Tarzan sought Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, for of allthe jungle animals he doubted if any would prove morepalatable to the white woman, but though his keen nos-trils were ever on the alert, he traveled far without being re-warded with even the faintest scent spoor of the game hesought. Keeping close to the river where he hoped to findBara or Horta approaching or leaving a drinking place he cameat last upon the strong odor of the Wamabo village and beingever ready to pay his hereditary enemies, the Gomangani, anundesired visit, he swung into a detour and came up in therear of the village. From a tree which overhung the palisadehe looked down into the street where he saw the preparationsgoing on which his experience told him indicated the approachof one of those frightful feasts the piece de resistance of whichis human flesh.

One of Tarzan's chief divertissements was the baiting of theblacks. He realized more keen enjoyment through annoyingand terrifying them than from any other source of amusementthe grim jungle offered. To rob them of their feast in someway that would strike terror to their hearts would give himthe keenest of pleasure, and so he searched the village with hiseyes for some indication of the whereabouts of the prisoner.His view was circumscribed by the dense foliage of the treein which he sat, and, so that he might obtain a better view, heclimbed further aloft and moved cautiously out upon a slenderbranch.

Tarzan of the Apes possessed a woodcraft scarcely short ofthe marvelous but even Tarzan's wondrous senses were notinfallible. The branch upon which he made his way outwardfrom the bole was no smaller than many that had borne hisweight upon countless other occasions. Outwardly it appearedstrong and healthy and was in full foliage, nor could Tarzanknow that close to the stem a burrowing insect had eaten awayhalf the heart of the solid wood beneath the bark.

And so when he reached a point far out upon the limb, itsnapped close to the bole of the tree without warning. Belowhim were no larger branches that he might clutch and as helunged downward his foot caught in a looped creeper so thathe turned completely over and alighted on the flat of his backin the center of the village street.

At the sound of the breaking limb and the crashing bodyfalling through the branches the startled blacks scurried totheir huts for weapons, and when the braver of them emerged,they saw the still form of an almost naked white man lyingwhere he had fallen. Emboldened by the fact that he did notmove they approached more closely, and when their eyes dis-covered no signs of others of his kind in the tree, they rushedforward until a dozen warriors stood about him with readyspears. At first they thought that the falling had killed him,but upon closer examination they discovered that the man wasonly stunned. One of the warriors was for thrusting a spearthrough his heart, but Numabo, the chief, would not permit it.

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

And so they bound his hands and feet with thongs of gutand carried him into the hut where Lieutenant Harold PercySmith-Oldwick awaited his fate. The Englishman had also beenbound hand and foot by this time for fear that at the last mo-ment he might escape and rob them of their feast. A greatcrowd of natives were gathered about the hut attempting toget a glimpse of the new prisoner, but Numabo doubled theguard before the entrance for fear that some of his people, inthe exuberance of their savage joy, might rob the others ofthe pleasures of the death dance which would precede thekilling of the victims.

The young Englishman had heard the sound of Tarzan'sbody crashing through the tree to the ground and the commo-tion in the village which immediately followed, and now, ashe stood with his back against the wall of the hut, he lookedupon the fellow-prisoner that the blacks carried in and laidupon the floor with mixed feelings of surprise and compassion.He realized that he never had seen a more perfect specimenof manhood than that of the unconscious figure before him,and he wondered to what sad circumstances the man owed hiscapture. It was evident that the new prisoner was himself asmuch a savage as his captors if apparel and weapons were anycriterion by which to judge; yet it was also equally evident thathe was a white man and from his well-shaped head andclean-cut features that he was not one of those unhappy half-wits who so often revert to savagery even in the heart of civ-ilized communities.

As he watched the man, he presently noticed that his eyelidswere moving. Slowly they opened and a pair of gray eyeslooked blankly about. With returning consciousness the eyesassumed their natural expression of keen intelligence, and amoment later, with an effort, the prisoner rolled over upon hisside and drew himself to a sitting position. He was facingthe Englishman, and as his eyes took in the bound ankles andthe arms drawn tightly behind the other's back, a slow smilelighted his features.

"They will fill their bellies tonight," he said.

The Englishman grinned. "From the fuss they made," hesaid, "the beggars must be awfully hungry. They like to haveeaten me alive when they brought me in. How did they getyou?"

