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luxury, indolence, and ease than the more strenuous exigencies of life's sterner

requirements.

And not only was the young lieutenant outwardly careless of the immediate

future and of his surroundings, but actually so. That the district might be

infested by countless enemies seemed not to have occurred to him in the

remotest degree. He bent assiduously to the work of correcting the adjustment

that had caused his motor to stall without so much as an upward glance at the

surrounding country. The forest to the east of him, and the more distant jungle

that bordered the winding river, might have harbored an army of bloodthirsty

savages, but neither could elicit even a passing show of interest on the part of

Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick.

And even had he looked, it is doubtful if he would have seen the score of figures

crouching in the concealment of the undergrowth at the forest's edge. There are

those who are reputed to be endowed with that which is sometimes, for want of a

better appellation, known as the sixth sense--a species of intuition which

apprises them of the presence of an unseen danger. The concentrated gaze of a

hidden observer provokes a warning sensation of nervous unrest in such as

these, but though twenty pairs of savage eyes were gazing fixedly at Lieutenant

Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, the fact aroused no responsive sensation of

impending danger in his placid breast. He hummed peacefully and, his

adjustment completed, tried out his motor for a minute or two, then shut it off

and descended to the ground with the intention of stretching his legs and taking

a smoke before continuing his return flight to camp. Now for the first time he took

note of his surroundings, to be immediately impressed by both the wildness and

the beauty of the scene. In some respects the tree-dotted meadowland reminded

him of a park-like English forest, and that wild beasts and savage men could ever

be a part of so quiet a scene seemed the remotest of contingencies.

Some gorgeous blooms upon a flowering shrub at a little distance from his

machine caught the attention of his aesthetic eye, and as he puffed upon his

cigarette, he walked over to examine the flowers more closely. As he bent above

them he was probably some hundred yards from his plane and it was at this

instant that Numabo, chief of the Wamabo, chose to leap from his ambush and

lead his warriors in a sudden rush upon the white man.

The young Englishman's first intimation of danger was a chorus of savage yells

from the forest behind him. Turning, he saw a score of naked, black warriors

advancing rapidly toward him. They moved in a compact mass and as they

approached more closely their rate of speed noticeably diminished. Lieutenant

Smith-Oldwick realized in a quick glance that the direction of their approach and

their proximity had cut off all chances of retreating to his plane, and he also

Tarzan the Untamed