For a moment Werper had stood above the sleeping ape-man,his murderous knife poised for the fatal thrust;but fear stayed his hand. What if the first blowshould fail to drive the point to his victim's heart?Werper shuddered in contemplation of the disastrousconsequences to himself. Awakened, and even with a fewmoments of life remaining, the giant could literallytear his assailant to pieces should he choose, and theBelgian had no doubt but that Tarzan would so choose.

Again came the soft sound of padded footsteps in thereeds--closer this time. Werper abandoned his design.Before him stretched the wide plain and escape.The jewels were in his possession. To remain longer was torisk death at the hands of Tarzan, or the jaws of thehunter creeping ever nearer. Turning, he slunk awaythrough the night, toward the distant forest.

Tarzan slept on. Where were those uncanny, guardianpowers that had formerly rendered him immune from thedangers of surprise? Could this dull sleeper be thealert, sensitive Tarzan of old?

Perhaps the blow upon his head had numbed his senses,temporarily--who may say? Closer crept the stealthycreature through the reeds. The rustling curtain ofvegetation parted a few paces from where the sleeperlay, and the massive head of a lion appeared. Thebeast surveyed the ape-man intently for a moment, thenhe crouched, his hind feet drawn well beneath him, histail lashing from side to side.

It was the beating of the beast's tail against thereeds which awakened Tarzan. Jungle folk do not awakenslowly--instantly, full consciousness and full commandof their every faculty returns to them from the depthof profound slumber.

Even as Tarzan opened his eyes he was upon his feet,his spear grasped firmly in his hand and ready forattack. Again was he Tarzan of the Apes, sentient,vigilant, ready.

No two lions have identical characteristics, nor doesthe same lion invariably act similarly under likecircumstances. Whether it was surprise, fear orcaution which prompted the lion crouching ready tospring upon the man, is immaterial--the fact remainsthat he did not carry out his original design, he didnot spring at the man at all, but, instead, wheeled andsprang back into the reeds as Tarzan arose andconfronted him.

The ape-man shrugged his broad shoulders and lookedabout for his companion. Werper was nowhere to beseen. At first Tarzan suspected that the man had beenseized and dragged off by another lion, but uponexamination of the ground he soon discovered that theBelgian had gone away alone out into the plain.

For a moment he was puzzled; but presently came to theconclusion that Werper had been frightened by theapproach of the lion, and had sneaked off in terror.A sneer touched Tarzan's lips as he pondered the man'sact--the desertion of a comrade in time of danger, andwithout warning. Well, if that was the sort ofcreature Werper was, Tarzan wished nothing more of him.He had gone, and for all the ape-man cared, he mightremain away--Tarzan would not search for him.

A hundred yards from where he stood grew a large tree,alone upon the edge of the reedy jungle. Tarzan madehis way to it, clambered into it, and finding acomfortable crotch among its branches, reposed himselffor uninterrupted sleep until morning.

And when morning came Tarzan slept on long after thesun had risen. His mind, reverted to the primitive,was untroubled by any more serious obligations thanthose of providing sustenance, and safeguarding his life.Therefore, there was nothing to awaken for untildanger threatened, or the pangs of hunger assailed.It was the latter which eventually aroused him.

Opening his eyes, he stretched his giant thews, yawned,rose and gazed about him through the leafy foliage ofhis retreat. Across the wasted meadowlands and fieldsof John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, Tarzan of the Apeslooked, as a stranger, upon the moving figures ofBasuli and his braves as they prepared their morningmeal and made ready to set out upon the expeditionwhich Basuli had planned after discovering the havoc anddisaster which had befallen the estate of his dead master.

The ape-man eyed the blacks with curiosity.In the back of his brain loitered a fleeting sense offamiliarity with all that he saw, yet he could notconnect any of the various forms of life, animate andinanimate, which had fallen within the range of hisvision since he had emerged from the darkness of thepits of Opar, with any particular event of the past.

Hazily he recalled a grim and hideous form, hairy,ferocious. A vague tenderness dominated his savagesentiments as this phantom memory struggled forrecognition. His mind had reverted to his childhooddays--it was the figure of the giant she-ape, Kala,that he saw; but only half recognized. He saw, too,other grotesque, manlike forms. They were of Terkoz,Tublat, Kerchak, and a smaller, less ferocious figure,that was Neeta, the little playmate of his boyhood.

