"Jungle Tales of Tarzan\n\n\nby\n\nEdgar Rice Burroughs\n\n\n\nContents\n\nCHAPTER\n\n  1  Tarzan's First Love\n  2  The Capture of Tarzan\n  3  The Fight for the Balu\n  4  The God of Tarzan\n  5  Tarzan and the Black Boy\n  6  The Witch-Doctor Seeks Vengeance\n  7  The End of Bukawai\n  8  The Lion\n  9  The Nightmare\n 10  The Battle for Teeka\n 11  A Jungle Joke\n 12  Tarzan Rescues the Moon\n\n\n\n\n                           1\n\n                  Tarzan's First Love\n\nTEEKA, STRETCHED AT luxurious ease in the shade of the tropical forest,\npresented, unquestionably, a most alluring picture of young, feminine\nloveliness.  Or at least so thought Tarzan of the Apes, who squatted\nupon a low-swinging branch in a near-by tree and looked down upon her.\n\nJust to have seen him there, lolling upon the swaying bough of the\njungle-forest giant, his brown skin mottled by the brilliant equatorial\nsunlight which percolated through the leafy canopy of green above him,\nhis clean-limbed body relaxed in graceful ease, his shapely head partly\nturned in contemplative absorption and his intelligent, gray eyes\ndreamily devouring the object of their devotion, you would have thought\nhim the reincarnation of some demigod of old.\n\nYou would not have guessed that in infancy he had suckled at the breast\nof a hideous, hairy she-ape, nor that in all his conscious past since\nhis parents had passed away in the little cabin by the landlocked\nharbor at the jungle's verge, he had known no other associates than the\nsullen bulls and the snarling cows of the tribe of Kerchak, the great\nape.\n\nNor, could you have read the thoughts which passed through that active,\nhealthy brain, the longings and desires and aspirations which the sight\nof Teeka inspired, would you have been any more inclined to give\ncredence to the reality of the origin of the ape-man. For, from his\nthoughts alone, you could never have gleaned the truth--that he had\nbeen born to a gentle English lady or that his sire had been an English\nnobleman of time-honored lineage.\n\nLost to Tarzan of the Apes was the truth of his origin.  That he was\nJohn Clayton, Lord Greystoke, with a seat in the House of Lords, he did\nnot know, nor, knowing, would have understood.\n\nYes, Teeka was indeed beautiful!\n\nOf course Kala had been beautiful--one's mother is always that--but\nTeeka was beautiful in a way all her own, an indescribable sort of way\nwhich Tarzan was just beginning to sense in a rather vague and hazy\nmanner.\n\nFor years had Tarzan and Teeka been play-fellows, and Teeka still\ncontinued to be playful while the young bulls of her own age were\nrapidly becoming surly and morose.  Tarzan, if he gave the matter much\nthought at all, probably reasoned that his growing attachment for the\nyoung female could be easily accounted for by the fact that of the\nformer playmates she and he alone retained any desire to frolic as of\nold.\n\nBut today, as he sat gazing upon her, he found himself noting the\nbeauties of Teeka's form and features--something he never had done\nbefore, since none of them had aught to do with Teeka's ability to race\nnimbly through the lower terraces of the forest in the primitive games\nof tag and hide-and-go-seek which Tarzan's fertile brain evolved.\nTarzan scratched his head, running his fingers deep into the shock of\nblack hair which framed his shapely, boyish face--he scratched his head\nand sighed.  Teeka's new-found beauty became as suddenly his despair.\nHe envied her the handsome coat of hair which covered her body.  His\nown smooth, brown hide he hated with a hatred born of disgust and\ncontempt.  Years back he had harbored a hope that some day he, too,\nwould be clothed in hair as were all his brothers and sisters; but of\nlate he had been forced to abandon the delectable dream.\n\nThen there were Teeka's great teeth, not so large as the males, of\ncourse, but still mighty, handsome things by comparison with Tarzan's\nfeeble white ones.  And her beetling brows, and broad, flat nose, and\nher mouth! Tarzan had often practiced making his mouth into a little\nround circle and then puffing out his cheeks while he winked his eyes\nrapidly; but he felt that he could never do it in the same cute and\nirresistible way in which Teeka did it.\n\nAnd as he watched her that afternoon, and wondered, a young bull ape\nwho had been lazily foraging for food beneath the damp, matted carpet\nof decaying vegetation at the roots of a near-by tree lumbered\nawkwardly in Teeka's direction.  The other apes of the tribe of Kerchak\nmoved listlessly about or lolled restfully in the midday heat of the\nequatorial jungle.  From time to time one or another of them had passed\nclose to Teeka, and Tarzan had been uninterested.  Why was it then that\nhis brows contracted and his muscles tensed as he saw Taug pause beside\nthe young she and then squat down close to her?\n\nTarzan always had liked Taug.  Since childhood they had romped\ntogether.  Side by side they had squatted near the water, their quick,\nstrong fingers ready to leap forth and seize Pisah, the fish, should\nthat wary denizen of the cool depths dart surfaceward to the lure of\nthe insects Tarzan tossed upon the face of the pool.\n\nTogether they had baited Tublat and teased Numa, the lion.  Why, then,\nshould Tarzan feel the rise of the short hairs at the nape of his neck\nmerely because Taug sat close to Teeka?\n\nIt is true that Taug was no longer the frolicsome ape of yesterday.\nWhen his snarling-muscles bared his giant fangs no one could longer\nimagine that Taug was in as playful a mood as when he and Tarzan had\nrolled upon the turf in mimic battle.  The Taug of today was a huge,\nsullen bull ape, somber and forbidding.  Yet he and Tarzan never had\nquarreled.\n\nFor a few minutes the young ape-man watched Taug press closer to Teeka.\nHe saw the rough caress of the huge paw as it stroked the sleek\nshoulder of the she, and then Tarzan of the Apes slipped catlike to the\nground and approached the two.\n\nAs he came his upper lip curled into a snarl, exposing his fighting\nfangs, and a deep growl rumbled from his cavernous chest.  Taug looked\nup, batting his blood-shot eyes.  Teeka half raised herself and looked\nat Tarzan.  Did she guess the cause of his perturbation? Who may say?\nAt any rate, she was feminine, and so she reached up and scratched Taug\nbehind one of his small, flat ears.\n\nTarzan saw, and in the instant that he saw, Teeka was no longer the\nlittle playmate of an hour ago; instead she was a wondrous thing--the\nmost wondrous in the world--and a possession for which Tarzan would\nfight to the death against Taug or any other who dared question his\nright of proprietorship.\n\nStooped, his muscles rigid and one great shoulder turned toward the\nyoung bull, Tarzan of the Apes sidled nearer and nearer.  His face was\npartly averted, but his keen gray eyes never left those of Taug, and as\nhe came, his growls increased in depth and volume.\n\nTaug rose upon his short legs, bristling.  His fighting fangs were\nbared.  He, too, sidled, stiff-legged, and growled.\n\n\"Teeka is Tarzan's,\" said the ape-man, in the low gutturals of the\ngreat anthropoids.\n\n\"Teeka is Taug's,\" replied the bull ape.\n\nThaka and Numgo and Gunto, disturbed by the growlings of the two young\nbulls, looked up half apathetic, half interested.  They were sleepy,\nbut they sensed a fight.  It would break the monotony of the humdrum\njungle life they led.\n\nCoiled about his shoulders was Tarzan's long grass rope, in his hand\nwas the hunting knife of the long-dead father he had never known.  In\nTaug's little brain lay a great respect for the shiny bit of sharp\nmetal which the ape-boy knew so well how to use.  With it had he slain\nTublat, his fierce foster father, and Bolgani, the gorilla.  Taug knew\nthese things, and so he came warily, circling about Tarzan in search of\nan opening.  The latter, made cautious because of his lesser bulk and\nthe inferiority of his natural armament, followed similar tactics.\n\nFor a time it seemed that the altercation would follow the way of the\nmajority of such differences between members of the tribe and that one\nof them would finally lose interest and wander off to prosecute some\nother line of endeavor.  Such might have been the end of it had the\nCASUS BELLI been other than it was; but Teeka was flattered at the\nattention that was being drawn to her and by the fact that these two\nyoung bulls were contemplating battle on her account.  Such a thing\nnever before had occurred in Teeka's brief life.  She had seen other\nbulls battling for other and older shes, and in the depth of her wild\nlittle heart she had longed for the day when the jungle grasses would\nbe reddened with the blood of mortal combat for her fair sake.\n\nSo now she squatted upon her haunches and insulted both her admirers\nimpartially.  She hurled taunts at them for their cowardice, and called\nthem vile names, such as Histah, the snake, and Dango, the hyena.  She\nthreatened to call Mumga to chastise them with a stick--Mumga, who was\nso old that she could no longer climb and so toothless that she was\nforced to confine her diet almost exclusively to bananas and grub-worms.\n\nThe apes who were watching heard and laughed.  Taug was infuriated.  He\nmade a sudden lunge for Tarzan, but the ape-boy leaped nimbly to one\nside, eluding him, and with the quickness of a cat wheeled and leaped\nback again to close quarters.  His hunting knife was raised above his\nhead as he came in, and he aimed a vicious blow at Taug's neck.  The\nape wheeled to dodge the weapon so that the keen blade struck him but a\nglancing blow upon the shoulder.\n\nThe spurt of red blood brought a shrill cry of delight from Teeka.  Ah,\nbut this was something worth while!  She glanced about to see if others\nhad witnessed this evidence of her popularity.  Helen of Troy was never\none whit more proud than was Teeka at that moment.\n\nIf Teeka had not been so absorbed in her own vaingloriousness she might\nhave noted the rustling of leaves in the tree above her--a rustling\nwhich was not caused by any movement of the wind, since there was no\nwind.  And had she looked up she might have seen a sleek body crouching\nalmost directly over her and wicked yellow eyes glaring hungrily down\nupon her, but Teeka did not look up.\n\nWith his wound Taug had backed off growling horribly.  Tarzan had\nfollowed him, screaming insults at him, and menacing him with his\nbrandishing blade.  Teeka moved from beneath the tree in an effort to\nkeep close to the duelists.\n\nThe branch above Teeka bent and swayed a trifle with the movement of\nthe body of the watcher stretched along it.  Taug had halted now and\nwas preparing to make a new stand.  His lips were flecked with foam,\nand saliva drooled from his jowls.  He stood with head lowered and arms\noutstretched, preparing for a sudden charge to close quarters.  Could\nhe but lay his mighty hands upon that soft, brown skin the battle would\nbe his.  Taug considered Tarzan's manner of fighting unfair.  He would\nnot close.  Instead, he leaped nimbly just beyond the reach of Taug's\nmuscular fingers.\n\nThe ape-boy had as yet never come to a real trial of strength with a\nbull ape, other than in play, and so he was not at all sure that it\nwould be safe to put his muscles to the test in a life and death\nstruggle.  Not that he was afraid, for Tarzan knew nothing of fear.\nThe instinct of self-preservation gave him caution--that was all.  He\ntook risks only when it seemed necessary, and then he would hesitate at\nnothing.\n\nHis own method of fighting seemed best fitted to his build and to his\narmament.  His teeth, while strong and sharp, were, as weapons of\noffense, pitifully inadequate by comparison with the mighty fighting\nfangs of the anthropoids.  By dancing about, just out of reach of an\nantagonist, Tarzan could do infinite injury with his long, sharp\nhunting knife, and at the same time escape many of the painful and\ndangerous wounds which would be sure to follow his falling into the\nclutches of a bull ape.\n\nAnd so Taug charged and bellowed like a bull, and Tarzan of the Apes\ndanced lightly to this side and that, hurling jungle billingsgate at\nhis foe, the while he nicked him now and again with his knife.\n\nThere were lulls in the fighting when the two would stand panting for\nbreath, facing each other, mustering their wits and their forces for a\nnew onslaught.  It was during a pause such as this that Taug chanced to\nlet his eyes rove beyond his foeman.  Instantly the entire aspect of\nthe ape altered.  Rage left his countenance to be supplanted by an\nexpression of fear.\n\nWith a cry that every ape there recognized, Taug turned and fled.  No\nneed to question him--his warning proclaimed the near presence of their\nancient enemy.\n\nTarzan started to seek safety, as did the other members of the tribe,\nand as he did so he heard a panther's scream mingled with the\nfrightened cry of a she-ape.  Taug heard, too; but he did not pause in\nhis flight.\n\nWith the ape-boy, however, it was different.  He looked back to see if\nany member of the tribe was close pressed by the beast of prey, and the\nsight that met his eyes filled them with an expression of horror.\n\nTeeka it was who cried out in terror as she fled across a little\nclearing toward the trees upon the opposite side, for after her leaped\nSheeta, the panther, in easy, graceful bounds.  Sheeta appeared to be\nin no hurry.  His meat was assured, since even though the ape reached\nthe trees ahead of him she could not climb beyond his clutches before\nhe could be upon her.\n\nTarzan saw that Teeka must die.  He cried to Taug and the other bulls\nto hasten to Teeka's assistance, and at the same time he ran toward the\npursuing beast, taking down his rope as he came.  Tarzan knew that once\nthe great bulls were aroused none of the jungle, not even Numa, the\nlion, was anxious to measure fangs with them, and that if all those of\nthe tribe who chanced to be present today would charge, Sheeta, the\ngreat cat, would doubtless turn tail and run for his life.\n\nTaug heard, as did the others, but no one came to Tarzan's assistance\nor Teeka's rescue, and Sheeta was rapidly closing up the distance\nbetween himself and his prey.\n\nThe ape-boy, leaping after the panther, cried aloud to the beast in an\neffort to turn it from Teeka or otherwise distract its attention until\nthe she-ape could gain the safety of the higher branches where Sheeta\ndared not go.  He called the panther every opprobrious name that fell\nto his tongue.  He dared him to stop and do battle with him; but Sheeta\nonly loped on after the luscious titbit now almost within his reach.\n\nTarzan was not far behind and he was gaining, but the distance was so\nshort that he scarce hoped to overhaul the carnivore before it had\nfelled Teeka.  In his right hand the boy swung his grass rope above his\nhead as he ran.  He hated to chance a miss, for the distance was much\ngreater than he ever had cast before except in practice.  It was the\nfull length of his grass rope which separated him from Sheeta, and yet\nthere was no other thing to do.  He could not reach the brute's side\nbefore it overhauled Teeka.  He must chance a throw.\n\nAnd just as Teeka sprang for the lower limb of a great tree, and Sheeta\nrose behind her in a long, sinuous leap, the coils of the ape-boy's\ngrass rope shot swiftly through the air, straightening into a long thin\nline as the open noose hovered for an instant above the savage head and\nthe snarling jaws.  Then it settled--clean and true about the tawny\nneck it settled, and Tarzan, with a quick twist of his rope-hand, drew\nthe noose taut, bracing himself for the shock when Sheeta should have\ntaken up the slack.\n\nJust short of Teeka's glossy rump the cruel talons raked the air as the\nrope tightened and Sheeta was brought to a sudden stop--a stop that\nsnapped the big beast over upon his back.  Instantly Sheeta was\nup--with glaring eyes, and lashing tail, and gaping jaws, from which\nissued hideous cries of rage and disappointment.\n\nHe saw the ape-boy, the cause of his discomfiture, scarce forty feet\nbefore him, and Sheeta charged.\n\nTeeka was safe now; Tarzan saw to that by a quick glance into the tree\nwhose safety she had gained not an instant too soon, and Sheeta was\ncharging.  It was useless to risk his life in idle and unequal combat\nfrom which no good could come; but could he escape a battle with the\nenraged cat? And if he was forced to fight, what chance had he to\nsurvive? Tarzan was constrained to admit that his position was aught\nbut a desirable one.  The trees were too far to hope to reach in time\nto elude the cat.  Tarzan could but stand facing that hideous charge.\nIn his right hand he grasped his hunting knife--a puny, futile thing\nindeed by comparison with the great rows of mighty teeth which lined\nSheeta's powerful jaws, and the sharp talons encased within his padded\npaws; yet the young Lord Greystoke faced it with the same courageous\nresignation with which some fearless ancestor went down to defeat and\ndeath on Senlac Hill by Hastings.\n\nFrom safety points in the trees the great apes watched, screaming\nhatred at Sheeta and advice at Tarzan, for the progenitors of man have,\nnaturally, many human traits.  Teeka was frightened.  She screamed at\nthe bulls to hasten to Tarzan's assistance; but the bulls were\notherwise engaged--principally in giving advice and making faces.\nAnyway, Tarzan was not a real Mangani, so why should they risk their\nlives in an effort to protect him?\n\nAnd now Sheeta was almost upon the lithe, naked body, and--the body was\nnot there.  Quick as was the great cat, the ape-boy was quicker.  He\nleaped to one side almost as the panther's talons were closing upon\nhim, and as Sheeta went hurtling to the ground beyond, Tarzan was\nracing for the safety of the nearest tree.\n\nThe panther recovered himself almost immediately and, wheeling, tore\nafter his prey, the ape-boy's rope dragging along the ground behind\nhim.  In doubling back after Tarzan, Sheeta had passed around a low\nbush.  It was a mere nothing in the path of any jungle creature of the\nsize and weight of Sheeta--provided it had no trailing rope dangling\nbehind.  But Sheeta was handicapped by such a rope, and as he leaped\nonce again after Tarzan of the Apes the rope encircled the small bush,\nbecame tangled in it and brought the panther to a sudden stop.  An\ninstant later Tarzan was safe among the higher branches of a small tree\ninto which Sheeta could not follow him.\n\nHere he perched, hurling twigs and epithets at the raging feline\nbeneath him.  The other members of the tribe now took up the\nbombardment, using such hard-shelled fruits and dead branches as came\nwithin their reach, until Sheeta, goaded to frenzy and snapping at the\ngrass rope, finally succeeded in severing its strands.  For a moment\nthe panther stood glaring first at one of his tormentors and then at\nanother, until, with a final scream of rage, he turned and slunk off\ninto the tangled mazes of the jungle.\n\nA half hour later the tribe was again upon the ground, feeding as\nthough naught had occurred to interrupt the somber dullness of their\nlives.  Tarzan had recovered the greater part of his rope and was busy\nfashioning a new noose, while Teeka squatted close behind him, in\nevident token that her choice was made.\n\nTaug eyed them sullenly.  Once when he came close, Teeka bared her\nfangs and growled at him, and Tarzan showed his canines in an ugly\nsnarl; but Taug did not provoke a quarrel.  He seemed to accept after\nthe manner of his kind the decision of the she as an indication that he\nhad been vanquished in his battle for her favors.\n\nLater in the day, his rope repaired, Tarzan took to the trees in search\nof game.  More than his fellows he required meat, and so, while they\nwere satisfied with fruits and herbs and beetles, which could be\ndiscovered without much effort upon their part, Tarzan spent\nconsiderable time hunting the game animals whose flesh alone satisfied\nthe cravings of his stomach and furnished sustenance and strength to\nthe mighty thews which, day by day, were building beneath the soft,\nsmooth texture of his brown hide.\n\nTaug saw him depart, and then, quite casually, the big beast hunted\ncloser and closer to Teeka in his search for food.  