In the Hands of Savages

Tarzan the Untamed

by Edgar R. Burroughs

IN THE HANDS OF SAVAGES, TARZAN THE UNTAMED by Edgar R. Burroughs
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Tarzan sought Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, for of all
the jungle animals he doubted if any would prove more
palatable to the white woman, but though his keen nos-
trils were ever on the alert, he traveled far without being re-
warded with even the faintest scent spoor of the game he
sought. Keeping close to the river where he hoped to find
Bara or Horta approaching or leaving a drinking place he came
at last upon the strong odor of the Wamabo village and being
ever ready to pay his hereditary enemies, the Gomangani, an
undesired visit, he swung into a detour and came up in the
rear of the village. From a tree which overhung the palisade
he looked down into the street where he saw the preparations
going on which his experience told him indicated the approach
of one of those frightful feasts the piece de resistance of which
is human flesh.

One of Tarzan's chief divertissements was the baiting of the
blacks. He realized more keen enjoyment through annoying
and terrifying them than from any other source of amusement
the grim jungle offered. To rob them of their feast in some
way that would strike terror to their hearts would give him
the keenest of pleasure, and so he searched the village with his
eyes for some indication of the whereabouts of the prisoner.
His view was circumscribed by the dense foliage of the tree
in which he sat, and, so that he might obtain a better view, he
climbed further aloft and moved cautiously out upon a slender
branch.

Tarzan of the Apes possessed a woodcraft scarcely short of
the marvelous but even Tarzan's wondrous senses were not
infallible. The branch upon which he made his way outward
from the bole was no smaller than many that had borne his
weight upon countless other occasions. Outwardly it appeared
strong and healthy and was in full foliage, nor could Tarzan
know that close to the stem a burrowing insect had eaten away
half the heart of the solid wood beneath the bark.

And so when he reached a point far out upon the limb, it
snapped close to the bole of the tree without warning. Below
him were no larger branches that he might clutch and as he
lunged downward his foot caught in a looped creeper so that
he turned completely over and alighted on the flat of his back
in the center of the village street.

At the sound of the breaking limb and the crashing body
falling through the branches the startled blacks scurried to
their huts for weapons, and when the braver of them emerged,
they saw the still form of an almost naked white man lying
where he had fallen. Emboldened by the fact that he did not
move they approached more closely, and when their eyes dis-
covered no signs of others of his kind in the tree, they rushed
forward until a dozen warriors stood about him with ready
spears. At first they thought that the falling had killed him,
but upon closer examination they discovered that the man was
only stunned. One of the warriors was for thrusting a spear
through his heart, but Numabo, the chief, would not permit it.

"Bind him," he said. "We will feed well tonight."

And so they bound his hands and feet with thongs of gut
and carried him into the hut where Lieutenant Harold Percy
Smith-Oldwick awaited his fate. The Englishman had also been
bound hand and foot by this time for fear that at the last mo-
ment he might escape and rob them of their feast. A great
crowd of natives were gathered about the hut attempting to
get a glimpse of the new prisoner, but Numabo doubled the
guard before the entrance for fear that some of his people, in
the exuberance of their savage joy, might rob the others of
the pleasures of the death dance which would precede the
killing of the victims.

The young Englishman had heard the sound of Tarzan's
body crashing through the tree to the ground and the commo-
tion in the village which immediately followed, and now, as
he stood with his back against the wall of the hut, he looked
upon the fellow-prisoner that the blacks carried in and laid
upon the floor with mixed feelings of surprise and compassion.
He realized that he never had seen a more perfect specimen
of manhood than that of the unconscious figure before him,
and he wondered to what sad circumstances the man owed his
capture. It was evident that the new prisoner was himself as
much a savage as his captors if apparel and weapons were any
criterion by which to judge; yet it was also equally evident that
he was a white man and from his well-shaped head and
clean-cut features that he was not one of those unhappy half-
wits who so often revert to savagery even in the heart of civ-
ilized communities.

As he watched the man, he presently noticed that his eyelids
were moving. Slowly they opened and a pair of gray eyes
looked blankly about. With returning consciousness the eyes
assumed their natural expression of keen intelligence, and a
moment later, with an effort, the prisoner rolled over upon his
side and drew himself to a sitting position. He was facing
the Englishman, and as his eyes took in the bound ankles and
the arms drawn tightly behind the other's back, a slow smile
lighted his features.

"They will fill their bellies tonight," he said.

