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Rokoff had set him ashore upon an island.

He might have known it! If there was any plan that would render his position

more harrowing he should have known that such would be the one adopted by

the Russian, and what could be more terrible than to leave him to a lifetime of

suspense upon an uninhabited island?

Rokoff doubtless had sailed directly to the mainland, where it would be a

comparatively easy thing for him to find the means of delivering the infant Jack

into the hands of the cruel and savage foster-parents, who, as his note had

threatened, would have the upbringing of the child.

Tarzan shuddered as he thought of the cruel suffering the little one must endure

in such a life, even though he might fall into the hands of individuals whose

intentions toward him were of the kindest. The ape-man had had sufficient

experience with the lower savages of Africa to know that even there may be found

the cruder virtues of charity and humanity; but their lives were at best but a

series of terrible privations, dangers, and sufferings.

Then there was the horrid after-fate that awaited the child as he grew to

manhood. The horrible practices that would form a part of his life-training would

alone be sufficient to bar him forever from association with those of his own race

and station in life.

A cannibal! His little boy a savage man-eater! It was too horrible to contemplate.

The filed teeth, the slit nose, the little face painted hideously. Tarzan groaned.

Could he but feel the throat of the Russ fiend beneath his steel fingers!

And Jane!

What tortures of doubt and fear and uncertainty she must be suffering. He felt

that his position was infinitely less terrible than hers, for he at least knew that

one of his loved ones was safe at home, while she had no idea of the whereabouts

of either her husband or her son.

It is well for Tarzan that he did not guess the truth, for the knowledge would have

but added a hundredfold to his suffering.

As he moved slowly through the jungle his mind absorbed by his gloomy

thoughts, there presently came to his ears a strange scratching sound which he

could not translate.

Cautiously he moved in the direction from which it emanated, presently coming

upon a huge panther pinned beneath a fallen tree.

The Beasts of Tarzan