or the myriads of tiny insects such as are bred in damp places. + +As they proceeded and the sun rose higher, the voices of +the arboreal jungle life rose in discordant notes and loud +chattering about them. Innumerable monkeys scolded and +screamed in the branches overhead, while harsh-voiced birds +of brilliant plumage darted hither and thither. She noticed +presently that their captors often cast apprehensive glances +in the direction of the birds and on numerous occasions +seemed to be addressing the winged denizens of the forest. + +One incident made a marked impression on her. The man +who immediately preceded her was a fellow of powerful +build, yet, when a brilliantly colored parrot swooped down- +ward toward him, he dropped upon his knees and covering +his face with his arms bent forward until his head touched +the ground. Some of the others looked at him and laughed +nervously. Presently the man glanced upward and seeing that +the bird had gone, rose to his feet and continued along the +trail. + +It was at this brief halt that Smith-Oldwick was brought to +her side by the men who had been supporting him. He had +been rather badly mauled by one of the lions; but was now +able to walk alone, though he was extremely weak from shock +and loss of blood. + +"Pretty mess, what?" he remarked with a wry smile, indi- +cating his bloody and disheveled state. + +"It is terrible," said the girl. "I hope you are not suffering." + +"Not as much as I should have expected," he replied, "but +I feel as weak as a fool. What sort of creatures are these +beggars, anyway?" + +"I don't know," she replied, "there is something terribly +uncanny about their appearance." + +The man regarded one of their captors closely for a mo- +ment and then, turning to the girl asked, "Did you ever visit +a madhouse?" + +She looked up at him in quick understanding and with a +horrified expression in her eyes. "That's it!" she cried. + +"They have all the earmarks," he said. "Whites of the eyes +showing all around the irises, hair growing stiffly erect from +the scalp and low down upon the forehead -- even their man- +nerisms and their carriage are those of maniacs." + +The girl shuddered. + +"Another thing about them," continued the Englishman, +"that doesn't appear normal is that they are afraid of parrots +and utterly fearless of lions." + +"Yes," said the girl; "and did you notice that the birds seem +utterly fearless of them -- really seem to hold them in con- +tempt? Have you any idea what language they speak?" + +'No," said the man, "I have been trying to figure that out. +It's not like any of the few native dialects of which I have any +knowledge." + +"It doesn't sound at all like the native language," said the +girl, "but there is something familiar about it. You know, +every now and then I feel that I am just on the verge of +understanding what they are saying, or at least that some- +where I have heard their tongue before, but final recognition +always eludes me." + +"I doubt if you ever heard their language spoken," said the +man. "These people must have lived in this out-of-the-way +valley for ages and even if they had retained the original +language of their ancestors without change, which is doubt- +ful, it must be some tongue that is no longer spoken in the +outer world." + +At one point where a stream of water crossed the trail the +party halted while the lions and the men drank. They mo- +tioned to their captors to drink too, and as Bertha Kircher +and Smith-Oldwick, lying prone upon the ground drank from +the clear, cool water of the rivulet, they were suddenly startled +by the thunderous roar of a lion a short distance ahead of +them. Instantly the lions with them set up a hideous response, +moving restlessly to and fro with their eyes always either +turned in the direction from which the roar had come or +toward their masters, against whom the tawny beasts slunk. +The men loosened the sabers in their scabbards, the weapons +that had aroused Smith-Oldwick's curiosity as they had Tar- +zan's, and grasped their spears more firmly. + +Evidently there were lions and lions, and while they evinced +no fear of the beasts which accompanied them, it was quite +evident that the voice of the newcomer had an entirely differ- +ent effect upon them, although the men seemed less terrified +than the lions. Neither, however, showed any indication of +an inclination to flee; on the contrary the entire party advanced +along the trail in the direction of the menacing roars, and +presently there appeared in the center of the path a black +lion of gigantic proportions. To Smith-Oldwick and the girl +he appeared to be the same lion that they had encountered +at the plane and from which Tarzan had rescued them. But +it was not Numa of the pit, although he resembled him closely. + +The black beast stood directly in the center of the trail +lashing his tail and growling menacingly at the advancing +party. The men urged on their own beasts, who growled and +whined but hesitated to charge. Evidently becoming impa- +tient, and in full consciousness of his might the intruder raised +his tail stiffly erect and shot forward. Several of the de- +fending lions made a half-hearted attempt to obstruct his +passage, but they might as well have placed themselves in the +path of an express train, as hurling them aside the great beast +leaped straight for one of the men. A dozen spears were +launched at him and a dozen sabers leaped from their scab- +bards; gleaming, razor-edged weapons they were, but for the +instant rendered futile by the terrific speed of the charging +beast. + +Two of the spears entering his body but served to further +enrage him as, with demoniacal roars, he sprang upon the +hapless man he had singled out for his prey. Scarcely pausing +in his charge he seized the fellow by the shoulder and, turning +quickly at right angles, leaped into the concealing foliage +that flanked the trail, and was gone, bearing his victim with +him. + +So quickly had the whole occurrence transpired that the +formation of the little party was scarcely altered. There had +been no opportunity for flight, even if it had been contem- +plated; and now that the lion was gone with his prey the men +made no move to pursue him. They paused only long enough +to recall the two or three of their lions that had scattered and +then resumed the march along the trail. + +"Might be an everyday occurrence from all the effect it has +on them," remarked Smith-Oldwick to the girl. + +"Yes," she said. "They seem to be neither surprised nor +disconcerted, and evidently they are quite sure that the lion, +having got what he came for, will not molest them further." + +"I had thought," said the Englishman, "that the lions of the +Wamabo country were about the most ferocious in existence, +but they are regular tabby cats by comparison with these big +black fellows. Did you ever see anything more utterly fear- +less or more terribly irresistible than that charge?" + +For a while, as they walked side by side, their thoughts and +conversation centered upon this latest experience, until the +trail emerging from the forest opened to their view a walled +city and an area of cultivated land. Neither could suppress +an exclamation of surprise. + +"Why, that wall is a regular engineering job," exclaimed +Smith-Oldwick + +"And look at the domes and minarets of the city beyond," +cried the girl. "There must be a civilized people beyond that +wall. Possibly we are fortunate to have fallen into their hands." + +Smith-Oldwick shrugged his shoulders. "I hope so," he +said, "though I am not at all sure about people who travel +about with lions and are afraid of parrots. There must be +something wrong with them." + +The party followed the trail across the field to an arched +gateway which opened at the summons of one of their captors, +who beat upon the heavy wooden panels with his spear. +Beyond, the gate opened into a narrow street which seemed +but a continuation of the jungle trail leading from the forest. +Buildings on either hand adjoined the wall and fronted the +narrow, winding street, which was only visible for a short +distance ahead. The houses were practically all two-storied +structures, the upper stories flush with the street while the +walls of the first story were set back some ten feet, a series of +simple columns and arches supporting the front of the second +story and forming an arcade on either side of the narrow +thoroughfare. + +The pathway in the center of the street was unpaved, but +the floors of the arcades were cut stone of various shapes and +sizes but all carefully fitted and laid without mortar. These +floors gave evidence of great antiquity, there being a distinct +depression down the center as though the stone had been +worn away by the passage of countless sandaled feet during +the ages that it had lain there. + +There were few people astir at this early hour, and these +were of the same type as their captors. At first those whom +they saw were only men, but as they went deeper into the +city they came upon a few naked children playing in the soft +dust of the roadway. Many they passed showed the greatest +surprise and curiosity in the prisoners, and often made in- +quiries of the guards, which the two assumed must have been +in relation to themselves, while others appeared not to notice +them at all. + +"I wish we could understand their bally language," ex- +claimed Smith-Oldwick. + +"Yes," said the girl, "I would like to ask them what they +are going to do with us." + +"That would be interesting," said the man. "I have been +doing considerable wondering along that line myself." + +"I don't like the way their canine teeth are filed," said the +girl. "It's too suggestive of some of the cannibals I have seen." + +"You don't really believe they are cannibals, do you?" asked +the man. "You don't think white people are ever cannibals, +do you?" + +"Are these people white?" asked the girl. + +"They're not Negroes, that's certain," rejoined the man. +"Their skin is yellow, but yet it doesn't resemble the Chinese +exactly, nor are any of their features Chinese." + +It was at this juncture that they caught their first glimpse of +a native woman. She was similar in most respects to the men +though her stature was smaller and her figure more symmetri- +cal. Her face was more repulsive than that of the men, pos- +sibly because of the fact that she was a woman, which rather +accentuated the idiosyncrasies of eyes, pendulous lip, pointed +tusks and stiff, low-growing hair. The latter was longer than +that of the men and much heavier. It hung about her shoul- +ders and was confined by a colored bit of some lacy fabric. +Her single garment appeared to be nothing more than a filmy +scarf which was wound tightly around her body from below +her naked breasts, being caught up some way at the bottom +near her ankles. Bits of shiny metal resembling gold, orna- +mented both the headdress and the skirt. Otherwise the woman +was entirely without jewelry. Her bare arms were slender +and shapely and her hands and feet well proportioned and +symmetrical. + +She came close to the party as they passed her, jabbering +to the guards who paid no attention to her. The prisoners +had an opportunity to observe her closely as she followed at +their side for a short distance. + +"The figure of a houri," remarked Smith-Oldwick, "with the +face of an imbecile." + +The street they followed was intersected at irregular in- +tervals by crossroads which, as they glanced down them, +proved to be equally as tortuous as that through which they +were being conducted. The houses varied but little in design. +Occasionally there were bits of color, or some attempt at other +architectural ornamentation. Through open windows and doors +they could see that the walls of the houses were very thick +and that all apertures were quite small, as though the people +had built against extreme heat, which they realized must +have been necessary in this valley buried deep in an African +desert. + +Ahead they occasionally caught glimpses of larger struc- +tures, and as they approached them, came upon what was +evidently a part of the business section of the city. There +were numerous small shops and bazaars interspersed among +the residences, and over the doors of these were signs painted +in characters strongly suggesting Greek origin and yet it was +not Greek as both the Englishman and the girl knew. + +Smith-Oldwick was by this time beginning to feel more +acutely the pain of his wounds and the consequent weakness +that was greatly aggravated by loss of blood. He staggered now +occasionally and the girl, seeing his plight, offered him her +arm. + +"No," he expostulated, "you have passed through too much +yourself to have any extra burden imposed upon you." But +though he made a valiant effort to keep up with their captors +he occasionally lagged, and upon one such occasion the guards +for the first time showed any disposition toward brutality. + +It was a big fellow who walked at Smith-Oldwick's left. +Several times he took hold of the Englishman's arm and +pushed him forward not ungently, but when the captive +lagged again and again the fellow suddenly, and certainly +with no just provocation, flew into a perfect frenzy of rage. +He leaped upon the wounded man, striking him viciously +with his fists and, bearing him to the ground, grasped his +throat in his left hand while with his right he drew his long +sharp saber. Screaming terribly he waved the blade above his +head. + +The others stopped and turned to look upon the encounter +with no particular show of interest. It was as though one of +the party had paused to readjust a sandal and the others merely +waited until he was ready to march on again. + +But if their captors were indifferent, Bertha Kircher was not. +The close-set blazing eyes, the snarling fanged face, and the +frightful screams filled her with horror, while the brutal and +wanton attack upon the wounded man aroused within her the +spirit of protection for the weak that is inherent in all women. +Forgetful of everything other than that a weak and defense- +less man was being brutally murdered before her eyes, the girl +cast aside discretion and, rushing to Smith-Oldwick's assist- +ance, seized the uplifted sword arm of the shrieking creature +upon the prostrate Englishman. + +Clinging desperately to the fellow she surged backward with +all her weight and strength with the result that she overbal- +anced him and sent him sprawling to the pavement upon his +back. In his efforts to save himself he relaxed his grasp upon +the grip of his saber which had no sooner fallen to the ground +than it was seized upon by the girl. Standing erect beside the +prostrate form of the English officer Bertha Kircher, the razor- +edged weapon grasped firmly in her hand, faced their captors. + +She was a brave figure; even her soiled and torn riding togs +and disheveled hair detracted nothing from her appearance. +The creature she had felled scrambled quickly to his feet and +in the instant his whole demeanor changed. From demoniacal +rage he became suddenly convulsed with hysterical laughter +although it was a question in the girl's mind as to which was +the more terrifying. His companions stood looking on with +vacuous grins upon their countenances, while he from whom +the girl had wrested the weapon leaped up and down shriek- +ing with laughter. If Bertha Kircher had needed further evi- +dence to assure her that they were in the hands of a mentally +deranged people the man's present actions would have been +sufficient to convince her. The sudden uncontrolled rage and +now the equally uncontrolled and mirthless laughter but em- +phasized the facial attributes of idiocy. + +Suddenly realizing how helpless she was in the event any +one of the men should seek to overpower her, and moved by +a sudden revulsion of feeling that brought on almost a nausea +of disgust, the girl hurled the weapon upon the ground at the +feet of the laughing maniac and, turning, kneeled beside the +Englishman. + +"It was wonderful of you," he said, "but you shouldn't have +done it. Don't antagonize them: I believe that they are all +mad and you know they say that one should always humor a +madman." + +She shook her head. "I couldn't see him kill you," she said. + +A sudden light sprang to the man's eyes as he reached out +a hand and grasped the girl's fingers. "Do you care a little +now?" he asked. "Can't you tell me that you do -- just a bit?" + +She did not withdraw her hand from his but she shook her +head sadly. "Please don't," she said. "I am sorry that I can +only like you very much." + +The light died from his eyes and his fingers relaxed their +grasp on hers. "Please forgive me," he murmured. "I intended +waiting until we got out of this mess and you were safe among +your own people. It must have been the shock or something +like that, and seeing you defending me as you did. Anyway, I +couldn't help it and really it doesn't make much difference what +I say now, does it?" + +"What do you mean?" she asked quickly. + +He shrugged and smiled ruefully. "I will never leave this +city alive," he said. "I wouldn't mention it except that I real- +ize that you must know it as well as I. I was pretty badly torn +up by the lion and this fellow here has about finished me. +There might be some hope if we were among civilized people, +but here with these frightful creatures what care could we +get even if they were friendly?" + +Bertha Kircher knew that he spoke the truth, and yet she +could not bring herself to an admission that Smith-Oldwick +would die. She was very fond of him, in fact her great regret +was that she did not love him, but she knew that she did not. + +It seemed to her that it could be such an easy thing for any +girl to love Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick -- an Eng- +lish officer and a gentleman, the scion of an old family and +himself a man of ample means, young, good-looking and af- +fable. What more could a girl ask for than to have such a +man love her and that she possessed Smith-Oldwick's love +there was no doubt in Bertha Kircher's mind. + +She sighed, and then, laying her hand impulsively on his +forehead, she whispered, "Do not give up hope, though. Try +to live for my sake and for your sake I will try to love you." + +It was as though new life had suddenly been injected into +the man's veins. His face lightened instantly and with strength +that he himself did not know he possessed he rose slowly to +his feet, albeit somewhat unsteadily. The girl helped him and +supported him after he had arisen. + +For the moment they had been entirely unconscious of their +surroundings and now as she looked at their captors she saw +that they had fallen again into their almost habitual manner +of stolid indifference, and at a gesture from one of them the +march was resumed as though no untoward incident had +occurred. + +Bertha Kircher experienced a sudden reaction from the mo- +mentary exaltation of her recent promise to the Englishman. +She knew that she had spoken more for him than for herself +but now that it was over she realized, as she had realized the +moment before she had spoken, that it was unlikely she would +ever care for him the way he wished. But what had she prom- +ised? Only that she would try to love him. "And now?" she +asked herself. + +She realized that there might be little hope of their ever +returning to civilization. Even if these people should prove +friendly and willing to let them depart in peace, how were +they to find their way back to the coast? With Tarzan dead, +as she fully believed him after having seen his body lying life- +less at the mouth of the cave when she had been dragged forth +by her captor, there seemed no power at their command which +could guide them safely. + +The two had scarcely mentioned the ape-man since their +capture, for each realized fully what his loss meant to them. +They had compared notes relative to those few exciting mo- +ments of the final attack and capture and had found that they +agreed perfectly upon all that had occurred. Smith-Oldwick +had even seen the lion leap upon Tarzan at the instant that the +former was awakened by the roars of the charging beasts, and +though the night had been dark, he had been able to see that +the body of the savage ape-man had never moved from the +instant that it had come down beneath the beast. + +And so, if at other times within the past few weeks Bertha +Kircher had felt that her situation was particularly hopeless, +she was now ready to admit that hope was absolutely extinct. + +The streets were beginning to fill with the strange men and +women of this strange city. Sometimes individuals would notice +them and seem to take a great interest in them, and again +others would pass with vacant stares, seemingly unconscious +of their immediate surroundings and paying no attention +whatsoever to the prisoners. Once they heard hideous screams +up a side street, and looking they saw a man in the throes +of a demoniacal outburst of rage, similar to that which they +had witnessed in the recent attack upon Smith-Oldwick. This +creature was venting his insane rage upon a child which he +repeatedly struck and bit, pausing only long enough to shriek +at frequent intervals. Finally, just before they passed out of +sight the creature raised the limp body of the child high above +his head and cast it down with all his strength upon the pave- +ment, and then, wheeling and screaming madly at the top of +his lungs, he dashed headlong up the winding street. + +Two women and several men had stood looking on at the +cruel attack. They were at too great a distance for the Euro- +peans to know whether their facial expressions portrayed pity +or rage, but be that as it may, none offered to interfere. + +A few yards farther on a hideous hag leaned from a second +story window where she laughed and jibbered and made hor- +rid grimaces at all who passed her. Others went their ways +apparently attending to whatever duties called them, as soberly +as the inhabitants of any civilized community. + +"God," muttered Smith-Oldwick, "what an awful place!" + +The girl turned suddenly toward him. "You still have your +pistol?" she asked him. + +"Yes," he replied. "I tucked it inside my shirt. They did +not search me and it was too dark for them to see whether I +carried any weapons or not. So I hid it in the hope that I might +get through with it." + +She moved closer to him and took hold of his hand. "Save +one cartridge for me, please?" she begged. + +Smith-Oldwick looked down at her and blinked his eyes +very rapidly. An unfamiliar and disconcerting moisture had +come into them. He had realized, of course, how bad a plight +was theirs but somehow it had seemed to affect him only: +it did not seem possible that anyone could harm this sweet +and beautiful girl. + +And that she should have to be destroyed -- destroyed by +him! It was too hideous: it was unbelievable, unthinkable! If +he had been filled with apprehension before, he was doubly +perturbed now. + +"I don't believe I could do it, Bertha," he said. + +"Not even to save me from something worse?" she asked. + +He shook his head dismally. "I could never do it," he re- +plied. + +The street that they were following suddenly opened upon +a wide avenue, and before them spread a broad and beautiful +lagoon, the quiet surface of which mirrored the clear cerulean +of the sky. Here the aspect of all their surroundings changed. +The buildings were higher and much more pretentious in de- +sign and ornamentation. The street itself was paved in mosaics +of barbaric but stunningly beautiful design. In the ornamen- +tation of the buildings there was considerable color and a +great deal of what appeared to be gold leaf. In all the decora- +tions there was utilized in various ways the conventional figure +of the parrot, and, to a lesser extent, that of the lion and the +monkey. + +Their captors led them along the pavement beside the la- +goon for a short distance and then through an arched doorway +into one of the buildings facing the avenue. Here, directly +within the entrance was a large room furnished with massive +benches and tables, many of which were elaborately hand +carved with the figures of the inevitable parrot, the lion, or +the monkey, the parrot always predominating. + +Behind one of the tables sat a man who differed in no way +that the captives could discover from those who accompanied +them. Before this person the party halted, and one of the men +who had brought them made what seemed to be an oral report. +Whether they were before a judge, a military officer, or a civil +dignitary they could not know, but evidently he was a man +of authority, for, after listening to whatever recital was being +made to him the while he closely scrutinized the two captives, +he made a single futile attempt to converse with them and +then issued some curt orders to him who had made the report. + +Almost immediately two of the men approached Bertha +Kircher and signaled her to accompany them. Smith-Oldwick +started to follow her but was intercepted by one of their +guards. The girl stopped then and turned back, at the same +time looking at the man at the table and making signs with +her hands, indicating, as best she could, that she wished Smith- +Oldwick to remain with her, but the fellow only shook his +head negatively and motioned to the guards to remove her. +The Englishman again attempted to follow but was restrained. +He was too weak and helpless even to make an attempt to +enforce his wishes. He thought of the pistol inside his shirt +and then of the futility of attempting to overcome an entire +city with the few rounds of ammunition left to him. + +So far, with the single exception of the attack made upon +him, they had no reason to believe that they might not receive +fair treatment from their captors, and so he reasoned that it +might be wiser to avoid antagonizing them until such a time +as he became thoroughly convinced that their intentions were +entirely hostile. He saw the girl led from the building and +just before she disappeared from his view she turned and +waved her hand to him: + +"Good luck!" she cried, and was gone. + +The lions that had entered the building with the party had, +during their examination by the man at the table, been driven +from the apartment through a doorway behind him. Toward +this same doorway two of the men now led Smith-Oldwick. +He found himself in a long corridor from the sides of which +other doorways opened, presumably into other apartments +of the building. At the far end of the corridor he saw a heavy +grating beyond which appeared an open courtyard. Into this +courtyard the prisoner was conducted, and as he entered it with +the two guards he found himself in an opening which was +bounded by the inner walls of the building. It was in the nature +of a garden in which a number of trees and flowering shrubs +grew. Beneath several of the trees were benches and there +was a bench along the south wall, but what aroused his most +immediate attention was the fact that the lions who had +assisted in their capture and who had accompanied them +upon the return to the city, lay sprawled about upon the +ground or wandered restlessly to and fro. + +Just inside the gate his guard halted. The two men ex- +changed a few words and then turned and reentered the +corridor. The Englishman was horror-stricken as the full +realization of his terrible plight forced itself upon his tired +brain. He turned and seized the grating in an attempt to open +it and gain the safety of the corridor, but he found it securely +locked against his every effort, and then he called aloud to the +retreating figure of the men within. The only reply he received +was a high-pitched, mirthless laugh, and then the two passed +through the doorway at the far end of the corridor and he was +alone with the lions. + + + + +The Queen's Story + +In the meantime Bertha Kircher was conducted the length +of the plaza toward the largest and most pretentious of the +buildings surrounding it. This edifice covered the entire +width of one end of the plaza. It was several stories in height, +the main entrance being approached by a wide flight of stone +steps, the bottom of which was guarded by enormous stone +lions, while at the top there were two pedestals flanking the +entrance and of the same height, upon each of which was the +stone image of a large parrot. As the girl neared these latter +images she saw that the capital of each column was hewn +into the semblance of a human skull upon which the parrots +perched. Above the arched doorway and upon the walls of +the building were the figures of other parrots, of lions, and of +monkeys. Some of these were carved in bas-relief; others were +delineated in mosaics, while still others appeared to have +been painted upon the surface of the wall. + +The colorings of the last were apparently much subdued by +age with the result that the general effect was soft and beauti- +ful. The sculpturing and mosaic work were both finely exe- +cuted, giving evidence of a high degree of artistic skill. Unlike +the first building into which she had been conducted, the +entrance to which had been doorless, massive doors closed +the entrance which she now approached. In the niches formed +by the columns which supported the door's arch, and about the +base of the pedestals of the stone parrots, as well as in various +other places on the broad stairway, lolled some score of armed +men. The tunics of these were all of a vivid yellow and upon +the breast and back of each was embroidered the figure of a +parrot. + +As she was conducted up the stairway one of these yellow- +coated warriors approached and halted her guides at the top +of the steps. Here they exchanged a few words and while they +were talking the girl noticed that he who had halted them, as +well as those whom she could see of his companions, appeared +to be, if possible, of a lower mentality than her original +captors. + +Their coarse, bristling hair grew so low upon their foreheads +as, in some instances, to almost join their eyebrows, while the +irises were smaller, exposing more of the white of the eyeball. + +After a short parley the man in charge of the doorway, for +such he seemed to be, turned and struck upon one of the panels +with the butt of his spear, at the same time calling to several +of his companions, who rose and came forward at his com- +mand. Soon the great doors commenced slowly to swing +creakingly open, and presently, as they separated, the girl +saw behind them the motive force which operated the massive +doors -- to each door a half-dozen naked Negroes. + +At the doorway her two guards were turned back and their +places taken by a half dozen of the yellow-coated soldiery. +These conducted her through the doorway which the blacks, +pulling upon heavy chains, closed behind them. And as the +girl watched them she noted with horror that the poor crea- +tures were chained by the neck to the doors. + +Before her led a broad hallway in the center of which was +a little pool of clear water. Here again in floor and walls was +repeated in new and ever-changing combinations and designs, +the parrots, the monkeys, and the lions, but now many of the +figures were of what the girl was convinced must be gold. +The walls of the corridor consisted of a series of open arch- +ways through which, upon either side, other spacious apart- +ments were visible. The hallway was entirely unfurnished, +but the rooms on either side contained benches and tables. +Glimpses of some of the walls revealed the fact that they were +covered with hangings of some colored fabric, while upon the +floors were thick rugs of barbaric design and the skins of black +lions and beautifully marked leopards. + +The room directly to the right of the entrance was filled +with men wearing the yellow tunics of her new guard while +the walls were hung with numerous spears and sabers. At the +far end of the corridor a low flight of steps led to another +closed doorway. Here the guard was again halted. One of the +guards at this doorway, after receiving the report of one of +those who accompanied her, passed through the door, leaving +them standing outside. It was fully fifteen minutes before he +returned, when the guard was again changed and the girl +conducted into the chamber beyond. + +Through three other chambers and past three more massive +doors, at each of which her guard was changed, the girl was +conducted before she was ushered into a comparatively small +room, back and forth across the floor of which paced a man +in a scarlet tunic, upon the front and back of which was +embroidered an enormous parrot and upon whose head was a +barbaric headdress surmounted by a stuffed parrot. + +The walls of this room were entirely hidden by hangings +upon which hundreds, even thousands, of parrots were em- +broidered. Inlaid in the floor were golden parrots, while, as +thickly as they could be painted, upon the ceiling were bril- +liant-hued parrots with wings outspread as though in the act +of flying. + +The man himself was larger of stature than any she had +yet seen within the city. His parchment-like skin was wrinkled +with age and he was much fatter than any other of his kind +that she had seen. His bared arms, however, gave evidence of +great strength and his gait was not that of an old man. His +facial expression denoted almost utter imbecility and he was +quite the most repulsive creature that ever Bertha Kircher +had looked upon. + +For several minutes after she was conducted into his pres- +ence he appeared not to be aware that she was there but +continued his restless pacing to and fro. Suddenly, without the +slightest warning, and while he was at the far end of the room +from her with his back toward her, he wheeled and rushed +madly at her. Involuntarily the girl shrank back, extending her +open palms toward the frightful creature as though to hold +him aloof but a man upon either side of her, the two who had +conducted her into the apartment, seized and held her. + +Although he rushed violently toward her the man stopped +without touching her. For a moment his horrid white-rimmed +eyes glared searchingly into her face, immediately following +which he burst into maniacal laughter. For two or three +minutes the creature gave himself over to merriment and then, +stopping as suddenly as he had commenced to laugh, he fell +to examining the prisoner. He felt of her hair, her skin, the +texture of the garment she wore and by means of signs made +her understand she was to open her mouth. In the latter he +seemed much interested, calling the attention of one of the +guards to her canine teeth and then baring his own sharp fangs +for the prisoner to see. + +Presently he resumed pacing to and fro across the floor, and +it was fully fifteen minutes before he again noticed the pris- +oner, and then it was to issue a curt order to her guards, who +immediately conducted her from the apartment. + +The guards now led the girl through a series of corridors +and apartments to a narrow stone stairway which led to the +floor above, finally stopping before a small door where stood +a naked Negro armed with a spear. At a word from one of +her guards the Negro opened the door and the party passed +into a low-ceiled apartment, the windows of which immedi- +ately caught the girl's attention through the fact that they were +heavily barred. The room was furnished similarly to those that +she had seen in other parts of the building, the same carved +tables and benches, the rugs upon the floor, the decorations +upon the walls, although in every respect it was simpler than +anything she had seen on the floor below. In one corner was a +low couch covered with a rug similar to those on the floor ex- +cept that it was of a lighter texture, and upon this sat a woman. + +As Bertha Kircher's eyes alighted upon the occupant of the +room the girl gave a little gasp of astonishment, for she recog- +nized immediately that here was a creature more nearly of her +own kind than any she had seen within the city's walls. An +old woman it was who looked at her through faded blue eyes, +sunken deep in a wrinkled and toothless face. But the eyes +were those of a sane and intelligent creature, and the wrinkled +face was the face of a white woman. + +At sight of the girl the woman rose and came forward, her +gait so feeble and unsteady that she was forced to support +herself with a long staff which she grasped in both her hands. +One of the guards spoke a few words to her and then the men +turned and left the apartment. The girl stood just within the +door waiting in silence for what might next befall her. + +The old woman crossed the room and stopped before her, +raising her weak and watery eyes to the fresh young face of +the newcomer. Then she scanned her from head to foot and +once again the old eyes returned to the girl's face. Bertha +Kircher on her part was not less frank in her survey of the +little old woman. It was the latter who spoke first. In a thin, +cracked voice she spoke, hesitatingly, falteringly, as though she +were using unfamiliar words and speaking a strange tongue. + +"You are from the outer world?" she asked in English. +"God grant that you may speak and understand this tongue." + +"English?" the girl exclaimed, "Yes, of course, I speak Eng- +lish." + +"Thank God!" cried the little old woman. "I did not know +whether I myself might speak it so that another could under- +stand. For sixty years I have spoken only their accursed +gibberish. For sixty years I have not heard a word in my +native language. Poor creature! Poor creature!" she mumbled. +"What accursed misfortune threw you into their hands?" + +"You are an English woman?" asked Bertha Kircher. "Did +I understand you aright that you are an English woman and +have been here for sixty years?" + +The old woman nodded her head affirmatively. "For sixty +years I have never been outside of this palace. Come," she +said, stretching forth a bony hand. "I am very old and cannot +stand long. Come and sit with me on my couch." + +The girl took the proffered hand and assisted the old lady +back to the opposite side of the room and when she was seated +the girl sat down beside her. + +"Poor child! Poor child!" moaned the old woman. "Far +better to have died than to have let them bring you here. At +first I might have destroyed myself but there was always the +hope that someone would come who would take me away, +but none ever comes. Tell me how they got you." + +Very briefly the girl narrated the principal incidents which +led up to her capture by some of the creatures of the city. + +"Then there is a man with you in the city?" asked the old +woman. + +"Yes," said the girl, "but I do not know where he is nor +what are their intentions in regard to him. In fact, I do not +know what their intentions toward me are." + +"No one might even guess," said the old woman. "They +do not know themselves from one minute to the next what +their intentions are, but I think you can rest assured, my poor +child, that you will never see your friend again." + +"But they haven't slain you," the girl reminded her, "and +you have been their prisoner, you say, for sixty years." + +"No," replied her companion, "they have not killed me, nor +will they kill you, though God knows before you have lived +long in this horrible place you will beg them to kill you." + +"Who are they --" asked Bertha Kircher, "what kind of +people? They differ from any that I ever have seen. And tell +me, too, how you came here." + +"It was long ago," said the old woman, rocking back and +forth on the couch. "It was long ago. Oh, how long it was! +I was only twenty then. Think of it, child! Look at me. I have +no mirror other than my bath, I cannot see what I look like +for my eyes are old, but with my fingers I can feel my old and +wrinkled face, my sunken eyes, and these flabby lips drawn +in over toothless gums. I am old and bent and hideous, but +then I was young and they said that I was beautiful. No, I +will not be a hypocrite; I was beautiful. My glass told me that. + +"My father was a missionary in the interior and one day +there came a band of Arabian slave raiders. They took the +men and women of the little native village where my father +labored, and they took me, too. They did not know much +about our part of the country so they were compelled to rely +upon the men of our village whom they had captured to +guide them. They told me that they never before had been +so far south and that they had heard there was a country rich +in ivory and slaves west of us. They wanted to go there and +from there they would take us north, where I was to be sold +into the harem of some black sultan. + +"They often discussed the price I would bring, and that +that price might not lessen, they guarded me jealously from +one another so the journeys were made as little fatiguing for +me as possible. I was given the best food at their command +and I was not harmed. + +"But after a short time, when we had reached the confines +of the country with which the men of our village were familiar +and had entered upon a desolate and arid desert waste, the +Arabs realized at last that we were lost. But they still kept on, +ever toward the west, crossing hideous gorges and marching +across the face of a burning land beneath the pitiless sun. The +poor slaves they had captured were, of course, compelled to +carry all the camp equipage and loot and thus heavily bur- +dened, half starved and without water, they soon commenced +to die like flies. + +"We had not been in the desert land long before the Arabs +were forced to kill their horses for food, and when we reached +the first gorge, across which it would have been impossible +to transport the animals, the balance of them were slaughtered +and the meat loaded upon the poor staggering blacks who still +survived. + +"Thus we continued for two more days and now all but a +handful of blacks were dead, and the Arabs themselves had +commenced to succumb to hunger and thirst and the intense +heat of the desert. As far as the eye could reach back toward +the land of plenty from whence we had come, our route was +marked by circling vultures in the sky and by the bodies of +the dead who lay down in the trackless waste for the last +time. The ivory had been abandoned tusk by tusk as the +blacks gave out, and along the trail of death was strewn the +camp equipage and the horse trappings of a hundred men. + +"For some reason the Arab chief favored me to the last, +possibly with the idea that of all his other treasures I could +be most easily transported, for I was young and strong and after +the horses were killed I had walked and kept up with the best +of the men. We English, you know, are great walkers, while +these Arabians had never walked since they were old enough +to ride a horse. + +"I cannot tell you how much longer we kept on but at last, +with our strength almost gone, a handful of us reached the +bottom of a deep gorge. To scale the opposite side was out +of the question and so we kept on down along the sands of +what must have been the bed of an ancient river, until finally +we came to a point where we looked out upon what appeared +to be a beautiful valley in which we felt assured that we would +find game in plenty. + +"By then there were only two of us left -- the chief and my- +self. I do not need to tell you what the valley was, for you +found it in much the same way as I did. So quickly were we +captured that it seemed they must have been waiting for us, +and I learned later that such was the case, just as they were +waiting for you. + +"As you came through the forest you must have seen the +monkeys and parrots and since you have entered the palace, +how constantly these animals, and the lions, are used in the +decorations. At home we were all familiar with talking par- +rots who repeated the things that they were taught to say, but +these parrots are different in that they all talk in the same +lan- +guage that the people of the city use, and they say that the +monkeys talk to the parrots and the parrots fly to the city and +tell the people what the monkeys say. And, although it is hard +to believe, I have learned that this is so, for I have lived here +among them for sixty years in the palace of their king. + +"They brought me, as they brought you, directly to the pal- +ace. The Arabian chief was taken elsewhere. I never knew +what became of him. Ago XXV was king then. I have seen +many kings since that day. He was a terrible man; but then, +they are all terrible." + +"What is the matter with them?" asked the girl. + +"They are a race of maniacs," replied the old woman. "Had +you not guessed it? Among them are excellent craftsmen and +good farmers and a certain amount of law and order, such as +it is. + +"They reverence all birds, but the parrot is their chief deity. +There is one who is held here in the palace in a very beautiful +apartment. He is their god of gods. He is a very old bird. If +what Ago told me when I came is true, he must be nearly +three hundred years old by now. Their religious rites are re- +volting in the extreme, and I believe that it may be the prac- +tice of these rites through ages that has brought the race to +its present condition of imbecility. + +"And yet, as I said, they are not without some redeeming +qualities. If legend may be credited, their forebears -- a little +handful of men and women who came from somewhere out +of the north and became lost in the wilderness of central Af- +rica -- found here only a barren desert valley. To my own +knowledge rain seldom, if ever, falls here, and yet you have +seen a great forest and luxuriant vegetation outside of the +city as well as within. This miracle is accomplished by the +utilization of natural springs which their ancestors developed, +and upon which they have improved to such an extent that +the entire valley receives an adequate amount of moisture at +all times. + +"Ago told me that many generations before his time the +forest was irrigated by changing the course of the streams +which carried the spring water to the city but that when the +trees had sent their roots down to the natural moisture of the +soil and required no further irrigation, the course of the stream +was changed and other trees were planted. And so the forest +grew until today it covers almost the entire floor of the valley +except for the open space where the city stands. I do not know +that this is true. It may be that the forest has always been +here, but it is one of their legends and it is borne out by the +fact that there is not sufficient rainfall here to support +vegeta- +tion. + +"They are peculiar people in many respects, not only in +their form of worship and religious rites but also in that they +breed lions as other people breed cattle. You have seen how +they use some of these lions but the majority of them they +fatten and eat. At first, I imagine, they ate lion meat as a part +of their religious ceremony but after many generations they +came to crave it so that now it is practically the only flesh +they +eat. They would, of course, rather die than eat the flesh of a +bird, nor will they eat monkey's meat, while the herbivorous +animals they raise only for milk, hides, and flesh for the lions. +Upon the south side of the city are the corrals and pastures +where the herbivorous animals are raised. Boar, deer, and an- +telope are used principally for the lions, while goats are kept +for milk for the human inhabitants of the city." + +"And you have lived here all these years," exclaimed the +girl, "without ever seeing one of your own kind?" + +The old woman nodded affirmatively. + +"For sixty years you have lived here," continued Bertha +Kircher, "and they have not harmed you!" + +"I did not say they had not harmed me," said the old wom- +an, "they did not kill me, that is all." + +"What" -- the girl hesitated -- "what," she continued at last, +"was your position among them? Pardon me," she added +quickly, "I think I know but I should like to hear from your +own lips, for whatever your position was, mine will doubtless +be the same." + +The old woman nodded. "Yes," she said, "doubtless; if they +can keep you away from the women." + +"What do you mean?" asked the girl. + +"For sixty years I have never been allowed near a woman. +They would kill me, even now, if they could reach me. The +men are frightful, God knows they are frightful! But heaven +keep you from the women!" + +"You mean," asked the girl, "that the men will not harm +me?" + +"Ago XXV made me his queen," said the old woman. "But +he had many other queens, nor were they all human. He was +not murdered for ten years after I came here. Then the next +king took me, and so it has been always. I am the oldest +queen now. Very few of their women live to a great age. Not +only are they constantly liable to assassination but, owing to +their subnormal mentalities, they are subject to periods of de- +pression during which they are very likely to destroy them- +selves." + +She turned suddenly and pointed to the barred windows. +"You see this room," she said, "with the black eunuch out- +side? Wherever you see these you will know that there are +women, for with very few exceptions they are never allowed +out of captivity. They are considered and really are more vio- +lent than the men." + +For several minutes the two sat in silence, and then the +younger woman turned to the older. + +"Is there no way to escape?" she asked. + +The old woman pointed again to the barred windows and +then to the door, saying: "And there is the armed eunuch. +And if you should pass him, how could you reach the street? +And if you reached the street, how could you pass through the +city to the outer wall? And even if, by some miracle, you +should gain the outer wall, and, by another miracle, you should +be permitted to pass through the gate, could you ever hope +to traverse the forest where the great black lions roam and +feed upon men? No!" she exclaimed, answering her own ques- +tion, "there is no escape, for after one had escaped from the +palace and the city and the forest it would be but to invite +death in the frightful desert land beyond. + +"In sixty years you are the first to find this buried city. In a +thousand no denizen of this valley has ever left it, and within +the memory of man, or even in their legends, none had found +them prior to my coming other than a single warlike giant, the +story of whom has been handed down from father to son. + +"I think from the description that he must have been a +Spaniard, a giant of a man in buckler and helmet, who fought +his way through the terrible forest to the city gate, who fell +upon those who were sent out to capture him and slew them +with his mighty sword. And when he had eaten of the vege- +tables from the gardens, and the fruit from the trees and +drank of the water from the stream, he turned about and +fought his way back through the forest to the mouth of the +gorge. But though he escaped the city and the forest he did +not escape the desert. For a legend runs that the king, fearful +that he would bring others to attack them, sent a party after +him to slay him. + +"For three weeks they did not find him, for they went in the +wrong direction, but at last they came upon his bones picked +clean by the vultures, lying a day's march up the same gorge +through which you and I entered the valley. I do not know," +continued the old woman, "that this is true. It is just one of +their many legends." + +"Yes," said the girl, "it is true. I am sure it is true, for I +have seen the skeleton and the corroded armor of this great +giant." + +At this juncture the door was thrown open without ceremony +and a Negro entered bearing two flat vessels in which were +several smaller ones. These he set down on one of the tables +near the women, and, without a word, turned and left. With +the entrance of the man with the vessels, a delightful odor of +cooked food had aroused the realization in the girl's mind that +she was very hungry, and at a word from the old woman she +walked to the table to examine the viands. The larger vessels +which contained the smaller ones were of pottery while those +within them were quite evidently of hammered gold. To her +intense surprise she found lying between the smaller vessels a +spoon and a fork, which, while of quaint design, were quite as +serviceable as any she had seen in more civilized communities. +The tines of the fork were quite evidently of iron or steel, the +girl did not know which, while the handle and the spoon were +of the same material as the smaller vessels. + +There was a highly seasoned stew with meat and vegetables, +a dish of fresh fruit, and a bowl of milk beside which was a +little jug containing something which resembled marmalade. +So ravenous was she that she did not even wait for her com- +panion to reach the table, and as she ate she could have sworn +that never before had she tasted more palatable food. The +old woman came slowly and sat down on one of the benches +opposite her. + +As she removed the smaller vessels from the larger and +arranged them before her on the table a crooked smile twisted +her lips as she watched the younger woman eat. + +"Hunger is a great leveler," she said with a laugh. + +"What do you mean?" asked the girl. + +"I venture to say that a few weeks ago you would have +been nauseated at the idea of eating cat." + +"Cat?" exclaimed the girl. + +"Yes," said the old woman. "What is the difference -- a lion +is a cat." + +"You mean I am eating lion now?" + +"Yes," said the old woman, "and as they prepare it, it is very +palatable. You will grow very fond of it." + +Bertha Kircher smiled a trifle dubiously. "I could not tell +it," she said, "from lamb or veal." + +"No," said the woman, "it tastes as good to me. But these +lions are very carefully kept and very carefully fed and their +flesh is so seasoned and prepared that it might be anything so +far as taste is concerned." + +And so Bertha Kircher broke her long fast upon strange +fruits, lion meat, and goat's milk. + +Scarcely had she finished when again the door opened and +there entered a yellow-coated soldier. He spoke to the old +woman. + +"The king," she said, "has commanded that you be prepared +and brought to him. You are to share these apartments with +me. The king knows that I am not like his other women. He +never would have dared to put you with them. Herog XVI +has occasional lucid intervals. You must have been brought +to him during one of these. Like the rest of them he thinks +that he alone of all the community is sane, but more than once +I have thought that the various men with whom I have come +in contact here, including the kings themselves, looked upon +me as, at least, less mad than the others. Yet how I have re- +tained my senses all these years is beyond me." + +"What do you mean by prepare?" asked Bertha Kircher. +"You said that the king had commanded I be prepared and +brought to him." + +"You will be bathed and furnished with a robe similar to +that which I wear." + +"Is there no escape?" asked the girl. "Is there no way even +in which I can kill myself?" + +The woman handed her the fork. "This is the only way," +she said, "and you will notice that the tines are very short and +blunt." + +The girl shuddered and the old woman laid a hand gently +upon her shoulder. "He may only look at you and send you +away," she said. "Ago XXV sent for me once, tried to talk +with me, discovered that I could not understand him and that +he could not understand me, ordered that I be taught the +language of his people, and then apparently forgot me for a +year. Sometimes I do not see the king for a long period. +There was one king who ruled for five years whom I never saw. +There is always hope; even I whose very memory has doubtless +been forgotten beyond these palace walls still hope, though +none knows better how futilely." + +The old woman led Bertha Kircher to an adjoining apart- +ment in the floor of which was a pool of water. Here the girl +bathed and afterward her companion brought her one of the +clinging garments of the native women and adjusted it about +her figure. The material of the robe was of a gauzy fabric +which accentuated the rounded beauty of the girlish form. + +"There," said the old woman, as she gave a final pat to one +of the folds of the garment, "you are a queen indeed!" + +The girl looked down at her naked breasts and but half- +concealed limbs in horror. "They are going to lead me into +the presence of men in this half-nude condition!" she ex- +claimed. + +The old woman smiled her crooked smile. "It is nothing," +she said. "You will become accustomed to it as did I who was +brought up in the home of a minister of the gospel, where it +was considered little short of a crime for a woman to expose +her stockinged ankle. By comparison with what you will +doubtless see and the things that you may be called upon to +undergo, this is but a trifle." + +For what seemed hours to the distraught girl she paced the +floor of her apartment, awaiting the final summons to the +presence of the mad king. Darkness had fallen and the oil +flares within the palace had been lighted long before two +messengers appeared with instructions that Herog demanded +her immediate presence and that the old woman, whom they +called Xanila, was to accompany her. The girl felt some +slight relief when she discovered that she was to have at least +one friend with her, however powerless to assist her the old +woman might be. + +The messengers conducted the two to a small apartment on +the floor below. Xanila explained that this was one of the +anterooms off the main throneroom in which the king was +accustomed to hold court with his entire retinue. A number +of yellow-tunicked warriors sat about upon the benches within +the room. For the most part their eyes were bent upon the +floor and their attitudes that of moody dejection. As the two +women entered several glanced indifferently at them, but for +the most part no attention was paid to them. + +While they were waiting in the anteroom there entered from +another apartment a young man uniformed similarly to the +others with the exception that upon his head was a fillet of +gold, in the front of which a single parrot feather rose erectly +above his forehead. As he entered, the other soldiers in the +room rose to their feet. + +"That is Metak, one of the king's sons," Xanila whispered +to the girl. + +The prince was crossing the room toward the audience +chamber when his glance happened to fall upon Bertha +Kircher. He halted in his tracks and stood looking at her for +a full minute without speaking. The girl, embarrassed by his +bold stare and her scant attire, flushed and, dropping her gaze +to the floor, turned away. Metak suddenly commenced to +tremble from head to foot and then, without warning other +than a loud, hoarse scream he sprang forward and seized the +girl in his arms. + +Instantly pandemonium ensued. The two messengers who +had been charged with the duty of conducting the girl to the +king's presence danced, shrieking, about the prince, waving +their arms and gesticulating wildly as though they would +force him to relinquish her, the while they dared not lay hands +upon royalty. The other guardsmen, as though suffering in +sympathy the madness of their prince, ran forward screaming +and brandishing their sabers. + +The girl fought to release herself from the horrid embrace +of the maniac, but with his left arm about her he held her as +easily as though she had been but a babe, while with his free +hand he drew his saber and struck viciously at those nearest +him. + +One of the messengers was the first to feel the keen edge of +Metak's blade. With a single fierce cut the prince drove +through the fellow's collar bone and downward to the center +of his chest. With a shrill shriek that rose above the screaming +of the other guardsmen the man dropped to the floor, and as +the blood gushed from the frightful wound he struggled to rise +once more to his feet and then sank back again and died in a +great pool of his own blood. + +In the meantime Metak, still clinging desperately to the girl, +had backed toward the opposite door. At the sight of the +blood two of the guardsmen, as though suddenly aroused to +maniacal frenzy, dropped their sabers to the floor and fell upon +each other with nails and teeth, while some sought to reach the +prince and some to defend him. In a corner of the room sat +one of the guardsmen laughing uproariously and just as Metak +succeeded in reaching the door and taking the girl through, +she thought that she saw another of the men spring upon the +corpse of the dead messenger and bury his teeth in its flesh. + +During the orgy of madness Xanila had kept closely at the +girl's side but at the door of the room Metak had seen her +and, wheeling suddenly, cut viciously at her. Fortunately for +Xanila she was halfway through the door at the time, so that +Metak's blade but dented itself upon the stone arch of the +portal, and then Xanila, guided doubtless by the wisdom of +sixty years of similar experiences, fled down the corridor as +fast as her old and tottering legs would carry her. + +Metak, once outside the door, returned his saber to its +scabbard and lifting the girl bodily from the ground carried +her off in the opposite direction from that taken by Xanila. + + + + +Came Tarzan + +Just before dark that evening, an almost exhausted flier +entered the headquarters of Colonel Capell of the Second +Rhodesians and saluted. + +"Well, Thompson," asked the superior, "what luck? The +others have all returned. Never saw a thing of Oldwick or his +plane. I guess we shall have to give it up unless you were +more successful." + +"I was," replied the young officer. "I found the plane." + +"No!" ejaculated Colonel Capell. "Where was it? Any sign +of Oldwick?" + +"It is in the rottenest hole in the ground you ever saw, quite +a bit inland. Narrow gorge. Saw the plane all right but can't +reach it. There was a regular devil of a lion wandering around +it. I landed near the edge of the cliff and was going to climb +down and take a look at the plane. But this fellow hung +around for an hour or more and I finally had to give it up." + +"Do you think the lions got Oldwick?" asked the colonel. + +"I doubt it," replied Lieutenant Thompson, "from the fact +that there was no indication that the lion had fed anywhere +about the plane. I arose after I found it was impossible to get +down around the plane and reconnoitered up and down the +gorge. Several miles to the south I found a small, wooded +valley in the center of which -- please don't think me crazy, sir +-- is a regular city -- streets, buildings, a central plaza with +a +lagoon, good-sized buildings with domes and minarets and +all that sort of stuff." + +The elder officer looked at the younger compassionately. +"You're all wrought up, Thompson," he said. "Go and take a +good sleep. You have been on this job now for a long while +and it must have gotten on your nerves." + +The young man shook his head a bit irritably. "Pardon me, +sir," he said, "but I am telling you the truth. I am not mis- +taken. I circled over the place several times. It may be that +Oldwick has found his way there -- or has been captured by +these people." + +"Were there people in the city?" asked the colonel. + +"Yes, I saw them in the streets." + +"Do you think cavalry could reach the valley?" asked the +colonel. + +"No," replied Thompson, "the country is all cut up with +these deep gorges. Even infantry would have a devil of a +time of it, and there is absolutely no water that I could dis- +cover for at least a two days' march." + +It was at this juncture that a big Vauxhall drew up in front +of the headquarters of the Second Rhodesians and a moment +later General Smuts alighted and entered. Colonel Capell arose +from his chair and saluted his superior, and the young lieu- +tenant saluted and stood at attention. + +"I was passing," said the general, "and I thought I would +stop for a chat. By the way, how is the search for Lieutenant +Smith-Oldwick progressing? I see Thompson here and I believe +he was one of those detailed to the search." + +"Yes," said Capell, "he was. He is the last to come in. He +found the lieutenant's ship," and then he repeated what Lieu- +tenant Thompson had reported to him. The general sat down +at the table with Colonel Capell, and together the two officers, +with the assistance of the flier, marked the approximate loca- +tion of the city which Thompson had reported he'd discovered. + +"It's a mighty rough country," remarked Smuts, "but we +can't leave a stone unturned until we have exhausted every re- +source to find that boy. We will send out a small force; a small +one will be more likely to succeed than a large one. About one +company, Colonel, or say two, with sufficient motor lorries for +transport of rations and water. Put a good man in command +and let him establish a base as far to the west as the motors +can travel. You can leave one company there and send the +other forward. I am inclined to believe you can establish your +base within a day's march of the city and if such is the case the +force you send ahead should have no trouble on the score of +lack of water as there certainly must be water in the valley +where the city lies. Detail a couple of planes for reconnais- +sance and messenger service so that the base can keep in touch +at all times with the advance party. When can your force +move out?" + +"We can load the lorries tonight," replied Capell, "and +march about one o'clock tomorrow morning." + +"Good," said the general, "keep me advised," and returning +the others' salutes he departed. + +As Tarzan leaped for the vines he realized that the lion was +close upon him and that his life depended upon the strength +of the creepers clinging to the city walls; but to his intense +relief he found the stems as large around as a man's arm, and +the tendrils which had fastened themselves to the wall so +firmly fixed, that his weight upon the stem appeared to have +no appreciable effect upon them. + +He heard Numa's baffled roar as the lion slipped downward +clawing futilely at the leafy creepers, and then with the agility +of the apes who had reared him, Tarzan bounded nimbly aloft +to the summit of the wall. + +A few feet below him was the flat roof of the adjoining +building and as he dropped to it his back was toward the niche +from which an embrasure looked out upon the gardens and +the forest beyond, so that he did not see the figure crouching +there in the dark shadow. But if he did not see he was not +long in ignorance of the fact that he was not alone, for scarcely +had his feet touched the roof when a heavy body leaped upon +him from behind and brawny arms encircled him about the +waist. + +Taken at a disadvantage and lifted from his feet, the ape- +man was, for the time being, helpless. Whatever the creature +was that had seized him, it apparently had a well-defined +purpose in mind, for it walked directly toward the edge of the +roof so that it was soon apparent to Tarzan that he was to be +hurled to the pavement below -- a most efficacious manner of +disposing of an intruder. That he would be either maimed or +killed the ape-man was confident; but he had no intention +of permitting his assailant to carry out the plan. + +Tarzan's arms and legs were free but he was in such a disad- +vantageous position that he could not use them to any good +effect. His only hope lay in throwing the creature off its +balance, and to this end Tarzan straightened his body and +leaned as far back against his captor as he could, and then +suddenly lunged forward. The result was as satisfactory as +he could possibly have hoped. The great weight of the ape- +man thrown suddenly out from an erect position caused the +other also to lunge violently forward with the result that to +save himself he involuntarily released his grasp. Catlike in +his movements, the ape-man had no sooner touched the roof +than he was upon his feet again, facing his adversary, a man +almost as large as himself and armed with a saber which he +now whipped from its scabbard. Tarzan, however, had no +mind to allow the use of this formidable weapon and so he +dove for the other's legs beneath the vicious cut that was +directed at him from the side, and as a football player tackles +an opposing runner, Tarzan tackled his antagonist, carrying +him backward several yards and throwing him heavily to the +roof upon his back. + +No sooner had the man touched the roof than the ape-man +was upon his chest, one brawny hand sought and found the +sword wrist and the other the throat of the yellow-tunicked +guardsman. Until then the fellow had fought in silence but +just as Tarzan's fingers touched his throat he emitted a single +piercing shriek that the brown fingers cut off almost instantly. +The fellow struggled to escape the clutch of the naked creature +upon his breast but equally as well might he have fought to +escape the talons of Numa, the lion. + +Gradually his struggles lessened, his pin-point eyes popped +from their sockets, rolling horribly upward, while from his +foam-flecked lips his swollen tongue protruded. As his +struggles ceased Tarzan arose, and placing a foot upon the +carcass of his kill, was upon the point of screaming forth his +victory cry when the thought that the work before him +required the utmost caution sealed his lips. + +Walking to the edge of the roof he looked down into the +narrow, winding street below. At intervals, apparently at each +street intersection, an oil flare sputtered dimly from brackets +set in the walls a trifle higher than a man's head. For the +most part the winding alleys were in dense shadow and even +in the immediate vicinity of the flares the illumination was far +from brilliant. In the restricted area of his vision he could see +that there were still a few of the strange inhabitants moving +about the narrow thoroughfares. + +To prosecute his search for the young officer and the girl +he must be able to move about the city as freely as possible, +but to pass beneath one of the corner flares, naked as he was +except for a loin cloth, and in every other respect markedly +different from the inhabitants of the city, would be but to court +almost immediate discovery. As these thoughts flashed +through his mind and he cast about for some feasible plan of +action, his eyes fell upon the corpse upon the roof near him, +and immediately there occurred to him the possibility of +disguising himself in the raiment of his conquered adversary. + +It required but a few moments for the ape-man to clothe +himself in the tights, sandals, and parrot emblazoned yellow +tunic of the dead soldier. Around his waist he buckled the +saber belt but beneath the tunic he retained the hunting knife +of his dead father. His other weapons he could not lightly dis- +card, and so, in the hope that he might eventually recover +them, he carried them to the edge of the wall and dropped +them among the foliage at its base. At the last moment he +found it difficult to part with his rope, which, with his knife, +was his most accustomed weapon, and one which he had used +for the greatest length of time. He found that by removing the +saber belt he could wind the rope about his waist beneath his +tunic, and then replacing the belt still retain it entirely con- +cealed from chance observation. + +At last, satisfactorily disguised, and with even his shock of +black hair adding to the verisimilitude of his likeness to the +natives of the city, he sought for some means of reaching the +street below. While he might have risked a drop from the +eaves of the roof he feared to do so lest he attract the +attention +of passers-by, and probable discovery. The roofs of the build- +ings varied in height but as the ceilings were all low he found +that he could easily travel along the roof tops and this he did +for some little distance, until he suddenly discovered just +ahead of him several figures reclining upon the roof of a +near-by building. + +He had noticed openings in each roof, evidently giving +ingress to the apartments below, and now, his advance cut off +by those ahead of him, he decided to risk the chance of +reaching the street through the interior of one of the build- +ings. Approaching one of the openings he leaned over the +black hole and, listened for sounds of life in the apartment +below. Neither his ears nor his nose registered evidence of +the presence of any living creature in the immediate vicinity, +and so without further hesitation the ape-man lowered his +body through the aperture and was about to drop when his +foot came in contact with the rung of a ladder, which he im- +mediately took advantage of to descend to the floor of the +room below. + +Here, all was almost total darkness until his eyes became +accustomed to the interior, the darkness of which was slightly +alleviated by the reflected light from a distant street flare +which shone intermittently through the narrow windows front- +ing the thoroughfare. Finally, assured that the apartment was +unoccupied, Tarzan sought for a stairway to the ground floor. +This he found in a dark hallway upon which the room opened +-- a flight of narrow stone steps leading downward toward +the street. Chance favored him so that he reached the shadows +of the arcade without encountering any of the inmates of the +house. + +Once on the street he was not at a loss as to the direction in +which he wished to go, for he had tracked the two Europeans +practically to the gate, which he felt assured must have given +them entry to the city. His keen sense of direction and loca- +tion made it possible for him to judge with considerable ac- +curacy the point within the city where he might hope to pick +up the spoor of those whom he sought. + +The first need, however, was to discover a street paralleling +the northern wall along which he could make his way in the +direction of the gate he had seen from the forest. Realizing +that his greatest hope of success lay in the boldness of his +operations he moved off in the direction of the nearest street +flare without making any other attempt at concealment than +keeping in the shadows of the arcade, which he judged would +draw no particular attention to him in that he saw other +pedestrians doing likewise. The few he passed gave him no +heed, and he had almost reached the nearest intersection when +he saw several men wearing yellow tunics identical to that +which he had taken from his prisoner. + +They were coming directly toward him and the ape-man +saw that should he continue on he would meet them directly +at the intersection of the two streets in the full light of the +flare. His first inclination was to go steadily on, for +personally +he had no objection to chancing a scrimmage with them; but a +sudden recollection of the girl, possibly a helpless prisoner in +the hands of these people, caused him to seek some other and +less hazardous plan of action. + +He had almost emerged from the shadow of the arcade into +the full light of the flare and the approaching men were but a +few yards from him, when he suddenly kneeled and pretended +to adjust the wrappings of his sandals -- wrappings, which, by +the way, he was not at all sure that he had adjusted as their +makers had intended them to be adjusted. He was still kneel- +ing when the soldiers came abreast of him. Like the others +he had passed they paid no attention to him and the moment +they were behind him he continued upon his way, turning to +the right at the intersection of the two streets. + +The street he now took was, at this point, so extremely +winding that, for the most part, it received no benefit from the +flares at either corner, so that he was forced practically to +grope his way in the dense shadows of the arcade. The street +became a little straighter just before he reached the next flare, +and as he came within sight of it he saw silhouetted against a +patch of light the figure of a lion. The beast was coming +slowly down the street in Tarzan's direction. + +A woman crossed the way directly in front of it and the lion +paid no attention to her, nor she to the lion. An instant later a +little child ran after the woman and so close did he run before +the lion that the beast was forced to turn out of its way a step +to avoid colliding with the little one. The ape-man grinned +and crossed quickly to the opposite side of the street, for his +delicate senses indicated that at this point the breeze stirring +through the city streets and deflected by the opposite wall +would now blow from the lion toward him as the beast passed, +whereas if he remained upon the side of the street upon which +he had been walking when he discovered the carnivore, his +scent would have been borne to the nostrils of the animal, and +Tarzan was sufficiently jungle-wise to realize that while he +might deceive the eyes of man and beast he could not so easily +disguise from the nostrils of one of the great cats that he was a +creature of a different species from the inhabitants of the city, +the only human beings, possibly, that Numa was familiar with. +In him the cat would recognize a stranger, and, therefore, an +enemy, and Tarzan had no desire to be delayed by an en- +counter with a savage lion. His ruse worked successfully, the +lion passing him with not more than a side glance in his +direction. + +He had proceeded for some little distance and had about +reached a point where he judged he would find the street +which led up from the city gate when, at an intersection of two +streets, his nostrils caught the scent spoor of the girl. Out of +a maze of other scent spoors the ape-man picked the familiar +odor of the girl and, a second later, that of Smith-Oldwick. +He had been forced to accomplish it, however, by bending +very low at each street intersection in repeated attention to his +sandal wrappings, bringing his nostrils as close to the pave- +ment as possible. + +As he advanced along the street through which the two had +been conducted earlier in the day he noted, as had they, the +change in the type of buildings as he passed from a residence +district into that portion occupied by shops and bazaars. Here +the number of flares was increased so that they appeared not +only at street intersections but midway between as well, and +there were many more people abroad. The shops were open +and lighted, for with the setting of the sun the intense heat of +the day had given place to a pleasant coolness. Here also the +number of lions, roaming loose through the thoroughfares, +increased, and also for the first time Tarzan noted the idiosyn- +crasies of the people. + +Once he was nearly upset by a naked man running rapidly +through the street screaming at the top of his voice. And +again he nearly stumbled over a woman who was making her +way in the shadows of one of the arcades upon all fours. At +first the ape-man thought she was hunting for something she +had dropped, but as he drew to one side to watch her, he saw +that she was doing nothing of the kind -- that she had merely +elected to walk upon her hands and knees rather than erect +upon her feet. In another block he saw two creatures strug- +gling upon the roof of an adjacent building until finally one of +them, wrenching himself free from the grasp of the other, gave +his adversary a mighty push which hurled him to the pavement +below, where he lay motionless upon the dusty road. For an +instant a wild shriek re-echoed through the city from the lungs +of the victor and then, without an instant's hesitation, the fel- +low leaped headfirst to the street beside the body of his +victim. A lion moved out from the dense shadows of a door- +way and approached the two bloody and lifeless things before +him. Tarzan wondered what effect the odor of blood would +have upon the beast and was surprised to see that the animal +only sniffed at the corpses and the hot red blood and then lay +down beside the two dead men. + +He had passed the lion but a short distance when his atten- +tion was called to the figure of a man lowering himself la- +boriously from the roof of a building upon the east side of the +thoroughfare. Tarzan's curiosity was aroused. + + + + +In the Alcove + +As Smith-Oldwick realized that he was alone and practi- +cally defenseless in an enclosure filled with great lions + he was, in his weakened condition, almost in a state +verging upon hysterical terror. Clinging to the grating for +support he dared not turn his head in the direction of the +beasts behind him. He felt his knees giving weakly beneath +him. Something within his head spun rapidly around. He be- +came very dizzy and nauseated and then suddenly all went +black before his eyes as his limp body collapsed at the foot +of the grating. + +How long he lay there unconscious he never knew; but as +reason slowly reasserted itself in his semi-conscious state he +was aware that he lay in a cool bed upon the whitest of linen +in a bright and cheery room, and that upon one side close to +him was an open window, the delicate hangings of which +were fluttering in a soft summer breeze which blew in from a +sun-kissed orchard of ripening fruit which he could see with- +out -- an old orchard in which soft, green grass grew between +the laden trees, and where the sun filtered through the foliage; +and upon the dappled greensward a little child was playing +with a frolicsome puppy. + +"God," thought the man, "what a horrible nightmare I have +passed through!" and then he felt a hand stroking his brow and +cheek -- a cool and gentle hand that smoothed away his +troubled recollections. For a long minute Smith-Oldwick lay +in utter peace and content until gradually there was forced +upon his sensibilities the fact that the hand had become +rough, and that it was no longer cool but hot and moist; and +suddenly he opened his eyes and looked up into the face of a +huge lion. + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick was not only an +English gentleman and an officer in name, he was also what +these implied -- a brave man; but when he realized that the +sweet picture he had looked upon was but the figment of a +dream, and that in reality he still lay where he had fallen at +the foot of the grating with a lion standing over him licking his +face, the tears sprang to his eyes and ran down his cheeks. +Never, he thought, had an unkind fate played so cruel a joke +upon a human being. + +For some time he lay feigning death while the lion, having +ceased to lick him, sniffed about his body. There are some +things than which death is to be preferred; and there came at +last to the Englishman the realization that it would be better +to die swiftly than to lie in this horrible predicament until his +mind broke beneath the strain and he went mad. + +And so, deliberately and without haste, he rose, clinging to +the grating for support. At his first move the lion growled, +but after that he paid no further attention to the man, and +when at last Smith-Oldwick had regained his feet the lion +moved indifferently away. Then it was that the man turned +and looked about the enclosure. + +Sprawled beneath the shade of the trees and lying upon the +long bench beside the south wall the great beasts rested, with +the exception of two or three who moved restlessly about. It +was these that the man feared and yet when two more of them +had passed him by he began to feel reassured, recalling the +fact that they were accustomed to the presence of man. + +And yet he dared not move from the grating. As the man +examined his surroundings he noted that the branches of one +of the trees near the further wall spread close beneath an open +window. If he could reach that tree and had strength to +do so, he could easily climb out upon the branch and escape, +at least, from the enclosure of the lions. But in order to +reach the tree he must pass the full length of the enclosure, +and at the very bole of the tree itself two lions lay sprawled +out in slumber. + +For half an hour the man stood gazing longingly at this +seeming avenue of escape, and at last, with a muttered oath, +he straightened up and throwing back his shoulders in a ges- +ture of defiance, he walked slowly and deliberately down the +center of the courtyard. One of the prowling lions turned +from the side wall and moved toward the center directly in +the man's path, but Smith-Oldwick was committed to what he +considered his one chance, for even temporary safety, and so +he kept on, ignoring the presence of the beast. The lion +slouched to his side and sniffed him and then, growling, he +bared his teeth. + +Smith-Oldwick drew the pistol from his shirt. "If he has +made up his mind to kill me," he thought. "I can't see that it +will make any difference in the long run whether I infuriate +him or not. The beggar can't kill me any deader in one mood +than another." + +But with the man's movement in withdrawing the weapon +from his shirt the lion's attitude suddenly altered and though +he still growled he turned and sprang away, and then at last +the Englishman stood almost at the foot of the tree that was his +goal, and between him and safety sprawled a sleeping lion. + +Above him was a limb that ordinarily he could have leaped +for and reached with ease; but weak from his wounds and loss +of blood he doubted his ability to do so now. There was even +a question as to whether he would be able to ascend the tree +at all. There was just one chance: the lowest branch left the +bole within easy reach of a man standing on the ground close +to the tree's stem, but to reach a position where the branch +would be accessible he must step over the body of a lion. +Taking a deep breath he placed one foot between the sprawled +legs of the beast and gingerly raised the other to plant it upon +the opposite side of the tawny body. "What," he thought, "if +the beggar should happen to wake now?" The suggestion +sent a shudder through his frame but he did not hesitate or +withdraw his foot. Gingerly he planted it beyond the lion, +threw his weight forward upon it and cautiously brought his +other foot to the side of the first. He had passed and the lion +had not awakened. + +Smith-Oldwick was weak from loss of blood and the hard- +ships he had undergone, but the realization of his situation +impelled him to a show of agility and energy which he prob- +ably could scarcely have equaled when in possession of his +normal strength. With his life depending upon the success of +his efforts, he swung himself quickly to the lower branches of +the tree and scrambled upward out of reach of possible harm +from the lions below -- though the sudden movement in the +branches above them awakened both the sleeping beasts. The +animals raised their heads and looked questioningly up for a +moment and then lay back again to resume their broken +slumber. + +So easily had the Englishman succeeded thus far that he +suddenly began to question as to whether he had at any time +been in real danger. The lions, as he knew, were accustomed +to the presence of men, but yet they were still lions and he +was free to admit that he breathed more easily now that he was +safe above their clutches. + +Before him lay the open window he had seen from the +ground. He was now on a level with it and could see an +apparently unoccupied chamber beyond, and toward this he +made his way along a stout branch that swung beneath the +opening. It was not a difficult feat to reach the window, and +a moment later he drew himself over the sill and dropped +into the room. + +He found himself in a rather spacious apartment, the floor of +which was covered with rugs of barbaric design, while the few +pieces of furniture were of a similar type to that which he had +seen in the room on the first floor into which he and Bertha +Kircher had been ushered at the conclusion of their journey. +At one end of the room was what appeared to be a curtained +alcove, the heavy hangings of which completely hid the inte- +rior. In the wall opposite the window and near the alcove was +a closed door, apparently the only exit from the room. + +He could see, in the waning light without, that the close of +the day was fast approaching, and he hesitated while he de- +liberated the advisability of waiting until darkness had fallen, +or of immediately searching for some means of escape from the +building and the city. He at last decided that it would do no +harm to investigate beyond the room, that he might have some +idea as how best to plan his escape after dark. To this end he +crossed the room toward the door but he had taken only a +few steps when the hangings before the alcove separated and +the figure of a woman appeared in the opening. + +She was young and beautifully formed; the single drapery +wound around her body from below her breasts left no detail +of her symmetrical proportions unrevealed, but her face was +the face of an imbecile. At sight of her Smith-Oldwick halted, +momentarily expecting that his presence would elicit screams +for help from her. On the contrary she came toward him +smiling, and when she was close her slender, shapely fingers +touched the sleeve of his torn blouse as a curious child might +handle a new toy, and still with the same smile she examined +him from head to foot, taking in, in childish wonderment, +every detail of his apparel. + +Presently she spoke to him in a soft, well-modulated voice +which contrasted sharply with her facial appearance. The +voice and the girlish figure harmonized perfectly and seemed +to belong to each other, while the head and face were those +of another creature. Smith-Oldwick could understand no word +of what she said, but nevertheless he spoke to her in his +own cultured tone, the effect of which upon her was evidently +most gratifying, for before he realized her intentions or could +prevent her she had thrown both arms about his neck and was +kissing him with the utmost abandon. + +The man tried to free himself from her rather surprising +attentions, but she only clung more tightly to him, and sud- +denly, as he recalled that he had always heard that one must +humor the mentally deficient, and at the same time seeing in +her a possible agency of escape, he dosed his eyes and re- +turned her embraces. + +It was at this juncture that the door opened and a man +entered. With the sound from the first movement of the latch, +Smith-Oldwick opened his eyes, but though he endeavored to +disengage himself from the girl he realized that the newcomer +had seen their rather compromising position. The girl, whose +back was toward the door, seemed at first not to realize that +someone had entered, but when she did she turned quickly +and as her eyes fell upon the man whose terrible face was now +distorted with an expression of hideous rage she turned, +screaming, and fled toward the alcove. The Englishman, +flushed and embarrassed, stood where she had left him. With +the sudden realization of the futility of attempting an explana- +tion, came that of the menacing appearance of the man, whom +he now recognized as the official who had received them in the +room below. The fellow's face, livid with insane rage and, +possibly, jealousy, was twitching violently, accentuating the +maniacal expression that it habitually wore. + +For a moment he seemed paralyzed by anger, and then with +a loud shriek that rose into an uncanny wail, he drew his +curved saber and sprang toward the Englishman. To Smith- +Oldwick there seemed no possible hope of escaping the keen- +edged weapon in the hands of the infuriated man, and though +he felt assured that it would draw down upon him an equally +sudden and possibly more terrible death, he did the only thing +that remained for him to do -- drew his pistol and fired straight +for the heart of the oncoming man. Without even so much as +a groan the fellow lunged forward upon the floor at Smith- +Oldwick's feet -- killed instantly with a bullet through the +heart. For several seconds the silence of the tomb reigned in +the apartment. + +The Englishman, standing over the prostrate figure of the +dead man, watched the door with drawn weapon, expecting +momentarily to hear the rush of feet of those whom he was +sure would immediately investigate the report of the pistol. +But no sounds came from below to indicate that anyone there +had heard the explosion, and presently the man's attention +was distracted from the door to the alcove, between the hang- +ings of which the face of the girl appeared. The eyes were +widely dilated and the lower jaw dropped in an expression of +surprise and awe. + +The girl's gaze was riveted upon the figure upon the floor, +and presently she crept stealthily into the room and tiptoed +toward the corpse. She appeared as though constantly poised +for flight, and when she had come to within two or three feet +of the body she stopped and, looking up at Smith-Oldwick, +voiced some interrogation which he could not, of course, un- +derstand. Then she came close to the side of the dead man +and kneeling upon the floor felt gingerly of the body. + +Presently she shook the corpse by the shoulder, and then +with a show of strength which her tenderly girlish form belied, +she turned the body over on its back. If she had been in +doubt before, one glance at the hideous features set in death +must have convinced her that life was extinct, and with the +realization there broke from her lips peal after peal of mad, +maniacal laughter as with her little hands she beat upon the +upturned face and breast of the dead man. It was a gruesome +sight from which the Englishman involuntarily drew back -- +a gruesome, disgusting sight such as, he realized, might never +be witnessed outside a madhouse or this frightful city. + +In the midst of her frenzied rejoicing at the death of the +man, and Smith-Oldwick could attribute her actions to no +other cause, she suddenly desisted from her futile attacks upon +the insensate flesh and, leaping to her feet, ran quickly to the +door, where she shot a wooden bolt into its socket, thus secur- +ing them from interference from without. Then she returned +to the center of the room and spoke rapidly to the Englishman, +gesturing occasionally toward the body of the slain man. When +he could not understand, she presently became provoked and +in a sudden hysteria of madness she rushed forward as though +to strike the Englishman. Smith-Oldwick dropped back a +few steps and leveled his pistol upon her. Mad though she +must have been, she evidently was not so mad but what she +had connected the loud report, the diminutive weapon, and the +sudden death of the man in whose house she dwelt, for she +instantly desisted and quite as suddenly as it had come upon +her, her homicidal mood departed. + +Again the vacuous, imbecile smile took possession of her +features, and her voice, dropping its harshness, resumed the +soft, well-modulated tones with which she had first addressed +him. Now she attempted by signs to indicate her wishes, and +motioning Smith-Oldwick to follow her she went to the hang- +ings and opening them disclosed the alcove. It was rather +more than an alcove, being a fair-sized room heavy with rugs +and hangings and soft, pillowed couches. Turning at the +entrance she pointed to the corpse upon the floor of the outer +room, and then crossing the alcove she raised some draperies +which covered a couch and fell to the floor upon all sides, +disclosing an opening beneath the furniture. + +To this opening she pointed and then again to the corpse, +indicating plainly to the Englishman that it was her desire +that the body be hidden here. But if he had been in doubt, +she essayed to dispel it by grasping his sleeve and urging him +in the direction of the body which the two of them then lifted +and half carried and half dragged into the alcove. At first +they encountered some difficulty when they endeavored to +force the body of the man into the small space she had selected +for it, but eventually they succeeded in doing so. Smith-Old- +wick was again impressed by the fiendish brutality of the girl. +In the center of the room lay a blood-stained rug which the +girl quickly gathered up and draped over a piece of furniture +in such a way that the stain was hidden. By rearranging the +other rugs and by bringing one from the alcove she restored +the room to order so no outward indication of the tragedy so +recently enacted there was apparent. + +These things attended to, and the hangings draped once +more about the couch that they might hide the gruesome thing +beneath, the girl once more threw her arms about the English- +man's neck and dragged him toward the soft and luxurious +pillows above the dead man. Acutely conscious of the horror +of his position, filled with loathing, disgust, and an outraged +sense of decency, Smith-Oldwick was also acutely alive to the +demands of self-preservation. He felt that he was warranted +in buying his life at almost any price; but there was a point at +which his finer nature rebelled. + +It was at this juncture that a loud knock sounded upon the +door of the outer room. Springing from the couch, the girl +seized the man by the arm and dragged him after her to the +wall close by the head of the couch. Here she drew back one +of the hangings, revealing a little niche behind, into which she +shoved the Englishman and dropped the hangings before him, +effectually hiding him from observation from the rooms be- +yond. + +He heard her cross the alcove to the door of the outer room, +and heard the bolt withdrawn followed by the voice of a man +mingled with that of the girl. The tones of both seemed +rational so that he might have been listening to an ordinary +conversation in some foreign tongue. Yet with the gruesome +experiences of the day behind him, he could not but momen- +tarily expect some insane outbreak from beyond the hangings. + +He was aware from the sounds that the two had entered +the alcove, and, prompted by a desire to know what manner +of man he might next have to contend with, he slightly parted +the heavy folds that hid the two from his view and looking out +saw them sitting on the couch with their arms about each +other, the girl with the same expressionless smile upon her +face that she had vouchsafed him. He found he could so +arrange the hangings that a very narrow slit between two of +them permitted him to watch the actions of those in the alcove +without revealing himself or increasing his liability of detec- +tion. + +He saw the girl lavishing her kisses upon the newcomer, a +much younger man than he whom Smith-Oldwick had dis- +patched. Presently the girl disengaged herself from the em- +brace of her lover as though struck by a sudden memory. +Her brows puckered as in labored thought and then with a +startled expression, she threw a glance backward toward the +hidden niche where the Englishman stood, after which she +whispered rapidly to her companion, occasionally jerking her +head in the direction of the niche and on several occasions +making a move with one hand and forefinger, which Smith- +Oldwick could not mistake as other than an attempt to de- +scribe his pistol and its use. + +It was evident then to him that she was betraying him, and +without further loss of time he turned his back toward the +hangings and commenced a rapid examination of his hiding +place. In the alcove the man and the girl whispered, and +then cautiously and with great stealth, the man rose and drew +his curved saber. On tiptoe he approached the hangings, the +girl creeping at his side. Neither spoke now, nor was there +any sound in the room as the girl sprang forward and with +outstretched arm and pointing finger indicated a point upon +the curtain at the height of a man's breast. Then she stepped +to one side, and her companion, raising his blade to a hori- +zontal position, lunged suddenly forward and with the full +weight of his body and his right arm, drove the sharp point +through the hangings and into the niche behind for its full +length. + +Bertha Kircher, finding her struggles futile and realizing +that she must conserve her strength for some chance oppor- +tunity of escape, desisted from her efforts to break from the +grasp of Prince Metak as the fellow fled with her through the +dimly lighted corridors of the palace. Through many cham- +bers the prince fled, bearing his prize. It was evident to the +girl that, though her captor was the king's son, he was not +above capture and punishment for his deeds, as otherwise he +would not have shown such evident anxiety to escape with +her, as well as from the results of his act. + +From the fact that he was constantly turning affrighted +eyes behind them, and glancing suspiciously into every nook +and corner that they passed, she guessed that the prince's +punishment might be both speedy and terrible were he caught. + +She knew from their route that they must have doubled +back several times although she had quite lost all sense of +direction; but she did not know that the prince was as equally +confused as she, and that really he was running in an aimless, +erratic manner, hoping that he might stumble eventually upon +a place of refuge. + +Nor is it to be wondered at that this offspring of maniacs +should have difficulty in orienting himself in the winding +mazes of a palace designed by maniacs for a maniac king. +Now a corridor turned gradually and almost imperceptibly +in a new direction, again one doubled back upon and crossed +itself; here the floor rose gradually to the level of another +story, +or again there might be a spiral stairway down which the mad +prince rushed dizzily with his burden. Upon what floor they +were or in what part of the palace even Metak had no idea +until, halting abruptly at a closed door, he pushed it open to +step into a brilliantly lighted chamber filled with warriors, at +one end of which sat the king upon a great throne; beside this, +to the girl's surprise, she saw another throne where was seated +a huge lioness, recalling to her the words of Xanila which, at +the time, had made no impression on her: "But he had many +other queens, nor were they all human." + +At sight of Metak and the girl, the king rose from his throne +and started across the chamber, all semblance of royalty +vanishing in the maniac's uncontrollable passion. And as he +came he shrieked orders and commands at the top of his voice. +No sooner had Metak so unwarily opened the door to this +hornets' nest than he immediately withdrew and, turning, fled +again in a new direction. But now a hundred men were close +upon his heels, laughing, shrieking, and possibly cursing. He +dodged hither and thither, distancing them for several minutes +until, at the bottom of a long runway that inclined steeply +downward from a higher level, he burst into a subterranean +apartment lighted by many flares. + +In the center of the room was a pool of considerable size, +the level of the water being but a few inches below the floor. +Those behind the fleeing prince and his captive entered the +chamber in time to see Metak leap into the water with the +girl and disappear beneath the surface taking his captive with +him, nor, though they waited excitedly around the rim of the +pool, did either of the two again emerge. + +When Smith-Oldwick turned to investigate his hiding place, +his hands, groping upon the rear wall, immediately came in +contact with the wooden panels of a door and a bolt such as +that which secured the door of the outer room. Cautiously +and silently drawing the wooden bar he pushed gently against +the panel to find that the door swung easily and noiselessly +outward into utter darkness. Moving carefully and feeling +forward for each step he passed out of the niche, closing the +door behind him. + +Peeling about, he discovered that he was in a narrow cor- +ridor which he followed cautiously for a few yards to be +brought up suddenly by what appeared to be a ladder across +the passageway. He felt of the obstruction carefully with his +hands until he was assured that it was indeed a ladder and +that a solid wall was just beyond it, ending the corridor. +Therefore, as he could not go forward and as the ladder +ended at the floor upon which he stood, and as he did not care +to retrace his steps, there was no alternative but to climb up- +ward, and this he did, his pistol ready in a side pocket of his +blouse. + +He had ascended but two or three rungs when his head +came suddenly and painfully in contact with a hard surface +above him. Groping about with one hand over his head he +discovered that the obstacle seemed to be the covering to a +trap door in the ceiling which, with a little effort, he +succeeded +in raising a couple of inches, revealing through the cracks +the stars of a clear African night. + +With a sigh of relief, but with unabated caution, he gently +slid the trapdoor to one side far enough to permit him to raise +his eyes above the level of the roof. A quick glance assured +him that there was none near enough to observe his move- +ments, nor, in fact, as far as he could see, was anyone in +sight. + +Drawing himself quickly through the aperture he replaced +the cover and endeavored to regain his bearings. Directly +to the south of him the low roof he stood upon adjoined a +much loftier portion of the building, which rose several stories +above his head. A few yards to the west he could see the +flickering light of the flares of a winding street, and toward +this he made his way. + +From the edge of the roof he looked down upon the night +life of the mad city. He saw men and women and children +and lions, and of all that he saw it was quite evident to him +that only the lions were sane. With the aid of the stars he +easily picked out the points of the compass, and following +carefully in his memory the steps that had led him into the +city and to the roof upon which he now stood, he knew that +the thoroughfare upon which he looked was the same along +which he and Bertha Kircher had been led as prisoners earlier +in the day. + +If he could reach this he might be able to pass undetected +in the shadows of the arcade to the city gate. He had already +given up as futile the thought of seeking out the girl and +attempting to succor her, for he knew that alone and with the +few remaining rounds of ammunition he possessed, he could +do nothing against this city-full of armed men. That he +could live to cross the lion-infested forest beyond the city was +doubtful, and having, by some miracle, won to the desert +beyond, his fate would be certainly sealed; but yet he was +consumed with but one desire -- to leave behind him as far +as possible this horrid city of maniacs. + +He saw that the roofs rose to the same level as that upon +which he stood unbroken to the north to the next street inter- +section. Directly below him was a flare. To reach the pave- +ment in safety it was necessary that he find as dark a portion +of the avenue as possible. And so he sought along the edge +of the roofs for a place where he might descend in comparative +concealment. + +He had proceeded some little way beyond a point where +the street curved abruptly to the east before he discovered a +location sufficiently to his liking. But even here he was com- +pelled to wait a considerable time for a satisfactory moment +for his descent, which he had decided to make down one of +the pillars of the arcade. Each time he prepared to lower +himself over the edge of the roofs, footsteps approaching in +one direction or another deterred him until at last he had +almost come to the conclusion that he would have to wait for +the entire city to sleep before continuing his flight. + +But finally came a moment which he felt propitious and +though with inward qualms, it was with outward calm that he +commenced the descent to the street below. + +When at last he stood beneath the arcade he was con- +gratulating himself upon the success that had attended his +efforts up to this point when, at a slight sound behind him, +he turned to see a tall figure in the yellow tunic of a warrior +confronting him. + + + + +Out of the Niche + +Numa, the lion, growled futilely in baffled rage as he +slipped back to the ground at the foot of the wall after +his unsuccessful attempt to drag down the fleeing ape- +man. He poised to make a second effort to follow his escaping +quarry when his nose picked up a hitherto unnoticed quality +in the scent spoor of his intended prey. Sniffing at the ground +that Tarzan's feet had barely touched, Numa's growl changed +to a low whine, for he had recognized the scent spoor of the +man-thing that had rescued him from the pit of the Wama- +bos. + +What thoughts passed through that massive head? Who +may say? But now there was no indication of baffled rage as +the great lion turned and moved majestically eastward along +the wall. At the eastern end of the city he turned toward the +south, continuing his way to the south side of the wall along +which were the pens and corrals where the herbivorous flocks +were fattened for the herds of domesticated lions within the +city. The great black lions of the forest fed with almost equal +impartiality upon the flesh of the grass-eaters and man. Like +Numa of the pit they occasionally made excursions across the +desert to the fertile valley of the Wamabos, but principally +they took their toll of meat from the herds of the walled city +of Herog, the mad king, or seized upon some of his luckless +subjects. + +Numa of the pit was in some respect an exception to the +rule which guided his fellows of the forest in that as a cub he +had been trapped and carried into the city, where he was kept +for breeding purposes, only to escape in his second year. They +had tried to teach him in the city of maniacs that he must not +eat the flesh of man, and the result of their schooling was that +only when aroused to anger or upon that one occasion that +he had been impelled by the pangs of hunger, did he ever at- +tack man. + +The animal corrals of the maniacs are protected by an outer +wall or palisade of upright logs, the lower ends of which are +imbedded in the ground, the logs themselves being placed as +close together as possible and further reinforced and bound +together by withes. At intervals there are gates through which +the flocks are turned on to the grazing land south of the city +during the daytime. It is at such times that the black lions +of the forest take their greatest toll from the herds, and it is +infrequent that a lion attempts to enter the corrals at night. +But Numa of the pit, having scented the spoor of his bene- +factor, was minded again to pass into the walled city, and with +that idea in his cunning brain he crept stealthily along the +outer side of the palisade, testing each gateway with a padded +foot until at last he discovered one which seemed insecurely +fastened. Lowering his great head he pressed against the gate, +surging forward with all the weight of his huge body and the +strength of his giant sinews -- one mighty effort and Numa was +within the corral. + +The enclosure contained a herd of goats which immediately +upon the advent of the carnivore started a mad stampede to +the opposite end of the corral which was bounded by the south +wall of the city. Numa had been within such a corral as this +before, so that he knew that somewhere in the wall was a small +door through which the goatherd might pass from the city +to his flock; toward this door he made his way, whether by +plan or accident it is difficult to say, though in the light of +ensuing events it seems possible that the former was the case. + +To reach the gate he must pass directly through the herd +which had huddled affrightedly close to the opening so that +once again there was a furious rush of hoofs as Numa strode +quickly to the side of the portal. If Numa had planned, he +had planned well, for scarcely had he reached his position +when the door opened and a herder's head was projected +into the enclosure, the fellow evidently seeking an explana- +tion of the disturbance among his flock. Possibly he discov- +ered the cause of the commotion, but it is doubtful, for it was +dark and the great, taloned paw that reached up and struck +downward a mighty blow that almost severed his head from +his body, moved so quickly and silently that the man was dead +within a fraction of a second from the moment that he opened +the door, and then Numa, knowing now his way, passed +through the wall into the dimly lighted streets of the city be- +yond. + +Smith-Oldwick's first thought when he was accosted by the +figure in the yellow tunic of a soldier was to shoot the man +dead and trust to his legs and the dimly lighted, winding streets +to permit his escape, for he knew that to be accosted was +equivalent to recapture since no inhabitant of this weird city +but would recognize him as an alien. It would be a simple +thing to shoot the man from the pocket where the pistol lay +without drawing the weapon, and with this purpose in mind +the Englishman slipped his hands into the side pocket of his +blouse, but simultaneously with this action his wrist was seized +in a powerful grasp and a low voice whispered in English: +"Lieutenant, it is I, Tarzan of the Apes." + +The relief from the nervous strain under which he had +been laboring for so long, left Smith-Oldwick suddenly as +weak as a babe, so that he was forced to grasp the ape-man's +arm for support -- and when he found his voice all he could +do was to repeat: "You? You? I thought you were dead!" + +"No, not dead," replied Tarzan, "and I see that you are not +either. But how about the girl?" + +"I haven't seen her," replied the Englishman, "since we +were brought here. We were taken into a building on the +plaza close by and there we were separated. She was led away +by guards and I was put into a den of lions. I haven't seen +her since." + +"How did you escape?" asked the ape-man. + +"The lions didn't seem to pay much attention to me and I +climbed out of the place by way of a tree and through a win- +dow into a room on the second floor. Had a little scrimmage +there with a fellow and was hidden by one of their women +in a hole in the wall. The loony thing then betrayed me to +another bounder who happened in, but I found a way out +and up onto the roof where I have been for quite some time +now waiting for a chance to get down into the street without +being seen. That's all I know, but I haven't the slightest idea +in the world where to look for Miss Kircher." + +"Where were you going now?" asked Tarzan. + +Smith-Oldwick hesitated. "I -- well, I couldn't do anything +here alone and I was going to try to get out of the city and +in some way reach the British forces east and bring help." + +"You couldn't do it," said Tarzan. "Even if you got through +the forest alive you could never cross the desert country with- +out food or water." + +"What shall we do, then?" asked the Englishman. + +"We will see if we can find the girl," replied the ape-man, +and then, as though he had forgotten the presence of the Eng- +lishman and was arguing to convince himself, "She may be a +German and a spy, but she is a woman -- a white woman -- I +can't leave her here." + +"But how are we going to find her?" asked the Englishman. + +"I have followed her this far," replied Tarzan, "and unless +I am greatly mistaken I can follow her still farther." + +"But I cannot accompany you in these clothes without ex- +posing us both to detection and arrest," argued Smith-Oldwick. + +"We will get you other clothes, then," said Tarzan. + +"How?" asked the Englishman. + +"Go back to the roof beside the city wall where I entered," +replied the ape-man with a grim smile, "and ask the naked +dead man there how I got my disguise." + +Smith-Oldwick looked quickly up at his companion. "I have +it," he exclaimed. "I know where there is a fellow who doesn't +need his clothes anymore, and if we can get back on this roof +I think we can find him and get his apparel without much +resistance. Only a girl and a young fellow whom we could +easily surprise and overcome." + +"What do you mean?" asked Tarzan. "How do you know +that the man doesn't need his clothes any more." + +"I know he doesn't need them," replied the Englishman, +"because I killed him." + +"Oh!" exclaimed the ape-man, "I see. I guess it might be +easier that way than to tackle one of these fellows in the street +where there is more chance of our being interrupted." + +"But how are we going to reach the roof again, after all?" +queried Smith-Oldwick. + +"The same way you came down," replied Tarzan. "This +roof is low and there is a little ledge formed by the capital +of each column; I noticed that when you descended. Some of +the buildings wouldn't have been so easy to negotiate." + +Smith-Oldwick looked up toward the eaves of the low roof. +"It's not very high," he said, "but I am afraid I can't make it. +I'll try -- I've been pretty weak since a lion mauled me and +the guards beat me up, and too, I haven't eaten since yester- +day." + +Tarzan thought a moment. "You've got to go with me," he +said at last. "I can't leave you here. The only chance you have +of escape is through me and I can't go with you now until +we have found the girl." + +"I want to go with you," replied Smith-Oldwick. "I'm not +much good now but at that two of us may be better than +one." + +"All right," said Tarzan, "come on," and before the Eng- +lishman realized what the other contemplated Tarzan had +picked him up and thrown him across his shoulder. "Now, +hang on," whispered the ape-man, and with a short run he +clambered apelike up the front of the low arcade. So quickly +and easily was it done that the Englishman scarcely had time +to realize what was happening before he was deposited safely +upon the roof. + +"There," remarked Tarzan. "Now, lead me to the place +you speak of." + +Smith-Oldwick had no difficulty in locating the trap in the +roof through which he had escaped. Removing the cover the +ape-man bent low, listening and sniffing. "Come," he said +after a moment's investigation and lowered himself to the +floor beneath. Smith-Oldwick followed him, and together the +two crept through the darkness toward the door in the back +wall of the niche in which the Englishman had been hidden +by the girl. They found the door ajar and opening it Tarzan +saw a streak of light showing through the hangings that sep- +arated it from the alcove. + +Placing his eye close to the aperture he saw the girl and +the young man of which the Englishman had spoken seated +on opposite sides of a low table upon which food was spread. +Serving them was a giant Negro and it was he whom the ape- +man watched most closely. Familiar with the tribal idiosyn- +crasies of a great number of African tribes over a considerable +proportion of the Dark Continent, the Tarmangani at last felt +reasonably assured that he knew from what part of Africa this +slave had come, and the dialect of his people. There was, how- +ever, the chance that the fellow had been captured in child- +hood and that through long years of non-use his native lan- +guage had become lost to him, but then there always had been +an element of chance connected with nearly every event of +Tarzan's life, so he waited patiently until in the performance +of his duties the black man approached a little table which +stood near the niche in which Tarzan and the Englishman hid. + +As the slave bent over some dish which stood upon the table +his ear was not far from the aperture through which Tarzan +looked. Apparently from a solid wall, for the Negro had no +knowledge of the existence of the niche, came to him in the +tongue of his own people, the whispered words: "If you would +return to the land of the Wamabo say nothing, but do as I +bid you." + +The black rolled terrified eyes toward the hangings at his +side. The ape-man could see him tremble and for a moment +was fearful that in his terror he would betray them. "Fear +not," he whispered, "we are your friends." + +At last the Negro spoke in a low whisper, scarcely audible +even to the keen ears of the ape-man. "What," he asked, "can +poor Otobu do for the god who speaks to him out of the solid +wall?" + +"This," replied Tarzan. "Two of us are coming into this +room. Help us prevent this man and woman from escaping +or raising an outcry that will bring others to their aid." + +"I will help you," replied the Negro, "to keep them within +this room, but do not fear that their outcries will bring others. +These walls are built so that no sound may pass through, and +even if it did what difference would it make in this village +which is constantly filled with the screams of its mad people. +Do not fear their cries. No one will notice them. I go to do +your bidding." + +Tarzan saw the black cross the room to the table upon which +he placed another dish of food before the feasters. Then he +stepped to a place behind the man and as he did so raised his +eyes to the point in the wall from which the ape-man's voice +had come to him, as much as to say, "Master, I am ready." + +Without more delay Tarzan threw aside the hangings and +stepped into the room. As he did so the young man rose from +the table to be instantly seized from behind by the black slave. +The girl, whose back was toward the ape-man and his com- +panion, was not at first aware of their presence but saw only +the attack of the slave upon her lover, and with a loud scream +she leaped forward to assist the latter. Tarzan sprang to her +side and laid a heavy hand upon her arm before she could +interfere with Otobu's attentions to the young man. At first, +as she turned toward the ape-man, her face reflected only mad +rage, but almost instantly this changed into the vapid smile +with which Smith-Oldwick was already familiar and her slim +fingers commenced their soft appraisement of the newcomer. + +Almost immediately she discovered Smith-Oldwick but there +was neither surprise nor anger upon her countenance. Evi- +dently the poor mad creature knew but two principal moods, +from one to the other of which she changed with lightning- +like rapidity. + +"Watch her a moment," said Tarzan to the Englishman, +"while I disarm that fellow," and stepping to the side of the +young man whom Otobu was having difficulty in subduing +Tarzan relieved him of his saber. "Tell them," he said to the +Negro, "if you speak their language, that we will not harm +them if they leave us alone and let us depart in peace." + +The black had been looking at Tarzan with wide eyes, evi- +dently not comprehending how this god could appear in so +material a form, and with the voice of a white bwana and the +uniform of a warrior of this city to which he quite evidently +did not belong. But nevertheless his first confidence in the +voice +that offered him freedom was not lessened and he did as +Tarzan bid him. + +"They want to know what you want," said Otobu, after he +had spoken to the man and the girl. + +"Tell them that we want food for one thing," said Tarzan, +"and something else that we know where to find in this room. +Take the man's spear, Otobu; I see it leaning against the wall +in the corner of the room. And you, Lieutenant, take his +saber," and then again to Otobu, "I will watch the man while +you go and bring forth that which is beneath the couch over +against this wall," and Tarzan indicated the location of the +piece of furniture. + +Otobu, trained to obey, did as he was bid. The eyes of the +man and the girl followed him, and as he drew back the hang- +ings and dragged forth the corpse of the man Smith-Oldwick +had slain, the girl's lover voiced a loud scream and attempted +to leap forward to the side of the corpse. Tarzan, however, +seized him and then the fellow turned upon him with teeth +and nails. It was with no little difficulty that Tarzan finally +sub- +dued the man, and while Otobu was removing the outer cloth- +ing from the corpse, Tarzan asked the black to question the +young man as to his evident excitement at the sight of the body. + +"I can tell you Bwana," replied Otobu. "This man was his +father." + +"What is he saying to the girl?" asked Tarzan. + +"He is asking her if she knew that the body of his father was +under the couch. And she is saying that she did not know it." + +Tarzan repeated the conversation to Smith-Oldwick, who +smiled. "If the chap could have seen her removing all evi- +dence of the crime and arranging the hangings of the couch +so that the body was concealed after she had helped me drag +it across the room, he wouldn't have very much doubt as to her +knowledge of the affair. The rug you see draped over the +bench in the corner was arranged to hide the blood stain -- in +some ways they are not so loony after all." + +The black man had now removed the outer garments from +the dead man, and Smith-Oldwick was hastily drawing them +on over his own clothing. "And now," said Tarzan, "we will +sit down and eat. One accomplishes little on an empty stom- +ach." As they ate the ape-man attempted to carry on a conver- +sation with the two natives through Otobu. He learned that +they were in the palace which had belonged to the dead man +lying upon the floor beside them. He had held an official posi- +tion of some nature, and he and his family were of the ruling +class but were not members of the court. + +When Tarzan questioned them about Bertha Kircher, the +young man said that she had been taken to the king's palace; +and when asked why replied: "For the king, of course." + +During the conversation both the man and the girl appeared +quite rational, even asking some questions as to the country +from which their uninvited guests had come, and evidencing +much surprise when informed that there was anything but +waterless wastes beyond their own valley. + +When Otobu asked the man, at Tarzan's suggestion, if he +was familiar with the interior of the king's palace, he replied +that he was; that he was a friend of Prince Metak, one of the +king's sons, and that he often visited the palace and that Metak +also came here to his father's palace frequently. As Tarzan +ate he racked his brain for some plan whereby he might utilize +the knowledge of the young man to gain entrance to the +palace, but he had arrived at nothing which he considered +feasible when there came a loud knocking upon the door of +the outer room. + +For a moment no one spoke and then the young man raised +his voice and cried aloud to those without. Immediately +Otobu sprang for the fellow and attempted to smother his +words by clapping a palm over his mouth. + +"What is he saying?" asked Tarzan. + +"He is telling them to break down the door and rescue him +and the girl from two strangers who entered and made them +prisoners. If they enter they will kill us all." + +"Tell him," said Tarzan, "to hold his peace or I will slay +him." + +Otobu did as he was instructed and the young maniac lapsed +into scowling silence. Tarzan crossed the alcove and entered +the outer room to note the effect of the assaults upon the door. +Smith-Oldwick followed him a few steps, leaving Otobu to +guard the two prionsers. The ape-man saw that the door could +not long withstand the heavy blows being dealt the panels +from without. "I wanted to use that fellow in the other room," +he said to Smith-Oldwick, "but I am afraid we will have to get +out of here the way we came. We can't accomplish anything +by waiting here and meeting these fellows. From the noise out +there there must be a dozen of them. Come," he said, "you go +first and I will follow." + +As the two turned back from the alcove they witnessed an +entirely different scene from that upon which they had turned +their backs but a moment or two before. Stretched on the +floor and apparently lifeless lay the body of the black slave, +while the two prisoners had vanished completely. + + + + +The Flight from Xuja + +As Metak bore Bertha Kircher toward the edge of the +pool, the girl at first had no conception of the deed he +contemplated but when, as they approached the edge, +he did not lessen his speed she guessed the frightful truth. As +he leaped head foremost with her into the water, she closed +her eyes and breathed a silent prayer, for she was confident +that the maniac had no other purpose than to drown himself +and her. And yet, so potent is the first law of nature that even +in the face of certain death, as she surely believed herself, she +clung tenaciously to life, and while she struggled to free her- +self from the powerful clutches of the madman, she held her +breath against the final moment when the asphyxiating waters +must inevitably flood her lungs. + +Through the frightful ordeal she maintained absolute con- +trol of her senses so that, after the first plunge, she was aware +that the man was swimming with her beneath the surface. He +took perhaps not more than a dozen strokes directly toward +the end wall of the pool and then he arose; and once again she +knew that her head was above the surface. She opened her +eyes to see that they were in a corridor dimly lighted by grat- +ings set in its roof -- a winding corridor, water filled from +wall +to wall. + +Along this the man was swimming with easy powerful +strokes, at the same time holding her chin above the water. +For ten minutes he swam thus without stopping and the girl +heard him speak to her, though she could not understand what +he said, as he evidently immediately realized, for, half +floating, +he shifted his hold upon her so that he could touch her nose +and mouth with the fingers of one hand. She grasped what he +meant and immediately took a deep breath, whereat he dove +quickly beneath the surface pulling her down with him and +again for a dozen strokes or more he swam thus wholly +submerged. + +When they again came to the surface, Bertha Kircher saw +that they were in a large lagoon and that the bright stars were +shining high above them, while on either hand domed and +minareted buildings were silhouetted sharply against the star- +lit sky. Metak swam swiftly to the north side of the lagoon +where, by means of a ladder, the two climbed out upon the +embankment. There were others in the plaza but they paid but +little if any attention to the two bedraggled figures. As Metak +walked quickly across the pavement with the girl at his side, +Bertha Kircher could only guess at the man's intentions. She +could see no way in which to escape and so she went docilely +with him, hoping against hope that some fortuitous circum- +stance might eventually arise that would give her the coveted +chance for freedom and life. + +Metak led her toward a building which, as she entered, she +recognized as the same to which she and Lieutenant Smith- +Oldwick had been led when they were brought into the city. +There was no man sitting behind the carved desk now, but +about the room were a dozen or more warriors in the tunics +of the house to which they were attached, in this case white +with a small lion in the form of a crest or badge upon the +breast and back of each. + +As Metak entered and the men recognized him they arose, +and in answer to a query he put, they pointed to an arched +doorway at the rear of the room. Toward this Metak led the +girl, and then, as though filled with a sudden suspicion, his +eyes +narrowed cunningly and turning toward the soldiery he issued +an order which resulted in their all preceding him through the +small doorway and up a flight of stairs a short distance beyond. + +The stairway and the corridor above were lighted by small +flares which revealed several doors in the walls of the upper +passageway. To one of these the men led the prince. Bertha +Kircher saw them knock upon the door and heard a voice reply +faintly through the thick door to the summons. The effect +upon those about her was electrical. Instantly excitement +reigned, and in response to orders from the king's son the +soldiers commenced to beat heavily upon the door, to throw +their bodies against it and to attempt to hew away the panels +with their sabers. The girl wondered at the cause of the evident +excitement of her captors. + +She saw the door giving to each renewed assault, but what +she did not see just before it crashed inward was the figures of +the two men who alone, in all the world, might have saved +her, pass between the heavy hangings in an adjoining alcove +and disappear into a dark corridor. + +As the door gave and the warriors rushed into the apartment +followed by the prince, the latter became immediately filled +with baffled rage, for the rooms were deserted except for the +dead body of the owner of the palace, and the still form of the +black slave, Otobu, where they lay stretched upon the floor of +the alcove. + +The prince rushed to the windows and looked out, but as +the suite overlooked the barred den of lions from which, the +prince thought, there could be no escape, his puzzlement was +only increased. Though he searched about the room for some +clue to the whereabouts of its former occupants he did not dis- +cover the niche behind the hangings. With the fickleness of +insanity he quickly tired of the search, and, turning to the +soldiers who had accompanied him from the floor below, +dismissed them. + +After setting up the broken door as best they could, the men +left the apartment and when they were again alone Metak +turned toward the girl. As he approached her, his face dis- +torted by a hideous leer, his features worked rapidly in spas- +modic twitches. The girl, who was standing at the entrance of +the alcove, shrank back, her horror reflected in her face. Step +by step she backed across the room, while the crouching +maniac crept stealthily after her with clawlike fingers poised +in anticipation of the moment they should leap forth and +seize her. + +As she passed the body of the Negro, her foot touched some +obstacle at her side, and glancing down she saw the spear with +which Otobu had been supposed to hold the prisoners. In- +stantly she leaned forward and snatched it from the floor +with its sharp point directed at the body of the madman. The +effect upon Metak was electrical. From stealthy silence he +broke into harsh peals of laughter, and drawing his saber +danced to and fro before the girl, but whichever way he went +the point of the spear still threatened him. + +Gradually the girl noticed a change in the tone of the crea- +ture's screams that was also reflected in the changing expres- +sion upon his hideous countenance. His hysterical laughter +was slowly changing into cries of rage while the silly leer upon +his face was supplanted by a ferocious scowl and upcurled +lips, which revealed the sharpened fangs beneath. + +He now ran rapidly in almost to the spear's point, only to +jump away, run a few steps to one side and again attempt to +make an entrance, the while he slashed and hewed at the +spear with such violence that it was with difficulty the girl +maintained her guard, and all the time was forced to give +ground step by step. She had reached the point where she was +standing squarely against the couch at the side of the room +when, with an incredibly swift movement, Metak stooped and +grasping a low stool hurled it directly at her head. + +She raised the spear to fend off the heavy missile, but she +was not entirely successful, and the impact of the blow carried +her backward upon the couch, and instantly Metak was upon her. + +Tarzan and Smith-Oldwick gave little thought as to what +had become of the other two occupants of the room. They +were gone, and so far as these two were concerned they might +never return. Tarzan's one desire was to reach the street +again, where, now that both of them were in some sort of +disguise, they should be able to proceed with comparative +safety to the palace and continue their search for the girl. + +Smith-Oldwick preceded Tarzan along the corridor and as +they reached the ladder he climbed aloft to remove the trap. +He worked for a moment and then, turning, addressed Tarzan. + +"Did we replace the cover on this trap when we came down? +I don't recall that we did." + +"No," said Tarzan, "it was left open." + +"So I thought," said Smith-Oldwick, "but it's closed now +and locked. I cannot move it. Possibly you can," and he +descended the ladder. + +Even Tarzan's immense strength, however, had no effect +other than to break one of the rungs of the ladder against +which he was pushing, nearly precipitating him to the floor +below. After the rung broke he rested for a moment before +renewing his efforts, and as he stood with his head near the +cover of the trap, he distinctly heard voices on the roof above +him. + +Dropping down to Oldwick's side he told him what he had +heard. "We had better find some other way out," he said, and +the two started to retrace their steps toward the alcove. Tarzan +was again in the lead, and as he opened the door in the back +of the niche, he was suddenly startled to hear, in tones of +terror and in a woman's voice, the words: "O God, be merci- +ful" from just beyond the hangings. + +Here was no time for cautious investigation and, not even +waiting to find the aperture and part the hangings, but with +one sweep of a brawny hand dragging them from their sup- +port, the ape-man leaped from the niche into the alcove. + +At the sound of his entry the maniac looked up, and as he +saw at first only a man in the uniform of his father's soldiers, +he shrieked forth an angry order, but at the second glance, +which revealed the face of the newcomer, the madman leaped +from the prostrate form of his victim and, apparently for- +getful of the saber which he had dropped upon the floor beside +the couch as he leaped to grapple with the girl, closed with +bare hands upon his antagonist, his sharp-filed teeth searching +for the other's throat. + +Metak, the son of Herog, was no weakling. Powerful by +nature and rendered still more so in the throes of one of his +maniacal fits of fury he was no mean antagonist, even for the +mighty ape-man, and to this a distinct advantage for him was +added by the fact that almost at the outset of their battle +Tarzan, in stepping backward, struck his heel against the +corpse of the man whom Smith-Oldwick had killed, and fell +heavily backward to the floor with Metak upon his breast. + +With the quickness of a cat the maniac made an attempt to +fasten his teeth in Tarzan's jugular, but a quick movement of +the latter resulted in his finding a hold only upon the Tar- +mangani's shoulder. Here he clung while his fingers sought +Tarzan's throat, and it was then that the ape-man, realizing +the possibility of defeat, called to Smith-Oldwick to take the +girl and seek to escape. + +The Englishman looked questioningly at Bertha Kircher, +who had now risen from the couch, shaking and trembling. +She saw the question in his eyes and with an effort she drew +herself to her full height. "No," she cried, "if he dies here I +shall die with him. Go if you wish to. You can do nothing +here, but I -- I cannot go." + +Tarzan had now regained his feet, but the maniac still clung +to him tenaciously. The girl turned suddenly to Smith-Oldwick. +"Your pistol!" she cried. "Why don't you shoot him?" + +The man drew the weapon from his pocket and approached +the two antagonists, but by this time they were moving so +rapidly that there was no opportunity for shooting one without +the danger of hitting the other. At the same time Bertha +Kircher circled about them with the prince's saber, but neither +could she find an opening. Again and again the two men fell +to the floor, until presently Tarzan found a hold upon the +other's throat, against which contingency Metak had been +constantly battling, and slowly, as the giant fingers closed, the +other's mad eyes protruded from his livid face, his jaws gaped +and released their hold upon Tarzan's shoulder, and then in a +sudden excess of disgust and rage the ape-man lifted the body +of the prince high above his head and with all the strength of +his great arms hurled it across the room and through the +window where it fell with a sickening thud into the pit of lions +beneath. + +As Tarzan turned again toward his companions, the girl was +standing with the saber still in her hand and an expression +upon her face that he never had seen there before. Her eyes +were wide and misty with unshed tears, while her sensitive lips +trembled as though she were upon the point of giving way to +some pent emotion which her rapidly rising and falling bosom +plainly indicated she was fighting to control. + +"If we are going to get out of here," said the ape-man, "we +can't lose any time. We are together at last and nothing can +be gained by delay. The question now is the safest way. The +couple who escaped us evidently departed through the pas- +sageway to the roof and secured the trap against us so that +we are cut off in that direction. What chance have we below? +You came that way," and he turned toward the girl. + +"At the foot of the stairs," she said, "is a room full of armed +men. I doubt if we could pass that way." + +It was then that Otobu raised himself to a sitting posture. +"So you are not dead after all," exclaimed the ape-man. +"Come, how badly are you hurt?" + +The Negro rose gingerly to his feet, moved his arms and +legs and felt of his head. + +"Otobu does not seem to be hurt at all, Bwana," he replied, +"only for a great ache in his head." + +"Good," said the ape-man. "You want to return to the +Wamabo country?" + +"Yes, Bwana." + +"Then lead us from the city by the safest way." + +"There is no safe way," replied the black, "and even if we +reach the gates we shall have to fight. I can lead you from this +building to a side street with little danger of meeting anyone +on the way. Beyond that we must take our chance of discov- +ery. You are all dressed as are the people of this wicked city so +perhaps we may pass unnoticed, but at the gate it will be a dif- +ferent matter, for none is permitted to leave the city at night." + +"Very well," replied the ape-man, "let us be on our way." + +Otobu led them through the broken door of the outer room, +and part way down the corridor he turned into another apart- +ment at the right. This they crossed to a passageway beyond, +and, finally, traversing several rooms and corridors, he led +them down a flight of steps to a door which opened directly +upon a side street in rear of the palace. + +Two men, a woman, and a black slave were not so extraordi- +nary a sight upon the streets of the city as to arouse comment. +When passing beneath the flares the three Europeans were +careful to choose a moment when no chance pedestrian might +happen to get a view of their features, but in the shadow of +the arcades there seemed little danger of detection. They had +covered a good portion of the distance to the gate without mis- +hap when there came to their ears from the central portion +of the city sounds of a great commotion. + +"What does that mean?" Tarzan asked of Otobu, who was +now trembling violently. + +"Master," he replied, "they have discovered that which has +happened in the palace of Veza, mayor of the city. His son and +the girl escaped and summoned soldiers who have now doubt- +less discovered the body of Veza." + +"I wonder," said Tarzan, "if they have discovered the party +I threw through the window." + +Bertha Kircher, who understood enough of the dialect to +follow their conversation, asked Tarzan if he knew that the +man he had thrown from the window was the king's son. The +ape-man laughed. "No," he said, "I did not. That rather +complicates matters -- at least if they have found him." + +Suddenly there broke above the turmoil behind them the +clear strains of a bugle. Otobu increased his pace. "Hurry, +Master," he cried, "it is worse than I had thought." + +"What do you mean?" asked Tarzan. + +"For some reason the king's guard and the king's lions are +being called out. I fear, O Bwana, that we cannot escape them. +But why they should be called out for us I do not know." + +But if Otobu did not know, Tarzan at least guessed that they +had found the body of the king's son. Once again the notes of +the bugle rose high and clear upon the night air. "Calling more +lions?" asked Tarzan. + +"No, Master," replied Otobu. "It is the parrots they are +calling." + +They moved on rapidly in silence for a few minutes when +their attention was attracted by the flapping of the wings of a +bird above them. They looked up to discover a parrot circling +about over their heads. + +"Here are the parrots, Otobu," said Tarzan with a grin. +"Do they expect to kill us with parrots?" + +The Negro moaned as the bird darted suddenly ahead of +them toward the city wall. "Now indeed are we lost, Master," +cried the black. "The bird that found us has flown to the gate +to warn the guard." + +"Come, Otobu, what are you talking about?" exclaimed +Tarzan irritably. "Have you lived among these lunatics so +long that you are yourself mad?" + +"No, Master," replied Otobu. "I am not mad. You do not +know them. These terrible birds are like human beings with- +out hearts or souls. They speak the language of the people of +this city of Xuja. They are demons, Master, and when in +sufficient numbers they might even attack and kill us." + +"How far are we from the gate?" asked Tarzan. + +"We are not very far," replied the Negro. "Beyond this next +turn we will see it a few paces ahead of us. But the bird has +reached it before us and by now they are summoning the +guard," the truth of which statement was almost immediately +indicated by sounds of many voices raised evidently in com- +mands just ahead of them, while from behind came increased +evidence of approaching pursuit -- loud screams and the roars +of lions. + +A few steps ahead a narrow alley opened from the east into +the thoroughfare they were following and as they approached +it there emerged from its dark shadows the figure of a mighty +lion. Otobu halted in his tracks and shrank back against +Tarzan. "Look, Master," he whimpered, "a great black lion +of the forest!" + +Tarzan drew the saber which still hung at his side. "We +cannot go back," he said. "Lions, parrots, or men, it must be +all the same," and he moved steadily forward in the direction +of the gate. What wind was stirring in the city street moved +from Tarzan toward the lion and when the ape-man had ap- +proached to within a few yards of the beast, who had stood +silently eyeing them up to this time, instead of the expected +roar, a whine broke from the beast's throat. The ape-man was +conscious of a very decided feeling of relief. "It's Numa of +the pit," he called back to his companions, and to Otobu, "Do +not fear, this lion will not harm us." + +Numa moved forward to the ape-man's side and then +turning, paced beside him along the narrow street. At the next +turn they came in sight of the gate, where, beneath several +flares, they saw a group of at least twenty warriors prepared +to seize them, while from the opposite direction the roars of +the pursuing lions sounded close upon them, mingling with the +screams of numerous parrots which now circled about their +heads. Tarzan halted and turned to the young aviator. "How +many rounds of ammunition have you left?" he asked. + +"I have seven in the pistol," replied Smith-Oldwick, "and +perhaps a dozen more cartridges in my blouse pocket." + +"I'm going to rush them," said Tarzan. "Otobu, you stay at +the side of the woman. Oldwick, you and I will go ahead, you +upon my left. I think we need not try to tell Numa what to +do," for even then the great lion was baring his fangs and +growling ferociously at the guardsmen, who appeared uneasy +in the face of this creature which, above all others, they +feared. + +"As we advance, Oldwick," said the ape-man, "fire one shot. +It may frighten them, and after that fire only when necessary. +All ready? Let's go!" and he moved forward toward the gate. +At the same time, Smith-Oldwick discharged his weapon and a +yellow-coated warrior screamed and crumpled forward upon +his face. For a minute the others showed symptoms of panic +but one, who seemed to be an officer, rallied them. "Now," +said Tarzan, "all together!" and he started at a run for the +gate. Simultaneously the lion, evidently scenting the purpose +of the Tarmangani, broke into a full charge toward the guard. + +Shaken by the report of the unfamiliar weapon, the ranks +of the guardsmen broke before the furious assault of the great +beast. The officer screamed forth a volley of commands in a +mad fury of uncontrolled rage but the guardsmen, obeying the +first law of nature as well as actuated by their inherent fear of +the black denizen of the forest scattered to right and left to +elude the monster. With ferocious growls Numa wheeled to +the right, and with raking talons struck right and left among a +little handful of terrified guardsmen who were endeavoring +to elude him, and then Tarzan and Smith-Oldwick closed with +the others. + +For a moment their most formidable antagonist was the +officer in command. He wielded his curved saber as only an +adept might as he faced Tarzan, to whom the similar weapon +in his own hand was most unfamiliar. Smith-Oldwick could +not fire for fear of hitting the ape-man when suddenly to his +dismay he saw Tarzan's weapon fly from his grasp as the +Xujan warrior neatly disarmed his opponent. With a scream +the fellow raised his saber for the final cut that would termi- +nate the earthly career of Tarzan of the Apes when, to the +astonishment of both the ape-man and Smith-Oldwick, the +fellow stiffened rigidly, his weapon dropped from the nerve- +less fingers of his upraised hand, his mad eyes rolled upward +and foam flecked his bared lip. Gasping as though in the +throes of strangulation the fellow pitched forward at Tarzan's +feet. + +Tarzan stooped and picked up the dead man's weapon, a +smile upon his face as he turned and glanced toward the +young Englishman. + +"The fellow is an epileptic," said Smith-Oldwick. "I sup- +pose many of them are. Their nervous condition is not with- +out its good points -- a normal man would have gotten you." + +The other guardsmen seemed utterly demoralized at the +loss of their leader. They were huddled upon the opposite +side of the street at the left of the gate, screaming at the tops +of their voices and looking in the direction from which sounds +of reinforcements were coming, as though urging on the men +and lions that were already too close for the comfort of the +fugitives. Six guardsmen still stood with their backs against +the gate, their weapons flashing in the light of the flares and +their parchment-like faces distorted in horrid grimaces of rage +and terror. + +Numa had pursued two fleeing warriors down the street +which paralleled the wall for a short distance at this point. +The ape-man turned to Smith-Oldwick. "You will have to +use your pistol now," he said, "and we must get by these +fellows at once;" and as the young Englishman fired, Tarzan +rushed in to close quarters as though he had not already dis- +covered that with the saber he was no match for these trained +swordsmen. Two men fell to Smith-Oldwick's first two shots +and then he missed, while the four remaining divided, two +leaping for the aviator and two for Tarzan. + +The ape-man rushed in in an effort to close with one of his +antagonists where the other's saber would be comparatively +useless. Smith-Oldwick dropped one of his assailants with a +bullet through the chest and pulled his trigger on the second, +only to have the hammer fall futilely upon an empty chamber. +The cartridges in his weapon were exhausted and the warrior +with his razor-edged, gleaming saber was upon him. + +Tarzan raised his own weapon but once and that to divert a +vicious cut for his head. Then he was upon one of his assail- +ants and before the fellow could regain his equilibrium and +leap back after delivering his cut, the ape-man had seized him +by the neck and crotch. Tarzan's other antagonist was edging +around to one side where he might use his weapon, and as he +raised the blade to strike at the back of the Tarmangani's neck, +the latter swung the body of his comrade upward so that it +received the full force of the blow. The blade sank deep into +the body of the warrior, eliciting a single frightful scream, and +then Tarzan hurled the dying man in the face of his final +adversary. + +Smith-Oldwick, hard pressed and now utterly defenseless, +had given up all hope in the instant that he realized his +weapon was empty, when, from his left, a living bolt of black- +maned ferocity shot past him to the breast of his opponent. +Down went the Xujan, his face bitten away by one snap of the +powerful jaws of Numa of the pit. + +In the few seconds that had been required for the consum- +mation of these rapidly ensuing events, Otobu had dragged +Bertha Kircher to the gate which he had unbarred and thrown +open, and with the vanquishing of the last of the active guards- +men, the party passed out of the maniac city of Xuja into the +outer darkness beyond. At the same moment a half dozen +lions rounded the last turn in the road leading back toward the +plaza, and at sight of them Numa of the pit wheeled and +charged. For a moment the lions of the city stood their +ground, but only for a moment, and then before the black +beast was upon them, they turned and fled, while Tarzan and +his party moved rapidly toward the blackness of the forest +beyond the garden. + +"Will they follow us out of the city?" Tarzan asked Otobu. + +"Not at night," replied the black. "I have been a slave here +for five years but never have I known these people to leave +the city by night. If they go beyond the forest in the daytime +they usually wait until the dawn of another day before they +return, as they fear to pass through the country of the black +lions after dark. No, I think, Master, that they will not follow +us tonight, but tomorrow they will come, and, O Bwana, then +will they surely get us, or those that are left of us, for at +least +one among us must be the toll of the black lions as we pass +through their forest." + +As they crossed the garden, Smith-Oldwick refilled the +magazine of his pistol and inserted a cartridge in the chamber. +The girl moved silently at Tarzan's left, between him and the +aviator. Suddenly the ape-man stopped and turned toward +the city, his mighty frame, clothed in the yellow tunic of +Herog's soldiery, plainly visible to the others beneath the light +of the stars. They saw him raise his head and they heard +break from his lips the plaintive note of a lion calling to his +fellows. Smith-Oldwick felt a distinct shudder pass through +his frame, while Otobu, rolling the whites of his eyes in ter- +rified surprise, sank tremblingly to his knees. But the girl +thrilled and she felt her heart beat in a strange exultation, and +then she drew nearer to the beast-man until her shoulder +touched his arm. The act was involuntary and for a moment +she scarce realized what she had done, and then she stepped +silently back, thankful that the light of the stars was not +sufficient to reveal to the eyes of her companions the flush +which she felt mantling her cheek. Yet she was not ashamed +of the impulse that had prompted her, but rather of the act +itself which she knew, had Tarzan noticed it, would have been +repulsive to him. + +From the open gate of the city of maniacs came the answer- +ing cry of a lion. The little group waited where they stood +until presently they saw the majestic proportions of the black +lion as he approached them along the trail. When he had +rejoined them Tarzan fastened the fingers of one hand in the +black mane and started on once more toward the forest. Be- +hind them, from the city, rose a bedlam of horrid sounds, the +roaring of lions mingling with the raucous voices of the +screaming parrots and the mad shrieks of the maniacs. As +they entered the Stygian darkness of the forest the girl once +again involuntarily shrank closer to the ape-man, and this time +Tarzan was aware of the contact. + +Himself without fear, he yet instinctively appreciated how +terrified the girl must be. Actuated by a sudden kindly im- +pulse he found her hand and took it in his own and thus they +continued upon their way, groping through the blackness of +the trail. Twice they were approached by forest lions, but +upon both occasions the deep growls of Numa of the pit drove +off their assailants. Several times they were compelled to rest, +for Smith-Oldwick was constantly upon the verge of exhaus- +tion, and toward morning Tarzan was forced to carry him on +the steep ascent from the bed of the valley. + + + + +The Tommies + +Daylight overtook them after they had entered the gorge, +but, tired as they all were with the exception of Tar- +zan, they realized that they must keep on at all costs +until they found a spot where they might ascend the precipi- +tous side of the gorge to the floor of the plateau above. Tarzan +and Otobu were both equally confident that the Xujans would +not follow them beyond the gorge, but though they scanned +every inch of the frowning cliffs upon either hand noon came +and there was still no indication of any avenue of escape to +right or left. There were places where the ape-man alone +might have negotiated the ascent but none where the others +could hope successfully to reach the plateau, nor where Tar- +zan, powerful and agile as he was, could have ventured safely +to carry them aloft. + +For half a day the ape-man had been either carrying or +supporting Smith-Oldwick and now, to his chagrin, he saw +that the girl was faltering. He had realized well how much +she had undergone and how greatly the hardships and dan- +gers and the fatigue of the past weeks must have told upon +her vitality. He saw how bravely she attempted to keep up, +yet how often she stumbled and staggered as she labored +through the sand and gravel of the gorge. Nor could he help +but admire her fortitude and the uncomplaining effort she was +making to push on. + +The Englishman must have noticed her condition too, for +some time after noon, he stopped suddenly and sat down in +the sand. "It's no use," he said to Tarzan. "I can go no far- +ther. Miss Kircher is rapidly weakening. You will have to go +on without me." + +"No," said the girl, "we cannot do that. We have all been +through so much together and the chances of our escape are +still so remote that whatever comes, let us remain together, +unless," and she looked up at Tarzan, "you, who have done +so much for us to whom you are under no obligations, will +go on without us. I for one wish that you would. It must be +as evident to you as it is to me that you cannot save us, for +though you succeeded in dragging us from the path of our +pursuers, even your great strength and endurance could never +take one of us across the desert waste which lies between +here and the nearest fertile country." + +The ape-man returned her serious look with a smile. "You +are not dead," he said to her, "nor is the lieutenant, nor Otobu, +nor myself. One is either dead or alive, and until we are dead +we should plan only upon continuing to live. Because we +remain here and rest is no indication that we shall die here. +I cannot carry you both to the country of the Wamabos, which +is the nearest spot at which we may expect to find game and +water, but we shall not give up on that account. So far we +have found a way. Let us take things as they come. Let us +rest now because you and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick need the +rest, and when you are stronger we will go on again." + +"But the Xujans --?" she asked, "may they not follow us +here?" + +"Yes," he said, "they probably will. But we need not be +concerned with them until they come." + +"I wish," said the girl, "that I possessed your philosophy +but I am afraid it is beyond me." + +"You were not born and reared in the jungle by wild beasts +and among wild beasts, or you would possess, as I do, the +fatalism of the jungle." + +And so they moved to the side of the gorge beneath the +shade of an overhanging rock and lay down in the hot sand to +rest. Numa wandered restlessly to and fro and finally, after +sprawling for a moment close beside the ape-man, rose and +moved off up the gorge to be lost to view a moment later be- +yond the nearest turn. + +For an hour the little party rested and then Tarzan suddenly +rose and, motioning the others to silence, listened. For a min- +ute he stood motionless, his keen ears acutely receptive to +sounds so faint and distant that none of the other three could +detect the slightest break in the utter and deathlike quiet of +the +gorge. Finally the ape-man relaxed and turned toward them. +"What is it?" asked the girl. + +"They are coming," he replied. "They are yet some distance +away, though not far, for the sandaled feet of the men and the +pads of the lions make little noise upon the soft sands." + +"What shall we do -- try to go on?" asked Smith-Oldwick. +"I believe I could make a go of it now for a short way. I am +much rested. How about you Miss Kircher?" + +"Oh, yes," she said, "I am much stronger. Yes, surely I can +go on." + +Tarzan knew that neither of them quite spoke the truth, +that people do not recover so quickly from utter exhaustion, +but he saw no other way and there was always the hope that +just beyond the next turn would be a way out of the gorge. + +"You help the lieutenant, Otobu," he said, turning to the +black, "and I will carry Miss Kircher," and though the girl +objected, saying that he must not waste his strength, he lifted +her lightly in his arms and moved off up the canyon, followed +by Otobu and the Englishman. They had gone no great dis- +tance when the others of the party became aware of the sounds +of pursuit, for now the lions were whining as though the fresh +scent spoor of their quarry had reached their nostrils. + +"I wish that your Numa would return," said the girl. + +"Yes," said Tarzan, "but we shall have to do the best we can +without him. I should like to find some place where we can +barricade ourselves against attack from all sides. Possibly then +we might hold them off. Smith-Oldwick is a good shot and if +there are not too many men he might be able to dispose of +them provided they can only come at him one at a time. The +lions don't bother me so much. Sometimes they are stupid +animals, and I am sure that these that pursue us, and who are +so dependent upon the masters that have raised and trained +them, will be easily handled after the warriors are disposed of." + +"You think there is some hope, then?" she asked. + +"We are still alive," was his only answer. + +"There," he said presently, "I thought I recalled this very +spot." He pointed toward a fragment that had evidently fallen +from the summit of the cliff and which now lay imbedded in +the sand a few feet from the base. It was a jagged fragment of +rock which rose some ten feet above the surface of the sand, +leaving a narrow aperture between it and the cliff behind. To- +ward this they directed their steps and when finally they +reached their goal they found a space about two feet wide and +ten feet long between the rock and the cliff. To be sure it was +open at both ends but at least they could not be attacked +upon all sides at once. + +They had scarcely concealed themselves before Tarzan's +quick ears caught a sound upon the face of the cliff above +them, and looking up he saw a diminutive monkey perched +upon a slight projection -- an ugly-faced little monkey who +looked down upon them for a moment and then scampered +away toward the south in the direction from which their pur- +suers were coming. Otobu had seen the monkey too. "He will +tell the parrots," said the black, "and the parrots will tell the +madmen." + +"It is all the same," replied Tarzan; "the lions would have +found us here. We could not hope to hide from them." + +He placed Smith-Oldwick, with his pistol, at the north open- +ing of their haven and told Otobu to stand with his spear at +the Englishman's shoulder, while he himself prepared to guard +the southern approach. Between them he had the girl lie down +in the sand. "You will be safe there in the event that they use +their spears," he said. + +The minutes that dragged by seemed veritable eternities to +Bertha Kircher and then at last, and almost with relief, she +knew that the pursuers were upon them. She heard the angry +roaring of the lions and the cries of the madmen. For several +minutes the men seemed to be investigating the stronghold +which their quarry had discovered. She could hear them both +to the north and south and then from where she lay she saw +a lion charging for the ape-man before her. She saw the giant +arm swing back with the curved saber and she saw it fall +with terrific velocity and meet the lion as he rose to grapple +with the man, cleaving his skull as cleanly as a butcher opens +up a sheep. + +Then she heard footsteps running rapidly toward Smith- +Oldwick and, as his pistol spoke, there was a scream and the +sound of a falling body. Evidently disheartened by the failure +of their first attempt the assaulters drew off, but only for a +short time. Again they came, this time a man opposing Tar- +zan and a lion seeking to overcome Smith-Oldwick. Tarzan +had cautioned the young Englishman not to waste his car- +tridges upon the lions and it was Otobu with the Xujan spear +who met the beast, which was not subdued until both he and +Smith-Oldwick had been mauled, and the latter had succeeded +in running the point of the saber the girl had carried, into the +beast's heart. The man who opposed Tarzan inadvertently +came too close in an attempt to cut at the ape-man's head, with +the result that an instant later his corpse lay with the neck +broken upon the body of the lion. + +Once again the enemy withdrew, but again only for a short +time, and now they came in full force, the lions and the men, +possibly a half dozen of each, the men casting their spears +and the lions waiting just behind, evidently for the signal to +charge. + +"Is this the end?" asked the girl. + +"No," cried the ape-man, "for we still live!" + +The words had scarcely passed his lips when the remaining +warriors, rushing in, cast their spears simultaneously from +both sides. In attempting to shield the girl, Tarzan received +one of the shafts in the shoulder, and so heavily had the +weapon been hurled that it bore him backward to the ground. +Smith-Oldwick fired his pistol twice when he too was struck +down, the weapon entering his right leg midway between hip +and knee. Only Otobu remained to face the enemy, for the +Englishman, already weak from his wounds and from the +latest mauling he had received at the claws of the lion, had lost +consciousness as he sank to the ground with this new hurt. + +As he fell his pistol dropped from his fingers, and the girl, +seeing, snatched it up. As Tarzan struggled to rise, one of the +warriors leaped full upon his breast and bore him back as, with +fiendish shrieks, he raised the point of his saber above the +other's heart. Before he could drive it home the girl leveled +Smith-Oldwick's pistol and fired point-blank at the fiend's +face. + +Simultaneously there broke upon the astonished ears of both +attackers and attacked a volley of shots from the gorge. With +the sweetness of the voice of an angel from heaven the Euro- +peans heard the sharp-barked commands of an English non- +com. Even above the roars of the lions and the screams of +the maniacs, those beloved tones reached the ears of Tarzan +and the girl at the very moment that even the ape-man had +given up the last vestige of hope. + +Rolling the body of the warrior to one side Tarzan strug- +gled to his feet, the spear still protruding from his shoulder. +The girl rose too, and as Tarzan wrenched the weapon from +his flesh and stepped out from behind the concealment of +their refuge, she followed at his side. The skirmish that had +resulted in their rescue was soon over. Most of the lions es- +caped but all of the pursuing Xujans had been slain. As Tar- +zan and the girl came into full view of the group, a British +Tommy leveled his rifle at the ape-man. Seeing the fellow's +actions and realizing instantly the natural error that Tarzan's +yellow tunic had occasioned the girl sprang between him and +the soldier. "Don't shoot," she cried to the latter, "we are both +friends." + +"Hold up your hands, you, then," he commanded Tarzan. +"I ain't taking no chances with any duffer with a yellow shirt." + +At this juncture the British sergeant who had been in com- +mand of the advance guard approached and when Tarzan and +the girl spoke to him in English, explaining their disguises, he +accepted their word, since they were evidently not of the +same race as the creatures which lay dead about them. Ten +minutes later the main body of the expedition came into view. +Smith-Oldwick's wounds were dressed, as well as were those +of the ape-man, and in half an hour they were on their way to +the camp of their rescuers. + +That night it was arranged that the following day Smith- +Oldwick and Bertha Kircher should be transported to British +headquarters near the coast by aeroplane, the two planes +attached to the expeditionary force being requisitioned for the +purpose. Tarzan and Otobu declined the offers of the British +captain to accompany his force overland on the return march +as Tarzan explained that his country lay to the west, as did +Otobu's, and that they would travel together as far as the +country of the Wamabos. + +"You are not going back with us, then?" asked the girl. + +"No," replied the ape-man. "My home is upon the west +coast. I will continue my journey in that direction." + +She cast appealing eyes toward him. "You will go back into +that terrible jungle?" she asked. "We shall never see you +again?" + +He looked at her a moment in silence. "Never," he said, +and without another word turned and walked away. + +In the morning Colonel Capell came from the base camp in +one of the planes that was to carry Smith-Oldwick and the girl +to the east. Tarzan was standing some distance away as the +ship landed and the officer descended to the ground. He saw +the colonel greet his junior in command of the advance de- +tachment, and then he saw him turn toward Bertha Kircher +who was standing a few paces behind the captain. Tarzan won- +dered how the German spy felt in this situation, especially +when she must know that there was one there who knew her +real status. He saw Colonel Capell walk toward her with out- +stretched hands and smiling face and, although he could +not hear the words of his greeting, he saw that it was friendly +and cordial to a degree. + +Tarzan turned away scowling, and if any had been close by +they might have heard a low growl rumble from his chest. He +knew that his country was at war with Germany and that not +only his duty to the land of his fathers, but also his personal +grievance against the enemy people and his hatred of them, +demanded that he expose the girl's perfidy, and yet he hesi- +tated, and because he hesitated he growled -- not at the German +spy but at himself for his weakness. + +He did not see her again before she entered a plane and was +borne away toward the east. He bid farewell to Smith-Oldwick +and received again the oft-repeated thanks of the young Eng- +lishman. And then he saw him too borne aloft in the high +circling plane and watched until the ship became a speck far +above the eastern horizon to disappear at last high in air. + +The Tommies, their packs and accouterments slung, were +waiting the summons to continue their return march. Colonel +Capell had, through a desire to personally observe the stretch +of country between the camp of the advance detachment and +the base, decided to march back his troops. Now that all was +in readiness for departure he turned to Tarzan. "I wish you +would come back with us, Greystoke," he said, "and if my +appeal carries no inducement possibly that of Smith-Oldwick +'and the young lady who just left us may. They asked me to +urge you to return to civilization." + +"No;" said Tarzan, "I shall go my own way. Miss Kircher +and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick were only prompted by a sense +of gratitude in considering my welfare." + +"Miss Kircher?" exclaimed Capell and then he laughed, +"You know her then as Bertha Kircher, the German spy?" + +Tarzan looked at the other a moment in silence. It was +beyond him to conceive that a British officer should thus laco- +nically speak of an enemy spy whom he had had within his +power and permitted to escape. "Yes," he replied, "I knew +that she was Bertha Kircher, the German spy?" + +"Is that all you knew?" asked Capell. + +"That is all," said the ape-man. + +"She is the Honorable Patricia Canby," said Capell, "one +of the most valuable members of the British Intelligence Serv- +ice attached to the East African forces. Her father and I +served in India together and I have known her ever since she +was born. + +"Why, here's a packet of papers she took from a German +officer and has been carrying it through all her vicissitudes -- +single-minded in the performance of her duty. Look! I +haven't yet had time to examine them but as you see here is a +military sketch map, a bundle of reports, and the diary of one +Hauptmann Fritz Schneider." + +"The diary of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider!" repeated Tar- +zan in a constrained voice. "May I see it, Capell? He is the +man who murdered Lady Greystoke." + +The Englishman handed the little volume over to the other +without a word. Tarzan ran through the pages quickly look- +ing for a certain date -- the date that the horror had been com- +mitted -- and when he found it he read rapidly. Suddenly a +gasp of incredulity burst from his lips. Capell looked at him +questioningly. + +"God!" exclaimed the ape-man. "Can this be true? Listen!" +and he read an excerpt from the closely written page: + +"'Played a little joke on the English pig. When he comes +home he will find the burned body of his wife in her boudoir -- +but he will only think it is his wife. Had von Goss substitute +the body of a dead Negress and char it after putting Lady +Greystoke's rings on it -- Lady G will be of more value to the +High Command alive than dead.'" + +"She lives!" cried Tarzan. + +"Thank God!" exclaimed Capell. "And now?" + +"I will return with you, of course. How terribly I have +wronged Miss Canby, but how could I know? I even told +Smith-Oldwick, who loves her, that she was a German spy. + +"Not only must I return to find my wife but I must right +this wrong." + +"Don't worry about that," said Capell, "she must have con- +vinced him that she is no enemy spy, for just before they left +this morning he told me she had promised to marry him." + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Tarzan the Untamed, by Burroughs + +Note: I have made the following changes to the text: +PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO + 25 10 noislessly noiselessly + 40 34 hole bole + 41 45 later latter + 53 43 but "but + 66 19 half-smiled half-smile + 69 45 to many too many + 75 16 fine find + 81 3 forth fourth + 86 14 hoplessly hopelessly + 86 42 interferred interfered + 93 15 born borne + 101 40 Englishman Englishmen + 108 16 divertisements divertissements + 110 29 asid said + 127 14 apppreciate appreciate + 128 45 fuseluge fuselage + 138 25 as the at the + 142 34 girls' girl's + 146 44 sourroundings, surroundings, + 148 30 spirit on spirit of + 149 33 upon upon. + 153 3 immediately immediate + 153 39 nothwithstanding notwithstanding + 159 43 "The The + 163 45 known know + 171 8 one the on the + 172 8 sandled sandaled + 175 2 junlgle jungle + 181 46 swifty swiftly + 189 23 not, not. + 198 45 "Come," Come," + 219 1 still sill + 225 21 sigh or sigh of + 227 20 occasionaly occasionally + 228 5 gazing grazing + 234 24 prionsers. prisoners. + 237 11 qiuckly quickly + 237 16 opproached approached + 243 16 is his in his + 244 32 second seconds +I have also omitted the page-wide line beneath each chapter +heading. + + diff --git a/old/old/tarz710.zip b/old/old/tarz710.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cfc072b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/tarz710.zip diff --git a/old/old/tarz711.txt b/old/old/tarz711.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7ede6c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/tarz711.