ons could fasten themselves in the flesh of the black,
the strain overbalanced Tarzan, who came tumbling to the ground not six
paces from the infuriated animal. Like lightning Numa turned upon this
new enemy, and, defenseless as he was, Tarzan of the Apes was nearer to
death that instant than he ever before had been. It was the black who
saved him. The warrior realized in an instant that he owed his life to
this strange white man, and he also saw that only a miracle could save
his preserver from those fierce yellow fangs that had been so near to
his own flesh.

With the quickness of thought his spear arm flew back, and then shot
forward with all the force of the sinewy muscles that rolled beneath
the shimmering ebon hide. True to its mark the iron-shod weapon flew,
transfixing Numa's sleek carcass from the right groin to beneath the
left shoulder. With a hideous scream of rage and pain the brute turned
again upon the black. A dozen paces he had gone when Tarzan's rope
brought him to a stand once more--then he wheeled again upon the
ape-man, only to feel the painful prick of a barbed arrow as it sank
half its length in his quivering flesh. Again he stopped, and by this
time Tarzan had run twice around the stem of a great tree with his
rope, and made the end fast.

The black saw the trick, and grinned, but Tarzan knew that Numa must be
quickly finished before those mighty teeth had found and parted the
slender cord that held him. It was a matter of but an instant to reach
the black's side and drag his long knife from its scabbard. Then he
signed the warrior to continue to shoot arrows into the great beast
while he attempted to close in upon him with the knife; so as one
tantalized upon one side, the other sneaked cautiously in upon the
other. Numa was furious. He raised his voice in a perfect frenzy of
shrieks, growls, and hideous moans, the while he reared upon his hind
legs in futile attempt to reach first one and then the other of his
tormentors.

But at length the agile ape-man saw his chance, and rushed in upon the
beast's left side behind the mighty shoulder. A giant arm encircled
the tawny throat, and a long blade sank once, true as a die, into the
fierce heart. Then Tarzan arose, and the black man and the white
looked into each other's eyes across the body of their kill--and the
black made the sign of peace and friendship, and Tarzan of the Apes
answered in kind.

Chapter 15

From Ape to S