Werper feared these prowlers of the night; but infinitely more he
feared the just wrath of the human beast sleeping at his side. With
utmost caution the Belgian arose. Tarzan did not move. Werper took a
few steps toward the plain and the distant forest to the northwest,
then he paused and fingered the hilt of the long knife in his belt. He
turned and looked down upon the sleeper.

"Why not?" he mused. "Then I should be safe."

He returned and bent above the ape-man. Clutched tightly in his hand
was the sacrificial knife of the High Priestess of the Flaming God!

10

Achmet Zek Sees the Jewels

Mugambi, weak and suffering, had dragged his painful way along the
trail of the retreating raiders. He could move but slowly, resting
often; but savage hatred and an equally savage desire for vengeance
kept him to his task. As the days passed his wounds healed and his
strength returned, until at last his giant frame had regained all of
its former mighty powers. Now he went more rapidly; but the mounted
Arabs had covered a great distance while the wounded black had been
painfully crawling after them.

They had reached their fortified camp, and there Achmet Zek awaited the
return of his lieutenant, Albert Werper. During the long, rough
journey, Jane Clayton had suffered more in anticipation of her
impending fate than from the hardships of the road.

Achmet Zek had not deigned to acquaint her with his intentions
regarding her future. She prayed that she had been captured in the
hope of ransom, for if such should prove the case, no great harm would
befall her at the hands of the Arabs; but there was the chance, the
horrid chance, that another fate awaited her. She had heard of many
women, among whom were white women, who had been sold by outlaws such
as Achmet Zek into the slavery of black harems, or taken farther north
into the almost equally hideous existence of some Turkish seraglio.

Jane Clayton was of sterner stuff than that which bends in spineless
terror before danger. Until hope proved futile she would not give it
up; nor did she entertain thoughts of self-destruction only as a final
escape from dishonor. So long as Tarzan lived there was every reason
to expect succor. No man nor beast who roamed the savage continent
could boast the cunning and the powers of her lord and master. To her,
he was little short of omnipotent in his native world--this world of
savage beasts and savage men. Tarza