Tarzan shrugged his head ruefully. "It was my own fault,"he replied. "I deserve to be eaten. I crawled out upon a branchthat would not bear my weight and when it broke, insteadof alighting on my feet, I caught my foot in a trailer andcame down on my head. Otherwise they would not have takenme -- alive."

"Is there no escape?" asked the Englishman.

"I have escaped them before," replied Tarzan, "and I haveseen others escape them. I have seen a man taken away fromthe stake after a dozen spear thrusts had pierced his body andthe fire had been lighted about his feet."

Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick shuddered. "God!" he exclaimed,"I hope I don't have to face that. I believe I could stand any-thing but the thought of the fire. I should hate like the devilto go into a funk before the devils at the last moment."

"Don't worry," said Tarzan. "It doesn't last long and youwon't funk. It is really not half as bad as it sounds. There isonly a brief period of pain before you lose consciousness. Ihave seen it many times before. It is as good a way to go asanother. We must die sometime. What difference whether itbe tonight, tomorrow night, or a year hence, just so that wehave lived -- and I have lived!"

"Your philosophy may be all right, old top," said the younglieutenant, "but I can't say that it is exactly satisfying."

Tarzan laughed. "Roll over here," he said, "where I can getat your bonds with my teeth." The Englishman did as he wasbid and presently Tarzan was working at the thongs with hisstrong white teeth. He felt them giving slowly beneath hisefforts. In another moment they would part, and then itwould be a comparatively simple thing for the Englishmanto remove the remaining bonds from Tarzan and himself.

It was then that one of the guards entered the hut. In aninstant he saw what the new prisoner was doing and raisinghis spear, struck the ape-man a vicious blow across the headwith its shaft. Then he called in the other guards and togetherthey fell upon the luckless men, kicking and beating them un-mercifully, after which they bound the Englishman more se-curely than before and tied both men fast on opposite sides ofthe hut. When they had gone Tarzan looked across at hiscompanion in misery.

"While there is life," he said, "there is hope," but he grinnedas he voiced the ancient truism.

Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick returned the other'ssmile. "I fancy," he said, "that we are getting short on both.It must be close to supper time now."

Zu-tag hunted alone far from the balance of the tribe ofGo-lat, the great ape. Zu-tag (Big-neck) was a young bullbut recently arrived at maturity. He was large, powerful, andferocious and at the same time far above the average of hiskind in intelligence as was denoted by a fuller and less reced-ing forehead. Already Go-lat saw in this young ape a possiblecontender for the laurels of his kingship and consequently theold bull looked upon Zu-tag with jealousy and disfavor. It wasfor this reason, possibly, as much as another that Zu-taghunted so often alone; but it was his utter fearlessness thatpermitted him to wander far afield away from the protectionwhich numbers gave the great apes. One of the results of thishabit was a greatly increased resourcefulness which found himconstantly growing in intelligence and powers of observation.

Today he had been hunting toward the south and wasreturning along the river upon a path he often followed be-cause it led by the village of the Gomangani whose strangeand almost apelike actions and peculiar manners of living hadaroused his interest and curiosity. As he had done upon otheroccasions he took up his position in a tree from which he couldoverlook the interior of the village and watch the blacks attheir vocations in the street below.

Zu-tag had scarcely more than established himself in histree when, with the blacks, he was startled by the crashing ofTarzan's body from the branches of another jungle giant tothe ground within the palisade. He saw the Negroes gatherabout the prostrate form and later carry it into the hut; andonce he rose to his full height upon the limb where he hadbeen squatting and raised his face to the heavens to screamout a savage protest and a challenge, for he had recognizedin the brown-skinned Tarmangani the strange white ape whohad come among them a night or two before in the midst oftheir Dum-Dum, and who by so easily mastering the greatestamong them, had won the savage respect and admiration ofthis fierce young bull.

But Zu-tag's ferocity was tempered by a certain native cun-ning and caution. Before he had voiced his protest there formedin his mind the thought that he would like to save this wonder-ful white ape from the common enemy, the Gomangani, andso he screamed forth no challenge, wisely determined that morecould be accomplished by secrecy and stealth than by forceof muscle and fang.

