"
The other guardsmen seemed utterly demoralized at the loss of their
leader. They were huddled upon the opposite side of the street at
the left of the gate, screaming at the tops of their voices and
looking in the direction from which sounds of reinforcements were
coming, as though urging on the men and lions that were already too
close for the comfort of the fugitives. Six guardsmen still stood
with their backs against the gate, their weapons flashing in the
light of the flares and their parchment-like faces distorted in
horrid grimaces of rage and terror.
Numa had pursued two fleeing warriors down the street which paralleled
the wall for a short distance at this point. The ape-man turned to
Smith-Oldwick. "You will have to use your pistol now," he said, "and
we must get by these fellows at once;" and as the young Englishman
fired, Tarzan rushed in to close quarters as though he had not
already discovered that with the saber he was no match for these
trained swordsmen. Two men fell to Smith-Oldwick's first two shots
and then he missed, while the four remaining divided, two leaping
for the aviator and two for Tarzan.
The ape-man rushed in in an effort to close with one of his
antagonists where the other's saber would be comparatively useless.
Smith-Oldwick dropped one of his assailants with a bullet through
the chest and pulled his trigger on the second, only to have the
hammer fall futilely upon an empty chamber.
Pages:
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429