The war-canoe with its savage load moved slowly toward thebreak in the reef through which it must pass to gain theopen sea. Tarzan, Mugambi, and Akut wielded the paddles,for the shore kept the west wind from the little sail.

Sheeta crouched in the bow at the ape-man's feet, for ithad seemed best to Tarzan always to keep the wicked beastas far from the other members of the party as possible,since it would require little or no provocation to send himat the throat of any than the white man, whom he evidentlynow looked upon as his master.

In the stern was Mugambi, and just in front of him squattedAkut, while between Akut and Tarzan the twelve hairy apessat upon their haunches, blinking dubiously this way and that,and now and then turning their eyes longingly back toward shore.

All went well until the canoe had passed beyond the reef. Here the breeze struck the sail, sending the rude craftlunging among the waves that ran higher and higher asthey drew away from the shore.

With the tossing of the boat the apes became panic-stricken. They first moved uneasily about, and then commenced grumblingand whining. With difficulty Akut kept them in hand for a time;but when a particularly large wave struck the dugoutsimultaneously with a little squall of wind their terrorbroke all bounds, and, leaping to their feet, theyall but overturned the boat before Akut and Tarzan togethercould quiet them. At last calm was restored, and eventuallythe apes became accustomed to the strange antics of their craft,after which no more trouble was experienced with them.

The trip was uneventful, the wind held, and after ten hours'steady sailing the black shadows of the coast loomed closebefore the straining eyes of the ape-man in the bow. It wasfar too dark to distinguish whether they had approached closeto the mouth of the Ugambi or not, so Tarzan ran in throughthe surf at the closest point to await the dawn.

The dugout turned broadside the instant that its nosetouched the sand, and immediately it rolled over, with all itscrew scrambling madly for the shore. The next breaker rolledthem over and over, but eventually they all succeeded incrawling to safety, and in a moment more their ungainly crafthad been washed up beside them.

The balance of the night the apes sat huddled close to oneanother for warmth; while Mugambi built a fire close to themover which he crouched. Tarzan and Sheeta, however, wereof a different mind, for neither of them feared the junglenight, and the insistent craving of their hunger sent them offinto the Stygian blackness of the forest in search of prey.

Side by side they walked when there was room for two abreast. At other times in single file, first one and then theother in advance. It was Tarzan who first caught the scent ofmeat--a bull buffalo--and presently the two came stealthilyupon the sleeping beast in the midst of a dense jungle ofreeds close to a river.

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

For a moment they lay quite silent near their prey, andthen at a sign from the ape-man Sheeta sprang upon thegreat back, burying his strong teeth in the bull's neck. Instantly the brute sprang to his feet with a bellow ofpain and rage, and at the same instant Tarzan rushed inupon his left side with the stone knife, striking repeatedlybehind the shoulder.

One of the ape-man's hands clutched the thick mane, andas the bull raced madly through the reeds the thing strikingat his life was dragged beside him. Sheeta but clungtenaciously to his hold upon the neck and back, biting deep inan effort to reach the spine.

For several hundred yards the bellowing bull carried his twosavage antagonists, until at last the blade found his heart,when with a final bellow that was half-scream he plunged headlongto the earth. Then Tarzan and Sheeta feasted to repletion.

After the meal the two curled up together in a thicket, theman's black head pillowed upon the tawny side of the panther. Shortly after dawn they awoke and ate again, and thenreturned to the beach that Tarzan might lead the balance ofthe pack to the kill.

When the meal was done the brutes were for curling up to sleep,so Tarzan and Mugambi set off in search of the Ugambi River. They had proceeded scarce a hundred yards when they camesuddenly upon a broad stream, which the Negro instantlyrecognized as that down which he and his warriorshad paddled to the sea upon their ill-starred expedition.

The two now followed the stream down to the ocean, findingthat it emptied into a bay not over a mile from the point uponthe beach at which the canoe had been thrown the night before.

Tarzan was much elated by the discovery, as he knew thatin the vicinity of a large watercourse he should find natives,and from some of these he had little doubt but that he shouldobtain news of Rokoff and the child, for he felt reasonablycertain that the Russian would rid himself of the baby asquickly as possible after having disposed of Tarzan.

He and Mugambi now righted and launched the dugout, thoughit was a most difficult feat in the face of the surf whichrolled continuously in upon the beach; but at last they weresuccessful, and soon after were paddling up the coast towardthe mouth of the Ugambi. Here they experienced considerabledifficulty in making an entrance against the combinedcurrent and ebb tide, but by taking advantage of eddies closein to shore they came about dusk to a point nearly oppositethe spot where they had left the pack asleep.

