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after darkness had fallen upon the same day that Jane Clayton and the Russian
ended their flights from the interior.
The darkness lowered so heavily upon the black river and the encircling jungle
that Tarzan, even with eyes accustomed to much use after dark, could make out
nothing a few yards from him. His idea was to search the shore that night for
signs of the Russian and the woman who he was certain must have preceded
Rokoff down the Ugambi. That the Kincaid or other ship lay at anchor but a
hundred yards from him he did not dream, for no light showed on board the
steamer.
Even as he commenced his search his attention was suddenly attracted by a
noise that he had not at first perceived--the stealthy dip of paddles in the water
some distance from the shore, and about opposite the point at which he stood.
Motionless as a statue he stood listening to the faint sound.
Presently it ceased, to be followed by a shuffling noise that the ape-man's trained
ears could interpret as resulting from but a single cause--the scraping of leather-
shod feet upon the rounds of a ship's monkey-ladder. And yet, as far as he could
see, there was no ship there--nor might there be one within a thousand miles.
As he stood thus, peering out into the darkness of the cloud-enshrouded night,
there came to him from across the water, like a slap in the face, so sudden and
unexpected was it, the sharp staccato of an exchange of shots and then the
scream of a woman.
Wounded though he was, and with the memory of his recent horrible experience
still strong upon him, Tarzan of the Apes did not hesitate as the notes of that
frightened cry rose shrill and piercing upon the still night air. With a bound he
cleared the intervening bush--there was a splash as the water closed about him--
and then, with powerful strokes, he swam out into the impenetrable night with no
guide save the memory of an illusive cry, and for company the hideous denizens
of an equatorial river.
The boat that had attracted Jane's attention as she stood guard upon the deck of
the Kincaid had been perceived by Rokoff upon one bank and Mugambi and the
horde upon the other. The cries of the Russian had brought the dugout first to
him, and then, after a conference, it had been turned toward the Kincaid, but
before ever it covered half the distance between the shore and the steamer a rifle
had spoken from the latter's deck and one of the sailors in the bow of the canoe
had crumpled and fallen into the water.
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