iar scene came, unbidden, the
lovely face and softly rounded figure of Dylara.

Siha veered sharply and came sweeping at right angles across the path.
Tharn stiffened for strong in his nostrils was the scent of Tarlok, the
leopard. He was instantly alert--a wary jungle denizen who wheeled and
faced upwind, eyes narrowed, the sharp blade of flint ready in his right
hand.

The strength of the great cat's scent faded as the creature moved
farther away. Whether or not it had caught Tharn's scent did not
interest the cave-man, now; a retreating danger ceased to be of
interest.

For a few minutes Tharn carefully went over the floor of the trail at
the point where the abduction had taken place, as well as the
neighboring undergrowth. Soon he found the several hiding places of the
Hairy Ones; and a bit later he came upon the delicate footmarks of
Alurna within the trail itself. One of these prints was almost
obliterated by the broad square mark of a great naked foot; it was here
Mog's initial leap had ended beside the girl.

Dropping to hands and knees, Tharn placed sensitive nostrils close to
the marks. To that unbelievably keen organ was borne the individual
scent spoor of Alurna, as well as that of Mog, the sullen. Immediately
there were engraved on Tharn's memory, scent impressions he would
recognize among a hundred others for a long time to come.

He found more of Mog's footprints, all leading along the path and away
from Sephar. He followed these, increasing his pace when they showed no
indication of swerving from the trail. Satisfied that locating Alurna's
captor was only a matter of following the path underfoot, Tharn went on.
He felt no inclination to hurry. Too long had he been denied freedom
from supervision. The sooner he found the missing girl, the sooner he
must return to Sephar--even though he and Dylara were to be freed the
moment he returned.

* * * * *

As he strolled along, he was reminded of the bow and arrows hanging at
his back--these and a stone knife and a grass rope were the weapons he
had chosen when preparing to leave Sephar.

The bow, he found, was fashioned from a hard black wood. Its inner
surface was nearly flat; the outer quite round. Both ends were
gracefully tapered, each notched to hold a string of catgut.

The arrows were made from the same wood as the bow. Their heads were of
flint, painstakingly shaped into the likeness of a small leaf, and
exceedi