A raking talon caught Tarzan on the side, inflicting a long, deep
wound and then the ape-man was on Numa's back and the blade was
sinking again and again into the savage side. Nor was the man-thing
either longer fleeing, or idle. He too, creature of the wild, had
sensed on the instant the truth of the miracle of his saving, and
turning in his tracks, had leaped forward with raised bludgeon to
Tarzan's assistance and Numa's undoing. A single terrific blow upon
the flattened skull of the beast laid him insensible and then as
Tarzan's knife found the wild heart a few convulsive shudders and
a sudden relaxation marked the passing of the carnivore.
Leaping to his feet the ape-man placed his foot upon the carcass
of his kill and, raising his face to Goro, the moon, voiced the
savage victory cry that had so often awakened the echoes of his
native jungle.
As the hideous scream burst from the ape-man's lips the man-thing
stepped quickly back as in sudden awe, but when Tarzan returned his
hunting knife to its sheath and turned toward him the other saw in
the quiet dignity of his demeanor no cause for apprehension.
For a moment the two stood appraising each other, and then the
man-thing spoke. Tarzan realized that the creature before him was
uttering articulate sounds which expressed in speech, though in a
language with which Tarzan was unfamiliar, the thoughts of a man
possessing to a greater or less extent the same powers of reason
that he possessed.
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