THE SUNDAY FICTION MAGAZINE, MARCH 26, 1916.
ETERHAIL
N ii m
ii r i ii
HE girl made a slight
detour to avoid Che
beast and Its kin,
passing a few yards
above them. In the
moonlight the lion
saw her and the
hound.
Standing across bis fallen prey, his.
flaming eyes glaring at the intruders, he
rumbled' bis deep warning to them; but
Victoria, dragging the growling Terkoz
after her, passed on, and the king of
beasts turned to his feast.
It was fifteen minutes before Terkoz
could relocate the trail, and then the two
took up their lonely way once more.
Into the foothills past the tortured
strata of an ancient age it wound. f At
sight of the naked rock the girl shud
dered; yet on and up she went until Ter
koz halted, bristling and growling, be
fore" the inky entrance of a gloomy cave.
Holding the beast back, Victoria peered
-within. Her eyes could not penetrate the
darkness.
Here evidently the trail ended, but of a
sudden it occurred to her that she had
only surmised that the bloody spoor they
had been following was that of the man
she sought.
It was almost equally as probable that
Curtiss shot had struck Old Raffles' mate,
and that, after all, she bad followed the
blood of a wounded lioness to the crea
ture's rocky lair.
Bending low, she listened, and at last
there came to her ears a sound as of a
body moving, and then heavy breathing
and a sigh.
"Nu!" she whispered. "Is it you? I
have- come!" Nor did it seem strange to
her that she spoke in a strange tongue,
no word of which she had ever heard in
all her life before.
For a moment there was silence, and
then, weakly, from the depths of the
cave a voice replied.
"Nat-ul !"
It was barely a whisper.
Quickly the girl groped her way Into
the cavern, feeling before her with her
hands until she came to the prostrate
form of a man lying upon the cold, hard
rock. With difficulty she kept the growl
ing wolfhound from his throat.
Terkoz had found the prey that he bad
tracked, and he could not understand
why he should not now be allowed to
make the kill; but he was a well-trained
beast, and at last at the girl's command
he took up a position at the cave's mouth
on guard.
Victoria kneeled beside the prostrate
form of Nu, the son of Nu; but she was
no longer Victoria Custer. It was Nat-ul,
the daughter of Tha, who kneeled there
beside the man she loved.
Gently she passed her slim fingers
across his forehead; it was burning with
, a ragf ng fever. She felt the wound along
the side, of his head and shuddered. Then
she raised him in her arms so that his
head was pillowed In her lap. and kissed
his cheek. ' ' -
- t
Halfway down the mountainside, she
recalled, there was a little spring of fresh,
cold water. Removing her hunting-jacket,
she rolled it into a pillow for the uncon
scious Jiian; and then, with Terkoz at her
side, clambered down the rocky way.
Filling . her hat with water, she re
turned to the cave.
; .. . .
All night she bathed the fevered head
and, 'washed the ugly wound, at time
squeezing a few refreshing drops between
the hot -lips.
At last the restless tossing of the
wounded' man ceased, and the girl saw
that he had fallen Into a natural sleep,
and that 'the fever had abated!
"' When the first rays of the rising sun
relieved the gloom; within the cavern, Ter
koz; rising to stretch himself, looked back
' ward into the Interior. .
fie saw a black-haired giant deeping
, fiuietly, his head pillowed upon a khaki
By Edgar Rice Burroughs
IUuttnied by Dorothy Dalin.
ynopsis
NU, THE SON OF NU, mighty hunter, is looking for the fierce saber
toothed tiger, Oo, hunter of men, for the girl he loves, Nat-ul,
daughter of Tha, will mate with none but the mightiest of hunter. She
tells him that not even he, son of the chief of chiefs, cam claim her until
the fangs of Oo hang from his loin cloth. He finally comes to the home
of Oo, and after a terrific fight he kills the tiger. Then a strange dark
ness covers the earth, the ground trembles and a giant rock covers the
mouth of the cave in which Nu takes refuge. Nu loses consciousness.
