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The Jungle Tales of Tarzan

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Contents

CHAPTER

1 Tarzan's First Love
2 The Capture of Tarzan
3 The Fight for the Balu
4 The God of Tarzan
5 Tarzan and the Black Boy
6 The Witch-Doctor Seeks Vengeance
7 The End of Bukawai
8 The Lion
9 The Nightmare


10 The Battle for Teeka
11 A Jungle Joke
12 Tarzan Rescues the Moon

1

Tarzan's First Love

TEEKASTRETCHED AT luxurious ease in the shade of the
tropical forestpresentedunquestionablya most alluring
picture of youngfeminine loveliness. Or at least so
thought Tarzan of the Apeswho squatted upon a low-swinging
branch in a near-by tree and looked down upon her.

Just to have seen him therelolling upon the swaying
bough of the jungle-forest gianthis brown skin mottled
by the brilliant equatorial sunlight which percolated
through the leafy canopy of green above himhis clean-limbed
body relaxed in graceful easehis 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 hideoushairy she-apenor 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 Kerchakthe great ape.

Norcould you have read the thoughts which passed through
that activehealthy brainthe 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 aloneyou 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 ClaytonLord Greystokewith a seat
in the House of Lordshe did not knownorknowing
would have understood.

YesTeeka 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-fellowsand Teeka
still continued to be playful while the young bulls of her own
age were rapidly becoming surly and morose. Tarzanif he
gave the matter much thought at allprobably 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 todayas he sat gazing upon herhe found himself
noting the beauties of Teeka's form and features--something
he never had done beforesince 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 headrunning 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 smoothbrown hide he hated with a
hatred born of disgust and contempt. Years back he had
harbored a hope that some day hetoowould 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 teethnot so large as the males
of coursebut still mightyhandsome things by comparison
with Tarzan's feeble white ones. And her beetling brows
and broadflat noseand 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 afternoonand wondered
a young bull ape who had been lazily foraging for food
beneath the dampmatted 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 watertheir quickstrong fingers ready to
leap forth and seize Pisahthe fishshould 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 Numathe lion.
Whythenshould 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 apesomber 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 snarlexposing his
fighting fangsand a deep growl rumbled from his
cavernous chest. Taug looked upbatting 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 rateshe was feminineand so she reached
up and scratched Taug behind one of his smallflat ears.

Tarzan sawand in the instant that he sawTeeka 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.

Stoopedhis muscles rigid and one great shoulder turned
toward the young bullTarzan of the Apes sidled nearer
and nearer. His face was partly avertedbut his keen
gray eyes never left those of Taugand as he came
his growls increased in depth and volume.

Taug rose upon his short legsbristling. His fighting
fangs were bared. Hetoosidledstiff-leggedand growled.

Teeka is Tarzan's,said the ape-manin the low gutturals
of the great anthropoids.

Teeka is Taug's,replied the bull ape.

Thaka and Numgo and Guntodisturbed by the growlings
of the two young bullslooked up half apathetic
half interested. They were sleepybut 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 fatherand Bolganithe gorilla.


Taug knew these thingsand so he came warilycircling about
Tarzan in search of an opening. The lattermade cautious
because of his lesser bulk and the inferiority of his
natural armamentfollowed 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 cowardiceand called them vile names
such as Histahthe snakeand Dangothe hyena.
She threatened to call Mumga to chastise them with a
stick--Mumgawho 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 sideeluding 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 inand 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. Ahbut 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 windsince 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 herbut Teeka did not look up.

With his wound Taug had backed off growling horribly.
Tarzan had followed himscreaming 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 foamand 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.
Insteadhe 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 apeother 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 afraidfor 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 teethwhile strong and sharpwere
as weapons of offensepitifully inadequate by comparison
with the mighty fighting fangs of the anthropoids.
By dancing aboutjust out of reach of an antagonist
Tarzan could do infinite injury with his long
sharp hunting knifeand 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 bulland Tarzan
of the Apes danced lightly to this side and that
hurling jungle billingsgate at his foethe while he
nicked him now and again with his knife.


There were lulls in the fighting when the two would stand
panting for breathfacing each othermustering 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 recognizedTaug turned
and fled. No need to question him--his warning proclaimed
the near presence of their ancient enemy.


Tarzan started to seek safetyas did the other members
of the tribeand as he did so he heard a panther's
scream mingled with the frightened cry of a she-ape.
Taug heardtoo; but he did not pause in his flight.


With the ape-boyhoweverit was different. He looked
back to see if any member of the tribe was close pressed
by the beast of preyand 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 Sheetathe pantherin easy
graceful bounds. Sheeta appeared to be in no hurry.
His meat was assuredsince 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 Numathe lionwas anxious to measure fangs
with themand that if all those of the tribe who chanced
to be present today would chargeSheetathe great cat
would doubtless turn tail and run for his life.


Taug heardas did the othersbut no one came to Tarzan's
assistance or Teeka's rescueand Sheeta was rapidly
closing up the distance between himself and his prey.


The ape-boyleaping after the panthercried 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 gainingbut 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 missfor 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 Sheetaand 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 longsinuous leap
the coils of the ape-boy's grass rope shot swiftly
through the airstraightening 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 settledand Tarzan
with a quick twist of his rope-handdrew 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 tailand gaping jawsfrom which issued
hideous cries of rage and disappointment.


He saw the ape-boythe cause of his discomfiture
scarce forty feet before himand 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 soonand 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 fightwhat 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 Tarzanfor the
progenitors of man havenaturallymany 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.
AnywayTarzan was not a real Manganiso why should they
risk their lives in an effort to protect him?

And now Sheeta was almost upon the lithenaked 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 himand as Sheeta
went hurtling to the ground beyondTarzan was racing
for the safety of the nearest tree.

The panther recovered himself almost immediately and
wheelingtore after his preythe ape-boy's rope
dragging along the ground behind him. In doubling back
after TarzanSheeta 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 ropeand as he leaped once again after Tarzan
of the Apes the rope encircled the small bushbecame
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 perchedhurling twigs and epithets at the raging
feline beneath him. The other members of the tribe now
took up the bombardmentusing such hard-shelled fruits
and dead branches as came within their reachuntil 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 anotheruntilwith 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 himin evident token
that her choice was made.

Taug eyed them sullenly. Once when he came close
Teeka bared her fangs and growled at himand 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 dayhis rope repairedTarzan took to the trees
in search of game. More than his fellows he required meat
and sowhile they were satisfied with fruits and herbs
and beetleswhich could be discovered without much effort
upon their partTarzan 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 whichday by daywere building
beneath the softsmooth texture of his brown hide.

Taug saw him departand thenquite casuallythe big beast
hunted closer and closer to Teeka in his search for food.
At last he was within a few feet of herand 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 legsmaking strange growlings in his throat.
He raised his lipsbaring his fangs. Mybut 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 shortpowerful neck. What a beautiful
creature he was indeed!

Taugflattered by the unconcealed admiration in her eyes
strutted aboutas proud and as vain as a peacock.
Presently he began to inventory his assetsmentally
and shortly he found himself comparing them with those
of his rival.

Taug gruntedfor 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 themand 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 Teekafinally 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 momentlooking at them; thenwith 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 Taugand 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 Teekayet 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 deathwhen the poisoned arrow of Kulonga
had pierced her savage heartKala had represented
to the English boy the sole object of love which he had known.


In her wildfierce way Kala had loved her adopted son
and Tarzan had returned that lovethough 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 hercaressing Taug
the more the thing within his breast hurt him.

Tarzan shook his head and growled; then on and on
through the jungle he swungand the farther he traveled
and the more he thought upon his wrongsthe 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 Numathe lionand Saborthe lioness
passed beneath himside by sideand 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 themwho was a little distance from
his companionswhen 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 whywhen they had built itthey 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 themTarzan derived considerable
entertainment in watching them at their daily life within
the villageand especially at their danceswhen 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 disappointedfor there was no dance
that night.

Insteadfrom the safe concealment of his treeTarzan saw
little groups seated about tiny fires discussing the events
of the dayand 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 nightcurled in the crotch
of the great tree above the villageTeeka filled his mind
and afterward she filled his dreams--she and the young
black men laughing and talking with the young black women.


Taughunting alonehad 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 Taugcome into maturity
was an evil-natured brute of an exceeding short temper.
When something thwarted himhis sole idea was to overcome
it by brute strength and ferocityand so now when he found
his way blockedhe tore angrily into the leafy screen
and an instant later found himself within a strange lair
his progress effectually blockednotwithstanding his most
violent efforts to forge ahead.


Biting and striking at the barrierTaug finally worked
himself into a frightful ragebut all to no avail;
and at last he became convinced that he must turn back.
But when he would have done sowhat 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 daywhile among the branches of the trees above
them hovered a naked young giant filled with the curiosity
of the wild things. Manuthe monkeychattered and
scolded as Tarzan passedand though he was not afraid
of the familiar figure of the ape-boyhe 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 ona 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 trapTaug set up a great commotion.
Seizing the bars of his prisonhe shook them frantically
and all the while he roared and growled terrifically.
The blacks were elatedfor while they had not built
their trap for this hairy tree manthey were delighted
with their catch.


Tarzan pricked up his ears when he heard the voice of a
great ape andcircling quickly until he was down wind
from the traphe 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. Yesit 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 ownwith none to dispute his right to her.
As he watchedhe saw the black warriors strip the screen
from about the cagefasten 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 tribeand Teeka.

Onceupon the journeyhe surprised Sheeta and his family
in a little overgrown clearing. The great cat lay stretched
upon the groundwhile his mateone paw across her lord's
savage facelicked at the soft white fur at his throat.

Tarzan increased his speed then until he fairly flew
through the forestnor was it long before he came upon
the tribe. He saw them before they saw himfor of all
the jungle creaturesnone passed more quietly than Tarzan
of the Apes. He saw Kamma and her mate feeding side
by sidetheir hairy bodies rubbing against each other.
And he saw Teeka feeding by herself. Not for long
would she feed thus in lonelinessthought Tarzan
as with a bound he landed amongst them.

There was a startled rush and a chorus of angry
and frightened snarlsfor Tarzan had surprised them;
but there was moretoothan 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 themhe made his way toward Teeka;
but as he approached her the ape drew away.

Teeka,he saidit is Tarzan. You belong to Tarzan.
I have come for you.

The ape drew closerlooking him over carefully.
Finally she sniffed at himas 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 sheTarzan 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 TarzanLord Greystokeput his arm about her.

As he did so he noticedwith a startthe strange
incongruity of that smoothbrown 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 sheand how the one
seemed to belong to the other. Even the proud male bird
with his gay plumagebore a close resemblance to his
quieter spousewhile Numabut for his shaggy mane
was almost a counterpart of Saborthe lioness.
The males and the females differedit 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 fierceweird challenge of the victorious
bull ape. The tribe turned curiously to eye him.
He had killed nothingnor was there any antagonist to be
goaded to madness by the savage scream. Nothere was
no excuse for itand 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 warriorssweating beneath their strenuous task
and resting oftenmade 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 forestand thendoubtless
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 closerpausing 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 awakeand one of these was dozing.


Tarzan of the Apes gathered himselfand 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 namecautioning the ape to silence
and Taug's growling ceased.


The black approached the rear of the cage and examined
the fastenings of the doorand as he stood there the



beast above him launched itself from the tree full upon
his back. Steel fingers circled his throatchoking 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 widehis 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-boynor 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.

Insteadthe 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 togetherthe 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.


2

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 squatresting and gossiping
with much laughterat the edge of the pit they were digging.


Against the boles of near-by trees leaned their long
oval shields of thick buffalo hideand the spears
of those who were doing the scooping. Sweat glistened
upon their smoothebon skinsbeneath which rolled
rounded musclessupple in the perfection of nature's
uncontaminated health.


A reed buckstepping 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 awaydeep in the tangle of impenetrable
jungleNumathe lionraised 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 aircaught the acrid scent spoor of the reed buck
and the heavy scent of man. But Numa was well filled.
With a lowdisgusted grunt he rose and slunk away.


Brilliantly plumaged birds with raucous voices darted from
tree to tree. Little monkeyschattering and scolding
swung through the swaying limbs above the black warriors.
Yet they were alonefor the teeming jungle with all its
myriad lifelike the swarming streets of a great metropolis
is one of the loneliest spots in God's great universe.


But were they alone?


Above themlightly balanced upon a leafy tree limba gray-eyed
youth watched with eager intentness their every move.
The fire of haterestrainedsmoldered 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 enmityyet he liked
well to watch themavid 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 stakessharpened at their upper ends
and set them at intervals upright in the bottom of the pit
his wonderment but increasednor was it satisfied with
the placing of the light cross-poles over the pitor 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 satisfactionand Tarzan surveyed ittoo. 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 wouldhoweverhe could not solve the mystery
of the concealed pitfor 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 Numathe lionto Tantorthe elephantto the great
apes and the lesser apesto each and all of the myriad
creatures of this savage wildthe ways of man were new.
They had much to learn of these blackhairless creatures
that walked erect upon their hind paws--and they were
learning it slowlyand always to their sorrow.

Shortly after the blacks had departedTarzan swung easily
to the trail. Sniffing suspiciouslyhe circled the edge
of the pit. Squatting upon his hauncheshe scraped
away a little earth to expose one of the cross-bars. He
sniffed at thistouched itcocked his head upon one side
and contemplated it gravely for several minutes. Then he
carefully re-covered itarranging the earth as neatly
as had the blacks. This donehe swung himself back among
the branches of the trees and moved off in search of his
hairy fellowsthe great apes of the tribe of Kerchak.

Once he crossed the trail of Numathe lionpausing for a
moment to hurl a soft fruit at the snarling face of his enemy
and to taunt and insult himcalling him eater of carrion
and brother of Dangothe hyena. Numahis yellow-green
eyes round and burning with concentrated hateglared up
at the dancing figure above him. Low growls vibrated his
heavy jowls and his great rage transmitted to his sinuous
tail a sharpwhiplike motion; but realizing from past
experience the futility of long distance argument with the
ape-manhe 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 foeTarzan continued along his way.

Another mile and a shifting wind brought to his keen
nostrils a familiarpungent 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 limband at the
sudden cracking sound the ponderous figure halted.
Great ears were thrown forwardand a longsupple trunk
rose quickly to wave to and fro in search of the scent
of an enemywhile two weaklittle 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. "Barathe deeris less fearful
than you--youTantorthe elephantgreatest of the jungle
folk with the strength of as many Numas as I have toes upon
my feet and fingers upon my hands. Tantorwho can uproot
great treestrembles with fear at the sound of a broken twig."

A rumbling noisewhich might have been either a sign
of contempt or a sigh of reliefwas 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
howeveras to the whereabouts of the ape-manfor 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 hideand as
his fingers scratched the more tender surfaces beneath the
great earshe 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 greatgray dreadnaught of the junglehe 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 pleasantfriendly 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 Tarzanas a little childhad once
fearlessly approached the great bullassuming 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 biddingTantor 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 headTantor 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 originthough neither did.

For half an hour Tarzan sprawled there upon Tantor's back.
Time had no meaning for either of them. Lifeas 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 smallerand being omnivorous
food was less difficult to obtain. If one sort did not
come readily to handthere were always many others to
satisfy his hunger. He was less particular as to his diet
than Tantorwho would eat only the bark of certain trees
and the wood of otherswhile a third appealed to him only
through its leavesand theseperhapsjust 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.

