By the time that Tarzan had travelled entirely about the coastof the island, and made several trips inland from various points,he was sure that he was the only human being upon it.

Nowhere had he found any sign that men had stopped eventemporarily upon this shore, though, of course, he knew thatso quickly does the rank vegetation of the tropics erase allbut the most permanent of human monuments that he mightbe in error in his deductions.

The day following the killing of Numa, Tarzan and Sheeta came uponthe tribe of Akut. At sight of the panther the great apestook to flight, but after a time Tarzan succeeded in recalling them.

It had occurred to him that it would be at least an interestingexperiment to attempt to reconcile these hereditary enemies.He welcomed anything that would occupy his time and his mindbeyond the filling of his belly and the gloomy thoughts to whichhe fell prey the moment that he became idle.

To communicate his plan to the apes was not a particularlydifficult matter, though their narrow and limited vocabularywas strained in the effort; but to impress upon the little,wicked brain of Sheeta that he was to hunt with and not forhis legitimate prey proved a task almost beyond the powersof the ape-man.

Tarzan, among his other weapons, possessed a long, stoutcudgel, and after fastening his rope about the panther's neckhe used this instrument freely upon the snarling beast,endeavouring in this way to impress upon its memory thatit must not attack the great, shaggy manlike creatures thathad approached more closely once they had seen the purposeof the rope about Sheeta's neck.

That the cat did not turn and rend Tarzan is something ofa miracle which may possibly be accounted for by the factthat twice when it turned growling upon the ape-man he hadrapped it sharply upon its sensitive nose, inculcating in itsmind thereby a most wholesome fear of the cudgel and theape-beasts behind it.

It is a question if the original cause of his attachment forTarzan was still at all clear in the mind of the panther,though doubtless some subconscious suggestion, superinduced bythis primary reason and aided and abetted by the habit of the pastfew days, did much to compel the beast to tolerate treatment at hishands that would have sent it at the throat of any other creature.

Then, too, there was the compelling force of the manmind exertingits powerful influence over this creature of a lower order, and,after all, it may have been this that proved the most potent factorin Tarzan's supremacy over Sheeta and the other beasts of the junglethat had from time to time fallen under his domination.

Be that as it may, for days the man, the panther, and thegreat apes roamed their savage haunts side by side, makingtheir kills together and sharing them with one another, andof all the fierce and savage band none was more terrible thanthe smooth-skinned, powerful beast that had been but a fewshort months before a familiar figure in many a Londondrawing room.

Sometimes the beasts separated to follow their own inclinationsfor an hour or a day, and it was upon one of these occasions whenthe ape-man had wandered through the tree-tops toward the beach,and was stretched in the hot sun upon the sand, that from the lowsummit of a near-by promontory a pair of keen eyes discovered him.

For a moment the owner of the eyes looked in astonishmentat the figure of the savage white man basking in therays of that hot, tropic sun; then he turned, making a sign tosome one behind him. Presently another pair of eyes werelooking down upon the ape-man, and then another and another,until a full score of hideously trapped, savage warriorswere lying upon their bellies along the crest of the ridgewatching the white-skinned stranger.

They were down wind from Tarzan, and so their scent wasnot carried to him, and as his back was turned half towardthem he did not see their cautious advance over the edge ofthe promontory and down through the rank grass toward thesandy beach where he lay.

Big fellows they were, all of them, their barbaricheaddresses and grotesquely painted faces, together with theirmany metal ornaments and gorgeously coloured feathers,adding to their wild, fierce appearance.

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

The mental suffering that Tarzan's sorrowful thoughts induced had theeffect of numbing his keen, perceptive faculties, so that theadvancing savages were almost upon him before he became awarethat he was no longer alone upon the beach.

So quickly, though, were his mind and muscles wont toreact in unison to the slightest alarm that he was upon hisfeet and facing his enemies, even as he realized thatsomething was behind him. As he sprang to his feet the warriorsleaped toward him with raised clubs and savage yells, but theforemost went down to sudden death beneath the long, stoutstick of the ape-man, and then the lithe, sinewy figure wasamong them, striking right and left with a fury, power, andprecision that brought panic to the ranks of the blacks.

For a moment they withdrew, those that were left of them,and consulted together at a short distance from the ape-man,who stood with folded arms, a half-smile upon his handsomeface, watching them. Presently they advanced upon him oncemore, this time wielding their heavy war-spears. They werebetween Tarzan and the jungle, in a little semicircle thatclosed in upon him as they advanced.

There seemed to the ape-man but slight chance to escapethe final charge when all the great spears should be hurledsimultaneously at him; but if he had desired to escapethere was no way other than through the ranks of the savagesexcept the open sea behind him.

