diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/106-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/106-0.txt | 7938 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 7938 deletions
diff --git a/old/106-0.txt b/old/106-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index f5c0641..0000000 --- a/old/106-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7938 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Jungle Tales of Tarzan, by Edgar Rice Burroughs - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Jungle Tales of Tarzan - -Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs - -Release Date: February, 1994 [eBook #106] -[Most recently updated: July 12, 2023] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Judith Boss - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN *** - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -Jungle Tales of Tarzan - -by Edgar Rice Burroughs - - - - -Contents - - CHAPTER I. Tarzan’s First Love - CHAPTER II. The Capture of Tarzan - CHAPTER III. The Fight for the Balu - CHAPTER IV. The God of Tarzan - CHAPTER V. Tarzan and the Black Boy - CHAPTER VI. The Witch-Doctor Seeks Vengeance - CHAPTER VII. The End of Bukawai - CHAPTER VIII. The Lion - CHAPTER IX. The Nightmare - CHAPTER X. The Battle for Teeka - CHAPTER XI. A Jungle Joke - CHAPTER XII. Tarzan Rescues the Moon - - - - -CHAPTER I -Tarzan’s First Love - - -Teeka, stretched at luxurious ease in the shade of the tropical forest, -presented, unquestionably, a most alluring picture of young, feminine -loveliness. Or at least so thought Tarzan of the Apes, who squatted -upon a low-swinging branch in a near-by tree and looked down upon her. - -Just to have seen him there, lolling upon the swaying bough of the -jungle-forest giant, his brown skin mottled by the brilliant equatorial -sunlight which percolated through the leafy canopy of green above him, -his clean-limbed body relaxed in graceful ease, his shapely head partly -turned in contemplative absorption and his intelligent, gray eyes -dreamily devouring the object of their devotion, you would have thought -him the reincarnation of some demigod of old. - -You would not have guessed that in infancy he had suckled at the breast -of a hideous, hairy she-ape, nor that in all his conscious past since -his parents had passed away in the little cabin by the landlocked -harbor at the jungle’s verge, he had known no other associates than the -sullen bulls and the snarling cows of the tribe of Kerchak, the great -ape. - -Nor, could you have read the thoughts which passed through that active, -healthy brain, the longings and desires and aspirations which the sight -of Teeka inspired, would you have been any more inclined to give -credence to the reality of the origin of the ape-man. For, from his -thoughts alone, you could never have gleaned the truth—that he had been -born to a gentle English lady or that his sire had been an English -nobleman of time-honored lineage. - -Lost to Tarzan of the Apes was the truth of his origin. That he was -John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, with a seat in the House of Lords, he did -not know, nor, knowing, would have understood. - -Yes, Teeka was indeed beautiful! - -Of course Kala had been beautiful—one’s mother is always that—but Teeka -was beautiful in a way all her own, an indescribable sort of way which -Tarzan was just beginning to sense in a rather vague and hazy manner. - -For years had Tarzan and Teeka been play-fellows, and Teeka still -continued to be playful while the young bulls of her own age were -rapidly becoming surly and morose. Tarzan, if he gave the matter much -thought at all, probably reasoned that his growing attachment for the -young female could be easily accounted for by the fact that of the -former playmates she and he alone retained any desire to frolic as of -old. - -But today, as he sat gazing upon her, he found himself noting the -beauties of Teeka’s form and features—something he never had done -before, since none of them had aught to do with Teeka’s ability to race -nimbly through the lower terraces of the forest in the primitive games -of tag and hide-and-go-seek which Tarzan’s fertile brain evolved. -Tarzan scratched his head, running his fingers deep into the shock of -black hair which framed his shapely, boyish face—he scratched his head -and sighed. Teeka’s new-found beauty became as suddenly his despair. He -envied her the handsome coat of hair which covered her body. His own -smooth, brown hide he hated with a hatred born of disgust and contempt. -Years back he had harbored a hope that some day he, too, would be -clothed in hair as were all his brothers and sisters; but of late he -had been forced to abandon the delectable dream. - -Then there were Teeka’s great teeth, not so large as the males, of -course, but still mighty, handsome things by comparison with Tarzan’s -feeble white ones. And her beetling brows, and broad, flat nose, and -her mouth! Tarzan had often practiced making his mouth into a little -round circle and then puffing out his cheeks while he winked his eyes -rapidly; but he felt that he could never do it in the same cute and -irresistible way in which Teeka did it. - -And as he watched her that afternoon, and wondered, a young bull ape -who had been lazily foraging for food beneath the damp, matted carpet -of decaying vegetation at the roots of a near-by tree lumbered -awkwardly in Teeka’s direction. The other apes of the tribe of Kerchak -moved listlessly about or lolled restfully in the midday heat of the -equatorial jungle. From time to time one or another of them had passed -close to Teeka, and Tarzan had been uninterested. Why was it then that -his brows contracted and his muscles tensed as he saw Taug pause beside -the young she and then squat down close to her? - -Tarzan always had liked Taug. Since childhood they had romped together. -Side by side they had squatted near the water, their quick, strong -fingers ready to leap forth and seize Pisah, the fish, should that wary -denizen of the cool depths dart surfaceward to the lure of the insects -Tarzan tossed upon the face of the pool. - -Together they had baited Tublat and teased Numa, the lion. Why, then, -should Tarzan feel the rise of the short hairs at the nape of his neck -merely because Taug sat close to Teeka? - -It is true that Taug was no longer the frolicsome ape of yesterday. -When his snarling-muscles bared his giant fangs no one could longer -imagine that Taug was in as playful a mood as when he and Tarzan had -rolled upon the turf in mimic battle. The Taug of today was a huge, -sullen bull ape, somber and forbidding. Yet he and Tarzan never had -quarreled. - -For a few minutes the young ape-man watched Taug press closer to Teeka. -He saw the rough caress of the huge paw as it stroked the sleek -shoulder of the she, and then Tarzan of the Apes slipped catlike to the -ground and approached the two. - -As he came his upper lip curled into a snarl, exposing his fighting -fangs, and a deep growl rumbled from his cavernous chest. Taug looked -up, batting his blood-shot eyes. Teeka half raised herself and looked -at Tarzan. Did she guess the cause of his perturbation? Who may say? At -any rate, she was feminine, and so she reached up and scratched Taug -behind one of his small, flat ears. - -Tarzan saw, and in the instant that he saw, Teeka was no longer the -little playmate of an hour ago; instead she was a wondrous thing—the -most wondrous in the world—and a possession for which Tarzan would -fight to the death against Taug or any other who dared question his -right of proprietorship. - -Stooped, his muscles rigid and one great shoulder turned toward the -young bull, Tarzan of the Apes sidled nearer and nearer. His face was -partly averted, but his keen gray eyes never left those of Taug, and as -he came, his growls increased in depth and volume. - -Taug rose upon his short legs, bristling. His fighting fangs were -bared. He, too, sidled, stiff-legged, and growled. - -“Teeka is Tarzan’s,” said the ape-man, in the low gutturals of the -great anthropoids. - -“Teeka is Taug’s,” replied the bull ape. - -Thaka and Numgo and Gunto, disturbed by the growlings of the two young -bulls, looked up half apathetic, half interested. They were sleepy, but -they sensed a fight. It would break the monotony of the humdrum jungle -life they led. - -Coiled about his shoulders was Tarzan’s long grass rope, in his hand -was the hunting knife of the long-dead father he had never known. In -Taug’s little brain lay a great respect for the shiny bit of sharp -metal which the ape-boy knew so well how to use. With it had he slain -Tublat, his fierce foster father, and Bolgani, the gorilla. Taug knew -these things, and so he came warily, circling about Tarzan in search of -an opening. The latter, made cautious because of his lesser bulk and -the inferiority of his natural armament, followed similar tactics. - -For a time it seemed that the altercation would follow the way of the -majority of such differences between members of the tribe and that one -of them would finally lose interest and wander off to prosecute some -other line of endeavor. Such might have been the end of it had the -CASUS BELLI been other than it was; but Teeka was flattered at the -attention that was being drawn to her and by the fact that these two -young bulls were contemplating battle on her account. Such a thing -never before had occurred in Teeka’s brief life. She had seen other -bulls battling for other and older shes, and in the depth of her wild -little heart she had longed for the day when the jungle grasses would -be reddened with the blood of mortal combat for her fair sake. - -So now she squatted upon her haunches and insulted both her admirers -impartially. She hurled taunts at them for their cowardice, and called -them vile names, such as Histah, the snake, and Dango, the hyena. She -threatened to call Mumga to chastise them with a stick—Mumga, who was -so old that she could no longer climb and so toothless that she was -forced to confine her diet almost exclusively to bananas and -grub-worms. - -The apes who were watching heard and laughed. Taug was infuriated. He -made a sudden lunge for Tarzan, but the ape-boy leaped nimbly to one -side, eluding him, and with the quickness of a cat wheeled and leaped -back again to close quarters. His hunting knife was raised above his -head as he came in, and he aimed a vicious blow at Taug’s neck. The ape -wheeled to dodge the weapon so that the keen blade struck him but a -glancing blow upon the shoulder. - -The spurt of red blood brought a shrill cry of delight from Teeka. Ah, -but this was something worth while! She glanced about to see if others -had witnessed this evidence of her popularity. Helen of Troy was never -one whit more proud than was Teeka at that moment. - -If Teeka had not been so absorbed in her own vaingloriousness she might -have noted the rustling of leaves in the tree above her—a rustling -which was not caused by any movement of the wind, since there was no -wind. And had she looked up she might have seen a sleek body crouching -almost directly over her and wicked yellow eyes glaring hungrily down -upon her, but Teeka did not look up. - -With his wound Taug had backed off growling horribly. Tarzan had -followed him, screaming insults at him, and menacing him with his -brandishing blade. Teeka moved from beneath the tree in an effort to -keep close to the duelists. - -The branch above Teeka bent and swayed a trifle with the movement of -the body of the watcher stretched along it. Taug had halted now and was -preparing to make a new stand. His lips were flecked with foam, and -saliva drooled from his jowls. He stood with head lowered and arms -outstretched, preparing for a sudden charge to close quarters. Could he -but lay his mighty hands upon that soft, brown skin the battle would be -his. Taug considered Tarzan’s manner of fighting unfair. He would not -close. Instead, he leaped nimbly just beyond the reach of Taug’s -muscular fingers. - -The ape-boy had as yet never come to a real trial of strength with a -bull ape, other than in play, and so he was not at all sure that it -would be safe to put his muscles to the test in a life and death -struggle. Not that he was afraid, for Tarzan knew nothing of fear. The -instinct of self-preservation gave him caution—that was all. He took -risks only when it seemed necessary, and then he would hesitate at -nothing. - -His own method of fighting seemed best fitted to his build and to his -armament. His teeth, while strong and sharp, were, as weapons of -offense, pitifully inadequate by comparison with the mighty fighting -fangs of the anthropoids. By dancing about, just out of reach of an -antagonist, Tarzan could do infinite injury with his long, sharp -hunting knife, and at the same time escape many of the painful and -dangerous wounds which would be sure to follow his falling into the -clutches of a bull ape. - -And so Taug charged and bellowed like a bull, and Tarzan of the Apes -danced lightly to this side and that, hurling jungle billingsgate at -his foe, the while he nicked him now and again with his knife. - -There were lulls in the fighting when the two would stand panting for -breath, facing each other, mustering their wits and their forces for a -new onslaught. It was during a pause such as this that Taug chanced to -let his eyes rove beyond his foeman. Instantly the entire aspect of the -ape altered. Rage left his countenance to be supplanted by an -expression of fear. - -With a cry that every ape there recognized, Taug turned and fled. No -need to question him—his warning proclaimed the near presence of their -ancient enemy. - -Tarzan started to seek safety, as did the other members of the tribe, -and as he did so he heard a panther’s scream mingled with the -frightened cry of a she-ape. Taug heard, too; but he did not pause in -his flight. - -With the ape-boy, however, it was different. He looked back to see if -any member of the tribe was close pressed by the beast of prey, and the -sight that met his eyes filled them with an expression of horror. - -Teeka it was who cried out in terror as she fled across a little -clearing toward the trees upon the opposite side, for after her leaped -Sheeta, the panther, in easy, graceful bounds. Sheeta appeared to be in -no hurry. His meat was assured, since even though the ape reached the -trees ahead of him she could not climb beyond his clutches before he -could be upon her. - -Tarzan saw that Teeka must die. He cried to Taug and the other bulls to -hasten to Teeka’s assistance, and at the same time he ran toward the -pursuing beast, taking down his rope as he came. Tarzan knew that once -the great bulls were aroused none of the jungle, not even Numa, the -lion, was anxious to measure fangs with them, and that if all those of -the tribe who chanced to be present today would charge, Sheeta, the -great cat, would doubtless turn tail and run for his life. - -Taug heard, as did the others, but no one came to Tarzan’s assistance -or Teeka’s rescue, and Sheeta was rapidly closing up the distance -between himself and his prey. - -The ape-boy, leaping after the panther, cried aloud to the beast in an -effort to turn it from Teeka or otherwise distract its attention until -the she-ape could gain the safety of the higher branches where Sheeta -dared not go. He called the panther every opprobrious name that fell to -his tongue. He dared him to stop and do battle with him; but Sheeta -only loped on after the luscious titbit now almost within his reach. - -Tarzan was not far behind and he was gaining, but the distance was so -short that he scarce hoped to overhaul the carnivore before it had -felled Teeka. In his right hand the boy swung his grass rope above his -head as he ran. He hated to chance a miss, for the distance was much -greater than he ever had cast before except in practice. It was the -full length of his grass rope which separated him from Sheeta, and yet -there was no other thing to do. He could not reach the brute’s side -before it overhauled Teeka. He must chance a throw. - -And just as Teeka sprang for the lower limb of a great tree, and Sheeta -rose behind her in a long, sinuous leap, the coils of the ape-boy’s -grass rope shot swiftly through the air, straightening into a long thin -line as the open noose hovered for an instant above the savage head and -the snarling jaws. Then it settled—clean and true about the tawny neck -it settled, and Tarzan, with a quick twist of his rope-hand, drew the -noose taut, bracing himself for the shock when Sheeta should have taken -up the slack. - -Just short of Teeka’s glossy rump the cruel talons raked the air as the -rope tightened and Sheeta was brought to a sudden stop—a stop that -snapped the big beast over upon his back. Instantly Sheeta was up—with -glaring eyes, and lashing tail, and gaping jaws, from which issued -hideous cries of rage and disappointment. - -He saw the ape-boy, the cause of his discomfiture, scarce forty feet -before him, and Sheeta charged. - -Teeka was safe now; Tarzan saw to that by a quick glance into the tree -whose safety she had gained not an instant too soon, and Sheeta was -charging. It was useless to risk his life in idle and unequal combat -from which no good could come; but could he escape a battle with the -enraged cat? And if he was forced to fight, what chance had he to -survive? Tarzan was constrained to admit that his position was aught -but a desirable one. The trees were too far to hope to reach in time to -elude the cat. Tarzan could but stand facing that hideous charge. In -his right hand he grasped his hunting knife—a puny, futile thing indeed -by comparison with the great rows of mighty teeth which lined Sheeta’s -powerful jaws, and the sharp talons encased within his padded paws; yet -the young Lord Greystoke faced it with the same courageous resignation -with which some fearless ancestor went down to defeat and death on -Senlac Hill by Hastings. - -From safety points in the trees the great apes watched, screaming -hatred at Sheeta and advice at Tarzan, for the progenitors of man have, -naturally, many human traits. Teeka was frightened. She screamed at the -bulls to hasten to Tarzan’s assistance; but the bulls were otherwise -engaged—principally in giving advice and making faces. Anyway, Tarzan -was not a real Mangani, so why should they risk their lives in an -effort to protect him? - -And now Sheeta was almost upon the lithe, naked body, and—the body was -not there. Quick as was the great cat, the ape-boy was quicker. He -leaped to one side almost as the panther’s talons were closing upon -him, and as Sheeta went hurtling to the ground beyond, Tarzan was -racing for the safety of the nearest tree. - -The panther recovered himself almost immediately and, wheeling, tore -after his prey, the ape-boy’s rope dragging along the ground behind -him. In doubling back after Tarzan, Sheeta had passed around a low -bush. It was a mere nothing in the path of any jungle creature of the -size and weight of Sheeta—provided it had no trailing rope dangling -behind. But Sheeta was handicapped by such a rope, and as he leaped -once again after Tarzan of the Apes the rope encircled the small bush, -became tangled in it and brought the panther to a sudden stop. An -instant later Tarzan was safe among the higher branches of a small tree -into which Sheeta could not follow him. - -Here he perched, hurling twigs and epithets at the raging feline -beneath him. The other members of the tribe now took up the -bombardment, using such hard-shelled fruits and dead branches as came -within their reach, until Sheeta, goaded to frenzy and snapping at the -grass rope, finally succeeded in severing its strands. For a moment the -panther stood glaring first at one of his tormentors and then at -another, until, with a final scream of rage, he turned and slunk off -into the tangled mazes of the jungle. - -A half hour later the tribe was again upon the ground, feeding as -though naught had occurred to interrupt the somber dullness of their -lives. Tarzan had recovered the greater part of his rope and was busy -fashioning a new noose, while Teeka squatted close behind him, in -evident token that her choice was made. - -Taug eyed them sullenly. Once when he came close, Teeka bared her fangs -and growled at him, and Tarzan showed his canines in an ugly snarl; but -Taug did not provoke a quarrel. He seemed to accept after the manner of -his kind the decision of the she as an indication that he had been -vanquished in his battle for her favors. - -Later in the day, his rope repaired, Tarzan took to the trees in search -of game. More than his fellows he required meat, and so, while they -were satisfied with fruits and herbs and beetles, which could be -discovered without much effort upon their part, Tarzan spent -considerable time hunting the game animals whose flesh alone satisfied -the cravings of his stomach and furnished sustenance and strength to -the mighty thews which, day by day, were building beneath the soft, -smooth texture of his brown hide. - -Taug saw him depart, and then, quite casually, the big beast hunted -closer and closer to Teeka in his search for food. At last he was -within a few feet of her, and when he shot a covert glance at her he -saw that she was appraising him and that there was no evidence of anger -upon her face. - -Taug expanded his great chest and rolled about on his short legs, -making strange growlings in his throat. He raised his lips, baring his -fangs. My, but what great, beautiful fangs he had! Teeka could not but -notice them. She also let her eyes rest in admiration upon Taug’s -beetling brows and his short, powerful neck. What a beautiful creature -he was indeed! - -Taug, flattered by the unconcealed admiration in her eyes, strutted -about, as proud and as vain as a peacock. Presently he began to -inventory his assets, mentally, and shortly he found himself comparing -them with those of his rival. - -Taug grunted, for there was no comparison. How could one compare his -beautiful coat with the smooth and naked hideousness of Tarzan’s bare -hide? Who could see beauty in the stingy nose of the Tarmangani after -looking at Taug’s broad nostrils? And Tarzan’s eyes! Hideous things, -showing white about them, and entirely unrimmed with red. Taug knew -that his own blood-shot eyes were beautiful, for he had seen them -reflected in the glassy surface of many a drinking pool. - -The bull drew nearer to Teeka, finally squatting close against her. -When Tarzan returned from his hunting a short time later it was to see -Teeka contentedly scratching the back of his rival. - -Tarzan was disgusted. Neither Taug nor Teeka saw him as he swung -through the trees into the glade. He paused a moment, looking at them; -then, with a sorrowful grimace, he turned and faded away into the -labyrinth of leafy boughs and festooned moss out of which he had come. - -Tarzan wished to be as far away from the cause of his heartache as he -could. He was suffering the first pangs of blighted love, and he didn’t -quite know what was the matter with him. He thought that he was angry -with Taug, and so he couldn’t understand why it was that he had run -away instead of rushing into mortal combat with the destroyer of his -happiness. - -He also thought that he was angry with Teeka, yet a vision of her many -beauties persisted in haunting him, so that he could only see her in -the light of love as the most desirable thing in the world. - -The ape-boy craved affection. From babyhood until the time of her -death, when the poisoned arrow of Kulonga had pierced her savage heart, -Kala had represented to the English boy the sole object of love which -he had known. - -In her wild, fierce way Kala had loved her adopted son, and Tarzan had -returned that love, though the outward demonstrations of it were no -greater than might have been expected from any other beast of the -jungle. It was not until he was bereft of her that the boy realized how -deep had been his attachment for his mother, for as such he looked upon -her. - -In Teeka he had seen within the past few hours a substitute for -Kala—someone to fight for and to hunt for—someone to caress; but now -his dream was shattered. Something hurt within his breast. He placed -his hand over his heart and wondered what had happened to him. Vaguely -he attributed his pain to Teeka. The more he thought of Teeka as he had -last seen her, caressing Taug, the more the thing within his breast -hurt him. - -Tarzan shook his head and growled; then on and on through the jungle he -swung, and the farther he traveled and the more he thought upon his -wrongs, the nearer he approached becoming an irreclaimable misogynist. - -Two days later he was still hunting alone—very morose and very unhappy; -but he was determined never to return to the tribe. He could not bear -the thought of seeing Taug and Teeka always together. As he swung upon -a great limb Numa, the lion, and Sabor, the lioness, passed beneath -him, side by side, and Sabor leaned against the lion and bit playfully -at his cheek. It was a half-caress. Tarzan sighed and hurled a nut at -them. - -Later he came upon several of Mbonga’s black warriors. He was upon the -point of dropping his noose about the neck of one of them, who was a -little distance from his companions, when he became interested in the -thing which occupied the savages. They were building a cage in the -trail and covering it with leafy branches. When they had completed -their work the structure was scarcely visible. - -Tarzan wondered what the purpose of the thing might be, and why, when -they had built it, they turned away and started back along the trail in -the direction of their village. - -It had been some time since Tarzan had visited the blacks and looked -down from the shelter of the great trees which overhung their palisade -upon the activities of his enemies, from among whom had come the slayer -of Kala. - -Although he hated them, Tarzan derived considerable entertainment in -watching them at their daily life within the village, and especially at -their dances, when the fires glared against their naked bodies as they -leaped and turned and twisted in mimic warfare. It was rather in the -hope of witnessing something of the kind that he now followed the -warriors back toward their village, but in this he was disappointed, -for there was no dance that night. - -Instead, from the safe concealment of his tree, Tarzan saw little -groups seated about tiny fires discussing the events of the day, and in -the darker corners of the village he descried isolated couples talking -and laughing together, and always one of each couple was a young man -and the other a young woman. - -Tarzan cocked his head upon one side and thought, and before he went to -sleep that night, curled in the crotch of the great tree above the -village, Teeka filled his mind, and afterward she filled his dreams—she -and the young black men laughing and talking with the young black -women. - -Taug, hunting alone, had wandered some distance from the balance of the -tribe. He was making his way slowly along an elephant path when he -discovered that it was blocked with undergrowth. Now Taug, come into -maturity, was an evil-natured brute of an exceeding short temper. When -something thwarted him, his sole idea was to overcome it by brute -strength and ferocity, and so now when he found his way blocked, he -tore angrily into the leafy screen and an instant later found himself -within a strange lair, his progress effectually blocked, -notwithstanding his most violent efforts to forge ahead. - -Biting and striking at the barrier, Taug finally worked himself into a -frightful rage, but all to no avail; and at last he became convinced -that he must turn back. But when he would have done so, what was his -chagrin to discover that another barrier had dropped behind him while -he fought to break down the one before him! Taug was trapped. Until -exhaustion overcame him he fought frantically for his freedom; but all -for naught. - -In the morning a party of blacks set out from the village of Mbonga in -the direction of the trap they had constructed the previous day, while -among the branches of the trees above them hovered a naked young giant -filled with the curiosity of the wild things. Manu, the monkey, -chattered and scolded as Tarzan passed, and though he was not afraid of -the familiar figure of the ape-boy, he hugged closer to him the little -brown body of his life’s companion. Tarzan laughed as he saw it; but -the laugh was followed by a sudden clouding of his face and a deep -sigh. - -A little farther on, a gaily feathered bird strutted about before the -admiring eyes of his somber-hued mate. It seemed to Tarzan that -everything in the jungle was combining to remind him that he had lost -Teeka; yet every day of his life he had seen these same things and -thought nothing of them. - -When the blacks reached the trap, Taug set up a great commotion. -Seizing the bars of his prison, he shook them frantically, and all the -while he roared and growled terrifically. The blacks were elated, for -while they had not built their trap for this hairy tree man, they were -delighted with their catch. - -Tarzan pricked up his ears when he heard the voice of a great ape and, -circling quickly until he was down wind from the trap, he sniffed at -the air in search of the scent spoor of the prisoner. Nor was it long -before there came to those delicate nostrils the familiar odor that -told Tarzan the identity of the captive as unerringly as though he had -looked upon Taug with his eyes. Yes, it was Taug, and he was alone. - -Tarzan grinned as he approached to discover what the blacks would do to -their prisoner. Doubtless they would slay him at once. Again Tarzan -grinned. Now he could have Teeka for his own, with none to dispute his -right to her. As he watched, he saw the black warriors strip the screen -from about the cage, fasten ropes to it and drag it away along the -trail in the direction of their village. - -Tarzan watched until his rival passed out of sight, still beating upon -the bars of his prison and growling out his anger and his threats. Then -the ape-boy turned and swung rapidly off in search of the tribe, and -Teeka. - -Once, upon the journey, he surprised Sheeta and his family in a little -overgrown clearing. The great cat lay stretched upon the ground, while -his mate, one paw across her lord’s savage face, licked at the soft -white fur at his throat. - -Tarzan increased his speed then until he fairly flew through the -forest, nor was it long before he came upon the tribe. He saw them -before they saw him, for of all the jungle creatures, none passed more -quietly than Tarzan of the Apes. He saw Kamma and her mate feeding side -by side, their hairy bodies rubbing against each other. And he saw -Teeka feeding by herself. Not for long would she feed thus in -loneliness, thought Tarzan, as with a bound he landed amongst them. - -There was a startled rush and a chorus of angry and frightened snarls, -for Tarzan had surprised them; but there was more, too, than mere -nervous shock to account for the bristling neck hair which remained -standing long after the apes had discovered the identity of the -newcomer. - -Tarzan noticed this as he had noticed it many times in the past—that -always his sudden coming among them left them nervous and unstrung for -a considerable time, and that they one and all found it necessary to -satisfy themselves that he was indeed Tarzan by smelling about him a -half dozen or more times before they calmed down. - -Pushing through them, he made his way toward Teeka; but as he -approached her the ape drew away. - -“Teeka,” he said, “it is Tarzan. You belong to Tarzan. I have come for -you.” - -The ape drew closer, looking him over carefully. Finally she sniffed at -him, as though to make assurance doubly sure. - -“Where is Taug?” she asked. - -“The Gomangani have him,” replied Tarzan. “They will kill him.” - -In the eyes of the she, Tarzan saw a wistful expression and a troubled -look of sorrow as he told her of Taug’s fate; but she came quite close -and snuggled against him, and Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, put his arm about -her. - -As he did so he noticed, with a start, the strange incongruity of that -smooth, brown arm against the black and hairy coat of his lady-love. He -recalled the paw of Sheeta’s mate across Sheeta’s face—no incongruity -there. He thought of little Manu hugging his she, and how the one -seemed to belong to the other. Even the proud male bird, with his gay -plumage, bore a close resemblance to his quieter spouse, while Numa, -but for his shaggy mane, was almost a counterpart of Sabor, the -lioness. The males and the females differed, it was true; but not with -such differences as existed between Tarzan and Teeka. - -Tarzan was puzzled. There was something wrong. His arm dropped from the -shoulder of Teeka. Very slowly he drew away from her. She looked at him -with her head cocked upon one side. Tarzan rose to his full height and -beat upon his breast with his fists. He raised his head toward the -heavens and opened his mouth. From the depths of his lungs rose the -fierce, weird challenge of the victorious bull ape. The tribe turned -curiously to eye him. He had killed nothing, nor was there any -antagonist to be goaded to madness by the savage scream. No, there was -no excuse for it, and they turned back to their feeding, but with an -eye upon the ape-man lest he be preparing to suddenly run amuck. - -As they watched him they saw him swing into a near-by tree and -disappear from sight. Then they forgot him, even Teeka. - -Mbonga’s black warriors, sweating beneath their strenuous task, and -resting often, made slow progress toward their village. Always the -savage beast in the primitive cage growled and roared when they moved -him. He beat upon the bars and slavered at the mouth. His noise was -hideous. - -They had almost completed their journey and were making their final -rest before forging ahead to gain the clearing in which lay their -village. A few more minutes would have taken them out of the forest, -and then, doubtless, the thing would not have happened which did -happen. - -A silent figure moved through the trees above them. Keen eyes inspected -the cage and counted the number of warriors. An alert and daring brain -figured upon the chances of success when a certain plan should be put -to the test. - -Tarzan watched the blacks lolling in the shade. They were exhausted. -Already several of them slept. He crept closer, pausing just above -them. Not a leaf rustled before his stealthy advance. He waited in the -infinite patience of the beast of prey. Presently but two of the -warriors remained awake, and one of these was dozing. - -Tarzan of the Apes gathered himself, and as he did so the black who did -not sleep arose and passed around to the rear of the cage. The ape-boy -followed just above his head. Taug was eyeing the warrior and emitting -low growls. Tarzan feared that the anthropoid would awaken the -sleepers. - -In a whisper which was inaudible to the ears of the Negro, Tarzan -whispered Taug’s name, cautioning the ape to silence, and Taug’s -growling ceased. - -The black approached the rear of the cage and examined the fastenings -of the door, and as he stood there the beast above him launched itself -from the tree full upon his back. Steel fingers circled his throat, -choking the cry which sprang to the lips of the terrified man. Strong -teeth fastened themselves in his shoulder, and powerful legs wound -themselves about his torso. - -The black in a frenzy of terror tried to dislodge the silent thing -which clung to him. He threw himself to the ground and rolled about; -but still those mighty fingers closed more and more tightly their -deadly grip. - -The man’s mouth gaped wide, his swollen tongue protruded, his eyes -started from their sockets; but the relentless fingers only increased -their pressure. - -Taug was a silent witness of the struggle. In his fierce little brain -he doubtless wondered what purpose prompted Tarzan to attack the black. -Taug had not forgotten his recent battle with the ape-boy, nor the -cause of it. Now he saw the form of the Gomangani suddenly go limp. -There was a convulsive shiver and the man lay still. - -Tarzan sprang from his prey and ran to the door of the cage. With -nimble fingers he worked rapidly at the thongs which held the door in -place. Taug could only watch—he could not help. Presently Tarzan pushed -the thing up a couple of feet and Taug crawled out. The ape would have -turned upon the sleeping blacks that he might wreak his pent vengeance; -but Tarzan would not permit it. - -Instead, the ape-boy dragged the body of the black within the cage and -propped it against the side bars. Then he lowered the door and made -fast the thongs as they had been before. - -A happy smile lighted his features as he worked, for one of his -principal diversions was the baiting of the blacks of Mbonga’s village. -He could imagine their terror when they awoke and found the dead body -of their comrade fast in the cage where they had left the great ape -safely secured but a few minutes before. - -Tarzan and Taug took to the trees together, the shaggy coat of the -fierce ape brushing the sleek skin of the English lordling as they -passed through the primeval jungle side by side. - -“Go back to Teeka,” said Tarzan. “She is yours. Tarzan does not want -her.” - -“Tarzan has found another she?” asked Taug. - -The ape-boy shrugged. - -“For the Gomangani there is another Gomangani,” he said; “for Numa, the -lion, there is Sabor, the lioness; for Sheeta there is a she of his own -kind; for Bara, the deer; for Manu, the monkey; for all the beasts and -the birds of the jungle is there a mate. Only for Tarzan of the Apes is -there none. Taug is an ape. Teeka is an ape. Go back to Teeka. Tarzan -is a man. He will go alone.” - - - - -CHAPTER II -The Capture of Tarzan - - -The black warriors labored in the humid heat of the jungle’s stifling -shade. With war spears they loosened the thick, black loam and the deep -layers of rotting vegetation. With heavy-nailed fingers they scooped -away the disintegrated earth from the center of the age-old game trail. -Often they ceased their labors to squat, resting and gossiping, with -much laughter, at the edge of the pit they were digging. - -Against the boles of near-by trees leaned their long, oval shields of -thick buffalo hide, and the spears of those who were doing the -scooping. Sweat glistened upon their smooth, ebon skins, beneath which -rolled rounded muscles, supple in the perfection of nature’s -uncontaminated health. - -A reed buck, stepping warily along the trail toward water, halted as a -burst of laughter broke upon his startled ears. For a moment he stood -statuesque but for his sensitively dilating nostrils; then he wheeled -and fled noiselessly from the terrifying presence of man. - -A hundred yards away, deep in the tangle of impenetrable jungle, Numa, -the lion, raised his massive head. Numa had dined well until almost -daybreak and it had required much noise to awaken him. Now he lifted -his muzzle and sniffed the air, caught the acrid scent spoor of the -reed buck and the heavy scent of man. But Numa was well filled. With a -low, disgusted grunt he rose and slunk away. - -Brilliantly plumaged birds with raucous voices darted from tree to -tree. Little monkeys, chattering and scolding, swung through the -swaying limbs above the black warriors. Yet they were alone, for the -teeming jungle with all its myriad life, like the swarming streets of a -great metropolis, is one of the loneliest spots in God’s great -universe. - -But were they alone? - -Above them, lightly balanced upon a leafy tree limb, a gray-eyed youth -watched with eager intentness their every move. The fire of hate, -restrained, smoldered beneath the lad’s evident desire to know the -purpose of the black men’s labors. Such a one as these it was who had -slain his beloved Kala. For them there could be naught but enmity, yet -he liked well to watch them, avid as he was for greater knowledge of -the ways of man. - -He saw the pit grow in depth until a great hole yawned the width of the -trail—a hole which was amply large enough to hold at one time all of -the six excavators. Tarzan could not guess the purpose of so great a -labor. And when they cut long stakes, sharpened at their upper ends, -and set them at intervals upright in the bottom of the pit, his -wonderment but increased, nor was it satisfied with the placing of the -light cross-poles over the pit, or the careful arrangement of leaves -and earth which completely hid from view the work the black men had -performed. - -When they were done they surveyed their handiwork with evident -satisfaction, and Tarzan surveyed it, too. Even to his practiced eye -there remained scarce a vestige of evidence that the ancient game trail -had been tampered with in any way. - -So absorbed was the ape-man in speculation as to the purpose of the -covered pit that he permitted the blacks to depart in the direction of -their village without the usual baiting which had rendered him the -terror of Mbonga’s people and had afforded Tarzan both a vehicle of -revenge and a source of inexhaustible delight. - -Puzzle as he would, however, he could not solve the mystery of the -concealed pit, for the ways of the blacks were still strange ways to -Tarzan. They had entered his jungle but a short time before—the first -of their kind to encroach upon the age-old supremacy of the beasts -which laired there. To Numa, the lion, to Tantor, the elephant, to the -great apes and the lesser apes, to each and all of the myriad creatures -of this savage wild, the ways of man were new. They had much to learn -of these black, hairless creatures that walked erect upon their hind -paws—and they were learning it slowly, and always to their sorrow. - -Shortly after the blacks had departed, Tarzan swung easily to the -trail. Sniffing suspiciously, he circled the edge of the pit. Squatting -upon his haunches, he scraped away a little earth to expose one of the -cross-bars. He sniffed at this, touched it, cocked his head upon one -side, and contemplated it gravely for several minutes. Then he -carefully re-covered it, arranging the earth as neatly as had the -blacks. This done, he swung himself back among the branches of the -trees and moved off in search of his hairy fellows, the great apes of -the tribe of Kerchak. - -Once he crossed the trail of Numa, the lion, pausing for a moment to -hurl a soft fruit at the snarling face of his enemy, and to taunt and -insult him, calling him eater of carrion and brother of Dango, the -hyena. Numa, his yellow-green eyes round and burning with concentrated -hate, glared up at the dancing figure above him. Low growls vibrated -his heavy jowls and his great rage transmitted to his sinuous tail a -sharp, whiplike motion; but realizing from past experience the futility -of long distance argument with the ape-man, he turned presently and -struck off into the tangled vegetation which hid him from the view of -his tormentor. With a final scream of jungle invective and an apelike -grimace at his departing foe, Tarzan continued along his way. - -Another mile and a shifting wind brought to his keen nostrils a -familiar, pungent odor close at hand, and a moment later there loomed -beneath him a huge, gray-black bulk forging steadily along the jungle -trail. Tarzan seized and broke a small tree limb, and at the sudden -cracking sound the ponderous figure halted. Great ears were thrown -forward, and a long, supple trunk rose quickly to wave to and fro in -search of the scent of an enemy, while two weak, little eyes peered -suspiciously and futilely about in quest of the author of the noise -which had disturbed his peaceful way. - -Tarzan laughed aloud and came closer above the head of the pachyderm. - -“Tantor! Tantor!” he cried. “Bara, the deer, is less fearful than -you—you, Tantor, the elephant, greatest of the jungle folk with the -strength of as many Numas as I have toes upon my feet and fingers upon -my hands. Tantor, who can uproot great trees, trembles with fear at the -sound of a broken twig.” - -A rumbling noise, which might have been either a sign of contempt or a -sigh of relief, was Tantor’s only reply as the uplifted trunk and ears -came down and the beast’s tail dropped to normal; but his eyes still -roved about in search of Tarzan. He was not long kept in suspense, -however, as to the whereabouts of the ape-man, for a second later the -youth dropped lightly to the broad head of his old friend. Then -stretching himself at full length, he drummed with his bare toes upon -the thick hide, and as his fingers scratched the more tender surfaces -beneath the great ears, he talked to Tantor of the gossip of the jungle -as though the great beast understood every word that he said. - -Much there was which Tarzan could make Tantor understand, and though -the small talk of the wild was beyond the great, gray dreadnaught of -the jungle, he stood with blinking eyes and gently swaying trunk as -though drinking in every word of it with keenest appreciation. As a -matter of fact it was the pleasant, friendly voice and caressing hands -behind his ears which he enjoyed, and the close proximity of him whom -he had often borne upon his back since Tarzan, as a little child, had -once fearlessly approached the great bull, assuming upon the part of -the pachyderm the same friendliness which filled his own heart. - -In the years of their association Tarzan had discovered that he -possessed an inexplicable power to govern and direct his mighty friend. -At his bidding, Tantor would come from a great distance—as far as his -keen ears could detect the shrill and piercing summons of the -ape-man—and when Tarzan was squatted upon his head, Tantor would lumber -through the jungle in any direction which his rider bade him go. It was -the power of the man-mind over that of the brute and it was just as -effective as though both fully understood its origin, though neither -did. - -For half an hour Tarzan sprawled there upon Tantor’s back. Time had no -meaning for either of them. Life, as they saw it, consisted principally -in keeping their stomachs filled. To Tarzan this was a less arduous -labor than to Tantor, for Tarzan’s stomach was smaller, and being -omnivorous, food was less difficult to obtain. If one sort did not come -readily to hand, there were always many others to satisfy his hunger. -He was less particular as to his diet than Tantor, who would eat only -the bark of certain trees, and the wood of others, while a third -appealed to him only through its leaves, and these, perhaps, just at -certain seasons of the year. - -Tantor must needs spend the better part of his life in filling his -immense stomach against the needs of his mighty thews. It is thus with -all the lower orders—their lives are so occupied either with searching -for food or with the processes of digestion that they have little time -for other considerations. Doubtless it is this handicap which has kept -them from advancing as rapidly as man, who has more time to give to -thought upon other matters. - -However, these questions troubled Tarzan but little, and Tantor not at -all. What the former knew was that he was happy in the companionship of -the elephant. He did not know why. He did not know that because he was -a human being—a normal, healthy human being—he craved some living thing -upon which to lavish his affection. His childhood playmates among the -apes of Kerchak were now great, sullen brutes. They felt nor inspired -but little affection. The younger apes Tarzan still played with -occasionally. In his savage way he loved them; but they were far from -satisfying or restful companions. Tantor was a great mountain of calm, -of poise, of stability. It was restful and satisfying to sprawl upon -his rough pate and pour one’s vague hopes and aspirations into the -great ears which flapped ponderously to and fro in apparent -understanding. Of all the jungle folk, Tantor commanded Tarzan’s -greatest love since Kala had been taken from him. Sometimes Tarzan -wondered if Tantor reciprocated his affection. It was difficult to -know. - -It was the call of the stomach—the most compelling and insistent call -which the jungle knows—that took Tarzan finally back to the trees and -off in search of food, while Tantor continued his interrupted journey -in the opposite direction. - -For an hour the ape-man foraged. A lofty nest yielded its fresh, warm -harvest. Fruits, berries, and tender plantain found a place upon his -menu in the order that he happened upon them, for he did not seek such -foods. Meat, meat, meat! It was always meat that Tarzan of the Apes -hunted; but sometimes meat eluded him, as today. - -And as he roamed the jungle his active mind busied itself not alone -with his hunting, but with many other subjects. He had a habit of -recalling often the events of the preceding days and hours. He lived -over his visit with Tantor; he cogitated upon the digging blacks and -the strange, covered pit they had left behind them. He wondered again -and again what its purpose might be. He compared perceptions and -arrived at judgments. He compared judgments, reaching conclusions—not -always correct ones, it is true, but at least he used his brain for the -purpose God intended it, which was the less difficult because he was -not handicapped by the second-hand, and usually erroneous, judgment of -others. - -And as he puzzled over the covered pit, there loomed suddenly before -his mental vision a huge, gray-black bulk which lumbered ponderously -along a jungle trail. Instantly Tarzan tensed to the shock of a sudden -fear. Decision and action usually occurred simultaneously in the life -of the ape-man, and now he was away through the leafy branches ere the -realization of the pit’s purpose had scarce formed in his mind. - -Swinging from swaying limb to swaying limb, he raced through the middle -terraces where the trees grew close together. Again he dropped to the -ground and sped, silently and light of foot, over the carpet of -decaying vegetation, only to leap again into the trees where the -tangled undergrowth precluded rapid advance upon the surface. - -In his anxiety he cast discretion to the winds. The caution of the -beast was lost in the loyalty of the man, and so it came that he -entered a large clearing, denuded of trees, without a thought of what -might lie there or upon the farther edge to dispute the way with him. - -He was half way across when directly in his path and but a few yards -away there rose from a clump of tall grasses a half dozen chattering -birds. Instantly Tarzan turned aside, for he knew well enough what -manner of creature the presence of these little sentinels proclaimed. -Simultaneously Buto, the rhinoceros, scrambled to his short legs and -charged furiously. Haphazard charges Buto, the rhinoceros. With his -weak eyes he sees but poorly even at short distances, and whether his -erratic rushes are due to the panic of fear as he attempts to escape, -or to the irascible temper with which he is generally credited, it is -difficult to determine. Nor is the matter of little moment to one whom -Buto charges, for if he be caught and tossed, the chances are that -naught will interest him thereafter. - -And today it chanced that Buto bore down straight upon Tarzan, across -the few yards of knee-deep grass which separated them. Accident started -him in the direction of the ape-man, and then his weak eyes discerned -the enemy, and with a series of snorts he charged straight for him. The -little rhino birds fluttered and circled about their giant ward. Among -the branches of the trees at the edge of the clearing, a score or more -monkeys chattered and scolded as the loud snorts of the angry beast -sent them scurrying affrightedly to the upper terraces. Tarzan alone -appeared indifferent and serene. - -Directly in the path of the charge he stood. There had been no time to -seek safety in the trees beyond the clearing, nor had Tarzan any mind -to delay his journey because of Buto. He had met the stupid beast -before and held him in fine contempt. - -And now Buto was upon him, the massive head lowered and the long, heavy -horn inclined for the frightful work for which nature had designed it; -but as he struck upward, his weapon raked only thin air, for the -ape-man