THE MOON SHONE down out of a cloudless sky--a huge,swollen moon that seemed so close to earth that one mightwonder that she did not brush the crooning tree tops. It was night, and Tarzan was abroad in the jungle--Tarzan,the ape-man; mighty fighter, mighty hunter. Why he swungthrough the dark shadows of the somber forest he couldnot have told you. It was not that he was hungry--he hadfed well this day, and in a safe cache were the remainsof his kill, ready against the coming of a new appetite. Perhaps it was the very joy of living that urged himfrom his arboreal couch to pit his muscles and his sensesagainst the jungle night, and then, too, Tarzan always wasgoaded by an intense desire to know.

The jungle which is presided over by Kudu, the sun,is a very different jungle from that of Goro, the moon. The diurnal jungle has its own aspect--its own lightsand shades, its own birds, its own blooms, its own beasts;its noises are the noises of the day. The lights andshades of the nocturnal jungle are as different as onemight imagine the lights and shades of another worldto differ from those of our world; its beasts, its blooms,and its birds are not those of the jungle of Kudu,the sun.

Because of these differences Tarzan loved to investigatethe jungle by night. Not only was the life another life;but it was richer in numbers and in romance; it wasricher in dangers, too, and to Tarzan of the Apes dangerwas the spice of life. And the noises of the junglenight--the roar of the lion, the scream of the leopard,the hideous laughter of Dango, the hyena, were musicto the ears of the ape-man.

The soft padding of unseen feet, the rustling of leavesand grasses to the passage of fierce beasts, the sheenof opalesque eyes flaming through the dark, the millionsounds which proclaimed the teeming life that one mighthear and scent, though seldom see, constituted the appealof the nocturnal jungle to Tarzan.

Tonight he had swung a wide circle--toward the east firstand then toward the south, and now he was rounding back againinto the north. His eyes, his ears and his keen nostrilswere ever on the alert. Mingled with the sounds he knew,there were strange sounds--weird sounds which he neverheard until after Kudu had sought his lair below the faredge of the big water-sounds which belonged to Goro,the moon--and to the mysterious period of Goro's supremacy. These sounds often caused Tarzan profound speculation. They baffled him because he thought that he knew his jungleso well that there could be nothing within it unfamiliar to him. Sometimes he thought that as colors and forms appearedto differ by night from their familiar daylight aspects,so sounds altered with the passage of Kudu and the comingof Goro, and these thoughts roused within his brain a vagueconjecture that perhaps Goro and Kudu influenced these changes. And what more natural that eventually he came to attributeto the sun and the moon personalities as real as hisown? The sun was a living creature and ruled the day. The moon, endowed with brains and miraculous powers,ruled the night.

Thus functioned the untrained man-mind groping through thedark night of ignorance for an explanation of the thingshe could not touch or smell or hear and of the great,unknown powers of nature which he could not see.

As Tarzan swung north again upon his wide circlethe scent of the Gomangani came to his nostrils,mixed with the acrid odor of wood smoke. The ape-manmoved quickly in the direction from which the scentwas borne down to him upon the gentle night wind. Presently the ruddy sheen of a great fire filteredthrough the foliage to him ahead, and when Tarzan cameto a halt in the trees near it, he saw a party of halfa dozen black warriors huddled close to the blaze. It was evidently a hunting party from the village of Mbonga,the chief, caught out in the jungle after dark. In a rude circle about them they had constructed a thornboma which, with the aid of the fire, they apparentlyhoped would discourage the advances of the larger carnivora.

That hope was not conviction was evidenced by the very palpableterror in which they crouched, wide-eyed and trembling,for already Numa and Sabor were moaning through the jungletoward them. There were other creatures, too, in the shadowsbeyond the firelight. Tarzan could see their yelloweyes flaming there. The blacks saw them and shivered. Then one arose and grasping a burning branch from the firehurled it at the eyes, which immediately disappeared. The black sat down again. Tarzan watched and saw that itwas several minutes before the eyes began to reappearin twos and fours.