Making the craft fast to an overhanging bough, the twomade their way into the jungle, presently coming upon someof the apes feeding upon fruit a little beyond the reeds wherethe buffalo had fallen. Sheeta was not anywhere to be seen,nor did he return that night, so that Tarzan came to believethat he had wandered away in search of his own kind.

Early the next morning the ape-man led his band down to the river,and as he walked he gave vent to a series of shrill cries. Presently from a great distance and faintly there camean answering scream, and a half-hour later the lithe form ofSheeta bounded into view where the others of the pack wereclambering gingerly into the canoe.

The great beast, with arched back and purring like acontented tabby, rubbed his sides against the ape-man, and thenat a word from the latter sprang lightly to his former place inthe bow of the dugout.

When all were in place it was discovered that two of theapes of Akut were missing, and though both the king apeand Tarzan called to them for the better part of an hour, therewas no response, and finally the boat put off without them. As it happened that the two missing ones were the very samewho had evinced the least desire to accompany the expeditionfrom the island, and had suffered the most from fright duringthe 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 afternoon to search for food a slender, naked savage watchedthem for a moment from behind the dense screen of verdurewhich lined the river's bank, then he melted away up-streambefore any of those in the canoe discovered him.

Like a deer he bounded along the narrow trail until, filledwith the excitement of his news, he burst into a native villageseveral miles above the point at which Tarzan and his packhad stopped to hunt.

"Another white man is coming!" he cried to the chiefwho squatted before the entrance to his circular hut. "Another white man, and with him are many warriors. They come in a great war-canoe to kill and rob as didthe black-bearded one who has just left us."

Kaviri leaped to his feet. He had but recently had a tasteof the white man's medicine, and his savage heart was filledwith bitterness and hate. In another moment the rumble ofthe war-drums rose from the village, calling in the huntersfrom the forest and the tillers from the fields.

Seven war-canoes were launched and manned by paint-daubed,befeathered warriors. Long spears bristled from the rudebattle-ships, as they slid noiselessly over the bosom of the water,propelled by giant muscles rolling beneath glistening, ebony hides.

There was no beating of tom-toms now, nor blare of nativehorn, for Kaviri was a crafty warrior, and it was in his mindto take no chances, if they could be avoided. He would swoopnoiselessly down with his seven canoes upon the single oneof the white man, and before the guns of the latter couldinflict much damage upon his people he would have overwhelmedthe enemy by force of numbers.

Kaviri's own canoe went in advance of the others a shortdistance, and as it rounded a sharp bend in the river wherethe swift current bore it rapidly on its way it came suddenlyupon the thing that Kaviri sought.

So close were the two canoes to one another that the blackhad only an opportunity to note the white face in the bow ofthe oncoming craft before the two touched and his own menwere upon their feet, yelling like mad devils and thrustingtheir long spears at the occupants of the other canoe.

But a moment later, when Kaviri was able to realize thenature of the crew that manned the white man's dugout, hewould have given all the beads and iron wire that hepossessed to have been safely within his distant village. Scarcely had the two craft come together than the frightful apes ofAkut rose, growling and barking, from the bottom of thecanoe, and, with long, hairy arms far outstretched, graspedthe menacing spears from the hands of Kaviri's warriors.

The blacks were overcome with terror, but there was nothingto do other than to fight. Now came the other war-canoesrapidly down upon the two craft. Their occupants were eagerto join the battle, for they thought that their foes were whitemen and their native porters.

They swarmed about Tarzan's craft; but when they saw the natureof the enemy all but one turned and paddled swiftly upriver. That one came too close to the ape-man's craft beforeits occupants realized that their fellows were pittedagainst demons instead of men. As it touched Tarzan spokea few low words to Sheeta and Akut, so that before theattacking warriors could draw away there sprang upon themwith a blood-freezing scream a huge panther, and into theother end of their canoe clambered a great ape.

At one end the panther wrought fearful havoc with hismighty talons and long, sharp fangs, while Akut at the otherburied his yellow canines in the necks of those that camewithin his reach, hurling the terror-stricken blacks overboardas he made his way toward the centre of the canoe.

Kaviri was so busily engaged with the demons that hadentered his own craft that he could offer no assistance to hiswarriors in the other. A giant of a white devil had wrestedhis spear from him as though he, the mighty Kaviri, had beenbut a new-born babe. Hairy monsters were overcoming hisfighting men, and a black chieftain like himself was fightingshoulder to shoulder with the hideous pack that opposed him.

