When the Lion Fed

Tarzan the Untamed

by Edgar R. Burroughs

WHEN THE LION FED, TARZAN THE UNTAMED by Edgar R. Burroughs
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Kudu, the sun, was well up in the heavens when Tarzan
awoke. The ape-man stretched his giant limbs, ran his
fingers through his thick hair, and swung lightly down to
earth. Immediately he took up the trail he had come in search
of, following it by scent down into a deep ravine. Cautiously
he went now, for his nose told him that the quarry was close
at hand, and presently from an overhanging bough he looked
down upon Horta, the boar, and many of his kinsmen. Un-
slinging his bow and selecting an arrow, Tarzan fitted the shaft
and, drawing it far back, took careful aim at the largest of the
great pigs. In the ape-man's teeth were other arrows, and
no sooner had the first one sped, than he had fitted and shot
another bolt. Instantly the pigs were in turmoil, not knowing
from whence the danger threatened. They stood stupidly at
first and then commenced milling around until six of their
number lay dead or dying about them; then with a chorus of
grunts and squeals they started off at a wild run, disappearing
quickly in the dense underbrush.

Tarzan then descended from the tree, dispatched those that
were not already dead and proceeded to skin the carcasses.
As he worked, rapidly and with great skill, he neither hummed
nor whistled as does the average man of civilization. It was
in numerous little ways such as these that he differed from
other men, due, probably, to his early jungle training. The
beasts of the jungle that he had been reared among were
playful to maturity but seldom thereafter. His fellow-apes,
especially the bulls, became fierce and surly as they grew
older. Life was a serious matter during lean seasons -- one had
to fight to secure one's share of food then, and the habit once
formed became lifelong. Hunting for food was the life labor
of the jungle bred, and a life labor is a thing not to be ap-
proached with levity nor prosecuted lightly. So all work
found Tarzan serious, though he still retained what the other
beasts lost as they grew older -- a sense of humor, which he
gave play to when the mood suited him. It was a grim humor
and sometimes ghastly; but it satisfied Tarzan.

Then, too, were one to sing and whistle while working on
the ground, concentration would be impossible. Tarzan pos-
sessed the ability to concentrate each of his five senses upon
its particular business. Now he worked at skinning the six
pigs and his eyes and his fingers worked as though there was
naught else in all the world than these six carcasses; but his
ears and his nose were as busily engaged elsewhere -- the
former ranging the forest all about and the latter assaying each
passing zephyr. It was his nose that first discovered the ap-
proach of Sabor, the lioness, when the wind shifted for a mo-
ment.

As clearly as though he had seen her with his eyes, Tarzan
knew that the lioness had caught the scent of the freshly
killed pigs and immediately had moved down wind in their
direction. He knew from the strength of the scent spoor and
the rate of the wind about how far away she was and that she
was approaching from behind him. He was finishing the last
pig and he did not hurry. The five pelts lay close at hand --
he had been careful to keep them thus together and near
him -- an ample tree waved its low branches above him.

He did not even turn his head for he knew she was not yet
in sight; but he bent his ears just a bit more sharply for the
first sound of her nearer approach. When the final skin had
been removed he rose. Now he heard Sabor in the bushes to
his rear, but not yet too close. Leisurely he gathered up the
six pelts and one of the carcasses, and as the lioness appeared
between the boles of two trees he swung upward into the
branches above him. Here he hung the hides over a limb,
seated himself comfortably upon another with his back against
the bole of the tree, cut a hind quarter from the carcass he had
carried with him and proceeded to satisfy his hunger. Sabor
slunk, growling, from the brush, cast a wary eye upward
toward the ape-man and then fell upon the nearest carcass.

Tarzan looked down upon her and grinned, recalling an
argument he had once had with a famous big-game hunter who
had declared that the king of beasts ate only what he himself
had killed. Tarzan knew better for he had seen Numa and
Sabor stoop even to carrion.

