SA i rj trx- w i $,' W'J ' . i . '- , 16 EYEING PUBLIC EDGEKr-PHXDELPHIAj , SATURDAY, AUGUST 0, 1919 9- m t 1 n 4 JUNGLE JOKE Tarzan Changes Himself From a Man to a Lion and Saves Numa iL By Edgar Rice Burroughs X M V 4 i: "JTflME Beldom hung heavily upon I ' Tarzan's hands. Even where there Js sameness there cannot be monot- l, 'ony if most of the sameness con sists in dodging death first in one v form and then in another; V in inflicting death upon others. There '. Js a spice to-such an existence; but 'even thfs Tarzan of tho Apes varied dn 'activities of his own invention, i He was full grown now, with tho grace of a Greek god and tho thews of a bull, and, by all the tenets of 'apedom should have been sullen, morose and brooding; but he was 'not His spirits seemed not to age at all he was still a playful child, 'much to the discomfiture of his fel low-apes. They could not under stand him or his ways, for with maturity they quickly forgot their youth and its pastimes. 5 Nor could Tarzan quite under stand them. It seemed strange to him that a few moons since, ho had toped Taug about an ankle and drag ged him screaming through the tall Jungle grasses, and then rolled and tumbled in good-natured mimic bat tle when the young ape had freed himself, and that today when ho iad. come un behind the same Taug ' . ..... . . j ,na punea mm over uacitwara upun :the turf instead of the playful young c I fetf, a great, snarling boost had whirled and leaped for his throat. Easilv Tarzan eluded tho charge lnnri nnirklv Taucr's nneer vanished. ' ,. ., - . , a though it was not replaced With I .playfulness; yet the ape-msn rea-1 'lized that Taug was not amused nor , was he amusing. Tho big bull ape seemed to have lost whatever sense of humor he once may have pos--sessed. With a grunt of disappoint i meht, young Lord Greystroke turned J't'o other fields of? endeavor. A strand 5 of black hair fell across one eye. He brushed it aside with the palm of 'a 'i hand and a toss of his head. It i suggested something to do, so he Bought his quiver which lay cached In the hollow bole of a lightning? riven tree. Removing the airows 'he turned the quiver upside down, 1 empting upon tho ground the con sents of its bottom his few f.cas ;ures. Among them was a fiat bit .5 of stone and a shell which he had i. 'picked7 up from thc benrh near his father's .cabin, . With great care he rubbed thc -1 edge of the shell back and forth J upon the flat stone until the soft I edge was quite fine and sharp. He worked much as a barber docswho . hones a razor, and with every evi- ' deuce of similar practice; but his proncjency was wv icsuii, ui. jtua of painstaking effort. Unaided he Miad workecj out a method of his own for putting an edge upon the shell ha even tested it with the ball of Jijs thumb and when it met with his approval ho grasped a wisp of the hair which fell across his eyes, ( grasped it between the thumb and first finger of his leit nana ana sawed 'upon it with the sharpened shell until it was severed. All around his head he went until his black shock was rudely bobbed with ' a ragged bang in front. For the " appearance of it he cared 'nothing; ' but in the matter of safety and com- f'fort It meant everything. A lock of l hair falling in one's eyes at the j wrong moment might mean all the ' difference between life and death, 1 while"' straggly strands, hanging , ' down one's back were most uncom fortable, especially when wet with ;8ew, or rain or perspiration. - . 'A' rr.Mnn 1l...Ar of Tile t ATI C A 1 1 1 i ''fasfc, his active mind was busy with i many things. He recalled his recent V.r1 .ltVi Rnlo-oni fVio rrnrilln 'the " wounds of which were but just wr,h'ealed. He pondered the strange Asleep "adventures of his first dreams, i 'and he smiled at the painful out- - come of his last practical joke upon J the tribe, when, dressed in the hide .of Numa, the lion, he' had come 'rJlfiiaring upon them, only to be leaped 'Upon and almost killed by the great bulls whom he. haa taught how to defend themselves from an attack of their ancient enemy. L -His hair lopped off to his entire satisfaction, and seeing no possi bility of pleasure in the company of .I'the tribe, Tarzans swung leisurely i into1 the trees and set off in the di- j ruction of his cabin; but when part iway mere jhb musiuiuii wua at tracted by a 'strohg scent spoor coming from the north. It was the -scent ,of the Gomangani. t '"" .Curiosity, the best-developed, , common heritage of man and ape, always prompted Tarzan to inves tigate where the Gomangani were concerned. There was that about .them which aroused his imagination. Possibly it was because of the diver sity of their activities and interests. ' The apes lived to eat and sleep and , propagate. The same was true of all the' other denizens of the jungle, save the Gomangani. p- "These black fellows danced and sang, scratched around in the earth v from which thev had cleared the - trees and underbrush; they watched things grow, and when they had ripened, they cut them down and put them in strav-thatched huts. 