s time in an attempt to
convince the raiders that he was not a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Instead he had his unmasker by the throat ere the man's words had
scarce quitted his lips, and hurling him from side to side brushed away
those who would have swarmed upon him.

Using the Arab as a weapon, Tarzan forced his way quickly to the
doorway, and a moment later was within the hut. A hasty examination
revealed the fact that it was empty, and his sense of smell discovered,
too, the scent spoor of Taglat, the ape. Tarzan uttered a low, ominous
growl. Those who were pressing forward at the doorway to seize him,
fell back as the savage notes of the bestial challenge smote upon their
ears. They looked at one another in surprise and consternation. A man
had entered the hut alone, and yet with their own ears they had heard
the voice of a wild beast within. What could it mean? Had a lion or a
leopard sought sanctuary in the interior, unbeknown to the sentries?

Tarzan's quick eyes discovered the opening in the roof, through which
Taglat had fallen. He guessed that the ape had either come or gone by
way of the break, and while the Arabs hesitated without, he sprang,
catlike, for the opening, grasped the top of the wall and clambered out
upon the roof, dropping instantly to the ground at the rear of the hut.

When the Arabs finally mustered courage to enter the hut, after firing
several volleys through the walls, they found the interior deserted.
At the same time Tarzan, at the far end of the village, sought for
Chulk; but the ape was nowhere to be found.

Robbed of his she, deserted by his companions, and as much in ignorance
as ever as to the whereabouts of his pouch and pebbles, it was an angry
Tarzan who climbed the palisade and vanished into the darkness of the
jungle.

For the present he must give up the search for his pouch, since it
would be paramount to self-destruction to enter the Arab camp now while
all its inhabitants were aroused and upon the alert.

In his escape from the village, the ape-man had lost the spoor of the
fleeing Taglat, and now he circled widely through the forest in an
endeavor to again pick it up.

Chulk had remained at his post until the cries and shots of the Arabs
had filled his simple soul with terror, for above all things the ape
folk fear the thunder-sticks of the Tarmangani; then he had clambered
nimbly over the palisade, tearing his burnoose in the effort, and fled
into the depths