Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-02-02
The Son OF Tarzan

his powerful constitution overcame the
effects of the spear thrusts. The
wounds healed and his strength re-
turned.
All during his rational moments as
he had lain upon the soft furs which
lined Meriem's nest he had suffered
more acutely from fears for Meriem
than from the pain Of his own wounds.
For her he must live; for her he must
regain his strength that he might set
amt in search of her. But 1t was MANY
day before strength returned to him.
-
Meriem, bound and under heavy
guard in Kovudoo's own hut, had no
doubt but that Korak would come
back and still less that he would cas-
fly free her.
So now as she lay waiting for him
she dreamed Of him and Of all that he
meant to her. She compared him with
the sheik, her father, and at the
thought Of the stern. grizzled old Arab
she shuddered. Even the savage blacks
had been less harsh to her than he.
Not understanding their tongue, she
could not guess what purpose they had
In keeping her prisoner. She knew
that man ate man, and she had ex-
pected to be eaten, but she had been
with them for some time now, and no
harm had befallen her.
She did not know that q runner had
been dispatched to the distant village
Of the sheik to barter with him for a
ransom. She did not know, nor did
Kovudoo, that the runner had never
reached his destination; that he had
fallen in with the safari of Jensen
and Malbihn and with the talk
ativeness Of native had un-
folded his whole mission to the
black servants Of the two Swedes.
These had not been long in retailing
the matter to their masters, and the
result was that when the runner left
their camp to continue his journey he
had scarce passed from sight before
there came the report Of a rifle. and
he rolled iifeless into the underbrush
with q bullet hole In his back.
A few moments later Malbihn
strolled back into the encampment,
where he went to some pains to let it
be known that he had had a shot at
a fine buck and missed. The Swedes
knew that their men hated them and
that an overt act against Kovudoo
would quickly be carried to the chief
at the first opportunity. Nor were they
sufficiently strong in either guns or
loyal followers to risk antagonizing
the willy old chief.
The next day the Swedes set out for
Kovudoo's village. bent on securing pos
session of the person Of the white girl
whom Kovudoo's runner had told them
lay captive in the chiefs village. How
they were to accomplish their end
they did not know. Force was out of
the question, though they would not
have hesitated to use it had they pos
sessed 1t.
In former years they had marched
roughshod over enormous areas. TAX
ing toll by brute force even when kind
illness or diplomacy would have &C
complished more. But now they were
in bad straits-so bad that they had
not shown their true colors scarce
twice in a year, and then only when
they came upon an isolated weak vii
lage.
Kovudoo was not Of these, and,
though his village was in a way re-
mote from the more populous district
to the north, his power was such that
he maintained an acknowledged suze-
rainty over the thin thread Of villages
which connected him with the savage
lords to the north.
To have antagonized him would have
spelled ruin for the Swedes. 1t would
have meant that they might never
reach civilization by the northern
route. To the west the village Of the
sheik lay directly in their path, barring
them effectually. To the east the trail
was unknown to them, and to the
| south there was no trail.