Howeverthese 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 normalhealthy human being--he craved
some living thing upon which to lavish his affection.
His childhood playmates among the apes of Kerchak were
now greatsullen 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 calmof poiseof 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 freshwarm harvest. Fruitsberriesand tender
plantain found a place upon his menu in the order that he
happened upon themfor he did not seek such foods.
Meatmeatmeat! It was always meat that Tarzan
of the Apes hunted; but sometimes meat eluded himas today.

And as he roamed the jungle his active mind busied itself
not alone with his huntingbut 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 onesit is true
but at least he used his brain for the purpose God
intended itwhich was the less difficult because he was
not handicapped by the second-handand usually erroneous
judgment of others.

And as he puzzled over the covered pitthere loomed
suddenly before his mental vision a hugegray-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-manand 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 limbhe raced through
the middle terraces where the trees grew close together.
Again he dropped to the ground and spedsilently and
light of footover 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 manand so it came that he entered a large clearing
denuded of treeswithout 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 asidefor he knew well enough what manner of creature
the presence of these little sentinels proclaimed.
Simultaneously Butothe rhinocerosscrambled to his
short legs and charged furiously. Haphazard charges Buto
the rhinoceros. With his weak eyes he sees but poorly
even at short distancesand 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 chargesfor 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 Tarzanacross the few yards of knee-deep grass which
separated them. Accident started him in the direction
of the ape-manand 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 clearinga 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 himthe massive head lowered
and the longheavy horn inclined for the frightful work
for which nature had designed it; but as he struck upward
his weapon raked only thin airfor 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.


Butoangered and mystified by the strange disappearance
of his preywheeled and charged frantically in
another directionwhich chanced to be not the direction
of Tarzan's flightand 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 trailand 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 crackingsnapping 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 signalpassed from one
to anotherapprised 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 Tantorthe elephant
paused with upraised trunk and tailwith great ears
up-prickedand 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 warriorsurging him on
in the rapid flight which would not permit a careful
examination of the ground before him. Tantorthe elephant
who could have turned and scattered his adversaries
with a single chargefled like a frightened deer--fled
toward a hideoustorturing death.

And behind them all came Tarzan of the Apesracing 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 terroreither failed to hearor hearing
dared not pause to heed.

Now the giant pachyderm was but a few yards from
the hidden death lurking in his pathand the blacks
certain of successwere 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 headsnor did Tantoreithersee 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 Tarzanand 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 Tantorthe elephantis a huge bunch of nerves
and now he was half panic-stricken by terror.


Before him yawned the pithow far he did not knowbut 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.

Tarzanstanding upon the edge of the pitsmiled 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 forwardbut it was too late.
Backward and downward he went toward the sharpened stakes in
the bottom of the pit.

Whena moment laterthe blacks came they saw even
from a distance that Tantor had eluded themfor 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 thenwarneddrawn back;
but when they had come to the pit's verge and peered over
their eyes went wide in astonishmentforquiet 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 terrorawed by the presence
which they had for some time believed to possess the
miraculous powers of a demon; but others there were who
pushed forwardthinking 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 stakesrendering him unconscious.
The blacks were quick to discover thisand equally
quick to bind their prisoner's arms and legs before he
should regain consciousnessfor 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 nowbut 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 himfor fear they would become
apprehensive and add to them. Presently his captors
discovered that he was consciousand 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 thempricking 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 sufferingtheir awe increasedso that they
soon desistedhalf believing that this strange white
giant was a supernatural being and so was immune from pain.

As they approached their villagethey shouted aloud the
victorious cries of successful warriorsso that by the time
they reached the gatedancing and waving their spears
a great crowd of menwomenand 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 wildand heavy jaws fell open in astonishment
and incredulity. For months they had lived in perpetual
terror of a weirdwhite 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 laterat nighttheir dead bodies had fallen
as from the heavensinto the village street.

This fearsome creature had appeared by night in the huts
of the villagekilledand disappearedleaving behind
him in the huts with his deadstrange 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 womanscreamingran forward and struck
the ape-man across the face. Another and another followed
her exampleuntil Tarzan of the Apes was surrounded
by a fightingclawingyelling mob of natives.

And then Mbongathe chiefcameand laying his spear
heavily across the shoulders of his peopledrove them
from their prey.

We will save him until night,he said.

Far out in the jungle Tantorthe elephanthis first
panic of fear allayedstood 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 dangereven 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 earsand he wheeledas though in terror
contemplating flight; but something stayed him
and again he turned aboutraised his trunkand gave
voice to a shrill cry.


Then he stood listening.


In the distant village where Mbonga had restored quiet
and orderthe voice of Tantor was scarcely audible
to the blacksbut 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 calland raising
his headgave 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 anotheran answering cryand Tarzan of the Apes
satisfiedturned 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 breastand as night drew on
hope died within his heart and in the stoic calm of the wild
beast which he washe resigned himself to meet the fate
which awaited him.


All afternoon he had been workingworkingworking 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 butcheredand if he did--Tarzan licked his lips
in anticipationand smiled a coldgrim 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--paintedbefeathered warriors--even
more hideous than nature had intended them. They came
and pushed him into the openwhere his appearance was
greeted by wild shouts from the assembled villagers.


To the stake they led himand 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 thoughtfor quickness
he leaped forward among the warriors nearest him.
A blow sent one to earthasgrowling 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.


Strikingclawingand snappingthe ape-man fought--
fought as his foster people had taught him to fight--fought
like a wild beast cornered. His strengthhis agility
his courageand 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 himthough a score of them
bled from ugly woundsand two lay very still beneath the
trampling feetand the rolling bodies of the contestants.


Overpower him they mightbut could they keep him
overpowered while they bound him? A half hour of
desperate endeavor convinced them that they could not
and so Mbongawholike all good rulershad circled in
the safety of the backgroundcalled to one to work his way
in and spear the victim. Graduallythrough the milling
battling menthe 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 aboutfollowing the movements
of the twistingscuffling 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 musclesrolling beneath his glisteningebon hide
and then from the jungle just beyond the palisade came
a thunderous crashing. The spear-hand pausedthe 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 strawsand an instant
later Tantorthe elephantthundered down upon them.


To right and left the blacks fledscreaming in terror.
Some who hovered upon the verge of the strife with Tarzan
heard and made good their escapebut 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 chargedtrumpeting furiously. Above them
he stoppedhis sensitive trunk weaving among themand there
at the bottomhe found Tarzanbloodybut 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--wickedfrightfulterrifying. The warrior screamed
and as he screamedthe sinuous trunk encircled him
lifted him high above the groundand hurled him far after
the fleeing crowd.


Another and another Tantor wrenched from the body



of the ape-manthrowing them to right and to left
where they lay either moaning or very quietas 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 relievedhe urged his men
forward to attack with their heavy elephant spears;
but as they cameTantor swung Tarzan to his broad head
andwheelinglumbered 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 TantorTarzan was not a man--he was but a fellow
jungle beast.

And so it was that Tantorthe elephantdischarged an
obligation to Tarzan of the Apescementing even more
closely the friendship that had existed between them
since Tarzan as a littlebrown boy rode upon Tantor's huge
back through the moonlit jungle beneath the equatorial stars.

3

The Fight for the Balu

TEEKA HAD BECOME a mother. Tarzan of the Apes was
intensely interestedmuch more soin factthan Taug
the father. Tarzan was very fond of Teeka. Even the cares
of prospective motherhood had not entirely quenched the fires
of carefree youthand 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. Teekathoughhad been keen
for it always until shortly before the baby came;
but with the advent of her first-borneven 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 Teekanever 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 thickblack haircocked his head upon one side
and stared. Then he edged a bit nearercraning 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 handcautiouslyto touch the
thing which Teeka heldand Teekawith a hideous growl
turned suddenly upon him. Her teeth sank into the
flesh of his forearm before the ape-man could snatch
it awayand she pursued him for a short distance
as he retreated incontinently through the trees;
but Teekacarrying her babycould 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 nowas she
turned from the pursuit of himhe saw it. Through his
pain and chagrin he smiledfor 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 othersshould fear him. Whynot for the world
would he harm heror her baluwhich is the ape word
for baby.

And nowabove the pain of his injured arm and the hurt
to his priderose a still stronger desire to come close
and inspect the new-born son of Taug. Possibly you will
wonder that Tarzan of the Apesmighty 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 apeyou would know that only
a bull in the throes of madness will turn upon a female
other than to gently chastise herwith the occasional
exception of the individual whom we find exemplified among
our own kindand 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 awayor 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 Taugand the fact that the bull had heard the
warnings and threats of his mate and was coming to her succor.

Now Taugas well as Teekahad 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 overlongnor would gratitude rise


above the parental instinct. Tarzan and Taug had once
measured strengthand Tarzan had been victorious.
That fact Taug could be depended upon still to remember;
but even sohe might readily face another defeat for his
first-born--if he chanced to be in the proper mood.

From his hideous growlswhich now rose in strength
and volumehe seemed to be in quite the mood. Now Tarzan
felt no fear of Taugnor 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 Taugnor did the blood
of his English ancestors relish the thought of flight
yet when the bull chargedTarzan leaped nimbly to one side
and thus encouragedTaug 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 eyesfor 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 yesterdaythe weapon of today--and
as Taug charged the second timeTarzan 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 againTarzan had fled
far aloft among the branches of the upper terrace.

Taugnow wrought to a frenzy of real ragefollowed him.
Teeka peered upward at them. It was difficult to say
whether she was interested. Taug could not climb as
rapidly as Tarzanso 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 pursuermaking 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 himTarzan's hand shot suddenly outwarda widening
noose dropped swiftly through the airthere was a quick
jerk as it settled about Taugfalling to his knees
a jerk that tightened it securely about the hairy legs
of the anthropoid.

Taugslow of witrealized too late the intention of
his tormentor. He scrambled to escapebut the ape-man
gave the rope a tremendous jerk that pulled Taug from
his perchand a moment latergrowling 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 saidyou 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 threatenedbut 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 intentionsand 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 TarzanTeeka 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 foodand 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 himfor each of
them had felt the weight of Taug's mighty hands and the
strength of his great jaws. They were enjoying revenge.


Teekaseeing that Tarzan had turned back toward
the treeshad 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 Tarzanalways heretofore her best friend. Even poor
old Mumgahalf 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 harmshe 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 hungerSheetathe pantherglared greedily
at the tempting meat so close at handbut the sight
of the great bulls beyond gave him pause.


Ahif 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 lowexposing a red tongue and
yellow fangs. But all this Teeka did not seenor 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 TaugTarzan 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 himand 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 protestTarzan leaped to the branch
at the attacking ape's sideand with a single mighty cuff
swept him from his perch.

Surprised and enragedthe bull clutched madly for
support as he toppled sidewiseand then with an agile
movement succeeded in projecting himself toward another
limb a few feet below. Here he found a hand-hold
quickly righted himselfand as quickly clambered
upward to be revenged upon Tarzanbut 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 ignoranceand pointing out how much greater
and mightier was Tarzan of the Apes than Taug or any other ape.

In the end he would release Taugbut not until Taug
was fully acquainted with his own inferiority. And then
the maddened bull came from beneathand instantly Tarzan
was transformed from a good-naturedteasing youth into
a snarlingsavage 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 himfor 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 noteTarzan leaped
straight at the throat of the attacker.

The impetuosity of this act and the weight and momentum
of his body carried the bull backwardclutching and clawing
for supportdown through the leafy branches of the tree.
For fifteen feet the two fellTarzan's teeth buried in
the jugular of his opponentwhen a stout branch stopped
their descent. The bull struck full upon the small of his back
across the limbhung there for a moment with the ape-man
still upon his breastand 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 groundhe 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 antagonistthen he rose to his full height
swelled his deep chestsmote upon it with his clenched
fist and roared out the uncanny challenge of the victorious
bull ape.

Even Sheetathe panthercrouched for a spring at the edge


of the little clearingmoved uneasily as the mighty voice
sent its weird cry reverberating through the jungle.
To right and leftnervouslyglanced Sheetaas 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 Sheetathe panthersaw 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 forcesTarzan reached Taug's side
and then clambering higher up to the point where the end
of the grass rope was made fasthe unloosed it and
lowered the ape slowly downwardswinging 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 revengedbut 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 intellectualagainst those of his betters.
Teeka had come close beneath the tree and was peering upward.
Sheeta was worming his way stealthily forwardhis 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. Teekaseeing him coming
and thinking that he was after her or her balubristled and
prepared to fight. But Tarzan sped by herand 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 Sheetathe panther
stalking slowly toward the tinywriggling 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 himand he thought
that this other was bent upon robbing him of his prey.
With an angry growlhe charged.


Taugwarned by Teeka's crycame lumbering down to
her assistance. Several other bullsgrowling and barking
closed in toward the clearingbut 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 itbaring their fangs and snarling
at each other over the little creature.


Sheeta was afraid to seize the balufor 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 wayfor 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 pantherfor even her
mother love could scarce overcome her instinctive terror
of this natural enemy of her kind.


Behind her came Taugwarily and with many pauses and
much blusterand 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 fleebut 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 sowith a savage gutturalTarzan 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 landedbut it did not land
for Tarzan ducked beneath it and closedhis 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 Sheetathe panther.
He now thought only of tearing to ribbons with his powerful
talons the flesh of his antagonistof burying his long
yellow fangs in the softsmooth hide of the ape-manbut
Tarzan had fought before with clawed creatures of the jungle.
Before now he had battled with fanged monstersnor always
had he come away unscathed. He knew the risk that he ran
but Tarzan of the Apesinured to the sight of suffering
and deathshrank from neitherfor he feared neither.


The instant that he dodged beneath Sheeta's blowhe 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 throatand with the other hand
he drove his blade into Sheeta's side.


Over and over upon the grass rolled Sheetagrowling and
screaming
clawing and bitingin 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 branchsafe 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 clearingand her ferocious voice urged
Taug and the other bulls to leap into the melee.


Thus goaded the bulls came closerredoubling 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 backso that Tarzan swung
for an instant in front of those awful talonsand 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 bloodpossibly
which wrought upon the encircling apes; but it
was Taug who really was responsible for the thing they did.


Taugbut a moment before filled with rage toward
Tarzan of the Apesstood close to the battling pair
his red-rimmedwicked 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 bloodTaug answered
these questions. With all the weight of his great body
he leapedhideously growlingupon 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 greatwhite ape-man
with their ancestral foeSheetathe panther.


In frenzied excitementTeeka fairly danced upon
the limb which swayed beneath her great weight as she
urged on the males of her peopleand Thakaand Mumga
and Kammawith 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 bitingtearing and tornSheeta battled
for his life; but the odds were against him. Even Numa
the lionwould have hesitated to have attacked an equal
number of the great bulls of the tribe of Kerchakand now
a half mile awayhearing 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 spasmodicallytwitched and



was stillyet the bulls continued to lacerate it until
the beautiful coat was torn to shreds. At last they desisted
from sheer physical wearinessand then from the tangle
of bloody bodies rose a crimson giantstraight 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 heavensgave 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 breastand put
out his hands to take the little oneexpecting that Teeka
would bare her fangs and spring upon him; but instead
she placed the balu in his armsand coming nearer
licked his frightful wounds.

And presently Taugwho had escaped with only a few scratches
came and squatted beside Tarzan and watched him as he
played with the little baluand at last he too leaned
over and helped Teeka with the cleansing and the healing
of the ape-man's hurts.

