Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-08-16

uldH Sd" JnaC Nurna was again ap-
preaching, he threw another fire.
brand, and, as before, Numa re-
treated and with him Sabor, the
lioness; but not so far, this time,
nor for so long. Almost instantly
they turned and began circling the
bona, their eyes turning constantly
toward the freight, while low,
throaty growls evidenced their in
creasing displeasure. Beyond the
lions glowed the flaming eyes of the
lesser satellites, until the black
| jungle was shot all around the black
mems camp with little spots of fire.
Again and again the black war
rior hurled his puny brands at the
two big cats; but Tarzan noticed that
Numa paid little or no attention to
them after the first few retreats.
The ape-man knew by Numa's voice
that the lion was hungry and sur.
missed that he had made up his mind
to feed upon Gomangani; but
would he dare a closer approach to
the dreaded flames?
Even as the thought was passing
in Tarzan's mind Numa stopped his
restless pacing and faced the bona
For a moment he stood motionlcss,
except for the quick, nervous up
curving of his tail, then he walked
deliberately forward, while Sabor
moved restessIy to and fro where
he had left her The black man
called to his comrades that the lion
was coming, but they were too far
gone in fear to do more than huddle
closer together and moan more
loudly than before.
Selling a blazing branch the man
cast it straight into the face of the
lion. There was an angry roar, fol-
lowed by a swift charge. With a
single bound the savage beast clear
ed the bona wall as, with almost
equal agility, the warrior cleared Il
upon the opposide side and, chanc-
ing the dangers lurking in the dark
ness, bCited for the nearest tree.
Numa was out of the bona almost
as soon as he was inside it; but as
he went back over the low thorn
wall, he took a screaming negro with
him. Dragging his victim along the
ground he walked back toward Sa-
Dor, the lioness, who joined him, and
the two continued into the black
ness, their savage growls mingling
with the piercing shrieks of the
doomed and terrified man.
At little distance from the blaze
the lions halted, their ensued a short
succession of unusually vicious
growls and roars, during which the
cries and means of the black man
ceased-forever.
Presently Numa reappeared in the
freight. He made a second trip into
the bona and the former grisly
was re-enacted with another
bowling victim.
Tarzan rose and stretched lazily. |
The entertainment was beginning to |
bore him. He yawned and turned |
upon his way toward the clearing
where the tribe would be sleeping
in the encircling trees.
Yet even when he had found his
familiar crotch and curled himself
for slumber he felt no desire to
sleep. For a long time he lay awake
and dreaming. He looked
up into the heavens and watched the
moon and the stars. He wondered
what they were and what power kept
them from falling. His was an
inquisitive mind. Always he had
been full of questions concerning all
that passed around him; but there
never had been one to answer his
questions. In childhood he had
wanted to know, and, denied almost
all knowledge, he still, in manhood,
was filled with the great, unsatisfed
curiosity of child.
He was never quite content merely
to perceive that things happened
he desired to know why they hap
pened. He wanted to know what
made things go. The secret of life
interested him immensely. The
of death he could not quite
fathom. Upon inElmerable occa-
sions he had investigated the in
ternal mechanism of his kills, and
once or twice he had opened the chest
cavity of victims in time to see the
heart still pumping.
He had learned from experience
that a knife thrust through this
organ brought immediate death nine
times out of ten, while he might stab
an antagonist innumerable times in
other places without even disabling
him. And so he had come to think .
of the heart, or, as he called it, "the
red thing that breathes," as the seat
and origin of life.
The brain and it's functionings he
did not comprehend at all. That his
sense perceptions were transmitted .
to his brain and there translated,
and labeled was some
thing quite beyond him. He thought !
that his fingers knew when they
touched something, that his eyes
knew when they saw, his ears when
they heard, his nose when it scented
He considered his throat, epider-
mis-, and the hairs of his head as