an hour's march before them instead of several
days; but within a few minutes a fallen tree attracted his attention
with its suggestion of rich and succulent forage beneath, and when
Tarzan, missing him, returned in search, he found Chulk squatting
beside the rotting bole, from beneath which he was assiduously engaged
in digging out the grubs and beetles, whose kind form a considerable
proportion of the diet of the apes.

Unless Tarzan desired to fight there was nothing to do but wait until
Chulk had exhausted the storehouse, and this he did, only to discover
that Taglat was now missing. After a considerable search, he found
that worthy gentleman contemplating the sufferings of an injured rodent
he had pounced upon. He would sit in apparent indifference, gazing in
another direction, while the crippled creature, wriggled slowly and
painfully away from him, and then, just as his victim felt assured of
escape, he would reach out a giant palm and slam it down upon the
fugitive. Again and again he repeated this operation, until, tiring of
the sport, he ended the sufferings of his plaything by devouring it.

Such were the exasperating causes of delay which retarded Tarzan's
return journey toward the village of Achmet Zek; but the ape-man was
patient, for in his mind was a plan which necessitated the presence of
Chulk and Taglat when he should have arrived at his destination.

It was not always an easy thing to maintain in the vacillating minds of
the anthropoids a sustained interest in their venture. Chulk was
wearying of the continued marching and the infrequency and short
duration of the rests. He would gladly have abandoned this search for
adventure had not Tarzan continually filled his mind with alluring
pictures of the great stores of food which were to be found in the
village of Tarmangani.

Taglat nursed his secret purpose to better advantage than might have
been expected of an ape, yet there were times when he, too, would have
abandoned the adventure had not Tarzan cajoled him on.

It was mid-afternoon of a sultry, tropical day when the keen senses of
the three warned them of the proximity of the Arab camp. Stealthily
they approached, keeping to the dense tangle of growing things which
made concealment easy to their uncanny jungle craft.

First came the giant ape-man, his smooth, brown skin glistening with
the sweat of exertion in the close, hot confines of the jungle. Behind
him crept Chulk and Taglat, g