grey eyes as he considered the denouement of the project he had undertaken.
Presently he saw the native running through the forest just ahead of him. The fellow was moving at a dogged trot, casting an occasional glance behind him.
Tarzan was directly above the man now, and he spoke to him in the language of his people. 'Take to the trees,' he called down.
The native looked up, but he did not stop. 'Who are you?' he demanded.
'An enemy of your master, who would help you escape,' replied the ape-man.
'There is no escape; if I take to the trees they will stone me down.'
'They will not find you; I will see to that.'
'Why should you help me?' demanded the man, but he stopped now and looked up again, searching for the man whose voice came down to him in a tongue that gave him confidence in the speaker.
'I have told you that I am an enemy of your master.'
Now the native saw the bronzed figure of the giant above him. 'You are a white man!' he exclaimed. 'You are trying to trick me. Why should a white man help me?' 'Hurry!' admonished Tarzan, 'or it will be too late, and no one can help you.
For just an instant longer the native hesitated; then be leaped for a low-hanging branch and swung himself up into the tree as Tarzan came down to meet him.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN THE PLOT THAT FAILED
Swiftly, the giant of the jungle bore the Galia slave toward the east where, beyond the forest, loomed the mountains that hemmed Onthar upon that side. For a mile he carried him through the trees and then swung lightly to the zround.
'If the lions ever pick up your trail now,' he said, it will not be until long after you have reached the mountains and safety. But do not delay-go now.
The man fell upon his knees and took the hand of his savour in his own. 'I am Hafim,' he said. 'If I could serve you, I would die for you. Who are you?'
'I am Tarzan of the Apes. Now go your way and lose no time.'
One more favour,' begged the native.
'What?'
'I have a brother. He, too, was captured by these when they captured me. He is a slave in the gold mines south of Cathne. His name is Niaka. If you should to the gold mines, tell him that Hafim has escaped.'
'I shall tell him. Now go.'
Silently the native disappeared among the boles of the Forest trees, and Tarzan sprang again into the branches and Swung rapidly back in the direction of the hunters. When he reached them, dropping to the ground and approaching them from behind, they were clustered near the spot at which Hafim had taken to the trees.
'Where have you been?' asked Xerstle. 'We thought that you had become lost.'
'I dropped behind,' replied the ape-man. 'Where is your quarry? I thought that you would have had him by this time.'
'We cannot understand it,' admitted Xerstle. 'It is evident that he climbed this tree, because the lions followed him to this very spot, where they stood looking up into the tree; but they did not growl as though they saw the man. Then we leashed them again and sent one of the keepers into the tree, but he saw no sign of the quarry.
'It is a mystery!' exclaimed Pindes.
'It is indeed,' agreed Tarzan; 'at least for those who do not know the secret.'
'Who does know the secret?' demanded Xerstle.
'The black slave who has escaped you must know, if no other.'
'He has not escaped me,' snapped Xerstle. 'He has but prolonged the hunt and increased its interest. Come, let us go. I shall hunt with Gemnon and Pindes with Tarzan. We shall take one lion, they the other.'
'Agreed,' said Tarzan.
'But I am responsible to the queen for the safe return of Tarzan,' demurred Gemnon. 'I do not like to have him out of my sight even for a short time.'
'I promise that I shall not try to escape,' the ape-man assured him.
'It was not that alone of which I was thinking,' explained Gemnon.
'And I can assure you that I can take care of myself, if you feel fears for my safety,' added Tarzan.
Reluctantly Gemnon assented to the arrangement, and presently the two parties separated, Xerstle and Gemnon going towards the northwest while Pindes and Tarzan took an easterly direction. The latter had proceeded but a short distance, the lion still upon its leash, when Pindes suggested that they separate, spreading out through the forest, and thus combing it more carefully.
'You go straight east,' he said to Tarzan, 'the keepers and the lion will go northeast, and I will go north. If any comes upon the trail he may shout to attract the others to his position. If we have not located the quarry in an hour let us all converge toward the mountains at the eastern side of the forest.'
The ape-man nodded and started off in the direction assigned him, soon disappearing among the trees. But neither Pindes nor the keepers moved from where he had left them, the keepers held by a whispered word from Pindes. The leashed lion looked after the departing ape-man, and Pindes smiled. The keepers looked at him questioningly.
'Such sad accidents have happened many times before,' said Pindes.
Tarzan moved steadily toward the east. Presently he heard a noise behind him and glancing back was not surprised by what he saw. A lion was stalking him, a lion wearing the harness of a hunting lion of Cathne. It was one of Xerstle's lions; it was the same lion that had accompanied Pindes and Tarzan.
Instantly the ape-man guessed the truth, and a grim light glinted in his eyes. It was no light of anger, but there was disgust in it and the shadowy suggestion of a savage smile. The lion, realizing that its quarry had discovered it, began to roar. In the distance Pindes heard and smiled.
Let us go now,' he said to the keepers. 'We must not find the remains too quickly; that might not look well.'
The three men moved slowly off toward the north.
From a distance Gemnon and Xerstle heard the roar of The hunting lion. 'They have picked up the trail.' said Gemnon, halting; 'we had best join them.'
'Not yet,' demurred Xerstle. 'It may be a false trail. We will wait until we hear the hunters call. But Gemnon was troubled.
Tarzan stood awaiting the coming of the lion. He could have taken to the trees and escaped, but a spirit of bravado prompted him to remain. He hated treachery, and exposing it gave him pleasure. He carried a Cathnean spear and his own hunting knife; his bow and arrows he had left behind.
The lion came nearer; it seemed vaguely disturbed. Perhaps it did not understand why the quarry stood and faced it instead of running away. Its tail twitched; its head was flattened; slowly it came on again, its wicked eyes gleaming angrily.
Tarzan waited. In his right hand was the sturdy Cathnean spear, in his left his hunting knife. He measured the distance with a trained eye as the lion started its swift, level charge; then, when it was coming at full speed, his spear hand flew back and he launched the heavy weapon.
Deep beneath the left shoulder it drove, deep into the savage heart, but it checked the beast's charge for but an instant. Infuriated now, the carnivore rose upon its hind legs above the ape-man, its great, taloned paws reaching to drag him to the slavering jowls; but Tarzan, swift as Ara the lightning, stooped and sprang beneath them, sprang to one side and then in again, closing with the lion, leaping upon its back.
With a hideous roar, the animal wheeled and sought to bury its great fangs in the bronzed body or reach it with those raking talons. It threw itself to right and left as the creature clinging to it drove a steel blade repeatedly into the already torn and bleeding heart.
The vitality and life tenacity of a lion are astounding, but even that mighty frame could not long withstand the
