Tarzan the Untamed

  Chapter X

  In the Hands of Savages

  Tarzan sought Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, for of all thejungle animals he doubted if any would prove more palatable to thewhite woman, but though his keen nostrils were ever on the alert,he traveled far without being rewarded with even the faintestscent spoor of the game he sought. Keeping close to the river wherehe hoped to find Bara or Horta approaching or leaving a drinkingplace he came at last upon the strong odor of the Wamabo villageand being ever ready to pay his hereditary enemies, the Gomangani,an undesired visit, he swung into a detour and came up in the rearof the village. From a tree which overhung the palisade he lookeddown into the street where he saw the preparations going on whichhis experience told him indicated the approach of one of thosefrightful 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 themthan from any other source of amusement the grim jungle offered.To rob them of their feast in some way that would strike terrorto their hearts would give him the keenest of pleasure, and sohe searched the village with his eyes for some indication of thewhereabouts of the prisoner. His view was circumscribed by thedense foliage of the tree in which he sat, and, so that he mightobtain a better view, he climbed further aloft and moved cautiouslyout upon a slender branch.

  Tarzan of the Apes possessed a woodcraft scarcely short of themarvelous but even Tarzan's wondrous senses were not infallible.The branch upon which he made his way outward from the bole was nosmaller than many that had borne his weight upon countless otheroccasions. Outwardly it appeared strong and healthy and was in fullfoliage, nor could Tarzan know that close to the stem a burrowinginsect had eaten away half the heart of the solid wood beneath thebark.

  And so when he reached a point far out upon the limb, it snappedclose to the bole of the tree without warning. Below him were nolarger branches that he might clutch and as he lunged downward hisfoot caught in a looped creeper so that he turned completely overand alighted on the flat of his back in the center of the villagestreet.

  At the sound of the breaking limb and the crashing body fallingthrough the branches the startled blacks scurried to their hutsfor weapons, and when the braver of them emerged, they saw thestill form of an almost naked white man lying where he had fallen.Emboldened by the fact that he did not move they approached moreclosely, and when their eyes discovered no signs of others of hiskind in the tree, they rushed forward until a dozen warriors stoodabout him with ready spears. At first they thought that the fallinghad killed him, but upon closer examination they discovered thatthe man was only stunned. One of the warriors was for thrusting aspear through his heart, but Numabo, the chief, would not permitit.

  "Bind him," he said. "We will feed well tonight."

  And so they bound his hands and feet with thongs of gut and carriedhim into the hut where Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick awaitedhis fate. The Englishman had also been bound hand and foot by thistime for fear that at the last moment he might escape and rob themof their feast. A great crowd of natives were gathered about thehut attempting to get a glimpse of the new prisoner, but Numabodoubled the guard before the entrance for fear that some of hispeople, in the exuberance of their savage joy, might rob the othersof the pleasures of the death dance which would precede the killingof the victims.

  The young Englishman had heard the sound of Tarzan's body crashingthrough the tree to the ground and the commotion in the villagewhich immediately followed, and now, as he stood with his backagainst the wall of the hut, he looked upon the fellow-prisoner thatthe blacks carried in and laid upon the floor with mixed feelingsof surprise and compassion. He realized that he never had seena more perfect specimen of manhood than that of the unconsciousfigure before him, and he wondered to what sad circumstances theman owed his capture. It was evident that the new prisoner washimself as much a savage as his captors if apparel and weapons wereany criterion by which to judge; yet it was also equally evidentthat he was a white man and from his well-shaped head and clean-cutfeatures that he was not one of those unhappy halfwits who so oftenrevert to savagery even in the heart of civilized communities.

  As he watched the man, he presently noticed that his eyelids weremoving. Slowly they opened and a pair of gray eyes looked blanklyabout. With returning consciousness the eyes assumed their naturalexpression of keen intelligence, and a moment later, with aneffort, the prisoner rolled over upon his side and drew himself toa sitting position. He was facing the Englishman, and as his eyestook in the bound ankles and the arms drawn tightly behind theother'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, "thebeggars must be awfully hungry. They like to have eaten me alivewhen they brought me in. How did they get you?"

