tement of the discovery of their loss; but later and
more careful investigation, such as his woodcraft made possible,
revealed indisputable evidence of a more material explanation than his
excited fancy and superstition had at first led him to accept.

In the trampled turf beside him was the faint impress of huge, manlike
feet. Mugambi raised his brows as the truth dawned upon him. Hastily
leaving the boma he searched in all directions about the enclosure for
some farther sign of the tell-tale spoor. He climbed trees and sought
for evidence of the direction of the thief's flight; but the faint
signs left by a wary ape who elects to travel through the trees eluded
the woodcraft of Mugambi. Tarzan might have followed them; but no
ordinary mortal could perceive them, or perceiving, translate.

The black, now strengthened and refreshed by his rest, felt ready to
set out again for Waziri, and finding himself another knob-stick,
turned his back upon the river and plunged into the mazes of the jungle.

As Taglat struggled with the bonds which secured the ankles and wrists
of his captive, the great lion that eyed the two from behind a nearby
clump of bushes wormed closer to his intended prey.

The ape's back was toward the lion. He did not see the broad head,
fringed by its rough mane, protruding through the leafy wall. He could
not know that the powerful hind paws were gathering close beneath the
tawny belly preparatory to a sudden spring, and his first intimation of
impending danger was the thunderous and triumphant roar which the
charging lion could no longer suppress.

Scarce pausing for a backward glance, Taglat abandoned the unconscious
woman and fled in the opposite direction from the horrid sound which
had broken in so unexpected and terrifying a manner upon his startled
ears; but the warning had come too late to save him, and the lion, in
his second bound, alighted full upon the broad shoulders of the
anthropoid.

As the great bull went down there was awakened in him to the full all
the cunning, all the ferocity, all the physical prowess which obey the
mightiest of the fundamental laws of nature, the law of
self-preservation, and turning upon his back he closed with the
carnivore in a death struggle so fearless and abandoned, that for a
moment the great Numa himself may have trembled for the outcome.

Seizing the lion by the mane, Taglat buried his yellowed fangs deep in
the monster's throat, growling hide