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upon a swaying branch, sprang upward through the darkness, caught another,

swung himself upon it and then to one still higher. What could have so suddenly

transformed his matter-of-fact ascent of the giant bole to the swift and wary

action of his detour among the branches? You or I could have seen nothing-not

even the little platform that an instant before had been just above him and which

now was immediately below--but as he swung above it we should have heard an

ominous growl; and then as the moon was momentarily uncovered, we should

have seen both the platform, dimly, and a dark mass that lay stretched upon it--a

dark mass that presently, as our eyes became accustomed to the lesser darkness,

would take the form of Sheeta, the panther.

In answer to the cat's growl, a low and equally ferocious growl rumbled upward

from the ape-man's deep chest--a growl of warning that told the panther he was

trespassing upon the other's lair; but Sheeta was in no mood to be dispossessed.

With upturned, snarling face he glared at the brown-skinned Tarmangani above

him. Very slowly the ape-man moved inward along the branch until he was

directly above the panther. In the man's hand was the hunting knife of his long-

dead father--the weapon that had first given him his real ascendancy over the

beasts of the jungle; but he hoped not to be forced to use it, knowing as he did

that more jungle battles were settled by hideous growling than by actual combat,

the law of bluff holding quite as good in the jungle as elsewhere--only in matters

of love and food did the great beasts ordinarily close with fangs and talons.

Tarzan braced himself against the bole of the tree and leaned closer toward

Sheeta.

Stealer of balus!" he cried. The panther rose to a sitting position, his bared fangs

but a few feet from the ape-man's taunting face. Tarzan growled hideously and

struck at the cat's face with his knife. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he roared. "This

is Tarzan's lair. Go, or I will kill you."

Though he spoke in the language of the great apes of the jungle, it is doubtful

that Sheeta understood the words, though he knew well enough that the hairless

ape wished to frighten him from his well-chosen station past which edible

creatures might be expected to wander sometime during the watches of the night.

Like lightning the cat reared and struck a vicious blow at his tormentor with

great, bared talons that might well have torn away the ape-man's face had the

blow landed; but it did not land--Tarzan was even quicker than Sheeta. As the

panther came to all fours again upon the little platform, Tarzan un-slung his

heavy spear and prodded at the snarling face, and as Sheeta warded off the

blows, the two continued their horrid duet of blood-curdling roars and growls.

Tarzan the Untamed