4

The God of Tarzan

AMONG THE BOOKS of his dead father in the little cabin
by the land-locked harborTarzan of the Apes found
many things to puzzle his young head. By much labor and
through the medium of infinite patience as wellhe had
without assistancediscovered 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 languagespoke in a strange tongue
spoke of wonderful things which a little ape-boy could
not by any chance fully understandarousing 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 informationwhenafter several years of tireless
endeavorhe had solved the mystery of its purpose
and the manner of its use. He had learned to make
a species of game out of itfollowing 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 wereof coursecertain words which aroused his


curiosity to a greater extent than otherswords which
for one reason or anotherexcited his imagination.
There was onefor examplethe 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 DeityCreator or
Upholder of the Universe. This must be a very important
word indeedhe would have to look into itand he did
though it still baffled him after many months of thought
and study.


HoweverTarzan counted no time wasted which he devoted
to these strange hunting expeditions into the game
preserves of knowledgefor each word and each definition
led on and on into strange placesinto new worlds where
with increasing frequencyhe met oldfamiliar 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 chieftainking of all the Mangani. He was not
quite surehoweversince that would mean that God was
mightier than Tarzan-- a point which Tarzan of the Apes
who acknowledged no equal in the junglewas 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 greatan 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 heand at last he determined to set out in search
of Him.


He commenced by questioning Mumgawho was very old and
had seen many strange things in her long life; but Mumga
being an apehad 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 witnessedand whichof courseshe had
not understood.


Numgooverhearing Tarzan's questionsmanaged 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 thishe saidbecause 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. Howeverit 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 fulla greatglorious
equatorial moon. The ape-manupright upon a slender
swaying limbraised his bronzed face to the silver orb.
Now that he had clambered to the highest point within
his reachhe discoveredto his surprisethat 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 criedTarzan of the Apes will not
harm you!But still the moon held aloof.

Tell me,he continuedif 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 namefor 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 knewhe 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 fatherhe pronounced
each according to the names he had given the various little
bugs which occurred in itusually giving the gender prefix for
each.

Thus it was an imposing word which Tarzan made of GOD.
The masculine prefix of the apes is BUthe feminine
MU; g Tarzan had named LAo he pronounced TU
and d was MO. So the word God evolved itself
into BULAMUTUMUMOorin Englishhe-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 ZANmeaning white skin.
It was given him by his foster motherKalathe 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-MUTOMUROor he-boy.

To follow Tarzan's strange system of spelling would be
laborious as well as futileand so we shall in the future
as we have in the pastadhere to the more familiar forms
of our grammar school copybooks. It would tire you
to remember that DO meant bTU oand 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 moonand when Goro did not reply
Tarzan of the Apes waxed wroth. He swelled his giant
chest and bared his fighting fangsand 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 fightermighty hunter. None there is so great
as Tarzan. If there be a BulamutumumoTarzan can kill him.
Come downGorogreat cowardand fight with Tarzan.
Tarzan will kill you. I am Tarzanthe killer."

But the moon made no answer to the boasting of the


ape-manand when a cloud came and obscured her face
Tarzan thought that Goro was indeed afraidand was hiding
from himso 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 HEfor 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 backexposing his white teeth. Thenwith a low
growl he leaped upon the ape and buried his fangs
in the other's hairy shoulderclutching 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 poorold ape.
Leave me alone. Go ask the Gomangani where God is.
They are hairless like yourself and very wisetoo.
They should know."


Tarzan released Numgo and turned away. The suggestion
that he consult the blacks appealed to himand though
his relations with the people of Mbongathe chief
were the antithesis of friendlyhe 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 blacksall excitement at the prospect
of discovering the Supreme Beingthe Creator of all things.
As he traveled he reviewedmentallyhis armament--the
condition of his hunting knifethe 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 GodTarzan would be prepared. One could never
tell whether a grass ropea war spearor 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 streethe saw men and women. The men
were hideously painted--more hideously than usual.
Among them moved a weird and grotesque figurea 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 beastso 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 Gomanganior 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. Numathe lionwas not given
to loquacityyet of all the jungle folk there were few
who fought more often than he.

Tarzan witnessed strange things that nightnone of which
he understoodandperhaps 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 interestedhe watched the slashing of the three brown
arms and the exchange of blood with Mbongathe 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 itand 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 actthat 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 knowand so he only wonderednot alone
at what he saw but at the strange sensations which played
up and down his naked spinesensations induceddoubtless
by the same hypnotic influence which held the black
spectators in tense awe upon the verge of a hysteric upheaval.

The longer Tarzan watchedthe more convinced he became
that his eyes were upon Godand with the conviction came
determination to have word with the deity. With Tarzan
of the Apesto 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 roaredsuddenly and loudclose without the palisade.
The blacks started nervouslydropping 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 stepremaining 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 warriorshipand 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 laughshrill and piercingshattered 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 stoodtaller by a full
head than many of Mbonga's warriorsstraight as their
straightest arrowmuscled like Numathe lion.

For a moment Tarzan stood looking straight at the
witch-doctor. Every eye was upon himyet no one had
moved-- a paralysis of terror held themto be broken
a moment later as the ape-manwith 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 strangewhitejungle 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 daylightthe warriors would doubtless have leaped
to attack himbut at nightand this night of all others
when they were wrought to such a pitch of nervous dread
by the uncanny artistry of their witch-doctorthey were
helpless with terror. As one man they turned and fled
scattering for their hutsas 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-doctorhaving no idea of the meaning of the
other's wordsdanced a few strange stepsleaped high


in the airturning 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 tailwhich 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 medicinehoweverfor the creature
god or demonwas steadily closing up the distance which had
separated them. The circles therefore were few and rapid
and when they were completedthe witch-doctor struck an attitude
which was intended to be awe inspiring and waving the zebra's
tail before himdrew an imaginary line between himself and
Tarzan.


Beyond this line you cannot pass, for my medicine is
strong medicine,he cried. "Stopor you will fall
dead as your foot touches this spot. My mother was
a voodoomy 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 nothingfor 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 ranTarzan almost lost his temper.
This was no way for God to actat least not in accordance
with the conception Tarzan had come to have of God.


Come back!he cried. "Come backGodI 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-doctorterror-spurred to unwonted speed;
but futile was his effort--the ape-man bore down upon
him with the speed of Barathe 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 hidedragging 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 Godthen 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 jungleor above itor upon the running
watersor the sleeping watersor upon the big water
or the little waterthere 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 lionand Sheetathe 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 longshrill 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.
Mbongathe chiefwas 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 governmentand 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 spoilsand 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 Tarzanas 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.
Mbongawily stalker of keen-eared jungle creatures
moved now in utter silence. Not even Barathe 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 manand so he sought only to avoid noise.


Closer and closer to the slowly moving ape-man he came.
Now he raised his war spearthrowing his spear-hand far back
above his right shoulder. Once and for all would Mbonga
the chiefrid himself and his people of the menace
of this terrifying enemy. He would make no poor cast;
he would take painsand he would hurl his weapon with such
great force as would finish the demon forever.


But Mbongasure as he thought himselferred in
his calculations. He might believe that he was stalking



a man-- he did not knowhoweverthat it was a man
with the delicate sense perception of the lower orders.
Tarzanwhen 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 proceedingcarrying 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 Mbongathereforecame within spear range
of the ape-manthe 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. Insteadhe turned and fled for the dark
doorway of the nearest hutcalling as he went for his
warriors to fall upon the stranger and slay him.

Well indeed might Mbonga scream for helpfor Tarzan
young and fleet-footedcovered the distance between
them in great leapsat the speed of a charging lion.
He was growlingtoonot 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 heardtooand sawfrom the darkness of their
huts--bold warriorshideously paintedgrasping heavy
war spears in nerveless fingers. Against Numathe 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 fangsor 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 faceexposing the man's throatthen he
drew his longkeen knifethe knife that John Clayton
Lord Greystokehad 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 mana very old man with scrawny neck
and wrinkled face--a driedparchment-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 animalor 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 poorfrightenedold man.


Tarzan rose and turned awayleaving Mbongathe chiefunharmed.


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 understandfor he could conceive of nothingor 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 grubwormsor sought among
the branches of the trees for eggs and young birds
or luscious caterpillars.


An orchiddangling close beside his headopened 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 interestfor 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 Numathe lioncome 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 Taugand Taug different from Barathe deer
and Bara different from Sheetathe pantherand why
was not Sheeta like Butothe rhinoceros? Where and how
anywaydid they all come from--the treesthe flowers
the insectsthe 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 redand GAZAN in the
language of the great apesmeans 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 limbsswinging from one tree
to anotherthe 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 motherand as they came
their roars reverberated through the forest.


But Tarzanswifter than his heavy fellowsdistanced them all.
It was he who was first upon the scene. What he saw
sent a cold chill through his giant framefor the enemy
was the most hated and loathed of all the jungle creatures.


Twined in a great tree was Histahthe snake--hugeponderous
slimy--and in the folds of its deadly embrace was Teeka's
little baluGazan. Nothing in the jungle inspired within
the breast of Tarzan so near a semblance to fear as did
the hideous Histah. The apestooloathed the terrifying
reptile and feared him even more than they did Sheeta
the pantheror Numathe 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 foeand as the scene broke upon his vision
it was the action of Teeka which filled him with the
greatest wonderfor 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 escapebut 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 thenwhen 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.
Neverwillinglyhad he touched a snake. Whyhe could
not sayfor he would admit fear of nothing; nor was it fear



but rather an inherent repulsion bequeathed to him by many
generations of civilized ancestorsand back of themperhaps
by countless myriads of such as Teekain 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 deerto 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 treethe 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 foughtnor 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 greatwide-gaping jaws of the snake turned and hovered
above him. The elastic mawwhich could accommodate a rabbit
or a horned buck with equal facilityyawned for him;
but Histahin turning his attention upon the ape-manbrought
his head within reach of Tarzan's blade. Instantly a brown
hand leaped forth and seized the mottled neckand another
drove the heavy hunting knife to the hilt into the little brain.

Convulsively Histah shuddered and relaxedtensed and
relaxed againwhipping 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 embracedropping her to the ground beneath
then he extricated the balu and tossed it to its mother.
Still Histah whipped aboutclinging 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 themapparently 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.

Tarzanequally 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.
Strangelyhe did not give the victory cry over the
vanquished Histah. Whyhe 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 Histahthe snake.
It seemed strange to him that Teeka should have placed
herself within the folds of the horrid monster.
Why had she done it? Whyindeedhad he? Teeka did
not belong to himnor 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 thoughtno reason in the world
why he should have done the thing he didand 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 thingsfor 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 Manganino Gomangani
no Tarmangani could do them."


And the flowers--who made them grow? Ahnow it
was all explained--the flowersthe treesthe moon
the sunhimselfevery 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 poordefenseless 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
toothat each might have food upon which to live.
He had made Sheetathe pantherwith his beautiful coat;
and Numathe lionwith his noble head and his shaggy mane.
He had made Barathe deerlovely and graceful.


YesTarzan had found Godand 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 Histahthe snake?


5
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 onetorn 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 ragehis frantic
efforts to free himself from the entangling strands
his uncanny screams that were part hatepart anger
part terror. He smiled in retrospection at the discomfiture
of his enemyand in anticipation of another day as he
added an extra strand to his new rope.

This would be the strongestthe heaviest rope that Tarzan
of the Apes ever had fashioned. Visions of Numathe lion
straining futilely in its embrace thrilled the ape-man. He
was quite contentfor his hands and his brain were busy.
Contenttoowere 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 mindsand only occasionallydimly 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 lifeand they enjoyed it as we enjoy ours
you and I--as Tarzan enjoyed his. Possibly they enjoyed
theirs more than we enjoy oursfor 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 workedGazanTeeka's little baluplayed about
him while Teeka sought food upon the opposite side of
the clearing. No more did Teekathe motheror Taug
the sullen sireharbor 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 irksomesince 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 youthwhen 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 forwardscrambling nimbly upward
to the lower limbs. Here he would squat for a moment or two
quite proud of his achievementthen clamber to the ground
again and repeat. Sometimesquite often in factfor he
was an apehis attention was distracted by other things
a beetlea caterpillara tiny field mouseand off he
would go in pursuit; the caterpillars he always caught
and sometimes the beetles; but the field micenever.


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 ballsnatching 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 Gazanand after him
came Tarzan. Teeka looked up from her feedingand in the
first instant that she realized that Gazan was fleeing and
that another was in pursuitshe 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 himTeeka 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 ropeTarzan returned to his tree and resumed
his labor; but thereafter it was necessary to watch
carefully the playful baluwho was now possessed to steal
it whenever he thought his greatsmooth-skinned cousin
was momentarily off his guard.

But even under this handicap Tarzan finally completed
the ropea longpliant weaponstronger than any he
ever had made before. The discarded piece of his former
one he gave to Gazan for a playthingfor 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 junglehis new rope
coiled over one shoulderwhile little Gazan hopped about
the clearing dragging the old one after him in childish glee.

As Tarzan traveleddividing his quest for food with one
for a sufficiently noble quarry whereupon to test his
new weaponhis mind often was upon Gazan. The ape-man
had realized a deep affection for Teeka's balu almost from
the firstpartly because the child belonged to Teeka
his first loveand 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 himeven 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 hillswhere one might lie
up during the heat of the dayin the dense shade of a tangled
thicket close under the cool face of an overhanging rock
Tarzan had found the lair of Numathe lionand of Sabor
the lioness. Here he had watched them with their little
balus--playful creaturesspotted leopard-like. And he
had seen the young fawn with Barathe deerand with Buto
the rhinocerosits 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 considerationsas 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 greatold 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! Tarzanthe ape-manSheeta
the pantherand Histahthe snakeit knew well.
They had worn smooth the bark upon its upper surface.

Today it was Hortathe boarwhich came down toward the
watcher in the old tree--Hortathe boarwhose formidable
tusks and diabolical temper preserved him from all but
the most ferocious or most famished of the largest carnivora.

But to Tarzanmeat was meat; naught that was edible or tasty
might pass a hungry Tarzan unchallenged and unattacked.
In hungeras in battlethe ape-man out-savaged the
dreariest denizens of the jungle. He knew neither fear
nor mercyexcept upon rare occasions when some strange
inexplicable force stayed his hand--a force inexplicable
to himperhapsbecause 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 todayinstead of staying his hand until a less
formidable feast found its way toward himTarzan dropped
his new noose about the neck of Hortathe 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 chargedslashing the sturdy jungle
patriarch with his mighty tusks until the bark flew in
every directionTarzan dropped to the ground behind him.
In the ape-man's hand was the longkeen blade that had been
his constant companion since that distant day upon which
chance had directed its point into the body of Bolgani
the gorillaand saved the torn and bleeding man-child
from what else had been certain death.

Tarzan walked in toward Hortawho 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 Hortathe 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 wickeddeep-set eyes flashed angrily. He shook
his lowered head.


Mud-eater!jeered the ape-man. "Wallower in filth.
Even your meat stinksbut it is juicy and makes Tarzan strong.
Today I shall eat your heartO Lord of the Great Tusks
that it shall keep savage that which pounds against my
own ribs."


