The Beasts of Tarzan

By

Edgar Rice Burroughs

To Joan Burroughs

 CONTENTS

 CHAPTER

 1 Kidnapped 2 Marooned 3 Beasts at Bay 4 Sheeta 5 Mugambi 6 A Hideous Crew 7 Betrayed 8 The Dance of Death 9 Chivalry or Villainy 10 The Swede 11 Tambudza 12 A Black Scoundrel 13 Escape 14 Alone in the Jungle 15 Down the Ugambi 16 In the Darkness of the Night 17 On the Deck of the "Kincaid" 18 Paulvitch Plots Revenge 19 The Last of the "Kincaid" 20 Jungle Island Again 21 The Law of the Jungle

Chapter 1

Kidnapped

"The entire affair is shrouded in mystery, " said D'Arnot. "I have iton the best of authority that neither the police nor the special agentsof the general staff have the faintest conception of how it wasaccomplished. All they know, all that anyone knows, is that NikolasRokoff has escaped. "

John Clayton, Lord Greystoke--he who had been "Tarzan of the Apes"--satin silence in the apartments of his friend, Lieutenant Paul D'Arnot, inParis, gazing meditatively at the toe of his immaculate boot. 

His mind revolved many memories, recalled by the escape of hisarch-enemy from the French military prison to which he had beensentenced for life upon the testimony of the ape-man. 

He thought of the lengths to which Rokoff had once gone to compass hisdeath, and he realized that what the man had already done woulddoubtless be as nothing by comparison with what he would wish and plotto do now that he was again free. 

Tarzan had recently brought his wife and infant son to London to escapethe discomforts and dangers of the rainy season upon their vast estatein Uziri--the land of the savage Waziri warriors whose broad Africandomains the ape-man had once ruled. 

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 hisouting, so that though he had but just arrived he was alreadycontemplating an immediate return to London. 

"It is not that I fear for myself, Paul, " he said at last. "Manytimes in the past have I thwarted Rokoff's designs upon my life; butnow there are others to consider. Unless I misjudge the man, he wouldmore 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 greateranguish upon me. I must go back to them at once, and remain with themuntil Rokoff is recaptured--or dead. "

As these two talked in Paris, two other men were talking together in alittle cottage upon the outskirts of London. Both were dark, sinister-looking men. 

One was bearded, but the other, whose face wore the pallor of longconfinement within doors, had but a few days' growth of black beardupon his face. It was he who was speaking. 

"You must needs shave off that beard of yours, Alexis, " he said to hiscompanion. "With it he would recognize you on the instant. We mustseparate here in the hour, and when we meet again upon the deck of theKincaid, let us hope that we shall have with us two honoured guests wholittle anticipate the pleasant voyage we have planned for them. 

"In two hours I should be upon my way to Dover with one of them, and bytomorrow night, if you follow my instructions carefully, you shouldarrive with the other, provided, of course, that he returns to Londonas quickly as I presume he will. 

"There should be both profit and pleasure as well as other good thingsto reward our efforts, my dear Alexis. Thanks to the stupidity of theFrench, they have gone to such lengths to conceal the fact of my escapefor these many days that I have had ample opportunity to work out everydetail of our little adventure so carefully that there is little chanceof the slightest hitch occurring to mar our prospects. And nowgood-bye, and good luck!"

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

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

The man answered in the affirmative, and, signing for the message, carried it within to Tarzan, who was already preparing to depart forLondon. 

Tarzan tore open the envelope, and as he read his face went white. 

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

The Frenchman took the telegram and read:

"Jack stolen from the garden through complicity of new servant. Comeat once. --JANE. "

As Tarzan leaped from the roadster that had met him at the station andran up the steps to his London town house he was met at the door by adry-eyed but almost frantic woman. 

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

The baby's nurse had been wheeling him in the sunshine on the walkbefore the house when a closed taxicab drew up at the corner of thestreet. The woman had paid but passing attention to the vehicle, merely noting that it discharged no passenger, but stood at the kerbwith the motor running as though waiting for a fare from the residencebefore which it had stopped. 

Almost immediately the new houseman, Carl, had come running from theGreystoke house, saying that the girl's mistress wished to speak withher for a moment, and that she was to leave little Jack in his careuntil she returned. 

The woman said that she entertained not the slightest suspicion of theman's motives until she had reached the doorway of the house, when itoccurred to her to warn him not to turn the carriage so as to permitthe sun to shine in the baby's eyes. 

As she turned about to call this to him she was somewhat surprised tosee that he was wheeling the carriage rapidly toward the corner, and atthe same time she saw the door of the taxicab open and a swarthy faceframed for a moment in the aperture. 

Intuitively, the danger to the child flashed upon her, and with ashriek 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 hisconfederate, slamming the door behind him. At the same time thechauffeur attempted to start his machine, but it was evident thatsomething had gone wrong, as though the gears refused to mesh, and thedelay caused by this, while he pushed the lever into reverse and backedthe car a few inches before again attempting to go ahead, gave thenurse time to reach the side of the taxicab. 

Leaping to the running-board, she had attempted to snatch the baby fromthe arms of the stranger, and here, screaming and fighting, she hadclung to her position even after the taxicab had got under way; nor wasit until the machine had passed the Greystoke residence at good speedthat Carl, with a heavy blow to her face, had succeeded in knocking herto the pavement. 

Her screams had attracted servants and members of the families fromresidences near by, as well as from the Greystoke home. Lady Greystokehad witnessed the girl's brave battle, and had herself tried to reachthe rapidly passing vehicle, but had been too late. 

That was all that anyone knew, nor did Lady Greystoke dream of thepossible identity of the man at the bottom of the plot until herhusband told her of the escape of Nikolas Rokoff from the French prisonwhere they had hoped he was permanently confined. 

As Tarzan and his wife stood planning the wisest course to pursue, thetelephone bell rang in the library at their right. Tarzan quicklyanswered the call in person. 

"Lord Greystoke?" asked a man's voice at the other end of the line. 

"Yes. "

"Your son has been stolen, " continued the voice, "and I alone may helpyou to recover him. I am conversant with the plot of those who tookhim. In fact, I was a party to it, and was to share in the reward, butnow they are trying to ditch me, and to be quits with them I will aidyou to recover him on condition that you will not prosecute me for mypart in the crime. What do you say?"

"If you lead me to where my son is hidden, " replied the ape-man, "youneed fear nothing from me. "

"Good, " replied the other. "But you must come alone to meet me, for itis enough that I must trust you. I cannot take the chance ofpermitting others to learn my identity. "

"Where and when may I meet you?" asked Tarzan. 

The other gave the name and location of a public-house on thewater-front at Dover--a place frequented by sailors. 

"Come, " he concluded, "about ten o'clock tonight. It would do no goodto arrive earlier. Your son will be safe enough in the meantime, and Ican then lead you secretly to where he is hidden. But be sure to comealone, and under no circumstances notify Scotland Yard, for I know youwell and shall be watching for you. 

"Should any other accompany you, or should I see suspicious characterswho might be agents of the police, I shall not meet you, and your lastchance of recovering your son will be gone. "

Without more words the man rang off. 

Tarzan repeated the gist of the conversation to his wife. She beggedto be allowed to accompany him, but he insisted that it might result inthe man's carrying out his threat of refusing to aid them if Tarzan didnot come alone, and so they parted, he to hasten to Dover, and she, ostensibly to wait at home until he should notify her of the outcome ofhis mission. 

Little did either dream of what both were destined to pass throughbefore they should meet again, or the far-distant--but why anticipate?

For ten minutes after the ape-man had left her Jane Clayton walkedrestlessly back and forth across the silken rugs of the library. Hermother heart ached, bereft of its first-born. Her mind was in ananguish of hopes and fears. 

Though her judgment told her that all would be well were her Tarzan togo alone in accordance with the mysterious stranger's summons, herintuition would not permit her to lay aside suspicion of the gravestdangers to both her husband and her son. 

The more she thought of the matter, the more convinced she became thatthe recent telephone message might be but a ruse to keep them inactiveuntil the boy was safely hidden away or spirited out of England. Or itmight be that it had been simply a bait to lure Tarzan into the handsof the implacable Rokoff. 

With the lodgment of this thought she stopped in wide-eyed terror. Instantly it became a conviction. She glanced at the great clockticking the minutes in the corner of the library. 

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 Channelport in time to reach the address the stranger had given her husbandbefore the appointed hour. 

Summoning her maid and chauffeur, she issued instructions rapidly. Tenminutes later she was being whisked through the crowded streets towardthe railway station. 

It was nine-forty-five that night that Tarzan entered the squalid "pub"on the water-front in Dover. As he passed into the evil-smelling rooma muffled figure brushed past him toward the street. 

"Come, my lord!" whispered the stranger. 

The ape-man wheeled about and followed the other into the ill-litalley, which custom had dignified with the title of thoroughfare. Onceoutside, the fellow led the way into the darkness, nearer a wharf, where high-piled bales, boxes, and casks cast dense shadows. Here hehalted. 

"Where is the boy?" asked Greystoke. 

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

In the gloom Tarzan was trying to peer into the features of hiscompanion, but he did not recognize the man as one whom he had everbefore seen. Had he guessed that his guide was Alexis Paulvitch hewould 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 feelperfectly safe from detection, and with the exception of a couple ofmembers of the crew, whom I have furnished with enough gin to silencethem effectually for hours, there is none aboard the Kincaid. We cango aboard, get the child, and return without the slightest fear. "

Tarzan nodded. 

"Let's be about it, then, " he said. 

His guide led him to a small boat moored alongside the wharf. The twomen entered, and Paulvitch pulled rapidly toward the steamer. Theblack smoke issuing from her funnel did not at the time make anysuggestion to Tarzan's mind. All his thoughts were occupied with thehope that in a few moments he would again have his little son in hisarms. 

At the steamer's side they found a monkey-ladder dangling close abovethem, and up this the two men crept stealthily. Once on deck theyhastened 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 findhimself in the arms of a stranger. I will stand on guard here. "

So anxious was Tarzan to rescue the child that he gave not theslightest thought to the strangeness of all the conditions surroundingthe Kincaid. That her deck was deserted, though she had steam up, andfrom the volume of smoke pouring from her funnel was all ready to getunder way made no impression upon him. 

With the thought that in another instant he would fold that preciouslittle bundle of humanity in his arms, the ape-man swung down into thedarkness below. Scarcely had he released his hold upon the edge of thehatch than the heavy covering fell clattering above him. 

Instantly he knew that he was the victim of a plot, and that far fromrescuing his son he had himself fallen into the hands of his enemies. Though he immediately endeavoured to reach the hatch and lift thecover, he was unable to do so. 

Striking a match, he explored his surroundings, finding that a littlecompartment had been partitioned off from the main hold, with the hatchabove his head the only means of ingress or egress. It was evidentthat the room had been prepared for the very purpose of serving as acell for himself. 

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

For over twenty years, from infancy to manhood, the ape-man had roamedhis savage jungle haunts without human companionship of any nature. Hehad learned at the most impressionable period of his life to take hispleasures and his sorrows as the beasts take theirs. 

So it was that he neither raved nor stormed against fate, but insteadwaited patiently for what might next befall him, though not by anymeans without an eye to doing the utmost to succour himself. To thisend he examined his prison carefully, tested the heavy planking thatformed its walls, and measured the distance of the hatch above him. 

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

The ship was moving! Where to and to what fate was it carrying him?

And even as these thoughts passed through his mind there came to hisears above the din of the engines that which caused him to go cold withapprehension. 

Clear and shrill from the deck above him rang the scream of afrightened woman. 

Chapter 2

Marooned

As Tarzan and his guide had disappeared into the shadows upon the darkwharf the figure of a heavily veiled woman had hurried down the narrowalley to the entrance of the drinking-place the two men had justquitted. 

Here she paused and looked about, and then as though satisfied that shehad at last reached the place she sought, she pushed bravely into theinterior of the vile den. 

A score of half-drunken sailors and wharf-rats looked up at theunaccustomed sight of a richly gowned woman in their midst. Rapidlyshe approached the slovenly barmaid who stared half in envy, half inhate, at her more fortunate sister. 

"Have you seen a tall, well-dressed man here, but a minute since, " sheasked, "who met another and went away with him?"

The girl answered in the affirmative, but could not tell which way thetwo had gone. A sailor who had approached to listen to theconversation vouchsafed the information that a moment before as he hadbeen about to enter the "pub" he had seen two men leaving it who walkedtoward the wharf. 

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

The fellow led her from the place, and together they walked quicklytoward the wharf and along it until across the water they saw a smallboat just pulling into the shadows of a near-by steamer. 

"There they be, " whispered the man. 

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

"Quick, then, " he replied, "for we gotta go it if we're goin' to catchthe Kincaid afore she sails. She's had steam up for three hours an'jest been a-waitin' fer that one passenger. I was a-talkin' to one ofher crew 'arf an hour ago. "

As he spoke he led the way to the end of the wharf where he knewanother boat lay moored, and, lowering the woman into it, he jumped inafter and pushed off. The two were soon scudding over the water. 

At the steamer's side the man demanded his pay and, without waiting tocount out the exact amount, the woman thrust a handful of bank-notesinto his outstretched hand. A single glance at them convinced thefellow that he had been more than well paid. Then he assisted her upthe ladder, holding his skiff close to the ship's side against thechance that this profitable passenger might wish to be taken ashorelater. 

But presently the sound of the donkey engine and the rattle of a steelcable on the hoisting-drum proclaimed the fact that the Kincaid'sanchor was being raised, and a moment later the waiter heard thepropellers revolving, and slowly the little steamer moved away from himout into the channel. 

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

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

When Jane Clayton climbed to the deck of the Kincaid she found the shipapparently deserted. There was no sign of those she sought nor of anyother aboard, and so she went about her search for her husband and thechild she hoped against hope to find there without interruption. 

Quickly she hastened to the cabin, which was half above and half belowdeck. As she hurried down the short companion-ladder into the maincabin, on either side of which were the smaller rooms occupied by theofficers, she failed to note the quick closing of one of the doorsbefore her. She passed the full length of the main room, and thenretracing her steps stopped before each door to listen, furtivelytrying each latch. 

All was silence, utter silence there, in which the throbbing of her ownfrightened heart seemed to her overwrought imagination to fill the shipwith its thunderous alarm. 

One by one the doors opened before her touch, only to reveal emptyinteriors. In her absorption she did not note the sudden activity uponthe 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 itopen she was seized from within by a powerful, dark-visaged man, anddrawn hastily into the stuffy, ill-smelling interior. 

The sudden shock of fright which the unexpected attack had upon herdrew a single piercing scream from her throat; then the man clapped ahand roughly over the mouth. 

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

Lady Greystoke turned to look into the leering, bearded face so closeto 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 shrankaway from her captor. 

"Nikolas Rokoff! M. Thuran!" she exclaimed. 

"Your devoted admirer, " replied the Russian, with a low bow. 

"My little boy, " she said next, ignoring the terms ofendearment--"where is he? Let me have him. How could you be socruel--even as you--Nikolas Rokoff--cannot be entirely devoid of mercyand compassion? Tell me where he is. Is he aboard this ship? Oh, please, if such a thing as a heart beats within your breast, take me tomy baby!"

"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 cameaboard voluntarily, and you may take the consequences. I littlethought, " he added to himself, "that any such good luck as this wouldcome to me. "

He went on deck then, locking the cabin-door upon his prisoner, and forseveral days she did not see him. The truth of the matter being thatNikolas Rokoff was so poor a sailor that the heavy seas the Kincaidencountered from the very beginning of her voyage sent the Russian tohis berth with a bad attack of sea-sickness. 

During this time her only visitor was an uncouth Swede, the Kincaid'sunsavoury cook, who brought her meals to her. His name was SvenAnderssen, his one pride being that his patronymic was spelt with adouble "s. "

The man was tall and raw-boned, with a long yellow moustache, anunwholesome complexion, and filthy nails. The very sight of him withone grimy thumb buried deep in the lukewarm stew, that seemed, from thefrequency of its repetition, to constitute the pride of his culinaryart, was sufficient to take away the girl's appetite. 

His small, blue, close-set eyes never met hers squarely. There was ashiftiness of his whole appearance that even found expression in thecat-like manner of his gait, and to it all a sinister suggestion wasadded by the long slim knife that always rested at his waist, slippedthrough the greasy cord that supported his soiled apron. Ostensibly itwas but an implement of his calling; but the girl could never freeherself of the conviction that it would require less provocation towitness it put to other and less harmless uses. 

His manner toward her was surly, yet she never failed to meet him witha 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 tinycabin port the moment that the door closed behind him. 

During the days of anguish that followed Jane Clayton's imprisonment, but two questions were uppermost in her mind--the whereabouts of herhusband and her son. She fully believed that the baby was aboard theKincaid, provided that he still lived, but whether Tarzan had beenpermitted to live after having been lured aboard the evil craft shecould not guess. 

She knew, of course, the deep hatred that the Russian felt for theEnglishman, and she could think of but one reason for having himbrought aboard the ship--to dispatch him in comparative safety inrevenge for his having thwarted Rokoff's pet schemes, and for havingbeen at last the means of landing him in a French prison. 

Tarzan, on his part, lay in the darkness of his cell, ignorant of thefact that his wife was a prisoner in the cabin almost above his head. 

The same Swede that served Jane brought his meals to him, but, thoughon several occasions Tarzan had tried to draw the man intoconversation, he had been unsuccessful. He had hoped to learn throughthis fellow whether his little son was aboard the Kincaid, but to everyquestion upon this or kindred subjects the fellow returned but onereply, "Ay tank it blow purty soon purty hard. " So after severalattempts Tarzan gave it up. 

For weeks that seemed months to the two prisoners the little steamerforged on they knew not where. Once the Kincaid stopped to coal, onlyimmediately to take up the seemingly interminable voyage. 

Rokoff had visited Jane Clayton but once since he had locked her in thetiny cabin. He had come gaunt and hollow-eyed from a long siege ofsea-sickness. The object of his visit was to obtain from her herpersonal cheque for a large sum in return for a guarantee of herpersonal safety and return to England. 

"When you set me down safely in any civilized port, together with myson and my husband, " she replied, "I will pay you in gold twice theamount you ask; but until then you shall not have a cent, nor thepromise of a cent under any other conditions. "

"You will give me the cheque I ask, " he replied with a snarl, "orneither you nor your child nor your husband will ever again set footwithin any port, civilized or otherwise. "

"I would not trust you, " she replied. "What guarantee have I that youwould not take my money and then do as you pleased with me and mineregardless of your promise?"

"I think you will do as I bid, " he said, turning to leave the cabin. "Remember that I have your son--if you chance to hear the agonized wailof a tortured child it may console you to reflect that it is because ofyour stubbornness that the baby suffers--and that it is your baby. "

"You would not do it!" cried the girl. "You would not--could not be sofiendishly cruel!"

"It is not I that am cruel, but you, " he returned, "for you permit apaltry sum of money to stand between your baby and immunity fromsuffering. "

The end of it was that Jane Clayton wrote out a cheque of largedenomination and handed it to Nikolas Rokoff, who left her cabin with agrin of satisfaction upon his lips. 

The following day the hatch was removed from Tarzan's cell, and as helooked up he saw Paulvitch's head framed in the square of light abovehim. 

"Come up, " commanded the Russian. "But bear in mind that you will beshot if you make a single move to attack me or any other aboard theship. "

The ape-man swung himself lightly to the deck. About him, but at arespectful distance, stood a half-dozen sailors armed with rifles andrevolvers. Facing him was Paulvitch. 

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

"Lord Greystoke, " commenced the Russian, "by your continued and wantoninterference with M. Rokoff and his plans you have at last broughtyourself and your family to this unfortunate extremity. You have onlyyourself to thank. As you may imagine, it has cost M. Rokoff a largeamount of money to finance this expedition, and, as you are the solecause of it, he naturally looks to you for reimbursement. 

"Further, I may say that only by meeting M. Rokoff's just demands mayyou avert the most unpleasant consequences to your wife and child, andat the same time retain your own life and regain your liberty. "

"What is the amount?" asked Tarzan. "And what assurance have I thatyou will live up to your end of the agreement? I have little reason totrust two such scoundrels as you and Rokoff, you know. "

The Russian flushed. 

"You are in no position to deliver insults, " he said. "You have noassurance that we will live up to our agreement other than my word, butyou have before you the assurance that we can make short work of you ifyou do not write out the cheque we demand. 

"Unless you are a greater fool than I imagine, you should know thatthere is nothing that would give us greater pleasure than to orderthese men to fire. That we do not is because we have other plans forpunishing you that would be entirely upset by your death. "

"Answer one question, " said Tarzan. "Is my son on board this ship?"

"No, " replied Alexis Paulvitch, "your son is quite safe elsewhere; norwill he be killed until you refuse to accede to our fair demands. Ifit becomes necessary to kill you, there will be no reason for notkilling the child, since with you gone the one whom we wish to punishthrough the boy will be gone, and he will then be to us only a constantsource of danger and embarrassment. You see, therefore, that you mayonly save the life of your son by saving your own, and you can onlysave your own by giving us the cheque we ask. "

"Very well, " replied Tarzan, for he knew that he could trust them tocarry out any sinister threat that Paulvitch had made, and there was abare chance that by conceding their demands he might save the boy. 

That they would permit him to live after he had appended his name tothe cheque never occurred to him as being within the realms ofprobability. But he was determined to give them such a battle as theywould never forget, and possibly to take Paulvitch with him intoeternity. He was only sorry that it was not Rokoff. 

He took his pocket cheque-book and fountain-pen from his pocket. 

"What is the amount?" he asked. 

Paulvitch named an enormous sum. Tarzan could scarce restrain a smile. 

Their very cupidity was to prove the means of their undoing, in thematter of the ransom at least. Purposely he hesitated and haggled overthe amount, but Paulvitch was obdurate. Finally the ape-man wrote outhis cheque for a larger sum than stood to his credit at the bank. 

As he turned to hand the worthless slip of paper to the Russian hisglance chanced to pass across the starboard bow of the Kincaid. To hissurprise 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 behindwas higher land clothed in forest. 

Paulvitch noted the direction of his gaze. 

"You are to be set at liberty here, " he said. 

Tarzan's plan for immediate physical revenge upon the Russian vanished. He thought the land before him the mainland of Africa, and he knew thatshould they liberate him here he could doubtless find his way tocivilization with comparative ease. 

Paulvitch took the cheque. 

"Remove your clothing, " he said to the ape-man. "Here you will notneed it. "

Tarzan demurred. 

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

A boat was lowered, and, still heavily guarded, the ape-man was rowedashore. Half an hour later the sailors had returned to the Kincaid, and the steamer was slowly getting under way. 

As Tarzan stood upon the narrow strip of beach watching the departureof the vessel he saw a figure appear at the rail and call aloud toattract his attention. 

The ape-man had been about to read a note that one of the sailors hadhanded him as the small boat that bore him to the shore was on thepoint of returning to the steamer, but at the hail from the vessel'sdeck he looked up. 

He saw a black-bearded man who laughed at him in derision as he heldhigh above his head the figure of a little child. Tarzan half startedas though to rush through the surf and strike out for the alreadymoving steamer; but realizing the futility of so rash an act he haltedat the water's edge. 

Thus he stood, his gaze riveted upon the Kincaid until it disappearedbeyond a projecting promontory of the coast. 

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

Little monkeys in the tree-tops chattered and scolded, and from thedistance of the inland forest came the scream of a leopard. 

But still John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, stood deaf and unseeing, suffering the pangs of keen regret for the opportunity that he hadwasted because he had been so gullible as to place credence in a singlestatement of the first lieutenant of his arch-enemy. 

"I have at least, " he thought, "one consolation--the knowledge thatJane is safe in London. Thank Heaven she, too, did not fall into theclutches of those villains. "

Behind him the hairy thing whose evil eyes had been watching his as acat watches a mouse was creeping stealthily toward him. 

Where were the trained senses of the savage ape-man?

Where the acute hearing?

Where the uncanny sense of scent?

Chapter 3

Beasts at Bay

Slowly Tarzan unfolded the note the sailor had thrust into his hand, and read it. At first it made little impression on his sorrow-numbedsenses, but finally the full purport of the hideous plot of revengeunfolded itself before his imagination. 

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

"You were born an ape. You lived naked in the jungles--to your own wehave returned you; but your son shall rise a step above his sire. Itis the immutable law of evolution. 

"The father was a beast, but the son shall be a man--he shall take thenext ascending step in the scale of progress. He shall be no nakedbeast of the jungle, but shall wear a loin-cloth and copper anklets, and, perchance, a ring in his nose, for he is to be reared by men--atribe of savage cannibals. 

"I might have killed you, but that would have curtailed the fullmeasure of the punishment you have earned at my hands. 

"Dead, you could not have suffered in the knowledge of your son'splight; but living and in a place from which you may not escape to seekor succour your child, you shall suffer worse than death for all theyears of your life in contemplation of the horrors of your son'sexistence. 

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

N. R. 

"P. S. --The balance of your punishment has to do with what shallpresently befall your wife--that I shall leave to your imagination. "

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

Instantly his senses awoke, and he was again Tarzan of the Apes. 

As he wheeled about, it was a beast at bay, vibrant with the instinctof self-preservation, that faced a huge bull-ape that was alreadycharging down upon him. 

The two years that had elapsed since Tarzan had come out of the savageforest with his rescued mate had witnessed slight diminution of themighty powers that had made him the invincible lord of the jungle. Hisgreat estates in Uziri had claimed much of his time and attention, andthere he had found ample field for the practical use and retention ofhis almost superhuman powers; but naked and unarmed to do battle withthe shaggy, bull-necked beast that now confronted him was a test thatthe ape-man would scarce have welcomed at any period of his wildexistence. 

But there was no alternative other than to meet the rage-maddenedcreature with the weapons with which nature had endowed him. 

Over the bull's shoulder Tarzan could see now the heads and shouldersof perhaps a dozen more of these mighty fore-runners of primitive man. 

He knew, however, that there was little chance that they would attackhim, since it is not within the reasoning powers of the anthropoid tobe able to weigh or appreciate the value of concentrated action againstan enemy--otherwise they would long since have become the dominantcreatures of their haunts, so tremendous a power of destruction lies intheir mighty thews and savage fangs. 

With a low snarl the beast now hurled himself at Tarzan, but theape-man had found, among other things in the haunts of civilized man, certain methods of scientific warfare that are unknown to the junglefolk. 

Whereas, a few years since, he would have met the brute rush with bruteforce, he now sidestepped his antagonist's headlong charge, and as thebrute hurtled past him swung a mighty right to the pit of the ape'sstomach. 

With a howl of mingled rage and anguish the great anthropoid bentdouble and sank to the ground, though almost instantly he was againstruggling to his feet. 

Before he could regain them, however, his white-skinned foe had wheeledand pounced upon him, and in the act there dropped from the shouldersof the English lord the last shred of his superficial mantle ofcivilization. 

Once again he was the jungle beast revelling in bloody conflict withhis kind. Once again he was Tarzan, son of Kala the she-ape. 

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

Powerful fingers held the mighty fangs from his own flesh, or clenchedand beat with the power of a steam-hammer upon the snarling, foam-flecked face of his adversary. 

In a circle about them the balance of the tribe of apes stood watchingand enjoying the struggle. They muttered low gutturals of approval asbits of white hide or hairy bloodstained skin were torn from onecontestant or the other. But they were silent in amazement andexpectation when they saw the mighty white ape wriggle upon the back oftheir king, and, with steel muscles tensed beneath the armpits of hisantagonist, bear down mightily with his open palms upon the back of thethick bullneck, so that the king ape could but shriek in agony andflounder helplessly about upon the thick mat of jungle grass. 

As Tarzan had overcome the huge Terkoz that time years before when hehad been about to set out upon his quest for human beings of his ownkind and colour, so now he overcame this other great ape with the samewrestling hold upon which he had stumbled by accident during that othercombat. The little audience of fierce anthropoids heard the creakingof their king's neck mingling with his agonized shrieks and hideousroaring. 

Then there came a sudden crack, like the breaking of a stout limbbefore the fury of the wind. The bullet-head crumpled forward upon itsflaccid neck against the great hairy chest--the roaring and theshrieking ceased. 

The little pig-eyes of the onlookers wandered from the still form oftheir leader to that of the white ape that was rising to its feetbeside the vanquished, then back to their king as though in wonder thathe did not arise and slay this presumptuous stranger. 

They saw the new-comer place a foot upon the neck of the quiet figureat his feet and, throwing back his head, give vent to the wild, uncannychallenge of the bull-ape that has made a kill. Then they knew thattheir king was dead. 

Across the jungle rolled the horrid notes of the victory cry. Thelittle monkeys in the tree-tops ceased their chattering. Theharsh-voiced, brilliant-plumed birds were still. From afar came theanswering wail of a leopard and the deep roar of a lion. 

It was the old Tarzan who turned questioning eyes upon the little knotof apes before him. It was the old Tarzan who shook his head as thoughto toss back a heavy mane that had fallen before his face--an old habitdating from the days that his great shock of thick, black hair hadfallen about his shoulders, and often tumbled before his eyes when ithad meant life or death to him to have his vision unobstructed. 

The ape-man knew that he might expect an immediate attack on the partof that particular surviving bull-ape who felt himself best fitted tocontend for the kingship of the tribe. Among his own apes he knewthat it was not unusual for an entire stranger to enter a communityand, after having dispatched the king, assume the leadership of thetribe himself, together with the fallen monarch's mates. 

On the other hand, if he made no attempt to follow them, they mightmove slowly away from him, later to fight among themselves for thesupremacy. That he could be king of them, if he so chose, he wasconfident; but he was not sure he cared to assume the sometimes irksomeduties of that position, for he could see no particular advantage to begained thereby. 

One of the younger apes, a huge, splendidly muscled brute, was edgingthreateningly closer to the ape-man. Through his bared fighting fangsthere issued a low, sullen growl. 

Tarzan watched his every move, standing rigid as a statue. To havefallen back a step would have been to precipitate an immediate charge;to have rushed forward to meet the other might have had the sameresult, or it might have put the bellicose one to flight--it alldepended upon the young bull's stock of courage. 

To stand perfectly still, waiting, was the middle course. In thisevent the bull would, according to custom, approach quite close to theobject of his attention, growling hideously and baring slavering fangs. Slowly he would circle about the other, as though with a chip upon hisshoulder; and this he did, even as Tarzan had foreseen. 

It might be a bluff royal, or, on the other hand, so unstable is themind of an ape, a passing impulse might hurl the hairy mass, tearingand rending, upon the man without an instant's warning. 

As the brute circled him Tarzan turned slowly, keeping his eyes everupon the eyes of his antagonist. He had appraised the young bull asone who had never quite felt equal to the task of overthrowing hisformer king, but who one day would have done so. Tarzan saw that thebeast was of wondrous proportions, standing over seven feet upon hisshort, bowed legs. 

His great, hairy arms reached almost to the ground even when he stooderect, and his fighting fangs, now quite close to Tarzan's face, wereexceptionally long and sharp. Like the others of his tribe, hediffered in several minor essentials from the apes of Tarzan's boyhood. 

At first the ape-man had experienced a thrill of hope at sight of theshaggy bodies of the anthropoids--a hope that by some strange freak offate he had been again returned to his own tribe; but a closerinspection had convinced him that these were another species. 

As the threatening bull continued his stiff and jerky circling of theape-man, much after the manner that you have noted among dogs when astrange canine comes among them, it occurred to Tarzan to discover ifthe language of his own tribe was identical with that of this otherfamily, and so he addressed the brute in the language of the tribe ofKerchak. 

"Who are you, " he asked, "who threatens Tarzan of the Apes?"

The hairy brute looked his surprise. 

"I am Akut, " replied the other in the same simple, primal tongue whichis so low in the scale of spoken languages that, as Tarzan hadsurmised, it was identical with that of the tribe in which the firsttwenty years of his life had been spent. 

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

"You saw how easily I killed Molak, " replied Tarzan. "So I could killyou if I cared to be king. But Tarzan of the Apes would not be king ofthe tribe of Akut. All he wishes is to live in peace in this country. Let us be friends. Tarzan of the Apes can help you, and you can helpTarzan of the Apes. "

"You cannot kill Akut, " replied the other. "None is so great as Akut. Had you not killed Molak, Akut would have done so, for Akut was readyto be king. "

For answer the ape-man hurled himself upon the great brute who duringthe conversation had slightly relaxed his vigilance. 

In the twinkling of an eye the man had seized the wrist of the greatape, and before the other could grapple with him had whirled him aboutand leaped upon his broad back. 

Down they went together, but so well had Tarzan's plan worked out thatbefore ever they touched the ground he had gained the same hold uponAkut that had broken Molak's neck. 

Slowly he brought the pressure to bear, and then as in days gone by hehad given Kerchak the chance to surrender and live, so now he gave toAkut--in whom he saw a possible ally of great strength andresource--the option of living in amity with him or dying as he hadjust seen his savage and heretofore invincible king die. 

"Ka-Goda?" whispered Tarzan to the ape beneath him. 

It was the same question that he had whispered to Kerchak, and in thelanguage of the apes it means, broadly, "Do you surrender?"

Akut thought of the creaking sound he had heard just before Molak'sthick neck had snapped, and he shuddered. 

He hated to give up the kingship, though, so again he struggled to freehimself; but a sudden torturing pressure upon his vertebra brought anagonized "ka-goda!" from his lips. 

Tarzan relaxed his grip a trifle. 

"You may still be king, Akut, " he said. "Tarzan told you that he didnot wish to be king. If any question your right, Tarzan of the Apeswill help you in your battles. "

The ape-man rose, and Akut came slowly to his feet. Shaking hisbullet head and growling angrily, he waddled toward his tribe, lookingfirst at one and then at another of the larger bulls who might beexpected to challenge his leadership. 

But none did so; instead, they drew away as he approached, andpresently the whole pack moved off into the jungle, and Tarzan was leftalone once more upon the beach. 

The ape-man was sore from the wounds that Molak had inflicted upon him, but he was inured to physical suffering and endured it with the calmand fortitude of the wild beasts that had taught him to lead the junglelife after the manner of all those that are born to it. 

His first need, he realized, was for weapons of offence and defence, for his encounter with the apes, and the distant notes of the savagevoices of Numa the lion, and Sheeta, the panther, warned him that hiswas to be no life of indolent ease and security. 

