some and distrust of others. That it is not infallible, Tarzan well knew; so he was cautious, always. And in that again the beast showed in him.
'And what do you propose doing now?' he asked.
Wood scratched his head in perplexity. 'To be perfectly frank, I don't know. I am confident that Mafka found out that I had escaped and that it was his magic that followed and brought me down. Perhaps Gonfala told him. She is a Jekyll and Hyde sort of person. In one personality she is all sweetness and tenderness, in another she is a fiend.
'As far as my future actions are concerned, I have a very definite premonition that I am not a free agent.'
'What do you mean?' demanded the ape-man.
'Since it commenced to get dark haven't you felt an invisible presence near us, haven't you sensed unseen eyes upon us, and heard things, and almost seen things? These are the manifestations of Mafka. We are in his power. Where he wills us to go, we'll go; and you can lay to that.'
A shadow of a smile moved the lips of the Lord of the Jungle. 'I have seen and heard and sensed many things since we stopped here, but none of them was Mafka. I have identified them all either through my ears or my nose. There is nothing to fear.'
'You do not know Mafka,' said Wood.
'I know Africa , and I know myself,' replied the ape-man, simply. There was no bravado in his tone, but absolute assurance. It impressed the American.
'You are a regular Tarzan,' he said.
The other shot a quick glance at him, appraising. He saw that the man spoke without knowledge of his identity, and he was satisfied. His mission required that he remain unknown, if possible. Otherwise, he might never gain the information he sought. He had felt safe from recognition, for he was unknown in this district.
'By the way,' continued Wood. 'You have not told me your name. I have seen so many unbelievable things since I came into this country that not even the sight of an evidently highly civilized man wandering almost naked and alone in a wilderness surprised me as much as it otherwise might have. Of course, I don't want to pry into your affairs, but naturally my curiosity is aroused. I wonder who you are and what you are doing here.' He stopped suddenly and looked intently at Tarzan. His eyes registered suspicion and a shadow of fear. 'Say!' he exclaimed. 'Did Mafka send you? Are you one of his-his creatures?'
The ape-man shook his head. 'You are in a most unfortunate situation,' he said. 'If I were not one of Mafka's creatures, or if I were, my answer, quite conceivably, might be the same –I should deny it; so why answer you? You will have to find out for yourself, and in the meantime you will have to trust me or distrust me as seems wisest to you.'
Wood grinned. 'I am up against it, ain't I?' He shrugged. 'Well, we're both in the same boat. At least you don't know any more about me than I do about you. I may have been giving you a cock-and-bull story. I admit it must sound fishy. But at least I told you my name. You haven't told me that much about yourself yet. I don't know what to call you.'
'My name is Clayton,' said the ape-man. He might also have said, John Clayton Lord Greystoke-Tarzan of the Apes; but he didn't.
'I suppose you want to get out of this country,' said Tarzan, 'and get help for your friends.'
'Yes, of course, but there isn't a chance now.'
'Why not?'
'Mafka-Mafka and Gonfala.'
'I can't take you out at present,' said the ape-man, ignoring the implied obstacle. 'You may come along to the Lake Tana country with me if you wish to. You'll get a story there-a story that you must never write. You'll have to give me your word as to that. My only alternative is to leave you here. You will have to decide.'
'I'll come with you,' said Wood, 'but neither of us will ever reach Lake Tana .' He paused and strained his eyes into the lowering dusk of the brief twilight. 'There!' he said in a whisper. 'It's back; it's watching us. Don't you hear it? Can't you feel it?' His voice was tense, his eyes slightly dilated.
'There is nothing,' said Tarzan. 'Your nerves are upset.'
'You mean to tell me you don't hear it-the moaning, the sighing?'
'I hear the wind, and I hear Sheeta the panther a long way off,' replied the ape-man.
'Yes, I hear those, too; but I hear something else. You must be deaf.'
Tarzan smiled. 'Perhaps,' he said. 'But go to sleep; you need rest. Tomorrow you will not hear things.'
'I tell you I hear it. I almost see it. Look! There, among those trees-just a shadow of something that has no substance.'
Tarzan shook his head. 'Try to sleep,' he said. 'I will watch.'
Wood closed his eyes. The presence of this quiet stranger gave him a feeling of security despite his conviction that something weird and horrible hovered there in the darkness –watching, always watching. With the dismal keening still ringing in his ears, he fell asleep.
For a long time Tarzan sat in thought. He heard nothing other than the usual night noises of the wilderness, yet he was sufficiently conversant with the mystery and the magic of black Africa to realize that Wood had heard something that he could not hear. The American was intelligent, sane, experienced. He did not seem the type to be carried away by imaginings or hysteria. It was just possible that he was under the spell of hypnotic suggestion-that Mafka could project his powers to great distances. This was rather borne out by the evidence that Tarzan had had presented to him within the past few hours: the death of Mountford's messenger twenty years before, the striking down of Wood within a short distance of the same spot, the death of Mountford for no apparent good reason upon the very threshold of escape.
Mafka's was indeed a sinister power, but it was a power that the ape-man did not fear. All too often had he been the object of the malign necromancy of potent witch-doctors to fear their magic. Like the beasts of the jungle, he was immune. For what reason he did not know. Perhaps it was because he was without fear; perhaps his psychology was more that of the beast than of man.
Dismissing the matter from his mind, he stretched and fell asleep.
The sun was half a hand-breadth above the horizon when Wood awoke. He was alone. The strange white man had disappeared.
Wood was not greatly surprised. There was no reason why this stranger should wait and be burdened by a man he did not know, but he felt that he might at least have waited until he was awake before deserting him and leaving him prey for the first lion or leopard that might chance to pick up his scent.
And then there was Mafka. The thought aroused questions in the mind of the American. Might not this fellow who called himself Clayton be a tool of the magician of the Kaji? The very fact that he denied that he had heard any strange sounds or sensed any unusual presence lent color to this suspicion. He must have heard; he must have sensed. Then why did he deny it?
But perhaps he was not Mafka's spy. Perhaps he had fallen a victim to the sorcery of the old Devil. How easy it would have been for Mafka to lure him away. Everything seemed easy for Mafka. He could have lured him away to captivity or destruction, leaving Wood to die as Mafka intended-alone by starvation.
Wood had never seen Mafka. To him he should have been no more than a name; yet he was very real. The man even conjured an image of him that was as real and tangible as flesh and blood. He saw him as a very old and hideous black man, bent and wrinkled. He had filed, yellow teeth, and his eyes were close-set and blood-shot.
There! What was that? A noise in the trees! The thing was coming again!
Wood was a brave man, but things like these can get on the nerves of the bravest. It is one thing to face a known danger, another to be constantly haunted by an unseen thing –a horrible, invisible menace that one can't grapple with.
The American leaped to his feet, facing the direction of the rustling among the foliage. 'Come down!' he cried, 'Come down, damn you, and fight like a man!'
From the concealing foliage a figure swung lightly to the ground. It was Tarzan. Across one shoulder he carried the carcass of a small buck.
He looked quickly about. 'What's the matter?' he demanded. 'I don't see anyone'; then a faint smile touched his lips. 'Hearing things again?' he asked.
Wood grinned foolishly. 'I guess it's sort of got me,' he said.