had sprung lightly aloft with a catlike leap that carried him -above the threatening horn to the broad back of the rhinoceros. Another -spring and he was on the ground behind the brute and racing like a deer -for the trees. - -Buto, angered and mystified by the strange disappearance of his prey, -wheeled and charged frantically in another direction, which chanced to -be not the direction of Tarzan’s flight, and so the ape-man came in -safety to the trees and continued on his swift way through the forest. - -Some distance ahead of him Tantor moved steadily along the well-worn -elephant trail, and ahead of Tantor a crouching, black warrior listened -intently in the middle of the path. Presently he heard the sound for -which he had been hoping—the cracking, snapping sound which heralded -the approach of an elephant. - -To his right and left in other parts of the jungle other warriors were -watching. A low signal, passed from one to another, apprised the most -distant that the quarry was afoot. Rapidly they converged toward the -trail, taking positions in trees down wind from the point at which -Tantor must pass them. Silently they waited and presently were rewarded -by the sight of a mighty tusker carrying an amount of ivory in his long -tusks that set their greedy hearts to palpitating. - -No sooner had he passed their positions than the warriors clambered -from their perches. No longer were they silent, but instead clapped -their hands and shouted as they reached the ground. For an instant -Tantor, the elephant, paused with upraised trunk and tail, with great -ears up-pricked, and then he swung on along the trail at a rapid, -shuffling pace—straight toward the covered pit with its sharpened -stakes upstanding in the ground. - -Behind him came the yelling warriors, urging him on in the rapid flight -which would not permit a careful examination of the ground before him. -Tantor, the elephant, who could have turned and scattered his -adversaries with a single charge, fled like a frightened deer—fled -toward a hideous, torturing death. - -And behind them all came Tarzan of the Apes, racing through the jungle -forest with the speed and agility of a squirrel, for he had heard the -shouts of the warriors and had interpreted them correctly. Once he -uttered a piercing call that reverberated through the jungle; but -Tantor, in the panic of terror, either failed to hear, or hearing, -dared not pause to heed. - -Now the giant pachyderm was but a few yards from the hidden death -lurking in his path, and the blacks, certain of success, were screaming -and dancing in his wake, waving their war spears and celebrating in -advance the acquisition of the splendid ivory carried by their prey and -the surfeit of elephant meat which would be theirs this night. - -So intent were they upon their gratulations that they entirely failed -to note the silent passage of the man-beast above their heads, nor did -Tantor, either, see or hear him, even though Tarzan called to him to -stop. - -A few more steps would precipitate Tantor upon the sharpened stakes; -Tarzan fairly flew through the trees until he had come abreast of the -fleeing animal and then had passed him. At the pit’s verge the ape-man -dropped to the ground in the center of the trail. Tantor was almost -upon him before his weak eyes permitted him to recognize his old -friend. - -“Stop!” cried Tarzan, and the great beast halted to the upraised hand. - -Tarzan turned and kicked aside some of the brush which hid the pit. -Instantly Tantor saw and understood. - -“Fight!” growled Tarzan. “They are coming behind you.” But Tantor, the -elephant, is a huge bunch of nerves, and now he was half panic-stricken -by terror. - -Before him yawned the pit, how far he did not know, but to right and -left lay the primeval jungle untouched by man. With a squeal the great -beast turned suddenly at right angles and burst his noisy way through -the solid wall of matted vegetation that would have stopped any but -him. - -Tarzan, standing upon the edge of the pit, smiled as he watched -Tantor’s undignified flight. Soon the blacks would come. It was best -that Tarzan of the Apes faded from the scene. He essayed a step from -the pit’s edge, and as he threw the weight of his body upon his left -foot, the earth crumbled away. Tarzan made a single Herculean effort to -throw himself forward, but it was too late. Backward and downward he -went toward the sharpened stakes in the bottom of the pit. - -When, a moment later, the blacks came they saw even from a distance -that Tantor had eluded them, for the size of the hole in the pit -covering was too small to have accommodated the huge bulk of an -elephant. At first they thought that their prey had put one great foot -through the top and then, warned, drawn back; but when they had come to -the pit’s verge and peered over, their eyes went wide in astonishment, -for, quiet and still, at the bottom lay the naked figure of a white -giant. - -Some of them there had glimpsed this forest god before and they drew -back in terror, awed by the presence which they had for some time -believed to possess the miraculous powers of a demon; but others there -were who pushed forward, thinking only of the capture of an enemy, and -these leaped into the pit and lifted Tarzan out. - -There was no scar upon his body. None of the sharpened stakes had -pierced him—only a swollen spot at the base of the brain indicated the -nature of his injury. In the falling backward his head had struck upon -the side of one of the stakes, rendering him unconscious. The blacks -were quick to discover this, and equally quick to bind their prisoner’s -arms and legs before he should regain consciousness, for they had -learned to harbor a wholesome respect for this strange man-beast that -consorted with the hairy tree folk. - -They had carried him but a short distance toward their village when the -ape-man’s eyelids quivered and raised. He looked about him wonderingly -for a moment, and then full consciousness returned and he realized the -seriousness of his predicament. Accustomed almost from birth to relying -solely upon his own resources, he did not cast about for outside aid -now, but devoted his mind to a consideration of the possibilities for -escape which lay within himself and his own powers. - -He did not dare test the strength of his bonds while the blacks were -carrying him, for fear they would become apprehensive and add to them. -Presently his captors discovered that he was conscious, and as they had -little stomach for carrying a heavy man through the jungle heat, they -set him upon his feet and forced him forward among them, pricking him -now and then with their spears, yet with every manifestation of the -superstitious awe in which they held him. - -When they discovered that their prodding brought no outward evidence of -suffering, their awe increased, so that they soon desisted, half -believing that this strange white giant was a supernatural being and so -was immune from pain. - -As they approached their village, they shouted aloud the victorious -cries of successful warriors, so that by the time they reached the -gate, dancing and waving their spears, a great crowd of men, women, and -children were gathered there to greet them and hear the story of their -adventure. - -As the eyes of the villagers fell upon the prisoner, they went wild, -and heavy jaws fell open in astonishment and incredulity. For months -they had lived in perpetual terror of a weird, white demon whom but few -had ever glimpsed and lived to describe. Warriors had disappeared from -the paths almost within sight of the village and from the midst of -their companions as mysteriously and completely as though they had been -swallowed by the earth, and later, at night, their dead bodies had -fallen, as from the heavens, into the village street. - -This fearsome creature had appeared by night in the huts of the -village, killed, and disappeared, leaving behind him in the huts with -his dead, strange and terrifying evidences of an uncanny sense of -humor. - -But now he was in their power! No longer could he terrorize them. -Slowly the realization of this dawned upon them. A woman, screaming, -ran forward and struck the ape-man across the face. Another and another -followed her example, until Tarzan of the Apes was surrounded by a -fighting, clawing, yelling mob of natives. - -And then Mbonga, the chief, came, and laying his spear heavily across -the shoulders of his people, drove them from their prey. - -“We will save him until night,” he said. - -Far out in the jungle Tantor, the elephant, his first panic of fear -allayed, stood with up-pricked ears and undulating trunk. What was -passing through the convolutions of his savage brain? Could he be -searching for Tarzan? Could he recall and measure the service the -ape-man had performed for him? Of that there can be no doubt. But did -he feel gratitude? Would he have risked his own life to have saved -Tarzan could he have known of the danger which confronted his friend? -You will doubt it. Anyone at all familiar with elephants will doubt it. -Englishmen who have hunted much with elephants in India will tell you -that they never have heard of an instance in which one of these animals -has gone to the aid of a man in danger, even though the man had often -befriended it. And so it is to be doubted that Tantor would have -attempted to overcome his instinctive fear of the black men in an -effort to succor Tarzan. - -The screams of the infuriated villagers came faintly to his sensitive -ears, and he wheeled, as though in terror, contemplating flight; but -something stayed him, and again he turned about, raised his trunk, and -gave voice to a shrill cry. - -Then he stood listening. - -In the distant village where Mbonga had restored quiet and order, the -voice of Tantor was scarcely audible to the blacks, but to the keen -ears of Tarzan of the Apes it bore its message. - -His captors were leading him to a hut where he might be confined and -guarded against the coming of the nocturnal orgy that would mark his -torture-laden death. He halted as he heard the notes of Tantor’s call, -and raising his head, gave vent to a terrifying scream that sent cold -chills through the superstitious blacks and caused the warriors who -guarded him to leap back even though their prisoner’s arms were -securely bound behind him. - -With raised spears they encircled him as for a moment longer he stood -listening. Faintly from the distance came another, an answering cry, -and Tarzan of the Apes, satisfied, turned and quietly pursued his way -toward the hut where he was to be imprisoned. - -The afternoon wore on. From the surrounding village the ape-man heard -the bustle of preparation for the feast. Through the doorway of the hut -he saw the women laying the cooking fires and filling their earthen -caldrons with water; but above it all his ears were bent across the -jungle in eager listening for the coming of Tantor. - -Even Tarzan but half believed that he would come. He knew Tantor even -better than Tantor knew himself. He knew the timid heart which lay in -the giant body. He knew the panic of terror which the scent of the -Gomangani inspired within that savage breast, and as night drew on, -hope died within his heart and in the stoic calm of the wild beast -which he was, he resigned himself to meet the fate which awaited him. - -All afternoon he had been working, working, working with the bonds that -held his wrists. Very slowly they were giving. He might free his hands -before they came to lead him out to be butchered, and if he did—Tarzan -licked his lips in anticipation, and smiled a cold, grim smile. He -could imagine the feel of soft flesh beneath his fingers and the -sinking of his white teeth into the throats of his foemen. He would let -them taste his wrath before they overpowered him! - -At last they came—painted, befeathered warriors—even more hideous than -nature had intended them. They came and pushed him into the open, where -his appearance was greeted by wild shouts from the assembled villagers. - -To the stake they led him, and as they pushed him roughly against it -preparatory to binding him there securely for the dance of death that -would presently encircle him, Tarzan tensed his mighty thews and with a -single, powerful wrench parted the loosened thongs which had secured -his hands. Like thought, for quickness, he leaped forward among the -warriors nearest him. A blow sent one to earth, as, growling and -snarling, the beast-man leaped upon the breast of another. His fangs -were buried instantly in the jugular of his adversary and then a half -hundred black men had leaped upon him and borne him to earth. - -Striking, clawing, and snapping, the ape-man fought—fought as his -foster people had taught him to fight—fought like a wild beast -cornered. His strength, his agility, his courage, and his intelligence -rendered him easily a match for half a dozen black men in a -hand-to-hand struggle, but not even Tarzan of the Apes could hope to -successfully cope with half a hundred. - -Slowly they were overpowering him, though a score of them bled from -ugly wounds, and two lay very still beneath the trampling feet, and the -rolling bodies of the contestants. - -Overpower him they might, but could they keep him overpowered while -they bound him? A half hour of desperate endeavor convinced them that -they could not, and so Mbonga, who, like all good rulers, had circled -in the safety of the background, called to one to work his way in and -spear the victim. Gradually, through the milling, battling men, the -warrior approached the object of his quest. - -He stood with poised spear above his head waiting for the instant that -would expose a vulnerable part of the ape-man’s body and still not -endanger one of the blacks. Closer and closer he edged about, following -the movements of the twisting, scuffling combatants. The growls of the -ape-man sent cold chills up the warrior’s spine, causing him to go -carefully lest he miss at the first cast and lay himself open to an -attack from those merciless teeth and mighty hands. - -At last he found an opening. Higher he raised his spear, tensing his -muscles, rolling beneath his glistening, ebon hide, and then from the -jungle just beyond the palisade came a thunderous crashing. The -spear-hand paused, the black cast a quick glance in the direction of -the disturbance, as did the others of the blacks who were not occupied -with the subjugation of the ape-man. - -In the glare of the fires they saw a huge bulk topping the barrier. -They saw the palisade belly and sway inward. They saw it burst as -though built of straws, and an instant later Tantor, the elephant, -thundered down upon them. - -To right and left the blacks fled, screaming in terror. Some who -hovered upon the verge of the strife with Tarzan heard and made good -their escape, but a half dozen there were so wrapt in the blood-madness -of battle that they failed to note the approach of the giant tusker. - -Upon these Tantor charged, trumpeting furiously. Above them he stopped, -his sensitive trunk weaving among them, and there, at the bottom, he -found Tarzan, bloody, but still battling. - -A warrior turned his eyes upward from the melee. Above him towered the -gigantic bulk of the pachyderm, the little eyes flashing with the -reflected light of the fires—wicked, frightful, terrifying. The warrior -screamed, and as he screamed, the sinuous trunk encircled him, lifted -him high above the ground, and hurled him far after the fleeing crowd. - -Another and another Tantor wrenched from the body of the ape-man, -throwing them to right and to left, where they lay either moaning or -very quiet, as death came slowly or at once. - -At a distance Mbonga rallied his warriors. His greedy eyes had noted -the great ivory tusks of the bull. The first panic of terror relieved, -he urged his men forward to attack with their heavy elephant spears; -but as they came, Tantor swung Tarzan to his broad head, and, wheeling, -lumbered off into the jungle through the great rent he had made in the -palisade. - -Elephant hunters may be right when they aver that this animal would not -have rendered such service to a man, but to Tantor, Tarzan was not a -man—he was but a fellow jungle beast. - -And so it was that Tantor, the elephant, discharged an obligation to -Tarzan of the Apes, cementing even more closely the friendship that had -existed between them since Tarzan as a little, brown boy rode upon -Tantor’s huge back through the moonlit jungle beneath the equatorial -stars. - - - - -CHAPTER III -The Fight for the Balu - - -Teeka had become a mother. Tarzan of the Apes was intensely interested, -much more so, in fact, than Taug, the father. Tarzan was very fond of -Teeka. Even the cares of prospective motherhood had not entirely -quenched the fires of carefree youth, and Teeka had remained a -good-natured playmate even at an age when other shes of the tribe of -Kerchak had assumed the sullen dignity of maturity. She yet retained -her childish delight in the primitive games of tag and hide-and-go-seek -which Tarzan’s fertile man-mind had evolved. - -To play tag through the tree tops is an exciting and inspiring pastime. -Tarzan delighted in it, but the bulls of his childhood had long since -abandoned such childish practices. Teeka, though, had been keen for it -always until shortly before the baby came; but with the advent of her -first-born, even Teeka changed. - -The evidence of the change surprised and hurt Tarzan immeasurably. One -morning he saw Teeka squatted upon a low branch hugging something very -close to her hairy breast—a wee something which squirmed and wriggled. -Tarzan approached filled with the curiosity which is common to all -creatures endowed with brains which have progressed beyond the -microscopic stage. - -Teeka rolled her eyes in his direction and strained the squirming mite -still closer to her. Tarzan came nearer. Teeka drew away and bared her -fangs. Tarzan was nonplussed. In all his experiences with Teeka, never -before had she bared fangs at him other than in play; but today she did -not look playful. Tarzan ran his brown fingers through his thick, black -hair, cocked his head upon one side, and stared. Then he edged a bit -nearer, craning his neck to have a better look at the thing which Teeka -cuddled. - -Again Teeka drew back her upper lip in a warning snarl. Tarzan reached -forth a hand, cautiously, to touch the thing which Teeka held, and -Teeka, with a hideous growl, turned suddenly upon him. Her teeth sank -into the flesh of his forearm before the ape-man could snatch it away, -and she pursued him for a short distance as he retreated incontinently -through the trees; but Teeka, carrying her baby, could not overtake -him. At a safe distance Tarzan stopped and turned to regard his -erstwhile play-fellow in unconcealed astonishment. What had happened to -so alter the gentle Teeka? She had so covered the thing in her arms -that Tarzan had not yet been able to recognize it for what it was; but -now, as she turned from the pursuit of him, he saw it. Through his pain -and chagrin he smiled, for Tarzan had seen young ape mothers before. In -a few days she would be less suspicious. Still Tarzan was hurt; it was -not right that Teeka, of all others, should fear him. Why, not for the -world would he harm her, or her balu, which is the ape word for baby. - -And now, above the pain of his injured arm and the hurt to his pride, -rose a still stronger desire to come close and inspect the new-born son -of Taug. Possibly you will wonder that Tarzan of the Apes, mighty -fighter that he was, should have fled before the irritable attack of a -she, or that he should hesitate to return for the satisfaction of his -curiosity when with ease he might have vanquished the weakened mother -of the new-born cub; but you need not wonder. Were you an ape, you -would know that only a bull in the throes of madness will turn upon a -female other than to gently chastise her, with the occasional exception -of the individual whom we find exemplified among our own kind, and who -delights in beating up his better half because she happens to be -smaller and weaker than he. - -Tarzan again came toward the young mother—warily and with his line of -retreat safely open. Again Teeka growled ferociously. Tarzan -expostulated. - -“Tarzan of the Apes will not harm Teeka’s balu,” he said. “Let me see -it.” - -“Go away!” commanded Teeka. “Go away, or I will kill you.” - -“Let me see it,” urged Tarzan. - -“Go away,” reiterated the she-ape. “Here comes Taug. He will make you -go away. Taug will kill you. This is Taug’s balu.” - -A savage growl close behind him apprised Tarzan of the nearness of -Taug, and the fact that the bull had heard the warnings and threats of -his mate and was coming to her succor. - -Now Taug, as well as Teeka, had been Tarzan’s play-fellow while the -bull was still young enough to wish to play. Once Tarzan had saved -Taug’s life; but the memory of an ape is not overlong, nor would -gratitude rise above the parental instinct. Tarzan and Taug had once -measured strength, and Tarzan had been victorious. That fact Taug could -be depended upon still to remember; but even so, he might readily face -another defeat for his first-born—if he chanced to be in the proper -mood. - -From his hideous growls, which now rose in strength and volume, he -seemed to be in quite the mood. Now Tarzan felt no fear of Taug, nor -did the unwritten law of the jungle demand that he should flee from -battle with any male, unless he cared to from purely personal reasons. -But Tarzan liked Taug. He had no grudge against him, and his man-mind -told him what the mind of an ape would never have deduced—that Taug’s -attitude in no sense indicated hatred. It was but the instinctive urge -of the male to protect its offspring and its mate. - -Tarzan had no desire to battle with Taug, nor did the blood of his -English ancestors relish the thought of flight, yet when the bull -charged, Tarzan leaped nimbly to one side, and thus encouraged, Taug -wheeled and rushed again madly to the attack. Perhaps the memory of a -past defeat at Tarzan’s hands goaded him. Perhaps the fact that Teeka -sat there watching him aroused a desire to vanquish the ape-man before -her eyes, for in the breast of every jungle male lurks a vast egotism -which finds expression in the performance of deeds of derring-do before -an audience of the opposite sex. - -At the ape-man’s side swung his long grass rope—the play-thing of -yesterday, the weapon of today—and as Taug charged the second time, -Tarzan slipped the coils over his head and deftly shook out the sliding -noose as he again nimbly eluded the ungainly beast. Before the ape -could turn again, Tarzan had fled far aloft among the branches of the -upper terrace. - -Taug, now wrought to a frenzy of real rage, followed him. Teeka peered -upward at them. It was difficult to say whether she was interested. -Taug could not climb as rapidly as Tarzan, so the latter reached the -high levels to which the heavy ape dared not follow before the former -overtook him. There he halted and looked down upon his pursuer, making -faces at him and calling him such choice names as occurred to the -fertile man-brain. Then, when he had worked Taug to such a pitch of -foaming rage that the great bull fairly danced upon the bending limb -beneath him, Tarzan’s hand shot suddenly outward, a widening noose -dropped swiftly through the air, there was a quick jerk as it settled -about Taug, falling to his knees, a jerk that tightened it securely -about the hairy legs of the anthropoid. - -Taug, slow of wit, realized too late the intention of his tormentor. He -scrambled to escape, but the ape-man gave the rope a tremendous jerk -that pulled Taug from his perch, and a moment later, growling -hideously, the ape hung head downward thirty feet above the ground. - -Tarzan secured the rope to a stout limb and descended to a point close -to Taug. - -“Taug,” he said, “you are as stupid as Buto, the rhinoceros. Now you -may hang here until you get a little sense in your thick head. You may -hang here and watch while I go and talk with Teeka.” - -Taug blustered and threatened, but Tarzan only grinned at him as he -dropped lightly to the lower levels. Here he again approached Teeka -only to be again greeted with bared fangs and menacing growls. He -sought to placate her; he urged his friendly intentions, and craned his -neck to have a look at Teeka’s balu; but the she-ape was not to be -persuaded that he meant other than harm to her little one. Her -motherhood was still so new that reason was yet subservient to -instinct. - -Realizing the futility of attempting to catch and chastise Tarzan, -Teeka sought to escape him. She dropped to the ground and lumbered -across the little clearing about which the apes of the tribe were -disposed in rest or in the search of food, and presently Tarzan -abandoned his attempts to persuade her to permit a close examination of -the balu. The ape-man would have liked to handle the tiny thing. The -very sight of it awakened in his breast a strange yearning. He wished -to cuddle and fondle the grotesque little ape-thing. It was Teeka’s -balu and Tarzan had once lavished his young affections upon Teeka. - -But now his attention was diverted by the voice of Taug. The threats -that had filled the ape’s mouth had turned to pleas. The tightening -noose was stopping the circulation of the blood in his legs—he was -beginning to suffer. Several apes sat near him highly interested in his -predicament. They made uncomplimentary remarks about him, for each of -them had felt the weight of Taug’s mighty hands and the strength of his -great jaws. They were enjoying revenge. - -Teeka, seeing that Tarzan had turned back toward the trees, had halted -in the center of the clearing, and there she sat hugging her balu and -casting suspicious glances here and there. With the coming of the balu, -Teeka’s care-free world had suddenly become peopled with innumerable -enemies. She saw an implacable foe in Tarzan, always heretofore her -best friend. Even poor old Mumga, half blind and almost entirely -toothless, searching patiently for grubworms beneath a fallen log, -represented to her a malignant spirit thirsting for the blood of little -balus. - -And while Teeka guarded suspiciously against harm, where there was no -harm, she failed to note two baleful, yellow-green eyes staring fixedly -at her from behind a clump of bushes at the opposite side of the -clearing. - -Hollow from hunger, Sheeta, the panther, glared greedily at the -tempting meat so close at hand, but the sight of the great bulls beyond -gave him pause. - -Ah, if the she-ape with her balu would but come just a trifle nearer! A -quick spring and he would be upon them and away again with his meat -before the bulls could prevent. - -The tip of his tawny tail moved in spasmodic little jerks; his lower -jaw hung low, exposing a red tongue and yellow fangs. But all this -Teeka did not see, nor did any other of the apes who were feeding or -resting about her. Nor did Tarzan or the apes in the trees. - -Hearing the abuse which the bulls were pouring upon the helpless Taug, -Tarzan clambered quickly among them. One was edging closer and leaning -far out in an effort to reach the dangling ape. He had worked himself -into quite a fury through recollection of the last occasion upon which -Taug had mauled him, and now he was bent upon revenge. Once he had -grasped the swinging ape, he would quickly have drawn him within reach -of his jaws. Tarzan saw and was wroth. He loved a fair fight, but the -thing which this ape contemplated revolted him. Already a hairy hand -had clutched the helpless Taug when, with an angry growl of protest, -Tarzan leaped to the branch at the attacking ape’s side, and with a -single mighty cuff, swept him from his perch. - -Surprised and enraged, the bull clutched madly for support as he -toppled sidewise, and then with an agile movement succeeded in -projecting himself toward another limb a few feet below. Here he found -a hand-hold, quickly righted himself, and as quickly clambered upward -to be revenged upon Tarzan, but the ape-man was otherwise engaged and -did not wish to be interrupted. He was explaining again to Taug the -depths of the latter’s abysmal ignorance, and pointing out how much -greater and mightier was Tarzan of the Apes than Taug or any other ape. - -In the end he would release Taug, but not until Taug was fully -acquainted with his own inferiority. And then the maddened bull came -from beneath, and instantly Tarzan was transformed from a good-natured, -teasing youth into a snarling, savage beast. Along his scalp the hair -bristled: his upper lip drew back that his fighting fangs might be -uncovered and ready. He did not wait for the bull to reach him, for -something in the appearance or the voice of the attacker aroused within -the ape-man a feeling of belligerent antagonism that would not be -denied. With a scream that carried no human note, Tarzan leaped -straight at the throat of the attacker. - -The impetuosity of this act and the weight and momentum of his body -carried the bull backward, clutching and clawing for support, down -through the leafy branches of the tree. For fifteen feet the two fell, -Tarzan’s teeth buried in the jugular of his opponent, when a stout -branch stopped their descent. The bull struck full upon the small of -his back across the limb, hung there for a moment with the ape-man -still upon his breast, and then toppled over toward the ground. - -Tarzan had felt the instantaneous relaxation of the body beneath him -after the heavy impact with the tree limb, and as the other turned -completely over and started again upon its fall toward the ground, he -reached forth a hand and caught the branch in time to stay his own -descent, while the ape dropped like a plummet to the foot of the tree. - -Tarzan looked downward for a moment upon the still form of his late -antagonist, then he rose to his full height, swelled his deep chest, -smote upon it with his clenched fist and roared out the uncanny -challenge of the victorious bull ape. - -Even Sheeta, the panther, crouched for a spring at the edge of the -little clearing, moved uneasily as the mighty voice sent its weird cry -reverberating through the jungle. To right and left, nervously, glanced -Sheeta, as though assuring himself that the way of escape lay ready at -hand. - -“I am Tarzan of the Apes,” boasted the ape-man; “mighty hunter, mighty -fighter! None in all the jungle so great as Tarzan.” - -Then he made his way back in the direction of Taug. Teeka had watched -the happenings in the tree. She had even placed her precious balu upon -the soft grasses and come a little nearer that she might better witness -all that was passing in the branches above her. In her heart of hearts -did she still esteem the smooth-skinned Tarzan? Did her savage breast -swell with pride as she witnessed his victory over the ape? You will -have to ask Teeka. - -And Sheeta, the panther, saw that the she-ape had left her cub alone -among the grasses. He moved his tail again, as though this closest -approximation of lashing in which he dared indulge might stimulate his -momentarily waned courage. The cry of the victorious ape-man still held -his nerves beneath its spell. It would be several minutes before he -again could bring himself to the point of charging into view of the -giant anthropoids. - -And as he regathered his forces, Tarzan reached Taug’s side, and then -clambering higher up to the point where the end of the grass rope was -made fast, he unloosed it and lowered the ape slowly downward, swinging -him in until the clutching hands fastened upon a limb. - -Quickly Taug drew himself to a position of safety and shook off the -noose. In his rage-maddened heart was no room for gratitude to the -ape-man. He recalled only the fact that Tarzan had laid this painful -indignity upon him. He would be revenged, but just at present his legs -were so numb and his head so dizzy that he must postpone the -gratification of his vengeance. - -Tarzan was coiling his rope the while he lectured Taug on the futility -of pitting his poor powers, physical and intellectual, against those of -his betters. Teeka had come close beneath the tree and was peering -upward. Sheeta was worming his way stealthily forward, his belly close -to the ground. In another moment he would be clear of the underbrush -and ready for the rapid charge and the quick retreat that would end the -brief existence of Teeka’s balu. - -Then Tarzan chanced to look up and across the clearing. Instantly his -attitude of good-natured bantering and pompous boastfulness dropped -from him. Silently and swiftly he shot downward toward the ground. -Teeka, seeing him coming, and thinking that he was after her or her -balu, bristled and prepared to fight. But Tarzan sped by her, and as he -went, her eyes followed him and she saw the cause of his sudden descent -and his rapid charge across the clearing. There in full sight now was -Sheeta, the panther, stalking slowly toward the tiny, wriggling balu -which lay among the grasses many yards away. - -Teeka gave voice to a shrill scream of terror and of warning as she -dashed after the ape-man. Sheeta saw Tarzan coming. He saw the -she-ape’s cub before him, and he thought that this other was bent upon -robbing him of his prey. With an angry growl, he charged. - -Taug, warned by Teeka’s cry, came lumbering down to her assistance. -Several other bulls, growling and barking, closed in toward the -clearing, but they were all much farther from the balu and the panther -than was Tarzan of the Apes, so it was that Sheeta and the ape-man -reached Teeka’s little one almost simultaneously; and there they stood, -one upon either side of it, baring their fangs and snarling at each -other over the little creature. - -Sheeta was afraid to seize the balu, for thus he would give the ape-man -an opening for attack; and for the same reason Tarzan hesitated to -snatch the panther’s prey out of harm’s way, for had he stooped to -accomplish this, the great beast would have been upon him in an -instant. Thus they stood while Teeka came across the clearing, going -more slowly as she neared the panther, for even her mother love could -scarce overcome her instinctive terror of this natural enemy of her -kind. - -Behind her came Taug, warily and with many pauses and much bluster, and -still behind him came other bulls, snarling ferociously and uttering -their uncanny challenges. Sheeta’s yellow-green eyes glared terribly at -Tarzan, and past Tarzan they shot brief glances at the apes of Kerchak -advancing upon him. Discretion prompted him to turn and flee, but -hunger and the close proximity of the tempting morsel in the grass -before him urged him to remain. He reached forth a paw toward Teeka’s -balu, and as he did so, with a savage guttural, Tarzan of the Apes was -upon him. - -The panther reared to meet the ape-man’s attack. He swung a frightful -raking blow for Tarzan that would have wiped his face away had it -landed, but it did not land, for Tarzan ducked beneath it and closed, -his long knife ready in one strong hand—the knife of his dead father, -of the father he never had known. - -Instantly the balu was forgotten by Sheeta, the panther. He now thought -only of tearing to ribbons with his powerful talons the flesh of his -antagonist, of burying his long, yellow fangs in the soft, smooth hide -of the ape-man, but Tarzan had fought before with clawed creatures of -the jungle. Before now he had battled with fanged monsters, nor always -had he come away unscathed. He knew the risk that he ran, but Tarzan of -the Apes, inured to the sight of suffering and death, shrank from -neither, for he feared neither. - -The instant that he dodged beneath Sheeta’s blow, he leaped to the -beast’s rear and then full upon the tawny back, burying his teeth in -Sheeta’s neck and the fingers of one hand in the fur at the throat, and -with the other hand he drove his blade into Sheeta’s side. - -Over and over upon the grass rolled Sheeta, growling and screaming, -clawing and biting, in a mad effort to dislodge his antagonist or get -some portion of his body within range of teeth or talons. - -As Tarzan leaped to close quarters with the panther, Teeka had run -quickly in and snatched up her balu. Now she sat upon a high branch, -safe out of harm’s way, cuddling the little thing close to her hairy -breast, the while her savage little eyes bored down upon the -contestants in the clearing, and her ferocious voice urged Taug and the -other bulls to leap into the melee. - -Thus goaded the bulls came closer, redoubling their hideous clamor; but -Sheeta was already sufficiently engaged—he did not even hear them. Once -he succeeded in partially dislodging the ape-man from his back, so that -Tarzan swung for an instant in front of those awful talons, and in the -brief instant before he could regain his former hold, a raking blow -from a hind paw laid open one leg from hip to knee. - -It was the sight and smell of this blood, possibly, which wrought upon -the encircling apes; but it was Taug who really was responsible for the -thing they did. - -Taug, but a moment before filled with rage toward Tarzan of the Apes, -stood close to the battling pair, his red-rimmed, wicked little eyes -glaring at them. What was passing in his savage brain? Did he gloat -over the unenviable position of his recent tormentor? Did he long to -see Sheeta’s great fangs sink into the soft throat of the ape-man? Or -did he realize the courageous unselfishness that had prompted Tarzan to -rush to the rescue and imperil his life for Teeka’s balu—for Taug’s -little balu? Is gratitude a possession of man only, or do the lower -orders know it also? - -With the spilling of Tarzan’s blood, Taug answered these questions. -With all the weight of his great body he leaped, hideously growling, -upon Sheeta. His long fighting fangs buried themselves in the white -throat. His powerful arms beat and clawed at the soft fur until it flew -upward in the jungle breeze. - -And with Taug’s example before them the other bulls charged, burying -Sheeta beneath rending fangs and filling all the forest with the wild -din of their battle cries. - -Ah! but it was a wondrous and inspiring sight—this battle of the -primordial apes and the great, white ape-man with their ancestral foe, -Sheeta, the panther. - -In frenzied excitement, Teeka fairly danced upon the limb which swayed -beneath her great weight as she urged on the males of her people, and -Thaka, and Mumga, and Kamma, with the other shes of the tribe of -Kerchak, added their shrill cries or fierce barkings to the pandemonium -which now reigned within the jungle. - -Bitten and biting, tearing and torn, Sheeta battled for his life; but -the odds were against him. Even Numa, the lion, would have hesitated to -have attacked an equal number of the great bulls of the tribe of -Kerchak, and now, a half mile away, hearing the sounds of the terrific -battle, the king of beasts rose uneasily from his midday slumber and -slunk off farther into the jungle. - -Presently Sheeta’s torn and bloody body ceased its titanic struggles. -It stiffened spasmodically, twitched and was still, yet the bulls -continued to lacerate it until the beautiful coat was torn to shreds. -At last they desisted from sheer physical weariness, and then from the -tangle of bloody bodies rose a crimson giant, straight as an arrow. - -He placed a foot upon the dead body of the panther, and lifting his -blood-stained face to the blue of the equatorial heavens, gave voice to -the horrid victory cry of the bull ape. - -One by one his hairy fellows of the tribe of Kerchak followed his -example. The shes came down from their perches of safety and struck and -reviled the dead body of Sheeta. The young apes refought the battle in -mimicry of their mighty elders. - -Teeka was quite close to Tarzan. He turned and saw her with the balu -hugged close to her hairy breast, and put out his hands to take the -little one, expecting that Teeka would bare her fangs and spring upon -him; but instead she placed the balu in his arms, and coming nearer, -licked his frightful wounds. - -And presently Taug, who had escaped with only a few scratches, came and -squatted beside Tarzan and watched him as he played with the little -balu, and at last he too leaned over and helped Teeka with the -cleansing and the healing of the ape-man’s hurts. - - - - -CHAPTER IV -The God of Tarzan - - -Among the books of his dead father in the little cabin by the -land-locked harbor, Tarzan of the Apes found many things to puzzle his -young head. By much labor and through the medium of infinite patience -as well, he had, without assistance, discovered the purpose of the -little bugs which ran riot upon the printed pages. He had learned that -in the many combinations in which he found them they spoke in a silent -language, spoke in a strange tongue, spoke of wonderful things which a -little ape-boy could not by any chance fully understand, arousing his -curiosity, stimulating his imagination and filling his soul with a -mighty longing for further knowledge. - -A dictionary had proven itself a wonderful storehouse of information, -when, after several years of tireless endeavor, he had solved the -mystery of its purpose and the manner of its use. He had learned to -make a species of game out of it, following up the spoor of a new -thought through the mazes of the many definitions which each new word -required him to consult. It was like following a quarry through the -jungle—it was hunting, and Tarzan of the Apes was an indefatigable -huntsman. - -There were, of course, certain words which aroused his curiosity to a -greater extent than others, words which, for one reason or another, -excited his imagination. There was one, for example, the meaning of -which was rather difficult to grasp. It was the word GOD. Tarzan first -had been attracted to it by the fact that it was very short and that it -commenced with a larger g-bug than those about it—a male g-bug it was -to Tarzan, the lower-case letters being females. Another fact which -attracted him to this word was the number of he-bugs which figured in -its definition—Supreme Deity, Creator or Upholder of the Universe. This -must be a very important word indeed, he would have to look into it, -and he did, though it still baffled him after many months of thought -and study. - -However, Tarzan counted no time wasted which he devoted to these -strange hunting expeditions into the game preserves of knowledge, for -each word and each definition led on and on into strange places, into -new worlds where, with increasing frequency, he met old, familiar -faces. And always he added to his store of knowledge. - -But of the meaning of GOD he was yet in doubt. Once he thought he had -grasped it—that God was a mighty chieftain, king of all the Mangani. He -was not quite sure, however, since that would mean that God was -mightier than Tarzan—a point which Tarzan of the Apes, who acknowledged -no equal in the jungle, was loath to concede. - -But in all the books he had there was no picture of God, though he -found much to confirm his belief that God was a great, an all-powerful -individual. He saw pictures of places where God was worshiped; but -never any sign of God. Finally he began to wonder if God were not of a -different form than he, and at last he determined to set out in search -of Him. - -He commenced by questioning Mumga, who was very old and had seen many -strange things in her long life; but Mumga, being an ape, had a faculty -for recalling the trivial. That time when Gunto mistook a sting-bug for -an edible beetle had made more impression upon Mumga than all the -innumerable manifestations of the greatness of God which she had -witnessed, and which, of course, she had not understood. - -Numgo, overhearing Tarzan’s questions, managed to wrest his attention -long enough from the diversion of flea hunting to advance the theory -that the power which made the lightning and the rain and the thunder -came from Goro, the moon. He knew this, he said, because the Dum-Dum -always was danced in the light of Goro. This reasoning, though entirely -satisfactory to Numgo and Mumga, failed fully to convince Tarzan. -However, it gave him a basis for further investigation along a new -line. He would investigate the moon. - -That night he clambered to the loftiest pinnacle of the tallest jungle -giant. The moon was full, a great, glorious, equatorial moon. The -ape-man, upright upon a slender, swaying limb, raised his bronzed face -to the silver orb. Now that he had clambered to the highest point -within his reach, he discovered, to his surprise, that Goro was as far -away as when he viewed him from the ground. He thought that Goro was -attempting to elude him. - -“Come, Goro!” he cried, “Tarzan of the Apes will not harm you!” But -still the moon held aloof. - -“Tell me,” he continued, “if you be the great king who sends Ara, the -lightning; who makes the great noise and the mighty winds, and sends -the waters down upon the jungle people when the days are dark and it is -cold. Tell me, Goro, are you God?” - -Of course he did not pronounce God as you or I would pronounce His -name, for Tarzan knew naught of the spoken language of his English -forbears; but he had a name of his own invention for each of the little -bugs which constituted the alphabet. Unlike the apes he was not -satisfied merely to have a mental picture of the things he knew, he -must have a word descriptive of each. In reading he grasped a word in -its entirety; but when he spoke the words he had learned from the books -of his father, he pronounced each according to the names he had given -the various little bugs which occurred in it, usually giving the gender -prefix for each. - -Thus it was an imposing word which Tarzan made of GOD. The masculine -prefix of the apes is BU, the feminine MU; g Tarzan had named LA, o he -pronounced TU, and d was MO. So the word God evolved itself into -BULAMUTUMUMO, or, in English, he-g-she-o-she-d. - -Similarly he had arrived at a strange and wonderful spelling of his own -name. Tarzan is derived from the two ape words TAR and ZAN, meaning -white skin. It was given him by his foster mother, Kala, the great -she-ape. When Tarzan first put it into the written language of his own -people he had not yet chanced upon either WHITE or SKIN in the -dictionary; but in a primer he had seen the picture of a little white -boy and so he wrote his name BUMUDE-MUTOMURO, or he-boy. - -To follow Tarzan’s strange system of spelling would be laborious as -well as futile, and so we shall in the future, as we have in the past, -adhere to the more familiar forms of our grammar school copybooks. It -would tire you to remember that DO meant b, TU o, and RO y, and that to -say he-boy you must prefix the ape masculine gender sound BU before the -entire word and the feminine gender sound MU before each of the -lower-case letters which go to make up boy—it would tire you and it -would bring me to the nineteenth hole several strokes under par. - -And so Tarzan harangued the moon, and when Goro did not reply, Tarzan -of the Apes waxed wroth. He swelled his giant chest and bared his -fighting fangs, and hurled into the teeth of the dead satellite the -challenge of the bull ape. - -“You are not Bulamutumumo,” he cried. “You are not king of the jungle -folk. You are not so great as Tarzan, mighty fighter, mighty hunter. -None there is so great as Tarzan. If there be a Bulamutumumo, Tarzan -can kill him. Come down, Goro, great coward, and fight with Tarzan. -Tarzan will kill you. I am Tarzan, the killer.” - -But the moon made no answer to the boasting of the ape-man, and when a -cloud came and obscured her face, Tarzan thought that Goro was indeed -afraid, and was hiding from him, so he came down out of the trees and -awoke Numgo and told him how great was Tarzan—how he had frightened -Goro out of the sky and made him tremble. Tarzan spoke of the moon as -HE, for all things large or awe inspiring are male to the ape folk. - -Numgo was not much impressed; but he was very sleepy, so he told Tarzan -to go away and leave his betters alone. - -“But where shall I find God?” insisted Tarzan. “You are very old; if -there is a God you must have seen Him. What does He look like? Where -does He live?” - -“I am God,” replied Numgo. “Now sleep and disturb me no more.” - -Tarzan looked at Numgo steadily for several minutes, his shapely head -sank just a trifle between his great shoulders, his square chin shot -forward and his short upper lip drew back, exposing his white teeth. -Then, with a low growl he leaped upon the ape and buried his fangs in -the other’s hairy shoulder, clutching the great neck in his mighty -fingers. Twice he shook the old ape, then he released his tooth-hold. - -“Are you God?” he demanded. - -“No,” wailed Numgo. “I am only a poor, old ape. Leave me alone. Go ask -the Gomangani where God is. They are hairless like yourself and very -wise, too. They should know.” - -Tarzan released Numgo and turned away. The suggestion that he consult -the blacks appealed to him, and though his relations with the people of -Mbonga, the chief, were the antithesis of friendly, he could at least -spy upon his hated enemies and discover if they had intercourse with -God. - -So it was that Tarzan set forth through the trees toward the village of -the blacks, all excitement at the prospect of discovering the Supreme -Being, the Creator of all things. As he traveled he reviewed, mentally, -his armament—the condition of his hunting knife, the number of his -arrows, the newness of the gut which strung his bow—he hefted the war -spear which had once been the pride of some black warrior of Mbonga’s -tribe. - -If he met God, Tarzan would be prepared. One could never tell whether a -grass rope, a war spear, or a poisoned arrow would be most efficacious -against an unfamiliar foe. Tarzan of the Apes was quite content—if God -wished to fight, the ape-man had no doubt as to the outcome of the -struggle. There were many questions Tarzan wished to put to the Creator -of the Universe and so he hoped that God would not prove a belligerent -God; but his experience of life and the ways of living things had -taught him that any creature with the means for offense and defense was -quite likely to provoke attack if in the proper mood. - -It was dark when Tarzan came to the village of Mbonga. As silently as -the silent shadows of the night he sought his accustomed place among -the branches of the great tree which overhung the palisade. Below him, -in the village street, he saw men and women. The men were hideously -painted—more hideously than usual. Among them moved a weird and -grotesque figure, a tall figure that went upon the two legs of a man -and yet had the head of a buffalo. A tail dangled to his ankles behind -him, and in one hand he carried a zebra’s tail while the other clutched -a bunch of small arrows. - -Tarzan was electrified. Could it be that chance had given him thus -early an opportunity to look upon God? Surely this thing was neither -man nor beast, so what could it be then other than the Creator of the -Universe! The ape-man watched the every move of the strange creature. -He saw the black men and women fall back at its approach as though they -stood in terror of its mysterious powers. - -Presently he discovered that the deity was speaking and that all -listened in silence to his words. Tarzan was sure that none other than -God could inspire such awe in the hearts of the Gomangani, or stop -their mouths so effectually without recourse to arrows or spears. -Tarzan had come to look with contempt upon the blacks, principally -because of their garrulity. The small apes talked a great deal and ran -away from an enemy. The big, old bulls of Kerchak talked but little and -fought upon the slightest provocation. Numa, the lion, was not given to -loquacity, yet of all the jungle folk there were few who fought more -often than he. - -Tarzan witnessed strange things that night, none of which he -understood, and, perhaps because they were strange, he thought that -they must have to do with the God he could not understand. He saw three -youths receive their first war spears in a weird ceremony which the -grotesque witch-doctor strove successfully to render uncanny and -awesome. - -Hugely interested, he watched the slashing of the three brown arms and -the exchange of blood