d terrifying were the savage yells with which they pursued the
fleeing enemy. The brush, while not growing so closely together as to
impede progress, was of such height as to hide the members of the party
from one another when they became separated by even a few yards. The
result was that Tarzan, always swift and always keen for battle, was
soon pursuing the enemy far in the lead of the others--a lack of
prudence which was to prove his undoing.
The warriors of Kor-ul-lul, doubtless as valorous as their foemen,
retreated only to a more strategic position in the brush, nor were they
long in guessing that the number of their pursuers was fewer than their
own. They made a stand then where the brush was densest--an ambush it
was, and into this ran Tarzan of the Apes. They tricked him neatly.
Yes, sad as is the narration of it, they tricked the wily jungle lord.
But then they were fighting on their own ground, every foot of which
they knew as you know your front parlor, and they were following their
own tactics, of which Tarzan knew nothing.
A single black warrior appeared to Tarzan a laggard in the rear of the
retreating enemy and thus retreating he lured Tarzan on. At last he
turned at bay confronting the ape-man with bludgeon and drawn knife and
as Tarzan charged him a score of burly Waz-don leaped from the
surrounding brush. Instantly, but too late, the giant Tarmangani
realized his peril. There flashed before him a vision of his lost mate
and a great and sickening regret surged through him with the
realization that if she still lived she might no longer hope, for
though she might never know of the passing of her lord the fact of it
must inevitably seal her doom.
And consequent to this thought there enveloped him a blind frenzy of
hatred for these creatures who dared thwart his purpose and menace the
welfare of his wife. With a savage growl he threw himself upon the
warrior before him twisting the heavy club from the creature's hand as
if he had been a little child, and with his left fist backed by the
weight and sinew of his giant frame, he crashed a shattering blow to
the center of the Waz-don's face--a blow that crushed the bones and
dropped the fellow in his tracks. Then he swung upon the others with
their fallen comrade's bludgeon striking to right and left mighty,
unmerciful blows that drove down their own weapons until that wielded
by the ape-man was splintered and shattered. On either hand they fell
before
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