It was but a return to the old existence of constant bloodshed anddanger--to the hunting and the being hunted. Grim beasts would stalkhim, as they had stalked him in the past, and never would there be amoment, by savage day or by cruel night, that he might not have instantneed of such crude weapons as he could fashion from the materials athand. 

Upon the shore he found an out-cropping of brittle, igneous rock. Bydint of much labour he managed to chip off a narrow sliver some twelveinches long by a quarter of an inch thick. One edge was quite thin fora few inches near the tip. It was the rudiment of a knife. 

With it he went into the jungle, searching until he found a fallen treeof a certain species of hardwood with which he was familiar. From thishe cut a small straight branch, which he pointed at one end. 

Then he scooped a small, round hole in the surface of the prostratetrunk. Into this he crumbled a few bits of dry bark, minutelyshredded, after which he inserted the tip of his pointed stick, and, sitting astride the bole of the tree, spun the slender rod rapidlybetween his palms. 

After a time a thin smoke rose from the little mass of tinder, and amoment later the whole broke into flame. Heaping some larger twigsand sticks upon the tiny fire, Tarzan soon had quite a respectableblaze roaring in the enlarging cavity of the dead tree. 

Into this he thrust the blade of his stone knife, and as it becamesuperheated he would withdraw it, touching a spot near the thin edgewith a drop of moisture. Beneath the wetted area a little flake of theglassy material would crack and scale away. 

Thus, very slowly, the ape-man commenced the tedious operation ofputting a thin edge upon his primitive hunting-knife. 

He did not attempt to accomplish the feat all in one sitting. At firsthe was content to achieve a cutting edge of a couple of inches, withwhich he cut a long, pliable bow, a handle for his knife, a stoutcudgel, and a goodly supply of arrows. 

These he cached in a tall tree beside a little stream, and here also heconstructed a platform with a roof of palm-leaves above it. 

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

He had noted during the brief incursion he had made into the forestthat a short distance up-stream from his tree there was a much-usedwatering place, where, from the trampled mud of either bank, it wasevident beasts of all sorts and in great numbers came to drink. Tothis spot the hungry ape-man made his silent way. 

Through the upper terrace of the tree-tops he swung with the grace andease of a monkey. But for the heavy burden upon his heart he wouldhave 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 ofhis early life that were in reality more a part of him than the thinveneer of civilization that the past three years of his associationwith the white men of the outer world had spread lightly over him--aveneer that only hid the crudities of the beast that Tarzan of the Apeshad been. 

Could his fellow-peers of the House of Lords have seen him then theywould have held up their noble hands in holy horror. 

Silently he crouched in the lower branches of a great forest giant thatoverhung the trail, his keen eyes and sensitive ears strained into thedistant jungle, from which he knew his dinner would presently emerge. 

Nor had he long to wait. 

Scarce had he settled himself to a comfortable position, his lithe, muscular legs drawn well up beneath him as the panther draws hishindquarters in preparation for the spring, than Bara, the deer, camedaintily down to drink. 

But more than Bara was coming. Behind the graceful buck came anotherwhich the deer could neither see nor scent, but whose movements wereapparent to Tarzan of the Apes because of the elevated position of theape-man's ambush. 

He knew not yet exactly the nature of the thing that moved sostealthily through the jungle a few hundred yards behind the deer; buthe was convinced that it was some great beast of prey stalking Bara forthe selfsame purpose as that which prompted him to await the fleetanimal. Numa, perhaps, or Sheeta, the panther. 

In any event, Tarzan could see his repast slipping from his graspunless Bara moved more rapidly toward the ford than at present. 

Even as these thoughts passed through his mind some noise of thestalker in his rear must have come to the buck, for with a sudden starthe paused for an instant, trembling, in his tracks, and then with aswift bound dashed straight for the river and Tarzan. It was hisintention to flee through the shallow ford and escape upon the oppositeside of the river. 

Not a hundred yards behind him came Numa. 

Tarzan could see him quite plainly now. Below the ape-man Bara wasabout to pass. Could he do it? But even as he asked himself thequestion the hungry man launched himself from his perch full upon theback of the startled buck. 

In another instant Numa would be upon them both, so if the ape-man wereto dine that night, or ever again, he must act quickly. 

Scarcely had he touched the sleek hide of the deer with a momentum thatsent 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 completelyround, until he felt the vertebrae snap beneath his grip. 

The lion was roaring in rage close behind him as he swung the deeracross 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 Numasprang, drew himself and his prey out of reach of the animal's crueltalons. 

There was a thud below him as the baffled cat fell back to earth, andthen Tarzan of the Apes, drawing his dinner farther up to the safety ofa higher limb, looked down with grinning face into the gleaming yelloweyes of the other wild beast that glared up at him from beneath, andwith taunting insults flaunted the tender carcass of his kill in theface of him whom he had cheated of it. 

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 hisexclusive London clubs had a meal tasted more palatable. 

The warm blood of his kill smeared his hands and face and filled hisnostrils with the scent that the savage carnivora love best. 

And when he had finished he left the balance of the carcass in a highfork of the tree where he had dined, and with Numa trailing below him, still keen for revenge, he made his way back to his tree-top shelter, where he slept until the sun was high the following morning. 

Chapter 4

Sheeta

The next few days were occupied by Tarzan in completing his weapons andexploring the jungle. He strung his bow with tendons from the buckupon which he had dined his first evening upon the new shore, andthough he would have preferred the gut of Sheeta for the purpose, hewas content to wait until opportunity permitted him to kill one of thegreat cats. 

He also braided a long grass rope--such a rope as he had used so manyyears before to tantalize the ill-natured Tublat, and which later haddeveloped into a wondrous effective weapon in the practised hands ofthe little ape-boy. 

A sheath and handle for his hunting-knife he fashioned, and a quiverfor arrows, and from the hide of Bara a belt and loin-cloth. Then heset out to learn something of the strange land in which he foundhimself. That it was not his old familiar west coast of the Africancontinent he knew from the fact that it faced east--the rising sun cameup out of the sea before the threshold of the jungle. 

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 theMediterranean, the Suez Canal, and the Red Sea, nor had she had time toround the Cape of Good Hope. So he was quite at a loss to know wherehe might be. 

Sometimes he wondered if the ship had crossed the broad Atlantic todeposit him upon some wild South American shore; but the presence ofNuma, 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 graduallyhe commenced to regret that he had not cast his lot with the apes. Hehad seen nothing of them since that first day, when the influences ofcivilization were still paramount within him. 

Now he was more nearly returned to the Tarzan of old, and though heappreciated the fact that there could be little in common betweenhimself and the great anthropoids, still they were better than nocompany at all. 

Moving leisurely, sometimes upon the ground and again among the lowerbranches of the trees, gathering an occasional fruit or turning over afallen log in search of the larger bugs, which he still found aspalatable as of old, Tarzan had covered a mile or more when hisattention was attracted by the scent of Sheeta up-wind ahead of him. 

Now Sheeta, the panther, was one of whom Tarzan was exceptionally gladto fall in with, for he had it in mind not only to utilize the greatcat's strong gut for his bow, but also to fashion a new quiver andloin-cloth from pieces of his hide. So, whereas the ape-man had gonecarelessly before, he now became the personification of noiselessstealth. 

Swiftly and silently he glided through the forest in the wake of thesavage cat, nor was the pursuer, for all his noble birth, one whit lesssavage than the wild, fierce thing he stalked. 

As he came closer to Sheeta he became aware that the panther on hispart was stalking game of his own, and even as he realized this factthere came to his nostrils, wafted from his right by a vagrant breeze, the strong odour of a company of great apes. 

The panther had taken to a large tree as Tarzan came within sight ofhim, and beyond and below him Tarzan saw the tribe of Akut lolling in alittle, natural clearing. Some of them were dozing against the bolesof trees, while others roamed about turning over bits of bark frombeneath which they transferred the luscious grubs and beetles to theirmouths. 

Akut was the closest to Sheeta. 

The great cat lay crouched upon a thick limb, hidden from the ape'sview by dense foliage, waiting patiently until the anthropoid shouldcome within range of his spring. 

Tarzan cautiously gained a position in the same tree with the pantherand a little above him. In his left hand he grasped his slim stoneblade. He would have preferred to use his noose, but the foliagesurrounding the huge cat precluded the possibility of an accurate throwwith the rope. 

Akut had now wandered quite close beneath the tree wherein lay thewaiting death. Sheeta slowly edged his hind paws along the branchstill further beneath him, and then with a hideous shriek he launchedhimself toward the great ape. The barest fraction of a second beforehis spring another beast of prey above him leaped, its weird and savagecry mingling with his. 

As the startled Akut looked up he saw the panther almost above him, andalready upon the panther's back the white ape that had bested him thatday near the great water. 

The teeth of the ape-man were buried in the back of Sheeta's neck andhis right arm was round the fierce throat, while the left hand, grasping a slender piece of stone, rose and fell in mighty blows uponthe panther's side behind the left shoulder. 

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

With a crash they came to earth at his feet. Sheeta was screaming, snarling, and roaring horribly; but the white ape clung tenaciously andin silence to the thrashing body of his quarry. 

Steadily and remorselessly the stone knife was driven home through theglossy hide--time and again it drank deep, until with a final agonizedlunge and shriek the great feline rolled over upon its side and, savefor the spasmodic jerking of its muscles, lay quiet and still in death. 

Then the ape-man raised his head, as he stood over the carcass of hiskill, and once again through the jungle rang his wild and savagevictory challenge. 

Akut and the apes of Akut stood looking in startled wonder at the deadbody of Sheeta and the lithe, straight figure of the man who had slainhim. 

Tarzan was the first to speak. 

He had saved Akut's life for a purpose, and, knowing the limitations ofthe ape intellect, he also knew that he must make this purpose plain tothe 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 andbecome king of the tribe of Akut. Now I have saved Akut from deathbeneath the rending fangs of Sheeta. 

"When Akut or the tribe of Akut is in danger, let them call to Tarzanthus"--and the ape-man raised the hideous cry with which the tribe ofKerchak had been wont to summon its absent members in times of peril. 

"And, " he continued, "when they hear Tarzan call to them, let themremember what he has done for Akut and come to him with great speed. Shall it be as Tarzan says?"

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

Then, presently, they went to feeding again as though nothing hadhappened, and with them fed John Clayton, Lord Greystoke. 

He noticed, however, that Akut kept always close to him, and was oftenlooking at him with a strange wonder in his little bloodshot eyes, andonce he did a thing that Tarzan during all his long years among theapes had never before seen an ape do--he found a particularly tendermorsel and handed it to Tarzan. 

As the tribe hunted, the glistening body of the ape-man mingled withthe brown, shaggy hides of his companions. Oftentimes they brushedtogether in passing, but the apes had already taken his presence forgranted, so that he was as much one of them as Akut himself. 

If he came too close to a she with a young baby, the former would bareher great fighting fangs and growl ominously, and occasionally atruculent young bull would snarl a warning if Tarzan approached whilethe former was eating. But in those things the treatment was nodifferent from that which they accorded any other member of the tribe. 

Tarzan on his part felt very much at home with these fierce, hairyprogenitors of primitive man. He skipped nimbly out of reach of eachthreatening female--for such is the way of apes, if they be not in oneof their occasional fits of bestial rage--and he growled back at thetruculent young bulls, baring his canine teeth even as they. Thuseasily he fell back into the way of his early life, nor did it seemthat he had ever tasted association with creatures of his own kind. 

For the better part of a week he roamed the jungle with his newfriends, partly because of a desire for companionship and partiallythrough a well-laid plan to impress himself indelibly upon theirmemories, which at best are none too long; for Tarzan from pastexperience knew that it might serve him in good stead to have a tribeof these powerful and terrible beasts at his call. 

When he was convinced that he had succeeded to some extent in fixinghis identity upon them he decided to again take up his exploration. Tothis end he set out toward the north early one day, and, keepingparallel with the shore, travelled rapidly until almost nightfall. 

When the sun rose the next morning he saw that it lay almost directlyto his right as he stood upon the beach instead of straight out acrossthe water as heretofore, and so he reasoned that the shore line hadtrended toward the west. All the second day he continued his rapidcourse, and when Tarzan of the Apes sought speed, he passed through themiddle 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 ape-man guessed at last the truth that he had beensuspecting. 

Rokoff had set him ashore upon an island. 

He might have known it! If there was any plan that would render hisposition more harrowing he should have known that such would be the oneadopted by the Russian, and what could be more terrible than to leavehim to a lifetime of suspense upon an uninhabited island?

Rokoff doubtless had sailed directly to the mainland, where it would bea comparatively easy thing for him to find the means of delivering theinfant Jack into the hands of the cruel and savage foster-parents, who, as his note had threatened, would have the upbringing of the child. 

Tarzan shuddered as he thought of the cruel suffering the little onemust endure in such a life, even though he might fall into the hands ofindividuals whose intentions toward him were of the kindest. Theape-man had had sufficient experience with the lower savages of Africato know that even there may be found the cruder virtues of charity andhumanity; but their lives were at best but a series of terribleprivations, dangers, and sufferings. 

Then there was the horrid after-fate that awaited the child as he grewto manhood. The horrible practices that would form a part of hislife-training would alone be sufficient to bar him forever fromassociation with those of his own race and station in life. 

A cannibal! His little boy a savage man-eater! It was too horrible tocontemplate. 

The filed teeth, the slit nose, the little face painted hideously. Tarzan groaned. Could he but feel the throat of the Russ fiend beneathhis steel fingers!

And Jane!

What tortures of doubt and fear and uncertainty she must be suffering. He felt that his position was infinitely less terrible than hers, forhe at least knew that one of his loved ones was safe at home, while shehad no idea of the whereabouts of either her husband or her son. 

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

As he moved slowly through the jungle his mind absorbed by his gloomythoughts, there presently came to his ears a strange scratching soundwhich he could not translate. 

Cautiously he moved in the direction from which it emanated, presentlycoming upon a huge panther pinned beneath a fallen tree. 

As Tarzan approached, the beast turned, snarling, toward him, struggling to extricate itself; but one great limb across its back andthe smaller entangling branches pinioning its legs prevented it frommoving but a few inches in any direction. 

The ape-man stood before the helpless cat fitting an arrow to his bowthat 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 easya thing to restore both to it! He was sure from the fact that thepanther moved all its limbs in its futile struggle for freedom that itsspine was uninjured, and for the same reason he knew that none of itslimbs were broken. 

Relaxing his bowstring, he returned the arrow to the quiver and, throwing the bow about his shoulder, stepped closer to the pinionedbeast. 

On his lips was the soothing, purring sound that the great catsthemselves made when contented and happy. It was the nearest approachto a friendly advance that Tarzan could make in the language of Sheeta. 

The panther ceased his snarling and eyed the ape-man closely. To liftthe tree's great weight from the animal it was necessary to come withinreach of those long, strong talons, and when the tree had been removedthe man would be totally at the mercy of the savage beast; but toTarzan of the Apes fear was a thing unknown. 

Having decided, he acted promptly. 

Unhesitatingly, he stepped into the tangle of branches close to thepanther's side, still voicing his friendly and conciliatory purr. Thecat turned his head toward the man, eyeing him steadily--questioningly. The long fangs were bared, but more in preparedness than threat. 

Tarzan put a broad shoulder beneath the bole of the tree, and as he didso his bare leg pressed against the cat's silken side, so close was theman to the great beast. 

Slowly Tarzan extended his giant thews. 

The great tree with its entangling branches rose gradually from thepanther, who, feeling the encumbering weight diminish, quickly crawledfrom beneath. Tarzan let the tree fall back to earth, and the twobeasts turned to look upon one another. 

A grim smile lay upon the ape-man's lips, for he knew that he had takenhis life in his hands to free this savage jungle fellow; nor would ithave surprised him had the cat sprung upon him the instant that it hadbeen released. 

But it did not do so. Instead, it stood a few paces from the treewatching the ape-man clamber out of the maze of fallen branches. 

Once outside, Tarzan was not three paces from the panther. He mighthave taken to the higher branches of the trees upon the opposite side, for Sheeta cannot climb to the heights to which the ape-man can go; butsomething, a spirit of bravado perhaps, prompted him to approach thepanther as though to discover if any feeling of gratitude would promptthe beast to friendliness. 

As he approached the mighty cat the creature stepped warily to oneside, and the ape-man brushed past him within a foot of the drippingjaws, and as he continued on through the forest the panther followed onbehind him, as a hound follows at heel. 

For a long time Tarzan could not tell whether the beast was followingout of friendly feelings or merely stalking him against the time heshould be hungry; but finally he was forced to believe that the formerincentive it was that prompted the animal's action. 

Later in the day the scent of a deer sent Tarzan into the trees, andwhen he had dropped his noose about the animal's neck he called toSheeta, using a purr similar to that which he had utilized to pacifythe brute's suspicions earlier in the day, but a trifle louder and moreshrill. 

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

Almost immediately there was a crashing of the underbrush close athand, and the long, lithe body of his strange companion broke into view. 

At sight of the body of Bara and the smell of blood the panther gaveforth a shrill scream, and a moment later two beasts were feeding sideby side upon the tender meat of the deer. 

For several days this strangely assorted pair roamed the jungletogether. 

When one made a kill he called the other, and thus they fed well andoften. 

On one occasion as they were dining upon the carcass of a boar thatSheeta had dispatched, Numa, the lion, grim and terrible, broke throughthe tangled grasses close beside them. 

With an angry, warning roar he sprang forward to chase them from theirkill. Sheeta bounded into a near-by thicket, while Tarzan took to thelow branches of an overhanging tree. 

Here the ape-man unloosed his grass rope from about his neck, and asNuma stood above the body of the boar, challenging head erect, hedropped the sinuous noose about the maned neck, drawing the stoutstrands taut with a sudden jerk. At the same time he called shrillyto Sheeta, as he drew the struggling lion upward until only his hindfeet touched the ground. 

Quickly he made the rope fast to a stout branch, and as the panther, inanswer to his summons, leaped into sight, Tarzan dropped to the earthbeside the struggling and infuriated Numa, and with a long sharp knifesprang upon him at one side even as Sheeta did upon the other. 

The panther tore and rent Numa upon the right, while the ape-man struckhome with his stone knife upon the other, so that before the mightyclawing of the king of beasts had succeeded in parting the rope he hungquite dead and harmless in the noose. 

And then upon the jungle air there rose in unison from two savagethroats the victory cry of the bull-ape and the panther, blended intoone frightful and uncanny scream. 

As the last notes died away in a long-drawn, fearsome wail, a score ofpainted warriors, drawing their long war-canoe upon the beach, haltedto stare in the direction of the jungle and to listen. 

Chapter 5

Mugambi

By the time that Tarzan had travelled entirely about the coast of theisland, and made several trips inland from various points, he was surethat he was the only human being upon it. 

Nowhere had he found any sign that men had stopped even temporarilyupon this shore, though, of course, he knew that so quickly does therank vegetation of the tropics erase all but the most permanent ofhuman monuments that he might be in error in his deductions. 

The day following the killing of Numa, Tarzan and Sheeta came upon thetribe 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 interestingexperiment to attempt to reconcile these hereditary enemies. Hewelcomed anything that would occupy his time and his mind beyond thefilling of his belly and the gloomy thoughts to which he fell prey themoment that he became idle. 

To communicate his plan to the apes was not a particularly difficultmatter, though their narrow and limited vocabulary was strained in theeffort; but to impress upon the little, wicked brain of Sheeta that hewas to hunt with and not for his legitimate prey proved a task almostbeyond the powers of the ape-man. 

Tarzan, among his other weapons, possessed a long, stout cudgel, andafter fastening his rope about the panther's neck he used thisinstrument freely upon the snarling beast, endeavouring in this way toimpress upon its memory that it must not attack the great, shaggymanlike creatures that had approached more closely once they had seenthe purpose of the rope about Sheeta's neck. 

That the cat did not turn and rend Tarzan is something of a miraclewhich may possibly be accounted for by the fact that twice when itturned growling upon the ape-man he had rapped it sharply upon itssensitive nose, inculcating in its mind thereby a most wholesome fearof the cudgel and the ape-beasts behind it. 

It is a question if the original cause of his attachment for Tarzan wasstill at all clear in the mind of the panther, though doubtless somesubconscious suggestion, superinduced by this primary reason and aidedand abetted by the habit of the past few days, did much to compel thebeast to tolerate treatment at his hands that would have sent it at thethroat of any other creature. 

Then, too, there was the compelling force of the manmind exerting itspowerful influence over this creature of a lower order, and, after all, it may have been this that proved the most potent factor in Tarzan'ssupremacy over Sheeta and the other beasts of the jungle that had fromtime to time fallen under his domination. 

Be that as it may, for days the man, the panther, and the great apesroamed their savage haunts side by side, making their kills togetherand sharing them with one another, and of all the fierce and savageband none was more terrible than the smooth-skinned, powerful beastthat had been but a few short months before a familiar figure in many aLondon drawing room. 

Sometimes the beasts separated to follow their own inclinations for anhour or a day, and it was upon one of these occasions when the ape-manhad wandered through the tree-tops toward the beach, and was stretchedin the hot sun upon the sand, that from the low summit of a near-bypromontory a pair of keen eyes discovered him. 

For a moment the owner of the eyes looked in astonishment at the figureof the savage white man basking in the rays of that hot, tropic sun;then he turned, making a sign to some one behind him. Presentlyanother pair of eyes were looking down upon the ape-man, and thenanother and another, until a full score of hideously trapped, savagewarriors were lying upon their bellies along the crest of the ridgewatching the white-skinned stranger. 

They were down wind from Tarzan, and so their scent was not carried tohim, and as his back was turned half toward them he did not see theircautious advance over the edge of the promontory and down through therank grass toward the sandy beach where he lay. 

Big fellows they were, all of them, their barbaric headdresses andgrotesquely painted faces, together with their many metal ornaments andgorgeously coloured feathers, adding to their wild, fierce appearance. 

Once at the foot of the ridge, they came cautiously to their feet, and, bent half-double, advanced silently upon the unconscious white man, their heavy war-clubs swinging menacingly in their brawny hands. 

The mental suffering that Tarzan's sorrowful thoughts induced had theeffect of numbing his keen, perceptive faculties, so that the advancingsavages were almost upon him before he became aware that he was nolonger alone upon the beach. 

So quickly, though, were his mind and muscles wont to react in unisonto the slightest alarm that he was upon his feet and facing hisenemies, even as he realized that something was behind him. As hesprang to his feet the warriors leaped toward him with raised clubs andsavage yells, but the foremost went down to sudden death beneath thelong, stout stick of the ape-man, and then the lithe, sinewy figure wasamong them, striking right and left with a fury, power, and precisionthat brought panic to the ranks of the blacks. 

For a moment they withdrew, those that were left of them, and consultedtogether at a short distance from the ape-man, who stood with foldedarms, a half-smile upon his handsome face, watching them. Presentlythey advanced upon him once more, this time wielding their heavywar-spears. They were between Tarzan and the jungle, in a littlesemicircle that closed in upon him as they advanced. 

There seemed to the ape-man but slight chance to escape the finalcharge when all the great spears should be hurled simultaneously athim; but if he had desired to escape there was no way other thanthrough the ranks of the savages except the open sea behind him. 

His predicament was indeed most serious when an idea occurred to himthat altered his smile to a broad grin. The warriors were still somelittle distance away, advancing slowly, making, after the manner oftheir kind, a frightful din with their savage yells and the pounding oftheir naked feet upon the ground as they leaped up and down in afantastic war dance. 

Then it was that the ape-man 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 sohideous that their own frightful din faded into insignificance besideit. No human throat could have formed those bestial notes, they weresure, and yet with their own eyes they had seen this white man open hismouth to pour forth his awful cry. 

But only for a moment they hesitated, and then with one accord theyagain took up their fantastic advance upon their prey; but even then asudden crashing in the jungle behind them brought them once more to ahalt, and as they turned to look in the direction of this new noisethere broke upon their startled visions a sight that may well havefrozen the blood of braver men than the Wagambi. 

Leaping from the tangled vegetation of the jungle's rim came a hugepanther, with blazing eyes and bared fangs, and in his wake a score ofmighty, shaggy apes lumbering rapidly toward them, half erect upontheir short, bowed legs, and with their long arms reaching to theground, where their horny knuckles bore the weight of their ponderousbodies as they lurched from side to side in their grotesque advance. 

The beasts of Tarzan had come in answer to his call. 

Before the Wagambi could recover from their astonishment the frightfulhorde was upon them from one side and Tarzan of the Apes from theother. Heavy spears were hurled and mighty war-clubs wielded, andthough apes went down never to rise, so, too, went down the men ofUgambi. 

Sheeta's cruel fangs and tearing talons ripped and tore at the blackhides. Akut's mighty yellow tusks found the jugular of more than onesleek-skinned savage, and Tarzan of the Apes was here and there andeverywhere, urging on his fierce allies and taking a heavy toll withhis long, slim knife. 

In a moment the blacks had scattered for their lives, but of the scorethat had crept down the grassy sides of the promontory only a singlewarrior managed to escape the horde that had overwhelmed his people. 

This one was Mugambi, chief of the Wagambi of Ugambi, and as hedisappeared in the tangled luxuriousness of the rank growth upon theridge's summit only the keen eyes of the ape-man saw the direction ofhis flight. 

Leaving his pack to eat their fill upon the flesh of theirvictims--flesh that he could not touch--Tarzan of the Apes pursued thesingle survivor of the bloody fray. Just beyond the ridge he camewithin sight of the fleeing black, making with headlong leaps for along war-canoe that was drawn well up upon the beach above the hightide surf. 

Noiseless as the fellow's shadow, the ape-man raced after theterror-stricken black. In the white man's mind was a new plan, awakened by sight of the war-canoe. If these men had come to hisisland from another, or from the mainland, why not utilize their craftto make his way to the country from which they had come? Evidently itwas an inhabited country, and no doubt had occasional intercourse withthe mainland, if it were not itself upon the continent of Africa. 

A heavy hand fell upon the shoulder of the escaping Mugambi before hewas aware that he was being pursued, and as he turned to do battle withhis assailant giant fingers closed about his wrists and he was hurledto earth with a giant astride him before he could strike a blow in hisown defence. 

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

"Who are you?" he asked. 

"Mugambi, chief of the Wagambi, " replied the black. 

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

"I will help you, " replied Mugambi. "But now that you have killed allmy warriors, I do not know that even I can leave your country, forthere will be none to wield the paddles, and without paddlers we cannotcross the water. "

Tarzan rose and allowed his prisoner to come to his feet. The fellowwas a magnificent specimen of manhood--a black counterpart in physiqueof the splendid white man whom he faced. 

"Come!" said the ape-man, and started back in the direction from whichthey could hear the snarling and growling of the feasting pack. Mugambi drew back. 

"They will kill us, " he said. 

"I think not, " replied Tarzan. "They are mine. "

Still the black hesitated, fearful of the consequences of approachingthe terrible creatures that were dining upon the bodies of hiswarriors; but Tarzan forced him to accompany him, and presently the twoemerged from the jungle in full view of the grisly spectacle upon thebeach. At sight of the men the beasts looked up with menacing growls, but Tarzan strode in among them, dragging the trembling Wagambi withhim. 

As he had taught the apes to accept Sheeta, so he taught them to adoptMugambi as well, and much more easily; but Sheeta seemed quite unableto understand that though he had been called upon to devour Mugambi'swarriors he was not to be allowed to proceed after the same fashionwith Mugambi. However, being well filled, he contented himself withwalking round the terror-stricken savage, emitting low, menacing growlsthe while he kept his flaming, baleful eyes riveted upon the black. 

Mugambi, on his part, clung closely to Tarzan, so that the ape-mancould scarce control his laughter at the pitiable condition to whichthe chief's fear had reduced him; but at length the white took thegreat cat by the scruff of the neck and, dragging it quite close to theWagambi, slapped it sharply upon the nose each time that it growled atthe stranger. 

At the sight of the thing--a man mauling with his bare hands one of themost relentless and fierce of the jungle carnivora--Mugambi's eyesbulged from their sockets, and from entertaining a sullen respect forthe giant white man who had made him prisoner, the black felt an almostworshipping awe of Tarzan. 

The education of Sheeta progressed so well that in a short time Mugambiceased to be the object of his hungry attention, and the black felt adegree more of safety in his society. 

To say that Mugambi was entirely happy or at ease in his newenvironment would not be to adhere strictly to the truth. His eyeswere constantly rolling apprehensively from side to side as now one andnow another of the fierce pack chanced to wander near him, so that forthe most of the time it was principally the whites that showed. 

Together Tarzan and Mugambi, with Sheeta and Akut, lay in wait at theford for a deer, and when at a word from the ape-man the four of themleaped out upon the affrighted animal the black was sure that the poorcreature died of fright before ever one of the great beasts touched it. 

Mugambi built a fire and cooked his portion of the kill; but Tarzan, Sheeta, and Akut tore theirs, raw, with their sharp teeth, growlingamong themselves when one ventured to encroach upon the share ofanother. 

It was not, after all, strange that the white man's ways should havebeen so much more nearly related to those of the beasts than were thesavage blacks. We are, all of us, creatures of habit, and when theseeming necessity for schooling ourselves in new ways ceases to exist, we fall naturally and easily into the manners and customs which longusage has implanted ineradicably within us. 

Mugambi from childhood had eaten no meat until it had been cooked, while Tarzan, on the other hand, had never tasted cooked food of anysort until he had grown almost to manhood, and only within the pastthree or four years had he eaten cooked meat. Not only did the habitof a lifetime prompt him to eat it raw, but the craving of his palateas well; for to him cooked flesh was spoiled flesh when compared withthe rich and juicy meat of a fresh, hot kill. 

That he could, with relish, eat raw meat that had been buried byhimself weeks before, and enjoy small rodents and disgusting grubs, seems to us who have been always "civilized" a revolting fact; but hadwe learned in childhood to eat these things, and had we seen all thoseabout us eat them, they would seem no more sickening to us now than domany of our greatest dainties, at which a savage African cannibal wouldlook with repugnance and turn up his nose. 

For instance, there is a tribe in the vicinity of Lake Rudolph thatwill eat no sheep or cattle, though its next neighbors do so. Near byis another tribe that eats donkey-meat--a custom most revolting to thesurrounding tribes that do not eat donkey. So who may say that it isnice to eat snails and frogs' legs and oysters, but disgusting to feedupon grubs and beetles, or that a raw oyster, hoof, horns, and tail, isless revolting than the sweet, clean meat of a fresh-killed buck?

The next few days Tarzan devoted to the weaving of a barkcloth sailwith which to equip the canoe, for he despaired of being able to teachthe apes to wield the paddles, though he did manage to get several ofthem to embark in the frail craft which he and Mugambi paddled aboutinside the reef where the water was quite smooth. 

During these trips he had placed paddles in their hands, when theyattempted to imitate the movements of him and Mugambi, but so difficultis it for them long to concentrate upon a thing that he soon saw thatit would require weeks of patient training before they would be able tomake any effective use of these new implements, if, in fact, theyshould ever do so. 

There was one exception, however, and he was Akut. Almost from thefirst he showed an interest in this new sport that revealed a muchhigher plane of intelligence than that attained by any of his tribe. He seemed to grasp the purpose of the paddles, and when Tarzan saw thatthis was so he took much pains to explain in the meagre language of theanthropoid how they might be used to the best advantage. 

From Mugambi Tarzan learned that the mainland lay but a short distancefrom the island. It seemed that the Wagambi warriors had ventured toofar out in their frail craft, and when caught by a heavy tide and ahigh wind from off-shore they had been driven out of sight of land. After paddling for a whole night, thinking that they were headed forhome, they had seen this land at sunrise, and, still taking it for themainland, had hailed it with joy, nor had Mugambi been aware that itwas 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 neverseen such a contrivance used. His country lay far up the broad UgambiRiver, and this was the first occasion that any of his people had foundtheir way to the ocean. 

Tarzan, however, was confident that with a good west wind he couldnavigate the little craft to the mainland. At any rate, he decided, itwould be preferable to perish on the way than to remain indefinitelyupon this evidently uncharted island to which no ships might ever beexpected to come. 

And so it was that when the first fair wind rose he embarked upon hiscruise, and with him he took as strange and fearsome a crew as eversailed under a savage master. 

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

Chapter 6

A Hideous Crew

The war-canoe with its savage load moved slowly toward the break in thereef 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 thelittle sail. 

Sheeta crouched in the bow at the ape-man's feet, for it had seemedbest to Tarzan always to keep the wicked beast as far from the othermembers of the party as possible, since it would require little or noprovocation to send him at the throat of any than the white man, whomhe evidently now looked upon as his master. 

In the stern was Mugambi, and just in front of him squatted Akut, whilebetween Akut and Tarzan the twelve hairy apes sat upon their haunches, blinking dubiously this way and that, and now and then turning theireyes longingly back toward shore. 

All went well until the canoe had passed beyond the reef. Here thebreeze struck the sail, sending the rude craft lunging among the wavesthat ran higher and higher as they drew away from the shore. 

With the tossing of the boat the apes became panic-stricken. Theyfirst moved uneasily about, and then commenced grumbling and whining. With difficulty Akut kept them in hand for a time; but when aparticularly large wave struck the dugout simultaneously with a littlesquall of wind their terror broke all bounds, and, leaping to theirfeet, they all but overturned the boat before Akut and Tarzan togethercould quiet them. At last calm was restored, and eventually the apesbecame accustomed to the strange antics of their craft, after which nomore trouble was experienced with them. 

The trip was uneventful, the wind held, and after ten hours' steadysailing the black shadows of the coast loomed close before thestraining eyes of the ape-man in the bow. It was far too dark todistinguish whether they had approached close to the mouth of theUgambi or not, so Tarzan ran in through the surf at the closest pointto await the dawn. 

The dugout turned broadside the instant that its nose touched the sand, and immediately it rolled over, with all its crew scrambling madly forthe shore. The next breaker rolled them over and over, but eventuallythey all succeeded in crawling to safety, and in a moment more theirungainly craft had been washed up beside them. 

The balance of the night the apes sat huddled close to one another forwarmth; while Mugambi built a fire close to them over which hecrouched. Tarzan and Sheeta, however, were of a different mind, forneither of them feared the jungle night, and the insistent craving oftheir hunger sent them off into the Stygian blackness of the forest insearch of prey. 