with Mbonga, the chief, in the rites of the -ceremony of blood brotherhood. He saw the zebra’s tail dipped into a -caldron of water above which the witch-doctor had made magical passes -the while he danced and leaped about it, and he saw the breasts and -foreheads of each of the three novitiates sprinkled with the charmed -liquid. Could the ape-man have known the purpose of this act, that it -was intended to render the recipient invulnerable to the attacks of his -enemies and fearless in the face of any danger, he would doubtless have -leaped into the village street and appropriated the zebra’s tail and a -portion of the contents of the caldron. - -But he did not know, and so he only wondered, not alone at what he saw -but at the strange sensations which played up and down his naked spine, -sensations induced, doubtless, by the same hypnotic influence which -held the black spectators in tense awe upon the verge of a hysteric -upheaval. - -The longer Tarzan watched, the more convinced he became that his eyes -were upon God, and with the conviction came determination to have word -with the deity. With Tarzan of the Apes, to think was to act. - -The people of Mbonga were keyed to the highest pitch of hysterical -excitement. They needed little to release the accumulated pressure of -static nerve force which the terrorizing mummery of the witch-doctor -had induced. - -A lion roared, suddenly and loud, close without the palisade. The -blacks started nervously, dropping into utter silence as they listened -for a repetition of that all-too-familiar and always terrorizing voice. -Even the witch-doctor paused in the midst of an intricate step, -remaining momentarily rigid and statuesque as he plumbed his cunning -mind for a suggestion as how best he might take advantage of the -condition of his audience and the timely interruption. - -Already the evening had been vastly profitable to him. There would be -three goats for the initiation of the three youths into full-fledged -warriorship, and besides these he had received several gifts of grain -and beads, together with a piece of copper wire from admiring and -terrified members of his audience. - -Numa’s roar still reverberated along taut nerves when a woman’s laugh, -shrill and piercing, shattered the silence of the village. It was this -moment that Tarzan chose to drop lightly from his tree into the village -street. Fearless among his blood enemies he stood, taller by a full -head than many of Mbonga’s warriors, straight as their straightest -arrow, muscled like Numa, the lion. - -For a moment Tarzan stood looking straight at the witch-doctor. Every -eye was upon him, yet no one had moved—a paralysis of terror held them, -to be broken a moment later as the ape-man, with a toss of head, -stepped straight toward the hideous figure beneath the buffalo head. - -Then the nerves of the blacks could stand no more. For months the -terror of the strange, white, jungle god had been upon them. Their -arrows had been stolen from the very center of the village; their -warriors had been silently slain upon the jungle trails and their dead -bodies dropped mysteriously and by night into the village street as -from the heavens above. - -One or two there were who had glimpsed the strange figure of the new -demon and it was from their oft-repeated descriptions that the entire -village now recognized Tarzan as the author of many of their ills. Upon -another occasion and by daylight, the warriors would doubtless have -leaped to attack him, but at night, and this night of all others, when -they were wrought to such a pitch of nervous dread by the uncanny -artistry of their witch-doctor, they were helpless with terror. As one -man they turned and fled, scattering for their huts, as Tarzan -advanced. For a moment one and one only held his ground. It was the -witch-doctor. More than half self-hypnotized into a belief in his own -charlatanry he faced this new demon who threatened to undermine his -ancient and lucrative profession. - -“Are you God?” asked Tarzan. - -The witch-doctor, having no idea of the meaning of the other’s words, -danced a few strange steps, leaped high in the air, turning completely -around and alighting in a stooping posture with feet far outspread and -head thrust out toward the ape-man. Thus he remained for an instant -before he uttered a loud “Boo!” which was evidently intended to -frighten Tarzan away; but in reality had no such effect. - -Tarzan did not pause. He had set out to approach and examine God and -nothing upon earth might now stay his feet. Seeing that his antics had -no potency with the visitor, the witch-doctor tried some new medicine. -Spitting upon the zebra’s tail, which he still clutched in one hand, he -made circles above it with the arrows in the other hand, meanwhile -backing cautiously away from Tarzan and speaking confidentially to the -bushy end of the tail. - -This medicine must be short medicine, however, for the creature, god or -demon, was steadily closing up the distance which had separated them. -The circles therefore were few and rapid, and when they were completed, -the witch-doctor struck an attitude which was intended to be awe -inspiring and waving the zebra’s tail before him, drew an imaginary -line between himself and Tarzan. - -“Beyond this line you cannot pass, for my medicine is strong medicine,” -he cried. “Stop, or you will fall dead as your foot touches this spot. -My mother was a voodoo, my father was a snake; I live upon lions’ -hearts and the entrails of the panther; I eat young babies for -breakfast and the demons of the jungle are my slaves. I am the most -powerful witch-doctor in the world; I fear nothing, for I cannot die. -I—” But he got no further; instead he turned and fled as Tarzan of the -Apes crossed the magical dead line and still lived. - -As the witch-doctor ran, Tarzan almost lost his temper. This was no way -for God to act, at least not in accordance with the conception Tarzan -had come to have of God. - -“Come back!” he cried. “Come back, God, I will not harm you.” But the -witch-doctor was in full retreat by this time, stepping high as he -leaped over cooking pots and the smoldering embers of small fires that -had burned before the huts of villagers. Straight for his own hut ran -the witch-doctor, terror-spurred to unwonted speed; but futile was his -effort—the ape-man bore down upon him with the speed of Bara, the deer. - -Just at the entrance to his hut the witch-doctor was overhauled. A -heavy hand fell upon his shoulder to drag him back. It seized upon a -portion of the buffalo hide, dragging the disguise from him. It was a -naked black man that Tarzan saw dodge into the darkness of the hut’s -interior. - -So this was what he had thought was God! Tarzan’s lip curled in an -angry snarl as he leaped into the hut after the terror-stricken -witch-doctor. In the blackness within he found the man huddled at the -far side and dragged him forth into the comparative lightness of the -moonlit night. - -The witch-doctor bit and scratched in an attempt to escape; but a few -cuffs across the head brought him to a better realization of the -futility of resistance. Beneath the moon Tarzan held the cringing -figure upon its shaking feet. - -“So you are God!” he cried. “If you be God, then Tarzan is greater than -God,” and so the ape-man thought. “I am Tarzan,” he shouted into the -ear of the black. “In all the jungle, or above it, or upon the running -waters, or the sleeping waters, or upon the big water, or the little -water, there is none so great as Tarzan. Tarzan is greater than the -Mangani; he is greater than the Gomangani. With his own hands he has -slain Numa, the lion, and Sheeta, the panther; there is none so great -as Tarzan. Tarzan is greater than God. See!” and with a sudden wrench -he twisted the black’s neck until the fellow shrieked in pain and then -slumped to the earth in a swoon. - -Placing his foot upon the neck of the fallen witch-doctor, the ape-man -raised his face to the moon and uttered the long, shrill scream of the -victorious bull ape. Then he stooped and snatched the zebra’s tail from -the nerveless fingers of the unconscious man and without a backward -glance retraced his footsteps across the village. - -From several hut doorways frightened eyes watched him. Mbonga, the -chief, was one of those who had seen what passed before the hut of the -witch-doctor. Mbonga was greatly concerned. Wise old patriarch that he -was, he never had more than half believed in witch-doctors, at least -not since greater wisdom had come with age; but as a chief he was well -convinced of the power of the witch-doctor as an arm of government, and -often it was that Mbonga used the superstitious fears of his people to -his own ends through the medium of the medicine-man. - -Mbonga and the witch-doctor had worked together and divided the spoils, -and now the “face” of the witch-doctor would be lost forever if any saw -what Mbonga had seen; nor would this generation again have as much -faith in any future witch-doctor. - -Mbonga must do something to counteract the evil influence of the forest -demon’s victory over the witch-doctor. He raised his heavy spear and -crept silently from his hut in the wake of the retreating ape-man. Down -the village street walked Tarzan, as unconcerned and as deliberate as -though only the friendly apes of Kerchak surrounded him instead of a -village full of armed enemies. - -Seeming only was the indifference of Tarzan, for alert and watchful was -every well-trained sense. Mbonga, wily stalker of keen-eared jungle -creatures, moved now in utter silence. Not even Bara, the deer, with -his great ears could have guessed from any sound that Mbonga was near; -but the black was not stalking Bara; he was stalking man, and so he -sought only to avoid noise. - -Closer and closer to the slowly moving ape-man he came. Now he raised -his war spear, throwing his spear-hand far back above his right -shoulder. Once and for all would Mbonga, the chief, rid himself and his -people of the menace of this terrifying enemy. He would make no poor -cast; he would take pains, and he would hurl his weapon with such great -force as would finish the demon forever. - -But Mbonga, sure as he thought himself, erred in his calculations. He -might believe that he was stalking a man—he did not know, however, that -it was a man with the delicate sense perception of the lower orders. -Tarzan, when he had turned his back upon his enemies, had noted what -Mbonga never would have thought of considering in the hunting of -man—the wind. It was blowing in the same direction that Tarzan was -proceeding, carrying to his delicate nostrils the odors which arose -behind him. Thus it was that Tarzan knew that he was being followed, -for even among the many stenches of an African village, the ape-man’s -uncanny faculty was equal to the task of differentiating one stench -from another and locating with remarkable precision the source from -whence it came. - -He knew that a man was following him and coming closer, and his -judgment warned him of the purpose of the stalker. When Mbonga, -therefore, came within spear range of the ape-man, the latter suddenly -wheeled upon him, so suddenly that the poised spear was shot a fraction -of a second before Mbonga had intended. It went a trifle high and -Tarzan stooped to let it pass over his head; then he sprang toward the -chief. But Mbonga did not wait to receive him. Instead, he turned and -fled for the dark doorway of the nearest hut, calling as he went for -his warriors to fall upon the stranger and slay him. - -Well indeed might Mbonga scream for help, for Tarzan, young and -fleet-footed, covered the distance between them in great leaps, at the -speed of a charging lion. He was growling, too, not at all unlike Numa -himself. Mbonga heard and his blood ran cold. He could feel the wool -stiffen upon his pate and a prickly chill run up his spine, as though -Death had come and run his cold finger along Mbonga’s back. - -Others heard, too, and saw, from the darkness of their huts—bold -warriors, hideously painted, grasping heavy war spears in nerveless -fingers. Against Numa, the lion, they would have charged fearlessly. -Against many times their own number of black warriors would they have -raced to the protection of their chief; but this weird jungle demon -filled them with terror. There was nothing human in the bestial growls -that rumbled up from his deep chest; there was nothing human in the -bared fangs, or the catlike leaps. - -Mbonga’s warriors were terrified—too terrified to leave the seeming -security of their huts while they watched the beast-man spring full -upon the back of their old chieftain. - -Mbonga went down with a scream of terror. He was too frightened even to -attempt to defend himself. He just lay beneath his antagonist in a -paralysis of fear, screaming at the top of his lungs. Tarzan half rose -and kneeled above the black. He turned Mbonga over and looked him in -the face, exposing the man’s throat, then he drew his long, keen knife, -the knife that John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, had brought from England -many years before. He raised it close above Mbonga’s neck. The old -black whimpered with terror. He pleaded for his life in a tongue which -Tarzan could not understand. - -For the first time the ape-man had a close view of the chief. He saw an -old man, a very old man with scrawny neck and wrinkled face—a dried, -parchment-like face which resembled some of the little monkeys Tarzan -knew so well. He saw the terror in the man’s eyes—never before had -Tarzan seen such terror in the eyes of any animal, or such a piteous -appeal for mercy upon the face of any creature. - -Something stayed the ape-man’s hand for an instant. He wondered why it -was that he hesitated to make the kill; never before had he thus -delayed. The old man seemed to wither and shrink to a bag of puny bones -beneath his eyes. So weak and helpless and terror-stricken he appeared -that the ape-man was filled with a great contempt; but another -sensation also claimed him—something new to Tarzan of the Apes in -relation to an enemy. It was pity—pity for a poor, frightened, old man. - -Tarzan rose and turned away, leaving Mbonga, the chief, unharmed. - -With head held high the ape-man walked through the village, swung -himself into the branches of the tree which overhung the palisade and -disappeared from the sight of the villagers. - -All the way back to the stamping ground of the apes, Tarzan sought for -an explanation of the strange power which had stayed his hand and -prevented him from slaying Mbonga. It was as though someone greater -than he had commanded him to spare the life of the old man. Tarzan -could not understand, for he could conceive of nothing, or no one, with -the authority to dictate to him what he should do, or what he should -refrain from doing. - -It was late when Tarzan sought a swaying couch among the trees beneath -which slept the apes of Kerchak, and he was still absorbed in the -solution of his strange problem when he fell asleep. - -The sun was well up in the heavens when he awoke. The apes were astir -in search of food. Tarzan watched them lazily from above as they -scratched in the rotting loam for bugs and beetles and grubworms, or -sought among the branches of the trees for eggs and young birds, or -luscious caterpillars. - -An orchid, dangling close beside his head, opened slowly, unfolding its -delicate petals to the warmth and light of the sun which but recently -had penetrated to its shady retreat. A thousand times had Tarzan of the -Apes witnessed the beauteous miracle; but now it aroused a keener -interest, for the ape-man was just commencing to ask himself questions -about all the myriad wonders which heretofore he had but taken for -granted. - -What made the flower open? What made it grow from a tiny bud to a -full-blown bloom? Why was it at all? Why was he? Where did Numa, the -lion, come from? Who planted the first tree? How did Goro get way up -into the darkness of the night sky to cast his welcome light upon the -fearsome nocturnal jungle? And the sun! Did the sun merely happen -there? - -Why were all the peoples of the jungle not trees? Why were the trees -not something else? Why was Tarzan different from Taug, and Taug -different from Bara, the deer, and Bara different from Sheeta, the -panther, and why was not Sheeta like Buto, the rhinoceros? Where and -how, anyway, did they all come from—the trees, the flowers, the -insects, the countless creatures of the jungle? - -Quite unexpectedly an idea popped into Tarzan’s head. In following out -the many ramifications of the dictionary definition of GOD he had come -upon the word CREATE—“to cause to come into existence; to form out of -nothing.” - -Tarzan almost had arrived at something tangible when a distant wail -startled him from his preoccupation into sensibility of the present and -the real. The wail came from the jungle at some little distance from -Tarzan’s swaying couch. It was the wail of a tiny balu. Tarzan -recognized it at once as the voice of Gazan, Teeka’s baby. They had -called it Gazan because its soft, baby hair had been unusually red, and -GAZAN in the language of the great apes, means red skin. - -The wail was immediately followed by a real scream of terror from the -small lungs. Tarzan was electrified into instant action. Like an arrow -from a bow he shot through the trees in the direction of the sound. -Ahead of him he heard the savage snarling of an adult she-ape. It was -Teeka to the rescue. The danger must be very real. Tarzan could tell -that by the note of rage mingled with fear in the voice of the she. - -Running along bending limbs, swinging from one tree to another, the -ape-man raced through the middle terraces toward the sounds which now -had risen in volume to deafening proportions. From all directions the -apes of Kerchak were hurrying in response to the appeal in the tones of -the balu and its mother, and as they came, their roars reverberated -through the forest. - -But Tarzan, swifter than his heavy fellows, distanced them all. It was -he who was first upon the scene. What he saw sent a cold chill through -his giant frame, for the enemy was the most hated and loathed of all -the jungle creatures. - -Twined in a great tree was Histah, the snake—huge, ponderous, slimy—and -in the folds of its deadly embrace was Teeka’s little balu, Gazan. -Nothing in the jungle inspired within the breast of Tarzan so near a -semblance to fear as did the hideous Histah. The apes, too, loathed the -terrifying reptile and feared him even more than they did Sheeta, the -panther, or Numa, the lion. Of all their enemies there was none they -gave a wider berth than they gave Histah, the snake. - -Tarzan knew that Teeka was peculiarly fearful of this silent, repulsive -foe, and as the scene broke upon his vision, it was the action of Teeka -which filled him with the greatest wonder, for at the moment that he -saw her, the she-ape leaped upon the glistening body of the snake, and -as the mighty folds encircled her as well as her offspring, she made no -effort to escape, but instead grasped the writhing body in a futile -effort to tear it from her screaming balu. - -Tarzan knew all too well how deep-rooted was Teeka’s terror of Histah. -He scarce could believe the testimony of his own eyes then, when they -told him that she had voluntarily rushed into that deadly embrace. Nor -was Teeka’s innate dread of the monster much greater than Tarzan’s own. -Never, willingly, had he touched a snake. Why, he could not say, for he -would admit fear of nothing; nor was it fear, but rather an inherent -repulsion bequeathed to him by many generations of civilized ancestors, -and back of them, perhaps, by countless myriads of such as Teeka, in -the breasts of each of which had lurked the same nameless terror of the -slimy reptile. - -Yet Tarzan did not hesitate more than had Teeka, but leaped upon Histah -with all the speed and impetuosity that he would have shown had he been -springing upon Bara, the deer, to make a kill for food. Thus beset the -snake writhed and twisted horribly; but not for an instant did it loose -its hold upon any of its intended victims, for it had included the -ape-man in its cold embrace the minute that he had fallen upon it. - -Still clinging to the tree, the mighty reptile held the three as though -they had been without weight, the while it sought to crush the life -from them. Tarzan had drawn his knife and this he now plunged rapidly -into the body of the enemy; but the encircling folds promised to sap -his life before he had inflicted a death wound upon the snake. Yet on -he fought, nor once did he seek to escape the horrid death that -confronted him—his sole aim was to slay Histah and thus free Teeka and -her balu. - -The great, wide-gaping jaws of the snake turned and hovered above him. -The elastic maw, which could accommodate a rabbit or a horned buck with -equal facility, yawned for him; but Histah, in turning his attention -upon the ape-man, brought his head within reach of Tarzan’s blade. -Instantly a brown hand leaped forth and seized the mottled neck, and -another drove the heavy hunting knife to the hilt into the little -brain. - -Convulsively Histah shuddered and relaxed, tensed and relaxed again, -whipping and striking with his great body; but no longer sentient or -sensible. Histah was dead, but in his death throes he might easily -dispatch a dozen apes or men. - -Quickly Tarzan seized Teeka and dragged her from the loosened embrace, -dropping her to the ground beneath, then he extricated the balu and -tossed it to its mother. Still Histah whipped about, clinging to the -ape-man; but after a dozen efforts Tarzan succeeded in wriggling free -and leaping to the ground out of range of the mighty battering of the -dying snake. - -A circle of apes surrounded the scene of the battle; but the moment -that Tarzan broke safely from the enemy they turned silently away to -resume their interrupted feeding, and Teeka turned with them, -apparently forgetful of all but her balu and the fact that when the -interruption had occurred she just had discovered an ingeniously hidden -nest containing three perfectly good eggs. - -Tarzan, equally indifferent to a battle that was over, merely cast a -parting glance at the still writhing body of Histah and wandered off -toward the little pool which served to water the tribe at this point. -Strangely, he did not give the victory cry over the vanquished Histah. -Why, he could not have told you, other than that to him Histah was not -an animal. He differed in some peculiar way from the other denizens of -the jungle. Tarzan only knew that he hated him. - -At the pool Tarzan drank his fill and lay stretched upon the soft grass -beneath the shade of a tree. His mind reverted to the battle with -Histah, the snake. It seemed strange to him that Teeka should have -placed herself within the folds of the horrid monster. Why had she done -it? Why, indeed, had he? Teeka did not belong to him, nor did Teeka’s -balu. They were both Taug’s. Why then had he done this thing? Histah -was not food for him when he was dead. There seemed to Tarzan, now that -he gave the matter thought, no reason in the world why he should have -done the thing he did, and presently it occurred to him that he had -acted almost involuntarily, just as he had acted when he had released -the old Gomangani the previous evening. - -What made him do such things? Somebody more powerful than he must force -him to act at times. “All-powerful,” thought Tarzan. “The little bugs -say that God is all-powerful. It must be that God made me do these -things, for I never did them by myself. It was God who made Teeka rush -upon Histah. Teeka would never go near Histah of her own volition. It -was God who held my knife from the throat of the old Gomangani. God -accomplishes strange things for he is ‘all-powerful.’ I cannot see Him; -but I know that it must be God who does these things. No Mangani, no -Gomangani, no Tarmangani could do them.” - -And the flowers—who made them grow? Ah, now it was all explained—the -flowers, the trees, the moon, the sun, himself, every living creature -in the jungle—they were all made by God out of nothing. - -And what was God? What did God look like? Of that he had no conception; -but he was sure that everything that was good came from God. His good -act in refraining from slaying the poor, defenseless old Gomangani; -Teeka’s love that had hurled her into the embrace of death; his own -loyalty to Teeka which had jeopardized his life that she might live. -The flowers and the trees were good and beautiful. God had made them. -He made the other creatures, too, that each might have food upon which -to live. He had made Sheeta, the panther, with his beautiful coat; and -Numa, the lion, with his noble head and his shaggy mane. He had made -Bara, the deer, lovely and graceful. - -Yes, Tarzan had found God, and he spent the whole day in attributing to -Him all of the good and beautiful things of nature; but there was one -thing which troubled him. He could not quite reconcile it to his -conception of his new-found God. - -Who made Histah, the snake? - - - - -CHAPTER V -Tarzan and the Black Boy - - -Tarzan of the Apes sat at the foot of a great tree braiding a new grass -rope. Beside him lay the frayed remnants of the old one, torn and -severed by the fangs and talons of Sheeta, the panther. Only half the -original rope was there, the balance having been carried off by the -angry cat as he bounded away through the jungle with the noose still -about his savage neck and the loose end dragging among the underbrush. - -Tarzan smiled as he recalled Sheeta’s great rage, his frantic efforts -to free himself from the entangling strands, his uncanny screams that -were part hate, part anger, part terror. He smiled in retrospection at -the discomfiture of his enemy, and in anticipation of another day as he -added an extra strand to his new rope. - -This would be the strongest, the heaviest rope that Tarzan of the Apes -ever had fashioned. Visions of Numa, the lion, straining futilely in -its embrace thrilled the ape-man. He was quite content, for his hands -and his brain were busy. Content, too, were his fellows of the tribe of -Kerchak, searching for food in the clearing and the surrounding trees -about him. No perplexing thoughts of the future burdened their minds, -and only occasionally, dimly arose recollections of the near past. They -were stimulated to a species of brutal content by the delectable -business of filling their bellies. Afterward they would sleep—it was -their life, and they enjoyed it as we enjoy ours, you and I—as Tarzan -enjoyed his. Possibly they enjoyed theirs more than we enjoy ours, for -who shall say that the beasts of the jungle do not better fulfill the -purposes for which they are created than does man with his many -excursions into strange fields and his contraventions of the laws of -nature? And what gives greater content and greater happiness than the -fulfilling of a destiny? - -As Tarzan worked, Gazan, Teeka’s little balu, played about him while -Teeka sought food upon the opposite side of the clearing. No more did -Teeka, the mother, or Taug, the sullen sire, harbor suspicions of -Tarzan’s intentions toward their first-born. Had he not courted death -to save their Gazan from the fangs and talons of Sheeta? Did he not -fondle and cuddle the little one with even as great a show of affection -as Teeka herself displayed? Their fears were allayed and Tarzan now -found himself often in the role of nursemaid to a tiny anthropoid—an -avocation which he found by no means irksome, since Gazan was a -never-failing fount of surprises and entertainment. - -Just now the apeling was developing those arboreal tendencies which -were to stand him in such good stead during the years of his youth, -when rapid flight into the upper terraces was of far more importance -and value than his undeveloped muscles and untried fighting fangs. -Backing off fifteen or twenty feet from the bole of the tree beneath -the branches of which Tarzan worked upon his rope, Gazan scampered -quickly forward, scrambling nimbly upward to the lower limbs. Here he -would squat for a moment or two, quite proud of his achievement, then -clamber to the ground again and repeat. Sometimes, quite often in fact, -for he was an ape, his attention was distracted by other things, a -beetle, a caterpillar, a tiny field mouse, and off he would go in -pursuit; the caterpillars he always caught, and sometimes the beetles; -but the field mice, never. - -Now he discovered the tail of the rope upon which Tarzan was working. -Grasping it in one small hand he bounced away, for all the world like -an animated rubber ball, snatching it from the ape-man’s hand and -running off across the clearing. Tarzan leaped to his feet and was in -pursuit in an instant, no trace of anger on his face or in his voice as -he called to the roguish little balu to drop his rope. - -Straight toward his mother raced Gazan, and after him came Tarzan. -Teeka looked up from her feeding, and in the first instant that she -realized that Gazan was fleeing and that another was in pursuit, she -bared her fangs and bristled; but when she saw that the pursuer was -Tarzan she turned back to the business that had been occupying her -attention. At her very feet the ape-man overhauled the balu and, though -the youngster squealed and fought when Tarzan seized him, Teeka only -glanced casually in their direction. No longer did she fear harm to her -first-born at the hands of the ape-man. Had he not saved Gazan on two -occasions? - -Rescuing his rope, Tarzan returned to his tree and resumed his labor; -but thereafter it was necessary to watch carefully the playful balu, -who was now possessed to steal it whenever he thought his great, -smooth-skinned cousin was momentarily off his guard. - -But even under this handicap Tarzan finally completed the rope, a long, -pliant weapon, stronger than any he ever had made before. The discarded -piece of his former one he gave to Gazan for a plaything, for Tarzan -had it in his mind to instruct Teeka’s balu after ideas of his own when -the youngster should be old and strong enough to profit by his -precepts. At present the little ape’s innate aptitude for mimicry would -be sufficient to familiarize him with Tarzan’s ways and weapons, and so -the ape-man swung off into the jungle, his new rope coiled over one -shoulder, while little Gazan hopped about the clearing dragging the old -one after him in childish glee. - -As Tarzan traveled, dividing his quest for food with one for a -sufficiently noble quarry whereupon to test his new weapon, his mind -often was upon Gazan. The ape-man had realized a deep affection for -Teeka’s balu almost from the first, partly because the child belonged -to Teeka, his first love, and partly for the little ape’s own sake, and -Tarzan’s human longing for some sentient creature upon which to expend -those natural affections of the soul which are inherent to all normal -members of the GENUS HOMO. Tarzan envied Teeka. It was true that Gazan -evidenced a considerable reciprocation of Tarzan’s fondness for him, -even preferring him to his own surly sire; but to Teeka the little one -turned when in pain or terror, when tired or hungry. Then it was that -Tarzan felt quite alone in the world and longed desperately for one who -should turn first to him for succor and protection. - -Taug had Teeka; Teeka had Gazan; and nearly every other bull and cow of -the tribe of Kerchak had one or more to love and by whom to be loved. -Of course Tarzan could scarcely formulate the thought in precisely this -way—he only knew that he craved something which was denied him; -something which seemed to be represented by those relations which -existed between Teeka and her balu, and so he envied Teeka and longed -for a balu of his own. - -He saw Sheeta and his mate with their little family of three; and -deeper inland toward the rocky hills, where one might lie up during the -heat of the day, in the dense shade of a tangled thicket close under -the cool face of an overhanging rock, Tarzan had found the lair of -Numa, the lion, and of Sabor, the lioness. Here he had watched them -with their little balus—playful creatures, spotted leopard-like. And he -had seen the young fawn with Bara, the deer, and with Buto, the -rhinoceros, its ungainly little one. Each of the creatures of the -jungle had its own—except Tarzan. It made the ape-man sad to think upon -this thing, sad and lonely; but presently the scent of game cleared his -young mind of all other considerations, as catlike he crawled far out -upon a bending limb above the game trail which led down to the ancient -watering place of the wild things of this wild world. - -How many thousands of times had this great, old limb bent to the savage -form of some blood-thirsty hunter in the long years that it had spread -its leafy branches above the deep-worn jungle path! Tarzan, the -ape-man, Sheeta, the panther, and Histah, the snake, it knew well. They -had worn smooth the bark upon its upper surface. - -Today it was Horta, the boar, which came down toward the watcher in the -old tree—Horta, the boar, whose formidable tusks and diabolical temper -preserved him from all but the most ferocious or most famished of the -largest carnivora. - -But to Tarzan, meat was meat; naught that was edible or tasty might -pass a hungry Tarzan unchallenged and unattacked. In hunger, as in -battle, the ape-man out-savaged the dreariest denizens of the jungle. -He knew neither fear nor mercy, except upon rare occasions when some -strange, inexplicable force stayed his hand—a force inexplicable to -him, perhaps, because of his ignorance of his own origin and of all the -forces of humanitarianism and civilization that were his rightful -heritage because of that origin. - -So today, instead of staying his hand until a less formidable feast -found its way toward him, Tarzan dropped his new noose about the neck -of Horta, the boar. It was an excellent test for the untried strands. -The angered boar bolted this way and that; but each time the new rope -held him where Tarzan had made it fast about the stem of the tree above -the branch from which he had cast it. - -As Horta grunted and charged, slashing the sturdy jungle patriarch with -his mighty tusks until the bark flew in every direction, Tarzan dropped -to the ground behind him. In the ape-man’s hand was the long, keen -blade that had been his constant companion since that distant day upon -which chance had directed its point into the body of Bolgani, the -gorilla, and saved the torn and bleeding man-child from what else had -been certain death. - -Tarzan walked in toward Horta, who swung now to face his enemy. Mighty -and muscled as was the young giant, it yet would have appeared but the -maddest folly for him to face so formidable a creature as Horta, the -boar, armed only with a slender hunting knife. So it would have seemed -to one who knew Horta even slightly and Tarzan not at all. - -For a moment Horta stood motionless facing the ape-man. His wicked, -deep-set eyes flashed angrily. He shook his lowered head. - -“Mud-eater!” jeered the ape-man. “Wallower in filth. Even your meat -stinks, but it is juicy and makes Tarzan strong. Today I shall eat your -heart, O Lord of the Great Tusks, that it shall keep savage that which -pounds against my own ribs.” - -Horta, understanding nothing of what Tarzan said, was none the less -enraged because of that. He saw only a naked man-thing, hairless and -futile, pitting his puny fangs and soft muscles against his own -indomitable savagery, and he charged. - -Tarzan of the Apes waited until the upcut of a wicked tusk would have -laid open his thigh, then he moved—just the least bit to one side; but -so quickly that lightning was a sluggard by comparison, and as he -moved, he stooped low and with all the great power of his right arm -drove the long blade of his father’s hunting knife straight into the -heart of Horta, the boar. A quick leap carried him from the zone of the -creature’s death throes, and a moment later the hot and dripping heart -of Horta was in his grasp. - -His hunger satisfied, Tarzan did not seek a lying-up place for sleep, -as was sometimes his way, but continued on through the jungle more in -search of adventure than of food, for today he was restless. And so it -came that he turned his footsteps toward the village of Mbonga, the -black chief, whose people Tarzan had baited remorselessly since that -day upon which Kulonga, the chief’s son, had slain Kala. - -A river winds close beside the village of the black men. Tarzan reached -its side a little below the clearing where squat the thatched huts of -the Negroes. The river life was ever fascinating to the ape-man. He -found pleasure in watching the ungainly antics of Duro, the -hippopotamus, and keen sport in tormenting the sluggish crocodile, -Gimla, as he basked in the sun. Then, too, there were the shes and the -balus of the black men of the Gomangani to frighten as they squatted by -the river, the shes with their meager washing, the balus with their -primitive toys. - -This day he came upon a woman and her child farther down stream than -usual. The former was searching for a species of shellfish which was to -be found in the mud close to the river bank. She was a young black -woman of about thirty. Her teeth were filed to sharp points, for her -people ate the flesh of man. Her under lip was slit that it might -support a rude pendant of copper which she had worn for so many years -that the lip had been dragged downward to prodigious lengths, exposing -the teeth and gums of her lower jaw. Her nose, too, was slit, and -through the slit was a wooden skewer. Metal ornaments dangled from her -ears, and upon her forehead and cheeks; upon her chin and the bridge of -her nose were tattooings in colors that were mellowed now by age. She -was naked except for a girdle of grasses about her waist. Altogether -she was very beautiful in her own estimation and even in the estimation -of the men of Mbonga’s tribe, though she was of another people—a trophy -of war seized in her maidenhood by one of Mbonga’s fighting men. - -Her child was a boy of ten, lithe, straight and, for a black, handsome. -Tarzan looked upon the two from the concealing foliage of a near-by -bush. He was about to leap forth before them with a terrifying scream, -that he might enjoy the spectacle of their terror and their incontinent -flight; but of a sudden a new whim seized him. Here was a balu -fashioned as he himself was fashioned. Of course this one’s skin was -black; but what of it? Tarzan had never seen a white man. In so far as -he knew, he was the sole representative of that strange form of life -upon the earth. The black boy should make an excellent balu for Tarzan, -since he had none of his own. He would tend him carefully, feed him -well, protect him as only Tarzan of the Apes could protect his own, and -teach him out of his half human, half bestial lore the secrets of the -jungle from its rotting surface vegetation to the high tossed pinnacles -of the forest’s upper terraces. - -* * * - -Tarzan uncoiled his rope, and shook out the noose. The two before him, -all ignorant of the near presence of that terrifying form, continued -preoccupied in the search for shellfish, poking about in the mud with -short sticks. - -Tarzan stepped from the jungle behind them; his noose lay open upon the -ground beside him. There was a quick movement of the right arm and the -noose rose gracefully into the air, hovered an instant above the head -of the unsuspecting youth, then settled. As it encompassed his body -below the shoulders, Tarzan gave a quick jerk that tightened it about -the boy’s arms, pinioning them to his sides. A scream of terror broke -from the lad’s lips, and as his mother turned, affrighted at his cry, -she saw him being dragged quickly toward a great white giant who stood -just beneath the shade of a near-by tree, scarcely a dozen long paces -from her. - -With a savage cry of terror and rage, the woman leaped fearlessly -toward the ape-man. In her mien Tarzan saw determination and courage -which would shrink not even from death itself. She was very hideous and -frightful even when her face was in repose; but convulsed by passion, -her expression became terrifyingly fiendish. Even the ape-man drew -back, but more in revulsion than fear—fear he knew not. - -Biting and kicking was the black she’s balu as Tarzan tucked him -beneath his arm and vanished into the branches hanging low above him, -just as the infuriated mother dashed forward to seize and do battle -with him. And as he melted away into the depth of the jungle with his -still struggling prize, he meditated upon the possibilities which might -lie in the prowess of the Gomangani were the hes as formidable as the -shes. - -Once at a safe distance from the despoiled mother and out of earshot of -her screams and menaces, Tarzan paused to inspect his prize, now so -thoroughly terrorized that he had ceased his struggles and his -outcries. - -The frightened child rolled his eyes fearfully toward his captor, until -the whites showed gleaming all about the irises. - -“I am Tarzan,” said the ape-man, in the vernacular of the anthropoids. -“I will not harm you. You are to be Tarzan’s balu. Tarzan will protect -you. He will feed you. The best in the jungle shall be for Tarzan’s -balu, for Tarzan is a mighty hunter. None need you fear, not even Numa, -the lion, for Tarzan is a mighty fighter. None so great as Tarzan, son -of Kala. Do not fear.” - -But the child only whimpered and trembled, for he did not understand -the tongue of the great apes, and the voice of Tarzan sounded to him -like the barking and growling of a beast. Then, too, he had heard -stories of this bad, white forest god. It was he who had slain Kulonga -and others of the warriors of Mbonga, the chief. It was he who entered -the village stealthily, by magic, in the darkness of the night, to -steal arrows and poison, and frighten the women and the children and -even the great warriors. Doubtless this wicked god fed upon little -boys. Had his mother not said as much when he was naughty and she -threatened to give him to the white god of the jungle if he were not -good? Little black Tibo shook as with ague. - -“Are you cold, Go-bu-balu?” asked Tarzan, using the simian equivalent -of black he-baby in lieu of a better name. “The sun is hot; why do you -shiver?” - -Tibo could not understand; but he cried for his mamma and begged the -great, white god to let him go, promising always to be a good boy -thereafter if his plea were granted. Tarzan shook his head. Not a word -could he understand. This would never do! He must teach Go-bu-balu a -language which sounded like talk. It was quite certain to Tarzan that -Go-bu-balu’s speech was not talk at all. It sounded quite as senseless -as the chattering of the silly birds. It would be best, thought the -ape-man, quickly to get him among the tribe of Kerchak where he would -hear the Mangani talking among themselves. Thus he would soon learn an -intelligible form of speech. - -Tarzan rose to his feet upon the swaying branch where he had halted far -above the ground, and motioned to the child to follow him; but Tibo -only clung tightly to the bole of the tree and wept. Being a boy, and a -native African, he had, of course, climbed into trees many times before -this; but the idea of racing off through the forest, leaping from one -branch to another, as his captor, to his horror, had done when he had -carried Tibo away from his mother, filled his childish heart with -terror. - -Tarzan sighed. His newly acquired balu had much indeed to learn. It was -pitiful that a balu of his size and strength should be so backward. He -tried to coax Tibo to follow him; but the child dared not, so Tarzan -picked him up and carried him upon his back. Tibo no longer scratched -or bit. Escape seemed impossible. Even now, were he set upon the -ground, the chance was remote, he knew, that he could find his way back -to the village of Mbonga, the chief. Even if he could, there were the -lions and the leopards and the hyenas, any one of which, as Tibo was -well aware, was particularly fond of the meat of little black boys. - -So far the terrible white god of the jungle had offered him no harm. He -could not expect even this much consideration from the frightful, -green-eyed man-eaters. It would be the lesser of two evils, then, to -let the white god carry him away without scratching and biting, as he -had done at first. - -As Tarzan swung rapidly through the trees, little Tibo closed his eyes -in terror rather than look longer down into the frightful abysses -beneath. Never before in all his life had Tibo been so frightened, yet -as the white giant sped on with him through the forest there stole over -the child an inexplicable sensation of security as he saw how true were -the leaps of the ape-man, how unerring his grasp upon the swaying limbs -which gave him hand-hold, and then, too, there was safety in the middle -terraces of the forest, far above the reach of the dreaded lions. - -And so Tarzan came to the clearing where the tribe fed, dropping among -them with his new balu clinging tightly to his shoulders. He was fairly -in the midst of them before Tibo spied a single one of the great hairy -forms, or before the apes realized that Tarzan was not alone. When they -saw the little Gomangani perched upon his back some of them came -forward in curiosity with upcurled lips and snarling mien. - -An hour before little Tibo would have said that he knew the uttermost -depths of fear; but now, as he saw these fearsome beasts surrounding -him, he realized that all that had gone before was as nothing by -comparison. Why did the great white giant stand there so unconcernedly? -Why did he not flee before these horrid, hairy, tree men fell upon them -both and tore them to pieces? And then there came to Tibo a numbing -recollection. It was none other than the story he had heard passed from -mouth to mouth, fearfully, by the people of Mbonga, the chief, that -this great white demon of the jungle was naught other than a hairless -ape, for had not he been seen in company with these? - -Tibo could only stare in wide-eyed horror at the approaching apes. He -saw their beetling brows, their great fangs, their wicked eyes. He -noted their mighty muscles rolling beneath their shaggy hides. Their -every attitude and expression was a menace. Tarzan saw this, too. He -drew Tibo around in front of him. - -“This is Tarzan’s Go-bu-balu,” he said. “Do not harm him, or Tarzan -will kill you,” and he bared his own fangs in the teeth of the nearest -ape. - -“It is a Gomangani,” replied the ape. “Let me kill it. It is a -Gomangani. The Gomangani are our enemies. Let me kill it.” - -“Go away,” snarled Tarzan. “I tell you, Gunto, it is Tarzan’s balu. Go -away or Tarzan will kill you,” and the ape-man took a step toward the -advancing ape. - -The latter sidled off, quite stiff and haughty, after the manner of a -dog which meets another and is too proud to fight and too fearful to -turn his back and run. - -Next came Teeka, prompted by curiosity. At her side skipped little -Gazan. They were filled with wonder like the others; but Teeka did not -bare her fangs. Tarzan saw this and motioned that she approach. - -“Tarzan has a balu now,” he said. “He and Teeka’s balu can play -together.” - -“It is a Gomangani,” replied Teeka. “It will kill my balu. Take it -away, Tarzan.” - -Tarzan laughed. “It could not harm Pamba, the rat,” he said. “It is but -a little balu and very frightened. Let Gazan play with it.” - -Teeka still was fearful, for with all their mighty ferocity the great -anthropoids are timid; but at last, assured by her great confidence in -Tarzan, she pushed Gazan forward toward the little black boy. The small -ape, guided by instinct, drew back toward its mother, baring its small -fangs and screaming in mingled fear and rage. - -Tibo, too, showed no signs of desiring a closer acquaintance with -Gazan, so Tarzan gave up his efforts for the time. - -During the week which followed, Tarzan found his time much occupied. -His balu was a greater responsibility than he had counted upon. Not for -a moment did he dare leave it, since of all the tribe, Teeka alone -could have been depended upon to refrain from slaying the hapless black -had it not been for Tarzan’s constant watchfulness. When the ape-man -hunted, he must carry Go-bu-balu about with him. It was irksome, and -then the little black seemed so stupid and fearful to Tarzan. It was -quite helpless against even the lesser of the jungle creatures. Tarzan -wondered how it had survived at all. He tried to teach it, and found a -ray of hope in the fact that Go-bu-balu had mastered a few words of the -language of the anthropoids, and that he could now cling to a -high-tossed branch without screaming in fear; but there was something -about the child which worried Tarzan. He often had watched the blacks -within their village. He had seen the children playing, and always -there had been much laughter; but little Go-bu-balu never laughed. It -was true that Tarzan himself never laughed. Upon occasion he smiled, -grimly, but to laughter he was a stranger. The black, however, should -have laughed, reasoned the ape-man. It was the way of the Gomangani. - -Also, he saw that the little fellow often refused food and was growing -thinner day by day. At times he surprised the boy sobbing softly to -himself. Tarzan tried to comfort him, even as fierce Kala had comforted -Tarzan when the ape-man was a balu, but all to no avail. Go-bu-balu -merely no longer feared Tarzan—that was all. He feared every other -living thing within the jungle. He feared the jungle days with their -long excursions through the dizzy tree tops. He feared the jungle -nights with their swaying, perilous couches far above the ground, and -the grunting and coughing of the great carnivora prowling beneath him. - -Tarzan did not know what to do. His heritage of English blood rendered -it a difficult thing even to consider a surrender of his project, -though he was forced to admit to himself that his balu was not all that -he had hoped. Though he was faithful to his self-imposed task, and even -found that he had grown to like Go-bu-balu, he could not deceive -himself into believing that he felt for it that fierce heat of -passionate affection which Teeka revealed for Gazan, and which the -black mother had shown for Go-bu-balu. - -The little black boy from cringing terror at the sight of Tarzan passed -by degrees into trustfulness and admiration. Only kindness had he ever -received at the hands of the great white devil-god, yet he had seen -with what ferocity his kindly captor could deal with others. He had -seen him leap upon a certain he-ape which persisted in attempting to -seize and slay Go-bu-balu. He had seen the strong, white teeth of the -ape-man fastened in the neck of his adversary, and the mighty muscles -tensed in battle. He had heard the savage, bestial snarls and roars of -combat, and he had realized with a shudder that he could not -differentiate between those of his guardian and those of the hairy ape. - -He had seen Tarzan bring down a buck, just as Numa, the lion, might -have done, leaping upon its back and fastening his fangs in the -creature’s neck. Tibo had shuddered at the sight, but he had thrilled, -too, and for the first time there entered his dull, Negroid mind a -vague desire to emulate his savage foster parent. But Tibo, the little -black boy, lacked the divine spark which had permitted Tarzan, the -white boy, to benefit by his training in the ways of the fierce jungle. -In imagination he was wanting, and imagination is but another name for -super-intelligence. - -Imagination it is which builds bridges, and cities, and empires. The -beasts know it not, the blacks only a little, while to one in a hundred -thousand of earth’s dominant race it is given as a gift from heaven -that man may not perish from the earth. - -While Tarzan pondered his problem concerning the future of his balu, -Fate was arranging to take the matter out of his hands. Momaya, Tibo’s -mother, grief-stricken at the loss of her boy, had consulted the tribal -witch-doctor, but to no avail. The medicine he made was not good -medicine, for though Momaya paid him two goats for it, it did not bring -back Tibo, nor even indicate where she might search for him