At
the same moment a half dozen lions rounded the last turn in the
road leading back toward the plaza, and at sight of them Numa of
the pit wheeled and charged. For a moment the lions of the city
stood their ground, but only for a moment, and then before the
black beast was upon them, they turned and fled, while Tarzan and
his party moved rapidly toward the blackness of the forest beyond
the garden.
"Will they follow us out of the city?" Tarzan asked Otobu.
"Not at night," replied the black. "I have been a slave here for
five years but never have I known these people to leave the city
by night. If they go beyond the forest in the daytime they usually
wait until the dawn of another day before they return, as they fear
to pass through the country of the black lions after dark. No, I
think, Master, that they will not follow us tonight, but tomorrow
they will come, and, O Bwana, then will they surely get us, or
those that are left of us, for at least one among us must be the
toll of the black lions as we pass through their forest."
As they crossed the garden, Smith-Oldwick refilled the magazine
of his pistol and inserted a cartridge in the chamber. The girl
moved silently at Tarzan's left, between him and the aviator. Suddenly
the ape-man stopped and turned toward the city, his mighty frame,
clothed in the yellow tunic of Herog's soldiery, plainly visible
to the others beneath the light of the stars.
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