Part 24 (1/2)

The ape-e that wild horde, arates of the village, would be a futile task, and so he returned to Waziri and advised him to wait; that he, Tarzan, had a better plan

But a itives had related to Waziri the story of the atrocious e was the oldhis warriors about hi spears and savage yells, the little force of scarcely ates Before the clearing had been half crossed the Arabs opened up a withering fire from behind the palisade

With the first volley Waziri fell The speed of the chargers slackened Another volley brought down a half dozen ates, only to be shot in their tracks, without the ghost of a chance to gain the inside of the palisade, and then the whole attack cru warriors scampered back into the forest As they ran the raiders opened the gates, rushi+ng after them, to complete the day's ith the utter exter the last to turn back toward the forest, and now, as he ran slowly, he turned from time to time to speed a well-aimed arrow into the body of a pursuer

Once within the jungle, he found a little knot of deter horde, but Tarzan cried to theather in force after dark

”Do as I tell you,” he urged, ”and I will lead you to victory over these ene up as ht, if you think that you have been followed, come by roundabout ways to the spot where we killed the elephants today Then I will explain ood You cannot hope to pit your puny strength and siuns of the Arabs and the Manyuema”

They finally assented ”When you scatter,” explained Tarzan, in conclusion, ”your foes will have to scatter to follow you, and so it may happen that if you are watchful you can drop reat trees”

They had barely time to hasten away farther into the forest before the first of the raiders had crossed the clearing and entered it in pursuit of theround before he took to the trees Then he raced quickly to the upper terrace, there doubling on his tracks and e Here he found that every Arab and Manyuee deserted except for the chained prisoners and a single guard

The sentry stood at the open gate, looking in the direction of the forest, so that he did not see the agile giant that dropped to the ground at the far end of the village street With dra the ape- victim The prisoners had already discovered him, and ide eyes filled onder and with hope they watched their would-be rescuer Now he halted not ten paces from the unconscious Manyueht of the keen gray eye that sighted along its polished surface There was a sudden twang as the brown fingers released their hold, and without a sound the raider sank forward upon his face, a wooden shaft transfixing his heart and protruding a foot from his black chest

Then Tarzan turned his attention to the fifty wo slave chain There was no releasing of the ancient padlocks in the time that was left him, so the ape-man called to theun and cartridge belt froh the village gate and into the forest upon the far side of the clearing

It was a slow and arduous march, for the slave chain was new to these people, and there were many delays as one of their nu others doith her Then, too, Tarzan had been forced towith returning raiders He was partially guided by occasional shots which indicated that the Arab horde was still in touch with the villagers; but he knew that if they would but follow his advice there would be but few casualties other than on the side of theceased entirely, and Tarzan knew that the Arabs had all returned to the village He could scarce repress a s that their guard had been killed and their prisoners taken away Tarzan had wished that he e contained, solely for the purpose of still further aug the wrath of his enemies; but he knew that that was not necessary for its salvation, since he already had a planthe country with a single tusk

And it would have been cruel to have needlessly burdened these poor, overwrought woht of the heavy ivory

It was aftercaravan, approached the spot where the elephants lay Long before they reached it they had been guided by the huge fire the natives had built in the center of a hastily improvised BOMA, partially for warmth and partially to keep off chance lions

When they had come close to the encampment Tarzan called aloud to let the It was a joyous reception the little party received when the blacks within the BOMA saw the long file of fettered friends and relatives enter the firelight These had all been given up as lost forever, as had Tarzan as well, so that the happy blacks would have reht to feast on elephant meat and celebrate the return of their fellows, had not Tarzan insisted that they take what sleep they could, against the work of the co day

At that, sleep was no easy matter, for the women who had lost their men or their children in the day's ht hideous with their continued wailing and howling Finally, however, Tarzan succeeded in silencing them, on the plea that their noise would attract the Arabs to their hiding-place, when all would be slaughtered

When dawn came Tarzan explained his plan of battle to the warriors, and without dereed that it was the safest and surest way in which to rid theed for the murder of their fellows

First the wouard of some twenty old warriors and youths, were started southward, to be entirely out of the zone of danger They had instructions to erect te BOMA of thorn bush; for the plan of caht stretch out overwhich time the warriors would not return to the new caht a thin circle of black warriors surrounded the village At intervals one was perched high in the branches of a tree which could overlook the palisade Presently a Manyuele arrow There had been no sound of attack--none of the hideous war-cries or vainglorious waving of es--just a silent er of death from out of the silent forest

The Arabs and their folloere thrown into a fine rage at this unprecedented occurrence They ran for the gates, to wreak dire vengeance upon the foolhardy perpetrator of the outrage; but they suddenly realized that they did not knohich way to turn to find the foe As they stood debating with , one of the Arabs sank silently to the ground in their veryfrom his heart

Tarzan had placed the finesttrees, with directions never to reveal themselves while the enemy was faced in their direction As a black released hissteain ai toward his tree

Three ti in the direction froht the arrows came, but each time another arroould co their nue in a new direction Finally they set out upon a determined search of the forest, but the blacks n of an eneure in the dense foliage of theover them as if he had been the shadow of death Presently a Manyueed ahead of his companions; there was none to see from what direction death came, and so it came quickly, and a moment later those behind stumbled over the dead body of their co the still heart

It does not take a great deal of this et upon the nerves of white men, and so it is little to be wondered at that the Manyuee ahead an arrow found his heart; did one lag behind he never again was seen alive; did one stuht of his fellows, he did not return--and alhen they came upon the bodies of their dead they found those terrible arrows driven with the accuracy of superhuh the victim's heart But worse than all else was the hideous fact that not once during the n of an enemy other than the pitiless arrows

When finally they returned to the village it was no better Every now and then, at varying intervals that werein the terrible suspense they caused, a ht their masters to leave this terrible place, but the Arabs feared to take up the rim and hostile forest beset by this new and terrible enereat store of ivory they had found within the village; but, worse yet, they hated to leave the ivory behind