Two tall, bearded white men moved cautiously through thejungle from their camp beside a wide river. They were CarlJenssen and Sven Malbihn, but little altered in appearancesince the day, years before, that they and their safarihad been so badly frightened by Korak and Akut as the formersought haven with them.

Every year had they come into the jungle to trade with thenatives, or to rob them; to hunt and trap; or to guide otherwhite men in the land they knew so well. Always since theirexperience with The Sheik had they operated at a safe distancefrom his territory.

Now they were closer to his village than they had been foryears, yet safe enough from discovery owing to the uninhabitednature of the intervening jungle and the fear and enmity ofKovudoo's people for The Sheik, who, in time past, had raidedand all but exterminated the tribe.

This year they had come to trap live specimens for a Europeanzoological garden, and today they were approaching a trap whichthey had set in the hope of capturing a specimen of the largebaboons that frequented the neighborhood. As they approachedthe trap they became aware from the noises emanating from itsvicinity that their efforts had been crowned with success. The barking and screaming of hundreds of baboons could meannaught else than that one or more of their number had fallen avictim to the allurements of the bait.

The extreme caution of the two men was prompted by formerexperiences with the intelligent and doglike creatures with whichthey had to deal. More than one trapper has lost his life in battlewith enraged baboons who will hesitate to attack nothing uponone occasion, while upon another a single gun shot will dispersehundreds of them.

Heretofore the Swedes had always watched near-by their trap,for as a rule only the stronger bulls are thus caught, since intheir greediness they prevent the weaker from approaching thecovered bait, and when once within the ordinary rude trap wovenon the spot of interlaced branches they are able, with the aid oftheir friends upon the outside, to demolish their prison and escape. But in this instance the trappers had utilized a special steelcage which could withstand all the strength and cunning of a baboon. It was only necessary, therefore, to drive away the herd whichthey knew were surrounding the prison and wait for their boys whowere even now following them to the trap.

As they came within sight of the spot they found conditionsprecisely as they had expected. A large male was batteringfrantically against the steel wires of the cage that heldhim captive. Upon the outside several hundred other baboons weretearing and tugging in his aid, and all were roaring and jabberingand barking at the top of their lungs.

But what neither the Swedes nor the baboons saw was thehalf-naked figure of a youth hidden in the foliage of anearby tree. He had come upon the scene at almost the sameinstant as Jenssen and Malbihn, and was watching the activitiesof the baboons with every mark of interest.

Korak's relations with the baboons had never been over friendly. A species of armed toleration had marked their occasional meetings. The baboons and Akut had walked stiff legged and growling pastone another, while Korak had maintained a bared fang neutrality. So now he was not greatly disturbed by the predicament of their king. Curiosity prompted him to tarry a moment, and in that moment hisquick eyes caught the unfamiliar coloration of the clothing of thetwo Swedes behind a bush not far from him. Now he was all alertness. Who were these interlopers? What was their business in the jungleof the Mangani? Korak slunk noiselessly around them to a pointwhere he might get their scent as well as a better view of them,and scarce had he done so when he recognized them--they were themen who had fired upon him years before. His eyes blazed. He couldfeel the hairs upon his scalp stiffen at the roots. He watched themwith the intentness of a panther about to spring upon its prey.

He saw them rise and, shouting, attempt to frighten away thebaboons as they approached the cage. Then one of them raisedhis rifle and fired into the midst of the surprised and angry herd.For an instant Korak thought that the baboons were about tocharge, but two more shots from the rifles of the white men sentthem scampering into the trees. Then the two Europeans advancedupon the cage. Korak thought that they were going to kill the king. He cared nothing for the king but he cared less for the twowhite men. The king had never attempted to kill him--the white men had. The king was a denizen of his own belovedjungle--the white men were aliens. His loyalty therefore was tothe baboon against the human. He could speak the languageof the baboon--it was identical to that of the great apes. Across the clearing he saw the jabbering horde watching.

Raising his voice he shouted to them. The white men turnedat the sound of this new factor behind them. They thought it wasanother baboon that had circled them; but though they searchedthe trees with their eyes they saw nothing of the now silent figurehidden by the foliage. Again Korak shouted.