  Tarzan shrugged his head ruefully. "It was my own fault," hereplied. "I deserve to be eaten. I crawled out upon a branch thatwould not bear my weight and when it broke, instead of alightingon 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 seenothers escape them. I have seen a man taken away from the stakeafter a dozen spear thrusts had pierced his body and the fire hadbeen lighted about his feet."

  Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick shuddered. "God!" he exclaimed, "I hope Idon't have to face that. I believe I could stand anything but thethought of the fire. I should hate like the devil to go into a funkbefore the devils at the last moment."

  "Don't worry," said Tarzan. "It doesn't last long and you won'tfunk. It is really not half as bad as it sounds. There is only abrief period of pain before you lose consciousness. I have seen itmany times before. It is as good a way to go as another. We mustdie 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 younglieutenant, "but I can't say that it is exactly satisfying."

  Tarzan laughed. "Roll over here," he said, "where I can get atyour bonds with my teeth." The Englishman did as he was bid andpresently Tarzan was working at the thongs with his strong whiteteeth. He felt them giving slowly beneath his efforts. In anothermoment they would part, and then it would be a comparatively simplething for the Englishman to remove the remaining bonds from Tarzanand himself.

  It was then that one of the guards entered the hut. In an instant hesaw what the new prisoner was doing and raising his spear, struckthe ape-man a vicious blow across the head with its shaft. Then hecalled in the other guards and together they fell upon the lucklessmen, kicking and beating them unmercifully, after which they boundthe Englishman more securely than before and tied both men fast onopposite sides of the hut. When they had gone Tarzan looked acrossat his companion in misery.

  "While there is life," he said, "there is hope," but he grinned ashe 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 mustbe 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 recentlyarrived at maturity. He was large, powerful, and ferocious and atthe same time far above the average of his kind in intelligence aswas denoted by a fuller and less receding forehead. Already Go-latsaw in this young ape a possible contender for the laurels of hiskingship and consequently the old bull looked upon Zu-tag withjealousy and disfavor. It was for this reason, possibly, as muchas another that Zu-tag hunted so often alone; but it was his utterfearlessness that permitted him to wander far afield away from theprotection which numbers gave the great apes. One of the resultsof this habit was a greatly increased resourcefulness which foundhim constantly growing in intelli
gence and powers of observation.

  Today he had been hunting toward the south and was returning alongthe river upon a path he often followed because it led by thevillage of the Gomangani whose strange and almost apelike actionsand peculiar manners of living had aroused his interest and curiosity.As he had done upon other occasions he took up his position in atree from which he could overlook the interior of the village andwatch 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 bodyfrom the branches of another jungle giant to the ground within thepalisade. He saw the Negroes gather about the prostrate form andlater carry it into the hut; and once he rose to his full heightupon the limb where he had been squatting and raised his face tothe heavens to scream out a savage protest and a challenge, for hehad recognized in the brown-skinned Tarmangani the strange whiteape who had come among them a night or two before in the midst oftheir Dum-Dum, and who by so easily mastering the greatest amongthem, had won the savage respect and admiration of this fierceyoung bull.

  But Zu-tag's ferocity was tempered by a certain native cunning andcaution. Before he had voiced his protest there formed in his mindthe thought that he would like to save this wonderful white apefrom the common enemy, the Gomangani, and so he screamed forth nochallenge, wisely determining that more could be accomplished bysecrecy and stealth than by force of muscle and fang.

  At first he thought to enter the village alone and carry off theTarmangani; but when he saw how numerous were the warriors and thatseveral sat directly before the entrance to the lair into which theprisoner had been carried, it occurred to him that this was workfor many rather than one, and so, as silently as he had come, heslipped away through the foliage toward the north.

  The tribe was still loitering about the clearing where stood the hutthat Tarzan and Bertha Kircher had built. Some were idly searchingfor food just within the forest's edge, while others squattedbeneath the shade of trees within the clearing.