Having filled his belly, the ape-man fell to work upon the
hides -- all large and strong. First he cut strips from them
about half an inch wide. When he had sufficient number
of these strips he sewed two of the hides together, afterwards
piercing holes every three or four inches around the edges.
Running another strip through these holes gave him a large
bag with a drawstring. In similar fashion he produced four
other like bags, but smaller, from the four remaining hides and
had several strips left over.

All this done he threw a large, juicy fruit at Sabor, cached
the remainder of the pig in a crotch of the tree and swung off
toward the southwest through the middle terraces of the
forest, carrying his five bags with him. Straight he went to
the rim of the gulch where he had imprisoned Numa, the lion.
Very stealthily he approached the edge and peered over.
Numa was not in sight. Tarzan sniffed and listened. He could
hear nothing, yet he knew that Numa must be within the cave.
He hoped that he slept -- much depended upon Numa not
discovering him.

Cautiously he lowered himself over the edge of the cliff, and
with utter noiselessness commenced the descent toward the
bottom of the gulch. He stopped often and turned his keen
eyes and ears in the direction of the cave's mouth at the far
end of the gulch, some hundred feet away. As he neared the
foot of the cliff his danger increased greatly. If he could
reach the bottom and cover half the distance to the tree that
stood in the center of the gulch he would feel comparatively
safe for then, even if Numa appeared, he felt that he could
beat him either to the cliff or to the tree, but to scale the
first thirty feet of the cliff rapidly enough to elude the
leaping
beast would require a running start of at least twenty feet as
there were no very good hand- or footholds dose to the bottom
-- he had had to run up the first twenty feet like a squirrel
running up a tree that other time he had beaten an infuriated
Numa to it. He had no desire to attempt it again unless the
conditions were equally favorable at least, for he had escaped
Numa's raking talons by only a matter of inches on the former
occasion.

At last he stood upon the floor of the gulch. Silent as a
disembodied spirit he advanced toward the tree. He was half
way there and no sign of Numa. He reached the scarred bole
from which the famished lion had devoured the bark and even
torn pieces of the wood itself and yet Numa had not appeared.
As he drew himself up to the lower branches he commenced
to wonder if Numa were in the cave after all. Could it be
possible that he had forced the barrier of rocks with which
Tarzan had plugged the other end of the passage where it
opened into the outer world of freedom? Or was Numa dead?
The ape-man doubted the verity of the latter suggestion as
he had fed the lion the entire carcasses of a deer and a hyena
only a few days since -- he could not have starved in so short a
time, while the little rivulet running across the gulch furnished
him with water a-plenty.

Tarzan started to descend and investigate the cavern when
it occurred to him that it would save effort were he to lure
Numa out instead. Acting upon the thought he uttered a low
growl. Immediately he was rewarded by the sound of a move-
ment within the cave and an instant later a wild-eyed, haggard
lion rushed forth ready to face the devil himself were he edible.
When Numa saw Tarzan, fat and sleek, perched in the tree
he became suddenly the embodiment of frightful rage. His
eyes and his nose told him that this was the creature respon-
sible for his predicament and also that this creature was good
to eat. Frantically the lion sought to scramble up the bole of
the tree. Twice he leaped high enough to catch the lowest
branches with his paws, but both times he fell backward to
the earth. Each time he became more furious. His growls
and roars were incessant and horrible and all the time Tarzan
sat grinning down upon him, taunting him in jungle billings-
gate for his inability to reach him and mentally exulting that
always Numa was wasting his already waning strength.

Finally the ape-man rose and unslung his rope. He arranged
the coils carefully in his left hand and the noose in his right,
and then he took a position with each foot on one of two
branches that lay in about the same horizontal plane and with
his back pressed firmly against the stem of the tree. There
he stood hurling insults at Numa until the beast was again
goaded into leaping upward at him, and as Numa rose the
noose dropped quickly over his head and about his neck. A
quick movement of Tarzan's rope hand tightened the coil and
when Numa slipped backward to the ground only his hind
feet touched, for the ape-man held him swinging by the neck.

