The Beasts of Tarzan..........................................................................................................................................1

Edgar Rice Burroughs ..............................................................................................................................1

"The entire affair is shrouded in mystery," said D'Arnot. "I have it on the best of authority that neither the

police nor the special agents of the general staff have the faintest conception of how it was accomplished. All

John Clayton, Lord Greystokehe who had been "Tarzan of the Apes" sat in silence in the apartments of

his friend, Lieutenant Paul D'Arnot, in Paris, gazing meditatively at the toe of his immaculate boot.

His mind revolved many memories, recalled by the escape of his archenemy from the French military prison

He thought of the lengths to which Rokoff had once gone to compass his death, and he realized that what the

man had already done would doubtless be as nothing by comparison with what he would wish and plot to do

Tarzan had recently brought his wife and infant son to London to escape the discomforts and dangers of the

rainy season upon their vast estate in Uzirithe land of the savage Waziri warriors whose broad African

He had run across the Channel for a brief visit with his old friend, but the news of the Russian's escape had

already cast a shadow upon his outing, so that though he had but just arrived he was already contemplating an

"It is not that I fear for myself, Paul," he said at last. "Many times in the past have I thwarted Rokoff's designs

upon my life; but now there are others to consider. Unless I misjudge the man, he would more quickly strike

at me through my wife or son than directly at me, for he doubtless realizes that in no other way could he

inflict greater anguish upon me. I must go back to them at once, and remain with them until Rokoff is

As these two talked in Paris, two other men were talking together in a little cottage upon the outskirts of

One was bearded, but the other, whose face wore the pallor of long confinement within doors, had but a few

"You must needs shave off that beard of yours, Alexis," he said to his companion. "With it he would

recognize you on the instant. We must separate here in the hour, and when we meet again upon the deck of

the Kincaid, let us hope that we shall have with us two honoured guests who little anticipate the pleasant

"In two hours I should be upon my way to Dover with one of them, and by tomorrow night, if you follow my

instructions carefully, you should arrive with the other, provided, of course, that he returns to London as

"There should be both profit and pleasure as well as other good things to reward our efforts, my dear Alexis.

Thanks to the stupidity of the French, they have gone to such lengths to conceal the fact of my escape for

these many days that I have had ample opportunity to work out every detail of our little adventure so

carefully that there is little chance of the slightest hitch occurring to mar our prospects. And now goodbye,

Three hours later a messenger mounted the steps to the apartment of Lieutenant D'Arnot.

"A telegram for Lord Greystoke," he said to the servant who answered his summons. "Is he here?"

The man answered in the affirmative, and, signing for the message, carried it within to Tarzan, who was

"Read it, Paul," he said, handing the slip of paper to D'Arnot. "It has come already."

"Jack stolen from the garden through complicity of new servant. Come at once.JANE."

As Tarzan leaped from the roadster that had met him at the station and ran up the steps to his London town

Quickly Jane Porter Clayton narrated all that she had been able to learn of the theft of the boy.

The baby's nurse had been wheeling him in the sunshine on the walk before the house when a closed taxicab

drew up at the corner of the street. The woman had paid but passing attention to the vehicle, merely noting

that it discharged no passenger, but stood at the kerb with the motor running as though waiting for a fare from

Almost immediately the new houseman, Carl, had come running from the Greystoke house, saying that the

girl's mistress wished to speak with her for a moment, and that she was to leave little Jack in his care until she

The woman said that she entertained not the slightest suspicion of the man's motives until she had reached the

doorway of the house, when it occurred to her to warn him not to turn the carriage so as to permit the sun to

As she turned about to call this to him she was somewhat surprised to see that he was wheeling the carriage

rapidly toward the corner, and at the same time she saw the door of the taxicab open and a swarthy face

Intuitively, the danger to the child flashed upon her, and with a shriek she dashed down the steps and up the

walk toward the taxicab, into which Carl was now handing the baby to the swarthy one within.

Just before she reached the vehicle, Carl leaped in beside his confederate, slamming the door behind him. At

the same time the chauffeur attempted to start his machine, but it was evident that something had gone

wrong, as though the gears refused to mesh, and the delay caused by this, while he pushed the lever into

reverse and backed the car a few inches before again attempting to go ahead, gave the nurse time to reach the

Leaping to the runningboard, she had attempted to snatch the baby from the arms of the stranger, and here,

screaming and fighting, she had clung to her position even after the taxicab had got under way; nor was it

until the machine had passed the Greystoke residence at good speed that Carl, with a heavy blow to her face,

Her screams had attracted servants and members of the families from residences near by, as well as from the

Greystoke home. Lady Greystoke had witnessed the girl's brave battle, and had herself tried to reach the

That was all that anyone knew, nor did Lady Greystoke dream of the possible identity of the man at the

bottom of the plot until her husband told her of the escape of Nikolas Rokoff from the French prison where

As Tarzan and his wife stood planning the wisest course to pursue, the telephone bell rang in the library at

"Your son has been stolen," continued the voice, "and I alone may help you to recover him. I am conversant

with the plot of those who took him. In fact, I was a party to it, and was to share in the reward, but now they

are trying to ditch me, and to be quits with them I will aid you to recover him on condition that you will not

"If you lead me to where my son is hidden," replied the apeman, "you need fear nothing from me."

"Good," replied the other. "But you must come alone to meet me, for it is enough that I must trust you. I

The other gave the name and location of a publichouse on the waterfront at Dovera place frequented by

"Come," he concluded, "about ten o'clock tonight. It would do no good to arrive earlier. Your son will be safe

enough in the meantime, and I can then lead you secretly to where he is hidden. But be sure to come alone,

and under no circumstances notify Scotland Yard, for I know you well and shall be watching for you.

"Should any other accompany you, or should I see suspicious characters who might be agents of the police, I

Tarzan repeated the gist of the conversation to his wife. She begged to be allowed to accompany him, but he

insisted that it might result in the man's carrying out his threat of refusing to aid them if Tarzan did not come

alone, and so they parted, he to hasten to Dover, and she, ostensibly to wait at home until he should notify her

Little did either dream of what both were destined to pass through before they should meet again, or the

For ten minutes after the apeman had left her Jane Clayton walked restlessly back and forth across the silken

rugs of the library. Her mother heart ached, bereft of its firstborn. Her mind was in an anguish of hopes and

Though her judgment told her that all would be well were her Tarzan to go alone in accordance with the

mysterious stranger's summons, her intuition would not permit her to lay aside suspicion of the gravest

The more she thought of the matter, the more convinced she became that the recent telephone message might

be but a ruse to keep them inactive until the boy was safely hidden away or spirited out of England. Or it

might be that it had been simply a bait to lure Tarzan into the hands of the implacable Rokoff.

With the lodgment of this thought she stopped in wide eyed terror. Instantly it became a conviction. She

It was too late to catch the Dover train that Tarzan was to take. There was another, later, however, that would

bring her to the Channel port in time to reach the address the stranger had given her husband before the

Summoning her maid and chauffeur, she issued instructions rapidly. Ten minutes later she was being whisked

It was ninefortyfive that night that Tarzan entered the squalid "pub" on the waterfront in Dover. As he

passed into the evilsmelling room a muffled figure brushed past him toward the street.

The apeman wheeled about and followed the other into the illlit alley, which custom had dignified with the

title of thoroughfare. Once outside, the fellow led the way into the darkness, nearer a wharf, where

"On that small steamer whose lights you can just see yonder," replied the other.

In the gloom Tarzan was trying to peer into the features of his companion, but he did not recognize the man

as one whom he had ever before seen. Had he guessed that his guide was Alexis Paulvitch he would have

realized that naught but treachery lay in the man's heart, and that danger lurked in the path of every move.

"He is unguarded now," continued the Russian. "Those who took him feel perfectly safe from detection, and

with the exception of a couple of members of the crew, whom I have furnished with enough gin to silence

them effectually for hours, there is none aboard the Kincaid. We can go aboard, get the child, and return

His guide led him to a small boat moored alongside the wharf. The two men entered, and Paulvitch pulled

rapidly toward the steamer. The black smoke issuing from her funnel did not at the time make any suggestion

to Tarzan's mind. All his thoughts were occupied with the hope that in a few moments he would again have

At the steamer's side they found a monkeyladder dangling close above them, and up this the two men crept

stealthily. Once on deck they hastened aft to where the Russian pointed to a hatch.

"The boy is hidden there," he said. "You had better go down after him, as there is less chance that he will cry

in fright than should he find himself in the arms of a stranger. I will stand on guard here."

So anxious was Tarzan to rescue the child that he gave not the slightest thought to the strangeness of all the

conditions surrounding the Kincaid. That her deck was deserted, though she had steam up, and from the

volume of smoke pouring from her funnel was all ready to get under way made no impression upon him.

With the thought that in another instant he would fold that precious little bundle of humanity in his arms, the

apeman swung down into the darkness below. Scarcely had he released his hold upon the edge of the hatch

Instantly he knew that he was the victim of a plot, and that far from rescuing his son he had himself fallen

into the hands of his enemies. Though he immediately endeavoured to reach the hatch and lift the cover, he

Striking a match, he explored his surroundings, finding that a little compartment had been partitioned off

from the main hold, with the hatch above his head the only means of ingress or egress. It was evident that the

There was nothing in the compartment, and no other occupant. If the child was on board the Kincaid he was

For over twenty years, from infancy to manhood, the apeman had roamed his savage jungle haunts without

human companionship of any nature. He had learned at the most impressionable period of his life to take his

So it was that he neither raved nor stormed against fate, but instead waited patiently for what might next

befall him, though not by any means without an eye to doing the utmost to succour himself. To this end he

examined his prison carefully, tested the heavy planking that formed its walls, and measured the distance of

And while he was thus occupied there came suddenly to him the vibration of machinery and the throbbing of

And even as these thoughts passed through his mind there came to his ears above the din of the engines that

As Tarzan and his guide had disappeared into the shadows upon the dark wharf the figure of a heavily veiled

woman had hurried down the narrow alley to the entrance of the drinkingplace the two men had just quitted.

Here she paused and looked about, and then as though satisfied that she had at last reached the place she

A score of halfdrunken sailors and wharfrats looked up at the unaccustomed sight of a richly gowned

woman in their midst. Rapidly she approached the slovenly barmaid who stared half in envy, half in hate, at

"Have you seen a tall, welldressed man here, but a minute since," she asked, "who met another and went

The girl answered in the affirmative, but could not tell which way the two had gone. A sailor who had

approached to listen to the conversation vouchsafed the information that a moment before as he had been

about to enter the "pub" he had seen two men leaving it who walked toward the wharf.

"Show me the direction they went," cried the woman, slipping a coin into the man's hand.

The fellow led her from the place, and together they walked quickly toward the wharf and along it until

across the water they saw a small boat just pulling into the shadows of a nearby steamer.

"Ten pounds if you will find a boat and row me to that steamer," cried the woman.

"Quick, then," he replied, "for we gotta go it if we're goin' to catch the Kincaid afore she sails. She's had

steam up for three hours an' jest been awaitin' fer that one passenger. I was atalkin' to one of her crew 'arf

As he spoke he led the way to the end of the wharf where he knew another boat lay moored, and, lowering

the woman into it, he jumped in after and pushed off. The two were soon scudding over the water.

At the steamer's side the man demanded his pay and, without waiting to count out the exact amount, the

woman thrust a handful of banknotes into his outstretched hand. A single glance at them convinced the

fellow that he had been more than well paid. Then he assisted her up the ladder, holding his skiff close to the

ship's side against the chance that this profitable passenger might wish to be taken ashore later.

But presently the sound of the donkey engine and the rattle of a steel cable on the hoistingdrum proclaimed

the fact that the Kincaid's anchor was being raised, and a moment later the waiter heard the propellers

revolving, and slowly the little steamer moved away from him out into the channel.

As he turned to row back to shore he heard a woman's shriek from the ship's deck.

"That's wot I calls rotten luck," he soliloquized. "I might jest as well of 'ad the whole bloomin' wad."

When Jane Clayton climbed to the deck of the Kincaid she found the ship apparently deserted. There was no

sign of those she sought nor of any other aboard, and so she went about her search for her husband and the

Quickly she hastened to the cabin, which was half above and half below deck. As she hurried down the short

companionladder into the main cabin, on either side of which were the smaller rooms occupied by the

officers, she failed to note the quick closing of one of the doors before her. She passed the full length of the

main room, and then retracing her steps stopped before each door to listen, furtively trying each latch.

All was silence, utter silence there, in which the throbbing of her own frightened heart seemed to her

One by one the doors opened before her touch, only to reveal empty interiors. In her absorption she did not

note the sudden activity upon the vessel, the purring of the engines, the throbbing of the propeller. She had

reached the last door upon the right now, and as she pushed it open she was seized from within by a powerful,

The sudden shock of fright which the unexpected attack had upon her drew a single piercing scream from her

"Not until we are farther from land, my dear," he said. "Then you may yell your pretty head off."

Lady Greystoke turned to look into the leering, bearded face so close to hers. The man relaxed the pressure of

his fingers upon her lips, and with a little moan of terror as she recognized him the girl shrank away from her

"My little boy," she said next, ignoring the terms of endearment "where is he? Let me have him. How

could you be so crueleven as you Nikolas Rokoffcannot be entirely devoid of mercy and

compassion? Tell me where he is. Is he aboard this ship? Oh, please, if such a thing as a heart beats within

"If you do as you are bid no harm will befall him," replied Rokoff. "But remember that it is your own fault

that you are here. You came aboard voluntarily, and you may take the consequences. I little thought," he

He went on deck then, locking the cabindoor upon his prisoner, and for several days she did not see him.

The truth of the matter being that Nikolas Rokoff was so poor a sailor that the heavy seas the Kincaid

encountered from the very beginning of her voyage sent the Russian to his berth with a bad attack of

During this time her only visitor was an uncouth Swede, the Kincaid's unsavoury cook, who brought her

meals to her. His name was Sven Anderssen, his one pride being that his patronymic was spelt with a double

The man was tall and rawboned, with a long yellow moustache, an unwholesome complexion, and filthy

nails. The very sight of him with one grimy thumb buried deep in the lukewarm stew, that seemed, from the

frequency of its repetition, to constitute the pride of his culinary art, was sufficient to take away the girl's

His small, blue, closeset eyes never met hers squarely. There was a shiftiness of his whole appearance that

even found expression in the catlike manner of his gait, and to it all a sinister suggestion was added by the

long slim knife that always rested at his waist, slipped through the greasy cord that supported his soiled

apron. Ostensibly it was but an implement of his calling; but the girl could never free herself of the

conviction that it would require less provocation to witness it put to other and less harmless uses.

His manner toward her was surly, yet she never failed to meet him with a pleasant smile and a word of thanks

when he brought her food to her, though more often than not she hurled the bulk of it through the tiny cabin

During the days of anguish that followed Jane Clayton's imprisonment, but two questions were uppermost in

her mindthe whereabouts of her husband and her son. She fully believed that the baby was aboard the

Kincaid, provided that he still lived, but whether Tarzan had been permitted to live after having been lured

She knew, of course, the deep hatred that the Russian felt for the Englishman, and she could think of but one

reason for having him brought aboard the shipto dispatch him in comparative safety in revenge for his

having thwarted Rokoff's pet schemes, and for having been at last the means of landing him in a French

Tarzan, on his part, lay in the darkness of his cell, ignorant of the fact that his wife was a prisoner in the cabin

The same Swede that served Jane brought his meals to him, but, though on several occasions Tarzan had tried

to draw the man into conversation, he had been unsuccessful. He had hoped to learn through this fellow

whether his little son was aboard the Kincaid, but to every question upon this or kindred subjects the fellow

returned but one reply, "Ay tank it blow purty soon purty hard." So after several attempts Tarzan gave it up.

For weeks that seemed months to the two prisoners the little steamer forged on they knew not where. Once

the Kincaid stopped to coal, only immediately to take up the seemingly interminable voyage.

Rokoff had visited Jane Clayton but once since he had locked her in the tiny cabin. He had come gaunt and

holloweyed from a long siege of seasickness. The object of his visit was to obtain from her her personal

cheque for a large sum in return for a guarantee of her personal safety and return to England.

"When you set me down safely in any civilized port, together with my son and my husband," she replied, "I

will pay you in gold twice the amount you ask; but until then you shall not have a cent, nor the promise of a

"You will give me the cheque I ask," he replied with a snarl, "or neither you nor your child nor your husband

"I would not trust you," she replied. "What guarantee have I that you would not take my money and then do

"I think you will do as I bid," he said, turning to leave the cabin. "Remember that I have your sonif you

chance to hear the agonized wail of a tortured child it may console you to reflect that it is because of your

"You would not do it!" cried the girl. "You would not could not be so fiendishly cruel!"

"It is not I that am cruel, but you," he returned, "for you permit a paltry sum of money to stand between your

The end of it was that Jane Clayton wrote out a cheque of large denomination and handed it to Nikolas

The following day the hatch was removed from Tarzan's cell, and as he looked up he saw Paulvitch's head

"Come up," commanded the Russian. "But bear in mind that you will be shot if you make a single move to

The apeman swung himself lightly to the deck. About him, but at a respectful distance, stood a halfdozen

Tarzan looked about for Rokoff, who he felt sure must be aboard, but there was no sign of him.

"Lord Greystoke," commenced the Russian, "by your continued and wanton interference with M. Rokoff and

his plans you have at last brought yourself and your family to this unfortunate extremity. You have only

yourself to thank. As you may imagine, it has cost M. Rokoff a large amount of money to finance this

expedition, and, as you are the sole cause of it, he naturally looks to you for reimbursement.

"Further, I may say that only by meeting M. Rokoff's just demands may you avert the most unpleasant

consequences to your wife and child, and at the same time retain your own life and regain your liberty."

"What is the amount?" asked Tarzan. "And what assurance have I that you will live up to your end of the

agreement? I have little reason to trust two such scoundrels as you and Rokoff, you know."

"You are in no position to deliver insults," he said. "You have no assurance that we will live up to our

agreement other than my word, but you have before you the assurance that we can make short work of you if

"Unless you are a greater fool than I imagine, you should know that there is nothing that would give us

greater pleasure than to order these men to fire. That we do not is because we have other plans for punishing

"No," replied Alexis Paulvitch, "your son is quite safe elsewhere; nor will he be killed until you refuse to

accede to our fair demands. If it becomes necessary to kill you, there will be no reason for not killing the

child, since with you gone the one whom we wish to punish through the boy will be gone, and he will then be

to us only a constant source of danger and embarrassment. You see, therefore, that you may only save the life

of your son by saving your own, and you can only save your own by giving us the cheque we ask."

"Very well," replied Tarzan, for he knew that he could trust them to carry out any sinister threat that

Paulvitch had made, and there was a bare chance that by conceding their demands he might save the boy.

That they would permit him to live after he had appended his name to the cheque never occurred to him as

being within the realms of probability. But he was determined to give them such a battle as they would never

forget, and possibly to take Paulvitch with him into eternity. He was only sorry that it was not Rokoff.

Their very cupidity was to prove the means of their undoing, in the matter of the ransom at least. Purposely

he hesitated and haggled over the amount, but Paulvitch was obdurate. Finally the apeman wrote out his

As he turned to hand the worthless slip of paper to the Russian his glance chanced to pass across the

starboard bow of the Kincaid. To his surprise he saw that the ship lay within a few hundred yards of land.

Almost down to the water's edge ran a dense tropical jungle, and behind was higher land clothed in forest.

Tarzan's plan for immediate physical revenge upon the Russian vanished. He thought the land before him the

mainland of Africa, and he knew that should they liberate him here he could doubtless find his way to

Paulvitch pointed to the armed sailors. Then the Englishman slowly divested himself of his clothing.

A boat was lowered, and, still heavily guarded, the apeman was rowed ashore. Half an hour later the sailors

As Tarzan stood upon the narrow strip of beach watching the departure of the vessel he saw a figure appear at

The apeman had been about to read a note that one of the sailors had handed him as the small boat that bore

him to the shore was on the point of returning to the steamer, but at the hail from the vessel's deck he looked

He saw a blackbearded man who laughed at him in derision as he held high above his head the figure of a

little child. Tarzan half started as though to rush through the surf and strike out for the already moving

steamer; but realizing the futility of so rash an act he halted at the water's edge.

Thus he stood, his gaze riveted upon the Kincaid until it disappeared beyond a projecting promontory of the

From the jungle at his back fierce bloodshot eyes glared from beneath shaggy overhanging brows upon him.

Little monkeys in the treetops chattered and scolded, and from the distance of the inland forest came the

But still John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, stood deaf and unseeing, suffering the pangs of keen regret for the

opportunity that he had wasted because he had been so gullible as to place credence in a single statement of

"I have at least," he thought, "one consolationthe knowledge that Jane is safe in London. Thank Heaven

Behind him the hairy thing whose evil eyes had been watching his as a cat watches a mouse was creeping

Slowly Tarzan unfolded the note the sailor had thrust into his hand, and read it. At first it made little

impression on his sorrownumbed senses, but finally the full purport of the hideous plot of revenge unfolded

"This will explain to you" [the note read] "the exact nature of my intentions relative to your offspring and to

"You were born an ape. You lived naked in the jungles to your own we have returned you; but your son

"The father was a beast, but the son shall be a manhe shall take the next ascending step in the scale of

progress. He shall be no naked beast of the jungle, but shall wear a loincloth and copper anklets, and,

perchance, a ring in his nose, for he is to be reared by mena tribe of savage cannibals.

"I might have killed you, but that would have curtailed the full measure of the punishment you have earned at

"Dead, you could not have suffered in the knowledge of your son's plight; but living and in a place from

which you may not escape to seek or succour your child, you shall suffer worse than death for all the years of

"This, then, is to be a part of your punishment for having dared to pit yourself against

"P.S.The balance of your punishment has to do with what shall presently befall your wifethat I shall

As he finished reading, a slight sound behind him brought him back with a start to the world of present

As he wheeled about, it was a beast at bay, vibrant with the instinct of selfpreservation, that faced a huge

The two years that had elapsed since Tarzan had come out of the savage forest with his rescued mate had

witnessed slight diminution of the mighty powers that had made him the invincible lord of the jungle. His

great estates in Uziri had claimed much of his time and attention, and there he had found ample field for the

practical use and retention of his almost superhuman powers; but naked and unarmed to do battle with the

shaggy, bullnecked beast that now confronted him was a test that the apeman would scarce have welcomed

But there was no alternative other than to meet the rage maddened creature with the weapons with which

Over the bull's shoulder Tarzan could see now the heads and shoulders of perhaps a dozen more of these

He knew, however, that there was little chance that they would attack him, since it is not within the reasoning

powers of the anthropoid to be able to weigh or appreciate the value of concentrated action against an

enemyotherwise they would long since have become the dominant creatures of their haunts, so tremendous

With a low snarl the beast now hurled himself at Tarzan, but the apeman had found, among other things in

the haunts of civilized man, certain methods of scientific warfare that are unknown to the jungle folk.

Whereas, a few years since, he would have met the brute rush with brute force, he now sidestepped his

antagonist's headlong charge, and as the brute hurtled past him swung a mighty right to the pit of the ape's

With a howl of mingled rage and anguish the great anthropoid bent double and sank to the ground, though

Before he could regain them, however, his whiteskinned foe had wheeled and pounced upon him, and in the

act there dropped from the shoulders of the English lord the last shred of his superficial mantle of civilization.

Once again he was the jungle beast revelling in bloody conflict with his kind. Once again he was Tarzan, son

His strong, white teeth sank into the hairy throat of his enemy as he sought the pulsing jugular.

Powerful fingers held the mighty fangs from his own flesh, or clenched and beat with the power of a

In a circle about them the balance of the tribe of apes stood watching and enjoying the struggle. They

muttered low gutturals of approval as bits of white hide or hairy bloodstained skin were torn from one

contestant or the other. But they were silent in amazement and expectation when they saw the mighty white

ape wriggle upon the back of their king, and, with steel muscles tensed beneath the armpits of his antagonist,

bear down mightily with his open palms upon the back of the thick bullneck, so that the king ape could but

shriek in agony and flounder helplessly about upon the thick mat of jungle grass.

As Tarzan had overcome the huge Terkoz that time years before when he had been about to set out upon his

quest for human beings of his own kind and colour, so now he overcame this other great ape with the same

wrestling hold upon which he had stumbled by accident during that other combat. The little audience of fierce

anthropoids heard the creaking of their king's neck mingling with his agonized shrieks and hideous roaring.

Then there came a sudden crack, like the breaking of a stout limb before the fury of the wind. The

bullethead crumpled forward upon its flaccid neck against the great hairy chestthe roaring and the

The little pigeyes of the onlookers wandered from the still form of their leader to that of the white ape that

was rising to its feet beside the vanquished, then back to their king as though in wonder that he did not arise

They saw the newcomer place a foot upon the neck of the quiet figure at his feet and, throwing back his

head, give vent to the wild, uncanny challenge of the bullape that has made a kill. Then they knew that their

Across the jungle rolled the horrid notes of the victory cry. The little monkeys in the treetops ceased their

chattering. The harshvoiced, brilliantplumed birds were still. From afar came the answering wail of a

It was the old Tarzan who turned questioning eyes upon the little knot of apes before him. It was the old

Tarzan who shook his head as though to toss back a heavy mane that had fallen before his facean old habit

dating from the days that his great shock of thick, black hair had fallen about his shoulders, and often tumbled

before his eyes when it had meant life or death to him to have his vision unobstructed.

The apeman knew that he might expect an immediate attack on the part of that particular surviving bullape

who felt himself best fitted to contend for the kingship of the tribe. Among his own apes he knew that it was

not unusual for an entire stranger to enter a community and, after having dispatched the king, assume the

On the other hand, if he made no attempt to follow them, they might move slowly away from him, later to

fight among themselves for the supremacy. That he could be king of them, if he so chose, he was confident;

but he was not sure he cared to assume the sometimes irksome duties of that position, for he could see no

One of the younger apes, a huge, splendidly muscled brute, was edging threateningly closer to the apeman.

Tarzan watched his every move, standing rigid as a statue. To have fallen back a step would have been to

precipitate an immediate charge; to have rushed forward to meet the other might have had the same result, or

it might have put the bellicose one to flightit all depended upon the young bull's stock of courage.

To stand perfectly still, waiting, was the middle course. In this event the bull would, according to custom,

approach quite close to the object of his attention, growling hideously and baring slavering fangs. Slowly he

would circle about the other, as though with a chip upon his shoulder; and this he did, even as Tarzan had

It might be a bluff royal, or, on the other hand, so unstable is the mind of an ape, a passing impulse might

hurl the hairy mass, tearing and rending, upon the man without an instant's warning.

As the brute circled him Tarzan turned slowly, keeping his eyes ever upon the eyes of his antagonist. He had

appraised the young bull as one who had never quite felt equal to the task of overthrowing his former king,

but who one day would have done so. Tarzan saw that the beast was of wondrous proportions, standing over

His great, hairy arms reached almost to the ground even when he stood erect, and his fighting fangs, now

quite close to Tarzan's face, were exceptionally long and sharp. Like the others of his tribe, he differed in

At first the apeman had experienced a thrill of hope at sight of the shaggy bodies of the anthropoidsa

hope that by some strange freak of fate he had been again returned to his own tribe; but a closer inspection

As the threatening bull continued his stiff and jerky circling of the apeman, much after the manner that you

have noted among dogs when a strange canine comes among them, it occurred to Tarzan to discover if the

language of his own tribe was identical with that of this other family, and so he addressed the brute in the

"I am Akut," replied the other in the same simple, primal tongue which is so low in the scale of spoken

languages that, as Tarzan had surmised, it was identical with that of the tribe in which the first twenty years

"I am Akut," said the ape. "Molak is dead. I am king. Go away or I shall kill you!"

"You saw how easily I killed Molak," replied Tarzan. "So I could kill you if I cared to be king. But Tarzan of

the Apes would not be king of the tribe of Akut. All he wishes is to live in peace in this country. Let us be

"You cannot kill Akut," replied the other. "None is so great as Akut. Had you not killed Molak, Akut would

For answer the apeman hurled himself upon the great brute who during the conversation had slightly relaxed

In the twinkling of an eye the man had seized the wrist of the great ape, and before the other could grapple

Down they went together, but so well had Tarzan's plan worked out that before ever they touched the ground

Slowly he brought the pressure to bear, and then as in days gone by he had given Kerchak the chance to

surrender and live, so now he gave to Akutin whom he saw a possible ally of great strength and

resourcethe option of living in amity with him or dying as he had just seen his savage and heretofore

It was the same question that he had whispered to Kerchak, and in the language of the apes it means, broadly,

Akut thought of the creaking sound he had heard just before Molak's thick neck had snapped, and he

He hated to give up the kingship, though, so again he struggled to free himself; but a sudden torturing

"You may still be king, Akut," he said. "Tarzan told you that he did not wish to be king. If any question your

The apeman rose, and Akut came slowly to his feet. Shaking his bullet head and growling angrily, he

waddled toward his tribe, looking first at one and then at another of the larger bulls who might be expected to

But none did so; instead, they drew away as he approached, and presently the whole pack moved off into the

The apeman was sore from the wounds that Molak had inflicted upon him, but he was inured to physical

suffering and endured it with the calm and fortitude of the wild beasts that had taught him to lead the jungle

His first need, he realized, was for weapons of offence and defence, for his encounter with the apes, and the

distant notes of the savage voices of Numa the lion, and Sheeta, the panther, warned him that his was to be no

It was but a return to the old existence of constant bloodshed and dangerto the hunting and the being

hunted. Grim beasts would stalk him, as they had stalked him in the past, and never would there be a

moment, by savage day or by cruel night, that he might not have instant need of such crude weapons as he

Upon the shore he found an outcropping of brittle, igneous rock. By dint of much labour he managed to chip

off a narrow sliver some twelve inches long by a quarter of an inch thick. One edge was quite thin for a few

With it he went into the jungle, searching until he found a fallen tree of a certain species of hardwood with

which he was familiar. From this he cut a small straight branch, which he pointed at one end.