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12060 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Tarzan the Untamed +by Edgar Rice Burroughs +(#7 in The Tarzan Tales by Edgar Rice Burroughs) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END* + + + + + + + + + + + +Created by Judith Boss, Omaha, NE. + + + + + +Tarzan the Untamed + +By Edgar Rice Burroughs + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + + +CHAPTER + I Murder and Pillage + II The Lion's Cave + III In the German Lines + IV When the Lion Fed + V The Golden Locket + VI Vengeance and Mercy + VII When Blood Told + VIII Tarzan and the Great Apes + IX Dropped from the Sky + X In the Hands of Savages + XI Finding the Airplane + XII The Black Flier + XIII Usanga's Reward + XIV The Black Lion + XV Mysterious Footprints + XVI The Night Attack + XVII The Walled City +XVIII Among the Maniacs + XIX The Queen's Story + XX Came Tarzan + XXI In the Alcove + XXII Out of the Niche +XXIII The Flight from Xuja + XXIV The Tommies + + + + + +Murder and Pillage + + + + +Hauptmann Fritz Schneider trudged wearily through the somber aisles +of the dark forest. Sweat rolled down his bullet head and stood +upon his heavy jowls and bull neck. His lieutenant marched beside +him while Underlieutenant von Goss brought up the rear, following +with a handful of askaris the tired and all but exhausted porters +whom the black soldiers, following the example of their white officer, +encouraged with the sharp points of bayonets and the metal-shod +butts of rifles. + +There were no porters within reach of Hauptmann Schneider so he +vented his Prussian spleen upon the askaris nearest at hand, yet +with greater circumspection since these men bore loaded rifles--and +the three white men were alone with them in the heart of Africa. + +Ahead of the hauptmann marched half his company, behind him the +other half--thus were the dangers of the savage jungle minimized +for the German captain. At the forefront of the column staggered +two naked savages fastened to each other by a neck chain. These +were the native guides impressed into the service of Kultur and upon +their poor, bruised bodies Kultur's brand was revealed in divers +cruel wounds and bruises. + +Thus even in darkest Africa was the light of German civilization +commencing to reflect itself upon the undeserving natives just as +at the same period, the fall of 1914, it was shedding its glorious +effulgence upon benighted Belgium. + +It is true that the guides had led the party astray; but this is +the way of most African guides. Nor did it matter that ignorance +rather than evil intent had been the cause of their failure. It +was enough for Hauptmann Fritz Schneider to know that he was lost +in the African wilderness and that he had at hand human beings less +powerful than he who could be made to suffer by torture. That he +did not kill them outright was partially due to a faint hope that +they might eventually prove the means of extricating him from his +difficulties and partially that so long as they lived they might +still be made to suffer. + +The poor creatures, hoping that chance might lead them at last +upon the right trail, insisted that they knew the way and so led +on through a dismal forest along a winding game trail trodden deep +by the feet of countless generations of the savage denizens of the +jungle. + +Here Tantor, the elephant, took his long way from dust wallow to +water. Here Buto, the rhinoceros, blundered blindly in his solitary +majesty, while by night the great cats paced silently upon their +padded feet beneath the dense canopy of overreaching trees toward +the broad plain beyond, where they found their best hunting. + +It was at the edge of this plain which came suddenly and unexpectedly +before the eyes of the guides that their sad hearts beat with +renewed hope. Here the hauptmann drew a deep sigh of relief, for +after days of hopeless wandering through almost impenetrable jungle +the broad vista of waving grasses dotted here and there with open +park like woods and in the far distance the winding line of green +shrubbery that denoted a river appeared to the European a veritable +heaven. + +The Hun smiled in his relief, passed a cheery word with his lieutenant, +and then scanned the broad plain with his field glasses. Back and +forth they swept across the rolling land until at last they came +to rest upon a point near the center of the landscape and close to +the green-fringed contours of the river. + +"We are in luck," said Schneider to his companions. "Do you see +it?" + +The lieutenant, who was also gazing through his own glasses, +finally brought them to rest upon the same spot that had held the +attention of his superior. + +"Yes," he said, "an English farm. It must be Greystoke's, for there +is none other in this part of British East Africa. God is with us, +Herr Captain." + +"We have come upon the English schweinhund long before he can have +learned that his country is at war with ours," replied Schneider. +"Let him be the first to feel the iron hand of Germany." + +"Let us hope that he is at home," said the lieutenant, "that we +may take him with us when we report to Kraut at Nairobi. It will +go well indeed with Herr Hauptmann Fritz Schneider if he brings in +the famous Tarzan of the Apes as a prisoner of war." + +Schneider smiled and puffed out his chest. "You are right, my +friend," he said, "it will go well with both of us; but I shall +have to travel far to catch General Kraut before he reaches Mombasa. +These English pigs with their contemptible army will make good time +to the Indian Ocean." + +It was in a better frame of mind that the small force set out across +the open country toward the trim and well-kept farm buildings of +John Clayton, Lord Greystoke; but disappointment was to be their +lot since neither Tarzan of the Apes nor his son was at home. + +Lady Jane, ignorant of the fact that a state of war existed between +Great Britain and Germany, welcomed the officers most hospitably +and gave orders through her trusted Waziri to prepare a feast for +the black soldiers of the enemy. + +Far to the east, Tarzan of the Apes was traveling rapidly from +Nairobi toward the farm. At Nairobi he had received news of the +World War that had already started, and, anticipating an immediate +invasion of British East Africa by the Germans, was hurrying homeward +to fetch his wife to a place of greater security. With him were a +score of his ebon warriors, but far too slow for the ape-man was +the progress of these trained and hardened woodsmen. + +When necessity demanded, Tarzan of the Apes sloughed the thin +veneer of his civilization and with it the hampering apparel that +was its badge. In a moment the polished English gentleman reverted +to the naked ape man. + +His mate was in danger. For the time, that single thought dominated. +He did not think of her as Lady Jane Greystoke, but rather as the +she he had won by the might of his steel thews, and that he must +hold and protect by virtue of the same offensive armament. + +It was no member of the House of Lords who swung swiftly and grimly +through the tangled forest or trod with untiring muscles the wide +stretches of open plain--it was a great he ape filled with a single +purpose that excluded all thoughts of fatigue or danger. + +Little Manu, the monkey, scolding and chattering in the upper +terraces of the forest, saw him pass. Long had it been since he had +thus beheld the great Tarmangani naked and alone hurtling through +the jungle. Bearded and gray was Manu, the monkey, and to his dim +old eyes came the fire of recollection of those days when Tarzan +of the Apes had ruled supreme, Lord of the Jungle, over all the +myriad life that trod the matted vegetation between the boles of +the great trees, or flew or swung or climbed in the leafy fastness +upward to the very apex of the loftiest terraces. + +And Numa, the lion, lying up for the day close beside last night's +successful kill, blinked his yellow-green eyes and twitched his +tawny tail as he caught the scent spoor of his ancient enemy. + +Nor was Tarzan senseless to the presence of Numa or Manu or any of +the many jungle beasts he passed in his rapid flight towards the +west. No particle had his shallow probing of English society dulled +his marvelous sense faculties. His nose had picked out the presence +of Numa, the lion, even before the majestic king of beasts was +aware of his passing. + +He had heard noisy little Manu, and even the soft rustling of the +parting shrubbery where Sheeta passed before either of these alert +animals sensed his presence. + +But however keen the senses of the ape-man, however swift his +progress through the wild country of his adoption, however mighty +the muscles that bore him, he was still mortal. Time and space +placed their inexorable limits upon him; nor was there another who +realized this truth more keenly than Tarzan. He chafed and fretted +that he could not travel with the swiftness of thought and that the +long tedious miles stretching far ahead of him must require hours +and hours of tireless effort upon his part before he would swing +at last from the final bough of the fringing forest into the open +plain and in sight of his goal. + +Days it took, even though he lay up at night for but a few hours +and left to chance the finding of meat directly on his trail. If +Wappi, the antelope, or Horta, the boar, chanced in his way when +he was hungry, he ate, pausing but long enough to make the kill +and cut himself a steak. + +Then at last the long journey drew to its close and he was passing +through the last stretch of heavy forest that bounded his estate +upon the east, and then this was traversed and he stood upon the +plain's edge looking out across his broad lands towards his home. + +At the first glance his eyes narrowed and his muscles tensed. Even +at that distance he could see that something was amiss. A thin +spiral of smoke arose at the right of the bungalow where the barns +had stood, but there were no barns there now, and from the bungalow +chimney from which smoke should have arisen, there arose nothing. + +Once again Tarzan of the Apes was speeding onward, this time even +more swiftly than before, for he was goaded now by a nameless fear, +more product of intuition than of reason. Even as the beasts, +Tarzan of the Apes seemed to possess a sixth sense. Long before he +reached the bungalow, he had almost pictured the scene that finally +broke upon his view. + +Silent and deserted was the vine-covered cottage. Smoldering embers +marked the site of his great barns. Gone were the thatched huts of +his sturdy retainers, empty the fields, the pastures, and corrals. +Here and there vultures rose and circled above the carcasses of +men and beasts. + +It was with a feeling as nearly akin to terror as he ever had +experienced that the ape-man finally forced himself to enter his +home. The first sight that met his eyes set the red haze of hate +and bloodlust across his vision, for there, crucified against the +wall of the living-room, was Wasimbu, giant son of the faithful +Muviro and for over a year the personal bodyguard of Lady Jane. + +The overturned and shattered furniture of the room, the brown pools +of dried blood upon the floor, and prints of bloody hands on walls +and woodwork evidenced something of the frightfulness of the battle +that had been waged within the narrow confines of the apartment. +Across the baby grand piano lay the corpse of another black warrior, +while before the door of Lady Jane's boudoir were the dead bodies +of three more of the faithful Greystoke servants. + +The door of this room was closed. With drooping shoulders and dull +eyes Tarzan stood gazing dumbly at the insensate panel which hid +from him what horrid secret he dared not even guess. + +Slowly, with leaden feet, he moved toward the door. Gropingly his +hand reached for the knob. Thus he stood for another long minute, +and then with a sudden gesture he straightened his giant frame, +threw back his mighty shoulders and, with fearless head held high, +swung back the door and stepped across the threshold into the +room which held for him the dearest memories and associations of +his life. No change of expression crossed his grim and stern-set +features as he strode across the room and stood beside the little +couch and the inanimate form which lay face downward upon it; the +still, silent thing that had pulsed with life and youth and love. + +No tear dimmed the eye of the ape-man, but the God who made him alone +could know the thoughts that passed through that still half-savage +brain. For a long time he stood there just looking down upon the +dead body, charred beyond recognition, and then he stooped and lifted +it in his arms. As he turned the body over and saw how horribly +death had been meted he plumbed, in that instant, the uttermost +depths of grief and horror and hatred. + +Nor did he require the evidence of the broken German rifle in the +outer room, or the torn and blood-stained service cap upon the +floor, to tell him who had been the perpetrators of this horrid +and useless crime. + +For a moment he had hoped against hope that the blackened corpse was +not that of his mate, but when his eyes discovered and recognized +the rings upon her fingers the last faint ray of hope forsook him. + +In silence, in love, and in reverence he buried, in the little +rose garden that had been Jane Clayton's pride and love, the poor, +charred form and beside it the great black warriors who had given +their lives so futilely in their mistress' protection. + +At one side of the house Tarzan found other newly made graves +and in these he sought final evidence of the identity of the real +perpetrators of the atrocities that had been committed there in +his absence. + +Here he disinterred the bodies of a dozen German askaris and found +upon their uniforms the insignia of the company and regiment to +which they had belonged. This was enough for the ape-man. White +officers had commanded these men, nor would it be a difficult task +to discover who they were. + +Returning to the rose garden, he stood among the Hun trampled +blooms and bushes above the grave of his dead-with bowed head he +stood there in a last mute farewell. As the sun sank slowly behind +the towering forests of the west, he turned slowly away upon the +still-distinct trail of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and his blood-stained +company. + +His was the suffering of the dumb brute--mute; but though voiceless +no less poignant. At first his vast sorrow numbed his other faculties +of thought--his brain was overwhelmed by the calamity to such an +extent that it reacted to but a single objective suggestion: She is +dead! She is dead! She is dead! Again and again this phrase beat +monotonously upon his brain--a dull, throbbing pain, yet mechanically +his feet followed the trail of her slayer while, subconsciously, +his every sense was upon the alert for the ever-present perils of +the jungle. + +Gradually the labor of his great grief brought forth another +emotion so real, so tangible, that it seemed a companion walking +at his side. It was Hate--and it brought to him a measure of solace +and of comfort, for it was a sublime hate that ennobled him as +it has ennobled countless thousands since-hatred for Germany and +Germans. It centered about the slayer of his mate, of course; but +it included everything German, animate or inanimate. As the thought +took firm hold upon him he paused and raising his face to Goro, the +moon, cursed with upraised hand the authors of the hideous crime +that had been perpetrated in that once peaceful bungalow behind +him; and he cursed their progenitors, their progeny, and all their +kind the while he took silent oath to war upon them relentlessly +until death overtook him. + +There followed almost immediately a feeling of content, for, where +before his future at best seemed but a void, now it was filled +with possibilities the contemplation of which brought him, if not +happiness, at least a surcease of absolute grief, for before him +lay a great work that would occupy his time. + +Stripped not only of all the outward symbols of civilization, Tarzan +had also reverted morally and mentally to the status of the savage +beast he had been reared. Never had his civilization been more than +a veneer put on for the sake of her he loved because he thought it +made her happier to see him thus. In reality he had always held the +outward evidences of so-called culture in deep contempt. Civilization +meant to Tarzan of the Apes a curtailment of freedom in all its +aspects--freedom of action, freedom of thought, freedom of love, +freedom of hate. Clothes he abhorred--uncomfortable, hideous, +confining things that reminded him somehow of bonds securing him to +the life he had seen the poor creatures of London and Paris living. +Clothes were the emblems of that hypocrisy for which civilization +stood--a pretense that the wearers were ashamed of what the clothes +covered, of the human form made in the semblance of God. Tarzan +knew how silly and pathetic the lower orders of animals appeared in +the clothing of civilization, for he had seen several poor creatures +thus appareled in various traveling shows in Europe, and he knew, +too, how silly and pathetic man appears in them since the only men +he had seen in the first twenty years of his life had been, like +himself, naked savages. The ape-man had a keen admiration for a +well-muscled, well-proportioned body, whether lion, or antelope, +or man, and it had ever been beyond him to understand how clothes +could be considered more beautiful than a clear, firm, healthy +skin, or coat and trousers more graceful than the gentle curves of +rounded muscles playing beneath a flexible hide. + +In civilization Tarzan had found greed and selfishness and cruelty +far beyond that which he had known in his familiar, savage jungle, +and though civilization had given him his mate and several friends +whom he loved and admired, he never had come to accept it as you +and I who have known little or nothing else; so it was with a sense +of relief that he now definitely abandoned it and all that it stood +for, and went forth into the jungle once again stripped to his loin +cloth and weapons. + +The hunting knife of his father hung at his left hip, his bow and +his quiver of arrows were slung across his shoulders, while around +his chest over one shoulder and beneath the opposite arm was coiled +the long grass rope without which Tarzan would have felt quite as +naked as would you should you be suddenly thrust upon a busy highway +clad only in a union suit. A heavy war spear which he sometimes +carried in one hand and again slung by a thong about his neck so +that it hung down his back completed his armament and his apparel. +The diamond-studded locket with the pictures of his mother and +father that he had worn always until he had given it as a token +of his highest devotion to Jane Clayton before their marriage was +missing. She always had worn it since, but it had not been upon +her body when he found her slain in her boudoir, so that now his +quest for vengeance included also a quest for the stolen trinket. + +Toward midnight Tarzan commenced to feel the physical strain of +his long hours of travel and to realize that even muscles such as +his had their limitations. His pursuit of the murderers had not +been characterized by excessive speed; but rather more in keeping +with his mental attitude, which was marked by a dogged determination +to require from the Germans more than an eye for an eye and more +than a tooth for a tooth, the element of time entering but slightly +into his calculations. + +Inwardly as well as outwardly Tarzan had reverted to beast and in +the lives of beasts, time, as a measurable aspect of duration, has +no meaning. The beast is actively interested only in NOW, and as +it is always NOW and always shall be, there is an eternity of time +for the accomplishment of objects. The ape-man, naturally, had a +slightly more comprehensive realization of the limitations of time; +but, like the beasts, he moved with majestic deliberation when no +emergency prompted him to swift action. + +Having dedicated his life to vengeance, vengeance became his natural +state and, therefore, no emergency, so he took his time in pursuit. +That he had not rested earlier was due to the fact that he had +felt no fatigue, his mind being occupied by thoughts of sorrow and +revenge; but now he realized that he was tired, and so he sought +a jungle giant that had harbored him upon more than a single other +jungle night. + +Dark clouds moving swiftly across the heavens now and again eclipsed +the bright face of Goro, the moon, and forewarned the ape-man +of impending storm. In the depth of the jungle the cloud shadows +produced a thick blackness that might almost be felt--a blackness +that to you and me might have proven terrifying with its accompaniment +of rustling leaves and cracking twigs, and its even more suggestive +intervals of utter silence in which the crudest of imaginations +might have conjured crouching beasts of prey tensed for the fatal +charge; but through it Tarzan passed unconcerned, yet always alert. +Now he swung lightly to the lower terraces of the overarching +trees when some subtle sense warned him that Numa lay upon a kill +directly in his path, or again he sprang lightly to one side as +Buto, the rhinoceros, lumbered toward him along the narrow, deep-worn +trail, for the ape-man, ready to fight upon necessity's slightest +pretext, avoided unnecessary quarrels. + +When he swung himself at last into the tree he sought, the moon was +obscured by a heavy cloud, and the tree tops were waving wildly in +a steadily increasing wind whose soughing drowned the lesser noises +of the jungle. Upward went Tarzan toward a sturdy crotch across which +he long since had laid and secured a little platform of branches. +It was very dark now, darker even than it had been before, for +almost the entire sky was overcast by thick, black clouds. + +Presently the man-beast paused, his sensitive nostrils dilating as +he sniffed the air about him. Then, with the swiftness and agility of +a cat, he leaped far outward upon a swaying branch, sprang upward +through the darkness, caught another, swung himself upon it and +then to one still higher. What could have so suddenly transformed +his matter-of-fact ascent of the giant bole to the swift and wary +action of his detour among the branches? You or I could have seen +nothing-not even the little platform that an instant before had +been just above him and which now was immediately below--but as he +swung above it we should have heard an ominous growl; and then as +the moon was momentarily uncovered, we should have seen both the +platform, dimly, and a dark mass that lay stretched upon it--a dark +mass that presently, as our eyes became accustomed to the lesser +darkness, would take the form of Sheeta, the panther. + +In answer to the cat's growl, a low and equally ferocious growl +rumbled upward from the ape-man's deep chest--a growl of warning +that told the panther he was trespassing upon the other's lair; but +Sheeta was in no mood to be dispossessed. With upturned, snarling +face he glared at the brown-skinned Tarmangani above him. Very slowly +the ape-man moved inward along the branch until he was directly +above the panther. In the man's hand was the hunting knife of his +long-dead father--the weapon that had first given him his real +ascendancy over the beasts of the jungle; but he hoped not to be +forced to use it, knowing as he did that more jungle battles were +settled by hideous growling than by actual combat, the law of bluff +holding quite as good in the jungle as elsewhere--only in matters +of love and food did the great beasts ordinarily close with fangs +and talons. + +Tarzan braced himself against the bole of the tree and leaned closer +toward Sheeta. + +"Stealer of balus!" he cried. The panther rose to a sitting position, +his bared fangs but a few feet from the ape-man's taunting face. +Tarzan growled hideously and struck at the cat's face with his +knife. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he roared. "This is Tarzan's +lair. Go, or I will kill you." + +Though he spoke in the language of the great apes of the jungle, +it is doubtful that Sheeta understood the words, though he knew +well enough that the hairless ape wished to frighten him from his +well-chosen station past which edible creatures might be expected +to wander sometime during the watches of the night. + +Like lightning the cat reared and struck a vicious blow at his +tormentor with great, bared talons that might well have torn away +the ape-man's face had the blow landed; but it did not land--Tarzan +was even quicker than Sheeta. As the panther came to all fours +again upon the little platform, Tarzan un-slung his heavy spear and +prodded at the snarling face, and as Sheeta warded off the blows, +the two continued their horrid duet of blood-curdling roars and +growls. + +Goaded to frenzy the cat presently determined to come up after this +disturber of his peace; but when he essayed to leap to the branch +that held Tarzan he found the sharp spear point always in his +face, and each time as he dropped back he was prodded viciously in +some tender part; but at length, rage having conquered his better +judgment, he leaped up the rough bole to the very branch upon which +Tarzan stood. Now the two faced each other upon even footing and +Sheeta saw a quick revenge and a supper all in one. The hairless +ape-thing with the tiny fangs and the puny talons would be helpless +before him. + +The heavy limb bent beneath the weight of the two beasts as Sheeta +crept cautiously out upon it and Tarzan backed slowly away, growling. +The wind had risen to the proportions of a gale so that even the +greatest giants of the forest swayed, groaning, to its force and +the branch upon which the two faced each other rose and fell like +the deck of a storm-tossed ship. Goro was now entirely obscured, +but vivid flashes of lightning lit up the jungle at brief intervals, +revealing the grim tableau of primitive passion upon the swaying +limb. + +Tarzan backed away, drawing Sheeta farther from the stem of the +tree and out upon the tapering branch, where his footing became +ever more precarious. The cat, infuriated by the pain of spear +wounds, was overstepping the bounds of caution. Already he had +reached a point where he could do little more than maintain a secure +footing, and it was this moment that Tarzan chose to charge. With +a roar that mingled with the booming thunder from above he leaped +toward the panther, who could only claw futilely with one huge paw +while he clung to the branch with the other; but the ape-man did +not come within that parabola of destruction. Instead he leaped +above menacing claws and snapping fangs, turning in mid-air and +alighting upon Sheeta's back, and at the instant of impact his knife +struck deep into the tawny side. Then Sheeta, impelled by pain and +hate and rage and the first law of Nature, went mad. Screaming +and clawing he attempted to turn upon the ape-thing clinging to +his back. For an instant he toppled upon the now wildly gyrating +limb, clutched frantically to save himself, and then plunged downward +into the darkness with Tarzan still clinging to him. Crashing +through splintering branches the two fell. Not for an instant did +the ape-man consider relinquishing his death-hold upon his adversary. +He had entered the lists in mortal combat and true to the primitive +instincts of the wild--the unwritten law of the jungle--one or both +must die before the battle ended. + +Sheeta, catlike, alighted upon four out-sprawled feet, the weight +of the ape-man crushing him to earth, the long knife again imbedded +in his side. Once the panther struggled to rise; but only to sink +to earth again. Tarzan felt the giant muscles relax beneath him. +Sheeta was dead. Rising, the ape-man placed a foot upon the body of +his vanquished foe, raised his face toward the thundering heavens, +and as the lightning flashed and the torrential rain broke upon +him, screamed forth the wild victory cry of the bull ape. + +Having accomplished his aim and driven the enemy from his lair, +Tarzan gathered an armful of large fronds and climbed to his dripping +couch. Laying a few of the fronds upon the poles he lay down and +covered himself against the rain with the others, and despite the +wailing of the wind and the crashing of the thunder, immediately +fell asleep. + + + + + +The Lion's Cave + + + + +The rain lasted for twenty-four hours and much of the time it fell +in torrents so that when it ceased, the trail he had been following +was entirely obliterated. Cold and uncomfortable--it was a savage +Tarzan who threaded the mazes of the soggy jungle. Manu, the +monkey, shivering and chattering in the dank trees, scolded and fled +at his approach. Even the panthers and the lions let the growling +Tarmangani pass unmolested. + +When the sun shone again upon the second day and a wide, open plain +let the full heat of Kudu flood the chilled, brown body, Tarzan's +spirits rose; but it was still a sullen, surly brute that moved +steadily onward into the south where he hoped again to pick up the +trail of the Germans. He was now in German East Africa and it was +his intention to skirt the mountains west of Kilimanjaro, whose +rugged peaks he was quite willing to give a wide berth, and then +swing eastward along the south side of the range to the railway that +led to Tanga, for his experience among men suggested that it was +toward this railroad that German troops would be likely to converge. + +Two days later, from the southern slopes of Kilimanjaro, he heard +the boom of cannon far away to the east. The afternoon had been +dull and cloudy and now as he was passing through a narrow gorge a +few great drops of rain began to splatter upon his naked shoulders. +Tarzan shook his head and growled his disapproval; then he cast his +eyes about for shelter, for he had had quite enough of the cold and +drenching. He wanted to hasten on in the direction of the booming +noise, for he knew that there would be Germans fighting against the +English. For an instant his bosom swelled with pride at the thought +that he was English and then he shook his head again viciously. +"No!" he muttered, "Tarzan of the Apes is not English, for the +English are men and Tarzan is Tarmangani;" but he could not hide +even from his sorrow or from his sullen hatred of mankind in general +that his heart warmed at the thought it was Englishmen who fought +the Germans. His regret was that the English were human and not +great white apes as he again considered himself. + +"Tomorrow," he thought, "I will travel that way and find the Germans," +and then he set himself to the immediate task of discovering some +shelter from the storm. Presently he espied the low and narrow +entrance to what appeared to be a cave at the base of the cliffs +which formed the northern side of the gorge. With drawn knife he +approached the spot warily, for he knew that if it were a cave it +was doubtless the lair of some other beast. Before the entrance lay +many large fragments of rock of different sizes, similar to others +scattered along the entire base of the cliff, and it was in Tarzan's +mind that if he found the cave unoccupied he would barricade the +door and insure himself a quiet and peaceful night's repose within +the sheltered interior. Let the storm rage without-Tarzan would +remain within until it ceased, comfortable and dry. A tiny rivulet +of cold water trickled outward from the opening. + +Close to the cave Tarzan kneeled and sniffed the ground. A low +growl escaped him and his upper lip curved to expose his fighting +fangs. "Numa!" he muttered; but he did not stop. Numa might not be +at home--he would investigate. The entrance was so low that the +ape-man was compelled to drop to all fours before he could poke +his head within the aperture; but first he looked, listened, and +sniffed in each direction at his rear--he would not be taken by +surprise from that quarter. + +His first glance within the cave revealed a narrow tunnel with +daylight at its farther end. The interior of the tunnel was not so +dark but that the ape-man could readily see that it was untenanted +at present. Advancing cautiously he crawled toward the opposite +end imbued with a full realization of what it would mean if Numa +should suddenly enter the tunnel in front of him; but Numa did not +appear and the ape-man emerged at length into the open and stood +erect, finding himself in a rocky cleft whose precipitous walls +rose almost sheer on every hand, the tunnel from the gorge passing +through the cliff and forming a passageway from the outer world +into a large pocket or gulch entirely enclosed by steep walls of +rock. Except for the small passageway from the gorge, there was no +other entrance to the gulch which was some hundred feet in length +and about fifty in width and appeared to have been worn from the +rocky cliff by the falling of water during long ages. A tiny stream +from Kilimanjaro's eternal snow cap still trickled over the edge +of the rocky wall at the upper end of the gulch, forming a little +pool at the bottom of the cliff from which a small rivulet wound +downward to the tunnel through which it passed to the gorge beyond. +A single great tree flourished near the center of the gulch, while +tufts of wiry grass were scattered here and there among the rocks +of the gravelly floor. + +The bones of many large animals lay about and among them were +several human skulls. Tarzan raised his eyebrows. "A man-eater," +he murmured, "and from appearances he has held sway here for a long +time. Tonight Tarzan will take the lair of the man-eater and Numa +may roar and grumble upon the outside." + +The ape-man had advanced well into the gulch as he investigated +his surroundings and now as he stood near the tree, satisfied that +the tunnel would prove a dry and quiet retreat for the night, he +turned to retrace his way to the outer end of the entrance that he +might block it with boulders against Numa's return, but even with +the thought there came something to his sensitive ears that froze +him into statuesque immobility with eyes glued upon the tunnel's +mouth. A moment later the head of a huge lion framed in a great +black mane appeared in the opening. The yellow-green eyes glared, +round and unblinking, straight at the trespassing Tarmangani, a low +growl rumbled from the deep chest, and lips curled back to expose +the mighty fangs. + +"Brother of Dango!" shouted Tarzan, angered that Numa's return should +have been so timed as to frustrate his plans for a comfortable +night's repose. "I am Tarzan of the Apes, Lord of the Jungle. +Tonight I lair here--go!" + +But Numa did not go. Instead he rumbled forth a menacing roar and +took a few steps in Tarzan's direction. The ape-man picked up a +rock and hurled it at the snarling face. One can never be sure of +a lion. This one might turn tail and run at the first intimation +of attack--Tarzan had bluffed many in his time--but not now. The +missile struck Numa full upon the snout--a tender part of a cat's +anatomy--and instead of causing him to flee it transformed him into +an infuriated engine of wrath and destruction. + +Up went his tail, stiff and erect, and with a series of frightful +roars he bore down upon the Tarmangani at the speed of an express +train. Not an instant too soon did Tarzan reach the tree and swing +himself into its branches and there he squatted, hurling insults at +the king of beasts while Numa paced a circle beneath him, growling +and roaring in rage. + +It was raining now in earnest adding to the ape-man's discomfort +and disappointment. He was very angry; but as only direct necessity +had ever led him to close in mortal combat with a lion, knowing +as he did that he had only luck and agility to pit against the +frightful odds of muscle, weight, fangs, and talons, he did not now +even consider descending and engaging in so unequal and useless a +duel for the mere reward of a little added creature comfort. And +so he sat perched in the tree while the rain fell steadily and the +lion padded round and round beneath, casting a baleful eye upward +after every few steps. + +Tarzan scanned the precipitous walls for an avenue of escape. They +would have baffled an ordinary man; but the ape-man, accustomed +to climbing, saw several places where he might gain a foothold, +precarious possibly; but enough to give him reasonable assurance +of escape if Numa would but betake himself to the far end of the +gulch for a moment. Numa, however, notwithstanding the rain, gave +no evidence of quitting his post so that at last Tarzan really +began to consider seriously if it might not be as well to take the +chance of a battle with him rather than remain longer cold and wet +and humiliated in the tree. + +But even as he turned the matter over in his mind Numa turned +suddenly and walked majestically toward the tunnel without even a +backward glance. The instant that he disappeared, Tarzan dropped +lightly to the ground upon the far side of the tree and was away at +top speed for the cliff. The lion had no sooner entered the tunnel +than he backed immediately out again and, pivoting like a flash, +was off across the gulch in full charge after the flying ape-man; +but Tarzan's lead was too great--if he could find finger or foothold +upon the sheer wall he would be safe; but should he slip from the +wet rocks his doom was already sealed as he would fall directly into +Numa's clutches where even the Great Tarmangani would be helpless. + +With the agility of a cat Tarzan ran up the cliff for thirty feet +before he paused, and there finding a secure foothold, he stopped +and looked down upon Numa who was leaping upward in a wild and +futile attempt to scale the rocky wall to his prey. Fifteen or +twenty feet from the ground the lion would scramble only to fall +backward again defeated. Tarzan eyed him for a moment and then +commenced a slow and cautious ascent toward the summit. Several +times he had difficulty in finding holds but at last he drew himself +over the edge, rose, picked up a bit of loose rock, hurled it at +Numa and strode away. + +Finding an easy descent to the gorge, he was about to pursue his +journey in the direction of the still-booming guns when a sudden +thought caused him to halt and a half-smile to play about his lips. +Turning, he trotted quickly back to the outer opening of Numa's +tunnel. Close beside it he listened for a moment and then rapidly +began to gather large rocks and pile them within the entrance. +He had almost closed the aperture when the lion appeared upon the +inside--a very ferocious and angry lion that pawed and clawed at +the rocks and uttered mighty roars that caused the earth to tremble; +but roars did not frighten Tarzan of the Apes. At Kala's shaggy +breast he had closed his infant eyes in sleep upon countless nights +in years gone by to the savage chorus of similar roars. Scarcely a +day or night of his jungle life--and practically all his life had +been spent in the jungle--had he not heard the roaring of hungry +lions, or angry lions, or love-sick lions. Such sounds affected +Tarzan as the tooting of an automobile horn may affect you--if you +are in front of the automobile it warns you out of the way, if you +are not in front of it you scarcely notice it. Figuratively Tarzan +was not in front of the automobile--Numa could not reach him and +Tarzan knew it, so he continued deliberately to choke the entrance +until there was no possibility of Numa's getting out again. When +he was quite through he made a grimace at the hidden lion beyond +the barrier and resumed his way toward the east. "A man-eater who +will eat no more men," he soliloquized. + +That night Tarzan lay up under an overhanging shelf of rock. The +next morning he resumed his journey, stopping only long enough to +make a kill and satisfy his hunger. The other beasts of the wild +eat and lie up; but Tarzan never let his belly interfere with his +plans. In this lay one of the greatest differences between the ape-man +and his fellows of the jungles and forests. The firing ahead rose +and fell during the day. He had noticed that it was highest at +dawn and immediately after dusk and that during the night it almost +ceased. In the middle of the afternoon of the second day he came +upon troops moving up toward the front. They appeared to be raiding +parties, for they drove goats and cows along with them and there +were native porters laden with grain and other foodstuffs. He saw +that these natives were all secured by neck chains and he also saw +that the troops were composed of native soldiers in German uniforms. +The officers were white men. No one saw Tarzan, yet he was here and +there about and among them for two hours. He inspected the insignia +upon their uniforms and saw that they were not the same as that +which he had taken from one of the dead soldiers at the bungalow +and then he passed on ahead of them, unseen in the dense bush. He +had come upon Germans and had not killed them; but it was because +the killing of Germans at large was not yet the prime motive of +his existence--now it was to discover the individual who slew his +mate. + +After he had accounted for him he would take up the little matter +of slaying ALL Germans who crossed his path, and he meant that many +should cross it, for he would hunt them precisely as professional +hunters hunt the man-eaters. + +As he neared the front lines the troops became more numerous. There +were motor trucks and ox teams and all the impedimenta of a small +army and always there were wounded men walking or being carried +toward the rear. He had crossed the railroad some distance back and +judged that the wounded were being taken to it for transportation +to a base hospital and possibly as far away as Tanga on the coast. + +It was dusk when he reached a large camp hidden in the foothills of +the Pare Mountains. As he was approaching from the rear he found +it but lightly guarded and what sentinels there were, were not +upon the alert, and so it was an easy thing for him to enter after +darkness had fallen and prowl about listening at the backs of tents, +searching for some clew to the slayer of his mate. + +As he paused at the side of a tent before which sat a number of +native soldiers he caught a few words spoken in native dialect that +riveted his attention instantly: "The Waziri fought like devils; +but we are greater fighters and we killed them all. When we were +through the captain came and killed the woman. He stayed outside +and yelled in a very loud voice until all the men were killed. +Underlieutenant von Goss is braver--he came in and stood beside the +door shouting at us, also in a very loud voice, and bade us nail +one of the Waziri who was wounded to the wall, and then he laughed +loudly because the man suffered. We all laughed. It was very funny." + +Like a beast of prey, grim and terrible, Tarzan crouched in the +shadows beside the tent. What thoughts passed through that savage +mind? Who may say? No outward sign of passion was revealed by the +expression of the handsome face; the cold, gray eyes denoted only +intense watchfulness. Presently the soldier Tarzan had heard first +rose and with a parting word turned away. He passed within ten +feet of the ape-man and continued on toward the rear of the camp. +Tarzan followed and in the shadows of a clump of bushes overtook +his quarry. There was no sound as the man beast sprang upon the +back of his prey and bore it to the ground for steel fingers closed +simultaneously upon the soldier's throat, effectually stifling +any outcry. By the neck Tarzan dragged his victim well into the +concealment of the bushes. + +"Make no sound," he cautioned in the man's own tribal dialect as +he released his hold upon the other's throat. + +The fellow gasped for breath, rolling frightened eyes upward to +see what manner of creature it might be in whose power he was. In +the darkness he saw only a naked brown body bending above him; but +he still remembered the terrific strength of the mighty muscles +that had closed upon his wind and dragged him into the bushes as +though he had been but a little child. If any thought of resistance +had crossed his mind he must have discarded it at once, as he made +no move to escape. + +"What is the name of the officer who killed the woman at the bungalow +where you fought with the Waziri?" asked Tarzan. + +"Hauptmann Schneider," replied the black when he could again command +his voice. + +"Where is he?" demanded the ape-man. + +"He is here. It may be that he is at headquarters. Many of the +officers go there in the evening to receive orders." + +"Lead me there," commanded Tarzan, "and if I am discovered I will +kill you immediately. Get up!" + +The black rose and led the way by a roundabout route back through +the camp. Several times they were forced to hide while soldiers +passed; but at last they reached a great pile of baled hay from about +the corner of which the black pointed out a two-story building in +the distance. + +"Headquarters," he said. "You can go no farther unseen. There are +many soldiers about." + +Tarzan realized that he could not proceed farther in company with +the black. He turned and looked at the fellow for a moment as though +pondering what disposition to make of him. + +"You helped to crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri," he accused in a low +yet none the less terrible tone. + +The black trembled, his knees giving beneath him. "He ordered us +to do it," he plead. + +"Who ordered it done?" demanded Tarzan. + +"Underlieutenant von Goss," replied the soldier. "He, too, is here." + +"I shall find him," returned Tarzan, grimly. "You helped to crucify +Wasimbu, the Waziri, and, while he suffered, you laughed." + +The fellow reeled. It was as though in the accusation he read also +his death sentence. With no other word Tarzan seized the man again +by the neck. As before there was no outcry. The giant muscles tensed. +The arms swung quickly upward and with them the body of the black +soldier who had helped to crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri, described a +circle in the air--once, twice, three times, and then it was flung +aside and the ape-man turned in the direction of General Kraut's +headquarters. + +A single sentinel in the rear of the building barred the way. +Tarzan crawled, belly to the ground, toward him, taking advantage +of cover as only the jungle-bred beast of prey can do. When the +sentinel's eyes were toward him, Tarzan hugged the ground, motionless +as stone; when they were turned away, he moved swiftly forward. +Presently he was within charging distance. He waited until the man +had turned his back once more and then he rose and sped noiselessly +down upon him. Again there was no sound as he carried the dead +body with him toward the building. + +The lower floor was lighted, the upper dark. Through the windows +Tarzan saw a large front room and a smaller room in rear of it. +In the former were many officers. Some moved about talking to one +another, others sat at field tables writing. The windows were open +and Tarzan could hear much of the conversation; but nothing that +interested him. It was mostly about the German successes in Africa +and conjectures as to when the German army in Europe would reach +Paris. Some said the Kaiser was doubtlessly already there, and +there was a great deal of damning Belgium. + +In the smaller back room a large, red-faced man sat behind a table. +Some other officers were also sitting a little in rear of him, +while two stood at attention before the general, who was questioning +them. As he talked, the general toyed with an oil lamp that stood +upon the table before him. Presently there came a knock upon the +door and an aide entered the room. He saluted and reported: "Fraulein +Kircher has arrived, sir." + +"Bid her enter," commanded the general, and then nodded to the two +officers before him in sign of dismissal. + +The Fraulein, entering, passed them at the door. The officers in +the little room rose and saluted, the Fraulein acknowledging the +courtesy with a bow and a slight smile. She was a very pretty +girl. Even the rough, soiled riding habit and the caked dust upon +her face could not conceal the fact, and she was young. She could +not have been over nineteen. + +She advanced to the table behind which the general stood and, taking +a folded paper from an inside pocket of her coat, handed it to him. + +"Be seated, Fraulein," he said, and another officer brought her +a chair. No one spoke while the general read the contents of the +paper. + +Tarzan appraised the various people in the room. He wondered if one +might not be Hauptmann Schneider, for two of them were captains. +The girl he judged to be of the intelligence department--a spy. +Her beauty held no appeal for him--without a glimmer of compunction +he could have wrung that fair, young neck. She was German and that +was enough; but he had other and more important work before him. +He wanted Hauptmann Schneider. + +Finally the general looked up from the paper. + +"Good," he said to the girl, and then to one of his aides, "Send +for Major Schneider." + +Major Schneider! Tarzan felt the short hairs at the back of his +neck rise. Already they had promoted the beast who had murdered +his mate--doubtless they had promoted him for that very crime. + +The aide left the room and the others fell into a general conversation +from which it became apparent to Tarzan that the German East African +forces greatly outnumbered the British and that the latter were +suffering heavily. The ape-man stood so concealed in a clump of +bushes that he could watch the interior of the room without being +seen from within, while he was at the same time hidden from the view +of anyone who might chance to pass along the post of the sentinel +he had slain. Momentarily he was expecting a patrol or a relief to +appear and discover that the sentinel was missing, when he knew an +immediate and thorough search would be made. + +Impatiently he awaited the coming of the man he sought and at +last he was rewarded by the reappearance of the aide who had been +dispatched to fetch him accompanied by an officer of medium size +with fierce, upstanding mustaches. The newcomer strode to the table, +halted and saluted, reporting. The general acknowledged the salute +and turned toward the girl. + +"Fraulein Kircher," he said, "allow me to present Major Schneider--" + +Tarzan waited to hear no more. Placing a palm upon the sill of +the window he vaulted into the room into the midst of an astounded +company of the Kaiser's officers. With a stride he was at the table +and with a sweep of his hand sent the lamp crashing into the fat +belly of the general who, in his mad effort to escape cremation, +fell over backward, chair and all, upon the floor. Two of the aides +sprang for the ape-man who picked up the first and flung him in the +face of the other. The girl had leaped from her chair and stood +flattened against the wall. The other officers were calling aloud +for the guard and for help. Tarzan's purpose centered upon but +a single individual and him he never lost sight of. Freed from +attack for an instant he seized Major Schneider, threw him over his +shoulder and was out of the window so quickly that the astonished +assemblage could scarce realize what had occurred. + +A single glance showed him that the sentinel's post was still vacant +and a moment later he and his burden were in the shadows of the +hay dump. Major Schneider had made no outcry for the very excellent +reason that his wind was shut off. Now Tarzan released his grasp +enough to permit the man to breathe. + +"If you make a sound you will be choked again," he said. + +Cautiously and after infinite patience Tarzan passed the final +outpost. Forcing his captive to walk before him he pushed on toward +the west until, late into the night, he re-crossed the railway where +he felt reasonably safe from discovery. The German had cursed and +grumbled and threatened and asked questions; but his only reply +was another prod from Tarzan's sharp war spear. The ape-man herded +him along as he would have driven a hog with the difference that +he would have had more respect and therefore more consideration +for a hog. + +Until now Tarzan had given little thought to the details of revenge. +Now he pondered what form the punishment should take. Of only one +thing was he certain--it must end in death. Like all brave men +and courageous beasts Tarzan had little natural inclination to +torture--none, in fact; but this case was unique in his experience. +An inherent sense of justice called for an eye for an eye and his +recent oath demanded even more. Yes, the creature must suffer even +as he had caused Jane Clayton to suffer. Tarzan could not hope to +make the man suffer as he had suffered, since physical pain may +never approach the exquisiteness of mental torture. + +All through the long night the ape-man goaded on the exhausted and +now terrified Hun. The awful silence of his captor wrought upon the +German's nerves. If he would only speak! Again and again Schneider +tried to force or coax a word from him; but always the result was +the same--continued silence and a vicious and painful prod from the +spear point. Schneider was bleeding and sore. He was so exhausted +that he staggered at every step, and often he fell only to be +prodded to his feet again by that terrifying and remorseless spear. + +It was not until morning that Tarzan reached a decision and it came +to him then like an inspiration from above. A slow smile touched +his lips and he immediately sought a place to lie up and rest--he +wished his prisoner to be fit now for what lay in store for him. +Ahead was a stream which Tarzan had crossed the day before. He knew +the ford for a drinking place and a likely spot to make an easy +kill. Cautioning the German to utter silence with a gesture the +two approached the stream quietly. Down the game trail Tarzan saw +some deer about to leave the water. He shoved Schneider into the +brush at one side and, squatting next him, waited. The German +watched the silent giant with puzzled, frightened eyes. In the new +dawn he, for the first time, was able to obtain a good look at his +captor, and, if he had been puzzled and frightened before, those +sensations were nothing to what he experienced now. + +Who and what could this almost naked, white savage be? He had +heard him speak but once--when he had cautioned him to silence--and +then in excellent German and the well-modulated tones of culture. +He watched him now as the fascinated toad watches the snake that +is about to devour it. He saw the graceful limbs and symmetrical +body motionless as a marble statue as the creature crouched in the +concealment of the leafy foliage. Not a muscle, not a nerve moved. +He saw the deer coming slowly along the trail, down wind and +unsuspecting. He saw a buck pass--an old buck--and then a young and +plump one came opposite the giant in ambush, and Schneider's eyes +went wide and a scream of terror almost broke from his lips as he +saw the agile beast at his side spring straight for the throat of +the young buck and heard from those human lips the hunting roar of +a wild beast. Down went the buck and Tarzan and his captive had +meat. The ape-man ate his raw, but he permitted the German to build +a fire and cook his portion. + +The two lay up until late in the afternoon and then took up the +journey once again--a journey that was so frightful to Schneider +because of his ignorance of its destination that he at times groveled +at Tarzan's feet begging for an explanation and for mercy; but on +and on in silence the ape-man went, prodding the failing Hun whenever +the latter faltered. + +It was noon of the third day before they reached their destination. +After a steep climb and a short walk they halted at the edge of +a precipitous cliff and Schneider looked down into a narrow gulch +where a single tree grew beside a tiny rivulet and sparse grass +broke from a rock-strewn soil. Tarzan motioned him over the edge; +but the German drew back in terror. The Ape-man seized him and +pushed him roughly toward the brink. "Descend," he said. It was +the second time he had spoken in three days and perhaps his very +silence, ominous in itself, had done more to arouse terror in the +breast of the Boche than even the spear point, ever ready as it +always was. + +Schneider looked fearfully over the edge; but was about to essay +the attempt when Tarzan halted him. "I am Lord Greystoke," he +said. "It was my wife you murdered in the Waziri country. You will +understand now why I came for you. Descend." + +The German fell upon his knees. "I did not murder your wife," +he cried. "Have mercy! I did not murder your wife. I do not know +anything about--" + +"Descend!" snapped Tarzan, raising the point of his spear. He knew +that the man lied and was not surprised that he did. A man who +would murder for no cause would lie for less. Schneider still +hesitated and pled. The ape-man jabbed him with the spear and Schneider +slid fearfully over the top and began the perilous descent. Tarzan +accompanied and assisted him over the worst places until at last +they were within a few feet of the bottom. + +"Be quiet now," cautioned the ape-man. He pointed at the entrance +to what appeared to be a cave at the far end of the gulch. "There +is a hungry lion in there. If you can reach that tree before +he discovers you, you will have several days longer in which to +enjoy life and then--when you are too weak to cling longer to the +branches of the tree Numa, the man-eater, will feed again for the +last time." He pushed Schneider from his foothold to the ground +below. "Now run," he said. + +The German trembling in terror started for the tree. He had almost +reached it when a horrid roar broke from the mouth of the cave and +almost simultaneously a gaunt, hunger mad lion leaped into the +daylight of the gulch. Schneider had but a few yards to cover; +but the lion flew over the ground to circumvent him while Tarzan +watched the race with a slight smile upon his lips. + +Schneider won by a slender margin, and as Tarzan scaled the cliff +to the summit, he heard behind him mingled with the roaring of the +baffled cat, the gibbering of a human voice that was at the same +time more bestial than the beast's. + +Upon the brink of the cliff the ape-man turned and looked back +into the gulch. High in the tree the German clung frantically to +a branch across which his body lay. Beneath him was Numa--waiting. + +The ape-man raised his face to Kudu, the sun, and from his mighty +chest rose the savage victory cry of the bull ape. + + + + + +In the German Lines + + + + +Tarzan was not yet fully revenged. There were many millions of +Germans yet alive--enough to keep Tarzan pleasantly occupied the +balance of his life, and yet not enough, should he kill them all, +to recompense him for the great loss he had suffered--nor could +the death of all those million Germans bring back his loved one. + +While in the German camp in the Pare Mountains, which lie just +east of the boundary line between German and British East Africa, +Tarzan had overheard enough to suggest that the British were getting +the worst of the fighting in Africa. At first he had given the +matter but little thought, since, after the death of his wife, the +one strong tie that had held him to civilization, he had renounced +all mankind, considering himself no longer man, but ape. + +After accounting for Schneider as satisfactorily as lay within his +power he circled Kilimanjaro and hunted in the foothills to the +north of that mightiest of mountains as he had discovered that in +the neighborhood of the armies there was no hunting at all. Some +pleasure he derived through conjuring mental pictures from time to +time of the German he had left in the branches of the lone tree at +the bottom of the high-walled gulch in which was penned the starving +lion. He could imagine the man's mental anguish as he became weakened +from hunger and maddened by thirst, knowing that sooner or later he +must slip exhausted to the ground where waited the gaunt man-eater. +Tarzan wondered if Schneider would have the courage to descend to +the little rivulet for water should Numa leave the gulch and enter +the cave, and then he pictured the mad race for the tree again +when the lion charged out to seize his prey as he was certain to +do, since the clumsy German could not descend to the rivulet without +making at least some slight noise that would attract Numa's attention. + +But even this pleasure palled, and more and more the ape-man found +himself thinking of the English soldiers fighting against heavy +odds and especially of the fact that it was Germans who were beating +them. The thought made him lower his head and growl and it worried +him not a little--a bit, perhaps, because he was finding it difficult +to forget that he was an Englishman when he wanted only to be an +ape. And at last the time came when he could not longer endure the +thought of Germans killing Englishmen while he hunted in safety a +bare march away. + +His decision made, he set out in the direction of the German camp, +no well-defined plan formulated; but with the general idea that +once near the field of operations he might find an opportunity to +harass the German command as he so well knew how to do. His way +took him along the gorge close to the gulch in which he had left +Schneider, and, yielding to a natural curiosity, he scaled the cliffs +and made his way to the edge of the gulch. The tree was empty, nor +was there sign of Numa, the lion. Picking up a rock he hurled it +into the gulch, where it rolled to the very entrance to the cave. +Instantly the lion appeared in the aperture; but such a different-looking +lion from the great sleek brute that Tarzan had trapped there two +weeks before. Now he was gaunt and emaciated, and when he walked +he staggered. + +"Where is the German?" shouted Tarzan. "Was he good eating, or only +a bag of bones when he slipped and fell from the tree?" + +Numa growled. "You look hungry, Numa," continued the ape-man. "You +must have been very hungry to eat all the grass from your lair and +even the bark from the tree as far up as you can reach. Would you +like another German?" and smiling he turned away. + +A few minutes later he came suddenly upon Bara, the deer, asleep +beneath a tree, and as Tarzan was hungry he made a quick kill, +and squatting beside his prey proceeded to eat his fill. As he +was gnawing the last morsel from a bone his quick ears caught the +padding of stealthy feet behind him, and turning he confronted +Dango, the hyena, sneaking upon him. With a growl the ape-man +picked up a fallen branch and hurled it at the skulking brute. "Go +away, eater of carrion!" he cried; but Dango was hungry and being +large and powerful he only snarled and circled slowly about as +though watching for an opportunity to charge. Tarzan of the Apes +knew Dango even better than Dango knew himself. He knew that the +brute, made savage by hunger, was mustering its courage for an +attack, that it was probably accustomed to man and therefore more +or less fearless of him and so he un-slung his heavy spear and +laid it ready at his side while he continued his meal, all the time +keeping a watchful eye upon the hyena. + +He felt no fear, for long familiarity with the dangers of his wild +world had so accustomed him to them that he took whatever came as +a part of each day's existence as you accept the homely though no +less real dangers of the farm, the range, or the crowded metropolis. +Being jungle bred he was ready to protect his kill from all comers +within ordinary limitations of caution. Under favorable conditions +Tarzan would face even Numa himself and, if forced to seek safety +by flight, he could do so without any feeling of shame. There was +no braver creature roamed those savage wilds and at the same time +there was none more wise--the two factors that had permitted him +to survive. + +Dango might have charged sooner but for the savage growls of the +ape-man--growls which, coming from human lips, raised a question +and a fear in the hyena's heart. He had attacked women and children +in the native fields and he had frightened their men about their +fires at night; but he never had seen a man-thing who made this +sound that reminded him more of Numa angry than of a man afraid. + +When Tarzan had completed his repast he was about to rise and hurl +a clean-picked bone at the beast before he went his way, leaving +the remains of his kill to Dango; but a sudden thought stayed him +and instead he picked up the carcass of the deer, threw it over +his shoulder, and set off in the direction of the gulch. For a +few yards Dango followed, growling, and then realizing that he was +being robbed of even a taste of the luscious flesh he cast discretion +to the winds and charged. Instantly, as though Nature had given him +eyes in the back of his head, Tarzan sensed the impending danger +and, dropping Bara to the ground, turned with raised spear. Far +back went the brown, right hand and then forward, lightning-like, +backed by the power of giant muscles and the weight of his brawn +and bone. The spear, released at the right instant, drove straight +for Dango, caught him in the neck where it joined the shoulders +and passed through the body. + +When he had withdrawn the shaft from the hyena Tarzan shouldered +both carcasses and continued on toward the gulch. Below lay Numa +beneath the shade of the lone tree and at the ape-man's call he +staggered slowly to his feet, yet weak as he was, he still growled +savagely, even essaying a roar at the sight of his enemy. Tarzan +let the two bodies slide over the rim of the cliff. "Eat, Numa!" +he cried. "It may be that I shall need you again." He saw the lion, +quickened to new life at the sight of food, spring upon the body +of the deer and then he left him rending and tearing the flesh as +he bolted great pieces into his empty maw. + +The following day Tarzan came within sight of the German lines. +From a wooded spur of the hills he looked down upon the enemy's +left flank and beyond to the British lines. His position gave him +a bird's-eye view of the field of battle, and his keen eyesight +picked out many details that would not have been apparent to a man +whose every sense was not trained to the highest point of perfection +as were the ape-man's. He noted machine-gun emplacements cunningly +hidden from the view of the British and listening posts placed well +out in No Man's Land. + +As his interested gaze moved hither and thither from one point of +interest to another he heard from a point upon the hillside below +him, above the roar of cannon and the crack of rifle fire, a single +rifle spit. Immediately his attention was centered upon the spot +where he knew a sniper must be hid. Patiently he awaited the next +shot that would tell him more surely the exact location of the +rifleman, and when it came he moved down the steep hillside with +the stealth and quietness of a panther. Apparently he took no +cognizance of where he stepped, yet never a loose stone was disturbed +nor a twig broken--it was as though his feet saw. + +Presently, as he passed through a clump of bushes, he came to the +edge of a low cliff and saw upon a ledge some fifteen feet below +him a German soldier prone behind an embankment of loose rock and +leafy boughs that hid him from the view of the British lines. The +man must have been an excellent shot, for he was well back of the +German lines, firing over the heads of his fellows. His high-powered +rifle was equipped with telescope sights and he also carried +binoculars which he was in the act of using as Tarzan discovered +him, either to note the effect of his last shot or to discover +a new target. Tarzan let his eye move quickly toward that part of +the British line the German seemed to be scanning, his keen sight +revealing many excellent targets for a rifle placed so high above +the trenches. + +The Hun, evidently satisfied with his observations, laid aside +his binoculars and again took up his rifle, placed its butt in the +hollow of his shoulder and took careful aim. At the same instant a +brown body sprang outward from the cliff above him. There was no +sound and it is doubtful that the German ever knew what manner of +creature it was that alighted heavily upon his back, for at the +instant of impact the sinewy fingers of the ape-man circled the +hairy throat of the Boche. There was a moment of futile struggling +followed by the sudden realization of dissolution--the sniper was +dead. + +Lying behind the rampart of rocks and boughs, Tarzan looked down +upon the scene below. Near at hand were the trenches of the Germans. +He could see officers and men moving about in them and almost in +front of him a well-hidden machine gun was traversing No Man's Land +in an oblique direction, striking the British at such an angle as +to make it difficult for them to locate it. + +Tarzan watched, toying idly with the rifle of the dead German. +Presently he fell to examining the mechanism of the piece. He +glanced again toward the German trenches and changed the adjustment +of the sights, then he placed the rifle to his shoulder and took +aim. Tarzan was an excellent shot. With his civilized friends he +had hunted big game with the weapons of civilization and though he +never had killed except for food or in self-defense he had amused +himself firing at inanimate targets thrown into the air and had +perfected himself in the use of firearms without realizing that +he had done so. Now indeed would he hunt big game. A slow smile +touched his lips as his finger closed gradually upon the trigger. +The rifle spoke and a German machine gunner collapsed behind his +weapon. In three minutes Tarzan picked off the crew of that gun. +Then he spotted a German officer emerging from a dugout and the +three men in the bay with him. Tarzan was careful to leave no one +in the immediate vicinity to question how Germans could be shot in +German trenches when they were entirely concealed from enemy view. + +Again adjusting his sights he took a long-range shot at a distant +machine-gun crew to his right. With calm deliberation he wiped them +out to a man. Two guns were silenced. He saw men running through +the trenches and he picked off several of them. By this time the +Germans were aware that something was amiss--that an uncanny sniper +had discovered a point of vantage from which this sector of the +trenches was plainly visible to him. At first they sought to discover +his location in No Man's Land; but when an officer looking over +the parapet through a periscope was struck full in the back of the +head with a rifle bullet which passed through his skull and fell +to the bottom of the trench they realized that it was beyond the +parados rather than the parapet that they should search. + +One of the soldiers picked up the bullet that had killed his +officer, and then it was that real excitement prevailed in that +particular bay, for the bullet was obviously of German make. Hugging +the parados, messengers carried the word in both directions and +presently periscopes were leveled above the parados and keen eyes +were searching out the traitor. It did not take them long to locate +the position of the hidden sniper and then Tarzan saw a machine +gun being trained upon him. Before it had gotten into action its +crew lay dead about it; but there were other men to take their +places, reluctantly perhaps; but driven on by their officers they +were forced to it and at the same time two other machine guns were +swung around toward the ape-man and put into operation. + +Realizing that the game was about up Tarzan with a farewell shot +laid aside the rifle and melted into the hills behind him. For many +minutes he could hear the sputter of machinegun fire concentrated +upon the spot he had just quit and smiled as he contemplated the +waste of German ammunition. + +"They have paid heavily for Wasimbu, the Waziri, whom they crucified, +and for his slain fellows," he mused; "but for Jane they can never +pay--no, not if I killed them all." + +After dark that night he circled the flanks of both armies and +passed through the British out-guards and into the British lines. +No man saw him come. No man knew that he was there. + +Headquarters of the Second Rhodesians occupied a sheltered position +far enough back of the lines to be comparatively safe from enemy +observation. Even lights were permitted, and Colonel Capell sat +before a field table, on which was spread a military map, talking +with several of his officers. A large tree spread above them, a +lantern sputtered dimly upon the table, while a small fire burned +upon the ground close at hand. The enemy had no planes and no other +observers could have seen the lights from the German lines. + +The officers were discussing the advantage in numbers possessed by +the enemy and the inability of the British to more than hold their +present position. They could not advance. Already they had sustained +severe losses in every attack and had always been driven back by +overwhelming numbers. There were hidden machine guns, too, that +bothered the colonel considerably. It was evidenced by the fact +that he often reverted to them during the conversation. + +"Something silenced them for a while this afternoon," said one of +the younger officers. "I was observing at the time and I couldn't +make out what the fuss was about; but they seemed to be having a +devil of a time in a section of trench on their left. At one time I +could have sworn they were attacked in the rear--I reported it to +you at the time, sir, you'll recall--for the blighters were pepperin' +away at the side of that bluff behind them. I could see the dirt +fly. I don't know what it could have been." + +There was a slight rustling among the branches of the tree above +them and simultaneously a lithe, brown body dropped in their midst. +Hands moved quickly to the butts of pistols; but otherwise there +was no movement among the officers. First they looked wonderingly +at the almost naked white man standing there with the firelight +playing upon rounded muscles, took in the primitive attire and +the equally primitive armament and then all eyes turned toward the +colonel. + +"Who the devil are you, sir?" snapped that officer. + +"Tarzan of the Apes," replied the newcomer. + +"Oh, Greystoke!" cried a major, and stepped forward with outstretched +hand. + +"Preswick," acknowledged Tarzan as he took the proffered hand. + +"I didn't recognize you at first," apologized the major. "The +last time I saw you you were in London in evening dress. Quite a +difference--'pon my word, man, you'll have to admit it." + +Tarzan smiled and turned toward the colonel. "I overheard your +conversation," he said. "I have just come from behind the German +lines. Possibly I can help you." + +The colonel looked questioningly toward Major Preswick who quickly +rose to the occasion and presented the ape-man to his commanding +officer and fellows. Briefly Tarzan told them what it was that +brought him out alone in pursuit of the Germans. + +"And now you have come to join us?" asked the colonel. + +Tarzan shook his head. "Not regularly," he replied. "I must fight +in my own way; but I can help you. Whenever I wish I can enter the +German lines." + +Capell smiled and shook his head. "It's not so easy as you think," +he said; "I've lost two good officers in the last week trying it--and +they were experienced men; none better in the Intelligence Department." + +"Is it more difficult than entering the British lines?" asked +Tarzan. + +The colonel was about to reply when a new thought appeared to occur +to him and he looked quizzically at the ape-man. "Who brought you +here?" he asked. "Who passed you through our out-guards?" + +"I have just come through the German lines and yours and passed +through your camp," he replied. "Send word to ascertain if anyone +saw me." + +"But who accompanied you?" insisted Capell. + +"I came alone," replied Tarzan and then, drawing himself to +his full height, "You men of civilization, when you come into the +jungle, are as dead among the quick. Manu, the monkey, is a sage +by comparison. I marvel that you exist at all--only your numbers, +your weapons, and your power of reasoning save you. Had I a few +hundred great apes with your reasoning power I could drive the +Germans into the ocean as quickly as the remnant of them could +reach the coast. Fortunate it is for you that the dumb brutes cannot +combine. Could they, Africa would remain forever free of men. But +come, can I help you? Would you like to know where several machinegun +emplacements are hidden?" + +The colonel assured him that they would, and a moment later Tarzan +had traced upon the map the location of three that had been bothering +the English. "There is a weak spot here," he said, placing a finger +upon the map. "It is held by blacks; but the machine guns out in +front are manned by whites. If--wait! I have a plan. You can fill +that trench with your own men and enfilade the trenches to its +right with their own machine guns." + +Colonel Capell smiled and shook his head. "It sounds very easy," +he said. + +"It IS easy--for me," replied the ape-man. "I can empty that section +of trench without a shot. I was raised in the jungle--I know the +jungle folk--the Gomangani as well as the others. Look for me again +on the second night," and he turned to leave. + +"Wait," said the colonel. "I will send an officer to pass you +through the lines." + +Tarzan smiled and moved away. As he was leaving the little group +about headquarters he passed a small figure wrapped in an officer's +heavy overcoat. The collar was turned up and the visor of the +military cap pulled well down over the eyes; but, as the ape-man +passed, the light from the fire illuminated the features of the +newcomer for an instant, revealing to Tarzan a vaguely familiar +face. Some officer he had known in London, doubtless, he surmised, +and went his way through the British camp and the British lines +all unknown to the watchful sentinels of the out-guard. + +Nearly all night he moved across Kilimanjaro's foothills, tracking +by instinct an unknown way, for he guessed that what he sought would +be found on some wooded slope higher up than he had come upon his +other recent journeys in this, to him, little known country. Three +hours before dawn his keen nostrils apprised him that somewhere in +the vicinity he would find what he wanted, and so he climbed into +a tall tree and settled himself for a few hours' sleep. + + + + + +When the Lion Fed + + + + +Kudu, the sun, was well up in the heavens when Tarzan awoke. The +ape-man stretched his giant limbs, ran his fingers through his thick +hair, and swung lightly down to earth. Immediately he took up the +trail he had come in search of, following it by scent down into +a deep ravine. Cautiously he went now, for his nose told him that +the quarry was close at hand, and presently from an overhanging +bough he looked down upon Horta, the boar, and many of his kinsmen. +Un-slinging his bow and selecting an arrow, Tarzan fitted the shaft +and, drawing it far back, took careful aim at the largest of the +great pigs. In the ape-man's teeth were other arrows, and no sooner +had the first one sped, than he had fitted and shot another bolt. +Instantly the pigs were in turmoil, not knowing from whence the +danger threatened. They stood stupidly at first and then commenced +milling around until six of their number lay dead or dying about +them; then with a chorus of grunts and squeals they started off at +a wild run, disappearing quickly in the dense underbrush. + +Tarzan then descended from the tree, dispatched those that were not +already dead and proceeded to skin the carcasses. As he worked, +rapidly and with great skill, he neither hummed nor whistled as +does the average man of civilization. It was in numerous little +ways such as these that he differed from other men, due, probably, +to his early jungle training. The beasts of the jungle that he had +been reared among were playful to maturity but seldom thereafter. +His fellow-apes, especially the bulls, became fierce and surly as +they grew older. Life was a serious matter during lean seasons--one +had to fight to secure one's share of food then, and the habit once +formed became lifelong. Hunting for food was the life labor of the +jungle bred, and a life labor is a thing not to be approached with +levity nor prosecuted lightly. So all work found Tarzan serious, +though he still retained what the other beasts lost as they grew +older--a sense of humor, which he gave play to when the mood suited +him. It was a grim humor and sometimes ghastly; but it satisfied +Tarzan. + +Then, too, were one to sing and whistle while working on the ground, +concentration would be impossible. Tarzan possessed the ability to +concentrate each of his five senses upon its particular business. +Now he worked at skinning the six pigs and his eyes and his fingers +worked as though there was naught else in all the world than these +six carcasses; but his ears and his nose were as busily engaged +elsewhere--the former ranging the forest all about and the latter +assaying each passing zephyr. It was his nose that first discovered +the approach of Sabor, the lioness, when the wind shifted for a +moment. + +As clearly as though he had seen her with his eyes, Tarzan knew +that the lioness had caught the scent of the freshly killed pigs +and immediately had moved down wind in their direction. He knew +from the strength of the scent spoor and the rate of the wind about +how far away she was and that she was approaching from behind him. +He was finishing the last pig and he did not hurry. The five pelts +lay close at hand-he had been careful to keep them thus together +and near him--an ample tree waved its low branches above him. + +He did not even turn his head for he knew she was not yet in sight; +but he bent his ears just a bit more sharply for the first sound +of her nearer approach. When the final skin had been removed he +rose. Now he heard Sabor in the bushes to his rear, but not yet +too close. Leisurely he gathered up the six pelts and one of the +carcasses, and as the lioness appeared between the boles of two +trees he swung upward into the branches above him. Here he hung +the hides over a limb, seated himself comfortably upon another with +his back against the bole of the tree, cut a hind quarter from +the carcass he had carried with him and proceeded to satisfy his +hunger. Sabor slunk, growling, from the brush, cast a wary eye +upward toward the ape-man and then fell upon the nearest carcass. + +Tarzan looked down upon her and grinned, recalling an argument he +had once had with a famous big-game hunter who had declared that +the king of beasts ate only what he himself had killed. Tarzan knew +better for he had seen Numa and Sabor stoop even to carrion. + +Having filled his belly, the ape-man fell to work upon the hides--all +large and strong. First he cut strips from them about half an inch +wide. When he had sufficient number of these strips he sewed two of +the hides together, afterwards piercing holes every three or four +inches around the edges. Running another strip through these +holes gave him a large bag with a drawstring. In similar fashion he +produced four other like bags, but smaller, from the four remaining +hides and had several strips left over. + +All this done he threw a large, juicy fruit at Sabor, cached the +remainder of the pig in a crotch of the tree and swung off toward +the southwest through the middle terraces of the forest, carrying +his five bags with him. Straight he went to the rim of the gulch +where he had imprisoned Numa, the lion. Very stealthily he approached +the edge and peered over. Numa was not in sight. Tarzan sniffed +and listened. He could hear nothing, yet he knew that Numa must be +within the cave. He hoped that he slept--much depended upon Numa +not discovering him. + +Cautiously he lowered himself over the edge of the cliff, and with +utter noiselessness commenced the descent toward the bottom of the +gulch. He stopped often and turned his keen eyes and ears in the +direction of the cave's mouth at the far end of the gulch, some +hundred feet away. As he neared the foot of the cliff his danger +increased greatly. If he could reach the bottom and cover half +the distance to the tree that stood in the center of the gulch he +would feel comparatively safe for then, even if Numa appeared, he +felt that he could beat him either to the cliff or to the tree, +but to scale the first thirty feet of the cliff rapidly enough to +elude the leaping beast would require a running start of at least +twenty feet as there were no very good hand- or footholds close +to the bottom--he had had to run up the first twenty feet like +a squirrel running up a tree that other time he had beaten an +infuriated Numa to it. He had no desire to attempt it again unless +the conditions were equally favorable at least, for he had escaped +Numa's raking talons by only a matter of inches on the former +occasion. + +At last he stood upon the floor of the gulch. Silent as a disembodied +spirit he advanced toward the tree. He was half way there and no +sign of Numa. He reached the scarred bole from which the famished +lion had devoured the bark and even torn pieces of the wood itself +and yet Numa had not appeared. As he drew himself up to the lower +branches he commenced to wonder if Numa were in the cave after +all. Could it be possible that he had forced the barrier of rocks +with which Tarzan had plugged the other end of the passage where +it opened into the outer world of freedom? Or was Numa dead? The +ape-man doubted the verity of the latter suggestion as he had fed +the lion the entire carcasses of a deer and a hyena only a few +days since--he could not have starved in so short a time, while the +little rivulet running across the gulch furnished him with water +a-plenty. + +Tarzan started to descend and investigate the cavern when it occurred +to him that it would save effort were he to lure Numa out instead. +Acting upon the thought he uttered a low growl. Immediately he was +rewarded by the sound of a movement within the cave and an instant +later a wild-eyed, haggard lion rushed forth ready to face the +devil himself were he edible. When Numa saw Tarzan, fat and sleek, +perched in the tree he became suddenly the embodiment of frightful +rage. His eyes and his nose told him that this was the creature +responsible for his predicament and also that this creature was +good to eat. Frantically the lion sought to scramble up the bole of +the tree. Twice he leaped high enough to catch the lowest branches +with his paws, but both times he fell backward to the earth. Each +time he became more furious. His growls and roars were incessant +and horrible and all the time Tarzan sat grinning down upon him, +taunting him in jungle billingsgate for his inability to reach +him and mentally exulting that always Numa was wasting his already +waning strength. + +Finally the ape-man rose and un-slung his rope. He arranged the +coils carefully in his left hand and the noose in his right, and +then he took a position with each foot on one of two branches that +lay in about the same horizontal plane and with his back pressed +firmly against the stem of the tree. There he stood hurling insults +at Numa until the beast was again goaded into leaping upward at +him, and as Numa rose the noose dropped quickly over his head and +about his neck. A quick movement of Tarzan's rope hand tightened +the coil and when Numa slipped backward to the ground only his hind +feet touched, for the ape-man held him swinging by the neck. + +Moving slowly outward upon the two branches Tarzan swung Numa out +so that he could not reach the bole of the tree with his raking +talons, then he made the rope fast after drawing the lion clear +of the ground, dropped his five pigskin sacks to earth and leaped +down himself. Numa was striking frantically at the grass rope with +his fore claws. At any moment he might sever it and Tarzan must, +therefore, work rapidly. + +First he drew the larger bag over Numa's head and secured it about +his neck with the draw string, then he managed, after considerable +effort, during which he barely escaped being torn to ribbons by +the mighty talons, to hog-tie Numa--drawing his four legs together +and securing them in that position with the strips trimmed from +the pigskins. + +By this time the lion's efforts had almost ceased--it was evident +that he was being rapidly strangled and as that did not at all +suit the purpose of the Tarmangani the latter swung again into the +tree, unfastened the rope from above and lowered the lion to the +ground where he immediately followed it and loosed the noose about +Numa's neck. Then he drew his hunting knife and cut two round holes +in the front of the head bag opposite the lion's eyes for the double +purpose of permitting him to see and giving him sufficient air to +breathe. + +This done Tarzan busied himself fitting the other bags, one over +each of Numa's formidably armed paws. Those on the hind feet he +secured not only by tightening the draw strings but also rigged +garters that fastened tightly around the legs above the hocks. +He secured the front-feet bags in place similarly above the great +knees. Now, indeed, was Numa, the lion, reduced to the harmlessness +of Bara, the deer. + +By now Numa was showing signs of returning life. He gasped for +breath and struggled; but the strips of pigskin that held his four +legs together were numerous and tough. Tarzan watched and was sure +that they would hold, yet Numa is mightily muscled and there was +the chance, always, that he might struggle free of his bonds after +which all would depend upon the efficacy of Tarzan's bags and draw +strings. + +After Numa had again breathed normally and was able to roar +out his protests and his rage, his struggles increased to Titanic +proportions for a short time; but as a lion's powers of endurance +are in no way proportionate to his size and strength he soon tired +and lay quietly. Amid renewed growling and another futile attempt +to free himself, Numa was finally forced to submit to the further +indignity of having a rope secured about his neck; but this time +it was no noose that might tighten and strangle him; but a bowline +knot, which does not tighten or slip under strain. + +The other end of the rope Tarzan fastened to the stem of the tree, +then he quickly cut the bonds securing Numa's legs and leaped aside +as the beast sprang to his feet. For a moment the lion stood with +legs far outspread, then he raised first one paw and then another, +shaking them energetically in an effort to dislodge the strange +footgear that Tarzan had fastened upon them. Finally he began to paw +at the bag upon his head. The ape-man, standing with ready spear, +watched Numa's efforts intently. Would the bags hold? He sincerely +hoped so. Or would all his labor prove fruitless? + +As the clinging things upon his feet and face resisted his every +effort to dislodge them, Numa became frantic. He rolled upon the +ground, fighting, biting, scratching, and roaring; he leaped to his +feet and sprang into the air; he charged Tarzan, only to be brought +to a sudden stop as the rope securing him to the tree tautened. +Then Tarzan stepped in and rapped him smartly on the head with the +shaft of his spear. Numa reared upon his hind feet and struck at +the are-man and in return received a cuff on one ear that sent him +reeling sideways. When he returned to the attack he was again sent +sprawling. After the fourth effort it appeared to dawn upon the king +of beasts that he had met his master, his head and tail dropped and +when Tarzan advanced upon him he backed away, though still growling. + +Leaving Numa tied to the tree Tarzan entered the tunnel and removed +the barricade from the opposite end, after which he returned to +the gulch and strode straight for the tree. Numa lay in his path +and as Tarzan approached growled menacingly. The ape-man cuffed +him aside and unfastened the rope from the tree. Then ensued a +half-hour of stubbornly fought battle while Tarzan endeavored to +drive Numa through the tunnel ahead of him and Numa persistently +refused to be driven. At last, however, by dint of the unrestricted +use of his spear point, the ape-man succeeded in forcing the lion +to move ahead of him and eventually guided him into the passageway. +Once inside, the problem became simpler since Tarzan followed closely +in the rear with his sharp spear point, an unremitting incentive +to forward movement on the part of the lion. If Numa hesitated he +was prodded. If he backed up the result was extremely painful and +so, being a wise lion who was learning rapidly, he decided to keep +on going and at the end of the tunnel, emerging into the outer +world, he sensed freedom, raised his head and tail and started off +at a run. + +Tarzan, still on his hands and knees just inside the entrance, was +taken unaware with the result that he was sprawled forward upon +his face and dragged a hundred yards across the rocky ground before +Numa was brought to a stand. It was a scratched and angry Tarzan +who scrambled to his feet. At first he was tempted to chastise +Numa; but, as the ape-man seldom permitted his temper to guide him +in any direction not countenanced by reason, he quickly abandoned +the idea. + +Having taught Numa the rudiments of being driven, he now urged him +forward and there commenced as strange a journey as the unrecorded +history of the jungle contains. The balance of that day was eventful +both for Tarzan and for Numa. From open rebellion at first the lion +passed through stages of stubborn resistance and grudging obedience +to final surrender. He was a very tired, hungry, and thirsty lion +when night overtook them; but there was to be no food for him that +day or the next--Tarzan did not dare risk removing the head bag, +though he did cut another hole which permitted Numa to quench his +thirst shortly after dark. Then he tied him to a tree, sought food +for himself, and stretched out among the branches above his captive +for a few hours' sleep. + +Early the following morning they resumed their journey, winding over +the low foothills south of Kilimanjaro, toward the east. The beasts +of the jungle who saw them took one look and fled. The scent spoor +of Numa, alone, might have been enough to have provoked flight in +many of the lesser animals, but the sight of this strange apparition +that smelled like a lion, but looked like nothing they ever had +seen before, being led through the jungles by a giant Tarmangani +was too much for even the more formidable denizens of the wild. + +Sabor, the lioness, recognizing from a distance the scent of her +lord and master intermingled with that of a Tarmangani and the +hide of Horta, the boar, trotted through the aisles of the forest +to investigate. Tarzan and Numa heard her coming, for she voiced +a plaintive and questioning whine as the baffling mixture of odors +aroused her curiosity and her fears, for lions, however terrible +they may appear, are often timid animals and Sabor, being of the +gentler sex, was, naturally, habitually inquisitive as well. + +Tarzan un-slung his spear for he knew that he might now easily have +to fight to retain his prize. Numa halted and turned his outraged +head in the direction of the coming she. He voiced a throaty growl +that was almost a purr. Tarzan was upon the point of prodding him +on again when Sabor broke into view, and behind her the ape-man saw +that which gave him instant pause--four full-grown lions trailing +the lioness. + +To have goaded Numa then into active resistance might have brought +the whole herd down upon him and so Tarzan waited to learn first +what their attitude would be. He had no idea of relinquishing his +lion without a battle; but knowing lions as he did, he knew that +there was no assurance as to just what the newcomers would do. + +The lioness was young and sleek, and the four males were in their +prime--as handsome lions as he ever had seen. Three of the males +were scantily maned but one, the foremost, carried a splendid, +black mane that rippled in the breeze as he trotted majestically +forward. The lioness halted a hundred feet from Tarzan, while the +lions came on past her and stopped a few feet nearer. Their ears +were upstanding and their eyes filled with curiosity. Tarzan could +not even guess what they might do. The lion at his side faced them +fully, standing silent now and watchful. + +Suddenly the lioness gave vent to another little whine, at which +Tarzan's lion voiced a terrific roar and leaped forward straight +toward the beast of the black mane. The sight of this awesome +creature with the strange face was too much for the lion toward +which he leaped, dragging Tarzan after him, and with a growl the +lion turned and fled, followed by his companions and the she. + +Numa attempted to follow them; Tarzan held him in leash and when +he turned upon him in rage, beat him unmercifully across the head +with his spear. Shaking his head and growling, the lion at last moved +off again in the direction they had been traveling; but it was an +hour before he ceased to sulk. He was very hungry--half famished +in fact--and consequently of an ugly temper, yet so thoroughly +subdued by Tarzan's heroic methods of lion taming that he was +presently pacing along at the ape-man's side like some huge St. +Bernard. + +It was dark when the two approached the British right, after a +slight delay farther back because of a German patrol it had been +necessary to elude. A short distance from the British line of +out-guard sentinels Tarzan tied Numa to a tree and continued on +alone. He evaded a sentinel, passed the out-guard and support, and +by devious ways came again to Colonel Capell's headquarters, where +he appeared before the officers gathered there as a disembodied +spirit materializing out of thin air. + +When they saw who it was that came thus unannounced they smiled +and the colonel scratched his head in perplexity. + +"Someone should be shot for this," he said. "I might just as well +not establish an out-post if a man can filter through whenever he +pleases." + +Tarzan smiled. "Do not blame them," he said, "for I am not a man. +I am Tarmangani. Any Mangani who wished to, could enter your camp +almost at will; but if you have them for sentinels no one could +enter without their knowledge." + +"What are the Mangani?" asked the colonel. "Perhaps we might enlist +a bunch of the beggars." + +Tarzan shook his head. "They are the great apes," he explained; "my +people; but you could not use them. They cannot concentrate long +enough upon a single idea. If I told them of this they would be +much interested for a short time-I might even hold the interest +of a few long enough to get them here and explain their duties to +them; but soon they would lose interest and when you needed them +most they might be off in the forest searching for beetles instead +of watching their posts. They have the minds of little children +--that is why they remain what they are." + +"You call them Mangani and yourself Tarmangani--what is the +difference?" asked Major Preswick. + +"Tar means white," replied Tarzan, "and Mangani, great ape. My name--the +name they gave me in the tribe of Kerchak--means White-skin. When +I was a little balu my skin, I presume, looked very white indeed +against the beautiful, black coat of Kala, my foster mother +and so they called me Tarzan, the Tarmangani. They call you, too, +Tarmangani," he concluded, smiling. + +Capell smiled. "It is no reproach, Greystoke," he said; "and, by +Jove, it would be a mark of distinction if a fellow could act the +part. And now how about your plan? Do you still think you can empty +the trench opposite our sector?" + +"Is it still held by Gomangani?" asked Tarzan. + +"What are Gomangani?" inquired the colonel. "It is still held by +native troops, if that is what you mean." + +"Yes," replied the ape-man, "the Gomangani are the great black +apes--the Negroes." + +"What do you intend doing and what do you want us to do?" asked +Capell. + +Tarzan approached the table and placed a finger on the map. "Here +is a listening post," he said; "they have a machine gun in it. A +tunnel connects it with this trench at this point." His finger moved +from place to place on the map as he talked. "Give me a bomb and +when you hear it burst in this listening post let your men start +across No Man's Land slowly. Presently they will hear a commotion +in the enemy trench; but they need not hurry, and, whatever they +do, have them come quietly. You might also warn them that I may be +in the trench and that I do not care to be shot or bayoneted." + +"And that is all?" queried Capell, after directing an officer to +give Tarzan a hand grenade; "you will empty the trench alone?" + +"Not exactly alone," replied Tarzan with a grim smile; "but I shall +empty it, and, by the way, your men may come in through the tunnel +from the listening post if you prefer. In about half an hour, +Colonel," and he turned and left them. + +As he passed through the camp there flashed suddenly upon the screen +of recollection, conjured there by some reminder of his previous +visit to headquarters, doubtless, the image of the officer he had +passed as he quit the colonel that other time and simultaneously +recognition of the face that had been revealed by the light from +the fire. He shook his head dubiously. No, it could not be and +yet the features of the young officer were identical with those of +Fraulein Kircher, the German spy he had seen at German headquarters +the night he took Major Schneider from under the nose of the Hun +general and his staff. + +Beyond the last line of sentinels Tarzan moved quickly in the +direction of Numa, the lion. The beast was lying down as Tarzan +approached, but he rose as the ape-man reached his side. A low +whine escaped his muzzled lips. Tarzan smiled for he recognized in +the new note almost a supplication--it was more like the whine of +a hungry dog begging for food than the voice of the proud king of +beasts. + +"Soon you will kill--and feed," he murmured in the vernacular of +the great apes. + +He unfastened the rope from about the tree and, with Numa close +at his side, slunk into No Man's Land. There was little rifle fire +and only an occasional shell vouched for the presence of artillery +behind the opposing lines. As the shells from both sides were +falling well back of the trenches, they constituted no menace to +Tarzan; but the noise of them and that of the rifle fire had a marked +effect upon Numa who crouched, trembling, close to the Tarmangani +as though seeking protection. + +Cautiously the two beasts moved forward toward the listening post +of the Germans. In one hand Tarzan carried the bomb the English had +given him, in the other was the coiled rope attached to the lion. +At last Tarzan could see the position a few yards ahead. His keen +eyes picked out the head and shoulders of the sentinel on watch. +The ape-man grasped the bomb firmly in his right hand. He measured +the distance with his eye and gathered his feet beneath him, then +in a single motion he rose and threw the missile, immediately +flattening himself prone upon the ground. + +Five seconds later there was a terrific explosion in the center of +the listening post. Numa gave a nervous start and attempted to break +away; but Tarzan held him and, leaping to his feet, ran forward, +dragging Numa after him. At the edge of the post he saw below him +but slight evidence that the position had been occupied at all, +for only a few shreds of torn flesh remained. About the only thing +that had not been demolished was a machine gun which had been +protected by sand bags. + +There was not an instant to lose. Already a relief might be crawling +through the communication tunnel, for it must have been evident to +the sentinels in the Hun trenches that the listening post had been +demolished. Numa hesitated to follow Tarzan into the excavation; +but the ape-man, who was in no mood to temporize, jerked him roughly +to the bottom. Before them lay the mouth of the tunnel that led +back from No Man's Land to the German trenches. Tarzan pushed Numa +forward until his head was almost in the aperture, then as though +it were an afterthought, he turned quickly and, taking the machine +gun from the parapet, placed it in the bottom of the hole close +at hand, after which he turned again to Numa, and with his knife +quickly cut the garters that held the bags upon his front paws. +Before the lion could know that a part of his formidable armament +was again released for action, Tarzan had cut the rope from his +neck and the head bag from his face, and grabbing the lion from +the rear had thrust him partially into the mouth of the tunnel. + +Then Numa balked, only to feel the sharp prick of Tarzan's knife +point in his hind quarters. Goading him on the ape-man finally +succeeded in getting the lion sufficiently far into the tunnel +so that there was no chance of his escaping other than by going +forward or deliberately backing into the sharp blade at his rear. +Then Tarzan cut the bags from the great hind feet, placed his +shoulder and his knife point against Numa's seat, dug his toes +into the loose earth that had been broken up by the explosion of +the bomb, and shoved. + +Inch by inch at first Numa advanced. He was growling now and presently +he commenced to roar. Suddenly he leaped forward and Tarzan knew +that he had caught the scent of meat ahead. Dragging the machine +gun beside him the ape-man followed quickly after the lion whose +roars he could plainly hear ahead mingled with the unmistakable +screams of frightened men. Once again a grim smile touched the lips +of this man-beast. + +"They murdered my Waziri," he muttered; "they crucified Wasimbu, +son of Muviro." + +When Tarzan reached the trench and emerged into it there was no one +in sight in that particular bay, nor in the next, nor the next as +he hurried forward in the direction of the German center; but in the +fourth bay he saw a dozen men jammed in the angle of the traverse +at the end while leaping upon them and rending with talons and fangs +was Numa, a terrific incarnation of ferocity and ravenous hunger. + +Whatever held the men at last gave way as they fought madly with +one another in their efforts to escape this dread creature that +from their infancy had filled them with terror, and again they +were retreating. Some clambered over the parados and some even over +the parapet preferring the dangers of No Man's Land to this other +soul-searing menace. + +As the British advanced slowly toward the German trenches, they +first met terrified blacks who ran into their arms only too willing +to surrender. That pandemonium had broken loose in the Hun trench +was apparent to the Rhodesians not only from the appearance of the +deserters, but from the sounds of screaming, cursing men which came +clearly to their ears; but there was one that baffled them for it +resembled nothing more closely than the infuriated growling of an +angry lion. + +And when at last they reached the trench, those farthest on the left +of the advancing Britishers heard a machine gun sputter suddenly +before them and saw a huge lion leap over the German parados with +the body of a screaming Hun soldier between his jaws and vanish +into the shadows of the night, while squatting upon a traverse to +their left was Tarzan of the Apes with a machine gun before him +with which he was raking the length of the German trenches. + +The foremost Rhodesians saw something else--they saw a huge German +officer emerge from a dugout just in rear of the ape-man. They saw +him snatch up a discarded rifle with bayonet fixed and creep upon +the apparently unconscious Tarzan. They ran forward, shouting +warnings; but above the pandemonium of the trenches and the machine +gun their voices could not reach him. The German leaped upon the +parapet behind him--the fat hands raised the rifle butt aloft for +the cowardly downward thrust into the naked back and then, as moves +Ara, the lightning, moved Tarzan of the Apes. + +It was no man who leaped forward upon that Boche officer, striking +aside the sharp bayonet as one might strike aside a straw in a +baby's hand--it was a wild beast and the roar of a wild beast was +upon those savage lips, for as that strange sense that Tarzan owned +in common with the other jungle-bred creatures of his wild domain +warned him of the presence behind him and he had whirled to meet +the attack, his eyes had seen the corps and regimental insignia upon +the other's blouse--it was the same as that worn by the murderers +of his wife and his people, by the despoilers of his home and his +happiness. + +It was a wild beast whose teeth fastened upon the shoulder of the +Hun--it was a wild beast whose talons sought that fat neck. And +then the boys of the Second Rhodesian Regiment saw that which will +live forever in their memories. They saw the giant ape-man pick +the heavy German from the ground and shake him as a terrier might +shake a rat--as Sabor, the lioness, sometimes shakes her prey. +They saw the eyes of the Hun bulge in horror as he vainly struck +with his futile hands against the massive chest and head of his +assailant. They saw Tarzan suddenly spin the man about and placing +a knee in the middle of his back and an arm about his neck bend +his shoulders slowly backward. The German's knees gave and he sank +upon them, but still that irresistible force bent him further and +further. He screamed in agony for a moment-then something snapped +and Tarzan cast him aside, a limp and lifeless thing. + +The Rhodesians started forward, a cheer upon their lips-a cheer +that never was uttered--a cheer that froze in their throats, for +at that moment Tarzan placed a foot upon the carcass of his kill +and, raising his face to the heavens, gave voice to the weird and +terrifying victory cry of the bull ape. + +Underlieutenant von Goss was dead. + +Without a backward glance at the awe-struck soldiers Tarzan leaped +the trench and was gone. + + + + + +The Golden Locket + + + + +The little British army in East Africa, after suffering severe +reverses at the hands of a numerically much superior force, was +at last coming into its own. The German offensive had been broken +and the Huns were now slowly and doggedly retreating along the +railway to Tanga. The break in the German lines had followed the +clearing of a section of their left-flank trenches of native soldiers +by Tarzan and Numa, the lion, upon that memorable night that the +ape-man had loosed a famishing man-eater among the superstitious +and terror-stricken blacks. The Second Rhodesian Regiment had +immediately taken possession of the abandoned trench and from this +position their flanking fire had raked contiguous sections of the +German line, the diversion rendering possible a successful night +attack on the part of the balance of the British forces. + +Weeks had elapsed. The Germans were contesting stubbornly every +mile of waterless, thorn-covered ground and clinging desperately +to their positions along the railway. The officers of the Second +Rhodesians had seen nothing more of Tarzan of the Apes since he +had slain Underlieutenant von Goss and disappeared toward the very +heart of the German position, and there were those among them who +believed that he had been killed within the enemy lines. + +"They may have killed him," assented Colonel Capell; "but I fancy +they never captured the beggar alive." + +Nor had they, nor killed him either. Tarzan had spent those intervening +weeks pleasantly and profitably. He had amassed a considerable +fund of knowledge concerning the disposition and strength of German +troops, their methods of warfare, and the various ways in which a +lone Tarmangani might annoy an army and lower its morale. + +At present he was prompted by a specific desire. There was a certain +German spy whom he wished to capture alive and take back to the +British When he had made his first visit to German headquarters, +he had seen a young woman deliver a paper to the German general, +and later he had seen that same young woman within the British +lines in the uniform of a British officer. The conclusions were +obvious--she was a spy. + +And so Tarzan haunted German headquarters upon many nights hoping +to see her again or to pick up some clew as to her whereabouts, +and at the same time he utilized many an artifice whereby he might +bring terror to the hearts of the Germans. That he was successful +was often demonstrated by the snatches of conversation he overheard as +he prowled through the German camps. One night as he lay concealed +in the bushes close beside a regimental headquarters he listened to +the conversation of several Boche officers. One of the men reverted +to the stories told by the native troops in connection with their +rout by a lion several weeks before and the simultaneous appearance +in their trenches of a naked, white giant whom they were perfectly +assured was some demon of the jungle. + +"The fellow must have been the same as he who leaped into the +general's headquarters and carried off Schneider," asserted one. +"I wonder how he happened to single out the poor major. They say +the creature seemed interested in no one but Schneider. He had von +Kelter in his grasp, and he might easily have taken the general +himself; but he ignored them all except Schneider. Him he pursued +about the room, seized and carried off into the night. Gott knows +what his fate was." + +"Captain Fritz Schneider has some sort of theory," said another. +"He told me only a week or two ago that he thinks he knows why his +brother was taken--that it was a case of mistaken identity. He was +not so sure about it until von Goss was killed, apparently by the +same creature, the night the lion entered the trenches. Von Goss was +attached to Schneider's company. One of Schneider's men was found +with his neck wrung the same night that the major was carried off +and Schneider thinks that this devil is after him and his command +--that it came for him that night and got his brother by mistake. +He says Kraut told him that in presenting the major to Fraulein +Kircher the former's name was no sooner spoken than this wild man +leaped through the window and made for him." + +Suddenly the little group became rigid--listening. "What was that?" +snapped one, eyeing the bushes from which a smothered snarl had +issued as Tarzan of the Apes realized that through his mistake the +perpetrator of the horrid crime at his bungalow still lived--that +the murderer of his wife went yet unpunished. + +For a long minute the officers stood with tensed nerves, every eye +riveted upon the bushes from whence the ominous sound had issued. +Each recalled recent mysterious disappearances from the heart of +camps as well as from lonely out-guards. Each thought of the silent +dead he had seen, slain almost within sight of their fellows by some +unseen creature. They thought of the marks upon dead throats-made +by talons or by giant fingers, they could not tell which--and those +upon shoulders and jugulars where powerful teeth had fastened and +they waited with drawn pistols. + +Once the bushes moved almost imperceptibly and an instant later +one of the officers, without warning, fired into them; but Tarzan +of the Apes was not there. In the interval between the moving of +the bushes and the firing of the shot he had melted into the night. +Ten minutes later he was hovering on the outskirts of that part +of camp where were bivouacked for the night the black soldiers of +a native company commanded by one Hauptmann Fritz Schneider. The +men were stretched upon the ground without tents; but there were +tents pitched for the officers. Toward these Tarzan crept. It was +slow and perilous work, as the Germans were now upon the alert for +the uncanny foe that crept into their camps to take his toll by +night, yet the ape-man passed their sentinels, eluded the vigilance +of the interior guard, and crept at last to the rear of the officers' +line. + +Here he flattened himself against the ground close behind the +nearest tent and listened. From within came the regular breathing +of a sleeping man--one only. Tarzan was satisfied. With his knife +he cut the tie strings of the rear flap and entered. He made no +noise. The shadow of a falling leaf, floating gently to earth upon +a still day, could have been no more soundless. He moved to the +side of the sleeping man and bent low over him. He could not know, +of course, whether it was Schneider or another, as he had never seen +Schneider; but he meant to know and to know even more. Gently he +shook the man by the shoulder. The fellow turned heavily and grunted +in a thick guttural. + +"Silence!" admonished the ape-man in a low whisper. "Silence--I +kill." + +The Hun opened his eyes. In the dim light he saw a giant figure +bending over him. Now a mighty hand grasped his shoulder and another +closed lightly about his throat. + +"Make no outcry," commanded Tarzan; "but answer in a whisper my +questions. What is your name?" + +"Luberg," replied the officer. He was trembling. The weird presence +of this naked giant filled him with dread. He, too, recalled the +men mysteriously murdered in the still watches of the night camps. +"What do you want?" + +"Where is Hauptmann Fritz Schneider?" asked Tarzan, "Which is his +tent?" + +"He is not here," replied Luberg. "He was sent to Wilhelmstal +yesterday." + +"I shall not kill you--now," said the ape-man. "First I shall go +and learn if you have lied to me and if you have your death shall +be the more terrible. Do you know how Major Schneider died?" + +Luberg shook his head negatively. + +"I do," continued Tarzan, "and it was not a nice way to die--even +for an accursed German. Turn over with your face down and cover +your eyes. Do not move or make any sound." + +The man did as he was bid and the instant that his eyes were turned +away, Tarzan slipped from the tent. An hour later he was outside +the German camp and headed for the little hill town of Wilhelmstal, +the summer seat of government of German East Africa. + +Fraulein Bertha Kircher was lost. She was humiliated and angry--it +was long before she would admit it, that she, who prided herself +upon her woodcraft, was lost in this little patch of country between +the Pangani and the Tanga railway. She knew that Wilhelmstal lay +southeast of her about fifty miles; but, through a combination of +untoward circumstances, she found herself unable to determine which +was southeast. + +In the first place she had set out from German headquarters on a +well-marked road that was being traveled by troops and with every +reason to believe that she would follow that road to Wilhelmstal. +Later she had been warned from this road by word that a strong +British patrol had come down the west bank of the Pangani, effected +a crossing south of her, and was even then marching on the railway +at Tonda. + +After leaving the road she found herself in thick bush and as the +sky was heavily overcast she presently had recourse to her compass +and it was not until then that she discovered to her dismay that +she did not have it with her. So sure was she of her woodcraft, +however, that she continued on in the direction she thought west +until she had covered sufficient distance to warrant her in feeling +assured that, by now turning south, she could pass safely in rear +of the British patrol. + +Nor did she commence to feel any doubts until long after she had +again turned toward the east well south, as she thought, of the +patrol. It was late afternoon--she should long since have struck +the road again south of Tonda; but she had found no road and now +she began to feel real anxiety. + +Her horse had traveled all day without food or water, night +was approaching and with it a realization that she was hopelessly +lost in a wild and trackless country notorious principally for its +tsetse flies and savage beasts. It was maddening to know that she +had absolutely no knowledge of the direction she was traveling--that +she might be forging steadily further from the railway, deeper +into the gloomy and forbidding country toward the Pangani; yet it +was impossible to stop-she must go on. + +Bertha Kircher was no coward, whatever else she may have been, but +as night began to close down around her she could not shut out from +her mind entirely contemplation of the terrors of the long hours +ahead before the rising sun should dissipate the Stygian gloom--the +horrid jungle night--that lures forth all the prowling, preying +creatures of destruction. + +She found, just before dark, an open meadow-like break in the +almost interminable bush. There was a small clump of trees near the +center and here she decided to camp. The grass was high and thick, +affording feed for her horse and a bed for herself, and there was +more than enough dead wood lying about the trees to furnish a good +fire well through the night. Removing the saddle and bridle from +her mount she placed them at the foot of a tree and then picketed +the animal close by. Then she busied herself collecting firewood +and by the time darkness had fallen she had a good fire and enough +wood to last until morning. + +From her saddlebags she took cold food and from her canteen a +swallow of water. She could not afford more than a small swallow +for she could not know how long a time it might be before she should +find more. It filled her with sorrow that her poor horse must go +waterless, for even German spies may have hearts and this one was +very young and very feminine. + +It was now dark. There was neither moon nor stars and the light +from her fire only accentuated the blackness beyond. She could see +the grass about her and the boles of the trees which stood out in +brilliant relief against the solid background of impenetrable night, +and beyond the firelight there was nothing. + +The jungle seemed ominously quiet. Far away in the distance she +heard faintly the boom of big guns; but she could not locate their +direction. She strained her ears until her nerves were on the point +of breaking; but she could not tell from whence the sound came. And +it meant so much to her to know, for the battle-lines were north +of her and if she could but locate the direction of the firing she +would know which way to go in the morning. + +In the morning! Would she live to see another morning? She squared +her shoulders and shook herself together. Such thoughts must be +banished--they would never do. Bravely she hummed an air as she +arranged her saddle near the fire and pulled a quantity of long +grass to make a comfortable seat over which she spread her saddle +blanket. Then she un-strapped a heavy, military coat from the cantle +of her saddle and donned it, for the air was already chill. + +Seating herself where she could lean against the saddle she prepared +to maintain a sleepless vigil throughout the night. For an hour +the silence was broken only by the distant booming of the guns and +the low noises of the feeding horse and then, from possibly a mile +away, came the rumbling thunder of a lion's roar. The girl started +and laid her hand upon the rifle at her side. A little shudder ran +through her slight frame and she could feel the goose flesh rise +upon her body. + +Again and again was the awful sound repeated and each time she was +certain that it came nearer. She could locate the direction of this +sound although she could not that of the guns, for the origin of +the former was much closer. The lion was up wind and so could not +have caught her scent as yet, though he might be approaching to +investigate the light of the fire which could doubtless be seen +for a considerable distance. + +For another fear-filled hour the girl sat straining her eyes and +ears out into the black void beyond her little island of light. +During all that time the lion did not roar again; but there was +constantly the sensation that it was creeping upon her. Again and +again she would start and turn to peer into the blackness beyond +the trees behind her as her overwrought nerves conjured the stealthy +fall of padded feet. She held the rifle across her knees at the +ready now and she was trembling from head to foot. + +Suddenly her horse raised his head and snorted, and with a little +cry of terror the girl sprang to her feet. The animal turned and +trotted back toward her until the picket rope brought him to a stand, +and then he wheeled about and with ears up-pricked gazed out into +the night; but the girl could neither see nor hear aught. + +Still another hour of terror passed during which the horse often +raised his head to peer long and searchingly into the dark. The girl +replenished the fire from time to time. She found herself becoming +very sleepy. Her heavy lids persisted in drooping; but she dared +not sleep. Fearful lest she might be overcome by the drowsiness +that was stealing through her she rose and walked briskly to and +fro, then she threw some more wood on the fire, walked over and +stroked her horse's muzzle and returned to her seat. + +Leaning against the saddle she tried to occupy her mind with plans +for the morrow; but she must have dozed. With a start she awoke. +It was broad daylight. The hideous night with its indescribable +terrors was gone. + +She could scarce believe the testimony of her senses. She had slept +for hours, the fire was out and yet she and the horse were safe +and alive, nor was there sign of savage beast about. And, best of +all, the sun was shining, pointing the straight road to the east. +Hastily she ate a few mouthfuls of her precious rations, which with +a swallow of water constituted her breakfast. Then she saddled her +horse and mounted. Already she felt that she was as good as safe +in Wilhelmstal. + +Possibly, however, she might have revised her conclusions could she +have seen the two pairs of eyes watching her every move intently +from different points in the bush. + +Light-hearted and unsuspecting, the girl rode across the clearing +toward the bush while directly before her two yellow-green eyes +glared round and terrible, a tawny tail twitched nervously and +great, padded paws gathered beneath a sleek barrel for a mighty +spring. The horse was almost at the edge of the bush when Numa, +the lion, launched himself through the air. He struck the animal's +right shoulder at the instant that it reared, terrified, to wheel +in flight. The force of the impact hurled the horse backward to the +ground and so quickly that the girl had no opportunity to extricate +herself; but fell to the earth with her mount, her left leg pinned +beneath its body. + +Horror-stricken, she saw the king of beasts open his mighty jaws +and seize the screaming creature by the back of its neck. The +great jaws closed, there was an instant's struggle as Numa shook +his prey. She could hear the vertebrae crack as the mighty fangs +crunched through them, and then the muscles of her faithful friend +relaxed in death. + +Numa crouched upon his kill. His terrifying eyes riveted themselves +upon the girl's face--she could feel his hot breath upon her cheek +and the odor of the fetid vapor nauseated her. For what seemed +an eternity to the girl the two lay staring at each other and then +the lion uttered a menacing growl. + +Never before had Bertha Kircher been so terrified--never before had +she had such cause for terror. At her hip was a pistol--a formidable +weapon with which to face a man; but a puny thing indeed with +which to menace the great beast before her. She knew that at best +it could but enrage him and yet she meant to sell her life dearly, +for she felt that she must die. No human succor could have availed +her even had it been there to offer itself. For a moment she tore +her gaze from the hypnotic fascination of that awful face and +breathed a last prayer to her God. She did not ask for aid, for she +felt that she was beyond even divine succor--she only asked that +the end might come quickly and with as little pain as possible. + +No one can prophesy what a lion will do in any given emergency. +This one glared and growled at the girl for a moment and then fell +to feeding upon the dead horse. Fraulein Kircher wondered for an +instant and then attempted to draw her leg cautiously from beneath +the body of her mount; but she could not budge it. She increased +the force of her efforts and Numa looked up from his feeding to +growl again. The girl desisted. She hoped that he might satisfy +his hunger and then depart to lie up, but she could not believe +that he would leave her there alive. Doubtless he would drag the +remains of his kill into the bush for hiding and, as there could +be no doubt that he considered her part of his prey, he would +certainly come back for her, or possibly drag her in first and kill +her. + +Again Numa fell to feeding. The girl's nerves were at the breaking +point. She wondered that she had not fainted under the strain +of terror and shock. She recalled that she often had wished she +might see a lion, close to, make a kill and feed upon it. God! how +realistically her wish had been granted. + +Again she bethought herself of her pistol. As she had fallen, the +holster had slipped around so that the weapon now lay beneath her. +Very slowly she reached for it; but in so doing she was forced to +raise her body from the ground. Instantly the lion was aroused. +With the swiftness of a cat he reached across the carcass of the +horse and placed a heavy, taloned paw upon her breast, crushing her +back to earth, and all the time he growled and snarled horribly. +His face was a picture of frightful rage incarnate. For a moment +neither moved and then from behind her the girl heard a human voice +uttering bestial sounds. + +Numa suddenly looked up from the girl's face at the thing beyond +her. His growls increased to roars as he drew back, ripping the +front of the girl's waist almost from her body with his long talons, +exposing her white bosom, which through some miracle of chance the +great claws did not touch. + +Tarzan of the Apes had witnessed the entire encounter from the +moment that Numa had leaped upon his prey. For some time before, +he had been watching the girl, and after the lion attacked her he +had at first been minded to let Numa have his way with her. What +was she but a hated German and a spy besides? He had seen her at +General Kraut's headquarters, in conference with the German staff +and again he had seen her within the British lines masquerading as +a British officer. It was the latter thought that prompted him to +interfere. Doubtless General Jan Smuts would be glad to meet and +question her. She might be forced to divulge information of value +to the British commander before Smuts had her shot. + +Tarzan had recognized not only the girl, but the lion as well. All +lions may look alike to you and me; but not so to their intimates +of the jungle. Each has his individual characteristics of face and +form and gait as well defined as those that differentiate members +of the human family, and besides these the creatures of the jungle +have a still more positive test-that of scent. Each of us, man or +beast, has his own peculiar odor, and it is mostly by this that +the beasts of the jungle, endowed with miraculous powers of scent, +recognize individuals. + +It is the final proof. You have seen it demonstrated a thousand +times--a dog recognizes your voice and looks at you. He knows your +face and figure. Good, there can be no doubt in his mind but that +it is you; but is he satisfied? No, sir-he must come up and smell +of you. All his other senses may be fallible, but not his sense of +smell, and so he makes assurance positive by the final test. + +Tarzan recognized Numa as he whom he had muzzled with the hide of +Horta, the boar--as he whom he handled by a rope for two days and +finally loosed in a German front-line trench, and he knew that Numa +would recognize him--that he would remember the sharp spear that +had goaded him into submission and obedience and Tarzan hoped that +the lesson he had learned still remained with the lion. + +Now he came forward calling to Numa in the language of the great +apes--warning him away from the girl. It is open to question that +Numa, the lion, understood him; but he did understand the menace of +the heavy spear that the Tarmangani carried so ready in his brown, +right hand, and so he drew back, growling, trying to decide in his +little brain whether to charge or flee. + +On came the ape-man with never a pause, straight for the lion. "Go +away, Numa," he cried, "or Tarzan will tie you up again and lead +you through the jungle without food. See Arad, my spear! Do you +recall how his point stuck into you and how with his haft I beat +you over the head? Go, Numa! I am Tarzan of the Apes!" + +Numa wrinkled the skin of his face into great folds, until his +eyes almost disappeared and he growled and roared and snarled and +growled again, and when the spear point came at last quite close +to him he struck at it viciously with his armed paw; but he drew +back. Tarzan stepped over the dead horse and the girl lying behind +him gazed in wide-eyed astonishment at the handsome figure driving +an angry lion deliberately from its kill. + +When Numa had retreated a few yards, the ape-man called back to +the girl in perfect German, "Are you badly hurt?" + +"I think not," she replied; "but I cannot extricate my foot from +beneath my horse." + +"Try again," commanded Tarzan. "I do not know how long I can hold +Numa thus." + +The girl struggled frantically; but at last she sank back upon an +elbow. + +"It is impossible," she called to him. + +He backed slowly until he was again beside the horse, when he +reached down and grasped the cinch, which was still intact. Then +with one hand he raised the carcass from the ground. The girl +freed herself and rose to her feet. + +"You can walk?" asked Tarzan. + +"Yes," she said; "my leg is numb; but it does not seem to be +injured." + +"Good," commented the ape-man. "Back slowly away behind me--make +no sudden movements. I think he will not charge." + +With utmost deliberation the two backed toward the bush. Numa +stood for a moment, growling, then he followed them, slowly. Tarzan +wondered if he would come beyond his kill or if he would stop there. +If he followed them beyond, then they could look for a charge, and +if Numa charged it was very likely that he would get one of them. +When the lion reached the carcass of the horse Tarzan stopped and +so did Numa, as Tarzan had thought that he would and the ape-man +waited to see what the lion would do next. He eyed them for a +moment, snarled angrily and then looked down at the tempting meat. +Presently he crouched upon his kill and resumed feeding. + +The girl breathed a deep sigh of relief as she and the ape-man +resumed their slow retreat with only an occasional glance from the +lion, and when at last they reached the bush and had turned and +entered it, she felt a sudden giddiness overwhelm her so that she +staggered and would have fallen had Tarzan not caught her. It was +only a moment before she regained control of herself. + +"I could not help it," she said, in half apology. "I was so close +to death--such a horrible death--it unnerved me for an instant; +but I am all right now. How can I ever thank you? It was so +wonderful--you did not seem to fear the frightful creature in the +least; yet he was afraid of you. Who are you?" + +"He knows me," replied Tarzan, grimly--"that is why he fears me." + +He was standing facing the girl now and for the first time +he had a chance to look at her squarely and closely. She was very +beautiful--that was undeniable; but Tarzan realized her beauty only +in a subconscious way. It was superficial--it did not color her +soul which must be black as sin. She was German--a German spy. He +hated her and desired only to compass her destruction; but he would +choose the manner so that it would work most grievously against +the enemy cause. + +He saw her naked breasts where Numa had torn her clothing from her +and dangling there against the soft, white flesh he saw that which +brought a sudden scowl of surprise and anger to his face--the +diamond-studded, golden locket of his youth--the love token that +had been stolen from the breast of his mate by Schneider, the Hun. +The girl saw the scowl but did not interpret it correctly. Tarzan +grasped her roughly by the arm. + +"Where did you get this?" he demanded, as he tore the bauble from +her. + +The girl drew herself to her full height. "Take your hand from me," +she demanded, but the ape-man paid no attention to her words, only +seizing her more forcibly. + +"Answer me!" he snapped. "Where did you get this?" + +"What is it to you?" she countered. + +"It is mine," he replied. "Tell me who gave it to you or I will +throw you back to Numa." + +"You would do that?" she asked. + +"Why not?" he queried. "You are a spy and spies must die if they +are caught." + +"You were going to kill me, then?" + +"I was going to take you to headquarters. They would dispose of +you there; but Numa can do it quite as effectively. Which do you +prefer?" + +"Hauptmann Fritz Schneider gave it to me," she said. + +"Headquarters it will be then," said Tarzan. "Come!" The girl +moved at his side through the bush and all the time her mind worked +quickly. They were moving east, which suited her, and as long as +they continued to move east she was glad to have the protection +of the great, white savage. She speculated much upon the fact that +her pistol still swung at her hip. The man must be mad not to take +it from her. + +"What makes you think I am a spy?" she asked after a long silence. + +"I saw you at German headquarters," he replied, "and then again +inside the British lines." + +She could not let him take her back to them. She must reach +Wilhelmstal at once and she was determined to do so even if she +must have recourse to her pistol. She cast a side glance at the +tall figure. What a magnificent creature! But yet he was a brute +who would kill her or have her killed if she did not slay him. And +the locket! She must have that back--it must not fail to reach +Wilhelmstal. Tarzan was now a foot or two ahead of her as the path +was very narrow. Cautiously she drew her pistol. A single shot would +suffice and he was so close that she could not miss. As she figured +it all out her eyes rested on the brown skin with the graceful muscles +rolling beneath it and the perfect limbs and head and the carriage +that a proud king of old might have envied. A wave of revulsion +for her contemplated act surged through her. No, she could not +do it--yet, she must be free and she must regain possession of +the locket. And then, almost blindly, she swung the weapon up and +struck Tarzan heavily upon the back of the head with its butt. Like +a felled ox he dropped in his tracks. + + + + + +Vengeance and Mercy + + + + +It was an hour later that Sheeta, the panther, hunting, chanced to +glance upward into the blue sky where his attention was attracted +by Ska, the vulture, circling slowly above the bush a mile away and +downwind. For a long minute the yellow eyes stared intently at the +gruesome bird. They saw Ska dive and rise again to continue his +ominous circling and in these movements their woodcraft read that +which, while obvious to Sheeta, would doubtless have meant nothing +to you or me. + +The hunting cat guessed that on the ground beneath Ska was some +living thing of flesh--either a beast feeding upon its kill or a +dying animal that Ska did not yet dare attack. In either event it +might prove meat for Sheeta, and so the wary feline stalked by a +circuitous route, upon soft, padded feet that gave forth no sound, +until the circling aasvogel and his intended prey were upwind. Then, +sniffing each vagrant zephyr, Sheeta, the panther, crept cautiously +forward, nor had he advanced any considerable distance before his +keen nostrils were rewarded with the scent of man--a Tarmangani. + +Sheeta paused. He was not a hunter of men. He was young and in his +prime; but always before he had avoided this hated presence. Of +late he had become more accustomed to it with the passing of many +soldiers through his ancient hunting ground, and as the soldiers +had frightened away a great part of the game Sheeta had been wont +to feed upon, the days had been lean, and Sheeta was hungry. + +The circling Ska suggested that this Tarmangani might be helpless +and upon the point of dying, else Ska would not have been interested +in him, and so easy prey for Sheeta. With this thought in mind the +cat resumed his stalking. Presently he pushed through the thick +bush and his yellow-green eyes rested gloatingly upon the body of +an almost naked Tarmangani lying face down in a narrow game trail. + +Numa, sated, rose from the carcass of Bertha Kircher's horse and +seized the partially devoured body by the neck and dragged it into +the bush; then he started east toward the lair where he had left +his mate. Being uncomfortably full he was inclined to be sleepy +and far from belligerent. He moved slowly and majestically with no +effort at silence or concealment. The king walked abroad, unafraid. + +With an occasional regal glance to right or left he moved along a +narrow game trail until at a turn he came to a sudden stop at what +lay revealed before him--Sheeta, the panther, creeping stealthily +upon the almost naked body of a Tarmangani lying face down in the +deep dust of the pathway. Numa glared intently at the quiet body +in the dust. Recognition came. It was his Tarmangani. A low growl +of warning rumbled from his throat and Sheeta halted with one paw +upon Tarzan's back and turned suddenly to eye the intruder. + +What passed within those savage brains? Who may say? The panther +seemed debating the wisdom of defending his find, for he growled +horribly as though warning Numa away from the prey. And Numa? Was +the idea of property rights dominating his thoughts? The Tarmangani +was his, or he was the Tarmangani's. Had not the Great White Ape +mastered and subdued him and, too, had he not fed him? Numa recalled +the fear that he had felt of this man-thing and his cruel spear; +but in savage brains fear is more likely to engender respect than +hatred and so Numa found that he respected the creature who had +subdued and mastered him. He saw Sheeta, upon whom he looked with +contempt, daring to molest the master of the lion. Jealousy and +greed alone might have been sufficient to prompt Numa to drive Sheeta +away, even though the lion was not sufficiently hungry to devour +the flesh that he thus wrested from the lesser cat; but then, too, +there was in the little brain within the massive head a sense of +loyalty, and perhaps this it was that sent Numa quickly forward, +growling, toward the spitting Sheeta. + +For a moment the latter stood his ground with arched back and +snarling face, for all the world like a great, spotted tabby. + +Numa had not felt like fighting; but the sight of Sheeta daring +to dispute his rights kindled his ferocious brain to sudden fire. +His rounded eyes glared with rage, his undulating tail snapped to +stiff erectness as, with a frightful roar, he charged this presuming +vassal. + +It came so suddenly and from so short a distance that Sheeta had +no chance to turn and flee the rush, and so he met it with raking +talons and snapping jaws; but the odds were all against him. To +the larger fangs and the more powerful jaws of his adversary were +added huge talons and the preponderance of the lion's great weight. +At the first clash Sheeta was crushed and, though he deliberately +fell upon his back and drew up his powerful hind legs beneath Numa +with the intention of disemboweling him, the lion forestalled him +and at the same time closed his awful jaws upon Sheeta's throat. + +It was soon over. Numa rose, shaking himself, and stood above the +torn and mutilated body of his foe. His own sleek coat was cut and +the red blood trickled down his flank; though it was but a minor +injury, it angered him. He glared down at the dead panther and +then, in a fit of rage, he seized and mauled the body only to drop +it in a moment, lower his head, voice a single terrific roar, and +turn toward the ape-man. + +Approaching the still form he sniffed it over from head to foot. +Then he placed a huge paw upon it and turned it over with its face +up. Again he smelled about the body and at last with his rough tongue +licked Tarzan's face. It was then that Tarzan opened his eyes. + +Above him towered the huge lion, its hot breath upon his face, its +rough tongue upon his cheek. The ape-man had often been close to +death; but never before so close as this, he thought, for he was +convinced that death was but a matter of seconds. His brain was +still numb from the effects of the blow that had felled him, and +so he did not, for a moment, recognize the lion that stood over +him as the one he had so recently encountered. + +Presently, however, recognition dawned upon him and with it +a realization of the astounding fact that Numa did not seem bent +on devouring him--at least not immediately. His position was a +delicate one. The lion stood astraddle Tarzan with his front paws. +The ape-man could not rise, therefore, without pushing the lion away +and whether Numa would tolerate being pushed was an open question. +Too, the beast might consider him already dead and any movement that +indicated the contrary was true would, in all likelihood, arouse +the killing instinct of the man-eater. + +But Tarzan was tiring of the situation. He was in no mood to lie +there forever, especially when he contemplated the fact that the +girl spy who had tried to brain him was undoubtedly escaping as +rapidly as possible. + +Numa was looking right into his eyes now evidently aware that he was +alive. Presently the lion cocked his head on one side and whined. +Tarzan knew the note, and he knew that it spelled neither rage nor +hunger, and then he risked all on a single throw, encouraged by +that low whine. + +"Move, Numa!" he commanded and placing a palm against the tawny +shoulder he pushed the lion aside. Then he rose and with a hand +on his hunting knife awaited that which might follow. It was then +that his eyes fell for the first time on the torn body of Sheeta. +He looked from the dead cat to the live one and saw the marks of +conflict upon the latter, too, and in an instant realized something +of what had happened--Numa had saved him from the panther! + +It seemed incredible and yet the evidence pointed clearly to the +fact. He turned toward the lion and without fear approached and +examined his wounds which he found superficial, and as Tarzan knelt +beside him Numa rubbed an itching ear against the naked, brown +shoulder. Then the ape-man stroked the great head, picked up his +spear, and looked about for the trail of the girl. This he soon +found leading toward the east, and as he set out upon it something +prompted him to feel for the locket he had hung about his neck. It +was gone! + +No trace of anger was apparent upon the ape-man's face unless it +was a slight tightening of the jaws; but he put his hand ruefully +to the back of his head where a bump marked the place where the +girl had struck him and a moment later a half-smile played across +his lips. He could not help but admit that she had tricked him +neatly, and that it must have taken nerve to do the thing she did +and to set out armed only with a pistol through the trackless waste +that lay between them and the railway and beyond into the hills +where Wilhelmstal lies. + +Tarzan admired courage. He was big enough to admit it and admire +it even in a German spy, but he saw that in this case it only added +to her resourcefulness and made her all the more dangerous and the +necessity for putting her out of the way paramount. He hoped to +overtake her before she reached Wilhelmstal and so he set out at +the swinging trot that he could hold for hours at a stretch without +apparent fatigue. + +That the girl could hope to reach the town on foot in less than two +days seemed improbable, for it was a good thirty miles and part +of it hilly. Even as the thought crossed his mind he heard the +whistle of a locomotive to the east and knew that the railway was +in operation again after a shutdown of several days. If the train +was going south the girl would signal it if she had reached the +right of way. His keen ears caught the whining of brake shoes on +wheels and a few minutes later the signal blast for brakes off. +The train had stopped and started again and, as it gained headway +and greater distance, Tarzan could tell from the direction of the +sound that it was moving south. + +The ape-man followed the trail to the railway where it ended +abruptly on the west side of the track, showing that the girl had +boarded the train, just as he thought. There was nothing now but +to follow on to Wilhelmstal, where he hoped to find Captain Fritz +Schneider, as well as the girl, and to recover his diamond-studded +locket. + +It was dark when Tarzan reached the little hill town of Wilhelmstal. +He loitered on the outskirts, getting his bearings and trying to +determine how an almost naked white man might explore the village +without arousing suspicion. There were many soldiers about and +the town was under guard, for he could see a lone sentinel walking +his post scarce a hundred yards from him. To elude this one would +not be difficult; but to enter the village and search it would be +practically impossible, garbed, or un-garbed, as he was. + +Creeping forward, taking advantage of every cover, lying flat and +motionless when the sentry's face was toward him, the ape-man at +last reached the sheltering shadows of an outhouse just inside the +lines. From there he moved stealthily from building to building +until at last he was discovered by a large dog in the rear of one of +the bungalows. The brute came slowly toward him, growling. Tarzan +stood motionless beside a tree. He could see a light in the bungalow +and uniformed men moving about and he hoped that the dog would not +bark. He did not; but he growled more savagely and, just at the +moment that the rear door of the bungalow opened and a man stepped +out, the animal charged. + +He was a large dog, as large as Dango, the hyena, and he charged +with all the vicious impetuosity of Numa, the lion. As he came +Tarzan knelt and the dog shot through the air for his throat; but +he was dealing with no man now and he found his quickness more +than matched by the quickness of the Tarmangani. His teeth never +reached the soft flesh--strong fingers, fingers of steel, seized +his neck. He voiced a single startled yelp and clawed at the naked +breast before him with his talons; but he was powerless. The mighty +fingers closed upon his throat; the man rose, snapped the clawing +body once, and cast it aside. At the same time a voice from the +open bungalow door called: "Simba!" + +There was no response. Repeating the call the man descended the +steps and advanced toward the tree. In the light from the doorway +Tarzan could see that he was a tall, broad-shouldered man in the +uniform of a German officer. The ape-man withdrew into the shadow +of the tree's stem. The man came closer, still calling the dog--he +did not see the savage beast, crouching now in the shadow, awaiting +him. When he had approached within ten feet of the Tarmangani, +Tarzan leaped upon him--as Sabor springs to the kill, so sprang the +ape-man. The momentum and weight of his body hurled the German to +the ground, powerful fingers prevented an outcry and, though the +officer struggled, he had no chance and a moment later lay dead +beside the body of the dog. + +As Tarzan stood for a moment looking down upon his kill and regretting +that he could not risk voicing his beloved victory cry, the sight +of the uniform suggested a means whereby he might pass to and +fro through Wilhelmstal with the minimum chance of detection. Ten +minutes later a tall, broad-shouldered officer stepped from the +yard of the bungalow leaving behind him the corpses of a dog and +a naked man. + +He walked boldly along the little street and those who passed him +could not guess that beneath Imperial Germany's uniform beat a +savage heart that pulsed with implacable hatred for the Hun. Tarzan's +first concern was to locate the hotel, for here he guessed he would +find the girl, and where the girl was doubtless would be Hauptmann +Fritz Schneider, who was either her confederate, her sweetheart, +or both, and there, too, would be Tarzan's precious locket. + +He found the hotel at last, a low, two-storied building with +a veranda. There were lights on both floors and people, mostly +officers, could be seen within. The ape-man considered entering +and inquiring for those he sought; but his better judgment finally +prompted him to reconnoiter first. Passing around the building he +looked into all the lighted rooms on the first floor and, seeing +neither of those for whom he had come, he swung lightly to the roof +of the veranda and continued his investigations through windows of +the second story. + +At one corner of the hotel in a rear room the blinds were drawn; +but he heard voices within and once he saw a figure silhouetted +momentarily against the blind. It appeared to be the figure +of a woman; but it was gone so quickly that he could not be sure. +Tarzan crept close to the window and listened. Yes, there was a +woman there and a man--he heard distinctly the tones of their voices +although he could overhear no words, as they seemed to be whispering. + +The adjoining room was dark. Tarzan tried the window and found it +unlatched. All was quiet within. He raised the sash and listened +again--still silence. Placing a leg over the sill he slipped within +and hurriedly glanced about. The room was vacant. Crossing to the +door he opened it and looked out into the hall. There was no one +there, either, and he stepped out and approached the door of the +adjoining room where the man and woman were. + +Pressing close to the door he listened. Now he distinguished +words, for the two had raised their voices as though in argument. +The woman was speaking. + +"I have brought the locket," she said, "as was agreed upon between +you and General Kraut, as my identification. I carry no other +credentials. This was to be enough. You have nothing to do but give +me the papers and let me go." + +The man replied in so low a tone that Tarzan could not catch the +words and then the woman spoke again--a note of scorn and perhaps +a little of fear in her voice. + +"You would not dare, Hauptmann Schneider," she said, and then: "Do +not touch me! Take your hands from me!" + +It was then that Tarzan of the Apes opened the door and stepped +into the room. What he saw was a huge, bull-necked German officer +with one arm about the waist of Fraulein Bertha Kircher and a hand +upon her forehead pushing her head back as he tried to kiss her +on the mouth. The girl was struggling against the great brute; but +her efforts were futile. Slowly the man's lips were coming closer +to hers and slowly, step by step, she was being carried backward. + +Schneider heard the noise of the opening and closing door behind +him and turned. At sight of this strange officer he dropped the +girl and straightened up. + +"What is the meaning of this intrusion, Lieutenant?" he demanded, +noting the other's epaulettes. "Leave the room at once." + +Tarzan made no articulate reply; but the two there with him heard +a low growl break from those firm lips--a growl that sent a shudder +through the frame of the girl and brought a pallor to the red face +of the Hun and his hand to his pistol but even as he drew his weapon +it was wrested from him and hurled through the blind and window to +the yard beyond. Then Tarzan backed against the door and slowly +removed the uniform coat. + +"You are Hauptmann Schneider," he said to the German. + +"What of it?" growled the latter. + +"I am Tarzan of the Apes," replied the ape-man. "Now you know why +I intrude." + +The two before him saw that he was naked beneath the coat which he +threw upon the floor and then he slipped quickly from the trousers +and stood there clothed only in his loin cloth. The girl had +recognized him by this time, too. + +"Take your hand off that pistol," Tarzan admonished her. Her hand +dropped at her side. "Now come here!" + +She approached and Tarzan removed the weapon and hurled it after +the other. At the mention of his name Tarzan had noted the sickly +pallor that overspread the features of the Hun. At last he had found +the right man. At last his mate would be partially avenged--never +could she be entirely avenged. Life was too short and there were +too many Germans. + +"What do you want of me?" demanded Schneider. + +"You are going to pay the price for the thing you did at the little +bungalow in the Waziri country," replied the ape-man. + +Schneider commenced to bluster and threaten. Tarzan turned the key +in the lock of the door and hurled the former through the window +after the pistols. Then he turned to the girl. "Keep out of the +way," he said in a low voice. "Tarzan of the Apes is going to kill." + +The Hun ceased blustering and began to plead. "I have a wife and +children at home," he cried. "I have done nothing," I--" + +"You are going to die as befits your kind," said Tarzan, "with blood +on your hands and a lie on your lips." He started across the room +toward the burly Hauptmann. Schneider was a large and powerful +man--about the height of the ape-man but much heavier. He saw that +neither threats nor pleas would avail him and so he prepared to +fight as a cornered rat fights for its life with all the maniacal +rage, cunning, and ferocity that the first law of nature imparts +to many beasts. + +Lowering his bull head he charged for the ape-man and in the center +of the floor the two clinched. There they stood locked and swaying +for a moment until Tarzan succeeded in forcing his antagonist backward +over a table which crashed to the floor, splintered by the weight +of the two heavy bodies. + +The girl stood watching the battle with wide eyes. She saw the two +men rolling hither and thither across the floor and she heard with +horror the low growls that came from the lips of the naked giant. +Schneider was trying to reach his foe's throat with his fingers +while, horror of horrors, Bertha Kircher could see that the other +was searching for the German's jugular with his teeth! + +Schneider seemed to realize this too, for he redoubled his efforts +to escape and finally succeeded in rolling over on top of the ape-man +and breaking away. Leaping to his feet he ran for the window; but +the ape-man was too quick for him and before he could leap through +the sash a heavy hand fell upon his shoulder and he was jerked +back and hurled across the room to the opposite wall. There Tarzan +followed him, and once again they locked, dealing each other terrific +blows, until Schneider in a piercing voice screamed, "Kamerad! +Kamerad!" + +Tarzan grasped the man by the throat and drew his hunting knife. +Schneider's back was against the wall so that though his knees +wobbled he was held erect by the ape-man. Tarzan brought the sharp +point to the lower part of the German's abdomen. + +"Thus you slew my mate," he hissed in a terrible voice. "Thus +shall you die!" + +The girl staggered forward. "Oh, God, no!" she cried. "Not that. +You are too brave--you cannot be such a beast as that!" + +Tarzan turned at her. "No," he said, "you are right, I cannot do +it--I am no German," and he raised the point of his blade and sunk +it deep into the putrid heart of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider, putting +a bloody period to the Hun's last gasping cry: "I did not do it! +She is not--" + +Then Tarzan turned toward the girl and held out his hand. "Give +me my locket," he said. + +She pointed toward the dead officer. "He has it." Tarzan searched +him and found the trinket. "Now you may give me the papers," he said +to the girl, and without a word she handed him a folded document. + +For a long time he stood looking at her before ho spoke again. + +"I came for you, too," he said. "It would be difficult to take you +back from here and so I was going to kill you, as I have sworn to +kill all your kind; but you were right when you said that I was +not such a beast as that slayer of women. I could not slay him as +he slew mine, nor can I slay you, who are a woman." + +He crossed to the window, raised the sash and an instant later he +had stepped out and disappeared into the night. And then Fraulein +Bertha Kircher stepped quickly to the corpse upon the floor, slipped +her hand inside the blouse and drew forth a little sheaf of papers +which she tucked into her waist before she went to the window and +called for help. + + + + + +When Blood Told + + + + +Tarzan of the Apes was disgusted. He had had the German spy, Bertha +Kircher, in his power and had left her unscathed. It is true that he +had slain Hauptmann Fritz Schneider, that Underlieutenant von Goss +had died at his hands, and that he had otherwise wreaked vengeance +upon the men of the German company who had murdered, pillaged, and +raped at Tarzan's bungalow in the Waziri country. There was still +another officer to be accounted for, but him he could not find. +It was Lieutenant Obergatz he still sought, though vainly, for at +last he learned that the man had been sent upon some special mission, +whether in Africa or back to Europe Tarzan's informant either did +not know or would not divulge. + +But the fact that he had permitted sentiment to stay his hand when +he might so easily have put Bertha Kircher out of the way in the +hotel at Wilhelmstal that night rankled in the ape-man's bosom. +He was shamed by his weakness, and when he had handed the paper +she had given him to the British chief of staff, even though +the information it contained permitted the British to frustrate a +German flank attack, he was still much dissatisfied with himself. +And possibly the root of this dissatisfaction lay in the fact that +he realized that were he again to have the same opportunity he +would still find it as impossible to slay a woman as it had been +in Wilhelmstal that night. + +Tarzan blamed this weakness, as he considered it, upon his association +with the effeminizing influences of civilization, for in the bottom +of his savage heart he held in contempt both civilization and its +representatives--the men and women of the civilized countries of +the world. Always was he comparing their weaknesses, their vices, +their hypocrisies, and their little vanities with the open, +primitive ways of his ferocious jungle mates, and all the while +there battled in that same big heart with these forces another mighty +force--Tarzan's love and loyalty for his friends of the civilized +world. + +The ape-man, reared as he had been by savage beasts amid savage +beasts, was slow to make friends. Acquaintances he numbered by the +hundreds; but of friends he had few. These few he would have died +for as, doubtless, they would have died for him; but there were +none of these fighting with the British forces in East Africa, and +so, sickened and disgusted by the sight of man waging his cruel +and inhuman warfare, Tarzan determined to heed the insistent call +of the remote jungle of his youth, for the Germans were now on the +run and the war in East Africa was so nearly over that he realized +that his further services would be of negligible value. + +Never regularly sworn into the service of the King, he was under +no obligation to remain now that the moral obligation had been +removed, and so it was that he disappeared from the British camp +as mysteriously as he had appeared a few months before. + +More than once had Tarzan reverted to the primitive only to return +again to civilization through love for his mate; but now that she +was gone he felt that this time he had definitely departed forever +from the haunts of man, and that he should live and die a beast +among beasts even as he had been from infancy to maturity. + +Between him and destination lay a trackless wilderness of untouched +primeval savagery where, doubtless in many spots, his would be the +first human foot to touch the virgin turf. Nor did this prospect +dismay the Tarmangani--rather was it an urge and an inducement, for +rich in his veins flowed that noble strain of blood that has made +most of the earth's surface habitable for man. + +The question of food and water that would have risen paramount in +the mind of an ordinary man contemplating such an excursion gave +Tarzan little concern. The wilderness was his natural habitat +and woodcraft as inherent to him as breathing. Like other jungle +animals he could scent water from a great distance and, where you +or I might die of thirst, the ape-man would unerringly select the +exact spot at which to dig and find water. + +For several days Tarzan traversed a country rich in game +and watercourses. He moved slowly, hunting and fishing, or again +fraternizing or quarreling with the other savage denizens of +the jungle. Now it was little Manu, the monkey, who chattered and +scolded at the mighty Tarmangani and in the next breath warned him +that Histah, the snake, lay coiled in the long grass just ahead. +Of Manu Tarzan inquired concerning the great apes--the Mangani--and +was told that few inhabited this part of the jungle, and that even +these were hunting farther to the north this season of the year. + +"But there is Bolgani," said Manu. "Would you like to see Bolgani?" + +Manu's tone was sneering, and Tarzan knew that it was because little +Manu thought all creatures feared mighty Bolgani, the gorilla. +Tarzan arched his great chest and struck it with a clinched fist. +"I am Tarzan," he cried. "While Tarzan was yet a balu he slew a +Bolgani. Tarzan seeks the Mangani, who are his brothers, but Bolgani +he does not seek, so let Bolgani keep from the path of Tarzan." + +Little Manu, the monkey, was much impressed, for the way of the +jungle is to boast and to believe. It was then that he condescended +to tell Tarzan more of the Mangani. + +"They go there and there and there," he said, making a wide sweep +with a brown hand first toward the north, then west, and then south +again. "For there," and he pointed due west, "is much hunting; but +between lies a great place where there is no food and no water, +so they must go that way," and again he swung his hand through the +half-circle that explained to Tarzan the great detour the apes made +to come to their hunting ground to the west. + +That was all right for the Mangani, who are lazy and do not care to +move rapidly; but for Tarzan the straight road would be the best. +He would cross the dry country and come to the good hunting in a third +of the time that it would take to go far to the north and circle +back again. And so it was that he continued on toward the west, and +crossing a range of low mountains came in sight of a broad plateau, +rock strewn and desolate. Far in the distance he saw another range +of mountains beyond which he felt must lie the hunting ground of +the Mangani. There he would join them and remain for a while before +continuing on toward the coast and the little cabin that his father +had built beside the land-locked harbor at the jungle's edge. + +Tarzan was full of plans. He would rebuild and enlarge the cabin +of his birth, constructing storage houses where he would make the +apes lay away food when it was plenty against the times that were +lean--a thing no ape ever had dreamed of doing. And the tribe would +remain always in the locality and he would be king again as he had +in the past. He would try to teach them some of the better things +that he had learned from man, yet knowing the ape-mind as only +Tarzan could, he feared that his labors would be for naught. + +The ape-man found the country he was crossing rough in the extreme, +the roughest he ever had encountered. The plateau was cut by frequent +canyons the passage of which often entailed hours of wearing effort. +The vegetation was sparse and of a faded brown color that lent to +the whole landscape a most depressing aspect. Great rocks were strewn +in every direction as far as the eye could see, lying partially +embedded in an impalpable dust that rose in clouds about him at +every step. The sun beat down mercilessly out of a cloudless sky. + +For a day Tarzan toiled across this now hateful land and at the +going down of the sun the distant mountains to the west seemed no +nearer than at morn. Never a sign of living thing had the ape-man +seen, other than Ska, that bird of ill omen, that had followed him +tirelessly since he had entered this parched waste. + +No littlest beetle that he might eat had given evidence that life +of any sort existed here, and it was a hungry and thirsty Tarzan who +lay down to rest in the evening. He decided now to push on during +the cool of the night, for he realized that even mighty Tarzan had +his limitations and that where there was no food one could not eat +and where there was no water the greatest woodcraft in the world +could find none. It was a totally new experience to Tarzan to find +so barren and terrible a country in his beloved Africa. Even the +Sahara had its oases; but this frightful world gave no indication +of containing a square foot of hospitable ground. + +However, he had no misgivings but that he would fare forth into +the wonder country of which little Manu had told him, though it +was certain that he would do it with a dry skin and an empty belly. +And so he fought on until daylight, when he again felt the need +of rest. He was at the edge of another of those terrible canyons, +the eighth he had crossed, whose precipitous sides would have taxed +to the uttermost the strength of an untired man well fortified by +food and water, and for the first time, as he looked down into the +abyss and then at the opposite side that he must scale, misgivings +began to assail his mind. + +He did not fear death--with the memory of his murdered mate still +fresh in his mind he almost courted it, yet strong within him +was that primal instinct of self-preservation--the battling force +of life that would keep him an active contender against the Great +Reaper until, fighting to the very last, he should be overcome by +a superior power. + +A shadow swung slowly across the ground beside him, and looking +up, the ape-man saw Ska, the vulture, wheeling a wide circle above +him. The grim and persistent harbinger of evil aroused the man +to renewed determination. He arose and approached the edge of the +canyon, and then, wheeling, with his face turned upward toward the +circling bird of prey, he bellowed forth the challenge of the bull +ape. + +"I am Tarzan," he shouted, "Lord of the Jungle. Tarzan of the Apes +is not for Ska, eater of carrion. Go back to the lair of Dango +and feed off the leavings of the hyenas, for Tarzan will leave no +bones for Ska to pick in this empty wilderness of death." + +But before he reached the bottom of the canyon he again was forced +to the realization that his great strength was waning, and when he +dropped exhausted at the foot of the cliff and saw before him the +opposite wall that must be scaled, he bared his fighting fangs and +growled. For an hour he lay resting in the cool shade at the foot +of the cliff. All about him reigned utter silence--the silence of +the tomb. No fluttering birds, no humming insects, no scurrying +reptiles relieved the deathlike stillness. This indeed was the +valley of death. He felt the depressing influence of the horrible +place setting down upon him; but he staggered to his feet, shaking +himself like a great lion, for was he not still Tarzan, mighty +Tarzan of the Apes? Yes, and Tarzan the mighty he would be until +the last throb of that savage heart! + +As he crossed the floor of the canyon he saw something lying close +to the base of the side wall he was approaching-something that +stood out in startling contrast to all the surroundings and yet +seemed so much a part and parcel of the somber scene as to suggest +an actor amid the settings of a well-appointed stage, and, as though +to carry out the allegory, the pitiless rays of flaming Kudu topped +the eastern cliff, picking out the thing lying at the foot of the +western wall like a giant spotlight. + +And as Tarzan came nearer he saw the bleached skull and bones of +a human being about which were remnants of clothing and articles +of equipment that, as he examined them, filled the ape-man with +curiosity to such an extent that for a time he forgot his own +predicament in contemplation of the remarkable story suggested by +these mute evidences of a tragedy of a time long past. + +The bones were in a fair state of preservation and indicated by +their intactness that the flesh had probably been picked from them +by vultures as none was broken; but the pieces of equipment bore +out the suggestion of their great age. In this protected spot where +there were no frosts and evidently but little rainfall, the bones +might have lain for ages without disintegrating, for there were +here no other forces to scatter or disturb them. + +Near the skeleton lay a helmet of hammered brass and a corroded +breastplate of steel while at one side was a long, straight sword +in its scabbard and an ancient harquebus. The bones were those of +a large man--a man of wondrous strength and vitality Tarzan knew +he must have been to have penetrated thus far through the dangers +of Africa with such a ponderous yet at the same time futile armament. + +The ape-man felt a sense of deep admiration for this nameless +adventurer of a bygone day. What a brute of a man he must have been +and what a glorious tale of battle and kaleidoscopic vicissitudes +of fortune must once have been locked within that whitened skull! +Tarzan stooped to examine the shreds of clothing that still lay +about the bones. Every particle of leather had disappeared, doubtless +eaten by Ska. No boots remained, if the man had worn boots, but +there were several buckles scattered about suggesting that a great +part of his trappings had been of leather, while just beneath the +bones of one hand lay a metal cylinder about eight inches long and +two inches in diameter. As Tarzan picked it up he saw that it had +been heavily lacquered and had withstood the slight ravages of +time so well as to be in as perfect a state of preservation today +as it had been when its owner dropped into his last, long sleep +perhaps centuries ago. + +As he examined it he discovered that one end was closed with +a friction cover which a little twisting force soon loosened and +removed, revealing within a roll of parchment which the ape-man +removed and opened, disclosing a number of age-yellowed sheets +closely written upon in a fine hand in a language which he guessed +to be Spanish but which he could not decipher. Upon the last sheet +was a roughly drawn map with numerous reference points marked upon +it, all unintelligible to Tarzan, who, after a brief examination +of the papers, returned them to their metal case, replaced the top +and was about to toss the little cylinder to the ground beside the +mute remains of its former possessor when some whim of curiosity +unsatisfied prompted him to slip it into the quiver with his arrows, +though as he did so it was with the grim thought that possibly +centuries hence it might again come to the sight of man beside his +own bleached bones. + +And then, with a parting glance at the ancient skeleton, he turned +to the task of ascending the western wall of the canyon. Slowly +and with many rests he dragged his weakening body upwards. Again and +again he slipped back from sheer exhaustion and would have fallen +to the floor of the canyon but for merest chance. How long it took +him to scale that frightful wall he could not have told, and when +at last he dragged himself over the top it was to lie weak and +gasping, too spent to rise or even to move a few inches farther +from the perilous edge of the chasm. + +At last he arose, very slowly and with evident effort gaining his +knees first and then staggering to his feet, yet his indomitable +will was evidenced by a sudden straightening of his shoulders and +a determined shake of his head as he lurched forward on unsteady +legs to take up his valiant fight for survival. Ahead he scanned +the rough landscape for sign of another canyon which he knew would +spell inevitable doom. The western hills rose closer now though +weirdly unreal as they seemed to dance in the sunlight as though +mocking him with their nearness at the moment that exhaustion was +about to render them forever unattainable. + +Beyond them he knew must be the fertile hunting grounds of which Manu +had told. Even if no canyon intervened, his chances of surmounting +even low hills seemed remote should he have the fortune to reach +their base; but with another canyon hope was dead. Above them Ska +still circled, and it seemed to the ape-man that the ill-omened +bird hovered ever lower and lower as though reading in that failing +gait the nearing of the end, and through cracked lips Tarzan growled +out his defiance. + +Mile after mile Tarzan of the Apes put slowly behind him, borne up +by sheer force of will where a lesser man would have lain down to +die and rest forever tired muscles whose every move was an agony of +effort; but at last his progress became practically mechanical--he +staggered on with a dazed mind that reacted numbly to a single +urge--on, on, on! The hills were now but a dim, ill-defined blur +ahead. Sometimes he forgot that they were hills, and again he +wondered vaguely why he must go on forever through all this torture +endeavoring to overtake them--the fleeing, elusive hills. Presently +he began to hate them and there formed within his half-delirious +brain the hallucination that the hills were German hills, that they +had slain someone dear to him, whom he could never quite recall, +and that he was pursuing to slay them. + +This idea, growing, appeared to give him strength--a new and +revivifying purpose--so that for a time he no longer staggered; but +went forward steadily with head erect. Once he stumbled and fell, +and when he tried to rise he found that he could not--that his +strength was so far gone that he could only crawl forward on his +hands and knees for a few yards and then sink down again to rest. + +It was during one of these frequent periods of utter exhaustion +that he heard the flap of dismal wings close above him. With his +remaining strength he turned himself over on his back to see Ska +wheel quickly upward. With the sight Tarzan's mind cleared for a +while. + +"Is the end so near as that?" he thought. "Does Ska know that I am +so near gone that he dares come down and perch upon my carcass?" +And even then a grim smile touched those swollen lips as into the +savage mind came a sudden thought-the cunning of the wild beast +at bay. Closing his eyes he threw a forearm across them to protect +them from Ska's powerful beak and then he lay very still and waited. + +It was restful lying there, for the sun was now obscured by clouds +and Tarzan was very tired. He feared that he might sleep and something +told him that if he did he would never awaken, and so he concentrated +all his remaining powers upon the one thought of remaining awake. +Not a muscle moved-to Ska, circling above, it became evident that +the end had come--that at last he should be rewarded for his long +vigil + +Circling slowly he dropped closer and closer to the dying man. Why +did not Tarzan move? Had he indeed been overcome by the sleep of +exhaustion, or was Ska right--had death at last claimed that mighty +body? Was that great, savage heart stilled forever? It is unthinkable. + +Ska, filled with suspicions, circled warily. Twice he almost alighted +upon the great, naked breast only to wheel suddenly away; but the +third time his talons touched the brown skin. It was as though the +contact closed an electric circuit that instantaneously vitalized +the quiet clod that had lain motionless so long. A brown hand swept +downward from the brown forehead and before Ska could raise a wing +in flight he was in the clutches of his intended victim. + +Ska fought, but he was no match for even a dying Tarzan, and +a moment later the ape-man's teeth closed upon the carrion-eater. +The flesh was coarse and tough and gave off an unpleasant odor and +a worse taste; but it was food and the blood was drink and Tarzan +only an ape at heart and a dying ape into the bargain--dying of +starvation and thirst. + +Even mentally weakened as he was the ape-man was still master +of his appetite and so he ate but sparingly, saving the rest, and +then, feeling that he now could do so safely, he turned upon his +side and slept. + +Rain, beating heavily upon his body, awakened him and sitting up he +cupped his hands and caught the precious drops which he transferred +to his parched throat. Only a little he got at a time; but that +was best. The few mouthfuls of Ska that he had eaten, together with +the blood and rain water and the sleep had refreshed him greatly +and put new strength into his tired muscles. + +Now he could see the hills again and they were close and, though +there was no sun, the world looked bright and cheerful, for Tarzan +knew that he was saved. The bird that would have devoured him, and +the providential rain, had saved him at the very moment that death +seemed inevitable. + +Again partaking of a few mouthfuls of the unsavory flesh of Ska, +the vulture, the ape-man arose with something of his old force +and set out with steady gait toward the hills of promise rising +alluringly ahead. Darkness fell before he reached them; but he +kept on until he felt the steeply rising ground that proclaimed +his arrival at the base of the hills proper, and then he lay down +and waited until morning should reveal the easiest passage to the +land beyond. The rain had ceased, but the sky still was overcast +so that even his keen eyes could not penetrate the darkness farther +than a few feet. And there he slept, after eating again of what +remained of Ska, until the morning sun awakened him with a new +sense of strength and well-being. + +And so at last he came through the hills out of the valley of death +into a land of park-like beauty, rich in game. Below him lay a deep +valley through the center of which dense jungle vegetation marked +the course of a river beyond which a primeval forest extended +for miles to terminate at last at the foot of lofty, snow-capped +mountains. It was a land that Tarzan never had looked upon before, +nor was it likely that the foot of another white man ever had +touched it unless, possibly, in some long-gone day the adventurer +whose skeleton he had found bleaching in the canyon had traversed +it. + + + + + +Tarzan