At first he thought to enter the village alone and carry offthe Tarmangani; but when he saw how numerous were thewarriors and that several sat directly before the entrance tothe lair into which the prisoner had been carried, it occurredto him that this was work for many rather than one, and so,as silently as he had come, he slipped away though the foliagetoward the north.

The tribe was still loitering about the clearing where stoodthe hut that Tarzan and Bertha Kircher had built. Some wereidly searching for food just within the forest's edge, whileothers squatted beneath the shade of trees within the clearing.

The girl had emerged from the hut, her tears dried and wasgazing anxiously toward the south into the jungle where Tar-zan had disappeared. Occasionally she cast suspicious glancesin the direction of the huge shaggy anthropoids about her.How easy it would be for one of those great beasts to enterthe boma and slay her. How helpless she was, even with thespear that the white man had left her, she realized as shenoted for the thousandth time the massive shoulders, the bullnecks, and the great muscles gliding so easily beneath theglossy coats. Never, she thought, had she seen such personi-fications of brute power as were represented by these mightybulls. Those huge hands would snap her futile spear as shemight snap a match in two, while their lightest blow couldcrush her into insensibility and death.

It was while she was occupied with these depressing thoughtsthat there dropped suddenly into the clearing from the treesupon the south the figure of a mighty young bull. At that timeall of the apes looked much alike to Bertha Kircher, nor wasit until some time later that she realized that each differedfrom the others in individual characteristics of face and figureas do individuals of the human races. Yet even then she couldnot help but note the wondrous strength and agility of thisgreat beast, and as he approached she even found herself ad-miring the sheen of his heavy, black, silvershot coat.

It was evident that the newcomer was filled with suppressedexcitement. His demeanor and bearing proclaimed this evenfrom afar, nor was the girl the only one to note it. For as theysaw him coming many of the apes arose and advanced to meethim, bristling and growling as is their way. Go-lat was amongthese latter, and he advanced stiffly with the hairs upon hisneck and down his spine erect, uttering low growls and baringhis fighting fangs, for who might say whether Zu-tag camein peace or otherwise? The old king had seen other youngapes come thus in his day filled with a sudden resolution towrest the kingship from their chief. He had seen bulls aboutto run amuck burst thus suddenly from the jungle upon themembers of the tribe, and so Go-lat took no chances.

Had Zu-tag come indolently, feeding as he came, he mighthave entered the tribe without arousing notice or suspicion,but when one comes thus precipitately, evidently bursting withsome emotion out of the ordinary, let all apes beware. Therewas a certain amount of preliminary circling, growling, andsniffing, stiff-legged and stiff-haired, before each side discov-ered that the other had no intention of initiating an attack andthen Zu-tag told Go-lat what he had seen among the lairsof the Gomangani.

Go-lat grunted in disgust and turned away. "Let the whiteape take care of himself," he said.

"He is a great ape," said Zu-tag. "He came to live in peacewith the tribe of Go-lat. Let us save him from the Goman-gani."

Go-lat grunted again and continued to move away.

"Zu-tag will go alone and get him," cried the young ape,"if Go-lat is afraid of the Gomangani."

The king ape wheeled in anger, growling loudly and beatingupon his breast. "Go-lat is not afraid," he screamed, "but hewill not go, for the white ape is not of his tribe. Go yourselfand take the Tarmangani's she with you if you wish so muchto save the white ape."

"Zu-tag will go," replied the younger bull, "and he will takethe Tarmangani's she and all the bulls of Go-lat who are notcowards," and so saying he cast his eyes inquiringly about atthe other apes. "Who will go with Zu-tag to fight the Goman-gani and bring away our brother," he demanded.

Eight young bulls in the full prime of their vigor pressedforward to Zu-tag's side, but the old bulls with the conserva-tism and caution of many years upon their gray shoulders,shook their heads and waddled away after Go-lat.

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

The old bulls paid no attention to his boastful words, but theeight who had volunteered to accompany him were filled withself-pride so that they stood around vaingloriously beatingupon their breasts, baring their fangs and screaming theirhideous challenge until the jungle reverberated to the horridsound.