Then he scooped a small, round hole in the surface of the prostrate trunk. Into this he crumbled a few bits of

dry bark, minutely shredded, after which he inserted the tip of his pointed stick, and, sitting astride the bole of

After a time a thin smoke rose from the little mass of tinder, and a moment later the whole broke into flame.

Heaping some larger twigs and sticks upon the tiny fire, Tarzan soon had quite a respectable blaze roaring in

Into this he thrust the blade of his stone knife, and as it became superheated he would withdraw it, touching a

spot near the thin edge with a drop of moisture. Beneath the wetted area a little flake of the glassy material

Thus, very slowly, the apeman commenced the tedious operation of putting a thin edge upon his primitive

He did not attempt to accomplish the feat all in one sitting. At first he was content to achieve a cutting edge

of a couple of inches, with which he cut a long, pliable bow, a handle for his knife, a stout cudgel, and a

These he cached in a tall tree beside a little stream, and here also he constructed a platform with a roof of

When all these things had been finished it was growing dusk, and Tarzan felt a strong desire to eat.

He had noted during the brief incursion he had made into the forest that a short distance upstream from his

tree there was a muchused watering place, where, from the trampled mud of either bank, it was evident

beasts of all sorts and in great numbers came to drink. To this spot the hungry apeman made his silent way.

Through the upper terrace of the treetops he swung with the grace and ease of a monkey. But for the heavy

burden upon his heart he would have been happy in this return to the old free life of his boyhood.

Yet even with that burden he fell into the little habits and manners of his early life that were in reality more a

part of him than the thin veneer of civilization that the past three years of his association with the white men

of the outer world had spread lightly over hima veneer that only hid the crudities of the beast that Tarzan

Could his fellowpeers of the House of Lords have seen him then they would have held up their noble hands

Silently he crouched in the lower branches of a great forest giant that overhung the trail, his keen eyes and

sensitive ears strained into the distant jungle, from which he knew his dinner would presently emerge.

Scarce had he settled himself to a comfortable position, his lithe, muscular legs drawn well up beneath him as

the panther draws his hindquarters in preparation for the spring, than Bara, the deer, came daintily down to

But more than Bara was coming. Behind the graceful buck came another which the deer could neither see nor

scent, but whose movements were apparent to Tarzan of the Apes because of the elevated position of the

He knew not yet exactly the nature of the thing that moved so stealthily through the jungle a few hundred

yards behind the deer; but he was convinced that it was some great beast of prey stalking Bara for the

selfsame purpose as that which prompted him to await the fleet animal. Numa, perhaps, or Sheeta, the

In any event, Tarzan could see his repast slipping from his grasp unless Bara moved more rapidly toward the

Even as these thoughts passed through his mind some noise of the stalker in his rear must have come to the

buck, for with a sudden start he paused for an instant, trembling, in his tracks, and then with a swift bound

dashed straight for the river and Tarzan. It was his intention to flee through the shallow ford and escape upon

Tarzan could see him quite plainly now. Below the apeman Bara was about to pass. Could he do it? But

even as he asked himself the question the hungry man launched himself from his perch full upon the back of

In another instant Numa would be upon them both, so if the apeman were to dine that night, or ever again,

Scarcely had he touched the sleek hide of the deer with a momentum that sent the animal to its knees than he

had grasped a horn in either hand, and with a single quick wrench twisted the animal's neck completely

The lion was roaring in rage close behind him as he swung the deer across his shoulder, and, grasping a

foreleg between his strong teeth, leaped for the nearest of the lower branches that swung above his head.

With both hands he grasped the limb, and, at the instant that Numa sprang, drew himself and his prey out of

There was a thud below him as the baffled cat fell back to earth, and then Tarzan of the Apes, drawing his

dinner farther up to the safety of a higher limb, looked down with grinning face into the gleaming yellow

eyes of the other wild beast that glared up at him from beneath, and with taunting insults flaunted the tender

With his crude stone knife he cut a juicy steak from the hindquarters, and while the great lion paced,

growling, back and forth below him, Lord Greystoke filled his savage belly, nor ever in the choicest of his

The warm blood of his kill smeared his hands and face and filled his nostrils with the scent that the savage

And when he had finished he left the balance of the carcass in a high fork of the tree where he had dined, and

with Numa trailing below him, still keen for revenge, he made his way back to his treetop shelter, where he

The next few days were occupied by Tarzan in completing his weapons and exploring the jungle. He strung

his bow with tendons from the buck upon which he had dined his first evening upon the new shore, and

though he would have preferred the gut of Sheeta for the purpose, he was content to wait until opportunity

He also braided a long grass ropesuch a rope as he had used so many years before to tantalize the

illnatured Tublat, and which later had developed into a wondrous effective weapon in the practised hands of

A sheath and handle for his huntingknife he fashioned, and a quiver for arrows, and from the hide of Bara a

belt and loincloth. Then he set out to learn something of the strange land in which he found himself. That it

was not his old familiar west coast of the African continent he knew from the fact that it faced eastthe

But that it was not the east coast of Africa he was equally positive, for he felt satisfied that the Kincaid had

not passed through the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal, and the Red Sea, nor had she had time to round the

Sometimes he wondered if the ship had crossed the broad Atlantic to deposit him upon some wild South

American shore; but the presence of Numa, the lion, decided him that such could not be the case.

As Tarzan made his lonely way through the jungle paralleling the shore, he felt strong upon him a desire for

companionship, so that gradually he commenced to regret that he had not cast his lot with the apes. He had

seen nothing of them since that first day, when the influences of civilization were still paramount within him.

Now he was more nearly returned to the Tarzan of old, and though he appreciated the fact that there could be

little in common between himself and the great anthropoids, still they were better than no company at all.

Moving leisurely, sometimes upon the ground and again among the lower branches of the trees, gathering an

occasional fruit or turning over a fallen log in search of the larger bugs, which he still found as palatable as of

old, Tarzan had covered a mile or more when his attention was attracted by the scent of Sheeta upwind

Now Sheeta, the panther, was one of whom Tarzan was exceptionally glad to fall in with, for he had it in

mind not only to utilize the great cat's strong gut for his bow, but also to fashion a new quiver and loincloth

from pieces of his hide. So, whereas the apeman had gone carelessly before, he now became the

Swiftly and silently he glided through the forest in the wake of the savage cat, nor was the pursuer, for all his

As he came closer to Sheeta he became aware that the panther on his part was stalking game of his own, and

even as he realized this fact there came to his nostrils, wafted from his right by a vagrant breeze, the strong

The panther had taken to a large tree as Tarzan came within sight of him, and beyond and below him Tarzan

saw the tribe of Akut lolling in a little, natural clearing. Some of them were dozing against the boles of trees,

while others roamed about turning over bits of bark from beneath which they transferred the luscious grubs

The great cat lay crouched upon a thick limb, hidden from the ape's view by dense foliage, waiting patiently

Tarzan cautiously gained a position in the same tree with the panther and a little above him. In his left hand

he grasped his slim stone blade. He would have preferred to use his noose, but the foliage surrounding the

Akut had now wandered quite close beneath the tree wherein lay the waiting death. Sheeta slowly edged his

hind paws along the branch still further beneath him, and then with a hideous shriek he launched himself

toward the great ape. The barest fraction of a second before his spring another beast of prey above him

As the startled Akut looked up he saw the panther almost above him, and already upon the panther's back the

The teeth of the apeman were buried in the back of Sheeta's neck and his right arm was round the fierce

throat, while the left hand, grasping a slender piece of stone, rose and fell in mighty blows upon the panther's

Akut had just time to leap to one side to avoid being pinioned beneath these battling monsters of the jungle.

With a crash they came to earth at his feet. Sheeta was screaming, snarling, and roaring horribly; but the

Steadily and remorselessly the stone knife was driven home through the glossy hidetime and again it drank

deep, until with a final agonized lunge and shriek the great feline rolled over upon its side and, save for the

Then the apeman raised his head, as he stood over the carcass of his kill, and once again through the jungle

Akut and the apes of Akut stood looking in startled wonder at the dead body of Sheeta and the lithe, straight

He had saved Akut's life for a purpose, and, knowing the limitations of the ape intellect, he also knew that he

must make this purpose plain to the anthropoid if it were to serve him in the way he hoped.

"I am Tarzan of the Apes," he said, "Mighty hunter. Mighty fighter. By the great water I spared Akut's life

when I might have taken it and become king of the tribe of Akut. Now I have saved Akut from death beneath

"When Akut or the tribe of Akut is in danger, let them call to Tarzan thus"and the apeman raised the

hideous cry with which the tribe of Kerchak had been wont to summon its absent members in times of peril.

"And," he continued, "when they hear Tarzan call to them, let them remember what he has done for Akut and

"Huh!" assented Akut, and from the members of his tribe there rose a unanimous "Huh."

Then, presently, they went to feeding again as though nothing had happened, and with them fed John

He noticed, however, that Akut kept always close to him, and was often looking at him with a strange wonder

in his little bloodshot eyes, and once he did a thing that Tarzan during all his long years among the apes had

never before seen an ape dohe found a particularly tender morsel and handed it to Tarzan.

As the tribe hunted, the glistening body of the apeman mingled with the brown, shaggy hides of his

companions. Oftentimes they brushed together in passing, but the apes had already taken his presence for

If he came too close to a she with a young baby, the former would bare her great fighting fangs and growl

ominously, and occasionally a truculent young bull would snarl a warning if Tarzan approached while the

former was eating. But in those things the treatment was no different from that which they accorded any other

Tarzan on his part felt very much at home with these fierce, hairy progenitors of primitive man. He skipped

nimbly out of reach of each threatening femalefor such is the way of apes, if they be not in one of their

occasional fits of bestial rageand he growled back at the truculent young bulls, baring his canine teeth even

as they. Thus easily he fell back into the way of his early life, nor did it seem that he had ever tasted

For the better part of a week he roamed the jungle with his new friends, partly because of a desire for

companionship and partially through a welllaid plan to impress himself indelibly upon their memories,

which at best are none too long; for Tarzan from past experience knew that it might serve him in good stead

When he was convinced that he had succeeded to some extent in fixing his identity upon them he decided to

again take up his exploration. To this end he set out toward the north early one day, and, keeping parallel with

When the sun rose the next morning he saw that it lay almost directly to his right as he stood upon the beach

instead of straight out across the water as heretofore, and so he reasoned that the shore line had trended

toward the west. All the second day he continued his rapid course, and when Tarzan of the Apes sought

speed, he passed through the middle terrace of the forest with the rapidity of a squirrel.

That night the sun set straight out across the water opposite the land, and then the apeman guessed at last the

He might have known it! If there was any plan that would render his position more harrowing he should have

known that such would be the one adopted by the Russian, and what could be more terrible than to leave him

Rokoff doubtless had sailed directly to the mainland, where it would be a comparatively easy thing for him to

find the means of delivering the infant Jack into the hands of the cruel and savage fosterparents, who, as his

Tarzan shuddered as he thought of the cruel suffering the little one must endure in such a life, even though he

might fall into the hands of individuals whose intentions toward him were of the kindest. The apeman had

had sufficient experience with the lower savages of Africa to know that even there may be found the cruder

virtues of charity and humanity; but their lives were at best but a series of terrible privations, dangers, and

Then there was the horrid afterfate that awaited the child as he grew to manhood. The horrible practices that

would form a part of his lifetraining would alone be sufficient to bar him forever from association with

A cannibal! His little boy a savage maneater! It was too horrible to contemplate.

The filed teeth, the slit nose, the little face painted hideously. Tarzan groaned. Could he but feel the throat of

What tortures of doubt and fear and uncertainty she must be suffering. He felt that his position was infinitely

less terrible than hers, for he at least knew that one of his loved ones was safe at home, while she had no idea

It is well for Tarzan that he did not guess the truth, for the knowledge would have but added a hundredfold to

As he moved slowly through the jungle his mind absorbed by his gloomy thoughts, there presently came to

Cautiously he moved in the direction from which it emanated, presently coming upon a huge panther pinned

As Tarzan approached, the beast turned, snarling, toward him, struggling to extricate itself; but one great limb

across its back and the smaller entangling branches pinioning its legs prevented it from moving but a few

The apeman stood before the helpless cat fitting an arrow to his bow that he might dispatch the beast that

otherwise must die of starvation; but even as he drew back the shaft a sudden whim stayed his hand.

Why rob the poor creature of life and liberty, when it would be so easy a thing to restore both to it! He was

sure from the fact that the panther moved all its limbs in its futile struggle for freedom that its spine was

Relaxing his bowstring, he returned the arrow to the quiver and, throwing the bow about his shoulder,

On his lips was the soothing, purring sound that the great cats themselves made when contented and happy. It

was the nearest approach to a friendly advance that Tarzan could make in the language of Sheeta.

The panther ceased his snarling and eyed the apeman closely. To lift the tree's great weight from the animal

it was necessary to come within reach of those long, strong talons, and when the tree had been removed the

man would be totally at the mercy of the savage beast; but to Tarzan of the Apes fear was a thing unknown.

Unhesitatingly, he stepped into the tangle of branches close to the panther's side, still voicing his friendly and

conciliatory purr. The cat turned his head toward the man, eyeing him steadilyquestioningly. The long

Tarzan put a broad shoulder beneath the bole of the tree, and as he did so his bare leg pressed against the cat's

The great tree with its entangling branches rose gradually from the panther, who, feeling the encumbering

weight diminish, quickly crawled from beneath. Tarzan let the tree fall back to earth, and the two beasts

A grim smile lay upon the apeman's lips, for he knew that he had taken his life in his hands to free this

savage jungle fellow; nor would it have surprised him had the cat sprung upon him the instant that it had been

But it did not do so. Instead, it stood a few paces from the tree watching the apeman clamber out of the

Once outside, Tarzan was not three paces from the panther. He might have taken to the higher branches of the

trees upon the opposite side, for Sheeta cannot climb to the heights to which the apeman can go; but

something, a spirit of bravado perhaps, prompted him to approach the panther as though to discover if any

As he approached the mighty cat the creature stepped warily to one side, and the apeman brushed past him

within a foot of the dripping jaws, and as he continued on through the forest the panther followed on behind

For a long time Tarzan could not tell whether the beast was following out of friendly feelings or merely

stalking him against the time he should be hungry; but finally he was forced to believe that the former

Later in the day the scent of a deer sent Tarzan into the trees, and when he had dropped his noose about the

animal's neck he called to Sheeta, using a purr similar to that which he had utilized to pacify the brute's

It was similar to that which he had heard panthers use after a kill when they had been hunting in pairs.

Almost immediately there was a crashing of the underbrush close at hand, and the long, lithe body of his

At sight of the body of Bara and the smell of blood the panther gave forth a shrill scream, and a moment later

On one occasion as they were dining upon the carcass of a boar that Sheeta had dispatched, Numa, the lion,

With an angry, warning roar he sprang forward to chase them from their kill. Sheeta bounded into a nearby

Here the apeman unloosed his grass rope from about his neck, and as Numa stood above the body of the

boar, challenging head erect, he dropped the sinuous noose about the maned neck, drawing the stout strands

taut with a sudden jerk. At the same time he called shrilly to Sheeta, as he drew the struggling lion upward

Quickly he made the rope fast to a stout branch, and as the panther, in answer to his summons, leaped into

sight, Tarzan dropped to the earth beside the struggling and infuriated Numa, and with a long sharp knife

The panther tore and rent Numa upon the right, while the apeman struck home with his stone knife upon the

other, so that before the mighty clawing of the king of beasts had succeeded in parting the rope he hung quite

And then upon the jungle air there rose in unison from two savage throats the victory cry of the bullape and

As the last notes died away in a longdrawn, fearsome wail, a score of painted warriors, drawing their long

warcanoe upon the beach, halted to stare in the direction of the jungle and to listen.

By the time that Tarzan had travelled entirely about the coast of the island, and made several trips inland

Nowhere had he found any sign that men had stopped even temporarily upon this shore, though, of course, he

knew that so quickly does the rank vegetation of the tropics erase all but the most permanent of human

The day following the killing of Numa, Tarzan and Sheeta came upon the tribe of Akut. At sight of the

panther the great apes took to flight, but after a time Tarzan succeeded in recalling them.

It had occurred to him that it would be at least an interesting experiment to attempt to reconcile these

hereditary enemies. He welcomed anything that would occupy his time and his mind beyond the filling of his

belly and the gloomy thoughts to which he fell prey the moment that he became idle.

To communicate his plan to the apes was not a particularly difficult matter, though their narrow and limited

vocabulary was strained in the effort; but to impress upon the little, wicked brain of Sheeta that he was to

hunt with and not for his legitimate prey proved a task almost beyond the powers of the apeman.

Tarzan, among his other weapons, possessed a long, stout cudgel, and after fastening his rope about the

panther's neck he used this instrument freely upon the snarling beast, endeavouring in this way to impress

upon its memory that it must not attack the great, shaggy manlike creatures that had approached more closely

That the cat did not turn and rend Tarzan is something of a miracle which may possibly be accounted for by

the fact that twice when it turned growling upon the apeman he had rapped it sharply upon its sensitive

nose, inculcating in its mind thereby a most wholesome fear of the cudgel and the apebeasts behind it.

It is a question if the original cause of his attachment for Tarzan was still at all clear in the mind of the

panther, though doubtless some subconscious suggestion, superinduced by this primary reason and aided and

abetted by the habit of the past few days, did much to compel the beast to tolerate treatment at his hands that

Then, too, there was the compelling force of the manmind exerting its powerful influence over this creature

of a lower order, and, after all, it may have been this that proved the most potent factor in Tarzan's supremacy

over Sheeta and the other beasts of the jungle that had from time to time fallen under his domination.

Be that as it may, for days the man, the panther, and the great apes roamed their savage haunts side by side,

making their kills together and sharing them with one another, and of all the fierce and savage band none was

more terrible than the smoothskinned, powerful beast that had been but a few short months before a familiar

Sometimes the beasts separated to follow their own inclinations for an hour or a day, and it was upon one of

these occasions when the apeman had wandered through the treetops toward the beach, and was stretched

in the hot sun upon the sand, that from the low summit of a nearby promontory a pair of keen eyes

For a moment the owner of the eyes looked in astonishment at the figure of the savage white man basking in

the rays of that hot, tropic sun; then he turned, making a sign to some one behind him. Presently another pair

of eyes were looking down upon the apeman, and then another and another, until a full score of hideously

trapped, savage warriors were lying upon their bellies along the crest of the ridge watching the whiteskinned

They were down wind from Tarzan, and so their scent was not carried to him, and as his back was turned half

toward them he did not see their cautious advance over the edge of the promontory and down through the

Big fellows they were, all of them, their barbaric headdresses and grotesquely painted faces, together with

their many metal ornaments and gorgeously coloured feathers, adding to their wild, fierce appearance.

Once at the foot of the ridge, they came cautiously to their feet, and, bent halfdouble, advanced silently

upon the unconscious white man, their heavy warclubs swinging menacingly in their brawny hands.

The mental suffering that Tarzan's sorrowful thoughts induced had the effect of numbing his keen, perceptive

faculties, so that the advancing savages were almost upon him before he became aware that he was no longer

So quickly, though, were his mind and muscles wont to react in unison to the slightest alarm that he was upon

his feet and facing his enemies, even as he realized that something was behind him. As he sprang to his feet

the warriors leaped toward him with raised clubs and savage yells, but the foremost went down to sudden

death beneath the long, stout stick of the apeman, and then the lithe, sinewy figure was among them,

striking right and left with a fury, power, and precision that brought panic to the ranks of the blacks.

For a moment they withdrew, those that were left of them, and consulted together at a short distance from the

apeman, who stood with folded arms, a halfsmile upon his handsome face, watching them. Presently they

advanced upon him once more, this time wielding their heavy warspears. They were between Tarzan and

There seemed to the apeman but slight chance to escape the final charge when all the great spears should be

hurled simultaneously at him; but if he had desired to escape there was no way other than through the ranks

His predicament was indeed most serious when an idea occurred to him that altered his smile to a broad grin.

The warriors were still some little distance away, advancing slowly, making, after the manner of their kind, a

frightful din with their savage yells and the pounding of their naked feet upon the ground as they leaped up

Then it was that the apeman lifted his voice in a series of wild, weird screams that brought the blacks to a

sudden, perplexed halt. They looked at one another questioningly, for here was a sound so hideous that their

own frightful din faded into insignificance beside it. No human throat could have formed those bestial notes,

they were sure, and yet with their own eyes they had seen this white man open his mouth to pour forth his

But only for a moment they hesitated, and then with one accord they again took up their fantastic advance

upon their prey; but even then a sudden crashing in the jungle behind them brought them once more to a halt,

and as they turned to look in the direction of this new noise there broke upon their startled visions a sight that

Leaping from the tangled vegetation of the jungle's rim came a huge panther, with blazing eyes and bared

fangs, and in his wake a score of mighty, shaggy apes lumbering rapidly toward them, half erect upon their

short, bowed legs, and with their long arms reaching to the ground, where their horny knuckles bore the

weight of their ponderous bodies as they lurched from side to side in their grotesque advance.

Before the Wagambi could recover from their astonishment the frightful horde was upon them from one side

and Tarzan of the Apes from the other. Heavy spears were hurled and mighty warclubs wielded, and though

Sheeta's cruel fangs and tearing talons ripped and tore at the black hides. Akut's mighty yellow tusks found

the jugular of more than one sleekskinned savage, and Tarzan of the Apes was here and there and

everywhere, urging on his fierce allies and taking a heavy toll with his long, slim knife.

In a moment the blacks had scattered for their lives, but of the score that had crept down the grassy sides of

the promontory only a single warrior managed to escape the horde that had overwhelmed his people.

This one was Mugambi, chief of the Wagambi of Ugambi, and as he disappeared in the tangled luxuriousness

of the rank growth upon the ridge's summit only the keen eyes of the apeman saw the direction of his flight.

Leaving his pack to eat their fill upon the flesh of their victimsflesh that he could not touchTarzan of the

Apes pursued the single survivor of the bloody fray. Just beyond the ridge he came within sight of the fleeing

black, making with headlong leaps for a long warcanoe that was drawn well up upon the beach above the

Noiseless as the fellow's shadow, the apeman raced after the terrorstricken black. In the white man's mind

was a new plan, awakened by sight of the warcanoe. If these men had come to his island from another, or

from the mainland, why not utilize their craft to make his way to the country from which they had come?

Evidently it was an inhabited country, and no doubt had occasional intercourse with the mainland, if it were

A heavy hand fell upon the shoulder of the escaping Mugambi before he was aware that he was being

pursued, and as he turned to do battle with his assailant giant fingers closed about his wrists and he was

hurled to earth with a giant astride him before he could strike a blow in his own defence.

In the language of the West Coast, Tarzan spoke to the prostrate man beneath him.

"I will spare your life," said Tarzan, "if you will promise to help me to leave this island. What do you

"I will help you," replied Mugambi. "But now that you have killed all my warriors, I do not know that even I

can leave your country, for there will be none to wield the paddles, and without paddlers we cannot cross the

Tarzan rose and allowed his prisoner to come to his feet. The fellow was a magnificent specimen of

"Come!" said the apeman, and started back in the direction from which they could hear the snarling and

Still the black hesitated, fearful of the consequences of approaching the terrible creatures that were dining

upon the bodies of his warriors; but Tarzan forced him to accompany him, and presently the two emerged

from the jungle in full view of the grisly spectacle upon the beach. At sight of the men the beasts looked up

with menacing growls, but Tarzan strode in among them, dragging the trembling Wagambi with him.

As he had taught the apes to accept Sheeta, so he taught them to adopt Mugambi as well, and much more

easily; but Sheeta seemed quite unable to understand that though he had been called upon to devour

Mugambi's warriors he was not to be allowed to proceed after the same fashion with Mugambi. However,

being well filled, he contented himself with walking round the terrorstricken savage, emitting low,

menacing growls the while he kept his flaming, baleful eyes riveted upon the black.

Mugambi, on his part, clung closely to Tarzan, so that the apeman could scarce control his laughter at the

pitiable condition to which the chief's fear had reduced him; but at length the white took the great cat by the

scruff of the neck and, dragging it quite close to the Wagambi, slapped it sharply upon the nose each time that

At the sight of the thinga man mauling with his bare hands one of the most relentless and fierce of the

jungle carnivoraMugambi's eyes bulged from their sockets, and from entertaining a sullen respect for the

giant white man who had made him prisoner, the black felt an almost worshipping awe of Tarzan.

The education of Sheeta progressed so well that in a short time Mugambi ceased to be the object of his

To say that Mugambi was entirely happy or at ease in his new environment would not be to adhere strictly to

the truth. His eyes were constantly rolling apprehensively from side to side as now one and now another of

the fierce pack chanced to wander near him, so that for the most of the time it was principally the whites that

Together Tarzan and Mugambi, with Sheeta and Akut, lay in wait at the ford for a deer, and when at a word

from the apeman the four of them leaped out upon the affrighted animal the black was sure that the poor

Mugambi built a fire and cooked his portion of the kill; but Tarzan, Sheeta, and Akut tore theirs, raw, with

their sharp teeth, growling among themselves when one ventured to encroach upon the share of another.

It was not, after all, strange that the white man's ways should have been so much more nearly related to those

of the beasts than were the savage blacks. We are, all of us, creatures of habit, and when the seeming

necessity for schooling ourselves in new ways ceases to exist, we fall naturally and easily into the manners

Mugambi from childhood had eaten no meat until it had been cooked, while Tarzan, on the other hand, had

never tasted cooked food of any sort until he had grown almost to manhood, and only within the past three or

four years had he eaten cooked meat. Not only did the habit of a lifetime prompt him to eat it raw, but the

craving of his palate as well; for to him cooked flesh was spoiled flesh when compared with the rich and

That he could, with relish, eat raw meat that had been buried by himself weeks before, and enjoy small

rodents and disgusting grubs, seems to us who have been always "civilized" a revolting fact; but had we

learned in childhood to eat these things, and had we seen all those about us eat them, they would seem no

more sickening to us now than do many of our greatest dainties, at which a savage African cannibal would

For instance, there is a tribe in the vicinity of Lake Rudolph that will eat no sheep or cattle, though its next

neighbors do so. Near by is another tribe that eats donkeymeata custom most revolting to the surrounding

tribes that do not eat donkey. So who may say that it is nice to eat snails and frogs' legs and oysters, but

disgusting to feed upon grubs and beetles, or that a raw oyster, hoof, horns, and tail, is less revolting than the

The next few days Tarzan devoted to the weaving of a barkcloth sail with which to equip the canoe, for he

despaired of being able to teach the apes to wield the paddles, though he did manage to get several of them to

embark in the frail craft which he and Mugambi paddled about inside the reef where the water was quite

During these trips he had placed paddles in their hands, when they attempted to imitate the movements of

him and Mugambi, but so difficult is it for them long to concentrate upon a thing that he soon saw that it

would require weeks of patient training before they would be able to make any effective use of these new

There was one exception, however, and he was Akut. Almost from the first he showed an interest in this new

sport that revealed a much higher plane of intelligence than that attained by any of his tribe. He seemed to

grasp the purpose of the paddles, and when Tarzan saw that this was so he took much pains to explain in the

From Mugambi Tarzan learned that the mainland lay but a short distance from the island. It seemed that the

Wagambi warriors had ventured too far out in their frail craft, and when caught by a heavy tide and a high

wind from offshore they had been driven out of sight of land. After paddling for a whole night, thinking that

they were headed for home, they had seen this land at sunrise, and, still taking it for the mainland, had hailed

it with joy, nor had Mugambi been aware that it was an island until Tarzan had told him that this was the fact.

The Wagambi chief was quite dubious as to the sail, for he had never seen such a contrivance used. His

country lay far up the broad Ugambi River, and this was the first occasion that any of his people had found

Tarzan, however, was confident that with a good west wind he could navigate the little craft to the mainland.

At any rate, he decided, it would be preferable to perish on the way than to remain indefinitely upon this

And so it was that when the first fair wind rose he embarked upon his cruise, and with him he took as strange

Mugambi and Akut went with him, and Sheeta, the panther, and a dozen great males of the tribe of Akut.

The warcanoe with its savage load moved slowly toward the break in the reef through which it must pass to

gain the open sea. Tarzan, Mugambi, and Akut wielded the paddles, for the shore kept the west wind from the

Sheeta crouched in the bow at the apeman's feet, for it had seemed best to Tarzan always to keep the wicked

beast as far from the other members of the party as possible, since it would require little or no provocation to

send him at the throat of any than the white man, whom he evidently now looked upon as his master.

In the stern was Mugambi, and just in front of him squatted Akut, while between Akut and Tarzan the twelve

hairy apes sat upon their haunches, blinking dubiously this way and that, and now and then turning their eyes

All went well until the canoe had passed beyond the reef. Here the breeze struck the sail, sending the rude

craft lunging among the waves that ran higher and higher as they drew away from the shore.

With the tossing of the boat the apes became panicstricken. They first moved uneasily about, and then

commenced grumbling and whining. With difficulty Akut kept them in hand for a time; but when a

particularly large wave struck the dugout simultaneously with a little squall of wind their terror broke all

bounds, and, leaping to their feet, they all but overturned the boat before Akut and Tarzan together could

quiet them. At last calm was restored, and eventually the apes became accustomed to the strange antics of

The trip was uneventful, the wind held, and after ten hours' steady sailing the black shadows of the coast

loomed close before the straining eyes of the apeman in the bow. It was far too dark to distinguish whether

they had approached close to the mouth of the Ugambi or not, so Tarzan ran in through the surf at the closest

The dugout turned broadside the instant that its nose touched the sand, and immediately it rolled over, with

all its crew scrambling madly for the shore. The next breaker rolled them over and over, but eventually they

all succeeded in crawling to safety, and in a moment more their ungainly craft had been washed up beside

The balance of the night the apes sat huddled close to one another for warmth; while Mugambi built a fire

close to them over which he crouched. Tarzan and Sheeta, however, were of a different mind, for neither of

them feared the jungle night, and the insistent craving of their hunger sent them off into the Stygian blackness

Side by side they walked when there was room for two abreast. At other times in single file, first one and then

the other in advance. It was Tarzan who first caught the scent of meata bull buffaloand presently the

two came stealthily upon the sleeping beast in the midst of a dense jungle of reeds close to a river.