'i Thev made bows and snears and ar- jM.JWS, poison, cooking pots, things tt metai to wear arouna ineir arms d legs. If it hadn't been for their "Uywj; ;facsf, 'their hideously dis- AiBmCf (jkturWi nU :the 'fact that one of them had slain Kala, Tar- meat-eating beasts and birds of the zan might have wished to bo -one of jungle. He was hungry. Had he them. At least he sometimes been all beast ho would have eaten; thought so, but always at the but his man-mind could entertain thought there rose within him a urges even moro potent than those strange revulsion of feeling, which of the belly, and now he was con hecould not interpret or understand cerned with an idea which kept a ho simply knew that he hated the smilo upon his lips and his eyes Gomangani, and that he would sparkling in anticipation. An idea, rather be Hist ah, the snake, than it was, which permitted him to. for ono of these. get that he was hungry. But their ways were interesting, The meat safely cached, Tarzan and Tarzan never tired of spying trotted along the elephant trail after upon them, and from them he learn- the Gomangani. Two or three miles cd much more than ho realized, from the cage ho overtook them though always his principal thought and then he swung into the trees was of some new way in which he antl followed above and behind them could render tneir lives miserable, waiting his chance. Tho baiting of the blacks was Tar- Among the blacks was Rabba zan's chief divertisement. ' KcEa- thc witch-doctor. Tarzan Tarzan realized now that thc , hatcd. thcm a":but ARabb? KcSa j,c blacks were very near and that there fflall' hatcd ,As th were many of them, so ho went ?.Icd aln? the windl,nK Pat,h. Raba silently and wfth great caution. 'CP'. bclnS Iay. dropped behind. NoiSnlM,lv ho mvnH thrnncrh ,j, ' This larza noted, and it filled him lush grasses of the open spaces, and where the forest was dense, swung t from one swaying branch to an other, or leaped lightly over tangled masses of fallen trees where "there was no way through the lower terraces,' and the ground was choked and impassable. And so presently he came within sight of the black warriors of Mbonga, the chief. They were en gaged in a pursuit with which Tar zan was moro or less familiar, hav ing watched them at it upon other occasions, mey wer placing ana limrintv n tvnn -fni Mnmn no linn U a cage uQn - I tying a kid, so fastening it that when, ' Numa seized the unfortunate erea- ture, the door of the cage would : fii'nn nnmnn HttM mnirmn hint ...... .... IL Vf MITUIUU 41111, UltllWll ill 111 U prisono. HVlOCft tlllMffo flirt VvlortL-o Vi n rl :,earned ,n oW , befor(j they escaped through the untracked jungle to their new village. For merly they had dwelt in the Belgian Congo until tho cruelties of their heartless oppressors had driven them to seek the safety of unex plored solitudes beyond the boun daries of Leopold's domain. In their old life they often had trapped animals for the agents of European dealers, and had learned from them certain tricks, such as this one, which permitted them to capture even Numa without injuring him, and to transport him in safety and with comparative case to their village. No longer was there a white mar ket for their savage wares; but there was still a sufficient incentive for the taking of Numa alive., First was the necessity for ridding the jungle of man-eaters, and it was only after depredations by these grim and terrible scourges, that a lion hunt was organized. Secondarily was the excuse for an orgy of cele bration was the hunt successful, and the fact that such fetes were ren dered doubly pleasurable by the presence of a live creature that might be put to death by torture. Tarzan had witnessed these cruel rites in tho past. Being himself more