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base of the cliff, and it was in Tarzan's mind that if he found the cave unoccupied

he would barricade the door and insure himself a quiet and peaceful night's

repose within the sheltered interior. Let the storm rage without-Tarzan would

remain within until it ceased, comfortable and dry. A tiny rivulet of cold water

trickled outward from the opening.

Close to the cave Tarzan kneeled and sniffed the ground. A low growl escaped

him and his upper lip curved to expose his fighting fangs. "Numa!" he muttered;

but he did not stop. Numa might not be at home--he would investigate. The

entrance was so low that the ape-man was compelled to drop to all fours before

he could poke his head within the aperture; but first he looked, listened, and

sniffed in each direction at his rear--he would not be taken by surprise from that

quarter.

His first glance within the cave revealed a narrow tunnel with daylight at its

farther end. The interior of the tunnel was not so dark but that the ape-man

could readily see that it was untenanted at present. Advancing cautiously he

crawled toward the opposite end imbued with a full realization of what it would

mean if Numa should suddenly enter the tunnel in front of him; but Numa did

not appear and the ape-man emerged at length into the open and stood erect,

finding himself in a rocky cleft whose precipitous walls rose almost sheer on every

hand, the tunnel from the gorge passing through the cliff and forming a

passageway from the outer world into a large pocket or gulch entirely enclosed by

steep walls of rock. Except for the small passageway from the gorge, there was no

other entrance to the gulch which was some hundred feet in length and about

fifty in width and appeared to have been worn from the rocky cliff by the falling of

water during long ages. A tiny stream from Kilimanjaro's eternal snow cap still

trickled over the edge of the rocky wall at the upper end of the gulch, forming a

little pool at the bottom of the cliff from which a small rivulet wound downward to

the tunnel through which it passed to the gorge beyond. A single great tree

flourished near the center of the gulch, while tufts of wiry grass were scattered

here and there among the rocks of the gravelly floor.

The bones of many large animals lay about and among them were several human

skulls. Tarzan raised his eyebrows. "A man-eater," he murmured, "and from

appearances he has held sway here for a long time. Tonight Tarzan will take the

lair of the man-eater and Numa may roar and grumble upon the outside."

The ape-man had advanced well into the gulch as he investigated his

surroundings and now as he stood near the tree, satisfied that the tunnel would

prove a dry and quiet retreat for the night, he turned to retrace his way to the

outer end of the entrance that he might block it with boulders against Numa's

return, but even with the thought there came something to his sensitive ears that

Tarzan the Untamed