Part 8 (1/2)

Froambi Tarzan learned that the mainland lay but a short distance froambi warriors had ventured too far out in their frail craft, and when caught by a heavy tide and a high wind froht of land After paddling for a whole night, thinking that they were headed for ho it for the ambi been aware that it was an island until Tarzan had told hiambi chief was quite dubious as to the sail, for he had never seen such a contrivance used His country lay far up the broad Ugambi River, and this was the first occasion that any of his people had found their way to the ocean

Tarzan, however, was confident that with a good ind he could navigate the little craft to the mainland At any rate, he decided, it would be preferable to perish on the way than to remain indefinitely upon this evidently uncharted island to which no shi+ps ht ever be expected to come

And so it was that when the first fair wind rose he ee and fearsoambi and Akut ith hireat males of the tribe of Akut

Chapter 6

A Hideous Crew

The war-canoe with its savage load h which it ambi, and Akut wielded the paddles, for the shore kept the ind from the little sail

Sheeta crouched in the bow at the ape-man's feet, for it had seemed best to Tarzan always to keep the wicked beast as far from the other members of the party as possible, since it would require little or no provocation to send him at the throat of any than the white man, whom he evidently now looked upon as his ambi, and just in front of him squatted Akut, while between Akut and Tarzan the twelve hairy apes sat upon their haunches, blinking dubiously this way and that, and now and then turning their eyes longingly back toward shore

All ell until the canoe had passed beyond the reef Here the breeze struck the sail, sending the rude craft lunging aher as they dreay fro of the boat the apes became panic-stricken They firstWith difficulty Akut kept thee wave struck the dugout simultaneously with a little squall of wind their terror broke all bounds, and, leaping to their feet, they all but overturned the boat before Akut and Tarzan together could quiet them At last calm was restored, and eventually the apes becae antics of their craft, after which no more trouble was experienced with them

The trip was uneventful, the wind held, and after ten hours' steady sailing the black shadows of the coast loo eyes of the ape-uish whether they had approached close to the h the surf at the closest point to await the dawn

The dugout turned broadside the instant that its nose touched the sand, and i madly for the shore The next breaker rolled the to safety, and in a ainly craft had been washed up beside theht the apes sat huddled close to one another for warambi built a fire close to them over which he crouched Tarzan and Sheeta, however, were of a different ht, and the insistent craving of their hunger sent theian blackness of the forest in search of prey

Side by side they walked when there was roole file, first one and then the other in advance It was Tarzan who first caught the scent of meat-a bull buffalo-and presently the two ca beast in the le of reeds close to a river

Closer and closer they crept toward the unsuspecting beast, Sheeta upon his right side and Tarzan upon his left nearest the great heart They had hunted together now for so sounds as signals

For a mon fro his strong teeth in the bull's neck Instantly the brute sprang to his feet with a bellow of pain and rage, and at the same instant Tarzan rushed in upon his left side with the stone knife, striking repeatedly behind the shoulder

One of the ape-man's hands clutched the thickstriking at his life was dragged beside hi tenaciously to his hold upon the neck and back, biting deep in an effort to reach the spine

For several hundred yards the bellowing bull carried his two savage antagonists, until at last the blade found his heart, ith a final bellow that was half-screa to the earth Then Tarzan and Sheeta feasted to repletion

After the ether in a thicket, the man's black head pillowed upon the tawny side of the panther Shortly after dawn they awoke and ate again, and then returned to the beach that Tarzan ht lead the balance of the pack to the kill

When theup to sleep, so Tarzan and Mugaambi River They had proceeded scarce a hundred yards when they caro instantly recognized as that dohich he and his warriors had paddled to the sea upon their ill-starred expedition

The t followed the strea that it emptied into a bay not over a mile from the point upon the beach at which the canoe had been thrown the night before