That her fate would now be infinitely more horrible than the
quick and painless death that the ape-man would have meted to her
only interested Tarzan to the extent that the more frightful the
end of a German the more in keeping it would be with what they all
deserved.
And so he let the blacks pass with Fraulein Bertha Kircher in their
midst, or at least until the last straggling warrior suggested to
his mind the pleasures of black-baiting--an amusement and a sport
in which he had grown ever more proficient since that long-gone day
when Kulonga, the son of Mbonga, the chief, had cast his unfortunate
spear at Kala, the ape-man's foster mother.
The last man, who must have stopped for some purpose, was fully a
quarter of a mile in rear of the party. He was hurrying to catch
up when Tarzan saw him, and as he passed beneath the tree in which
the ape-man perched above the trail, a silent noose dropped deftly
about his neck. The main body still was in plain sight, and as the
frightened man voiced a piercing shriek of terror, they looked back
to see his body rise as though by magic straight into the air and
disappear amidst the leafy foliage above.
For a moment the blacks stood paralyzed by astonishment and fear;
but presently the burly sergeant, Usanga, who led them, started
back along the trail at a run, calling to the others to follow
him.
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