Part 10 (1/2)

Here he beat upon the fibre-bound saplings of which the barrier was constructed, shouting to the natives in their own tongue that he was a friend ished food and shelter for the night

Tarzan kneell the nature of the blackof Sheeta in the tree above the upon their gate after dark would still further add to their terror

That they did not reply to his hail was no surprise, for natives are fearful of any voice that co it always to sohostly visitor; but still he continued to call

”Letthe very bad white o I follow to punish hiainst you and me

”If you doubtinto the tree above your village and driving Sheeta back into the jungle before he leaps a you If you will not promise to take me in and treat me as a friend I shall let Sheeta stay and devour you”

For a moment there was silence Then the voice of an old e street

”If you are indeed a white man and a friend, ill let you come in; but first you must drive Sheeta away”

”Very well,” replied Tarzan ”Listen, and you shall hear Sheeta fleeing before me”

The ape-reat noise as he entered the branches, at the sa ominously after the manner of the panther, so that those beloould believe that the great beast was still there

When he reached a point well above the village street healoud to the panther to flee or be killed, and punctuating his own voice with the screary beast

Presently he raced toward the opposite side of the tree and off into the jungle, pounding loudly against the boles of trees as he went, and voicing the panther's dirowls as he drew farther and farther away froe

A fewto the natives within

”I have driven Sheeta away,” he said ”Now come and admit me as you promised”

For a time there was the sound of excited discussion within the palisade, but at length a half-dozen warriors ca anxiously out in evident trepidation as to the nature of the creature which they should find waiting there They were not ht of an almost naked white man; but when Tarzan had reassured the his friendshi+p for them, they opened the barrier a trifle farther and adates had been once es returned, and as Tarzan walked up the village street toward the chief's hut he was surrounded by a host of curious men, women, and children

From the chief he learned that Rokoff had passed up the river a week previous, and that he had horns growing from his forehead, and was accompanied by a thousand devils Later the chief said that the very bad white h none of these statereed with Kaviri's, that the Russian was but three days gone fro was much smaller than now stated, Tarzan was in no manner surprised at the discrepancies, for he was quite fa

What he was ht trail, and that it led toward the interior In this circumstance he knew that Rokoff could never escape hi and cross-questioning the ape-man learned that another party had preceded the Russian by several days-three whites-a man, a woman, and a little man-child, with several Mosulas

Tarzan explained to the chief that his people would follow hiht go on ahead of them the chief was to receive theambi would see that they did not harm the chief's people, if they were accorded a friendly reception

”And now,” he concluded, ”I shall lie down beneath this tree and sleep I am very tired Permit no one to disturb me”

The chief offered his, preferred the open air, and, further, he had plans of his own that could be better carried out if he reave as his reason a desire to be close at hand should Sheeta return, and after this explanation the chief was very glad to permit him to sleep beneath the tree

Tarzan had always found that it stood hiood stead to leave with natives the impression that he was to soht easily have entered their village without recourse to the gates, but he believed that a sudden and unaccountable disappearance when he was ready to leave the impression upon their childlike e was quiet in sleep he rose, and, leaping into the branches of the tree above hiht

All the balance of that night the ape-h the upper and ood there he preferred the upper branches of the giant trees, for then his as better lighted by the rim world of his birth that it was possible for hiround, tobeneath the arcs of Main Street, or Broadway, or State Street, could not have ile ape-loomy mazes that would have baffled us entirely

At dawn he stopped to feed, and then he slept for several hours, taking up the pursuit again toward noon