ma, the lion; and from a great distance,
faintly, the fearsome answering bellow of a bull ape.

Tarzan went to the brook first, and slaked his thirst. Then he
approached his cabin. The door was still closed and latched as he and
D'Arnot had left it. He raised the latch and entered. Nothing had
been disturbed; there were the table, the bed, and the little crib
built by his father--the shelves and cupboards just as they had stood
for ever twenty-three years--just as he had left them nearly two years
before.

His eyes satisfied, Tarzan's stomach began to call aloud for
attention--the pangs of hunger suggested a search for food. There was
nothing in the cabin, nor had he any weapons; but upon a wall hung one
of his old grass ropes. It had been many times broken and spliced, so
that he had discarded it for a better one long before. Tarzan wished
that he had a knife. Well, unless he was mistaken he should have that
and a spear and bows and arrows before another sun had set--the rope
would take care of that, and in the meantime it must be made to procure
food for him. He coiled it carefully, and, throwing it about his
shoulder, went out, closing the door behind him.

Close to the cabin the jungle commenced, and into it Tarzan of the Apes
plunged, wary and noiseless--once more a savage beast hunting its food.
For a time he kept to the ground, but finally, discovering no spoor
indicative of nearby meat, he took to the trees. With the first dizzy
swing from tree to tree all the old joy of living swept over him. Vain
regrets and dull heartache were forgotten. Now was he living. Now,
indeed, was the true happiness of perfect freedom his. Who would go
back to the stifling, wicked cities of civilized man when the mighty
reaches of the great jungle offered peace and liberty? Not he.

While it was yet light Tarzan came to a drinking place by the side of a
jungle river. There was a ford there, and for countless ages the
beasts of the forest had come down to drink at this spot. Here of a
night might always be found either Sabor or Numa crouching in the dense
foliage of the surrounding jungle awaiting an antelope or a water buck
for their meal. Here came Horta, the boar, to water, and here came
Tarzan of the Apes to make a kill, for he was very empty.

On a low branch he squatted above the trail. For an hour he waited.
It was growing dark. A little to one side of the ford in the densest
thicket he heard the faint