Closer and closer they crept toward the unsuspecting beast, Sheeta upon his right side and Tarzan upon his

left nearest the great heart. They had hunted together now for some time, so that they worked in unison, with

For a moment they lay quite silent near their prey, and then at a sign from the apeman Sheeta sprang upon

the great back, burying his strong teeth in the bull's neck. Instantly the brute sprang to his feet with a bellow

of pain and rage, and at the same instant Tarzan rushed in upon his left side with the stone knife, striking

One of the apeman's hands clutched the thick mane, and as the bull raced madly through the reeds the thing

striking at his life was dragged beside him. Sheeta but clung tenaciously to his hold upon the neck and back,

For several hundred yards the bellowing bull carried his two savage antagonists, until at last the blade found

his heart, when with a final bellow that was halfscream he plunged headlong to the earth. Then Tarzan and

After the meal the two curled up together in a thicket, the man's black head pillowed upon the tawny side of

the panther. Shortly after dawn they awoke and ate again, and then returned to the beach that Tarzan might

When the meal was done the brutes were for curling up to sleep, so Tarzan and Mugambi set off in search of

the Ugambi River. They had proceeded scarce a hundred yards when they came suddenly upon a broad

stream, which the Negro instantly recognized as that down which he and his warriors had paddled to the sea

The two now followed the stream down to the ocean, finding that it emptied into a bay not over a mile from

Tarzan was much elated by the discovery, as he knew that in the vicinity of a large watercourse he should

find natives, and from some of these he had little doubt but that he should obtain news of Rokoff and the

child, for he felt reasonably certain that the Russian would rid himself of the baby as quickly as possible after

He and Mugambi now righted and launched the dugout, though it was a most difficult feat in the face of the

surf which rolled continuously in upon the beach; but at last they were successful, and soon after were

paddling up the coast toward the mouth of the Ugambi. Here they experienced considerable difficulty in

making an entrance against the combined current and ebb tide, but by taking advantage of eddies close in to

shore they came about dusk to a point nearly opposite the spot where they had left the pack asleep.

Making the craft fast to an overhanging bough, the two made their way into the jungle, presently coming

upon some of the apes feeding upon fruit a little beyond the reeds where the buffalo had fallen. Sheeta was

not anywhere to be seen, nor did he return that night, so that Tarzan came to believe that he had wandered

Early the next morning the apeman led his band down to the river, and as he walked he gave vent to a series

of shrill cries. Presently from a great distance and faintly there came an answering scream, and a halfhour

later the lithe form of Sheeta bounded into view where the others of the pack were clambering gingerly into

The great beast, with arched back and purring like a contented tabby, rubbed his sides against the apeman,

and then at a word from the latter sprang lightly to his former place in the bow of the dugout.

When all were in place it was discovered that two of the apes of Akut were missing, and though both the king

ape and Tarzan called to them for the better part of an hour, there was no response, and finally the boat put

off without them. As it happened that the two missing ones were the very same who had evinced the least

desire to accompany the expedition from the island, and had suffered the most from fright during the voyage,

Tarzan was quite sure that they had absented themselves purposely rather than again enter the canoe.

As the party were putting in for the shore shortly after noon to search for food a slender, naked savage

watched them for a moment from behind the dense screen of verdure which lined the river's bank, then he

Like a deer he bounded along the narrow trail until, filled with the excitement of his news, he burst into a

native village several miles above the point at which Tarzan and his pack had stopped to hunt.

"Another white man is coming!" he cried to the chief who squatted before the entrance to his circular hut.

"Another white man, and with him are many warriors. They come in a great warcanoe to kill and rob as did

Kaviri leaped to his feet. He had but recently had a taste of the white man's medicine, and his savage heart

was filled with bitterness and hate. In another moment the rumble of the wardrums rose from the village,

Seven warcanoes were launched and manned by paintdaubed, befeathered warriors. Long spears bristled

from the rude battleships, as they slid noiselessly over the bosom of the water, propelled by giant muscles

There was no beating of tomtoms now, nor blare of native horn, for Kaviri was a crafty warrior, and it was

in his mind to take no chances, if they could be avoided. He would swoop noiselessly down with his seven

canoes upon the single one of the white man, and before the guns of the latter could inflict much damage

Kaviri's own canoe went in advance of the others a short distance, and as it rounded a sharp bend in the river

where the swift current bore it rapidly on its way it came suddenly upon the thing that Kaviri sought.

So close were the two canoes to one another that the black had only an opportunity to note the white face in

the bow of the oncoming craft before the two touched and his own men were upon their feet, yelling like mad

But a moment later, when Kaviri was able to realize the nature of the crew that manned the white man's

dugout, he would have given all the beads and iron wire that he possessed to have been safely within his

distant village. Scarcely had the two craft come together than the frightful apes of Akut rose, growling and

barking, from the bottom of the canoe, and, with long, hairy arms far outstretched, grasped the menacing

The blacks were overcome with terror, but there was nothing to do other than to fight. Now came the other

warcanoes rapidly down upon the two craft. Their occupants were eager to join the battle, for they thought

They swarmed about Tarzan's craft; but when they saw the nature of the enemy all but one turned and

paddled swiftly upriver. That one came too close to the apeman's craft before its occupants realized that

their fellows were pitted against demons instead of men. As it touched Tarzan spoke a few low words to

Sheeta and Akut, so that before the attacking warriors could draw away there sprang upon them with a

bloodfreezing scream a huge panther, and into the other end of their canoe clambered a great ape.

At one end the panther wrought fearful havoc with his mighty talons and long, sharp fangs, while Akut at the

other buried his yellow canines in the necks of those that came within his reach, hurling the terrorstricken

Kaviri was so busily engaged with the demons that had entered his own craft that he could offer no assistance

to his warriors in the other. A giant of a white devil had wrested his spear from him as though he, the mighty

Kaviri, had been but a newborn babe. Hairy monsters were overcoming his fighting men, and a black

chieftain like himself was fighting shoulder to shoulder with the hideous pack that opposed him.

Kaviri battled bravely against his antagonist, for he felt that death had already claimed him, and so the least

that he could do would be to sell his life as dearly as possible; but it was soon evident that his best was quite

futile when pitted against the superhuman brawn and agility of the creature that at last found his throat and

Presently Kaviri's head began to whirlobjects became confused and dim before his eyesthere was a great

pain in his chest as he struggled for the breath of life that the thing upon him was shutting off for ever. Then

When he opened his eyes once more he found, much to his surprise, that he was not dead. He lay, securely

bound, in the bottom of his own canoe. A great panther sat upon its haunches, looking down upon him.

Kaviri shuddered and closed his eyes again, waiting for the ferocious creature to spring upon him and put him

After a moment, no rending fangs having buried themselves in his trembling body, he again ventured to open

The man was wielding a paddle, while directly behind him Kaviri saw some of his own warriors similarly

"Your warriors tell me that you are the chief of a numerous people, and that your name is Kaviri," he said.

"Another white man `came in peace' three moons ago," replied Kaviri; "and after we had brought him

presents of a goat and cassava and milk, he set upon us with his guns and killed many of my people, and then

"I am not as this other white man," replied Tarzan. "I should not have harmed you had you not set upon me.

Tell me, what was the face of this bad white man like? I am searching for one who has wronged me. Possibly

"He was a man with a bad face, covered with a great, black beard, and he was very, very wickedyes, very

"Was there a little white child with him?" asked Tarzan, his heart almost stopped as he awaited the black's

"No, bwana," replied Kaviri, "the white child was not with this man's partyit was with the other party."

"With the party that the very bad white man was pursuing. There was a white man, woman, and the child,

with six Mosula porters. They passed up the river three days ahead of the very bad white man. I think that

A white man, woman, and child! Tarzan was puzzled. The child must be his little Jack; but who could the

woman beand the man? Was it possible that one of Rokoff's confederates had conspired with some

If this was the case, they had doubtless purposed returning the child to civilization and there either claiming a

But now that Rokoff had succeeded in chasing them far inland, up the savage river, there could be little doubt

but that he would eventually overhaul them, unless, as was still more probable, they should be captured and

killed by the very cannibals farther up the Ugambi, to whom, Tarzan was now convinced, it had been

As he talked to Kaviri the canoes had been moving steadily upriver toward the chief's village. Kaviri's

warriors plied the paddles in the three canoes, casting sidelong, terrified glances at their hideous passengers.

Three of the apes of Akut had been killed in the encounter, but there were, with Akut, eight of the frightful

Kaviri's warriors thought that they had never seen so terrible a crew in all their lives. Momentarily they

expected to be pounced upon and torn asunder by some of their captors; and, in fact, it was all that Tarzan

and Mugambi and Akut could do to keep the snarling, illnatured brutes from snapping at the glistening,

naked bodies that brushed against them now and then with the movements of the paddlers, whose very fear

At Kaviri's camp Tarzan paused only long enough to eat the food that the blacks furnished, and arrange with

Kaviri was only too glad to comply with any demands that the apeman might make if only such compliance

would hasten the departure of the horrid pack; but it was easier, he discovered, to promise men than to furnish

them, for when his people learned his intentions those that had not already fled into the jungle proceeded to

do so without loss of time, so that when Kaviri turned to point out those who were to accompany Tarzan, he

"They do not seem anxious to accompany us," he said; "but just remain quietly here, Kaviri, and presently

Then the apeman rose, and, calling his pack about him, commanded that Mugambi remain with Kaviri, and

For half an hour the silence of the grim forest was broken only by the ordinary sounds of the teeming life that

but adds to its lowering loneliness. Kaviri and Mugambi sat alone in the palisaded village, waiting.

Presently from a great distance came a hideous sound. Mugambi recognized the weird challenge of the

apeman. Immediately from different points of the compass rose a horrid semicircle of similar shrieks and

The two savages, Kaviri and Mugambi, squatting before the entrance to Kaviri's hut, looked at one another

"It is Bwana Tarzan and his people," replied Mugambi. "But what they are doing I know not, unless it be that

Kaviri shuddered and rolled his eyes fearfully toward the jungle. In all his long life in the savage forest he

Closer and closer came the sounds, and now with them were mingled the terrified shrieks of women and

children and of men. For twenty long minutes the bloodcurdling cries continued, until they seemed but a

stone's throw from the palisade. Kaviri rose to flee, but Mugambi seized and held him, for such had been the

A moment later a horde of terrified natives burst from the jungle, racing toward the shelter of their huts. Like

frightened sheep they ran, and behind them, driving them as sheep might be driven, came Tarzan and Sheeta

"Your people have returned, my brother," he said, "and now you may select those who are to accompany me

Tremblingly Kaviri tottered to his feet, calling to his people to come from their huts; but none responded to

"Tell them," suggested Tarzan, "that if they do not come I shall send my people in after them."

Kaviri did as he was bid, and in an instant the entire population of the village came forth, their wide and

frightened eyes rolling from one to another of the savage creatures that wandered about the village street.

Quickly Kaviri designated a dozen warriors to accompany Tarzan. The poor fellows went almost white with

terror at the prospect of close contact with the panther and the apes in the narrow confines of the canoes; but

when Kaviri explained to them that there was no escapethat Bwana Tarzan would pursue them with his

grim horde should they attempt to run away from the dutythey finally went gloomily down to the river and

It was with a sigh of relief that their chieftain saw the party disappear about a headland a short distance

For three days the strange company continued farther and farther into the heart of the savage country that lies

on either side of the almost unexplored Ugambi. Three of the twelve warriors deserted during that time; but

as several of the apes had finally learned the secret of the paddles, Tarzan felt no dismay because of the loss.

As a matter of fact, he could have travelled much more rapidly on shore, but he believed that he could hold

his own wild crew together to better advantage by keeping them to the boat as much as possible. Twice a day

they landed to hunt and feed, and at night they slept upon the bank of the mainland or on one of the numerous

Before them the natives fled in alarm, so that they found only deserted villages in their path as they

proceeded. Tarzan was anxious to get in touch with some of the savages who dwelt upon the river's banks,

Finally he decided to take to the land himself, leaving his company to follow after him by boat. He explained

to Mugambi the thing that he had in mind, and told Akut to follow the directions of the black.

"I will join you again in a few days," he said. "Now I go ahead to learn what has become of the very bad

At the next halt Tarzan took to the shore, and was soon lost to the view of his people.

The first few villages he came to were deserted, showing that news of the coming of his pack had travelled

rapidly; but toward evening he came upon a distant cluster of thatched huts surrounded by a rude palisade,

The women were preparing the evening meal as Tarzan of the Apes poised above them in the branches of a

The apeman was at a loss as to how he might enter into communication with these people without either

frightening them or arousing their savage love of battle. He had no desire to fight now, for he was upon a

much more important mission than that of battling with every chance tribe that he should happen to meet

At last he hit upon a plan, and after seeing that he was concealed from the view of those below, he gave a few

hoarse grunts in imitation of a panther. All eyes immediately turned upward toward the foliage above.

It was growing dark, and they could not penetrate the leafy screen which shielded the apeman from their

view. The moment that he had won their attention he raised his voice to the shriller and more hideous scream

of the beast he personated, and then, scarce stirring a leaf in his descent, dropped to the ground once again

outside the palisade, and, with the speed of a deer, ran quickly round to the village gate.

Here he beat upon the fibrebound saplings of which the barrier was constructed, shouting to the natives in

their own tongue that he was a friend who wished food and shelter for the night.

Tarzan knew well the nature of the black man. He was aware that the grunting and screaming of Sheeta in the

tree above them would set their nerves on edge, and that his pounding upon their gate after dark would still

That they did not reply to his hail was no surprise, for natives are fearful of any voice that comes out of the

night from beyond their palisades, attributing it always to some demon or other ghostly visitor; but still he

"Let me in, my friends!" he cried. "I am a white man pursuing the very bad white man who passed this way a

few days ago. I follow to punish him for the sins he has committed against you and me.

"If you doubt my friendship, I will prove it to you by going into the tree above your village and driving

Sheeta back into the jungle before he leaps among you. If you will not promise to take me in and treat me as a

For a moment there was silence. Then the voice of an old man came out of the quiet of the village street.

"If you are indeed a white man and a friend, we will let you come in; but first you must drive Sheeta away."

"Very well," replied Tarzan. "Listen, and you shall hear Sheeta fleeing before me."

The apeman returned quickly to the tree, and this time he made a great noise as he entered the branches, at

the same time growling ominously after the manner of the panther, so that those below would believe that the

When he reached a point well above the village street he made a great commotion, shaking the tree violently,

crying aloud to the panther to flee or be killed, and punctuating his own voice with the screams and

Presently he raced toward the opposite side of the tree and off into the jungle, pounding loudly against the

boles of trees as he went, and voicing the panther's diminishing growls as he drew farther and farther away

A few minutes later he returned to the village gate, calling to the natives within.

For a time there was the sound of excited discussion within the palisade, but at length a halfdozen warriors

came and opened the gates, peering anxiously out in evident trepidation as to the nature of the creature which

they should find waiting there. They were not much relieved at sight of an almost naked white man; but when

Tarzan had reassured them in quiet tones, protesting his friendship for them, they opened the barrier a trifle

When the gates had been once more secured the selfconfidence of the savages returned, and as Tarzan

walked up the village street toward the chief's hut he was surrounded by a host of curious men, women, and

From the chief he learned that Rokoff had passed up the river a week previous, and that he had horns growing

from his forehead, and was accompanied by a thousand devils. Later the chief said that the very bad white

Though none of these statements agreed with Kaviri's, that the Russian was but three days gone from the

chieftain's village and that his following was much smaller than now stated, Tarzan was in no manner

surprised at the discrepancies, for he was quite familiar with the savage mind's strange manner of functioning.

What he was most interested in knowing was that he was upon the right trail, and that it led toward the

After several hours of questioning and crossquestioning the apeman learned that another party had

preceded the Russian by several daysthree whitesa man, a woman, and a little manchild, with several

Tarzan explained to the chief that his people would follow him in a canoe, probably the next day, and that

though he might go on ahead of them the chief was to receive them kindly and have no fear of them, for

Mugambi would see that they did not harm the chief's people, if they were accorded a friendly reception.

"And now," he concluded, "I shall lie down beneath this tree and sleep. I am very tired. Permit no one to

The chief offered him a hut, but Tarzan, from past experience of native dwellings, preferred the open air, and,

further, he had plans of his own that could be better carried out if he remained beneath the tree. He gave as

his reason a desire to be close at hand should Sheeta return, and after this explanation the chief was very glad

Tarzan had always found that it stood him in good stead to leave with natives the impression that he was to

some extent possessed of more or less miraculous powers. He might easily have entered their village without

recourse to the gates, but he believed that a sudden and unaccountable disappearance when he was ready to

leave them would result in a more lasting impression upon their childlike minds, and so as soon as the village

was quiet in sleep he rose, and, leaping into the branches of the tree above him, faded silently into the black

All the balance of that night the apeman swung rapidly through the upper and middle terraces of the forest.

When the going was good there he preferred the upper branches of the giant trees, for then his way was better

lighted by the moon; but so accustomed were all his senses to the grim world of his birth that it was possible

for him, even in the dense, black shadows near the ground, to move with ease and rapidity. You or I walking

beneath the arcs of Main Street, or Broadway, or State Street, could not have moved more surely or with a

tenth the speed of the agile apeman through the gloomy mazes that would have baffled us entirely.

At dawn he stopped to feed, and then he slept for several hours, taking up the pursuit again toward noon.

Twice he came upon natives, and, though he had considerable difficulty in approaching them, he succeeded

in each instance in quieting both their fears and bellicose intentions toward him, and learned from them that

Two days later, still following up the Ugambi, he came upon a large village. The chief, a wickedlooking

fellow with the sharpfiled teeth that often denote the cannibal, received him with apparent friendliness.

The apeman was now thoroughly fatigued, and had determined to rest for eight or ten hours that he might be

fresh and strong when he caught up with Rokoff, as he was sure he must do within a very short time.

The chief told him that the bearded white man had left his village only the morning before, and that doubtless

he would be able to overtake him in a short time. The other party the chief had not seen or heard of, so he

Tarzan did not like the appearance or manner of the fellow, who seemed, though friendly enough, to harbour

a certain contempt for this halfnaked white man who came with no followers and offered no presents; but he

needed the rest and food that the village would afford him with less effort than the jungle, and so, as he knew

no fear of man, beast, or devil, he curled himself up in the shadow of a hut and was soon asleep.

Scarcely had he left the chief than the latter called two of his warriors, to whom he whispered a few

instructions. A moment later the sleek, black bodies were racing along the river path, upstream, toward the

In the village the chief maintained perfect quiet. He would permit no one to approach the sleeping visitor, nor

any singing, nor loud talking. He was remarkably solicitous lest his guest be disturbed.

Three hours later several canoes came silently into view from up the Ugambi. They were being pushed ahead

rapidly by the brawny muscles of their black crews. Upon the bank before the river stood the chief, his spear

raised in a horizontal position above his head, as though in some manner of predetermined signal to those

And such indeed was the purpose of his attitudewhich meant that the white stranger within his village still

In the bows of two of the canoes were the runners that the chief had sent forth three hours earlier. It was

evident that they had been dispatched to follow and bring back this party, and that the signal from the bank

In a few moments the dugouts drew up to the verdureclad bank. The native warriors filed out, and with them

a halfdozen white men. Sullen, uglylooking customers they were, and none more so than the evilfaced,

"Where is the white man your messengers report to be with you?" he asked of the chief.

"This way, bwana," replied the native. "Carefully have I kept silence in the village that he might be still

asleep when you returned. I do not know that he is one who seeks you to do you harm, but he questioned me

closely about your coming and your going, and his appearance is as that of the one you described, but whom

"Had you not told me this tale I should not have recognized him, and then he might have gone after and slain

you. If he is a friend and no enemy, then no harm has been done, bwana; but if he proves to be an enemy, I

"You have done well," replied the white man, "and you shall have the rifle and ammunition whether he be a

"I shall stand with you, bwana," said the chief, "and now come and look upon the stranger, who sleeps within

So saying, he turned and led the way toward the hut, in the shadow of which the unconscious Tarzan slept

Behind the two men came the remaining whites and a score of warriors; but the raised forefingers of the chief

As they turned the corner of the hut, cautiously and upon tiptoe, an ugly smile touched the lips of the white as

The chief looked at the other inquiringly. The latter nodded his head, to signify that the chief had made no

mistake in his suspicions. Then he turned to those behind him and, pointing to the sleeping man, motioned for

A moment later a dozen brutes had leaped upon the surprised Tarzan, and so quickly did they work that he

Then they threw him down upon his back, and as his eyes turned toward the crowd that stood near, they fell

"Pig!" he cried. "Have you not learned sufficient wisdom to keep away from Nikolas Rokoff?"

"Tonight, before my Ethiop friends eat you, I shall tell you what has already befallen your wife and child, and

Through the luxuriant, tangled vegetation of the Stygian jungle night a great lithe body made its way

sinuously and in utter silence upon its soft padded feet. Only two blazing points of yellowgreen flame shone

occasionally with the reflected light of the equatorial moon that now and again pierced the softly sighing roof

Occasionally the beast would stop with highheld nose, sniffing searchingly. At other times a quick, brief

incursion into the branches above delayed it momentarily in its steady journey toward the east. To its

sensitive nostrils came the subtle unseen spoor of many a tender fourfooted creature, bringing the slaver of

But steadfastly it kept on its way, strangely ignoring the cravings of appetite that at another time would have

All that night the creature pursued its lonely way, and the next day it halted only to make a single kill, which

it tore to fragments and devoured with sullen, grumbling rumbles as though half famished for lack of food.

It was dusk when it approached the palisade that surrounded a large native village. Like the shadow of a swift

and silent death it circled the village, nose to ground, halting at last close to the palisade, where it almost

touched the backs of several huts. Here the beast sniffed for a moment, and then, turning its head upon one

What it heard was no sound by the standards of human ears, yet to the highly attuned and delicate organs of

the beast a message seemed to be borne to the savage brain. A wondrous transformation was wrought in the

motionless mass of statuesque bone and muscle that had an instant before stood as though carved out of the

As if it had been poised upon steel springs, suddenly released, it rose quickly and silently to the top of the

palisade, disappearing, stealthily and catlike, into the dark space between the wall and the back of an adjacent

In the village street beyond women were preparing many little fires and fetching cookingpots filled with

water, for a great feast was to be celebrated ere the night was many hours older. About a stout stake near the

centre of the circling fires a little knot of black warriors stood conversing, their bodies smeared with white

and blue and ochre in broad and grotesque bands. Great circles of colour were drawn about their eyes and

lips, their breasts and abdomens, and from their clayplastered coiffures rose gay feathers and bits of long,

The village was preparing for the feast, while in a hut at one side of the scene of the coming orgy the bound

Tarzan of the Apes, tensing his mighty muscles, strained at the bonds that pinioned him; but they had been

reenforced many times at the instigation of the Russian, so that not even the apeman's giant brawn could

Tarzan had looked the Hideous Hunter in the face many a time, and smiled. And he would smile again

tonight when he knew the end was coming quickly; but now his thoughts were not of himself, but of those

Jane would never know the manner of it. For that he thanked Heaven; and he was thankful also that she at

least was safe in the heart of the world's greatest city. Safe among kind and loving friends who would do their

Tarzan writhed at the thought of him. His son! And now hethe mighty Lord of the Junglehe, Tarzan,

King of the Apes, the only one in all the world fitted to find and save the child from the horrors that Rokoff's

evil mind had planned had been trapped like a silly, dumb creature. He was to die in a few hours, and with

Rokoff had been in to see and revile and abuse him several times during the afternoon; but he had been able

to wring no word of remonstrance or murmur of pain from the lips of the giant captive.

So at last he had given up, reserving his particular bit of exquisite mental torture for the last moment, when,

just before the savage spears of the cannibals should for ever make the object of his hatred immune to further

suffering, the Russian planned to reveal to his enemy the true whereabouts of his wife whom he thought safe

Dusk had fallen upon the village, and the apemen could hear the preparations going forward for the torture

and the feast. The dance of death he could picture in his mind's eyefor he had seen the thing many times in

The torture of the slow death as the circling warriors cut him to bits with the fiendish skill, that mutilated

without bringing unconsciousness, had no terrors for him. He was inured to suffering and to the sight of

blood and to cruel death; but the desire to live was no less strong within him, and until the last spark of life

should flicker and go out, his whole being would remain quick with hope and determination. Let them relax

their watchfulness but for an instant, he knew that his cunning mind and giant muscles would find a way to

As he lay, thinking furiously on every possibility of self salvation, there came to his sensitive nostrils a faint

and a familiar scent. Instantly every faculty of his mind was upon the alert. Presently his trained ears caught

the sound of the soundless presence withoutbehind the hut wherein he lay. His lips moved, and though no

sound came forth that might have been appreciable to a human ear beyond the walls of his prison, yet he

realized that the one beyond would hear. Already he knew who that one was, for his nostrils had told him as

plainly as your eyes or mine tell us of the identity of an old friend whom we come upon in broad daylight.

An instant later he heard the soft sound of a furclad body and padded feet scaling the outer wall behind the

hut and then a tearing at the poles which formed the wall. Presently through the hole thus made slunk a great

The beast snuffed round the prostrate man, whining a little. There was a limit to the interchange of ideas

which could take place between these two, and so Tarzan could not be sure that Sheeta understood all that he

attempted to communicate to him. That the man was tied and helpless Sheeta could, of course, see; but that to

the mind of the panther this would carry any suggestion of harm in so far as his master was concerned,

What had brought the beast to him? The fact that he had come augured well for what he might accomplish;

but when Tarzan tried to get Sheeta to gnaw his bonds asunder the great animal could not seem to understand

what was expected of him, and, instead, but licked the wrists and arms of the prisoner.

Presently there came an interruption. Some one was approaching the hut. Sheeta gave a low growl and slunk

into the blackness of a far corner. Evidently the visitor did not hear the warning sound, for almost

He came to Tarzan's side and pricked him with a spear. From the lips of the apeman came a weird, uncanny

sound, and in answer to it there leaped from the blackness of the hut's farthermost corner a bolt of furclad

death. Full upon the breast of the painted savage the great beast struck, burying sharp talons in the black flesh

There was a fearful scream of anguish and terror from the black, and mingled with it was the hideous

challenge of the killing panther. Then came silencesilence except for the rending of bloody flesh and the

The noise had brought sudden quiet to the village without. Then there came the sound of voices in

Highpitched, fearfilled voices, and deep, low tones of authority, as the chief spoke. Tarzan and the panther

heard the approaching footsteps of many men, and then, to Tarzan's surprise, the great cat rose from across

the body of its kill, and slunk noiselessly from the hut through the aperture through which it had entered.

The man heard the soft scraping of the body as it passed over the top of the palisade, and then silence. From

He had little hope that Sheeta would return, for had the great cat intended to defend him against all comers it

Tarzan knew how strange were the workings of the brains of the mighty carnivora of the junglehow

fiendishly fearless they might be in the face of certain death, and again how timid upon the slightest

provocation. There was doubt in his mind that some note of the approaching blacks vibrating with fear had

struck an answering chord in the nervous system of the panther, sending him slinking through the jungle, his

The man shrugged. Well, what of it? He had expected to die, and, after all, what might Sheeta have done for

him other than to maul a couple of his enemies before a rifle in the hands of one of the whites should have

If the cat could have released him! Ah! that would have resulted in a very different story; but it had proved

beyond the understanding of Sheeta, and now the beast was gone and Tarzan must definitely abandon hope.

The natives were at the entrance to the hut now, peering fearfully into the dark interior. Two in advance held

lighted torches in their left hands and ready spears in their right. They held back timorously against those

The shrieks of the panther's victim, mingled with those of the great cat, had wrought mightily upon their poor

nerves, and now the awful silence of the dark interior seemed even more terribly ominous than had the

Presently one of those who was being forced unwillingly within hit upon a happy scheme for learning first

the precise nature of the danger which menaced him from the silent interior. With a quick movement he flung

his lighted torch into the centre of the hut. Instantly all within was illuminated for a brief second before the

There was the figure of the white prisoner still securely bound as they had last seen him, and in the centre of

the hut another figure equally as motionless, its throat and breasts horribly torn and mangled.

The sight that met the eyes of the foremost savages inspired more terror within their superstitious breasts than

would the presence of Sheeta, for they saw only the result of a ferocious attack upon one of their fellows.

Not seeing the cause, their fearridden minds were free to attribute the ghastly work to supernatural causes,

and with the thought they turned, screaming, from the hut, bowling over those who stood directly behind

For an hour Tarzan heard only the murmur of excited voices from the far end of the village. Evidently the

savages were once more attempting to work up their flickering courage to a point that would permit them to

make another invasion of the hut, for now and then came a savage yell, such as the warriors give to bolster up

But in the end it was two of the whites who first entered, carrying torches and guns. Tarzan was not surprised

to discover that neither of them was Rokoff. He would have wagered his soul that no power on earth could

When the natives saw that the white men were not attacked they, too, crowded into the interior, their voices

hushed with terror as they looked upon the mutilated corpse of their comrade. The whites tried in vain to

elicit an explanation from Tarzan; but to all their queries he but shook his head, a grim and knowing smile

His face grew very white as his eyes rested upon the bloody thing grinning up at him from the floor, the face

"Come!" he said to the chief. "Let us get to work and finish this demon before he has an opportunity to repeat

The chief gave orders that Tarzan should be lifted and carried to the stake; but it was several minutes before

At last, however, four of the younger warriors dragged Tarzan roughly from the hut, and once outside the pall

A score of howling blacks pushed and buffeted the prisoner down the village street and bound him to the post

When at last he was made fast and seemed quite helpless and beyond the faintest hope of succour, Rokoff's

shrivelled wart of courage swelled to its usual proportions when danger was not present.

