Why rob the poor creature of life and liberty, when it would be so easy a thing to restore both to it! He was sure from the fact that the panther moved all its limbs in its futile struggle for freedom that its spine was uninjured, and for the same reason he knew that none of its limbs were broken. Relaxing his bowstring, he returned the arrow to the quiver and, throwing the bow about his shoulder, stepped closer to the pinioned beast. On his lips was the soothing, purring sound that the great cats themselves made when contented and happy. It was the nearest approach to a friendly advance that Tarzan could make in the language of Sheeta. Edgar Rice Burroughs created one of the most iconic figures in American pop culture, Tarzan of the Apes, and it is impossible to overstate his influence on entire genres of popular literature in the decades after his enormously winning pulp novels stormed the public's imagination. The Beasts of Tarzan, first published in 1916, is the third installment of Burroughs' tales of the ape-man. Here, Tarzan, having reclaimed his title as Lord Greystroke, finds that proper society can be just as vicious as the jungle when greedy men threaten his new family. With his animal familiars-the panther Sheeta and Akut, a great ape-Tarzan seeks vengeance against those who would harm him. American novelist EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS (1875-1950) wrote dozens of adventure, crime, and science-fiction novels that are still beloved today, including Tarzan of the Apes (1912), At the Earth's Core (1914), A Princess of Mars (1917), The Land That Time Forgot (1924), and Pirates of Venus (1934). He is reputed to have been reading a comic book when he died.