Then came Numa, the lion, and Sabor, his mate. The othereyes scattered to right and left before the menacinggrowls of the great cats, and then the huge orbs of theman-eaters flamed alone out of the darkness. Some ofthe blacks threw themselves upon their faces and moaned;but he who before had hurled the burning branch nowhurled another straight at the faces of the hungry lions,and they, too, disappeared as had the lesser lightsbefore them. Tarzan was much interested. He saw a newreason for the nightly fires maintained by the blacks--areason in addition to those connected with warmth andlight and cooking. The beasts of the jungle feared fire,and so fire was, in a measure, a protection from them. Tarzan himself knew a certain awe of fire. Once he had,in investigating an abandoned fire in the village of the blacks,picked up a live coal. Since then he had maintaineda respectful distance from such fires as he had seen. One experience had sufficed.

For a few minutes after the black hurled the firebrand noeyes appeared, though Tarzan could hear the soft paddingof feet all about him. Then flashed once more the twinfire spots that marked the return of the lord of thejungle and a moment later, upon a slightly lower level,there appeared those of Sabor, his mate.

For some time they remained fixed and unwavering--aconstellation of fierce stars in the jungle night--thenthe male lion advanced slowly toward the boma, where allbut a single black still crouched in trembling terror. When this lone guardian saw that Numa was again approaching,he threw another firebrand, and, as before, Numa retreatedand with him Sabor, the lioness; but not so far, this time,nor for so long. Almost instantly they turned and begancircling the boma, their eyes turning constantly towardthe firelight, while low, throaty growls evidenced theirincreasing displeasure. Beyond the lions glowed the flamingeyes of the lesser satellites, until the black jungle wasshot all around the black men's camp with little spots of fire.

Again and again the black warrior hurled his puny brands atthe two big cats; but Tarzan noticed that Numa paid littleor no attention to them after the first few retreats. The ape-man knew by Numa's voice that the lion was hungryand surmised that he had made up his mind to feed upona Gomangani; but would he dare a closer approach to thedreaded flames?

Even as the thought was passing in Tarzan's mind,Numa stopped his restless pacing and faced the boma. For a moment he stood motionless, except for the quick,nervous upcurving of his tail, then he walked deliberatelyforward, while Sabor moved restlessly to and fro where hehad left her. The black man called to his comradesthat the lion was coming, but they were too far gonein fear to do more than huddle closer together and moanmore loudly than before.

Seizing a blazing branch the man cast it straightinto the face of the lion. There was an angry roar,followed by a swift charge. With a single boundthe savage beast cleared the boma wall as, with almostequal agility, the warrior cleared it upon the oppositeside and, chancing the dangers lurking in the darkness,bolted for the nearest tree.

Numa was out of the boma almost as soon as he was inside it;but as he went back over the low thorn wall, he tooka screaming negro with him. Dragging his victim alongthe ground he walked back toward Sabor, the lioness,who joined him, and the two continued into the blackness,their savage growls mingling with the piercing shrieks ofthe doomed and terrified man.

At a little distance from the blaze the lions halted,there ensued a short succession of unusually vicious growlsand roars, during which the cries and moans of the blackman ceased--forever.

Presently Numa reappeared in the firelight. He madea second trip into the boma and the former grisly tragedywas reenacted with another howling victim.

Tarzan rose and stretched lazily. The entertainmentwas beginning to bore him. He yawned and turned uponhis way toward the clearing where the tribe wouldbe sleeping in the encircling trees.

Yet even when he had found his familiar crotch and curledhimself for slumber, he felt no desire to sleep. For a long time he lay awake thinking and dreaming. He looked up into the heavens and watched the moon andthe stars. He wondered what they were and what powerkept them from falling. His was an inquisitive mind. Always he had been full of questions concerning all thatpassed around him; but there never had been one to answerhis questions. In childhood he had wanted to KNOW, and,denied almost all knowledge, he still, in manhood,was filled with the great, unsatisfied curiosity ofa child.

He was never quite content merely to perceive that thingshappened--he desired to know WHY they happened.He wanted to know what made things go. The secretof life interested him immensely. The miracle of deathhe could not quite fathom. Upon innumerable occasionshe had investigated the internal mechanism of his kills,and once or twice he had opened the chest cavity of victimsin time to see the heart still pumping.

He had learned from experience that a knife thrust throughthis organ brought immediate death nine times out of ten,while he might stab an antagonist innumerable timesin other places without even disabling him. And so hehad come to think of the heart, or, as he called it,"the red thing that breathes," as the seat and originof life.

