belief that they were elsewhere
in the neighborhood, and he breathed easier.

As soon as Tharn reappeared, the girl whose life he had saved rose from
a clump of bushes a few feet away. And thus they stood there, each
eyeing the other with frank interest.

* * * * *

Tharn's brain was awhirl. So much that was new and exciting had crowded
into it within the last few hours that he was incapable of rational
thinking. But this he knew: something had been born within him that had
not been there an hour ago.

He spoke first. "I am Tharn," he said.

The girl did not at once respond to his implied question. She seemed
hesitant, uncertain as to the wisdom of remaining there.

"I am Dylara," she said at last, her voice low and soft, yet wonderfully
clear. "My father is chief of the tribe that bears his name. The caves
of Majok are there," and she pointed toward the cliff, hidden from them
by intervening trees.

Under the impetus of crystallizing realization, Tharn said what he had
wanted to say from the first. "I kept Tarlok from getting you," he
reminded her. "Now you belong to me!"

The brown-haired girl flushed with mingled astonishment and anger.

"You are a fool!" she retorted. "I belong to no one. Because you saved
me from Tarlok, I will not call my people if you go away at once."

She turned and would have left him had not Tharn reached out and caught
her by the arm.

Instantly she wheeled and struck him savagely across the mouth with her
free hand, struggling to break his hold as she did so.

Then Tharn, his face smarting, hesitated no longer. With an effortless
motion he drew her into the circle of his arms, tossed her lightly
across one broad shoulder and broke into a run, heading back in the
direction of home. His prisoner let out a single cry for help; then a
calloused palm covered her lips.

And hardly had the echoes of that shout faded than six brawny
fighting-men rose from the edge of the jungle, directly in Tharn's path!

At sight of the newcomers, Tharn whirled to his left, and raced away
with enormous bounding strides despite the handicap of his burden. With
loud yells and frightful threats beating against his ears, the cave man
vanished into the tangled maze beyond the clearing.

Pursuit was immediate. For several hundred yards the chase continued at
break-neck speed. Compared to those behind him, Tharn's passage was
almost silent, his lithe figure slipping smoot