TARZAN AND THE LOST EMPIRE
Her heart filled with admiration for this strange young giant, who, though he was evidently a barbarian, looked more the patrician than Fastus himself. Three times the blade of Fastus cut harmlessly through empty air—and then there was a lightning-like movement on the part of his antagonist. A brown hand shot beneath the guard of the Roman, steel fingers gripped his wrist, and an instant later his sword clattered to the tile walk of the courtyard. At the same moment two white men and a negro hurried breathlessly into the garden and ran quickly forward—two with daggers in their hands and one, the black, with a sword.
They saw Tarzan standing between Fastus and the girl. They saw the man in the grip of a stranger. They saw the sword clatter to the ground, and naturally they reached the one conclusion that seemed possible—Fastus was being worsted in an attempt to protect the girl against a stranger.
Tarzan saw them coming toward him and realized that three to one are heavy odds. He was upon the point of using Fastus as a shield against his new enemies when the girl stepped before the three and motioned them to stop.
Again the tantalizing tongue that he could almost understand and yet not quite, as the girl explained the circumstances to the newcomers while Tarzan still stood holding Fastus by the wrist.
Presently the girl turned to Tarzan and addressed him, but he only shook his head to indicate that he could not understand her; then, as his eyes fell upon the black, a possible means of communicating with these people occurred to him, for the negro resembled closely the Bagegos of the outer world.
“Are you a Bagego?” asked Tarzan in the language of that tribe.
The black looked surprised. “Yes,” he said, “I am, but who are you?”
“And you speak the language of these people?” asked Tarzan, indicating the young woman and Fastus and ignoring the black’s query.
“Of course,” said the black. “I have been a prisoner among them for many years, but there are many Bagegos among
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