  The girl had emerged from the hut, her tears dried and was gazinganxiously toward the south into the jungle where Tarzan had disappeared.Occasionally she cast suspicious glances in the direction of thehuge shaggy anthropoids about her. How easy it would be for oneof those great beasts to enter the boma and slay her. How helplessshe was, even with the spear that the white man had left her, sherealized as she noted for the thousandth time the massive shoulders,the bull necks, and the great muscles gliding so easily beneath theglossy coats. Never, she thought, had she seen such personificationsof brute power as were represented by these mighty bulls. Thosehuge hands would snap her futile spear as she might snap a match intwo, while their lightest blow could crush her into insensibilityand death.

  It was while she was occupied with these depressing thoughts thatthere dropped suddenly into the clearing from the trees upon thesouth the figure of a mighty young bull. At that time all of theapes looked much alike to Bertha Kircher, nor was it until sometime later that she realized that each differed from the othersin individual characteristics of face and figure as do individualsof the human races. Yet even then she could not help but notethe wondrous strength and agility of this great beast, and as heapproached 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 wasthe girl the only one to note it. For as they saw him coming manyof the apes arose and advanced to meet him, bristling and growlingas is their way. Go-lat was among these latter, and he advancedstiffly with the hairs upon his neck and down his spine erect,uttering low growls and baring his fighting fangs, for who mightsay whether Zu-tag came in peace or otherwise? The old king hadseen other young apes come thus in his day filled with a suddenresolution to wrest the kingship from their chief. He had seenbulls about to run amuck burst thus suddenly from the jungle uponthe members of the tribe, and so Go-lat took no chances.

  Had Zu-tag come indolently, feeding as he came, he might haveentered the tribe without arousing notice or suspicion, but whenone comes thus precipitately, evidently bursting with some emotionout of the ordinary, let all apes beware. There was a certain amountof preliminary circling, growling, and sniffing, stiff-legged andstiff-haired, before each side discovered that the other had nointention of initiating an attack and then Zu-tag told Go-lat whathe had seen among the lairs of the Gomangani.

  Go-lat grunted in disgust and turned away. "Let the white ape takecare of himself," he said.

  "He is a great ape," said Zu-tag. "He came to live in peace withthe 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-latis afraid of the Gomangani."

  The king ape wheeled in anger, growling loudly and beating uponhis breast. "Go-lat is not afraid," he screamed, "but he will notgo, for the white ape is not of his tribe. Go yourself and takethe Tarmangani's she with you if you wish so much to save the whiteape."

  "Zu-tag will go," replied the younger bull, "and he will take theTarmangani'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 ourbrother," he demanded.

  Eight young bulls in the full prime of their vigor pressed forwardto Zu-tag's side, but the old bulls with the conservatism andcaution of many years upon their gray shoulders, shook their headsand waddled away after Go-lat.

  "Good," cried Zu-tag. "We want no old shes to go with us to fightthe Gomangani for that is work for the fighters of the tribe."

  The old bulls paid no attention to his boastful words, but the eightwho had volunteered to accompany him were filled with self-pride sothat they stood around vaingloriously beating upon their breasts,baring their fangs and screaming their hideous challenge until thejungle reverberated to the horrid sound.

  All this time Bertha Kircher was a wide-eyed and terrified spectator towhat, as she thought, could end only in a terrific battle betweenthese frightful beasts, and when Zu-tag and his followers beganscreaming forth their fearsome challenge, the girl found herselftrembling in terror, for of all the sounds of the jungle there isnone more awe inspiring than that of the great bull ape when heissues his challenge or shrieks forth his victory cry.

