Jungle Tales of Tarzan

n 5 Tarzan and the Black Boy 6 The Witch-Doctor Seeks Vengeance 7 The End of Bukawai 8 Th

's Fir

ably, a most alluring picture of young, feminine loveliness. Or at least so thought Tarzan of

ercolated through the leafy canopy of green above him, his clean-limbed body relaxed in graceful ease, his shapely head partly turned in contemplative abso

is conscious past since his parents had passed away in the little cabin by the landlocked harbor at the jungle's verge

eka inspired, would you have been any more inclined to give credence to the reality of the origin of the ape-man. For, from his thoughts alone, you c

e was John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, with a seat in the House o

was indee

a was beautiful in a way all her own, an indescribable sort of way whi

ly becoming surly and morose. Tarzan, if he gave the matter much thought at all, probably reasoned that his growing attachment for the yo

nd-go-seek which Tarzan's fertile brain evolved. Tarzan scratched his head, running his fingers deep into the shock of black hair which framed his shapely, boyish face-he scratched his head and sighed. Teeka's new-found beauty became as suddenly his despair. He envied her the handsome coat o

ones. And her beetling brows, and broad, flat nose, and her mouth! Tarzan had often practiced making his mouth into a little round circle and then puf

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

the water, their quick, strong fingers ready to leap forth and seize Pisah, the fish, should that wary den

hy, then, should Tarzan feel the rise of the short hairs at

o one could longer imagine that Taug was in as playful a mood as when he and Tarzan had rolled upon the turf in mimic

the rough caress of the huge paw as it stroked the sleek shoulder of the she, a

ug looked up, batting his blood-shot eyes. Teeka half raised herself and looked at Tarzan. Did she guess the cause of his pertur

; instead she was a wondrous thing-the most wondrous in the world-and a possession for which Tarza

of the Apes sidled nearer and nearer. His face was partly averted, but his keen gray

ng. His fighting fangs were bared. He,

e ape-man, in the low guttur

g's," replied

, looked up half apathetic, half interested. They were sleepy, but they sens

e shiny bit of sharp metal which the ape-boy knew so well how to use. With it had he slain Tublat, his fierce foster father, and Bolgani, the gorilla. Taug knew these things, and so he

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 occ

them vile names, such as Histah, the snake, and Dango, the hyena. She threatened to call Mumga to chastise them with a stick-Mumga, who was

ng him, and with the quickness of a cat wheeled and leaped back again to close quarters. His hunting knife was raised above his head as he came in, an

ething worth while! She glanced about to see if others had witnessed this evidence of h

a rustling which was not caused by any movement of the wind, since there was no wind. And had she looked up she might have seen

im, screaming insults at him, and menacing him with his brandishing blade.

ked with foam, and saliva drooled from his jowls. He stood with head lowered and arms outstretched, preparing for a sudden charge to close quarters. Could he but lay his mighty hands upon th

uld be safe to put his muscles to the test in a life and death struggle. Not that he was afraid, for Tarzan knew nothing of fear. The insti

by comparison with the mighty fighting fangs of the anthropoids. By dancing about, just out of reach of an antagonist, Tarzan could do infinite injury with his long,

es danced lightly to this side and that, hurling jungle billingsga

their forces for a new onslaught. It was during a pause such as this that Taug chanced to let his eyes rove beyond his f

rned and fled. No need to question him-his warning

nd as he did so he heard a panther's scream mingled with the frightened

any member of the tribe was close pressed by the beast of prey, and

ter her leaped Sheeta, the panther, in easy, graceful bounds. Sheeta appeared to be in no hurry. His meat was assured, si

king down his rope as he came. Tarzan knew that once the great bulls were aroused none of the jungle, not even Numa, the lion, was anxious to measure fangs wit

n's assistance or Teeka's rescue, and Sheeta was rapidl

l 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

wung his grass rope above his head as he ran. He hated to chance a miss, for the distance was much greater than he ever had cast before except in practice. It was the full length

h the air, straightening into a long thin line as the open noose hovered for an instant above the savage head and the snarling jaws. Then it settled-clean and true about

ght to a sudden stop-a stop that snapped the big beast over upon his back. Instantly Sheeta was up-with gl

his discomfiture, scarce forty fe

to fight, what chance had he to survive? Tarzan was constrained to admit that his position was aught but a desirable one. The trees were too far to hope to reach in time to elude the cat. Tarzan could but stand facing that hideous charge. In his right hand he grasped his hunting knife-a puny, futile thing in

ly, many human traits. Teeka was frightened. She screamed at the bulls to hasten to Tarzan's assistance; but the bulls were otherwise engaged-pri

cat, the ape-boy was quicker. He leaped to one side almost as the panther's talons were closing upon hi

mere nothing in the path of any jungle creature of the size and weight of Sheeta-provided it had no trailing rope dangling behind. But Sheeta was handicapped by such a rope, and as he leaped once again after Tarzan of t

and dead branches as came within their reach, until Sheeta, goaded to frenzy and snapping at the grass rope, finally succeeded in severing its strands. For a moment the

pt the somber dullness of their lives. Tarzan had recovered the greater part of his rope and was busy f

ed his canines in an ugly snarl; but Taug did not provoke a quarrel. He seemed to accept after the manner o

d herbs and beetles, which could be discovered without much effort upon their part, Tarzan spent considerable time hunting the game animals whose flesh alone satisfied t

n his search for food. At last he was within a few feet of her, and when he shot a covert glance

lips, baring his fangs. My, but what great, beautiful fangs he had! Teeka could not but notice them. She also let her

proud and as vain as a peacock. Presently he began to inventory his assets,

ee beauty in the stingy nose of the Tarmangani after looking at Taug's broad nostrils? And Tarzan's eyes! Hideous things, showing white about them, and enti

her. When Tarzan returned from his hunting a short time later i

e glade. He paused a moment, looking at them; then, with a sorrowful grimace, he turned an

ed love, and he didn't quite know what was the matter with him. He thought that he was angry with Taug, and so he could

many beauties persisted in haunting him, so that he could only see

when the poisoned arrow of Kulonga had pierced her savage heart, Kala had

rations of it were no greater than might have been expected from any other beast of the jungle. It was not until he w

am was shattered. Something hurt within his breast. He placed his hand over his heart and wondered what had happened to him. Vaguely he attr

e swung, and the farther he traveled and the more he thought upon his

the thought of seeing Taug and Teeka always together. As he swung upon a great limb Numa, the lion, and Sabor, the lioness, passed beneath him

who was a little distance from his companions, when he became interested in the thing which occupied the savages. They were buildi

nd why, when they had built it, they turned away and star

from the shelter of the great trees which overhung their palisade upon t

ces, when the fires glared against their naked bodies as they leaped and turned and twisted in mimic warfare. It was rather in the hope of witnessing

ssing the events of the day, and in the darker corners of the village he descried isolated couples tal

ed in the crotch of the great tree above the village, Teeka filled his mind, and afterward she

come into maturity, was an evil-natured brute of an exceeding short temper. When something thwarted him, his sole idea was to overcome it by brute strength and ferocity, and so now when he found his

t he must turn back. But when he would have done so, what was his chagrin to discover that another barrier had dropped behind him while he foug

vered a naked young giant filled with the curiosity of the wild things. Manu, the monkey, chattered and scolded as Tarzan passed, and though he was not afraid of the familiar figure of th

hued mate. It seemed to Tarzan that everything in the jungle was combining to remind him that he h

hook them frantically, and all the while he roared and growled terrifically. The blacks were elated,

t 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 tha

in Tarzan grinned. Now he could have Teeka for his own, with none to dispute his right to her. As he watched, he saw the black war

he bars of his prison and growling out his anger and his threats. Then t

wn clearing. The great cat lay stretched upon the ground, while his mate, one

of all the jungle creatures, none passed more quietly than Tarzan of the Apes. He saw Kamma and her mate feeding side by side, their hairy bodies rubbing aga

sed them; but there was more, too, than mere nervous shock to account for the bristling neck

them nervous and unstrung for a considerable time, and that they one and all found it necessary to satisfy t

is way toward Teeka; but as he

Tarzan. You belong to Tar

arefully. Finally she sniffed at him, a

Taug?" s

im," replied Tarzan.

ook of sorrow as he told her of Taug's fate; but she came quite close an

ncongruity there. He thought of little Manu hugging his she, and how the one seemed to belong to the other. Even the proud male bird, with his gay plumage, bore a close resemblance to his quieter spouse

breast with his fists. He raised his head toward the heavens and opened his mouth. From the depths of his lungs rose the fierce, weird challenge of the victorious bull ape. The tribe turned curiously to eye him. He had killed n

into a near-by tree and disappear from

progress toward their village. Always the savage beast in the primitive cage growled and roar

ad to gain the clearing in which lay their village. A few more minutes would have taken the

cage and counted the number of warriors. An alert and daring brain figured

closer, pausing just above them. Not a leaf rustled before his stealthy advance. He waited in the infinite

sed around to the rear of the cage. The ape-boy followed just above his head. Taug was eyeing t

he Negro, Tarzan whispered Taug's name, cautionin

launched itself from the tree full upon his back. Steel fingers circled his throat, choking the cry which sprang to the lip

h clung to him. He threw himself to the ground and rolled about; but st

truded, his eyes started from their sockets; but t

pted Tarzan to attack the black. Taug had not forgotten his recent battle with the ape-boy, nor the cause of

door in place. Taug could only watch-he could not help. Presently Tarzan pushed the thing up a couple of feet and Taug crawled

he cage and propped it against the side bars. Then he lower

the blacks of Mbonga's village. He could imagine their terror when they awoke and found the dead body of

of the fierce ape brushing the sleek skin of the English lor

Tarzan. "She is yours.

und another sh

-boy sh

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.

ture of

deep layers of rotting vegetation. With heavy-nailed fingers they scooped away the disintegrated earth from the center of the age-old g

he spears of those who were doing the scooping. Sweat glistened upon their smooth, ebon skins,

broke upon his startled ears. For a moment he stood statuesque but for his sensitively di

l almost daybreak and it had required much noise to awaken him. Now he lifted his muzzle and sniffed the air, caught the acrid sce

wung through the swaying limbs above the black warriors. Yet they were alone, for the teeming jungle with all its m

re the

ined, smoldered beneath the lad's evident desire to know the purpose of the black men's labors. Such a one as these it was who had slain his be

purpose of so great a labor. And when they cut long stakes, sharpened at their upper ends, and set them at intervals upright in the bottom of the pit, his wonderment but increased, nor w

d Tarzan surveyed it, too. Even to his practiced eye there remained scarce a ve

ks to depart in the direction of their village without the usual baiting which had rendered him the terror

f their kind to encroach upon the age-old supremacy of the beasts which laired there. To Numa, the lion, to Tantor, the elephant, to the great apes and the lesser apes, to each and all of the myriad creature

to expose one of the cross-bars. He sniffed at this, touched it, cocked his head upon one side, and contemplated it gravely for several minutes. Then he carefully re-covered it, arranging

urning with concentrated hate, glared up at the dancing figure above him. Low growls vibrated his heavy jowls and his great rage transmitted to his sinuous tail a sharp, whiplike motion; but realizing from past experience the futility of long distance

the jungle trail. Tarzan seized and broke a small tree limb, and at the sudden cracking sound the ponderous figure halted. Great ears were thrown forward, and a long, supple trunk rose quickly

d came closer above the

atest of the jungle folk with the strength of as many Numas as I have toes upon my feet and fingers

arch of Tarzan. He was not long kept in suspense, however, as to the whereabouts of the ape-man, for a second later the youth dropped lightly to the broad head of his old friend. Then stretching himself at full length, he drumme

though drinking in every word of it with keenest appreciation. As a matter of fact it was the pleasant, friendly voice and caressing hands behind his ears which he enjoyed, and the close proximity of him

istance-as far as his keen ears could detect the shrill and piercing summons of the ape-man-and when Tarzan was squatted upon his head, Tantor would lumber through the jungle in any di

than to Tantor, for Tarzan's stomach was smaller, and being omnivorous, food was less difficult to obtain. If one sort did not come readily to hand, there were always many others to satisfy his hunger. He was less par

wer orders-their lives are so occupied either with searching for food or with the processes of digestion that they have little time for other consid

es among the apes of Kerchak were now great, sullen brutes. They felt nor inspired but little affection. The younger apes Tarzan still played with occasionally. In his savage way he loved them; but they were far from satisfying or restful companions. Tantor was a great mountain of calm, of poise, of stability. It was restful and satisfying t

e jungle knows-that took Tarzan finally back to the trees and off in search of

lantain found a place upon his menu in the order that he happened upon them, for he did not seek such foods.