Moving slowly outward upon the two branches Tarzan
swung Numa out so that he could not reach the bole of the
tree with his raking talons, then he made the rope fast after
drawing the lion clear of the ground, dropped his five pigskin
sacks to earth and leaped down himself. Numa was striking
frantically at the grass rope with his fore claws. At any mo-
ment he might sever it and Tarzan must, therefore, work
rapidly.

First he drew the larger bag over Numa's head and secured
it about his neck with the draw string, then he managed, after
considerable effort, during which he barely escaped being torn
to ribbons by the mighty talons, to hog-tie Numa -- drawing
his four legs together and securing them in that position with
the strips trimmed from the pigskins.

By this time the lion's efforts had almost ceased -- it was
evident that he was being rapidly strangled and as that did
not at all suit the purpose of the Tarmangani the latter swung
again into the tree, unfastened the rope from above and
lowered the lion to the ground where he immediately fol-
lowed it and loosed the noose about Numa's neck. Then he
drew his hunting knife and cut two round holes in the front
of the head bag opposite the lion's eyes for the double purpose
of permitting him to see and giving him sufficient air to
breathe.

This done Tarzan busied himself fitting the other bags, one
over each of Numa's formidably armed paws. Those on the
hind feet he secured not only by tightening the draw strings
but also rigged garters that fastened tightly around the legs
above the hocks. He secured the front-feet bags in place
similarly above the great knees. Now, indeed, was Numa, the
lion, reduced to the harmlessness of Bara, the deer.

By now Numa was showing signs of returning life. He
gasped for breath and struggled; but the strips of pigskin that
held his four legs together were numerous and tough. Tarzan
watched and was sure that they would hold, yet Numa is
mightily muscled and there was the chance, always, that he
might struggle free of his bonds after which all would depend
upon the efficacy of Tarzan's bags and draw strings.

After Numa had again breathed normally and was able to
roar out his protests and his rage, his struggles increased to
Titanic proportions for a short time; but as a lion's powers of
endurance are in no way proportionate to his size and strength
he soon tired and lay quietly. Amid renewed growling and
another futile attempt to free himself, Numa was finally forced
to submit to the further indignity of having a rope secured
about his neck; but this time it was no noose that might
tighten and strangle him; but a bowline knot, which does not
tighten or slip under strain.

The other end of the rope Tarzan fastened to the stem of
the tree, then he quickly cut the bonds securing Numa's legs
and leaped aside as the beast sprang to his feet. For a mo-
ment the lion stood with legs far outspread, then he raised
first one paw and then another, shaking them energetically in
an effort to dislodge the strange footgear that Tarzan had
fastened upon them. Finally he began to paw at the bag
upon his head. The ape-man, standing with ready spear,
watched Numa's efforts intently. Would the bags hold? He
sincerely hoped so. Or would all his labor prove fruitless?

As the clinging things upon his feet and face resisted his
every effort to dislodge them, Numa became frantic. He
rolled upon the ground, fighting, biting, scratching, and roar-
ing; he leaped to his feet and sprang into the air; he charged
Tarzan, only to be brought to a sudden stop as the rope secur-
ing him to the tree tautened. Then Tarzan stepped in and
rapped him smartly on the head with the shaft of his spear.
Numa reared upon his hind feet and struck at the are-man
and in return received a cuff on one ear that sent him reeling
sideways. When he returned to the attack he was again sent
sprawling. After the fourth effort it appeared to dawn upon
the king of beasts that he had met his master, his head and
tail dropped and when Tarzan advanced upon him he backed
away, though still growling.