All this time Bertha Kircher was a wide-eyed and terrifiedspectator to what, as she thought, could end only in a terrificbattle between these frightful beasts, and when Zu-tag andhis followers began screaming forth their fearsome challenge,the girl found herself trembling in terror, for of all the soundsof the jungle there is none more awe inspiring than that of thegreat bull ape when he issues his challenge or shrieks forth hisvictory cry.

If she had been terrified before she was almost paralyzedwith fear now as she saw Zu-tag and his apes turn toward theboma and approach her. With the agility of a cat Zu-tag leapedcompletely over the protecting wall and stood before her. Val-iantly she held her spear before her, pointing it at his breast.He commenced to jabber and gesticulate, and even with herscant acquaintance with the ways of the anthropoids, she real-ized that he was not menacing her, for there was little or nobaring of fighting fangs and his whole expression and attitudewas of one attempting to explain a knotty problem or pleada worthy cause. At last he became evidently impatient, forwith a sweep of one great paw he struck the spear from herhand and coming close, seized her by the arm, but not roughly.She shrank away in terror and yet some sense within herseemed to be trying to assure her that she was in no dangerfrom this great beast. Zu-tag jabbered loudly, ever and againpointing into the jungle toward the south and moving towardthe boma, pulling the girl with him. He seemed almost franticin his efforts to explain something to her. He pointed towardthe boma, herself, and then to the forest, and then, at last, asthough by a sudden inspiration, he reached down and, seizingthe spear, repeatedly touched it with his forefinger and againpointed toward the south. Suddenly it dawned upon the girlthat what the ape was trying to explain to her was related insome way to the white man whose property they thought shewas. Possibly her grim protector was in trouble and with thisthought firmly established, she no longer held back, but startedforward as though to accompany the young bull. At the pointin the boma where Tarzan had blocked the entrance, shestarted to pull away the thorn bushes, and, when Zu-tag sawwhat she was doing, he fell to and assisted her so that presentlythey had an opening through the boma through which shepassed with the great ape.

Immediately Zu-tag and his eight apes started off rapidlytoward the jungle, so rapidly that Bertha Kircher would havehad to run at top speed to keep up with them. This she real-ized she could not do, and so she was forced to lag behind,much to the chagrin of Zu-tag, who constantly kept runningback and urging her to greater speed. Once he took her by thearm and tried to draw her along. Her protests were of no availsince the beast could not know that they were protests, nor didhe desist until she caught her foot in some tangled grass andfell to the ground. Then indeed was Zu-tag furious andgrowled hideously. His apes were waiting at the edge of theforest for him to lead them. He suddenly realized that thispoor weak she could not keep up with them and that if theytraveled at her slow rate they might be too late to render as-sistance to the Tarmangani, and so without more ado, the giantanthropoid picked Bertha Kircher bodily from the ground andswung her to his back. Her arms were about his neck and inthis position he seized her wrists in one great paw so that shecould not fall off and started at a rapid rate to join his com-panions.

Dressed as she was in riding breeches with no entanglingskirts to hinder or catch upon passing shrubbery, she soonfound that she could cling tightly to the back of the mightybull and when a moment later he took to the lower branchesof the trees, she closed her eyes and clung to him in terrorlest she be precipitated to the ground below.

That journey through the primeval forest with the ninegreat apes will live in the memory of Bertha Kircher for thebalance of her life, as clearly delineated as at the moment ofits enactment.

The first overwhelming wave of fear having passed, she wasat last able to open her eyes and view her surroundings withincreased interest and presently the sensation of terror slowlyleft her to be replaced by one of comparative security whenshe saw the ease and surety with which these great beasts trav-eled through the trees; and later her admiration for the youngbull increased as it became evident that even burdened withher additional weight, he moved more rapidly and with nogreater signs of fatigue than his unburdened fellows.

Not once did Zu-tag pause until he came to a stop amongthe branches of a tree no great distance from the native village.They could hear the noises of the life within the palisade, thelaughing and shouting of the Negroes, and the barking of dogs,and through the foliage the girl caught glimpses of the villagefrom which she had so recently escaped. She shuddered tothink of the possibility of having to return to it and of possi-ble recapture, and she wondered why Zu-tag had brought herhere.

Now the apes advanced slowly once more and with greatcaution, moving as noiselessly through the trees as the squirrelsthemselves until they had reached a point where they couldeasily overlook the palisade and the village street below.

