Part 29 (2/2)

Gust led the four le toward the north Would they come to the sea in time? But a few more minutes would answer the question

And when at last the little party did break through the last of the screening foliage, and the harbour and the ocean lay before them, they realized that fate had been most cruelly unkind, for the Coas already under sail andslowly out of the mouth of the harbour into the open sea

What were they to do? Tarzan's broad chest rose and fell to the force of his pent emotions The last blow seemed to have fallen, and if ever in all his life Tarzan of the Apes had had occasion to abandon hope it was now that he saw the shi+p bearing his wife to so water, so very near and yet so hideously far away

In silence he stood watching the vessel He saw it turn toward the east and finally disappear around a headland on its way he knew not whither Then he dropped upon his haunches and buried his face in his hands

It was after dark that the five ht was hot and sultry No slightest breeze ruffled the foliage of the trees or rippled the entle swell rolled softly in upon the beach

Never had Tarzan seen the great Atlantic so oazing out to sea in the direction of the mainland, his le close behind the camp came the uncanny wail of a panther

There was a familiar note in the weird cry, and almost mechanically Tarzan turned his head and answered A ure of Sheeta slunk out into the half-light of the beach There was no e brute ca since Tarzan had seen his old fighting companion, but the soft purr was sufficient to assure him that the animal still recalled the bonds which had united theers fall upon the beast's coat, and as Sheeta pressed close against his leg he caressed and fondled the wicked head while his eyes continued to search the blackness of the waters

Presently he started What was that? He strained his eyes into the night Then he turned and called aloud to theto his side; but Gust hesitated when he saw the nature of Tarzan's coht! A shi+p's light! It must be the Cowrie They are becalmed” And then with an exclamation of renewed hope, ”We can reach them! The skiff will carry us easily”

Gust demurred ”They are well armed,” he warned ”We could not take the shi+p-just five of us”

”There are six now,” replied Tarzan, pointing to Sheeta, ”and we can have more still in a half-hour Sheeta is the equivalent of twentywill add full a hundred to our fighting strength You do not know them”

The ape-le, while there pealed from his lips, time after time, the fearsome cry of the bull-ape ould sule ca cry, and then another and another Gust shuddered A what sort of creatures had fate thrown hireat white giant who stroked a panther and called to the beasts of the jungle?

In a few h the underbrush and out upon the beach, while in thewith the unwieldy bulk of the skiff's hull

By dint of Herculean efforts they had e The oars from the two small boats of the Kincaid, which had been washed away by an off-shore wind the very night that the party had landed, had been in use to support the canvas of the sailcloth tents These were hastily requisitioned, and by the time Akut and his followers came down to the water all was ready for eain the hideous crew entered the service of their master, and without question took up their places in the skiff The four men, for Gust could not be prevailed upon to acco them paddle-wise, while soainly skiff was ht which rose and fell gently with the swell

A sleepy sailor kept a poor vigil upon the Cowrie's deck, while in the cabin below Schneider paced up and down arguing with Jane Clayton The woman had found a revolver in a table drawer in the room in which she had been locked, and now she kept the mate of the Kincaid at bay with the weapon

The Mosula woman kneeled behind her, while Schneider paced up and down before the door, threatening and pleading and pro, but all to no avail Presently fro and a shot For an instant Jane Clayton relaxed her vigilance, and turned her eyes toward the cabin skylight Simultaneously Schneider was upon her

The first intimation the watch had that there was another craft within a thousand miles of the Cowrie came when he saw the head and shoulders of a man poked over the shi+p's side Instantly the fellow sprang to his feet with a cry and levelled his revolver at the intruder It was his cry and the subsequent report of the revolver which threw Jane Clayton off her guard

Upon deck the quiet of fancied security soon gave place to the wildest pandemonium The crew of the Cowrie rushed above ar knives that many of them habitually wore; but the alarm had come too late Already the beasts of Tarzan were upon the shi+p's deck, with Tarzan and the two men of the Kincaid's crew