Leaving Numa tied to the tree Tarzan entered the tunnel
and removed the barricade from the opposite end, after which
he returned to the gulch and strode straight for the tree.
Numa lay in his path and as Tarzan approached growled
menacingly. The ape-man cuffed him aside and unfastened
the rope from the tree. Then ensued a half-hour of stubbornly
fought battle while Tarzan endeavored to drive Numa through
the tunnel ahead of him and Numa persistently refused to be
driven. At last, however, by dint of the unrestricted use of
his spear point, the ape-man succeeded in forcing the lion to
move ahead of him and eventually guided him into the pas-
sageway. Once inside, the problem became simpler since
Tarzan followed closely in the rear with his sharp spear point,
an unremitting incentive to forward movement on the part of
the lion. If Numa hesitated he was prodded. If he backed
up the result was extremely painful and so, being a wise lion
who was learning rapidly, he decided to keep on going and
at the end of the tunnel, emerging into the outer world, he
sensed freedom, raised his head and tail and started off at a
run.

Tarzan, still on his hands and knees just inside the entrance,
was taken unaware with the result that he was sprawled
forward upon his face and dragged a hundred yards across the
rocky ground before Numa was brought to a stand. It was
a scratched and angry Tarzan who scrambled to his feet. At
first he was tempted to chastise Numa; but, as the ape-man
seldom permitted his temper to guide him in any direction not
countenanced by reason, he quickly abandoned the idea.

Having taught Numa the rudiments of being driven, he
now urged him forward and there commenced as strange a
journey as the unrecorded history of the jungle contains. The
balance of that day was eventful both for Tarzan and for
Numa. From open rebellion at first the lion passed through
stages of stubborn resistance and grudging obedience to final
surrender. He was a very tired, hungry, and thirsty lion when
night overtook them; but there was to be no food for him that
day or the next -- Tarzan did not dare risk removing the head
bag, though he did cut another hole which permitted Numa
to quench his thirst shortly after dark. Then he tied him to
a tree, sought food for himself, and stretched out among the
branches above his captive for a few hours' sleep.

Early the following morning they resumed their journey,
winding over the low foothills south of Kilimanjaro, toward
the east. The beasts of the jungle who saw them took one
look and fled. The scent spoor of Numa, alone, might have
been enough to have provoked flight in many of the lesser
animals, but the sight of this strange apparition that smelled
like a lion, but looked like nothing they ever had seen before,
being led through the jungles by a giant Tarmangani was too
much for even the more formidable denizens of the wild.

Sabor, the lioness, recognizing from a distance the scent of
her lord and master intermingled with that of a Tarmangani
and the hide of Horta, the boar, trotted through the aisles of
the forest to investigate. Tarzan and Numa heard her coming,
for she voiced a plaintive and questioning whine as the baffling
mixture of odors aroused her curiosity and her fears, for lions,
however terrible they may appear, are often timid animals and
Sabor, being of the gentler sex, was, naturally, habitually in-
quisitive as well.

Tarzan unslung his spear for he knew that he might now
easily have to fight to retain his prize. Numa halted and
turned his outraged head in the direction of the coming she.
He voiced a throaty growl that was almost a purr. Tarzan
was upon the point of prodding him on again when Sabor
broke into view, and behind her the ape-man saw that which
gave him instant pause -- four full-grown lions trailing the
lioness.

To have goaded Numa then into active resistance might
have brought the whole herd down upon him and so Tarzan
waited to learn first what their attitude would be. He had
no idea of relinquishing his lion without a battle; but knowing
lions as he did, he knew that there was no assurance as to
just what the newcomers would do.

The lioness was young and sleek, and the four males were
in their prime -- as handsome lions as he ever had seen. Three
of the males were scantily maned but one, the foremost, car-
ried a splendid, black mane that rippled in the breeze as he
trotted majestically forward. The lioness halted a hundred
feet from Tarzan, while the lions came on past her and stopped
a few feet nearer. Their ears were upstanding and their eyes
filled with curiosity. Tarzan could not even guess what they
might do. The lion at his side faced them fully, standing
silent now and watchful.

