The cat turned his head toward the man, eyeing him steadily--questioningly.
The long fangs were bared, but more in preparedness than threat.
Tarzan put a broad shoulder beneath the bole of the tree, and as
he did so his bare leg pressed against the cat's silken side, so
close was the man to the great beast.
Slowly Tarzan extended his giant thews.
The great tree with its entangling branches rose gradually from
the panther, who, feeling the encumbering weight diminish, quickly
crawled from beneath. Tarzan let the tree fall back to earth, and
the two beasts turned to look upon one another.
A grim smile lay upon the ape-man's lips, for he knew that he had
taken his life in his hands to free this savage jungle fellow; nor
would it have surprised him had the cat sprung upon him the instant
that it had been released.
But it did not do so. Instead, it stood a few paces from the tree
watching the ape-man clamber out of the maze of fallen branches.
Once outside, Tarzan was not three paces from the panther. He might
have taken to the higher branches of the trees upon the opposite
side, for Sheeta cannot climb to the heights to which the ape-man
can go; but something, a spirit of bravado perhaps, prompted him
to approach the panther as though to discover if any feeling of
gratitude would prompt the beast to friendliness.
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