This was a hundred thousand years ago.
Victoria Custer, a brilliant American girl, confides to her brother
that ahe is deathly afraid of earthquakes. They go to visit at the Afri
can estate of Lord Grey stoke, formerly Tarzan of the Apes, and on the
way home from a hunt she tells her brother that the hills they pass
make her feel that she has lost one whom she loves above all others,
and at the same time there is a ray of brilliant hope. William Curtiss,
who is pa love with Victoria, follows her to Africa, and after dinner one
evening tells her that he lores her. She is about to answer him when
a terrific earthquake occurs and Victoria runs to the house, where she
faints in her brother's arms. " '
The earthquake uncovers the tomb where Nu has lam so long, and
he is revived and wonders at the change in the country. He starts out
to find his people, and being hungry, kills a zebra with his spear. He
is cutting meat frdm it when he scents the approach of men.
Victoria regains consciousness and telle her brother what her ex
periences have been. She has seen the only man she can love, a pre
historic man clothed in skins. Her brother tells her it is merely a
dream. They go out for a hunt and discover the zebra Nu has killed.
Nu trails them to the house and at night draws near to investigate. He
.sees Victoria in the room, and recognizing her as Nat-ul he sepaks her
name. Those in the room hear it, but Victoria alone - knows what it
means.
Later in the evening Victoria, unable to stand the strain, goes for a
walk. She is watched from the bushes by Nu, who, when a lion spring
at her, kills it with his spear. Curtiss shoots at Nu, whom he catches
a glimpse of. The spear is taken from the dead lion and given to Vic
toria. Later blood spots are seen and Victoria secretly follows their trail
to find Nu and care for his wounds, .
hunting-coat; and beside him sat the girl,
her loosened hair tumbled about her
shoulders and over the breat of the sleep
ing man, upon which her own tired head
had dropped m the sleep of utter exhaus
tion. Terkoz yawned and lay down again.
T
CHAPTER Vn.
The Lonely Man.
AFTER a time, the girl awoke. For a
few minutes she could not assure
herself of the reality of her surroundings.
She thought that this was but another of
her dreams.
Gently she put out her hand and
touched the face of the sleeper. It was
very real. Also, she. noted that the fever
had left.
She sat In silence for a few minutes, at
tempting to adjust herself to the new and
strange conditions which" surrounded her.
She seemed to be two people the Ameri
can girf, Victoria Custer, and Nat-ul. But
who or from where was Nat-ul she could
not .fathom, other than that she was be
loved by. Nu; that she returned his love.
She wondered that she did not regret
the life of ease she had abandoned, and
which she knew that she could nevei
again return to. She was still sufficiently
of the twentieth century to realise that
the step she had taken must cut her off
forever from her past Ufa yet she jgw
very happy. ,v , ,
Bending low over the man, she klasedj
his lips, and then, rising, went outside
and, taking-Terkoz with her, descended
to the spring, for she was thirsty. " wr
k Neither the girl nor the hound saw the
white-robed figure that withdrew sudden
ly behind a huge bowlder as the, two
emerged from the cave's w
Nor did they see him signal to others
behind him who had not yet rounded the
shoulder of the cliff at the base of which
they had been marching.
Victoria stooped to fill her hat at the
epring. First she leaned far down to
quench her own thirst.
A sudden, warning growl from Terkoz
brought her head up, and there, not ten
paces from her, she saw a dozen white
robed Arabs, and behind them half a
hundred blacks. All were armed; evil
looking fellows they were, and one of the
Arabs had covered her with his long gun.
Now he spoke to her, but in a tongue
she did not understand, though she knew
that his message was unfriendly, and
imagined that It warned her not to at
tempt to use her own rifle which lay be
side her. Next he spoke to those behind
him, and two of them approached the
girl, one' from either side, while the leader
continued to keep his piece leveled at her.