Suddenly the lioness gave vent to another little whine, at
which Tarzan's lion voiced a terrific roar and leaped forward
straight toward the beast of the black mane. The sight of this
awesome creature with the strange face was too much for the
lion toward which he leaped, dragging Tarzan after him, and
with a growl the lion turned and fled, followed by his com-
panions and the she.

Numa attempted to follow them; Tarzan held him in
leash and when he turned upon him in rage, beat him un-
mercifully across the head with his spear. Shaking his head
and growling, the lion at last moved off again in the direction
they had been traveling; but it was an hour before he ceased
to sulk. He was very hungry -- half famished in fact -- and
consequently of an ugly temper, yet so thoroughly subdued
by Tarzan's heroic methods of lion taming that he was pres-
ently pacing along at the ape-man's side like some huge St.
Bernard.

It was dark when the two approached the British right, after
a slight delay farther back because of a German patrol it had
been necessary to elude. A short distance from the British line
of out-guard sentinels Tarzan tied Numa to a tree and con-
tinued on alone. He evaded a sentinel, passed the out-guard
and support, and by devious ways came again to Colonel
Capell's headquarters, where he appeared before the officers
gathered there as a disembodied spirit materializing out of
thin air.

When they saw who it was that came thus unannounced
they smiled and the colonel scratched his head in perplexity.

"Someone should be shot for this," he said. "I might just
as well not establish an out-post if a man can filter through
whenever he pleases."

Tarzan smiled. "Do not blame them," he said, "for I am not
a man. I am Tarmangani. Any Mangani who wished to,
could enter your camp almost at will; but if you have them for
sentinels no one could enter without their knowledge."

"What are the Mangani?" asked the colonel. "Perhaps we
might enlist a bunch of the beggars."

Tarzan shook his head. "They are the great apes," he
explained; "my people; but you could not use them. They
cannot concentrate long enough upon a single idea. If I told
them of this they would be much interested for a short time --
I might even hold the interest of a few long enough to get
them here and explain their duties to them; but soon they
would lose interest and when you needed them most they
might be off in the forest searching for beetles instead of
watching their posts. They have the minds of little children
-- that is why they remain what they are."

"You call them Mangani and yourself Tarmangani -- what is
the difference?" asked Major Preswick.

"Tar means white," replied Tarzan, "and Mangani, great
ape. My name -- the name they gave me in the tribe of Ker-
chak -- means White-skin. When I was a little balu my skin,
I presume, looked very white indeed against the beautiful,
black coat of Kala, my foster mother and so they called me
Tarzan, the Tarmangani. They call you, too, Tarmangani," he
concluded, smiling.

Capell smiled. "It is no reproach, Greystoke," he said; "and,
by Jove, it would be a mark of distinction if a fellow could
act the part. And now how about your plan? Do you still
think you can empty the trench opposite our sector?"

"Is it still held by Gomangani?" asked Tarzan.

"What are Gomangani?" inquired the colonel. "It is still
held by native troops, if that is what you mean."

"Yes," replied the ape-man, "the Gomangani are the great
black apes -- the Negroes."

"What do you intend doing and what do you want us to
do?" asked Capell.

Tarzan approached the table and placed a finger on the
map. "Here is a listening post," he said; "they have a machine
gun in it. A tunnel connects it with this trench at this point."
His finger moved from place to place on the map as he talked.
"Give me a bomb and when you hear it burst in this listening
post let your men start across No Man's Land slowly. Pres-
ently they will hear a commotion in the enemy trench; but
they need not hurry, and, whatever they do, have them come
quietly. You might also warn them that I may be in the
trench and that I do not care to be shot or bayoneted."

"And that is all?" queried Capell, after directing an officer
to give Tarzan a hand grenade; "you will empty the trench
alone?"

"Not exactly alone," replied Tarzan with a grim smile; "but
I shall empty it, and, by the way, your men may come in
through the tunnel from the listening post if you prefer. In
about half an hour, Colonel," and he turned and left them.

