Part 26 (2/2)

The lifted cover revealed two compartments within the box In one was a mechanism which resembled the works of a small clock There also was a little battery of two dry cells A wire ran from the clockwork to one of the poles of the battery, and froh the partition into the other co directly to the clockwork

Whatever lay within the second compartment was not visible, for a cover lay over it and appeared to be sealed in place by asphaltum In the bottom of the box, beside the clockwork, lay a key, and this Paulvitch noithdrew and fitted to the winding ste the noise of the winding operation by throwing a couple of articles of clothing over the box All the tiht indicate that the sailor or another were approaching his cabin; but none ca was completed the Russian set a pointer upon a small dial at the side of the clockwork, then he replaced the cover upon the black box, and returned the entire -place in the table

A sinister sathered up his valuables, blew out the la sailor

”Here are o”

”I'll first take a look in your pockets,” replied the sailor ”Youthat won't be of no use to you in the jungle, but that'll cohty handy to a poor sailorman in London Ah! just as I feared,” he ejaculated an instant later as he withdrew a roll of bank-notes from Paulvitch's inside coat pocket

The Russian scowled, ument, and so he did his best to reconcile hie that the sailor would never reach London to enjoy the fruits of his thievery

It ith difficulty that Paulvitch restrained a consuestion of the fate that would presently overtake hi to arouse the fellow's suspicions, he crossed the deck and lowered himself in silence into his canoe

Atoward the shore to be sed up in the darkness of the jungle night, and the terrors of a hideous existence froe of what awaited hi years to come, he would have fled to the certain death of the open sea rather than endure it

The sailor, having made sure that Paulvitch had departed, returned to the forecastle, where he hid away his booty and turned into his bunk, while in the cabin that had belonged to the Russian there ticked on and on through the silences of the night the little mechanism in the small black box which held for the unconscious sleepers upon the ill-starred Kincaid the coeance of the thwarted Russian

Chapter 19

The Last of the ”Kincaid”

Shortly after the break of day Tarzan was on deck noting the condition of the weather The wind had abated The sky was cloudless Every condition seele Island, where the beasts were to be left And then-hoave instructions that the Kincaid sail at the earliest possiblemembers of the crew, safe in Lord Greystoke's assurance that they would not be prosecuted for their share in the villainies of the two Russians, hastened with cheerful alacrity to their several duties

The beasts, liberated from the confinement of the hold, wandered about the deck, not a little to the discomfiture of the crehose ery of the beasts in conflict with those who had gone to their deaths beneath the fangs and talons which even now see for the soft flesh of further prey

Beneath the watchful eyes of Tarzan and Mugambi, however, Sheeta and the apes of Akut curbed their desires, so that the reater security than they ia waters of the Atlantic Tarzan and Jane Clayton watched the verdure-clad shore-line receding in the shi+p's wake, and for once the ape-ret

No shi+p that sailed the seven seas could have borne him away from Africa to resume his search for his lost boy with half the speed that the English Kincaid seemed scarce to move at all to the impatient ress even when she seele Island became distinctly visible upon the western horizon ahead

In the cabin of Alexander Paulvitch the thing within the black box ticked, ticked, ticked, with apparently unending monotony; but yet, second by second, a little arm which protruded from the periphery of one of its wheels came nearer and nearer to another little arm which projected from the hand which Paulvitch had set at a certain point upon the dial beside the clockwork When those two ar of the mechanism would cease-for ever

Jane and Tarzan stood upon the bridge looking out toward Jungle Island The roard out of the ocean The beasts had sought the shade of the galley, where they were curled up in sleep All was quiet and peace upon the shi+p, and upon the waters

Suddenly, without warning, the cabin roof shot up into the air, a cloud of dense smoke puffed far above the Kincaid, there was a terrific explosion which shook the vessel from stem to stern

Instantly pandemonium broke loose upon the deck The apes of Akut, terrified by the sound, ran hither and thither, snarling and growling Sheeta leaped here and there, screa out his startled terror in hideous cries that sent the ice of fear straight to the hearts of the Kincaid's crew

Muga Only Tarzan of the Apes and his wife retained their composure Scarce had the debris settled than the ape- to they bodies, and assuring theer was over