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pause, he repeated the same tapping. Three times the signal boomed through the jungle and then the
signaler paused, listening, while others stopped and put their ears against the ground.
Faintly through the air, more plainly through the ground, came an answering signal one, two; one, two;
one, two, three.
The creatures seemed satisfied and climbing into the surrounding trees, disposed themselves comfortably
as though settling down to a wait. Two of them carried Tarzan easily aloft with them, as with his hands
bound behind his back he could not climb unassisted.
Since they had started on the march Tarzan had not spoken, but now he turned to one of the Sagoths
near him. "Remove the bonds from my wrists," he said. "I am not an enemy."
"Tar-gash," said he whom Tarzan had addressed, "the gilak wants his bonds removed."
Tar-gash, a large bull with noticeably long, white canine fangs, turned his savage eyes upon the ape-man.
For a long time he glared unblinkingly at the prisoner and it seemed to Tarzan that the mind of the
half-brute was struggling with a new idea. Presently he turned to the Sagoth who had repeated Tarzan's
request. "Take them off," he said.
"Why?" demanded another of the bulls. The tone was challenging.
"Because I, Tar-gash, say 'take them off,'" growled the other.
"You are not M'wa-lot. He is king. If M'wa-lot says take them off, we will take them off."
"I am not M'wa-lot, To-yad; I am Tar-gash, and Tar-gash says 'take them off.'"
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To-yad swung to Tarzan's side. "M'wa-lot will come soon," he said. "If M'wa-lot says take them off, we
shall take them off. We do not take orders from Tar-gash."
Like a panther, quickly, silently Tar-gash sprang straight for the throat of To-yad. There was no warning,
not even an instant of hesitation. In this Tarzan saw that Tar-gash differed from the great apes with whom
the Lord of the Jungle had been familiar upon the outer crust, for among them two bulls ordinarily must
need have gone through a long preliminary of stiff-legged strutting and grumbled invective before either
one launched himself upon the other in deadly combat. But the mind of Tar-gash had functioned with like
celerity, so much so that decision and action had appeared to be almost simultaneous.
The impact of the heavy body of Tar-gash toppled To-yad from the branch upon which he had been
standing, but so naturally arboreal were the two great creatures that even as they fell they reached out
and seized the same branch and still fighting, each with his free hand and his heavy fangs, they hung there
a second breaking their fall, and then dropped to the ground. They fought almost silently except for low
growls, Tar-gash seeking the jugular of To-yad with those sharp, white fangs that had given him his name.
To-yad, his every faculty concentrated upon defense, kept the grinning jaws from his flesh and suddenly
twisting quickly around, tore loose from the powerful fingers of his opponent and sought safety in flight.
But like a football player, Tar-gash launched himself through the air; his long hairy arms encircled the legs
of the fleeing To-yad, bringing him heavily to the ground, and an instant later the powerful aggressor was
on the back of his opponent and To-yad's jugular was at the mercy of his foe, but the great jaws of
Tar-gash did not close.
"Ka-goda?" he inquired.
"Ka-goda," growled To-yad, and instantly Tar-gash arose from the body of the other bull.
With the agility of a monkey the victor leaped back into the branches of the tree. "Remove the bonds
from the wrists of the gilak," he said, and at the same time he glared ferociously about him to see if there
was another so mutinously minded as To-yad; but none spoke and none objected as one of the Sagoths
who had dragged Tarzan up into the tree untied the bonds that secured his wrists.
"If he tries to run away from us," said Tar-gash, "kill him."
When his bonds were removed Tarzan expected that the Sagoths would take his knife away from him.
He had lost his spear and bow and most of his arrows at the instant that the snare had snapped him from
the ground, but though they had lain in plain view in the trail beneath the snare the Sagoths had paid no
attention to them; nor did they now pay any attention to his knife. He was sure they must have seen it and
he could not understand their lack of concern regarding it, unless they were ignorant of its purpose or
held him in such contempt that they did not consider it worth the effort to disarm him.
Presently To-yad sneaked back into the tree, but he huddled sullenly by himself, apart from the others.
Faintly, from a distance, Tarzan heard something approaching. He heard it just a moment before the
Sagoths heard it.
"They come!" announced Tar-gash.
"M'wa-lot comes," said another, glancing at To-yad. Now Tarzan knew why the primitive drum had
been sounded, but he wondered why they were gathering.
At last they arrived, nor was it difficult for Tarzan to recognize M'wa-lot, the king among the others. A
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great bull walked in front a bull with so much gray among the hairs on his face that the latter had a
slightly bluish complexion, and instantly the ape-man saw how the king had come by his name.
As soon as the Sagoths with Tarzan were convinced of the identity of the approaching party, they
descended from the trees to the ground and when M'wa-lot had approached within twenty paces of
them, he halted. "I am M'wa-lot," he announced. "With me are the people of my tribe."
"I am Tar-gash," replied the bull who seemed to be in charge of the other party. "With me are other bulls
of the tribe of M'wa-lot."
This precautionary preliminary over, M'wa-lot advanced, followed by the bulls, the shes and the balus of
his tribe.
"What is that?" demanded M'wa-lot, as his fierce eyes espied Tarzan.
"It is a gilak that we found caught in our snare," replied Tar-gash.
"That is the feast that you called us to?" demanded M'wa-lot, angrily. "You should have brought it to the
tribe. It can walk."
"This is not the food of which the drum spoke," replied Tar-gash. "Nearby is the body of a thag that was
killed by a tarag close by the snare in which this gilak was caught."
"Ugh!" grunted M'wa-lot. "We can eat the gilak later."
"We can have a dance," suggested one of Tarzan's captors. "We have eaten and slept many times since
we have danced, M'wa-lot."
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