and the Great Apes + + + + +Three days the ape-man spent in resting and recuperating, eating +fruits and nuts and the smaller animals that were most easily +bagged, and upon the fourth he set out to explore the valley and +search for the great apes. Time was a negligible factor in the +equation of life--it was all the same to Tarzan if he reached the +west coast in a month or a year or three years. All time was his and +all Africa. His was absolute freedom--the last tie that had bound +him to civilization and custom had been severed. He was alone but +he was not exactly lonely. The greater part of his life had been +spent thus, and though there was no other of his kind, he was at +all times surrounded by the jungle peoples for whom familiarity had +bred no contempt within his breast. The least of them interested +him, and, too, there were those with whom he always made friends +easily, and there were his hereditary enemies whose presence gave a +spice to life that might otherwise have become humdrum and monotonous. + +And so it was that on the fourth day he set out to explore the +valley and search for his fellow-apes. He had proceeded southward +for a short distance when his nostrils were assailed by the scent +of man, of Gomangani, the black man. There were many of them, and +mixed with their scent was another-that of a she Tarmangani. + +Swinging through the trees Tarzan approached the authors of these +disturbing scents. He came warily from the flank, but paying no +attention to the wind, for he knew that man with his dull senses +could apprehend him only through his eyes or ears and then only +when comparatively close. Had he been stalking Numa or Sheeta he +would have circled about until his quarry was upwind from him, thus +taking practically all the advantage up to the very moment that +he came within sight or hearing; but in the stalking of the dull +clod, man, he approached with almost contemptuous indifference, +so that all the jungle about him knew that he was passing--all but +the men he stalked. + +From the dense foliage of a great tree he watched them pass--a +disreputable mob of blacks, some garbed in the uniform of German +East African native troops, others wearing a single garment of the +same uniform, while many had reverted to the simple dress of their +forbears--approximating nudity. There were many black women with +them, laughing and talking as they kept pace with the men, all of +whom were armed with German rifles and equipped with German belts +and ammunition. + +There were no white officers there, but it was none the less apparent +to Tarzan that these men were from some German native command, +and he guessed that they had slain their officers and taken to the +jungle with their women, or had stolen some from native villages +through which they must have passed. It was evident that they were +putting as much ground between themselves and the coast as possible +and doubtless were seeking some impenetrable fastness of the vast +interior where they might inaugurate a reign of terror among the +primitively armed inhabitants and by raiding, looting, and rape +grow rich in goods and women at the expense of the district upon +which they settled themselves. + +Between two of the black women marched a slender white girl. She +was hatless and with torn and disheveled clothing that had evidently +once been a trim riding habit. Her coat was gone and her waist half +torn from her body. Occasionally and without apparent provocation +one or the other of the Negresses struck or pushed her roughly. +Tarzan watched through half-closed eyes. His first impulse was to +leap among them and bear the girl from their cruel clutches. He had +recognized her immediately and it was because of this fact that he +hesitated. + +What was it to Tarzan of the Apes what fate befell this enemy +spy? He had been unable to kill her himself because of an inherent +weakness that would not permit him to lay hands upon a woman, all +of which of course had no bearing upon what others might do to +her. That her fate would now be infinitely more horrible than the +quick and painless death that the ape-man would have meted to her +only interested Tarzan to the extent that the more frightful the +end of a German the more in keeping it would be with what they all +deserved. + +And so he let the blacks pass with Fraulein Bertha Kircher in their +midst, or at least until the last straggling warrior suggested to +his mind the pleasures of black-baiting--an amusement and a sport +in which he had grown ever more proficient since that long-gone day +when Kulonga, the son of Mbonga, the chief, had cast his unfortunate +spear at Kala, the ape-man's foster mother. + +The last man, who must have stopped for some purpose, was fully a +quarter of a mile in rear of the party. He was hurrying to catch +up when Tarzan saw him, and as he passed beneath the tree in which +the ape-man perched above the trail, a silent noose dropped deftly +about his neck. The main body still was in plain sight, and as the +frightened man voiced a piercing shriek of terror, they looked back +to see his body rise as though by magic straight into the air and +disappear amidst the leafy foliage above. + +For a moment the blacks stood paralyzed by astonishment and fear; +but presently the burly sergeant, Usanga, who led them, started +back along the trail at a run, calling to the others to follow +him. Loading their guns as they came the blacks ran to succor their +fellow, and at Usanga's command they spread into a thin line that +presently entirely surrounded the tree into which their comrade +had vanished. + +Usanga called but received no reply; then he advanced slowly with +rifle at the ready, peering up into the tree. He could see no +one--nothing. The circle closed in until fifty blacks were searching +among the branches with their keen eyes. What had become of their +fellow? They had seen him rise into the tree and since then many +eyes had been fastened upon the spot, yet there was no sign of him. +One, more venturesome than his fellows, volunteered to climb into +the tree and investigate. He was gone but a minute or two and +when he dropped to earth again he swore that there was no sign of +a creature there. + +Perplexed, and by this time a bit awed, the blacks drew slowly +away from the spot and with many backward glances and less laughing +continued upon their journey until, when about a mile beyond the +spot at which their fellow had disappeared, those in the lead saw +him peering from behind a tree at one side of the trail just in +front of them. With shouts to their companions that he had been +found they ran forwards; but those who were first to reach the +tree stopped suddenly and shrank back, their eyes rolling fearfully +first in one direction and then in another as though they expected +some nameless horror to leap out upon them. + +Nor was their terror without foundation. Impaled upon the end of +a broken branch the head of their companion was propped behind the +tree so that it appeared to be looking out at them from the opposite +side of the bole. + +It was then that many wished to turn back, arguing that they +had offended some demon of the wood upon whose preserve they had +trespassed; but Usanga refused to listen to them, assuring them +that inevitable torture and death awaited them should they return +and fall again into the hands of their cruel German masters. At +last his reasoning prevailed to the end that a much-subdued and +terrified band moved in a compact mass, like a drove of sheep, +forward through the valley and there were no stragglers. + +It is a happy characteristic of the Negro race, which they hold +in common with little children, that their spirits seldom remain +depressed for a considerable length of time after the immediate +cause of depression is removed, and so it was that in half an hour +Usanga's band was again beginning to take on to some extent its +former appearance of carefree lightheartedness. Thus were the heavy +clouds of fear slowly dissipating when a turn in the trail brought +them suddenly upon the headless body of their erstwhile companion +lying directly in their path, and they were again plunged into the +depth of fear and gloomy forebodings. + +So utterly inexplicable and uncanny had the entire occurrence been +that there was not a one of them who could find a ray of comfort +penetrating the dead blackness of its ominous portent. What had +happened to one of their number each conceived as being a wholly +possible fate for himself--in fact quite his probable fate. If such +a thing could happen in broad daylight what frightful thing might +not fall to their lot when night had enshrouded them in her mantle +of darkness. They trembled in anticipation. + +The white girl in their midst was no less mystified than they; but +far less moved, since sudden death was the most merciful fate to +which she might now look forward. So far she had been subjected +to nothing worse than the petty cruelties of the women, while, on +the other hand, it had alone been the presence of the women that +had saved her from worse treatment at the hands of some of the +men--notably the brutal, black sergeant, Usanga. His own woman +was of the party--a veritable giantess, a virago of the first +magnitude--and she was evidently the only thing in the world of +which Usanga stood in awe. Even though she was particularly cruel +to the young woman, the latter believed that she was her sole +protection from the degraded black tyrant. + +Late in the afternoon the band came upon a small palisaded village +of thatched huts set in a clearing in the jungle close beside +a placid river. At their approach the villagers came pouring out, +and Usanga advanced with two of his warriors to palaver with the +chief. The experiences of the day had so shaken the nerves of the +black sergeant that he was ready to treat with these people rather +than take their village by force of arms, as would ordinarily have +been his preference; but now a vague conviction influenced him +that there watched over this part of the jungle a powerful demon +who wielded miraculous power for evil against those who offended +him. First Usanga would learn how these villagers stood with this +savage god and if they had his good will Usanga would be most +careful to treat them with kindness and respect. + +At the palaver it developed that the village chief had food, +goats, and fowl which he would be glad to dispose of for a proper +consideration; but as the consideration would have meant parting +with precious rifles and ammunition, or the very clothing from their +backs, Usanga began to see that after all it might be forced upon +him to wage war to obtain food. + +A happy solution was arrived at by a suggestion of one of his +men--that the soldiers go forth the following day and hunt for the +villagers, bringing them in so much fresh meat in return for their +hospitality. This the chief agreed to, stipulating the kind and +quantity of game to be paid in return for flour, goats, and fowl, +and a certain number of huts that were to be turned over to the +visitors. The details having been settled after an hour or more +of that bickering argument of which the native African is so fond, +the newcomers entered the village where they were assigned to huts. + +Bertha Kircher found herself alone in a small hut to the palisade +at the far end of the village street, and though she was neither +bound nor guarded, she was assured by Usanga that she could not +escape the village without running into almost certain death in the +jungle, which the villagers assured them was infested by lions of +great size and ferocity. "Be good to Usanga," he concluded, "and +no harm will befall you. I will come again to see you after the +others are asleep. Let us be friends." + +As the brute left her the girl's frame was racked by a convulsive +shudder as she sank to the floor of the hut and covered her face +with her hands. She realized now why the women had not been left +to guard her. It was the work of the cunning Usanga, but would not +his woman suspect something of his intentions? She was no fool and, +further, being imbued with insane jealousy she was ever looking +for some overt act upon the part of her ebon lord. Bertha Kircher +felt that only she might save her and that she would save her if +word could be but gotten to her. But how? + +Left alone and away from the eyes of her captors for the first time +since the previous night, the girl immediately took advantage of +the opportunity to assure herself that the papers she had taken +from the body of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider were still safely sewn +inside one of her undergarments. + +Alas! Of what value could they now ever be to her beloved country? +But habit and loyalty were so strong within her that she still clung +to the determined hope of eventually delivering the little packet +to her chief. + +The natives seemed to have forgotten her existence--no one came +near the hut, not even to bring her food. She could hear them at +the other end of the village laughing and yelling and knew that +they were celebrating with food and native beer--knowledge which +only increased her apprehension. To be prisoner in a native village +in the very heart of an unexplored region of Central Africa--the +only white woman among a band of drunken Negroes! The very thought +appalled her. Yet there was a slight promise in the fact that she +had so far been unmolested--the promise that they might, indeed, +have forgotten her and that soon they might become so hopelessly +drunk as to be harmless. + +Darkness had fallen and still no one came. The girl wondered if +she dared venture forth in search of Naratu, Usanga's woman, for +Usanga might not forget that he had promised to return. No one was +near as she stepped out of the hut and made her way toward the part +of the village where the revelers were making merry about a fire. +As she approached she saw the villagers and their guests squatting +in a large circle about the blaze before which a half-dozen naked +warriors leaped and bent and stamped in some grotesque dance. +Pots of food and gourds of drink were being passed about among +the audience. Dirty hands were plunged into the food pots and the +captured portions devoured so greedily that one might have thought +the entire community had been upon the point of starvation. The +gourds they held to their lips until the beer ran down their chins +and the vessels were wrested from them by greedy neighbors. The +drink had now begun to take noticeable effect upon most of them, +with the result that they were beginning to give themselves up to +utter and licentious abandon. + +As the girl came nearer, keeping in the shadow of the huts, looking +for Naratu she was suddenly discovered by one upon the edge of the +crowd--a huge woman, who rose, shrieking, and came toward her. From +her aspect the white girl thought that the woman meant literally +to tear her to pieces. So utterly wanton and uncalled-for was the +attack that it found the girl entirely unprepared, and what would +have happened had not a warrior interfered may only be guessed. +And then Usanga, noting the interruption, came lurching forward to +question her. + +"What do you want," he cried, "food and drink? Come with me!" and +he threw an arm about her and dragged her toward the circle. + +"No!" she cried, "I want Naratu. Where is Naratu?" + +This seemed to sober the black for a moment as though he +had temporarily forgotten his better half. He cast quick, fearful +glances about, and then, evidently assured that Naratu had noticed +nothing, he ordered the warrior who was still holding the infuriated +black woman from the white girl to take the latter back to her hut +and to remain there on guard over her. + +First appropriating a gourd of beer for himself the warrior +motioned the girl to precede him, and thus guarded she returned to +her hut, the fellow squatting down just outside the doorway, where +he confined his attentions for some time to the gourd. + +Bertha Kircher sat down at the far side of the hut awaiting she +knew not what impending fate. She could not sleep so filled was her +mind with wild schemes of escape though each new one must always be +discarded as impractical. Half an hour after the warrior had returned +her to her prison he rose and entered the hut, where he tried to +engage in conversation with her. Groping across the interior he +leaned his short spear against the wall and sat down beside her, +and as he talked he edged closer and closer until at last he could +reach out and touch her. Shrinking, she drew away. + +"Do not touch me!" she cried. "I will tell Usanga if you do not +leave me alone, and you know what he will do to you." + +The man only laughed drunkenly, and, reaching out his hand, grabbed +her arm and dragged her toward him. She fought and cried aloud for +Usanga and at the same instant the entrance to the hut was darkened +by the form of a man. + +"What is the matter?" shouted the newcomer in the deep tones that +the girl recognized as belonging to the black sergeant. He had +come, but would she be any better off? She knew that she would not +unless she could play upon Usanga's fear of his woman. + +When Usanga found what had happened he kicked the warrior out of +the hut and bade him begone, and when the fellow had disappeared, +muttering and grumbling, the sergeant approached the white girl. He +was very drunk, so drunk that several times she succeeded in eluding +him and twice she pushed him so violently away that he stumbled +and fell. + +Finally he became enraged and rushing upon her, seized her in his +long, apelike arms. Striking at his face with clenched fists she +tried to protect herself and drive him away. She threatened him +with the wrath of Naratu, and at that he changed his tactics and +began to plead, and as he argued with her, promising her safety +and eventual freedom, the warrior he had kicked out of the hut made +his staggering way to the hut occupied by Naratu. + +Usanga finding that pleas and promises were as unavailing as +threats, at last lost both his patience and his head, seizing the +girl roughly, and simultaneously there burst into the hut a raging +demon of jealousy. Naratu had come. Kicking, scratching, striking, +biting, she routed the terrified Usanga in short order, and +so obsessed was she by her desire to inflict punishment upon her +unfaithful lord and master that she quite forgot the object of his +infatuation. + +Bertha Kircher heard her screaming down the village street at Usanga's +heels and trembled at the thought of what lay in store for her at +the hands of these two, for she knew that tomorrow at the latest +Naratu would take out upon her the full measure of her jealous +hatred after she had spent her first wrath upon Usanga. + +The two had departed but a few minutes when the warrior guard +returned. He looked into the hut and then entered. "No one will +stop me now, white woman," he growled as he stepped quickly across +the hut toward her. + +Tarzan of the Apes, feasting well upon a juicy haunch from Bara, +the deer, was vaguely conscious of a troubled mind. He should +have been at peace with himself and all the world, for was he not +in his native element surrounded by game in plenty and rapidly +filling his belly with the flesh he loved best? But Tarzan of +the Apes was haunted by the picture of a slight, young girl being +shoved and struck by brutal Negresses, and in imagination could +see her now camped in this savage country a prisoner among degraded +blacks. + +Why was it so difficult to remember that she was only a hated German +and a spy? Why would the fact that she was a woman and white always +obtrude itself upon his consciousness? He hated her as he hated +all her kind, and the fate that was sure to be hers was no more +terrible than she in common with all her people deserved. The matter +was settled and Tarzan composed himself to think of other things, +yet the picture would not die--it rose in all its details and annoyed +him. He began to wonder what they were doing to her and where they +were taking her. He was very much ashamed of himself as he had been +after the episode in Wilhelmstal when his weakness had permitted +him to spare this spy's life. Was he to be thus weak again? No! + +Night came and he settled himself in an ample tree to rest until +morning; but sleep would not come. Instead came the vision of a +white girl being beaten by black women, and again of the same girl +at the mercy of the warriors somewhere in that dark and forbidding +jungle. + +With a growl of anger and self-contempt Tarzan arose, shook himself, +and swung from his tree to that adjoining, and thus, through the +lower terraces, he followed the trail that Usanga's party had taken +earlier in the afternoon. He had little difficulty as the band had +followed a well-beaten path and when toward midnight the stench +of a native village assailed his delicate nostrils he guessed that +his goal was near and that presently he should find her whom he +sought. + +Prowling stealthily as prowls Numa, the lion, stalking a wary +prey, Tarzan moved noiselessly about the palisade, listening and +sniffing. At the rear of the village he discovered a tree whose +branches extended over the top of the palisade and a moment later +he had dropped quietly into the village. + +From hut to hut he went searching with keen ears and nostrils some +confirming evidence of the presence of the girl, and at last, faint +and almost obliterated by the odor of the Gomangani, he found it +hanging like a delicate vapor about a small hut. The village was +quiet now, for the last of the beer and the food had been disposed +of and the blacks lay in their huts overcome by stupor, yet Tarzan +made no noise that even a sober man keenly alert might have heard. + +He passed around to the entrance of the hut and listened. From +within came no sound, not even the low breathing of one awake; yet +he was sure that the girl had been here and perhaps was even now, +and so he entered, slipping in as silently as a disembodied spirit. +For a moment he stood motionless just within the entranceway, +listening. No, there was no one here, of that he was sure, but he +would investigate. As his eyes became accustomed to the greater +darkness within the hut an object began to take form that presently +outlined itself in a human form supine upon the floor. + +Tarzan stepped closer and leaned over to examine it--it was the dead +body of a naked warrior from whose chest protruded a short spear. +Then he searched carefully every square foot of the remaining floor +space and at last returned to the body again where he stooped and +smelled of the haft of the weapon that had slain the black. A slow +smile touched his lips--that and a slight movement of his head +betokened that he understood. + +A rapid search of the balance of the village assured him that the +girl had escaped and a feeling of relief came over him that no harm +had befallen her. That her life was equally in jeopardy in the +savage jungle to which she must have flown did not impress him +as it would have you or me, since to Tarzan the jungle was not +a dangerous place--he considered one safer there than in Paris or +London by night. + +He had entered the trees again and was outside the palisade when +there came faintly to his ears from far beyond the village an old, +familiar sound. Balancing lightly upon a swaying branch he stood, +a graceful statue of a forest god, listening intently. For a minute +he stood thus and then there broke from his lips the long, weird +cry of ape calling to ape and he was away through the jungle toward +the sound of the booming drum of the anthropoids leaving behind him +an awakened and terrified village of cringing blacks, who would +forever after connect that eerie cry with the disappearance of +their white prisoner and the death of their fellow-warrior. + +Bertha Kircher, hurrying through the jungle along a well-beaten +game trail, thought only of putting as much distance as possible +between herself and the village before daylight could permit pursuit +of her. Whither she was going she did not know, nor was it a matter +of great moment since death must be her lot sooner or later. + +Fortune favored her that night, for she passed unscathed through +as savage and lion-ridden an area as there is in all Africa--a +natural hunting ground which the white man has not yet discovered, +where deer and antelope and zebra, giraffe and elephant, buffalo, +rhinoceros, and the other herbivorous animals of central Africa +abound unmolested by none but their natural enemies, the great +cats which, lured here by easy prey and immunity from the rifles +of big-game hunters, swarm the district. + +She had fled for an hour or two, perhaps, when her attention was +arrested by the sound of animals moving about, muttering and growling +close ahead. Assured that she had covered a sufficient distance +to insure her a good start in the morning before the blacks could +take to her trail, and fearful of what the creatures might be, +she climbed into a large tree with the intention of spending the +balance of the night there. + +She had no sooner reached a safe and comfortable branch when she +discovered that the tree stood upon the edge of a small clearing +that had been hidden from her by the heavy undergrowth upon the +ground below, and simultaneously she discovered the identity of +the beasts she had heard. + +In the center of the clearing below her, clearly visible in the +bright moonlight, she saw fully twenty huge, manlike apes--great, +shaggy fellows who went upon their hind feet with only slight +assistance from the knuckles of their hands. The moonlight glanced +from their glossy coats, the numerous gray-tipped hairs imparting +a sheen that made the hideous creatures almost magnificent in their +appearance. + +The girl had watched them but a minute or two when the little band +was joined by others, coming singly and in groups until there were +fully fifty of the great brutes gathered there in the moonlight. +Among them were young apes and several little ones clinging tightly +to their mothers' shaggy shoulders. Presently the group parted to +form a circle about what appeared to be a small, flat-topped mound +of earth in the center of the clearing. Squatting close about this +mound were three old females armed with short, heavy clubs with +which they presently began to pound upon the flat top of the earth +mound which gave forth a dull, booming sound, and almost immediately +the other apes commenced to move about restlessly, weaving in and +out aimlessly until they carried the impression of a moving mass +of great, black maggots. + +The beating of the drum was in a slow, ponderous cadence, at first +without time but presently settling into a heavy rhythm to which +the apes kept time with measured tread and swaying bodies. Slowly +the mass separated into two rings, the outer of which was composed +of shes and the very young, the inner of mature bulls. The former +ceased to move and squatted upon their haunches, while the bulls +now moved slowly about in a circle the center of which was the drum +and all now in the same direction. + +It was then that there came faintly to the ears of the girl from +the direction of the village she had recently quitted a weird and +high-pitched cry. The effect upon the apes was electrical--they +stopped their movements and stood in attitudes of intent listening +for a moment, and then one fellow, huger than his companions, raised +his face to the heavens and in a voice that sent the cold shudders +through the girl's slight frame answered the far-off cry. + +Once again the beaters took up their drumming and the slow dance +went on. There was a certain fascination in the savage ceremony +that held the girl spellbound, and as there seemed little likelihood +of her being discovered, she felt that she might as well remain +the balance of the night in her tree and resume her flight by the +comparatively greater safety of daylight. + +Assuring herself that her packet of papers was safe she sought as +comfortable a position as possible among the branches, and settled +herself to watch the weird proceedings in the clearing below her. + +A half-hour passed, during which the cadence of the drum increased +gradually. Now the great bull that had replied to the distant call +leaped from the inner circle to dance alone between the drummers +and the other bulls. He leaped and crouched and leaped again, now +growling and barking, again stopping to raise his hideous face +to Goro, the moon, and, beating upon his shaggy breast, uttered +a piercing scream-the challenge of the bull ape, had the girl but +known it. + +He stood thus in the full glare of the great moon, motionless after +screaming forth his weird challenge, in the setting of the primeval +jungle and the circling apes a picture of primitive savagery and +power--a mightily muscled Hercules out of the dawn of life--when +from close behind her the girl heard an answering scream, and an +instant later saw an almost naked white man drop from a near-by +tree into the clearing. + +Instantly the apes became a roaring, snarling pack of angry beasts. +Bertha Kircher held her breath. What maniac was this who dared +approach these frightful creatures in their own haunts, alone against +fifty? She saw the brown-skinned figure bathed in moonlight walk +straight toward the snarling pack. She saw the symmetry and the +beauty of that perfect body--its grace, its strength, its wondrous +proportioning, and then she recognized him. It was the same creature +whom she had seen carry Major Schneider from General Kraut's +headquarters, the same who had rescued her from Numa, the lion; +the same whom she had struck down with the butt of her pistol and +escaped when he would have returned her to her enemies, the same +who had slain Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and spared her life that +night in Wilhelmstal. + +Fear-filled and fascinated she watched him as he neared the apes. +She heard sounds issue from his throat--sounds identical with +those uttered by the apes--and though she could scarce believe the +testimony of her own ears, she knew that this godlike creature was +conversing with the brutes in their own tongue. + +Tarzan halted just before he reached the shes of the outer circle. +"I am Tarzan of the Apes!" he cried. "You do not know me because +I am of another tribe, but Tarzan comes in peace or he comes to +fight--which shall it be? Tarzan will talk with your king," and so +saying he pushed straight forward through the shes and the young +who now gave way before him, making a narrow lane through which he +passed toward the inner circle. + +Shes and balus growled and bristled as he passed closer, but none +hindered him and thus he came to the inner circle of bulls. Here +bared fangs menaced him and growling faces hideously contorted. "I +am Tarzan," he repeated. "Tarzan comes to dance the Dum-Dum with +his brothers. Where is your king?" Again he pressed forward and the +girl in the tree clapped her palms to her cheeks as she watched, +wide-eyed, this madman going to a frightful death. In another instant +they would be upon him, rending and tearing until that perfect form +had been ripped to shreds; but again the ring parted, and though +the apes roared and menaced him they did not attack, and at last +he stood in the inner circle close to the drum and faced the great +king ape. + +Again he spoke. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he cried. "Tarzan comes +to live with his brothers. He will come in peace and live in peace +or he will kill; but he has come and he will stay. Which--shall +Tarzan dance the Dum-Dum in peace with his brothers, or shall Tarzan +kill first?" + +"I am Go-lat, King of the Apes," screamed the great bull. "I kill! +I kill! I kill!" and with a sullen roar he charged the Tarmangani. + +The ape-man, as the girl watched him, seemed entirely unprepared +for the charge and she looked to see him borne down and slain at +the first rush. The great bull was almost upon him with huge hands +outstretched to seize him before Tarzan made a move, but when he +did move his quickness would have put Ara, the lightning, to shame. +As darts forward the head of Histah, the snake, so darted forward +the left hand of the man-beast as he seized the left wrist of his +antagonist. A quick turn and the bull's right arm was locked beneath +the right arm of his foe in a jujutsu hold that Tarzan had learned +among civilized men--a hold with which he might easily break the +great bones, a hold that left the ape helpless. + +"I am Tarzan of the Apes!" screamed the ape-man. "Shall Tarzan +dance in peace or shall Tarzan kill?'' + +"I kill! I kill! I kill!" shrieked Go-lat. + +With the quickness of a cat Tarzan swung the king ape over one hip +and sent him sprawling to the ground. "I am Tarzan, King of all +the Apes!" he shouted. "Shall it be peace?" + +Go-lat, infuriated, leaped to his feet and charged again, shouting +his war cry: "I kill! I kill! I kill!" and again Tarzan met him +with a sudden hold that the stupid bull, being ignorant of, could +not possibly avert--a hold and a throw that brought a scream of +delight from the interested audience and suddenly filled the girl +with doubts as to the man's madness--evidently he was quite safe +among the apes, for she saw him swing Go-lat to his back and then +catapult him over his shoulder. The king ape fell upon his head +and lay very still. + +"I am Tarzan of the Apes!" cried the ape-man. "I come to dance the +Dum-Dum with my brothers," and he made a motion to the drummers, +who immediately took up the cadence of the dance where they had +dropped it to watch their king slay the foolish Tarmangani. + +It was then that Go-lat raised his head and slowly crawled to his +feet. Tarzan approached him. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he cried. +"Shall Tarzan dance the Dum-Dum with his brothers now, or shall he +kill first?" + +Go-lat raised his bloodshot eyes to the face of the Tarmangani. +"Kagoda!" he cried "Tarzan of the Apes will dance the Dum-Dum with +his brothers and Go-lat will dance with him!" + +And then the girl in the tree saw the savage man leaping, bending, and +stamping with the savage apes in the ancient rite of the Dum-Dum. +His roars and growls were more beastly than the beasts. His +handsome face was distorted with savage ferocity. He beat upon his +great breast and screamed forth his challenge as his smooth, brown +hide brushed the shaggy coats of his fellows. It was weird; it +was wonderful; and in its primitive savagery it was not without +beauty--the strange scene she looked upon, such a scene as no other +human being, probably, ever had witnessed--and yet, withal, it was +horrible. + +As she gazed, spell-bound, a stealthy movement in the tree behind +her caused her to turn her head, and there, back of her, blazing +in the reflected moonlight, shone two great, yellow-green eyes. +Sheeta, the panther, had found her out. + +The beast was so close that it might have reached out and touched +her with a great, taloned paw. There was no time to think, no +time to weigh chances or to choose alternatives. Terror-inspired +impulse was her guide as, with a loud scream, she leaped from the +tree into the clearing. + +Instantly the apes, now maddened by the effects of the dancing and +the moonlight, turned to note the cause of the interruption. They +saw this she Tarmangani, helpless and alone and they started for +her. Sheeta, the panther, knowing that not even Numa, the lion, +unless maddened by starvation, dares meddle with the great apes at +their Dum-Dum, had silently vanished into the night, seeking his +supper elsewhere. + +Tarzan, turning with the other apes toward the cause of the +interruption, saw the girl, recognized her and also her peril. +Here again might she die at the hands of others; but why consider +it! He knew that he could not permit it, and though the acknowledgment +shamed him, it had to be admitted. + +The leading shes were almost upon the girl when Tarzan leaped among +them, and with heavy blows scattered them to right and left; and +then as the bulls came to share in the kill they thought this new +ape-thing was about to make that he might steal all the flesh for +himself, they found him facing them with an arm thrown about the +creature as though to protect her. + +"This is Tarzan's she," he said. "Do not harm her." It was the only +way he could make them understand that they must not slay her. He +was glad that she could not interpret the words. It was humiliating +enough to make such a statement to wild apes about this hated enemy. + +So once again Tarzan of the Apes was forced to protect a Hun. +Growling, he muttered to himself in extenuation: + +"She is a woman and I am not a German, so it could not be otherwise!" + + + + + +Dropped from the Sky + + + + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, Royal Air Service, was on +reconnaissance. A report, or it would be better to say a rumor, +had come to the British headquarters in German East Africa that +the enemy had landed in force on the west coast and was marching +across the dark continent to reinforce their colonial troops. In +fact the new army was supposed to be no more than ten or twelve days' +march to the west. Of course the thing was ridiculous--preposterous--but +preposterous things often happen in war; and anyway no good general +permits the least rumor of enemy activity to go uninvestigated. + +Therefore Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick flew low toward +the west, searching with keen eyes for signs of a Hun army. Vast +forests unrolled beneath him in which a German army corps might +have lain concealed, so dense was the overhanging foliage of the +great trees. Mountain, meadowland, and desert passed in lovely +panorama; but never a sight of man had the young lieutenant. + +Always hoping that he might discover some sign of their passage--a +discarded lorry, a broken limber, or an old camp site--he continued +farther and farther into the west until well into the afternoon. +Above a tree-dotted plain through the center of which flowed a +winding river he determined to turn about and start for camp. It +would take straight flying at top speed to cover the distance before +dark; but as he had ample gasoline and a trustworthy machine there +was no doubt in his mind but that he could accomplish his aim. It +was then that his engine stalled. + +He was too low to do anything but land, and that immediately, +while he had the more open country accessible, for directly east of +him was a vast forest into which a stalled engine could only have +plunged him to certain injury and probable death; and so he came +down in the meadowland near the winding river and there started to +tinker with his motor. + +As he worked he hummed a tune, some music-hall air that had been +popular in London the year before, so that one might have thought +him working in the security of an English flying field surrounded +by innumerable comrades rather than alone in the heart of an unexplored +African wilderness. It was typical of the man that he should be +wholly indifferent to his surroundings, although his looks entirely +belied any assumption that he was of particularly heroic strain. + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick was fair-hatred, blue-eyed, +and slender, with a rosy, boyish face that might have been molded +more by an environment of luxury, indolence, and ease than the more +strenuous exigencies of life's sterner requirements. + +And not only was the young lieutenant outwardly careless of the +immediate future and of his surroundings, but actually so. That +the district might be infested by countless enemies seemed not to +have occurred to him in the remotest degree. He bent assiduously +to the work of correcting the adjustment that had caused his motor +to stall without so much as an upward glance at the surrounding +country. The forest to the east of him, and the more distant jungle +that bordered the winding river, might have harbored an army of +bloodthirsty savages, but neither could elicit even a passing show +of interest on the part of Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick + +And even had he looked, it is doubtful if he would have seen the +score of figures crouching in the concealment of the undergrowth +at the forest's edge. There are those who are reputed to be endowed +with that which is sometimes, for want of a better appellation, +known as the sixth sense--a species of intuition which apprises +them of the presence of an unseen danger. The concentrated gaze of +a hidden observer provokes a warning sensation of nervous unrest in +such as these, but though twenty pairs of savage eyes were gazing +fixedly at Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, the fact aroused +no responsive sensation of impending danger in his placid breast. +He hummed peacefully and, his adjustment completed, tried out his +motor for a minute or two, then shut it off and descended to the +ground with the intention of stretching his legs and taking a smoke +before continuing his return flight to camp. Now for the first time +he took note of his surroundings, to be immediately impressed by +both the wildness and the beauty of the scene. In some respects the +tree-dotted meadowland reminded him of a park-like English forest, +and that wild beasts and savage men could ever be a part of so +quiet a scene seemed the remotest of contingencies. + +Some gorgeous blooms upon a flowering shrub at a little distance +from his machine caught the attention of his aesthetic eye, and as +he puffed upon his cigarette, he walked over to examine the flowers +more closely. As he bent above them he was probably some hundred +yards from his plane and it was at this instant that Numabo, chief +of the Wamabo, chose to leap from his ambush and lead his warriors +in a sudden rush upon the white man. + +The young Englishman's first intimation of danger was a chorus of +savage yells from the forest behind him. Turning, he saw a score +of naked, black warriors advancing rapidly toward him. They moved +in a compact mass and as they approached more closely their rate +of speed noticeably diminished. Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick realized +in a quick glance that the direction of their approach and their +proximity had cut off all chances of retreating to his plane, and +he also understood that their attitude was entirely warlike and +menacing. He saw that they were armed with spears and with bows and +arrows, and he felt quite confident that notwithstanding the fact +that he was armed with a pistol they could overcome him with the +first rush. What he did not know about their tactics was that at +any show of resistance they would fall back, which is the nature of +the native Negroes, but that after numerous advances and retreats, +during which they would work themselves into a frenzy of rage by +much shrieking, leaping, and dancing, they would eventually come +to the point of a determined and final assault. + +Numabo was in the forefront, a fact which taken in connection with +his considerably greater size and more warlike appearance, indicated +him as the natural target and it was at Numabo that the Englishman +aimed his first shot. Unfortunately for him it missed its target, +as the killing of the chief might have permanently dispersed +the others. The bullet passed Numabo to lodge in the breast of a +warrior behind him and as the fellow lunged forward with a scream +the others turned and retreated, but to the lieutenant's chagrin +they ran in the direction of the plane instead of back toward the +forest so that he was still cut off from reaching his machine. + +Presently they stopped and faced him again. They were talking loudly +and gesticulating, and after a moment one of them leaped into the +air, brandishing his spear and uttering savage war cries, which +soon had their effect upon his fellows so that it was not long ere +all of them were taking part in the wild show of savagery, which +would bolster their waning courage and presently spur them on to +another attack. + +The second charge brought them closer to the Englishman, and though +he dropped another with his pistol, it was not before two or three +spears had been launched at him. He now had five shots remaining +and there were still eighteen warriors to be accounted for, so that +unless he could frighten them off, it was evident that his fate +was sealed. + +That they must pay the price of one life for every attempt to take +his had its effect upon them and they were longer now in initiating +a new rush and when they did so it was more skillfully ordered than +those that had preceded it, for they scattered into three bands +which, partially surrounding him, came simultaneously toward him +from different directions, and though he emptied his pistol with +good effect, they reached him at last. They seemed to know that +his ammunition was exhausted, for they circled close about him now +with the evident intention of taking him alive, since they might +easily have riddled him with their sharp spears with perfect safety +to themselves. + +For two or three minutes they circled about him until, at a word +from Numabo, they closed in simultaneously, and though the slender +young lieutenant struck out to right and left, he was soon overwhelmed +by superior numbers and beaten down by the hafts of spears in brawny +hands. + +He was all but unconscious when they finally dragged him to his +feet, and after securing his hands behind his back, pushed him +roughly along ahead of them toward the jungle. + +As the guard prodded him along the narrow trail, Lieutenant +Smith-Oldwick could not but wonder why they had wished to take him +alive. He knew that he was too far inland for his uniform to have +any significance to this native tribe to whom no inkling of the +World War probably ever had come, and he could only assume that he +had fallen into the hands of the warriors of some savage potentate +upon whose royal caprice his fate would hinge. + +They had marched for perhaps half an hour when the Englishman saw +ahead of them, in a little clearing upon the bank of the river, +the thatched roofs of native huts showing above a crude but strong +palisade; and presently he was ushered into a village street where +he was immediately surrounded by a throng of women and children +and warriors. Here he was soon the center of an excited mob whose +intent seemed to be to dispatch him as quickly as possible. The +women were more venomous than the men, striking and scratching him +whenever they could reach him, until at last Numabo, the chief, was +obliged to interfere to save his prisoner for whatever purpose he +was destined. + +As the warriors pushed the crowd back, opening a space through +which the white man was led toward a hut, Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick +saw coming from the opposite end of the village a number of Negroes +wearing odds and ends of German uniforms. He was not a little +surprised at this, and his first thought was that he had at last +come in contact with some portion of the army which was rumored to +be crossing from the west coast and for signs of which he had been +searching. + +A rueful smile touched his lips as he contemplated the unhappy +circumstances which surrounded the accession of this knowledge for +though he was far from being without hope, he realized that only +by the merest chance could he escape these people and regain his +machine. + +Among the partially uniformed blacks was a huge fellow in the tunic +of a sergeant and as this man's eyes fell upon the British officer, +a loud cry of exultation broke from his lips, and immediately his +followers took up the cry and pressed forward to bait the prisoner. + +"Where did you get the Englishman?" asked Usanga, the black sergeant, +of the chief Numabo. "Are there many more with him?" + +"He came down from the sky," replied the native chief "in a strange +thing which flies like a bird and which frightened us very much at +first; but we watched for a long time and saw that it did not seem +to be alive, and when this white man left it we attacked him and +though he killed some of my warriors, we took him, for we Wamabos +are brave men and great warriors." + +Usanga's eyes went wide. "He flew here through the sky?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Numabo. "In a great thing which resembled a bird he +flew down out of the sky. The thing is still there where it came +down close to the four trees near the second bend in the river. We +left it there because, not knowing what it was, we were afraid to +touch it and it is still there if it has not flown away again." + +"It cannot fly," said Usanga, "without this man in it. It is a +terrible thing which filled the hearts of our soldiers with terror, +for it flew over our camps at night and dropped bombs upon us. +It is well that you captured this white man, Numabo, for with his +great bird he would have flown over your village tonight and killed +all your people. These Englishman are very wicked white men." + +"He will fly no more," said Numabo "It is not intended that a man +should fly through the air; only wicked demons do such things as +that and Numabo, the chief, will see that this white man does not +do it again," and with the words he pushed the young officer roughly +toward a hut in the center of the village, where he was left under +guard of two stalwart warriors. + +For an hour or more the prisoner was left to his own devices, which +consisted in vain and unremitting attempts to loosen the strands +which fettered his wrists, and then he was interrupted by the +appearance of the black sergeant Usanga, who entered his hut and +approached him. + +"What are they going to do with me?" asked the Englishman. "My +country is not at war with these people. You speak their language. +Tell them that I am not an enemy, that my people are the friends +of the black people and that they must let me go in peace." + +Usanga laughed. "They do not know an Englishman from a German," he +replied. "It is nothing to them what you are, except that you are +a white man and an enemy." + +"Then why did they take me alive?" asked the lieutenant. + +"Come," said Usanga and he led the Englishman to the doorway of +the hut. "Look," he said, and pointed a black forefinger toward +the end of the village street where a wider space between the huts +left a sort of plaza. + +Here Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick saw a number of Negresses +engaged in laying fagots around a stake and in preparing fires +beneath a number of large cooking vessels. The sinister suggestion +was only too obvious. + +Usanga was eyeing the white man closely, but if he expected to be +rewarded by any signs of fear, he was doomed to disappointment and +the young lieutenant merely turned toward him with a shrug: "Really +now, do you beggars intend eating me?" + +"Not my people," replied Usanga. "We do not eat human flesh, but +the Wamabos do. It is they who will eat you, but we will kill you +for the feast, Englishman." + +The Englishman remained standing in the doorway of the hut, an +interested spectator of the preparations for the coming orgy that +was so horribly to terminate his earthly existence. It can hardly +be assumed that he felt no fear; yet, if he did, he hid it perfectly +beneath an imperturbable mask of coolness. Even the brutal Usanga +must have been impressed by the bravery of his victim since, though +he had come to abuse and possibly to torture the helpless prisoner, +he now did neither, contenting himself merely with berating whites +as a race and Englishmen especially, because of the terror the +British aviators had caused Germany's native troops in East Africa. + +"No more," he concluded, "will your great bird fly over our people +dropping death among them from the skies--Usanga will see to that," +and he walked abruptly away toward a group of his own fighting men +who were congregated near the stake where they were laughing and +joking with the women. + +A few minutes later the Englishman saw them pass out of the village +gate, and once again his thoughts reverted to various futile plans +for escape. + +Several miles north of the village on a little rise of ground close +to the river where the jungle, halting at the base of a knoll, had +left a few acres of grassy land sparsely wooded, a man and a girl +were busily engaged in constructing a small boma, in the center of +which a thatched hut already had been erected. + +They worked almost in silence with only an occasional word of +direction or interrogation between them. + +Except for a loin cloth, the man was naked, his smooth skin tanned +to a deep brown by the action of sun and wind. He moved with the +graceful ease of a jungle cat and when he lifted heavy weights, +the action seemed as effortless as the raising of empty hands. + +When he was not looking at her, and it was seldom that he did, the +girl found her eyes wandering toward him, and at such times there +was always a puzzled expression upon her face as though she found +in him an enigma which she could not solve. As a matter of fact, +her feelings toward him were not un-tinged with awe, since in +the brief period of their association she had discovered in this +handsome, godlike giant the attributes of the superman and the +savage beast closely intermingled. At first she had felt only that +unreasoning feminine terror which her unhappy position naturally +induced. + +To be alone in the heart of an unexplored wilderness of Central +Africa with a savage wild man was in itself sufficiently appalling, +but to feel also that this man was a blood enemy, that he hated her +and her kind and that in addition thereto he owed her a personal +grudge for an attack she had made upon him in the past, left no +loophole for any hope that he might accord her even the minutest +measure of consideration. + +She had seen him first months since when he had entered the +headquarters of the German high command in East Africa and carried +off the luckless Major Schneider, of whose fate no hint had ever +reached the German officers; and she had seen him again upon that +occasion when he had rescued her from the clutches of the lion and, +after explaining to her that he had recognized her in the British +camp, had made her prisoner. It was then that she had struck him +down with the butt of her pistol and escaped. That he might seek +no personal revenge for her act had been evidenced in Wilhelmstal +the night that he had killed Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and left +without molesting her. + +No, she could not fathom him. He hated her and at the same time +he had protected her as had been evidenced again when he had kept +the great apes from tearing her to pieces after she had escaped +from the Wamabo village to which Usanga, the black sergeant, had +brought her a captive; but why was he saving her? For what sinister +purpose could this savage enemy be protecting her from the other +denizens of his cruel jungle? She tried to put from her mind the +probable fate which awaited her, yet it persisted in obtruding +itself upon her thoughts, though always she was forced to admit that +there was nothing in the demeanor of the man to indicate that her +fears were well grounded. She judged him perhaps by the standards +other men had taught her and because she looked upon him as a savage +creature, she felt that she could not expect more of chivalry from +him than was to be found in the breasts of the civilized men of +her acquaintance. + +Fraulein Bertha Kircher was by nature a companionable and cheerful +character. She was not given to morbid forebodings, and above all +things she craved the society of her kind and that interchange of +thought which is one of the marked distinctions between man and +the lower animals. Tarzan, on the other hand, was sufficient unto +himself. Long years of semi-solitude among creatures whose powers +of oral expression are extremely limited had thrown him almost +entirely upon his own resources for entertainment. + +His active mind was never idle, but because his jungle mates could +neither follow nor grasp the vivid train of imaginings that his +man-mind wrought, he had long since learned to keep them to himself; +and so now he found no need for confiding them in others. This +fact, linked with that of his dislike for the girl, was sufficient +to seal his lips for other than necessary conversation, and so they +worked on together in comparative silence. Bertha Kircher, however, +was nothing if not feminine and she soon found that having someone +to talk to who would not talk was extremely irksome. Her fear of +the man was gradually departing, and she was full of a thousand +unsatisfied curiosities as to his plans for the future in so far as +they related to her, as well as more personal questions regarding +himself, since she could not but wonder as to his antecedents and +his strange and solitary life in the jungle, as well as his friendly +intercourse with the savage apes among which she had found him. + +With the waning of her fears she became sufficiently emboldened +to question him, and so she asked him what he intended doing after +the hut and boma were completed. + +"I am going to the west coast where I was born," replied Tarzan. +"I do not know when. I have all my life before me and in the jungle +there is no reason for haste. We are not forever running as fast +as we can from one place to another as are you of the outer world. +When I have been here long enough I will go on toward the west, +but first I must see that you have a safe place in which to sleep, +and that you have learned how to provide yourself with necessaries. +That will take time." + +"You are going to leave me here alone?" cried the girl; her tones +marked the fear which the prospect induced. "You are going to leave +me here alone in this terrible jungle, a prey to wild beasts and +savage men, hundreds of miles from a white settlement and in a +country which gives every evidence of never having been touched by +the foot of civilized men?" + +"Why not?" asked Tarzan. "I did not bring you here. Would one of +your men accord any better treatment to an enemy woman?" + +"Yes," she exclaimed. "They certainly would. No man of my race +would leave a defenseless white woman alone in this horrible place." + +Tarzan shrugged his broad shoulders. The conversation seemed +profitless and it was further distasteful to him for the reason +that it was carried on in German, a tongue which he detested as +much as he did the people who spoke it. He wished that the girl +spoke English and then it occurred to him that as he had seen her +in disguise in the British camp carrying on her nefarious work as +a German spy, she probably did speak English and so he asked her. + +"Of course I speak English," she exclaimed, "but I did not know +that you did." + +Tarzan looked his wonderment but made no comment. He only wondered why +the girl should have any doubts as to the ability of an Englishman +to speak English, and then suddenly it occurred to him that she +probably looked upon him merely as a beast of the jungle who by +accident had learned to speak German through frequenting the district +which Germany had colonized. It was there only that she had seen +him and so she might not know that he was an Englishman by birth, +and that he had had a home in British East Africa. It was as well, +he thought, that she knew little of him, as the less she knew the +more he might learn from her as to her activities in behalf of the +Germans and of the German spy system of which she was a representative; +and so it occurred to him to let her continue to think that he was +only what he appeared to be--a savage denizen of his savage jungle, +a man of no race and no country, hating all white men impartially; +and this in truth, was what she did think of him. It explained +perfectly his attacks upon Major Schneider and the Major's brother, +Hauptmann Fritz. + +Again they worked on in silence upon the boma which was now nearly +completed, the girl helping the man to the best of her small +ability. Tarzan could not but note with grudging approval the +spirit of helpfulness she manifested in the oft-times painful labor +of gathering and arranging the thorn bushes which constituted the +temporary protection against roaming carnivores. Her hands and arms +gave bloody token of the sharpness of the numerous points that had +lacerated her soft flesh, and even though she were an enemy Tarzan +could not but feel compunction that he had permitted her to do this +work, and at last he bade her stop. + +"Why?" she asked. "It is no more painful to me than it must be to +you, and, as it is solely for my protection that you are building +this boma, there is no reason why I should not do my share." + +"You are a woman," replied Tarzan. "This is not a woman's work. If +you wish to do something, take those gourds I brought this morning +and fill them with water at the river. You may need it while I am +away." + +"While you are away--" she said. "You are going away?" + +"When the boma is built I am going out after meat," he replied. +"Tomorrow I will go again and take you and show you how you may +make your own kills after I am gone." + +Without a word she took the gourds and walked toward the river. As +she filled them, her mind was occupied with painful forebodings of +the future. She knew that Tarzan had passed a death sentence upon +her, and that the moment that he left her, her doom was sealed, +for it could be but a question of time--a very short time--before +the grim jungle would claim her, for how could a lone woman hope +successfully to combat the savage forces of destruction which +constituted so large a part of existence in the jungle? + +So occupied was she with the gloomy prophecies that she had neither +ears nor eyes for what went on about her. Mechanically she filled +the gourds and, taking them up, turned slowly to retrace her steps +to the boma only to voice immediately a half-stifled scream and +shrank back from the menacing figure looming before her and blocking +her way to the hut. + +Go-lat, the king ape, hunting a little apart from his tribe, had seen +the woman go to the river for water, and it was he who confronted +her when she turned back with her filled gourds. Go-lat was not +a pretty creature when judged by standards of civilized humanity, +though the shes of his tribe and even Go-lat himself, considered +his glossy black coat shot with silver, his huge arms dangling to +his knees, his bullet head sunk between his mighty shoulders, marks +of great personal beauty. His wicked, bloodshot eyes and broad +nose, his ample mouth and great fighting fangs only enhanced the +claim of this Adonis of the forest upon the affections of his shes. + +Doubtless in the little, savage brain there was a well-formed +conviction that this strange she belonging to the Tarmangani must +look with admiration upon so handsome a creature as Go-lat, for +there could be no doubt in the mind of any that his beauty entirely +eclipsed such as the hairless white ape might lay claim to. + +But Bertha Kircher saw only a hideous beast, a fierce and terrible +caricature of man. Could Go-lat have known what passed through her +mind, he must have been terribly chagrined, though the chances are +that he would have attributed it to a lack of discernment on her +part. Tarzan heard the girl's cry and looking up saw at a glance +the cause of her terror. Leaping lightly over the boma, he ran +swiftly toward her as Go-lat lumbered closer to the girl the while +he voiced his emotions in low gutturals which, while in reality the +most amicable of advances, sounded to the girl like the growling +of an enraged beast. As Tarzan drew nearer he called aloud to the +ape and the girl heard from the human lips the same sounds that +had fallen from those of the anthropoid. + +"I will not harm your she," Go-lat called to Tarzan. + +"I know it," replied the ape-man, "but she does not. She is like +Numa and Sheeta, who do not understand our talk. She thinks you +come to harm her." + +By this time Tarzan was beside the girl. "He will not harm you," +he said to her. "You need not be afraid. This ape has learned his +lesson. He has learned that Tarzan is lord of the jungle. He will +not harm that which is Tarzan's." + +The girl cast a quick glance at the man's face. It was evident to +her that the words he had spoken meant nothing to him and that the +assumed proprietorship over her was, like the boma, only another +means for her protection. + +"But I am afraid of him," she said. + +"You must not show your fear. You will be often surrounded by these +apes. At such times you will be safest. Before I leave you I will +give you the means of protecting yourself against them should one +of them chance to turn upon you. If I were you I would seek their +society. Few are the animals of the jungle that dare attack the +great apes when there are several of them together. If you let +them know that you are afraid of them, they will take advantage of +it and your life will be constantly menaced. The shes especially +would attack you. I will let them know that you have the means of +protecting yourself and of killing them. If necessary, I will show +you how and then they will respect and fear you." + +"I will try," said the girl, "but I am afraid that it will be +difficult. He is the most frightful creature I ever have seen." +Tarzan smiled. "Doubtless he thinks the same of you," he said. + +By this time other apes had entered the clearing and they were now +the center of a considerable group, among which were several bulls, +some young shes, and some older ones with their little balus clinging +to their backs or frolicking around at their feet. Though they had +seen the girl the night of the Dum-Dum when Sheeta had forced her +to leap from her concealment into the arena where the apes were +dancing, they still evinced a great curiosity regarding her. Some +of the shes came very close and plucked at her garments, commenting +upon them to one another in their strange tongue. The girl, by +the exercise of all the will power she could command, succeeded in +passing through the ordeal without evincing any of the terror and +revulsion that she felt. Tarzan watched her closely, a half-smile +upon his face. He was not so far removed from recent contact with +civilized people that he could not realize the torture that she +was undergoing, but he felt no pity for this woman of a cruel enemy +who doubtless deserved the worst suffering that could be meted to +her. Yet, notwithstanding his sentiments toward her, he was forced +to admire her fine display of courage. Suddenly he turned to the +apes. + +"Tarzan goes to hunt for himself and his she," he said. "The she +will remain there," and he pointed toward the hut. "See that no +member of the tribe harms her. Do you understand?" + +The apes nodded. "We will not harm her," said Go-lat. + +"No," said Tarzan. "You will not. For if you do, Tarzan will kill +you," and then turning to the girl, "Come," he said, "I am going to +hunt now. You had better remain at the hut. The apes have promised +not to harm you. I will leave my spear with you. It will be the best +weapon you could have in case you should need to protect yourself, +but I doubt if you will be in any danger for the short time that +I am away." + +He walked with her as far as the boma and when she had entered he +closed the gap with thorn bushes and turned away toward the forest. +She watched him moving across the clearing, noting the easy, catlike +tread and the grace of every movement that harmonized so well with +the symmetry and perfection of his figure. At the forest's edge +she saw him swing lightly into a tree and disappear from view, and +then, being a woman, she entered the hut and, throwing herself upon +the ground, burst into tears. + + + + + +In the Hands of Savages + + + + +Tarzan sought Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, for of all the +jungle animals he doubted if any would prove more palatable to the +white woman, but though his keen nostrils were ever on the alert, +he traveled far without being rewarded with even the faintest +scent spoor of the game he sought. Keeping close to the river where +he hoped to find Bara or Horta approaching or leaving a drinking +place he came at last upon the strong odor of the Wamabo village +and being ever ready to pay his hereditary enemies, the Gomangani, +an undesired visit, he swung into a detour and came up in the rear +of the village. From a tree which overhung the palisade he looked +down into the street where he saw the preparations going on which +his experience told him indicated the approach of one of those +frightful feasts the piece de resistance of which is human flesh. + +One of Tarzan's chief divertissements was the baiting of the blacks. +He realized more keen enjoyment through annoying and terrifying them +than from any other source of amusement the grim jungle offered. +To rob them of their feast in some way that would strike terror +to their hearts would give him the keenest of pleasure, and so +he searched the village with his eyes for some indication of the +whereabouts of the prisoner. His view was circumscribed by the +dense foliage of the tree in which he sat, and, so that he might +obtain a better view, he climbed further aloft and moved cautiously +out upon a slender branch. + +Tarzan of the Apes possessed a woodcraft scarcely short of the +marvelous but even Tarzan's wondrous senses were not infallible. +The branch upon which he made his way outward from the bole was no +smaller than many that had borne his weight upon countless other +occasions. Outwardly it appeared strong and healthy and was in full +foliage, nor could Tarzan know that close to the stem a burrowing +insect had eaten away half the heart of the solid wood beneath the +bark. + +And so when he reached a point far out upon the limb, it snapped +close to the bole of the tree without warning. Below him were no +larger branches that he might clutch and as he lunged downward his +foot caught in a looped creeper so that he turned completely over +and alighted on the flat of his back in the center of the village +street. + +At the sound of the breaking limb and the crashing body falling +through the branches the startled blacks scurried to their huts +for weapons, and when the braver of them emerged, they saw the +still form of an almost naked white man lying where he had fallen. +Emboldened by the fact that he did not move they approached more +closely, and when their eyes discovered no signs of others of his +kind in the tree, they rushed forward until a dozen warriors stood +about him with ready spears. At first they thought that the falling +had killed him, but upon closer examination they discovered that +the man was only stunned. One of the warriors was for thrusting a +spear through his heart, but Numabo, the chief, would not permit +it. + +"Bind him," he said. "We will feed well tonight." + +And so they bound his hands and feet with thongs of gut and carried +him into the hut where Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick awaited +his fate. The Englishman had also been bound hand and foot by this +time for fear that at the last moment he might escape and rob them +of their feast. A great crowd of natives were gathered about the +hut attempting to get a glimpse of the new prisoner, but Numabo +doubled the guard before the entrance for fear that some of his +people, in the exuberance of their savage joy, might rob the others +of the pleasures of the death dance which would precede the killing +of the victims. + +The young Englishman had heard the sound of Tarzan's body crashing +through the tree to the ground and the commotion in the village +which immediately followed, and now, as he stood with his back +against the wall of the hut, he looked upon the fellow-prisoner that +the blacks carried in and laid upon the floor with mixed feelings +of surprise and compassion. He realized that he never had seen +a more perfect specimen of manhood than that of the unconscious +figure before him, and he wondered to what sad circumstances the +man owed his capture. It was evident that the new prisoner was +himself as much a savage as his captors if apparel and weapons were +any criterion by which to judge; yet it was also equally evident +that he was a white man and from his well-shaped head and clean-cut +features that he was not one of those unhappy halfwits who so often +revert to savagery even in the heart of civilized communities. + +As he watched the man, he presently noticed that his eyelids were +moving. Slowly they opened and a pair of gray eyes looked blankly +about. With returning consciousness the eyes assumed their natural +expression of keen intelligence, and a moment later, with an +effort, the prisoner rolled over upon his side and drew himself to +a sitting position. He was facing the Englishman, and as his eyes +took in the bound ankles and the arms drawn tightly behind the +other's back, a slow smile lighted his features. + +"They will fill their bellies tonight," he said. + +The Englishman grinned. "From the fuss they made," he said, "the +beggars must be awfully hungry. They like to have eaten me alive +when they brought me in. How did they get you?" + +Tarzan shrugged his head ruefully. "It was my own fault," he +replied. "I deserve to be eaten. I crawled out upon a branch that +would not bear my weight and when it broke, instead of alighting +on my feet, I caught my foot in a trailer and came down on my head. +Otherwise they would not have taken me--alive." + +"Is there no escape?" asked the Englishman. + +"I have escaped them before," replied Tarzan, "and I have seen +others escape them. I have seen a man taken away from the stake +after a dozen spear thrusts had pierced his body and the fire had +been lighted about his feet." + +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick shuddered. "God!" he exclaimed, "I hope I +don't have to face that. I believe I could stand anything but the +thought of the fire. I should hate like the devil to go into a funk +before the devils at the last moment." + +"Don't worry," said Tarzan. "It doesn't last long and you won't +funk. It is really not half as bad as it sounds. There is only a +brief period of pain before you lose consciousness. I have seen it +many times before. It is as good a way to go as another. We must +die sometime. What difference whether it be tonight, tomorrow night, +or a year hence, just so that we have lived--and I have lived!" + +"Your philosophy may be all right, old top," said the young +lieutenant, "but I can't say that it is exactly satisfying." + +Tarzan laughed. "Roll over here," he said, "where I can get at +your bonds with my teeth." The Englishman did as he was bid and +presently Tarzan was working at the thongs with his strong white +teeth. He felt them giving slowly beneath his efforts. In another +moment they would part, and then it would be a comparatively simple +thing for the Englishman to remove the remaining bonds from Tarzan +and himself. + +It was then that one of the guards entered the hut. In an instant he +saw what the new prisoner was doing and raising his spear, struck +the ape-man a vicious blow across the head with its shaft. Then he +called in the other guards and together they fell upon the luckless +men, kicking and beating them unmercifully, after which they bound +the Englishman more securely than before and tied both men fast on +opposite sides of the hut. When they had gone Tarzan looked across +at his companion in misery. + +"While there is life," he said, "there is hope," but he grinned as +he voiced the ancient truism. + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick returned the other's smile. +"I fancy," he said, "that we are getting short on both. It must +be close to supper time now." + +Zu-tag hunted alone far from the balance of the tribe of Go-lat, +the great ape. Zu-tag (Big-neck) was a young bull but recently +arrived at maturity. He was large, powerful, and ferocious and at +the same time far above the average of his kind in intelligence as +was denoted by a fuller and less receding forehead. Already Go-lat +saw in this young ape a possible contender for the laurels of his +kingship and consequently the old bull looked upon Zu-tag with +jealousy and disfavor. It was for this reason, possibly, as much +as another that Zu-tag hunted so often alone; but it was his utter +fearlessness that permitted him to wander far afield away from the +protection which numbers gave the great apes. One of the results +of this habit was a greatly increased resourcefulness which found +him constantly growing in intelligence and powers of observation. + +Today he had been hunting toward the south and was returning along +the river upon a path he often followed because it led by the +village of the Gomangani whose strange and almost apelike actions +and peculiar manners of living had aroused his interest and curiosity. +As he had done upon other occasions he took up his position in a +tree from which he could overlook the interior of the village and +watch the blacks at their vocations in the street below. + +Zu-tag had scarcely more than established himself in his tree when, +with the blacks, he was startled by the crashing of Tarzan's body +from the branches of another jungle giant to the ground within the +palisade. He saw the Negroes gather about the prostrate form and +later carry it into the hut; and once he rose to his full height +upon the limb where he had been squatting and raised his face to +the heavens to scream out a savage protest and a challenge, for he +had recognized in the brown-skinned Tarmangani the strange white +ape who had come among them a night or two before in the midst of +their Dum-Dum, and who by so easily mastering the greatest among +them, had won the savage respect and admiration of this fierce +young bull. + +But Zu-tag's ferocity was tempered by a certain native cunning and +caution. Before he had voiced his protest there formed in his mind +the thought that he would like to save this wonderful white ape +from the common enemy, the Gomangani, and so he screamed forth no +challenge, wisely determined that more could be accomplished by +secrecy and stealth than by force of muscle and fang. + +At first he thought to enter the village alone and carry off the +Tarmangani; but when he saw how numerous were the warriors and that +several sat directly before the entrance to the lair into which the +prisoner had been carried, it occurred to him that this was work +for many rather than one, and so, as silently as he had come, he +slipped away though the foliage toward the north. + +The tribe was still loitering about the clearing where stood the hut +that Tarzan and Bertha Kircher had built. Some were idly searching +for food just within the forest's edge, while others squatted +beneath the shade of trees within the clearing. + +The girl had emerged from the hut, her tears dried and was gazing +anxiously toward the south into the jungle where Tarzan had disappeared. +Occasionally she cast suspicious glances in the direction of the +huge shaggy anthropoids about her. How easy it would be for one +of those great beasts to enter the boma and slay her. How helpless +she was, even with the spear that the white man had left her, she +realized as she noted for the thousandth time the massive shoulders, +the bull necks, and the great muscles gliding so easily beneath the +glossy coats. Never, she thought, had she seen such personifications +of brute power as were represented by these mighty bulls. Those +huge hands would snap her futile spear as she might snap a match in +two, while their lightest blow could crush her into insensibility +and death. + +It was while she was occupied with these depressing thoughts that +there dropped suddenly into the clearing from the trees upon the +south the figure of a mighty young bull. At that time all of the +apes looked much alike to Bertha Kircher, nor was it until some +time later that she realized that each differed from the others +in individual characteristics of face and figure as do individuals +of the human races. Yet even then she could not help but note +the wondrous strength and agility of this great beast, and as he +approached she even found herself admiring the sheen of his heavy, +black, silvershot coat. + +It was evident that the newcomer was filled with suppressed excitement. +His demeanor and bearing proclaimed this even from afar, nor was +the girl the only one to note it. For as they saw him coming many +of the apes arose and advanced to meet him, bristling and growling +as is their way. Go-lat was among these latter, and he advanced +stiffly with the hairs upon his neck and down his spine erect, +uttering low growls and baring his fighting fangs, for who might +say whether Zu-tag came in peace or otherwise? The old king had +seen other young apes come thus in his day filled with a sudden +resolution to wrest the kingship from their chief. He had seen +bulls about to run amuck burst thus suddenly from the jungle upon +the members of the tribe, and so Go-lat took no chances. + +Had Zu-tag come indolently, feeding as he came, he might have +entered the tribe without arousing notice or suspicion, but when +one comes thus precipitately, evidently bursting with some emotion +out of the ordinary, let all apes beware. There was a certain amount +of preliminary circling, growling, and sniffing, stiff-legged and +stiff-haired, before each side discovered that the other had no +intention of initiating an attack and then Zu-tag told Go-lat what +he had seen among the lairs of the Gomangani. + +Go-lat grunted in disgust and turned away. "Let the white ape take +care of himself," he said. + +"He is a great ape," said Zu-tag. "He came to live in peace with +the tribe of Go-lat. Let us save him from the Gomangani." + +Go-lat grunted again and continued to move away. + +"Zu-tag will go alone and get him," cried the young ape, "if Go-lat +is afraid of the Gomangani." + +The king ape wheeled in anger, growling loudly and beating upon +his breast. "Go-lat is not afraid," he screamed, "but he will not +go, for the white ape is not of his tribe. Go yourself and take +the Tarmangani's she with you if you wish so much to save the white +ape." + +"Zu-tag will go," replied the younger bull, "and he will take the +Tarmangani's she and all the bulls of Go-lat who are not cowards," +and so saying he cast his eyes inquiringly about at the other apes. +"Who will go with Zu-tag to fight the Gomangani and bring away our +brother," he demanded. + +Eight young bulls in the full prime of their vigor pressed forward +to Zu-tag's side, but the old bulls with the conservatism and +caution of many years upon their gray shoulders, shook their heads +and waddled away after Go-lat. + +"Good," cried Zu-tag. "We want no old shes to go with us to fight +the Gomangani for that is work for the fighters of the tribe." + +The old bulls paid no attention to his boastful words, but the eight +who had volunteered to accompany him were filled with self-pride so +that they stood around vaingloriously beating upon their breasts, +baring their fangs and screaming their hideous challenge until the +jungle reverberated to the horrid sound. + +All this time Bertha Kircher was a wide-eyed and terrified spectator to +what, as she thought, could end only in a terrific battle between +these frightful beasts, and when Zu-tag and his followers began +screaming forth their fearsome challenge, the girl found herself +trembling in terror, for of all the sounds of the jungle there is +none more awe inspiring than that of the great bull ape when he +issues his challenge or shrieks forth his victory cry. + +If she had been terrified before she was almost paralyzed with +fear now as she saw Zu-tag and his apes turn toward the boma and +approach her. With the agility of a cat Zu-tag leaped completely +over the protecting wall and stood before her. Valiantly she held +her spear before her, pointing it at his breast. He commenced to +jabber and gesticulate, and even with her scant acquaintance with +the ways of the anthropoids, she realized that he was not menacing +her, for there was little or no baring of fighting fangs and his +whole expression and attitude was of one attempting to explain a +knotty problem or plead a worthy cause. At last he became evidently +impatient, for with a sweep of one great paw he struck the spear +from her hand and coming close, seized her by the arm, but not +roughly. She shrank away in terror and yet some sense within her +seemed to be trying to assure her that she was in no danger from +this great beast. Zu-tag jabbered loudly, ever and again pointing +into the jungle toward the south and moving toward the boma, +pulling the girl with him. He seemed almost frantic in his efforts +to explain something to her. He pointed toward the boma, herself, +and then to the forest, and then, at last, as though by a sudden +inspiration, he reached down and, seizing the spear, repeatedly +touched it with his forefinger and again pointed toward the south. +Suddenly it dawned upon the girl that what the ape was trying +to explain to her was related in some way to the white man whose +property they thought she was. Possibly her grim protector was in +trouble and with this thought firmly established, she no longer +held back, but started forward as though to accompany the young +bull. At the point in the boma where Tarzan had blocked the entrance, +she started to pull away the thorn bushes, and, when Zu-tag saw +what she was doing, he fell to and assisted her so that presently +they had an opening through the boma through which she passed with +the great ape. + +Immediately Zu-tag and his eight apes started off rapidly toward +the jungle, so rapidly that Bertha Kircher would have had to run +at top speed to keep up with them. This she realized she could not +do, and so she was forced to lag behind, much to the chagrin of +Zu-tag, who constantly kept running back and urging her to greater +speed. Once he took her by the arm and tried to draw her along. +Her protests were of no avail since the beast could not know that +they were protests, nor did he desist until she caught her foot in +some tangled grass and fell to the ground. Then indeed was Zu-tag +furious and growled hideously. His apes were waiting at the edge +of the forest for him to lead them. He suddenly realized that this +poor weak she could not keep up with them and that if they traveled +at her slow rate they might be too late to render assistance to the +Tarmangani, and so without more ado, the giant anthropoid picked +Bertha Kircher bodily from the ground and swung her to his back. +Her arms were about his neck and in this position he seized her +wrists in one great paw so that she could not fall off and started +at a rapid rate to join his companions. + +Dressed as she was in riding breeches with no entangling skirts to +hinder or catch upon passing shrubbery, she soon found that she +could cling tightly to the back of the mighty bull and when a moment +later he took to the lower branches of the trees, she closed her +eyes and clung to him in terror lest she be precipitated to the +ground below. + +That journey through the primeval forest with the nine great apes +will live in the memory of Bertha Kircher for the balance of her +life, as clearly delineated as at the moment of its enactment. + +The first overwhelming wave of fear having passed, she was at last +able to open her eyes and view her surroundings with increased +interest and presently the sensation of terror slowly left her to +be replaced by one of comparative security when she saw the ease +and surety with which these great beasts traveled through the trees; +and later her admiration for the young bull increased as it became +evident that even burdened with her additional weight, he moved more +rapidly and with no greater signs of fatigue than his unburdened +fellows. + +Not once did Zu-tag pause until he came to a stop among the branches +of a tree no great distance from the native village. They could +hear the noises of the life within the palisade, the laughing and +shouting of the Negroes, and the barking of dogs, and through the +foliage the girl caught glimpses of the village from which she had +so recently escaped. She shuddered to think of the possibility of +having to return to it and of possible recapture, and she wondered +why Zu-tag had brought her here. + +Now the apes advanced slowly once more and with great caution, +moving as noiselessly through the trees as the squirrels themselves +until they had reached a point where they could easily overlook +the palisade and the village street below. + +Zu-tag squatted upon a great branch close to the bole of the tree +and by loosening the girl's arms from about his neck, indicated +that she was to find a footing for herself and when she had done +so, he turned toward her and pointed repeatedly at the open doorway +of a hut upon the opposite side of the street below them. By various +gestures he seemed to be trying to explain something to her and at +last she caught at the germ of his idea--that her white man was a +prisoner there. + +Beneath them was the roof of a hut onto which she saw that she +could easily drop, but what she could do after she had entered the +village was beyond her. + +Darkness was already falling and the fires beneath the cooking pots +had been lighted. The girl saw the stake in the village street and +the piles of fagots about it and in terror she suddenly realized +the portent of these grisly preparations. Oh, if she but only had +some sort of a weapon that might give her even a faint hope, some +slight advantage against the blacks. Then she would not hesitate +to venture into the village in an attempt to save the man who had +upon three different occasions saved her. She knew that he hated her +and yet strong within her breast burned the sense of her obligation +to him. She could not fathom him. Never in her life had she seen a +man at once so paradoxical and dependable. In many of his ways he +was more savage than the beasts with which he associated and yet, +on the other hand, he was as chivalrous as a knight of old. For +several days she had been lost with him in the jungle absolutely +at his mercy, yet she had come to trust so implicitly in his honor +that any fear she had had of him was rapidly disappearing. + +On the other hand, that he might be hideously cruel was evidenced +to her by the fact that he was planning to leave her alone in the +midst of the frightful dangers which menaced her by night and by +day. + +Zu-tag was evidently waiting for darkness to fall before carrying +out whatever plans had matured in his savage little brain, for he +and his fellows sat quietly in the tree about her, watching the +preparations of the blacks. Presently it became apparent that some +altercation had arisen among the Negroes, for a score or more of +them were gathered around one who appeared to be their chief, and +all were talking and gesticulating heatedly. The argument lasted +for some five or ten minutes when suddenly the little knot broke +and two warriors ran to the opposite side of the village from whence +they presently returned with a large stake which they soon set up +beside the one already in place. The girl wondered what the purpose +of the second stake might be, nor did she have long to wait for an +explanation. + +It was quite dark by this time, the village being lighted by the +fitful glare of many fires, and now she saw a number of warriors +approach and enter the hut Zu-tag had been watching. A moment later +they reappeared, dragging between them two captives, one of whom +the girl immediately recognized as her protector and the other as +an Englishman in the uniform of an aviator. This, then, was the +reason for the two stakes. + +Arising quickly she placed a hand upon Zu-tag's shoulder and pointed +down into the village. "Come," she said, as if she had been talking +to one of her own kind, and with the word she swung lightly to the +roof of the hut below. From there to the ground was but a short drop +and a moment later she was circling the hut upon the side farthest +from the fires, keeping in the dense shadows where there was little +likelihood of being discovered. She turned once to see that Zu-tag +was directly behind her and could see his huge bulk looming up +in the dark, while beyond was another one of his eight. Doubtless +they had all followed her and this fact gave her a greater sense +of security and hope than she had before experienced. + +Pausing beside the hut next to the street, she peered cautiously +about the corner. A few inches from her was the open doorway of the +structure, and beyond, farther down the village street, the blacks +were congregating about the prisoners, who were already being bound +to the stakes. All eyes were centered upon the victims, and there +was only the remotest chance that she and her companions would +be discovered until they were close upon the blacks. She wished, +however, that she might have some sort of a weapon with which to +lead the attack, for she could not know, of course, for a certainty +whether the great apes would follow her or not. Hoping that she +might find something within the hut, she slipped quickly around +the corner and into the doorway and after her, one by one, came +the nine bulls. Searching quickly about the interior, she presently +discovered a spear, and, armed with this, she again approached the +entrance. + +Tarzan of the Apes and Lieutenant Harold Percy SmithOldwick were +bound securely to their respective stakes. Neither had spoken for +some time. The Englishman turned his head so that he could see his +companion in misery. Tarzan stood straight against his stake. His +face was entirely expressionless in so far as either fear or anger +were concerned. His countenance portrayed bored indifference though +both men knew that they were about to be tortured. + +"Good-bye, old top," whispered the young lieutenant. + +Tarzan turned his eyes in the direction of the other and smiled. +"Good-bye," he said. "If you want to get it over in a hurry, inhale +the smoke and flames as rapidly as you can." + +"Thanks," replied the aviator and though he made a wry face, he +drew himself up very straight and squared his shoulders. + +The women and children had seated themselves in a wide circle about +the victims while the warriors, hideously painted, were forming +slowly to commence the dance of death. Again Tarzan turned to his +companion. "If you'd like to spoil their fun," he said, "don't +make any fuss no matter how much you suffer. If you can carry on to +the end without changing the expression upon your face or uttering +a single word, you will deprive them of all the pleasures of this +part of the entertainment. Good-bye again and good luck." + +The young Englishman made no reply but it was evident from the set +of his jaws that the Negroes would get little enjoyment out of him. + +The warriors were circling now. Presently Numabo would draw first +blood with his sharp spear which would be the signal for the +beginning of the torture after a little of which the fagots would +be lighted around the feet of the victims. + +Closer and closer danced the hideous chief, his yellow, sharp-filed +teeth showing in the firelight between his thick, red lips. Now +bending double, now stamping furiously upon the ground, now leaping +into the air, he danced step by step in the narrowing circle that +would presently bring him within spear reach of the intended feast. + +At last the spear reached out and touched the ape-man on the +breast and when it came away, a little trickle of blood ran down +the smooth, brown hide and almost simultaneously there broke from +the outer periphery of the expectant audience a woman's shriek which +seemed a signal for a series of hideous screamings, growlings and +barkings, and a great commotion upon that side of the circle. The +victims could not see the cause of the disturbance, but Tarzan did +not have to see, for he knew by the voices of the apes the identity +of the disturbers. He only wondered what had brought them and what +the purpose of the attack, for he could not believe that they had +come to rescue him. + +Numabo and his warriors broke quickly from the circle of their dance +to see pushing toward them through the ranks of their screaming +and terrified people the very white girl who had escaped them a +few nights before, and at her back what appeared to their surprised +eyes a veritable horde of the huge and hairy forest men upon whom +they looked with considerable fear and awe. + +Striking to right and left with his heavy fists, tearing with +his great fangs, came Zu-tag, the young bull, while at his heels, +emulating his example, surged his hideous apes. Quickly they came +through the old men and the women and children, for straight toward +Numabo and his warriors the girl led them. It was then that they +came within range of Tarzan's vision and he saw with unmixed surprise +who it was that led the apes to his rescue. + +To Zu-tag he shouted: "Go for the big bulls while the she unbinds +me," and to Bertha Kircher: "Quick! Cut these bonds. The apes will +take care of the blacks." + +Turning from her advance the girl ran to his side. She had no knife +and the bonds were tied tightly but she worked quickly and coolly +and as Zu-tag and his apes closed with the warriors, she succeeded +in loosening Tarzan's bonds sufficiently to permit him to extricate +his own hands so that in another minute he had freed himself. + +"Now unbind the Englishman," he cried, and, leaping forward, ran +to join Zu-tag and his fellows in their battle against the blacks. +Numabo and his warriors, realizing now the relatively small numbers +of the apes against them, had made a determined stand and with +spears and other weapons were endeavoring to overcome the invaders. +Three of the apes were already down, killed or mortally wounded, +when Tarzan, realizing that the battle must eventually go against +the apes unless some means could be found to break the morale of +the Negroes, cast about him for some means of bringing about the +desired end. And suddenly his eye lighted upon a number of weapons +which he knew would accomplish the result. A grim smile touched +his lips as he snatched a vessel of boiling water from one of the +fires and hurled it full in the faces of the warriors. Screaming +with terror and pain they fell back though Numabo urged them to +rush forward. + +Scarcely had the first cauldron of boiling water spilled its +contents upon them ere Tarzan deluged them with a second, nor was +there any third needed to send them shrieking in every direction +to the security of their huts. + +By the time Tarzan had recovered his own weapons the girl had released +the young Englishman, and, with the six remaining apes, the three +Europeans moved slowly toward the village gate, the aviator arming +himself with a spear discarded by one of the scalded warriors, as +they eagerly advanced toward the outer darkness. + +Numabo was unable to rally the now thoroughly terrified and +painfully burned warriors so that rescued and rescuers passed out +of the village into the blackness of the jungle without further +interference. + +Tarzan strode through the jungle in silence. Beside him walked Zu-tag, +the great ape, and behind them strung the surviving anthropoids +followed by Fraulein Bertha Kircher and Lieutenant Harold Percy +Smith-Oldwick, the latter a thoroughly astonished and mystified +Englishman. + +In all his life Tarzan of the Apes had been obliged to acknowledge +but few obligations. He won his way through his savage world by the +might of his own muscle, the superior keenness of his five senses +and his God-given power to reason. Tonight the greatest of +all obligations had been placed upon him--his life had been saved +by another and Tarzan shook his head and growled, for it had been +saved by one whom he hated above all others. + + + + + +Finding the Airplane + + + + +Tarzan of the Apes, returning from a successful hunt, with the +body of Bara, the deer, across one sleek, brown shoulder, paused +in the branches of a great tree at the edge of a clearing and gazed +ruefully at two figures walking from the river to the boma-encircled +hut a short distance away. + +The ape-man shook his tousled head and sighed. His eyes wandered +toward the west and his thoughts to the far-away cabin by the +land-locked harbor of the great water that washed the beach of his +boyhood home--to the cabin of his long-dead father to which the +memories and treasures of a happy childhood lured him. Since the +loss of his mate, a great longing had possessed him to return to +the haunts of his youth--to the untracked jungle wilderness where +he had lived the life he loved best long before man had invaded +the precincts of his wild stamping grounds. There he hoped in a +renewal of the old life under the old conditions to win surcease +from sorrow and perhaps some measure of forgetfulness. + +But the little cabin and the land-locked harbor were many long, +weary marches away, and he was handicapped by the duty which he +felt he owed to the two figures walking in the clearing before him. +One was a young man in a worn and ragged uniform of the British Royal +Air Forces, the other, a young woman in the even more disreputable +remnants of what once had been trim riding togs. + +A freak of fate had thrown these three radically different types +together. One was a savage, almost naked beast-man, one an English +army officer, and the woman, she whom the ape-man knew and hated +as a German spy. + +How he was to get rid of them Tarzan could not imagine unless +he accompanied them upon the weary march back to the east coast, +a march that would necessitate his once more retracing the long, +weary way he already had covered towards his goal, yet what else +could be done? These two had neither the strength, endurance, nor +jungle-craft to accompany him through the unknown country to the +west, nor did he wish them with him. The man he might have tolerated, +but he could not even consider the presence of the girl in the +far-off cabin, which had in a way become sacred to him through +its memories, without a growl or anger rising to his lips. There +remained, then, but the one way, since he could not desert them. +He must move by slow and irksome marches back to the east coast, +or at least to the first white settlement in that direction. + +He had, it is true, contemplated leaving the girl to her fate but +that was before she had been instrumental in saving him from torture +and death at the hands of the black Wamabos. He chafed under the +obligation she had put upon him, but no less did he acknowledge +it and as he watched the two, the rueful expression upon his face +was lightened by a smile as he thought of the helplessness of them. +What a puny thing, indeed, was man! How ill equipped to combat the +savage forces of nature and of nature's jungle. Why, even the tiny +balu of the tribe of Go-lat, the great ape, was better fitted to +survive than these, for a balu could at least escape the numerous +creatures that menaced its existence, while with the possible +exception of Kota, the tortoise, none moved so slowly as did helpless +and feeble man. + +Without him these two doubtless would starve in the midst of plenty, +should they by some miracle escape the other forces of destruction +which constantly threatened them. That morning Tarzan had brought +them fruit, nuts, and plantain, and now he was bringing them the +flesh of his kill, while the best that they might do was to fetch +water from the river. Even now, as they walked across the clearing +toward the boma, they were in utter ignorance of the presence +of Tarzan near them. They did not know that his sharp eyes were +watching them, nor that other eyes less friendly were glaring at +them from a clump of bushes close beside the boma entrance. They +did not know these things, but Tarzan did. No more than they could +he see the creature crouching in the concealment of the foliage, yet +he knew that it was there and what it was and what its intentions, +precisely as well as though it had been lying in the open. + +A slight movement of the leaves at the top of a single stem had +apprised him of the presence of a creature there, for the movement +was not that imparted by the wind. It came from pressure at the +bottom of the stem which communicates a different movement to the +leaves than does the wind passing among them, as anyone who has +lived his lifetime in the jungle well knows, and the same wind that +passed through the foliage of the bush brought to the ape-man's +sensitive nostrils indisputable evidence of the fact that Sheeta, +the panther, waited there for the two returning from the river. + +They had covered half the distance to the boma entrance when Tarzan +called to them to stop. They looked in surprise in the direction +from which his voice had come to see him drop lightly to the ground +and advance toward them. + +"Come slowly toward me," he called to them. "Do not run for if you +run Sheeta will charge." + +They did as he bid, their faces filled with questioning wonderment. + +"What do you mean?" asked the young Englishman. "Who is Sheeta?" +but for answer the ape-man suddenly hurled the carcass of Bara, the +deer, to the ground and leaped quickly toward them, his eyes upon +something in their rear; and then it was that the two turned and +learned the identity of Sheeta, for behind them was a devil-faced +cat charging rapidly toward them. + +Sheeta with rising anger and suspicion had seen the ape-man leap +from the tree and approach the quarry. His life's experiences backed +by instinct told him that the Tarmangani was about to rob him of +his prey and as Sheeta was hungry, he had no intention of being +thus easily deprived of the flesh he already considered his own. + +The girl stifled an involuntary scream as she saw the proximity +of the fanged fury bearing down upon them. She shrank close to the +man and clung to him and all unarmed and defenseless as he was, the +Englishman pushed her behind him and shielding her with his body, +stood squarely in the face of the panther's charge. Tarzan noted +the act, and though accustomed as he was to acts of courage, he +experienced a thrill from the hopeless and futile bravery of the +man. + +The charging panther moved rapidly, and the distance which separated +the bush in which he had concealed himself from the objects of his +desire was not great. In the time that one might understandingly +read a dozen words the strong-limbed cat could have covered the +entire distance and made his kill, yet if Sheeta was quick, quick +too was Tarzan. The English lieutenant saw the ape-man flash by him +like the wind. He saw the great cat veer in his charge as though +to elude the naked savage rushing to meet him, as it was evidently +Sheeta's intention to make good his kill before attempting to +protect it from Tarzan. + +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick saw these things and then with increasing +wonder he saw the ape-man swerve, too, and leap for the spotted cat +as a football player leaps for a runner. He saw the strong, brown +arms encircling the body of the carnivore, the left arm in front +of the beast's left shoulder and the right arm behind his right +foreleg, and with the impact the two together rolling over and over +upon the turf. He heard the snarls and growls of bestial combat, +and it was with a feeling of no little horror that he realized that +the sounds coming from the human throat of the battling man could +scarce be distinguished from those of the panther. + +The first momentary shock of terror over, the girl released her +grasp upon the Englishman's arm. "Cannot we do something?" she +asked. "Cannot we help him before the beast kills him?" + +The Englishman looked upon the ground for some missile with which +to attack the panther and then the girl uttered an exclamation and +started at a run toward the hut. "Wait there," she called over her +shoulder. "I will fetch the spear that he left me." + +Smith-Oldwick saw the raking talons of the panther searching for +the flesh of the man and the man on his part straining every muscle +and using every artifice to keep his body out of range of them. The +muscles of his arms knotted under the brown hide. The veins stood +out upon his neck and forehead as with ever-increasing power he +strove to crush the life from the great cat. The ape-man's teeth +were fastened in the back of Sheeta's neck and now he succeeded +in encircling the beast's torso with his legs which he crossed and +locked beneath the cat's belly. Leaping and snarling, Sheeta sought +to dislodge the ape-man's hold upon him. He hurled himself upon +the ground and rolled over and over. He reared upon his hind legs +and threw himself backwards but always the savage creature upon +his back clung tenaciously to him, and always the mighty brown arms +crushed tighter and tighter about his chest. + +And then the girl, panting from her quick run, returned with the +short spear Tarzan had left her as her sole weapon of protection. +She did not wait to hand it to the Englishman who ran forward to +receive it, but brushed past him and leaped into close quarters +beside the growling, tumbling mass of yellow fur and smooth brown +hide. Several times she attempted to press the point home into +the cat's body, but on both occasions the fear of endangering the +ape-man caused her to desist, but at last the two lay motionless +for a moment as the carnivore sought a moment's rest from the +strenuous exertions of battle, and then it was that Bertha Kircher +pressed the point of the spear to the tawny side and drove it deep +into the savage heart. + +Tarzan rose from the dead body of Sheeta and shook himself after +the manner of beasts that are entirely clothed with hair. Like +many other of his traits and mannerisms this was the result of +environment rather than heredity or reversion, and even though he +was outwardly a man, the Englishman and the girl were both impressed +with the naturalness of the act. It was as though Numa, emerging +from a fight, had shaken himself to straighten his rumpled mane and +coat, and yet, too, there was something uncanny about it as there +had been when the savage growls and hideous snarls issued from +those clean-cut lips. + +Tarzan looked at the girl, a quizzical expression upon his face. +Again had she placed him under obligations to her, and Tarzan of +the Apes did not wish to be obligated to a German spy; yet in his +honest heart he could not but admit a certain admiration for her +courage, a trait which always greatly impressed the ape-man, he +himself the personification of courage. + +"Here is the kill," he said, picking the carcass of Bara from the +ground. "You will want to cook your portion, I presume, but Tarzan +does not spoil his meat with fire." + +They followed him to the boma where he cut several pieces of meat +from the carcass for them, retaining a joint for himself. The +young lieutenant prepared a fire, and the girl presided over the +primitive culinary rights of their simple meal. As she worked some +little way apart from them, the lieutenant and the ape-man watched +her. + +"She is wonderful. Is she not?" murmured Smith-Oldwick. + +"She is a German and a spy," replied Tarzan. + +The Englishman turned quickly upon him. "What do you mean?" he +cried. + +"I mean what I say," replied the ape-man. "She is a German and a +spy." + +"I do not believe it!" exclaimed the aviator. + +"You do not have to," Tarzan assured him. "It is nothing to me +what you believe. I saw her in conference with the Boche general +and his staff at the camp near Taveta. They all knew her and called +her by name and she handed him a paper. The next time I saw her +she was inside the British lines in disguise, and again I saw her +bearing word to a German officer at Wilhelmstal. She is a German +and a spy, but she is a woman and therefore I cannot destroy her." + +"You really believe that what you say is true?" asked the young +lieutenant. "My God! I cannot believe it. She is so sweet and brave +and good." + +The ape-man shrugged his shoulders. "She is brave," he said, "but +even Pamba, the rat, must have some good quality, but she is what +I have told you and therefore I hate her and you should hate her." + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick buried his face in his hands. +"God forgive me," he said at last. "I cannot hate her." + +The ape-man cast a contemptuous look at his companion and arose. +"Tarzan goes again to hunt," he said. "You have enough food for +two days. By that time he will return." + +The two watched him until he had disappeared in the foliage of the +trees at the further side of the clearing. + +When he had gone the girl felt a vague sense of apprehension that +she never experienced when Tarzan was present. The invisible menaces +lurking in the grim jungle seemed more real and much more imminent +now that the ape-man was no longer near. While he had been there +talking with them, the little thatched hut and its surrounding +thorn boma had seemed as safe a place as the world might afford. +She wished that he had remained--two days seemed an eternity in +contemplation-two days of constant fear, two days, every moment of +which would be fraught with danger. She turned toward her companion. + +"I wish that he had remained," she said. "I always feel so much +safer when he is near. He is very grim and very terrible, and yet +I feel safer with him than with any man I ever have known. He seems +to dislike me and yet I know that he would let no harm befall me. +I cannot understand him." + +"Neither do I understand him," replied the Englishman; "but I know +this much--our presence here is interfering with his plans. He would +like to be rid of us, and I half imagine that he rather hopes to +find when he returns that we have succumbed to one of the dangers +which must always confront us in this savage land. + +"I think that we should try to return to the white settlements. This +man does not want us here, nor is it reasonable to assume that we +could long survive in such a savage wilderness. I have traveled and +hunted in several parts of Africa, but never have I seen or heard +of any single locality so overrun with savage beasts and dangerous +natives. If we set out for the east coast at once we would be in +but little more danger than we are here, and if we could survive +a day's march, I believe that we will find the means of reaching +the coast in a few hours, for my plane must still be in the same +place that I landed just before the blacks captured me. Of course +there is no one here who could operate it nor is there any reason +why they should have destroyed it. As a matter of fact, the natives +would be so fearful and suspicious of so strange and incomprehensible +a thing that the chances are they would not dare approach it. Yes, +it must be where I left it and all ready to carry us safely to the +settlements." + +"But we cannot leave," said the girl, "until he returns. We could +not go away like that without thanking him or bidding him farewell. +We are under too great obligations to him." + +The man looked at her in silence for a moment. He wondered if +she knew how Tarzan felt toward her and then he himself began to +speculate upon the truth of the ape-man's charges. The longer he +looked at the girl, the less easy was it to entertain the thought +that she was an enemy spy. He was upon the point of asking +her point-blank but he could not bring himself to do so, finally +determining to wait until time and longer acquaintance should reveal +the truth or falsity of the accusation. + +"I believe," he said as though there had been no pause in their +conversation, "that the man would be more than glad to find us +gone when he returns. It is not necessary to jeopardize our lives +for two more days in order that we may thank him, however much +we may appreciate his services to us. You have more than balanced +your obligations to him and from what he told me I feel that you +especially should not remain here longer." + +The girl looked up at him in astonishment. "What do you mean?" she +asked. + +"I do not like to tell," said the Englishman, digging nervously at +the turf with the point of a stick, "but you have my word that he +would rather you were not here." + +"Tell me what he said," she insisted, "I have a right to know." + +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick squared his shoulders and raised his eyes +to those of the girl. "He said that he hated you," he blurted. "He +has only aided you at all from a sense of duty because you are a +woman." + +The girl paled and then flushed. "I will be ready to go," she said, +"in just a moment. We had better take some of this meat with us. +There is no telling when we will be able to get more." + +And so the two set out down the river toward the south. The man +carried the short spear that Tarzan had left with the girl, while +she was entirely unarmed except for a stick she had picked up from +among those left after the building of the hut. Before departing +she had insisted that the man leave a note for Tarzan thanking him +for his care of them and bidding him goodbye. This they left pinned +to the inside wall of the hut with a little sliver of wood. + +It was necessary that they be constantly on the alert since they +never knew what might confront them at the next turn of the winding +jungle trail or what might lie concealed in the tangled bushes at +either side. There was also the ever-present danger of meeting some +of Numabo's black warriors and as the village lay directly in their +line of march, there was the necessity for making a wide detour +before they reached it in order to pass around it without being +discovered. + +"I am not so much afraid of the native blacks," said the girl, "as +I am of Usanga and his people. He and his men were all attached +to a German native regiment. They brought me along with them when +they deserted, either with the intention of holding me ransom or +selling me into the harem of one of the black sultans of the north. +Usanga is much more to be feared than Numabo for he has had the +advantage of European military training and is armed with more or +less modern weapons and ammunition." + +"It is lucky for me," remarked the Englishman, "that it was the +ignorant Numabo who discovered and captured me rather than the +worldly wise Usanga. He would have felt less fear of the giant +flying machine and would have known only too well how to wreck it." + +"Let us pray that the black sergeant has not discovered it," said +the girl. + +They made their way to a point which they guessed was about a mile +above the village, then they turned into the trackless tangle of +undergrowth to the east. So dense was the verdure at many points +that it was with the utmost difficulty they wormed their way through, +sometimes on hands and knees and again by clambering over numerous +fallen tree trunks. Interwoven with dead limbs and living branches +were the tough and ropelike creepers which formed a tangled network +across their path. + +South of them in an open meadowland a number of black warriors were +gathered about an object which elicited much wondering comment. The +blacks were clothed in fragments of what had once been uniforms of +a native German command. They were a most unlovely band and chief +among them in authority and repulsiveness was the black sergeant +Usanga. The object of their interest was a British aeroplane. + +Immediately after the Englishman had been brought to Numabo's village +Usanga had gone out in search of the plane, prompted partially by +curiosity and partially by an intention to destroy it, but when he +had found it, some new thought had deterred him from carrying out +his design. The thing represented considerable value as he well +knew and it had occurred to him that in some way he might turn his +prize to profit. Every day he had returned to it, and while at +first it had filled him with considerable awe, he eventually came +to look upon it with the accustomed eye of a proprietor, so that +he now clambered into the fuselage and even advanced so far as to +wish that he might learn to operate it. + +What a feat it would be indeed to fly like a bird far above the +highest tree top! How it would fill his less favored companions +with awe and admiration! If Usanga could but fly, so great would be +the respect of all the tribesmen throughout the scattered villages +of the great interior, they would look upon him as little less than +a god. + +Usanga rubbed his palms together and smacked his thick lips. Then +indeed, would he be very rich, for all the villages would pay +tribute to him and he could even have as many as a dozen wives. +With that thought, however, came a mental picture of Naratu, the +black termagant, who ruled him with an iron hand. Usanga made a +wry face and tried to forget the extra dozen wives, but the lure of +the idea remained and appealed so strongly to him that he presently +found himself reasoning most logically that a god would not be much +of a god with less than twenty-four wives. + +He fingered the instruments and the control, half hoping and half +fearing that he would alight upon the combination that would put +the machine in flight. Often had he watched the British air-men +soaring above the German lines and it looked so simple he was quite +sure that he could do it himself if there was somebody who could +but once show him how. There was, of course, always the hope that +the white man who came in the machine and who had escaped from +Numabo's village might fall into Usanga's hands and then indeed +would he be able to learn how to fly. It was in this hope that +Usanga spent so much time in the vicinity of the plane, reasoning +as he did that eventually the white man would return in search of +it. + +And at last he was rewarded, for upon this very day after he had +quit the machine and entered the jungle with his warriors, he heard +voices to the north and when he and his men had hidden in the dense +foliage upon either side of the trail, Usanga was presently filled +with elation by the appearance of the British officer and the white +girl whom the black sergeant had coveted and who had escaped him. + +The Negro could scarce restrain a shout of elation, for he had not +hoped that fate would be so kind as to throw these two whom he most +desired into his power at the same time. + +As the two came down the trail all unconscious of impending danger, +the man was explaining that they must be very close to the point +at which the plane had landed. Their entire attention was centered +on the trail directly ahead of them, as they momentarily expected +it to break into the meadowland where they were sure they would +see the plane that would spell life and liberty for them. + +The trail was broad, and they were walking side by side so that at +a sharp turn the park-like clearing was revealed to them simultaneously +with the outlines of the machine they sought. + +Exclamations of relief and delight broke from their lips, and at +the same instant Usanga and his black warriors rose from the bushes +all about them. + + + + + +The Black Flier + + + + +The girl was almost crushed by terror and disappointment. To have +been thus close to safety and then to have all hope snatched away +by a cruel stroke of fate seemed unendurable. The man was disappointed, +too, but more was he angry. He noted the remnants of the uniforms +upon the blacks and immediately he demanded to know where were +their officers. + +"They cannot understand you," said the girl and so in the bastard +tongue that is the medium of communication between the Germans and +the blacks of their colony, she repeated the white man's question. + +Usanga grinned. "You know where they are, white woman," he replied. +"They are dead, and if this white man does not do as I tell him, +he, too, will be dead." + +"What do you want of him?" asked the girl. + +"I want him to teach me how to fly like a bird," replied Usanga. + +Bertha Kircher looked her astonishment, but repeated the demand to +the lieutenant. + +The Englishman meditated for a moment. "He wants to learn to fly, +does he?" he repeated. "Ask him if he will give us our freedom if +I teach him to fly." + +The girl put the question to Usanga, who, degraded, cunning, and +entirely unprincipled, was always perfectly willing to promise +anything whether he had any intentions of fulfilling his promises +or not, and so immediately assented to the proposition. + +"Let the white man teach me to fly," he said, "and I will take you +back close to the settlements of your people, but in return for +this I shall keep the great bird," and he waved a black hand in +the direction of the aeroplane. + +When Bertha Kircher had repeated Usanga's proposition to the +aviator, the latter shrugged his shoulders and with a wry face +finally agreed. "I fancy there is no other way out of it," he said. +"In any event the plane is lost to the British government. If I +refuse the black scoundrel's request, there is no doubt but what +he will make short work of me with the result that the machine will +lie here until it rots. If I accept his offer it will at least be +the means of assuring your safe return to civilization and that" +he added, "is worth more to me than all the planes in the British +Air Service." + +The girl cast a quick glance at him. These were the first words he +had addressed to her that might indicate that his sentiments toward +her were more than those of a companion in distress. She regretted +that he had spoken as he had and he, too, regretted it almost +instantly as he saw the shadow cross her face and realized that +he had unwittingly added to the difficulties of her already almost +unbearable situation. + +"Forgive me," he said quickly. "Please forget what that remark +implied. I promise you that I will not offend again, if it does +offend you, until after we are both safely out of this mess." + +She smiled and thanked him, but the thing had been said and could +never be unsaid, and Bertha Kircher knew even more surely than as +though he had fallen upon his knees and protested undying devotion +that the young English officer loved her. + +Usanga was for taking his first lesson in aviation immediately. The +Englishman attempted to dissuade him, but immediately the black +became threatening and abusive, since, like all those who are +ignorant, he was suspicious that the intentions of others were +always ulterior unless they perfectly coincided with his wishes. + +"All right, old top," muttered the Englishman, "I will give you +the lesson of your life," and then turning to the girl: "Persuade +him to let you accompany us. I shall be afraid to leave you here +with these devilish scoundrels." But when she put the suggestion +to Usanga the black immediately suspected some plan to thwart +him--possibly to carry him against his will back to the German +masters he had traitorously deserted, and glowering at her savagely, +he obstinately refused to entertain the suggestion. + +"The white woman will remain here with my people," he said. "They +will not harm her unless you fail to bring me back safely." + +"Tell him," said the Englishman, "that if you are not standing in +plain sight in this meadow when I return, I will not land, but will +carry Usanga back to the British camp and have him hanged." + +Usanga promised that the girl would be in evidence upon their +return, and took immediate steps to impress upon his warriors that +under penalty of death they must not harm her. Then, followed +by the other members of his party, he crossed the clearing toward +the plane with the Englishman. Once seated within what he already +considered his new possession, the black's courage began to wane +and when the motor was started and the great propeller commenced +to whir, he screamed to the Englishman to stop the thing and permit +him to alight, but the aviator could neither hear nor understand +the black above the noise of the propeller and exhaust. By this +time the plane was moving along the ground and even then Usanga was +upon the verge of leaping out, and would have done so had he been +able to unfasten the strap from about his waist. Then the plane rose +from the ground and in a moment soared gracefully in a wide circle +until it topped the trees. The black sergeant was in a veritable +collapse of terror. He saw the earth dropping rapidly from beneath +him. He saw the trees and river and at a distance the little clearing +with the thatched huts of Numabo's village. He tried hard not to +think of the results of a sudden fall to the rapidly receding ground +below. He attempted to concentrate his mind upon the twenty-four +wives which this great bird most assuredly would permit him to +command. Higher and higher rose the plane, swinging in a wide circle +above the forest, river, and meadowland and presently, much to his +surprise, Usanga discovered that his terror was rapidly waning, so +that it was not long before there was forced upon him a consciousness +of utter security, and then it was that he began to take notice of +the manner in which the white man guided and manipulated the plane. + +After half an hour of skillful maneuvering, the Englishman rose +rapidly to a considerable altitude, and then, suddenly, without +warning, he looped and flew with the plane inverted for a few +seconds. + +"I said I'd give this beggar the lesson of his life," he murmured as +he heard, even above the whir of the propeller, the shriek of the +terrified Negro. A moment later Smith-Oldwick had righted the machine +and was dropping rapidly toward the earth. He circled slowly a few +times above the meadow until he had assured himself that Bertha +Kircher was there and apparently unharmed, then he dropped gently +to the ground so that the machine came to a stop a short distance +from where the girl and the warriors awaited them. + +It was a trembling and ashen-hued Usanga who tumbled out of the +fuselage, for his nerves were still on edge as a result of the +harrowing experience of the loop, yet with terra firma once more +under foot, he quickly regained his composure. Strutting about +with great show and braggadocio, he strove to impress his followers +with the mere nothingness of so trivial a feat as flying birdlike +thousands of yards above the jungle, though it was long until he +had thoroughly convinced himself by the force of autosuggestion +that he had enjoyed every instant of the flight and was already +far advanced in the art of aviation. + +So jealous was the black of his new-found toy that he would not +return to the village of Numabo, but insisted on making camp close +beside the plane, lest in some inconceivable fashion it should be +stolen from him. For two days they camped there, and constantly +during daylight hours Usanga compelled the Englishman to instruct +him in the art of flying. + +Smith-Oldwick, in recalling the long months of arduous training he +had undergone himself before he had been considered sufficiently +adept to be considered a finished flier, smiled at the conceit of +the ignorant African who was already demanding that he be permitted +to make a flight alone. + +"If it was not for losing the machine," the Englishman explained to +the girl, "I'd let the bounder take it up and break his fool neck +as he would do inside of two minutes." + +However, he finally persuaded Usanga to bide his time for a few +more days of instruction, but in the suspicious mind of the Negro +there was a growing conviction that the white man's advice was prompted +by some ulterior motive; that it was in the hope of escaping with +the machine himself by night that he refused to admit that Usanga +was entirely capable of handling it alone and therefore in no further +need of help or instruction, and so in the mind of the black there +formed a determination to outwit the white man. The lure of the +twenty-four seductive wives proved in itself a sufficient incentive +and there, too, was added his desire for the white girl whom he +had long since determined to possess. + +It was with these thoughts in mind that Usanga lay down to sleep +in the evening of the second day. Constantly, however, the thought +of Naratu and her temper arose to take the keen edge from his pleasant +imaginings. If he could but rid himself of her! The thought having +taken form persisted, but always it was more than outweighed by the +fact that the black sergeant was actually afraid of his woman, so +much afraid of her in fact that he would not have dared to attempt +to put her out of the way unless he could do so secretly while +she slept. However, as one plan after another was conjured by the +strength of his desires, he at last hit upon one which came to him +almost with the force of a blow and brought him sitting upright +among his sleeping companions. + +When morning dawned Usanga could scarce wait for an opportunity to +put his scheme into execution, and the moment that he had eaten, +he called several of his warriors aside and talked with them for +some moments. + +The Englishman, who usually kept an eye upon his black captor, +saw now that the latter was explaining something in detail to his +warriors, and from his gestures and his manner it was apparent that +he was persuading them to some new plan as well as giving them +instructions as to what they were to do. Several times, too, he +saw the eyes of the Negroes turned upon him and once they flashed +simultaneously toward the white girl. + +Everything about the occurrence, which in itself seemed trivial enough, +aroused in the mind of the Englishman a well-defined apprehension +that something was afoot that boded ill for him and for the girl. +He could not free himself of the idea and so he kept a still closer +watch over the black although, as he was forced to admit to himself, +he was quite powerless to avert any fate that lay in store for +them. Even the spear that he had had when captured had been taken +away from him, so that now he was unarmed and absolutely at the +mercy of the black sergeant and his followers. + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick did not have long to wait +before discovering something of Usanga's plan, for almost immediately +after the sergeant finished giving his instructions, a number of +warriors approached the Englishman, while three went directly to +the girl. + +Without a word of explanation the warriors seized the young officer +and threw him to the ground upon his face. For a moment he struggled +to free himself and succeeded in landing a few heavy blows among +his assailants, but he was too greatly outnumbered to hope to more +than delay them in the accomplishment of their object which he +soon discovered was to bind him securely hand and foot. When they +had finally secured him to their satisfaction, they rolled him +over on his side and then it was he saw Bertha Kircher had been +similarly trussed. + +Smith-Oldwick lay in such a position that he could see nearly the +entire expanse of meadow and the aeroplane a short distance away. +Usanga was talking to the girl who was shaking her head in vehement +negatives. + +"What is he saying?" called the Englishman. + +"He is going to take me away in the plane," the girl called back. +"He is going to take me farther inland to another country where +he says that he will be king and I am to be one of his wives," and +then to the Englishman's surprise she turned a smiling face toward +him, "but there is no danger," she continued, "for we shall both +be dead within a few minutes--just give him time enough to get +the machine under way, and if he can rise a hundred feet from the +ground I shall never need fear him more." + +"God!" cried the man. "Is there no way that you can dissuade him? +Promise him anything. Anything that you want. I have money, more +money than that poor fool could imagine there was in the whole +world. With it he can buy anything that money will purchase, fine +clothes and food and women, all the women he wants. Tell him this +and tell him that if he will spare you I give him my word that I +will fetch it all to him." + +The girl shook her head. "It is useless," she said. "He would not +understand and if he did understand, he would not trust you. The +blacks are so unprincipled themselves that they can imagine no +such thing as principle or honor in others, and especially do these +blacks distrust an Englishman whom the Germans have taught them to +believe are the most treacherous and degraded of people. No, it is +better thus. I am sorry that you cannot go with us, for if he goes +high enough my death will be much easier than that which probably +awaits you." + +Usanga had been continually interrupting their brief conversation +in an attempt to compel the girl to translate it to him, for he +feared that they were concocting some plan to thwart him, and to +quiet and appease him, she told him that the Englishman was merely +bidding her farewell and wishing her good luck. Suddenly she turned +to the black. "Will you do something for me?" she asked. "If I go +willingly with you?" + +"What is it you want?" he inquired. + +"Tell your men to free the white man after we are gone. He can +never catch us. That is all I ask of you. If you will grant him +his freedom and his life, I will go willingly with you. + +"You will go with me anyway," growled Usanga. "It is nothing to +me whether you go willingly or not. I am going to be a great king +and you will do whatever I tell you to do." + +He had in mind that he would start properly with this woman. There +should be no repetition of his harrowing experience with Naratu. +This wife and the twenty-four others should be carefully selected +and well trained. Hereafter Usanga would be master in his own house. + +Bertha Kircher saw that it was useless to appeal to the brute +and so she held her peace though she was filled with sorrow in +contemplating the fate that awaited the young officer, scarce more +than a boy, who had impulsively revealed his love for her. + +At Usanga's order one of the blacks lifted her from the ground and +carried her to the machine, and after Usanga had clambered aboard, +they lifted her up and he reached down and drew her into the fuselage +where he removed the thongs from her wrists and strapped her into +her seat and then took his own directly ahead of her. + +The girl turned her eyes toward the Englishman. She was very pale +but her lips smiled bravely. + +"Good-bye!" she cried. + +"Good-bye, and God bless you!" he called back--his voice the least +bit husky--and then: "The thing I wanted to say-may I say it now, +we are so very near the end?" + +Her lips moved but whether they voiced consent or refusal he did +not know, for the words were drowned in the whir of the propeller. + +The black had learned his lesson sufficiently well so that the +motor was started without bungling and the machine was soon under +way across the meadowland. A groan escaped the lips of the distracted +Englishman as he watched the woman he loved being carried to almost +certain death. He saw the plane tilt and the machine rise from +the ground. It was a good take-off--as good as Lieutenant Harold +Percy Smith-Oldwick could make himself but he realized that it was +only so by chance. At any instant the machine might plunge to earth +and even if, by some miracle of chance, the black could succeed +in rising above the tree tops and make a successful flight, there +was not one chance in one hundred thousand that he could ever land +again without killing his fair captive and himself. + +But what was that? His heart stood still. + + + + + +Usanga's Reward + + + + +For two days Tarzan of the Apes had been hunting leisurely to the +north, and swinging in a wide circle, he had returned to within +a short distance of the clearing where he had left Bertha Kircher +and the young lieutenant. He had spent the night in a large tree +that overhung the river only a short distance from the clearing, +and now in the early morning hours he was crouching at the water's +edge waiting for an opportunity to capture Pisah, the fish, thinking +that he would take it back with him to the hut where the girl could +cook it for herself and her companion. + +Motionless as a bronze statue was the wily ape-man, for well he knew +how wary is Pisah, the fish. The slightest movement would frighten +him away and only by infinite patience might he be captured at +all. Tarzan depended upon his own quickness and the suddenness of +his attack, for he had no bait or hook. His knowledge of the ways +of the denizens of the water told him where to wait for Pisah. It +might be a minute or it might be an hour before the fish would swim +into the little pool above which he crouched, but sooner or later +one would come. That the ape-man knew, so with the patience of the +beast of prey he waited for his quarry. + +At last there was a glint of shiny scales. Pisah was coming. In a +moment he would be within reach and then with the swiftness of light +two strong, brown hands would plunge into the pool and seize him, +but, just at the moment that the fish was about to come within reach, +there was a great crashing in the underbrush behind the ape-man. +Instantly Pisah was gone and Tarzan, growling, had wheeled about +to face whatever creature might be menacing him. The moment that +he turned he saw that the author of the disturbance was Zu-tag. + +"What does Zu-tag want?" asked the ape-man. + +"Zu-tag comes to the water to drink," replied the ape. + +"Where is the tribe?" asked Tarzan. + +"They are hunting for pisangs and scimatines farther back in the +forest," replied Zu-tag. + +"And the Tarmangani she and bull--" asked Tarzan, "are they safe?" + +"They have gone away," replied Zu-tag. "Kudu has come out of his +lair twice since they left." + +"Did the tribe chase them away?" asked Tarzan. + +"No," replied the ape. "We did not see them go. We do not know why +they left." + +Tarzan swung quickly through the trees toward the clearing. The +hut and boma were as he had left them, but there was no sign of +either the man or the woman. Crossing the clearing, he entered the +boma and then the hut. Both were empty, and his trained nostrils +told him that they had been gone for at least two days. As he was +about to leave the hut he saw a paper pinned upon the wall with a +sliver of wood and taking it down, he read: + + +After what you told me about Miss Kircher, and knowing that you +dislike her, I feel that it is not fair to her and to you that we +should impose longer upon you. I know that our presence is keeping +you from continuing your journey to the west coast, and so I +have decided that it is better for us to try and reach the white +settlements immediately without imposing further upon you. We both +thank you for your kindness and protection. If there was any way +that I might repay the obligation I feel, I should be only too glad +to do so. + + +It was signed by Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick. + +Tarzan shrugged his shoulders, crumpled the note in his hand and +tossed it aside. He felt a certain sense of relief from responsibility +and was glad that they had taken the matter out of his hands. They +were gone and would forget, but somehow he could not forget. He +walked out across the boma and into the clearing. He felt uneasy +and restless. Once he started toward the north in response to +a sudden determination to continue his way to the west coast. He +would follow the winding river toward the north a few miles where +its course turned to the west and then on toward its source across +a wooded plateau and up into the foothills and the mountains. Upon +the other side of the range he would search for a stream running +downward toward the west coast, and thus following the rivers he +would be sure of game and water in plenty. + +But he did not go far. A dozen steps, perhaps, and he came to +a sudden stop. "He is an Englishman," he muttered, "and the other +is a woman. They can never reach the settlements without my help. +I could not kill her with my own hands when I tried, and if I let +them go on alone, I will have killed her just as surely as though +I had run my knife into her heart. No," and again he shook his +head. "Tarzan of the Apes is a fool and a weak, old woman," and he +turned back toward the south. + +Manu, the monkey, had seen the two Tarmangani pass two days before. +Chattering and scolding, he told Tarzan all about it. They had +gone in the direction of the village of the Gomangani, that much +had Manu seen with his own eyes, so the ape-man swung on through +the jungle in a southerly direction and though with no concentrated +effort to follow the spoor of those he trailed, he passed numerous +evidences that they had gone this way--faint suggestions of their +scent spoor clung lightly to leaf or branch or bole that one +or the other had touched, or in the earth of the trail their feet +had trod, and where the way wound through the gloomy depth of dank +forest, the impress of their shoes still showed occasionally in +the damp mass of decaying vegetation that floored the way. + +An inexplicable urge spurred Tarzan to increasing, speed. The +same still, small voice that chided him for having neglected them +seemed constantly whispering that they were in dire need of him +now. Tarzan's conscience was troubling him, which accounted for +the fact that he compared himself to a weak, old woman, for the +ape-man, reared in savagery and inured to hardships and cruelty, +disliked to admit any of the gentler traits that in reality were +his birthright. + +The trail made a detour to the east of the village of the Wamabos, +and then returned to the wide elephant path nearer to the river, +where it continued in a southerly direction for several miles. At +last there came to the ears of the ape-man a peculiar whirring, +throbbing sound. For an instant he paused, listening intently, "An +aeroplane!" he muttered, and hastened forward at greatly increased +speed. + +When Tarzan of the Apes finally reached the edge of the meadowland +where Smith-Oldwick's plane had landed, he took in the entire scene +in one quick glance and grasped the situation, although he could +scarce give credence to the things he saw. Bound and helpless, +the English officer lay upon the ground at one side of the meadow, +while around him stood a number of the black deserters from the +German command. Tarzan had seen these men before and knew who they +were. Coming toward him down the meadow was an aeroplane piloted +by the black Usanga and in the seat behind the pilot was the white +girl, Bertha Kircher. How it befell that the ignorant savage could +operate the plane, Tarzan could not guess nor had he time in which +to speculate upon the subject. His knowledge of Usanga, together +with the position of the white man, told him that the black sergeant +was attempting to carry off the white girl. Why he should be doing +this when he had her in his power and had also captured and secured +the only creature in the jungle who might wish to defend her in so +far as the black could know, Tarzan could not guess, for he knew +nothing of Usanga's twenty-four dream wives nor of the black's +fear of the horrid temper of Naratu, his present mate. He did not +know, then, that Usanga had determined to fly away with the white +girl never to return, and to put so great a distance between himself +and Naratu that the latter never could find him again; but it was +this very thing that was in the black's mind although not even his +own warriors guessed it. He had told them that he would take the +captive to a sultan of the north and there obtain a great price for +her and that when he returned they should have some of the spoils. + +These things Tarzan did not know. All he knew was what he saw--a +Negro attempting to fly away with a white girl. Already the +machine was slowly leaving the ground. In a moment more it would +rise swiftly out of reach. At first Tarzan thought of fitting an +arrow to his bow and slaying Usanga, but as quickly he abandoned +the idea because he knew that the moment the pilot was slain the +machine, running wild, would dash the girl to death among the trees. + +There was but one way in which he might hope to succor her--a way +which if it failed must send him to instant death and yet he did +not hesitate in an attempt to put it into execution. + +Usanga did not see him, being too intent upon the unaccustomed duties +of a pilot, but the blacks across the meadow saw him and they ran +forward with loud and savage cries and menacing rifles to intercept +him. They saw a giant white man leap from the branches of a tree +to the turf and race rapidly toward the plane. They saw him take +a long grass rope from about his shoulders as he ran. They saw the +noose swinging in an undulating circle above his head. They saw +the white girl in the machine glance down and discover him. + +Twenty feet above the running ape-man soared the huge plane. The +open noose shot up to meet it, and the girl, half guessing the +ape-man's intentions, reached out and caught the noose and, bracing +herself, clung tightly to it with both hands. Simultaneously Tarzan +was dragged from his feet and the plane lurched sideways in response +to the new strain. Usanga clutched wildly at the control and the +machine shot upward at a steep angle. Dangling at the end of the +rope the ape-man swung pendulum-like in space. The Englishman, lying +bound upon the ground, had been a witness of all these happenings. +His heart stood still as he saw Tarzan's body hurtling through the +air toward the tree tops among which it seemed he must inevitably +crash; but the plane was rising rapidly, so that the beast-man +cleared the top-most branches. Then slowly, hand over hand, he +climbed toward the fuselage. The girl, clinging desperately to the +noose, strained every muscle to hold the great weight dangling at +the lower end of the rope. + +Usanga, all unconscious of what was going on behind him, drove the +plane higher and higher into the air. + +Tarzan glanced downward. Below him the tree tops and the river +passed rapidly to the rear and only a slender grass rope and the +muscles of a frail girl stood between him and the death yawning +there thousands of feet below. + +It seemed to Bertha Kircher that the fingers of her hands were dead. +The numbness was running up her arms to her elbows. How much longer +she could cling to the straining strands she could not guess. It +seemed to her that those lifeless fingers must relax at any instant +and then, when she had about given up hope, she saw a strong brown +hand reach up and grasp the side of the fuselage. Instantly the +weight upon the rope was removed and a moment later Tarzan of the +Apes raised his body above the side and threw a leg over the edge. +He glanced forward at Usanga and then, placing his mouth close to +the girl's ear he cried: "Have you ever piloted a plane?" The girl +nodded a quick affirmative. + +"Have you the courage to climb up there beside the black and seize +the control while I take care of him?" + +The girl looked toward Usanga and shuddered. "Yes," she replied, +"but my feet are bound." + +Tarzan drew his hunting knife from its sheath and reaching down, +severed the thongs that bound her ankles. Then the girl unsnapped +the strap that held her to her seat. With one hand Tarzan grasped +the girl's arm and steadied her as the two crawled slowly across +the few feet which intervened between the two seats. A single slight +tip of the plane would have cast them both into eternity. Tarzan +realized that only through a miracle of chance could they reach +Usanga and effect the change in pilots and yet he knew that that +chance must be taken, for in the brief moments since he had first +seen the plane, he had realized that the black was almost without +experience as a pilot and that death surely awaited them in any +event should the black sergeant remain at the control. + +The first intimation Usanga had that all was not well with him was +when the girl slipped suddenly to his side and grasped the control +and at the same instant steel-like fingers seized his throat. A brown +hand shot down with a keen blade and severed the strap about his +waist and giant muscles lifted him bodily from his seat. Usanga +clawed the air and shrieked but he was helpless as a babe. Far +below the watchers in the meadow could see the aeroplane careening +in the sky, for with the change of control it had taken a sudden +dive. They saw it right itself and, turning in a short circle, return +in their direction, but it was so far above them and the light of +the sun so strong that they could see nothing of what was going on +within the fuselage; but presently Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick gave +a gasp of dismay as he saw a human body plunge downward from the +plane. Turning and twisting in mid-air it fell with ever-increasing +velocity and the Englishman held his breath as the thing hurtled +toward them. + +With a muffled thud it flattened upon the turf near the center of +the meadow, and when at last the Englishman could gain the courage +to again turn his eyes upon it, he breathed a fervent prayer of +thanks, for the shapeless mass that lay upon the blood-stained turf +was covered with an ebon hide. Usanga had reaped his reward. + +Again and again the plane circled above the meadow. The blacks, at +first dismayed at the death of their leader, were now worked to a +frenzy of rage and a determination to be avenged. The girl and the +ape-man saw them gather in a knot about the body of their fallen +chief. They saw as they circled above the meadow the black fists +shaken at them, and the rifles brandishing a menace toward them. +Tarzan still clung to the fuselage directly behind the pilot's seat. +His face was close beside Bertha Kircher's, and at the top of his +voice, above the noise of propeller, engine and exhaust, he screamed +a few words of instruction into her ear. + +As the girl grasped the significance of his words she paled, but +her lips set in a hard line and her eyes shone with a sudden fire +of determination as she dropped the plane to within a few feet of +the ground and at the opposite end of the meadow from the blacks +and then at full speed bore down upon the savages. So quickly the +plane came that Usanga's men had no time to escape it after they +realized its menace. It touched the ground just as it struck among +them and mowed through them, a veritable juggernaut of destruction. +When it came to rest at the edge of the forest the ape-man leaped +quickly to the ground and ran toward the young lieutenant, and as +he went he glanced at the spot where the warriors had stood, ready +to defend himself if necessary, but there was none there to oppose +him. Dead and dying they lay strewn for fifty feet along the turf. + +By the time Tarzan had freed the Englishman the girl joined them. +She tried to voice her thanks to the ape-man but he silenced her +with a gesture. + +"You saved yourself," he insisted, "for had you been unable to +pilot the plane, I could not have helped you, and now," he said, +"you two have the means of returning to the settlements. The day +is still young. You can easily cover the distance in a few hours +if you have sufficient petrol." He looked inquiringly toward the +aviator. + +Smith-Oldwick nodded his head affirmatively. "I have plenty," he +replied. + +"Then go at once," said the ape-man. "Neither of you belong in the +jungle." A slight smile touched his lips as he spoke. + +The girl and the Englishman smiled too. "This jungle is no place +for us at least," said Smith-Oldwick, "and it is no place for any +other white man. Why don't you come back to civilization with us?" + +Tarzan shook his head. "I prefer the jungle," he said. + +The aviator dug his toe into the ground and still looking down, +blurted something which he evidently hated to say. "If it is a +matter of living, old top," he said, "er--money, er--you know--" + +Tarzan laughed. "No," he said. "I know what you are trying to say. +It is not that. I was born in the jungle. I have lived all my life +in the jungle, and I shall die in the jungle. I do not wish to +live or die elsewhere." + +The others shook their heads. They could not understand him. + +"Go," said the ape-man. "The quicker you go, the quicker you will +reach safety." + +They walked to the plane together. Smith-Oldwick pressed the +ape-man's hand and clambered into the pilot's seat. "Good-bye," +said the girl as she extended her hand to Tarzan. "Before I go +won't you tell me you don't hate me any more?" Tarzan's face clouded. +Without a word he picked her up and lifted her to her place behind +the Englishman. An expression of pain crossed Bertha Kircher's +face. The motor started and a moment later the two were being borne +rapidly toward the east. + +In the center of the meadow stood the ape-man watching them. "It +is too bad that she is a German and a spy," he said, "for she is +very hard to hate." + + + + + +The Black Lion + + + + +Numa, the lion, was hungry. He had come out of the desert country +to the east into a land of plenty but though he was young and strong, +the wary grass-eaters had managed to elude his mighty talons each +time he had thought to make a kill. + +Numa, the lion, was hungry and very savage. For two days he had +not eaten and now he hunted in the ugliest of humors. No more did +Numa roar forth a rumbling challenge to the world but rather he +moved silent and grim, stepping softly that no cracking twig might +betray his presence to the keen-eared quarry he sought. + +Fresh was the spoor of Bara, the deer, that Numa picked up in the +well-beaten game trail he was following. No hour had passed since +Bara had come this way; the time could be measured in minutes and +so the great lion redoubled the cautiousness of his advance as he +crept stealthily in pursuit of his quarry. + +A light wind was moving through the jungle aisles, and it wafted +down now to the nostrils of the eager carnivore the strong scent +spoor of the deer, exciting his already avid appetite to a point +where it became a gnawing pain. Yet Numa did not permit himself to +be carried away by his desires into any premature charge such as +had recently lost him the juicy meat of Pacco, the zebra. Increasing +his gait but slightly he followed the tortuous windings of the +trail until suddenly just before him, where the trail wound about +the bole of a huge tree, he saw a young buck moving slowly ahead +of him. + +Numa judged the distance with his keen eyes, glowing now like two +terrible spots of yellow fire in his wrinkled, snarling face. He +could do it--this time he was sure. One terrific roar that would +paralyze the poor creature ahead of him into momentary inaction, +and a simultaneous charge of lightning-like rapidity and Numa, the +lion, would feed. The sinuous tail, undulating slowly at its tufted +extremity, whipped suddenly erect. It was the signal for the charge +and the vocal organs were shaped for the thunderous roar when, as +lightning out of a clear sky, Sheeta, the panther, leaped suddenly +into the trail between Numa and the deer. + +A blundering charge made Sheeta, for with the first crash of his +spotted body through the foliage verging the trail, Bara gave a +single startled backward glance and was gone. + +The roar that was intended to paralyze the deer broke horribly from +the deep throat of the great cat--an angry roar of rage against +the meddling Sheeta who had robbed him of his kill, and the charge +that was intended for Bara was launched against the panther; but +here too Numa was doomed to disappointment, for with the first notes +of his fearsome roar Sheeta, considering well the better part of +valor, leaped into a near-by tree. + +A half-hour later it was a thoroughly furious Numa who came +unexpectedly upon the scent of man. Heretofore the lord of the jungle +had disdained the unpalatable flesh of the despised man-thing. Such +meat was only for the old, the toothless, and the decrepit who no +longer could make their kills among the fleet-footed grass-eaters. +Bara, the deer, Horta, the boar, and, best and wariest, Pacco, the +zebra, were for the young, the strong, and the agile, but Numa was +hungry-hungrier than he ever had been in the five short years of +his life. + +What if he was a young, powerful, cunning, and ferocious beast? +In the face of hunger, the great leveler, he was as the old, the +toothless, and the decrepit. His belly cried aloud in anguish and +his jowls slavered for flesh. Zebra or deer or man, what mattered +it so that it was warm flesh, red with the hot juices of life? +Even Dango, the hyena, eater of offal, would, at the moment, have +seemed a tidbit to Numa. + +The great lion knew the habits and frailties of man, though he never +before had hunted man for food. He knew the despised Gomangani as +the slowest, the most stupid, and the most defenseless of creatures. +No woodcraft, no cunning, no stealth was necessary in the hunting +of man, nor had Numa any stomach for either delay or silence. + +His rage had become an almost equally consuming passion with +his hunger, so that now, as his delicate nostrils apprised him of +the recent passage of man, he lowered his head and rumbled forth +a thunderous roar, and at a swift walk, careless of the noise he +made, set forth upon the trail of his intended quarry. + +Majestic and terrible, regally careless of his surroundings, the +king of beasts strode down the beaten trail. The natural caution +that is inherent to all creatures of the wild had deserted him. +What had he, lord of the jungle, to fear and, with only man to hunt, +what need of caution? And so he did not see or scent what a more +wary Numa might readily have discovered until, with the cracking of +twigs and a tumbling of earth, he was precipitated into a cunningly +devised pit that the wily Wamabos had excavated for just this +purpose in the center of the game trail. + +Tarzan of the Apes stood in the center of the clearing watching the +plane shrinking to diminutive toy-like proportions in the eastern +sky. He had breathed a sigh of relief as he saw it rise safely with +the British flier and Fraulein Bertha Kircher. For weeks he had +felt the hampering responsibility of their welfare in this savage +wilderness where their utter helplessness would have rendered them +easy prey for the savage carnivores or the cruel Wamabos. Tarzan +of the Apes loved unfettered freedom, and now that these two were +safely off his hands, he felt that he could continue upon his +journey toward the west coast and the long-untenanted cabin of his +dead father. + +And yet, as he stood there watching the tiny speck in the east, +another sigh heaved his broad chest, nor was it a sigh of relief, +but rather a sensation which Tarzan had never expected to feel +again and which he now disliked to admit even to himself. It could +not be possible that he, the jungle bred, who had renounced forever +the society of man to return to his beloved beasts of the wilds, +could be feeling anything akin to regret at the departure of these +two, or any slightest loneliness now that they were gone. Lieutenant +Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick Tarzan had liked, but the woman whom he +had known as a German spy he had hated, though he never had found it +in his heart to slay her as he had sworn to slay all Huns. He had +attributed this weakness to the fact that she was a woman, although +he had been rather troubled by the apparent inconsistency of +his hatred for her and his repeated protection of her when danger +threatened. + +With an irritable toss of his head he wheeled suddenly toward the +west as though by turning his back upon the fast disappearing plane +he might expunge thoughts of its passengers from his memory. At +the edge of the clearing he paused; a giant tree loomed directly +ahead of him and, as though actuated by sudden and irresistible +impulse, he leaped into the branches and swung himself with apelike +agility to the topmost limbs that would sustain his weight. There, +balancing lightly upon a swaying bough, he sought in the direction +of the eastern horizon for the tiny speck that would be the British +plane bearing away from him the last of his own race and kind that +he expected ever again to see. + +At last his keen eyes picked up the ship flying at a considerable +altitude far in the east. For a few seconds he watched it speeding +evenly eastward, when, to his horror, he saw the speck dive suddenly +downward. The fall seemed interminable to the watcher and he +realized how great must have been the altitude of the plane before +the drop commenced. Just before it disappeared from sight its +downward momentum appeared to abate suddenly, but it was still +moving rapidly at a steep angle when it finally disappeared from +view behind the far hills. + +For half a minute the ape-man stood noting distant landmarks that +he judged might be in the vicinity of the fallen plane, for no +sooner had he realized that these people were again in trouble than +his inherent sense of duty to his own kind impelled him once more +to forego his plans and seek to aid them. + +The ape-man feared from what he judged of the location of the machine +that it had fallen among the almost impassable gorges of the arid +country just beyond the fertile basin that was bounded by the +hills to the east of him. He had crossed that parched and desolate +country of the dead himself and he knew from his own experience +and the narrow escape he had had from succumbing to its relentless +cruelty no lesser man could hope to win his way to safety from +any considerable distance within its borders. Vividly he recalled +the bleached bones of the long-dead warrior in the bottom of the +precipitous gorge that had all but proved a trap for him as well. +He saw the helmet of hammered brass and the corroded breastplate of +steel and the long straight sword in its scabbard and the ancient +harquebus--mute testimonials to the mighty physique and the +warlike spirit of him who had somehow won, thus illy caparisoned +and pitifully armed, to the center of savage, ancient Africa; and +he saw the slender English youth and the slight figure of the girl +cast into the same fateful trap from which this giant of old had +been unable to escape--cast there wounded and broken perhaps, if +not killed. + +His judgment told him that the latter possibility was probably +the fact, and yet there was a chance that they might have landed +without fatal injuries, and so upon this slim chance he started out +upon what he knew would be an arduous journey, fraught with many +hardships and unspeakable peril, that he might attempt to save them +if they still lived. + +He had covered a mile perhaps when his quick ears caught the sound +of rapid movement along the game trail ahead of him. The sound, +increasing in volume, proclaimed the fact that whatever caused it +was moving in his direction and moving rapidly. Nor was it long +before his trained senses convinced him that the footfalls were +those of Bara, the deer, in rapid flight. Inextricably confused in +Tarzan's character were the attributes of man and of beasts. Long +experience had taught him that he fights best or travels fastest +who is best nourished, and so, with few exceptions, Tarzan could +delay his most urgent business to take advantage of an opportunity +to kill and feed. This perhaps was the predominant beast trait in +him. The transformation from an English gentleman, impelled by the +most humanitarian motives, to that of a wild beast crouching in the +concealment of a dense bush ready to spring upon its approaching +prey, was instantaneous. + +And so, when Bara came, escaping the clutches of Numa and Sheeta, +his terror and his haste precluded the possibility of his sensing +that other equally formidable foe lying in ambush for him. Abreast +of the ape-man came the deer; a light-brown body shot from the +concealing verdure of the bush, strong arms encircled the sleek +neck of the young buck and powerful teeth fastened themselves in +the soft flesh. Together the two rolled over in the trail and a +moment later the ape-man rose, and, with one foot upon the carcass +of his kill, raised his voice in the victory cry of the bull ape. + +Like an answering challenge came suddenly to the ears of the +ape-man the thunderous roar of a lion, a hideous angry roar in which +Tarzan thought that he discerned a note of surprise and terror. In +the breast of the wild things of the jungle, as in the breasts of +their more enlightened brothers and sisters of the human race, the +characteristic of curiosity is well developed. Nor was Tarzan far +from innocent of it. The peculiar note in the roar of his hereditary +enemy aroused a desire to investigate, and so, throwing the carcass +of Bara, the deer, across his shoulder, the ape-man took to the +lower terraces of the forest and moved quickly in the direction +from which the sound had come, which was in line with the trail he +had set out upon. + +As the distance lessened, the sounds increased in volume, which +indicated that he was approaching a very angry lion and presently, +where a jungle giant overspread the broad game trail that countless +thousands of hoofed and padded feet had worn and trampled into a +deep furrow during perhaps countless ages, he saw beneath him the +lion pit of the Wamabos and in it, leaping futilely for freedom +such a lion as even Tarzan of the Apes never before had beheld. A +mighty beast it was that glared up at the ape-man--large, powerful +and young, with a huge black mane and a coat so much darker than +any Tarzan ever had seen that in the depths of the pit it looked +almost black--a black lion! + +Tarzan who had been upon the point of taunting and reviling his +captive foe was suddenly turned to open admiration for the beauty +of the splendid beast. What a creature! How by comparison the +ordinary forest lion was dwarfed into insignificance! Here indeed +was one worthy to be called king of beasts. With his first sight of +the great cat the ape-man knew that he had heard no note of terror +in that initial roar; surprise doubtless, but the vocal chords of +that mighty throat never had reacted to fear. + +With growing admiration came a feeling of quick pity for the hapless +situation of the great brute rendered futile and helpless by the +wiles of the Gomangani. Enemy though the beast was, he was less an +enemy to the ape-man than those blacks who had trapped him, for +though Tarzan of the Apes claimed many fast and loyal friends among +certain tribes of African natives, there were others of degraded +character and bestial habits that he looked upon with utter loathing, +and of such were the human flesh-eaters of Numabo the chief. For +a moment Numa, the lion, glared ferociously at the naked man-thing +upon the tree limb above him. Steadily those yellow-green eyes +bored into the clear eyes of the ape-man, and then the sensitive +nostrils caught the scent of the fresh blood of Bara and the eyes +moved to the carcass lying across the brown shoulder, and there +came from the cavernous depths of the savage throat a low whine. + +Tarzan of the Apes smiled. As unmistakably as though a human voice +had spoken, the lion had said to him "I am hungry, even more than +hungry. I am starving," and the ape-man looked down upon the lion +beneath him and smiled, a slow quizzical smile, and then he shifted +the carcass from his shoulder to the branch before him and, drawing +the long blade that had been his father's, deftly cut off a hind +quarter and, wiping the bloody blade upon Bara's smooth coat, he +returned it to its scabbard. Numa, with watering jaws, looked up +at the tempting meat and whined again and the ape-man smiled down +upon him his slow smile and, raising the hind quarter in his strong +brown hands buried his teeth in the tender, juicy flesh. + +For the third time Numa, the lion, uttered that low pleading whine +and then, with a rueful and disgusted shake of his head, Tarzan of +the Apes raised the balance of the carcass of Bara, the deer, and +hurled it to the famished beast below. + +"Old woman," muttered the ape-man. "Tarzan has become a weak old +woman. Presently he would shed tears because he has killed Bara, +the deer. He cannot see Numa, his enemy, go hungry, because Tarzan's +heart is turning to water by contact with the soft, weak creatures +of civilization." But yet he smiled, nor was he sorry that he had +given way to the dictates of a kindly impulse. + +As Tarzan tore the flesh from that portion of the kill he had retained +for himself his eyes were taking in each detail of the scene below. +He saw the avidity with which Numa devoured the carcass; he noted +with growing admiration the finer points of the beast, and also +the cunning construction of the trap. The ordinary lion pit with +which Tarzan was familiar had stakes imbedded in the bottom, upon +whose sharpened points the hapless lion would be impaled, but this +pit was not so made. Here the short stakes were set at intervals of +about a foot around the walls near the top, their sharpened points +inclining downward so that the lion had fallen unhurt into the trap +but could not leap out because each time he essayed it his head +came in contact with the sharp end of a stake above him. + +Evidently, then, the purpose of the Wamabos was to capture a lion +alive. As this tribe had no contact whatsoever with white men in +so far as Tarzan knew, their motive was doubtless due to a desire +to torture the beast to death that they might enjoy to the utmost +his dying agonies. + +Having fed the lion, it presently occurred to Tarzan that his act +would be futile were he to leave the beast to the mercies of the +blacks, and then too it occurred to him that he could derive more +pleasure through causing the blacks discomfiture than by leaving +Numa to his fate. But how was he to release him? By removing two +stakes there would be left plenty of room for the lion to leap from +the pit, which was not of any great depth. However, what assurance +had Tarzan that Numa would not leap out instantly the way to +freedom was open, and before the ape-man could gain the safety of +the trees? Regardless of the fact that Tarzan felt no such fear +of the lion as you and I might experience under like circumstances, +he yet was imbued with the sense of caution that is necessary to +all creatures of the wild if they are to survive. Should necessity +require, Tarzan could face Numa in battle, although he was not so +egotistical as to think that he could best a full-grown lion in +mortal combat other than through accident or the utilization of the +cunning of his superior man-mind. To lay himself liable to death +futilely, he would have considered as reprehensible as to have +shunned danger in time of necessity; but when Tarzan elected to do +a thing he usually found the means to accomplish it. + +He had now fully determined to liberate Numa, and having so determined, +he would accomplish it even though it entailed considerable personal +risk. He knew that the lion would be occupied with his feeding for +some time, but he also knew that while feeding he would be doubly +resentful of any fancied interference. Therefore Tarzan must work +with caution. + +Coming to the ground at the side of the pit, he examined the stakes +and as he did so was rather surprised to note that Numa gave no +evidence of anger at his approach. Once he turned a searching gaze +upon the ape-man for a moment and then returned to the flesh of +Bara. Tarzan felt of the stakes and tested them with his weight. +He pulled upon them with the muscles of his strong arms, presently +discovering that by working them back and forth he could loosen +them: and then a new plan was suggested to him so that he fell to +work excavating with his knife at a point above where one of the +stakes was imbedded. The loam was soft and easily removed, and it +was not long until Tarzan had exposed that part of one of the stakes +which was imbedded in the wall of the pit to almost its entire +length, leaving only enough imbedded to prevent the stake from +falling into the excavation. Then he turned his attention to an +adjoining stake and soon had it similarly exposed, after which he +threw the noose of his grass rope over the two and swung quickly +to the branch of the tree above. Here he gathered in the slack of +the rope and, bracing himself against the bole of the tree, pulled +steadily upward. Slowly the stakes rose from the trench in which +they were imbedded and with them rose Numa's suspicion and growling. + +Was this some new encroachment upon his rights and his liberties? +He was puzzled and, like all lions, being short of temper, he +was irritated. He had not minded it when the Tarmangani squatted +upon the verge of the pit and looked down upon him, for had not +this Tarmangani fed him? But now something else was afoot and the +suspicion of the wild beast was aroused. As he watched, however, +Numa saw the stakes rise slowly to an erect position, tumble +against each other and then fall backwards out of his sight upon +the surface of the ground above. Instantly the lion grasped the +possibilities of the situation, and, too, perhaps he sensed the fact +that the man-thing had deliberately opened a way for his escape. +Seizing the remains of Bara in his great jaws, Numa, the lion, +leaped agilely from the pit of the Wamabos and Tarzan of the Apes +melted into the jungles to the east. + +On the surface of the ground or through the swaying branches of the +trees the spoor of man or beast was an open book to the ape-man, but +even his acute senses were baffled by the spoorless trail of the +airship. Of what good were eyes, or ears, or the sense of smell +in following a thing whose path had lain through the shifting +air thousands of feet above the tree tops? Only upon his sense of +direction could Tarzan depend in his search for the fallen plane. +He could not even judge accurately as to the distance it might +lie from him, and he knew that from the moment that it disappeared +beyond the hills it might have traveled a considerable distance at +right angles to its original course before it crashed to earth. If +its occupants were killed or badly injured the ape-man might search +futilely in their immediate vicinity for some time before finding +them. + +There was but one thing to do and that was to travel to a point +as close as possible to where he judged the plane had landed, and +then to follow in ever-widening circles until he picked up their +scent spoor. And this he did. + +Before he left the valley of plenty he made several kills and +carried the choicest cuts of meat with him, leaving all the dead +weight of bones behind. The dense vegetation of the jungle terminated +at the foot of the western slope, growing less and less abundant +as he neared the summit beyond which was a sparse growth of sickly +scrub and sunburned grasses, with here and there a gnarled and hardy +tree that had withstood the vicissitudes of an almost waterless +existence. + +From the summit of the hills Tarzan's keen eyes searched the arid +landscape before him. In the distance he discerned the ragged +tortuous lines that marked the winding course of the hideous gorges +which scored the broad plain at intervals--the terrible gorges that +had so nearly claimed his life in punishment for his temerity in +attempting to