e 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 con

along a jungle trail. Instantly Tarzan tensed to the shock of a sudden fear. Decision and action usually occurred simultaneously in the

gether. Again he dropped to the ground and sped, silently and light of foot, over the carpet of decaying veget

oyalty of the man, and so it came that he entered a large clearing, denuded of trees, with

oclaimed. Simultaneously Buto, the rhinoceros, scrambled to his short legs and charged furiously. Haphazard charges Buto, the rhinoceros. With his weak eyes he sees but poorly even at short distances, and whether his erratic rushes are due to the panic of fear as h

yes 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

y in the trees beyond the clearing, nor had Tarzan any mind to delay his journey

t as he struck upward, his weapon raked only thin air, for the ape-man had sprung lightly aloft with a catlike leap that carried him above the th

ntically in another direction, which chanced to be not the direction of Tarzan's flight, and

or a crouching, black warrior listened intently in the middle of the path. Presently he heard the soun

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

ds and shouted as they reached the ground. For an instant Tantor, the elephant, paused with upraised trunk and tail, with great ears up-pricked,

ul examination of the ground before him. Tantor, the elephant, who could have turned and scattered his

or he had heard the shouts of the warriors and had interpreted them correctly. Once he uttered a piercing call that rever

success, were screaming and dancing in his wake, waving their war spears and celebrating in advance the acquisit

o note the silent passage of the man-beast above their heads, nor did T

ad come abreast of the fleeing animal and then had passed him. At the pit's verge the ape-man dropped to the ground

nd the great beast halt

e of the brush which hid the pit.

u." But Tantor, the elephant, is a huge bunch of ne

gle untouched by man. With a squeal the great beast turned suddenly at right angles and burst

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 mad

ve accommodated the huge bulk of an elephant. At first they thought that their prey had put one great foot through the top and then, warned, drawn back; but when

ich they had for some time believed to possess the miraculous powers of a demon; but others there were who p

backward his head had struck upon the side of one of the stakes, rendering him unconscious. The blacks were quick to discover this, and equally quick to bind their prisoner

nd then full consciousness returned and he realized the seriousness of his predicament. Accustomed almost from birth to relying solely upon his own resources,

captors discovered that he was conscious, and as they had little stomach for carrying a heavy man through the jungle heat, they set him upon his feet an

ering, their awe increased, so that they soon desisted, half believing that

, so that by the time they reached the gate, dancing and waving their spears, a great crowd of m

ird, white demon whom but few had ever glimpsed and lived to describe. Warriors had disappeared from the paths almost within sight of the village and from the midst of their compan

age, killed, and disappeared, leaving behind him in the huts with hi

pon them. A woman, screaming, ran forward and struck the ape-man across the face. Another and another fol

ng his spear heavily across the shoulders

him until ni

t 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 t

he wheeled, as though in terror, contemplating flight; but something stayed hi

stood li

der, the voice of Tantor was scarcely audible to the blacks,

-laden death. He halted as he heard the notes of Tantor's call, and raising his head, gave vent to a terrifying scream that sent cold chills thro

ntly from the distance came another, an answering cry, and Tarzan of the Apes, satis

. Through the doorway of the hut he saw the women laying the cooking fires and filling their earthen caldrons

in the giant body. He knew the panic of terror which the scent of the Gomangani inspired within that savage breast, and as night drew on,

came to lead him out to be butchered, and if he did-Tarzan licked his lips in anticipation, and smiled a cold, grim smile. He could imagine the feel of sof

nature had intended them. They came and pushed him into the open, where

with a single, powerful wrench parted the loosened thongs which had secured his hands. Like thought, for quickness, he leaped forward among the warriors nearest him. A blow sent one to earth, as, growling

beast cornered. His strength, his agility, his courage, and his intelligence rendered him easily a match for half a dozen

bled from ugly wounds, and two lay very still beneath the

hem that they could not, and so Mbonga, who, like all good rulers, had circled in the safety of the background, called to one to

he blacks. Closer and closer he edged about, following the movements of the twisting, scuffling combatants. The growls of the ape-man sent cold chills up t

hen from the jungle just beyond the palisade came a thunderous crashing. The spear-hand paused, the black cast a quick glance

w the palisade belly and sway inward. They saw it burst as though built of

the strife with Tarzan heard and made good their escape, but a half dozen there were so wra

he stopped, his sensitive trunk weaving among them, and ther

es flashing with the reflected light of the fires-wicked, frightful, terrifying. The warrior screamed, and as he scr

e-man, throwing them to right and to left, where they lay e

of terror relieved, he urged his men forward to attack with their heavy elephant spears; but as they came, Tantor swung

al would not have rendered such service to a man, but to Ta

ting even more closely the friendship that had existed between them since Tarzan as a little,

ht for

tive motherhood had not entirely quenched the fires of carefree youth, and Teeka had remained a good-natured playmate even at an age when other shes of the tribe of Kerchak h

bulls of his childhood had long since abandoned such childish practices. Teeka, though, had been keen fo

ugging something very close to her hairy breast-a wee something which squirmed and wriggled. Tarzan approached filled wi

ed. In all his experiences with Teeka, never before had she bared fangs at him other than in play; but today she did not look playful. Tarzan ran his brown fingers thro

through the trees; but Teeka, carrying her baby, could not overtake him. At a safe distance Tarzan stopped and turned to regard his erstwhile play-fellow in unconcealed astonishment. What had happened to so alter the gentle Teeka? She had so covered the thing in her arms that Tarzan had not yet been able to recognize it for what it was; but now,

ble attack of a she, or that he should hesitate to return for the satisfaction of his curiosity when with ease he might have vanquished the weakened mother of the new-born cub; but you need not wonder. Were you an ape, you would know that only a bull in the throe

and with his line of retreat safely open. Again

not harm Teeka's balu,"

d Teeka. "Go away,

e it," urg

comes Taug. He will make you go away. T

rness of Taug, and the fact that the bull had heard the wa

y of an ape is not overlong, nor would gratitude rise above the parental instinct. Tarzan and Taug had once measured strength, and Tarzan had been victorious. Th

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 wh

, Taug wheeled and rushed again madly to the attack. Perhaps the memory of a past defeat at Tarzan's hands goaded him. Perhaps the fact that Teeka sat there watching him aroused a desire to vanqu

e second time, Tarzan slipped the coils over his head and deftly shook out the sliding noose as he again nimbly eluded

e the former overtook him. There he halted and looked down upon his pursuer, making faces at him and calling him such choice names as occurred to the fertile man-brain. Then, when he had worked Taug to such a pitch of foaming rage that the great bull fairly danced

e, but the ape-man gave the rope a tremendous jerk that pulled Taug from his perch, and a

a stout limb and descende

you may hang here until you get a little sense in your thick he

ed with bared fangs and menacing growls. He sought to placate her; he urged his friendly intentions, and craned his neck to have a look at Teeka's balu; but t

posed in rest or in the search of food, and presently Tarzan abandoned his attempts to persuade her to permit a close examination of the balu. The ape-man would have liked to handle the tiny thing. The v

ing 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 uncom

th the coming of the balu, Teeka's care-free world had suddenly become peopled with innumerable enemies. She saw an implacable foe in Tarzan, always heretofore her best friend. Even poor

rm, she failed to note two baleful, yellow-green eyes staring fixedly at

eedily at the tempting meat so close at hand, but

ifle nearer! A quick spring and he would be upon them and

ing a red tongue and yellow fangs. But all this Teeka did not see, nor did any other of

ion of the last occasion upon which Taug had mauled him, and now he was bent upon revenge. Once he had grasped the swinging ape, he would quickly have drawn him within reach of his jaws. Tarzan saw and was wroth. He loved a fair fight, but the thi

w. Here he found a hand-hold, quickly righted himself, and as quickly clambered upward to be revenged upon Tarzan, but the ape-man was otherwise engaged and did not wish to be interr

h into a snarling, savage beast. Along his scalp the hair bristled: his upper lip drew back that his fighting fangs might be uncovered and ready. He did not wait for the bull to reach him, for something in the appear

ches of the tree. For fifteen feet the two fell, Tarzan's teeth buried in the jugular of his opponent, when a stout branch stopped their descent. The bull st

d as the other turned completely over and started again upon its fall toward the ground, he reached forth a hand a

then he rose to his full height, swelled his deep chest, smote upon it with hi

ily as the mighty voice sent its weird cry reverberating through the jungle. To right and left,

e-man; "mighty hunter, mighty fighter! No

ft 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 st

ation of lashing in which he dared indulge might stimulate his momentarily waned courage. The cry of the victorious ape-man still held his nerve

up to the point where the end of the grass rope was made fast, he unloosed it and lowere

itude to the ape-man. He recalled only the fact that Tarzan had laid this painful indignity upon him. He would be revenged

ers. Teeka had come close beneath the tree and was peering upward. Sheeta was worming his way stealthily forward, his belly close to the ground. In ano

und. Teeka, seeing him coming, and thinking that he was after her or her balu, bristled and prepared to fight. But Tarzan sped by her, and as he went, her eyes followed him and she saw the cause of hi

pe-man. Sheeta saw Tarzan coming. He saw the she-ape's cub before him, and he thought

hey 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 o

prey out of harm's way, for had he stooped to accomplish this, the great beast would have been upon him in an instant. Thus they stood while Teeka came across t

eyes glared terribly at Tarzan, and past Tarzan they shot brief glances at the apes of Kerchak advancing upon him. Discretion prompted him to turn and flee, but hunger and the close proximi

have wiped his face away had it landed, but it did not land, for Tarzan ducked beneath it and closed,

yellow fangs in the soft, smooth hide of the ape-man, but Tarzan had fought before with clawed creatures of the jungle. Before now he had battled with fanged monsters, nor al

full upon the tawny back, burying his teeth in Sheeta's neck and the fingers of one han

g, clawing and biting, in a mad effort to dislodge his antagonist

igh branch, safe out of harm's way, cuddling the little thing close to her hairy breast, the while her savage little eyes bo

em. Once he succeeded in partially dislodging the ape-man from his back, so that Tarzan swung for an instant in front of those awful ta

which wrought upon the encircling apes; but it was T

n? 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 unself

body he leaped, hideously growling, upon Sheeta. His long fighting fangs buried themselves in the whi

rged, burying Sheeta beneath rending fangs and filling

attle of the primordial apes and the great, white ap

rged on the males of her people, and Thaka, and Mumga, and Kamma, with the other shes of the tribe of Ke

e hesitated to have attacked an equal number of the great bulls of the tribe of Kerchak, and now, a half mile away, hearing the

still, yet the bulls continued to lacerate it until the beautiful coat was torn to shreds. At last they desisted

ting his blood-stained face to the blue of the equatorial h

hes came down from their perches of safety and struck and reviled the dead body

, and put out his hands to take the little one, expecting that Teeka would bare her fangs and spring

ide Tarzan and watched him as he played with the little balu, and at last he too lea

od of

without assistance, discovered the purpose of the little bugs which ran riot upon the printed pages. He had learned that in the many combinations in which he found them they spoke in a silent language, spoke in a stran

d the manner of its use. He had learned to make a species of game out of it, following up the spoor of a new thought through the mazes of the many definitions wh

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

reserves of knowledge, for each word and each definition led on and on into strange places, into new worlds

ftain, king of all the Mangani. He was not quite sure, however, since that would mean that God was mightier

at, an all-powerful individual. He saw pictures of places where God was worshiped; but never any sign of God. Finally

faculty for recalling the trivial. That time when Gunto mistook a sting-bug for an edible beetle had made more impression upon Mumga

htning and the rain and the thunder came from Goro, the moon. He knew this, he said, because the Dum-Dum always was danced in the light of Goro. This reasoning, though enti

upright upon a slender, swaying limb, raised his bronzed face to the silver orb. Now that he had clambered to the highest point within his reach,

of the Apes will not harm you!

