The Beasts of Tarzan

ts a

At first it made little impression on his sorrow-numbed senses, but finally the

ead] "the exact nature of my intention

your own we have returned you; but your son shall rise a

le of progress. He shall be no naked beast of the jungle, but shall wear a loin-cloth and copper ank

d have curtailed the full measure of th

place from which you may not escape to seek or succour your child, you shall suffer worse than

of your punishment for having

.

do with what shall presently befall your w

behind him brought him back with a st

awoke, and he was aga

ith the instinct of self-preservation, that faced a h

rd of the jungle. His great estates in Uziri had claimed much of his time and attention, and there he had found ample field for the practical use and retention of his almost superhuman pow

meet the rage-maddened creature with the

the heads and shoulders of perhaps a dozen mor

thropoid to be able to weigh or appreciate the value of concentrated action against an enemy-otherwise they would long since hav

man had found, among other things in the haunts of civilized man, cer

orce, he now sidestepped his antagonist's headlong charge, and as the bru

thropoid bent double and sank to the ground, though

nd pounced upon him, and in the act there dropped from the shoulders of t

g in bloody conflict with his kind. Once ag

o the hairy throat of his enemy

sh, or clenched and beat with the power of a steam-hamm

ne contestant or the other. But they were silent in amazement and expectation when they saw the mighty white ape wriggle upon the back of their king, and, with steel muscles tensed beneath the armpits of

d and colour, so now he overcame this other great ape with the same wrestling hold upon which he had stumbled by accident during that other co

the fury of the wind. The bullet-head crumpled forward upon its flaccid

hat of the white ape that was rising to its feet beside the vanquished, then back to t

feet and, throwing back his head, give vent to the wild, uncanny challenge

the tree-tops ceased their chattering. The harsh-voiced, brilliant-plumed birds we

ough to toss back a heavy mane that had fallen before his face-an old habit dating from the days that his great shock of thick, black hai

tted to contend for the kingship of the tribe. Among his own apes he knew that it was not unusual for an entire stranger to enter a

mselves for the supremacy. That he could be king of them, if he so chose, he was confident; but he was not sure he care

, was edging threateningly closer to the ape-man. Through

precipitate an immediate charge; to have rushed forward to meet the other might have had the same result,

proach quite close to the object of his attention, growling hideously and baring slavering fangs. Slowly he wou

the mind of an ape, a passing impulse might hurl the hairy mass

he young bull as one who had never quite felt equal to the task of overthrowing his former king, but who one day would h

ng fangs, now quite close to Tarzan's face, were exceptionally long and sharp. Like the oth

he anthropoids-a hope that by some strange freak of fate he had been again returned to h

ed among dogs when a strange canine comes among them, it occurred to Tarzan to discover if the language of his own tri

ked, "who threatens

ute looked h

in the scale of spoken languages that, as Tarzan had surmised, it was identical w

"Molak is dead. I am king.

Tarzan of the Apes would not be king of the tribe of Akut. All he wishes is to live in peace in thi

s so great as Akut. Had you not killed Molak, Akut

on the great brute who during the conver

f the great ape, and before the other could grapple with

ked out that before ever they touched the ground he had ga

ender and live, so now he gave to Akut-in whom he saw a possible ally of great strength and resource-the op

red Tarzan to the

red to Kerchak, and in the language of the

e had heard just before Molak's thic

ggled to free himself; but a sudden torturing pressure upo

xed his gri

that he did not wish to be king. If any question your r

growling angrily, he waddled toward his tribe, looking first at one and then a

ed, and presently the whole pack moved off into the jun

to physical suffering and endured it with the calm and fortitude of the wild beasts that

r with the apes, and the distant notes of the savage voices of Numa the lion, and She

beasts would stalk him, as they had stalked him in the past, and never would there be a moment, by savage day or by

he managed to chip off a narrow sliver some twelve inches long by a quarter of an inch th

tree of a certain species of hardwood with which he was familiar. F

ed a few bits of dry bark, minutely shredded, after which he inserted the tip of his pointed s

whole broke into flame. Heaping some larger twigs and sticks upon the tiny fire, Tarza

ould withdraw it, touching a spot near the thin edge with a drop of moisture. Benea

d the tedious operation of putting a th

tent to achieve a cutting edge of a couple of inches, with which he cut a long, p

tle stream, and here also he constructed a

nished it was growing dusk, and T

is tree there was a much-used watering place, where, from the trampled mud of either bank, it was evident

nd ease of a monkey. But for the heavy burden upon his heart he woul

of him than the thin veneer of civilization that the past three years of his association with the white men of the out

ords have seen him then they would have

t overhung the trail, his keen eyes and sensitive ears strained into t

he long

r legs drawn well up beneath him as the panther draws his hindquarters in p

the deer could neither see nor scent, but whose movements were apparent to

yards behind the deer; but he was convinced that it was some great beast of prey stalking Bara for the sel

lipping from his grasp unless Bara moved mo

h a sudden start he paused for an instant, trembling, in his tracks, and then with a swift bound dashed straight for the

yards behind

pass. Could he do it? But even as he asked himself the question the hungry

both, so if the ape-man were to dine that

o its knees than he had grasped a horn in either hand, and with a single quick wrench twi

ross his shoulder, and, grasping a foreleg between his strong teeth,

e instant that Numa sprang, drew himself and hi

he safety of a higher limb, looked down with grinning face into the gleaming yellow eyes of the other wild beast that glared up a

t lion paced, growling, back and forth below him, Lord Greystoke filled his savage belly,

s and face and filled his nostrils with the

re he had dined, and with Numa trailing below him, still keen for revenge, he made his way