Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-06-21

friendly apes of Kerchak surrounded
him instead of village full of armed
enemies.
Seeming only was the indifference
OF Iarzan, for alert and watch
tul was every well-trained sense,
Mbonga, willy stalker of cared
jungle creatures, moved now in utter
silence. Not even Bara, the deer
with his great ears could have
guessed from any sound that Mbonga
was near but the black was not
stalking Bara, he was stalking man,
and so he sought only to avoid noise,
Closer and closer to the slowly
moving apc-man he came. Now he
raised his war spear, throwing his
spear-hand far back above his right
shoulder Once and for all would
Mbonga, the chief, rid himself and
his people Of the menace of this
terrifying enemy. He would make
no poor cast; he would take pains,
and he would hurl BIS weapon with
such great force as would finish the
demon forever.
But Mbonga, sure as he thought
himself, erred in his calculations. He
might believe that he was stalking a
mamie did not know. however, that
+ 1t was man with the delicate sense
perception of the lower orders. Tar
zan, when he had turned his back
/ upon his enemies, had noted what
| Mbonga never would have thought
of considering in the hunting of
man-the wind It was blowing in
the same direction that Tarzan was
proceeding, carrying to his delicate
nOStrils the odors which arose behind
him. Thus it was that Tarzan knew
that he was being followed, for even
among the many stenches of an Af-
rican village, the ape-man's uncanny
faculty was equal to the task Of
ditferentiating one stencil from an
| other and locating with remarkable
precision the source whence it
came.
He knew that a man was following
him and coming closer, and his judg-
ment warned him of the purpose of
the stalker. When Mbonga, there
fore, came within spear range of the
ape-man, the latter suddenly wheeled
upon him, so suddenly that the
poised spear was shot a fraction of
a second before Mbonga had in
tended. 1t went a. trife high and
Iarzan stopped to let it pass over
his head; then he sprang toward the
chief. But Mbonga did not wait to
receive him. Instead he turned and
fed for the dark doorway of the near
est hut, calling as he went for his
warriors to fall upon the stranger
and slay him.
Well, indeed, might Mbon~a scream
for help, for Tarzan, young and
fleet-footed, covered the distance be-
tween them in great leaps, at the
speed of charging lion. He was
growing, too not at all unlike Numa
himself. Mbonga heard and his
blood ran cold. He could feel the
wool stiffen upon his pate and a
prickty chill run up his spine, as
though Death had come and run his
cold finger along Mbonga's back.
Others heard, too, and saw, from
the darkness of their huts-bold
warriors, hideously painted, grasp
ing heavy war spears in nerveless
fingers. Against Numa, the lion,
they would have charged fearlessly.
Against many times their own num-
her Of black warriors would they
have raced to the protection of their
chief, but this weird Jungle demon
filed them with terror. There was
nothing human in the bestial growls
that rumbled up from his deep
chest; there was nothing human in
the barred fangs, or the cat-like leaps.
Mbonga's warriors were terrified
too terrified to leave the seeming Sc
curity of their huts while they
watched the beast-man spring full
upon the back of their old chieftain.
Mbonga went down with a scream
of terror. He was too frightened
even to attempt to defend himself.
He just lay beneath his antagonist
in a paralysis Of fear, screaming at
the top of his lungs. Tarzan half
rose and kneeled above the black He
turned Mbonga over and looked him
in the face, exposing the mans
throat, then he drew his long, keen
knife, the knife that John Clayton,
Lord Greystoke, had brought from
England many years before. He
raised it close above Mbonga's neck.
The old black whimpered with ter
ror. He pleaded for his life in a
tongue which Tarzan could not un-
derstand.
The old man seemed to wither and
shrink to a bag of puny bones be-
meath his eyes. So weak and help
less and terror-stricken he appeared
that the ape-man was filled with d
great contempt, but another sensa-
ton also claimed him-something
new to Tarzan of the Apes in rela-
tion to an enemy. 1t was pity-pity
for a poor, frightened, Old man.
Tarzan rose and turned away,
leaving Mbonga, the chief, unharmed