Side by side they walked when there was room for two abreast. At othertimes in single file, first one and then the other in advance. It wasTarzan who first caught the scent of meat--a bull buffalo--andpresently the two came stealthily upon the sleeping beast in the midstof a dense jungle of reeds close to a river. 

Closer and closer they crept toward the unsuspecting beast, Sheeta uponhis right side and Tarzan upon his left nearest the great heart. Theyhad hunted together now for some time, so that they worked in unison, with only low, purring sounds as signals. 

For a moment they lay quite silent near their prey, and then at a signfrom the ape-man Sheeta sprang upon the great back, burying his strongteeth in the bull's neck. Instantly the brute sprang to his feet witha bellow of pain and rage, and at the same instant Tarzan rushed inupon his left side with the stone knife, striking repeatedly behind theshoulder. 

One of the ape-man's hands clutched the thick mane, and as the bullraced madly through the reeds the thing striking at his life wasdragged beside him. Sheeta but clung tenaciously to his hold upon theneck and back, biting deep in an effort to reach the spine. 

For several hundred yards the bellowing bull carried his two savageantagonists, until at last the blade found his heart, when with a finalbellow that was half-scream he plunged headlong to the earth. ThenTarzan and Sheeta feasted to repletion. 

After the meal the two curled up together in a thicket, the man's blackhead pillowed upon the tawny side of the panther. Shortly after dawnthey awoke and ate again, and then returned to the beach that Tarzanmight lead the balance of the pack to the kill. 

When the meal was done the brutes were for curling up to sleep, soTarzan and Mugambi set off in search of the Ugambi River. They hadproceeded scarce a hundred yards when they came suddenly upon a broadstream, which the Negro instantly recognized as that down which he andhis warriors had paddled to the sea upon their ill-starred expedition. 

The two now followed the stream down to the ocean, finding that itemptied into a bay not over a mile from the point upon the beach atwhich the canoe had been thrown the night before. 

Tarzan was much elated by the discovery, as he knew that in thevicinity of a large watercourse he should find natives, and from someof these he had little doubt but that he should obtain news of Rokoffand the child, for he felt reasonably certain that the Russian wouldrid himself of the baby as quickly as possible after having disposed ofTarzan. 

He and Mugambi now righted and launched the dugout, though it was amost difficult feat in the face of the surf which rolled continuouslyin upon the beach; but at last they were successful, and soon afterwere paddling up the coast toward the mouth of the Ugambi. Here theyexperienced considerable difficulty in making an entrance against thecombined current and ebb tide, but by taking advantage of eddies closein to shore they came about dusk to a point nearly opposite the spotwhere they had left the pack asleep. 

Making the craft fast to an overhanging bough, the two made their wayinto the jungle, presently coming upon some of the apes feeding uponfruit a little beyond the reeds where the buffalo had fallen. Sheetawas not anywhere to be seen, nor did he return that night, so thatTarzan came to believe that he had wandered away in search of his ownkind. 

Early the next morning the ape-man led his band down to the river, andas he walked he gave vent to a series of shrill cries. Presently froma great distance and faintly there came an answering scream, and ahalf-hour later the lithe form of Sheeta bounded into view where theothers of the pack were clambering gingerly into the canoe. 

The great beast, with arched back and purring like a contented tabby, rubbed his sides against the ape-man, and then at a word from thelatter 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 Akutwere missing, and though both the king ape and Tarzan called to themfor the better part of an hour, there was no response, and finally theboat put off without them. As it happened that the two missing oneswere the very same who had evinced the least desire to accompany theexpedition from the island, and had suffered the most from frightduring the voyage, Tarzan was quite sure that they had absentedthemselves purposely rather than again enter the canoe. 

As the party were putting in for the shore shortly after noon to searchfor food a slender, naked savage watched them for a moment from behindthe dense screen of verdure which lined the river's bank, then hemelted away up-stream before any of those in the canoe discovered him. 

Like a deer he bounded along the narrow trail until, filled with theexcitement of his news, he burst into a native village several milesabove the point at which Tarzan and his pack had stopped to hunt. 

"Another white man is coming!" he cried to the chief who squattedbefore the entrance to his circular hut. "Another white man, and withhim are many warriors. They come in a great war-canoe to kill and robas did the black-bearded one who has just left us. "

Kaviri leaped to his feet. He had but recently had a taste of thewhite man's medicine, and his savage heart was filled with bitternessand hate. In another moment the rumble of the war-drums rose from thevillage, calling in the hunters from the forest and the tillers fromthe fields. 

Seven war-canoes were launched and manned by paint-daubed, befeatheredwarriors. Long spears bristled from the rude battle-ships, as theyslid noiselessly over the bosom of the water, propelled by giantmuscles rolling beneath glistening, ebony hides. 

There was no beating of tom-toms now, nor blare of native horn, forKaviri 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 hisseven canoes upon the single one of the white man, and before the gunsof the latter could inflict much damage upon his people he would haveoverwhelmed the enemy by force of numbers. 

Kaviri's own canoe went in advance of the others a short distance, andas it rounded a sharp bend in the river where the swift current bore itrapidly 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 anopportunity to note the white face in the bow of the oncoming craftbefore the two touched and his own men were upon their feet, yellinglike mad devils and thrusting their long spears at the occupants of theother canoe. 

But a moment later, when Kaviri was able to realize the nature of thecrew that manned the white man's dugout, he would have given all thebeads and iron wire that he possessed to have been safely within hisdistant village. Scarcely had the two craft come together than thefrightful apes of Akut rose, growling and barking, from the bottom ofthe canoe, and, with long, hairy arms far outstretched, grasped themenacing spears from the hands of Kaviri's warriors. 

The blacks were overcome with terror, but there was nothing to do otherthan to fight. Now came the other war-canoes rapidly down upon the twocraft. Their occupants were eager to join the battle, for they thoughtthat their foes were white men and their native porters. 

They swarmed about Tarzan's craft; but when they saw the nature of theenemy all but one turned and paddled swiftly up-river. That one cametoo close to the ape-man's craft before its occupants realized thattheir fellows were pitted against demons instead of men. As it touchedTarzan spoke a few low words to Sheeta and Akut, so that before theattacking warriors could draw away there sprang upon them with ablood-freezing scream a huge panther, and into the other end of theircanoe clambered a great ape. 

At one end the panther wrought fearful havoc with his mighty talons andlong, sharp fangs, while Akut at the other buried his yellow canines inthe necks of those that came within his reach, hurling theterror-stricken blacks overboard as he made his way toward the centreof the canoe. 

Kaviri was so busily engaged with the demons that had entered his owncraft 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 new-born babe. Hairy monsters wereovercoming his fighting men, and a black chieftain like himself wasfighting shoulder to shoulder with the hideous pack that opposed him. 

Kaviri battled bravely against his antagonist, for he felt that deathhad already claimed him, and so the least that he could do would be tosell his life as dearly as possible; but it was soon evident that hisbest was quite futile when pitted against the superhuman brawn andagility of the creature that at last found his throat and bent him backinto the bottom of the canoe. 

Presently Kaviri's head began to whirl--objects became confused and dimbefore his eyes--there was a great pain in his chest as he struggledfor the breath of life that the thing upon him was shutting off forever. Then he lost consciousness. 

When he opened his eyes once more he found, much to his surprise, thathe was not dead. He lay, securely bound, in the bottom of his owncanoe. A great panther sat upon its haunches, looking down upon him. 

Kaviri shuddered and closed his eyes again, waiting for the ferociouscreature to spring upon him and put him out of his misery of terror. 

After a moment, no rending fangs having buried themselves in histrembling body, he again ventured to open his eyes. Beyond thepanther kneeled the white giant who had overcome him. 

The man was wielding a paddle, while directly behind him Kaviri sawsome of his own warriors similarly engaged. Back of them againsquatted several of the hairy apes. 

Tarzan, seeing that the chief had regained consciousness, addressed him. 

"Your warriors tell me that you are the chief of a numerous people, andthat your name is Kaviri, " he said. 

"Yes, " replied the black. 

"Why did you attack me? I came in peace. "

"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 thenwent on his way, taking all of our goats and many of our young men andwomen. "

"I am not as this other white man, " replied Tarzan. "I should nothave harmed you had you not set upon me. Tell me, what was the faceof this bad white man like? I am searching for one who has wronged me. Possibly this may be the very one. "

"He was a man with a bad face, covered with a great, black beard, andhe was very, very wicked--yes, very wicked indeed. "

"Was there a little white child with him?" asked Tarzan, his heartalmost stopped as he awaited the black's answer. 

"No, bwana, " replied Kaviri, "the white child was not with this man'sparty--it was with the other party. "

"Other party!" exclaimed Tarzan. "What other party?"

"With the party that the very bad white man was pursuing. There was awhite man, woman, and the child, with six Mosula porters. They passedup the river three days ahead of the very bad white man. I think thatthey were running away from him. "

A white man, woman, and child! Tarzan was puzzled. The child must behis little Jack; but who could the woman be--and the man? Was itpossible that one of Rokoff's confederates had conspired with somewoman--who had accompanied the Russian--to steal the baby from him?

If this was the case, they had doubtless purposed returning the childto civilization and there either claiming a reward or holding thelittle prisoner for ransom. 

But now that Rokoff had succeeded in chasing them far inland, up thesavage river, there could be little doubt but that he would eventuallyoverhaul them, unless, as was still more probable, they should becaptured and killed by the very cannibals farther up the Ugambi, towhom, Tarzan was now convinced, it had been Rokoff's intention todeliver the baby. 

As he talked to Kaviri the canoes had been moving steadily up-rivertoward the chief's village. Kaviri's warriors plied the paddles in thethree canoes, casting sidelong, terrified glances at their hideouspassengers. Three of the apes of Akut had been killed in theencounter, but there were, with Akut, eight of the frightful beastsremaining, and there was Sheeta, the panther, and Tarzan and Mugambi. 

Kaviri's warriors thought that they had never seen so terrible a crewin all their lives. Momentarily they expected to be pounced upon andtorn asunder by some of their captors; and, in fact, it was all thatTarzan and Mugambi and Akut could do to keep the snarling, ill-naturedbrutes from snapping at the glistening, naked bodies that brushedagainst them now and then with the movements of the paddlers, whosevery fear added incitement to the beasts. 

At Kaviri's camp Tarzan paused only long enough to eat the food thatthe blacks furnished, and arrange with the chief for a dozen men to manthe paddles of his canoe. 

Kaviri was only too glad to comply with any demands that the ape-manmight make if only such compliance would hasten the departure of thehorrid pack; but it was easier, he discovered, to promise men than tofurnish them, for when his people learned his intentions those that hadnot already fled into the jungle proceeded to do so without loss oftime, so that when Kaviri turned to point out those who were toaccompany Tarzan, he discovered that he was the only member of histribe left within the village. 

Tarzan could not repress a smile. 

"They do not seem anxious to accompany us, " he said; "but just remainquietly here, Kaviri, and presently you shall see your people flockingto your side. "

Then the ape-man rose, and, calling his pack about him, commanded thatMugambi remain with Kaviri, and disappeared in the jungle with Sheetaand the apes at his heels. 

For half an hour the silence of the grim forest was broken only by theordinary sounds of the teeming life that but adds to its loweringloneliness. Kaviri and Mugambi sat alone in the palisaded village, waiting. 

Presently from a great distance came a hideous sound. Mugambirecognized the weird challenge of the ape-man. Immediately fromdifferent points of the compass rose a horrid semicircle of similarshrieks and screams, punctuated now and again by the blood-curdling cryof a hungry panther. 

Chapter 7

Betrayed

The two savages, Kaviri and Mugambi, squatting before the entrance toKaviri's hut, looked at one another--Kaviri with ill-concealed alarm. 

"What is it?" he whispered. 

"It is Bwana Tarzan and his people, " replied Mugambi. "But what theyare doing I know not, unless it be that they are devouring your peoplewho ran away. "

Kaviri shuddered and rolled his eyes fearfully toward the jungle. Inall his long life in the savage forest he had never heard such anawful, fearsome din. 

Closer and closer came the sounds, and now with them were mingled theterrified shrieks of women and children and of men. For twenty longminutes the blood-curdling cries continued, until they seemed but astone's throw from the palisade. Kaviri rose to flee, but Mugambiseized and held him, for such had been the command of Tarzan. 

A moment later a horde of terrified natives burst from the jungle, racing toward the shelter of their huts. Like frightened sheep theyran, and behind them, driving them as sheep might be driven, cameTarzan and Sheeta and the hideous apes of Akut. 

Presently Tarzan stood before Kaviri, the old quiet smile upon his lips. 

"Your people have returned, my brother, " he said, "and now you mayselect those who are to accompany me and paddle my canoe. "

Tremblingly Kaviri tottered to his feet, calling to his people to comefrom their huts; but none responded to his summons. 

"Tell them, " suggested Tarzan, "that if they do not come I shall sendmy people in after them. "

Kaviri did as he was bid, and in an instant the entire population ofthe village came forth, their wide and frightened eyes rolling from oneto another of the savage creatures that wandered about the villagestreet. 

Quickly Kaviri designated a dozen warriors to accompany Tarzan. Thepoor fellows went almost white with terror at the prospect of closecontact with the panther and the apes in the narrow confines of thecanoes; but when Kaviri explained to them that there was noescape--that Bwana Tarzan would pursue them with his grim horde shouldthey attempt to run away from the duty--they finally went gloomily downto the river and took their places in the canoe. 

It was with a sigh of relief that their chieftain saw the partydisappear about a headland a short distance up-river. 

For three days the strange company continued farther and farther intothe heart of the savage country that lies on either side of the almostunexplored Ugambi. Three of the twelve warriors deserted during thattime; but as several of the apes had finally learned the secret of thepaddles, Tarzan felt no dismay because of the loss. 

As a matter of fact, he could have travelled much more rapidly onshore, but he believed that he could hold his own wild crew together tobetter 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 uponthe bank of the mainland or on one of the numerous little islands thatdotted the river. 

Before them the natives fled in alarm, so that they found only desertedvillages in their path as they proceeded. Tarzan was anxious to getin touch with some of the savages who dwelt upon the river's banks, butso far he had been unable to do so. 

Finally he decided to take to the land himself, leaving his company tofollow after him by boat. He explained to Mugambi the thing that hehad 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 tolearn what has become of the very bad white man whom I seek. "

At the next halt Tarzan took to the shore, and was soon lost to theview of his people. 

The first few villages he came to were deserted, showing that news ofthe coming of his pack had travelled rapidly; but toward evening hecame upon a distant cluster of thatched huts surrounded by a rudepalisade, within which were a couple of hundred natives. 

The women were preparing the evening meal as Tarzan of the Apes poisedabove them in the branches of a giant tree which overhung the palisadeat one point. 

The ape-man was at a loss as to how he might enter into communicationwith these people without either frightening them or arousing theirsavage love of battle. He had no desire to fight now, for he was upona much more important mission than that of battling with every chancetribe that he should happen to meet with. 

At last he hit upon a plan, and after seeing that he was concealed fromthe view of those below, he gave a few hoarse grunts in imitation of apanther. All eyes immediately turned upward toward the foliage above. 

It was growing dark, and they could not penetrate the leafy screenwhich shielded the ape-man from their view. The moment that he had wontheir attention he raised his voice to the shriller and more hideousscream of the beast he personated, and then, scarce stirring a leaf inhis 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 fibre-bound saplings of which the barrier wasconstructed, shouting to the natives in their own tongue that he was afriend who wished food and shelter for the night. 

Tarzan knew well the nature of the black man. He was aware that thegrunting and screaming of Sheeta in the tree above them would set theirnerves on edge, and that his pounding upon their gate after dark wouldstill further add to their terror. 

That they did not reply to his hail was no surprise, for natives arefearful of any voice that comes out of the night from beyond theirpalisades, attributing it always to some demon or other ghostlyvisitor; but still he continued to call. 

"Let me in, my friends!" he cried. "I am a white man pursuing the verybad white man who passed this way a few days ago. I follow to punishhim for the sins he has committed against you and me. 

"If you doubt my friendship, I will prove it to you by going into thetree above your village and driving Sheeta back into the jungle beforehe leaps among you. If you will not promise to take me in and treat meas a friend I shall let Sheeta stay and devour you. "

For a moment there was silence. Then the voice of an old man came outof 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 Sheetafleeing before me. "

The ape-man returned quickly to the tree, and this time he made a greatnoise as he entered the branches, at the same time growling ominouslyafter the manner of the panther, so that those below would believe thatthe great beast was still there. 

When he reached a point well above the village street he made a greatcommotion, shaking the tree violently, crying aloud to the panther toflee or be killed, and punctuating his own voice with the screams andmouthings of an angry beast. 

Presently he raced toward the opposite side of the tree and off intothe jungle, pounding loudly against the boles of trees as he went, andvoicing the panther's diminishing growls as he drew farther and fartheraway from the village. 

A few minutes later he returned to the village gate, calling to thenatives within. 

"I have driven Sheeta away, " he said. "Now come and admit me as youpromised. "

For a time there was the sound of excited discussion within thepalisade, but at length a half-dozen warriors came and opened thegates, peering anxiously out in evident trepidation as to the nature ofthe creature which they should find waiting there. They were not muchrelieved at sight of an almost naked white man; but when Tarzan hadreassured them in quiet tones, protesting his friendship for them, theyopened the barrier a trifle farther and admitted him. 

When the gates had been once more secured the self-confidence of thesavages returned, and as Tarzan walked up the village street toward thechief's hut he was surrounded by a host of curious men, women, andchildren. 

From the chief he learned that Rokoff had passed up the river a weekprevious, and that he had horns growing from his forehead, and wasaccompanied by a thousand devils. Later the chief said that the verybad white man had remained a month in his village. 

Though none of these statements agreed with Kaviri's, that the Russianwas but three days gone from the chieftain's village and that hisfollowing was much smaller than now stated, Tarzan was in no mannersurprised at the discrepancies, for he was quite familiar with thesavage mind's strange manner of functioning. 

What he was most interested in knowing was that he was upon the righttrail, and that it led toward the interior. In this circumstance heknew that Rokoff could never escape him. 

After several hours of questioning and cross-questioning the ape-manlearned that another party had preceded the Russian by severaldays--three whites--a man, a woman, and a little man-child, withseveral Mosulas. 

Tarzan explained to the chief that his people would follow him in acanoe, probably the next day, and that though he might go on ahead ofthem the chief was to receive them kindly and have no fear of them, forMugambi would see that they did not harm the chief's people, if theywere 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 disturb me. "

The chief offered him a hut, but Tarzan, from past experience of nativedwellings, preferred the open air, and, further, he had plans of hisown 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 Sheetareturn, and after this explanation the chief was very glad to permithim to sleep beneath the tree. 

Tarzan had always found that it stood him in good stead to leave withnatives the impression that he was to some extent possessed of more orless miraculous powers. He might easily have entered their villagewithout recourse to the gates, but he believed that a sudden andunaccountable disappearance when he was ready to leave them wouldresult in a more lasting impression upon their childlike minds, and soas soon as the village was quiet in sleep he rose, and, leaping intothe branches of the tree above him, faded silently into the blackmystery of the jungle night. 

All the balance of that night the ape-man swung rapidly through theupper and middle terraces of the forest. When the going was good therehe preferred the upper branches of the giant trees, for then his waywas better lighted by the moon; but so accustomed were all his sensesto the grim world of his birth that it was possible for him, even inthe dense, black shadows near the ground, to move with ease andrapidity. You or I walking beneath the arcs of Main Street, orBroadway, or State Street, could not have moved more surely or with atenth the speed of the agile ape-man through the gloomy mazes thatwould have baffled us entirely. 

At dawn he stopped to feed, and then he slept for several hours, takingup the pursuit again toward noon. 

Twice he came upon natives, and, though he had considerable difficultyin approaching them, he succeeded in each instance in quieting boththeir fears and bellicose intentions toward him, and learned from themthat he was upon the trail of the Russian. 

Two days later, still following up the Ugambi, he came upon a largevillage. The chief, a wicked-looking fellow with the sharp-filed teeththat often denote the cannibal, received him with apparent friendliness. 

The ape-man was now thoroughly fatigued, and had determined to rest foreight or ten hours that he might be fresh and strong when he caught upwith 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 onlythe morning before, and that doubtless he would be able to overtake himin a short time. The other party the chief had not seen or heard of, so he said. 

Tarzan did not like the appearance or manner of the fellow, who seemed, though friendly enough, to harbour a certain contempt for thishalf-naked white man who came with no followers and offered nopresents; but he needed the rest and food that the village would affordhim with less effort than the jungle, and so, as he knew no fear ofman, beast, or devil, he curled himself up in the shadow of a hut andwas soon asleep. 

Scarcely had he left the chief than the latter called two of hiswarriors, to whom he whispered a few instructions. A moment later thesleek, black bodies were racing along the river path, up-stream, towardthe east. 

In the village the chief maintained perfect quiet. He would permit noone to approach the sleeping visitor, nor any singing, nor loudtalking. He was remarkably solicitous lest his guest be disturbed. 

Three hours later several canoes came silently into view from up theUgambi. They were being pushed ahead rapidly by the brawny muscles oftheir black crews. Upon the bank before the river stood the chief, hisspear raised in a horizontal position above his head, as though in somemanner of predetermined signal to those within the boats. 

And such indeed was the purpose of his attitude--which meant that thewhite stranger within his village still slept peacefully. 

In the bows of two of the canoes were the runners that the chief hadsent forth three hours earlier. It was evident that they had beendispatched to follow and bring back this party, and that the signalfrom the bank was one that had been determined upon before they leftthe village. 

In a few moments the dugouts drew up to the verdure-clad bank. Thenative warriors filed out, and with them a half-dozen white men. Sullen, ugly-looking customers they were, and none more so than theevil-faced, black-bearded man who commanded them. 

"Where is the white man your messengers report to be with you?" heasked of the chief. 

"This way, bwana, " replied the native. "Carefully have I kept silencein the village that he might be still asleep when you returned. I donot know that he is one who seeks you to do you harm, but he questionedme closely about your coming and your going, and his appearance is asthat of the one you described, but whom you believed safe in thecountry which you called Jungle Island. 

"Had you not told me this tale I should not have recognized him, andthen he might have gone after and slain you. If he is a friend and noenemy, then no harm has been done, bwana; but if he proves to be anenemy, I should like very much to have a rifle and some ammunition. "

"You have done well, " replied the white man, "and you shall have therifle and ammunition whether he be a friend or enemy, provided that youstand with me. "

"I shall stand with you, bwana, " said the chief, "and now come and lookupon the stranger, who sleeps within my village. "

So saying, he turned and led the way toward the hut, in the shadow ofwhich the unconscious Tarzan slept peacefully. 

Behind the two men came the remaining whites and a score of warriors;but the raised forefingers of the chief and his companion held them allto perfect silence. 

As they turned the corner of the hut, cautiously and upon tiptoe, anugly smile touched the lips of the white as his eyes fell upon thegiant figure of the sleeping ape-man. 

The chief looked at the other inquiringly. The latter nodded his head, to signify that the chief had made no mistake in his suspicions. Thenhe turned to those behind him and, pointing to the sleeping man, motioned for them to seize and bind him. 

A moment later a dozen brutes had leaped upon the surprised Tarzan, andso quickly did they work that he was securely bound before he couldmake half an effort to escape. 

Then they threw him down upon his back, and as his eyes turned towardthe crowd that stood near, they fell upon the malign face of NikolasRokoff. 

A sneer curled the Russian's lips. He stepped quite close to Tarzan. 

"Pig!" he cried. "Have you not learned sufficient wisdom to keep awayfrom Nikolas Rokoff?"

Then he kicked the prostrate man full in the face. 

"That for your welcome, " he said. 

"Tonight, before my Ethiop friends eat you, I shall tell you what hasalready befallen your wife and child, and what further plans I have fortheir futures. "

Chapter 8

The Dance of Death

Through the luxuriant, tangled vegetation of the Stygian jungle night agreat lithe body made its way sinuously and in utter silence upon itssoft padded feet. Only two blazing points of yellow-green flame shoneoccasionally with the reflected light of the equatorial moon that nowand again pierced the softly sighing roof rustling in the night wind. 

Occasionally the beast would stop with high-held nose, sniffingsearchingly. At other times a quick, brief incursion into the branchesabove delayed it momentarily in its steady journey toward the east. Toits sensitive nostrils came the subtle unseen spoor of many a tenderfour-footed creature, bringing the slaver of hunger to the cruel, drooping jowl. 

But steadfastly it kept on its way, strangely ignoring the cravings ofappetite that at another time would have sent the rolling, fur-cladmuscles flying at some soft throat. 

All that night the creature pursued its lonely way, and the next day ithalted only to make a single kill, which it tore to fragments anddevoured with sullen, grumbling rumbles as though half famished forlack of food. 

It was dusk when it approached the palisade that surrounded a largenative village. Like the shadow of a swift and silent death it circledthe village, nose to ground, halting at last close to the palisade, where it almost touched the backs of several huts. Here the beastsniffed for a moment, and then, turning its head upon one side, listened with up-pricked ears. 

What it heard was no sound by the standards of human ears, yet to thehighly attuned and delicate organs of the beast a message seemed to beborne to the savage brain. A wondrous transformation was wrought inthe motionless mass of statuesque bone and muscle that had an instantbefore stood as though carved out of the living bronze. 

As if it had been poised upon steel springs, suddenly released, it rosequickly and silently to the top of the palisade, disappearing, stealthily and cat-like, into the dark space between the wall and theback of an adjacent hut. 

In the village street beyond women were preparing many little fires andfetching cooking-pots filled with water, for a great feast was to becelebrated ere the night was many hours older. About a stout stakenear the centre of the circling fires a little knot of black warriorsstood conversing, their bodies smeared with white and blue and ochre inbroad and grotesque bands. Great circles of colour were drawn abouttheir eyes and lips, their breasts and abdomens, and from theirclay-plastered coiffures rose gay feathers and bits of long, straightwire. 

The village was preparing for the feast, while in a hut at one side ofthe scene of the coming orgy the bound victim of their bestialappetites lay waiting for the end. And such an end!

Tarzan of the Apes, tensing his mighty muscles, strained at the bondsthat pinioned him; but they had been re-enforced many times at theinstigation of the Russian, so that not even the ape-man's giant brawncould budge them. 

Death!

Tarzan had looked the Hideous Hunter in the face many a time, andsmiled. And he would smile again tonight when he knew the end wascoming quickly; but now his thoughts were not of himself, but of thoseothers--the dear ones who must suffer most because of his passing. 

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 theworld's greatest city. Safe among kind and loving friends who would dotheir best to lighten her misery. 

But the boy!

Tarzan writhed at the thought of him. His son! And now he--the mightyLord of the Jungle--he, Tarzan, King of the Apes, the only one in allthe world fitted to find and save the child from the horrors thatRokoff's evil mind had planned--had been trapped like a silly, dumbcreature. He was to die in a few hours, and with him would go thechild's last chance of succour. 

Rokoff had been in to see and revile and abuse him several times duringthe afternoon; but he had been able to wring no word of remonstrance ormurmur of pain from the lips of the giant captive. 

So at last he had given up, reserving his particular bit of exquisitemental torture for the last moment, when, just before the savage spearsof the cannibals should for ever make the object of his hatred immuneto further suffering, the Russian planned to reveal to his enemy thetrue whereabouts of his wife whom he thought safe in England. 

Dusk had fallen upon the village, and the ape-men could hear thepreparations going forward for the torture and the feast. The danceof death he could picture in his mind's eye--for he had seen the thingmany times in the past. Now he was to be the central figure, bound tothe stake. 

The torture of the slow death as the circling warriors cut him to bitswith the fiendish skill, that mutilated without bringingunconsciousness, had no terrors for him. He was inured to sufferingand to the sight of blood and to cruel death; but the desire to livewas no less strong within him, and until the last spark of life shouldflicker and go out, his whole being would remain quick with hope anddetermination. Let them relax their watchfulness but for an instant, he knew that his cunning mind and giant muscles would find a way toescape--escape and revenge. 

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 histrained ears caught the sound of the soundless presence without--behindthe hut wherein he lay. His lips moved, and though no sound cameforth that might have been appreciable to a human ear beyond the wallsof his prison, yet he realized that the one beyond would hear. Alreadyhe knew who that one was, for his nostrils had told him as plainly asyour eyes or mine tell us of the identity of an old friend whom we comeupon in broad daylight. 

An instant later he heard the soft sound of a fur-clad body and paddedfeet scaling the outer wall behind the hut and then a tearing at thepoles which formed the wall. Presently through the hole thus madeslunk a great beast, pressing its cold muzzle close to his neck. 

It was Sheeta, the panther. 

The beast snuffed round the prostrate man, whining a little. There wasa limit to the interchange of ideas which could take place betweenthese two, and so Tarzan could not be sure that Sheeta understood allthat he attempted to communicate to him. That the man was tied andhelpless Sheeta could, of course, see; but that to the mind of thepanther this would carry any suggestion of harm in so far as his masterwas concerned, Tarzan could not guess. 

What had brought the beast to him? The fact that he had come auguredwell for what he might accomplish; but when Tarzan tried to get Sheetato gnaw his bonds asunder the great animal could not seem to understandwhat was expected of him, and, instead, but licked the wrists and armsof the prisoner. 

Presently there came an interruption. Some one was approaching thehut. Sheeta gave a low growl and slunk into the blackness of a farcorner. Evidently the visitor did not hear the warning sound, foralmost immediately he entered the hut--a tall, naked, savage warrior. 

He came to Tarzan's side and pricked him with a spear. From the lipsof the ape-man came a weird, uncanny sound, and in answer to it thereleaped from the blackness of the hut's farthermost corner a bolt offur-clad death. Full upon the breast of the painted savage the greatbeast struck, burying sharp talons in the black flesh and sinking greatyellow fangs in the ebon throat. 

There was a fearful scream of anguish and terror from the black, andmingled with it was the hideous challenge of the killing panther. Thencame silence--silence except for the rending of bloody flesh and thecrunching of human bones between mighty jaws. 

The noise had brought sudden quiet to the village without. Then therecame the sound of voices in consultation. 

High-pitched, fear-filled voices, and deep, low tones of authority, asthe chief spoke. Tarzan and the panther heard the approachingfootsteps of many men, and then, to Tarzan's surprise, the great catrose from across the body of its kill, and slunk noiselessly from thehut through the aperture through which it had entered. 

The man heard the soft scraping of the body as it passed over the topof the palisade, and then silence. From the opposite side of the huthe heard the savages approaching to investigate. 

He had little hope that Sheeta would return, for had the great catintended to defend him against all comers it would have remained by hisside as it heard the approaching savages without. 

Tarzan knew how strange were the workings of the brains of the mightycarnivora of the jungle--how fiendishly fearless they might be in theface of certain death, and again how timid upon the slightestprovocation. There was doubt in his mind that some note of theapproaching blacks vibrating with fear had struck an answering chord inthe nervous system of the panther, sending him slinking through thejungle, his tail between his legs. 

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 acouple of his enemies before a rifle in the hands of one of the whitesshould have dispatched him!

If the cat could have released him! Ah! that would have resulted in avery different story; but it had proved beyond the understanding ofSheeta, and now the beast was gone and Tarzan must definitely abandonhope. 

The natives were at the entrance to the hut now, peering fearfully intothe dark interior. Two in advance held lighted torches in their lefthands and ready spears in their right. They held back timorouslyagainst those behind, who were pushing them forward. 

The shrieks of the panther's victim, mingled with those of the greatcat, had wrought mightily upon their poor nerves, and now the awfulsilence of the dark interior seemed even more terribly ominous than hadthe frightful screaming. 

Presently one of those who was being forced unwillingly within hit upona happy scheme for learning first the precise nature of the dangerwhich menaced him from the silent interior. With a quick movement heflung his lighted torch into the centre of the hut. Instantly allwithin was illuminated for a brief second before the burning brand wasdashed out against the earth floor. 

There was the figure of the white prisoner still securely bound as theyhad last seen him, and in the centre of the hut another figure equallyas motionless, its throat and breasts horribly torn and mangled. 

The sight that met the eyes of the foremost savages inspired moreterror within their superstitious breasts than would the presence ofSheeta, for they saw only the result of a ferocious attack upon one oftheir fellows. 

Not seeing the cause, their fear-ridden minds were free to attributethe ghastly work to supernatural causes, and with the thought theyturned, screaming, from the hut, bowling over those who stood directlybehind them in the exuberance of their terror. 

For an hour Tarzan heard only the murmur of excited voices from the farend of the village. Evidently the savages were once more attempting towork up their flickering courage to a point that would permit them tomake another invasion of the hut, for now and then came a savage yell, such as the warriors give to bolster up their bravery upon the field ofbattle. 

But in the end it was two of the whites who first entered, carryingtorches and guns. Tarzan was not surprised to discover that neither ofthem was Rokoff. He would have wagered his soul that no power on earthcould have tempted that great coward to face the unknown menace of thehut. 

When the natives saw that the white men were not attacked they, too, crowded into the interior, their voices hushed with terror as theylooked upon the mutilated corpse of their comrade. The whites triedin vain to elicit an explanation from Tarzan; but to all their querieshe but shook his head, a grim and knowing smile curving his lips. 

At last Rokoff came. 

His face grew very white as his eyes rested upon the bloody thinggrinning up at him from the floor, the face set in a death mask ofexcruciating horror. 

"Come!" he said to the chief. "Let us get to work and finish thisdemon before he has an opportunity to repeat this thing upon more ofyour people. "

The chief gave orders that Tarzan should be lifted and carried to thestake; but it was several minutes before he could prevail upon any ofhis men to touch the prisoner. 

At last, however, four of the younger warriors dragged Tarzan roughlyfrom the hut, and once outside the pall of terror seemed lifted fromthe savage hearts. 

A score of howling blacks pushed and buffeted the prisoner down thevillage street and bound him to the post in the centre of the circle oflittle fires and boiling cooking-pots. 

When at last he was made fast and seemed quite helpless and beyond thefaintest hope of succour, Rokoff's shrivelled wart of courage swelledto its usual proportions when danger was not present. 

He stepped close to the ape-man, and, seizing a spear from the hands ofone of the savages, was the first to prod the helpless victim. Alittle stream of blood trickled down the giant's smooth skin from thewound in his side; but no murmur of pain passed his lips. 

The smile of contempt upon his face seemed to infuriate the Russian. With a volley of oaths he leaped at the helpless captive, beating himupon the face with his clenched fists and kicking him mercilessly aboutthe legs. 

