was furious and frightened, but more frightened than
furious. He searched the ground below the tree, and he searched the
tree above the ground; but there was no sign of either bow or arrows or
of the nocturnal marauder.

Kulonga was panic-stricken. His spear he had hurled at Kala and had
not recovered; and, now that his bow and arrows were gone, he was
defenseless except for a single knife. His only hope lay in reaching
the village of Mbonga as quickly as his legs would carry him.

That he was not far from home he was certain, so he took the trail at a
rapid trot.

From a great mass of impenetrable foliage a few yards away emerged
Tarzan of the Apes to swing quietly in his wake.

Kulonga's bow and arrows were securely tied high in the top of a giant
tree from which a patch of bark had been removed by a sharp knife near
to the ground, and a branch half cut through and left hanging about
fifty feet higher up. Thus Tarzan blazed the forest trails and marked
his caches.

As Kulonga continued his journey Tarzan closed on him until he traveled
almost over the black's head. His rope he now held coiled in his right
hand; he was almost ready for the kill.

The moment was delayed only because Tarzan was anxious to ascertain the
black warrior's destination, and presently he was rewarded, for they
came suddenly in view of a great clearing, at one end of which lay many
strange lairs.

Tarzan was directly over Kulonga, as he made the discovery. The forest
ended abruptly and beyond lay two hundred yards of planted fields
between the jungle and the village.

Tarzan must act quickly or his prey would be gone; but Tarzan's life
training left so little space between decision and action when an
emergency confronted him that there was not even room for the shadow of
a thought between.

So it was that as Kulonga emerged from the shadow of the jungle a
slender coil of rope sped sinuously above him from the lowest branch of
a mighty tree directly upon the edge of the fields of Mbonga, and ere
the king's son had taken a half dozen steps into the clearing a quick
noose tightened about his neck.

So quickly did Tarzan of the Apes drag back his prey that Kulonga's cry
of alarm was throttled in his windpipe. Hand over hand Tarzan drew the
struggling black until he had him hanging by his neck in mid-air; then
Tarzan climbed to a larger branch drawing the still threshing victim
well up into the sheltering verdure of the tree.

H