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It seemed that early in the morning their chief had attempted to prevail upon the

whites to return with him to the village and with their guns destroy the ferocious

pack that had taken possession of it, but Rokoff appeared to entertain even more

fears of the giant white man and his strange companions than even the blacks

themselves.

Upon no conditions would he consent to returning even within sight of the village.

Instead, he took his party hurriedly to the river, where they stole a number of

canoes the blacks had hidden there. The last that had been seen of them they

had been paddling strongly up-stream, their porters from Kaviri's village wielding

the blades.

So once more Tarzan of the Apes with his hideous pack took up his search for the

ape-man's son and the pursuit of his abductor.

For weary days they followed through an almost uninhabited country, only to

learn at last that they were upon the wrong trail. The little band had been

reduced by three, for three of Akut's apes had fallen in the fighting at the village.

Now, with Akut, there were five great apes, and Sheeta was there--and Mugambi

and Tarzan.

The ape-man no longer heard rumors even of the three who had preceded Rokoff-

-the white man and woman and the child. Who the man and woman were he

could not guess, but that the child was his was enough to keep him hot upon the

trail. He was sure that Rokoff would be following this trio, and so he felt

confident that so long as he could keep upon the Russian's trail he would be

winning so much nearer to the time he might snatch his son from the dangers

and horrors that menaced him.

In retracing their way after losing Rokoff's trail Tarzan picked it up again at a

point where the Russian had left the river and taken to the brush in a northerly

direction. He could only account for this change on the ground that the child had

been carried away from the river by the two who now had possession of it.

Nowhere along the way, however, could he gain definite information that might

assure him positively that the child was ahead of him. Not a single native they

questioned had seen or heard of this other party, though nearly all had had direct

experience with the Russian or had talked with others who had.

It was with difficulty that Tarzan could find means to communicate with the

natives, as the moment their eyes fell upon his companions they fled precipitately

into the bush. His only alternative was to go ahead of his pack and waylay an

occasional warrior whom he found alone in the jungle.

The Beasts of Tarzan