rd.

Again and again the plane circled above the meadow. The blacks, at
first dismayed at the death of their leader, were now worked to a
frenzy of rage and a determination to be avenged. The girl and the
ape-man saw them gather in a knot about the body of their fallen
chief. They saw as they circled above the meadow the black fists
shaken at them, and the rifles brandishing a menace toward them.
Tarzan still clung to the fuselage directly behind the pilot's seat.
His face was close beside Bertha Kircher's, and at the top of his
voice, above the noise of propeller, engine and exhaust, he screamed
a few words of instruction into her ear.

As the girl grasped the significance of his words she paled, but
her lips set in a hard line and her eyes shone with a sudden fire
of determination as she dropped the plane to within a few feet of
the ground and at the opposite end of the meadow from the blacks
and then at full speed bore down upon the savages. So quickly the
plane came that Usanga's men had no time to escape it after they
realized its menace. It touched the ground just as it struck among
them and mowed through them, a veritable juggernaut of destruction.
When it came to rest at the edge of the forest the ape-man leaped
quickly to the ground and ran toward the young lieutenant, and as
he went he glanced at the spot where the warriors had stood, ready
to defend himself if necessary, but there was none there to oppose
him. Dead and dying they lay strewn for fifty feet along the turf.

By the time Tarzan had freed the Englishman the girl joined them.
She tried to voice her thanks to the ape-man but he silenced her
with a gesture.

"You saved yourself," he insisted, "for had you been unable to
pilot the plane, I could not have helped you, and now," he said,
"you two have the means of returning to the settlements. The day
is still young. You can easily cover the distance in a few hours
if you have sufficient petrol." He looked inquiringly toward the
aviator.

Smith-Oldwick nodded his head affirmatively. "I have plenty," he
replied.

"Then go at once," said the ape-man. "Neither of you belong in the
jungle." A slight smile touched his lips as he spoke.

The girl and the Englishman smiled too. "This jungle is no place
for us at least," said Smith-Oldwick, "and it is no place for any
other white man. Why don't you come back to civilization with us?"

Tarzan shook his head. "I prefer the jungle," he said.

The av