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His keen eyes detected at once that something was radically wrong, and when he

had heard Mugambi's story his jaws clicked angrily together as he knitted his

brows in thought.

What could the mate hope to accomplish by taking Jane Clayton from a camp

upon a small island from which there was no escape from the vengeance of

Tarzan? The ape-man could not believe the fellow such a fool, and then a slight

realization of the truth dawned upon him.

Schneider would not have committed such an act unless he had been reasonably

sure that there was a way by which he could quit Jungle Island with his

prisoners. But why had he taken the black woman as well? There must have

been others, one of whom wanted the dusky female.

"Come," said Tarzan, "there is but one thing to do now, and that is to follow the

trail."

As he finished speaking a tall, ungainly figure emerged from the jungle north of

the camp. He came straight toward the four men. He was an entire stranger to

all of them, not one of whom had dreamed that another human being than those

of their own camp dwelt upon the unfriendly shores of Jungle Island.

It was Gust. He came directly to the point.

"Your women were stolen," he said. "If you want ever to see them again, come

quickly and follow me. If we do not hurry the Cowrie will be standing out to sea

by the time we reach her anchorage."

"Who are you?" asked Tarzan. "What do you know of the theft of my wife and the

black woman?"

"I heard Kai Shang and Momulla the Maori plot with two men of your camp. They

had chased me from our camp, and would have killed me. Now I will get even

with them. Come!"

Gust led the four men of the Kincaid's camp at a rapid trot through the jungle

toward the north. Would they come to the sea in time? But a few more minutes

would answer the question.

And when at last the little party did break through the last of the screening

foliage, and the harbour and the ocean lay before them, they realized that fate

had been most cruelly unkind, for the Cowrie was already under sail and moving

slowly out of the mouth of the harbour into the open sea.

156

The Beasts of Tarzan