the forest, and a longing for the pleasures of its mysterious
depths possessed his thoughts for a considerable time. With the
next sun he would cross the open and enter the forest! There was
no hurry--there lay before him an endless vista of tomorrows with
naught to fill them but the satisfying of the appetites and caprices
of the moment.

The ape-man's mind was untroubled by regret for the past, or
aspiration for the future. He could lie at full length along a
swaying branch, stretching his giant limbs, and luxuriating in the
blessed peace of utter thoughtlessness, without an apprehension
or a worry to sap his nervous energy and rob him of his peace of
mind. Recalling only dimly any other existence, the ape-man was
happy. Lord Greystoke had ceased to exist.

For several hours Tarzan lolled upon his swaying, leafy couch until
once again hunger and thirst suggested an excursion. Stretching
lazily he dropped to the ground and moved slowly toward the river.
The game trail down which he walked had become by ages of use a
deep, narrow trench, its walls topped on either side by impenetrable
thicket and dense-growing trees closely interwoven with thick-stemmed
creepers and lesser vines inextricably matted into two solid
ramparts of vegetation. Tarzan had almost reached the point where
the trail debouched upon the open river bottom when he saw a family
of lions approaching along the path from the direction of the river.
The ape-man counted seven--a male and two lionesses, full grown,
and four young lions as large and quite as formidable as their
parents. Tarzan halted, growling, and the lions paused, the great
male in the lead baring his fangs and rumbling forth a warning
roar. In his hand the ape-man held his heavy spear; but he had no