"Well," Jean said, "considering we're standing out here without our safari and little more than the clothes on our backs, he might be right."
"Point."
"Did you see how he took to the trees?" Jean said. "Nimble as a monkey . . . and he's certainly a handsome devil, and he doesn't look 'teched' to me. And those weapons he was carrying, they didn't appear to be window dressing."
"I'll give you that," Hanson said. "But what now? Do we trust him? Do we try to move on or stay?"
"I say we rest awhile, see if he comes back," Jean said. "If he doesn't, then I think we should build a platform for the night and move out tomorrow."
"I'm not sure I have the strength to build a platform," Hanson said.
"We can do it," Jean said, "with or without help."
Hanson put his arm around his daughter, smiled. "That's right, baby. Don't pay me any mind. I'm just tired. Be strong. We'll make it."
Tarzan, traversing the middle terrace of the forest, caught the scent spoor of Wappi the antelope, and presently saw it below him standing tense and alert. Then the ape-man saw what had alerted the little animal-a leopard, on its belly, was creeping stealthily toward it.
Tarzan seized his bow and fitted an arrow. It was just a matter of seconds before the heavy shaft drove into the antelope's heart, as, almost simultaneously, the ape-man dropped quickly to the ground between the carcass of his kill and the beast that would rob him of it.
With a coughing cry, the leopard charged. Tarzan sidestepped, grabbed the maddened leopard by the scruff of the neck and the tail, whirled about, and tossed the beast as if it were a stuffed toy. The leopard went spinning into the brush, landed tail over claw, rolled, slammed into a tree, and staggered to its feet The leopard crouched and studied Tarzan. The man stood sideways, low to the ground, as if he might take to it in the manner of Hista, the snake.
Never had the leopard seen anything so fast. And it was a man too, the weaklings of the jungle. The leopard let out a defiant yowl, and Tarzan laughed. "Run along, my friend," Tarzan said in the language of the great apes. "Spare me an arrow. This antelope is mine."
The leopard turned, ducked through the brush, and was gone.
Tarzan jerked the arrow from the carcass of the antelope, swung the animal to a shoulder, and took to the trees.
Hanson and Jean sat on the fallen tree, waiting, but with little expectation that the wild man with the stilted English would return.
"If he does come back," said Jean, "I suppose he'll bring us fruit and nuts. I'm fed up on fruit and nuts, even though we haven't had enough of those to keep a canary alive."
"He brings fruit and nuts," Hanson said, "I'll eat fruit and nuts. What I think is, he's probably forgotten about us."
"Maybe not," Jean said.
Hanson glanced up to see Tarzan swing from the branches of a tree with the carcass of his kill and land less than three feet from them. Hanson and Jean stood up. "That didn't take long," said Hanson.
Tarzan grunted and tossed the antelope on the ground. "After you have dressed it and cut off what you want to eat tonight, carry it up into a tree where the beasts won't get it. Can you make fire?"
"I have a few matches left," said Hanson.
"Keep them," said Tarzan. He unsheathed his hunting knife and removed the viscera from the carcass. Then he turned to them with a question. "How much can you eat tonight? I'll carve it, then start your fire."
"How about the whole thing?" Jean said. "I could eat it raw."
The suggestion of a smile moved the ape-man's lips, as he cut a generous portion from a flank. Then he gathered dry leaves and grasses, tinder, and larger pieces of wood, carried it some distance from the viscera.
"You'll have visitors tonight," he said, "but by morning all the antelope's innards will be gone. It will keep them busy. Less interested in you. I suppose I need not suggest you get into a tree early-and stay there."
Tarzan arranged the leaves, grasses, and tinder and made fire after the manner of the jungle people, then he straightened up.
"I will go after your safari now," he said. "Stay here until I come back."
"Why are you doing this?" Jean asked. "Not that I want to discourage you, but why?"
"Because it needs to be done," Tarzan said. "Here, keep this until you see me next," he said, and handed her his huge knife. Then he swung into a tree and disappeared.
"How in hell does he do that?" Hanson said. "I couldn't climb that tree with a ladder, let alone swing through it."
"Who is he?" demanded Jean.
"I don't know," said Hanson, "but God must have sent him."
"How can he recover our safari by himself?" said Jean.
Hanson shook his head. "He can't."
"That's what we thought about his getting food for us," Jean said.
"Dealing with those men, that's another thing. In fact, I feel awful that he might try. If something happened to him in the process, I'll feel responsible."
"There's nothing we can do about it one way or another now, Jean said. "Let's eat. I'm so hungry my stomach thinks my throat is cut."
"You cook the meat, I'll build a platform," Hanson said.
The meat was partially burned and almost raw, but they wolfed it down. Jean's fingers and face were covered with burned meat and grease as she looked up at her father and grinned. "We're just like the lions at feeding time in the zoo," she said, wiping her face on her sleeve.
"You're a sight," said Hanson. "Last time I saw your face like that, you were twelve or thirteen, and you'd stolen jam out of the pantry."
"All I know is, that's the best meal I've ever eaten."
The sun was low, and Hanson knew the brief equatorial twilight would come and go with startling swiftness. He banked the fire in the hope of preserving embers for breakfast. In the distance a lion roared.
Hanson and Jean climbed into the tree where Hanson had constructed a crude platform of limbs, vines, and leaves. They sat on the edge of it, dangling their legs, looking down into the growing darkness. There was a slight warm breeze and it smelled of the jungle foliage, and faintly of rotting leaves.
Again, a lion roared, but much closer now.
"Where do you suppose he lives?" said the girl.
"Who? The lion?" asked the man.
Jean laughed. "No, silly," she said, "our wild man."
"Oh, probably in a cave with his mate, and a half-dozen naked dirty brats and an ill-tempered, one-legged dog."
"And why would he have a one-legged dog?"
"Because he ate the other three."
"That's not very nice. Dad."
"Get your mind off the loincloth, dear."
"Dad!"
"Good night, dear. Try not to think about your jungle man too much."
"I was just curious, was all."
"Of course," Hanson said, lying down on the platform. "Good night."
It was suddenly quite dark, and below there were a multitude of noises-rustlings, a growl, and then the weird, uncanny yapping of hyenas.
"They're fighting over the entrails of the antelope," said Hanson.
"It's nice to be up here where it's safe," said Jean.
Hanson thought of the python and the leopard, but he did not mention them. The lion roared again. He was very close now, almost directly beneath them. Then he moved on, growling. Hanson could hear the hyenas scattering.
The king had come.
Chapter 3
TARZAN WENT TO the camp where he had discovered Wilson and his gang. From there he could easily follow the plain trail of the safari even though he was traveling through the trees. Presently, he caught the scent of Numa the lion, and a few moments later he saw the great carnivore on the trail below-a splendid, black-maned beast.