Then he raised the heavy spear to drive it through the mighty heart, and still Tarzan of the Apes smiled contemptuously upon him. 

Before Rokoff could drive the weapon home the chief sprang upon him anddragged him away from his intended victim. 

"Stop, white man!" he cried. "Rob us of this prisoner and ourdeath-dance, and you yourself may have to take his place. "

The threat proved most effective in keeping the Russian from furtherassaults upon the prisoner, though he continued to stand a little apartand hurl taunts at his enemy. He told Tarzan that he himself was goingto eat the ape-man's heart. He enlarged upon the horrors of thefuture life of Tarzan's son, and intimated that his vengeance wouldreach as well to Jane Clayton. 

"You think your wife safe in England, " said Rokoff. "Poor fool! Sheis even now in the hands of one not even of decent birth, and far fromthe safety of London and the protection of her friends. I had notmeant to tell you this until I could bring to you upon Jungle Islandproof of her fate. 

"Now that you are about to die the most unthinkably horrid death thatit is given a white man to die--let this word of the plight of yourwife add to the torments that you must suffer before the last savagespear-thrust releases you from your torture. "

The dance had commenced now, and the yells of the circling warriorsdrowned Rokoff's further attempts to distress his victim. 

The leaping savages, the flickering firelight playing upon theirpainted bodies, circled about the victim at the stake. 

To Tarzan's memory came a similar scene, when he had rescued D'Arnotfrom a like predicament at the last moment before the finalspear-thrust should have ended his sufferings. Who was there now torescue him? In all the world there was none able to save him from thetorture and the death. 

The thought that these human fiends would devour him when the dance wasdone caused him not a single qualm of horror or disgust. It did notadd to his sufferings as it would have to those of an ordinary whiteman, for all his life Tarzan had seen the beasts of the jungle devourthe flesh of their kills. 

Had he not himself battled for the grisly forearm of a great ape atthat long-gone Dum-Dum, when he had slain the fierce Tublat and won hisniche in the respect of the Apes of Kerchak?

The dancers were leaping more closely to him now. The spears werecommencing to find his body in the first torturing pricks that prefacedthe more serious thrusts. 

It would not be long now. The ape-man longed for the last savage lungethat would end his misery. 

And then, far out in the mazes of the weird jungle, rose a shrillscream. 

For an instant the dancers paused, and in the silence of the intervalthere rose from the lips of the fast-bound white man an answeringshriek, more fearsome and more terrible than that of the jungle-beastthat had roused it. 

For several minutes the blacks hesitated; then, at the urging of Rokoffand their chief, they leaped in to finish the dance and the victim; butere ever another spear touched the brown hide a tawny streak ofgreen-eyed hate and ferocity bounded from the door of the hut in whichTarzan had been imprisoned, and Sheeta, the panther, stood snarlingbeside his master. 

For an instant the blacks and the whites stood transfixed with terror. Their eyes were riveted upon the bared fangs of the jungle cat. 

Only Tarzan of the Apes saw what else there was emerging from the darkinterior of the hut. 

Chapter 9

Chivalry or Villainy

From her cabin port upon the Kincaid, Jane Clayton had seen her husbandrowed to the verdure-clad shore of Jungle Island, and then the shiponce more proceeded upon its way. 

For several days she saw no one other than Sven Anderssen, theKincaid's taciturn and repellent cook. She asked him the name of theshore upon which her husband had been set. 

"Ay tank it blow purty soon purty hard, " replied the Swede, and thatwas all that she could get out of him. 

She had come to the conclusion that he spoke no other English, and soshe ceased to importune him for information; but never did she forgetto greet him pleasantly or to thank him for the hideous, nauseatingmeals he brought her. 

Three days from the spot where Tarzan had been marooned the Kincaidcame to anchor in the mouth of a great river, and presently Rokoff cameto Jane Clayton's cabin. 

"We have arrived, my dear, " he said, with a sickening leer. "I havecome to offer you safety, liberty, and ease. My heart has beensoftened toward you in your suffering, and I would make amends as bestI may. 

"Your husband was a brute--you know that best who found him naked inhis native jungle, roaming wild with the savage beasts that were hisfellows. Now I am a gentleman, not only born of noble blood, butraised gently as befits a man of quality. 

"To you, dear Jane, I offer the love of a cultured man and associationwith one of culture and refinement, which you must have sorely missedin your relations with the poor ape that through your girlishinfatuation you married so thoughtlessly. I love you, Jane. You havebut to say the word and no further sorrows shall afflict you--even yourbaby shall be returned to you unharmed. "

Outside the door Sven Anderssen paused with the noonday meal he hadbeen carrying to Lady Greystoke. Upon the end of his long, stringyneck his little head was cocked to one side, his close-set eyes werehalf closed, his ears, so expressive was his whole attitude of stealthyeavesdropping, seemed truly to be cocked forward--even his long, yellow, straggly moustache appeared to assume a sly droop. 

As Rokoff closed his appeal, awaiting the reply he invited, the look ofsurprise upon Jane Clayton's face turned to one of disgust. She fairlyshuddered in the fellow's face. 

"I would not have been surprised, M. Rokoff, " she said, "had youattempted to force me to submit to your evil desires, but that youshould be so fatuous as to believe that I, wife of John Clayton, wouldcome to you willingly, even to save my life, I should never haveimagined. I have known you for a scoundrel, M. Rokoff; but until nowI had not taken you for a fool. "

Rokoff's eyes narrowed, and the red of mortification flushed out thepallor of his face. He took a step toward the girl, threateningly. 

"We shall see who is the fool at last, " he hissed, "when I have brokenyou to my will and your plebeian Yankee stubbornness has cost you allthat you hold dear--even the life of your baby--for, by the bones ofSt. Peter, I'll forego all that I had planned for the brat and cut itsheart out before your very eyes. You'll learn what it means to insultNikolas Rokoff. "

Jane Clayton turned wearily away. 

"What is the use, " she said, "of expatiating upon the depths to whichyour vengeful nature can sink? You cannot move me either by threats ordeeds. My baby cannot judge yet for himself, but I, his mother, canforesee that should it have been given him to survive to man's estatehe 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. DidI, he would execrate my memory to the day of his death. "

Rokoff was now thoroughly angered because of his failure to reduce thegirl to terror. He felt only hate for her, but it had come to hisdiseased mind that if he could force her to accede to his demands asthe price of her life and her child's, the cup of his revenge would befilled to brimming when he could flaunt the wife of Lord Greystoke inthe capitals of Europe as his mistress. 

Again he stepped closer to her. His evil face was convulsed with rageand desire. Like a wild beast he sprang upon her, and with his strongfingers at her throat forced her backward upon the berth. 

At the same instant the door of the cabin opened noisily. Rokoffleaped to his feet, and, turning, faced the Swede cook. 

Into the fellow's usually foxy eyes had come an expression of utterstupidity. His lower jaw drooped in vacuous harmony. He busiedhimself in arranging Lady Greystoke's meal upon the tiny table at oneside of her cabin. 

The Russian glared at him. 

"What do you mean, " he cried, "by entering here without permission?Get out!"

The cook turned his watery blue eyes upon Rokoff and smiled vacuously. 

"Ay tank it blow purty soon purty hard, " he said, and then he beganrearranging the few dishes upon the little table. 

"Get out of here, or I'll throw you out, you miserable blockhead!"roared Rokoff, taking a threatening step toward the Swede. 

Anderssen continued to smile foolishly in his direction, but oneham-like paw slid stealthily to the handle of the long, slim knife thatprotruded from the greasy cord supporting his soiled apron. 

Rokoff saw the move and stopped short in his advance. Then he turnedtoward Jane Clayton. 

"I will give you until tomorrow, " he said, "to reconsider your answerto my offer. All will be sent ashore upon one pretext or anotherexcept you and the child, Paulvitch and myself. Then withoutinterruption you will be able to witness the death of the baby. "

He spoke in French that the cook might not understand the sinisterportent of his words. When he had done he banged out of the cabinwithout another look at the man who had interrupted him in his sorrywork. 

When he had gone, Sven Anderssen turned toward Lady Greystoke--theidiotic expression that had masked his thoughts had fallen away, and inits place was one of craft and cunning. 

"Hay tank Ay ban a fool, " he said. "Hay ben the fool. Ay savvyFranch. "

Jane Clayton looked at him in surprise. 

"You understood all that he said, then?"

Anderssen grinned. 

"You bat, " he said. 

"And you heard what was going on in here and came to protect me?"

"You bane good to me, " explained the Swede. "Hay treat me like dartydog. Ay help you, lady. You yust vait--Ay help you. Ay ban VastCoast lots times. "

"But how can you help me, Sven, " she asked, "when all these men will beagainst us?"

"Ay tank, " said Sven Anderssen, "it blow purty soon purty hard, " andthen he turned and left the cabin. 

Though Jane Clayton doubted the cook's ability to be of any materialservice to her, she was nevertheless deeply grateful to him for what healready had done. The feeling that among these enemies she had onefriend brought the first ray of comfort that had come to lighten theburden of her miserable apprehensions throughout the long voyage of theKincaid. 

She saw no more of Rokoff that day, nor of any other until Sven camewith her evening meal. She tried to draw him into conversationrelative to his plans to aid her, but all that she could get from himwas his stereotyped prophecy as to the future state of the wind. Heseemed suddenly to have relapsed into his wonted state of densestupidity. 

However, when he was leaving her cabin a little later with the emptydishes he whispered very low, "Leave on your clothes an' roll up yourblankets. Ay come back after you purty soon. "

He would have slipped from the room at once, but Jane laid her handupon his sleeve. 

"My baby?" she asked. "I cannot go without him. "

"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 utterbewilderment. What was she to do? Suspicions as to the intentions ofthe Swede swarmed her brain. Might she not be infinitely worse off ifshe gave herself into his power than she already was?

No, she could be no worse off in company with the devil himself thanwith Nikolas Rokoff, for the devil at least bore the reputation ofbeing a gentleman. 

She swore a dozen times that she would not leave the Kincaid withouther baby, and yet she remained clothed long past her usual hour forretiring, and her blankets were neatly rolled and bound with stoutcord, when about midnight there came a stealthy scratching upon thepanels of her door. 

Swiftly she crossed the room and drew the bolt. Softly the door swungopen to admit the muffled figure of the Swede. On one arm he carrieda bundle, evidently his blankets. His other hand was raised in agesture commanding silence, a grimy forefinger upon his lips. 

He came quite close to her. 

"Carry this, " he said. "Do not make some noise when you see it. Itban you kid. "

Quick hands snatched the bundle from the cook, and hungry mother armsfolded the sleeping infant to her breast, while hot tears of joy randown her cheeks and her whole frame shook with the emotion of themoment. 

"Come!" said Anderssen. "We got no time to vaste. "

He snatched up her bundle of blankets, and outside the cabin door hisown as well. Then he led her to the ship's side, steadied her descentof the monkey-ladder, holding the child for her as she climbed to thewaiting boat below. A moment later he had cut the rope that held thesmall boat to the steamer's side, and, bending silently to the muffledoars, was pulling toward the black shadows up the Ugambi River. 

Anderssen rowed on as though quite sure of his ground, and when afterhalf an hour the moon broke through the clouds there was revealed upontheir left the mouth of a tributary running into the Ugambi. Up thisnarrow channel the Swede turned the prow of the small boat. 

Jane Clayton wondered if the man knew where he was bound. She did notknow that in his capacity as cook he had that day been rowed up thisvery stream to a little village where he had bartered with the nativesfor such provisions as they had for sale, and that he had therearranged the details of his plan for the adventure upon which they werenow setting forth. 

Even though the moon was full, the surface of the small river was quitedark. The giant trees overhung its narrow banks, meeting in a greatarch above the centre of the river. Spanish moss dropped from thegracefully bending limbs, and enormous creepers clambered in riotousprofusion from the ground to the loftiest branch, falling in curvingloops almost to the water's placid breast. 

Now and then the river's surface would be suddenly broken ahead of themby a huge crocodile, startled by the splashing of the oars, or, snorting and blowing, a family of hippos would dive from a sandy bar tothe cool, safe depths of the bottom. 

From the dense jungles upon either side came the weird night cries ofthe carnivora--the maniacal voice of the hyena, the coughing grunt ofthe panther, the deep and awful roar of the lion. And with themstrange, uncanny notes that the girl could not ascribe to anyparticular night prowler--more terrible because of their mystery. 

Huddled in the stern of the boat she sat with her baby strained closeto her bosom, and because of that little tender, helpless thing she washappier tonight than she had been for many a sorrow-ridden day. 

Even though she knew not to what fate she was going, or how soon thatfate might overtake her, still was she happy and thankful for themoment, however brief, that she might press her baby tightly in herarms. She could scarce wait for the coming of the day that she mightlook again upon the bright face of her little, black-eyed Jack. 

Again and again she tried to strain her eyes through the blackness ofthe jungle night to have but a tiny peep at those beloved features, butonly the dim outline of the baby face rewarded her efforts. Then oncemore she would cuddle the warm, little bundle close to her throbbingheart. 

It must have been close to three o'clock in the morning that Anderssenbrought the boat's nose to the shore before a clearing where could bedimly seen in the waning moonlight a cluster of native huts encircledby a thorn boma. 

At the village gate they were admitted by a native woman, the wife ofthe chief whom Anderssen had paid to assist him. She took them to thechief's hut, but Anderssen said that they would sleep without upon theground, and so, her duty having been completed, she left them to theirown devices. 

The Swede, after explaining in his gruff way that the huts weredoubtless filthy and vermin-ridden, spread Jane's blankets on theground for her, and at a little distance unrolled his own and lay downto sleep. 

It was some time before the girl could find a comfortable position uponthe hard ground, but at last, the baby in the hollow of her arm, shedropped asleep from utter exhaustion. When she awoke it was broaddaylight. 

About her were clustered a score of curious natives--mostly men, foramong the aborigines it is the male who owns this characteristic in itsmost exaggerated form. Instinctively Jane Clayton drew the baby moreclosely to her, though she soon saw that the blacks were far fromintending her or the child any harm. 

In fact, one of them offered her a gourd of milk--a filthy, smoke-begrimed gourd, with the ancient rind of long-curdled milk cakedin layers within its neck; but the spirit of the giver touched herdeeply, and her face lightened for a moment with one of those almostforgotten smiles of radiance that had helped to make her beauty famousboth in Baltimore and London. 

She took the gourd in one hand, and rather than cause the giver painraised it to her lips, though for the life of her she could scarcerestrain the qualm of nausea that surged through her as the malodorousthing approached her nostrils. 

It was Anderssen who came to her rescue, and taking the gourd from her, drank a portion himself, and then returned it to the native with a giftof blue beads. 

The sun was shining brightly now, and though the baby still slept, Janecould scarce restrain her impatient desire to have at least a briefglance at the beloved face. The natives had withdrawn at a commandfrom their chief, who now stood talking with Anderssen, a little apartfrom her. 

As she debated the wisdom of risking disturbing the child's slumber bylifting the blanket that now protected its face from the sun, she notedthat the cook conversed with the chief in the language of the Negro. 

What a remarkable man the fellow was, indeed! She had thought himignorant and stupid but a short day before, and now, within the pasttwenty-four hours, she had learned that he spoke not only English butFrench as well, and the primitive dialect of the West Coast. 

She had thought him shifty, cruel, and untrustworthy, yet in so far asshe had reason to believe he had proved himself in every way thecontrary since the day before. It scarce seemed credible that he couldbe serving her from motives purely chivalrous. There must be somethingdeeper in his intentions and plans than he had yet disclosed. 

She wondered, and when she looked at him--at his close-set, shifty eyesand repulsive features, she shuddered, for she was convinced that nolofty characteristics could be hid behind so foul an exterior. 

As she was thinking of these things the while she debated the wisdom ofuncovering the baby's face, there came a little grunt from the weebundle in her lap, and then a gurgling coo that set her heart inraptures. 

The baby was awake! Now she might feast her eyes upon him. 

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 fromher, her eyes glued in horror upon the little chubby face and twinklingeyes. 

Then he heard her piteous cry as her knees gave beneath her, and shesank to the ground in a swoon. 

Chapter 10

The Swede

As the warriors, clustered thick about Tarzan and Sheeta, realized thatit was a flesh-and-blood panther that had interrupted their dance ofdeath, they took heart a trifle, for in the face of all those circlingspears even the mighty Sheeta would be doomed. 

Rokoff was urging the chief to have his spearmen launch their missiles, and the black was upon the instant of issuing the command, when hiseyes strayed beyond Tarzan, following the gaze of the ape-man. 

With a yell of terror the chief turned and fled toward the villagegate, and as his people looked to see the cause of his fright, they tootook to their heels--for there, lumbering down upon them, their hugeforms exaggerated by the play of moonlight and camp fire, came thehideous apes of Akut. 

The instant the natives turned to flee the ape-man's savage cry rangout above the shrieks of the blacks, and in answer to it Sheeta and theapes leaped growling after the fugitives. Some of the warriors turnedto battle with their enraged antagonists, but before the fiendishferocity of the fierce beasts they went down to bloody death. 

Others were dragged down in their flight, and it was not until thevillage was empty and the last of the blacks had disappeared into thebush that Tarzan was able to recall his savage pack to his side. Thenit was that he discovered to his chagrin that he could not make one ofthem, not even the comparatively intelligent Akut, understand that hewished 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 happen--the blacks might returnin force to regain their village; the whites might readily pick themall off with their rifles from the surrounding trees; he might evenstarve to death before the dull-witted apes realized that he wishedthem to gnaw through his bonds. 

As for Sheeta--the great cat understood even less than the apes; butyet Tarzan could not but marvel at the remarkable characteristics thisbeast had evidenced. That it felt real affection for him there seemedlittle doubt, for now that the blacks were disposed of it walked slowlyback and forth about the stake, rubbing its sides against the ape-man'slegs and purring like a contented tabby. That it had gone of its ownvolition to bring the balance of the pack to his rescue, Tarzan couldnot doubt. His Sheeta was indeed a jewel among beasts. 

Mugambi's absence worried the ape-man not a little. He attempted tolearn from Akut what had become of the black, fearing that the beasts, freed from the restraint of Tarzan's presence, might have fallen uponthe man and devoured him; but to all his questions the great ape butpointed back in the direction from which they had come out of thejungle. 

The night passed with Tarzan still fast bound to the stake, and shortlyafter dawn his fears were realized in the discovery of naked blackfigures moving stealthily just within the edge of the jungle about thevillage. The blacks were returning. 

With daylight their courage would be equal to the demands of a chargeupon the handful of beasts that had routed them from their rightfulabodes. The result of the encounter seemed foregone if the savagescould curb their superstitious terror, for against their overwhelmingnumbers, their long spears and poisoned arrows, the panther and theapes could not be expected to survive a really determined attack. 

That the blacks were preparing for a charge became apparent a fewmoments later, when they commenced to show themselves in force upon theedge of the clearing, dancing and jumping about as they waved theirspears and shouted taunts and fierce warcries toward the village. 

These manoeuvres Tarzan knew would continue until the blacks had workedthemselves into a state of hysterical courage sufficient to sustainthem for a short charge toward the village, and even though he doubtedthat they would reach it at the first attempt, he believed that at thesecond or the third they would swarm through the gateway, when theoutcome could not be aught than the extermination of Tarzan's bold, butunarmed and undisciplined, defenders. 

Even as he had guessed, the first charge carried the howling warriorsbut a short distance into the open--a shrill, weird challenge from theape-man being all that was necessary to send them scurrying back to thebush. For half an hour they pranced and yelled their courage to thesticking-point, and again essayed a charge. 

This time they came quite to the village gate, but when Sheeta and thehideous apes leaped among them they turned screaming in terror, andagain fled to the jungle. 

Again was the dancing and shouting repeated. This time Tarzan felt nodoubt they would enter the village and complete the work that a handfulof determined white men would have carried to a successful conclusionat the first attempt. 

To have rescue come so close only to be thwarted because he could notmake his poor, savage friends understand precisely what he wanted ofthem was most irritating, but he could not find it in his heart toplace blame upon them. They had done their best, and now he was surethey would doubtless remain to die with him in a fruitless effort todefend him. 

The blacks were already preparing for the charge. A few individualshad advanced a short distance toward the village and were exhorting theothers to follow them. In a moment the whole savage horde would beracing across the clearing. 

Tarzan thought only of the little child somewhere in this cruel, relentless wilderness. His heart ached for the son that he might nolonger seek to save--that and the realization of Jane's suffering wereall that weighed upon his brave spirit in these that he thought hislast moments of life. Succour, all that he could hope for, had come tohim in the instant of his extremity--and failed. There was nothingfurther for which to hope. 

The blacks were half-way across the clearing when Tarzan's attentionwas attracted by the actions of one of the apes. The beast was glaringtoward one of the huts. Tarzan followed his gaze. To his infiniterelief and delight he saw the stalwart form of Mugambi racing towardhim. 

The huge black was panting heavily as though from strenuous physicalexertion and nervous excitement. He rushed to Tarzan's side, and asthe first of the savages reached the village gate the native's knifesevered the last of the cords that bound Tarzan to the stake. 

In the street lay the corpses of the savages that had fallen before thepack the night before. From one of these Tarzan seized a spear andknob stick, and with Mugambi at his side and the snarling pack abouthim, he met the natives as they poured through the gate. 

Fierce and terrible was the battle that ensued, but at last the savageswere routed, more by terror, perhaps, at sight of a black man and awhite fighting in company with a panther and the huge fierce apes ofAkut, than because of their inability to overcome the relatively smallforce that opposed them. 

One prisoner fell into the hands of Tarzan, and him the ape-manquestioned in an effort to learn what had become of Rokoff and hisparty. Promised his liberty in return for the information, the blacktold all he knew concerning the movements of the Russian. 

It seemed that early in the morning their chief had attempted toprevail upon the whites to return with him to the village and withtheir guns destroy the ferocious pack that had taken possession of it, but Rokoff appeared to entertain even more fears of the giant white manand his strange companions than even the blacks themselves. 

Upon no conditions would he consent to returning even within sight ofthe village. Instead, he took his party hurriedly to the river, wherethey stole a number of canoes the blacks had hidden there. The lastthat had been seen of them they had been paddling strongly up-stream, their porters from Kaviri's village wielding the blades. 

So once more Tarzan of the Apes with his hideous pack took up hissearch for the ape-man's son and the pursuit of his abductor. 

For weary days they followed through an almost uninhabited country, only to learn at last that they were upon the wrong trail. The littleband had been reduced by three, for three of Akut's apes had fallen inthe fighting at the village. Now, with Akut, there were five greatapes, and Sheeta was there--and Mugambi and Tarzan. 

The ape-man no longer heard rumors even of the three who had precededRokoff--the white man and woman and the child. Who the man and womanwere he could not guess, but that the child was his was enough to keephim hot upon the trail. He was sure that Rokoff would be followingthis trio, and so he felt confident that so long as he could keep uponthe Russian's trail he would be winning so much nearer to the time hemight snatch his son from the dangers and horrors that menaced him. 

In retracing their way after losing Rokoff's trail Tarzan picked it upagain at a point where the Russian had left the river and taken to thebrush in a northerly direction. He could only account for this changeon the ground that the child had been carried away from the river bythe two who now had possession of it. 

Nowhere along the way, however, could he gain definite information thatmight assure him positively that the child was ahead of him. Not asingle native they questioned had seen or heard of this other party, though nearly all had had direct experience with the Russian or hadtalked with others who had. 

It was with difficulty that Tarzan could find means to communicate withthe natives, as the moment their eyes fell upon his companions theyfled precipitately into the bush. His only alternative was to go aheadof his pack and waylay an occasional warrior whom he found alone in thejungle. 

One day as he was thus engaged, tracking an unsuspecting savage, hecame upon the fellow in the act of hurling a spear at a wounded whiteman who crouched in a clump of bush at the trail's side. The white wasone whom Tarzan had often seen, and whom he recognized at once. 

Deep in his memory was implanted those repulsive features--theclose-set eyes, the shifty expression, the drooping yellow moustache. 

Instantly it occurred to the ape-man that this fellow had not beenamong those who had accompanied Rokoff at the village where Tarzan hadbeen a prisoner. He had seen them all, and this fellow had not beenthere. There could be but one explanation--he it was who had fledahead of the Russian with the woman and the child--and the woman hadbeen Jane Clayton. He was sure now of the meaning of Rokoff's words. 

The ape-man's face went white as he looked upon the pasty, vice-markedcountenance of the Swede. Across Tarzan's forehead stood out the broadband of scarlet that marked the scar where, years before, Terkoz hadtorn a great strip of the ape-man's scalp from his skull in the fiercebattle in which Tarzan had sustained his fitness to the kingship of theapes of Kerchak. 

The man was his prey--the black should not have him, and with thethought he leaped upon the warrior, striking down the spear before itcould reach its mark. The black, whipping out his knife, turned to dobattle with this new enemy, while the Swede, lying in the bush, witnessed a duel, the like of which he had never dreamed to see--ahalf-naked white man battling with a half-naked black, hand to handwith the crude weapons of primeval man at first, and then with handsand teeth like the primordial brutes from whose loins their forebearssprung. 

For a time Anderssen did not recognize the white, and when at last itdawned upon him that he had seen this giant before, his eyes went widein surprise that this growling, rending beast could ever have been thewell-groomed English gentleman who had been a prisoner aboard theKincaid. 

An English nobleman! He had learned the identity of the Kincaid'sprisoners from Lady Greystoke during their flight up the Ugambi. Before, in common with the other members of the crew of the steamer, hehad not known who the two might be. 

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 hisfoe, and placing one foot upon the broken neck lift his voice in thehideous challenge of the victorious bull-ape. 

Anderssen shuddered. Then Tarzan turned toward him. His face was coldand cruel, and in the grey eyes the Swede read murder. 

"Where is my wife?" growled the ape-man. "Where is the child?"

Anderssen tried to reply, but a sudden fit of coughing choked him. There was an arrow entirely through his chest, and as he coughed theblood from his wounded lung poured suddenly from his mouth and nostrils. 

Tarzan stood waiting for the paroxysm to pass. Like a bronzeimage--cold, hard, and relentless--he stood over the helpless man, waiting to wring such information from him as he needed, and then tokill. 

Presently the coughing and haemorrhage ceased, and again the woundedman tried to speak. Tarzan knelt near the faintly moving lips. 

"The wife and child!" he repeated. "Where are they?"

Anderssen pointed up the trail. 

"The Russian--he got them, " he whispered. 

"How did you come here?" continued Tarzan. "Why are you not withRokoff?"

"They catch us, " replied Anderssen, in a voice so low that the ape-mancould just distinguish the words. "They catch us. Ay fight, but mymen they all run away. Then they get me when Ay ban vounded. Rokoffhe say leave me here for the hyenas. That vas vorse than to kill. Hetak your vife and kid. "

"What were you doing with them--where were you taking them?" askedTarzan, and then fiercely, leaping close to the fellow with fierce eyesblazing with the passion of hate and vengeance that he had withdifficulty controlled, "What harm did you do to my wife or child?Speak quick before I kill you! Make your peace with God! Tell me theworst, or I will tear you to pieces with my hands and teeth. You haveseen that I can do it!"

A look of wide-eyed surprise overspread Anderssen's face. 

"Why, " he whispered, "Ay did not hurt them. Ay tried to save them fromthat Russian. Your vife was kind to me on the Kincaid, and Ay hearthat little baby cry sometimes. Ay got a vife an' kid for my own byChristiania an' Ay couldn't bear for to see them separated an' inRokoff's hands any more. That vas all. Do Ay look like Ay ban hereto hurt them?" he continued after a pause, pointing to the arrowprotruding from his breast. 

There was something in the man's tone and expression that convincedTarzan of the truth of his assertions. More weighty than anything elsewas the fact that Anderssen evidently seemed more hurt than frightened. He knew he was going to die, so Tarzan's threats had little effect uponhim; but it was quite apparent that he wished the Englishman to knowthe truth and not to wrong him by harbouring the belief that his wordsand manner indicated that he had entertained. 

The ape-man instantly dropped to his knees beside the Swede. 

"I am sorry, " he said very simply. "I had looked for none but knavesin 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 aplace of comfort and looking after your wounds. We must have you onyour feet again as soon as possible. "

The Swede, smiling, shook his head. 

"You go on an' look for the vife an' kid, " he said. "Ay ban as gudeas dead already; but"--he hesitated--"Ay hate to think of the hyenas. Von't you finish up this job?"

Tarzan shuddered. A moment ago he had been upon the point of killingthis man. Now he could no more have taken his life than he could havetaken the life of any of his best friends. 

He lifted the Swede's head in his arms to change and ease his position. 

Again came a fit of coughing and the terrible haemorrhage. After itwas over Anderssen lay with closed eyes. 

Tarzan thought that he was dead, until he suddenly raised his eyes tothose of the ape-man, sighed, and spoke--in a very low, weak whisper. 

"Ay tank it blow purty soon purty hard!" he said, and died. 

Chapter 11

Tambudza

Tarzan scooped a shallow grave for the Kincaid's cook, beneath whoserepulsive exterior had beaten the heart of a chivalrous gentleman. That was all he could do in the cruel jungle for the man who had givenhis life in the service of his little son and his wife. 

Then Tarzan took up again the pursuit of Rokoff. Now that he waspositive that the woman ahead of him was indeed Jane, and that she hadagain fallen into the hands of the Russian, it seemed that with all theincredible speed of his fleet and agile muscles he moved at but asnail's pace. 

It was with difficulty that he kept the trail, for there were manypaths through the jungle at this point--crossing and crisscrossing, forking and branching in all directions, and over them all had passednatives innumerable, coming and going. The spoor of the white men wasobliterated by that of the native carriers who had followed them, andover all was the spoor of other natives and of wild beasts. 

It was most perplexing; yet Tarzan kept on assiduously, checking hissense of sight against his sense of smell, that he might more surelykeep to the right trail. But, with all his care, night found him at apoint where he was positive that he was on the wrong trail entirely. 

He knew that the pack would follow his spoor, and so he had beencareful to make it as distinct as possible, brushing often against thevines and creepers that walled the jungle-path, and in other waysleaving his scent-spoor plainly discernible. 

As darkness settled a heavy rain set in, and there was nothing for thebaffled ape-man to do but wait in the partial shelter of a huge treeuntil morning; but the coming of dawn brought no cessation of thetorrential downpour. 

For a week the sun was obscured by heavy clouds, while violent rain andwind storms obliterated the last remnants of the spoor Tarzanconstantly though vainly sought. 

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 terrificstorm. As the country was strange to him, he had been unable to judgehis course accurately, since he had had neither sun by day nor moon norstars by night to guide him. 

When the sun at last broke through the clouds in the fore-noon of theseventh day, it looked down upon an almost frantic ape-man. 

For the first time in his life, Tarzan of the Apes had been lost in thejungle. That the experience should have befallen him at such a timeseemed cruel beyond expression. Somewhere in this savage land his wifeand son lay in the clutches of the arch-fiend Rokoff. 

What hideous trials might they not have undergone during those sevenawful days that nature had thwarted him in his endeavours to locatethem? Tarzan knew the Russian, in whose power they were, so well thathe could not doubt but that the man, filled with rage that Jane hadonce escaped him, and knowing that Tarzan might be close upon histrail, would wreak without further loss of time whatever vengeance hispolluted mind might be able to conceive. 

But now that the sun shone once more, the ape-man was still at a lossas to what direction to take. He knew that Rokoff had left the riverin pursuit of Anderssen, but whether he would continue inland or returnto the Ugambi was a question. 

The ape-man had seen that the river at the point he had left it wasgrowing narrow and swift, so that he judged that it could not benavigable even for canoes to any great distance farther toward itssource. However, if Rokoff had not returned to the river, in whatdirection had he proceeded?

From the direction of Anderssen's flight with Jane and the child Tarzanwas convinced that the man had purposed attempting the tremendous featof crossing the continent to Zanzibar; but whether Rokoff would dare sodangerous a journey or not was a question. 

Fear might drive him to the attempt now that he knew the manner ofhorrible pack that was upon his trail, and that Tarzan of the Apes wasfollowing him to wreak upon him the vengeance that he deserved. 

At last the ape-man determined to continue toward the northeast in thegeneral direction of German East Africa until he came upon natives fromwhom he might gain information as to Rokoff's whereabouts. 

The second day following the cessation of the rain Tarzan came upon anative village the inhabitants of which fled into the bush the instanttheir eyes fell upon him. Tarzan, not to be thwarted in any suchmanner as this, pursued them, and after a brief chase caught up with ayoung warrior. The fellow was so badly frightened that he was unableto defend himself, dropping his weapons and falling upon the ground, wide-eyed and screaming as he gazed on his captor. 

It was with considerable difficulty that the ape-man quieted thefellow's fears sufficiently to obtain a coherent statement from him asto the cause of his uncalled-for terror. 

From him Tarzan learned, by dint of much coaxing, that a party ofwhites had passed through the village several days before. These menhad told them of a terrible white devil that pursued them, warning thenatives against it and the frightful pack of demons that accompanied it. 

The black had recognized Tarzan as the white devil from thedescriptions given by the whites and their black servants. Behind himhe had expected to see a horde of demons disguised as apes and panthers. 

In this Tarzan saw the cunning hand of Rokoff. The Russian wasattempting to make travel as difficult as possible for him by turningthe natives against him in superstitious fear. 

The native further told Tarzan that the white man who had led therecent expedition had promised them a fabulous reward if they wouldkill the white devil. This they had fully intended doing should theopportunity present itself; but the moment they had seen Tarzan theirblood had turned to water, as the porters of the white men had toldthem would be the case. 

Finding the ape-man made no attempt to harm him, the native at lastrecovered his grasp upon his courage, and, at Tarzan's suggestion, accompanied the white devil back to the village, calling as he went forhis fellows to return also, as "the white devil has promised to do youno harm if you come back right away and answer his questions. "

One by one the blacks straggled into the village, but that their fearswere not entirely allayed was evident from the amount of white thatshowed about the eyes of the majority of them as they cast constant andapprehensive sidelong glances at the ape-man. 

The chief was among the first to return to the village, and as it washe that Tarzan was most anxious to interview, he lost no time inentering into a palaver with the black. 

The fellow was short and stout, with an unusually low and degradedcountenance and apelike arms. His whole expression denoteddeceitfulness. 

