angs
were bared, angry snarls and barkings rumbled threateningly through the
thick and hanging lips.

The Belgian watched his companion. To his horror, he saw the man stoop
until his closed knuckles rested upon the ground as did those of the
anthropoid. He saw him circle, stiff-legged about the circling ape.
He heard the same bestial barkings and growlings issue from the human
throat that were coming from the mouth of the brute. Had his eyes been
closed he could not have known but that two giant apes were bridling
for combat.

But there was no battle. It ended as the majority of such jungle
encounters end--one of the boasters loses his nerve, and becomes
suddenly interested in a blowing leaf, a beetle, or the lice upon his
hairy stomach.

In this instance it was the anthropoid that retired in stiff dignity to
inspect an unhappy caterpillar, which he presently devoured. For a
moment Tarzan seemed inclined to pursue the argument. He swaggered
truculently, stuck out his chest, roared and advanced closer to the
bull. It was with difficulty that Werper finally persuaded him to
leave well enough alone and continue his way from the ancient city of
the Sun Worshipers.

The two searched for nearly an hour before they found the narrow exit
through the inner wall. From there the well-worn trail led them beyond
the outer fortification to the desolate valley of Opar.

Tarzan had no idea, in so far as Werper could discover, as to where he
was or whence he came. He wandered aimlessly about, searching for
food, which he discovered beneath small rocks, or hiding in the shade
of the scant brush which dotted the ground.

The Belgian was horrified by the hideous menu of his companion.
Beetles, rodents and caterpillars were devoured with seeming relish.
Tarzan was indeed an ape again.

At last Werper succeeded in leading his companion toward the distant
hills which mark the northwestern boundary of the valley, and together
the two set out in the direction of the Greystoke bungalow.

What purpose prompted the Belgian in leading the victim of his
treachery and greed back toward his former home it is difficult to
guess, unless it was that without Tarzan there could be no ransom for
Tarzan's wife.

That night they camped in the valley beyond the hills, and as they sat
before a little fire where cooked a wild pig that had fallen to one of
Tarzan's arrows, the latter sat lost in speculation. He seemed
continually to be tryi