"I am The Killer," he cried. "These men are my enemiesand yours. I will help you free your king. Run out upon thestrangers when you see me do so, and together we will drivethem away and free your king."

And from the baboons came a great chorus: "We will do whatyou say, Korak."

Dropping from his tree Korak ran toward the two Swedes, andat the same instant three hundred baboons followed his example. At sight of the strange apparition of the half-nakedwhite warrior rushing upon them with uplifted spear Jenssenand Malbihn raised their rifles and fired at Korak; but in theexcitement both missed and a moment later the baboons wereupon them. Now their only hope of safety lay in escape, anddodging here and there, fighting off the great beasts that leapedupon their backs, they ran into the jungle. Even then they wouldhave died but for the coming of their men whom they met acouple of hundred yards from the cage.

Once the white men had turned in flight Korak gave them nofurther attention, turning instead to the imprisoned baboon. The fastenings of the door that had eluded the mental powers ofthe baboons, yielded their secret immediately to the humanintelligence of The Killer, and a moment later the king baboonstepped forth to liberty. He wasted no breath in thanks to Korak,nor did the young man expect thanks. He knew that none of thebaboons would ever forget his service, though as a matter of facthe did not care if they did. What he had done had been promptedby a desire to be revenged upon the two white men. The baboonscould never be of service to him. Now they were racing in thedirection of the battle that was being waged between their fellowsand the followers of the two Swedes, and as the din of battlesubsided in the distance, Korak turned and resumed his journeytoward the village of Kovudoo.

On the way he came upon a herd of elephants standing in anopen forest glade. Here the trees were too far apart to permitKorak to travel through the branches--a trail he much preferrednot only because of its freedom from dense underbrush and the widerfield of vision it gave him but from pride in his arboreal ability. It was exhilarating to swing from tree to tree; to test theprowess of his mighty muscles; to reap the pleasurable fruits ofhis hard won agility. Korak joyed in the thrills of the highflungupper terraces of the great forest, where, unhampered and unhindered,he might laugh down upon the great brutes who must keep foreverto the darkness and the gloom of the musty soil.

But here, in this open glade where Tantor flapped his giantears and swayed his huge bulk from side to side, the ape-manmust pass along the surface of the ground--a pygmy amongst giants. A great bull raised his trunk to rattle a low warning as hesensed the coming of an intruder. His weak eyes roved hitherand thither but it was his keen scent and acute hearing whichfirst located the ape-man. The herd moved restlessly, preparedfor fight, for the old bull had caught the scent of man.

"Peace, Tantor," called The Killer. "It is I, Korak, Tarmangani."

The bull lowered his trunk and the herd resumed theirinterrupted meditations. Korak passed within a foot of thegreat bull. A sinuous trunk undulated toward him, touching hisbrown hide in a half caress. Korak slapped the great shoulderaffectionately as he went by. For years he had been upon goodterms with Tantor and his people. Of all the jungle folk heloved best the mighty pachyderm--the most peaceful and at thesame time the most terrible of them all. The gentle gazellefeared him not, yet Numa, lord of the jungle, gave him awide berth. Among the younger bulls, the cows and the calvesKorak wound his way. Now and then another trunk would run out totouch him, and once a playful calf grasped his legs and upset him.

The afternoon was almost spent when Korak arrived at thevillage of Kovudoo. There were many natives lolling in shadyspots beside the conical huts or beneath the branches of theseveral trees which had been left standing within the enclosure.Warriors were in evidence upon hand. It was not a good timefor a lone enemy to prosecute a search through the village. Korak determined to await the coming of darkness. He was a matchfor many warriors; but he could not, unaided, overcome anentire tribe--not even for his beloved Meriem. While he waitedamong the branches and foliage of a near-by tree he searchedthe village constantly with his keen eyes, and twice he circledit, sniffing the vagrant breezes which puffed erratically from firstone point of the compass and then another. Among the variousstenches peculiar to a native village the ape-man's sensitivenostrils were finally rewarded by cognizance of the delicate aromawhich marked the presence of her he sought. Meriem was there--in one of those huts! But which one he could not know withoutcloser investigation, and so he waited, with the dogged patienceof a beast of prey, until night had fallen.

