prey of the carnivore sneaking upon them, but if he expected the thag to be frightened he soon realized his error in judgment for, uttering low grumblings, the great bull pawed the earth with a front foot, and then, lowering his massive horns, gored it angrily, and the ape-man knew that he was working his short temper up to charging pitch; nor did it seem that this was to take long for already he was advancing menacingly to the accompaniment of thunderous bellowing. His tail was up and his head down as he broke into the trot that preluded the charge.
The ape-man realized that if he was ever struck by those massive horns or that heavy head, his skull would be crushed like an eggshell.
The dizzy spinning that had been caused by the first stretching of the rawhide to his weight had lessened to a gentle turning motion, so that sometimes he faced the thag and sometimes in the opposite direction. The utter helplessness of his position galled the ape-man and gave him more concern than any consideration of impending death. From childhood he had walked hand in hand with the Grim Reaper and he had looked upon death in so many forms that it held no terror for him. He knew that it was the final experience of all created things, that it must as inevitably come to him as to others and while he loved life and did not wish to die, its mere approach induced within him no futile hysteria. But to die without a chance to fight for life was not such an end as Tarzan of the Apes would have chosen. And now, as his body slowly revolved and his eyes were turned away from the charging thag, his heart sank at the thought that he was not even to be vouchsafed the meager satisfaction of meeting death face to face.
In the brief instant that he waited for the impact, the air was rent by as horrid a scream as had ever broken upon the ears of the ape-man and the bellowing of the bull rose suddenly to a higher pitch and mingled with that other awesome sound.
Once more the dangling body of the ape-man revolved and his eyes fell upon such a scene as had not been vouchsafed to men of the outer world for countless ages. Upon the massive shoulders and neck of the great thag clung a tiger of such huge proportions that Tarzan could scarce credit the testimony of his own eyes. Great saber- like tusks, projecting from the upper jaw, were buried deep in the neck of the bull, which, instead of trying to escape, had stopped in its tracks and was endeavoring to dislodge the great beast of prey, swinging its huge horns backward in an attempt to rake the living death from its shoulders, or again shaking its whole body violently for the same purpose and all the while bellowing in pain and rage.
Gradually the saber-tooth changed its position until it had attained a hold suited to its purpose. Then with lightning-like swiftness it swung back a great forearm and delivered a single, terrific blow on the side of the thag's head—a titanic blow that crushed that mighty skull and dropped the huge bull dead in its tracks. And then the carnivore settled down to feast upon its kill.
During the battle the saber-tooth had not noticed the ape-man; nor was it until after he had commenced to feed upon the thag that his eye was attracted by the revolving body swinging upon the trail a few yards away. Instantly the beast stopped feeding; his head lowered and flattened; his upper lip turned back in a hideous snarl. He watched the ape-man. Low, menacing growls rumbled from his cavernous throat; his long, sinuous tail lashed angrily as slowly he arose from the body of his kill and advanced toward Tarzan of the Apes.
III THE GREAT CATS
THE EBBING TIDE of the great war had left human flotsam stranded upon many an unfamiliar beach. In its full flow it had lifted Robert Jones, high private in the ranks of the labor battalion, from uncongenial surroundings and landed him in a prison camp behind the enemy line.
Here his good nature won him friends and favors, but neither one nor the other served to obtain his freedom. Robert Jones seemed to have been lost in the shuffle. And finally, when the evacuation of the prison had been completed, Robert Jones still remained, but he was not downhearted. He had learned the language of his captors and had made many friends among them. They found him a job and Robert Jones of Alabama was content to remain where he was. He had been graduated from body servant to cook of an officers' mess and it was in this capacity that he had come under the observation of Captain Zuppner, who had drafted him for the O-220 expedition.
Robert Jones yawned, stretched, turned over in his narrow berth aboard the O-220, opened his eyes and sat up with an exclamation of surprise. He jumped to the floor and stuck his head out of an open port.
'Lawd, niggah!' he exclaimed; 'you all suah done overslep' yo'sef.'
For a moment he gazed up at the noonday sun shining down upon him and then, hastily dressing, hurried into his galley.
''S funny,' he soliloquized; 'dey ain't no one stirrin'— mus' all of overslep' demsef.' He looked at the clock on the galley wall. The hour hand pointed to six. He cocked his ear and listened. 'She ain't stopped,' he muttered. Then he went to the door that opened from the galley through the ship's side and pushed it back. Leaning far out he looked up again at the sun. Then he shook his head. 'Dey's sumpin wrong,' he said. 'Ah dunno whether to cook breakfas', dinner or supper.'
Jason Gridley, emerging from his cabin, sauntered down the narrow corridor toward the galley. 'Good morning, Bob!' he said, stopping in the open doorway. 'What's the chance for a bite of breakfast?'
'Did you all say breakfas', suh?' inquired Robert.
'Yes,' replied Gridley; 'just toast and coffee and a couple of eggs—anything you have handy.'
'Ah knew it!' exclaimed the black. 'Ah knew dat ol' clock couldn't be wrong, but Mistah Sun he suah gone hay wire.'
Gridley grinned. 'I'll drop down and have a little walk,' he said. 'I'll be back in fifteen minutes. Have you seen anything of Lord Greystoke?'
'No suh, Ah ain't seen nothin' o' Massa Ta'zan sence yesterday.'
'I wondered,' said Gridley; 'he is not in his cabin.'
For fifteen minutes Gridley walked briskly about in the vicinity of the ship. When he returned to the mess room he found Zuppner and Dorf awaiting breakfast and greeted them with a pleasant 'good morning.'
'I don't know whether it's good morning or good evening,' said Zuppner.
'We have been here twelve hours,' said Dorf, 'and it is just the same time that it was when we arrived. I have been on watch for the last four hours and if it hadn't been for the chronometer I could not swear that I had been on fifteen minutes or that I had not been on a week.'
'It certainly induces a feeling of unreality that is hard to explain,' said Gridley.
'Where is Greystoke?' asked Zuppner. 'He is usually an early riser.'
'I was just asking Bob,' said Gridley, 'but he has not seen him.'
'He left the ship shortly after I came on watch,' said Dorf. 'I should say about three hours ago, possibly longer. I saw him cross the open country and enter the forest.'
'I wish he had not gone out alone,' said Gridley.
'He strikes me as a man who can take care of himself,' said Zuppner.
'I have seen some things during the last four hours,' said Dorf, 'that make me doubt whether any man can take care of himself alone in this world, especially one armed only with the primitive weapons that Greystoke carried with him.'
'You mean that he carried no firearms?' demanded Zuppner.
'He was armed with a bow and arrows, a spear and a rope,' said Dorf, 'and I think he carried a hunting knife as well. But he might as well have had nothing but a peashooter if he met some of the things I have seen since I went on watch.'
'What do you mean?' demanded Zuppner. 'What have you seen?'
Dorf grinned sheepishly. 'Honestly, Captain, I hate to tell you,' he said, 'for I'm damned if I believe it myself.'
'Well, out with it,' exclaimed Zuppner. 'We will make allowances for your youth and for the effect that the sun and horizon of Pellucidar may have had upon your eyesight or your veracity.'
'Well,' said Dorf, 'about an hour ago a bear passed within a hundred yards of the ship.'
'There is nothing remarkable about that,' said Zuppner.
'There was a great deal that was remarkable about the bear, however,' said Dorf.
