rt Werper, while the ape-man
scrutinized the Belgian for some sign of the pouch which he had stolen.

As the Abyssinians rode toward the south, a giant figure hovered ever
upon their trail--a huge, almost naked white man, who carried the
bloody carcass of a deer upon his shoulders, for Tarzan knew that he
might not have another opportunity to hunt for some time if he were to
follow the Belgian.

To endeavor to snatch him from the midst of the armed horsemen, not
even Tarzan would attempt other than in the last extremity, for the way
of the wild is the way of caution and cunning, unless they be aroused
to rashness by pain or anger.

So the Abyssinians and the Belgian marched southward and Tarzan of the
Apes swung silently after them through the swaying branches of the
middle terrace.

A two days' march brought them to a level plain beyond which lay
mountains--a plain which Tarzan remembered and which aroused within him
vague half memories and strange longings. Out upon the plain the
horsemen rode, and at a safe distance behind them crept the ape-man,
taking advantage of such cover as the ground afforded.

Beside a charred pile of timbers the Abyssinians halted, and Tarzan,
sneaking close and concealing himself in nearby shrubbery, watched them
in wonderment. He saw them digging up the earth, and he wondered if
they had hidden meat there in the past and now had come for it. Then
he recalled how he had buried his pretty pebbles, and the suggestion
that had caused him to do it. They were digging for the things the
blacks had buried here!

Presently he saw them uncover a dirty, yellow object, and he witnessed
the joy of Werper and of Abdul Mourak as the grimy object was exposed
to view. One by one they unearthed many similar pieces, all of the
same uniform, dirty yellow, until a pile of them lay upon the ground, a
pile which Abdul Mourak fondled and petted in an ecstasy of greed.

Something stirred in the ape-man's mind as he looked long upon the
golden ingots. Where had he seen such before? What were they? Why
did these Tarmangani covet them so greatly? To whom did they belong?

He recalled the black men who had buried them. The things must be
theirs. Werper was stealing them as he had stolen Tarzan's pouch of
pebbles. The ape-man's eyes blazed in anger. He would like to find
the black men and lead them against these thieves. He wondered where
their village might be.

As all these things ran through