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Before the Wagambi could recover from their astonishment the frightful horde

was upon them from one side and Tarzan of the Apes from the other. Heavy

spears were hurled and mighty war-clubs wielded, and though apes went down

never to rise, so, too, went down the men of Ugambi.

Sheeta's cruel fangs and tearing talons ripped and tore at the black hides. Akut's

mighty yellow tusks found the jugular of more than one sleek-skinned savage,

and Tarzan of the Apes was here and there and everywhere, urging on his fierce

allies and taking a heavy toll with his long, slim knife.

In a moment the blacks had scattered for their lives, but of the score that had

crept down the grassy sides of the promontory only a single warrior managed to

escape the horde that had overwhelmed his people.

This one was Mugambi, chief of the Wagambi of Ugambi, and as he disappeared

in the tangled luxuriousness of the rank growth upon the ridge's summit only the

keen eyes of the ape-man saw the direction of his flight.

Leaving his pack to eat their fill upon the flesh of their victims--flesh that he

could not touch--Tarzan of the Apes pursued the single survivor of the bloody

fray. Just beyond the ridge he came within sight of the fleeing black, making

with headlong leaps for a long war-canoe that was drawn well up upon the beach

above the high tide surf.

Noiseless as the fellow's shadow, the ape-man raced after the terror-stricken

black. In the white man's mind was a new plan, awakened by sight of the war-

canoe. If these men had come to his island from another, or from the mainland,

why not utilize their craft to make his way to the country from which they had

come? Evidently it was an inhabited country, and no doubt had occasional

intercourse with the mainland, if it were not itself upon the continent of Africa.

A heavy hand fell upon the shoulder of the escaping Mugambi before he was

aware that he was being pursued, and as he turned to do battle with his assailant

giant fingers closed about his wrists and he was hurled to earth with a giant

astride him before he could strike a blow in his own defence.

In the language of the West Coast, Tarzan spoke to the prostrate man beneath

him.

Who are you?" he asked.

Mugambi, chief of the Wagambi," replied the black.

I will spare your life," said Tarzan, "if you will promise to help me to leave this

island. What do you answer?"

The Beasts of Tarzan