Tarzan made his lonely way through the jungle paralleling the shore,
he felt strong upon him a desire for companionship, so that gradually
he commenced to regret that he had not cast his lot with the apes. He
had seen nothing of them since that first day, when the influences of
civilization were still paramount within him.

Now he was more nearly returned to the Tarzan of old, and though he
appreciated the fact that there could be little in common between
himself and the great anthropoids, still they were better than no
company at all.

Moving leisurely, sometimes upon the ground and again among the lower
branches of the trees, gathering an occasional fruit or turning over a
fallen log in search of the larger bugs, which he still found as
palatable as of old, Tarzan had covered a mile or more when his
attention was attracted by the scent of Sheeta up-wind ahead of him.

Now Sheeta, the panther, was one of whom Tarzan was exceptionally glad
to fall in with, for he had it in mind not only to utilize the great
cat's strong gut for his bow, but also to fashion a new quiver and
loin-cloth from pieces of his hide. So, whereas the ape-man had gone
carelessly before, he now became the personification of noiseless
stealth.

Swiftly and silently he glided through the forest in the wake of the
savage cat, nor was the pursuer, for all his noble birth, one whit less
savage than the wild, fierce thing he stalked.

As he came closer to Sheeta he became aware that the panther on his
part was stalking game of his own, and even as he realized this fact
there came to his nostrils, wafted from his right by a vagrant breeze,
the strong odour of a company of great apes.

The panther had taken to a large tree as Tarzan came within sight of
him, and beyond and below him Tarzan saw the tribe of Akut lolling in a
little, natural clearing. Some of them were dozing against the boles
of trees, while others roamed about turning over bits of bark from
beneath which they transferred the luscious grubs and beetles to their
mouths.

Akut was the closest to Sheeta.

The great cat lay crouched upon a thick limb, hidden from the ape's
view by dense foliage, waiting patiently until the anthropoid should
come within range of his spring.

Tarzan cautiously gained a position in the same tree with the panther
and a little above him. In his left hand he grasped his slim stone
blade. He would have preferred to use his noose, but the foliage
sur