"God!" he exclaimed, "I hope I
don't have to face that. I believe I could stand anything but the
thought of the fire. I should hate like the devil to go into a funk
before the devils at the last moment."
"Don't worry," said Tarzan. "It doesn't last long and you won't
funk. It is really not half as bad as it sounds. There is only a
brief period of pain before you lose consciousness. I have seen it
many times before. It is as good a way to go as another. We must
die sometime. What difference whether it be tonight, tomorrow night,
or a year hence, just so that we have lived--and I have lived!"
"Your philosophy may be all right, old top," said the young
lieutenant, "but I can't say that it is exactly satisfying."
Tarzan laughed. "Roll over here," he said, "where I can get at
your bonds with my teeth." The Englishman did as he was bid and
presently Tarzan was working at the thongs with his strong white
teeth. He felt them giving slowly beneath his efforts. In another
moment they would part, and then it would be a comparatively simple
thing for the Englishman to remove the remaining bonds from Tarzan
and himself.
It was then that one of the guards entered the hut. In an instant he
saw what the new prisoner was doing and raising his spear, struck
the ape-man a vicious blow across the head with its shaft. Then he
called in the other guards and together they fell upon the luckless
men, kicking and beating them unmercifully, after which they bound
the Englishman more securely than before and tied both men fast on
opposite sides of the hut.
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