As the twoame toward her she heard
a menacing growl from the wolfhound,
and then saw him leap for the nearest
Arab. The fellow clubbed his gun and
swung It full upon Terkozs skull, so that
the faithful hound 'collapsed in a silent
heap at their feet.
Then the two rushed In and seized Vic
toria's rifle; a moment later she was
roughly dragged, toward the leader of the
ni -favored gang. :
- "
Through one of the blacks, a Vvest
Coast negro who had picked up a smat
tering of pidgin English, the leader Ques
tioned the girl, and when he found that
she was a guest of Lord Greystoke an
ugly "grin crossed bis -evil face, for the
fellow recalled what had befallen another
Arab" slave and ivory caravan . at, the
hands of the KngHshman and his Wasiri
warriors. Here was an opportunity tor
partial revenge.
J. He motioned. for his followers to bring
her along; there was no time to tarry in
this country of their enemies, into which
they had accidentally stumbled after being
loat In the jungle for the better part of
a month.
Victoria asked what their intentions to
ward her were; but all . that she could
learn was that they would take her north
with them. She offered to arrange the
payment of a suitable ransom if they
would return her to her friends unharmed,
but the Arab only laughed at her.
"You will bring a good price," he said,
"at the court of the Sultan of Fulad,
north of Tagwara,' and for the rest I
shall have partly settled the score which I,
have against the KngHciman "
So Victoria Custer disappeared from
the sight of men at the border of the land
of the Waziri, nor was there -any other
than her captors to know the devious
route that they followed to gain "the coun
try north of Uziri.
When at last Nu, the son of Nu, opened
his eyes from, the deep slumber that had
refreshed and invigorated him be looked
up expectantly for the face that had been
hovering above bis, and as he realized
that the cave was tenantless except for
himself, a sigh that was half sob broke
from the. depths of his lonely heart, for
he kneW that Nat-ul had been with him
only In his dreams.
Yet It had been so real! Even now he
could feel the touch of her cool hand upon
his forehead, and her slim fingers run
ning through his hair. His cheek glowed
to her hot kisses, and in his nostrils was
the sweet aroma of her dear presence.
The disillusionment of his- waking
brought with it bitter disappointment, and
a return of the fever. Again Nu lapsed
into semi -consciousness and delirium, so
that he was not aware of the khaki-clad
white man that crept warily Into the half
darkness of his lair shortly after noon.
It was Barney Custer, and behind him
came Curtiss, Butzow and a half-dozen
others of toe searching party. They had
stumbled upon the half-dead Terkoz be
side the spring, and there also they found
Victoria Custer's hat, and plainly in the
soft earth between the bowlders of the
hillside they had seen the new-made path
of the cave higher up. N
'
When Barney saw that the prostrate
figure within the cavern did not stir at
his entrance a stifling fear rose in his
throat, for he was sure that he had found
the dead body of his sister; but as his
eyes became accustomed to the dim light
of the interior he realized his mistake at
first with sense of Infinite relief and
later with misgivings that amounted -almost
to a wish that it had been Victoria,
safe in death; for among the savage men
of savage Africa there are fates worse
than death for women.
The others had crowded In beside him,
and oae had lighted a torch of dry twigs
which for a few seconds illuminated the
interior of the cave brightly. In that time
they saw that the man was the only oc
cupant and that he was helpless from
fever.
Beside him lay the stone spear that
had slain Old Raffles each of them rec
ognized It. How could It have been
brought to him?
"The zcbra-kilier," said Brown. "What's
that beneath his head? Looks like a
khaki coat."
y Barney drew H out and held tt op.
"God! cried Curtiss. "It's hers."
"He must have come down there after
we left, got his spear, and stolen your
sister, said Brown. -
Curtiss drew bis revolver and pushed
closer toward the unconscious' Nu. '
"The beast," be growled. 'Shooting's
too good for him. Get out ofVthe wayi
Barney; Tm going to give him all six
chambers." - ".
- "No, said Barney quietly.
"Why?" demanded Curtiss, trying to
push past Custer.'
"Because I don't believe that he harmed