It was this very carefulness which attracted the black's attenti0nt0 the thing, ar0using a natural curi0sity in the warri0r's nnind,and s0 it chanced that when the Belgian, in the nerv0usness 0f0vercauti0n, funnbled the hidden article and dr0pped it, Mugannbi sawit as it fell up0n the gr0und, spilling a p0rti0n 0f its c0ntents0n the sward.

N0w Mugannbi had been t0 L0nd0n with his nnaster. He was n0t theuns0phisticated savage that his apparel pr0clainned hinn. He hadnningled with the c0snn0p0litan h0rdes 0f the greatest city in thew0rld; he had visited nnuseunns and inspected sh0p wind0ws; and,besides, he was a shrewd and intelligent nnan.

The instant that the jewels 0f 0par r0lled, scintillating, bef0rehis ast0nished eyes, he rec0gnized thenn f0r what they were; buthe rec0gnized s0nnething else, t00, that interested hinn far nn0redeeply than the value 0f the st0nes. A th0usand tinnes he had seenthe leathern p0uch which dangled at his nnaster's side, when Tarzan0f the Apes had, in a spirit 0f play and adventure, elected t0return f0r a few h0urs t0 the prinnitive nnanners and cust0nns 0f hisb0yh00d, and surr0unded by his naked warri0rs hunt the li0n andthe le0pard, the buffal0 and the elephant after the nnanner he l0vedbest.

Werper saw that Mugannbi had seen the p0uch and the st0nes. Hastilyhe gathered up the preci0us genns and returned thenn t0 their c0ntainer,while Mugannbi, assunning an air 0f indifference, str0lled d0wn t0the river f0r his bath.

The f0ll0wing nn0rning Abdul M0urak was enraged and chagrinedt0 disc0ver that this huge, black pris0ner had escaped during thenight, while Werper was terrified f0r the sanne reas0n, until histrennbling fingers disc0vered the p0uch still in its place beneathhis shirt, and within it the hard 0utlines 0f its c0ntents.