第31章

That he might keep up the appearance of the character he was playing, Tarzan spent considerable time hunting in the vicinity of Bou Saada.He would spend entire days in the foothills, ostensibly searching for gazelle, but on the few occasions that he came close enough to any of the beautiful little animals to harm them he invariably allowed them to escape without so much as taking his rifle from its boot.The ape-man could see no sport in slaughtering the most harmless and defenseless of God's creatures for the mere pleasure of killing.

In fact, Tarzan had never killed for "pleasure," nor to him was there pleasure in killing.It was the joy of righteous battle that he loved--the ecstasy of victory.And the keen and successful hunt for food in which he pitted his skill and craftiness against the skill and craftiness of another;but to come out of a town filled with food to shoot down a soft-eyed, pretty gazelle--ah, that was crueller than the deliberate and cold-blooded murder of a fellow man.

Tarzan would have none of it, and so he hunted alone that none might discover the sham that he was practicing.

And once, probably because of the fact that he rode alone, he was like to have lost his life.He was riding slowly through a little ravine when a shot sounded close behind him, and a bullet passed through the cork helmet he wore.

Although he turned at once and galloped rapidly to the top of the ravine, there was no sign of any enemy, nor did he see aught of another human being until he reached Bou Saada.

"Yes," he soliloquized, in recalling the occurrence, "Olga has indeed thrown away her twenty thousand francs."That night he was Captain Gerard's guest at a little dinner.

"Your hunting has not been very fortunate?" questioned the officer.

"No," replied Tarzan; "the game hereabout is timid, nor do I care particularly about hunting game birds or antelope.

I think I shall move on farther south, and have a try at some of your Algerian lions.""Good!" exclaimed the captain."We are marching toward Djelfa on the morrow.You shall have company that far at least.

Lieutenant Gernois and I, with a hundred men, are ordered south to patrol a district in which the marauders are giving considerable trouble.Possibly we may have the pleasure of hunting the lion together--what say you?"Tarzan was more than pleased, nor did he hesitate to say so;but the captain would have been astonished had he known the real reason of Tarzan's pleasure.Gernois was sitting opposite the ape-man.He did not seem so pleased with his captain's invitation.

"You will find lion hunting more exciting than gazelle shooting," remarked Captain Gerard, "and more dangerous.""Even gazelle shooting has its dangers," replied Tarzan.

"Especially when one goes alone.I found it so today.

I also found that while the gazelle is the most timid of animals, it is not the most cowardly."He let his glance rest only casually upon Gernois after he had spoken, for he did not wish the man to know that he was under suspicion, or surveillance, no matter what he might think.The effect of his remark upon him, however, might tend to prove his connection with, or knowledge of, certain recent happenings.Tarzan saw a dull red creep up from beneath Gernois' collar.He was satisfied, and quickly changed the subject.

When the column rode south from Bou Saada the next morning there were half a dozen Arabs bringing up the rear.

"They are not attached to the command," replied Gerard in response to Tarzan's query."They merely accompany us on the road for companionship."Tarzan had learned enough about Arab character since he had been in Algeria to know that this was no real motive, for the Arab is never overfond of the companionship of strangers, and especially of French soldiers.So his suspicions were aroused, and he decided to keep a sharp eye on the little party that trailed behind the column at a distance of about a quarter of a mile.But they did not come close enough even during the halts to enable him to obtain a close scrutiny of them.

He had long been convinced that there were hired assassins on his trail, nor was he in great doubt but that Rokoff was at the bottom of the plot.Whether it was to be revenge for the several occasions in the past that Tarzan had defeated the Russian's purposes and humiliated him, or was in some way connected with his mission in the Gernois affair, he could not determine.If the latter, and it seemed probable since the evidence he had had that Gernois suspected him, then he had two rather powerful enemies to contend with, for there would be many opportunities in the wilds of Algeria, for which they were bound, to dispatch a suspected enemy quietly and without attracting suspicion.

After camping at Djelfa for two days the column moved to the southwest, from whence word had come that the marauders were operating against the tribes whose DOUARS were situated at the foot of the mountains.

The little band of Arabs who had accompanied them from Bou Saada had disappeared suddenly the very night that orders had been given to prepare for the morrow's march from Djelfa.Tarzan made casual inquiries among the men, but none could tell him why they had left, or in what direction they had gone.He did not like the looks of it, especially in view of the fact that he had seen Gernois in conversation with one of them some half hour after Captain Gerard had issued his instructions relative to the new move.

Only Gernois and Tarzan knew the direction of the proposed march.

All the soldiers knew was that they were to be prepared to break camp early the next morning.Tarzan wondered if Gernois could have revealed their destination to the Arabs.