savage than the savage war riors of the Gomangani, he was not so, shocked by the cruelty of them as he should have been, yet they did shock him. He could not understand the strange feeling of revulsion which possessed him at such times. He had no love for Numa, the lion,' yet he bristled with rage when the blacks inflicted upon his enemy such indignities and cruelties as only the mind of the one creature molded in the image of God can conceive. Upon two occasions he had freed Numa from the trap before the blacks had returned to discover the success or failure of their venture. He would do the same today tbs ne aecided immediately he realized the nature of their intentions. Leaving the trap in the center of a broad elephant trail near the drinking hole, the warriors turned back toward their village. On the morrow they would come again. Tarzan looked after them, upon his lips an unconscious sneer the heri tage of unguessed caste. He saw them file along the 4road trail, be neath the overhanging verdure of leafy branch and looped and festooned creepers, brushing ebon shoulders against gorgeous blooms which inscrutable Nature has seen fit to lavish most profusely farthest from the eye of man. As Tarzan watched, through nar rowed lids, the last of the warrrors disappear beyond a turn in the trail, his expression altered to the urge of a newborn thought. A. slow, grim smile touched his lips. He looked down upon the frightened, bleating kid, advertising, in its fear and its innocence, its presence and its helplessness. Dropping to the ground, Tarzan approached the trap and entered. Without disturbing the' fiber cord, which was adjusted to drop the door at the proper time, he loosened the living bait, tucked it under an arm and stepped out of the cage. With his hunting knife he quieted tho frightened animal, severing its jugular; then he dragged it, bleed ing, along the trail down to the drinking hole, the half smile per sisting upon his ordinarily grqve face. At the water's edge the ape man stooped and with hunting knife and quick strong fingers deftly re moved the dead kid's viscera. Scrap ing a hole in the mud, he buried these parts which he did not eat, and swinging tho body to his shoul der took to the trees. For a short distance he pursued his way in the wake of the black warriors, coming down presently to bury (he- meat of his kill where it would be jsafe from the depredations would be jsafe from (he depredations rofDangof the bywiaj or the othe , w!th Mtisfnctlon-hu being radiat ed a grim and-terriblc content. an angel of death he hovered above the, unsuspecting black. Rabba Kega, knowing that the village was but a shoit distance ahead, sat down to rest. Rest well, 0 Rabba Kega! It is thy last op poitunity. Tarzan crept stealthily among the branches of the tico above the well fed, self-satisfied witch-doctor. He made no noise that the dull ears of man could hear above the soughing of the gentle jungle breeze among the undulating foliage of the upper terraces, and when he cama cIofo above the black man he halted, well concealed by leafy branch and heavy creeper. And as Rabba Keka turned, a lithe figure shot outward and downward from the tree above'upon his broad shoulders. The impact of the springing creature carried Rabba Kega to the ground. Ho felt strong jaws close upon his neck, and when he tried to scream, steel fingers throttled his throat. The powerful black warrior struggled to- free himself; but ho was as a child in the grip of his adversary. Presently Tarzan released his grip upon tho other's throat; but each time that Rabba Kega essayed a scream, the cruel fingers choked him painfully. At last the warrior de sisted. Then Tarzan half rose and kneeled upon the victim's back, and when Rabba Kega struggled to arise, the ape-man pushed his face down into the dirt of the trail. With 'a bit of the rope thai had secured the kid, Tarzan made Rabba Kega's wrists secure behind his back, then he rose and jerked his prisoner to his feet, faced him back along the trail and pushed him on ahead. Not until he came to his feet did Rabba Kega obtain a square look at his assailant. When he sawlhat It was the white devil-god his heart sank within him and his knees trembled; but as he walked along the trail ahead of his captor and was neither injured nor molested his spirits slowly rose, so that he took heart again. Possibly the devil god did not intend to kill