. Unused
were these to the ways of the jungle, since seldom did any venture
forth from behind Opar's crumbling walls, yet their very numbers
protected them and so they came without fatalities far along the trail
of Tarzan and Werper. Three great apes accompanied them and to these
was delegated the business of tracking the quarry, a feat beyond the
senses of the Oparians. La commanded. She arranged the order of
march, she selected the camps, she set the hour for halting and the
hour for resuming and though she was inexperienced in such matters, her
native intelligence was so far above that of the men or the apes that
she did better than they could have done. She was a hard taskmaster,
too, for she looked down with loathing and contempt upon the misshapen
creatures amongst which cruel Fate had thrown her and to some extent
vented upon them her dissatisfaction and her thwarted love. She made
them build her a strong protection and shelter each night and keep a
great fire burning before it from dusk to dawn. When she tired of
walking they were forced to carry her upon an improvised litter, nor
did one dare to question her authority or her right to such services.
In fact they did not question either. To them she was a goddess and
each loved her and each hoped that he would be chosen as her mate, so
they slaved for her and bore the stinging lash of her displeasure and
the habitually haughty disdain of her manner without a murmur.

For many days they marched, the apes following the trail easily and
going a little distance ahead of the body of the caravan that they
might warn the others of impending danger. It was during a noonday
halt while all were lying resting after a tiresome march that one of
the apes rose suddenly and sniffed the breeze. In a low guttural he
cautioned the others to silence and a moment later was swinging quietly
up wind into the jungle. La and the priests gathered silently
together, the hideous little men fingering their knives and bludgeons,
and awaited the return of the shaggy anthropoid.

Nor had they long to wait before they saw him emerge from a leafy
thicket and approach them. Straight to La he came and in the language
of the great apes which was also the language of decadent Opar he
addressed her.

"The great Tarmangani lies asleep there," he said, pointing in the
direction from which he had just come. "Come and we can kill him."

"Do not kill him," commanded La in cold tones. "Br