Part 21 (2/2)

Now he knew that soe had proed to obtain possession of the papers Tarzan had wrested from him at Bou Saada The ape-man swore softly, and let his coat and shi+rt sink into the Atlantic Before ar easily and unencumbered toward the east

The first faint evidence of daas paling the stars ahead of hi blackstrokes brought him to its side--it was the bottom of a ashed derelict Tarzan claht at least He had no intention to reer and thirst If hesome semblance of an attempt to save hiently undulatingto the swimmer who had had no sleep for twenty hours Tarzan of the Apes curled up upon the slimy timbers, and was soon asleep

The heat of the sun awoke him early in the forenoon His first conscious sensation was of thirst, which grew al consciousness; but a otten in the joy of two almost sie floating beside the derelict in the midst of which, bottom up, rose and fell an overturned lifeboat; the other was the faint, di on the horizon in the east

Tarzan dove into the water, and swam around the wreck to the lifeboat

The cool ocean refreshed him almost as much as would a draft of water, so that it ith renewed vigor that he brought the sside the derelict, and, afterit onto the slihted and examined it--the boat was quite sound, and a side the wreck Then Tarzan selected several pieces of wreckage that ood headway toward the far-off shore

It was late in the afternoon by the tiuish objects on land, or to make out the contour of the shore line Before him lay what appeared to be the entrance to a little, landlocked harbor The wooded point to the north was strangely familiar Could it be possible that fate had thrown hile! But as the bow of his boat entered the mouth of the harbor the last shred of doubt was cleared away, for there before him upon the farther shore, under the shadows of his primeval forest, stood his own cabin--built before his birth by the hand of his long-dead father, John Clayton, Lord Greystoke

With long sweeps of his gianttoward the beach Its prow had scarcely touched when the ape-man leaped to shore--his heart beat fast in joy and exultation as each long-fa eyes--the cabin, the beach, the little brook, the dense jungle, the black, ie--the gorgeous tropical blooreat loops froiant trees

Tarzan of the Apes had coht know it he threw back his young head, and gave voice to the fierce, wild challenge of his tribe For a le, and then, low and weird, cae--it was the deep roar of Nureat distance, faintly, the fearso bellow of a bull ape

Tarzan went to the brook first, and slaked his thirst Then he approached his cabin The door was still closed and latched as he and D'Arnot had left it He raised the latch and entered Nothing had been disturbed; there were the table, the bed, and the little crib built by his father--the shelves and cupboards just as they had stood for over twenty-three years--just as he had left them nearly two years before

His eyes satisfied, Tarzan's stoer suggested a search for food There was nothing in the cabin, nor had he any weapons; but upon a wall hung one of his old grass ropes It had been many times broken and spliced, so that he had discarded it for a better one long before Tarzan wished that he had a knife Well, unless he was mistaken he should have that and a spear and bows and arrows before another sun had set--the rope would take care of that, and in the meantime it must be made to procure food for hi it about his shoulder, went out, closing the door behind hile coed, wary and noiseless--onceits food

For a ti no spoor indicative of nearbyfro swept over hiotten Noas he living Now, indeed, was the true happiness of perfect freedo, wicked cities of civilized le offered peace and liberty? Not he

While it was yet light Tarzan cale river There was a ford there, and for countless ages the beasts of the forest had coht always be found either Sabor or Nule awaiting an antelope or a water buck for their meal Here came Horta, the boar, to water, and here came Tarzan of the Apes to make a kill, for he was very empty

On a low branch he squatted above the trail For an hour he waited

It was growing dark A little to one side of the ford in the densest thicket he heard the faint sound of padded feet, and the brushi+ng of a huge body against tall grasses and tangled creepers None other than Tarzan ht have heard it, but the ape-man heard and translated--it was Numa, the lion, on the same errand as himself Tarzan s warily along the trail toward the drinking place A moment more and it came in view--it was Horta, the boar Here was delicious rasses where Numa lay were very still now--ominously still Horta passed beneath Tarzan--a fewTarzan could i--hoas already sucking in his breath for the awful roar which would freeze his prey for the brief instant between the s into splintering bones

But as Nuh the air from the low branches of a near-by tree A noose settled about Horta's neck There was a frightened grunt, a squeal, and then Nued backward up the trail, and, as he sprang, Horta, the boar, soared upward beyond his clutches into the tree above, and a hed into his own

Then indeed did Nury, he paced back and forth beneath the taunting ape-ainst the stee claws upon the bark, tearing out great pieces that laid bare the white wood beneath

And in theHorta to the li noose had commenced The ape-man had no knife, but nature had equipped hi flank of his prey, and glea lion looked on froht already his

It was quite dark by the tied himself Ah, but it had been delicious! Never had he quite accustomed himself to the ruined flesh that civilized e heart there had constantly been the craving for the warm meat of the fresh kill, and the rich, red blood

He wiped his bloody hands upon a bunch of leaves, slung the reh the middle terrace of the forest toward his cabin, and at the same instant Jane Porter and William Cecil Clayton arose from a sumptuous dinner upon the LADY ALICE, thousands of miles to the east, in the Indian Ocean

Beneath Tarzan walked Nulance doard he caught occasional glih the darkness Numa did not roar now--instead, he reat cat; but yet he took no step that did not reach the sensitive ears of the ape-man

Tarzan wondered if he would stalk hiht's sleep curled in the crotch of a tree, and he rasses within his own abode But he knew just the tree and the most comfortable crotch, if necessity dereat jungle cat had followed him home, and compelled him to seek shelter in this sa sun had sent his eneave up the chase and, with a series of blood-curdling rily back in search of another and an easier dinner So Tarzan came to his cabin unattended, and a few moments later was curled up in the rasses Thus easily did Monsieur Jean C