who makes the great noise and the mighty winds, and sends the waters down upon th

hich constituted the alphabet. Unlike the apes he was not satisfied merely to have a mental picture of the things he knew, he must have a word descriptive of each. In reading he grasped a word in its entirety; bu

pes is BU, the feminine MU; g Tarzan had named LA, o he pronounced TU, and d was MO.

was given him by his foster mother, Kala, the great she-ape. When Tarzan first put it into the written language of his own people he had not yet chanced up

mmar school copybooks. It would tire you to remember that DO meant b, TU o, and RO y, and that to say he-boy you must prefix the ape masculine gender sound BU before the entire word a

Apes waxed wroth. He swelled his giant chest and bared his fighting fangs,

mighty fighter, mighty hunter. None there is so great as Tarzan. If there be a Bulamutumumo, Tarzan can ki

ed afraid, and was hiding from him, so he came down out of the trees and awoke Numgo and told him how great was Tarzan-how he had frighten

was very sleepy, so he told Tarzan to

u are very old; if there is a God you must have se

Numgo. "Now sleep an

forward and his short upper lip drew back, exposing his white teeth. Then, with a low growl he leaped upon the ape and buried his fangs i

God?" he

alone. Go ask the Gomangani where God is. They are hair

m, and though his relations with the people of Mbonga, the chief, were the antithesis of friend

Being, the Creator of all things. As he traveled he reviewed, mentally, his armament-the condition of his hunting knife, the number of his arr

t-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

isade. Below him, in the village street, he saw men and women. The men were hideously painted-more hideously than usual. Among them moved a weird and grotesque figure, a tall figure that went

either man nor beast, so what could it be then other than the Creator of the Universe! The ape-man watched the every move of the

uths 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 en

e thought that they must have to do with the God he could not understand. He saw three youths receive their first

doctor had made magical passes the while he danced and leaped about it, and he saw the breasts and foreheads of each of the three novitiates sprinkled with the charmed liquid. Could the ape-man have known the purpose of this act, that it was int

ions which played up and down his naked spine, sensations induced, doubtless, by the same hypnot

es were upon God, and with the conviction came determination to hav

ement. They needed little to release the accumulated pressure of static

of that all-too-familiar and always terrorizing voice. Even the witch-doctor paused in the midst of an intricate step, remaining momentarily rigid and s

the three youths into full-fledged warriorship, and besides these he had received several gifts of gra

. It was this moment that Tarzan chose to drop lightly from his tree into the village street. Fearless among his blood enemies h

no one had moved-a paralysis of terror held them, to be broken a moment later as the ape-m

them. Their arrows had been stolen from the very center of the village; their warriors had been silently slain upon the

doubtless have leaped to attack him, but at night, and this night of all others, when they were wrought to such a pitch of nervous dread by the uncanny artistry of their witch-doctor, they were helpless with terror. As one man they turned and fled, scattering fo

God?" ask

pletely around and alighting in a stooping posture with feet far outspread and head thrust out toward the ape-man. Thus he remained f

ncy with the visitor, the witch-doctor tried some new medicine. Spitting upon the zebra's tail, which he still clutched in one hand, he made circle

separated them. The circles therefore were few and rapid, and when they were completed, the witch-doctor struck an attitude wh

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

This was no way for God to act, at least not in accord

ped over cooking pots and the smoldering embers of small fires that had burned before the huts of villagers. Straight for his own hut ran th

oulder to drag him back. It seized upon a portion of the buffalo hide, dragging the disguise f

to the hut after the terror-stricken witch-doctor. In the blackness within he found the man hu

across the head brought him to a better realization of the futility of resis

or the sleeping waters, or upon the big water, or the little water, there is none so great as Tarzan. Tarzan is greater than the Mangani; he is greater than the Gomangani. With his own hands he has slain Numa, the lion,

the long, shrill scream of the victorious bull ape. Then he stooped and snatched the zebra's tail from the ne

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

he "face" of the witch-doctor would be lost forever if any saw what Mbonga had se

avy spear and crept silently from his hut in the wake of the retreating ape-man. Down the village street walked Tarzan, as unco

n-eared jungle creatures, moved now in utter silence. Not even Bara, the deer, with his great ears could have guessed from an

ight shoulder. Once and for all would Mbonga, the chief, rid himself and his people of the menace of this terrifying enemy. He wo

enemies, had noted what Mbonga never would have thought of considering in the hunting of man-the wind. It was blowing in the same direction that Tarzan was proceeding, carrying to his delicate nostrils the odors which arose behind him. Thus it was that Tar

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 t

speed of a charging lion. He was growling, too, not at all unlike Numa himself. Mbonga heard and his blood ran cold. He could feel th

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 fi

he seeming security of their huts while they watched the

rzan half rose and kneeled above the black. He turned Mbonga over and looked him in the face, exposing the man's throat, then he drew his long, keen knife, the knife that John Clayton, Lord Greys

-a dried, parchment-like face which resembled some of the little monkeys Tarzan knew so well. He saw the terror in the man's eyes-n

emed 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 grea

d away, leaving Mbong

swung himself into the branches of the tree which overhung t

ed 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 unders

beneath which slept the apes of Kerchak, and he was still absor

tched them lazily from above as they scratched in the rotting loam for bugs and beetles and grubwo

had penetrated to its shady retreat. A thousand times had Tarzan of the Apes witnessed the beauteous miracle; but now it aroused a keener inte

Where did Numa, the lion, come from? Who planted the first tree? How did Goro get way up into the darkness of the n

d Taug different from Bara, the deer, and Bara different from Sheeta, the panther, and why was not Sheeta like Buto, the rhinoc

e many ramifications of the dictionary definition of GOD he had come upon

il 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 Ga

ow 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 w

ounds which now had risen in volume to deafening proportions. From all directions the apes of Kerchak were hurrying in res

was first upon the scene. What he saw sent a cold chill through his giant fr

gle inspired within the breast of Tarzan so near a semblance to fear as did the hideous Histah. The apes, too, loathed the terrifying reptile and feared him

d him with the greatest wonder, for at the moment that he saw her, the she-ape leaped upon the glistening body of the snake, and as the mighty folds encirc

eeka's innate dread of the monster much greater than Tarzan's own. Never, willingly, had he touched a snake. Why, he could not say, for he would admit fear of nothing; nor was it fear, but rather an inherent repulsion

een springing upon Bara, the deer, to make a kill for food. Thus beset the snake writhed and twisted horribly; but not for an instant did it

awn 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 up

th equal facility, yawned for him; but Histah, in turning his attention upon the ape-man, brought his head within reach of Tarzan's blade. I

and striking with his great body; but no longer sentient or sensible. Histah w

cated the balu and tossed it to its mother. Still Histah whipped about, clinging to the ape-man; but after a dozen effor

y away to resume their interrupted feeding, and Teeka turned with them, apparently forgetful of all but her balu and the fact t

pool which served to water the tribe at this point. Strangely, he did not give the victory cry over the vanquished Histah. Why, he could not have told you,

orrid monster. Why had she done it? Why, indeed, had he? Teeka did not belong to him, nor did Teeka's balu. They were both Taug's. Why then had he done this thing? Histah was not food for him when he was dead. There seemed to Tarzan, now that he

do these things, for I never did them by myself. It was God who made Teeka rush upon Histah. Teeka would never go near Histah of her own volition. It was God who held my knife from the throat of the

-the flowers, the trees, the moon, the sun, himself, every livin

e 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 creatur

of the good and beautiful things of nature; but there was one thing which trou

Histah, t

nd the B

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

trands, his uncanny screams that were part hate, part anger, part terror. He smiled in retrospection at the

ut him. No perplexing thoughts of the future burdened their minds, and only occasionally, dimly arose recollections of the near past. They were stimulated to a species of brutal content by the delectable business of filling their bellies. Afterward they would sleep-it was their life, and they enjoyed it as we enjoy ours, you and I-as Tarzan enjoyed his.

ns 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? T

fifteen or twenty feet from the bole of the tree beneath the branches of which Tarzan worked upon his rope, Gazan scampered quickly forward, scrambling nimbly upward to the lower limbs. Here he would squat for a moment or two, quite proud of his achievement, then clamber to the gro

like an animated rubber ball, snatching it from the ape-man's hand and running off across the clearing. Tarzan leaped to his feet and

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 young

it was necessary to watch carefully the playful balu, who was now possessed to steal

n 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 famil

and partly for the little ape's own sake, and Tarzan's human longing for some sentient creature upon which to expend those natural affections of the soul which are inherent to all normal members of the GENUS HOMO. Tarzan envied Teeka. It was true that Gazan evidenced a considerable reciprocati

course Tarzan could scarcely formulate the thought in precisely this way-he only knew that he craved something which was denied him; something wh

of Sabor, the lioness. Here he had watched them with their little balus-playful creatures, spotted leopard-like. And he had seen the young fawn with Bara, the deer, and with Buto, the rhinoceros, its ungainly little one. Each of the creatures of the jungle had its own-except Tarzan. It made th

the long years that it had spread its leafy branches above the deep-worn jungle path! Tarzan, the ape-man, Sh

ree-Horta, the boar, whose formidable tusks and diabolical temper preserved h

dreariest denizens of the jungle. He knew neither fear nor mercy, except upon rare occasions when some strange, inexplicable force stayed his hand-a force inexplicable t

the neck of Horta, the boar. It was an excellent test for the untried strands. The angered boar bolted this way and that; but eac

o the ground behind him. In the ape-man's hand was the long, keen blade that had been his constant companion since that distant day upon which ch

would have appeared but the maddest folly for him to face so formidable a creature as Horta, the boar, armed onl

g the ape-man. His wicked, deep-set eyes

it is juicy and makes Tarzan strong. Today I shall eat your heart, O Lord of t

ause of that. He saw only a naked man-thing, hairless and futile, pitting his p

a sluggard by comparison, and as he moved, he stooped low and with all the great power of his right arm drove the long blade of his father's hunting knife straight into th

re 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 M

ing to the ape-man. He found pleasure in watching the ungainly antics of Duro, the hippopotamus, and keen sport in tormenting the sluggish crocodile, Gimla, as he basked in the sun. Then,

port a rude pendant of copper which she had worn for so many years that the lip had been dragged downward to prodigious lengths, exposing the teeth and gums of her lower jaw. Her nose, too, was slit, and through the slit was a wooden skewer. Metal ornaments dangled from her ears, and upon her forehead and cheeks; upon her chin and the bridge of

whim seized him. Here was a balu fashioned as he himself was fashioned. Of course this one's skin was black; but what of it? Tarzan had never seen a white man. In so far as he knew, he was the sole representative of that strange form of life upon the earth. The black boy should make an excellent balu for Tarzan,

ignorant of the near presence of that terrifying form, continued preoccup

of the unsuspecting youth, then settled. As it encompassed his body below the shoulders, Tarzan gave a quick jerk that tightened it about the boy's arms, pinioning them to his sides. A scream of terror broke from

e which would shrink not even from death itself. She was very hideous and frightful even when her face was in repose; but convulsed b

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 s

f her screams and menaces, Tarzan paused to inspect his prize, now so

rfully toward his captor, until the whit

zan will protect you. He will feed you. The best in the jungle shall be for Tarzan's balu, for Tarzan is a mighty hunter. Non

It was he who had slain Kulonga and others of the warriors of Mbonga, the chief. It was he who entered the village stealthily, by magic, in the darkness of the night, to steal arrows and poison, and frighten the women and the children and ev

he simian equivalent of black he-baby in lieu of

derstand. 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

bole of the tree and wept. Being a boy, and a native African, he had, of course, climbed into trees many times before this; but the idea of racing off through the f

zan picked him up and carried him upon his back. Tibo no longer scratched or bit. Escape seemed impossible. Even now, were he set upon the ground, the chance was remote, he knew, that he could find his way ba

much consideration from the frightful, green-eyed man-eaters. It would be the lesser of two evils

n so frightened, yet as the white giant sped on with him through the forest there stole over the child an inexplicable sensation of security as he saw how true were the leaps of the ape-m

