Some of them were dozing
against the boles of trees, while others roamed about turning over
bits of bark from beneath which they transferred the luscious grubs
and beetles to their mouths.
Akut was the closest to Sheeta.
The great cat lay crouched upon a thick limb, hidden from the ape's
view by dense foliage, waiting patiently until the anthropoid should
come within range of his spring.
Tarzan cautiously gained a position in the same tree with the
panther and a little above him. In his left hand he grasped his
slim stone blade. He would have preferred to use his noose, but
the foliage surrounding the huge cat precluded the possibility of
an accurate throw with the rope.
Akut had now wandered quite close beneath the tree wherein lay the
waiting death. Sheeta slowly edged his hind paws along the branch
still further beneath him, and then with a hideous shriek he
launched himself toward the great ape. The barest fraction of a
second before his spring another beast of prey above him leaped,
its weird and savage cry mingling with his.
As the startled Akut looked up he saw the panther almost above him,
and already upon the panther's back the white ape that had bested
him that day near the great water.
The teeth of the ape-man were buried in the back of Sheeta's neck
and his right arm was round the fierce throat, while the left hand,
grasping a slender piece of stone, rose and fell in mighty blows
upon the panther's side behind the left shoulder.
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