invade the sanctity of their ancient solitude. + +For two days Tarzan sought futilely for some clew to the whereabouts +of the machine or its occupants. He cached portions of his kills at +different points, building cairns of rock to mark their locations. +He crossed the first deep gorge and circled far beyond it. Occasionally +he stopped and called aloud, listening for some response but +only silence rewarded him-a sinister silence that his cries only +accentuated. + +Late in the evening of the second day he came to the well-remembered +gorge in which lay the clean-picked bones of the ancient adventurer, +and here, for the first time, Ska, the vulture, picked up his trail. +"Not this time, Ska," cried the ape-man in a taunting voice, "for +now indeed is Tarzan Tarzan. Before, you stalked the grim skeleton +of a Tarmangani and even then you lost. Waste not your time upon +Tarzan of the Apes in the full of his strength." But still Ska, the +vulture, circled and soared above him, and the ape-man, notwithstanding +his boasts, felt a shudder of apprehension. Through his brain ran +a persistent and doleful chant to which he involuntarily set two +words, repeated over and over again in horrible monotony: "Ska +knows! Ska knows!" until, shaking himself in anger, he picked up +a rock and hurled it at the grim scavenger. + +Lowering himself over the precipitous side of the gorge Tarzan half +clambered and half slid to the sandy floor beneath. He had come +upon the rift at almost the exact spot at which he had clambered +from it weeks before, and there he saw, just as he had left it, +just, doubtless, as it had lain for centuries, the mighty skeleton +and its mighty armor. + +As he stood looking down upon this grim reminder that another man +of might had succumbed to the cruel powers of the desert, he was +brought to startled attention by the report of a firearm, the sound +of which came from the depths of the gorge to the south of him, +and reverberated along the steep walls of the narrow rift. + + + + + +Mysterious Footprints + + + + +As the British plane piloted by Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick +rose above the jungle wilderness where Bertha Kircher's life had +so often been upon the point of extinction, and sped toward the +east, the girl felt a sudden contraction of the muscles of her +throat. She tried very hard to swallow something that was not there. +It seemed strange to her that she should feel regret in leaving +behind her such hideous perils, and yet it was plain to her that +such was the fact, for she was also leaving behind something beside +the dangers that had menaced her--a unique figure that had entered +her life, and for which she felt an unaccountable attraction. + +Before her in the pilot's seat sat an English officer and gentleman +whom, she knew, loved her, and yet she dared to feel regret in his +company at leaving the stamping ground of a wild beast! + +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick, on his part, was in the seventh heaven +of elation. He was in possession again of his beloved ship, he was +flying swiftly in the direction of his comrades and his duty, and +with him was the woman he loved. The fly in the ointment, however, +was the accusation Tarzan had made against this woman. He had said +that she was a German, and a spy, and from the heights of bliss the +English officer was occasionally plunged to the depths of despair +in contemplation of the inevitable, were the ape-man's charges to +prove true. He found himself torn between sentiments of love and +honor. On the one hand he could not surrender the woman he loved +to the certain fate that must be meted out to her if she were in +truth an enemy spy, while on the other it would be equally impossible +for him as an Englishman and an officer to give her aid or protection. + +The young man contented himself therefore with repeated mental +denials of her guilt. He tried to convince himself that Tarzan was +mistaken, and when he conjured upon the screen of recollection the +face of the girl behind him, he was doubly reassured that those +lines of sweet femininity and character, those clear and honest +eyes, could not belong to one of the hated alien race. + +And so they sped toward the east, each wrapped in his own thoughts. +Below them they saw the dense vegetation of the jungle give place +to the scantier growth upon the hillside, and then before them +there spread the wide expanse of arid wastelands marked by the deep +scarring of the narrow gorges that long-gone rivers had cut there +in some forgotten age. + +Shortly after they passed the summit of the ridge which formed +the boundary between the desert and the fertile country, Ska, the +vulture, winging his way at a high altitude toward his aerie, caught +sight of a strange new bird of gigantic proportions encroaching upon +the preserves of his aerial domain. Whether with intent to give +battle to the interloper or merely impelled by curiosity, Ska rose +suddenly upward to meet the plane. Doubtless he misjudged the speed +of the newcomer, but be that as it may, the tip of the propeller +blade touched him and simultaneously many things happened. The +lifeless body of Ska, torn and bleeding, dropped plummet-like toward +the ground; a bit of splintered spruce drove backward to strike +the pilot on the forehead; the plane shuddered and trembled and +as Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick sank forward in momentary +unconsciousness the ship dived headlong toward the earth. + +Only for an instant was the pilot unconscious, but that instant +almost proved their undoing. When he awoke to a realization of +their peril it was also to discover that his motor had stalled. +The plane had attained frightful momentum, and the ground seemed +too close for him to hope to flatten out in time to make a safe +landing. Directly beneath him was a deep rift in the plateau, a +narrow gorge, the bottom of which appeared comparatively level and +sand covered. + +In the brief instant in which he must reach a decision, the safest +plan seemed to attempt a landing in the gorge, and this he did, but +not without considerable damage to the plane and a severe shaking-up +for himself and his passenger. + +Fortunately neither of them was injured but their condition seemed +indeed a hopeless one. It was a grave question as to whether the +man could repair his plane and continue the journey, and it seemed +equally questionable as to their ability either to proceed on foot +to the coast or retrace their way to the country they had just +left. The man was confident that they could not hope to cross the +desert country to the east in the face of thirst and hunger, while +behind them in the valley of plenty lay almost equal danger in the +form of carnivores and the warlike natives. + +After the plane came to its sudden and disastrous stop, Smith-Oldwick +turned quickly to see what the effect of the accident had been on +the girl. He found her pale but smiling, and for several seconds +the two sat looking at each other in silence. + +"This is the end?" the girl asked. + +The Englishman shook his head. "It is the end of the first leg, +anyway," he replied. + +"But you can't hope to make repairs here," she said dubiously. + +"No," he said, "not if they amount to anything, but I may be able +to patch it up. I will have to look her over a bit first. Let us +hope there is nothing serious. It's a long, long way to the Tanga +railway." + +"We would not get far," said the girl, a slight note of hopelessness +in her tone. "Entirely unarmed as we are, it would be little less +than a miracle if we covered even a small fraction of the distance." + +"But we are not unarmed," replied the man. "I have an extra pistol +here, that the beggars didn't discover," and, removing the cover +of a compartment, he drew forth an automatic. + +Bertha Kircher leaned back in her seat and laughed aloud, a mirthless, +half-hysterical laugh. "That popgun!" she exclaimed. "What earthly +good would it do other than to infuriate any beast of prey you +might happen to hit with it?" + +Smith-Oldwick looked rather crestfallen. "But it is a weapon," he +said. "You will have to admit that, and certainly I could kill a +man with it." + +"You could if you happened to hit him," said the girl, "or the +thing didn't jam. Really, I haven't much faith in an automatic. I +have used them myself." + +"Oh, of course," he said ironically, "an express rifle would be +better, for who knows but we might meet an elephant here in the +desert." + +The girl saw that he was hurt, and she was sorry, for she realized +that there was nothing he would not do in her service or protection, +and that it was through no fault of his that he was so illy armed. +Doubtless, too, he realized as well as she the futility of his +weapon, and that he had only called attention to it in the hope of +reassuring her and lessening her anxiety. + +"Forgive me," she said. "I did not mean to be nasty, but this +accident is the proverbial last straw. It seems to me that I have +borne all that I can. Though I was willing to give my life in the +service of my country, I did not imagine that my death agonies would +be so long drawn out, for I realize now that I have been dying for +many weeks." + +"What do you mean!" he exclaimed; "what do you mean by that! You +are not dying. There is nothing the matter with you." + +"Oh, not that," she said, "I did not mean that. What I mean is that +at the moment the black sergeant, Usanga, and his renegade German +native troops captured me and brought me inland, my death warrant +was signed. Sometimes I have imagined that a reprieve has been +granted. Sometimes I have hoped that I might be upon the verge of +winning a full pardon, but really in the depths of my heart I have +known that I should never live to regain civilization. I have done +my bit for my country, and though it was not much I can at least +go with the realization that it was the best I was able to offer. +All that I can hope for now, all that I ask for, is a speedy +fulfillment of the death sentence. I do not wish to linger any more +to face constant terror and apprehension. Even physical torture +would be preferable to what I have passed through. I have no doubt +that you consider me a brave woman, but really my terror has been +boundless. The cries of the carnivores at night fill me with a dread +so tangible that I am in actual pain. I feel the rending talons +in my flesh and the cruel fangs munching upon my bones--it is as +real to me as though I were actually enduring the horrors of such +a death. I doubt if you can understand it--men are so different." + +"Yes," he said, "I think I can understand it, and because I understand +I can appreciate more than you imagine the heroism you have shown +in your endurance of all that you have passed through. There can +be no bravery where there is no fear. A child might walk into a +lion's den, but it would take a very brave man to go to its rescue." + +"Thank you," she said, "but I am not brave at all, and now I am +very much ashamed of my thoughtlessness for your own feelings. I +will try and take a new grip upon myself and we will both hope for +the best. I will help you all I can if you will tell me what I may +do." + +"The first thing," he replied, "is to find out just how serious +our damage is, and then to see what we can do in the way of repairs." + +For two days Smith-Oldwick worked upon the damaged plane--worked +in the face of the fact that from the first he realized the case +was hopeless. And at last he told her. + +'I knew it," she said, "but I believe that I felt much as you must +have; that however futile our efforts here might be, it would be +infinitely as fatal to attempt to retrace our way to the jungle we +just left or to go on toward the coast. You know and I know that we +could not reach the Tanga railway on foot. We should die of thirst +and starvation before we had covered half the distance, and if we +return to the jungle, even were we able to reach it, it would be +but to court an equally certain, though different, fate." + +"So we might as well sit here and wait for death as to uselessly +waste our energies in what we know would be a futile attempt at +escape?" he asked. + +"No," she replied, "I shall never give up like that. What I meant +was that it was useless to attempt to reach either of the places +where we know that there is food and water in abundance, so we +must strike out in a new direction. Somewhere there may be water +in this wilderness and if there is, the best chance of our finding +it would be to follow this gorge downward. We have enough food and +water left, if we are careful of it, for a couple of days and in +that time we might stumble upon a spring or possibly even reach +the fertile country which I know lies to the south. When Usanga +brought me to the Wamabo country from the coast he took a southerly +route along which there was usually water and game in plenty. It +was not until we neared our destination that the country became +overrun with carnivores. So there is hope if we can reach the +fertile country south of us that we can manage to pull through to +the coast." + +The man shook his head dubiously. "We can try it," he said. +"Personally, I do not fancy sitting here waiting for death." + +Smith-Oldwick was leaning against the ship, his dejected gaze +directed upon the ground at his feet. The girl was looking south +down the gorge in the direction of their one slender chance of +life. Suddenly she touched him on the arm. + +"Look," she whispered. + +The man raised his eyes quickly in the direction of her gaze to +see the massive head of a great lion who was regarding them from +beyond a rocky projection at the first turning of the gorge. + +"Phew!" he exclaimed, "the beggars are everywhere." + +"They do not go far from water do they," asked the girl hopefully. + +"I should imagine not," he replied; "a lion is not particularly +strong on endurance." + +"Then he is a harbinger of hope," she exclaimed. + +The man laughed. "Cute little harbinger of hope!" he said. "Reminds +me of Cock Robin heralding spring." + +The girl cast a quick glance at him. "Don't be silly, and I don't +care if you do laugh. He fills me with hope." + +"It is probably mutual," replied Smith-Oldwick, "as we doubtless +fill him with hope." + +The lion evidently having satisfied himself as to the nature of +the creatures before him advanced slowly now in their direction. + +"Come," said the man, 'let's climb aboard," and he helped the girl +over the side of the ship. + +"Can't he get in here?" she asked. + +"I think he can," said the man. + +"You are reassuring," she returned. + +"I don't feel so." He drew his pistol. + +"For heaven's sake," she cried, "don't shoot at him with that thing. +You might hit him." + +"I don't intend to shoot at him but I might succeed in frightening +him away if he attempts to reach us here. Haven't you ever seen a +trainer work with lions? He carries a silly little pop-gun loaded +with blank cartridges. With that and a kitchen chair he subdues +the most ferocious of beasts." + +"But you haven't a kitchen chair," she reminded him. + +"No," he said, "Government is always muddling things. I have always +maintained that airplanes should be equipped with kitchen chairs." + +Bertha Kircher laughed as evenly and with as little hysteria as +though she were moved by the small talk of an afternoon tea. + +Numa, the lion, came steadily toward them; his attitude seemed +more that of curiosity than of belligerency. Close to the side of +the ship he stopped and stood gazing up at them. + +"Magnificent, isn't he?" exclaimed the man. + +"I never saw a more beautiful creature," she replied, "nor one with +such a dark coat. Why, he is almost black." + +The sound of their voices seemed not to please the lord of the +jungle, for he suddenly wrinkled his great face into deep furrows +as he bared his fangs beneath snarling lips and gave vent to an +angry growl. Almost simultaneously he crouched for a spring and +immediately Smith-Oldwick discharged his pistol into the ground in +front of the lion. The effect of the noise upon Numa seemed but to +enrage him further, and with a horrid roar he sprang for the author +of the new and disquieting sound that had outraged his ears. + +Simultaneously Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick vaulted nimbly +out of the cockpit on the opposite side of his plane, calling to +the girl to follow his example. The girl, realizing the futility +of leaping to the ground, chose the remaining alternative and +clambered to the top of the upper plane. + +Numa, unaccustomed to the idiosyncrasies of construction of an +airship and having gained the forward cockpit, watched the girl +clamber out of his reach without at first endeavoring to prevent +her. Having taken possession of the plane his anger seemed suddenly +to leave him and he made no immediate move toward following +Smith-Oldwick. The girl, realizing the comparative safety of her +position, had crawled to the outer edge of the wing and was calling +to the man to try and reach the opposite end of the upper plane. + +It was this scene upon which Tarzan of the Apes looked as he +rounded the bend of the gorge above the plane after the pistol shot +had attracted his attention. The girl was so intent upon watching +the efforts of the Englishman to reach a place of safety, and the +latter was so busily occupied in attempting to do so that neither +at once noticed the silent approach of the ape-man. + +It was Numa who first noticed the intruder. The lion immediately +evinced his displeasure by directing toward him a snarling countenance +and a series of warning growls. His action called the attention of +the two upon the upper plane to the newcomer, eliciting a stifled +"Thank God!" from the girl, even though she could scarce credit the +evidence of her own eyes that it was indeed the savage man, whose +presence always assured her safety, who had come so providentially +in the nick of time. + +Almost immediately both were horrified to see Numa leap from the +cockpit and advance upon Tarzan. The ape-man, carrying his stout +spear in readiness, moved deliberately onward to meet the carnivore, +which he had recognized as the lion of the Wamabos' pit. He knew +from the manner of Numa's approach what neither Bertha Kircher nor +Smith-Oldwick knew--that there was more of curiosity than belligerency +in it, and he wondered if in that great head there might not be a +semblance of gratitude for the kindness that Tarzan had done him. + +There was no question in Tarzan's mind but that Numa recognized +him, for he knew his fellows of the jungle well enough to know that +while they oft-times forgot certain sensations more quickly than +man there are others which remain in their memories for years. A +well-defined scent spoor might never be forgotten by a beast if it +had first been sensed under unusual circumstances, and so Tarzan +was confident that Numa's nose had already reminded him of all the +circumstances of their brief connection. + +Love of the sporting chance is inherent in the Anglo-Saxon race and +it was not now Tarzan of the Apes but rather John Clayton, Lord +Greystoke, who smilingly welcomed the sporting chance which he must +take to discover how far-reaching was Numa's gratitude. + +Smith-Oldwick and the girl saw the two nearing each other. The +former swore softly beneath his breath while he nervously fingered +the pitiful weapon at his hip. The girl pressed her open palms to +her cheeks as she leaned forward in stony-eyed, horror-stricken +silence. While she had every confidence in the prowess of the godlike +creature who thus dared brazenly to face the king of beasts, she +had no false conception of what must certainly happen when they +met. She had seen Tarzan battle with Sheeta, the panther, and she +had realized then that powerful as the man was, it was only agility, +cunning, and chance that placed him upon anywhere near an equal +footing with his savage adversary, and that of the three factors +upon his side chance was the greatest. + +She saw the man and the lion stop simultaneously, not more than +a yard apart. She saw the beast's tail whipping from side to side +and she could hear his deep-throated growls rumbling from his +cavernous breast, but she could read correctly neither the movement +of the lashing tail nor the notes of the growl. + +To her they seemed to indicate nothing but bestial rage while to +Tarzan of the Apes they were conciliatory and reassuring in the +extreme. And then she saw Numa move forward again until his nose +touched the man's naked leg and she closed her eyes and covered +them with her palms. For what seemed an eternity she waited for +the horrid sound of the conflict which she knew must come, but all +she heard was an explosive sigh of relief from Smith-Oldwick and +a half-hysterical "By Jove! Just fancy it!" + +She looked up to see the great lion rubbing his shaggy head against +the man's hip, and Tarzan's free hand entangled in the black mane +as he scratched Numa, the lion, behind a back-laid ear. + +Strange friendships are often formed between the lower animals +of different species, but less often between man and the savage +felidae, because of the former's inherent fear of the great cats. +And so after all, therefore, the friendship so suddenly developed +between the savage lion and the savage man was not inexplicable. + +As Tarzan approached the plane Numa walked at his side, and when +Tarzan stopped and looked up at the girl and the man Numa stopped +also. + +"I had about given up hope of finding you," said the ape-man, "and +it is evident that I found you just in time." + +"But how did you know we were in trouble?" asked the English officer. + +"I saw your plane fall," replied Tarzan. "I was watching you from +a tree beside the clearing where you took off. I didn't have much +to locate you by other than the general direction, but it seems +that you volplaned a considerable distance toward the south after +you disappeared from my view behind the hills. I have been looking +for you further toward the north. I was just about to turn back +when I heard your pistol shot. Is your ship beyond repair?" + +"Yes," replied Smith-Oldwick, "it is hopeless." + +"What are your plans, then? What do you wish to do?" Tarzan directed +his question to the girl. + +"We want to reach the coast," she said, "but it seems impossible +now." + +"I should have thought so a little while ago," replied the ape-man, +"but if Numa is here there must be water within a reasonable +distance. I ran across this lion two days ago in the Wamabo country. +I liberated him from one of their pits. To have reached this spot +he must have come by some trail unknown to me--at least I crossed +no game trail and no spoor of any animal after I came over the hills +out of the fertile country. From which direction did he come upon +you?" + +"It was from the south," replied the girl. "We thought, too, that +there must be water in that direction." + +"Let's find out then," said Tarzan. + +"But how about the lion?" asked Smith-Oldwick. + +"That we will have to discover," replied the ape-man, "and we can +only do so if you will come down from your perch." + +The officer shrugged his shoulders. The girl turned her gaze upon +him to note the effect of Tarzan's proposal. The Englishman grew +suddenly very white, but there was a smile upon his lips as without +a word he slipped over the edge of the plane and clambered to the +ground behind Tarzan. + +Bertha Kircher realized that the man was afraid nor did she blame +him, and she also realized the remarkable courage that he had shown +in thus facing a danger that was very real to him. + +Numa standing close to Tarzan's side raised his head and glared at +the young Englishman, growled once, and looked up at the ape-man. +Tarzan retained a hold upon the beast's mane and spoke to him in +the language of the great apes. To the girl and Smith-Oldwick the +growling gutturals falling from human lips sounded uncanny in the +extreme, but whether Numa understood them or not they appeared to +have the desired effect upon him, as he ceased growling, and as +Tarzan walked to Smith-Oldwick's side Numa accompanied him, nor +did he offer to molest the officer. + +"What did you say to him?" asked the girl. + +Tarzan smiled. "I told him," he replied, "that I am Tarzan of the +Apes, mighty hunter, killer of beasts, lord of the jungle, and that +you are my friends. I have never been sure that all of the other +beasts understand the language of the Mangani. I know that Manu, +the monkey, speaks nearly the same tongue and I am sure that Tantor, +the elephant, understands all that I say to him. We of the jungle +are great boasters. In our speech, in our carriage, in every detail +of our demeanor we must impress others with our physical power and +our ferocity. That is why we growl at our enemies. We are telling +them to beware or we shall fall upon them and tear them to pieces. +Perhaps Numa does not understand the words that I use but I believe +that my tones and my manner carry the impression that I wish them +to convey. Now you may come down and be introduced." + +It required all the courage that Bertha Kircher possessed to lower +herself to the ground within reach of the talons and fangs of this +untamed forest beast, but she did it. Nor did Numa do more than +bare his teeth and growl a little as she came close to the ape-man. + +"I think you are safe from him as long as I am present," said the +ape-man. "The best thing to do is simply to ignore him. Make no +advances, but be sure to give no indication of fear and, if possible +always keep me between you and him. He will go away presently I am +sure and the chances are that we shall not see him again." + +At Tarzan's suggestion Smith-Oldwick removed the remaining water +and provisions from the plane and, distributing the burden among +them, they set off toward the south. Numa did not follow them, but +stood by the plane watching until they finally disappeared from +view around a bend in the gorge. + +Tarzan had picked up Numa's trail with the intention of following +it southward in the belief that it would lead to water. In the sand +that floored the bottom of the gorge tracks were plain and easily +followed. At first only the fresh tracks of Numa were visible, but +later in the day the ape-man discovered the older tracks of other +lions and just before dark he stopped suddenly in evident surprise. +His two companions looked at him questioningly, and in answer to +their implied interrogations he pointed at the ground directly in +front of him. + +"Look at those," he exclaimed. + +At first neither Smith-Oldwick nor the girl saw anything but a +confusion of intermingled prints of padded feet in the sand, but +presently the girl discovered what Tarzan had seen, and an exclamation +of surprise broke from her lips. + +"The imprint of human feet!" she cried. + +Tarzan nodded. + +"But there are no toes," the girl pointed out. + +"The feet were shod with a soft sandal," explained Tarzan. + +"Then there must be a native village somewhere in the vicinity," +said Smith-Oldwick. + +"Yes," replied the ape-man, "but not the sort of natives which we +would expect to find here in this part of Africa where others all +go unshod with the exception of a few of Usanga's renegade German +native troops who wear German army shoes. I don't know that you can +notice it, but it is evident to me that the foot inside the sandal +that made these imprints were not the foot of a Negro. If you will +examine them carefully you will notice that the impression of the +heel and ball of the foot are well marked even through the sole of +the sandal. The weight comes more nearly in the center of a Negro's +footprint. + +"Then you think these were made by a white person?" + +"It looks that way," replied Tarzan, and suddenly, to the surprise +of both the girl and Smith-Oldwick, he dropped to his hands and +knees and sniffed at the tracks--again a beast utilizing the senses +and woodcraft of a beast. Over an area of several square yards his +keen nostrils sought the identity of the makers of the tracks. At +length he rose to his feet. + +"It is not the spoor of the Gomangani," he said, "nor is it exactly +like that of white men. There were three who came this way. They +were men, but of what race I do not know." + +There was no apparent change in the nature of the gorge except that +it had steadily grown deeper as they followed it downward until now +the rocky and precipitous sides rose far above them. At different +points natural caves, which appeared to have been eroded by the action +of water in some forgotten age, pitted the side walls at various +heights. Near them was such a cavity at the ground's level--an +arched cavern floored with white sand. Tarzan indicated it with a +gesture of his hand. + +"We will lair here tonight," he said, and then with one of his +rare, slow smiles: "We will CAMP here tonight." + +Having eaten their meager supper Tarzan bade the girl enter the +cavern. + +"You will sleep inside," he said. "The lieutenant and I will lie +outside at the entrance." + + + + + +The Night Attack + + + + +As the girl turned to bid them good night, she thought that she +saw a shadowy form moving in the darkness beyond them, and almost +simultaneously she was sure that she heard the sounds of stealthy +movement in the same direction. + +"What is that?" she whispered. "There is something out there in +the darkness." + +"Yes," replied Tarzan, "it is a lion. It has been there for some +time. Hadn't you noticed it before?" + +"Oh!" cried the girl, breathing a sigh of relief, "is it our lion?" + +"No," said Tarzan, "it is not our lion; it is another lion and he +is hunting." + +"He is stalking us?" asked the girl. + +"He is," replied the ape-man. Smith-Oldwick fingered the grip of +his pistol. + +Tarzan saw the involuntary movement and shook his head. + +"Leave that thing where it is, Lieutenant," he said. + +The officer laughed nervously. "I couldn't help it, you know, old +man," he said; "instinct of self-preservation and all that." + +"It would prove an instinct of self-destruction," said Tarzan. +"There are at least three hunting lions out there watching us. If +we had a fire or the moon were up you would see their eyes plainly. +Presently they may come after us but the chances are that they will +not. If you are very anxious that they should, fire your pistol +and hit one of them." + +"What if they do charge?" asked the girl; "there is no means of +escape." + +"Why, we should have to fight them," replied Tarzan. + +"What chance would we three have against them?" asked the girl. + +The ape-man shrugged his shoulders. "One must die sometime," he +said. "To you doubtless it may seem terrible--such a death; but +Tarzan of the Apes has always expected to go out in some such way. +Few of us die of old age in the jungle, nor should I care to die +thus. Some day Numa will get me, or Sheeta, or a black warrior. +These or some of the others. What difference does it make which +it is, or whether it comes tonight or next year or in ten years? +After it is over it will be all the same." + +The girl shuddered. "Yes," she said in a dull, hopeless voice, +"after it is over it will be all the same." + +Then she went into the cavern and lay down upon the sand. Smith-Oldwick +sat in the entrance and leaned against the cliff. Tarzan squatted +on the opposite side. + +"May I smoke?" questioned the officer of Tarzan. "I have been +hoarding a few cigarettes and if it won't attract those bouncers +out there I would like to have one last smoke before I cash in. +Will you join me?" and he proffered the ape-man a cigarette. + +"No, thanks," said Tarzan, "but it will be all right if you smoke. +No wild animal is particularly fond of the fumes of tobacco so it +certainly won't entice them any closer." + +Smith-Oldwick lighted his cigarette and sat puffing slowly upon +it. He had proffered one to the girl but she had refused, and thus +they sat in silence for some time, the silence of the night ruffled +occasionally by the faint crunching of padded feet upon the soft +sands of the gorge's floor. + +It was Smith-Oldwick who broke the silence. "Aren't they unusually +quiet for lions?" he asked. + +"No," replied the ape-man; "the lion that goes roaring around the +jungle does not do it to attract prey. They are very quiet when +they are stalking their quarry." + +"I wish they would roar," said the officer. "I wish they would +do anything, even charge. Just knowing that they are there and +occasionally seeing something like a shadow in the darkness and the +faint sounds that come to us from them are getting on my nerves. +But I hope," he said, "that all three don't charge at once." + +"Three?" said Tarzan. "There are seven of them out there now." + +"Good Lord! exclaimed Smith-Oldwick. + +"Couldn't we build a fire," asked the girl, "and frighten them +away?" + +"I don't know that it would do any good," said Tarzan, "as I have +an idea that these lions are a little different from any that we +are familiar with and possibly for the same reason which at first +puzzled me a little--I refer to the apparent docility in the +presence of a man of the lion who was with us today. A man is out +there now with those lions." + +"It is impossible!" exclaimed Smith-Oldwick. "They would tear him +to pieces." + +"What makes you think there is a man there?" asked the girl. + +Tarzan smiled and shook his head. "I am afraid you would not +understand," he replied. "It is difficult for us to understand +anything that is beyond our own powers." + +"What do you mean by that?" asked the officer. + +"Well," said Tarzan, "if you had been born without eyes you could +not understand sense impressions that the eyes of others transmit +to their brains, and as you have both been born without any sense +of smell I am afraid you cannot understand how I can know that +there is a man there." + +"You mean that you scent a man?" asked the girl. + +Tarzan nodded affirmatively. + +"And in the same way you know the number of lions?" asked the man. + +"Yes," said Tarzan. "No two lions look alike, no two have the same +scent." + +The young Englishman shook his head. "No," he said, "I cannot +understand." + +"I doubt if the lions or the man are here necessarily for the purpose +of harming us," said Tarzan, "because there has been nothing to +prevent their doing so long before had they wished to. I have a +theory, but it is utterly preposterous." + +"What is it?" asked the girl. + +"I think they are here," replied Tarzan, "to prevent us from going +some place that they do not wish us to go; in other words we are +under surveillance, and possibly as long as we don't go where we +are not wanted we shall not be bothered." + +"But how are we to know where they don't want us to go?" asked +Smith-Oldwick. + +"We can't know," replied Tarzan, "and the chances are that the very +place we are seeking is the place they don't wish us to trespass +on." + +"You mean the water?" asked the girl. + +"Yes," replied Tarzan. + +For some time they sat in silence which was broken only by an +occasional sound of movement from the outer darkness. It must have +been an hour later that the ape-man rose quietly and drew his long +blade from its sheath. Smith-Oldwick was dozing against the rocky +wall of the cavern entrance, while the girl, exhausted by the +excitement and fatigue of the day, had fallen into deep slumber. An +instant after Tarzan arose, Smith-Oldwick and the girl were aroused +by a volley of thunderous roars and the noise of many padded feet +rushing toward them. + +Tarzan of the Apes stood directly before the entrance to the cavern, +his knife in his hand, awaiting the charge. The ape-man had not +expected any such concerted action as he now realized had been taken +by those watching them. He had known for some time that other men +had joined those who were with the lions earlier in the evening, +and when he arose to his feet it was because he knew that the lions +and the men were moving cautiously closer to him and his party. +He might easily have eluded them, for he had seen that the face of +the cliff rising above the mouth of the cavern might be scaled by +as good a climber as himself. It might have been wiser had he tried +to escape, for he knew that in the face of such odds even he was +helpless, but he stood his ground though I doubt if he could have +told why. + +He owed nothing either of duty or friendship to the girl sleeping +in the cavern, nor could he longer be of any protection to her or +her companion. Yet something held him there in futile self-sacrifice. + +The great Tarmangani had not even the satisfaction of striking a +blow in self-defense. A veritable avalanche of savage beasts rolled +over him and threw him heavily to the ground. In falling his head +struck the rocky surface of the cliff, stunning him. + +It was daylight when he regained consciousness. The first dim +impression borne to his awakening mind was a confusion of savage +sounds which gradually resolved themselves into the growling +of lions, and then, little by little, there came back to him the +recollections of what had preceded the blow that had felled him. + +Strong in his nostrils was the scent of Numa, the lion, and against +one naked leg he could feel the coat of some animal. Slowly Tarzan +opened his eyes. He was lying on his side and as he looked down his +body, he saw that a great lion stood straddling him--a great lion +who growled hideously at something which Tarzan could not see. + +With the full return of his senses Tarzan's nose told him that the +beast above him was Numa of the Wamabo pit. + +Thus reassured, the ape-man spoke to the lion and at the same time +made a motion as though he would arise. Immediately Numa stepped +from above him. As Tarzan raised his head, he saw that he still +lay where he had fallen before the opening of the cliff where the +girl had been sleeping and that Numa, backed against the cliffside, +was apparently defending him from two other lions who paced to and +fro a short distance from their intended victim. + +And then Tarzan turned his eyes into the cave and saw that the girl +and Smith-Oldwick were gone. + +His efforts had been for naught. With an angry toss of his head, +the ape-man turned upon the two lions who had continued to pace +back and forth a few yards from him. Numa of the lion pit turned a +friendly glance in Tarzan's direction, rubbed his head against the +ape-man's side, and then directed his snarling countenance toward +the two hunters. + +"I think," said Tarzan to Numa, "that you and I together can make +these beasts very unhappy." He spoke in English, which, of course, +Numa did not understand at all, but there must have been something +reassuring in the tone, for Numa whined pleadingly and moved +impatiently to and fro parallel with their antagonists. + +"Come," said Tarzan suddenly and grasping the lion's mane with his +left hand he moved toward the other lions, his companion pacing +at his side. As the two advanced the others drew slowly back and, +finally separating, moved off to either side. Tarzan and Numa +passed between them but neither the great black-maned lion nor the +man failed to keep an eye upon the beast nearer him so that they +were not caught unawares when, as though at some preconcerted +signal, the two cats charged simultaneously from opposite directions. + +The ape-man met the charge of his antagonist after the same fashion +of fighting that he had been accustomed to employing in previous +encounters with Numa and Sheeta. To have attempted to meet the +full shock of a lion's charge would have been suicidal even for +the giant Tarmangani. Instead he resorted to methods of agility and +cunning, for quick as are the great cats, even quicker is Tarzan +of the Apes. + +With outspread, raking talons and bared fangs Numa sprang for the +naked chest of the ape-man. Throwing up his left arm as a boxer might +ward off a blow, Tarzan struck upward beneath the left forearm of +the lion, at the same time rushing in with his shoulder beneath +the animal's body and simultaneously drove his blade into the tawny +hide behind the shoulder. With a roar of pain Numa wheeled again, +the personification of bestial rage. Now indeed would he exterminate +this presumptuous man-thing who dared even to think that he could +thwart the king of beasts in his desires. But as he wheeled, his +intended quarry wheeled with him, brown fingers locked in the heavy +mane on the powerful neck and again the blade struck deep into the +lion's side. + +Then it was that Numa went mad with hate and pain and at the same +instant the ape-man leaped full upon his back. Easily before had +Tarzan locked his legs beneath the belly of a lion while he clung +to its long mane and stabbed it until his point reached its heart. +So easy it had seemed before that he experienced a sharp feeling of +resentment that he was unable to do so now, for the quick movements +of the lion prevented him, and presently, to his dismay, as the +lion leaped and threw him about, the ape-man realized that he was +swinging inevitably beneath those frightful talons. + +With a final effort he threw himself from Numa's back and sought, +by his quickness, to elude the frenzied beast for the fraction of +an instant that would permit him to regain his feet and meet the +animal again upon a more even footing. But this time Numa was too +quick for him and he was but partially up when a great paw struck +him on the side of the head and bowled him over. + +As he fell he saw a black streak shoot above him and another lion +close upon his antagonist. Rolling from beneath the two battling lions +Tarzan regained his feet, though he was half dazed and staggering +from the impact of the terrible blow he had received. Behind him +he saw a lifeless lion lying torn and bleeding upon the sand, and +before him Numa of the pit was savagely mauling the second lion. + +He of the black coat tremendously outclassed his adversary in +point of size and strength as well as in ferocity. The battling +beasts made a few feints and passes at each other before the larger +succeeded in fastening his fangs in the other's throat, and then, +as a cat shakes a mouse, the larger lion shook the lesser, and when +his dying foe sought to roll beneath and rake his conqueror with +his hind claws, the other met him halfway at his own game, and as +the great talons buried themselves in the lower part of the other's +chest and then were raked downward with all the terrific strength +of the mighty hind legs, the battle was ended. + +As Numa rose from his second victim and shook himself, Tarzan could +not but again note the wondrous proportions and symmetry of the +beast. The lions they had bested were splendid specimens themselves +and in their coats Tarzan noted a suggestion of the black which +was such a strongly marked characteristic of Numa of the pit. Their +manes were just a trifle darker than an ordinary black-maned lion +but the tawny shade on the balance of their coats predominated. +However, the ape-man realized that they were a distinct species +from any he had seen as though they had sprung originally from a +cross between the forest lion of his acquaintance and a breed of +which Numa of the pit might be typical. + +The immediate obstruction in his way having been removed, Tarzan was +for setting out in search of the spoor of the girl and Smith-Oldwick, +that he might discover their fate. He suddenly found himself +tremendously hungry and as he circled about over the sandy bottom +searching among the tangled network of innumerable tracks for those +of his proteges, there broke from his lips involuntarily the whine +of a hungry beast. Immediately Numa of the pit pricked up his ears +and, regarding the ape-man steadily for a moment, he answered the +call of hunger and started briskly off toward the south, stopping +occasionally to see if Tarzan was following. + +The ape-man realized that the beast was leading him to food, and so +he followed and as he followed his keen eyes and sensitive nostrils +sought for some indication of the direction taken by the man and +the girl. Presently out of the mass of lion tracks, Tarzan picked +up those of many sandaled feet and the scent spoor of the members +of the strange race such as had been with the lions the night +before, and then faintly he caught the scent spoor of the girl and +a little later that of Smith-Oldwick. Presently the tracks thinned +and here those of the girl and the Englishman became well marked. + +They had been walking side by side and there had been men and +lions to the right and left of them, and men and lions in front and +behind. The ape-man was puzzled by the possibilities suggested by +the tracks, but in the light of any previous experience he could +not explain satisfactorily to himself what his perceptions indicated. + +There was little change in the formation of the gorge; it still +wound its erratic course between precipitous cliffs. In places it +widened out and again it became very narrow and always deeper the +further south they traveled. Presently the bottom of the gorge began +to slope more rapidly. Here and there were indications of ancient +rapids and waterfalls. The trail became more difficult but was well +marked and showed indications of great antiquity, and, in places, +the handiwork of man. They had proceeded for a half or three-quarters +of a mile when, at a turning of the gorge, Tarzan saw before him a +narrow valley cut deep into the living rock of the earth's crust, +with lofty mountain ranges bounding it upon the south. How far it +extended east and west he could not see, but apparently it was no +more than three or four miles across from north to south. + +That it was a well-watered valley was indicated by the wealth of +vegetation that carpeted its floor from the rocky cliffs upon the +north to the mountains on the south. + +Over the edge of the cliffs from which the ape-man viewed the valley +a trail had been hewn that led downward to the base. Preceded by +the lion Tarzan descended into the valley, which, at this point, +was forested with large trees. Before him the trail wound onward +toward the center of the valley. Raucous-voiced birds of brilliant +plumage screamed among the branches while innumerable monkeys +chattered and scolded above him. + +The forest teemed with life, and yet there was borne in upon the +ape-man a sense of unutterable loneliness, a sensation that he +never before had felt in his beloved jungles. There was unreality +in everything about him--in the valley itself, lying hidden +and forgotten in what was supposed to be an arid waste. The birds +and the monkeys, while similar in type to many with which he was +familiar, were identical with none, nor was the vegetation without +its idiosyncrasies. It was as though he had been suddenly transported +to another world and he felt a strange restlessness that might +easily have been a premonition of danger. + +Fruits were growing among the trees and some of these he saw that +Manu, the monkey, ate. Being hungry he swung to the lower branches +and, amidst a great chattering of the monkeys, proceeded to eat +such of the fruit as he saw the monkeys ate in safety. When he had +partially satisfied his hunger, for meat alone could fully do so, +he looked about him for Numa of the pit to discover that the lion +had gone. + + + + + +The Walled City + + + + +Dropping to the ground once more he picked up the trail of the girl +and her captors, which he followed easily along what appeared to +be a well-beaten trail. It was not long before he came to a small +stream, where he quenched his thirst, and thereafter he saw that +the trail followed in the general direction of the stream, which +ran southwesterly. Here and there were cross trails and others +which joined the main avenue, and always upon each of them were the +tracks and scent of the great cats, of Numa, the lion, and Sheeta, +the panther. + +With the exception of a few small rodents there appeared to be no +other wild life on the surface of the valley. There was no indication +of Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, or of Gorgo, the buffalo, +Buto, Tantor, or Duro. Histah, the snake, was there. He saw him in +the trees in greater numbers than he ever had seen Histah before; +and once beside a reedy pool he caught a scent that could have +belonged to none other than Gimla the crocodile, but upon none of +these did the Tarmangani care to feed. + +And so, as he craved meat, he turned his attention to the birds +above him. His assailants of the night before had not disarmed +him. Either in the darkness and the rush of the charging lions the +human foe had overlooked him or else they had considered him dead; +but whatever the reason he still retained his weapons--his spear +and his long knife, his bow and arrows, and his grass rope. + +Fitting a shaft to his bow Tarzan awaited an opportunity to bring +down one of the larger birds, and when the opportunity finally +presented itself he drove the arrow straight to its mark. As the +gaily plumaged creature fluttered to earth its companions and the +little monkeys set up a most terrific chorus of wails and screaming +protests. The whole forest became suddenly a babel of hoarse screams +and shrill shrieks. + +Tarzan would not have been surprised had one or two birds in the +immediate vicinity given voice to terror as they fled, but that the +whole life of the jungle should set up so weird a protest filled +him with disgust. It was an angry face that he turned up toward +the monkeys and the birds as there suddenly stirred within him a +savage inclination to voice his displeasure and his answer to what +he considered their challenge. And so it was that there broke upon +this jungle for the first time Tarzan's hideous scream of victory +and challenge. + +The effect upon the creatures above him was instantaneous. Where +before the air had trembled to the din of their voices, now utter +silence reigned and a moment later the ape-man was alone with his +puny kill. + +The silence following so closely the previous tumult carried +a sinister impression to the ape-man, which still further aroused +his anger. Picking the bird from where it had fallen he withdrew +his arrow from the body and returned it to his quiver. Then with +his knife he quickly and deftly removed the skin and feathers +together. He ate angrily, growling as though actually menaced by +a near-by foe, and perhaps, too, his growls were partially induced +by the fact that he did not care for the flesh of birds. Better +this, however, than nothing and from what his senses had told him +there was no flesh in the vicinity such as he was accustomed to +and cared most for. How he would have enjoyed a juicy haunch from +Pacco, the zebra, or a steak from the loin of Gorgo, the buffalo! +The very thought made his mouth water and increased his resentment +against this unnatural forest that harbored no such delicious +quarry. + +He had but partially consumed his kill when he suddenly became +aware of a movement in the brush at no great distance from him +and downwind, and a moment later his nostrils picked up the scent +of Numa from the opposite direction, and then upon either side he +caught the fall of padded feet and the brushing of bodies against +leafy branches. The ape-man smiled. What stupid creature did they +think him, to be surprised by such clumsy stalkers? Gradually the +sounds and scents indicated that lions were moving upon him from +all directions, that he was in the center of a steadily converging +circle of beasts. Evidently they were so sure of their prey that +they were making no effort toward stealth, for he heard twigs crack +beneath their feet, and the brushing of their bodies against the +vegetation through which they forced their way. + +He wondered what could have brought them. It seemed unreasonable +to believe that the cries of the birds and the monkeys should +have summoned them, and yet, if not, it was indeed a remarkable +coincidence. His judgment told him that the death of a single bird +in this forest which teemed with birds could scarce be of sufficient +moment to warrant that which followed. Yet even in the face of reason +and past experience he found that the whole affair perplexed him. + +He stood in the center of the trail awaiting the coming of the lions +and wondering what would be the method of their attack or if they +would indeed attack. Presently a maned lion came into view along +the trail below him. At sight of him the lion halted. The beast was +similar to those that had attacked him earlier in the day, a trifle +larger and a trifle darker than the lions of his native jungles, +but neither so large nor so black as Numa of the pit. + +Presently he distinguished the outlines of other lions in the +surrounding brush and among the trees. Each of them halted as it +came within sight of the ape-man and there they stood regarding +him in silence. Tarzan wondered how long it would be before they +charged and while he waited he resumed his feeding, though with +every sense constantly alert. + +One by one the lions lay down, but always their faces were toward +him and their eyes upon him. There had been no growling and no +roaring--just the quiet drawing of the silent circle about him. +It was all so entirely foreign to anything that Tarzan ever before +had seen lions do that it irritated him so that presently, having +finished his repast, he fell to making insulting remarks to first +one and then another of the lions, after the habit he had learned +from the apes of his childhood. + +"Dango, eater of carrion," he called them, and he compared them most +unfavorably with Histah, the snake, the most loathed and repulsive +creature of the jungle. Finally he threw handfuls of earth at them +and bits of broken twigs, and then the lions growled and bared +their fangs, but none of them advanced. + +"Cowards," Tarzan taunted them. "Numa with a heart of Bara, the +deer." He told them who he was, and after the manner of the jungle +folk he boasted as to the horrible things he would do to them, but +the lions only lay and watched him. + +It must have been a half hour after their coming that Tarzan caught +in the distance along the trail the sound of footsteps approaching. +They were the footsteps of a creature who walked upon two legs, +and though Tarzan could catch no scent spoor from that direction +he knew that a man was approaching. Nor had he long to wait before +his judgment was confirmed by the appearance of a man who halted +in the trail directly behind the first lion that Tarzan had seen. + +At sight of the newcomer the ape-man realized that here was one +similar to those who had given off the unfamiliar scent spoor that +he had detected the previous night, and he saw that not only in +the matter of scent did the man differ from other human beings with +whom Tarzan was familiar. + +The fellow was strongly built with skin of a leathery appearance, +like parchment yellowed with age. His hair, which was coal black +and three or four inches in length, grew out stiffly at right angles +to his scalp. His eyes were close set and the irises densely black +and very small, so that the white of the eyeball showed around +them. The man's face was smooth except for a few straggly hairs on +his chin and upper lip. The nose was aquiline and fine, but the +hair grew so far down on the forehead as to suggest a very low +and brutal type. The upper lip was short and fine while the lower +lip was rather heavy and inclined to be pendulous, the chin being +equally weak. Altogether the face carried the suggestion of a +once strong and handsome countenance entirely altered by physical +violence or by degraded habits and thoughts. The man's arms were +long, though not abnormally so, while his legs were short, though +straight. + +He was clothed in tight-fitting nether garments and a loose, +sleeveless tunic that fell just below his hips, while his feet +were shod in soft-soled sandals, the wrappings of which extended +halfway to his knees, closely resembling a modern spiral military +legging. He carried a short, heavy spear, and at his side swung +a weapon that at first so astonished the ape-man that he could +scarcely believe the evidence of his senses--a heavy saber in +a leather-covered scabbard. The man's tunic appeared to have been +fabricated upon a loom--it was certainly not made of skins, while +the garments that covered his legs were quite as evidently made +from the hides of rodents. + +Tarzan noted the utter unconcern with which the man approached the +lions, and the equal indifference of Numa to him. The fellow paused +for a moment as though appraising the ape-man and then pushed on +past the lions, brushing against the tawny hide as he passed him +in the trail. + +About twenty feet from Tarzan the man stopped, addressing the former +in a strange jargon, no syllable of which was intelligible to the +Tarmangani. His gestures indicated numerous references to the lions +surrounding them, and once he touched his spear with the forefinger +of his left hand and twice he struck the saber at his hip. + +While he spoke Tarzan studied the fellow closely, with the result +that there fastened itself upon his mind a strange conviction--that +the man who addressed him was what might only be described as a +rational maniac. As the thought came to the ape-man he could not +but smile, so paradoxical the description seemed. Yet a closer +study of the man's features, carriage, and the contour of his head +carried almost incontrovertibly the assurance that he was insane, +while the tones of his voice and his gestures resembled those of +a sane and intelligent mortal. + +Presently the man had concluded his speech and appeared to be waiting +questioningly Tarzan's reply. The ape-man spoke to the other first +in the language of the great apes, but he soon saw that the words +carried no conviction to his listener. Then with equal futility +he tried several native dialects but to none of these did the man +respond. + +By this time Tarzan began to lose patience. He had wasted sufficient +time by the road, and as he had never depended much upon speech in +the accomplishment of his ends, he now raised his spear and advanced +toward the other. This, evidently, was a language common to both, +for instantly the fellow raised his own weapon and at the same time +a low call broke from his lips, a call which instantly brought to +action every lion in the hitherto silent circle. A volley of roars +shattered the silence of the forest and simultaneously lions sprang +into view upon all sides as they closed in rapidly upon their +quarry. The man who had called them stepped back, his teeth bared +in a mirthless grin. + +It was then that Tarzan first noticed that the fellow's upper canines +were unusually long and exceedingly sharp. It was just a flashing +glimpse he got of them as he leaped agilely from the ground and, to +the consternation of both the lions and their master, disappeared +in the foliage of the lower terrace, flinging back over his shoulder +as he swung rapidly away: "I am Tarzan of the Apes; mighty hunter; +mighty fighter! None in the jungle more powerful, none more cunning +than Tarzan!" + +A short distance beyond the point at which they had surrounded him, +Tarzan came to the trail again and sought for the spoor of Bertha +Kircher and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick. He found them quickly and +continued upon his search for the two. The spoor lay directly along +the trail for another half-mile when the way suddenly debouched +from the forest into open land and there broke upon the astonished +view of the ape-man the domes and minarets of a walled city. + +Directly before him in the wall nearest him Tarzan saw a low-arched +gateway to which a well-beaten trail led from that which he had +been following. In the open space between the forest and the city +walls, quantities of garden stuff was growing, while before him +at his feet, in an open man-made ditch, ran a stream of water! The +plants in the garden were laid out in well-spaced, symmetrical rows +and appeared to have been given excellent attention and cultivation. +Tiny streams were trickling between the rows from the main ditch +before him and at some distance to his right he could see people +at work among the plants. + +The city wall appeared to be about thirty feet in height, its +plastered expanse unbroken except by occasional embrasures. Beyond +the wall rose the domes of several structures and numerous minarets +dotted the sky line of the city. The largest and central dome +appeared to be gilded, while others were red, or blue, or yellow. +The architecture of the wall itself was of uncompromising simplicity. +It was of a cream shade and appeared to be plastered and painted. +At its base was a line of well-tended shrubs and at some distance +towards its eastern extremity it was vine covered to the top. + +As he stood in the shadow of the trail, his keen eyes taking in every +detail of the picture before him, he became aware of the approach +of a party in his rear and there was borne to him the scent of the +man and the lions whom he had so readily escaped. Taking to the +trees Tarzan moved a short distance to the west and, finding a +comfortable crotch at the edge of the forest where he could watch +the trail leading through the gardens to the city gate, he awaited +the return of his would-be captors. And soon they came--the strange +man followed by the pack of great lions. Like dogs they moved along +behind him down the trail among the gardens to the gate. + +Here the man struck upon the panels of the door with the butt of +his spear, and when it opened in response to his signal he passed +in with his lions. Beyond the open door Tarzan, from his distant +perch, caught but a fleeting glimpse of life within the city, just +enough to indicate that there were other human creatures who abode +there, and then the door closed. + +Through that door he knew that the girl and the man whom he sought +to succor had been taken into the city. What fate lay in store +for them or whether already it had been meted out to them he could +not even guess, nor where, within that forbidding wall, they were +incarcerated he could not know. But of one thing he was assured: +that if he were to aid them he could not do it from outside the +wall. He must gain entrance to the city first, nor did he doubt, +that once within, his keen senses would eventually reveal the +whereabouts of those whom he sought. + +The low sun was casting long shadows across the gardens when Tarzan +saw the workers returning from the eastern field. A man came first, +and as he came he lowered little gates along the large ditch of +running water, shutting off the streams that had run between the rows +of growing plants; and behind him came other men carrying burdens +of fresh vegetables in great woven baskets upon their shoulders. +Tarzan had not realized that there had been so many men working in +the field, but now as he sat there at the close of the day he saw +a procession filing in from the east, bearing the tools and the +produce back into the city. + +And then, to gain a better view, the ape-man ascended to the topmost +branches of a tall tree where he overlooked the nearer wall. From +this point of vantage he saw that the city was long and narrow, and +that while the outer walls formed a perfect rectangle, the streets +within were winding. Toward the center of the city there appeared +to be a low, white building around which the larger edifices of +the city had been built, and here, in the fast-waning light, Tarzan +thought that between two buildings he caught the glint of water, +but of that he was not sure. His experience of the centers of +civilization naturally inclined him to believe that this central +area was a plaza about which the larger buildings were grouped +and that there would be the most logical place to search first for +Bertha Kircher and her companion. + +And then the sun went down and darkness quickly enveloped the +city--a darkness that was accentuated for the ape-man rather than +relieved by the artificial lights which immediately appeared in +many of the windows visible to him. + +Tarzan had noticed that the roofs of most of the buildings were +flat, the few exceptions being those of what he imagined to be the +more pretentious public structures. How this city had come to exist +in this forgotten part of unexplored Africa the ape-man could not +conceive. Better than another, he realized something of the unsolved +secrets of the Great Dark Continent, enormous areas of which have +as yet been untouched by the foot of civilized man. Yet he could +scarce believe that a city of this size and apparently thus well +constructed could have existed for the generations that it must +have been there, without intercourse with the outer world. Even +though it was surrounded by a trackless desert waste, as he knew +it to be, he could not conceive that generation after generation +of men could be born and die there without attempting to solve the +mysteries of the world beyond the confines of their little valley. + +And yet, here was the city surrounded by tilled land and filled +with people! + +With the coming of night there arose throughout the jungle the cries +of the great cats, the voice of Numa blended with that of Sheeta, +and the thunderous roars of the great males reverberated through +the forest until the earth trembled, and from within the city came +the answering roars of other lions. + +A simple plan for gaining entrance to the city had occurred to +Tarzan, and now that darkness had fallen he set about to put it +into effect. Its success hinged entirely upon the strength of the +vines he had seen surmounting the wall toward the east. In this +direction he made his way, while from out of the forest about him +the cries of the flesh-eaters increased in volume and ferocity. A +quarter of a mile intervened between the forest and the city wall--a +quarter of a mile of cultivated land unrelieved by a single tree. +Tarzan of the Apes realized his limitations and so he knew that +it would undoubtedly spell death for him to be caught in the open +space by one of the great black lions of the forest if, as he had +already surmised, Numa of the pit was a specimen of the forest lion +of the valley. + +He must, therefore, depend entirely upon his cunning and his speed, +and upon the chance that the vine would sustain his weight. + +He moved through the middle terrace, where the way is always +easiest, until he reached a point opposite the vine-clad portion +of the wall, and there he waited, listening and scenting, until he +might assure himself that there was no Numa within his immediate +vicinity, or, at least, none that sought him. And when he was quite +sure that there was no lion close by in the forest, and none in +the clearing between himself and the wall, he dropped lightly to +the ground and moved stealthily out into the open. + +The rising moon, just topping the eastern cliffs, cast its bright +rays upon the long stretch of open garden beneath the wall. And, too, +it picked out in clear relief for any curious eyes that chanced to +be cast in that direction, the figure of the giant ape-man moving +across the clearing. It was only chance, of course, that a great +lion hunting at the edge of the forest saw the figure of the man +halfway between the forest and the wall. Suddenly there broke upon +Tarzan's ears a menacing sound. It was not the roar of a hungry +lion, but the roar of a lion in rage, and, as he glanced back in +the direction from which the sound came, he saw a huge beast moving +out from the shadow of the forest toward him. + +Even in the moonlight and at a distance Tarzan saw that the lion +was huge; that it was indeed another of the black-maned monsters +similar to Numa of the pit. For an instant he was impelled to turn +and fight, but at the same time the thought of the helpless girl +imprisoned in the city flashed through his brain and, without an +instant's hesitation, Tarzan of the Apes wheeled and ran for the +wall. Then it was that Numa charged. + +Numa, the lion, can run swiftly for a short distance, but he lacks +endurance. For the period of an ordinary charge he can cover the +ground with greater rapidity possibly than any other creature in +the world. Tarzan, on the other hand, could run at great speed for +long distances, though never as rapidly as Numa when the latter +charged. + +The question of his fate, then, rested upon whether, with his start +he could elude Numa for a few seconds; and, if so, if the lion would +then have sufficient stamina remaining to pursue him at a reduced +gait for the balance of the distance to the wall. + +Never before, perhaps, was staged a more thrilling race, and yet it +was run with only the moon and stars to see. Alone and in silence +the two beasts sped across the moonlit clearing. Numa gained with +appalling rapidity upon the fleeing man, yet at every bound Tarzan +was nearer to the vine-clad wall. Once the ape-man glanced back. +Numa was so close upon him that it seemed inevitable that at the +next bound he should drag him down; so close was he that the ape-man +drew his knife as he ran, that he might at least give a good account +of himself in the last moments of his life. + +But Numa had reached the limit of his speed and endurance. Gradually +he dropped behind but he did not give up the pursuit, and now Tarzan +realized how much hinged upon the strength of the untested vines. + +If, at the inception of the race, only Goro and the stars had looked +down upon the contestants, such was not the case at its finish, +since from an embrasure near the summit of the wall two close-set +black eyes peered down upon the two. Tarzan was a dozen yards +ahead of Numa when he reached the wall. There was no time to stop +and institute a search for sturdy stems and safe handholds. His +fate was in the hands of chance and with the realization he gave a +final spurt and running catlike up the side of the wall among the +vines, sought with his hands for something that would sustain his +weight. Below him Numa leaped also. + + + + + +Among the Maniacs + + + + +As the lions swarmed over her protectors, Bertha Kircher shrank +back in the cave in a momentary paralysis of fright super-induced, +perhaps, by the long days of terrific nerve strain which she had +undergone. + +Mingled with the roars of the lions had been the voices of men, +and presently out of the confusion and turmoil she felt the near +presence of a human being, and then hands reached forth and seized +her. It was dark and she could see but little, nor any sign of the +English officer or the ape-man. The man who seized her kept the +lions from her with what appeared to be a stout spear, the haft of +which he used to beat off the beasts. The fellow dragged her from +the cavern the while he shouted what appeared to be commands and +warnings to the lions. + +Once out upon the light sands of the bottom of the gorge objects +became more distinguishable, and then she saw that there were +other men in the party and that two half led and half carried the +stumbling figure of a third, whom she guessed must be Smith-Oldwick. + +For a time the lions made frenzied efforts to reach the two captives +but always the men with them succeeded in beating them off. The +fellows seemed utterly unafraid of the great beasts leaping and +snarling about them, handling them much the same as one might handle +a pack of obstreperous dogs. Along the bed of the old watercourse +that once ran through the gorge they made their way, and as the +first faint lightening of the eastern horizon presaged the coming +dawn, they paused for a moment upon the edge of a declivity, which +appeared to the girl in the strange light of the waning night as a +vast, bottomless pit; but, as their captors resumed their way and +the light of the new day became stronger, she saw that they were +moving downward toward a dense forest. + +Once beneath the over-arching trees all was again Cimmerian darkness, +nor was the gloom relieved until the sun finally arose beyond the +eastern cliffs, when she saw that they were following what appeared +to be a broad and well-beaten game trail through a forest of great +trees. The ground was unusually dry for an African forest and +the underbrush, while heavily foliaged, was not nearly so rank +and impenetrable as that which she had been accustomed to find +in similar woods. It was as though the trees and the bushes grew +in a waterless country, nor was there the musty odor of decaying +vegetation or the myriads of tiny insects such as are bred in damp +places. + +As they proceeded and the sun rose higher, the voices of the +arboreal jungle life rose in discordant notes and loud chattering +about them. Innumerable monkeys scolded and screamed in the branches +overhead, while harsh-voiced birds of brilliant plumage darted +hither and thither. She noticed presently that their captors often +cast apprehensive glances in the direction of the birds and on +numerous occasions seemed to be addressing the winged denizens of +the forest. + +One incident made a marked impression on her. The man who immediately +preceded her was a fellow of powerful build, yet, when a brilliantly +colored parrot swooped downward toward him, he dropped upon his knees +and covering his face with his arms bent forward until his head +touched the ground. Some of the others looked at him and laughed +nervously. Presently the man glanced upward and seeing that the +bird had gone, rose to his feet and continued along the trail. + +It was at this brief halt that Smith-Oldwick was brought to her +side by the men who had been supporting him. He had been rather +badly mauled by one of the lions; but was now able to walk alone, +though he was extremely weak from shock and loss of blood. + +"Pretty mess, what?" he remarked with a wry smile, indicating his +bloody and disheveled state. + +"It is terrible," said the girl. "I hope you are not suffering." + +"Not as much as I should have expected," he replied, "but I feel +as weak as a fool. What sort of creatures are these beggars, anyway?" + +"I don't know," she replied, "there is something terribly uncanny +about their appearance." + +The man regarded one of their captors closely for a moment and +then, turning to the girl asked, "Did you ever visit a madhouse?" + +She looked up at him in quick understanding and with a horrified +expression in her eyes. "That's it!" she cried. + +"They have all the earmarks," he said. "Whites of the eyes showing +all around the irises, hair growing stiffly erect from the scalp +and low down upon the forehead--even their mannerisms and their +carriage are those of maniacs." + +The girl shuddered. + +"Another thing about them," continued the Englishman, "that doesn't +appear normal is that they are afraid of parrots and utterly fearless +of lions." + +"Yes," said the girl; "and did you notice that the birds seem utterly +fearless of them--really seem to hold them in contempt? Have you +any idea what language they speak?" + +'No," said the man, "I have been trying to figure that out. It's not +like any of the few native dialects of which I have any knowledge." + +"It doesn't sound at all like the native language," said the girl, +"but there is something familiar about it. You know, every now and +then I feel that I am just on the verge of understanding what they +are saying, or at least that somewhere I have heard their tongue +before, but final recognition always eludes me." + +"I doubt if you ever heard their language spoken," said the man. +"These people must have lived in this out-of-the-way valley for +ages and even if they had retained the original language of their +ancestors without change, which is doubtful, it must be some tongue +that is no longer spoken in the outer world." + +At one point where a stream of water crossed the trail the party +halted while the lions and the men drank. They motioned to their +captors to drink too, and as Bertha Kircher and Smith-Oldwick, +lying prone upon the ground drank from the clear, cool water of the +rivulet, they were suddenly startled by the thunderous roar of a +lion a short distance ahead of them. Instantly the lions with them +set up a hideous response, moving restlessly to and fro with their +eyes always either turned in the direction from which the roar had +come or toward their masters, against whom the tawny beasts slunk. +The men loosened the sabers in their scabbards, the weapons that +had aroused Smith-Oldwick's curiosity as they had Tarzan's, and +grasped their spears more firmly. + +Evidently there were lions and lions, and while they evinced no +fear of the beasts which accompanied them, it was quite evident +that the voice of the newcomer had an entirely different effect +upon them, although the men seemed less terrified than the lions. +Neither, however, showed any indication of an inclination to flee; +on the contrary the entire party advanced along the trail in the +direction of the menacing roars, and presently there appeared in +the center of the path a black lion of gigantic proportions. To +Smith-Oldwick and the girl he appeared to be the same lion that +they had encountered at the plane and from which Tarzan had rescued +them. But it was not Numa of the pit, although he resembled him +closely. + +The black beast stood directly in the center of the trail lashing +his tail and growling menacingly at the advancing party. The men +urged on their own beasts, who growled and whined but hesitated +to charge. Evidently becoming impatient, and in full consciousness +of his might the intruder raised his tail stiffly erect and shot +forward. Several of the defending lions made a half-hearted attempt to +obstruct his passage, but they might as well have placed themselves +in the path of an express train, as hurling them aside the great +beast leaped straight for one of the men. A dozen spears were +launched at him and a dozen sabers leaped from their scabbards; +gleaming, razor-edged weapons they were, but for the instant rendered +futile by the terrific speed of the charging beast. + +Two of the spears entering his body but served to further enrage +him as, with demoniacal roars, he sprang upon the hapless man he +had singled out for his prey. Scarcely pausing in his charge he +seized the fellow by the shoulder and, turning quickly at right +angles, leaped into the concealing foliage that flanked the trail, +and was gone, bearing his victim with him. + +So quickly had the whole occurrence transpired that the formation +of the little party was scarcely altered. There had been no +opportunity for flight, even if it had been contemplated; and now +that the lion was gone with his prey the men made no move to pursue +him. They paused only long enough to recall the two or three of +their lions that had scattered and then resumed the march along +the trail. + +"Might be an everyday occurrence from all the effect it has on +them," remarked Smith-Oldwick to the girl. + +"Yes," she said. "They seem to be neither surprised nor disconcerted, +and evidently they are quite sure that the lion, having got what +he came for, will not molest them further." + +"I had thought," said the Englishman, "that the lions of the Wamabo +country were about the most ferocious in existence, but they are +regular tabby cats by comparison with these big black fellows. +Did you ever see anything more utterly fearless or more terribly +irresistible than that charge?" + +For a while, as they walked side by side, their thoughts and +conversation centered upon this latest experience, until the trail +emerging from the forest opened to their view a walled city and an +area of cultivated land. Neither could suppress an exclamation of +surprise. + +"Why, that wall is a regular engineering job," exclaimed Smith-Oldwick + +"And look at the domes and minarets of the city beyond," cried the +girl. "There must be a civilized people beyond that wall. Possibly +we are fortunate to have fallen into their hands." + +Smith-Oldwick shrugged his shoulders. "I hope so," he said, "though +I am not at all sure about people who travel about with lions and +are afraid of parrots. There must be something wrong with them." + +The party followed the trail across the field to an arched gateway +which opened at the summons of one of their captors, who beat upon +the heavy wooden panels with his spear. Beyond, the gate opened +into a narrow street which seemed but a continuation of the jungle +trail leading from the forest. Buildings on either hand adjoined +the wall and fronted the narrow, winding street, which was only +visible for a short distance ahead. The houses were practically +all two-storied structures, the upper stories flush with the street +while the walls of the first story were set back some ten feet, +a series of simple columns and arches supporting the front of the +second story and forming an arcade on either side of the narrow +thoroughfare. + +The pathway in the center of the street was unpaved, but the floors +of the arcades were cut stone of various shapes and sizes but all +carefully fitted and laid without mortar. These floors gave evidence +of great antiquity, there being a distinct depression down the +center as though the stone had been worn away by the passage of +countless sandaled feet during the ages that it had lain there. + +There were few people astir at this early hour, and these were of +the same type as their captors. At first those whom they saw were +only men, but as they went deeper into the city they came upon a +few naked children playing in the soft dust of the roadway. Many +they passed showed the greatest surprise and curiosity in the +prisoners, and often made inquiries of the guards, which the two +assumed must have been in relation to themselves, while others +appeared not to notice them at all. + +"I wish we could understand their bally language," exclaimed +Smith-Oldwick. + +"Yes," said the girl, "I would like to ask them what they are going +to do with us." + +"That would be interesting," said the man. "I have been doing +considerable wondering along that line myself." + +"I don't like the way their canine teeth are filed," said the girl. +"It's too suggestive of some of the cannibals I have seen." + +"You don't really believe they are cannibals, do you?" asked the +man. "You don't think white people are ever cannibals, do you?" + +"Are these people white?" asked the girl. + +"They're not Negroes, that's certain," rejoined the man. "Their +skin is yellow, but yet it doesn't resemble the Chinese exactly, +nor are any of their features Chinese." + +It was at this juncture that they caught their first glimpse of a +native woman. She was similar in most respects to the men though +her stature was smaller and her figure more symmetrical. Her face +was more repulsive than that of the men, possibly because of the fact +that she was a woman, which rather accentuated the idiosyncrasies +of eyes, pendulous lip, pointed tusks and stiff, low-growing hair. +The latter was longer than that of the men and much heavier. It +hung about her shoulders and was confined by a colored bit of some +lacy fabric. Her single garment appeared to be nothing more than +a filmy scarf which was wound tightly around her body from below +her naked breasts, being caught up some way at the bottom near her +ankles. Bits of shiny metal resembling gold, ornamented both the +headdress and the skirt. Otherwise the woman was entirely without +jewelry. Her bare arms were slender and shapely and her hands and +feet well proportioned and symmetrical. + +She came close to the party as they passed her, jabbering to the +guards who paid no attention to her. The prisoners had an opportunity +to observe her closely as she followed at their side for a short +distance. + +"The figure of a houri," remarked Smith-Oldwick, "with the face of +an imbecile." + +The street they followed was intersected at irregular intervals by +crossroads which, as they glanced down them, proved to be equally +as tortuous as that through which they were being conducted. The +houses varied but little in design. Occasionally there were bits +of color, or some attempt at other architectural ornamentation. +Through open windows and doors they could see that the walls of +the houses were very thick and that all apertures were quite small, +as though the people had built against extreme heat, which they +realized must have been necessary in this valley buried deep in an +African desert. + +Ahead they occasionally caught glimpses of larger structures, and +as they approached them, came upon what was evidently a part of +the business section of the city. There were numerous small shops +and bazaars interspersed among the residences, and over the doors +of these were signs painted in characters strongly suggesting Greek +origin and yet it was not Greek as both the Englishman and the girl +knew. + +Smith-Oldwick was by this time beginning to feel more acutely the +pain of his wounds and the consequent weakness that was greatly +aggravated by loss of blood. He staggered now occasionally and the +girl, seeing his plight, offered him her arm. + +"No," he expostulated, "you have passed through too much yourself +to have any extra burden imposed upon you." But though he made a +valiant effort to keep up with their captors he occasionally lagged, +and upon one such occasion the guards for the first time showed +any disposition toward brutality. + +It was a big fellow who walked at Smith-Oldwick's left. Several +times he took hold of the Englishman's arm and pushed him forward +not ungently, but when the captive lagged again and again the +fellow suddenly, and certainly with no just provocation, flew into +a perfect frenzy of rage. He leaped upon the wounded man, striking +him viciously with his fists and, bearing him to the ground, grasped +his throat in his left hand while with his right he drew his long +sharp saber. Screaming terribly he waved the blade above his head. + +The others stopped and turned to look upon the encounter with no +particular show of interest. It was as though one of the party had +paused to readjust a sandal and the others merely waited until he +was ready to march on again. + +But if their captors were indifferent, Bertha Kircher was not. The +close-set blazing eyes, the snarling fanged face, and the frightful +screams filled her with horror, while the brutal and wanton attack +upon the wounded man aroused within her the spirit of protection +for the weak that is inherent in all women. Forgetful of everything +other than that a weak and defenseless man was being brutally murdered +before her eyes, the girl cast aside discretion and, rushing to +Smith-Oldwick's assistance, seized the uplifted sword arm of the +shrieking creature upon the prostrate Englishman. + +Clinging desperately to the fellow she surged backward with all her +weight and strength with the result that she overbalanced him and +sent him sprawling to the pavement upon his back. In his efforts +to save himself he relaxed his grasp upon the grip of his saber +which had no sooner fallen to the ground than it was seized upon by +the girl. Standing erect beside the prostrate form of the English +officer Bertha Kircher, the razor-edged weapon grasped firmly in +her hand, faced their captors. + +She was a brave figure; even her soiled and torn riding togs and +disheveled hair detracted nothing from her appearance. The creature +she had felled scrambled quickly to his feet and in the instant +his whole demeanor changed. From demoniacal rage he became suddenly +convulsed with hysterical laughter although it was a question in +the girl's mind as to which was the more terrifying. His companions +stood looking on with vacuous grins upon their countenances, while +he from whom the girl had wrested the weapon leaped up and down +shrieking with laughter. If Bertha Kircher had needed further +evidence to assure her that they were in the hands of a mentally +deranged people the man's present actions would have been sufficient +to convince her. The sudden uncontrolled rage and now the equally +uncontrolled and mirthless laughter but emphasized the facial +attributes of idiocy. + +Suddenly realizing how helpless she was in the event any one of the +men should seek to overpower her, and moved by a sudden revulsion +of feeling that brought on almost a nausea of disgust, the girl +hurled the weapon upon the ground at the feet of the laughing maniac +and, turning, kneeled beside the Englishman. + +"It was wonderful of you," he said, "but you shouldn't have done +it. Don't antagonize them: I believe that they are all mad and you +know they say that one should always humor a madman." + +She shook her head. "I couldn't see him kill you," she said. + +A sudden light sprang to the man's eyes as he reached out a hand and +grasped the girl's fingers. "Do you care a little now?" he asked. +"Can't you tell me that you do--just a bit?" + +She did not withdraw her hand from his but she shook her head +sadly. "Please don't," she said. "I am sorry that I can only like +you very much." + +The light died from his eyes and his fingers relaxed their grasp on +hers. "Please forgive me," he murmured. "I intended waiting until +we got out of this mess and you were safe among your own people. +It must have been the shock or something like that, and seeing you +defending me as you did. Anyway, I couldn't help it and really it +doesn't make much difference what I say now, does it?" + +"What do you mean?" she asked quickly. + +He shrugged and smiled ruefully. "I will never leave this city +alive," he said. "I wouldn't mention it except that I realize that +you must know it as well as I. I was pretty badly torn up by the +lion and this fellow here has about finished me. There might be +some hope if we were among civilized people, but here with these +frightful creatures what care could we get even if they were +friendly?" + +Bertha Kircher knew that he spoke the truth, and yet she could not +bring herself to an admission that Smith-Oldwick would die. She +was very fond of him, in fact her great regret was that she did +not love him, but she knew that she did not. + +It seemed to her that it could be such an easy thing for any girl +to love Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick--an English officer +and a gentleman, the scion of an old family and himself a man of +ample means, young, good-looking and affable. What more could a +girl ask for than to have such a man love her and that she possessed +Smith-Oldwick's love there was no doubt in Bertha Kircher's mind. + +She sighed, and then, laying her hand impulsively on his forehead, +she whispered, "Do not give up hope, though. Try to live for my +sake and for your sake I will try to love you." + +It was as though new life had suddenly been injected into the +man's veins. His face lightened instantly and with strength that +he himself did not know he possessed he rose slowly to his feet, +albeit somewhat unsteadily. The girl helped him and supported him +after he had arisen. + +For the moment they had been entirely unconscious of their +surroundings and now as she looked at their captors she saw that +they had fallen again into their almost habitual manner of stolid +indifference, and at a gesture from one of them the march was +resumed as though no untoward incident had occurred. + +Bertha Kircher experienced a sudden reaction from the momentary +exaltation of her recent promise to the Englishman. She knew that +she had spoken more for him than for herself but now that it was +over she realized, as she had realized the moment before she had +spoken, that it was unlikely she would ever care for him the way +he wished. But what had she promised? Only that she would try to +love him. "And now?" she asked herself. + +She realized that there might be little hope of their ever returning +to civilization. Even if these people should prove friendly and +willing to let them depart in peace, how were they to find their +way back to the coast? With Tarzan dead, as she fully believed him +after having seen his body lying lifeless at the mouth of the cave +when she had been dragged forth by her captor, there seemed no +power at their command which could guide them safely. + +The two had scarcely mentioned the ape-man since their capture, for +each realized fully what his loss meant to them. They had compared +notes relative to those few exciting moments of the final attack +and capture and had found that they agreed perfectly upon all that +had occurred. Smith-Oldwick had even seen the lion leap upon Tarzan +at the instant that the former was awakened by the roars of the +charging beasts, and though the night had been dark, he had been +able to see that the body of the savage ape-man had never moved +from the instant that it had come down beneath the beast. + +And so, if at other times within the past few weeks Bertha Kircher +had felt that her situation was particularly hopeless, she was now +ready to admit that hope was absolutely extinct. + +The streets were beginning to fill with the strange men and women +of this strange city. Sometimes individuals would notice them +and seem to take a great interest in them, and again others would +pass with vacant stares, seemingly unconscious of their immediate +surroundings and paying no attention whatsoever to the prisoners. +Once they heard hideous screams up a side street, and looking they +saw a man in the throes of a demoniacal outburst of rage, similar +to that which they had witnessed in the recent attack upon +Smith-Oldwick. This creature was venting his insane rage upon a +child which he repeatedly struck and bit, pausing only long enough +to shriek at frequent intervals. Finally, just before they passed +out of sight the creature raised the limp body of the child high +above his head and cast it down with all his strength upon the +pavement, and then, wheeling and screaming madly at the top of his +lungs, he dashed headlong up the winding street. + +Two women and several men had stood looking on at the cruel attack. +They were at too great a distance for the Europeans to know whether +their facial expressions portrayed pity or rage, but be that as it +may, none offered to interfere. + +A few yards farther on a hideous hag leaned from a second story +window where she laughed and jibbered and made horrid grimaces at +all who passed her. Others went their ways apparently attending to +whatever duties called them, as soberly as the inhabitants of any +civilized community. + +"God," muttered Smith-Oldwick, "what an awful place!" + +The girl turned suddenly toward him. "You still have your pistol?" +she asked him. + +"Yes," he replied. "I tucked it inside my shirt. They did not +search me and it was too dark for them to see whether I carried any +weapons or not. So I hid it in the hope that I might get through +with it." + +She moved closer to him and took hold of his hand. "Save one +cartridge for me, please?" she begged. + +Smith-Oldwick looked down at her and blinked his eyes very rapidly. +An unfamiliar and disconcerting moisture had come into them. He +had realized, of course, how bad a plight was theirs but somehow +it had seemed to affect him only: it did not seem possible that +anyone could harm this sweet and beautiful girl. + +And that she should have to be destroyed--destroyed by him! It +was too hideous: it was unbelievable, unthinkable! If he had been +filled with apprehension before, he was doubly perturbed now. + +"I don't believe I could do it, Bertha," he said. + +"Not even to save me from something worse?" she asked. + +He shook his head dismally. "I could never do it," he replied. + +The street that they were following suddenly opened upon a wide +avenue, and before them spread a broad and beautiful lagoon, the +quiet surface of which mirrored the clear cerulean of the sky. Here +the aspect of all their surroundings changed. The buildings were +higher and much more pretentious in design and ornamentation. +The street itself was paved in mosaics of barbaric but stunningly +beautiful design. In the ornamentation of the buildings there was +considerable color and a great deal of what appeared to be gold +leaf. In all the decorations there was utilized in various ways the +conventional figure of the parrot, and, to a lesser extent, that +of the lion and the monkey. + +Their captors led them along the pavement beside the lagoon for a +short distance and then through an arched doorway into one of the +buildings facing the avenue. Here, directly within the entrance +was a large room furnished with massive benches and tables, many of +which were elaborately hand carved with the figures of the inevitable +parrot, the lion, or the monkey, the parrot always predominating. + +Behind one of the tables sat a man who differed in no way that the +captives could discover from those who accompanied them. Before +this person the party halted, and one of the men who had brought +them made what seemed to be an oral report. Whether they were +before a judge, a military officer, or a civil dignitary they could +not know, but evidently he was a man of authority, for, after +listening to whatever recital was being made to him the while +he closely scrutinized the two captives, he made a single futile +attempt to converse with them and then issued some curt orders to +him who had made the report. + +Almost immediately two of the men approached Bertha Kircher and +signaled her to accompany them. Smith-Oldwick started to follow her +but was intercepted by one of their guards. The girl stopped then +and turned back, at the same time looking at the man at the table +and making signs with her hands, indicating, as best she could, +that she wished Smith-Oldwick to remain with her, but the fellow +only shook his head negatively and motioned to the guards to remove +her. The Englishman again attempted to follow but was restrained. +He was too weak and helpless even to make an attempt to enforce +his wishes. He thought of the pistol inside his shirt and then of +the futility of attempting to overcome an entire city with the few +rounds of ammunition left to him. + +So far, with the single exception of the attack made upon him, they +had no reason to believe that they might not receive fair treatment +from their captors, and so he reasoned that it might be wiser to +avoid antagonizing them until such a time as he became thoroughly +convinced that their intentions were entirely hostile. He saw the +girl led from the building and just before she disappeared from +his view she turned and waved her hand to him: + +"Good luck!" she cried, and was gone. + +The lions that had entered the building with the party had, during +their examination by the man at the table, been driven from the +apartment through a doorway behind him. Toward this same doorway +two of the men now led Smith-Oldwick. He found himself in a long +corridor from the sides of which other doorways opened, presumably +into other apartments of the building. At the far end of the corridor +he saw a heavy grating beyond which appeared an open courtyard. +Into this courtyard the prisoner was conducted, and as he entered +it with the two guards he found himself in an opening which was +bounded by the inner walls of the building. It was in the nature +of a garden in which a number of trees and flowering shrubs grew. +Beneath several of the trees were benches and there was a bench +along the south wall, but what aroused his most immediate attention +was the fact that the lions who had assisted in their capture and +who had accompanied them upon the return to the city, lay sprawled +about upon the ground or wandered restlessly to and fro. + +Just inside the gate his guard halted. The two men exchanged a few +words and then turned and reentered the corridor. The Englishman +was horror-stricken as the full realization of his terrible plight +forced itself upon his tired brain. He turned and seized the grating +in an attempt to open it and gain the safety of the corridor, but +he found it securely locked against his every effort, and then he +called aloud to the retreating figure of the men within. The only +reply he received was a high-pitched, mirthless laugh, and then +the two passed through the doorway at the far end of the corridor +and he was alone with the lions. + + + + + +The Queen's Story + + + + +In the meantime Bertha Kircher was conducted the length of the +plaza toward the largest and most pretentious of the buildings +surrounding it. This edifice covered the entire width of one end +of the plaza. It was several stories in height, the main entrance +being approached by a wide flight of stone steps, the bottom of +which was guarded by enormous stone lions, while at the top there +were two pedestals flanking the entrance and of the same height, +upon each of which was the stone image of a large parrot. As the +girl neared these latter images she saw that the capital of each +column was hewn into the semblance of a human skull upon which +the parrots perched. Above the arched doorway and upon the walls +of the building were the figures of other parrots, of lions, and +of monkeys. Some of these were carved in bas-relief; others were +delineated in mosaics, while still others appeared to have been +painted upon the surface of the wall. + +The colorings of the last were apparently much subdued by age +with the result that the general effect was soft and beautiful. +The sculpturing and mosaic work were both finely executed, giving +evidence of a high degree of artistic skill. Unlike the first +building into which she had been conducted, the entrance to which +had been doorless, massive doors closed the entrance which she now +approached. In the niches formed by the columns which supported +the door's arch, and about the base of the pedestals of the stone +parrots, as well as in various other places on the broad stairway, +lolled some score of armed men. The tunics of these were all of a +vivid yellow and upon the breast and back of each was embroidered +the figure of a parrot. + +As she was conducted up the stairway one of these yellow-coated +warriors approached and halted her guides at the top of the steps. +Here they exchanged a few words and while they were talking the +girl noticed that he who had halted them, as well as those whom +she could see of his companions, appeared to be, if possible, of +a lower mentality than her original captors. + +Their coarse, bristling hair grew so low upon their foreheads as, +in some instances, to almost join their eyebrows, while the irises +were smaller, exposing more of the white of the eyeball. + +After a short parley the man in charge of the doorway, for such +he seemed to be, turned and struck upon one of the panels with +the butt of his spear, at the same time calling to several of his +companions, who rose and came forward at his command. Soon the great +doors commenced slowly to swing creakingly open, and presently, +as they separated, the girl saw behind them the motive force which +operated the massive doors--to each door a half-dozen naked Negroes. + +At the doorway her two guards were turned back and their places taken +by a half dozen of the yellow-coated soldiery. These conducted her +through the doorway which the blacks, pulling upon heavy chains, +closed behind them. And as the girl watched them she noted with +horror that the poor creatures were chained by the neck to the +doors. + +Before her led a broad hallway in the center of which was a little +pool of clear water. Here again in floor and walls was repeated in +new and ever-changing combinations and designs, the parrots, the +monkeys, and the lions, but now many of the figures were of what +the girl was convinced must be gold. The walls of the corridor +consisted of a series of open archways through which, upon either +side, other spacious apartments were visible. The hallway was +entirely unfurnished, but the rooms on either side contained benches +and tables. Glimpses of some of the walls revealed the fact that +they were covered with hangings of some colored fabric, while upon +the floors were thick rugs of barbaric design and the skins of +black lions and beautifully marked leopards. + +The room directly to the right of the entrance was filled with men +wearing the yellow tunics of her new guard while the walls were hung +with numerous spears and sabers. At the far end of the corridor a +low flight of steps led to another closed doorway. Here the guard +was again halted. One of the guards at this doorway, after receiving +the report of one of those who accompanied her, passed through the +door, leaving them standing outside. It was fully fifteen minutes +before he returned, when the guard was again changed and the girl +conducted into the chamber beyond. + +Through three other chambers and past three more massive doors, at +each of which her guard was changed, the girl was conducted before +she was ushered into a comparatively small room, back and forth +across the floor of which paced a man in a scarlet tunic, upon the +front and back of which was embroidered an enormous parrot and upon +whose head was a barbaric headdress surmounted by a stuffed parrot. + +The walls of this room were entirely hidden by hangings upon which +hundreds, even thousands, of parrots were embroidered. Inlaid in +the floor were golden parrots, while, as thickly as they could be +painted, upon the ceiling were brilliant-hued parrots with wings +outspread as though in the act of flying. + +The man himself was larger of stature than any she had yet seen +within the city. His parchment-like skin was wrinkled with age and +he was much fatter than any other of his kind that she had seen. +His bared arms, however, gave evidence of great strength and his +gait was not that of an old man. His facial expression denoted almost +utter imbecility and he was quite the most repulsive creature that +ever Bertha Kircher had looked upon. + +For several minutes after she was conducted into his presence +he appeared not to be aware that she was there but continued his +restless pacing to and fro. Suddenly, without the slightest warning, +and while he was at the far end of the room from her with his back +toward her, he wheeled and rushed madly at her. Involuntarily the +girl shrank back, extending her open palms toward the frightful +creature as though to hold him aloof but a man upon either side of +her, the two who had conducted her into the apartment, seized and +held her. + +Although he rushed violently toward her the man stopped without +touching her. For a moment his horrid white-rimmed eyes glared +searchingly into her face, immediately following which he burst +into maniacal laughter. For two or three minutes the creature gave +himself over to merriment and then, stopping as suddenly as he +had commenced to laugh, he fell to examining the prisoner. He felt +of her hair, her skin, the texture of the garment she wore and by +means of signs made her understand she was to open her mouth. In +the latter he seemed much interested, calling the attention of one +of the guards to her canine teeth and then baring his own sharp +fangs for the prisoner to see. + +Presently he resumed pacing to and fro across the floor, and it +was fully fifteen minutes before he again noticed the prisoner, and +then it was to issue a curt order to her guards, who immediately +conducted her from the apartment. + +The guards now led the girl through a series of corridors and +apartments to a narrow stone stairway which led to the floor above, +finally stopping before a small door where stood a naked Negro armed +with a spear. At a word from one of her guards the Negro opened the +door and the party passed into a low-ceiled apartment, the windows +of which immediately caught the girl's attention through the fact +that they were heavily barred. The room was furnished similarly to +those that she had seen in other parts of the building, the same +carved tables and benches, the rugs upon the floor, the decorations +upon the walls, although in every respect it was simpler than +anything she had seen on the floor below. In one corner was a low +couch covered with a rug similar to those on the floor except that +it was of a lighter texture, and upon this sat a woman. + +As Bertha Kircher's eyes alighted upon the occupant of the room +the girl gave a little gasp of astonishment, for she recognized +immediately that here was a creature more nearly of her own kind +than any she had seen within the city's walls. An old woman it was +who looked at her through faded blue eyes, sunken deep in a wrinkled +and toothless face. But the eyes were those of a sane and intelligent +creature, and the wrinkled face was the face of a white woman. + +At sight of the girl the woman rose and came forward, her gait so +feeble and unsteady that she was forced to support herself with a +long staff which she grasped in both her hands. One of the guards +spoke a few words to her and then the men turned and left the +apartment. The girl stood just within the door waiting in silence +for what might next befall her. + +The old woman crossed the room and stopped before her, raising +her weak and watery eyes to the fresh young face of the newcomer. +Then she scanned her from head to foot and once again the old eyes +returned to the girl's face. Bertha Kircher on her part was not +less frank in her survey of the little old woman. It was the latter +who spoke first. In a thin, cracked voice she spoke, hesitatingly, +falteringly, as though she were using unfamiliar words and speaking +a strange tongue. + +"You are from the outer world?" she asked in English. "God grant +that you may speak and understand this tongue." + +"English?" the girl exclaimed, "Yes, of course, I speak English." + +"Thank God!" cried the little old woman. "I did not know whether I +myself might speak it so that another could understand. For sixty +years I have spoken only their accursed gibberish. For sixty years +I have not heard a word in my native language. Poor creature! Poor +creature!" she mumbled. "What accursed misfortune threw you into +their hands?" + +"You are an English woman?" asked Bertha Kircher. "Did I understand +you aright that you are an English woman and have been here for +sixty years?" + +The old woman nodded her head affirmatively. "For sixty years I +have never been outside of this palace. Come," she said, stretching +forth a bony hand. "I am very old and cannot stand long. Come and +sit with me on my couch." + +The girl took the proffered hand and assisted the old lady back +to the opposite side of the room and when she was seated the girl +sat down beside her. + +"Poor child! Poor child!" moaned the old woman. "Far better to have +died than to have let them bring you here. At first I might have +destroyed myself but there was always the hope that someone would +come who would take me away, but none ever comes. Tell me how they +got you." + +Very briefly the girl narrated the principal incidents which led +up to her capture by some of the creatures of the city. + +"Then there is a man with you in the city?" asked the old woman. + +"Yes," said the girl, "but I do not know where he is nor what are +their intentions in regard to him. In fact, I do not know what +their intentions toward me are." + +"No one might even guess," said the old woman. "They do not know +themselves from one minute to the next what their intentions are, +but I think you can rest assured, my poor child, that you will +never see your friend again." + +"But they haven't slain you," the girl reminded her, "and you have +been their prisoner, you say, for sixty years." + +"No," replied her companion, "they have not killed me, nor will +they kill you, though God knows before you have lived long in this +horrible place you will beg them to kill you." + +"Who are they--" asked Bertha Kircher, "what kind of people? They +differ from any that I ever have seen. And tell me, too, how you +came here." + +"It was long ago," said the old woman, rocking back and forth on +the couch. "It was long ago. Oh, how long it was! I was only twenty +then. Think of it, child! Look at me. I have no mirror other than +my bath, I cannot see what I look like for my eyes are old, but +with my fingers I can feel my old and wrinkled face, my sunken eyes, +and these flabby lips drawn in over toothless gums. I am old and +bent and hideous, but then I was young and they said that I was +beautiful. No, I will not be a hypocrite; I was beautiful. My glass +told me that. + +"My father was a missionary in the interior and one day there came +a band of Arabian slave raiders. They took the men and women of +the little native village where my father labored, and they took +me, too. They did not know much about our part of the country so +they were compelled to rely upon the men of our village whom they +had captured to guide them. They told me that they never before +had been so far south and that they had heard there was a country +rich in ivory and slaves west of us. They wanted to go there and +from there they would take us north, where I was to be sold into +the harem of some black sultan. + +"They often discussed the price I would bring, and that that price +might not lessen, they guarded me jealously from one another so +the journeys were made as little fatiguing for me as possible. I +was given the best food at their command and I was not harmed. + +"But after a short time, when we had reached the confines of the +country with which the men of our village were familiar and had +entered upon a desolate and arid desert waste, the Arabs realized +at last that we were lost. But they still kept on, ever toward +the west, crossing hideous gorges and marching across the face of +a burning land beneath the pitiless sun. The poor slaves they had +captured were, of course, compelled to carry all the camp equipage +and loot and thus heavily burdened, half starved and without water, +they soon commenced to die like flies. + +"We had not been in the desert land long before the Arabs were +forced to kill their horses for food, and when we reached the first +gorge, across which it would have been impossible to transport the +animals, the balance of them were slaughtered and the meat loaded +upon the poor staggering blacks who still survived. + +"Thus we continued for two more days and now all but a handful of +blacks were dead, and the Arabs themselves had commenced to succumb +to hunger and thirst and the intense heat of the desert. As far as +the eye could reach back toward the land of plenty from whence we +had come, our route was marked by circling vultures in the sky and +by the bodies of the dead who lay down in the trackless waste for +the last time. The ivory had been abandoned tusk by tusk as the +blacks gave out, and along the trail of death was strewn the camp +equipage and the horse trappings of a hundred men. + +"For some reason the Arab chief favored me to the last, possibly +with the idea that of all his other treasures I could be most easily +transported, for I was young and strong and after the horses were +killed I had walked and kept up with the best of the men. We English, +you know, are great walkers, while these Arabians had never walked +since they were old enough to ride a horse. + +"I cannot tell you how much longer we kept on but at last, with +our strength almost gone, a handful of us reached the bottom of a +deep gorge. To scale the opposite side was out of the question and +so we kept on down along the sands of what must have been the bed +of an ancient river, until finally we came to a point where we +looked out upon what appeared to be a beautiful valley in which we +felt assured that we would find game in plenty. + +"By then there were only two of us left--the chief and myself. I +do not need to tell you what the valley was, for you found it in +much the same way as I did. So quickly were we captured that it +seemed they must have been waiting for us, and I learned later that +such was the case, just as they were waiting for you. + +"As you came through the forest you must have seen the monkeys +and parrots and since you have entered the palace, how constantly +these animals, and the lions, are used in the decorations. At home +we were all familiar with talking parrots who repeated the things +that they were taught to say, but these parrots are different +in that they all talk in the same language that the people of the +city use, and they say that the monkeys talk to the parrots and the +parrots fly to the city and tell the people what the monkeys say. +And, although it is hard to believe, I have learned that this is +so, for I have lived here among them for sixty years in the palace +of their king. + +"They brought me, as they brought you, directly to the palace. The +Arabian chief was taken elsewhere. I never knew what became of him. +Ago XXV was king then. I have seen many kings since that day. He +was a terrible man; but then, they are all terrible." + +"What is the matter with them?" asked the girl. + +"They are a race of maniacs," replied the old woman. "Had you not +guessed it? Among them are excellent craftsmen and good farmers +and a certain amount of law and order, such as it is. + +"They reverence all birds, but the parrot is their chief deity. +There is one who is held here in the palace in a very beautiful +apartment. He is their god of gods. He is a very old bird. If what +Ago told me when I came is true, he must be nearly three hundred +years old by now. Their religious rites are revolting in the +extreme, and I believe that it may be the practice of these rites +through ages that has brought the race to its present condition of +imbecility. + +"And yet, as I said, they are not without some redeeming qualities. +If legend may be credited, their forebears--a little handful of +men and women who came from somewhere out of the north and became +lost in the wilderness of central Africa--found here only a barren +desert valley. To my own knowledge rain seldom, if ever, falls +here, and yet you have seen a great forest and luxuriant vegetation +outside of the city as well as within. This miracle is accomplished +by the utilization of natural springs which their ancestors developed, +and upon which they have improved to such an extent that the entire +valley receives an adequate amount of moisture at all times. + +"Ago told me that many generations before his time the forest was +irrigated by changing the course of the streams which carried the +spring water to the city but that when the trees had sent their +roots down to the natural moisture of the soil and required no +further irrigation, the course of the stream was changed and other +trees were planted. And so the forest grew until today it covers +almost the entire floor of the valley except for the open space +where the city stands. I do not know that this is true. It may be +that the forest has always been here, but it is one of their legends +and it is borne out by the fact that there is not sufficient rainfall +here to support vegetation. + +"They are peculiar people in many respects, not only in their form +of worship and religious rites but also in that they breed lions +as other people breed cattle. You have seen how they use some of +these lions but the majority of them they fatten and eat. At first, +I imagine, they ate lion meat as a part of their religious ceremony +but after many generations they came to crave it so that now it is +practically the only flesh they eat. They would, of course, rather +die than eat the flesh of a bird, nor will they eat monkey's meat, +while the herbivorous animals they raise only for milk, hides, +and flesh for the lions. Upon the south side of the city are the +corrals and pastures where the herbivorous animals are raised. +Boar, deer, and antelope are used principally for the lions, while +goats are kept for milk for the human inhabitants of the city." + +"And you have lived here all these years," exclaimed the girl, +"without ever seeing one of your own kind?" + +The old woman nodded affirmatively. + +"For sixty years you have lived here," continued Bertha Kircher, +"and they have not harmed you!" + +"I did not say they had not harmed me," said the old woman, "they +did not kill me, that is all." + +"What"--the girl hesitated--"what," she continued at last, "was +your position among them? Pardon me," she added quickly, "I think +I know but I should like to hear from your own lips, for whatever +your position was, mine will doubtless be the same." + +The old woman nodded. "Yes," she said, "doubtless; if they can keep +you away from the women." + +"What do you mean?" asked the girl. + +"For sixty years I have never been allowed near a woman. They would +kill me, even now, if they could reach me. The men are frightful, +God knows they are frightful! But heaven keep you from the women!" + +"You mean," asked the girl, "that the men will not harm me?" + +"Ago XXV made me his queen," said the old woman. "But he had many +other queens, nor were they all human. He was not murdered for ten +years after I came here. Then the next king took me, and so it has +been always. I am the oldest queen now. Very few of their women live +to a great age. Not only are they constantly liable to assassination +but, owing to their subnormal mentalities, they are subject to +periods of depression during which they are very likely to destroy +themselves." + +She turned suddenly and pointed to the barred windows. "You see +this room," she said, "with the black eunuch outside? Wherever +you see these you will know that there are women, for with very +few exceptions they are never allowed out of captivity. They are +considered and really are more violent than the men." + +For several minutes the two sat in silence, and then the younger +woman turned to the older. + +"Is there no way to escape?" she asked. + +The old woman pointed again to the barred windows and then to the +door, saying: "And there is the armed eunuch. And if you should +pass him, how could you reach the street? And if you reached the +street, how could you pass through the city to the outer wall? And +even if, by some miracle, you should gain the outer wall, and, by +another miracle, you should be permitted to pass through the gate, +could you ever hope to traverse the forest where the great black +lions roam and feed upon men? No!" she exclaimed, answering her +own question, "there is no escape, for after one had escaped from +the palace and the city and the forest it would be but to invite +death in the frightful desert land beyond. + +"In sixty years you are the first to find this buried city. In +a thousand no denizen of this valley has ever left it, and within +the memory of man, or even in their legends, none had found them +prior to my coming other than a single warlike giant, the story of +whom has been handed down from father to son. + +"I think from the description that he must have been a Spaniard, +a giant of a man in buckler and helmet, who fought his way through +the terrible forest to the city gate, who fell upon those who were +sent out to capture him and slew them with his mighty sword. And +when he had eaten of the vegetables from the gardens, and the fruit +from the trees and drank of the water from the stream, he turned +about and fought his way back through the forest to the mouth of +the gorge. But though he escaped the city and the forest he did +not escape the desert. For a legend runs that the king, fearful +that he would bring others to attack them, sent a party after him +to slay him. + +"For three weeks they did not find him, for they went in the wrong +direction, but at last they came upon his bones picked clean by +the vultures, lying a day's march up the same gorge through which +you and I entered the valley. I do not know," continued the old +woman, "that this is true. It is just one of their many legends." + +"Yes," said the girl, "it is true. I am sure it is true, for I have +seen the skeleton and the corroded armor of this great giant." + +At this juncture the door was thrown open without ceremony and a +Negro entered bearing two flat vessels in which were several smaller +ones. These he set down on one of the tables near the women, and, +without a word, turned and left. With the entrance of the man +with the vessels, a delightful odor of cooked food had aroused the +realization in the girl's mind that she was very hungry, and at +a word from the old woman she walked to the table to examine the +viands. The larger vessels which contained the smaller ones were +of pottery while those within them were quite evidently of hammered +gold. To her intense surprise she found lying between the smaller +vessels a spoon and a fork, which, while of quaint design, were quite +as serviceable as any she had seen in more civilized communities. +The tines of the fork were quite evidently of iron or steel, the +girl did not know which, while the handle and the spoon were of +the same material as the smaller vessels. + +There was a highly seasoned stew with meat and vegetables, a dish +of fresh fruit, and a bowl of milk beside which was a little jug +containing something which resembled marmalade. So ravenous was she +that she did not even wait for her companion to reach the table, +and as she ate she could have sworn that never before had she tasted +more palatable food. The old woman came slowly and sat down on one +of the benches opposite her. + +As she removed the smaller vessels from the larger and arranged +them before her on the table a crooked smile twisted her lips as +she watched the younger woman eat. + +"Hunger is a great leveler," she said with a laugh. + +"What do you mean?" asked the girl. + +"I venture to say that a few weeks ago you would have been nauseated +at the idea of eating cat." + +"Cat?" exclaimed the girl. + +"Yes," said the old woman. "What is the difference--a lion is a +cat." + +"You mean I am eating lion now?" + +"Yes," said the old woman, "and as they prepare it, it is very +palatable. You will grow very fond of it." + +Bertha Kircher smiled a trifle dubiously. "I could not tell it," +she said, "from lamb or veal." + +"No," said the woman, "it tastes as good to me. But these lions +are very carefully kept and very carefully fed and their flesh is +so seasoned and prepared that it might be anything so far as taste +is concerned." + +And so Bertha Kircher broke her long fast upon strange fruits, lion +meat, and goat's milk. + +Scarcely had she finished when again the door opened and there +entered a yellow-coated soldier. He spoke to the old woman. + +"The king," she said, "has commanded that you be prepared and brought +to him. You are to share these apartments with me. The king knows +that I am not like his other women. He never would have dared to +put you with them. Herog XVI has occasional lucid intervals. You +must have been brought to him during one of these. Like the rest +of them he thinks that he alone of all the community is sane, but +more than once I have thought that the various men with whom I have +come in contact here, including the kings themselves, looked upon +me as, at least, less mad than the others. Yet how I have retained +my senses all these years is beyond me." + +"What do you mean by prepare?" asked Bertha Kircher. "You said +that the king had commanded I be prepared and brought to him." + +"You will be bathed and furnished with a robe similar to that which +I wear." + +"Is there no escape?" asked the girl. "Is there no way even in +which I can kill myself?" + +The woman handed her the fork. "This is the only way," she said, +"and you will notice that the tines are very short and blunt." + +The girl shuddered and the old woman laid a hand gently upon her +shoulder. "He may only look at you and send you away," she said. +"Ago XXV sent for me once, tried to talk with me, discovered +that I could not understand him and that he could not understand +me, ordered that I be taught the language of his people, and then +apparently forgot me for a year. Sometimes I do not see the king +for a long period. There was one king who ruled for five years +whom I never saw. There is always hope; even I whose very memory +has doubtless been forgotten beyond these palace walls still hope, +though none knows better how futilely." + +The old woman led Bertha Kircher to an adjoining apartment in +the floor of which was a pool of water. Here the girl bathed and +afterward her companion brought her one of the clinging garments +of the native women and adjusted it about her figure. The material +of the robe was of a gauzy fabric which accentuated the rounded +beauty of the girlish form. + +"There," said the old woman, as she gave a final pat to one of the +folds of the garment, "you are a queen indeed!" + +The girl looked down at her naked breasts and but half-concealed +limbs in horror. "They are going to lead me into the presence of +men in this half-nude condition!" she exclaimed. + +The old woman smiled her crooked smile. "It is nothing," she said. +"You will become accustomed to it as did I who was brought up in +the home of a minister of the gospel, where it was considered little +short of a crime for a woman to expose her stockinged ankle. By +comparison with what you will doubtless see and the things that +you may be called upon to undergo, this is but a trifle." + +For what seemed hours to the distraught girl she paced the floor +of her apartment, awaiting the final summons to the presence of the +mad king. Darkness had fallen and the oil flares within the palace +had been lighted long before two messengers appeared with instructions +that Herog demanded her immediate presence and that the old woman, +whom they called Xanila, was to accompany her. The girl felt some +slight relief when she discovered that she was to have at least +one friend with her, however powerless to assist her the old woman +might be. + +The messengers conducted the two to a small apartment on the floor +below. Xanila explained that this was one of the anterooms off +the main throneroom in which the king was accustomed to hold court +with his entire retinue. A number of yellow-tunicked warriors sat +about upon the benches within the room. For the most part their +eyes were bent upon the floor and their attitudes that of moody +dejection. As the two women entered several glanced indifferently +at them, but for the most part no attention was paid to them. + +While they were waiting in the anteroom there entered from another +apartment a young man uniformed similarly to the others with the +exception that upon his head was a fillet of gold, in the front of +which a single parrot feather rose erectly above his forehead. As +he entered, the other soldiers in the room rose to their feet. + +"That is Metak, one of the king's sons," Xanila whispered to the +girl. + +The prince was crossing the room toward the audience chamber when +his glance happened to fall upon Bertha Kircher. He halted in his +tracks and stood looking at her for a full minute without speaking. +The girl, embarrassed by his bold stare and her scant attire, flushed +and, dropping her gaze to the floor, turned away. Metak suddenly +commenced to tremble from head to foot and then, without warning +other than a loud, hoarse scream he sprang forward and seized the +girl in his arms. + +Instantly pandemonium ensued. The two messengers who had been charged +with the duty of conducting the girl to the king's presence danced, +shrieking, about the prince, waving their arms and gesticulating +wildly as though they would force him to relinquish her, the +while they dared not lay hands upon royalty. The other guardsmen, +as though suffering in sympathy the madness of their prince, ran +forward screaming and brandishing their sabers. + +The girl fought to release herself from the horrid embrace of the +maniac, but with his left arm about her he held her as easily as +though she had been but a babe, while with his free hand he drew +his saber and struck viciously at those nearest him. + +One of the messengers was the first to feel the keen edge of +Metak's blade. With a single fierce cut the prince drove through +the fellow's collar bone and downward to the center of his chest. +With a shrill shriek that rose above the screaming of the other +guardsmen the man dropped to the floor, and as the blood gushed +from the frightful wound he struggled to rise once more to his feet +and then sank back again and died in a great pool of his own blood. + +In the meantime Metak, still clinging desperately to the girl, +had backed toward the opposite door. At the sight of the blood two +of the guardsmen, as though suddenly aroused to maniacal frenzy, +dropped their sabers to the floor and fell upon each other with +nails and teeth, while some sought to reach the prince and some +to defend him. In a corner of the room sat one of the guardsmen +laughing uproariously and just as Metak succeeded in reaching the +door and taking the girl through, she thought that she saw another +of the men spring upon the corpse of the dead messenger and bury +his teeth in its flesh. + +During the orgy of madness Xanila had kept closely at the girl's +side but at the door of the room Metak had seen her and, wheeling +suddenly, cut viciously at her. Fortunately for Xanila she was +halfway through the door at the time, so that Metak's blade but +dented itself upon the stone arch of the portal, and then Xanila, +guided doubtless by the wisdom of sixty years of similar experiences, +fled down the corridor as fast as her old and tottering legs would +carry her. + +Metak, once outside the door, returned his saber to its scabbard +and lifting the girl bodily from the ground carried her off in the +opposite direction from that taken by Xanila. + + + + + +Came Tarzan + + + + +Just before dark that evening, an almost exhausted flier entered +the headquarters of Colonel Capell of the Second Rhodesians and +saluted. + +"Well, Thompson," asked the superior, "what luck? The others have +all returned. Never saw a thing of Oldwick or his plane. I guess +we shall have to give it up unless you were more successful." + +"I was," replied the young officer. "I found the plane." + +"No!" ejaculated Colonel Capell. "Where was it? Any sign of Oldwick?" + +"It is in the rottenest hole in the ground you ever saw, quite a +bit inland. Narrow gorge. Saw the plane all right but can't reach +it. There was a regular devil of a lion wandering around it. I +landed near the edge of the cliff and was going to climb down and +take a look at the plane. But this fellow hung around for an hour +or more and I finally had to give it up." + +"Do you think the lions got Oldwick?" asked the colonel. + +"I doubt it," replied Lieutenant Thompson, "from the fact that there +was no indication that the lion had fed anywhere about the plane. +I arose after I found it was impossible to get down around the +plane and reconnoitered up and down the gorge. Several miles to the +south I found a small, wooded valley in the center of which--please +don't think me crazy, sir--is a regular city--streets, buildings, +a central plaza with a lagoon, good-sized buildings with domes and +minarets and all that sort of stuff." + +The elder officer looked at the younger compassionately. "You're +all wrought up, Thompson," he said. "Go and take a good sleep. You +have been on this job now for a long while and it must have gotten +on your nerves." + +The young man shook his head a bit irritably. "Pardon me, sir," he +said, "but I am telling you the truth. I am not mistaken. I circled +over the place several times. It may be that Oldwick has found his +way there--or has been captured by these people." + +"Were there people in the city?" asked the colonel. + +"Yes, I saw them in the streets." + +"Do you think cavalry could reach the valley?" asked the colonel. + +"No," replied Thompson, "the country is all cut up with these +deep gorges. Even infantry would have a devil of a time of it, and +there is absolutely no water that I could discover for at least a +two days' march." + +It was at this juncture that a big Vauxhall drew up in front of the +headquarters of the Second Rhodesians and a moment later General +Smuts alighted and entered. Colonel Capell arose from his chair and +saluted his superior, and the young lieutenant saluted and stood +at attention. + +"I was passing," said the general, "and I thought I would stop for +a chat. By the way, how is the search for Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick +progressing? I see Thompson here and I believe he was one of those +detailed to the search." + +"Yes," said Capell, "he was. He is the last to come in. He found the +lieutenant's ship," and then he repeated what Lieutenant Thompson +had reported to him. The general sat down at the table with Colonel +Capell, and together the two officers, with the assistance of the +flier, marked the approximate location of the city which Thompson +had reported he'd discovered. + +"It's a mighty rough country," remarked Smuts, "but we can't leave +a stone unturned until we have exhausted every resource to find +that boy. We will send out a small force; a small one will be more +likely to succeed than a large one. About one company, Colonel, +or say two, with sufficient motor lorries for transport of rations +and water. Put a good man in command and let him establish a base +as far to the west as the motors can travel. You can leave one +company there and send the other forward. I am inclined to believe +you can establish your base within a day's march of the city and +if such is the case the force you send ahead should have no trouble +on the score of lack of water as there certainly must be water +in the valley where the city lies. Detail a couple of planes for +reconnaissance and messenger service so that the base can keep in +touch at all times with the advance party. When can your force move +out?" + +"We can load the lorries tonight," replied Capell, "and march about +one o'clock tomorrow morning." + +"Good," said the general, "keep me advised," and returning the +others' salutes he departed. + +As Tarzan leaped for the vines he realized that the lion was +close upon him and that his life depended upon the strength of the +creepers clinging to the city walls; but to his intense relief he +found the stems as large around as a man's arm, and the tendrils +which had fastened themselves to the wall so firmly fixed, that his +weight upon the stem appeared to have no appreciable effect upon +them. + +He heard Numa's baffled roar as the lion slipped downward clawing +futilely at the leafy creepers, and then with the agility of the +apes who had reared him, Tarzan bounded nimbly aloft to the summit +of the wall. + +A few feet below him was the flat roof of the adjoining building +and as he dropped to it his back was toward the niche from which +an embrasure looked out upon the gardens and the forest beyond, so +that he did not see the figure crouching there in the dark shadow. +But if he did not see he was not long in ignorance of the fact that +he was not alone, for scarcely had his feet touched the roof when +a heavy body leaped upon him from behind and brawny arms encircled +him about the waist. + +Taken at a disadvantage and lifted from his feet, the ape-man was, +for the time being, helpless. Whatever the creature was that had +seized him, it apparently had a well-defined purpose in mind, for +it walked directly toward the edge of the roof so that it was soon +apparent to Tarzan that he was to be hurled to the pavement below--a +most efficacious manner of disposing of an intruder. That he would +be either maimed or killed the ape-man was confident; but he had +no intention of permitting his assailant to carry out the plan. + +Tarzan's arms and legs were free but he was in such a disadvantageous +position that he could not use them to any good effect. His only +hope lay in throwing the creature off its balance, and to this end +Tarzan straightened his body and leaned as far back against his +captor as he could, and then suddenly lunged forward. The result was +as satisfactory as he could possibly have hoped. The great weight +of the ape-man thrown suddenly out from an erect position caused +the other also to lunge violently forward with the result that to +save himself he involuntarily released his grasp. Catlike in his +movements, the ape-man had no sooner touched the roof than he was +upon his feet again, facing his adversary, a man almost as large +as himself and armed with a saber which he now whipped from its +scabbard. Tarzan, however, had no mind to allow the use of this +formidable weapon and so he dove for the other's legs beneath the +vicious cut that was directed at him from the side, and as a football +player tackles an opposing runner, Tarzan tackled his antagonist, +carrying him backward several yards and throwing him heavily to +the roof upon his back. + +No sooner had the man touched the roof than the ape-man was upon +his chest, one brawny hand sought and found the sword wrist and +the other the throat of the yellow-tunicked guardsman. Until then +the fellow had fought in silence but just as Tarzan's fingers +touched his throat he emitted a single piercing shriek that the +brown fingers cut off almost instantly. The fellow struggled to +escape the clutch of the naked creature upon his breast but equally +as well might he have fought to escape the talons of Numa, the +lion. + +Gradually his struggles lessened, his pin-point eyes popped from +their sockets, rolling horribly upward, while from his foam-flecked +lips his swollen tongue protruded. As his struggles ceased Tarzan +arose, and placing a foot upon the carcass of his kill, was upon +the point of screaming forth his victory cry when the thought that +the work before him required the utmost caution sealed his lips. + +Walking to the edge of the roof he looked down into the narrow, +winding street below. At intervals, apparently at each street +intersection, an oil flare sputtered dimly from brackets set +in the walls a trifle higher than a man's head. For the most part +the winding alleys were in dense shadow and even in the immediate +vicinity of the flares the illumination was far from brilliant. +In the restricted area of his vision he could see that there were +still a few of the strange inhabitants moving about the narrow +thoroughfares. + +To prosecute his search for the young officer and the girl he must +be able to move about the city as freely as possible, but to pass +beneath one of the corner flares, naked as he was except for a +loin cloth, and in every other respect markedly different from the +inhabitants of the city, would be but to court almost immediate +discovery. As these thoughts flashed through his mind and he cast +about for some feasible plan of action, his eyes fell upon the +corpse upon the roof near him, and immediately there occurred to +him the possibility of disguising himself in the raiment of his +conquered adversary. + +It required but a few moments for the ape-man to clothe himself +in the tights, sandals, and parrot emblazoned yellow tunic of the +dead soldier. Around his waist he buckled the saber belt but beneath +the tunic he retained the hunting knife of his dead father. His +other weapons he could not lightly discard, and so, in the hope +that he might eventually recover them, he carried them to the edge +of the wall and dropped them among the foliage at its base. At the +last moment he found it difficult to part with his rope, which, +with his knife, was his most accustomed weapon, and one which he +had used for the greatest length of time. He found that by removing +the saber belt he could wind the rope about his waist beneath his +tunic, and then replacing the belt still retain it entirely concealed +from chance observation. + +At last, satisfactorily disguised, and with even his shock of black +hair adding to the verisimilitude of his likeness to the natives +of the city, he sought for some means of reaching the street below. +While he might have risked a drop from the eaves of the roof he +feared to do so lest he attract the attention of passers-by, and +probable discovery. The roofs of the buildings varied in height but +as the ceilings were all low he found that he could easily travel +along the roof tops and this he did for some little distance, until +he suddenly discovered just ahead of him several figures reclining +upon the roof of a near-by building. + +He had noticed openings in each roof, evidently giving ingress to +the apartments below, and now, his advance cut off by those ahead +of him, he decided to risk the chance of reaching the street +through the interior of one of the buildings. Approaching one of +the openings he leaned over the black hole and, listened for sounds +of life in the apartment below. Neither his ears nor his nose +registered evidence of the presence of any living creature in the +immediate vicinity, and so without further hesitation the ape-man +lowered his body through the aperture and was about to drop +when his foot came in contact with the rung of a ladder, which he +immediately took advantage of to descend to the floor of the room +below. + +Here, all was almost total darkness until his eyes became accustomed +to the interior, the darkness of which was slightly alleviated +by the reflected light from a distant street flare which shone +intermittently through the narrow windows fronting the thoroughfare. +Finally, assured that the apartment was unoccupied, Tarzan sought +for a stairway to the ground floor. This he found in a dark hallway +upon which the room opened--a flight of narrow stone steps leading +downward toward the street. Chance favored him so that he reached +the shadows of the arcade without encountering any of the inmates +of the house. + +Once on the street he was not at a loss as to the direction in which +he wished to go, for he had tracked the two Europeans practically +to the gate, which he felt assured must have given them entry to +the city. His keen sense of direction and location made it possible +for him to judge with considerable accuracy the point within the +city where he might hope to pick up the spoor of those whom he +sought. + +The first need, however, was to discover a street paralleling the +northern wall along which he could make his way in the direction of +the gate he had seen from the forest. Realizing that his greatest +hope of success lay in the boldness of his operations he moved off +in the direction of the nearest street flare without making any +other attempt at concealment than keeping in the shadows of the +arcade, which he judged would draw no particular attention to him +in that he saw other pedestrians doing likewise. The few he passed +gave him no heed, and he had almost reached the nearest intersection +when he saw several men wearing yellow tunics identical to that +which he had taken from his prisoner. + +They were coming directly toward him and the ape-man saw that should +he continue on he would meet them directly at the intersection +of the two streets in the full light of the flare. His first +inclination was to go steadily on, for personally he had no objection +to chancing a scrimmage with them; but a sudden recollection of the +girl, possibly a helpless prisoner in the hands of these people, +caused him to seek some other and less hazardous plan of action. + +He had almost emerged from the shadow of the arcade into the full +light of the flare and the approaching men were but a few yards +from him, when he suddenly kneeled and pretended to adjust the +wrappings of his sandals--wrappings, which, by the way, he was +not at all sure that he had adjusted as their makers had intended +them to be adjusted. He was still kneeling when the soldiers came +abreast of him. Like the others he had passed they paid no attention +to him and the moment they were behind him he continued upon his +way, turning to the right at the intersection of the two streets. + +The street he now took was, at this point, so extremely winding +that, for the most part, it received no benefit from the flares at +either corner, so that he was forced practically to grope his way +in the dense shadows of the arcade. The street became a little +straighter just before he reached the next flare, and as he came +within sight of it he saw silhouetted against a patch of light the +figure of a lion. The beast was coming slowly down the street in +Tarzan's direction. + +A woman crossed the way directly in front of it and the lion paid +no attention to her, nor she to the lion. An instant later a little +child ran after the woman and so close did he run before the lion +that the beast was forced to turn out of its way a step to avoid +colliding with the little one. The ape-man grinned and crossed +quickly to the opposite side of the street, for his delicate senses +indicated that at this point the breeze stirring through the city +streets and deflected by the opposite wall would now blow from the +lion toward him as the beast passed, whereas if he remained upon +the side of the street upon which he had been walking when he +discovered the carnivore, his scent would have been borne to the +nostrils of the animal, and Tarzan was sufficiently jungle-wise +to realize that while he might deceive the eyes of man and beast +he could not so easily disguise from the nostrils of one of the +great cats that he was a creature of a different species from the +inhabitants of the city, the only human beings, possibly, that Numa +was familiar with. In him the cat would recognize a stranger, and, +therefore, an enemy, and Tarzan had no desire to be delayed by an +encounter with a savage lion. His ruse worked successfully, the +lion passing him with not more than a side glance in his direction. + +He had proceeded for some little distance and had about reached a +point where he judged he would find the street which led up from +the city gate when, at an intersection of two streets, his nostrils +caught the scent spoor of the girl. Out of a maze of other scent +spoors the ape-man picked the familiar odor of the girl and, a second +later, that of Smith-Oldwick. He had been forced to accomplish +it, however, by bending very low at each street intersection in +repeated attention to his sandal wrappings, bringing his nostrils +as close to the pavement as possible. + +As he advanced along the street through which the two had been +conducted earlier in the day he noted, as had they, the change +in the type of buildings as he passed from a residence district +into that portion occupied by shops and bazaars. Here the number +of flares was increased so that they appeared not only at street +intersections but midway between as well, and there were many +more people abroad. The shops were open and lighted, for with the +setting of the sun the intense heat of the day had given place to +a pleasant coolness. Here also the number of lions, roaming loose +through the thoroughfares, increased, and also for the first time +Tarzan noted the idiosyncrasies of the people. + +Once he was nearly upset by a naked man running rapidly through +the street screaming at the top of his voice. And again he nearly +stumbled over a woman who was making her way in the shadows of one +of the arcades upon all fours. At first the ape-man thought she was +hunting for something she had dropped, but as he drew to one side +to watch her, he saw that she was doing nothing of the kind--that +she had merely elected to walk upon her hands and knees rather +than erect upon her feet. In another block he saw two creatures +struggling upon the roof of an adjacent building until finally one +of them, wrenching himself free from the grasp of the other, gave +his adversary a mighty push which hurled him to the pavement below, +where he lay motionless upon the dusty road. For an instant a wild +shriek re-echoed through the city from the lungs of the victor and +then, without an instant's hesitation, the fellow leaped headfirst +to the street beside the body of his victim. A lion moved out from +the dense shadows of a doorway and approached the two bloody and +lifeless things before him. Tarzan wondered what effect the odor +of blood would have upon the beast and was surprised to see that +the animal only sniffed at the corpses and the hot red blood and +then lay down beside the two dead men. + +He had passed the lion but a short distance when his attention was +called to the figure of a man lowering himself laboriously from the +roof of a building upon the east side of the thoroughfare. Tarzan's +curiosity was aroused. + + + + + +In the Alcove + + + + +As Smith-Oldwick realized that he was alone and practically defenseless +in an enclosure filled with great lions he was, in his weakened +condition, almost in a state verging upon hysterical terror. +Clinging to the grating for support he dared not turn his head in +the direction of the beasts behind him. He felt his knees giving +weakly beneath him. Something within his head spun rapidly around. +He became very dizzy and nauseated and then suddenly all went +black before his eyes as his limp body collapsed at the foot of +the grating. + +How long he lay there unconscious he never knew; but as reason +slowly reasserted itself in his semi-conscious state he was aware +that he lay in a cool bed upon the whitest of linen in a bright +and cheery room, and that upon one side close to him was an open +window, the delicate hangings of which were fluttering in a soft +summer breeze which blew in from a sun-kissed orchard of ripening +fruit which he could see without--an old orchard in which soft, +green grass grew between the laden trees, and where the sun filtered +through the foliage; and upon the dappled greensward a little child +was playing with a frolicsome puppy. + +"God," thought the man, "what a horrible nightmare I have passed +through!" and then he felt a hand stroking his brow and cheek--a +cool and gentle hand that smoothed away his troubled recollections. +For a long minute Smith-Oldwick lay in utter peace and content +until gradually there was forced upon his sensibilities the fact +that the hand had become rough, and that it was no longer cool but +hot and moist; and suddenly he opened his eyes and looked up into +the face of a huge lion. + +Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick was not only an English +gentleman and an officer in name, he was also what these implied--a +brave man; but when he realized that the sweet picture he had looked +upon was but the figment of a dream, and that in reality he still +lay where he had fallen at the foot of the grating with a lion +standing over him licking his face, the tears sprang to his eyes +and ran down his cheeks. Never, he thought, had an unkind fate +played so cruel a joke upon a human being. + +For some time he lay feigning death while the lion, having ceased +to lick him, sniffed about his body. There are some things than which +death is to be preferred; and there came at last to the Englishman +the realization that it would be better to die swiftly than to +lie in this horrible predicament until his mind broke beneath the +strain and he went mad. + +And so, deliberately and without haste, he rose, clinging to the +grating for support. At his first move the lion growled, but after +that he paid no further attention to the man, and when at last +Smith-Oldwick had regained his feet the lion moved indifferently +away. Then it was that the man turned and looked about the enclosure. + +Sprawled beneath the shade of the trees and lying upon the long bench +beside the south wall the great beasts rested, with the exception +of two or three who moved restlessly about. It was these that the +man feared and yet when two more of them had passed him by he began +to feel reassured, recalling the fact that they were accustomed to +the presence of man. + +And yet he dared not move from the grating. As the man examined his +surroundings he noted that the branches of one of the trees near +the further wall spread close beneath an open window. If he could +reach that tree and had strength to do so, he could easily climb +out upon the branch and escape, at least, from the enclosure of the +lions. But in order to reach the tree he must pass the full length +of the enclosure, and at the very bole of the tree itself two lions +lay sprawled out in slumber. + +For half an hour the man stood gazing longingly at this seeming +avenue of escape, and at last, with a muttered oath, he straightened +up and throwing back his shoulders in a gesture of defiance, he +walked slowly and deliberately down the center of the courtyard. +One of the prowling lions turned from the side wall and moved +toward the center directly in the man's path, but Smith-Oldwick was +committed to what he considered his one chance, for even temporary +safety, and so he kept on, ignoring the presence of the beast. The +lion slouched to his side and sniffed him and then, growling, he +bared his teeth. + +Smith-Oldwick drew the pistol from his shirt. "If he has made up +his mind to kill me," he thought. "I can't see that it will make +any difference in the long run whether I infuriate him or not. The +beggar can't kill me any deader in one mood than another." + +But with the man's movement in withdrawing the weapon from his shirt +the lion's attitude suddenly altered and though he still growled +he turned and sprang away, and then at last the Englishman stood +almost at the foot of the tree that was his goal, and between him +and safety sprawled a sleeping lion. + +Above him was a limb that ordinarily he could have leaped for and +reached with ease; but weak from his wounds and loss of blood he +doubted his ability to do so now. There was even a question as to +whether he would be able to ascend the tree at all. There was just +one chance: the lowest branch left the bole within easy reach of a +man standing on the ground close to the tree's stem, but to reach +a position where the branch would be accessible he must step over +the body of a lion. Taking a deep breath he placed one foot between +the sprawled legs of the beast and gingerly raised the other to plant +it upon the opposite side of the tawny body. "What," he thought, +"if the beggar should happen to wake now?" The suggestion sent a +shudder through his frame but he did not hesitate or withdraw his +foot. Gingerly he planted it beyond the lion, threw his weight +forward upon it and cautiously brought his other foot to the side +of the first. He had passed and the lion had not awakened. + +Smith-Oldwick was weak from loss of blood and the hardships he had +undergone, but the realization of his situation impelled him to a +show of agility and energy which he probably could scarcely have +equaled when in possession of his normal strength. With his life +depending upon the success of his efforts, he swung himself quickly +to the lower branches of the tree and scrambled upward out of reach +of possible harm from the lions below--though the sudden movement +in the branches above them awakened both the sleeping beasts. The +animals raised their heads and looked questioningly up for a moment +and then lay back again to resume their broken slumber. + +So easily had the Englishman succeeded thus far that he suddenly +began to question as to whether he had at any time been in real +danger. The lions, as he knew, were accustomed to the presence of +men, but yet they were still lions and he was free to admit that +he breathed more easily now that he was safe above their clutches. + +Before him lay the open window he had seen from the ground. He +was now on a level with it and could see an apparently unoccupied +chamber beyond, and toward this he made his way along a stout +branch that swung beneath the opening. It was not a difficult feat +to reach the window, and a moment later he drew himself over the +sill and dropped into the room. + +He found himself in a rather spacious apartment, the floor of which +was covered with rugs of barbaric design, while the few pieces of +furniture were of a similar type to that which he had seen in the +room on the first floor into which he and Bertha Kircher had been +ushered at the conclusion of their journey. At one end of the room +was what appeared to be a curtained alcove, the heavy hangings of +which completely hid the interior. In the wall opposite the window +and near the alcove was a closed door, apparently the only exit +from the room. + +He could see, in the waning light without, that the close of the +day was fast approaching, and he hesitated while he deliberated the +advisability of waiting until darkness had fallen, or of immediately +searching for some means of escape from the building and the city. +He at last decided that it would do no harm to investigate beyond +the room, that he might have some idea as how best to plan his +escape after dark. To this end he crossed the room toward the door +but he had taken only a few steps when the hangings before the +alcove separated and the figure of a woman appeared in the opening. + +She was young and beautifully formed; the single drapery wound around +her body from below her breasts left no detail of her symmetrical +proportions unrevealed, but her face was the face of an imbecile. +At sight of her Smith-Oldwick halted, momentarily expecting that +his presence would elicit screams for help from her. On the contrary +she came toward him smiling, and when she was close her slender, +shapely fingers touched the sleeve of his torn blouse as a curious +child might handle a new toy, and still with the same smile she +examined him from head to foot, taking in, in childish wonderment, +every detail of his apparel. + +Presently she spoke to him in a soft, well-modulated voice which +contrasted sharply with her facial appearance. The voice and the +girlish figure harmonized perfectly and seemed to belong to each +other, while the head and face were those of another creature. +Smith-Oldwick could understand no word of what she said, but +nevertheless he spoke to her in his own cultured tone, the effect +of which upon her was evidently most gratifying, for before he +realized her intentions or could prevent her she had thrown both +arms about his neck and was kissing him with the utmost abandon. + +The man tried to free himself from her rather surprising attentions, +but she only clung more tightly to him, and suddenly, as he recalled +that he had always heard that one must humor the mentally deficient, +and at the same time seeing in her a possible agency of escape, he +dosed his eyes and returned her embraces. + +It was at this juncture that the door opened and a man entered. +With the sound from the first movement of the latch, Smith-Oldwick +opened his eyes, but though he endeavored to disengage himself +from the girl he realized that the newcomer had seen their rather +compromising position. The girl, whose back was toward the door, +seemed at first not to realize that someone had entered, but when +she did she turned quickly and as her eyes fell upon the man whose +terrible face was now distorted with an expression of hideous rage +she turned, screaming, and fled toward the alcove. The Englishman, +flushed and embarrassed, stood where she had left him. With the +sudden realization of the futility of attempting an explanation, +came that of the menacing appearance of the man, whom he now +recognized as the official who had received them in the room below. +The fellow's face, livid with insane rage and, possibly, jealousy, +was twitching violently, accentuating the maniacal expression that +it habitually wore. + +For a moment he seemed paralyzed by anger, and then with a loud +shriek that rose into an uncanny wail, he drew his curved saber +and sprang toward the Englishman. To Smith-Oldwick there seemed +no possible hope of escaping the keen-edged weapon in the hands of +the infuriated man, and though he felt assured that it would draw +down upon him an equally sudden and possibly more terrible death, +he did the only thing that remained for him to do--drew his pistol +and fired straight for the heart of the oncoming man. Without even +so much as a groan the fellow lunged forward upon the floor at +Smith-Oldwick's feet--killed instantly with a bullet through the +heart. For several seconds the silence of the tomb reigned in the +apartment. + +The Englishman, standing over the prostrate figure of the dead +man, watched the door with drawn weapon, expecting momentarily to +hear the rush of feet of those whom he was sure would immediately +investigate the report of the pistol. But no sounds came from below +to indicate that anyone there had heard the explosion, and presently +the man's attention was distracted from the door to the alcove, +between the hangings of which the face of the girl appeared. The +eyes were widely dilated and the lower jaw dropped in an expression +of surprise and awe. + +The girl's gaze was riveted upon the figure upon the floor, and +presently she crept stealthily into the room and tiptoed toward +the corpse. She appeared as though constantly poised for flight, +and when she had come to within two or three feet of the body she +stopped and, looking up at Smith-Oldwick, voiced some interrogation +which he could not, of course, understand. Then she came close to +the side of the dead man and kneeling upon the floor felt gingerly +of the body. + +Presently she shook the corpse by the shoulder, and then with a +show of strength which her tenderly girlish form belied, she turned +the body over on its back. If she had been in doubt before, one +glance at the hideous features set in death must have convinced +her that life was extinct, and with the realization there broke +from her lips peal after peal of mad, maniacal laughter as with her +little hands she beat upon the upturned face and breast of the dead +man. It was a gruesome sight from which the Englishman involuntarily +drew back-a gruesome, disgusting sight such as, he realized, might +never be witnessed outside a madhouse or this frightful city. + +In the midst of her frenzied rejoicing at the death of the man, +and Smith-Oldwick could attribute her actions to no other cause, +she suddenly desisted from her futile attacks upon the insensate +flesh and, leaping to her feet, ran quickly to the door, where +she shot a wooden bolt into its socket, thus securing them from +interference from without. Then she returned to the center of the +room and spoke rapidly to the Englishman, gesturing occasionally +toward the body of the slain man. When he could not understand, +she presently became provoked and in a sudden hysteria of madness +she rushed forward as though to strike the Englishman. Smith-Oldwick +dropped back a few steps and leveled his pistol upon her. Mad though +she must have been, she evidently was not so mad but what she had +connected the loud report, the diminutive weapon, and the sudden +death of the man in whose house she dwelt, for she instantly desisted +and quite as suddenly as it had come upon her, her homicidal mood +departed. + +Again the vacuous, imbecile smile took possession of her features, +and her voice, dropping its harshness, resumed the soft, well-modulated +tones with which she had first addressed him. Now she attempted by +signs to indicate her wishes, and motioning Smith-Oldwick to follow +her she went to the hangings and opening them disclosed the alcove. +It was rather more than an alcove, being a fair-sized room heavy +with rugs and hangings and soft, pillowed couches. Turning at the +entrance she pointed to the corpse upon the floor of the outer +room, and then crossing the alcove she raised some draperies which +covered a couch and fell to the floor upon all sides, disclosing +an opening beneath the furniture. + +To this opening she pointed and then again to the corpse, indicating +plainly to the Englishman that it was her desire that the body be +hidden here. But if he had been in doubt, she essayed to dispel it +by grasping his sleeve and urging him in the direction of the body +which the two of them then lifted and half carried and half dragged +into the alcove. At first they encountered some difficulty when +they endeavored to force the body of the man into the small space +she had selected for it, but eventually they succeeded in doing +so. Smith-Oldwick was again impressed by the fiendish brutality of +the girl. In the center of the room lay a blood-stained rug which +the girl quickly gathered up and draped over a piece of furniture +in such a way that the stain was hidden. By rearranging the other +rugs and by bringing one from the alcove she restored the room to +order so no outward indication of the tragedy so recently enacted +there was apparent. + +These things attended to, and the hangings draped once more about +the couch that they might hide the gruesome thing beneath, the girl +once more threw her arms about the Englishman's neck and dragged him +toward the soft and luxurious pillows above the dead man. Acutely +conscious of the horror of his position, filled with loathing, +disgust, and an outraged sense of decency, Smith-Oldwick was also +acutely alive to the demands of self-preservation. He felt that +he was warranted in buying his life at almost any price; but there +was a point at which his finer nature rebelled. + +It was at this juncture that a loud knock sounded upon the door of +the outer room. Springing from the couch, the girl seized the man +by the arm and dragged him after her to the wall close by the head +of the couch. Here she drew back one of the hangings, revealing a +little niche behind, into which she shoved the Englishman and dropped +the hangings before him, effectually hiding him from observation +from the rooms beyond. + +He heard her cross the alcove to the door of the outer room, and +heard the bolt withdrawn followed by the voice of a man mingled +with that of the girl. The tones of both seemed rational so that +he might have been listening to an ordinary conversation in some +foreign tongue. Yet with the gruesome experiences of the day behind +him, he could not but momentarily expect some insane outbreak from +beyond the hangings. + +He was aware from the sounds that the two had entered the alcove, +and, prompted by a desire to know what manner of man he might +next have to contend with, he slightly parted the heavy folds that +hid the two from his view and looking out saw them sitting on the +couch with their arms about each other, the girl with the same +expressionless smile upon her face that she had vouchsafed him. +He found he could so arrange the hangings that a very narrow slit +between two of them permitted him to watch the actions of those in +the alcove without revealing himself or increasing his liability +of detection. + +He saw the girl lavishing her kisses upon the newcomer, a much +younger man than he whom Smith-Oldwick had dispatched. Presently +the girl disengaged herself from the embrace of her lover as though +struck by a sudden memory. Her brows puckered as in labored thought +and then with a startled expression, she threw a glance backward +toward the hidden niche where the Englishman stood, after which she +whispered rapidly to her companion, occasionally jerking her head +in the direction of the niche and on several occasions making a +move with one hand and forefinger, which Smith-Oldwick could not +mistake as other than an attempt to describe his pistol and its +use. + +It was evident then to him that she was betraying him, and without +further loss of time he turned his back toward the hangings and +commenced a rapid examination of his hiding place. In the alcove +the man and the girl whispered, and then cautiously and with great +stealth, the man rose and drew his curved saber. On tiptoe he +approached the hangings, the girl creeping at his side. Neither +spoke now, nor was there any sound in the room as the girl sprang +forward and with outstretched arm and pointing finger indicated +a point upon the curtain at the height of a man's breast. Then +she stepped to one side, and her companion, raising his blade to +a horizontal position, lunged suddenly forward and with the full +weight of his body and his right arm, drove the sharp point through +the hangings and into the niche behind for its full length. + +Bertha Kircher, finding her struggles futile and realizing that she +must conserve her strength for some chance opportunity of escape, +desisted from her efforts to break from the grasp of Prince Metak +as the fellow fled with her through the dimly lighted corridors +of the palace. Through many chambers the prince fled, bearing his +prize. It was evident to the girl that, though her captor was the +king's son, he was not above capture and punishment for his deeds, +as otherwise he would not have shown such evident anxiety to escape +with her, as well as from the results of his act. + +From the fact that he was constantly turning affrighted eyes behind +them, and glancing suspiciously into every nook and corner that +they passed, she guessed that the prince's punishment might be both +speedy and terrible were he caught. + +She knew from their route that they must have doubled back several +times although she had quite lost all sense of direction; but she +did not know that the prince was as equally confused as she, and +that really he was running in an aimless, erratic manner, hoping +that he might stumble eventually upon a place of refuge. + +Nor is it to be wondered at that this offspring of maniacs should +have difficulty in orienting himself in the winding mazes of a +palace designed by maniacs for a maniac king. Now a corridor turned +gradually and almost imperceptibly in a new direction, again one +doubled back upon and crossed itself; here the floor rose gradually +to the level of another story, or again there might be a spiral +stairway down which the mad prince rushed dizzily with his burden. +Upon what floor they were or in what part of the palace even Metak +had no idea until, halting abruptly at a closed door, he pushed +it open to step into a brilliantly lighted chamber filled with +warriors, at one end of which sat the king upon a great throne; +beside this, to the girl's surprise, she saw another throne where +was seated a huge lioness, recalling to her the words of Xanila +which, at the time, had made no impression on her: "But he had many +other queens, nor were they all human." + +At sight of Metak and the girl, the king rose from his throne and +started across the chamber, all semblance of royalty vanishing in +the maniac's uncontrollable passion. And as he came he shrieked +orders and commands at the top of his voice. No sooner had Metak so +unwarily opened the door to this hornets' nest than he immediately +withdrew and, turning, fled again in a new direction. But now +a hundred men were close upon his heels, laughing, shrieking, and +possibly cursing. He dodged hither and thither, distancing them for +several minutes until, at the bottom of a long runway that inclined +steeply downward from a higher level, he burst into a subterranean +apartment lighted by many flares. + +In the center of the room was a pool of considerable size, the +level of the water being but a few inches below the floor. Those +behind the fleeing prince and his captive entered the chamber in +time to see Metak leap into the water with the girl and disappear +beneath the surface taking his captive with him, nor, though they +waited excitedly around the rim of the pool, did either of the two +again emerge. + +When Smith-Oldwick turned to investigate his hiding place, his +hands, groping upon the rear wall, immediately came in contact with +the wooden panels of a door and a bolt such as that which secured +the door of the outer room. Cautiously and silently drawing the +wooden bar he pushed gently against the panel to find that the door +swung easily and noiselessly outward into utter darkness. Moving +carefully and feeling forward for each step he passed out of the +niche, closing the door behind him. + +Peeling about, he discovered that he was in a narrow corridor which +he followed cautiously for a few yards to be brought up suddenly +by what appeared to be a ladder across the passageway. He felt of +the obstruction carefully with his hands until he was assured that +it was indeed a ladder and that a solid wall was just beyond it, +ending the corridor. Therefore, as he could not go forward and as +the ladder ended at the floor upon which he stood, and as he did +not care to retrace his steps, there was no alternative but to climb +upward, and this he did, his pistol ready in a side pocket of his +blouse. + +He had ascended but two or three rungs when his head came suddenly +and painfully in contact with a hard surface above him. Groping +about with one hand over his head he discovered that the obstacle +seemed to be the covering to a trap door in the ceiling which, +with a little effort, he succeeded in raising a couple of inches, +revealing through the cracks the stars of a clear African night. + +With a sigh of relief, but with unabated caution, he gently slid +the trapdoor to one side far enough to permit him to raise his +eyes above the level of the roof. A quick glance assured him that +there was none near enough to observe his movements, nor, in fact, +as far as he could see, was anyone in sight. + +Drawing himself quickly through the aperture he replaced the cover +and endeavored to regain his bearings. Directly to the south of him +the low roof he stood upon adjoined a much loftier portion of the +building, which rose several stories above his head. A few yards +to the west he could see the flickering light of the flares of a +winding street, and toward this he made his way. + +From the edge of the roof he looked down upon the night life of +the mad city. He saw men and women and children and lions, and of +all that he saw it was quite evident to him that only the lions were +sane. With the aid of the stars he easily picked out the points of +the compass, and following carefully in his memory the steps that +had led him into the city and to the roof upon which he now stood, +he knew that the thoroughfare upon which he looked was the same +along which he and Bertha Kircher had been led as prisoners earlier +in the day. + +If he could reach this he might be able to pass undetected in the +shadows of the arcade to the city gate. He had already given up as +futile the thought of seeking out the girl and attempting to succor +her, for he knew that alone and with the few remaining rounds of +ammunition he possessed, he could do nothing against this city-full +of armed men. That he could live to cross the lion-infested forest +beyond the city was doubtful, and having, by some miracle, won to +the desert beyond, his fate would be certainly sealed; but yet he +was consumed with but one desire--to leave behind him as far as +possible this horrid city of maniacs. + +He saw that the roofs rose to the same level as that upon which +he stood unbroken to the north to the next street intersection. +Directly below him was a flare. To reach the pavement in safety +it was necessary that he find as dark a portion of the avenue as +possible. And so he sought along the edge of the roofs for a place +where he might descend in comparative concealment. + +He had proceeded some little way beyond a point where the street curved +abruptly to the east before he discovered a location sufficiently +to his liking. But even here he was compelled to wait a considerable +time for a satisfactory moment for his descent, which he had +decided to make down one of the pillars of the arcade. Each time +he prepared to lower himself over the edge of the roofs, footsteps +approaching in one direction or another deterred him until at last +he had almost come to the conclusion that he would have to wait +for the entire city to sleep