The camp fires of the blacks dotted the gloom with little pointsof light, casting their feeble rays in tiny circles of luminositythat brought into glistening relief the naked bodies of those wholay or squatted about them. It was then that Korak slid silentlyfrom the tree that had hidden him and dropped lightly to theground within the enclosure.

Keeping well in the shadows of the huts he commenced asystematic search of the village--ears, eyes and nose constantlyupon the alert for the first intimation of the near presenceof Meriem. His progress must of necessity be slow since not eventhe keen-eared curs of the savages must guess the presence of astranger within the gates. How close he came to a detection onseveral occasions The Killer well knew from the restless whiningof several of them.

It was not until he reached the back of a hut at the head of thewide village street that Korak caught again, plainly, the scentof Meriem. With nose close to the thatched wall Korak sniffedeagerly about the structure--tense and palpitant as a hunting hound. Toward the front and the door he made his way when once his nosehad assured him that Meriem lay within; but as he rounded theside and came within view of the entrance he saw a burly Negroarmed with a long spear squatting at the portal of the girl's prison. The fellow's back was toward him, his figure outlined against theglow of cooking fires further down the street. He was alone. The nearest of his fellows were beside a fire sixty or seventyfeet beyond. To enter the hut Korak must either silence the sentryor pass him unnoticed. The danger in the accomplishment of theformer alternative lay in the practical certainty of alarming thewarriors near by and bringing them and the balance of the villagedown upon him. To achieve the latter appeared practically impossible. To you or me it would have been impossible; but Korak, The Killer,was not as you or I.

There was a good twelve inches of space between the broadback of the black and the frame of the doorway. Could Korakpass through behind the savage warrior without detection? The light that fell upon the glistening ebony of the sentry'sblack skin fell also upon the light brown of Korak's. Should oneof the many further down the street chance to look long in thisdirection they must surely note the tall, light-colored, movingfigure; but Korak depended upon their interest in their own gossip tohold their attention fast where it already lay, and upon the firelightnear them to prevent them seeing too plainly at a distance into thedarkness at the village end where his work lay.

Flattened against the side of the hut, yet not arousing a singlewarning rustle from its dried thatching, The Killer came closerand closer to the watcher. Now he was at his shoulder. Now hehad wormed his sinuous way behind him. He could feel the heatof the naked body against his knees. He could hear the man breathe. He marveled that the dull-witted creature had not long sincebeen alarmed; but the fellow sat there as ignorant of the presenceof another as though that other had not existed.

Korak moved scarcely more than an inch at a time, then hewould stand motionless for a moment. Thus was he worminghis way behind the guard when the latter straightened up, openedhis cavernous mouth in a wide yawn, and stretched his armsabove his head. Korak stood rigid as stone. Another step and hewould be within the hut. The black lowered his arms and relaxed. Behind him was the frame work of the doorway. Often before hadit supported his sleepy head, and now he leaned back to enjoythe forbidden pleasure of a cat nap.

But instead of the door frame his head and shoulders came incontact with the warm flesh of a pair of living legs. The exclamation of surprise that almost burst from his lipswas throttled in his throat by steel-thewed fingers that closedabout his windpipe with the suddenness of thought. The blackstruggled to arise--to turn upon the creature that had seizedhim--to wriggle from its hold; but all to no purpose. As he hadbeen held in a mighty vise of iron he could not move. He couldnot scream. Those awful fingers at his throat but closed moreand more tightly. His eyes bulged from their sockets. His faceturned an ashy blue. Presently he relaxed once more--this timein the final dissolution from which there is no quickening. Korak propped the dead body against the door frame. There it sat,lifelike in the gloom. Then the ape-man turned and glided intothe Stygian darkness of the hut's interior.

"Meriem!" he whispered.

"Korak! My Korak!" came an answering cry, subdued by fear ofalarming her captors, and half stifled by a sob of joyful welcome.

The youth knelt and cut the bonds that held the girl's wristsand ankles. A moment later he had lifted her to her feet, andgrasping her by the hand led her towards the entrance. Outside thegrim sentinel of death kept his grisly vigil. Sniffing at hisdead feet whined a mangy native cur. At sight of the two emergingfrom the hut the beast gave an ugly snarl and an instant lateras it caught the scent of the strange white man it raised a seriesof excited yelps. Instantly the warriors at the near-by firewere attracted. They turned their heads in the direction ofthe commotion. It was impossible that they should fail to seethe white skins of the fugitives.

