The Return of Tarzan

e Valley o

tude and the savage freedom filled his heart with life and buoyancy. Again he was Tarzan of the Apes-every sense alert again

forgotten love. Many he intuitively sensed-ah, there was one that was familiar indeed; the distant coughing of Sh

's would have detected it. At first he did not translate it, but finally he realized that it came from the bare fee

closer came the footsteps. Tarzan halted and faced them, his rifle ready in his hand. Now he caught a fleeting glimpse of a white burnoose. He called aloud i

zle of his gun to the back of Tarzan's head to finish him, but another waved him aside. "If we bring him alive the reward is to be greater," explained the latter. So they bound his hands and feet, and, picking him up, placed him on the sho

was but a slight scratch, which had furrowed the flesh across his temple. It had stopped bleeding, but the dried and clotted blood smeared his face and clothing. He had

f the Arabs was releasing the alfa-grass ropes which bound him to his mount they were surrounded by a mob of men, women, and children. Many of the tribe, and more especially the women, appe

er him may be, I know not, and what he may do with this man when we turn him over to him, I care not; but the prisoner is a brave man, and while

us favorably to relieve him of the petty tortures of the tribe. Shortly after this he was taken to a goat-skin tent upon the upp

orce the stout bonds that held him he realized that any extra precaution on the part of his

way the ape-man saw the malevolent features of Nikolas Rokoff. There was a nasty smile on the bearded lips. "Ah, Monsieur Tarzan," he said, "this is indeed a pleasure. But why do you not rise and greet your guest?" Then, with an ugly oath, "Get

gain after the first glance of recognition. Finally the sheik, who had bee

man subjected to such indignities in my presence. I have half a min

or he had no craving to see Tarzan loosed from his bo

d to the Arab; "I shal

the desert is none of my concern, but I shall not have the blood of a Frenchman on the hands of my tribe on account of ano

ll take him out into the desert b

mly, "and some of my children shall follow you to see that you do not

all have to wait until the

dawn you must be gone from my DOUAR. I have little

pon him. Together they left the tent. At the door Rokoff could not resist the temptation to turn and fling a parting taunt at Tarzan. "Sleep well, mo

considerably from thirst. He wondered if it would be worth while to ask his guard for water, but

ild beasts than in the haunts of men. Never in all his jungle life had he been more relentlessly tracked

His kind? He had almost forgotten that he was a man and not an ape. He tugged at his bonds. God, if he could but get them near

ngry lion. Tarzan envied him, for he was free. No one would tie him with ropes and slaughter him like a sheep. It was that which galle

nd a way to take Rokoff with him on the long journey. He could hear the savage lord of the deser

he mountains-the back. Nearer and nearer it came. He waited, listening intently, for it to pass. For a time there was silence without, such a terribl

und, forced up by the head and shoulders of a body that looks all black in the semi-darkness. Beyond is a faint glimpse of the dimly starlit desert. A grim smile pla

creeping close to him-now it is beside him. He closes his eyes and waits for the mighty paw. Upon his upturned face falls t

s in reply. "But in the na

Tarzan could feel her working about his bonds. Occasionally the c

she wh

nued crawling thus flat to the ground until she reached a little patch of shrub. Ther

re? How did you know that I was a prisoner in that tent

"and we have a long way to go before we shall be out o

off across the desert in th

last. "EL ADREA is abroad tonight, and after I left the horses

nd you ran all that risk for a s

rself up ve

be no fit daughter of his if I would not risk my life to save that of the m

a very brave girl. But how did you k

big Frenchman who had been captured by Ali-ben-Ahmed for another Frenchman who wished to kill him. From the description I knew that it must be you. My father was away. I tried to persuade some of the men to come and save

re tethered not far from here. By morning we shall be within my father's DOUAR. He shou

nts they walke

s," she said. "It is strange

e stopped, with a litt

xclaimed. "It is here

had been torn up by the roots. Then he found something else. There

ther think that his prey escaped him. With a little s

as she did her mother's face. They walked in easy, swinging strides, Tarzan keeping a hand's breadth behind the girl's shoulder, that

the circle of goatskin tents, stood out in sharp relief against the yellow sand-a phantom paradise upon a phantom sea. Before them rose the grim and silent mountains. Tarzan's blood leaped in his veins. This was life! He looked down upon the g

nd were progressing more slowly, for

thus forever. If the girl were only a man they might. He longed for a friend who loved the same wild life that he loved. He had learned to crave companionship, but it was his misfortun

tly in the middle of the path, stood Numa, EL ADREA, the black lion. His green eyes looked very wicked, and he bared his teeth, and las

waiting palm. As his fingers closed upon it he drew her back and pushed her behind him. "Walk back to t

replied, resignedly

ge." The girl dropped back a few paces, where she stood watchin

to the ground, like a challenging bull, his tail exten

ht was wonder at the bravery of the man who dared face with a puny knife the lord with the large head. A man of her own blood would have knelt in prayer and gone down beneath those awful fangs without resistance. In either case the result wo

a few paces intervened-he crouched, an