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"No," he said, "not if they amount to anything, but I may be able to patch it up. I

will have to look her over a bit first. Let us hope there is nothing serious. It's a

long, long way to the Tanga railway."

We would not get far," said the girl, a slight note of hopelessness in her tone.

Entirely unarmed as we are, it would be little less than a miracle if we covered

even a small fraction of the distance."

"But we are not unarmed," replied the man. "I have an extra pistol here, that the

beggars didn't discover," and, removing the cover of a compartment, he drew forth

an automatic.

Bertha Kircher leaned back in her seat and laughed aloud, a mirthless, half-

hysterical laugh. "That popgun!" she exclaimed. "What earthly good would it do

other than to infuriate any beast of prey you might happen to hit with it?"

Smith-Oldwick looked rather crestfallen. "But it is a weapon," he said. "You will

have to admit that, and certainly I could kill a man with it."

"You could if you happened to hit him," said the girl, "or the thing didn't jam.

Really, I haven't much faith in an automatic. I have used them myself."

Oh, of course," he said ironically, "an express rifle would be better, for who

knows but we might meet an elephant here in the desert."

The girl saw that he was hurt, and she was sorry, for she realized that there was

nothing he would not do in her service or protection, and that it was through no

fault of his that he was so illy armed. Doubtless, too, he realized as well as she

the futility of his weapon, and that he had only called attention to it in the hope

of reassuring her and lessening her anxiety.

"Forgive me," she said. "I did not mean to be nasty, but this accident is the

proverbial last straw. It seems to me that I have borne all that I can. Though I

was willing to give my life in the service of my country, I did not imagine that my

death agonies would be so long drawn out, for I realize now that I have been

dying for many weeks."

"What do you mean!" he exclaimed; "what do you mean by that! You are not

dying. There is nothing the matter with you."

Oh, not that," she said, "I did not mean that. What I mean is that at the moment

the black sergeant, Usanga, and his renegade German native troops captured me

and brought me inland, my death warrant was signed. Sometimes I have

imagined that a reprieve has been granted. Sometimes I have hoped that I might

be upon the verge of winning a full pardon, but really in the depths of my heart I

147

Tarzan the Untamed