  If she had been terrified before she was almost paralyzed withfear now as she saw Zu-tag and his apes turn toward the boma andapproach her. With the agility of a cat Zu-tag leaped completelyover the protecting wall and stood before her. Valiantly she heldher spear before her, pointing it at his breast. He commenced tojabber and gesticulate, and even with her scant acquaintance withthe ways of the anthropoids, she realized that he was not menacingher, for there was little or no baring of fighting fangs and hiswhole expression and attitude was of one attempting to explain aknotty problem or plead a worthy cause. At last he became evidentlyimpatient, for with a sweep of one great paw he struck the spearfrom her hand and coming close, seized her by the arm, but notroughly. She shrank away in terror and yet some sense within herseemed to be trying to assure her that she was in no danger fromthis great beast. Zu-tag jabbered loudly, ever and again pointinginto the jungle toward the south and moving toward the boma,pulling the girl with him. He seemed almost frantic in his effortsto explain something to her. He pointed toward the boma, herself,and then to the forest, and then, at last, as though by a suddeninspiration, he reached down and, seizing the spear, repeatedlytouched it with his forefinger and again pointed toward the south.Suddenly it dawned upon the girl that what the ape was tryingto explain to her was related in some way to the white man whoseproperty they thought she was. Possibly her grim protector was introuble and with this thought firmly established, she no longerheld back, but started forward as though to accompany the youngbull. At the point in the boma where Tarzan had blocked the entranc
e,she started to pull away the thorn bushes, and, when Zu-tag sawwhat she was doing, he fell to and assisted her so that presentlythey had an opening through the boma through which she passed withthe great ape.

  Immediately Zu-tag and his eight apes started off rapidly towardthe jungle, so rapidly that Bertha Kircher would have had to runat top speed to keep up with them. This she realized she could notdo, and so she was forced to lag behind, much to the chagrin ofZu-tag, who constantly kept running back and urging her to greaterspeed. 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 thatthey were protests, nor did he desist until she caught her foot insome tangled grass and fell to the ground. Then indeed was Zu-tagfurious and growled hideously. His apes were waiting at the edgeof the forest for him to lead them. He suddenly realized that thispoor weak she could not keep up with them and that if they traveledat her slow rate they might be too late to render assistance to theTarmangani, and so without more ado, the giant anthropoid pickedBertha Kircher bodily from the ground and swung her to his back.Her arms were about his neck and in this position he seized herwrists in one great paw so that she could not fall off and startedat a rapid rate to join his companions.

  Dressed as she was in riding breeches with no entangling skirts tohinder or catch upon passing shrubbery, she soon found that shecould cling tightly to the back of the mighty bull and when a momentlater he took to the lower branches of the trees, she closed hereyes and clung to him in terror lest she be precipitated to theground below.

  That journey through the primeval forest with the nine great apeswill live in the memory of Bertha Kircher for the balance of herlife, as clearly delineated as at the moment of its enactment.

  The first overwhelming wave of fear having passed, she was at lastable to open her eyes and view her surroundings with increasedinterest and presently the sensation of terror slowly left her tobe replaced by one of comparative security when she saw the easeand surety with which these great beasts traveled through the trees;and later her admiration for the young bull increased as it becameevident that even burdened with her additional weight, he moved morerapidly and with no greater signs of fatigue than his unburdenedfellows.

  Not once did Zu-tag pause until he came to a stop among the branchesof a tree no great distance from the native village. They couldhear the noises of the life within the palisade, the laughing andshouting of the Negroes, and the barking of dogs, and through thefoliage the girl caught glimpses of the village from which she hadso recently escaped. She shuddered to think of the possibility ofhaving to return to it and of possible recapture, and she wonderedwhy 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 themselvesuntil they had reached a point where they could easily overlookthe palisade and the village street below.

  Zu-tag squatted upon a great branch close to the bole of the treeand by loosening the girl's arms from about his neck, indicatedthat she was to find a footing for herself and when she had doneso, he turned toward her and pointed repeatedly at the open doorwayof a hut upon the opposite side of the street below them. By variousgestures he seemed to be trying to explain something to her and atlast she caught at the germ of his idea--that her white man was aprisoner there.

  Beneath them was the roof of a hut onto which she saw that shecould easily drop, but what she could do after she had entered thevillage was beyond her.