him after all. Had he not had little Tibo in his power for days without harming him, and had he not spared Momaya, Tibo's mother, when he easily might have slain her? And then they came upon tho cage which Rabba Kega, with the other black warriors of the village of Mbonga, the chief, had placed and baited for Numa. Rabba Kega saw that' the bait was gone, though there was no lion within the cage, nor was the door dropped. He saw and he was filled with wonder not un mixed, with apprehension. It enter ed his dull brain that in some way this combination of circumstances had a connection with his presence there as the prisoner of the white devil-god. Nor was he wrong. Tarzan push- ed him roughly, into the cage, and in another moment Raba Kega under stood. Cold sweat broke from every pore of his body he trembled as with ague for the ape-man was binding him securely in the very spot the kid had previously occupied. The witch-doctor pleaded, first for his life, and then for a death less cruel; but he might as well have saved his pleas for Nurna, since al ready" they were directed toward a wild beast who understood no word) ofwKatnie said. ' ,. ' . But his constant jabbering v not only annoyed Tarzan, who worked in silence, but suggested that later the black might raise his voice in cries for succor, so he stepped out of the cage, gathered a handful of grass and a small stick and return ing jammed the grass into Rabba Kega's mouth, laid the stick cross wise between his teeth and fastened it there with the thongfrom Rabba Kega's loin cloth. Npw could the witch-doctor but roll his eyes and sweat. Thus Tarzan left him. The ape-man went first to the spot where he had cacheXl the body of thc kid. Digging it up, he as cended into a tree and proceeded to satisfy his hunger. What remained he again buried; then he swung away through the trees to the water hole, and going to the spot where fresh, cold water bubbled from be tween two rocks, he drank deeply. The other beasts might wade in and drink stagnant water; but not Tar zan of the Apes. In such matters ho was fastidious. From his hands he washed every trace of the repug nant scent .of the Gomangani, and from his face the blood of the kid. Rising, he stretched himself not un like, some huge, lazy cat, climbed into a near-by tree and fell asleep. When he awoke it was dark, though a faint luminosity still ting ed the western heavens. A lion moaned and coughed as it strode through thc jungle toward water. It was approaching the drinking hole. Tarzan grinned sleepily, changed his position and fell asleep again. When the blacks of Mbonga, the chief, reached their village they dis covered that Rabba Kega was not among them. When several hours had elapsed they decided that some thing had happened ,to him, and it was the hope of the majority of the tribe that whatever had happened to him might prove fatal. They did not love the witch-doctor. Love and fear seldom are playmates; but a warrior is a warrior, and so Mbonga organized a searching party. That his own grief was not unassuageable might have been gathered from the fact that he remained at home and went to sleep. The young warriors whom he sent out remained stead fast to their purpose for fully half an hour, when, unfortflnately for Rabba Kega upon so slight a thing may the fate of a, man rest a honey bird attracted the attention of the searchers and led them off for tho delicious store it previously had marked down for betrayal, and Rabba Kegajs doom was sealed. When the searchers returned, empty handed, Mbonga was wroth; but when he saw the great store of honey they brought with them his rage , subsided. Already Tubuto, young, agile and evil-minded, with face hideously painted, was pra'ctic ing the black art updfl a sick infant in tno fond hone of succeeding to the office and perquisiWes of Rabba' Kega. Tonight the women of the old witcfi-doctor would moan and howl. Tomorrow he' would be for gotten. Such is life, such is fame, suclris power in the center of the world's highest civilization, or in the depths of the black, primeval jungle. Always, everywhere, man is man, norhas he altered greatly beneath not yhas he altereq greatly beneath bjs veneer aindehescurried'into, a '''.' i nil I ii'i , . mtnrrr'1 wtV'-vtiW wry S.