with -reasonable assurance of finding him. Momaya, being of a short temper -and of another people, had little respect for the witch-doctor of her -husband’s tribe, and so, when he suggested that a further payment of -two more fat goats would doubtless enable him to make stronger -medicine, she promptly loosed her shrewish tongue upon him, and with -such good effect that he was glad to take himself off with his zebra’s -tail and his pot of magic. - -When he had gone and Momaya had succeeded in partially subduing her -anger, she gave herself over to thought, as she so often had done since -the abduction of her Tibo, in the hope that she finally might discover -some feasible means of locating him, or at least assuring herself as to -whether he were alive or dead. - -It was known to the blacks that Tarzan did not eat the flesh of man, -for he had slain more than one of their number, yet never tasted the -flesh of any. Too, the bodies always had been found, sometimes dropping -as though from the clouds to alight in the center of the village. As -Tibo’s body had not been found, Momaya argued that he still lived, but -where? - -Then it was that there came to her mind a recollection of Bukawai, the -unclean, who dwelt in a cave in the hillside to the north, and who it -was well known entertained devils in his evil lair. Few, if any, had -the temerity to visit old Bukawai, firstly because of fear of his black -magic and the two hyenas who dwelt with him and were commonly known to -be devils masquerading, and secondly because of the loathsome disease -which had caused Bukawai to be an outcast—a disease which was slowly -eating away his face. - -Now it was that Momaya reasoned shrewdly that if any might know the -whereabouts of her Tibo, it would be Bukawai, who was in friendly -intercourse with gods and demons, since a demon or a god it was who had -stolen her baby; but even her great mother love was sorely taxed to -find the courage to send her forth into the black jungle toward the -distant hills and the uncanny abode of Bukawai, the unclean, and his -devils. - -Mother love, however, is one of the human passions which closely -approximates to the dignity of an irresistible force. It drives the -frail flesh of weak women to deeds of heroic measure. Momaya was -neither frail nor weak, physically, but she was a woman, an ignorant, -superstitious, African savage. She believed in devils, in black magic, -and in witchcraft. To Momaya, the jungle was inhabited by far more -terrifying things than lions and leopards—horrifying, nameless things -which possessed the power of wreaking frightful harm under various -innocent guises. - -From one of the warriors of the village, whom she knew to have once -stumbled upon the lair of Bukawai, the mother of Tibo learned how she -might find it—near a spring of water which rose in a small rocky cañon -between two hills, the easternmost of which was easily recognizable -because of a huge granite boulder which rested upon its summit. The -westerly hill was lower than its companion, and was quite bare of -vegetation except for a single mimosa tree which grew just a little -below its summit. - -These two hills, the man assured her, could be seen for some distance -before she reached them, and together formed an excellent guide to her -destination. He warned her, however, to abandon so foolish and -dangerous an adventure, emphasizing what she already quite well knew, -that if she escaped harm at the hands of Bukawai and his demons, the -chances were that she would not be so fortunate with the great -carnivora of the jungle through which she must pass going and -returning. - -The warrior even went to Momaya’s husband, who, in turn, having little -authority over the vixenish lady of his choice, went to Mbonga, the -chief. The latter summoned Momaya, threatening her with the direst -punishment should she venture forth upon so unholy an excursion. The -old chief’s interest in the matter was due solely to that age-old -alliance which exists between church and state. The local witch-doctor, -knowing his own medicine better than any other knew it, was jealous of -all other pretenders to accomplishments in the black art. He long had -heard of the power of Bukawai, and feared lest, should he succeed in -recovering Momaya’s lost child, much of the tribal patronage and -consequent fees would be diverted to the unclean one. As Mbonga -received, as chief, a certain proportion of the witch-doctor’s fees and -could expect nothing from Bukawai, his heart and soul were, quite -naturally, wrapped up in the orthodox church. - -But if Momaya could view with intrepid heart an excursion into the -jungle and a visit to the fear-haunted abode of Bukawai, she was not -likely to be deterred by threats of future punishment at the hands of -old Mbonga, whom she secretly despised. Yet she appeared to accede to -his injunctions, returning to her hut in silence. - -She would have preferred starting upon her quest by day-light, but this -was now out of the question, since she must carry food and a weapon of -some sort—things which she never could pass out of the village with by -day without being subjected to curious questioning that surely would -come immediately to the ears of Mbonga. - -So Momaya bided her time until night, and just before the gates of the -village were closed, she slipped through into the darkness and the -jungle. She was much frightened, but she set her face resolutely toward -the north, and though she paused often to listen, breathlessly, for the -huge cats which, here, were her greatest terror, she nevertheless -continued her way staunchly for several hours, until a low moan a -little to her right and behind her brought her to a sudden stop. - -With palpitating heart the woman stood, scarce daring to breathe, and -then, very faintly but unmistakable to her keen ears, came the stealthy -crunching of twigs and grasses beneath padded feet. - -All about Momaya grew the giant trees of the tropical jungle, festooned -with hanging vines and mosses. She seized upon the nearest and started -to clamber, apelike, to the branches above. As she did so, there was a -sudden rush of a great body behind her, a menacing roar that caused the -earth to tremble, and something crashed into the very creepers to which -she was clinging—but below her. - -Momaya drew herself to safety among the leafy branches and thanked the -foresight which had prompted her to bring along the dried human ear -which hung from a cord about her neck. She always had known that that -ear was good medicine. It had been given her, when a girl, by the -witch-doctor of her town tribe, and was nothing like the poor, weak -medicine of Mbonga’s witch-doctor. - -All night Momaya clung to her perch, for although the lion sought other -prey after a short time, she dared not descend into the darkness again, -for fear she might encounter him or another of his kind; but at -daylight she clambered down and resumed her way. - -Tarzan of the Apes, finding that his balu never ceased to give evidence -of terror in the presence of the apes of the tribe, and also that most -of the adult apes were a constant menace to Go-bu-balu’s life, so that -Tarzan dared not leave him alone with them, took to hunting with the -little black boy farther and farther from the stamping grounds of the -anthropoids. - -Little by little his absences from the tribe grew in length as he -wandered farther away from them, until finally he found himself a -greater distance to the north than he ever before had hunted, and with -water and ample game and fruit, he felt not at all inclined to return -to the tribe. - -Little Go-bu-balu gave evidences of a greater interest in life, an -interest which varied in direct proportion to the distance he was from -the apes of Kerchak. He now trotted along behind Tarzan when the -ape-man went upon the ground, and in the trees he even did his best to -follow his mighty foster parent. The boy was still sad and lonely. His -thin, little body had grown steadily thinner since he had come among -the apes, for while, as a young cannibal, he was not overnice in the -matter of diet, he found it not always to his taste to stomach the -weird things which tickled the palates of epicures among the apes. - -His large eyes were very large indeed now, his cheeks sunken, and every -rib of his emaciated body plainly discernible to whomsoever should care -to count them. Constant terror, perhaps, had had as much to do with his -physical condition as had improper food. Tarzan noticed the change and -was worried. He had hoped to see his balu wax sturdy and strong. His -disappointment was great. In only one respect did Go-bu-balu seem to -progress—he readily was mastering the language of the apes. Even now he -and Tarzan could converse in a fairly satisfactory manner by -supplementing the meager ape speech with signs; but for the most part, -Go-bu-balu was silent other than to answer questions put to him. His -great sorrow was yet too new and too poignant to be laid aside even -momentarily. Always he pined for Momaya—shrewish, hideous, repulsive, -perhaps, she would have been to you or me, but to Tibo she was mamma, -the personification of that one great love which knows no selfishness -and which does not consume itself in its own fires. - -As the two hunted, or rather as Tarzan hunted and Go-bu-balu tagged -along in his wake, the ape-man noticed many things and thought much. -Once they came upon Sabor moaning in the tall grasses. About her romped -and played two little balls of fur, but her eyes were for one which lay -between her great forepaws and did not romp, one who never would romp -again. - -Tarzan read aright the anguish and the suffering of the huge mother -cat. He had been minded to bait her. It was to do this that he had -sneaked silently through the trees until he had come almost above her, -but something held the ape-man as he saw the lioness grieving over her -dead cub. With the acquisition of Go-bu-balu, Tarzan had come to -realize the responsibilities and sorrows of parentage, without its -joys. His heart went out to Sabor as it might not have done a few weeks -before. As he watched her, there rose quite unbidden before him a -vision of Momaya, the skewer through the septum of her nose, her -pendulous under lip sagging beneath the weight which dragged it down. -Tarzan saw not her unloveliness; he saw only the same anguish that was -Sabor’s, and he winced. That strange functioning of the mind which -sometimes is called association of ideas snapped Teeka and Gazan before -the ape-man’s mental vision. What if one should come and take Gazan -from Teeka. Tarzan uttered a low and ominous growl as though Gazan were -his own. Go-bu-balu glanced here and there apprehensively, thinking -that Tarzan had espied an enemy. Sabor sprang suddenly to her feet, her -yellow-green eyes blazing, her tail lashing as she cocked her ears, and -raising her muzzle, sniffed the air for possible danger. The two little -cubs, which had been playing, scampered quickly to her, and standing -beneath her, peered out from between her forelegs, their big ears -upstanding, their little heads cocked first upon one side and then upon -the other. - -With a shake of his black shock, Tarzan turned away and resumed his -hunting in another direction; but all day there rose one after another, -above the threshold of his objective mind, memory portraits of Sabor, -of Momaya, and of Teeka—a lioness, a cannibal, and a she-ape, yet to -the ape-man they were identical through motherhood. - -It was noon of the third day when Momaya came within sight of the cave -of Bukawai, the unclean. The old witch-doctor had rigged a framework of -interlaced boughs to close the mouth of the cave from predatory beasts. -This was now set to one side, and the black cavern beyond yawned -mysterious and repellent. Momaya shivered as from a cold wind of the -rainy season. No sign of life appeared about the cave, yet Momaya -experienced that uncanny sensation as of unseen eyes regarding her -malevolently. Again she shuddered. She tried to force her unwilling -feet onward toward the cave, when from its depths issued an uncanny -sound that was neither brute nor human, a weird sound that was akin to -mirthless laughter. - -With a stifled scream, Momaya turned and fled into the jungle. For a -hundred yards she ran before she could control her terror, and then she -paused, listening. Was all her labor, were all the terrors and dangers -through which she had passed to go for naught? She tried to steel -herself to return to the cave, but again fright overcame her. - -Saddened, disheartened, she turned slowly upon the back trail toward -the village of Mbonga. Her young shoulders now were drooped like those -of an old woman who bears a great burden of many years with their -accumulated pains and sorrows, and she walked with tired feet and a -halting step. The spring of youth was gone from Momaya. - -For another hundred yards she dragged her weary way, her brain half -paralyzed from dumb terror and suffering, and then there came to her -the memory of a little babe that suckled at her breast, and of a slim -boy who romped, laughing, about her, and they were both Tibo—her Tibo! - -Her shoulders straightened. She shook her savage head, and she turned -about and walked boldly back to the mouth of the cave of Bukawai, the -unclean—of Bukawai, the witch-doctor. - -Again, from the interior of the cave came the hideous laughter that was -not laughter. This time Momaya recognized it for what it was, the -strange cry of a hyena. No more did she shudder, but she held her spear -ready and called aloud to Bukawai to come out. - -Instead of Bukawai came the repulsive head of a hyena. Momaya poked at -it with her spear, and the ugly, sullen brute drew back with an angry -growl. Again Momaya called Bukawai by name, and this time there came an -answer in mumbling tones that were scarce more human than those of the -beast. - -“Who comes to Bukawai?” queried the voice. - -“It is Momaya,” replied the woman; “Momaya from the village of Mbonga, -the chief. - -“What do you want?” - -“I want good medicine, better medicine than Mbonga’s witch-doctor can -make,” replied Momaya. “The great, white, jungle god has stolen my -Tibo, and I want medicine to bring him back, or to find where he is -hidden that I may go and get him.” - -“Who is Tibo?” asked Bukawai. - -Momaya told him. - -“Bukawai’s medicine is very strong,” said the voice. “Five goats and a -new sleeping mat are scarce enough in exchange for Bukawai’s medicine.” - -“Two goats are enough,” said Momaya, for the spirit of barter is strong -in the breasts of the blacks. - -The pleasure of haggling over the price was a sufficiently potent lure -to draw Bukawai to the mouth of the cave. Momaya was sorry when she saw -him that he had not remained within. There are some things too -horrible, too hideous, too repulsive for description—Bukawai’s face was -of these. When Momaya saw him she understood why it was that he was -almost inarticulate. - -Beside him were two hyenas, which rumor had said were his only and -constant companions. They made an excellent trio—the most repulsive of -beasts with the most repulsive of humans. - -“Five goats and a new sleeping mat,” mumbled Bukawai. - -“Two fat goats and a sleeping mat.” Momaya raised her bid; but Bukawai -was obdurate. He stuck for the five goats and the sleeping mat for a -matter of half an hour, while the hyenas sniffed and growled and -laughed hideously. Momaya was determined to give all that Bukawai asked -if she could do no better, but haggling is second nature to black -barterers, and in the end it partly repaid her, for a compromise -finally was reached which included three fat goats, a new sleeping mat, -and a piece of copper wire. - -“Come back tonight,” said Bukawai, “when the moon is two hours in the -sky. Then will I make the strong medicine which shall bring Tibo back -to you. Bring with you the three fat goats, the new sleeping mat, and -the piece of copper wire the length of a large man’s forearm.” - -“I cannot bring them,” said Momaya. “You will have to come after them. -When you have restored Tibo to me, you shall have them all at the -village of Mbonga.” - -Bukawai shook his head. - -“I will make no medicine,” he said, “until I have the goats and the mat -and the copper wire.” - -Momaya pleaded and threatened, but all to no avail. Finally, she turned -away and started off through the jungle toward the village of Mbonga. -How she could get three goats and a sleeping mat out of the village and -through the jungle to the cave of Bukawai, she did not know, but that -she would do it somehow she was quite positive—she would do it or die. -Tibo must be restored to her. - -Tarzan coming lazily through the jungle with little Go-bu-balu, caught -the scent of Bara, the deer. Tarzan hungered for the flesh of Bara. -Naught tickled his palate so greatly; but to stalk Bara with Go-bu-balu -at his heels, was out of the question, so he hid the child in the -crotch of a tree where the thick foliage screened him from view, and -set off swiftly and silently upon the spoor of Bara. - -Tibo alone was more terrified than Tibo even among the apes. Real and -apparent dangers are less disconcerting than those which we imagine, -and only the gods of his people knew how much Tibo imagined. - -He had been but a short time in his hiding place when he heard -something approaching through the jungle. He crouched closer to the -limb upon which he lay and prayed that Tarzan would return quickly. His -wide eyes searched the jungle in the direction of the moving creature. - -What if it was a leopard that had caught his scent! It would be upon -him in a minute. Hot tears flowed from the large eyes of little Tibo. -The curtain of jungle foliage rustled close at hand. The thing was but -a few paces from his tree! His eyes fairly popped from his black face -as he watched for the appearance of the dread creature which presently -would thrust a snarling countenance from between the vines and -creepers. - -And then the curtain parted and a woman stepped into full view. With a -gasping cry, Tibo tumbled from his perch and raced toward her. Momaya -suddenly started back and raised her spear, but a second later she cast -it aside and caught the thin body in her strong arms. - -Crushing it to her, she cried and laughed all at one and the same time, -and hot tears of joy, mingled with the tears of Tibo, trickled down the -crease between her naked breasts. - -Disturbed by the noise so close at hand, there arose from his sleep in -a near-by thicket Numa, the lion. He looked through the tangled -underbrush and saw the black woman and her young. He licked his chops -and measured the distance between them and himself. A short charge and -a long leap would carry him upon them. He flicked the end of his tail -and sighed. - -A vagrant breeze, swirling suddenly in the wrong direction, carried the -scent of Tarzan to the sensitive nostrils of Bara, the deer. There was -a startled tensing of muscles and cocking of ears, a sudden dash, and -Tarzan’s meat was gone. The ape-man angrily shook his head and turned -back toward the spot where he had left Go-bu-balu. He came softly, as -was his way. Before he reached the spot he heard strange sounds—the -sound of a woman laughing and of a woman weeping, and the two which -seemed to come from one throat were mingled with the convulsive sobbing -of a child. Tarzan hastened, and when Tarzan hastened, only the birds -and the wind went faster. - -And as Tarzan approached the sounds, he heard another, a deep sigh. -Momaya did not hear it, nor did Tibo; but the ears of Tarzan were as -the ears of Bara, the deer. He heard the sigh, and he knew, so he -unloosed the heavy spear which dangled at his back. Even as he sped -through the branches of the trees, with the same ease that you or I -might take out a pocket handkerchief as we strolled nonchalantly down a -lazy country lane, Tarzan of the Apes took the spear from its thong -that it might be ready against any emergency. - -Numa, the lion, did not rush madly to attack. He reasoned again, and -reason told him that already the prey was his, so he pushed his great -bulk through the foliage and stood eyeing his meat with baleful, -glaring eyes. - -Momaya saw him and shrieked, drawing Tibo closer to her breast. To have -found her child and to lose him, all in a moment! She raised her spear, -throwing her hand far back of her shoulder. Numa roared and stepped -slowly forward. Momaya cast her weapon. It grazed the tawny shoulder, -inflicting a flesh wound which aroused all the terrific bestiality of -the carnivore, and the lion charged. - -Momaya tried to close her eyes, but could not. She saw the flashing -swiftness of the huge, oncoming death, and then she saw something else. -She saw a mighty, naked white man drop as from the heavens into the -path of the charging lion. She saw the muscles of a great arm flash in -the light of the equatorial sun as it filtered, dappling, through the -foliage above. She saw a heavy hunting spear hurtle through the air to -meet the lion in midleap. - -Numa brought up upon his haunches, roaring terribly and striking at the -spear which protruded from his breast. His great blows bent and twisted -the weapon. Tarzan, crouching and with hunting knife in hand, circled -warily about the frenzied cat. Momaya, wide-eyed, stood rooted to the -spot, watching, fascinated. - -In sudden fury Numa hurled himself toward the ape-man, but the wiry -creature eluded the blundering charge, side-stepping quickly only to -rush in upon his foe. Twice the hunting blade flashed in the air. Twice -it fell upon the back of Numa, already weakening from the spear point -so near his heart. The second stroke of the blade pierced far into the -beast’s spine, and with a last convulsive sweep of the fore-paws, in a -vain attempt to reach his tormentor, Numa sprawled upon the ground, -paralyzed and dying. - -Bukawai, fearful lest he should lose any recompense, followed Momaya -with the intention of persuading her to part with her ornaments of -copper and iron against her return with the price of the medicine—to -pay, as it were, for an option on his services as one pays a retaining -fee to an attorney, for, like an attorney, Bukawai knew the value of -his medicine and that it was well to collect as much as possible in -advance. - -The witch-doctor came upon the scene as Tarzan leaped to meet the -lion’s charge. He saw it all and marveled, guessing immediately that -this must be the strange white demon concerning whom he had heard vague -rumors before Momaya came to him. - -Momaya, now that the lion was past harming her or hers, gazed with new -terror upon Tarzan. It was he who had stolen her Tibo. Doubtless he -would attempt to steal him again. Momaya hugged the boy close to her. -She was determined to die this time rather than suffer Tibo to be taken -from her again. - -Tarzan eyed them in silence. The sight of the boy clinging, sobbing, to -his mother aroused within his savage breast a melancholy loneliness. -There was none thus to cling to Tarzan, who yearned so for the love of -someone, of something. - -At last Tibo looked up, because of the quiet that had fallen upon the -jungle, and saw Tarzan. He did not shrink. - -“Tarzan,” he said, in the speech of the great apes of the tribe of -Kerchak, “do not take me from Momaya, my mother. Do not take me again -to the lair of the hairy, tree men, for I fear Taug and Gunto and the -others. Let me stay with Momaya, O Tarzan, God of the Jungle! Let me -stay with Momaya, my mother, and to the end of our days we will bless -you and put food before the gates of the village of Mbonga that you may -never hunger.” - -Tarzan sighed. - -“Go,” he said, “back to the village of Mbonga, and Tarzan will follow -to see that no harm befalls you.” - -Tibo translated the words to his mother, and the two turned their backs -upon the ape-man and started off toward home. In the heart of Momaya -was a great fear and a great exultation, for never before had she -walked with God, and never had she been so happy. She strained little -Tibo to her, stroking his thin cheek. Tarzan saw and sighed again. - -“For Teeka there is Teeka’s balu,” he soliloquized; “for Sabor there -are balus, and for the she-Gomangani, and for Bara, and for Manu, and -even for Pamba, the rat; but for Tarzan there can be none—neither a she -nor a balu. Tarzan of the Apes is a man, and it must be that man walks -alone.” - -Bukawai saw them go, and he mumbled through his rotting face, swearing -a great oath that he would yet have the three fat goats, the new -sleeping mat, and the bit of copper wire. - - - - -CHAPTER VI -The Witch-Doctor Seeks Vengeance - - -Lord Greystoke was hunting, or, to be more accurate, he was shooting -pheasants at Chamston-Hedding. Lord Greystoke was immaculately and -appropriately garbed—to the minutest detail he was vogue. To be sure, -he was among the forward guns, not being considered a sporting shot, -but what he lacked in skill he more than made up in appearance. At the -end of the day he would, doubtless, have many birds to his credit, -since he had two guns and a smart loader—many more birds than he could -eat in a year, even had he been hungry, which he was not, having but -just arisen from the breakfast table. - -The beaters—there were twenty-three of them, in white smocks—had but -just driven the birds into a patch of gorse, and were now circling to -the opposite side that they might drive down toward the guns. Lord -Greystoke was quite as excited as he ever permitted himself to become. -There was an exhilaration in the sport that would not be denied. He -felt his blood tingling through his veins as the beaters approached -closer and closer to the birds. In a vague and stupid sort of way Lord -Greystoke felt, as he always felt upon such occasions, that he was -experiencing a sensation somewhat akin to a reversion to a prehistoric -type—that the blood of an ancient forbear was coursing hot through him, -a hairy, half-naked forbear who had lived by the hunt. - -And far away in a matted equatorial jungle another Lord Greystoke, the -real Lord Greystoke, hunted. By the standards which he knew, he, too, -was vogue—utterly vogue, as was the primal ancestor before the first -eviction. The day being sultry, the leopard skin had been left behind. -The real Lord Greystoke had not two guns, to be sure, nor even one, -neither did he have a smart loader; but he possessed something -infinitely more efficacious than guns, or loaders, or even twenty-three -beaters in white smocks—he possessed an appetite, an uncanny woodcraft, -and muscles that were as steel springs. - -Later that day, in England, a Lord Greystoke ate bountifully of things -he had not killed, and he drank other things which were uncorked to the -accompaniment of much noise. He patted his lips with snowy linen to -remove the faint traces of his repast, quite ignorant of the fact that -he was an impostor and that the rightful owner of his noble title was -even then finishing his own dinner in far-off Africa. He was not using -snowy linen, though. Instead he drew the back of a brown forearm and -hand across his mouth and wiped his bloody fingers upon his thighs. -Then he moved slowly through the jungle to the drinking place, where, -upon all fours, he drank as drank his fellows, the other beasts of the -jungle. - -As he quenched his thirst, another denizen of the gloomy forest -approached the stream along the path behind him. It was Numa, the lion, -tawny of body and black of mane, scowling and sinister, rumbling out -low, coughing roars. Tarzan of the Apes heard him long before he came -within sight, but the ape-man went on with his drinking until he had -had his fill; then he arose, slowly, with the easy grace of a creature -of the wilds and all the quiet dignity that was his birthright. - -Numa halted as he saw the man standing at the very spot where the king -would drink. His jaws were parted, and his cruel eyes gleamed. He -growled and advanced slowly. The man growled, too, backing slowly to -one side, and watching, not the lion’s face, but its tail. Should that -commence to move from side to side in quick, nervous jerks, it would be -well to be upon the alert, and should it rise suddenly erect, straight -and stiff, then one might prepare to fight or flee; but it did neither, -so Tarzan merely backed away and the lion came down and drank scarce -fifty feet from where the man stood. - -Tomorrow they might be at one another’s throats, but today there -existed one of those strange and inexplicable truces which so often are -seen among the savage ones of the jungle. Before Numa had finished -drinking, Tarzan had returned into the forest, and was swinging away in -the direction of the village of Mbonga, the black chief. - -It had been at least a moon since the ape-man had called upon the -Gomangani. Not since he had restored little Tibo to his grief-stricken -mother had the whim seized him to do so. The incident of the adopted -balu was a closed one to Tarzan. He had sought to find something upon -which to lavish such an affection as Teeka lavished upon her balu, but -a short experience of the little black boy had made it quite plain to -the ape-man that no such sentiment could exist between them. - -The fact that he had for a time treated the little black as he might -have treated a real balu of his own had in no way altered the vengeful -sentiments with which he considered the murderers of Kala. The -Gomangani were his deadly enemies, nor could they ever be aught else. -Today he looked forward to some slight relief from the monotony of his -existence in such excitement as he might derive from baiting the -blacks. - -It was not yet dark when he reached the village and took his place in -the great tree overhanging the palisade. From beneath came a great -wailing out of the depths of a near-by hut. The noise fell disagreeably -upon Tarzan’s ears—it jarred and grated. He did not like it, so he -decided to go away for a while in the hopes that it might cease; but -though he was gone for a couple of hours the wailing still continued -when he returned. - -With the intention of putting a violent termination to the annoying -sound, Tarzan slipped silently from the tree into the shadows beneath. -Creeping stealthily and keeping well in the cover of other huts, he -approached that from which rose the sounds of lamentation. A fire -burned brightly before the doorway as it did before other doorways in -the village. A few females squatted about, occasionally adding their -own mournful howlings to those of the master artist within. - -The ape-man smiled a slow smile as he thought of the consternation -which would follow the quick leap that would carry him among the -females and into the full light of the fire. Then he would dart into -the hut during the excitement, throttle the chief screamer, and be gone -into the jungle before the blacks could gather their scattered nerves -for an assault. - -Many times had Tarzan behaved similarly in the village of Mbonga, the -chief. His mysterious and unexpected appearances always filled the -breasts of the poor, superstitious blacks with the panic of terror; -never, it seemed, could they accustom themselves to the sight of him. -It was this terror which lent to the adventures the spice of interest -and amusement which the human mind of the ape-man craved. Merely to -kill was not in itself sufficient. Accustomed to the sight of death, -Tarzan found no great pleasure in it. Long since had he avenged the -death of Kala, but in the accomplishment of it, he had learned the -excitement and the pleasure to be derived from the baiting of the -blacks. Of this he never tired. - -It was just as he was about to spring forward with a savage roar that a -figure appeared in the doorway of the hut. It was the figure of the -wailer whom he had come to still, the figure of a young woman with a -wooden skewer through the split septum of her nose, with a heavy metal -ornament depending from her lower lip, which it had dragged down to -hideous and repulsive deformity, with strange tattooing upon forehead, -cheeks, and breasts, and a wonderful coiffure built up with mud and -wire. - -A sudden flare of the fire threw the grotesque figure into high relief, -and Tarzan recognized her as Momaya, the mother of Tibo. The fire also -threw out a fitful flame which carried to the shadows where Tarzan -lurked, picking out his light brown body from the surrounding darkness. -Momaya saw him and knew him. With a cry, she leaped forward and Tarzan -came to meet her. The other women, turning, saw him, too; but they did -not come toward him. Instead they rose as one, shrieked as one, fled as -one. - -Momaya threw herself at Tarzan’s feet, raising supplicating hands -toward him and pouring forth from her mutilated lips a perfect cataract -of words, not one of which the ape-man comprehended. For a moment he -looked down upon the upturned, frightful face of the woman. He had come -to slay, but that overwhelming torrent of speech filled him with -consternation and with awe. He glanced about him apprehensively, then -back at the woman. A revulsion of feeling seized him. He could not kill -little Tibo’s mother, nor could he stand and face this verbal geyser. -With a quick gesture of impatience at the spoiling of his evening’s -entertainment, he wheeled and leaped away into the darkness. A moment -later he was swinging through the black jungle night, the cries and -lamentations of Momaya growing fainter in the distance. - -It was with a sigh of relief that he finally reached a point from which -he could no longer hear them, and finding a comfortable crotch high -among the trees, composed himself for a night of dreamless slumber, -while a prowling lion moaned and coughed beneath him, and in far-off -England the other Lord Greystoke, with the assistance of a valet, -disrobed and crawled between spotless sheets, swearing irritably as a -cat meowed beneath his window. - -As Tarzan followed the fresh spoor of Horta, the boar, the following -morning, he came upon the tracks of two Gomangani, a large one and a -small one. The ape-man, accustomed as he was to questioning closely all -that fell to his perceptions, paused to read the story written in the -soft mud of the game trail. You or I would have seen little of interest -there, even if, by chance, we could have seen aught. Perhaps had one -been there to point them out to us, we might have noted indentations in -the mud, but there were countless indentations, one overlapping another -into a confusion that would have been entirely meaningless to us. To -Tarzan each told its own story. Tantor, the elephant, had passed that -way as recently as three suns since. Numa had hunted here the night -just gone, and Horta, the boar, had walked slowly along the trail -within an hour; but what held Tarzan’s attention was the spoor tale of -the Gomangani. It told him that the day before an old man had gone -toward the north in company with a little boy, and that with them had -been two hyenas. - -Tarzan scratched his head in puzzled incredulity. He could see by the -overlapping of the footprints that the beasts had not been following -the two, for sometimes one was ahead of them and one behind, and again -both were in advance, or both were in the rear. It was very strange and -quite inexplicable, especially where the spoor showed where the hyenas -in the wider portions of the path had walked one on either side of the -human pair, quite close to them. Then Tarzan read in the spoor of the -smaller Gomangani a shrinking terror of the beast that brushed his -side, but in that of the old man was no sign of fear. - -At first Tarzan had been solely occupied by the remarkable -juxtaposition of the spoor of Dango and Gomangani, but now his keen -eyes caught something in the spoor of the little Gomangani which -brought him to a sudden stop. It was as though, finding a letter in the -road, you suddenly had discovered in it the familiar handwriting of a -friend. - -“Go-bu-balu!” exclaimed the ape-man, and at once memory flashed upon -the screen of recollection the supplicating attitude of Momaya as she -had hurled herself before him in the village of Mbonga the night -before. Instantly all was explained—the wailing and lamentation, the -pleading of the black mother, the sympathetic howling of the shes about -the fire. Little Go-bu-balu had been stolen again, and this time by -another than Tarzan. Doubtless the mother had thought that he was again -in the power of Tarzan of the Apes, and she had been beseeching him to -return her balu to her. - -Yes, it was all quite plain now; but who could have stolen Go-bu-balu -this time? Tarzan wondered, and he wondered, too, about the presence of -Dango. He would investigate. The spoor was a day old and it ran toward -the north. Tarzan set out to follow it. In places it was totally -obliterated by the passage of many beasts, and where the way was rocky, -even Tarzan of the Apes was almost baffled; but there was still the -faint effluvium which clung to the human spoor, appreciable only to -such highly trained perceptive powers as were Tarzan’s. - -It had all happened to little Tibo very suddenly and unexpectedly -within the brief span of two suns. First had come Bukawai, the -witch-doctor—Bukawai, the unclean—with the ragged bit of flesh which -still clung to his rotting face. He had come alone and by day to the -place at the river where Momaya went daily to wash her body and that of -Tibo, her little boy. He had stepped out from behind a great bush quite -close to Momaya, frightening little Tibo so that he ran screaming to -his mother’s protecting arms. - -But Momaya, though startled, had wheeled to face the fearsome thing -with all the savage ferocity of a she-tiger at bay. When she saw who it -was, she breathed a sigh of partial relief, though she still clung -tightly to Tibo. - -“I have come,” said Bukawai without preliminary, “for the three fat -goats, the new sleeping mat, and the bit of copper wire as long as a -tall man’s arm.” - -“I have no goats for you,” snapped Momaya, “nor a sleeping mat, nor any -wire. Your medicine was never made. The white jungle god gave me back -my Tibo. You had nothing to do with it.” - -“But I did,” mumbled Bukawai through his fleshless jaws. “It was I who -commanded the white jungle god to give back your Tibo.” - -Momaya laughed in his face. “Speaker of lies,” she cried, “go back to -your foul den and your hyenas. Go back and hide your stinking face in -the belly of the mountain, lest the sun, seeing it, cover his face with -a black cloud.” - -“I have come,” reiterated Bukawai, “for the three fat goats, the new -sleeping mat, and the bit of copper wire the length of a tall man’s -arm, which you were to pay me for the return of your Tibo.” - -“It was to be the length of a man’s forearm,” corrected Momaya, “but -you shall have nothing, old thief. You would not make medicine until I -had brought the payment in advance, and when I was returning to my -village the great, white jungle god gave me back my Tibo—gave him to me -out of the jaws of Numa. His medicine is true medicine—yours is the -weak medicine of an old man with a hole in his face.” - -“I have come,” repeated Bukawai patiently, “for the three fat—” But -Momaya had not waited to hear more of what she already knew by heart. -Clasping Tibo close to her side, she was hurrying away toward the -palisaded village of Mbonga, the chief. - -And the next day, when Momaya was working in the plantain field with -others of the women of the tribe, and little Tibo had been playing at -the edge of the jungle, casting a small spear in anticipation of the -distant day when he should be a full-fledged warrior, Bukawai had come -again. - -Tibo had seen a squirrel scampering up the bole of a great tree. His -childish mind had transformed it into the menacing figure of a hostile -warrior. Little Tibo had raised his tiny spear, his heart filled with -the savage blood lust of his race, as he pictured the night’s orgy when -he should dance about the corpse of his human kill as the women of his -tribe prepared the meat for the feast to follow. - -But when he cast the spear, he missed both squirrel and tree, losing -his missile far among the tangled undergrowth of the jungle. However, -it could be but a few steps within the forbidden labyrinth. The women -were all about in the field. There were warriors on guard within easy -hail, and so little Tibo boldly ventured into the dark place. - -Just behind the screen of creepers and matted foliage lurked three -horrid figures—an old, old man, black as the pit, with a face half -eaten away by leprosy, his sharp-filed teeth, the teeth of a cannibal, -showing yellow and repulsive through the great gaping hole where his -mouth and nose had been. And beside him, equally hideous, stood two -powerful hyenas—carrion-eaters consorting with carrion. - -Tibo did not see them until, head down, he had forced his way through -the thickly growing vines in search of his little spear, and then it -was too late. As he looked up into the face of Bukawai, the old -witch-doctor seized him, muffling his screams with a palm across his -mouth. Tibo struggled futilely. - -A moment later he was being hustled away through the dark and terrible -jungle, the frightful old man still muffling his screams, and the two -hideous hyenas pacing now on either side, now before, now behind, -always prowling, always growling, snapping, snarling, or, worst of all, -laughing hideously. - -To little Tibo, who within his brief existence had passed through such -experiences as are given to few to pass through in a lifetime, the -northward journey was a nightmare of terror. He thought now of the time -that he had been with the great, white jungle god, and he prayed with -all his little soul that he might be back again with the white-skinned -giant who consorted with the hairy tree men. Terror-stricken he had -been then, but his surroundings had been nothing by comparison with -those which he now endured. - -The old man seldom addressed Tibo, though he kept up an almost -continuous mumbling throughout the long day. Tibo caught repeated -references to fat goats, sleeping mats, and pieces of copper wire. “Ten -fat goats, ten fat goats,” the old Negro would croon over and over -again. By this little Tibo guessed that the price of his ransom had -risen. Ten fat goats? Where would his mother get ten fat goats, or thin -ones, either, for that matter, to buy back just a poor little boy? -Mbonga would never let her have them, and Tibo knew that his father -never had owned more than three goats at the same time in all his life. -Ten fat goats! Tibo sniffled. The putrid old man would kill him and eat -him, for the goats would never be forthcoming. Bukawai would throw his -bones to the hyenas. The little black boy shuddered and became so weak -that he almost fell in his tracks. Bukawai cuffed him on an ear and -jerked him along. - -After what seemed an eternity to Tibo, they arrived at the mouth of a -cave between two rocky hills. The opening was low and narrow. A few -saplings bound together with strips of rawhide closed it against stray -beasts. Bukawai removed the primitive door and pushed Tibo within. The -hyenas, snarling, rushed past him and were lost to view in the -blackness of the interior. Bukawai replaced the saplings and seizing -Tibo roughly by the arm, dragged him along a narrow, rocky passage. The -floor was comparatively smooth, for the dirt which lay thick upon it -had been trodden and tramped by many feet until few inequalities -remained. - -The passage was tortuous, and as it was very dark and the walls rough -and rocky, Tibo was scratched and bruised from the many bumps he -received. Bukawai walked as rapidly through the winding gallery as one -would traverse a familiar lane by daylight. He knew every twist and -turn as a mother knows the face of her child, and he seemed to be in a -hurry. He jerked poor little Tibo possibly a trifle more ruthlessly -than necessary even at the pace Bukawai set; but the old witch-doctor, -an outcast from the society of man, diseased, shunned, hated, feared, -was far from possessing an angelic temper. Nature had given him few of -the kindlier characteristics of man, and these few Fate had eradicated -entirely. Shrewd, cunning, cruel, vindictive, was Bukawai, the -witch-doctor. - -Frightful tales were whispered of the cruel tortures he inflicted upon -his victims. Children were frightened into obedience by the threat of -his name. Often had Tibo been thus frightened, and now he was reaping a -grisly harvest of terror from the seeds his mother had innocently sown. -The darkness, the presence of the dreaded witch-doctor, the pain of the -contusions, with a haunting premonition of the future, and the fear of -the hyenas combined to almost paralyze the child. He stumbled and -reeled until Bukawai was dragging rather than leading him. - -Presently Tibo saw a faint lightness ahead of them, and a moment later -they emerged into a roughly circular chamber to which a little daylight -filtered through a rift in the rocky ceiling. The hyenas were there -ahead of them, waiting. As Bukawai entered with Tibo, the beasts slunk -toward them, baring yellow fangs. They were hungry. Toward Tibo they -came, and one snapped at his naked legs. Bukawai seized a stick from -the floor of the chamber and struck a vicious blow at the beast, at the -same time mumbling forth a volley of execrations. The hyena dodged and -ran to the side of the chamber, where he stood growling. Bukawai took a -step toward the creature, which bristled with rage at his approach. -Fear and hatred shot from its evil eyes, but, fortunately for Bukawai, -fear predominated. - -Seeing that he was unnoticed, the second beast made a short, quick rush -for Tibo. The child screamed and darted after the witch-doctor, who now -turned his attention to the second hyena. This one he reached with his -heavy stick, striking it repeatedly and driving it to the wall. There -the two carrion-eaters commenced to circle the chamber while the human -carrion, their master, now in a perfect frenzy of demoniacal rage, ran -to and fro in an effort to intercept them, striking out with his cudgel -and lashing them with his tongue, calling down upon them the curses of -whatever gods and demons he could summon to memory, and describing in -lurid figures the ignominy of their ancestors. - -Several times one or the other of the beasts would turn to make a stand -against the witch-doctor, and then Tibo would hold his breath in -agonized terror, for never in his brief life had he seen such frightful -hatred depicted upon the countenance of man or beast; but always fear -overcame the rage of the savage creatures, so that they resumed their -flight, snarling and bare-fanged, just at the moment that Tibo was -certain they would spring at Bukawai’s throat. - -At last the witch-doctor tired of the futile chase. With a snarl quite -as bestial as those of the beast, he turned toward Tibo. “I go to -collect the ten fat goats, the new sleeping mat, and the two pieces of -copper wire that your mother will pay for the medicine I shall make to -bring you back to her,” he said. “You will stay here. There,” and he -pointed toward the passage which they had followed to the chamber, “I -will leave the hyenas. If you try to escape, they will eat you.” - -He cast aside the stick and called to the beasts. They came, snarling -and slinking, their tails between their legs. Bukawai led them to the -passage and drove them into it. Then he dragged a rude lattice into -place before the opening after he, himself, had left the chamber. “This -will keep them from you,” he said. “If I do not get the ten fat goats -and the other things, they shall at least have a few bones after I am -through.” And he left the boy to think over the meaning of his -all-too-suggestive words. - -When he was gone, Tibo threw himself upon the earth floor and broke -into childish sobs of terror and loneliness. He knew that his mother -had no ten fat goats to give and that when Bukawai returned, little -Tibo would be killed and eaten. How long he lay there he did not know, -but presently he was aroused by the growling of the hyenas. They had -returned through the passage and were glaring at him from beyond the -lattice. He could see their yellow eyes blazing through the darkness. -They reared up and clawed at the barrier. Tibo shivered and withdrew to -the opposite side of the chamber. He saw the lattice sag and sway to -the attacks of the beasts. Momentarily he expected that it would fall -inward, letting the creatures upon him. - -Wearily the horror-ridden hours dragged their slow way. Night came, and -for a time Tibo slept, but it seemed that the hungry beasts never -slept. Always they stood just beyond the lattice growling their hideous -growls or laughing their hideous laughs. Through the narrow rift in the -rocky roof above him, Tibo could see a few stars, and once the moon -crossed. At last daylight came again. Tibo was very hungry and thirsty, -for he had not eaten since the morning before, and only once upon the -long march had he been permitted to drink, but even hunger and thirst -were almost forgotten in the terror of his position. - -It was after daylight that the child discovered a second opening in the -walls of the subterranean chamber, almost opposite that at which the -hyenas still stood glaring hungrily at him. It was only a narrow slit -in the rocky wall. It might lead in but a few feet, or it might lead to -freedom! Tibo approached it and looked within. He could see nothing. He -extended his arm into the blackness, but he dared not venture farther. -Bukawai never would have left open a way of escape, Tibo reasoned, so -this passage must lead either nowhere or to some still more hideous -danger. - -To the boy’s fear of the actual dangers which menaced him—Bukawai and -the two hyenas—his superstition added countless others quite too -horrible even to name, for in the lives of the blacks, through the -shadows of the jungle day and the black horrors of the jungle night, -flit strange, fantastic shapes peopling the already hideously peopled -forests with menacing figures, as though the lion and the leopard, the -snake and the hyena, and the countless poisonous insects were not quite -sufficient to strike terror to the hearts of the poor, simple creatures -whose lot is cast in earth’s most fearsome spot. - -And so it was that little Tibo cringed not only from real menaces but -from imaginary ones. He was afraid even to venture upon a road that -might lead to escape, lest Bukawai had set to watch it some frightful -demon of the jungle. - -But the real menaces suddenly drove the imaginary ones from the boy’s -mind, for with the coming of daylight the half-famished hyenas renewed -their efforts to break down the frail barrier which kept them from -their prey. Rearing upon their hind feet they clawed and struck at the -lattice. With wide eyes Tibo saw it sag and rock. Not for long, he -knew, could it withstand the assaults of these two powerful and -determined brutes. Already one corner had been forced past the rocky -protuberance of the entrance way which had held it in place. A shaggy -forearm protruded into the chamber. Tibo trembled as with ague, for he -knew that the end was near. - -Backing against the farther wall he stood flattened out as far from the -beasts as he could get. He saw the lattice give still more. He saw a -savage, snarling head forced past it, and grinning jaws snapping and -gaping toward him. In another instant the pitiful fabric would fall -inward, and the two would be upon him, rending his flesh from his -bones, gnawing the bones themselves, fighting for possession of his -entrails. - -* * * - -Bukawai came upon Momaya outside the palisade of Mbonga, the chief. At -sight of him the woman drew back in revulsion, then she flew at him, -tooth and nail; but Bukawai threatening her with a spear held her at a -safe distance. - -“Where is my baby?” she cried. “Where is my little Tibo?” - -Bukawai opened his eyes in well-simulated amazement. “Your baby!” he -exclaimed. “What should I know of him, other than that I rescued him -from the white god of the jungle and have not yet received my pay. I -come for the goats and the sleeping mat and the piece of copper wire -the length of a tall man’s arm from the shoulder to the tips of his -fingers.” “Offal of a hyena!” shrieked Momaya. “My child has been -stolen, and you, rotting fragment of a man, have taken him. Return him -to me or I shall tear your eyes from your head and feed your heart to -the wild hogs.” - -Bukawai shrugged his shoulders. “What do I know about your child?” he -asked. “I have not taken him. If he is stolen again, what should -Bukawai know of the matter? Did Bukawai steal him before? No, the white -jungle god stole him, and if he stole him once he would steal him -again. It is nothing to me. I returned him to you before and I have -come for my pay. If he is gone and you would have him returned, Bukawai -will return him—for ten fat goats, a new sleeping mat and two pieces of -copper wire the length of a tall man’s arm from the shoulder to the -tips of his fingers, and Bukawai will say nothing more about the goats -and the sleeping mat and the copper wire which you were to pay for the -first medicine.” - -“Ten fat goats!” screamed Momaya. “I could not pay you ten fat goats in -as many years. Ten fat goats, indeed!” - -“Ten fat goats,” repeated Bukawai. “Ten fat goats, the new sleeping mat -and two pieces of copper wire the length of—” - -Momaya stopped him with an impatient gesture. “Wait!” she cried. “I -have no goats. You waste your breath. Stay here while I go to my man. -He has but three goats, yet something may be done. Wait!” - -Bukawai sat down beneath a tree. He felt quite content, for he knew -that he should have either payment or revenge. He did not fear harm at -the hands of these people of another tribe, although he well knew that -they must fear and hate him. His leprosy alone would prevent their -laying hands upon him, while his reputation as a witch-doctor rendered -him doubly immune from attack. He was planning upon compelling them to -drive the ten goats to the mouth of his cave when Momaya returned. With -her were three warriors—Mbonga, the chief, Rabba Kega, the village -witch-doctor, and Ibeto, Tibo’s father. They were not pretty men even -under ordinary circumstances, and now, with their faces marked by -anger, they well might have inspired terror in the heart of anyone; but -if Bukawai felt any fear, he did not betray it. Instead he greeted them -with an insolent stare, intended to awe them, as they came and squatted -in a semi-circle before him. - -“Where is Ibeto’s son?” asked Mbonga. - -“How should I know?” returned Bukawai. “Doubtless the white devil-god -has him. If I am paid I will make strong medicine and then we shall -know where is Ibeto’s son, and shall get him back again. It was my -medicine which got him back the last time, for which I got no pay.” - -“I have my own witch-doctor to make medicine,” replied Mbonga with -dignity. - -Bukawai sneered and rose to his feet. “Very well,” he said, “let him -make his medicine and see if he can bring Ibeto’s son back.” He took a -few steps away from them, and then he turned angrily back. “His -medicine will not bring the child back—that I know, and I also know -that when you find him it will be too late for any medicine to bring -him back, for he will be dead. This have I just found out, the ghost of -my father’s sister but now came to me and told me.” - -Now Mbonga and Rabba Kega might not take much stock in their own magic, -and they might even be skeptical as to the magic of another; but there -was always a chance of _something_ being in it, especially if it were -not their own. Was it not well known that old Bukawai had speech with -the demons themselves and that two even lived with him in the forms of -hyenas! Still they must not accede too hastily. There was the price to -be considered, and Mbonga had no intention of parting lightly with ten -goats to obtain the return of a single little boy who might die of -smallpox long before he reached a warrior’s estate. - -“Wait,” said Mbonga. “Let us see some of your magic, that we may know -if it be good magic. Then we can talk about payment. Rabba Kega will -make some magic, too. We will see who makes the best magic. Sit down, -Bukawai.” - -“The payment will be ten goats—fat goats—a new sleeping mat and two -pieces of copper wire the length of a tall man’s arm from the shoulder -to the ends of his fingers, and it will be made in advance, the goats -being driven to my cave. Then will I make the medicine, and on the -second day the boy will be returned to his mother. It cannot be done -more quickly than that because it takes time to make such strong -medicine.” - -“Make us some medicine now,” said Mbonga. “Let us see what sort of -medicine you make.” - -“Bring me fire,” replied Bukawai, “and I will make you a little magic.” - -Momaya was dispatched for the fire, and while she was away Mbonga -dickered with Bukawai about the price. Ten goats, he said, was a high -price for an able-bodied warrior. He also called Bukawai’s attention to -the fact that he, Mbonga, was very poor, that his people were very -poor, and that ten goats were at least eight too many, to say nothing -of a new sleeping mat and the copper wire; but Bukawai was adamant. His -medicine was very expensive and he would have to give at least five -goats to the gods who helped him make it. They were still arguing when -Momaya returned with the fire. - -Bukawai placed a little on the ground before him, took a pinch of -powder from a pouch at his side and sprinkled it on the embers. A cloud -of smoke rose with a puff. Bukawai closed his eyes and rocked back and -forth. Then he made a few passes in the air and pretended to swoon. -Mbonga and the others were much impressed. Rabba Kega grew nervous. He -saw his reputation waning. There was some fire left in the vessel which -Momaya had brought. He seized the vessel, dropped a handful of dry -leaves into it while no one was watching and then uttered a frightful -scream which drew the attention of Bukawai’s audience to him. It also -brought Bukawai quite miraculously out of his swoon, but when the old -witch-doctor saw the reason for the disturbance he quickly relapsed -into unconsciousness before anyone discovered his _faux pas_. - -Rabba Kega, seeing that he had the attention of Mbonga, Ibeto, and -Momaya, blew suddenly into the vessel, with the result that the leaves -commenced to smolder, and smoke issued from the mouth of the -receptacle. Rabba Kega was careful to hold it so that none might see -the dry leaves. Their eyes opened wide at this remarkable demonstration -of the village witch-doctor’s powers. The latter, greatly elated, let -himself out. He shouted, jumped up and down, and made frightful -grimaces; then he put his face close over the mouth of the vessel and -appeared to be communing with the spirits within. - -It was while he was thus engaged that Bukawai came out of his trance, -his curiosity finally having gotten the better of him. No one was -paying him the slightest attention. He blinked his one eye angrily, -then he, too, let out a loud roar, and when he was sure that Mbonga had -turned toward him, he stiffened rigidly and made spasmodic movements -with his arms and legs. - -“I see him!” he cried. “He is far away. The white devil-god did not get -him. He is alone and in great danger; but,” he added, “if the ten fat -goats and the other things are paid to me quickly there is yet time to -save him.” - -Rabba Kega had paused to listen. Mbonga looked toward him. The chief -was in a quandary. He did not know which medicine was the better. “What -does your magic tell you?” he asked of Rabba Kega. - -“I, too, see him,” screamed Rabba Kega; “but he is not where Bukawai -says he is. He is dead at the bottom of the river.” - -At this Momaya commenced to howl loudly. - -Tarzan had followed the spoor of the old man, the two hyenas, and the -little black boy to the mouth of the cave in the rocky cañon between -the two hills. Here he paused a moment before the sapling barrier which -Bukawai had set up, listening to the snarls and growls which came -faintly from the far recesses of the cavern. - -Presently, mingled with the beastly cries, there came faintly to the -keen ears of the ape-man, the agonized moan of a child. No longer did -Tarzan hesitate. Hurling the door aside, he sprang into the dark -opening. Narrow and black was the corridor; but long use of his eyes in -the Stygian blackness of the jungle nights had given to the ape-man -something of the nocturnal visionary powers of the wild things with -which he had consorted since babyhood. - -He moved rapidly and yet with caution, for the place was dark, -unfamiliar and winding. As he advanced, he heard more and more loudly -the savage snarls of the two hyenas, mingled with the scraping and -scratching of their paws upon wood. The moans of a child grew in -volume, and Tarzan recognized in them the voice of the little black boy -he once had sought to adopt as his balu. - -There was no hysteria in the ape-man’s advance. Too accustomed was he -to the passing of life in the jungle to be greatly wrought even by the -death of one whom he knew; but the lust for battle spurred him on. He -was only a wild beast at heart and his wild beast’s heart beat high in -anticipation of conflict. - -In the rocky chamber of the hill’s center, little Tibo crouched low -against the wall as far from the hunger-crazed beasts as he could drag -himself. He saw the lattice giving to the frantic clawing of the -hyenas. He knew that in a few minutes his little life would flicker out -horribly beneath the rending, yellow fangs of these loathsome -creatures. - -Beneath the buffetings of the powerful bodies, the lattice sagged -inward, until, with a crash it gave way, letting the carnivora in upon -the boy. Tibo cast one affrighted glance toward them, then closed his -eyes and buried his face in his arms, sobbing piteously. - -For a moment the hyenas paused, caution and cowardice holding them from -their prey. They stood thus glaring at the lad, then slowly, -stealthily, crouching, they crept toward him. It was thus that Tarzan -came upon them, bursting into the chamber swiftly and silently; but not -so silently that the keen-eared beasts did not note his coming. With -angry growls they turned from Tibo upon the ape-man, as, with a smile -upon his lips, he ran toward them. For an instant one of the animals -stood its ground; but the ape-man did not deign even to draw his -hunting knife against despised Dango. Rushing in upon the brute he -grasped it by the scruff of the neck, just as it attempted to dodge -past him, and hurled it across the cavern after its fellow which -already was slinking into the corridor, bent upon escape. - -Then Tarzan picked Tibo from the floor, and when the child felt human -hands upon him instead of the paws and fangs of the hyenas, he rolled -his eyes upward in surprise and incredulity, and as they fell upon -Tarzan, sobs of relief broke from the childish lips and his hands -clutched at his deliverer as though the white devil-god was not the -most feared of jungle creatures. - -When Tarzan came to the cave mouth the hyenas were nowhere in sight, -and after permitting Tibo to quench his thirst in the spring which rose -near by, he lifted the boy to his shoulders and set off toward the -jungle at a rapid trot, determined to still the annoying howlings of -Momaya as quickly as possible, for he shrewdly had guessed that the -absence of her balu was the cause of her lamentation. - -“He is not dead at the bottom of the river,” cried Bukawai. “What does -this fellow know about making magic? Who is he, anyway, that he dare -say Bukawai’s magic is not good magic? Bukawai sees Momaya’s son. He is -far away and alone and in great danger. Hasten then with the ten fat -goats, the—” - -But he got no further. There was a sudden interruption from above, from -the branches of the very tree beneath which they squatted, and as the -five blacks looked up they almost swooned in fright as they saw the -great, white devil-god looking down upon them; but before they could -flee they saw another face, that of the lost little Tibo, and his face -was laughing and very happy. - -And then Tarzan dropped fearlessly among them, the boy still upon his -back, and deposited him before his mother. Momaya, Ibeto, Rabba Kega, -and Mbonga were all crowding around the lad trying to question him at -the same time. Suddenly Momaya turned ferociously to fall upon Bukawai, -for the boy had told her all that he had suffered at the hands of the -cruel old man; but Bukawai was no longer there—he had required no -recourse to black art to assure him that the vicinity of Momaya would -be no healthful place for him after Tibo had told his story, and now he -was running through the jungle as fast as his old legs would carry him -toward the distant lair where he knew no black would dare pursue him. - -Tarzan, too, had vanished, as he had a way of doing, to the -mystification of the blacks. Then Momaya’s eyes lighted upon Rabba -Kega. The village witch-doctor saw something in those eyes of hers -which boded no good to him, and backed away. - -“So my Tibo is dead at the bottom of the river, is he?” the woman -shrieked. “And he’s far away and alone and in great danger, is he? -Magic!” The scorn which Momaya crowded into that single word would have -done credit to a Thespian of the first magnitude. “Magic, indeed!” she -screamed. “Momaya will show you some magic of her own,” and with that -she seized upon a broken limb and struck Rabba Kega across the head. -With a howl of pain, the man turned and fled, Momaya pursuing him and -beating him across the shoulders, through the gateway and up the length -of the village street, to the intense amusement of the warriors, the -women, and the children who were so fortunate as to witness the -spectacle, for one and all feared Rabba Kega, and to fear is to hate. - -Thus it was that to his host of passive enemies, Tarzan of the Apes -added that day two active foes, both of whom remained awake long into -the night planning means of revenge upon the white devil-god who had -brought them into ridicule and disrepute, but with their most -malevolent schemings was mingled a vein of real fear and awe that would -not down. - -Young Lord Greystoke did not know that they planned against him, nor, -knowing, would have cared. He slept as well that night as he did on any -other night, and though there was no roof above him, and no doors to -lock against intruders, he slept much better than his noble relative in -England, who had eaten altogether too much lobster and drank too much -wine at dinner that night. - - - - -CHAPTER VII -The End of Bukawai - - -When Tarzan of the Apes was still but a boy he had learned, among other -things, to fashion pliant ropes of fibrous jungle grass. Strong and -tough were the ropes of Tarzan, the little Tarmangani. Tublat, his -foster father, would have told you this much and more. Had you tempted -him with a handful of fat caterpillars he even might have sufficiently -unbended to narrate to you a few stories of the many indignities which -Tarzan had heaped upon him by means of his hated rope; but then Tublat -always worked himself into such a frightful rage when he devoted any -considerable thought either to the rope or to Tarzan, that it might not -have proved comfortable for you to have remained close enough to him to -hear what he had to say. - -So often had that snakelike noose settled unexpectedly over Tublat’s -head, so often had he been jerked ridiculously and painfully from his -feet when he was least looking for such an occurrence, that there is -little wonder he found scant space in his savage heart for love of his -white-skinned foster child, or the inventions thereof. There had been -other times, too, when Tublat had swung helplessly in midair, the noose -tightening about his neck, death staring him in the face, and little -Tarzan dancing upon a near-by limb, taunting him and making unseemly -grimaces. - -Then there had been another occasion in which the rope had figured -prominently—an occasion, and the only one connected with the rope, -which Tublat recalled with pleasure. Tarzan, as active in brain as he -was in body, was always inventing new ways in which to play. It was -through the medium of play that he learned much during his childhood. -This day he learned something, and that he did not lose his life in the -learning of it, was a matter of great surprise to Tarzan, and the fly -in the ointment, to Tublat. - -The man-child had, in throwing his noose at a playmate in a tree above -him, caught a projecting branch instead. When he tried to shake it -loose it but drew the tighter. Then Tarzan started to climb the rope to -remove it from the branch. When he was part way up a frolicsome -playmate seized that part of the rope which lay upon the ground and ran -off with it as far as he could go. When Tarzan screamed at him to -desist, the young ape released the rope a little and then drew it tight -again. The result was to impart a swinging motion to Tarzan’s body -which the ape-boy suddenly realized was a new and pleasurable form of -play. He urged the ape to continue until Tarzan was swinging to and fro -as far as the short length of rope would permit, but the distance was -not great enough, and, too, he was not far enough above the ground to -give the necessary thrills which add so greatly to the pastimes of the -young. - -So he clambered to the branch where the noose was caught and after -removing it carried the rope far aloft and out upon a long and powerful -branch. Here he again made it fast, and taking the loose end in his -hand, clambered quickly down among the branches as far as the rope -would permit him to go; then he swung out upon the end of it, his -lithe, young body turning and twisting—a human bob upon a pendulum of -grass—thirty feet above the ground. - -Ah, how delectable! This was indeed a new play of the first magnitude. -Tarzan was entranced. Soon he discovered that by wriggling his body in -just the right way at the proper time he could diminish or accelerate -his oscillation, and, being a boy, he chose, naturally, to accelerate. -Presently he was swinging far and wide, while below him, the apes of -the tribe of Kerchak looked on in mild amaze. - -Had it been you or I swinging there at the end of that grass rope, the -thing which presently happened would not have happened, for we could -not have hung on so long as to have made it possible; but Tarzan was -quite as much at home swinging by his hands as he was standing upon his -feet, or, at least, almost. At any rate he felt no fatigue long after -the time that an ordinary mortal would have been numb with the strain -of the physical exertion. And this was his undoing. - -Tublat was watching him as were others of the tribe. Of all the -creatures of the wild, there was none Tublat so cordially hated as he -did this hideous, hairless, white-skinned, caricature of an ape. But -for Tarzan’s nimbleness, and the zealous watchfulness of savage Kala’s -mother love, Tublat would long since have rid himself of this stain -upon his family escutcheon. So long had it been since Tarzan became a -member of the tribe, that Tublat had forgotten the circumstances -surrounding the entrance of the jungle waif into his family, with the -result that he now imagined that Tarzan was his own offspring, adding -greatly to his chagrin. - -Wide and far swung Tarzan of the Apes, until at last, as he reached the -highest point of the arc the rope, which rapidly had frayed on the -rough bark of the tree limb, parted suddenly. The watching apes saw the -smooth, brown body shoot outward, and down, plummet-like. Tublat leaped -high in the air, emitting what in a human being would have been an -exclamation of delight. This would be the end of Tarzan and most of -Tublat’s troubles. From now on he could lead his life in peace and -security. - -Tarzan fell quite forty feet, alighting on his back in a thick bush. -Kala was the first to reach his side—ferocious, hideous, loving Kala. -She had seen the life crushed from her own balu in just such a fall -years before. Was she to lose this one too in the same way? Tarzan was -lying quite still when she found him, embedded deeply in the bush. It -took Kala several minutes to disentangle him and drag him forth; but he -was not killed. He was not even badly injured. The bush had broken the -force of the fall. A cut upon the back of his head showed where he had -struck the tough stem of the shrub and explained his unconsciousness. - -In a few minutes he was as active as ever. Tublat was furious. In his -rage he snapped at a fellow-ape without first discovering the identity -of his victim, and was badly mauled for his ill temper, having chosen -to vent his spite upon a husky and belligerent young bull in the full -prime of his vigor. - -But Tarzan had learned something new. He had learned that continued -friction would wear through the strands of his rope, though it was many -years before this knowledge did more for him than merely to keep him -from swinging too long at a time, or too far above the ground at the -end of his rope. - -The day came, however, when the very thing that had once all but killed -him proved the means of saving his life. - -He was no longer a child, but a mighty jungle male. There was none now -to watch over him, solicitously, nor did he need such. Kala was dead. -Dead, too, was Tublat, and though with Kala passed the one creature -that ever really had loved him, there were still many who hated him -after Tublat departed unto the arms of his fathers. It was not that he -was more cruel or more savage than they that they hated him, for though -he was both cruel and savage as were the beasts, his fellows, yet too -was he often tender, which they never were. No, the thing which brought -Tarzan most into disrepute with those who did not like him, was the -possession and practice of a characteristic which they had not and -could not understand—the human sense of humor. In Tarzan it was a -trifle broad, perhaps, manifesting itself in rough and painful -practical jokes upon his friends and cruel baiting of his enemies. - -But to neither of these did he owe the enmity of Bukawai, the -witch-doctor, who dwelt in the cave between the two hills far to the -north of the village of Mbonga, the chief. Bukawai was jealous of -Tarzan, and Bukawai it was who came near proving the undoing of the -ape-man. For months Bukawai had nursed his hatred while revenge seemed -remote indeed, since Tarzan of the Apes frequented another part of the -jungle, miles away from the lair of Bukawai. Only once had the black -witch-doctor seen the devil-god, as he was most often called among the -blacks, and upon that occasion Tarzan had robbed him of a fat fee, at -the same time putting the lie in the mouth of Bukawai, and making his -medicine seem poor medicine. All this Bukawai never could forgive, -though it seemed unlikely that the opportunity would come to be -revenged. - -Yet it did come, and quite unexpectedly. Tarzan was hunting far to the -north. He had wandered away from the tribe, as he did more and more -often as he approached maturity, to hunt alone for a few days. As a -child he had enjoyed romping and playing with the young apes, his -companions; but now these play-fellows of his had grown to surly, -lowering bulls, or to touchy, suspicious mothers, jealously guarding -helpless balus. So Tarzan found in his own man-mind a greater and a -truer companionship than any or all of the apes of Kerchak could afford -him. - -This day, as Tarzan hunted, the sky slowly became overcast. Torn -clouds, whipped to ragged streamers, fled low above the tree tops. They -reminded Tarzan of frightened antelope fleeing the charge of a hungry -lion. But though the light clouds raced so swiftly, the jungle was -motionless. Not a leaf quivered and the silence was a great, dead -weight—insupportable. Even the insects seemed stilled by apprehension -of some frightful thing impending, and the larger things were -soundless. Such a forest, such a jungle might have stood there in the -beginning of that unthinkably far-gone age before God peopled the world -with life, when there were no sounds because there were no ears to -hear. - -And over all lay a sickly, pallid ocher light through which the -scourged clouds raced. Tarzan had seen all these conditions many times -before, yet he never could escape a strange feeling at each recurrence -of them. He knew no fear, but in the face of Nature’s manifestations of -her cruel, immeasurable powers, he felt very small—very small and very -lonely. - -Now he heard a low moaning, far away. “The lions seek their prey,” he -murmured to himself, looking up once again at the swift-flying clouds. -The moaning rose to a great volume of sound. “They come!” said Tarzan -of the Apes, and sought the shelter of a thickly foliaged tree. Quite -suddenly the trees bent their tops simultaneously as though God had -stretched a hand from the heavens and pressed His flat palm down upon -the world. “They pass!” whispered Tarzan. “The lions pass.” Then came a -vivid flash of lightning, followed by deafening thunder. “The lions -have sprung,” cried Tarzan, “and now they roar above the bodies of -their kills.” - -The trees were waving wildly in all directions now, a perfectly -demoniacal wind threshed the jungle pitilessly. In the midst of it the -rain came—not as it comes upon us of the northlands, but in a sudden, -choking, blinding deluge. “The blood of the kill,” thought Tarzan, -huddling himself closer to the bole of the great tree beneath which he -stood. - -He was close to the edge of the jungle, and at a little distance he had -seen two hills before the storm broke; but now he could see nothing. It -amused him to look out into the beating rain, searching for the two -hills and imagining that the torrents from above had washed them away, -yet he knew that presently the rain would cease, the sun come out again -and all be as it was before, except where a few branches had fallen and -here and there some old and rotted patriarch had crashed back to enrich -the soil upon which he had fatted for, maybe, centuries. All about him -branches and leaves filled the air or fell to earth, torn away by the -strength of the tornado and the weight of the water upon them. A gaunt -corpse toppled and fell a few yards away; but Tarzan was protected from -all these dangers by the wide-spreading branches of the sturdy young -giant beneath which his jungle craft had guided him. Here there was but -a single danger, and that a remote one. Yet it came. Without warning -the tree above him was riven by lightning, and when the rain ceased and -the sun came out Tarzan lay stretched as he had fallen, upon his face -amidst the wreckage of the jungle giant that should have shielded him. - -Bukawai came to the entrance of his cave after the rain and the storm -had passed and looked out upon the scene. From his one eye Bukawai -could see; but had he had a dozen eyes he could have found no beauty in -the fresh sweetness of the revivified jungle, for to such things, in -the chemistry of temperament, his brain failed to react; nor, even had -he had a nose, which he had not for years, could he have found -enjoyment or sweetness in the clean-washed air. - -At either side of the leper stood his sole and constant companions, the -two hyenas, sniffing the air. Presently one of them uttered a low growl -and with flattened head started, sneaking and wary, toward the jungle. -The other followed. Bukawai, his curiosity aroused, trailed after them, -in his hand a heavy knob-stick. - -The hyenas halted a few yards from the prostrate Tarzan, sniffing and -growling. Then came Bukawai, and at first he could not believe the -witness of his own eyes; but when he did and saw that it was indeed the -devil-god his rage knew no bounds, for he thought him dead and himself -cheated of the revenge he had so long dreamed upon. - -The hyenas approached the ape-man with bared fangs. Bukawai, with an -inarticulate scream, rushed upon them, striking cruel and heavy blows -with his knob-stick, for there might still be life in the apparently -lifeless form. The beasts, snapping and snarling, half turned upon -their master and their tormentor, but long fear still held them from -his putrid throat. They slunk away a few yards and squatted upon their -haunches, hatred and baffled hunger gleaming from their savage eyes. - -Bukawai stooped and placed his ear above the ape-man’s heart. It still -beat. As well as his sloughed features could register pleasure they did -so; but it was not a pretty sight. At the ape-man’s side lay his long, -grass rope. Quickly Bukawai bound the limp arms behind his prisoner’s -back, then he raised him to one of his shoulders, for, though Bukawai -was old and diseased, he was still a strong man. The hyenas fell in -behind as the witch-doctor set off toward the cave, and through the -long black corridors they followed as Bukawai bore his victim into the -bowels of the hills. Through subterranean chambers, connected by -winding passageways, Bukawai staggered with his load. At a sudden -turning of the corridor, daylight flooded them and Bukawai stepped out -into a small, circular basin in the hill, apparently the crater of an -ancient volcano, one of those which never reached the dignity of a -mountain and are little more than lava-rimmed pits closed to the -earth’s surface. - -Steep walls rimmed the cavity. The only exit was through the passageway -by which Bukawai had entered. A few stunted trees grew upon the rocky -floor. A hundred feet above could be seen the ragged lips of this cold, -dead mouth of hell. - -Bukawai propped Tarzan against a tree and bound him there with his own -grass rope, leaving his hands free but securing the knots in such a way -that the ape-man could not reach them. The hyenas slunk to and fro, -growling. Bukawai hated them and they hated him. He knew that they but -waited for the time when he should be helpless, or when their hatred -should rise to such a height as to submerge their cringing fear of him. - -In his own heart was not a little fear of these repulsive creatures, -and because of that fear, Bukawai always kept the beasts well fed, -often hunting for them when their own forages for food failed, but ever -was he cruel to them with the cruelty of a little brain, diseased, -bestial, primitive. - -He had had them since they were puppies. They had known no other life -than that with him, and though they went abroad to hunt, always they -returned. Of late Bukawai had come to believe that they returned not so -much from habit as from a fiendish patience which would submit to every -indignity and pain rather than forego the final vengeance, and Bukawai -needed but little imagination to picture what that vengeance would be. -Today he would see for himself what his end would be; but another -should impersonate Bukawai. - -When he had trussed Tarzan securely, Bukawai went back into the -corridor, driving the hyenas ahead of him, and pulling across the -opening a lattice of laced branches, which shut the pit from the cave -during the night that Bukawai might sleep in security, for then the -hyenas were penned in the crater that they might not sneak upon a -sleeping Bukawai in the darkness. - -Bukawai returned to the outer cave mouth, filled a vessel with water at -the spring which rose in the little cañon close at hand and returned -toward the pit. The hyenas stood before the lattice looking hungrily -toward Tarzan. They had been fed in this manner before. - -With his water, the witch-doctor approached Tarzan and threw a portion -of the contents of the vessel in the ape-man’s face. There was -fluttering of the eyelids, and at the second application Tarzan opened -his eyes and looked about. - -“Devil-god,” cried Bukawai, “I am the great witch-doctor. My medicine -is strong. Yours is weak. If it is not, why do you stay tied here like -a goat that is bait for lions?” - -Tarzan understood nothing the witch-doctor said, therefore he did not -reply, but only stared straight at Bukawai with cold and level gaze. -The hyenas crept up behind him. He heard them growl; but he did not -even turn his head. He was a beast with a man’s brain. The beast in him -refused to show fear in the face of a death which the man-mind already -admitted to be inevitable. - -Bukawai, not yet ready to give his victim to the beasts, rushed upon -the hyenas with his knob-stick. There was a short scrimmage in which -the brutes came off second best, as they always did. Tarzan watched it. -He saw and realized the hatred which existed between the two animals -and the hideous semblance of a man. - -With the hyenas subdued, Bukawai returned to the baiting of Tarzan; but -finding that the ape-man understood nothing he said, the witch-doctor -finally desisted. Then he withdrew into the corridor and pulled the -latticework barrier across the opening. He went back into the cave and -got a sleeping mat, which he brought to the opening, that he might lie -down and watch the spectacle of his revenge in comfort. - -The hyenas were sneaking furtively around the ape-man. Tarzan strained -at his bonds for a moment, but soon realized that the rope he had -braided to hold Numa, the lion, would hold him quite as successfully. -He did not wish to die; but he could look death in the face now as he -had many times before without a quaver. - -As he pulled upon the rope he felt it rub against the small tree about -which it was passed. Like a flash of the cinematograph upon the screen, -a picture was flashed before his mind’s eye from the storehouse of his -memory. He saw a lithe, boyish figure swinging high above the ground at -the end of a rope. He saw many apes watching from below, and then he -saw the rope part and the boy hurtle downward toward the ground. Tarzan -smiled. Immediately he commenced to draw the rope rapidly back and -forth across the tree trunk. - -The hyenas, gaining courage, came closer. They sniffed at his legs; but -when he struck at them with his free arms they slunk off. He knew that -with the growth of hunger they would attack. Coolly, methodically, -without haste, Tarzan drew the rope back and forth against the rough -trunk of the small tree. - -In the entrance to the cavern Bukawai fell asleep. He thought it would -be some time before the beasts gained sufficient courage or hunger to -attack the captive. Their growls and the cries of the victim would -awaken him. In the meantime he might as well rest, and he did. - -Thus the day wore on, for the hyenas were not famished, and the rope -with which Tarzan was bound was a stronger one than that of his -boyhood, which had parted so quickly to the chafing of the rough tree -bark. Yet, all the while hunger was growing upon the beasts and the -strands of the grass rope were wearing thinner and thinner. Bukawai -slept. - -It was late afternoon before one of the beasts, irritated by the -gnawing of appetite, made a quick, growling dash at the ape-man. The -noise awoke Bukawai. He sat up quickly and watched what went on within -the crater. He saw the hungry hyena charge the man, leaping for the -unprotected throat. He saw Tarzan reach out and seize the growling -animal, and then he saw the second beast spring for the devil-god’s -shoulder. There was a mighty heave of the great, smooth-skinned body. -Rounded muscles shot into great, tensed piles beneath the brown -hide—the ape-man surged forward with all his weight and all his great -strength—the bonds parted, and the three were rolling upon the floor of -the crater snarling, snapping, and rending. - -Bukawai leaped to his feet. Could it be that the devil-god was to -prevail against his servants? Impossible! The creature was unarmed, and -he was down with two hyenas on top of him; but Bukawai did not know -Tarzan. - -The ape-man fastened his fingers upon the throat of one of the hyenas -and rose to one knee, though the other beast tore at him frantically in -an effort to pull him down. With a single hand Tarzan held the one, and -with the other hand he reached forth and pulled toward him the second -beast. - -And then Bukawai, seeing the battle going against his forces, rushed -forward from the cavern brandishing his knob-stick. Tarzan saw him -coming, and rising now to both feet, a hyena in each hand, he hurled -one of the foaming beasts straight at the witch-doctor’s head. Down -went the two in a snarling, biting heap. Tarzan tossed the second hyena -across the crater, while the first gnawed at the rotting face of its -master; but this did not suit the ape-man. With a kick he sent the -beast howling after its companion, and springing to the side of the -prostrate witch-doctor, dragged him to his feet. - -Bukawai, still conscious, saw death, immediate and terrible, in the -cold eyes of his captor, so he turned upon Tarzan with teeth and nails. -The ape-man shuddered at the proximity of that raw face to his. The -hyenas had had enough and disappeared through the small aperture -leading into the cave. Tarzan had little difficulty in overpowering and -binding Bukawai. Then he led him to the very tree to which he had been -bound; but in binding Bukawai, Tarzan saw to it that escape after the -same fashion that he had escaped would be out of the question; then he -left him. - -As he passed through the winding corridors and the subterranean -apartments, Tarzan saw nothing of the hyenas. - -“They will return,” he said to himself. - -In the crater between the towering walls Bukawai, cold with terror, -trembled, trembled as with ague. - -“They will return!” he cried, his voice rising to a fright-filled -shriek. - -And they did. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII -The Lion - - -Numa, the lion, crouched behind a thorn bush close beside the drinking -pool where the river eddied just below the bend. There was a ford there -and on either bank a well-worn trail, broadened far out at the river’s -brim, where, for countless centuries, the wild things of the jungle and -of the plains beyond had come down to drink, the carnivora with bold -and fearless majesty, the herbivora timorous, hesitating, fearful. - -Numa, the lion, was hungry, he was very hungry, and so he was quite -silent now. On his way to the drinking place he had moaned often and -roared not a little; but as he neared the spot where he would lie in -wait for Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, or some other of the many -luscious-fleshed creatures who came hither to drink, he was silent. It -was a grim, a terrible silence, shot through with yellow-green light of -ferocious eyes, punctuated with undulating tremors of sinuous tail. - -It was Pacco, the zebra, who came first, and Numa, the lion, could -scarce restrain a roar of anger, for of all the plains people, none are -more wary than Pacco, the zebra. Behind the black-striped stallion came -a herd of thirty or forty of the plump and vicious little horselike -beasts. As he neared the river, the leader paused often, cocking his -ears and raising his muzzle to sniff the gentle breeze for the -tell-tale scent spoor of the dread flesh-eaters. - -Numa shifted uneasily, drawing his hind quarters far beneath his tawny -body, gathering himself for the sudden charge and the savage assault. -His eyes shot hungry fire. His great muscles quivered to the excitement -of the moment. - -Pacco came a little nearer, halted, snorted, and wheeled. There was a -pattering of scurrying hoofs and the herd was gone; but Numa, the lion, -moved not. He was familiar with the ways of Pacco, the zebra. He knew -that he would return, though many times he might wheel and fly before -he summoned the courage to lead his harem and his offspring to the -water. There was the chance that Pacco might be frightened off -entirely. Numa had seen this happen before, and so he became almost -rigid lest he be the one to send them galloping, waterless, back to the -plain. - -Again and again came Pacco and his family, and again and again did they -turn and flee; but each time they came closer to the river, until at -last the plump stallion dipped his velvet muzzle daintily into the -water. The others, stepping warily, approached their leader. Numa -selected a sleek, fat filly and his flaming eyes burned greedily as -they feasted upon her, for Numa, the lion, loves scarce anything better -than the meat of Pacco, perhaps because Pacco is, of all the -grass-eaters, the most difficult to catch. - -Slowly the lion rose, and as he rose, a twig snapped beneath one of his -great, padded paws. Like a shot from a rifle he charged upon the filly; -but the snapped twig had been enough to startle the timorous quarry, so -that they were in instant flight simultaneously with Numa’s charge. - -The stallion was last, and with a prodigious leap, the lion catapulted -through the air to seize him; but the snapping twig had robbed Numa of -his dinner, though his mighty talons raked the zebra’s glossy rump, -leaving four crimson bars across the beautiful coat. - -It was an angry Numa that quitted the river and prowled, fierce, -dangerous, and hungry, into the jungle. Far from particular now was his -appetite. Even Dango, the hyena, would have seemed a tidbit to that -ravenous maw. And in this temper it was that the lion came upon the -tribe of Kerchak, the great ape. - -One does not look for Numa, the lion, this late in the morning. He -should be lying up asleep beside his last night’s kill by now; but Numa -had made no kill last night. He was still hunting, hungrier than ever. - -The anthropoids were idling about the clearing, the first keen desire -of the morning’s hunger having been satisfied. Numa scented them long -before he saw them. Ordinarily he would have turned away in search of -other game, for even Numa respected the mighty muscles and the sharp -fangs of the great bulls of the tribe of Kerchak, but today he kept on -steadily toward them, his bristled snout wrinkled into a savage snarl. - -Without an instant’s hesitation, Numa charged the moment he reached a -point from where the apes were visible to him. There were a dozen or -more of the hairy, manlike creatures upon the ground in a little glade. -In a tree at one side sat a brown-skinned youth. He saw Numa’s swift -charge; he saw the apes turn and flee, huge bulls trampling upon little -balus; only a single she held her ground to meet the charge, a young -she inspired by new motherhood to the great sacrifice that her balu -might escape. - -Tarzan leaped from his perch, screaming at the flying bulls beneath and -at those who squatted in the safety of surrounding trees. Had the bulls -stood their ground, Numa would not have carried through that charge -unless goaded by great rage or the gnawing pangs of starvation. Even -then he would not have come off unscathed. - -If the bulls heard, they were too slow in responding, for Numa had -seized the mother ape and dragged her into the jungle before the males -had sufficiently collected their wits and their courage to rally in -defense of their fellow. Tarzan’s angry voice aroused similar anger in -the breasts of the apes. Snarling and barking they followed Numa into -the dense labyrinth of foliage wherein he sought to hide himself from -them. The ape-man was in the lead, moving rapidly and yet with caution, -depending even more upon his ears and nose than upon his eyes for -information of the lion’s whereabouts. - -The spoor was easy to follow, for the dragged body of the victim left a -plain trail, blood-spattered and scentful. Even such dull creatures as -you or I might easily have followed it. To Tarzan and the apes of -Kerchak it was as obvious as a cement sidewalk. - -Tarzan knew that they were nearing the great cat even before he heard -an angry growl of warning just ahead. Calling to the apes to follow his -example, he swung into a tree and a moment later Numa was surrounded by -a ring of growling beasts, well out of reach of his fangs and talons -but within plain sight of him. The carnivore crouched with his -fore-quarters upon the she-ape. Tarzan could see that the latter was -already dead; but something within him made it seem quite necessary to -rescue the useless body from the clutches of the enemy and to punish -him. - -He shrieked taunts and insults at Numa, and tearing dead branches from -the tree in which he danced, hurled them at the lion. The apes followed -his example. Numa roared out in rage and vexation. He was hungry, but -under such conditions he could not feed. - -The apes, if they had been left to themselves, would doubtless soon -have left the lion to peaceful enjoyment of his feast, for was not the -she dead? They could not restore her to life by throwing sticks at -Numa, and they might even now be feeding in quiet themselves; but -Tarzan was of a different mind. Numa must be punished and driven away. -He must be taught that even though he killed a Mangani, he would not be -permitted to feed upon his kill. The man-mind looked into the future, -while the apes perceived only the immediate present. They would be -content to escape today the menace of Numa, while Tarzan saw the -necessity, and the means as well, of safeguarding the days to come. - -So he urged the great anthropoids on until Numa was showered with -missiles that kept his head dodging and his voice pealing forth its -savage protest; but still he clung desperately to his kill. - -The twigs and branches hurled at Numa, Tarzan soon realized, did not -hurt him greatly even when they struck him, and did not injure him at -all, so the ape-man looked about for more effective missiles, nor did -he have to look long. An out-cropping of decomposed granite not far -from Numa suggested ammunition of a much more painful nature. Calling -to the apes to watch him, Tarzan slipped to the ground and gathered a -handful of small fragments. He knew that when once they had seen him -carry out his idea they would be much quicker to follow his lead than -to obey his instructions, were he to command them to procure pieces of -rock and hurl them at Numa, for Tarzan was not then king of the apes of -the tribe of Kerchak. That came in later years. Now he was but a youth, -though one who already had wrested for himself a place in the councils -of the savage beasts among whom a strange fate had cast him. The sullen -bulls of the older generation still hated him as beasts hate those of -whom they are suspicious, whose scent characteristic is the scent -characteristic of an alien order and, therefore, of an enemy order. The -younger bulls, those who had grown up through childhood as his -playmates, were as accustomed to Tarzan’s scent as to that of any other -member of the tribe. They felt no greater suspicion of him than of any -other bull of their acquaintance; yet they did not love him, for they -loved none outside the mating season, and the animosities aroused by -other bulls during that season lasted well over until the next. They -were a morose and peevish band at best, though here and there were -those among them in whom germinated the primal seeds of -humanity—reversions to type, these, doubtless; reversions to the -ancient progenitor who took the first step out of ape-hood toward -humanness, when he walked more often upon his hind feet and discovered -other things for idle hands to do. - -So now Tarzan led where he could not yet command. He had long since -discovered the apish propensity for mimicry and learned to make use of -it. Having filled his arms with fragments of rotted granite, he -clambered again into a tree, and it pleased him to see that the apes -had followed his example. - -During the brief respite while they were gathering their ammunition, -Numa had settled himself to feed; but scarce had he arranged himself -and his kill when a sharp piece of rock hurled by the practiced hand of -the ape-man struck him upon the cheek. His sudden roar of pain and rage -was smothered by a volley from the apes, who had seen Tarzan’s act. -Numa shook his massive head and glared upward at his tormentors. For a -half hour they pursued him with rocks and broken branches, and though -he dragged his kill into densest thickets, yet they always found a way -to reach him with their missiles, giving him no opportunity to feed, -and driving him on and on. - -The hairless ape-thing with the man scent was worst of all, for he had -even the temerity to advance upon the ground to within a few yards of -the Lord of the Jungle, that he might with greater accuracy and force -hurl the sharp bits of granite and the heavy sticks at him. Time and -again did Numa charge—sudden, vicious charges—but the lithe, active -tormentor always managed to elude him and with such insolent ease that -the lion forgot even his great hunger in the consuming passion of his -rage, leaving his meat for considerable spaces of time in vain efforts -to catch his enemy. - -The apes and Tarzan pursued the great beast to a natural clearing, -where Numa evidently determined to make a last stand, taking up his -position in the center of the open space, which was far enough from any -tree to render him practically immune from the rather erratic throwing -of the apes, though Tarzan still found him with most persistent and -aggravating frequency. - -This, however, did not suit the ape-man, since Numa now suffered an -occasional missile with no more than a snarl, while he settled himself -to partake of his delayed feast. Tarzan scratched his head, pondering -some more effective method of offense, for he had determined to prevent -Numa from profiting in any way through his attack upon the tribe. The -man-mind reasoned against the future, while the shaggy apes thought -only of their present hatred of this ancestral enemy. Tarzan guessed -that should Numa find it an easy thing to snatch a meal from the tribe -of Kerchak, it would be but a short time before their existence would -be one living nightmare of hideous watchfulness and dread. Numa must be -taught that the killing of an ape brought immediate punishment and no -rewards. It would take but a few lessons to insure the former safety of -the tribe. This must be some old lion whose failing strength and -agility had forced him to any prey that he could catch; but even a -single lion, undisputed, could exterminate the tribe, or at least make -its existence so precarious and so terrifying that life would no longer -be a pleasant condition. - -“Let him hunt among the Gomangani,” thought Tarzan. “He will find them -easier prey. I will teach ferocious Numa that he may not hunt the -Mangani.” - -But how to wrest the body of his victim from the feeding lion was the -first question to be solved. At last Tarzan hit upon a plan. To anyone -but Tarzan of the Apes it might have seemed rather a risky plan, and -perhaps it did even to him; but Tarzan rather liked things that -contained a considerable element of danger. At any rate, I rather doubt -that you or I would have chosen a similar plan for foiling an angry and -a hungry lion. - -Tarzan required assistance in the scheme he had hit upon and his -assistant must be equally as brave and almost as active as he. The -ape-man’s eyes fell upon Taug, the playmate of his childhood, the rival -in his first love and now, of all the bulls of the tribe, the only one -that might be thought to hold in his savage brain any such feeling -toward Tarzan as we describe among ourselves as friendship. At least, -Tarzan knew, Taug was courageous, and he was young and agile and -wonderfully muscled. - -“Taug!” cried the ape-man. The great ape looked up from a dead limb he -was attempting to tear from a lightning-blasted tree. “Go close to Numa -and worry him,” said Tarzan. “Worry him until he charges. Lead him away -from the body of Mamka. Keep him away as long as you can.” - -Taug nodded. He was across the clearing from Tarzan. Wresting the limb -at last from the tree he dropped to the ground and advanced toward -Numa, growling and barking out his insults. The worried lion looked up -and rose to his feet. His tail went stiffly erect and Taug turned in -flight, for he knew that warming signal of the charge. - -From behind the lion, Tarzan ran quickly toward the center of the -clearing and the body of Mamka. Numa, all his eyes for Taug, did not -see the ape-man. Instead he shot forward after the fleeing bull, who -had turned in flight not an instant too soon, since he reached the -nearest tree but a yard or two ahead of the pursuing demon. Like a cat -the heavy anthropoid scampered up the bole of his sanctuary. Numa’s -talons missed him by little more than inches. - -For a moment the lion paused beneath the tree, glaring up at the ape -and roaring until the earth trembled, then he turned back again toward -his kill, and as he did so, his tail shot once more to