The Englishman grinned. "From the fuss they made," he
said, "the beggars must be awfully hungry. They like to have
eaten me alive when they brought me in. How did they get
you?"

Tarzan shrugged his head ruefully. "It was my own fault,"
he replied. "I deserve to be eaten. I crawled out upon a branch
that would not bear my weight and when it broke, instead
of alighting on my feet, I caught my foot in a trailer and
came down on my head. Otherwise they would not have taken
me -- alive."

"Is there no escape?" asked the Englishman.

"I have escaped them before," replied Tarzan, "and I have
seen others escape them. I have seen a man taken away from
the stake after a dozen spear thrusts had pierced his body and
the fire had been lighted about his feet."

Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick shuddered. "God!" he exclaimed,
"I hope I don't have to face that. I believe I could stand any-
thing but the thought of the fire. I should hate like the devil
to go into a funk before the devils at the last moment."

"Don't worry," said Tarzan. "It doesn't last long and you
won't funk. It is really not half as bad as it sounds. There is
only a brief period of pain before you lose consciousness. I
have seen it many times before. It is as good a way to go as
another. We must die sometime. What difference whether it
be tonight, tomorrow night, or a year hence, just so that we
have lived -- and I have lived!"

"Your philosophy may be all right, old top," said the young
lieutenant, "but I can't say that it is exactly satisfying."

Tarzan laughed. "Roll over here," he said, "where I can get
at your bonds with my teeth." The Englishman did as he was
bid and presently Tarzan was working at the thongs with his
strong white teeth. He felt them giving slowly beneath his
efforts. In another moment they would part, and then it
would be a comparatively simple thing for the Englishman
to remove the remaining bonds from Tarzan and himself.

It was then that one of the guards entered the hut. In an
instant he saw what the new prisoner was doing and raising
his spear, struck the ape-man a vicious blow across the head
with its shaft. Then he called in the other guards and together
they fell upon the luckless men, kicking and beating them un-
mercifully, after which they bound the Englishman more se-
curely than before and tied both men fast on opposite sides of
the hut. When they had gone Tarzan looked across at his
companion in misery.

"While there is life," he said, "there is hope," but he grinned
as he voiced the ancient truism.

Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick returned the other's
smile. "I fancy," he said, "that we are getting short on both.
It must be close to supper time now."

Zu-tag hunted alone far from the balance of the tribe of
Go-lat, the great ape. Zu-tag (Big-neck) was a young bull
but recently arrived at maturity. He was large, powerful, and
ferocious and at the same time far above the average of his
kind in intelligence as was denoted by a fuller and less reced-
ing forehead. Already Go-lat saw in this young ape a possible
contender for the laurels of his kingship and consequently the
old bull looked upon Zu-tag with jealousy and disfavor. It was
for this reason, possibly, as much as another that Zu-tag
hunted so often alone; but it was his utter fearlessness that
permitted him to wander far afield away from the protection
which numbers gave the great apes. One of the results of this
habit was a greatly increased resourcefulness which found him
constantly growing in intelligence and powers of observation.

Today he had been hunting toward the south and was
returning along the river upon a path he often followed be-
cause it led by the village of the Gomangani whose strange
and almost apelike actions and peculiar manners of living had
aroused his interest and curiosity. As he had done upon other
occasions he took up his position in a tree from which he could
overlook the interior of the village and watch the blacks at
their vocations in the street below.

Zu-tag had scarcely more than established himself in his
tree when, with the blacks, he was startled by the crashing of
Tarzan's body from the branches of another jungle giant to
the ground within the palisade. He saw the Negroes gather
about the prostrate form and later carry it into the hut; and
once he rose to his full height upon the limb where he had
been squatting and raised his face to the heavens to scream
out a savage protest and a challenge, for he had recognized
in the brown-skinned Tarmangani the strange white ape who
had come among them a night or two before in the midst of
their Dum-Dum, and who by so easily mastering the greatest
among them, had won the savage respect and admiration of
this fierce young bull.

But Zu-tag's ferocity was tempered by a certain native cun-
ning and caution. Before he had voiced his protest there formed
in his mind the thought that he would like to save this wonder-
ful white ape from the common enemy, the Gomangani, and
so he screamed forth no challenge, wisely determined that more
could be accomplished by secrecy and stealth than by force
of muscle and fang.

At first he thought to enter the village alone and carry off
the Tarmangani; but when he saw how numerous were the
warriors and that several sat directly before the entrance to
the lair into which the prisoner had been carried, it occurred
to him that this was work for many rather than one, and so,
as silently as he had come, he slipped away though the foliage
toward the north.

