sland and the pursuit of the whites up
the Ugambi. He knew that his savage master sought his wife and child
who had been stolen by the wicked white man whom they had followed far
into the interior and now back to the sea.

He believed also that this same man had killed the great white giant
whom he had come to respect and love as he had never loved the greatest
chiefs of his own people. And so in the wild breast of Mugambi burned
an iron resolve to win to the side of the wicked one and wreak
vengeance upon him for the murder of the ape-man.

But when he saw the canoe come down the river and take in Rokoff, when
he saw it make for the Kincaid, he realized that only by possessing
himself of a canoe could he hope to transport the beasts of the pack
within striking distance of the enemy.

So it happened that even before Jane Clayton fired the first shot into
Rokoff's canoe the beasts of Tarzan had disappeared into the jungle.

After the Russian and his party, which consisted of Paulvitch and the
several men he had left upon the Kincaid to attend to the matter of
coaling, had retreated before her fire, Jane realized that it would be
but a temporary respite from their attentions which she had gained, and
with the conviction came a determination to make a bold and final
stroke for freedom from the menacing threat of Rokoff's evil purpose.

With this idea in view she opened negotiations with the two sailors she
had imprisoned in the forecastle, and having forced their consent to
her plans, upon pain of death should they attempt disloyalty, she
released them just as darkness closed about the ship.

With ready revolver to compel obedience, she let them up one by one,
searching them carefully for concealed weapons as they stood with hands
elevated above their heads. Once satisfied that they were unarmed, she
set them to work cutting the cable which held the Kincaid to her
anchorage, for her bold plan was nothing less than to set the steamer
adrift and float with her out into the open sea, there to trust to the
mercy of the elements, which she was confident would be no more
merciless than Nikolas Rokoff should he again capture her.

There was, too, the chance that the Kincaid might be sighted by some
passing ship, and as she was well stocked with provisions and
water--the men had assured her of this fact--and as the season of storm
was well over, she had every reason to hope for the eventual success of
her plan.

The ni