It was a totally new experience to Tarzan to find
so barren and terrible a country in his beloved Africa. Even the
Sahara had its oases; but this frightful world gave no indication
of containing a square foot of hospitable ground.
However, he had no misgivings but that he would fare forth into
the wonder country of which little Manu had told him, though it
was certain that he would do it with a dry skin and an empty belly.
And so he fought on until daylight, when he again felt the need
of rest. He was at the edge of another of those terrible canyons,
the eighth he had crossed, whose precipitous sides would have taxed
to the uttermost the strength of an untired man well fortified by
food and water, and for the first time, as he looked down into the
abyss and then at the opposite side that he must scale, misgivings
began to assail his mind.
He did not fear death--with the memory of his murdered mate still
fresh in his mind he almost courted it, yet strong within him
was that primal instinct of self-preservation--the battling force
of life that would keep him an active contender against the Great
Reaper until, fighting to the very last, he should be overcome by
a superior power.
A shadow swung slowly across the ground beside him, and looking
up, the ape-man saw Ska, the vulture, wheeling a wide circle above
him.
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