Korak slunk quickly into the shadows at the hut's side, drawingMeriem with him; but he was too late. The blacks had seenenough to arouse their suspicions and a dozen of them were nowrunning to investigate. The yapping cur was still at Korak's heelsleading the searchers unerringly in pursuit. The youth struckviciously at the brute with his long spear; but, long accustomedto dodging blows, the wily creature made a most uncertain target.

Other blacks had been alarmed by the running and shoutingof their companions and now the entire population of the villagewas swarming up the street to assist in the search. Their firstdiscovery was the dead body of the sentry, and a moment laterone of the bravest of them had entered the hut and discoveredthe absence of the prisoner. These startling announcements filledthe blacks with a combination of terror and rage; but, seeing nofoe in evidence they were enabled to permit their rage to get thebetter of their terror, and so the leaders, pushed on by thosebehind them, ran rapidly around the hut in the direction of theyapping of the mangy cur. Here they found a single white warriormaking away with their captive, and recognizing him as theauthor of numerous raids and indignities and believing that theyhad him cornered and at a disadvantage, they charged savagelyupon him.

Korak, seeing that they were discovered, lifted Meriem to hisshoulders and ran for the tree which would give them egressfrom the village. He was handicapped in his flight by the weightof the girl whose legs would but scarce bear her weight, to saynothing of maintaining her in rapid flight, for the tightly drawnbonds that had been about her ankles for so long had stoppedcirculation and partially paralyzed her extremities.

Had this not been the case the escape of the two would havebeen a feat of little moment, since Meriem was scarcely a whitless agile than Korak, and fully as much at home in the treesas he. But with the girl on his shoulder Korak could not bothrun and fight to advantage, and the result was that before he hadcovered half the distance to the tree a score of native cursattracted by the yelping of their mate and the yells and shouts oftheir masters had closed in upon the fleeing white man, snappingat his legs and at last succeeding in tripping him. As he wentdown the hyena-like brutes were upon him, and as he struggledto his feet the blacks closed in.

A couple of them seized the clawing, biting Meriem, andsubdued her--a blow upon the head was sufficient. For the ape-man they found more drastic measures would be necessary.

Weighted down as he was by dogs and warriors he still managedto struggle to his feet. To right and left he swung crushing blowsto the faces of his human antagonists--to the dogs he paid notthe slightest attention other than to seize the more persistent andwring their necks with a single quick movement of the wrist.

A knob stick aimed at him by an ebon Hercules he caught andwrested from his antagonist, and then the blacks experienced tothe full the possibilities for punishment that lay within thosesmooth flowing muscles beneath the velvet brown skin of thestrange, white giant. He rushed among them with all the forceand ferocity of a bull elephant gone mad. Hither and thither hecharged striking down the few who had the temerity to standagainst him, and it was evident that unless a chance spear thrustbrought him down he would rout the entire village and regainhis prize. But old Kovudoo was not to be so easily robbed ofthe ransom which the girl represented, and seeing that theirattack which had up to now resulted in a series of individualcombats with the white warrior, he called his tribesmen off, andforming them in a compact body about the girl and the two whowatched over her bid them do nothing more than repel the assaultsof the ape-man.

Again and again Korak rushed against this human barricadebristling with spear points. Again and again he was repulsed,often with severe wounds to caution him to greater wariness. From head to foot he was red with his own blood, and at last,weakening from the loss of it, he came to the bitter realizationthat alone he could do no more to succor his Meriem.

Presently an idea flashed through his brain. He called aloudto the girl. She had regained consciousness now and replied.

"Korak goes," he shouted; "but he will return and take youfrom the Gomangani. Good-bye, my Meriem. Korak will comefor you again."

"Good-bye!" cried the girl. "Meriem will look for you untilyou come."

Like a flash, and before they could know his intention orprevent him, Korak wheeled, raced across the village and witha single leap disappeared into the foliage of the great tree thatwas his highroad to the village of Kovudoo. A shower of spearsfollowed him, but their only harvest was a taunting laugh flungback from out the darkness of the jungle.