Only the superstitious terror engendered in him by the stories pouredinto his ears by the whites and blacks of the Russian's party kept himfrom leaping upon Tarzan with his warriors and slaying him forthwith, for he and his people were inveterate maneaters. But the fear that hemight indeed be a devil, and that out there in the jungle behind himhis fierce demons waited to do his bidding, kept M'ganwazam fromputting his desires into action. 

Tarzan questioned the fellow closely, and by comparing his statementswith those of the young warrior he had first talked with he learnedthat Rokoff and his safari were in terror-stricken retreat in thedirection of the far East Coast. 

Many of the Russian's porters had already deserted him. In that veryvillage he had hanged five for theft and attempted desertion. Judging, however, from what the Waganwazam had learned from those of theRussian's blacks who were not too far gone in terror of the brutalRokoff to fear even to speak of their plans, it was apparent that hewould not travel any great distance before the last of his porters, cooks, tent-boys, gun-bearers, askari, and even his headman, would haveturned back into the bush, leaving him to the mercy of the mercilessjungle. 

M'ganwazam denied that there had been any white woman or child with theparty of whites; but even as he spoke Tarzan was convinced that helied. Several times the ape-man approached the subject from differentangles, but never was he successful in surprising the wily cannibalinto a direct contradiction of his original statement that there hadbeen no women or children with the party. 

Tarzan demanded food of the chief, and after considerable haggling onthe part of the monarch succeeded in obtaining a meal. He then triedto draw out others of the tribe, especially the young man whom he hadcaptured in the bush, but M'ganwazam's presence sealed their lips. 

At last, convinced that these people knew a great deal more than theyhad told him concerning the whereabouts of the Russian and the fate ofJane and the child, Tarzan determined to remain overnight among them inthe hope of discovering something further of importance. 

When he had stated his decision to the chief he was rather surprised tonote the sudden change in the fellow's attitude toward him. Fromapparent dislike and suspicion M'ganwazam became a most eager andsolicitous host. 

Nothing would do but that the ape-man should occupy the best hut in thevillage, from which M'ganwazam's oldest wife was forthwith summarilyejected, while the chief took up his temporary abode in the hut of oneof his younger consorts. 

Had Tarzan chanced to recall the fact that a princely reward had beenoffered the blacks if they should succeed in killing him, he might havemore quickly interpreted M'ganwazam's sudden change in front. 

To have the white giant sleeping peacefully in one of his own hutswould greatly facilitate the matter of earning the reward, and so thechief was urgent in his suggestions that Tarzan, doubtless being verymuch fatigued after his travels, should retire early to the comforts ofthe anything but inviting palace. 

As much as the ape-man detested the thought of sleeping within a nativehut, he had determined to do so this night, on the chance that he mightbe able to induce one of the younger men to sit and chat with himbefore the fire that burned in the centre of the smoke-filled dwelling, and from him draw the truths he sought. So Tarzan accepted theinvitation of old M'ganwazam, insisting, however, that he muchpreferred sharing a hut with some of the younger men rather thandriving the chief's old wife out in the cold. 

The toothless old hag grinned her appreciation of this suggestion, andas the plan still better suited the chief's scheme, in that it wouldpermit him to surround Tarzan with a gang of picked assassins, hereadily assented, so that presently Tarzan had been installed in a hutclose to the village gate. 

As there was to be a dance that night in honour of a band of recentlyreturned hunters, Tarzan was left alone in the hut, the young men, asM'ganwazam explained, having to take part in the festivities. 

As soon as the ape-man was safely installed in the trap, M'Ganwazamcalled about him the young warriors whom he had selected to spend thenight with the white devil!

None of them was overly enthusiastic about the plan, since deep intheir superstitious hearts lay an exaggerated fear of the strange whitegiant; but the word of M'ganwazam was law among his people, so not onedared refuse the duty he was called upon to perform. 

As M'ganwazam unfolded his plan in whispers to the savages squattingabout him the old, toothless hag, to whom Tarzan had saved her hut forthe night, hovered about the conspirators ostensibly to replenish thesupply of firewood for the blaze about which the men sat, but really todrink in as much of their conversation as possible. 

Tarzan had slept for perhaps an hour or two despite the savage din ofthe revellers when his keen senses came suddenly alert to asuspiciously stealthy movement in the hut in which he lay. The firehad died down to a little heap of glowing embers, which accentuatedrather than relieved the darkness that shrouded the interior of theevil-smelling dwelling, yet the trained senses of the ape-man warnedhim of another presence creeping almost silently toward him through thegloom. 

He doubted that it was one of his hut mates returning from thefestivities, for he still heard the wild cries of the dancers and thedin of the tom-toms in the village street without. Who could it bethat took such pains to conceal his approach?

As the presence came within reach of him the ape-man bounded lightly tothe opposite side of the hut, his spear poised ready at his side. 

"Who is it, " he asked, "that creeps upon Tarzan of the Apes, like ahungry lion out of the darkness?"

"Silence, bwana!" replied an old cracked voice. "It is Tambudza--shewhose hut you would not take, and thus drive an old woman out into thecold night. "

"What does Tambudza want of Tarzan of the Apes?" asked the ape-man. 

"You were kind to me to whom none is now kind, and I have come to warnyou in payment of your kindness, " answered the old hag. 

"Warn me of what?"

"M'ganwazam has chosen the young men who are to sleep in the hut withyou, " replied Tambudza. "I was near as he talked with them, and heardhim issuing his instructions to them. When the dance is run well intothe morning they are to come to the hut. 

"If you are awake they are to pretend that they have come to sleep, butif you sleep it is M'ganwazam's command that you be killed. If you arenot 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'ganwazamis determined to win the reward the white man has offered. "

"I had forgotten the reward, " said Tarzan, half to himself, and then headded, "How may M'ganwazam hope to collect the reward now that thewhite men who are my enemies have left his country and gone he knowsnot where?"

"Oh, they have not gone far, " replied Tambudza. "M'ganwazam knowswhere they camp. His runners could quickly overtake them--they moveslowly. "

"Where are they?" asked Tarzan. 

"Do you wish to come to them?" asked Tambudza in way of reply. 

Tarzan nodded. 

"I cannot tell you where they lie so that you could come to the placeyourself, but I could lead you to them, bwana. "

In their interest in the conversation neither of the speakers hadnoticed the little figure which crept into the darkness of the hutbehind 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 wives--avindictive, degenerate little rascal who hated Tambudza, and was everseeking opportunities to spy upon her and report her slightest breachof custom to his father. 

"Come, then, " said Tarzan quickly, "let us be on our way. "

This Buulaoo did not hear, for he was already legging it up the villagestreet to where his hideous sire guzzled native beer, and watched theevolutions of the frantic dancers leaping high in the air and cavortingwildly in their hysterical capers. 

So it happened that as Tarzan and Tambudza sneaked warily from thevillage and melted into the Stygian darkness of the jungle two litherunners took their way in the same direction, though by another trail. 

When they had come sufficiently far from the village to make it safefor them to speak above a whisper, Tarzan asked the old woman if shehad seen aught of a white woman and a little child. 

"Yes, bwana, " replied Tambudza, "there was a woman with them and alittle child--a little white piccaninny. It died here in our villageof the fever and they buried it!"

Chapter 12

A Black Scoundrel

When Jane Clayton regained consciousness she saw Anderssen standingover her, holding the baby in his arms. As her eyes rested upon theman expression of misery and horror overspread her countenance. 

"What is the matter?" he asked. "You ban sick?"

"Where is my baby?" she cried, ignoring his questions. 

Anderssen held out the chubby infant, but she shook her head. 

"It is not mine, " she said. "You knew that it was not mine. You area devil like the Russian. "

Anderssen's blue eyes stretched in surprise. 

"Not yours!" he exclaimed. "You tole me the kid aboard the Kincaid banyour kid. "

"Not this one, " replied Jane dully. "The other. Where is the other?There must have been two. I did not know about this one. "

"There vasn't no other kid. Ay tank this ban yours. Ay am very sorry. "

Anderssen fidgeted about, standing first on one foot and then upon theother. It was perfectly evident to Jane that he was honest in hisprotestations of ignorance of the true identity of the child. 

Presently the baby commenced to crow, and bounce up and down in theSwede's arms, at the same time leaning forward with little handsout-reaching toward the young woman. 

She could not withstand the appeal, and with a low cry she sprang toher feet and gathered the baby to her breast. 

For a few minutes she wept silently, her face buried in the baby'ssoiled little dress. The first shock of disappointment that the tinything had not been her beloved Jack was giving way to a great hope thatafter all some miracle had occurred to snatch her baby from Rokoff'shands at the last instant before the Kincaid sailed from England. 

Then, too, there was the mute appeal of this wee waif alone and unlovedin the midst of the horrors of the savage jungle. It was this thoughtmore than any other that had sent her mother's heart out to theinnocent babe, while still she suffered from disappointment that shehad been deceived in its identity. 

"Have you no idea whose child this is?" she asked Anderssen. 

The man shook his head. 

"Not now, " he said. "If he ain't ban your kid, Ay don' know whose kidhe do ban. Rokoff said it was yours. Ay tank he tank so, too. 

"What do we do with it now? Ay can't go back to the Kincaid. Rokoffwould have me shot; but you can go back. Ay take you to the sea, andthen some of these black men they take you to the ship--eh?"

"No! no!" cried Jane. "Not for the world. I would rather die thanfall into the hands of that man again. No, let us go on and take thispoor little creature with us. If God is willing we shall be saved inone way or another. "

So they again took up their flight through the wilderness, taking withthem a half-dozen of the Mosulas to carry provisions and the tents thatAnderssen had smuggled aboard the small boat in preparation for theattempted escape. 

The days and nights of torture that the young woman suffered were somerged into one long, unbroken nightmare of hideousness that she soonlost all track of time. Whether they had been wandering for days oryears she could not tell. The one bright spot in that eternity offear and suffering was the little child whose tiny hands had long sincefastened their softly groping fingers firmly about her heart. 

In a way the little thing took the place and filled the aching voidthat the theft of her own baby had left. It could never be the same, of course, but yet, day by day, she found her mother-love, envelopingthe waif more closely until she sometimes sat with closed eyes lost inthe sweet imagining that the little bundle of humanity at her breastwas truly her own. 

For some time their progress inland was extremely slow. Word came tothem from time to time through natives passing from the coast onhunting excursions that Rokoff had not yet guessed the direction oftheir flight. This, and the desire to make the journey as light aspossible for the gently bred woman, kept Anderssen to a slow advance ofshort and easy marches with many rests. 

The Swede insisted upon carrying the child while they travelled, and incountless other ways did what he could to help Jane Clayton conserveher strength. He had been terribly chagrined on discovering themistake he had made in the identity of the baby, but once the youngwoman became convinced that his motives were truly chivalrous she wouldnot permit him longer to upbraid himself for the error that he couldnot by any means have avoided. 

At the close of each day's march Anderssen saw to the erection of acomfortable shelter for Jane and the child. Her tent was alwayspitched in the most favourable location. The thorn boma round it wasthe strongest and most impregnable that the Mosula could construct. 

Her food was the best that their limited stores and the rifle of theSwede could provide, but the thing that touched her heart the closestwas the gentle consideration and courtesy which the man always accordedher. 

That such nobility of character could lie beneath so repulsive anexterior never ceased to be a source of wonder and amazement to her, until at last the innate chivalry of the man, and his unfailingkindliness and sympathy transformed his appearance in so far as Janewas concerned until she saw only the sweetness of his charactermirrored in his countenance. 

They had commenced to make a little better progress when word reachedthem that Rokoff was but a few marches behind them, and that he had atlast discovered the direction of their flight. It was then thatAnderssen took to the river, purchasing a canoe from a chief whosevillage lay a short distance from the Ugambi upon the bank of atributary. 

Thereafter the little party of fugitives fled up the broad Ugambi, andso rapid had their flight become that they no longer received word oftheir pursuers. At the end of canoe navigation upon the river, theyabandoned their canoe and took to the jungle. Here progress became atonce 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 totell Jane Clayton the truth, for he had seen that the young woman hadcome to love the child almost as passionately as though it had been herown flesh and blood. 

As the baby's condition precluded farther advance, Anderssen withdrew alittle from the main trail he had been following and built a camp in anatural clearing on the bank of a little river. 

Here Jane devoted her every moment to caring for the tiny sufferer, andas though her sorrow and anxiety were not all that she could bear, afurther blow came with the sudden announcement of one of the Mosulaporters who had been foraging in the jungle adjacent that Rokoff andhis party were camped quite close to them, and were evidently upontheir trail to this little nook which all had thought so excellent ahiding-place. 

This information could mean but one thing, and that they must breakcamp and fly onward regardless of the baby's condition. Jane Claytonknew the traits of the Russian well enough to be positive that he wouldseparate her from the child the moment that he recaptured them, and sheknew that separation would mean the immediate death of the baby. 

As they stumbled forward through the tangled vegetation along an oldand almost overgrown game trail the Mosula porters deserted them one byone. 

The men had been staunch enough in their devotion and loyalty as longas they were in no danger of being overtaken by the Russian and hisparty. They had heard, however, so much of the atrocious dispositionof Rokoff that they had grown to hold him in mortal terror, and nowthat they knew he was close upon them their timid hearts would fortifythem no longer, and as quickly as possible they deserted the threewhites. 

Yet on and on went Anderssen and the girl. The Swede went ahead, tohew a way through the brush where the path was entirely overgrown, sothat on this march it was necessary that the young woman carry thechild. 

All day they marched. Late in the afternoon they realized that theyhad failed. Close behind them they heard the noise of a large safariadvancing along the trail which they had cleared for their pursuers. 

When it became quite evident that they must be overtaken in a shorttime Anderssen hid Jane behind a large tree, covering her and the childwith brush. 

"There is a village about a mile farther on, " he said to her. "TheMosula told me its location before they deserted us. Ay try to leadthe Russian off your trail, then you go on to the village. Ay tank thechief ban friendly to white men--the Mosula tal me he ban. Anyhow, that was all we can do. 

"After while you get chief to tak you down by the Mosula village at thesea again, an' after a while a ship is sure to put into the mouth ofthe Ugambi. Then you be all right. Gude-by an' gude luck to you, lady!"

"But where are you going, Sven?" asked Jane. "Why can't you hide hereand go back to the sea with me?"

"Ay gotta tal the Russian you ban dead, so that he don't luke for youno more, " and Anderssen grinned. 

"Why can't you join me then after you have told him that?" insisted thegirl. 

Anderssen shook his head. 

"Ay don't tank Ay join anybody any more after Ay tal the Russian youban dead, " he said. 

"You don't mean that you think he will kill you?" asked Jane, and yetin her heart she knew that that was exactly what the great scoundrelwould do in revenge for his having been thwarted by the Swede. Anderssen did not reply, other than to warn her to silence and pointtoward the path along which they had just come. 

"I don't care, " whispered Jane Clayton. "I shall not let you die tosave me if I can prevent it in any way. Give me your revolver. I canuse that, and together we may be able to hold them off until we canfind some means of escape. "

"It won't work, lady, " replied Anderssen. "They would only get usboth, 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 handsagain. For his sake you must do what Ay say. Here, take my rifle andammunition; you may need them. "

He shoved the gun and bandoleer into the shelter beside Jane. Then hewas gone. 

She watched him as he returned along the path to meet the oncomingsafari of the Russian. Soon a turn in the trail hid him from view. 

Her first impulse was to follow. With the rifle she might be ofassistance to him, and, further, she could not bear the terriblethought of being left alone at the mercy of the fearful jungle withouta single friend to aid her. 

She started to crawl from her shelter with the intention of runningafter Anderssen as fast as she could. As she drew the baby close toher she glanced down into its little face. 

How red it was! How unnatural the little thing looked. She raisedthe cheek to hers. It was fiery hot with fever!

With a little gasp of terror Jane Clayton rose to her feet in thejungle path. The rifle and bandoleer lay forgotten in the shelterbeside her. Anderssen was forgotten, and Rokoff, and her great peril. 

All that rioted through her fear-mad brain was the fearful fact thatthis little, helpless child was stricken with the terriblejungle-fever, and that she was helpless to do aught to allay itssufferings--sufferings that were sure to coming during ensuingintervals of partial consciousness. 

Her one thought was to find some one who could help her--some woman whohad had children of her own--and with the thought came recollection ofthe friendly village of which Anderssen had spoken. If she could butreach it--in time!

There was no time to be lost. Like a startled antelope she turned andfled up the trail in the direction Anderssen had indicated. 

From far behind came the sudden shouting of men, the sound of shots, and then silence. She knew that Anderssen had met the Russian. 

A half-hour later she stumbled, exhausted, into a little thatchedvillage. Instantly she was surrounded by men, women, and children. Eager, curious, excited natives plied her with a hundred questions, noone of which she could understand or answer. 

All that she could do was to point tearfully at the baby, now wailingpiteously in her arms, and repeat over and over, "Fever--fever--fever. "

The blacks did not understand her words, but they saw the cause of hertrouble, and soon a young woman had pulled her into a hut and withseveral others was doing her poor best to quiet the child and allay itsagony. 

The witch doctor came and built a little fire before the infant, uponwhich he boiled some strange concoction in a small earthen pot, makingweird passes above it and mumbling strange, monotonous chants. Presently he dipped a zebra's tail into the brew, and with furthermutterings and incantations sprinkled a few drops of the liquid overthe baby's face. 

After he had gone the women sat about and moaned and wailed until Janethought that she should go mad; but, knowing that they were doing itall out of the kindness of their hearts, she endured the frightfulwaking nightmare of those awful hours in dumb and patient suffering. 

It must have been well toward midnight that she became conscious of asudden commotion in the village. She heard the voices of the nativesraised in controversy, but she could not understand the words. 

Presently she heard footsteps approaching the hut in which she squattedbefore a bright fire with the baby on her lap. The little thing layvery still now, its lids, half-raised, showed the pupils horriblyupturned. 

Jane Clayton looked into the little face with fear-haunted eyes. Itwas not her baby--not her flesh and blood--but how close, how dear thetiny, helpless thing had become to her. Her heart, bereft of its own, had gone out to this poor, little, nameless waif, and lavished upon itall the love that had been denied her during the long, bitter weeks ofher captivity aboard the Kincaid. 

She saw that the end was near, and though she was terrified atcontemplation of her loss, still she hoped that it would come quicklynow and end the sufferings of the little victim. 

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 ofthe tribe, entered. She had seen but little of him, as the women hadtaken her in hand almost as soon as she had entered the village. 

M'ganwazam, she now saw, was an evil-appearing savage with every markof brutal degeneracy writ large upon his bestial countenance. To JaneClayton he looked more gorilla than human. He tried to converse withher, but without success, and finally he called to some one without. 

In answer to his summons another Negro entered--a man of very differentappearance from M'ganwazam--so different, in fact, that Jane Claytonimmediately decided that he was of another tribe. This man acted asinterpreter, and almost from the first question that M'ganwazam put toher, Jane felt an intuitive conviction that the savage was attemptingto draw information from her for some ulterior motive. 

She thought it strange that the fellow should so suddenly have becomeinterested in her plans, and especially in her intended destinationwhen her journey had been interrupted at his village. 

Seeing no reason for withholding the information, she told him thetruth; but when he asked if she expected to meet her husband at the endof the trip, she shook her head negatively. 

Then he told her the purpose of his visit, talking through theinterpreter. 

"I have just learned, " he said, "from some men who live by the side ofthe great water, that your husband followed you up the Ugambi forseveral 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 along journey if you expected to meet your husband at the end of it; butinstead could turn and retrace your steps to the coast. "

Jane thanked M'ganwazam for his kindness, though her heart was numbwith suffering at this new blow. She who had suffered so much was atlast beyond reach of the keenest of misery's pangs, for her senses werenumbed and calloused. 

With bowed head she sat staring with unseeing eyes upon the face of thebaby in her lap. M'ganwazam had left the hut. Sometime later sheheard a noise at the entrance--another had entered. One of the womensitting opposite her threw a faggot upon the dying embers of the firebetween them. 

With a sudden flare it burst into renewed flame, lighting up the hut'sinterior as though by magic. 

The flame disclosed to Jane Clayton's horrified gaze that the baby wasquite dead. How long it had been so she could not guess. 

A choking lump rose to her throat, her head drooped in silent miseryupon the little bundle that she had caught suddenly to her breast. 

For a moment the silence of the hut was unbroken. Then the nativewoman broke into a hideous wail. 

A man coughed close before Jane Clayton and spoke her name. 

With a start she raised her eyes to look into the sardonic countenanceof Nikolas Rokoff. 

Chapter 13

Escape

For a moment Rokoff stood sneering down upon Jane Clayton, then hiseyes fell to the little bundle in her lap. Jane had drawn one cornerof the blanket over the child's face, so that to one who did not knowthe truth it seemed but to be sleeping. 

"You have gone to a great deal of unnecessary trouble, " said Rokoff, "to bring the child to this village. If you had attended to your ownaffairs I should have brought it here myself. 

"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 ofhaving 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, andif you ever chance to return to civilization it will doubtless affordyou much food for thought as you compare the luxuries and comforts ofyour life with the details of the life your son is living in thevillage of the Waganwazam. 

"Again I thank you for bringing him here for me, and now I must ask youto surrender him to me, that I may turn him over to his fosterparents. " As he concluded Rokoff held out his hands for the child, anasty grin of vindictiveness upon his lips. 

To his surprise Jane Clayton rose and, without a word of protest, laidthe little bundle in his arms. 

"Here is the child, " she said. "Thank God he is beyond your power toharm. "

Grasping the import of her words, Rokoff snatched the blanket from thechild's face to seek confirmation of his fears. Jane Clayton watchedhis expression closely. 

She had been puzzled for days for an answer to the question of Rokoff'sknowledge of the child's identity. If she had been in doubt before thelast shred of that doubt was wiped away as she witnessed the terribleanger of the Russian as he looked upon the dead face of the baby andrealized that at the last moment his dearest wish for vengeance hadbeen thwarted by a higher power. 

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 clenchedfists and cursing terribly. At last he halted in front of the youngwoman, bringing his face down close to hers. 

"You are laughing at me, " he shrieked. "You think that you have beatenme--eh? 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 acannibal chief, but"--and he paused as though to let the full meaningof his threat sink deep--"I can make the mother the wife of a cannibal, and that I shall do--after I have finished with her myself. "

If he had thought to wring from Jane Clayton any sign of terror hefailed miserably. She was beyond that. Her brain and nerves were numbto suffering and shock. 

To his surprise a faint, almost happy smile touched her lips. She wasthinking with thankful heart that this poor little corpse was not thatof her own wee Jack, and that--best of all--Rokoff evidently did notknow the truth. 

She would have liked to have flaunted the fact in his face, but shedared not. If he continued to believe that the child had been hers, somuch safer would be the real Jack wherever he might be. She had, ofcourse, no knowledge of the whereabouts of her little son--she did notknow, even, that he still lived, and yet there was the chance that hemight. 

It was more than possible that without Rokoff's knowledge this childhad been substituted for hers by one of the Russian's confederates, andthat even now her son might be safe with friends in London, where therewere many, both able and willing, to have paid any ransom which thetraitorous conspirator might have asked for the safe release of LordGreystoke's son. 

She had thought it all out a hundred times since she had discoveredthat the baby which Anderssen had placed in her arms that night uponthe Kincaid was not her own, and it had been a constant and gnawingsource of happiness to her to dream the whole fantasy through in itsevery detail. 

No, the Russian must never know that this was not her baby. Sherealized that her position was hopeless--with Anderssen and her husbanddead there was no one in all the world with a desire to succour her whoknew where she might be found. 

Rokoff's threat, she realized, was no idle one. That he would do, orattempt to do, all that he had promised, she was perfectly sure; but atthe worst it meant but a little earlier release from the hideousanguish that she had been enduring. She must find some way to takeher own life before the Russian could harm her further. 

Just now she wanted time--time to think and prepare herself for theend. She felt that she could not take the last, awful step until shehad exhausted every possibility of escape. She did not care to liveunless she might find her way back to her own child, but slight as sucha hope appeared she would not admit its impossibility until the lastmoment had come, and she faced the fearful reality of choosing betweenthe final alternatives--Nikolas Rokoff on one hand and self-destructionupon the other. 

"Go away!" she said to the Russian. "Go away and leave me in peacewith my dead. Have you not brought sufficient misery and anguish uponme without attempting to harm me further? What wrong have I ever doneyou that you should persist in persecuting me?"

"You are suffering for the sins of the monkey you chose when you mighthave had the love of a gentleman--of Nikolas Rokoff, " he replied. "Butwhere is the use in discussing the matter? We shall bury the childhere, and you will return with me at once to my own camp. Tomorrow Ishall bring you back and turn you over to your new husband--the lovelyM'ganwazam. Come!"

He reached out for the child. Jane, who was on her feet now, turnedaway from him. 

"I shall bury the body, " she said. "Send some men to dig a graveoutside the village. "

Rokoff was anxious to have the thing over and get back to his camp withhis 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 momentlater, with his men, he escorted Jane beyond the village, where beneatha great tree the blacks scooped a shallow grave. 

Wrapping the tiny body in a blanket, Jane laid it tenderly in the blackhole, and, turning her head that she might not see the mouldy earthfalling upon the pitiful little bundle, she breathed a prayer besidethe grave of the nameless waif that had won its way to the innermostrecesses of her heart. 

Then, dry-eyed but suffering, she rose and followed the Russian throughthe Stygian blackness of the jungle, along the winding, leafy corridorthat led from the village of M'ganwazam, the black cannibal, to thecamp of Nikolas Rokoff, the white fiend. 

Beside them, in the impenetrable thickets that fringed the path, risingto arch above it and shut out the moon, the girl could hear thestealthy, muffled footfalls of great beasts, and ever round about themrose the deafening roars of hunting lions, until the earth trembled tothe mighty sound. 

The porters lighted torches now and waved them upon either hand tofrighten off the beasts of prey. Rokoff urged them to greater speed, and from the quavering note in his voice Jane Clayton knew that he wasweak from terror. 

The sounds of the jungle night recalled most vividly the days andnights that she had spent in a similar jungle with her forest god--withthe fearless and unconquerable Tarzan of the Apes. Then there had beenno thoughts of terror, though the jungle noises were new to her, andthe roar of a lion had seemed the most awe-inspiring sound upon thegreat earth. 

How different would it be now if she knew that he was somewhere therein the wilderness, seeking her! Then, indeed, would there be that forwhich to live, and every reason to believe that succour was close athand--but he was dead! It was incredible that it should be so. 

There seemed no place in death for that great body and those mightythews. Had Rokoff been the one to tell her of her lord's passing shewould have known that he lied. There could be no reason, she thought, why M'ganwazam should have deceived her. She did not know that theRussian had talked with the savage a few minutes before the chief hadcome to her with his tale. 

At last they reached the rude boma that Rokoff's porters had thrown upround the Russian's camp. Here they found all in turmoil. She did notknow what it was all about, but she saw that Rokoff was very angry, andfrom bits of conversation which she could translate she gleaned thatthere had been further desertions while he had been absent, and thatthe deserters had taken the bulk of his food and ammunition. 

When he had done venting his rage upon those who remained he returnedto where Jane stood under guard of a couple of his white sailors. Hegrasped her roughly by the arm and started to drag her toward his tent. The girl struggled and fought to free herself, while the two sailorsstood by, laughing at the rare treat. 

Rokoff did not hesitate to use rough methods when he found that he wasto have difficulty in carrying out his designs. Repeatedly he struckJane Clayton in the face, until at last, half-conscious, she wasdragged within his tent. 

Rokoff's boy had lighted the Russian's lamp, and now at a word from hismaster he made himself scarce. Jane had sunk to the floor in themiddle of the enclosure. Slowly her numbed senses were returning toher and she was commencing to think very fast indeed. Quickly her eyesran round the interior of the tent, taking in every detail of itsequipment and contents. 

Now the Russian was lifting her to her feet and attempting to drag herto the camp cot that stood at one side of the tent. At his belt hunga heavy revolver. Jane Clayton's eyes riveted themselves upon it. Herpalm itched to grasp the huge butt. She feigned again to swoon, butthrough her half-closed lids she waited her opportunity. 

It came just as Rokoff was lifting her upon the cot. A noise at thetent door behind him brought his head quickly about and away from thegirl. The butt of the gun was not an inch from her hand. With asingle, lightning-like move she snatched the weapon from its holster, and at the same instant Rokoff turned back toward her, realizing hisperil. 

She did not dare fire for fear the shot would bring his people abouthim, and with Rokoff dead she would fall into hands no better than hisand 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 herwas still vivid. 

As the rage and fear-filled countenance of the Slav turned toward herJane Clayton raised the heavy revolver high above the pasty face andwith all her strength dealt the man a terrific blow between the eyes. 

Without a sound he sank, limp and unconscious, to the ground. Amoment later the girl stood beside him--for a moment at least free fromthe menace of his lust. 

Outside the tent she again heard the noise that had distracted Rokoff'sattention. What it was she did not know, but, fearing the return ofthe servant and the discovery of her deed, she stepped quickly to thecamp table upon which burned the oil lamp and extinguished the smudgy, evil-smelling flame. 

In the total darkness of the interior she paused for a moment tocollect her wits and plan for the next step in her venture for freedom. 

About her was a camp of enemies. Beyond these foes a black wildernessof savage jungle peopled by hideous beasts of prey and still morehideous human beasts. 

There was little or no chance that she could survive even a few days ofthe constant dangers that would confront her there; but the knowledgethat she had already passed through so many perils unscathed, and thatsomewhere out in the faraway world a little child was doubtless at thatvery moment crying for her, filled her with determination to make theeffort to accomplish the seemingly impossible and cross that awful landof horror in search of the sea and the remote chance of succour shemight 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 andthe natives of his safari. To pass through these and find egressthrough the boma seemed a task too fraught with insurmountableobstacles to warrant even the slightest consideration, and yet therewas no other way. 

To remain in the tent until she should be discovered would be to set atnaught all that she had risked to gain her freedom, and so withstealthy step and every sense alert she approached the back of the tentto set out upon the first stage of her adventure. 

Groping along the rear of the canvas wall, she found that there was noopening there. Quickly she returned to the side of the unconsciousRussian. In his belt her groping fingers came upon the hilt of a longhunting-knife, and with this she cut a hole in the back wall of thetent. 

Silently she stepped without. To her immense relief she saw that thecamp was apparently asleep. In the dim and flickering light of thedying fires she saw but a single sentry, and he was dozing upon hishaunches at the opposite side of the enclosure. 

Keeping the tent between him and herself, she crossed between the smallshelters of the native porters to the boma wall beyond. 

Outside, in the darkness of the tangled jungle, she could hear theroaring of lions, the laughing of hyenas, and the countless, namelessnoises of the midnight jungle. 

For a moment she hesitated, trembling. The thought of the prowlingbeasts out there in the darkness was appalling. Then, with a suddenbrave toss of her head, she attacked the thorny boma wall with herdelicate hands. Torn and bleeding though they were, she worked onbreathlessly until she had made an opening through which she could wormher body, and at last she stood outside the enclosure. 

Behind her lay a fate worse than death, at the hands of human beings. 

Before her lay an almost certain fate--but it was only death--sudden, merciful, and honourable death. 

Without a tremor and without regret she darted away from the camp, anda moment later the mysterious jungle had closed about her. 

Chapter 14

Alone in the Jungle

Tambudza, leading Tarzan of the Apes toward the camp of the Russian, moved very slowly along the winding jungle path, for she was old andher legs stiff with rheumatism. 

So it was that the runners dispatched by M'ganwazam to warn Rokoff thatthe white giant was in his village and that he would be slain thatnight reached the Russian's camp before Tarzan and his ancient guidehad covered half the distance. 

The guides found the white man's camp in a turmoil. Rokoff had thatmorning been discovered stunned and bleeding within his tent. When hehad recovered his senses and realized that Jane Clayton had escaped, his rage was boundless. 

Rushing about the camp with his rifle, he had sought to shoot down thenative sentries who had allowed the young woman to elude theirvigilance, but several of the other whites, realizing that they werealready in a precarious position owing to the numerous desertions thatRokoff's cruelty had brought about, seized and disarmed him. 

Then came the messengers from M'ganwazam, but scarce had they toldtheir story and Rokoff was preparing to depart with them for theirvillage when other runners, panting from the exertions of their swiftflight through the jungle, rushed breathless into the firelight, cryingthat the great white giant had escaped from M'ganwazam and was alreadyon his way to wreak vengeance against his enemies. 

Instantly confusion reigned within the encircling boma. The blacksbelonging to Rokoff's safari were terror-stricken at the thought of theproximity of the white giant who hunted through the jungle with afierce pack of apes and panthers at his heels. 

Before the whites realized what had happened the superstitious fears ofthe natives had sent them scurrying into the bush--their own carriersas well as the messengers from M'ganwazam--but even in their haste theyhad not neglected to take with them every article of value upon whichthey could lay their hands. 

Thus Rokoff and the seven white sailors found themselves deserted androbbed in the midst of a wilderness. 

The Russian, following his usual custom, berated his companions, layingall the blame upon their shoulders for the events which had led up tothe almost hopeless condition in which they now found themselves; butthe sailors were in no mood to brook his insults and his cursing. 

In the midst of this tirade one of them drew a revolver and firedpoint-blank at the Russian. The fellow's aim was poor, but his act soterrified Rokoff that he turned and fled for his tent. 

As he ran his eyes chanced to pass beyond the boma to the edge of theforest, and there he caught a glimpse of that which sent his cravenheart cold with a fear that almost expunged his terror of the seven menat his back, who by this time were all firing in hate and revenge athis retreating figure. 

What he saw was the giant figure of an almost naked white man emergingfrom the bush. 

Darting into his tent, the Russian did not halt in his flight, but keptright on through the rear wall, taking advantage of the long slit thatJane Clayton had made the night before. 

The terror-stricken Muscovite scurried like a hunted rabbit through thehole that still gaped in the boma's wall at the point where his ownprey had escaped, and as Tarzan approached the camp upon the oppositeside Rokoff disappeared into the jungle in the wake of Jane Clayton. 

As the ape-man entered the boma with old Tambudza at his elbow theseven sailors, recognizing him, turned and fled in the oppositedirection. Tarzan saw that Rokoff was not among them, and so he letthem go their way--his business was with the Russian, whom he expectedto find in his tent. As to the sailors, he was sure that the junglewould exact from them expiation for their villainies, nor, doubtless, was he wrong, for his were the last white man's eyes to rest upon anyof them. 

