by Cimbula and
kept in his cave until such time as he decided to kill him. Dick
managed to escape and rescued Ray and Dan whom Slythe had left with the
Gorols. Dan was about to be sacrificed by the jealous Cimbula when
Dick came upon the scene and saved his friend.

Dick found himself in many tight places and in the end it appeared to
the boy that there was no way out. He and his friends, Dan and Ray,
were to be executed by the Taharans whom Cimbula had set against them.
But Dick did not give up hope and his alert mind found a way out of the
difficulty. He found the golden crown, which he wore, uniting once
more the two savage tribes.

When Rex Carter arrived in his plane to find his family, Dick had been
crowned King of the Taharans. After hearing the whole story from Ray
and Dan, he refused to believe that the young people were safe among
this strange race.

"Get ready and let's be off!" he said to Dick as he looked anxiously
around at the suspicious warriors, who gazed in horror at the great
airplane that rested on the sands before the oasis.

"Nothing doing, I'm staying here," replied Dick. "I wouldn't miss this
for anything!"

"You're fooling, Dick! You wouldn't want to stay here! Let's go!"
urged Rex Carter.

"I'm not fooling, Mr. Carter. This will be my one and only chance to
be a real king. I've earned this job and I'm not going to give it up.
Tell Dad I've found that Stone-Age tribe!"

Rex Carter looked at Dan and Ray, with a question in his eyes.

Ray took her father's hand and snuggled up to him as if for protection,
but Dan turned to his friend.

"Say Dick are you positive that there'll always be plenty of eats?" he
asked.

"I promise," replied Dick with a smile.

"Then I'm staying as chief adviser to the king!" Dan said with a smile
as he turned to his father.

Rex Carter looked troubled, but Dick's confident manner assured him
that he could trust his son to him.

"It's all right, Mr. Carter," said Dick seriously. "We couldn't leave
these people without a king and an adviser. They are depending on us!
We have to stay!"

Thus had Dick Oakwood become Tahara, the Boy King of the Desert.

His ambition was to develop the Stone-Age tribesmen in the ways of
peace and progress, without allowing them to be robbed or reduced to
slavery by greedy fortune-seekers from the outside world.

But in planning this happy future of his people, the Boy King did not
foresee that he would have t