"We're just like the lions at feeding time in the zoo," she said, wiping her face on her sleeve.

"You're a sight," said Hanson. "Last time I saw your face like that, you were twelve or thirteen, and you'd stolen jam out of the pantry."

"All I know is, that's the best meal I've ever eaten."

The sun was low, and Hanson knew the brief equatorial twilight would come and go with startling swiftness. He banked the fire in the hope of preserving embers for breakfast. In the distance a lion roared.

Hanson and Jean climbed into the tree where Hanson had constructed a crude platform of limbs, vines, and leaves. They sat on the edge of it, dangling their legs, looking down into the growing darkness. There was a slight warm breeze and it smelled of the jungle foliage, and faintly of rotting leaves.

Again, a lion roared, but much closer now.

"Where do you suppose he lives?" said the girl.

"Who? The lion?" asked the man.

Jean laughed. "No, silly," she said, "our wild man."

"Oh, probably in a cave with his mate, and a half-dozen naked dirty brats and an ill-tempered, one-legged dog."

"And why would he have a one-legged dog?"

" Because he ate the other three."

'That's not very nice. Dad."

"Get your mind off the loincloth, dear."

"Dad!"

"Good night, dear. Try not to think about your jungle man too much."

"I was just curious, was all."

"Of course," Hanson said, lying down on the platform. "Good night."

It was suddenly quite dark, and below there were a multitude of noises-rustlings, a growl, and then the weird, uncanny yapping of hyenas.

"They're fighting over the entrails of the antelope," said Hanson.

"It's nice to be up here where it's safe," said Jean.

Hanson thought of the python and the leopard, but he did not mention them. The lion roared again. He was very close now, almost directly beneath them. Then he moved on, growling. Hanson could hear the hyenas scattering.

The king had come.

Chapter 3

TARZAN WENT TO the camp where he had discovered Wilson and his gang. From there he could easily follow the plain trail of the safari even though he was traveling through the trees. Presently, he caught the scent of Numa the lion, and a few moments later he saw the great carnivore on the trail below-a splendid, black-maned beast.

Tarzan dropped to the ground behind the lion, and as the beast heard him, it turned upon him with a savage growl. Tarzan stood perfectly still, a faint smile on his lips.

The lion approached, and rearing on its hind feet, placed a forepaw on each of the ape-man's shoulders. It was Jad-bal-ja, the Golden Lion, which Tarzan had raised and trained since cubhood.

Tarzan twisted its ears, and the great cat nuzzled its nose against his neck. A moment later Tarzan pushed the lion from his shoulders. "Come," he said, "You and I have something to do."

The four renegades had selected a campsite after a hard march. It was off the trail near a break in the trees. The bearers were about setting up camp, and Cannon, whip in hand, was lashing at the carriers of his safari and Hanson's as well.

"Snap it up, you lazy bastards," Cannon yelled. "Quit loafin'. I say jump, you say how high. You're working for men now." He laid the lash across the back of a carrier who was working diligently, and took delight in watching him jump.

Satisfied for the moment, his arm tired. Cannon paused, his belly heaving beneath his sweat-stained shirt. The whip gave him pleasure. It made him think of the lashes he had gotten at the legionnaire post.