-'r:- ' V ywlMll v iff! '. mt W-J?ftiBill?aMB Their spears were ready In their lianas anil there stood re- ealcil before them In the flrellf;lit tlto straight jonns llgure of the white iIell-goil hole bteween two rocks to escape tho tyrannosaurus six million years- ago. The morning following tho disap pearance of Rabba Kega, the war riors set out with Mbonga, the chief, to examine the trap they had set for Numa. Long before they reached the cage, they heard the roaring of a great lion and guessed that they had made a successful bag, so it was with shouts of joy that they ap proached the spot where they should find their captive. Yes! there he was, a great, mag nificent specimen a huge, black maned lion. The warriors were frantic with delight. They leaped into the air and uttered savage cries hoarse victory cnes, and then they came closer, and the cries, died upon their lips,- and their eyes went wide so that" the whites showed all around their irises, add their pendu lous lower lips drooped with their drooping jaWs. They drew back in terror at the sight within the cage the mauled and mutilated corpse of what had, yesterday, been Rabba Kega, the witch-doctor. The captured lion had been too angry and -frightened to feed upon the, body of his kill; but he had vented upon it much of his rage, un til it was a frightful thing to behold, From his pcrch in a near-by tree Tarzan of the Apes, Lord Grey stoke, looked down upon the black warriors and grinned. Once again his self-pride in his ability as a practical joker asserted itself. It had lain dormant for some rone fol lowing the painful "mauling he had received that time he leaped among the apes of Kerchak clothed in the skin of Numa; but this joke was a decided success. After a few moments of terror, tho blacks came closer to thc cage, rage taking the place of fear rage and curios'ty. How had Rabba Kega happened to be in the cage? Where was the kid? There was no sign nor remnant of the origim.1 bait They looked closely and they saw, to their horror, that the corpse of their erstwhile fellow was bound with the very cord 'with which they had se cured the kid. Who could have done this thing? They looked at one an other. Tubuto was the first to speak. He had come hopefully out with the expedition that morning. Some where he might find evidence of the! Heath f Rabba Kega. Now he had found it, and he was the first to find an explanation. No one contradicted Tubuto, for, indeed, who else could it have been but the great, hairless ape they all so feared? And so their hatred of Tarzan increased again with an in creased fear of him. And Tarzan sat in his tree and hugged himself. No one"there felt sorrow because of the death of Rabba Kega; but each pf the blacks experienced a personal fear of the ingenious mind which might discover for any of them a death equally horrible to' that which the witch-doctor had suffered. It was a subdued and thoughtful company'which dragged the captive. Jion along the broad elephant path back to tho village of Mbonga, the chief. And it was with a sigh of relief that they finally rolled it into the' village and closed the gatfts behind them, Each had experienced the sensation of being spied upon from the moment they left the spot where the trap had been set, though none had seen or heard aught to give tangible food to his fears. At the sight of the body withii the, cage with tho lion, the women and children of the vijlage set up a most frightful lamentation, working themselves into a joyous hysteria which far t transcended the Jiappy which far t transcended the Jiappylman's peculiar style of, humorf r I intiwry derived bjWthelr more ciyl- Now, when iheyjsaw "who it wasI lized prototypes who make a busi ness of dividing their time between the movies and tho neighborhood funerals of friends and strangers especially strangers. Fiom a lice overhanging the pali sade, Tarzan watched alMhat passed within' the village. He saw the frenzied women tantalizing tho great lion with sticks and stones. The cruelty of the blacks toward a cap tive always induced hi Tarzan a feel ing of angry contempt for the Gomangani. Had he attempted to analyze this feeling he would have found it difficult, for during all his life he had been accustomed to sights cf suffering and cruelty. He, himself, was cruel. All the beasts of 1, J.ih1a u-nin ornni hilt t.nP. rruritv of the blacks was of a dif-4 feient order. It was the cruelty ot wanton tnjturc of the helpless, while the cruelty of Tarzan and the other beasts was the cruelty of necessity or of passion. . And' just