The tribe was still loitering about the clearing where stood
the hut that Tarzan and Bertha Kircher had built. Some were
idly searching for food just within the forest's edge, while
others squatted beneath the shade of trees within the clearing.

The girl had emerged from the hut, her tears dried and was
gazing anxiously toward the south into the jungle where Tar-
zan had disappeared. Occasionally she cast suspicious glances
in the direction of the huge shaggy anthropoids about her.
How easy it would be for one of those great beasts to enter
the boma and slay her. How helpless she was, even with the
spear that the white man had left her, she realized as she
noted for the thousandth time the massive shoulders, the bull
necks, and the great muscles gliding so easily beneath the
glossy coats. Never, she thought, had she seen such personi-
fications of brute power as were represented by these mighty
bulls. Those huge hands would snap her futile spear as she
might snap a match in two, while their lightest blow could
crush her into insensibility and death.

It was while she was occupied with these depressing thoughts
that there dropped suddenly into the clearing from the trees
upon the south the figure of a mighty young bull. At that time
all of the apes looked much alike to Bertha Kircher, nor was
it until some time later that she realized that each differed
from the others in individual characteristics of face and figure
as do individuals of the human races. Yet even then she could
not help but note the wondrous strength and agility of this
great beast, and as he approached she even found herself ad-
miring the sheen of his heavy, black, silvershot coat.

It was evident that the newcomer was filled with suppressed
excitement. His demeanor and bearing proclaimed this even
from afar, nor was the girl the only one to note it. For as they
saw him coming many of the apes arose and advanced to meet
him, bristling and growling as is their way. Go-lat was among
these latter, and he advanced stiffly with the hairs upon his
neck and down his spine erect, uttering low growls and baring
his fighting fangs, for who might say whether Zu-tag came
in peace or otherwise? The old king had seen other young
apes come thus in his day filled with a sudden resolution to
wrest the kingship from their chief. He had seen bulls about
to run amuck burst thus suddenly from the jungle upon the
members of the tribe, and so Go-lat took no chances.

Had Zu-tag come indolently, feeding as he came, he might
have entered the tribe without arousing notice or suspicion,
but when one comes thus precipitately, evidently bursting with
some emotion out of the ordinary, let all apes beware. There
was a certain amount of preliminary circling, growling, and
sniffing, stiff-legged and stiff-haired, before each side discov-
ered that the other had no intention of initiating an attack and
then Zu-tag told Go-lat what he had seen among the lairs
of the Gomangani.

Go-lat grunted in disgust and turned away. "Let the white
ape take care of himself," he said.

"He is a great ape," said Zu-tag. "He came to live in peace
with the tribe of Go-lat. Let us save him from the Goman-
gani."

Go-lat grunted again and continued to move away.

"Zu-tag will go alone and get him," cried the young ape,
"if Go-lat is afraid of the Gomangani."

The king ape wheeled in anger, growling loudly and beating
upon his breast. "Go-lat is not afraid," he screamed, "but he
will not go, for the white ape is not of his tribe. Go yourself
and take the Tarmangani's she with you if you wish so much
to save the white ape."

"Zu-tag will go," replied the younger bull, "and he will take
the Tarmangani's she and all the bulls of Go-lat who are not
cowards," and so saying he cast his eyes inquiringly about at
the other apes. "Who will go with Zu-tag to fight the Goman-
gani and bring away our brother," he demanded.

Eight young bulls in the full prime of their vigor pressed
forward to Zu-tag's side, but the old bulls with the conserva-
tism and caution of many years upon their gray shoulders,
shook their heads and waddled away after Go-lat.

"Good," cried Zu-tag. "We want no old shes to go with us
to fight the Gomangani for that is work for the fighters of the
tribe."

The old bulls paid no attention to his boastful words, but the
eight who had volunteered to accompany him were filled with
self-pride so that they stood around vaingloriously beating
upon their breasts, baring their fangs and screaming their
hideous challenge until the jungle reverberated to the horrid
sound.

All this time Bertha Kircher was a wide-eyed and terrified
spectator to what, as she thought, could end only in a terrific
battle between these frightful beasts, and when Zu-tag and
his followers began screaming forth their fearsome challenge,
the girl found herself trembling in terror, for of all the sounds
of the jungle there is none more awe inspiring than that of the
great bull ape when he issues his challenge or shrieks forth his
victory cry.