before continuing his flight. + +But finally came a moment which he felt propitious and though +with inward qualms, it was with outward calm that he commenced the +descent to the street below. + +When at last he stood beneath the arcade he was congratulating +himself upon the success that had attended his efforts up to this +point when, at a slight sound behind him, he turned to see a tall +figure in the yellow tunic of a warrior confronting him. + + + + + +Out of the Niche + + + + +Numa, the lion, growled futilely in baffled rage as he slipped +back to the ground at the foot of the wall after his unsuccessful +attempt to drag down the fleeing ape-man. He poised to make a +second effort to follow his escaping quarry when his nose picked +up a hitherto unnoticed quality in the scent spoor of his intended +prey. Sniffing at the ground that Tarzan's feet had barely touched, +Numa's growl changed to a low whine, for he had recognized the +scent spoor of the man-thing that had rescued him from the pit of +the Wamabos. + +What thoughts passed through that massive head? Who may say? But +now there was no indication of baffled rage as the great lion turned +and moved majestically eastward along the wall. At the eastern end +of the city he turned toward the south, continuing his way to the +south side of the wall along which were the pens and corrals where +the herbivorous flocks were fattened for the herds of domesticated +lions within the city. The great black lions of the forest fed +with almost equal impartiality upon the flesh of the grass-eaters +and man. Like Numa of the pit they occasionally made excursions across +the desert to the fertile valley of the Wamabos, but principally +they took their toll of meat from the herds of the walled city of +Herog, the mad king, or seized upon some of his luckless subjects. + +Numa of the pit was in some respect an exception to the rule which +guided his fellows of the forest in that as a cub he had been +trapped and carried into the city, where he was kept for breeding +purposes, only to escape in his second year. They had tried to teach +him in the city of maniacs that he must not eat the flesh of man, +and the result of their schooling was that only when aroused to +anger or upon that one occasion that he had been impelled by the +pangs of hunger, did he ever attack man. + +The animal corrals of the maniacs are protected by an outer wall +or palisade of upright logs, the lower ends of which are imbedded +in the ground, the logs themselves being placed as close together +as possible and further reinforced and bound together by withes. +At intervals there are gates through which the flocks are turned +on to the grazing land south of the city during the daytime. It is +at such times that the black lions of the forest take their greatest +toll from the herds, and it is infrequent that a lion attempts to +enter the corrals at night. But Numa of the pit, having scented the +spoor of his benefactor, was minded again to pass into the walled +city, and with that idea in his cunning brain he crept stealthily +along the outer side of the palisade, testing each gateway with a +padded foot until at last he discovered one which seemed insecurely +fastened. Lowering his great head he pressed against the gate, surging +forward with all the weight of his huge body and the strength of +his giant sinews--one mighty effort and Numa was within the corral. + +The enclosure contained a herd of goats which immediately upon the +advent of the carnivore started a mad stampede to the opposite end +of the corral which was bounded by the south wall of the city. Numa +had been within such a corral as this before, so that he knew that +somewhere in the wall was a small door through which the goatherd +might pass from the city to his flock; toward this door he made his +way, whether by plan or accident it is difficult to say, though in +the light of ensuing events it seems possible that the former was +the case. + +To reach the gate he must pass directly through the herd which had +huddled affrightedly close to the opening so that once again there +was a furious rush of hoofs as Numa strode quickly to the side of +the portal. If Numa had planned, he had planned well, for scarcely +had he reached his position when the door opened and a herder's head +was projected into the enclosure, the fellow evidently seeking an +explanation of the disturbance among his flock. Possibly he discovered +the cause of the commotion, but it is doubtful, for it was dark +and the great, taloned paw that reached up and struck downward a +mighty blow that almost severed his head from his body, moved so +quickly and silently that the man was dead within a fraction of +a second from the moment that he opened the door, and then Numa, +knowing now his way, passed through the wall into the dimly lighted +streets of the city beyond. + +Smith-Oldwick's first thought when he was accosted by the figure in +the yellow tunic of a soldier was to shoot the man dead and trust +to his legs and the dimly lighted, winding streets to permit his +escape, for he knew that to be accosted was equivalent to recapture +since no inhabitant of this weird city but would recognize him +as an alien. It would be a simple thing to shoot the man from the +pocket where the pistol lay without drawing the weapon, and with +this purpose in mind the Englishman slipped his hands into the +side pocket of his blouse, but simultaneously with this action his +wrist was seized in a powerful grasp and a low voice whispered in +English: "Lieutenant, it is I, Tarzan of the Apes." + +The relief from the nervous strain under which he had been laboring +for so long, left Smith-Oldwick suddenly as weak as a babe, so that +he was forced to grasp the ape-man's arm for support--and when he +found his voice all he could do was to repeat: "You? You? I thought +you were dead!" + +"No, not dead," replied Tarzan, "and I see that you are not either. +But how about the girl?" + +"I haven't seen her," replied the Englishman, "since we were +brought here. We were taken into a building on the plaza close by +and there we were separated. She was led away by guards and I was +put into a den of lions. I haven't seen her since." + +"How did you escape?" asked the ape-man. + +"The lions didn't seem to pay much attention to me and I climbed +out of the place by way of a tree and through a window into a room +on the second floor. Had a little scrimmage there with a fellow and +was hidden by one of their women in a hole in the wall. The loony +thing then betrayed me to another bounder who happened in, but I +found a way out and up onto the roof where I have been for quite +some time now waiting for a chance to get down into the street +without being seen. That's all I know, but I haven't the slightest +idea in the world where to look for Miss Kircher." + +"Where were you going now?" asked Tarzan. + +Smith-Oldwick hesitated. "I--well, I couldn't do anything here +alone and I was going to try to get out of the city and in some +way reach the British forces east and bring help." + +"You couldn't do it," said Tarzan. "Even if you got through the +forest alive you could never cross the desert country without food +or water." + +"What shall we do, then?" asked the Englishman. + +"We will see if we can find the girl," replied the ape-man, and +then, as though he had forgotten the presence of the Englishman and +was arguing to convince himself, "She may be a German and a spy, +but she is a woman--a white woman--I can't leave her here." + +"But how are we going to find her?" asked the Englishman. + +"I have followed her this far," replied Tarzan, "and unless I am +greatly mistaken I can follow her still farther." + +"But I cannot accompany you in these clothes without exposing us +both to detection and arrest," argued Smith-Oldwick. + +"We will get you other clothes, then," said Tarzan. + +"How?" asked the Englishman. + +"Go back to the roof beside the city wall where I entered," replied +the ape-man with a grim smile, "and ask the naked dead man there +how I got my disguise." + +Smith-Oldwick looked quickly up at his companion. "I have it," he +exclaimed. "I know where there is a fellow who doesn't need his +clothes anymore, and if we can get back on this roof I think we can +find him and get his apparel without much resistance. Only a girl +and a young fellow whom we could easily surprise and overcome." + +"What do you mean?" asked Tarzan. "How do you know that the man +doesn't need his clothes any more." + +"I know he doesn't need them," replied the Englishman, "because I +killed him." + +"Oh!" exclaimed the ape-man, "I see. I guess it might be easier +that way than to tackle one of these fellows in the street where +there is more chance of our being interrupted." + +"But how are we going to reach the roof again, after all?" queried +Smith-Oldwick. + +"The same way you came down," replied Tarzan. "This roof is low +and there is a little ledge formed by the capital of each column; +I noticed that when you descended. Some of the buildings wouldn't +have been so easy to negotiate." + +Smith-Oldwick looked up toward the eaves of the low roof. "It's +not very high," he said, "but I am afraid I can't make it. I'll +try--I've been pretty weak since a lion mauled me and the guards +beat me up, and too, I haven't eaten since yesterday." + +Tarzan thought a moment. "You've got to go with me," he said at +last. "I can't leave you here. The only chance you have of escape +is through me and I can't go with you now until we have found the +girl." + +"I want to go with you," replied Smith-Oldwick. "I'm not much good +now but at that two of us may be better than one." + +"All right," said Tarzan, "come on," and before the Englishman +realized what the other contemplated Tarzan had picked him up +and thrown him across his shoulder. "Now, hang on," whispered the +ape-man, and with a short run he clambered apelike up the front of the +low arcade. So quickly and easily was it done that the Englishman +scarcely had time to realize what was happening before he was +deposited safely upon the roof. + +"There," remarked Tarzan. "Now, lead me to the place you speak of." + +Smith-Oldwick had no difficulty in locating the trap in the roof +through which he had escaped. Removing the cover the ape-man bent +low, listening and sniffing. "Come," he said after a moment's +investigation and lowered himself to the floor beneath. Smith-Oldwick +followed him, and together the two crept through the darkness toward +the door in the back wall of the niche in which the Englishman +had been hidden by the girl. They found the door ajar and opening +it Tarzan saw a streak of light showing through the hangings that +separated it from the alcove. + +Placing his eye close to the aperture he saw the girl and the young +man of which the Englishman had spoken seated on opposite sides of +a low table upon which food was spread. Serving them was a giant +Negro and it was he whom the ape-man watched most closely. Familiar +with the tribal idiosyncrasies of a great number of African tribes +over a considerable proportion of the Dark Continent, the Tarmangani +at last felt reasonably assured that he knew from what part of +Africa this slave had come, and the dialect of his people. There +was, however, the chance that the fellow had been captured in +childhood and that through long years of non-use his native language +had become lost to him, but then there always had been an element +of chance connected with nearly every event of Tarzan's life, so he +waited patiently until in the performance of his duties the black +man approached a little table which stood near the niche in which +Tarzan and the Englishman hid. + +As the slave bent over some dish which stood upon the table his +ear was not far from the aperture through which Tarzan looked. +Apparently from a solid wall, for the Negro had no knowledge of +the existence of the niche, came to him in the tongue of his own +people, the whispered words: "If you would return to the land of +the Wamabo say nothing, but do as I bid you." + +The black rolled terrified eyes toward the hangings at his side. +The ape-man could see him tremble and for a moment was fearful that +in his terror he would betray them. "Fear not," he whispered, "we +are your friends." + +At last the Negro spoke in a low whisper, scarcely audible even to +the keen ears of the ape-man. "What," he asked, "can poor Otobu do +for the god who speaks to him out of the solid wall?" + +"This," replied Tarzan. "Two of us are coming into this room. Help +us prevent this man and woman from escaping or raising an outcry +that will bring others to their aid." + +"I will help you," replied the Negro, "to keep them within this +room, but do not fear that their outcries will bring others. These +walls are built so that no sound may pass through, and even if it +did what difference would it make in this village which is constantly +filled with the screams of its mad people. Do not fear their cries. +No one will notice them. I go to do your bidding." + +Tarzan saw the black cross the room to the table upon which he +placed another dish of food before the feasters. Then he stepped +to a place behind the man and as he did so raised his eyes to the +point in the wall from which the ape-man's voice had come to him, +as much as to say, "Master, I am ready." + +Without more delay Tarzan threw aside the hangings and stepped +into the room. As he did so the young man rose from the table to be +instantly seized from behind by the black slave. The girl, whose +back was toward the ape-man and his companion, was not at first +aware of their presence but saw only the attack of the slave upon +her lover, and with a loud scream she leaped forward to assist the +latter. Tarzan sprang to her side and laid a heavy hand upon her +arm before she could interfere with Otobu's attentions to the young +man. At first, as she turned toward the ape-man, her face reflected +only mad rage, but almost instantly this changed into the vapid +smile with which Smith-Oldwick was already familiar and her slim +fingers commenced their soft appraisement of the newcomer. + +Almost immediately she discovered Smith-Oldwick but there was +neither surprise nor anger upon her countenance. Evidently the poor +mad creature knew but two principal moods, from one to the other +of which she changed with lightning-like rapidity. + +"Watch her a moment," said Tarzan to the Englishman, "while I disarm +that fellow," and stepping to the side of the young man whom Otobu +was having difficulty in subduing Tarzan relieved him of his saber. +"Tell them," he said to the Negro, "if you speak their language, +that we will not harm them if they leave us alone and let us depart +in peace." + +The black had been looking at Tarzan with wide eyes, evidently +not comprehending how this god could appear in so material a form, +and with the voice of a white bwana and the uniform of a warrior +of this city to which he quite evidently did not belong. But +nevertheless his first confidence in the voice that offered him +freedom was not lessened and he did as Tarzan bid him. + +"They want to know what you want," said Otobu, after he had spoken +to the man and the girl. + +"Tell them that we want food for one thing," said Tarzan, "and +something else that we know where to find in this room. Take the +man's spear, Otobu; I see it leaning against the wall in the corner +of the room. And you, Lieutenant, take his saber," and then again +to Otobu, "I will watch the man while you go and bring forth that +which is beneath the couch over against this wall," and Tarzan +indicated the location of the piece of furniture. + +Otobu, trained to obey, did as he was bid. The eyes of the man and +the girl followed him, and as he drew back the hangings and dragged +forth the corpse of the man Smith-Oldwick had slain, the girl's lover +voiced a loud scream and attempted to leap forward to the side of +the corpse. Tarzan, however, seized him and then the fellow turned +upon him with teeth and nails. It was with no little difficulty +that Tarzan finally subdued the man, and while Otobu was removing +the outer clothing from the corpse, Tarzan asked the black to +question the young man as to his evident excitement at the sight +of the body. + +"I can tell you Bwana," replied Otobu. "This man was his father." + +"What is he saying to the girl?" asked Tarzan. + +"He is asking her if she knew that the body of his father was under +the couch. And she is saying that she did not know it." + +Tarzan repeated the conversation to Smith-Oldwick, who smiled. "If +the chap could have seen her removing all evidence of the crime and +arranging the hangings of the couch so that the body was concealed +after she had helped me drag it across the room, he wouldn't have +very much doubt as to her knowledge of the affair. The rug you see +draped over the bench in the corner was arranged to hide the blood +stain--in some ways they are not so loony after all." + +The black man had now removed the outer garments from the dead +man, and Smith-Oldwick was hastily drawing them on over his own +clothing. "And now," said Tarzan, "we will sit down and eat. One +accomplishes little on an empty stomach." As they ate the ape-man +attempted to carry on a conversation with the two natives through +Otobu. He learned that they were in the palace which had belonged +to the dead man lying upon the floor beside them. He had held an +official position of some nature, and he and his family were of +the ruling class but were not members of the court. + +When Tarzan questioned them about Bertha Kircher, the young man +said that she had been taken to the king's palace; and when asked +why replied: "For the king, of course." + +During the conversation both the man and the girl appeared quite +rational, even asking some questions as to the country from which +their uninvited guests had come, and evidencing much surprise when +informed that there was anything but waterless wastes beyond their +own valley. + +When Otobu asked the man, at Tarzan's suggestion, if he was familiar +with the interior of the king's palace, he replied that he was; +that he was a friend of Prince Metak, one of the king's sons, and +that he often visited the palace and that Metak also came here to +his father's palace frequently. As Tarzan ate he racked his brain +for some plan whereby he might utilize the knowledge of the young +man to gain entrance to the palace, but he had arrived at nothing +which he considered feasible when there came a loud knocking upon +the door of the outer room. + +For a moment no one spoke and then the young man raised his voice +and cried aloud to those without. Immediately Otobu sprang for the +fellow and attempted to smother his words by clapping a palm over +his mouth. + +"What is he saying?" asked Tarzan. + +"He is telling them to break down the door and rescue him and the +girl from two strangers who entered and made them prisoners. If +they enter they will kill us all." + +"Tell him," said Tarzan, "to hold his peace or I will slay him." + +Otobu did as he was instructed and the young maniac lapsed into +scowling silence. Tarzan crossed the alcove and entered the outer +room to note the effect of the assaults upon the door. Smith-Oldwick +followed him a few steps, leaving Otobu to guard the two prisoners. +The ape-man saw that the door could not long withstand the heavy +blows being dealt the panels from without. "I wanted to use that +fellow in the other room," he said to Smith-Oldwick, "but I am +afraid we will have to get out of here the way we came. We can't +accomplish anything by waiting here and meeting these fellows. +From the noise out there there must be a dozen of them. Come," he +said, "you go first and I will follow." + +As the two turned back from the alcove they witnessed an entirely +different scene from that upon which they had turned their backs +but a moment or two before. Stretched on the floor and apparently +lifeless lay the body of the black slave, while the two prisoners +had vanished completely. + + + + + +The Flight from Xuja + + + + +As Metak bore Bertha Kircher toward the edge of the pool, the girl +at first had no conception of the deed he contemplated but when, as +they approached the edge, he did not lessen his speed she guessed +the frightful truth. As he leaped head foremost with her into the +water, she closed her eyes and breathed a silent prayer, for she +was confident that the maniac had no other purpose than to drown +himself and her. And yet, so potent is the first law of nature that +even in the face of certain death, as she surely believed herself, +she clung tenaciously to life, and while she struggled to free +herself from the powerful clutches of the madman, she held her +breath against the final moment when the asphyxiating waters must +inevitably flood her lungs. + +Through the frightful ordeal she maintained absolute control of +her senses so that, after the first plunge, she was aware that the +man was swimming with her beneath the surface. He took perhaps not +more than a dozen strokes directly toward the end wall of the pool +and then he arose; and once again she knew that her head was above +the surface. She opened her eyes to see that they were in a corridor +dimly lighted by gratings set in its roof--a winding corridor, +water filled from wall to wall. + +Along this the man was swimming with easy powerful strokes, at the +same time holding her chin above the water. For ten minutes he swam +thus without stopping and the girl heard him speak to her, though +she could not understand what he said, as he evidently immediately +realized, for, half floating, he shifted his hold upon her so that +he could touch her nose and mouth with the fingers of one hand. She +grasped what he meant and immediately took a deep breath, whereat +he dove quickly beneath the surface pulling her down with him and +again for a dozen strokes or more he swam thus wholly submerged. + +When they again came to the surface, Bertha Kircher saw that they +were in a large lagoon and that the bright stars were shining high +above them, while on either hand domed and minareted buildings were +silhouetted sharply against the starlit sky. Metak swam swiftly to +the north side of the lagoon where, by means of a ladder, the two +climbed out upon the embankment. There were others in the plaza +but they paid but little if any attention to the two bedraggled +figures. As Metak walked quickly across the pavement with the girl +at his side, Bertha Kircher could only guess at the man's intentions. +She could see no way in which to escape and so she went docilely +with him, hoping against hope that some fortuitous circumstance +might eventually arise that would give her the coveted chance for +freedom and life. + +Metak led her toward a building which, as she entered, she recognized +as the same to which she and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick had been led +when they were brought into the city. There was no man sitting +behind the carved desk now, but about the room were a dozen or more +warriors in the tunics of the house to which they were attached, in +this case white with a small lion in the form of a crest or badge +upon the breast and back of each. + +As Metak entered and the men recognized him they arose, and in answer +to a query he put, they pointed to an arched doorway at the rear +of the room. Toward this Metak led the girl, and then, as though +filled with a sudden suspicion, his eyes narrowed cunningly and +turning toward the soldiery he issued an order which resulted in +their all preceding him through the small doorway and up a flight +of stairs a short distance beyond. + +The stairway and the corridor above were lighted by small flares +which revealed several doors in the walls of the upper passageway. +To one of these the men led the prince. Bertha Kircher saw them +knock upon the door and heard a voice reply faintly through the +thick door to the summons. The effect upon those about her was +electrical. Instantly excitement reigned, and in response to orders +from the king's son the soldiers commenced to beat heavily upon the +door, to throw their bodies against it and to attempt to hew away +the panels with their sabers. The girl wondered at the cause of +the evident excitement of her captors. + +She saw the door giving to each renewed assault, but what she did +not see just before it crashed inward was the figures of the two +men who alone, in all the world, might have saved her, pass between +the heavy hangings in an adjoining alcove and disappear into a dark +corridor. + +As the door gave and the warriors rushed into the apartment followed +by the prince, the latter became immediately filled with baffled +rage, for the rooms were deserted except for the dead body of the +owner of the palace, and the still form of the black slave, Otobu, +where they lay stretched upon the floor of the alcove. + +The prince rushed to the windows and looked out, but as the suite +overlooked the barred den of lions from which, the prince thought, +there could be no escape, his puzzlement was only increased. Though +he searched about the room for some clue to the whereabouts of its +former occupants he did not discover the niche behind the hangings. +With the fickleness of insanity he quickly tired of the search, +and, turning to the soldiers who had accompanied him from the floor +below, dismissed them. + +After setting up the broken door as best they could, the men left +the apartment and when they were again alone Metak turned toward +the girl. As he approached her, his face distorted by a hideous +leer, his features worked rapidly in spasmodic twitches. The girl, +who was standing at the entrance of the alcove, shrank back, her +horror reflected in her face. Step by step she backed across the +room, while the crouching maniac crept stealthily after her with +claw-like fingers poised in anticipation of the moment they should +leap forth and seize her. + +As she passed the body of the Negro, her foot touched some obstacle +at her side, and glancing down she saw the spear with which Otobu +had been supposed to hold the prisoners. Instantly she leaned forward +and snatched it from the floor with its sharp point directed at +the body of the madman. The effect upon Metak was electrical. From +stealthy silence he broke into harsh peals of laughter, and drawing +his saber danced to and fro before the girl, but whichever way he +went the point of the spear still threatened him. + +Gradually the girl noticed a change in the tone of the creature's +screams that was also reflected in the changing expression upon his +hideous countenance. His hysterical laughter was slowly changing +into cries of rage while the silly leer upon his face was supplanted +by a ferocious scowl and up-curled lips, which revealed the sharpened +fangs beneath. + +He now ran rapidly in almost to the spear's point, only to jump +away, run a few steps to one side and again attempt to make an +entrance, the while he slashed and hewed at the spear with such +violence that it was with difficulty the girl maintained her guard, +and all the time was forced to give ground step by step. She had +reached the point where she was standing squarely against the couch +at the side of the room when, with an incredibly swift movement, +Metak stooped and grasping a low stool hurled it directly at her +head. + +She raised the spear to fend off the heavy missile, but she was +not entirely successful, and the impact of the blow carried her +backward upon the couch, and instantly Metak was upon her. + +Tarzan and Smith-Oldwick gave little thought as to what had become +of the other two occupants of the room. They were gone, and so far +as these two were concerned they might never return. Tarzan's one +desire was to reach the street again, where, now that both of them +were in some sort of disguise, they should be able to proceed with +comparative safety to the palace and continue their search for the +girl. + +Smith-Oldwick preceded Tarzan along the corridor and as they reached +the ladder he climbed aloft to remove the trap. He worked for a +moment and then, turning, addressed Tarzan. + +"Did we replace the cover on this trap when we came down? I don't +recall that we did." + +"No," said Tarzan, "it was left open." + +"So I thought," said Smith-Oldwick, "but it's closed now and locked. +I cannot move it. Possibly you can," and he descended the ladder. + +Even Tarzan's immense strength, however, had no effect other than +to break one of the rungs of the ladder against which he was pushing, +nearly precipitating him to the floor below. After the rung broke +he rested for a moment before renewing his efforts, and as he stood +with his head near the cover of the trap, he distinctly heard voices +on the roof above him. + +Dropping down to Oldwick's side he told him what he had heard. "We +had better find some other way out," he said, and the two started +to retrace their steps toward the alcove. Tarzan was again in the +lead, and as he opened the door in the back of the niche, he was +suddenly startled to hear, in tones of terror and in a woman's +voice, the words: "O God, be merciful" from just beyond the hangings. + +Here was no time for cautious investigation and, not even waiting +to find the aperture and part the hangings, but with one sweep of +a brawny hand dragging them from their support, the ape-man leaped +from the niche into the alcove. + +At the sound of his entry the maniac looked up, and as he saw at +first only a man in the uniform of his father's soldiers, he shrieked +forth an angry order, but at the second glance, which revealed the +face of the newcomer, the madman leaped from the prostrate form +of his victim and, apparently forgetful of the saber which he had +dropped upon the floor beside the couch as he leaped to grapple +with the girl, closed with bare hands upon his antagonist, his +sharp-filed teeth searching for the other's throat. + +Metak, the son of Herog, was no weakling. Powerful by nature and +rendered still more so in the throes of one of his maniacal fits +of fury he was no mean antagonist, even for the mighty ape-man, +and to this a distinct advantage for him was added by the fact that +almost at the outset of their battle Tarzan, in stepping backward, +struck his heel against the corpse of the man whom Smith-Oldwick +had killed, and fell heavily backward to the floor with Metak upon +his breast. + +With the quickness of a cat the maniac made an attempt to fasten +his teeth in Tarzan's jugular, but a quick movement of the latter +resulted in his finding a hold only upon the Tarmangani's shoulder. +Here he clung while his fingers sought Tarzan's throat, and it was +then that the ape-man, realizing the possibility of defeat, called +to Smith-Oldwick to take the girl and seek to escape. + +The Englishman looked questioningly at Bertha Kircher, who had now +risen from the couch, shaking and trembling. She saw the question +in his eyes and with an effort she drew herself to her full height. +"No," she cried, "if he dies here I shall die with him. Go if you +wish to. You can do nothing here, but I--I cannot go." + +Tarzan had now regained his feet, but the maniac still clung to +him tenaciously. The girl turned suddenly to Smith-Oldwick. "Your +pistol!" she cried. "Why don't you shoot him?" + +The man drew the weapon from his pocket and approached the two +antagonists, but by this time they were moving so rapidly that there +was no opportunity for shooting one without the danger of hitting +the other. At the same time Bertha Kircher circled about them with +the prince's saber, but neither could she find an opening. Again +and again the two men fell to the floor, until presently Tarzan +found a hold upon the other's throat, against which contingency +Metak had been constantly battling, and slowly, as the giant fingers +closed, the other's mad eyes protruded from his livid face, his jaws +gaped and released their hold upon Tarzan's shoulder, and then in +a sudden excess of disgust and rage the ape-man lifted the body +of the prince high above his head and with all the strength of his +great arms hurled it across the room and through the window where +it fell with a sickening thud into the pit of lions beneath. + +As Tarzan turned again toward his companions, the girl was standing +with the saber still in her hand and an expression upon her face +that he never had seen there before. Her eyes were wide and misty +with unshed tears, while her sensitive lips trembled as though she +were upon the point of giving way to some pent emotion which her +rapidly rising and falling bosom plainly indicated she was fighting +to control. + +"If we are going to get out of here," said the ape-man, "we can't +lose any time. We are together at last and nothing can be gained by +delay. The question now is the safest way. The couple who escaped +us evidently departed through the passageway to the roof and secured +the trap against us so that we are cut off in that direction. What +chance have we below? You came that way," and he turned toward +the girl. + +"At the foot of the stairs," she said, "is a room full of armed +men. I doubt if we could pass that way." + +It was then that Otobu raised himself to a sitting posture. "So +you are not dead after all," exclaimed the ape-man. "Come, how +badly are you hurt?" + +The Negro rose gingerly to his feet, moved his arms and legs and +felt of his head. + +"Otobu does not seem to be hurt at all, Bwana," he replied, "only +for a great ache in his head." + +"Good," said the ape-man. "You want to return to the Wamabo country?" + +"Yes, Bwana." + +"Then lead us from the city by the safest way." + +"There is no safe way," replied the black, "and even if we reach +the gates we shall have to fight. I can lead you from this building +to a side street with little danger of meeting anyone on the way. +Beyond that we must take our chance of discovery. You are all +dressed as are the people of this wicked city so perhaps we may +pass unnoticed, but at the gate it will be a different matter, for +none is permitted to leave the city at night." + +"Very well," replied the ape-man, "let us be on our way." + +Otobu led them through the broken door of the outer room, and part +way down the corridor he turned into another apartment at the right. +This they crossed to a passageway beyond, and, finally, traversing +several rooms and corridors, he led them down a flight of steps +to a door which opened directly upon a side street in rear of the +palace. + +Two men, a woman, and a black slave were not so extraordinary +a sight upon the streets of the city as to arouse comment. When +passing beneath the flares the three Europeans were careful to +choose a moment when no chance pedestrian might happen to get a view +of their features, but in the shadow of the arcades there seemed +little danger of detection. They had covered a good portion of the +distance to the gate without mishap when there came to their ears +from the central portion of the city sounds of a great commotion. + +"What does that mean?" Tarzan asked of Otobu, who was now trembling +violently. + +"Master," he replied, "they have discovered that which has happened +in the palace of Veza, mayor of the city. His son and the girl +escaped and summoned soldiers who have now doubtless discovered +the body of Veza." + +"I wonder," said Tarzan, "if they have discovered the party I threw +through the window." + +Bertha Kircher, who understood enough of the dialect to follow their +conversation, asked Tarzan if he knew that the man he had thrown +from the window was the king's son. The ape-man laughed. "No," he +said, "I did not. That rather complicates matters--at least if they +have found him." + +Suddenly there broke above the turmoil behind them the clear strains +of a bugle. Otobu increased his pace. "Hurry, Master," he cried, +"it is worse than I had thought." + +"What do you mean?" asked Tarzan. + +"For some reason the king's guard and the king's lions are being +called out. I fear, O Bwana, that we cannot escape them. But why +they should be called out for us I do not know." + +But if Otobu did not know, Tarzan at least guessed that they had +found the body of the king's son. Once again the notes of the bugle +rose high and clear upon the night air. "Calling more lions?" asked +Tarzan. + +"No, Master," replied Otobu. "It is the parrots they are calling." + +They moved on rapidly in silence for a few minutes when their +attention was attracted by the flapping of the wings of a bird +above them. They looked up to discover a parrot circling about over +their heads. + +"Here are the parrots, Otobu," said Tarzan with a grin. "Do they +expect to kill us with parrots?" + +The Negro moaned as the bird darted suddenly ahead of them toward +the city wall. "Now indeed are we lost, Master," cried the black. +"The bird that found us has flown to the gate to warn the guard." + +"Come, Otobu, what are you talking about?" exclaimed Tarzan irritably. +"Have you lived among these lunatics so long that you are yourself +mad?" + +"No, Master," replied Otobu. "I am not mad. You do not know them. +These terrible birds are like human beings without hearts or souls. +They speak the language of the people of this city of Xuja. They +are demons, Master, and when in sufficient numbers they might even +attack and kill us." + +"How far are we from the gate?" asked Tarzan. + +"We are not very far," replied the Negro. "Beyond this next turn +we will see it a few paces ahead of us. But the bird has reached +it before us and by now they are summoning the guard," the truth +of which statement was almost immediately indicated by sounds of +many voices raised evidently in commands just ahead of them, while +from behind came increased evidence of approaching pursuit--loud +screams and the roars of lions. + +A few steps ahead a narrow alley opened from the east into the +thoroughfare they were following and as they approached it there +emerged from its dark shadows the figure of a mighty lion. Otobu +halted in his tracks and shrank back against Tarzan. "Look, Master," +he whimpered, "a great black lion of the forest!" + +Tarzan drew the saber which still hung at his side. "We cannot go +back," he said. "Lions, parrots, or men, it must be all the same," +and he moved steadily forward in the direction of the gate. What +wind was stirring in the city street moved from Tarzan toward the +lion and when the ape-man had approached to within a few yards +of the beast, who had stood silently eyeing them up to this time, +instead of the expected roar, a whine broke from the beast's throat. +The ape-man was conscious of a very decided feeling of relief. "It's +Numa of the pit," he called back to his companions, and to Otobu, +"Do not fear, this lion will not harm us." + +Numa moved forward to the ape-man's side and then turning, paced +beside him along the narrow street. At the next turn they came in +sight of the gate, where, beneath several flares, they saw a group +of at least twenty warriors prepared to seize them, while from the +opposite direction the roars of the pursuing lions sounded close +upon them, mingling with the screams of numerous parrots which now +circled about their heads. Tarzan halted and turned to the young +aviator. "How many rounds of ammunition have you left?" he asked. + +"I have seven in the pistol," replied Smith-Oldwick, "and perhaps +a dozen more cartridges in my blouse pocket." + +"I'm going to rush them," said Tarzan. "Otobu, you stay at the side +of the woman. Oldwick, you and I will go ahead, you upon my left. +I think we need not try to tell Numa what to do," for even then +the great lion was baring his fangs and growling ferociously at the +guardsmen, who appeared uneasy in the face of this creature which, +above all others, they feared. + +"As we advance, Oldwick," said the ape-man, "fire one shot. It +may frighten them, and after that fire only when necessary. All +ready? Let's go!" and he moved forward toward the gate. At the +same time, Smith-Oldwick discharged his weapon and a yellow-coated +warrior screamed and crumpled forward upon his face. For a minute +the others showed symptoms of panic but one, who seemed to be an +officer, rallied them. "Now," said Tarzan, "all together!" and he +started at a run for the gate. Simultaneously the lion, evidently +scenting the purpose of the Tarmangani, broke into a full charge +toward the guard. + +Shaken by the report of the unfamiliar weapon, the ranks of the +guardsmen broke before the furious assault of the great beast. +The officer screamed forth a volley of commands in a mad fury of +uncontrolled rage but the guardsmen, obeying the first law of nature +as well as actuated by their inherent fear of the black denizen of +the forest scattered to right and left to elude the monster. With +ferocious growls Numa wheeled to the right, and with raking talons +struck right and left among a little handful of terrified guardsmen +who were endeavoring to elude him, and then Tarzan and Smith-Oldwick +closed with the others. + +For a moment their most formidable antagonist was the officer in +command. He wielded his curved saber as only an adept might as he +faced Tarzan, to whom the similar weapon in his own hand was most +unfamiliar. Smith-Oldwick could not fire for fear of hitting the +ape-man when suddenly to his dismay he saw Tarzan's weapon fly from +his grasp as the Xujan warrior neatly disarmed his opponent. With +a scream the fellow raised his saber for the final cut that would +terminate the earthly career of Tarzan of the Apes when, to the +astonishment of both the ape-man and Smith-Oldwick, the fellow +stiffened rigidly, his weapon dropped from the nerveless fingers +of his upraised hand, his mad eyes rolled upward and foam flecked +his bared lip. Gasping as though in the throes of strangulation +the fellow pitched forward at Tarzan's feet. + +Tarzan stooped and picked up the dead man's weapon, a smile upon +his face as he turned and glanced toward the young Englishman. + +"The fellow is an epileptic," said Smith-Oldwick. "I suppose +many of them are. Their nervous condition is not without its good +points--a normal man would have gotten you." + +The other guardsmen seemed utterly demoralized at the loss of their +leader. They were huddled upon the opposite side of the street at +the left of the gate, screaming at the tops of their voices and +looking in the direction from which sounds of reinforcements were +coming, as though urging on the men and lions that were already too +close for the comfort of the fugitives. Six guardsmen still stood +with their backs against the gate, their weapons flashing in the +light of the flares and their parchment-like faces distorted in +horrid grimaces of rage and terror. + +Numa had pursued two fleeing warriors down the street which paralleled +the wall for a short distance at this point. The ape-man turned to +Smith-Oldwick. "You will have to use your pistol now," he said, "and +we must get by these fellows at once;" and as the young Englishman +fired, Tarzan rushed in to close quarters as though he had not +already discovered that with the saber he was no match for these +trained swordsmen. Two men fell to Smith-Oldwick's first two shots +and then he missed, while the four remaining divided, two leaping +for the aviator and two for Tarzan. + +The ape-man rushed in in an effort to close with one of his +antagonists where the other's saber would be comparatively useless. +Smith-Oldwick dropped one of his assailants with a bullet through +the chest and pulled his trigger on the second, only to have the +hammer fall futilely upon an empty chamber. The cartridges in his +weapon were exhausted and the warrior with his razor-edged, gleaming +saber was upon him. + +Tarzan raised his own weapon but once and that to divert a vicious +cut for his head. Then he was upon one of his assailants and +before the fellow could regain his equilibrium and leap back after +delivering his cut, the ape-man had seized him by the neck and +crotch. Tarzan's other antagonist was edging around to one side +where he might use his weapon, and as he raised the blade to strike +at the back of the Tarmangani's neck, the latter swung the body of +his comrade upward so that it received the full force of the blow. +The blade sank deep into the body of the warrior, eliciting a single +frightful scream, and then Tarzan hurled the dying man in the face +of his final adversary. + +Smith-Oldwick, hard pressed and now utterly defenseless, had given +up all hope in the instant that he realized his weapon was empty, +when, from his left, a living bolt of black-maned ferocity shot +past him to the breast of his opponent. Down went the Xujan, his +face bitten away by one snap of the powerful jaws of Numa of the +pit. + +In the few seconds that had been required for the consummation +of these rapidly ensuing events, Otobu had dragged Bertha Kircher +to the gate which he had unbarred and thrown open, and with the +vanquishing of the last of the active guardsmen, the party passed +out of the maniac city of Xuja into the outer darkness beyond. At +the same moment a half dozen lions rounded the last turn in the +road leading back toward the plaza, and at sight of them Numa of +the pit wheeled and charged. For a moment the lions of the city +stood their ground, but only for a moment, and then before the +black beast was upon them, they turned and fled, while Tarzan and +his party moved rapidly toward the blackness of the forest beyond +the garden. + +"Will they follow us out of the city?" Tarzan asked Otobu. + +"Not at night," replied the black. "I have been a slave here for +five years but never have I known these people to leave the city +by night. If they go beyond the forest in the daytime they usually +wait until the dawn of another day before they return, as they fear +to pass through the country of the black lions after dark. No, I +think, Master, that they will not follow us tonight, but tomorrow +they will come, and, O Bwana, then will they surely get us, or +those that are left of us, for at least one among us must be the +toll of the black lions as we pass through their forest." + +As they crossed the garden, Smith-Oldwick refilled the magazine +of his pistol and inserted a cartridge in the chamber. The girl +moved silently at Tarzan's left, between him and the aviator. Suddenly +the ape-man stopped and turned toward the city, his mighty frame, +clothed in the yellow tunic of Herog's soldiery, plainly visible +to the others beneath the light of the stars. They saw him raise +his head and they heard break from his lips the plaintive note of +a lion calling to his fellows. Smith-Oldwick felt a distinct shudder +pass through his frame, while Otobu, rolling the whites of his eyes +in terrified surprise, sank tremblingly to his knees. But the girl +thrilled and she felt her heart beat in a strange exultation, and +then she drew nearer to the beast-man until her shoulder touched his +arm. The act was involuntary and for a moment she scarce realized +what she had done, and then she stepped silently back, thankful +that the light of the stars was not sufficient to reveal to the +eyes of her companions the flush which she felt mantling her cheek. +Yet she was not ashamed of the impulse that had prompted her, but +rather of the act itself which she knew, had Tarzan noticed it, +would have been repulsive to him. + +From the open gate of the city of maniacs came the answering cry +of a lion. The little group waited where they stood until presently +they saw the majestic proportions of the black lion as he approached +them along the trail. When he had rejoined them Tarzan fastened +the fingers of one hand in the black mane and started on once more +toward the forest. Behind them, from the city, rose a bedlam of +horrid sounds, the roaring of lions mingling with the raucous voices +of the screaming parrots and the mad shrieks of the maniacs. As +they entered the Stygian darkness of the forest the girl once again +involuntarily shrank closer to the ape-man, and this time Tarzan +was aware of the contact. + +Himself without fear, he yet instinctively appreciated how terrified +the girl must be. Actuated by a sudden kindly impulse he found +her hand and took it in his own and thus they continued upon their +way, groping through the blackness of the trail. Twice they were +approached by forest lions, but upon both occasions the deep growls +of Numa of the pit drove off their assailants. Several times they +were compelled to rest, for Smith-Oldwick was constantly upon the +verge of exhaustion, and toward morning Tarzan was forced to carry +him on the steep ascent from the bed of the valley. + + + + + +The Tommies + + + + +Daylight overtook them after they had entered the gorge, but, tired +as they all were with the exception of Tarzan, they realized that +they must keep on at all costs until they found a spot where they +might ascend the precipitous side of the gorge to the floor of the +plateau above. Tarzan and Otobu were both equally confident that +the Xujans would not follow them beyond the gorge, but though they +scanned every inch of the frowning cliffs upon either hand noon +came and there was still no indication of any avenue of escape +to right or left. There were places where the ape-man alone might +have negotiated the ascent but none where the others could hope +successfully to reach the plateau, nor where Tarzan, powerful and +agile as he was, could have ventured safely to carry them aloft. + +For half a day the ape-man had been either carrying or supporting +Smith-Oldwick and now, to his chagrin, he saw that the girl was +faltering. He had realized well how much she had undergone and +how greatly the hardships and dangers and the fatigue of the past +weeks must have told upon her vitality. He saw how bravely she +attempted to keep up, yet how often she stumbled and staggered as +she labored through the sand and gravel of the gorge. Nor could +he help but admire her fortitude and the uncomplaining effort she +was making to push on. + +The Englishman must have noticed her condition too, for some time +after noon, he stopped suddenly and sat down in the sand. "It's +no use," he said to Tarzan. "I can go no farther. Miss Kircher is +rapidly weakening. You will have to go on without me." + +"No," said the girl, "we cannot do that. We have all been through +so much together and the chances of our escape are still so remote +that whatever comes, let us remain together, unless," and she looked +up at Tarzan, "you, who have done so much for us to whom you are +under no obligations, will go on without us. I for one wish that +you would. It must be as evident to you as it is to me that you +cannot save us, for though you succeeded in dragging us from the +path of our pursuers, even your great strength and endurance could +never take one of us across the desert waste which lies between +here and the nearest fertile country." + +The ape-man returned her serious look with a smile. "You are +not dead," he said to her, "nor is the lieutenant, nor Otobu, nor +myself. One is either dead or alive, and until we are dead we should +plan only upon continuing to live. Because we remain here and rest +is no indication that we shall die here. I cannot carry you both +to the country of the Wamabos, which is the nearest spot at which +we may expect to find game and water, but we shall not give up on +that account. So far we have found a way. Let us take things as +they come. Let us rest now because you and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick +need the rest, and when you are stronger we will go on again." + +"But the Xujans--?" she asked, "may they not follow us here?" + +"Yes," he said, "they probably will. But we need not be concerned +with them until they come." + +"I wish," said the girl, "that I possessed your philosophy but I +am afraid it is beyond me." + +"You were not born and reared in the jungle by wild beasts and +among wild beasts, or you would possess, as I do, the fatalism of +the jungle." + +And so they moved to the side of the gorge beneath the shade of an +overhanging rock and lay down in the hot sand to rest. Numa wandered +restlessly to and fro and finally, after sprawling for a moment +close beside the ape-man, rose and moved off up the gorge to be +lost to view a moment later beyond the nearest turn. + +For an hour the little party rested and then Tarzan suddenly +rose and, motioning the others to silence, listened. For a minute +he stood motionless, his keen ears acutely receptive to sounds so +faint and distant that none of the other three could detect the +slightest break in the utter and deathlike quiet of the gorge. +Finally the ape-man relaxed and turned toward them. "What is it?" +asked the girl. + +"They are coming," he replied. "They are yet some distance away, +though not far, for the sandaled feet of the men and the pads of +the lions make little noise upon the soft sands." + +"What shall we do--try to go on?" asked Smith-Oldwick. "I believe +I could make a go of it now for a short way. I am much rested. How +about you Miss Kircher?" + +"Oh, yes," she said, "I am much stronger. Yes, surely I can go on." + +Tarzan knew that neither of them quite spoke the truth, that people +do not recover so quickly from utter exhaustion, but he saw no +other way and there was always the hope that just beyond the next +turn would be a way out of the gorge. + +"You help the lieutenant, Otobu," he said, turning to the black, +"and I will carry Miss Kircher," and though the girl objected, +saying that he must not waste his strength, he lifted her lightly +in his arms and moved off up the canyon, followed by Otobu and +the Englishman. They had gone no great distance when the others of +the party became aware of the sounds of pursuit, for now the lions +were whining as though the fresh scent spoor of their quarry had +reached their nostrils. + +"I wish that your Numa would return," said the girl. + +"Yes," said Tarzan, "but we shall have to do the best we can +without him. I should like to find some place where we can barricade +ourselves against attack from all sides. Possibly then we might +hold them off. Smith-Oldwick is a good shot and if there are not +too many men he might be able to dispose of them provided they can +only come at him one at a time. The lions don't bother me so much. +Sometimes they are stupid animals, and I am sure that these that +pursue us, and who are so dependent upon the masters that have +raised and trained them, will be easily handled after the warriors +are disposed of." + +"You think there is some hope, then?" she asked. + +"We are still alive," was his only answer. + +"There," he said presently, "I thought I recalled this very spot." +He pointed toward a fragment that had evidently fallen from the +summit of the cliff and which now lay imbedded in the sand a few +feet from the base. It was a jagged fragment of rock which rose some +ten feet above the surface of the sand, leaving a narrow aperture +between it and the cliff behind. Toward this they directed their +steps and when finally they reached their goal they found a space +about two feet wide and ten feet long between the rock and the +cliff. To be sure it was open at both ends but at least they could +not be attacked upon all sides at once. + +They had scarcely concealed themselves before Tarzan's quick ears +caught a sound upon the face of the cliff above them, and looking +up he saw a diminutive monkey perched upon a slight projection--an +ugly-faced little monkey who looked down upon them for a moment and +then scampered away toward the south in the direction from which +their pursuers were coming. Otobu had seen the monkey too. "He will +tell the parrots," said the black, "and the parrots will tell the +madmen." + +"It is all the same," replied Tarzan; "the lions would have found +us here. We could not hope to hide from them." + +He placed Smith-Oldwick, with his pistol, at the north opening of +their haven and told Otobu to stand with his spear at the Englishman's +shoulder, while he himself prepared to guard the southern approach. +Between them he had the girl lie down in the sand. "You will be +safe there in the event that they use their spears," he said. + +The minutes that dragged by seemed veritable eternities to Bertha +Kircher and then at last, and almost with relief, she knew that the +pursuers were upon them. She heard the angry roaring of the lions +and the cries of the madmen. For several minutes the men seemed to +be investigating the stronghold which their quarry had discovered. +She could hear them both to the north and south and then from +where she lay she saw a lion charging for the ape-man before her. +She saw the giant arm swing back with the curved saber and she +saw it fall with terrific velocity and meet the lion as he rose to +grapple with the man, cleaving his skull as cleanly as a butcher +opens up a sheep. + +Then she heard footsteps running rapidly toward Smith-Oldwick and, +as his pistol spoke, there was a scream and the sound of a falling +body. Evidently disheartened by the failure of their first attempt +the assaulters drew off, but only for a short time. Again they came, +this time a man opposing Tarzan and a lion seeking to overcome +Smith-Oldwick. Tarzan had cautioned the young Englishman not +to waste his cartridges upon the lions and it was Otobu with the +Xujan spear who met the beast, which was not subdued until both +he and Smith-Oldwick had been mauled, and the latter had succeeded +in running the point of the saber the girl had carried, into the +beast's heart. The man who opposed Tarzan inadvertently came too +close in an attempt to cut at the ape-man's head, with the result +that an instant later his corpse lay with the neck broken upon the +body of the lion. + +Once again the enemy withdrew, but again only for a short time, +and now they came in full force, the lions and the men, possibly +a half dozen of each, the men casting their spears and the lions +waiting just behind, evidently for the signal to charge. + +"Is this the end?" asked the girl. + +"No," cried the ape-man, "for we still live!" + +The words had scarcely passed his lips when the remaining warriors, +rushing in, cast their spears simultaneously from both sides. In +attempting to shield the girl, Tarzan received one of the shafts +in the shoulder, and so heavily had the weapon been hurled that it +bore him backward to the ground. Smith-Oldwick fired his pistol +twice when he too was struck down, the weapon entering his right +leg midway between hip and knee. Only Otobu remained to face the +enemy, for the Englishman, already weak from his wounds and from +the latest mauling he had received at the claws of the lion, had +lost consciousness as he sank to the ground with this new hurt. + +As he fell his pistol dropped from his fingers, and the girl, seeing, +snatched it up. As Tarzan struggled to rise, one of the warriors +leaped full upon his breast and bore him back as, with fiendish +shrieks, he raised the point of his saber above the other's heart. +Before he could drive it home the girl leveled Smith-Oldwick's +pistol and fired point-blank at the fiend's face. + +Simultaneously there broke upon the astonished ears of both attackers +and attacked a volley of shots from the gorge. With the sweetness +of the voice of an angel from heaven the Europeans heard the +sharp-barked commands of an English noncom. Even above the roars +of the lions and the screams of the maniacs, those beloved tones +reached the ears of Tarzan and the girl at the very moment that +even the ape-man had given up the last vestige of hope. + +Rolling the body of the warrior to one side Tarzan struggled to +his feet, the spear still protruding from his shoulder. The girl +rose too, and as Tarzan wrenched the weapon from his flesh and stepped +out from behind the concealment of their refuge, she followed at +his side. The skirmish that had resulted in their rescue was soon +over. Most of the lions escaped but all of the pursuing Xujans +had been slain. As Tarzan and the girl came into full view of the +group, a British Tommy leveled his rifle at the ape-man. Seeing the +fellow's actions and realizing instantly the natural error that +Tarzan's yellow tunic had occasioned the girl sprang between him +and the soldier. "Don't shoot," she cried to the latter, "we are +both friends." + +"Hold up your hands, you, then," he commanded Tarzan. "I ain't +taking no chances with any duffer with a yellow shirt." + +At this juncture the British sergeant who had been in command of +the advance guard approached and when Tarzan and the girl spoke +to him in English, explaining their disguises, he accepted their +word, since they were evidently not of the same race as the creatures +which lay dead about them. Ten minutes later the main body of the +expedition came into view. Smith-Oldwick's wounds were dressed, +as well as were those of the ape-man, and in half an hour they were +on their way to the camp of their rescuers. + +That night it was arranged that the following day Smith-Oldwick and +Bertha Kircher should be transported to British headquarters near +the coast by aeroplane, the two planes attached to the expeditionary +force being requisitioned for the purpose. Tarzan and Otobu declined +the offers of the British captain to accompany his force overland +on the return march as Tarzan explained that his country lay to +the west, as did Otobu's, and that they would travel together as +far as the country of the Wamabos. + +"You are not going back with us, then?" asked the girl. + +"No," replied the ape-man. "My home is upon the west coast. I will +continue my journey in that direction." + +She cast appealing eyes toward him. "You will go back into that +terrible jungle?" she asked. "We shall never see you again?" + +He looked at her a moment in silence. "Never," he said, and without +another word turned and walked away. + +In the morning Colonel Capell came from the base camp in one of the +planes that was to carry Smith-Oldwick and the girl to the east. +Tarzan was standing some distance away as the ship landed and +the officer descended to the ground. He saw the colonel greet his +junior in command of the advance detachment, and then he saw him +turn toward Bertha Kircher who was standing a few paces behind the +captain. Tarzan wondered how the German spy felt in this situation, +especially when she must know that there was one there who knew her +real status. He saw Colonel Capell walk toward her with outstretched +hands and smiling face and, although he could not hear the words of +his greeting, he saw that it was friendly and cordial to a degree. + +Tarzan turned away scowling, and if any had been close by they +might have heard a low growl rumble from his chest. He knew that +his country was at war with Germany and that not only his duty to +the land of his fathers, but also his personal grievance against +the enemy people and his hatred of them, demanded that he expose +the girl's perfidy, and yet he hesitated, and because he hesitated +he growled--not at the German spy but at himself for his weakness. + +He did not see her again before she entered a plane and was borne +away toward the east. He bid farewell to Smith-Oldwick and received +again the oft-repeated thanks of the young Englishman. And then +he saw him too borne aloft in the high circling plane and watched +until the ship became a speck far above the eastern horizon to +disappear at last high in air. + +The Tommies, their packs and accouterments slung, were waiting the +summons to continue their return march. Colonel Capell had, through +a desire to personally observe the stretch of country between the +camp of the advance detachment and the base, decided to march back +his troops. Now that all was in readiness for departure he turned to +Tarzan. "I wish you would come back with us, Greystoke," he said, +"and if my appeal carries no inducement possibly that of Smith-Oldwick +'and the young lady who just left us may. They asked me to urge +you to return to civilization." + +"No;" said Tarzan, "I shall go my own way. Miss Kircher and +Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick were only prompted by a sense of gratitude +in considering my welfare." + +"Miss Kircher?" exclaimed Capell and then he laughed, "You know +her then as Bertha Kircher, the German spy?" + +Tarzan looked at the other a moment in silence. It was beyond him +to conceive that a British officer should thus laconically speak +of an enemy spy whom he had had within his power and permitted to +escape. "Yes," he replied, "I knew that she was Bertha Kircher, +the German spy?" + +"Is that all you knew?" asked Capell. + +"That is all," said the ape-man. + +"She is the Honorable Patricia Canby," said Capell, "one of the +most valuable members of the British Intelligence Service attached +to the East African forces. Her father and I served in India together +and I have known her ever since she was born. + +"Why, here's a packet of papers she took from a German officer and +has been carrying it through all her vicissitudes-single-minded +in the performance of her duty. Look! I haven't yet had time to +examine them but as you see here is a military sketch map, a bundle +of reports, and the diary of one Hauptmann Fritz Schneider." + +"The diary of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider!" repeated Tarzan in a +constrained voice. "May I see it, Capell? He is the man who murdered +Lady Greystoke." + +The Englishman handed the little volume over to the other without +a word. Tarzan ran through the pages quickly looking for a certain +date--the date that the horror had been committed--and when he found +it he read rapidly. Suddenly a gasp of incredulity burst from his +lips. Capell looked at him questioningly. + +"God!" exclaimed the ape-man. "Can this be true? Listen!" and he +read an excerpt from the closely written page: + +"'Played a little joke on the English pig. When he comes home he +will find the burned body of his wife in her boudoir-but he will +only think it is his wife. Had von Goss substitute the body of a +dead Negress and char it after putting Lady Greystoke's rings on +it--Lady G will be of more value to the High Command alive than +dead.'" + +"She lives!" cried Tarzan. + +"Thank God!" exclaimed Capell. "And now?" + +"I will return with you, of course. How terribly I have wronged +Miss Canby, but how could I know? I even told Smith-Oldwick, who +loves her, that she was a German spy. + +"Not only must I return to find my wife but I must right this +wrong." + +"Don't worry about that," said Capell, "she must have convinced him +that she is no enemy spy, for just before they left this morning +he told me she had promised to marry him." + + + + + +Note: I have made the following changes to the text: +PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO + 25 10 noislessly noiselessly + 40 34 hole bole + 41 45 later latter + 53 43 but "but + 66 19 half-smiled half-smile + 69 45 to many too many + 75 16 fine find + 81 3 forth fourth + 86 14 hoplessly hopelessly + 86 42 interferred interfered + 93 15 born borne + 101 40 Englishman Englishmen + 108 16 divertisements divertissements + 110 29 asid said + 127 14 apppreciate appreciate + 128 45 fuseluge fuselage + 138 25 as the at the + 142 34 girls' girl's + 146 44 sourroundings, surroundings, + 148 30 spirit on spirit of + 149 33 upon upon. + 153 3 immediately immediate + 153 39 nothwithstanding notwithstanding + 159 43 "The The + 163 45 known know + 171 8 one the on the + 172 8 sandled sandaled + 175 2 junlgle jungle + 181 46 swifty swiftly + 189 23 not, not. + 198 45 "Come," Come," + 219 1 still sill + 225 21 sigh or sigh of + 227 20 occasionaly occasionally + 228 5 gazing grazing + 234 24 prisoners. prisoners. + 237 11 qiuckly quickly + 237 16 opproached approached + 243 16 is his in his + 244 32 second seconds +I have also omitted the page-wide line beneath each chapter +heading. + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Tarzan the Untamed +by Edgar Rice Burroughs + diff --git a/old/old/tarz711.zip b/old/old/tarz711.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..21766b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/tarz711.zip diff --git a/old/old/tarz711h.htm b/old/old/tarz711h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0995acd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/tarz711h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12099 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Tarzan the Untamed
+by Edgar Rice Burroughs
+(#7 in The Tarzan Tales by Edgar Rice Burroughs)
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+Title: Tarzan the Untamed
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+Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
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+Release Date: August, 1998 [Etext #1401]
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Tarzan the Untamed
+by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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+
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+Created by Judith Boss, Omaha, NE.
+</pre>
+
+<div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h1>Tarzan the Untamed</h1>
+<br /><br />
+<div class="center">By</div>
+<br /><br />
+<h2>Edgar Rice Burroughs</h2>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+
+
+<div style="font-size: 90%; margin-bottom: 0; padding-left: 2em;">CHAPTER</div>
+<ol style="margin-top: 0; padding-left: 3em;">
+<li><a href="#chapteri">Murder and Pillage</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterii">The Lion's Cave</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapteriii">In the German Lines</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapteriv">When the Lion Fed</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterv">The Golden Locket</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chaptervi">Vengeance and Mercy</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chaptervii">When Blood Told</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterviii">Tarzan and the Great Apes</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterix">Dropped from the Sky</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterx">In the Hands of Savages</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterxi">Finding the Airplane</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterxii">The Black Flier</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterxiii">Usanga's Reward</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterxiv">The Black Lion</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterxv">Mysterious Footprints</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterxvi">The Night Attack</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterxvii">The Walled City</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterxviii">Among the Maniacs</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterxix">The Queen's Story</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterxx">Came Tarzan</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterxxi">In the Alcove</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterxxii">Out of the Niche</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterxxiii">The Flight from Xuja</a></li>
+<li><a href="#chapterxxiv">The Tommies</a></li>
+</ol>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapteri" id="chapteri">Murder and Pillage</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Hauptmann Fritz Schneider trudged wearily through the somber aisles
+of the dark forest. Sweat rolled down his bullet head and stood
+upon his heavy jowls and bull neck. His lieutenant marched beside
+him while Underlieutenant von Goss brought up the rear, following
+with a handful of askaris the tired and all but exhausted porters
+whom the black soldiers, following the example of their white officer,
+encouraged with the sharp points of bayonets and the metal-shod
+butts of rifles.</p>
+
+<p>There were no porters within reach of Hauptmann Schneider so he
+vented his Prussian spleen upon the askaris nearest at hand, yet
+with greater circumspection since these men bore loaded rifles—and
+the three white men were alone with them in the heart of Africa.</p>
+
+<p>Ahead of the hauptmann marched half his company, behind him the
+other half—thus were the dangers of the savage jungle minimized
+for the German captain. At the forefront of the column staggered
+two naked savages fastened to each other by a neck chain. These
+were the native guides impressed into the service of Kultur and upon
+their poor, bruised bodies Kultur's brand was revealed in divers
+cruel wounds and bruises.</p>
+
+<p>Thus even in darkest Africa was the light of German civilization
+commencing to reflect itself upon the undeserving natives just as
+at the same period, the fall of 1914, it was shedding its glorious
+effulgence upon benighted Belgium.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that the guides had led the party astray; but this is
+the way of most African guides. Nor did it matter that ignorance
+rather than evil intent had been the cause of their failure. It
+was enough for Hauptmann Fritz Schneider to know that he was lost
+in the African wilderness and that he had at hand human beings less
+powerful than he who could be made to suffer by torture. That he
+did not kill them outright was partially due to a faint hope that
+they might eventually prove the means of extricating him from his
+difficulties and partially that so long as they lived they might
+still be made to suffer.</p>
+
+<p>The poor creatures, hoping that chance might lead them at last
+upon the right trail, insisted that they knew the way and so led
+on through a dismal forest along a winding game trail trodden deep
+by the feet of countless generations of the savage denizens of the
+jungle.</p>
+
+<p>Here Tantor, the elephant, took his long way from dust wallow to
+water. Here Buto, the rhinoceros, blundered blindly in his solitary
+majesty, while by night the great cats paced silently upon their
+padded feet beneath the dense canopy of overreaching trees toward
+the broad plain beyond, where they found their best hunting.</p>
+
+<p>It was at the edge of this plain which came suddenly and unexpectedly
+before the eyes of the guides that their sad hearts beat with
+renewed hope. Here the hauptmann drew a deep sigh of relief, for
+after days of hopeless wandering through almost impenetrable jungle
+the broad vista of waving grasses dotted here and there with open
+park like woods and in the far distance the winding line of green
+shrubbery that denoted a river appeared to the European a veritable
+heaven.</p>
+
+<p>The Hun smiled in his relief, passed a cheery word with his lieutenant,
+and then scanned the broad plain with his field glasses. Back and
+forth they swept across the rolling land until at last they came
+to rest upon a point near the center of the landscape and close to
+the green-fringed contours of the river.</p>
+
+<p>"We are in luck," said Schneider to his companions. "Do you see
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>The lieutenant, who was also gazing through his own glasses,
+finally brought them to rest upon the same spot that had held the
+attention of his superior.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said, "an English farm. It must be Greystoke's, for there
+is none other in this part of British East Africa. God is with us,
+Herr Captain."</p>
+
+<p>"We have come upon the English schweinhund long before he can have
+learned that his country is at war with ours," replied Schneider.
+"Let him be the first to feel the iron hand of Germany."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us hope that he is at home," said the lieutenant, "that we
+may take him with us when we report to Kraut at Nairobi. It will
+go well indeed with Herr Hauptmann Fritz Schneider if he brings in
+the famous Tarzan of the Apes as a prisoner of war."</p>
+
+<p>Schneider smiled and puffed out his chest. "You are right, my
+friend," he said, "it will go well with both of us; but I shall
+have to travel far to catch General Kraut before he reaches Mombasa.
+These English pigs with their contemptible army will make good time
+to the Indian Ocean."</p>
+
+<p>It was in a better frame of mind that the small force set out across
+the open country toward the trim and well-kept farm buildings of
+John Clayton, Lord Greystoke; but disappointment was to be their
+lot since neither Tarzan of the Apes nor his son was at home.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Jane, ignorant of the fact that a state of war existed between
+Great Britain and Germany, welcomed the officers most hospitably
+and gave orders through her trusted Waziri to prepare a feast for
+the black soldiers of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Far to the east, Tarzan of the Apes was traveling rapidly from
+Nairobi toward the farm. At Nairobi he had received news of the
+World War that had already started, and, anticipating an immediate
+invasion of British East Africa by the Germans, was hurrying homeward
+to fetch his wife to a place of greater security. With him were a
+score of his ebon warriors, but far too slow for the ape-man was
+the progress of these trained and hardened woodsmen.</p>
+
+<p>When necessity demanded, Tarzan of the Apes sloughed the thin
+veneer of his civilization and with it the hampering apparel that
+was its badge. In a moment the polished English gentleman reverted
+to the naked ape man.</p>
+
+<p>His mate was in danger. For the time, that single thought dominated.
+He did not think of her as Lady Jane Greystoke, but rather as the
+she he had won by the might of his steel thews, and that he must
+hold and protect by virtue of the same offensive armament.</p>
+
+<p>It was no member of the House of Lords who swung swiftly and grimly
+through the tangled forest or trod with untiring muscles the wide
+stretches of open plain—it was a great he ape filled with a single
+purpose that excluded all thoughts of fatigue or danger.</p>
+
+<p>Little Manu, the monkey, scolding and chattering in the upper
+terraces of the forest, saw him pass. Long had it been since he had
+thus beheld the great Tarmangani naked and alone hurtling through
+the jungle. Bearded and gray was Manu, the monkey, and to his dim
+old eyes came the fire of recollection of those days when Tarzan
+of the Apes had ruled supreme, Lord of the Jungle, over all the
+myriad life that trod the matted vegetation between the boles of
+the great trees, or flew or swung or climbed in the leafy fastness
+upward to the very apex of the loftiest terraces.</p>
+
+<p>And Numa, the lion, lying up for the day close beside last night's
+successful kill, blinked his yellow-green eyes and twitched his
+tawny tail as he caught the scent spoor of his ancient enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Nor was Tarzan senseless to the presence of Numa or Manu or any of
+the many jungle beasts he passed in his rapid flight towards the
+west. No particle had his shallow probing of English society dulled
+his marvelous sense faculties. His nose had picked out the presence
+of Numa, the lion, even before the majestic king of beasts was
+aware of his passing.</p>
+
+<p>He had heard noisy little Manu, and even the soft rustling of the
+parting shrubbery where Sheeta passed before either of these alert
+animals sensed his presence.</p>
+
+<p>But however keen the senses of the ape-man, however swift his
+progress through the wild country of his adoption, however mighty
+the muscles that bore him, he was still mortal. Time and space
+placed their inexorable limits upon him; nor was there another who
+realized this truth more keenly than Tarzan. He chafed and fretted
+that he could not travel with the swiftness of thought and that the
+long tedious miles stretching far ahead of him must require hours
+and hours of tireless effort upon his part before he would swing
+at last from the final bough of the fringing forest into the open
+plain and in sight of his goal.</p>
+
+<p>Days it took, even though he lay up at night for but a few hours
+and left to chance the finding of meat directly on his trail. If
+Wappi, the antelope, or Horta, the boar, chanced in his way when
+he was hungry, he ate, pausing but long enough to make the kill
+and cut himself a steak.</p>
+
+<p>Then at last the long journey drew to its close and he was passing
+through the last stretch of heavy forest that bounded his estate
+upon the east, and then this was traversed and he stood upon the
+plain's edge looking out across his broad lands towards his home.</p>
+
+<p>At the first glance his eyes narrowed and his muscles tensed. Even
+at that distance he could see that something was amiss. A thin
+spiral of smoke arose at the right of the bungalow where the barns
+had stood, but there were no barns there now, and from the bungalow
+chimney from which smoke should have arisen, there arose nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Once again Tarzan of the Apes was speeding onward, this time even
+more swiftly than before, for he was goaded now by a nameless fear,
+more product of intuition than of reason. Even as the beasts,
+Tarzan of the Apes seemed to possess a sixth sense. Long before he
+reached the bungalow, he had almost pictured the scene that finally
+broke upon his view.</p>
+
+<p>Silent and deserted was the vine-covered cottage. Smoldering embers
+marked the site of his great barns. Gone were the thatched huts of
+his sturdy retainers, empty the fields, the pastures, and corrals.
+Here and there vultures rose and circled above the carcasses of
+men and beasts.</p>
+
+<p>It was with a feeling as nearly akin to terror as he ever had
+experienced that the ape-man finally forced himself to enter his
+home. The first sight that met his eyes set the red haze of hate
+and bloodlust across his vision, for there, crucified against the
+wall of the living-room, was Wasimbu, giant son of the faithful
+Muviro and for over a year the personal bodyguard of Lady Jane.</p>
+
+<p>The overturned and shattered furniture of the room, the brown pools
+of dried blood upon the floor, and prints of bloody hands on walls
+and woodwork evidenced something of the frightfulness of the battle
+that had been waged within the narrow confines of the apartment.
+Across the baby grand piano lay the corpse of another black warrior,
+while before the door of Lady Jane's boudoir were the dead bodies
+of three more of the faithful Greystoke servants.</p>
+
+<p>The door of this room was closed. With drooping shoulders and dull
+eyes Tarzan stood gazing dumbly at the insensate panel which hid
+from him what horrid secret he dared not even guess.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly, with leaden feet, he moved toward the door. Gropingly his
+hand reached for the knob. Thus he stood for another long minute,
+and then with a sudden gesture he straightened his giant frame,
+threw back his mighty shoulders and, with fearless head held high,
+swung back the door and stepped across the threshold into the
+room which held for him the dearest memories and associations of
+his life. No change of expression crossed his grim and stern-set
+features as he strode across the room and stood beside the little
+couch and the inanimate form which lay face downward upon it; the
+still, silent thing that had pulsed with life and youth and love.</p>
+
+<p>No tear dimmed the eye of the ape-man, but the God who made him alone
+could know the thoughts that passed through that still half-savage
+brain. For a long time he stood there just looking down upon the
+dead body, charred beyond recognition, and then he stooped and lifted
+it in his arms. As he turned the body over and saw how horribly
+death had been meted he plumbed, in that instant, the uttermost
+depths of grief and horror and hatred.</p>
+
+<p>Nor did he require the evidence of the broken German rifle in the
+outer room, or the torn and blood-stained service cap upon the
+floor, to tell him who had been the perpetrators of this horrid
+and useless crime.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment he had hoped against hope that the blackened corpse was
+not that of his mate, but when his eyes discovered and recognized
+the rings upon her fingers the last faint ray of hope forsook him.</p>
+
+<p>In silence, in love, and in reverence he buried, in the little
+rose garden that had been Jane Clayton's pride and love, the poor,
+charred form and beside it the great black warriors who had given
+their lives so futilely in their mistress' protection.</p>
+
+<p>At one side of the house Tarzan found other newly made graves
+and in these he sought final evidence of the identity of the real
+perpetrators of the atrocities that had been committed there in
+his absence.</p>
+
+<p>Here he disinterred the bodies of a dozen German askaris and found
+upon their uniforms the insignia of the company and regiment to
+which they had belonged. This was enough for the ape-man. White
+officers had commanded these men, nor would it be a difficult task
+to discover who they were.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to the rose garden, he stood among the Hun trampled
+blooms and bushes above the grave of his dead-with bowed head he
+stood there in a last mute farewell. As the sun sank slowly behind
+the towering forests of the west, he turned slowly away upon the
+still-distinct trail of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and his blood-stained
+company.</p>
+
+<p>His was the suffering of the dumb brute—mute; but though voiceless
+no less poignant. At first his vast sorrow numbed his other faculties
+of thought—his brain was overwhelmed by the calamity to such an
+extent that it reacted to but a single objective suggestion: She is
+dead! She is dead! She is dead! Again and again this phrase beat
+monotonously upon his brain—a dull, throbbing pain, yet mechanically
+his feet followed the trail of her slayer while, subconsciously,
+his every sense was upon the alert for the ever-present perils of
+the jungle.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually the labor of his great grief brought forth another
+emotion so real, so tangible, that it seemed a companion walking
+at his side. It was Hate—and it brought to him a measure of solace
+and of comfort, for it was a sublime hate that ennobled him as
+it has ennobled countless thousands since-hatred for Germany and
+Germans. It centered about the slayer of his mate, of course; but
+it included everything German, animate or inanimate. As the thought
+took firm hold upon him he paused and raising his face to Goro, the
+moon, cursed with upraised hand the authors of the hideous crime
+that had been perpetrated in that once peaceful bungalow behind
+him; and he cursed their progenitors, their progeny, and all their
+kind the while he took silent oath to war upon them relentlessly
+until death overtook him.</p>
+
+<p>There followed almost immediately a feeling of content, for, where
+before his future at best seemed but a void, now it was filled
+with possibilities the contemplation of which brought him, if not
+happiness, at least a surcease of absolute grief, for before him
+lay a great work that would occupy his time.</p>
+
+<p>Stripped not only of all the outward symbols of civilization, Tarzan
+had also reverted morally and mentally to the status of the savage
+beast he had been reared. Never had his civilization been more than
+a veneer put on for the sake of her he loved because he thought it
+made her happier to see him thus. In reality he had always held the
+outward evidences of so-called culture in deep contempt. Civilization
+meant to Tarzan of the Apes a curtailment of freedom in all its
+aspects—freedom of action, freedom of thought, freedom of love,
+freedom of hate. Clothes he abhorred—uncomfortable, hideous,
+confining things that reminded him somehow of bonds securing him to
+the life he had seen the poor creatures of London and Paris living.
+Clothes were the emblems of that hypocrisy for which civilization
+stood—a pretense that the wearers were ashamed of what the clothes
+covered, of the human form made in the semblance of God. Tarzan
+knew how silly and pathetic the lower orders of animals appeared in
+the clothing of civilization, for he had seen several poor creatures
+thus appareled in various traveling shows in Europe, and he knew,
+too, how silly and pathetic man appears in them since the only men
+he had seen in the first twenty years of his life had been, like
+himself, naked savages. The ape-man had a keen admiration for a
+well-muscled, well-proportioned body, whether lion, or antelope,
+or man, and it had ever been beyond him to understand how clothes
+could be considered more beautiful than a clear, firm, healthy
+skin, or coat and trousers more graceful than the gentle curves of
+rounded muscles playing beneath a flexible hide.</p>
+
+<p>In civilization Tarzan had found greed and selfishness and cruelty
+far beyond that which he had known in his familiar, savage jungle,
+and though civilization had given him his mate and several friends
+whom he loved and admired, he never had come to accept it as you
+and I who have known little or nothing else; so it was with a sense
+of relief that he now definitely abandoned it and all that it stood
+for, and went forth into the jungle once again stripped to his loin
+cloth and weapons.</p>
+
+<p>The hunting knife of his father hung at his left hip, his bow and
+his quiver of arrows were slung across his shoulders, while around
+his chest over one shoulder and beneath the opposite arm was coiled
+the long grass rope without which Tarzan would have felt quite as
+naked as would you should you be suddenly thrust upon a busy highway
+clad only in a union suit. A heavy war spear which he sometimes
+carried in one hand and again slung by a thong about his neck so
+that it hung down his back completed his armament and his apparel.
+The diamond-studded locket with the pictures of his mother and
+father that he had worn always until he had given it as a token
+of his highest devotion to Jane Clayton before their marriage was
+missing. She always had worn it since, but it had not been upon
+her body when he found her slain in her boudoir, so that now his
+quest for vengeance included also a quest for the stolen trinket.</p>
+
+<p>Toward midnight Tarzan commenced to feel the physical strain of
+his long hours of travel and to realize that even muscles such as
+his had their limitations. His pursuit of the murderers had not
+been characterized by excessive speed; but rather more in keeping
+with his mental attitude, which was marked by a dogged determination
+to require from the Germans more than an eye for an eye and more
+than a tooth for a tooth, the element of time entering but slightly
+into his calculations.</p>
+
+<p>Inwardly as well as outwardly Tarzan had reverted to beast and in
+the lives of beasts, time, as a measurable aspect of duration, has
+no meaning. The beast is actively interested only in NOW, and as
+it is always NOW and always shall be, there is an eternity of time
+for the accomplishment of objects. The ape-man, naturally, had a
+slightly more comprehensive realization of the limitations of time;
+but, like the beasts, he moved with majestic deliberation when no
+emergency prompted him to swift action.</p>
+
+<p>Having dedicated his life to vengeance, vengeance became his natural
+state and, therefore, no emergency, so he took his time in pursuit.
+That he had not rested earlier was due to the fact that he had
+felt no fatigue, his mind being occupied by thoughts of sorrow and
+revenge; but now he realized that he was tired, and so he sought
+a jungle giant that had harbored him upon more than a single other
+jungle night.</p>
+
+<p>Dark clouds moving swiftly across the heavens now and again eclipsed
+the bright face of Goro, the moon, and forewarned the ape-man
+of impending storm. In the depth of the jungle the cloud shadows
+produced a thick blackness that might almost be felt—a blackness
+that to you and me might have proven terrifying with its accompaniment
+of rustling leaves and cracking twigs, and its even more suggestive
+intervals of utter silence in which the crudest of imaginations
+might have conjured crouching beasts of prey tensed for the fatal
+charge; but through it Tarzan passed unconcerned, yet always alert.
+Now he swung lightly to the lower terraces of the overarching
+trees when some subtle sense warned him that Numa lay upon a kill
+directly in his path, or again he sprang lightly to one side as
+Buto, the rhinoceros, lumbered toward him along the narrow, deep-worn
+trail, for the ape-man, ready to fight upon necessity's slightest
+pretext, avoided unnecessary quarrels.</p>
+
+<p>When he swung himself at last into the tree he sought, the moon was
+obscured by a heavy cloud, and the tree tops were waving wildly in
+a steadily increasing wind whose soughing drowned the lesser noises
+of the jungle. Upward went Tarzan toward a sturdy crotch across which
+he long since had laid and secured a little platform of branches.
+It was very dark now, darker even than it had been before, for
+almost the entire sky was overcast by thick, black clouds.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the man-beast paused, his sensitive nostrils dilating as
+he sniffed the air about him. Then, with the swiftness and agility of
+a cat, he leaped far outward upon a swaying branch, sprang upward
+through the darkness, caught another, swung himself upon it and
+then to one still higher. What could have so suddenly transformed
+his matter-of-fact ascent of the giant bole to the swift and wary
+action of his detour among the branches? You or I could have seen
+nothing-not even the little platform that an instant before had
+been just above him and which now was immediately below—but as he
+swung above it we should have heard an ominous growl; and then as
+the moon was momentarily uncovered, we should have seen both the
+platform, dimly, and a dark mass that lay stretched upon it—a dark
+mass that presently, as our eyes became accustomed to the lesser
+darkness, would take the form of Sheeta, the panther.</p>
+
+<p>In answer to the cat's growl, a low and equally ferocious growl
+rumbled upward from the ape-man's deep chest—a growl of warning
+that told the panther he was trespassing upon the other's lair; but
+Sheeta was in no mood to be dispossessed. With upturned, snarling
+face he glared at the brown-skinned Tarmangani above him. Very slowly
+the ape-man moved inward along the branch until he was directly
+above the panther. In the man's hand was the hunting knife of his
+long-dead father—the weapon that had first given him his real
+ascendancy over the beasts of the jungle; but he hoped not to be
+forced to use it, knowing as he did that more jungle battles were
+settled by hideous growling than by actual combat, the law of bluff
+holding quite as good in the jungle as elsewhere—only in matters
+of love and food did the great beasts ordinarily close with fangs
+and talons.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan braced himself against the bole of the tree and leaned closer
+toward Sheeta.</p>
+
+<p>"Stealer of balus!" he cried. The panther rose to a sitting position,
+his bared fangs but a few feet from the ape-man's taunting face.
+Tarzan growled hideously and struck at the cat's face with his
+knife. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he roared. "This is Tarzan's
+lair. Go, or I will kill you."</p>
+
+<p>Though he spoke in the language of the great apes of the jungle,
+it is doubtful that Sheeta understood the words, though he knew
+well enough that the hairless ape wished to frighten him from his
+well-chosen station past which edible creatures might be expected
+to wander sometime during the watches of the night.</p>
+
+<p>Like lightning the cat reared and struck a vicious blow at his
+tormentor with great, bared talons that might well have torn away
+the ape-man's face had the blow landed; but it did not land—Tarzan
+was even quicker than Sheeta. As the panther came to all fours
+again upon the little platform, Tarzan un-slung his heavy spear and
+prodded at the snarling face, and as Sheeta warded off the blows,
+the two continued their horrid duet of blood-curdling roars and
+growls.</p>
+
+<p>Goaded to frenzy the cat presently determined to come up after this
+disturber of his peace; but when he essayed to leap to the branch
+that held Tarzan he found the sharp spear point always in his
+face, and each time as he dropped back he was prodded viciously in
+some tender part; but at length, rage having conquered his better
+judgment, he leaped up the rough bole to the very branch upon which
+Tarzan stood. Now the two faced each other upon even footing and
+Sheeta saw a quick revenge and a supper all in one. The hairless
+ape-thing with the tiny fangs and the puny talons would be helpless
+before him.</p>
+
+<p>The heavy limb bent beneath the weight of the two beasts as Sheeta
+crept cautiously out upon it and Tarzan backed slowly away, growling.
+The wind had risen to the proportions of a gale so that even the
+greatest giants of the forest swayed, groaning, to its force and
+the branch upon which the two faced each other rose and fell like
+the deck of a storm-tossed ship. Goro was now entirely obscured,
+but vivid flashes of lightning lit up the jungle at brief intervals,
+revealing the grim tableau of primitive passion upon the swaying
+limb.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan backed away, drawing Sheeta farther from the stem of the
+tree and out upon the tapering branch, where his footing became
+ever more precarious. The cat, infuriated by the pain of spear
+wounds, was overstepping the bounds of caution. Already he had
+reached a point where he could do little more than maintain a secure
+footing, and it was this moment that Tarzan chose to charge. With
+a roar that mingled with the booming thunder from above he leaped
+toward the panther, who could only claw futilely with one huge paw
+while he clung to the branch with the other; but the ape-man did
+not come within that parabola of destruction. Instead he leaped
+above menacing claws and snapping fangs, turning in mid-air and
+alighting upon Sheeta's back, and at the instant of impact his knife
+struck deep into the tawny side. Then Sheeta, impelled by pain and
+hate and rage and the first law of Nature, went mad. Screaming
+and clawing he attempted to turn upon the ape-thing clinging to
+his back. For an instant he toppled upon the now wildly gyrating
+limb, clutched frantically to save himself, and then plunged downward
+into the darkness with Tarzan still clinging to him. Crashing
+through splintering branches the two fell. Not for an instant did
+the ape-man consider relinquishing his death-hold upon his adversary.
+He had entered the lists in mortal combat and true to the primitive
+instincts of the wild—the unwritten law of the jungle—one or both
+must die before the battle ended.</p>
+
+<p>Sheeta, catlike, alighted upon four out-sprawled feet, the weight
+of the ape-man crushing him to earth, the long knife again imbedded
+in his side. Once the panther struggled to rise; but only to sink
+to earth again. Tarzan felt the giant muscles relax beneath him.
+Sheeta was dead. Rising, the ape-man placed a foot upon the body of
+his vanquished foe, raised his face toward the thundering heavens,
+and as the lightning flashed and the torrential rain broke upon
+him, screamed forth the wild victory cry of the bull ape.</p>
+
+<p>Having accomplished his aim and driven the enemy from his lair,
+Tarzan gathered an armful of large fronds and climbed to his dripping
+couch. Laying a few of the fronds upon the poles he lay down and
+covered himself against the rain with the others, and despite the
+wailing of the wind and the crashing of the thunder, immediately
+fell asleep.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterii" id="chapterii">The Lion's Cave</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>The rain lasted for twenty-four hours and much of the time it fell
+in torrents so that when it ceased, the trail he had been following
+was entirely obliterated. Cold and uncomfortable—it was a savage
+Tarzan who threaded the mazes of the soggy jungle. Manu, the
+monkey, shivering and chattering in the dank trees, scolded and fled
+at his approach. Even the panthers and the lions let the growling
+Tarmangani pass unmolested.</p>
+
+<p>When the sun shone again upon the second day and a wide, open plain
+let the full heat of Kudu flood the chilled, brown body, Tarzan's
+spirits rose; but it was still a sullen, surly brute that moved
+steadily onward into the south where he hoped again to pick up the
+trail of the Germans. He was now in German East Africa and it was
+his intention to skirt the mountains west of Kilimanjaro, whose
+rugged peaks he was quite willing to give a wide berth, and then
+swing eastward along the south side of the range to the railway that
+led to Tanga, for his experience among men suggested that it was
+toward this railroad that German troops would be likely to converge.</p>
+
+<p>Two days later, from the southern slopes of Kilimanjaro, he heard
+the boom of cannon far away to the east. The afternoon had been
+dull and cloudy and now as he was passing through a narrow gorge a
+few great drops of rain began to splatter upon his naked shoulders.
+Tarzan shook his head and growled his disapproval; then he cast his
+eyes about for shelter, for he had had quite enough of the cold and
+drenching. He wanted to hasten on in the direction of the booming
+noise, for he knew that there would be Germans fighting against the
+English. For an instant his bosom swelled with pride at the thought
+that he was English and then he shook his head again viciously.
+"No!" he muttered, "Tarzan of the Apes is not English, for the
+English are men and Tarzan is Tarmangani;" but he could not hide
+even from his sorrow or from his sullen hatred of mankind in general
+that his heart warmed at the thought it was Englishmen who fought
+the Germans. His regret was that the English were human and not
+great white apes as he again considered himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Tomorrow," he thought, "I will travel that way and find the Germans,"
+and then he set himself to the immediate task of discovering some
+shelter from the storm. Presently he espied the low and narrow
+entrance to what appeared to be a cave at the base of the cliffs
+which formed the northern side of the gorge. With drawn knife he
+approached the spot warily, for he knew that if it were a cave it
+was doubtless the lair of some other beast. Before the entrance lay
+many large fragments of rock of different sizes, similar to others
+scattered along the entire base of the cliff, and it was in Tarzan's
+mind that if he found the cave unoccupied he would barricade the
+door and insure himself a quiet and peaceful night's repose within
+the sheltered interior. Let the storm rage without-Tarzan would
+remain within until it ceased, comfortable and dry. A tiny rivulet
+of cold water trickled outward from the opening.</p>
+
+<p>Close to the cave Tarzan kneeled and sniffed the ground. A low
+growl escaped him and his upper lip curved to expose his fighting
+fangs. "Numa!" he muttered; but he did not stop. Numa might not be
+at home—he would investigate. The entrance was so low that the
+ape-man was compelled to drop to all fours before he could poke
+his head within the aperture; but first he looked, listened, and
+sniffed in each direction at his rear—he would not be taken by
+surprise from that quarter.</p>
+
+<p>His first glance within the cave revealed a narrow tunnel with
+daylight at its farther end. The interior of the tunnel was not so
+dark but that the ape-man could readily see that it was untenanted
+at present. Advancing cautiously he crawled toward the opposite
+end imbued with a full realization of what it would mean if Numa
+should suddenly enter the tunnel in front of him; but Numa did not
+appear and the ape-man emerged at length into the open and stood
+erect, finding himself in a rocky cleft whose precipitous walls
+rose almost sheer on every hand, the tunnel from the gorge passing
+through the cliff and forming a passageway from the outer world
+into a large pocket or gulch entirely enclosed by steep walls of
+rock. Except for the small passageway from the gorge, there was no
+other entrance to the gulch which was some hundred feet in length
+and about fifty in width and appeared to have been worn from the
+rocky cliff by the falling of water during long ages. A tiny stream
+from Kilimanjaro's eternal snow cap still trickled over the edge
+of the rocky wall at the upper end of the gulch, forming a little
+pool at the bottom of the cliff from which a small rivulet wound
+downward to the tunnel through which it passed to the gorge beyond.
+A single great tree flourished near the center of the gulch, while
+tufts of wiry grass were scattered here and there among the rocks
+of the gravelly floor.</p>
+
+<p>The bones of many large animals lay about and among them were
+several human skulls. Tarzan raised his eyebrows. "A man-eater,"
+he murmured, "and from appearances he has held sway here for a long
+time. Tonight Tarzan will take the lair of the man-eater and Numa
+may roar and grumble upon the outside."</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man had advanced well into the gulch as he investigated
+his surroundings and now as he stood near the tree, satisfied that
+the tunnel would prove a dry and quiet retreat for the night, he
+turned to retrace his way to the outer end of the entrance that he
+might block it with boulders against Numa's return, but even with
+the thought there came something to his sensitive ears that froze
+him into statuesque immobility with eyes glued upon the tunnel's
+mouth. A moment later the head of a huge lion framed in a great
+black mane appeared in the opening. The yellow-green eyes glared,
+round and unblinking, straight at the trespassing Tarmangani, a low
+growl rumbled from the deep chest, and lips curled back to expose
+the mighty fangs.</p>
+
+<p>"Brother of Dango!" shouted Tarzan, angered that Numa's return should
+have been so timed as to frustrate his plans for a comfortable
+night's repose. "I am Tarzan of the Apes, Lord of the Jungle.
+Tonight I lair here—go!"</p>
+
+<p>But Numa did not go. Instead he rumbled forth a menacing roar and
+took a few steps in Tarzan's direction. The ape-man picked up a
+rock and hurled it at the snarling face. One can never be sure of
+a lion. This one might turn tail and run at the first intimation
+of attack—Tarzan had bluffed many in his time—but not now. The
+missile struck Numa full upon the snout—a tender part of a cat's
+anatomy—and instead of causing him to flee it transformed him into
+an infuriated engine of wrath and destruction.</p>
+
+<p>Up went his tail, stiff and erect, and with a series of frightful
+roars he bore down upon the Tarmangani at the speed of an express
+train. Not an instant too soon did Tarzan reach the tree and swing
+himself into its branches and there he squatted, hurling insults at
+the king of beasts while Numa paced a circle beneath him, growling
+and roaring in rage.</p>
+
+<p>It was raining now in earnest adding to the ape-man's discomfort
+and disappointment. He was very angry; but as only direct necessity
+had ever led him to close in mortal combat with a lion, knowing
+as he did that he had only luck and agility to pit against the
+frightful odds of muscle, weight, fangs, and talons, he did not now
+even consider descending and engaging in so unequal and useless a
+duel for the mere reward of a little added creature comfort. And
+so he sat perched in the tree while the rain fell steadily and the
+lion padded round and round beneath, casting a baleful eye upward
+after every few steps.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan scanned the precipitous walls for an avenue of escape. They
+would have baffled an ordinary man; but the ape-man, accustomed
+to climbing, saw several places where he might gain a foothold,
+precarious possibly; but enough to give him reasonable assurance
+of escape if Numa would but betake himself to the far end of the
+gulch for a moment. Numa, however, notwithstanding the rain, gave
+no evidence of quitting his post so that at last Tarzan really
+began to consider seriously if it might not be as well to take the
+chance of a battle with him rather than remain longer cold and wet
+and humiliated in the tree.</p>
+
+<p>But even as he turned the matter over in his mind Numa turned
+suddenly and walked majestically toward the tunnel without even a
+backward glance. The instant that he disappeared, Tarzan dropped
+lightly to the ground upon the far side of the tree and was away at
+top speed for the cliff. The lion had no sooner entered the tunnel
+than he backed immediately out again and, pivoting like a flash,
+was off across the gulch in full charge after the flying ape-man;
+but Tarzan's lead was too great—if he could find finger or foothold
+upon the sheer wall he would be safe; but should he slip from the
+wet rocks his doom was already sealed as he would fall directly into
+Numa's clutches where even the Great Tarmangani would be helpless.</p>
+
+<p>With the agility of a cat Tarzan ran up the cliff for thirty feet
+before he paused, and there finding a secure foothold, he stopped
+and looked down upon Numa who was leaping upward in a wild and
+futile attempt to scale the rocky wall to his prey. Fifteen or
+twenty feet from the ground the lion would scramble only to fall
+backward again defeated. Tarzan eyed him for a moment and then
+commenced a slow and cautious ascent toward the summit. Several
+times he had difficulty in finding holds but at last he drew himself
+over the edge, rose, picked up a bit of loose rock, hurled it at
+Numa and strode away.</p>
+
+<p>Finding an easy descent to the gorge, he was about to pursue his
+journey in the direction of the still-booming guns when a sudden
+thought caused him to halt and a half-smile to play about his lips.
+Turning, he trotted quickly back to the outer opening of Numa's
+tunnel. Close beside it he listened for a moment and then rapidly
+began to gather large rocks and pile them within the entrance.
+He had almost closed the aperture when the lion appeared upon the
+inside—a very ferocious and angry lion that pawed and clawed at
+the rocks and uttered mighty roars that caused the earth to tremble;
+but roars did not frighten Tarzan of the Apes. At Kala's shaggy
+breast he had closed his infant eyes in sleep upon countless nights
+in years gone by to the savage chorus of similar roars. Scarcely a
+day or night of his jungle life—and practically all his life had
+been spent in the jungle—had he not heard the roaring of hungry
+lions, or angry lions, or love-sick lions. Such sounds affected
+Tarzan as the tooting of an automobile horn may affect you—if you
+are in front of the automobile it warns you out of the way, if you
+are not in front of it you scarcely notice it. Figuratively Tarzan
+was not in front of the automobile—Numa could not reach him and
+Tarzan knew it, so he continued deliberately to choke the entrance
+until there was no possibility of Numa's getting out again. When
+he was quite through he made a grimace at the hidden lion beyond
+the barrier and resumed his way toward the east. "A man-eater who
+will eat no more men," he soliloquized.</p>
+
+<p>That night Tarzan lay up under an overhanging shelf of rock. The
+next morning he resumed his journey, stopping only long enough to
+make a kill and satisfy his hunger. The other beasts of the wild
+eat and lie up; but Tarzan never let his belly interfere with his
+plans. In this lay one of the greatest differences between the ape-man
+and his fellows of the jungles and forests. The firing ahead rose
+and fell during the day. He had noticed that it was highest at
+dawn and immediately after dusk and that during the night it almost
+ceased. In the middle of the afternoon of the second day he came
+upon troops moving up toward the front. They appeared to be raiding
+parties, for they drove goats and cows along with them and there
+were native porters laden with grain and other foodstuffs. He saw
+that these natives were all secured by neck chains and he also saw
+that the troops were composed of native soldiers in German uniforms.
+The officers were white men. No one saw Tarzan, yet he was here and
+there about and among them for two hours. He inspected the insignia
+upon their uniforms and saw that they were not the same as that
+which he had taken from one of the dead soldiers at the bungalow
+and then he passed on ahead of them, unseen in the dense bush. He
+had come upon Germans and had not killed them; but it was because
+the killing of Germans at large was not yet the prime motive of
+his existence—now it was to discover the individual who slew his
+mate.</p>
+
+<p>After he had accounted for him he would take up the little matter
+of slaying ALL Germans who crossed his path, and he meant that many
+should cross it, for he would hunt them precisely as professional
+hunters hunt the man-eaters.</p>
+
+<p>As he neared the front lines the troops became more numerous. There
+were motor trucks and ox teams and all the impedimenta of a small
+army and always there were wounded men walking or being carried
+toward the rear. He had crossed the railroad some distance back and
+judged that the wounded were being taken to it for transportation
+to a base hospital and possibly as far away as Tanga on the coast.</p>
+
+<p>It was dusk when he reached a large camp hidden in the foothills of
+the Pare Mountains. As he was approaching from the rear he found
+it but lightly guarded and what sentinels there were, were not
+upon the alert, and so it was an easy thing for him to enter after
+darkness had fallen and prowl about listening at the backs of tents,
+searching for some clew to the slayer of his mate.</p>
+
+<p>As he paused at the side of a tent before which sat a number of
+native soldiers he caught a few words spoken in native dialect that
+riveted his attention instantly: "The Waziri fought like devils;
+but we are greater fighters and we killed them all. When we were
+through the captain came and killed the woman. He stayed outside
+and yelled in a very loud voice until all the men were killed.
+Underlieutenant von Goss is braver—he came in and stood beside the
+door shouting at us, also in a very loud voice, and bade us nail
+one of the Waziri who was wounded to the wall, and then he laughed
+loudly because the man suffered. We all laughed. It was very funny."</p>
+
+<p>Like a beast of prey, grim and terrible, Tarzan crouched in the
+shadows beside the tent. What thoughts passed through that savage
+mind? Who may say? No outward sign of passion was revealed by the
+expression of the handsome face; the cold, gray eyes denoted only
+intense watchfulness. Presently the soldier Tarzan had heard first
+rose and with a parting word turned away. He passed within ten
+feet of the ape-man and continued on toward the rear of the camp.
+Tarzan followed and in the shadows of a clump of bushes overtook
+his quarry. There was no sound as the man beast sprang upon the
+back of his prey and bore it to the ground for steel fingers closed
+simultaneously upon the soldier's throat, effectually stifling
+any outcry. By the neck Tarzan dragged his victim well into the
+concealment of the bushes.</p>
+
+<p>"Make no sound," he cautioned in the man's own tribal dialect as
+he released his hold upon the other's throat.</p>
+
+<p>The fellow gasped for breath, rolling frightened eyes upward to
+see what manner of creature it might be in whose power he was. In
+the darkness he saw only a naked brown body bending above him; but
+he still remembered the terrific strength of the mighty muscles
+that had closed upon his wind and dragged him into the bushes as
+though he had been but a little child. If any thought of resistance
+had crossed his mind he must have discarded it at once, as he made
+no move to escape.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the name of the officer who killed the woman at the bungalow
+where you fought with the Waziri?" asked Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"Hauptmann Schneider," replied the black when he could again command
+his voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he?" demanded the ape-man.</p>
+
+<p>"He is here. It may be that he is at headquarters. Many of the
+officers go there in the evening to receive orders."</p>
+
+<p>"Lead me there," commanded Tarzan, "and if I am discovered I will
+kill you immediately. Get up!"</p>
+
+<p>The black rose and led the way by a roundabout route back through
+the camp. Several times they were forced to hide while soldiers
+passed; but at last they reached a great pile of baled hay from about
+the corner of which the black pointed out a two-story building in
+the distance.</p>
+
+<p>"Headquarters," he said. "You can go no farther unseen. There are
+many soldiers about."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan realized that he could not proceed farther in company with
+the black. He turned and looked at the fellow for a moment as though
+pondering what disposition to make of him.</p>
+
+<p>"You helped to crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri," he accused in a low
+yet none the less terrible tone.</p>
+
+<p>The black trembled, his knees giving beneath him. "He ordered us
+to do it," he plead.</p>
+
+<p>"Who ordered it done?" demanded Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"Underlieutenant von Goss," replied the soldier. "He, too, is here."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall find him," returned Tarzan, grimly. "You helped to crucify
+Wasimbu, the Waziri, and, while he suffered, you laughed."</p>
+
+<p>The fellow reeled. It was as though in the accusation he read also
+his death sentence. With no other word Tarzan seized the man again
+by the neck. As before there was no outcry. The giant muscles tensed.
+The arms swung quickly upward and with them the body of the black
+soldier who had helped to crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri, described a
+circle in the air—once, twice, three times, and then it was flung
+aside and the ape-man turned in the direction of General Kraut's
+headquarters.</p>
+
+<p>A single sentinel in the rear of the building barred the way.
+Tarzan crawled, belly to the ground, toward him, taking advantage
+of cover as only the jungle-bred beast of prey can do. When the
+sentinel's eyes were toward him, Tarzan hugged the ground, motionless
+as stone; when they were turned away, he moved swiftly forward.
+Presently he was within charging distance. He waited until the man
+had turned his back once more and then he rose and sped noiselessly
+down upon him. Again there was no sound as he carried the dead
+body with him toward the building.</p>
+
+<p>The lower floor was lighted, the upper dark. Through the windows
+Tarzan saw a large front room and a smaller room in rear of it.
+In the former were many officers. Some moved about talking to one
+another, others sat at field tables writing. The windows were open
+and Tarzan could hear much of the conversation; but nothing that
+interested him. It was mostly about the German successes in Africa
+and conjectures as to when the German army in Europe would reach
+Paris. Some said the Kaiser was doubtlessly already there, and
+there was a great deal of damning Belgium.</p>
+
+<p>In the smaller back room a large, red-faced man sat behind a table.
+Some other officers were also sitting a little in rear of him,
+while two stood at attention before the general, who was questioning
+them. As he talked, the general toyed with an oil lamp that stood
+upon the table before him. Presently there came a knock upon the
+door and an aide entered the room. He saluted and reported: "Fraulein
+Kircher has arrived, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Bid her enter," commanded the general, and then nodded to the two
+officers before him in sign of dismissal.</p>
+
+<p>The Fraulein, entering, passed them at the door. The officers in
+the little room rose and saluted, the Fraulein acknowledging the
+courtesy with a bow and a slight smile. She was a very pretty
+girl. Even the rough, soiled riding habit and the caked dust upon
+her face could not conceal the fact, and she was young. She could
+not have been over nineteen.</p>
+
+<p>She advanced to the table behind which the general stood and, taking
+a folded paper from an inside pocket of her coat, handed it to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Be seated, Fraulein," he said, and another officer brought her
+a chair. No one spoke while the general read the contents of the
+paper.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan appraised the various people in the room. He wondered if one
+might not be Hauptmann Schneider, for two of them were captains.
+The girl he judged to be of the intelligence department—a spy.
+Her beauty held no appeal for him—without a glimmer of compunction
+he could have wrung that fair, young neck. She was German and that
+was enough; but he had other and more important work before him.
+He wanted Hauptmann Schneider.</p>
+
+<p>Finally the general looked up from the paper.</p>
+
+<p>"Good," he said to the girl, and then to one of his aides, "Send
+for Major Schneider."</p>
+
+<p>Major Schneider! Tarzan felt the short hairs at the back of his
+neck rise. Already they had promoted the beast who had murdered
+his mate—doubtless they had promoted him for that very crime.</p>
+
+<p>The aide left the room and the others fell into a general conversation
+from which it became apparent to Tarzan that the German East African
+forces greatly outnumbered the British and that the latter were
+suffering heavily. The ape-man stood so concealed in a clump of
+bushes that he could watch the interior of the room without being
+seen from within, while he was at the same time hidden from the view
+of anyone who might chance to pass along the post of the sentinel
+he had slain. Momentarily he was expecting a patrol or a relief to
+appear and discover that the sentinel was missing, when he knew an
+immediate and thorough search would be made.</p>
+
+<p>Impatiently he awaited the coming of the man he sought and at
+last he was rewarded by the reappearance of the aide who had been
+dispatched to fetch him accompanied by an officer of medium size
+with fierce, upstanding mustaches. The newcomer strode to the table,
+halted and saluted, reporting. The general acknowledged the salute
+and turned toward the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Fraulein Kircher," he said, "allow me to present Major Schneider—"</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan waited to hear no more. Placing a palm upon the sill of
+the window he vaulted into the room into the midst of an astounded
+company of the Kaiser's officers. With a stride he was at the table
+and with a sweep of his hand sent the lamp crashing into the fat
+belly of the general who, in his mad effort to escape cremation,
+fell over backward, chair and all, upon the floor. Two of the aides
+sprang for the ape-man who picked up the first and flung him in the
+face of the other. The girl had leaped from her chair and stood
+flattened against the wall. The other officers were calling aloud
+for the guard and for help. Tarzan's purpose centered upon but
+a single individual and him he never lost sight of. Freed from
+attack for an instant he seized Major Schneider, threw him over his
+shoulder and was out of the window so quickly that the astonished
+assemblage could scarce realize what had occurred.</p>
+
+<p>A single glance showed him that the sentinel's post was still vacant
+and a moment later he and his burden were in the shadows of the
+hay dump. Major Schneider had made no outcry for the very excellent
+reason that his wind was shut off. Now Tarzan released his grasp
+enough to permit the man to breathe.</p>
+
+<p>"If you make a sound you will be choked again," he said.</p>
+
+<p>Cautiously and after infinite patience Tarzan passed the final
+outpost. Forcing his captive to walk before him he pushed on toward
+the west until, late into the night, he re-crossed the railway where
+he felt reasonably safe from discovery. The German had cursed and
+grumbled and threatened and asked questions; but his only reply
+was another prod from Tarzan's sharp war spear. The ape-man herded
+him along as he would have driven a hog with the difference that
+he would have had more respect and therefore more consideration
+for a hog.</p>
+
+<p>Until now Tarzan had given little thought to the details of revenge.
+Now he pondered what form the punishment should take. Of only one
+thing was he certain—it must end in death. Like all brave men
+and courageous beasts Tarzan had little natural inclination to
+torture—none, in fact; but this case was unique in his experience.
+An inherent sense of justice called for an eye for an eye and his
+recent oath demanded even more. Yes, the creature must suffer even
+as he had caused Jane Clayton to suffer. Tarzan could not hope to
+make the man suffer as he had suffered, since physical pain may
+never approach the exquisiteness of mental torture.</p>
+
+<p>All through the long night the ape-man goaded on the exhausted and
+now terrified Hun. The awful silence of his captor wrought upon the
+German's nerves. If he would only speak! Again and again Schneider
+tried to force or coax a word from him; but always the result was
+the same—continued silence and a vicious and painful prod from the
+spear point. Schneider was bleeding and sore. He was so exhausted
+that he staggered at every step, and often he fell only to be
+prodded to his feet again by that terrifying and remorseless spear.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until morning that Tarzan reached a decision and it came
+to him then like an inspiration from above. A slow smile touched
+his lips and he immediately sought a place to lie up and rest—he
+wished his prisoner to be fit now for what lay in store for him.
+Ahead was a stream which Tarzan had crossed the day before. He knew
+the ford for a drinking place and a likely spot to make an easy
+kill. Cautioning the German to utter silence with a gesture the
+two approached the stream quietly. Down the game trail Tarzan saw
+some deer about to leave the water. He shoved Schneider into the
+brush at one side and, squatting next him, waited. The German
+watched the silent giant with puzzled, frightened eyes. In the new
+dawn he, for the first time, was able to obtain a good look at his
+captor, and, if he had been puzzled and frightened before, those
+sensations were nothing to what he experienced now.</p>
+
+<p>Who and what could this almost naked, white savage be? He had
+heard him speak but once—when he had cautioned him to silence—and
+then in excellent German and the well-modulated tones of culture.
+He watched him now as the fascinated toad watches the snake that
+is about to devour it. He saw the graceful limbs and symmetrical
+body motionless as a marble statue as the creature crouched in the
+concealment of the leafy foliage. Not a muscle, not a nerve moved.
+He saw the deer coming slowly along the trail, down wind and
+unsuspecting. He saw a buck pass—an old buck—and then a young and
+plump one came opposite the giant in ambush, and Schneider's eyes
+went wide and a scream of terror almost broke from his lips as he
+saw the agile beast at his side spring straight for the throat of
+the young buck and heard from those human lips the hunting roar of
+a wild beast. Down went the buck and Tarzan and his captive had
+meat. The ape-man ate his raw, but he permitted the German to build
+a fire and cook his portion.</p>
+
+<p>The two lay up until late in the afternoon and then took up the
+journey once again—a journey that was so frightful to Schneider
+because of his ignorance of its destination that he at times groveled
+at Tarzan's feet begging for an explanation and for mercy; but on
+and on in silence the ape-man went, prodding the failing Hun whenever
+the latter faltered.</p>
+
+<p>It was noon of the third day before they reached their destination.
+After a steep climb and a short walk they halted at the edge of
+a precipitous cliff and Schneider looked down into a narrow gulch
+where a single tree grew beside a tiny rivulet and sparse grass
+broke from a rock-strewn soil. Tarzan motioned him over the edge;
+but the German drew back in terror. The Ape-man seized him and
+pushed him roughly toward the brink. "Descend," he said. It was
+the second time he had spoken in three days and perhaps his very
+silence, ominous in itself, had done more to arouse terror in the
+breast of the Boche than even the spear point, ever ready as it
+always was.</p>
+
+<p>Schneider looked fearfully over the edge; but was about to essay
+the attempt when Tarzan halted him. "I am Lord Greystoke," he
+said. "It was my wife you murdered in the Waziri country. You will
+understand now why I came for you. Descend."</p>
+
+<p>The German fell upon his knees. "I did not murder your wife,"
+he cried. "Have mercy! I did not murder your wife. I do not know
+anything about—"</p>
+
+<p>"Descend!" snapped Tarzan, raising the point of his spear. He knew
+that the man lied and was not surprised that he did. A man who
+would murder for no cause would lie for less. Schneider still
+hesitated and pled. The ape-man jabbed him with the spear and Schneider
+slid fearfully over the top and began the perilous descent. Tarzan
+accompanied and assisted him over the worst places until at last
+they were within a few feet of the bottom.</p>
+
+<p>"Be quiet now," cautioned the ape-man. He pointed at the entrance
+to what appeared to be a cave at the far end of the gulch. "There
+is a hungry lion in there. If you can reach that tree before
+he discovers you, you will have several days longer in which to
+enjoy life and then—when you are too weak to cling longer to the
+branches of the tree Numa, the man-eater, will feed again for the
+last time." He pushed Schneider from his foothold to the ground
+below. "Now run," he said.</p>
+
+<p>The German trembling in terror started for the tree. He had almost
+reached it when a horrid roar broke from the mouth of the cave and
+almost simultaneously a gaunt, hunger mad lion leaped into the
+daylight of the gulch. Schneider had but a few yards to cover;
+but the lion flew over the ground to circumvent him while Tarzan
+watched the race with a slight smile upon his lips.</p>
+
+<p>Schneider won by a slender margin, and as Tarzan scaled the cliff
+to the summit, he heard behind him mingled with the roaring of the
+baffled cat, the gibbering of a human voice that was at the same
+time more bestial than the beast's.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the brink of the cliff the ape-man turned and looked back
+into the gulch. High in the tree the German clung frantically to
+a branch across which his body lay. Beneath him was Numa—waiting.</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man raised his face to Kudu, the sun, and from his mighty
+chest rose the savage victory cry of the bull ape.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapteriii" id="chapteriii">In the German Lines</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Tarzan was not yet fully revenged. There were many millions of
+Germans yet alive—enough to keep Tarzan pleasantly occupied the
+balance of his life, and yet not enough, should he kill them all,
+to recompense him for the great loss he had suffered—nor could
+the death of all those million Germans bring back his loved one.</p>
+
+<p>While in the German camp in the Pare Mountains, which lie just
+east of the boundary line between German and British East Africa,
+Tarzan had overheard enough to suggest that the British were getting
+the worst of the fighting in Africa. At first he had given the
+matter but little thought, since, after the death of his wife, the
+one strong tie that had held him to civilization, he had renounced
+all mankind, considering himself no longer man, but ape.</p>
+
+<p>After accounting for Schneider as satisfactorily as lay within his
+power he circled Kilimanjaro and hunted in the foothills to the
+north of that mightiest of mountains as he had discovered that in
+the neighborhood of the armies there was no hunting at all. Some
+pleasure he derived through conjuring mental pictures from time to
+time of the German he had left in the branches of the lone tree at
+the bottom of the high-walled gulch in which was penned the starving
+lion. He could imagine the man's mental anguish as he became weakened
+from hunger and maddened by thirst, knowing that sooner or later he
+must slip exhausted to the ground where waited the gaunt man-eater.
+Tarzan wondered if Schneider would have the courage to descend to
+the little rivulet for water should Numa leave the gulch and enter
+the cave, and then he pictured the mad race for the tree again
+when the lion charged out to seize his prey as he was certain to
+do, since the clumsy German could not descend to the rivulet without
+making at least some slight noise that would attract Numa's attention.</p>
+
+<p>But even this pleasure palled, and more and more the ape-man found
+himself thinking of the English soldiers fighting against heavy
+odds and especially of the fact that it was Germans who were beating
+them. The thought made him lower his head and growl and it worried
+him not a little—a bit, perhaps, because he was finding it difficult
+to forget that he was an Englishman when he wanted only to be an
+ape. And at last the time came when he could not longer endure the
+thought of Germans killing Englishmen while he hunted in safety a
+bare march away.</p>
+
+<p>His decision made, he set out in the direction of the German camp,
+no well-defined plan formulated; but with the general idea that
+once near the field of operations he might find an opportunity to
+harass the German command as he so well knew how to do. His way
+took him along the gorge close to the gulch in which he had left
+Schneider, and, yielding to a natural curiosity, he scaled the cliffs
+and made his way to the edge of the gulch. The tree was empty, nor
+was there sign of Numa, the lion. Picking up a rock he hurled it
+into the gulch, where it rolled to the very entrance to the cave.
+Instantly the lion appeared in the aperture; but such a different-looking
+lion from the great sleek brute that Tarzan had trapped there two
+weeks before. Now he was gaunt and emaciated, and when he walked
+he staggered.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the German?" shouted Tarzan. "Was he good eating, or only
+a bag of bones when he slipped and fell from the tree?"</p>
+
+<p>Numa growled. "You look hungry, Numa," continued the ape-man. "You
+must have been very hungry to eat all the grass from your lair and
+even the bark from the tree as far up as you can reach. Would you
+like another German?" and smiling he turned away.</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes later he came suddenly upon Bara, the deer, asleep
+beneath a tree, and as Tarzan was hungry he made a quick kill,
+and squatting beside his prey proceeded to eat his fill. As he
+was gnawing the last morsel from a bone his quick ears caught the
+padding of stealthy feet behind him, and turning he confronted
+Dango, the hyena, sneaking upon him. With a growl the ape-man
+picked up a fallen branch and hurled it at the skulking brute. "Go
+away, eater of carrion!" he cried; but Dango was hungry and being
+large and powerful he only snarled and circled slowly about as
+though watching for an opportunity to charge. Tarzan of the Apes
+knew Dango even better than Dango knew himself. He knew that the
+brute, made savage by hunger, was mustering its courage for an
+attack, that it was probably accustomed to man and therefore more
+or less fearless of him and so he un-slung his heavy spear and
+laid it ready at his side while he continued his meal, all the time
+keeping a watchful eye upon the hyena.</p>
+
+<p>He felt no fear, for long familiarity with the dangers of his wild
+world had so accustomed him to them that he took whatever came as
+a part of each day's existence as you accept the homely though no
+less real dangers of the farm, the range, or the crowded metropolis.
+Being jungle bred he was ready to protect his kill from all comers
+within ordinary limitations of caution. Under favorable conditions
+Tarzan would face even Numa himself and, if forced to seek safety
+by flight, he could do so without any feeling of shame. There was
+no braver creature roamed those savage wilds and at the same time
+there was none more wise—the two factors that had permitted him
+to survive.</p>
+
+<p>Dango might have charged sooner but for the savage growls of the
+ape-man—growls which, coming from human lips, raised a question
+and a fear in the hyena's heart. He had attacked women and children
+in the native fields and he had frightened their men about their
+fires at night; but he never had seen a man-thing who made this
+sound that reminded him more of Numa angry than of a man afraid.</p>
+
+<p>When Tarzan had completed his repast he was about to rise and hurl
+a clean-picked bone at the beast before he went his way, leaving
+the remains of his kill to Dango; but a sudden thought stayed him
+and instead he picked up the carcass of the deer, threw it over
+his shoulder, and set off in the direction of the gulch. For a
+few yards Dango followed, growling, and then realizing that he was
+being robbed of even a taste of the luscious flesh he cast discretion
+to the winds and charged. Instantly, as though Nature had given him
+eyes in the back of his head, Tarzan sensed the impending danger
+and, dropping Bara to the ground, turned with raised spear. Far
+back went the brown, right hand and then forward, lightning-like,
+backed by the power of giant muscles and the weight of his brawn
+and bone. The spear, released at the right instant, drove straight
+for Dango, caught him in the neck where it joined the shoulders
+and passed through the body.</p>
+
+<p>When he had withdrawn the shaft from the hyena Tarzan shouldered
+both carcasses and continued on toward the gulch. Below lay Numa
+beneath the shade of the lone tree and at the ape-man's call he
+staggered slowly to his feet, yet weak as he was, he still growled
+savagely, even essaying a roar at the sight of his enemy. Tarzan
+let the two bodies slide over the rim of the cliff. "Eat, Numa!"
+he cried. "It may be that I shall need you again." He saw the lion,
+quickened to new life at the sight of food, spring upon the body
+of the deer and then he left him rending and tearing the flesh as
+he bolted great pieces into his empty maw.</p>
+
+<p>The following day Tarzan came within sight of the German lines.
+From a wooded spur of the hills he looked down upon the enemy's
+left flank and beyond to the British lines. His position gave him
+a bird's-eye view of the field of battle, and his keen eyesight
+picked out many details that would not have been apparent to a man
+whose every sense was not trained to the highest point of perfection
+as were the ape-man's. He noted machine-gun emplacements cunningly
+hidden from the view of the British and listening posts placed well
+out in No Man's Land.</p>
+
+<p>As his interested gaze moved hither and thither from one point of
+interest to another he heard from a point upon the hillside below
+him, above the roar of cannon and the crack of rifle fire, a single
+rifle spit. Immediately his attention was centered upon the spot
+where he knew a sniper must be hid. Patiently he awaited the next
+shot that would tell him more surely the exact location of the
+rifleman, and when it came he moved down the steep hillside with
+the stealth and quietness of a panther. Apparently he took no
+cognizance of where he stepped, yet never a loose stone was disturbed
+nor a twig broken—it was as though his feet saw.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, as he passed through a clump of bushes, he came to the
+edge of a low cliff and saw upon a ledge some fifteen feet below
+him a German soldier prone behind an embankment of loose rock and
+leafy boughs that hid him from the view of the British lines. The
+man must have been an excellent shot, for he was well back of the
+German lines, firing over the heads of his fellows. His high-powered
+rifle was equipped with telescope sights and he also carried
+binoculars which he was in the act of using as Tarzan discovered
+him, either to note the effect of his last shot or to discover
+a new target. Tarzan let his eye move quickly toward that part of
+the British line the German seemed to be scanning, his keen sight
+revealing many excellent targets for a rifle placed so high above
+the trenches.</p>
+
+<p>The Hun, evidently satisfied with his observations, laid aside
+his binoculars and again took up his rifle, placed its butt in the
+hollow of his shoulder and took careful aim. At the same instant a
+brown body sprang outward from the cliff above him. There was no
+sound and it is doubtful that the German ever knew what manner of
+creature it was that alighted heavily upon his back, for at the
+instant of impact the sinewy fingers of the ape-man circled the
+hairy throat of the Boche. There was a moment of futile struggling
+followed by the sudden realization of dissolution—the sniper was
+dead.</p>
+
+<p>Lying behind the rampart of rocks and boughs, Tarzan looked down
+upon the scene below. Near at hand were the trenches of the Germans.
+He could see officers and men moving about in them and almost in
+front of him a well-hidden machine gun was traversing No Man's Land
+in an oblique direction, striking the British at such an angle as
+to make it difficult for them to locate it.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan watched, toying idly with the rifle of the dead German.
+Presently he fell to examining the mechanism of the piece. He
+glanced again toward the German trenches and changed the adjustment
+of the sights, then he placed the rifle to his shoulder and took
+aim. Tarzan was an excellent shot. With his civilized friends he
+had hunted big game with the weapons of civilization and though he
+never had killed except for food or in self-defense he had amused
+himself firing at inanimate targets thrown into the air and had
+perfected himself in the use of firearms without realizing that
+he had done so. Now indeed would he hunt big game. A slow smile
+touched his lips as his finger closed gradually upon the trigger.
+The rifle spoke and a German machine gunner collapsed behind his
+weapon. In three minutes Tarzan picked off the crew of that gun.
+Then he spotted a German officer emerging from a dugout and the
+three men in the bay with him. Tarzan was careful to leave no one
+in the immediate vicinity to question how Germans could be shot in
+German trenches when they were entirely concealed from enemy view.</p>
+
+<p>Again adjusting his sights he took a long-range shot at a distant
+machine-gun crew to his right. With calm deliberation he wiped them
+out to a man. Two guns were silenced. He saw men running through
+the trenches and he picked off several of them. By this time the
+Germans were aware that something was amiss—that an uncanny sniper
+had discovered a point of vantage from which this sector of the
+trenches was plainly visible to him. At first they sought to discover
+his location in No Man's Land; but when an officer looking over
+the parapet through a periscope was struck full in the back of the
+head with a rifle bullet which passed through his skull and fell
+to the bottom of the trench they realized that it was beyond the
+parados rather than the parapet that they should search.</p>
+
+<p>One of the soldiers picked up the bullet that had killed his
+officer, and then it was that real excitement prevailed in that
+particular bay, for the bullet was obviously of German make. Hugging
+the parados, messengers carried the word in both directions and
+presently periscopes were leveled above the parados and keen eyes
+were searching out the traitor. It did not take them long to locate
+the position of the hidden sniper and then Tarzan saw a machine
+gun being trained upon him. Before it had gotten into action its
+crew lay dead about it; but there were other men to take their
+places, reluctantly perhaps; but driven on by their officers they
+were forced to it and at the same time two other machine guns were
+swung around toward the ape-man and put into operation.</p>
+
+<p>Realizing that the game was about up Tarzan with a farewell shot
+laid aside the rifle and melted into the hills behind him. For many
+minutes he could hear the sputter of machinegun fire concentrated
+upon the spot he had just quit and smiled as he contemplated the
+waste of German ammunition.</p>
+
+<p>"They have paid heavily for Wasimbu, the Waziri, whom they crucified,
+and for his slain fellows," he mused; "but for Jane they can never
+pay—no, not if I killed them all."</p>
+
+<p>After dark that night he circled the flanks of both armies and
+passed through the British out-guards and into the British lines.
+No man saw him come. No man knew that he was there.</p>
+
+<p>Headquarters of the Second Rhodesians occupied a sheltered position
+far enough back of the lines to be comparatively safe from enemy
+observation. Even lights were permitted, and Colonel Capell sat
+before a field table, on which was spread a military map, talking
+with several of his officers. A large tree spread above them, a
+lantern sputtered dimly upon the table, while a small fire burned
+upon the ground close at hand. The enemy had no planes and no other
+observers could have seen the lights from the German lines.</p>
+
+<p>The officers were discussing the advantage in numbers possessed by
+the enemy and the inability of the British to more than hold their
+present position. They could not advance. Already they had sustained
+severe losses in every attack and had always been driven back by
+overwhelming numbers. There were hidden machine guns, too, that
+bothered the colonel considerably. It was evidenced by the fact
+that he often reverted to them during the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"Something silenced them for a while this afternoon," said one of
+the younger officers. "I was observing at the time and I couldn't
+make out what the fuss was about; but they seemed to be having a
+devil of a time in a section of trench on their left. At one time I
+could have sworn they were attacked in the rear—I reported it to
+you at the time, sir, you'll recall—for the blighters were pepperin'
+away at the side of that bluff behind them. I could see the dirt
+fly. I don't know what it could have been."</p>
+
+<p>There was a slight rustling among the branches of the tree above
+them and simultaneously a lithe, brown body dropped in their midst.
+Hands moved quickly to the butts of pistols; but otherwise there
+was no movement among the officers. First they looked wonderingly
+at the almost naked white man standing there with the firelight
+playing upon rounded muscles, took in the primitive attire and
+the equally primitive armament and then all eyes turned toward the
+colonel.</p>
+
+<p>"Who the devil are you, sir?" snapped that officer.</p>
+
+<p>"Tarzan of the Apes," replied the newcomer.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Greystoke!" cried a major, and stepped forward with outstretched
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Preswick," acknowledged Tarzan as he took the proffered hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't recognize you at first," apologized the major. "The
+last time I saw you you were in London in evening dress. Quite a
+difference—'pon my word, man, you'll have to admit it."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan smiled and turned toward the colonel. "I overheard your
+conversation," he said. "I have just come from behind the German
+lines. Possibly I can help you."</p>
+
+<p>The colonel looked questioningly toward Major Preswick who quickly
+rose to the occasion and presented the ape-man to his commanding
+officer and fellows. Briefly Tarzan told them what it was that
+brought him out alone in pursuit of the Germans.</p>
+
+<p>"And now you have come to join us?" asked the colonel.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan shook his head. "Not regularly," he replied. "I must fight
+in my own way; but I can help you. Whenever I wish I can enter the
+German lines."</p>
+
+<p>Capell smiled and shook his head. "It's not so easy as you think,"
+he said; "I've lost two good officers in the last week trying it—and
+they were experienced men; none better in the Intelligence Department."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it more difficult than entering the British lines?" asked
+Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>The colonel was about to reply when a new thought appeared to occur
+to him and he looked quizzically at the ape-man. "Who brought you
+here?" he asked. "Who passed you through our out-guards?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have just come through the German lines and yours and passed
+through your camp," he replied. "Send word to ascertain if anyone
+saw me."</p>
+
+<p>"But who accompanied you?" insisted Capell.</p>
+
+<p>"I came alone," replied Tarzan and then, drawing himself to
+his full height, "You men of civilization, when you come into the
+jungle, are as dead among the quick. Manu, the monkey, is a sage
+by comparison. I marvel that you exist at all—only your numbers,
+your weapons, and your power of reasoning save you. Had I a few
+hundred great apes with your reasoning power I could drive the
+Germans into the ocean as quickly as the remnant of them could
+reach the coast. Fortunate it is for you that the dumb brutes cannot
+combine. Could they, Africa would remain forever free of men. But
+come, can I help you? Would you like to know where several machinegun
+emplacements are hidden?"</p>
+
+<p>The colonel assured him that they would, and a moment later Tarzan
+had traced upon the map the location of three that had been bothering
+the English. "There is a weak spot here," he said, placing a finger
+upon the map. "It is held by blacks; but the machine guns out in
+front are manned by whites. If—wait! I have a plan. You can fill
+that trench with your own men and enfilade the trenches to its
+right with their own machine guns."</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Capell smiled and shook his head. "It sounds very easy,"
+he said.</p>
+
+<p>"It IS easy—for me," replied the ape-man. "I can empty that section
+of trench without a shot. I was raised in the jungle—I know the
+jungle folk—the Gomangani as well as the others. Look for me again
+on the second night," and he turned to leave.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait," said the colonel. "I will send an officer to pass you
+through the lines."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan smiled and moved away. As he was leaving the little group
+about headquarters he passed a small figure wrapped in an officer's
+heavy overcoat. The collar was turned up and the visor of the
+military cap pulled well down over the eyes; but, as the ape-man
+passed, the light from the fire illuminated the features of the
+newcomer for an instant, revealing to Tarzan a vaguely familiar
+face. Some officer he had known in London, doubtless, he surmised,
+and went his way through the British camp and the British lines
+all unknown to the watchful sentinels of the out-guard.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly all night he moved across Kilimanjaro's foothills, tracking
+by instinct an unknown way, for he guessed that what he sought would
+be found on some wooded slope higher up than he had come upon his
+other recent journeys in this, to him, little known country. Three
+hours before dawn his keen nostrils apprised him that somewhere in
+the vicinity he would find what he wanted, and so he climbed into
+a tall tree and settled himself for a few hours' sleep.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapteriv" id="chapteriv">When the Lion Fed</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Kudu, the sun, was well up in the heavens when Tarzan awoke. The
+ape-man stretched his giant limbs, ran his fingers through his thick
+hair, and swung lightly down to earth. Immediately he took up the
+trail he had come in search of, following it by scent down into
+a deep ravine. Cautiously he went now, for his nose told him that
+the quarry was close at hand, and presently from an overhanging
+bough he looked down upon Horta, the boar, and many of his kinsmen.
+Un-slinging his bow and selecting an arrow, Tarzan fitted the shaft
+and, drawing it far back, took careful aim at the largest of the
+great pigs. In the ape-man's teeth were other arrows, and no sooner
+had the first one sped, than he had fitted and shot another bolt.
+Instantly the pigs were in turmoil, not knowing from whence the
+danger threatened. They stood stupidly at first and then commenced
+milling around until six of their number lay dead or dying about
+them; then with a chorus of grunts and squeals they started off at
+a wild run, disappearing quickly in the dense underbrush.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan then descended from the tree, dispatched those that were not
+already dead and proceeded to skin the carcasses. As he worked,
+rapidly and with great skill, he neither hummed nor whistled as
+does the average man of civilization. It was in numerous little
+ways such as these that he differed from other men, due, probably,
+to his early jungle training. The beasts of the jungle that he had
+been reared among were playful to maturity but seldom thereafter.
+His fellow-apes, especially the bulls, became fierce and surly as
+they grew older. Life was a serious matter during lean seasons—one
+had to fight to secure one's share of food then, and the habit once
+formed became lifelong. Hunting for food was the life labor of the
+jungle bred, and a life labor is a thing not to be approached with
+levity nor prosecuted lightly. So all work found Tarzan serious,
+though he still retained what the other beasts lost as they grew
+older—a sense of humor, which he gave play to when the mood suited
+him. It was a grim humor and sometimes ghastly; but it satisfied
+Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>Then, too, were one to sing and whistle while working on the ground,
+concentration would be impossible. Tarzan possessed the ability to
+concentrate each of his five senses upon its particular business.
+Now he worked at skinning the six pigs and his eyes and his fingers
+worked as though there was naught else in all the world than these
+six carcasses; but his ears and his nose were as busily engaged
+elsewhere—the former ranging the forest all about and the latter
+assaying each passing zephyr. It was his nose that first discovered
+the approach of Sabor, the lioness, when the wind shifted for a
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>As clearly as though he had seen her with his eyes, Tarzan knew
+that the lioness had caught the scent of the freshly killed pigs
+and immediately had moved down wind in their direction. He knew
+from the strength of the scent spoor and the rate of the wind about
+how far away she was and that she was approaching from behind him.
+He was finishing the last pig and he did not hurry. The five pelts
+lay close at hand-he had been careful to keep them thus together
+and near him—an ample tree waved its low branches above him.</p>
+
+<p>He did not even turn his head for he knew she was not yet in sight;
+but he bent his ears just a bit more sharply for the first sound
+of her nearer approach. When the final skin had been removed he
+rose. Now he heard Sabor in the bushes to his rear, but not yet
+too close. Leisurely he gathered up the six pelts and one of the
+carcasses, and as the lioness appeared between the boles of two
+trees he swung upward into the branches above him. Here he hung
+the hides over a limb, seated himself comfortably upon another with
+his back against the bole of the tree, cut a hind quarter from
+the carcass he had carried with him and proceeded to satisfy his
+hunger. Sabor slunk, growling, from the brush, cast a wary eye
+upward toward the ape-man and then fell upon the nearest carcass.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan looked down upon her and grinned, recalling an argument he
+had once had with a famous big-game hunter who had declared that
+the king of beasts ate only what he himself had killed. Tarzan knew
+better for he had seen Numa and Sabor stoop even to carrion.</p>
+
+<p>Having filled his belly, the ape-man fell to work upon the hides—all
+large and strong. First he cut strips from them about half an inch
+wide. When he had sufficient number of these strips he sewed two of
+the hides together, afterwards piercing holes every three or four
+inches around the edges. Running another strip through these
+holes gave him a large bag with a drawstring. In similar fashion he
+produced four other like bags, but smaller, from the four remaining
+hides and had several strips left over.</p>
+
+<p>All this done he threw a large, juicy fruit at Sabor, cached the
+remainder of the pig in a crotch of the tree and swung off toward
+the southwest through the middle terraces of the forest, carrying
+his five bags with him. Straight he went to the rim of the gulch
+where he had imprisoned Numa, the lion. Very stealthily he approached
+the edge and peered over. Numa was not in sight. Tarzan sniffed
+and listened. He could hear nothing, yet he knew that Numa must be
+within the cave. He hoped that he slept—much depended upon Numa
+not discovering him.</p>
+
+<p>Cautiously he lowered himself over the edge of the cliff, and with
+utter noiselessness commenced the descent toward the bottom of the
+gulch. He stopped often and turned his keen eyes and ears in the
+direction of the cave's mouth at the far end of the gulch, some
+hundred feet away. As he neared the foot of the cliff his danger
+increased greatly. If he could reach the bottom and cover half
+the distance to the tree that stood in the center of the gulch he
+would feel comparatively safe for then, even if Numa appeared, he
+felt that he could beat him either to the cliff or to the tree,
+but to scale the first thirty feet of the cliff rapidly enough to
+elude the leaping beast would require a running start of at least
+twenty feet as there were no very good hand- or footholds close
+to the bottom—he had had to run up the first twenty feet like
+a squirrel running up a tree that other time he had beaten an
+infuriated Numa to it. He had no desire to attempt it again unless
+the conditions were equally favorable at least, for he had escaped
+Numa's raking talons by only a matter of inches on the former
+occasion.</p>
+
+<p>At last he stood upon the floor of the gulch. Silent as a disembodied
+spirit he advanced toward the tree. He was half way there and no
+sign of Numa. He reached the scarred bole from which the famished
+lion had devoured the bark and even torn pieces of the wood itself
+and yet Numa had not appeared. As he drew himself up to the lower
+branches he commenced to wonder if Numa were in the cave after
+all. Could it be possible that he had forced the barrier of rocks
+with which Tarzan had plugged the other end of the passage where
+it opened into the outer world of freedom? Or was Numa dead? The
+ape-man doubted the verity of the latter suggestion as he had fed
+the lion the entire carcasses of a deer and a hyena only a few
+days since—he could not have starved in so short a time, while the
+little rivulet running across the gulch furnished him with water
+a-plenty.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan started to descend and investigate the cavern when it occurred
+to him that it would save effort were he to lure Numa out instead.
+Acting upon the thought he uttered a low growl. Immediately he was
+rewarded by the sound of a movement within the cave and an instant
+later a wild-eyed, haggard lion rushed forth ready to face the
+devil himself were he edible. When Numa saw Tarzan, fat and sleek,
+perched in the tree he became suddenly the embodiment of frightful
+rage. His eyes and his nose told him that this was the creature
+responsible for his predicament and also that this creature was
+good to eat. Frantically the lion sought to scramble up the bole of
+the tree. Twice he leaped high enough to catch the lowest branches
+with his paws, but both times he fell backward to the earth. Each
+time he became more furious. His growls and roars were incessant
+and horrible and all the time Tarzan sat grinning down upon him,
+taunting him in jungle billingsgate for his inability to reach
+him and mentally exulting that always Numa was wasting his already
+waning strength.</p>
+
+<p>Finally the ape-man rose and un-slung his rope. He arranged the
+coils carefully in his left hand and the noose in his right, and
+then he took a position with each foot on one of two branches that
+lay in about the same horizontal plane and with his back pressed
+firmly against the stem of the tree. There he stood hurling insults
+at Numa until the beast was again goaded into leaping upward at
+him, and as Numa rose the noose dropped quickly over his head and
+about his neck. A quick movement of Tarzan's rope hand tightened
+the coil and when Numa slipped backward to the ground only his hind
+feet touched, for the ape-man held him swinging by the neck.</p>
+
+<p>Moving slowly outward upon the two branches Tarzan swung Numa out
+so that he could not reach the bole of the tree with his raking
+talons, then he made the rope fast after drawing the lion clear
+of the ground, dropped his five pigskin sacks to earth and leaped
+down himself. Numa was striking frantically at the grass rope with
+his fore claws. At any moment he might sever it and Tarzan must,
+therefore, work rapidly.</p>
+
+<p>First he drew the larger bag over Numa's head and secured it about
+his neck with the draw string, then he managed, after considerable
+effort, during which he barely escaped being torn to ribbons by
+the mighty talons, to hog-tie Numa—drawing his four legs together
+and securing them in that position with the strips trimmed from
+the pigskins.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the lion's efforts had almost ceased—it was evident
+that he was being rapidly strangled and as that did not at all
+suit the purpose of the Tarmangani the latter swung again into the
+tree, unfastened the rope from above and lowered the lion to the
+ground where he immediately followed it and loosed the noose about
+Numa's neck. Then he drew his hunting knife and cut two round holes
+in the front of the head bag opposite the lion's eyes for the double
+purpose of permitting him to see and giving him sufficient air to
+breathe.</p>
+
+<p>This done Tarzan busied himself fitting the other bags, one over
+each of Numa's formidably armed paws. Those on the hind feet he
+secured not only by tightening the draw strings but also rigged
+garters that fastened tightly around the legs above the hocks.
+He secured the front-feet bags in place similarly above the great
+knees. Now, indeed, was Numa, the lion, reduced to the harmlessness
+of Bara, the deer.</p>
+
+<p>By now Numa was showing signs of returning life. He gasped for
+breath and struggled; but the strips of pigskin that held his four
+legs together were numerous and tough. Tarzan watched and was sure
+that they would hold, yet Numa is mightily muscled and there was
+the chance, always, that he might struggle free of his bonds after
+which all would depend upon the efficacy of Tarzan's bags and draw
+strings.</p>
+
+<p>After Numa had again breathed normally and was able to roar
+out his protests and his rage, his struggles increased to Titanic
+proportions for a short time; but as a lion's powers of endurance
+are in no way proportionate to his size and strength he soon tired
+and lay quietly. Amid renewed growling and another futile attempt
+to free himself, Numa was finally forced to submit to the further
+indignity of having a rope secured about his neck; but this time
+it was no noose that might tighten and strangle him; but a bowline
+knot, which does not tighten or slip under strain.</p>
+
+<p>The other end of the rope Tarzan fastened to the stem of the tree,
+then he quickly cut the bonds securing Numa's legs and leaped aside
+as the beast sprang to his feet. For a moment the lion stood with
+legs far outspread, then he raised first one paw and then another,
+shaking them energetically in an effort to dislodge the strange
+footgear that Tarzan had fastened upon them. Finally he began to paw
+at the bag upon his head. The ape-man, standing with ready spear,
+watched Numa's efforts intently. Would the bags hold? He sincerely
+hoped so. Or would all his labor prove fruitless?</p>
+
+<p>As the clinging things upon his feet and face resisted his every
+effort to dislodge them, Numa became frantic. He rolled upon the
+ground, fighting, biting, scratching, and roaring; he leaped to his
+feet and sprang into the air; he charged Tarzan, only to be brought
+to a sudden stop as the rope securing him to the tree tautened.
+Then Tarzan stepped in and rapped him smartly on the head with the
+shaft of his spear. Numa reared upon his hind feet and struck at
+the are-man and in return received a cuff on one ear that sent him
+reeling sideways. When he returned to the attack he was again sent
+sprawling. After the fourth effort it appeared to dawn upon the king
+of beasts that he had met his master, his head and tail dropped and
+when Tarzan advanced upon him he backed away, though still growling.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving Numa tied to the tree Tarzan entered the tunnel and removed
+the barricade from the opposite end, after which he returned to
+the gulch and strode straight for the tree. Numa lay in his path
+and as Tarzan approached growled menacingly. The ape-man cuffed
+him aside and unfastened the rope from the tree. Then ensued a
+half-hour of stubbornly fought battle while Tarzan endeavored to
+drive Numa through the tunnel ahead of him and Numa persistently
+refused to be driven. At last, however, by dint of the unrestricted
+use of his spear point, the ape-man succeeded in forcing the lion
+to move ahead of him and eventually guided him into the passageway.
+Once inside, the problem became simpler since Tarzan followed closely
+in the rear with his sharp spear point, an unremitting incentive
+to forward movement on the part of the lion. If Numa hesitated he
+was prodded. If he backed up the result was extremely painful and
+so, being a wise lion who was learning rapidly, he decided to keep
+on going and at the end of the tunnel, emerging into the outer
+world, he sensed freedom, raised his head and tail and started off
+at a run.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan, still on his hands and knees just inside the entrance, was
+taken unaware with the result that he was sprawled forward upon
+his face and dragged a hundred yards across the rocky ground before
+Numa was brought to a stand. It was a scratched and angry Tarzan
+who scrambled to his feet. At first he was tempted to chastise
+Numa; but, as the ape-man seldom permitted his temper to guide him
+in any direction not countenanced by reason, he quickly abandoned
+the idea.</p>
+
+<p>Having taught Numa the rudiments of being driven, he now urged him
+forward and there commenced as strange a journey as the unrecorded
+history of the jungle contains. The balance of that day was eventful
+both for Tarzan and for Numa. From open rebellion at first the lion
+passed through stages of stubborn resistance and grudging obedience
+to final surrender. He was a very tired, hungry, and thirsty lion
+when night overtook them; but there was to be no food for him that
+day or the next—Tarzan did not dare risk removing the head bag,
+though he did cut another hole which permitted Numa to quench his
+thirst shortly after dark. Then he tied him to a tree, sought food
+for himself, and stretched out among the branches above his captive
+for a few hours' sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Early the following morning they resumed their journey, winding over
+the low foothills south of Kilimanjaro, toward the east. The beasts
+of the jungle who saw them took one look and fled. The scent spoor
+of Numa, alone, might have been enough to have provoked flight in
+many of the lesser animals, but the sight of this strange apparition
+that smelled like a lion, but looked like nothing they ever had
+seen before, being led through the jungles by a giant Tarmangani
+was too much for even the more formidable denizens of the wild.</p>
+
+<p>Sabor, the lioness, recognizing from a distance the scent of her
+lord and master intermingled with that of a Tarmangani and the
+hide of Horta, the boar, trotted through the aisles of the forest
+to investigate. Tarzan and Numa heard her coming, for she voiced
+a plaintive and questioning whine as the baffling mixture of odors
+aroused her curiosity and her fears, for lions, however terrible
+they may appear, are often timid animals and Sabor, being of the
+gentler sex, was, naturally, habitually inquisitive as well.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan un-slung his spear for he knew that he might now easily have
+to fight to retain his prize. Numa halted and turned his outraged
+head in the direction of the coming she. He voiced a throaty growl
+that was almost a purr. Tarzan was upon the point of prodding him
+on again when Sabor broke into view, and behind her the ape-man saw
+that which gave him instant pause—four full-grown lions trailing
+the lioness.</p>
+
+<p>To have goaded Numa then into active resistance might have brought
+the whole herd down upon him and so Tarzan waited to learn first
+what their attitude would be. He had no idea of relinquishing his
+lion without a battle; but knowing lions as he did, he knew that
+there was no assurance as to just what the newcomers would do.</p>
+
+<p>The lioness was young and sleek, and the four males were in their
+prime—as handsome lions as he ever had seen. Three of the males
+were scantily maned but one, the foremost, carried a splendid,
+black mane that rippled in the breeze as he trotted majestically
+forward. The lioness halted a hundred feet from Tarzan, while the
+lions came on past her and stopped a few feet nearer. Their ears
+were upstanding and their eyes filled with curiosity. Tarzan could
+not even guess what they might do. The lion at his side faced them
+fully, standing silent now and watchful.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the lioness gave vent to another little whine, at which
+Tarzan's lion voiced a terrific roar and leaped forward straight
+toward the beast of the black mane. The sight of this awesome
+creature with the strange face was too much for the lion toward
+which he leaped, dragging Tarzan after him, and with a growl the
+lion turned and fled, followed by his companions and the she.</p>
+
+<p>Numa attempted to follow them; Tarzan held him in leash and when
+he turned upon him in rage, beat him unmercifully across the head
+with his spear. Shaking his head and growling, the lion at last moved
+off again in the direction they had been traveling; but it was an
+hour before he ceased to sulk. He was very hungry—half famished
+in fact—and consequently of an ugly temper, yet so thoroughly
+subdued by Tarzan's heroic methods of lion taming that he was
+presently pacing along at the ape-man's side like some huge St.
+Bernard.</p>
+
+<p>It was dark when the two approached the British right, after a
+slight delay farther back because of a German patrol it had been
+necessary to elude. A short distance from the British line of
+out-guard sentinels Tarzan tied Numa to a tree and continued on
+alone. He evaded a sentinel, passed the out-guard and support, and
+by devious ways came again to Colonel Capell's headquarters, where
+he appeared before the officers gathered there as a disembodied
+spirit materializing out of thin air.</p>
+
+<p>When they saw who it was that came thus unannounced they smiled
+and the colonel scratched his head in perplexity.</p>
+
+<p>"Someone should be shot for this," he said. "I might just as well
+not establish an out-post if a man can filter through whenever he
+pleases."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan smiled. "Do not blame them," he said, "for I am not a man.
+I am Tarmangani. Any Mangani who wished to, could enter your camp
+almost at will; but if you have them for sentinels no one could
+enter without their knowledge."</p>
+
+<p>"What are the Mangani?" asked the colonel. "Perhaps we might enlist
+a bunch of the beggars."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan shook his head. "They are the great apes," he explained; "my
+people; but you could not use them. They cannot concentrate long
+enough upon a single idea. If I told them of this they would be
+much interested for a short time-I might even hold the interest
+of a few long enough to get them here and explain their duties to
+them; but soon they would lose interest and when you needed them
+most they might be off in the forest searching for beetles instead
+of watching their posts. They have the minds of little children
+—that is why they remain what they are."</p>
+
+<p>"You call them Mangani and yourself Tarmangani—what is the
+difference?" asked Major Preswick.</p>
+
+<p>"Tar means white," replied Tarzan, "and Mangani, great ape. My name—the
+name they gave me in the tribe of Kerchak—means White-skin. When
+I was a little balu my skin, I presume, looked very white indeed
+against the beautiful, black coat of Kala, my foster mother
+and so they called me Tarzan, the Tarmangani. They call you, too,
+Tarmangani," he concluded, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>Capell smiled. "It is no reproach, Greystoke," he said; "and, by
+Jove, it would be a mark of distinction if a fellow could act the
+part. And now how about your plan? Do you still think you can empty
+the trench opposite our sector?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is it still held by Gomangani?" asked Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"What are Gomangani?" inquired the colonel. "It is still held by
+native troops, if that is what you mean."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied the ape-man, "the Gomangani are the great black
+apes—the Negroes."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you intend doing and what do you want us to do?" asked
+Capell.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan approached the table and placed a finger on the map. "Here
+is a listening post," he said; "they have a machine gun in it. A
+tunnel connects it with this trench at this point." His finger moved
+from place to place on the map as he talked. "Give me a bomb and
+when you hear it burst in this listening post let your men start
+across No Man's Land slowly. Presently they will hear a commotion
+in the enemy trench; but they need not hurry, and, whatever they
+do, have them come quietly. You might also warn them that I may be
+in the trench and that I do not care to be shot or bayoneted."</p>
+
+<p>"And that is all?" queried Capell, after directing an officer to
+give Tarzan a hand grenade; "you will empty the trench alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly alone," replied Tarzan with a grim smile; "but I shall
+empty it, and, by the way, your men may come in through the tunnel
+from the listening post if you prefer. In about half an hour,
+Colonel," and he turned and left them.</p>
+
+<p>As he passed through the camp there flashed suddenly upon the screen
+of recollection, conjured there by some reminder of his previous
+visit to headquarters, doubtless, the image of the officer he had
+passed as he quit the colonel that other time and simultaneously
+recognition of the face that had been revealed by the light from
+the fire. He shook his head dubiously. No, it could not be and
+yet the features of the young officer were identical with those of
+Fraulein Kircher, the German spy he had seen at German headquarters
+the night he took Major Schneider from under the nose of the Hun
+general and his staff.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond the last line of sentinels Tarzan moved quickly in the
+direction of Numa, the lion. The beast was lying down as Tarzan
+approached, but he rose as the ape-man reached his side. A low
+whine escaped his muzzled lips. Tarzan smiled for he recognized in
+the new note almost a supplication—it was more like the whine of
+a hungry dog begging for food than the voice of the proud king of
+beasts.</p>
+
+<p>"Soon you will kill—and feed," he murmured in the vernacular of
+the great apes.</p>
+
+<p>He unfastened the rope from about the tree and, with Numa close
+at his side, slunk into No Man's Land. There was little rifle fire
+and only an occasional shell vouched for the presence of artillery
+behind the opposing lines. As the shells from both sides were
+falling well back of the trenches, they constituted no menace to
+Tarzan; but the noise of them and that of the rifle fire had a marked
+effect upon Numa who crouched, trembling, close to the Tarmangani
+as though seeking protection.</p>
+
+<p>Cautiously the two beasts moved forward toward the listening post
+of the Germans. In one hand Tarzan carried the bomb the English had
+given him, in the other was the coiled rope attached to the lion.
+At last Tarzan could see the position a few yards ahead. His keen
+eyes picked out the head and shoulders of the sentinel on watch.
+The ape-man grasped the bomb firmly in his right hand. He measured
+the distance with his eye and gathered his feet beneath him, then
+in a single motion he rose and threw the missile, immediately
+flattening himself prone upon the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Five seconds later there was a terrific explosion in the center of
+the listening post. Numa gave a nervous start and attempted to break
+away; but Tarzan held him and, leaping to his feet, ran forward,
+dragging Numa after him. At the edge of the post he saw below him
+but slight evidence that the position had been occupied at all,
+for only a few shreds of torn flesh remained. About the only thing
+that had not been demolished was a machine gun which had been
+protected by sand bags.</p>
+
+<p>There was not an instant to lose. Already a relief might be crawling
+through the communication tunnel, for it must have been evident to
+the sentinels in the Hun trenches that the listening post had been
+demolished. Numa hesitated to follow Tarzan into the excavation;
+but the ape-man, who was in no mood to temporize, jerked him roughly
+to the bottom. Before them lay the mouth of the tunnel that led
+back from No Man's Land to the German trenches. Tarzan pushed Numa
+forward until his head was almost in the aperture, then as though
+it were an afterthought, he turned quickly and, taking the machine
+gun from the parapet, placed it in the bottom of the hole close
+at hand, after which he turned again to Numa, and with his knife
+quickly cut the garters that held the bags upon his front paws.
