o," wailed Numgo. "I am only a poor, old ape. Leave me alone. Go
ask the Gomangani where God is. They are hairless like yourself and
very wise, too. They should know."

Tarzan released Numgo and turned away. The suggestion that he consult
the blacks appealed to him, and though his relations with the people of
Mbonga, the chief, were the antithesis of friendly, he could at least
spy upon his hated enemies and discover if they had intercourse with
God.

So it was that Tarzan set forth through the trees toward the village of
the blacks, all excitement at the prospect of discovering the Supreme
Being, the Creator of all things. As he traveled he reviewed,
mentally, his armament--the condition of his hunting knife, the number
of his arrows, the newness of the gut which strung his bow--he hefted
the war spear which had once been the pride of some black warrior of
Mbonga's tribe.

If he met God, Tarzan would be prepared. One could never tell whether
a grass rope, a war spear, or a poisoned arrow would be most
efficacious against an unfamiliar foe. Tarzan of the Apes was quite
content--if God wished to fight, the ape-man had no doubt as to the
outcome of the struggle. There were many questions Tarzan wished to
put to the Creator of the Universe and so he hoped that God would not
prove a belligerent God; but his experience of life and the ways of
living things had taught him that any creature with the means for
offense and defense was quite likely to provoke attack if in the proper
mood.

It was dark when Tarzan came to the village of Mbonga. As silently as
the silent shadows of the night he sought his accustomed place among
the branches of the great tree which overhung the palisade. Below him,
in the village street, he saw men and women. The men were hideously
painted--more hideously than usual. Among them moved a weird and
grotesque figure, a tall figure that went upon the two legs of a man
and yet had the head of a buffalo. A tail dangled to his ankles behind
him, and in one hand he carried a zebra's tail while the other clutched
a bunch of small arrows.

Tarzan was electrified. Could it be that chance had given him thus
early an opportunity to look upon God? Surely this thing was neither
man nor beast, so what could it be then other than the Creator of the
Universe! The ape-man watched the every move of the strange creature.
He saw the black men and women fall back at its approach as though they
stood