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His first thought, of course, was of escape, but that he could make his way to the
surface of the river beyond and then to the shore seemed highly improbable.
There might be turns and windings in the neck of the passage, or, most to be
feared, he might meet another of the slimy inhabitants of the retreat upon his
journey outward.
Even should he reach the river in safety, there was still the danger of his being
again attacked before he could effect a safe landing. Still there was no
alternative, and, filling his lungs with the close and reeking air of the chamber,
Tarzan of the Apes dived into the dark and watery hole which he could not see
but had felt out and found with his feet and legs.
The leg which had been held within the jaws of the crocodile was badly lacerated,
but the bone had not been broken, nor were the muscles or tendons sufficiently
injured to render it useless. It gave him excruciating pain, that was all.
But Tarzan of the Apes was accustomed to pain, and gave it no further thought
when he found that the use of his legs was not greatly impaired by the sharp
teeth of the monster.
Rapidly he crawled and swam through the passage which inclined downward and
finally upward to open at last into the river bottom but a few feet from the shore
line. As the ape-man reached the surface he saw the heads of two great
crocodiles but a short distance from him. They were making rapidly in his
direction, and with a superhuman effort the man struck out for the overhanging
branches of a near-by tree.
Nor was he a moment too soon, for scarcely had he drawn himself to the safety of
the limb than two gaping mouths snapped venomously below him. For a few
minutes Tarzan rested in the tree that had proved the means of his salvation.
His eyes scanned the river as far down-stream as the tortuous channel would
permit, but there was no sign of the Russian or his dugout.
When he had rested and bound up his wounded leg he started on in pursuit of
the drifting canoe. He found himself upon the opposite of the river to that at
which he had entered the stream, but as his quarry was upon the bosom of the
water it made little difference to the ape-man upon which side he took up the
pursuit.
To his intense chagrin he soon found that his leg was more badly injured than he
had thought, and that its condition seriously impeded his progress. It was only
with the greatest difficulty that he could proceed faster than a walk upon the
ground, and in the trees he discovered that it not only impeded his progress, but
rendered travelling distinctly dangerous.
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