Lieutenant Albert Werper, terrified by contemplation ofthe fate which might await him at Adis Abeba, castabout for some scheme of escape, but after the blackMugambi had eluded their vigilance the Abyssiniansredoubled their precautions to prevent Werper followingthe lead of the Negro.

For some time Werper entertained the idea of bribingAbdul Mourak with a portion of the contents of thepouch; but fearing that the man would demand all thegems as the price of liberty, the Belgian, influencedby avarice, sought another avenue from his dilemma.

It was then that there dawned upon him the possibilityof the success of a different course which would stillleave him in possession of the jewels, while at thesame time satisfying the greed of the Abyssinian withthe conviction that he had obtained all that Werper hadto offer.

And so it was that a day or so after Mugambi haddisappeared, Werper asked for an audience with AbdulMourak. As the Belgian entered the presence of hiscaptor the scowl upon the features of the latter bodedill for any hope which Werper might entertain, still hefortified himself by recalling the common weakness ofmankind, which permits the most inflexible of naturesto bend to the consuming desire for wealth.

Abdul Mourak eyed him, frowningly. "What do you wantnow?" he asked.

"My liberty," replied Werper.

The Abyssinian sneered. "And you disturbed me thus totell me what any fool might know," he said.

"I can pay for it," said Werper.

Abdul Mourak laughed loudly. "Pay for it?" he cried."What with--the rags that you have upon your back?Or, perhaps you are concealing beneath your coat a thousandpounds of ivory. Get out! You are a fool. Do notbother me again or I shall have you whipped."

But Werper persisted. His liberty and perhaps his lifedepended upon his success.

"Listen to me," he pleaded. "If I can give you as muchgold as ten men may carry will you promise that I shallbe conducted in safety to the nearest Englishcommissioner?"

"As much gold as ten men may carry!" repeated AbdulMourak. "You are crazy. Where have you so much goldas that?"

"I know where it is hid," said Werper. "Promise, and Iwill lead you to it--if ten loads is enough?"

Abdul Mourak had ceased to laugh. He was eyeing theBelgian intently. The fellow seemed sane enough--yetten loads of gold! It was preposterous. The Abyssinianthought in silence for a moment.

"Well, and if I promise," he said. "How far is this gold?"

"A long week's march to the south," replied Werper.

"And if we do not find it where you say it is, do yourealize what your punishment will be?"

"If it is not there I will forfeit my life," repliedthe Belgian. "I know it is there, for I saw it buriedwith my own eyes. And more--there are not only tenloads, but as many as fifty men may carry. It is allyours if you will promise to see me safely deliveredinto the protection of the English."

"You will stake your life against the finding of thegold?" asked Abdul.

Werper assented with a nod.

"Very well," said the Abyssinian, "I promise, and evenif there be but five loads you shall have your freedom;but until the gold is in my possession you remain aprisoner."

"I am satisfied," said Werper. "Tomorrow we start?"

Abdul Mourak nodded, and the Belgian returned to hisguards. The following day the Abyssinian soldiers weresurprised to receive an order which turned their facesfrom the northeast to the south. And so it happenedthat upon the very night that Tarzan and the two apesentered the village of the raiders, the Abyssinianscamped but a few miles to the east of the same spot.

While Werper dreamed of freedom and the unmolestedenjoyment of the fortune in his stolen pouch, and AbdulMourak lay awake in greedy contemplation of the fiftyloads of gold which lay but a few days farther to thesouth of him, Achmet Zek gave orders to his lieutenantsthat they should prepare a force of fighting men andcarriers to proceed to the ruins of the Englishman'sDOUAR on the morrow and bring back the fabulousfortune which his renegade lieutenant had told him wasburied there.

And as he delivered his instructions to those within, asilent listener crouched without his tent, waiting forthe time when he might enter in safety and prosecutehis search for the missing pouch and the pretty pebblesthat had caught his fancy.

At last the swarthy companions of Achmet Zek quittedhis tent, and the leader went with them to smoke a pipewith one of their number, leaving his own silkenhabitation unguarded. Scarcely had they left theinterior when a knife blade was thrust through thefabric of the rear wall, some six feet above theground, and a swift downward stroke opened an entranceto those who waited beyond.