+Before the lion could know that a part of his formidable armament
+was again released for action, Tarzan had cut the rope from his
+neck and the head bag from his face, and grabbing the lion from
+the rear had thrust him partially into the mouth of the tunnel.</p>
+
+<p>Then Numa balked, only to feel the sharp prick of Tarzan's knife
+point in his hind quarters. Goading him on the ape-man finally
+succeeded in getting the lion sufficiently far into the tunnel
+so that there was no chance of his escaping other than by going
+forward or deliberately backing into the sharp blade at his rear.
+Then Tarzan cut the bags from the great hind feet, placed his
+shoulder and his knife point against Numa's seat, dug his toes
+into the loose earth that had been broken up by the explosion of
+the bomb, and shoved.</p>
+
+<p>Inch by inch at first Numa advanced. He was growling now and presently
+he commenced to roar. Suddenly he leaped forward and Tarzan knew
+that he had caught the scent of meat ahead. Dragging the machine
+gun beside him the ape-man followed quickly after the lion whose
+roars he could plainly hear ahead mingled with the unmistakable
+screams of frightened men. Once again a grim smile touched the lips
+of this man-beast.</p>
+
+<p>"They murdered my Waziri," he muttered; "they crucified Wasimbu,
+son of Muviro."</p>
+
+<p>When Tarzan reached the trench and emerged into it there was no one
+in sight in that particular bay, nor in the next, nor the next as
+he hurried forward in the direction of the German center; but in the
+fourth bay he saw a dozen men jammed in the angle of the traverse
+at the end while leaping upon them and rending with talons and fangs
+was Numa, a terrific incarnation of ferocity and ravenous hunger.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever held the men at last gave way as they fought madly with
+one another in their efforts to escape this dread creature that
+from their infancy had filled them with terror, and again they
+were retreating. Some clambered over the parados and some even over
+the parapet preferring the dangers of No Man's Land to this other
+soul-searing menace.</p>
+
+<p>As the British advanced slowly toward the German trenches, they
+first met terrified blacks who ran into their arms only too willing
+to surrender. That pandemonium had broken loose in the Hun trench
+was apparent to the Rhodesians not only from the appearance of the
+deserters, but from the sounds of screaming, cursing men which came
+clearly to their ears; but there was one that baffled them for it
+resembled nothing more closely than the infuriated growling of an
+angry lion.</p>
+
+<p>And when at last they reached the trench, those farthest on the left
+of the advancing Britishers heard a machine gun sputter suddenly
+before them and saw a huge lion leap over the German parados with
+the body of a screaming Hun soldier between his jaws and vanish
+into the shadows of the night, while squatting upon a traverse to
+their left was Tarzan of the Apes with a machine gun before him
+with which he was raking the length of the German trenches.</p>
+
+<p>The foremost Rhodesians saw something else—they saw a huge German
+officer emerge from a dugout just in rear of the ape-man. They saw
+him snatch up a discarded rifle with bayonet fixed and creep upon
+the apparently unconscious Tarzan. They ran forward, shouting
+warnings; but above the pandemonium of the trenches and the machine
+gun their voices could not reach him. The German leaped upon the
+parapet behind him—the fat hands raised the rifle butt aloft for
+the cowardly downward thrust into the naked back and then, as moves
+Ara, the lightning, moved Tarzan of the Apes.</p>
+
+<p>It was no man who leaped forward upon that Boche officer, striking
+aside the sharp bayonet as one might strike aside a straw in a
+baby's hand—it was a wild beast and the roar of a wild beast was
+upon those savage lips, for as that strange sense that Tarzan owned
+in common with the other jungle-bred creatures of his wild domain
+warned him of the presence behind him and he had whirled to meet
+the attack, his eyes had seen the corps and regimental insignia upon
+the other's blouse—it was the same as that worn by the murderers
+of his wife and his people, by the despoilers of his home and his
+happiness.</p>
+
+<p>It was a wild beast whose teeth fastened upon the shoulder of the
+Hun—it was a wild beast whose talons sought that fat neck. And
+then the boys of the Second Rhodesian Regiment saw that which will
+live forever in their memories. They saw the giant ape-man pick
+the heavy German from the ground and shake him as a terrier might
+shake a rat—as Sabor, the lioness, sometimes shakes her prey.
+They saw the eyes of the Hun bulge in horror as he vainly struck
+with his futile hands against the massive chest and head of his
+assailant. They saw Tarzan suddenly spin the man about and placing
+a knee in the middle of his back and an arm about his neck bend
+his shoulders slowly backward. The German's knees gave and he sank
+upon them, but still that irresistible force bent him further and
+further. He screamed in agony for a moment-then something snapped
+and Tarzan cast him aside, a limp and lifeless thing.</p>
+
+<p>The Rhodesians started forward, a cheer upon their lips-a cheer
+that never was uttered—a cheer that froze in their throats, for
+at that moment Tarzan placed a foot upon the carcass of his kill
+and, raising his face to the heavens, gave voice to the weird and
+terrifying victory cry of the bull ape.</p>
+
+<p>Underlieutenant von Goss was dead.</p>
+
+<p>Without a backward glance at the awe-struck soldiers Tarzan leaped
+the trench and was gone.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterv" id="chapterv">The Golden Locket</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>The little British army in East Africa, after suffering severe
+reverses at the hands of a numerically much superior force, was
+at last coming into its own. The German offensive had been broken
+and the Huns were now slowly and doggedly retreating along the
+railway to Tanga. The break in the German lines had followed the
+clearing of a section of their left-flank trenches of native soldiers
+by Tarzan and Numa, the lion, upon that memorable night that the
+ape-man had loosed a famishing man-eater among the superstitious
+and terror-stricken blacks. The Second Rhodesian Regiment had
+immediately taken possession of the abandoned trench and from this
+position their flanking fire had raked contiguous sections of the
+German line, the diversion rendering possible a successful night
+attack on the part of the balance of the British forces.</p>
+
+<p>Weeks had elapsed. The Germans were contesting stubbornly every
+mile of waterless, thorn-covered ground and clinging desperately
+to their positions along the railway. The officers of the Second
+Rhodesians had seen nothing more of Tarzan of the Apes since he
+had slain Underlieutenant von Goss and disappeared toward the very
+heart of the German position, and there were those among them who
+believed that he had been killed within the enemy lines.</p>
+
+<p>"They may have killed him," assented Colonel Capell; "but I fancy
+they never captured the beggar alive."</p>
+
+<p>Nor had they, nor killed him either. Tarzan had spent those intervening
+weeks pleasantly and profitably. He had amassed a considerable
+fund of knowledge concerning the disposition and strength of German
+troops, their methods of warfare, and the various ways in which a
+lone Tarmangani might annoy an army and lower its morale.</p>
+
+<p>At present he was prompted by a specific desire. There was a certain
+German spy whom he wished to capture alive and take back to the
+British When he had made his first visit to German headquarters,
+he had seen a young woman deliver a paper to the German general,
+and later he had seen that same young woman within the British
+lines in the uniform of a British officer. The conclusions were
+obvious—she was a spy.</p>
+
+<p>And so Tarzan haunted German headquarters upon many nights hoping
+to see her again or to pick up some clew as to her whereabouts,
+and at the same time he utilized many an artifice whereby he might
+bring terror to the hearts of the Germans. That he was successful
+was often demonstrated by the snatches of conversation he overheard as
+he prowled through the German camps. One night as he lay concealed
+in the bushes close beside a regimental headquarters he listened to
+the conversation of several Boche officers. One of the men reverted
+to the stories told by the native troops in connection with their
+rout by a lion several weeks before and the simultaneous appearance
+in their trenches of a naked, white giant whom they were perfectly
+assured was some demon of the jungle.</p>
+
+<p>"The fellow must have been the same as he who leaped into the
+general's headquarters and carried off Schneider," asserted one.
+"I wonder how he happened to single out the poor major. They say
+the creature seemed interested in no one but Schneider. He had von
+Kelter in his grasp, and he might easily have taken the general
+himself; but he ignored them all except Schneider. Him he pursued
+about the room, seized and carried off into the night. Gott knows
+what his fate was."</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Fritz Schneider has some sort of theory," said another.
+"He told me only a week or two ago that he thinks he knows why his
+brother was taken—that it was a case of mistaken identity. He was
+not so sure about it until von Goss was killed, apparently by the
+same creature, the night the lion entered the trenches. Von Goss was
+attached to Schneider's company. One of Schneider's men was found
+with his neck wrung the same night that the major was carried off
+and Schneider thinks that this devil is after him and his command
+—that it came for him that night and got his brother by mistake.
+He says Kraut told him that in presenting the major to Fraulein
+Kircher the former's name was no sooner spoken than this wild man
+leaped through the window and made for him."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the little group became rigid—listening. "What was that?"
+snapped one, eyeing the bushes from which a smothered snarl had
+issued as Tarzan of the Apes realized that through his mistake the
+perpetrator of the horrid crime at his bungalow still lived—that
+the murderer of his wife went yet unpunished.</p>
+
+<p>For a long minute the officers stood with tensed nerves, every eye
+riveted upon the bushes from whence the ominous sound had issued.
+Each recalled recent mysterious disappearances from the heart of
+camps as well as from lonely out-guards. Each thought of the silent
+dead he had seen, slain almost within sight of their fellows by some
+unseen creature. They thought of the marks upon dead throats-made
+by talons or by giant fingers, they could not tell which—and those
+upon shoulders and jugulars where powerful teeth had fastened and
+they waited with drawn pistols.</p>
+
+<p>Once the bushes moved almost imperceptibly and an instant later
+one of the officers, without warning, fired into them; but Tarzan
+of the Apes was not there. In the interval between the moving of
+the bushes and the firing of the shot he had melted into the night.
+Ten minutes later he was hovering on the outskirts of that part
+of camp where were bivouacked for the night the black soldiers of
+a native company commanded by one Hauptmann Fritz Schneider. The
+men were stretched upon the ground without tents; but there were
+tents pitched for the officers. Toward these Tarzan crept. It was
+slow and perilous work, as the Germans were now upon the alert for
+the uncanny foe that crept into their camps to take his toll by
+night, yet the ape-man passed their sentinels, eluded the vigilance
+of the interior guard, and crept at last to the rear of the officers'
+line.</p>
+
+<p>Here he flattened himself against the ground close behind the
+nearest tent and listened. From within came the regular breathing
+of a sleeping man—one only. Tarzan was satisfied. With his knife
+he cut the tie strings of the rear flap and entered. He made no
+noise. The shadow of a falling leaf, floating gently to earth upon
+a still day, could have been no more soundless. He moved to the
+side of the sleeping man and bent low over him. He could not know,
+of course, whether it was Schneider or another, as he had never seen
+Schneider; but he meant to know and to know even more. Gently he
+shook the man by the shoulder. The fellow turned heavily and grunted
+in a thick guttural.</p>
+
+<p>"Silence!" admonished the ape-man in a low whisper. "Silence—I
+kill."</p>
+
+<p>The Hun opened his eyes. In the dim light he saw a giant figure
+bending over him. Now a mighty hand grasped his shoulder and another
+closed lightly about his throat.</p>
+
+<p>"Make no outcry," commanded Tarzan; "but answer in a whisper my
+questions. What is your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Luberg," replied the officer. He was trembling. The weird presence
+of this naked giant filled him with dread. He, too, recalled the
+men mysteriously murdered in the still watches of the night camps.
+"What do you want?"</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Hauptmann Fritz Schneider?" asked Tarzan, "Which is his
+tent?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is not here," replied Luberg. "He was sent to Wilhelmstal
+yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not kill you—now," said the ape-man. "First I shall go
+and learn if you have lied to me and if you have your death shall
+be the more terrible. Do you know how Major Schneider died?"</p>
+
+<p>Luberg shook his head negatively.</p>
+
+<p>"I do," continued Tarzan, "and it was not a nice way to die—even
+for an accursed German. Turn over with your face down and cover
+your eyes. Do not move or make any sound."</p>
+
+<p>The man did as he was bid and the instant that his eyes were turned
+away, Tarzan slipped from the tent. An hour later he was outside
+the German camp and headed for the little hill town of Wilhelmstal,
+the summer seat of government of German East Africa.</p>
+
+<p>Fraulein Bertha Kircher was lost. She was humiliated and angry—it
+was long before she would admit it, that she, who prided herself
+upon her woodcraft, was lost in this little patch of country between
+the Pangani and the Tanga railway. She knew that Wilhelmstal lay
+southeast of her about fifty miles; but, through a combination of
+untoward circumstances, she found herself unable to determine which
+was southeast.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place she had set out from German headquarters on a
+well-marked road that was being traveled by troops and with every
+reason to believe that she would follow that road to Wilhelmstal.
+Later she had been warned from this road by word that a strong
+British patrol had come down the west bank of the Pangani, effected
+a crossing south of her, and was even then marching on the railway
+at Tonda.</p>
+
+<p>After leaving the road she found herself in thick bush and as the
+sky was heavily overcast she presently had recourse to her compass
+and it was not until then that she discovered to her dismay that
+she did not have it with her. So sure was she of her woodcraft,
+however, that she continued on in the direction she thought west
+until she had covered sufficient distance to warrant her in feeling
+assured that, by now turning south, she could pass safely in rear
+of the British patrol.</p>
+
+<p>Nor did she commence to feel any doubts until long after she had
+again turned toward the east well south, as she thought, of the
+patrol. It was late afternoon—she should long since have struck
+the road again south of Tonda; but she had found no road and now
+she began to feel real anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>Her horse had traveled all day without food or water, night
+was approaching and with it a realization that she was hopelessly
+lost in a wild and trackless country notorious principally for its
+tsetse flies and savage beasts. It was maddening to know that she
+had absolutely no knowledge of the direction she was traveling—that
+she might be forging steadily further from the railway, deeper
+into the gloomy and forbidding country toward the Pangani; yet it
+was impossible to stop-she must go on.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Kircher was no coward, whatever else she may have been, but
+as night began to close down around her she could not shut out from
+her mind entirely contemplation of the terrors of the long hours
+ahead before the rising sun should dissipate the Stygian gloom—the
+horrid jungle night—that lures forth all the prowling, preying
+creatures of destruction.</p>
+
+<p>She found, just before dark, an open meadow-like break in the
+almost interminable bush. There was a small clump of trees near the
+center and here she decided to camp. The grass was high and thick,
+affording feed for her horse and a bed for herself, and there was
+more than enough dead wood lying about the trees to furnish a good
+fire well through the night. Removing the saddle and bridle from
+her mount she placed them at the foot of a tree and then picketed
+the animal close by. Then she busied herself collecting firewood
+and by the time darkness had fallen she had a good fire and enough
+wood to last until morning.</p>
+
+<p>From her saddlebags she took cold food and from her canteen a
+swallow of water. She could not afford more than a small swallow
+for she could not know how long a time it might be before she should
+find more. It filled her with sorrow that her poor horse must go
+waterless, for even German spies may have hearts and this one was
+very young and very feminine.</p>
+
+<p>It was now dark. There was neither moon nor stars and the light
+from her fire only accentuated the blackness beyond. She could see
+the grass about her and the boles of the trees which stood out in
+brilliant relief against the solid background of impenetrable night,
+and beyond the firelight there was nothing.</p>
+
+<p>The jungle seemed ominously quiet. Far away in the distance she
+heard faintly the boom of big guns; but she could not locate their
+direction. She strained her ears until her nerves were on the point
+of breaking; but she could not tell from whence the sound came. And
+it meant so much to her to know, for the battle-lines were north
+of her and if she could but locate the direction of the firing she
+would know which way to go in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning! Would she live to see another morning? She squared
+her shoulders and shook herself together. Such thoughts must be
+banished—they would never do. Bravely she hummed an air as she
+arranged her saddle near the fire and pulled a quantity of long
+grass to make a comfortable seat over which she spread her saddle
+blanket. Then she un-strapped a heavy, military coat from the cantle
+of her saddle and donned it, for the air was already chill.</p>
+
+<p>Seating herself where she could lean against the saddle she prepared
+to maintain a sleepless vigil throughout the night. For an hour
+the silence was broken only by the distant booming of the guns and
+the low noises of the feeding horse and then, from possibly a mile
+away, came the rumbling thunder of a lion's roar. The girl started
+and laid her hand upon the rifle at her side. A little shudder ran
+through her slight frame and she could feel the goose flesh rise
+upon her body.</p>
+
+<p>Again and again was the awful sound repeated and each time she was
+certain that it came nearer. She could locate the direction of this
+sound although she could not that of the guns, for the origin of
+the former was much closer. The lion was up wind and so could not
+have caught her scent as yet, though he might be approaching to
+investigate the light of the fire which could doubtless be seen
+for a considerable distance.</p>
+
+<p>For another fear-filled hour the girl sat straining her eyes and
+ears out into the black void beyond her little island of light.
+During all that time the lion did not roar again; but there was
+constantly the sensation that it was creeping upon her. Again and
+again she would start and turn to peer into the blackness beyond
+the trees behind her as her overwrought nerves conjured the stealthy
+fall of padded feet. She held the rifle across her knees at the
+ready now and she was trembling from head to foot.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly her horse raised his head and snorted, and with a little
+cry of terror the girl sprang to her feet. The animal turned and
+trotted back toward her until the picket rope brought him to a stand,
+and then he wheeled about and with ears up-pricked gazed out into
+the night; but the girl could neither see nor hear aught.</p>
+
+<p>Still another hour of terror passed during which the horse often
+raised his head to peer long and searchingly into the dark. The girl
+replenished the fire from time to time. She found herself becoming
+very sleepy. Her heavy lids persisted in drooping; but she dared
+not sleep. Fearful lest she might be overcome by the drowsiness
+that was stealing through her she rose and walked briskly to and
+fro, then she threw some more wood on the fire, walked over and
+stroked her horse's muzzle and returned to her seat.</p>
+
+<p>Leaning against the saddle she tried to occupy her mind with plans
+for the morrow; but she must have dozed. With a start she awoke.
+It was broad daylight. The hideous night with its indescribable
+terrors was gone.</p>
+
+<p>She could scarce believe the testimony of her senses. She had slept
+for hours, the fire was out and yet she and the horse were safe
+and alive, nor was there sign of savage beast about. And, best of
+all, the sun was shining, pointing the straight road to the east.
+Hastily she ate a few mouthfuls of her precious rations, which with
+a swallow of water constituted her breakfast. Then she saddled her
+horse and mounted. Already she felt that she was as good as safe
+in Wilhelmstal.</p>
+
+<p>Possibly, however, she might have revised her conclusions could she
+have seen the two pairs of eyes watching her every move intently
+from different points in the bush.</p>
+
+<p>Light-hearted and unsuspecting, the girl rode across the clearing
+toward the bush while directly before her two yellow-green eyes
+glared round and terrible, a tawny tail twitched nervously and
+great, padded paws gathered beneath a sleek barrel for a mighty
+spring. The horse was almost at the edge of the bush when Numa,
+the lion, launched himself through the air. He struck the animal's
+right shoulder at the instant that it reared, terrified, to wheel
+in flight. The force of the impact hurled the horse backward to the
+ground and so quickly that the girl had no opportunity to extricate
+herself; but fell to the earth with her mount, her left leg pinned
+beneath its body.</p>
+
+<p>Horror-stricken, she saw the king of beasts open his mighty jaws
+and seize the screaming creature by the back of its neck. The
+great jaws closed, there was an instant's struggle as Numa shook
+his prey. She could hear the vertebrae crack as the mighty fangs
+crunched through them, and then the muscles of her faithful friend
+relaxed in death.</p>
+
+<p>Numa crouched upon his kill. His terrifying eyes riveted themselves
+upon the girl's face—she could feel his hot breath upon her cheek
+and the odor of the fetid vapor nauseated her. For what seemed
+an eternity to the girl the two lay staring at each other and then
+the lion uttered a menacing growl.</p>
+
+<p>Never before had Bertha Kircher been so terrified—never before had
+she had such cause for terror. At her hip was a pistol—a formidable
+weapon with which to face a man; but a puny thing indeed with
+which to menace the great beast before her. She knew that at best
+it could but enrage him and yet she meant to sell her life dearly,
+for she felt that she must die. No human succor could have availed
+her even had it been there to offer itself. For a moment she tore
+her gaze from the hypnotic fascination of that awful face and
+breathed a last prayer to her God. She did not ask for aid, for she
+felt that she was beyond even divine succor—she only asked that
+the end might come quickly and with as little pain as possible.</p>
+
+<p>No one can prophesy what a lion will do in any given emergency.
+This one glared and growled at the girl for a moment and then fell
+to feeding upon the dead horse. Fraulein Kircher wondered for an
+instant and then attempted to draw her leg cautiously from beneath
+the body of her mount; but she could not budge it. She increased
+the force of her efforts and Numa looked up from his feeding to
+growl again. The girl desisted. She hoped that he might satisfy
+his hunger and then depart to lie up, but she could not believe
+that he would leave her there alive. Doubtless he would drag the
+remains of his kill into the bush for hiding and, as there could
+be no doubt that he considered her part of his prey, he would
+certainly come back for her, or possibly drag her in first and kill
+her.</p>
+
+<p>Again Numa fell to feeding. The girl's nerves were at the breaking
+point. She wondered that she had not fainted under the strain
+of terror and shock. She recalled that she often had wished she
+might see a lion, close to, make a kill and feed upon it. God! how
+realistically her wish had been granted.</p>
+
+<p>Again she bethought herself of her pistol. As she had fallen, the
+holster had slipped around so that the weapon now lay beneath her.
+Very slowly she reached for it; but in so doing she was forced to
+raise her body from the ground. Instantly the lion was aroused.
+With the swiftness of a cat he reached across the carcass of the
+horse and placed a heavy, taloned paw upon her breast, crushing her
+back to earth, and all the time he growled and snarled horribly.
+His face was a picture of frightful rage incarnate. For a moment
+neither moved and then from behind her the girl heard a human voice
+uttering bestial sounds.</p>
+
+<p>Numa suddenly looked up from the girl's face at the thing beyond
+her. His growls increased to roars as he drew back, ripping the
+front of the girl's waist almost from her body with his long talons,
+exposing her white bosom, which through some miracle of chance the
+great claws did not touch.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan of the Apes had witnessed the entire encounter from the
+moment that Numa had leaped upon his prey. For some time before,
+he had been watching the girl, and after the lion attacked her he
+had at first been minded to let Numa have his way with her. What
+was she but a hated German and a spy besides? He had seen her at
+General Kraut's headquarters, in conference with the German staff
+and again he had seen her within the British lines masquerading as
+a British officer. It was the latter thought that prompted him to
+interfere. Doubtless General Jan Smuts would be glad to meet and
+question her. She might be forced to divulge information of value
+to the British commander before Smuts had her shot.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan had recognized not only the girl, but the lion as well. All
+lions may look alike to you and me; but not so to their intimates
+of the jungle. Each has his individual characteristics of face and
+form and gait as well defined as those that differentiate members
+of the human family, and besides these the creatures of the jungle
+have a still more positive test-that of scent. Each of us, man or
+beast, has his own peculiar odor, and it is mostly by this that
+the beasts of the jungle, endowed with miraculous powers of scent,
+recognize individuals.</p>
+
+<p>It is the final proof. You have seen it demonstrated a thousand
+times—a dog recognizes your voice and looks at you. He knows your
+face and figure. Good, there can be no doubt in his mind but that
+it is you; but is he satisfied? No, sir-he must come up and smell
+of you. All his other senses may be fallible, but not his sense of
+smell, and so he makes assurance positive by the final test.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan recognized Numa as he whom he had muzzled with the hide of
+Horta, the boar—as he whom he handled by a rope for two days and
+finally loosed in a German front-line trench, and he knew that Numa
+would recognize him—that he would remember the sharp spear that
+had goaded him into submission and obedience and Tarzan hoped that
+the lesson he had learned still remained with the lion.</p>
+
+<p>Now he came forward calling to Numa in the language of the great
+apes—warning him away from the girl. It is open to question that
+Numa, the lion, understood him; but he did understand the menace of
+the heavy spear that the Tarmangani carried so ready in his brown,
+right hand, and so he drew back, growling, trying to decide in his
+little brain whether to charge or flee.</p>
+
+<p>On came the ape-man with never a pause, straight for the lion. "Go
+away, Numa," he cried, "or Tarzan will tie you up again and lead
+you through the jungle without food. See Arad, my spear! Do you
+recall how his point stuck into you and how with his haft I beat
+you over the head? Go, Numa! I am Tarzan of the Apes!"</p>
+
+<p>Numa wrinkled the skin of his face into great folds, until his
+eyes almost disappeared and he growled and roared and snarled and
+growled again, and when the spear point came at last quite close
+to him he struck at it viciously with his armed paw; but he drew
+back. Tarzan stepped over the dead horse and the girl lying behind
+him gazed in wide-eyed astonishment at the handsome figure driving
+an angry lion deliberately from its kill.</p>
+
+<p>When Numa had retreated a few yards, the ape-man called back to
+the girl in perfect German, "Are you badly hurt?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think not," she replied; "but I cannot extricate my foot from
+beneath my horse."</p>
+
+<p>"Try again," commanded Tarzan. "I do not know how long I can hold
+Numa thus."</p>
+
+<p>The girl struggled frantically; but at last she sank back upon an
+elbow.</p>
+
+<p>"It is impossible," she called to him.</p>
+
+<p>He backed slowly until he was again beside the horse, when he
+reached down and grasped the cinch, which was still intact. Then
+with one hand he raised the carcass from the ground. The girl
+freed herself and rose to her feet.</p>
+
+<p>"You can walk?" asked Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said; "my leg is numb; but it does not seem to be
+injured."</p>
+
+<p>"Good," commented the ape-man. "Back slowly away behind me—make
+no sudden movements. I think he will not charge."</p>
+
+<p>With utmost deliberation the two backed toward the bush. Numa
+stood for a moment, growling, then he followed them, slowly. Tarzan
+wondered if he would come beyond his kill or if he would stop there.
+If he followed them beyond, then they could look for a charge, and
+if Numa charged it was very likely that he would get one of them.
+When the lion reached the carcass of the horse Tarzan stopped and
+so did Numa, as Tarzan had thought that he would and the ape-man
+waited to see what the lion would do next. He eyed them for a
+moment, snarled angrily and then looked down at the tempting meat.
+Presently he crouched upon his kill and resumed feeding.</p>
+
+<p>The girl breathed a deep sigh of relief as she and the ape-man
+resumed their slow retreat with only an occasional glance from the
+lion, and when at last they reached the bush and had turned and
+entered it, she felt a sudden giddiness overwhelm her so that she
+staggered and would have fallen had Tarzan not caught her. It was
+only a moment before she regained control of herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I could not help it," she said, in half apology. "I was so close
+to death—such a horrible death—it unnerved me for an instant;
+but I am all right now. How can I ever thank you? It was so
+wonderful—you did not seem to fear the frightful creature in the
+least; yet he was afraid of you. Who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"He knows me," replied Tarzan, grimly—"that is why he fears me."</p>
+
+<p>He was standing facing the girl now and for the first time
+he had a chance to look at her squarely and closely. She was very
+beautiful—that was undeniable; but Tarzan realized her beauty only
+in a subconscious way. It was superficial—it did not color her
+soul which must be black as sin. She was German—a German spy. He
+hated her and desired only to compass her destruction; but he would
+choose the manner so that it would work most grievously against
+the enemy cause.</p>
+
+<p>He saw her naked breasts where Numa had torn her clothing from her
+and dangling there against the soft, white flesh he saw that which
+brought a sudden scowl of surprise and anger to his face—the
+diamond-studded, golden locket of his youth—the love token that
+had been stolen from the breast of his mate by Schneider, the Hun.
+The girl saw the scowl but did not interpret it correctly. Tarzan
+grasped her roughly by the arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get this?" he demanded, as he tore the bauble from
+her.</p>
+
+<p>The girl drew herself to her full height. "Take your hand from me,"
+she demanded, but the ape-man paid no attention to her words, only
+seizing her more forcibly.</p>
+
+<p>"Answer me!" he snapped. "Where did you get this?"</p>
+
+<p>"What is it to you?" she countered.</p>
+
+<p>"It is mine," he replied. "Tell me who gave it to you or I will
+throw you back to Numa."</p>
+
+<p>"You would do that?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" he queried. "You are a spy and spies must die if they
+are caught."</p>
+
+<p>"You were going to kill me, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was going to take you to headquarters. They would dispose of
+you there; but Numa can do it quite as effectively. Which do you
+prefer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hauptmann Fritz Schneider gave it to me," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Headquarters it will be then," said Tarzan. "Come!" The girl
+moved at his side through the bush and all the time her mind worked
+quickly. They were moving east, which suited her, and as long as
+they continued to move east she was glad to have the protection
+of the great, white savage. She speculated much upon the fact that
+her pistol still swung at her hip. The man must be mad not to take
+it from her.</p>
+
+<p>"What makes you think I am a spy?" she asked after a long silence.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw you at German headquarters," he replied, "and then again
+inside the British lines."</p>
+
+<p>She could not let him take her back to them. She must reach
+Wilhelmstal at once and she was determined to do so even if she
+must have recourse to her pistol. She cast a side glance at the
+tall figure. What a magnificent creature! But yet he was a brute
+who would kill her or have her killed if she did not slay him. And
+the locket! She must have that back—it must not fail to reach
+Wilhelmstal. Tarzan was now a foot or two ahead of her as the path
+was very narrow. Cautiously she drew her pistol. A single shot would
+suffice and he was so close that she could not miss. As she figured
+it all out her eyes rested on the brown skin with the graceful muscles
+rolling beneath it and the perfect limbs and head and the carriage
+that a proud king of old might have envied. A wave of revulsion
+for her contemplated act surged through her. No, she could not
+do it—yet, she must be free and she must regain possession of
+the locket. And then, almost blindly, she swung the weapon up and
+struck Tarzan heavily upon the back of the head with its butt. Like
+a felled ox he dropped in his tracks.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chaptervi" id="chaptervi">Vengeance and Mercy</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>It was an hour later that Sheeta, the panther, hunting, chanced to
+glance upward into the blue sky where his attention was attracted
+by Ska, the vulture, circling slowly above the bush a mile away and
+downwind. For a long minute the yellow eyes stared intently at the
+gruesome bird. They saw Ska dive and rise again to continue his
+ominous circling and in these movements their woodcraft read that
+which, while obvious to Sheeta, would doubtless have meant nothing
+to you or me.</p>
+
+<p>The hunting cat guessed that on the ground beneath Ska was some
+living thing of flesh—either a beast feeding upon its kill or a
+dying animal that Ska did not yet dare attack. In either event it
+might prove meat for Sheeta, and so the wary feline stalked by a
+circuitous route, upon soft, padded feet that gave forth no sound,
+until the circling aasvogel and his intended prey were upwind. Then,
+sniffing each vagrant zephyr, Sheeta, the panther, crept cautiously
+forward, nor had he advanced any considerable distance before his
+keen nostrils were rewarded with the scent of man—a Tarmangani.</p>
+
+<p>Sheeta paused. He was not a hunter of men. He was young and in his
+prime; but always before he had avoided this hated presence. Of
+late he had become more accustomed to it with the passing of many
+soldiers through his ancient hunting ground, and as the soldiers
+had frightened away a great part of the game Sheeta had been wont
+to feed upon, the days had been lean, and Sheeta was hungry.</p>
+
+<p>The circling Ska suggested that this Tarmangani might be helpless
+and upon the point of dying, else Ska would not have been interested
+in him, and so easy prey for Sheeta. With this thought in mind the
+cat resumed his stalking. Presently he pushed through the thick
+bush and his yellow-green eyes rested gloatingly upon the body of
+an almost naked Tarmangani lying face down in a narrow game trail.</p>
+
+<p>Numa, sated, rose from the carcass of Bertha Kircher's horse and
+seized the partially devoured body by the neck and dragged it into
+the bush; then he started east toward the lair where he had left
+his mate. Being uncomfortably full he was inclined to be sleepy
+and far from belligerent. He moved slowly and majestically with no
+effort at silence or concealment. The king walked abroad, unafraid.</p>
+
+<p>With an occasional regal glance to right or left he moved along a
+narrow game trail until at a turn he came to a sudden stop at what
+lay revealed before him—Sheeta, the panther, creeping stealthily
+upon the almost naked body of a Tarmangani lying face down in the
+deep dust of the pathway. Numa glared intently at the quiet body
+in the dust. Recognition came. It was his Tarmangani. A low growl
+of warning rumbled from his throat and Sheeta halted with one paw
+upon Tarzan's back and turned suddenly to eye the intruder.</p>
+
+<p>What passed within those savage brains? Who may say? The panther
+seemed debating the wisdom of defending his find, for he growled
+horribly as though warning Numa away from the prey. And Numa? Was
+the idea of property rights dominating his thoughts? The Tarmangani
+was his, or he was the Tarmangani's. Had not the Great White Ape
+mastered and subdued him and, too, had he not fed him? Numa recalled
+the fear that he had felt of this man-thing and his cruel spear;
+but in savage brains fear is more likely to engender respect than
+hatred and so Numa found that he respected the creature who had
+subdued and mastered him. He saw Sheeta, upon whom he looked with
+contempt, daring to molest the master of the lion. Jealousy and
+greed alone might have been sufficient to prompt Numa to drive Sheeta
+away, even though the lion was not sufficiently hungry to devour
+the flesh that he thus wrested from the lesser cat; but then, too,
+there was in the little brain within the massive head a sense of
+loyalty, and perhaps this it was that sent Numa quickly forward,
+growling, toward the spitting Sheeta.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the latter stood his ground with arched back and
+snarling face, for all the world like a great, spotted tabby.</p>
+
+<p>Numa had not felt like fighting; but the sight of Sheeta daring
+to dispute his rights kindled his ferocious brain to sudden fire.
+His rounded eyes glared with rage, his undulating tail snapped to
+stiff erectness as, with a frightful roar, he charged this presuming
+vassal.</p>
+
+<p>It came so suddenly and from so short a distance that Sheeta had
+no chance to turn and flee the rush, and so he met it with raking
+talons and snapping jaws; but the odds were all against him. To
+the larger fangs and the more powerful jaws of his adversary were
+added huge talons and the preponderance of the lion's great weight.
+At the first clash Sheeta was crushed and, though he deliberately
+fell upon his back and drew up his powerful hind legs beneath Numa
+with the intention of disemboweling him, the lion forestalled him
+and at the same time closed his awful jaws upon Sheeta's throat.</p>
+
+<p>It was soon over. Numa rose, shaking himself, and stood above the
+torn and mutilated body of his foe. His own sleek coat was cut and
+the red blood trickled down his flank; though it was but a minor
+injury, it angered him. He glared down at the dead panther and
+then, in a fit of rage, he seized and mauled the body only to drop
+it in a moment, lower his head, voice a single terrific roar, and
+turn toward the ape-man.</p>
+
+<p>Approaching the still form he sniffed it over from head to foot.
+Then he placed a huge paw upon it and turned it over with its face
+up. Again he smelled about the body and at last with his rough tongue
+licked Tarzan's face. It was then that Tarzan opened his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Above him towered the huge lion, its hot breath upon his face, its
+rough tongue upon his cheek. The ape-man had often been close to
+death; but never before so close as this, he thought, for he was
+convinced that death was but a matter of seconds. His brain was
+still numb from the effects of the blow that had felled him, and
+so he did not, for a moment, recognize the lion that stood over
+him as the one he had so recently encountered.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, however, recognition dawned upon him and with it
+a realization of the astounding fact that Numa did not seem bent
+on devouring him—at least not immediately. His position was a
+delicate one. The lion stood astraddle Tarzan with his front paws.
+The ape-man could not rise, therefore, without pushing the lion away
+and whether Numa would tolerate being pushed was an open question.
+Too, the beast might consider him already dead and any movement that
+indicated the contrary was true would, in all likelihood, arouse
+the killing instinct of the man-eater.</p>
+
+<p>But Tarzan was tiring of the situation. He was in no mood to lie
+there forever, especially when he contemplated the fact that the
+girl spy who had tried to brain him was undoubtedly escaping as
+rapidly as possible.</p>
+
+<p>Numa was looking right into his eyes now evidently aware that he was
+alive. Presently the lion cocked his head on one side and whined.
+Tarzan knew the note, and he knew that it spelled neither rage nor
+hunger, and then he risked all on a single throw, encouraged by
+that low whine.</p>
+
+<p>"Move, Numa!" he commanded and placing a palm against the tawny
+shoulder he pushed the lion aside. Then he rose and with a hand
+on his hunting knife awaited that which might follow. It was then
+that his eyes fell for the first time on the torn body of Sheeta.
+He looked from the dead cat to the live one and saw the marks of
+conflict upon the latter, too, and in an instant realized something
+of what had happened—Numa had saved him from the panther!</p>
+
+<p>It seemed incredible and yet the evidence pointed clearly to the
+fact. He turned toward the lion and without fear approached and
+examined his wounds which he found superficial, and as Tarzan knelt
+beside him Numa rubbed an itching ear against the naked, brown
+shoulder. Then the ape-man stroked the great head, picked up his
+spear, and looked about for the trail of the girl. This he soon
+found leading toward the east, and as he set out upon it something
+prompted him to feel for the locket he had hung about his neck. It
+was gone!</p>
+
+<p>No trace of anger was apparent upon the ape-man's face unless it
+was a slight tightening of the jaws; but he put his hand ruefully
+to the back of his head where a bump marked the place where the
+girl had struck him and a moment later a half-smile played across
+his lips. He could not help but admit that she had tricked him
+neatly, and that it must have taken nerve to do the thing she did
+and to set out armed only with a pistol through the trackless waste
+that lay between them and the railway and beyond into the hills
+where Wilhelmstal lies.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan admired courage. He was big enough to admit it and admire
+it even in a German spy, but he saw that in this case it only added
+to her resourcefulness and made her all the more dangerous and the
+necessity for putting her out of the way paramount. He hoped to
+overtake her before she reached Wilhelmstal and so he set out at
+the swinging trot that he could hold for hours at a stretch without
+apparent fatigue.</p>
+
+<p>That the girl could hope to reach the town on foot in less than two
+days seemed improbable, for it was a good thirty miles and part
+of it hilly. Even as the thought crossed his mind he heard the
+whistle of a locomotive to the east and knew that the railway was
+in operation again after a shutdown of several days. If the train
+was going south the girl would signal it if she had reached the
+right of way. His keen ears caught the whining of brake shoes on
+wheels and a few minutes later the signal blast for brakes off.
+The train had stopped and started again and, as it gained headway
+and greater distance, Tarzan could tell from the direction of the
+sound that it was moving south.</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man followed the trail to the railway where it ended
+abruptly on the west side of the track, showing that the girl had
+boarded the train, just as he thought. There was nothing now but
+to follow on to Wilhelmstal, where he hoped to find Captain Fritz
+Schneider, as well as the girl, and to recover his diamond-studded
+locket.</p>
+
+<p>It was dark when Tarzan reached the little hill town of Wilhelmstal.
+He loitered on the outskirts, getting his bearings and trying to
+determine how an almost naked white man might explore the village
+without arousing suspicion. There were many soldiers about and
+the town was under guard, for he could see a lone sentinel walking
+his post scarce a hundred yards from him. To elude this one would
+not be difficult; but to enter the village and search it would be
+practically impossible, garbed, or un-garbed, as he was.</p>
+
+<p>Creeping forward, taking advantage of every cover, lying flat and
+motionless when the sentry's face was toward him, the ape-man at
+last reached the sheltering shadows of an outhouse just inside the
+lines. From there he moved stealthily from building to building
+until at last he was discovered by a large dog in the rear of one of
+the bungalows. The brute came slowly toward him, growling. Tarzan
+stood motionless beside a tree. He could see a light in the bungalow
+and uniformed men moving about and he hoped that the dog would not
+bark. He did not; but he growled more savagely and, just at the
+moment that the rear door of the bungalow opened and a man stepped
+out, the animal charged.</p>
+
+<p>He was a large dog, as large as Dango, the hyena, and he charged
+with all the vicious impetuosity of Numa, the lion. As he came
+Tarzan knelt and the dog shot through the air for his throat; but
+he was dealing with no man now and he found his quickness more
+than matched by the quickness of the Tarmangani. His teeth never
+reached the soft flesh—strong fingers, fingers of steel, seized
+his neck. He voiced a single startled yelp and clawed at the naked
+breast before him with his talons; but he was powerless. The mighty
+fingers closed upon his throat; the man rose, snapped the clawing
+body once, and cast it aside. At the same time a voice from the
+open bungalow door called: "Simba!"</p>
+
+<p>There was no response. Repeating the call the man descended the
+steps and advanced toward the tree. In the light from the doorway
+Tarzan could see that he was a tall, broad-shouldered man in the
+uniform of a German officer. The ape-man withdrew into the shadow
+of the tree's stem. The man came closer, still calling the dog—he
+did not see the savage beast, crouching now in the shadow, awaiting
+him. When he had approached within ten feet of the Tarmangani,
+Tarzan leaped upon him—as Sabor springs to the kill, so sprang the
+ape-man. The momentum and weight of his body hurled the German to
+the ground, powerful fingers prevented an outcry and, though the
+officer struggled, he had no chance and a moment later lay dead
+beside the body of the dog.</p>
+
+<p>As Tarzan stood for a moment looking down upon his kill and regretting
+that he could not risk voicing his beloved victory cry, the sight
+of the uniform suggested a means whereby he might pass to and
+fro through Wilhelmstal with the minimum chance of detection. Ten
+minutes later a tall, broad-shouldered officer stepped from the
+yard of the bungalow leaving behind him the corpses of a dog and
+a naked man.</p>
+
+<p>He walked boldly along the little street and those who passed him
+could not guess that beneath Imperial Germany's uniform beat a
+savage heart that pulsed with implacable hatred for the Hun. Tarzan's
+first concern was to locate the hotel, for here he guessed he would
+find the girl, and where the girl was doubtless would be Hauptmann
+Fritz Schneider, who was either her confederate, her sweetheart,
+or both, and there, too, would be Tarzan's precious locket.</p>
+
+<p>He found the hotel at last, a low, two-storied building with
+a veranda. There were lights on both floors and people, mostly
+officers, could be seen within. The ape-man considered entering
+and inquiring for those he sought; but his better judgment finally
+prompted him to reconnoiter first. Passing around the building he
+looked into all the lighted rooms on the first floor and, seeing
+neither of those for whom he had come, he swung lightly to the roof
+of the veranda and continued his investigations through windows of
+the second story.</p>
+
+<p>At one corner of the hotel in a rear room the blinds were drawn;
+but he heard voices within and once he saw a figure silhouetted
+momentarily against the blind. It appeared to be the figure
+of a woman; but it was gone so quickly that he could not be sure.
+Tarzan crept close to the window and listened. Yes, there was a
+woman there and a man—he heard distinctly the tones of their voices
+although he could overhear no words, as they seemed to be whispering.</p>
+
+<p>The adjoining room was dark. Tarzan tried the window and found it
+unlatched. All was quiet within. He raised the sash and listened
+again—still silence. Placing a leg over the sill he slipped within
+and hurriedly glanced about. The room was vacant. Crossing to the
+door he opened it and looked out into the hall. There was no one
+there, either, and he stepped out and approached the door of the
+adjoining room where the man and woman were.</p>
+
+<p>Pressing close to the door he listened. Now he distinguished
+words, for the two had raised their voices as though in argument.
+The woman was speaking.</p>
+
+<p>"I have brought the locket," she said, "as was agreed upon between
+you and General Kraut, as my identification. I carry no other
+credentials. This was to be enough. You have nothing to do but give
+me the papers and let me go."</p>
+
+<p>The man replied in so low a tone that Tarzan could not catch the
+words and then the woman spoke again—a note of scorn and perhaps
+a little of fear in her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"You would not dare, Hauptmann Schneider," she said, and then: "Do
+not touch me! Take your hands from me!"</p>
+
+<p>It was then that Tarzan of the Apes opened the door and stepped
+into the room. What he saw was a huge, bull-necked German officer
+with one arm about the waist of Fraulein Bertha Kircher and a hand
+upon her forehead pushing her head back as he tried to kiss her
+on the mouth. The girl was struggling against the great brute; but
+her efforts were futile. Slowly the man's lips were coming closer
+to hers and slowly, step by step, she was being carried backward.</p>
+
+<p>Schneider heard the noise of the opening and closing door behind
+him and turned. At sight of this strange officer he dropped the
+girl and straightened up.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the meaning of this intrusion, Lieutenant?" he demanded,
+noting the other's epaulettes. "Leave the room at once."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan made no articulate reply; but the two there with him heard
+a low growl break from those firm lips—a growl that sent a shudder
+through the frame of the girl and brought a pallor to the red face
+of the Hun and his hand to his pistol but even as he drew his weapon
+it was wrested from him and hurled through the blind and window to
+the yard beyond. Then Tarzan backed against the door and slowly
+removed the uniform coat.</p>
+
+<p>"You are Hauptmann Schneider," he said to the German.</p>
+
+<p>"What of it?" growled the latter.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Tarzan of the Apes," replied the ape-man. "Now you know why
+I intrude."</p>
+
+<p>The two before him saw that he was naked beneath the coat which he
+threw upon the floor and then he slipped quickly from the trousers
+and stood there clothed only in his loin cloth. The girl had
+recognized him by this time, too.</p>
+
+<p>"Take your hand off that pistol," Tarzan admonished her. Her hand
+dropped at her side. "Now come here!"</p>
+
+<p>She approached and Tarzan removed the weapon and hurled it after
+the other. At the mention of his name Tarzan had noted the sickly
+pallor that overspread the features of the Hun. At last he had found
+the right man. At last his mate would be partially avenged—never
+could she be entirely avenged. Life was too short and there were
+too many Germans.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want of me?" demanded Schneider.</p>
+
+<p>"You are going to pay the price for the thing you did at the little
+bungalow in the Waziri country," replied the ape-man.</p>
+
+<p>Schneider commenced to bluster and threaten. Tarzan turned the key
+in the lock of the door and hurled the former through the window
+after the pistols. Then he turned to the girl. "Keep out of the
+way," he said in a low voice. "Tarzan of the Apes is going to kill."</p>
+
+<p>The Hun ceased blustering and began to plead. "I have a wife and
+children at home," he cried. "I have done nothing," I—"</p>
+
+<p>"You are going to die as befits your kind," said Tarzan, "with blood
+on your hands and a lie on your lips." He started across the room
+toward the burly Hauptmann. Schneider was a large and powerful
+man—about the height of the ape-man but much heavier. He saw that
+neither threats nor pleas would avail him and so he prepared to
+fight as a cornered rat fights for its life with all the maniacal
+rage, cunning, and ferocity that the first law of nature imparts
+to many beasts.</p>
+
+<p>Lowering his bull head he charged for the ape-man and in the center
+of the floor the two clinched. There they stood locked and swaying
+for a moment until Tarzan succeeded in forcing his antagonist backward
+over a table which crashed to the floor, splintered by the weight
+of the two heavy bodies.</p>
+
+<p>The girl stood watching the battle with wide eyes. She saw the two
+men rolling hither and thither across the floor and she heard with
+horror the low growls that came from the lips of the naked giant.
+Schneider was trying to reach his foe's throat with his fingers
+while, horror of horrors, Bertha Kircher could see that the other
+was searching for the German's jugular with his teeth!</p>
+
+<p>Schneider seemed to realize this too, for he redoubled his efforts
+to escape and finally succeeded in rolling over on top of the ape-man
+and breaking away. Leaping to his feet he ran for the window; but
+the ape-man was too quick for him and before he could leap through
+the sash a heavy hand fell upon his shoulder and he was jerked
+back and hurled across the room to the opposite wall. There Tarzan
+followed him, and once again they locked, dealing each other terrific
+blows, until Schneider in a piercing voice screamed, "Kamerad!
+Kamerad!"</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan grasped the man by the throat and drew his hunting knife.
+Schneider's back was against the wall so that though his knees
+wobbled he was held erect by the ape-man. Tarzan brought the sharp
+point to the lower part of the German's abdomen.</p>
+
+<p>"Thus you slew my mate," he hissed in a terrible voice. "Thus
+shall you die!"</p>
+
+<p>The girl staggered forward. "Oh, God, no!" she cried. "Not that.
+You are too brave—you cannot be such a beast as that!"</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan turned at her. "No," he said, "you are right, I cannot do
+it—I am no German," and he raised the point of his blade and sunk
+it deep into the putrid heart of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider, putting
+a bloody period to the Hun's last gasping cry: "I did not do it!
+She is not—"</p>
+
+<p>Then Tarzan turned toward the girl and held out his hand. "Give
+me my locket," he said.</p>
+
+<p>She pointed toward the dead officer. "He has it." Tarzan searched
+him and found the trinket. "Now you may give me the papers," he said
+to the girl, and without a word she handed him a folded document.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time he stood looking at her before he spoke again.</p>
+
+<p>"I came for you, too," he said. "It would be difficult to take you
+back from here and so I was going to kill you, as I have sworn to
+kill all your kind; but you were right when you said that I was
+not such a beast as that slayer of women. I could not slay him as
+he slew mine, nor can I slay you, who are a woman."</p>
+
+<p>He crossed to the window, raised the sash and an instant later he
+had stepped out and disappeared into the night. And then Fraulein
+Bertha Kircher stepped quickly to the corpse upon the floor, slipped
+her hand inside the blouse and drew forth a little sheaf of papers
+which she tucked into her waist before she went to the window and
+called for help.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chaptervii" id="chaptervii">When Blood Told</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Tarzan of the Apes was disgusted. He had had the German spy, Bertha
+Kircher, in his power and had left her unscathed. It is true that he
+had slain Hauptmann Fritz Schneider, that Underlieutenant von Goss
+had died at his hands, and that he had otherwise wreaked vengeance
+upon the men of the German company who had murdered, pillaged, and
+raped at Tarzan's bungalow in the Waziri country. There was still
+another officer to be accounted for, but him he could not find.
+It was Lieutenant Obergatz he still sought, though vainly, for at
+last he learned that the man had been sent upon some special mission,
+whether in Africa or back to Europe Tarzan's informant either did
+not know or would not divulge.</p>
+
+<p>But the fact that he had permitted sentiment to stay his hand when
+he might so easily have put Bertha Kircher out of the way in the
+hotel at Wilhelmstal that night rankled in the ape-man's bosom.
+He was shamed by his weakness, and when he had handed the paper
+she had given him to the British chief of staff, even though
+the information it contained permitted the British to frustrate a
+German flank attack, he was still much dissatisfied with himself.
+And possibly the root of this dissatisfaction lay in the fact that
+he realized that were he again to have the same opportunity he
+would still find it as impossible to slay a woman as it had been
+in Wilhelmstal that night.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan blamed this weakness, as he considered it, upon his association
+with the effeminizing influences of civilization, for in the bottom
+of his savage heart he held in contempt both civilization and its
+representatives—the men and women of the civilized countries of
+the world. Always was he comparing their weaknesses, their vices,
+their hypocrisies, and their little vanities with the open,
+primitive ways of his ferocious jungle mates, and all the while
+there battled in that same big heart with these forces another mighty
+force—Tarzan's love and loyalty for his friends of the civilized
+world.</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man, reared as he had been by savage beasts amid savage
+beasts, was slow to make friends. Acquaintances he numbered by the
+hundreds; but of friends he had few. These few he would have died
+for as, doubtless, they would have died for him; but there were
+none of these fighting with the British forces in East Africa, and
+so, sickened and disgusted by the sight of man waging his cruel
+and inhuman warfare, Tarzan determined to heed the insistent call
+of the remote jungle of his youth, for the Germans were now on the
+run and the war in East Africa was so nearly over that he realized
+that his further services would be of negligible value.</p>
+
+<p>Never regularly sworn into the service of the King, he was under
+no obligation to remain now that the moral obligation had been
+removed, and so it was that he disappeared from the British camp
+as mysteriously as he had appeared a few months before.</p>
+
+<p>More than once had Tarzan reverted to the primitive only to return
+again to civilization through love for his mate; but now that she
+was gone he felt that this time he had definitely departed forever
+from the haunts of man, and that he should live and die a beast
+among beasts even as he had been from infancy to maturity.</p>
+
+<p>Between him and destination lay a trackless wilderness of untouched
+primeval savagery where, doubtless in many spots, his would be the
+first human foot to touch the virgin turf. Nor did this prospect
+dismay the Tarmangani—rather was it an urge and an inducement, for
+rich in his veins flowed that noble strain of blood that has made
+most of the earth's surface habitable for man.</p>
+
+<p>The question of food and water that would have risen paramount in
+the mind of an ordinary man contemplating such an excursion gave
+Tarzan little concern. The wilderness was his natural habitat
+and woodcraft as inherent to him as breathing. Like other jungle
+animals he could scent water from a great distance and, where you
+or I might die of thirst, the ape-man would unerringly select the
+exact spot at which to dig and find water.</p>
+
+<p>For several days Tarzan traversed a country rich in game
+and watercourses. He moved slowly, hunting and fishing, or again
+fraternizing or quarreling with the other savage denizens of
+the jungle. Now it was little Manu, the monkey, who chattered and
+scolded at the mighty Tarmangani and in the next breath warned him
+that Histah, the snake, lay coiled in the long grass just ahead.
+Of Manu Tarzan inquired concerning the great apes—the Mangani—and
+was told that few inhabited this part of the jungle, and that even
+these were hunting farther to the north this season of the year.</p>
+
+<p>"But there is Bolgani," said Manu. "Would you like to see Bolgani?"</p>
+
+<p>Manu's tone was sneering, and Tarzan knew that it was because little
+Manu thought all creatures feared mighty Bolgani, the gorilla.
+Tarzan arched his great chest and struck it with a clinched fist.
+"I am Tarzan," he cried. "While Tarzan was yet a balu he slew a
+Bolgani. Tarzan seeks the Mangani, who are his brothers, but Bolgani
+he does not seek, so let Bolgani keep from the path of Tarzan."</p>
+
+<p>Little Manu, the monkey, was much impressed, for the way of the
+jungle is to boast and to believe. It was then that he condescended
+to tell Tarzan more of the Mangani.</p>
+
+<p>"They go there and there and there," he said, making a wide sweep
+with a brown hand first toward the north, then west, and then south
+again. "For there," and he pointed due west, "is much hunting; but
+between lies a great place where there is no food and no water,
+so they must go that way," and again he swung his hand through the
+half-circle that explained to Tarzan the great detour the apes made
+to come to their hunting ground to the west.</p>
+
+<p>That was all right for the Mangani, who are lazy and do not care to
+move rapidly; but for Tarzan the straight road would be the best.
+He would cross the dry country and come to the good hunting in a third
+of the time that it would take to go far to the north and circle
+back again. And so it was that he continued on toward the west, and
+crossing a range of low mountains came in sight of a broad plateau,
+rock strewn and desolate. Far in the distance he saw another range
+of mountains beyond which he felt must lie the hunting ground of
+the Mangani. There he would join them and remain for a while before
+continuing on toward the coast and the little cabin that his father
+had built beside the land-locked harbor at the jungle's edge.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan was full of plans. He would rebuild and enlarge the cabin
+of his birth, constructing storage houses where he would make the
+apes lay away food when it was plenty against the times that were
+lean—a thing no ape ever had dreamed of doing. And the tribe would
+remain always in the locality and he would be king again as he had
+in the past. He would try to teach them some of the better things
+that he had learned from man, yet knowing the ape-mind as only
+Tarzan could, he feared that his labors would be for naught.</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man found the country he was crossing rough in the extreme,
+the roughest he ever had encountered. The plateau was cut by frequent
+canyons the passage of which often entailed hours of wearing effort.
+The vegetation was sparse and of a faded brown color that lent to
+the whole landscape a most depressing aspect. Great rocks were strewn
+in every direction as far as the eye could see, lying partially
+embedded in an impalpable dust that rose in clouds about him at
+every step. The sun beat down mercilessly out of a cloudless sky.</p>
+
+<p>For a day Tarzan toiled across this now hateful land and at the
+going down of the sun the distant mountains to the west seemed no
+nearer than at morn. Never a sign of living thing had the ape-man
+seen, other than Ska, that bird of ill omen, that had followed him
+tirelessly since he had entered this parched waste.</p>
+
+<p>No littlest beetle that he might eat had given evidence that life
+of any sort existed here, and it was a hungry and thirsty Tarzan who
+lay down to rest in the evening. He decided now to push on during
+the cool of the night, for he realized that even mighty Tarzan had
+his limitations and that where there was no food one could not eat
+and where there was no water the greatest woodcraft in the world
+could find none. It was a totally new experience to Tarzan to find
+so barren and terrible a country in his beloved Africa. Even the
+Sahara had its oases; but this frightful world gave no indication
+of containing a square foot of hospitable ground.</p>
+
+<p>However, he had no misgivings but that he would fare forth into
+the wonder country of which little Manu had told him, though it
+was certain that he would do it with a dry skin and an empty belly.
+And so he fought on until daylight, when he again felt the need
+of rest. He was at the edge of another of those terrible canyons,
+the eighth he had crossed, whose precipitous sides would have taxed
+to the uttermost the strength of an untired man well fortified by
+food and water, and for the first time, as he looked down into the
+abyss and then at the opposite side that he must scale, misgivings
+began to assail his mind.</p>
+
+<p>He did not fear death—with the memory of his murdered mate still
+fresh in his mind he almost courted it, yet strong within him
+was that primal instinct of self-preservation—the battling force
+of life that would keep him an active contender against the Great
+Reaper until, fighting to the very last, he should be overcome by
+a superior power.</p>
+
+<p>A shadow swung slowly across the ground beside him, and looking
+up, the ape-man saw Ska, the vulture, wheeling a wide circle above
+him. The grim and persistent harbinger of evil aroused the man
+to renewed determination. He arose and approached the edge of the
+canyon, and then, wheeling, with his face turned upward toward the
+circling bird of prey, he bellowed forth the challenge of the bull
+ape.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Tarzan," he shouted, "Lord of the Jungle. Tarzan of the Apes
+is not for Ska, eater of carrion. Go back to the lair of Dango
+and feed off the leavings of the hyenas, for Tarzan will leave no
+bones for Ska to pick in this empty wilderness of death."</p>
+
+<p>But before he reached the bottom of the canyon he again was forced
+to the realization that his great strength was waning, and when he
+dropped exhausted at the foot of the cliff and saw before him the
+opposite wall that must be scaled, he bared his fighting fangs and
+growled. For an hour he lay resting in the cool shade at the foot
+of the cliff. All about him reigned utter silence—the silence of
+the tomb. No fluttering birds, no humming insects, no scurrying
+reptiles relieved the deathlike stillness. This indeed was the
+valley of death. He felt the depressing influence of the horrible
+place setting down upon him; but he staggered to his feet, shaking
+himself like a great lion, for was he not still Tarzan, mighty
+Tarzan of the Apes? Yes, and Tarzan the mighty he would be until
+the last throb of that savage heart!</p>
+
+<p>As he crossed the floor of the canyon he saw something lying close
+to the base of the side wall he was approaching-something that
+stood out in startling contrast to all the surroundings and yet
+seemed so much a part and parcel of the somber scene as to suggest
+an actor amid the settings of a well-appointed stage, and, as though
+to carry out the allegory, the pitiless rays of flaming Kudu topped
+the eastern cliff, picking out the thing lying at the foot of the
+western wall like a giant spotlight.</p>
+
+<p>And as Tarzan came nearer he saw the bleached skull and bones of
+a human being about which were remnants of clothing and articles
+of equipment that, as he examined them, filled the ape-man with
+curiosity to such an extent that for a time he forgot his own
+predicament in contemplation of the remarkable story suggested by
+these mute evidences of a tragedy of a time long past.</p>
+
+<p>The bones were in a fair state of preservation and indicated by
+their intactness that the flesh had probably been picked from them
+by vultures as none was broken; but the pieces of equipment bore
+out the suggestion of their great age. In this protected spot where
+there were no frosts and evidently but little rainfall, the bones
+might have lain for ages without disintegrating, for there were
+here no other forces to scatter or disturb them.</p>
+
+<p>Near the skeleton lay a helmet of hammered brass and a corroded
+breastplate of steel while at one side was a long, straight sword
+in its scabbard and an ancient harquebus. The bones were those of
+a large man—a man of wondrous strength and vitality Tarzan knew
+he must have been to have penetrated thus far through the dangers
+of Africa with such a ponderous yet at the same time futile armament.</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man felt a sense of deep admiration for this nameless
+adventurer of a bygone day. What a brute of a man he must have been
+and what a glorious tale of battle and kaleidoscopic vicissitudes
+of fortune must once have been locked within that whitened skull!
+Tarzan stooped to examine the shreds of clothing that still lay
+about the bones. Every particle of leather had disappeared, doubtless
+eaten by Ska. No boots remained, if the man had worn boots, but
+there were several buckles scattered about suggesting that a great
+part of his trappings had been of leather, while just beneath the
+bones of one hand lay a metal cylinder about eight inches long and
+two inches in diameter. As Tarzan picked it up he saw that it had
+been heavily lacquered and had withstood the slight ravages of
+time so well as to be in as perfect a state of preservation today
+as it had been when its owner dropped into his last, long sleep
+perhaps centuries ago.</p>
+
+<p>As he examined it he discovered that one end was closed with
+a friction cover which a little twisting force soon loosened and
+removed, revealing within a roll of parchment which the ape-man
+removed and opened, disclosing a number of age-yellowed sheets
+closely written upon in a fine hand in a language which he guessed
+to be Spanish but which he could not decipher. Upon the last sheet
+was a roughly drawn map with numerous reference points marked upon
+it, all unintelligible to Tarzan, who, after a brief examination
+of the papers, returned them to their metal case, replaced the top
+and was about to toss the little cylinder to the ground beside the
+mute remains of its former possessor when some whim of curiosity
+unsatisfied prompted him to slip it into the quiver with his arrows,
+though as he did so it was with the grim thought that possibly
+centuries hence it might again come to the sight of man beside his
+own bleached bones.</p>
+
+<p>And then, with a parting glance at the ancient skeleton, he turned
+to the task of ascending the western wall of the canyon. Slowly
+and with many rests he dragged his weakening body upwards. Again and
+again he slipped back from sheer exhaustion and would have fallen
+to the floor of the canyon but for merest chance. How long it took
+him to scale that frightful wall he could not have told, and when
+at last he dragged himself over the top it was to lie weak and
+gasping, too spent to rise or even to move a few inches farther
+from the perilous edge of the chasm.</p>
+
+<p>At last he arose, very slowly and with evident effort gaining his
+knees first and then staggering to his feet, yet his indomitable
+will was evidenced by a sudden straightening of his shoulders and
+a determined shake of his head as he lurched forward on unsteady
+legs to take up his valiant fight for survival. Ahead he scanned
+the rough landscape for sign of another canyon which he knew would
+spell inevitable doom. The western hills rose closer now though
+weirdly unreal as they seemed to dance in the sunlight as though
+mocking him with their nearness at the moment that exhaustion was
+about to render them forever unattainable.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond them he knew must be the fertile hunting grounds of which Manu
+had told. Even if no canyon intervened, his chances of surmounting
+even low hills seemed remote should he have the fortune to reach
+their base; but with another canyon hope was dead. Above them Ska
+still circled, and it seemed to the ape-man that the ill-omened
+bird hovered ever lower and lower as though reading in that failing
+gait the nearing of the end, and through cracked lips Tarzan growled
+out his defiance.</p>
+
+<p>Mile after mile Tarzan of the Apes put slowly behind him, borne up
+by sheer force of will where a lesser man would have lain down to
+die and rest forever tired muscles whose every move was an agony of
+effort; but at last his progress became practically mechanical—he
+staggered on with a dazed mind that reacted numbly to a single
+urge—on, on, on! The hills were now but a dim, ill-defined blur
+ahead. Sometimes he forgot that they were hills, and again he
+wondered vaguely why he must go on forever through all this torture
+endeavoring to overtake them—the fleeing, elusive hills. Presently
+he began to hate them and there formed within his half-delirious
+brain the hallucination that the hills were German hills, that they
+had slain someone dear to him, whom he could never quite recall,
+and that he was pursuing to slay them.</p>
+
+<p>This idea, growing, appeared to give him strength—a new and
+revivifying purpose—so that for a time he no longer staggered; but
+went forward steadily with head erect. Once he stumbled and fell,
+and when he tried to rise he found that he could not—that his
+strength was so far gone that he could only crawl forward on his
+hands and knees for a few yards and then sink down again to rest.</p>
+
+<p>It was during one of these frequent periods of utter exhaustion
+that he heard the flap of dismal wings close above him. With his
+remaining strength he turned himself over on his back to see Ska
+wheel quickly upward. With the sight Tarzan's mind cleared for a
+while.</p>
+
+<p>"Is the end so near as that?" he thought. "Does Ska know that I am
+so near gone that he dares come down and perch upon my carcass?"
+And even then a grim smile touched those swollen lips as into the
+savage mind came a sudden thought-the cunning of the wild beast
+at bay. Closing his eyes he threw a forearm across them to protect
+them from Ska's powerful beak and then he lay very still and waited.</p>
+
+<p>It was restful lying there, for the sun was now obscured by clouds
+and Tarzan was very tired. He feared that he might sleep and something
+told him that if he did he would never awaken, and so he concentrated
+all his remaining powers upon the one thought of remaining awake.
+Not a muscle moved-to Ska, circling above, it became evident that
+the end had come—that at last he should be rewarded for his long
+vigil.</p>
+
+<p>Circling slowly he dropped closer and closer to the dying man. Why
+did not Tarzan move? Had he indeed been overcome by the sleep of
+exhaustion, or was Ska right—had death at last claimed that mighty
+body? Was that great, savage heart stilled forever? It is unthinkable.</p>
+
+<p>Ska, filled with suspicions, circled warily. Twice he almost alighted
+upon the great, naked breast only to wheel suddenly away; but the
+third time his talons touched the brown skin. It was as though the
+contact closed an electric circuit that instantaneously vitalized
+the quiet clod that had lain motionless so long. A brown hand swept
+downward from the brown forehead and before Ska could raise a wing
+in flight he was in the clutches of his intended victim.</p>
+
+<p>Ska fought, but he was no match for even a dying Tarzan, and
+a moment later the ape-man's teeth closed upon the carrion-eater.
+The flesh was coarse and tough and gave off an unpleasant odor and
+a worse taste; but it was food and the blood was drink and Tarzan
+only an ape at heart and a dying ape into the bargain—dying of
+starvation and thirst.</p>
+
+<p>Even mentally weakened as he was the ape-man was still master
+of his appetite and so he ate but sparingly, saving the rest, and
+then, feeling that he now could do so safely, he turned upon his
+side and slept.</p>
+
+<p>Rain, beating heavily upon his body, awakened him and sitting up he
+cupped his hands and caught the precious drops which he transferred
+to his parched throat. Only a little he got at a time; but that
+was best. The few mouthfuls of Ska that he had eaten, together with
+the blood and rain water and the sleep had refreshed him greatly
+and put new strength into his tired muscles.</p>
+
+<p>Now he could see the hills again and they were close and, though
+there was no sun, the world looked bright and cheerful, for Tarzan
+knew that he was saved. The bird that would have devoured him, and
+the providential rain, had saved him at the very moment that death
+seemed inevitable.</p>
+
+<p>Again partaking of a few mouthfuls of the unsavory flesh of Ska,
+the vulture, the ape-man arose with something of his old force
+and set out with steady gait toward the hills of promise rising
+alluringly ahead. Darkness fell before he reached them; but he
+kept on until he felt the steeply rising ground that proclaimed
+his arrival at the base of the hills proper, and then he lay down
+and waited until morning should reveal the easiest passage to the
+land beyond. The rain had ceased, but the sky still was overcast
+so that even his keen eyes could not penetrate the darkness farther
+than a few feet. And there he slept, after eating again of what
+remained of Ska, until the morning sun awakened him with a new
+sense of strength and well-being.</p>
+
+<p>And so at last he came through the hills out of the valley of death
+into a land of park-like beauty, rich in game. Below him lay a deep
+valley through the center of which dense jungle vegetation marked
+the course of a river beyond which a primeval forest extended
+for miles to terminate at last at the foot of lofty, snow-capped
+mountains. It was a land that Tarzan never had looked upon before,
+nor was it likely that the foot of another white man ever had
+touched it unless, possibly, in some long-gone day the adventurer
+whose skeleton he had found bleaching in the canyon had traversed
+it.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterviii" id="chapterviii">Tarzan and the Great Apes</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Three days the ape-man spent in resting and recuperating, eating
+fruits and nuts and the smaller animals that were most easily
+bagged, and upon the fourth he set out to explore the valley and
+search for the great apes. Time was a negligible factor in the
+equation of life—it was all the same to Tarzan if he reached the
+west coast in a month or a year or three years. All time was his and
+all Africa. His was absolute freedom—the last tie that had bound
+him to civilization and custom had been severed. He was alone but
+he was not exactly lonely. The greater part of his life had been
+spent thus, and though there was no other of his kind, he was at
+all times surrounded by the jungle peoples for whom familiarity had
+bred no contempt within his breast. The least of them interested
+him, and, too, there were those with whom he always made friends
+easily, and there were his hereditary enemies whose presence gave a
+spice to life that might otherwise have become humdrum and monotonous.</p>
+
+<p>And so it was that on the fourth day he set out to explore the
+valley and search for his fellow-apes. He had proceeded southward
+for a short distance when his nostrils were assailed by the scent
+of man, of Gomangani, the black man. There were many of them, and
+mixed with their scent was another-that of a she Tarmangani.</p>
+
+<p>Swinging through the trees Tarzan approached the authors of these
+disturbing scents. He came warily from the flank, but paying no
+attention to the wind, for he knew that man with his dull senses
+could apprehend him only through his eyes or ears and then only
+when comparatively close. Had he been stalking Numa or Sheeta he
+would have circled about until his quarry was upwind from him, thus
+taking practically all the advantage up to the very moment that
+he came within sight or hearing; but in the stalking of the dull
+clod, man, he approached with almost contemptuous indifference,
+so that all the jungle about him knew that he was passing—all but
+the men he stalked.</p>
+
+<p>From the dense foliage of a great tree he watched them pass—a
+disreputable mob of blacks, some garbed in the uniform of German
+East African native troops, others wearing a single garment of the
+same uniform, while many had reverted to the simple dress of their
+forbears—approximating nudity. There were many black women with
+them, laughing and talking as they kept pace with the men, all of
+whom were armed with German rifles and equipped with German belts
+and ammunition.</p>
+
+<p>There were no white officers there, but it was none the less apparent
+to Tarzan that these men were from some German native command,
+and he guessed that they had slain their officers and taken to the
+jungle with their women, or had stolen some from native villages
+through which they must have passed. It was evident that they were
+putting as much ground between themselves and the coast as possible
+and doubtless were seeking some impenetrable fastness of the vast
+interior where they might inaugurate a reign of terror among the
+primitively armed inhabitants and by raiding, looting, and rape
+grow rich in goods and women at the expense of the district upon
+which they settled themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Between two of the black women marched a slender white girl. She
+was hatless and with torn and disheveled clothing that had evidently
+once been a trim riding habit. Her coat was gone and her waist half
+torn from her body. Occasionally and without apparent provocation
+one or the other of the Negresses struck or pushed her roughly.
+Tarzan watched through half-closed eyes. His first impulse was to
+leap among them and bear the girl from their cruel clutches. He had
+recognized her immediately and it was because of this fact that he
+hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>What was it to Tarzan of the Apes what fate befell this enemy
+spy? He had been unable to kill her himself because of an inherent
+weakness that would not permit him to lay hands upon a woman, all
+of which of course had no bearing upon what others might do to
+her. That her fate would now be infinitely more horrible than the
+quick and painless death that the ape-man would have meted to her
+only interested Tarzan to the extent that the more frightful the
+end of a German the more in keeping it would be with what they all
+deserved.</p>
+
+<p>And so he let the blacks pass with Fraulein Bertha Kircher in their
+midst, or at least until the last straggling warrior suggested to
+his mind the pleasures of black-baiting—an amusement and a sport
+in which he had grown ever more proficient since that long-gone day
+when Kulonga, the son of Mbonga, the chief, had cast his unfortunate
+spear at Kala, the ape-man's foster mother.</p>
+
+<p>The last man, who must have stopped for some purpose, was fully a
+quarter of a mile in rear of the party. He was hurrying to catch
+up when Tarzan saw him, and as he passed beneath the tree in which
+the ape-man perched above the trail, a silent noose dropped deftly
+about his neck. The main body still was in plain sight, and as the
+frightened man voiced a piercing shriek of terror, they looked back
+to see his body rise as though by magic straight into the air and
+disappear amidst the leafy foliage above.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the blacks stood paralyzed by astonishment and fear;
+but presently the burly sergeant, Usanga, who led them, started
+back along the trail at a run, calling to the others to follow
+him. Loading their guns as they came the blacks ran to succor their
+fellow, and at Usanga's command they spread into a thin line that
+presently entirely surrounded the tree into which their comrade
+had vanished.</p>
+
+<p>Usanga called but received no reply; then he advanced slowly with
+rifle at the ready, peering up into the tree. He could see no
+one—nothing. The circle closed in until fifty blacks were searching
+among the branches with their keen eyes. What had become of their
+fellow? They had seen him rise into the tree and since then many
+eyes had been fastened upon the spot, yet there was no sign of him.
+One, more venturesome than his fellows, volunteered to climb into
+the tree and investigate. He was gone but a minute or two and
+when he dropped to earth again he swore that there was no sign of
+a creature there.</p>
+
+<p>Perplexed, and by this time a bit awed, the blacks drew slowly
+away from the spot and with many backward glances and less laughing
+continued upon their journey until, when about a mile beyond the
+spot at which their fellow had disappeared, those in the lead saw
+him peering from behind a tree at one side of the trail just in
+front of them. With shouts to their companions that he had been
+found they ran forwards; but those who were first to reach the
+tree stopped suddenly and shrank back, their eyes rolling fearfully
+first in one direction and then in another as though they expected
+some nameless horror to leap out upon them.</p>
+
+<p>Nor was their terror without foundation. Impaled upon the end of
+a broken branch the head of their companion was propped behind the
+tree so that it appeared to be looking out at them from the opposite
+side of the bole.</p>
+
+<p>It was then that many wished to turn back, arguing that they
+had offended some demon of the wood upon whose preserve they had
+trespassed; but Usanga refused to listen to them, assuring them
+that inevitable torture and death awaited them should they return
+and fall again into the hands of their cruel German masters. At
+last his reasoning prevailed to the end that a much-subdued and
+terrified band moved in a compact mass, like a drove of sheep,
+forward through the valley and there were no stragglers.</p>
+
+<p>It is a happy characteristic of the Negro race, which they hold
+in common with little children, that their spirits seldom remain
+depressed for a considerable length of time after the immediate
+cause of depression is removed, and so it was that in half an hour
+Usanga's band was again beginning to take on to some extent its
+former appearance of carefree lightheartedness. Thus were the heavy
+clouds of fear slowly dissipating when a turn in the trail brought
+them suddenly upon the headless body of their erstwhile companion
+lying directly in their path, and they were again plunged into the
+depth of fear and gloomy forebodings.</p>
+
+<p>So utterly inexplicable and uncanny had the entire occurrence been
+that there was not a one of them who could find a ray of comfort
+penetrating the dead blackness of its ominous portent. What had
+happened to one of their number each conceived as being a wholly
+possible fate for himself—in fact quite his probable fate. If such
+a thing could happen in broad daylight what frightful thing might
+not fall to their lot when night had enshrouded them in her mantle
+of darkness. They trembled in anticipation.</p>
+
+<p>The white girl in their midst was no less mystified than they; but
+far less moved, since sudden death was the most merciful fate to
+which she might now look forward. So far she had been subjected
+to nothing worse than the petty cruelties of the women, while, on
+the other hand, it had alone been the presence of the women that
+had saved her from worse treatment at the hands of some of the
+men—notably the brutal, black sergeant, Usanga. His own woman
+was of the party—a veritable giantess, a virago of the first
+magnitude—and she was evidently the only thing in the world of
+which Usanga stood in awe. Even though she was particularly cruel
+to the young woman, the latter believed that she was her sole
+protection from the degraded black tyrant.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the afternoon the band came upon a small palisaded village
+of thatched huts set in a clearing in the jungle close beside
+a placid river. At their approach the villagers came pouring out,
+and Usanga advanced with two of his warriors to palaver with the
+chief. The experiences of the day had so shaken the nerves of the
+black sergeant that he was ready to treat with these people rather
+than take their village by force of arms, as would ordinarily have
+been his preference; but now a vague conviction influenced him
+that there watched over this part of the jungle a powerful demon
+who wielded miraculous power for evil against those who offended
+him. First Usanga would learn how these villagers stood with this
+savage god and if they had his good will Usanga would be most
+careful to treat them with kindness and respect.</p>
+
+<p>At the palaver it developed that the village chief had food,
+goats, and fowl which he would be glad to dispose of for a proper
+consideration; but as the consideration would have meant parting
+with precious rifles and ammunition, or the very clothing from their
+backs, Usanga began to see that after all it might be forced upon
+him to wage war to obtain food.</p>
+
+<p>A happy solution was arrived at by a suggestion of one of his
+men—that the soldiers go forth the following day and hunt for the
+villagers, bringing them in so much fresh meat in return for their
+hospitality. This the chief agreed to, stipulating the kind and
+quantity of game to be paid in return for flour, goats, and fowl,
+and a certain number of huts that were to be turned over to the
+visitors. The details having been settled after an hour or more
+of that bickering argument of which the native African is so fond,
+the newcomers entered the village where they were assigned to huts.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Kircher found herself alone in a small hut to the palisade
+at the far end of the village street, and though she was neither
+bound nor guarded, she was assured by Usanga that she could not
+escape the village without running into almost certain death in the
+jungle, which the villagers assured them was infested by lions of
+great size and ferocity. "Be good to Usanga," he concluded, "and
+no harm will befall you. I will come again to see you after the
+others are asleep. Let us be friends."</p>
+
+<p>As the brute left her the girl's frame was racked by a convulsive
+shudder as she sank to the floor of the hut and covered her face
+with her hands. She realized now why the women had not been left
+to guard her. It was the work of the cunning Usanga, but would not
+his woman suspect something of his intentions? She was no fool and,
+further, being imbued with insane jealousy she was ever looking
+for some overt act upon the part of her ebon lord. Bertha Kircher
+felt that only she might save her and that she would save her if
+word could be but gotten to her. But how?</p>
+
+<p>Left alone and away from the eyes of her captors for the first time
+since the previous night, the girl immediately took advantage of
+the opportunity to assure herself that the papers she had taken
+from the body of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider were still safely sewn
+inside one of her undergarments.</p>
+
+<p>Alas! Of what value could they now ever be to her beloved country?
+But habit and loyalty were so strong within her that she still clung
+to the determined hope of eventually delivering the little packet
+to her chief.</p>
+
+<p>The natives seemed to have forgotten her existence—no one came
+near the hut, not even to bring her food. She could hear them at
+the other end of the village laughing and yelling and knew that
+they were celebrating with food and native beer—knowledge which
+only increased her apprehension. To be prisoner in a native village
+in the very heart of an unexplored region of Central Africa—the
+only white woman among a band of drunken Negroes! The very thought
+appalled her. Yet there was a slight promise in the fact that she
+had so far been unmolested—the promise that they might, indeed,
+have forgotten her and that soon they might become so hopelessly
+drunk as to be harmless.</p>
+
+<p>Darkness had fallen and still no one came. The girl wondered if
+she dared venture forth in search of Naratu, Usanga's woman, for
+Usanga might not forget that he had promised to return. No one was
+near as she stepped out of the hut and made her way toward the part
+of the village where the revelers were making merry about a fire.
+As she approached she saw the villagers and their guests squatting
+in a large circle about the blaze before which a half-dozen naked
+warriors leaped and bent and stamped in some grotesque dance.
+Pots of food and gourds of drink were being passed about among
+the audience. Dirty hands were plunged into the food pots and the
+captured portions devoured so greedily that one might have thought
+the entire community had been upon the point of starvation. The
+gourds they held to their lips until the beer ran down their chins
+and the vessels were wrested from them by greedy neighbors. The
+drink had now begun to take noticeable effect upon most of them,
+with the result that they were beginning to give themselves up to
+utter and licentious abandon.</p>
+
+<p>As the girl came nearer, keeping in the shadow of the huts, looking
+for Naratu she was suddenly discovered by one upon the edge of the
+crowd—a huge woman, who rose, shrieking, and came toward her. From
+her aspect the white girl thought that the woman meant literally
+to tear her to pieces. So utterly wanton and uncalled-for was the
+attack that it found the girl entirely unprepared, and what would
+have happened had not a warrior interfered may only be guessed.
+And then Usanga, noting the interruption, came lurching forward to
+question her.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want," he cried, "food and drink? Come with me!" and
+he threw an arm about her and dragged her toward the circle.</p>
+
+<p>"No!" she cried, "I want Naratu. Where is Naratu?"</p>
+
+<p>This seemed to sober the black for a moment as though he
+had temporarily forgotten his better half. He cast quick, fearful
+glances about, and then, evidently assured that Naratu had noticed
+nothing, he ordered the warrior who was still holding the infuriated
+black woman from the white girl to take the latter back to her hut
+and to remain there on guard over her.</p>
+
+<p>First appropriating a gourd of beer for himself the warrior
+motioned the girl to precede him, and thus guarded she returned to
+her hut, the fellow squatting down just outside the doorway, where
+he confined his attentions for some time to the gourd.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Kircher sat down at the far side of the hut awaiting she
+knew not what impending fate. She could not sleep so filled was her
+mind with wild schemes of escape though each new one must always be
+discarded as impractical. Half an hour after the warrior had returned
+her to her prison he rose and entered the hut, where he tried to
+engage in conversation with her. Groping across the interior he
+leaned his short spear against the wall and sat down beside her,
+and as he talked he edged closer and closer until at last he could
+reach out and touch her. Shrinking, she drew away.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not touch me!" she cried. "I will tell Usanga if you do not
+leave me alone, and you know what he will do to you."</p>
+
+<p>The man only laughed drunkenly, and, reaching out his hand, grabbed
+her arm and dragged her toward him. She fought and cried aloud for
+Usanga and at the same instant the entrance to the hut was darkened
+by the form of a man.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter?" shouted the newcomer in the deep tones that
+the girl recognized as belonging to the black sergeant. He had
+come, but would she be any better off? She knew that she would not
+unless she could play upon Usanga's fear of his woman.</p>
+
+<p>When Usanga found what had happened he kicked the warrior out of
+the hut and bade him begone, and when the fellow had disappeared,
+muttering and grumbling, the sergeant approached the white girl. He
+was very drunk, so drunk that several times she succeeded in eluding
+him and twice she pushed him so violently away that he stumbled
+and fell.</p>
+
+<p>Finally he became enraged and rushing upon her, seized her in his
+long, apelike arms. Striking at his face with clenched fists she
+tried to protect herself and drive him away. She threatened him
+with the wrath of Naratu, and at that he changed his tactics and
+began to plead, and as he argued with her, promising her safety
+and eventual freedom, the warrior he had kicked out of the hut made
+his staggering way to the hut occupied by Naratu.</p>
+
+<p>Usanga finding that pleas and promises were as unavailing as
+threats, at last lost both his patience and his head, seizing the
+girl roughly, and simultaneously there burst into the hut a raging
+demon of jealousy. Naratu had come. Kicking, scratching, striking,
+biting, she routed the terrified Usanga in short order, and
+so obsessed was she by her desire to inflict punishment upon her
+unfaithful lord and master that she quite forgot the object of his
+infatuation.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Kircher heard her screaming down the village street at Usanga's
+heels and trembled at the thought of what lay in store for her at
+the hands of these two, for she knew that tomorrow at the latest
+Naratu would take out upon her the full measure of her jealous
+hatred after she had spent her first wrath upon Usanga.</p>
+
+<p>The two had departed but a few minutes when the warrior guard
+returned. He looked into the hut and then entered. "No one will
+stop me now, white woman," he growled as he stepped quickly across
+the hut toward her.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan of the Apes, feasting well upon a juicy haunch from Bara,
+the deer, was vaguely conscious of a troubled mind. He should
+have been at peace with himself and all the world, for was he not
+in his native element surrounded by game in plenty and rapidly
+filling his belly with the flesh he loved best? But Tarzan of
+the Apes was haunted by the picture of a slight, young girl being
+shoved and struck by brutal Negresses, and in imagination could
+see her now camped in this savage country a prisoner among degraded
+blacks.</p>
+
+<p>Why was it so difficult to remember that she was only a hated German
+and a spy? Why would the fact that she was a woman and white always
+obtrude itself upon his consciousness? He hated her as he hated
+all her kind, and the fate that was sure to be hers was no more
+terrible than she in common with all her people deserved. The matter
+was settled and Tarzan composed himself to think of other things,
+yet the picture would not die—it rose in all its details and annoyed
+him. He began to wonder what they were doing to her and where they
+were taking her. He was very much ashamed of himself as he had been
+after the episode in Wilhelmstal when his weakness had permitted
+him to spare this spy's life. Was he to be thus weak again? No!</p>
+
+<p>Night came and he settled himself in an ample tree to rest until
+morning; but sleep would not come. Instead came the vision of a
+white girl being beaten by black women, and again of the same girl
+at the mercy of the warriors somewhere in that dark and forbidding
+jungle.</p>
+
+<p>With a growl of anger and self-contempt Tarzan arose, shook himself,
+and swung from his tree to that adjoining, and thus, through the
+lower terraces, he followed the trail that Usanga's party had taken
+earlier in the afternoon. He had little difficulty as the band had
+followed a well-beaten path and when toward midnight the stench
+of a native village assailed his delicate nostrils he guessed that
+his goal was near and that presently he should find her whom he
+sought.</p>
+
+<p>Prowling stealthily as prowls Numa, the lion, stalking a wary
+prey, Tarzan moved noiselessly about the palisade, listening and
+sniffing. At the rear of the village he discovered a tree whose
+branches extended over the top of the palisade and a moment later
+he had dropped quietly into the village.</p>
+
+<p>From hut to hut he went searching with keen ears and nostrils some
+confirming evidence of the presence of the girl, and at last, faint
+and almost obliterated by the odor of the Gomangani, he found it
+hanging like a delicate vapor about a small hut. The village was
+quiet now, for the last of the beer and the food had been disposed
+of and the blacks lay in their huts overcome by stupor, yet Tarzan
+made no noise that even a sober man keenly alert might have heard.</p>
+
+<p>He passed around to the entrance of the hut and listened. From
+within came no sound, not even the low breathing of one awake; yet
+he was sure that the girl had been here and perhaps was even now,
+and so he entered, slipping in as silently as a disembodied spirit.
+For a moment he stood motionless just within the entranceway,
+listening. No, there was no one here, of that he was sure, but he
+would investigate. As his eyes became accustomed to the greater
+darkness within the hut an object began to take form that presently
+outlined itself in a human form supine upon the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan stepped closer and leaned over to examine it—it was the dead
+body of a naked warrior from whose chest protruded a short spear.
+Then he searched carefully every square foot of the remaining floor
+space and at last returned to the body again where he stooped and
+smelled of the haft of the weapon that had slain the black. A slow
+smile touched his lips—that and a slight movement of his head
+betokened that he understood.</p>
+
+<p>A rapid search of the balance of the village assured him that the
+girl had escaped and a feeling of relief came over him that no harm
+had befallen her. That her life was equally in jeopardy in the
+savage jungle to which she must have flown did not impress him
+as it would have you or me, since to Tarzan the jungle was not
+a dangerous place—he considered one safer there than in Paris or
+London by night.</p>
+
+<p>He had entered the trees again and was outside the palisade when
+there came faintly to his ears from far beyond the village an old,
+familiar sound. Balancing lightly upon a swaying branch he stood,
+a graceful statue of a forest god, listening intently. For a minute
+he stood thus and then there broke from his lips the long, weird
+cry of ape calling to ape and he was away through the jungle toward
+the sound of the booming drum of the anthropoids leaving behind him
+an awakened and terrified village of cringing blacks, who would
+forever after connect that eerie cry with the disappearance of
+their white prisoner and the death of their fellow-warrior.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Kircher, hurrying through the jungle along a well-beaten
+game trail, thought only of putting as much distance as possible
+between herself and the village before daylight could permit pursuit
+of her. Whither she was going she did not know, nor was it a matter
+of great moment since death must be her lot sooner or later.</p>
+
+<p>Fortune favored her that night, for she passed unscathed through
+as savage and lion-ridden an area as there is in all Africa—a
+natural hunting ground which the white man has not yet discovered,
+where deer and antelope and zebra, giraffe and elephant, buffalo,
+rhinoceros, and the other herbivorous animals of central Africa
+abound unmolested by none but their natural enemies, the great
+cats which, lured here by easy prey and immunity from the rifles
+of big-game hunters, swarm the district.</p>
+
+<p>She had fled for an hour or two, perhaps, when her attention was
+arrested by the sound of animals moving about, muttering and growling
+close ahead. Assured that she had covered a sufficient distance
+to insure her a good start in the morning before the blacks could
+take to her trail, and fearful of what the creatures might be,
+she climbed into a large tree with the intention of spending the
+balance of the night there.</p>
+
+<p>She had no sooner reached a safe and comfortable branch when she
+discovered that the tree stood upon the edge of a small clearing
+that had been hidden from her by the heavy undergrowth upon the
+ground below, and simultaneously she discovered the identity of
+the beasts she had heard.</p>
+
+<p>In the center of the clearing below her, clearly visible in the
+bright moonlight, she saw fully twenty huge, manlike apes—great,
+shaggy fellows who went upon their hind feet with only slight
+assistance from the knuckles of their hands. The moonlight glanced
+from their glossy coats, the numerous gray-tipped hairs imparting
+a sheen that made the hideous creatures almost magnificent in their
+appearance.</p>
+
+<p>The girl had watched them but a minute or two when the little band
+was joined by others, coming singly and in groups until there were
+fully fifty of the great brutes gathered there in the moonlight.
+Among them were young apes and several little ones clinging tightly
+to their mothers' shaggy shoulders. Presently the group parted to
+form a circle about what appeared to be a small, flat-topped mound
+of earth in the center of the clearing. Squatting close about this
+mound were three old females armed with short, heavy clubs with
+which they presently began to pound upon the flat top of the earth
+mound which gave forth a dull, booming sound, and almost immediately
+the other apes commenced to move about restlessly, weaving in and
+out aimlessly until they carried the impression of a moving mass
+of great, black maggots.</p>
+
+<p>The beating of the drum was in a slow, ponderous cadence, at first
+without time but presently settling into a heavy rhythm to which
+the apes kept time with measured tread and swaying bodies. Slowly
+the mass separated into two rings, the outer of which was composed
+of shes and the very young, the inner of mature bulls. The former
+ceased to move and squatted upon their haunches, while the bulls
+now moved slowly about in a circle the center of which was the drum
+and all now in the same direction.</p>
+
+<p>It was then that there came faintly to the ears of the girl from
+the direction of the village she had recently quitted a weird and
+high-pitched cry. The effect upon the apes was electrical—they
+stopped their movements and stood in attitudes of intent listening
+for a moment, and then one fellow, huger than his companions, raised
+his face to the heavens and in a voice that sent the cold shudders
+through the girl's slight frame answered the far-off cry.</p>
+
+<p>Once again the beaters took up their drumming and the slow dance
+went on. There was a certain fascination in the savage ceremony
+that held the girl spellbound, and as there seemed little likelihood
+of her being discovered, she felt that she might as well remain
+the balance of the night in her tree and resume her flight by the
+comparatively greater safety of daylight.</p>
+
+<p>Assuring herself that her packet of papers was safe she sought as
+comfortable a position as possible among the branches, and settled
+herself to watch the weird proceedings in the clearing below her.</p>
+
+<p>A half-hour passed, during which the cadence of the drum increased
+gradually. Now the great bull that had replied to the distant call
+leaped from the inner circle to dance alone between the drummers
+and the other bulls. He leaped and crouched and leaped again, now
+growling and barking, again stopping to raise his hideous face
+to Goro, the moon, and, beating upon his shaggy breast, uttered
+a piercing scream—the challenge of the bull ape, had the girl but
+known it.</p>
+
+<p>He stood thus in the full glare of the great moon, motionless after
+screaming forth his weird challenge, in the setting of the primeval
+jungle and the circling apes a picture of primitive savagery and
+power—a mightily muscled Hercules out of the dawn of life—when
+from close behind her the girl heard an answering scream, and an
+instant later saw an almost naked white man drop from a near-by
+tree into the clearing.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the apes became a roaring, snarling pack of angry beasts.
+Bertha Kircher held her breath. What maniac was this who dared
+approach these frightful creatures in their own haunts, alone against
+fifty? She saw the brown-skinned figure bathed in moonlight walk
+straight toward the snarling pack. She saw the symmetry and the
+beauty of that perfect body—its grace, its strength, its wondrous
+proportioning, and then she recognized him. It was the same creature
+whom she had seen carry Major Schneider from General Kraut's
+headquarters, the same who had rescued her from Numa, the lion;
+the same whom she had struck down with the butt of her pistol and
+escaped when he would have returned her to her enemies, the same
+who had slain Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and spared her life that
+night in Wilhelmstal.</p>
+
+<p>Fear-filled and fascinated she watched him as he neared the apes.
+She heard sounds issue from his throat—sounds identical with
+those uttered by the apes—and though she could scarce believe the
+testimony of her own ears, she knew that this godlike creature was
+conversing with the brutes in their own tongue.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan halted just before he reached the shes of the outer circle.
+"I am Tarzan of the Apes!" he cried. "You do not know me because
+I am of another tribe, but Tarzan comes in peace or he comes to
+fight—which shall it be? Tarzan will talk with your king," and so
+saying he pushed straight forward through the shes and the young
+who now gave way before him, making a narrow lane through which he
+passed toward the inner circle.</p>
+
+<p>Shes and balus growled and bristled as he passed closer, but none
+hindered him and thus he came to the inner circle of bulls. Here
+bared fangs menaced him and growling faces hideously contorted. "I
+am Tarzan," he repeated. "Tarzan comes to dance the Dum-Dum with
+his brothers. Where is your king?" Again he pressed forward and the
+girl in the tree clapped her palms to her cheeks as she watched,
+wide-eyed, this madman going to a frightful death. In another instant
+they would be upon him, rending and tearing until that perfect form
+had been ripped to shreds; but again the ring parted, and though
+the apes roared and menaced him they did not attack, and at last
+he stood in the inner circle close to the drum and faced the great
+king ape.</p>
+
+<p>Again he spoke. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he cried. "Tarzan comes
+to live with his brothers. He will come in peace and live in peace
+or he will kill; but he has come and he will stay. Which—shall
+Tarzan dance the Dum-Dum in peace with his brothers, or shall Tarzan
+kill first?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am Go-lat, King of the Apes," screamed the great bull. "I kill!
+I kill! I kill!" and with a sullen roar he charged the Tarmangani.</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man, as the girl watched him, seemed entirely unprepared
+for the charge and she looked to see him borne down and slain at
+the first rush. The great bull was almost upon him with huge hands
+outstretched to seize him before Tarzan made a move, but when he
+did move his quickness would have put Ara, the lightning, to shame.
+As darts forward the head of Histah, the snake, so darted forward
+the left hand of the man-beast as he seized the left wrist of his
+antagonist. A quick turn and the bull's right arm was locked beneath
+the right arm of his foe in a jujutsu hold that Tarzan had learned
+among civilized men—a hold with which he might easily break the
+great bones, a hold that left the ape helpless.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Tarzan of the Apes!" screamed the ape-man. "Shall Tarzan
+dance in peace or shall Tarzan kill?''</p>
+
+<p>"I kill! I kill! I kill!" shrieked Go-lat.</p>
+
+<p>With the quickness of a cat Tarzan swung the king ape over one hip
+and sent him sprawling to the ground. "I am Tarzan, King of all
+the Apes!" he shouted. "Shall it be peace?"</p>
+
+<p>Go-lat, infuriated, leaped to his feet and charged again, shouting
+his war cry: "I kill! I kill! I kill!" and again Tarzan met him
+with a sudden hold that the stupid bull, being ignorant of, could
+not possibly avert—a hold and a throw that brought a scream of
+delight from the interested audience and suddenly filled the girl
+with doubts as to the man's madness—evidently he was quite safe
+among the apes, for she saw him swing Go-lat to his back and then
+catapult him over his shoulder. The king ape fell upon his head
+and lay very still.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Tarzan of the Apes!" cried the ape-man. "I come to dance the
+Dum-Dum with my brothers," and he made a motion to the drummers,
+who immediately took up the cadence of the dance where they had
+dropped it to watch their king slay the foolish Tarmangani.</p>
+
+<p>It was then that Go-lat raised his head and slowly crawled to his
+feet. Tarzan approached him. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he cried.
+"Shall Tarzan dance the Dum-Dum with his brothers now, or shall he
+kill first?"</p>
+
+<p>Go-lat raised his bloodshot eyes to the face of the Tarmangani.
+"Kagoda!" he cried "Tarzan of the Apes will dance the Dum-Dum with
+his brothers and Go-lat will dance with him!"</p>
+
+<p>And then the girl in the tree saw the savage man leaping, bending, and
+stamping with the savage apes in the ancient rite of the Dum-Dum.
+His roars and growls were more beastly than the beasts. His
+handsome face was distorted with savage ferocity. He beat upon his
+great breast and screamed forth his challenge as his smooth, brown
+hide brushed the shaggy coats of his fellows. It was weird; it
+was wonderful; and in its primitive savagery it was not without
+beauty—the strange scene she looked upon, such a scene as no other
+human being, probably, ever had witnessed—and yet, withal, it was
+horrible.</p>
+
+<p>As she gazed, spell-bound, a stealthy movement in the tree behind
+her caused her to turn her head, and there, back of her, blazing
+in the reflected moonlight, shone two great, yellow-green eyes.
+Sheeta, the panther, had found her out.</p>
+
+<p>The beast was so close that it might have reached out and touched
+her with a great, taloned paw. There was no time to think, no
+time to weigh chances or to choose alternatives. Terror-inspired
+impulse was her guide as, with a loud scream, she leaped from the
+tree into the clearing.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the apes, now maddened by the effects of the dancing and
+the moonlight, turned to note the cause of the interruption. They
+saw this she Tarmangani, helpless and alone and they started for
+her. Sheeta, the panther, knowing that not even Numa, the lion,
+unless maddened by starvation, dares meddle with the great apes at
+their Dum-Dum, had silently vanished into the night, seeking his
+supper elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan, turning with the other apes toward the cause of the
+interruption, saw the girl, recognized her and also her peril.
+Here again might she die at the hands of others; but why consider
+it! He knew that he could not permit it, and though the acknowledgment
+shamed him, it had to be admitted.</p>
+
+<p>The leading shes were almost upon the girl when Tarzan leaped among
+them, and with heavy blows scattered them to right and left; and
+then as the bulls came to share in the kill they thought this new
+ape-thing was about to make that he might steal all the flesh for
+himself, they found him facing them with an arm thrown about the
+creature as though to protect her.</p>
+
+<p>"This is Tarzan's she," he said. "Do not harm her." It was the only
+way he could make them understand that they must not slay her. He
+was glad that she could not interpret the words. It was humiliating
+enough to make such a statement to wild apes about this hated enemy.</p>
+
+<p>So once again Tarzan of the Apes was forced to protect a Hun.
+Growling, he muttered to himself in extenuation:</p>
+
+<p>"She is a woman and I am not a German, so it could not be otherwise!"</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterix" id="chapterix">Dropped from the Sky</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, Royal Air Service, was on
+reconnaissance. A report, or it would be better to say a rumor,
+had come to the British headquarters in German East Africa that
+the enemy had landed in force on the west coast and was marching
+across the dark continent to reinforce their colonial troops. In
+fact the new army was supposed to be no more than ten or twelve days'
+march to the west. Of course the thing was ridiculous—preposterous—but
+preposterous things often happen in war; and anyway no good general
+permits the least rumor of enemy activity to go uninvestigated.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick flew low toward
+the west, searching with keen eyes for signs of a Hun army. Vast
+forests unrolled beneath him in which a German army corps might
+have lain concealed, so dense was the overhanging foliage of the
+great trees. Mountain, meadowland, and desert passed in lovely
+panorama; but never a sight of man had the young lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>Always hoping that he might discover some sign of their passage—a
+discarded lorry, a broken limber, or an old camp site—he continued
+farther and farther into the west until well into the afternoon.
+Above a tree-dotted plain through the center of which flowed a
+winding river he determined to turn about and start for camp. It
+would take straight flying at top speed to cover the distance before
+dark; but as he had ample gasoline and a trustworthy machine there
+was no doubt in his mind but that he could accomplish his aim. It
+was then that his engine stalled.</p>
+
+<p>He was too low to do anything but land, and that immediately,
+while he had the more open country accessible, for directly east of
+him was a vast forest into which a stalled engine could only have
+plunged him to certain injury and probable death; and so he came
+down in the meadowland near the winding river and there started to
+tinker with his motor.</p>
+
+<p>As he worked he hummed a tune, some music-hall air that had been
+popular in London the year before, so that one might have thought
+him working in the security of an English flying field surrounded
+by innumerable comrades rather than alone in the heart of an unexplored
+African wilderness. It was typical of the man that he should be
+wholly indifferent to his surroundings, although his looks entirely
+belied any assumption that he was of particularly heroic strain.</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick was fair-hatred, blue-eyed,
+and slender, with a rosy, boyish face that might have been molded
+more by an environment of luxury, indolence, and ease than the more
+strenuous exigencies of life's sterner requirements.</p>
+
+<p>And not only was the young lieutenant outwardly careless of the
+immediate future and of his surroundings, but actually so. That
+the district might be infested by countless enemies seemed not to
+have occurred to him in the remotest degree. He bent assiduously
+to the work of correcting the adjustment that had caused his motor
+to stall without so much as an upward glance at the surrounding
+country. The forest to the east of him, and the more distant jungle
+that bordered the winding river, might have harbored an army of
+bloodthirsty savages, but neither could elicit even a passing show
+of interest on the part of Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick</p>
+
+<p>And even had he looked, it is doubtful if he would have seen the
+score of figures crouching in the concealment of the undergrowth
+at the forest's edge. There are those who are reputed to be endowed
+with that which is sometimes, for want of a better appellation,
+known as the sixth sense—a species of intuition which apprises
+them of the presence of an unseen danger. The concentrated gaze of
+a hidden observer provokes a warning sensation of nervous unrest in
+such as these, but though twenty pairs of savage eyes were gazing
+fixedly at Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, the fact aroused
+no responsive sensation of impending danger in his placid breast.
+He hummed peacefully and, his adjustment completed, tried out his
+motor for a minute or two, then shut it off and descended to the
+ground with the intention of stretching his legs and taking a smoke
+before continuing his return flight to camp. Now for the first time
+he took note of his surroundings, to be immediately impressed by
+both the wildness and the beauty of the scene. In some respects the
+tree-dotted meadowland reminded him of a park-like English forest,
+and that wild beasts and savage men could ever be a part of so
+quiet a scene seemed the remotest of contingencies.</p>
+
+<p>Some gorgeous blooms upon a flowering shrub at a little distance
+from his machine caught the attention of his aesthetic eye, and as
+he puffed upon his cigarette, he walked over to examine the flowers
+more closely. As he bent above them he was probably some hundred
+yards from his plane and it was at this instant that Numabo, chief
+of the Wamabo, chose to leap from his ambush and lead his warriors
+in a sudden rush upon the white man.</p>
+
+<p>The young Englishman's first intimation of danger was a chorus of
+savage yells from the forest behind him. Turning, he saw a score
+of naked, black warriors advancing rapidly toward him. They moved
+in a compact mass and as they approached more closely their rate
+of speed noticeably diminished. Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick realized
+in a quick glance that the direction of their approach and their
+proximity had cut off all chances of retreating to his plane, and
+he also understood that their attitude was entirely warlike and
+menacing. He saw that they were armed with spears and with bows and
+arrows, and he felt quite confident that notwithstanding the fact
+that he was armed with a pistol they could overcome him with the
+first rush. What he did not know about their tactics was that at
+any show of resistance they would fall back, which is the nature of
+the native Negroes, but that after numerous advances and retreats,
+during which they would work themselves into a frenzy of rage by
+much shrieking, leaping, and dancing, they would eventually come
+to the point of a determined and final assault.</p>
+
+<p>Numabo was in the forefront, a fact which taken in connection with
+his considerably greater size and more warlike appearance, indicated
+him as the natural target and it was at Numabo that the Englishman
+aimed his first shot. Unfortunately for him it missed its target,
+as the killing of the chief might have permanently dispersed
+the others. The bullet passed Numabo to lodge in the breast of a
+warrior behind him and as the fellow lunged forward with a scream
+the others turned and retreated, but to the lieutenant's chagrin
+they ran in the direction of the plane instead of back toward the
+forest so that he was still cut off from reaching his machine.</p>
+
+<p>Presently they stopped and faced him again. They were talking loudly
+and gesticulating, and after a moment one of them leaped into the
+air, brandishing his spear and uttering savage war cries, which
+soon had their effect upon his fellows so that it was not long ere
+all of them were taking part in the wild show of savagery, which
+would bolster their waning courage and presently spur them on to
+another attack.</p>
+
+<p>The second charge brought them closer to the Englishman, and though
+he dropped another with his pistol, it was not before two or three
+spears had been launched at him. He now had five shots remaining
+and there were still eighteen warriors to be accounted for, so that
+unless he could frighten them off, it was evident that his fate
+was sealed.</p>
+
+<p>That they must pay the price of one life for every attempt to take
+his had its effect upon them and they were longer now in initiating
+a new rush and when they did so it was more skillfully ordered than
+those that had preceded it, for they scattered into three bands
+which, partially surrounding him, came simultaneously toward him
+from different directions, and though he emptied his pistol with
+good effect, they reached him at last. They seemed to know that
+his ammunition was exhausted, for they circled close about him now
+with the evident intention of taking him alive, since they might
+easily have riddled him with their sharp spears with perfect safety
+to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>For two or three minutes they circled about him until, at a word
+from Numabo, they closed in simultaneously, and though the slender
+young lieutenant struck out to right and left, he was soon overwhelmed
+by superior numbers and beaten down by the hafts of spears in brawny
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>He was all but unconscious when they finally dragged him to his
+feet, and after securing his hands behind his back, pushed him
+roughly along ahead of them toward the jungle.</p>
+
+<p>As the guard prodded him along the narrow trail, Lieutenant
+Smith-Oldwick could not but wonder why they had wished to take him
+alive. He knew that he was too far inland for his uniform to have
+any significance to this native tribe to whom no inkling of the
+World War probably ever had come, and he could only assume that he
+had fallen into the hands of the warriors of some savage potentate
+upon whose royal caprice his fate would hinge.</p>
+
+<p>They had marched for perhaps half an hour when the Englishman saw
+ahead of them, in a little clearing upon the bank of the river,
+the thatched roofs of native huts showing above a crude but strong
+palisade; and presently he was ushered into a village street where
+he was immediately surrounded by a throng of women and children
+and warriors. Here he was soon the center of an excited mob whose
+intent seemed to be to dispatch him as quickly as possible. The
+women were more venomous than the men, striking and scratching him
+whenever they could reach him, until at last Numabo, the chief, was
+obliged to interfere to save his prisoner for whatever purpose he
+was destined.</p>
+
+<p>As the warriors pushed the crowd back, opening a space through
+which the white man was led toward a hut, Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick
+saw coming from the opposite end of the village a number of Negroes
+wearing odds and ends of German uniforms. He was not a little
+surprised at this, and his first thought was that he had at last
+come in contact with some portion of the army which was rumored to
+be crossing from the west coast and for signs of which he had been
+searching.</p>
+
+<p>A rueful smile touched his lips as he contemplated the unhappy
+circumstances which surrounded the accession of this knowledge for
+though he was far from being without hope, he realized that only
+by the merest chance could he escape these people and regain his
+machine.</p>
+
+<p>Among the partially uniformed blacks was a huge fellow in the tunic
+of a sergeant and as this man's eyes fell upon the British officer,
+a loud cry of exultation broke from his lips, and immediately his
+followers took up the cry and pressed forward to bait the prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get the Englishman?" asked Usanga, the black sergeant,
+of the chief Numabo. "Are there many more with him?"</p>
+
+<p>"He came down from the sky," replied the native chief "in a strange
+thing which flies like a bird and which frightened us very much at
+first; but we watched for a long time and saw that it did not seem
+to be alive, and when this white man left it we attacked him and
+though he killed some of my warriors, we took him, for we Wamabos
+are brave men and great warriors."</p>
+
+<p>Usanga's eyes went wide. "He flew here through the sky?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Numabo. "In a great thing which resembled a bird he
+flew down out of the sky. The thing is still there where it came
+down close to the four trees near the second bend in the river. We
+left it there because, not knowing what it was, we were afraid to
+touch it and it is still there if it has not flown away again."</p>
+
+<p>"It cannot fly," said Usanga, "without this man in it. It is a
+terrible thing which filled the hearts of our soldiers with terror,
+for it flew over our camps at night and dropped bombs upon us.
+It is well that you captured this white man, Numabo, for with his
+great bird he would have flown over your village tonight and killed
+all your people. These Englishman are very wicked white men."</p>
+
+<p>"He will fly no more," said Numabo "It is not intended that a man
+should fly through the air; only wicked demons do such things as
+that and Numabo, the chief, will see that this white man does not
+do it again," and with the words he pushed the young officer roughly
+toward a hut in the center of the village, where he was left under
+guard of two stalwart warriors.</p>
+
+<p>For an hour or more the prisoner was left to his own devices, which
+consisted in vain and unremitting attempts to loosen the strands
+which fettered his wrists, and then he was interrupted by the
+appearance of the black sergeant Usanga, who entered his hut and
+approached him.</p>
+
+<p>"What are they going to do with me?" asked the Englishman. "My
+country is not at war with these people. You speak their language.
+Tell them that I am not an enemy, that my people are the friends
+of the black people and that they must let me go in peace."</p>
+
+<p>Usanga laughed. "They do not know an Englishman from a German," he
+replied. "It is nothing to them what you are, except that you are
+a white man and an enemy."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why did they take me alive?" asked the lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"Come," said Usanga and he led the Englishman to the doorway of
+the hut. "Look," he said, and pointed a black forefinger toward
+the end of the village street where a wider space between the huts
+left a sort of plaza.</p>
+
+<p>Here Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick saw a number of Negresses
+engaged in laying fagots around a stake and in preparing fires
+beneath a number of large cooking vessels. The sinister suggestion
+was only too obvious.</p>
+
+<p>Usanga was eyeing the white man closely, but if he expected to be
+rewarded by any signs of fear, he was doomed to disappointment and
+the young lieutenant merely turned toward him with a shrug: "Really
+now, do you beggars intend eating me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not my people," replied Usanga. "We do not eat human flesh, but
+the Wamabos do. It is they who will eat you, but we will kill you
+for the feast, Englishman."</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman remained standing in the doorway of the hut, an
+interested spectator of the preparations for the coming orgy that
+was so horribly to terminate his earthly existence. It can hardly
+be assumed that he felt no fear; yet, if he did, he hid it perfectly
+beneath an imperturbable mask of coolness. Even the brutal Usanga
+must have been impressed by the bravery of his victim since, though
+he had come to abuse and possibly to torture the helpless prisoner,
+he now did neither, contenting himself merely with berating whites
+as a race and Englishmen especially, because of the terror the
+British aviators had caused Germany's native troops in East Africa.</p>
+
+<p>"No more," he concluded, "will your great bird fly over our people
+dropping death among them from the skies—Usanga will see to that,"
+and he walked abruptly away toward a group of his own fighting men
+who were congregated near the stake where they were laughing and
+joking with the women.</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes later the Englishman saw them pass out of the village
+gate, and once again his thoughts reverted to various futile plans
+for escape.</p>
+
+<p>Several miles north of the village on a little rise of ground close
+to the river where the jungle, halting at the base of a knoll, had
+left a few acres of grassy land sparsely wooded, a man and a girl
+were busily engaged in constructing a small boma, in the center of
+which a thatched hut already had been erected.</p>
+
+<p>They worked almost in silence with only an occasional word of
+direction or interrogation between them.</p>
+
+<p>Except for a loin cloth, the man was naked, his smooth skin tanned
+to a deep brown by the action of sun and wind. He moved with the
+graceful ease of a jungle cat and when he lifted heavy weights,
+the action seemed as effortless as the raising of empty hands.</p>
+
+<p>When he was not looking at her, and it was seldom that he did, the
+girl found her eyes wandering toward him, and at such times there
+was always a puzzled expression upon her face as though she found
+in him an enigma which she could not solve. As a matter of fact,
+her feelings toward him were not un-tinged with awe, since in
+the brief period of their association she had discovered in this
+handsome, godlike giant the attributes of the superman and the
+savage beast closely intermingled. At first she had felt only that
+unreasoning feminine terror which her unhappy position naturally
+induced.</p>
+
+<p>To be alone in the heart of an unexplored wilderness of Central
+Africa with a savage wild man was in itself sufficiently appalling,
+but to feel also that this man was a blood enemy, that he hated her
+and her kind and that in addition thereto he owed her a personal
+grudge for an attack she had made upon him in the past, left no
+loophole for any hope that he might accord her even the minutest
+measure of consideration.</p>
+
+<p>She had seen him first months since when he had entered the
+headquarters of the German high command in East Africa and carried
+off the luckless Major Schneider, of whose fate no hint had ever
+reached the German officers; and she had seen him again upon that
+occasion when he had rescued her from the clutches of the lion and,
+after explaining to her that he had recognized her in the British
+camp, had made her prisoner. It was then that she had struck him
+down with the butt of her pistol and escaped. That he might seek
+no personal revenge for her act had been evidenced in Wilhelmstal
+the night that he had killed Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and left
+without molesting her.</p>
+
+<p>No, she could not fathom him. He hated her and at the same time
+he had protected her as had been evidenced again when he had kept
+the great apes from tearing her to pieces after she had escaped
+from the Wamabo village to which Usanga, the black sergeant, had
+brought her a captive; but why was he saving her? For what sinister
+purpose could this savage enemy be protecting her from the other
+denizens of his cruel jungle? She tried to put from her mind the
+probable fate which awaited her, yet it persisted in obtruding
+itself upon her thoughts, though always she was forced to admit that
+there was nothing in the demeanor of the man to indicate that her
+fears were well grounded. She judged him perhaps by the standards
+other men had taught her and because she looked upon him as a savage
+creature, she felt that she could not expect more of chivalry from
+him than was to be found in the breasts of the civilized men of
+her acquaintance.</p>
+
+<p>Fraulein Bertha Kircher was by nature a companionable and cheerful
+character. She was not given to morbid forebodings, and above all
+things she craved the society of her kind and that interchange of
+thought which is one of the marked distinctions between man and
+the lower animals. Tarzan, on the other hand, was sufficient unto
+himself. Long years of semi-solitude among creatures whose powers
+of oral expression are extremely limited had thrown him almost
+entirely upon his own resources for entertainment.</p>
+
+<p>His active mind was never idle, but because his jungle mates could
+neither follow nor grasp the vivid train of imaginings that his
+man-mind wrought, he had long since learned to keep them to himself;
+and so now he found no need for confiding them in others. This
+fact, linked with that of his dislike for the girl, was sufficient
+to seal his lips for other than necessary conversation, and so they
+worked on together in comparative silence. Bertha Kircher, however,
+was nothing if not feminine and she soon found that having someone
+to talk to who would not talk was extremely irksome. Her fear of
+the man was gradually departing, and she was full of a thousand
+unsatisfied curiosities as to his plans for the future in so far as
+they related to her, as well as more personal questions regarding
+himself, since she could not but wonder as to his antecedents and
+his strange and solitary life in the jungle, as well as his friendly
+intercourse with the savage apes among which she had found him.</p>
+
+<p>With the waning of her fears she became sufficiently emboldened
+to question him, and so she asked him what he intended doing after
+the hut and boma were completed.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to the west coast where I was born," replied Tarzan.
+"I do not know when. I have all my life before me and in the jungle
+there is no reason for haste. We are not forever running as fast
+as we can from one place to another as are you of the outer world.
+When I have been here long enough I will go on toward the west,
+but first I must see that you have a safe place in which to sleep,
+and that you have learned how to provide yourself with necessaries.
+That will take time."</p>
+
+<p>"You are going to leave me here alone?" cried the girl; her tones
+marked the fear which the prospect induced. "You are going to leave
+me here alone in this terrible jungle, a prey to wild beasts and
+savage men, hundreds of miles from a white settlement and in a
+country which gives every evidence of never having been touched by
+the foot of civilized men?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" asked Tarzan. "I did not bring you here. Would one of
+your men accord any better treatment to an enemy woman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she exclaimed. "They certainly would. No man of my race
+would leave a defenseless white woman alone in this horrible place."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan shrugged his broad shoulders. The conversation seemed
+profitless and it was further distasteful to him for the reason
+that it was carried on in German, a tongue which he detested as
+much as he did the people who spoke it. He wished that the girl
+spoke English and then it occurred to him that as he had seen her
+in disguise in the British camp carrying on her nefarious work as
+a German spy, she probably did speak English and so he asked her.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I speak English," she exclaimed, "but I did not know
+that you did."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan looked his wonderment but made no comment. He only wondered why
+the girl should have any doubts as to the ability of an Englishman
+to speak English, and then suddenly it occurred to him that she
+probably looked upon him merely as a beast of the jungle who by
+accident had learned to speak German through frequenting the district
+which Germany had colonized. It was there only that she had seen
+him and so she might not know that he was an Englishman by birth,
+and that he had had a home in British East Africa. It was as well,
+he thought, that she knew little of him, as the less she knew the
+more he might learn from her as to her activities in behalf of the
+Germans and of the German spy system of which she was a representative;
+and so it occurred to him to let her continue to think that he was
+only what he appeared to be—a savage denizen of his savage jungle,
+a man of no race and no country, hating all white men impartially;
+and this in truth, was what she did think of him. It explained
+perfectly his attacks upon Major Schneider and the Major's brother,
+Hauptmann Fritz.</p>
+
+<p>Again they worked on in silence upon the boma which was now nearly
+completed, the girl helping the man to the best of her small
+ability. Tarzan could not but note with grudging approval the
+spirit of helpfulness she manifested in the oft-times painful labor
+of gathering and arranging the thorn bushes which constituted the
+temporary protection against roaming carnivores. Her hands and arms
+gave bloody token of the sharpness of the numerous points that had
+lacerated her soft flesh, and even though she were an enemy Tarzan
+could not but feel compunction that he had permitted her to do this
+work, and at last he bade her stop.</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" she asked. "It is no more painful to me than it must be to
+you, and, as it is solely for my protection that you are building
+this boma, there is no reason why I should not do my share."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a woman," replied Tarzan. "This is not a woman's work. If
+you wish to do something, take those gourds I brought this morning
+and fill them with water at the river. You may need it while I am
+away."</p>
+
+<p>"While you are away—" she said. "You are going away?"</p>
+
+<p>"When the boma is built I am going out after meat," he replied.
+"Tomorrow I will go again and take you and show you how you may
+make your own kills after I am gone."</p>
+
+<p>Without a word she took the gourds and walked toward the river. As
+she filled them, her mind was occupied with painful forebodings of
+the future. She knew that Tarzan had passed a death sentence upon
+her, and that the moment that he left her, her doom was sealed,
+for it could be but a question of time—a very short time—before
+the grim jungle would claim her, for how could a lone woman hope
+successfully to combat the savage forces of destruction which
+constituted so large a part of existence in the jungle?</p>
+
+<p>So occupied was she with the gloomy prophecies that she had neither
+ears nor eyes for what went on about her. Mechanically she filled
+the gourds and, taking them up, turned slowly to retrace her steps
+to the boma only to voice immediately a half-stifled scream and
+shrank back from the menacing figure looming before her and blocking
+her way to the hut.</p>
+
+<p>Go-lat, the king ape, hunting a little apart from his tribe, had seen
+the woman go to the river for water, and it was he who confronted
+her when she turned back with her filled gourds. Go-lat was not
+a pretty creature when judged by standards of civilized humanity,
+though the shes of his tribe and even Go-lat himself, considered
+his glossy black coat shot with silver, his huge arms dangling to
+his knees, his bullet head sunk between his mighty shoulders, marks
+of great personal beauty. His wicked, bloodshot eyes and broad
+nose, his ample mouth and great fighting fangs only enhanced the
+claim of this Adonis of the forest upon the affections of his shes.</p>
+
+<p>Doubtless in the little, savage brain there was a well-formed
+conviction that this strange she belonging to the Tarmangani must
+look with admiration upon so handsome a creature as Go-lat, for
+there could be no doubt in the mind of any that his beauty entirely
+eclipsed such as the hairless white ape might lay claim to.</p>
+
+<p>But Bertha Kircher saw only a hideous beast, a fierce and terrible
+caricature of man. Could Go-lat have known what passed through her
+mind, he must have been terribly chagrined, though the chances are
+that he would have attributed it to a lack of discernment on her
+part. Tarzan heard the girl's cry and looking up saw at a glance
+the cause of her terror. Leaping lightly over the boma, he ran
+swiftly toward her as Go-lat lumbered closer to the girl the while
+he voiced his emotions in low gutturals which, while in reality the
+most amicable of advances, sounded to the girl like the growling
+of an enraged beast. As Tarzan drew nearer he called aloud to the
+ape and the girl heard from the human lips the same sounds that
+had fallen from those of the anthropoid.</p>
+
+<p>"I will not harm your she," Go-lat called to Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"I know it," replied the ape-man, "but she does not. She is like
+Numa and Sheeta, who do not understand our talk. She thinks you
+come to harm her."</p>
+
+<p>By this time Tarzan was beside the girl. "He will not harm you,"
+he said to her. "You need not be afraid. This ape has learned his
+lesson. He has learned that Tarzan is lord of the jungle. He will
+not harm that which is Tarzan's."</p>
+
+<p>The girl cast a quick glance at the man's face. It was evident to
+her that the words he had spoken meant nothing to him and that the
+assumed proprietorship over her was, like the boma, only another
+means for her protection.</p>
+
+<p>"But I am afraid of him," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"You must not show your fear. You will be often surrounded by these
+apes. At such times you will be safest. Before I leave you I will
+give you the means of protecting yourself against them should one
+of them chance to turn upon you. If I were you I would seek their
+society. Few are the animals of the jungle that dare attack the
+great apes when there are several of them together. If you let
+them know that you are afraid of them, they will take advantage of
+it and your life will be constantly menaced. The shes especially
+would attack you. I will let them know that you have the means of
+protecting yourself and of killing them. If necessary, I will show
+you how and then they will respect and fear you."</p>
+
+<p>"I will try," said the girl, "but I am afraid that it will be
+difficult. He is the most frightful creature I ever have seen."
+Tarzan smiled. "Doubtless he thinks the same of you," he said.</p>
+
+<p>By this time other apes had entered the clearing and they were now
+the center of a considerable group, among which were several bulls,
+some young shes, and some older ones with their little balus clinging
+to their backs or frolicking around at their feet. Though they had
+seen the girl the night of the Dum-Dum when Sheeta had forced her
+to leap from her concealment into the arena where the apes were
+dancing, they still evinced a great curiosity regarding her. Some
+of the shes came very close and plucked at her garments, commenting
+upon them to one another in their strange tongue. The girl, by
+the exercise of all the will power she could command, succeeded in
+passing through the ordeal without evincing any of the terror and
+revulsion that she felt. Tarzan watched her closely, a half-smile
+upon his face. He was not so far removed from recent contact with
+civilized people that he could not realize the torture that she
+was undergoing, but he felt no pity for this woman of a cruel enemy
+who doubtless deserved the worst suffering that could be meted to
+her. Yet, notwithstanding his sentiments toward her, he was forced
+to admire her fine display of courage. Suddenly he turned to the
+apes.</p>
+
+<p>"Tarzan goes to hunt for himself and his she," he said. "The she
+will remain there," and he pointed toward the hut. "See that no
+member of the tribe harms her. Do you understand?"</p>
+
+<p>The apes nodded. "We will not harm her," said Go-lat.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Tarzan. "You will not. For if you do, Tarzan will kill
+you," and then turning to the girl, "Come," he said, "I am going to
+hunt now. You had better remain at the hut. The apes have promised
+not to harm you. I will leave my spear with you. It will be the best
+weapon you could have in case you should need to protect yourself,
+but I doubt if you will be in any danger for the short time that
+I am away."</p>
+
+<p>He walked with her as far as the boma and when she had entered he
+closed the gap with thorn bushes and turned away toward the forest.
+She watched him moving across the clearing, noting the easy, catlike
+tread and the grace of every movement that harmonized so well with
+the symmetry and perfection of his figure. At the forest's edge
+she saw him swing lightly into a tree and disappear from view, and
+then, being a woman, she entered the hut and, throwing herself upon
+the ground, burst into tears.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterx" id="chapterx">In the Hands of Savages</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Tarzan sought Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, for of all the
+jungle animals he doubted if any would prove more palatable to the
+white woman, but though his keen nostrils were ever on the alert,
+he traveled far without being rewarded with even the faintest
+scent spoor of the game he sought. Keeping close to the river where
+he hoped to find Bara or Horta approaching or leaving a drinking
+place he came at last upon the strong odor of the Wamabo village
+and being ever ready to pay his hereditary enemies, the Gomangani,
+an undesired visit, he swung into a detour and came up in the rear
+of the village. From a tree which overhung the palisade he looked
+down into the street where he saw the preparations going on which
+his experience told him indicated the approach of one of those
+frightful feasts the piece de resistance of which is human flesh.</p>
+
+<p>One of Tarzan's chief divertissements was the baiting of the blacks.
+He realized more keen enjoyment through annoying and terrifying them
+than from any other source of amusement the grim jungle offered.
+To rob them of their feast in some way that would strike terror
+to their hearts would give him the keenest of pleasure, and so
+he searched the village with his eyes for some indication of the
+whereabouts of the prisoner. His view was circumscribed by the
+dense foliage of the tree in which he sat, and, so that he might
+obtain a better view, he climbed further aloft and moved cautiously
+out upon a slender branch.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan of the Apes possessed a woodcraft scarcely short of the
+marvelous but even Tarzan's wondrous senses were not infallible.
+The branch upon which he made his way outward from the bole was no
+smaller than many that had borne his weight upon countless other
+occasions. Outwardly it appeared strong and healthy and was in full
+foliage, nor could Tarzan know that close to the stem a burrowing
+insect had eaten away half the heart of the solid wood beneath the
+bark.</p>
+
+<p>And so when he reached a point far out upon the limb, it snapped
+close to the bole of the tree without warning. Below him were no
+larger branches that he might clutch and as he lunged downward his
+foot caught in a looped creeper so that he turned completely over
+and alighted on the flat of his back in the center of the village
+street.</p>
+
+<p>At the sound of the breaking limb and the crashing body falling
+through the branches the startled blacks scurried to their huts
+for weapons, and when the braver of them emerged, they saw the
+still form of an almost naked white man lying where he had fallen.
+Emboldened by the fact that he did not move they approached more
+closely, and when their eyes discovered no signs of others of his
+kind in the tree, they rushed forward until a dozen warriors stood
+about him with ready spears. At first they thought that the falling
+had killed him, but upon closer examination they discovered that
+the man was only stunned. One of the warriors was for thrusting a
+spear through his heart, but Numabo, the chief, would not permit
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"Bind him," he said. "We will feed well tonight."</p>
+
+<p>And so they bound his hands and feet with thongs of gut and carried
+him into the hut where Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick awaited
+his fate. The Englishman had also been bound hand and foot by this
+time for fear that at the last moment he might escape and rob them
+of their feast. A great crowd of natives were gathered about the
+hut attempting to get a glimpse of the new prisoner, but Numabo
+doubled the guard before the entrance for fear that some of his
+people, in the exuberance of their savage joy, might rob the others
+of the pleasures of the death dance which would precede the killing
+of the victims.</p>
+
+<p>The young Englishman had heard the sound of Tarzan's body crashing
+through the tree to the ground and the commotion in the village
+which immediately followed, and now, as he stood with his back
+against the wall of the hut, he looked upon the fellow-prisoner that
+the blacks carried in and laid upon the floor with mixed feelings
+of surprise and compassion. He realized that he never had seen
+a more perfect specimen of manhood than that of the unconscious
+figure before him, and he wondered to what sad circumstances the
+man owed his capture. It was evident that the new prisoner was
+himself as much a savage as his captors if apparel and weapons were
+any criterion by which to judge; yet it was also equally evident
+that he was a white man and from his well-shaped head and clean-cut
+features that he was not one of those unhappy halfwits who so often
+revert to savagery even in the heart of civilized communities.</p>
+
+<p>As he watched the man, he presently noticed that his eyelids were
+moving. Slowly they opened and a pair of gray eyes looked blankly
+about. With returning consciousness the eyes assumed their natural
+expression of keen intelligence, and a moment later, with an
+effort, the prisoner rolled over upon his side and drew himself to
+a sitting position. He was facing the Englishman, and as his eyes
+took in the bound ankles and the arms drawn tightly behind the
+other's back, a slow smile lighted his features.</p>
+
+<p>"They will fill their bellies tonight," he said.</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman grinned. "From the fuss they made," he said, "the
+beggars must be awfully hungry. They like to have eaten me alive
+when they brought me in. How did they get you?"</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan shrugged his head ruefully. "It was my own fault," he
+replied. "I deserve to be eaten. I crawled out upon a branch that
+would not bear my weight and when it broke, instead of alighting
+on my feet, I caught my foot in a trailer and came down on my head.
+Otherwise they would not have taken me—alive."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there no escape?" asked the Englishman.</p>
+
+<p>"I have escaped them before," replied Tarzan, "and I have seen
+others escape them. I have seen a man taken away from the stake
+after a dozen spear thrusts had pierced his body and the fire had
+been lighted about his feet."</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick shuddered. "God!" he exclaimed, "I hope I
+don't have to face that. I believe I could stand anything but the
+thought of the fire. I should hate like the devil to go into a funk
+before the devils at the last moment."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't worry," said Tarzan. "It doesn't last long and you won't
+funk. It is really not half as bad as it sounds. There is only a
+brief period of pain before you lose consciousness. I have seen it
+many times before. It is as good a way to go as another. We must
+die sometime. What difference whether it be tonight, tomorrow night,
+or a year hence, just so that we have lived—and I have lived!"</p>
+
+<p>"Your philosophy may be all right, old top," said the young
+lieutenant, "but I can't say that it is exactly satisfying."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan laughed. "Roll over here," he said, "where I can get at
+your bonds with my teeth." The Englishman did as he was bid and
+presently Tarzan was working at the thongs with his strong white
+teeth. He felt them giving slowly beneath his efforts. In another
+moment they would part, and then it would be a comparatively simple
+thing for the Englishman to remove the remaining bonds from Tarzan
+and himself.</p>
+
+<p>It was then that one of the guards entered the hut. In an instant he
+saw what the new prisoner was doing and raising his spear, struck
+the ape-man a vicious blow across the head with its shaft. Then he
+called in the other guards and together they fell upon the luckless
+men, kicking and beating them unmercifully, after which they bound
+the Englishman more securely than before and tied both men fast on
+opposite sides of the hut. When they had gone Tarzan looked across
+at his companion in misery.</p>
+
+<p>"While there is life," he said, "there is hope," but he grinned as
+he voiced the ancient truism.</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick returned the other's smile.
+"I fancy," he said, "that we are getting short on both. It must
+be close to supper time now."</p>
+
+<p>Zu-tag hunted alone far from the balance of the tribe of Go-lat,
+the great ape. Zu-tag (Big-neck) was a young bull but recently
+arrived at maturity. He was large, powerful, and ferocious and at
+the same time far above the average of his kind in intelligence as
+was denoted by a fuller and less receding forehead. Already Go-lat
+saw in this young ape a possible contender for the laurels of his
+kingship and consequently the old bull looked upon Zu-tag with
+jealousy and disfavor. It was for this reason, possibly, as much
+as another that Zu-tag hunted so often alone; but it was his utter
+fearlessness that permitted him to wander far afield away from the
+protection which numbers gave the great apes. One of the results
+of this habit was a greatly increased resourcefulness which found
+him constantly growing in intelligence and powers of observation.</p>
+
+<p>Today he had been hunting toward the south and was returning along
+the river upon a path he often followed because it led by the
+village of the Gomangani whose strange and almost apelike actions
+and peculiar manners of living had aroused his interest and curiosity.
+As he had done upon other occasions he took up his position in a
+tree from which he could overlook the interior of the village and
+watch the blacks at their vocations in the street below.</p>
+
+<p>Zu-tag had scarcely more than established himself in his tree when,
+with the blacks, he was startled by the crashing of Tarzan's body
+from the branches of another jungle giant to the ground within the
+palisade. He saw the Negroes gather about the prostrate form and
+later carry it into the hut; and once he rose to his full height
+upon the limb where he had been squatting and raised his face to
+the heavens to scream out a savage protest and a challenge, for he
+had recognized in the brown-skinned Tarmangani the strange white
+ape who had come among them a night or two before in the midst of
+their Dum-Dum, and who by so easily mastering the greatest among
+them, had won the savage respect and admiration of this fierce
+young bull.</p>
+
+<p>But Zu-tag's ferocity was tempered by a certain native cunning and
+caution. Before he had voiced his protest there formed in his mind
+the thought that he would like to save this wonderful white ape
+from the common enemy, the Gomangani, and so he screamed forth no
+challenge, wisely determined that more could be accomplished by
+secrecy and stealth than by force of muscle and fang.</p>
+
+<p>At first he thought to enter the village alone and carry off the
+Tarmangani; but when he saw how numerous were the warriors and that
+several sat directly before the entrance to the lair into which the
+prisoner had been carried, it occurred to him that this was work
+for many rather than one, and so, as silently as he had come, he
+slipped away though the foliage toward the north.</p>
+
+<p>The tribe was still loitering about the clearing where stood the hut
+that Tarzan and Bertha Kircher had built. Some were idly searching
+for food just within the forest's edge, while others squatted
+beneath the shade of trees within the clearing.</p>
+
+<p>The girl had emerged from the hut, her tears dried and was gazing
+anxiously toward the south into the jungle where Tarzan had disappeared.
+Occasionally she cast suspicious glances in the direction of the
+huge shaggy anthropoids about her. How easy it would be for one
+of those great beasts to enter the boma and slay her. How helpless
+she was, even with the spear that the white man had left her, she
+realized as she noted for the thousandth time the massive shoulders,
+the bull necks, and the great muscles gliding so easily beneath the
+glossy coats. Never, she thought, had she seen such personifications
+of brute power as were represented by these mighty bulls. Those
+huge hands would snap her futile spear as she might snap a match in
+two, while their lightest blow could crush her into insensibility
+and death.</p>
+
+<p>It was while she was occupied with these depressing thoughts that
+there dropped suddenly into the clearing from the trees upon the
+south the figure of a mighty young bull. At that time all of the
+apes looked much alike to Bertha Kircher, nor was it until some
+time later that she realized that each differed from the others
+in individual characteristics of face and figure as do individuals
+of the human races. Yet even then she could not help but note
+the wondrous strength and agility of this great beast, and as he
+approached she even found herself admiring the sheen of his heavy,
+black, silvershot coat.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident that the newcomer was filled with suppressed excitement.
+His demeanor and bearing proclaimed this even from afar, nor was
+the girl the only one to note it. For as they saw him coming many
+of the apes arose and advanced to meet him, bristling and growling
+as is their way. Go-lat was among these latter, and he advanced
+stiffly with the hairs upon his neck and down his spine erect,
+uttering low growls and baring his fighting fangs, for who might
+say whether Zu-tag came in peace or otherwise? The old king had
+seen other young apes come thus in his day filled with a sudden
+resolution to wrest the kingship from their chief. He had seen
+bulls about to run amuck burst thus suddenly from the jungle upon
+the members of the tribe, and so Go-lat took no chances.</p>
+
+<p>Had Zu-tag come indolently, feeding as he came, he might have
+entered the tribe without arousing notice or suspicion, but when
+one comes thus precipitately, evidently bursting with some emotion
+out of the ordinary, let all apes beware. There was a certain amount
+of preliminary circling, growling, and sniffing, stiff-legged and
+stiff-haired, before each side discovered that the other had no
+intention of initiating an attack and then Zu-tag told Go-lat what
+he had seen among the lairs of the Gomangani.</p>
+
+<p>Go-lat grunted in disgust and turned away. "Let the white ape take
+care of himself," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"He is a great ape," said Zu-tag. "He came to live in peace with
+the tribe of Go-lat. Let us save him from the Gomangani."</p>
+
+<p>Go-lat grunted again and continued to move away.</p>
+
+<p>"Zu-tag will go alone and get him," cried the young ape, "if Go-lat
+is afraid of the Gomangani."</p>
+
+<p>The king ape wheeled in anger, growling loudly and beating upon
+his breast. "Go-lat is not afraid," he screamed, "but he will not
+go, for the white ape is not of his tribe. Go yourself and take
+the Tarmangani's she with you if you wish so much to save the white
+ape."</p>
+
+<p>"Zu-tag will go," replied the younger bull, "and he will take the
+Tarmangani's she and all the bulls of Go-lat who are not cowards,"
+and so saying he cast his eyes inquiringly about at the other apes.
+"Who will go with Zu-tag to fight the Gomangani and bring away our
+brother," he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>Eight young bulls in the full prime of their vigor pressed forward
+to Zu-tag's side, but the old bulls with the conservatism and
+caution of many years upon their gray shoulders, shook their heads
+and waddled away after Go-lat.</p>
+
+<p>"Good," cried Zu-tag. "We want no old shes to go with us to fight
+the Gomangani for that is work for the fighters of the tribe."</p>
+
+<p>The old bulls paid no attention to his boastful words, but the eight
+who had volunteered to accompany him were filled with self-pride so
+that they stood around vaingloriously beating upon their breasts,
+baring their fangs and screaming their hideous challenge until the
+jungle reverberated to the horrid sound.</p>
+
+<p>All this time Bertha Kircher was a wide-eyed and terrified spectator to
+what, as she thought, could end only in a terrific battle between
+these frightful beasts, and when Zu-tag and his followers began
+screaming forth their fearsome challenge, the girl found herself
+trembling in terror, for of all the sounds of the jungle there is
+none more awe inspiring than that of the great bull ape when he
+issues his challenge or shrieks forth his victory cry.</p>
+
+<p>If she had been terrified before she was almost paralyzed with
+fear now as she saw Zu-tag and his apes turn toward the boma and
+approach her. With the agility of a cat Zu-tag leaped completely
+over the protecting wall and stood before her. Valiantly she held
+her spear before her, pointing it at his breast. He commenced to
+jabber and gesticulate, and even with her scant acquaintance with
+the ways of the anthropoids, she realized that he was not menacing
+her, for there was little or no baring of fighting fangs and his
+whole expression and attitude was of one attempting to explain a
+knotty problem or plead a worthy cause. At last he became evidently
+impatient, for with a sweep of one great paw he struck the spear
+from her hand and coming close, seized her by the arm, but not
+roughly. She shrank away in terror and yet some sense within her
+seemed to be trying to assure her that she was in no danger from
+this great beast. Zu-tag jabbered loudly, ever and again pointing
+into the jungle toward the south and moving toward the boma,
+pulling the girl with him. He seemed almost frantic in his efforts
+to explain something to her. He pointed toward the boma, herself,
+and then to the forest, and then, at last, as though by a sudden
+inspiration, he reached down and, seizing the spear, repeatedly
+touched it with his forefinger and again pointed toward the south.
+Suddenly it dawned upon the girl that what the ape was trying
+to explain to her was related in some way to the white man whose
+property they thought she was. Possibly her grim protector was in
+trouble and with this thought firmly established, she no longer
+held back, but started forward as though to accompany the young
+bull. At the point in the boma where Tarzan had blocked the entrance,
+she started to pull away the thorn bushes, and, when Zu-tag saw
+what she was doing, he fell to and assisted her so that presently
+they had an opening through the boma through which she passed with
+the great ape.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately Zu-tag and his eight apes started off rapidly toward
+the jungle, so rapidly that Bertha Kircher would have had to run
+at top speed to keep up with them. This she realized she could not
+do, and so she was forced to lag behind, much to the chagrin of
+Zu-tag, who constantly kept running back and urging her to greater
+speed. Once he took her by the arm and tried to draw her along.
+Her protests were of no avail since the beast could not know that
+they were protests, nor did he desist until she caught her foot in
+some tangled grass and fell to the ground. Then indeed was Zu-tag
+furious and growled hideously. His apes were waiting at the edge
+of the forest for him to lead them. He suddenly realized that this
+poor weak she could not keep up with them and that if they traveled
+at her slow rate they might be too late to render assistance to the
+Tarmangani, and so without more ado, the giant anthropoid picked
+Bertha Kircher bodily from the ground and swung her to his back.