He stepped close to the apeman, and, seizing a spear from the hands of one of the savages, was the first to

prod the helpless victim. A little stream of blood trickled down the giant's smooth skin from the wound in his

The smile of contempt upon his face seemed to infuriate the Russian. With a volley of oaths he leaped at the

helpless captive, beating him upon the face with his clenched fists and kicking him mercilessly about the

Then he raised the heavy spear to drive it through the mighty heart, and still Tarzan of the Apes smiled

Before Rokoff could drive the weapon home the chief sprang upon him and dragged him away from his

"Stop, white man!" he cried. "Rob us of this prisoner and our deathdance, and you yourself may have to take

The threat proved most effective in keeping the Russian from further assaults upon the prisoner, though he

continued to stand a little apart and hurl taunts at his enemy. He told Tarzan that he himself was going to eat

the apeman's heart. He enlarged upon the horrors of the future life of Tarzan's son, and intimated that his

"You think your wife safe in England," said Rokoff. "Poor fool! She is even now in the hands of one not even

of decent birth, and far from the safety of London and the protection of her friends. I had not meant to tell

"Now that you are about to die the most unthinkably horrid death that it is given a white man to dielet this

word of the plight of your wife add to the torments that you must suffer before the last savage spearthrust

The dance had commenced now, and the yells of the circling warriors drowned Rokoff's further attempts to

The leaping savages, the flickering firelight playing upon their painted bodies, circled about the victim at the

To Tarzan's memory came a similar scene, when he had rescued D'Arnot from a like predicament at the last

moment before the final spearthrust should have ended his sufferings. Who was there now to rescue him? In

The thought that these human fiends would devour him when the dance was done caused him not a single

qualm of horror or disgust. It did not add to his sufferings as it would have to those of an ordinary white man,

for all his life Tarzan had seen the beasts of the jungle devour the flesh of their kills.

Had he not himself battled for the grisly forearm of a great ape at that longgone DumDum, when he had

slain the fierce Tublat and won his niche in the respect of the Apes of Kerchak?

The dancers were leaping more closely to him now. The spears were commencing to find his body in the first

It would not be long now. The apeman longed for the last savage lunge that would end his misery.

For an instant the dancers paused, and in the silence of the interval there rose from the lips of the fastbound

white man an answering shriek, more fearsome and more terrible than that of the junglebeast that had

For several minutes the blacks hesitated; then, at the urging of Rokoff and their chief, they leaped in to finish

the dance and the victim; but ere ever another spear touched the brown hide a tawny streak of greeneyed

hate and ferocity bounded from the door of the hut in which Tarzan had been imprisoned, and Sheeta, the

For an instant the blacks and the whites stood transfixed with terror. Their eyes were riveted upon the bared

Only Tarzan of the Apes saw what else there was emerging from the dark interior of the hut.

From her cabin port upon the Kincaid, Jane Clayton had seen her husband rowed to the verdureclad shore of

For several days she saw no one other than Sven Anderssen, the Kincaid's taciturn and repellent cook. She

"Ay tank it blow purty soon purty hard," replied the Swede, and that was all that she could get out of him.

She had come to the conclusion that he spoke no other English, and so she ceased to importune him for

information; but never did she forget to greet him pleasantly or to thank him for the hideous, nauseating

Three days from the spot where Tarzan had been marooned the Kincaid came to anchor in the mouth of a

"We have arrived, my dear," he said, with a sickening leer. "I have come to offer you safety, liberty, and ease.

My heart has been softened toward you in your suffering, and I would make amends as best I may.

"Your husband was a bruteyou know that best who found him naked in his native jungle, roaming wild

with the savage beasts that were his fellows. Now I am a gentleman, not only born of noble blood, but raised

"To you, dear Jane, I offer the love of a cultured man and association with one of culture and refinement,

which you must have sorely missed in your relations with the poor ape that through your girlish infatuation

you married so thoughtlessly. I love you, Jane. You have but to say the word and no further sorrows shall

Outside the door Sven Anderssen paused with the noonday meal he had been carrying to Lady Greystoke.

Upon the end of his long, stringy neck his little head was cocked to one side, his closeset eyes were half

closed, his ears, so expressive was his whole attitude of stealthy eavesdropping, seemed truly to be cocked

forwardeven his long, yellow, straggly moustache appeared to assume a sly droop.

As Rokoff closed his appeal, awaiting the reply he invited, the look of surprise upon Jane Clayton's face

"I would not have been surprised, M. Rokoff," she said, had you attempted to force me to submit to your evil

desires, but that you should be so fatuous as to believe that I, wife of John Clayton, would come to you

willingly, even to save my life, I should never have imagined. I have known you for a scoundrel, M. Rokoff;

Rokoff's eyes narrowed, and the red of mortification flushed out the pallor of his face. He took a step toward

"We shall see who is the fool at last," he hissed, "when I have broken you to my will and your plebeian

Yankee stubbornness has cost you all that you hold deareven the life of your babyfor, by the bones of

St. Peter, I'll forego all that I had planned for the brat and cut its heart out before your very eyes. You'll learn

"What is the use," she said, "of expatiating upon the depths to which your vengeful nature can sink? You

cannot move me either by threats or deeds. My baby cannot judge yet for himself, but I, his mother, can

foresee that should it have been given him to survive to man's estate he would willingly sacrifice his life for

the honour of his mother. Love him as I do, I would not purchase his life at such a price. Did I, he would

Rokoff was now thoroughly angered because of his failure to reduce the girl to terror. He felt only hate for

her, but it had come to his diseased mind that if he could force her to accede to his demands as the price of

her life and her child's, the cup of his revenge would be filled to brimming when he could flaunt the wife of

Again he stepped closer to her. His evil face was convulsed with rage and desire. Like a wild beast he sprang

upon her, and with his strong fingers at her throat forced her backward upon the berth.

At the same instant the door of the cabin opened noisily. Rokoff leaped to his feet, and, turning, faced the

Into the fellow's usually foxy eyes had come an expression of utter stupidity. His lower jaw drooped in

vacuous harmony. He busied himself in arranging Lady Greystoke's meal upon the tiny table at one side of

"Ay tank it blow purty soon purty hard," he said, and then he began rearranging the few dishes upon the little

"Get out of here, or I'll throw you out, you miserable blockhead!" roared Rokoff, taking a threatening step

Anderssen continued to smile foolishly in his direction, but one hamlike paw slid stealthily to the handle of

the long, slim knife that protruded from the greasy cord supporting his soiled apron.

Rokoff saw the move and stopped short in his advance. Then he turned toward Jane Clayton.

"I will give you until tomorrow," he said, "to reconsider your answer to my offer. All will be sent ashore

upon one pretext or another except you and the child, Paulvitch and myself. Then without interruption you

He spoke in French that the cook might not understand the sinister portent of his words. When he had done he

banged out of the cabin without another look at the man who had interrupted him in his sorry work.

When he had gone, Sven Anderssen turned toward Lady Greystokethe idiotic expression that had masked

"You bane good to me," explained the Swede. "Hay treat me like darty dog. Ay help you, lady. You yust

"But how can you help me, Sven," she asked, "when all these men will be against us?"

"Ay tank," said Sven Anderssen, "it blow purty soon purty hard," and then he turned and left the cabin.

Though Jane Clayton doubted the cook's ability to be of any material service to her, she was nevertheless

deeply grateful to him for what he already had done. The feeling that among these enemies she had one friend

brought the first ray of comfort that had come to lighten the burden of her miserable apprehensions

She saw no more of Rokoff that day, nor of any other until Sven came with her evening meal. She tried to

draw him into conversation relative to his plans to aid her, but all that she could get from him was his

stereotyped prophecy as to the future state of the wind. He seemed suddenly to have relapsed into his wonted

However, when he was leaving her cabin a little later with the empty dishes he whispered very low, "Leave

He would have slipped from the room at once, but Jane laid her hand upon his sleeve.

"You do wot Ay tal you," said Anderssen, scowling. "Ay ban halpin' you, so don't you gat too fonny."

When he had gone Jane Clayton sank down upon her berth in utter bewilderment. What was she to do?

Suspicions as to the intentions of the Swede swarmed her brain. Might she not be infinitely worse off if she

No, she could be no worse off in company with the devil himself than with Nikolas Rokoff, for the devil at

She swore a dozen times that she would not leave the Kincaid without her baby, and yet she remained clothed

long past her usual hour for retiring, and her blankets were neatly rolled and bound with stout cord, when

Swiftly she crossed the room and drew the bolt. Softly the door swung open to admit the muffled figure of

the Swede. On one arm he carried a bundle, evidently his blankets. His other hand was raised in a gesture

"Carry this," he said. "Do not make some noise when you see it. It ban you kid."

Quick hands snatched the bundle from the cook, and hungry mother arms folded the sleeping infant to her

breast, while hot tears of joy ran down her cheeks and her whole frame shook with the emotion of the

He snatched up her bundle of blankets, and outside the cabin door his own as well. Then he led her to the

ship's side, steadied her descent of the monkeyladder, holding the child for her as she climbed to the waiting

boat below. A moment later he had cut the rope that held the small boat to the steamer's side, and, bending

silently to the muffled oars, was pulling toward the black shadows up the Ugambi River.

Anderssen rowed on as though quite sure of his ground, and when after half an hour the moon broke through

the clouds there was revealed upon their left the mouth of a tributary running into the Ugambi. Up this

Jane Clayton wondered if the man knew where he was bound. She did not know that in his capacity as cook

he had that day been rowed up this very stream to a little village where he had bartered with the natives for

such provisions as they had for sale, and that he had there arranged the details of his plan for the adventure

Even though the moon was full, the surface of the small river was quite dark. The giant trees overhung its

narrow banks, meeting in a great arch above the centre of the river. Spanish moss dropped from the

gracefully bending limbs, and enormous creepers clambered in riotous profusion from the ground to the

Now and then the river's surface would be suddenly broken ahead of them by a huge crocodile, startled by the

splashing of the oars, or, snorting and blowing, a family of hippos would dive from a sandy bar to the cool,

From the dense jungles upon either side came the weird night cries of the carnivorathe maniacal voice of

the hyena, the coughing grunt of the panther, the deep and awful roar of the lion. And with them strange,

uncanny notes that the girl could not ascribe to any particular night prowlermore terrible because of their

Huddled in the stern of the boat she sat with her baby strained close to her bosom, and because of that little

tender, helpless thing she was happier tonight than she had been for many a sorrowridden day.

Even though she knew not to what fate she was going, or how soon that fate might overtake her, still was she

happy and thankful for the moment, however brief, that she might press her baby tightly in her arms. She

could scarce wait for the coming of the day that she might look again upon the bright face of her little,

Again and again she tried to strain her eyes through the blackness of the jungle night to have but a tiny peep

at those beloved features, but only the dim outline of the baby face rewarded her efforts. Then once more she

It must have been close to three o'clock in the morning that Anderssen brought the boat's nose to the shore

before a clearing where could be dimly seen in the waning moonlight a cluster of native huts encircled by a

At the village gate they were admitted by a native woman, the wife of the chief whom Anderssen had paid to

assist him. She took them to the chief's hut, but Anderssen said that they would sleep without upon the

ground, and so, her duty having been completed, she left them to their own devices.

The Swede, after explaining in his gruff way that the huts were doubtless filthy and verminridden, spread

Jane's blankets on the ground for her, and at a little distance unrolled his own and lay down to sleep.

It was some time before the girl could find a comfortable position upon the hard ground, but at last, the baby

in the hollow of her arm, she dropped asleep from utter exhaustion. When she awoke it was broad daylight.

About her were clustered a score of curious natives mostly men, for among the aborigines it is the male

who owns this characteristic in its most exaggerated form. Instinctively Jane Clayton drew the baby more

closely to her, though she soon saw that the blacks were far from intending her or the child any harm.

In fact, one of them offered her a gourd of milka filthy, smokebegrimed gourd, with the ancient rind of

longcurdled milk caked in layers within its neck; but the spirit of the giver touched her deeply, and her face

lightened for a moment with one of those almost forgotten smiles of radiance that had helped to make her

She took the gourd in one hand, and rather than cause the giver pain raised it to her lips, though for the life of

her she could scarce restrain the qualm of nausea that surged through her as the malodorous thing approached

It was Anderssen who came to her rescue, and taking the gourd from her, drank a portion himself, and then

The sun was shining brightly now, and though the baby still slept, Jane could scarce restrain her impatient

desire to have at least a brief glance at the beloved face. The natives had withdrawn at a command from their

As she debated the wisdom of risking disturbing the child's slumber by lifting the blanket that now protected

its face from the sun, she noted that the cook conversed with the chief in the language of the Negro.

What a remarkable man the fellow was, indeed! She had thought him ignorant and stupid but a short day

before, and now, within the past twentyfour hours, she had learned that he spoke not only English but

She had thought him shifty, cruel, and untrustworthy, yet in so far as she had reason to believe he had proved

himself in every way the contrary since the day before. It scarce seemed credible that he could be serving her

from motives purely chivalrous. There must be something deeper in his intentions and plans than he had yet

She wondered, and when she looked at himat his closeset, shifty eyes and repulsive features, she

shuddered, for she was convinced that no lofty characteristics could be hid behind so foul an exterior.

As she was thinking of these things the while she debated the wisdom of uncovering the baby's face, there

came a little grunt from the wee bundle in her lap, and then a gurgling coo that set her heart in raptures.

Quickly she snatched the blanket from before the infant's face; Anderssen was looking at her as she did so.

He saw her stagger to her feet, holding the baby at arm's length from her, her eyes glued in horror upon the

Then he heard her piteous cry as her knees gave beneath her, and she sank to the ground in a swoon.

As the warriors, clustered thick about Tarzan and Sheeta, realized that it was a fleshandblood panther that

had interrupted their dance of death, they took heart a trifle, for in the face of all those circling spears even

Rokoff was urging the chief to have his spearmen launch their missiles, and the black was upon the instant of

issuing the command, when his eyes strayed beyond Tarzan, following the gaze of the apeman.

With a yell of terror the chief turned and fled toward the village gate, and as his people looked to see the

cause of his fright, they too took to their heelsfor there, lumbering down upon them, their huge forms

exaggerated by the play of moonlight and camp fire, came the hideous apes of Akut.

The instant the natives turned to flee the apeman's savage cry rang out above the shrieks of the blacks, and

in answer to it Sheeta and the apes leaped growling after the fugitives. Some of the warriors turned to battle

with their enraged antagonists, but before the fiendish ferocity of the fierce beasts they went down to bloody

Others were dragged down in their flight, and it was not until the village was empty and the last of the blacks

had disappeared into the bush that Tarzan was able to recall his savage pack to his side. Then it was that he

discovered to his chagrin that he could not make one of them, not even the comparatively intelligent Akut,

understand that he wished to be freed from the bonds that held him to the stake.

In time, of course, the idea would filter through their thick skulls, but in the meanwhile many things might

happenthe blacks might return in force to regain their village; the whites might readily pick them all off

with their rifles from the surrounding trees; he might even starve to death before the dull witted apes

As for Sheetathe great cat understood even less than the apes; but yet Tarzan could not but marvel at the

remarkable characteristics this beast had evidenced. That it felt real affection for him there seemed little

doubt, for now that the blacks were disposed of it walked slowly back and forth about the stake, rubbing its

sides against the apeman's legs and purring like a contented tabby. That it had gone of its own volition to

bring the balance of the pack to his rescue, Tarzan could not doubt. His Sheeta was indeed a jewel among

Mugambi's absence worried the apeman not a little. He attempted to learn from Akut what had become of

the black, fearing that the beasts, freed from the restraint of Tarzan's presence, might have fallen upon the

man and devoured him; but to all his questions the great ape but pointed back in the direction from which

The night passed with Tarzan still fast bound to the stake, and shortly after dawn his fears were realized in the

discovery of naked black figures moving stealthily just within the edge of the jungle about the village. The

With daylight their courage would be equal to the demands of a charge upon the handful of beasts that had

routed them from their rightful abodes. The result of the encounter seemed foregone if the savages could curb

their superstitious terror, for against their overwhelming numbers, their long spears and poisoned arrows, the

panther and the apes could not be expected to survive a really determined attack.

That the blacks were preparing for a charge became apparent a few moments later, when they commenced to

show themselves in force upon the edge of the clearing, dancing and jumping about as they waved their

These manoeuvres Tarzan knew would continue until the blacks had worked themselves into a state of

hysterical courage sufficient to sustain them for a short charge toward the village, and even though he

doubted that they would reach it at the first attempt, he believed that at the second or the third they would

swarm through the gateway, when the outcome could not be aught than the extermination of Tarzan's bold,

Even as he had guessed, the first charge carried the howling warriors but a short distance into the opena

shrill, weird challenge from the apeman being all that was necessary to send them scurrying back to the

bush. For half an hour they pranced and yelled their courage to the stickingpoint, and again essayed a

This time they came quite to the village gate, but when Sheeta and the hideous apes leaped among them they

Again was the dancing and shouting repeated. This time Tarzan felt no doubt they would enter the village and

complete the work that a handful of determined white men would have carried to a successful conclusion at

To have rescue come so close only to be thwarted because he could not make his poor, savage friends

understand precisely what he wanted of them was most irritating, but he could not find it in his heart to place

blame upon them. They had done their best, and now he was sure they would doubtless remain to die with

The blacks were already preparing for the charge. A few individuals had advanced a short distance toward the

village and were exhorting the others to follow them. In a moment the whole savage horde would be racing

Tarzan thought only of the little child somewhere in this cruel, relentless wilderness. His heart ached for the

son that he might no longer seek to savethat and the realization of Jane's suffering were all that weighed

upon his brave spirit in these that he thought his last moments of life. Succour, all that he could hope for, had

come to him in the instant of his extremityand failed. There was nothing further for which to hope.

The blacks were halfway across the clearing when Tarzan's attention was attracted by the actions of one of

the apes. The beast was glaring toward one of the huts. Tarzan followed his gaze. To his infinite relief and

The huge black was panting heavily as though from strenuous physical exertion and nervous excitement. He

rushed to Tarzan's side, and as the first of the savages reached the village gate the native's knife severed the

In the street lay the corpses of the savages that had fallen before the pack the night before. From one of these

Tarzan seized a spear and knob stick, and with Mugambi at his side and the snarling pack about him, he met

Fierce and terrible was the battle that ensued, but at last the savages were routed, more by terror, perhaps, at

sight of a black man and a white fighting in company with a panther and the huge fierce apes of Akut, than

because of their inability to overcome the relatively small force that opposed them.

One prisoner fell into the hands of Tarzan, and him the apeman questioned in an effort to learn what had

become of Rokoff and his party. Promised his liberty in return for the information, the black told all he knew

It seemed that early in the morning their chief had attempted to prevail upon the whites to return with him to

the village and with their guns destroy the ferocious pack that had taken possession of it, but Rokoff appeared

to entertain even more fears of the giant white man and his strange companions than even the blacks

Upon no conditions would he consent to returning even within sight of the village. Instead, he took his party

hurriedly to the river, where they stole a number of canoes the blacks had hidden there. The last that had been

seen of them they had been paddling strongly upstream, their porters from Kaviri's village wielding the

So once more Tarzan of the Apes with his hideous pack took up his search for the apeman's son and the

For weary days they followed through an almost uninhabited country, only to learn at last that they were upon

the wrong trail. The little band had been reduced by three, for three of Akut's apes had fallen in the fighting at

the village. Now, with Akut, there were five great apes, and Sheeta was thereand Mugambi and Tarzan.

The apeman no longer heard rumors even of the three who had preceded Rokoffthe white man and

woman and the child. Who the man and woman were he could not guess, but that the child was his was

enough to keep him hot upon the trail. He was sure that Rokoff would be following this trio, and so he felt

confident that so long as he could keep upon the Russian's trail he would be winning so much nearer to the

In retracing their way after losing Rokoff's trail Tarzan picked it up again at a point where the Russian had

left the river and taken to the brush in a northerly direction. He could only account for this change on the

ground that the child had been carried away from the river by the two who now had possession of it.

Nowhere along the way, however, could he gain definite information that might assure him positively that the

child was ahead of him. Not a single native they questioned had seen or heard of this other party, though

nearly all had had direct experience with the Russian or had talked with others who had.

It was with difficulty that Tarzan could find means to communicate with the natives, as the moment their eyes

fell upon his companions they fled precipitately into the bush. His only alternative was to go ahead of his

One day as he was thus engaged, tracking an unsuspecting savage, he came upon the fellow in the act of

hurling a spear at a wounded white man who crouched in a clump of bush at the trail's side. The white was

Deep in his memory was implanted those repulsive featuresthe closeset eyes, the shifty expression, the

Instantly it occurred to the apeman that this fellow had not been among those who had accompanied Rokoff

at the village where Tarzan had been a prisoner. He had seen them all, and this fellow had not been there.

There could be but one explanationhe it was who had fled ahead of the Russian with the woman and the

childand the woman had been Jane Clayton. He was sure now of the meaning of Rokoff's words.

The apeman's face went white as he looked upon the pasty, vicemarked countenance of the Swede. Across

Tarzan's forehead stood out the broad band of scarlet that marked the scar where, years before, Terkoz had

torn a great strip of the apeman's scalp from his skull in the fierce battle in which Tarzan had sustained his

The man was his preythe black should not have him, and with the thought he leaped upon the warrior,

striking down the spear before it could reach its mark. The black, whipping out his knife, turned to do battle

with this new enemy, while the Swede, lying in the bush, witnessed a duel, the like of which he had never

dreamed to seea halfnaked white man battling with a halfnaked black, hand to hand with the crude

weapons of primeval man at first, and then with hands and teeth like the primordial brutes from whose loins

For a time Anderssen did not recognize the white, and when at last it dawned upon him that he had seen this

giant before, his eyes went wide in surprise that this growling, rending beast could ever have been the

An English nobleman! He had learned the identity of the Kincaid's prisoners from Lady Greystoke during

their flight up the Ugambi. Before, in common with the other members of the crew of the steamer, he had not

The fight was over. Tarzan had been compelled to kill his antagonist, as the fellow would not surrender.

The Swede saw the white man leap to his feet beside the corpse of his foe, and placing one foot upon the

Anderssen shuddered. Then Tarzan turned toward him. His face was cold and cruel, and in the grey eyes the

Anderssen tried to reply, but a sudden fit of coughing choked him. There was an arrow entirely through his

chest, and as he coughed the blood from his wounded lung poured suddenly from his mouth and nostrils.

Tarzan stood waiting for the paroxysm to pass. Like a bronze imagecold, hard, and relentlesshe stood

over the helpless man, waiting to wring such information from him as he needed, and then to kill.

Presently the coughing and haemorrhage ceased, and again the wounded man tried to speak. Tarzan knelt

"They catch us," replied Anderssen, in a voice so low that the apeman could just distinguish the words.

"They catch us. Ay fight, but my men they all run away. Then they get me when Ay ban vounded. Rokoff he

say leave me here for the hyenas. That vas vorse than to kill. He tak your vife and kid."

"What were you doing with themwhere were you taking them?" asked Tarzan, and then fiercely, leaping

close to the fellow with fierce eyes blazing with the passion of hate and vengeance that he had with difficulty

controlled, "What harm did you do to my wife or child? Speak quick before I kill you! Make your peace with

God! Tell me the worst, or I will tear you to pieces with my hands and teeth. You have seen that I can do it!"

"Why," he whispered, "Ay did not hurt them. Ay tried to save them from that Russian. Your vife was kind to

me on the Kincaid, and Ay hear that little baby cry sometimes. Ay got a vife an' kid for my own by

Christiania an' Ay couldn't bear for to see them separated an' in Rokoff's hands any more. That vas all. Do Ay

look like Ay ban here to hurt them?" he continued after a pause, pointing to the arrow protruding from his

There was something in the man's tone and expression that convinced Tarzan of the truth of his assertions.

More weighty than anything else was the fact that Anderssen evidently seemed more hurt than frightened. He

knew he was going to die, so Tarzan's threats had little effect upon him; but it was quite apparent that he

wished the Englishman to know the truth and not to wrong him by harbouring the belief that his words and

"I am sorry," he said very simply. "I had looked for none but knaves in company with Rokoff. I see that I was

wrong. That is past now, and we will drop it for the more important matter of getting you to a place of

comfort and looking after your wounds. We must have you on your feet again as soon as possible."

"You go on an' look for the vife an' kid," he said. "Ay ban as gude as dead already; but"he hesitated"Ay

Tarzan shuddered. A moment ago he had been upon the point of killing this man. Now he could no more

have taken his life than he could have taken the life of any of his best friends.

Again came a fit of coughing and the terrible haemorrhage. After it was over Anderssen lay with closed eyes.

Tarzan thought that he was dead, until he suddenly raised his eyes to those of the apeman, sighed, and

Tarzan scooped a shallow grave for the Kincaid's cook, beneath whose repulsive exterior had beaten the heart

of a chivalrous gentleman. That was all he could do in the cruel jungle for the man who had given his life in

Then Tarzan took up again the pursuit of Rokoff. Now that he was positive that the woman ahead of him was

indeed Jane, and that she had again fallen into the hands of the Russian, it seemed that with all the incredible

It was with difficulty that he kept the trail, for there were many paths through the jungle at this

pointcrossing and crisscrossing, forking and branching in all directions, and over them all had passed

natives innumerable, coming and going. The spoor of the white men was obliterated by that of the native

carriers who had followed them, and over all was the spoor of other natives and of wild beasts.

It was most perplexing; yet Tarzan kept on assiduously, checking his sense of sight against his sense of smell,

that he might more surely keep to the right trail. But, with all his care, night found him at a point where he

He knew that the pack would follow his spoor, and so he had been careful to make it as distinct as possible,

brushing often against the vines and creepers that walled the jungle path, and in other ways leaving his

As darkness settled a heavy rain set in, and there was nothing for the baffled apeman to do but wait in the

partial shelter of a huge tree until morning; but the coming of dawn brought no cessation of the torrential

For a week the sun was obscured by heavy clouds, while violent rain and wind storms obliterated the last

During all this time he saw no signs of natives, nor of his own pack, the members of which he feared had lost

his trail during the terrific storm. As the country was strange to him, he had been unable to judge his course

accurately, since he had had neither sun by day nor moon nor stars by night to guide him.

When the sun at last broke through the clouds in the fore noon of the seventh day, it looked down upon an

For the first time in his life, Tarzan of the Apes had been lost in the jungle. That the experience should have

befallen him at such a time seemed cruel beyond expression. Somewhere in this savage land his wife and son

What hideous trials might they not have undergone during those seven awful days that nature had thwarted

him in his endeavours to locate them? Tarzan knew the Russian, in whose power they were, so well that he

could not doubt but that the man, filled with rage that Jane had once escaped him, and knowing that Tarzan

might be close upon his trail, would wreak without further loss of time whatever vengeance his polluted mind

But now that the sun shone once more, the apeman was still at a loss as to what direction to take. He knew

that Rokoff had left the river in pursuit of Anderssen, but whether he would continue inland or return to the

The apeman had seen that the river at the point he had left it was growing narrow and swift, so that he

judged that it could not be navigable even for canoes to any great distance farther toward its source.

However, if Rokoff had not returned to the river, in what direction had he proceeded?

From the direction of Anderssen's flight with Jane and the child Tarzan was convinced that the man had

purposed attempting the tremendous feat of crossing the continent to Zanzibar; but whether Rokoff would

Fear might drive him to the attempt now that he knew the manner of horrible pack that was upon his trail, and

that Tarzan of the Apes was following him to wreak upon him the vengeance that he deserved.

At last the apeman determined to continue toward the northeast in the general direction of German East

Africa until he came upon natives from whom he might gain information as to Rokoff's whereabouts.

The second day following the cessation of the rain Tarzan came upon a native village the inhabitants of

which fled into the bush the instant their eyes fell upon him. Tarzan, not to be thwarted in any such manner as

this, pursued them, and after a brief chase caught up with a young warrior. The fellow was so badly

frightened that he was unable to defend himself, dropping his weapons and falling upon the ground,

It was with considerable difficulty that the apeman quieted the fellow's fears sufficiently to obtain a

From him Tarzan learned, by dint of much coaxing, that a party of whites had passed through the village

several days before. These men had told them of a terrible white devil that pursued them, warning the natives

The black had recognized Tarzan as the white devil from the descriptions given by the whites and their black

servants. Behind him he had expected to see a horde of demons disguised as apes and panthers.

In this Tarzan saw the cunning hand of Rokoff. The Russian was attempting to make travel as difficult as

The native further told Tarzan that the white man who had led the recent expedition had promised them a

fabulous reward if they would kill the white devil. This they had fully intended doing should the opportunity

present itself; but the moment they had seen Tarzan their blood had turned to water, as the porters of the

Finding the apeman made no attempt to harm him, the native at last recovered his grasp upon his courage,

and, at Tarzan's suggestion, accompanied the white devil back to the village, calling as he went for his

fellows to return also, as "the white devil has promised to do you no harm if you come back right away and

One by one the blacks straggled into the village, but that their fears were not entirely allayed was evident

from the amount of white that showed about the eyes of the majority of them as they cast constant and

The chief was among the first to return to the village, and as it was he that Tarzan was most anxious to

The fellow was short and stout, with an unusually low and degraded countenance and apelike arms. His

Only the superstitious terror engendered in him by the stories poured into his ears by the whites and blacks of

the Russian's party kept him from leaping upon Tarzan with his warriors and slaying him forthwith, for he

and his people were inveterate maneaters. But the fear that he might indeed be a devil, and that out there in

the jungle behind him his fierce demons waited to do his bidding, kept M'ganwazam from putting his desires

Tarzan questioned the fellow closely, and by comparing his statements with those of the young warrior he

had first talked with he learned that Rokoff and his safari were in terrorstricken retreat in the direction of the

Many of the Russian's porters had already deserted him. In that very village he had hanged five for theft and

attempted desertion. Judging, however, from what the Waganwazam had learned from those of the Russian's

blacks who were not too far gone in terror of the brutal Rokoff to fear even to speak of their plans, it was

apparent that he would not travel any great distance before the last of his porters, cooks, tentboys,

gunbearers, askari, and even his headman, would have turned back into the bush, leaving him to the mercy

M'ganwazam denied that there had been any white woman or child with the party of whites; but even as he

spoke Tarzan was convinced that he lied. Several times the apeman approached the subject from different

angles, but never was he successful in surprising the wily cannibal into a direct contradiction of his original

Tarzan demanded food of the chief, and after considerable haggling on the part of the monarch succeeded in

obtaining a meal. He then tried to draw out others of the tribe, especially the young man whom he had

At last, convinced that these people knew a great deal more than they had told him concerning the

whereabouts of the Russian and the fate of Jane and the child, Tarzan determined to remain overnight among

When he had stated his decision to the chief he was rather surprised to note the sudden change in the fellow's

attitude toward him. From apparent dislike and suspicion M'ganwazam became a most eager and solicitous

Nothing would do but that the apeman should occupy the best hut in the village, from which M'ganwazam's

oldest wife was forthwith summarily ejected, while the chief took up his temporary abode in the hut of one of

Had Tarzan chanced to recall the fact that a princely reward had been offered the blacks if they should

succeed in killing him, he might have more quickly interpreted M'ganwazam's sudden change in front.