Finding Rokoff's tent empty, Tarzan was about to set out in search ofthe Russian when Tambudza suggested to him that the departure of thewhite man could only have resulted from word reaching him fromM'ganwazam that Tarzan was in his village. 

"He has doubtless hastened there, " argued the old woman. "If you wouldfind 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, leavingTambudza to plod slowly in his wake. 

His one hope was that Jane was still safe and with Rokoff. If thiswas the case, it would be but a matter of an hour or more before heshould be able to wrest her from the Russian. 

He knew now that M'ganwazam was treacherous and that he might have tofight to regain possession of his wife. He wished that Mugambi, Sheeta, Akut, and the balance of the pack were with him, for herealized that single-handed it would be no child's play to bring Janesafely from the clutches of two such scoundrels as Rokoff and the wilyM'ganwazam. 

To his surprise he found no sign of either Rokoff or Jane in thevillage, and as he could not trust the word of the chief, he wasted notime in futile inquiry. So sudden and unexpected had been his return, and so quickly had he vanished into the jungle after learning thatthose he sought were not among the Waganwazam, that old M'ganwazam hadno time to prevent his going. 

Swinging through the trees, he hastened back to the deserted camp hehad so recently left, for here, he knew, was the logical place to takeup the trail of Rokoff and Jane. 

Arrived at the boma, he circled carefully about the outside of theenclosure until, opposite a break in the thorny wall, he came toindications that something had recently passed into the jungle. Hisacute sense of smell told him that both of those he sought had fledfrom the camp in this direction, and a moment later he had taken up thetrail and was following the faint spoor. 

Far ahead of him a terror-stricken young woman was slinking along anarrow game-trail, fearful that the next moment would bring her face toface with some savage beast or equally savage man. As she ran on, hoping against hope that she had hit upon the direction that would leadher eventually to the great river, she came suddenly upon a familiarspot. 

At one side of the trail, beneath a giant tree, lay a little heap ofloosely piled brush--to her dying day that little spot of jungle wouldbe indelibly impressed upon her memory. It was where Anderssen hadhidden her--where he had given up his life in the vain effort to saveher from Rokoff. 

At sight of it she recalled the rifle and ammunition that the man hadthrust upon her at the last moment. Until now she had forgotten thementirely. Still clutched in her hand was the revolver she had snatchedfrom Rokoff's belt, but that could contain at most not over sixcartridges--not enough to furnish her with food and protection both onthe long journey to the sea. 

With bated breath she groped beneath the little mound, scarce daring tohope that the treasure remained where she had left it; but, to herinfinite relief and joy, her hand came at once upon the barrel of theheavy weapon and then upon the bandoleer of cartridges. 

As she threw the latter about her shoulder and felt the weight of thebig game-gun in her hand a sudden sense of security suffused her. Itwas with new hope and a feeling almost of assured success that sheagain set forward upon her journey. 

That night she slept in the crotch of a tree, as Tarzan had so oftentold her that he was accustomed to doing, and early the next morningwas upon her way again. Late in the afternoon, as she was about tocross a little clearing, she was startled at the sight of a huge apecoming from the jungle upon the opposite side. 

The wind was blowing directly across the clearing between them, andJane lost no time in putting herself downwind from the huge creature. Then she hid in a clump of heavy bush and watched, holding the rifleready for instant use. 

To her consternation she saw that the apes were pausing in the centreof the clearing. They came together in a little knot, where they stoodlooking backward, as though in expectation of the coming of others oftheir tribe. Jane wished that they would go on, for she knew that atany moment some little, eddying gust of wind might carry her scent downto their nostrils, and then what would the protection of her rifleamount to in the face of those gigantic muscles and mighty fangs?

Her eyes moved back and forth between the apes and the edge of thejungle toward which they were gazing until at last she perceived theobject of their halt and the thing that they awaited. They were beingstalked. 

Of this she was positive, as she saw the lithe, sinewy form of apanther glide noiselessly from the jungle at the point at which theapes had emerged but a moment before. 

Quickly the beast trotted across the clearing toward the anthropoids. Jane wondered at their apparent apathy, and a moment later her wonderturned to amazement as she saw the great cat come quite close to theapes, who appeared entirely unconcerned by its presence, and, squattingdown 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 enemiesfraternizing, it was with emotions little short of fear for her ownsanity that she presently saw a tall, muscular warrior enter theclearing and join the group of savage beasts assembled there. 

At first sight of the man she had been positive that he would be tornto pieces, and she had half risen from her shelter, raising her rifleto 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--issuingorders to them. 

Presently the entire company filed on across the clearing anddisappeared in the jungle upon the opposite side. 

With a gasp of mingled incredulity and relief Jane Clayton staggered toher feet and fled on away from the terrible horde that had just passedher, while a half-mile behind her another individual, following thesame trail as she, lay frozen with terror behind an ant-hill as thehideous band passed quite close to him. 

This one was Rokoff; but he had recognized the members of the awfulaggregation as allies of Tarzan of the Apes. No sooner, therefore, had the beasts passed him than he rose and raced through the jungle asfast as he could go, in order that he might put as much distance aspossible between himself and these frightful beasts. 

So it happened that as Jane Clayton came to the bank of the river, downwhich she hoped to float to the ocean and eventual rescue, NikolasRokoff was but a short distance in her rear. 

Upon the bank the girl saw a great dugout drawn half-way from the waterand tied securely to a near-by tree. 

This, she felt, would solve the question of transportation to the seacould she but launch the huge, unwieldy craft. Unfastening the ropethat had moored it to the tree, Jane pushed frantically upon the bow ofthe heavy canoe, but for all the results that were apparent she mightas well have been attempting to shove the earth out of its orbit. 

She was about winded when it occurred to her to try working the dugoutinto the stream by loading the stern with ballast and then rocking thebow back and forth along the bank until the craft eventually workeditself into the river. 

There were no stones or rocks available, but along the shore she foundquantities of driftwood deposited by the river at a slightly higherstage. 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 fromthe mud of the bank and the stern drift slowly with the current untilit again lodged a few feet farther down-stream. 

Jane found that by running back and forth between the bow and stern shecould alternately raise and lower each end of the boat as she shiftedher weight from one end to the other, with the result that each timeshe leaped to the stern the canoe moved a few inches farther into theriver. 

As the success of her plan approached more closely to fruition shebecame so wrapped in her efforts that she failed to note the figure ofa man standing beneath a huge tree at the edge of the jungle from whichhe had just emerged. 

He watched her and her labours with a cruel and malicious grin upon hisswarthy countenance. 

The boat at last became so nearly free of the retarding mud and of thebank that Jane felt positive that she could pole it off into deeperwater with one of the paddles which lay in the bottom of the rudecraft. With this end in view she seized upon one of these implementsand had just plunged it into the river bottom close to the shore whenher eyes happened to rise to the edge of the jungle. 

As her gaze fell upon the figure of the man a little cry of terror roseto her lips. It was Rokoff. 

He was running toward her now and shouting to her to wait or he wouldshoot--though he was entirely unarmed it was difficult to discover justhow he intended making good his threat. 

Jane Clayton knew nothing of the various misfortunes that had befallenthe Russian since she had escaped from his tent, so she believed thathis followers must be close at hand. 

However, she had no intention of falling again into the man's clutches. She would rather die at once than that that should happen to her. Another minute and the boat would be free. 

Once in the current of the river she would be beyond Rokoff's power tostop her, for there was no other boat upon the shore, and no man, andcertainly not the cowardly Rokoff, would dare to attempt to swim thecrocodile-infested water in an effort to overtake her. 

Rokoff, on his part, was bent more upon escape than aught else. Hewould gladly have forgone any designs he might have had upon JaneClayton would she but permit him to share this means of escape that shehad discovered. He would promise anything if she would let him comeaboard the dugout, but he did not think that it was necessary to do so. 

He saw that he could easily reach the bow of the boat before it clearedthe shore, and then it would not be necessary to make promises of anysort. Not that Rokoff would have felt the slightest compunction inignoring any promises he might have made the girl, but he disliked theidea of having to sue for favour with one who had so recently assaultedand escaped him. 

Already he was gloating over the days and nights of revenge that wouldbe his while the heavy dugout drifted its slow way to the ocean. 

Jane Clayton, working furiously to shove the boat beyond his reach, suddenly realized that she was to be successful, for with a littlelurch the dugout swung quickly into the current, just as the Russianreached out to place his hand upon its bow. 

His fingers did not miss their goal by a half-dozen inches. The girlalmost collapsed with the reaction from the terrific mental, physical, and nervous strain under which she had been labouring for the past fewminutes. But, thank Heaven, at last she was safe!

Even as she breathed a silent prayer of thanksgiving, she saw a suddenexpression of triumph lighten the features of the cursing Russian, andat the same instant he dropped suddenly to the ground, grasping firmlyupon something which wriggled through the mud toward the water. 

Jane Clayton crouched, wide-eyed and horror-stricken, in the bottom ofthe boat as she realized that at the last instant success had beenturned to failure, and that she was indeed again in the power of themalignant Rokoff. 

For the thing that the man had seen and grasped was the end of thetrailing rope with which the dugout had been moored to the tree. 

Chapter 15

Down the Ugambi

Halfway between the Ugambi and the village of the Waganwazam, Tarzancame upon the pack moving slowly along his old spoor. Mugambi couldscarce believe that the trail of the Russian and the mate of his savagemaster had passed so close to that of the pack. 

It seemed incredible that two human beings should have come so close tothem without having been detected by some of the marvellously keen andalert 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 womanmust have been in hiding as the pack passed them, watching every moveof the ferocious creatures. 

It had been apparent to Tarzan from the first that Jane and Rokoff werenot travelling together. The spoor showed distinctly that the youngwoman had been a considerable distance ahead of the Russian at first, though the farther the ape-man continued along the trail the moreobvious it became that the man was rapidly overhauling his quarry. 

At first there had been the spoor of wild beasts over the footprints ofJane Clayton, while upon the top of all Rokoff's spoor showed that hehad passed over the trail after the animals had left their records uponthe ground. But later there were fewer and fewer animal imprintsoccurring between those of Jane's and the Russian's feet, until as heapproached the river the ape-man became aware that Rokoff could nothave been more than a few hundred yards behind the girl. 

He felt they must be close ahead of him now, and, with a little thrillof expectation, he leaped rapidly forward ahead of the pack. Swingingswiftly through the trees, he came out upon the river-bank at the verypoint at which Rokoff had overhauled Jane as she endeavoured to launchthe cumbersome dugout. 

In the mud along the bank the ape-man saw the footprints of the two hesought, 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 uponthe bosom of the stream, and as the ape-man's eye ran swiftly down thecourse of the river beneath the shadows of the overarching trees he sawin the distance, just as it rounded a bend that shut it off from hisview, a drifting dugout in the stern of which was the figure of a man. 

Just as the pack came in sight of the river they saw their agile leaderracing down the river's bank, leaping from hummock to hummock of theswampy ground that spread between them and a little promontory whichrose just where the river curved inward from their sight. 

To follow him it was necessary for the heavy, cumbersome apes to make awide detour, and Sheeta, too, who hated water. Mugambi followed afterthem as rapidly as he could in the wake of the great white master. 

A half-hour of rapid travelling across the swampy neck of land and overthe rising promontory brought Tarzan, by a short cut, to the inwardbend of the winding river, and there before him upon the bosom of thestream he saw the dugout, and in its stern Nikolas Rokoff. 

Jane was not with the Russian. 

At sight of his enemy the broad scar upon the ape-man's brow burnedscarlet, and there rose to his lips the hideous, bestial challenge ofthe bull-ape. 

Rokoff shuddered as the weird and terrible alarm fell upon his ears. Cowering in the bottom of the boat, his teeth chattering in terror, hewatched the man he feared above all other creatures upon the face ofthe earth as he ran quickly to the edge of the water. 

Even though the Russian knew that he was safe from his enemy, the verysight of him threw him into a frenzy of trembling cowardice, whichbecame frantic hysteria as he saw the white giant dive fearlessly intothe forbidding waters of the tropical river. 

With steady, powerful strokes the ape-man forged out into the streamtoward the drifting dugout. Now Rokoff seized one of the paddles lyingin the bottom of the craft, and, with terrorwide eyes still glued uponthe living death that pursued him, struck out madly in an effort toaugment the speed of the unwieldy canoe. 

And from the opposite bank a sinister ripple, unseen by either man, moving steadily toward the half-naked swimmer. 

Tarzan had reached the stern of the craft at last. One handupstretched grasped the gunwale. Rokoff sat frozen with fear, unableto 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 hisattention. He saw the ripple, and he knew what caused it. 

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 interruptiongalvanized the malign brain of the Russian into instant action with itssudden promise of deliverance and revenge. 

Like a venomous snake the man leaped toward the stern of the boat, andwith a single swift blow struck Tarzan across the head with the heavypaddle. The ape-man's fingers slipped from their hold upon the gunwale. 

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 flowingcurrent marked for the instant the spot where Tarzan of the Apes, Lordof the Jungle, disappeared from the sight of men beneath the gloomywaters 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 befallenhim--all that he could see was the figure of a silent, struggling whiteman disappearing beneath the surface of the river to unthinkable deathin 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 itwas short-lived, for just as he was congratulating himself that he wasnow comparatively safe to proceed upon his way to the coast unmolested, a mighty pandemonium rose from the river-bank close by. 

As his eyes sought the authors of the frightful sound he saw standingupon the shore, glaring at him with hate-filled eyes, a devil-facedpanther surrounded by the hideous apes of Akut, and in the forefront ofthem a giant black warrior who shook his fist at him, threatening himwith terrible death. 

The nightmare of that flight down the Ugambi with the hideous horderacing after him by day and by night, now abreast of him, now lost inthe 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, white-haired, fear-gibbering thing before ever the bay and the oceanbroke upon his hopeless vision. 

Past populous villages he had fled. Time and again warriors had putout in their canoes to intercept him, but each time the hideous hordehad swept into view to send the terrified natives shrieking back to theshore to lose themselves in the jungle. 

Nowhere in his flight had he seen aught of Jane Clayton. Not once hadhis eyes rested upon her since that moment at the river's brim his handhad closed upon the rope attached to the bow of her dugout and he hadbelieved her safely in his power again, only to be thwarted an instantlater as the girl snatched up a heavy express rifle from the bottom ofthe craft and levelled it full at his breast. 

Quickly he had dropped the rope then and seen her float away beyond hisreach, but a moment later he had been racing up-stream toward a littletributary in the mouth of which was hidden the canoe in which he andhis party had come thus far upon their journey in pursuit of the girland Anderssen. 

What had become of her?

There seemed little doubt in the Russian's mind, however, but that shehad been captured by warriors from one of the several villages shewould have been compelled to pass on her way down to the sea. Well, hewas at least rid of most of his human enemies. 

But at that he would gladly have had them all back in the land of theliving could he thus have been freed from the menace of the frightfulcreatures who pursued him with awful relentlessness, screaming andgrowling at him every time they came within sight of him. The one thatfilled him with the greatest terror was the panther--the flaming-eyed, devil-faced panther whose grinning jaws gaped wide at him by day, andwhose fiery orbs gleamed wickedly out across the water from theCimmerian 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 atanchor. He had sent the little steamer away to coal while he had goneup the river, leaving Paulvitch in charge of her, and he could havecried aloud in his relief as he saw that she had returned in time tosave him. 

Frantically he alternately paddled furiously toward her and rose to hisfeet waving his paddle and crying aloud in an attempt to attract theattention of those on board. But loud as he screamed his criesawakened no answering challenge from the deck of the silent craft. 

Upon the shore behind him a hurried backward glance revealed thepresence of the snarling pack. Even now, he thought, these manlikedevils might yet find a way to reach him even upon the deck of thesteamer unless there were those there to repel them with firearms. 

What could have happened to those he had left upon the Kincaid? Wherewas Paulvitch? Could it be that the vessel was deserted, and that, after all, he was doomed to be overtaken by the terrible fate that hehad been flying from through all these hideous days and nights? Heshivered as might one upon whose brow death has already laid his clammyfinger. 

Yet he did not cease to paddle frantically toward the steamer, and atlast, after what seemed an eternity, the bow of the dugout bumpedagainst the timbers of the Kincaid. Over the ship's side hung amonkey-ladder, but as the Russian grasped it to ascend to the deck heheard a warning challenge from above, and, looking up, gazed into thecold, relentless muzzle of a rifle. 

After Jane Clayton, with rifle levelled at the breast of Rokoff, hadsucceeded in holding him off until the dugout in which she had takenrefuge had drifted out upon the bosom of the Ugambi beyond the man'sreach, she had lost no time in paddling to the swiftest sweep of thechannel, nor did she for long days and weary nights cease to hold hercraft to the most rapidly moving part of the river, except when duringthe hottest hours of the day she had been wont to drift as the currentwould take her, lying prone in the bottom of the canoe, her facesheltered from the sun with a great palm leaf. 

Thus only did she gain rest upon the voyage; at other times shecontinually sought to augment the movement of the craft by wielding theheavy paddle. 

Rokoff, on the other hand, had used little or no intelligence in hisflight along the Ugambi, so that more often than not his craft haddrifted in the slow-going eddies, for he habitually hugged the bankfarthest from that along which the hideous horde pursued and menacedhim. 

Thus it was that, though he had put out upon the river but a short timesubsequent to the girl, yet she had reached the bay fully two hoursahead of him. When she had first seen the anchored ship upon the quietwater, Jane Clayton's heart had beat fast with hope and thanksgiving, but as she drew closer to the craft and saw that it was the Kincaid, her pleasure gave place to the gravest misgivings. 

It was too late, however, to turn back, for the current that carriedher toward the ship was much too strong for her muscles. She could nothave forced the heavy dugout up-stream against it, and all that wasleft her was to attempt either to make the shore without being seen bythose upon the deck of the Kincaid, or to throw herself upon theirmercy--otherwise she must be swept out to sea. 

She knew that the shore held little hope of life for her, as she had noknowledge of the location of the friendly Mosula village to whichAnderssen had taken her through the darkness of the night of theirescape from the Kincaid. 

With Rokoff away from the steamer it might be possible that by offeringthose in charge a large reward they could be induced to carry her tothe nearest civilized port. It was worth risking--if she could makethe steamer at all. 

The current was bearing her swiftly down the river, and she found thatonly by dint of the utmost exertion could she direct the awkward crafttoward the vicinity of the Kincaid. Having reached the decision toboard the steamer, she now looked to it for aid, but to her surprisethe decks appeared to be empty and she saw no sign of life aboard theship. 

The dugout was drawing closer and closer to the bow of the vessel, andyet no hail came over the side from any lookout aboard. In a momentmore, Jane realized, she would be swept beyond the steamer, and then, unless they lowered a boat to rescue her, she would be carried far outto sea by the current and the swift ebb tide that was running. 

The young woman called loudly for assistance, but there was no replyother than the shrill scream of some savage beast upon thejungle-shrouded shore. Frantically Jane wielded the paddle in aneffort to carry her craft close alongside the steamer. 

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 bowand Jane barely managed to grasp the anchor chain. 

Heroically she clung to the heavy iron links, almost dragged from thecanoe by the strain of the current upon her craft. Beyond her she sawa monkey-ladder dangling over the steamer's side. To release her holdupon the chain and chance clambering to the ladder as her canoe wasswept beneath it seemed beyond the pale of possibility, yet to remainclinging to the anchor chain appeared equally as futile. 

Finally her glance chanced to fall upon the rope in the bow of thedugout, and, making one end of this fast to the chain, she succeeded indrifting the canoe slowly down until it lay directly beneath theladder. A moment later, her rifle slung about her shoulders, she hadclambered safely to the deserted deck. 

Her first task was to explore the ship, and this she did, her rifleready for instant use should she meet with any human menace aboard theKincaid. She was not long in discovering the cause of the apparentlydeserted condition of the steamer, for in the forecastle she found thesailors, who had evidently been left to guard the ship, deep in drunkenslumber. 

With a shudder of disgust she clambered above, and to the best of herability closed and made fast the hatch above the heads of the sleepingguard. Next she sought the galley and food, and, having appeased herhunger, she took her place on deck, determined that none should boardthe Kincaid without first having agreed to her demands. 

For an hour or so nothing appeared upon the surface of the river tocause her alarm, but then, about a bend up-stream, she saw a canoeappear in which sat a single figure. It had not proceeded far in herdirection before she recognized the occupant as Rokoff, and when thefellow attempted to board he found a rifle staring him in the face. 

When the Russian discovered who it was that repelled his advance hebecame furious, cursing and threatening in a most horrible manner; but, finding that these tactics failed to frighten or move the girl, he atlast fell to pleading and promising. 

Jane had but a single reply for his every proposition, and that wasthat nothing would ever persuade her to permit Rokoff upon the samevessel with her. That she would put her threats into action and shoothim should he persist in his endeavour to board the ship he wasconvinced. 

So, as there was no other alternative, the great coward dropped backinto his dugout and, at imminent risk of being swept to sea, finallysucceeded in making the shore far down the bay and upon the oppositeside from that on which the horde of beasts stood snarling and roaring. 

Jane Clayton knew that the fellow could not alone and unaided bring hisheavy craft back up-stream to the Kincaid, and so she had no furtherfear of an attack by him. The hideous crew upon the shore she thoughtshe recognized as the same that had passed her in the jungle far up theUgambi several days before, for it seemed quite beyond reason thatthere should be more than one such a strangely assorted pack; but whathad brought them down-stream to the mouth of the river she could notimagine. 

Toward the day's close the girl was suddenly alarmed by the shouting ofthe 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'sboat approaching from up-stream, in which, she felt assured, therecould be only members of the Kincaid's missing crew--only heartlessruffians and enemies. 

Chapter 16

In the Darkness of the Night

When Tarzan of the Apes realized that he was in the grip of the greatjaws of a crocodile he did not, as an ordinary man might have done, give up all hope and resign himself to his fate. 

Instead, he filled his lungs with air before the huge reptile draggedhim beneath the surface, and then, with all the might of his greatmuscles, fought bitterly for freedom. But out of his native elementthe ape-man was too greatly handicapped to do more than excite themonster to greater speed as it dragged its prey swiftly through thewater. 

Tarzan's lungs were bursting for a breath of pure fresh air. He knewthat he could survive but a moment more, and in the last paroxysm ofhis suffering he did what he could to avenge his own death. 

His body trailed out beside the slimy carcass of his captor, and intothe tough armour the ape-man attempted to plunge his stone knife as hewas borne to the creature's horrid den. 

His efforts but served to accelerate the speed of the crocodile, andjust as the ape-man realized that he had reached the limit of hisendurance he felt his body dragged to a muddy bed and his nostrils riseabove the water's surface. All about him was the blackness of thepit--the silence of the grave. 

For a moment Tarzan of the Apes lay gasping for breath upon the slimy, evil-smelling bed to which the animal had borne him. Close at his sidehe could feel the cold, hard plates of the creature's coat rising andfalling as though with spasmodic efforts to breathe. 

For several minutes the two lay thus, and then a sudden convulsion ofthe giant carcass at the man's side, a tremor, and a stiffening broughtTarzan to his knees beside the crocodile. To his utter amazement hefound that the beast was dead. The slim knife had found a vulnerablespot in the scaly armour. 

Staggering to his feet, the ape-man groped about the reeking, oozy den. He found that he was imprisoned in a subterranean chamber amply largeenough to have accommodated a dozen or more of the huge animals such asthe one that had dragged him thither. 

He realized that he was in the creature's hidden nest far under thebank of the stream, and that doubtless the only means of ingress oregress lay through the submerged opening through which the crocodilehad brought him. 

His first thought, of course, was of escape, but that he could make hisway to the surface of the river beyond and then to the shore seemedhighly improbable. There might be turns and windings in the neck ofthe passage, or, most to be feared, he might meet another of the slimyinhabitants of the retreat upon his journey outward. 

Even should he reach the river in safety, there was still the danger ofhis being again attacked before he could effect a safe landing. Stillthere was no alternative, and, filling his lungs with the close andreeking air of the chamber, Tarzan of the Apes dived into the dark andwatery hole which he could not see but had felt out and found with hisfeet and legs. 

The leg which had been held within the jaws of the crocodile was badlylacerated, but the bone had not been broken, nor were the muscles ortendons sufficiently injured to render it useless. It gave himexcruciating pain, that was all. 

But Tarzan of the Apes was accustomed to pain, and gave it no furtherthought when he found that the use of his legs was not greatly impairedby the sharp teeth of the monster. 

Rapidly he crawled and swam through the passage which inclined downwardand finally upward to open at last into the river bottom but a few feetfrom the shore line. As the ape-man reached the surface he saw theheads of two great crocodiles but a short distance from him. They weremaking rapidly in his direction, and with a superhuman effort the manstruck out for the overhanging branches of a near-by tree. 

Nor was he a moment too soon, for scarcely had he drawn himself to thesafety of the limb than two gaping mouths snapped venomously below him. For a few minutes Tarzan rested in the tree that had proved the meansof his salvation. His eyes scanned the river as far down-stream asthe tortuous channel would permit, but there was no sign of the Russianor his dugout. 

When he had rested and bound up his wounded leg he started on inpursuit of the drifting canoe. He found himself upon the opposite ofthe river to that at which he had entered the stream, but as his quarrywas upon the bosom of the water it made little difference to theape-man upon which side he took up the pursuit. 

To his intense chagrin he soon found that his leg was more badlyinjured than he had thought, and that its condition seriously impededhis progress. It was only with the greatest difficulty that he couldproceed faster than a walk upon the ground, and in the trees hediscovered that it not only impeded his progress, but renderedtravelling distinctly dangerous. 

From the old negress, Tambudza, Tarzan had gathered a suggestion thatnow filled his mind with doubts and misgivings. When the old woman hadtold him of the child's death she had also added that the white woman, though grief-stricken, had confided to her that the baby was not hers. 

Tarzan could see no reason for believing that Jane could have found itadvisable to deny her identity or that of the child; the onlyexplanation that he could put upon the matter was that, after all, thewhite woman who had accompanied his son and the Swede into the junglefastness of the interior had not been Jane at all. 

The more he gave thought to the problem, the more firmly convinced hebecame that his son was dead and his wife still safe in London, and inignorance of the terrible fate that had overtaken her first-born. 

After all, then, his interpretation of Rokoff's sinister taunt had beenerroneous, and he had been bearing the burden of a double apprehensionneedlessly--at least so thought the ape-man. From this belief hegarnered some slight surcease from the numbing grief that the death ofhis 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 ashe contemplated the hideous fate that had overtaken the innocent child. 

As he made his way painfully towards the coast, he let his mind dwellso constantly upon the frightful crimes which the Russian hadperpetrated against his loved ones that the great scar upon hisforehead stood out almost continuously in the vivid scarlet that markedthe man's most relentless and bestial moods of rage. At times hestartled even himself and sent the lesser creatures of the wild junglescampering to their hiding places as involuntary roars and growlsrumbled from his throat. 

Could he but lay his hand upon the Russian!

Twice upon the way to the coast bellicose natives ran threateninglyfrom their villages to bar his further progress, but when the awful cryof the bull-ape thundered upon their affrighted ears, and the greatwhite giant charged bellowing upon them, they had turned and fled intothe bush, nor ventured thence until he had safely passed. 

Though his progress seemed tantalizingly slow to the ape-man whose ideaof 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 driftingcanoe that bore Rokoff on ahead of him, so that he came to the bay andwithin sight of the ocean just after darkness had fallen upon the sameday that Jane Clayton and the Russian ended their flights from theinterior. 

The darkness lowered so heavily upon the black river and the encirclingjungle that Tarzan, even with eyes accustomed to much use after dark, could make out nothing a few yards from him. His idea was to searchthe shore that night for signs of the Russian and the woman who he wascertain must have preceded Rokoff down the Ugambi. That the Kincaid orother ship lay at anchor but a hundred yards from him he did not dream, for no light showed on board the steamer. 

Even as he commenced his search his attention was suddenly attracted bya noise that he had not at first perceived--the stealthy dip of paddlesin the water some distance from the shore, and about opposite the pointat which he stood. Motionless as a statue he stood listening to thefaint sound. 

Presently it ceased, to be followed by a shuffling noise that theape-man's trained ears could interpret as resulting from but a singlecause--the scraping of leather-shod feet upon the rounds of a ship'smonkey-ladder. And yet, as far as he could see, there was no shipthere--nor might there be one within a thousand miles. 

As he stood thus, peering out into the darkness of the cloud-enshroudednight, there came to him from across the water, like a slap in theface, so sudden and unexpected was it, the sharp staccato of anexchange of shots and then the scream of a woman. 

Wounded though he was, and with the memory of his recent horribleexperience still strong upon him, Tarzan of the Apes did not hesitateas the notes of that frightened cry rose shrill and piercing upon thestill night air. With a bound he cleared the intervening bush--therewas a splash as the water closed about him--and then, with powerfulstrokes, he swam out into the impenetrable night with no guide save thememory of an illusive cry, and for company the hideous denizens of anequatorial river. 

The boat that had attracted Jane's attention as she stood guard uponthe deck of the Kincaid had been perceived by Rokoff upon one bank andMugambi and the horde upon the other. The cries of the Russian hadbrought the dugout first to him, and then, after a conference, it hadbeen turned toward the Kincaid, but before ever it covered half thedistance between the shore and the steamer a rifle had spoken from thelatter's deck and one of the sailors in the bow of the canoe hadcrumpled and fallen into the water. 

After that they went more slowly, and presently, when Jane's rifle hadfound another member of the party, the canoe withdrew to the shore, where it lay as long as daylight lasted. 

The savage, snarling pack upon the opposite shore had been directed intheir 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 havemade short work of any whom they found there, but the gulf of blackwater intervening shut them off from farther advance as effectually asthough it had been the broad ocean that separated them from their prey. 

Mugambi knew something of the occurrences which had led up to thelanding of Tarzan upon Jungle Island and the pursuit of the whites upthe Ugambi. He knew that his savage master sought his wife and childwho had been stolen by the wicked white man whom they had followed farinto the interior and now back to the sea. 

He believed also that this same man had killed the great white giantwhom he had come to respect and love as he had never loved the greatestchiefs of his own people. And so in the wild breast of Mugambi burnedan iron resolve to win to the side of the wicked one and wreakvengeance upon him for the murder of the ape-man. 

But when he saw the canoe come down the river and take in Rokoff, whenhe saw it make for the Kincaid, he realized that only by possessinghimself of a canoe could he hope to transport the beasts of the packwithin striking distance of the enemy. 

So it happened that even before Jane Clayton fired the first shot intoRokoff's canoe the beasts of Tarzan had disappeared into the jungle. 

After the Russian and his party, which consisted of Paulvitch and theseveral men he had left upon the Kincaid to attend to the matter ofcoaling, had retreated before her fire, Jane realized that it would bebut a temporary respite from their attentions which she had gained, andwith the conviction came a determination to make a bold and finalstroke for freedom from the menacing threat of Rokoff's evil purpose. 

With this idea in view she opened negotiations with the two sailors shehad imprisoned in the forecastle, and having forced their consent toher plans, upon pain of death should they attempt disloyalty, shereleased them just as darkness closed about the ship. 

With ready revolver to compel obedience, she let them up one by one, searching them carefully for concealed weapons as they stood with handselevated above their heads. Once satisfied that they were unarmed, sheset them to work cutting the cable which held the Kincaid to heranchorage, for her bold plan was nothing less than to set the steameradrift and float with her out into the open sea, there to trust to themercy of the elements, which she was confident would be no moremerciless than Nikolas Rokoff should he again capture her. 

There was, too, the chance that the Kincaid might be sighted by somepassing ship, and as she was well stocked with provisions andwater--the men had assured her of this fact--and as the season of stormwas well over, she had every reason to hope for the eventual success ofher plan. 

The night was deeply overcast, heavy clouds riding low above the jungleand the water--only to the west, where the broad ocean spread beyondthe river's mouth, was there a suggestion of lessening gloom. 

It was a perfect night for the purposes of the work in hand. 

Her enemies could not see the activity aboard the ship nor mark hercourse as the swift current bore her outward into the ocean. Beforedaylight broke the ebb-tide would have carried the Kincaid well intothe Benguela current which flows northward along the coast of Africa, and, as a south wind was prevailing, Jane hoped to be out of sight ofthe mouth of the Ugambi before Rokoff could become aware of thedeparture of the steamer. 

Standing over the labouring seamen, the young woman breathed a sigh ofrelief as the last strand of the cable parted and she knew that thevessel was on its way out of the maw of the savage Ugambi. 

With her two prisoners still beneath the coercing influence of herrifle, she ordered them upon deck with the intention of againimprisoning them in the forecastle; but at length she permitted herselfto be influenced by their promises of loyalty and the arguments whichthey put forth that they could be of service to her, and permitted themto remain above. 

For a few minutes the Kincaid drifted rapidly with the current, andthen, with a grinding jar, she stopped in midstream. The ship had runupon a low-lying bar that splits the channel about a quarter of a milefrom the sea. 

For a moment she hung there, and then, swinging round until her bowpointed toward the shore, she broke adrift once more. 

At the same instant, just as Jane Clayton was congratulating herselfthat the ship was once more free, there fell upon her ears from a pointup the river about where the Kincaid had been anchored the rattle ofmusketry and a woman's scream--shrill, piercing, fear-laden. 

The sailors heard the shots with certain conviction that they announcedthe coming of their employer, and as they had no relish for the planthat would consign them to the deck of a drifting derelict, theywhispered together a hurried plan to overcome the young woman and hailRokoff and their companions to their rescue. 

It seemed that fate would play into their hands, for with the reportsof the guns Jane Clayton's attention had been distracted from herunwilling assistants, and instead of keeping one eye upon them as shehad intended doing, she ran to the bow of the Kincaid to peer throughthe darkness toward the source of the disturbance upon the river'sbosom. 

Seeing that she was off her guard, the two sailors crept stealthilyupon her from behind. 

The scraping upon the deck of the shoes of one of them startled thegirl to a sudden appreciation of her danger, but the warning had cometoo late. 

As she turned, both men leaped upon her and bore her to the deck, andas she went down beneath them she saw, outlined against the lessergloom of the ocean, the figure of another man clamber over the side ofthe Kincaid. 

After all her pains her heroic struggle for freedom had failed. With astifled sob she gave up the unequal battle. 