At last he was\nwithin a few feet of her, and when he shot a covert glance at her he\nsaw that she was appraising him and that there was no evidence of anger\nupon her face.\n\nTaug expanded his great chest and rolled about on his short legs,\nmaking strange growlings in his throat.  He raised his lips, baring his\nfangs.  My, but what great, beautiful fangs he had! Teeka could not but\nnotice them.  She also let her eyes rest in admiration upon Taug's\nbeetling brows and his short, powerful neck.  What a beautiful creature\nhe was indeed!\n\nTaug, flattered by the unconcealed admiration in her eyes, strutted\nabout, as proud and as vain as a peacock.  Presently he began to\ninventory his assets, mentally, and shortly he found himself comparing\nthem with those of his rival.\n\nTaug grunted, for there was no comparison.  How could one compare his\nbeautiful coat with the smooth and naked hideousness of Tarzan's bare\nhide? Who could see beauty in the stingy nose of the Tarmangani after\nlooking at Taug's broad nostrils? And Tarzan's eyes! Hideous things,\nshowing white about them, and entirely unrimmed with red.  Taug knew\nthat his own blood-shot eyes were beautiful, for he had seen them\nreflected in the glassy surface of many a drinking pool.\n\nThe bull drew nearer to Teeka, finally squatting close against her.\nWhen Tarzan returned from his hunting a short time later it was to see\nTeeka contentedly scratching the back of his rival.\n\nTarzan was disgusted.  Neither Taug nor Teeka saw him as he swung\nthrough the trees into the glade.  He paused a moment, looking at them;\nthen, with a sorrowful grimace, he turned and faded away into the\nlabyrinth of leafy boughs and festooned moss out of which he had come.\n\nTarzan wished to be as far away from the cause of his heartache as he\ncould.  He was suffering the first pangs of blighted love, and he\ndidn't quite know what was the matter with him.  He thought that he was\nangry with Taug, and so he couldn't understand why it was that he had\nrun away instead of rushing into mortal combat with the destroyer of\nhis happiness.\n\nHe also thought that he was angry with Teeka, yet a vision of her many\nbeauties persisted in haunting him, so that he could only see her in\nthe light of love as the most desirable thing in the world.\n\nThe ape-boy craved affection.  From babyhood until the time of her\ndeath, when the poisoned arrow of Kulonga had pierced her savage heart,\nKala had represented to the English boy the sole object of love which\nhe had known.\n\nIn her wild, fierce way Kala had loved her adopted son, and Tarzan had\nreturned that love, though the outward demonstrations of it were no\ngreater than might have been expected from any other beast of the\njungle.  It was not until he was bereft of her that the boy realized\nhow deep had been his attachment for his mother, for as such he looked\nupon her.\n\nIn Teeka he had seen within the past few hours a substitute for\nKala--someone to fight for and to hunt for--someone to caress; but now\nhis dream was shattered.  Something hurt within his breast.  He placed\nhis hand over his heart and wondered what had happened to him.  Vaguely\nhe attributed his pain to Teeka.  The more he thought of Teeka as he\nhad last seen her, caressing Taug, the more the thing within his breast\nhurt him.\n\nTarzan shook his head and growled; then on and on through the jungle he\nswung, and the farther he traveled and the more he thought upon his\nwrongs, the nearer he approached becoming an irreclaimable misogynist.\n\nTwo days later he was still hunting alone--very morose and very\nunhappy; but he was determined never to return to the tribe.  He could\nnot bear the thought of seeing Taug and Teeka always together.  As he\nswung upon a great limb Numa, the lion, and Sabor, the lioness, passed\nbeneath him, side by side, and Sabor leaned against the lion and bit\nplayfully at his cheek.  It was a half-caress. Tarzan sighed and hurled\na nut at them.\n\nLater he came upon several of Mbonga's black warriors.  He was upon the\npoint of dropping his noose about the neck of one of them, who was a\nlittle distance from his companions, when he became interested in the\nthing which occupied the savages.  They were building a cage in the\ntrail and covering it with leafy branches.  When they had completed\ntheir work the structure was scarcely visible.\n\nTarzan wondered what the purpose of the thing might be, and why, when\nthey had built it, they turned away and started back along the trail in\nthe direction of their village.\n\nIt had been some time since Tarzan had visited the blacks and looked\ndown from the shelter of the great trees which overhung their palisade\nupon the activities of his enemies, from among whom had come the slayer\nof Kala.\n\nAlthough he hated them, Tarzan derived considerable entertainment in\nwatching them at their daily life within the village, and especially at\ntheir dances, when the fires glared against their naked bodies as they\nleaped and turned and twisted in mimic warfare.  It was rather in the\nhope of witnessing something of the kind that he now followed the\nwarriors back toward their village, but in this he was disappointed,\nfor there was no dance that night.\n\nInstead, from the safe concealment of his tree, Tarzan saw little\ngroups seated about tiny fires discussing the events of the day, and in\nthe darker corners of the village he descried isolated couples talking\nand laughing together, and always one of each couple was a young man\nand the other a young woman.\n\nTarzan cocked his head upon one side and thought, and before he went to\nsleep that night, curled in the crotch of the great tree above the\nvillage, Teeka filled his mind, and afterward she filled his\ndreams--she and the young black men laughing and talking with the young\nblack women.\n\nTaug, hunting alone, had wandered some distance from the balance of the\ntribe.  He was making his way slowly along an elephant path when he\ndiscovered that it was blocked with undergrowth.  Now Taug, come into\nmaturity, was an evil-natured brute of an exceeding short temper.  When\nsomething thwarted him, his sole idea was to overcome it by brute\nstrength and ferocity, and so now when he found his way blocked, he\ntore angrily into the leafy screen and an instant later found himself\nwithin a strange lair, his progress effectually blocked,\nnotwithstanding his most violent efforts to forge ahead.\n\nBiting and striking at the barrier, Taug finally worked himself into a\nfrightful rage, but all to no avail; and at last he became convinced\nthat he must turn back.  But when he would have done so, what was his\nchagrin to discover that another barrier had dropped behind him while\nhe fought to break down the one before him! Taug was trapped.  Until\nexhaustion overcame him he fought frantically for his freedom; but all\nfor naught.\n\nIn the morning a party of blacks set out from the village of Mbonga in\nthe direction of the trap they had constructed the previous day, while\namong the branches of the trees above them hovered a naked young giant\nfilled with the curiosity of the wild things.  Manu, the monkey,\nchattered and scolded as Tarzan passed, and though he was not afraid of\nthe familiar figure of the ape-boy, he hugged closer to him the little\nbrown body of his life's companion.  Tarzan laughed as he saw it; but\nthe laugh was followed by a sudden clouding of his face and a deep sigh.\n\nA little farther on, a gaily feathered bird strutted about before the\nadmiring eyes of his somber-hued mate.  It seemed to Tarzan that\neverything in the jungle was combining to remind him that he had lost\nTeeka; yet every day of his life he had seen these same things and\nthought nothing of them.\n\nWhen the blacks reached the trap, Taug set up a great commotion.\nSeizing the bars of his prison, he shook them frantically, and all the\nwhile he roared and growled terrifically.  The blacks were elated, for\nwhile they had not built their trap for this hairy tree man, they were\ndelighted with their catch.\n\nTarzan pricked up his ears when he heard the voice of a great ape and,\ncircling quickly until he was down wind from the trap, he sniffed at\nthe air in search of the scent spoor of the prisoner.  Nor was it long\nbefore there came to those delicate nostrils the familiar odor that\ntold Tarzan the identity of the captive as unerringly as though he had\nlooked upon Taug with his eyes.  Yes, it was Taug, and he was alone.\n\nTarzan grinned as he approached to discover what the blacks would do to\ntheir prisoner.  Doubtless they would slay him at once.  Again Tarzan\ngrinned.  Now he could have Teeka for his own, with none to dispute his\nright to her.  As he watched, he saw the black warriors strip the\nscreen from about the cage, fasten ropes to it and drag it away along\nthe trail in the direction of their village.\n\nTarzan watched until his rival passed out of sight, still beating upon\nthe bars of his prison and growling out his anger and his threats.\nThen the ape-boy turned and swung rapidly off in search of the tribe,\nand Teeka.\n\nOnce, upon the journey, he surprised Sheeta and his family in a little\novergrown clearing.  The great cat lay stretched upon the ground, while\nhis mate, one paw across her lord's savage face, licked at the soft\nwhite fur at his throat.\n\nTarzan increased his speed then until he fairly flew through the\nforest, nor was it long before he came upon the tribe.  He saw them\nbefore they saw him, for of all the jungle creatures, none passed more\nquietly than Tarzan of the Apes.  He saw Kamma and her mate feeding\nside by side, their hairy bodies rubbing against each other.  And he\nsaw Teeka feeding by herself.  Not for long would she feed thus in\nloneliness, thought Tarzan, as with a bound he landed amongst them.\n\nThere was a startled rush and a chorus of angry and frightened snarls,\nfor Tarzan had surprised them; but there was more, too, than mere\nnervous shock to account for the bristling neck hair which remained\nstanding long after the apes had discovered the identity of the\nnewcomer.\n\nTarzan noticed this as he had noticed it many times in the past--that\nalways his sudden coming among them left them nervous and unstrung for\na considerable time, and that they one and all found it necessary to\nsatisfy themselves that he was indeed Tarzan by smelling about him a\nhalf dozen or more times before they calmed down.\n\nPushing through them, he made his way toward Teeka; but as he\napproached her the ape drew away.\n\n\"Teeka,\" he said, \"it is Tarzan.  You belong to Tarzan.  I have come\nfor you.\"\n\nThe ape drew closer, looking him over carefully.  Finally she sniffed\nat him, as though to make assurance doubly sure.\n\n\"Where is Taug?\" she asked.\n\n\"The Gomangani have him,\" replied Tarzan.  \"They will kill him.\"\n\nIn the eyes of the she, Tarzan saw a wistful expression and a troubled\nlook of sorrow as he told her of Taug's fate; but she came quite close\nand snuggled against him, and Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, put his arm about\nher.\n\nAs he did so he noticed, with a start, the strange incongruity of that\nsmooth, brown arm against the black and hairy coat of his lady-love. He\nrecalled the paw of Sheeta's mate across Sheeta's face--no incongruity\nthere.  He thought of little Manu hugging his she, and how the one\nseemed to belong to the other.  Even the proud male bird, with his gay\nplumage, bore a close resemblance to his quieter spouse, while Numa,\nbut for his shaggy mane, was almost a counterpart of Sabor, the\nlioness.  The males and the females differed, it was true; but not with\nsuch differences as existed between Tarzan and Teeka.\n\nTarzan was puzzled.  There was something wrong.  His arm dropped from\nthe shoulder of Teeka.  Very slowly he drew away from her.  She looked\nat him with her head cocked upon one side.  Tarzan rose to his full\nheight and beat upon his breast with his fists.  He raised his head\ntoward the heavens and opened his mouth.  From the depths of his lungs\nrose the fierce, weird challenge of the victorious bull ape.  The tribe\nturned curiously to eye him.  He had killed nothing, nor was there any\nantagonist to be goaded to madness by the savage scream.  No, there was\nno excuse for it, and they turned back to their feeding, but with an\neye upon the ape-man lest he be preparing to suddenly run amuck.\n\nAs they watched him they saw him swing into a near-by tree and\ndisappear from sight.  Then they forgot him, even Teeka.\n\nMbonga's black warriors, sweating beneath their strenuous task, and\nresting often, made slow progress toward their village.  Always the\nsavage beast in the primitive cage growled and roared when they moved\nhim.  He beat upon the bars and slavered at the mouth.  His noise was\nhideous.\n\nThey had almost completed their journey and were making their final\nrest before forging ahead to gain the clearing in which lay their\nvillage.  A few more minutes would have taken them out of the forest,\nand then, doubtless, the thing would not have happened which did happen.\n\nA silent figure moved through the trees above them.  Keen eyes\ninspected the cage and counted the number of warriors.  An alert and\ndaring brain figured upon the chances of success when a certain plan\nshould be put to the test.\n\nTarzan watched the blacks lolling in the shade.  They were exhausted.\nAlready several of them slept.  He crept closer, pausing just above\nthem.  Not a leaf rustled before his stealthy advance.  He waited in\nthe infinite patience of the beast of prey.  Presently but two of the\nwarriors remained awake, and one of these was dozing.\n\nTarzan of the Apes gathered himself, and as he did so the black who did\nnot sleep arose and passed around to the rear of the cage.  The ape-boy\nfollowed just above his head.  Taug was eyeing the warrior and emitting\nlow growls.  Tarzan feared that the anthropoid would awaken the\nsleepers.\n\nIn a whisper which was inaudible to the ears of the Negro, Tarzan\nwhispered Taug's name, cautioning the ape to silence, and Taug's\ngrowling ceased.\n\nThe black approached the rear of the cage and examined the fastenings\nof the door, and as he stood there the beast above him launched itself\nfrom the tree full upon his back.  Steel fingers circled his throat,\nchoking the cry which sprang to the lips of the terrified man.  Strong\nteeth fastened themselves in his shoulder, and powerful legs wound\nthemselves about his torso.\n\nThe black in a frenzy of terror tried to dislodge the silent thing\nwhich clung to him.  He threw himself to the ground and rolled about;\nbut still those mighty fingers closed more and more tightly their\ndeadly grip.\n\nThe man's mouth gaped wide, his swollen tongue protruded, his eyes\nstarted from their sockets; but the relentless fingers only increased\ntheir pressure.\n\nTaug was a silent witness of the struggle.  In his fierce little brain\nhe doubtless wondered what purpose prompted Tarzan to attack the black.\nTaug had not forgotten his recent battle with the ape-boy, nor the\ncause of it.  Now he saw the form of the Gomangani suddenly go limp.\nThere was a convulsive shiver and the man lay still.\n\nTarzan sprang from his prey and ran to the door of the cage.  With\nnimble fingers he worked rapidly at the thongs which held the door in\nplace.  Taug could only watch--he could not help.  Presently Tarzan\npushed the thing up a couple of feet and Taug crawled out.  The ape\nwould have turned upon the sleeping blacks that he might wreak his pent\nvengeance; but Tarzan would not permit it.\n\nInstead, the ape-boy dragged the body of the black within the cage and\npropped it against the side bars.  Then he lowered the door and made\nfast the thongs as they had been before.\n\nA happy smile lighted his features as he worked, for one of his\nprincipal diversions was the baiting of the blacks of Mbonga's village.\nHe could imagine their terror when they awoke and found the dead body\nof their comrade fast in the cage where they had left the great ape\nsafely secured but a few minutes before.\n\nTarzan and Taug took to the trees together, the shaggy coat of the\nfierce ape brushing the sleek skin of the English lordling as they\npassed through the primeval jungle side by side.\n\n\"Go back to Teeka,\" said Tarzan.  \"She is yours.  Tarzan does not want\nher.\"\n\n\"Tarzan has found another she?\" asked Taug.\n\nThe ape-boy shrugged.\n\n\"For the Gomangani there is another Gomangani,\" he said; \"for Numa, the\nlion, there is Sabor, the lioness; for Sheeta there is a she of his own\nkind; for Bara, the deer; for Manu, the monkey; for all the beasts and\nthe birds of the jungle is there a mate.  Only for Tarzan of the Apes\nis there none.  Taug is an ape.  Teeka is an ape.  Go back to Teeka.\nTarzan is a man.  He will go alone.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n                           2\n\n                 The Capture of Tarzan\n\nTHE BLACK WARRIORS labored in the humid heat of the jungle's stifling\nshade.  With war spears they loosened the thick, black loam and the\ndeep layers of rotting vegetation.  With heavy-nailed fingers they\nscooped away the disintegrated earth from the center of the age-old\ngame trail.  Often they ceased their labors to squat, resting and\ngossiping, with much laughter, at the edge of the pit they were digging.\n\nAgainst the boles of near-by trees leaned their long, oval shields of\nthick buffalo hide, and the spears of those who were doing the\nscooping.  Sweat glistened upon their smooth, ebon skins, beneath which\nrolled rounded muscles, supple in the perfection of nature's\nuncontaminated health.\n\nA reed buck, stepping warily along the trail toward water, halted as a\nburst of laughter broke upon his startled ears.  For a moment he stood\nstatuesque but for his sensitively dilating nostrils; then he wheeled\nand fled noiselessly from the terrifying presence of man.\n\nA hundred yards away, deep in the tangle of impenetrable jungle, Numa,\nthe lion, raised his massive head.  Numa had dined well until almost\ndaybreak and it had required much noise to awaken him.  Now he lifted\nhis muzzle and sniffed the air, caught the acrid scent spoor of the\nreed buck and the heavy scent of man.  But Numa was well filled.  With\na low, disgusted grunt he rose and slunk away.\n\nBrilliantly plumaged birds with raucous voices darted from tree to\ntree.  Little monkeys, chattering and scolding, swung through the\nswaying limbs above the black warriors.  Yet they were alone, for the\nteeming jungle with all its myriad life, like the swarming streets of a\ngreat metropolis, is one of the loneliest spots in God's great universe.\n\nBut were they alone?\n\nAbove them, lightly balanced upon a leafy tree limb, a gray-eyed youth\nwatched with eager intentness their every move.  The fire of hate,\nrestrained, smoldered beneath the lad's evident desire to know the\npurpose of the black men's labors.  Such a one as these it was who had\nslain his beloved Kala.  For them there could be naught but enmity, yet\nhe liked well to watch them, avid as he was for greater knowledge of\nthe ways of man.\n\nHe saw the pit grow in depth until a great hole yawned the width of the\ntrail--a hole which was amply large enough to hold at one time all of\nthe six excavators.  Tarzan could not guess the purpose of so great a\nlabor.  And when they cut long stakes, sharpened at their upper ends,\nand set them at intervals upright in the bottom of the pit, his\nwonderment but increased, nor was it satisfied with the placing of the\nlight cross-poles over the pit, or the careful arrangement of leaves\nand earth which completely hid from view the work the black men had\nperformed.\n\nWhen they were done they surveyed their handiwork with evident\nsatisfaction, and Tarzan surveyed it, too.  Even to his practiced eye\nthere remained scarce a vestige of evidence that the ancient game trail\nhad been tampered with in any way.\n\nSo absorbed was the ape-man in speculation as to the purpose of the\ncovered pit that he permitted the blacks to depart in the direction of\ntheir village without the usual baiting which had rendered him the\nterror of Mbonga's people and had afforded Tarzan both a vehicle of\nrevenge and a source of inexhaustible delight.