Zu-tag squatted upon a great branch close to the bole ofthe tree and by loosening the girl's arms from about his neck,indicated that she was to find a footing for herself and whenshe had done so, he turned toward her and pointed repeatedlyat the open doorway of a hut upon the opposite side of thestreet below them. By various gestures he seemed to be try-ing to explain something to her and at last she caught at thegerm of his idea -- that her white man was a prisoner there.

Beneath them was the roof of a hut onto which she saw thatshe could easily drop, but what she could do after she hadentered the village was beyond her.

Darkness was already falling and the fires beneath the cook-ing pots had been lighted. The girl saw the stake in the villagestreet and the piles of fagots about it and in terror she sud-denly realized the portent of these grisly preparations. Oh, ifshe but only had some sort of a weapon that might give hereven a faint hope, some slight advantage against the blacks.Then she would not hesitate to venture into the village in an at-tempt to save the man who had upon three different occasionssaved her. She knew that he hated her and yet strong withinher breast burned the sense of her obligation to him. She couldnot fathom him. Never in her life had she seen a man at onceso paradoxical and dependable. In many of his ways he wasmore savage than the beasts with which he associated and yet,on the other hand, he was as chivalrous as a knight of old.For several days she had been lost with him in the jungleabsolutely at his mercy, yet she had come to trust so implicitlyin his honor that any fear she had had of him was rapidly dis-appearing.

On the other hand, that he might be hideously cruel wasevidenced to her by the fact that he was planning to leaveher alone in the midst of the frightful dangers which menacedher by night and by day.

Zu-tag was evidently waiting for darkness to fall beforecarrying out whatever plans had matured in his savage littlebrain, for he and his fellows sat quietly in the tree about her,watching the preparations of the blacks. Presently it becameapparent that some altercation had arisen among the Negroes,for a score or more of them were gathered around one who ap-peared to be their chief, and all were talking and gesticulatingheatedly. The argument lasted for some five or ten minuteswhen suddenly the little knot broke and two warriors ran to theopposite side of the village from whence they presently re-turned with a large stake which they soon set up beside theone already in place. The girl wondered what the purpose ofthe second stake might be, nor did she have long to wait foran explanation.

It was quite dark by this time, the village being lighted bythe fitful glare of many fires, and now she saw a number ofwarriors approach and enter the hut Zu-tag had been watch-ing. A moment later they reappeared, dragging between themtwo captives, one of whom the girl immediately recognized asher protector and the other as an Englishman in the uniformof an aviator. This, then, was the reason for the two stakes.

Arising quickly she placed a hand upon Zu-tag's shoulderand pointed down into the village. "Come," she said, as if shehad been talking to one of her own kind, and with the wordshe swung lightly to the roof of the hut below. From there tothe ground was but a short drop and a moment later she wascircling the hut upon the side farthest from the fires, keepingin the dense shadows where there was little likelihood of beingdiscovered. She turned once to see that Zu-tag was directlybehind her and could see his huge bulk looming up in the dark,while beyond was another one of his eight. Doubtless theyhad all followed her and this fact gave her a greater sense ofsecurity and hope than she had before experienced.

Pausing beside the hut next to the street, she peered cau-tiously about the corner. A few inches from her was the opendoorway of the structure, and beyond, farther down the villagestreet, the blacks were congregating about the prisoners, whowere already being bound to the stakes. All eyes were cen-tered upon the victims, and there was only the remotest chancethat she and her companions would be discovered until theywere close upon the blacks. She wished, however, that shemight have some sort of a weapon with which to lead the at-tack, for she could not know, of course, for a certainty whetherthe great apes would follow her or not. Hoping that she mightfind something within the hut, she slipped quickly around thecorner and into the doorway and after her, one by one, camethe nine bulls. Searching quickly about the interior, she pres-ently discovered a spear, and, armed with this, she again ap-proached the entrance.

Tarzan of the Apes and Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick were bound securely to their respective stakes.Neither had spoken for some time. The Englishman turnedhis head so that he could see his companion in misery. Tarzanstood straight against his stake. His face was entirely expres-sionless in so far as either fear or anger were concerned. Hiscountenance portrayed bored indifference though both menknew that they were about to be tortured.

"Good-bye, old top," whispered the young lieutenant.