The brain and its functionings he did not comprehend at all. That his sense perceptions were transmitted to his brainand there translated, classified, and labeled was somethingquite beyond him. He thought that his fingers knew whenthey touched something, that his eyes knew when they saw,his ears when they heard, his nose when it scented.

He considered his throat, epidermis, and the hairsof his head as the three principal seats of emotion. When Kala had been slain a peculiar choking sensationhad possessed his throat; contact with Histah, the snake,imparted an unpleasant sensation to the skin of his whole body;while the approach of an enemy made the hairs on his scalpstand erect.

Imagine, if you can, a child filled with the wondersof nature, bursting with queries and surrounded onlyby beasts of the jungle to whom his questionings wereas strange as Sanskrit would have been. If he askedGunto what made it rain, the big old ape would but gazeat him in dumb astonishment for an instant and thenreturn to his interesting and edifying search for fleas;and when he questioned Mumga, who was very old and shouldhave been very wise, but wasn't, as to the reason forthe closing of certain flowers after Kudu had desertedthe sky, and the opening of others during the night,he was surprised to discover that Mumga had nevernoticed these interesting facts, though she could tellto an inch just where the fattest grubworm should be hiding.

To Tarzan these things were wonders. They appealed to hisintellect and to his imagination. He saw the flowersclose and open; he saw certain blooms which turned theirfaces always toward the sun; he saw leaves which movedwhen there was no breeze; he saw vines crawl like livingthings up the boles and over the branches of great trees;and to Tarzan of the Apes the flowers and the vines andthe trees were living creatures. He often talked to them,as he talked to Goro, the moon, and Kudu, the sun,and always was he disappointed that they did not reply. He asked them questions; but they could not answer,though he knew that the whispering of the leaves was thelanguage of the leaves--they talked with one another.

The wind he attributed to the trees and grasses. He thoughtthat they swayed themselves to and fro, creating the wind. In no other way could he account for this phenomenon. The rain he finally attributed to the stars, the moon,and the sun; but his hypothesis was entirely unlovelyand unpoetical.

Tonight as Tarzan lay thinking, there sprang to his fertileimagination an explanation of the stars and the moon. He became quite excited about it. Taug was sleepingin a nearby crotch. Tarzan swung over beside him.

"Taug!" he cried. Instantly the great bull was awakeand bristling, sensing danger from the nocturnal summons. "Look, Taug!" exclaimed Tarzan, pointing toward the stars. "See the eyes of Numa and Sabor, of Sheeta and Dango. They wait around Goro to leap in upon him for their kill. See the eyes and the nose and the mouth of Goro. And thelight that shines upon his face is the light of the greatfire he has built to frighten away Numa and Sabor and Dangoand Sheeta.

"All about him are the eyes, Taug, you can see them! Butthey do not come very close to the fire--there are feweyes close to Goro. They fear the fire! It is the firethat saves Goro from Numa. Do you see them, Taug? Somenight Numa will be very hungry and very angry--then hewill leap over the thorn bushes which encircle Goro and wewill have no more light after Kudu seeks his lair--thenight will be black with the blackness that comes whenGoro is lazy and sleeps late into the night, or when hewanders through the skies by day, forgetting the jungleand its people."

Taug looked stupidly at the heavens and then at Tarzan. A meteor fell, blazing a flaming way through the sky.

"Look!" cried Tarzan. "Goro has thrown a burning branchat Numa."

Taug grumbled. "Numa is down below," he said. "Numa doesnot hunt above the trees." But he looked curiouslyand a little fearfully at the bright stars above him,as though he saw them for the first time, and doubtlessit was the first time that Taug ever had seen the stars,though they had been in the sky above him every nightof his life. To Taug they were as the gorgeous jungleblooms--he could not eat them and so he ignored them.

Taug fidgeted and was nervous. For a long time helay sleepless, watching the stars--the flaming eyesof the beasts of prey surrounding Goro, the moon--Goro,by whose light the apes danced to the beating of theirearthen drums. If Goro should be eaten by Numa there couldbe no more Dum-Dums. Taug was overwhelmed by the thought. He glanced at Tarzan half fearfully. Why was his friendso different from the others of the tribe? No one else whomTaug ever had known had had such queer thoughts as Tarzan. The ape scratched his head and wondered, dimly, if Tarzanwas a safe companion, and then he recalled slowly,and by a laborious mental process, that Tarzan had servedhim better than any other of the apes, even the strongand wise bulls of the tribe.