\n\nPuzzle as he would, however, he could not solve the mystery of the\nconcealed pit, for the ways of the blacks were still strange ways to\nTarzan.  They had entered his jungle but a short time before--the first\nof their kind to encroach upon the age-old supremacy of the beasts\nwhich laired there.  To Numa, the lion, to Tantor, the elephant, to the\ngreat apes and the lesser apes, to each and all of the myriad creatures\nof this savage wild, the ways of man were new.  They had much to learn\nof these black, hairless creatures that walked erect upon their hind\npaws--and they were learning it slowly, and always to their sorrow.\n\nShortly after the blacks had departed, Tarzan swung easily to the\ntrail.  Sniffing suspiciously, he circled the edge of the pit.\nSquatting upon his haunches, he scraped away a little earth to expose\none of the cross-bars. He sniffed at this, touched it, cocked his head\nupon one side, and contemplated it gravely for several minutes.  Then\nhe carefully re-covered it, arranging the earth as neatly as had the\nblacks.  This done, he swung himself back among the branches of the\ntrees and moved off in search of his hairy fellows, the great apes of\nthe tribe of Kerchak.\n\nOnce he crossed the trail of Numa, the lion, pausing for a moment to\nhurl a soft fruit at the snarling face of his enemy, and to taunt and\ninsult him, calling him eater of carrion and brother of Dango, the\nhyena.  Numa, his yellow-green eyes round and burning with concentrated\nhate, glared up at the dancing figure above him.  Low growls vibrated\nhis heavy jowls and his great rage transmitted to his sinuous tail a\nsharp, whiplike motion; but realizing from past experience the futility\nof long distance argument with the ape-man, he turned presently and\nstruck off into the tangled vegetation which hid him from the view of\nhis tormentor.  With a final scream of jungle invective and an apelike\ngrimace at his departing foe, Tarzan continued along his way.\n\nAnother mile and a shifting wind brought to his keen nostrils a\nfamiliar, pungent odor close at hand, and a moment later there loomed\nbeneath him a huge, gray-black bulk forging steadily along the jungle\ntrail.  Tarzan seized and broke a small tree limb, and at the sudden\ncracking sound the ponderous figure halted.  Great ears were thrown\nforward, and a long, supple trunk rose quickly to wave to and fro in\nsearch of the scent of an enemy, while two weak, little eyes peered\nsuspiciously and futilely about in quest of the author of the noise\nwhich had disturbed his peaceful way.\n\nTarzan laughed aloud and came closer above the head of the pachyderm.\n\n\"Tantor! Tantor!\" he cried.  \"Bara, the deer, is less fearful than\nyou--you, Tantor, the elephant, greatest of the jungle folk with the\nstrength of as many Numas as I have toes upon my feet and fingers upon\nmy hands.  Tantor, who can uproot great trees, trembles with fear at\nthe sound of a broken twig.\"\n\nA rumbling noise, which might have been either a sign of contempt or a\nsigh of relief, was Tantor's only reply as the uplifted trunk and ears\ncame down and the beast's tail dropped to normal; but his eyes still\nroved about in search of Tarzan.  He was not long kept in suspense,\nhowever, as to the whereabouts of the ape-man, for a second later the\nyouth dropped lightly to the broad head of his old friend.  Then\nstretching himself at full length, he drummed with his bare toes upon\nthe thick hide, and as his fingers scratched the more tender surfaces\nbeneath the great ears, he talked to Tantor of the gossip of the jungle\nas though the great beast understood every word that he said.\n\nMuch there was which Tarzan could make Tantor understand, and though\nthe small talk of the wild was beyond the great, gray dreadnaught of\nthe jungle, he stood with blinking eyes and gently swaying trunk as\nthough drinking in every word of it with keenest appreciation.  As a\nmatter of fact it was the pleasant, friendly voice and caressing hands\nbehind his ears which he enjoyed, and the close proximity of him whom\nhe had often borne upon his back since Tarzan, as a little child, had\nonce fearlessly approached the great bull, assuming upon the part of\nthe pachyderm the same friendliness which filled his own heart.\n\nIn the years of their association Tarzan had discovered that he\npossessed an inexplicable power to govern and direct his mighty friend.\nAt his bidding, Tantor would come from a great distance--as far as his\nkeen ears could detect the shrill and piercing summons of the\nape-man--and when Tarzan was squatted upon his head, Tantor would\nlumber through the jungle in any direction which his rider bade him go.\nIt was the power of the man-mind over that of the brute and it was just\nas effective as though both fully understood its origin, though neither\ndid.\n\nFor half an hour Tarzan sprawled there upon Tantor's back.  Time had no\nmeaning for either of them.  Life, as they saw it, consisted\nprincipally in keeping their stomachs filled.  To Tarzan this was a\nless arduous labor than to Tantor, for Tarzan's stomach was smaller,\nand being omnivorous, food was less difficult to obtain.  If one sort\ndid not come readily to hand, there were always many others to satisfy\nhis hunger.  He was less particular as to his diet than Tantor, who\nwould eat only the bark of certain trees, and the wood of others, while\na third appealed to him only through its leaves, and these, perhaps,\njust at certain seasons of the year.\n\nTantor must needs spend the better part of his life in filling his\nimmense stomach against the needs of his mighty thews.  It is thus with\nall the lower orders--their lives are so occupied either with searching\nfor food or with the processes of digestion that they have little time\nfor other considerations.  Doubtless it is this handicap which has kept\nthem from advancing as rapidly as man, who has more time to give to\nthought upon other matters.\n\nHowever, these questions troubled Tarzan but little, and Tantor not at\nall.  What the former knew was that he was happy in the companionship\nof the elephant.  He did not know why.  He did not know that because he\nwas a human being--a normal, healthy human being--he craved some living\nthing upon which to lavish his affection.  His childhood playmates\namong the apes of Kerchak were now great, sullen brutes.  They felt nor\ninspired but little affection.  The younger apes Tarzan still played\nwith occasionally.  In his savage way he loved them; but they were far\nfrom satisfying or restful companions.  Tantor was a great mountain of\ncalm, of poise, of stability.  It was restful and satisfying to sprawl\nupon his rough pate and pour one's vague hopes and aspirations into the\ngreat ears which flapped ponderously to and fro in apparent\nunderstanding.  Of all the jungle folk, Tantor commanded Tarzan's\ngreatest love since Kala had been taken from him.  Sometimes Tarzan\nwondered if Tantor reciprocated his affection.  It was difficult to\nknow.\n\nIt was the call of the stomach--the most compelling and insistent call\nwhich the jungle knows--that took Tarzan finally back to the trees and\noff in search of food, while Tantor continued his interrupted journey\nin the opposite direction.\n\nFor an hour the ape-man foraged.  A lofty nest yielded its fresh, warm\nharvest.  Fruits, berries, and tender plantain found a place upon his\nmenu in the order that he happened upon them, for he did not seek such\nfoods.  Meat, meat, meat! It was always meat that Tarzan of the Apes\nhunted; but sometimes meat eluded him, as today.\n\nAnd as he roamed the jungle his active mind busied itself not alone\nwith his hunting, but with many other subjects.  He had a habit of\nrecalling often the events of the preceding days and hours.  He lived\nover his visit with Tantor; he cogitated upon the digging blacks and\nthe strange, covered pit they had left behind them.  He wondered again\nand again what its purpose might be.  He compared perceptions and\narrived at judgments.  He compared judgments, reaching conclusions--not\nalways correct ones, it is true, but at least he used his brain for the\npurpose God intended it, which was the less difficult because he was\nnot handicapped by the second-hand, and usually erroneous, judgment of\nothers.\n\nAnd as he puzzled over the covered pit, there loomed suddenly before\nhis mental vision a huge, gray-black bulk which lumbered ponderously\nalong a jungle trail.  Instantly Tarzan tensed to the shock of a sudden\nfear.  Decision and action usually occurred simultaneously in the life\nof the ape-man, and now he was away through the leafy branches ere the\nrealization of the pit's purpose had scarce formed in his mind.\n\nSwinging from swaying limb to swaying limb, he raced through the middle\nterraces where the trees grew close together.  Again he dropped to the\nground and sped, silently and light of foot, over the carpet of\ndecaying vegetation, only to leap again into the trees where the\ntangled undergrowth precluded rapid advance upon the surface.\n\nIn his anxiety he cast discretion to the winds.  The caution of the\nbeast was lost in the loyalty of the man, and so it came that he\nentered a large clearing, denuded of trees, without a thought of what\nmight lie there or upon the farther edge to dispute the way with him.\n\nHe was half way across when directly in his path and but a few yards\naway there rose from a clump of tall grasses a half dozen chattering\nbirds.  Instantly Tarzan turned aside, for he knew well enough what\nmanner of creature the presence of these little sentinels proclaimed.\nSimultaneously Buto, the rhinoceros, scrambled to his short legs and\ncharged furiously.  Haphazard charges Buto, the rhinoceros.  With his\nweak eyes he sees but poorly even at short distances, and whether his\nerratic rushes are due to the panic of fear as he attempts to escape,\nor to the irascible temper with which he is generally credited, it is\ndifficult to determine.  Nor is the matter of little moment to one whom\nButo charges, for if he be caught and tossed, the chances are that\nnaught will interest him thereafter.\n\nAnd today it chanced that Buto bore down straight upon Tarzan, across\nthe few yards of knee-deep grass which separated them.  Accident\nstarted him in the direction of the ape-man, and then his weak eyes\ndiscerned the enemy, and with a series of snorts he charged straight\nfor him.  The little rhino birds fluttered and circled about their\ngiant ward.  Among the branches of the trees at the edge of the\nclearing, a score or more monkeys chattered and scolded as the loud\nsnorts of the angry beast sent them scurrying affrightedly to the upper\nterraces.  Tarzan alone appeared indifferent and serene.\n\nDirectly in the path of the charge he stood.  There had been no time to\nseek safety in the trees beyond the clearing, nor had Tarzan any mind\nto delay his journey because of Buto.  He had met the stupid beast\nbefore and held him in fine contempt.\n\nAnd now Buto was upon him, the massive head lowered and the long, heavy\nhorn inclined for the frightful work for which nature had designed it;\nbut as he struck upward, his weapon raked only thin air, for the\nape-man had sprung lightly aloft with a catlike leap that carried him\nabove the threatening horn to the broad back of the rhinoceros.\nAnother spring and he was on the ground behind the brute and racing\nlike a deer for the trees.\n\nButo, angered and mystified by the strange disappearance of his prey,\nwheeled and charged frantically in another direction, which chanced to\nbe not the direction of Tarzan's flight, and so the ape-man came in\nsafety to the trees and continued on his swift way through the forest.\n\nSome distance ahead of him Tantor moved steadily along the well-worn\nelephant trail, and ahead of Tantor a crouching, black warrior listened\nintently in the middle of the path.  Presently he heard the sound for\nwhich he had been hoping--the cracking, snapping sound which heralded\nthe approach of an elephant.\n\nTo his right and left in other parts of the jungle other warriors were\nwatching.  A low signal, passed from one to another, apprised the most\ndistant that the quarry was afoot.  Rapidly they converged toward the\ntrail, taking positions in trees down wind from the point at which\nTantor must pass them.  Silently they waited and presently were\nrewarded by the sight of a mighty tusker carrying an amount of ivory in\nhis long tusks that set their greedy hearts to palpitating.\n\nNo sooner had he passed their positions than the warriors clambered\nfrom their perches.  No longer were they silent, but instead clapped\ntheir hands and shouted as they reached the ground.  For an instant\nTantor, the elephant, paused with upraised trunk and tail, with great\nears up-pricked, and then he swung on along the trail at a rapid,\nshuffling pace--straight toward the covered pit with its sharpened\nstakes upstanding in the ground.\n\nBehind him came the yelling warriors, urging him on in the rapid flight\nwhich would not permit a careful examination of the ground before him.\nTantor, the elephant, who could have turned and scattered his\nadversaries with a single charge, fled like a frightened deer--fled\ntoward a hideous, torturing death.\n\nAnd behind them all came Tarzan of the Apes, racing through the jungle\nforest with the speed and agility of a squirrel, for he had heard the\nshouts of the warriors and had interpreted them correctly.  Once he\nuttered a piercing call that reverberated through the jungle; but\nTantor, in the panic of terror, either failed to hear, or hearing,\ndared not pause to heed.\n\nNow the giant pachyderm was but a few yards from the hidden death\nlurking in his path, and the blacks, certain of success, were screaming\nand dancing in his wake, waving their war spears and celebrating in\nadvance the acquisition of the splendid ivory carried by their prey and\nthe surfeit of elephant meat which would be theirs this night.\n\nSo intent were they upon their gratulations that they entirely failed\nto note the silent passage of the man-beast above their heads, nor did\nTantor, either, see or hear him, even though Tarzan called to him to\nstop.\n\nA few more steps would precipitate Tantor upon the sharpened stakes;\nTarzan fairly flew through the trees until he had come abreast of the\nfleeing animal and then had passed him.  At the pit's verge the ape-man\ndropped to the ground in the center of the trail.  Tantor was almost\nupon him before his weak eyes permitted him to recognize his old friend.\n\n\"Stop!\" cried Tarzan, and the great beast halted to the upraised hand.\n\nTarzan turned and kicked aside some of the brush which hid the pit.\nInstantly Tantor saw and understood.\n\n\"Fight!\" growled Tarzan.  \"They are coming behind you.\" But Tantor, the\nelephant, is a huge bunch of nerves, and now he was half panic-stricken\nby terror.\n\nBefore him yawned the pit, how far he did not know, but to right and\nleft lay the primeval jungle untouched by man.  With a squeal the great\nbeast turned suddenly at right angles and burst his noisy way through\nthe solid wall of matted vegetation that would have stopped any but him.\n\nTarzan, standing upon the edge of the pit, smiled as he watched\nTantor's undignified flight.  Soon the blacks would come.  It was best\nthat Tarzan of the Apes faded from the scene.  He essayed a step from\nthe pit's edge, and as he threw the weight of his body upon his left\nfoot, the earth crumbled away.  Tarzan made a single Herculean effort\nto throw himself forward, but it was too late.  Backward and downward\nhe went toward the sharpened stakes in the bottom of the pit.\n\nWhen, a moment later, the blacks came they saw even from a distance\nthat Tantor had eluded them, for the size of the hole in the pit\ncovering was too small to have accommodated the huge bulk of an\nelephant.  At first they thought that their prey had put one great foot\nthrough the top and then, warned, drawn back; but when they had come to\nthe pit's verge and peered over, their eyes went wide in astonishment,\nfor, quiet and still, at the bottom lay the naked figure of a white\ngiant.\n\nSome of them there had glimpsed this forest god before and they drew\nback in terror, awed by the presence which they had for some time\nbelieved to possess the miraculous powers of a demon; but others there\nwere who pushed forward, thinking only of the capture of an enemy, and\nthese leaped into the pit and lifted Tarzan out.\n\nThere was no scar upon his body.  None of the sharpened stakes had\npierced him--only a swollen spot at the base of the brain indicated the\nnature of his injury.  In the falling backward his head had struck upon\nthe side of one of the stakes, rendering him unconscious.  The blacks\nwere quick to discover this, and equally quick to bind their prisoner's\narms and legs before he should regain consciousness, for they had\nlearned to harbor a wholesome respect for this strange man-beast that\nconsorted with the hairy tree folk.\n\nThey had carried him but a short distance toward their village when the\nape-man's eyelids quivered and raised.  He looked about him wonderingly\nfor a moment, and then full consciousness returned and he realized the\nseriousness of his predicament.  Accustomed almost from birth to\nrelying solely upon his own resources, he did not cast about for\noutside aid now, but devoted his mind to a consideration of the\npossibilities for escape which lay within himself and his own powers.\n\nHe did not dare test the strength of his bonds while the blacks were\ncarrying him, for fear they would become apprehensive and add to them.\nPresently his captors discovered that he was conscious, and as they had\nlittle stomach for carrying a heavy man through the jungle heat, they\nset him upon his feet and forced him forward among them, pricking him\nnow and then with their spears, yet with every manifestation of the\nsuperstitious awe in which they held him.\n\nWhen they discovered that their prodding brought no outward evidence of\nsuffering, their awe increased, so that they soon desisted, half\nbelieving that this strange white giant was a supernatural being and so\nwas immune from pain.\n\nAs they approached their village, they shouted aloud the victorious\ncries of successful warriors, so that by the time they reached the\ngate, dancing and waving their spears, a great crowd of men, women, and\nchildren were gathered there to greet them and hear the story of their\nadventure.\n\nAs the eyes of the villagers fell upon the prisoner, they went wild,\nand heavy jaws fell open in astonishment and incredulity.  For months\nthey had lived in perpetual terror of a weird, white demon whom but few\nhad ever glimpsed and lived to describe.  Warriors had disappeared from\nthe paths almost within sight of the village and from the midst of\ntheir companions as mysteriously and completely as though they had been\nswallowed by the earth, and later, at night, their dead bodies had\nfallen, as from the heavens, into the village street.\n\nThis fearsome creature had appeared by night in the huts of the\nvillage, killed, and disappeared, leaving behind him in the huts with\nhis dead, strange and terrifying evidences of an uncanny sense of humor.\n\nBut now he was in their power! No longer could he terrorize them.\nSlowly the realization of this dawned upon them.  A woman, screaming,\nran forward and struck the ape-man across the face.  Another and\nanother followed her example, until Tarzan of the Apes was surrounded\nby a fighting, clawing, yelling mob of natives.\n\nAnd then Mbonga, the chief, came, and laying his spear heavily across\nthe shoulders of his people, drove them from their prey.\n\n\"We will save him until night,\" he said.\n\nFar out in the jungle Tantor, the elephant, his first panic of fear\nallayed, stood with up-pricked ears and undulating trunk.  What was\npassing through the convolutions of his savage brain? Could he be\nsearching for Tarzan?  Could he recall and measure the service the\nape-man had performed for him? Of that there can be no doubt.  But did\nhe feel gratitude? Would he have risked his own life to have saved\nTarzan could he have known of the danger which confronted his friend?\nYou will doubt it.  Anyone at all familiar with elephants will doubt\nit.  