in proportion as his anger rose against thcGomangarii his savage sympathy went out to Numa, the lion, for, though Numa was- his lifetime enemy, there was neither bitterness nor contempt in Tarzan's sentiments toward him. In thc ape- man's mind, tncieiore, me ucici- fmination formed to thwart thc blacks and liberate the lion; DUt. ne must accomplish this in some way which would cause the Gomangani the greatest chagrin and disqemfiture. As he squatted there watching the proceeding beneath him, he saw the warriors seize upon the cage once more and drag it between two huts. Tarzan knew that it would remain there now until evening, and that the blacks were planning a feast and orgy in celebration of their captive. When he saw that two waniors were placed beside the cage, and that these drove off the women and chil dren and young men who would have j eventually tortured Numa to death, he knew that the lion uould be safe until he was needed for the eve ning's entertainment, when he would be more cruelly and scientifically tortured for the edification of the entire tribe. Now Tarzan preferred to bait the blacks in as theatric a manner as his fertile imagination could evolve. He had some half-formed conception of their superstitious foars and of their especial dread of night, and so he decided to wait until darkness fell and the blacks paitially worked to hysteria by their dancing and religi ous rites before he took anv sterts Toward the freeing of Numa. In the meantime, he hoped, an idea adequate to the possibilities of the various factors at hand would occur to him. Nor was it long before one did, Ho had swung off through the jungle to search for food when the plan came to him. At first it made him smile a little and then look dubious, for he still retained a vivid memory of the dire results that had followed the cairyingvout of a very wonderful idea along almost iden tical lines, yet he did not abandon his intention, and a moment later, food temporarily forgotten, he was swinging through the middle ter races in rapid flight toward the stamping ground of the tribe o4f Ker chak, the great ape. As was his wont, he alighted in the-midst of the little band without announcing his approach save by a hideous scream' just as he sprang from a branch above them. For tunate are the apes of Kerchak that their kind is not subject to heart failure, for the rrfethods of Tarzan subjected them to one severe shock after another, nor could they ever accustom tnemseives to trie ape' i they merely snarled and grumbled ' Bngrily for a moment and then re sumed their feeding or their napping which he had interrupted, and he, having had his little joke, made his way to the hollow tree where he kept his treasures hid from the mis chievous little manus. Here he with drew a closely rolled hide the hide of Numa with the head on; a clever bit of primitive curing and mounting which had once been the property of tho witch-doctor, Rabba Kega, until Tarzan had stolen it from the village. With this he made his way back through the jungle toward thc village! of the blacks, stopping to hunt and , feed upon ther way, and, in the after- npon, even napping for an hour, so that it was already dusk when ho en tered the great tiec which overhung1 tht palisade and gave him a view of the entire village. He saw that Numa was still alive and that the guards were even dozing beside tho cage. A lion is no gieat novelty to a black man in the lion country, and the fust keen edge of their desiiu to worry the bmte having worn off, tho villagers paid little or no attention to the great cat, preferring now to wait the gland event of the night. Nor was it long after dark befoie I the festivities commenced. To the beating of tom-toms, a lone warrior, crouched half doubled, leaped into the firelight in the center of a great circle of other warriors, behind whom stood or squatted the women and tho children. The dancer was painted and armed for the hunt and his move ments and gestures suggested the search for the spoor of game. Bend ing low, sometimes resting for a mo ment on one knee, he seaichcd the ground for signs of the quarry; again he poised, statuesque, listening, ine warrior was young and lithe and graceful; he was full-muscled and arrow-straight The firelight glis tened upon his ebon body and brought out into bold relief the grotesque de signs painted upon his face, breasts and abdomen. Presently he