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 alo

e great white giant stand there so unconcernedly? Why did he not flee before these horrid, hairy, tree men fell upon them both and tore them to pieces? And then there came to Tibo a numbing recollection. It was none other than

great fangs, their wicked eyes. He noted their mighty muscles rolling beneath their shaggy hides. Thei

harm him, or Tarzan will kill you," and he bar

et me kill it. It is a Gomangani. The Go

s Tarzan's balu. Go away or Tarzan will kill you,"

the manner of a dog which meets another and is too p

Gazan. They were filled with wonder like the others; but Teeka did

he said. "He and Teeka'

d Teeka. "It will kill my b

he rat," he said. "It is but a little balu

ured by her great confidence in Tarzan, she pushed Gazan forward toward the little black boy. The small ape,

a closer acquaintance with Gazan, so

nd then the little black seemed so stupid and fearful to Tarzan. It was quite helpless against even the lesser of the jungle creatures. Tarzan wondered how it had survived at all. He tried to teach it, and found a ray of hope in the fact that Go-bu-balu had mastered a few words of the language of the anthropoids, and that he could now cling to a high-tossed branch without screaming in fear; but there was somethi

ted Tarzan when the ape-man was a balu, but all to no avail. Go-bu-balu merely no longer feared Tarzan-that was all. He feared every other living thing within the jungle. He feared the jungle days with their

imself that his balu was not all that he had hoped. Though he was faithful to his self-imposed task, and even found that he had grown to like Go-bu-balu, he could not dece

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 advers

ad thrilled, too, and for the first time there entered his dull, Negroid mind a vague desire to emulate his savage foster parent. But Tibo, the little black boy, lacked the divine spark whic

t not, the blacks only a little, while to one in a hundred thousand of earth's dom

ne, for though Momaya paid him two goats for it, it did not bring back Tibo, nor even indicate where she might search for him with reasonable assurance of finding him. Momaya, being of a short temper and of another people, had little respect for the witch-doctor of her husband's tri

ght, as she so often had done since the abduction of her Tibo, in the hope that she finally might discov

et never tasted the flesh of any. Too, the bodies always had been found, sometimes dropping as though from the clouds

ils in his evil lair. Few, if any, had the temerity to visit old Bukawai, firstly because of fear of his black magic and the two hyenas who dwelt with him and were commonl

course 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

Momaya was neither frail nor weak, physically, but she was a woman, an ignorant, superstitious, African savage. She believed in devils, in black magic, and in witchcraft. To Momaya, the

of water which rose in a small rocky ca?on between two hills, the easternmost of which was easily recognizable because of a huge granite boulder which rested upon i

rned her, however, to abandon so foolish and dangerous an adventure, emphasizing what she already quite well knew, that if she escaped harm at the hands of Buk

as due solely to that age-old alliance which exists between church and state. The local witch-doctor, knowing his own medicine better than any other knew it, was jealous of all other pretenders to accomplishments in the black art. He long had heard of the power of Bukawai, and feared lest, should he succeed in

ode of Bukawai, she was not likely to be deterred by threats of future punishment at the hands of old Mbonga

she must carry food and a weapon of some sort-things which she never could pass out of the village with by

frightened, but she set her face resolutely toward the north, and though she paused often to listen, breathlessly, for the huge cats which, here, were her grea

, and then, very faintly but unmistakable to her keen ears, came

t and started to clamber, apelike, to the branches above. As she did so, there was a sudden rush of a great body behind her, a me

ied human ear which hung from a cord about her neck. She always had known that that ear was good medicine. It had been given

short time, she dared not descend into the darkness again, for fear she might encount

e, and also that most of the adult apes were a constant menace to Go-bu-balu's life, so that Tarzan dared not leave him a

em, until finally he found himself a greater distance to the north than he ever before had hunt

e-man went upon the ground, and in the trees he even did his best to follow his mighty foster parent. The boy was still sad and lonely. His thin, little body had grown steadily thinner since he had come am

d 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 pu

and thought much. Once they came upon Sabor moaning in the tall grasses. About her romped and played two little balls o

re rose quite unbidden before him a vision of Momaya, the skewer through the septum of her nose, her pendulous under lip sagging beneath the weight which dragged it down. Tarzan saw not her unloveliness; he saw only the same anguish that was Sabor's, and he winced. That strange functioning of the mind which sometimes is called association of ideas snapped Teeka and Gazan before the ape-man's mental vision. What if one should come and take Gazan from Teeka. Tarzan uttered a low and ominous growl as though G

there rose one after another, above the threshold of his objective mind, memory portraits of Sabor, of Momaya,

ne side, and the black cavern beyond yawned mysterious and repellent. Momaya shivered as from a cold wind of the rainy season. No sign of life appeared about the cave, yet Momaya experienced that uncanny sensation as of unseen eyes rega

ol her terror, and then she paused, listening. Was all her labor, were all the terrors and dangers through which

rs now were drooped like those of an old woman who bears a great burden of many years with their accumulated

or and suffering, and then there came to her the memory of a little babe that suckled at her

she turned about and walked boldly back to the mouth of the

This time Momaya recognized it for what it was, the strange cry of a hyena. No more

e ugly, sullen brute drew back with an angry growl. Again Momaya called Bukawai by name, and thi

Bukawai?" quer

woman; "Momaya from the vi

do you

plied Momaya. "The great, white, jungle god has stolen my Tibo, and I want medi

ibo?" ask

a tol

oice. "Five goats and a new sleeping mat are sc

ya, for the spirit of barter is s

s sorry when she saw him that he had not remained within. There are some things too horrible, too hideous, too repulsive f

nly and constant companions. They made an excellent trio-th

new sleeping mat

the hyenas sniffed and growled and laughed hideously. Momaya was determined to give all that Bukawai asked if she could do no better, but haggling is second nature to b

e the strong medicine which shall bring Tibo back to you. Bring with you the three fat goa

o come after them. When you have restored Tibo to me

shook

aid, "until I have the goats an

ge of Mbonga. How she could get three goats and a sleeping mat out of the village and through the jungle to the cave of Bukawai,

Bara. Naught tickled his palate so greatly; but to stalk Bara with Go-bu-balu at his heels, was out of the question, so he hid the

and apparent dangers are less disconcerting than those which we im

h the jungle. He crouched closer to the limb upon which he lay and prayed that Tarzan would

e 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

tumbled from his perch and raced toward her. Momaya suddenly started back and raised he

e same time, and hot tears of joy, mingled with the tears o

ugh the tangled underbrush and saw the black woman and her young. He licked his chops and measured the distance between

n's meat was gone. The ape-man angrily shook his head and turned back toward the spot where he had left Go-bu-balu. He came softly, as was his way. Before he reached the spot he heard strange sounds-the sound of a woma

the sigh, and he knew, so he unloosed the heavy spear which dangled at his back. Even as he sped through the branches of the trees, with the same ease that you or I might tak

son told him that already the prey was his, so he pushed his great bulk

sed her spear, throwing her hand far back of her shoulder. Numa roared and stepped slowly forward. Momaya cast her weapon. It gra

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

breast. His great blows bent and twisted the weapon. Tarzan, crouching and with hunting knife in hand,

hunting blade flashed in the air. Twice it fell upon the back of Numa, already weakening from the spear point so near his heart. The second stroke of the blade pierced f

er and iron against her return with the price of the medicine-to pay, as it were, for an option on his services as one pays a retaining fee

He saw it all and marveled, guessing immediately that this must be the strange

he who had stolen her Tibo. Doubtless he would attempt to steal him again. Momaya hugged the boy c

ther aroused within his savage breast a melancholy loneliness. There was none

e quiet that had fallen upon the jung

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 Mo

an s

e of Mbonga, and Tarzan will follo

me. In the heart of Momaya was a great fear and a great exultation, for never before had she walked with God, and

Gomangani, and for Bara, and for Manu, and even for Pamba, the rat; but for Tarzan there can be

e, swearing a great oath that he would yet have the three f

Doctor See

be sure, he was among the forward guns, not being considered a sporting shot, but what he lacked in skill he more than made up in appearance. At the end of the day he would, doubtless, have many

ermitted 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

e the first eviction. The day being sultry, the leopard skin had been left behind. The real Lord Greystoke had not two guns, to be sure, nor even one, neither did he have a smart loader; but he poss

f his repast, quite ignorant of the fact that he was an impostor and that the rightful owner of his noble title was even then finishing his own dinner in far-off Africa. He was not using snowy linen, though. Instead he drew the back of

of mane, scowling and sinister, rumbling out low, coughing roars. Tarzan of the Apes heard him long before he came within sight, but the ape-man went on with

wly to one side, and watching, not the lion's face, but its tail. Should that commence to move from side to side in quick, nervous jerks, it would be well to be upon the alert, and should it rise sud

truces which so often are seen among the savage ones of the jungle. Before Numa had finished drinking, Tarzan

ized 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

l sentiments with which he considered the murderers of Kala. The Gomangani were his deadly enemies, nor could they ever be aught else. Tod

g 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

y and keeping well in the cover of other huts, he approached that from which rose the sounds of lamentation. A fire burned brightly before the doorway as it

im among the females and into the full light of the fire. Then he would dart into the hut during the excitement, thrott

stom 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 d

to still, the figure of a young woman with a wooden skewer through the split septum of her nose, with a heavy metal ornament depending from her lower lip, which it

e which carried to the shadows where Tarzan lurked, picking out his light brown body from the surrounding darkness. Momaya saw him and knew him. With a cry, she leape

d come to slay, but that overwhelming torrent of speech filled him with consternation and with awe. He glanced about him apprehensively, then back at the woman. A revulsion of feeling seized him. He could not kill little Tibo's mother, nor could he stand and face this ver

he 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

ere, even if, by chance, we could have seen aught. Perhaps had one been there to point them out to us, we might have noted indentations in the mud, but there were countless indentations, one overlapping another into a confusion that would have been entirely meaningless to us. To Tarzan each told its own story. Tantor, the elephant, had passed that way

again both were in advance, or both were in the rear. It was very strange and quite inexplicable, especially where the spoor showed where the hyenas in the wider portions of the path had walked one on eit

now his keen eyes caught something in the spoor of the little Gomangani which brought him to a sudden stop. It w

the night before. Instantly all was explained-the wailing and lamentation, the pleading of the black mother, the sympathetic howling of the shes about the fire. Little Go-bu-balu had been stol

was a day old and it ran toward the north. Tarzan set out to follow it. In places it was totally obliterated by the passage of many beasts, and where the way was rocky, even Tarza

he 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

ll the savage ferocity of a she-tiger at bay. When she saw who it was, she

or the three fat goats, the new sleeping mat, and t

at, nor any wire. Your medicine was never made. The white ju

leshless jaws. "It was I who commanded the

foul den and your hyenas. Go back and hide your stinking face in the belly

new sleeping mat, and the bit of copper wire the length of a tall

ntil 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-ga

t waited to hear more of what she already knew by heart. Clasping Tibo close to h

tribe, and little Tibo had been playing at the edge of the jungle, casting a small spear in an

ostile warrior. Little Tibo had raised his tiny spear, his heart filled with the savage blood lust of his race, as he pictured the ni

h of the jungle. However, it could be but a few steps within the forbidden labyrinth. The women were all about in

f eaten away by leprosy, his sharp-filed teeth, the teeth of a cannibal, showing yellow and repulsive through the great gaping hole

arch of his little spear, and then it was too late. As he looked up into the face of Bukawai, the old

n still muffling his screams, and the two hideous hyenas pacing now on either side, now before, now

of terror. He thought now of the time that he had been with the great, white jungle god, and he prayed with all his little soul that he might be back again with the white

hat 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

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 r

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

ed, 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,

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

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 in

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 sava

ts, the new sleeping mat, and the two pieces of copper wire that your mother will pay for the medicine I shall make to bring you back to her," he said. "You wil

t. Then he dragged a rude lattice into place before the opening after he, himself, had left the chamber. "This will keep them from you," he said. "If I do not get the te

g he lay there he did not know, but presently he was aroused by the growling of the hyenas. They had returned through the passage and were glaring at him from beyond the lattice. He could see their yellow eyes blazing through the darkness. They

deous growls or laughing their hideous laughs. Through the narrow rift in the rocky roof above him, Tibo could see a few stars, and once the moon crossed. At last daylight came again. Tibo was very hungry

s 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

shadows of the jungle day and the black horrors of the jungle night, flit strange, fantastic shapes peopling the already hideously peopled forests with menacing figures, as though the lion and the leo

maginary ones. He was afraid even to venture upon a road that might lead to

rey. Rearing upon their hind feet they clawed and struck at the lattice. With wide eyes Tibo saw it sag and rock. Not for long, he knew, could it withstand the assaults of these two powerful and determined brutes. A

savage, snarling head forced past it, and grinning jaws snapping and gaping toward him. In another instant the pitiful fabric would fall in

t of him the woman drew back in revulsion, then she flew at him, tooth and

she cried. "Where

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!" sh

e stole him once he would steal him again. It is nothing to me. I returned him to you before and I have come for my pay. If he is gone and you would have him returned, Bukawai will return him-for ten fat goats, a new sleeping mat and two

could not pay you ten fat goats in

fat goats, the new sleeping mat and tw

"I have no goats. You waste your breath. Stay here while I go to

putation as a witch-doctor rendered him doubly immune from attack. He was planning upon compelling them to drive the ten goats to the mouth of his cave when Momaya returned. With her were three warriors-Mbonga, the chief, Rabba Kega, the village witch-doctor, and Ibeto, Tibo's father. They were not pretty men e

eto's son?"

