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Now Sheeta, the panther, was one whom Tarzan was exceptionally glad to fall in

with, for he had it in mind not only to utilize the great cat's strong gut for his

bow, but also to fashion a new quiver and loin-cloth from pieces of his hide. So,

whereas the ape-man had gone carelessly before, he now became the

personification of noiseless stealth.

Swiftly and silently he glided through the forest in the wake of the savage cat, nor

was the pursuer, for all his noble birth, one whit less savage than the wild, fierce

thing he stalked.

As he came closer to Sheeta he became aware that the panther on his part was

stalking game of his own, and even as he realized this fact there came to his

nostrils, wafted from his right by a vagrant breeze, the strong odour of a company

of great apes.

The panther had taken to a large tree as Tarzan came within sight of him, and

beyond and below him Tarzan saw the tribe of Akut lolling in a little, natural

clearing. Some of them were dozing against the boles of trees, while others

roamed about turning over bits of bark from beneath which they transferred the

luscious grubs and beetles to their mouths.

Akut was the closest to Sheeta.

The great cat lay crouched upon a thick limb, hidden from the ape's view by

dense foliage, waiting patiently until the anthropoid should come within range of

his spring.

Tarzan cautiously gained a position in the same tree with the panther and a little

above him. In his left hand he grasped his slim stone blade. He would have

preferred to use his noose, but the foliage surrounding the huge cat precluded

the possibility of an accurate throw with the rope.

Akut had now wandered quite close beneath the tree wherein lay the waiting

death. Sheeta slowly edged his hind paws along the branch still further beneath

him, and then with a hideous shriek he launched himself toward the great ape.

The barest fraction of a second before his spring another beast of prey above him

leaped, its weird and savage cry mingling with his.

As the startled Akut looked up he saw the panther almost above him, and already

upon the panther's back the white ape that had bested him that day near the

great water.

The teeth of the ape-man were buried in the back of Sheeta's neck and his right

arm was round the fierce throat, while the left hand, grasping a slender piece of

The Beasts of Tarzan