Englishmen who have hunted much with elephants in India will tell\nyou that they never have heard of an instance in which one of these\nanimals has gone to the aid of a man in danger, even though the man had\noften befriended it.  And so it is to be doubted that Tantor would have\nattempted to overcome his instinctive fear of the black men in an\neffort to succor Tarzan.\n\nThe screams of the infuriated villagers came faintly to his sensitive\nears, and he wheeled, as though in terror, contemplating flight; but\nsomething stayed him, and again he turned about, raised his trunk, and\ngave voice to a shrill cry.\n\nThen he stood listening.\n\nIn the distant village where Mbonga had restored quiet and order, the\nvoice of Tantor was scarcely audible to the blacks, but to the keen\nears of Tarzan of the Apes it bore its message.\n\nHis captors were leading him to a hut where he might be confined and\nguarded against the coming of the nocturnal orgy that would mark his\ntorture-laden death.  He halted as he heard the notes of Tantor's call,\nand raising his head, gave vent to a terrifying scream that sent cold\nchills through the superstitious blacks and caused the warriors who\nguarded him to leap back even though their prisoner's arms were\nsecurely bound behind him.\n\nWith raised spears they encircled him as for a moment longer he stood\nlistening.  Faintly from the distance came another, an answering cry,\nand Tarzan of the Apes, satisfied, turned and quietly pursued his way\ntoward the hut where he was to be imprisoned.\n\nThe afternoon wore on.  From the surrounding village the ape-man heard\nthe bustle of preparation for the feast.  Through the doorway of the\nhut he saw the women laying the cooking fires and filling their earthen\ncaldrons with water; but above it all his ears were bent across the\njungle in eager listening for the coming of Tantor.\n\nEven Tarzan but half believed that he would come.  He knew Tantor even\nbetter than Tantor knew himself.  He knew the timid heart which lay in\nthe giant body.  He knew the panic of terror which the scent of the\nGomangani inspired within that savage breast, and as night drew on,\nhope died within his heart and in the stoic calm of the wild beast\nwhich he was, he resigned himself to meet the fate which awaited him.\n\nAll afternoon he had been working, working, working with the bonds that\nheld his wrists.  Very slowly they were giving.  He might free his\nhands before they came to lead him out to be butchered, and if he\ndid--Tarzan licked his lips in anticipation, and smiled a cold, grim\nsmile.  He could imagine the feel of soft flesh beneath his fingers and\nthe sinking of his white teeth into the throats of his foemen.  He\nwould let them taste his wrath before they overpowered him!\n\nAt last they came--painted, befeathered warriors--even more hideous\nthan nature had intended them.  They came and pushed him into the open,\nwhere his appearance was greeted by wild shouts from the assembled\nvillagers.\n\nTo the stake they led him, and as they pushed him roughly against it\npreparatory to binding him there securely for the dance of death that\nwould presently encircle him, Tarzan tensed his mighty thews and with a\nsingle, powerful wrench parted the loosened thongs which had secured\nhis hands.  Like thought, for quickness, he leaped forward among the\nwarriors nearest him.  A blow sent one to earth, as, growling and\nsnarling, the beast-man leaped upon the breast of another.  His fangs\nwere buried instantly in the jugular of his adversary and then a half\nhundred black men had leaped upon him and borne him to earth.\n\nStriking, clawing, and snapping, the ape-man fought--fought as his\nfoster people had taught him to fight--fought like a wild beast\ncornered.  His strength, his agility, his courage, and his intelligence\nrendered him easily a match for half a dozen black men in a\nhand-to-hand struggle, but not even Tarzan of the Apes could hope to\nsuccessfully cope with half a hundred.\n\nSlowly they were overpowering him, though a score of them bled from\nugly wounds, and two lay very still beneath the trampling feet, and the\nrolling bodies of the contestants.\n\nOverpower him they might, but could they keep him overpowered while\nthey bound him? A half hour of desperate endeavor convinced them that\nthey could not, and so Mbonga, who, like all good rulers, had circled\nin the safety of the background, called to one to work his way in and\nspear the victim.  Gradually, through the milling, battling men, the\nwarrior approached the object of his quest.\n\nHe stood with poised spear above his head waiting for the instant that\nwould expose a vulnerable part of the ape-man's body and still not\nendanger one of the blacks.  Closer and closer he edged about,\nfollowing the movements of the twisting, scuffling combatants.  The\ngrowls of the ape-man sent cold chills up the warrior's spine, causing\nhim to go carefully lest he miss at the first cast and lay himself open\nto an attack from those merciless teeth and mighty hands.\n\nAt last he found an opening.  Higher he raised his spear, tensing his\nmuscles, rolling beneath his glistening, ebon hide, and then from the\njungle just beyond the palisade came a thunderous crashing.  The\nspear-hand paused, the black cast a quick glance in the direction of\nthe disturbance, as did the others of the blacks who were not occupied\nwith the subjugation of the ape-man.\n\nIn the glare of the fires they saw a huge bulk topping the barrier.\nThey saw the palisade belly and sway inward.  They saw it burst as\nthough built of straws, and an instant later Tantor, the elephant,\nthundered down upon them.\n\nTo right and left the blacks fled, screaming in terror.  Some who\nhovered upon the verge of the strife with Tarzan heard and made good\ntheir escape, but a half dozen there were so wrapt in the blood-madness\nof battle that they failed to note the approach of the giant tusker.\n\nUpon these Tantor charged, trumpeting furiously.  Above them he\nstopped, his sensitive trunk weaving among them, and there, at the\nbottom, he found Tarzan, bloody, but still battling.\n\nA warrior turned his eyes upward from the melee.  Above him towered the\ngigantic bulk of the pachyderm, the little eyes flashing with the\nreflected light of the fires--wicked, frightful, terrifying.  The\nwarrior screamed, and as he screamed, the sinuous trunk encircled him,\nlifted him high above the ground, and hurled him far after the fleeing\ncrowd.\n\nAnother and another Tantor wrenched from the body of the ape-man,\nthrowing them to right and to left, where they lay either moaning or\nvery quiet, as death came slowly or at once.\n\nAt a distance Mbonga rallied his warriors.  His greedy eyes had noted\nthe great ivory tusks of the bull.  The first panic of terror relieved,\nhe urged his men forward to attack with their heavy elephant spears;\nbut as they came, Tantor swung Tarzan to his broad head, and, wheeling,\nlumbered off into the jungle through the great rent he had made in the\npalisade.\n\nElephant hunters may be right when they aver that this animal would not\nhave rendered such service to a man, but to Tantor, Tarzan was not a\nman--he was but a fellow jungle beast.\n\nAnd so it was that Tantor, the elephant, discharged an obligation to\nTarzan of the Apes, cementing even more closely the friendship that had\nexisted between them since Tarzan as a little, brown boy rode upon\nTantor's huge back through the moonlit jungle beneath the equatorial\nstars.\n\n\n\n\n                           3\n\n                The Fight for the Balu\n\nTEEKA HAD BECOME a mother.  Tarzan of the Apes was intensely\ninterested, much more so, in fact, than Taug, the father.  Tarzan was\nvery fond of Teeka.  Even the cares of prospective motherhood had not\nentirely quenched the fires of carefree youth, and Teeka had remained a\ngood-natured playmate even at an age when other shes of the tribe of\nKerchak had assumed the sullen dignity of maturity.  She yet retained\nher childish delight in the primitive games of tag and hide-and-go-seek\nwhich Tarzan's fertile man-mind had evolved.\n\nTo play tag through the tree tops is an exciting and inspiring pastime.\nTarzan delighted in it, but the bulls of his childhood had long since\nabandoned such childish practices.  Teeka, though, had been keen for it\nalways until shortly before the baby came; but with the advent of her\nfirst-born, even Teeka changed.\n\nThe evidence of the change surprised and hurt Tarzan immeasurably.  One\nmorning he saw Teeka squatted upon a low branch hugging something very\nclose to her hairy breast--a wee something which squirmed and wriggled.\nTarzan approached filled with the curiosity which is common to all\ncreatures endowed with brains which have progressed beyond the\nmicroscopic stage.\n\nTeeka rolled her eyes in his direction and strained the squirming mite\nstill closer to her.  Tarzan came nearer.  Teeka drew away and bared\nher fangs.  Tarzan was nonplussed.  In all his experiences with Teeka,\nnever before had she bared fangs at him other than in play; but today\nshe did not look playful.  Tarzan ran his brown fingers through his\nthick, black hair, cocked his head upon one side, and stared.  Then he\nedged a bit nearer, craning his neck to have a better look at the thing\nwhich Teeka cuddled.\n\nAgain Teeka drew back her upper lip in a warning snarl.  Tarzan reached\nforth a hand, cautiously, to touch the thing which Teeka held, and\nTeeka, with a hideous growl, turned suddenly upon him.  Her teeth sank\ninto the flesh of his forearm before the ape-man could snatch it away,\nand she pursued him for a short distance as he retreated incontinently\nthrough the trees; but Teeka, carrying her baby, could not overtake\nhim.  At a safe distance Tarzan stopped and turned to regard his\nerstwhile play-fellow in unconcealed astonishment.  What had happened\nto so alter the gentle Teeka? She had so covered the thing in her arms\nthat Tarzan had not yet been able to recognize it for what it was; but\nnow, as she turned from the pursuit of him, he saw it.  Through his\npain and chagrin he smiled, for Tarzan had seen young ape mothers\nbefore.  In a few days she would be less suspicious.  Still Tarzan was\nhurt; it was not right that Teeka, of all others, should fear him.\nWhy, not for the world would he harm her, or her balu, which is the ape\nword for baby.\n\nAnd now, above the pain of his injured arm and the hurt to his pride,\nrose a still stronger desire to come close and inspect the new-born son\nof Taug.  Possibly you will wonder that Tarzan of the Apes, mighty\nfighter that he was, should have fled before the irritable attack of a\nshe, or that he should hesitate to return for the satisfaction of his\ncuriosity when with ease he might have vanquished the weakened mother\nof the new-born cub; but you need not wonder.  Were you an ape, you\nwould know that only a bull in the throes of madness will turn upon a\nfemale other than to gently chastise her, with the occasional exception\nof the individual whom we find exemplified among our own kind, and who\ndelights in beating up his better half because she happens to be\nsmaller and weaker than he.\n\nTarzan again came toward the young mother--warily and with his line of\nretreat safely open.  Again Teeka growled ferociously.  Tarzan\nexpostulated.\n\n\"Tarzan of the Apes will not harm Teeka's balu,\" he said.  \"Let me see\nit.\"\n\n\"Go away!\" commanded Teeka.  \"Go away, or I will kill you.\"\n\n\"Let me see it,\" urged Tarzan.\n\n\"Go away,\" reiterated the she-ape. \"Here comes Taug.  He will make you\ngo away.  Taug will kill you.  This is Taug's balu.\"\n\nA savage growl close behind him apprised Tarzan of the nearness of\nTaug, and the fact that the bull had heard the warnings and threats of\nhis mate and was coming to her succor.\n\nNow Taug, as well as Teeka, had been Tarzan's play-fellow while the\nbull was still young enough to wish to play.  Once Tarzan had saved\nTaug's life; but the memory of an ape is not overlong, nor would\ngratitude rise above the parental instinct.  Tarzan and Taug had once\nmeasured strength, and Tarzan had been victorious.  That fact Taug\ncould be depended upon still to remember; but even so, he might readily\nface another defeat for his first-born--if he chanced to be in the\nproper mood.\n\nFrom his hideous growls, which now rose in strength and volume, he\nseemed to be in quite the mood.  Now Tarzan felt no fear of Taug, nor\ndid the unwritten law of the jungle demand that he should flee from\nbattle with any male, unless he cared to from purely personal reasons.\nBut Tarzan liked Taug.  He had no grudge against him, and his man-mind\ntold him what the mind of an ape would never have deduced--that Taug's\nattitude in no sense indicated hatred.  It was but the instinctive urge\nof the male to protect its offspring and its mate.\n\nTarzan had no desire to battle with Taug, nor did the blood of his\nEnglish ancestors relish the thought of flight, yet when the bull\ncharged, Tarzan leaped nimbly to one side, and thus encouraged, Taug\nwheeled and rushed again madly to the attack.  Perhaps the memory of a\npast defeat at Tarzan's hands goaded him.  Perhaps the fact that Teeka\nsat there watching him aroused a desire to vanquish the ape-man before\nher eyes, for in the breast of every jungle male lurks a vast egotism\nwhich finds expression in the performance of deeds of derring-do before\nan audience of the opposite sex.\n\nAt the ape-man's side swung his long grass rope--the play-thing of\nyesterday, the weapon of today--and as Taug charged the second time,\nTarzan slipped the coils over his head and deftly shook out the sliding\nnoose as he again nimbly eluded the ungainly beast.  Before the ape\ncould turn again, Tarzan had fled far aloft among the branches of the\nupper terrace.\n\nTaug, now wrought to a frenzy of real rage, followed him.  Teeka peered\nupward at them.  It was difficult to say whether she was interested.\nTaug could not climb as rapidly as Tarzan, so the latter reached the\nhigh levels to which the heavy ape dared not follow before the former\novertook him.  There he halted and looked down upon his pursuer, making\nfaces at him and calling him such choice names as occurred to the\nfertile man-brain. Then, when he had worked Taug to such a pitch of\nfoaming rage that the great bull fairly danced upon the bending limb\nbeneath him, Tarzan's hand shot suddenly outward, a widening noose\ndropped swiftly through the air, there was a quick jerk as it settled\nabout Taug, falling to his knees, a jerk that tightened it securely\nabout the hairy legs of the anthropoid.\n\nTaug, slow of wit, realized too late the intention of his tormentor.\nHe scrambled to escape, but the ape-man gave the rope a tremendous jerk\nthat pulled Taug from his perch, and a moment later, growling\nhideously, the ape hung head downward thirty feet above the ground.\n\nTarzan secured the rope to a stout limb and descended to a point close\nto Taug.\n\n\"Taug,\" he said, \"you are as stupid as Buto, the rhinoceros.  Now you\nmay hang here until you get a little sense in your thick head.  You may\nhang here and watch while I go and talk with Teeka.\"\n\nTaug blustered and threatened, but Tarzan only grinned at him as he\ndropped lightly to the lower levels.  Here he again approached Teeka\nonly to be again greeted with bared fangs and menacing growls.  He\nsought to placate her; he urged his friendly intentions, and craned his\nneck to have a look at Teeka's balu; but the she-ape was not to be\npersuaded that he meant other than harm to her little one.  Her\nmotherhood was still so new that reason was yet subservient to instinct.\n\nRealizing the futility of attempting to catch and chastise Tarzan,\nTeeka sought to escape him.  She dropped to the ground and lumbered\nacross the little clearing about which the apes of the tribe were\ndisposed in rest or in the search of food, and presently Tarzan\nabandoned his attempts to persuade her to permit a close examination of\nthe balu.  The ape-man would have liked to handle the tiny thing.  The\nvery sight of it awakened in his breast a strange yearning.  He wished\nto cuddle and fondle the grotesque little ape-thing. It was Teeka's\nbalu and Tarzan had once lavished his young affections upon Teeka.\n\nBut now his attention was diverted by the voice of Taug.  The threats\nthat had filled the ape's mouth had turned to pleas.  The tightening\nnoose was stopping the circulation of the blood in his legs--he was\nbeginning to suffer.  Several apes sat near him highly interested in\nhis predicament.  They made uncomplimentary remarks about him, for each\nof them had felt the weight of Taug's mighty hands and the strength of\nhis great jaws.  They were enjoying revenge.\n\nTeeka, seeing that Tarzan had turned back toward the trees, had halted\nin the center of the clearing, and there she sat hugging her balu and\ncasting suspicious glances here and there.  With the coming of the\nbalu, Teeka's care-free world had suddenly become peopled with\ninnumerable enemies.  She saw an implacable foe in Tarzan, always\nheretofore her best friend.  Even poor old Mumga, half blind and almost\nentirely toothless, searching patiently for grubworms beneath a fallen\nlog, represented to her a malignant spirit thirsting for the blood of\nlittle balus.\n\nAnd while Teeka guarded suspiciously against harm, where there was no\nharm, she failed to note two baleful, yellow-green eyes staring fixedly\nat her from behind a clump of bushes at the opposite side of the\nclearing.\n\nHollow from hunger, Sheeta, the panther, glared greedily at the\ntempting meat so close at hand, but the sight of the great bulls beyond\ngave him pause.\n\nAh, if the she-ape with her balu would but come just a trifle nearer! A\nquick spring and he would be upon them and away again with his meat\nbefore the bulls could prevent.\n\nThe tip of his tawny tail moved in spasmodic little jerks; his lower\njaw hung low, exposing a red tongue and yellow fangs.  But all this\nTeeka did not see, nor did any other of the apes who were feeding or\nresting about her.  Nor did Tarzan or the apes in the trees.\n\nHearing the abuse which the bulls were pouring upon the helpless Taug,\nTarzan clambered quickly among them.  One was edging closer and leaning\nfar out in an effort to reach the dangling ape.  He had worked himself\ninto quite a fury through recollection of the last occasion upon which\nTaug had mauled him, and now he was bent upon revenge.  Once he had\ngrasped the swinging ape, he would quickly have drawn him within reach\nof his jaws.  Tarzan saw and was wroth.  He loved a fair fight, but the\nthing which this ape contemplated revolted him.  Already a hairy hand\nhad clutched the helpless Taug when, with an angry growl of protest,\nTarzan leaped to the branch at the attacking ape's side, and with a\nsingle mighty cuff, swept him from his perch.\n\nSurprised and enraged, the bull clutched madly for support as he\ntoppled sidewise, and then with an agile movement succeeded in\nprojecting himself toward another limb a few feet below.  Here he found\na hand-hold, quickly righted himself, and as quickly clambered upward\nto be revenged upon Tarzan, but the ape-man was otherwise engaged and\ndid not wish to be interrupted.  He was explaining again to Taug the\ndepths of the latter's abysmal ignorance, and pointing out how much\ngreater and mightier was Tarzan of the Apes than Taug or any other ape.\n\nIn the end he would release Taug, but not until Taug was fully\nacquainted with his own inferiority.  And then the maddened bull came\nfrom beneath, and instantly Tarzan was transformed from a good-natured,\nteasing youth into a snarling, savage beast.  Along his scalp the hair\nbristled: his upper lip drew back that his fighting fangs might be\nuncovered and ready.  He did not wait for the bull to reach him, for\nsomething in the appearance or the voice of the attacker aroused within\nthe ape-man a feeling of belligerent antagonism that would not be\ndenied.  With a scream that carried no human note, Tarzan leaped\nstraight at the throat of the attacker.\n\nThe impetuosity of this act and the weight and momentum of his body\ncarried the bull backward, clutching and clawing for support, down\nthrough the leafy branches of the tree.  