32. THROUGH THE ENEMY LINES!
31.10.18
On their
way to carry emergency rations to the beleaguered fort of Bek-El-Abir,
Tarzan and Captain D'Arnot find young Lieutenant Carnot, wounded leader
and sole survivor of a desperate sortie from the fort through the lines
of the Moorish tribesmen. Lieutenant Carnot urges Tarzan and Captain D'Arnot
to leave him and push on with the food. Both men, however, refuse to abandon
the youth. Nearing the fort they see Moorish tribesmen ahead. They crouch
in a hollow in the sand, waiting for the night but. . . they have been
seen by the keen eyes of the desert-trained tribesmen. The fierce tribesmen
dash to the attack. With escape seemingly impossible Tarzan and the two
French officers are determined to fight to a finish in their sand hole.
Surrounded by tribesmen, the ape-man and his companions fight desperately
and in the meantime. . .
The soldiers of Fort Bek-El-Abir, desperate from hunger have mutinied.
They are determined to escape from the fort, and Captain DuFours is equally
determined that they shall not. He faces them, revolver in hand.
As one of the Moors plunges into the sand hole, Tarzan reaches for the
horse's bridle. In a second, the Ape-Man is on the horse's back and away.
The swiftness of his action gives him a long lead in the race to
the fort. Reaching the fort, Tarzan pounds on the massive gate. But there
is no answer. There is not a living person on the parapets. The fort appears
to be deserted.