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If she had been terrified before she was almost paralyzed with fear now as she

saw Zu-tag and his apes turn toward the boma and approach her. With the agility

of a cat Zu-tag leaped completely over the protecting wall and stood before her.

Valiantly she held her spear before her, pointing it at his breast. He commenced

to jabber and gesticulate, and even with her scant acquaintance with the ways of

the anthropoids, she realized that he was not menacing her, for there was little or

no baring of fighting fangs and his whole expression and attitude was of one

attempting to explain a knotty problem or plead a worthy cause. At last he

became evidently impatient, for with a sweep of one great paw he struck the spear

from her hand and coming close, seized her by the arm, but not roughly. She

shrank away in terror and yet some sense within her seemed to be trying to

assure her that she was in no danger from this great beast. Zu-tag jabbered

loudly, ever and again pointing into the jungle toward the south and moving

toward the boma, pulling the girl with him. He seemed almost frantic in his

efforts to explain something to her. He pointed toward the boma, herself, and

then to the forest, and then, at last, as though by a sudden inspiration, he

reached down and, seizing the spear, repeatedly touched it with his forefinger and

again pointed toward the south. Suddenly it dawned upon the girl that what the

ape was trying to explain to her was related in some way to the white man whose

property they thought she was. Possibly her grim protector was in trouble and

with this thought firmly established, she no longer held back, but started forward

as though to accompany the young bull. At the point in the boma where Tarzan

had blocked the entrance, she started to pull away the thorn bushes, and, when

Zu-tag saw what she was doing, he fell to and assisted her so that presently they

had an opening through the boma through which she passed with the great ape.

Immediately Zu-tag and his eight apes started off rapidly toward the jungle, so

rapidly that Bertha Kircher would have had to run at top speed to keep up with

them. This she realized she could not do, and so she was forced to lag behind,

much to the chagrin of Zu-tag, who constantly kept running back and urging her

to greater speed. Once he took her by the arm and tried to draw her along. Her

protests were of no avail since the beast could not know that they were protests,

nor did he desist until she caught her foot in some tangled grass and fell to the

ground. Then indeed was Zu-tag furious and growled hideously. His apes were

waiting at the edge of the forest for him to lead them. He suddenly realized that

this poor weak she could not keep up with them and that if they traveled at her

slow rate they might be too late to render assistance to the Tarmangani, and so

without more ado, the giant anthropoid picked Bertha Kircher bodily from the

ground and swung her to his back. Her arms were about his neck and in this

position he seized her wrists in one great paw so that she could not fall off and

started at a rapid rate to join his companions.

107

Tarzan the Untamed