For fifteen feet the two fell,\nTarzan's teeth buried in the jugular of his opponent, when a stout\nbranch stopped their descent.  The bull struck full upon the small of\nhis back across the limb, hung there for a moment with the ape-man\nstill upon his breast, and then toppled over toward the ground.\n\nTarzan had felt the instantaneous relaxation of the body beneath him\nafter the heavy impact with the tree limb, and as the other turned\ncompletely over and started again upon its fall toward the ground, he\nreached forth a hand and caught the branch in time to stay his own\ndescent, while the ape dropped like a plummet to the foot of the tree.\n\nTarzan looked downward for a moment upon the still form of his late\nantagonist, then he rose to his full height, swelled his deep chest,\nsmote upon it with his clenched fist and roared out the uncanny\nchallenge of the victorious bull ape.\n\nEven Sheeta, the panther, crouched for a spring at the edge of the\nlittle clearing, moved uneasily as the mighty voice sent its weird cry\nreverberating through the jungle.  To right and left, nervously,\nglanced Sheeta, as though assuring himself that the way of escape lay\nready at hand.\n\n\"I am Tarzan of the Apes,\" boasted the ape-man; \"mighty hunter, mighty\nfighter! None in all the jungle so great as Tarzan.\"\n\nThen he made his way back in the direction of Taug.  Teeka had watched\nthe happenings in the tree.  She had even placed her precious balu upon\nthe soft grasses and come a little nearer that she might better witness\nall that was passing in the branches above her.  In her heart of hearts\ndid she still esteem the smooth-skinned Tarzan?  Did her savage breast\nswell with pride as she witnessed his victory over the ape? You will\nhave to ask Teeka.\n\nAnd Sheeta, the panther, saw that the she-ape had left her cub alone\namong the grasses.  He moved his tail again, as though this closest\napproximation of lashing in which he dared indulge might stimulate his\nmomentarily waned courage.  The cry of the victorious ape-man still\nheld his nerves beneath its spell.  It would be several minutes before\nhe again could bring himself to the point of charging into view of the\ngiant anthropoids.\n\nAnd as he regathered his forces, Tarzan reached Taug's side, and then\nclambering higher up to the point where the end of the grass rope was\nmade fast, he unloosed it and lowered the ape slowly downward, swinging\nhim in until the clutching hands fastened upon a limb.\n\nQuickly Taug drew himself to a position of safety and shook off the\nnoose.  In his rage-maddened heart was no room for gratitude to the\nape-man. He recalled only the fact that Tarzan had laid this painful\nindignity upon him.  He would be revenged, but just at present his legs\nwere so numb and his head so dizzy that he must postpone the\ngratification of his vengeance.\n\nTarzan was coiling his rope the while he lectured Taug on the futility\nof pitting his poor powers, physical and intellectual, against those of\nhis betters.  Teeka had come close beneath the tree and was peering\nupward.  Sheeta was worming his way stealthily forward, his belly close\nto the ground.  In another moment he would be clear of the underbrush\nand ready for the rapid charge and the quick retreat that would end the\nbrief existence of Teeka's balu.\n\nThen Tarzan chanced to look up and across the clearing.  Instantly his\nattitude of good-natured bantering and pompous boastfulness dropped\nfrom him.  Silently and swiftly he shot downward toward the ground.\nTeeka, seeing him coming, and thinking that he was after her or her\nbalu, bristled and prepared to fight.  But Tarzan sped by her, and as\nhe went, her eyes followed him and she saw the cause of his sudden\ndescent and his rapid charge across the clearing.  There in full sight\nnow was Sheeta, the panther, stalking slowly toward the tiny, wriggling\nbalu which lay among the grasses many yards away.\n\nTeeka gave voice to a shrill scream of terror and of warning as she\ndashed after the ape-man. Sheeta saw Tarzan coming.  He saw the\nshe-ape's cub before him, and he thought that this other was bent upon\nrobbing him of his prey.  With an angry growl, he charged.\n\nTaug, warned by Teeka's cry, came lumbering down to her assistance.\nSeveral other bulls, growling and barking, closed in toward the\nclearing, but they were all much farther from the balu and the panther\nthan was Tarzan of the Apes, so it was that Sheeta and the ape-man\nreached Teeka's little one almost simultaneously; and there they stood,\none upon either side of it, baring their fangs and snarling at each\nother over the little creature.\n\nSheeta was afraid to seize the balu, for thus he would give the ape-man\nan opening for attack; and for the same reason Tarzan hesitated to\nsnatch the panther's prey out of harm's way, for had he stooped to\naccomplish this, the great beast would have been upon him in an\ninstant.  Thus they stood while Teeka came across the clearing, going\nmore slowly as she neared the panther, for even her mother love could\nscarce overcome her instinctive terror of this natural enemy of her\nkind.\n\nBehind her came Taug, warily and with many pauses and much bluster, and\nstill behind him came other bulls, snarling ferociously and uttering\ntheir uncanny challenges.  Sheeta's yellow-green eyes glared terribly\nat Tarzan, and past Tarzan they shot brief glances at the apes of\nKerchak advancing upon him.  Discretion prompted him to turn and flee,\nbut hunger and the close proximity of the tempting morsel in the grass\nbefore him urged him to remain.  He reached forth a paw toward Teeka's\nbalu, and as he did so, with a savage guttural, Tarzan of the Apes was\nupon him.\n\nThe panther reared to meet the ape-man's attack.  He swung a frightful\nraking blow for Tarzan that would have wiped his face away had it\nlanded, but it did not land, for Tarzan ducked beneath it and closed,\nhis long knife ready in one strong hand--the knife of his dead father,\nof the father he never had known.\n\nInstantly the balu was forgotten by Sheeta, the panther.  He now\nthought only of tearing to ribbons with his powerful talons the flesh\nof his antagonist, of burying his long, yellow fangs in the soft,\nsmooth hide of the ape-man, but Tarzan had fought before with clawed\ncreatures of the jungle.  Before now he had battled with fanged\nmonsters, nor always had he come away unscathed.  He knew the risk that\nhe ran, but Tarzan of the Apes, inured to the sight of suffering and\ndeath, shrank from neither, for he feared neither.\n\nThe instant that he dodged beneath Sheeta's blow, he leaped to the\nbeast's rear and then full upon the tawny back, burying his teeth in\nSheeta's neck and the fingers of one hand in the fur at the throat, and\nwith the other hand he drove his blade into Sheeta's side.\n\nOver and over upon the grass rolled Sheeta, growling and screaming,\nclawing and biting, in a mad effort to dislodge his antagonist or get\nsome portion of his body within range of teeth or talons.\n\nAs Tarzan leaped to close quarters with the panther, Teeka had run\nquickly in and snatched up her balu.  Now she sat upon a high branch,\nsafe out of harm's way, cuddling the little thing close to her hairy\nbreast, the while her savage little eyes bored down upon the\ncontestants in the clearing, and her ferocious voice urged Taug and the\nother bulls to leap into the melee.\n\nThus goaded the bulls came closer, redoubling their hideous clamor; but\nSheeta was already sufficiently engaged--he did not even hear them.\nOnce he succeeded in partially dislodging the ape-man from his back, so\nthat Tarzan swung for an instant in front of those awful talons, and in\nthe brief instant before he could regain his former hold, a raking blow\nfrom a hind paw laid open one leg from hip to knee.\n\n\nIt was the sight and smell of this blood, possibly, which wrought upon\nthe encircling apes; but it was Taug who really was responsible for the\nthing they did.\n\nTaug, but a moment before filled with rage toward Tarzan of the Apes,\nstood close to the battling pair, his red-rimmed, wicked little eyes\nglaring at them.  What was passing in his savage brain? Did he gloat\nover the unenviable position of his recent tormentor? Did he long to\nsee Sheeta's great fangs sink into the soft throat of the ape-man? Or\ndid he realize the courageous unselfishness that had prompted Tarzan to\nrush to the rescue and imperil his life for Teeka's balu--for Taug's\nlittle balu? Is gratitude a possession of man only, or do the lower\norders know it also?\n\nWith the spilling of Tarzan's blood, Taug answered these questions.\nWith all the weight of his great body he leaped, hideously growling,\nupon Sheeta.  His long fighting fangs buried themselves in the white\nthroat.  His powerful arms beat and clawed at the soft fur until it\nflew upward in the jungle breeze.\n\nAnd with Taug's example before them the other bulls charged, burying\nSheeta beneath rending fangs and filling all the forest with the wild\ndin of their battle cries.\n\nAh! but it was a wondrous and inspiring sight--this battle of the\nprimordial apes and the great, white ape-man with their ancestral foe,\nSheeta, the panther.\n\nIn frenzied excitement, Teeka fairly danced upon the limb which swayed\nbeneath her great weight as she urged on the males of her people, and\nThaka, and Mumga, and Kamma, with the other shes of the tribe of\nKerchak, added their shrill cries or fierce barkings to the pandemonium\nwhich now reigned within the jungle.\n\nBitten and biting, tearing and torn, Sheeta battled for his life; but\nthe odds were against him.  Even Numa, the lion, would have hesitated\nto have attacked an equal number of the great bulls of the tribe of\nKerchak, and now, a half mile away, hearing the sounds of the terrific\nbattle, the king of beasts rose uneasily from his midday slumber and\nslunk off farther into the jungle.\n\nPresently Sheeta's torn and bloody body ceased its titanic struggles.\nIt stiffened spasmodically, twitched and was still, yet the bulls\ncontinued to lacerate it until the beautiful coat was torn to shreds.\nAt last they desisted from sheer physical weariness, and then from the\ntangle of bloody bodies rose a crimson giant, straight as an arrow.\n\nHe placed a foot upon the dead body of the panther, and lifting his\nblood-stained face to the blue of the equatorial heavens, gave voice to\nthe horrid victory cry of the bull ape.\n\nOne by one his hairy fellows of the tribe of Kerchak followed his\nexample.  The shes came down from their perches of safety and struck\nand reviled the dead body of Sheeta.  The young apes refought the\nbattle in mimicry of their mighty elders.\n\nTeeka was quite close to Tarzan.  He turned and saw her with the balu\nhugged close to her hairy breast, and put out his hands to take the\nlittle one, expecting that Teeka would bare her fangs and spring upon\nhim; but instead she placed the balu in his arms, and coming nearer,\nlicked his frightful wounds.\n\nAnd presently Taug, who had escaped with only a few scratches, came and\nsquatted beside Tarzan and watched him as he played with the little\nbalu, and at last he too leaned over and helped Teeka with the\ncleansing and the healing of the ape-man's hurts.\n\n\n\n\n                           4\n\n                   The God of Tarzan\n\nAMONG THE BOOKS of his dead father in the little cabin by the\nland-locked harbor, Tarzan of the Apes found many things to puzzle his\nyoung head.  By much labor and through the medium of infinite patience\nas well, he had, without assistance, discovered the purpose of the\nlittle bugs which ran riot upon the printed pages.  He had learned that\nin the many combinations in which he found them they spoke in a silent\nlanguage, spoke in a strange tongue, spoke of wonderful things which a\nlittle ape-boy could not by any chance fully understand, arousing his\ncuriosity, stimulating his imagination and filling his soul with a\nmighty longing for further knowledge.\n\nA dictionary had proven itself a wonderful storehouse of information,\nwhen, after several years of tireless endeavor, he had solved the\nmystery of its purpose and the manner of its use.  He had learned to\nmake a species of game out of it, following up the spoor of a new\nthought through the mazes of the many definitions which each new word\nrequired him to consult.  It was like following a quarry through the\njungle--it was hunting, and Tarzan of the Apes was an indefatigable\nhuntsman.\n\nThere were, of course, certain words which aroused his curiosity to a\ngreater extent than others, words which, for one reason or another,\nexcited his imagination.  There was one, for example, the meaning of\nwhich was rather difficult to grasp.  It was the word GOD.  Tarzan\nfirst had been attracted to it by the fact that it was very short and\nthat it commenced with a larger g-bug than those about it--a male g-bug\nit was to Tarzan, the lower-case letters being females.  Another fact\nwhich attracted him to this word was the number of he-bugs which\nfigured in its definition--Supreme Deity, Creator or Upholder of the\nUniverse.  This must be a very important word indeed, he would have to\nlook into it, and he did, though it still baffled him after many months\nof thought and study.\n\nHowever, Tarzan counted no time wasted which he devoted to these\nstrange hunting expeditions into the game preserves of knowledge, for\neach word and each definition led on and on into strange places, into\nnew worlds where, with increasing frequency, he met old, familiar\nfaces.  And always he added to his store of knowledge.\n\nBut of the meaning of GOD he was yet in doubt.  Once he thought he had\ngrasped it--that God was a mighty chieftain, king of all the Mangani.\nHe was not quite sure, however, since that would mean that God was\nmightier than Tarzan--a point which Tarzan of the Apes, who\nacknowledged no equal in the jungle, was loath to concede.\n\nBut in all the books he had there was no picture of God, though he\nfound much to confirm his belief that God was a great, an all-powerful\nindividual.  He saw pictures of places where God was worshiped; but\nnever any sign of God.  Finally he began to wonder if God were not of a\ndifferent form than he, and at last he determined to set out in search\nof Him.\n\nHe commenced by questioning Mumga, who was very old and had seen many\nstrange things in her long life; but Mumga, being an ape, had a faculty\nfor recalling the trivial.  That time when Gunto mistook a sting-bug\nfor an edible beetle had made more impression upon Mumga than all the\ninnumerable manifestations of the greatness of God which she had\nwitnessed, and which, of course, she had not understood.\n\nNumgo, overhearing Tarzan's questions, managed to wrest his attention\nlong enough from the diversion of flea hunting to advance the theory\nthat the power which made the lightning and the rain and the thunder\ncame from Goro, the moon.  He knew this, he said, because the Dum-Dum\nalways was danced in the light of Goro.  This reasoning, though\nentirely satisfactory to Numgo and Mumga, failed fully to convince\nTarzan.  However, it gave him a basis for further investigation along a\nnew line.  He would investigate the moon.\n\nThat night he clambered to the loftiest pinnacle of the tallest jungle\ngiant.  The moon was full, a great, glorious, equatorial moon.  The\nape-man, upright upon a slender, swaying limb, raised his bronzed face\nto the silver orb.  Now that he had clambered to the highest point\nwithin his reach, he discovered, to his surprise, that Goro was as far\naway as when he viewed him from the ground.  He thought that Goro was\nattempting to elude him.\n\n\"Come, Goro!\" he cried, \"Tarzan of the Apes will not harm you!\" But\nstill the moon held aloof.\n\n\"Tell me,\" he continued, \"if you be the great king who sends Ara, the\nlightning; who makes the great noise and the mighty winds, and sends\nthe waters down upon the jungle people when the days are dark and it is\ncold.  Tell me, Goro, are you God?\"\n\nOf course he did not pronounce God as you or I would pronounce His\nname, for Tarzan knew naught of the spoken language of his English\nforbears; but he had a name of his own invention for each of the little\nbugs which constituted the alphabet.  Unlike the apes he was not\nsatisfied merely to have a mental picture of the things he knew, he\nmust have a word descriptive of each.  In reading he grasped a word in\nits entirety; but when he spoke the words he had learned from the books\nof his father, he pronounced each according to the names he had given\nthe various little bugs which occurred in it, usually giving the gender\nprefix for each.\n\nThus it was an imposing word which Tarzan made of GOD.  The masculine\nprefix of the apes is BU, the feminine MU; g Tarzan had named LA, o he\npronounced TU, and d was MO. So the word God evolved itself into\nBULAMUTUMUMO, or, in English, he-g-she-o-she-d.\n\nSimilarly he had arrived at a strange and wonderful spelling of his own\nname.  Tarzan is derived from the two ape words TAR and ZAN, meaning\nwhite skin.  It was given him by his foster mother, Kala, the great\nshe-ape. When Tarzan first put it into the written language of his own\npeople he had not yet chanced upon either WHITE or SKIN in the\ndictionary; but in a primer he had seen the picture of a little white\nboy and so he wrote his name BUMUDE-MUTOMURO, or he-boy.\n\nTo follow Tarzan's strange system of spelling would be laborious as\nwell as futile, and so we shall in the future, as we have in the past,\nadhere to the more familiar forms of our grammar school copybooks.  It\nwould tire you to remember that DO meant b, TU o, and RO y, and that to\nsay he-boy you must prefix the ape masculine gender sound BU before the\nentire word and the feminine gender sound MU before each of the\nlower-case letters which go to make up boy--it would tire you and it\nwould bring me to the nineteenth hole several strokes under par.\n\nAnd so Tarzan harangued the moon, and when Goro did not reply, Tarzan\nof the Apes waxed wroth.  He swelled his giant chest and bared his\nfighting fangs, and hurled into the teeth of the dead satellite the\nchallenge of the bull ape.\n\n\"You are not Bulamutumumo,\" he cried.  \"You are not king of the jungle\nfolk.  You are not so great as Tarzan, mighty fighter, mighty hunter.\nNone there is so great as Tarzan.  If there be a Bulamutumumo, Tarzan\ncan kill him.  Come down, Goro, great coward, and fight with Tarzan.\nTarzan will kill you.  I am Tarzan, the killer.\"\n\nBut the moon made no answer to the boasting of the ape-man, and when a\ncloud came and obscured her face, Tarzan thought that Goro was indeed\nafraid, and was hiding from him, so he came down out of the trees and\nawoke Numgo and told him how great was Tarzan--how he had frightened\nGoro out of the sky and made him tremble.  Tarzan spoke of the moon as\nHE, for all things large or awe inspiring are male to the ape folk.\n\nNumgo was not much impressed; but he was very sleepy, so he told Tarzan\nto go away and leave his betters alone.\n\n\"But where shall I find God?\" insisted Tarzan.  \"You are very old; if\nthere is a God you must have seen Him.  What does He look like? Where\ndoes He live?\"\n\n\"I am God,\" replied Numgo.  \"Now sleep and disturb me no more.\"\n\nTarzan looked at Numgo steadily for several minutes, his shapely head\nsank just a trifle between his great shoulders, his square chin shot\nforward and his short upper lip drew back, exposing his white teeth.\nThen, with a low growl he leaped upon the ape and buried his fangs in\nthe other's hairy shoulder, clutching the great neck in his mighty\nfingers.  Twice he shook the old ape, then he released his tooth-hold.\n\n\"Are you God?\" he demanded.\n\n\"No,\" wailed Numgo.  \"I am only a poor, old ape.  Leave me alone.  Go\nask the Gomangani where God is.  They are hairless like yourself and\nvery wise, too.  They should know.\"\n\nTarzan released Numgo and turned away.  The suggestion that he consult\nthe blacks appealed to him, and though his relations with the people of\nMbonga, the chief, were the antithesis of friendly, he could at least\nspy upon his hated enemies and discover if they had intercourse with\nGod.