Tarzan it was who had freed him from the blacks at thevery time that Taug had thought Tarzan wanted Teeka. It was Tarzan who had saved Taug's little balu from death. It was Tarzan who had conceived and carried out the planto pursue Teeka's abductor and rescue the stolen one. Tarzan had fought and bled in Taug's service so many timesthat Taug, although only a brutal ape, had had impressedupon his mind a fierce loyalty which nothing now couldswerve--his friendship for Tarzan had become a habit,a tradition almost, which would endure while Taug endured. He never showed any outward demonstration of affection--hegrowled at Tarzan as he growled at the other bullswho came too close while he was feeding--but he wouldhave died for Tarzan. He knew it and Tarzan knew it;but of such things apes do not speak--their vocabulary,for the finer instincts, consisting more of actionsthan words. But now Taug was worried, and he fellasleep again still thinking of the strange words ofhis fellow.

The following day he thought of them again, and withoutany intention of disloyalty he mentioned to Gunto whatTarzan had suggested about the eyes surrounding Goro,and the possibility that sooner or later Numa wouldcharge the moon and devour him. To the apes all largethings in nature are male, and so Goro, being the largestcreature in the heavens by night, was, to them, a bull.

Gunto bit a sliver from a horny finger and recalledthe fact that Tarzan had once said that the trees talkedto one another, and Gozan recounted having seen the ape-mandancing alone in the moonlight with Sheeta, the panther. They did not know that Tarzan had roped the savage beastand tied him to a tree before he came to earth and leapedabout before the rearing cat, to tantalize him.

Others told of seeing Tarzan ride upon the back of Tantor,the elephant; of his bringing the black boy, Tibo,to the tribe, and of mysterious things with which hecommuned in the strange lair by the sea. They had neverunderstood his books, and after he had shown them to oneor two of the tribe and discovered that even the picturescarried no impression to their brains, he had desisted.

"Tarzan is not an ape," said Gunto. "He will bringNuma to eat us, as he is bringing him to eat Goro. We should kill him."

Immediately Taug bristled. Kill Tarzan! "First you willkill Taug," he said, and lumbered away to search for food.

But others joined the plotters. They thought of manythings which Tarzan had done--things which apes did not doand could not understand. Again Gunto voiced the opinionthat the Tarmangani, the white ape, should be slain,and the others, filled with terror about the stories theyhad heard, and thinking Tarzan was planning to slay Goro,greeted the proposal with growls of accord.

Among them was Teeka, listening with all her ears;but her voice was not raised in furtherance of the plan. Instead she bristled, showing her fangs, and afterwardshe went away in search of Tarzan; but she could notfind him, as he was roaming far afield in search of meat. She found Taug, though, and told him what the otherswere planning, and the great bull stamped upon the groundand roared. His bloodshot eyes blazed with wrath,his upper lip curled up to expose his fighting fangs,and the hair upon his spine stood erect, and then a rodentscurried across the open and Taug sprang to seize it. In an instant he seemed to have forgotten his rageagainst the enemies of his friend; but such is the mind ofan ape.

Several miles away Tarzan of the Apes lolled upon thebroad head of Tantor, the elephant. He scratched beneaththe great ears with the point of a sharp stick, and hetalked to the huge pachyderm of everything which filledhis black-thatched head. Little, or nothing, of what hesaid did Tantor understand; but Tantor is a good listener. Swaying from side to side he stood there enjoyingthe companionship of his friend, the friend he loved,and absorbing the delicious sensations of the scratching.

Numa, the lion, caught the scent of man, and warily stalkedit until he came within sight of his prey upon the headof the mighty tusker; then he turned, growling and muttering,away in search of more propitious hunting grounds.

The elephant caught the scent of the lion, borne to him byan eddying breeze, and lifting his trunk trumpeted loudly. Tarzan stretched back luxuriously, lying supine at fulllength along the rough hide. Flies swarmed about his face;but with a leafy branch torn from a tree he lazily brushedthem away.

"Tantor," he said, "it is good to be alive. It is goodto lie in the cool shadows. It is good to look uponthe green trees and the bright colors of the flowers--uponeverything which Bulamutumumo has put here for us. He is very good to us, Tantor; He has given you tender leavesand bark, and rich grasses to eat; to me He has given Baraand Horta and Pisah, the fruits and the nuts and the roots. He provides for each the food that each likes best. All that He asks is that we be strong enough or cunning enoughto go forth and take it. Yes, Tantor, it is good to live. I should hate to die."