Hortaunderstanding nothing of what Tarzan saidwas none
the less enraged because of that. He saw only a naked
man-thinghairless and futilepitting 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 thighthen he moved--just
the least bit to one side; but so quickly that lightning
was a sluggard by comparisonand as he movedhe 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 Hortathe 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 satisfiedTarzan did not seek a lying-up place
for sleepas was sometimes his waybut 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 Mbongathe black chief
whose people Tarzan had baited remorselessly since that
day upon which Kulongathe chief's sonhad 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 Durothe hippopotamus
and keen sport in tormenting the sluggish crocodile
Gimlaas he basked in the sun. Thentoothere were
the shes and the balus of the black men of the Gomangani
to frighten as they squatted by the riverthe shes with
their meager washingthe 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 lengthsexposing the teeth
and gums of her lower jaw. Her nosetoowas slit
and through the slit was a wooden skewer. Metal ornaments
dangled from her earsand 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 tenlithestraight and
for a blackhandsome. 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 Tarzansince he had none of his own.
He would tend him carefullyfeed him wellprotect him
as only Tarzan of the Apes could protect his own
and teach him out of his half humanhalf 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 ropeand shook out the noose.
The two before himall ignorant of the near presence of
that terrifying formcontinued preoccupied in the search
for shellfishpoking 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 airhovered an instant above the head of the
unsuspecting youththen settled. As it encompassed
his body below the shouldersTarzan gave a quick jerk
that tightened it about the boy's armspinioning them
to his sides. A scream of terror broke from the lad's lips
and as his mother turnedaffrighted 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 ragethe 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 passionher 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 himjust 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 menacesTarzan paused
to inspect his prizenow so thoroughly terrorized
that he had ceased his struggles and his outcries.



The frightened child rolled his eyes fearfully toward
his captoruntil the whites showed gleaming all about
the irises.

I am Tarzan,said the ape-manin 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 Numathe lionfor Tarzan is a mighty fighter.
None so great as Tarzanson of Kala. Do not fear."

But the child only whimpered and trembledfor he did
not understand the tongue of the great apesand the voice
of Tarzan sounded to him like the barking and growling
of a beast. Thentoohe had heard stories of this bad
white forest god. It was he who had slain Kulonga
and others of the warriors of Mbongathe chief.
It was he who entered the village stealthilyby magic
in the darkness of the nightto 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 Tarzanusing 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 greatwhite god to let him gopromising 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 bestthought the ape-manquickly 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 groundand motioned to the child
to follow him; but Tibo only clung tightly to the bole
of the tree and wept. Being a boyand a native African
he hadof courseclimbed into trees many times before this;
but the idea of racing off through the forestleaping from
one branch to anotheras his captorto 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 notso Tarzan picked him up and carried
him upon his back. Tibo no longer scratched or bit.
Escape seemed impossible. Even nowwere he set upon
the groundthe chance was remotehe knewthat he could
find his way back to the village of Mbongathe chief.
Even if he couldthere were the lions and the leopards


and the hyenasany one of whichas 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 frightfulgreen-eyed man-eaters.
It would be the lesser of two evilsthento let the
white god carry him away without scratching and biting
as he had done at first.


As Tarzan swung rapidly through the treeslittle 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 frightenedyet 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-manhow unerring
his grasp upon the swaying limbs which gave him hand-hold
and thentoothere was safety in the middle terraces
of the forestfar 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 nowas he saw
these fearsome beasts surrounding himhe 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 horridhairytree 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 mouthfearfullyby the people of Mbongathe chief
that this great white demon of the jungle was naught other
than a hairless apefor 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 fangstheir wicked eyes. He noted their
mighty muscles rolling beneath their shaggy hides.
Their every attitude and expression was a menace.
Tarzan saw thistoo. 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 youGuntoit 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 awayTarzan."

Tarzan laughed. "It could not harm Pambathe rat
he said. It is but a little balu and very frightened.
Let Gazan play with it."

Teeka still was fearfulfor with all their mighty
ferocity the great anthropoids are timid; but at last
assured by her great confidence in Tarzanshe pushed
Gazan forward toward the little black boy. The small ape
guided by instinctdrew back toward its motherbaring its
small fangs and screaming in mingled fear and rage.

Tibotooshowed no signs of desiring a closer acquaintance
with Gazanso Tarzan gave up his efforts for the time.

During the week which followedTarzan found his time
much occupied. His balu was a greater responsibility
than he had counted upon. Not for a moment did he dare
leave itsince of all the tribeTeeka 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 huntedhe must carry Go-bu-balu about
with him. It was irksomeand 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 itand found a ray of hope in the fact that
Go-bu-balu had mastered a few words of the language
of the anthropoidsand 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 playingand always there had
been much laughter; but little Go-bu-balu never laughed.
It was true that Tarzan himself never laughed. Upon occasion
he smiledgrimlybut to laughter he was a stranger.
The blackhowevershould have laughedreasoned the ape-man.
It was the way of the Gomangani.

Alsohe 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 himeven as fierce Kala had comforted Tarzan
when the ape-man was a balubut 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 swayingperilous 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 projectthough 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 taskand even
found that he had grown to like Go-bu-baluhe could
not deceive himself into believing that he felt for it
that fierce heat of passionate affection which Teeka
revealed for Gazanand 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-godyet 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 adversaryand the mighty muscles tensed in battle.
He had heard the savagebestial snarls and roars
of combatand 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 buckjust as Numathe lion
might have doneleaping upon its back and fastening his fangs
in the creature's neck. Tibo had shuddered at the sight
but he had thrilledtooand for the first time there
entered his dullNegroid mind a vague desire to emulate
his savage foster parent. But Tibothe little black boy
lacked the divine spark which had permitted Tarzan
the white boyto 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 bridgesand cities
and empires. The beasts know it notthe blacks only
a littlewhile 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 baluFate was arranging to take the matter out
of his hands. MomayaTibo's mothergrief-stricken at
the loss of her boyhad 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 itit did
not bring back Tibonor even indicate where she might
search for him with reasonable assurance of finding him.
Momayabeing of a short temper and of another people
had little respect for the witch-doctor of her
husband's tribeand sowhen he suggested that a further
payment of two more fat goats would doubtless enable
him to make stronger medicineshe promptly loosed her
shrewish tongue upon himand 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 angershe 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 himor 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 manfor he had slain more than one of their number
yet never tasted the flesh of any. Toothe bodies
always had been foundsometimes dropping as though
from the clouds to alight in the center of the village.
As Tibo's body had not been foundMomaya argued that he
still livedbut where?

Then it was that there came to her mind a recollection
of Bukawaithe uncleanwho dwelt in a cave in the hillside
to the northand who it was well known entertained
devils in his evil lair. Fewif anyhad the temerity
to visit old Bukawaifirstly because of fear of his black
magic and the two hyenas who dwelt with him and were
commonly known to be devils masqueradingand 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 Tiboit 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 uncleanand his devils.

Mother lovehoweveris 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 weakphysicallybut she was a womanan ignorant
superstitiousAfrican savage. She believed in devils
in black magicand in witchcraft. To Momayathe jungle
was inhabited by far more terrifying things than lions
and leopards--horrifyingnameless things which possessed
the power of wreaking frightful harm under various innocent
guises.

From one of the warriors of the villagewhom she knew
to have once stumbled upon the lair of Bukawaithe mother
of Tibo learned how she might find it--near a spring of
water which rose in a small rocky canon 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 companionand was
quite bare of vegetation except for a single mimosa tree
which grew just a little below its summit.

These two hillsthe man assured hercould be seen
for some distance before she reached themand together
formed an excellent guide to her destination.
He warned herhoweverto abandon so foolish and
dangerous an adventureemphasizing what she already
quite well knewthat if she escaped harm at the hands
of Bukawai and his demonsthe 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 husbandwhoin turn


having little authority over the vixenish lady of his choice
went to Mbongathe 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-doctorknowing his own medicine
better than any other knew itwas jealous of all
other pretenders to accomplishments in the black art.
He long had heard of the power of Bukawaiand 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 receivedas chief
a certain proportion of the witch-doctor's fees and could
expect nothing from Bukawaihis heart and soul were
quite naturallywrapped 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 Bukawaishe 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 injunctionsreturning to her hut in silence.


She would have preferred starting upon her quest
by day-lightbut 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 nightand just before the
gates of the village were closedshe slipped through into
the darkness and the jungle. She was much frightened
but she set her face resolutely toward the northand though
she paused often to listenbreathlesslyfor the huge
cats whichherewere her greatest terrorshe nevertheless
continued her way staunchly for several hoursuntil a low
moan a little to her right and behind her brought her to a sudden
stop.


With palpitating heart the woman stoodscarce daring
to breatheand thenvery faintly but unmistakable
to her keen earscame 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 clamberapeliketo the
branches above. As she did sothere was a sudden
rush of a great body behind hera menacing roar that
caused the earth to trembleand 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 herwhen a girlby the witch-doctor
of her town tribeand was nothing like the poor
weak medicine of Mbonga's witch-doctor.


All night Momaya clung to her perchfor although the
lion sought other prey after a short timeshe dared



not descend into the darkness againfor fear she might
encounter him or another of his kind; but at daylight
she clambered down and resumed her way.

Tarzan of the Apesfinding 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 lifeso that Tarzan dared not leave him
alone with themtook 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 themuntil finally he
found himself a greater distance to the north than he ever
before had huntedand 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 lifean 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 groundand in the trees he even did his best
to follow his mighty foster parent. The boy was still
sad and lonely. His thinlittle body had grown steadily
thinner since he had come among the apesfor while
as a young cannibalhe was not overnice in the matter
of diethe 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 nowhis cheeks sunken
and every rib of his emaciated body plainly discernible
to whomsoever should care to count them. Constant terror
perhapshad 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--shrewishhideousrepulsiveperhapsshe would
have been to you or mebut 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 huntedor rather as Tarzan hunted and Go-bu-balu
tagged along in his wakethe 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 furbut her eyes were for one which lay between
her great forepaws and did not rompone 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 herbut something held the
ape-man as he saw the lioness grieving over her dead cub.


With the acquisition of Go-bu-baluTarzan 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 noseher 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'sand 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 feether yellow-green eyes blazing
her tail lashing as she cocked her earsand raising
her muzzlesniffed the air for possible danger.
The two little cubswhich had been playingscampered
quickly to herand standing beneath herpeered out
from between her forelegstheir big ears upstanding
their little heads cocked first upon one side and then
upon the other.

With a shake of his black shockTarzan turned away
and resumed his hunting in another direction; but all day
there rose one after anotherabove the threshold of his
objective mindmemory portraits of Saborof Momaya
and of Teeka--a lionessa cannibaland a she-apeyet
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 Bukawaithe 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 sideand 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 caveyet 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 cavewhen from its depths issued
an uncanny sound that was neither brute nor humana weird
sound that was akin to mirthless laughter.

With a stifled screamMomaya turned and fled into the jungle.
For a hundred yards she ran before she could control
her terrorand then she pausedlistening. Was all
her laborwere all the terrors and dangers through
which she had passed to go for naught? She tried to steel
herself to return to the cavebut again fright overcame her.

Saddeneddisheartenedshe 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 breastand of a slim boy who romped
laughingabout herand 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 Bukawaithe unclean--of Bukawai
the witch-doctor.

Againfrom the interior of the cave came the hideous
laughter that was not laughter. This time Momaya
recognized it for what it wasthe strange cry of a hyena.
No more did she shudderbut 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 spearand the ugly
sullen brute drew back with an angry growl. Again Momaya
called Bukawai by nameand 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 Mbongathe chief.

What do you want?

I want good medicine, better medicine than Mbonga's witch-doctor
can make,replied Momaya. "The greatwhitejungle god
has stolen my Tiboand 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 Momayafor 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 hideoustoo 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 hyenaswhich 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 betterbut haggling is second nature
to black barterersand in the end it partly repaid her


for a compromise finally was reached which included
three fat goatsa new sleeping matand a piece of
copper wire.

Come back tonight,said Bukawaiwhen 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 saiduntil I have
the goats and the mat and the copper wire.

Momaya pleaded and threatenedbut all to no avail.
Finallyshe 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 Bukawaishe 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 Barathe deer. Tarzan hungered for
the flesh of Bara. Naught tickled his palate so greatly;
but to stalk Bara with Go-bu-balu at his heelswas out
of the questionso 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 imagineand 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 cryTibo tumbled from his
perch and raced toward her. Momaya suddenly started
back and raised her spearbut a second later she cast
it aside and caught the thin body in her strong arms.

Crushing it to hershe cried and laughed all at one and
the same timeand hot tears of joymingled with the tears
of Tibotrickled down the crease between her naked breasts.


Disturbed by the noise so close at handthere arose
from his sleep in a near-by thicket Numathe 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 breezeswirling suddenly in the wrong direction
carried the scent of Tarzan to the sensitive nostrils
of Barathe deer. There was a startled tensing of muscles
and cocking of earsa sudden dashand 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 softlyas was his way. Before he reached the spot
he heard strange sounds--the sound of a woman laughing
and of a woman weepingand the two which seemed to come
from one throat were mingled with the convulsive sobbing
of a child. Tarzan hastenedand when Tarzan hastened
only the birds and the wind went faster.


And as Tarzan approached the soundshe heard another
a deep sigh. Momaya did not hear itnor did Tibo;
but the ears of Tarzan were as the ears of Barathe deer.
He heard the sighand he knewso he unloosed the heavy
spear which dangled at his back. Even as he sped through
the branches of the treeswith the same ease that you
or I might take out a pocket handkerchief as we strolled
nonchalantly down a lazy country laneTarzan of the Apes
took the spear from its thong that it might be ready against
any emergency.


Numathe liondid not rush madly to attack.
He reasoned againand reason told him that already the prey
was hisso he pushed his great bulk through the foliage
and stood eyeing his meat with balefulglaring eyes.


Momaya saw him and shriekeddrawing Tibo closer to her breast.
To have found her child and to lose himall in a moment!
She raised her spearthrowing 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 carnivoreand the lion charged.


Momaya tried to close her eyesbut could not. She saw
the flashing swiftness of the hugeoncoming 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
dapplingthrough the foliage above. She saw a heavy
hunting spear hurtle through the air to meet the lion
in midleap.


Numa brought up upon his haunchesroaring terribly and striking
at the spear which protruded from his breast. His great blows
bent and twisted the weapon. Tarzancrouching and with
hunting knife in handcircled warily about the frenzied cat.
Momayawide-eyedstood rooted to the spotwatching
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 Numaalready weakening from the spear
point so near his heart. The second stroke of the blade
pierced far into the beast's spineand with a last
convulsive sweep of the fore-pawsin a vain attempt
to reach his tormentorNuma sprawled upon the ground
paralyzed and dying.


Bukawaifearful 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 werefor an option on his services as one pays
a retaining fee to an attorneyforlike 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.


Momayanow 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
sobbingto his mother aroused within his savage breast
a melancholy loneliness. There was none thus to cling
to Tarzanwho yearned so for the love of someone
of something.


At last Tibo looked upbecause of the quiet that had
fallen upon the jungleand saw Tarzan. He did not shrink.


Tarzan,he saidin the speech of the great apes of the
tribe of Kerchakdo 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 saidback to the village of Mbonga, and Tarzan
will follow to see that no harm befalls you.


Tibo translated the words to his motherand 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 Godand 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 goand he mumbled through his rotting face
swearing a great oath that he would yet have the three
fat goatsthe new sleeping matand the bit of copper wire.

6

The Witch-Doctor Seeks Vengeance

LORD GREYSTOKE was huntingorto 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 surehe was among
the forward gunsnot 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 woulddoubtless
have many birds to his creditsince he had two guns
and a smart loader-- many more birds than he could eat
in a yeareven had he been hungrywhich he was not
having but just arisen from the breakfast table.

The beaters--there were twenty-three of themin 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 occasionsthat 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 hima hairyhalf-naked forbear
who had lived by the hunt.