If she had been terrified before she was almost paralyzed
with fear now as she saw Zu-tag and his apes turn toward the
boma and approach her. With the agility of a cat Zu-tag leaped
completely over the protecting wall and stood before her. Val-
iantly she held her spear before her, pointing it at his breast.
He commenced to jabber and gesticulate, and even with her
scant acquaintance with the ways of the anthropoids, she real-
ized that he was not menacing her, for there was little or no
baring of fighting fangs and his whole expression and attitude
was of one attempting to explain a knotty problem or plead
a worthy cause. At last he became evidently impatient, for
with a sweep of one great paw he struck the spear from her
hand and coming close, seized her by the arm, but not roughly.
She shrank away in terror and yet some sense within her
seemed to be trying to assure her that she was in no danger
from this great beast. Zu-tag jabbered loudly, ever and again
pointing into the jungle toward the south and moving toward
the boma, pulling the girl with him. He seemed almost frantic
in his efforts to explain something to her. He pointed toward
the boma, herself, and then to the forest, and then, at last, as
though by a sudden inspiration, he reached down and, seizing
the spear, repeatedly touched it with his forefinger and again
pointed toward the south. Suddenly it dawned upon the girl
that what the ape was trying to explain to her was related in
some way to the white man whose property they thought she
was. Possibly her grim protector was in trouble and with this
thought firmly established, she no longer held back, but started
forward as though to accompany the young bull. At the point
in the boma where Tarzan had blocked the entrance, she
started to pull away the thorn bushes, and, when Zu-tag saw
what she was doing, he fell to and assisted her so that presently
they had an opening through the boma through which she
passed with the great ape.

Immediately Zu-tag and his eight apes started off rapidly
toward the jungle, so rapidly that Bertha Kircher would have
had to run at top speed to keep up with them. This she real-
ized she could not do, and so she was forced to lag behind,
much to the chagrin of Zu-tag, who constantly kept running
back and urging her to greater speed. Once he took her by the
arm and tried to draw her along. Her protests were of no avail
since the beast could not know that they were protests, nor did
he desist until she caught her foot in some tangled grass and
fell to the ground. Then indeed was Zu-tag furious and
growled hideously. His apes were waiting at the edge of the
forest for him to lead them. He suddenly realized that this
poor weak she could not keep up with them and that if they
traveled at her slow rate they might be too late to render as-
sistance to the Tarmangani, and so without more ado, the giant
anthropoid picked Bertha Kircher bodily from the ground and
swung her to his back. Her arms were about his neck and in
this position he seized her wrists in one great paw so that she
could not fall off and started at a rapid rate to join his com-
panions.

Dressed as she was in riding breeches with no entangling
skirts to hinder or catch upon passing shrubbery, she soon
found that she could cling tightly to the back of the mighty
bull and when a moment later he took to the lower branches
of the trees, she closed her eyes and clung to him in terror
lest she be precipitated to the ground below.

That journey through the primeval forest with the nine
great apes will live in the memory of Bertha Kircher for the
balance of her life, as clearly delineated as at the moment of
its enactment.

The first overwhelming wave of fear having passed, she was
at last able to open her eyes and view her surroundings with
increased interest and presently the sensation of terror slowly
left her to be replaced by one of comparative security when
she saw the ease and surety with which these great beasts trav-
eled through the trees; and later her admiration for the young
bull increased as it became evident that even burdened with
her additional weight, he moved more rapidly and with no
greater signs of fatigue than his unburdened fellows.

Not once did Zu-tag pause until he came to a stop among
the branches of a tree no great distance from the native village.
They could hear the noises of the life within the palisade, the
laughing and shouting of the Negroes, and the barking of dogs,
and through the foliage the girl caught glimpses of the village
from which she had so recently escaped. She shuddered to
think of the possibility of having to return to it and of possi-
ble recapture, and she wondered why Zu-tag had brought her
here.

Now the apes advanced slowly once more and with great
caution, moving as noiselessly through the trees as the squirrels
themselves until they had reached a point where they could
easily overlook the palisade and the village street below.

Zu-tag squatted upon a great branch close to the bole of
the tree and by loosening the girl's arms from about his neck,
indicated that she was to find a footing for herself and when
she had done so, he turned toward her and pointed repeatedly
at the open doorway of a hut upon the opposite side of the
street below them. By various gestures he seemed to be try-
ing to explain something to her and at last she caught at the
germ of his idea -- that her white man was a prisoner there.