\n\nSo it was that Tarzan set forth through the trees toward the village of\nthe blacks, all excitement at the prospect of discovering the Supreme\nBeing, the Creator of all things.  As he traveled he reviewed,\nmentally, his armament--the condition of his hunting knife, the number\nof his arrows, the newness of the gut which strung his bow--he hefted\nthe war spear which had once been the pride of some black warrior of\nMbonga's tribe.\n\nIf he met God, Tarzan would be prepared.  One could never tell whether\na grass rope, a war spear, or a poisoned arrow would be most\nefficacious against an unfamiliar foe.  Tarzan of the Apes was quite\ncontent--if God wished to fight, the ape-man had no doubt as to the\noutcome of the struggle.  There were many questions Tarzan wished to\nput to the Creator of the Universe and so he hoped that God would not\nprove a belligerent God; but his experience of life and the ways of\nliving things had taught him that any creature with the means for\noffense and defense was quite likely to provoke attack if in the proper\nmood.\n\nIt was dark when Tarzan came to the village of Mbonga.  As silently as\nthe silent shadows of the night he sought his accustomed place among\nthe branches of the great tree which overhung the palisade.  Below him,\nin the village street, he saw men and women.  The men were hideously\npainted--more hideously than usual.  Among them moved a weird and\ngrotesque figure, a tall figure that went upon the two legs of a man\nand yet had the head of a buffalo.  A tail dangled to his ankles behind\nhim, and in one hand he carried a zebra's tail while the other clutched\na bunch of small arrows.\n\nTarzan was electrified.  Could it be that chance had given him thus\nearly an opportunity to look upon God? Surely this thing was neither\nman nor beast, so what could it be then other than the Creator of the\nUniverse! The ape-man watched the every move of the strange creature.\nHe saw the black men and women fall back at its approach as though they\nstood in terror of its mysterious powers.\n\nPresently he discovered that the deity was speaking and that all\nlistened in silence to his words.  Tarzan was sure that none other than\nGod could inspire such awe in the hearts of the Gomangani, or stop\ntheir mouths so effectually without recourse to arrows or spears.\nTarzan had come to look with contempt upon the blacks, principally\nbecause of their garrulity.  The small apes talked a great deal and ran\naway from an enemy.  The big, old bulls of Kerchak talked but little\nand fought upon the slightest provocation.  Numa, the lion, was not\ngiven to loquacity, yet of all the jungle folk there were few who\nfought more often than he.\n\nTarzan witnessed strange things that night, none of which he\nunderstood, and, perhaps because they were strange, he thought that\nthey must have to do with the God he could not understand.  He saw\nthree youths receive their first war spears in a weird ceremony which\nthe grotesque witch-doctor strove successfully to render uncanny and\nawesome.\n\nHugely interested, he watched the slashing of the three brown arms and\nthe exchange of blood with Mbonga, the chief, in the rites of the\nceremony of blood brotherhood.  He saw the zebra's tail dipped into a\ncaldron of water above which the witch-doctor had made magical passes\nthe while he danced and leaped about it, and he saw the breasts and\nforeheads of each of the three novitiates sprinkled with the charmed\nliquid.  Could the ape-man have known the purpose of this act, that it\nwas intended to render the recipient invulnerable to the attacks of his\nenemies and fearless in the face of any danger, he would doubtless have\nleaped into the village street and appropriated the zebra's tail and a\nportion of the contents of the caldron.\n\nBut he did not know, and so he only wondered, not alone at what he saw\nbut at the strange sensations which played up and down his naked spine,\nsensations induced, doubtless, by the same hypnotic influence which\nheld the black spectators in tense awe upon the verge of a hysteric\nupheaval.\n\nThe longer Tarzan watched, the more convinced he became that his eyes\nwere upon God, and with the conviction came determination to have word\nwith the deity.  With Tarzan of the Apes, to think was to act.\n\nThe people of Mbonga were keyed to the highest pitch of hysterical\nexcitement.  They needed little to release the accumulated pressure of\nstatic nerve force which the terrorizing mummery of the witch-doctor\nhad induced.\n\nA lion roared, suddenly and loud, close without the palisade.  The\nblacks started nervously, dropping into utter silence as they listened\nfor a repetition of that all-too-familiar and always terrorizing voice.\nEven the witch-doctor paused in the midst of an intricate step,\nremaining momentarily rigid and statuesque as he plumbed his cunning\nmind for a suggestion as how best he might take advantage of the\ncondition of his audience and the timely interruption.\n\nAlready the evening had been vastly profitable to him.  There would be\nthree goats for the initiation of the three youths into full-fledged\nwarriorship, and besides these he had received several gifts of grain\nand beads, together with a piece of copper wire from admiring and\nterrified members of his audience.\n\nNuma's roar still reverberated along taut nerves when a woman's laugh,\nshrill and piercing, shattered the silence of the village.  It was this\nmoment that Tarzan chose to drop lightly from his tree into the village\nstreet.  Fearless among his blood enemies he stood, taller by a full\nhead than many of Mbonga's warriors, straight as their straightest\narrow, muscled like Numa, the lion.\n\nFor a moment Tarzan stood looking straight at the witch-doctor. Every\neye was upon him, yet no one had moved--a paralysis of terror held\nthem, to be broken a moment later as the ape-man, with a toss of head,\nstepped straight toward the hideous figure beneath the buffalo head.\n\nThen the nerves of the blacks could stand no more.  For months the\nterror of the strange, white, jungle god had been upon them.  Their\narrows had been stolen from the very center of the village; their\nwarriors had been silently slain upon the jungle trails and their dead\nbodies dropped mysteriously and by night into the village street as\nfrom the heavens above.\n\nOne or two there were who had glimpsed the strange figure of the new\ndemon and it was from their oft-repeated descriptions that the entire\nvillage now recognized Tarzan as the author of many of their ills.\nUpon another occasion and by daylight, the warriors would doubtless\nhave leaped to attack him, but at night, and this night of all others,\nwhen they were wrought to such a pitch of nervous dread by the uncanny\nartistry of their witch-doctor, they were helpless with terror.  As one\nman they turned and fled, scattering for their huts, as Tarzan\nadvanced.  For a moment one and one only held his ground.  It was the\nwitch-doctor. More than half self-hypnotized into a belief in his own\ncharlatanry he faced this new demon who threatened to undermine his\nancient and lucrative profession.\n\n\n\"Are you God?\" asked Tarzan.\n\nThe witch-doctor, having no idea of the meaning of the other's words,\ndanced a few strange steps, leaped high in the air, turning completely\naround and alighting in a stooping posture with feet far outspread and\nhead thrust out toward the ape-man. Thus he remained for an instant\nbefore he uttered a loud \"Boo!\" which was evidently intended to\nfrighten Tarzan away; but in reality had no such effect.\n\nTarzan did not pause.  He had set out to approach and examine God and\nnothing upon earth might now stay his feet.  Seeing that his antics had\nno potency with the visitor, the witch-doctor tried some new medicine.\nSpitting upon the zebra's tail, which he still clutched in one hand, he\nmade circles above it with the arrows in the other hand, meanwhile\nbacking cautiously away from Tarzan and speaking confidentially to the\nbushy end of the tail.\n\nThis medicine must be short medicine, however, for the creature, god or\ndemon, was steadily closing up the distance which had separated them.\nThe circles therefore were few and rapid, and when they were completed,\nthe witch-doctor struck an attitude which was intended to be awe\ninspiring and waving the zebra's tail before him, drew an imaginary\nline between himself and Tarzan.\n\n\"Beyond this line you cannot pass, for my medicine is strong medicine,\"\nhe cried.  \"Stop, or you will fall dead as your foot touches this spot.\nMy mother was a voodoo, my father was a snake; I live upon lions'\nhearts and the entrails of the panther; I eat young babies for\nbreakfast and the demons of the jungle are my slaves.  I am the most\npowerful witch-doctor in the world; I fear nothing, for I cannot die.\nI--\" But he got no further; instead he turned and fled as Tarzan of the\nApes crossed the magical dead line and still lived.\n\nAs the witch-doctor ran, Tarzan almost lost his temper.  This was no\nway for God to act, at least not in accordance with the conception\nTarzan had come to have of God.\n\n\"Come back!\" he cried.  \"Come back, God, I will not harm you.\" But the\nwitch-doctor was in full retreat by this time, stepping high as he\nleaped over cooking pots and the smoldering embers of small fires that\nhad burned before the huts of villagers.  Straight for his own hut ran\nthe witch-doctor, terror-spurred to unwonted speed; but futile was his\neffort--the ape-man bore down upon him with the speed of Bara, the deer.\n\nJust at the entrance to his hut the witch-doctor was overhauled.  A\nheavy hand fell upon his shoulder to drag him back.  It seized upon a\nportion of the buffalo hide, dragging the disguise from him.  It was a\nnaked black man that Tarzan saw dodge into the darkness of the hut's\ninterior.\n\nSo this was what he had thought was God! Tarzan's lip curled in an\nangry snarl as he leaped into the hut after the terror-stricken\nwitch-doctor. In the blackness within he found the man huddled at the\nfar side and dragged him forth into the comparative lightness of the\nmoonlit night.\n\nThe witch-doctor bit and scratched in an attempt to escape; but a few\ncuffs across the head brought him to a better realization of the\nfutility of resistance.  Beneath the moon Tarzan held the cringing\nfigure upon its shaking feet.\n\n\"So you are God!\" he cried.  \"If you be God, then Tarzan is greater\nthan God,\" and so the ape-man thought.  \"I am Tarzan,\" he shouted into\nthe ear of the black.  \"In all the jungle, or above it, or upon the\nrunning waters, or the sleeping waters, or upon the big water, or the\nlittle water, there is none so great as Tarzan.  Tarzan is greater than\nthe Mangani; he is greater than the Gomangani.  With his own hands he\nhas slain Numa, the lion, and Sheeta, the panther; there is none so\ngreat as Tarzan.  Tarzan is greater than God.  See!\" and with a sudden\nwrench he twisted the black's neck until the fellow shrieked in pain\nand then slumped to the earth in a swoon.\n\nPlacing his foot upon the neck of the fallen witch-doctor, the ape-man\nraised his face to the moon and uttered the long, shrill scream of the\nvictorious bull ape.  Then he stooped and snatched the zebra's tail\nfrom the nerveless fingers of the unconscious man and without a\nbackward glance retraced his footsteps across the village.\n\nFrom several hut doorways frightened eyes watched him.  Mbonga, the\nchief, was one of those who had seen what passed before the hut of the\nwitch-doctor. Mbonga was greatly concerned.  Wise old patriarch that he\nwas, he never had more than half believed in witch-doctors, at least\nnot since greater wisdom had come with age; but as a chief he was well\nconvinced of the power of the witch-doctor as an arm of government, and\noften it was that Mbonga used the superstitious fears of his people to\nhis own ends through the medium of the medicine-man.\n\nMbonga and the witch-doctor had worked together and divided the spoils,\nand now the \"face\" of the witch-doctor would be lost forever if any saw\nwhat Mbonga had seen; nor would this generation again have as much\nfaith in any future witch-doctor.\n\nMbonga must do something to counteract the evil influence of the forest\ndemon's victory over the witch-doctor. He raised his heavy spear and\ncrept silently from his hut in the wake of the retreating ape-man. Down\nthe village street walked Tarzan, as unconcerned and as deliberate as\nthough only the friendly apes of Kerchak surrounded him instead of a\nvillage full of armed enemies.\n\nSeeming only was the indifference of Tarzan, for alert and watchful was\nevery well-trained sense.  Mbonga, wily stalker of keen-eared jungle\ncreatures, moved now in utter silence.  Not even Bara, the deer, with\nhis great ears could have guessed from any sound that Mbonga was near;\nbut the black was not stalking Bara; he was stalking man, and so he\nsought only to avoid noise.\n\nCloser and closer to the slowly moving ape-man he came.  Now he raised\nhis war spear, throwing his spear-hand far back above his right\nshoulder.  Once and for all would Mbonga, the chief, rid himself and\nhis people of the menace of this terrifying enemy.  He would make no\npoor cast; he would take pains, and he would hurl his weapon with such\ngreat force as would finish the demon forever.\n\nBut Mbonga, sure as he thought himself, erred in his calculations.  He\nmight believe that he was stalking a man--he did not know, however,\nthat it was a man with the delicate sense perception of the lower\norders.  Tarzan, when he had turned his back upon his enemies, had\nnoted what Mbonga never would have thought of considering in the\nhunting of man--the wind.  It was blowing in the same direction that\nTarzan was proceeding, carrying to his delicate nostrils the odors\nwhich arose behind him.  Thus it was that Tarzan knew that he was being\nfollowed, for even among the many stenches of an African village, the\nape-man's uncanny faculty was equal to the task of differentiating one\nstench from another and locating with remarkable precision the source\nfrom whence it came.\n\nHe knew that a man was following him and coming closer, and his\njudgment warned him of the purpose of the stalker.  When Mbonga,\ntherefore, came within spear range of the ape-man, the latter suddenly\nwheeled upon him, so suddenly that the poised spear was shot a fraction\nof a second before Mbonga had intended.  It went a trifle high and\nTarzan stooped to let it pass over his head; then he sprang toward the\nchief.  But Mbonga did not wait to receive him.  Instead, he turned and\nfled for the dark doorway of the nearest hut, calling as he went for\nhis warriors to fall upon the stranger and slay him.\n\nWell indeed might Mbonga scream for help, for Tarzan, young and\nfleet-footed, covered the distance between them in great leaps, at the\nspeed of a charging lion.  He was growling, too, not at all unlike Numa\nhimself.  Mbonga heard and his blood ran cold.  He could feel the wool\nstiffen upon his pate and a prickly chill run up his spine, as though\nDeath had come and run his cold finger along Mbonga's back.\n\nOthers heard, too, and saw, from the darkness of their huts--bold\nwarriors, hideously painted, grasping heavy war spears in nerveless\nfingers.  Against Numa, the lion, they would have charged fearlessly.\nAgainst many times their own number of black warriors would they have\nraced to the protection of their chief; but this weird jungle demon\nfilled them with terror.  There was nothing human in the bestial growls\nthat rumbled up from his deep chest; there was nothing human in the\nbared fangs, or the catlike leaps.\n\nMbonga's warriors were terrified--too terrified to leave the seeming\nsecurity of their huts while they watched the beast-man spring full\nupon the back of their old chieftain.\n\nMbonga went down with a scream of terror.  He was too frightened even\nto attempt to defend himself.  He just lay beneath his antagonist in a\nparalysis of fear, screaming at the top of his lungs.  Tarzan half rose\nand kneeled above the black.  He turned Mbonga over and looked him in\nthe face, exposing the man's throat, then he drew his long, keen knife,\nthe knife that John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, had brought from England\nmany years before.  He raised it close above Mbonga's neck.  The old\nblack whimpered with terror.  He pleaded for his life in a tongue which\nTarzan could not understand.\n\nFor the first time the ape-man had a close view of the chief.  He saw\nan old man, a very old man with scrawny neck and wrinkled face--a\ndried, parchment-like face which resembled some of the little monkeys\nTarzan knew so well.  He saw the terror in the man's eyes--never before\nhad Tarzan seen such terror in the eyes of any animal, or such a\npiteous appeal for mercy upon the face of any creature.\n\nSomething stayed the ape-man's hand for an instant.  He wondered why it\nwas that he hesitated to make the kill; never before had he thus\ndelayed.  The old man seemed to wither and shrink to a bag of puny\nbones beneath his eyes.  So weak and helpless and terror-stricken he\nappeared that the ape-man was filled with a great contempt; but another\nsensation also claimed him--something new to Tarzan of the Apes in\nrelation to an enemy.  It was pity--pity for a poor, frightened, old\nman.\n\nTarzan rose and turned away, leaving Mbonga, the chief, unharmed.\n\nWith head held high the ape-man walked through the village, swung\nhimself into the branches of the tree which overhung the palisade and\ndisappeared from the sight of the villagers.\n\nAll the way back to the stamping ground of the apes, Tarzan sought for\nan explanation of the strange power which had stayed his hand and\nprevented him from slaying Mbonga.  It was as though someone greater\nthan he had commanded him to spare the life of the old man.  Tarzan\ncould not understand, for he could conceive of nothing, or no one, with\nthe authority to dictate to him what he should do, or what he should\nrefrain from doing.\n\nIt was late when Tarzan sought a swaying couch among the trees beneath\nwhich slept the apes of Kerchak, and he was still absorbed in the\nsolution of his strange problem when he fell asleep.\n\nThe sun was well up in the heavens when he awoke.  The apes were astir\nin search of food.  Tarzan watched them lazily from above as they\nscratched in the rotting loam for bugs and beetles and grubworms, or\nsought among the branches of the trees for eggs and young birds, or\nluscious caterpillars.\n\nAn orchid, dangling close beside his head, opened slowly, unfolding its\ndelicate petals to the warmth and light of the sun which but recently\nhad penetrated to its shady retreat.  A thousand times had Tarzan of\nthe Apes witnessed the beauteous miracle; but now it aroused a keener\ninterest, for the ape-man was just commencing to ask himself questions\nabout all the myriad wonders which heretofore he had but taken for\ngranted.\n\nWhat made the flower open? What made it grow from a tiny bud to a\nfull-blown bloom? Why was it at all? Why was he?  Where did Numa, the\nlion, come from? Who planted the first tree? How did Goro get way up\ninto the darkness of the night sky to cast his welcome light upon the\nfearsome nocturnal jungle? And the sun! Did the sun merely happen there?\n\nWhy were all the peoples of the jungle not trees? Why were the trees\nnot something else? Why was Tarzan different from Taug, and Taug\ndifferent from Bara, the deer, and Bara different from Sheeta, the\npanther, and why was not Sheeta like Buto, the rhinoceros? Where and\nhow, anyway, did they all come from--the trees, the flowers, the\ninsects, the countless creatures of the jungle?\n\nQuite unexpectedly an idea popped into Tarzan's head.  In following out\nthe many ramifications of the dictionary definition of GOD he had come\nupon the word CREATE--\"to cause to come into existence; to form out of\nnothing.\"\n\nTarzan almost had arrived at something tangible when a distant wail\nstartled him from his preoccupation into sensibility of the present and\nthe real.  The wail came from the jungle at some little distance from\nTarzan's swaying couch.  It was the wail of a tiny balu.  Tarzan\nrecognized it at once as the voice of Gazan, Teeka's baby.  