isobediences and irritating mannerisms; Tarzan
knew, however, that he but waited his opportunity to wrest the kingship
from him by some sudden stroke of treachery, and so he was ever on his
guard against surprise.

For months the life of the little band went on much as it had before,
except that Tarzan's greater intelligence and his ability as a hunter
were the means of providing for them more bountifully than ever before.
Most of them, therefore, were more than content with the change in
rulers.

Tarzan led them by night to the fields of the black men, and there,
warned by their chief's superior wisdom, they ate only what they
required, nor ever did they destroy what they could not eat, as is the
way of Manu, the monkey, and of most apes.

So, while the blacks were wroth at the continued pilfering of their
fields, they were not discouraged in their efforts to cultivate the
land, as would have been the case had Tarzan permitted his people to
lay waste the plantation wantonly.

During this period Tarzan paid many nocturnal visits to the village,
where he often renewed his supply of arrows. He soon noticed the food
always standing at the foot of the tree which was his avenue into the
palisade, and after a little, he commenced to eat whatever the blacks
put there.

When the awe-struck savages saw that the food disappeared overnight
they were filled with consternation and dread, for it was one thing to
put food out to propitiate a god or a devil, but quite another thing to
have the spirit really come into the village and eat it. Such a thing
was unheard of, and it clouded their superstitious minds with all
manner of vague fears.

Nor was this all. The periodic disappearance of their arrows, and the
strange pranks perpetrated by unseen hands, had wrought them to such a
state that life had become a veritable burden in their new home, and
now it was that Mbonga and his head men began to talk of abandoning the
village and seeking a site farther on in the jungle.

Presently the black warriors began to strike farther and farther south
into the heart of the forest when they went to hunt, looking for a site
for a new village.

More often was the tribe of Tarzan disturbed by these wandering
huntsmen. Now was the quiet, fierce solitude of the primeval forest
broken by new, strange cries. No longer was there safety for bird or
beast. Man had come.

Other animals passed up and down the jungle by day and by
night--fie