As he passed through the camp there flashed suddenly upon
the screen of recollection, conjured there by some reminder
of his previous visit to headquarters, doubtless, the image of
the officer he had passed as he quit the colonel that other
time and simultaneously recognition of the face that had been
revealed by the light from the fire. He shook his head dubi-
ously. No, it could not be and yet the features of the young
officer were identical with those of Fraulein Kircher, the Ger-
man spy he had seen at German headquarters the night he
took Major Schneider from under the nose of the Hun general
and his staff.

Beyond the last line of sentinels Tarzan moved quickly in
the direction of Numa, the lion. The beast was lying down as
Tarzan approached, but he rose as the ape-man reached his
side. A low whine escaped his muzzled lips. Tarzan smiled
for he recognized in the new note almost a supplication -- it
was more like the whine of a hungry dog begging for food
than the voice of the proud king of beasts.

"Soon you will kill -- and feed," he murmured in the ver-
nacular of the great apes.

He unfastened the rope from about the tree and, with Numa
close at his side, slunk into No Man's Land. There was little
rifle fire and only an occasional shell vouched for the presence
of artillery behind the opposing lines. As the shells from
both sides were falling well back of the trenches, they consti-
tuted no menace to Tarzan; but the noise of them and that
of the rifle fire had a marked effect upon Numa who crouched,
trembling, close to the Tarmangani as though seeking protec-
tion.

Cautiously the two beasts moved forward toward the listen-
ing post of the Germans. In one hand Tarzan carried the
bomb the English had given him, in the other was the coiled
rope attached to the lion. At last Tarzan could see the posi-
tion a few yards ahead. His keen eyes picked out the head
and shoulders of the sentinel on watch. The ape-man grasped
the bomb firmly in his right hand. He measured the distance
with his eye and gathered his feet beneath him, then in a
single motion he rose and threw the missile, immediately
flattening himself prone upon the ground.

Five seconds later there was a terrific explosion in the center
of the listening post. Numa gave a nervous start and at-
tempted to break away; but Tarzan held him and, leaping to
his feet, ran forward, dragging Numa after him. At the edge
of the post he saw below him but slight evidence that the
position had been occupied at all, for only a few shreds of
torn flesh remained. About the only thing that had not been
demolished was a machine gun which had been protected by
sand bags.

There was not an instant to lose. Already a relief might be
crawling through the communication tunnel, for it must have
been evident to the sentinels in the Hun trenches that the
listening post had been demolished. Numa hesitated to fol-
low Tarzan into the excavation; but the ape-man, who was in
no mood to temporize, jerked him roughly to the bottom.
Before them lay the mouth of the tunnel that led back from
No Man's Land to the German trenches. Tarzan pushed Numa
forward until his head was almost in the aperture, then as
though it were an afterthought, he turned quickly and, taking
the machine gun from the parapet, placed it in the bottom of
the hole close at hand, after which he turned again to Numa,
and with his knife quickly cut the garters that held the bags
upon his front paws. Before the lion could know that a part
of his formidable armament was again released for action,
Tarzan had cut the rope from his neck and the head bag from
his face, and grabbing the lion from the rear had thrust him
partially into the mouth of the tunnel.

Then Numa balked, only to feel the sharp prick of Tarzan's
knife point in his hind quarters. Goading him on the ape-man
finally succeeded in getting the lion sufficiently far into the
tunnel so that there was no chance of his escaping other than
by going forward or deliberately backing into the sharp blade
at his rear. Then Tarzan cut the bags from the great hind
feet, placed his shoulder and his knife point against Numa's
seat, dug his toes into the loose earth that had been broken
up by the explosion of the bomb, and shoved.

Inch by inch at first Numa advanced. He was growling
now and presently he commenced to roar. Suddenly he
leaped forward and Tarzan knew that he had caught the
scent of meat ahead. Dragging the machine gun beside him
the ape-man followed quickly after the lion whose roars he
could plainly hear ahead mingled with the unmistakable
screams of frightened men. Once again a grim smile touched
the lips of this man-beast.