Chapter 17

On the Deck of the "Kincaid"

When Mugambi had turned back into the jungle with the pack he had adefinite purpose in view. It was to obtain a dugout wherewith totransport the beasts of Tarzan to the side of the Kincaid. Nor was helong in coming upon the object which he sought. 

Just at dusk he found a canoe moored to the bank of a small tributaryof the Ugambi at a point where he had felt certain that he should findone. 

Without loss of time he piled his hideous fellows into the craft andshoved out into the stream. So quickly had they taken possession ofthe canoe that the warrior had not noticed that it was alreadyoccupied. The huddled figure sleeping in the bottom had entirelyescaped his observation in the darkness of the night that had nowfallen. 

But no sooner were they afloat than a savage growling from one of theapes directly ahead of him in the dugout attracted his attention to ashivering and cowering figure that trembled between him and the greatanthropoid. To Mugambi's astonishment he saw that it was a nativewoman. With difficulty he kept the ape from her throat, and after atime succeeded in quelling her fears. 

It seemed that she had been fleeing from marriage with an old man sheloathed and had taken refuge for the night in the canoe she had foundupon the river's edge. 

Mugambi did not wish her presence, but there she was, and rather thanlose time by returning her to the shore the black permitted her toremain on board the canoe. 

As quickly as his awkward companions could paddle the dugoutdown-stream toward the Ugambi and the Kincaid they moved through thedarkness. It was with difficulty that Mugambi could make out theshadowy form of the steamer, but as he had it between himself and theocean it was much more apparent than to one upon either shore of theriver. 

As he approached it he was amazed to note that it seemed to be recedingfrom him, and finally he was convinced that the vessel was movingdown-stream. Just as he was about to urge his creatures to renewedefforts to overtake the steamer the outline of another canoe burstsuddenly into view not three yards from the bow of his own craft. 

At the same instant the occupants of the stranger discovered theproximity of Mugambi's horde, but they did not at first recognize thenature of the fearful crew. A man in the bow of the oncoming boatchallenged them just as the two dugouts were about to touch. 

For answer came the menacing growl of a panther, and the fellow foundhimself gazing into the flaming eyes of Sheeta, who had raised himselfwith his forepaws upon the bow of the boat, ready to leap in upon theoccupants of the other craft. 

Instantly Rokoff realized the peril that confronted him and hisfellows. He gave a quick command to fire upon the occupants of theother canoe, and it was this volley and the scream of the terrifiednative woman in the canoe with Mugambi that both Tarzan and Jane hadheard. 

Before the slower and less skilled paddlers in Mugambi's canoe couldpress their advantage and effect a boarding of the enemy the latter hadturned swiftly down-stream and were paddling for their lives in thedirection of the Kincaid, which was now visible to them. 

The vessel after striking upon the bar had swung loose again into aslow-moving eddy, which returns up-stream close to the southern shoreof the Ugambi only to circle out once more and join the downward flow ahundred yards or so farther up. Thus the Kincaid was returning JaneClayton directly into the hands of her enemies. 

It so happened that as Tarzan sprang into the river the vessel was notvisible to him, and as he swam out into the night he had no idea that aship drifted so close at hand. He was guided by the sounds which hecould hear coming from the two canoes. 

As he swam he had vivid recollections of the last occasion upon whichhe had swum in the waters of the Ugambi, and with them a sudden shuddershook the frame of the giant. 

But, though he twice felt something brush his legs from the slimydepths below him, nothing seized him, and of a sudden he quite forgotabout crocodiles in the astonishment of seeing a dark mass loomsuddenly before him where he had still expected to find the open river. 

So close was it that a few strokes brought him up to the thing, when tohis amazement his outstretched hand came in contact with a ship's side. 

As the agile ape-man clambered over the vessel's rail there came to hissensitive ears the sound of a struggle at the opposite side of the deck. 

Noiselessly he sped across the intervening space. 

The moon had risen now, and, though the sky was still banked withclouds, a lesser darkness enveloped the scene than that which hadblotted out all sight earlier in the night. His keen eyes, therefore, saw the figures of two men grappling with a woman. 

That it was the woman who had accompanied Anderssen toward the interiorhe did not know, though he suspected as much, as he was now quitecertain that this was the deck of the Kincaid upon which chance had ledhim. 

But he wasted little time in idle speculation. There was a woman indanger of harm from two ruffians, which was enough excuse for theape-man to project his giant thews into the conflict without furtherinvestigation. 

The first that either of the sailors knew that there was a new force atwork upon the ship was the falling of a mighty hand upon a shoulder ofeach. As if they had been in the grip of a fly-wheel, they were jerkedsuddenly from their prey. 

"What means this?" asked a low voice in their ears. 

They were given no time to reply, however, for at the sound of thatvoice the young woman had sprung to her feet and with a little cry ofjoy leaped toward their assailant. 

"Tarzan!" she cried. 

The ape-man hurled the two sailors across the deck, where they rolled, stunned and terrified, into the scuppers upon the opposite side, andwith an exclamation of incredulity gathered the girl into his arms. 

Brief, however, were the moments for their greeting. 

Scarcely had they recognized one another than the clouds above themparted to show the figures of a half-dozen men clambering over the sideof the Kincaid to the steamer's deck. 

Foremost among them was the Russian. As the brilliant rays of theequatorial moon lighted the deck, and he realized that the man beforehim was Lord Greystoke, he screamed hysterical commands to hisfollowers to fire upon the two. 

Tarzan pushed Jane behind the cabin near which they had been standing, and with a quick bound started for Rokoff. The men behind theRussian, at least two of them, raised their rifles and fired at thecharging ape-man; but those behind them were otherwise engaged--for upthe monkey-ladder in their rear was thronging a hideous horde. 

First came five snarling apes, huge, manlike beasts, with bared fangsand slavering jaws; and after them a giant black warrior, his longspear gleaming in the moonlight. 

Behind him again scrambled another creature, and of all the horridhorde it was this they most feared--Sheeta, the panther, with gleamingjaws agape and fiery eyes blazing at them in the mightiness of his hateand of his blood lust. 

The shots that had been fired at Tarzan missed him, and he would havebeen upon Rokoff in another instant had not the great coward dodgedbackward between his two henchmen, and, screaming in hysterical terror, bolted forward toward the forecastle. 

For the moment Tarzan's attention was distracted by the two men beforehim, so that he could not at the time pursue the Russian. About himthe apes and Mugambi were battling with the balance of the Russian'sparty. 

Beneath the terrible ferocity of the beasts the men were soonscampering in all directions--those who still lived to scamper, for thegreat fangs of the apes of Akut and the tearing talons of Sheetaalready had found more than a single victim. 

Four, however, escaped and disappeared into the forecastle, where theyhoped to barricade themselves against further assault. Here theyfound Rokoff, and, enraged at his desertion of them in their moment ofperil, no less than at the uniformly brutal treatment it had been hiswont to accord them, they gloated upon the opportunity now offered themto revenge themselves in part upon their hated employer. 

Despite his prayers and grovelling pleas, therefore, they hurled himbodily out upon the deck, delivering him to the mercy of the fearfulthings from which they had themselves just escaped. 

Tarzan saw the man emerge from the forecastle--saw and recognized hisenemy; but another saw him even as soon. 

It was Sheeta, and with grinning jaws the mighty beast slunk silentlytoward the terror-stricken man. 

When Rokoff saw what it was that stalked him his shrieks for helpfilled the air, as with trembling knees he stood, as one paralyzed, before the hideous death that was creeping upon him. 

Tarzan took a step toward the Russian, his brain burning with a ragingfire of vengeance. At last he had the murderer of his son at hismercy. His was the right to avenge. 

Once Jane had stayed his hand that time that he sought to take the lawinto his own power and mete to Rokoff the death that he had so longmerited; but this time none should stay him. 

His fingers clenched and unclenched spasmodically as he approached thetrembling Russ, beastlike and ominous as a brute of prey. 

Presently he saw that Sheeta was about to forestall him, robbing him ofthe fruits of his great hate. 

He called sharply to the panther, and the words, as if they had brokena hideous spell that had held the Russian, galvanized him into suddenaction. With a scream he turned and fled toward the bridge. 

After him pounced Sheeta the panther, unmindful of his master's warningvoice. 

Tarzan was about to leap after the two when he felt a light touch uponhis arm. Turning, he found Jane at his elbow. 

"Do not leave me, " she whispered. "I am afraid. "

Tarzan glanced behind her. 

All about were the hideous apes of Akut. Some, even, were approachingthe young woman with bared fangs and menacing guttural warnings. 

The ape-man warned them back. He had forgotten for the moment thatthese were but beasts, unable to differentiate his friends and hisfoes. Their savage natures were roused by their recent battle with thesailors, and now all flesh outside the pack was meat to them. 

Tarzan turned again toward the Russian, chagrined that he should haveto forgo the pleasure of personal revenge--unless the man should escapeSheeta. 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 stoodtrembling and wide-eyed, facing the beast that moved slowly toward him. 

The panther crawled with belly to the planking, uttering uncannymouthings. Rokoff stood as though petrified, his eyes protruding fromtheir sockets, his mouth agape, and the cold sweat of terror clammyupon his brow. 

Below him, upon the deck, he had seen the great anthropoids, and so hadnot dared to seek escape in that direction. In fact, even now one ofthe brutes was leaping to seize the bridge-rail and draw himself up tothe Russian's side. 

Before him was the panther, silent and crouched. 

Rokoff could not move. His knees trembled. His voice broke ininarticulate shrieks. With a last piercing wail he sank to hisknees--and then Sheeta sprang. 

Full upon the man's breast the tawny body hurtled, tumbling the Russianto his back. 

As the great fangs tore at the throat and chest, Jane Clayton turnedaway in horror; but not so Tarzan of the Apes. A cold smile ofsatisfaction touched his lips. The scar upon his forehead that hadburned scarlet faded to the normal hue of his tanned skin anddisappeared. 

Rokoff fought furiously but futilely against the growling, rending fatethat had overtaken him. For all his countless crimes he was punishedin the brief moment of the hideous death that claimed him at the last. 

After his struggles ceased Tarzan approached, at Jane's suggestion, towrest the body from the panther and give what remained of it decenthuman burial; but the great cat rose snarling above its kill, threatening even the master it loved in its savage way, so that ratherthan kill his friend of the jungle, Tarzan was forced to relinquish hisintentions. 

All that night Sheeta, the panther, crouched upon the grisly thing thathad been Nikolas Rokoff. The bridge of the Kincaid was slippery withblood. Beneath the brilliant tropic moon the great beast feasteduntil, when the sun rose the following morning, there remained ofTarzan's great enemy only gnawed and broken bones. 

Of the Russian's party, all were accounted for except Paulvitch. Fourwere prisoners in the Kincaid's forecastle. The rest were dead. 

With these men Tarzan got up steam upon the vessel, and with theknowledge of the mate, who happened to be one of those surviving, heplanned to set out in quest of Jungle Island; but as the morning dawnedthere came with it a heavy gale from the west which raised a sea intowhich the mate of the Kincaid dared not venture. All that day the shiplay within the shelter of the mouth of the river; for, though nightwitnessed a lessening of the wind, it was thought safer to wait fordaylight before attempting the navigation of the winding channel to thesea. 

Upon the deck of the steamer the pack wandered without let or hindranceby day, for they had soon learned through Tarzan and Mugambi that theymust harm no one upon the Kincaid; but at night they were confinedbelow. 

Tarzan's joy had been unbounded when he learned from his wife that thelittle child who had died in the village of M'ganwazam was not theirson. 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 thatthey might yet hope. Until positive proof of the baby's death reachedthem there was always that to buoy them up. 

It seemed quite evident that their little Jack had not been broughtaboard the Kincaid. Anderssen would have known of it had such been thecase, but he had assured Jane time and time again that the little onehe had brought to her cabin the night he aided her to escape was theonly one that had been aboard the Kincaid since she lay at Dover. 

Chapter 18

Paulvitch Plots Revenge

As Jane and Tarzan stood upon the vessel's deck recounting to oneanother the details of the various adventures through which each hadpassed since they had parted in their London home, there glared at themfrom beneath scowling brows a hidden watcher upon the shore. 

Through the man's brain passed plan after plan whereby he might thwartthe escape of the Englishman and his wife, for so long as the vitalspark remained within the vindictive brain of Alexander Paulvitch nonewho had aroused the enmity of the Russian might be entirely safe. 

Plan after plan he formed only to discard each either as impracticable, or unworthy the vengeance his wrongs demanded. So warped by faultyreasoning was the criminal mind of Rokoff's lieutenant that he couldnot grasp the real truth of that which lay between himself and theape-man and see that always the fault had been, not with the Englishlord, but with himself and his confederate. 

And at the rejection of each new scheme Paulvitch arrived always at thesame conclusion--that he could accomplish naught while half the breadthof the Ugambi separated him from the object of his hatred. 

But how was he to span the crocodile-infested waters? There was nocanoe nearer than the Mosula village, and Paulvitch was none too surethat the Kincaid would still be at anchor in the river when he returnedshould he take the time to traverse the jungle to the distant villageand return with a canoe. Yet there was no other way, and so, convincedthat thus alone might he hope to reach his prey, Paulvitch, with aparting scowl at the two figures upon the Kincaid's deck, turned awayfrom the river. 

Hastening through the dense jungle, his mind centred upon his onefetich--revenge--the Russian forgot even his terror of the savage worldthrough which he moved. 

Baffled and beaten at every turn of Fortune's wheel, reacted upon timeafter time by his own malign plotting, the principal victim of his owncriminality, Paulvitch was yet so blind as to imagine that his greatesthappiness lay in a continuation of the plottings and schemings whichhad ever brought him and Rokoff to disaster, and the latter finally toa hideous death. 

As the Russian stumbled on through the jungle toward the Mosula villagethere presently crystallized within his brain a plan which seemed morefeasible 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 hadsurvived the terrors of this frightful expedition, and enlist them inan attempt to wrest the vessel from Tarzan and his beasts. 

In the cabin were arms and ammunition, and hidden in a secretreceptacle in the cabin table was one of those infernal machines, theconstruction of which had occupied much of Paulvitch's spare time whenhe had stood high in the confidence of the Nihilists of his native land. 

That was before he had sold them out for immunity and gold to thepolice of Petrograd. Paulvitch winced as he recalled the denunciationof him that had fallen from the lips of one of his former comrades erethe poor devil expiated his political sins at the end of a hempen rope. 

But the infernal machine was the thing to think of now. He could domuch with that if he could but get his hands upon it. Within thelittle hardwood case hidden in the cabin table rested sufficientpotential destructiveness to wipe out in the fraction of a second everyenemy aboard the Kincaid. 

Paulvitch licked his lips in anticipatory joy, and urged his tired legsto greater speed that he might not be too late to the ship's anchorageto carry out his designs. 

All depended, of course, upon when the Kincaid departed. The Russianrealized that nothing could be accomplished beneath the light of day. Darkness must shroud his approach to the ship's side, for should he besighted by Tarzan or Lady Greystoke he would have no chance to boardthe vessel. 

The gale that was blowing was, he believed, the cause of the delay ingetting the Kincaid under way, and if it continued to blow until nightthen the chances were all in his favour, for he knew that there waslittle likelihood of the ape-man attempting to navigate the tortuouschannel of the Ugambi while darkness lay upon the surface of the water, hiding the many bars and the numerous small islands which are scatteredover the expanse of the river's mouth. 

It was well after noon when Paulvitch came to the Mosula village uponthe bank of the tributary of the Ugambi. Here he was received withsuspicion and unfriendliness by the native chief, who, like all thosewho came in contact with Rokoff or Paulvitch, had suffered in somemanner from the greed, the cruelty, or the lust of the two Muscovites. 

When Paulvitch demanded the use of a canoe the chief grumbled a surlyrefusal and ordered the white man from the village. Surrounded byangry, muttering warriors who seemed to be but waiting some slightpretext to transfix him with their menacing spears the Russian could donaught else than withdraw. 

A dozen fighting men led him to the edge of the clearing, leaving himwith a warning never to show himself again in the vicinity of theirvillage. 

Stifling his anger, Paulvitch slunk into the jungle; but once beyondthe sight of the warriors he paused and listened intently. He couldhear the voices of his escort as the men returned to the village, andwhen he was sure that they were not following him he wormed his waythrough the bushes to the edge of the river, still determined some wayto obtain a canoe. 

Life itself depended upon his reaching the Kincaid and enlisting thesurvivors of the ship's crew in his service, for to be abandoned hereamidst the dangers of the African jungle where he had won the enmity ofthe natives was, he well knew, practically equivalent to a sentence ofdeath. 

A desire for revenge acted as an almost equally powerful incentive tospur him into the face of danger to accomplish his design, so that itwas a desperate man that lay hidden in the foliage beside the littleriver searching with eager eyes for some sign of a small canoe whichmight be easily handled by a single paddle. 

Nor had the Russian long to wait before one of the awkward littleskiffs which the Mosula fashion came in sight upon the bosom of theriver. A youth was paddling lazily out into midstream from a pointbeside the village. When he reached the channel he allowed thesluggish current to carry him slowly along while he lolled indolentlyin the bottom of his crude canoe. 

All ignorant of the unseen enemy upon the river's bank the lad floatedslowly down the stream while Paulvitch followed along the jungle path afew yards behind him. 

A mile below the village the black boy dipped his paddle into the waterand forced his skiff toward the bank. Paulvitch, elated by the chancewhich had drawn the youth to the same side of the river as that alongwhich he followed rather than to the opposite side where he would havebeen beyond the stalker's reach, hid in the brush close beside thepoint at which it was evident the skiff would touch the bank of theslow-moving stream, which seemed jealous of each fleeting instant whichdrew it nearer to the broad and muddy Ugambi where it must for everlose its identity in the larger stream that would presently cast itswaters into the great ocean. 

Equally indolent were the motions of the Mosula youth as he drew hisskiff beneath an overhanging limb of a great tree that leaned down toimplant a farewell kiss upon the bosom of the departing water, caressing with green fronds the soft breast of its languorous love. 

And, snake-like, amidst the concealing foliage lay the malevolent Russ. Cruel, shifty eyes gloated upon the outlines of the coveted canoe, andmeasured the stature of its owner, while the crafty brain weighed thechances of the white man should physical encounter with the blackbecome necessary. 

Only direct necessity could drive Alexander Paulvitch to personalconflict; but it was indeed dire necessity which goaded him on toaction now. 

There was time, just time enough, to reach the Kincaid by nightfall. Would the black fool never quit his skiff? Paulvitch squirmed andfidgeted. The lad yawned and stretched. With exasperatingdeliberateness he examined the arrows in his quiver, tested his bow, and looked to the edge upon the hunting-knife in his loin-cloth. 

Again he stretched and yawned, glanced up at the river-bank, shruggedhis shoulders, and lay down in the bottom of his canoe for a little napbefore he plunged into the jungle after the prey he had come forth tohunt. 

Paulvitch half rose, and with tensed muscles stood glaring down uponhis unsuspecting victim. The boy's lids drooped and closed. Presentlyhis breast rose and fell to the deep breaths of slumber. The time hadcome!

The Russian crept stealthily nearer. A branch rustled beneath hisweight and the lad stirred in his sleep. Paulvitch drew his revolverand levelled it upon the black. For a moment he remained in rigidquiet, and then again the youth relapsed into undisturbed slumber. 

The white man crept closer. He could not chance a shot until there wasno risk of missing. Presently he leaned close above the Mosula. Thecold steel of the revolver in his hand insinuated itself nearer andnearer to the breast of the unconscious lad. Now it stopped but a fewinches 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 halfparted the beardless lips. Did any qualm of conscience point itsdisquieting finger of reproach at the murderer?

To all such was Alexander Paulvitch immune. A sneer curled his beardedlip as his forefinger closed upon the trigger of his revolver. Therewas a loud report. A little hole appeared above the heart of thesleeping boy, a little hole about which lay a blackened rim ofpowder-burned flesh. 

The youthful body half rose to a sitting posture. The smiling lipstensed to the nervous shock of a momentary agony which the consciousmind never apprehended, and then the dead sank limply back into thatdeepest of slumbers from which there is no awakening. 

The killer dropped quickly into the skiff beside the killed. Ruthlesshands seized the dead boy heartlessly and raised him to the lowgunwale. A little shove, a splash, some widening ripples broken by thesudden surge of a dark, hidden body from the slimy depths, and thecoveted canoe was in the sole possession of the white man--more savagethan the youth whose life he had taken. 

Casting off the tie rope and seizing the paddle, Paulvitch bentfeverishly to the task of driving the skiff downward toward the Ugambiat top speed. 

Night had fallen when the prow of the bloodstained craft shot out intothe current of the larger stream. Constantly the Russian strained hiseyes into the increasing darkness ahead in vain endeavour to pierce theblack shadows which lay between him and the anchorage of the Kincaid. 

Was the ship still riding there upon the waters of the Ugambi, or hadthe ape-man at last persuaded himself of the safety of venturing forthinto the abating storm? As Paulvitch forged ahead with the current heasked himself these questions, and many more beside, not the leastdisquieting of which were those which related to his future should itchance that the Kincaid had already steamed away, leaving him to themerciless horrors of the savage wilderness. 

In the darkness it seemed to the paddler that he was fairly flying overthe water, and he had become convinced that the ship had left hermoorings and that he had already passed the spot at which she had lainearlier in the day, when there appeared before him beyond a projectingpoint which he had but just rounded the flickering light from a ship'slantern. 

Alexander Paulvitch could scarce restrain an exclamation of triumph. The Kincaid had not departed! Life and vengeance were not to elude himafter all. 

He stopped paddling the moment that he descried the gleaming beacon ofhope ahead of him. Silently he drifted down the muddy waters of theUgambi, occasionally dipping his paddle's blade gently into the currentthat he might guide his primitive craft to the vessel's side. 

As he approached more closely the dark bulk of a ship loomed before himout of the blackness of the night. No sound came from the vessel'sdeck. Paulvitch drifted, unseen, close to the Kincaid's side. Onlythe momentary scraping of his canoe's nose against the ship's plankingbroke the silence of the night. 

Trembling with nervous excitement, the Russian remained motionless forseveral minutes; but there was no sound from the great bulk above himto indicate that his coming had been noted. 

Stealthily he worked his craft forward until the stays of the bowspritwere directly above him. He could just reach them. To make his canoefast there was the work of but a minute or two, and then the man raisedhimself quietly aloft. 

A moment later he dropped softly to the deck. Thoughts of the hideouspack which tenanted the ship induced cold tremors along the spine ofthe cowardly prowler; but life itself depended upon the success of hisventure, and so he was enabled to steel himself to the frightfulchances which lay before him. 

No sound or sign of watch appeared upon the ship's deck. Paulvitchcrept stealthily toward the forecastle. All was silence. The hatchwas raised, and as the man peered downward he saw one of the Kincaid'screw reading by the light of the smoky lantern depending from theceiling of the crew's quarters. 

Paulvitch knew the man well, a surly cut-throat upon whom he figuredstrongly in the carrying out of the plan which he had conceived. Gently the Russ lowered himself through the aperture to the rounds ofthe ladder which led into the forecastle. 

He kept his eyes turned upon the reading man, ready to warn him tosilence the moment that the fellow discovered him; but so deeplyimmersed was the sailor in the magazine that the Russian came, unobserved, to the forecastle floor. 

There he turned and whispered the reader's name. The man raised hiseyes from the magazine--eyes that went wide for a moment as they fellupon the familiar countenance of Rokoff's lieutenant, only to narrowinstantly in a scowl of disapproval. 

"The devil!" he ejaculated. "Where did you come from? We all thoughtyou were done for and gone where you ought to have gone a long timeago. His lordship will be mighty pleased to see you. "

Paulvitch crossed to the sailor's side. A friendly smile lay on theRussian's lips, and his right hand was extended in greeting, as thoughthe other might have been a dear and long lost friend. The sailorignored the proffered hand, nor did he return the other's smile. 

"I've come to help you, " explained Paulvitch. "I'm going to help youget rid of the Englishman and his beasts--then there will be no dangerfrom the law when we get back to civilization. We can sneak in onthem while they sleep--that is Greystoke, his wife, and that blackscoundrel, Mugambi. Afterward it will be a simple matter to clean upthe beasts. Where are they?"

"They're below, " replied the sailor; "but just let me tell yousomething, Paulvitch. You haven't got no more show to turn us menagainst the Englishman than nothing. We had all we wanted of you andthat other beast. He's dead, an' if I don't miss my guess a whole lotyou'll be dead too before long. You two treated us like dogs, and ifyou think we got any love for you you better forget it. "

"You mean to say that you're going to turn against me?" demandedPaulvitch. 

The other nodded, and then after a momentary pause, during which anidea seemed to have occurred to him, he spoke again. 

"Unless, " he said, "you can make it worth my while to let you go beforethe 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'thave no chance. Why, if I woke up my maties here they'd probably cutyour 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 noneof the others. "

"You're crazy, " cried Paulvitch. "Don't you know that the Englishmanwill have you all hanged when he gets you back where the law can gethold of you?"

"No, he won't do nothing of the kind, " replied the sailor. "He's toldus as much, for he says that there wasn't nobody to blame but you andRokoff--the rest of us was just tools. See?"

For half an hour the Russian pleaded or threatened as the mood seizedhim. Sometimes he was upon the verge of tears, and again he waspromising his listener either fabulous rewards or condign punishment;but the other was obdurate. [condign: of equal value]

He made it plain to the Russian that there were but two plans open tohim--either he must consent to being turned over immediately to LordGreystoke, or he must pay to the sailor, as a price for permission toquit the Kincaid unmolested, every cent of money and article of valueupon 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, choose--his lordship or the jungle?"

"You'll be sorry for this, " grumbled the Russian. 

"Shut up, " admonished the sailor. "If you get funny I may change mymind, and keep you here after all. "

Now Paulvitch had no intention of permitting himself to fall into thehands of Tarzan of the Apes if he could possibly avoid it, and whilethe terrors of the jungle appalled him they were, to his mind, infinitely preferable to the certain death which he knew he merited andfor which he might look at the hands of the ape-man. 

"Is anyone sleeping in my cabin?" he asked. 

The sailor shook his head. "No, " he said; "Lord and Lady Greystokehave the captain's cabin. The mate is in his own, and there ain't noone in yours. "

"I'll go and get my valuables for you, " said Paulvitch. 

"I'll go with you to see that you don't try any funny business, " saidthe sailor, and he followed the Russian up the ladder to the deck. 

At the cabin entrance the sailor halted to watch, permitting Paulvitchto go alone to his cabin. Here he gathered together his few belongingsthat were to buy him the uncertain safety of escape, and as he stoodfor a moment beside the little table on which he had piled them hesearched his brain for some feasible plan either to ensure his safetyor to bring revenge upon his enemies. 

And presently as he thought there recurred to his memory the littleblack box which lay hidden in a secret receptacle beneath a false topupon the table where his hand rested. 

The Russian's face lighted to a sinister gleam of malevolentsatisfaction as he stooped and felt beneath the table top. A momentlater he withdrew from its hiding-place the thing he sought. He hadlighted the lantern swinging from the beams overhead that he might seeto collect his belongings, and now he held the black box well in therays of the lamplight, while he fingered at the clasp that fastened itslid. 

The lifted cover revealed two compartments within the box. In one wasa mechanism which resembled the works of a small clock. There also wasa little battery of two dry cells. A wire ran from the clockwork toone of the poles of the battery, and from the other pole through thepartition into the other compartment, a second wire returning directlyto the clockwork. 

Whatever lay within the second compartment was not visible, for a coverlay over it and appeared to be sealed in place by asphaltum. In thebottom of the box, beside the clockwork, lay a key, and this Paulvitchnow withdrew and fitted to the winding stem. 

Gently he turned the key, muffling the noise of the winding operationby throwing a couple of articles of clothing over the box. All thetime he listened intently for any sound which might indicate that thesailor or another were approaching his cabin; but none came tointerrupt his work. 

When the winding was completed the Russian set a pointer upon a smalldial at the side of the clockwork, then he replaced the cover upon theblack box, and returned the entire machine to its hiding-place in thetable. 

A sinister smile curled the man's bearded lips as he gathered up hisvaluables, blew out the lamp, and stepped from his cabin to the side ofthe waiting sailor. 

"Here are my things, " said the Russian; "now let me go. "

"I'll first take a look in your pockets, " replied the sailor. "Youmight have overlooked some trifling thing that won't be of no use toyou in the jungle, but that'll come in mighty handy to a poor sailormanin London. Ah! just as I feared, " he ejaculated an instant later as hewithdrew a roll of bank-notes from Paulvitch's inside coat pocket. 

The Russian scowled, muttering an imprecation; but nothing could begained by argument, and so he did his best to reconcile himself to hisloss in the knowledge that the sailor would never reach London to enjoythe fruits of his thievery. 

It was with difficulty that Paulvitch restrained a consuming desire totaunt the man with a suggestion of the fate that would presentlyovertake him and the other members of the Kincaid's company; butfearing to arouse the fellow's suspicions, he crossed the deck andlowered himself in silence into his canoe. 

A minute or two later he was paddling toward the shore to be swallowedup in the darkness of the jungle night, and the terrors of a hideousexistence from which, could he have had even a slight foreknowledge ofwhat awaited him in the long years to come, he would have fled to thecertain death of the open sea rather than endure it. 

The sailor, having made sure that Paulvitch had departed, returned tothe 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 andon through the silences of the night the little mechanism in the smallblack box which held for the unconscious sleepers upon the ill-starredKincaid the coming vengeance of the thwarted Russian. 

Chapter 19

The Last of the "Kincaid"

Shortly after the break of day Tarzan was on deck noting the conditionof the weather. The wind had abated. The sky was cloudless. Everycondition seemed ideal for the commencement of the return voyage toJungle Island, where the beasts were to be left. And then--home!

The ape-man aroused the mate and gave instructions that the Kincaidsail at the earliest possible moment. The remaining members of thecrew, safe in Lord Greystoke's assurance that they would not beprosecuted 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 aboutthe deck, not a little to the discomfiture of the crew in whose mindsthere remained a still vivid picture of the savagery of the beasts inconflict with those who had gone to their deaths beneath the fangs andtalons which even now seemed itching for the soft flesh of further prey. 

Beneath the watchful eyes of Tarzan and Mugambi, however, Sheeta andthe apes of Akut curbed their desires, so that the men worked about thedeck amongst them in far greater security than they imagined. 

At last the Kincaid slipped down the Ugambi and ran out upon theshimmering waters of the Atlantic. Tarzan and Jane Clayton watched theverdure-clad shore-line receding in the ship's wake, and for once theape-man left his native soil without one single pang of regret. 

No ship that sailed the seven seas could have borne him away fromAfrica to resume his search for his lost boy with half the speed thatthe Englishman would have desired, and the slow-moving Kincaid seemedscarce to move at all to the impatient mind of the bereaved father. 

Yet the vessel made progress even when she seemed to be standing still, and presently the low hills of Jungle Island became distinctly visibleupon the western horizon ahead. 

In the cabin of Alexander Paulvitch the thing within the black boxticked, ticked, ticked, with apparently unending monotony; but yet, second by second, a little arm which protruded from the periphery ofone of its wheels came nearer and nearer to another little arm whichprojected from the hand which Paulvitch had set at a certain point uponthe dial beside the clockwork. When those two arms touched one anotherthe ticking of the mechanism would cease--for ever. 

Jane and Tarzan stood upon the bridge looking out toward Jungle Island. The men were forward, also watching the land grow upward out of theocean. The beasts had sought the shade of the galley, where they werecurled up in sleep. All was quiet and peace upon the ship, and uponthe waters. 

Suddenly, without warning, the cabin roof shot up into the air, a cloudof dense smoke puffed far above the Kincaid, there was a terrificexplosion 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 inhideous cries that sent the ice of fear straight to the hearts of theKincaid's crew. 

Mugambi, too, was trembling. Only Tarzan of the Apes and his wiferetained their composure. Scarce had the debris settled than theape-man was among the beasts, quieting their fears, talking to them inlow, pacific tones, stroking their shaggy bodies, and assuring them, asonly 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 splinteredwood of the wrecked cabin, and had already found a foothold upon thelower deck through a great jagged hole which the explosion had opened. 

By a miracle no member of the ship's company had been injured by theblast, the origin of which remained for ever a total mystery to all butone--the sailor who knew that Paulvitch had been aboard the Kincaid andin his cabin the previous night. He guessed the truth; but discretionsealed his lips. It would, doubtless, fare none too well for the manwho had permitted the arch enemy of them all aboard the ship in thewatches of the night, where later he might set an infernal machine toblow them all to kingdom come. No, the man decided that he would keepthis knowledge to himself. 

As the flames gained headway it became apparent to Tarzan that whateverhad caused the explosion had scattered some highly inflammablesubstance upon the surrounding woodwork, for the water which theypoured in from the pump seemed rather to spread than to extinguish theblaze. 

Fifteen minutes after the explosion great, black clouds of smoke wererising from the hold of the doomed vessel. The flames had reached theengine-room, and the ship no longer moved toward the shore. Her fatewas as certain as though the waters had already closed above hercharred and smoking remains. 

"It is useless to remain aboard her longer, " remarked the ape-man tothe mate. "There is no telling but there may be other explosions, andas we cannot hope to save her, the safest thing which we can do is totake to the boats without further loss of time and make land. "

Nor was there other alternative. Only the sailors could bring away anybelongings, for the fire, which had not yet reached the forecastle, hadconsumed all in the vicinity of the cabin which the explosion had notdestroyed. 

Two boats were lowered, and as there was no sea the landing was madewith infinite ease. Eager and anxious, the beasts of Tarzan sniffedthe familiar air of their native island as the small boats drew intoward the beach, and scarce had their keels grated upon the sand thanSheeta and the apes of Akut were over the bows and racing swiftlytoward the jungle. A half-sad smile curved the lips of the ape-man ashe watched them go. 

"Good-bye, my friends, " he murmured. "You have been good and faithfulallies, and I shall miss you. "

"They will return, will they not, dear?" asked Jane Clayton, at hisside. 

