Part 24 (1/2)

The first that either of the sailors knew that there was a new force at work upon the shi+p was the falling of a hty hand upon a shoulder of each As if they had been in the grip of a fly-wheel, they were jerked suddenly from their prey

”What means this?” asked a low voice in their ears

They were given no ti wo to her feet and with a little cry of joy leaped toward their assailant

”Tarzan!” she cried

The ape-man hurled the two sailors across the deck, where they rolled, stunned and terrified, into the scuppers upon the opposite side, and with an exclairl into his ar

Scarcely had they recognized one another than the clouds above the over the side of the Kincaid to the stea them was the Russian As the brilliant rays of the equatorial hted the deck, and he realized that the man before him was Lord Greystoke, he screamed hysterical commands to his followers to fire upon the two

Tarzan pushed Jane behind the cabin near which they had been standing, and with a quick bound started for Rokoff The men behind the Russian, at least two of the ape-ed-for up thea hideous horde

First cas and slavering jaws; and after the in the ain scrambled another creature, and of all the horrid horde it was this they ape and fiery eyes blazing at thehtiness of his hate and of his blood lust

The shots that had been fired at Tarzan missed him, and he would have been upon Rokoff in another instant had not the great coward dodged backward between his two hench in hysterical terror, bolted forward toward the forecastle

For the moment Tarzan's attention was distracted by the two men before him, so that he could not at the tia with the balance of the Russian's party

Beneath the terrible ferocity of the beasts thein all directions-those who still lived to sca talons of Sheeta already had found le victim

Four, however, escaped and disappeared into the forecastle, where they hoped to barricade theainst further assault Here they found Rokoff, and, enraged at his desertion of them in their moment of peril, no less than at the uniformly brutal treatloated upon the opportunity now offered thee themselves in part upon their hated e pleas, therefore, they hurled hi his from which they had thee fronized his enemy; but another saw hi jaws the hty beast slunk silently toward the terror-stricken man

When Rokoff sahat it was that stalked hi knees he stood, as one paralyzed, before the hideous death that was creeping upon him

Tarzan took a step toward the Russian, his brain burning with a raging fire of vengeance At last he had the e

Once Jane had stayed his hand that tiht to take the law into his oer anders clenched and unclenched spas Russ, beastlike and ominous as a brute of prey

Presently he saw that Sheeta was about to forestall hireat hate

He called sharply to the panther, and the words, as if they had broken a hideous spell that had held the Russian, galvanized him into sudden action With a screae

After him pounced Sheeta the panther, un voice