as it is, that we should make it worse by always quarreling among ourselves?'
Brown turned and looked at her quizzically; then he covered her little hand with his. 'I guess you're right, girlie, at that. I'll lay off him, if he'll lay off me.' He closed his hand on hers. 'I guess you and me's going to hit it off O.K. kid.'
'Hit what off, Mr. Brown?'
'I mean, we're going to be pals!' he exclaimed,
'Pals? What are they?'
'Buddies—friends. I thought you savvied English.'
'Oh, friends; yes, I understand that. I should like to be friends with Mr. Brown. Annette likes to be friends with everyone.'
'That's all right, baby, but don't be too promiscuous, for I have a feeling that I'm going to like you a lot.'
The French girl cast her eyes down coquettishly. 'I think, Mr. Brown, we had better get along with our work, or we shall have only half a roof over our heads tonight.'
'O.K. kiddo, but we'll talk about this friendship business later—there ought to be a full moon tonight.'
After she left the camp, lane moved rapidly and silently through the trees paralleling the little stream which she tried to keep in view while she searched for a place where the signs indicated the beasts were accustomed to come to drink.
A light breeze was blowing in her face, bringing faintly various scent spoors to her nostrils, which, while not as sensitive as those of her mate, were nevertheless far more sensitive than those of an ordinary civilized person. Jane had learned long ago that senses may be developed by training, and she had let no opportunity pass to train hers to the fullest of her ability.
Now, very faintly, she caught the suggestion of a scent that set her nerves to tingling with that thrill which only the huntsman knows. Quarry lay ahead.
The girl moved even more cautiously than before; scarcely a leaf stirred to her passage, and presently she saw ahead that which she sought—a small, harnessed antelope, a bush buck, which was moving daintily along the trail just ahead of her.
Jane increased her speed; but now more than ever it was imperative that she move silently, for the little animal below her was nervous and constantly alert. At the slightest unusual sound, it would be gone like a flash.
Presently she came within range, but there was always intervening foliage that might deflect her arrow.
Patience is the most important asset of the jungle hunter, and patience she had learned from Tarzan and from her own experiences.
Now the antelope halted suddenly in its tracks and turned its head to the left; at the same instant Jane was aware of a movement in the underbrush in that direction. She saw that she could wait no longer; already something had startled her quarry. There was a small opening in the foliage between her and the antelope. Like lightning, she drew her bow; the string snapped with a whang and the shaft buried itself deep in the body of the antelope behind its left shoulder. It leaped high into the air and fell dead.
Jane had reason to suspect that something else was stalking the antelope; but she could see nothing of it, and the turn in the trail had resulted in a cross-wind that would carry the scent of the creature away from her.
She knew that it was a risky thing to do; but she was hungry, and she was aware that all her companions were hungry; they must have food, for a cursory examination of the baggage had revealed the fact that besides some sandwiches which had already been eaten, their stock of provisions consisted of a few chocolate bars, six bottles of cognac and two of Cointreau.
Trusting to luck and pinning her faith in her speed, Jane dropped lightly to the trail and ran quickly to the fallen animal.
She worked rapidly, as Tarzan had taught her to work. Slitting its throat to let it bleed, she quickly eviscerated it to reduce the weight; and as she worked, she heard again those stealthy sounds in the underbrush not far distant along the back trail.
Her work completed, she closed the knife and slipped it into her pocket; then she raised the carcass of the little antelope to her shoulder. As she did so, an angry growl shattered the silence of the jungle; and Sheeta, the leopard, stepped into the trail twenty paces from her.
Instantly Jane saw that it would be impossible to escape with her kill, and resentment flared high in her bosom at the thought of relinquishing her prey to the savage cat.
She felt reasonably sure that she could save herself by taking to the trees and leaving the carcass of the antelope to Sheeta, but a sudden anger against the injustice of this contretemps impelled her to stand her ground and caused her to do a very foolish thing.
Dropping the antelope, she strung her bow and pulling it back to the full limit of her strength she drove an arrow straight at the breast of Sheeta.
As it struck, the beast voiced a horrifying scream of pain and rage; then it charged.
To those in the camp, the cry sounded almost human.
'Sapristi! What was that?' cried Alexis.
'Mon Dieu, it was a woman's scream!' exclaimed Annette.
'Lady Greystoke!' said Brown, horrified.
'Oh, Alexis, Alexis! Annette!' cried the princess; 'My smelling salts, quick; I am going to faint.'
Brown seized the puny hand axe and started in the direction of the sound.
'Oh, where are you going?' cried Kitty. 'Don't leave me, don't leave me.'
'Shut up, you old fool,' snapped Brown. 'Lady Grey-stoke must be in trouble. I am going to find out.'
Tibbs pulled his empty pistol from his pocket. 'I'll go with you, Mr. Brown,' he said; 'we can't let anything happen to Milady.'
Chapter 10 Abduction
WHEN Ydeni refused to lead him to the village of the Kavuru, Tarzan was neither surprised nor disappointed. He knew men and especially savage men and the numerous taboos that govern their individual and tribal lives. He would have preferred to have gone to the chief of the Kavuru with one of his own people whom Tar-zan had befriended; but if this were impossible, he was at least no worse off than he had been before he had met Ydeni. And he was confident that no matter how brutal or savage the man might be, he was probably not without a spark of gratitude for the service Tarzan had rendered him.
'If I came as a friend,' said Tarzan, 'surely there could be no harm in that.'
'The Kavuru have no friends,' replied Ydeni. 'You must not come.' The ape-man shrugged. 'Then I shall come as an enemy.'
'You will be killed. You saved my life; I do not wish you to be killed, but I could not prevent it; it is the law of the Kavuru.'
'Then you kill the girls that you steal?' demanded the ape-man.
'Who says that the Kavuru steal girls?'
'It is well known among all people. Why do you do it? Have you not enough women of your own?'
'There are no Kavuru women,' replied Ydeni. 'The rains have come and gone as many times as there are fingers and toes upon four men since there was a Kavuru woman—since the last one gave her life that the men of the Kavuru might live.'
'Eighty years since there have been women among you?' demanded the ape-man. 'That is impossible, Ydeni, for you are still a young man, and you must have had a mother; but perhaps she was not a Kavuru?'
'My mother was a Kavuru, but she died long before the last woman. But I have told you too much already, stranger. The ways of the Kavuru are not as the ways of lesser people, and they are not for the ears of lesser people. To speak of them is taboo. Go your way now, and I will go mine.'
Convinced that he could get no more information from Ydeni, Tarzan took to the trees; and a moment later was lost to the sight of the Kavuru. Purposely he had gone toward the west so that Ydeni would be deceived into thinking that he was not on the right trail toward the Kavuru country. However, he did not go far in that direction;