rigid erectness -and he charged back even more ferociously than he had come, for what he -saw was the naked man-thing running toward the farther trees with the -bloody carcass of his prey across a giant shoulder. - -The apes, watching the grim race from the safety of the trees, screamed -taunts at Numa and warnings to Tarzan. The high sun, hot and brilliant, -fell like a spotlight upon the actors in the little clearing, -portraying them in glaring relief to the audience in the leafy shadows -of the surrounding trees. The light-brown body of the naked youth, all -but hidden by the shaggy carcass of the killed ape, the red blood -streaking his smooth hide, his muscles rolling, velvety, beneath. -Behind him the black-maned lion, head flattened, tail extended, racing, -a jungle thoroughbred, across the sunlit clearing. - -Ah, but this was life! With death at his heels, Tarzan thrilled with -the joy of such living as this; but would he reach the trees ahead of -the rampant death so close behind? - -Gunto swung from a limb in a tree before him. Gunto was screaming -warnings and advice. - -“Catch me!” cried Tarzan, and with his heavy burden leaped straight for -the big bull hanging there by his hind feet and one forepaw. And Gunto -caught them—the big ape-man and the dead weight of the slain -she-ape—caught them with one great, hairy paw and whirled them upward -until Tarzan’s fingers closed upon a near-by branch. - -Beneath, Numa leaped; but Gunto, heavy and awkward as he may have -appeared, was as quick as Manu, the monkey, so that the lion’s talons -but barely grazed him, scratching a bloody streak beneath one hairy -arm. - -Tarzan carried Mamka’s corpse to a high crotch, where even Sheeta, the -panther, could not get it. Numa paced angrily back and forth beneath -the tree, roaring frightfully. He had been robbed of his kill and his -revenge also. He was very savage indeed; but his despoilers were well -out of his reach, and after hurling a few taunts and missiles at him -they swung away through the trees, fiercely reviling him. - -Tarzan thought much upon the little adventure of that day. He foresaw -what might happen should the great carnivora of the jungle turn their -serious attention upon the tribe of Kerchak, the great ape, but equally -he thought upon the wild scramble of the apes for safety when Numa -first charged among them. There is little humor in the jungle that is -not grim and awful. The beasts have little or no conception of humor; -but the young Englishman saw humor in many things which presented no -humorous angle to his associates. - -Since earliest childhood he had been a searcher after fun, much to the -sorrow of his fellow-apes, and now he saw the humor of the frightened -panic of the apes and the baffled rage of Numa even in this grim jungle -adventure which had robbed Mamka of life, and jeopardized that of many -members of the tribe. - -It was but a few weeks later that Sheeta, the panther, made a sudden -rush among the tribe and snatched a little balu from a tree where it -had been hidden while its mother sought food. Sheeta got away with his -small prize unmolested. Tarzan was very wroth. He spoke to the bulls of -the ease with which Numa and Sheeta, in a single moon, had slain two -members of the tribe. - -“They will take us all for food,” he cried. “We hunt as we will through -the jungle, paying no heed to approaching enemies. Even Manu, the -monkey, does not so. He keeps two or three always watching for enemies. -Pacco, the zebra, and Wappi, the antelope, have those about the herd -who keep watch while the others feed, while we, the great Mangani, let -Numa, and Sabor, and Sheeta come when they will and carry us off to -feed their balus. - -“Gr-r-rmph,” said Numgo. - -“What are we to do?” asked Taug. - -“We, too, should have two or three always watching for the approach of -Numa, and Sabor, and Sheeta,” replied Tarzan. “No others need we fear, -except Histah, the snake, and if we watch for the others we will see -Histah if he comes, though gliding ever so silently.” - -And so it was that the great apes of the tribe of Kerchak posted -sentries thereafter, who watched upon three sides while the tribe -hunted, scattered less than had been their wont. - -But Tarzan went abroad alone, for Tarzan was a man-thing and sought -amusement and adventure and such humor as the grim and terrible jungle -offers to those who know it and do not fear it—a weird humor shot with -blazing eyes and dappled with the crimson of lifeblood. While others -sought only food and love, Tarzan of the Apes sought food and joy. - -One day he hovered above the palisaded village of Mbonga, the chief, -the jet cannibal of the jungle primeval. He saw, as he had seen many -times before, the witch-doctor, Rabba Kega, decked out in the head and -hide of Gorgo, the buffalo. It amused Tarzan to see a Gomangani -parading as Gorgo; but it suggested nothing in particular to him until -he chanced to see stretched against the side of Mbonga’s hut the skin -of a lion with the head still on. Then a broad grin widened the -handsome face of the savage beast-youth. - -Back into the jungle he went until chance, agility, strength, and -cunning backed by his marvelous powers of perception, gave him an easy -meal. If Tarzan felt that the world owed him a living he also realized -that it was for him to collect it, nor was there ever a better -collector than this son of an English lord, who knew even less of the -ways of his forbears than he did of the forbears themselves, which was -nothing. - -It was quite dark when Tarzan returned to the village of Mbonga and -took his now polished perch in the tree which overhangs the palisade -upon one side of the walled enclosure. As there was nothing in -particular to feast upon in the village there was little life in the -single street, for only an orgy of flesh and native beer could draw out -the people of Mbonga. Tonight they sat gossiping about their cooking -fires, the older members of the tribe; or, if they were young, paired -off in the shadows cast by the palm-thatched huts. - -Tarzan dropped lightly into the village, and sneaking stealthily in the -concealment of the denser shadows, approached the hut of the chief, -Mbonga. Here he found that which he sought. There were warriors all -about him; but they did not know that the feared devil-god slunk -noiselessly so near them, nor did they see him possess himself of that -which he coveted and depart from their village as noiselessly as he had -come. - -Later that night, as Tarzan curled himself for sleep, he lay for a long -time looking up at the burning planets and the twinkling stars and at -Goro the moon, and he smiled. He recalled how ludicrous the great bulls -had appeared in their mad scramble for safety that day when Numa had -charged among them and seized Mamka, and yet he knew them to be fierce -and courageous. It was the sudden shock of surprise that always sent -them into a panic; but of this Tarzan was not as yet fully aware. That -was something he was to learn in the near future. - -He fell asleep with a broad grin upon his face. - -Manu, the monkey, awoke him in the morning by dropping discarded bean -pods upon his upturned face from a branch a short distance above him. -Tarzan looked up and smiled. He had been awakened thus before many -times. He and Manu were fairly good friends, their friendship operating -upon a reciprocal basis. Sometimes Manu would come running early in the -morning to awaken Tarzan and tell him that Bara, the deer, was feeding -close at hand, or that Horta, the boar, was asleep in a mudhole hard -by, and in return Tarzan broke open the shells of the harder nuts and -fruits for Manu, or frightened away Histah, the snake, and Sheeta, the -panther. - -The sun had been up for some time, and the tribe had already wandered -off in search of food. Manu indicated the direction they had taken with -a wave of his hand and a few piping notes of his squeaky little voice. - -“Come, Manu,” said Tarzan, “and you will see that which shall make you -dance for joy and squeal your wrinkled little head off. Come, follow -Tarzan of the Apes.” - -With that he set off in the direction Manu had indicated and above him, -chattering, scolding and squealing, skipped Manu, the monkey. Across -Tarzan’s shoulders was the thing he had stolen from the village of -Mbonga, the chief, the evening before. - -The tribe was feeding in the forest beside the clearing where Gunto, -and Taug, and Tarzan had so harassed Numa and finally taken away from -him the fruit of his kill. Some of them were in the clearing itself. In -peace and content they fed, for were there not three sentries, each -watching upon a different side of the herd? Tarzan had taught them -this, and though he had been away for several days hunting alone, as he -often did, or visiting at the cabin by the sea, they had not as yet -forgotten his admonitions, and if they continued for a short time -longer to post sentries, it would become a habit of their tribal life -and thus be perpetuated indefinitely. - -But Tarzan, who knew them better than they knew themselves, was -confident that they had ceased to place the watchers about them the -moment that he had left them, and now he planned not only to have a -little fun at their expense but to teach them a lesson in preparedness, -which, by the way, is even a more vital issue in the jungle than in -civilized places. That you and I exist today must be due to the -preparedness of some shaggy anthropoid of the Oligocene. Of course the -apes of Kerchak were always prepared, after their own way—Tarzan had -merely suggested a new and additional safeguard. - -Gunto was posted today to the north of the clearing. He squatted in the -fork of a tree from where he might view the jungle for quite a distance -about him. It was he who first discovered the enemy. A rustling in the -undergrowth attracted his attention, and a moment later he had a -partial view of a shaggy mane and tawny yellow back. Just a glimpse it -was through the matted foliage beneath him; but it brought from Gunto’s -leathern lungs a shrill “Kreeg-ah!” which is the ape for beware, or -danger. - -Instantly the tribe took up the cry until “Kreeg-ahs!” rang through the -jungle about the clearing as apes swung quickly to places of safety -among the lower branches of the trees and the great bulls hastened in -the direction of Gunto. - -And then into the clearing strode Numa, the lion—majestic and mighty, -and from a deep chest issued the moan and the cough and the rumbling -roar that set stiff hairs to bristling from shaggy craniums down the -length of mighty spines. - -Inside the clearing, Numa paused and on the instant there fell upon him -from the trees near by a shower of broken rock and dead limbs torn from -age-old trees. A dozen times he was hit, and then the apes ran down and -gathered other rocks, pelting him unmercifully. - -Numa turned to flee, but his way was barred by a fusilade of -sharp-cornered missiles, and then, upon the edge of the clearing, great -Taug met him with a huge fragment of rock as large as a man’s head, and -down went the Lord of the Jungle beneath the stunning blow. - -With shrieks and roars and loud barkings the great apes of the tribe of -Kerchak rushed upon the fallen lion. Sticks and stones and yellow fangs -menaced the still form. In another moment, before he could regain -consciousness, Numa would be battered and torn until only a bloody mass -of broken bones and matted hair remained of what had once been the most -dreaded of jungle creatures. - -But even as the sticks and stones were raised above him and the great -fangs bared to tear him, there descended like a plummet from the trees -above a diminutive figure with long, white whiskers and a wrinkled -face. Square upon the body of Numa it alighted and there it danced and -screamed and shrieked out its challenge against the bulls of Kerchak. - -For an instant they paused, paralyzed by the wonder of the thing. It -was Manu, the monkey, Manu, the little coward, and here he was daring -the ferocity of the great Mangani, hopping about upon the carcass of -Numa, the lion, and crying out that they must not strike it again. - -And when the bulls paused, Manu reached down and seized a tawny ear. -With all his little might he tugged upon the heavy head until slowly it -turned back, revealing the tousled, black head and clean-cut profile of -Tarzan of the Apes. - -Some of the older apes were for finishing what they had commenced; but -Taug, sullen, mighty Taug, sprang quickly to the ape-man’s side and -straddling the unconscious form warned back those who would have struck -his childhood playmate. And Teeka, his mate, came too, taking her place -with bared fangs at Taug’s side. Others followed their example, until -at last Tarzan was surrounded by a ring of hairy champions who would -permit no enemy to approach him. - -It was a surprised and chastened Tarzan who opened his eyes to -consciousness a few minutes later. He looked about him at the -surrounding apes and slowly there returned to him a realization of what -had occurred. - -Gradually a broad grin illuminated his features. His bruises were many -and they hurt; but the good that had come from his adventure was worth -all that it had cost. He had learned, for instance, that the apes of -Kerchak had heeded his teaching, and he had learned that he had good -friends among the sullen beasts whom he had thought without sentiment. -He had discovered that Manu, the monkey—even little, cowardly Manu—had -risked his life in his defense. - -It made Tarzan very glad to know these things; but at the other lesson -he had been taught he reddened. He had always been a joker, the only -joker in the grim and terrible company; but now as he lay there half -dead from his hurts, he almost swore a solemn oath forever to forego -practical joking—almost; but not quite. - - - - -CHAPTER IX -The Nightmare - - -The blacks of the village of Mbonga, the chief, were feasting, while -above them in a large tree sat Tarzan of the Apes—grim, terrible, -empty, and envious. Hunting had proved poor that day, for there are -lean days as well as fat ones for even the greatest of the jungle -hunters. Oftentimes Tarzan went empty for more than a full sun, and he -had passed through entire moons during which he had been but barely -able to stave off starvation; but such times were infrequent. - -There once had been a period of sickness among the grass-eaters which -had left the plains almost bare of game for several years, and again -the great cats had increased so rapidly and so overrun the country that -their prey, which was also Tarzan’s, had been frightened off for a -considerable time. - -But for the most part Tarzan had fed well always. Today, though, he had -gone empty, one misfortune following another as rapidly as he raised -new quarry, so that now, as he sat perched in the tree above the -feasting blacks, he experienced all the pangs of famine and his hatred -for his lifelong enemies waxed strong in his breast. It was -tantalizing, indeed, to sit there hungry while these Gomangani filled -themselves so full of food that their stomachs seemed almost upon the -point of bursting, and with elephant steaks at that! - -It was true that Tarzan and Tantor were the best of friends, and that -Tarzan never yet had tasted of the flesh of the elephant; but the -Gomangani evidently had slain one, and as they were eating of the flesh -of their kill, Tarzan was assailed by no doubts as to the ethics of his -doing likewise, should he have the opportunity. Had he known that the -elephant had died of sickness several days before the blacks discovered -the carcass, he might not have been so keen to partake of the feast, -for Tarzan of the Apes was no carrion-eater. Hunger, however, may blunt -the most epicurean taste, and Tarzan was not exactly an epicure. - -What he was at this moment was a very hungry wild beast whom caution -was holding in leash, for the great cooking pot in the center of the -village was surrounded by black warriors, through whom not even Tarzan -of the Apes might hope to pass unharmed. It would be necessary, -therefore, for the watcher to remain there hungry until the blacks had -gorged themselves to stupor, and then, if they had left any scraps, to -make the best meal he could from such; but to the impatient Tarzan it -seemed that the greedy Gomangani would rather burst than leave the -feast before the last morsel had been devoured. For a time they broke -the monotony of eating by executing portions of a hunting dance, a -maneuver which sufficiently stimulated digestion to permit them to fall -to once more with renewed vigor; but with the consumption of appalling -quantities of elephant meat and native beer they presently became too -loggy for physical exertion of any sort, some reaching a stage where -they no longer could rise from the ground, but lay conveniently close -to the great cooking pot, stuffing themselves into unconsciousness. - -It was well past midnight before Tarzan even could begin to see the end -of the orgy. The blacks were now falling asleep rapidly; but a few -still persisted. From before their condition Tarzan had no doubt but -that he easily could enter the village and snatch a handful of meat -from before their noses; but a handful was not what he wanted. Nothing -less than a stomachful would allay the gnawing craving of that great -emptiness. He must therefore have ample time to forage in peace. - -At last but a single warrior remained true to his ideals—an old fellow -whose once wrinkled belly was now as smooth and as tight as the head of -a drum. With evidences of great discomfort, and even pain, he would -crawl toward the pot and drag himself slowly to his knees, from which -position he could reach into the receptacle and seize a piece of meat. -Then he would roll over on his back with a loud groan and lie there -while he slowly forced the food between his teeth and down into his -gorged stomach. - -It was evident to Tarzan that the old fellow would eat until he died, -or until there was no more meat. The ape-man shook his head in disgust. -What foul creatures were these Gomangani? Yet of all the jungle folk -they alone resembled Tarzan closely in form. Tarzan was a man, and -they, too, must be some manner of men, just as the little monkeys, and -the great apes, and Bolgani, the gorilla, were quite evidently of one -great family, though differing in size and appearance and customs. -Tarzan was ashamed, for of all the beasts of the jungle, then, man was -the most disgusting—man and Dango, the hyena. Only man and Dango ate -until they swelled up like a dead rat. Tarzan had seen Dango eat his -way into the carcass of a dead elephant and then continue to eat so -much that he had been unable to get out of the hole through which he -had entered. Now he could readily believe that man, given the -opportunity, would do the same. Man, too, was the most unlovely of -creatures—with his skinny legs and his big stomach, his filed teeth, -and his thick, red lips. Man was disgusting. Tarzan’s gaze was riveted -upon the hideous old warrior wallowing in filth beneath him. - -There! the thing was struggling to its knees to reach for another -morsel of flesh. It groaned aloud in pain and yet it persisted in -eating, eating, ever eating. Tarzan could endure it no longer—neither -his hunger nor his disgust. Silently he slipped to the ground with the -bole of the great tree between himself and the feaster. - -The man was still kneeling, bent almost double in agony, before the -cooking pot. His back was toward the ape-man. Swiftly and noiselessly -Tarzan approached him. There was no sound as steel fingers closed about -the black throat. The struggle was short, for the man was old and -already half stupefied from the effects of the gorging and the beer. - -Tarzan dropped the inert mass and scooped several large pieces of meat -from the cooking pot—enough to satisfy even his great hunger—then he -raised the body of the feaster and shoved it into the vessel. When the -other blacks awoke they would have something to think about! Tarzan -grinned. As he turned toward the tree with his meat, he picked up a -vessel containing beer and raised it to his lips, but at the first -taste he spat the stuff from his mouth and tossed the primitive tankard -aside. He was quite sure that even Dango would draw the line at such -filthy tasting drink as that, and his contempt for man increased with -the conviction. - -Tarzan swung off into the jungle some half mile or so before he paused -to partake of his stolen food. He noticed that it gave forth a strange -and unpleasant odor, but assumed that this was due to the fact that it -had stood in a vessel of water above a fire. Tarzan was, of course, -unaccustomed to cooked food. He did not like it; but he was very hungry -and had eaten a considerable portion of his haul before it was really -borne in upon him that the stuff was nauseating. It required far less -than he had imagined it would to satisfy his appetite. - -Throwing the balance to the ground he curled up in a convenient crotch -and sought slumber; but slumber seemed difficult to woo. Ordinarily -Tarzan of the Apes was asleep as quickly as a dog after it curls itself -upon a hearthrug before a roaring blaze; but tonight he squirmed and -twisted, for at the pit of his stomach was a peculiar feeling that -resembled nothing more closely than an attempt upon the part of the -fragments of elephant meat reposing there to come out into the night -and search for their elephant; but Tarzan was adamant. He gritted his -teeth and held them back. He was not to be robbed of his meal after -waiting so long to obtain it. - -He had succeeded in dozing when the roaring of a lion awoke him. He sat -up to discover that it was broad daylight. Tarzan rubbed his eyes. -Could it be that he had really slept? He did not feel particularly -refreshed as he should have after a good sleep. A noise attracted his -attention, and he looked down to see a lion standing at the foot of the -tree gazing hungrily at him. Tarzan made a face at the king of beasts, -whereat Numa, greatly to the ape-man’s surprise, started to climb up -into the branches toward him. Now, never before had Tarzan seen a lion -climb a tree, yet, for some unaccountable reason, he was not greatly -surprised that this particular lion should do so. - -As the lion climbed slowly toward him, Tarzan sought higher branches; -but to his chagrin, he discovered that it was with the utmost -difficulty that he could climb at all. Again and again he slipped back, -losing all that he had gained, while the lion kept steadily at his -climbing, coming ever closer and closer to the ape-man. Tarzan could -see the hungry light in the yellow-green eyes. He could see the slaver -on the drooping jowls, and the great fangs agape to seize and destroy -him. Clawing desperately, the ape-man at last succeeded in gaining a -little upon his pursuer. He reached the more slender branches far aloft -where he well knew no lion could follow; yet on and on came devil-faced -Numa. It was incredible; but it was true. Yet what most amazed Tarzan -was that though he realized the incredibility of it all, he at the same -time accepted it as a matter of course, first that a lion should climb -at all and second that he should enter the upper terraces where even -Sheeta, the panther, dared not venture. - -To the very top of a tall tree the ape-man clawed his awkward way and -after him came Numa, the lion, moaning dismally. At last Tarzan stood -balanced upon the very utmost pinnacle of a swaying branch, high above -the forest. He could go no farther. Below him the lion came steadily -upward, and Tarzan of the Apes realized that at last the end had come. -He could not do battle upon a tiny branch with Numa, the lion, -especially with such a Numa, to which swaying branches two hundred feet -above the ground provided as substantial footing as the ground itself. - -Nearer and nearer came the lion. Another moment and he could reach up -with one great paw and drag the ape-man downward to those awful jaws. A -whirring noise above his head caused Tarzan to glance apprehensively -upward. A great bird was circling close above him. He never had seen so -large a bird in all his life, yet he recognized it immediately, for had -he not seen it hundreds of times in one of the books in the little -cabin by the land-locked bay—the moss-grown cabin that with its -contents was the sole heritage left by his dead and unknown father to -the young Lord Greystoke? - -In the picture-book the great bird was shown flying far above the -ground with a small child in its talons while, beneath, a distracted -mother stood with uplifted hands. The lion was already reaching forth a -taloned paw to seize him when the bird swooped and buried no less -formidable talons in Tarzan’s back. The pain was numbing; but it was -with a sense of relief that the ape-man felt himself snatched from the -clutches of Numa. - -With a great whirring of wings the bird rose rapidly until the forest -lay far below. It made Tarzan sick and dizzy to look down upon it from -so great a height, so he closed his eyes tight and held his breath. -Higher and higher climbed the huge bird. Tarzan opened his eyes. The -jungle was so far away that he could see only a dim, green blur below -him, but just above and quite close was the sun. Tarzan reached out his -hands and warmed them, for they were very cold. Then a sudden madness -seized him. Where was the bird taking him? Was he to submit thus -passively to a feathered creature however enormous? Was he, Tarzan of -the Apes, mighty fighter, to die without striking a blow in his own -defense? Never! - -He snatched the hunting blade from his gee-string and thrusting upward -drove it once, twice, thrice into the breast above him. The mighty -wings fluttered a few more times, spasmodically, the talons relaxed -their hold, and Tarzan of the Apes fell hurtling downward toward the -distant jungle. - -It seemed to the ape-man that he fell for many minutes before he -crashed through the leafy verdure of the tree tops. The smaller -branches broke his fall, so that he came to rest for an instant upon -the very branch upon which he had sought slumber the previous night. -For an instant he toppled there in a frantic attempt to regain his -equilibrium; but at last he rolled off, yet, clutching wildly, he -succeeded in grasping the branch and hanging on. - -Once more he opened his eyes, which he had closed during the fall. -Again it was night. With all his old agility he clambered back to the -crotch from which he had toppled. Below him a lion roared, and, looking -downward, Tarzan could see the yellow-green eyes shining in the -moonlight as they bored hungrily upward through the darkness of the -jungle night toward him. - -The ape-man gasped for breath. Cold sweat stood out from every pore, -there was a great sickness at the pit of Tarzan’s stomach. Tarzan of -the Apes had dreamed his first dream. - -For a long time he sat watching for Numa to climb into the tree after -him, and listening for the sound of the great wings from above, for to -Tarzan of the Apes his dream was a reality. - -He could not believe what he had seen and yet, having seen even these -incredible things, he could not disbelieve the evidence of his own -perceptions. Never in all his life had Tarzan’s senses deceived him -badly, and so, naturally, he had great faith in them. Each perception -which ever had been transmitted to Tarzan’s brain had been, with -varying accuracy, a true perception. He could not conceive of the -possibility of apparently having passed through such a weird adventure -in which there was no grain of truth. That a stomach, disordered by -decayed elephant flesh, a lion roaring in the jungle, a picture-book, -and sleep could have so truly portrayed all the clear-cut details of -what he had seemingly experienced was quite beyond his knowledge; yet -he knew that Numa could not climb a tree, he knew that there existed in -the jungle no such bird as he had seen, and he knew, too, that he could -not have fallen a tiny fraction of the distance he had hurtled -downward, and lived. - -To say the least, he was a very puzzled Tarzan as he tried to compose -himself once more for slumber—a very puzzled and a very nauseated -Tarzan. - -As he thought deeply upon the strange occurrences of the night, he -witnessed another remarkable happening. It was indeed quite -preposterous, yet he saw it all with his own eyes—it was nothing less -than Histah, the snake, wreathing his sinuous and slimy way up the bole -of the tree below him—Histah, with the head of the old man Tarzan had -shoved into the cooking pot—the head and the round, tight, black, -distended stomach. As the old man’s frightful face, with upturned eyes, -set and glassy, came close to Tarzan, the jaws opened to seize him. The -ape-man struck furiously at the hideous face, and as he struck the -apparition disappeared. - -Tarzan sat straight up upon his branch trembling in every limb, -wide-eyed and panting. He looked all around him with his keen, -jungle-trained eyes, but he saw naught of the old man with the body of -Histah, the snake, but on his naked thigh the ape-man saw a -caterpillar, dropped from a branch above him. With a grimace he flicked -it off into the darkness beneath. - -And so the night wore on, dream following dream, nightmare following -nightmare, until the distracted ape-man started like a frightened deer -at the rustling of the wind in the trees about him, or leaped to his -feet as the uncanny laugh of a hyena burst suddenly upon a momentary -jungle silence. But at last the tardy morning broke and a sick and -feverish Tarzan wound sluggishly through the dank and gloomy mazes of -the forest in search of water. His whole body seemed on fire, a great -sickness surged upward to his throat. He saw a tangle of almost -impenetrable thicket, and, like the wild beast he was, he crawled into -it to die alone and unseen, safe from the attacks of predatory -carnivora. - -But he did not die. For a long time he wanted to; but presently nature -and an outraged stomach relieved themselves in their own therapeutic -manner, the ape-man broke into a violent perspiration and then fell -into a normal and untroubled sleep which persisted well into the -afternoon. When he awoke he found himself weak but no longer sick. - -Once more he sought water, and after drinking deeply, took his way -slowly toward the cabin by the sea. In times of loneliness and trouble -it had long been his custom to seek there the quiet and restfulness -which he could find nowhere else. - -As he approached the cabin and raised the crude latch which his father -had fashioned so many years before, two small, blood-shot eyes watched -him from the concealing foliage of the jungle close by. From beneath -shaggy, beetling brows they glared maliciously upon him, maliciously -and with a keen curiosity; then Tarzan entered the cabin and closed the -door after him. Here, with all the world shut out from him, he could -dream without fear of interruption. He could curl up and look at the -pictures in the strange things which were books, he could puzzle out -the printed word he had learned to read without knowledge of the spoken -language it represented, he could live in a wonderful world of which he -had no knowledge beyond the covers of his beloved books. Numa and Sabor -might prowl about close to him, the elements might rage in all their -fury; but here at least, Tarzan might be entirely off his guard in a -delightful relaxation which gave him all his faculties for the -uninterrupted pursuit of this greatest of all his pleasures. - -Today he turned to the picture of the huge bird which bore off the -little Tarmangani in its talons. Tarzan puckered his brows as he -examined the colored print. Yes, this was the very bird that had -carried him off the day before, for to Tarzan the dream had been so -great a reality that he still thought another day and a night had -passed since he had lain down in the tree to sleep. - -But the more he thought upon the matter the less positive he was as to -the verity of the seeming adventure through which he had passed, yet -where the real had ceased and the unreal commenced he was quite unable -to determine. Had he really then been to the village of the blacks at -all, had he killed the old Gomangani, had he eaten of the elephant -meat, had he been sick? Tarzan scratched his tousled black head and -wondered. It was all very strange, yet he knew that he never had seen -Numa climb a tree, or Histah with the head and belly of an old black -man whom Tarzan already had slain. - -Finally, with a sigh he gave up trying to fathom the unfathomable, yet -in his heart of hearts he knew that something had come into his life -that he never before had experienced, another life which existed when -he slept and the consciousness of which was carried over into his -waking hours. - -Then he commenced to wonder if some of these strange creatures which he -met in his sleep might not slay him, for at such times Tarzan of the -Apes seemed to be a different Tarzan, sluggish, helpless and -timid—wishing to flee his enemies as fled Bara, the deer, most fearful -of creatures. - -Thus, with a dream, came the first faint tinge of a knowledge of fear, -a knowledge which Tarzan, awake, had never experienced, and perhaps he -was experiencing what his early forbears passed through and transmitted -to posterity in the form of superstition first and religion later; for -they, as Tarzan, had seen things at night which they could not explain -by the daylight standards of sense perception or of reason, and so had -built for themselves a weird explanation which included grotesque -shapes, possessed of strange and uncanny powers, to whom they finally -came to attribute all those inexplicable phenomena of nature which with -each recurrence filled them with awe, with wonder, or with terror. - -And as Tarzan concentrated his mind on the little bugs upon the printed -page before him, the active recollection of the strange adventures -presently merged into the text of that which he was reading—a story of -Bolgani, the gorilla, in captivity. There was a more or less lifelike -illustration of Bolgani in colors and in a cage, with many remarkable -looking Tarmangani standing against a rail and peering curiously at the -snarling brute. Tarzan wondered not a little, as he always did, at the -odd and seemingly useless array of colored plumage which covered the -bodies of the Tarmangani. It always caused him to grin a trifle when he -looked at these strange creatures. He wondered if they so covered their -bodies from shame of their hairlessness or because they thought the odd -things they wore added any to the beauty of their appearance. -Particularly was Tarzan amused by the grotesque headdresses of the -pictured people. He wondered how some of the shes succeeded in -balancing theirs in an upright position, and he came as near to -laughing aloud as he ever had, as he contemplated the funny little -round things upon the heads of the hes. - -Slowly the ape-man picked out the meaning of the various combinations -of letters on the printed page, and as he read, the little bugs, for as -such he always thought of the letters, commenced to run about in a most -confusing manner, blurring his vision and befuddling his thoughts. -Twice he brushed the back of a hand smartly across his eyes; but only -for a moment could he bring the bugs back to coherent and intelligible -form. He had slept ill the night before and now he was exhausted from -loss of sleep, from sickness, and from the slight fever he had had, so -that it became more and more difficult to fix his attention, or to keep -his eyes open. - -Tarzan realized that he was falling asleep, and just as the realization -was borne in upon him and he had decided to relinquish himself to an -inclination which had assumed almost the proportions of a physical -pain, he was aroused by the opening of the cabin door. Turning quickly -toward the interruption Tarzan was amazed, for a moment, to see bulking -large in the doorway the huge and hairy form of Bolgani, the gorilla. - -Now there was scarcely a denizen of the great jungle with whom Tarzan -would rather not have been cooped up inside the small cabin than -Bolgani, the gorilla, yet he felt no fear, even though his quick eye -noted that Bolgani was in the throes of that jungle madness which -seizes upon so many of the fiercer males. Ordinarily the huge gorillas -avoid conflict, hide themselves from the other jungle folk, and are -generally the best of neighbors; but when they are attacked, or the -madness seizes them, there is no jungle denizen so bold and fierce as -to deliberately seek a quarrel with them. - -But for Tarzan there was no escape. Bolgani was glowering at him from -red-rimmed, wicked eyes. In a moment he would rush in and seize the -ape-man. Tarzan reached for the hunting knife where he had lain it on -the table beside him; but as his fingers did not immediately locate the -weapon, he turned a quick glance in search of it. As he did so his eyes -fell upon the book he had been looking at which still lay open at the -picture of Bolgani. Tarzan found his knife, but he merely fingered it -idly and grinned in the direction of the advancing gorilla. - -Not again would he be fooled by empty things which came while he slept! -In a moment, no doubt, Bolgani would turn into Pamba, the rat, with the -head of Tantor, the elephant. Tarzan had seen enough of such strange -happenings recently to have some idea as to what he might expect; but -this time Bolgani did not alter his form as he came slowly toward the -young ape-man. - -Tarzan was a bit puzzled, too, that he felt no desire to rush -frantically to some place of safety, as had been the sensation most -conspicuous in the other of his new and remarkable adventures. He was -just himself now, ready to fight, if necessary; but still sure that no -flesh and blood gorilla stood before him. - -The thing should be fading away into thin air by now, thought Tarzan, -or changing into something else; yet it did not. Instead it loomed -clear-cut and real as Bolgani himself, the magnificent dark coat -glistening with life and health in a bar of sunlight which shot across -the cabin through the high window behind the young Lord Greystoke. This -was quite the most realistic of his sleep adventures, thought Tarzan, -as he passively awaited the next amusing incident. - -And then the gorilla charged. Two mighty, calloused hands seized upon -the ape-man, great fangs were bared close to his face, a hideous growl -burst from the cavernous throat and hot breath fanned Tarzan’s cheek, -and still he sat grinning at the apparition. Tarzan might be fooled -once or twice, but not for so many times in succession! He knew that -this Bolgani was no real Bolgani, for had he been he never could have -gained entrance to the cabin, since only Tarzan knew how to operate the -latch. - -The gorilla seemed puzzled by the strange passivity of the hairless -ape. He paused an instant with his jaws snarling close to the other’s -throat, then he seemed suddenly to come to some decision. Whirling the -ape-man across a hairy shoulder, as easily as you or I might lift a -babe in arms, Bolgani turned and dashed out into the open, racing -toward the great trees. - -Now, indeed, was Tarzan sure that this was a sleep adventure, and so -grinned largely as the giant gorilla bore him, unresisting, away. -Presently, reasoned Tarzan, he would awaken and find himself back in -the cabin where he had fallen asleep. He glanced back at the thought -and saw the cabin door standing wide open. This would never do! Always -had he been careful to close and latch it against wild intruders. Manu, -the monkey, would make sad havoc there among Tarzan’s treasures should -he have access to the interior for even a few minutes. The question -which arose in Tarzan’s mind was a baffling one. Where did sleep -adventures end and reality commence? How was he to be sure that the -cabin door was not really open? Everything about him appeared quite -normal—there were none of the grotesque exaggerations of his former -sleep adventures. It would be better then to be upon the safe side and -make sure that the cabin door was closed—it would do no harm even if -all that seemed to be happening were not happening at all. - -Tarzan essayed to slip from Bolgani’s shoulder; but the great beast -only growled ominously and gripped him tighter. With a mighty effort -the ape-man wrenched himself loose, and as he slid to the ground, the -dream gorilla turned ferociously upon him, seized him once more and -buried great fangs in a sleek, brown shoulder. - -The grin of derision faded from Tarzan’s lips as the pain and the hot -blood aroused his fighting instincts. Asleep or awake, this thing was -no longer a joke! Biting, tearing, and snarling, the two rolled over -upon the ground. The gorilla now was frantic with insane rage. Again -and again he loosed his hold upon the ape-man’s shoulder in an attempt -to seize the jugular; but Tarzan of the Apes had fought before with -creatures who struck first for the vital vein, and each time he -wriggled out of harm’s way as he strove to get his fingers upon his -adversary’s throat. At last he succeeded—his great muscles tensed and -knotted beneath his smooth hide as he forced with every ounce of his -mighty strength to push the hairy torso from him. And as he choked -Bolgani and strained him away, his other hand crept slowly upward -between them until the point of the hunting knife rested over the -savage heart—there was a quick movement of the steel-thewed wrist and -the blade plunged to its goal. - -Bolgani, the gorilla, voiced a single frightful shriek, tore himself -loose from the grasp of the ape-man, rose to his feet, staggered a few -steps and then plunged to earth. There were a few spasmodic movements -of the limbs and the brute was still. - -Tarzan of the Apes stood looking down upon his kill, and as he stood -there he ran his fingers through his thick, black shock of hair. -Presently he stooped and touched the dead body. Some of the red -life-blood of the gorilla crimsoned his fingers. He raised them to his -nose and sniffed. Then he shook his head and turned toward the cabin. -The door was still open. He closed it and fastened the latch. Returning -toward the body of his kill he again paused and scratched his head. - -If this was a sleep adventure, what then was reality? How was he to -know the one from the other? How much of all that had happened in his -life had been real and how much unreal? - -He placed a foot upon the prostrate form and raising his face to the -heavens gave voice to the kill cry of the bull ape. Far in the distance -a lion answered. It was very real and, yet, he did not know. Puzzled, -he turned away into the jungle. - -No, he did not know what was real and what was not; but there was one -thing that he did know—never again would he eat of the flesh of Tantor, -the elephant. - - - - -CHAPTER X -The Battle for Teeka - - -The day was perfect. A cool breeze tempered the heat of the equatorial -sun. Peace had reigned within the tribe for weeks and no alien enemy -had trespassed upon its preserves from without. To the ape-mind all -this was sufficient evidence that the future would be identical with -the immediate past—that Utopia would persist. - -The sentinels, now from habit become a fixed tribal custom, either -relaxed their vigilance or entirely deserted their posts, as the whim -seized them. The tribe was far scattered in search of food. Thus may -peace and prosperity undermine the safety of the most primitive -community even as it does that of the most cultured. - -Even the individuals became less watchful and alert, so that one might -have thought Numa and Sabor and Sheeta entirely deleted from the scheme -of things. The shes and the balus roamed unguarded through the sullen -jungle, while the greedy males foraged far afield, and thus it was that -Teeka and Gazan, her balu, hunted upon the extreme southern edge of the -tribe with no great male near them. - -Still farther south there moved through the forest a sinister figure—a -huge bull ape, maddened by solitude and defeat. A week before he had -contended for the kingship of a tribe far distant, and now battered, -and still sore, he roamed the wilderness an outcast. Later he might -return to his own tribe and submit to the will of the hairy brute he -had attempted to dethrone; but for the time being he dared not do so, -since he had sought not only the crown but the wives, as well, of his -lord and master. It would require an entire moon at least to bring -forgetfulness to him he had wronged, and so Toog wandered a strange -jungle, grim, terrible, hate-filled. - -It was in this mental state that Toog came unexpectedly upon a young -she feeding alone in the jungle—a stranger she, lithe and strong and -beautiful beyond compare. Toog caught his breath and slunk quickly to -one side of the trail where the dense foliage of the tropical -underbrush concealed him from Teeka while permitting him to feast his -eyes upon her loveliness. - -But not alone were they concerned with Teeka—they roved the surrounding -jungle in search of the bulls and cows and balus of her tribe, though -principally for the bulls. When one covets a she of an alien tribe one -must take into consideration the great, fierce, hairy guardians who -seldom wander far from their wards and who will fight a stranger to the -death in protection of the mate or offspring of a fellow, precisely as -they would fight for their own. - -Toog could see no sign of any ape other than the strange she and a -young balu playing near by. His wicked, blood-shot eyes half closed as -they rested upon the charms of the former—as for the balu, one snap of -those great jaws upon the back of its little neck would prevent it from -raising any unnecessary alarm. - -Toog was a fine, big male, resembling in many ways Teeka’s mate, Taug. -Each was in his prime, and each was wonderfully muscled, perfectly -fanged and as horrifyingly ferocious as the most exacting and -particular she could wish. Had Toog been of her own tribe, Teeka might -as readily have yielded to him as to Taug when her mating time arrived; -but now she was Taug’s and no other male could claim her without first -defeating Taug in personal combat. And even then Teeka retained some -rights in the matter. If she did not favor a correspondent, she could -enter the lists with her rightful mate and do her part toward -discouraging his advances, a part, too, which would prove no mean -assistance to her lord and master, for Teeka, even though her fangs -were smaller than a male’s, could use them to excellent effect. - -Just now Teeka was occupied in a fascinating search for beetles, to the -exclusion of all else. She did not realize how far she and Gazan had -become separated from the balance of the tribe, nor were her defensive -senses upon the alert as they should have been. Months of immunity from -danger under the protecting watchfulness of the sentries, which Tarzan -had taught the tribe to post, had lulled them all into a sense of -peaceful security based on that fallacy which has wrecked many -enlightened communities in the past and will continue to wreck others -in the future—that because they have not been attacked they never will -be. - -Toog, having satisfied himself that only the she and her balu were in -the immediate vicinity, crept stealthily forward. Teeka’s back was -toward him when he finally rushed upon her; but her senses were at last -awakened to the presence of danger and she wheeled to face the strange -bull just before he reached her. Toog halted a few paces from her. His -anger had fled before the seductive feminine charms of the stranger. He -made conciliatory noises—a species of clucking sound with his broad, -flat lips—that were, too, not greatly dissimilar to that which might be -produced in an osculatory solo. - -But Teeka only bared her fangs and growled. Little Gazan started to run -toward his mother, but she warned him away with a quick “Kreeg-ah!” -telling him to run high into a tall tree. Evidently Teeka was not -favorably impressed by her new suitor. Toog realized this and altered -his methods accordingly. He swelled his giant chest, beat upon it with -his calloused knuckles and swaggered to and fro before her. - -“I am Toog,” he boasted. “Look at my fighting fangs. Look at my great -arms and my mighty legs. With one bite I can slay your biggest bull. -Alone have I slain Sheeta. I am Toog. Toog wants you.” Then he waited -for the effect, nor did he have long to wait. Teeka turned with a -swiftness which belied her great weight and bolted in the opposite -direction. Toog, with an angry growl, leaped in pursuit; but the -smaller, lighter female was too fleet for him. He chased her for a few -yards and then, foaming and barking, he halted and beat upon the ground -with his hard fists. - -From the tree above him little Gazan looked down and witnessed the -stranger bull’s discomfiture. Being young, and thinking himself safe -above the reach of the heavy male, Gazan screamed an ill-timed insult -at their tormentor. Toog looked up. Teeka had halted at a little -distance—she would not go far from her balu; that Toog quickly realized -and as quickly determined to take advantage of. He saw that the tree in -which the young ape squatted was isolated and that Gazan could not -reach another without coming to earth. He would obtain the mother -through her love for her young. - -He swung himself into the lower branches of the tree. Little Gazan -ceased to insult him; his expression of deviltry changed to one of -apprehension, which was quickly followed by fear as Toog commenced to -ascend toward him. Teeka screamed to Gazan to climb higher, and the -little fellow scampered upward among the tiny branches which would not -support the weight of the great bull; but nevertheless Toog kept on -climbing. Teeka was not fearful. She knew that he could not ascend far -enough to reach Gazan, so she sat at a little distance from the tree -and applied jungle opprobrium to him. Being a female, she was a past -master of the art. - -But she did not know the malevolent cunning of Toog’s little brain. She -took it for granted that the bull would climb as high as he could -toward Gazan and then, finding that he could not reach him, resume his -pursuit of her, which she knew would prove equally fruitless. So sure -was she of the safety of her balu and her own ability to take care of -herself that she did not voice the cry for help which would soon have -brought the other members of the tribe flocking to her side. - -Toog slowly reached the limit to which he dared risk his great weight -to the slender branches. Gazan was still fifteen feet above him. The -bull braced himself and seized the main branch in his powerful hands, -then he commenced shaking it vigorously. Teeka was appalled. Instantly -she realized what the bull purposed. Gazan clung far out upon a swaying -limb. At the first shake he lost his balance, though he did not quite -fall, clinging still with his four hands; but Toog redoubled his -efforts; the shaking produced a violent snapping of the limb to which -the young ape clung. Teeka saw all too plainly what the outcome must be -and forgetting her own danger in the depth of her mother love, rushed -forward to ascend the tree and give battle to the fearsome creature -that menaced the life of her little one. - -But before ever she reached the bole, Toog had succeeded, by violent -shaking of the branch, to loosen Gazan’s hold. With a cry the little -fellow plunged down through the foliage, clutching futilely for a new -hold, and alighted with a sickening thud at his mother’s feet, where he -lay silent and motionless. Moaning, Teeka stooped to lift the still -form in her arms; but at the same instant Toog was upon her. - -Struggling and biting she fought to free herself; but the giant muscles -of the great bull were too much for her lesser strength. Toog struck -and choked her repeatedly until finally, half unconscious, she lapsed -into quasi submission. Then the bull lifted her to his shoulder and -turned back to the trail toward the south from whence he had come. - -Upon the ground lay the quiet form of little Gazan. He did not moan. He -did not move. The sun rose slowly toward meridian. A mangy thing, -lifting its nose to scent the jungle breeze, crept