Beneath them was the roof of a hut onto which she saw that
she could easily drop, but what she could do after she had
entered the village was beyond her.

Darkness was already falling and the fires beneath the cook-
ing pots had been lighted. The girl saw the stake in the village
street and the piles of fagots about it and in terror she sud-
denly realized the portent of these grisly preparations. Oh, if
she but only had some sort of a weapon that might give her
even a faint hope, some slight advantage against the blacks.
Then she would not hesitate to venture into the village in an at-
tempt to save the man who had upon three different occasions
saved her. She knew that he hated her and yet strong within
her breast burned the sense of her obligation to him. She could
not fathom him. Never in her life had she seen a man at once
so paradoxical and dependable. In many of his ways he was
more savage than the beasts with which he associated and yet,
on the other hand, he was as chivalrous as a knight of old.
For several days she had been lost with him in the jungle
absolutely at his mercy, yet she had come to trust so implicitly
in his honor that any fear she had had of him was rapidly dis-
appearing.

On the other hand, that he might be hideously cruel was
evidenced to her by the fact that he was planning to leave
her alone in the midst of the frightful dangers which menaced
her by night and by day.

Zu-tag was evidently waiting for darkness to fall before
carrying out whatever plans had matured in his savage little
brain, for he and his fellows sat quietly in the tree about her,
watching the preparations of the blacks. Presently it became
apparent that some altercation had arisen among the Negroes,
for a score or more of them were gathered around one who ap-
peared to be their chief, and all were talking and gesticulating
heatedly. The argument lasted for some five or ten minutes
when suddenly the little knot broke and two warriors ran to the
opposite side of the village from whence they presently re-
turned with a large stake which they soon set up beside the
one already in place. The girl wondered what the purpose of
the second stake might be, nor did she have long to wait for
an explanation.

It was quite dark by this time, the village being lighted by
the fitful glare of many fires, and now she saw a number of
warriors approach and enter the hut Zu-tag had been watch-
ing. A moment later they reappeared, dragging between them
two captives, one of whom the girl immediately recognized as
her protector and the other as an Englishman in the uniform
of an aviator. This, then, was the reason for the two stakes.

Arising quickly she placed a hand upon Zu-tag's shoulder
and pointed down into the village. "Come," she said, as if she
had been talking to one of her own kind, and with the word
she swung lightly to the roof of the hut below. From there to
the ground was but a short drop and a moment later she was
circling the hut upon the side farthest from the fires, keeping
in the dense shadows where there was little likelihood of being
discovered. She turned once to see that Zu-tag was directly
behind her and could see his huge bulk looming up in the dark,
while beyond was another one of his eight. Doubtless they
had all followed her and this fact gave her a greater sense of
security and hope than she had before experienced.

Pausing beside the hut next to the street, she peered cau-
tiously about the corner. A few inches from her was the open
doorway of the structure, and beyond, farther down the village
street, the blacks were congregating about the prisoners, who
were already being bound to the stakes. All eyes were cen-
tered upon the victims, and there was only the remotest chance
that she and her companions would be discovered until they
were close upon the blacks. She wished, however, that she
might have some sort of a weapon with which to lead the at-
tack, for she could not know, of course, for a certainty whether
the great apes would follow her or not. Hoping that she might
find something within the hut, she slipped quickly around the
corner and into the doorway and after her, one by one, came
the nine bulls. Searching quickly about the interior, she pres-
ently discovered a spear, and, armed with this, she again ap-
proached the entrance.

Tarzan of the Apes and Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-
Oldwick were bound securely to their respective stakes.
Neither had spoken for some time. The Englishman turned
his head so that he could see his companion in misery. Tarzan
stood straight against his stake. His face was entirely expres-
sionless in so far as either fear or anger were concerned. His
countenance portrayed bored indifference though both men
knew that they were about to be tortured.

"Good-bye, old top," whispered the young lieutenant.

Tarzan turned his eyes in the direction of the other and
smiled. "Good-bye," he said. "If you want to get it over in a
hurry, inhale the smoke and flames as rapidly as you can."

"Thanks," replied the aviator and though he made a wry
face, he drew himself up very straight and squared his shoul-
ders.

The women and children had seated themselves in a wide
circle about the victims while the warriors, hideously painted,
were forming slowly to commence the dance of death. Again
Tarzan turned to his companion. "If you'd like to spoil their
fun," he said, "don't make any fuss no matter how much you
suffer. If you can carry on to the end without changing the
expression upon your face or uttering a single word, you will
deprive them of all the pleasures of this part of the entertain-
ment. Good-bye again and good luck."