  Darkness was already falling and the fires beneath the cooking potshad been lighted. The girl saw the stake in the village street andthe piles of fagots about it and in terror she suddenly realizedthe portent of these grisly preparations. Oh, if she but only hadsome sort of a weapon that might give her even a faint hope, someslight advantage against the blacks. Then she would not hesitateto venture into the village in an attempt to save the man who hadupon three different occasions saved her. She knew that he hated herand yet strong within her breast burned the sense of her obligationto him. She could not fathom him. Never in her life had she seen aman at once so paradoxical and dependable. In many of his ways hewas more savage than the beasts with which he associated and yet,on the other hand, he was as chivalrous as a knight of old. Forseveral days she had been lost with him in the jungle absolutelyat his mercy, yet she had come to trust so implicitly in his honorthat any fear she had had of him was rapidly disappearing.

  On the other hand, that he might be hideously cruel was evidencedto her by the fact that he was planning to leave her alone in themidst of the frightful dangers which menaced her by night and byday.

  Zu-tag was evidently waiting for darkness to fall before carryingout whatever plans had matured in his savage little brain, for heand his fellows sat quietly in the tree about her, watching thepreparations of the blacks. Presently it became apparent that somealtercation had arisen among the Negroes, for a score or more ofthem were gathered around one who appeared to be their chief, andall were talking and gesticulating heatedly. The argument lastedfor some five or ten minutes when suddenly the little knot brokeand two warriors ran to the opposite side of the village from whencethey presently returned with a large stake which they soon set upbeside the one already in place. The girl wondered what the purposeof the second stake might be, nor did she have long to wait for anexplanation.

  It was quite dark by this time, the village being lighted by thefitful glare of many fires, and now she saw a number of warriorsapproach and enter the hut Zu-tag had been watching. A moment laterthey reappeared, dragging between them two captives, one of whomthe girl immediately recognized as her protector and the other asan Englishman in the uniform of an aviator. This, then, was thereason for the two stakes.

  Arising quickly she placed a hand upon Zu-tag's shoulder and pointeddown into the village. "Come," she said, as if she had been talkingto one of her own kind, and with the word she swung lightly to theroof of the hut below. From there to the ground was but a short dropand a moment later she was circling the hut upon the side farthestfrom the fires, keeping in the dense shadows where there was littlelikelihood of being discovered. She turned once to see that Zu-tagwas directly behind her and could see his huge bulk looming upin the dark, while beyond was another one of his eight. Doubtlessthey had all followed her and this fact gave her a greater senseof security and hope than she had before experienced.

  Pausing beside the hut next to the street, she peered cautiouslyabout the corner. A few inches from her was the open doorway of thestructure, and beyond, farther down the village street, the blackswere congregating about the prisoners, who were already being boundto the stakes. All eyes were centered upon the victims, and therewas only the remotest chance that she and her companions wouldbe discovered until they were close upon the blacks. She wished,however, that she might have some sort of a weapon with which tolead the attack, for she could not know, of course, for a certaintywhether the great apes would follow her or not. Hoping that shemight find something within the hut, she slipped quickly aroundthe corner and into the doorway and after her, one by one, camethe nine bulls. Searching quickly about the interior, she presentlydiscovered a spear, and, armed with this, she again approached theentrance.

  Tarzan of the Apes and Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick werebound securely to their respective stakes. Neither had spoken forsome time. The Englishman turned his head so that he could see hiscompanion in misery. Tarzan stood straight against his stake. Hisface was entirely expressionless in so far as either fear or angerwere concerned. His countenance portrayed bored indifference thoughboth 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, inhalethe smoke and flames as rapidly as you can."

  "Thanks," replied the aviator and though he made a wry face, hedrew himself up very straight and squared his shoulders.

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bsp; The women and children had seated themselves in a wide circle aboutthe victims while the warriors, hideously painted, were formingslowly to commence the dance of death. Again Tarzan turned to hiscompanion. "If you'd like to spoil their fun," he said, "don'tmake any fuss no matter how much you suffer. If you can carry on tothe end without changing the expression upon your face or utteringa single word, you will deprive them of all the pleasures of thispart of the entertainment. Good-bye again and good luck."

  The young Englishman made no reply but it was evident from the setof his jaws that the Negroes would get little enjoyment out of him.

