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For the moment they had been entirely unconscious of their surroundings and

now as she looked at their captors she saw that they had fallen again into their

almost habitual manner of stolid indifference, and at a gesture from one of them

the march was resumed as though no untoward incident had occurred.

Bertha Kircher experienced a sudden reaction from the momentary exaltation of

her recent promise to the Englishman. She knew that she had spoken more for

him than for herself but now that it was over she realized, as she had realized the

moment before she had spoken, that it was unlikely she would ever care for him

the way he wished. But what had she promised? Only that she would try to love

him. "And now?" she asked herself.

She realized that there might be little hope of their ever returning to civilization.

Even if these people should prove friendly and willing to let them depart in peace,

how were they to find their way back to the coast? With Tarzan dead, as she fully

believed him after having seen his body lying lifeless at the mouth of the cave

when she had been dragged forth by her captor, there seemed no power at their

command which could guide them safely.

The two had scarcely mentioned the ape-man since their capture, for each

realized fully what his loss meant to them. They had compared notes relative to

those few exciting moments of the final attack and capture and had found that

they agreed perfectly upon all that had occurred. Smith-Oldwick had even seen

the lion leap upon Tarzan at the instant that the former was awakened by the

roars of the charging beasts, and though the night had been dark, he had been

able to see that the body of the savage ape-man had never moved from the

instant that it had come down beneath the beast.

And so, if at other times within the past few weeks Bertha Kircher had felt that

her situation was particularly hopeless, she was now ready to admit that hope

was absolutely extinct.

The streets were beginning to fill with the strange men and women of this strange

city. Sometimes individuals would notice them and seem to take a great interest

in them, and again others would pass with vacant stares, seemingly unconscious

of their immediate surroundings and paying no attention whatsoever to the

prisoners. Once they heard hideous screams up a side street, and looking they

saw a man in the throes of a demoniacal outburst of rage, similar to that which

they had witnessed in the recent attack upon Smith-Oldwick. This creature was

venting his insane rage upon a child which he repeatedly struck and bit, pausing

only long enough to shriek at frequent intervals. Finally, just before they passed

out of sight the creature raised the limp body of the child high above his head

and cast it down with all his strength upon the pavement, and then, wheeling

182

Tarzan the Untamed