"One more favor," begged the black.
"What?"
"I have a brother. He, too, was captured by these people when they captured me. He is a slave in the gold mines south of Cathne. His name is Niaka. If you should ever go to the gold mines, tell him that Hafim has escaped. It will make him happier, and perhaps then he will try to escape."
"I shall tell him. Now go."
Silently the black disappeared among the boles of the forest trees, and Tarzan sprang again into the branches and swung rapidly back in the direction of the hunters. When he reached them, dropping to the ground and approaching them from behind, they were clustered near the spot at which Hafim had taken to the trees.
"Where have you been?" asked Xerstle. "We thought that you had become lost."
"I dropped behind," replied the ape-man; "but where is your quarry? I thought that you would have had him by this time."
"We cannot understand it," admitted Xerstle. "It is evident that he climbed this tree, because the lions followed him to this very spot, where they stood looking up into the tree; but they did not growl as though they saw the man. Then we leashed them again and sent one of the keepers into the tree, but he saw no sign of the quarry."
"It is a mystery!" exclaimed Pindes.
"It is indeed," agreed Tarzan; "at least for those who do not know the secret."