And far away in a matted equatorial jungle another
Lord Greystokethe real Lord Greystokehunted. By the
standards which he knewhetoowas vogue--utterly vogue
as was the primal ancestor before the first eviction.
The day being sultrythe leopard skin had been left behind.
The real Lord Greystoke had not two gunsto be sure
nor even oneneither did he have a smart loader; but he
possessed something infinitely more efficacious than guns
or loadersor even twenty-three beaters in white smocks--he
possessed an appetitean uncanny woodcraftand muscles
that were as steel springs.

Later that dayin Englanda Lord Greystoke ate bountifully
of things he had not killedand 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 repastquite 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 linenthough. 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
whereupon all fourshe drank as drank his fellows
the other beasts of the jungle.

As he quenched his thirstanother denizen of the gloomy
forest approached the stream along the path behind him.
It was Numathe liontawny of body and black of mane
scowling and sinisterrumbling out lowcoughing 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 aroseslowlywith 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 partedand his
cruel eyes gleamed. He growled and advanced slowly.
The man growledtoobacking slowly to one side
and watchingnot the lion's facebut its tail.
Should that commence to move from side to side in quick
nervous jerksit would be well to be upon the alert
and should it rise suddenly erectstraight 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 throatsbut 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 drinkingTarzan had returned
into the forestand was swinging away in the direction
of the village of Mbongathe 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 balubut 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 enemiesnor 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 soundTarzan slipped silently from the tree into
the shadows beneath. Creeping stealthily and keeping well
in the cover of other hutshe 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 aboutoccasionally 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 screamerand 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 Mbongathe chief. His mysterious and unexpected
appearances always filled the breasts of the poor
superstitious blacks with the panic of terror; never
it seemedcould 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 Kalabut 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 nosewith a heavy
metal ornament depending from her lower lipwhich it
had dragged down to hideous and repulsive deformity
with strange tattooing upon foreheadcheeksand breasts
and a wonderful coiffure built up with mud and wire.

A sudden flare of the fire threw the grotesque figure
into high reliefand 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 cryshe leaped
forward and Tarzan came to meet her. The other women
turningsaw himtoo; but they did not come toward him.
Instead they rose as oneshrieked as onefled as one.

Momaya threw herself at Tarzan's feetraising supplicating
hands toward him and pouring forth from her mutilated
lips a perfect cataract of wordsnot one of which
the ape-man comprehended. For a moment he looked
down upon the upturnedfrightful face of the woman.
He had come to slaybut that overwhelming torrent
of speech filled him with consternation and with awe.
He glanced about him apprehensivelythen back at the woman.
A revulsion of feeling seized him. He could not kill
little Tibo's mothernor could he stand and face this
verbal geyser. With a quick gesture of impatience at


the spoiling of his evening's entertainmenthe wheeled
and leaped away into the darkness. A moment later he
was swinging through the black jungle nightthe 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 valetdisrobed and crawled
between spotless sheetsswearing irritably as a cat
meowed beneath his window.


As Tarzan followed the fresh spoor of Hortathe boar
the following morninghe came upon the tracks of two Gomangani
a large one and a small one. The ape-manaccustomed 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
thereeven ifby chancewe could have seen aught.
Perhaps had one been there to point them out to us
we might have noted indentations in the mudbut there
were countless indentationsone overlapping another into
a confusion that would have been entirely meaningless to us.
To Tarzan each told its own story. Tantorthe elephant
had passed that way as recently as three suns since.
Numa had hunted here the night just goneand Horta
the boarhad 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 twofor sometimes
one was ahead of them and one behindand again both were
in advanceor both were in the rear. It was very strange
and quite inexplicableespecially where the spoor showed
where the hyenas in the wider portions of the path had walked
one on either side of the human pairquite 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 thoughfinding a letter in the roadyou suddenly
had discovered in it the familiar handwriting of a friend.


Go-bu-balu!exclaimed the ape-manand 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 motherthe sympathetic howling
of the shes about the fire. Little Go-bu-balu had been
stolen againand this time by another than Tarzan.
Doubtless the mother had thought that he was again in the
power of Tarzan of the Apesand she had been beseeching



him to return her balu to her.


Yesit was all quite plain now; but who could have stolen
Go-bu-balu this time? Tarzan wonderedand he wondered
tooabout 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 beastsand where the way
was rockyeven Tarzan of the Apes was almost baffled;
but there was still the faint effluvium which clung to
the human spoorappreciable 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--Bukawaithe 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 Momayafrightening little Tibo
so that he ran screaming to his mother's protecting arms.


But Momayathough startledhad wheeled to face the
fearsome thing with all the savage ferocity of a she-tiger
at bay. When she saw who it wasshe breathed a sigh
of partial reliefthough 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 Momayanor 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 sunseeing itcover his face with a black cloud."


I have come,reiterated Bukawaifor 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 patientlyfor the
three fat--But Momaya had not waited to hear more
of what she already knew by heart. Clasping Tibo close
to her sideshe was hurrying away toward the palisaded
village of Mbongathe chief.



And the next daywhen Momaya was working in the plantain
field with others of the women of the tribeand little
Tibo had been playing at the edge of the junglecasting a
small spear in anticipation of the distant day when he
should be a full-fledged warriorBukawai 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 spearhis heart filled with the savage
blood lust of his raceas 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 spearhe missed both squirrel and tree
losing his missile far among the tangled undergrowth of
the jungle. Howeverit 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 oldold manblack as the pit
with a face half eaten away by leprosyhis sharp-filed teeth
the teeth of a cannibalshowing yellow and repulsive
through the great gaping hole where his mouth and nose
had been. And beside himequally hideousstood two
powerful hyenas--carrion-eaters consorting with carrion.

Tibo did not see them untilhead downhe had forced
his way through the thickly growing vines in search of his
little spearand then it was too late. As he looked up
into the face of Bukawaithe 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 junglethe frightful old man still muffling
his screamsand the two hideous hyenas pacing now on
either sidenow beforenow behindalways prowling
always growlingsnappingsnarlingorworst of all
laughing hideously.

To little Tibowho within his brief existence had passed
through such experiences as are given to few to pass
through in a lifetimethe northward journey was a nightmare
of terror. He thought now of the time that he had been
with the greatwhite jungle godand 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 thenbut his surroundings
had been nothing by comparison with those which he now endured.

The old man seldom addressed Tibothough he kept up
an almost continuous mumbling throughout the long day.
Tibo caught repeated references to fat goatssleeping mats
and pieces of copper wire. "Ten fat goatsten 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 matand 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 escapethey will eat you."


He cast aside the stick and called to the beasts.
They camesnarling and slinkingtheir 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 hehimselfhad 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 goneTibo 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 returnedlittle Tibo would
be killed and eaten. How long he lay there he did
not knowbut 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 cameand for a time Tibo sleptbut 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 himTibo could see a few stars
and once the moon crossed. At last daylight came again.
Tibo was very hungry and thirstyfor he had not eaten
since the morning beforeand only once upon the long march
had he been permitted to drinkbut 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 blacknessbut he dared not venture farther.
Bukawai never would have left open a way of escape
Tibo reasonedso 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 blacksthrough the shadows of
the jungle day and the black horrors of the jungle night
flit strangefantastic shapes peopling the already
hideously peopled forests with menacing figuresas though
the lion and the leopardthe 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 mindfor 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 longhe knewcould 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 savagesnarling head forced
past itand grinning jaws snapping and gaping toward him.
In another instant the pitiful fabric would fall inward
and the two would be upon himrending his flesh from
his bonesgnawing the bones themselvesfighting 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 himtooth 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 stolenand you
rotting fragment of a manhave 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 againwhat should Bukawai know of the matter? Did
Bukawai steal him before? Nothe 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 returnedBukawai will return him--for ten
fat goatsa 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 fingersand 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 goatsindeed!"


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 tribealthough he well knew that they must
fear and hate him. His leprosy alone would prevent
their laying hands upon himwhile 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-- Mbongathe chiefRabba Kega
the village witch-doctorand IbetoTibo's father.
They were not pretty men even under ordinary circumstances
and nowwith their faces marked by angerthey well
might have inspired terror in the heart of anyone;
but if Bukawai felt any fearhe did not betray it.
Instead he greeted them with an insolent stareintended to
awe themas 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 timefor 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 themand 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 magicand they might even be skeptical
as to the magic of another; but there was always a chance
of SOMETHING being in itespecially 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 magictoo.
We will see who makes the best magic. Sit downBukawai."

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 Bukawaiand I will make you
a little magic.

Momaya was dispatched for the fireand while she was away
Mbonga dickered with Bukawai about the price. Ten goats
he saidwas a high price for an able-bodied warrior.
He also called Bukawai's attention to the fact that he
Mbongawas very poorthat 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 himtook 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 vesseldropped 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 swoonbut when the old witch-doctor
saw the reason for the disturbance he quickly relapsed
into unconsciousness before anyone discovered his FAUX
PAS.

Rabba Kegaseeing that he had the attention of Mbonga
Ibetoand Momayablew 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 lattergreatly elatedlet himself out. He shouted
jumped up and downand 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 trancehis curiosity finally having gotten the better
of him. No one was paying him the slightest attention.
He blinked his one eye angrilythen hetoolet out
a loud roarand when he was sure that Mbonga had turned
toward himhe 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 hyenasand the little black boy to the mouth
of the cave in the rocky canon between the two hills.
Here he paused a moment before the sapling barrier which
Bukawai had set uplistening to the snarls and growls
which came faintly from the far recesses of the cavern.

Presentlymingled with the beastly criesthere came
faintly to the keen ears of the ape-manthe agonized
moan of a child. No longer did Tarzan hesitate.
Hurling the door asidehe 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 cautionfor the place
was darkunfamiliar and winding. As he advancedhe 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 centerlittle 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 rendingyellow fangs of these loathsome creatures.


Beneath the buffetings of the powerful bodies
the lattice sagged inwarduntilwith a crash it
gave wayletting the carnivora in upon the boy.
Tibo cast one affrighted glance toward themthen closed
his eyes and buried his face in his armssobbing piteously.


For a moment the hyenas pausedcaution and cowardice holding
them from their prey. They stood thus glaring at the lad
then slowlystealthilycrouchingthey crept toward him.
It was thus that Tarzan came upon thembursting 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-manas
with a smile upon his lipshe 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 neckjust as it attempted
to dodge past himand hurled it across the cavern after
its fellow which already was slinking into the corridor
bent upon escape.


Then Tarzan picked Tibo from the floorand when the
child felt human hands upon him instead of the paws
and fangs of the hyenashe rolled his eyes upward in
surprise and incredulityand 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 sightand after permitting Tibo to quench his thirst
in the spring which rose near byhe 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 possiblefor 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 abovefrom the branches of the very tree beneath
which they squattedand 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 facethat of the lost little Tibo
and his face was laughing and very happy.

And then Tarzan dropped fearlessly among themthe boy
still upon his backand deposited him before his mother.
MomayaIbetoRabba Kegaand 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 storyand 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.

Tarzantoohad vanishedas 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 dangeris he? Magic!" The scorn which Momaya crowded
into that single word would have done credit to a Thespian
of the first magnitude. "Magicindeed!" 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 painthe 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 warriorsthe women
and the children who were so fortunate as to witness
the spectaclefor one and all feared Rabba Kegaand to fear
is to hate.

Thus it was that to his host of passive enemiesTarzan of
the Apes added that day two active foesboth of whom
remained awake long into the night planning means of revenge
upon the white devil-god who had brought them into ridicule
and disreputebut 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 himnorknowingwould have cared. He slept
as well that night as he did on any other night
and though there was no roof above himand no doors


to lock against intrudershe slept much better than
his noble relative in Englandwho had eaten altogether
too much lobster and drank too much wine at dinner that night.

7

The End of Bukawai

WHEN TARZAN OF the Apes was still but a boy he had learned
among other thingsto fashion pliant ropes of fibrous
jungle grass. Strong and tough were the ropes of Tarzan
the little Tarmangani. Tublathis 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 headso often had he been jerked ridiculously
and painfully from his feet when he was least looking
for such an occurrencethat there is little wonder he
found scant space in his savage heart for love of his
white-skinned foster childor the inventions thereof.
There had been other timestoowhen Tublat had swung
helplessly in midairthe noose tightening about his neck
death staring him in the faceand little Tarzan dancing upon
a near-by limbtaunting him and making unseemly grimaces.

Then there had been another occasion in which the rope
had figured prominently--an occasionand the only
one connected with the ropewhich Tublat recalled
with pleasure. Tarzanas active in brain as he was
in bodywas 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 Tarzanand the fly
in the ointmentto Tublat.

The man-child hadin throwing his noose at a playmate
in a tree above himcaught 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 desistthe 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 permitbut the distance was not
great enoughandtoohe 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 handclambered 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 litheyoung body turning and twisting--a human bob
upon a pendulum of grass--thirty feet above the ground.

Ahhow 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
andbeing a boyhe chosenaturallyto accelerate.
Presently he was swinging far and widewhile 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 ropethe thing which presently happened would
not have happenedfor 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 feetorat leastalmost. 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 wildthere was none Tublat
so cordially hated as he did this hideoushairless
white-skinnedcaricature 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 tribethat Tublat had forgotten
the circumstances surrounding the entrance of the jungle
waif into his familywith the result that he now imagined
that Tarzan was his own offspringadding greatly to his chagrin.

Wide and far swung Tarzan of the Apesuntil 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 outwardand downplummet-like. Tublat
leaped high in the airemitting 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 feetalighting on his back in a thick
bush.
Kala was the first to reach his side--ferocioushideous
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 himembedded 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 victimand was badly mauled
for his ill temperhaving 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 timeor too far above the ground at the end of his rope.


The day camehoweverwhen the very thing that had once
all but killed him proved the means of saving his life.


He was no longer a childbut a mighty jungle male.
There was none now to watch over himsolicitouslynor did
he need such. Kala was dead. Deadtoowas Tublat
and though with Kala passed the one creature that ever
really had loved himthere 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 himfor though he was both cruel and savage
as were the beastshis fellowsyet too was he often tender
which they never were. Nothe 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 broadperhaps
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-doctorwho dwelt in the cave between the two
hills far to the north of the village of Mbongathe chief.
Bukawai was jealous of Tarzanand 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 junglemiles 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 blacksand 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 forgivethough it seemed unlikely
that the opportunity would come to be revenged.


Yet it did comeand 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 apeshis companions;
but now these play-fellows of his had grown to surly
lowering bullsor to touchysuspicious 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 dayas Tarzan huntedthe sky slowly became overcast.
Torn cloudswhipped to ragged streamersfled 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 swiftlythe 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 lifewhen there were no sounds because there
were no ears to hear.

And over all lay a sicklypallid ocher light through
which the scourged clouds raced. Tarzan had seen all
these conditions many times beforeyet he never could
escape a strange feeling at each recurrence of them.
He knew no fearbut in the face of Nature's manifestations
of her cruelimmeasurable powershe felt very small--very
small and very lonely.

Now he heard a low moaningfar 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 lightningfollowed by deafening thunder.
The lions have sprung,cried Tarzanand 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 northlandsbut in a suddenchokingblinding deluge.
The blood of the kill,thought Tarzanhuddling himself
closer to the bole of the great tree beneath which he stood.

