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Smith-Oldwick and the girl saw the two nearing each other. The former swore

softly beneath his breath while he nervously fingered the pitiful weapon at his

hip. The girl pressed her open palms to her cheeks as she leaned forward in

stony-eyed, horror-stricken silence. While she had every confidence in the

prowess of the godlike creature who thus dared brazenly to face the king of

beasts, she had no false conception of what must certainly happen when they

met. She had seen Tarzan battle with Sheeta, the panther, and she had realized

then that powerful as the man was, it was only agility, cunning, and chance that

placed him upon anywhere near an equal footing with his savage adversary, and

that of the three factors upon his side chance was the greatest.

She saw the man and the lion stop simultaneously, not more than a yard apart.

She saw the beast's tail whipping from side to side and she could hear his deep-

throated growls rumbling from his cavernous breast, but she could read correctly

neither the movement of the lashing tail nor the notes of the growl.

To her they seemed to indicate nothing but bestial rage while to Tarzan of the

Apes they were conciliatory and reassuring in the extreme. And then she saw

Numa move forward again until his nose touched the man's naked leg and she

closed her eyes and covered them with her palms. For what seemed an eternity

she waited for the horrid sound of the conflict which she knew must come, but all

she heard was an explosive sigh of relief from Smith-Oldwick and a half-

hysterical "By Jove! Just fancy it!"

She looked up to see the great lion rubbing his shaggy head against the man's

hip, and Tarzan's free hand entangled in the black mane as he scratched Numa,

the lion, behind a back-laid ear.

Strange friendships are often formed between the lower animals of different

species, but less often between man and the savage felidae, because of the

former's inherent fear of the great cats. And so after all, therefore, the friendship

so suddenly developed between the savage lion and the savage man was not

inexplicable.

As Tarzan approached the plane Numa walked at his side, and when Tarzan

stopped and looked up at the girl and the man Numa stopped also.

I had about given up hope of finding you," said the ape-man, "and it is evident

that I found you just in time."

But how did you know we were in trouble?" asked the English officer.

I saw your plane fall," replied Tarzan. "I was watching you from a tree beside the

clearing where you took off. I didn't have much to locate you by other than the

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Tarzan the Untamed