The beast snuffed round the prostrate man, whining a little.
There was a limit to the interchange of ideas which could take
place between these two, and so Tarzan could not be sure that Sheeta
understood all that he attempted to communicate to him. That the
man was tied and helpless Sheeta could, of course, see; but that
to the mind of the panther this would carry any suggestion of harm
in so far as his master was concerned, Tarzan could not guess.

What had brought the beast to him? The fact that he had come
augured well for what he might accomplish; but when Tarzan tried
to get Sheeta to gnaw his bonds asunder the great animal could
not seem to understand what was expected of him, and, instead, but
licked the wrists and arms of the prisoner.

Presently there came an interruption. Some one was approaching
the hut. Sheeta gave a low growl and slunk into the blackness of
a far corner. Evidently the visitor did not hear the warning sound,
for almost immediately he entered the hut--a tall, naked, savage
warrior.

He came to Tarzan's side and pricked him with a spear. From the
lips of the ape-man came a weird, uncanny sound, and in answer to
it there leaped from the blackness of the hut's farthermost corner
a bolt of fur-clad death. Full upon the breast of the painted
savage the great beast struck, burying sharp talons in the black
flesh and sinking great yellow fangs in the ebon throat.

There was a fearful scream of anguish and terror from the black, and
mingled with it was the hideous challenge of the killing panther.
Then came silence--silence except for the rending of bloody flesh