Through the opening stepped the ape-man, and closebehind him came the huge Chulk; but Taglat did notfollow them. Instead he turned and slunk through thedarkness toward the hut where the she who had arrestedhis brutish interest lay securely bound. Before thedoorway the sentries sat upon their haunches,conversing in monotones. Within, the young woman layupon a filthy sleeping mat, resigned, through utterhopelessness to whatever fate lay in store for heruntil the opportunity arrived which would permit her tofree herself by the only means which now seemed evenremotely possible--the hitherto detested act ofself-destruction.

Creeping silently toward the sentries, a white-burnoosedfigure approached the shadows at one end of the hut.The meager intellect of the creature deniedit the advantage it might have taken of its disguise.Where it could have walked boldly to the very sides ofthe sentries, it chose rather to sneak upon them,unseen, from the rear.

It came to the corner of the hut and peered around.The sentries were but a few paces away; but the ape didnot dare expose himself, even for an instant, to thosefeared and hated thunder-sticks which the Tarmanganiknew so well how to use, if there were another andsafer method of attack.

Taglat wished that there was a tree nearby from theover-hanging branches of which he might spring upon hisunsuspecting prey; but, though there was no tree, theidea gave birth to a plan. The eaves of the hut werejust above the heads of the sentries--from them hecould leap upon the Tarmangani, unseen. A quick snapof those mighty jaws would dispose of one of thembefore the other realized that they were attacked,and the second would fall an easy prey to the strength,agility and ferocity of a second quick charge.

Taglat withdrew a few paces to the rear of the hut,gathered himself for the effort, ran quickly forwardand leaped high into the air. He struck the roofdirectly above the rear wall of the hut, and thestructure, reinforced by the wall beneath, held hisenormous weight for an instant, then he moved forward astep, the roof sagged, the thatching parted and thegreat anthropoid shot through into the interior.

The sentries, hearing the crashing of the roof poles,leaped to their feet and rushed into the hut. JaneClayton tried to roll aside as the great form lit uponthe floor so close to her that one foot pinned herclothing to the ground.

The ape, feeling the movement beside him, reached downand gathered the girl in the hollow of one mighty arm.The burnoose covered the hairy body so that JaneClayton believed that a human arm supported her, andfrom the extremity of hopelessness a great hope spranginto her breast that at last she was in the keeping ofa rescuer.

The two sentries were now within the hut, buthesitating because of doubt as to the nature of thecause of the disturbance. Their eyes, not yetaccustomed to the darkness of the interior, told themnothing, nor did they hear any sound, for the ape stoodsilently awaiting their attack.

Seeing that they stood without advancing, and realizingthat, handicapped as he was by the weight of the she,he could put up but a poor battle, Taglat elected torisk a sudden break for liberty. Lowering his head, hecharged straight for the two sentries who blocked thedoorway. The impact of his mighty shoulders bowledthem over upon their backs, and before they couldscramble to their feet, the ape was gone, darting inthe shadows of the huts toward the palisade at the farend of the village.

The speed and strength of her rescuer filled JaneClayton with wonder. Could it be that Tarzan hadsurvived the bullet of the Arab? Who else in all thejungle could bear the weight of a grown woman aslightly as he who held her? She spoke his name; butthere was no response. Still she did not give up hope.

At the palisade the beast did not even hesitate.A single mighty leap carried it to the top, where itpoised but for an instant before dropping to the groundupon the opposite side. Now the girl was almostpositive that she was safe in the arms of her husband,and when the ape took to the trees and bore her swiftlyinto the jungle, as Tarzan had done at other times inthe past, belief became conviction.

In a little moonlit glade, a mile or so from the campof the raiders, her rescuer halted and dropped her tothe ground. His roughness surprised her, but still shehad no doubts. Again she called him by name, and atthe same instant the ape, fretting under the restraintsof the unaccustomed garments of the Tarmangani, torethe burnoose from him, revealing to the eyes of thehorror-struck woman the hideous face and hairy form ofa giant anthropoid.

With a piteous wail of terror, Jane Clayton swooned,while, from the concealment of a nearby bush, Numa,the lion, eyed the pair hungrily and licked his chops.

Tarzan, entering the tent of Achmet Zek, searched theinterior thoroughly. He tore the bed to pieces andscattered the contents of box and bag about the floor.He investigated whatever his eyes discovered, nor didthose keen organs overlook a single article within thehabitation of the raider chief; but no pouch or prettypebbles rewarded his thoroughness.

Satisfied at last that his belongings were not in thepossession of Achmet Zek, unless they were on theperson of the chief himself, Tarzan decided to securethe person of the she before further prosecuting hissearch for the pouch.