They had\ncalled it Gazan because its soft, baby hair had been unusually red, and\nGAZAN in the language of the great apes, means red skin.\n\nThe wail was immediately followed by a real scream of terror from the\nsmall lungs.  Tarzan was electrified into instant action.  Like an\narrow from a bow he shot through the trees in the direction of the\nsound.  Ahead of him he heard the savage snarling of an adult she-ape.\nIt was Teeka to the rescue.  The danger must be very real.  Tarzan\ncould tell that by the note of rage mingled with fear in the voice of\nthe she.\n\nRunning along bending limbs, swinging from one tree to another, the\nape-man raced through the middle terraces toward the sounds which now\nhad risen in volume to deafening proportions.  From all directions the\napes of Kerchak were hurrying in response to the appeal in the tones of\nthe balu and its mother, and as they came, their roars reverberated\nthrough the forest.\n\nBut Tarzan, swifter than his heavy fellows, distanced them all.  It was\nhe who was first upon the scene.  What he saw sent a cold chill through\nhis giant frame, for the enemy was the most hated and loathed of all\nthe jungle creatures.\n\nTwined in a great tree was Histah, the snake--huge, ponderous,\nslimy--and in the folds of its deadly embrace was Teeka's little balu,\nGazan.  Nothing in the jungle inspired within the breast of Tarzan so\nnear a semblance to fear as did the hideous Histah.  The apes, too,\nloathed the terrifying reptile and feared him even more than they did\nSheeta, the panther, or Numa, the lion.  Of all their enemies there was\nnone they gave a wider berth than they gave Histah, the snake.\n\nTarzan knew that Teeka was peculiarly fearful of this silent, repulsive\nfoe, and as the scene broke upon his vision, it was the action of Teeka\nwhich filled him with the greatest wonder, for at the moment that he\nsaw her, the she-ape leaped upon the glistening body of the snake, and\nas the mighty folds encircled her as well as her offspring, she made no\neffort to escape, but instead grasped the writhing body in a futile\neffort to tear it from her screaming balu.\n\nTarzan knew all too well how deep-rooted was Teeka's terror of Histah.\nHe scarce could believe the testimony of his own eyes then, when they\ntold him that she had voluntarily rushed into that deadly embrace.  Nor\nwas Teeka's innate dread of the monster much greater than Tarzan's own.\nNever, willingly, had he touched a snake.  Why, he could not say, for\nhe would admit fear of nothing; nor was it fear, but rather an inherent\nrepulsion bequeathed to him by many generations of civilized ancestors,\nand back of them, perhaps, by countless myriads of such as Teeka, in\nthe breasts of each of which had lurked the same nameless terror of the\nslimy reptile.\n\nYet Tarzan did not hesitate more than had Teeka, but leaped upon Histah\nwith all the speed and impetuosity that he would have shown had he been\nspringing upon Bara, the deer, to make a kill for food.  Thus beset the\nsnake writhed and twisted horribly; but not for an instant did it loose\nits hold upon any of its intended victims, for it had included the\nape-man in its cold embrace the minute that he had fallen upon it.\n\nStill clinging to the tree, the mighty reptile held the three as though\nthey had been without weight, the while it sought to crush the life\nfrom them.  Tarzan had drawn his knife and this he now plunged rapidly\ninto the body of the enemy; but the encircling folds promised to sap\nhis life before he had inflicted a death wound upon the snake.  Yet on\nhe fought, nor once did he seek to escape the horrid death that\nconfronted him--his sole aim was to slay Histah and thus free Teeka and\nher balu.\n\nThe great, wide-gaping jaws of the snake turned and hovered above him.\nThe elastic maw, which could accommodate a rabbit or a horned buck with\nequal facility, yawned for him; but Histah, in turning his attention\nupon the ape-man, brought his head within reach of Tarzan's blade.\nInstantly a brown hand leaped forth and seized the mottled neck, and\nanother drove the heavy hunting knife to the hilt into the little brain.\n\nConvulsively Histah shuddered and relaxed, tensed and relaxed again,\nwhipping and striking with his great body; but no longer sentient or\nsensible.  Histah was dead, but in his death throes he might easily\ndispatch a dozen apes or men.\n\nQuickly Tarzan seized Teeka and dragged her from the loosened embrace,\ndropping her to the ground beneath, then he extricated the balu and\ntossed it to its mother.  Still Histah whipped about, clinging to the\nape-man; but after a dozen efforts Tarzan succeeded in wriggling free\nand leaping to the ground out of range of the mighty battering of the\ndying snake.\n\nA circle of apes surrounded the scene of the battle; but the moment\nthat Tarzan broke safely from the enemy they turned silently away to\nresume their interrupted feeding, and Teeka turned with them,\napparently forgetful of all but her balu and the fact that when the\ninterruption had occurred she just had discovered an ingeniously hidden\nnest containing three perfectly good eggs.\n\nTarzan, equally indifferent to a battle that was over, merely cast a\nparting glance at the still writhing body of Histah and wandered off\ntoward the little pool which served to water the tribe at this point.\nStrangely, he did not give the victory cry over the vanquished Histah.\nWhy, he could not have told you, other than that to him Histah was not\nan animal.  He differed in some peculiar way from the other denizens of\nthe jungle.  Tarzan only knew that he hated him.\n\nAt the pool Tarzan drank his fill and lay stretched upon the soft grass\nbeneath the shade of a tree.  His mind reverted to the battle with\nHistah, the snake.  It seemed strange to him that Teeka should have\nplaced herself within the folds of the horrid monster.  Why had she\ndone it? Why, indeed, had he? Teeka did not belong to him, nor did\nTeeka's balu.  They were both Taug's. Why then had he done this thing?\nHistah was not food for him when he was dead.  There seemed to Tarzan,\nnow that he gave the matter thought, no reason in the world why he\nshould have done the thing he did, and presently it occurred to him\nthat he had acted almost involuntarily, just as he had acted when he\nhad released the old Gomangani the previous evening.\n\nWhat made him do such things? Somebody more powerful than he must force\nhim to act at times.  \"All-powerful,\" thought Tarzan.  \"The little bugs\nsay that God is all-powerful. It must be that God made me do these\nthings, for I never did them by myself.  It was God who made Teeka rush\nupon Histah.  Teeka would never go near Histah of her own volition.  It\nwas God who held my knife from the throat of the old Gomangani.  God\naccomplishes strange things for he is 'all-powerful.' I cannot see Him;\nbut I know that it must be God who does these things.  No Mangani, no\nGomangani, no Tarmangani could do them.\"\n\nAnd the flowers--who made them grow? Ah, now it was all explained--the\nflowers, the trees, the moon, the sun, himself, every living creature\nin the jungle--they were all made by God out of nothing.\n\nAnd what was God? What did God look like? Of that he had no conception;\nbut he was sure that everything that was good came from God.  His good\nact in refraining from slaying the poor, defenseless old Gomangani;\nTeeka's love that had hurled her into the embrace of death; his own\nloyalty to Teeka which had jeopardized his life that she might live.\nThe flowers and the trees were good and beautiful.  God had made them.\nHe made the other creatures, too, that each might have food upon which\nto live.  He had made Sheeta, the panther, with his beautiful coat; and\nNuma, the lion, with his noble head and his shaggy mane.  He had made\nBara, the deer, lovely and graceful.\n\nYes, Tarzan had found God, and he spent the whole day in attributing to\nHim all of the good and beautiful things of nature; but there was one\nthing which troubled him.  He could not quite reconcile it to his\nconception of his new-found God.\n\nWho made Histah, the snake?\n\n\n\n\n                           5\n\n               Tarzan and the Black Boy\n\nTARZAN OF THE Apes sat at the foot of a great tree braiding a new grass\nrope.  Beside him lay the frayed remnants of the old one, torn and\nsevered by the fangs and talons of Sheeta, the panther.  Only half the\noriginal rope was there, the balance having been carried off by the\nangry cat as he bounded away through the jungle with the noose still\nabout his savage neck and the loose end dragging among the underbrush.\n\nTarzan smiled as he recalled Sheeta's great rage, his frantic efforts\nto free himself from the entangling strands, his uncanny screams that\nwere part hate, part anger, part terror.  He smiled in retrospection at\nthe discomfiture of his enemy, and in anticipation of another day as he\nadded an extra strand to his new rope.\n\nThis would be the strongest, the heaviest rope that Tarzan of the Apes\never had fashioned.  Visions of Numa, the lion, straining futilely in\nits embrace thrilled the ape-man. He was quite content, for his hands\nand his brain were busy.  Content, too, were his fellows of the tribe\nof Kerchak, searching for food in the clearing and the surrounding\ntrees about him.  No perplexing thoughts of the future burdened their\nminds, and only occasionally, dimly arose recollections of the near\npast.  They were stimulated to a species of brutal content by the\ndelectable business of filling their bellies.  Afterward they would\nsleep--it was their life, and they enjoyed it as we enjoy ours, you and\nI--as Tarzan enjoyed his.  Possibly they enjoyed theirs more than we\nenjoy ours, for who shall say that the beasts of the jungle do not\nbetter fulfill the purposes for which they are created than does man\nwith his many excursions into strange fields and his contraventions of\nthe laws of nature? And what gives greater content and greater\nhappiness than the fulfilling of a destiny?\n\nAs Tarzan worked, Gazan, Teeka's little balu, played about him while\nTeeka sought food upon the opposite side of the clearing.  No more did\nTeeka, the mother, or Taug, the sullen sire, harbor suspicions of\nTarzan's intentions toward their first-born. Had he not courted death\nto save their Gazan from the fangs and talons of Sheeta? Did he not\nfondle and cuddle the little one with even as great a show of affection\nas Teeka herself displayed? Their fears were allayed and Tarzan now\nfound himself often in the role of nursemaid to a tiny anthropoid--an\navocation which he found by no means irksome, since Gazan was a\nnever-failing fount of surprises and entertainment.\n\nJust now the apeling was developing those arboreal tendencies which\nwere to stand him in such good stead during the years of his youth,\nwhen rapid flight into the upper terraces was of far more importance\nand value than his undeveloped muscles and untried fighting fangs.\nBacking off fifteen or twenty feet from the bole of the tree beneath\nthe branches of which Tarzan worked upon his rope, Gazan scampered\nquickly forward, scrambling nimbly upward to the lower limbs.  Here he\nwould squat for a moment or two, quite proud of his achievement, then\nclamber to the ground again and repeat.  Sometimes, quite often in\nfact, for he was an ape, his attention was distracted by other things,\na beetle, a caterpillar, a tiny field mouse, and off he would go in\npursuit; the caterpillars he always caught, and sometimes the beetles;\nbut the field mice, never.\n\nNow he discovered the tail of the rope upon which Tarzan was working.\nGrasping it in one small hand he bounced away, for all the world like\nan animated rubber ball, snatching it from the ape-man's hand and\nrunning off across the clearing.  Tarzan leaped to his feet and was in\npursuit in an instant, no trace of anger on his face or in his voice as\nhe called to the roguish little balu to drop his rope.\n\nStraight toward his mother raced Gazan, and after him came Tarzan.\nTeeka looked up from her feeding, and in the first instant that she\nrealized that Gazan was fleeing and that another was in pursuit, she\nbared her fangs and bristled; but when she saw that the pursuer was\nTarzan she turned back to the business that had been occupying her\nattention.  At her very feet the ape-man overhauled the balu and,\nthough the youngster squealed and fought when Tarzan seized him, Teeka\nonly glanced casually in their direction.  No longer did she fear harm\nto her first-born at the hands of the ape-man. Had he not saved Gazan\non two occasions?\n\nRescuing his rope, Tarzan returned to his tree and resumed his labor;\nbut thereafter it was necessary to watch carefully the playful balu,\nwho was now possessed to steal it whenever he thought his great,\nsmooth-skinned cousin was momentarily off his guard.\n\nBut even under this handicap Tarzan finally completed the rope, a long,\npliant weapon, stronger than any he ever had made before.  The\ndiscarded piece of his former one he gave to Gazan for a plaything, for\nTarzan had it in his mind to instruct Teeka's balu after ideas of his\nown when the youngster should be old and strong enough to profit by his\nprecepts.  At present the little ape's innate aptitude for mimicry\nwould be sufficient to familiarize him with Tarzan's ways and weapons,\nand so the ape-man swung off into the jungle, his new rope coiled over\none shoulder, while little Gazan hopped about the clearing dragging the\nold one after him in childish glee.\n\nAs Tarzan traveled, dividing his quest for food with one for a\nsufficiently noble quarry whereupon to test his new weapon, his mind\noften was upon Gazan.  The ape-man had realized a deep affection for\nTeeka's balu almost from the first, partly because the child belonged\nto Teeka, his first love, and partly for the little ape's own sake, and\nTarzan's human longing for some sentient creature upon which to expend\nthose natural affections of the soul which are inherent to all normal\nmembers of the GENUS HOMO. Tarzan envied Teeka.  It was true that Gazan\nevidenced a considerable reciprocation of Tarzan's fondness for him,\neven preferring him to his own surly sire; but to Teeka the little one\nturned when in pain or terror, when tired or hungry.  Then it was that\nTarzan felt quite alone in the world and longed desperately for one who\nshould turn first to him for succor and protection.\n\nTaug had Teeka; Teeka had Gazan; and nearly every other bull and cow of\nthe tribe of Kerchak had one or more to love and by whom to be loved.\nOf course Tarzan could scarcely formulate the thought in precisely this\nway--he only knew that he craved something which was denied him;\nsomething which seemed to be represented by those relations which\nexisted between Teeka and her balu, and so he envied Teeka and longed\nfor a balu of his own.\n\nHe saw Sheeta and his mate with their little family of three; and\ndeeper inland toward the rocky hills, where one might lie up during the\nheat of the day, in the dense shade of a tangled thicket close under\nthe cool face of an overhanging rock, Tarzan had found the lair of\nNuma, the lion, and of Sabor, the lioness.  Here he had watched them\nwith their little balus--playful creatures, spotted leopard-like. And\nhe had seen the young fawn with Bara, the deer, and with Buto, the\nrhinoceros, its ungainly little one.  Each of the creatures of the\njungle had its own--except Tarzan.  It made the ape-man sad to think\nupon this thing, sad and lonely; but presently the scent of game\ncleared his young mind of all other considerations, as catlike he\ncrawled far out upon a bending limb above the game trail which led down\nto the ancient watering place of the wild things of this wild world.\n\nHow many thousands of times had this great, old limb bent to the savage\nform of some blood-thirsty hunter in the long years that it had spread\nits leafy branches above the deep-worn jungle path! Tarzan, the\nape-man, Sheeta, the panther, and Histah, the snake, it knew well.\nThey had worn smooth the bark upon its upper surface.\n\nToday it was Horta, the boar, which came down toward the watcher in the\nold tree--Horta, the boar, whose formidable tusks and diabolical temper\npreserved him from all but the most ferocious or most famished of the\nlargest carnivora.\n\nBut to Tarzan, meat was meat; naught that was edible or tasty might\npass a hungry Tarzan unchallenged and unattacked.  In hunger, as in\nbattle, the ape-man out-savaged the dreariest denizens of the jungle.\nHe knew neither fear nor mercy, except upon rare occasions when some\nstrange, inexplicable force stayed his hand--a force inexplicable to\nhim, perhaps, because of his ignorance of his own origin and of all the\nforces of humanitarianism and civilization that were his rightful\nheritage because of that origin.\n\nSo today, instead of staying his hand until a less formidable feast\nfound its way toward him, Tarzan dropped his new noose about the neck\nof Horta, the boar.  It was an excellent test for the untried strands.\nThe angered boar bolted this way and that; but each time the new rope\nheld him where Tarzan had made it fast about the stem of the tree above\nthe branch from which he had cast it.\n\nAs Horta grunted and charged, slashing the sturdy jungle patriarch with\nhis mighty tusks until the bark flew in every direction, Tarzan dropped\nto the ground behind him.  In the ape-man's hand was the long, keen\nblade that had been his constant companion since that distant day upon\nwhich chance had directed its point into the body of Bolgani, the\ngorilla, and saved the torn and bleeding man-child from what else had\nbeen certain death.\n\nTarzan walked in toward Horta, who swung now to face his enemy.  Mighty\nand muscled as was the young giant, it yet would have appeared but the\nmaddest folly for him to face so formidable a creature as Horta, the\nboar, armed only with a slender hunting knife.  So it would have seemed\nto one who knew Horta even slightly and Tarzan not at all.\n\nFor a moment Horta stood motionless facing the ape-man.  His wicked,\ndeep-set eyes flashed angrily.  He shook his lowered head.\n\n\"Mud-eater!\" jeered the ape-man. \"Wallower in filth.  Even your meat\nstinks, but it is juicy and makes Tarzan strong.  Today I shall eat\nyour heart, O Lord of the Great Tusks, that it shall keep savage that\nwhich pounds against my own ribs.\"\n\nHorta, understanding nothing of what Tarzan said, was none the less\nenraged because of that.  He saw only a naked man-thing, hairless and\nfutile, pitting his puny fangs and soft muscles against his own\nindomitable savagery, and he charged.\n\nTarzan of the Apes waited until the upcut of a wicked tusk would have\nlaid open his thigh, then he moved--just the least bit to one side; but\nso quickly that lightning was a sluggard by comparison, and as he\nmoved, he stooped low and with all the great power of his right arm\ndrove the long blade of his father's hunting knife straight into the\nheart of Horta, the boar.  A quick leap carried him from the zone of\nthe creature's death throes, and a moment later the hot and dripping\nheart of Horta was in his grasp.\n\nHis hunger satisfied, Tarzan did not seek a lying-up place for sleep,\nas was sometimes his way, but continued on through the jungle more in\nsearch of adventure than of food, for today he was restless.  And so it\ncame that he turned his footsteps toward the village of Mbonga, the\nblack chief, whose people Tarzan had baited remorselessly since that\nday upon which Kulonga, the chief's son, had slain Kala.\n\nA river winds close beside the village of the black men.  Tarzan\nreached its side a little below the clearing where squat the thatched\nhuts of the Negroes.  The river life was ever fascinating to the\nape-man. He found pleasure in watching the ungainly antics of Duro, the\nhippopotamus, and keen sport in tormenting the sluggish crocodile,\nGimla, as he basked in the sun.  Then, too, there were the shes and the\nbalus of the black men of the Gomangani to frighten as they squatted by\nthe river, the shes with their meager washing, the balus with their\nprimitive toys.\n\nThis day he came upon a woman and her child farther down stream than\nusual.  The former was searching for a species of shellfish which was\nto be found in the mud close to the river bank.  