His predicament was indeed most serious when an ideaoccurred to him that altered his smile to a broad grin. The warriors were still some little distance away,advancing slowly, making, after the manner of their kind,a frightful din with their savage yells and the poundingof their naked feet upon the ground as they leaped up anddown in a fantastic war dance.

Then it was that the ape-man lifted his voice in a series ofwild, weird screams that brought the blacks to a sudden,perplexed halt. They looked at one another questioningly,for here was a sound so hideous that their own frightful dinfaded into insignificance beside it. No human throat couldhave formed those bestial notes, they were sure, and yet withtheir own eyes they had seen this white man open his mouthto pour forth his awful cry.

But only for a moment they hesitated, and then with one accordthey again took up their fantastic advance upon their prey;but even then a sudden crashing in the jungle behind thembrought them once more to a halt, and as they turned to lookin the direction of this new noise there broke upon theirstartled visions a sight that may well have frozen the bloodof braver men than the Wagambi.

Leaping from the tangled vegetation of the jungle's rimcame a huge panther, with blazing eyes and bared fangs, andin his wake a score of mighty, shaggy apes lumbering rapidlytoward them, half erect upon their short, bowed legs, andwith their long arms reaching to the ground, where theirhorny knuckles bore the weight of their ponderous bodies asthey lurched from side to side in their grotesque advance.

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

Before the Wagambi could recover from their astonishmentthe frightful horde was upon them from one side andTarzan of the Apes from the other. Heavy spears were hurledand mighty war-clubs wielded, and though apes went downnever to rise, so, too, went down the men of Ugambi.

Sheeta's cruel fangs and tearing talons ripped and tore atthe black hides. Akut's mighty yellow tusks found the jugularof more than one sleek-skinned savage, and Tarzan of the Apeswas here and there and everywhere, urging on his fierce alliesand taking a heavy toll with his long, slim knife.

In a moment the blacks had scattered for their lives, butof the score that had crept down the grassy sides of thepromontory only a single warrior managed to escape the hordethat had overwhelmed his people.

This one was Mugambi, chief of the Wagambi of Ugambi,and as he disappeared in the tangled luxuriousness of therank growth upon the ridge's summit only the keen eyes ofthe ape-man saw the direction of his flight.

Leaving his pack to eat their fill upon the flesh of theirvictims--flesh that he could not touch--Tarzan of the Apespursued the single survivor of the bloody fray. Just beyondthe ridge he came within sight of the fleeing black, makingwith headlong leaps for a long war-canoe that was drawnwell up upon the beach above the high tide surf.

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

A heavy hand fell upon the shoulder of the escaping Mugambibefore he was aware that he was being pursued, and as heturned to do battle with his assailant giant fingers closedabout his wrists and he was hurled to earth with a giantastride him before he could strike a blow in his own defence.

In the language of the West Coast, Tarzan spoke to theprostrate man beneath him.

"Who are you?" he asked.

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

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

"I will help you," replied Mugambi. "But now that youhave killed all my warriors, I do not know that even I canleave your country, for there will be none to wield the paddles,and without paddlers we cannot cross the water."

Tarzan rose and allowed his prisoner to come to his feet. The fellow was a magnificent specimen of manhood--a blackcounterpart in physique of the splendid white man whom he faced.

"Come!" said the ape-man, and started back in the directionfrom which they could hear the snarling and growlingof the feasting pack. Mugambi drew back.

"They will kill us," he said.

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

Still the black hesitated, fearful of the consequences ofapproaching the terrible creatures that were dining upon thebodies of his warriors; but Tarzan forced him to accompany him,and presently the two emerged from the jungle in full viewof the grisly spectacle upon the beach. At sight of themen the beasts looked up with menacing growls, but Tarzanstrode in among them, dragging the trembling Wagambi with him.

As he had taught the apes to accept Sheeta, so he taughtthem to adopt Mugambi as well, and much more easily; butSheeta seemed quite unable to understand that though he hadbeen called upon to devour Mugambi's warriors he was notto be allowed to proceed after the same fashion with Mugambi. However, being well filled, he contented himself withwalking round the terror-stricken savage, emitting low,menacing growls the while he kept his flaming, balefuleyes riveted upon the black.

Mugambi, on his part, clung closely to Tarzan, so that theape-man could scarce control his laughter at the pitiablecondition to which the chief's fear had reduced him; but at lengththe white took the great cat by the scruff of the neck and,dragging it quite close to the Wagambi, slapped it sharplyupon the nose each time that it growled at the stranger.