Tarzan turned his eyes in the direction of the other andsmiled. "Good-bye," he said. "If you want to get it over in ahurry, inhale the smoke and flames as rapidly as you can."

"Thanks," replied the aviator and though he made a wryface, he drew himself up very straight and squared his shoul-ders.

The women and children had seated themselves in a widecircle about the victims while the warriors, hideously painted,were forming slowly to commence the dance of death. AgainTarzan turned to his companion. "If you'd like to spoil theirfun," he said, "don't make any fuss no matter how much yousuffer. If you can carry on to the end without changing theexpression upon your face or uttering a single word, you willdeprive them of all the pleasures of this part of the entertain-ment. Good-bye again and good luck."

The young Englishman made no reply but it was evidentfrom the set of his jaws that the Negroes would get little enjoy-ment out of him.

The warriors were circling now. Presently Numabo woulddraw first blood with his sharp spear which would be thesignal for the beginning of the torture after a little of whichthe fagots would be lighted around the feet of the victims.

Closer and closer danced the hideous chief, his yellow,sharp-filed teeth showing in the firelight between his thick, redlips. Now bending double, now stamping furiously upon theground, now leaping into the air, he danced step by step inthe narrowing circle that would presently bring him withinspear reach of the intended feast.

At last the spear reached out and touched the ape-man onthe breast and when it came away, a little trickle of blood randown the smooth, brown hide and almost simultaneously therebroke from the outer periphery of the expectant audience awoman's shriek which seemed a signal for a series of hideousscreamings, growlings and barkings, and a great commotionupon that side of the circle. The victims could not see thecause of the disturbance, but Tarzan did not have to see, forhe knew by the voices of the apes the identity of the disturbers.He only wondered what had brought them and what the pur-pose of the attack, for he could not believe that they had cometo rescue him.

Numabo and his warriors broke quickly from the circle oftheir dance to see pushing toward them through the ranks oftheir screaming and terrified people the very white girl who hadescaped them a few nights before, and at her back what ap-peared to their surprised eyes a veritable horde of the hugeand hairy forest men upon whom they looked with consider-able fear and awe.

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

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

Turning from her advance the girl ran to his side. She hadno knife and the bonds were tied tightly but she worked quick-ly and coolly and as Zu-tag and his apes closed with the war-riors, she succeeded in loosening Tarzan's bonds sufficiently topermit him to extricate his own hands so that in another min-ute he had freed himself.

"Now unbind the Englishman," he cried, and, leaping for-ward, ran to join Zu-tag and his fellows in their battle againstthe blacks. Numabo and his warriors, realizing now the rela-tively small numbers of the apes against them, had made adetermined stand and with spears and other weapons were en-deavoring to overcome the invaders. Three of the apes werealready down, killed or mortally wounded, when Tarzan, real-izing that the battle must eventually go against the apes unlesssome means could be found to break the morale of the Ne-groes, cast about him for some means of bringing about thedesired end. And suddenly his eye lighted upon a number ofweapons which he knew would accomplish the result. A grimsmile touched his lips as he snatched a vessel of boiling waterfrom one of the fires and hurled it full in the faces of thewarriors. Screaming with terror and pain they fell back thoughNumabo urged them to rush forward.

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

By the time Tarzan had recovered his own weapons the girlhad released the young Englishman, and, with the six remain-ing apes, the three Europeans moved slowly toward the vil-lage gate, the aviator arming himself with a spear discardedby one of the scalded warriors, as they eagerly advanced to-ward the outer darkness.

Numabo was unable to rally the now thoroughly terrifiedand painfully burned warriors so that rescued and rescuerspassed out of the village into the blackness of the jungle with-out further interference.

Tarzan strode through the jungle in silence. Beside himwalked Zu-tag, the great ape, and behind them strung the sur-viving anthropoids followed by Fraulein Bertha Kircher andLieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, the latter a thor-oughly astonished and mystified Englishman.

In all his life Tarzan of the Apes had been obliged to ac-knowledge but few obligations. He won his way through hissavage world by the might of his own muscle, the superiorkeenness of his five senses and his God-given power to reason.Tonight the greatest of all obligations had been placed uponhim -- his life had been saved by another and Tarzan shookhis head and growled, for it had been saved by one whom hehated above all others.