but
civilization had had its softening effect upon him even as it does upon
the nations and races which it touches, though it had not yet gone far
enough with Tarzan to render him either cowardly or effeminate. He saw
an old man suffering and dying, and he stooped and felt of his wounds
and stanched the flow of blood.

"Who are you?" asked the old man in a trembling voice.

"I am Tarzan--Tarzan of the Apes," replied the ape-man and not without
a greater touch of pride than he would have said, "I am John Clayton,
Lord Greystoke."

The witch-doctor shook convulsively and closed his eyes. When he
opened them again there was in them a resignation to whatever horrible
fate awaited him at the hands of this feared demon of the woods. "Why
do you not kill me?" he asked.

"Why should I kill you?" inquired Tarzan. "You have not harmed me, and
anyway you are already dying. Numa, the lion, has killed you."

"You would not kill me?" Surprise and incredulity were in the tones of
the quavering old voice.

"I would save you if I could," replied Tarzan, "but that cannot be
done. Why did you think I would kill you?"

For a moment the old man was silent. When he spoke it was evidently
after some little effort to muster his courage. "I knew you of old,"
he said, "when you ranged the jungle in the country of Mbonga, the
chief. I was already a witch-doctor when you slew Kulonga and the
others, and when you robbed our huts and our poison pot. At first I
did not remember you; but at last I did--the white-skinned ape that
lived with the hairy apes and made life miserable in the village of
Mbonga, the chief--the forest god--the Munango-Keewati for whom we set
food outside our gates and who came and ate it. Tell me before I
die--are you man or devil?"

Tarzan laughed. "I am a man," he said.

The old fellow sighed and shook his head. "You have tried to save me
from Simba," he said. "For that I shall reward you. I am a great
witch-doctor. Listen to me, white man! I see bad days ahead of you.
It is writ in my own blood which I have smeared upon my palm. A god
greater even than you will rise up and strike you down. Turn back,
Munango-Keewati! Turn back before it is too late. Danger lies ahead
of you and danger lurks behind; but greater is the danger before. I
see--" He paused and drew a long, gasping breath. Then he crumpled
into a little, wrinkled heap and died. Tarzan wondered what else he
had seen.

It was ver