"It is a long march," replied Waziri, "and I am an old man, but if
you will wait until the rainy season is over and the rivers have
gone down I will take some of my warriors and go with you."

And Tarzan had to be contented with that arrangement, though he
would have liked it well enough to have set off the next morning--he
was as impatient as a child. Really Tarzan of the Apes was but a
child, or a primeval man, which is the same thing in a way.

The next day but one a small party of hunters returned to the village
from the south to report a large herd of elephant some miles away.
By climbing trees they had had a fairly good view of the herd,
which they described as numbering several large tuskers, a great
many cows and calves, and full-grown bulls whose ivory would be
worth having.

The balance of the day and evening was filled with preparation for
a great hunt--spears were overhauled, quivers were replenished, bows
were restrung; and all the while the village witch doctor passed
through the busy throngs disposing of various charms and amulets
designed to protect the possessor from hurt, or bring him good
fortune in the morrow's hunt.

At dawn the hunters were off. There were fifty sleek, black
warriors, and in their midst, lithe and active as a young forest
god, strode Tarzan of the Apes, his brown skin contrasting oddly
with the ebony of his companions. Except for color he was one of
them. His ornaments and weapons were the same as theirs--he spoke
their language--he laughed and joked with them, and leaped and