Tantor made a little sound in his throat and curled histrunk upward that he might caress the ape-man's cheekwith the finger at its tip.

"Tantor," said Tarzan presently, "turn and feed inthe direction of the tribe of Kerchak, the great ape,that Tarzan may ride home upon your head without walking."

The tusker turned and moved slowly off along a broad,tree-arched trail, pausing occasionally to pluck a tenderbranch, or strip the edible bark from an adjacent tree. Tarzan sprawled face downward upon the beast's head and back,his legs hanging on either side, his head supported by hisopen palms, his elbows resting on the broad cranium. And thus they made their leisurely way toward the gatheringplace of the tribe.

Just before they arrived at the clearing from the norththere reached it from the south another figure--thatof a well-knit black warrior, who stepped cautiouslythrough the jungle, every sense upon the alert againstthe many dangers which might lurk anywhere along the way. Yet he passed beneath the southernmost sentry that wasposted in a great tree commanding the trail from the south. The ape permitted the Gomangani to pass unmolested, for hesaw that he was alone; but the moment that the warriorhad entered the clearing a loud "Kreeg-ah!" rang out frombehind him, immediately followed by a chorus of repliesfrom different directions, as the great bulls crashedthrough the trees in answer to the summons of their fellow.

The black man halted at the first cry and looked about him. He could see nothing, but he knew the voice of the hairytree men whom he and his kind feared, not alone becauseof the strength and ferocity of the savage beings,but as well through a superstitious terror engenderedby the manlike appearance of the apes.

But Bulabantu was no coward. He heard the apes all about him;he knew that escape was probably impossible, so he stoodhis ground, his spear ready in his hand and a war crytrembling on his lips. He would sell his life dearly,would Bulabantu, under-chief of the village of Mbonga,the chief.

Tarzan and Tantor were but a short distance away when thefirst cry of the sentry rang out through the quiet jungle. Like a flash the ape-man leaped from the elephant'sback to a near-by tree and was swinging rapidlyin the direction of the clearing before the echoesof the first "Kreeg-ah" had died away. When he arrivedhe saw a dozen bulls circling a single Gomangani. With a blood-curdling scream Tarzan sprang to the attack. He hated the blacks even more than did the apes,and here was an opportunity for a kill in the open. What had the Gomangani done? Had he slain one of the tribe?

Tarzan asked the nearest ape. No, the Gomangani hadharmed none. Gozan, being on watch, had seen him comingthrough the forest and had warned the tribe--that was all. The ape-man pushed through the circle of bulls, none ofwhich as yet had worked himself into sufficient frenzyfor a charge, and came where he had a full and closeview of the black. He recognized the man instantly. Only the night before he had seen him facing the eyesin the dark, while his fellows groveled in the dirtat his feet, too terrified even to defend themselves. Here was a brave man, and Tarzan had deep admirationfor bravery. Even his hatred of the blacks was not sostrong a passion as his love of courage. He would havejoyed in battling with a black warrior at almost any time;but this one he did not wish to kill--he felt, vaguely,that the man had earned his life by his brave defenseof it on the preceding night, nor did he fancy the oddsthat were pitted against the lone warrior.

He turned to the apes. "Go back to your feeding,"he said, "and let this Gomangani go his way in peace. He has not harmed us, and last night I saw him fighting Numaand Sabor with fire, alone in the jungle. He is brave. Why should we kill one who is brave and who has not attackedus? Let him go."

The apes growled. They were displeased. "Kill the Gomangani!"cried one.

"Yes." roared another, "kill the Gomangani and theTarmangani as well."

"Kill the white ape!" screamed Gozan, "he is no ape at all;but a Gomangani with his skin off."

"Kill Tarzan!" bellowed Gunto. "Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The bulls were now indeed working themselves into the frenzyof slaughter; but against Tarzan rather than the black man. A shaggy form charged through them, hurling those itcame in contact with to one side as a strong man mightscatter children. It was Taug--great, savage Taug.

"Who says 'kill Tarzan'?" he demanded. "Who kills Tarzanmust kill Taug, too. Who can kill Taug? Taug will tearyour insides from you and feed them to Dango."