To have the white giant sleeping peacefully in one of his own huts would greatly facilitate the matter of

earning the reward, and so the chief was urgent in his suggestions that Tarzan, doubtless being very much

fatigued after his travels, should retire early to the comforts of the anything but inviting palace.

As much as the apeman detested the thought of sleeping within a native hut, he had determined to do so this

night, on the chance that he might be able to induce one of the younger men to sit and chat with him before

the fire that burned in the centre of the smokefilled dwelling, and from him draw the truths he sought. So

Tarzan accepted the invitation of old M'ganwazam, insisting, however, that he much preferred sharing a hut

with some of the younger men rather than driving the chief's old wife out in the cold.

The toothless old hag grinned her appreciation of this suggestion, and as the plan still better suited the chief's

scheme, in that it would permit him to surround Tarzan with a gang of picked assassins, he readily assented,

As there was to be a dance that night in honour of a band of recently returned hunters, Tarzan was left alone

in the hut, the young men, as M'ganwazam explained, having to take part in the festivities.

As soon as the apeman was safely installed in the trap, M'Ganwazam called about him the young warriors

None of them was overly enthusiastic about the plan, since deep in their superstitious hearts lay an

exaggerated fear of the strange white giant; but the word of M'ganwazam was law among his people, so not

As M'ganwazam unfolded his plan in whispers to the savages squatting about him the old, toothless hag, to

whom Tarzan had saved her hut for the night, hovered about the conspirators ostensibly to replenish the

supply of firewood for the blaze about which the men sat, but really to drink in as much of their conversation

Tarzan had slept for perhaps an hour or two despite the savage din of the revellers when his keen senses came

suddenly alert to a suspiciously stealthy movement in the hut in which he lay. The fire had died down to a

little heap of glowing embers, which accentuated rather than relieved the darkness that shrouded the interior

of the evilsmelling dwelling, yet the trained senses of the apeman warned him of another presence

He doubted that it was one of his hut mates returning from the festivities, for he still heard the wild cries of

the dancers and the din of the tomtoms in the village street without. Who could it be that took such pains to

As the presence came within reach of him the apeman bounded lightly to the opposite side of the hut, his

"Who is it," he asked, "that creeps upon Tarzan of the Apes, like a hungry lion out of the darkness?"

"Silence, bwana!" replied an old cracked voice. "It is Tambudzashe whose hut you would not take, and

"You were kind to me to whom none is now kind, and I have come to warn you in payment of your

"M'ganwazam has chosen the young men who are to sleep in the hut with you," replied Tambudza. "I was

near as he talked with them, and heard him issuing his instructions to them. When the dance is run well into

"If you are awake they are to pretend that they have come to sleep, but if you sleep it is M'ganwazam's

command that you be killed. If you are not then asleep they will wait quietly beside you until you do sleep,

and then they will all fall upon you together and slay you. M'ganwazam is determined to win the reward the

"I had forgotten the reward," said Tarzan, half to himself, and then he added, "How may M'ganwazam hope

to collect the reward now that the white men who are my enemies have left his country and gone he knows

"Oh, they have not gone far," replied Tambudza. "M'ganwazam knows where they camp. His runners could

"I cannot tell you where they lie so that you could come to the place yourself, but I could lead you to them,

In their interest in the conversation neither of the speakers had noticed the little figure which crept into the

darkness of the hut behind them, nor did they see it when it slunk noiselessly out again.

It was little Buulaoo, the chief's son by one of his younger wivesa vindictive, degenerate little rascal who

hated Tambudza, and was ever seeking opportunities to spy upon her and report her slightest breach of

This Buulaoo did not hear, for he was already legging it up the village street to where his hideous sire guzzled

native beer, and watched the evolutions of the frantic dancers leaping high in the air and cavorting wildly in

So it happened that as Tarzan and Tambudza sneaked warily from the village and melted into the Stygian

darkness of the jungle two lithe runners took their way in the same direction, though by another trail.

When they had come sufficiently far from the village to make it safe for them to speak above a whisper,

Tarzan asked the old woman if she had seen aught of a white woman and a little child.

"Yes, bwana," replied Tambudza, "there was a woman with them and a little childa little white piccaninny.

When Jane Clayton regained consciousness she saw Anderssen standing over her, holding the baby in his

arms. As her eyes rested upon them an expression of misery and horror overspread her countenance.

"It is not mine," she said. "You knew that it was not mine. You are a devil like the Russian."

"Not yours!" he exclaimed. "You tole me the kid aboard the Kincaid ban your kid."

"Not this one," replied Jane dully. "The other. Where is the other? There must have been two. I did not know

Anderssen fidgeted about, standing first on one foot and then upon the other. It was perfectly evident to Jane

that he was honest in his protestations of ignorance of the true identity of the child.

Presently the baby commenced to crow, and bounce up and down in the Swede's arms, at the same time

She could not withstand the appeal, and with a low cry she sprang to her feet and gathered the baby to her

For a few minutes she wept silently, her face buried in the baby's soiled little dress. The first shock of

disappointment that the tiny thing had not been her beloved Jack was giving way to a great hope that after all

some miracle had occurred to snatch her baby from Rokoff's hands at the last instant before the Kincaid

Then, too, there was the mute appeal of this wee waif alone and unloved in the midst of the horrors of the

savage jungle. It was this thought more than any other that had sent her mother's heart out to the innocent

babe, while still she suffered from disappointment that she had been deceived in its identity.

"Not now," he said. "If he ain't ban your kid, Ay don' know whose kid he do ban. Rokoff said it was yours.

"What do we do with it now? Ay can't go back to the Kincaid. Rokoff would have me shot; but you can go

back. Ay take you to the sea, and then some of these black men they take you to the shipeh?"

"No! no!" cried Jane. "Not for the world. I would rather die than fall into the hands of that man again. No, let

us go on and take this poor little creature with us. If God is willing we shall be saved in one way or another."

So they again took up their flight through the wilderness, taking with them a halfdozen of the Mosulas to

carry provisions and the tents that Anderssen had smuggled aboard the small boat in preparation for the

The days and nights of torture that the young woman suffered were so merged into one long, unbroken

nightmare of hideousness that she soon lost all track of time. Whether they had been wandering for days or

years she could not tell. The one bright spot in that eternity of fear and suffering was the little child whose

tiny hands had long since fastened their softly groping fingers firmly about her heart.

In a way the little thing took the place and filled the aching void that the theft of her own baby had left. It

could never be the same, of course, but yet, day by day, she found her motherlove, enveloping the waif

more closely until she sometimes sat with closed eyes lost in the sweet imagining that the little bundle of

For some time their progress inland was extremely slow. Word came to them from time to time through

natives passing from the coast on hunting excursions that Rokoff had not yet guessed the direction of their

flight. This, and the desire to make the journey as light as possible for the gently bred woman, kept

The Swede insisted upon carrying the child while they travelled, and in countless other ways did what he

could to help Jane Clayton conserve her strength. He had been terribly chagrined on discovering the mistake

he had made in the identity of the baby, but once the young woman became convinced that his motives were

truly chivalrous she would not permit him longer to upbraid himself for the error that he could not by any

At the close of each day's march Anderssen saw to the erection of a comfortable shelter for Jane and the

child. Her tent was always pitched in the most favourable location. The thorn boma round it was the strongest

Her food was the best that their limited stores and the rifle of the Swede could provide, but the thing that

touched her heart the closest was the gentle consideration and courtesy which the man always accorded her.

That such nobility of character could lie beneath so repulsive an exterior never ceased to be a source of

wonder and amazement to her, until at last the innate chivalry of the man, and his unfailing kindliness and

sympathy transformed his appearance in so far as Jane was concerned until she saw only the sweetness of his

They had commenced to make a little better progress when word reached them that Rokoff was but a few

marches behind them, and that he had at last discovered the direction of their flight. It was then that

Anderssen took to the river, purchasing a canoe from a chief whose village lay a short distance from the

Thereafter the little party of fugitives fled up the broad Ugambi, and so rapid had their flight become that

they no longer received word of their pursuers. At the end of canoe navigation upon the river, they abandoned

their canoe and took to the jungle. Here progress became at once arduous, slow, and dangerous.

The second day after leaving the Ugambi the baby fell ill with fever. Anderssen knew what the outcome must

be, but he had not the heart to tell Jane Clayton the truth, for he had seen that the young woman had come to

love the child almost as passionately as though it had been her own flesh and blood.

As the baby's condition precluded farther advance, Anderssen withdrew a little from the main trail he had

been following and built a camp in a natural clearing on the bank of a little river.

Here Jane devoted her every moment to caring for the tiny sufferer, and as though her sorrow and anxiety

were not all that she could bear, a further blow came with the sudden announcement of one of the Mosula

porters who had been foraging in the jungle adjacent that Rokoff and his party were camped quite close to

them, and were evidently upon their trail to this little nook which all had thought so excellent a hidingplace.

This information could mean but one thing, and that they must break camp and fly onward regardless of the

baby's condition. Jane Clayton knew the traits of the Russian well enough to be positive that he would

separate her from the child the moment that he recaptured them, and she knew that separation would mean

As they stumbled forward through the tangled vegetation along an old and almost overgrown game trail the

The men had been staunch enough in their devotion and loyalty as long as they were in no danger of being

overtaken by the Russian and his party. They had heard, however, so much of the atrocious disposition of

Rokoff that they had grown to hold him in mortal terror, and now that they knew he was close upon them

their timid hearts would fortify them no longer, and as quickly as possible they deserted the three whites.

Yet on and on went Anderssen and the girl. The Swede went ahead, to hew a way through the brush where

the path was entirely overgrown, so that on this march it was necessary that the young woman carry the child.

All day they marched. Late in the afternoon they realized that they had failed. Close behind them they heard

the noise of a large safari advancing along the trail which they had cleared for their pursuers.

When it became quite evident that they must be overtaken in a short time Anderssen hid Jane behind a large

"There is a village about a mile farther on," he said to her. "The Mosula told me its location before they

deserted us. Ay try to lead the Russian off your trail, then you go on to the village. Ay tank the chief ban

"After while you get chief to tak you down by the Mosula village at the sea again, an' after a while a ship is

sure to put into the mouth of the Ugambi. Then you be all right. Gudeby an' gude luck to you, lady!"

"But where are you going, Sven?" asked Jane. "Why can't you hide here and go back to the sea with me?"

"Ay gotta tal the Russian you ban dead, so that he don't luke for you no more," and Anderssen grinned.

"Ay don't tank Ay join anybody any more after Ay tal the Russian you ban dead," he said.

"You don't mean that you think he will kill you?" asked Jane, and yet in her heart she knew that that was

exactly what the great scoundrel would do in revenge for his having been thwarted by the Swede. Anderssen

did not reply, other than to warn her to silence and point toward the path along which they had just come.

"I don't care," whispered Jane Clayton. "I shall not let you die to save me if I can prevent it in any way. Give

me your revolver. I can use that, and together we may be able to hold them off until we can find some means

"It won't work, lady," replied Anderssen. "They would only get us both, and then Ay couldn't do you no good

at all. Think of the kid, lady, and what it would be for you both to fall into Rokoff's hands again. For his sake

you must do what Ay say. Here, take my rifle and ammunition; you may need them."

She watched him as he returned along the path to meet the oncoming safari of the Russian. Soon a turn in the

Her first impulse was to follow. With the rifle she might be of assistance to him, and, further, she could not

bear the terrible thought of being left alone at the mercy of the fearful jungle without a single friend to aid

She started to crawl from her shelter with the intention of running after Anderssen as fast as she could. As she

How red it was! How unnatural the little thing looked. She raised the cheek to hers. It was fiery hot with

With a little gasp of terror Jane Clayton rose to her feet in the jungle path. The rifle and bandoleer lay

forgotten in the shelter beside her. Anderssen was forgotten, and Rokoff, and her great peril.

All that rioted through her fearmad brain was the fearful fact that this little, helpless child was stricken with

the terrible junglefever, and that she was helpless to do aught to allay its sufferingssufferings that were

Her one thought was to find some one who could help hersome woman who had had children of her

ownand with the thought came recollection of the friendly village of which Anderssen had spoken. If she

There was no time to be lost. Like a startled antelope she turned and fled up the trail in the direction

From far behind came the sudden shouting of men, the sound of shots, and then silence. She knew that

A halfhour later she stumbled, exhausted, into a little thatched village. Instantly she was surrounded by men,

women, and children. Eager, curious, excited natives plied her with a hundred questions, no one of which she

All that she could do was to point tearfully at the baby, now wailing piteously in her arms, and repeat over

The blacks did not understand her words, but they saw the cause of her trouble, and soon a young woman had

pulled her into a hut and with several others was doing her poor best to quiet the child and allay its agony.

The witch doctor came and built a little fire before the infant, upon which he boiled some strange concoction

in a small earthen pot, making weird passes above it and mumbling strange, monotonous chants. Presently he

dipped a zebra's tail into the brew, and with further mutterings and incantations sprinkled a few drops of the

After he had gone the women sat about and moaned and wailed until Jane thought that she should go mad;

but, knowing that they were doing it all out of the kindness of their hearts, she endured the frightful waking

It must have been well toward midnight that she became conscious of a sudden commotion in the village. She

heard the voices of the natives raised in controversy, but she could not understand the words.

Presently she heard footsteps approaching the hut in which she squatted before a bright fire with the baby on

her lap. The little thing lay very still now, its lids, halfraised, showed the pupils horribly upturned.

Jane Clayton looked into the little face with fearhaunted eyes. It was not her babynot her flesh and

bloodbut how close, how dear the tiny, helpless thing had become to her. Her heart, bereft of its own, had

gone out to this poor, little, nameless waif, and lavished upon it all the love that had been denied her during

She saw that the end was near, and though she was terrified at contemplation of her loss, still she hoped that it

The footsteps she had heard without the hut now halted before the door. There was a whispered colloquy, and

a moment later M'ganwazam, chief of the tribe, entered. She had seen but little of him, as the women had

M'ganwazam, she now saw, was an evilappearing savage with every mark of brutal degeneracy writ large

upon his bestial countenance. To Jane Clayton he looked more gorilla than human. He tried to converse with

In answer to his summons another Negro entereda man of very different appearance from

M'ganwazamso different, in fact, that Jane Clayton immediately decided that he was of another tribe. This

man acted as interpreter, and almost from the first question that M'ganwazam put to her, Jane felt an intuitive

conviction that the savage was attempting to draw information from her for some ulterior motive.

She thought it strange that the fellow should so suddenly have become interested in her plans, and especially

in her intended destination when her journey had been interrupted at his village.

Seeing no reason for withholding the information, she told him the truth; but when he asked if she expected

"I have just learned," he said, "from some men who live by the side of the great water, that your husband

followed you up the Ugambi for several marches, when he was at last set upon by natives and killed.

Therefore I have told you this that you might not waste your time in a long journey if you expected to meet

your husband at the end of it; but instead could turn and retrace your steps to the coast."

Jane thanked M'ganwazam for his kindness, though her heart was numb with suffering at this new blow. She

who had suffered so much was at last beyond reach of the keenest of misery's pangs, for her senses were

With bowed head she sat staring with unseeing eyes upon the face of the baby in her lap. M'ganwazam had

left the hut. Sometime later she heard a noise at the entranceanother had entered. One of the women sitting

With a sudden flare it burst into renewed flame, lighting up the hut's interior as though by magic.

The flame disclosed to Jane Clayton's horrified gaze that the baby was quite dead. How long it had been so

A choking lump rose to her throat, her head drooped in silent misery upon the little bundle that she had

For a moment the silence of the hut was unbroken. Then the native woman broke into a hideous wail.

With a start she raised her eyes to look into the sardonic countenance of Nikolas Rokoff.

For a moment Rokoff stood sneering down upon Jane Clayton, then his eyes fell to the little bundle in her lap.

Jane had drawn one corner of the blanket over the child's face, so that to one who did not know the truth it

"You have gone to a great deal of unnecessary trouble," said Rokoff, "to bring the child to this village. If you

"You would have been spared the dangers and fatigue of the journey. But I suppose I must thank you for

relieving me of the inconvenience of having to care for a young infant on the march.

"This is the village to which the child was destined from the first. M'ganwazam will rear him carefully,

making a good cannibal of him, and if you ever chance to return to civilization it will doubtless afford you

much food for thought as you compare the luxuries and comforts of your life with the details of the life your

"Again I thank you for bringing him here for me, and now I must ask you to surrender him to me, that I may

turn him over to his foster parents." As he concluded Rokoff held out his hands for the child, a nasty grin of

To his surprise Jane Clayton rose and, without a word of protest, laid the little bundle in his arms.

Grasping the import of her words, Rokoff snatched the blanket from the child's face to seek confirmation of

She had been puzzled for days for an answer to the question of Rokoff's knowledge of the child's identity. If

she had been in doubt before the last shred of that doubt was wiped away as she witnessed the terrible anger

of the Russian as he looked upon the dead face of the baby and realized that at the last moment his dearest

Almost throwing the body of the child back into Jane Clayton's arms, Rokoff stamped up and down the hut,

pounding the air with his clenched fists and cursing terribly. At last he halted in front of the young woman,

"You are laughing at me," he shrieked. "You think that you have beaten meeh? I'll show you, as I have

shown the miserable ape you call `husband,' what it means to interfere with the plans of Nikolas Rokoff.

"You have robbed me of the child. I cannot make him the son of a cannibal chief, but"and he paused as

though to let the full meaning of his threat sink deep"I can make the mother the wife of a cannibal, and

If he had thought to wring from Jane Clayton any sign of terror he failed miserably. She was beyond that. Her

To his surprise a faint, almost happy smile touched her lips. She was thinking with thankful heart that this

poor little corpse was not that of her own wee Jack, and thatbest of all Rokoff evidently did not know

She would have liked to have flaunted the fact in his face, but she dared not. If he continued to believe that

the child had been hers, so much safer would be the real Jack wherever he might be. She had, of course, no

knowledge of the whereabouts of her little sonshe did not know, even, that he still lived, and yet there was

It was more than possible that without Rokoff's knowledge this child had been substituted for hers by one of

the Russian's confederates, and that even now her son might be safe with friends in London, where there were

many, both able and willing, to have paid any ransom which the traitorous conspirator might have asked for

She had thought it all out a hundred times since she had discovered that the baby which Anderssen had placed

in her arms that night upon the Kincaid was not her own, and it had been a constant and gnawing source of

No, the Russian must never know that this was not her baby. She realized that her position was

hopelesswith Anderssen and her husband dead there was no one in all the world with a desire to succour

Rokoff's threat, she realized, was no idle one. That he would do, or attempt to do, all that he had promised,

she was perfectly sure; but at the worst it meant but a little earlier release from the hideous anguish that she

had been enduring. She must find some way to take her own life before the Russian could harm her further.

Just now she wanted timetime to think and prepare herself for the end. She felt that she could not take the

last, awful step until she had exhausted every possibility of escape. She did not care to live unless she might

find her way back to her own child, but slight as such a hope appeared she would not admit its impossibility

until the last moment had come, and she faced the fearful reality of choosing between the final

"Go away!" she said to the Russian. "Go away and leave me in peace with my dead. Have you not brought

sufficient misery and anguish upon me without attempting to harm me further? What wrong have I ever done

"You are suffering for the sins of the monkey you chose when you might have had the love of a

gentlemanof Nikolas Rokoff," he replied. "But where is the use in discussing the matter? We shall bury the

child here, and you will return with me at once to my own camp. Tomorrow I shall bring you back and turn

He reached out for the child. Jane, who was on her feet now, turned away from him.

"I shall bury the body," she said. "Send some men to dig a grave outside the village."

Rokoff was anxious to have the thing over and get back to his camp with his victim. He thought he saw in her

apathy a resignation to her fate. Stepping outside the hut, he motioned her to follow him, and a moment later,

with his men, he escorted Jane beyond the village, where beneath a great tree the blacks scooped a shallow

Wrapping the tiny body in a blanket, Jane laid it tenderly in the black hole, and, turning her head that she

might not see the mouldy earth falling upon the pitiful little bundle, she breathed a prayer beside the grave of

Then, dryeyed but suffering, she rose and followed the Russian through the Stygian blackness of the jungle,

along the winding, leafy corridor that led from the village of M'ganwazam, the black cannibal, to the camp of

Beside them, in the impenetrable thickets that fringed the path, rising to arch above it and shut out the moon,

the girl could hear the stealthy, muffled footfalls of great beasts, and ever round about them rose the

The porters lighted torches now and waved them upon either hand to frighten off the beasts of prey. Rokoff

urged them to greater speed, and from the quavering note in his voice Jane Clayton knew that he was weak

The sounds of the jungle night recalled most vividly the days and nights that she had spent in a similar jungle

with her forest godwith the fearless and unconquerable Tarzan of the Apes. Then there had been no

thoughts of terror, though the jungle noises were new to her, and the roar of a lion had seemed the most

How different would it be now if she knew that he was somewhere there in the wilderness, seeking her! Then,

indeed, would there be that for which to live, and every reason to believe that succour was close at handbut

There seemed no place in death for that great body and those mighty thews. Had Rokoff been the one to tell

her of her lord's passing she would have known that he lied. There could be no reason, she thought, why

M'ganwazam should have deceived her. She did not know that the Russian had talked with the savage a few

At last they reached the rude boma that Rokoff's porters had thrown up round the Russian's camp. Here they

found all in turmoil. She did not know what it was all about, but she saw that Rokoff was very angry, and

from bits of conversation which she could translate she gleaned that there had been further desertions while

he had been absent, and that the deserters had taken the bulk of his food and ammunition.

When he had done venting his rage upon those who remained he returned to where Jane stood under guard of

a couple of his white sailors. He grasped her roughly by the arm and started to drag her toward his tent. The

girl struggled and fought to free herself, while the two sailors stood by, laughing at the rare treat.

Rokoff did not hesitate to use rough methods when he found that he was to have difficulty in carrying out his

designs. Repeatedly he struck Jane Clayton in the face, until at last, halfconscious, she was dragged within

Rokoff's boy had lighted the Russian's lamp, and now at a word from his master he made himself scarce. Jane

had sunk to the floor in the middle of the enclosure. Slowly her numbed senses were returning to her and she

was commencing to think very fast indeed. Quickly her eyes ran round the interior of the tent, taking in every

Now the Russian was lifting her to her feet and attempting to drag her to the camp cot that stood at one side

of the tent. At his belt hung a heavy revolver. Jane Clayton's eyes riveted themselves upon it. Her palm itched

to grasp the huge butt. She feigned again to swoon, but through her halfclosed lids she waited her

It came just as Rokoff was lifting her upon the cot. A noise at the tent door behind him brought his head

quickly about and away from the girl. The butt of the gun was not an inch from her hand. With a single,

lightninglike move she snatched the weapon from its holster, and at the same instant Rokoff turned back

She did not dare fire for fear the shot would bring his people about him, and with Rokoff dead she would fall

into hands no better than his and to a fate probably even worse than he alone could have imagined. The

memory of the two brutes who stood and laughed as Rokoff struck her was still vivid.

As the rage and fearfilled countenance of the Slav turned toward her Jane Clayton raised the heavy revolver

high above the pasty face and with all her strength dealt the man a terrific blow between the eyes.

Without a sound he sank, limp and unconscious, to the ground. A moment later the girl stood beside

Outside the tent she again heard the noise that had distracted Rokoff's attention. What it was she did not

know, but, fearing the return of the servant and the discovery of her deed, she stepped quickly to the camp

table upon which burned the oil lamp and extinguished the smudgy, evilsmelling flame.

In the total darkness of the interior she paused for a moment to collect her wits and plan for the next step in

About her was a camp of enemies. Beyond these foes a black wilderness of savage jungle peopled by hideous

There was little or no chance that she could survive even a few days of the constant dangers that would

confront her there; but the knowledge that she had already passed through so many perils unscathed, and that

somewhere out in the faraway world a little child was doubtless at that very moment crying for her, filled her

with determination to make the effort to accomplish the seemingly impossible and cross that awful land of

horror in search of the sea and the remote chance of succour she might find there.

Rokoff's tent stood almost exactly in the centre of the boma. Surrounding it were the tents and shelters of his

white companions and the natives of his safari. To pass through these and find egress through the boma

seemed a task too fraught with insurmountable obstacles to warrant even the slightest consideration, and yet

To remain in the tent until she should be discovered would be to set at naught all that she had risked to gain

her freedom, and so with stealthy step and every sense alert she approached the back of the tent to set out

Groping along the rear of the canvas wall, she found that there was no opening there. Quickly she returned to

the side of the unconscious Russian. In his belt her groping fingers came upon the hilt of a long

Silently she stepped without. To her immense relief she saw that the camp was apparently asleep. In the dim

and flickering light of the dying fires she saw but a single sentry, and he was dozing upon his haunches at the

Keeping the tent between him and herself, she crossed between the small shelters of the native porters to the

Outside, in the darkness of the tangled jungle, she could hear the roaring of lions, the laughing of hyenas, and

For a moment she hesitated, trembling. The thought of the prowling beasts out there in the darkness was

appalling. Then, with a sudden brave toss of her head, she attacked the thorny boma wall with her delicate

hands. Torn and bleeding though they were, she worked on breathlessly until she had made an opening

through which she could worm her body, and at last she stood outside the enclosure.

Before her lay an almost certain fatebut it was only death sudden, merciful, and honourable death.

Without a tremor and without regret she darted away from the camp, and a moment later the mysterious

Tambudza, leading Tarzan of the Apes toward the camp of the Russian, moved very slowly along the

So it was that the runners dispatched by M'ganwazam to warn Rokoff that the white giant was in his village

and that he would be slain that night reached the Russian's camp before Tarzan and his ancient guide had

The guides found the white man's camp in a turmoil. Rokoff had that morning been discovered stunned and

bleeding within his tent. When he had recovered his senses and realized that Jane Clayton had escaped, his

Rushing about the camp with his rifle, he had sought to shoot down the native sentries who had allowed the

young woman to elude their vigilance, but several of the other whites, realizing that they were already in a

precarious position owing to the numerous desertions that Rokoff's cruelty had brought about, seized and

Then came the messengers from M'ganwazam, but scarce had they told their story and Rokoff was preparing

to depart with them for their village when other runners, panting from the exertions of their swift flight

through the jungle, rushed breathless into the firelight, crying that the great white giant had escaped from

Instantly confusion reigned within the encircling boma. The blacks belonging to Rokoff's safari were

terrorstricken at the thought of the proximity of the white giant who hunted through the jungle with a fierce

Before the whites realized what had happened the superstitious fears of the natives had sent them scurrying

into the bush their own carriers as well as the messengers from M'ganwazam but even in their haste

they had not neglected to take with them every article of value upon which they could lay their hands.

Thus Rokoff and the seven white sailors found themselves deserted and robbed in the midst of a wilderness.

The Russian, following his usual custom, berated his companions, laying all the blame upon their shoulders

for the events which had led up to the almost hopeless condition in which they now found themselves; but the

In the midst of this tirade one of them drew a revolver and fired pointblank at the Russian. The fellow's aim

As he ran his eyes chanced to pass beyond the boma to the edge of the forest, and there he caught a glimpse

of that which sent his craven heart cold with a fear that almost expunged his terror of the seven men at his

back, who by this time were all firing in hate and revenge at his retreating figure.

What he saw was the giant figure of an almost naked white man emerging from the bush.

Darting into his tent, the Russian did not halt in his flight, but kept right on through the rear wall, taking

The terrorstricken Muscovite scurried like a hunted rabbit through the hole that still gaped in the boma's

wall at the point where his own prey had escaped, and as Tarzan approached the camp upon the opposite side

As the apeman entered the boma with old Tambudza at his elbow the seven sailors, recognizing him, turned

and fled in the opposite direction. Tarzan saw that Rokoff was not among them, and so he let them go their

wayhis business was with the Russian, whom he expected to find in his tent. As to the sailors, he was sure

that the jungle would exact from them expiation for their villainies, nor, doubtless, was he wrong, for his

Finding Rokoff's tent empty, Tarzan was about to set out in search of the Russian when Tambudza suggested

to him that the departure of the white man could only have resulted from word reaching him from

"He has doubtless hastened there," argued the old woman. "If you would find him let us return at once."

