had he known it, he might have credited this feeling of
repugnance at the sight of unnecessary suffering to heredity--to the
germ of British love of fair play which had been bequeathed to him by
his father and his mother; but, of course, he did not know, since he
still believed that his mother had been Kala, the great ape.

And just in proportion as his anger rose against the Gomangani his
savage sympathy went out to Numa, the lion, for, though Numa was his
lifetime enemy, there was neither bitterness nor contempt in Tarzan's
sentiments toward him. In the ape-man's mind, therefore, the
determination formed to thwart the blacks and liberate the lion; but he
must accomplish this in some way which would cause the Gomangani the
greatest chagrin and discomfiture.

As he squatted there watching the proceeding beneath him, he saw the
warriors seize upon the cage once more and drag it between two huts.
Tarzan knew that it would remain there now until evening, and that the
blacks were planning a feast and orgy in celebration of their capture.
When he saw that two warriors were placed beside the cage, and that
these drove off the women and children and young men who would have
eventually tortured Numa to death, he knew that the lion would be safe
until he was needed for the evening's entertainment, when he would be
more cruelly and scientifically tortured for the edification of the
entire tribe.

Now Tarzan preferred to bait the blacks in as theatric a manner as his
fertile imagination could evolve. He had some half-formed conception
of their superstitious fears and of their especial dread of night, and
so he decided to wait until darkness fell and the blacks partially
worked to hysteria by their dancing and religious rites before he took
any steps toward the freeing of Numa. In the meantime, he hoped, an
idea adequate to the possibilities of the various factors at hand would
occur to him. Nor was it long before one did.

He had swung off through the jungle to search for food when the plan
came to him. At first it made him smile a little and then look
dubious, for he still retained a vivid memory of the dire results that
had followed the carrying out of a very wonderful idea along almost
identical lines, yet he did not abandon his intention, and a moment
later, food temporarily forgotten, he was swinging through the middle
terraces in rapid flight toward the stamping ground of the tribe of
Kerchak, the great ape.

As w