a time he forgot his own
predicament in contemplation of the remarkable story suggested by
these mute evidences of a tragedy of a time long past.

The bones were in a fair state of preservation and indicated by
their intactness that the flesh had probably been picked from them
by vultures as none was broken; but the pieces of equipment bore
out the suggestion of their great age. In this protected spot where
there were no frosts and evidently but little rainfall, the bones
might have lain for ages without disintegrating, for there were
here no other forces to scatter or disturb them.

Near the skeleton lay a helmet of hammered brass and a corroded
breastplate of steel while at one side was a long, straight sword
in its scabbard and an ancient harquebus. The bones were those of
a large man--a man of wondrous strength and vitality Tarzan knew
he must have been to have penetrated thus far through the dangers
of Africa with such a ponderous yet at the same time futile armament.

The ape-man felt a sense of deep admiration for this nameless
adventurer of a bygone day. What a brute of a man he must have been
and what a glorious tale of battle and kaleidoscopic vicissitudes
of fortune must once have been locked within that whitened skull!
Tarzan stooped to examine the shreds of clothing that still lay
about the bones. Every particle of leather had disappeared, doubtless
eaten by Ska. No boots remained, if the man had worn boots, but
there were several buckles scattered about suggesting that a great
part of his trappings had been of leather, while just beneath the
bones of one hand lay a metal cylinder about eight inches long and
two inches in diameter. As Tarzan picked it up he saw that it had
been heavily lacquered and had withstood the slight ravages of
time so well as to be in as perfect a state of preservation today
as it had been when its owner dropped into his last, long sleep
perhaps centuries ago.

As he examined it he discovered that one end was closed with
a friction cover which a little twisting force soon loosened and
removed, revealing within a roll of parchment which the ape-man
removed and opened, disclosing a number of age-yellowed sheets
closely written upon in a fine hand in a language which he guessed
to be Spanish but which he could not decipher. Upon the last sheet
was a roughly drawn map with numerous reference points marked upon
it, all unintelligible to Tarzan, who, after a brief examination
of th