Tarzan himself thought that this would probably prove to be the fact, so he did not waste time in an

endeavour to locate the Russian's trail, but, instead, set out briskly for the village of M'ganwazam, leaving

His one hope was that Jane was still safe and with Rokoff. If this was the case, it would be but a matter of an

He knew now that M'ganwazam was treacherous and that he might have to fight to regain possession of his

wife. He wished that Mugambi, Sheeta, Akut, and the balance of the pack were with him, for he realized that

singlehanded it would be no child's play to bring Jane safely from the clutches of two such scoundrels as

To his surprise he found no sign of either Rokoff or Jane in the village, and as he could not trust the word of

the chief, he wasted no time in futile inquiry. So sudden and unexpected had been his return, and so quickly

had he vanished into the jungle after learning that those he sought were not among the Waganwazam, that old

Swinging through the trees, he hastened back to the deserted camp he had so recently left, for here, he knew,

Arrived at the boma, he circled carefully about the outside of the enclosure until, opposite a break in the

thorny wall, he came to indications that something had recently passed into the jungle. His acute sense of

smell told him that both of those he sought had fled from the camp in this direction, and a moment later he

Far ahead of him a terrorstricken young woman was slinking along a narrow gametrail, fearful that the

next moment would bring her face to face with some savage beast or equally savage man. As she ran on,

hoping against hope that she had hit upon the direction that would lead her eventually to the great river, she

At one side of the trail, beneath a giant tree, lay a little heap of loosely piled brushto her dying day that

little spot of jungle would be indelibly impressed upon her memory. It was where Anderssen had hidden

At sight of it she recalled the rifle and ammunition that the man had thrust upon her at the last moment. Until

now she had forgotten them entirely. Still clutched in her hand was the revolver she had snatched from

Rokoff's belt, but that could contain at most not over six cartridgesnot enough to furnish her with food and

With bated breath she groped beneath the little mound, scarce daring to hope that the treasure remained

where she had left it; but, to her infinite relief and joy, her hand came at once upon the barrel of the heavy

As she threw the latter about her shoulder and felt the weight of the big gamegun in her hand a sudden sense

of security suffused her. It was with new hope and a feeling almost of assured success that she again set

That night she slept in the crotch of a tree, as Tarzan had so often told her that he was accustomed to doing,

and early the next morning was upon her way again. Late in the afternoon, as she was about to cross a little

clearing, she was startled at the sight of a huge ape coming from the jungle upon the opposite side.

The wind was blowing directly across the clearing between them, and Jane lost no time in putting herself

downwind from the huge creature. Then she hid in a clump of heavy bush and watched, holding the rifle

To her consternation she saw that the apes were pausing in the centre of the clearing. They came together in a

little knot, where they stood looking backward, as though in expectation of the coming of others of their tribe.

Jane wished that they would go on, for she knew that at any moment some little, eddying gust of wind might

carry her scent down to their nostrils, and then what would the protection of her rifle amount to in the face of

Her eyes moved back and forth between the apes and the edge of the jungle toward which they were gazing

until at last she perceived the object of their halt and the thing that they awaited. They were being stalked.

Of this she was positive, as she saw the lithe, sinewy form of a panther glide noiselessly from the jungle at

Quickly the beast trotted across the clearing toward the anthropoids. Jane wondered at their apparent apathy,

and a moment later her wonder turned to amazement as she saw the great cat come quite close to the apes,

who appeared entirely unconcerned by its presence, and, squatting down in their midst, fell assiduously to the

business of preening, which occupies most of the waking hours of the cat family.

If the young woman was surprised by the sight of these natural enemies fraternizing, it was with emotions

little short of fear for her own sanity that she presently saw a tall, muscular warrior enter the clearing and join

At first sight of the man she had been positive that he would be torn to pieces, and she had half risen from her

shelter, raising her rifle to her shoulder to do what she could to avert the man's terrible fate.

Now she saw that he seemed actually conversing with the beasts issuing orders to them.

Presently the entire company filed on across the clearing and disappeared in the jungle upon the opposite

With a gasp of mingled incredulity and relief Jane Clayton staggered to her feet and fled on away from the

terrible horde that had just passed her, while a halfmile behind her another individual, following the same

trail as she, lay frozen with terror behind an anthill as the hideous band passed quite close to him.

This one was Rokoff; but he had recognized the members of the awful aggregation as allies of Tarzan of the

Apes. No sooner, therefore, had the beasts passed him than he rose and raced through the jungle as fast as he

could go, in order that he might put as much distance as possible between himself and these frightful beasts.

So it happened that as Jane Clayton came to the bank of the river, down which she hoped to float to the ocean

Upon the bank the girl saw a great dugout drawn halfway from the water and tied securely to a nearby tree.

This, she felt, would solve the question of transportation to the sea could she but launch the huge, unwieldy

craft. Unfastening the rope that had moored it to the tree, Jane pushed frantically upon the bow of the heavy

canoe, but for all the results that were apparent she might as well have been attempting to shove the earth out

She was about winded when it occurred to her to try working the dugout into the stream by loading the stern

with ballast and then rocking the bow back and forth along the bank until the craft eventually worked itself

There were no stones or rocks available, but along the shore she found quantities of driftwood deposited by

the river at a slightly higher stage. These she gathered and piled far in the stern of the boat, until at last, to her

immense relief, she saw the bow rise gently from the mud of the bank and the stern drift slowly with the

Jane found that by running back and forth between the bow and stern she could alternately raise and lower

each end of the boat as she shifted her weight from one end to the other, with the result that each time she

As the success of her plan approached more closely to fruition she became so wrapped in her efforts that she

failed to note the figure of a man standing beneath a huge tree at the edge of the jungle from which he had

He watched her and her labours with a cruel and malicious grin upon his swarthy countenance.

The boat at last became so nearly free of the retarding mud and of the bank that Jane felt positive that she

could pole it off into deeper water with one of the paddles which lay in the bottom of the rude craft. With this

end in view she seized upon one of these implements and had just plunged it into the river bottom close to the

As her gaze fell upon the figure of the man a little cry of terror rose to her lips. It was Rokoff.

He was running toward her now and shouting to her to wait or he would shootthough he was entirely

unarmed it was difficult to discover just how he intended making good his threat.

Jane Clayton knew nothing of the various misfortunes that had befallen the Russian since she had escaped

However, she had no intention of falling again into the man's clutches. She would rather die at once than that

Once in the current of the river she would be beyond Rokoff's power to stop her, for there was no other boat

upon the shore, and no man, and certainly not the cowardly Rokoff, would dare to attempt to swim the

Rokoff, on his part, was bent more upon escape than aught else. He would gladly have forgone any designs

he might have had upon Jane Clayton would she but permit him to share this means of escape that she had

discovered. He would promise anything if she would let him come aboard the dugout, but he did not think

He saw that he could easily reach the bow of the boat before it cleared the shore, and then it would not be

necessary to make promises of any sort. Not that Rokoff would have felt the slightest compunction in

ignoring any promises he might have made the girl, but he disliked the idea of having to sue for favour with

Already he was gloating over the days and nights of revenge that would be his while the heavy dugout drifted

Jane Clayton, working furiously to shove the boat beyond his reach, suddenly realized that she was to be

successful, for with a little lurch the dugout swung quickly into the current, just as the Russian reached out to

His fingers did not miss their goal by a halfdozen inches. The girl almost collapsed with the reaction from

the terrific mental, physical, and nervous strain under which she had been labouring for the past few minutes.

Even as she breathed a silent prayer of thanksgiving, she saw a sudden expression of triumph lighten the

features of the cursing Russian, and at the same instant he dropped suddenly to the ground, grasping firmly

Jane Clayton crouched, wideeyed and horrorstricken, in the bottom of the boat as she realized that at the

last instant success had been turned to failure, and that she was indeed again in the power of the malignant

For the thing that the man had seen and grasped was the end of the trailing rope with which the dugout had

Halfway between the Ugambi and the village of the Waganwazam, Tarzan came upon the pack moving

slowly along his old spoor. Mugambi could scarce believe that the trail of the Russian and the mate of his

It seemed incredible that two human beings should have come so close to them without having been detected

by some of the marvellously keen and alert beasts; but Tarzan pointed out the spoor of the two he trailed, and

at certain points the black could see that the man and the woman must have been in hiding as the pack passed

It had been apparent to Tarzan from the first that Jane and Rokoff were not travelling together. The spoor

showed distinctly that the young woman had been a considerable distance ahead of the Russian at first,

though the farther the apeman continued along the trail the more obvious it became that the man was rapidly

At first there had been the spoor of wild beasts over the footprints of Jane Clayton, while upon the top of all

Rokoff's spoor showed that he had passed over the trail after the animals had left their records upon the

ground. But later there were fewer and fewer animal imprints occurring between those of Jane's and the

Russian's feet, until as he approached the river the apeman became aware that Rokoff could not have been

He felt they must be close ahead of him now, and, with a little thrill of expectation, he leaped rapidly forward

ahead of the pack. Swinging swiftly through the trees, he came out upon the riverbank at the very point at

which Rokoff had overhauled Jane as she endeavoured to launch the cumbersome dugout.

In the mud along the bank the apeman saw the footprints of the two he sought, but there was neither boat

nor people there when he arrived, nor, at first glance, any sign of their whereabouts.

It was plain that they had shoved off a native canoe and embarked upon the bosom of the stream, and as the

apeman's eye ran swiftly down the course of the river beneath the shadows of the overarching trees he saw

in the distance, just as it rounded a bend that shut it off from his view, a drifting dugout in the stern of which

Just as the pack came in sight of the river they saw their agile leader racing down the river's bank, leaping

from hummock to hummock of the swampy ground that spread between them and a little promontory which

To follow him it was necessary for the heavy, cumbersome apes to make a wide detour, and Sheeta, too, who

hated water. Mugambi followed after them as rapidly as he could in the wake of the great white master.

A halfhour of rapid travelling across the swampy neck of land and over the rising promontory brought

Tarzan, by a short cut, to the inward bend of the winding river, and there before him upon the bosom of the

At sight of his enemy the broad scar upon the apeman's brow burned scarlet, and there rose to his lips the

Rokoff shuddered as the weird and terrible alarm fell upon his ears. Cowering in the bottom of the boat, his

teeth chattering in terror, he watched the man he feared above all other creatures upon the face of the earth as

Even though the Russian knew that he was safe from his enemy, the very sight of him threw him into a frenzy

of trembling cowardice, which became frantic hysteria as he saw the white giant dive fearlessly into the

With steady, powerful strokes the apeman forged out into the stream toward the drifting dugout. Now

Rokoff seized one of the paddles lying in the bottom of the craft, and, with terrorwide eyes still glued upon

the living death that pursued him, struck out madly in an effort to augment the speed of the unwieldy canoe.

And from the opposite bank a sinister ripple, unseen by either man, moving steadily toward the halfnaked

Tarzan had reached the stern of the craft at last. One hand upstretched grasped the gunwale. Rokoff sat frozen

with fear, unable to move a hand or foot, his eyes riveted upon the face of his Nemesis.

Then a sudden commotion in the water behind the swimmer caught his attention. He saw the ripple, and he

At the same instant Tarzan felt mighty jaws close upon his right leg. He tried to struggle free and raise

himself over the side of the boat. His efforts would have succeeded had not this unexpected interruption

galvanized the malign brain of the Russian into instant action with its sudden promise of deliverance and

Like a venomous snake the man leaped toward the stern of the boat, and with a single swift blow struck

Tarzan across the head with the heavy paddle. The apeman's fingers slipped from their hold upon the

There was a short struggle at the surface, and then a swirl of waters, a little eddy, and a burst of bubbles soon

smoothed out by the flowing current marked for the instant the spot where Tarzan of the Apes, Lord of the

Jungle, disappeared from the sight of men beneath the gloomy waters of the dark and forbidding Ugambi.

Weak from terror, Rokoff sank shuddering into the bottom of the dugout. For a moment he could not realize

the good fortune that had befallen him all that he could see was the figure of a silent, struggling white man

disappearing beneath the surface of the river to unthinkable death in the slimy mud of the bottom.

Slowly all that it meant to him filtered into the mind of the Russian, and then a cruel smile of relief and

triumph touched his lips; but it was shortlived, for just as he was congratulating himself that he was now

comparatively safe to proceed upon his way to the coast unmolested, a mighty pandemonium rose from the

As his eyes sought the authors of the frightful sound he saw standing upon the shore, glaring at him with

hatefilled eyes, a devilfaced panther surrounded by the hideous apes of Akut, and in the forefront of them a

giant black warrior who shook his fist at him, threatening him with terrible death.

The nightmare of that flight down the Ugambi with the hideous horde racing after him by day and by night,

now abreast of him, now lost in the mazes of the jungle far behind for hours and once for a whole day, only to

reappear again upon his trail grim, relentless, and terrible, reduced the Russian from a strong and robust man

to an emaciated, whitehaired, feargibbering thing before ever the bay and the ocean broke upon his

Past populous villages he had fled. Time and again warriors had put out in their canoes to intercept him, but

each time the hideous horde had swept into view to send the terrified natives shrieking back to the shore to

Nowhere in his flight had he seen aught of Jane Clayton. Not once had his eyes rested upon her since that

moment at the river's brim his hand had closed upon the rope attached to the bow of her dugout and he had

believed her safely in his power again, only to be thwarted an instant later as the girl snatched up a heavy

Quickly he had dropped the rope then and seen her float away beyond his reach, but a moment later he had

been racing upstream toward a little tributary in the mouth of which was hidden the canoe in which he and

his party had come thus far upon their journey in pursuit of the girl and Anderssen.

There seemed little doubt in the Russian's mind, however, but that she had been captured by warriors from

one of the several villages she would have been compelled to pass on her way down to the sea. Well, he was

But at that he would gladly have had them all back in the land of the living could he thus have been freed

from the menace of the frightful creatures who pursued him with awful relentlessness, screaming and

growling at him every time they came within sight of him. The one that filled him with the greatest terror was

the pantherthe flamingeyed, devilfaced panther whose grinning jaws gaped wide at him by day, and

whose fiery orbs gleamed wickedly out across the water from the Cimmerian blackness of the jungle nights.

The sight of the mouth of the Ugambi filled Rokoff with renewed hope, for there, upon the yellow waters of

the bay, floated the Kincaid at anchor. He had sent the little steamer away to coal while he had gone up the

river, leaving Paulvitch in charge of her, and he could have cried aloud in his relief as he saw that she had

Frantically he alternately paddled furiously toward her and rose to his feet waving his paddle and crying

aloud in an attempt to attract the attention of those on board. But loud as he screamed his cries awakened no

Upon the shore behind him a hurried backward glance revealed the presence of the snarling pack. Even now,

he thought, these manlike devils might yet find a way to reach him even upon the deck of the steamer unless

What could have happened to those he had left upon the Kincaid? Where was Paulvitch? Could it be that the

vessel was deserted, and that, after all, he was doomed to be overtaken by the terrible fate that he had been

flying from through all these hideous days and nights? He shivered as might one upon whose brow death has

Yet he did not cease to paddle frantically toward the steamer, and at last, after what seemed an eternity, the

bow of the dugout bumped against the timbers of the Kincaid. Over the ship's side hung a monkeyladder,

but as the Russian grasped it to ascend to the deck he heard a warning challenge from above, and, looking up,

After Jane Clayton, with rifle levelled at the breast of Rokoff, had succeeded in holding him off until the

dugout in which she had taken refuge had drifted out upon the bosom of the Ugambi beyond the man's reach,

she had lost no time in paddling to the swiftest sweep of the channel, nor did she for long days and weary

nights cease to hold her craft to the most rapidly moving part of the river, except when during the hottest

hours of the day she had been wont to drift as the current would take her, lying prone in the bottom of the

Thus only did she gain rest upon the voyage; at other times she continually sought to augment the movement

Rokoff, on the other hand, had used little or no intelligence in his flight along the Ugambi, so that more often

than not his craft had drifted in the slowgoing eddies, for he habitually hugged the bank farthest from that

Thus it was that, though he had put out upon the river but a short time subsequent to the girl, yet she had

reached the bay fully two hours ahead of him. When she had first seen the anchored ship upon the quiet

water, Jane Clayton's heart had beat fast with hope and thanksgiving, but as she drew closer to the craft and

It was too late, however, to turn back, for the current that carried her toward the ship was much too strong for

her muscles. She could not have forced the heavy dugout upstream against it, and all that was left her was to

attempt either to make the shore without being seen by those upon the deck of the Kincaid, or to throw herself

She knew that the shore held little hope of life for her, as she had no knowledge of the location of the friendly

Mosula village to which Anderssen had taken her through the darkness of the night of their escape from the

With Rokoff away from the steamer it might be possible that by offering those in charge a large reward they

could be induced to carry her to the nearest civilized port. It was worth riskingif she could make the

The current was bearing her swiftly down the river, and she found that only by dint of the utmost exertion

could she direct the awkward craft toward the vicinity of the Kincaid. Having reached the decision to board

the steamer, she now looked to it for aid, but to her surprise the decks appeared to be empty and she saw no

The dugout was drawing closer and closer to the bow of the vessel, and yet no hail came over the side from

any lookout aboard. In a moment more, Jane realized, she would be swept beyond the steamer, and then,

unless they lowered a boat to rescue her, she would be carried far out to sea by the current and the swift ebb

The young woman called loudly for assistance, but there was no reply other than the shrill scream of some

savage beast upon the jungleshrouded shore. Frantically Jane wielded the paddle in an effort to carry her

For a moment it seemed that she should miss her goal by but a few feet, but at the last moment the canoe

swung close beneath the steamer's bow and Jane barely managed to grasp the anchor chain.

Heroically she clung to the heavy iron links, almost dragged from the canoe by the strain of the current upon

her craft. Beyond her she saw a monkeyladder dangling over the steamer's side. To release her hold upon

the chain and chance clambering to the ladder as her canoe was swept beneath it seemed beyond the pale of

possibility, yet to remain clinging to the anchor chain appeared equally as futile.

Finally her glance chanced to fall upon the rope in the bow of the dugout, and, making one end of this fast to

the chain, she succeeded in drifting the canoe slowly down until it lay directly beneath the ladder. A moment

later, her rifle slung about her shoulders, she had clambered safely to the deserted deck.

Her first task was to explore the ship, and this she did, her rifle ready for instant use should she meet with any

human menace aboard the Kincaid. She was not long in discovering the cause of the apparently deserted

condition of the steamer, for in the forecastle she found the sailors, who had evidently been left to guard the

With a shudder of disgust she clambered above, and to the best of her ability closed and made fast the hatch

above the heads of the sleeping guard. Next she sought the galley and food, and, having appeased her hunger,

she took her place on deck, determined that none should board the Kincaid without first having agreed to her

For an hour or so nothing appeared upon the surface of the river to cause her alarm, but then, about a bend

upstream, she saw a canoe appear in which sat a single figure. It had not proceeded far in her direction before

she recognized the occupant as Rokoff, and when the fellow attempted to board he found a rifle staring him

When the Russian discovered who it was that repelled his advance he became furious, cursing and

threatening in a most horrible manner; but, finding that these tactics failed to frighten or move the girl, he at

Jane had but a single reply for his every proposition, and that was that nothing would ever persuade her to

permit Rokoff upon the same vessel with her. That she would put her threats into action and shoot him should

So, as there was no other alternative, the great coward dropped back into his dugout and, at imminent risk of

being swept to sea, finally succeeded in making the shore far down the bay and upon the opposite side from

Jane Clayton knew that the fellow could not alone and unaided bring his heavy craft back upstream to the

Kincaid, and so she had no further fear of an attack by him. The hideous crew upon the shore she thought she

recognized as the same that had passed her in the jungle far up the Ugambi several days before, for it seemed

quite beyond reason that there should be more than one such a strangely assorted pack; but what had brought

Toward the day's close the girl was suddenly alarmed by the shouting of the Russian from the opposite bank

of the stream, and a moment later, following the direction of his gaze, she was terrified to see a ship's boat

approaching from upstream, in which, she felt assured, there could be only members of the Kincaid's

When Tarzan of the Apes realized that he was in the grip of the great jaws of a crocodile he did not, as an

Instead, he filled his lungs with air before the huge reptile dragged him beneath the surface, and then, with all

the might of his great muscles, fought bitterly for freedom. But out of his native element the apeman was

too greatly handicapped to do more than excite the monster to greater speed as it dragged its prey swiftly

Tarzan's lungs were bursting for a breath of pure fresh air. He knew that he could survive but a moment more,

and in the last paroxysm of his suffering he did what he could to avenge his own death.

His body trailed out beside the slimy carcass of his captor, and into the tough armour the apeman attempted

His efforts but served to accelerate the speed of the crocodile, and just as the apeman realized that he had

reached the limit of his endurance he felt his body dragged to a muddy bed and his nostrils rise above the

water's surface. All about him was the blackness of the pitthe silence of the grave.

For a moment Tarzan of the Apes lay gasping for breath upon the slimy, evilsmelling bed to which the

animal had borne him. Close at his side he could feel the cold, hard plates of the creatures coat rising and

For several minutes the two lay thus, and then a sudden convulsion of the giant carcass at the man's side, a

tremor, and a stiffening brought Tarzan to his knees beside the crocodile. To his utter amazement he found

that the beast was dead. The slim knife had found a vulnerable spot in the scaly armour.

Staggering to his feet, the apeman groped about the reeking, oozy den. He found that he was imprisoned in a

subterranean chamber amply large enough to have accommodated a dozen or more of the huge animals such

He realized that he was in the creature's hidden nest far under the bank of the stream, and that doubtless the

only means of ingress or egress lay through the submerged opening through which the crocodile had brought

His first thought, of course, was of escape, but that he could make his way to the surface of the river beyond

and then to the shore seemed highly improbable. There might be turns and windings in the neck of the

passage, or, most to be feared, he might meet another of the slimy inhabitants of the retreat upon his journey

Even should he reach the river in safety, there was still the danger of his being again attacked before he could

effect a safe landing. Still there was no alternative, and, filling his lungs with the close and reeking air of the

chamber, Tarzan of the Apes dived into the dark and watery hole which he could not see but had felt out and

The leg which had been held within the jaws of the crocodile was badly lacerated, but the bone had not been

broken, nor were the muscles or tendons sufficiently injured to render it useless. It gave him excruciating

But Tarzan of the Apes was accustomed to pain, and gave it no further thought when he found that the use of

Rapidly he crawled and swam through the passage which inclined downward and finally upward to open at

last into the river bottom but a few feet from the shore line. As the apeman reached the surface he saw the

heads of two great crocodiles but a short distance from him. They were making rapidly in his direction, and

with a superhuman effort the man struck out for the overhanging branches of a nearby tree.

Nor was he a moment too soon, for scarcely had he drawn himself to the safety of the limb than two gaping

mouths snapped venomously below him. For a few minutes Tarzan rested in the tree that had proved the

means of his salvation. His eyes scanned the river as far downstream as the tortuous channel would permit,

When he had rested and bound up his wounded leg he started on in pursuit of the drifting canoe. He found

himself upon the opposite of the river to that at which he had entered the stream, but as his quarry was upon

the bosom of the water it made little difference to the apeman upon which side he took up the pursuit.

To his intense chagrin he soon found that his leg was more badly injured than he had thought, and that its

condition seriously impeded his progress. It was only with the greatest difficulty that he could proceed faster

than a walk upon the ground, and in the trees he discovered that it not only impeded his progress, but

From the old negress, Tambudza, Tarzan had gathered a suggestion that now filled his mind with doubts and

misgivings. When the old woman had told him of the child's death she had also added that the white woman,

Tarzan could see no reason for believing that Jane could have found it advisable to deny her identity or that

of the child; the only explanation that he could put upon the matter was that, after all, the white woman who

had accompanied his son and the Swede into the jungle fastness of the interior had not been Jane at all.

The more he gave thought to the problem, the more firmly convinced he became that his son was dead and

his wife still safe in London, and in ignorance of the terrible fate that had overtaken her firstborn.

After all, then, his interpretation of Rokoff's sinister taunt had been erroneous, and he had been bearing the

burden of a double apprehension needlesslyat least so thought the apeman. From this belief he garnered

some slight surcease from the numbing grief that the death of his little son had thrust upon him.

And such a death! Even the savage beast that was the real Tarzan, inured to the sufferings and horrors of the

grim jungle, shuddered as he contemplated the hideous fate that had overtaken the innocent child.

As he made his way painfully towards the coast, he let his mind dwell so constantly upon the frightful crimes

which the Russian had perpetrated against his loved ones that the great scar upon his forehead stood out

almost continuously in the vivid scarlet that marked the man's most relentless and bestial moods of rage. At

times he startled even himself and sent the lesser creatures of the wild jungle scampering to their hiding

Twice upon the way to the coast bellicose natives ran threateningly from their villages to bar his further

progress, but when the awful cry of the bullape thundered upon their affrighted ears, and the great white

giant charged bellowing upon them, they had turned and fled into the bush, nor ventured thence until he had

Though his progress seemed tantalizingly slow to the apeman whose idea of speed had been gained by such

standards as the lesser apes attain, he made, as a matter of fact, almost as rapid progress as the drifting canoe

that bore Rokoff on ahead of him, so that he came to the bay and within sight of the ocean just after darkness

had fallen upon the same day that Jane Clayton and the Russian ended their flights from the interior.

The darkness lowered so heavily upon the black river and the encircling jungle that Tarzan, even with eyes

accustomed to much use after dark, could make out nothing a few yards from him. His idea was to search the

shore that night for signs of the Russian and the woman who he was certain must have preceded Rokoff down

the Ugambi. That the Kincaid or other ship lay at anchor but a hundred yards from him he did not dream, for

Even as he commenced his search his attention was suddenly attracted by a noise that he had not at first

perceived the stealthy dip of paddles in the water some distance from the shore, and about opposite the

point at which he stood. Motionless as a statue he stood listening to the faint sound.

Presently it ceased, to be followed by a shuffling noise that the apeman's trained ears could interpret as

resulting from but a single causethe scraping of leathershod feet upon the rounds of a ship's

monkeyladder. And yet, as far as he could see, there was no ship therenor might there be one within a

As he stood thus, peering out into the darkness of the cloudenshrouded night, there came to him from across

the water, like a slap in the face, so sudden and unexpected was it, the sharp staccato of an exchange of shots

Wounded though he was, and with the memory of his recent horrible experience still strong upon him, Tarzan

of the Apes did not hesitate as the notes of that frightened cry rose shrill and piercing upon the still night air.

With a bound he cleared the intervening bushthere was a splash as the water closed about himand then,

with powerful strokes, he swam out into the impenetrable night with no guide save the memory of an illusive

The boat that had attracted Jane's attention as she stood guard upon the deck of the Kincaid had been

perceived by Rokoff upon one bank and Mugambi and the horde upon the other. The cries of the Russian had

brought the dugout first to him, and then, after a conference, it had been turned toward the Kincaid, but

before ever it covered half the distance between the shore and the steamer a rifle had spoken from the latter's

deck and one of the sailors in the bow of the canoe had crumpled and fallen into the water.

After that they went more slowly, and presently, when Jane's rifle had found another member of the party, the

The savage, snarling pack upon the opposite shore had been directed in their pursuit by the black warrior,

Mugambi, chief of the Wagambi. Only he knew which might be foe and which friend of their lost master.

Could they have reached either the canoe or the Kincaid they would have made short work of any whom they

found there, but the gulf of black water intervening shut them off from farther advance as effectually as

Mugambi knew something of the occurrences which had led up to the landing of Tarzan upon Jungle Island

and the pursuit of the whites up the Ugambi. He knew that his savage master sought his wife and child who

had been stolen by the wicked white man whom they had followed far into the interior and now back to the

He believed also that this same man had killed the great white giant whom he had come to respect and love as

he had never loved the greatest chiefs of his own people. And so in the wild breast of Mugambi burned an

iron resolve to win to the side of the wicked one and wreak vengeance upon him for the murder of the

But when he saw the canoe come down the river and take in Rokoff, when he saw it make for the Kincaid, he

realized that only by possessing himself of a canoe could he hope to transport the beasts of the pack within

So it happened that even before Jane Clayton fired the first shot into Rokoff's canoe the beasts of Tarzan had

After the Russian and his party, which consisted of Paulvitch and the several men he had left upon the

Kincaid to attend to the matter of coaling, had retreated before her fire, Jane realized that it would be but a

temporary respite from their attentions which she had gained, and with the conviction came a determination

to make a bold and final stroke for freedom from the menacing threat of Rokoff's evil purpose.

With this idea in view she opened negotiations with the two sailors she had imprisoned in the forecastle, and

having forced their consent to her plans, upon pain of death should they attempt disloyalty, she released them

With ready revolver to compel obedience, she let them up one by one, searching them carefully for concealed

weapons as they stood with hands elevated above their heads. Once satisfied that they were unarmed, she set

them to work cutting the cable which held the Kincaid to her anchorage, for her bold plan was nothing less

than to set the steamer adrift and float with her out into the open sea, there to trust to the mercy of the

elements, which she was confident would be no more merciless than Nikolas Rokoff should he again capture

There was, too, the chance that the Kincaid might be sighted by some passing ship, and as she was well

stocked with provisions and waterthe men had assured her of this fact and as the season of storm was

The night was deeply overcast, heavy clouds riding low above the jungle and the wateronly to the west,

where the broad ocean spread beyond the river's mouth, was there a suggestion of lessening gloom.

Her enemies could not see the activity aboard the ship nor mark her course as the swift current bore her

outward into the ocean. Before daylight broke the ebbtide would have carried the Kincaid well into the

Benguela current which flows northward along the coast of Africa, and, as a south wind was prevailing, Jane

hoped to be out of sight of the mouth of the Ugambi before Rokoff could become aware of the departure of

Standing over the labouring seamen, the young woman breathed a sigh of relief as the last strand of the cable

parted and she knew that the vessel was on its way out of the maw of the savage Ugambi.

With her two prisoners still beneath the coercing influence of her rifle, she ordered them upon deck with the

intention of again imprisoning them in the forecastle; but at length she permitted herself to be influenced by

their promises of loyalty and the arguments which they put forth that they could be of service to her, and

For a few minutes the Kincaid drifted rapidly with the current, and then, with a grinding jar, she stopped in

midstream. The ship had run upon a lowlying bar that splits the channel about a quarter of a mile from the

For a moment she hung there, and then, swinging round until her bow pointed toward the shore, she broke

At the same instant, just as Jane Clayton was congratulating herself that the ship was once more free, there

fell upon her ears from a point up the river about where the Kincaid had been anchored the rattle of musketry

The sailors heard the shots with certain conviction that they announced the coming of their employer, and as

they had no relish for the plan that would consign them to the deck of a drifting derelict, they whispered

together a hurried plan to overcome the young woman and hail Rokoff and their companions to their rescue.