+Her arms were about his neck and in this position he seized her
+wrists in one great paw so that she could not fall off and started
+at a rapid rate to join his companions.</p>
+
+<p>Dressed as she was in riding breeches with no entangling skirts to
+hinder or catch upon passing shrubbery, she soon found that she
+could cling tightly to the back of the mighty bull and when a moment
+later he took to the lower branches of the trees, she closed her
+eyes and clung to him in terror lest she be precipitated to the
+ground below.</p>
+
+<p>That journey through the primeval forest with the nine great apes
+will live in the memory of Bertha Kircher for the balance of her
+life, as clearly delineated as at the moment of its enactment.</p>
+
+<p>The first overwhelming wave of fear having passed, she was at last
+able to open her eyes and view her surroundings with increased
+interest and presently the sensation of terror slowly left her to
+be replaced by one of comparative security when she saw the ease
+and surety with which these great beasts traveled through the trees;
+and later her admiration for the young bull increased as it became
+evident that even burdened with her additional weight, he moved more
+rapidly and with no greater signs of fatigue than his unburdened
+fellows.</p>
+
+<p>Not once did Zu-tag pause until he came to a stop among the branches
+of a tree no great distance from the native village. They could
+hear the noises of the life within the palisade, the laughing and
+shouting of the Negroes, and the barking of dogs, and through the
+foliage the girl caught glimpses of the village from which she had
+so recently escaped. She shuddered to think of the possibility of
+having to return to it and of possible recapture, and she wondered
+why Zu-tag had brought her here.</p>
+
+<p>Now the apes advanced slowly once more and with great caution,
+moving as noiselessly through the trees as the squirrels themselves
+until they had reached a point where they could easily overlook
+the palisade and the village street below.</p>
+
+<p>Zu-tag squatted upon a great branch close to the bole of the tree
+and by loosening the girl's arms from about his neck, indicated
+that she was to find a footing for herself and when she had done
+so, he turned toward her and pointed repeatedly at the open doorway
+of a hut upon the opposite side of the street below them. By various
+gestures he seemed to be trying to explain something to her and at
+last she caught at the germ of his idea—that her white man was a
+prisoner there.</p>
+
+<p>Beneath them was the roof of a hut onto which she saw that she
+could easily drop, but what she could do after she had entered the
+village was beyond her.</p>
+
+<p>Darkness was already falling and the fires beneath the cooking pots
+had been lighted. The girl saw the stake in the village street and
+the piles of fagots about it and in terror she suddenly realized
+the portent of these grisly preparations. Oh, if she but only had
+some sort of a weapon that might give her even a faint hope, some
+slight advantage against the blacks. Then she would not hesitate
+to venture into the village in an attempt to save the man who had
+upon three different occasions saved her. She knew that he hated her
+and yet strong within her breast burned the sense of her obligation
+to him. She could not fathom him. Never in her life had she seen a
+man at once so paradoxical and dependable. In many of his ways he
+was more savage than the beasts with which he associated and yet,
+on the other hand, he was as chivalrous as a knight of old. For
+several days she had been lost with him in the jungle absolutely
+at his mercy, yet she had come to trust so implicitly in his honor
+that any fear she had had of him was rapidly disappearing.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, that he might be hideously cruel was evidenced
+to her by the fact that he was planning to leave her alone in the
+midst of the frightful dangers which menaced her by night and by
+day.</p>
+
+<p>Zu-tag was evidently waiting for darkness to fall before carrying
+out whatever plans had matured in his savage little brain, for he
+and his fellows sat quietly in the tree about her, watching the
+preparations of the blacks. Presently it became apparent that some
+altercation had arisen among the Negroes, for a score or more of
+them were gathered around one who appeared to be their chief, and
+all were talking and gesticulating heatedly. The argument lasted
+for some five or ten minutes when suddenly the little knot broke
+and two warriors ran to the opposite side of the village from whence
+they presently returned with a large stake which they soon set up
+beside the one already in place. The girl wondered what the purpose
+of the second stake might be, nor did she have long to wait for an
+explanation.</p>
+
+<p>It was quite dark by this time, the village being lighted by the
+fitful glare of many fires, and now she saw a number of warriors
+approach and enter the hut Zu-tag had been watching. A moment later
+they reappeared, dragging between them two captives, one of whom
+the girl immediately recognized as her protector and the other as
+an Englishman in the uniform of an aviator. This, then, was the
+reason for the two stakes.</p>
+
+<p>Arising quickly she placed a hand upon Zu-tag's shoulder and pointed
+down into the village. "Come," she said, as if she had been talking
+to one of her own kind, and with the word she swung lightly to the
+roof of the hut below. From there to the ground was but a short drop
+and a moment later she was circling the hut upon the side farthest
+from the fires, keeping in the dense shadows where there was little
+likelihood of being discovered. She turned once to see that Zu-tag
+was directly behind her and could see his huge bulk looming up
+in the dark, while beyond was another one of his eight. Doubtless
+they had all followed her and this fact gave her a greater sense
+of security and hope than she had before experienced.</p>
+
+<p>Pausing beside the hut next to the street, she peered cautiously
+about the corner. A few inches from her was the open doorway of the
+structure, and beyond, farther down the village street, the blacks
+were congregating about the prisoners, who were already being bound
+to the stakes. All eyes were centered upon the victims, and there
+was only the remotest chance that she and her companions would
+be discovered until they were close upon the blacks. She wished,
+however, that she might have some sort of a weapon with which to
+lead the attack, for she could not know, of course, for a certainty
+whether the great apes would follow her or not. Hoping that she
+might find something within the hut, she slipped quickly around
+the corner and into the doorway and after her, one by one, came
+the nine bulls. Searching quickly about the interior, she presently
+discovered a spear, and, armed with this, she again approached the
+entrance.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan of the Apes and Lieutenant Harold Percy SmithOldwick were
+bound securely to their respective stakes. Neither had spoken for
+some time. The Englishman turned his head so that he could see his
+companion in misery. Tarzan stood straight against his stake. His
+face was entirely expressionless in so far as either fear or anger
+were concerned. His countenance portrayed bored indifference though
+both men knew that they were about to be tortured.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, old top," whispered the young lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan turned his eyes in the direction of the other and smiled.
+"Good-bye," he said. "If you want to get it over in a hurry, inhale
+the smoke and flames as rapidly as you can."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks," replied the aviator and though he made a wry face, he
+drew himself up very straight and squared his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>The women and children had seated themselves in a wide circle about
+the victims while the warriors, hideously painted, were forming
+slowly to commence the dance of death. Again Tarzan turned to his
+companion. "If you'd like to spoil their fun," he said, "don't
+make any fuss no matter how much you suffer. If you can carry on to
+the end without changing the expression upon your face or uttering
+a single word, you will deprive them of all the pleasures of this
+part of the entertainment. Good-bye again and good luck."</p>
+
+<p>The young Englishman made no reply but it was evident from the set
+of his jaws that the Negroes would get little enjoyment out of him.</p>
+
+<p>The warriors were circling now. Presently Numabo would draw first
+blood with his sharp spear which would be the signal for the
+beginning of the torture after a little of which the fagots would
+be lighted around the feet of the victims.</p>
+
+<p>Closer and closer danced the hideous chief, his yellow, sharp-filed
+teeth showing in the firelight between his thick, red lips. Now
+bending double, now stamping furiously upon the ground, now leaping
+into the air, he danced step by step in the narrowing circle that
+would presently bring him within spear reach of the intended feast.</p>
+
+<p>At last the spear reached out and touched the ape-man on the
+breast and when it came away, a little trickle of blood ran down
+the smooth, brown hide and almost simultaneously there broke from
+the outer periphery of the expectant audience a woman's shriek which
+seemed a signal for a series of hideous screamings, growlings and
+barkings, and a great commotion upon that side of the circle. The
+victims could not see the cause of the disturbance, but Tarzan did
+not have to see, for he knew by the voices of the apes the identity
+of the disturbers. He only wondered what had brought them and what
+the purpose of the attack, for he could not believe that they had
+come to rescue him.</p>
+
+<p>Numabo and his warriors broke quickly from the circle of their dance
+to see pushing toward them through the ranks of their screaming
+and terrified people the very white girl who had escaped them a
+few nights before, and at her back what appeared to their surprised
+eyes a veritable horde of the huge and hairy forest men upon whom
+they looked with considerable fear and awe.</p>
+
+<p>Striking to right and left with his heavy fists, tearing with
+his great fangs, came Zu-tag, the young bull, while at his heels,
+emulating his example, surged his hideous apes. Quickly they came
+through the old men and the women and children, for straight toward
+Numabo and his warriors the girl led them. It was then that they
+came within range of Tarzan's vision and he saw with unmixed surprise
+who it was that led the apes to his rescue.</p>
+
+<p>To Zu-tag he shouted: "Go for the big bulls while the she unbinds
+me," and to Bertha Kircher: "Quick! Cut these bonds. The apes will
+take care of the blacks."</p>
+
+<p>Turning from her advance the girl ran to his side. She had no knife
+and the bonds were tied tightly but she worked quickly and coolly
+and as Zu-tag and his apes closed with the warriors, she succeeded
+in loosening Tarzan's bonds sufficiently to permit him to extricate
+his own hands so that in another minute he had freed himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Now unbind the Englishman," he cried, and, leaping forward, ran
+to join Zu-tag and his fellows in their battle against the blacks.
+Numabo and his warriors, realizing now the relatively small numbers
+of the apes against them, had made a determined stand and with
+spears and other weapons were endeavoring to overcome the invaders.
+Three of the apes were already down, killed or mortally wounded,
+when Tarzan, realizing that the battle must eventually go against
+the apes unless some means could be found to break the morale of
+the Negroes, cast about him for some means of bringing about the
+desired end. And suddenly his eye lighted upon a number of weapons
+which he knew would accomplish the result. A grim smile touched
+his lips as he snatched a vessel of boiling water from one of the
+fires and hurled it full in the faces of the warriors. Screaming
+with terror and pain they fell back though Numabo urged them to
+rush forward.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had the first cauldron of boiling water spilled its
+contents upon them ere Tarzan deluged them with a second, nor was
+there any third needed to send them shrieking in every direction
+to the security of their huts.</p>
+
+<p>By the time Tarzan had recovered his own weapons the girl had released
+the young Englishman, and, with the six remaining apes, the three
+Europeans moved slowly toward the village gate, the aviator arming
+himself with a spear discarded by one of the scalded warriors, as
+they eagerly advanced toward the outer darkness.</p>
+
+<p>Numabo was unable to rally the now thoroughly terrified and
+painfully burned warriors so that rescued and rescuers passed out
+of the village into the blackness of the jungle without further
+interference.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan strode through the jungle in silence. Beside him walked Zu-tag,
+the great ape, and behind them strung the surviving anthropoids
+followed by Fraulein Bertha Kircher and Lieutenant Harold Percy
+Smith-Oldwick, the latter a thoroughly astonished and mystified
+Englishman.</p>
+
+<p>In all his life Tarzan of the Apes had been obliged to acknowledge
+but few obligations. He won his way through his savage world by the
+might of his own muscle, the superior keenness of his five senses
+and his God-given power to reason. Tonight the greatest of
+all obligations had been placed upon him—his life had been saved
+by another and Tarzan shook his head and growled, for it had been
+saved by one whom he hated above all others.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxi" id="chapterxi">Finding the Airplane</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Tarzan of the Apes, returning from a successful hunt, with the
+body of Bara, the deer, across one sleek, brown shoulder, paused
+in the branches of a great tree at the edge of a clearing and gazed
+ruefully at two figures walking from the river to the boma-encircled
+hut a short distance away.</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man shook his tousled head and sighed. His eyes wandered
+toward the west and his thoughts to the far-away cabin by the
+land-locked harbor of the great water that washed the beach of his
+boyhood home—to the cabin of his long-dead father to which the
+memories and treasures of a happy childhood lured him. Since the
+loss of his mate, a great longing had possessed him to return to
+the haunts of his youth—to the untracked jungle wilderness where
+he had lived the life he loved best long before man had invaded
+the precincts of his wild stamping grounds. There he hoped in a
+renewal of the old life under the old conditions to win surcease
+from sorrow and perhaps some measure of forgetfulness.</p>
+
+<p>But the little cabin and the land-locked harbor were many long,
+weary marches away, and he was handicapped by the duty which he
+felt he owed to the two figures walking in the clearing before him.
+One was a young man in a worn and ragged uniform of the British Royal
+Air Forces, the other, a young woman in the even more disreputable
+remnants of what once had been trim riding togs.</p>
+
+<p>A freak of fate had thrown these three radically different types
+together. One was a savage, almost naked beast-man, one an English
+army officer, and the woman, she whom the ape-man knew and hated
+as a German spy.</p>
+
+<p>How he was to get rid of them Tarzan could not imagine unless
+he accompanied them upon the weary march back to the east coast,
+a march that would necessitate his once more retracing the long,
+weary way he already had covered towards his goal, yet what else
+could be done? These two had neither the strength, endurance, nor
+jungle-craft to accompany him through the unknown country to the
+west, nor did he wish them with him. The man he might have tolerated,
+but he could not even consider the presence of the girl in the
+far-off cabin, which had in a way become sacred to him through
+its memories, without a growl or anger rising to his lips. There
+remained, then, but the one way, since he could not desert them.
+He must move by slow and irksome marches back to the east coast,
+or at least to the first white settlement in that direction.</p>
+
+<p>He had, it is true, contemplated leaving the girl to her fate but
+that was before she had been instrumental in saving him from torture
+and death at the hands of the black Wamabos. He chafed under the
+obligation she had put upon him, but no less did he acknowledge
+it and as he watched the two, the rueful expression upon his face
+was lightened by a smile as he thought of the helplessness of them.
+What a puny thing, indeed, was man! How ill equipped to combat the
+savage forces of nature and of nature's jungle. Why, even the tiny
+balu of the tribe of Go-lat, the great ape, was better fitted to
+survive than these, for a balu could at least escape the numerous
+creatures that menaced its existence, while with the possible
+exception of Kota, the tortoise, none moved so slowly as did helpless
+and feeble man.</p>
+
+<p>Without him these two doubtless would starve in the midst of plenty,
+should they by some miracle escape the other forces of destruction
+which constantly threatened them. That morning Tarzan had brought
+them fruit, nuts, and plantain, and now he was bringing them the
+flesh of his kill, while the best that they might do was to fetch
+water from the river. Even now, as they walked across the clearing
+toward the boma, they were in utter ignorance of the presence
+of Tarzan near them. They did not know that his sharp eyes were
+watching them, nor that other eyes less friendly were glaring at
+them from a clump of bushes close beside the boma entrance. They
+did not know these things, but Tarzan did. No more than they could
+he see the creature crouching in the concealment of the foliage, yet
+he knew that it was there and what it was and what its intentions,
+precisely as well as though it had been lying in the open.</p>
+
+<p>A slight movement of the leaves at the top of a single stem had
+apprised him of the presence of a creature there, for the movement
+was not that imparted by the wind. It came from pressure at the
+bottom of the stem which communicates a different movement to the
+leaves than does the wind passing among them, as anyone who has
+lived his lifetime in the jungle well knows, and the same wind that
+passed through the foliage of the bush brought to the ape-man's
+sensitive nostrils indisputable evidence of the fact that Sheeta,
+the panther, waited there for the two returning from the river.</p>
+
+<p>They had covered half the distance to the boma entrance when Tarzan
+called to them to stop. They looked in surprise in the direction
+from which his voice had come to see him drop lightly to the ground
+and advance toward them.</p>
+
+<p>"Come slowly toward me," he called to them. "Do not run for if you
+run Sheeta will charge."</p>
+
+<p>They did as he bid, their faces filled with questioning wonderment.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" asked the young Englishman. "Who is Sheeta?"
+but for answer the ape-man suddenly hurled the carcass of Bara, the
+deer, to the ground and leaped quickly toward them, his eyes upon
+something in their rear; and then it was that the two turned and
+learned the identity of Sheeta, for behind them was a devil-faced
+cat charging rapidly toward them.</p>
+
+<p>Sheeta with rising anger and suspicion had seen the ape-man leap
+from the tree and approach the quarry. His life's experiences backed
+by instinct told him that the Tarmangani was about to rob him of
+his prey and as Sheeta was hungry, he had no intention of being
+thus easily deprived of the flesh he already considered his own.</p>
+
+<p>The girl stifled an involuntary scream as she saw the proximity
+of the fanged fury bearing down upon them. She shrank close to the
+man and clung to him and all unarmed and defenseless as he was, the
+Englishman pushed her behind him and shielding her with his body,
+stood squarely in the face of the panther's charge. Tarzan noted
+the act, and though accustomed as he was to acts of courage, he
+experienced a thrill from the hopeless and futile bravery of the
+man.</p>
+
+<p>The charging panther moved rapidly, and the distance which separated
+the bush in which he had concealed himself from the objects of his
+desire was not great. In the time that one might understandingly
+read a dozen words the strong-limbed cat could have covered the
+entire distance and made his kill, yet if Sheeta was quick, quick
+too was Tarzan. The English lieutenant saw the ape-man flash by him
+like the wind. He saw the great cat veer in his charge as though
+to elude the naked savage rushing to meet him, as it was evidently
+Sheeta's intention to make good his kill before attempting to
+protect it from Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick saw these things and then with increasing
+wonder he saw the ape-man swerve, too, and leap for the spotted cat
+as a football player leaps for a runner. He saw the strong, brown
+arms encircling the body of the carnivore, the left arm in front
+of the beast's left shoulder and the right arm behind his right
+foreleg, and with the impact the two together rolling over and over
+upon the turf. He heard the snarls and growls of bestial combat,
+and it was with a feeling of no little horror that he realized that
+the sounds coming from the human throat of the battling man could
+scarce be distinguished from those of the panther.</p>
+
+<p>The first momentary shock of terror over, the girl released her
+grasp upon the Englishman's arm. "Cannot we do something?" she
+asked. "Cannot we help him before the beast kills him?"</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman looked upon the ground for some missile with which
+to attack the panther and then the girl uttered an exclamation and
+started at a run toward the hut. "Wait there," she called over her
+shoulder. "I will fetch the spear that he left me."</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick saw the raking talons of the panther searching for
+the flesh of the man and the man on his part straining every muscle
+and using every artifice to keep his body out of range of them. The
+muscles of his arms knotted under the brown hide. The veins stood
+out upon his neck and forehead as with ever-increasing power he
+strove to crush the life from the great cat. The ape-man's teeth
+were fastened in the back of Sheeta's neck and now he succeeded
+in encircling the beast's torso with his legs which he crossed and
+locked beneath the cat's belly. Leaping and snarling, Sheeta sought
+to dislodge the ape-man's hold upon him. He hurled himself upon
+the ground and rolled over and over. He reared upon his hind legs
+and threw himself backwards but always the savage creature upon
+his back clung tenaciously to him, and always the mighty brown arms
+crushed tighter and tighter about his chest.</p>
+
+<p>And then the girl, panting from her quick run, returned with the
+short spear Tarzan had left her as her sole weapon of protection.
+She did not wait to hand it to the Englishman who ran forward to
+receive it, but brushed past him and leaped into close quarters
+beside the growling, tumbling mass of yellow fur and smooth brown
+hide. Several times she attempted to press the point home into
+the cat's body, but on both occasions the fear of endangering the
+ape-man caused her to desist, but at last the two lay motionless
+for a moment as the carnivore sought a moment's rest from the
+strenuous exertions of battle, and then it was that Bertha Kircher
+pressed the point of the spear to the tawny side and drove it deep
+into the savage heart.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan rose from the dead body of Sheeta and shook himself after
+the manner of beasts that are entirely clothed with hair. Like
+many other of his traits and mannerisms this was the result of
+environment rather than heredity or reversion, and even though he
+was outwardly a man, the Englishman and the girl were both impressed
+with the naturalness of the act. It was as though Numa, emerging
+from a fight, had shaken himself to straighten his rumpled mane and
+coat, and yet, too, there was something uncanny about it as there
+had been when the savage growls and hideous snarls issued from
+those clean-cut lips.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan looked at the girl, a quizzical expression upon his face.
+Again had she placed him under obligations to her, and Tarzan of
+the Apes did not wish to be obligated to a German spy; yet in his
+honest heart he could not but admit a certain admiration for her
+courage, a trait which always greatly impressed the ape-man, he
+himself the personification of courage.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is the kill," he said, picking the carcass of Bara from the
+ground. "You will want to cook your portion, I presume, but Tarzan
+does not spoil his meat with fire."</p>
+
+<p>They followed him to the boma where he cut several pieces of meat
+from the carcass for them, retaining a joint for himself. The
+young lieutenant prepared a fire, and the girl presided over the
+primitive culinary rights of their simple meal. As she worked some
+little way apart from them, the lieutenant and the ape-man watched
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"She is wonderful. Is she not?" murmured Smith-Oldwick.</p>
+
+<p>"She is a German and a spy," replied Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman turned quickly upon him. "What do you mean?" he
+cried.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean what I say," replied the ape-man. "She is a German and a
+spy."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not believe it!" exclaimed the aviator.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not have to," Tarzan assured him. "It is nothing to me
+what you believe. I saw her in conference with the Boche general
+and his staff at the camp near Taveta. They all knew her and called
+her by name and she handed him a paper. The next time I saw her
+she was inside the British lines in disguise, and again I saw her
+bearing word to a German officer at Wilhelmstal. She is a German
+and a spy, but she is a woman and therefore I cannot destroy her."</p>
+
+<p>"You really believe that what you say is true?" asked the young
+lieutenant. "My God! I cannot believe it. She is so sweet and brave
+and good."</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man shrugged his shoulders. "She is brave," he said, "but
+even Pamba, the rat, must have some good quality, but she is what
+I have told you and therefore I hate her and you should hate her."</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick buried his face in his hands.
+"God forgive me," he said at last. "I cannot hate her."</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man cast a contemptuous look at his companion and arose.
+"Tarzan goes again to hunt," he said. "You have enough food for
+two days. By that time he will return."</p>
+
+<p>The two watched him until he had disappeared in the foliage of the
+trees at the further side of the clearing.</p>
+
+<p>When he had gone the girl felt a vague sense of apprehension that
+she never experienced when Tarzan was present. The invisible menaces
+lurking in the grim jungle seemed more real and much more imminent
+now that the ape-man was no longer near. While he had been there
+talking with them, the little thatched hut and its surrounding
+thorn boma had seemed as safe a place as the world might afford.
+She wished that he had remained—two days seemed an eternity in
+contemplation-two days of constant fear, two days, every moment of
+which would be fraught with danger. She turned toward her companion.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish that he had remained," she said. "I always feel so much
+safer when he is near. He is very grim and very terrible, and yet
+I feel safer with him than with any man I ever have known. He seems
+to dislike me and yet I know that he would let no harm befall me.
+I cannot understand him."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither do I understand him," replied the Englishman; "but I know
+this much—our presence here is interfering with his plans. He would
+like to be rid of us, and I half imagine that he rather hopes to
+find when he returns that we have succumbed to one of the dangers
+which must always confront us in this savage land.</p>
+
+<p>"I think that we should try to return to the white settlements. This
+man does not want us here, nor is it reasonable to assume that we
+could long survive in such a savage wilderness. I have traveled and
+hunted in several parts of Africa, but never have I seen or heard
+of any single locality so overrun with savage beasts and dangerous
+natives. If we set out for the east coast at once we would be in
+but little more danger than we are here, and if we could survive
+a day's march, I believe that we will find the means of reaching
+the coast in a few hours, for my plane must still be in the same
+place that I landed just before the blacks captured me. Of course
+there is no one here who could operate it nor is there any reason
+why they should have destroyed it. As a matter of fact, the natives
+would be so fearful and suspicious of so strange and incomprehensible
+a thing that the chances are they would not dare approach it. Yes,
+it must be where I left it and all ready to carry us safely to the
+settlements."</p>
+
+<p>"But we cannot leave," said the girl, "until he returns. We could
+not go away like that without thanking him or bidding him farewell.
+We are under too great obligations to him."</p>
+
+<p>The man looked at her in silence for a moment. He wondered if
+she knew how Tarzan felt toward her and then he himself began to
+speculate upon the truth of the ape-man's charges. The longer he
+looked at the girl, the less easy was it to entertain the thought
+that she was an enemy spy. He was upon the point of asking
+her point-blank but he could not bring himself to do so, finally
+determining to wait until time and longer acquaintance should reveal
+the truth or falsity of the accusation.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe," he said as though there had been no pause in their
+conversation, "that the man would be more than glad to find us
+gone when he returns. It is not necessary to jeopardize our lives
+for two more days in order that we may thank him, however much
+we may appreciate his services to us. You have more than balanced
+your obligations to him and from what he told me I feel that you
+especially should not remain here longer."</p>
+
+<p>The girl looked up at him in astonishment. "What do you mean?" she
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not like to tell," said the Englishman, digging nervously at
+the turf with the point of a stick, "but you have my word that he
+would rather you were not here."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me what he said," she insisted, "I have a right to know."</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick squared his shoulders and raised his eyes
+to those of the girl. "He said that he hated you," he blurted. "He
+has only aided you at all from a sense of duty because you are a
+woman."</p>
+
+<p>The girl paled and then flushed. "I will be ready to go," she said,
+"in just a moment. We had better take some of this meat with us.
+There is no telling when we will be able to get more."</p>
+
+<p>And so the two set out down the river toward the south. The man
+carried the short spear that Tarzan had left with the girl, while
+she was entirely unarmed except for a stick she had picked up from
+among those left after the building of the hut. Before departing
+she had insisted that the man leave a note for Tarzan thanking him
+for his care of them and bidding him goodbye. This they left pinned
+to the inside wall of the hut with a little sliver of wood.</p>
+
+<p>It was necessary that they be constantly on the alert since they
+never knew what might confront them at the next turn of the winding
+jungle trail or what might lie concealed in the tangled bushes at
+either side. There was also the ever-present danger of meeting some
+of Numabo's black warriors and as the village lay directly in their
+line of march, there was the necessity for making a wide detour
+before they reached it in order to pass around it without being
+discovered.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not so much afraid of the native blacks," said the girl, "as
+I am of Usanga and his people. He and his men were all attached
+to a German native regiment. They brought me along with them when
+they deserted, either with the intention of holding me ransom or
+selling me into the harem of one of the black sultans of the north.
+Usanga is much more to be feared than Numabo for he has had the
+advantage of European military training and is armed with more or
+less modern weapons and ammunition."</p>
+
+<p>"It is lucky for me," remarked the Englishman, "that it was the
+ignorant Numabo who discovered and captured me rather than the
+worldly wise Usanga. He would have felt less fear of the giant
+flying machine and would have known only too well how to wreck it."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us pray that the black sergeant has not discovered it," said
+the girl.</p>
+
+<p>They made their way to a point which they guessed was about a mile
+above the village, then they turned into the trackless tangle of
+undergrowth to the east. So dense was the verdure at many points
+that it was with the utmost difficulty they wormed their way through,
+sometimes on hands and knees and again by clambering over numerous
+fallen tree trunks. Interwoven with dead limbs and living branches
+were the tough and ropelike creepers which formed a tangled network
+across their path.</p>
+
+<p>South of them in an open meadowland a number of black warriors were
+gathered about an object which elicited much wondering comment. The
+blacks were clothed in fragments of what had once been uniforms of
+a native German command. They were a most unlovely band and chief
+among them in authority and repulsiveness was the black sergeant
+Usanga. The object of their interest was a British aeroplane.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after the Englishman had been brought to Numabo's village
+Usanga had gone out in search of the plane, prompted partially by
+curiosity and partially by an intention to destroy it, but when he
+had found it, some new thought had deterred him from carrying out
+his design. The thing represented considerable value as he well
+knew and it had occurred to him that in some way he might turn his
+prize to profit. Every day he had returned to it, and while at
+first it had filled him with considerable awe, he eventually came
+to look upon it with the accustomed eye of a proprietor, so that
+he now clambered into the fuselage and even advanced so far as to
+wish that he might learn to operate it.</p>
+
+<p>What a feat it would be indeed to fly like a bird far above the
+highest tree top! How it would fill his less favored companions
+with awe and admiration! If Usanga could but fly, so great would be
+the respect of all the tribesmen throughout the scattered villages
+of the great interior, they would look upon him as little less than
+a god.</p>
+
+<p>Usanga rubbed his palms together and smacked his thick lips. Then
+indeed, would he be very rich, for all the villages would pay
+tribute to him and he could even have as many as a dozen wives.
+With that thought, however, came a mental picture of Naratu, the
+black termagant, who ruled him with an iron hand. Usanga made a
+wry face and tried to forget the extra dozen wives, but the lure of
+the idea remained and appealed so strongly to him that he presently
+found himself reasoning most logically that a god would not be much
+of a god with less than twenty-four wives.</p>
+
+<p>He fingered the instruments and the control, half hoping and half
+fearing that he would alight upon the combination that would put
+the machine in flight. Often had he watched the British air-men
+soaring above the German lines and it looked so simple he was quite
+sure that he could do it himself if there was somebody who could
+but once show him how. There was, of course, always the hope that
+the white man who came in the machine and who had escaped from
+Numabo's village might fall into Usanga's hands and then indeed
+would he be able to learn how to fly. It was in this hope that
+Usanga spent so much time in the vicinity of the plane, reasoning
+as he did that eventually the white man would return in search of
+it.</p>
+
+<p>And at last he was rewarded, for upon this very day after he had
+quit the machine and entered the jungle with his warriors, he heard
+voices to the north and when he and his men had hidden in the dense
+foliage upon either side of the trail, Usanga was presently filled
+with elation by the appearance of the British officer and the white
+girl whom the black sergeant had coveted and who had escaped him.</p>
+
+<p>The Negro could scarce restrain a shout of elation, for he had not
+hoped that fate would be so kind as to throw these two whom he most
+desired into his power at the same time.</p>
+
+<p>As the two came down the trail all unconscious of impending danger,
+the man was explaining that they must be very close to the point
+at which the plane had landed. Their entire attention was centered
+on the trail directly ahead of them, as they momentarily expected
+it to break into the meadowland where they were sure they would
+see the plane that would spell life and liberty for them.</p>
+
+<p>The trail was broad, and they were walking side by side so that at
+a sharp turn the park-like clearing was revealed to them simultaneously
+with the outlines of the machine they sought.</p>
+
+<p>Exclamations of relief and delight broke from their lips, and at
+the same instant Usanga and his black warriors rose from the bushes
+all about them.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxii" id="chapterxii">The Black Flier</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>The girl was almost crushed by terror and disappointment. To have
+been thus close to safety and then to have all hope snatched away
+by a cruel stroke of fate seemed unendurable. The man was disappointed,
+too, but more was he angry. He noted the remnants of the uniforms
+upon the blacks and immediately he demanded to know where were
+their officers.</p>
+
+<p>"They cannot understand you," said the girl and so in the bastard
+tongue that is the medium of communication between the Germans and
+the blacks of their colony, she repeated the white man's question.</p>
+
+<p>Usanga grinned. "You know where they are, white woman," he replied.
+"They are dead, and if this white man does not do as I tell him,
+he, too, will be dead."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want of him?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"I want him to teach me how to fly like a bird," replied Usanga.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Kircher looked her astonishment, but repeated the demand to
+the lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman meditated for a moment. "He wants to learn to fly,
+does he?" he repeated. "Ask him if he will give us our freedom if
+I teach him to fly."</p>
+
+<p>The girl put the question to Usanga, who, degraded, cunning, and
+entirely unprincipled, was always perfectly willing to promise
+anything whether he had any intentions of fulfilling his promises
+or not, and so immediately assented to the proposition.</p>
+
+<p>"Let the white man teach me to fly," he said, "and I will take you
+back close to the settlements of your people, but in return for
+this I shall keep the great bird," and he waved a black hand in
+the direction of the aeroplane.</p>
+
+<p>When Bertha Kircher had repeated Usanga's proposition to the
+aviator, the latter shrugged his shoulders and with a wry face
+finally agreed. "I fancy there is no other way out of it," he said.
+"In any event the plane is lost to the British government. If I
+refuse the black scoundrel's request, there is no doubt but what
+he will make short work of me with the result that the machine will
+lie here until it rots. If I accept his offer it will at least be
+the means of assuring your safe return to civilization and that"
+he added, "is worth more to me than all the planes in the British
+Air Service."</p>
+
+<p>The girl cast a quick glance at him. These were the first words he
+had addressed to her that might indicate that his sentiments toward
+her were more than those of a companion in distress. She regretted
+that he had spoken as he had and he, too, regretted it almost
+instantly as he saw the shadow cross her face and realized that
+he had unwittingly added to the difficulties of her already almost
+unbearable situation.</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me," he said quickly. "Please forget what that remark
+implied. I promise you that I will not offend again, if it does
+offend you, until after we are both safely out of this mess."</p>
+
+<p>She smiled and thanked him, but the thing had been said and could
+never be unsaid, and Bertha Kircher knew even more surely than as
+though he had fallen upon his knees and protested undying devotion
+that the young English officer loved her.</p>
+
+<p>Usanga was for taking his first lesson in aviation immediately. The
+Englishman attempted to dissuade him, but immediately the black
+became threatening and abusive, since, like all those who are
+ignorant, he was suspicious that the intentions of others were
+always ulterior unless they perfectly coincided with his wishes.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, old top," muttered the Englishman, "I will give you
+the lesson of your life," and then turning to the girl: "Persuade
+him to let you accompany us. I shall be afraid to leave you here
+with these devilish scoundrels." But when she put the suggestion
+to Usanga the black immediately suspected some plan to thwart
+him—possibly to carry him against his will back to the German
+masters he had traitorously deserted, and glowering at her savagely,
+he obstinately refused to entertain the suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>"The white woman will remain here with my people," he said. "They
+will not harm her unless you fail to bring me back safely."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him," said the Englishman, "that if you are not standing in
+plain sight in this meadow when I return, I will not land, but will
+carry Usanga back to the British camp and have him hanged."</p>
+
+<p>Usanga promised that the girl would be in evidence upon their
+return, and took immediate steps to impress upon his warriors that
+under penalty of death they must not harm her. Then, followed
+by the other members of his party, he crossed the clearing toward
+the plane with the Englishman. Once seated within what he already
+considered his new possession, the black's courage began to wane
+and when the motor was started and the great propeller commenced
+to whir, he screamed to the Englishman to stop the thing and permit
+him to alight, but the aviator could neither hear nor understand
+the black above the noise of the propeller and exhaust. By this
+time the plane was moving along the ground and even then Usanga was
+upon the verge of leaping out, and would have done so had he been
+able to unfasten the strap from about his waist. Then the plane rose
+from the ground and in a moment soared gracefully in a wide circle
+until it topped the trees. The black sergeant was in a veritable
+collapse of terror. He saw the earth dropping rapidly from beneath
+him. He saw the trees and river and at a distance the little clearing
+with the thatched huts of Numabo's village. He tried hard not to
+think of the results of a sudden fall to the rapidly receding ground
+below. He attempted to concentrate his mind upon the twenty-four
+wives which this great bird most assuredly would permit him to
+command. Higher and higher rose the plane, swinging in a wide circle
+above the forest, river, and meadowland and presently, much to his
+surprise, Usanga discovered that his terror was rapidly waning, so
+that it was not long before there was forced upon him a consciousness
+of utter security, and then it was that he began to take notice of
+the manner in which the white man guided and manipulated the plane.</p>
+
+<p>After half an hour of skillful maneuvering, the Englishman rose
+rapidly to a considerable altitude, and then, suddenly, without
+warning, he looped and flew with the plane inverted for a few
+seconds.</p>
+
+<p>"I said I'd give this beggar the lesson of his life," he murmured as
+he heard, even above the whir of the propeller, the shriek of the
+terrified Negro. A moment later Smith-Oldwick had righted the machine
+and was dropping rapidly toward the earth. He circled slowly a few
+times above the meadow until he had assured himself that Bertha
+Kircher was there and apparently unharmed, then he dropped gently
+to the ground so that the machine came to a stop a short distance
+from where the girl and the warriors awaited them.</p>
+
+<p>It was a trembling and ashen-hued Usanga who tumbled out of the
+fuselage, for his nerves were still on edge as a result of the
+harrowing experience of the loop, yet with terra firma once more
+under foot, he quickly regained his composure. Strutting about
+with great show and braggadocio, he strove to impress his followers
+with the mere nothingness of so trivial a feat as flying birdlike
+thousands of yards above the jungle, though it was long until he
+had thoroughly convinced himself by the force of autosuggestion
+that he had enjoyed every instant of the flight and was already
+far advanced in the art of aviation.</p>
+
+<p>So jealous was the black of his new-found toy that he would not
+return to the village of Numabo, but insisted on making camp close
+beside the plane, lest in some inconceivable fashion it should be
+stolen from him. For two days they camped there, and constantly
+during daylight hours Usanga compelled the Englishman to instruct
+him in the art of flying.</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick, in recalling the long months of arduous training he
+had undergone himself before he had been considered sufficiently
+adept to be considered a finished flier, smiled at the conceit of
+the ignorant African who was already demanding that he be permitted
+to make a flight alone.</p>
+
+<p>"If it was not for losing the machine," the Englishman explained to
+the girl, "I'd let the bounder take it up and break his fool neck
+as he would do inside of two minutes."</p>
+
+<p>However, he finally persuaded Usanga to bide his time for a few
+more days of instruction, but in the suspicious mind of the Negro
+there was a growing conviction that the white man's advice was prompted
+by some ulterior motive; that it was in the hope of escaping with
+the machine himself by night that he refused to admit that Usanga
+was entirely capable of handling it alone and therefore in no further
+need of help or instruction, and so in the mind of the black there
+formed a determination to outwit the white man. The lure of the
+twenty-four seductive wives proved in itself a sufficient incentive
+and there, too, was added his desire for the white girl whom he
+had long since determined to possess.</p>
+
+<p>It was with these thoughts in mind that Usanga lay down to sleep
+in the evening of the second day. Constantly, however, the thought
+of Naratu and her temper arose to take the keen edge from his pleasant
+imaginings. If he could but rid himself of her! The thought having
+taken form persisted, but always it was more than outweighed by the
+fact that the black sergeant was actually afraid of his woman, so
+much afraid of her in fact that he would not have dared to attempt
+to put her out of the way unless he could do so secretly while
+she slept. However, as one plan after another was conjured by the
+strength of his desires, he at last hit upon one which came to him
+almost with the force of a blow and brought him sitting upright
+among his sleeping companions.</p>
+
+<p>When morning dawned Usanga could scarce wait for an opportunity to
+put his scheme into execution, and the moment that he had eaten,
+he called several of his warriors aside and talked with them for
+some moments.</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman, who usually kept an eye upon his black captor,
+saw now that the latter was explaining something in detail to his
+warriors, and from his gestures and his manner it was apparent that
+he was persuading them to some new plan as well as giving them
+instructions as to what they were to do. Several times, too, he
+saw the eyes of the Negroes turned upon him and once they flashed
+simultaneously toward the white girl.</p>
+
+<p>Everything about the occurrence, which in itself seemed trivial enough,
+aroused in the mind of the Englishman a well-defined apprehension
+that something was afoot that boded ill for him and for the girl.
+He could not free himself of the idea and so he kept a still closer
+watch over the black although, as he was forced to admit to himself,
+he was quite powerless to avert any fate that lay in store for
+them. Even the spear that he had had when captured had been taken
+away from him, so that now he was unarmed and absolutely at the
+mercy of the black sergeant and his followers.</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick did not have long to wait
+before discovering something of Usanga's plan, for almost immediately
+after the sergeant finished giving his instructions, a number of
+warriors approached the Englishman, while three went directly to
+the girl.</p>
+
+<p>Without a word of explanation the warriors seized the young officer
+and threw him to the ground upon his face. For a moment he struggled
+to free himself and succeeded in landing a few heavy blows among
+his assailants, but he was too greatly outnumbered to hope to more
+than delay them in the accomplishment of their object which he
+soon discovered was to bind him securely hand and foot. When they
+had finally secured him to their satisfaction, they rolled him
+over on his side and then it was he saw Bertha Kircher had been
+similarly trussed.</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick lay in such a position that he could see nearly the
+entire expanse of meadow and the aeroplane a short distance away.
+Usanga was talking to the girl who was shaking her head in vehement
+negatives.</p>
+
+<p>"What is he saying?" called the Englishman.</p>
+
+<p>"He is going to take me away in the plane," the girl called back.
+"He is going to take me farther inland to another country where
+he says that he will be king and I am to be one of his wives," and
+then to the Englishman's surprise she turned a smiling face toward
+him, "but there is no danger," she continued, "for we shall both
+be dead within a few minutes—just give him time enough to get
+the machine under way, and if he can rise a hundred feet from the
+ground I shall never need fear him more."</p>
+
+<p>"God!" cried the man. "Is there no way that you can dissuade him?
+Promise him anything. Anything that you want. I have money, more
+money than that poor fool could imagine there was in the whole
+world. With it he can buy anything that money will purchase, fine
+clothes and food and women, all the women he wants. Tell him this
+and tell him that if he will spare you I give him my word that I
+will fetch it all to him."</p>
+
+<p>The girl shook her head. "It is useless," she said. "He would not
+understand and if he did understand, he would not trust you. The
+blacks are so unprincipled themselves that they can imagine no
+such thing as principle or honor in others, and especially do these
+blacks distrust an Englishman whom the Germans have taught them to
+believe are the most treacherous and degraded of people. No, it is
+better thus. I am sorry that you cannot go with us, for if he goes
+high enough my death will be much easier than that which probably
+awaits you."</p>
+
+<p>Usanga had been continually interrupting their brief conversation
+in an attempt to compel the girl to translate it to him, for he
+feared that they were concocting some plan to thwart him, and to
+quiet and appease him, she told him that the Englishman was merely
+bidding her farewell and wishing her good luck. Suddenly she turned
+to the black. "Will you do something for me?" she asked. "If I go
+willingly with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"What is it you want?" he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell your men to free the white man after we are gone. He can
+never catch us. That is all I ask of you. If you will grant him
+his freedom and his life, I will go willingly with you.</p>
+
+<p>"You will go with me anyway," growled Usanga. "It is nothing to
+me whether you go willingly or not. I am going to be a great king
+and you will do whatever I tell you to do."</p>
+
+<p>He had in mind that he would start properly with this woman. There
+should be no repetition of his harrowing experience with Naratu.
+This wife and the twenty-four others should be carefully selected
+and well trained. Hereafter Usanga would be master in his own house.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Kircher saw that it was useless to appeal to the brute
+and so she held her peace though she was filled with sorrow in
+contemplating the fate that awaited the young officer, scarce more
+than a boy, who had impulsively revealed his love for her.</p>
+
+<p>At Usanga's order one of the blacks lifted her from the ground and
+carried her to the machine, and after Usanga had clambered aboard,
+they lifted her up and he reached down and drew her into the fuselage
+where he removed the thongs from her wrists and strapped her into
+her seat and then took his own directly ahead of her.</p>
+
+<p>The girl turned her eyes toward the Englishman. She was very pale
+but her lips smiled bravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye!" she cried.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, and God bless you!" he called back—his voice the least
+bit husky—and then: "The thing I wanted to say-may I say it now,
+we are so very near the end?"</p>
+
+<p>Her lips moved but whether they voiced consent or refusal he did
+not know, for the words were drowned in the whir of the propeller.</p>
+
+<p>The black had learned his lesson sufficiently well so that the
+motor was started without bungling and the machine was soon under
+way across the meadowland. A groan escaped the lips of the distracted
+Englishman as he watched the woman he loved being carried to almost
+certain death. He saw the plane tilt and the machine rise from
+the ground. It was a good take-off—as good as Lieutenant Harold
+Percy Smith-Oldwick could make himself but he realized that it was
+only so by chance. At any instant the machine might plunge to earth
+and even if, by some miracle of chance, the black could succeed
+in rising above the tree tops and make a successful flight, there
+was not one chance in one hundred thousand that he could ever land
+again without killing his fair captive and himself.</p>
+
+<p>But what was that? His heart stood still.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxiii" id="chapterxiii">Usanga's Reward</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>For two days Tarzan of the Apes had been hunting leisurely to the
+north, and swinging in a wide circle, he had returned to within
+a short distance of the clearing where he had left Bertha Kircher
+and the young lieutenant. He had spent the night in a large tree
+that overhung the river only a short distance from the clearing,
+and now in the early morning hours he was crouching at the water's
+edge waiting for an opportunity to capture Pisah, the fish, thinking
+that he would take it back with him to the hut where the girl could
+cook it for herself and her companion.</p>
+
+<p>Motionless as a bronze statue was the wily ape-man, for well he knew
+how wary is Pisah, the fish. The slightest movement would frighten
+him away and only by infinite patience might he be captured at
+all. Tarzan depended upon his own quickness and the suddenness of
+his attack, for he had no bait or hook. His knowledge of the ways
+of the denizens of the water told him where to wait for Pisah. It
+might be a minute or it might be an hour before the fish would swim
+into the little pool above which he crouched, but sooner or later
+one would come. That the ape-man knew, so with the patience of the
+beast of prey he waited for his quarry.</p>
+
+<p>At last there was a glint of shiny scales. Pisah was coming. In a
+moment he would be within reach and then with the swiftness of light
+two strong, brown hands would plunge into the pool and seize him,
+but, just at the moment that the fish was about to come within reach,
+there was a great crashing in the underbrush behind the ape-man.
+Instantly Pisah was gone and Tarzan, growling, had wheeled about
+to face whatever creature might be menacing him. The moment that
+he turned he saw that the author of the disturbance was Zu-tag.</p>
+
+<p>"What does Zu-tag want?" asked the ape-man.</p>
+
+<p>"Zu-tag comes to the water to drink," replied the ape.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the tribe?" asked Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"They are hunting for pisangs and scimatines farther back in the
+forest," replied Zu-tag.</p>
+
+<p>"And the Tarmangani she and bull—" asked Tarzan, "are they safe?"</p>
+
+<p>"They have gone away," replied Zu-tag. "Kudu has come out of his
+lair twice since they left."</p>
+
+<p>"Did the tribe chase them away?" asked Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied the ape. "We did not see them go. We do not know why
+they left."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan swung quickly through the trees toward the clearing. The
+hut and boma were as he had left them, but there was no sign of
+either the man or the woman. Crossing the clearing, he entered the
+boma and then the hut. Both were empty, and his trained nostrils
+told him that they had been gone for at least two days. As he was
+about to leave the hut he saw a paper pinned upon the wall with a
+sliver of wood and taking it down, he read:</p>
+
+
+<blockquote><p>After what you told me about Miss Kircher, and knowing that you
+dislike her, I feel that it is not fair to her and to you that we
+should impose longer upon you. I know that our presence is keeping
+you from continuing your journey to the west coast, and so I
+have decided that it is better for us to try and reach the white
+settlements immediately without imposing further upon you. We both
+thank you for your kindness and protection. If there was any way
+that I might repay the obligation I feel, I should be only too glad
+to do so.</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<p>It was signed by Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan shrugged his shoulders, crumpled the note in his hand and
+tossed it aside. He felt a certain sense of relief from responsibility
+and was glad that they had taken the matter out of his hands. They
+were gone and would forget, but somehow he could not forget. He
+walked out across the boma and into the clearing. He felt uneasy
+and restless. Once he started toward the north in response to
+a sudden determination to continue his way to the west coast. He
+would follow the winding river toward the north a few miles where
+its course turned to the west and then on toward its source across
+a wooded plateau and up into the foothills and the mountains. Upon
+the other side of the range he would search for a stream running
+downward toward the west coast, and thus following the rivers he
+would be sure of game and water in plenty.</p>
+
+<p>But he did not go far. A dozen steps, perhaps, and he came to
+a sudden stop. "He is an Englishman," he muttered, "and the other
+is a woman. They can never reach the settlements without my help.
+I could not kill her with my own hands when I tried, and if I let
+them go on alone, I will have killed her just as surely as though
+I had run my knife into her heart. No," and again he shook his
+head. "Tarzan of the Apes is a fool and a weak, old woman," and he
+turned back toward the south.</p>
+
+<p>Manu, the monkey, had seen the two Tarmangani pass two days before.
+Chattering and scolding, he told Tarzan all about it. They had
+gone in the direction of the village of the Gomangani, that much
+had Manu seen with his own eyes, so the ape-man swung on through
+the jungle in a southerly direction and though with no concentrated
+effort to follow the spoor of those he trailed, he passed numerous
+evidences that they had gone this way—faint suggestions of their
+scent spoor clung lightly to leaf or branch or bole that one
+or the other had touched, or in the earth of the trail their feet
+had trod, and where the way wound through the gloomy depth of dank
+forest, the impress of their shoes still showed occasionally in
+the damp mass of decaying vegetation that floored the way.</p>
+
+<p>An inexplicable urge spurred Tarzan to increasing, speed. The
+same still, small voice that chided him for having neglected them
+seemed constantly whispering that they were in dire need of him
+now. Tarzan's conscience was troubling him, which accounted for
+the fact that he compared himself to a weak, old woman, for the
+ape-man, reared in savagery and inured to hardships and cruelty,
+disliked to admit any of the gentler traits that in reality were
+his birthright.</p>
+
+<p>The trail made a detour to the east of the village of the Wamabos,
+and then returned to the wide elephant path nearer to the river,
+where it continued in a southerly direction for several miles. At
+last there came to the ears of the ape-man a peculiar whirring,
+throbbing sound. For an instant he paused, listening intently, "An
+aeroplane!" he muttered, and hastened forward at greatly increased
+speed.</p>
+
+<p>When Tarzan of the Apes finally reached the edge of the meadowland
+where Smith-Oldwick's plane had landed, he took in the entire scene
+in one quick glance and grasped the situation, although he could
+scarce give credence to the things he saw. Bound and helpless,
+the English officer lay upon the ground at one side of the meadow,
+while around him stood a number of the black deserters from the
+German command. Tarzan had seen these men before and knew who they
+were. Coming toward him down the meadow was an aeroplane piloted
+by the black Usanga and in the seat behind the pilot was the white
+girl, Bertha Kircher. How it befell that the ignorant savage could
+operate the plane, Tarzan could not guess nor had he time in which
+to speculate upon the subject. His knowledge of Usanga, together
+with the position of the white man, told him that the black sergeant
+was attempting to carry off the white girl. Why he should be doing
+this when he had her in his power and had also captured and secured
+the only creature in the jungle who might wish to defend her in so
+far as the black could know, Tarzan could not guess, for he knew
+nothing of Usanga's twenty-four dream wives nor of the black's
+fear of the horrid temper of Naratu, his present mate. He did not
+know, then, that Usanga had determined to fly away with the white
+girl never to return, and to put so great a distance between himself
+and Naratu that the latter never could find him again; but it was
+this very thing that was in the black's mind although not even his
+own warriors guessed it. He had told them that he would take the
+captive to a sultan of the north and there obtain a great price for
+her and that when he returned they should have some of the spoils.</p>
+
+<p>These things Tarzan did not know. All he knew was what he saw—a
+Negro attempting to fly away with a white girl. Already the
+machine was slowly leaving the ground. In a moment more it would
+rise swiftly out of reach. At first Tarzan thought of fitting an
+arrow to his bow and slaying Usanga, but as quickly he abandoned
+the idea because he knew that the moment the pilot was slain the
+machine, running wild, would dash the girl to death among the trees.</p>
+
+<p>There was but one way in which he might hope to succor her—a way
+which if it failed must send him to instant death and yet he did
+not hesitate in an attempt to put it into execution.</p>
+
+<p>Usanga did not see him, being too intent upon the unaccustomed duties
+of a pilot, but the blacks across the meadow saw him and they ran
+forward with loud and savage cries and menacing rifles to intercept
+him. They saw a giant white man leap from the branches of a tree
+to the turf and race rapidly toward the plane. They saw him take
+a long grass rope from about his shoulders as he ran. They saw the
+noose swinging in an undulating circle above his head. They saw
+the white girl in the machine glance down and discover him.</p>
+
+<p>Twenty feet above the running ape-man soared the huge plane. The
+open noose shot up to meet it, and the girl, half guessing the
+ape-man's intentions, reached out and caught the noose and, bracing
+herself, clung tightly to it with both hands. Simultaneously Tarzan
+was dragged from his feet and the plane lurched sideways in response
+to the new strain. Usanga clutched wildly at the control and the
+machine shot upward at a steep angle. Dangling at the end of the
+rope the ape-man swung pendulum-like in space. The Englishman, lying
+bound upon the ground, had been a witness of all these happenings.
+His heart stood still as he saw Tarzan's body hurtling through the
+air toward the tree tops among which it seemed he must inevitably
+crash; but the plane was rising rapidly, so that the beast-man
+cleared the top-most branches. Then slowly, hand over hand, he
+climbed toward the fuselage. The girl, clinging desperately to the
+noose, strained every muscle to hold the great weight dangling at
+the lower end of the rope.</p>
+
+<p>Usanga, all unconscious of what was going on behind him, drove the
+plane higher and higher into the air.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan glanced downward. Below him the tree tops and the river
+passed rapidly to the rear and only a slender grass rope and the
+muscles of a frail girl stood between him and the death yawning
+there thousands of feet below.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to Bertha Kircher that the fingers of her hands were dead.
+The numbness was running up her arms to her elbows. How much longer
+she could cling to the straining strands she could not guess. It
+seemed to her that those lifeless fingers must relax at any instant
+and then, when she had about given up hope, she saw a strong brown
+hand reach up and grasp the side of the fuselage. Instantly the
+weight upon the rope was removed and a moment later Tarzan of the
+Apes raised his body above the side and threw a leg over the edge.
+He glanced forward at Usanga and then, placing his mouth close to
+the girl's ear he cried: "Have you ever piloted a plane?" The girl
+nodded a quick affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you the courage to climb up there beside the black and seize
+the control while I take care of him?"</p>
+
+<p>The girl looked toward Usanga and shuddered. "Yes," she replied,
+"but my feet are bound."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan drew his hunting knife from its sheath and reaching down,
+severed the thongs that bound her ankles. Then the girl unsnapped
+the strap that held her to her seat. With one hand Tarzan grasped
+the girl's arm and steadied her as the two crawled slowly across
+the few feet which intervened between the two seats. A single slight
+tip of the plane would have cast them both into eternity. Tarzan
+realized that only through a miracle of chance could they reach
+Usanga and effect the change in pilots and yet he knew that that
+chance must be taken, for in the brief moments since he had first
+seen the plane, he had realized that the black was almost without
+experience as a pilot and that death surely awaited them in any
+event should the black sergeant remain at the control.</p>
+
+<p>The first intimation Usanga had that all was not well with him was
+when the girl slipped suddenly to his side and grasped the control
+and at the same instant steel-like fingers seized his throat. A brown
+hand shot down with a keen blade and severed the strap about his
+waist and giant muscles lifted him bodily from his seat. Usanga
+clawed the air and shrieked but he was helpless as a babe. Far
+below the watchers in the meadow could see the aeroplane careening
+in the sky, for with the change of control it had taken a sudden
+dive. They saw it right itself and, turning in a short circle, return
+in their direction, but it was so far above them and the light of
+the sun so strong that they could see nothing of what was going on
+within the fuselage; but presently Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick gave
+a gasp of dismay as he saw a human body plunge downward from the
+plane. Turning and twisting in mid-air it fell with ever-increasing
+velocity and the Englishman held his breath as the thing hurtled
+toward them.</p>
+
+<p>With a muffled thud it flattened upon the turf near the center of
+the meadow, and when at last the Englishman could gain the courage
+to again turn his eyes upon it, he breathed a fervent prayer of
+thanks, for the shapeless mass that lay upon the blood-stained turf
+was covered with an ebon hide. Usanga had reaped his reward.</p>
+
+<p>Again and again the plane circled above the meadow. The blacks, at
+first dismayed at the death of their leader, were now worked to a
+frenzy of rage and a determination to be avenged. The girl and the
+ape-man saw them gather in a knot about the body of their fallen
+chief. They saw as they circled above the meadow the black fists
+shaken at them, and the rifles brandishing a menace toward them.
+Tarzan still clung to the fuselage directly behind the pilot's seat.
+His face was close beside Bertha Kircher's, and at the top of his
+voice, above the noise of propeller, engine and exhaust, he screamed
+a few words of instruction into her ear.</p>
+
+<p>As the girl grasped the significance of his words she paled, but
+her lips set in a hard line and her eyes shone with a sudden fire
+of determination as she dropped the plane to within a few feet of
+the ground and at the opposite end of the meadow from the blacks
+and then at full speed bore down upon the savages. So quickly the
+plane came that Usanga's men had no time to escape it after they
+realized its menace. It touched the ground just as it struck among
+them and mowed through them, a veritable juggernaut of destruction.
+When it came to rest at the edge of the forest the ape-man leaped
+quickly to the ground and ran toward the young lieutenant, and as
+he went he glanced at the spot where the warriors had stood, ready
+to defend himself if necessary, but there was none there to oppose
+him. Dead and dying they lay strewn for fifty feet along the turf.</p>
+
+<p>By the time Tarzan had freed the Englishman the girl joined them.
+She tried to voice her thanks to the ape-man but he silenced her
+with a gesture.</p>
+
+<p>"You saved yourself," he insisted, "for had you been unable to
+pilot the plane, I could not have helped you, and now," he said,
+"you two have the means of returning to the settlements. The day
+is still young. You can easily cover the distance in a few hours
+if you have sufficient petrol." He looked inquiringly toward the
+aviator.</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick nodded his head affirmatively. "I have plenty," he
+replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Then go at once," said the ape-man. "Neither of you belong in the
+jungle." A slight smile touched his lips as he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>The girl and the Englishman smiled too. "This jungle is no place
+for us at least," said Smith-Oldwick, "and it is no place for any
+other white man. Why don't you come back to civilization with us?"</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan shook his head. "I prefer the jungle," he said.</p>
+
+<p>The aviator dug his toe into the ground and still looking down,
+blurted something which he evidently hated to say. "If it is a
+matter of living, old top," he said, "er—money, er—you know—"</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan laughed. "No," he said. "I know what you are trying to say.
+It is not that. I was born in the jungle. I have lived all my life
+in the jungle, and I shall die in the jungle. I do not wish to
+live or die elsewhere."</p>
+
+<p>The others shook their heads. They could not understand him.</p>
+
+<p>"Go," said the ape-man. "The quicker you go, the quicker you will
+reach safety."</p>
+
+<p>They walked to the plane together. Smith-Oldwick pressed the
+ape-man's hand and clambered into the pilot's seat. "Good-bye,"
+said the girl as she extended her hand to Tarzan. "Before I go
+won't you tell me you don't hate me any more?" Tarzan's face clouded.
+Without a word he picked her up and lifted her to her place behind
+the Englishman. An expression of pain crossed Bertha Kircher's
+face. The motor started and a moment later the two were being borne
+rapidly toward the east.</p>
+
+<p>In the center of the meadow stood the ape-man watching them. "It
+is too bad that she is a German and a spy," he said, "for she is
+very hard to hate."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxiv" id="chapterxiv">The Black Lion</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Numa, the lion, was hungry. He had come out of the desert country
+to the east into a land of plenty but though he was young and strong,
+the wary grass-eaters had managed to elude his mighty talons each
+time he had thought to make a kill.</p>
+
+<p>Numa, the lion, was hungry and very savage. For two days he had
+not eaten and now he hunted in the ugliest of humors. No more did
+Numa roar forth a rumbling challenge to the world but rather he
+moved silent and grim, stepping softly that no cracking twig might
+betray his presence to the keen-eared quarry he sought.</p>
+
+<p>Fresh was the spoor of Bara, the deer, that Numa picked up in the
+well-beaten game trail he was following. No hour had passed since
+Bara had come this way; the time could be measured in minutes and
+so the great lion redoubled the cautiousness of his advance as he
+crept stealthily in pursuit of his quarry.</p>
+
+<p>A light wind was moving through the jungle aisles, and it wafted
+down now to the nostrils of the eager carnivore the strong scent
+spoor of the deer, exciting his already avid appetite to a point
+where it became a gnawing pain. Yet Numa did not permit himself to
+be carried away by his desires into any premature charge such as
+had recently lost him the juicy meat of Pacco, the zebra. Increasing
+his gait but slightly he followed the tortuous windings of the
+trail until suddenly just before him, where the trail wound about
+the bole of a huge tree, he saw a young buck moving slowly ahead
+of him.</p>
+
+<p>Numa judged the distance with his keen eyes, glowing now like two
+terrible spots of yellow fire in his wrinkled, snarling face. He
+could do it—this time he was sure. One terrific roar that would
+paralyze the poor creature ahead of him into momentary inaction,
+and a simultaneous charge of lightning-like rapidity and Numa, the
+lion, would feed. The sinuous tail, undulating slowly at its tufted
+extremity, whipped suddenly erect. It was the signal for the charge
+and the vocal organs were shaped for the thunderous roar when, as
+lightning out of a clear sky, Sheeta, the panther, leaped suddenly
+into the trail between Numa and the deer.</p>
+
+<p>A blundering charge made Sheeta, for with the first crash of his
+spotted body through the foliage verging the trail, Bara gave a
+single startled backward glance and was gone.</p>
+
+<p>The roar that was intended to paralyze the deer broke horribly from
+the deep throat of the great cat—an angry roar of rage against
+the meddling Sheeta who had robbed him of his kill, and the charge
+that was intended for Bara was launched against the panther; but
+here too Numa was doomed to disappointment, for with the first notes
+of his fearsome roar Sheeta, considering well the better part of
+valor, leaped into a near-by tree.</p>
+
+<p>A half-hour later it was a thoroughly furious Numa who came
+unexpectedly upon the scent of man. Heretofore the lord of the jungle
+had disdained the unpalatable flesh of the despised man-thing. Such
+meat was only for the old, the toothless, and the decrepit who no
+longer could make their kills among the fleet-footed grass-eaters.
+Bara, the deer, Horta, the boar, and, best and wariest, Pacco, the
+zebra, were for the young, the strong, and the agile, but Numa was
+hungry-hungrier than he ever had been in the five short years of
+his life.</p>
+
+<p>What if he was a young, powerful, cunning, and ferocious beast?
+In the face of hunger, the great leveler, he was as the old, the
+toothless, and the decrepit. His belly cried aloud in anguish and
+his jowls slavered for flesh. Zebra or deer or man, what mattered
+it so that it was warm flesh, red with the hot juices of life?
+Even Dango, the hyena, eater of offal, would, at the moment, have
+seemed a tidbit to Numa.</p>
+
+<p>The great lion knew the habits and frailties of man, though he never
+before had hunted man for food. He knew the despised Gomangani as
+the slowest, the most stupid, and the most defenseless of creatures.
+No woodcraft, no cunning, no stealth was necessary in the hunting
+of man, nor had Numa any stomach for either delay or silence.</p>
+
+<p>His rage had become an almost equally consuming passion with
+his hunger, so that now, as his delicate nostrils apprised him of
+the recent passage of man, he lowered his head and rumbled forth
+a thunderous roar, and at a swift walk, careless of the noise he
+made, set forth upon the trail of his intended quarry.</p>
+
+<p>Majestic and terrible, regally careless of his surroundings, the
+king of beasts strode down the beaten trail. The natural caution
+that is inherent to all creatures of the wild had deserted him.
+What had he, lord of the jungle, to fear and, with only man to hunt,
+what need of caution? And so he did not see or scent what a more
+wary Numa might readily have discovered until, with the cracking of
+twigs and a tumbling of earth, he was precipitated into a cunningly
+devised pit that the wily Wamabos had excavated for just this
+purpose in the center of the game trail.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan of the Apes stood in the center of the clearing watching the
+plane shrinking to diminutive toy-like proportions in the eastern
+sky. He had breathed a sigh of relief as he saw it rise safely with
+the British flier and Fraulein Bertha Kircher. For weeks he had
+felt the hampering responsibility of their welfare in this savage
+wilderness where their utter helplessness would have rendered them
+easy prey for the savage carnivores or the cruel Wamabos. Tarzan
+of the Apes loved unfettered freedom, and now that these two were
+safely off his hands, he felt that he could continue upon his
+journey toward the west coast and the long-untenanted cabin of his
+dead father.</p>
+
+<p>And yet, as he stood there watching the tiny speck in the east,
+another sigh heaved his broad chest, nor was it a sigh of relief,
+but rather a sensation which Tarzan had never expected to feel
+again and which he now disliked to admit even to himself. It could
+not be possible that he, the jungle bred, who had renounced forever
+the society of man to return to his beloved beasts of the wilds,
+could be feeling anything akin to regret at the departure of these
+two, or any slightest loneliness now that they were gone. Lieutenant
+Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick Tarzan had liked, but the woman whom he
+had known as a German spy he had hated, though he never had found it
+in his heart to slay her as he had sworn to slay all Huns. He had
+attributed this weakness to the fact that she was a woman, although
+he had been rather troubled by the apparent inconsistency of
+his hatred for her and his repeated protection of her when danger
+threatened.</p>
+
+<p>With an irritable toss of his head he wheeled suddenly toward the
+west as though by turning his back upon the fast disappearing plane
+he might expunge thoughts of its passengers from his memory. At
+the edge of the clearing he paused; a giant tree loomed directly
+ahead of him and, as though actuated by sudden and irresistible
+impulse, he leaped into the branches and swung himself with apelike
+agility to the topmost limbs that would sustain his weight. There,
+balancing lightly upon a swaying bough, he sought in the direction
+of the eastern horizon for the tiny speck that would be the British
+plane bearing away from him the last of his own race and kind that
+he expected ever again to see.</p>
+
+<p>At last his keen eyes picked up the ship flying at a considerable
+altitude far in the east. For a few seconds he watched it speeding
+evenly eastward, when, to his horror, he saw the speck dive suddenly
+downward. The fall seemed interminable to the watcher and he
+realized how great must have been the altitude of the plane before
+the drop commenced. Just before it disappeared from sight its
+downward momentum appeared to abate suddenly, but it was still
+moving rapidly at a steep angle when it finally disappeared from
+view behind the far hills.</p>
+
+<p>For half a minute the ape-man stood noting distant landmarks that
+he judged might be in the vicinity of the fallen plane, for no
+sooner had he realized that these people were again in trouble than
+his inherent sense of duty to his own kind impelled him once more
+to forego his plans and seek to aid them.</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man feared from what he judged of the location of the machine
+that it had fallen among the almost impassable gorges of the arid
+country just beyond the fertile basin that was bounded by the
+hills to the east of him. He had crossed that parched and desolate
+country of the dead himself and he knew from his own experience
+and the narrow escape he had had from succumbing to its relentless
+cruelty no lesser man could hope to win his way to safety from
+any considerable distance within its borders. Vividly he recalled
+the bleached bones of the long-dead warrior in the bottom of the
+precipitous gorge that had all but proved a trap for him as well.
+He saw the helmet of hammered brass and the corroded breastplate of
+steel and the long straight sword in its scabbard and the ancient
+harquebus—mute testimonials to the mighty physique and the
+warlike spirit of him who had somehow won, thus illy caparisoned
+and pitifully armed, to the center of savage, ancient Africa; and
+he saw the slender English youth and the slight figure of the girl
+cast into the same fateful trap from which this giant of old had
+been unable to escape—cast there wounded and broken perhaps, if
+not killed.</p>
+
+<p>His judgment told him that the latter possibility was probably
+the fact, and yet there was a chance that they might have landed
+without fatal injuries, and so upon this slim chance he started out
+upon what he knew would be an arduous journey, fraught with many
+hardships and unspeakable peril, that he might attempt to save them
+if they still lived.</p>
+
+<p>He had covered a mile perhaps when his quick ears caught the sound
+of rapid movement along the game trail ahead of him. The sound,
+increasing in volume, proclaimed the fact that whatever caused it
+was moving in his direction and moving rapidly. Nor was it long
+before his trained senses convinced him that the footfalls were
+those of Bara, the deer, in rapid flight. Inextricably confused in
+Tarzan's character were the attributes of man and of beasts. Long
+experience had taught him that he fights best or travels fastest
+who is best nourished, and so, with few exceptions, Tarzan could
+delay his most urgent business to take advantage of an opportunity
+to kill and feed. This perhaps was the predominant beast trait in
+him. The transformation from an English gentleman, impelled by the
+most humanitarian motives, to that of a wild beast crouching in the
+concealment of a dense bush ready to spring upon its approaching
+prey, was instantaneous.</p>
+
+<p>And so, when Bara came, escaping the clutches of Numa and Sheeta,
+his terror and his haste precluded the possibility of his sensing
+that other equally formidable foe lying in ambush for him. Abreast
+of the ape-man came the deer; a light-brown body shot from the
+concealing verdure of the bush, strong arms encircled the sleek
+neck of the young buck and powerful teeth fastened themselves in
+the soft flesh. Together the two rolled over in the trail and a
+moment later the ape-man rose, and, with one foot upon the carcass
+of his kill, raised his voice in the victory cry of the bull ape.</p>
+
+<p>Like an answering challenge came suddenly to the ears of the
+ape-man the thunderous roar of a lion, a hideous angry roar in which
+Tarzan thought that he discerned a note of surprise and terror. In
+the breast of the wild things of the jungle, as in the breasts of
+their more enlightened brothers and sisters of the human race, the
+characteristic of curiosity is well developed. Nor was Tarzan far
+from innocent of it. The peculiar note in the roar of his hereditary
+enemy aroused a desire to investigate, and so, throwing the carcass
+of Bara, the deer, across his shoulder, the ape-man took to the
+lower terraces of the forest and moved quickly in the direction
+from which the sound had come, which was in line with the trail he
+had set out upon.</p>
+
+<p>As the distance lessened, the sounds increased in volume, which
+indicated that he was approaching a very angry lion and presently,
+where a jungle giant overspread the broad game trail that countless
+thousands of hoofed and padded feet had worn and trampled into a
+deep furrow during perhaps countless ages, he saw beneath him the
+lion pit of the Wamabos and in it, leaping futilely for freedom
+such a lion as even Tarzan of the Apes never before had beheld. A
+mighty beast it was that glared up at the ape-man—large, powerful
+and young, with a huge black mane and a coat so much darker than
+any Tarzan ever had seen that in the depths of the pit it looked
+almost black—a black lion!</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan who had been upon the point of taunting and reviling his
+captive foe was suddenly turned to open admiration for the beauty
+of the splendid beast. What a creature! How by comparison the
+ordinary forest lion was dwarfed into insignificance! Here indeed
+was one worthy to be called king of beasts. With his first sight of
+the great cat the ape-man knew that he had heard no note of terror
+in that initial roar; surprise doubtless, but the vocal chords of
+that mighty throat never had reacted to fear.</p>
+
+<p>With growing admiration came a feeling of quick pity for the hapless
+situation of the great brute rendered futile and helpless by the
+wiles of the Gomangani. Enemy though the beast was, he was less an
+enemy to the ape-man than those blacks who had trapped him, for
+though Tarzan of the Apes claimed many fast and loyal friends among
+certain tribes of African natives, there were others of degraded
+character and bestial habits that he looked upon with utter loathing,
+and of such were the human flesh-eaters of Numabo the chief. For
+a moment Numa, the lion, glared ferociously at the naked man-thing
+upon the tree limb above him. Steadily those yellow-green eyes
+bored into the clear eyes of the ape-man, and then the sensitive
+nostrils caught the scent of the fresh blood of Bara and the eyes
+moved to the carcass lying across the brown shoulder, and there
+came from the cavernous depths of the savage throat a low whine.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan of the Apes smiled. As unmistakably as though a human voice
+had spoken, the lion had said to him "I am hungry, even more than
+hungry. I am starving," and the ape-man looked down upon the lion
+beneath him and smiled, a slow quizzical smile, and then he shifted
+the carcass from his shoulder to the branch before him and, drawing
+the long blade that had been his father's, deftly cut off a hind
+quarter and, wiping the bloody blade upon Bara's smooth coat, he
+returned it to its scabbard. Numa, with watering jaws, looked up
+at the tempting meat and whined again and the ape-man smiled down
+upon him his slow smile and, raising the hind quarter in his strong
+brown hands buried his teeth in the tender, juicy flesh.</p>
+
+<p>For the third time Numa, the lion, uttered that low pleading whine
+and then, with a rueful and disgusted shake of his head, Tarzan of
+the Apes raised the balance of the carcass of Bara, the deer, and
+hurled it to the famished beast below.</p>
+
+<p>"Old woman," muttered the ape-man. "Tarzan has become a weak old
+woman. Presently he would shed tears because he has killed Bara,
+the deer. He cannot see Numa, his enemy, go hungry, because Tarzan's
+heart is turning to water by contact with the soft, weak creatures
+of civilization." But yet he smiled, nor was he sorry that he had
+given way to the dictates of a kindly impulse.</p>
+
+<p>As Tarzan tore the flesh from that portion of the kill he had retained
+for himself his eyes were taking in each detail of the scene below.
+He saw the avidity with which Numa devoured the carcass; he noted
+with growing admiration the finer points of the beast, and also
+the cunning construction of the trap. The ordinary lion pit with
+which Tarzan was familiar had stakes imbedded in the bottom, upon
+whose sharpened points the hapless lion would be impaled, but this
+pit was not so made. Here the short stakes were set at intervals of
+about a foot around the walls near the top, their sharpened points
+inclining downward so that the lion had fallen unhurt into the trap
+but could not leap out because each time he essayed it his head
+came in contact with the sharp end of a stake above him.</p>
+
+<p>Evidently, then, the purpose of the Wamabos was to capture a lion
+alive. As this tribe had no contact whatsoever with white men in
+so far as Tarzan knew, their motive was doubtless due to a desire
+to torture the beast to death that they might enjoy to the utmost
+his dying agonies.</p>
+
+<p>Having fed the lion, it presently occurred to Tarzan that his act
+would be futile were he to leave the beast to the mercies of the
+blacks, and then too it occurred to him that he could derive more
+pleasure through causing the blacks discomfiture than by leaving
+Numa to his fate. But how was he to release him? By removing two
+stakes there would be left plenty of room for the lion to leap from
+the pit, which was not of any great depth. However, what assurance
+had Tarzan that Numa would not leap out instantly the way to
+freedom was open, and before the ape-man could gain the safety of
+the trees? Regardless of the fact that Tarzan felt no such fear
+of the lion as you and I might experience under like circumstances,
+he yet was imbued with the sense of caution that is necessary to
+all creatures of the wild if they are to survive. Should necessity
+require, Tarzan could face Numa in battle, although he was not so
+egotistical as to think that he could best a full-grown lion in
+mortal combat other than through accident or the utilization of the
+cunning of his superior man-mind. To lay himself liable to death
+futilely, he would have considered as reprehensible as to have
+shunned danger in time of necessity; but when Tarzan elected to do
+a thing he usually found the means to accomplish it.</p>
+
+<p>He had now fully determined to liberate Numa, and having so determined,
+he would accomplish it even though it entailed considerable personal
+risk. He knew that the lion would be occupied with his feeding for
+some time, but he also knew that while feeding he would be doubly
+resentful of any fancied interference. Therefore Tarzan must work
+with caution.</p>
+
+<p>Coming to the ground at the side of the pit, he examined the stakes
+and as he did so was rather surprised to note that Numa gave no
+evidence of anger at his approach. Once he turned a searching gaze
+upon the ape-man for a moment and then returned to the flesh of
+Bara. Tarzan felt of the stakes and tested them with his weight.
+He pulled upon them with the muscles of his strong arms, presently
+discovering that by working them back and forth he could loosen
+them: and then a new plan was suggested to him so that he fell to
+work excavating with his knife at a point above where one of the
+stakes was imbedded. The loam was soft and easily removed, and it
+was not long until Tarzan had exposed that part of one of the stakes
+which was imbedded in the wall of the pit to almost its entire
+length, leaving only enough imbedded to prevent the stake from
+falling into the excavation. Then he turned his attention to an
+adjoining stake and soon had it similarly exposed, after which he
+threw the noose of his grass rope over the two and swung quickly
+to the branch of the tree above. Here he gathered in the slack of
+the rope and, bracing himself against the bole of the tree, pulled
+steadily upward. Slowly the stakes rose from the trench in which
+they were imbedded and with them rose Numa's suspicion and growling.</p>
+
+<p>Was this some new encroachment upon his rights and his liberties?
+He was puzzled and, like all lions, being short of temper, he
+was irritated. He had not minded it when the Tarmangani squatted
+upon the verge of the pit and looked down upon him, for had not
+this Tarmangani fed him? But now something else was afoot and the
+suspicion of the wild beast was aroused. As he watched, however,
+Numa saw the stakes rise slowly to an erect position, tumble
+against each other and then fall backwards out of his sight upon
+the surface of the ground above. Instantly the lion grasped the
+possibilities of the situation, and, too, perhaps he sensed the fact
+that the man-thing had deliberately opened a way for his escape.
+Seizing the remains of Bara in his great jaws, Numa, the lion,
+leaped agilely from the pit of the Wamabos and Tarzan of the Apes
+melted into the jungles to the east.</p>
+
+<p>On the surface of the ground or through the swaying branches of the
+trees the spoor of man or beast was an open book to the ape-man, but
+even his acute senses were baffled by the spoorless trail of the
+airship. Of what good were eyes, or ears, or the sense of smell
+in following a thing whose path had lain through the shifting
+air thousands of feet above the tree tops? Only upon his sense of
+direction could Tarzan depend in his search for the fallen plane.
+He could not even judge accurately as to the distance it might
+lie from him, and he knew that from the moment that it disappeared
+beyond the hills it might have traveled a considerable distance at
+right angles to its original course before it crashed to earth. If
+its occupants were killed or badly injured the ape-man might search
+futilely in their immediate vicinity for some time before finding
+them.</p>
+
+<p>There was but one thing to do and that was to travel to a point
+as close as possible to where he judged the plane had landed, and
+then to follow in ever-widening circles until he picked up their
+scent spoor. And this he did.</p>
+
+<p>Before he left the valley of plenty he made several kills and
+carried the choicest cuts of meat with him, leaving all the dead
+weight of bones behind. The dense vegetation of the jungle terminated
+at the foot of the western slope, growing less and less abundant
+as he neared the summit beyond which was a sparse growth of sickly
+scrub and sunburned grasses, with here and there a gnarled and hardy
+tree that had withstood the vicissitudes of an almost waterless
+existence.</p>
+
+<p>From the summit of the hills Tarzan's keen eyes searched the arid
+landscape before him. In the distance he discerned the ragged
+tortuous lines that marked the winding course of the hideous gorges
+which scored the broad plain at intervals—the terrible gorges that
+had so nearly claimed his life in punishment for his temerity in
+attempting to invade the sanctity of their ancient solitude.</p>
+
+<p>For two days Tarzan sought futilely for some clew to the whereabouts
+of the machine or its occupants. He cached portions of his kills at
+different points, building cairns of rock to mark their locations.
+He crossed the first deep gorge and circled far beyond it. Occasionally
+he stopped and called aloud, listening for some response but
+only silence rewarded him—a sinister silence that his cries only
+accentuated.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the evening of the second day he came to the well-remembered
+gorge in which lay the clean-picked bones of the ancient adventurer,
+and here, for the first time, Ska, the vulture, picked up his trail.
+"Not this time, Ska," cried the ape-man in a taunting voice, "for
+now indeed is Tarzan Tarzan. Before, you stalked the grim skeleton
+of a Tarmangani and even then you lost. Waste not your time upon
+Tarzan of the Apes in the full of his strength." But still Ska, the
+vulture, circled and soared above him, and the ape-man, notwithstanding
+his boasts, felt a shudder of apprehension. Through his brain ran
+a persistent and doleful chant to which he involuntarily set two
+words, repeated over and over again in horrible monotony: "Ska
+knows! Ska knows!" until, shaking himself in anger, he picked up
+a rock and hurled it at the grim scavenger.</p>
+
+<p>Lowering himself over the precipitous side of the gorge Tarzan half
+clambered and half slid to the sandy floor beneath. He had come
+upon the rift at almost the exact spot at which he had clambered
+from it weeks before, and there he saw, just as he had left it,
+just, doubtless, as it had lain for centuries, the mighty skeleton
+and its mighty armor.</p>
+
+<p>As he stood looking down upon this grim reminder that another man
+of might had succumbed to the cruel powers of the desert, he was
+brought to startled attention by the report of a firearm, the sound
+of which came from the depths of the gorge to the south of him,
+and reverberated along the steep walls of the narrow rift.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxv" id="chapterxv">Mysterious Footprints</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>As the British plane piloted by Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick
+rose above the jungle wilderness where Bertha Kircher's life had
+so often been upon the point of extinction, and sped toward the
+east, the girl felt a sudden contraction of the muscles of her
+throat. She tried very hard to swallow something that was not there.
+It seemed strange to her that she should feel regret in leaving
+behind her such hideous perils, and yet it was plain to her that
+such was the fact, for she was also leaving behind something beside
+the dangers that had menaced her—a unique figure that had entered
+her life, and for which she felt an unaccountable attraction.</p>
+
+<p>Before her in the pilot's seat sat an English officer and gentleman
+whom, she knew, loved her, and yet she dared to feel regret in his
+company at leaving the stamping ground of a wild beast!</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick, on his part, was in the seventh heaven
+of elation. He was in possession again of his beloved ship, he was
+flying swiftly in the direction of his comrades and his duty, and
+with him was the woman he loved. The fly in the ointment, however,
+was the accusation Tarzan had made against this woman. He had said
+that she was a German, and a spy, and from the heights of bliss the
+English officer was occasionally plunged to the depths of despair
+in contemplation of the inevitable, were the ape-man's charges to
+prove true. He found himself torn between sentiments of love and
+honor. On the one hand he could not surrender the woman he loved
+to the certain fate that must be meted out to her if she were in
+truth an enemy spy, while on the other it would be equally impossible
+for him as an Englishman and an officer to give her aid or protection.</p>
+
+<p>The young man contented himself therefore with repeated mental
+denials of her guilt. He tried to convince himself that Tarzan was
+mistaken, and when he conjured upon the screen of recollection the
+face of the girl behind him, he was doubly reassured that those
+lines of sweet femininity and character, those clear and honest
+eyes, could not belong to one of the hated alien race.</p>
+
+<p>And so they sped toward the east, each wrapped in his own thoughts.
+Below them they saw the dense vegetation of the jungle give place
+to the scantier growth upon the hillside, and then before them
+there spread the wide expanse of arid wastelands marked by the deep
+scarring of the narrow gorges that long-gone rivers had cut there
+in some forgotten age.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after they passed the summit of the ridge which formed
+the boundary between the desert and the fertile country, Ska, the
+vulture, winging his way at a high altitude toward his aerie, caught
+sight of a strange new bird of gigantic proportions encroaching upon
+the preserves of his aerial domain. Whether with intent to give
+battle to the interloper or merely impelled by curiosity, Ska rose
+suddenly upward to meet the plane. Doubtless he misjudged the speed
+of the newcomer, but be that as it may, the tip of the propeller
+blade touched him and simultaneously many things happened. The
+lifeless body of Ska, torn and bleeding, dropped plummet-like toward
+the ground; a bit of splintered spruce drove backward to strike
+the pilot on the forehead; the plane shuddered and trembled and
+as Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick sank forward in momentary
+unconsciousness the ship dived headlong toward the earth.</p>
+
+<p>Only for an instant was the pilot unconscious, but that instant
+almost proved their undoing. When he awoke to a realization of
+their peril it was also to discover that his motor had stalled.
+The plane had attained frightful momentum, and the ground seemed
+too close for him to hope to flatten out in time to make a safe
+landing. Directly beneath him was a deep rift in the plateau, a
+narrow gorge, the bottom of which appeared comparatively level and
+sand covered.</p>
+
+<p>In the brief instant in which he must reach a decision, the safest
+plan seemed to attempt a landing in the gorge, and this he did, but
+not without considerable damage to the plane and a severe shaking-up
+for himself and his passenger.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately neither of them was injured but their condition seemed
+indeed a hopeless one. It was a grave question as to whether the
+man could repair his plane and continue the journey, and it seemed
+equally questionable as to their ability either to proceed on foot
+to the coast or retrace their way to the country they had just
+left. The man was confident that they could not hope to cross the
+desert country to the east in the face of thirst and hunger, while
+behind them in the valley of plenty lay almost equal danger in the
+form of carnivores and the warlike natives.</p>
+
+<p>After the plane came to its sudden and disastrous stop, Smith-Oldwick
+turned quickly to see what the effect of the accident had been on
+the girl. He found her pale but smiling, and for several seconds
+the two sat looking at each other in silence.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the end?" the girl asked.</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman shook his head. "It is the end of the first leg,
+anyway," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"But you can't hope to make repairs here," she said dubiously.</p>
+
+<p>"No," he said, "not if they amount to anything, but I may be able
+to patch it up. I will have to look her over a bit first. Let us
+hope there is nothing serious. It's a long, long way to the Tanga
+railway."</p>
+
+<p>"We would not get far," said the girl, a slight note of hopelessness
+in her tone. "Entirely unarmed as we are, it would be little less
+than a miracle if we covered even a small fraction of the distance."</p>
+
+<p>"But we are not unarmed," replied the man. "I have an extra pistol
+here, that the beggars didn't discover," and, removing the cover
+of a compartment, he drew forth an automatic.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Kircher leaned back in her seat and laughed aloud, a mirthless,
+half-hysterical laugh. "That popgun!" she exclaimed. "What earthly
+good would it do other than to infuriate any beast of prey you
+might happen to hit with it?"</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick looked rather crestfallen. "But it is a weapon," he
+said. "You will have to admit that, and certainly I could kill a
+man with it."</p>
+
+<p>"You could if you happened to hit him," said the girl, "or the
+thing didn't jam. Really, I haven't much faith in an automatic. I
+have used them myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, of course," he said ironically, "an express rifle would be
+better, for who knows but we might meet an elephant here in the
+desert."</p>
+
+<p>The girl saw that he was hurt, and she was sorry, for she realized
+that there was nothing he would not do in her service or protection,
+and that it was through no fault of his that he was so illy armed.
+Doubtless, too, he realized as well as she the futility of his
+weapon, and that he had only called attention to it in the hope of
+reassuring her and lessening her anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me," she said. "I did not mean to be nasty, but this
+accident is the proverbial last straw. It seems to me that I have
+borne all that I can. Though I was willing to give my life in the
+service of my country, I did not imagine that my death agonies would
+be so long drawn out, for I realize now that I have been dying for
+many weeks."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean!" he exclaimed; "what do you mean by that! You
+are not dying. There is nothing the matter with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not that," she said, "I did not mean that. What I mean is that
+at the moment the black sergeant, Usanga, and his renegade German
+native troops captured me and brought me inland, my death warrant
+was signed. Sometimes I have imagined that a reprieve has been
+granted. Sometimes I have hoped that I might be upon the verge of
+winning a full pardon, but really in the depths of my heart I have
+known that I should never live to regain civilization. I have done
+my bit for my country, and though it was not much I can at least
+go with the realization that it was the best I was able to offer.
+All that I can hope for now, all that I ask for, is a speedy
+fulfillment of the death sentence. I do not wish to linger any more
+to face constant terror and apprehension. Even physical torture
+would be preferable to what I have passed through. I have no doubt
+that you consider me a brave woman, but really my terror has been
+boundless. The cries of the carnivores at night fill me with a dread
+so tangible that I am in actual pain. I feel the rending talons
+in my flesh and the cruel fangs munching upon my bones—it is as
+real to me as though I were actually enduring the horrors of such
+a death. I doubt if you can understand it—men are so different."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said, "I think I can understand it, and because I understand
+I can appreciate more than you imagine the heroism you have shown
+in your endurance of all that you have passed through. There can
+be no bravery where there is no fear. A child might walk into a
+lion's den, but it would take a very brave man to go to its rescue."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," she said, "but I am not brave at all, and now I am
+very much ashamed of my thoughtlessness for your own feelings. I
+will try and take a new grip upon myself and we will both hope for
+the best. I will help you all I can if you will tell me what I may
+do."</p>
+
+<p>"The first thing," he replied, "is to find out just how serious
+our damage is, and then to see what we can do in the way of repairs."</p>
+
+<p>For two days Smith-Oldwick worked upon the damaged plane—worked
+in the face of the fact that from the first he realized the case
+was hopeless. And at last he told her.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew it," she said, "but I believe that I felt much as you must
+have; that however futile our efforts here might be, it would be
+infinitely as fatal to attempt to retrace our way to the jungle we
+just left or to go on toward the coast. You know and I know that we
+could not reach the Tanga railway on foot. We should die of thirst
+and starvation before we had covered half the distance, and if we
+return to the jungle, even were we able to reach it, it would be
+but to court an equally certain, though different, fate."</p>
+
+<p>"So we might as well sit here and wait for death as to uselessly
+waste our energies in what we know would be a futile attempt at
+escape?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No," she replied, "I shall never give up like that. What I meant
+was that it was useless to attempt to reach either of the places
+where we know that there is food and water in abundance, so we
+must strike out in a new direction. Somewhere there may be water
+in this wilderness and if there is, the best chance of our finding
+it would be to follow this gorge downward. We have enough food and
+water left, if we are careful of it, for a couple of days and in
+that time we might stumble upon a spring or possibly even reach
+the fertile country which I know lies to the south. When Usanga
+brought me to the Wamabo country from the coast he took a southerly
+route along which there was usually water and game in plenty. It
+was not until we neared our destination that the country became
+overrun with carnivores. So there is hope if we can reach the
+fertile country south of us that we can manage to pull through to
+the coast."</p>
+
+<p>The man shook his head dubiously. "We can try it," he said.
+"Personally, I do not fancy sitting here waiting for death."</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick was leaning against the ship, his dejected gaze
+directed upon the ground at his feet. The girl was looking south
+down the gorge in the direction of their one slender chance of
+life. Suddenly she touched him on the arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Look," she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>The man raised his eyes quickly in the direction of her gaze to
+see the massive head of a great lion who was regarding them from
+beyond a rocky projection at the first turning of the gorge.</p>
+
+<p>"Phew!" he exclaimed, "the beggars are everywhere."</p>
+
+<p>"They do not go far from water do they," asked the girl hopefully.</p>
+
+<p>"I should imagine not," he replied; "a lion is not particularly
+strong on endurance."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he is a harbinger of hope," she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>The man laughed. "Cute little harbinger of hope!" he said. "Reminds
+me of Cock Robin heralding spring."</p>
+
+<p>The girl cast a quick glance at him. "Don't be silly, and I don't
+care if you do laugh. He fills me with hope."</p>
+
+<p>"It is probably mutual," replied Smith-Oldwick, "as we doubtless
+fill him with hope."</p>
+
+<p>The lion evidently having satisfied himself as to the nature of
+the creatures before him advanced slowly now in their direction.</p>
+
+<p>"Come," said the man, 'let's climb aboard," and he helped the girl
+over the side of the ship.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't he get in here?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I think he can," said the man.</p>
+
+<p>"You are reassuring," she returned.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't feel so." He drew his pistol.</p>
+
+<p>"For heaven's sake," she cried, "don't shoot at him with that thing.
+You might hit him."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't intend to shoot at him but I might succeed in frightening
+him away if he attempts to reach us here. Haven't you ever seen a
+trainer work with lions? He carries a silly little pop-gun loaded
+with blank cartridges. With that and a kitchen chair he subdues
+the most ferocious of beasts."</p>
+
+<p>"But you haven't a kitchen chair," she reminded him.</p>
+
+<p>"No," he said, "Government is always muddling things. I have always
+maintained that airplanes should be equipped with kitchen chairs."</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Kircher laughed as evenly and with as little hysteria as
+though she were moved by the small talk of an afternoon tea.</p>
+
+<p>Numa, the lion, came steadily toward them; his attitude seemed
+more that of curiosity than of belligerency. Close to the side of
+the ship he stopped and stood gazing up at them.</p>
+
+<p>"Magnificent, isn't he?" exclaimed the man.</p>
+
+<p>"I never saw a more beautiful creature," she replied, "nor one with
+such a dark coat. Why, he is almost black."</p>
+
+<p>The sound of their voices seemed not to please the lord of the
+jungle, for he suddenly wrinkled his great face into deep furrows
+as he bared his fangs beneath snarling lips and gave vent to an
+angry growl. Almost simultaneously he crouched for a spring and
+immediately Smith-Oldwick discharged his pistol into the ground in
+front of the lion. The effect of the noise upon Numa seemed but to
+enrage him further, and with a horrid roar he sprang for the author
+of the new and disquieting sound that had outraged his ears.</p>
+
+<p>Simultaneously Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick vaulted nimbly
+out of the cockpit on the opposite side of his plane, calling to
+the girl to follow his example. The girl, realizing the futility
+of leaping to the ground, chose the remaining alternative and
+clambered to the top of the upper plane.</p>
+
+<p>Numa, unaccustomed to the idiosyncrasies of construction of an
+airship and having gained the forward cockpit, watched the girl
+clamber out of his reach without at first endeavoring to prevent
+her. Having taken possession of the plane his anger seemed suddenly
+to leave him and he made no immediate move toward following
+Smith-Oldwick. The girl, realizing the comparative safety of her
+position, had crawled to the outer edge of the wing and was calling
+to the man to try and reach the opposite end of the upper plane.</p>
+
+<p>It was this scene upon which Tarzan of the Apes looked as he
+rounded the bend of the gorge above the plane after the pistol shot
+had attracted his attention. The girl was so intent upon watching
+the efforts of the Englishman to reach a place of safety, and the
+latter was so busily occupied in attempting to do so that neither
+at once noticed the silent approach of the ape-man.</p>
+
+<p>It was Numa who first noticed the intruder. The lion immediately
+evinced his displeasure by directing toward him a snarling countenance
+and a series of warning growls. His action called the attention of
+the two upon the upper plane to the newcomer, eliciting a stifled
+"Thank God!" from the girl, even though she could scarce credit the
+evidence of her own eyes that it was indeed the savage man, whose
+presence always assured her safety, who had come so providentially
+in the nick of time.</p>
+
+<p>Almost immediately both were horrified to see Numa leap from the
+cockpit and advance upon Tarzan. The ape-man, carrying his stout
+spear in readiness, moved deliberately onward to meet the carnivore,
+which he had recognized as the lion of the Wamabos' pit. He knew
+from the manner of Numa's approach what neither Bertha Kircher nor
+Smith-Oldwick knew—that there was more of curiosity than belligerency
+in it, and he wondered if in that great head there might not be a
+semblance of gratitude for the kindness that Tarzan had done him.</p>
+
+<p>There was no question in Tarzan's mind but that Numa recognized
+him, for he knew his fellows of the jungle well enough to know that
+while they oft-times forgot certain sensations more quickly than
+man there are others which remain in their memories for years. A
+well-defined scent spoor might never be forgotten by a beast if it
+had first been sensed under unusual circumstances, and so Tarzan
+was confident that Numa's nose had already reminded him of all the
+circumstances of their brief connection.</p>
+
+<p>Love of the sporting chance is inherent in the Anglo-Saxon race and
+it was not now Tarzan of the Apes but rather John Clayton, Lord
+Greystoke, who smilingly welcomed the sporting chance which he must
+take to discover how far-reaching was Numa's gratitude.</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick and the girl saw the two nearing each other. The
+former swore softly beneath his breath while he nervously fingered
+the pitiful weapon at his hip. The girl pressed her open palms to
+her cheeks as she leaned forward in stony-eyed, horror-stricken
+silence. While she had every confidence in the prowess of the godlike
+creature who thus dared brazenly to face the king of beasts, she
+had no false conception of what must certainly happen when they
+met. She had seen Tarzan battle with Sheeta, the panther, and she
+had realized then that powerful as the man was, it was only agility,
+cunning, and chance that placed him upon anywhere near an equal
+footing with his savage adversary, and that of the three factors
+upon his side chance was the greatest.</p>
+
+<p>She saw the man and the lion stop simultaneously, not more than
+a yard apart. She saw the beast's tail whipping from side to side
+and she could hear his deep-throated growls rumbling from his
+cavernous breast, but she could read correctly neither the movement
+of the lashing tail nor the notes of the growl.</p>
+
+<p>To her they seemed to indicate nothing but bestial rage while to
+Tarzan of the Apes they were conciliatory and reassuring in the
+extreme. And then she saw Numa move forward again until his nose
+touched the man's naked leg and she closed her eyes and covered
+them with her palms. For what seemed an eternity she waited for
+the horrid sound of the conflict which she knew must come, but all
+she heard was an explosive sigh of relief from Smith-Oldwick and
+a half-hysterical "By Jove! Just fancy it!"</p>
+
+<p>She looked up to see the great lion rubbing his shaggy head against
+the man's hip, and Tarzan's free hand entangled in the black mane
+as he scratched Numa, the lion, behind a back-laid ear.</p>
+
+<p>Strange friendships are often formed between the lower animals
+of different species, but less often between man and the savage
+felidae, because of the former's inherent fear of the great cats.
+And so after all, therefore, the friendship so suddenly developed
+between the savage lion and the savage man was not inexplicable.</p>
+
+<p>As Tarzan approached the plane Numa walked at his side, and when
+Tarzan stopped and looked up at the girl and the man Numa stopped
+also.</p>
+
+<p>"I had about given up hope of finding you," said the ape-man, "and
+it is evident that I found you just in time."</p>
+
+<p>"But how did you know we were in trouble?" asked the English officer.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw your plane fall," replied Tarzan. "I was watching you from
+a tree beside the clearing where you took off. I didn't have much
+to locate you by other than the general direction, but it seems
+that you volplaned a considerable distance toward the south after
+you disappeared from my view behind the hills. I have been looking
+for you further toward the north. I was just about to turn back
+when I heard your pistol shot. Is your ship beyond repair?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied Smith-Oldwick, "it is hopeless."</p>
+
+<p>"What are your plans, then? What do you wish to do?" Tarzan directed
+his question to the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"We want to reach the coast," she said, "but it seems impossible
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"I should have thought so a little while ago," replied the ape-man,
+"but if Numa is here there must be water within a reasonable
+distance. I ran across this lion two days ago in the Wamabo country.
+I liberated him from one of their pits. To have reached this spot
+he must have come by some trail unknown to me—at least I crossed
+no game trail and no spoor of any animal after I came over the hills
+out of the fertile country. From which direction did he come upon
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was from the south," replied the girl. "We thought, too, that
+there must be water in that direction."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's find out then," said Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"But how about the lion?" asked Smith-Oldwick.</p>
+
+<p>"That we will have to discover," replied the ape-man, "and we can
+only do so if you will come down from your perch."</p>
+
+<p>The officer shrugged his shoulders. The girl turned her gaze upon
+him to note the effect of Tarzan's proposal. The Englishman grew
+suddenly very white, but there was a smile upon his lips as without
+a word he slipped over the edge of the plane and clambered to the
+ground behind Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Kircher realized that the man was afraid nor did she blame
+him, and she also realized the remarkable courage that he had shown
+in thus facing a danger that was very real to him.</p>
+
+<p>Numa standing close to Tarzan's side raised his head and glared at
+the young Englishman, growled once, and looked up at the ape-man.
+Tarzan retained a hold upon the beast's mane and spoke to him in
+the language of the great apes. To the girl and Smith-Oldwick the
+growling gutturals falling from human lips sounded uncanny in the
+extreme, but whether Numa understood them or not they appeared to
+have the desired effect upon him, as he ceased growling, and as
+Tarzan walked to Smith-Oldwick's side Numa accompanied him, nor
+did he offer to molest the officer.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you say to him?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan smiled. "I told him," he replied, "that I am Tarzan of the
+Apes, mighty hunter, killer of beasts, lord of the jungle, and that
+you are my friends. I have never been sure that all of the other
+beasts understand the language of the Mangani. I know that Manu,
+the monkey, speaks nearly the same tongue and I am sure that Tantor,
+the elephant, understands all that I say to him. We of the jungle
+are great boasters. In our speech, in our carriage, in every detail
+of our demeanor we must impress others with our physical power and
+our ferocity. That is why we growl at our enemies. We are telling
+them to beware or we shall fall upon them and tear them to pieces.
+Perhaps Numa does not understand the words that I use but I believe
+that my tones and my manner carry the impression that I wish them
+to convey. Now you may come down and be introduced."</p>
+
+<p>It required all the courage that Bertha Kircher possessed to lower
+herself to the ground within reach of the talons and fangs of this
+untamed forest beast, but she did it. Nor did Numa do more than
+bare his teeth and growl a little as she came close to the ape-man.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are safe from him as long as I am present," said the
+ape-man. "The best thing to do is simply to ignore him. Make no
+advances, but be sure to give no indication of fear and, if possible
+always keep me between you and him. He will go away presently I am
+sure and the chances are that we shall not see him again."</p>
+
+<p>At Tarzan's suggestion Smith-Oldwick removed the remaining water
+and provisions from the plane and, distributing the burden among
+them, they set off toward the south. Numa did not follow them, but
+stood by the plane watching until they finally disappeared from
+view around a bend in the gorge.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan had picked up Numa's trail with the intention of following
+it southward in the belief that it would lead to water. In the sand
+that floored the bottom of the gorge tracks were plain and easily
+followed. At first only the fresh tracks of Numa were visible, but
+later in the day the ape-man discovered the older tracks of other
+lions and just before dark he stopped suddenly in evident surprise.
+His two companions looked at him questioningly, and in answer to
+their implied interrogations he pointed at the ground directly in
+front of him.</p>
+
+<p>"Look at those," he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>At first neither Smith-Oldwick nor the girl saw anything but a
+confusion of intermingled prints of padded feet in the sand, but
+presently the girl discovered what Tarzan had seen, and an exclamation
+of surprise broke from her lips.</p>
+
+<p>"The imprint of human feet!" she cried.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"But there are no toes," the girl pointed out.</p>
+
+<p>"The feet were shod with a soft sandal," explained Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"Then there must be a native village somewhere in the vicinity,"
+said Smith-Oldwick.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied the ape-man, "but not the sort of natives which we
+would expect to find here in this part of Africa where others all
+go unshod with the exception of a few of Usanga's renegade German
+native troops who wear German army shoes. I don't know that you can
+notice it, but it is evident to me that the foot inside the sandal
+that made these imprints were not the foot of a Negro. If you will
+examine them carefully you will notice that the impression of the
+heel and ball of the foot are well marked even through the sole of
+the sandal. The weight comes more nearly in the center of a Negro's
+footprint.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you think these were made by a white person?"</p>
+
+<p>"It looks that way," replied Tarzan, and suddenly, to the surprise
+of both the girl and Smith-Oldwick, he dropped to his hands and
+knees and sniffed at the tracks—again a beast utilizing the senses
+and woodcraft of a beast. Over an area of several square yards his
+keen nostrils sought the identity of the makers of the tracks. At
+length he rose to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not the spoor of the Gomangani," he said, "nor is it exactly
+like that of white men. There were three who came this way. They
+were men, but of what race I do not know."</p>
+
+<p>There was no apparent change in the nature of the gorge except that
+it had steadily grown deeper as they followed it downward until now
+the rocky and precipitous sides rose far above them. At different
+points natural caves, which appeared to have been eroded by the action
+of water in some forgotten age, pitted the side walls at various
+heights. Near them was such a cavity at the ground's level—an
+arched cavern floored with white sand. Tarzan indicated it with a
+gesture of his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"We will lair here tonight," he said, and then with one of his
+rare, slow smiles: "We will CAMP here tonight."</p>
+
+<p>Having eaten their meager supper Tarzan bade the girl enter the
+cavern.</p>
+
+<p>"You will sleep inside," he said. "The lieutenant and I will lie
+outside at the entrance."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxvi" id="chapterxvi">The Night Attack</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>As the girl turned to bid them good night, she thought that she
+saw a shadowy form moving in the darkness beyond them, and almost
+simultaneously she was sure that she heard the sounds of stealthy
+movement in the same direction.</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?" she whispered. "There is something out there in
+the darkness."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied Tarzan, "it is a lion. It has been there for some
+time. Hadn't you noticed it before?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" cried the girl, breathing a sigh of relief, "is it our lion?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Tarzan, "it is not our lion; it is another lion and he
+is hunting."</p>
+
+<p>"He is stalking us?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"He is," replied the ape-man. Smith-Oldwick fingered the grip of
+his pistol.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan saw the involuntary movement and shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Leave that thing where it is, Lieutenant," he said.</p>
+
+<p>The officer laughed nervously. "I couldn't help it, you know, old
+man," he said; "instinct of self-preservation and all that."</p>
+
+<p>"It would prove an instinct of self-destruction," said Tarzan.
+"There are at least three hunting lions out there watching us. If
+we had a fire or the moon were up you would see their eyes plainly.
+Presently they may come after us but the chances are that they will
+not. If you are very anxious that they should, fire your pistol
+and hit one of them."</p>
+
+<p>"What if they do charge?" asked the girl; "there is no means of
+escape."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, we should have to fight them," replied Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"What chance would we three have against them?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man shrugged his shoulders. "One must die sometime," he
+said. "To you doubtless it may seem terrible—such a death; but
+Tarzan of the Apes has always expected to go out in some such way.
+Few of us die of old age in the jungle, nor should I care to die
+thus. Some day Numa will get me, or Sheeta, or a black warrior.
+These or some of the others. What difference does it make which
+it is, or whether it comes tonight or next year or in ten years?
+After it is over it will be all the same."</p>
+
+<p>The girl shuddered. "Yes," she said in a dull, hopeless voice,
+"after it is over it will be all the same."</p>
+
+<p>Then she went into the cavern and lay down upon the sand. Smith-Oldwick
+sat in the entrance and leaned against the cliff. Tarzan squatted
+on the opposite side.</p>
+
+<p>"May I smoke?" questioned the officer of Tarzan. "I have been
+hoarding a few cigarettes and if it won't attract those bouncers
+out there I would like to have one last smoke before I cash in.
+Will you join me?" and he proffered the ape-man a cigarette.</p>
+
+<p>"No, thanks," said Tarzan, "but it will be all right if you smoke.
+No wild animal is particularly fond of the fumes of tobacco so it
+certainly won't entice them any closer."</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick lighted his cigarette and sat puffing slowly upon
+it. He had proffered one to the girl but she had refused, and thus
+they sat in silence for some time, the silence of the night ruffled
+occasionally by the faint crunching of padded feet upon the soft
+sands of the gorge's floor.</p>
+
+<p>It was Smith-Oldwick who broke the silence. "Aren't they unusually
+quiet for lions?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied the ape-man; "the lion that goes roaring around the
+jungle does not do it to attract prey. They are very quiet when
+they are stalking their quarry."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish they would roar," said the officer. "I wish they would
+do anything, even charge. Just knowing that they are there and
+occasionally seeing something like a shadow in the darkness and the
+faint sounds that come to us from them are getting on my nerves.
+But I hope," he said, "that all three don't charge at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Three?" said Tarzan. "There are seven of them out there now."</p>
+
+<p>"Good Lord! exclaimed Smith-Oldwick.</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't we build a fire," asked the girl, "and frighten them
+away?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know that it would do any good," said Tarzan, "as I have
+an idea that these lions are a little different from any that we
+are familiar with and possibly for the same reason which at first
+puzzled me a little—I refer to the apparent docility in the
+presence of a man of the lion who was with us today. A man is out
+there now with those lions."</p>
+
+<p>"It is impossible!" exclaimed Smith-Oldwick. "They would tear him
+to pieces."</p>
+
+<p>"What makes you think there is a man there?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan smiled and shook his head. "I am afraid you would not
+understand," he replied. "It is difficult for us to understand
+anything that is beyond our own powers."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by that?" asked the officer.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Tarzan, "if you had been born without eyes you could
+not understand sense impressions that the eyes of others transmit
+to their brains, and as you have both been born without any sense
+of smell I am afraid you cannot understand how I can know that
+there is a man there."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean that you scent a man?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan nodded affirmatively.</p>
+
+<p>"And in the same way you know the number of lions?" asked the man.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Tarzan. "No two lions look alike, no two have the same
+scent."</p>
+
+<p>The young Englishman shook his head. "No," he said, "I cannot
+understand."</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt if the lions or the man are here necessarily for the purpose
+of harming us," said Tarzan, "because there has been nothing to
+prevent their doing so long before had they wished to. I have a
+theory, but it is utterly preposterous."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"I think they are here," replied Tarzan, "to prevent us from going
+some place that they do not wish us to go; in other words we are
+under surveillance, and possibly as long as we don't go where we
+are not wanted we shall not be bothered."</p>
+
+<p>"But how are we to know where they don't want us to go?" asked
+Smith-Oldwick.</p>
+
+<p>"We can't know," replied Tarzan, "and the chances are that the very
+place we are seeking is the place they don't wish us to trespass
+on."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean the water?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>For some time they sat in silence which was broken only by an
+occasional sound of movement from the outer darkness. It must have
+been an hour later that the ape-man rose quietly and drew his long
+blade from its sheath. Smith-Oldwick was dozing against the rocky
+wall of the cavern entrance, while the girl, exhausted by the
+excitement and fatigue of the day, had fallen into deep slumber. An
+instant after Tarzan arose, Smith-Oldwick and the girl were aroused
+by a volley of thunderous roars and the noise of many padded feet
+rushing toward them.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan of the Apes stood directly before the entrance to the cavern,
+his knife in his hand, awaiting the charge. The ape-man had not
+expected any such concerted action as he now realized had been taken
+by those watching them. He had known for some time that other men
+had joined those who were with the lions earlier in the evening,
+and when he arose to his feet it was because he knew that the lions
+and the men were moving cautiously closer to him and his party.
+He might easily have eluded them, for he had seen that the face of
+the cliff rising above the mouth of the cavern might be scaled by
+as good a climber as himself. It might have been wiser had he tried
+to escape, for he knew that in the face of such odds even he was
+helpless, but he stood his ground though I doubt if he could have
+told why.</p>
+
+<p>He owed nothing either of duty or friendship to the girl sleeping
+in the cavern, nor could he longer be of any protection to her or
+her companion. Yet something held him there in futile self-sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>The great Tarmangani had not even the satisfaction of striking a
+blow in self-defense. A veritable avalanche of savage beasts rolled
+over him and threw him heavily to the ground. In falling his head
+struck the rocky surface of the cliff, stunning him.</p>
+
+<p>It was daylight when he regained consciousness. The first dim
+impression borne to his awakening mind was a confusion of savage
+sounds which gradually resolved themselves into the growling
+of lions, and then, little by little, there came back to him the
+recollections of what had preceded the blow that had felled him.</p>
+
+<p>Strong in his nostrils was the scent of Numa, the lion, and against
+one naked leg he could feel the coat of some animal. Slowly Tarzan
+opened his eyes. He was lying on his side and as he looked down his
+body, he saw that a great lion stood straddling him—a great lion
+who growled hideously at something which Tarzan could not see.</p>
+
+<p>With the full return of his senses Tarzan's nose told him that the
+beast above him was Numa of the Wamabo pit.</p>
+
+<p>Thus reassured, the ape-man spoke to the lion and at the same time
+made a motion as though he would arise. Immediately Numa stepped
+from above him. As Tarzan raised his head, he saw that he still
+lay where he had fallen before the opening of the cliff where the
+girl had been sleeping and that Numa, backed against the cliffside,
+was apparently defending him from two other lions who paced to and
+fro a short distance from their intended victim.</p>
+
+<p>And then Tarzan turned his eyes into the cave and saw that the girl
+and Smith-Oldwick were gone.</p>
+
+<p>His efforts had been for naught. With an angry toss of his head,
+the ape-man turned upon the two lions who had continued to pace
+back and forth a few yards from him. Numa of the lion pit turned a
+friendly glance in Tarzan's direction, rubbed his head against the
+ape-man's side, and then directed his snarling countenance toward
+the two hunters.</p>
+
+<p>"I think," said Tarzan to Numa, "that you and I together can make
+these beasts very unhappy." He spoke in English, which, of course,
+Numa did not understand at all, but there must have been something
+reassuring in the tone, for Numa whined pleadingly and moved
+impatiently to and fro parallel with their antagonists.</p>
+
+<p>"Come," said Tarzan suddenly and grasping the lion's mane with his
+left hand he moved toward the other lions, his companion pacing
+at his side. As the two advanced the others drew slowly back and,
+finally separating, moved off to either side. Tarzan and Numa
+passed between them but neither the great black-maned lion nor the
+man failed to keep an eye upon the beast nearer him so that they
+were not caught unawares when, as though at some preconcerted
+signal, the two cats charged simultaneously from opposite directions.</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man met the charge of his antagonist after the same fashion
+of fighting that he had been accustomed to employing in previous
+encounters with Numa and Sheeta. To have attempted to meet the
+full shock of a lion's charge would have been suicidal even for
+the giant Tarmangani. Instead he resorted to methods of agility and
+cunning, for quick as are the great cats, even quicker is Tarzan
+of the Apes.</p>
+
+<p>With outspread, raking talons and bared fangs Numa sprang for the
+naked chest of the ape-man. Throwing up his left arm as a boxer might
+ward off a blow, Tarzan struck upward beneath the left forearm of
+the lion, at the same time rushing in with his shoulder beneath
+the animal's body and simultaneously drove his blade into the tawny
+hide behind the shoulder. With a roar of pain Numa wheeled again,
+the personification of bestial rage. Now indeed would he exterminate
+this presumptuous man-thing who dared even to think that he could
+thwart the king of beasts in his desires. But as he wheeled, his
+intended quarry wheeled with him, brown fingers locked in the heavy
+mane on the powerful neck and again the blade struck deep into the
+lion's side.</p>
+
+<p>Then it was that Numa went mad with hate and pain and at the same
+instant the ape-man leaped full upon his back. Easily before had
+Tarzan locked his legs beneath the belly of a lion while he clung
+to its long mane and stabbed it until his point reached its heart.
+So easy it had seemed before that he experienced a sharp feeling of
+resentment that he was unable to do so now, for the quick movements
+of the lion prevented him, and presently, to his dismay, as the
+lion leaped and threw him about, the ape-man realized that he was
+swinging inevitably beneath those frightful talons.</p>
+
+<p>With a final effort he threw himself from Numa's back and sought,
+by his quickness, to elude the frenzied beast for the fraction of
+an instant that would permit him to regain his feet and meet the
+animal again upon a more even footing. But this time Numa was too
+quick for him and he was but partially up when a great paw struck
+him on the side of the head and bowled him over.</p>
+
+<p>As he fell he saw a black streak shoot above him and another lion
+close upon his antagonist. Rolling from beneath the two battling lions
+Tarzan regained his feet, though he was half dazed and staggering
+from the impact of the terrible blow he had received. Behind him
+he saw a lifeless lion lying torn and bleeding upon the sand, and
+before him Numa of the pit was savagely mauling the second lion.</p>
+
+<p>He of the black coat tremendously outclassed his adversary in
+point of size and strength as well as in ferocity. The battling
+beasts made a few feints and passes at each other before the larger
+succeeded in fastening his fangs in the other's throat, and then,
+as a cat shakes a mouse, the larger lion shook the lesser, and when
+his dying foe sought to roll beneath and rake his conqueror with
+his hind claws, the other met him halfway at his own game, and as
+the great talons buried themselves in the lower part of the other's
+chest and then were raked downward with all the terrific strength
+of the mighty hind legs, the battle was ended.</p>
+
+<p>As Numa rose from his second victim and shook himself, Tarzan could
+not but again note the wondrous proportions and symmetry of the
+beast. The lions they had bested were splendid specimens themselves
+and in their coats Tarzan noted a suggestion of the black which
+was such a strongly marked characteristic of Numa of the pit. Their
+manes were just a trifle darker than an ordinary black-maned lion
+but the tawny shade on the balance of their coats predominated.
+However, the ape-man realized that they were a distinct species
+from any he had seen as though they had sprung originally from a
+cross between the forest lion of his acquaintance and a breed of
+which Numa of the pit might be typical.</p>
+
+<p>The immediate obstruction in his way having been removed, Tarzan was
+for setting out in search of the spoor of the girl and Smith-Oldwick,
+that he might discover their fate. He suddenly found himself
+tremendously hungry and as he circled about over the sandy bottom
+searching among the tangled network of innumerable tracks for those
+of his proteges, there broke from his lips involuntarily the whine
+of a hungry beast. Immediately Numa of the pit pricked up his ears
+and, regarding the ape-man steadily for a moment, he answered the
+call of hunger and started briskly off toward the south, stopping
+occasionally to see if Tarzan was following.</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man realized that the beast was leading him to food, and so
+he followed and as he followed his keen eyes and sensitive nostrils
+sought for some indication of the direction taken by the man and
+the girl. Presently out of the mass of lion tracks, Tarzan picked
+up those of many sandaled feet and the scent spoor of the members
+of the strange race such as had been with the lions the night
+before, and then faintly he caught the scent spoor of the girl and
+a little later that of Smith-Oldwick. Presently the tracks thinned
+and here those of the girl and the Englishman became well marked.</p>
+
+<p>They had been walking side by side and there had been men and
+lions to the right and left of them, and men and lions in front and
+behind. The ape-man was puzzled by the possibilities suggested by
+the tracks, but in the light of any previous experience he could
+not explain satisfactorily to himself what his perceptions indicated.</p>
+
+<p>There was little change in the formation of the gorge; it still
+wound its erratic course between precipitous cliffs. In places it
+widened out and again it became very narrow and always deeper the
+further south they traveled. Presently the bottom of the gorge began
+to slope more rapidly. Here and there were indications of ancient
+rapids and waterfalls. The trail became more difficult but was well
+marked and showed indications of great antiquity, and, in places,
+the handiwork of man. They had proceeded for a half or three-quarters
+of a mile when, at a turning of the gorge, Tarzan saw before him a
+narrow valley cut deep into the living rock of the earth's crust,
+with lofty mountain ranges bounding it upon the south. How far it
+extended east and west he could not see, but apparently it was no
+more than three or four miles across from north to south.</p>
+
+<p>That it was a well-watered valley was indicated by the wealth of
+vegetation that carpeted its floor from the rocky cliffs upon the
+north to the mountains on the south.</p>
+
+<p>Over the edge of the cliffs from which the ape-man viewed the valley
+a trail had been hewn that led downward to the base. Preceded by
+the lion Tarzan descended into the valley, which, at this point,
+was forested with large trees. Before him the trail wound onward
+toward the center of the valley. Raucous-voiced birds of brilliant
+plumage screamed among the branches while innumerable monkeys
+chattered and scolded above him.</p>
+
+<p>The forest teemed with life, and yet there was borne in upon the
+ape-man a sense of unutterable loneliness, a sensation that he
+never before had felt in his beloved jungles. There was unreality
+in everything about him—in the valley itself, lying hidden
+and forgotten in what was supposed to be an arid waste. The birds
+and the monkeys, while similar in type to many with which he was
+familiar, were identical with none, nor was the vegetation without
+its idiosyncrasies. It was as though he had been suddenly transported
+to another world and he felt a strange restlessness that might
+easily have been a premonition of danger.</p>
+
+<p>Fruits were growing among the trees and some of these he saw that
+Manu, the monkey, ate. Being hungry he swung to the lower branches
+and, amidst a great chattering of the monkeys, proceeded to eat
+such of the fruit as he saw the monkeys ate in safety. When he had
+partially satisfied his hunger, for meat alone could fully do so,
+he looked about him for Numa of the pit to discover that the lion
+had gone.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxvii" id="chapterxvii">The Walled City</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Dropping to the ground once more he picked up the trail of the girl
+and her captors, which he followed easily along what appeared to
+be a well-beaten trail. It was not long before he came to a small
+stream, where he quenched his thirst, and thereafter he saw that
+the trail followed in the general direction of the stream, which
+ran southwesterly. Here and there were cross trails and others
+which joined the main avenue, and always upon each of them were the
+tracks and scent of the great cats, of Numa, the lion, and Sheeta,
+the panther.</p>
+
+<p>With the exception of a few small rodents there appeared to be no
+other wild life on the surface of the valley. There was no indication
+of Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, or of Gorgo, the buffalo,
+Buto, Tantor, or Duro. Histah, the snake, was there. He saw him in
+the trees in greater numbers than he ever had seen Histah before;
+and once beside a reedy pool he caught a scent that could have
+belonged to none other than Gimla the crocodile, but upon none of
+these did the Tarmangani care to feed.</p>
+
+<p>And so, as he craved meat, he turned his attention to the birds
+above him. His assailants of the night before had not disarmed
+him. Either in the darkness and the rush of the charging lions the
+human foe had overlooked him or else they had considered him dead;
+but whatever the reason he still retained his weapons—his spear
+and his long knife, his bow and arrows, and his grass rope.</p>
+
+<p>Fitting a shaft to his bow Tarzan awaited an opportunity to bring
+down one of the larger birds, and when the opportunity finally
+presented itself he drove the arrow straight to its mark. As the
+gaily plumaged creature fluttered to earth its companions and the
+little monkeys set up a most terrific chorus of wails and screaming
+protests. The whole forest became suddenly a babel of hoarse screams
+and shrill shrieks.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan would not have been surprised had one or two birds in the
+immediate vicinity given voice to terror as they fled, but that the
+whole life of the jungle should set up so weird a protest filled
+him with disgust. It was an angry face that he turned up toward
+the monkeys and the birds as there suddenly stirred within him a
+savage inclination to voice his displeasure and his answer to what
+he considered their challenge. And so it was that there broke upon
+this jungle for the first time Tarzan's hideous scream of victory
+and challenge.</p>
+
+<p>The effect upon the creatures above him was instantaneous. Where
+before the air had trembled to the din of their voices, now utter
+silence reigned and a moment later the ape-man was alone with his
+puny kill.</p>
+
+<p>The silence following so closely the previous tumult carried
+a sinister impression to the ape-man, which still further aroused
+his anger. Picking the bird from where it had fallen he withdrew
+his arrow from the body and returned it to his quiver. Then with
+his knife he quickly and deftly removed the skin and feathers
+together. He ate angrily, growling as though actually menaced by
+a near-by foe, and perhaps, too, his growls were partially induced
+by the fact that he did not care for the flesh of birds. Better
+this, however, than nothing and from what his senses had told him
+there was no flesh in the vicinity such as he was accustomed to
+and cared most for. How he would have enjoyed a juicy haunch from
+Pacco, the zebra, or a steak from the loin of Gorgo, the buffalo!
+The very thought made his mouth water and increased his resentment
+against this unnatural forest that harbored no such delicious
+quarry.</p>
+
+<p>He had but partially consumed his kill when he suddenly became
+aware of a movement in the brush at no great distance from him
+and downwind, and a moment later his nostrils picked up the scent
+of Numa from the opposite direction, and then upon either side he
+caught the fall of padded feet and the brushing of bodies against
+leafy branches. The ape-man smiled. What stupid creature did they
+think him, to be surprised by such clumsy stalkers? Gradually the
+sounds and scents indicated that lions were moving upon him from
+all directions, that he was in the center of a steadily converging
+circle of beasts. Evidently they were so sure of their prey that
+they were making no effort toward stealth, for he heard twigs crack
+beneath their feet, and the brushing of their bodies against the
+vegetation through which they forced their way.</p>
+
+<p>He wondered what could have brought them. It seemed unreasonable
+to believe that the cries of the birds and the monkeys should
+have summoned them, and yet, if not, it was indeed a remarkable
+coincidence. His judgment told him that the death of a single bird
+in this forest which teemed with birds could scarce be of sufficient
+moment to warrant that which followed. Yet even in the face of reason
+and past experience he found that the whole affair perplexed him.</p>
+
+<p>He stood in the center of the trail awaiting the coming of the lions
+and wondering what would be the method of their attack or if they
+would indeed attack. Presently a maned lion came into view along
+the trail below him. At sight of him the lion halted. The beast was
+similar to those that had attacked him earlier in the day, a trifle
+larger and a trifle darker than the lions of his native jungles,
+but neither so large nor so black as Numa of the pit.</p>
+
+<p>Presently he distinguished the outlines of other lions in the
+surrounding brush and among the trees. Each of them halted as it
+came within sight of the ape-man and there they stood regarding
+him in silence. Tarzan wondered how long it would be before they
+charged and while he waited he resumed his feeding, though with
+every sense constantly alert.</p>
+
+<p>One by one the lions lay down, but always their faces were toward
+him and their eyes upon him. There had been no growling and no
+roaring—just the quiet drawing of the silent circle about him.
+It was all so entirely foreign to anything that Tarzan ever before
+had seen lions do that it irritated him so that presently, having
+finished his repast, he fell to making insulting remarks to first
+one and then another of the lions, after the habit he had learned
+from the apes of his childhood.</p>
+
+<p>"Dango, eater of carrion," he called them, and he compared them most
+unfavorably with Histah, the snake, the most loathed and repulsive
+creature of the jungle. Finally he threw handfuls of earth at them
+and bits of broken twigs, and then the lions growled and bared
+their fangs, but none of them advanced.</p>
+
+<p>"Cowards," Tarzan taunted them. "Numa with a heart of Bara, the
+deer." He told them who he was, and after the manner of the jungle
+folk he boasted as to the horrible things he would do to them, but
+the lions only lay and watched him.</p>
+
+<p>It must have been a half hour after their coming that Tarzan caught
+in the distance along the trail the sound of footsteps approaching.
+They were the footsteps of a creature who walked upon two legs,
+and though Tarzan could catch no scent spoor from that direction
+he knew that a man was approaching. Nor had he long to wait before
+his judgment was confirmed by the appearance of a man who halted
+in the trail directly behind the first lion that Tarzan had seen.</p>
+
+<p>At sight of the newcomer the ape-man realized that here was one
+similar to those who had given off the unfamiliar scent spoor that
+he had detected the previous night, and he saw that not only in
+the matter of scent did the man differ from other human beings with
+whom Tarzan was familiar.</p>
+
+<p>The fellow was strongly built with skin of a leathery appearance,
+like parchment yellowed with age. His hair, which was coal black
+and three or four inches in length, grew out stiffly at right angles
+to his scalp. His eyes were close set and the irises densely black
+and very small, so that the white of the eyeball showed around
+them. The man's face was smooth except for a few straggly hairs on
+his chin and upper lip. The nose was aquiline and fine, but the
+hair grew so far down on the forehead as to suggest a very low
+and brutal type. The upper lip was short and fine while the lower
+lip was rather heavy and inclined to be pendulous, the chin being
+equally weak. Altogether the face carried the suggestion of a
+once strong and handsome countenance entirely altered by physical
+violence or by degraded habits and thoughts. The man's arms were
+long, though not abnormally so, while his legs were short, though
+straight.</p>
+
+<p>He was clothed in tight-fitting nether garments and a loose,
+sleeveless tunic that fell just below his hips, while his feet
+were shod in soft-soled sandals, the wrappings of which extended
+halfway to his knees, closely resembling a modern spiral military
+legging. He carried a short, heavy spear, and at his side swung
+a weapon that at first so astonished the ape-man that he could
+scarcely believe the evidence of his senses—a heavy saber in
+a leather-covered scabbard. The man's tunic appeared to have been
+fabricated upon a loom—it was certainly not made of skins, while
+the garments that covered his legs were quite as evidently made
+from the hides of rodents.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan noted the utter unconcern with which the man approached the
+lions, and the equal indifference of Numa to him. The fellow paused
+for a moment as though appraising the ape-man and then pushed on
+past the lions, brushing against the tawny hide as he passed him
+in the trail.</p>
+
+<p>About twenty feet from Tarzan the man stopped, addressing the former
+in a strange jargon, no syllable of which was intelligible to the
+Tarmangani. His gestures indicated numerous references to the lions
+surrounding them, and once he touched his spear with the forefinger
+of his left hand and twice he struck the saber at his hip.</p>
+
+<p>While he spoke Tarzan studied the fellow closely, with the result
+that there fastened itself upon his mind a strange conviction—that
+the man who addressed him was what might only be described as a
+rational maniac. As the thought came to the ape-man he could not
+but smile, so paradoxical the description seemed. Yet a closer
+study of the man's features, carriage, and the contour of his head
+carried almost incontrovertibly the assurance that he was insane,
+while the tones of his voice and his gestures resembled those of
+a sane and intelligent mortal.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the man had concluded his speech and appeared to be waiting
+questioningly Tarzan's reply. The ape-man spoke to the other first
+in the language of the great apes, but he soon saw that the words
+carried no conviction to his listener. Then with equal futility
+he tried several native dialects but to none of these did the man
+respond.</p>
+
+<p>By this time Tarzan began to lose patience. He had wasted sufficient
+time by the road, and as he had never depended much upon speech in
+the accomplishment of his ends, he now raised his spear and advanced
+toward the other. This, evidently, was a language common to both,
+for instantly the fellow raised his own weapon and at the same time
+a low call broke from his lips, a call which instantly brought to
+action every lion in the hitherto silent circle. A volley of roars
+shattered the silence of the forest and simultaneously lions sprang
+into view upon all sides as they closed in rapidly upon their
+quarry. The man who had called them stepped back, his teeth bared
+in a mirthless grin.</p>
+
+<p>It was then that Tarzan first noticed that the fellow's upper canines
+were unusually long and exceedingly sharp. It was just a flashing
+glimpse he got of them as he leaped agilely from the ground and, to
+the consternation of both the lions and their master, disappeared
+in the foliage of the lower terrace, flinging back over his shoulder
+as he swung rapidly away: "I am Tarzan of the Apes; mighty hunter;
+mighty fighter! None in the jungle more powerful, none more cunning
+than Tarzan!"</p>
+
+<p>A short distance beyond the point at which they had surrounded him,
+Tarzan came to the trail again and sought for the spoor of Bertha
+Kircher and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick. He found them quickly and
+continued upon his search for the two. The spoor lay directly along
+the trail for another half-mile when the way suddenly debouched
+from the forest into open land and there broke upon the astonished
+view of the ape-man the domes and minarets of a walled city.</p>
+
+<p>Directly before him in the wall nearest him Tarzan saw a low-arched
+gateway to which a well-beaten trail led from that which he had
+been following. In the open space between the forest and the city
+walls, quantities of garden stuff was growing, while before him
+at his feet, in an open man-made ditch, ran a stream of water! The
+plants in the garden were laid out in well-spaced, symmetrical rows
+and appeared to have been given excellent attention and cultivation.
+Tiny streams were trickling between the rows from the main ditch
+before him and at some distance to his right he could see people
+at work among the plants.</p>
+
+<p>The city wall appeared to be about thirty feet in height, its
+plastered expanse unbroken except by occasional embrasures. Beyond
+the wall rose the domes of several structures and numerous minarets
+dotted the sky line of the city. The largest and central dome
+appeared to be gilded, while others were red, or blue, or yellow.
+The architecture of the wall itself was of uncompromising simplicity.
+It was of a cream shade and appeared to be plastered and painted.
+At its base was a line of well-tended shrubs and at some distance
+towards its eastern extremity it was vine covered to the top.</p>
+
+<p>As he stood in the shadow of the trail, his keen eyes taking in every
+detail of the picture before him, he became aware of the approach
+of a party in his rear and there was borne to him the scent of the
+man and the lions whom he had so readily escaped. Taking to the
+trees Tarzan moved a short distance to the west and, finding a
+comfortable crotch at the edge of the forest where he could watch
+the trail leading through the gardens to the city gate, he awaited
+the return of his would-be captors. And soon they came—the strange
+man followed by the pack of great lions. Like dogs they moved along
+behind him down the trail among the gardens to the gate.</p>
+
+<p>Here the man struck upon the panels of the door with the butt of
+his spear, and when it opened in response to his signal he passed
+in with his lions. Beyond the open door Tarzan, from his distant
+perch, caught but a fleeting glimpse of life within the city, just
+enough to indicate that there were other human creatures who abode
+there, and then the door closed.</p>
+
+<p>Through that door he knew that the girl and the man whom he sought
+to succor had been taken into the city. What fate lay in store
+for them or whether already it had been meted out to them he could
+not even guess, nor where, within that forbidding wall, they were
+incarcerated he could not know. But of one thing he was assured:
+that if he were to aid them he could not do it from outside the
+wall. He must gain entrance to the city first, nor did he doubt,
+that once within, his keen senses would eventually reveal the
+whereabouts of those whom he sought.</p>
+
+<p>The low sun was casting long shadows across the gardens when Tarzan
+saw the workers returning from the eastern field. A man came first,
+and as he came he lowered little gates along the large ditch of
+running water, shutting off the streams that had run between the rows
+of growing plants; and behind him came other men carrying burdens
+of fresh vegetables in great woven baskets upon their shoulders.
+Tarzan had not realized that there had been so many men working in
+the field, but now as he sat there at the close of the day he saw
+a procession filing in from the east, bearing the tools and the
+produce back into the city.</p>
+
+<p>And then, to gain a better view, the ape-man ascended to the topmost
+branches of a tall tree where he overlooked the nearer wall. From
+this point of vantage he saw that the city was long and narrow, and
+that while the outer walls formed a perfect rectangle, the streets
+within were winding. Toward the center of the city there appeared
+to be a low, white building around which the larger edifices of
+the city had been built, and here, in the fast-waning light, Tarzan
+thought that between two buildings he caught the glint of water,
+but of that he was not sure. His experience of the centers of
+civilization naturally inclined him to believe that this central
+area was a plaza about which the larger buildings were grouped
+and that there would be the most logical place to search first for
+Bertha Kircher and her companion.</p>
+
+<p>And then the sun went down and darkness quickly enveloped the
+city—a darkness that was accentuated for the ape-man rather than
+relieved by the artificial lights which immediately appeared in
+many of the windows visible to him.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan had noticed that the roofs of most of the buildings were
+flat, the few exceptions being those of what he imagined to be the
+more pretentious public structures. How this city had come to exist
+in this forgotten part of unexplored Africa the ape-man could not
+conceive. Better than another, he realized something of the unsolved
+secrets of the Great Dark Continent, enormous areas of which have
+as yet been untouched by the foot of civilized man. Yet he could
+scarce believe that a city of this size and apparently thus well
+constructed could have existed for the generations that it must
+have been there, without intercourse with the outer world. Even
+though it was surrounded by a trackless desert waste, as he knew
+it to be, he could not conceive that generation after generation
+of men could be born and die there without attempting to solve the
+mysteries of the world beyond the confines of their little valley.</p>
+
+<p>And yet, here was the city surrounded by tilled land and filled
+with people!</p>
+
+<p>With the coming of night there arose throughout the jungle the cries
+of the great cats, the voice of Numa blended with that of Sheeta,
+and the thunderous roars of the great males reverberated through
+the forest until the earth trembled, and from within the city came
+the answering roars of other lions.</p>
+
+<p>A simple plan for gaining entrance to the city had occurred to
+Tarzan, and now that darkness had fallen he set about to put it
+into effect. Its success hinged entirely upon the strength of the
+vines he had seen surmounting the wall toward the east. In this
+direction he made his way, while from out of the forest about him
+the cries of the flesh-eaters increased in volume and ferocity. A
+quarter of a mile intervened between the forest and the city wall—a
+quarter of a mile of cultivated land unrelieved by a single tree.
+Tarzan of the Apes realized his limitations and so he knew that
+it would undoubtedly spell death for him to be caught in the open
+space by one of the great black lions of the forest if, as he had
+already surmised, Numa of the pit was a specimen of the forest lion
+of the valley.</p>
+
+<p>He must, therefore, depend entirely upon his cunning and his speed,
+and upon the chance that the vine would sustain his weight.</p>
+
+<p>He moved through the middle terrace, where the way is always
+easiest, until he reached a point opposite the vine-clad portion
+of the wall, and there he waited, listening and scenting, until he
+might assure himself that there was no Numa within his immediate
+vicinity, or, at least, none that sought him. And when he was quite
+sure that there was no lion close by in the forest, and none in
+the clearing between himself and the wall, he dropped lightly to
+the ground and moved stealthily out into the open.</p>
+
+<p>The rising moon, just topping the eastern cliffs, cast its bright
+rays upon the long stretch of open garden beneath the wall. And, too,
+it picked out in clear relief for any curious eyes that chanced to
+be cast in that direction, the figure of the giant ape-man moving
+across the clearing. It was only chance, of course, that a great
+lion hunting at the edge of the forest saw the figure of the man
+halfway between the forest and the wall. Suddenly there broke upon
+Tarzan's ears a menacing sound. It was not the roar of a hungry
+lion, but the roar of a lion in rage, and, as he glanced back in
+the direction from which the sound came, he saw a huge beast moving
+out from the shadow of the forest toward him.</p>
+
+<p>Even in the moonlight and at a distance Tarzan saw that the lion
+was huge; that it was indeed another of the black-maned monsters
+similar to Numa of the pit. For an instant he was impelled to turn
+and fight, but at the same time the thought of the helpless girl
+imprisoned in the city flashed through his brain and, without an
+instant's hesitation, Tarzan of the Apes wheeled and ran for the
+wall. Then it was that Numa charged.</p>
+
+<p>Numa, the lion, can run swiftly for a short distance, but he lacks
+endurance. For the period of an ordinary charge he can cover the
+ground with greater rapidity possibly than any other creature in
+the world. Tarzan, on the other hand, could run at great speed for
+long distances, though never as rapidly as Numa when the latter
+charged.</p>
+
+<p>The question of his fate, then, rested upon whether, with his start
+he could elude Numa for a few seconds; and, if so, if the lion would
+then have sufficient stamina remaining to pursue him at a reduced
+gait for the balance of the distance to the wall.</p>
+
+<p>Never before, perhaps, was staged a more thrilling race, and yet it
+was run with only the moon and stars to see. Alone and in silence
+the two beasts sped across the moonlit clearing. Numa gained with
+appalling rapidity upon the fleeing man, yet at every bound Tarzan
+was nearer to the vine-clad wall. Once the ape-man glanced back.
+Numa was so close upon him that it seemed inevitable that at the
+next bound he should drag him down; so close was he that the ape-man
+drew his knife as he ran, that he might at least give a good account
+of himself in the last moments of his life.</p>
+
+<p>But Numa had reached the limit of his speed and endurance. Gradually
+he dropped behind but he did not give up the pursuit, and now Tarzan
+realized how much hinged upon the strength of the untested vines.</p>
+
+<p>If, at the inception of the race, only Goro and the stars had looked
+down upon the contestants, such was not the case at its finish,
+since from an embrasure near the summit of the wall two close-set
+black eyes peered down upon the two. Tarzan was a dozen yards
+ahead of Numa when he reached the wall. There was no time to stop
+and institute a search for sturdy stems and safe handholds. His
+fate was in the hands of chance and with the realization he gave a
+final spurt and running catlike up the side of the wall among the
+vines, sought with his hands for something that would sustain his
+weight. Below him Numa leaped also.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxviii" id="chapterxviii">Among the Maniacs</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>As the lions swarmed over her protectors, Bertha Kircher shrank
+back in the cave in a momentary paralysis of fright super-induced,
+perhaps, by the long days of terrific nerve strain which she had
+undergone.</p>
+
+<p>Mingled with the roars of the lions had been the voices of men,
+and presently out of the confusion and turmoil she felt the near
+presence of a human being, and then hands reached forth and seized
+her. It was dark and she could see but little, nor any sign of the
+English officer or the ape-man. The man who seized her kept the
+lions from her with what appeared to be a stout spear, the haft of
+which he used to beat off the beasts. The fellow dragged her from
+the cavern the while he shouted what appeared to be commands and
+warnings to the lions.</p>
+
+<p>Once out upon the light sands of the bottom of the gorge objects
+became more distinguishable, and then she saw that there were
+other men in the party and that two half led and half carried the
+stumbling figure of a third, whom she guessed must be Smith-Oldwick.</p>
+
+<p>For a time the lions made frenzied efforts to reach the two captives
+but always the men with them succeeded in beating them off. The
+fellows seemed utterly unafraid of the great beasts leaping and
+snarling about them, handling them much the same as one might handle
+a pack of obstreperous dogs. Along the bed of the old watercourse
+that once ran through the gorge they made their way, and as the
+first faint lightening of the eastern horizon presaged the coming
+dawn, they paused for a moment upon the edge of a declivity, which
+appeared to the girl in the strange light of the waning night as a
+vast, bottomless pit; but, as their captors resumed their way and
+the light of the new day became stronger, she saw that they were
+moving downward toward a dense forest.</p>
+
+<p>Once beneath the over-arching trees all was again Cimmerian darkness,
+nor was the gloom relieved until the sun finally arose beyond the
+eastern cliffs, when she saw that they were following what appeared
+to be a broad and well-beaten game trail through a forest of great
+trees. The ground was unusually dry for an African forest and
+the underbrush, while heavily foliaged, was not nearly so rank
+and impenetrable as that which she had been accustomed to find
+in similar woods. It was as though the trees and the bushes grew
+in a waterless country, nor was there the musty odor of decaying
+vegetation or the myriads of tiny insects such as are bred in damp
+places.</p>
+
+<p>As they proceeded and the sun rose higher, the voices of the
+arboreal jungle life rose in discordant notes and loud chattering
+about them. Innumerable monkeys scolded and screamed in the branches
+overhead, while harsh-voiced birds of brilliant plumage darted
+hither and thither. She noticed presently that their captors often
+cast apprehensive glances in the direction of the birds and on
+numerous occasions seemed to be addressing the winged denizens of
+the forest.</p>
+
+<p>One incident made a marked impression on her. The man who immediately
+preceded her was a fellow of powerful build, yet, when a brilliantly
+colored parrot swooped downward toward him, he dropped upon his knees
+and covering his face with his arms bent forward until his head
+touched the ground. Some of the others looked at him and laughed
+nervously. Presently the man glanced upward and seeing that the
+bird had gone, rose to his feet and continued along the trail.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this brief halt that Smith-Oldwick was brought to her
+side by the men who had been supporting him. He had been rather
+badly mauled by one of the lions; but was now able to walk alone,
+though he was extremely weak from shock and loss of blood.</p>
+
+<p>"Pretty mess, what?" he remarked with a wry smile, indicating his
+bloody and disheveled state.</p>
+
+<p>"It is terrible," said the girl. "I hope you are not suffering."</p>
+
+<p>"Not as much as I should have expected," he replied, "but I feel
+as weak as a fool. What sort of creatures are these beggars, anyway?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," she replied, "there is something terribly uncanny
+about their appearance."</p>
+
+<p>The man regarded one of their captors closely for a moment and
+then, turning to the girl asked, "Did you ever visit a madhouse?"</p>
+
+<p>She looked up at him in quick understanding and with a horrified
+expression in her eyes. "That's it!" she cried.</p>
+
+<p>"They have all the earmarks," he said. "Whites of the eyes showing
+all around the irises, hair growing stiffly erect from the scalp
+and low down upon the forehead—even their mannerisms and their
+carriage are those of maniacs."</p>
+
+<p>The girl shuddered.</p>
+
+<p>"Another thing about them," continued the Englishman, "that doesn't
+appear normal is that they are afraid of parrots and utterly fearless
+of lions."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the girl; "and did you notice that the birds seem utterly
+fearless of them—really seem to hold them in contempt? Have you
+any idea what language they speak?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said the man, "I have been trying to figure that out. It's not
+like any of the few native dialects of which I have any knowledge."</p>
+
+<p>"It doesn't sound at all like the native language," said the girl,
+"but there is something familiar about it. You know, every now and
+then I feel that I am just on the verge of understanding what they
+are saying, or at least that somewhere I have heard their tongue
+before, but final recognition always eludes me."</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt if you ever heard their language spoken," said the man.
+"These people must have lived in this out-of-the-way valley for
+ages and even if they had retained the original language of their
+ancestors without change, which is doubtful, it must be some tongue
+that is no longer spoken in the outer world."</p>
+
+<p>At one point where a stream of water crossed the trail the party
+halted while the lions and the men drank. They motioned to their
+captors to drink too, and as Bertha Kircher and Smith-Oldwick,
+lying prone upon the ground drank from the clear, cool water of the
+rivulet, they were suddenly startled by the thunderous roar of a
+lion a short distance ahead of them. Instantly the lions with them
+set up a hideous response, moving restlessly to and fro with their
+eyes always either turned in the direction from which the roar had
+come or toward their masters, against whom the tawny beasts slunk.
+The men loosened the sabers in their scabbards, the weapons that
+had aroused Smith-Oldwick's curiosity as they had Tarzan's, and
+grasped their spears more firmly.</p>
+
+<p>Evidently there were lions and lions, and while they evinced no
+fear of the beasts which accompanied them, it was quite evident
+that the voice of the newcomer had an entirely different effect
+upon them, although the men seemed less terrified than the lions.
+Neither, however, showed any indication of an inclination to flee;
+on the contrary the entire party advanced along the trail in the
+direction of the menacing roars, and presently there appeared in
+the center of the path a black lion of gigantic proportions. To
+Smith-Oldwick and the girl he appeared to be the same lion that
+they had encountered at the plane and from which Tarzan had rescued
+them. But it was not Numa of the pit, although he resembled him
+closely.</p>
+
+<p>The black beast stood directly in the center of the trail lashing
+his tail and growling menacingly at the advancing party. The men
+urged on their own beasts, who growled and whined but hesitated
+to charge. Evidently becoming impatient, and in full consciousness
+of his might the intruder raised his tail stiffly erect and shot
+forward. Several of the defending lions made a half-hearted attempt to
+obstruct his passage, but they might as well have placed themselves
+in the path of an express train, as hurling them aside the great
+beast leaped straight for one of the men. A dozen spears were
+launched at him and a dozen sabers leaped from their scabbards;
+gleaming, razor-edged weapons they were, but for the instant rendered
+futile by the terrific speed of the charging beast.</p>
+
+<p>Two of the spears entering his body but served to further enrage
+him as, with demoniacal roars, he sprang upon the hapless man he
+had singled out for his prey. Scarcely pausing in his charge he
+seized the fellow by the shoulder and, turning quickly at right
+angles, leaped into the concealing foliage that flanked the trail,
+and was gone, bearing his victim with him.</p>
+
+<p>So quickly had the whole occurrence transpired that the formation
+of the little party was scarcely altered. There had been no
+opportunity for flight, even if it had been contemplated; and now
+that the lion was gone with his prey the men made no move to pursue
+him. They paused only long enough to recall the two or three of
+their lions that had scattered and then resumed the march along
+the trail.</p>
+
+<p>"Might be an everyday occurrence from all the effect it has on
+them," remarked Smith-Oldwick to the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said. "They seem to be neither surprised nor disconcerted,
+and evidently they are quite sure that the lion, having got what
+he came for, will not molest them further."</p>
+
+<p>"I had thought," said the Englishman, "that the lions of the Wamabo
+country were about the most ferocious in existence, but they are
+regular tabby cats by comparison with these big black fellows.