"We can kill you all," replied Gunto. "There are manyof us and few of you," and he was right. Tarzan knewthat he was right. Taug knew it; but neither would admitsuch a possibility. It is not the way of bull apes.

"I am Tarzan," cried the ape-man. "I am Tarzan. Mighty hunter; mighty fighter. In all the jungle noneso great as Tarzan."

Then, one by one, the opposing bulls recounted their virtuesand their prowess. And all the time the combatants camecloser and closer to one another. Thus do the bulls workthemselves to the proper pitch before engaging in battle.

Gunto came, stiff-legged, close to Tarzan and sniffed at him,with bared fangs. Tarzan rumbled forth a low, menacing growl. They might repeat these tactics a dozen times; but sooneror later one bull would close with another and then thewhole hideous pack would be tearing and rending at their prey.

Bulabantu, the black man, had stood wide-eyed in wonder fromthe moment he had seen Tarzan approaching through the apes. He had heard much of this devil-god who ran with thehairy tree people; but never before had he seen him infull daylight. He knew him well enough from the descriptionof those who had seen him and from the glimpses he had hadof the marauder upon several occasions when the ape-manhad entered the village of Mbonga, the chief, by night,in the perpetration of one of his numerous ghastly jokes.

Bulabantu could not, of course, understand anythingwhich passed between Tarzan and the apes; but he sawthat the ape-man and one of the larger bulls were inargument with the others. He saw that these two werestanding with their back toward him and between himand the balance of the tribe, and he guessed, though itseemed improbable, that they might be defending him. He knew that Tarzan had once spared the life of Mbonga,the chief, and that he had succored Tibo, and Tibo'smother, Momaya. So it was not impossible that he wouldhelp Bulabantu; but how he could accomplish it Bulabantucould not guess; nor as a matter of fact could Tarzan,for the odds against him were too great.

Gunto and the others were slowly forcing Tarzan and Taugback toward Bulabantu. The ape-man thought of his wordswith Tantor just a short time before: "Yes, Tantor,it is good to live. I should hate to die." And nowhe knew that he was about to die, for the temperof the great bulls was mounting rapidly against him. Always had many of them hated him, and all were suspiciousof him. They knew he was different. Tarzan knew it too;but he was glad that he was--he was a MAN; that he hadlearned from his picture-books, and he was very proud ofthe distinction. Presently, though, he would be a dead man.

Gunto was preparing to charge. Tarzan knew the signs. He knew that the balance of the bulls would chargewith Gunto. Then it would soon be over. Something movedamong the verdure at the opposite side of the clearing. Tarzan saw it just as Gunto, with the terrifying cryof a challenging ape, sprang forward. Tarzan voiceda peculiar call and then crouched to meet the assault. Taug crouched, too, and Bulabantu, assured now thatthese two were fighting upon his side, couched his spearand sprang between them to receive the first charge ofthe enemy.

Simultaneously a huge bulk broke into the clearingfrom the jungle behind the charging bulls. The trumpeting of a mad tusker rose shrill abovethe cries of the anthropoids, as Tantor, the elephant,dashed swiftly across the clearing to the aid of his friend.

Gunto never closed upon the ape-man, nor did a fang enterflesh upon either side. The terrific reverberation ofTantor's challenge sent the bulls scurrying to the trees,jabbering and scolding. Taug raced off with them. Only Tarzan and Bulabantu remained. The latter stoodhis ground because he saw that the devil-god did not run,and because the black had the courage to face a certainand horrible death beside one who had quite evidently dareddeath for him.

But it was a surprised Gomangani who saw the mightyelephant come to a sudden halt in front of the ape-manand caress him with his long, sinuous trunk.

Tarzan turned toward the black man. "Go!" he said inthe language of the apes, and pointed in the directionof the village of Mbonga. Bulabantu understood the gesture,if not the word, nor did he lose time in obeying. Tarzan stood watching him until he had disappeared. He knew that the apes would not follow. Then he saidto the elephant: "Pick me up!" and the tusker swung himlightly to his head.

"Tarzan goes to his lair by the big water," shouted theape-man to the apes in the trees. "All of you are morefoolish than Manu, except Taug and Teeka. Taug and Teekamay come to see Tarzan; but the others must keep away. Tarzan is done with the tribe of Kerchak."

He prodded Tantor with a calloused toe and the big beastswung off across the clearing, the apes watching themuntil they were swallowed up by the jungle.

