e with the lions earlier in the evening,
and when he arose to his feet it was because he knew that the lions
and the men were moving cautiously closer to him and his party.
He might easily have eluded them, for he had seen that the face of
the cliff rising above the mouth of the cavern might be scaled by
as good a climber as himself. It might have been wiser had he tried
to escape, for he knew that in the face of such odds even he was
helpless, but he stood his ground though I doubt if he could have
told why.

He owed nothing either of duty or friendship to the girl sleeping
in the cavern, nor could he longer be of any protection to her or
her companion. Yet something held him there in futile self-sacrifice.

The great Tarmangani had not even the satisfaction of striking a
blow in self-defense. A veritable avalanche of savage beasts rolled
over him and threw him heavily to the ground. In falling his head
struck the rocky surface of the cliff, stunning him.

It was daylight when he regained consciousness. The first dim
impression borne to his awakening mind was a confusion of savage
sounds which gradually resolved themselves into the growling
of lions, and then, little by little, there came back to him the
recollections of what had preceded the blow that had felled him.

Strong in his nostrils was the scent of Numa, the lion, and against
one naked leg he could feel the coat of some animal. Slowly Tarzan
opened his eyes. He was lying on his side and as he looked down his
body, he saw that a great lion stood straddling him--a great lion
who growled hideously at something which Tarzan could not see.

With the full return of his senses Tarzan's nose told him that the
beast above him was Numa of the Wamabo pit.

Thus reassured, the ape-man spoke to the lion and at the same time
made a motion as though he would arise. Immediately Numa stepped
from above him. As Tarzan raised his head, he saw that he still
lay where he had fallen before the opening of the cliff where the
girl had been sleeping and that Numa, backed against the cliffside,
was apparently defending him from two other lions who paced to and
fro a short distance from their intended victim.

And then Tarzan turned his eyes into the cave and saw that the girl
and Smith-Oldwick were gone.

His efforts had been for naught. With an angry toss of his head,
the ape-man turned upon the two lions who had continued to pace
back and forth a few yards from him. Numa