d him, Lord Greystoke tore his long
knife from its sheath, and with an answering challenge as horrid and
bloodcurdling as that of the beast he faced, rushed swiftly to meet the
attack. He was too shrewd to allow those long hairy arms to encircle
him, and just as their bodies were about to crash together, Tarzan of
the Apes grasped one of the huge wrists of his assailant, and,
springing lightly to one side, drove his knife to the hilt into
Kerchak's body, below the heart.

Before he could wrench the blade free again, the bull's quick lunge to
seize him in those awful arms had torn the weapon from Tarzan's grasp.

Kerchak aimed a terrific blow at the ape-man's head with the flat of
his hand, a blow which, had it landed, might easily have crushed in the
side of Tarzan's skull.

The man was too quick, and, ducking beneath it, himself delivered a
mighty one, with clenched fist, in the pit of Kerchak's stomach.

The ape was staggered, and what with the mortal wound in his side had
almost collapsed, when, with one mighty effort he rallied for an
instant--just long enough to enable him to wrest his arm free from
Tarzan's grasp and close in a terrific clinch with his wiry opponent.

Straining the ape-man close to him, his great jaws sought Tarzan's
throat, but the young lord's sinewy fingers were at Kerchak's own
before the cruel fangs could close on the sleek brown skin.

Thus they struggled, the one to crush out his opponent's life with
those awful teeth, the other to close forever the windpipe beneath his
strong grasp while he held the snarling mouth from him.

The greater strength of the ape was slowly prevailing, and the teeth of
the straining beast were scarce an inch from Tarzan's throat when, with
a shuddering tremor, the great body stiffened for an instant and then
sank limply to the ground.

Kerchak was dead.

Withdrawing the knife that had so often rendered him master of far
mightier muscles than his own, Tarzan of the Apes placed his foot upon
the neck of his vanquished enemy, and once again, loud through the
forest rang the fierce, wild cry of the conqueror.

And thus came the young Lord Greystoke into the kingship of the Apes.

Chapter XII

Man's Reason

There was one of the tribe of Tarzan who questioned his authority, and
that was Terkoz, the son of Tublat, but he so feared the keen knife and
the deadly arrows of his new lord that he confined the manifestation of
his objections to petty d