bones of the long-dead warrior in the bottom of the
precipitous gorge that had all but proved a trap for him as well.
He saw the helmet of hammered brass and the corroded breastplate of
steel and the long straight sword in its scabbard and the ancient
harquebus--mute testimonials to the mighty physique and the
warlike spirit of him who had somehow won, thus illy caparisoned
and pitifully armed, to the center of savage, ancient Africa; and
he saw the slender English youth and the slight figure of the girl
cast into the same fateful trap from which this giant of old had
been unable to escape--cast there wounded and broken perhaps, if
not killed.

His judgment told him that the latter possibility was probably
the fact, and yet there was a chance that they might have landed
without fatal injuries, and so upon this slim chance he started out
upon what he knew would be an arduous journey, fraught with many
hardships and unspeakable peril, that he might attempt to save them
if they still lived.

He had covered a mile perhaps when his quick ears caught the sound
of rapid movement along the game trail ahead of him. The sound,
increasing in volume, proclaimed the fact that whatever caused it
was moving in his direction and moving rapidly. Nor was it long
before his trained senses convinced him that the footfalls were
those of Bara, the deer, in rapid flight. Inextricably confused in
Tarzan's character were the attributes of man and of beasts. Long
experience had taught him that he fights best or travels fastest
who is best nourished, and so, with few exceptions, Tarzan could
delay his most urgent business to take advantage of an opportunity
to kill and feed. This perhaps was the predominant beast trait in
him. The transformation from an English gentleman, impelled by the
most humanitarian motives, to that of a wild beast crouching in the
concealment of a dense bush ready to spring upon its approaching
prey, was instantaneous.

And so, when Bara came, escaping the clutches of Numa and Sheeta,
his terror and his haste precluded the possibility of his sensing
that other equally formidable foe lying in ambush for him. Abreast
of the ape-man came the deer; a light-brown body shot from the
concealing verdure of the bush, strong arms encircled the sleek
neck of the young buck and powerful teeth fastened themselves in
the soft flesh. Together the two rolled over in the trail and a
moment later the ape-man rose, and, with one foot up