For a moment there was silence. Then the voice of an old man came out of the quiet of the village street.
“If you are indeed a white man and a friend, we will let you come in; but first you must drive Sheeta away.”
“Very well,” replied Tarzan. “Listen, and you shall hear Sheeta fleeing before me.”
The ape-man returned quickly to the tree, and this time he made a great noise as he entered the branches, at the same time growling ominously after the manner of the panther, so that those below would believe that the great beast was still there.
When he reached a point well above the village street he made a great commotion, shaking the tree violently, crying aloud to the panther to flee or be killed, and punctuating his own voice with the screams and mouthings of an angry beast.
Presently he raced toward the opposite side of the tree and off into the jungle, pounding loudly against the boles of trees as he went, and voicing the panther’s diminishing growls as he drew farther and farther away from the village.
A few minutes later he returned to the village gate, calling to the natives within.
“I have driven Sheeta away,” he said. “Now come and admit me as you promised.”
For a time there was the sound of excited discussion within the palisade, but at length a half-dozen warriors came and opened the gates, peering anxiously out in evident trepidation as to the nature of the creature which they should find waiting there. They were not much relieved at sight of an almost naked white man; but when Tarzan had reassured them in quiet tones, protesting his friendship for them, they opened the barrier a trifle farther and admitted him.
When the gates had been once more secured the self-confidence of the savages returned, and as Tarzan walked up the village street toward the chief’s hut he was surrounded by a host of curious men, women, and children.