Slowly, very slowly, as these visions of the pastanimated his lethargic memory, he came to recognizethem. They took definite shape and form, adjustingthemselves nicely to the various incidents of his lifewith which they had been intimately connected. Hisboyhood among the apes spread itself in a slow panoramabefore him, and as it unfolded it induced within him amighty longing for the companionship of the shaggy,low-browed brutes of his past.

He watched the blacks scatter their cook fire anddepart; but though the face of each of them had butrecently been as familiar to him as his own, theyawakened within him no recollections whatsoever.

When they had gone, he descended from the tree andsought food. Out upon the plain grazed numerous herdsof wild ruminants. Toward a sleek, fat bunch of zebrahe wormed his stealthy way. No intricate process ofreasoning caused him to circle widely until he was downwind from his prey--he acted instinctively. He tookadvantage of every form of cover as he crawled upon allfours and often flat upon his stomach toward them.

A plump young mare and a fat stallion grazed nearest tohim as he neared the herd. Again it was instinct whichselected the former for his meat. A low bush grew buta few yards from the unsuspecting two. The ape-manreached its shelter. He gathered his spear firmly inhis grasp. Cautiously he drew his feet beneath him.In a single swift move he rose and cast his heavyweapon at the mare's side. Nor did he wait to note theeffect of his assault, but leaped cat-like after hisspear, his hunting knife in his hand.

For an instant the two animals stood motionless.The tearing of the cruel barb into her side brought asudden scream of pain and fright from the mare, andthen they both wheeled and broke for safety; but Tarzanof the Apes, for a distance of a few yards, could equalthe speed of even these, and the first stride of themare found her overhauled, with a savage beast at hershoulder. She turned, biting and kicking at her foe.Her mate hesitated for an instant, as though about torush to her assistance; but a backward glance revealedto him the flying heels of the balance of the herd, andwith a snort and a shake of his head he wheeled anddashed away.

Clinging with one hand to the short mane of his quarry,Tarzan struck again and again with his knife at theunprotected heart. The result had, from the first,been inevitable. The mare fought bravely, buthopelessly, and presently sank to the earth, her heartpierced. The ape-man placed a foot upon her carcassand raised his voice in the victory call of theMangani. In the distance, Basuli halted as the faintnotes of the hideous scream broke upon his ears.

"The great apes," he said to his companion. "It hasbeen long since I have heard them in the country of theWaziri. What could have brought them back?"

Tarzan grasped his kill and dragged it to the partialseclusion of the bush which had hidden his own nearapproach, and there he squatted upon it, cut a hugehunk of flesh from the loin and proceeded to satisfyhis hunger with the warm and dripping meat.

Attracted by the shrill screams of the mare, a pair ofhyenas slunk presently into view. They trotted to apoint a few yards from the gorging ape-man, and halted.Tarzan looked up, bared his fighting fangs and growled.The hyenas returned the compliment, and withdrew acouple of paces. They made no move to attack; butcontinued to sit at a respectful distance until Tarzanhad concluded his meal. After the ape-man had cut afew strips from the carcass to carry with him, hewalked slowly off in the direction of the river toquench his thirst. His way lay directly toward thehyenas, nor did he alter his course because of them.

With all the lordly majesty of Numa, the lion,he strode straight toward the growling beasts. For amoment they held their ground, bristling and defiant;but only for a moment, and then slunk away to one sidewhile the indifferent ape-man passed them on his lordlyway. A moment later they were tearing at the remainsof the zebra.

Back to the reeds went Tarzan, and through them towardthe river. A herd of buffalo, startled by hisapproach, rose ready to charge or to fly. A great bullpawed the ground and bellowed as his bloodshot eyesdiscovered the intruder; but the ape-man passed acrosstheir front as though ignorant of their existence.The bull's bellowing lessened to a low rumbling, he turnedand scraped a horde of flies from his side with hismuzzle, cast a final glance at the ape-man and resumedhis feeding. His numerous family either followed hisexample or stood gazing after Tarzan in mild-eyedcuriosity, until the opposite reeds swallowed him fromview.

At the river, Tarzan drank his fill and bathed. Duringthe heat of the day he lay up under the shade of a treenear the ruins of his burned barns. His eyes wanderedout across the plain toward the forest, and a longingfor the pleasures of its mysterious depths possessedhis thoughts for a considerable time. With the nextsun he would cross the open and enter the forest! Therewas no hurry--there lay before him an endless vista oftomorrows with naught to fill them but the satisfyingof the appetites and caprices of the moment.

