iscover
some feasible means of locating him, or at least assuring herself as to
whether he were alive or dead.

It was known to the blacks that Tarzan did not eat the flesh of man,
for he had slain more than one of their number, yet never tasted the
flesh of any. Too, the bodies always had been found, sometimes
dropping as though from the clouds to alight in the center of the
village. As Tibo's body had not been found, Momaya argued that he
still lived, but where?

Then it was that there came to her mind a recollection of Bukawai, the
unclean, who dwelt in a cave in the hillside to the north, and who it
was well known entertained devils in his evil lair. Few, if any, had
the temerity to visit old Bukawai, firstly because of fear of his black
magic and the two hyenas who dwelt with him and were commonly known to
be devils masquerading, and secondly because of the loathsome disease
which had caused Bukawai to be an outcast--a disease which was slowly
eating away his face.

Now it was that Momaya reasoned shrewdly that if any might know the
whereabouts of her Tibo, it would be Bukawai, who was in friendly
intercourse with gods and demons, since a demon or a god it was who had
stolen her baby; but even her great mother love was sorely taxed to
find the courage to send her forth into the black jungle toward the
distant hills and the uncanny abode of Bukawai, the unclean, and his
devils.

Mother love, however, is one of the human passions which closely
approximates to the dignity of an irresistible force. It drives the
frail flesh of weak women to deeds of heroic measure. Momaya was
neither frail nor weak, physically, but she was a woman, an ignorant,
superstitious, African savage. She believed in devils, in black magic,
and in witchcraft. To Momaya, the jungle was inhabited by far more
terrifying things than lions and leopards--horrifying, nameless things
which possessed the power of wreaking frightful harm under various
innocent guises.

From one of the warriors of the village, whom she knew to have once
stumbled upon the lair of Bukawai, the mother of Tibo learned how she
might find it--near a spring of water which rose in a small rocky canon
between two hills, the easternmost of which was easily recognizable
because of a huge granite boulder which rested upon its summit. The
westerly hill was lower than its companion, and was quite bare of
vegetation except for a single mimosa tree which grew just a little