Mugambi, after his successful break for liberty,had fallen upon hard times. His way had led him througha country with which he was unfamiliar, a jungle countryin which he could find no water, and but little food,so that after several days of wandering he foundhimself so reduced in strength that he could barelydrag himself along.

It was with growing difficulty that he found thestrength necessary to construct a shelter by nightwherein he might be reasonably safe from the largecarnivora, and by day he still further exhausted hisstrength in digging for edible roots, and searching forwater.

A few stagnant pools at considerable distances apartsaved him from death by thirst; but his was a pitiablestate when finally he stumbled by accident upon a largeriver in a country where fruit was abundant, and smallgame which he might bag by means of a combination ofstealth, cunning, and a crude knob-stick which he hadfashioned from a fallen limb.

Realizing that he still had a long march ahead of himbefore he could reach even the outskirts of the Waziricountry, Mugambi wisely decided to remain where he wasuntil he had recuperated his strength and health. Afew days' rest would accomplish wonders for him, heknew, and he could ill afford to sacrifice his chancesfor a safe return by setting forth handicapped byweakness.

And so it was that he constructed a substantial thornboma, and rigged a thatched shelter within it, where hemight sleep by night in security, and from which hesallied forth by day to hunt the flesh which alonecould return to his giant thews their normal prowess.

One day, as he hunted, a pair of savage eyes discoveredhim from the concealment of the branches of a greattree beneath which the black warrior passed.Bloodshot, wicked eyes they were, set in a fierce andhairy face.

They watched Mugambi make his little kill of a smallrodent, and they followed him as he returned to hishut, their owner moving quietly through the trees uponthe trail of the Negro.

The creature was Chulk, and he looked down upon theunconscious man more in curiosity than in hate. Thewearing of the Arab burnoose which Tarzan had placedupon his person had aroused in the mind of theanthropoid a desire for similar mimicry of theTarmangani. The burnoose, though, had obstructed hismovements and proven such a nuisance that the ape hadlong since torn it from him and thrown it away.

Now, however, he saw a Gomangani arrayed in lesscumbersome apparel--a loin cloth, a few copperornaments and a feather headdress. These were more inline with Chulk's desires than a flowing robe which wasconstantly getting between one's legs, and catchingupon every limb and bush along the leafy trail.

Chulk eyed the pouch, which, suspended over Mugambi'sshoulder, swung beside his black hip. This took hisfancy, for it was ornamented with feathers and afringe, and so the ape hung about Mugambi's boma,waiting an opportunity to seize either by stealth ormight some object of the black's apparel.

Nor was it long before the opportunity came. Feelingsafe within his thorny enclosure, Mugambi was wont tostretch himself in the shade of his shelter during theheat of the day, and sleep in peaceful security untilthe declining sun carried with it the enervatingtemperature of midday.

Watching from above, Chulk saw the black warriorstretched thus in the unconsciousness of sleep onesultry afternoon. Creeping out upon an overhangingbranch the anthropoid dropped to the ground within theboma. He approached the sleeper upon padded feet whichgave forth no sound, and with an uncanny woodcraft thatrustled not a leaf or a grass blade.

Pausing beside the man, the ape bent over and examinedhis belongings. Great as was the strength of Chulkthere lay in the back of his little brain a somethingwhich deterred him from arousing the man to combat--asense that is inherent in all the lower orders, astrange fear of man, that rules even the most powerfulof the jungle creatures at times.

To remove Mugambi's loin cloth without awakening himwould be impossible, and the only detachable thingswere the knob-stick and the pouch, which had fallenfrom the black's shoulder as he rolled in sleep.

Seizing these two articles, as better than nothing atall, Chulk retreated with haste, and every indicationof nervous terror, to the safety of the tree from whichhe had dropped, and, still haunted by that indefinableterror which the close proximity of man awakened in hisbreast, fled precipitately through the jungle. Arousedby attack, or supported by the presence of another ofhis kind, Chulk could have braved the presence of ascore of human beings, but alone--ah, that was adifferent matter--alone, and unenraged.

It was some time after Mugambi awoke that he missed thepouch. Instantly he was all excitement. What couldhave become of it? It had been at his side when he laydown to sleep--of that he was certain, for had he notpushed it from beneath him when its bulging bulk,pressing against his ribs, caused him discomfort? Yes,it had been there when he lay down to sleep. How thenhad it vanished?

