have tricked me, you dirty English
dog."

"I have not tricked you, monsieur," replied Clayton. "I have done my
best to rise, but I shall try again, and if you will try possibly each
of us can crawl halfway, and then you shall have your 'winnings.'"

Again Clayton exerted his remaining strength to the utmost, and he
heard Thuran apparently doing the same. Nearly an hour later the
Englishman succeeded in raising himself to his hands and knees, but at
the first forward movement he pitched upon his face.

A moment later he heard an exclamation of relief from Monsieur Thuran.

"I am coming," whispered the Russian.

Again Clayton essayed to stagger on to meet his fate, but once more he
pitched headlong to the boat's bottom, nor, try as he would, could he
again rise. His last effort caused him to roll over on his back, and
there he lay looking up at the stars, while behind him, coming ever
nearer and nearer, he could hear the laborious shuffling, and the
stertorous breathing of the Russian.

It seemed that he must have lain thus an hour waiting for the thing to
crawl out of the dark and end his misery. It was quite close now, but
there were longer and longer pauses between its efforts to advance, and
each forward movement seemed to the waiting Englishman to be almost
imperceptible.

Finally he knew that Thuran was quite close beside him. He heard a
cackling laugh, something touched his face, and he lost consciousness.

Chapter 19

The City of Gold

The very night that Tarzan of the Apes became chief of the Waziri the
woman he loved lay dying in a tiny boat two hundred miles west of him
upon the Atlantic. As he danced among his naked fellow savages, the
firelight gleaming against his great, rolling muscles, the
personification of physical perfection and strength, the woman who
loved him lay thin and emaciated in the last coma that precedes death
by thirst and starvation.

The week following the induction of Tarzan into the kingship of the
Waziri was occupied in escorting the Manyuema of the Arab raiders to
the northern boundary of Waziri in accordance with the promise which
Tarzan had made them. Before he left them he exacted a pledge from
them that they would not lead any expeditions against the Waziri in the
future, nor was it a difficult promise to obtain. They had had
sufficient experience with the fighting tactics of the new Waziri chief
not to have the slightest desire to accompany another pr