+Did you ever see anything more utterly fearless or more terribly
+irresistible than that charge?"</p>
+
+<p>For a while, as they walked side by side, their thoughts and
+conversation centered upon this latest experience, until the trail
+emerging from the forest opened to their view a walled city and an
+area of cultivated land. Neither could suppress an exclamation of
+surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that wall is a regular engineering job," exclaimed Smith-Oldwick</p>
+
+<p>"And look at the domes and minarets of the city beyond," cried the
+girl. "There must be a civilized people beyond that wall. Possibly
+we are fortunate to have fallen into their hands."</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick shrugged his shoulders. "I hope so," he said, "though
+I am not at all sure about people who travel about with lions and
+are afraid of parrots. There must be something wrong with them."</p>
+
+<p>The party followed the trail across the field to an arched gateway
+which opened at the summons of one of their captors, who beat upon
+the heavy wooden panels with his spear. Beyond, the gate opened
+into a narrow street which seemed but a continuation of the jungle
+trail leading from the forest. Buildings on either hand adjoined
+the wall and fronted the narrow, winding street, which was only
+visible for a short distance ahead. The houses were practically
+all two-storied structures, the upper stories flush with the street
+while the walls of the first story were set back some ten feet,
+a series of simple columns and arches supporting the front of the
+second story and forming an arcade on either side of the narrow
+thoroughfare.</p>
+
+<p>The pathway in the center of the street was unpaved, but the floors
+of the arcades were cut stone of various shapes and sizes but all
+carefully fitted and laid without mortar. These floors gave evidence
+of great antiquity, there being a distinct depression down the
+center as though the stone had been worn away by the passage of
+countless sandaled feet during the ages that it had lain there.</p>
+
+<p>There were few people astir at this early hour, and these were of
+the same type as their captors. At first those whom they saw were
+only men, but as they went deeper into the city they came upon a
+few naked children playing in the soft dust of the roadway. Many
+they passed showed the greatest surprise and curiosity in the
+prisoners, and often made inquiries of the guards, which the two
+assumed must have been in relation to themselves, while others
+appeared not to notice them at all.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish we could understand their bally language," exclaimed
+Smith-Oldwick.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the girl, "I would like to ask them what they are going
+to do with us."</p>
+
+<p>"That would be interesting," said the man. "I have been doing
+considerable wondering along that line myself."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like the way their canine teeth are filed," said the girl.
+"It's too suggestive of some of the cannibals I have seen."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't really believe they are cannibals, do you?" asked the
+man. "You don't think white people are ever cannibals, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Are these people white?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"They're not Negroes, that's certain," rejoined the man. "Their
+skin is yellow, but yet it doesn't resemble the Chinese exactly,
+nor are any of their features Chinese."</p>
+
+<p>It was at this juncture that they caught their first glimpse of a
+native woman. She was similar in most respects to the men though
+her stature was smaller and her figure more symmetrical. Her face
+was more repulsive than that of the men, possibly because of the fact
+that she was a woman, which rather accentuated the idiosyncrasies
+of eyes, pendulous lip, pointed tusks and stiff, low-growing hair.
+The latter was longer than that of the men and much heavier. It
+hung about her shoulders and was confined by a colored bit of some
+lacy fabric. Her single garment appeared to be nothing more than
+a filmy scarf which was wound tightly around her body from below
+her naked breasts, being caught up some way at the bottom near her
+ankles. Bits of shiny metal resembling gold, ornamented both the
+headdress and the skirt. Otherwise the woman was entirely without
+jewelry. Her bare arms were slender and shapely and her hands and
+feet well proportioned and symmetrical.</p>
+
+<p>She came close to the party as they passed her, jabbering to the
+guards who paid no attention to her. The prisoners had an opportunity
+to observe her closely as she followed at their side for a short
+distance.</p>
+
+<p>"The figure of a houri," remarked Smith-Oldwick, "with the face of
+an imbecile."</p>
+
+<p>The street they followed was intersected at irregular intervals by
+crossroads which, as they glanced down them, proved to be equally
+as tortuous as that through which they were being conducted. The
+houses varied but little in design. Occasionally there were bits
+of color, or some attempt at other architectural ornamentation.
+Through open windows and doors they could see that the walls of
+the houses were very thick and that all apertures were quite small,
+as though the people had built against extreme heat, which they
+realized must have been necessary in this valley buried deep in an
+African desert.</p>
+
+<p>Ahead they occasionally caught glimpses of larger structures, and
+as they approached them, came upon what was evidently a part of
+the business section of the city. There were numerous small shops
+and bazaars interspersed among the residences, and over the doors
+of these were signs painted in characters strongly suggesting Greek
+origin and yet it was not Greek as both the Englishman and the girl
+knew.</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick was by this time beginning to feel more acutely the
+pain of his wounds and the consequent weakness that was greatly
+aggravated by loss of blood. He staggered now occasionally and the
+girl, seeing his plight, offered him her arm.</p>
+
+<p>"No," he expostulated, "you have passed through too much yourself
+to have any extra burden imposed upon you." But though he made a
+valiant effort to keep up with their captors he occasionally lagged,
+and upon one such occasion the guards for the first time showed
+any disposition toward brutality.</p>
+
+<p>It was a big fellow who walked at Smith-Oldwick's left. Several
+times he took hold of the Englishman's arm and pushed him forward
+not ungently, but when the captive lagged again and again the
+fellow suddenly, and certainly with no just provocation, flew into
+a perfect frenzy of rage. He leaped upon the wounded man, striking
+him viciously with his fists and, bearing him to the ground, grasped
+his throat in his left hand while with his right he drew his long
+sharp saber. Screaming terribly he waved the blade above his head.</p>
+
+<p>The others stopped and turned to look upon the encounter with no
+particular show of interest. It was as though one of the party had
+paused to readjust a sandal and the others merely waited until he
+was ready to march on again.</p>
+
+<p>But if their captors were indifferent, Bertha Kircher was not. The
+close-set blazing eyes, the snarling fanged face, and the frightful
+screams filled her with horror, while the brutal and wanton attack
+upon the wounded man aroused within her the spirit of protection
+for the weak that is inherent in all women. Forgetful of everything
+other than that a weak and defenseless man was being brutally murdered
+before her eyes, the girl cast aside discretion and, rushing to
+Smith-Oldwick's assistance, seized the uplifted sword arm of the
+shrieking creature upon the prostrate Englishman.</p>
+
+<p>Clinging desperately to the fellow she surged backward with all her
+weight and strength with the result that she overbalanced him and
+sent him sprawling to the pavement upon his back. In his efforts
+to save himself he relaxed his grasp upon the grip of his saber
+which had no sooner fallen to the ground than it was seized upon by
+the girl. Standing erect beside the prostrate form of the English
+officer Bertha Kircher, the razor-edged weapon grasped firmly in
+her hand, faced their captors.</p>
+
+<p>She was a brave figure; even her soiled and torn riding togs and
+disheveled hair detracted nothing from her appearance. The creature
+she had felled scrambled quickly to his feet and in the instant
+his whole demeanor changed. From demoniacal rage he became suddenly
+convulsed with hysterical laughter although it was a question in
+the girl's mind as to which was the more terrifying. His companions
+stood looking on with vacuous grins upon their countenances, while
+he from whom the girl had wrested the weapon leaped up and down
+shrieking with laughter. If Bertha Kircher had needed further
+evidence to assure her that they were in the hands of a mentally
+deranged people the man's present actions would have been sufficient
+to convince her. The sudden uncontrolled rage and now the equally
+uncontrolled and mirthless laughter but emphasized the facial
+attributes of idiocy.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly realizing how helpless she was in the event any one of the
+men should seek to overpower her, and moved by a sudden revulsion
+of feeling that brought on almost a nausea of disgust, the girl
+hurled the weapon upon the ground at the feet of the laughing maniac
+and, turning, kneeled beside the Englishman.</p>
+
+<p>"It was wonderful of you," he said, "but you shouldn't have done
+it. Don't antagonize them: I believe that they are all mad and you
+know they say that one should always humor a madman."</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head. "I couldn't see him kill you," she said.</p>
+
+<p>A sudden light sprang to the man's eyes as he reached out a hand and
+grasped the girl's fingers. "Do you care a little now?" he asked.
+"Can't you tell me that you do—just a bit?"</p>
+
+<p>She did not withdraw her hand from his but she shook her head
+sadly. "Please don't," she said. "I am sorry that I can only like
+you very much."</p>
+
+<p>The light died from his eyes and his fingers relaxed their grasp on
+hers. "Please forgive me," he murmured. "I intended waiting until
+we got out of this mess and you were safe among your own people.
+It must have been the shock or something like that, and seeing you
+defending me as you did. Anyway, I couldn't help it and really it
+doesn't make much difference what I say now, does it?"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" she asked quickly.</p>
+
+<p>He shrugged and smiled ruefully. "I will never leave this city
+alive," he said. "I wouldn't mention it except that I realize that
+you must know it as well as I. I was pretty badly torn up by the
+lion and this fellow here has about finished me. There might be
+some hope if we were among civilized people, but here with these
+frightful creatures what care could we get even if they were
+friendly?"</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Kircher knew that he spoke the truth, and yet she could not
+bring herself to an admission that Smith-Oldwick would die. She
+was very fond of him, in fact her great regret was that she did
+not love him, but she knew that she did not.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to her that it could be such an easy thing for any girl
+to love Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick—an English officer
+and a gentleman, the scion of an old family and himself a man of
+ample means, young, good-looking and affable. What more could a
+girl ask for than to have such a man love her and that she possessed
+Smith-Oldwick's love there was no doubt in Bertha Kircher's mind.</p>
+
+<p>She sighed, and then, laying her hand impulsively on his forehead,
+she whispered, "Do not give up hope, though. Try to live for my
+sake and for your sake I will try to love you."</p>
+
+<p>It was as though new life had suddenly been injected into the
+man's veins. His face lightened instantly and with strength that
+he himself did not know he possessed he rose slowly to his feet,
+albeit somewhat unsteadily. The girl helped him and supported him
+after he had arisen.</p>
+
+<p>For the moment they had been entirely unconscious of their
+surroundings and now as she looked at their captors she saw that
+they had fallen again into their almost habitual manner of stolid
+indifference, and at a gesture from one of them the march was
+resumed as though no untoward incident had occurred.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Kircher experienced a sudden reaction from the momentary
+exaltation of her recent promise to the Englishman. She knew that
+she had spoken more for him than for herself but now that it was
+over she realized, as she had realized the moment before she had
+spoken, that it was unlikely she would ever care for him the way
+he wished. But what had she promised? Only that she would try to
+love him. "And now?" she asked herself.</p>
+
+<p>She realized that there might be little hope of their ever returning
+to civilization. Even if these people should prove friendly and
+willing to let them depart in peace, how were they to find their
+way back to the coast? With Tarzan dead, as she fully believed him
+after having seen his body lying lifeless at the mouth of the cave
+when she had been dragged forth by her captor, there seemed no
+power at their command which could guide them safely.</p>
+
+<p>The two had scarcely mentioned the ape-man since their capture, for
+each realized fully what his loss meant to them. They had compared
+notes relative to those few exciting moments of the final attack
+and capture and had found that they agreed perfectly upon all that
+had occurred. Smith-Oldwick had even seen the lion leap upon Tarzan
+at the instant that the former was awakened by the roars of the
+charging beasts, and though the night had been dark, he had been
+able to see that the body of the savage ape-man had never moved
+from the instant that it had come down beneath the beast.</p>
+
+<p>And so, if at other times within the past few weeks Bertha Kircher
+had felt that her situation was particularly hopeless, she was now
+ready to admit that hope was absolutely extinct.</p>
+
+<p>The streets were beginning to fill with the strange men and women
+of this strange city. Sometimes individuals would notice them
+and seem to take a great interest in them, and again others would
+pass with vacant stares, seemingly unconscious of their immediate
+surroundings and paying no attention whatsoever to the prisoners.
+Once they heard hideous screams up a side street, and looking they
+saw a man in the throes of a demoniacal outburst of rage, similar
+to that which they had witnessed in the recent attack upon
+Smith-Oldwick. This creature was venting his insane rage upon a
+child which he repeatedly struck and bit, pausing only long enough
+to shriek at frequent intervals. Finally, just before they passed
+out of sight the creature raised the limp body of the child high
+above his head and cast it down with all his strength upon the
+pavement, and then, wheeling and screaming madly at the top of his
+lungs, he dashed headlong up the winding street.</p>
+
+<p>Two women and several men had stood looking on at the cruel attack.
+They were at too great a distance for the Europeans to know whether
+their facial expressions portrayed pity or rage, but be that as it
+may, none offered to interfere.</p>
+
+<p>A few yards farther on a hideous hag leaned from a second story
+window where she laughed and jibbered and made horrid grimaces at
+all who passed her. Others went their ways apparently attending to
+whatever duties called them, as soberly as the inhabitants of any
+civilized community.</p>
+
+<p>"God," muttered Smith-Oldwick, "what an awful place!"</p>
+
+<p>The girl turned suddenly toward him. "You still have your pistol?"
+she asked him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he replied. "I tucked it inside my shirt. They did not
+search me and it was too dark for them to see whether I carried any
+weapons or not. So I hid it in the hope that I might get through
+with it."</p>
+
+<p>She moved closer to him and took hold of his hand. "Save one
+cartridge for me, please?" she begged.</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick looked down at her and blinked his eyes very rapidly.
+An unfamiliar and disconcerting moisture had come into them. He
+had realized, of course, how bad a plight was theirs but somehow
+it had seemed to affect him only: it did not seem possible that
+anyone could harm this sweet and beautiful girl.</p>
+
+<p>And that she should have to be destroyed—destroyed by him! It
+was too hideous: it was unbelievable, unthinkable! If he had been
+filled with apprehension before, he was doubly perturbed now.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe I could do it, Bertha," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Not even to save me from something worse?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head dismally. "I could never do it," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>The street that they were following suddenly opened upon a wide
+avenue, and before them spread a broad and beautiful lagoon, the
+quiet surface of which mirrored the clear cerulean of the sky. Here
+the aspect of all their surroundings changed. The buildings were
+higher and much more pretentious in design and ornamentation.
+The street itself was paved in mosaics of barbaric but stunningly
+beautiful design. In the ornamentation of the buildings there was
+considerable color and a great deal of what appeared to be gold
+leaf. In all the decorations there was utilized in various ways the
+conventional figure of the parrot, and, to a lesser extent, that
+of the lion and the monkey.</p>
+
+<p>Their captors led them along the pavement beside the lagoon for a
+short distance and then through an arched doorway into one of the
+buildings facing the avenue. Here, directly within the entrance
+was a large room furnished with massive benches and tables, many of
+which were elaborately hand carved with the figures of the inevitable
+parrot, the lion, or the monkey, the parrot always predominating.</p>
+
+<p>Behind one of the tables sat a man who differed in no way that the
+captives could discover from those who accompanied them. Before
+this person the party halted, and one of the men who had brought
+them made what seemed to be an oral report. Whether they were
+before a judge, a military officer, or a civil dignitary they could
+not know, but evidently he was a man of authority, for, after
+listening to whatever recital was being made to him the while
+he closely scrutinized the two captives, he made a single futile
+attempt to converse with them and then issued some curt orders to
+him who had made the report.</p>
+
+<p>Almost immediately two of the men approached Bertha Kircher and
+signaled her to accompany them. Smith-Oldwick started to follow her
+but was intercepted by one of their guards. The girl stopped then
+and turned back, at the same time looking at the man at the table
+and making signs with her hands, indicating, as best she could,
+that she wished Smith-Oldwick to remain with her, but the fellow
+only shook his head negatively and motioned to the guards to remove
+her. The Englishman again attempted to follow but was restrained.
+He was too weak and helpless even to make an attempt to enforce
+his wishes. He thought of the pistol inside his shirt and then of
+the futility of attempting to overcome an entire city with the few
+rounds of ammunition left to him.</p>
+
+<p>So far, with the single exception of the attack made upon him, they
+had no reason to believe that they might not receive fair treatment
+from their captors, and so he reasoned that it might be wiser to
+avoid antagonizing them until such a time as he became thoroughly
+convinced that their intentions were entirely hostile. He saw the
+girl led from the building and just before she disappeared from
+his view she turned and waved her hand to him:</p>
+
+<p>"Good luck!" she cried, and was gone.</p>
+
+<p>The lions that had entered the building with the party had, during
+their examination by the man at the table, been driven from the
+apartment through a doorway behind him. Toward this same doorway
+two of the men now led Smith-Oldwick. He found himself in a long
+corridor from the sides of which other doorways opened, presumably
+into other apartments of the building. At the far end of the corridor
+he saw a heavy grating beyond which appeared an open courtyard.
+Into this courtyard the prisoner was conducted, and as he entered
+it with the two guards he found himself in an opening which was
+bounded by the inner walls of the building. It was in the nature
+of a garden in which a number of trees and flowering shrubs grew.
+Beneath several of the trees were benches and there was a bench
+along the south wall, but what aroused his most immediate attention
+was the fact that the lions who had assisted in their capture and
+who had accompanied them upon the return to the city, lay sprawled
+about upon the ground or wandered restlessly to and fro.</p>
+
+<p>Just inside the gate his guard halted. The two men exchanged a few
+words and then turned and reentered the corridor. The Englishman
+was horror-stricken as the full realization of his terrible plight
+forced itself upon his tired brain. He turned and seized the grating
+in an attempt to open it and gain the safety of the corridor, but
+he found it securely locked against his every effort, and then he
+called aloud to the retreating figure of the men within. The only
+reply he received was a high-pitched, mirthless laugh, and then
+the two passed through the doorway at the far end of the corridor
+and he was alone with the lions.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxix" id="chapterxix">The Queen's Story</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>In the meantime Bertha Kircher was conducted the length of the
+plaza toward the largest and most pretentious of the buildings
+surrounding it. This edifice covered the entire width of one end
+of the plaza. It was several stories in height, the main entrance
+being approached by a wide flight of stone steps, the bottom of
+which was guarded by enormous stone lions, while at the top there
+were two pedestals flanking the entrance and of the same height,
+upon each of which was the stone image of a large parrot. As the
+girl neared these latter images she saw that the capital of each
+column was hewn into the semblance of a human skull upon which
+the parrots perched. Above the arched doorway and upon the walls
+of the building were the figures of other parrots, of lions, and
+of monkeys. Some of these were carved in bas-relief; others were
+delineated in mosaics, while still others appeared to have been
+painted upon the surface of the wall.</p>
+
+<p>The colorings of the last were apparently much subdued by age
+with the result that the general effect was soft and beautiful.
+The sculpturing and mosaic work were both finely executed, giving
+evidence of a high degree of artistic skill. Unlike the first
+building into which she had been conducted, the entrance to which
+had been doorless, massive doors closed the entrance which she now
+approached. In the niches formed by the columns which supported
+the door's arch, and about the base of the pedestals of the stone
+parrots, as well as in various other places on the broad stairway,
+lolled some score of armed men. The tunics of these were all of a
+vivid yellow and upon the breast and back of each was embroidered
+the figure of a parrot.</p>
+
+<p>As she was conducted up the stairway one of these yellow-coated
+warriors approached and halted her guides at the top of the steps.
+Here they exchanged a few words and while they were talking the
+girl noticed that he who had halted them, as well as those whom
+she could see of his companions, appeared to be, if possible, of
+a lower mentality than her original captors.</p>
+
+<p>Their coarse, bristling hair grew so low upon their foreheads as,
+in some instances, to almost join their eyebrows, while the irises
+were smaller, exposing more of the white of the eyeball.</p>
+
+<p>After a short parley the man in charge of the doorway, for such
+he seemed to be, turned and struck upon one of the panels with
+the butt of his spear, at the same time calling to several of his
+companions, who rose and came forward at his command. Soon the great
+doors commenced slowly to swing creakingly open, and presently,
+as they separated, the girl saw behind them the motive force which
+operated the massive doors—to each door a half-dozen naked Negroes.</p>
+
+<p>At the doorway her two guards were turned back and their places taken
+by a half dozen of the yellow-coated soldiery. These conducted her
+through the doorway which the blacks, pulling upon heavy chains,
+closed behind them. And as the girl watched them she noted with
+horror that the poor creatures were chained by the neck to the
+doors.</p>
+
+<p>Before her led a broad hallway in the center of which was a little
+pool of clear water. Here again in floor and walls was repeated in
+new and ever-changing combinations and designs, the parrots, the
+monkeys, and the lions, but now many of the figures were of what
+the girl was convinced must be gold. The walls of the corridor
+consisted of a series of open archways through which, upon either
+side, other spacious apartments were visible. The hallway was
+entirely unfurnished, but the rooms on either side contained benches
+and tables. Glimpses of some of the walls revealed the fact that
+they were covered with hangings of some colored fabric, while upon
+the floors were thick rugs of barbaric design and the skins of
+black lions and beautifully marked leopards.</p>
+
+<p>The room directly to the right of the entrance was filled with men
+wearing the yellow tunics of her new guard while the walls were hung
+with numerous spears and sabers. At the far end of the corridor a
+low flight of steps led to another closed doorway. Here the guard
+was again halted. One of the guards at this doorway, after receiving
+the report of one of those who accompanied her, passed through the
+door, leaving them standing outside. It was fully fifteen minutes
+before he returned, when the guard was again changed and the girl
+conducted into the chamber beyond.</p>
+
+<p>Through three other chambers and past three more massive doors, at
+each of which her guard was changed, the girl was conducted before
+she was ushered into a comparatively small room, back and forth
+across the floor of which paced a man in a scarlet tunic, upon the
+front and back of which was embroidered an enormous parrot and upon
+whose head was a barbaric headdress surmounted by a stuffed parrot.</p>
+
+<p>The walls of this room were entirely hidden by hangings upon which
+hundreds, even thousands, of parrots were embroidered. Inlaid in
+the floor were golden parrots, while, as thickly as they could be
+painted, upon the ceiling were brilliant-hued parrots with wings
+outspread as though in the act of flying.</p>
+
+<p>The man himself was larger of stature than any she had yet seen
+within the city. His parchment-like skin was wrinkled with age and
+he was much fatter than any other of his kind that she had seen.
+His bared arms, however, gave evidence of great strength and his
+gait was not that of an old man. His facial expression denoted almost
+utter imbecility and he was quite the most repulsive creature that
+ever Bertha Kircher had looked upon.</p>
+
+<p>For several minutes after she was conducted into his presence
+he appeared not to be aware that she was there but continued his
+restless pacing to and fro. Suddenly, without the slightest warning,
+and while he was at the far end of the room from her with his back
+toward her, he wheeled and rushed madly at her. Involuntarily the
+girl shrank back, extending her open palms toward the frightful
+creature as though to hold him aloof but a man upon either side of
+her, the two who had conducted her into the apartment, seized and
+held her.</p>
+
+<p>Although he rushed violently toward her the man stopped without
+touching her. For a moment his horrid white-rimmed eyes glared
+searchingly into her face, immediately following which he burst
+into maniacal laughter. For two or three minutes the creature gave
+himself over to merriment and then, stopping as suddenly as he
+had commenced to laugh, he fell to examining the prisoner. He felt
+of her hair, her skin, the texture of the garment she wore and by
+means of signs made her understand she was to open her mouth. In
+the latter he seemed much interested, calling the attention of one
+of the guards to her canine teeth and then baring his own sharp
+fangs for the prisoner to see.</p>
+
+<p>Presently he resumed pacing to and fro across the floor, and it
+was fully fifteen minutes before he again noticed the prisoner, and
+then it was to issue a curt order to her guards, who immediately
+conducted her from the apartment.</p>
+
+<p>The guards now led the girl through a series of corridors and
+apartments to a narrow stone stairway which led to the floor above,
+finally stopping before a small door where stood a naked Negro armed
+with a spear. At a word from one of her guards the Negro opened the
+door and the party passed into a low-ceiled apartment, the windows
+of which immediately caught the girl's attention through the fact
+that they were heavily barred. The room was furnished similarly to
+those that she had seen in other parts of the building, the same
+carved tables and benches, the rugs upon the floor, the decorations
+upon the walls, although in every respect it was simpler than
+anything she had seen on the floor below. In one corner was a low
+couch covered with a rug similar to those on the floor except that
+it was of a lighter texture, and upon this sat a woman.</p>
+
+<p>As Bertha Kircher's eyes alighted upon the occupant of the room
+the girl gave a little gasp of astonishment, for she recognized
+immediately that here was a creature more nearly of her own kind
+than any she had seen within the city's walls. An old woman it was
+who looked at her through faded blue eyes, sunken deep in a wrinkled
+and toothless face. But the eyes were those of a sane and intelligent
+creature, and the wrinkled face was the face of a white woman.</p>
+
+<p>At sight of the girl the woman rose and came forward, her gait so
+feeble and unsteady that she was forced to support herself with a
+long staff which she grasped in both her hands. One of the guards
+spoke a few words to her and then the men turned and left the
+apartment. The girl stood just within the door waiting in silence
+for what might next befall her.</p>
+
+<p>The old woman crossed the room and stopped before her, raising
+her weak and watery eyes to the fresh young face of the newcomer.
+Then she scanned her from head to foot and once again the old eyes
+returned to the girl's face. Bertha Kircher on her part was not
+less frank in her survey of the little old woman. It was the latter
+who spoke first. In a thin, cracked voice she spoke, hesitatingly,
+falteringly, as though she were using unfamiliar words and speaking
+a strange tongue.</p>
+
+<p>"You are from the outer world?" she asked in English. "God grant
+that you may speak and understand this tongue."</p>
+
+<p>"English?" the girl exclaimed, "Yes, of course, I speak English."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank God!" cried the little old woman. "I did not know whether I
+myself might speak it so that another could understand. For sixty
+years I have spoken only their accursed gibberish. For sixty years
+I have not heard a word in my native language. Poor creature! Poor
+creature!" she mumbled. "What accursed misfortune threw you into
+their hands?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are an English woman?" asked Bertha Kircher. "Did I understand
+you aright that you are an English woman and have been here for
+sixty years?"</p>
+
+<p>The old woman nodded her head affirmatively. "For sixty years I
+have never been outside of this palace. Come," she said, stretching
+forth a bony hand. "I am very old and cannot stand long. Come and
+sit with me on my couch."</p>
+
+<p>The girl took the proffered hand and assisted the old lady back
+to the opposite side of the room and when she was seated the girl
+sat down beside her.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor child! Poor child!" moaned the old woman. "Far better to have
+died than to have let them bring you here. At first I might have
+destroyed myself but there was always the hope that someone would
+come who would take me away, but none ever comes. Tell me how they
+got you."</p>
+
+<p>Very briefly the girl narrated the principal incidents which led
+up to her capture by some of the creatures of the city.</p>
+
+<p>"Then there is a man with you in the city?" asked the old woman.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the girl, "but I do not know where he is nor what are
+their intentions in regard to him. In fact, I do not know what
+their intentions toward me are."</p>
+
+<p>"No one might even guess," said the old woman. "They do not know
+themselves from one minute to the next what their intentions are,
+but I think you can rest assured, my poor child, that you will
+never see your friend again."</p>
+
+<p>"But they haven't slain you," the girl reminded her, "and you have
+been their prisoner, you say, for sixty years."</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied her companion, "they have not killed me, nor will
+they kill you, though God knows before you have lived long in this
+horrible place you will beg them to kill you."</p>
+
+<p>"Who are they—" asked Bertha Kircher, "what kind of people? They
+differ from any that I ever have seen. And tell me, too, how you
+came here."</p>
+
+<p>"It was long ago," said the old woman, rocking back and forth on
+the couch. "It was long ago. Oh, how long it was! I was only twenty
+then. Think of it, child! Look at me. I have no mirror other than
+my bath, I cannot see what I look like for my eyes are old, but
+with my fingers I can feel my old and wrinkled face, my sunken eyes,
+and these flabby lips drawn in over toothless gums. I am old and
+bent and hideous, but then I was young and they said that I was
+beautiful. No, I will not be a hypocrite; I was beautiful. My glass
+told me that.</p>
+
+<p>"My father was a missionary in the interior and one day there came
+a band of Arabian slave raiders. They took the men and women of
+the little native village where my father labored, and they took
+me, too. They did not know much about our part of the country so
+they were compelled to rely upon the men of our village whom they
+had captured to guide them. They told me that they never before
+had been so far south and that they had heard there was a country
+rich in ivory and slaves west of us. They wanted to go there and
+from there they would take us north, where I was to be sold into
+the harem of some black sultan.</p>
+
+<p>"They often discussed the price I would bring, and that that price
+might not lessen, they guarded me jealously from one another so
+the journeys were made as little fatiguing for me as possible. I
+was given the best food at their command and I was not harmed.</p>
+
+<p>"But after a short time, when we had reached the confines of the
+country with which the men of our village were familiar and had
+entered upon a desolate and arid desert waste, the Arabs realized
+at last that we were lost. But they still kept on, ever toward
+the west, crossing hideous gorges and marching across the face of
+a burning land beneath the pitiless sun. The poor slaves they had
+captured were, of course, compelled to carry all the camp equipage
+and loot and thus heavily burdened, half starved and without water,
+they soon commenced to die like flies.</p>
+
+<p>"We had not been in the desert land long before the Arabs were
+forced to kill their horses for food, and when we reached the first
+gorge, across which it would have been impossible to transport the
+animals, the balance of them were slaughtered and the meat loaded
+upon the poor staggering blacks who still survived.</p>
+
+<p>"Thus we continued for two more days and now all but a handful of
+blacks were dead, and the Arabs themselves had commenced to succumb
+to hunger and thirst and the intense heat of the desert. As far as
+the eye could reach back toward the land of plenty from whence we
+had come, our route was marked by circling vultures in the sky and
+by the bodies of the dead who lay down in the trackless waste for
+the last time. The ivory had been abandoned tusk by tusk as the
+blacks gave out, and along the trail of death was strewn the camp
+equipage and the horse trappings of a hundred men.</p>
+
+<p>"For some reason the Arab chief favored me to the last, possibly
+with the idea that of all his other treasures I could be most easily
+transported, for I was young and strong and after the horses were
+killed I had walked and kept up with the best of the men. We English,
+you know, are great walkers, while these Arabians had never walked
+since they were old enough to ride a horse.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot tell you how much longer we kept on but at last, with
+our strength almost gone, a handful of us reached the bottom of a
+deep gorge. To scale the opposite side was out of the question and
+so we kept on down along the sands of what must have been the bed
+of an ancient river, until finally we came to a point where we
+looked out upon what appeared to be a beautiful valley in which we
+felt assured that we would find game in plenty.</p>
+
+<p>"By then there were only two of us left—the chief and myself. I
+do not need to tell you what the valley was, for you found it in
+much the same way as I did. So quickly were we captured that it
+seemed they must have been waiting for us, and I learned later that
+such was the case, just as they were waiting for you.</p>
+
+<p>"As you came through the forest you must have seen the monkeys
+and parrots and since you have entered the palace, how constantly
+these animals, and the lions, are used in the decorations. At home
+we were all familiar with talking parrots who repeated the things
+that they were taught to say, but these parrots are different
+in that they all talk in the same language that the people of the
+city use, and they say that the monkeys talk to the parrots and the
+parrots fly to the city and tell the people what the monkeys say.
+And, although it is hard to believe, I have learned that this is
+so, for I have lived here among them for sixty years in the palace
+of their king.</p>
+
+<p>"They brought me, as they brought you, directly to the palace. The
+Arabian chief was taken elsewhere. I never knew what became of him.
+Ago XXV was king then. I have seen many kings since that day. He
+was a terrible man; but then, they are all terrible."</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter with them?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"They are a race of maniacs," replied the old woman. "Had you not
+guessed it? Among them are excellent craftsmen and good farmers
+and a certain amount of law and order, such as it is.</p>
+
+<p>"They reverence all birds, but the parrot is their chief deity.
+There is one who is held here in the palace in a very beautiful
+apartment. He is their god of gods. He is a very old bird. If what
+Ago told me when I came is true, he must be nearly three hundred
+years old by now. Their religious rites are revolting in the
+extreme, and I believe that it may be the practice of these rites
+through ages that has brought the race to its present condition of
+imbecility.</p>
+
+<p>"And yet, as I said, they are not without some redeeming qualities.
+If legend may be credited, their forebears—a little handful of
+men and women who came from somewhere out of the north and became
+lost in the wilderness of central Africa—found here only a barren
+desert valley. To my own knowledge rain seldom, if ever, falls
+here, and yet you have seen a great forest and luxuriant vegetation
+outside of the city as well as within. This miracle is accomplished
+by the utilization of natural springs which their ancestors developed,
+and upon which they have improved to such an extent that the entire
+valley receives an adequate amount of moisture at all times.</p>
+
+<p>"Ago told me that many generations before his time the forest was
+irrigated by changing the course of the streams which carried the
+spring water to the city but that when the trees had sent their
+roots down to the natural moisture of the soil and required no
+further irrigation, the course of the stream was changed and other
+trees were planted. And so the forest grew until today it covers
+almost the entire floor of the valley except for the open space
+where the city stands. I do not know that this is true. It may be
+that the forest has always been here, but it is one of their legends
+and it is borne out by the fact that there is not sufficient rainfall
+here to support vegetation.</p>
+
+<p>"They are peculiar people in many respects, not only in their form
+of worship and religious rites but also in that they breed lions
+as other people breed cattle. You have seen how they use some of
+these lions but the majority of them they fatten and eat. At first,
+I imagine, they ate lion meat as a part of their religious ceremony
+but after many generations they came to crave it so that now it is
+practically the only flesh they eat. They would, of course, rather
+die than eat the flesh of a bird, nor will they eat monkey's meat,
+while the herbivorous animals they raise only for milk, hides,
+and flesh for the lions. Upon the south side of the city are the
+corrals and pastures where the herbivorous animals are raised.
+Boar, deer, and antelope are used principally for the lions, while
+goats are kept for milk for the human inhabitants of the city."</p>
+
+<p>"And you have lived here all these years," exclaimed the girl,
+"without ever seeing one of your own kind?"</p>
+
+<p>The old woman nodded affirmatively.</p>
+
+<p>"For sixty years you have lived here," continued Bertha Kircher,
+"and they have not harmed you!"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not say they had not harmed me," said the old woman, "they
+did not kill me, that is all."</p>
+
+<p>"What"—the girl hesitated—"what," she continued at last, "was
+your position among them? Pardon me," she added quickly, "I think
+I know but I should like to hear from your own lips, for whatever
+your position was, mine will doubtless be the same."</p>
+
+<p>The old woman nodded. "Yes," she said, "doubtless; if they can keep
+you away from the women."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"For sixty years I have never been allowed near a woman. They would
+kill me, even now, if they could reach me. The men are frightful,
+God knows they are frightful! But heaven keep you from the women!"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean," asked the girl, "that the men will not harm me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ago XXV made me his queen," said the old woman. "But he had many
+other queens, nor were they all human. He was not murdered for ten
+years after I came here. Then the next king took me, and so it has
+been always. I am the oldest queen now. Very few of their women live
+to a great age. Not only are they constantly liable to assassination
+but, owing to their subnormal mentalities, they are subject to
+periods of depression during which they are very likely to destroy
+themselves."</p>
+
+<p>She turned suddenly and pointed to the barred windows. "You see
+this room," she said, "with the black eunuch outside? Wherever
+you see these you will know that there are women, for with very
+few exceptions they are never allowed out of captivity. They are
+considered and really are more violent than the men."</p>
+
+<p>For several minutes the two sat in silence, and then the younger
+woman turned to the older.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there no way to escape?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>The old woman pointed again to the barred windows and then to the
+door, saying: "And there is the armed eunuch. And if you should
+pass him, how could you reach the street? And if you reached the
+street, how could you pass through the city to the outer wall? And
+even if, by some miracle, you should gain the outer wall, and, by
+another miracle, you should be permitted to pass through the gate,
+could you ever hope to traverse the forest where the great black
+lions roam and feed upon men? No!" she exclaimed, answering her
+own question, "there is no escape, for after one had escaped from
+the palace and the city and the forest it would be but to invite
+death in the frightful desert land beyond.</p>
+
+<p>"In sixty years you are the first to find this buried city. In
+a thousand no denizen of this valley has ever left it, and within
+the memory of man, or even in their legends, none had found them
+prior to my coming other than a single warlike giant, the story of
+whom has been handed down from father to son.</p>
+
+<p>"I think from the description that he must have been a Spaniard,
+a giant of a man in buckler and helmet, who fought his way through
+the terrible forest to the city gate, who fell upon those who were
+sent out to capture him and slew them with his mighty sword. And
+when he had eaten of the vegetables from the gardens, and the fruit
+from the trees and drank of the water from the stream, he turned
+about and fought his way back through the forest to the mouth of
+the gorge. But though he escaped the city and the forest he did
+not escape the desert. For a legend runs that the king, fearful
+that he would bring others to attack them, sent a party after him
+to slay him.</p>
+
+<p>"For three weeks they did not find him, for they went in the wrong
+direction, but at last they came upon his bones picked clean by
+the vultures, lying a day's march up the same gorge through which
+you and I entered the valley. I do not know," continued the old
+woman, "that this is true. It is just one of their many legends."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the girl, "it is true. I am sure it is true, for I have
+seen the skeleton and the corroded armor of this great giant."</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture the door was thrown open without ceremony and a
+Negro entered bearing two flat vessels in which were several smaller
+ones. These he set down on one of the tables near the women, and,
+without a word, turned and left. With the entrance of the man
+with the vessels, a delightful odor of cooked food had aroused the
+realization in the girl's mind that she was very hungry, and at
+a word from the old woman she walked to the table to examine the
+viands. The larger vessels which contained the smaller ones were
+of pottery while those within them were quite evidently of hammered
+gold. To her intense surprise she found lying between the smaller
+vessels a spoon and a fork, which, while of quaint design, were quite
+as serviceable as any she had seen in more civilized communities.
+The tines of the fork were quite evidently of iron or steel, the
+girl did not know which, while the handle and the spoon were of
+the same material as the smaller vessels.</p>
+
+<p>There was a highly seasoned stew with meat and vegetables, a dish
+of fresh fruit, and a bowl of milk beside which was a little jug
+containing something which resembled marmalade. So ravenous was she
+that she did not even wait for her companion to reach the table,
+and as she ate she could have sworn that never before had she tasted
+more palatable food. The old woman came slowly and sat down on one
+of the benches opposite her.</p>
+
+<p>As she removed the smaller vessels from the larger and arranged
+them before her on the table a crooked smile twisted her lips as
+she watched the younger woman eat.</p>
+
+<p>"Hunger is a great leveler," she said with a laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"I venture to say that a few weeks ago you would have been nauseated
+at the idea of eating cat."</p>
+
+<p>"Cat?" exclaimed the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the old woman. "What is the difference—a lion is a
+cat."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean I am eating lion now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the old woman, "and as they prepare it, it is very
+palatable. You will grow very fond of it."</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Kircher smiled a trifle dubiously. "I could not tell it,"
+she said, "from lamb or veal."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said the woman, "it tastes as good to me. But these lions
+are very carefully kept and very carefully fed and their flesh is
+so seasoned and prepared that it might be anything so far as taste
+is concerned."</p>
+
+<p>And so Bertha Kircher broke her long fast upon strange fruits, lion
+meat, and goat's milk.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had she finished when again the door opened and there
+entered a yellow-coated soldier. He spoke to the old woman.</p>
+
+<p>"The king," she said, "has commanded that you be prepared and brought
+to him. You are to share these apartments with me. The king knows
+that I am not like his other women. He never would have dared to
+put you with them. Herog XVI has occasional lucid intervals. You
+must have been brought to him during one of these. Like the rest
+of them he thinks that he alone of all the community is sane, but
+more than once I have thought that the various men with whom I have
+come in contact here, including the kings themselves, looked upon
+me as, at least, less mad than the others. Yet how I have retained
+my senses all these years is beyond me."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by prepare?" asked Bertha Kircher. "You said
+that the king had commanded I be prepared and brought to him."</p>
+
+<p>"You will be bathed and furnished with a robe similar to that which
+I wear."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there no escape?" asked the girl. "Is there no way even in
+which I can kill myself?"</p>
+
+<p>The woman handed her the fork. "This is the only way," she said,
+"and you will notice that the tines are very short and blunt."</p>
+
+<p>The girl shuddered and the old woman laid a hand gently upon her
+shoulder. "He may only look at you and send you away," she said.
+"Ago XXV sent for me once, tried to talk with me, discovered
+that I could not understand him and that he could not understand
+me, ordered that I be taught the language of his people, and then
+apparently forgot me for a year. Sometimes I do not see the king
+for a long period. There was one king who ruled for five years
+whom I never saw. There is always hope; even I whose very memory
+has doubtless been forgotten beyond these palace walls still hope,
+though none knows better how futilely."</p>
+
+<p>The old woman led Bertha Kircher to an adjoining apartment in
+the floor of which was a pool of water. Here the girl bathed and
+afterward her companion brought her one of the clinging garments
+of the native women and adjusted it about her figure. The material
+of the robe was of a gauzy fabric which accentuated the rounded
+beauty of the girlish form.</p>
+
+<p>"There," said the old woman, as she gave a final pat to one of the
+folds of the garment, "you are a queen indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>The girl looked down at her naked breasts and but half-concealed
+limbs in horror. "They are going to lead me into the presence of
+men in this half-nude condition!" she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>The old woman smiled her crooked smile. "It is nothing," she said.
+"You will become accustomed to it as did I who was brought up in
+the home of a minister of the gospel, where it was considered little
+short of a crime for a woman to expose her stockinged ankle. By
+comparison with what you will doubtless see and the things that
+you may be called upon to undergo, this is but a trifle."</p>
+
+<p>For what seemed hours to the distraught girl she paced the floor
+of her apartment, awaiting the final summons to the presence of the
+mad king. Darkness had fallen and the oil flares within the palace
+had been lighted long before two messengers appeared with instructions
+that Herog demanded her immediate presence and that the old woman,
+whom they called Xanila, was to accompany her. The girl felt some
+slight relief when she discovered that she was to have at least
+one friend with her, however powerless to assist her the old woman
+might be.</p>
+
+<p>The messengers conducted the two to a small apartment on the floor
+below. Xanila explained that this was one of the anterooms off
+the main throneroom in which the king was accustomed to hold court
+with his entire retinue. A number of yellow-tunicked warriors sat
+about upon the benches within the room. For the most part their
+eyes were bent upon the floor and their attitudes that of moody
+dejection. As the two women entered several glanced indifferently
+at them, but for the most part no attention was paid to them.</p>
+
+<p>While they were waiting in the anteroom there entered from another
+apartment a young man uniformed similarly to the others with the
+exception that upon his head was a fillet of gold, in the front of
+which a single parrot feather rose erectly above his forehead. As
+he entered, the other soldiers in the room rose to their feet.</p>
+
+<p>"That is Metak, one of the king's sons," Xanila whispered to the
+girl.</p>
+
+<p>The prince was crossing the room toward the audience chamber when
+his glance happened to fall upon Bertha Kircher. He halted in his
+tracks and stood looking at her for a full minute without speaking.
+The girl, embarrassed by his bold stare and her scant attire, flushed
+and, dropping her gaze to the floor, turned away. Metak suddenly
+commenced to tremble from head to foot and then, without warning
+other than a loud, hoarse scream he sprang forward and seized the
+girl in his arms.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly pandemonium ensued. The two messengers who had been charged
+with the duty of conducting the girl to the king's presence danced,
+shrieking, about the prince, waving their arms and gesticulating
+wildly as though they would force him to relinquish her, the
+while they dared not lay hands upon royalty. The other guardsmen,
+as though suffering in sympathy the madness of their prince, ran
+forward screaming and brandishing their sabers.</p>
+
+<p>The girl fought to release herself from the horrid embrace of the
+maniac, but with his left arm about her he held her as easily as
+though she had been but a babe, while with his free hand he drew
+his saber and struck viciously at those nearest him.</p>
+
+<p>One of the messengers was the first to feel the keen edge of
+Metak's blade. With a single fierce cut the prince drove through
+the fellow's collar bone and downward to the center of his chest.
+With a shrill shriek that rose above the screaming of the other
+guardsmen the man dropped to the floor, and as the blood gushed
+from the frightful wound he struggled to rise once more to his feet
+and then sank back again and died in a great pool of his own blood.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Metak, still clinging desperately to the girl,
+had backed toward the opposite door. At the sight of the blood two
+of the guardsmen, as though suddenly aroused to maniacal frenzy,
+dropped their sabers to the floor and fell upon each other with
+nails and teeth, while some sought to reach the prince and some
+to defend him. In a corner of the room sat one of the guardsmen
+laughing uproariously and just as Metak succeeded in reaching the
+door and taking the girl through, she thought that she saw another
+of the men spring upon the corpse of the dead messenger and bury
+his teeth in its flesh.</p>
+
+<p>During the orgy of madness Xanila had kept closely at the girl's
+side but at the door of the room Metak had seen her and, wheeling
+suddenly, cut viciously at her. Fortunately for Xanila she was
+halfway through the door at the time, so that Metak's blade but
+dented itself upon the stone arch of the portal, and then Xanila,
+guided doubtless by the wisdom of sixty years of similar experiences,
+fled down the corridor as fast as her old and tottering legs would
+carry her.</p>
+
+<p>Metak, once outside the door, returned his saber to its scabbard
+and lifting the girl bodily from the ground carried her off in the
+opposite direction from that taken by Xanila.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxx" id="chapterxx">Came Tarzan</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Just before dark that evening, an almost exhausted flier entered
+the headquarters of Colonel Capell of the Second Rhodesians and
+saluted.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Thompson," asked the superior, "what luck? The others have
+all returned. Never saw a thing of Oldwick or his plane. I guess
+we shall have to give it up unless you were more successful."</p>
+
+<p>"I was," replied the young officer. "I found the plane."</p>
+
+<p>"No!" ejaculated Colonel Capell. "Where was it? Any sign of Oldwick?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is in the rottenest hole in the ground you ever saw, quite a
+bit inland. Narrow gorge. Saw the plane all right but can't reach
+it. There was a regular devil of a lion wandering around it. I
+landed near the edge of the cliff and was going to climb down and
+take a look at the plane. But this fellow hung around for an hour
+or more and I finally had to give it up."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think the lions got Oldwick?" asked the colonel.</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt it," replied Lieutenant Thompson, "from the fact that there
+was no indication that the lion had fed anywhere about the plane.
+I arose after I found it was impossible to get down around the
+plane and reconnoitered up and down the gorge. Several miles to the
+south I found a small, wooded valley in the center of which—please
+don't think me crazy, sir—is a regular city—streets, buildings,
+a central plaza with a lagoon, good-sized buildings with domes and
+minarets and all that sort of stuff."</p>
+
+<p>The elder officer looked at the younger compassionately. "You're
+all wrought up, Thompson," he said. "Go and take a good sleep. You
+have been on this job now for a long while and it must have gotten
+on your nerves."</p>
+
+<p>The young man shook his head a bit irritably. "Pardon me, sir," he
+said, "but I am telling you the truth. I am not mistaken. I circled
+over the place several times. It may be that Oldwick has found his
+way there—or has been captured by these people."</p>
+
+<p>"Were there people in the city?" asked the colonel.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I saw them in the streets."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think cavalry could reach the valley?" asked the colonel.</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied Thompson, "the country is all cut up with these
+deep gorges. Even infantry would have a devil of a time of it, and
+there is absolutely no water that I could discover for at least a
+two days' march."</p>
+
+<p>It was at this juncture that a big Vauxhall drew up in front of the
+headquarters of the Second Rhodesians and a moment later General
+Smuts alighted and entered. Colonel Capell arose from his chair and
+saluted his superior, and the young lieutenant saluted and stood
+at attention.</p>
+
+<p>"I was passing," said the general, "and I thought I would stop for
+a chat. By the way, how is the search for Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick
+progressing? I see Thompson here and I believe he was one of those
+detailed to the search."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Capell, "he was. He is the last to come in. He found the
+lieutenant's ship," and then he repeated what Lieutenant Thompson
+had reported to him. The general sat down at the table with Colonel
+Capell, and together the two officers, with the assistance of the
+flier, marked the approximate location of the city which Thompson
+had reported he'd discovered.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a mighty rough country," remarked Smuts, "but we can't leave
+a stone unturned until we have exhausted every resource to find
+that boy. We will send out a small force; a small one will be more
+likely to succeed than a large one. About one company, Colonel,
+or say two, with sufficient motor lorries for transport of rations
+and water. Put a good man in command and let him establish a base
+as far to the west as the motors can travel. You can leave one
+company there and send the other forward. I am inclined to believe
+you can establish your base within a day's march of the city and
+if such is the case the force you send ahead should have no trouble
+on the score of lack of water as there certainly must be water
+in the valley where the city lies. Detail a couple of planes for
+reconnaissance and messenger service so that the base can keep in
+touch at all times with the advance party. When can your force move
+out?"</p>
+
+<p>"We can load the lorries tonight," replied Capell, "and march about
+one o'clock tomorrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Good," said the general, "keep me advised," and returning the
+others' salutes he departed.</p>
+
+<p>As Tarzan leaped for the vines he realized that the lion was
+close upon him and that his life depended upon the strength of the
+creepers clinging to the city walls; but to his intense relief he
+found the stems as large around as a man's arm, and the tendrils
+which had fastened themselves to the wall so firmly fixed, that his
+weight upon the stem appeared to have no appreciable effect upon
+them.</p>
+
+<p>He heard Numa's baffled roar as the lion slipped downward clawing
+futilely at the leafy creepers, and then with the agility of the
+apes who had reared him, Tarzan bounded nimbly aloft to the summit
+of the wall.</p>
+
+<p>A few feet below him was the flat roof of the adjoining building
+and as he dropped to it his back was toward the niche from which
+an embrasure looked out upon the gardens and the forest beyond, so
+that he did not see the figure crouching there in the dark shadow.
+But if he did not see he was not long in ignorance of the fact that
+he was not alone, for scarcely had his feet touched the roof when
+a heavy body leaped upon him from behind and brawny arms encircled
+him about the waist.</p>
+
+<p>Taken at a disadvantage and lifted from his feet, the ape-man was,
+for the time being, helpless. Whatever the creature was that had
+seized him, it apparently had a well-defined purpose in mind, for
+it walked directly toward the edge of the roof so that it was soon
+apparent to Tarzan that he was to be hurled to the pavement below—a
+most efficacious manner of disposing of an intruder. That he would
+be either maimed or killed the ape-man was confident; but he had
+no intention of permitting his assailant to carry out the plan.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan's arms and legs were free but he was in such a disadvantageous
+position that he could not use them to any good effect. His only
+hope lay in throwing the creature off its balance, and to this end
+Tarzan straightened his body and leaned as far back against his
+captor as he could, and then suddenly lunged forward. The result was
+as satisfactory as he could possibly have hoped. The great weight
+of the ape-man thrown suddenly out from an erect position caused
+the other also to lunge violently forward with the result that to
+save himself he involuntarily released his grasp. Catlike in his
+movements, the ape-man had no sooner touched the roof than he was
+upon his feet again, facing his adversary, a man almost as large
+as himself and armed with a saber which he now whipped from its
+scabbard. Tarzan, however, had no mind to allow the use of this
+formidable weapon and so he dove for the other's legs beneath the
+vicious cut that was directed at him from the side, and as a football
+player tackles an opposing runner, Tarzan tackled his antagonist,
+carrying him backward several yards and throwing him heavily to
+the roof upon his back.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had the man touched the roof than the ape-man was upon
+his chest, one brawny hand sought and found the sword wrist and
+the other the throat of the yellow-tunicked guardsman. Until then
+the fellow had fought in silence but just as Tarzan's fingers
+touched his throat he emitted a single piercing shriek that the
+brown fingers cut off almost instantly. The fellow struggled to
+escape the clutch of the naked creature upon his breast but equally
+as well might he have fought to escape the talons of Numa, the
+lion.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually his struggles lessened, his pin-point eyes popped from
+their sockets, rolling horribly upward, while from his foam-flecked
+lips his swollen tongue protruded. As his struggles ceased Tarzan
+arose, and placing a foot upon the carcass of his kill, was upon
+the point of screaming forth his victory cry when the thought that
+the work before him required the utmost caution sealed his lips.</p>
+
+<p>Walking to the edge of the roof he looked down into the narrow,
+winding street below. At intervals, apparently at each street
+intersection, an oil flare sputtered dimly from brackets set
+in the walls a trifle higher than a man's head. For the most part
+the winding alleys were in dense shadow and even in the immediate
+vicinity of the flares the illumination was far from brilliant.
+In the restricted area of his vision he could see that there were
+still a few of the strange inhabitants moving about the narrow
+thoroughfares.</p>
+
+<p>To prosecute his search for the young officer and the girl he must
+be able to move about the city as freely as possible, but to pass
+beneath one of the corner flares, naked as he was except for a
+loin cloth, and in every other respect markedly different from the
+inhabitants of the city, would be but to court almost immediate
+discovery. As these thoughts flashed through his mind and he cast
+about for some feasible plan of action, his eyes fell upon the
+corpse upon the roof near him, and immediately there occurred to
+him the possibility of disguising himself in the raiment of his
+conquered adversary.</p>
+
+<p>It required but a few moments for the ape-man to clothe himself
+in the tights, sandals, and parrot emblazoned yellow tunic of the
+dead soldier. Around his waist he buckled the saber belt but beneath
+the tunic he retained the hunting knife of his dead father. His
+other weapons he could not lightly discard, and so, in the hope
+that he might eventually recover them, he carried them to the edge
+of the wall and dropped them among the foliage at its base. At the
+last moment he found it difficult to part with his rope, which,
+with his knife, was his most accustomed weapon, and one which he
+had used for the greatest length of time. He found that by removing
+the saber belt he could wind the rope about his waist beneath his
+tunic, and then replacing the belt still retain it entirely concealed
+from chance observation.</p>
+
+<p>At last, satisfactorily disguised, and with even his shock of black
+hair adding to the verisimilitude of his likeness to the natives
+of the city, he sought for some means of reaching the street below.
+While he might have risked a drop from the eaves of the roof he
+feared to do so lest he attract the attention of passers-by, and
+probable discovery. The roofs of the buildings varied in height but
+as the ceilings were all low he found that he could easily travel
+along the roof tops and this he did for some little distance, until
+he suddenly discovered just ahead of him several figures reclining
+upon the roof of a near-by building.</p>
+
+<p>He had noticed openings in each roof, evidently giving ingress to
+the apartments below, and now, his advance cut off by those ahead
+of him, he decided to risk the chance of reaching the street
+through the interior of one of the buildings. Approaching one of
+the openings he leaned over the black hole and, listened for sounds
+of life in the apartment below. Neither his ears nor his nose
+registered evidence of the presence of any living creature in the
+immediate vicinity, and so without further hesitation the ape-man
+lowered his body through the aperture and was about to drop
+when his foot came in contact with the rung of a ladder, which he
+immediately took advantage of to descend to the floor of the room
+below.</p>
+
+<p>Here, all was almost total darkness until his eyes became accustomed
+to the interior, the darkness of which was slightly alleviated
+by the reflected light from a distant street flare which shone
+intermittently through the narrow windows fronting the thoroughfare.
+Finally, assured that the apartment was unoccupied, Tarzan sought
+for a stairway to the ground floor. This he found in a dark hallway
+upon which the room opened—a flight of narrow stone steps leading
+downward toward the street. Chance favored him so that he reached
+the shadows of the arcade without encountering any of the inmates
+of the house.</p>
+
+<p>Once on the street he was not at a loss as to the direction in which
+he wished to go, for he had tracked the two Europeans practically
+to the gate, which he felt assured must have given them entry to
+the city. His keen sense of direction and location made it possible
+for him to judge with considerable accuracy the point within the
+city where he might hope to pick up the spoor of those whom he
+sought.</p>
+
+<p>The first need, however, was to discover a street paralleling the
+northern wall along which he could make his way in the direction of
+the gate he had seen from the forest. Realizing that his greatest
+hope of success lay in the boldness of his operations he moved off
+in the direction of the nearest street flare without making any
+other attempt at concealment than keeping in the shadows of the
+arcade, which he judged would draw no particular attention to him
+in that he saw other pedestrians doing likewise. The few he passed
+gave him no heed, and he had almost reached the nearest intersection
+when he saw several men wearing yellow tunics identical to that
+which he had taken from his prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>They were coming directly toward him and the ape-man saw that should
+he continue on he would meet them directly at the intersection
+of the two streets in the full light of the flare. His first
+inclination was to go steadily on, for personally he had no objection
+to chancing a scrimmage with them; but a sudden recollection of the
+girl, possibly a helpless prisoner in the hands of these people,
+caused him to seek some other and less hazardous plan of action.</p>
+
+<p>He had almost emerged from the shadow of the arcade into the full
+light of the flare and the approaching men were but a few yards
+from him, when he suddenly kneeled and pretended to adjust the
+wrappings of his sandals—wrappings, which, by the way, he was
+not at all sure that he had adjusted as their makers had intended
+them to be adjusted. He was still kneeling when the soldiers came
+abreast of him. Like the others he had passed they paid no attention
+to him and the moment they were behind him he continued upon his
+way, turning to the right at the intersection of the two streets.</p>
+
+<p>The street he now took was, at this point, so extremely winding
+that, for the most part, it received no benefit from the flares at
+either corner, so that he was forced practically to grope his way
+in the dense shadows of the arcade. The street became a little
+straighter just before he reached the next flare, and as he came
+within sight of it he saw silhouetted against a patch of light the
+figure of a lion. The beast was coming slowly down the street in
+Tarzan's direction.</p>
+
+<p>A woman crossed the way directly in front of it and the lion paid
+no attention to her, nor she to the lion. An instant later a little
+child ran after the woman and so close did he run before the lion
+that the beast was forced to turn out of its way a step to avoid
+colliding with the little one. The ape-man grinned and crossed
+quickly to the opposite side of the street, for his delicate senses
+indicated that at this point the breeze stirring through the city
+streets and deflected by the opposite wall would now blow from the
+lion toward him as the beast passed, whereas if he remained upon
+the side of the street upon which he had been walking when he
+discovered the carnivore, his scent would have been borne to the
+nostrils of the animal, and Tarzan was sufficiently jungle-wise
+to realize that while he might deceive the eyes of man and beast
+he could not so easily disguise from the nostrils of one of the
+great cats that he was a creature of a different species from the
+inhabitants of the city, the only human beings, possibly, that Numa
+was familiar with. In him the cat would recognize a stranger, and,
+therefore, an enemy, and Tarzan had no desire to be delayed by an
+encounter with a savage lion. His ruse worked successfully, the
+lion passing him with not more than a side glance in his direction.</p>
+
+<p>He had proceeded for some little distance and had about reached a
+point where he judged he would find the street which led up from
+the city gate when, at an intersection of two streets, his nostrils
+caught the scent spoor of the girl. Out of a maze of other scent
+spoors the ape-man picked the familiar odor of the girl and, a second
+later, that of Smith-Oldwick. He had been forced to accomplish
+it, however, by bending very low at each street intersection in
+repeated attention to his sandal wrappings, bringing his nostrils
+as close to the pavement as possible.</p>
+
+<p>As he advanced along the street through which the two had been
+conducted earlier in the day he noted, as had they, the change
+in the type of buildings as he passed from a residence district
+into that portion occupied by shops and bazaars. Here the number
+of flares was increased so that they appeared not only at street
+intersections but midway between as well, and there were many
+more people abroad. The shops were open and lighted, for with the
+setting of the sun the intense heat of the day had given place to
+a pleasant coolness. Here also the number of lions, roaming loose
+through the thoroughfares, increased, and also for the first time
+Tarzan noted the idiosyncrasies of the people.</p>
+
+<p>Once he was nearly upset by a naked man running rapidly through
+the street screaming at the top of his voice. And again he nearly
+stumbled over a woman who was making her way in the shadows of one
+of the arcades upon all fours. At first the ape-man thought she was
+hunting for something she had dropped, but as he drew to one side
+to watch her, he saw that she was doing nothing of the kind—that
+she had merely elected to walk upon her hands and knees rather
+than erect upon her feet. In another block he saw two creatures
+struggling upon the roof of an adjacent building until finally one
+of them, wrenching himself free from the grasp of the other, gave
+his adversary a mighty push which hurled him to the pavement below,
+where he lay motionless upon the dusty road. For an instant a wild
+shriek re-echoed through the city from the lungs of the victor and
+then, without an instant's hesitation, the fellow leaped headfirst
+to the street beside the body of his victim. A lion moved out from
+the dense shadows of a doorway and approached the two bloody and
+lifeless things before him. Tarzan wondered what effect the odor
+of blood would have upon the beast and was surprised to see that
+the animal only sniffed at the corpses and the hot red blood and
+then lay down beside the two dead men.</p>
+
+<p>He had passed the lion but a short distance when his attention was
+called to the figure of a man lowering himself laboriously from the
+roof of a building upon the east side of the thoroughfare. Tarzan's
+curiosity was aroused.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxxi" id="chapterxxi">In the Alcove</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>As Smith-Oldwick realized that he was alone and practically defenseless
+in an enclosure filled with great lions he was, in his weakened
+condition, almost in a state verging upon hysterical terror.
+Clinging to the grating for support he dared not turn his head in
+the direction of the beasts behind him. He felt his knees giving
+weakly beneath him. Something within his head spun rapidly around.
+He became very dizzy and nauseated and then suddenly all went
+black before his eyes as his limp body collapsed at the foot of
+the grating.</p>
+
+<p>How long he lay there unconscious he never knew; but as reason
+slowly reasserted itself in his semi-conscious state he was aware
+that he lay in a cool bed upon the whitest of linen in a bright
+and cheery room, and that upon one side close to him was an open
+window, the delicate hangings of which were fluttering in a soft
+summer breeze which blew in from a sun-kissed orchard of ripening
+fruit which he could see without—an old orchard in which soft,
+green grass grew between the laden trees, and where the sun filtered
+through the foliage; and upon the dappled greensward a little child
+was playing with a frolicsome puppy.</p>
+
+<p>"God," thought the man, "what a horrible nightmare I have passed
+through!" and then he felt a hand stroking his brow and cheek—a
+cool and gentle hand that smoothed away his troubled recollections.
+For a long minute Smith-Oldwick lay in utter peace and content
+until gradually there was forced upon his sensibilities the fact
+that the hand had become rough, and that it was no longer cool but
+hot and moist; and suddenly he opened his eyes and looked up into
+the face of a huge lion.</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick was not only an English
+gentleman and an officer in name, he was also what these implied—a
+brave man; but when he realized that the sweet picture he had looked
+upon was but the figment of a dream, and that in reality he still
+lay where he had fallen at the foot of the grating with a lion
+standing over him licking his face, the tears sprang to his eyes
+and ran down his cheeks. Never, he thought, had an unkind fate
+played so cruel a joke upon a human being.</p>
+
+<p>For some time he lay feigning death while the lion, having ceased
+to lick him, sniffed about his body. There are some things than which
+death is to be preferred; and there came at last to the Englishman
+the realization that it would be better to die swiftly than to
+lie in this horrible predicament until his mind broke beneath the
+strain and he went mad.</p>
+
+<p>And so, deliberately and without haste, he rose, clinging to the
+grating for support. At his first move the lion growled, but after
+that he paid no further attention to the man, and when at last
+Smith-Oldwick had regained his feet the lion moved indifferently
+away. Then it was that the man turned and looked about the enclosure.</p>
+
+<p>Sprawled beneath the shade of the trees and lying upon the long bench
+beside the south wall the great beasts rested, with the exception
+of two or three who moved restlessly about. It was these that the
+man feared and yet when two more of them had passed him by he began
+to feel reassured, recalling the fact that they were accustomed to
+the presence of man.</p>
+
+<p>And yet he dared not move from the grating. As the man examined his
+surroundings he noted that the branches of one of the trees near
+the further wall spread close beneath an open window. If he could
+reach that tree and had strength to do so, he could easily climb
+out upon the branch and escape, at least, from the enclosure of the
+lions. But in order to reach the tree he must pass the full length
+of the enclosure, and at the very bole of the tree itself two lions
+lay sprawled out in slumber.</p>
+
+<p>For half an hour the man stood gazing longingly at this seeming
+avenue of escape, and at last, with a muttered oath, he straightened
+up and throwing back his shoulders in a gesture of defiance, he
+walked slowly and deliberately down the center of the courtyard.
+One of the prowling lions turned from the side wall and moved
+toward the center directly in the man's path, but Smith-Oldwick was
+committed to what he considered his one chance, for even temporary
+safety, and so he kept on, ignoring the presence of the beast. The
+lion slouched to his side and sniffed him and then, growling, he
+bared his teeth.</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick drew the pistol from his shirt. "If he has made up
+his mind to kill me," he thought. "I can't see that it will make
+any difference in the long run whether I infuriate him or not. The
+beggar can't kill me any deader in one mood than another."</p>
+
+<p>But with the man's movement in withdrawing the weapon from his shirt
+the lion's attitude suddenly altered and though he still growled
+he turned and sprang away, and then at last the Englishman stood
+almost at the foot of the tree that was his goal, and between him
+and safety sprawled a sleeping lion.</p>
+
+<p>Above him was a limb that ordinarily he could have leaped for and
+reached with ease; but weak from his wounds and loss of blood he
+doubted his ability to do so now. There was even a question as to
+whether he would be able to ascend the tree at all. There was just
+one chance: the lowest branch left the bole within easy reach of a
+man standing on the ground close to the tree's stem, but to reach
+a position where the branch would be accessible he must step over
+the body of a lion. Taking a deep breath he placed one foot between
+the sprawled legs of the beast and gingerly raised the other to plant
+it upon the opposite side of the tawny body. "What," he thought,
+"if the beggar should happen to wake now?" The suggestion sent a
+shudder through his frame but he did not hesitate or withdraw his
+foot. Gingerly he planted it beyond the lion, threw his weight
+forward upon it and cautiously brought his other foot to the side
+of the first. He had passed and the lion had not awakened.</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick was weak from loss of blood and the hardships he had
+undergone, but the realization of his situation impelled him to a
+show of agility and energy which he probably could scarcely have
+equaled when in possession of his normal strength. With his life
+depending upon the success of his efforts, he swung himself quickly
+to the lower branches of the tree and scrambled upward out of reach
+of possible harm from the lions below—though the sudden movement
+in the branches above them awakened both the sleeping beasts. The
+animals raised their heads and looked questioningly up for a moment
+and then lay back again to resume their broken slumber.</p>
+
+<p>So easily had the Englishman succeeded thus far that he suddenly
+began to question as to whether he had at any time been in real
+danger. The lions, as he knew, were accustomed to the presence of
+men, but yet they were still lions and he was free to admit that
+he breathed more easily now that he was safe above their clutches.</p>
+
+<p>Before him lay the open window he had seen from the ground. He
+was now on a level with it and could see an apparently unoccupied
+chamber beyond, and toward this he made his way along a stout
+branch that swung beneath the opening. It was not a difficult feat
+to reach the window, and a moment later he drew himself over the
+sill and dropped into the room.</p>
+
+<p>He found himself in a rather spacious apartment, the floor of which
+was covered with rugs of barbaric design, while the few pieces of
+furniture were of a similar type to that which he had seen in the
+room on the first floor into which he and Bertha Kircher had been
+ushered at the conclusion of their journey. At one end of the room
+was what appeared to be a curtained alcove, the heavy hangings of
+which completely hid the interior. In the wall opposite the window
+and near the alcove was a closed door, apparently the only exit
+from the room.</p>
+
+<p>He could see, in the waning light without, that the close of the
+day was fast approaching, and he hesitated while he deliberated the
+advisability of waiting until darkness had fallen, or of immediately
+searching for some means of escape from the building and the city.
+He at last decided that it would do no harm to investigate beyond
+the room, that he might have some idea as how best to plan his
+escape after dark. To this end he crossed the room toward the door
+but he had taken only a few steps when the hangings before the
+alcove separated and the figure of a woman appeared in the opening.</p>
+
+<p>She was young and beautifully formed; the single drapery wound around
+her body from below her breasts left no detail of her symmetrical
+proportions unrevealed, but her face was the face of an imbecile.
+At sight of her Smith-Oldwick halted, momentarily expecting that
+his presence would elicit screams for help from her. On the contrary
+she came toward him smiling, and when she was close her slender,
+shapely fingers touched the sleeve of his torn blouse as a curious
+child might handle a new toy, and still with the same smile she
+examined him from head to foot, taking in, in childish wonderment,
+every detail of his apparel.</p>
+
+<p>Presently she spoke to him in a soft, well-modulated voice which
+contrasted sharply with her facial appearance. The voice and the
+girlish figure harmonized perfectly and seemed to belong to each
+other, while the head and face were those of another creature.
+Smith-Oldwick could understand no word of what she said, but
+nevertheless he spoke to her in his own cultured tone, the effect
+of which upon her was evidently most gratifying, for before he
+realized her intentions or could prevent her she had thrown both
+arms about his neck and was kissing him with the utmost abandon.</p>
+
+<p>The man tried to free himself from her rather surprising attentions,
+but she only clung more tightly to him, and suddenly, as he recalled
+that he had always heard that one must humor the mentally deficient,
+and at the same time seeing in her a possible agency of escape, he
+dosed his eyes and returned her embraces.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this juncture that the door opened and a man entered.
+With the sound from the first movement of the latch, Smith-Oldwick
+opened his eyes, but though he endeavored to disengage himself
+from the girl he realized that the newcomer had seen their rather
+compromising position. The girl, whose back was toward the door,
+seemed at first not to realize that someone had entered, but when
+she did she turned quickly and as her eyes fell upon the man whose
+terrible face was now distorted with an expression of hideous rage
+she turned, screaming, and fled toward the alcove. The Englishman,
+flushed and embarrassed, stood where she had left him. With the
+sudden realization of the futility of attempting an explanation,
+came that of the menacing appearance of the man, whom he now
+recognized as the official who had received them in the room below.
+The fellow's face, livid with insane rage and, possibly, jealousy,
+was twitching violently, accentuating the maniacal expression that
+it habitually wore.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment he seemed paralyzed by anger, and then with a loud
+shriek that rose into an uncanny wail, he drew his curved saber
+and sprang toward the Englishman. To Smith-Oldwick there seemed
+no possible hope of escaping the keen-edged weapon in the hands of
+the infuriated man, and though he felt assured that it would draw
+down upon him an equally sudden and possibly more terrible death,
+he did the only thing that remained for him to do—drew his pistol
+and fired straight for the heart of the oncoming man. Without even
+so much as a groan the fellow lunged forward upon the floor at
+Smith-Oldwick's feet—killed instantly with a bullet through the
+heart. For several seconds the silence of the tomb reigned in the
+apartment.</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman, standing over the prostrate figure of the dead
+man, watched the door with drawn weapon, expecting momentarily to
+hear the rush of feet of those whom he was sure would immediately
+investigate the report of the pistol. But no sounds came from below
+to indicate that anyone there had heard the explosion, and presently
+the man's attention was distracted from the door to the alcove,
+between the hangings of which the face of the girl appeared. The
+eyes were widely dilated and the lower jaw dropped in an expression
+of surprise and awe.</p>
+
+<p>The girl's gaze was riveted upon the figure upon the floor, and
+presently she crept stealthily into the room and tiptoed toward
+the corpse. She appeared as though constantly poised for flight,
+and when she had come to within two or three feet of the body she
+stopped and, looking up at Smith-Oldwick, voiced some interrogation
+which he could not, of course, understand. Then she came close to
+the side of the dead man and kneeling upon the floor felt gingerly
+of the body.</p>
+
+<p>Presently she shook the corpse by the shoulder, and then with a
+show of strength which her tenderly girlish form belied, she turned
+the body over on its back. If she had been in doubt before, one
+glance at the hideous features set in death must have convinced
+her that life was extinct, and with the realization there broke
+from her lips peal after peal of mad, maniacal laughter as with her
+little hands she beat upon the upturned face and breast of the dead
+man. It was a gruesome sight from which the Englishman involuntarily
+drew back-a gruesome, disgusting sight such as, he realized, might
+never be witnessed outside a madhouse or this frightful city.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of her frenzied rejoicing at the death of the man,
+and Smith-Oldwick could attribute her actions to no other cause,
+she suddenly desisted from her futile attacks upon the insensate
+flesh and, leaping to her feet, ran quickly to the door, where
+she shot a wooden bolt into its socket, thus securing them from
+interference from without. Then she returned to the center of the
+room and spoke rapidly to the Englishman, gesturing occasionally
+toward the body of the slain man. When he could not understand,
+she presently became provoked and in a sudden hysteria of madness
+she rushed forward as though to strike the Englishman. Smith-Oldwick
+dropped back a few steps and leveled his pistol upon her. Mad though
+she must have been, she evidently was not so mad but what she had
+connected the loud report, the diminutive weapon, and the sudden
+death of the man in whose house she dwelt, for she instantly desisted
+and quite as suddenly as it had come upon her, her homicidal mood
+departed.</p>
+
+<p>Again the vacuous, imbecile smile took possession of her features,
+and her voice, dropping its harshness, resumed the soft, well-modulated
+tones with which she had first addressed him. Now she attempted by
+signs to indicate her wishes, and motioning Smith-Oldwick to follow
+her she went to the hangings and opening them disclosed the alcove.
+It was rather more than an alcove, being a fair-sized room heavy
+with rugs and hangings and soft, pillowed couches. Turning at the
+entrance she pointed to the corpse upon the floor of the outer
+room, and then crossing the alcove she raised some draperies which
+covered a couch and fell to the floor upon all sides, disclosing
+an opening beneath the furniture.</p>
+
+<p>To this opening she pointed and then again to the corpse, indicating
+plainly to the Englishman that it was her desire that the body be
+hidden here. But if he had been in doubt, she essayed to dispel it
+by grasping his sleeve and urging him in the direction of the body
+which the two of them then lifted and half carried and half dragged
+into the alcove. At first they encountered some difficulty when
+they endeavored to force the body of the man into the small space
+she had selected for it, but eventually they succeeded in doing
+so. Smith-Oldwick was again impressed by the fiendish brutality of
+the girl. In the center of the room lay a blood-stained rug which
+the girl quickly gathered up and draped over a piece of furniture
+in such a way that the stain was hidden. By rearranging the other
+rugs and by bringing one from the alcove she restored the room to
+order so no outward indication of the tragedy so recently enacted
+there was apparent.</p>
+
+<p>These things attended to, and the hangings draped once more about
+the couch that they might hide the gruesome thing beneath, the girl
+once more threw her arms about the Englishman's neck and dragged him
+toward the soft and luxurious pillows above the dead man. Acutely
+conscious of the horror of his position, filled with loathing,
+disgust, and an outraged sense of decency, Smith-Oldwick was also
+acutely alive to the demands of self-preservation. He felt that
+he was warranted in buying his life at almost any price; but there
+was a point at which his finer nature rebelled.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this juncture that a loud knock sounded upon the door of
+the outer room. Springing from the couch, the girl seized the man
+by the arm and dragged him after her to the wall close by the head
+of the couch. Here she drew back one of the hangings, revealing a
+little niche behind, into which she shoved the Englishman and dropped
+the hangings before him, effectually hiding him from observation
+from the rooms beyond.</p>
+
+<p>He heard her cross the alcove to the door of the outer room, and
+heard the bolt withdrawn followed by the voice of a man mingled
+with that of the girl. The tones of both seemed rational so that
+he might have been listening to an ordinary conversation in some
+foreign tongue. Yet with the gruesome experiences of the day behind
+him, he could not but momentarily expect some insane outbreak from
+beyond the hangings.</p>
+
+<p>He was aware from the sounds that the two had entered the alcove,
+and, prompted by a desire to know what manner of man he might
+next have to contend with, he slightly parted the heavy folds that
+hid the two from his view and looking out saw them sitting on the
+couch with their arms about each other, the girl with the same
+expressionless smile upon her face that she had vouchsafed him.
+He found he could so arrange the hangings that a very narrow slit
+between two of them permitted him to watch the actions of those in
+the alcove without revealing himself or increasing his liability
+of detection.</p>
+
+<p>He saw the girl lavishing her kisses upon the newcomer, a much
+younger man than he whom Smith-Oldwick had dispatched. Presently
+the girl disengaged herself from the embrace of her lover as though
+struck by a sudden memory. Her brows puckered as in labored thought
+and then with a startled expression, she threw a glance backward
+toward the hidden niche where the Englishman stood, after which she
+whispered rapidly to her companion, occasionally jerking her head
+in the direction of the niche and on several occasions making a
+move with one hand and forefinger, which Smith-Oldwick could not
+mistake as other than an attempt to describe his pistol and its
+use.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident then to him that she was betraying him, and without
+further loss of time he turned his back toward the hangings and
+commenced a rapid examination of his hiding place. In the alcove
+the man and the girl whispered, and then cautiously and with great
+stealth, the man rose and drew his curved saber. On tiptoe he
+approached the hangings, the girl creeping at his side. Neither
+spoke now, nor was there any sound in the room as the girl sprang
+forward and with outstretched arm and pointing finger indicated
+a point upon the curtain at the height of a man's breast. Then
+she stepped to one side, and her companion, raising his blade to
+a horizontal position, lunged suddenly forward and with the full
+weight of his body and his right arm, drove the sharp point through
+the hangings and into the niche behind for its full length.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Kircher, finding her struggles futile and realizing that she
+must conserve her strength for some chance opportunity of escape,
+desisted from her efforts to break from the grasp of Prince Metak
+as the fellow fled with her through the dimly lighted corridors
+of the palace. Through many chambers the prince fled, bearing his
+prize. It was evident to the girl that, though her captor was the
+king's son, he was not above capture and punishment for his deeds,
+as otherwise he would not have shown such evident anxiety to escape
+with her, as well as from the results of his act.</p>
+
+<p>From the fact that he was constantly turning affrighted eyes behind
+them, and glancing suspiciously into every nook and corner that
+they passed, she guessed that the prince's punishment might be both
+speedy and terrible were he caught.</p>
+
+<p>She knew from their route that they must have doubled back several
+times although she had quite lost all sense of direction; but she
+did not know that the prince was as equally confused as she, and
+that really he was running in an aimless, erratic manner, hoping
+that he might stumble eventually upon a place of refuge.</p>
+
+<p>Nor is it to be wondered at that this offspring of maniacs should
+have difficulty in orienting himself in the winding mazes of a
+palace designed by maniacs for a maniac king. Now a corridor turned
+gradually and almost imperceptibly in a new direction, again one
+doubled back upon and crossed itself; here the floor rose gradually
+to the level of another story, or again there might be a spiral
+stairway down which the mad prince rushed dizzily with his burden.
+Upon what floor they were or in what part of the palace even Metak
+had no idea until, halting abruptly at a closed door, he pushed
+it open to step into a brilliantly lighted chamber filled with
+warriors, at one end of which sat the king upon a great throne;
+beside this, to the girl's surprise, she saw another throne where
+was seated a huge lioness, recalling to her the words of Xanila
+which, at the time, had made no impression on her: "But he had many
+other queens, nor were they all human."</p>
+
+<p>At sight of Metak and the girl, the king rose from his throne and
+started across the chamber, all semblance of royalty vanishing in
+the maniac's uncontrollable passion. And as he came he shrieked
+orders and commands at the top of his voice. No sooner had Metak so
+unwarily opened the door to this hornets' nest than he immediately
+withdrew and, turning, fled again in a new direction. But now
+a hundred men were close upon his heels, laughing, shrieking, and
+possibly cursing. He dodged hither and thither, distancing them for
+several minutes until, at the bottom of a long runway that inclined
+steeply downward from a higher level, he burst into a subterranean
+apartment lighted by many flares.</p>
+
+<p>In the center of the room was a pool of considerable size, the
+level of the water being but a few inches below the floor. Those
+behind the fleeing prince and his captive entered the chamber in
+time to see Metak leap into the water with the girl and disappear
+beneath the surface taking his captive with him, nor, though they
+waited excitedly around the rim of the pool, did either of the two
+again emerge.</p>
+
+<p>When Smith-Oldwick turned to investigate his hiding place, his
+hands, groping upon the rear wall, immediately came in contact with
+the wooden panels of a door and a bolt such as that which secured
+the door of the outer room. Cautiously and silently drawing the
+wooden bar he pushed gently against the panel to find that the door
+swung easily and noiselessly outward into utter darkness. Moving
+carefully and feeling forward for each step he passed out of the
+niche, closing the door behind him.</p>
+
+<p>Peeling about, he discovered that he was in a narrow corridor which
+he followed cautiously for a few yards to be brought up suddenly
+by what appeared to be a ladder across the passageway. He felt of
+the obstruction carefully with his hands until he was assured that
+it was indeed a ladder and that a solid wall was just beyond it,
+ending the corridor. Therefore, as he could not go forward and as
+the ladder ended at the floor upon which he stood, and as he did
+not care to retrace his steps, there was no alternative but to climb
+upward, and this he did, his pistol ready in a side pocket of his
+blouse.</p>
+
+<p>He had ascended but two or three rungs when his head came suddenly
+and painfully in contact with a hard surface above him. Groping
+about with one hand over his head he discovered that the obstacle
+seemed to be the covering to a trap door in the ceiling which,
+with a little effort, he succeeded in raising a couple of inches,
+revealing through the cracks the stars of a clear African night.</p>
+
+<p>With a sigh of relief, but with unabated caution, he gently slid
+the trapdoor to one side far enough to permit him to raise his
+eyes above the level of the roof. A quick glance assured him that
+there was none near enough to observe his movements, nor, in fact,
+as far as he could see, was anyone in sight.</p>
+
+<p>Drawing himself quickly through the aperture he replaced the cover
+and endeavored to regain his bearings. Directly to the south of him
+the low roof he stood upon adjoined a much loftier portion of the
+building, which rose several stories above his head. A few yards
+to the west he could see the flickering light of the flares of a
+winding street, and toward this he made his way.</p>
+
+<p>From the edge of the roof he looked down upon the night life of
+the mad city. He saw men and women and children and lions, and of
+all that he saw it was quite evident to him that only the lions were
+sane. With the aid of the stars he easily picked out the points of
+the compass, and following carefully in his memory the steps that
+had led him into the city and to the roof upon which he now stood,
+he knew that the thoroughfare upon which he looked was the same
+along which he and Bertha Kircher had been led as prisoners earlier
+in the day.</p>
+
+<p>If he could reach this he might be able to pass undetected in the
+shadows of the arcade to the city gate. He had already given up as
+futile the thought of seeking out the girl and attempting to succor
+her, for he knew that alone and with the few remaining rounds of
+ammunition he possessed, he could do nothing against this city-full
+of armed men. That he could live to cross the lion-infested forest
+beyond the city was doubtful, and having, by some miracle, won to
+the desert beyond, his fate would be certainly sealed; but yet he
+was consumed with but one desire—to leave behind him as far as
+possible this horrid city of maniacs.</p>
+
+<p>He saw that the roofs rose to the same level as that upon which
+he stood unbroken to the north to the next street intersection.
+Directly below him was a flare. To reach the pavement in safety
+it was necessary that he find as dark a portion of the avenue as
+possible. And so he sought along the edge of the roofs for a place
+where he might descend in comparative concealment.</p>
+
+<p>He had proceeded some little way beyond a point where the street curved
+abruptly to the east before he discovered a location sufficiently
+to his liking. But even here he was compelled to wait a considerable
+time for a satisfactory moment for his descent, which he had
+decided to make down one of the pillars of the arcade. Each time
+he prepared to lower himself over the edge of the roofs, footsteps
+approaching in one direction or another deterred him until at last
+he had almost come to the conclusion that he would have to wait
+for the entire city to sleep before continuing his flight.</p>
+
+<p>But finally came a moment which he felt propitious and though
+with inward qualms, it was with outward calm that he commenced the
+descent to the street below.</p>
+
+<p>When at last he stood beneath the arcade he was congratulating
+himself upon the success that had attended his efforts up to this
+point when, at a slight sound behind him, he turned to see a tall
+figure in the yellow tunic of a warrior confronting him.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxxii" id="chapterxxii">Out of the Niche</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Numa, the lion, growled futilely in baffled rage as he slipped
+back to the ground at the foot of the wall after his unsuccessful
+attempt to drag down the fleeing ape-man. He poised to make a
+second effort to follow his escaping quarry when his nose picked
+up a hitherto unnoticed quality in the scent spoor of his intended
+prey. Sniffing at the ground that Tarzan's feet had barely touched,
+Numa's growl changed to a low whine, for he had recognized the
+scent spoor of the man-thing that had rescued him from the pit of
+the Wamabos.</p>
+
+<p>What thoughts passed through that massive head? Who may say? But
+now there was no indication of baffled rage as the great lion turned
+and moved majestically eastward along the wall. At the eastern end
+of the city he turned toward the south, continuing his way to the
+south side of the wall along which were the pens and corrals where
+the herbivorous flocks were fattened for the herds of domesticated
+lions within the city. The great black lions of the forest fed
+with almost equal impartiality upon the flesh of the grass-eaters
+and man. Like Numa of the pit they occasionally made excursions across
+the desert to the fertile valley of the Wamabos, but principally
+they took their toll of meat from the herds of the walled city of
+Herog, the mad king, or seized upon some of his luckless subjects.</p>
+
+<p>Numa of the pit was in some respect an exception to the rule which
+guided his fellows of the forest in that as a cub he had been
+trapped and carried into the city, where he was kept for breeding
+purposes, only to escape in his second year. They had tried to teach
+him in the city of maniacs that he must not eat the flesh of man,
+and the result of their schooling was that only when aroused to
+anger or upon that one occasion that he had been impelled by the
+pangs of hunger, did he ever attack man.</p>
+
+<p>The animal corrals of the maniacs are protected by an outer wall
+or palisade of upright logs, the lower ends of which are imbedded
+in the ground, the logs themselves being placed as close together
+as possible and further reinforced and bound together by withes.
+At intervals there are gates through which the flocks are turned
+on to the grazing land south of the city during the daytime. It is
+at such times that the black lions of the forest take their greatest
+toll from the herds, and it is infrequent that a lion attempts to
+enter the corrals at night. But Numa of the pit, having scented the
+spoor of his benefactor, was minded again to pass into the walled
+city, and with that idea in his cunning brain he crept stealthily
+along the outer side of the palisade, testing each gateway with a
+padded foot until at last he discovered one which seemed insecurely
+fastened. Lowering his great head he pressed against the gate, surging
+forward with all the weight of his huge body and the strength of
+his giant sinews—one mighty effort and Numa was within the corral.</p>
+
+<p>The enclosure contained a herd of goats which immediately upon the
+advent of the carnivore started a mad stampede to the opposite end
+of the corral which was bounded by the south wall of the city. Numa
+had been within such a corral as this before, so that he knew that
+somewhere in the wall was a small door through which the goatherd
+might pass from the city to his flock; toward this door he made his
+way, whether by plan or accident it is difficult to say, though in
+the light of ensuing events it seems possible that the former was
+the case.</p>
+
+<p>To reach the gate he must pass directly through the herd which had
+huddled affrightedly close to the opening so that once again there
+was a furious rush of hoofs as Numa strode quickly to the side of
+the portal. If Numa had planned, he had planned well, for scarcely
+had he reached his position when the door opened and a herder's head
+was projected into the enclosure, the fellow evidently seeking an
+explanation of the disturbance among his flock. Possibly he discovered
+the cause of the commotion, but it is doubtful, for it was dark
+and the great, taloned paw that reached up and struck downward a
+mighty blow that almost severed his head from his body, moved so
+quickly and silently that the man was dead within a fraction of
+a second from the moment that he opened the door, and then Numa,
+knowing now his way, passed through the wall into the dimly lighted
+streets of the city beyond.</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick's first thought when he was accosted by the figure in
+the yellow tunic of a soldier was to shoot the man dead and trust
+to his legs and the dimly lighted, winding streets to permit his
+escape, for he knew that to be accosted was equivalent to recapture
+since no inhabitant of this weird city but would recognize him
+as an alien. It would be a simple thing to shoot the man from the
+pocket where the pistol lay without drawing the weapon, and with
+this purpose in mind the Englishman slipped his hands into the
+side pocket of his blouse, but simultaneously with this action his
+wrist was seized in a powerful grasp and a low voice whispered in
+English: "Lieutenant, it is I, Tarzan of the Apes."</p>
+
+<p>The relief from the nervous strain under which he had been laboring
+for so long, left Smith-Oldwick suddenly as weak as a babe, so that
+he was forced to grasp the ape-man's arm for support—and when he
+found his voice all he could do was to repeat: "You? You? I thought
+you were dead!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not dead," replied Tarzan, "and I see that you are not either.
+But how about the girl?"</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't seen her," replied the Englishman, "since we were
+brought here. We were taken into a building on the plaza close by
+and there we were separated. She was led away by guards and I was
+put into a den of lions. I haven't seen her since."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you escape?" asked the ape-man.</p>
+
+<p>"The lions didn't seem to pay much attention to me and I climbed
+out of the place by way of a tree and through a window into a room
+on the second floor. Had a little scrimmage there with a fellow and
+was hidden by one of their women in a hole in the wall. The loony
+thing then betrayed me to another bounder who happened in, but I
+found a way out and up onto the roof where I have been for quite
+some time now waiting for a chance to get down into the street
+without being seen. That's all I know, but I haven't the slightest
+idea in the world where to look for Miss Kircher."</p>
+
+<p>"Where were you going now?" asked Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick hesitated. "I—well, I couldn't do anything here
+alone and I was going to try to get out of the city and in some
+way reach the British forces east and bring help."</p>
+
+<p>"You couldn't do it," said Tarzan. "Even if you got through the
+forest alive you could never cross the desert country without food
+or water."</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we do, then?" asked the Englishman.</p>
+
+<p>"We will see if we can find the girl," replied the ape-man, and
+then, as though he had forgotten the presence of the Englishman and
+was arguing to convince himself, "She may be a German and a spy,
+but she is a woman—a white woman—I can't leave her here."</p>
+
+<p>"But how are we going to find her?" asked the Englishman.</p>
+
+<p>"I have followed her this far," replied Tarzan, "and unless I am
+greatly mistaken I can follow her still farther."</p>
+
+<p>"But I cannot accompany you in these clothes without exposing us
+both to detection and arrest," argued Smith-Oldwick.</p>
+
+<p>"We will get you other clothes, then," said Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"How?" asked the Englishman.</p>
+
+<p>"Go back to the roof beside the city wall where I entered," replied
+the ape-man with a grim smile, "and ask the naked dead man there
+how I got my disguise."</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick looked quickly up at his companion. "I have it," he
+exclaimed. "I know where there is a fellow who doesn't need his
+clothes anymore, and if we can get back on this roof I think we can
+find him and get his apparel without much resistance. Only a girl
+and a young fellow whom we could easily surprise and overcome."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" asked Tarzan. "How do you know that the man
+doesn't need his clothes any more."</p>
+
+<p>"I know he doesn't need them," replied the Englishman, "because I
+killed him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" exclaimed the ape-man, "I see. I guess it might be easier
+that way than to tackle one of these fellows in the street where
+there is more chance of our being interrupted."</p>
+
+<p>"But how are we going to reach the roof again, after all?" queried
+Smith-Oldwick.</p>
+
+<p>"The same way you came down," replied Tarzan. "This roof is low
+and there is a little ledge formed by the capital of each column;
+I noticed that when you descended. Some of the buildings wouldn't
+have been so easy to negotiate."</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick looked up toward the eaves of the low roof. "It's
+not very high," he said, "but I am afraid I can't make it. I'll
+try—I've been pretty weak since a lion mauled me and the guards
+beat me up, and too, I haven't eaten since yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan thought a moment. "You've got to go with me," he said at
+last. "I can't leave you here. The only chance you have of escape
+is through me and I can't go with you now until we have found the
+girl."</p>
+
+<p>"I want to go with you," replied Smith-Oldwick. "I'm not much good
+now but at that two of us may be better than one."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Tarzan, "come on," and before the Englishman
+realized what the other contemplated Tarzan had picked him up
+and thrown him across his shoulder. "Now, hang on," whispered the
+ape-man, and with a short run he clambered apelike up the front of the
+low arcade. So quickly and easily was it done that the Englishman
+scarcely had time to realize what was happening before he was
+deposited safely upon the roof.</p>
+
+<p>"There," remarked Tarzan. "Now, lead me to the place you speak of."</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick had no difficulty in locating the trap in the roof
+through which he had escaped. Removing the cover the ape-man bent
+low, listening and sniffing. "Come," he said after a moment's
+investigation and lowered himself to the floor beneath. Smith-Oldwick
+followed him, and together the two crept through the darkness toward
+the door in the back wall of the niche in which the Englishman
+had been hidden by the girl. They found the door ajar and opening
+it Tarzan saw a streak of light showing through the hangings that
+separated it from the alcove.</p>
+
+<p>Placing his eye close to the aperture he saw the girl and the young
+man of which the Englishman had spoken seated on opposite sides of
+a low table upon which food was spread. Serving them was a giant
+Negro and it was he whom the ape-man watched most closely. Familiar
+with the tribal idiosyncrasies of a great number of African tribes
+over a considerable proportion of the Dark Continent, the Tarmangani
+at last felt reasonably assured that he knew from what part of
+Africa this slave had come, and the dialect of his people. There
+was, however, the chance that the fellow had been captured in
+childhood and that through long years of non-use his native language
+had become lost to him, but then there always had been an element
+of chance connected with nearly every event of Tarzan's life, so he
+waited patiently until in the performance of his duties the black
+man approached a little table which stood near the niche in which
+Tarzan and the Englishman hid.</p>
+
+<p>As the slave bent over some dish which stood upon the table his
+ear was not far from the aperture through which Tarzan looked.
+Apparently from a solid wall, for the Negro had no knowledge of
+the existence of the niche, came to him in the tongue of his own
+people, the whispered words: "If you would return to the land of
+the Wamabo say nothing, but do as I bid you."</p>
+
+<p>The black rolled terrified eyes toward the hangings at his side.
+The ape-man could see him tremble and for a moment was fearful that
+in his terror he would betray them. "Fear not," he whispered, "we
+are your friends."</p>
+
+<p>At last the Negro spoke in a low whisper, scarcely audible even to
+the keen ears of the ape-man. "What," he asked, "can poor Otobu do
+for the god who speaks to him out of the solid wall?"</p>
+
+<p>"This," replied Tarzan. "Two of us are coming into this room. Help
+us prevent this man and woman from escaping or raising an outcry
+that will bring others to their aid."</p>
+
+<p>"I will help you," replied the Negro, "to keep them within this
+room, but do not fear that their outcries will bring others. These
+walls are built so that no sound may pass through, and even if it
+did what difference would it make in this village which is constantly
+filled with the screams of its mad people. Do not fear their cries.
+No one will notice them. I go to do your bidding."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan saw the black cross the room to the table upon which he
+placed another dish of food before the feasters. Then he stepped
+to a place behind the man and as he did so raised his eyes to the
+point in the wall from which the ape-man's voice had come to him,
+as much as to say, "Master, I am ready."</p>
+
+<p>Without more delay Tarzan threw aside the hangings and stepped
+into the room. As he did so the young man rose from the table to be
+instantly seized from behind by the black slave. The girl, whose
+back was toward the ape-man and his companion, was not at first
+aware of their presence but saw only the attack of the slave upon
+her lover, and with a loud scream she leaped forward to assist the
+latter. Tarzan sprang to her side and laid a heavy hand upon her
+arm before she could interfere with Otobu's attentions to the young
+man. At first, as she turned toward the ape-man, her face reflected
+only mad rage, but almost instantly this changed into the vapid
+smile with which Smith-Oldwick was already familiar and her slim
+fingers commenced their soft appraisement of the newcomer.</p>
+
+<p>Almost immediately she discovered Smith-Oldwick but there was
+neither surprise nor anger upon her countenance. Evidently the poor
+mad creature knew but two principal moods, from one to the other
+of which she changed with lightning-like rapidity.</p>
+
+<p>"Watch her a moment," said Tarzan to the Englishman, "while I disarm
+that fellow," and stepping to the side of the young man whom Otobu
+was having difficulty in subduing Tarzan relieved him of his saber.
+"Tell them," he said to the Negro, "if you speak their language,
+that we will not harm them if they leave us alone and let us depart
+in peace."</p>
+
+<p>The black had been looking at Tarzan with wide eyes, evidently
+not comprehending how this god could appear in so material a form,
+and with the voice of a white bwana and the uniform of a warrior
+of this city to which he quite evidently did not belong. But
+nevertheless his first confidence in the voice that offered him
+freedom was not lessened and he did as Tarzan bid him.</p>
+
+<p>"They want to know what you want," said Otobu, after he had spoken
+to the man and the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell them that we want food for one thing," said Tarzan, "and
+something else that we know where to find in this room. Take the
+man's spear, Otobu; I see it leaning against the wall in the corner
+of the room. And you, Lieutenant, take his saber," and then again
+to Otobu, "I will watch the man while you go and bring forth that
+which is beneath the couch over against this wall," and Tarzan
+indicated the location of the piece of furniture.</p>
+
+<p>Otobu, trained to obey, did as he was bid. The eyes of the man and
+the girl followed him, and as he drew back the hangings and dragged
+forth the corpse of the man Smith-Oldwick had slain, the girl's lover
+voiced a loud scream and attempted to leap forward to the side of
+the corpse. Tarzan, however, seized him and then the fellow turned
+upon him with teeth and nails. It was with no little difficulty
+that Tarzan finally subdued the man, and while Otobu was removing
+the outer clothing from the corpse, Tarzan asked the black to
+question the young man as to his evident excitement at the sight
+of the body.</p>
+
+<p>"I can tell you Bwana," replied Otobu. "This man was his father."</p>
+
+<p>"What is he saying to the girl?" asked Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"He is asking her if she knew that the body of his father was under
+the couch. And she is saying that she did not know it."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan repeated the conversation to Smith-Oldwick, who smiled. "If
+the chap could have seen her removing all evidence of the crime and
+arranging the hangings of the couch so that the body was concealed
+after she had helped me drag it across the room, he wouldn't have
+very much doubt as to her knowledge of the affair. The rug you see
+draped over the bench in the corner was arranged to hide the blood
+stain—in some ways they are not so loony after all."</p>
+
+<p>The black man had now removed the outer garments from the dead
+man, and Smith-Oldwick was hastily drawing them on over his own
+clothing. "And now," said Tarzan, "we will sit down and eat. One
+accomplishes little on an empty stomach." As they ate the ape-man
+attempted to carry on a conversation with the two natives through
+Otobu. He learned that they were in the palace which had belonged
+to the dead man lying upon the floor beside them. He had held an
+official position of some nature, and he and his family were of
+the ruling class but were not members of the court.</p>
+
+<p>When Tarzan questioned them about Bertha Kircher, the young man
+said that she had been taken to the king's palace; and when asked
+why replied: "For the king, of course."</p>
+
+<p>During the conversation both the man and the girl appeared quite
+rational, even asking some questions as to the country from which
+their uninvited guests had come, and evidencing much surprise when
+informed that there was anything but waterless wastes beyond their
+own valley.</p>
+
+<p>When Otobu asked the man, at Tarzan's suggestion, if he was familiar
+with the interior of the king's palace, he replied that he was;
+that he was a friend of Prince Metak, one of the king's sons, and
+that he often visited the palace and that Metak also came here to
+his father's palace frequently. As Tarzan ate he racked his brain
+for some plan whereby he might utilize the knowledge of the young
+man to gain entrance to the palace, but he had arrived at nothing
+which he considered feasible when there came a loud knocking upon
+the door of the outer room.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment no one spoke and then the young man raised his voice
+and cried aloud to those without. Immediately Otobu sprang for the
+fellow and attempted to smother his words by clapping a palm over
+his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"What is he saying?" asked Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"He is telling them to break down the door and rescue him and the
+girl from two strangers who entered and made them prisoners. If
+they enter they will kill us all."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him," said Tarzan, "to hold his peace or I will slay him."</p>
+
+<p>Otobu did as he was instructed and the young maniac lapsed into
+scowling silence. Tarzan crossed the alcove and entered the outer
+room to note the effect of the assaults upon the door. Smith-Oldwick
+followed him a few steps, leaving Otobu to guard the two prisoners.
+The ape-man saw that the door could not long withstand the heavy
+blows being dealt the panels from without. "I wanted to use that
+fellow in the other room," he said to Smith-Oldwick, "but I am
+afraid we will have to get out of here the way we came. We can't
+accomplish anything by waiting here and meeting these fellows.
+From the noise out there there must be a dozen of them. Come," he
+said, "you go first and I will follow."</p>
+
+<p>As the two turned back from the alcove they witnessed an entirely
+different scene from that upon which they had turned their backs
+but a moment or two before. Stretched on the floor and apparently
+lifeless lay the body of the black slave, while the two prisoners
+had vanished completely.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxxiii" id="chapterxxiii">The Flight from Xuja</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>As Metak bore Bertha Kircher toward the edge of the pool, the girl
+at first had no conception of the deed he contemplated but when, as
+they approached the edge, he did not lessen his speed she guessed
+the frightful truth. As he leaped head foremost with her into the
+water, she closed her eyes and breathed a silent prayer, for she
+was confident that the maniac had no other purpose than to drown
+himself and her. And yet, so potent is the first law of nature that
+even in the face of certain death, as she surely believed herself,
+she clung tenaciously to life, and while she struggled to free
+herself from the powerful clutches of the madman, she held her
+breath against the final moment when the asphyxiating waters must
+inevitably flood her lungs.</p>
+
+<p>Through the frightful ordeal she maintained absolute control of
+her senses so that, after the first plunge, she was aware that the
+man was swimming with her beneath the surface. He took perhaps not
+more than a dozen strokes directly toward the end wall of the pool
+and then he arose; and once again she knew that her head was above
+the surface. She opened her eyes to see that they were in a corridor
+dimly lighted by gratings set in its roof—a winding corridor,
+water filled from wall to wall.</p>
+
+<p>Along this the man was swimming with easy powerful strokes, at the
+same time holding her chin above the water. For ten minutes he swam
+thus without stopping and the girl heard him speak to her, though
+she could not understand what he said, as he evidently immediately
+realized, for, half floating, he shifted his hold upon her so that
+he could touch her nose and mouth with the fingers of one hand. She
+grasped what he meant and immediately took a deep breath, whereat
+he dove quickly beneath the surface pulling her down with him and
+again for a dozen strokes or more he swam thus wholly submerged.</p>
+
+<p>When they again came to the surface, Bertha Kircher saw that they
+were in a large lagoon and that the bright stars were shining high
+above them, while on either hand domed and minareted buildings were
+silhouetted sharply against the starlit sky. Metak swam swiftly to
+the north side of the lagoon where, by means of a ladder, the two
+climbed out upon the embankment. There were others in the plaza
+but they paid but little if any attention to the two bedraggled
+figures. As Metak walked quickly across the pavement with the girl
+at his side, Bertha Kircher could only guess at the man's intentions.
+She could see no way in which to escape and so she went docilely
+with him, hoping against hope that some fortuitous circumstance
+might eventually arise that would give her the coveted chance for
+freedom and life.</p>
+
+<p>Metak led her toward a building which, as she entered, she recognized
+as the same to which she and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick had been led
+when they were brought into the city. There was no man sitting
+behind the carved desk now, but about the room were a dozen or more
+warriors in the tunics of the house to which they were attached, in
+this case white with a small lion in the form of a crest or badge
+upon the breast and back of each.</p>
+
+<p>As Metak entered and the men recognized him they arose, and in answer
+to a query he put, they pointed to an arched doorway at the rear
+of the room. Toward this Metak led the girl, and then, as though
+filled with a sudden suspicion, his eyes narrowed cunningly and
+turning toward the soldiery he issued an order which resulted in
+their all preceding him through the small doorway and up a flight
+of stairs a short distance beyond.</p>
+
+<p>The stairway and the corridor above were lighted by small flares
+which revealed several doors in the walls of the upper passageway.
+To one of these the men led the prince. Bertha Kircher saw them
+knock upon the door and heard a voice reply faintly through the
+thick door to the summons. The effect upon those about her was
+electrical. Instantly excitement reigned, and in response to orders
+from the king's son the soldiers commenced to beat heavily upon the
+door, to throw their bodies against it and to attempt to hew away
+the panels with their sabers. The girl wondered at the cause of
+the evident excitement of her captors.</p>
+
+<p>She saw the door giving to each renewed assault, but what she did
+not see just before it crashed inward was the figures of the two
+men who alone, in all the world, might have saved her, pass between
+the heavy hangings in an adjoining alcove and disappear into a dark
+corridor.</p>
+
+<p>As the door gave and the warriors rushed into the apartment followed
+by the prince, the latter became immediately filled with baffled
+rage, for the rooms were deserted except for the dead body of the
+owner of the palace, and the still form of the black slave, Otobu,
+where they lay stretched upon the floor of the alcove.</p>
+
+<p>The prince rushed to the windows and looked out, but as the suite
+overlooked the barred den of lions from which, the prince thought,
+there could be no escape, his puzzlement was only increased. Though
+he searched about the room for some clue to the whereabouts of its
+former occupants he did not discover the niche behind the hangings.
+With the fickleness of insanity he quickly tired of the search,
+and, turning to the soldiers who had accompanied him from the floor
+below, dismissed them.</p>
+
+<p>After setting up the broken door as best they could, the men left
+the apartment and when they were again alone Metak turned toward
+the girl. As he approached her, his face distorted by a hideous
+leer, his features worked rapidly in spasmodic twitches. The girl,
+who was standing at the entrance of the alcove, shrank back, her
+horror reflected in her face. Step by step she backed across the
+room, while the crouching maniac crept stealthily after her with
+claw-like fingers poised in anticipation of the moment they should
+leap forth and seize her.</p>
+
+<p>As she passed the body of the Negro, her foot touched some obstacle
+at her side, and glancing down she saw the spear with which Otobu
+had been supposed to hold the prisoners. Instantly she leaned forward
+and snatched it from the floor with its sharp point directed at
+the body of the madman. The effect upon Metak was electrical. From
+stealthy silence he broke into harsh peals of laughter, and drawing
+his saber danced to and fro before the girl, but whichever way he
+went the point of the spear still threatened him.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually the girl noticed a change in the tone of the creature's
+screams that was also reflected in the changing expression upon his
+hideous countenance. His hysterical laughter was slowly changing
+into cries of rage while the silly leer upon his face was supplanted
+by a ferocious scowl and up-curled lips, which revealed the sharpened
+fangs beneath.</p>
+
+<p>He now ran rapidly in almost to the spear's point, only to jump
+away, run a few steps to one side and again attempt to make an
+entrance, the while he slashed and hewed at the spear with such
+violence that it was with difficulty the girl maintained her guard,
+and all the time was forced to give ground step by step. She had
+reached the point where she was standing squarely against the couch
+at the side of the room when, with an incredibly swift movement,
+Metak stooped and grasping a low stool hurled it directly at her
+head.</p>
+
+<p>She raised the spear to fend off the heavy missile, but she was
+not entirely successful, and the impact of the blow carried her
+backward upon the couch, and instantly Metak was upon her.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan and Smith-Oldwick gave little thought as to what had become
+of the other two occupants of the room. They were gone, and so far
+as these two were concerned they might never return. Tarzan's one
+desire was to reach the street again, where, now that both of them
+were in some sort of disguise, they should be able to proceed with
+comparative safety to the palace and continue their search for the
+girl.</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick preceded Tarzan along the corridor and as they reached
+the ladder he climbed aloft to remove the trap. He worked for a
+moment and then, turning, addressed Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"Did we replace the cover on this trap when we came down? I don't
+recall that we did."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Tarzan, "it was left open."</p>
+
+<p>"So I thought," said Smith-Oldwick, "but it's closed now and locked.
+I cannot move it. Possibly you can," and he descended the ladder.</p>
+
+<p>Even Tarzan's immense strength, however, had no effect other than
+to break one of the rungs of the ladder against which he was pushing,
+nearly precipitating him to the floor below. After the rung broke
+he rested for a moment before renewing his efforts, and as he stood
+with his head near the cover of the trap, he distinctly heard voices
+on the roof above him.</p>
+
+<p>Dropping down to Oldwick's side he told him what he had heard. "We
+had better find some other way out," he said, and the two started
+to retrace their steps toward the alcove. Tarzan was again in the
+lead, and as he opened the door in the back of the niche, he was
+suddenly startled to hear, in tones of terror and in a woman's
+voice, the words: "O God, be merciful" from just beyond the hangings.</p>
+
+<p>Here was no time for cautious investigation and, not even waiting
+to find the aperture and part the hangings, but with one sweep of
+a brawny hand dragging them from their support, the ape-man leaped
+from the niche into the alcove.</p>
+
+<p>At the sound of his entry the maniac looked up, and as he saw at
+first only a man in the uniform of his father's soldiers, he shrieked
+forth an angry order, but at the second glance, which revealed the
+face of the newcomer, the madman leaped from the prostrate form
+of his victim and, apparently forgetful of the saber which he had
+dropped upon the floor beside the couch as he leaped to grapple
+with the girl, closed with bare hands upon his antagonist, his
+sharp-filed teeth searching for the other's throat.</p>
+
+<p>Metak, the son of Herog, was no weakling. Powerful by nature and
+rendered still more so in the throes of one of his maniacal fits
+of fury he was no mean antagonist, even for the mighty ape-man,
+and to this a distinct advantage for him was added by the fact that
+almost at the outset of their battle Tarzan, in stepping backward,
+struck his heel against the corpse of the man whom Smith-Oldwick
+had killed, and fell heavily backward to the floor with Metak upon
+his breast.</p>
+
+<p>With the quickness of a cat the maniac made an attempt to fasten
+his teeth in Tarzan's jugular, but a quick movement of the latter
+resulted in his finding a hold only upon the Tarmangani's shoulder.
+Here he clung while his fingers sought Tarzan's throat, and it was
+then that the ape-man, realizing the possibility of defeat, called
+to Smith-Oldwick to take the girl and seek to escape.</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman looked questioningly at Bertha Kircher, who had now
+risen from the couch, shaking and trembling. She saw the question
+in his eyes and with an effort she drew herself to her full height.
+"No," she cried, "if he dies here I shall die with him. Go if you
+wish to. You can do nothing here, but I—I cannot go."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan had now regained his feet, but the maniac still clung to
+him tenaciously. The girl turned suddenly to Smith-Oldwick. "Your
+pistol!" she cried. "Why don't you shoot him?"</p>
+
+<p>The man drew the weapon from his pocket and approached the two
+antagonists, but by this time they were moving so rapidly that there
+was no opportunity for shooting one without the danger of hitting
+the other. At the same time Bertha Kircher circled about them with
+the prince's saber, but neither could she find an opening. Again
+and again the two men fell to the floor, until presently Tarzan
+found a hold upon the other's throat, against which contingency
+Metak had been constantly battling, and slowly, as the giant fingers
+closed, the other's mad eyes protruded from his livid face, his jaws
+gaped and released their hold upon Tarzan's shoulder, and then in
+a sudden excess of disgust and rage the ape-man lifted the body
+of the prince high above his head and with all the strength of his
+great arms hurled it across the room and through the window where
+it fell with a sickening thud into the pit of lions beneath.</p>
+
+<p>As Tarzan turned again toward his companions, the girl was standing
+with the saber still in her hand and an expression upon her face
+that he never had seen there before. Her eyes were wide and misty
+with unshed tears, while her sensitive lips trembled as though she
+were upon the point of giving way to some pent emotion which her
+rapidly rising and falling bosom plainly indicated she was fighting
+to control.</p>
+
+<p>"If we are going to get out of here," said the ape-man, "we can't
+lose any time. We are together at last and nothing can be gained by
+delay. The question now is the safest way. The couple who escaped
+us evidently departed through the passageway to the roof and secured
+the trap against us so that we are cut off in that direction. What
+chance have we below? You came that way," and he turned toward
+the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"At the foot of the stairs," she said, "is a room full of armed
+men. I doubt if we could pass that way."</p>
+
+<p>It was then that Otobu raised himself to a sitting posture. "So
+you are not dead after all," exclaimed the ape-man. "Come, how
+badly are you hurt?"</p>
+
+<p>The Negro rose gingerly to his feet, moved his arms and legs and
+felt of his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Otobu does not seem to be hurt at all, Bwana," he replied, "only
+for a great ache in his head."</p>
+
+<p>"Good," said the ape-man. "You want to return to the Wamabo country?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Bwana."</p>
+
+<p>"Then lead us from the city by the safest way."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no safe way," replied the black, "and even if we reach
+the gates we shall have to fight. I can lead you from this building
+to a side street with little danger of meeting anyone on the way.
+Beyond that we must take our chance of discovery. You are all
+dressed as are the people of this wicked city so perhaps we may
+pass unnoticed, but at the gate it will be a different matter, for
+none is permitted to leave the city at night."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," replied the ape-man, "let us be on our way."</p>
+
+<p>Otobu led them through the broken door of the outer room, and part
+way down the corridor he turned into another apartment at the right.
+This they crossed to a passageway beyond, and, finally, traversing
+several rooms and corridors, he led them down a flight of steps
+to a door which opened directly upon a side street in rear of the
+palace.</p>
+
+<p>Two men, a woman, and a black slave were not so extraordinary
+a sight upon the streets of the city as to arouse comment. When
+passing beneath the flares the three Europeans were careful to
+choose a moment when no chance pedestrian might happen to get a view
+of their features, but in the shadow of the arcades there seemed
+little danger of detection. They had covered a good portion of the
+distance to the gate without mishap when there came to their ears
+from the central portion of the city sounds of a great commotion.</p>
+
+<p>"What does that mean?" Tarzan asked of Otobu, who was now trembling
+violently.</p>
+
+<p>"Master," he replied, "they have discovered that which has happened
+in the palace of Veza, mayor of the city. His son and the girl
+escaped and summoned soldiers who have now doubtless discovered
+the body of Veza."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder," said Tarzan, "if they have discovered the party I threw
+through the window."</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Kircher, who understood enough of the dialect to follow their
+conversation, asked Tarzan if he knew that the man he had thrown
+from the window was the king's son. The ape-man laughed. "No," he
+said, "I did not. That rather complicates matters—at least if they
+have found him."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly there broke above the turmoil behind them the clear strains
+of a bugle. Otobu increased his pace. "Hurry, Master," he cried,
+"it is worse than I had thought."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" asked Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"For some reason the king's guard and the king's lions are being
+called out. I fear, O Bwana, that we cannot escape them. But why
+they should be called out for us I do not know."</p>
+
+<p>But if Otobu did not know, Tarzan at least guessed that they had
+found the body of the king's son. Once again the notes of the bugle
+rose high and clear upon the night air. "Calling more lions?" asked
+Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Master," replied Otobu. "It is the parrots they are calling."</p>
+
+<p>They moved on rapidly in silence for a few minutes when their
+attention was attracted by the flapping of the wings of a bird
+above them. They looked up to discover a parrot circling about over
+their heads.</p>
+
+<p>"Here are the parrots, Otobu," said Tarzan with a grin. "Do they
+expect to kill us with parrots?"</p>
+
+<p>The Negro moaned as the bird darted suddenly ahead of them toward
+the city wall. "Now indeed are we lost, Master," cried the black.
+"The bird that found us has flown to the gate to warn the guard."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Otobu, what are you talking about?" exclaimed Tarzan irritably.
+"Have you lived among these lunatics so long that you are yourself
+mad?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Master," replied Otobu. "I am not mad. You do not know them.
+These terrible birds are like human beings without hearts or souls.
+They speak the language of the people of this city of Xuja. They
+are demons, Master, and when in sufficient numbers they might even
+attack and kill us."</p>
+
+<p>"How far are we from the gate?" asked Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"We are not very far," replied the Negro. "Beyond this next turn
+we will see it a few paces ahead of us. But the bird has reached
+it before us and by now they are summoning the guard," the truth
+of which statement was almost immediately indicated by sounds of
+many voices raised evidently in commands just ahead of them, while
+from behind came increased evidence of approaching pursuit—loud
+screams and the roars of lions.</p>
+
+<p>A few steps ahead a narrow alley opened from the east into the
+thoroughfare they were following and as they approached it there
+emerged from its dark shadows the figure of a mighty lion. Otobu
+halted in his tracks and shrank back against Tarzan. "Look, Master,"
+he whimpered, "a great black lion of the forest!"</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan drew the saber which still hung at his side. "We cannot go
+back," he said. "Lions, parrots, or men, it must be all the same,"
+and he moved steadily forward in the direction of the gate. What
+wind was stirring in the city street moved from Tarzan toward the
+lion and when the ape-man had approached to within a few yards
+of the beast, who had stood silently eyeing them up to this time,
+instead of the expected roar, a whine broke from the beast's throat.
+The ape-man was conscious of a very decided feeling of relief. "It's
+Numa of the pit," he called back to his companions, and to Otobu,
+"Do not fear, this lion will not harm us."</p>
+
+<p>Numa moved forward to the ape-man's side and then turning, paced
+beside him along the narrow street. At the next turn they came in
+sight of the gate, where, beneath several flares, they saw a group
+of at least twenty warriors prepared to seize them, while from the
+opposite direction the roars of the pursuing lions sounded close
+upon them, mingling with the screams of numerous parrots which now
+circled about their heads. Tarzan halted and turned to the young
+aviator. "How many rounds of ammunition have you left?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I have seven in the pistol," replied Smith-Oldwick, "and perhaps
+a dozen more cartridges in my blouse pocket."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to rush them," said Tarzan. "Otobu, you stay at the side
+of the woman. Oldwick, you and I will go ahead, you upon my left.
+I think we need not try to tell Numa what to do," for even then
+the great lion was baring his fangs and growling ferociously at the
+guardsmen, who appeared uneasy in the face of this creature which,
+above all others, they feared.</p>
+
+<p>"As we advance, Oldwick," said the ape-man, "fire one shot. It
+may frighten them, and after that fire only when necessary. All
+ready? Let's go!" and he moved forward toward the gate. At the
+same time, Smith-Oldwick discharged his weapon and a yellow-coated
+warrior screamed and crumpled forward upon his face. For a minute
+the others showed symptoms of panic but one, who seemed to be an
+officer, rallied them. "Now," said Tarzan, "all together!" and he
+started at a run for the gate. Simultaneously the lion, evidently
+scenting the purpose of the Tarmangani, broke into a full charge
+toward the guard.</p>
+
+<p>Shaken by the report of the unfamiliar weapon, the ranks of the
+guardsmen broke before the furious assault of the great beast.
+The officer screamed forth a volley of commands in a mad fury of
+uncontrolled rage but the guardsmen, obeying the first law of nature
+as well as actuated by their inherent fear of the black denizen of
+the forest scattered to right and left to elude the monster. With
+ferocious growls Numa wheeled to the right, and with raking talons
+struck right and left among a little handful of terrified guardsmen
+who were endeavoring to elude him, and then Tarzan and Smith-Oldwick
+closed with the others.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment their most formidable antagonist was the officer in
+command. He wielded his curved saber as only an adept might as he
+faced Tarzan, to whom the similar weapon in his own hand was most
+unfamiliar. Smith-Oldwick could not fire for fear of hitting the
+ape-man when suddenly to his dismay he saw Tarzan's weapon fly from
+his grasp as the Xujan warrior neatly disarmed his opponent. With
+a scream the fellow raised his saber for the final cut that would
+terminate the earthly career of Tarzan of the Apes when, to the
+astonishment of both the ape-man and Smith-Oldwick, the fellow
+stiffened rigidly, his weapon dropped from the nerveless fingers
+of his upraised hand, his mad eyes rolled upward and foam flecked
+his bared lip. Gasping as though in the throes of strangulation
+the fellow pitched forward at Tarzan's feet.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan stooped and picked up the dead man's weapon, a smile upon
+his face as he turned and glanced toward the young Englishman.</p>
+
+<p>"The fellow is an epileptic," said Smith-Oldwick. "I suppose
+many of them are. Their nervous condition is not without its good
+points—a normal man would have gotten you."</p>
+
+<p>The other guardsmen seemed utterly demoralized at the loss of their
+leader. They were huddled upon the opposite side of the street at
+the left of the gate, screaming at the tops of their voices and
+looking in the direction from which sounds of reinforcements were
+coming, as though urging on the men and lions that were already too
+close for the comfort of the fugitives. Six guardsmen still stood
+with their backs against the gate, their weapons flashing in the
+light of the flares and their parchment-like faces distorted in
+horrid grimaces of rage and terror.</p>
+
+<p>Numa had pursued two fleeing warriors down the street which paralleled
+the wall for a short distance at this point. The ape-man turned to
+Smith-Oldwick. "You will have to use your pistol now," he said, "and
+we must get by these fellows at once;" and as the young Englishman
+fired, Tarzan rushed in to close quarters as though he had not
+already discovered that with the saber he was no match for these
+trained swordsmen. Two men fell to Smith-Oldwick's first two shots
+and then he missed, while the four remaining divided, two leaping
+for the aviator and two for Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man rushed in in an effort to close with one of his
+antagonists where the other's saber would be comparatively useless.
+Smith-Oldwick dropped one of his assailants with a bullet through
+the chest and pulled his trigger on the second, only to have the
+hammer fall futilely upon an empty chamber. The cartridges in his
+weapon were exhausted and the warrior with his razor-edged, gleaming
+saber was upon him.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan raised his own weapon but once and that to divert a vicious
+cut for his head. Then he was upon one of his assailants and
+before the fellow could regain his equilibrium and leap back after
+delivering his cut, the ape-man had seized him by the neck and
+crotch. Tarzan's other antagonist was edging around to one side
+where he might use his weapon, and as he raised the blade to strike
+at the back of the Tarmangani's neck, the latter swung the body of
+his comrade upward so that it received the full force of the blow.
+The blade sank deep into the body of the warrior, eliciting a single
+frightful scream, and then Tarzan hurled the dying man in the face
+of his final adversary.</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Oldwick, hard pressed and now utterly defenseless, had given
+up all hope in the instant that he realized his weapon was empty,
+when, from his left, a living bolt of black-maned ferocity shot
+past him to the breast of his opponent. Down went the Xujan, his
+face bitten away by one snap of the powerful jaws of Numa of the
+pit.</p>
+
+<p>In the few seconds that had been required for the consummation
+of these rapidly ensuing events, Otobu had dragged Bertha Kircher
+to the gate which he had unbarred and thrown open, and with the
+vanquishing of the last of the active guardsmen, the party passed
+out of the maniac city of Xuja into the outer darkness beyond. At
+the same moment a half dozen lions rounded the last turn in the
+road leading back toward the plaza, and at sight of them Numa of
+the pit wheeled and charged. For a moment the lions of the city
+stood their ground, but only for a moment, and then before the
+black beast was upon them, they turned and fled, while Tarzan and
+his party moved rapidly toward the blackness of the forest beyond
+the garden.</p>
+
+<p>"Will they follow us out of the city?" Tarzan asked Otobu.</p>
+
+<p>"Not at night," replied the black. "I have been a slave here for
+five years but never have I known these people to leave the city
+by night. If they go beyond the forest in the daytime they usually
+wait until the dawn of another day before they return, as they fear
+to pass through the country of the black lions after dark. No, I
+think, Master, that they will not follow us tonight, but tomorrow
+they will come, and, O Bwana, then will they surely get us, or
+those that are left of us, for at least one among us must be the
+toll of the black lions as we pass through their forest."</p>
+
+<p>As they crossed the garden, Smith-Oldwick refilled the magazine
+of his pistol and inserted a cartridge in the chamber. The girl
+moved silently at Tarzan's left, between him and the aviator. Suddenly
+the ape-man stopped and turned toward the city, his mighty frame,
+clothed in the yellow tunic of Herog's soldiery, plainly visible
+to the others beneath the light of the stars. They saw him raise
+his head and they heard break from his lips the plaintive note of
+a lion calling to his fellows. Smith-Oldwick felt a distinct shudder
+pass through his frame, while Otobu, rolling the whites of his eyes
+in terrified surprise, sank tremblingly to his knees. But the girl
+thrilled and she felt her heart beat in a strange exultation, and
+then she drew nearer to the beast-man until her shoulder touched his
+arm. The act was involuntary and for a moment she scarce realized
+what she had done, and then she stepped silently back, thankful
+that the light of the stars was not sufficient to reveal to the
+eyes of her companions the flush which she felt mantling her cheek.
+Yet she was not ashamed of the impulse that had prompted her, but
+rather of the act itself which she knew, had Tarzan noticed it,
+would have been repulsive to him.</p>
+
+<p>From the open gate of the city of maniacs came the answering cry
+of a lion. The little group waited where they stood until presently
+they saw the majestic proportions of the black lion as he approached
+them along the trail. When he had rejoined them Tarzan fastened
+the fingers of one hand in the black mane and started on once more
+toward the forest. Behind them, from the city, rose a bedlam of
+horrid sounds, the roaring of lions mingling with the raucous voices
+of the screaming parrots and the mad shrieks of the maniacs. As
+they entered the Stygian darkness of the forest the girl once again
+involuntarily shrank closer to the ape-man, and this time Tarzan
+was aware of the contact.</p>
+
+<p>Himself without fear, he yet instinctively appreciated how terrified
+the girl must be. Actuated by a sudden kindly impulse he found
+her hand and took it in his own and thus they continued upon their
+way, groping through the blackness of the trail. Twice they were
+approached by forest lions, but upon both occasions the deep growls
+of Numa of the pit drove off their assailants. Several times they
+were compelled to rest, for Smith-Oldwick was constantly upon the
+verge of exhaustion, and toward morning Tarzan was forced to carry
+him on the steep ascent from the bed of the valley.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxxiv" id="chapterxxiv">The Tommies</a></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Daylight overtook them after they had entered the gorge, but, tired
+as they all were with the exception of Tarzan, they realized that
+they must keep on at all costs until they found a spot where they
+might ascend the precipitous side of the gorge to the floor of the
+plateau above. Tarzan and Otobu were both equally confident that
+the Xujans would not follow them beyond the gorge, but though they
+scanned every inch of the frowning cliffs upon either hand noon
+came and there was still no indication of any avenue of escape
+to right or left. There were places where the ape-man alone might
+have negotiated the ascent but none where the others could hope
+successfully to reach the plateau, nor where Tarzan, powerful and
+agile as he was, could have ventured safely to carry them aloft.</p>
+
+<p>For half a day the ape-man had been either carrying or supporting
+Smith-Oldwick and now, to his chagrin, he saw that the girl was
+faltering. He had realized well how much she had undergone and
+how greatly the hardships and dangers and the fatigue of the past
+weeks must have told upon her vitality. He saw how bravely she
+attempted to keep up, yet how often she stumbled and staggered as
+she labored through the sand and gravel of the gorge. Nor could
+he help but admire her fortitude and the uncomplaining effort she
+was making to push on.</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman must have noticed her condition too, for some time
+after noon, he stopped suddenly and sat down in the sand. "It's
+no use," he said to Tarzan. "I can go no farther. Miss Kircher is
+rapidly weakening. You will have to go on without me."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said the girl, "we cannot do that. We have all been through
+so much together and the chances of our escape are still so remote
+that whatever comes, let us remain together, unless," and she looked
+up at Tarzan, "you, who have done so much for us to whom you are
+under no obligations, will go on without us. I for one wish that
+you would. It must be as evident to you as it is to me that you
+cannot save us, for though you succeeded in dragging us from the
+path of our pursuers, even your great strength and endurance could
+never take one of us across the desert waste which lies between
+here and the nearest fertile country."</p>
+
+<p>The ape-man returned her serious look with a smile. "You are
+not dead," he said to her, "nor is the lieutenant, nor Otobu, nor
+myself. One is either dead or alive, and until we are dead we should
+plan only upon continuing to live. Because we remain here and rest
+is no indication that we shall die here. I cannot carry you both
+to the country of the Wamabos, which is the nearest spot at which
+we may expect to find game and water, but we shall not give up on
+that account. So far we have found a way. Let us take things as
+they come. Let us rest now because you and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick
+need the rest, and when you are stronger we will go on again."</p>
+
+<p>"But the Xujans—?" she asked, "may they not follow us here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said, "they probably will. But we need not be concerned
+with them until they come."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish," said the girl, "that I possessed your philosophy but I
+am afraid it is beyond me."</p>
+
+<p>"You were not born and reared in the jungle by wild beasts and
+among wild beasts, or you would possess, as I do, the fatalism of
+the jungle."</p>
+
+<p>And so they moved to the side of the gorge beneath the shade of an
+overhanging rock and lay down in the hot sand to rest. Numa wandered
+restlessly to and fro and finally, after sprawling for a moment
+close beside the ape-man, rose and moved off up the gorge to be
+lost to view a moment later beyond the nearest turn.</p>
+
+<p>For an hour the little party rested and then Tarzan suddenly
+rose and, motioning the others to silence, listened. For a minute
+he stood motionless, his keen ears acutely receptive to sounds so
+faint and distant that none of the other three could detect the
+slightest break in the utter and deathlike quiet of the gorge.
+Finally the ape-man relaxed and turned toward them. "What is it?"
+asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"They are coming," he replied. "They are yet some distance away,
+though not far, for the sandaled feet of the men and the pads of
+the lions make little noise upon the soft sands."</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we do—try to go on?" asked Smith-Oldwick. "I believe
+I could make a go of it now for a short way. I am much rested. How
+about you Miss Kircher?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," she said, "I am much stronger. Yes, surely I can go on."</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan knew that neither of them quite spoke the truth, that people
+do not recover so quickly from utter exhaustion, but he saw no
+other way and there was always the hope that just beyond the next
+turn would be a way out of the gorge.</p>
+
+<p>"You help the lieutenant, Otobu," he said, turning to the black,
+"and I will carry Miss Kircher," and though the girl objected,
+saying that he must not waste his strength, he lifted her lightly
+in his arms and moved off up the canyon, followed by Otobu and
+the Englishman. They had gone no great distance when the others of
+the party became aware of the sounds of pursuit, for now the lions
+were whining as though the fresh scent spoor of their quarry had
+reached their nostrils.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish that your Numa would return," said the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Tarzan, "but we shall have to do the best we can
+without him. I should like to find some place where we can barricade
+ourselves against attack from all sides. Possibly then we might
+hold them off. Smith-Oldwick is a good shot and if there are not
+too many men he might be able to dispose of them provided they can
+only come at him one at a time. The lions don't bother me so much.
+Sometimes they are stupid animals, and I am sure that these that
+pursue us, and who are so dependent upon the masters that have
+raised and trained them, will be easily handled after the warriors
+are disposed of."</p>
+
+<p>"You think there is some hope, then?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"We are still alive," was his only answer.</p>
+
+<p>"There," he said presently, "I thought I recalled this very spot."
+He pointed toward a fragment that had evidently fallen from the
+summit of the cliff and which now lay imbedded in the sand a few
+feet from the base. It was a jagged fragment of rock which rose some
+ten feet above the surface of the sand, leaving a narrow aperture
+between it and the cliff behind. Toward this they directed their
+steps and when finally they reached their goal they found a space
+about two feet wide and ten feet long between the rock and the
+cliff. To be sure it was open at both ends but at least they could
+not be attacked upon all sides at once.</p>
+
+<p>They had scarcely concealed themselves before Tarzan's quick ears
+caught a sound upon the face of the cliff above them, and looking
+up he saw a diminutive monkey perched upon a slight projection—an
+ugly-faced little monkey who looked down upon them for a moment and
+then scampered away toward the south in the direction from which
+their pursuers were coming. Otobu had seen the monkey too. "He will
+tell the parrots," said the black, "and the parrots will tell the
+madmen."</p>
+
+<p>"It is all the same," replied Tarzan; "the lions would have found
+us here. We could not hope to hide from them."</p>
+
+<p>He placed Smith-Oldwick, with his pistol, at the north opening of
+their haven and told Otobu to stand with his spear at the Englishman's
+shoulder, while he himself prepared to guard the southern approach.
+Between them he had the girl lie down in the sand. "You will be
+safe there in the event that they use their spears," he said.</p>
+
+<p>The minutes that dragged by seemed veritable eternities to Bertha
+Kircher and then at last, and almost with relief, she knew that the
+pursuers were upon them. She heard the angry roaring of the lions
+and the cries of the madmen. For several minutes the men seemed to
+be investigating the stronghold which their quarry had discovered.
+She could hear them both to the north and south and then from
+where she lay she saw a lion charging for the ape-man before her.
+She saw the giant arm swing back with the curved saber and she
+saw it fall with terrific velocity and meet the lion as he rose to
+grapple with the man, cleaving his skull as cleanly as a butcher
+opens up a sheep.</p>
+
+<p>Then she heard footsteps running rapidly toward Smith-Oldwick and,
+as his pistol spoke, there was a scream and the sound of a falling
+body. Evidently disheartened by the failure of their first attempt
+the assaulters drew off, but only for a short time. Again they came,
+this time a man opposing Tarzan and a lion seeking to overcome
+Smith-Oldwick. Tarzan had cautioned the young Englishman not
+to waste his cartridges upon the lions and it was Otobu with the
+Xujan spear who met the beast, which was not subdued until both
+he and Smith-Oldwick had been mauled, and the latter had succeeded
+in running the point of the saber the girl had carried, into the
+beast's heart. The man who opposed Tarzan inadvertently came too
+close in an attempt to cut at the ape-man's head, with the result
+that an instant later his corpse lay with the neck broken upon the
+body of the lion.</p>
+
+<p>Once again the enemy withdrew, but again only for a short time,
+and now they came in full force, the lions and the men, possibly
+a half dozen of each, the men casting their spears and the lions
+waiting just behind, evidently for the signal to charge.</p>
+
+<p>"Is this the end?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"No," cried the ape-man, "for we still live!"</p>
+
+<p>The words had scarcely passed his lips when the remaining warriors,
+rushing in, cast their spears simultaneously from both sides. In
+attempting to shield the girl, Tarzan received one of the shafts
+in the shoulder, and so heavily had the weapon been hurled that it
+bore him backward to the ground. Smith-Oldwick fired his pistol
+twice when he too was struck down, the weapon entering his right
+leg midway between hip and knee. Only Otobu remained to face the
+enemy, for the Englishman, already weak from his wounds and from
+the latest mauling he had received at the claws of the lion, had
+lost consciousness as he sank to the ground with this new hurt.</p>
+
+<p>As he fell his pistol dropped from his fingers, and the girl, seeing,
+snatched it up. As Tarzan struggled to rise, one of the warriors
+leaped full upon his breast and bore him back as, with fiendish
+shrieks, he raised the point of his saber above the other's heart.
+Before he could drive it home the girl leveled Smith-Oldwick's
+pistol and fired point-blank at the fiend's face.</p>
+
+<p>Simultaneously there broke upon the astonished ears of both attackers
+and attacked a volley of shots from the gorge. With the sweetness
+of the voice of an angel from heaven the Europeans heard the
+sharp-barked commands of an English noncom. Even above the roars
+of the lions and the screams of the maniacs, those beloved tones
+reached the ears of Tarzan and the girl at the very moment that
+even the ape-man had given up the last vestige of hope.</p>
+
+<p>Rolling the body of the warrior to one side Tarzan struggled to
+his feet, the spear still protruding from his shoulder. The girl
+rose too, and as Tarzan wrenched the weapon from his flesh and stepped
+out from behind the concealment of their refuge, she followed at
+his side. The skirmish that had resulted in their rescue was soon
+over. Most of the lions escaped but all of the pursuing Xujans
+had been slain. As Tarzan and the girl came into full view of the
+group, a British Tommy leveled his rifle at the ape-man. Seeing the
+fellow's actions and realizing instantly the natural error that
+Tarzan's yellow tunic had occasioned the girl sprang between him
+and the soldier. "Don't shoot," she cried to the latter, "we are
+both friends."</p>
+
+<p>"Hold up your hands, you, then," he commanded Tarzan. "I ain't
+taking no chances with any duffer with a yellow shirt."</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture the British sergeant who had been in command of
+the advance guard approached and when Tarzan and the girl spoke
+to him in English, explaining their disguises, he accepted their
+word, since they were evidently not of the same race as the creatures
+which lay dead about them. Ten minutes later the main body of the
+expedition came into view. Smith-Oldwick's wounds were dressed,
+as well as were those of the ape-man, and in half an hour they were
+on their way to the camp of their rescuers.</p>
+
+<p>That night it was arranged that the following day Smith-Oldwick and
+Bertha Kircher should be transported to British headquarters near
+the coast by aeroplane, the two planes attached to the expeditionary
+force being requisitioned for the purpose. Tarzan and Otobu declined
+the offers of the British captain to accompany his force overland
+on the return march as Tarzan explained that his country lay to
+the west, as did Otobu's, and that they would travel together as
+far as the country of the Wamabos.</p>
+
+<p>"You are not going back with us, then?" asked the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied the ape-man. "My home is upon the west coast. I will
+continue my journey in that direction."</p>
+
+<p>She cast appealing eyes toward him. "You will go back into that
+terrible jungle?" she asked. "We shall never see you again?"</p>
+
+<p>He looked at her a moment in silence. "Never," he said, and without
+another word turned and walked away.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning Colonel Capell came from the base camp in one of the
+planes that was to carry Smith-Oldwick and the girl to the east.
+Tarzan was standing some distance away as the ship landed and
+the officer descended to the ground. He saw the colonel greet his
+junior in command of the advance detachment, and then he saw him
+turn toward Bertha Kircher who was standing a few paces behind the
+captain. Tarzan wondered how the German spy felt in this situation,
+especially when she must know that there was one there who knew her
+real status. He saw Colonel Capell walk toward her with outstretched
+hands and smiling face and, although he could not hear the words of
+his greeting, he saw that it was friendly and cordial to a degree.</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan turned away scowling, and if any had been close by they
+might have heard a low growl rumble from his chest. He knew that
+his country was at war with Germany and that not only his duty to
+the land of his fathers, but also his personal grievance against
+the enemy people and his hatred of them, demanded that he expose
+the girl's perfidy, and yet he hesitated, and because he hesitated
+he growled—not at the German spy but at himself for his weakness.</p>
+
+<p>He did not see her again before she entered a plane and was borne
+away toward the east. He bid farewell to Smith-Oldwick and received
+again the oft-repeated thanks of the young Englishman. And then
+he saw him too borne aloft in the high circling plane and watched
+until the ship became a speck far above the eastern horizon to
+disappear at last high in air.</p>
+
+<p>The Tommies, their packs and accouterments slung, were waiting the
+summons to continue their return march. Colonel Capell had, through
+a desire to personally observe the stretch of country between the
+camp of the advance detachment and the base, decided to march back
+his troops. Now that all was in readiness for departure he turned to
+Tarzan. "I wish you would come back with us, Greystoke," he said,
+"and if my appeal carries no inducement possibly that of Smith-Oldwick
+'and the young lady who just left us may. They asked me to urge
+you to return to civilization."</p>
+
+<p>"No;" said Tarzan, "I shall go my own way. Miss Kircher and
+Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick were only prompted by a sense of gratitude
+in considering my welfare."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Kircher?" exclaimed Capell and then he laughed, "You know
+her then as Bertha Kircher, the German spy?"</p>
+
+<p>Tarzan looked at the other a moment in silence. It was beyond him
+to conceive that a British officer should thus laconically speak
+of an enemy spy whom he had had within his power and permitted to
+escape. "Yes," he replied, "I knew that she was Bertha Kircher,
+the German spy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is that all you knew?" asked Capell.</p>
+
+<p>"That is all," said the ape-man.</p>
+
+<p>"She is the Honorable Patricia Canby," said Capell, "one of the
+most valuable members of the British Intelligence Service attached
+to the East African forces. Her father and I served in India together
+and I have known her ever since she was born.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, here's a packet of papers she took from a German officer and
+has been carrying it through all her vicissitudes-single-minded
+in the performance of her duty. Look! I haven't yet had time to
+examine them but as you see here is a military sketch map, a bundle
+of reports, and the diary of one Hauptmann Fritz Schneider."</p>
+
+<p>"The diary of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider!" repeated Tarzan in a
+constrained voice. "May I see it, Capell? He is the man who murdered
+Lady Greystoke."</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman handed the little volume over to the other without
+a word. Tarzan ran through the pages quickly looking for a certain
+date—the date that the horror had been committed—and when he found
+it he read rapidly. Suddenly a gasp of incredulity burst from his
+lips. Capell looked at him questioningly.</p>
+
+<p>"God!" exclaimed the ape-man. "Can this be true? Listen!" and he
+read an excerpt from the closely written page:</p>
+
+<p>"'Played a little joke on the English pig. When he comes home he
+will find the burned body of his wife in her boudoir-but he will
+only think it is his wife. Had von Goss substitute the body of a
+dead Negress and char it after putting Lady Greystoke's rings on
+it—Lady G will be of more value to the High Command alive than
+dead.'"</p>
+
+<p>"She lives!" cried Tarzan.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank God!" exclaimed Capell. "And now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will return with you, of course. How terribly I have wronged
+Miss Canby, but how could I know? I even told Smith-Oldwick, who
+loves her, that she was a German spy.</p>
+
+<p>"Not only must I return to find my wife but I must right this
+wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't worry about that," said Capell, "she must have convinced him
+that she is no enemy spy, for just before they left this morning
+he told me she had promised to marry him."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+</div>
+
+<pre>
+Note: I have made the following changes to the text:
+PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO
+ 25 10 noislessly noiselessly
+ 40 34 hole bole
+ 41 45 later latter
+ 53 43 but "but
+ 66 19 half-smiled half-smile
+ 69 45 to many too many
+ 75 16 fine find
+ 81 3 forth fourth
+ 86 14 hoplessly hopelessly
+ 86 42 interferred interfered
+ 93 15 born borne
+ 101 40 Englishman Englishmen
+ 108 16 divertisements divertissements
+ 110 29 asid said
+ 127 14 apppreciate appreciate
+ 128 45 fuseluge fuselage
+ 138 25 as the at the
+ 142 34 girls' girl's
+ 146 44 sourroundings, surroundings,
+ 148 30 spirit on spirit of
+ 149 33 upon upon.
+ 153 3 immediately immediate
+ 153 39 nothwithstanding notwithstanding
+ 159 43 "The The
+ 163 45 known know
+ 171 8 one the on the
+ 172 8 sandled sandaled
+ 175 2 junlgle jungle
+ 181 46 swifty swiftly
+ 189 23 not, not.
+ 198 45 "Come," Come,"
+ 219 1 still sill
+ 225 21 sigh or sigh of
+ 227 20 occasionaly occasionally
+ 228 5 gazing grazing
+ 234 24 prisoners. prisoners.
+ 237 11 qiuckly quickly
+ 237 16 opproached approached
+ 243 16 is his in his
+ 244 32 second seconds
+I have also omitted the page-wide line beneath each chapter
+heading.
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Tarzan the Untamed
+by Edgar Rice Burroughs
+</pre>
+
+</body> +</html>
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