Mugambi's savage imagination was filled with visions ofthe spirits of departed friends and enemies, for onlyto the machinations of such as these could he attributethe disappearance of his pouch and knob-stick in thefirst excitement of the discovery of their loss; butlater and more careful investigation, such as hiswoodcraft made possible, revealed indisputable evidenceof a more material explanation than his excited fancyand superstition had at first led him to accept.

In the trampled turf beside him was the faint impressof huge, manlike feet. Mugambi raised his brows as thetruth dawned upon him. Hastily leaving the boma hesearched in all directions about the enclosure for somefarther sign of the tell-tale spoor. He climbed treesand sought for evidence of the direction of the thief'sflight; but the faint signs left by a wary ape whoelects to travel through the trees eluded the woodcraftof Mugambi. Tarzan might have followed them; but noordinary mortal could perceive them, or perceiving,translate.

The black, now strengthened and refreshed by his rest,felt ready to set out again for Waziri, and findinghimself another knob-stick, turned his back upon theriver and plunged into the mazes of the jungle.

As Taglat struggled with the bonds which secured theankles and wrists of his captive, the great lion thateyed the two from behind a nearby clump of busheswormed closer to his intended prey.

The ape's back was toward the lion. He did not see thebroad head, fringed by its rough mane, protrudingthrough the leafy wall. He could not know that thepowerful hind paws were gathering close beneath thetawny belly preparatory to a sudden spring, and hisfirst intimation of impending danger was the thunderousand triumphant roar which the charging lion could nolonger suppress.

Scarce pausing for a backward glance, Taglat abandonedthe unconscious woman and fled in the oppositedirection from the horrid sound which had broken in sounexpected and terrifying a manner upon his startledears; but the warning had come too late to save him,and the lion, in his second bound, alighted full uponthe broad shoulders of the anthropoid.

As the great bull went down there was awakened in himto the full all the cunning, all the ferocity, all thephysical prowess which obey the mightiest of thefundamental laws of nature, the law of self-preservation,and turning upon his back he closed withthe carnivore in a death struggle so fearless andabandoned, that for a moment the great Numa himself mayhave trembled for the outcome.

Seizing the lion by the mane, Taglat buried hisyellowed fangs deep in the monster's throat, growlinghideously through the muffled gag of blood and hair.Mixed with the ape's voice the lion's roars of rage andpain reverberated through the jungle, till the lessercreatures of the wild, startled from their peacefulpursuits, scurried fearfully away.

Rolling over and over upon the turf the two battledwith demoniac fury, until the colossal cat, by doublinghis hind paws far up beneath his belly sank his talonsdeep into Taglat's chest, then, ripping downward withall his strength, Numa accomplished his design, and thedisemboweled anthropoid, with a last spasmodicstruggle, relaxed in limp and bloody dissolutionbeneath his titanic adversary.

Scrambling to his feet, Numa looked about quickly inall directions, as though seeking to detect thepossible presence of other foes; but only the still andunconscious form of the girl, lying a few paces fromhim met his gaze, and with an angry growl he placed aforepaw upon the body of his kill and raising his headgave voice to his savage victory cry.

For another moment he stood with fierce eyes roving toand fro about the clearing. At last they halted for asecond time upon the girl. A low growl rumbled fromthe lion's throat. His lower jaw rose and fell, andthe slaver drooled and dripped upon the dead face ofTaglat.

Like two yellow-green augurs, wide and unblinking, theterrible eyes remained fixed upon Jane Clayton. Theerect and majestic pose of the great frame shranksuddenly into a sinister crouch as, slowly and gentlyas one who treads on eggs, the devil-faced cat creptforward toward the girl.

Beneficent Fate maintained her in happy unconsciousnessof the dread presence sneaking stealthily upon her.She did not know when the lion paused at her side.She did not hear the sniffing of his nostrils as he smelledabout her. She did not feel the heat of the fetidbreath upon her face, nor the dripping of the salivafrom the frightful jaws half opened so close above her.

Finally the lion lifted a forepaw and turned the bodyof the girl half over, then he stood again eyeing heras though still undetermined whether life was extinctor not. Some noise or odor from the nearby jungleattracted his attention for a moment. His eyes did notagain return to Jane Clayton, and presently he lefther, walked over to the remains of Taglat, andcrouching down upon his kill with his back toward thegirl, proceeded to devour the ape.

