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It seemed to Bertha Kircher that the fingers of her hands were dead. The

numbness was running up her arms to her elbows. How much longer she could

cling to the straining strands she could not guess. It seemed to her that those

lifeless fingers must relax at any instant and then, when she had about given up

hope, she saw a strong brown hand reach up and grasp the side of the fuselage.

Instantly the weight upon the rope was removed and a moment later Tarzan of

the Apes raised his body above the side and threw a leg over the edge. He glanced

forward at Usanga and then, placing his mouth close to the girl's ear he cried:

Have you ever piloted a plane?" The girl nodded a quick affirmative.

Have you the courage to climb up there beside the black and seize the control

while I take care of him?"

The girl looked toward Usanga and shuddered. "Yes," she replied, "but my feet are

bound."

Tarzan drew his hunting knife from its sheath and reaching down, severed the

thongs that bound her ankles. Then the girl unsnapped the strap that held her to

her seat. With one hand Tarzan grasped the girl's arm and steadied her as the

two crawled slowly across the few feet which intervened between the two seats. A

single slight tip of the plane would have cast them both into eternity. Tarzan

realized that only through a miracle of chance could they reach Usanga and effect

the change in pilots and yet he knew that that chance must be taken, for in the

brief moments since he had first seen the plane, he had realized that the black

was almost without experience as a pilot and that death surely awaited them in

any event should the black sergeant remain at the control.

The first intimation Usanga had that all was not well with him was when the girl

slipped suddenly to his side and grasped the control and at the same instant

steel-like fingers seized his throat. A brown hand shot down with a keen blade

and severed the strap about his waist and giant muscles lifted him bodily from

his seat. Usanga clawed the air and shrieked but he was helpless as a babe. Far

below the watchers in the meadow could see the aeroplane careening in the sky,

for with the change of control it had taken a sudden dive. They saw it right itself

and, turning in a short circle, return in their direction, but it was so far above

them and the light of the sun so strong that they could see nothing of what was

going on within the fuselage; but presently Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick gave a gasp

of dismay as he saw a human body plunge downward from the plane. Turning

and twisting in mid-air it fell with ever-increasing velocity and the Englishman

held his breath as the thing hurtled toward them.

With a muffled thud it flattened upon the turf near the center of the meadow, and

when at last the Englishman could gain the courage to again turn his eyes upon

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Tarzan the Untamed