d I will make strong medicine and then we shall know where is Ibeto's son, and shall get h

or to make medicine," rep

from them, and then he turned angrily back. "His medicine will not bring the child back-that I know, and I also know that when you find him it will be to

t 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 wa

it be good magic. Then we can talk about payment. Rabba Kega will make

o 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 seco

said Mbonga. "Let us see wh

d Bukawai, "and I will

attention to the fact that he, Mbonga, was very poor, that his people were very poor, and that ten goats were at least eight too many, to say nothing of a new sleeping mat and the copper wire; bu

n. Mbonga and the others were much impressed. Rabba Kega grew nervous. He saw his reputation waning. There was some fire left in the vessel which Momaya had brought. He seized the vessel, dropped a handful of dry leaves into it while no one was watching and then uttered a f

e receptacle. Rabba Kega was careful to hold it so that none might see the dry leaves. Their eyes opened wide at this remarkable demonstration of the village witch-doctor's powers. The latter, grea

m. No one was paying him the slightest attention. He blinked his one eye angrily, then he, too, let out a loud roar, and w

m. He is alone and in great danger; but," he added, "if the ten fat goats

chief was in a quandary. He did not know which medicine was the

"but he is not where Bukawai says he is.

a commenced t

cave in the rocky ca?on between the two hills. Here he paused a moment before the sapling barrier which Buk

tate. Hurling the door aside, he sprang into the dark opening. Narrow and black was the corridor; but long use of his eyes in the Stygian blackness of

loudly the savage snarls of the two hyenas, mingled with the scraping and scratching of their paws upon wood. The moans of a

ngle to be greatly wrought even by the death of one whom he knew; but the lust for battle spurred him

easts as he could drag himself. He saw the lattice giving to the frantic clawing of the hyenas. He knew that in a fe

crash it gave way, letting the carnivora in upon the boy. Tibo cast one affrighted gla

ut not so silently that the keen-eared beasts did not note his coming. With angry growls they turned from Tibo upon the ape-man, as, with a smile upon his lips, he ran toward them. For an instant one of the animals stood its ground; but the ape-man did not deign even

enas, he rolled his eyes upward in surprise and incredulity, and as they fell upon Tarzan, sobs of relief broke from the chi

ich rose near by, he lifted the boy to his shoulders and set off toward the jungle at a rapid trot, determined to still the annoying

ing magic? Who is he, anyway, that he dare say Bukawai's magic is not good magic? Bukawai sees Mo

ted, and as the five blacks looked up they almost swooned in fright as they saw the great, white devil-god looking down upon t

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 vic

e blacks. Then Momaya's eyes lighted upon Rabba Kega. The village witch-doctor

. "Magic, indeed!" she screamed. "Momaya will show you some magic of her own," and with that she seized upon a broken limb and struck Rabba Kega across the head. With a howl of pain, the man turned and fled, Momaya pursuing him and beating him across th

ained awake long into the night planning means of revenge upon the white devil-god who had brought them into ridicul

s he did on any other night, and though there was no roof above him, and no doors to lock against intruders, he slept much bet

d of B

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

nce, that there is little wonder he found scant space in his savage heart for love of his white-skinned foster child, or the inventions thereof. There had been other times, too, when Tublat

Tarzan, as active in brain as he was in body, was always inventing new ways in which to play. It was through the medium of play that he learned much during his childhood

the rope which lay upon the ground and ran off with it as far as he could go. When Tarzan screamed at him to desist, the young ape released the rope a little and then drew it tight again. The result was to impart a swinging motion to Tarzan's body which the ape-boy suddenly realized was a new and pleas

ere he again made it fast, and taking the loose end in his hand, clambered quickly down among the branches as far as the rope would permit him to go

s body in just the right way at the proper time he could diminish or accelerate his oscillation, and, being a boy, he chose, natural

so long as to have made it possible; but Tarzan was quite as much at home swinging by his hands as he was standing upon his feet, or, at least, almost. At an

'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

mb, parted suddenly. The watching apes saw the smooth, brown body shoot outward, and down, plummet-like. Tublat leaped high in the air, emitting what in a human bei

rs before. Was she to lose this one too in the same way? Tarzan was lying quite still when she found him, embedded deeply in the bush. It took Kala several minutes to disentangle him and drag him forth; but he

e without first discovering the identity of his victim, and was badly mauled for his ill temper, hav

e strands of his rope, though it was many years before this knowledge did more for him than merely

thing that had once all but killed hi

d unto the arms of his fathers. It was not that he was more cruel or more savage than they that they hated him, for though he was both cruel and savage as were the beasts, his fellows, yet too was he often tender, which they never were. No, the thing which brought Tarzan most into disrepute with

or months Bukawai had nursed his hatred while revenge seemed remote indeed, since Tarzan of the Apes frequented another part of the jungle, miles away from the lair of Bukawai. Only once had the black witch-doctor seen the devil-god, as he was most often called among the bla

e for a few days. As a child he had enjoyed romping and playing with the young apes, his companions; but now these play-fellows of his had grown to surly, lowering bulls, or to touchy,

light clouds raced so swiftly, the jungle was motionless. Not a leaf quivered and the silence was a great, dead weight-insupportable. Even the insects seemed stilled by apprehension of some frightful thing impending, and the lar

tions many times before, yet he never could escape a strange feeling at each recurrence of them. He knew no fear, but

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 wor

he midst of it the rain came-not as it comes upon us of the northlands, but in a sudden, choking, blinding deluge. "

w branches had fallen and here and there some old and rotted patriarch had crashed back to enrich the soil upon which he had fatted for, maybe, centuries. All about him branches and leaves filled the air or fell to earth, torn away by the strength of the tornado and the weight of the water upon them. A gaunt corpse toppled and fell a few yards away; but Tarzan was protected from all these dangers b

ad he had a dozen eyes he could have found no beauty in the fresh sweetness of the revivified jungle, for to such things, in the chemistry of temperament

ently one of them uttered a low growl and with flattened head started, sneaking and wary, toward the jungl

t he could not believe the witness of his own eyes; but when he did and saw that it was indeed the devil-god h

or there might still be life in the apparently lifeless form. The beasts, snapping and snarling, half turned upon their master and their tormentor, but long fear

lders, for, though Bukawai was old and diseased, he was still a strong man. The hyenas fell in behind as the witch-doctor set off toward the cave, and through the long black corridors they followed as Bukawai bore his victim into the bowels of the hills. Through subterranean chambers, connected by winding passageways, Bukawai

ich Bukawai had entered. A few stunted trees grew upon the rocky floor. A hun

ay that the ape-man could not reach them. The hyenas slunk to and fro, growling. Bukawai hated them and they hated him. He knew that they bu

awai always kept the beasts well fed, often hunting for them when their own forages for food faile

e to believe that they returned not so much from habit as from a fiendish patience which would submit to every indignity and pain rather than forego the final vengeance, an

oss the opening a lattice of laced branches, which shut the pit from the cave during the night that Bukawai might sleep in

rose in the little ca?on close at hand and returned toward the pit. The hyenas stood be

contents of the vessel in the ape-man's face. There was fluttering of the ey

My medicine is strong. Yours is weak. If it is not, why

d 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 m

re was a short scrimmage in which the brutes came off second best, as they always did. Tarzan watched it

doctor finally desisted. Then he withdrew into the corridor and pulled the latticework barrier across the opening. He went back into th

n realized that the rope he had braided to hold Numa, the lion, would hold him quite as successfully. He

s mind's eye from the storehouse of his memory. He saw a lithe, boyish figure swinging high above the ground at the end of a rope. He saw many apes watching from below, and t

is free arms they slunk off. He knew that with the growth of hunger they would attack. Coolly, method

the beasts gained sufficient courage or hunger to attack the captive. Their growls and th

than that of his boyhood, which had parted so quickly to the chafing of the rough tree bark. Yet, all the while hu

harge the man, leaping for the unprotected throat. He saw Tarzan reach out and seize the growling animal, and then he saw the second beast spring for the devil-god's shoulder. There was a mighty heave of the great, smooth-skinned body. Rounde

il against his servants? Impossible! The creature was unarmed, and he w

gh the other beast tore at him frantically in an effort to pull him down. With a single hand Tar

urled one of the foaming beasts straight at the witch-doctor's head. Down went the two in a snarling, biting heap. Tarzan tossed the second hyena across the crater, while the first gnawed at the rott

aw 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 hi

ridors and the subterranean apartmen

turn," he sai

g walls Bukawai, cold with terror

ried, his voice rising t

they

e

re and on either bank a well-worn trail, broadened far out at the river's brim, where, for countless centuries, the wild things of the jungl

as he neared the spot where he would lie in wait for Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, or some other of the many luscious-fleshed creatures who came hither to d

Pacco, the zebra. Behind the black-striped stallion came a herd of thirty or forty of the plump and vicious little horselike beasts. As he neared the ri

, gathering himself for the sudden charge and the savage assault. His eyes

Pacco, the zebra. He knew that he would return, though many times he might wheel and fly before he summoned the courage to lead his harem and his offspring to the water. There was the ch

his velvet muzzle daintily into the water. The others, stepping warily, approached their leader. Numa selected a sleek, fat filly and his flaming eyes burned greedily as th

ke a shot from a rifle he charged upon the filly; but the snapped twig had been enough to star

to seize him; but the snapping twig had robbed Numa of his dinner, though his mighty ta

le. Far from particular now was his appetite. Even Dango, the hyena, would have seemed a tidbit to th

ould be lying up asleep beside his last night's kill by now; but Numa

before he saw them. Ordinarily he would have turned away in search of other game, for even Numa respected the mighty muscles and the sharp f

reatures 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 tram

of surrounding trees. Had the bulls stood their ground, Numa would not have carried through that charge un

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 sough

blood-spattered and scentful. Even such dull creatures as you or I might easily have

ater Numa was surrounded by a ring of growling beasts, well out of reach of his fangs and talons but within plain sight of him. The carnivore crouched with his fore-quarters upon the she

hich he danced, hurled them at the lion. The apes followed his example. Numa roared

ven now be feeding in quiet themselves; but Tarzan was of a different mind. Numa must be punished and driven away. He must be taught that even though he killed a Mangani, he would not be permitted to feed upon his kill. The man-

h missiles that kept his head dodging and his voice pealing fort

and hurl them at Numa, for Tarzan was not then king of the apes of the tribe of Kerchak. That came in later years. Now he was but a youth, though one who already had wrested for himself a place in the councils of the savage beasts among whom a strange fate had cast him. The sullen bulls of the older generation still hated him as beasts hate those of whom they are suspicious, whose scent characteristic is the scent characteristic of an alien order and, therefore, of an enemy order. The younger bulls, those who had grown up through childhood as his playmates, were as accustomed to Tarzan's scent as to that of any other membe

for mimicry and learned to make use of it. Having filled his arms with fragments of rotted granite

an 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 pu

ccuracy and force hurl the sharp bits of granite and the heavy sticks at him. Time and again did Numa charge-sudden, vicious charges-but the lithe, active tormentor always managed to elude him

aking up his position in the center of the open space, which was far enough from any tree to render him practically immune

future, while the shaggy apes thought only of their present hatred of this ancestral enemy. Tarzan guessed that should Numa find it an easy thing to snatch a meal from the tribe of Kerchak, it would be but a short time before their existence would be one living nightmare of hideous watchfulness and dread. Numa must be taught that the killing of an ape brought immediate punishm

an. "He will find them easier prey. I will teach

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 co

e playmate of his childhood, the rival in his first love and now, of all the bulls of the tribe, the only one that might be thought to hold in his savage brain any s

ar from a lightning-blasted tree. "Go close to Numa and worry him," said Tarzan. "Worry him

ground and advanced toward Numa, growling and barking out his insults. The worried lion looked up and rose to

