,
communication by word of mouth became an accomplished fact.

Tarzan explained to his companions the purpose of his mission but
neither could give him any slightest thread of hope to weave into the
fabric of his longing. Never had there been in their country a woman
such as he described, nor any tailless man other than himself that they
ever had seen.

"I have been gone from A-lur while Bu, the moon, has eaten seven
times," said Ta-den. "Many things may happen in seven times
twenty-eight days; but I doubt that your woman could have entered our
country across the terrible morasses which even you found an almost
insurmountable obstacle, and if she had, could she have survived the
perils that you already have encountered beside those of which you have
yet to learn? Not even our own women venture into the savage lands
beyond the cities."

"'A-lur,' Light-city, City of Light," mused Tarzan, translating the
word into his own tongue. "And where is A-lur?" he asked. "Is it your
city, Ta-den, and Om-at's?"

"It is mine," replied the hairless one; "but not Om-at's. The Waz-don
have no cities--they live in the trees of the forests and the caves of
the hills--is it not so, black man?" he concluded, turning toward the
hairy giant beside him.

"Yes," replied Om-at, "We Waz-don are free--only the Hodon imprison
themselves in cities. I would not be a white man!"

Tarzan smiled. Even here was the racial distinction between white man
and black man--Ho-don and Waz-don. Not even the fact that they appeared
to be equals in the matter of intelligence made any difference--one was
white and one was black, and it was easy to see that the white
considered himself superior to the other--one could see it in his quiet
smile.

"Where is A-lur?" Tarzan asked again. "You are returning to it?"

"It is beyond the mountains," replied Ta-den. "I do not return to
it--not yet. Not until Ko-tan is no more."

"Ko-tan?" queried Tarzan.

"Ko-tan is king," explained the pithecanthropus. "He rules this land. I
was one of his warriors. I lived in the palace of Ko-tan and there I
met O-lo-a, his daughter. We loved, Likestar-light, and I; but Ko-tan
would have none of me. He sent me away to fight with the men of the
village of Dak-at, who had refused to pay his tribute to the king,
thinking that I would be killed, for Dak-at is famous for his many fine
warriors. And I was not killed. Instead I returned victorious with the
tribute and with Dak-at hims