He was close to the edge of the jungleand 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 rainsearching for the two hills and
imagining that the torrents from above had washed them away
yet he knew that presently the rain would ceasethe sun
come out again and all be as it was beforeexcept 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 formaybecenturies. 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 dangerand that a remote one.
Yet it came. Without warning the tree above him was riven
by lightningand when the rain ceased and the sun came
out Tarzan lay stretched as he had fallenupon 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 junglefor to such things
in the chemistry of temperamenthis brain failed
to react; noreven had he had a nosewhich he had not
for yearscould he have found enjoyment or sweetness
in the clean-washed air.


At either side of the leper stood his sole and
constant companionsthe two hyenassniffing the air.
Presently one of them uttered a low growl and with flattened
head startedsneaking and warytoward the jungle.
The other followed. Bukawaihis curiosity aroused
trailed after themin his hand a heavy knob-stick.


The hyenas halted a few yards from the prostrate Tarzan
sniffing and growling. Then came Bukawaiand 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 boundsfor 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.
Bukawaiwith an inarticulate screamrushed upon them
striking cruel and heavy blows with his knob-stickfor
there might still be life in the apparently lifeless form.
The beastssnapping and snarlinghalf turned upon
their master and their tormentorbut long fear still
held them from his putrid throat. They slunk away a few
yards and squatted upon their hauncheshatred 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 longgrass rope.
Quickly Bukawai bound the limp arms behind his prisoner's back
then he raised him to one of his shouldersforthough
Bukawai was old and diseasedhe was still a strong man.
The hyenas fell in behind as the witch-doctor set off
toward the caveand through the long black corridors
they followed as Bukawai bore his victim into the bowels
of the hills. Through subterranean chambersconnected by
winding passagewaysBukawai staggered with his load.
At a sudden turning of the corridordaylight flooded
them and Bukawai stepped out into a smallcircular basin
in the hillapparently 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 ropeleaving his hands free but securing
the knots in such a way that the ape-man could not reach them.



The hyenas slunk to and frogrowling. Bukawai hated them
and they hated him. He knew that they but waited for the time
when he should be helplessor 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
creaturesand because of that fearBukawai always kept
the beasts well fedoften hunting for them when their own
forages for food failedbut ever was he cruel to them
with the cruelty of a little braindiseasedbestialprimitive.

He had had them since they were puppies. They had known
no other life than that with himand though they went
abroad to huntalways 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 vengeanceand 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 securelyBukawai went back
into the corridordriving 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 securityfor 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 mouthfilled a vessel
with water at the spring which rose in the little canon
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 waterthe 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 eyelidsand at the second
application Tarzan opened his eyes and looked about.

Devil-god,cried BukawaiI 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 saidtherefore he
did not replybut 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.

Bukawainot 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 bestas 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 subduedBukawai returned to the baiting
of Tarzan; but finding that the ape-man understood


nothing he saidthe 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 matwhich 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 momentbut soon
realized that the rope he had braided to hold Numa
the lionwould 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 screena picture was flashed
before his mind's eye from the storehouse of his memory.
He saw a litheboyish figure swinging high above the
ground at the end of a rope. He saw many apes watching
from belowand 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 hyenasgaining couragecame 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. Coollymethodicallywithout 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 restand he did.


Thus the day wore onfor the hyenas were not famished
and the rope with which Tarzan was bound was a stronger
one than that of his boyhoodwhich had parted so quickly
to the chafing of the rough tree bark. Yetall 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 appetitemade 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 animaland then he saw
the second beast spring for the devil-god's shoulder.
There was a mighty heave of the greatsmooth-skinned body.
Rounded muscles shot into greattensed 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
snarlingsnappingand rending.


Bukawai leaped to his feet. Could it be that the devil-god
was to prevail against his servants? Impossible! The
creature was unarmedand 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 kneethough the other beast
tore at him frantically in an effort to pull him down.
With a single hand Tarzan held the oneand with the other
hand he reached forth and pulled toward him the second beast.

And then Bukawaiseeing the battle going against his forces
rushed forward from the cavern brandishing his knob-stick.
Tarzan saw him comingand rising now to both feet
a hyena in each handhe hurled one of the foaming beasts
straight at the witch-doctor's head. Down went the two
in a snarlingbiting heap. Tarzan tossed the second hyena
across the craterwhile 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.

Bukawaistill conscioussaw deathimmediate and terrible
in the cold eyes of his captorso 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 apartmentsTarzan saw nothing of the hyenas.

They will return,he said to himself.

In the crater between the towering walls Bukawai
cold with terrortrembledtrembled as with ague.

They will return!he criedhis voice rising
to a fright-filled shriek.

And they did.

8

The Lion

NUMATHE LIONcrouched 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 brimwherefor countless
centuriesthe wild things of the jungle and of the plains
beyond had come down to drinkthe carnivora with bold
and fearless majestythe herbivora timoroushesitating
fearful.

Numathe lionwas hungryhe was very hungryand 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 deeror Hortathe boaror some other of the many
luscious-fleshed creatures who came hither to drink
he was silent. It was a grima terrible silence
shot through with yellow-green light of ferocious eyes
punctuated with undulating tremors of sinuous tail.


It was Paccothe zebrawho came firstand Numathe lion
could scarce restrain a roar of angerfor of all the
plains peoplenone are more wary than Paccothe 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 riverthe 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 uneasilydrawing his hind quarters far
beneath his tawny bodygathering 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 nearerhaltedsnortedand wheeled.
There was a pattering of scurrying hoofs and the herd was gone;
but Numathe lionmoved not. He was familiar with the
ways of Paccothe 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 gallopingwaterlessback to the plain.


Again and again came Pacco and his familyand again
and again did they turn and flee; but each time they came
closer to the riveruntil at last the plump stallion
dipped his velvet muzzle daintily into the water.
The othersstepping warilyapproached their leader.
Numa selected a sleekfat filly and his flaming eyes burned
greedily as they feasted upon herfor Numathe lion
loves scarce anything better than the meat of Pacco
perhaps because Pacco isof all the grass-eatersthe most
difficult to catch.


Slowly the lion roseand as he rosea twig snapped beneath
one of his greatpadded paws. Like a shot from a rifle
he charged upon the filly; but the snapped twig had been
enough to startle the timorous quarryso that they
were in instant flight simultaneously with Numa's charge.


The stallion was lastand 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
fiercedangerousand hungryinto the jungle.
Far from particular now was his appetite. Even Dango
the hyenawould have seemed a tidbit to that ravenous maw.
And in this temper it was that the lion came upon the tribe
of Kerchakthe great ape.



One does not look for Numathe lionthis 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 huntinghungrier than ever.


The anthropoids were idling about the clearingthe 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 gamefor even
Numa respected the mighty muscles and the sharp fangs
of the great bulls of the tribe of Kerchakbut today he
kept on steadily toward themhis bristled snout wrinkled
into a savage snarl.


Without an instant's hesitationNuma 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 chargea young she inspired
by new motherhood to the great sacrifice that her balu
might escape.


Tarzan leaped from his perchscreaming 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 heardthey 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 cautiondepending even more
upon his ears and nose than upon his eyes for information
of the lion's whereabouts.


The spoor was easy to followfor the dragged body of the
victim left a plain trailblood-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 examplehe swung into
a tree and a moment later Numa was surrounded by a ring
of growling beastswell 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 Numaand 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 apesif they had been left to themselves
would doubtless soon have left the lion to peaceful
enjoyment of his feastfor 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 Manganihe 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 necessityand 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 NumaTarzan soon realized
did not hurt him greatly even when they struck him
and did not injure him at allso the ape-man looked about
for more effective missilesnor 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 himTarzan 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 instructionswere he to command them to
procure pieces of rock and hurl them at Numafor Tarzan
was not then king of the apes of the tribe of Kerchak.
That came in later years. Now he was but a youththough 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 andthereforeof an enemy order.
The younger bullsthose who had grown up through
childhood as his playmateswere 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 seasonand the
animosities aroused by other bulls during that season lasted
well over until the next. They were a morose and peevish
band at bestthough here and there were those among them
in whom germinated the primal seeds of humanity--reversions
to typethesedoubtless; reversions to the ancient
progenitor who took the first step out of ape-hood
toward humannesswhen 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 granitehe clambered
again into a treeand it pleased him to see that the apes
had followed his example.


During the brief respite while they were gathering
their ammunitionNuma 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 feedand 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 Junglethat 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--suddenvicious 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 rageleaving 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 apesthough
Tarzan still found him with most persistent and aggravating
frequency.


Thishoweverdid not suit the ape-mansince 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 headpondering some more effective
method of offensefor he had determined to prevent Numa
from profiting in any way through his attack upon the tribe.
The man-mind reasoned against the futurewhile 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 lionundisputedcould exterminate
the tribeor 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 rateI 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 childhoodthe rival in his first love
and nowof all the bulls of the tribethe 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 leastTarzan knewTaug 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 Numagrowling 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 lionTarzan ran quickly toward the center
of the clearing and the body of Mamka. Numaall his
eyes for Taugdid not see the ape-man. Instead he shot
forward after the fleeing bullwho had turned in flight
not an instant too soonsince 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 treeglaring up
at the ape and roaring until the earth trembledthen he
turned back again toward his killand 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 apeswatching the grim race from the safety of
the treesscreamed taunts at Numa and warnings to Tarzan.
The high sunhot and brilliantfell like a spotlight
upon the actors in the little clearingportraying them
in glaring relief to the audience in the leafy shadows
of the surrounding trees. The light-brown body of the
naked youthall but hidden by the shaggy carcass of the
killed apethe red blood streaking his smooth hide
his muscles rollingvelvetybeneath. Behind him
the black-maned lionhead flattenedtail extended
racinga jungle thoroughbredacross the sunlit clearing.


Ahbut 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 Tarzanand 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 greathairy paw and whirled them upward until
Tarzan's fingers closed upon a near-by branch.


BeneathNuma leaped; but Guntoheavy and awkward as he
may have appearedwas as quick as Manuthe 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 crotchwhere even
Sheetathe panthercould not get it. Numa paced angrily
back and forth beneath the treeroaring 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 reachand 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 Kerchakthe great apebut 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-apesand 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 lifeand jeopardized
that of many members of the tribe.


It was but a few weeks later that Sheetathe 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 Sheetain a single moonhad slain
two members of the tribe.


They will take us all for food,he cried. "We hunt
as we will through the junglepaying no heed to
approaching enemies. Even Manuthe monkeydoes not so.
He keeps two or three always watching for enemies.
Paccothe zebraand Wappithe antelopehave those about
the herd who keep watch while the others feedwhile we
the great Manganilet Numaand Saborand 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 thereafterwho watched upon three sides
while the tribe huntedscattered less than had been
their wont.

But Tarzan went abroad alonefor 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 loveTarzan of the Apes sought food and joy.

One day he hovered above the palisaded village of Mbonga
the chiefthe jet cannibal of the jungle primeval.
He sawas he had seen many times beforethe witch-doctor
Rabba Kegadecked 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 chanceagilitystrength
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 itnor was there ever a better collector than
this son of an English lordwho 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 streetfor 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; orif they were young
paired off in the shadows cast by the palm-thatched huts.

Tarzan dropped lightly into the villageand sneaking
stealthily in the concealment of the denser shadows
approached the hut of the chiefMbonga. 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 themnor did they see him possess
himself of that which he coveted and depart from their
village as noiselessly as he had come.

Later that nightas 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 moonand 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 Mamkaand 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.

Manuthe monkeyawoke 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 friendstheir friendship operating upon
a reciprocal basis. Sometimes Manu would come running early
in the morning to awaken Tarzan and tell him that Bara
the deerwas feeding close at handor that Horta
the boarwas asleep in a mudhole hard byand in return
Tarzan broke open the shells of the harder nuts and fruits
for Manuor frightened away Histahthe snakeand Sheeta
the panther.

The sun had been up for some timeand 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 Tarzanand 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 himchatteringscolding and squealing
skipped Manuthe monkey. Across Tarzan's shoulders
was the thing he had stolen from the village of Mbonga
the chiefthe evening before.

The tribe was feeding in the forest beside the clearing
where Guntoand Taugand 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 fedfor were there not three sentries
each watching upon a different side of the herd? Tarzan
had taught them thisand though he had been away for
several days hunting aloneas he often didor visiting
at the cabin by the seathey had not as yet forgotten
his admonitionsand if they continued for a short time
longer to post sentriesit would become a habit of their
tribal life and thus be perpetuated indefinitely.

But Tarzanwho 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 themand now he planned
not only to have a little fun at their expense but to teach
them a lesson in preparednesswhichby the wayis 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 preparedafter 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 attentionand 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 Numathe lion-- majestic
and mightyand 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 clearingNuma 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 hitand then the apes ran down
and gathered other rockspelting him unmercifully.


Numa turned to fleebut his way was barred by a fusilade
of sharp-cornered missilesand thenupon the edge
of the clearinggreat Taug met him with a huge fragment
of rock as large as a man's headand 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 momentbefore 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 himthere descended
like a plummet from the trees above a diminutive
figure with longwhite 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 pausedparalyzed by the wonder of
the thing. It was Manuthe monkeyManuthe little coward
and here he was daring the ferocity of the great Mangani
hopping about upon the carcass of Numathe lion
and crying out that they must not strike it again.


And when the bulls pausedManu reached down and seized a
tawny ear. With all his little might he tugged upon the heavy
head until slowly it turned backrevealing 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 Taugsullenmighty Taugsprang quickly to the
ape-man's side and straddling the unconscious form warned
back those who would have struck his childhood playmate.
And Teekahis matecame tootaking 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 learnedfor instancethat the apes of Kerchak
had heeded his teachingand 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 littlecowardly 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 jokerthe only joker in the grim
and terrible company; but now as he lay there half dead
from his hurtshe almost swore a solemn oath forever
to forego practical joking--almost; but not quite.


9

The Nightmare

THE BLACKS OF the village of Mbongathe chiefwere feasting
while above them in a large tree sat Tarzan of the
Apes--grimterribleemptyand envious. Hunting had
proved poor that dayfor 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 yearsand again the great cats had increased
so rapidly and so overrun the country that their prey
which was also Tarzan'shad been frightened off for a
considerable time.


But for the most part Tarzan had fed well always.
Todaythoughhe had gone emptyone misfortune following
another as rapidly as he raised new quarryso 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 tantalizingindeedto 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 likewiseshould 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
howevermay blunt the most epicurean tasteand Tarzan
was not exactly an epicure.


What he was at this moment was a very hungry wild beast
whom caution was holding in leashfor the great cooking
pot in the center of the village was surrounded by
black warriorsthrough whom not even Tarzan of the Apes
might hope to pass unharmed. It would be necessary
thereforefor the watcher to remain there hungry until
the blacks had gorged themselves to stuporand then
if they had left any scrapsto 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 dancea 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 groundbut lay conveniently close to the great
cooking potstuffing 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 discomfortand even painhe would crawl toward
the pot and drag himself slowly to his kneesfrom 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 diedor 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 manand theytoomust be some manner of men
just as the little monkeysand the great apesand Bolgani
the gorillawere quite evidently of one great family
though differing in size and appearance and customs.
Tarzan was ashamedfor of all the beasts of the jungle
thenman was the most disgusting--man and Dangothe 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 mangiven the opportunity
would do the same. Mantoowas the most unlovely
of creatures--with his skinny legs and his big stomach
his filed teethand his thickred 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 eatingeatingever 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 kneelingbent 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 shortfor 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 meathe 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 thatand 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 courseunaccustomed 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 attentionand 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 beastswhereat Numa
greatly to the ape-man's surprisestarted to climb up into
the branches toward him. Nownever before had Tarzan seen
a lion climb a treeyetfor some unaccountable reason
he was not greatly surprised that this particular lion
should do so.


