Already the
machine was slowly leaving the ground. In a moment more it would
rise swiftly out of reach. At first Tarzan thought of fitting an
arrow to his bow and slaying Usanga, but as quickly he abandoned
the idea because he knew that the moment the pilot was slain the
machine, running wild, would dash the girl to death among the trees.
There was but one way in which he might hope to succor her--a way
which if it failed must send him to instant death and yet he did
not hesitate in an attempt to put it into execution.
Usanga did not see him, being too intent upon the unaccustomed duties
of a pilot, but the blacks across the meadow saw him and they ran
forward with loud and savage cries and menacing rifles to intercept
him. They saw a giant white man leap from the branches of a tree
to the turf and race rapidly toward the plane. They saw him take
a long grass rope from about his shoulders as he ran. They saw the
noose swinging in an undulating circle above his head. They saw
the white girl in the machine glance down and discover him.
Twenty feet above the running ape-man soared the huge plane. The
open noose shot up to meet it, and the girl, half guessing the
ape-man's intentions, reached out and caught the noose and, bracing
herself, clung tightly to it with both hands. Simultaneously Tarzan
was dragged from his feet and the plane lurched sideways in response
to the new strain.
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