It seemed that fate would play into their hands, for with the reports of the guns Jane Clayton's attention had

been distracted from her unwilling assistants, and instead of keeping one eye upon them as she had intended

doing, she ran to the bow of the Kincaid to peer through the darkness toward the source of the disturbance

Seeing that she was off her guard, the two sailors crept stealthily upon her from behind.

The scraping upon the deck of the shoes of one of them startled the girl to a sudden appreciation of her

As she turned, both men leaped upon her and bore her to the deck, and as she went down beneath them she

saw, outlined against the lesser gloom of the ocean, the figure of another man clamber over the side of the

After all her pains her heroic struggle for freedom had failed. With a stifled sob she gave up the unequal

When Mugambi had turned back into the jungle with the pack he had a definite purpose in view. It was to

obtain a dugout wherewith to transport the beasts of Tarzan to the side of the Kincaid. Nor was he long in

Just at dusk he found a canoe moored to the bank of a small tributary of the Ugambi at a point where he had

Without loss of time he piled his hideous fellows into the craft and shoved out into the stream. So quickly had

they taken possession of the canoe that the warrior had not noticed that it was already occupied. The huddled

figure sleeping in the bottom had entirely escaped his observation in the darkness of the night that had now

But no sooner were they afloat than a savage growling from one of the apes directly ahead of him in the

dugout attracted his attention to a shivering and cowering figure that trembled between him and the great

anthropoid. To Mugambi's astonishment he saw that it was a native woman. With difficulty he kept the ape

It seemed that she had been fleeing from marriage with an old man she loathed and had taken refuge for the

Mugambi did not wish her presence, but there she was, and rather than lose time by returning her to the shore

As quickly as his awkward companions could paddle the dugout downstream toward the Ugambi and the

Kincaid they moved through the darkness. It was with difficulty that Mugambi could make out the shadowy

form of the steamer, but as he had it between himself and the ocean it was much more apparent than to one

As he approached it he was amazed to note that it seemed to be receding from him, and finally he was

convinced that the vessel was moving downstream. Just as he was about to urge his creatures to renewed

efforts to overtake the steamer the outline of another canoe burst suddenly into view not three yards from the

At the same instant the occupants of the stranger discovered the proximity of Mugambi's horde, but they did

not at first recognize the nature of the fearful crew. A man in the bow of the oncoming boat challenged them

For answer came the menacing growl of a panther, and the fellow found himself gazing into the flaming eyes

of Sheeta, who had raised himself with his forepaws upon the bow of the boat, ready to leap in upon the

Instantly Rokoff realized the peril that confronted him and his fellows. He gave a quick command to fire

upon the occupants of the other canoe, and it was this volley and the scream of the terrified native woman in

Before the slower and less skilled paddlers in Mugambi's canoe could press their advantage and effect a

boarding of the enemy the latter had turned swiftly downstream and were paddling for their lives in the

The vessel after striking upon the bar had swung loose again into a slowmoving eddy, which returns

upstream close to the southern shore of the Ugambi only to circle out once more and join the downward

flow a hundred yards or so farther up. Thus the Kincaid was returning Jane Clayton directly into the hands of

It so happened that as Tarzan sprang into the river the vessel was not visible to him, and as he swam out into

the night he had no idea that a ship drifted so close at hand. He was guided by the sounds which he could hear

As he swam he had vivid recollections of the last occasion upon which he had swum in the waters of the

But, though he twice felt something brush his legs from the slimy depths below him, nothing seized him, and

of a sudden he quite forgot about crocodiles in the astonishment of seeing a dark mass loom suddenly before

So close was it that a few strokes brought him up to the thing, when to his amazement his outstretched hand

As the agile apeman clambered over the vessel's rail there came to his sensitive ears the sound of a struggle

The moon had risen now, and, though the sky was still banked with clouds, a lesser darkness enveloped the

scene than that which had blotted out all sight earlier in the night. His keen eyes, therefore, saw the figures of

That it was the woman who had accompanied Anderssen toward the interior he did not know, though he

suspected as much, as he was now quite certain that this was the deck of the Kincaid upon which chance had

But he wasted little time in idle speculation. There was a woman in danger of harm from two ruffians, which

was enough excuse for the apeman to project his giant thews into the conflict without further investigation.

The first that either of the sailors knew that there was a new force at work upon the ship was the falling of a

mighty hand upon a shoulder of each. As if they had been in the grip of a flywheel, they were jerked

They were given no time to reply, however, for at the sound of that voice the young woman had sprung to her

The apeman hurled the two sailors across the deck, where they rolled, stunned and terrified, into the

scuppers upon the opposite side, and with an exclamation of incredulity gathered the girl into his arms.

Scarcely had they recognized one another than the clouds above them parted to show the figures of a

Foremost among them was the Russian. As the brilliant rays of the equatorial moon lighted the deck, and he

realized that the man before him was Lord Greystoke, he screamed hysterical commands to his followers to

Tarzan pushed Jane behind the cabin near which they had been standing, and with a quick bound started for

Rokoff. The men behind the Russian, at least two of them, raised their rifles and fired at the charging

apeman; but those behind them were otherwise engagedfor up the monkey ladder in their rear was

First came five snarling apes, huge, manlike beasts, with bared fangs and slavering jaws; and after them a

Behind him again scrambled another creature, and of all the horrid horde it was this they most

fearedSheeta, the panther, with gleaming jaws agape and fiery eyes blazing at them in the mightiness of

The shots that had been fired at Tarzan missed him, and he would have been upon Rokoff in another instant

had not the great coward dodged backward between his two henchmen, and, screaming in hysterical terror,

For the moment Tarzan's attention was distracted by the two men before him, so that he could not at the time

pursue the Russian. About him the apes and Mugambi were battling with the balance of the Russian's party.

Beneath the terrible ferocity of the beasts the men were soon scampering in all directionsthose who still

lived to scamper, for the great fangs of the apes of Akut and the tearing talons of Sheeta already had found

Four, however, escaped and disappeared into the forecastle, where they hoped to barricade themselves against

further assault. Here they found Rokoff, and, enraged at his desertion of them in their moment of peril, no

less than at the uniformly brutal treatment it had been his wont to accord them, they gloated upon the

opportunity now offered them to revenge themselves in part upon their hated employer.

Despite his prayers and grovelling pleas, therefore, they hurled him bodily out upon the deck, delivering him

Tarzan saw the man emerge from the forecastlesaw and recognized his enemy; but another saw him even

It was Sheeta, and with grinning jaws the mighty beast slunk silently toward the terrorstricken man.

When Rokoff saw what it was that stalked him his shrieks for help filled the air, as with trembling knees he

Tarzan took a step toward the Russian, his brain burning with a raging fire of vengeance. At last he had the

Once Jane had stayed his hand that time that he sought to take the law into his own power and mete to Rokoff

His fingers clenched and unclenched spasmodically as he approached the trembling Russ, beastlike and

Presently he saw that Sheeta was about to forestall him, robbing him of the fruits of his great hate.

He called sharply to the panther, and the words, as if they had broken a hideous spell that had held the

Russian, galvanized him into sudden action. With a scream he turned and fled toward the bridge.

Tarzan was about to leap after the two when he felt a light touch upon his arm. Turning, he found Jane at his

All about were the hideous apes of Akut. Some, even, were approaching the young woman with bared fangs

The apeman warned them back. He had forgotten for the moment that these were but beasts, unable to

differentiate his friends and his foes. Their savage natures were roused by their recent battle with the sailors,

Tarzan turned again toward the Russian, chagrined that he should have to forgo the pleasure of personal

revenge unless the man should escape Sheeta. But as he looked he saw that there could be no hope of that.

The fellow had retreated to the end of the bridge, where he now stood trembling and wideeyed, facing the

The panther crawled with belly to the planking, uttering uncanny mouthings. Rokoff stood as though

petrified, his eyes protruding from their sockets, his mouth agape, and the cold sweat of terror clammy upon

Below him, upon the deck, he had seen the great anthropoids, and so had not dared to seek escape in that

direction. In fact, even now one of the brutes was leaping to seize the bridgerail and draw himself up to the

Rokoff could not move. His knees trembled. His voice broke in inarticulate shrieks. With a last piercing wail

Full upon the man's breast the tawny body hurtled, tumbling the Russian to his back.

As the great fangs tore at the throat and chest, Jane Clayton turned away in horror; but not so Tarzan of the

Apes. A cold smile of satisfaction touched his lips. The scar upon his forehead that had burned scarlet faded

Rokoff fought furiously but futilely against the growling, rending fate that had overtaken him. For all his

countless crimes he was punished in the brief moment of the hideous death that claimed him at the last.

After his struggles ceased Tarzan approached, at Jane's suggestion, to wrest the body from the panther and

give what remained of it decent human burial; but the great cat rose snarling above its kill, threatening even

the master it loved in its savage way, so that rather than kill his friend of the jungle, Tarzan was forced to

All that night Sheeta, the panther, crouched upon the grisly thing that had been Nikolas Rokoff. The bridge of

the Kincaid was slippery with blood. Beneath the brilliant tropic moon the great beast feasted until, when the

sun rose the following morning, there remained of Tarzan's great enemy only gnawed and broken bones.

Of the Russian's party, all were accounted for except Paulvitch. Four were prisoners in the Kincaid's

With these men Tarzan got up steam upon the vessel, and with the knowledge of the mate, who happened to

be one of those surviving, he planned to set out in quest of Jungle Island; but as the morning dawned there

came with it a heavy gale from the west which raised a sea into which the mate of the Kincaid dared not

venture. All that day the ship lay within the shelter of the mouth of the river; for, though night witnessed a

lessening of the wind, it was thought safer to wait for daylight before attempting the navigation of the

Upon the deck of the steamer the pack wandered without let or hindrance by day, for they had soon learned

through Tarzan and Mugambi that they must harm no one upon the Kincaid; but at night they were confined

Tarzan's joy had been unbounded when he learned from his wife that the little child who had died in the

village of M'ganwazam was not their son. Who the baby could have been, or what had become of their own,

they could not imagine, and as both Rokoff and Paulvitch were gone, there was no way of discovering.

There was, however, a certain sense of relief in the knowledge that they might yet hope. Until positive proof

It seemed quite evident that their little Jack had not been brought aboard the Kincaid. Anderssen would have

known of it had such been the case, but he had assured Jane time and time again that the little one he had

brought to her cabin the night he aided her to escape was the only one that had been aboard the Kincaid since

As Jane and Tarzan stood upon the vessel's deck recounting to one another the details of the various

adventures through which each had passed since they had parted in their London home, there glared at them

Through the man's brain passed plan after plan whereby he might thwart the escape of the Englishman and

his wife, for so long as the vital spark remained within the vindictive brain of Alexander Paulvitch none who

Plan after plan he formed only to discard each either as impracticable, or unworthy the vengeance his wrongs

demanded. So warped by faulty reasoning was the criminal mind of Rokoff's lieutenant that he could not

grasp the real truth of that which lay between himself and the apeman and see that always the fault had

And at the rejection of each new scheme Paulvitch arrived always at the same conclusionthat he could

accomplish naught while half the breadth of the Ugambi separated him from the object of his hatred.

But how was he to span the crocodileinfested waters? There was no canoe nearer than the Mosula village,

and Paulvitch was none too sure that the Kincaid would still be at anchor in the river when he returned should

he take the time to traverse the jungle to the distant village and return with a canoe. Yet there was no other

way, and so, convinced that thus alone might he hope to reach his prey, Paulvitch, with a parting scowl at the

Hastening through the dense jungle, his mind centred upon his one fetichrevengethe Russian forgot

Baffled and beaten at every turn of Fortune's wheel, reacted upon time after time by his own malign plotting,

the principal victim of his own criminality, Paulvitch was yet so blind as to imagine that his greatest

happiness lay in a continuation of the plottings and schemings which had ever brought him and Rokoff to

As the Russian stumbled on through the jungle toward the Mosula village there presently crystallized within

his brain a plan which seemed more feasible than any that he had as yet considered.

He would come by night to the side of the Kincaid, and once aboard, would search out the members of the

ship's original crew who had survived the terrors of this frightful expedition, and enlist them in an attempt to

In the cabin were arms and ammunition, and hidden in a secret receptacle in the cabin table was one of those

infernal machines, the construction of which had occupied much of Paulvitch's spare time when he had stood

That was before he had sold them out for immunity and gold to the police of Petrograd. Paulvitch winced as

he recalled the denunciation of him that had fallen from the lips of one of his former comrades ere the poor

But the infernal machine was the thing to think of now. He could do much with that if he could but get his

hands upon it. Within the little hardwood case hidden in the cabin table rested sufficient potential

destructiveness to wipe out in the fraction of a second every enemy aboard the Kincaid.

Paulvitch licked his lips in anticipatory joy, and urged his tired legs to greater speed that he might not be too

All depended, of course, upon when the Kincaid departed. The Russian realized that nothing could be

accomplished beneath the light of day. Darkness must shroud his approach to the ship's side, for should he be

sighted by Tarzan or Lady Greystoke he would have no chance to board the vessel.

The gale that was blowing was, he believed, the cause of the delay in getting the Kincaid under way, and if it

continued to blow until night then the chances were all in his favour, for he knew that there was little

likelihood of the apeman attempting to navigate the tortuous channel of the Ugambi while darkness lay

upon the surface of the water, hiding the many bars and the numerous small islands which are scattered over

It was well after noon when Paulvitch came to the Mosula village upon the bank of the tributary of the

Ugambi. Here he was received with suspicion and unfriendliness by the native chief, who, like all those who

came in contact with Rokoff or Paulvitch, had suffered in some manner from the greed, the cruelty, or the lust

When Paulvitch demanded the use of a canoe the chief grumbled a surly refusal and ordered the white man

from the village. Surrounded by angry, muttering warriors who seemed to be but waiting some slight pretext

to transfix him with their menacing spears the Russian could do naught else than withdraw.

A dozen fighting men led him to the edge of the clearing, leaving him with a warning never to show himself

Stifling his anger, Paulvitch slunk into the jungle; but once beyond the sight of the warriors he paused and

listened intently. He could hear the voices of his escort as the men returned to the village, and when he was

sure that they were not following him he wormed his way through the bushes to the edge of the river, still

Life itself depended upon his reaching the Kincaid and enlisting the survivors of the ship's crew in his

service, for to be abandoned here amidst the dangers of the African jungle where he had won the enmity of

A desire for revenge acted as an almost equally powerful incentive to spur him into the face of danger to

accomplish his design, so that it was a desperate man that lay hidden in the foliage beside the little river

searching with eager eyes for some sign of a small canoe which might be easily handled by a single paddle.

Nor had the Russian long to wait before one of the awkward little skiffs which the Mosula fashion came in

sight upon the bosom of the river. A youth was paddling lazily out into midstream from a point beside the

village. When he reached the channel he allowed the sluggish current to carry him slowly along while he

All ignorant of the unseen enemy upon the river's bank the lad floated slowly down the stream while

A mile below the village the black boy dipped his paddle into the water and forced his skiff toward the bank.

Paulvitch, elated by the chance which had drawn the youth to the same side of the river as that along which

he followed rather than to the opposite side where he would have been beyond the stalker's reach, hid in the

brush close beside the point at which it was evident the skiff would touch the bank of the slowmoving

stream, which seemed jealous of each fleeting instant which drew it nearer to the broad and muddy Ugambi

where it must for ever lose its identity in the larger stream that would presently cast its waters into the great

Equally indolent were the motions of the Mosula youth as he drew his skiff beneath an overhanging limb of a

great tree that leaned down to implant a farewell kiss upon the bosom of the departing water, caressing with

And, snakelike, amidst the concealing foliage lay the malevolent Russ. Cruel, shifty eyes gloated upon the

outlines of the coveted canoe, and measured the stature of its owner, while the crafty brain weighed the

chances of the white man should physical encounter with the black become necessary.

Only direct necessity could drive Alexander Paulvitch to personal conflict; but it was indeed dire necessity

There was time, just time enough, to reach the Kincaid by nightfall. Would the black fool never quit his skiff?

Paulvitch squirmed and fidgeted. The lad yawned and stretched. With exasperating deliberateness he

examined the arrows in his quiver, tested his bow, and looked to the edge upon the huntingknife in his

Again he stretched and yawned, glanced up at the riverbank, shrugged his shoulders, and lay down in the

bottom of his canoe for a little nap before he plunged into the jungle after the prey he had come forth to hunt.

Paulvitch half rose, and with tensed muscles stood glaring down upon his unsuspecting victim. The boy's lids

drooped and closed. Presently his breast rose and fell to the deep breaths of slumber. The time had come!

The Russian crept stealthily nearer. A branch rustled beneath his weight and the lad stirred in his sleep.

Paulvitch drew his revolver and levelled it upon the black. For a moment he remained in rigid quiet, and then

The white man crept closer. He could not chance a shot until there was no risk of missing. Presently he

leaned close above the Mosula. The cold steel of the revolver in his hand insinuated itself nearer and nearer to

the breast of the unconscious lad. Now it stopped but a few inches above the strongly beating heart.

But the pressure of a finger lay between the harmless boy and eternity. The soft bloom of youth still lay upon

the brown cheek, a smile half parted the beardless lips. Did any qualm of conscience point its disquieting

To all such was Alexander Paulvitch immune. A sneer curled his bearded lip as his forefinger closed upon the

trigger of his revolver. There was a loud report. A little hole appeared above the heart of the sleeping boy, a

The youthful body half rose to a sitting posture. The smiling lips tensed to the nervous shock of a momentary

agony which the conscious mind never apprehended, and then the dead sank limply back into that deepest of

The killer dropped quickly into the skiff beside the killed. Ruthless hands seized the dead boy heartlessly and

raised him to the low gunwale. A little shove, a splash, some widening ripples broken by the sudden surge of

a dark, hidden body from the slimy depths, and the coveted canoe was in the sole possession of the white

Casting off the tie rope and seizing the paddle, Paulvitch bent feverishly to the task of driving the skiff

Night had fallen when the prow of the bloodstained craft shot out into the current of the larger stream.

Constantly the Russian strained his eyes into the increasing darkness ahead in vain endeavour to pierce the

Was the ship still riding there upon the waters of the Ugambi, or had the apeman at last persuaded himself

of the safety of venturing forth into the abating storm? As Paulvitch forged ahead with the current he asked

himself these questions, and many more beside, not the least disquieting of which were those which related to

his future should it chance that the Kincaid had already steamed away, leaving him to the merciless horrors of

In the darkness it seemed to the paddler that he was fairly flying over the water, and he had become

convinced that the ship had left her moorings and that he had already passed the spot at which she had lain

earlier in the day, when there appeared before him beyond a projecting point which he had but just rounded

Alexander Paulvitch could scarce restrain an exclamation of triumph. The Kincaid had not departed! Life and

He stopped paddling the moment that he descried the gleaming beacon of hope ahead of him. Silently he

drifted down the muddy waters of the Ugambi, occasionally dipping his paddle's blade gently into the current

As he approached more closely the dark bulk of a ship loomed before him out of the blackness of the night.

No sound came from the vessel's deck. Paulvitch drifted, unseen, close to the Kincaid's side. Only the

momentary scraping of his canoe's nose against the ship's planking broke the silence of the night.

Trembling with nervous excitement, the Russian remained motionless for several minutes; but there was no

Stealthily he worked his craft forward until the stays of the bowsprit were directly above him. He could just

reach them. To make his canoe fast there was the work of but a minute or two, and then the man raised

A moment later he dropped softly to the deck. Thoughts of the hideous pack which tenanted the ship induced

cold tremors along the spine of the cowardly prowler; but life itself depended upon the success of his venture,

and so he was enabled to steel himself to the frightful chances which lay before him.

No sound or sign of watch appeared upon the ship's deck. Paulvitch crept stealthily toward the forecastle. All

was silence. The hatch was raised, and as the man peered downward he saw one of the Kincaid's crew

reading by the light of the smoky lantern depending from the ceiling of the crew's quarters.

Paulvitch knew the man well, a surly cutthroat upon whom he figured strongly in the carrying out of the

plan which he had conceived. Gently the Russ lowered himself through the aperture to the rounds of the

He kept his eyes turned upon the reading man, ready to warn him to silence the moment that the fellow

discovered him; but so deeply immersed was the sailor in the magazine that the Russian came, unobserved, to

There he turned and whispered the reader's name. The man raised his eyes from the magazineeyes that

went wide for a moment as they fell upon the familiar countenance of Rokoff's lieutenant, only to narrow

"The devil!" he ejaculated. "Where did you come from? We all thought you were done for and gone where

you ought to have gone a long time ago. His lordship will be mighty pleased to see you."

Paulvitch crossed to the sailor's side. A friendly smile lay on the Russian's lips, and his right hand was

extended in greeting, as though the other might have been a dear and long lost friend. The sailor ignored the

"I've come to help you," explained Paulvitch. "I'm going to help you get rid of the Englishman and his

beaststhen there will be no danger from the law when we get back to civilization. We can sneak in on them

while they sleepthat is Greystoke, his wife, and that black scoundrel, Mugambi. Afterward it will be a

"They're below," replied the sailor; "but just let me tell you something, Paulvitch. You haven't got no more

show to turn us men against the Englishman than nothing. We had all we wanted of you and that other beast.

He's dead, an' if I don't miss my guess a whole lot you'll be dead too before long. You two treated us like

The other nodded, and then after a momentary pause, during which an idea seemed to have occurred to him,

"Unless," he said, "you can make it worth my while to let you go before the Englishman finds you here."

"You wouldn't turn me away in the jungle, would you?" asked Paulvitch. "Why, I'd die there in a week."

"You'd have a chance there," replied the sailor. "Here, you wouldn't have no chance. Why, if I woke up my

maties here they'd probably cut your heart out of you before the Englishman got a chance at you at all. It's

mighty lucky for you that I'm the one to be awake now and not none of the others."

"You're crazy," cried Paulvitch. "Don't you know that the Englishman will have you all hanged when he gets

"No, he won't do nothing of the kind," replied the sailor. "He's told us as much, for he says that there wasn't

For half an hour the Russian pleaded or threatened as the mood seized him. Sometimes he was upon the verge

of tears, and again he was promising his listener either fabulous rewards or condign punishment; but the other

He made it plain to the Russian that there were but two plans open to himeither he must consent to being

turned over immediately to Lord Greystoke, or he must pay to the sailor, as a price for permission to quit the

Kincaid unmolested, every cent of money and article of value upon his person and in his cabin.

"And you'll have to make up your mind mighty quick," growled the man, "for I want to turn in. Come now,

"Shut up," admonished the sailor. "If you get funny I may change my mind, and keep you here after all."

Now Paulvitch had no intention of permitting himself to fall into the hands of Tarzan of the Apes if he could

possibly avoid it, and while the terrors of the jungle appalled him they were, to his mind, infinitely preferable

to the certain death which he knew he merited and for which he might look at the hands of the apeman.

The sailor shook his head. "No," he said; "Lord and Lady Greystoke have the captain's cabin. The mate is in

"I'll go with you to see that you don't try any funny business," said the sailor, and he followed the Russian up

At the cabin entrance the sailor halted to watch, permitting Paulvitch to go alone to his cabin. Here he

gathered together his few belongings that were to buy him the uncertain safety of escape, and as he stood for

a moment beside the little table on which he had piled them he searched his brain for some feasible plan

And presently as he thought there recurred to his memory the little black box which lay hidden in a secret

The Russian's face lighted to a sinister gleam of malevolent satisfaction as he stooped and felt beneath the

table top. A moment later he withdrew from its hidingplace the thing he sought. He had lighted the lantern

swinging from the beams overhead that he might see to collect his belongings, and now he held the black box

well in the rays of the lamplight, while he fingered at the clasp that fastened its lid.

The lifted cover revealed two compartments within the box. In one was a mechanism which resembled the

works of a small clock. There also was a little battery of two dry cells. A wire ran from the clockwork to one

of the poles of the battery, and from the other pole through the partition into the other compartment, a second

Whatever lay within the second compartment was not visible, for a cover lay over it and appeared to be

sealed in place by asphaltum. In the bottom of the box, beside the clockwork, lay a key, and this Paulvitch

Gently he turned the key, muffling the noise of the winding operation by throwing a couple of articles of

clothing over the box. All the time he listened intently for any sound which might indicate that the sailor or

When the winding was completed the Russian set a pointer upon a small dial at the side of the clockwork,

then he replaced the cover upon the black box, and returned the entire machine to its hidingplace in the

A sinister smile curled the man's bearded lips as he gathered up his valuables, blew out the lamp, and stepped

"I'll first take a look in your pockets," replied the sailor. "You might have overlooked some trifling thing that

won't be of no use to you in the jungle, but that'll come in mighty handy to a poor sailorman in London. Ah!

just as I feared," he ejaculated an instant later as he withdrew a roll of bank notes from Paulvitch's inside

The Russian scowled, muttering an imprecation; but nothing could be gained by argument, and so he did his

best to reconcile himself to his loss in the knowledge that the sailor would never reach London to enjoy the

It was with difficulty that Paulvitch restrained a consuming desire to taunt the man with a suggestion of the

fate that would presently overtake him and the other members of the Kincaid's company; but fearing to

arouse the fellow's suspicions, he crossed the deck and lowered himself in silence into his canoe.

A minute or two later he was paddling toward the shore to be swallowed up in the darkness of the jungle

night, and the terrors of a hideous existence from which, could he have had even a slight foreknowledge of

what awaited him in the long years to come, he would have fled to the certain death of the open sea rather

The sailor, having made sure that Paulvitch had departed, returned to the forecastle, where he hid away his

booty and turned into his bunk, while in the cabin that had belonged to the Russian there ticked on and on

through the silences of the night the little mechanism in the small black box which held for the unconscious

sleepers upon the illstarred Kincaid the coming vengeance of the thwarted Russian.

Shortly after the break of day Tarzan was on deck noting the condition of the weather. The wind had abated.

The sky was cloudless. Every condition seemed ideal for the commencement of the return voyage to Jungle

The apeman aroused the mate and gave instructions that the Kincaid sail at the earliest possible moment.

The remaining members of the crew, safe in Lord Greystoke's assurance that they would not be prosecuted

for their share in the villainies of the two Russians, hastened with cheerful alacrity to their several duties.

The beasts, liberated from the confinement of the hold, wandered about the deck, not a little to the

discomfiture of the crew in whose minds there remained a still vivid picture of the savagery of the beasts in

conflict with those who had gone to their deaths beneath the fangs and talons which even now seemed itching

Beneath the watchful eyes of Tarzan and Mugambi, however, Sheeta and the apes of Akut curbed their

desires, so that the men worked about the deck amongst them in far greater security than they imagined.

At last the Kincaid slipped down the Ugambi and ran out upon the shimmering waters of the Atlantic. Tarzan

and Jane Clayton watched the verdureclad shoreline receding in the ship's wake, and for once the apeman

No ship that sailed the seven seas could have borne him away from Africa to resume his search for his lost

boy with half the speed that the Englishman would have desired, and the slowmoving Kincaid seemed

Yet the vessel made progress even when she seemed to be standing still, and presently the low hills of Jungle

In the cabin of Alexander Paulvitch the thing within the black box ticked, ticked, ticked, with apparently

unending monotony; but yet, second by second, a little arm which protruded from the periphery of one of its

wheels came nearer and nearer to another little arm which projected from the hand which Paulvitch had set at

a certain point upon the dial beside the clockwork. When those two arms touched one another the ticking of

Jane and Tarzan stood upon the bridge looking out toward Jungle Island. The men were forward, also

watching the land grow upward out of the ocean. The beasts had sought the shade of the galley, where they

were curled up in sleep. All was quiet and peace upon the ship, and upon the waters.

Suddenly, without warning, the cabin roof shot up into the air, a cloud of dense smoke puffed far above the

Kincaid, there was a terrific explosion which shook the vessel from stem to stern.

Instantly pandemonium broke loose upon the deck. The apes of Akut, terrified by the sound, ran hither and

thither, snarling and growling. Sheeta leaped here and there, screaming out his startled terror in hideous cries

Mugambi, too, was trembling. Only Tarzan of the Apes and his wife retained their composure. Scarce had the

debris settled than the apeman was among the beasts, quieting their fears, talking to them in low, pacific

tones, stroking their shaggy bodies, and assuring them, as only he could, that the immediate danger was over.

An examination of the wreckage showed that their greatest danger, now, lay in fire, for the flames were

licking hungrily at the splintered wood of the wrecked cabin, and had already found a foothold upon the

By a miracle no member of the ship's company had been injured by the blast, the origin of which remained

for ever a total mystery to all but onethe sailor who knew that Paulvitch had been aboard the Kincaid and

in his cabin the previous night. He guessed the truth; but discretion sealed his lips. It would, doubtless, fare

none too well for the man who had permitted the arch enemy of them all aboard the ship in the watches of the

night, where later he might set an infernal machine to blow them all to kingdom come. No, the man decided

As the flames gained headway it became apparent to Tarzan that whatever had caused the explosion had

scattered some highly inflammable substance upon the surrounding woodwork, for the water which they

Fifteen minutes after the explosion great, black clouds of smoke were rising from the hold of the doomed

vessel. The flames had reached the engineroom, and the ship no longer moved toward the shore. Her fate

was as certain as though the waters had already closed above her charred and smoking remains.

"It is useless to remain aboard her longer," remarked the apeman to the mate. "There is no telling but there

may be other explosions, and as we cannot hope to save her, the safest thing which we can do is to take to the

Nor was there other alternative. Only the sailors could bring away any belongings, for the fire, which had not

yet reached the forecastle, had consumed all in the vicinity of the cabin which the explosion had not

Two boats were lowered, and as there was no sea the landing was made with infinite ease. Eager and anxious,

the beasts of Tarzan sniffed the familiar air of their native island as the small boats drew in toward the beach,

and scarce had their keels grated upon the sand than Sheeta and the apes of Akut were over the bows and

racing swiftly toward the jungle. A halfsad smile curved the lips of the apeman as he watched them go.

