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it, he breathed a fervent prayer of thanks, for the shapeless mass that lay upon

the blood-stained turf was covered with an ebon hide. Usanga had reaped his

reward.

Again and again the plane circled above the meadow. The blacks, at first

dismayed at the death of their leader, were now worked to a frenzy of rage and a

determination to be avenged. The girl and the ape-man saw them gather in a knot

about the body of their fallen chief. They saw as they circled above the meadow

the black fists shaken at them, and the rifles brandishing a menace toward them.

Tarzan still clung to the fuselage directly behind the pilot's seat. His face was

close beside Bertha Kircher's, and at the top of his voice, above the noise of

propeller, engine and exhaust, he screamed a few words of instruction into her

ear.

As the girl grasped the significance of his words she paled, but her lips set in a

hard line and her eyes shone with a sudden fire of determination as she dropped

the plane to within a few feet of the ground and at the opposite end of the

meadow from the blacks and then at full speed bore down upon the savages. So

quickly the plane came that Usanga's men had no time to escape it after they

realized its menace. It touched the ground just as it struck among them and

mowed through them, a veritable juggernaut of destruction. When it came to rest

at the edge of the forest the ape-man leaped quickly to the ground and ran toward

the young lieutenant, and as he went he glanced at the spot where the warriors

had stood, ready to defend himself if necessary, but there was none there to

oppose him. Dead and dying they lay strewn for fifty feet along the turf.

By the time Tarzan had freed the Englishman the girl joined them. She tried to

voice her thanks to the ape-man but he silenced her with a gesture.

You saved yourself," he insisted, "for had you been unable to pilot the plane, I

could not have helped you, and now," he said, "you two have the means of

returning to the settlements. The day is still young. You can easily cover the

distance in a few hours if you have sufficient petrol." He looked inquiringly toward

the aviator.

Smith-Oldwick nodded his head affirmatively. "I have plenty," he replied.

Then go at once," said the ape-man. "Neither of you belong in the jungle." A

slight smile touched his lips as he spoke.

The girl and the Englishman smiled too. "This jungle is no place for us at least,"

said Smith-Oldwick, "and it is no place for any other white man. Why don't you

come back to civilization with us?"

134

Tarzan the Untamed