through the -underbrush. It was Dango, the hyena. Presently its ugly muzzle broke -through some near-by foliage and its cruel eyes fastened upon Gazan. - -Early that morning, Tarzan of the Apes had gone to the cabin by the -sea, where he passed many an hour at such times as the tribe was -ranging in the vicinity. On the floor lay the skeleton of a man—all -that remained of the former Lord Greystoke—lay as it had fallen some -twenty years before when Kerchak, the great ape, had thrown it, -lifeless, there. Long since had the termites and the small rodents -picked clean the sturdy English bones. For years Tarzan had seen it -lying there, giving it no more attention than he gave the countless -thousand bones that strewed his jungle haunts. On the bed another, -smaller, skeleton reposed and the youth ignored it as he ignored the -other. How could he know that the one had been his father, the other -his mother? The little pile of bones in the rude cradle, fashioned with -such loving care by the former Lord Greystoke, meant nothing to -him—that one day that little skull was to help prove his right to a -proud title was as far beyond his ken as the satellites of the suns of -Orion. To Tarzan they were bones—just bones. He did not need them, for -there was no meat left upon them, and they were not in his way, for he -knew no necessity for a bed, and the skeleton upon the floor he easily -could step over. - -Today he was restless. He turned the pages first of one book and then -of another. He glanced at pictures which he knew by heart, and tossed -the books aside. He rummaged for the thousandth time in the cupboard. -He took out a bag which contained several small, round pieces of metal. -He had played with them many times in the years gone by; but always he -replaced them carefully in the bag, and the bag in the cupboard, upon -the very shelf where first he had discovered it. In strange ways did -heredity manifest itself in the ape-man. Come of an orderly race, he -himself was orderly without knowing why. The apes dropped things -wherever their interest in them waned—in the tall grass or from the -high-flung branches of the trees. What they dropped they sometimes -found again, by accident; but not so the ways of Tarzan. For his few -belongings he had a place and scrupulously he returned each thing to -its proper place when he was done with it. The round pieces of metal in -the little bag always interested him. Raised pictures were upon either -side, the meaning of which he did not quite understand. The pieces were -bright and shiny. It amused him to arrange them in various figures upon -the table. Hundreds of times had he played thus. Today, while so -engaged, he dropped a lovely yellow piece—an English sovereign—which -rolled beneath the bed where lay all that was mortal of the once -beautiful Lady Alice. - -True to form, Tarzan at once dropped to his hands and knees and -searched beneath the bed for the lost gold piece. Strange as it might -appear, he had never before looked beneath the bed. He found the gold -piece, and something else he found, too—a small wooden box with a loose -cover. Bringing them both out he returned the sovereign to its bag and -the bag to its shelf within the cupboard; then he investigated the box. -It contained a quantity of cylindrical bits of metal, cone-shaped at -one end and flat at the other, with a projecting rim. They were all -quite green and dull, coated with years of verdigris. - -Tarzan removed a handful of them from the box and examined them. He -rubbed one upon another and discovered that the green came off, leaving -a shiny surface for two-thirds of their length and a dull gray over the -cone-shaped end. Finding a bit of wood he rubbed one of the cylinders -rapidly and was rewarded by a lustrous sheen which pleased him. - -At his side hung a pocket pouch taken from the body of one of the -numerous black warriors he had slain. Into this pouch he put a handful -of the new playthings, thinking to polish them at his leisure; then he -replaced the box beneath the bed, and finding nothing more to amuse -him, left the cabin and started back in the direction of the tribe. - -Shortly before he reached them he heard a great commotion ahead of -him—the loud screams of shes and balus, the savage, angry barking and -growling of the great bulls. Instantly he increased his speed, for the -“Kreeg-ahs” that came to his ears warned him that something was amiss -with his fellows. - -While Tarzan had been occupied with his own devices in the cabin of his -dead sire, Taug, Teeka’s mighty mate, had been hunting a mile to the -north of the tribe. At last, his belly filled, he had turned lazily -back toward the clearing where he had last seen the tribe and presently -commenced passing its members scattered alone or in twos or threes. -Nowhere did he see Teeka or Gazan, and soon he began inquiring of the -other apes where they might be; but none had seen them recently. - -Now the lower orders are not highly imaginative. They do not, as you -and I, paint vivid mental pictures of things which might have occurred, -and so Taug did not now apprehend that any misfortune had overtaken his -mate and their off-spring—he merely knew that he wished to find Teeka -that he might lie down in the shade and have her scratch his back while -his breakfast digested; but though he called to her and searched for -her and asked each whom he met, he could find no trace of Teeka, nor of -Gazan either. - -He was beginning to become peeved and had about made up his mind to -chastise Teeka for wandering so far afield when he wanted her. He was -moving south along a game trail, his calloused soles and knuckles -giving forth no sound, when he came upon Dango at the opposite side of -a small clearing. The eater of carrion did not see Taug, for all his -eyes were for something which lay in the grass beneath a tree—something -upon which he was sneaking with the cautious stealth of his breed. - -Taug, always cautious himself, as it behooves one to be who fares up -and down the jungle and desires to survive, swung noiselessly into a -tree, where he could have a better view of the clearing. He did not -fear Dango; but he wanted to see what it was that Dango stalked. In a -way, possibly, he was actuated as much by curiosity as by caution. - -And when Taug reached a place in the branches from which he could have -an unobstructed view of the clearing he saw Dango already sniffing at -something directly beneath him—something which Taug instantly -recognized as the lifeless form of his little Gazan. - -With a cry so frightful, so bestial, that it momentarily paralyzed the -startled Dango, the great ape launched his mighty bulk upon the -surprised hyena. With a cry and a snarl, Dango, crushed to earth, -turned to tear at his assailant; but as effectively might a sparrow -turn upon a hawk. Taug’s great, gnarled fingers closed upon the hyena’s -throat and back, his jaws snapped once on the mangy neck, crushing the -vertebrae, and then he hurled the dead body contemptuously aside. - -Again he raised his voice in the call of the bull ape to its mate, but -there was no reply; then he leaned down to sniff at the body of Gazan. -In the breast of this savage, hideous beast there beat a heart which -was moved, however slightly, by the same emotions of paternal love -which affect us. Even had we no actual evidence of this, we must know -it still, since only thus might be explained the survival of the human -race in which the jealousy and selfishness of the bulls would, in the -earliest stages of the race, have wiped out the young as rapidly as -they were brought into the world had not God implanted in the savage -bosom that paternal love which evidences itself most strongly in the -protective instinct of the male. - -In Taug the protective instinct was not alone highly developed; but -affection for his offspring as well, for Taug was an unusually -intelligent specimen of these great, manlike apes which the natives of -the Gobi speak of in whispers; but which no white man ever had seen, -or, if seeing, lived to tell of until Tarzan of the Apes came among -them. - -And so Taug felt sorrow as any other father might feel sorrow at the -loss of a little child. To you little Gazan might have seemed a hideous -and repulsive creature, but to Taug and Teeka he was as beautiful and -as cute as is your little Mary or Johnnie or Elizabeth Ann to you, and -he was their firstborn, their only balu, and a he—three things which -might make a young ape the apple of any fond father’s eye. - -For a moment Taug sniffed at the quiet little form. With his muzzle and -his tongue he smoothed and caressed the rumpled coat. From his savage -lips broke a low moan; but quickly upon the heels of sorrow came the -overmastering desire for revenge. - -Leaping to his feet he screamed out a volley of “Kreegahs,” punctuated -from time to time by the blood-freezing cry of an angry, challenging -bull—a rage-mad bull with the blood lust strong upon him. - -Answering his cries came the cries of the tribe as they swung through -the trees toward him. It was these that Tarzan heard on his return from -his cabin, and in reply to them he raised his own voice and hurried -forward with increased speed until he fairly flew through the middle -terraces of the forest. - -When at last he came upon the tribe he saw their members gathered about -Taug and something which lay quietly upon the ground. Dropping among -them, Tarzan approached the center of the group. Taug was still roaring -out his challenges; but when he saw Tarzan he ceased and stooping -picked up Gazan in his arms and held him out for Tarzan to see. Of all -the bulls of the tribe, Taug held affection for Tarzan only. Tarzan he -trusted and looked up to as one wiser and more cunning. To Tarzan he -came now—to the playmate of his balu days, the companion of innumerable -battles of his maturity. - -When Tarzan saw the still form in Taug’s arms, a low growl broke from -his lips, for he too loved Teeka’s little balu. - -“Who did it?” he asked. “Where is Teeka?” - -“I do not know,” replied Taug. “I found him lying here with Dango about -to feed upon him; but it was not Dango that did it—there are no fang -marks upon him.” - -Tarzan came closer and placed an ear against Gazan’s breast. “He is not -dead,” he said. “Maybe he will not die.” He pressed through the crowd -of apes and circled once about them, examining the ground step by step. -Suddenly he stopped and placing his nose close to the earth sniffed. -Then he sprang to his feet, giving a peculiar cry. Taug and the others -pressed forward, for the sound told them that the hunter had found the -spoor of his quarry. - -“A stranger bull has been here,” said Tarzan. “It was he that hurt -Gazan. He has carried off Teeka.” - -Taug and the other bulls commenced to roar and threaten; but they did -nothing. Had the stranger bull been within sight they would have torn -him to pieces; but it did not occur to them to follow him. - -“If the three bulls had been watching around the tribe this would not -have happened,” said Tarzan. “Such things will happen as long as you do -not keep the three bulls watching for an enemy. The jungle is full of -enemies, and yet you let your shes and your balus feed where they will, -alone and unprotected. Tarzan goes now—he goes to find Teeka and bring -her back to the tribe.” - -The idea appealed to the other bulls. “We will all go,” they cried. - -“No,” said Tarzan, “you will not all go. We cannot take shes and balus -when we go out to hunt and fight. You must remain to guard them or you -will lose them all.” - -They scratched their heads. The wisdom of his advice was dawning upon -them, but at first they had been carried away by the new idea—the idea -of following up an enemy offender to wrest his prize from him and -punish him. The community instinct was ingrained in their characters -through ages of custom. They did not know why they had not thought to -pursue and punish the offender—they could not know that it was because -they had as yet not reached a mental plane which would permit them to -work as individuals. In times of stress, the community instinct sent -them huddling into a compact herd where the great bulls, by the weight -of their combined strength and ferocity, could best protect them from -an enemy. The idea of separating to do battle with a foe had not yet -occurred to them—it was too foreign to custom, too inimical to -community interests; but to Tarzan it was the first and most natural -thought. His senses told him that there was but a single bull connected -with the attack upon Teeka and Gazan. A single enemy did not require -the entire tribe for his punishment. Two swift bulls could quickly -overhaul him and rescue Teeka. - -In the past no one ever had thought to go forth in search of the shes -that were occasionally stolen from the tribe. If Numa, Sabor, Sheeta or -a wandering bull ape from another tribe chanced to carry off a maid or -a matron while no one was looking, that was the end of it—she was gone, -that was all. The bereaved husband, if the victim chanced to have been -mated, growled around for a day or two and then, if he were strong -enough, took another mate within the tribe, and if not, wandered far -into the jungle on the chance of stealing one from another community. - -In the past Tarzan of the Apes had condoned this practice for the -reason that he had had no interest in those who had been stolen; but -Teeka had been his first love and Teeka’s balu held a place in his -heart such as a balu of his own would have held. Just once before had -Tarzan wished to follow and revenge. That had been years before when -Kulonga, the son of Mbonga, the chief, had slain Kala. Then, -single-handed, Tarzan had pursued and avenged. Now, though to a lesser -degree, he was moved by the same passion. - -He turned toward Taug. “Leave Gazan with Mumga,” he said. “She is old -and her fangs are broken and she is no good; but she can take care of -Gazan until we return with Teeka, and if Gazan is dead when we come -back,” he turned to address Mumga, “I will kill you, too.” - -“Where are we going?” asked Taug. - -“We are going to get Teeka,” replied the ape-man, “and kill the bull -who has stolen her. Come!” - -He turned again to the spoor of the stranger bull, which showed plainly -to his trained senses, nor did he glance back to note if Taug followed. -The latter laid Gazan in Mumga’s arms with a parting: “If he dies -Tarzan will kill you,” and he followed after the brown-skinned figure -that already was moving at a slow trot along the jungle trail. - -No other bull of the tribe of Kerchak was so good a trailer as Tarzan, -for his trained senses were aided by a high order of intelligence. His -judgment told him the natural trail for a quarry to follow, so that he -need but note the most apparent marks upon the way, and today the trail -of Toog was as plain to him as type upon a printed page to you or me. - -Following close behind the lithe figure of the ape-man came the huge -and shaggy bull ape. No words passed between them. They moved as -silently as two shadows among the myriad shadows of the forest. Alert -as his eyes and ears, was Tarzan’s patrician nose. The spoor was fresh, -and now that they had passed from the range of the strong ape odor of -the tribe he had little difficulty in following Toog and Teeka by scent -alone. Teeka’s familiar scent spoor told both Tarzan and Taug that they -were upon her trail, and soon the scent of Toog became as familiar as -the other. - -They were progressing rapidly when suddenly dense clouds overcast the -sun. Tarzan accelerated his pace. Now he fairly flew along the jungle -trail, or, where Toog had taken to the trees, followed nimbly as a -squirrel along the bending, undulating pathway of the foliage branches, -swinging from tree to tree as Toog had swung before them; but more -rapidly because they were not handicapped by a burden such as Toog’s. - -Tarzan felt that they must be almost upon the quarry, for the scent -spoor was becoming stronger and stronger, when the jungle was suddenly -shot by livid lightning, and a deafening roar of thunder reverberated -through the heavens and the forest until the earth trembled and shook. -Then came the rain—not as it comes to us of the temperate zones, but as -a mighty avalanche of water—a deluge which spills tons instead of drops -upon the bending forest giants and the terrified creatures which haunt -their shade. - -And the rain did what Tarzan knew that it would do—it wiped the spoor -of the quarry from the face of the earth. For a half hour the torrents -fell—then the sun burst forth, jeweling the forest with a million -scintillant gems; but today the ape-man, usually alert to the changing -wonders of the jungle, saw them not. Only the fact that the spoor of -Teeka and her abductor was obliterated found lodgment in his thoughts. - -Even among the branches of the trees there are well-worn trails, just -as there are trails upon the surface of the ground; but in the trees -they branch and cross more often, since the way is more open than among -the dense undergrowth at the surface. Along one of these well-marked -trails Tarzan and Taug continued after the rain had ceased, because the -ape-man knew that this was the most logical path for the thief to -follow; but when they came to a fork, they were at a loss. Here they -halted, while Tarzan examined every branch and leaf which might have -been touched by the fleeing ape. - -He sniffed the bole of the tree, and with his keen eyes he sought to -find upon the bark some sign of the way the quarry had taken. It was -slow work and all the time, Tarzan knew, the bull of the alien tribe -was forging steadily away from them—gaining precious minutes that might -carry him to safety before they could catch up with him. - -First along one fork he went, and then another, applying every test -that his wonderful junglecraft was cognizant of; but again and again he -was baffled, for the scent had been washed away by the heavy downpour, -in every exposed place. For a half hour Tarzan and Taug searched, until -at last, upon the bottom of a broad leaf, Tarzan’s keen nose caught the -faint trace of the scent spoor of Toog, where the leaf had brushed a -hairy shoulder as the great ape passed through the foliage. - -Once again the two took up the trail, but it was slow work now and -there were many discouraging delays when the spoor seemed lost beyond -recovery. To you or me there would have been no spoor, even before the -coming of the rain, except, possibly, where Toog had come to earth and -followed a game trail. In such places the imprint of a huge handlike -foot and the knuckles of one great hand were sometimes plain enough for -an ordinary mortal to read. Tarzan knew from these and other -indications that the ape was yet carrying Teeka. The depth of the -imprint of his feet indicated a much greater weight than that of any of -the larger bulls, for they were made under the combined weight of Toog -and Teeka, while the fact that the knuckles of but one hand touched the -ground at any time showed that the other hand was occupied in some -other business—the business of holding the prisoner to a hairy -shoulder. Tarzan could follow, in sheltered places, the changing of the -burden from one shoulder to another, as indicated by the deepening of -the foot imprint upon the side of the load, and the changing of the -knuckle imprints from one side of the trail to the other. - -There were stretches along the surface paths where the ape had gone for -considerable distances entirely erect upon his hind feet—walking as a -man walks; but the same might have been true of any of the great -anthropoids of the same species, for, unlike the chimpanzee and the -gorilla, they walk without the aid of their hands quite as readily as -with. It was such things, however, which helped to identify to Tarzan -and to Taug the appearance of the abductor, and with his individual -scent characteristic already indelibly impressed upon their memories, -they were in a far better position to know him when they came upon him, -even should he have disposed of Teeka before, than is a modern sleuth -with his photographs and Bertillon measurements, equipped to recognize -a fugitive from civilized justice. - -But with all their high-strung and delicately attuned perceptive -faculties the two bulls of the tribe of Kerchak were often sore pressed -to follow the trail at all, and at best were so delayed that in the -afternoon of the second day, they still had not overhauled the -fugitive. The scent was now strong, for it had been made since the -rain, and Tarzan knew that it would not be long before they came upon -the thief and his loot. Above them, as they crept stealthily forward, -chattered Manu, the monkey, and his thousand fellows; squawked and -screamed the brazen-throated birds of plumage; buzzed and hummed the -countless insects amid the rustling of the forest leaves, and, as they -passed, a little gray-beard, squeaking and scolding upon a swaying -branch, looked down and saw them. Instantly the scolding and squeaking -ceased, and off tore the long-tailed mite as though Sheeta, the -panther, had been endowed with wings and was in close pursuit of him. -To all appearances he was only a very much frightened little monkey, -fleeing for his life—there seemed nothing sinister about him. - -And what of Teeka during all this time? Was she at last resigned to her -fate and accompanying her new mate in the proper humility of a loving -and tractable spouse? A single glance at the pair would have answered -these questions to the utter satisfaction of the most captious. She was -torn and bleeding from many wounds, inflicted by the sullen Toog in his -vain efforts to subdue her to his will, and Toog too was disfigured and -mutilated; but with stubborn ferocity, he still clung to his now -useless prize. - -On through the jungle he forced his way in the direction of the -stamping ground of his tribe. He hoped that his king would have -forgotten his treason; but if not he was still resigned to his fate—any -fate would be better than suffering longer the sole companionship of -this frightful she, and then, too, he wished to exhibit his captive to -his fellows. Maybe he could wish her on the king—it is possible that -such a thought urged him on. - -At last they came upon two bulls feeding in a parklike grove—a -beautiful grove dotted with huge boulders half embedded in the rich -loam—mute monuments, possibly, to a forgotten age when mighty glaciers -rolled their slow course where now a torrid sun beats down upon a -tropic jungle. - -The two bulls looked up, baring long fighting fangs, as Toog appeared -in the distance. The latter recognized the two as friends. “It is -Toog,” he growled. “Toog has come back with a new she.” - -The apes waited his nearer approach. Teeka turned a snarling, fanged -face toward them. She was not pretty to look upon, yet through the -blood and hatred upon her countenance they realized that she was -beautiful, and they envied Toog—alas! they did not know Teeka. - -As they squatted looking at one another there raced through the trees -toward them a long-tailed little monkey with gray whiskers. He was a -very excited little monkey when he came to a halt upon the limb of a -tree directly overhead. “Two strange bulls come,” he cried. “One is a -Mangani, the other a hideous ape without hair upon his body. They -follow the spoor of Toog. I saw them.” - -The four apes turned their eyes backward along the trail Toog had just -come; then they looked at one another for a minute. “Come,” said the -larger of Toog’s two friends, “we will wait for the strangers in the -thick bushes beyond the clearing.” - -He turned and waddled away across the open place, the others following -him. The little monkey danced about, all excitement. His chief -diversion in life was to bring about bloody encounters between the -larger denizens of the forest, that he might sit in the safety of the -trees and witness the spectacles. He was a glutton for gore, was this -little, whiskered, gray monkey, so long as it was the gore of others—a -typical fight fan was the graybeard. - -The apes hid themselves in the shrubbery beside the trail along which -the two stranger bulls would pass. Teeka trembled with excitement. She -had heard the words of Manu, and she knew that the hairless ape must be -Tarzan, while the other was, doubtless, Taug. Never, in her wildest -hopes, had she expected succor of this sort. Her one thought had been -to escape and find her way back to the tribe of Kerchak; but even this -had appeared to her practically impossible, so closely did Toog watch -her. - -As Taug and Tarzan reached the grove where Toog had come upon his -friends, the ape scent became so strong that both knew the quarry was -but a short distance ahead. And so they went even more cautiously, for -they wished to come upon the thief from behind if they could and charge -him before he was aware of their presence. That a little gray-whiskered -monkey had forestalled them they did not know, nor that three pairs of -savage eyes were already watching their every move and waiting for them -to come within reach of itching paws and slavering jowls. - -On they came across the grove, and as they entered the path leading -into the dense jungle beyond, a sudden “Kreeg-ah!” shrilled out close -before them—a “Kreeg-ah” in the familiar voice of Teeka. The small -brains of Toog and his companions had not been able to foresee that -Teeka might betray them, and now that she had, they went wild with -rage. Toog struck the she a mighty blow that felled her, and then the -three rushed forth to do battle with Tarzan and Taug. The little monkey -danced upon his perch and screamed with delight. - -And indeed he might well be delighted, for it was a lovely fight. There -were no preliminaries, no formalities, no introductions—the five bulls -merely charged and clinched. They rolled in the narrow trail and into -the thick verdure beside it. They bit and clawed and scratched and -struck, and all the while they kept up the most frightful chorus of -growlings and barkings and roarings. In five minutes they were torn and -bleeding, and the little graybeard leaped high, shrilling his primitive -bravos; but always his attitude was “thumbs down.” He wanted to see -something killed. He did not care whether it were friend or foe. It was -blood he wanted—blood and death. - -Taug had been set upon by Toog and another of the apes, while Tarzan -had the third—a huge brute with the strength of a buffalo. Never before -had Tarzan’s assailant beheld so strange a creature as this slippery, -hairless bull with which he battled. Sweat and blood covered Tarzan’s -sleek, brown hide. Again and again he slipped from the clutches of the -great bull, and all the while he struggled to free his hunting knife -from the scabbard in which it had stuck. - -At length he succeeded—a brown hand shot out and clutched a hairy -throat, another flew upward clutching the sharp blade. Three swift, -powerful strokes and the bull relaxed with a groan, falling limp -beneath his antagonist. Instantly Tarzan broke from the clutches of the -dying bull and sprang to Taug’s assistance. Toog saw him coming and -wheeled to meet him. In the impact of the charge, Tarzan’s knife was -wrenched from his hand and then Toog closed with him. Now was the -battle even—two against two—while on the verge, Teeka, now recovered -from the blow that had felled her, slunk waiting for an opportunity to -aid. She saw Tarzan’s knife and picked it up. She never had used it, -but knew how Tarzan used it. Always had she been afraid of the thing -which dealt death to the mightiest of the jungle people with the ease -that Tantor’s great tusks deal death to Tantor’s enemies. - -She saw Tarzan’s pocket pouch torn from his side, and with the -curiosity of an ape, that even danger and excitement cannot entirely -dispel, she picked this up, too. - -Now the bulls were standing—the clinches had been broken. Blood -streamed down their sides—their faces were crimsoned with it. Little -graybeard was so fascinated that at last he had even forgotten to -scream and dance; but sat rigid with delight in the enjoyment of the -spectacle. - -Back across the grove Tarzan and Taug forced their adversaries. Teeka -followed slowly. She scarce knew what to do. She was lame and sore and -exhausted from the frightful ordeal through which she had passed, and -she had the confidence of her sex in the prowess of her mate and the -other bull of her tribe—they would not need the help of a she in their -battle with these two strangers. - -The roars and screams of the fighters reverberated through the jungle, -awakening the echoes in the distant hills. From the throat of Tarzan’s -antagonist had come a score of “Kreeg-ahs!” and now from behind came -the reply he had awaited. Into the grove, barking and growling, came a -score of huge bull apes—the fighting men of Toog’s tribe. - -Teeka saw them first and screamed a warning to Tarzan and Taug. Then -she fled past the fighters toward the opposite side of the clearing, -fear for a moment claiming her. Nor can one censure her after the -frightful ordeal from which she was still suffering. - -Down upon them came the great apes. In a moment Tarzan and Taug would -be torn to shreds that would later form the _pièce de résistance_ of -the savage orgy of a Dum-Dum. Teeka turned to glance back. She saw the -impending fate of her defenders and there sprung to life in her savage -bosom the spark of martyrdom, that some common forbear had transmitted -alike to Teeka, the wild ape, and the glorious women of a higher order -who have invited death for their men. With a shrill scream she ran -toward the battlers who were rolling in a great mass at the foot of one -of the huge boulders which dotted the grove; but what could she do? The -knife she held she could not use to advantage because of her lesser -strength. She had seen Tarzan throw missiles, and she had learned this -with many other things from her childhood playmate. She sought for -something to throw and at last her fingers touched upon the hard -objects in the pouch that had been torn from the ape-man. Tearing the -receptacle open, she gathered a handful of shiny cylinders—heavy for -their size, they seemed to her, and good missiles. With all her -strength she hurled them at the apes battling in front of the granite -boulder. - -The result surprised Teeka quite as much as it did the apes. There was -a loud explosion, which deafened the fighters, and a puff of acrid -smoke. Never before had one there heard such a frightful noise. -Screaming with terror, the stranger bulls leaped to their feet and fled -back toward the stamping ground of their tribe, while Taug and Tarzan -slowly gathered themselves together and arose, lame and bleeding, to -their feet. They, too, would have fled had they not seen Teeka standing -there before them, the knife and the pocket pouch in her hands. - -“What was it?” asked Tarzan. - -Teeka shook her head. “I hurled these at the stranger bulls,” and she -held forth another handful of the shiny metal cylinders with the dull -gray, cone-shaped ends. - -Tarzan looked at them and scratched his head. - -“What are they?” asked Taug. - -“I do not know,” said Tarzan. “I found them.” - -The little monkey with the gray beard halted among the trees a mile -away and huddled, terrified, against a branch. He did not know that the -dead father of Tarzan of the Apes, reaching back out of the past across -a span of twenty years, had saved his son’s life. - -Nor did Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, know it either. - - - - -CHAPTER XI -A Jungle Joke - - -Time seldom hung heavily upon Tarzan’s hands. Even where there is -sameness there cannot be monotony if most of the sameness consists in -dodging death first in one form and then in another; or in inflicting -death upon others. There is a spice to such an existence; but even this -Tarzan of the Apes varied in activities of his own invention. - -He was full grown now, with the grace of a Greek god and the thews of a -bull, and, by all the tenets of apedom, should have been sullen, -morose, and brooding; but he was not. His spirits seemed not to age at -all—he was still a playful child, much to the discomfiture of his -fellow-apes. They could not understand him or his ways, for with -maturity they quickly forgot their youth and its pastimes. - -Nor could Tarzan quite understand them. It seemed strange to him that a -few moons since, he had roped Taug about an ankle and dragged him -screaming through the tall jungle grasses, and then rolled and tumbled -in good-natured mimic battle when the young ape had freed himself, and -that today when he had come up behind the same Taug and pulled him over -backward upon the turf, instead of the playful young ape, a great, -snarling beast had whirled and leaped for his throat. - -Easily Tarzan eluded the charge and quickly Taug’s anger vanished, -though it was not replaced with playfulness; yet the ape-man realized -that Taug was not amused nor was he amusing. The big bull ape seemed to -have lost whatever sense of humor he once may have possessed. With a -grunt of disappointment, young Lord Greystoke turned to other fields of -endeavor. A strand of black hair fell across one eye. He brushed it -aside with the palm of a hand and a toss of his head. It suggested -something to do, so he sought his quiver which lay cached in the hollow -bole of a lightning-riven tree. Removing the arrows he turned the -quiver upside down, emptying upon the ground the contents of its -bottom—his few treasures. Among them was a flat bit of stone and a -shell which he had picked up from the beach near his father’s cabin. - -With great care he rubbed the edge of the shell back and forth upon the -flat stone until the soft edge was quite fine and sharp. He worked much -as a barber does who hones a razor, and with every evidence of similar -practice; but his proficiency was the result of years of painstaking -effort. Unaided he had worked out a method of his own for putting an -edge upon the shell—he even tested it with the ball of his thumb—and -when it met with his approval he grasped a wisp of hair which fell -across his eyes, grasped it between the thumb and first finger of his -left hand and sawed upon it with the sharpened shell until it was -severed. All around his head he went until his black shock was rudely -bobbed with a ragged bang in front. For the appearance of it he cared -nothing; but in the matter of safety and comfort it meant everything. A -lock of hair falling in one’s eyes at the wrong moment might mean all -the difference between life and death, while straggly strands, hanging -down one’s back were most uncomfortable, especially when wet with dew -or rain or perspiration. - -As Tarzan labored at his tonsorial task, his active mind was busy with -many things. He recalled his recent battle with Bolgani, the gorilla, -the wounds of which were but just healed. He pondered the strange sleep -adventures of his first dreams, and he smiled at the painful outcome of -his last practical joke upon the tribe, when, dressed in the hide of -Numa, the lion, he had come roaring upon them, only to be leaped upon -and almost killed by the great bulls whom he had taught how to defend -themselves from an attack of their ancient enemy. - -His hair lopped off to his entire satisfaction, and seeing no -possibility of pleasure in the company of the tribe, Tarzan swung -leisurely into the trees and set off in the direction of his cabin; but -when part way there his attention was attracted by a strong scent spoor -coming from the north. It was the scent of the Gomangani. - -Curiosity, that best-developed, common heritage of man and ape, always -prompted Tarzan to investigate where the Gomangani were concerned. -There was that about them which aroused his imagination. Possibly it -was because of the diversity of their activities and interests. The -apes lived to eat and sleep and propagate. The same was true of all the -other denizens of the jungle, save the Gomangani. - -These black fellows danced and sang, scratched around in the earth from -which they had cleared the trees and underbrush; they watched things -grow, and when they had ripened, they cut them down and put them in -straw-thatched huts. They made bows and spears and arrows, poison, -cooking pots, things of metal to wear around their arms and legs. If it -hadn’t been for their black faces, their hideously disfigured features, -and the fact that one of them had slain Kala, Tarzan might have wished -to be one of them. At least he sometimes thought so, but always at the -thought there rose within him a strange revulsion of feeling, which he -could not interpret or understand—he simply knew that he hated the -Gomangani, and that he would rather be Histah, the snake, than one of -these. - -But their ways were interesting, and Tarzan never tired of spying upon -them, and from them he learned much more than he realized, though -always his principal thought was of some new way in which he could -render their lives miserable. The baiting of the blacks was Tarzan’s -chief divertissement. - -Tarzan realized now that the blacks were very near and that there were -many of them, so he went silently and with great caution. Noiselessly -he moved through the lush grasses of the open spaces, and where the -forest was dense, swung from one swaying branch to another, or leaped -lightly over tangled masses of fallen trees where there was no way -through the lower terraces, and the ground was choked and impassable. - -And so presently he came within sight of the black warriors of Mbonga, -the chief. They were engaged in a pursuit with which Tarzan was more or -less familiar, having watched them at it upon other occasions. They -were placing and baiting a trap for Numa, the lion. In a cage upon -wheels they were tying a kid, so fastening it that when Numa seized the -unfortunate creature, the door of the cage would drop behind him, -making him a prisoner. - -These things the blacks had learned in their old home, before they -escaped through the untracked jungle to their new village. Formerly -they had dwelt in the Belgian Congo until the cruelties of their -heartless oppressors had driven them to seek the safety of unexplored -solitudes beyond the boundaries of Leopold’s domain. - -In their old life they often had trapped animals for the agents of -European dealers, and had learned from them certain tricks, such as -this one, which permitted them to capture even Numa without injuring -him, and to transport him in safety and with comparative ease to their -village. - -No longer was there a white market for their savage wares; but there -was still a sufficient incentive for the taking of Numa—alive. First -was the necessity for ridding the jungle of man-eaters, and it was only -after depredations by these grim and terrible scourges that a lion hunt -was organized. Secondarily was the excuse for an orgy of celebration -was the hunt successful, and the fact that such fetes were rendered -doubly pleasurable by the presence of a live creature that might be put -to death by torture. - -Tarzan had witnessed these cruel rites in the past. Being himself more -savage than the savage warriors of the Gomangani, he was not so shocked -by the cruelty of them as he should have been, yet they did shock him. -He could not understand the strange feeling of revulsion which -possessed him at such times. He had no love for Numa, the lion, yet he -bristled with rage when the blacks inflicted upon his enemy such -indignities and cruelties as only the mind of the one creature molded -in the image of God can conceive. - -Upon two occasions he had freed Numa from the trap before the blacks -had returned to discover the success or failure of their venture. He -would do the same today—that he decided immediately he realized the -nature of their intentions. - -Leaving the trap in the center of a broad elephant trail near the -drinking hole, the warriors turned back toward their village. On the -morrow they would come again. Tarzan looked after them, upon his lips -an unconscious sneer—the heritage of unguessed caste. He saw them file -along the broad trail, beneath the overhanging verdure of leafy branch -and looped and festooned creepers, brushing ebon shoulders against -gorgeous blooms which inscrutable Nature has seen fit to lavish most -profusely farthest from the eye of man. - -As Tarzan watched, through narrowed lids, the last of the warriors -disappear beyond a turn in the trail, his expression altered to the -urge of a newborn thought. A slow, grim smile touched his lips. He -looked down upon the frightened, bleating kid, advertising, in its fear -and its innocence, its presence and its helplessness. - -Dropping to the ground, Tarzan approached the trap and entered. Without -disturbing the fiber cord, which was adjusted to drop the door at the -proper time, he loosened the living bait, tucked it under an arm and -stepped out of the cage. - -With his hunting knife he quieted the frightened animal, severing its -jugular; then he dragged it, bleeding, along the trail down to the -drinking hole, the half smile persisting upon his ordinarily grave -face. At the water’s edge the ape-man stooped and with hunting knife -and quick strong fingers deftly removed the dead kid’s viscera. -Scraping a hole in the mud, he buried these parts which he did not eat, -and swinging the body to his shoulder took to the trees. - -For a short distance he pursued his way in the wake of the black -warriors, coming down presently to bury the meat of his kill where it -would be safe from the depredations of Dango, the hyena, or the other -meat-eating beasts and birds of the jungle. He was hungry. Had he been -all beast he would have eaten; but his man-mind could entertain urges -even more potent than those of the belly, and now he was concerned with -an idea which kept a smile upon his lips and his eyes sparkling in -anticipation. An idea, it was, which permitted him to forget that he -was hungry. - -The meat safely cached, Tarzan trotted along the elephant trail after -the Gomangani. Two or three miles from the cage he overtook them and -then he swung into the trees and followed above and behind them—waiting -his chance. - -Among the blacks was Rabba Kega, the witch-doctor. Tarzan hated them -all; but Rabba Kega he especially hated. As the blacks filed along the -winding path, Rabba Kega, being lazy, dropped behind. This Tarzan -noted, and it filled him with satisfaction—his being radiated a grim -and terrible content. Like an angel of death he hovered above the -unsuspecting black. - -Rabba Kega, knowing that the village was but a short distance ahead, -sat down to rest. Rest well, O Rabba Kega! It is thy last opportunity. - -Tarzan crept stealthily among the branches of the tree above the -well-fed, self-satisfied witch-doctor. He made no noise that the dull -ears of man could hear above the soughing of the gentle jungle breeze -among the undulating foliage of the upper terraces, and when he came -close above the black man he halted, well concealed by leafy branch and -heavy creeper. - -Rabba Kega sat with his back against the bole of a tree, facing Tarzan. -The position was not such as the waiting beast of prey desired, and so, -with the infinite patience of the wild hunter, the ape-man crouched -motionless and silent as a graven image until the fruit should be ripe -for the plucking. A poisonous insect buzzed angrily out of space. It -loitered, circling, close to Tarzan’s face. The ape-man saw and -recognized it. The virus of its sting spelled death for lesser things -than he—for him it would mean days of anguish. He did not move. His -glittering eyes remained fixed upon Rabba Kega after acknowledging the -presence of the winged torture by a single glance. He heard and -followed the movements of the insect with his keen ears, and then he -felt it alight upon his forehead. No muscle twitched, for the muscles -of such as he are the servants of the brain. Down across his face crept -the horrid thing—over nose and lips and chin. Upon his throat it -paused, and turning, retraced its steps. Tarzan watched Rabba Kega. Now -not even his eyes moved. So motionless he crouched that only death -might counterpart his movelessness. The insect crawled upward over the -nut-brown cheek and stopped with its antennae brushing the lashes of -his lower lid. You or I would have started back, closing our eyes and -striking at the thing; but you and I are the slaves, not the masters of -our nerves. Had the thing crawled upon the eyeball of the ape-man, it -is believable that he could yet have remained wide-eyed and rigid; but -it did not. For a moment it loitered there close to the lower lid, then -it rose and buzzed away. - -Down toward Rabba Kega it buzzed and the black man heard it, saw it, -struck at it, and was stung upon the cheek before he killed it. Then he -rose with a howl of pain and anger, and as he turned up the trail -toward the village of Mbonga, the chief, his broad, black back was -exposed to the silent thing waiting above him. - -And as Rabba Kega turned, a lithe figure shot outward and downward from -the tree above upon his broad shoulders. The impact of the springing -creature carried Rabba Kega to the ground. He felt strong jaws close -upon his neck, and when he tried to scream, steel fingers throttled his -throat. The powerful black warrior struggled to free himself; but he -was as a child in the grip of his adversary. - -Presently Tarzan released his grip upon the other’s throat; but each -time that Rabba Kega essayed a scream, the cruel fingers choked him -painfully. At last the warrior desisted. Then Tarzan half rose and -kneeled upon his victim’s back, and when Rabba Kega struggled to arise, -the ape-man pushed his face down into the dirt of the trail. With a bit -of the rope that had secured the kid, Tarzan made Rabba Kega’s wrists -secure behind his back, then he rose and jerked his prisoner to his -feet, faced him back along the trail and pushed him on ahead. - -Not until he came to his feet did Rabba Kega obtain a square look at -his assailant. When he saw that it was the white devil-god his heart -sank within him and his knees trembled; but as he walked along the -trail ahead of his captor and was neither injured nor molested his -spirits slowly rose, so that he took heart again. Possibly the -devil-god did not intend to kill him after all. Had he not had little -Tibo in his power for days without harming him, and had he not spared -Momaya, Tibo’s mother, when he easily might have slain her? - -And then they came upon the cage which Rabba Kega, with the other black -warriors of the village of Mbonga, the chief, had placed and baited for -Numa. Rabba Kega saw that the bait was gone, though there was no lion -within the cage, nor was the door dropped. He saw and he was filled -with wonder not unmixed with apprehension. It entered his dull brain -that in some way this combination of circumstances had a connection -with his presence there as the prisoner of the white devil-god. - -Nor was he wrong. Tarzan pushed him roughly into the cage, and in -another moment Rabba Kega understood. Cold sweat broke from every pore -of his body—he trembled as with ague—for the ape-man was binding him -securely in the very spot the kid had previously occupied. The -witch-doctor pleaded, first for his life, and then for a death less -cruel; but he might as well have saved his pleas for Numa, since -already they were directed toward a wild beast who understood no word -of what he said. - -But his constant jabbering not only annoyed Tarzan, who worked in -silence, but suggested that later the black might raise his voice in -cries for succor, so he stepped out of the cage, gathered a handful of -grass and a small stick and returning, jammed the grass into Rabba -Kega’s mouth, laid the stick crosswise between his teeth and fastened -it there with the thong from Rabba Kega’s loin cloth. Now could the -witch-doctor but roll his eyes and sweat. Thus Tarzan left him. - -The ape-man went first to the spot where he had cached the body of the -kid. Digging it up, he ascended into a tree and proceeded to satisfy -his hunger. What remained he again buried; then he swung away through -the trees to the water hole, and going to the spot where fresh, cold -water bubbled from between two rocks, he drank deeply. The other beasts -might wade in and drink stagnant water; but not Tarzan of the Apes. In -such matters he was fastidious. From his hands he washed every trace of -the repugnant scent of the Gomangani, and from his face the blood of -the kid. Rising, he stretched himself not unlike some huge, lazy cat, -climbed into a near-by tree and fell asleep. - -When he awoke it was dark, though a faint luminosity still tinged the -western heavens. A lion moaned and coughed as it strode through the -jungle toward water. It was approaching the drinking hole. Tarzan -grinned sleepily, changed his position and fell asleep again. - -When the blacks of Mbonga, the chief, reached their village they -discovered that Rabba Kega was not among them. When several hours had -elapsed they decided that something had happened to him, and it was the -hope of the majority of the tribe that whatever had happened to him -might prove fatal. They did not love the witch-doctor. Love and fear -seldom are playmates; but a warrior is a warrior, and so Mbonga -organized a searching party. That his own grief was not unassuagable -might have been gathered from the fact that he remained at home and -went to sleep. The young warriors whom he sent out remained steadfast -to their purpose for fully half an hour, when, unfortunately for Rabba -Kega—upon so slight a thing may the fate of a man rest—a honey bird -attracted the attention of the searchers and led them off for the -delicious store it previously had marked down for betrayal, and Rabba -Kega’s doom was sealed. - -When the searchers returned empty handed, Mbonga was wroth; but when he -saw the great store of honey they brought with them his rage subsided. -Already Tubuto, young, agile and evil-minded, with face hideously -painted, was practicing the black art upon a sick infant in the fond -hope of succeeding to the office and perquisites of Rabba Kega. Tonight -the women of the old witch-doctor would moan and howl. Tomorrow he -would be forgotten. Such is life, such is fame, such is power—in the -center of the world’s highest civilization, or in the depths of the -black, primeval jungle. Always, everywhere, man is man, nor has he -altered greatly beneath his veneer since he scurried into a hole -between two rocks to escape the tyrannosaurus six million years ago. - -The morning following the disappearance of Rabba Kega, the warriors set -out with Mbonga, the chief, to examine the trap they had set for Numa. -Long before they reached the cage, they heard the roaring of a great -lion and guessed that they had made a successful bag, so it was with -shouts of joy that they approached the spot where they should find -their captive. - -Yes! There he was, a great, magnificent specimen—a huge, black-maned -lion. The warriors were frantic with delight. They leaped into the air -and uttered savage cries—hoarse victory cries, and then they came -closer, and the cries died upon their lips, and their eyes went wide so -that the whites showed all around their irises, and their pendulous -lower lips drooped with their drooping jaws. They drew back in terror -at the sight within the cage—the mauled and mutilated corpse of what -had, yesterday, been Rabba Kega, the witch-doctor. - -The captured lion had been too angry and frightened to feed upon the -body of his kill; but he had vented upon it much of his rage, until it -was a frightful thing to behold. - -From his perch in a near-by tree Tarzan of the Apes, Lord Greystoke, -looked down upon the black warriors and grinned. Once again his -self-pride in his ability as a practical joker asserted itself. It had -lain dormant for some time following the painful mauling he had -received that time he leaped among the apes of Kerchak clothed in the -skin of Numa; but this joke was a decided success. - -After a few moments of terror, the blacks came closer to the cage, rage -taking the place of fear—rage and curiosity. How had Rabba Kega -happened to be in the cage? Where was the kid? There was no sign nor -remnant of the original bait. They