bent low to the oaith, then leaped high in air. Every lino of face and body showed that he had struck the scent. Immediately he leaped toward the circle of warriors about him, telling them of his find nnd summoning them to the hunt. It was all in pantomime, but so truly done that even Tarzan could follow t all to the least detail. He saw the other warriors grasp their hunting spears and leap to their feet to join in the graceful, stealthy "talking dance." It was very in teresting, but Tarzan realized that if he was to carry his design to a successful conclusion he must act quickly He had seen these dances before and knew that after the stalk would come the game at bay and then the kill, during which Numa would be surrounded by warriors and unapproachable. With the lion's skin under one arm the ape-man dropped to the ground in the dense shadows beneath the tree and then circled behind the huts until he came out directly in the rear of thc cage, in which Numa paced nervously to and fro. The cage was now unguarded, the two warriors having left it to take their places among the other dancers. Behind the cage Tarzan adjusted the lion's skin about him, just as he had upon that memorable occasion when the apes of Keichak, failing to pierce his disguise, had all. but slain him. Then, on hands and kncei, he crept forward, emerged from between the two huts and stood a few paces back of the dusky au dience, whose whole attention was centered upon the dancers before them. Tarzan saw that the blacks had now worked themselves to a proper pitch of nervous excitement to be lipe for the lion. In a moment the ring of spectators would break at a , jjwuii. uaicab klJG Ldcu null Uiiu mu victim would be rolled into the center tne Katps of the village and sought of the circle. It was for this moment safety cmid the branches of the for that Tarzan waited. I cst tiees beyond.o Like sheep hi3 At last it came. A signal was fellows followed him, until the lion given by Mbonga, the chief, at which nn(1 h's (lca" remained alone in the the women and children immediately ' village. in front of Tarzan rose and moved ' From the nearer trees the men of to one side, leaving a broad path ' Mbonga saw the lion lower his gieat opening toward the caged lion. At nead ami seize one of his victims by the same instant Tarzan cave voice l tne shoulder and then with slow and to thc low, coughing roar of an angry , lion and slunk slowly foiward through the open lane toward the frenzied dancers A woman saw him first and screamed. Instantly thcie was a nanic in the immediate vicinitv of ! the ape-man. The strong light from ! the fire fell full upon tho lion head and the blacks leaped to the con-1 elusion, as Tarzan had known they would, that their captive had escaped his cage. With another roar Tarzan moved forward. The dancing warriors paused but an instant They had been hunting a lion securely housed with in a strong cage, and now that he was at liberty among them, an en tirely different aspect was placed upon the matter. Their nerves were not attuned to this emergency. The women and children already had fled to the questionable safety of the nearest huts, and the warriors were not long in following their example, so that presently Tarzan was left in sole possession of the village street. jjui. iiul iui juii. ur uiu ne wisn to be left thus long alone. It would not comport with his scheme. Pres ently a head peered forth from a nearby hut, and .then another and another -until a score or fuore of warriors were looking out upon him, waiting for his next move waiting for the lion to charge or to attemptlbecauso.?f th. "a1-mlnd whch, di to escape from the village, Their spears were ready in their .hs be hands against either a charge or., bolt for freedom, and tfien.thc lion " V ' rose erect upon its hind legs, tha tawny skin dropped from it and there stood revealed before them in the firelight tho straight young fig ure of the white devil-god. For an instant the blacks were too astonished to act. They feared thla apparition fully as much as they did Numa, yet they would gladly hava slain the thing csuld they quickly enough have gathered together thcif wits; but fcarand superstition and a natural mental density held them paralyzed while the ape-man stooped and gathered up the lion skin. They snw him tum then and walk back into the shadows it the far end of the village. Not until then did they gam