The Return of Tarzan

g Girl of

with a great European power. This Lieutenant Gernois, who was at present stationed at Sidi-bel-Abbes, had recently been attached to the general staff, where certain information of great

tenant. But general staffs are jealous of their secrets, and treason so serious a thing that even a hint of it may not be safely neglected.

n Paris for all the heart thrills of homecoming that he experienced. At Oran he spent a day wandering through the narrow, crooked alleys of the Arab quarter enjoying the strange, new sights. T

was required of it. When he met an Englishman he spoke French in order that he might not betray himself, but occasionally talked in E

vorite among them. He met Gernois, whom he found to be a taciturn, dyspeptic-loo

ion with any who might even by the wildest flight of imagination be construed into secret agents of a foreign power. Tarzan was beginning t

cers, Captain Gerard, had become an excellent friend of Tarzan's, and so when the ape-man suggested that he should embrace

se of a man in European clothes eying him from the doorway of a native coffeehouse, but as Tarzan looked the man turned and entered the little, low-ceilinged mu

a course of riding lessons in a Parisian academy, and so it was that he quickly sought the comforts of

re he had finished his breakfast. He was hurrying through his meal that the soldiers might not get

ad seen in the coffee-house at Bouira the day previous. He could not be mistaken, for ther

face. The stranger was talking in a low whisper at the time, but the French officer immediately

t the men had left the barroom solely because Gernois had caught Tarzan's eyes upon them; then there was the persistent impression o

de to various shops before he set out after the column which had now considerable start of him. He did not overtake them until he reached Sidi Aiss

desire to remain for a day that he might see more of these sons of the desert. Thus it was that the company of SPAHIS marched on that afternoon toward Bou Saada without him. He spent

that the seller was Kadour ben Saden, sheik of a desert tribe far south of Djelfa. Through Abdul, Tarzan invited his new acquaintance to dine with him. As the three were ma

ure which disappeared behind a camel as Tarzan turned. "He

a dark-blue burnoose and white turban

s not the way of the Arab who is honest, and also because he keeps the lower part of his face hidden, onl

an have any grievance against me. This is my first visit to your country,

ent on robbery,

t he will get his bellyful of robbing now that we are prepared for him," and so he dismissed the subject f

of friendship, he invited Tarzan to visit him in his wild domain, where the antelope, the stag, the

d din of sound coming from the open doorway of one of the numerous CAFES MAURES. It was after eight, and the dancing was in ful

ld have rendered a seat farther from them more acceptable to the quiet-loving ape-man. A rather good-looking Ouled-Nail was dancing, and, perceiv

rsation with two Arabs at the far side of the room, near a side door that let upon an inner co

his eye one of the men nod in their direction, and the girl turn and shoot a furtive gl

swarthy, dark-eyed sons of the desert, but neither smiles nor scowls produced any outwardly visible effect upon him. Again the girl cast her handkerchief upon his shoulder, and

'sieur. At first I promised to lure you to them, but you have been kind, and I cannot do it

aving finished her dance, she crossed to the little doorway and went o

e stood near Tarzan, where he deliberately made insulting remarks about the European, but as they were in his

lone. In fact, in case of a disturbance, nearly every man here w

what he wants,"

' insulted the Ouled-Nail, who belong

Nail, that I wish him to go away and leave me alone. Th

, "that besides being a dog yourself that you are the son of one, a

n, and the sneering laughs that followed this torrent of invective easi

no sign of anger as he arose from his seat upon the bench. A half smile played about his lips, but of a sudden

unbeliever!" and "Down with the dog of a Christian!" they made straight for Tarzan. A number of the younger Arabs in the audience sprang to their feet to join in the assault upon the unarmed whit

man who had insulted him. It seemed impossible that either he or Abdul could survive the sea of wicked-looking swords and knives that surrounded them, but the very numbers of their assailants proved the bes

m before them as a shield, he backed slowly beside Abdul toward the little door which led into the inner courtyard. At the threshold he paused fo

hich led to their respective rooms, the only light in the courtyard coming from the sickly candles which each girl had stuck with its o

st, two muffled figures sprang toward them, firing as they came. Tarzan leaped to meet these two new assailants. The foremost lay, a second later, in the trampled dirt of the court, dis

ne of their number, and the only light within the yard came feebly from the open and half-blocked door of the cafe. Tarzan had seized a sword from

lder from behind, and a woman's voice whisp

tone, to the youth; "we can be no w

silver bracelets upon her bare arms, the strings of gold coin that depended from her hair ornaments, and the gorgeous colors of her dress. He

tairs they could hear the angry

of many men, they will kill you in the end. Hasten; you can drop from the farther window of my room to the street b

rom one of the searchers. They had been discovered. Quickly the crowd rushed for the stairway. The foremost assailant le

ety structure could not withstand the strain of this unwonted weight and jarring. With a creaking and rending of break

ch us from another stairway through the room

ranslated a cry from the yard below for several to ha

now," said th

estioned

ed; "they will kill me as w

or an instant supposed that either Abdul or the girl could suffer except through accident, and he had only retreated just enough to

m after the fashion of Numa, the lion, have struck the Arabs with such consternation tha

t quarters-they would be at the door beside him in another instant. He put a foot upon the sill and leaned out, but he did not look down. Above him, within arm'

gh." Then he stepped to the sill of the narrow window with the girl upon his shoulders. "Hold tight," he cautioned her. A moment later he had clambered to the r

e same instant Abdul felt himself lifted like a feather onto the roof above. They were not a moment too soon, for as the men broke into the