Instead he shot forward after the fleeing bull, who had turned in flight not an instant too soon, since he reached the nearest tree but a yard or two

oward his kill, and as he did so, his tail shot once more to rigid erectness and he charged back even more ferociously than he had com

ring, portraying them in glaring relief to the audience in the leafy shadows of the surrounding trees. The light-brown body of the naked youth, all but hidden by the shaggy carcass of the killed ape,

rilled with the joy of such living as this; but would he

tree before him. Gunto was

nd feet and one forepaw. And Gunto caught them-the big ape-man and the dead weight of the slain she-ape-caug

eared, was as quick as Manu, the monkey, so that the lion's talons bu

eath the tree, roaring frightfully. He had been robbed of his kill and his revenge also. He was very savage indeed; but his despoilers

of Kerchak, the great ape, but equally he thought upon the wild scramble of the apes for safety when Numa first charged among them. There is little humor in the jungle that

now he saw the humor of the frightened panic of the apes and the baffled rage of Numa even in this g

tree where it had been hidden while its mother sought food. Sheeta got away with his small prize unmolested. Tarzan was ve

does not so. He keeps two or three always watching for enemies. Pacco, the zebra, and Wappi, the antelope, have those about the herd who keep wa

ph," sai

we to do?"

and Sheeta," replied Tarzan. "No others need we fear, except Histah, the snake, and if w

osted sentries thereafter, who watched upon three sides whi

rim and terrible jungle offers to those who know it and do not fear it-a weird humor shot with blazing eyes and dap

bba Kega, decked out in the head and hide of Gorgo, the buffalo. It amused Tarzan to see a Gomangani parading as Gorgo; but it suggested nothing in particular to him until

l. If Tarzan felt that the world owed him a living he also realized that it was for him to collect it, nor was there ever a better collector

As there was nothing in particular to feast upon in the village there was little life in the single street, for only an orgy of flesh and native beer could draw out the people

Mbonga. Here he found that which he sought. There were warriors all about him; but they did not know that the feared devil-god slunk noisele

ed how ludicrous the great bulls had appeared in their mad scramble for safety that day when Numa had charged among them and seized Mamka, and yet he knew them to be fierce and cour

with a broad gr

He and Manu were fairly good friends, their friendship operating upon a reciprocal basis. Sometimes Manu would come running early in the morning to awaken Tarzan and tell him that Bara, the deer, was feeding clos

off in search of food. Manu indicated the direction they had taken wit

ch shall make you dance for joy and squeal your wrink

, scolding and squealing, skipped Manu, the monkey. Across Tarzan's shoulders was

d content they fed, for were there not three sentries, each watching upon a different side of the herd? Tarzan had taught them this, and though he had been away for several days hunting alone, as he often did, or visiti

a little fun at their expense but to teach them a lesson in preparedness, which, by the way, is even a more vital issue in the jungle than in civilized places. That you and I exist today must be d

ho first discovered the enemy. A rustling in the undergrowth attracted his attention, and a moment later he had a partial view of a shaggy mane and tawny yellow back.

e about the clearing as apes swung quickly to places of safety among the lowe

m a deep chest issued the moan and the cough and the rumbling roar that set s

near by a shower of broken rock and dead limbs torn from age-old trees. A dozen times h

d then, upon the edge of the clearing, great Taug met him with a huge fragment of rock a

and yellow fangs menaced the still form. In another moment, before he could regain consciousness, Numa would be battered and to

a plummet from the trees above a diminutive figure with long, white whiskers and a wrinkled face. Square upon the bo

Manu, the little coward, and here he was daring the ferocity of the great Mangani, hopping

his little might he tugged upon the heavy head until slowly it turned back,

he unconscious form warned back those who would have struck his childhood playmate. And Teeka, his mate, came too, taking her place with bared fangs at

usness a few minutes later. He looked about him at the surrounding ape

it had cost. He had learned, for instance, that the apes of Kerchak had heeded his teaching, and he had learned that he had good friends among the sull

had always been a joker, the only joker in the grim and terrible company; but now as he lay there half d

Nigh

unting had proved poor that day, for there are lean days as well as fat ones for even the greatest of the jungle hunters. Oftentimes Tarzan went empty for m

are of game for several years, and again the great cats had increased so rapidly and so overrun th

perched in the tree above the feasting blacks, he experienced all the pangs of famine and his hatred for his lifelong enemies waxed strong in his breast. It was tantalizing, in

f their kill, Tarzan was assailed by no doubts as to the ethics of his doing likewise, should he have the opportunity. Had he known that the elephant had died of sickness several days before the blacks discove

or, and then, if they had left any scraps, to make the best meal he could from such; but to the impatient Tarzan it seemed that the greedy Gomangani would rather burst than leave the feast before the last morsel had been devoured. For a time they broke the monotony of eating by executing portions of a hunting dance, a maneuver which sufficiently stimulated digestion

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 n

f great discomfort, and even pain, he would crawl toward the pot and drag himself slowly to his knees, from which position he could reach into the receptacle and seize

la, were quite evidently of one great family, though differing in size and appearance and customs. Tarzan was ashamed, for of all the beasts of the jungle, then, man was the most disgusting-man and Dango, the hyena. Only man and Dango ate until they swelled up like a dead rat. Tarzan had seen Dango eat his way into the carcass of a dead elephant and then continue to eat so much that h

nd yet it persisted in eating, eating, ever eating. Tarzan could endure it no longer-neither his hunger nor h

Swiftly and noiselessly Tarzan approached him. There was no sound as steel fingers closed about the black throat.

her blacks awoke they would have something to think about! Tarzan grinned. As he turned toward the tree with his meat, he picked up a vessel containing beer and raised it to his lips, but at the first taste he spa

is was due to the fact that it had stood in a vessel of water above a fire. Tarzan was, of course, unaccustomed to cooked food. He did not like it; but he was very hungry and had eat

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 elepha

uld have after a good sleep. A noise attracted his attention, and he looked down to see a lion standing at the foot of the tree gazing hungrily at him. Tarzan made a face at the king of beasts, whereat Numa, greatly to the ap

d see the hungry light in the yellow-green eyes. He could see the slaver on the drooping jowls, and the great fangs agape to seize and destroy him. Clawing desperately, the ape-man at last succeeded in gaining a little upon his pursuer. He reached the more slender branches far aloft where he well knew no lion could follow; yet on and on

waying branch, high above the forest. He could go no farther. Below him the lion came steadily upward, and Tarzan of the Apes realized that at last the end had come. He could not do bat

ce apprehensively upward. A great bird was circling close above him. He never had seen so large a bird in all his life, yet he recognized it immediately, for had he not seen it hundreds of time

tood with uplifted hands. The lion was already reaching forth a taloned paw to seize him when the bird swooped and buried no less formidable ta

he huge bird. Tarzan opened his eyes. The jungle was so far away that he could see only a dim, green blur below him, but just above and quite close was the sun. Tarzan reached out his hands and warmed them, for they were very cold. Then

ice into the breast above him. The mighty wings fluttered a few more times, spasmodically, the t

all, so that he came to rest for an instant upon the very branch upon which he had sought slumber the previous night. For an instant he toppled there

red back to the crotch from which he had toppled. Below him a lion roared, and, looking downward, Tarzan could see the ye

very pore, there was a great sickness at the pit of Tarzan

ee after him, and listening for the sound of the great wings

d been, with varying accuracy, a true perception. He could not conceive of the possibility of apparently having passed through such a weird adventure in which there was no grain of truth. That a stomach, disordered by decayed elephant flesh, a lion roaring in the jungle, a picture-book, and sleep could have so truly portrayed

as he tried to compose himself once more for sl

snake, wreathing his sinuous and slimy way up the bole of the tree below him-Histah, with the head of the old man Tarzan had shoved into the cooking pot-the head and the round, tight, black, distended stomach. As

keen, jungle-trained eyes, but he saw naught of the old man with the body of Histah, the snake, but on his naked thigh th

ugh 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 s

s in their own therapeutic manner, the ape-man broke into a violent perspiration and then fell into a normal and

d the cabin by the sea. In times of loneliness and trouble it had long been his

ed the door after him. Here, with all the world shut out from him, he could dream without fear of interruption. He could curl up and look at the pictures in the strange things which were books, he could puzzle out the printed word he had learned to read without knowledge of the spoken language it represented, he could live in a wonderful world

s he examined the colored print. Yes, this was the very bird that had carried him off the day before, for to Tarzan the dream h

s quite unable to determine. Had he really then been to the village of the blacks at all, had he killed the old Gomangani, had he eaten of the elephant meat, had he been sick? Tarzan scratched his

knew that something had come into his life that he never before had experienced, another life w

not slay him, for at such times Tarzan of the Apes seemed to be a different Tarzan, sluggish, h

form of superstition first and religion later; for they, as Tarzan, had seen things at night which they could not explain by the daylight standards of sense perception or of reason, and so had built for themselves a weird explanatio

ainst a rail and peering curiously at the snarling brute. Tarzan wondered not a little, as he always did, at the odd and seemingly useless array of colored plumage which covered the bodies of the Tarmangani. It always caused him to grin a trifle when he looked at these strange creatures. He wondered if they so covered their bodies from shame of their hairlessness or because the

nfusing 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 h

inclination which had assumed almost the proportions of a physical pain, he was aroused by the opening of the cabin door. Turning quickly t

ick eye noted that Bolgani was in the throes of that jungle madness which seizes upon so many of the fiercer males. Ordinarily the huge gorillas avoid conflict, hide themselves from the other jung

where he had lain it on the table beside him; but as his fingers did not immediately locate the weapon, he turned a quick glance in search of it. As he did so his eyes fell upon the

ba, the rat, with the head of Tantor, the elephant. Tarzan had seen enough of such strange happenings recently to have som

d been the sensation most conspicuous in the other of his new and remarkable adventures. He was just him

as Bolgani himself, the magnificent dark coat glistening with life and health in a bar of sunlight which shot across the cabin through the high window beh

throat and hot breath fanned Tarzan's cheek, and still he sat grinning at the apparition. Tarzan might be fooled once or twice, but not for so many times in success

to the other's throat, then he seemed suddenly to come to some decision. Whirling the ape-man across a hairy shoulder, as

ays had he been careful to close and latch it against wild intruders. Manu, the monkey, would make sad havoc there among Tarzan's treasures should he have access to the interior for even a few minutes. The question which arose in Tarzan's mind was a baffling one. Where did sleep adventures end and reality commence? How was he to be sure t

tighter. With a mighty effort the ape-man wrenched himself loose, and as he slid to the ground, the dream g

ulder 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 f

e grasp of the ape-man, rose to his feet, staggered a few steps and then plunged t

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 turn

as he to know the one from the other? How much of all that

e voice to the kill cry of the bull ape. Far in the distance a lion answered. It

but there was one thing that he did know-never aga

ttle f

ibe for weeks and no alien enemy had trespassed upon its preserves from without. To the ape-mind all this w

rted their posts, as the whim seized them. The tribe was far scattered in search of food. Thus may peace an

m the scheme of things. The shes and the balus roamed unguarded through the sullen jungle, while the greedy males foraged far afie

sore, he roamed the wilderness an outcast. Later he might return to his own tribe and submit to the will of the hairy brute he had attempted to dethrone; but for the time being he dared not do so, since he had sought no

e and strong and beautiful beyond compare. Toog caught his breath and slunk quickly to one side of the trail where the de

ly for the bulls. When one covets a she of an alien tribe one must take into consideration the great, fierce, hairy guardians who seldom wander far fro

ed, blood-shot eyes half closed as they rested upon the charms of the former-as for the balu, one snap