courage to pursue him, and when they had come in force, with blandished spears and loud war cries, the quarry was gone. Not an instant did Tarzan pause n the tiee. Thiowing the skin over a branch he leaped again into the village upon the opposite sidp of the greut bole, nnd diving into the shadow of a hut, ran quickly tj whore lay thc caged lion. Springing to the top of the cage he pulled upon the cord which raised the door, and a moment later a great lion in the prime of his strength and vigor leaped out into the village. The warriors, returning from n fu tile search for Tarzan, saw him step into the firelight. Ah! there was the devil-god again, up to his old trick. Did he think ho could twice fool the men of Mbonga, thc chief, the same way in so short a time ? They would show him! For long they had waited for such an opportunity to rid them selves forever of this fearsome junfele demon. Asjonc they rushed forward with laised spears. ' The women and the children came from thc huts to witness the slay ing of the devil-god. The lion turned blazing eyes upon them and then swung about toward the advancing warriors. With shouts of savage joy and triumph they came toward him, menacing him with their spears. The devil-god was theirs! And then, with a frightful roart Numa, the lion, charged. The men of Mbonga, the chief, met Numa with ready spears and screams of raillery. In a solid mass 6 muscled ebony they waited the com ing of thedevil-god; yet beneath their brave. exteriors lurked a haunt ing fear that all might not be ouito well with them that this slrnniwi creature could yet prove invulnerable to their weapons and inflict unort .. them full punishment for their,ef-. frontery. The charging lioh was'attV too lifelike thev saw Hint in fnn brief instant of the charge; but be- neath the tawny hide they knew was Vlll fVin r.nfl 1 1- - V1 ..X .... iuu uu uusii 01 a wnue man, - fvri and how could that withstand .the ?V3f.i .loouuii. vi many war spears ( In their forefront stood a huge young warrior in the full arroganco of his might and his youth. Afraid? Not he! Ho laughed as Numa bore down upon him; he laughed and couched his spear, setting the point for the broad breast. And then the lion was upon him. A great paw swept away the heavy war spear, splintering it as the hand of man might splinter a dry twig. Down wont the black, his 'skull crushed by another blow. And then the lion was in the midst of the war riors, clawing and tearing to right land left. Not for long did they stand their ground; but a dozen men were mauled before the others made good their escape from those fright ful talons and gleaming fangs. In terror the villagers fled hither and thither. No hut seemed a suffi ciently secure asylum with Numa ranging within the palisade. From one to another fled the frightened blacks, while in the center of the village Numa stood glaring and growling above his kills. At last a tribesman flune wide stately tread move down the village street past the open gates and on into the jungle. They saw and shud dered, and from another tree Tarzan of the Apc.i saw and smiled. A full hour elapsed after the lion natl disappeared with his feast be fol' thc blacks ventured down from tie tree: a,lJ returned to their vil- ,aee- wwe pyos rolled from side to side, and naked flesh contracted more to the chill of fear than to the chill of the jungle night. "It was ho all the time," mur mured one. "It was the devil-god." "He changeth himself from a lion to a man, and back again into a lion," whispered another. ' "And ho diagged Mweeza into the forest and is eating him," said a third, shuddering. "We are no longer safe here," wailed a fourth. "Let us take our belongings and search for another village site far from the haunts of the wicked devil-god." But with morning came renewed courage, so that the experience of the preceding evening had little other effect than to increase the,? fear of Tarzan and strengthen their belief in his svlperpatural origin. And thus waxed tho fame and the power of the ape-man in the mys. , terious haunts of the savage jung.la where ho ranged, mightiest of beasts rected his giant muscles nnd hl flawless courage. J i i,i The flna complete Junjle'T ' appear Saturday, Avtmt J8, . 'iX C5,' Vis. & " 1 , '! . "-tl J i 1l All V Jt 9 r n ffh i 4' it -sTPI VI WI ki ti H . ii S ..! m mi 41 v3 h v v4. 3$iy MJt
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