then the Arab felt
the other's horse brushing his leg, a great arm shot out and encircled
his waist, and before he could recover himself he was dragged from his
saddle, and forming a shield for his antagonist was borne at a mad run
straight through the encircling ranks of his fellows.

Just beyond them he was tossed aside upon the ground, and the last he
saw of his strange foeman the latter was galloping off across the plain
in the direction of the forest at its farther edge.

For another hour the battle raged nor did it cease until the last of
the Abyssinians lay dead upon the ground, or had galloped off toward
the north in flight. But a handful of men escaped, among them Abdul
Mourak.

The victorious raiders collected about the pile of golden ingots which
the Abyssinians had uncovered, and there awaited the return of their
leader. Their exultation was slightly tempered by the glimpse they had
had of the strange apparition of the naked white man galloping away
upon the horse of one of their foemen and carrying a companion who was
now among them expatiating upon the superhuman strength of the ape-man.
None of them there but was familiar with the name and fame of Tarzan of
the Apes, and the fact that they had recognized the white giant as the
ferocious enemy of the wrongdoers of the jungle, added to their terror,
for they had been assured that Tarzan was dead.

Naturally superstitious, they fully believed that they had seen the
disembodied spirit of the dead man, and now they cast fearful glances
about them in expectation of the ghost's early return to the scene of
the ruin they had inflicted upon him during their recent raid upon his
home, and discussed in affrighted whispers the probable nature of the
vengeance which the spirit would inflict upon them should he return to
find them in possession of his gold.

As they conversed their terror grew, while from the concealment of the
reeds along the river below them a small party of naked, black warriors
watched their every move. From the heights beyond the river these
black men had heard the noise of the conflict, and creeping warily down
to the stream had forded it and advanced through the reeds until they
were in a position to watch every move of the combatants.

For a half hour the raiders awaited Achmet Zek's return, their fear of
the earlier return of the ghost of Tarzan constantly undermining their
loyalty to and fear of their chief. Finally one among them v