Motioning for Chulk to follow him, he passed out of thetent by the same way that he had entered it, andwalking boldly through the village, made directly forthe hut where Jane Clayton had been imprisoned.

He noted with surprise the absence of Taglat, whom hehad expected to find awaiting him outside the tent ofAchmet Zek; but, accustomed as he was to theunreliability of apes, he gave no serious attention tothe present defection of his surly companion. So longas Taglat did not cause interference with his plans,Tarzan was indifferent to his absence.

As he approached the hut, the ape-man noticed that acrowd had collected about the entrance. He could seethat the men who composed it were much excited, andfearing lest Chulk's disguise should prove inadequateto the concealment of his true identity in the face ofso many observers, he commanded the ape to betakehimself to the far end of the village, and there await him.

As Chulk waddled off, keeping to the shadows, Tarzanadvanced boldly toward the excited group before thedoorway of the hut. He mingled with the blacks and theArabs in an endeavor to learn the cause of thecommotion, in his interest forgetting that he alone ofthe assemblage carried a spear, a bow and arrows, andthus might become an object of suspicious attention.

Shouldering his way through the crowd he approached thedoorway, and had almost reached it when one of theArabs laid a hand upon his shoulder, crying: "Who isthis?" at the same time snatching back the hood fromthe ape-man's face.

Tarzan of the Apes in all his savage life had neverbeen accustomed to pause in argument with anantagonist. The primitive instinct of self-preservationacknowledges many arts and wiles; butargument is not one of them, nor did he now wasteprecious time in an attempt to convince the raidersthat he was not a wolf in sheep's clothing. Instead hehad his unmasker by the throat ere the man's words hadscarce quitted his lips, and hurling him from side toside brushed away those who would have swarmed upon him.

Using the Arab as a weapon, Tarzan forced his wayquickly to the doorway, and a moment later was withinthe hut. A hasty examination revealed the fact that itwas empty, and his sense of smell discovered, too, thescent spoor of Taglat, the ape. Tarzan uttered a low,ominous growl. Those who were pressing forward at thedoorway to seize him, fell back as the savage notes ofthe bestial challenge smote upon their ears. Theylooked at one another in surprise and consternation.A man had entered the hut alone, and yet with their ownears they had heard the voice of a wild beast within.What could it mean? Had a lion or a leopard soughtsanctuary in the interior, unbeknown to the sentries?

Tarzan's quick eyes discovered the opening in the roof,through which Taglat had fallen. He guessed that theape had either come or gone by way of the break, andwhile the Arabs hesitated without, he sprang, catlike,for the opening, grasped the top of the wall andclambered out upon the roof, dropping instantly to theground at the rear of the hut.

When the Arabs finally mustered courage to enter thehut, after firing several volleys through the walls,they found the interior deserted. At the same timeTarzan, at the far end of the village, sought forChulk; but the ape was nowhere to be found.

Robbed of his she, deserted by his companions, and asmuch in ignorance as ever as to the whereabouts of hispouch and pebbles, it was an angry Tarzan who climbedthe palisade and vanished into the darkness of thejungle.

For the present he must give up the search for hispouch, since it would be paramount to self-destructionto enter the Arab camp now while all its inhabitantswere aroused and upon the alert.

In his escape from the village, the ape-man had lostthe spoor of the fleeing Taglat, and now he circledwidely through the forest in an endeavor to again pickit up.

Chulk had remained at his post until the cries andshots of the Arabs had filled his simple soul withterror, for above all things the ape folk fear thethunder-sticks of the Tarmangani; then he had clamberednimbly over the palisade, tearing his burnoose in theeffort, and fled into the depths of the jungle,grumbling and scolding as he went.

Tarzan, roaming the jungle in search of the trail ofTaglat and the she, traveled swiftly. In a littlemoonlit glade ahead of him the great ape was bendingover the prostrate form of the woman Tarzan sought.The beast was tearing at the bonds that confined herankles and wrists, pulling and gnawing upon the cords.

The course the ape-man was taking would carry him but ashort distance to the right of them, and though hecould not have seen them the wind was bearing down from themto him, carrying their scent spoor strongly toward him.

A moment more and Jane Clayton's safety might have beenassured, even though Numa, the lion, was alreadygathering himself in preparation for a charge; butFate, already all too cruel, now outdid herself--thewind veered suddenly for a few moments, the scent spoorthat would have led the ape-man to the girl's side waswafted in the opposite direction; Tarzan passed withinfifty yards of the tragedy that was being enacted inthe glade, and the opportunity was gone beyond recall.