Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Contents
CHAPTER
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.
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
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.
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?
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,
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Tarzan turned and kicked aside some of the brush which hid
the pit. Instantly Tantor saw and understood.
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.
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.
And then Mbonga, the chief, came, and laying his spear
heavily across the shoulders of his people, drove them
from their prey.
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
"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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
* * *
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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
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.
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,
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.
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.
"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.
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.
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.
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 sighed.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
"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."
"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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
* * *
"Ten fat goats!" screamed Momaya. "I could not pay you
ten fat goats in as many years. Ten fat goats, indeed!"
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.
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.
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.
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.
WHEN TARZAN OF the Apes was still but a boy he had learned,
A cut upon the back of his head showed where he had struck
the tough stem of the shrub and explained his unconsciousness.
The day came, however, when the very thing that had once
all but killed him proved the means of saving his life.
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
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.
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.
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.
The Lion
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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
"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."
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.
"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.
"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."
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Nightmare
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
10
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, 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.
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.
But before ever she reached the bole, Toog had succeeded,
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.
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.
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 Tarzan saw the still form in Taug's arms, a low growl
broke from his lips, for he too loved Teeka's little balu.
"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."
"A stranger bull has been here," said Tarzan. "It was he
that hurt Gazan. He has carried off Teeka."
"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.
told both Tarzan and Taug that they were upon her trail,
and soon the scent of Toog became as familiar as the other.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
11
A Jungle Joke
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
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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?
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.
"It was he all the time," murmured one. "It was the devil-god."
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.
12
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
"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."
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.
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 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?
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.
"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.
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 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.
"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?
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.
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.