  The warriors were circling now. Presently Numabo would draw firstblood with his sharp spear which would be the signal for thebeginning of the torture after a little of which the fagots wouldbe lighted around the feet of the victims.

  Closer and closer danced the hideous chief, his yellow, sharp-filedteeth showing in the firelight between his thick, red lips. Nowbending double, now stamping furiously upon the ground, now leapinginto the air, he danced step by step in the narrowing circle thatwould presently bring him within spear reach of the intended feast.

  At last the spear reached out and touched the ape-man on thebreast and when it came away, a little trickle of blood ran downthe smooth, brown hide and almost simultaneously there broke fromthe outer periphery of the expectant audience a woman's shriek whichseemed a signal for a series of hideous screamings, growlings andbarkings, and a great commotion upon that side of the circle. Thevictims could not see the cause of the disturbance, but Tarzan didnot have to see, for he knew by the voices of the apes the identityof the disturbers. He only wondered what had brought them and whatthe purpose of the attack, for he could not believe that they hadcome to rescue him.

  Numabo and his warriors broke quickly from the circle of their danceto see pushing toward them through the ranks of their screamingand terrified people the very white girl who had escaped them afew nights before, and at her back what appeared to their surprisedeyes a veritable horde of the huge and hairy forest men upon whomthey looked with considerable fear and awe.

  Striking to right and left with his heavy fists, tearing withhis great fangs, came Zu-tag, the young bull, while at his heels,emulating his example, surged his hideous apes. Quickly they camethrough the old men and the women and children, for straight towardNumabo and his warriors the girl led them. It was then that theycame within range of Tarzan's vision and he saw with unmixed surprisewho it was that led the apes to his rescue.

  To Zu-tag he shouted: "Go for the big bulls while the she unbindsme," and to Bertha Kircher: "Quick! Cut these bonds. The apes willtake care of the blacks."

  Turning from her advance the girl ran to his side. She had no knifeand the bonds were tied tightly but she worked quickly and coollyand as Zu-tag and his apes closed with the warriors, she succeededin loosening Tarzan's bonds sufficiently to permit him to extricatehis own hands so that in another minute he had freed himself.

  "Now unbind the Englishman," he cried, and, leaping forward, ranto join Zu-tag and his fellows in their battle against the blacks.Numabo and his warriors, realizing now the relatively small numbersof the apes against them, had made a determined stand and withspears 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 againstthe apes unless some means could be found to break the morale ofthe Negroes, cast about him for some means of bringing about thedesired end. And suddenly his eye lighted upon a number of weaponswhich he knew would accomplish the result. A grim smile touchedhis lips as he snatched a vessel of boiling water from one of thefires and hurled it full in the faces of the warriors. Screamingwith terror and pain they fell back though Numabo urged them torush forward.

  Scarcely had the first cauldron of boiling water spilled itscontents upon them ere Tarzan deluged them with a second, nor wasthere any third needed to send them shrieking in every directionto the security of their huts.

  By the time Tarzan had recovered his own weapons the girl had releasedthe young Englishman, and, with the six remaining apes, the threeEuropeans moved slowly toward the village gate, the aviator arminghimself with a spear discarded by one of the scalded warriors, asthey eagerly advanced toward the outer darkness.

  Numabo was unable to rally the now thoroughly terrified andpainfully burned warriors so that rescued and rescuers passed outof the village into the blackness of the jungle without furtherinterference.

  Tarzan strode through the jungle in silence. Beside him walked Zu-tag,the great ape, and behind them strung the surviving anthropoidsfollowed by Fraulein Bertha Kircher and Lieutenant Harold PercySmith-Oldwick, the latter a thoroughly astonished and mystifiedEnglishman.

  In all his life Tarzan of the Apes had been obliged to acknowledgebut few obligations. He won his way through his savage world by themight of his own muscle, the superior keenness of his five sensesand his God-given power to reason. Tonight the greatest ofall obligations had been placed upon him--his life had been savedby another and Tarzan shook his head and growled, for it had beensaved by one whom he hated above all others.