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provocation, flew into a perfect frenzy of rage. He leaped upon the wounded man,

striking him viciously with his fists and, bearing him to the ground, grasped his

throat in his left hand while with his right he drew his long sharp saber.

Screaming terribly he waved the blade above his head.

The others stopped and turned to look upon the encounter with no particular

show of interest. It was as though one of the party had paused to readjust a

sandal and the others merely waited until he was ready to march on again.

But if their captors were indifferent, Bertha Kircher was not. The close-set

blazing eyes, the snarling fanged face, and the frightful screams filled her with

horror, while the brutal and wanton attack upon the wounded man aroused

within her the spirit of protection for the weak that is inherent in all women.

Forgetful of everything other than that a weak and defenseless man was being

brutally murdered before her eyes, the girl cast aside discretion and, rushing to

Smith-Oldwick's assistance, seized the uplifted sword arm of the shrieking

creature upon the prostrate Englishman.

Clinging desperately to the fellow she surged backward with all her weight and

strength with the result that she overbalanced him and sent him sprawling to the

pavement upon his back. In his efforts to save himself he relaxed his grasp upon

the grip of his saber which had no sooner fallen to the ground than it was seized

upon by the girl. Standing erect beside the prostrate form of the English officer

Bertha Kircher, the razor-edged weapon grasped firmly in her hand, faced their

captors.

She was a brave figure; even her soiled and torn riding togs and disheveled hair

detracted nothing from her appearance. The creature she had felled scrambled

quickly to his feet and in the instant his whole demeanor changed. From

demoniacal rage he became suddenly convulsed with hysterical laughter although

it was a question in the girl's mind as to which was the more terrifying. His

companions stood looking on with vacuous grins upon their countenances, while

he from whom the girl had wrested the weapon leaped up and down shrieking

with laughter. If Bertha Kircher had needed further evidence to assure her that

they were in the hands of a mentally deranged people the man's present actions

would have been sufficient to convince her. The sudden uncontrolled rage and

now the equally uncontrolled and mirthless laughter but emphasized the facial

attributes of idiocy.

Suddenly realizing how helpless she was in the event any one of the men should

seek to overpower her, and moved by a sudden revulsion of feeling that brought

on almost a nausea of disgust, the girl hurled the weapon upon the ground at the

feet of the laughing maniac and, turning, kneeled beside the Englishman.

180

Tarzan the Untamed