It was upon this scene that Jane Clayton at last openedher eyes. Inured to danger, she maintained herself-possession in the face of the startling surprisewhich her new-found consciousness revealed to her. Sheneither cried out nor moved a muscle, until she hadtaken in every detail of the scene which lay within therange of her vision.

She saw that the lion had killed the ape, and that hewas devouring his prey less than fifty feet from whereshe lay; but what could she do? Her hands and feet werebound. She must wait then, in what patience she couldcommand, until Numa had eaten and digested the ape,when, without doubt, he would return to feast upon her,unless, in the meantime, the dread hyenas shoulddiscover her, or some other of the numerous prowlingcarnivora of the jungle.

As she lay tormented by these frightful thoughts, shesuddenly became conscious that the bonds at her wristsand ankles no longer hurt her, and then of the factthat her hands were separated, one lying upon eitherside of her, instead of both being confined at her back.

Wonderingly she moved a hand. What miracle had beenperformed? It was not bound! Stealthily and noiselesslyshe moved her other limbs, only to discover that shewas free. She could not know how the thing hadhappened, that Taglat, gnawing upon them for sinisterpurposes of his own, had cut them through but aninstant before Numa had frightened him from his victim.

For a moment Jane Clayton was overwhelmed with joy andthanksgiving; but only for a moment. What good was hernew-found liberty in the face of the frightful beastcrouching so close beside her? If she could have hadthis chance under different conditions, how happily shewould have taken advantage of it; but now it was givento her when escape was practically impossible.

The nearest tree was a hundred feet away, the lion lessthan fifty. To rise and attempt to reach the safety ofthose tantalizing branches would be but to inviteinstant destruction, for Numa would doubtless be toojealous of this future meal to permit it to escape withease. And yet, too, there was another possibility--achance which hinged entirely upon the unknown temper ofthe great beast.

His belly already partially filled, he might watch withindifference the departure of the girl; yet could sheafford to chance so improbable a contingency? Shedoubted it. Upon the other hand she was no more mindedto allow this frail opportunity for life to entirelyelude her without taking or attempting to take someadvantage from it.

She watched the lion narrowly. He could not see herwithout turning his head more than halfway around. Shewould attempt a ruse. Silently she rolled over in thedirection of the nearest tree, and away from the lion,until she lay again in the same position in which Numahad left her, but a few feet farther from him.

Here she lay breathless watching the lion; but thebeast gave no indication that he had heard aught toarouse his suspicions. Again she rolled over, gaininga few more feet and again she lay in rigidcontemplation of the beast's back.

During what seemed hours to her tense nerves, JaneClayton continued these tactics, and still the lion fedon in apparent unconsciousness that his second prey wasescaping him. Already the girl was but a few pacesfrom the tree--a moment more and she would be closeenough to chance springing to her feet, throwingcaution aside and making a sudden, bold dash forsafety. She was halfway over in her turn, her faceaway from the lion, when he suddenly turned his greathead and fastened his eyes upon her. He saw her rollover upon her side away from him, and then her eyeswere turned again toward him, and the cold sweat brokefrom the girl's every pore as she realized that withlife almost within her grasp, death had found her out.

For a long time neither the girl nor the lion moved.The beast lay motionless, his head turned upon hisshoulders and his glaring eyes fixed upon the rigidvictim, now nearly fifty yards away. The girl staredback straight into those cruel orbs, daring not to moveeven a muscle.

The strain upon her nerves was becoming so unbearablethat she could scarcely restrain a growing desire toscream, when Numa deliberately turned back to thebusiness of feeding; but his back-layed ears attested asinister regard for the actions of the girl behind him.

Realizing that she could not again turn withoutattracting his immediate and perhaps fatal attention,Jane Clayton resolved to risk all in one last attemptto reach the tree and clamber to the lower branches.

Gathering herself stealthily for the effort, she leapedsuddenly to her feet, but almost simultaneously thelion sprang up, wheeled and with wide-distended jawsand terrific roars, charged swiftly down upon her.

Those who have spent lifetimes hunting the big game ofAfrica will tell you that scarcely any other creaturein the world attains the speed of a charging lion.For the short distance that the great cat can maintain it,it resembles nothing more closely than the onrushing ofa giant locomotive under full speed, and so, though thedistance that Jane Clayton must cover was relativelysmall, the terrific speed of the lion rendered herhopes of escape almost negligible.

Yet fear can work wonders, and though the upward springof the lion as he neared the tree into which she wasscrambling brought his talons in contact with her bootsshe eluded his raking grasp, and as he hurtled againstthe bole of her sanctuary, the girl drew herself intothe safety of the branches above his reach.