"Goodbye, my friends," he murmured. "You have been good and faithful allies, and I shall miss you."

"They may and they may not," replied the apeman. "They have been ill at ease since they were forced to

accept so many human beings into their confidence. Mugambi and I alone affected them less, for he and I are,

at best, but half human. You, however, and the members of the crew are far too civilized for my beastsit is

you whom they are fleeing. Doubtless they feel that they cannot trust themselves in the close vicinity of so

much perfectly good food without the danger that they may help themselves to a mouthful some time by

Jane laughed. "I think they are just trying to escape you," she retorted. "You are always making them stop

something which they see no reason why they should not do. Like little children they are doubtless delighted

at this opportunity to flee from the zone of parental discipline. If they come back, though, I hope they won't

For two hours after landing the little party stood watching the burning ship which they had abandoned. Then

there came faintly to them from across the water the sound of a second explosion. The Kincaid settled rapidly

The cause of the second explosion was less a mystery than that of the first, the mate attributing it to the

bursting of the boilers when the flames had finally reached them; but what had caused the first explosion was

The first consideration of the party was to locate fresh water and make camp, for all knew that their term of

Tarzan knew the nearest water, and to this he immediately led the party. Here the men fell to work to

construct shelters and rude furniture while Tarzan went into the jungle after meat, leaving the faithful

Mugambi and the Mosula woman to guard Jane, whose safety he would never trust to any member of the

Lady Greystoke suffered far greater anguish than any other of the castaways, for the blow to her hopes and

her already cruelly lacerated motherheart lay not in her own privations but in the knowledge that she might

now never be able to learn the fate of her firstborn or do aught to discover his whereabouts, or ameliorate

his conditiona condition which imagination naturally pictured in the most frightful forms.

For two weeks the party divided the time amongst the various duties which had been allotted to each. A

daylight watch was maintained from sunrise to sunset upon a bluff near the campa jutting shoulder of rock

which overlooked the sea. Here, ready for instant lighting, was gathered a huge pile of dry branches, while

from a lofty pole which they had set in the ground there floated an improvised distress signal fashioned from

But never a speck upon the horizon that might be sail or smoke rewarded the tired eyes that in their endless,

It was Tarzan who suggested, finally, that they attempt to construct a vessel that would bear them back to the

mainland. He alone could show them how to fashion rude tools, and when the idea had taken root in the

But as time went on and the Herculean nature of their task became more and more apparent they fell to

grumbling, and to quarrelling among themselves, so that to the other dangers were now added dissension and

More than before did Tarzan now fear to leave Jane among the half brutes of the Kincaid's crew; but hunting

he must do, for none other could so surely go forth and return with meat as he. Sometimes Mugambi spelled

him at the hunting; but the black's spear and arrows were never so sure of results as the rope and knife of the

Finally the men shirked their work, going off into the jungle by twos to explore and to hunt. All this time the

camp had had no sight of Sheeta, or Akut and the other great apes, though Tarzan had sometimes met them in

And as matters tended from bad to worse in the camp of the castaways upon the east coast of Jungle Island,

Here, in a little cove, lay a small schooner, the Cowrie, whose decks had but a few days since run red with the

blood of her officers and the loyal members of her crew, for the Cowrie had fallen upon bad days when it had

shipped such men as Gust and Momulla the Maori and that archfiend Kai Shang of Fachan.

There were others, too, ten of them all told, the scum of the South Sea ports; but Gust and Momulla and Kai

Shang were the brains and cunning of the company. It was they who had instigated the mutiny that they

might seize and divide the catch of pearls which constituted the wealth of the Cowrie's cargo.

It was Kai Shang who had murdered the captain as he lay asleep in his berth, and it had been Momulla the

Gust, after his own peculiar habit, had found means to delegate to the others the actual taking of life. Not that

Gust entertained any scruples on the subject, other than those which induced in him a rare regard for his own

personal safety. There is always a certain element of risk to the assassin, for victims of deadly assault are

seldom prone to die quietly and considerately. There is always a certain element of risk to go so far as to

dispute the issue with the murderer. It was this chance of dispute which Gust preferred to forgo.

But now that the work was done the Swede aspired to the position of highest command among the mutineers.

He had even gone so far as to appropriate and wear certain articles belonging to the murdered captain of the

Cowriearticles of apparel which bore upon them the badges and insignia of authority.

Kai Shang was peeved. He had no love for authority, and certainly not the slightest intention of submitting to

The seeds of discontent were, therefore, already planted in the camp of the mutineers of the Cowrie at the

north edge of Jungle Island. But Kai Shang realized that he must act with circumspection, for Gust alone of

the motley horde possessed sufficient knowledge of navigation to get them out of the South Atlantic and

around the cape into more congenial waters where they might find a market for their illgotten wealth, and

The day before they sighted Jungle Island and discovered the little landlocked harbour upon the bosom of

which the Cowrie now rode quietly at anchor, the watch had discovered the smoke and funnels of a warship

The chance of being spoken and investigated by a manofwar appealed not at all to any of them, so they put

And now Gust did not wish to venture out to sea again. There was no telling, he insisted, but that the ship

they had seen was actually searching for them. Kai Shang pointed out that such could not be the case since it

was impossible for any human being other than themselves to have knowledge of what had transpired aboard

But Gust was not to be persuaded. In his wicked heart he nursed a scheme whereby he might increase his

share of the booty by something like one hundred per cent. He alone could sail the Cowrie, therefore the

others could not leave Jungle Island without him; but what was there to prevent Gust, with just sufficient men

to man the schooner, slipping away from Kai Shang, Momulla the Maori, and some half of the crew when

It was for this opportunity that Gust waited. Some day there would come a moment when Kai Shang,

Momulla, and three or four of the others would be absent from camp, exploring or hunting. The Swede

racked his brain for some plan whereby he might successfully lure from the sight of the anchored ship those

To this end he organized hunting party after hunting party, but always the devil of perversity seemed to enter

the soul of Kai Shang, so that wily celestial would never hunt except in the company of Gust himself.

One day Kai Shang spoke secretly with Momulla the Maori, pouring into the brown ear of his companion the

suspicions which he harboured concerning the Swede. Momulla was for going immediately and running a

It is true that Kai Shang had no other evidence than the natural cunning of his own knavish soulbut he

imagined in the intentions of Gust what he himself would have been glad to accomplish had the means lain at

But he dared not let Momulla slay the Swede, upon whom they depended to guide them to their destination.

They decided, however, that it would do no harm to attempt to frighten Gust into acceding to their demands,

and with this purpose in mind the Maori sought out the selfconstituted commander of the party.

When he broached the subject of immediate departure Gust again raised his former objectionthat the

warship might very probably be patrolling the sea directly in their southern path, waiting for them to make

Momulla scoffed at the fears of his fellow, pointing out that as no one aboard any warship knew of their

"Ah!" exclaimed Gust, "there is where you are wrong. There is where you are lucky that you have an

educated man like me to tell you what to do. You are an ignorant savage, Momulla, and so you know nothing

"I was only joking," the Swede hastened to explain. "We are old friends, Momulla; we cannot afford to

quarrel, at least not while old Kai Shang is plotting to steal all the pearls from us. If he could find a man to

navigate the Cowrie he would leave us in a minute. All his talk about getting away from here is just because

"But the wireless," asked Momulla. "What has the wireless to do with our remaining here?"

"Oh yes," replied Gust, scratching his head. He was wondering if the Maori were really so ignorant as to

believe the preposterous lie he was about to unload upon him. "Oh yes! You see every warship is equipped

with what they call a wireless apparatus. It lets them talk to other ships hundreds of miles away, and it lets

them listen to all that is said on these other ships. Now, you see, when you fellows were shooting up the

Cowrie you did a whole lot of loud talking, and there isn't any doubt but that that warship was alyin' off

south of us listenin' to it all. Of course they might not have learned the name of the ship, but they heard

enough to know that the crew of some ship was mutinying and killin' her officers. So you see they'll be

waiting to search every ship they sight for a long time to come, and they may not be far away now."

When he had ceased speaking the Swede strove to assume an air of composure that his listener might not

have his suspicions aroused as to the truth of the statements that had just been made.

"You are a great liar," he said. "If you don't get us on our way by tomorrow you'll never have another chance

to lie, for I heard two of the men saying that they'd like to run a knife into you and that if you kept them in

"Go and ask Kai Shang if there is not a wireless," replied Gust. "He will tell you that there is such a thing and

that vessels can talk to one another across hundreds of miles of water. Then say to the two men who wish to

kill me that if they do so they will never live to spend their share of the swag, for only I can get you safely to

So Momulla went to Kai Shang and asked him if there was such an apparatus as a wireless by means of

which ships could talk with each other at great distances, and Kai Shang told him that there was.

Momulla was puzzled; but still he wished to leave the island, and was willing to take his chances on the open

That afternoon Momulla went hunting with two other Maoris. They hunted toward the south, and had not

gone far from camp when they were surprised by the sound of voices ahead of them in the jungle.

They knew that none of their own men had preceded them, and as all were convinced that the island was

uninhabited, they were inclined to flee in terror on the hypothesis that the place was hauntedpossibly by

But Momulla was even more curious than he was superstitious, and so he quelled his natural desire to flee

from the supernatural. Motioning his companions to follow his example, he dropped to his hands and knees,

crawling forward stealthily and with quakings of heart through the jungle in the direction from which came

Presently, at the edge of a little clearing, he halted, and there he breathed a deep sigh of relief, for plainly

before him he saw two fleshandblood men sitting upon a fallen log and talking earnestly together.

One was Schneider, mate of the Kincaid, and the other was a seaman named Schmidt.

"I think we can do it, Schmidt," Schneider was saying. "A good canoe wouldn't be hard to build, and three of

us could paddle it to the mainland in a day if the wind was right and the sea reasonably calm. There ain't no

use waiting for the men to build a big enough boat to take the whole party, for they're sore now and sick of

working like slaves all day long. It ain't none of our business anyway to save the Englishman. Let him look

out for himself, says I." He paused for a moment, and then eyeing the other to note the effect of his next

words, he continued, "But we might take the woman. It would be a shame to leave a nicelookin' piece like

"So that's how she's blowin', is it?" he asked. "Why didn't you say so in the first place? Wot's in it for me if I

"She ought to pay us well to get her back to civilization," explained Schneider, "an' I tell you what I'll do. I'll

just whack up with the two men that helps me. I'll take half an' they can divide the other halfyou an'

whoever the other bloke is. I'm sick of this place, an' the sooner I get out of it the better I'll like it. What do

"Suits me," replied Schmidt. "I wouldn't know how to reach the mainland myself, an' know that none o' the

other fellows would, so's you're the only one that knows anything of navigation you're the fellow I'll tie to."

Momulla the Maori pricked up his ears. He had a smattering of every tongue that is spoken upon the seas, and

more than a few times had he sailed on English ships, so that he understood fairly well all that had passed

He rose to his feet and stepped into the clearing. Schneider and his companion started as nervously as though

a ghost had risen before them. Schneider reached for his revolver. Momulla raised his right hand, palm

"I am a friend," he said. "I heard you; but do not fear that I will reveal what you have said. I can help you, and

you can help me." He was addressing Schneider. "You can navigate a ship, but you have no ship. We have a

ship, but no one to navigate it. If you will come with us and ask no questions we will let you take the ship

where you will after you have landed us at a certain port, the name of which we will give you later. You can

take the woman of whom you speak, and we will ask no questions either. Is it a bargain?"

Schneider desired more information, and got as much as Momulla thought best to give him. Then the Maori

suggested that they speak with Kai Shang. The two members of the Kincaid's company followed Momulla

and his fellows to a point in the jungle close by the camp of the mutineers. Here Momulla hid them while he

went in search of Kai Shang, first admonishing his Maori companions to stand guard over the two sailors lest

they change their minds and attempt to escape. Schneider and Schmidt were virtually prisoners, though they

Presently Momulla returned with Kai Shang, to whom he had briefly narrated the details of the stroke of good

fortune that had come to them. The Chinaman spoke at length with Schneider, until, notwithstanding his

natural suspicion of the sincerity of all men, he became quite convinced that Schneider was quite as much a

These two premises accepted there could be little doubt that Schneider would prove trustworthy in so far as

accepting the command of the Cowrie was concerned; after that Kai Shang knew that he could find means to

When Schneider and Schmidt left them and set out in the direction of their own camp, it was with feelings of

far greater relief than they had experienced in many a day. Now at last they saw a feasible plan for leaving

the island upon a seaworthy craft. There would be no more hard labour at shipbuilding, and no risking their

lives upon a crudely built makeshift that would be quite as likely to go to the bottom as it would to reach the

Also, they were to have assistance in capturing the woman, or rather women, for when Momulla had learned

that there was a black woman in the other camp he had insisted that she be brought along as well as the white

As Kai Shang and Momulla entered their camp, it was with a realization that they no longer needed Gust.

They marched straight to the tent in which they might expect to find him at that hour of the day, for though it

would have been more comfortable for the entire party to remain aboard the ship, they had mutually decided

Each knew that in the heart of the others was sufficient treachery to make it unsafe for any member of the

party to go ashore leaving the others in possession of the Cowrie, so not more than two or three men at a time

were ever permitted aboard the vessel unless all the balance of the company was there too.

As the two crossed toward Gust's tent the Maori felt the edge of his long knife with one grimy, calloused

thumb. The Swede would have felt far from comfortable could he have seen this significant action, or read

Now it happened that Gust was at that moment in the tent occupied by the cook, and this tent stood but a few

feet from his own. So that he heard the approach of Kai Shang and Momulla, though he did not, of course,

Chance had it, though, that he glanced out of the doorway of the cook's tent at the very moment that Kai

Shang and Momulla approached the entrance to his, and he thought that he noted a stealthiness in their

movements that comported poorly with amicable or friendly intentions, and then, just as they two slunk

within the interior, Gust caught a glimpse of the long knife which Momulla the Maori was then carrying

The Swede's eyes opened wide, and a funny little sensation assailed the roots of his hairs. Also he turned

almost white beneath his tan. Quite precipitately he left the cook's tent. He was not one who required a

As surely as though he had heard them plotting, he knew that Kai Shang and Momulla had come to take his

life. The knowledge that he alone could navigate the Cowrie had, up to now, been sufficient assurance of his

safety; but quite evidently something had occurred of which he had no knowledge that would make it quite

Without a pause Gust darted across the beach and into the jungle. He was afraid of the jungle; uncanny noises

that were indeed frightful came forth from its recessesthe tangled mazes of the mysterious country back of

But if Gust was afraid of the jungle he was far more afraid of Kai Shang and Momulla. The dangers of the

jungle were more or less problematical, while the danger that menaced him at the hands of his companions

was a perfectly well known quantity, which might be expressed in terms of a few inches of cold steel, or the

coil of a light rope. He had seen Kai Shang garrotte a man at Paisha in a dark alleyway back of Loo Kotai's

place. He feared the rope, therefore, more than he did the knife of the Maori; but he feared them both too

In Tarzan's camp, by dint of threats and promised rewards, the apeman had finally succeeded in getting the

hull of a large skiff almost completed. Much of the work he and Mugambi had done with their own hands in

Schneider, the mate, had been doing considerable grumbling, and had at last openly deserted the work and

gone off into the jungle with Schmidt to hunt. He said that he wanted a rest, and Tarzan, rather than add to the

unpleasantness which already made camp life almost unendurable, had permitted the two men to depart

Upon the following day, however, Schneider affected a feeling of remorse for his action, and set to work with

a will upon the skiff. Schmidt also worked goodnaturedly, and Lord Greystoke congratulated himself that at

last the men had awakened to the necessity for the labour which was being asked of them and to their

It was with a feeling of greater relief than he had experienced for many a day that he set out that noon to hunt

deep in the jungle for a herd of small deer which Schneider reported that he and Schmidt had seen there the

The direction in which Schneider had reported seeing the deer was toward the southwest, and to that point

And as he went there approached from the north a halfdozen illfeatured men who went stealthily through

They thought that they travelled unseen; but behind them, almost from the moment they quitted their own

camp, a tall man crept upon their trail. In the man's eyes were hate and fear, and a great curiosity. Why went

Kai Shang and Momulla and the others thus stealthily toward the south? What did they expect to find there?

Gust shook his lowbrowed head in perplexity. But he would know. He would follow them and learn their

At first he had thought that they searched for him; but finally his better judgment assured him that such could

not be the case, since they had accomplished all they really desired by chasing him out of camp. Never would

Kai Shang or Momulla go to such pains to slay him or another unless it would put money into their pockets,

and as Gust had no money it was evident that they were searching for someone else.

Presently the party he trailed came to a halt. Its members concealed themselves in the foliage bordering the

game trail along which they had come. Gust, that he might the better observe, clambered into the branches of

a tree to the rear of them, being careful that the leafy fronds hid him from the view of his erstwhile mates.

He had not long to wait before he saw a strange white man approach carefully along the trail from the south.

At sight of the newcomer Momulla and Kai Shang arose from their places of concealment and greeted him.

Gust could not overhear what passed between them. Then the man returned in the direction from which he

He was Schneider. Nearing his camp he circled to the opposite side of it, and presently came running in

"Quick!" he cried. "Those apes of yours have caught Schmidt and will kill him if we do not hasten to his aid.

You alone can call them off. Take Jones and Sullivanyou may need helpand get to him as quick as you

can. Follow the game trail south for about a mile. I will remain here. I am too spent with running to go back

with you," and the mate of the Kincaid threw himself upon the ground, panting as though he was almost done

Mugambi hesitated. He had been left to guard the two women. He did not know what to do, and then Jane

"Do not delay," she urged. "We shall be all right here. Mr. Schneider will remain with us. Go, Mugambi. The

Schmidt, who lay hidden in a bush at the edge of the camp, grinned. Mugambi, heeding the commands of his

mistress, though still doubtful of the wisdom of his action, started off toward the south, with Jones and

No sooner had he disappeared than Schmidt rose and darted north into the jungle, and a few minutes later the

face of Kai Shang of Fachan appeared at the edge of the clearing. Schneider saw the Chinaman, and motioned

Jane Clayton and the Mosula woman were sitting at the opening of the former's tent, their backs toward the

approaching ruffians. The first intimation that either had of the presence of strangers in camp was the sudden

Jane Clayton sprang to her feet and looked about for Schneider, only to see him standing behind the

newcomers, a grin upon his face. At his side stood Schmidt. Instantly she saw that she had been made the

"It means that we have found a ship and that we can now escape from Jungle Island," replied the man.

One of the Maoris grasped the black woman by the arm, and when she would have screamed struck her

Mugambi raced through the jungle toward the south. Jones and Sullivan trailed far behind. For a mile he

continued upon his way to the relief of Schmidt, but no signs saw he of the missing man or of any of the apes

At last he halted and called aloud the summons which he and Tarzan had used to hail the great anthropoids.

There was no response. Jones and Sullivan came up with the black warrior as the latter stood voicing his

Finally the truth flashed upon him, and then, like a frightened deer, he wheeled and dashed back toward

camp. Arriving there, it was but a moment before full confirmation of his fears was impressed upon him.

When Jones and Sullivan joined Mugambi he would have killed them in his anger, thinking them parties to

the plot; but they finally succeeded in partially convincing him that they had known nothing of it.

As they stood speculating upon the probable whereabouts of the women and their abductor, and the purpose

which Schneider had in mind in taking them from camp, Tarzan of the Apes swung from the branches of a

His keen eyes detected at once that something was radically wrong, and when he had heard Mugambi's story

What could the mate hope to accomplish by taking Jane Clayton from a camp upon a small island from which

there was no escape from the vengeance of Tarzan? The apeman could not believe the fellow such a fool,

Schneider would not have committed such an act unless he had been reasonably sure that there was a way by

which he could quit Jungle Island with his prisoners. But why had he taken the black woman as well? There

"Come," said Tarzan, "there is but one thing to do now, and that is to follow the trail."

As he finished speaking a tall, ungainly figure emerged from the jungle north of the camp. He came straight

toward the four men. He was an entire stranger to all of them, not one of whom had dreamed that another

human being than those of their own camp dwelt upon the unfriendly shores of Jungle Island.

"Your women were stolen," he said. "If you want ever to see them again, come quickly and follow me. If we

do not hurry the Cowrie will be standing out to sea by the time we reach her anchorage."

"Who are you?" asked Tarzan. "What do you know of the theft of my wife and the black woman?"

"I heard Kai Shang and Momulla the Maori plot with two men of your camp. They had chased me from our

Gust led the four men of the Kincaid's camp at a rapid trot through the jungle toward the north. Would they

And when at last the little party did break through the last of the screening foliage, and the harbour and the

ocean lay before them, they realized that fate had been most cruelly unkind, for the Cowrie was already under

What were they to do? Tarzan's broad chest rose and fell to the force of his pent emotions. The last blow

seemed to have fallen, and if ever in all his life Tarzan of the Apes had had occasion to abandon hope it was

now that he saw the ship bearing his wife to some frightful fate moving gracefully over the rippling water, so

In silence he stood watching the vessel. He saw it turn toward the east and finally disappear around a

headland on its way he knew not whither. Then he dropped upon his haunches and buried his face in his

It was after dark that the five men returned to the camp on the east shore. The night was hot and sultry. No

slightest breeze ruffled the foliage of the trees or rippled the mirror like surface of the ocean. Only a gentle

Never had Tarzan seen the great Atlantic so ominously at peace. He was standing at the edge of the beach

gazing out to sea in the direction of the mainland, his mind filled with sorrow and hopelessness, when from

There was a familiar note in the weird cry, and almost mechanically Tarzan turned his head and answered. A

moment later the tawny figure of Sheeta slunk out into the halflight of the beach. There was no moon, but

the sky was brilliant with stars. Silently the savage brute came to the side of the man. It had been long since

Tarzan had seen his old fighting companion, but the soft purr was sufficient to assure him that the animal still

The apeman let his fingers fall upon the beast's coat, and as Sheeta pressed close against his leg he caressed

and fondled the wicked head while his eyes continued to search the blackness of the waters.

Presently he started. What was that? He strained his eyes into the night. Then he turned and called aloud to

the men smoking upon their blankets in the camp. They came running to his side; but Gust hesitated when he

"Look!" cried Tarzan. "A light! A ship's light! It must be the Cowrie. They are becalmed." And then with an

exclamation of renewed hope, "We can reach them! The skiff will carry us easily."

Gust demurred. "They are well armed," he warned. "We could not take the shipjust five of us."

"There are six now," replied Tarzan, pointing to Sheeta, "and we can have more still in a halfhour. Sheeta is

the equivalent of twenty men, and the few others I can bring will add full a hundred to our fighting strength.

The apeman turned and raised his head toward the jungle, while there pealed from his lips, time after time,

Presently from the jungle came an answering cry, and then another and another. Gust shuddered. Among

what sort of creatures had fate thrown him? Were not Kai Shang and Momulla to be preferred to this great

In a few minutes the apes of Akut came crashing through the underbrush and out upon the beach, while in the

meantime the five men had been struggling with the unwieldy bulk of the skiff's hull.

By dint of Herculean efforts they had managed to get it to the water's edge. The oars from the two small boats

of the Kincaid, which had been washed away by an offshore wind the very night that the party had landed,

had been in use to support the canvas of the sailcloth tents. These were hastily requisitioned, and by the time

Once again the hideous crew entered the service of their master, and without question took up their places in

the skiff. The four men, for Gust could not be prevailed upon to accompany the party, fell to the oars, using

them paddlewise, while some of the apes followed their example, and presently the ungainly skiff was

moving quietly out to sea in the direction of the light which rose and fell gently with the swell.

A sleepy sailor kept a poor vigil upon the Cowrie's deck, while in the cabin below Schneider paced up and

down arguing with Jane Clayton. The woman had found a revolver in a table drawer in the room in which she

had been locked, and now she kept the mate of the Kincaid at bay with the weapon.

The Mosula woman kneeled behind her, while Schneider paced up and down before the door, threatening and

pleading and promising, but all to no avail. Presently from the deck above came a shout of warning and a

shot. For an instant Jane Clayton relaxed her vigilance, and turned her eyes toward the cabin skylight.

The first intimation the watch had that there was another craft within a thousand miles of the Cowrie came

when he saw the head and shoulders of a man poked over the ship's side. Instantly the fellow sprang to his

feet with a cry and levelled his revolver at the intruder. It was his cry and the subsequent report of the

Upon deck the quiet of fancied security soon gave place to the wildest pandemonium. The crew of the Cowrie

rushed above armed with revolvers, cutlasses, and the long knives that many of them habitually wore; but the

alarm had come too late. Already the beasts of Tarzan were upon the ship's deck, with Tarzan and the two

In the face of the frightful beasts the courage of the mutineers wavered and broke. Those with revolvers fired

a few scattering shots and then raced for some place of supposed safety. Into the shrouds went some; but the

Screaming with terror the Maoris were dragged from their lofty perches. The beasts, uncontrolled by Tarzan

who had gone in search of Jane, loosed in the full fury of their savage natures upon the unhappy wretches

Sheeta, in the meanwhile, had felt his great fangs sink into but a singular jugular. For a moment he mauled

the corpse, and then he spied Kai Shang darting down the companionway toward his cabin.

With a shrill scream Sheeta was after hima scream which awoke an almost equally uncanny cry in the

But Kai Shang reached his cabin a fraction of a second ahead of the panther, and leaping within slammed the

door just too late. Sheeta's great body hurtled against it before the catch engaged, and a moment later Kai

Lightly Sheeta sprang after his victim, and presently the wicked days of Kai Shang of Fachan were ended,

A moment scarcely had elapsed after Schneider leaped upon Jane Clayton and wrenched the revolver from

her hand, when the door of the cabin opened and a tall and halfnaked white man stood framed within the

Silently he leaped across the cabin. Schneider felt sinewy fingers at his throat. He turned his head to see who

had attacked him, and his eyes went wide when he saw the face of the apeman close above his own.

Grimly the fingers tightened upon the mate's throat. He tried to scream, to plead, but no sound came forth.

Jane Clayton seized her husband's hands and tried to drag them from the throat of the dying man; but Tarzan

"Not again," he said quietly. "Before have I permitted scoundrels to live, only to suffer and to have you suffer

for my mercy. This time we shall make sure of one scoundrel sure that he will never again harm us or

another," and with a sudden wrench he twisted the neck of the perfidious mate until there was a sharp crack,

and the man's body lay limp and motionless in the apeman's grasp. With a gesture of disgust Tarzan tossed

the corpse aside. Then he returned to the deck, followed by Jane and the Mosula woman.

The battle there was over. Schmidt and Momulla and two others alone remained alive of all the company of

the Cowrie, for they had found sanctuary in the forecastle. The others had died, horribly, and as they

deserved, beneath the fangs and talons of the beasts of Tarzan, and in the morning the sun rose on a grisly

sight upon the deck of the unhappy Cowrie; but this time the blood which stained her white planking was the

Tarzan brought forth the men who had hidden in the forecastle, and without promises of immunity from

punishment forced them to help work the vesselthe only alternative was immediate death.

A stiff breeze had risen with the sun, and with canvas spread the Cowrie set in toward Jungle Island, where a

few hours later, Tarzan picked up Gust and bid farewell to Sheeta and the apes of Akut, for here he set the

beasts ashore to pursue the wild and natural life they loved so well; nor did they lose a moment's time in

That they knew that Tarzan was to leave them may be doubted except possibly in the case of the more

intelligent Akut, who alone of all the others remained upon the beach as the small boat drew away toward the

And as long as their eyes could span the distance, Jane and Tarzan, standing upon the deck, saw the lonely

figure of the shaggy anthropoid motionless upon the surfbeaten sands of Jungle Island.

It was three days later that the Cowrie fell in with H.M. sloopofwar Shorewater, through whose wireless

Lord Greystoke soon got in communication with London. Thus he learned that which filled his and his wife's

heart with joy and thanksgiving little Jack was safe at Lord Greystoke's town house.

It was not until they reached London that they learned the details of the remarkable chain of circumstances

It developed that Rokoff, fearing to take the child aboard the Kincaid by day, had hidden it in a low den

where nameless infants were harboured, intending to carry it to the steamer after dark.

His confederate and chief lieutenant, Paulvitch, true to the long years of teaching of his wily master, had at

last succumbed to the treachery and greed that had always marked his superior, and, lured by the thoughts of

the immense ransom that he might win by returning the child unharmed, had divulged the secret of its

parentage to the woman who maintained the foundling asylum. Through her he had arranged for the

substitution of another infant, knowing full well that never until it was too late would Rokoff suspect the trick

The woman had promised to keep the child until Paulvitch returned to England; but she, in turn, had been

tempted to betray her trust by the lure of gold, and so had opened negotiations with Lord Greystoke's

Esmeralda, the old Negro nurse whose absence on a vacation in America at the time of the abduction of little

Jack had been attributed by her as the cause of the calamity, had returned and positively identified the infant.

The ransom had been paid, and within ten days of the date of his kidnapping the future Lord Greystoke, none

And so that last and greatest of Nikolas Rokoff's many rascalities had not only miserably miscarried through

the treachery he had taught his only friend, but it had resulted in the archvillain's death, and given to Lord

and Lady Greystoke a peace of mind that neither could ever have felt so long as the vital spark remained in

the body of the Russian and his malign mind was free to formulate new atrocities against them.

Rokoff was dead, and while the fate of Paulvitch was unknown, they had every reason to believe that he had

succumbed to the dangers of the jungle where last they had seen himthe malicious tool of his master.

And thus, in so far as they might know, they were to be freed for ever from the menace of these two

menthe only enemies which Tarzan of the Apes ever had had occasion to fear, because they struck at him

It was a happy family party that were reunited in Greystoke House the day that Lord Greystoke and his lady

Accompanying them were Mugambi and the Mosula woman whom he had found in the bottom of the canoe

The woman had preferred to cling to her new lord and master rather than return to the marriage she had tried

Tarzan had proposed to them that they might find a home upon his vast African estates in the land of the

Possibly we shall see them all there amid the savage romance of the grim jungle and the great plains where