n would virgin maid
find friend and protector in a strange male other than he?"

"Perhaps Lu-don may be mistaken--perhaps he is a god," said O-lo-a,
influenced by her slave's enthusiastic championing of the stranger.

"But whether god or man he is too wonderful to die," cried Pan-at-lee.
"Would that I might save him. If he lived he might even find a way to
give you your Ta-den, Princess."

"Ah, if he only could," sighed O-lo-a, "but alas it is too late for
tomorrow I am to be given to Bu-lot."

"He who came to your quarters yesterday with your father?" asked
Pan-at-lee.

"Yes; the one with the awful round face and the big belly," exclaimed
the Princess disgustedly. "He is so lazy he will neither hunt nor
fight. To eat and to drink is all that Bu-lot is fit for, and he thinks
of naught else except these things and his slave women. But come,
Pan-at-lee, gather for me some of these beautiful blossoms. I would
have them spread around my couch tonight that I may carry away with me
in the morning the memory of the fragrance that I love best and which I
know that I shall not find in the village of Mo-sar, the father of
Bu-lot. I will help you, Pan-at-lee, and we will gather armfuls of
them, for I love to gather them as I love nothing else--they were
Ta-den's favorite flowers."

The two approached the flowering shrubbery where Tarzan hid, but as the
blooms grew plentifully upon every bush the ape-man guessed there would
be no necessity for them to enter the patch far enough to discover him.
With little exclamations of pleasure as they found particularly large
or perfect blooms the two moved from place to place upon the outskirts
of Tarzan's retreat.

"Oh, look, Pan-at-lee," cried O-lo-a presently; "there is the king of
them all. Never did I see so wonderful a flower--No! I will get it
myself--it is so large and wonderful no other hand shall touch it," and
the princess wound in among the bushes toward the point where the great
flower bloomed upon a bush above the ape-man's head.

So sudden and unexpected her approach that there was no opportunity to
escape and Tarzan sat silently trusting that fate might be kind to him
and lead Ko-tan's daughter away before her eyes dropped from the
high-growing bloom to him. But as the girl cut the long stem with her
knife she looked down straight into the smiling face of Tarzan-jad-guru.

With a stifled scream she drew back and the ape-man rose and faced her.

"Have no fear, Prince