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In a circle about them the balance of the tribe of apes stood watching and

enjoying the struggle. They muttered low gutturals of approval as bits of white

hide or hairy bloodstained skin were torn from one contestant or the other. But

they were silent in amazement and expectation when they saw the mighty white

ape wriggle upon the back of their king, and, with steel muscles tensed beneath

the armpits of his antagonist, bear down mightily with his open palms upon the

back of the thick bullneck, so that the king ape could but shriek in agony and

flounder helplessly about upon the thick mat of jungle grass.

As Tarzan had overcome the huge Terkoz that time years before when he had

been about to set out upon his quest for human beings of his own kind and

colour, so now he overcame this other great ape with the same wrestling hold

upon which he had stumbled by accident during that other combat. The little

audience of fierce anthropoids heard the creaking of their king's neck mingling

with his agonized shrieks and hideous roaring.

Then there came a sudden crack, like the breaking of a stout limb before the fury

of the wind. The bullet-head crumpled forward upon its flaccid neck against the

great hairy chest--the roaring and the shrieking ceased.

The little pig-eyes of the onlookers wandered from the still form of their leader to

that of the white ape that was rising to its feet beside the vanquished, then back

to their king as though in wonder that he did not arise and slay this

presumptuous stranger.

They saw the new-comer place a foot upon the neck of the quiet figure at his feet

and, throwing back his head, give vent to the wild, uncanny challenge of the bull-

ape that has made a kill. Then they knew that their king was dead.

Across the jungle rolled the horrid notes of the victory cry. The little monkeys in

the tree-tops ceased their chattering. The harsh-voiced, brilliant-plumed birds

were still. From afar came the answering wail of a leopard and the deep roar of a

lion.

It was the old Tarzan who turned questioning eyes upon the little knot of apes

before him. It was the old Tarzan who shook his head as though to toss back a

heavy mane that had fallen before his face--an old habit dating from the days that

his great shock of thick, black hair had fallen about his shoulders, and often

tumbled before his eyes when it had meant life or death to him to have his vision

unobstructed.

The ape-man knew that he might expect an immediate attack on the part of that

particular surviving bull-ape who felt himself best fitted to contend for the

kingship of the tribe. Among his own apes he knew that it was not unusual for

The Beasts of Tarzan