Part 14 (1/2)

”But, my dear lieutenant,” expostulated Tarzan, ”I a to place eants or corporals, and to fight in the ranks as they direct It is what I calad to think so,” retorted Gernois, with a sneer he uise Then shortly: ”You are under my orders, and they are that you remain here until we return Let that end the matter,” and he turned and spurred away at the head of his men A moment later Tarzan found himself alone in the midst of a desolate ht the shelter of a nearby tree, where he tethered his horse, and sat down upon the ground to smoke Inwardly he swore at Gernois for the trick he had played upon hiht Tarzan, and then suddenly it occurred to hionize hih a trivial annoyance of so petty a description There ht he arose and removed his rifle froazine was full Then he inspected his revolver After this prelihts and the es--he was deter

The sun sank lower and lower, yet there was no sign of returning SPAHIS At last the valley was subo back to caiven the detachht was to have been their rendezvous With the closing in of night he felt safer from attack, for he was at hoht approach him so cautiously as to elude those alert and sensitive ears of his; then there were his eyes, too, for he could see well at night; and his nose, if they came toward him from up-wind, would apprise hireat way off

So he felt that he was in little danger, and thus lulled to a sense of security he fell asleep, with his back against the tree

He must have slept for several hours, for when he was suddenly awakened by the frightened snorting and plunging of his horse thefull upon the little valley, and there, not ten paces before hirim cause of the terror of his raceful tail extended and quivering, and his two eyes of fire riveted full upon his prey, stood Nuled through Tarzan's nerves It was likean old friend after years of separation For a nificent spectacle of this lord of the wilderness

But now Nu Very slowly Tarzan raised his gun to his shoulder He had never killed a large aniun in all his life--heretofore he had depended upon his spear, his poisoned arrows, his rope, his knife, or his bare hands Instinctively he wished that he had his arrows and his knife--he would have felt surer with theround now, presenting only his head Tarzan would have preferred to fire a little froe the lion could do if he lived two minutes, or even ain terror at Tarzan's back The ape-man took a cautious step to one side--Numa but followed him with his eyes Another step he took, and then another Numa had not moved Now he could aihtened upon the trigger, and as he fired Nu At the same instant the terrified horse made a last frantic effort to escape--the tether parted, and he went careening down the canon toward the desert

No ordinaryfrom so short a distance, but Tarzan was no ordinary man From earliest childhood his encies of his existence to act with the rapidity of thought As quick as was EL ADREA, Tarzan of the Apes was quicker, and so the great beast crashed against a tree where he had expected to feel the soft flesh of ht, pu and roaring to his side

Twice more Tarzan fired in quick succession, and then EL ADREA lay still and roared no er Monsieur Jean Tarzan; it was Tarzan of the Apes that put a savage foot upon the body of his savage kill, and, raising his face to the full hty voice in the weird and terrible challenge of his kind--a bull ape had s in the wild , and trembled at this new and awful voice, while down in the desert the children of the wilderness caoatskin tents and looked toward the e had come to devastate their flocks

A half mile froures, bearing long, wicked-looking guns, halted at the sound, and looked at one another with questioning eyes But presently, as it was not repeated, they took up their silent, stealthy way toward the valley

Tarzan was now confident that Gernois had no intention of returning for him, but he could not fathom the object that had prompted the officer to desert hione, he decided that it would be foolish to reer in the mountains, so he set out toward the desert

He had scarcely entered the confines of the canon when the first of the white-robed figures eed into the valley upon the opposite side

For a mo bowlders, but when they had satisfied themselves that it was empty they advanced across it Beneath the tree at one side they came upon the body of EL ADREA With muttered exclamations they crowded about it

Then, a moment later, they hurried down the canon which Tarzan was threading a brief distance in advance of thee of shelter, as h the Valley of the Shadow

As Tarzan walked down the wild canon beneath the brilliant Africanupon hie freedoain he was Tarzan of the Apes--every sense alert against the chance of surprise by sohtly and with head erect, in proud consciousness of his ht

The nocturnal sounds of the mountains were new to him, yet they fell upon his ears like the soft voice of a half-forgotten love Many he intuitively sensed--ah, there was one that was fa of Sheeta, the leopard; but there was a strange note in the final hich made him doubt It was a panther he heard

Presently a new sound--a soft, stealthy sound--obtruded itself a the others No human ears other than the ape-man's would have detected it At first he did not translate it, but finally he realized that it cas They were behind hi stalked

In a flash he knehy he had been left in that little valley by Gernois; but there had been a hitch in the arrangements--the men had come too late Closer and closer came the footsteps Tarzan halted and faced theli what they would of hiun, and with the sound of the shot Tarzan of the Apes plunged forward upon his face

The Arabs did not rush out immediately; instead, they waited to be sure that their victim did not rise Then they came rapidly from their concealment, and bent over him It was soon apparent that he was not dead One of the un to the back of Tarzan's head to finish hi hireater,” explained the latter So they bound his hands and feet, and, picking him up, placed him on the shoulders of four of their number Then the march was resumed toward the desert When they had come out of the ht came to the spot where their horses stood in care of two of their nuress was ained consciousness, was tied to a spare horse, which they evidently had brought for the purpose His wound was but a slight scratch, which had furrowed the flesh across his te, but the dried and clotted blood s He had said no word since he had fallen into the hands of these Arabs, nor had they addressed him other than to issue a few brief commands to him when the horses had been reached

For six hours they rode rapidly across the burning desert, avoiding the oases near which their way led About noon they came to a DOUAR of about twenty tents Here they halted, and as one of the Arabs was releasing the alfa-grass ropes which bound him to his mount they were surrounded by a mob of men, women, and children Many of the tribe, andinsults upon the prisoner, and soone so far as to throw stones at him and strike him with sticks, when an old sheik appeared and drove them away

”Ali-ben-Ahmed tells me,” he said, ”that this man sat alone in the er who sent us after him may be, I know not, and what he may do with this man e turn him over to him, I care not; but the prisoner is a brave man, and while he is in our hands he shall be treated with the respect that be due one who hunts THE LORD WITH THE LARGE HEAD alone and by night--and slays him”