The ape-man's mind was untroubled by regret for thepast, or aspiration for the future. He could lie atfull length along a swaying branch, stretching hisgiant limbs, and luxuriating in the blessed peace ofutter thoughtlessness, without an apprehension or aworry to sap his nervous energy and rob him of hispeace of mind. Recalling only dimly any otherexistence, the ape-man was happy. Lord Greystoke hadceased to exist.

For several hours Tarzan lolled upon his swaying, leafycouch until once again hunger and thirst suggested anexcursion. Stretching lazily he dropped to the groundand moved slowly toward the river. The game trail downwhich he walked had become by ages of use a deep,narrow trench, its walls topped on either side byimpenetrable thicket and dense-growing trees closelyinterwoven with thick-stemmed creepers and lesser vinesinextricably matted into two solid ramparts ofvegetation. Tarzan had almost reached the point wherethe trail debouched upon the open river bottom when hesaw a family of lions approaching along the path fromthe direction of the river. The ape-man counted seven--a male and two lionesses, full grown, and four younglions as large and quite as formidable as theirparents. Tarzan halted, growling, and the lionspaused, the great male in the lead baring his fangs andrumbling forth a warning roar. In his hand the ape-manheld his heavy spear; but he had no intention ofpitting his puny weapon against seven lions; yet hestood there growling and roaring and the lions didlikewise. It was purely an exhibition of jungle bluff.Each was trying to frighten off the other. Neitherwished to turn back and give way, nor did either atfirst desire to precipitate an encounter. The lionswere fed sufficiently so as not to be goaded by pangsof hunger and as for Tarzan he seldom ate the meat ofthe carnivores; but a point of ethics was at stake andneither side wished to back down. So they stood therefacing one another, making all sorts of hideous noisesthe while they hurled jungle invective back and forth.How long this bloodless duel would have persisted it isdifficult to say, though eventually Tarzan would havebeen forced to yield to superior numbers.

There came, however, an interruption which put an endto the deadlock and it came from Tarzan's rear. He andthe lions had been making so much noise that neithercould hear anything above their concerted bedlam, andso it was that Tarzan did not hear the great bulkbearing down upon him from behind until an instantbefore it was upon him, and then he turned to see Buto,the rhinoceros, his little, pig eyes blazing, chargingmadly toward him and already so close that escapeseemed impossible; yet so perfectly were mind andmuscles coordinated in this unspoiled, primitive manthat almost simultaneously with the sense perception ofthe threatened danger he wheeled and hurled his spearat Buto's chest. It was a heavy spear shod with iron,and behind it were the giant muscles of the ape-man,while coming to meet it was the enormous weight of Butoand the momentum of his rapid rush. All that happenedin the instant that Tarzan turned to meet the charge ofthe irascible rhinoceros might take long to tell, andyet would have taxed the swiftest lens to record.As his spear left his hand the ape-man was looking downupon the mighty horn lowered to toss him, so close wasButo to him. The spear entered the rhinoceros' neck atits junction with the left shoulder and passed almostentirely through the beast's body, and at the instantthat he launched it, Tarzan leaped straight into theair alighting upon Buto's back but escaping the mightyhorn.

Then Buto espied the lions and bore madly down uponthem while Tarzan of the Apes leaped nimbly into thetangled creepers at one side of the trail. The firstlion met Buto's charge and was tossed high over theback of the maddened brute, torn and dying, and thenthe six remaining lions were upon the rhinoceros,rending and tearing the while they were being gored ortrampled. From the safety of his perch Tarzan watchedthe royal battle with the keenest interest, for themore intelligent of the jungle folk are interested insuch encounters. They are to them what the racetrackand the prize ring, the theater and the movies are tous. They see them often; but always they enjoy them forno two are precisely alike.

For a time it seemed to Tarzan that Buto, therhinoceros, would prove victor in the gory battle.Already had he accounted for four of the seven lionsand badly wounded the three remaining when in amomentary lull in the encounter he sank limply to hisknees and rolled over upon his side. Tarzan's spearhad done its work. It was the man-made weapon whichkilled the great beast that might easily have survivedthe assault of seven mighty lions, for Tarzan's spearhad pierced the great lungs, and Buto, with victoryalmost in sight, succumbed to internal hemorrhage.

Then Tarzan came down from his sanctuary and as thewounded lions, growling, dragged themselves away, theape-man cut his spear from the body of Buto, hacked offa steak and vanished into the jungle. The episode wasover. It had been all in the day's work--somethingwhich you and I might talk about for a lifetime Tarzandismissed from his mind the moment that the scenepassed from his sight.