to do. His way
took him along the gorge close to the gulch in which he had left
Schneider, and, yielding to a natural curiosity, he scaled the cliffs
and made his way to the edge of the gulch. The tree was empty, nor
was there sign of Numa, the lion. Picking up a rock he hurled it
into the gulch, where it rolled to the very entrance to the cave.
Instantly the lion appeared in the aperture; but such a different-looking
lion from the great sleek brute that Tarzan had trapped there two
weeks before. Now he was gaunt and emaciated, and when he walked
he staggered.

"Where is the German?" shouted Tarzan. "Was he good eating, or only
a bag of bones when he slipped and fell from the tree?"

Numa growled. "You look hungry, Numa," continued the ape-man. "You
must have been very hungry to eat all the grass from your lair and
even the bark from the tree as far up as you can reach. Would you
like another German?" and smiling he turned away.

A few minutes later he came suddenly upon Bara, the deer, asleep
beneath a tree, and as Tarzan was hungry he made a quick kill,
and squatting beside his prey proceeded to eat his fill. As he
was gnawing the last morsel from a bone his quick ears caught the
padding of stealthy feet behind him, and turning he confronted
Dango, the hyena, sneaking upon him. With a growl the ape-man
picked up a fallen branch and hurled it at the skulking brute. "Go
away, eater of carrion!" he cried; but Dango was hungry and being
large and powerful he only snarled and circled slowly about as
though watching for an opportunity to charge. Tarzan of the Apes
knew Dango even better than Dango knew himself. He knew that the
brute, made savage by hunger, was mustering its courage for an
attack, that it was probably accustomed to man and therefore more
or less fearless of him and so he un-slung his heavy spear and
laid it ready at his side while he continued his meal, all the time
keeping a watchful eye upon the hyena.

He felt no fear, for long familiarity with the dangers of his wild
world had so accustomed him to them that he took whatever came as
a part of each day's existence as you accept the homely though no
less real dangers of the farm, the range, or the crowded metropolis.
Being jungle bred he was ready to protect his kill from all comers
within ordinary limitations of caution. Under favorable conditions
Tarzan would face even Numa himself and, if forced to seek safety
by flight, he could do so without a