, and then, ere he turned to
leave, the devil of capriciousness entered his heart. He looked about
for some hint of a wild prank to play upon these strange, grotesque
creatures that they might be again aware of his presence among them.

Dropping his bundle of arrows at the foot of the tree, Tarzan crept
among the shadows at the side of the street until he came to the same
hut he had entered on the occasion of his first visit.

Inside all was darkness, but his groping hands soon found the object
for which he sought, and without further delay he turned again toward
the door.

He had taken but a step, however, ere his quick ear caught the sound of
approaching footsteps immediately without. In another instant the
figure of a woman darkened the entrance of the hut.

Tarzan drew back silently to the far wall, and his hand sought the
long, keen hunting knife of his father. The woman came quickly to the
center of the hut. There she paused for an instant feeling about with
her hands for the thing she sought. Evidently it was not in its
accustomed place, for she explored ever nearer and nearer the wall
where Tarzan stood.

So close was she now that the ape-man felt the animal warmth of her
naked body. Up went the hunting knife, and then the woman turned to
one side and soon a guttural "ah" proclaimed that her search had at
last been successful.

Immediately she turned and left the hut, and as she passed through the
doorway Tarzan saw that she carried a cooking pot in her hand.

He followed closely after her, and as he reconnoitered from the shadows
of the doorway he saw that all the women of the village were hastening
to and from the various huts with pots and kettles. These they were
filling with water and placing over a number of fires near the stake
where the dying victim now hung, an inert and bloody mass of suffering.

Choosing a moment when none seemed near, Tarzan hastened to his bundle
of arrows beneath the great tree at the end of the village street. As
on the former occasion he overthrew the cauldron before leaping,
sinuous and catlike, into the lower branches of the forest giant.

Silently he climbed to a great height until he found a point where he
could look through a leafy opening upon the scene beneath him.

The women were now preparing the prisoner for their cooking pots, while
the men stood about resting after the fatigue of their mad revel.
Comparative quiet reigned in the village.

Tarzan r