As the lion climbed slowly toward himTarzan sought
higher branches; but to his chagrinhe discovered that it
was with the utmost difficulty that he could climb at all.
Again and again he slipped backlosing all that he
had gainedwhile 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 desperatelythe 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 Sheetathe panther
dared not venture.


To the very top of a tall tree the ape-man clawed his awkward
way and after him came Numathe lionmoaning dismally.
At last Tarzan stood balanced upon the very utmost pinnacle
of a swaying branchhigh 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 lionespecially with such a Numato 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 lifeyet he recognized
it immediatelyfor 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
beneatha 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 himbut 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 Apesmighty fighterto die without striking
a blow in his own defense? Never!

He snatched the hunting blade from his gee-string
and thrusting upward drove it oncetwicethrice into
the breast above him. The mighty wings fluttered a few
more timesspasmodicallythe 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 fallso 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 offyetclutching wildly
he succeeded in grasping the branch and hanging on.

Once more he opened his eyeswhich 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 roaredandlooking downwardTarzan 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 porethere 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 himand listening for the sound of the great wings
from abovefor 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 thingshe could
not disbelieve the evidence of his own perceptions.
Never in all his life had Tarzan's senses deceived
him badlyand sonaturallyhe had great faith in them.
Each perception which ever had been transmitted to Tarzan's
brain had beenwith varying accuracya 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 stomachdisordered by
decayed elephant flesha lion roaring in the jungle
a picture-bookand 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 treehe knew that there
existed in the jungle no such bird as he had seen
and he knewtoothat he could not have fallen a tiny
fraction of the distance he had hurtled downwardand lived.


To say the leasthe 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 nighthe witnessed another remarkable happening.
It was indeed quite preposterousyet he saw it all
with his own eyes--it was nothing less than Histah
the snakewreathing his sinuous and slimy way up the bole
of the tree below him--Histahwith the head of the old
man Tarzan had shoved into the cooking pot--the head and
the roundtightblackdistended stomach. As the old
man's frightful facewith upturned eyesset and glassy
came close to Tarzanthe jaws opened to seize him.
The ape-man struck furiously at the hideous faceand as he
struck the apparition disappeared.

Tarzan sat straight up upon his branch trembling in
every limbwide-eyed and panting. He looked all around
him with his keenjungle-trained eyesbut he saw naught
of the old man with the body of Histahthe 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 ondream following dreamnightmare
following nightmareuntil the distracted ape-man started
like a frightened deer at the rustling of the wind in the
trees about himor 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 firea great sickness surged upward to his throat.
He saw a tangle of almost impenetrable thicketand
like the wild beast he washe crawled into it to die
alone and unseensafe 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 mannerthe 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 waterand 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 smallblood-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. Herewith all
the world shut out from himhe 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 himthe 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. Yesthis 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 passedyet 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 Gomanganihad he eaten of the
elephant meathad 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.


Finallywith a sigh he gave up trying to fathom
the unfathomableyet in his heart of hearts he knew
that something had come into his life that he never before
had experiencedanother 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 Tarzansluggishhelpless and timid--wishing
to flee his enemies as fled Barathe deermost fearful
of creatures.


Thuswith a dreamcame the first faint tinge of a knowledge
of feara knowledge which Tarzanawakehad 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 theyas 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 shapespossessed of strange
and uncanny powersto whom they finally came to attribute
all those inexplicable phenomena of nature which with
each recurrence filled them with awewith wonderor with
terror.


And as Tarzan concentrated his mind on the little bugs
upon the printed page before himthe active recollection
of the strange adventures presently merged into the text
of that which he was reading--a story of Bolgani
the gorillain 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 littleas he always didat 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 pageand as he read
the little bugsfor 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 sicknessand 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 asleepand 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 momentto see bulking large in the doorway the huge
and hairy form of Bolganithe 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 Bolganithe gorillayet he
felt no feareven 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 conflicthide themselves from the other
jungle folkand are generally the best of neighbors;
but when they are attackedor 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-rimmedwicked 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 weaponhe 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 knifebut 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 momentno doubtBolgani would turn
into Pambathe ratwith the head of Tantorthe 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 puzzledtoothat he felt no desire
to rush frantically to some place of safetyas had been
the sensation most conspicuous in the other of his new
and remarkable adventures. He was just himself now
ready to fightif 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 Tarzanor changing into something else;
yet it did not. Instead it loomed clear-cut and real
as Bolgani himselfthe 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 adventuresthought Tarzanas he passively
awaited the next amusing incident.

And then the gorilla charged. Two mightycalloused hands
seized upon the ape-mangreat fangs were bared close
to his facea hideous growl burst from the cavernous
throat and hot breath fanned Tarzan's cheekand still he
sat grinning at the apparition. Tarzan might be fooled
once or twicebut not for so many times in succession!
He knew that this Bolgani was no real Bolganifor 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 throatthen he seemed suddenly
to come to some decision. Whirling the ape-man across
a hairy shoulderas easily as you or I might lift a babe
in armsBolgani turned and dashed out into the open
racing toward the great trees.

Nowindeedwas Tarzan sure that this was a sleep
adventureand so grinned largely as the giant gorilla
bore himunresistingaway. Presentlyreasoned 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. Manuthe 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 groundthe dream gorilla turned
ferociously upon himseized him once more and buried
great fangs in a sleekbrown shoulder.


The grin of derision faded from Tarzan's lips as the pain
and the hot blood aroused his fighting instincts.
Asleep or awakethis thing was no longer a joke! Biting
tearingand snarlingthe 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.


Bolganithe gorillavoiced a single frightful shriek
tore himself loose from the grasp of the ape-manrose to
his feetstaggered 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 adventurewhat 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
yethe did not know. Puzzledhe turned away into the jungle.


Nohe 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 Tantorthe elephant.


10

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 sentinelsnow from habit become a fixed tribal custom
either relaxed their vigilance or entirely deserted
their postsas 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 afieldand thus it
was that Teeka and Gazanher baluhunted 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 apemaddened by solitude
and defeat. A week before he had contended for the
kingship of a tribe far distantand now battered
and still sorehe 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 sosince he
had sought not only the crown but the wivesas 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 junglegrimterrible
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 tribethough principally for the bulls.
When one covets a she of an alien tribe one must take
into consideration the greatfiercehairy 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 fellowprecisely 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 baluone snap of those great
jaws upon the back of its little neck would prevent
it from raising any unnecessary alarm.

Toog was a finebig maleresembling in many ways
Teeka's mateTaug. Each was in his primeand each was
wonderfully muscledperfectly fanged and as horrifyingly
ferocious as the most exacting and particular she could wish.
Had Toog been of her own tribeTeeka 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 correspondentshe could enter
the lists with her rightful mate and do her part toward
discouraging his advancesa parttoowhich would prove
no mean assistance to her lord and masterfor Teeka
even though her fangs were smaller than a male'scould use
them to excellent effect.

Just now Teeka was occupied in a fascinating search
for beetlesto the exclusion of all else. She did not
realize how far she and Gazan had become separated from
the balance of the tribenor 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 posthad 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.

Tooghaving satisfied himself that only the she and her balu
were in the immediate vicinitycrept 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 broadflat lips--that were
toonot 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 motherbut 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. Toogwith an angry growl
leaped in pursuit; but the smallerlighter female was too
fleet for him. He chased her for a few yards and then
foaming and barkinghe 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 apprehensionwhich was quickly
followed by fear as Toog commenced to ascend toward him.
Teeka screamed to Gazan to climb higherand 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 femaleshe 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 himresume his pursuit
of herwhich 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 handsthen 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 balancethough 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 boleToog had succeeded
by violent shaking of the branchto loosen Gazan's hold.
With a cry the little fellow plunged down through the foliage
clutching futilely for a new holdand alighted with
a sickening thud at his mother's feetwhere he lay
silent and motionless. MoaningTeeka 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 unconsciousshe 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 thinglifting its nose to
scent the jungle breezecrept through the underbrush.
It was Dangothe hyena. Presently its ugly muzzle broke
through some near-by foliage and its cruel eyes fastened
upon Gazan.



Early that morningTarzan of the Apes had gone to
the cabin by the seawhere 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 Kerchakthe great ape
had thrown itlifelessthere. 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 anothersmallerskeleton reposed and the
youth ignored it as he ignored the other. How could he
know that the one had been his fatherthe 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 themfor there was no meat left upon themand they
were not in his wayfor 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 heartand tossed the books aside. He rummaged
for the thousandth time in the cupboard. He took out a bag
which contained several smallround 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 cupboardupon 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 againby 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. Todaywhile so engagedhe 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 formTarzan at once dropped to his hands and knees
and searched beneath the bed for the lost gold piece.
Strange as it might appearhe had never before looked
beneath the bed. He found the gold pieceand something
else he foundtoo--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 metalcone-shaped at one
end and flat at the otherwith a projecting rim.
They were all quite green and dullcoated 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 offleaving 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 bedand finding nothing more to
amuse himleft 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 savageangry barking and growling of the great bulls.
Instantly he increased his speedfor 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 sireTaugTeeka's mighty mate
had been hunting a mile to the north of the tribe.
At lasthis belly filledhe 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 Gazanand 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 notas you and Ipaint vivid mental pictures
of things which might have occurredand 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 methe 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.

Taugalways cautious himselfas it behooves one to be
who fares up and down the jungle and desires to survive
swung noiselessly into a treewhere 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 waypossiblyhe 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 frightfulso bestialthat it momentarily
paralyzed the startled Dangothe great ape launched his
mighty bulk upon the surprised hyena. With a cry and a snarl
Dangocrushed to earthturned to tear at his assailant;
but as effectively might a sparrow turn upon a hawk.
Taug's greatgnarled fingers closed upon the hyena's
throat and backhis jaws snapped once on the mangy neck
crushing the vertebraeand then he hurled the dead body
contemptuously aside.


Again he raised his voice in the call of the bull ape
to its matebut 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 slightlyby the same emotions of paternal love
which affect us. Even had we no actual evidence of this
we must know it stillsince only thus might be explained
the survival of the human race in which the jealousy
and selfishness of the bulls wouldin the earliest
stages of the racehave 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 wellfor Taug was an
unusually intelligent specimen of these greatmanlike apes
which the natives of the Gobi speak of in whispers;
but which no white man ever had seenorif 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 firstborntheir only baluand 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 stiff 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 themexamining the ground step by step. Suddenly he
stopped and placing his nose close to the earth sniffed.
Then he sprang to his feetgiving a peculiar cry.
Taug and the others pressed forwardfor 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 thembut 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 stressthe 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 customtoo 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 NumaSaborSheeta or a wandering bull ape from another
tribe chanced to carry off a maid or a matron while no
one was lookingthat was the end of it--she was gone
that was all. The bereaved husbandif the victim chanced
to have been matedgrowled around for a day or two and then
if he were strong enoughtook another mate within the tribe
and if notwandered 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 Kulongathe son of Mbonga
the chiefhad slain Kala. Thensingle-handedTarzan
had pursued and avenged. Nowthough 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 youtoo."


Where are we going?asked Taug.


We are going to get Teeka,replied the ape-manand
kill the bull who has stolen her. Come!


He turned again to the spoor of the stranger bull
which showed plainly to his trained sensesnor 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 beautifuland 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 forestthat he might sit in the safety of the trees
and witness the spectacles. He was a glutton for gore
was this littlewhiskeredgray monkeyso 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 Manuand she knew that the hairless ape must be Tarzan
while the other wasdoubtlessTaug. Neverin her
wildest hopeshad 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 impossibleso closely did Toog watch her.

As Taug and Tarzan reached the grove where Toog had come
upon his friendsthe ape scent became so strong that
both knew the quarry was but a short distance ahead.
And so they went even more cautiouslyfor 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 knownor 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 groveand as they entered
the path leading into the dense jungle beyonda 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 themand now that she had
they went wild with rage. Toog struck the she a mighty
blow that felled herand 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 delightedfor it was a
lovely fight. There were no preliminariesno 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 struckand all the while they kept up the most
frightful chorus of growlings and barkings and roarings.
In five minutes they were torn and bleedingand the little
graybeard leaped highshrilling 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 slipperyhairless 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 bulland 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 throatanother flew upward clutching the sharp blade.
Three swiftpowerful strokes and the bull relaxed
with a groanfalling 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 vergeTeekanow recovered from the blow
that had felled herslunk waiting for an opportunity
to aid. She saw Tarzan's knife and picked it up.
She never had used itbut 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 apethat even danger and
excitement cannot entirely dispelshe picked this uptoo.


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 passedand 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 jungleawakening 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 grovebarking 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 clearingfear 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 PIECE DE RESISTANCE 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 martyrdomthat some common
forbear had transmitted alike to Teekathe 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 missilesand 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 sizethey seemed to herand 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 explosionwhich 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 tribewhile Taug
and Tarzan slowly gathered themselves together and arose
lame and bleedingto their feet. Theytoowould 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 huddledterrifiedagainst 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 TarzanLord Greystokeknow it either.

11

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 nowwith the grace of a Greek god
and the thews of a bullandby all the tenets of apedom
should have been sullenmoroseand brooding; but he
was not. His spirits seemed not to age at all--he was
still a playful childmuch 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 sincehe 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 himselfand that today when
he had come up behind the same Taug and pulled him over
backward upon the turfinstead of the playful young ape
a greatsnarling 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 doso 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 razorand 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 strandshanging down one's back were
most uncomfortableespecially when wet with dew or rain
or perspiration.


As Tarzan labored at his tonsorial taskhis active
mind was busy with many things. He recalled his
recent battle with Bolganithe gorillathe wounds
of which were but just healed. He pondered the strange
sleep adventures of his first dreamsand he smiled
at the painful outcome of his last practical joke upon
the tribewhendressed in the hide of Numathe lion
he had come roaring upon themonly 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 satisfactionand 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.


Curiositythat best-developedcommon heritage of man
and apealways 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 sangscratched around in the
earth from which they had cleared the trees and underbrush;
they watched things growand when they had ripened
they cut them down and put them in straw-thatched huts.
They made bows and spears and arrowspoisoncooking pots
things of metal to wear around their arms and legs.
If it hadn't been for their black facestheir hideously
disfigured featuresand the fact that one of them had
slain KalaTarzan might have wished to be one of them.
At least he sometimes thought sobut always at the thought
there rose within him a strange revulsion of feelingwhich he
could not interpret or understand--he simply knew that he
hated the Gomanganiand that he would rather be Histah
the snakethan one of these.



But their ways were interestingand Tarzan never tired
of spying upon them. and from them he learned much more than
he realizedthough 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 themso he went silently
and with great caution. Noiselessly he moved through
the lush grasses of the open spacesand where the forest
was denseswung 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 Mbongathe 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 Numathe lion.
In a cage upon wheels they were tying a kidso fastening
it that when Numa seized the unfortunate creature
the door of the cage would drop behind himmaking 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 dealersand had learned from them
certain trickssuch as this onewhich permitted them
to capture even Numa without injuring himand 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-eatersand 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 successfuland 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 Gomanganihe was not so shocked by the cruelty
of them as he should have beenyet 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 lionyet 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 holethe warriors turned back toward
their village. On the morrow they would come again.
Tarzan looked after themupon his lips an unconscious
sneer--the heritage of unguessed caste. He saw them file
along the broad trailbeneath 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 watchedthrough narrowed lidsthe last
of the warriors disappear beyond a turn in the trail
his expression altered to the urge of a newborn thought.
A slowgrim smile touched his lips. He looked down upon
the frightenedbleating kidadvertisingin its fear
and its innocenceits presence and its helplessness.

