of the possibility of failure of his quest, and even then he would
only admit that success was but delayed. He would eat and sleep,
and then set forth again. The jungle was wide; but wide too were
the experience and cunning of Tarzan. Taglat might travel far;
but Tarzan would find him in the end, though he had to search every
tree in the mighty forest.

Soliloquizing thus, the ape-man followed the spoor of Bara, the
deer, the unfortunate upon which he had decided to satisfy his
hunger. For half an hour the trail led the ape-man toward the
east along a well-marked game path, when suddenly, to the stalker's
astonishment, the quarry broke into sight, racing madly back along
the narrow way straight toward the hunter.

Tarzan, who had been following along the trail, leaped so quickly
to the concealing verdure at the side that the deer was still
unaware of the presence of an enemy in this direction, and while
the animal was still some distance away, the ape-man swung into
the lower branches of the tree which overhung the trail. There he
crouched, a savage beast of prey, awaiting the coming of its victim.

What had frightened the deer into so frantic a retreat, Tarzan
did not know--Numa, the lion, perhaps, or Sheeta, the panther; but
whatsoever it was mattered little to Tarzan of the Apes--he was
ready and willing to defend his kill against any other denizen of the
jungle. If he were unable to do it by means of physical prowess,
he had at his command another and a greater power--his shrewd
intelligence.

And so, on came the running deer, straight into the jaws of death.