The young Englishman made no reply but it was evident
from the set of his jaws that the Negroes would get little enjoy-
ment out of him.

The warriors were circling now. Presently Numabo would
draw first blood with his sharp spear which would be the
signal for the beginning of the torture after a little of which
the fagots would be lighted around the feet of the victims.

Closer and closer danced the hideous chief, his yellow,
sharp-filed teeth showing in the firelight between his thick, red
lips. Now bending double, now stamping furiously upon the
ground, now leaping into the air, he danced step by step in
the narrowing circle that would presently bring him within
spear reach of the intended feast.

At last the spear reached out and touched the ape-man on
the breast and when it came away, a little trickle of blood ran
down the smooth, brown hide and almost simultaneously there
broke from the outer periphery of the expectant audience a
woman's shriek which seemed a signal for a series of hideous
screamings, growlings and barkings, and a great commotion
upon that side of the circle. The victims could not see the
cause of the disturbance, but Tarzan did not have to see, for
he knew by the voices of the apes the identity of the disturbers.
He only wondered what had brought them and what the pur-
pose of the attack, for he could not believe that they had come
to rescue him.

Numabo and his warriors broke quickly from the circle of
their dance to see pushing toward them through the ranks of
their screaming and terrified people the very white girl who had
escaped them a few nights before, and at her back what ap-
peared to their surprised eyes a veritable horde of the huge
and hairy forest men upon whom they looked with consider-
able fear and awe.

Striking to right and left with his heavy fists, tearing with
his great fangs, came Zu-tag, the young bull, while at his heels,
emulating his example, surged his hideous apes. Quickly they
came through the old men and the women and children, for
straight toward Numabo and his warriors the girl led them.
It was then that they came within range of Tarzan's vision and
he saw with unmixed surprise who it was that led the apes to
his rescue.

To Zu-tag he shouted: "Go for the big bulls while the she
unbinds me," and to Bertha Kircher: "Quick! Cut these bonds.
The apes will take care of the blacks."

Turning from her advance the girl ran to his side. She had
no knife and the bonds were tied tightly but she worked quick-
ly and coolly and as Zu-tag and his apes closed with the war-
riors, she succeeded in loosening Tarzan's bonds sufficiently to
permit him to extricate his own hands so that in another min-
ute he had freed himself.

"Now unbind the Englishman," he cried, and, leaping for-
ward, ran to join Zu-tag and his fellows in their battle against
the blacks. Numabo and his warriors, realizing now the rela-
tively small numbers of the apes against them, had made a
determined stand and with spears and other weapons were en-
deavoring to overcome the invaders. Three of the apes were
already down, killed or mortally wounded, when Tarzan, real-
izing that the battle must eventually go against the apes unless
some means could be found to break the morale of the Ne-
groes, cast about him for some means of bringing about the
desired end. And suddenly his eye lighted upon a number of
weapons which he knew would accomplish the result. A grim
smile touched his lips as he snatched a vessel of boiling water
from one of the fires and hurled it full in the faces of the
warriors. Screaming with terror and pain they fell back though
Numabo urged them to rush forward.

Scarcely had the first cauldron of boiling water spilled its
contents upon them ere Tarzan deluged them with a second,
nor was there any third needed to send them shrieking in every
direction to the security of their huts.

By the time Tarzan had recovered his own weapons the girl
had released the young Englishman, and, with the six remain-
ing apes, the three Europeans moved slowly toward the vil-
lage gate, the aviator arming himself with a spear discarded
by one of the scalded warriors, as they eagerly advanced to-
ward the outer darkness.

Numabo was unable to rally the now thoroughly terrified
and painfully burned warriors so that rescued and rescuers
passed out of the village into the blackness of the jungle with-
out further interference.

Tarzan strode through the jungle in silence. Beside him
walked Zu-tag, the great ape, and behind them strung the sur-
viving anthropoids followed by Fraulein Bertha Kircher and
Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, the latter a thor-
oughly astonished and mystified Englishman.

In all his life Tarzan of the Apes had been obliged to ac-
knowledge but few obligations. He won his way through his
savage world by the might of his own muscle, the superior
keenness of his five senses and his God-given power to reason.
Tonight the greatest of all obligations had been placed upon
him -- his life had been saved by another and Tarzan shook
his head and growled, for it had been saved by one whom he
hated above all others.