Part 16 (1/2)

Presently he saw the muzzle of a rifle appear suddenly and mysteriously a few inches above the pouch, and before he could realize the cunning trick that the Arab had played upon hiht of the weapon was adroitly hooked into the rawhide thong which for strap of the pouch, and the latter was drawn quickly froe at the trail's side

Not for an instant had the raider exposed a square inch of his body, and Werper dared not fire his one re shot unless every chance of a successful hit was in his favor

Chuckling to hile, for he was as positive that Werper aiting nearby for a chance to pot hile trees to the figure of the hiding Belgian, fingering his rifle behind the bole of the buttressed giant

Werper did not dare advance-his cupidity would not permit him to depart, and so he stood there, his rifle ready in his hands, his eyes watching the trail before him with catlike intensity

But there was another who had seen the pouch and recognized it, who did advance with Ach above him, as silent and as sure as death itself, and as the Arab, finding a little spot less overgroith bushes than he had yet encountered, prepared to gloat his eyes upon the contents of the pouch, Tarzan paused directly above hi his thin lips with his tongue, Achs which closed theone claw-like hand poured forth a portion of the contents into his pal in his hand His eyes narrowed, a curse broke froround, disdainfully Quickly he emptied the balance of the contents until he had scanned each separate stone, and as he durew until the ers clenched until his nails bit into the flesh

Above, Tarzan watched in wonderment He had been curious to discover what all the po about his pouch had meant He wanted to see what the Arab would do after the other had gone away, leaving the pouch behind hi satisfied his curiosity, he would then have pounced upon Achmet Zek and taken the pouch and his pretty pebbles away fro to Tarzan?

He saw the Arab now throw aside the eun by the barrel, clublike, sneak stealthily through the jungle beside the trail along which Werper had gone

As the round and co up the spilled contents of the pouch, and the moment that he obtained his first near view of the scattered pebbles he understood the rage of the Arab, for instead of the glittering and scintillating geht and held the attention of the ape-man, the pouch now contained but a collection of ordinary river pebbles

19

Jane Clayton and the Beasts of the Jungle

Mugambi, after his successful break for liberty, had fallen upon hard tih a country hich he was unfale country in which he could find no water, and but little food, so that after several days of wandering he found hi hi difficulty that he found the strength necessary to construct a shelter by night wherein he e carnivora, and by day he still further exhausted his strength in digging for edible roots, and searching for water

A few stagnant pools at considerable distances apart saved him from death by thirst; but his was a pitiable state when finally he stue river in a country where fruit was abundant, and s by , and a crude knob-stick which he had fashi+oned fro march ahead of him before he could reach even the outskirts of the Waziri country, Mugambi wisely decided to reth and health A few days' rest would accomplish wonders for him, he knew, and he could ill afford to sacrifice his chances for a safe return by setting forth handicapped by weakness

And so it was that he constructed a substantial thorn boht sleep by night in security, and from which he sallied forth by day to hunt the flesh which alone could return to his giant thews their nore eyes discovered hireat tree beneath which the black warrior passed Bloodshot, wicked eyes they were, set in a fierce and hairy face

They watched Mugambi make his little kill of a small rodent, and they followed hih the trees upon the trail of the Negro

The creature was Chulk, and he looked down upon the unconsciousof the Arab burnoose which Tarzan had placed upon his person had aroused in the mind of the anthropoid a desire for sih, had obstructed hissince torn it froani arrayed in less cumbersome apparel-a loin cloth, a few copper ornaments and a feather headdress These wererobe which was constantly getting between one's legs, and catching upon every li the leafy trail

Chulk eyed the pouch, which, suspended over Muga beside his black hip This took his fancy, for it was orna about Muga an opportunity to seize either by stealth or ht so before the opportunity caambi ont to stretch hi the heat of the day, and sleep in peaceful security until the declining sun carried with it the enervating te from above, Chulk saw the black warrior stretched thus in the unconsciousness of sleep one sultry afternoon Creeping out upon an overhanging branch the anthropoid dropped to the ground within the boave forth no sound, and with an uncanny woodcraft that rustled not a leaf or a grass blade

Pausing beside the s Great as was the strength of Chulk there lay in the back of his little brain a so the man to combat-a sense that is inherent in all the lower orders, a strange fear of le creatures at ti his were the knob-stick and the pouch, which had fallen fro these two articles, as better than nothing at all, Chulk retreated with haste, and every indication of nervous terror, to the safety of the tree from which he had dropped, and, still haunted by that indefinable terror which the close proxih the jungle Aroused by attack, or supported by the presence of another of his kind, Chulk could have braved the presence of a score of hus, but alone-ah, that was a different ambi awoke that he missed the pouch Instantly he was all excitement What could have become of it? It had been at his side when he lay down to sleep-of that he was certain, for had he not pushed it froainst his ribs, caused him discomfort? Yes, it had been there when he lay down to sleep How then had it vanished?

Mugaination was filled with visions of the spirits of departed friends and enemies, for only to the machinations of such as these could he attribute the disappearance of his pouch and knob-stick in the first excitement of the discovery of their loss; but later and ation, such as his woodcraft made possible, revealed indisputable evidence of a more material explanation than his excited fancy and superstition had at first led him to accept