Kaviri battled bravely against his antagonist, for he feltthat death had already claimed him, and so the least that hecould do would be to sell his life as dearly as possible; but itwas soon evident that his best was quite futile when pittedagainst the superhuman brawn and agility of the creature thatat last found his throat and bent him back into the bottom ofthe canoe.

Presently Kaviri's head began to whirl--objects becameconfused and dim before his eyes--there was a great pain inhis chest as he struggled for the breath of life that the thingupon him was shutting off for ever. Then he lost consciousness.

When he opened his eyes once more he found, much tohis surprise, that he was not dead. He lay, securely bound,in the bottom of his own canoe. A great panther sat upon itshaunches, looking down upon him.

Kaviri shuddered and closed his eyes again, waiting forthe ferocious creature to spring upon him and put him out ofhis misery of terror.

After a moment, no rending fangs having buried themselvesin his trembling body, he again ventured to open his eyes. Beyond the panther kneeled the white giant who hadovercome him.

The man was wielding a paddle, while directly behind himKaviri saw some of his own warriors similarly engaged. Back of them again squatted 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 anumerous people, and that 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 agoat and cassava and milk, he set upon us with his guns andkilled many of my people, and then went on his way, takingall of our goats and many of our young men and women."

"I am not as this other white man," replied Tarzan. "I should not have harmed you had you not set upon me. Tell me, what was the face of this bad white man like? I amsearching for one who has wronged me. Possibly this maybe the very one."

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

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

"No, bwana," replied Kaviri, "the white child was notwith this man's party--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 a white man, woman, and the child, with sixMosula porters. They passed up the river three days aheadof the very bad white man. I think that they were runningaway from him."

A white man, woman, and child! Tarzan was puzzled. The childmust be his little Jack; but who could the woman be--and the man? Was it possible that one of Rokoff's confederates had conspiredwith some woman--who had accompanied the Russian--to stealthe baby from him?

If this was the case, they had doubtless purposed returningthe child to civilization and there either claiming a reward orholding the little prisoner for ransom.

But now that Rokoff had succeeded in chasing them far inland,up the savage river, there could be little doubt butthat he would eventually overhaul them, unless, as was stillmore probable, they should be captured and killed by thevery cannibals farther up the Ugambi, to whom, Tarzan was nowconvinced, it had been Rokoff's intention to deliver the baby.

As he talked to Kaviri the canoes had been moving steadilyup-river toward the chief's village. Kaviri's warriors plied thepaddles in the three canoes, casting sidelong, terrified glancesat their hideous passengers. Three of the apes of Akut hadbeen killed in the encounter, but there were, with Akut, eightof the frightful beasts remaining, and there was Sheeta, thepanther, and Tarzan and Mugambi.

Kaviri's warriors thought that they had never seen so terriblea crew in all their lives. Momentarily they expected tobe pounced upon and torn asunder by some of their captors;and, in fact, it was all that Tarzan and Mugambi and Akutcould do to keep the snarling, ill-natured brutes from snappingat the glistening, naked bodies that brushed against themnow 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 eatthe food that the blacks furnished, and arrange with thechief for a dozen men to man the paddles of his canoe.

Kaviri was only too glad to comply with any demands thatthe ape-man might make if only such compliance would hastenthe departure of the horrid pack; but it was easier, hediscovered, to promise men than to furnish them, for whenhis people learned his intentions those that had not alreadyfled into the jungle proceeded to do so without loss of time,so that when Kaviri turned to point out those who were toaccompany Tarzan, he discovered that he was the only memberof his tribe left within the village.

Tarzan could not repress a smile.

"They do not seem anxious to accompany us," he said;"but just remain quietly here, Kaviri, and presently youshall see your people flocking to your side."

Then the ape-man rose, and, calling his pack about him,commanded that Mugambi remain with Kaviri, and disappearedin the jungle with Sheeta and the apes at his heels.

For half an hour the silence of the grim forest was brokenonly by the ordinary sounds of the teeming life that but addsto its lowering loneliness. Kaviri and Mugambi sat alone inthe palisaded village, waiting.

Presently from a great distance came a hideous sound. Mugambi recognized the weird challenge of the ape-man. Immediately from different points of the compass rose ahorrid semicircle of similar shrieks and screams, punctuatednow and again by the blood-curdling cry of a hungry panther.