s the ridge they went and down into the Kor-ul-lul and there
almost immediately they came upon a lone and unarmed Waz-don who was
making his way fearfully up the gorge toward the village of his tribe.
Him they took prisoner which, strangely, only added to his terror since
from the moment that he had seen them and realized that escape was
impossible, he had expected to be slain immediately.

"Take him back to Kor-ul-ja," said Om-at, to one of his warriors, "and
hold him there unharmed until I return."

And so the puzzled Kor-ul-lul was led away while the savage company
moved stealthily from tree to tree in its closer advance upon the
village. Fortune smiled upon Om-at in that it gave him quickly what he
sought--a battle royal, for they had not yet come in sight of the caves
of the Kor-ul-lul when they encountered a considerable band of warriors
headed down the gorge upon some expedition.

Like shadows the Kor-ul-ja melted into the concealment of the foliage
upon either side of the trail. Ignorant of impending danger, safe in
the knowledge that they trod their own domain where each rock and stone
was as familiar as the features of their mates, the Kor-ul-lul walked
innocently into the ambush. Suddenly the quiet of that seeming peace
was shattered by a savage cry and a hurled club felled a Kor-ul-lul.

The cry was a signal for a savage chorus from a hundred Kor-ul-ja
throats with which were soon mingled the war cries of their enemies.
The air was filled with flying clubs and then as the two forces
mingled, the battle resolved itself into a number of individual
encounters as each warrior singled out a foe and closed upon him.
Knives gleamed and flashed in the mottling sunlight that filtered
through the foliage of the trees above. Sleek black coats were
streaked with crimson stains.

In the thick of the fight the smooth brown skin of the stranger mingled
with the black bodies of friend and foe. Only his keen eyes and his
quick wit had shown him how to differentiate between Kor-ul-lul and
Kor-ul-ja since with the single exception of apparel they were
identical, but at the first rush of the enemy he had noticed that their
loin cloths were not of the leopard-matted hides such as were worn by
his allies.

Om-at, after dispatching his first antagonist, glanced at Jar-don. "He
fights with the ferocity of jato," mused the chief. "Powerful indeed
must be the tribe from which he and Tarzan-jad-guru come," and then his
whole