At the sight of the thing--a man mauling with his barehands one of the most relentless and fierce of the junglecarnivora--Mugambi's eyes bulged from their sockets, andfrom entertaining a sullen respect for the giant white manwho had made him prisoner, the black felt an almostworshipping awe of Tarzan.

The education of Sheeta progressed so well that in a shorttime Mugambi ceased to be the object of his hungry attention,and the black felt a degree more of safety in his society.

To say that Mugambi was entirely happy or at ease in hisnew environment would not be to adhere strictly to the truth.His eyes were constantly rolling apprehensively from side toside as now one and now another of the fierce pack chancedto wander near him, so that for the most of the time it wasprincipally the whites that showed.

Together Tarzan and Mugambi, with Sheeta and Akut, layin wait at the ford for a deer, and when at a word from theape-man the four of them leaped out upon the affrighted animalthe black was sure that the poor creature died of frightbefore ever one of the great beasts touched it.

Mugambi built a fire and cooked his portion of the kill;but Tarzan, Sheeta, and Akut tore theirs, raw, with theirsharp teeth, growling among themselves when one venturedto encroach upon the share of another.

It was not, after all, strange that the white man's waysshould have been so much more nearly related to those ofthe beasts than were the savage blacks. We are, all of us,creatures of habit, and when the seeming necessity forschooling ourselves in new ways ceases to exist, we fallnaturally and easily into the manners and customs which longusage has implanted ineradicably within us.

Mugambi from childhood had eaten no meat until it hadbeen cooked, while Tarzan, on the other hand, had nevertasted cooked food of any sort until he had grown almost tomanhood, and only within the past three or four years hadhe eaten cooked meat. Not only did the habit of a lifetimeprompt him to eat it raw, but the craving of his palate as well;for to him cooked flesh was spoiled flesh when comparedwith the rich and juicy meat of a fresh, hot kill.

That he could, with relish, eat raw meat that had beenburied by himself weeks before, and enjoy small rodents anddisgusting grubs, seems to us who have been always "civilized"a revolting fact; but had we learned in childhood toeat these things, and had we seen all those about us eat them,they would seem no more sickening to us now than do manyof our greatest dainties, at which a savage African cannibalwould look with repugnance and turn up his nose.

For instance, there is a tribe in the vicinity of Lake Rudolphthat will eat no sheep or cattle, though its next neighborsdo so. Near by is another tribe that eats donkey-meat--acustom most revolting to the surrounding tribes that do noteat donkey. So who may say that it is nice to eat snails andfrogs' legs and oysters, but disgusting to feed upon grubsand beetles, or that a raw oyster, hoof, horns, and tail, is lessrevolting than the sweet, clean meat of a fresh-killed buck?

The next few days Tarzan devoted to the weaving of a barkclothsail with which to equip the canoe, for he despaired of being ableto teach the apes to wield the paddles, though he did manage to getseveral of them to embark in the frail craft which he and Mugambipaddled about inside the reef where the water was quite smooth.

During these trips he had placed paddles in their hands,when they attempted to imitate the movements of him andMugambi, but so difficult is it for them long to concentrateupon a thing that he soon saw that it would require weeks ofpatient training before they would be able to make anyeffective use of these new implements, if, in fact,they should ever do so.

There was one exception, however, and he was Akut. Almost fromthe first he showed an interest in this new sport thatrevealed a much higher plane of intelligence than thatattained by any of his tribe. He seemed to grasp the purposeof the paddles, and when Tarzan saw that this was so he tookmuch pains to explain in the meagre language of the anthropoidhow they might be used to the best advantage.

From Mugambi Tarzan learned that the mainland lay buta short distance from the island. It seemed that the Wagambiwarriors had ventured too far out in their frail craft,and when caught by a heavy tide and a high wind from offshorethey had been driven out of sight of land. After paddlingfor a whole night, thinking that they were headed for home,they had seen this land at sunrise, and, still taking it forthe mainland, had hailed it with joy, nor had Mugambi beenaware that it was an island until Tarzan had told him thatthis was the fact.

The Wagambi chief was quite dubious as to the sail, forhe had never seen such a contrivance used. His country layfar up the broad Ugambi River, and this was the first occasionthat any of his people had found their way to the ocean.

Tarzan, however, was confident that with a good west wind hecould navigate the little craft to the mainland. At any rate,he decided, it would be preferable to perish on the way than toremain indefinitely upon this evidently uncharted island towhich no ships might ever be expected to come.

And so it was that when the first fair wind rose he embarkedupon his cruise, and with him he took as strange andfearsome a crew as ever sailed under a savage master.

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