Before the night fell Taug killed Gunto, picking a quarrelwith him over his attack upon Tarzan.

For a moon the tribe saw nothing of Tarzan of the Apes. Many of them probably never gave him a thought; but therewere those who missed him more than Tarzan imagined. Taug and Teeka often wished that he was back, and Taug determineda dozen times to go and visit Tarzan in his seaside lair;but first one thing and then another interfered.

One night when Taug lay sleepless looking up at the starryheavens he recalled the strange things that Tarzan oncehad suggested to him--that the bright spots were the eyesof the meat-eaters waiting in the dark of the junglesky to leap upon Goro, the moon, and devour him. The more he thought about this matter the more perturbedhe became.

And then a strange thing happened. Even as Taug lookedat Goro, he saw a portion of one edge disappear,precisely as though something was gnawing upon it. Larger and larger became the hole in the side of Goro. With a scream, Taug leaped to his feet. His frenzied"Kreeg-ahs!" brought the terrified tribe screaming andchattering toward him.

"Look!" cried Taug, pointing at the moon. "Look! Itis as Tarzan said. Numa has sprung through the firesand is devouring Goro. You called Tarzan names anddrove him from the tribe; now see how wise he was. Let one of you who hated Tarzan go to Goro's aid. See the eyes in the dark jungle all about Goro. He isin danger and none can help him--none except Tarzan. Soon Goro will be devoured by Numa and we shall have nomore light after Kudu seeks his lair. How shall we dancethe Dum-Dum without the light of Goro?"

The apes trembled and whimpered. Any manifestationof the powers of nature always filled them with terror,for they could not understand.

"Go and bring Tarzan," cried one, and then they all took upthe cry of "Tarzan!" "Bring Tarzan!" "He will save Goro."But who was to travel the dark jungle by night to fetchhim?

"I will go," volunteered Taug, and an instant later hewas off through the Stygian gloom toward the littleland-locked harbor by the sea.

And as the tribe waited they watched the slow devouringof the moon. Already Numa had eaten out a greatsemicircular piece. At that rate Goro would be entirely gonebefore Kudu came again. The apes trembled at the thoughtof perpetual darkness by night. They could not sleep. Restlessly they moved here and there among the branchesof trees, watching Numa of the skies at his deadly feast,and listening for the coming of Taug with Tarzan.

Goro was nearly gone when the apes heard the sounds ofthe approach through the trees of the two they awaited,and presently Tarzan, followed by Taug, swung intoa nearby tree.

The ape-man wasted no time in idle words. In his hand washis long bow and at his back hung a quiver full of arrows,poisoned arrows that he had stolen from the village ofthe blacks; just as he had stolen the bow. Up into a greattree he clambered, higher and higher until he stood swayingupon a small limb which bent low beneath his weight. Here he had a clear and unobstructed view of the heavens. He saw Goro and the inroads which the hungry Numa had madeinto his shining surface.

Raising his face to the moon, Tarzan shrilled forthhis hideous challenge. Faintly and from afar camethe roar of an answering lion. The apes shivered. Numa of the skies had answered Tarzan.

Then the ape-man fitted an arrow to his bow, and drawingthe shaft far back, aimed its point at the heart of Numawhere he lay in the heavens devouring Goro. There was a loudtwang as the released bolt shot into the dark heavens. Again and again did Tarzan of the Apes launch his arrowsat Numa, and all the while the apes of the tribe of Kerchakhuddled together in terror.

At last came a cry from Taug. "Look! Look!" he screamed. "Numa is killed. Tarzan has killed Numa. See! Goro isemerging from the belly of Numa," and, sure enough, the moonwas gradually emerging from whatever had devoured her,whether it was Numa, the lion, or the shadow of the earth;but were you to try to convince an ape of the tribe ofKerchak that it was aught but Numa who so nearly devouredGoro that night, or that another than Tarzan preservedthe brilliant god of their savage and mysterious ritesfrom a frightful death, you would have difficulty--anda fight on your hands.

And so Tarzan of the Apes came back to the tribe of Kerchak,and in his coming he took a long stride toward the kingship,which he ultimately won, for now the apes looked up to himas a superior being.

In all the tribe there was but one who was at allskeptical about the plausibility of Tarzan's remarkablerescue of Goro, and that one, strange as it may seem,was Tarzan of the Apes.