"They may and they may not, " replied the ape-man. "They have been illat ease since they were forced to accept so many human beings intotheir confidence. Mugambi and I alone affected them less, for he and Iare, at best, but half human. You, however, and the members of thecrew are far too civilized for my beasts--it is you whom they arefleeing. Doubtless they feel that they cannot trust themselves in theclose vicinity of so much perfectly good food without the danger thatthey may help themselves to a mouthful some time by mistake. "

Jane laughed. "I think they are just trying to escape you, " sheretorted. "You are always making them stop something which they see noreason why they should not do. Like little children they are doubtlessdelighted at this opportunity to flee from the zone of parentaldiscipline. If they come back, though, I hope they won't come bynight. "

"Or come hungry, eh?" laughed Tarzan. 

For two hours after landing the little party stood watching the burningship which they had abandoned. Then there came faintly to them fromacross the water the sound of a second explosion. The Kincaid settledrapidly almost immediately thereafter, and sank within a few minutes. 

The cause of the second explosion was less a mystery than that of thefirst, the mate attributing it to the bursting of the boilers when theflames had finally reached them; but what had caused the firstexplosion was a subject of considerable speculation among the strandedcompany. 

Chapter 20

Jungle Island Again

The first consideration of the party was to locate fresh water and makecamp, for all knew that their term of existence upon Jungle Islandmight be drawn out to months, or even years. 

Tarzan knew the nearest water, and to this he immediately led theparty. Here the men fell to work to construct shelters and rudefurniture while Tarzan went into the jungle after meat, leaving thefaithful Mugambi and the Mosula woman to guard Jane, whose safety hewould never trust to any member of the Kincaid's cut-throat crew. 

Lady Greystoke suffered far greater anguish than any other of thecastaways, for the blow to her hopes and her already cruelly laceratedmother-heart lay not in her own privations but in the knowledge thatshe might now never be able to learn the fate of her first-born or doaught to discover his whereabouts, or ameliorate his condition--acondition which imagination naturally pictured in the most frightfulforms. 

For two weeks the party divided the time amongst the various dutieswhich had been allotted to each. A daylight watch was maintained fromsunrise to sunset upon a bluff near the camp--a jutting shoulder ofrock which overlooked the sea. Here, ready for instant lighting, wasgathered a huge pile of dry branches, while from a lofty pole whichthey had set in the ground there floated an improvised distress signalfashioned from a red undershirt which belonged to the mate of theKincaid. 

But never a speck upon the horizon that might be sail or smoke rewardedthe tired eyes that in their endless, hopeless vigil strained daily outacross the vast expanse of ocean. 

It was Tarzan who suggested, finally, that they attempt to construct avessel that would bear them back to the mainland. He alone could showthem how to fashion rude tools, and when the idea had taken root in theminds of the men they were eager to commence their labours. 

But as time went on and the Herculean nature of their task became moreand more apparent they fell to grumbling, and to quarrelling amongthemselves, so that to the other dangers were now added dissension andsuspicion. 

More than before did Tarzan now fear to leave Jane among the halfbrutes of the Kincaid's crew; but hunting he must do, for none othercould so surely go forth and return with meat as he. Sometimes Mugambispelled him at the hunting; but the black's spear and arrows were neverso sure of results as the rope and knife of the ape-man. 

Finally the men shirked their work, going off into the jungle by twosto explore and to hunt. All this time the camp had had no sight ofSheeta, or Akut and the other great apes, though Tarzan had sometimesmet them in the jungle as he hunted. 

And as matters tended from bad to worse in the camp of the castawaysupon the east coast of Jungle Island, another camp came into being uponthe north coast. 

Here, in a little cove, lay a small schooner, the Cowrie, whose deckshad but a few days since run red with the blood of her officers and theloyal members of her crew, for the Cowrie had fallen upon bad days whenit had shipped such men as Gust and Momulla the Maori and thatarch-fiend Kai Shang of Fachan. 

There were others, too, ten of them all told, the scum of the South Seaports; but Gust and Momulla and Kai Shang were the brains and cunningof the company. It was they who had instigated the mutiny that theymight seize and divide the catch of pearls which constituted the wealthof the Cowrie's cargo. 

It was Kai Shang who had murdered the captain as he lay asleep in hisberth, and it had been Momulla the Maori who had led the attack uponthe officer of the watch. 

Gust, after his own peculiar habit, had found means to delegate to theothers the actual taking of life. Not that Gust entertained anyscruples on the subject, other than those which induced in him a rareregard for his own personal safety. There is always a certain elementof risk to the assassin, for victims of deadly assault are seldom proneto die quietly and considerately. There is always a certain element ofrisk to go so far as to dispute the issue with the murderer. It wasthis chance of dispute which Gust preferred to forgo. 

But now that the work was done the Swede aspired to the position ofhighest command among the mutineers. He had even gone so far as toappropriate and wear certain articles belonging to the murdered captainof the Cowrie--articles of apparel which bore upon them the badges andinsignia of authority. 

Kai Shang was peeved. He had no love for authority, and certainly notthe slightest intention of submitting to the domination of an ordinarySwede sailor. 

The seeds of discontent were, therefore, already planted in the camp ofthe mutineers of the Cowrie at the north edge of Jungle Island. ButKai Shang realized that he must act with circumspection, for Gust aloneof the motley horde possessed sufficient knowledge of navigation to getthem out of the South Atlantic and around the cape into more congenialwaters where they might find a market for their ill-gotten wealth, andno questions asked. 

The day before they sighted Jungle Island and discovered the littleland-locked harbour upon the bosom of which the Cowrie now rode quietlyat anchor, the watch had discovered the smoke and funnels of a warshipupon the southern horizon. 

The chance of being spoken to and investigated by a man-of-war appealednot at all to any of them, so they put into hiding for a few days untilthe danger should have passed. 

And now Gust did not wish to venture out to sea again. There was notelling, he insisted, but that the ship they had seen was actuallysearching for them. Kai Shang pointed out that such could not be thecase since it was impossible for any human being other than themselvesto have knowledge of what had transpired aboard the Cowrie. 

But Gust was not to be persuaded. In his wicked heart he nursed ascheme whereby he might increase his share of the booty by somethinglike one hundred per cent. He alone could sail the Cowrie, thereforethe others could not leave Jungle Island without him; but what wasthere to prevent Gust, with just sufficient men to man the schooner, slipping away from Kai Shang, Momulla the Maori, and some half of thecrew when opportunity presented?

It was for this opportunity that Gust waited. Some day there wouldcome a moment when Kai Shang, Momulla, and three or four of the otherswould be absent from camp, exploring or hunting. The Swede racked hisbrain for some plan whereby he might successfully lure from the sightof the anchored ship those whom he had determined to abandon. 

To this end he organized hunting party after hunting party, but alwaysthe devil of perversity seemed to enter the soul of Kai Shang, so thatwily celestial would never hunt except in the company of Gust himself. 

One day Kai Shang spoke secretly with Momulla the Maori, pouring intothe brown ear of his companion the suspicions which he harbouredconcerning the Swede. Momulla was for going immediately and running along knife through the heart of the traitor. 

It is true that Kai Shang had no other evidence than the naturalcunning of his own knavish soul--but he imagined in the intentions ofGust what he himself would have been glad to accomplish had the meanslain at hand. 

But he dared not let Momulla slay the Swede, upon whom they depended toguide them to their destination. They decided, however, that it woulddo no harm to attempt to frighten Gust into acceding to their demands, and with this purpose in mind the Maori sought out the self-constitutedcommander of the party. 

When he broached the subject of immediate departure Gust again raisedhis former objection--that the warship might very probably bepatrolling the sea directly in their southern path, waiting for them tomake the attempt to reach other waters. 

Momulla scoffed at the fears of his fellow, pointing out that as no oneaboard any warship knew of their mutiny there could be no reason whythey should be suspected. 

"Ah!" exclaimed Gust, "there is where you are wrong. There is whereyou are lucky that you have an educated man like me to tell you what todo. You are an ignorant savage, Momulla, and so you know nothing ofwireless. "

The Maori leaped to his feet and laid his hand upon the hilt of hisknife. 

"I am no savage, " he shouted. 

"I was only joking, " the Swede hastened to explain. "We are oldfriends, Momulla; we cannot afford to quarrel, at least not while oldKai Shang is plotting to steal all the pearls from us. If he couldfind a man to navigate the Cowrie he would leave us in a minute. Allhis talk about getting away from here is just because he has somescheme in his head to get rid of us. "

"But the wireless, " asked Momulla. "What has the wireless to do withour remaining here?"

"Oh yes, " replied Gust, scratching his head. He was wondering if theMaori were really so ignorant as to believe the preposterous lie he wasabout to unload upon him. "Oh yes! You see every warship is equippedwith what they call a wireless apparatus. It lets them talk to otherships hundreds of miles away, and it lets them listen to all that issaid on these other ships. Now, you see, when you fellows wereshooting up the Cowrie you did a whole lot of loud talking, and thereisn't any doubt but that that warship was a-lyin' off south of uslistenin' to it all. Of course they might not have learned the name ofthe ship, but they heard enough to know that the crew of some ship wasmutinying and killin' her officers. So you see they'll be waiting tosearch every ship they sight for a long time to come, and they may notbe far away now. "

When he had ceased speaking the Swede strove to assume an air ofcomposure that his listener might not have his suspicions aroused as tothe truth of the statements that had just been made. 

Momulla sat for some time in silence, eyeing Gust. At last he rose. 

"You are a great liar, " he said. "If you don't get us on our way bytomorrow you'll never have another chance to lie, for I heard two ofthe men saying that they'd like to run a knife into you and that if youkept them in this hole any longer they'd do it. "

"Go and ask Kai Shang if there is not a wireless, " replied Gust. "Hewill tell you that there is such a thing and that vessels can talk toone another across hundreds of miles of water. Then say to the twomen who wish to kill me that if they do so they will never live tospend their share of the swag, for only I can get you safely to anyport. "

So Momulla went to Kai Shang and asked him if there was such anapparatus as a wireless by means of which ships could talk with eachother at great distances, and Kai Shang told him that there was. 

Momulla was puzzled; but still he wished to leave the island, and waswilling to take his chances on the open sea rather than to remainlonger in the monotony of the camp. 

"If we only had someone else who could navigate a ship!" wailed KaiShang. 

That afternoon Momulla went hunting with two other Maoris. Theyhunted toward the south, and had not gone far from camp when they weresurprised 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 wereconvinced that the island was uninhabited, they were inclined to fleein terror on the hypothesis that the place was haunted--possibly by theghosts of the murdered officers and men of the Cowrie. 

But Momulla was even more curious than he was superstitious, and so hequelled his natural desire to flee from the supernatural. Motioninghis companions to follow his example, he dropped to his hands andknees, crawling forward stealthily and with quakings of heart throughthe jungle in the direction from which came the voices of the unseenspeakers. 

Presently, at the edge of a little clearing, he halted, and there hebreathed a deep sigh of relief, for plainly before him he saw twoflesh-and-blood men sitting upon a fallen log and talking earnestlytogether. 

One was Schneider, mate of the Kincaid, and the other was a seamannamed Schmidt. 

"I think we can do it, Schmidt, " Schneider was saying. "A good canoewouldn't be hard to build, and three of us could paddle it to themainland 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 totake the whole party, for they're sore now and sick of working likeslaves all day long. It ain't none of our business anyway to save theEnglishman. Let him look out for himself, says I. " He paused for amoment, 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 toleave a nice-lookin' piece like she is in such a Gott-forsaken hole asthis here island. "

Schmidt looked up and grinned. 

"So that's how she's blowin', is it?" he asked. "Why didn't you say soin the first place? Wot's in it for me if I help you?"

"She ought to pay us well to get her back to civilization, " explainedSchneider, "an' I tell you what I'll do. I'll just whack up with thetwo men that helps me. I'll take half an' they can divide the otherhalf--you 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 you say?"

"Suits me, " replied Schmidt. "I wouldn't know how to reach themainland myself, an' know that none o' the other fellows would, so'syou're the only one that knows anything of navigation you're the fellowI'll tie to. "

Momulla the Maori pricked up his ears. He had a smattering of everytongue that is spoken upon the seas, and more than a few times had hesailed on English ships, so that he understood fairly well all that hadpassed between Schneider and Schmidt since he had stumbled upon them. 

He rose to his feet and stepped into the clearing. Schneider and hiscompanion started as nervously as though a ghost had risen before them. Schneider reached for his revolver. Momulla raised his right hand, palm forward, as a sign of his pacific intentions. 

"I am a friend, " he said. "I heard you; but do not fear that I willreveal what you have said. I can help you, and you can help me. " Hewas addressing Schneider. "You can navigate a ship, but you have noship. We have a ship, but no one to navigate it. If you will comewith us and ask no questions we will let you take the ship where youwill after you have landed us at a certain port, the name of which wewill give you later. You can take the woman of whom you speak, and wewill ask no questions either. Is it a bargain?"

Schneider desired more information, and got as much as Momulla thoughtbest to give him. Then the Maori suggested that they speak with KaiShang. The two members of the Kincaid's company followed Momulla andhis fellows to a point in the jungle close by the camp of themutineers. Here Momulla hid them while he went in search of KaiShang, first admonishing his Maori companions to stand guard over thetwo sailors lest they change their minds and attempt to escape. Schneider and Schmidt were virtually prisoners, though they did notknow it. 

Presently Momulla returned with Kai Shang, to whom he had brieflynarrated the details of the stroke of good fortune that had come tothem. The Chinaman spoke at length with Schneider, until, notwithstanding his natural suspicion of the sincerity of all men, hebecame quite convinced that Schneider was quite as much a rogue ashimself and that the fellow was anxious to leave the island. 

These two premises accepted there could be little doubt that Schneiderwould prove trustworthy in so far as accepting the command of theCowrie was concerned; after that Kai Shang knew that he could findmeans to coerce the man into submission to his further wishes. 

When Schneider and Schmidt left them and set out in the direction oftheir own camp, it was with feelings of far greater relief than theyhad experienced in many a day. Now at last they saw a feasible planfor leaving the island upon a seaworthy craft. There would be no morehard labour at ship-building, and no risking their lives upon a crudelybuilt makeshift that would be quite as likely to go to the bottom as itwould to reach the mainland. 

Also, they were to have assistance in capturing the woman, or ratherwomen, for when Momulla had learned that there was a black woman in theother camp he had insisted that she be brought along as well as thewhite woman. 

As Kai Shang and Momulla entered their camp, it was with a realizationthat they no longer needed Gust. They marched straight to the tent inwhich they might expect to find him at that hour of the day, for thoughit would have been more comfortable for the entire party to remainaboard the ship, they had mutually decided that it would be safer forall concerned were they to pitch their camp ashore. 

Each knew that in the heart of the others was sufficient treachery tomake it unsafe for any member of the party to go ashore leaving theothers in possession of the Cowrie, so not more than two or three menat a time were ever permitted aboard the vessel unless all the balanceof the company was there too. 

As the two crossed toward Gust's tent the Maori felt the edge of hislong knife with one grimy, calloused thumb. The Swede would have feltfar from comfortable could he have seen this significant action, orread what was passing amid the convolutions of the brown man's cruelbrain. 

Now it happened that Gust was at that moment in the tent occupied bythe cook, and this tent stood but a few feet from his own. So that heheard the approach of Kai Shang and Momulla, though he did not, ofcourse, dream that it had any special significance for him. 

Chance had it, though, that he glanced out of the doorway of the cook'stent at the very moment that Kai Shang and Momulla approached theentrance to his, and he thought that he noted a stealthiness in theirmovements that comported poorly with amicable or friendly intentions, and then, just as they two slunk within the interior, Gust caught aglimpse of the long knife which Momulla the Maori was then carryingbehind his back. 

The Swede's eyes opened wide, and a funny little sensation assailed theroots of his hairs. Also he turned almost white beneath his tan. Quite precipitately he left the cook's tent. He was not one whorequired a detailed exposition of intentions that were quite all tooobvious. 

As surely as though he had heard them plotting, he knew that Kai Shangand Momulla had come to take his life. The knowledge that he alonecould navigate the Cowrie had, up to now, been sufficient assurance ofhis safety; but quite evidently something had occurred of which he hadno knowledge that would make it quite worth the while of hisco-conspirators to eliminate him. 

Without a pause Gust darted across the beach and into the jungle. Hewas afraid of the jungle; uncanny noises that were indeed frightfulcame forth from its recesses--the tangled mazes of the mysteriouscountry back of the beach. 

But if Gust was afraid of the jungle he was far more afraid of KaiShang and Momulla. The dangers of the jungle were more or lessproblematical, while the danger that menaced him at the hands of hiscompanions was a perfectly well-known quantity, which might beexpressed in terms of a few inches of cold steel, or the coil of alight rope. He had seen Kai Shang garrotte a man at Pai-sha in a darkalleyway 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 toomuch to remain within reach of either. Therefore he chose the pitilessjungle. 

Chapter 21

The Law of the Jungle

In Tarzan's camp, by dint of threats and promised rewards, the ape-manhad finally succeeded in getting the hull of a large skiff almostcompleted. Much of the work he and Mugambi had done with their ownhands in addition to furnishing the camp with meat. 

Schneider, the mate, had been doing considerable grumbling, and had atlast openly deserted the work and gone off into the jungle with Schmidtto hunt. He said that he wanted a rest, and Tarzan, rather than add tothe unpleasantness which already made camp life almost unendurable, hadpermitted the two men to depart without a remonstrance. 

Upon the following day, however, Schneider affected a feeling ofremorse for his action, and set to work with a will upon the skiff. Schmidt also worked good-naturedly, and Lord Greystoke congratulatedhimself that at last the men had awakened to the necessity for thelabour which was being asked of them and to their obligations to thebalance of the party. 

It was with a feeling of greater relief than he had experienced formany a day that he set out that noon to hunt deep in the jungle for aherd of small deer which Schneider reported that he and Schmidt hadseen there the day before. 

The direction in which Schneider had reported seeing the deer wastoward the south-west, and to that point the ape-man swung easilythrough the tangled verdure of the forest. 

And as he went there approached from the north a half-dozenill-featured men who went stealthily through the jungle as go men bentupon the commission of a wicked act. 

They thought that they travelled unseen; but behind them, almost fromthe moment they quitted their own camp, a tall man crept upon theirtrail. In the man's eyes were hate and fear, and a great curiosity. Why went Kai Shang and Momulla and the others thus stealthily towardthe south? What did they expect to find there? Gust shook hislow-browed head in perplexity. But he would know. He would followthem and learn their plans, and then if he could thwart them hewould--that went without question. 

At first he had thought that they searched for him; but finally hisbetter judgment assured him that such could not be the case, since theyhad accomplished all they really desired by chasing him out of camp. Never would Kai Shang or Momulla go to such pains to slay him oranother unless it would put money into their pockets, and as Gust hadno money it was evident that they were searching for someone else. 

Presently the party he trailed came to a halt. Its members concealedthemselves in the foliage bordering the game trail along which they hadcome. Gust, that he might the better observe, clambered into thebranches of a tree to the rear of them, being careful that the leafyfronds hid him from the view of his erstwhile mates. 

He had not long to wait before he saw a strange white man approachcarefully along the trail from the south. 

At sight of the new-comer Momulla and Kai Shang arose from their placesof concealment and greeted him. Gust could not overhear what passedbetween them. Then the man returned in the direction from which he hadcome. 

He was Schneider. Nearing his camp he circled to the opposite side ofit, and presently came running in breathlessly. Excitedly he hastenedto Mugambi. 

"Quick!" he cried. "Those apes of yours have caught Schmidt and willkill him if we do not hasten to his aid. You alone can call them off. Take Jones and Sullivan--you may need help--and get to him as quick asyou can. Follow the game trail south for about a mile. I will remainhere. I am too spent with running to go back with you, " and the mateof the Kincaid threw himself upon the ground, panting as though he wasalmost done for. 

Mugambi hesitated. He had been left to guard the two women. He didnot know what to do, and then Jane Clayton, who had heard Schneider'sstory, added her pleas to those of the mate. 

"Do not delay, " she urged. "We shall be all right here. Mr. Schneider will remain with us. Go, Mugambi. The poor fellow must besaved. "

Schmidt, who lay hidden in a bush at the edge of the camp, grinned. Mugambi, heeding the commands of his mistress, though still doubtful ofthe wisdom of his action, started off toward the south, with Jones andSullivan at his heels. 

No sooner had he disappeared than Schmidt rose and darted north intothe jungle, and a few minutes later the face of Kai Shang of Fachanappeared at the edge of the clearing. Schneider saw the Chinaman, andmotioned to him that the coast was clear. 

Jane Clayton and the Mosula woman were sitting at the opening of theformer's tent, their backs toward the approaching ruffians. The firstintimation that either had of the presence of strangers in camp was thesudden appearance of a half-dozen ragged villains about them. 

"Come!" said Kai Shang, motioning that the two arise and follow him. 

Jane Clayton sprang to her feet and looked about for Schneider, only tosee him standing behind the newcomers, a grin upon his face. At hisside stood Schmidt. Instantly she saw that she had been made thevictim of a plot. 

"What is the meaning of this?" she asked, addressing the mate. 

"It means that we have found a ship and that we can now escape fromJungle Island, " replied the man. 

"Why did you send Mugambi and the others into the jungle?" she inquired. 

"They are not coming with us--only you and I, and the Mosula woman. "

"Come!" repeated Kai Shang, and seized Jane Clayton's wrist. 

One of the Maoris grasped the black woman by the arm, and when shewould have screamed struck her across the mouth. 

Mugambi raced through the jungle toward the south. Jones and Sullivantrailed far behind. For a mile he continued upon his way to the reliefof Schmidt, but no signs saw he of the missing man or of any of theapes of Akut. 

At last he halted and called aloud the summons which he and Tarzan hadused to hail the great anthropoids. There was no response. Jones andSullivan came up with the black warrior as the latter stood voicing hisweird call. For another half-mile the black searched, callingoccasionally. 

Finally the truth flashed upon him, and then, like a frightened deer, he wheeled and dashed back toward camp. Arriving there, it was but amoment before full confirmation of his fears was impressed upon him. Lady Greystoke and the Mosula woman were gone. So, likewise, wasSchneider. 

When Jones and Sullivan joined Mugambi he would have killed them in hisanger, thinking them parties to the plot; but they finally succeeded inpartially convincing him that they had known nothing of it. 

As they stood speculating upon the probable whereabouts of the womenand their abductor, and the purpose which Schneider had in mind intaking them from camp, Tarzan of the Apes swung from the branches of atree and crossed the clearing toward them. 

His keen eyes detected at once that something was radically wrong, andwhen he had heard Mugambi's story his jaws clicked angrily together ashe knitted his brows in thought. 

What could the mate hope to accomplish by taking Jane Clayton from acamp upon a small island from which there was no escape from thevengeance of Tarzan? The ape-man could not believe the fellow such afool, and then a slight realization of the truth dawned upon him. 

Schneider would not have committed such an act unless he had beenreasonably sure that there was a way by which he could quit JungleIsland with his prisoners. But why had he taken the black woman aswell? There must have been others, one of whom wanted the dusky female. 

"Come, " said Tarzan, "there is but one thing to do now, and that is tofollow the trail. "

As he finished speaking a tall, ungainly figure emerged from the junglenorth of the camp. He came straight toward the four men. He was anentire stranger to all of them, not one of whom had dreamed thatanother human being than those of their own camp dwelt upon theunfriendly shores of Jungle Island. 

It was Gust. He came directly to the point. 

"Your women were stolen, " he said. "If you want ever to see themagain, come quickly and follow me. If we do not hurry the Cowrie willbe 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 wifeand the black woman?"

"I heard Kai Shang and Momulla the Maori plot with two men of yourcamp. They had chased me from our camp, and would have killed me. NowI will get even with them. Come!"

Gust led the four men of the Kincaid's camp at a rapid trot through thejungle toward the north. Would they come to the sea in time? But afew more minutes would answer the question. 

And when at last the little party did break through the last of thescreening foliage, and the harbour and the ocean lay before them, theyrealized that fate had been most cruelly unkind, for the Cowrie wasalready under sail and moving slowly out of the mouth of the harbourinto the open sea. 

What were they to do? Tarzan's broad chest rose and fell to the forceof his pent emotions. The last blow seemed to have fallen, and if everin all his life Tarzan of the Apes had had occasion to abandon hope itwas now that he saw the ship bearing his wife to some frightful fatemoving gracefully over the rippling water, so very near and yet sohideously far away. 

In silence he stood watching the vessel. He saw it turn toward theeast and finally disappear around a headland on its way he knew notwhither. Then he dropped upon his haunches and buried his face in hishands. 

It was after dark that the five men returned to the camp on the eastshore. The night was hot and sultry. No slightest breeze ruffled thefoliage of the trees or rippled the mirror-like surface of the ocean. Only a gentle swell rolled softly in upon the beach. 

Never had Tarzan seen the great Atlantic so ominously at peace. He wasstanding at the edge of the beach gazing out to sea in the direction ofthe mainland, his mind filled with sorrow and hopelessness, when fromthe jungle close behind the camp came the uncanny wail of a panther. 

There was a familiar note in the weird cry, and almost mechanicallyTarzan turned his head and answered. A moment later the tawny figureof Sheeta slunk out into the half-light of the beach. There was nomoon, but the sky was brilliant with stars. Silently the savage brutecame to the side of the man. It had been long since Tarzan had seenhis old fighting companion, but the soft purr was sufficient to assurehim that the animal still recalled the bonds which had united them inthe past. 

The ape-man let his fingers fall upon the beast's coat, and as Sheetapressed close against his leg he caressed and fondled the wicked headwhile his eyes continued to search the blackness of the waters. 

Presently he started. What was that? He strained his eyes into thenight. Then he turned and called aloud to the men smoking upon theirblankets in the camp. They came running to his side; but Gusthesitated when he saw the nature of Tarzan's companion. 

"Look!" cried Tarzan. "A light! A ship's light! It must be theCowrie. They are becalmed. " And then with an exclamation of renewedhope, "We can reach them! The skiff will carry us easily. "

Gust demurred. "They are well armed, " he warned. "We could not takethe ship--just five of us. "

"There are six now, " replied Tarzan, pointing to Sheeta, "and we canhave more still in a half-hour. Sheeta is the equivalent of twentymen, and the few others I can bring will add full a hundred to ourfighting strength. You do not know them. "

The ape-man turned and raised his head toward the jungle, while therepealed from his lips, time after time, the fearsome cry of the bull-apewho would summon his fellows. 

Presently from the jungle came an answering cry, and then another andanother. Gust shuddered. Among what sort of creatures had fate thrownhim? Were not Kai Shang and Momulla to be preferred to this greatwhite giant who stroked a panther and called to the beasts of thejungle?

In a few minutes the apes of Akut came crashing through the underbrushand out upon the beach, while in the meantime the five men had beenstruggling with the unwieldy bulk of the skiff's hull. 

By dint of Herculean efforts they had managed to get it to the water'sedge. The oars from the two small boats of the Kincaid, which had beenwashed away by an off-shore wind the very night that the party hadlanded, had been in use to support the canvas of the sailcloth tents. These were hastily requisitioned, and by the time Akut and hisfollowers came down to the water all was ready for embarkation. 

Once again the hideous crew entered the service of their master, andwithout question took up their places in the skiff. The four men, forGust could not be prevailed upon to accompany the party, fell to theoars, using them paddle-wise, while some of the apes followed theirexample, and presently the ungainly skiff was moving quietly out to seain 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 thecabin below Schneider paced up and down arguing with Jane Clayton. Thewoman had found a revolver in a table drawer in the room in which shehad been locked, and now she kept the mate of the Kincaid at bay withthe weapon. 

The Mosula woman kneeled behind her, while Schneider paced up and downbefore the door, threatening and pleading and promising, but all to noavail. Presently from the deck above came a shout of warning and ashot. For an instant Jane Clayton relaxed her vigilance, and turnedher eyes toward the cabin skylight. Simultaneously Schneider was uponher. 

The first intimation the watch had that there was another craft withina thousand miles of the Cowrie came when he saw the head and shouldersof a man poked over the ship's side. Instantly the fellow sprang tohis feet with a cry and levelled his revolver at the intruder. It washis cry and the subsequent report of the revolver which threw JaneClayton off her guard. 

Upon deck the quiet of fancied security soon gave place to the wildestpandemonium. The crew of the Cowrie rushed above armed with revolvers, cutlasses, and the long knives that many of them habitually wore; butthe alarm had come too late. Already the beasts of Tarzan were uponthe ship's deck, with Tarzan and the two men of the Kincaid's crew. 

In the face of the frightful beasts the courage of the mutineerswavered and broke. Those with revolvers fired a few scattering shotsand then raced for some place of supposed safety. Into the shroudswent some; but the apes of Akut were more at home there than they. 

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 unhappywretches who fell into their clutches. 

Sheeta, in the meanwhile, had felt his great fangs sink into but asingular jugular. For a moment he mauled the corpse, and then he spiedKai Shang darting down the companionway toward his cabin. 

With a shrill scream Sheeta was after him--a scream which awoke analmost equally uncanny cry in the throat of the terror-strickenChinaman. 

But Kai Shang reached his cabin a fraction of a second ahead of thepanther, and leaping within slammed the door--just too late. Sheeta'sgreat body hurtled against it before the catch engaged, and a momentlater Kai Shang was gibbering and shrieking in the back of an upperberth. 

Lightly Sheeta sprang after his victim, and presently the wicked daysof Kai Shang of Fachan were ended, and Sheeta was gorging himself upontough and stringy flesh. 

A moment scarcely had elapsed after Schneider leaped upon Jane Claytonand wrenched the revolver from her hand, when the door of the cabinopened and a tall and half-naked white man stood framed within theportal. 

Silently he leaped across the cabin. Schneider felt sinewy fingers athis throat. He turned his head to see who had attacked him, and hiseyes went wide when he saw the face of the ape-man close above his own. 

Grimly the fingers tightened upon the mate's throat. He tried toscream, to plead, but no sound came forth. His eyes protruded as hestruggled for freedom, for breath, for life. 

Jane Clayton seized her husband's hands and tried to drag them from thethroat of the dying man; but Tarzan only shook his head. 

"Not again, " he said quietly. "Before have I permitted scoundrels tolive, only to suffer and to have you suffer for my mercy. This time weshall make sure of one scoundrel--sure that he will never again harm usor another, " and with a sudden wrench he twisted the neck of theperfidious mate until there was a sharp crack, and the man's body laylimp and motionless in the ape-man's grasp. With a gesture of disgustTarzan tossed the corpse aside. Then he returned to the deck, followedby Jane and the Mosula woman. 

The battle there was over. Schmidt and Momulla and two others aloneremained alive of all the company of the Cowrie, for they had foundsanctuary in the forecastle. The others had died, horribly, and asthey 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 theunhappy Cowrie; but this time the blood which stained her whiteplanking was the blood of the guilty and not of the innocent. 

Tarzan brought forth the men who had hidden in the forecastle, andwithout promises of immunity from punishment forced them to help workthe vessel--the only alternative was immediate death. 

A stiff breeze had risen with the sun, and with canvas spread theCowrie set in toward Jungle Island, where a few hours later, Tarzanpicked up Gust and bid farewell to Sheeta and the apes of Akut, forhere he set the beasts ashore to pursue the wild and natural life theyloved so well; nor did they lose a moment's time in disappearing intothe cool depths of their beloved jungle. 

That they knew that Tarzan was to leave them may be doubted--exceptpossibly in the case of the more intelligent Akut, who alone of all theothers remained upon the beach as the small boat drew away toward theschooner, carrying his savage lord and master from him. 

And as long as their eyes could span the distance, Jane and Tarzan, standing upon the deck, saw the lonely figure of the shaggy anthropoidmotionless upon the surf-beaten sands of Jungle Island. 

It was three days later that the Cowrie fell in with H. M. Sloop-of-warShorewater, through whose wireless Lord Greystoke soon got incommunication with London. Thus he learned that which filled his andhis wife's heart with joy and thanksgiving--little Jack was safe atLord Greystoke's town house. 

It was not until they reached London that they learned the details ofthe remarkable chain of circumstances that had preserved the infantunharmed. 

It developed that Rokoff, fearing to take the child aboard the Kincaidby day, had hidden it in a low den where nameless infants wereharboured, intending to carry it to the steamer after dark. 

His confederate and chief lieutenant, Paulvitch, true to the long yearsof teaching of his wily master, had at last succumbed to the treacheryand greed that had always marked his superior, and, lured by thethoughts of the immense ransom that he might win by returning the childunharmed, had divulged the secret of its parentage to the woman whomaintained the foundling asylum. Through her he had arranged for thesubstitution of another infant, knowing full well that never until itwas too late would Rokoff suspect the trick that had been played uponhim. 

The woman had promised to keep the child until Paulvitch returned toEngland; but she, in turn, had been tempted to betray her trust by thelure of gold, and so had opened negotiations with Lord Greystoke'ssolicitors for the return of the child. 

Esmeralda, the old Negro nurse whose absence on a vacation in Americaat the time of the abduction of little Jack had been attributed by heras the cause of the calamity, had returned and positively identifiedthe infant. 

The ransom had been paid, and within ten days of the date of hiskidnapping the future Lord Greystoke, none the worse for hisexperience, had been returned to his father's home. 

And so that last and greatest of Nikolas Rokoff's many rascalities hadnot only miserably miscarried through the treachery he had taught hisonly friend, but it had resulted in the arch-villain's death, and givento Lord and Lady Greystoke a peace of mind that neither could ever havefelt so long as the vital spark remained in the body of the Russian andhis malign mind was free to formulate new atrocities against them. 

Rokoff was dead, and while the fate of Paulvitch was unknown, they hadevery reason to believe that he had succumbed to the dangers of thejungle where last they had seen him--the malicious tool of his master. 

And thus, in so far as they might know, they were to be freed for everfrom the menace of these two men--the only enemies which Tarzan of theApes ever had had occasion to fear, because they struck at him cowardlyblows, through those he loved. 

It was a happy family party that were reunited in Greystoke House theday that Lord Greystoke and his lady landed upon English soil from thedeck of the Shorewater. 

Accompanying them were Mugambi and the Mosula woman whom he had foundin the bottom of the canoe that night upon the bank of the littletributary of the Ugambi. 

The woman had preferred to cling to her new lord and master ratherthan return to the marriage she had tried to escape. 

Tarzan had proposed to them that they might find a home upon his vastAfrican estates in the land of the Waziri, where they were to be sentas soon as opportunity presented itself. 

Possibly we shall see them all there amid the savage romance of thegrim jungle and the great plains where Tarzan of the Apes loves best tobe. 

Who knows?