For some time the lion paced, growling and moaning,beneath the tree in which Jane Clayton crouched,panting and trembling. The girl was a prey to thenervous reaction from the frightful ordeal throughwhich she had so recently passed, and in heroverwrought state it seemed that never again should shedare descend to the ground among the fearsome dangerswhich infested the broad stretch of jungle that sheknew must lie between herself and the nearest villageof her faithful Waziri.

It was almost dark before the lion finally quit theclearing, and even had his place beside the remnants ofthe mangled ape not been immediately usurped by a packof hyenas, Jane Clayton would scarcely have daredventure from her refuge in the face of impending night,and so she composed herself as best she could for thelong and tiresome wait, until daylight might offer somemeans of escape from the dread vicinity in which shehad witnessed such terrifying adventures.

Tired nature at last overcame even her fears, and shedropped into a deep slumber, cradled in a comparativelysafe, though rather uncomfortable, position against thebole of the tree, and supported by two large brancheswhich grew outward, almost horizontally, but a fewinches apart.

The sun was high in the heavens when she at last awoke,and beneath her was no sign either of Numa or thehyenas. Only the clean-picked bones of the ape,scattered about the ground, attested the fact of whathad transpired in this seemingly peaceful spot but afew hours before.

Both hunger and thirst assailed her now, and realizingthat she must descend or die of starvation, she at lastsummoned courage to undertake the ordeal of continuingher journey through the jungle.

Descending from the tree, she set out in a southerlydirection, toward the point where she believed theplains of Waziri lay, and though she knew that onlyruin and desolation marked the spot where once herhappy home had stood, she hoped that by coming to thebroad plain she might eventually reach one of thenumerous Waziri villages that were scattered over thesurrounding country, or chance upon a roving band ofthese indefatigable huntsmen.

The day was half spent when there broke unexpectedlyupon her startled ears the sound of a rifle shot notfar ahead of her. As she paused to listen, this firstshot was followed by another and another and another.What could it mean? The first explanation which sprungto her mind attributed the firing to an encounterbetween the Arab raiders and a party of Waziri; but asshe did not know upon which side victory might rest, orwhether she were behind friend or foe, she dared notadvance nearer on the chance of revealing herself to anenemy.

After listening for several minutes she becameconvinced that no more than two or three rifles wereengaged in the fight, since nothing approximating thesound of a volley reached her ears; but still shehesitated to approach, and at last, determining to takeno chance, she climbed into the concealing foliage of atree beside the trail she had been following and therefearfully awaited whatever might reveal itself.

As the firing became less rapid she caught the sound ofmen's voices, though she could distinguish no words,and at last the reports of the guns ceased, and sheheard two men calling to each other in loud tones.Then there was a long silence which was finally brokenby the stealthy padding of footfalls on the trail aheadof her, and in another moment a man appeared in viewbacking toward her, a rifle ready in his hands, and hiseyes directed in careful watchfulness along the waythat he had come.

Almost instantly Jane Clayton recognized the man as M.Jules Frecoult, who so recently had been a guest in herhome. She was upon the point of calling to him in gladrelief when she saw him leap quickly to one side andhide himself in the thick verdure at the trail's side.It was evident that he was being followed by an enemy,and so Jane Clayton kept silent, lest she distractFrecoult's attention, or guide his foe to his hidingplace.

Scarcely had Frecoult hidden himself than the figure ofa white-robed Arab crept silently along the trail inpursuit. From her hiding place, Jane Clayton could seeboth men plainly. She recognized Achmet Zek as theleader of the band of ruffians who had raided her homeand made her a prisoner, and as she saw Frecoult, thesupposed friend and ally, raise his gun and takecareful aim at the Arab, her heart stood still andevery power of her soul was directed upon a ferventprayer for the accuracy of his aim.

Achmet Zek paused in the middle of the trail. His keeneyes scanned every bush and tree within the radius ofhis vision. His tall figure presented a perfect targetto the perfidious assassin. There was a sharp report,and a little puff of smoke arose from the bush that hidthe Belgian, as Achmet Zek stumbled forward andpitched, face down, upon the trail.

As Werper stepped back into the trail, he was startledby the sound of a glad cry from above him, and as hewheeled about to discover the author of this unexpectedinterruption, he saw Jane Clayton drop lightly from anearby tree and run forward with outstretched hands tocongratulate him upon his victory.