of Achmet Zek, unless they were on the person of the chief himself,
Tarzan decided to secure the person of the she before further
prosecuting his search for the pouch.

Motioning for Chulk to follow him, he passed out of the tent by
the same way that he had entered it, and walking boldly through
the village, made directly for the hut where Jane Clayton had been
imprisoned.

He noted with surprise the absence of Taglat, whom he had expected
to find awaiting him outside the tent of Achmet Zek; but, accustomed
as he was to the unreliability of apes, he gave no serious attention
to the present defection of his surly companion. So long as Taglat
did not cause interference with his plans, Tarzan was indifferent
to his absence.

As he approached the hut, the ape-man noticed that a crowd
had collected about the entrance. He could see that the men who
composed it were much excited, and fearing lest Chulk's disguise
should prove inadequate to the concealment of his true identity
in the face of so many observers, he commanded the ape to betake
himself to the far end of the village, and there await him.

As Chulk waddled off, keeping to the shadows, Tarzan advanced
boldly toward the excited group before the doorway of the hut. He
mingled with the blacks and the Arabs in an endeavor to learn the
cause of the commotion, in his interest forgetting that he alone
of the assemblage carried a spear, a bow and arrows, and thus might
become an object of suspicious attention.