“The Bolgani will send and slay us all,” they said, “when they learn what has happened in our village, unless we can take to them the creature that cast the spear. Therefore, Tarmangani, you shall go with us to the Palace of Diamonds, and there we shall give you over to the Bolgani and perhaps Numa will forgive us.” The ape-man smiled. What kind of creature did the simple blacks think him, to believe that he would permit himself to be easily led into the avenging hands of Numa, the Emperor of the Bolgani. Although he was fully aware of the risk that he had taken in entering the village, he knew too that because he was Tarzan of the Apes there was a greater chance that he would be able to escape than that they could hold him. He had faced savage spearmen before and knew precisely what to expect in the event of hostilities. He preferred, however, to make peace with these people, for it had been in his mind to find some means of questioning them the moment that he had discovered their village hidden away in this wild forest. “Wait,” he said, therefore. “Would you betray a friend who enters your village to protect you from an enemy?” “We will not slay you, Tarmangani. We will take you to the Bolgani for Numa, the Emperor.” “But that would amount to the same thing,” returned Tarzan, “for you well know that Numa, the Emperor, will have me slain.” “That we cannot help,” replied the spokesman. “If we could save you we would, but when the Bolgani discover what has happened in our village, it is we who must suffer, unless, perhaps, they are satisfied to punish you instead.” “But why need they know that the Bolgani has been slain in your village?” asked Tarzan. “Will they not see his body next time they come?” asked the spokesman. “Not if you remove his body,” replied Tarzan. The blacks scratched their heads. Into their dull, ignorant minds had crept no such suggestion of a solution of their problem. What the stranger said was true. None but they and he knew that Bolgani had been slain within their palisade. To remove the body, then, would be to remove all suspicion from their village. But where were they to take it? They put the question to Tarzan. “I will dispose of him for you,” replied the Tarmangani. “Answer my questions truthfully and I will promise to take him away and dispose of him in such a manner that no one will know how he died, or where.” “What are your questions?” asked the spokesman. “I am a stranger in your country. I am lost here,” replied the ape-man. “And I would find a way out of the valley in that direction.” And he pointed toward the southeast.