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 corresponden

ve senses upon the alert as they should have been. Months of immunity from danger under the protecting watchfulness of the sentries, which Tarzan had taught the tribe to post, had lulled them all into a sense

re 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

ah!" telling him to run high into a tall tree. Evidently Teeka was not favorably impressed by her new suitor. Toog realized this and al

u." Then he waited for the effect, nor did he have long to wait. Teeka turned with a swiftness which belied her great weight and bolted in the opposite direction. Toog, with an angry growl,

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

oward him. Teeka screamed to Gazan to climb higher, and the little fellow scampered upward among the tiny branches which would not support the weight of the great bull; but nevertheless Toog kept on climbing. Tee

, finding that he could not reach him, resume his pursuit of her, which she knew would prove equally fruitless. So sure was she of the safety of her balu and h

Instantly she realized what the bull purposed. Gazan clung far out upon a swaying limb. At the first shake he lost his balance, though he did not quite fall, clinging still with his four hands; but Toog redoubled his efforts; the shaking produced a violent snapping of

e fellow plunged down through the foliage, clutching futilely for a new hold, and alighted with a sickening thud at his mother's feet, w

ser strength. Toog struck and choked her repeatedly until finally, half unconscious, she lapsed into quasi submissi

meridian. A mangy thing, lifting its nose to scent the jungle breeze, crept through the underbrush. It was Dang

he sturdy English bones. For years Tarzan had seen it lying there, giving it no more attention than he gave the countless thousand bones that strewed his jungle haunts. On the bed another, smaller, skeleton reposed and the youth ignored it as he ignored the other. How could he know that the one had been his father, the other his mother? The little pile of bones in the rude cradle, fashioned with such loving care

it. In strange ways did heredity manifest itself in the ape-man. Come of an orderly race, he himself was orderly without knowing why. The apes dropped things wherever their interest in them waned-in the tall grass or from the high-flung branches of the trees. What they dropped they sometimes found again, by accident; but not so the ways of Tarzan. For his few belongings he had a place and scrupulously he returned each thing to its proper place when he was done wit

piece, and something else he found, too-a small wooden box with a loose cover. Bringing them both out he returned the sovereign to its bag and the bag to its shelf within the cupboard; then he investiga

green came off, leaving a shiny surface for two-thirds of their length and a dull gray over the cone-shaped end. F

pouch he put a handful of the new playthings, thinking to polish them at his leisure; then he replaced the box ben

d balus, the savage, angry barking and growling of the great bulls. Instantly he increased his spe

At last, his belly filled, he had turned lazily back toward the clearing where he had last seen the tribe and presently commenced passing its members scattered a

ehend 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 scratc

ame 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 no

wung noiselessly into a tree, where he could have a better view of the clearing. He did not fear Dango; but he wan

d view of the clearing he saw Dango already sniffing at something directly beneath hi

cry and a snarl, Dango, crushed to earth, turned to tear at his assailant; but as effectively might a sparrow turn upon a hawk. Taug's great, gnarled fingers c

the same emotions of paternal love which affect us. Even had we no actual evidence of this, we must know it still, since only thus might be explained the survival of the human race in which the jealousy and selfishness of the bulls would, in

was an unusually intelligent specimen of these great, manlike apes which the natives of the Gobi speak of in whisp

eous 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

e he smoothed and caressed the rumpled coat. From his savage lips broke a low moa

uated from time to time by the blood-freezing cry of an angry, ch

hese that Tarzan heard on his return from his cabin, and in reply to them he raised his own voice an

was still roaring out his challenges; but when he saw Tarzan he ceased and stooping picked up Gazan in his arms and held him out for Tarzan to see. Of all the bulls of the tribe, Taug held affect

s arms, a low growl broke from his lips

he asked. "W

re with Dango about to feed upon him; but it was not

s and circled once about them, examining the ground step by step. Suddenly he stopped and placing his nose close to the earth sniffed. Then he spran

said Tarzan. "It was he that hurt

did nothing. Had the stranger bull been within sight they would ha

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 y

he other bulls. "We wi

e shes and balus when we go out to hunt and fight. You

hey could not know that it was because they had as yet not reached a mental plane which would permit them to work as individuals. In times of stress, the community instinct sent them huddling into a compact herd where the great bulls, by the weight of their combined strength and ferocity, could best protect them from an enemy. The idea of separating to do battle with a foe ha

ed to carry off a maid or a matron while no one was looking, that was the end of it-she was gone, that was all. The bereaved husband, if the victim chanced to have been mated, growled aro

eka'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 K

broken and she is no good; but she can take care of Gazan until we return with Teeka, an

we going?"

plied the ape-man, "and kill th

ack to note if Taug followed. The latter laid Gazan in Mumga's arms with a parting: "If he dies Tarzan will kill y

er of intelligence. His judgment told him the natural trail for a quarry to follow, so that he need but note the most

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

e trail, or, where Toog had taken to the trees, followed nimbly as a squirrel along the bending, undulating pathway of the foliage branche

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

s fell-then the sun burst forth, jeweling the forest with a million scintillant gems; but today the ape-man, usually alert to the changing

pen 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 logi

e quarry had taken. It was slow work and all the time, Tarzan knew, the bull of the alien tribe was forging ste

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 lea

d 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

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

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 a

gle 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 s

ason; 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, a

e boulders half embedded in the rich loam-mute monuments, possibly, to a forgotten age when mi

peared in the distance. The latter recognized the two as friend

She was not pretty to look upon, yet through the blood and hatred upon her countenance

s. He was a very excited little monkey when he came to a halt upon the limb of a tree directly overhead. "Two strange bulls com

they looked at one another for a minute. "Come," said the larger of Toog's two f

fe was to bring about bloody encounters between the larger denizens of the forest, that he might sit in the safety of the trees and witness the spect

anu, and she knew that the hairless ape must be Tarzan, while the other was, doubtless, Taug. Never, in her wildest hopes, had she expected succor of this sort. Her

en more cautiously, for they wished to come upon the thief from behind if they could and charge him before he was aware of their presence. That a little gray-whiskered monkey had fore

ar voice of Teeka. The small brains of Toog and his companions had not been able to foresee that Teeka might betray them, and now that she had, they went wild with rage. Toog s

k verdure beside it. They bit and clawed and scratched and struck, and all the while they kept up the most frightful chorus of growlings and barkings and roarings. In five minutes they were torn and bleeding, and the litt

assailant beheld so strange a creature as this slippery, hairless bull with which he battled. Sweat and blood covered Tarzan's sleek, brown hide. Again

to Taug's assistance. Toog saw him coming and wheeled to meet him. In the impact of the charge, Tarzan's knife was wrenched from his hand and then Toog closed with him. Now was the battle even-two against two-while on the verge, Teeka, now recovered from the blow that had felled her, slunk wa

with the curiosity of an ape, that even danger and exc

eir faces were crimsoned with it. Little graybeard was so fascinated that at last he had eve

and sore and exhausted from the frightful ordeal through which she had passed, and she had the confidence of her sex in the pr

From the throat of Tarzan's antagonist had come a score of "Kreeg-ahs!" and now from behind came the reply he ha

e fighters toward the opposite side of the clearing, fear for a moment claiming her.

us women of a higher order who have invited death for their men. With a shrill scream she ran toward the battlers who were rolling in a great mass at the foot of one of the huge boulders which dotted the grove; but what could she do? The knife she held she could not use to advantage because of her lesser strength. She had seen Tarzan throw missiles, and she had learned this with many other t

a frightful noise. Screaming with terror, the stranger bulls leaped to their feet and fled back toward the stamping ground of their tribe, while Taug and Tarzan slowly gathered them

it?" ask

bulls," and she held forth another handful of the shin

t them and scra

they?" a

" said Tarzan.

errified, against a branch. He did not know that the dead father of Tarzan of the Apes,

Lord Greystoke

ngle

e sameness consists in dodging death first in one form and then in another; or in inflicting death upon others. T

len, morose, and brooding; but he was not. His spirits seemed not to age at all-he was still a playful child, much to the discomfitu

he tall jungle grasses, and then rolled and tumbled in good-natured mimic battle when the young ape had freed himself, and that today when he had come up beh

h a grunt of disappointment, young Lord Greystoke turned to other fields of endeavor. A strand of black hair fell across one eye. He brushed it aside with the palm of a hand and a toss of his head. It suggested something to do, so he sought his quiver which lay cached in th

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 ragge

. He pondered the strange sleep adventures of his first dreams, and he smiled at the painful outcome of his last practical joke upon the tribe, when, dressed in the hide of Numa, th

ribe, Tarzan swung leisurely into the trees and set off in the direction of his cabin; but when part way ther

rned. There was that about them which aroused his imagination. Possibly it was because of the diversity of their activities and inte

d arrows, poison, cooking pots, things of metal to wear around their arms and legs. If it hadn't been for their black faces, their hideously disfigured features, and the fact that one of them had slain Kala, Tarzan might have wished to be one of them. At lea

ned much more than he realized, though always his principal thought was of some new way in which h

ly he moved through the lush grasses of the open spaces, and where the forest was dense, swung from one swaying branch to another, or leap

s familiar, having watched them at it upon other occasions. They were placing and baiting a trap for Numa, the lion. In a cage upon wheels they we

their new village. Formerly they had dwelt in the Belgian Congo until the cruelties of their heartless oppr

earned from them certain tricks, such as this one, which permitted them to capture even Numa w

e jungle of man-eaters, and it was only after depredations by these grim and terrible scourges that a lion hunt was organized. Secondarily was the excuse for an orgy of c

should have been, yet they did shock him. He could not understand the strange feeling of revulsion which possessed him at such times. He had no love for Numa, the lion, yet

rned to discover the success or failure of their venture. He would do the sam

oked after them, upon his lips an unconscious sneer-the heritage of unguessed caste. He saw them file along the broad trail, beneath the overhanging verdure of leafy branch a

expression altered to the urge of a newborn thought. A slow, grim smile touched his lips. He looked down upon

bing the fiber cord, which was adjusted to drop the door at the proper time, h

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 remov

na, or the other meat-eating beasts and birds of the jungle. He was hungry. Had he been all beast he would have eaten; but his man-mind could entertain urges even more potent than those of

Gomangani. Two or three miles from the cage he overtook them and then he s

cks filed along the winding path, Rabba Kega, being lazy, dropped behind. This Tarzan noted, and it filled him with sati

short distance ahead, sat down to rest. Rest

that the dull ears of man could hear above the soughing of the gentle jungle breeze among the undulating foliage of the

ot move. His glittering eyes remained fixed upon Rabba Kega after acknowledging the presence of the winged torture by a single glance. He heard and followed the movements of the insect with his keen ears, and then he felt it alight upon his forehead. No muscle twitched, for the muscles of such as he are the servants of the brain. Down across his face crept the horrid thing-over nose and lips and chin. Upon his throat it paused, and turning, retraced its steps. Tarzan watched Rabba Kega. Now not even his eyes moved. So motionless he cro

cheek before he killed it. Then he rose with a howl of pain and anger, and as he turned up the trail towar

springing creature carried Rabba Kega to the ground. He felt strong jaws close upon his neck, and when he tried to scream, steel fi

