Argosy All-Story Weekly, January 13, 1923 — page 133: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

TARZAN AND THE GOLDEN LION. 3 595 “We can tell quickly,” cried a third. ‘Tf her rings are among the ashes it is in- deed she,” and he knelt and searched for the rings which Lady Greystoke habitually wore. Usula shook his head despairingly. ‘ It is she,” he said, “ there is the very stake to which she was fastened ’’—-he pointed to the blackened stub of a stake close beside the body—“ and as for the rings; even if . they are not there it will mean nothing, for Luvini would have taken them away from her as soon as he captured her. There was time for every one else to leave the village except she, who was bound and could not Jeave——no, it cannot be another.” The Waziri scooped a shallow grave and reverently deposited the ashes there, mark- ing the spot with a little cairn of stones. CHAPTER XVIII. THE SPOOR OF REVENGE. S Tarzan of the Apes, adapting his speed to that of Jad-bal-ja, made his comparatively slow way toward home, he reviewed with varying emotions the experiences of the past week. While he had been unsuccessful in raiding the treasure vaults of Opar, the sack of dia- monds which he carried compensated sev- eral-fold for this miscarriage of his plans. His only concern now was for the safety of his Waziri, and, perhaps, a troublesome de- sire to seek out the whites who had drugged him and mete out to them the punishment they deserved. In view, however, of his greater desire to return home, he decided to make no effort at apprehending them for the time being at least. Hunting together, feeding together, and sleeping together, the man and the great lion followed the savage jungle trails to- ward home. Yesterday they shared the meat of Bara, the deer, to-day they feasted upon the carcass of Horta, the boar, and between them there was little chance that either would go hungry. They had come within a day’s march of the bungalow when Tarzan discovered the spoor of a considerable body of warriors. As some men devour the latest stock mar- ket quotations as though their very exist- ence depended upon an accurate knowledge of them, so Tarzan of the Apes devoured every scrap of information that the jungle held fer him, for, in truth, an accurate knowledge of all that this information could impart to him had been, during his life- time, a sine qua non to his existence. . So now he carefully examined the spoor that lay before him, several days old though it was, and partially obliterated by the pas- sage of beasts since it had been made, but yet legible enough to the keen eyes and nos- trils of the Ape-man. His partial indiffer- ence suddenly gave way to keen interest, for among the footprints of the great war- riors he saw now and again the smaller one of a white woman—a loved footprint that he knew as well as you know your mother’s face. “The Waziri returned and told her that I was missing,” he soliloquized, “‘ and now she has set out with them to search for me.” He turned to the lion. once again we turn away from home—but no, where she is is home.” The direction that the trail led rather mystified Tarzan of the Apes, as it was not along the direct route toward Opar, but in a rather more southerly direction. On the sixth day his keen ears caught the sound of approaching men, and presently there was wafted to his nostrils the spoor of blacks. Sending Jad-bal-ja into a thicket to hide, Tarzan took to the trees and moved rapidly in the direction of the approaching negroes. As the distance between them les- sened, the scent became stronger, until, even before he saw them, Tarzan knew that they were Waziri, but the one effluvium that would have filled his soul with happiness was lacking. It was a surprised Usula who, at the head of the sad and dejected Waziri, came at the turning of the trail suddenly face to face with his master. “ Tarzan of the Apes!” cried Usula. “Is it indeed you?” 7 “It is none other,” replied the Ape-man; “but where is Lady Greystoke?” ‘‘ Ah, master, how can we tell you!” cried Usula. “You do not mean—” cried Tarzan. “ Well, Jad-bal-ja, EOPMIE OO KS Eom)