heir first discovery was the dead
body of the sentry, and a moment later one of the bravest of them had
entered the hut and discovered the absence of the prisoner. These
startling announcements filled the blacks with a combination of terror
and rage; but, seeing no foe in evidence they were enabled to permit
their rage to get the better of their terror, and so the leaders,
pushed on by those behind them, ran rapidly around the hut in the
direction of the yapping of the mangy cur. Here they found a single
white warrior making away with their captive, and recognizing him as
the author of numerous raids and indignities and believing that they
had him cornered and at a disadvantage, they charged savagely upon him.

Korak, seeing that they were discovered, lifted Meriem to his shoulders
and ran for the tree which would give them egress from the village. He
was handicapped in his flight by the weight of the girl whose legs
would but scarce bear her weight, to say nothing of maintaining her in
rapid flight, for the tightly drawn bonds that had been about her
ankles for so long had stopped circulation and partially paralyzed her
extremities.

Had this not been the case the escape of the two would have been a feat
of little moment, since Meriem was scarcely a whit less agile than
Korak, and fully as much at home in the trees as he. But with the girl
on his shoulder Korak could not both run and fight to advantage, and
the result was that before he had covered half the distance to the tree
a score of native curs attracted by the yelping of their mate and the
yells and shouts of their masters had closed in upon the fleeing white
man, snapping at his legs and at last succeeding in tripping him. As
he went down the hyena-like brutes were upon him, and as he struggled
to his feet the blacks closed in.

A couple of them seized the clawing, biting Meriem, and subdued her--a
blow upon the head was sufficient. For the ape-man they found more
drastic measures would be necessary.

Weighted down as he was by dogs and warriors he still managed to
struggle to his feet. To right and left he swung crushing blows to the
faces of his human antagonists--to the dogs he paid not the slightest
attention other than to seize the more persistent and wring their necks
with a single quick movement of the wrist.

A knob stick aimed at him by an ebon Hercules he caught and wrested
from his antagonist, and then the blacks experienced to the full t