ere he had still expected to find the open river.

So close was it that a few strokes brought him up to the thing, when to
his amazement his outstretched hand came in contact with a ship's side.

As the agile ape-man clambered over the vessel's rail there came to his
sensitive ears the sound of a struggle at the opposite side of the deck.

Noiselessly he sped across the intervening space.

The moon had risen now, and, though the sky was still banked with
clouds, a lesser darkness enveloped the scene than that which had
blotted out all sight earlier in the night. His keen eyes, therefore,
saw the figures of two men grappling with a woman.

That it was the woman who had accompanied Anderssen toward the interior
he did not know, though he suspected as much, as he was now quite
certain that this was the deck of the Kincaid upon which chance had led
him.

But he wasted little time in idle speculation. There was a woman in
danger of harm from two ruffians, which was enough excuse for the
ape-man to project his giant thews into the conflict without further
investigation.

The first that either of the sailors knew that there was a new force at
work upon the ship was the falling of a mighty hand upon a shoulder of
each. As if they had been in the grip of a fly-wheel, they were jerked
suddenly from their prey.

"What means this?" asked a low voice in their ears.

They were given no time to reply, however, for at the sound of that
voice the young woman had sprung to her feet and with a little cry of
joy leaped toward their assailant.

"Tarzan!" she cried.

The ape-man hurled the two sailors across the deck, where they rolled,
stunned and terrified, into the scuppers upon the opposite side, and
with an exclamation of incredulity gathered the girl into his arms.

Brief, however, were the moments for their greeting.

Scarcely had they recognized one another than the clouds above them
parted to show the figures of a half-dozen men clambering over the side
of the Kincaid to the steamer's deck.

Foremost among them was the Russian. As the brilliant rays of the
equatorial moon lighted the deck, and he realized that the man before
him was Lord Greystoke, he screamed hysterical commands to his
followers to fire upon the two.

Tarzan pushed Jane behind the cabin near which they had been standing,
and with a quick bound started for Rokoff. The men behind the
Russian, at least two of them, raised their rifles and fired