l had drawn
back for the cowardly fatal thrust. Now many others saw the perfidious
act and a great cry of rage and disgust arose from savage throats; but
as the blade sped toward its goal, the ape-man seized the hairy member
that wielded it, and at the same instant Om-at thrust the body of
Es-sat from him with such force that its weakened holds were broken and
it hurtled downward, a brief meteor of screaming fear, to death.

4

Tarzan-jad-guru

As Tarzan and Om-at clambered back to the vestibule of Pan-at-lee's
cave and took their stand beside Ta-den in readiness for whatever
eventuality might follow the death of Es-sat, the sun that topped the
eastern hills touched also the figure of a sleeper upon a distant,
thorn-covered steppe awakening him to another day of tireless tracking
along a faint and rapidly disappearing spoor.

For a time silence reigned in the Kor-ul-ja. The tribesmen waited,
looking now down upon the dead thing that had been their chief, now at
one another, and now at Om-at and the two who stood upon his either
side. Presently Om-at spoke. "I am Om-at," he cried. "Who will say that
Om-at is not gund of Kor-ul-ja?"

He waited for a taker of his challenge. One or two of the larger young
bucks fidgeted restlessly and eyed him; but there was no reply.

"Then Om-at is gund," he said with finality. "Now tell me, where are
Pan-at-lee, her father, and her brothers?"

An old warrior spoke. "Pan-at-lee should be in her cave. Who should
know that better than you who are there now? Her father and her
brothers were sent to watch Kor-ul-lul; but neither of these questions
arouse any tumult in our breasts. There is one that does: Can Om-at be
chief of Kor-ul-ja and yet stand at bay against his own people with a
Ho-don and that terrible man at his side--that terrible man who has no
tail? Hand the strangers over to your people to be slain as is the way
of the Waz-don and then may Om-at be gund."

Neither Tarzan nor Ta-den spoke then, they but stood watching Om-at and
waiting for his decision, the ghost of a smile upon the lips of the
ape-man. Ta-den, at least, knew that the old warrior had spoken the
truth--the Waz-don entertain no strangers and take no prisoners of an
alien race.

Then spoke Om-at. "Always there is change," he said. "Even the old
hills of Pal-ul-don appear never twice alike--the brilliant sun, a
passing cloud, the moon, a mist, the changing seasons, the sharp
clearness following a storm