"They murdered my Waziri," he muttered; "they crucified
Wasimbu, son of Muviro."

When Tarzan reached the trench and emerged into it there
was no one in sight in that particular bay, nor in the next, nor
the next as he hurried forward in the direction of the German
center; but in the fourth bay he saw a dozen men jammed in
the angle of the traverse at the end while leaping upon them
and rending with talons and fangs was Numa, a terrific in-
carnation of ferocity and ravenous hunger.

Whatever held the men at last gave way as they fought
madly with one another in their efforts to escape this dread
creature that from their infancy had filled them with terror,
and again they were retreating. Some clambered over the
parados and some even over the parapet preferring the dan-
gers of No Man's Land to this other soul-searing menace.

As the British advanced slowly toward the German trenches,
they first met terrified blacks who ran into their arms only
too willing to surrender. That pandemonium had broken
loose in the Hun trench was apparent to the Rhodesians not
only from the appearance of the deserters, but from the sounds
of screaming, cursing men which came clearly to their ears;
but there was one that baffled them for it resembled nothing
more closely than the infuriated growling of an angry lion.

And when at last they reached the trench, those farthest on
the left of the advancing Britishers heard a machine gun
sputter suddenly before them and saw a huge lion leap over
the German parados with the body of a screaming Hun soldier
between his jaws and vanish into the shadows of the night,
while squatting upon a traverse to their left was Tarzan of
the Apes with a machine gun before him with which he was
raking the length of the German trenches.

The foremost Rhodesians saw something else -- they saw a
huge German officer emerge from a dugout just in rear of the
ape-man. They saw him snatch up a discarded rifle with
bayonet fixed and creep upon the apparently unconscious Tar-
zan. They ran forward, shouting warnings; but above the
pandemonium of the trenches and the machine gun their
voices could not reach him. The German leaped upon the
parapet behind him -- the fat hands raised the rifle butt aloft
for the cowardly downward thrust into the naked back and
then, as moves Ara, the lightning, moved Tarzan of the Apes.

It was no man who leaped forward upon that Boche officer,
striking aside the sharp bayonet as one might strike aside a
straw in a baby's hand -- it was a wild beast and the roar of
a wild beast was upon those savage lips, for as that strange
sense that Tarzan owned in common with the other jungle-
bred creatures of his wild domain warned him of the presence
behind him and he had whirled to meet the attack, his eyes
had seen the corps and regimental insignia upon the other's
blouse -- it was the same as that worn by the murderers of his
wife and his people, by the despoilers of his home and his
happiness.

It was a wild beast whose teeth fastened upon the shoulder
of the Hun -- it was a wild beast whose talons sought that fat
neck. And then the boys of the Second Rhodesian Regiment
saw that which will live forever in their memories. They saw
the giant ape-man pick the heavy German from the ground
and shake him as a terrier might shake a rat -- as Sabor, the
lioness, sometimes shakes her prey. They saw the eyes of the
Hun bulge in horror as he vainly struck with his futile hands
against the massive chest and head of his assailant. They saw
Tarzan suddenly spin the man about and placing a knee in
the middle of his back and an arm about his neck bend his
shoulders slowly backward. The German's knees gave and
he sank upon them, but still that irresistible force bent him
further and further. He screamed in agony for a moment --
then something snapped and Tarzan cast him aside, a limp
and lifeless thing.

The Rhodesians started forward, a cheer upon their lips --
a cheer that never was uttered -- a cheer that froze in their
throats, for at that moment Tarzan placed a foot upon the
carcass of his kill and, raising his face to the heavens, gave
voice to the weird and terrifying victory cry of the bull ape.

Underlieutenant von Goss was dead.

Without a backward glance at the awe-struck soldiers Tar-
zan leaped the trench and was gone.