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"There are six now," replied Tarzan, pointing to Sheeta, "and we can have more

still in a half-hour. Sheeta is the equivalent of twenty men, and the few others I

can bring will add full a hundred to our fighting strength. You do not know

them."

The ape-man turned and raised his head toward the jungle, while there pealed

from his lips, time after time, the fearsome cry of the bull-ape who would

summon his fellows.

Presently from the jungle came an answering cry, and then another and another.

Gust shuddered. Among what sort of creatures had fate thrown him? Were not

Kai Shang and Momulla to be preferred to this great white giant who stroked a

panther and called to the beasts of the jungle?

In a few minutes the apes of Akut came crashing through the underbrush and

out upon the beach, while in the meantime the five men had been struggling with

the unwieldy bulk of the skiff's hull.

By dint of Herculean efforts they had managed to get it to the water's edge. The

oars from the two small boats of the Kincaid, which had been washed away by an

off-shore wind the very night that the party had landed, had been in use to

support the canvas of the sailcloth tents. These were hastily requisitioned, and by

the time Akut and his followers came down to the water all was ready for

embarkation.

Once again the hideous crew entered the service of their master, and without

question took up their places in the skiff. The four men, for Gust could not be

prevailed upon to accompany the party, fell to the oars, using them paddle-wise,

while some of the apes followed their example, and presently the ungainly skiff

was moving quietly out to sea in the direction of the light which rose and fell

gently with the swell.

A sleepy sailor kept a poor vigil upon the Cowrie's deck, while in the cabin below

Schneider paced up and down arguing with Jane Clayton. The woman had found

a revolver in a table drawer in the room in which she had been locked, and now

she kept the mate of the Kincaid at bay with the weapon.

The Mosula woman kneeled behind her, while Schneider paced up and down

before the door, threatening and pleading and promising, but all to no avail.

Presently from the deck above came a shout of warning and a shot. For an

instant Jane Clayton relaxed her vigilance, and turned her eyes toward the cabin

skylight. Simultaneously Schneider was upon her.

158

The Beasts of Tarzan