For some time they sat in silence which was broken only by an occasional sound of movement from the outer darkness. It must have been an hour later that the ape-man rose quietly and drew his long blade from its sheath. Smith-Oldwick was dozing against the rocky wall of the cavern entrance, while the girl, exhausted by the excitement and fatigue of the day, had fallen into deep slumber. An instant after Tarzan arose, Smith-Oldwick and the girl were aroused by a volley of thunderous roars and the noise of many padded feet rushing toward them.
Tarzan of the Apes stood directly before the entrance to the cavern, his knife in his hand, awaiting the charge. The ape-man had not expected any such concerted action as he now realized had been taken by those watching them. He had known for some time that other men had joined those who were with the lions earlier in the evening, and when he arose to his feet it was because he knew that the lions and the men were moving cautiously closer to him and his party. He might easily have eluded them, for he had seen that the face of the cliff rising above the mouth of the cavern might be scaled by as good a climber as himself. It might have been wiser had he tried to escape, for he knew that in the face of such odds even he was helpless, but he stood his ground though I doubt if he could have told why.
He owed nothing either of duty or friendship to the girl sleeping in the cavern, nor could he longer be of any protec-tion to her or her companion. Yet something held him there in futile self-sacrifice.
The great Tarmangani had not even the satisfaction of striking a blow in self-defense. A veritable avalanche of savage beasts rolled over him and threw him heavily to the ground.
In falling his head struck the rocky surface of the cliff, stun-ning him.
It was daylight when he regained consciousness. The first dim impression borne to his awakening mind was a confusion of savage sounds which gradually resolved themselves into the growling of lions, and then, little by little, there came back to him the recollections of what had preceded the blow that had felled him.
Strong in his nostrils was the scent of Numa, the lion, and against one naked leg he could feel the coat of some animal.
Slowly Tarzan opened his eyes. He was lying on his side and as he looked down his body, he saw that a great lion stood straddling him -- a great lion who growled hideously at some-thing which Tarzan could not see.
With the full return of his senses Tarzan's nose told him that the beast above him was Numa of the Wamabo pit.
Thus reassured, the ape-man spoke to the lion and at the same time made a motion as though he would arise. Immedi-ately Numa stepped from above him. As Tarzan raised his head, he saw that he still lay where he had fallen before the opening of the cliff where the girl had been sleeping and that Numa, backed against the cliffside, was apparently defending him from two other lions who paced to and fro a short distance from their intended victim.
And then Tarzan turned his eyes into the cave and saw that the girl and Smith-Oldwick were gone.
His efforts had been for naught. With an angry toss of his head, the ape-man turned upon the two lions who had con-tinued to pace back and forth a few yards from him. Numa of the lion pit turned a friendly glance in Tarzan's direction, rubbed his head against the ape-man's side, and then directed his snarling countenance toward the two hunters.
"I think," said Tarzan to Numa, "that you and I together can make these beasts very unhappy." He spoke in English, which, of course, Numa did not understand at all, but there must have been something reassuring in the tone, for Numa whined pleadingly and moved impatiently to and fro parallel with their antagonists.
"Come," said Tarzan suddenly and grasping the lion's mane with his left hand he moved toward the other lions, his com-panion pacing at his side. As the two advanced the others drew slowly back and, finally separating, moved off to either side.
Tarzan and Numa passed between them but neither the great black-maned lion nor the man failed to keep an eye upon the beast nearer him so that they were not caught unawares when, as though at some preconcerted signal, the two cats charged simultaneously from opposite directions.
The ape-man met the charge of his antagonist after the same fashion of fighting that he had been accustomed to employing in previous encounters with Numa and Sheeta. To have at-tempted to meet the full shock of a lion's charge would have been suicidal even for the giant Tarmangani. Instead he re-sorted to methods of agility and cunning, for quick as are the great cats, even quicker is Tarzan of the Apes.
With outspread, raking talons and bared fangs Numa sprang for the naked chest of the ape-man. Throwing up his left arm as a boxer might ward off a blow, Tarzan struck upward beneath the left forearm of the lion, at the same time rushing in with his shoulder beneath the animal's body and simul-taneously drove his blade into the tawny hide behind the shoulder. With a roar of pain Numa wheeled again, the per-sonification of bestial rage. Now indeed would he exterminate this presumptuous man-thing who dared even to think that he could thwart the king of beasts in his desires. But as he wheeled, his intended quarry wheeled with him, brown fingers locked in the heavy mane on the powerful neck and again the blade struck deep into the lion's side.
Then it was that Numa went mad with hate and pain and at the same instant the ape-man leaped full upon his back.
Easily before had Tarzan locked his legs beneath the belly of a lion while he clung to its long mane and stabbed it until his point reached its heart. So easy it had seemed before that he experienced a sharp feeling of resentment that he was unable to do so now, for the quick movements of the lion prevented him, and presently, to his dismay, as the lion leaped and threw him about, the ape-man realized that he was swinging in-evitably beneath those frightful talons.