looked closely and they saw, to -their horror, that the corpse of their erstwhile fellow was bound with -the very cord with which they had secured the kid. Who could have done -this thing? They looked at one another. - -Tubuto was the first to speak. He had come hopefully out with the -expedition that morning. Somewhere he might find evidence of the death -of Rabba Kega. Now he had found it, and he was the first to find an -explanation. - -“The white devil-god,” he whispered. “It is the work of the white -devil-god!” - -No one contradicted Tubuto, for, indeed, who else could it have been -but the great, hairless ape they all so feared? And so their hatred of -Tarzan increased again with an increased fear of him. And Tarzan sat in -his tree and hugged himself. - -No one there felt sorrow because of the death of Rabba Kega; but each -of the blacks experienced a personal fear of the ingenious mind which -might discover for any of them a death equally horrible to that which -the witch-doctor had suffered. It was a subdued and thoughtful company -which dragged the captive lion along the broad elephant path back to -the village of Mbonga, the chief. - -And it was with a sigh of relief that they finally rolled it into the -village and closed the gates behind them. Each had experienced the -sensation of being spied upon from the moment they left the spot where -the trap had been set, though none had seen or heard aught to give -tangible food to his fears. - -At the sight of the body within the cage with the lion, the women and -children of the village set up a most frightful lamentation, working -themselves into a joyous hysteria which far transcended the happy -misery derived by their more civilized prototypes who make a business -of dividing their time between the movies and the neighborhood funerals -of friends and strangers—especially strangers. - -From a tree overhanging the palisade, Tarzan watched all that passed -within the village. He saw the frenzied women tantalizing the great -lion with sticks and stones. The cruelty of the blacks toward a captive -always induced in Tarzan a feeling of angry contempt for the Gomangani. -Had he attempted to analyze this feeling he would have found it -difficult, for during all his life he had been accustomed to sights of -suffering and cruelty. He, himself, was cruel. All the beasts of the -jungle were cruel; but the cruelty of the blacks was of a different -order. It was the cruelty of wanton torture of the helpless, while the -cruelty of Tarzan and the other beasts was the cruelty of necessity or -of passion. - -Perhaps, had he known it, he might have credited this feeling of -repugnance at the sight of unnecessary suffering to heredity—to the -germ of British love of fair play which had been bequeathed to him by -his father and his mother; but, of course, he did not know, since he -still believed that his mother had been Kala, the great ape. - -And just in proportion as his anger rose against the Gomangani his -savage sympathy went out to Numa, the lion, for, though Numa was his -lifetime enemy, there was neither bitterness nor contempt in Tarzan’s -sentiments toward him. In the ape-man’s mind, therefore, the -determination formed to thwart the blacks and liberate the lion; but he -must accomplish this in some way which would cause the Gomangani the -greatest chagrin and discomfiture. - -As he squatted there watching the proceeding beneath him, he saw the -warriors seize upon the cage once more and drag it between two huts. -Tarzan knew that it would remain there now until evening, and that the -blacks were planning a feast and orgy in celebration of their capture. -When he saw that two warriors were placed beside the cage, and that -these drove off the women and children and young men who would have -eventually tortured Numa to death, he knew that the lion would be safe -until he was needed for the evening’s entertainment, when he would be -more cruelly and scientifically tortured for the edification of the -entire tribe. - -Now Tarzan preferred to bait the blacks in as theatric a manner as his -fertile imagination could evolve. He had some half-formed conception of -their superstitious fears and of their especial dread of night, and so -he decided to wait until darkness fell and the blacks partially worked -to hysteria by their dancing and religious rites before he took any -steps toward the freeing of Numa. In the meantime, he hoped, an idea -adequate to the possibilities of the various factors at hand would -occur to him. Nor was it long before one did. - -He had swung off through the jungle to search for food when the plan -came to him. At first it made him smile a little and then look dubious, -for he still retained a vivid memory of the dire results that had -followed the carrying out of a very wonderful idea along almost -identical lines, yet he did not abandon his intention, and a moment -later, food temporarily forgotten, he was swinging through the middle -terraces in rapid flight toward the stamping ground of the tribe of -Kerchak, the great ape. - -As was his wont, he alighted in the midst of the little band without -announcing his approach save by a hideous scream just as he sprang from -a branch above them. Fortunate are the apes of Kerchak that their kind -is not subject to heart failure, for the methods of Tarzan subjected -them to one severe shock after another, nor could they ever accustom -themselves to the ape-man’s peculiar style of humor. - -Now, when they saw who it was they merely snarled and grumbled angrily -for a moment and then resumed their feeding or their napping which he -had interrupted, and he, having had his little joke, made his way to -the hollow tree where he kept his treasures hid from the inquisitive -eyes and fingers of his fellows and the mischievous little manus. Here -he withdrew a closely rolled hide—the hide of Numa with the head on; a -clever bit of primitive curing and mounting, which had once been the -property of the witch-doctor, Rabba Kega, until Tarzan had stolen it -from the village. - -With this he made his way back through the jungle toward the village of -the blacks, stopping to hunt and feed upon the way, and, in the -afternoon, even napping for an hour, so that it was already dusk when -he entered the great tree which overhung the palisade and gave him a -view of the entire village. He saw that Numa was still alive and that -the guards were even dozing beside the cage. A lion is no great novelty -to a black man in the lion country, and the first keen edge of their -desire to worry the brute having worn off, the villagers paid little or -no attention to the great cat, preferring now to await the grand event -of the night. - -Nor was it long after dark before the festivities commenced. To the -beating of tom-toms, a lone warrior, crouched half doubled, leaped into -the firelight in the center of a great circle of other warriors, behind -whom stood or squatted the women and the children. The dancer was -painted and armed for the hunt and his movements and gestures suggested -the search for the spoor of game. Bending low, sometimes resting for a -moment on one knee, he searched the ground for signs of the quarry; -again he poised, statuesque, listening. The warrior was young and lithe -and graceful; he was full-muscled and arrow-straight. The firelight -glistened upon his ebon body and brought out into bold relief the -grotesque designs painted upon his face, breasts, and abdomen. - -Presently he bent low to the earth, then leaped high in air. Every line -of face and body showed that he had struck the scent. Immediately he -leaped toward the circle of warriors about him, telling them of his -find and summoning them to the hunt. It was all in pantomime; but so -truly done that even Tarzan could follow it all to the least detail. - -He saw the other warriors grasp their hunting spears and leap to their -feet to join in the graceful, stealthy “stalking dance.” It was very -interesting; but Tarzan realized that if he was to carry his design to -a successful conclusion he must act quickly. He had seen these dances -before and knew that after the stalk would come the game at bay and -then the kill, during which Numa would be surrounded by warriors, and -unapproachable. - -With the lion’s skin under one arm the ape-man dropped to the ground in -the dense shadows beneath the tree and then circled behind the huts -until he came out directly in the rear of the cage, in which Numa paced -nervously to and fro. The cage was now unguarded, the two warriors -having left it to take their places among the other dancers. - -Behind the cage Tarzan adjusted the lion’s skin about him, just as he -had upon that memorable occasion when the apes of Kerchak, failing to -pierce his disguise, had all but slain him. Then, on hands and knees, -he crept forward, emerged from between the two huts and stood a few -paces back of the dusky audience, whose whole attention was centered -upon the dancers before them. - -Tarzan saw that the blacks had now worked themselves to a proper pitch -of nervous excitement to be ripe for the lion. In a moment the ring of -spectators would break at a point nearest the caged lion and the victim -would be rolled into the center of the circle. It was for this moment -that Tarzan waited. - -At last it came. A signal was given by Mbonga, the chief, at which the -women and children immediately in front of Tarzan rose and moved to one -side, leaving a broad path opening toward the caged lion. At the same -instant Tarzan gave voice to the low, coughing roar of an angry lion -and slunk slowly forward through the open lane toward the frenzied -dancers. - -A woman saw him first and screamed. Instantly there was a panic in the -immediate vicinity of the ape-man. The strong light from the fire fell -full upon the lion head and the blacks leaped to the conclusion, as -Tarzan had known they would, that their captive had escaped his cage. - -With another roar, Tarzan moved forward. The dancing warriors paused -but an instant. They had been hunting a lion securely housed within a -strong cage, and now that he was at liberty among them, an entirely -different aspect was placed upon the matter. Their nerves were not -attuned to this emergency. The women and children already had fled to -the questionable safety of the nearest huts, and the warriors were not -long in following their example, so that presently Tarzan was left in -sole possession of the village street. - -But not for long. Nor did he wish to be left thus long alone. It would -not comport with his scheme. Presently a head peered forth from a -near-by hut, and then another and another until a score or more of -warriors were looking out upon him, waiting for his next move—waiting -for the lion to charge or to attempt to escape from the village. - -Their spears were ready in their hands against either a charge or a -bolt for freedom, and then the lion rose erect upon its hind legs, the -tawny skin dropped from it and there stood revealed before them in the -firelight the straight young figure of the white devil-god. - -For an instant the blacks were too astonished to act. They feared this -apparition fully as much as they did Numa, yet they would gladly have -slain the thing could they quickly enough have gathered together their -wits; but fear and superstition and a natural mental density held them -paralyzed while the ape-man stooped and gathered up the lion skin. They -saw him turn then and walk back into the shadows at the far end of the -village. Not until then did they gain courage to pursue him, and when -they had come in force, with brandished spears and loud war cries, the -quarry was gone. - -Not an instant did Tarzan pause in the tree. Throwing the skin over a -branch he leaped again into the village upon the opposite side of the -great bole, and diving into the shadow of a hut, ran quickly to where -lay the caged lion. Springing to the top of the cage he pulled upon the -cord which raised the door, and a moment later a great lion in the -prime of his strength and vigor leaped out into the village. - -The warriors, returning from a futile search for Tarzan, saw him step -into the firelight. Ah! there was the devil-god again, up to his old -trick. Did he think he could twice fool the men of Mbonga, the chief, -the same way in so short a time? They would show him! For long they had -waited for such an opportunity to rid themselves forever of this -fearsome jungle demon. As one they rushed forward with raised spears. - -The women and the children came from the huts to witness the slaying of -the devil-god. The lion turned blazing eyes upon them and then swung -about toward the advancing warriors. - -With shouts of savage joy and triumph they came toward him, menacing -him with their spears. The devil-god was theirs! - -And then, with a frightful roar, Numa, the lion, charged. - -The men of Mbonga, the chief, met Numa with ready spears and screams of -raillery. In a solid mass of muscled ebony they waited the coming of -the devil-god; yet beneath their brave exteriors lurked a haunting fear -that all might not be quite well with them—that this strange creature -could yet prove invulnerable to their weapons and inflict upon them -full punishment for their effrontery. The charging lion was all too -lifelike—they saw that in the brief instant of the charge; but beneath -the tawny hide they knew was hid the soft flesh of the white man, and -how could that withstand the assault of many war spears? - -In their forefront stood a huge young warrior in the full arrogance of -his might and his youth. Afraid? Not he! He laughed as Numa bore down -upon him; he laughed and couched his spear, setting the point for the -broad breast. And then the lion was upon him. A great paw swept away -the heavy war spear, splintering it as the hand of man might splinter a -dry twig. - -Down went the black, his skull crushed by another blow. And then the -lion was in the midst of the warriors, clawing and tearing to right and -left. Not for long did they stand their ground; but a dozen men were -mauled before the others made good their escape from those frightful -talons and gleaming fangs. - -In terror the villagers fled hither and thither. No hut seemed a -sufficiently secure asylum with Numa ranging within the palisade. From -one to another fled the frightened blacks, while in the center of the -village Numa stood glaring and growling above his kills. - -At last a tribesman flung wide the gates of the village and sought -safety amid the branches of the forest trees beyond. Like sheep his -fellows followed him, until the lion and his dead remained alone in the -village. - -From the nearer trees the men of Mbonga saw the lion lower his great -head and seize one of his victims by the shoulder and then with slow -and stately tread move down the village street past the open gates and -on into the jungle. They saw and shuddered, and from another tree -Tarzan of the Apes saw and smiled. - -A full hour elapsed after the lion had disappeared with his feast -before the blacks ventured down from the trees and returned to their -village. Wide eyes rolled from side to side, and naked flesh contracted -more to the chill of fear than to the chill of the jungle night. - -“It was he all the time,” murmured one. “It was the devil-god.” - -“He changed himself from a lion to a man, and back again into a lion,” -whispered another. - -“And he dragged Mweeza into the forest and is eating him,” said a -third, shuddering. - -“We are no longer safe here,” wailed a fourth. “Let us take our -belongings and search for another village site far from the haunts of -the wicked devil-god.” - -But with morning came renewed courage, so that the experiences of the -preceding evening had little other effect than to increase their fear -of Tarzan and strengthen their belief in his supernatural origin. - -And thus waxed the fame and the power of the ape-man in the mysterious -haunts of the savage jungle where he ranged, mightiest of beasts -because of the man-mind which directed his giant muscles and his -flawless courage. - - - - -CHAPTER XII -Tarzan Rescues the Moon - - -The moon shone down out of a cloudless sky—a huge, swollen moon that -seemed so close to earth that one might wonder that she did not brush -the crooning tree tops. It was night, and Tarzan was abroad in the -jungle—Tarzan, the ape-man; mighty fighter, mighty hunter. Why he swung -through the dark shadows of the somber forest he could not have told -you. It was not that he was hungry—he had fed well this day, and in a -safe cache were the remains of his kill, ready against the coming of a -new appetite. Perhaps it was the very joy of living that urged him from -his arboreal couch to pit his muscles and his senses against the jungle -night, and then, too, Tarzan always was goaded by an intense desire to -know. - -The jungle which is presided over by Kudu, the sun, is a very different -jungle from that of Goro, the moon. The diurnal jungle has its own -aspect—its own lights and shades, its own birds, its own blooms, its -own beasts; its noises are the noises of the day. The lights and shades -of the nocturnal jungle are as different as one might imagine the -lights and shades of another world to differ from those of our world; -its beasts, its blooms, and its birds are not those of the jungle of -Kudu, the sun. - -Because of these differences Tarzan loved to investigate the jungle by -night. Not only was the life another life; but it was richer in numbers -and in romance; it was richer in dangers, too, and to Tarzan of the -Apes danger was the spice of life. And the noises of the jungle -night—the roar of the lion, the scream of the leopard, the hideous -laughter of Dango, the hyena, were music to the ears of the ape-man. - -The soft padding of unseen feet, the rustling of leaves and grasses to -the passage of fierce beasts, the sheen of opalesque eyes flaming -through the dark, the million sounds which proclaimed the teeming life -that one might hear and scent, though seldom see, constituted the -appeal of the nocturnal jungle to Tarzan. - -Tonight he had swung a wide circle—toward the east first and then -toward the south, and now he was rounding back again into the north. -His eyes, his ears and his keen nostrils were ever on the alert. -Mingled with the sounds he knew, there were strange sounds—weird sounds -which he never heard until after Kudu had sought his lair below the far -edge of the big water—sounds which belonged to Goro, the moon—and to -the mysterious period of Goro’s supremacy. These sounds often caused -Tarzan profound speculation. They baffled him because he thought that -he knew his jungle so well that there could be nothing within it -unfamiliar to him. Sometimes he thought that as colors and forms -appeared to differ by night from their familiar daylight aspects, so -sounds altered with the passage of Kudu and the coming of Goro, and -these thoughts roused within his brain a vague conjecture that perhaps -Goro and Kudu influenced these changes. And what more natural that -eventually he came to attribute to the sun and the moon personalities -as real as his own? The sun was a living creature and ruled the day. -The moon, endowed with brains and miraculous powers, ruled the night. - -Thus functioned the untrained man-mind groping through the dark night -of ignorance for an explanation of the things he could not touch or -smell or hear and of the great, unknown powers of nature which he could -not see. - -As Tarzan swung north again upon his wide circle the scent of the -Gomangani came to his nostrils, mixed with the acrid odor of wood -smoke. The ape-man moved quickly in the direction from which the scent -was borne down to him upon the gentle night wind. Presently the ruddy -sheen of a great fire filtered through the foliage to him ahead, and -when Tarzan came to a halt in the trees near it, he saw a party of half -a dozen black warriors huddled close to the blaze. It was evidently a -hunting party from the village of Mbonga, the chief, caught out in the -jungle after dark. In a rude circle about them they had constructed a -thorn boma which, with the aid of the fire, they apparently hoped would -discourage the advances of the larger carnivora. - -That hope was not conviction was evidenced by the very palpable terror -in which they crouched, wide-eyed and trembling, for already Numa and -Sabor were moaning through the jungle toward them. There were other -creatures, too, in the shadows beyond the firelight. Tarzan could see -their yellow eyes flaming there. The blacks saw them and shivered. Then -one arose and grasping a burning branch from the fire hurled it at the -eyes, which immediately disappeared. The black sat down again. Tarzan -watched and saw that it was several minutes before the eyes began to -reappear in twos and fours. - -Then came Numa, the lion, and Sabor, his mate. The other eyes scattered -to right and left before the menacing growls of the great cats, and -then the huge orbs of the man-eaters flamed alone out of the darkness. -Some of the blacks threw themselves upon their faces and moaned; but he -who before had hurled the burning branch now hurled another straight at -the faces of the hungry lions, and they, too, disappeared as had the -lesser lights before them. Tarzan was much interested. He saw a new -reason for the nightly fires maintained by the blacks—a reason in -addition to those connected with warmth and light and cooking. The -beasts of the jungle feared fire, and so fire was, in a measure, a -protection from them. Tarzan himself knew a certain awe of fire. Once -he had, in investigating an abandoned fire in the village of the -blacks, picked up a live coal. Since then he had maintained a -respectful distance from such fires as he had seen. One experience had -sufficed. - -For a few minutes after the black hurled the firebrand no eyes -appeared, though Tarzan could hear the soft padding of feet all about -him. Then flashed once more the twin fire spots that marked the return -of the lord of the jungle and a moment later, upon a slightly lower -level, there appeared those of Sabor, his mate. - -For some time they remained fixed and unwavering—a constellation of -fierce stars in the jungle night—then the male lion advanced slowly -toward the boma, where all but a single black still crouched in -trembling terror. When this lone guardian saw that Numa was again -approaching, he threw another firebrand, and, as before, Numa retreated -and with him Sabor, the lioness; but not so far, this time, nor for so -long. Almost instantly they turned and began circling the boma, their -eyes turning constantly toward the firelight, while low, throaty growls -evidenced their increasing displeasure. Beyond the lions glowed the -flaming eyes of the lesser satellites, until the black jungle was shot -all around the black men’s camp with little spots of fire. - -Again and again the black warrior hurled his puny brands at the two big -cats; but Tarzan noticed that Numa paid little or no attention to them -after the first few retreats. The ape-man knew by Numa’s voice that the -lion was hungry and surmised that he had made up his mind to feed upon -a Gomangani; but would he dare a closer approach to the dreaded flames? - -Even as the thought was passing in Tarzan’s mind, Numa stopped his -restless pacing and faced the boma. For a moment he stood motionless, -except for the quick, nervous upcurving of his tail, then he walked -deliberately forward, while Sabor moved restlessly to and fro where he -had left her. The black man called to his comrades that the lion was -coming, but they were too far gone in fear to do more than huddle -closer together and moan more loudly than before. - -Seizing a blazing branch the man cast it straight into the face of the -lion. There was an angry roar, followed by a swift charge. With a -single bound the savage beast cleared the boma wall as, with almost -equal agility, the warrior cleared it upon the opposite side and, -chancing the dangers lurking in the darkness, bolted for the nearest -tree. - -Numa was out of the boma almost as soon as he was inside it; but as he -went back over the low thorn wall, he took a screaming negro with him. -Dragging his victim along the ground he walked back toward Sabor, the -lioness, who joined him, and the two continued into the blackness, -their savage growls mingling with the piercing shrieks of the doomed -and terrified man. - -At a little distance from the blaze the lions halted, there ensued a -short succession of unusually vicious growls and roars, during which -the cries and moans of the black man ceased—forever. - -Presently Numa reappeared in the firelight. He made a second trip into -the boma and the former grisly tragedy was reenacted with another -howling victim. - -Tarzan rose and stretched lazily. The entertainment was beginning to -bore him. He yawned and turned upon his way toward the clearing where -the tribe would be sleeping in the encircling trees. - -Yet even when he had found his familiar crotch and curled himself for -slumber, he felt no desire to sleep. For a long time he lay awake -thinking and dreaming. He looked up into the heavens and watched the -moon and the stars. He wondered what they were and what power kept them -from falling. His was an inquisitive mind. Always he had been full of -questions concerning all that passed around him; but there never had -been one to answer his questions. In childhood he had wanted to KNOW, -and, denied almost all knowledge, he still, in manhood, was filled with -the great, unsatisfied curiosity of a child. - -He was never quite content merely to perceive that things happened—he -desired to know WHY they happened. He wanted to know what made things -go. The secret of life interested him immensely. The miracle of death -he could not quite fathom. Upon innumerable occasions he had -investigated the internal mechanism of his kills, and once or twice he -had opened the chest cavity of victims in time to see the heart still -pumping. - -He had learned from experience that a knife thrust through this organ -brought immediate death nine times out of ten, while he might stab an -antagonist innumerable times in other places without even disabling -him. And so he had come to think of the heart, or, as he called it, -“the red thing that breathes,” as the seat and origin of life. - -The brain and its functionings he did not comprehend at all. That his -sense perceptions were transmitted to his brain and there translated, -classified, and labeled was something quite beyond him. He thought that -his fingers knew when they touched something, that his eyes knew when -they saw, his ears when they heard, his nose when it scented. - -He considered his throat, epidermis, and the hairs of his head as the -three principal seats of emotion. When Kala had been slain a peculiar -choking sensation had possessed his throat; contact with Histah, the -snake, imparted an unpleasant sensation to the skin of his whole body; -while the approach of an enemy made the hairs on his scalp stand erect. - -Imagine, if you can, a child filled with the wonders of nature, -bursting with queries and surrounded only by beasts of the jungle to -whom his questionings were as strange as Sanskrit would have been. If -he asked Gunto what made it rain, the big old ape would but gaze at him -in dumb astonishment for an instant and then return to his interesting -and edifying search for fleas; and when he questioned Mumga, who was -very old and should have been very wise, but wasn’t, as to the reason -for the closing of certain flowers after Kudu had deserted the sky, and -the opening of others during the night, he was surprised to discover -that Mumga had never noticed these interesting facts, though she could -tell to an inch just where the fattest grubworm should be hiding. - -To Tarzan these things were wonders. They appealed to his intellect and -to his imagination. He saw the flowers close and open; he saw certain -blooms which turned their faces always toward the sun; he saw leaves -which moved when there was no breeze; he saw vines crawl like living -things up the boles and over the branches of great trees; and to Tarzan -of the Apes the flowers and the vines and the trees were living -creatures. He often talked to them, as he talked to Goro, the moon, and -Kudu, the sun, and always was he disappointed that they did not reply. -He asked them questions; but they could not answer, though he knew that -the whispering of the leaves was the language of the leaves—they talked -with one another. - -The wind he attributed to the trees and grasses. He thought that they -swayed themselves to and fro, creating the wind. In no other way could -he account for this phenomenon. The rain he finally attributed to the -stars, the moon, and the sun; but his hypothesis was entirely unlovely -and unpoetical. - -Tonight as Tarzan lay thinking, there sprang to his fertile imagination -an explanation of the stars and the moon. He became quite excited about -it. Taug was sleeping in a nearby crotch. Tarzan swung over beside him. - -“Taug!” he cried. Instantly the great bull was awake and bristling, -sensing danger from the nocturnal summons. “Look, Taug!” exclaimed -Tarzan, pointing toward the stars. “See the eyes of Numa and Sabor, of -Sheeta and Dango. They wait around Goro to leap in upon him for their -kill. See the eyes and the nose and the mouth of Goro. And the light -that shines upon his face is the light of the great fire he has built -to frighten away Numa and Sabor and Dango and Sheeta. - -“All about him are the eyes, Taug, you can see them! But they do not -come very close to the fire—there are few eyes close to Goro. They fear -the fire! It is the fire that saves Goro from Numa. Do you see them, -Taug? Some night Numa will be very hungry and very angry—then he will -leap over the thorn bushes which encircle Goro and we will have no more -light after Kudu seeks his lair—the night will be black with the -blackness that comes when Goro is lazy and sleeps late into the night, -or when he wanders through the skies by day, forgetting the jungle and -its people.” - -Taug looked stupidly at the heavens and then at Tarzan. A meteor fell, -blazing a flaming way through the sky. - -“Look!” cried Tarzan. “Goro has thrown a burning branch at Numa.” - -Taug grumbled. “Numa is down below,” he said. “Numa does not hunt above -the trees.” But he looked curiously and a little fearfully at the -bright stars above him, as though he saw them for the first time, and -doubtless it was the first time that Taug ever had seen the stars, -though they had been in the sky above him every night of his life. To -Taug they were as the gorgeous jungle blooms—he could not eat them and -so he ignored them. - -Taug fidgeted and was nervous. For a long time he lay sleepless, -watching the stars—the flaming eyes of the beasts of prey surrounding -Goro, the moon—Goro, by whose light the apes danced to the beating of -their earthen drums. If Goro should be eaten by Numa there could be no -more Dum-Dums. Taug was overwhelmed by the thought. He glanced at -Tarzan half fearfully. Why was his friend so different from the others -of the tribe? No one else whom Taug ever had known had had such queer -thoughts as Tarzan. The ape scratched his head and wondered, dimly, if -Tarzan was a safe companion, and then he recalled slowly, and by a -laborious mental process, that Tarzan had served him better than any -other of the apes, even the strong and wise bulls of the tribe. - -Tarzan it was who had freed him from the blacks at the very time that -Taug had thought Tarzan wanted Teeka. It was Tarzan who had saved -Taug’s little balu from death. It was Tarzan who had conceived and -carried out the plan to pursue Teeka’s abductor and rescue the stolen -one. Tarzan had fought and bled in Taug’s service so many times that -Taug, although only a brutal ape, had had impressed upon his mind a -fierce loyalty which nothing now could swerve—his friendship for Tarzan -had become a habit, a tradition almost, which would endure while Taug -endured. He never showed any outward demonstration of affection—he -growled at Tarzan as he growled at the other bulls who came too close -while he was feeding—but he would have died for Tarzan. He knew it and -Tarzan knew it; but of such things apes do not speak—their vocabulary, -for the finer instincts, consisting more of actions than words. But now -Taug was worried, and he fell asleep again still thinking of the -strange words of his fellow. - -The following day he thought of them again, and without any intention -of disloyalty he mentioned to Gunto what Tarzan had suggested about the -eyes surrounding Goro, and the possibility that sooner or later Numa -would charge the moon and devour him. To the apes all large things in -nature are male, and so Goro, being the largest creature in the heavens -by night, was, to them, a bull. - -Gunto bit a sliver from a horny finger and recalled the fact that -Tarzan had once said that the trees talked to one another, and Gozan -recounted having seen the ape-man dancing alone in the moonlight with -Sheeta, the panther. They did not know that Tarzan had roped the savage -beast and tied him to a tree before he came to earth and leaped about -before the rearing cat, to tantalize him. - -Others told of seeing Tarzan ride upon the back of Tantor, the -elephant; of his bringing the black boy, Tibo, to the tribe, and of -mysterious things with which he communed in the strange lair by the -sea. They had never understood his books, and after he had shown them -to one or two of the tribe and discovered that even the pictures -carried no impression to their brains, he had desisted. - -“Tarzan is not an ape,” said Gunto. “He will bring Numa to eat us, as -he is bringing him to eat Goro. We should kill him.” - -Immediately Taug bristled. Kill Tarzan! “First you will kill Taug,” he -said, and lumbered away to search for food. - -But others joined the plotters. They thought of many things which -Tarzan had done—things which apes did not do and could not understand. -Again Gunto voiced the opinion that the Tarmangani, the white ape, -should be slain, and the others, filled with terror about the stories -they had heard, and thinking Tarzan was planning to slay Goro, greeted -the proposal with growls of accord. - -Among them was Teeka, listening with all her ears; but her voice was -not raised in furtherance of the plan. Instead she bristled, showing -her fangs, and afterward she went away in search of Tarzan; but she -could not find him, as he was roaming far afield in search of meat. She -found Taug, though, and told him what the others were planning, and the -great bull stamped upon the ground and roared. His bloodshot eyes -blazed with wrath, his upper lip curled up to expose his fighting -fangs, and the hair upon his spine stood erect, and then a rodent -scurried across the open and Taug sprang to seize it. In an instant he -seemed to have forgotten his rage against the enemies of his friend; -but such is the mind of an ape. - -Several miles away Tarzan of the Apes lolled upon the broad head of -Tantor, the elephant. He scratched beneath the great ears with the -point of a sharp stick, and he talked to the huge pachyderm of -everything which filled his black-thatched head. Little, or nothing, of -what he said did Tantor understand; but Tantor is a good listener. -Swaying from side to side he stood there enjoying the companionship of -his friend, the friend he loved, and absorbing the delicious sensations -of the scratching. - -Numa, the lion, caught the scent of man, and warily stalked it until he -came within sight of his prey upon the head of the mighty tusker; then -he turned, growling and muttering, away in search of more propitious -hunting grounds. - -The elephant caught the scent of the lion, borne to him by an eddying -breeze, and lifting his trunk trumpeted loudly. Tarzan stretched back -luxuriously, lying supine at full length along the rough hide. Flies -swarmed about his face; but with a leafy branch torn from a tree he -lazily brushed them away. - -“Tantor,” he said, “it is good to be alive. It is good to lie in the -cool shadows. It is good to look upon the green trees and the bright -colors of the flowers—upon everything which Bulamutumumo has put here -for us. He is very good to us, Tantor; He has given you tender leaves -and bark, and rich grasses to eat; to me He has given Bara and Horta -and Pisah, the fruits and the nuts and the roots. He provides for each -the food that each likes best. All that He asks is that we be strong -enough or cunning enough to go forth and take it. Yes, Tantor, it is -good to live. I should hate to die.” - -Tantor made a little sound in his throat and curled his trunk upward -that he might caress the ape-man’s cheek with the finger at its tip. - -“Tantor,” said Tarzan presently, “turn and feed in the direction of the -tribe of Kerchak, the great ape, that Tarzan may ride home upon your -head without walking.” - -The tusker turned and moved slowly off along a broad, tree-arched -trail, pausing occasionally to pluck a tender branch, or strip the -edible bark from an adjacent tree. Tarzan sprawled face downward upon -the beast’s head and back, his legs hanging on either side, his head -supported by his open palms, his elbows resting on the broad cranium. -And thus they made their leisurely way toward the gathering place of -the tribe. - -Just before they arrived at the clearing from the north there reached -it from the south another figure—that of a well-knit black warrior, who -stepped cautiously through the jungle, every sense upon the alert -against the many dangers which might lurk anywhere along the way. Yet -he passed beneath the southernmost sentry that was posted in a great -tree commanding the trail from the south. The ape permitted the -Gomangani to pass unmolested, for he saw that he was alone; but the -moment that the warrior had entered the clearing a loud “Kreeg-ah!” -rang out from behind him, immediately followed by a chorus of replies -from different directions, as the great bulls crashed through the trees -in answer to the summons of their fellow. - -The black man halted at the first cry and looked about him. He could -see nothing, but he knew the voice of the hairy tree men whom he and -his kind feared, not alone because of the strength and ferocity of the -savage beings, but as well through a superstitious terror engendered by -the manlike appearance of the apes. - -But Bulabantu was no coward. He heard the apes all about him; he knew -that escape was probably impossible, so he stood his ground, his spear -ready in his hand and a war cry trembling on his lips. He would sell -his life dearly, would Bulabantu, under-chief of the village of Mbonga, -the chief. - -Tarzan and Tantor were but a short distance away when the first cry of -the sentry rang out through the quiet jungle. Like a flash the ape-man -leaped from the elephant’s back to a near-by tree and was swinging -rapidly in the direction of the clearing before the echoes of the first -“Kreeg-ah” had died away. When he arrived he saw a dozen bulls circling -a single Gomangani. With a blood-curdling scream Tarzan sprang to the -attack. He hated the blacks even more than did the apes, and here was -an opportunity for a kill in the open. What had the Gomangani done? Had -he slain one of the tribe? - -Tarzan asked the nearest ape. No, the Gomangani had harmed none. Gozan, -being on watch, had seen him coming through the forest and had warned -the tribe—that was all. The ape-man pushed through the circle of bulls, -none of which as yet had worked himself into sufficient frenzy for a -charge, and came where he had a full and close view of the black. He -recognized the man instantly. Only the night before he had seen him -facing the eyes in the dark, while his fellows groveled in the dirt at -his feet, too terrified even to defend themselves. Here was a brave -man, and Tarzan had deep admiration for bravery. Even his hatred of the -blacks was not so strong a passion as his love of courage. He would -have joyed in battling with a black warrior at almost any time; but -this one he did not wish to kill—he felt, vaguely, that the man had -earned his life by his brave defense of it on the preceding night, nor -did he fancy the odds that were pitted against the lone warrior. - -He turned to the apes. “Go back to your feeding,” he said, “and let -this Gomangani go his way in peace. He has not harmed us, and last -night I saw him fighting Numa and Sabor with fire, alone in the jungle. -He is brave. Why should we kill one who is brave and who has not -attacked us? Let him go.” - -The apes growled. They were displeased. “Kill the Gomangani!” cried -one. - -“Yes,” roared another, “kill the Gomangani and the Tarmangani as well.” - -“Kill the white ape!” screamed Gozan, “he is no ape at all; but a -Gomangani with his skin off.” - -“Kill Tarzan!” bellowed Gunto. “Kill! Kill! Kill!” - -The bulls were now indeed working themselves into the frenzy of -slaughter; but against Tarzan rather than the black man. A shaggy form -charged through them, hurling those it came in contact with to one side -as a strong man might scatter children. It was Taug—great, savage Taug. - -“Who says ‘kill Tarzan’?” he demanded. “Who kills Tarzan must kill -Taug, too. Who can kill Taug? Taug will tear your insides from you and -feed them to Dango.” - -“We can kill you all,” replied Gunto. “There are many of us and few of -you,” and he was right. Tarzan knew that he was right. Taug knew it; -but neither would admit such a possibility. It is not the way of bull -apes. - -“I am Tarzan,” cried the ape-man. “I am Tarzan. Mighty hunter; mighty -fighter. In all the jungle none so great as Tarzan.” - -Then, one by one, the opposing bulls recounted their virtues and their -prowess. And all the time the combatants came closer and closer to one -another. Thus do the bulls work themselves to the proper pitch before -engaging in battle. - -Gunto came, stiff-legged, close to Tarzan and sniffed at him, with -bared fangs. Tarzan rumbled forth a low, menacing growl. They might -repeat these tactics a dozen times; but sooner or later one bull would -close with another and then the whole hideous pack would be tearing and -rending at their prey. - -Bulabantu, the black man, had stood wide-eyed in wonder from the moment -he had seen Tarzan approaching through the apes. He had heard much of -this devil-god who ran with the hairy tree people; but never before had -he seen him in full daylight. He knew him well enough from the -description of those who had seen him and from the glimpses he had had -of the marauder upon several occasions when the ape-man had entered the -village of Mbonga, the chief, by night, in the perpetration of one of -his numerous ghastly jokes. - -Bulabantu could not, of course, understand anything which passed -between Tarzan and the apes; but he saw that the ape-man and one of the -larger bulls were in argument with the others. He saw that these two -were standing with their back toward him and between him and the -balance of the tribe, and he guessed, though it seemed improbable, that -they might be defending him. He knew that Tarzan had once spared the -life of Mbonga, the chief, and that he had succored Tibo, and Tibo’s -mother, Momaya. So it was not impossible that he would help Bulabantu; -but how he could accomplish it Bulabantu could not guess; nor as a -matter of fact could Tarzan, for the odds against him were too great. - -Gunto and the others were slowly forcing Tarzan and Taug back toward -Bulabantu. The ape-man thought of his words with Tantor just a short -time before: “Yes, Tantor, it is good to live. I should hate to die.” -And now he knew that he was about to die, for the temper of the great -bulls was mounting rapidly against him. Always had many of them hated -him, and all were suspicious of him. They knew he was different. Tarzan -knew it too; but he was glad that he was—he was a MAN; that he had -learned from his picture-books, and he was very proud of the -distinction. Presently, though, he would be a dead man. - -Gunto was preparing to charge. Tarzan knew the signs. He knew that the -balance of the bulls would charge with Gunto. Then it would soon be -over. Something moved among the verdure at the opposite side of the -clearing. Tarzan saw it just as Gunto, with the terrifying cry of a -challenging ape, sprang forward. Tarzan voiced a peculiar call and then -crouched to meet the assault. Taug crouched, too, and Bulabantu, -assured now that these two were fighting upon his side, couched his -spear and sprang between them to receive the first charge of the enemy. - -Simultaneously a huge bulk broke into the clearing from the jungle -behind the charging bulls. The trumpeting of a mad tusker rose shrill -above the cries of the anthropoids, as Tantor, the elephant, dashed -swiftly across the clearing to the aid of his friend. - -Gunto never closed upon the ape-man, nor did a fang enter flesh upon -either side. The terrific reverberation of Tantor’s challenge sent the -bulls scurrying to the trees, jabbering and scolding. Taug raced off -with them. Only Tarzan and Bulabantu remained. The latter stood his -ground because he saw that the devil-god did not run, and because the -black had the courage to face a certain and horrible death beside one -who had quite evidently dared death for him. - -But it was a surprised Gomangani who saw the mighty elephant come to a -sudden halt in front of the ape-man and caress him with his long, -sinuous trunk. - -Tarzan turned toward the black man. “Go!” he said in the language of -the apes, and pointed in the direction of the village of Mbonga. -Bulabantu understood the gesture, if not the word, nor did he lose time -in obeying. Tarzan stood watching him until he had disappeared. He knew -that the apes would not follow. Then he said to the elephant: “Pick me -up!” and the tusker swung him lightly to his head. - -“Tarzan goes to his lair by the big water,” shouted the ape-man to the -apes in the trees. “All of you are more foolish than Manu, except Taug -and Teeka. Taug and Teeka may come to see Tarzan; but the others must -keep away. Tarzan is done with the tribe of Kerchak.” - -He prodded Tantor with a calloused toe and the big beast swung off -across the clearing, the apes watching them until they were swallowed -up by the jungle. - -Before the night fell Taug killed Gunto, picking a quarrel with him -over his attack upon Tarzan. - -For a moon the tribe saw nothing of Tarzan of the Apes. Many of them -probably never gave him a thought; but there were those who missed him -more than Tarzan imagined. Taug and Teeka often wished that he was -back, and Taug determined a dozen times to go and visit Tarzan in his -seaside lair; but first one thing and then another interfered. - -One night when Taug lay sleepless looking up at the starry heavens he -recalled the strange things that Tarzan once had suggested to him—that -the bright spots were the eyes of the meat-eaters waiting in the dark -of the jungle sky to leap upon Goro, the moon, and devour him. The more -he thought about this matter the more perturbed he became. - -And then a strange thing happened. Even as Taug looked at Goro, he saw -a portion of one edge disappear, precisely as though something was -gnawing upon it. Larger and larger became the hole in the side of Goro. -With a scream, Taug leaped to his feet. His frenzied “Kreeg-ahs!” -brought the terrified tribe screaming and chattering toward him. - -“Look!” cried Taug, pointing at the moon. “Look! It is as Tarzan said. -Numa has sprung through the fires and is devouring Goro. You called -Tarzan names and drove him from the tribe; now see how wise he was. Let -one of you who hated Tarzan go to Goro’s aid. See the eyes in the dark -jungle all about Goro. He is in danger and none can help him—none -except Tarzan. Soon Goro will be devoured by Numa and we shall have no -more light after Kudu seeks his lair. How shall we dance the Dum-Dum -without the light of Goro?” - -The apes trembled and whimpered. Any manifestation of the powers of -nature always filled them with terror, for they could not understand. - -“Go and bring Tarzan,” cried one, and then they all took up the cry of -“Tarzan!” “Bring Tarzan!” “He will save Goro.” But who was to travel -the dark jungle by night to fetch him? - -“I will go,” volunteered Taug, and an instant later he was off through -the Stygian gloom toward the little land-locked harbor by the sea. - -And as the tribe waited they watched the slow devouring of the moon. -Already Numa had eaten out a great semicircular piece. At that rate -Goro would be entirely gone before Kudu came again. The apes trembled -at the thought of perpetual darkness by night. They could not sleep. -Restlessly they moved here and there among the branches of trees, -watching Numa of the skies at his deadly feast, and listening for the -coming of Taug with Tarzan. - -Goro was nearly gone when the apes heard the sounds of the approach -through the trees of the two they awaited, and presently Tarzan, -followed by Taug, swung into a nearby tree. - -The ape-man wasted no time in idle words. In his hand was his long bow -and at his back hung a quiver full of arrows, poisoned arrows that he -had stolen from the village of the blacks; just as he had stolen the -bow. Up into a great tree he clambered, higher and higher until he -stood swaying upon a small limb which bent low beneath his weight. Here -he had a clear and unobstructed view of the heavens. He saw Goro and -the inroads which the hungry Numa had made into his shining surface. - -Raising his face to the moon, Tarzan shrilled forth his hideous -challenge. Faintly and from afar came the roar of an answering lion. -The apes shivered. Numa of the skies had answered Tarzan. - -Then the ape-man fitted an arrow to his bow, and drawing the shaft far -back, aimed its point at the heart of Numa where he lay in the heavens -devouring Goro. There was a loud twang as the released bolt shot into -the dark heavens. Again and again did Tarzan of the Apes launch his -arrows at Numa, and all the while the apes of the tribe of Kerchak -huddled together in terror. - -At last came a cry from Taug. “Look! Look!” he screamed. “Numa is -killed. Tarzan has killed Numa. See! Goro is emerging from the belly of -Numa,” and, sure enough, the moon was gradually emerging from whatever -had devoured her, whether it was Numa, the lion, or the shadow of the -earth; but were you to try to convince an ape of the tribe of Kerchak -that it was aught but Numa who so nearly devoured Goro that night, or -that another than Tarzan preserved the brilliant god of their savage -and mysterious rites from a frightful death, you would have -difficulty—and a fight on your hands. - -And so Tarzan of the Apes came back to the tribe of Kerchak, and in his -coming he took a long stride toward the kingship, which he ultimately -won, for now the apes looked up to him as a superior being. - -In all the tribe there was but one who was at all skeptical about the -plausibility of Tarzan’s remarkable rescue of Goro, and that one, -strange as it may seem, was Tarzan of the Apes. - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the -Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work -on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the -phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where - you are located before using this eBook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg™ License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format -other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain -Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -provided that: - -• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation.” - -• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ - works. - -• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right -of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ - -Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™'s -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org. - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact. - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without -widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate. - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate. - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org. - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - |