The dugout turned broadside the instant that its nose touched the
sand, and immediately it rolled over, with all its crew scrambling
madly for the shore. The next breaker rolled them over and over,
but eventually they all succeeded in crawling to safety, and in a
moment more their ungainly craft had been washed up beside them.
The balance of the night the apes sat huddled close to one another
for warmth; while Mugambi built a fire close to them over which he
crouched. Tarzan and Sheeta, however, were of a different mind,
for neither of them feared the jungle night, and the insistent
craving of their hunger sent them off into the Stygian blackness
of the forest in search of prey.
Side by side they walked when there was room for two abreast.
At other times in single file, first one and then the other in
advance. It was Tarzan who first caught the scent of meat--a bull
buffalo--and presently the two came stealthily upon the sleeping
beast in the midst of a dense jungle of reeds close to a river.
Closer and closer they crept toward the unsuspecting beast, Sheeta
upon his right side and Tarzan upon his left nearest the great
heart. They had hunted together now for some time, so that they
worked in unison, with only low, purring sounds as signals.
For a moment they lay quite silent near their prey, and then at a
sign from the ape-man Sheeta sprang upon the great back, burying
his strong teeth in the bull's neck.
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