Dropping to the groundTarzan approached the trap and entered.
Without disturbing the fiber cordwhich was adjusted to drop
the door at the proper timehe 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 itbleeding
along the trail down to the drinking holethe 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 mudhe buried these parts which he
did not eatand swinging the body to his shoulder took
to the trees.

For a short distance he pursued his way in the wake of the
black warriorscoming down presently to bury the meat
of his kill where it would be safe from the depredations
of Dangothe hyenaor 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 ideait waswhich permitted him to forget that he
was hungry.

The meat safely cachedTarzan 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 Kegathe witch-doctor. Tarzan
hated them all; but Rabba Kega he especially hated.
As the blacks filed along the winding pathRabba Kega
being lazydropped behind. This Tarzan notedand 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 Kegaknowing that the village was but a short
distance aheadsat down to rest. Rest wellO Rabba
Kega! It is thy last opportunity.

Tarzan crept stealthily among the branches of the tree


above the well-fedself-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 desiredand sowith the infinite patience
of the wild hunterthe 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 loiteredcirclingclose 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 earsand then he felt it
alight upon his forehead. No muscle twitchedfor 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 pausedand 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 backclosing 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-manit 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 itstruck at itand 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 chiefhis broadblack back was exposed to the silent
thing waiting above him.


And as Rabba Kega turneda 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 screamsteel 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 screamthe 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 arisethe 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 roseso 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 himand had he not spared MomayaTibo'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 chiefhad placed and baited for Numa. Rabba Kega
saw that the bait was gonethough there was no lion
within the cagenor 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 cageand 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 pleadedfirst for his lifeand then
for a death less cruel; but he might as well have saved
his pleas for Numasince 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 silencebut suggested that later the black
might raise his voice in cries for succorso he stepped out
of the cagegathered a handful of grass and a small stick
and returningjammed 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 uphe 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 holeand going to the spot where fresh
cold water bubbled from between two rockshe 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 Gomanganiand from his face the blood of
the kid. Risinghe stretched himself not unlike some huge
lazy catclimbed into a near-by tree and fell asleep.

When he awoke it was darkthough 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 Mbongathe chiefreached their village
they discovered that Rabba Kega was not among them.
When several hours had elapsed they decided that something
had happened to himand 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 hourwhenunfortunately 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 betrayaland Rabba Kega's doom was sealed.

When the searchers returned empty handedMbonga was wroth;
but when he saw the great store of honey they brought with
them his rage subsided. Already Tubutoyoungagile and
evil-mindedwith face hideously paintedwas 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 famesuch is power--in the center of the world's
highest civilizationor in the depths of the black
primeval jungle. Alwayseverywhereman is mannor 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 Mbongathe chiefto examine
the trap they had set for Numa. Long before they
reached the cagethey 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 wasa greatmagnificent specimen--a huge
black-maned lion. The warriors were frantic with delight.
They leaped into the air and uttered savage cries--hoarse
victory criesand then they came closerand the cries
died upon their lipsand their eyes went wide so that the
whites showed all around their irisesand 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 hadyesterdaybeen 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 rageuntil it was a frightful thing to behold.

From his perch in a near-by tree Tarzan of the Apes
Lord Greystokelooked 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 terrorthe blacks came closer to
the cagerage 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 sawto 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 Tubutoforindeedwho else could it
have been but the greathairless 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 Mbongathe 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 lamentationworking 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 palisadeTarzan 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 difficultfor during all his life he had been
accustomed to sights of suffering and cruelty. Hehimself
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.

Perhapshad he known ithe 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; butof coursehe 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 Numathe lion


forthough Numa was his lifetime enemythere was neither
bitterness nor contempt in Tarzan's sentiments toward him.
In the ape-man's mindthereforethe 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 eveningand 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 entertainmentwhen 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 nightand 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 meantimehe hopedan 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 dubiousfor he still retained
a vivid memory of the dire results that had followed
the carrying out of a very wonderful idea along almost
identical linesyet he did not abandon his intention
and a moment laterfood temporarily forgottenhe was
swinging through the middle terraces in rapid flight
toward the stamping ground of the tribe of Kerchak
the great ape.

As was his wonthe 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 failurefor 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.

Nowwhen 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 interruptedand he
having had his little jokemade 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 Kegauntil Tarzan had stolen it from the village.

With this he made his way back through the jungle toward
the village of the blacksstopping to hunt and feed upon


the wayandin the afternooneven 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 offthe villagers paid little or no attention
to the great catpreferring now to await the grand event
of the night.


Nor was it long after dark before the festivities commenced.
To the beating of tom-tomsa lone warriorcrouched
half doubledleaped into the firelight in the center
of a great circle of other warriorsbehind 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 lowsometimes resting for a moment on one knee
he searched the ground for signs of the quarry;
again he poisedstatuesquelistening. 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 facebreastsand abdomen.


Presently he bent low to the earththen 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 cagein which Numa paced nervously
to and fro. The cage was now unguardedthe 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 Kerchakfailing to pierce his disguisehad all but
slain him. Thenon hands and kneeshe crept forward
emerged from between the two huts and stood a few paces
back of the dusky audiencewhose 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 Mbongathe chief
at which the women and children immediately in front
of Tarzan rose and moved to one sideleaving a broad
path opening toward the caged lion. At the same instant
Tarzan gave voice to the lowcouching 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 conclusionas Tarzan had
known they wouldthat their captive had escaped his cage.


With another roarTarzan moved forward. The dancing
warriors paused but an instant. They had been hunting
a lion securely housed within a strong cageand now
that he was at liberty among theman 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 hutand then
another and another until a score or more of warriors were
looking out upon himwaiting 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 freedomand then the lion rose
erect upon its hind legsthe 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 forcewith brandished spears
and loud war criesthe 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 boleand diving into the
shadow of a hutran quickly to where lay the caged lion.
Springing to the top of the cage he pulled upon the cord
which raised the doorand a moment later a great lion
in the prime of his strength and vigor leaped out into
the village.


The warriorsreturning from a futile search for Tarzan
saw him step into the firelight. Ah! there was the
devil-god againup to his old trick. Did he think
he could twice fool the men of Mbongathe 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 thenwith a frightful roarNumathe lioncharged.

The men of Mbongathe chiefmet 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 spearsetting the point for the broad breast.
And then the lion was upon him. A great paw swept away
the heavy war spearsplintering it as the hand of man
might splinter a dry twig.

Down went the blackhis 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 blackswhile 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 shudderedand 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 sideand 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 thirdshuddering.

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 courageso 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.

12

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 nightand Tarzan was abroad in the jungle--Tarzan
the ape-man; mighty fightermighty 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 dayand in a safe cache were the remains
of his killready 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 nightand thentooTarzan always was
goaded by an intense desire to know.

The jungle which is presided over by Kuduthe sun
is a very different jungle from that of Gorothe moon.
The diurnal jungle has its own aspect--its own lights
and shadesits own birdsits own bloomsits 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 beastsits 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 dangerstooand to Tarzan of the Apes danger
was the spice of life. And the noises of the jungle
night--the roar of the lionthe scream of the leopard


the hideous laughter of Dangothe hyenawere music
to the ears of the ape-man.

The soft padding of unseen feetthe rustling of leaves
and grasses to the passage of fierce beaststhe sheen
of opalesque eyes flaming through the darkthe million
sounds which proclaimed the teeming life that one might
hear and scentthough seldom seeconstituted the appeal
of the nocturnal jungle to Tarzan.

Tonight he had swung a wide circle--toward the east first
and then toward the southand now he was rounding back again
into the north. His eyeshis 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 Goroand 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 moonendowed 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 aheadand when Tarzan came
to a halt in the trees near ithe 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 chiefcaught out in the jungle after dark.
In a rude circle about them they had constructed a thorn
boma whichwith the aid of the firethey 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 crouchedwide-eyed and trembling
for already Numa and Sabor were moaning through the jungle
toward them. There were other creaturestooin 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 eyeswhich 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 Numathe lionand Saborhis mate. The other
eyes scattered to right and left before the menacing
growls of the great catsand 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 theytoodisappeared 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 wasin a measurea 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 appearedthough 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 laterupon a slightly lower level
there appeared those of Saborhis 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 bomawhere all
but a single black still crouched in trembling terror.
When this lone guardian saw that Numa was again approaching
he threw another firebrandandas beforeNuma retreated
and with him Saborthe lioness; but not so farthis time
nor for so long. Almost instantly they turned and began
circling the bomatheir eyes turning constantly toward
the firelightwhile lowthroaty growls evidenced their
increasing displeasure. Beyond the lions glowed the flaming
eyes of the lesser satellitesuntil 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 motionlessexcept for the quick
nervous upcurving of his tailthen he walked deliberately
forwardwhile Sabor moved restlessly to and fro where he
had left her. The black man called to his comrades
that the lion was comingbut 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 aswith almost
equal agilitythe warrior cleared it upon the opposite
side andchancing 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 wallhe took
a screaming negro with him. Dragging his victim along
the ground he walked back toward Saborthe lioness
who joined himand 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 roarsduring 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 slumberhe 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 KNOWand
denied almost all knowledgehe stillin manhood
was filled with the greatunsatisfied 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 heartoras 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 translatedclassifiedand labeled was something
quite beyond him. He thought that his fingers knew when
they touched somethingthat his eyes knew when they saw
his ears when they heardhis nose when it scented.

He considered his throatepidermisand 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 Histahthe 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.


Imagineif you cana child filled with the wonders
of naturebursting 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 rainthe 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 Mumgawho was very old and should
have been very wisebut wasn'tas to the reason for
the closing of certain flowers after Kudu had deserted
the skyand the opening of others during the night
he was surprised to discover that Mumga had never
noticed these interesting factsthough 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 Gorothe moonand Kuduthe 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 frocreating the wind.
In no other way could he account for this phenomenon.
The rain he finally attributed to the starsthe moon
and the sun; but his hypothesis was entirely unlovely
and unpoetical.


Tonight as Tarzan lay thinkingthere 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 bristlingsensing danger from the nocturnal summons.
Look, Taug!exclaimed Tarzanpointing 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 eyesTaugyou 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 themTaug? 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 nightor when he
wanders through the skies by dayforgetting the jungle
and its people."

Taug looked stupidly at the heavens and then at Tarzan.
A meteor fellblazing 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 timeand 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 sleeplesswatching the stars--the flaming eyes
of the beasts of prey surrounding Gorothe 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 wondereddimlyif Tarzan
was a safe companionand then he recalled slowly
and by a laborious mental processthat Tarzan had served
him better than any other of the apeseven 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 Taugalthough only a brutal apehad had impressed
upon his mind a fierce loyalty which nothing now could
swerve--his friendship for Tarzan had become a habit
a tradition almostwhich 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 instinctsconsisting more of actions
than words. But now Taug was worriedand he fell
asleep again still thinking of the strange words of
his fellow.

The following day he thought of them againand 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 maleand so Gorobeing the largest
creature in the heavens by nightwasto thema bull.

Gunto bit a sliver from a horny finger and recalled
the fact that Tarzan had once said that the trees talked


to one anotherand Gozan recounted having seen the ape-man
dancing alone in the moonlight with Sheetathe 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 catto tantalize him.

Others told of seeing Tarzan ride upon the back of Tantor
the elephant; of his bringing the black boyTibo
to the tribeand of mysterious things with which he
communed in the strange lair by the sea. They had never
understood his booksand after he had shown them to one
or two of the tribe and discovered that even the pictures
carried no impression to their brainshe had desisted.

Tarzan is not an ape,said Gunto. "He will bring
Numa to eat usas 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 usTantor; He has given you tender leaves
and barkand rich grasses to eat; to me He has given Bara
and Horta and Pisahthe 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. YesTantorit 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 presentlyturn 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 trailpausing occasionally to pluck a tender
branchor strip the edible bark from an adjacent tree.
Tarzan sprawled face downward upon the beast's head and back
his legs hanging on either sidehis head supported by his
open palmshis 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 warriorwho stepped cautiously
through the jungleevery 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 unmolestedfor he
saw that he was alone; but the moment that the warrior
had entered the clearing a loud "Kreeg-ah!" rang out from
behind himimmediately followed by a chorus of replies
from different directionsas 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 nothingbut he knew the voice of the hairy
tree men whom he and his kind fearednot 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 impossibleso he stood
his groundhis spear ready in his hand and a war cry
trembling on his lips. He would sell his life dearly
would Bulabantuunder-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. Nothe Gomangani had
harmed none. Gozanbeing on watchhad seen him coming
through the forest and had warned the tribe--that was all.
The ape-man pushed through the circle of bullsnone of
which as yet had worked himself into sufficient frenzy
for a chargeand 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 darkwhile his fellows groveled in the dirt
at his feettoo terrified even to defend themselves.
Here was a brave manand 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 feltvaguely
that the man had earned his life by his brave defense
of it on the preceding nightnor 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 usand last night I saw him fighting Numa
and Sabor with firealone 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 anotherkill the Gomangani and the
Tarmangani as well.


Kill the white ape!screamed Gozanhe 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 themhurling those it
came in contact with to one side as a strong man might
scatter children. It was Taug--greatsavage Taug.


Who says 'kill Tarzan'?he demanded. "Who kills Tarzan
must kill Taugtoo. 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."


Thenone by onethe 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 camestiff-leggedclose to Tarzan and sniffed at him
with bared fangs. Tarzan rumbled forth a lowmenacing 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.


Bulabantuthe black manhad 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 Mbongathe chiefby night
in the perpetration of one of his numerous ghastly jokes.


Bulabantu could notof courseunderstand 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 tribeand he guessedthough it
seemed improbablethat they might be defending him.
He knew that Tarzan had once spared the life of Mbonga
the chiefand that he had succored Tiboand Tibo's
motherMomaya. 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: "YesTantor
it is good to live. I should hate to die." And now
he knew that he was about to diefor the temper
of the great bulls was mounting rapidly against him.
Always had many of them hated himand 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-booksand he was very proud of
the distinction. Presentlythoughhe 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 Guntowith the terrifying cry
of a challenging apesprang forward. Tarzan voiced
a peculiar call and then crouched to meet the assault.
Taug crouchedtooand Bulabantuassured now that
these two were fighting upon his sidecouched 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 anthropoidsas Tantorthe elephant
dashed swiftly across the clearing to the aid of his friend.



Gunto never closed upon the ape-mannor 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 longsinuous trunk.


Tarzan turned toward the black man. "Go!" he said in
the language of the apesand pointed in the direction
of the village of Mbonga. Bulabantu understood the gesture
if not the wordnor 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 Manuexcept 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 clearingthe apes watching them
until they were swallowed up by the jungle.


Before the night fell Taug killed Guntopicking 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 backand 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 Gorothe moonand 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 Gorohe 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 screamTaug leaped to his feet. His frenzied
Kreeg-ahs!brought the terrified tribe screaming and
chattering toward him.


Look!cried Taugpointing 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 oneand 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 Taugand 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 treeswatching 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 Tarzanfollowed by Taugswung 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 clamberedhigher 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 moonTarzan 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 bowand drawing
the shaft far backaimed 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 Numaand 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,andsure enoughthe moon
was gradually emerging from whatever had devoured her
whether it was Numathe lionor 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 nightor that another than Tarzan preserved


the brilliant god of their savage and mysterious rites
from a frightful deathyou 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 wonfor 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 Goroand that onestrange as it may seem
was Tarzan of the Apes.