ill of
admiration as her eyes rested upon the heroic figure before her. Not a
tremor in the whole giant frame--his attitude as menacing and defiant
as that of EL ADREA himself.
The lion was quite close to him now--but a few paces intervened--he
crouched, and then, with a deafening roar, he sprang.
Chapter 11
John Caldwell, London
As Numa EL ADREA launched himself with widespread paws and bared fangs
he looked to find this puny man as easy prey as the score who had gone
down beneath him in the past. To him man was a clumsy, slow-moving,
defenseless creature--he had little respect for him.
But this time he found that he was pitted against a creature as agile
and as quick as himself. When his mighty frame struck the spot where
the man had been he was no longer there.
The watching girl was transfixed by astonishment at the ease with which
the crouching man eluded the great paws. And now, O Allah! He had
rushed in behind EL ADREA'S shoulder even before the beast could turn,
and had grasped him by the mane. The lion reared upon his hind legs
like a horse--Tarzan had known that he would do this, and he was ready.
A giant arm encircled the black-maned throat, and once, twice, a dozen
times a sharp blade darted in and out of the bay-black side behind the
left shoulder.
Frantic were the leaps of Numa--awful his roars of rage and pain; but
the giant upon his back could not be dislodged or brought within reach
of fangs or talons in the brief interval of life that remained to the
lord with the large head. He was quite dead when Tarzan of the Apes
released his hold and arose. Then the daughter of the desert witnessed
a thing that terrified her even more than had the presence of EL ADREA.
The man placed a foot upon the carcass of his kill, and, with his
handsome face raised toward the full moon, gave voice to the most
frightful cry that ever had smote upon her ears.
With a little cry of fear she shrank away from him--she thought that
the fearful strain of the encounter had driven him mad. As the last
note of that fiendish challenge died out in the diminishing echoes of
the distance the man dropped his eyes until they rested upon the girl.
Instantly his face was lighted by the kindly smile that was ample
assurance of his sanity, and the girl breathed freely once again,
smiling in response.
"What manner of man are you?" she asked. "The thing you have done is
unheard of. Even now I cannot believe
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