Part 25 (2/2)

For a moment the Manyuema hesitated They had no stomach to retrace that difficult three days' trail They talked together in lohispers, and one turned toward the jungle, calling aloud to the voice that had spoken to thee

”Hoe know that when you have us in your village you will not kill us all?” he asked

”You do not know,” replied Tarzan, ”other than that we have promised not to harm you if you will return our ivory to us But this you do know, that it lies within our power to kill you all if you do not return as we direct, and are we not er us than if you do as we bid?”

”Who are you that speaks the tongue of our Arab masters?” cried the Manyueive you our answer”

Tarzan stepped out of the jungle a dozen paces from them

”Look!” he said When they saw that he hite they were filled with awe, for never had they seen a white savage before, and at his great iant frame they were struck onder and ad as you do as I tell you, and harm none of my people, we shall do you no hurt Will you take up our ivory and return in peace to our village, or shall we follow along your trail toward the north as we have followed for the past three days?”

The recollection of the horrid days that had just passed was the thing that finally decided the Manyuema, and so, after a short conference, they took up their burdens and set off to retrace their steps toward the village of the Waziri At the end of the third day they reeted by the survivors of the recent er in their temporary camp to the south on the day that the raiders had quitted the village, telling theht return in safety

It took all the mastery and persuasion that Tarzan possessed to prevent the Waziri falling on the Manyue theiven his word that they would not be molested if they carried the ivory back to the spot from which they had stolen it, and had further impressed upon his people that they owed their entire victory to him, they finally acceded to his demands, and allowed the cannibals to rest in peace within their palisade

That night the village warriors held a big palaver to celebrate their victories, and to choose a new chief Since old Waziri's death Tarzan had been directing the warriors in battle, and the temporary command had been tacitly conceded to hi their own number, and, in fact, so reeneralshi+p that they had had no wish to delegate the supreained ht be lost They had so recently seen the results of running counter to this savage white e ordered by Waziri, in which he himself had died, that it had not been difficult for them to accept Tarzan's authority as final

The principal warriors sat in a circle about a sht be suggested as old Waziri's successor It was Busuli who spoke first:

”Since Waziri is dead, leaving no son, there is but one aood king There is only one who has proved that he can successfully lead us against the guns of the white le life There is only one, and that is the whiteto his feet, and with uplifted spear and half-bent, crouching body co in ti of the Waziri; Waziri, killer of Arabs; Waziri, king of the Waziri”

One by one the other warriors signified their acceptance of Tarzan as their king by joining in the solemn dance The wo upon to their hands in ti in the chant of the warriors In the center of the circle sat Tarzan of the Apes--Waziri, king of the Waziri, for, like his predecessor, he was to take the narew the pace of the dancers, louder and louder their wild and savage shouts The wo now at the tops of their voices The spears were brandishi+ng fiercely, and as the dancers stooped down and beat their shi+elds upon the hard-traht was as terribly pried in the dies in the past

As the excite to his feet and joined in the wild cere black bodies he leaped and roared and shook his heavy spear in the saes The last reotten--he was a pri in the freedoshi+p aa de Coude had but seen hinized the well-dressed, quiet young man whose well-bred face and irreproachable o? And Jane Porter! Would she have still loved this savage warrior chieftain, dancing naked ae subjects? And D'Arnot!

Could D'Arnot have believed that this was the same man he had introduced into half a dozen of the most select clubs of Paris? What would his fellow peers in the House of Lords have said had one pointed to this dancing giant, with his barbaric headdress and his metal ornaments, and said: ”There, my lords, is John Clayton, Lord Greystoke”

And so Tarzan of the Apes cathe evolution of his ancestors, for had he not started at the very bottom?

Chapter 18

The Lottery of Death

Jane Porter had been the first of those in the lifeboat to awaken theafter the wreck of the LADY ALICE The other members of the party were asleep upon the thwarts or huddled in crairl realized that they had become separated from the other boats she was filled with alarm The sense of utter loneliness and helplessness which the vast expanse of deserted ocean aroused in her was so depressing that, frohtest ray of promise for her She was confident that they were lost--lost beyond possibility of succor

Presently Clayton awoke It was several ather his senses sufficiently to realize where he was, or recall the disaster of the previous night Finally his bewildered eyes fell upon the girl

”Jane!” he cried ”Thank God that we are together!”

”Look,” said the girl dully, indicating the horizon with an apathetic gesture ”We are all alone”