Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-08-30

! "
five bags with him. Straight he
went to the rim of the gulch where
he had imprisoned Numa the lion.
Very stealthily he approached the
edge. and peered over. Numa was
not in sight. Tarzan shifted and
listened. He could hear nothing,
and yet he knew Numa must be
within the cave. He hoped that
Numa slept; much depended upon
Numa's not discovering him.
Cautiously Tarzan lowered him
self over the edge of the cliff, and
with utter noiselessness commenced
the descent toward tn bottom of the
gulch. He stopped often and turned
his keen eyes and ears in the direc-
tion of the caves mouth at the far
end of the gulch some hundred feet
away. AS he neared the foot of
the cliff, his danger increased
greatly. If he could reach the bot
tom and cover half the distance to
the tree that stood in the center of
the gulch. he would feel compara-
lively safe, for then even if Numa
appeared, Tarzan could beat him
either to the cliff or to the tree,
with enough of lead to insure his
escape.
At last Tarzan stood upon the
floor of the gulch. Silent as a dis
embodied spirit, he advanced to-
ward the tree. He was halfway
there, and no sign of Numa. He
reached the SCARED bole from which
the famished lion had devoured the
bark and even torn pieces of the
wood itself, and yet Numa had not
appeared. AS Tarzan drew himself
up to the lower branches, he began
to wonder if Numa were in the cave
after all. Could it be possible that
he had forced the barrier of rocks
with which Tarzan had plugged the
other end of the passage where it |
opened into the outer world of free
dom? Or was Numa dead?
Tarzan started to descend and in
vestigate the cavern, when it oc-
| Cured to him that it would save
| effort were he to lure Numa out in
stead. Acting upon the thought, he
uttered low growl. Instantly he !
was rewarded by the sound of move
| ment within the cave, and a moment
later a wild-eyed, haggard lion
rushed forth ready to face the devil |
himself, were he edible. When
Numa saw Tarzan, fat and sleek, |
perched in the tree, he became sud |
denly the embodiment OF frightful |
rage. His eyes and his nose told !
him that this was the creature who |
+ was responsible for his predica-
ment, and also that this creature
was good to eat. Frantically the |
lion sought to scramble up the bole |
of the tree. Twice he leaped high |
enough to catch the lowest branches !
with his paws, but both times he |
fell backward to the earth. Each |
time he became more furious. His |
growls and roars were incessant
and horrible, and all the time Tar
zan sat grinning down upon him,
taunting him in jungle Billingsgate
for his inability to reach him, and |
mentally exulting that always
Numa was wasting his already |
waning strength.
Finally the Ape-man rose and un-
slung his rope. He arranged the
| coils carefully in his left hand and |
the moose in his right, and then he
took a position with each foot on
| one of two branches that lay in
about the same horizontal plane,
and with his back pressed firmly |
against the stem of the tree. There |
he stood hurling himself at Numa |
until the beast was again goaded |
into leaping upward at him, and !
as Numa rose, the moose drop
ped quickly over his head and about |
his neck. A quick movement of Tar
zan's rope-hand tightened the coil,
and when Numa slipped backward
to the ground, only his hind feet
touched, for the Ape-man held him !
swinging by the neck.
Moving slowly outward upon the
two branches, Tarzan swung Numa
out, so that he could not reach the
bole of the tree with his raking
talons; then Tarzan made the rope
fast after drawing the lion clear of
the ground, dropped his five pig
skin sacks to earth and leaped down
himself. Numa was striking fran
tically at the grass rope with his
claws. At any moment he might
sever it, and Tarzan must there
fore work rapidly.
First Tarzan drew the larger bag
over Numa's head and secured it
about his neck with the drawstring;
then he managed, after considerable
effort, during which he barely es-
capped being torn to ribbons by the
mighty talons, to hog-tie Numa-
drawing his four legs together and
securing them in that position with
the strips he had trimmed from the
pigskins.
By this time the lions efforts had
almost ceased; it was evident that
he was being rapidly strangled; and
as that did not at all suit the pur-
pose of the Tarmangani, the latter
swung again into the tree, unfas-
tened the rope from above and
L.. i