Tarzan half rose and kneeled upon his victim's back, and when Rabba Kega struggled to arise, the ape-man pushed his face down into the dirt of the trail. With a bit of the rope that

but as he walked along the trail ahead of his captor and was neither injured nor molested his spirits slowly rose, so that he took heart again. Possibly the devil-god did not int

saw that the bait was gone, though there was no lion within the cage, nor was the door dropped. He saw and he was filled with wonder not unmixed with apprehens

s with ague-for the ape-man was binding him securely in the very spot the kid had previously occupied. The witch-doctor pleaded, first for his life, and then for

stepped out of the cage, gathered a handful of grass and a small stick and returning, jammed the grass into Rabba Kega's mouth, laid the stick crosswise betw

e water hole, and going to the spot where fresh, cold water bubbled from between two rocks, he drank deeply. The other beasts might wade in and drink stagnant water; but not Tarzan of the Apes. In such matters he was fastidio

lion moaned and coughed as it strode through the jungle toward water. It was approachin

ot 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 ste

a sick infant in the fond hope of succeeding to the office and perquisites of Rabba Kega. Tonight the women of the old witch-doctor would moan and howl. Tomorrow he would be forgotten. Such is life, such is fame, such is power-in the center of the wo

they had set for Numa. Long before they reached the cage, they heard the roaring of a great lion and guessed that they h

y cries, and then they came closer, and the cries died upon their lips, and their eyes went wide so that the whites showed all around their irises, and their pendulous lower lips

ed upon the body of his kill; but he had vented upon it m

his self-pride in his ability as a practical joker asserted itself. It had lain dormant for some time following the painful mauli

in the cage? Where was the kid? There was no sign nor remnant of the original bait. They looked closely and they saw, to their horror, that the corpse

tion that morning. Somewhere he might find evidence of the death of Rabb

whispered. "It is the wo

at, hairless ape they all so feared? And so their hatred of Tarzan increased aga

s mind which might discover for any of them a death equally horrible to that which the witch-doctor had suffered. It was a subd

ehind them. Each had experienced the sensation of being spied upon from the moment they left the spo

working themselves into a joyous hysteria which far transcended the happy misery derived by their more civilized prototypes who mak

feeling of angry contempt for the Gomangani. Had he attempted to analyze this feeling he would have found it difficult, for during all his life he had been accustomed to sights of suffering and cruelty. He, himself, was cruel. All the

ing to heredity-to the germ of British love of fair play which had been bequeathed to him by his father and hi

emy, there was neither bitterness nor contempt in Tarzan's sentiments toward him. In the ape-man's mind, therefore, the determination formed to thw

cks 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 eventual

eir especial dread of night, and so he decided to wait until darkness fell and the blacks partially worked to hysteria by their dancing and religious rites before he took any ste

ivid memory of the dire results that had followed the carrying out of a very wonderful idea along almost identical lines, yet he did not abandon his intention, and a

g from a branch above them. Fortunate are the apes of Kerchak that their kind is not subject to heart failure, for the methods of Tarz

, made his way to the hollow tree where he kept his treasures hid from the inquisitive eyes and fingers of his fellows and the mischievous little manus. Here he withdrew a closely rolled hide-

ed 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

children. The dancer was painted and armed for the hunt and his movements and gestures suggested the search for the spoor of game. Bending low, sometimes resting for a moment on one knee, he searched the ground for signs of the quarry; again he poised

the scent. Immediately he leaped toward the circle of warriors about him, telling them of his find and summoning th

resting; 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

en circled behind the huts until he came out directly in the rear of the cage, in which Numa paced nervously to a

ak, failing to pierce his disguise, had all but slain him. Then, on hands and knees, he crept forward, emerged from between t

pe for the lion. In a moment the ring of spectators would break at a point nearest the caged lion and

n rose and moved to one side, leaving a broad path opening toward the caged lion. At the same instant Tarzan gave voice

the ape-man. The strong light from the fire fell full upon the lion head and the blacks leape

liberty among them, an entirely different aspect was placed upon the matter. Their nerves were not attuned to this emergency. The women and children already had fled to the

head peered forth from a near-by hut, and then another and another until a score or more of warriors were lookin

then the lion rose erect upon its hind legs, the tawny skin dropped from it and there st

ed 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 i

the great bole, and diving into the shadow of a hut, ran quickly to where lay the caged lion. Springing to the top of the cage he pulled

trick. Did he think he could twice fool the men of Mbonga, the chief, the same way in so short a time? They would show him! For long they

e slaying of the devil-god. The lion turned blazing eyes up

hey came toward him, menacing him with

ightful roar, Numa,

ng 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

ed as Numa bore down upon him; he laughed and couched his spear, setting the point for the broad breast. And then the li

riors, clawing and tearing to right and left. Not for long did they stand their ground; but a dozen m

ylum with Numa ranging within the palisade. From one to another fled the frightened bla

ty amid the branches of the forest trees beyond. Like sheep his fellows

by the shoulder and then with slow and stately tread move down the village street past the open gates a

ed down from the trees and returned to their village. Wide eyes rolled from side to side,

me," murmured one. "I

on to a man, and back again i

the forest and is eating him

us take our belongings and search for another villag

e preceding evening had little other effect than to increase their f

aunts of the savage jungle where he ranged, mightiest of beasts because

Rescues

ghty fighter, mighty hunter. Why he swung through the dark shadows of the somber forest he could not have told you. It was not that he was hungry-he had fed well this day, and in a safe cache were the remains of his kill, ready against

hades, its own birds, its own blooms, its own beasts; its noises are the noises of the day. The lights and shades of the nocturnal jungle are as different as one migh

umbers and in romance; it was richer in dangers, too, and to Tarzan of the Apes danger was the spice of life. And the noises of the jung

sheen of opalesque eyes flaming through the dark, the million sounds which proclaimed the teeming life th

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 p

ignorance for an explanation of the things he could not touch or smell

ind. Presently the ruddy sheen of a great fire filtered through the foliage to him ahead, and when Tarzan came to a halt in the trees near it, he saw a party of half a dozen black warriors huddled close to the blaze. It was evidently a hunting part

e were other creatures, too, in the shadows beyond the firelight. Tarzan could see their yellow eyes flaming there. The blacks saw them and shivered. Then one arose and grasping a burning branch f

now hurled another straight at the faces of the hungry lions, and they, too, disappeared as had the lesser lights before them. Tarzan was much interested. He saw a new reason for the nightly fires maintained by the blacks-a reason in addition to those connected with warmth and light and cooking. The beasts of the jungle

padding of feet all about him. Then flashed once more the twin fire spots that marked the return of the l

t Numa was again approaching, he threw another firebrand, and, as before, Numa retreated and with him Sabor, the lioness; but not so far, this time, nor for so long. Almost instantly they turned and began circling the boma, their eyes turning consta

or no attention to them after the first few retreats. The ape-man knew by Numa's voice that the lion was hungry and sur

uick, nervous upcurving of his tail, then he walked deliberately forward, while Sabor moved restlessly to and fro where he had left her. The black man ca

swift charge. With a single bound the savage beast cleared the boma wall as, with almost equal agility, the warrio

ing negro with him. Dragging his victim along the ground he walked back toward Sabor, the lioness, who joined him, and the

ued a short succession of unusually vicious growls and roars, d

e a second trip into the boma and the former grisl

ng to bore him. He yawned and turned upon his way toward the cl

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

go. The secret of life interested him immensely. The miracle of death he could not quite fathom. Upon innumerable occasions he had investiga

ten, while he might stab an antagonist innumerable times in other places without even disabling him. And so he h

ain and there translated, classified, and labeled was something quite beyond him. He thought that his fingers knew

been slain a peculiar choking sensation had possessed his throat; contact with Histah, the snake, imparted an unplea

ould but gaze at him in dumb astonishment for an instant and then return to his interesting and edifying search for fleas; and when he questioned Mumga, who was very old and should have been very wise, but wasn't, as to the reason for the closing of cert

breeze; he saw vines crawl like living things up the boles and over the branches of great trees; and to Tarzan of the Apes the flowers and the vines and the trees were living creatures. He often talked to them, as he talked to Goro, the mo

creating the wind. In no other way could he account for this phenomenon. The rain he finally attri

an explanation of the stars and the moon. He became quite excited abou

rd 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

a. Do you see them, Taug? Some night Numa will be very hungry and very angry-then he will leap over the thorn bushes which encircle Goro and we will have no more light after Kudu seeks his l

and then at Tarzan. A meteor fell, b

"Goro has thrown a b

stars above him, as though he saw them for the first time, and doubtless it was the first time that Taug ever had seen the stars, though they had

y 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.

imes that Taug, although only a brutal ape, had had impressed upon his mind a fierce loyalty which nothing now could swerve-his friendship for Tarzan had become a habit, a tradition almost, which would endure while Taug endured. He never showed any outward demonstration of affection-he growled at Tarzan as he growled at the other

ted about the eyes surrounding Goro, and the possibility that sooner or later Numa would charge the moon and devour him. To the

Gozan recounted having seen the ape-man dancing alone in the moonlight with Sheeta, the panther. They did not know that Tarzan ha

f mysterious things with which he communed in the strange lair by the sea. They had never understood his books, and after he had

will bring Numa to eat us, as he is brin

! "First you will kill Taug," he said,

nderstand. Again Gunto voiced the opinion that the Tarmangani, the white ape, should be slain, and the others, filled with ter

ming 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 fight

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 liste

within sight of his prey upon the head of the mighty tusker; then he turned

trumpeted loudly. Tarzan stretched back luxuriously, lying supine at full length along the rough hid

s put here for us. He is very good to us, Tantor; He has given you tender leaves and bark, and rich grasses to eat; to me He has given Bara and Horta and Pisah, the fruits and the nuts and the root

curled his trunk upward that he might caress

direction of the tribe of Kerchak, the great ape, tha

bark from an adjacent tree. Tarzan sprawled face downward upon the beast's head and back, his legs hanging on either side, his head supporte

t lurk anywhere along the way. Yet he passed beneath the southernmost sentry that was posted in a great tree commanding the trail from the south. The ape permitted the Gomangani to pass unmolested, for he saw that he was alone; but the moment

f the hairy tree men whom he and his kind feared, not alone because of the strength and ferocity of the s

possible, so he stood his ground, his spear ready in his hand and a war cry trembling on his lips

as 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

close view of the black. He recognized the man instantly. Only the night before he had seen him facing the eyes in the dark, while his fellows groveled in the dirt at his feet, too terrified even to defend themselves. Here was a brave man, and Tarzan had deep admiration for bravery. Even his hatred of the blacks was not

ace. He has not harmed us, and last night I saw him fighting Numa and Sabor with fire, alone in the

ere displeased. "Kill th

"kill the Gomangani and

Gozan, "he is no ape at all; bu

ellowed Gunto. "

n rather than the black man. A shaggy form charged through them, hurling those it came in co

rzan must kill Taug, too. Who can kill Taug? Taug wi

you," and he was right. Tarzan knew that he was right. Taug knew it; bu

Tarzan. Mighty hunter; mighty fighter. I

s. And all the time the combatants came closer and closer to one another. Thu

a low, menacing growl. They might repeat these tactics a dozen times; but sooner or later one bull

e 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

r back toward him and between him and the balance of the tribe, and he guessed, though it seemed improbable, that they might be defending him. He knew that Tarzan had once spared the life of Mbonga, the chief, and that he had suc

die." And now he knew that he was about to die, for the temper of the great bulls was mounting rapidly against him. Always had many of them hated him, and all were suspicious of him. They knew he was

he opposite side of the clearing. Tarzan saw it just as Gunto, with the terrifying cry of a challenging ape, sprang forward. Tarzan voiced a peculiar call and then crouched to meet th

bulls. The trumpeting of a mad tusker rose shrill above the cries of the anthropoids,

ng 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 th

y elephant come to a sudden halt in front of the a

Bulabantu understood the gesture, if not the word, nor did he lose time in obeying. Tarzan stood watching him until he had disappear

. "All of you are more foolish than Manu, except Taug and Teeka. Taug and Teeka may come

beast swung off across the clearing, the apes watch

d Gunto, picking a quarrel with

were those who missed him more than Tarzan imagined. Taug and Teeka often wished that he was back, and Taug dete

e had suggested to him-that the bright spots were the eyes of the meat-eaters waiting in the dark of the jungle s

as though something was gnawing upon it. Larger and larger became the hole in the side of Goro. With a scream, T

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

ation of the powers of nature always filled t

the cry of "Tarzan!" "Bring Tarzan!" "He will save Goro."

later he was off through the Stygian gloom t

d be entirely gone before Kudu came again. The apes trembled at the thought of perpetual darkness by night. They could not sleep. Restlessly they

approach through the trees of the two they awaited, and p

illage of the blacks; just as he had stolen the bow. Up into a great tree he clambered, higher and higher until he stood swaying upon a small limb which bent low

challenge. Faintly and from afar came the roar of an answering

ay in the heavens devouring Goro. There was a loud twang as the released bolt shot into the dark heavens. Again and again di

from whatever had devoured her, whether it was Numa, the lion, or the shadow of the earth; but were you to try to convince an ape of the tribe of Kerchak that it was aught but Numa who so nearly

his coming he took a long stride toward the kingship, which he ult

bout the plausibility of Tarzan's remarkable rescue of Goro,