She was a young black\nwoman of about thirty.  Her teeth were filed to sharp points, for her\npeople ate the flesh of man.  Her under lip was slit that it might\nsupport a rude pendant of copper which she had worn for so many years\nthat the lip had been dragged downward to prodigious lengths, exposing\nthe teeth and gums of her lower jaw.  Her nose, too, was slit, and\nthrough the slit was a wooden skewer.  Metal ornaments dangled from her\nears, and upon her forehead and cheeks; upon her chin and the bridge of\nher nose were tattooings in colors that were mellowed now by age.  She\nwas naked except for a girdle of grasses about her waist.  Altogether\nshe was very beautiful in her own estimation and even in the estimation\nof the men of Mbonga's tribe, though she was of another people--a\ntrophy of war seized in her maidenhood by one of Mbonga's fighting men.\n\nHer child was a boy of ten, lithe, straight and, for a black, handsome.\nTarzan looked upon the two from the concealing foliage of a near-by\nbush.  He was about to leap forth before them with a terrifying scream,\nthat he might enjoy the spectacle of their terror and their incontinent\nflight; but of a sudden a new whim seized him.  Here was a balu\nfashioned as he himself was fashioned.  Of course this one's skin was\nblack; but what of it?  Tarzan had never seen a white man.  In so far\nas he knew, he was the sole representative of that strange form of life\nupon the earth.  The black boy should make an excellent balu for\nTarzan, since he had none of his own.  He would tend him carefully,\nfeed him well, protect him as only Tarzan of the Apes could protect his\nown, and teach him out of his half human, half bestial lore the secrets\nof the jungle from its rotting surface vegetation to the high tossed\npinnacles of the forest's upper terraces.\n\n* * *\n\nTarzan uncoiled his rope, and shook out the noose.  The two before him,\nall ignorant of the near presence of that terrifying form, continued\npreoccupied in the search for shellfish, poking about in the mud with\nshort sticks.\n\nTarzan stepped from the jungle behind them; his noose lay open upon the\nground beside him.  There was a quick movement of the right arm and the\nnoose rose gracefully into the air, hovered an instant above the head\nof the unsuspecting youth, then settled.  As it encompassed his body\nbelow the shoulders, Tarzan gave a quick jerk that tightened it about\nthe boy's arms, pinioning them to his sides.  A scream of terror broke\nfrom the lad's lips, and as his mother turned, affrighted at his cry,\nshe saw him being dragged quickly toward a great white giant who stood\njust beneath the shade of a near-by tree, scarcely a dozen long paces\nfrom her.\n\nWith a savage cry of terror and rage, the woman leaped fearlessly\ntoward the ape-man. In her mien Tarzan saw determination and courage\nwhich would shrink not even from death itself.  She was very hideous\nand frightful even when her face was in repose; but convulsed by\npassion, her expression became terrifyingly fiendish.  Even the ape-man\ndrew back, but more in revulsion than fear--fear he knew not.\n\nBiting and kicking was the black she's balu as Tarzan tucked him\nbeneath his arm and vanished into the branches hanging low above him,\njust as the infuriated mother dashed forward to seize and do battle\nwith him.  And as he melted away into the depth of the jungle with his\nstill struggling prize, he meditated upon the possibilities which might\nlie in the prowess of the Gomangani were the hes as formidable as the\nshes.\n\nOnce at a safe distance from the despoiled mother and out of earshot of\nher screams and menaces, Tarzan paused to inspect his prize, now so\nthoroughly terrorized that he had ceased his struggles and his outcries.\n\nThe frightened child rolled his eyes fearfully toward his captor, until\nthe whites showed gleaming all about the irises.\n\n\"I am Tarzan,\" said the ape-man, in the vernacular of the anthropoids.\n\"I will not harm you.  You are to be Tarzan's balu.  Tarzan will\nprotect you.  He will feed you.  The best in the jungle shall be for\nTarzan's balu, for Tarzan is a mighty hunter.  None need you fear, not\neven Numa, the lion, for Tarzan is a mighty fighter.  None so great as\nTarzan, son of Kala.  Do not fear.\"\n\nBut the child only whimpered and trembled, for he did not understand\nthe tongue of the great apes, and the voice of Tarzan sounded to him\nlike the barking and growling of a beast.  Then, too, he had heard\nstories of this bad, white forest god.  It was he who had slain Kulonga\nand others of the warriors of Mbonga, the chief.  It was he who entered\nthe village stealthily, by magic, in the darkness of the night, to\nsteal arrows and poison, and frighten the women and the children and\neven the great warriors.  Doubtless this wicked god fed upon little\nboys.  Had his mother not said as much when he was naughty and she\nthreatened to give him to the white god of the jungle if he were not\ngood? Little black Tibo shook as with ague.\n\n\"Are you cold, Go-bu-balu?\" asked Tarzan, using the simian equivalent\nof black he-baby in lieu of a better name.  \"The sun is hot; why do you\nshiver?\"\n\nTibo could not understand; but he cried for his mamma and begged the\ngreat, white god to let him go, promising always to be a good boy\nthereafter if his plea were granted.  Tarzan shook his head.  Not a\nword could he understand.  This would never do! He must teach\nGo-bu-balu a language which sounded like talk.  It was quite certain to\nTarzan that Go-bu-balu's speech was not talk at all.  It sounded quite\nas senseless as the chattering of the silly birds.  It would be best,\nthought the ape-man, quickly to get him among the tribe of Kerchak\nwhere he would hear the Mangani talking among themselves.  Thus he\nwould soon learn an intelligible form of speech.\n\nTarzan rose to his feet upon the swaying branch where he had halted far\nabove the ground, and motioned to the child to follow him; but Tibo\nonly clung tightly to the bole of the tree and wept.  Being a boy, and\na native African, he had, of course, climbed into trees many times\nbefore this; but the idea of racing off through the forest, leaping\nfrom one branch to another, as his captor, to his horror, had done when\nhe had carried Tibo away from his mother, filled his childish heart\nwith terror.\n\nTarzan sighed.  His newly acquired balu had much indeed to learn.  It\nwas pitiful that a balu of his size and strength should be so backward.\nHe tried to coax Tibo to follow him; but the child dared not, so Tarzan\npicked him up and carried him upon his back.  Tibo no longer scratched\nor bit.  Escape seemed impossible.  Even now, were he set upon the\nground, the chance was remote, he knew, that he could find his way back\nto the village of Mbonga, the chief.  Even if he could, there were the\nlions and the leopards and the hyenas, any one of which, as Tibo was\nwell aware, was particularly fond of the meat of little black boys.\n\nSo far the terrible white god of the jungle had offered him no harm.\nHe could not expect even this much consideration from the frightful,\ngreen-eyed man-eaters.  It would be the lesser of two evils, then, to\nlet the white god carry him away without scratching and biting, as he\nhad done at first.\n\nAs Tarzan swung rapidly through the trees, little Tibo closed his eyes\nin terror rather than look longer down into the frightful abysses\nbeneath.  Never before in all his life had Tibo been so frightened, yet\nas the white giant sped on with him through the forest there stole over\nthe child an inexplicable sensation of security as he saw how true were\nthe leaps of the ape-man, how unerring his grasp upon the swaying limbs\nwhich gave him hand-hold, and then, too, there was safety in the middle\nterraces of the forest, far above the reach of the dreaded lions.\n\nAnd so Tarzan came to the clearing where the tribe fed, dropping among\nthem with his new balu clinging tightly to his shoulders.  He was\nfairly in the midst of them before Tibo spied a single one of the great\nhairy forms, or before the apes realized that Tarzan was not alone.\nWhen they saw the little Gomangani perched upon his back some of them\ncame forward in curiosity with upcurled lips and snarling mien.\n\nAn hour before little Tibo would have said that he knew the uttermost\ndepths of fear; but now, as he saw these fearsome beasts surrounding\nhim, he realized that all that had gone before was as nothing by\ncomparison.  Why did the great white giant stand there so\nunconcernedly?  Why did he not flee before these horrid, hairy, tree\nmen fell upon them both and tore them to pieces? And then there came to\nTibo a numbing recollection.  It was none other than the story he had\nheard passed from mouth to mouth, fearfully, by the people of Mbonga,\nthe chief, that this great white demon of the jungle was naught other\nthan a hairless ape, for had not he been seen in company with these?\n\nTibo could only stare in wide-eyed horror at the approaching apes.  He\nsaw their beetling brows, their great fangs, their wicked eyes.  He\nnoted their mighty muscles rolling beneath their shaggy hides.  Their\nevery attitude and expression was a menace.  Tarzan saw this, too.  He\ndrew Tibo around in front of him.\n\n\"This is Tarzan's Go-bu-balu,\" he said.  \"Do not harm him, or Tarzan\nwill kill you,\" and he bared his own fangs in the teeth of the nearest\nape.\n\n\"It is a Gomangani,\" replied the ape.  \"Let me kill it.  It is a\nGomangani.  The Gomangani are our enemies.  Let me kill it.\"\n\n\"Go away,\" snarled Tarzan.  \"I tell you, Gunto, it is Tarzan's balu.\nGo away or Tarzan will kill you,\" and the ape-man took a step toward\nthe advancing ape.\n\nThe latter sidled off, quite stiff and haughty, after the manner of a\ndog which meets another and is too proud to fight and too fearful to\nturn his back and run.\n\nNext came Teeka, prompted by curiosity.  At her side skipped little\nGazan.  They were filled with wonder like the others; but Teeka did not\nbare her fangs.  Tarzan saw this and motioned that she approach.\n\n\"Tarzan has a balu now,\" he said.  \"He and Teeka's balu can play\ntogether.\"\n\n\"It is a Gomangani,\" replied Teeka.  \"It will kill my balu.  Take it\naway, Tarzan.\"\n\nTarzan laughed.  \"It could not harm Pamba, the rat,\" he said.  \"It is\nbut a little balu and very frightened.  Let Gazan play with it.\"\n\nTeeka still was fearful, for with all their mighty ferocity the great\nanthropoids are timid; but at last, assured by her great confidence in\nTarzan, she pushed Gazan forward toward the little black boy.  The\nsmall ape, guided by instinct, drew back toward its mother, baring its\nsmall fangs and screaming in mingled fear and rage.\n\nTibo, too, showed no signs of desiring a closer acquaintance with\nGazan, so Tarzan gave up his efforts for the time.\n\nDuring the week which followed, Tarzan found his time much occupied.\nHis balu was a greater responsibility than he had counted upon.  Not\nfor a moment did he dare leave it, since of all the tribe, Teeka alone\ncould have been depended upon to refrain from slaying the hapless black\nhad it not been for Tarzan's constant watchfulness.  When the ape-man\nhunted, he must carry Go-bu-balu about with him.  It was irksome, and\nthen the little black seemed so stupid and fearful to Tarzan.  It was\nquite helpless against even the lesser of the jungle creatures.  Tarzan\nwondered how it had survived at all.  He tried to teach it, and found a\nray of hope in the fact that Go-bu-balu had mastered a few words of the\nlanguage of the anthropoids, and that he could now cling to a\nhigh-tossed branch without screaming in fear; but there was something\nabout the child which worried Tarzan.  He often had watched the blacks\nwithin their village.  He had seen the children playing, and always\nthere had been much laughter; but little Go-bu-balu never laughed.  It\nwas true that Tarzan himself never laughed.  Upon occasion he smiled,\ngrimly, but to laughter he was a stranger.  The black, however, should\nhave laughed, reasoned the ape-man.  It was the way of the Gomangani.\n\nAlso, he saw that the little fellow often refused food and was growing\nthinner day by day.  At times he surprised the boy sobbing softly to\nhimself.  Tarzan tried to comfort him, even as fierce Kala had\ncomforted Tarzan when the ape-man was a balu, but all to no avail.\nGo-bu-balu merely no longer feared Tarzan--that was all.  He feared\nevery other living thing within the jungle.  He feared the jungle days\nwith their long excursions through the dizzy tree tops.  He feared the\njungle nights with their swaying, perilous couches far above the\nground, and the grunting and coughing of the great carnivora prowling\nbeneath him.\n\nTarzan did not know what to do.  His heritage of English blood rendered\nit a difficult thing even to consider a surrender of his project,\nthough he was forced to admit to himself that his balu was not all that\nhe had hoped.  Though he was faithful to his self-imposed task, and\neven found that he had grown to like Go-bu-balu, he could not deceive\nhimself into believing that he felt for it that fierce heat of\npassionate affection which Teeka revealed for Gazan, and which the\nblack mother had shown for Go-bu-balu.\n\nThe little black boy from cringing terror at the sight of Tarzan passed\nby degrees into trustfulness and admiration.  Only kindness had he ever\nreceived at the hands of the great white devil-god, yet he had seen\nwith what ferocity his kindly captor could deal with others.  He had\nseen him leap upon a certain he-ape which persisted in attempting to\nseize and slay Go-bu-balu. He had seen the strong, white teeth of the\nape-man fastened in the neck of his adversary, and the mighty muscles\ntensed in battle.  He had heard the savage, bestial snarls and roars of\ncombat, and he had realized with a shudder that he could not\ndifferentiate between those of his guardian and those of the hairy ape.\n\nHe had seen Tarzan bring down a buck, just as Numa, the lion, might\nhave done, leaping upon its back and fastening his fangs in the\ncreature's neck.  Tibo had shuddered at the sight, but he had thrilled,\ntoo, and for the first time there entered his dull, Negroid mind a\nvague desire to emulate his savage foster parent.  But Tibo, the little\nblack boy, lacked the divine spark which had permitted Tarzan, the\nwhite boy, to benefit by his training in the ways of the fierce jungle.\nIn imagination he was wanting, and imagination is but another name for\nsuper-intelligence.\n\nImagination it is which builds bridges, and cities, and empires.  The\nbeasts know it not, the blacks only a little, while to one in a hundred\nthousand of earth's dominant race it is given as a gift from heaven\nthat man may not perish from the earth.\n\nWhile Tarzan pondered his problem concerning the future of his balu,\nFate was arranging to take the matter out of his hands.  Momaya, Tibo's\nmother, grief-stricken at the loss of her boy, had consulted the tribal\nwitch-doctor, but to no avail.  The medicine he made was not good\nmedicine, for though Momaya paid him two goats for it, it did not bring\nback Tibo, nor even indicate where she might search for him with\nreasonable assurance of finding him.  Momaya, being of a short temper\nand of another people, had little respect for the witch-doctor of her\nhusband's tribe, and so, when he suggested that a further payment of\ntwo more fat goats would doubtless enable him to make stronger\nmedicine, she promptly loosed her shrewish tongue upon him, and with\nsuch good effect that he was glad to take himself off with his zebra's\ntail and his pot of magic.\n\nWhen he had gone and Momaya had succeeded in partially subduing her\nanger, she gave herself over to thought, as she so often had done since\nthe abduction of her Tibo, in the hope that she finally might discover\nsome feasible means of locating him, or at least assuring herself as to\nwhether he were alive or dead.\n\nIt was known to the blacks that Tarzan did not eat the flesh of man,\nfor he had slain more than one of their number, yet never tasted the\nflesh of any.  Too, the bodies always had been found, sometimes\ndropping as though from the clouds to alight in the center of the\nvillage.  As Tibo's body had not been found, Momaya argued that he\nstill lived, but where?\n\nThen it was that there came to her mind a recollection of Bukawai, the\nunclean, who dwelt in a cave in the hillside to the north, and who it\nwas well known entertained devils in his evil lair.  Few, if any, had\nthe temerity to visit old Bukawai, firstly because of fear of his black\nmagic and the two hyenas who dwelt with him and were commonly known to\nbe devils masquerading, and secondly because of the loathsome disease\nwhich had caused Bukawai to be an outcast--a disease which was slowly\neating away his face.\n\nNow it was that Momaya reasoned shrewdly that if any might know the\nwhereabouts of her Tibo, it would be Bukawai, who was in friendly\nintercourse with gods and demons, since a demon or a god it was who had\nstolen her baby; but even her great mother love was sorely taxed to\nfind the courage to send her forth into the black jungle toward the\ndistant hills and the uncanny abode of Bukawai, the unclean, and his\ndevils.\n\nMother love, however, is one of the human passions which closely\napproximates to the dignity of an irresistible force.  It drives the\nfrail flesh of weak women to deeds of heroic measure.  Momaya was\nneither frail nor weak, physically, but she was a woman, an ignorant,\nsuperstitious, African savage.  She believed in devils, in black magic,\nand in witchcraft.  To Momaya, the jungle was inhabited by far more\nterrifying things than lions and leopards--horrifying, nameless things\nwhich possessed the power of wreaking frightful harm under various\ninnocent guises.\n\nFrom one of the warriors of the village, whom she knew to have once\nstumbled upon the lair of Bukawai, the mother of Tibo learned how she\nmight find it--near a spring of water which rose in a small rocky canyon\nbetween two hills, the easternmost of which was easily recognizable\nbecause of a huge granite boulder which rested upon its summit.  The\nwesterly hill was lower than its companion, and was quite bare of\nvegetation except for a single mimosa tree which grew just a little\nbelow its summit.\n\nThese two hills, the man assured her, could be seen for some distance\nbefore she reached them, and together formed an excellent guide to her\ndestination.  He warned her, however, to abandon so foolish and\ndangerous an adventure, emphasizing what she already quite well knew,\nthat if she escaped harm at the hands of Bukawai and his demons, the\nchances were that she would not be so fortunate with the great\ncarnivora of the jungle through which she must pass going and returning.\n\nThe warrior even went to Momaya's husband, who, in turn, having little\nauthority over the vixenish lady of his choice, went to Mbonga, the\nchief.  The latter summoned Momaya, threatening her with the direst\npunishment should she venture forth upon so unholy an excursion.  The\nold chief's interest in the matter was due solely to that age-old\nalliance which exists between church and state.  The local\nwitch-doctor, knowing his own medicine better than any other knew it,\nwas jealous of all other pretenders to accomplishments in the black\nart.  He long had heard of the power of Bukawai, and feared lest,\nshould he succeed in recovering Momaya's lost child, much of the tribal\npatronage and consequent fees would be diverted to the unclean one.  As\nMbonga received, as chief, a certain proportion of the witch-doctor's\nfees and could expect nothing from Bukawai, his heart and soul were,\nquite naturally, wrapped up in the orthodox church.\n\nBut if Momaya could view with intrepid heart an excursion into the\njungle and a visit to the fear-haunted abode of Bukawai, she was not\nlikely to be deterred by threats of future punishment at the hands of\nold Mbonga, whom she secretly despised.  Yet she appeared to accede to\nhis injunctions, returning to her hut in silence.\n\nShe would have preferred starting upon her quest by day-light, but this\nwas now out of the question, since she must carry food and a weapon of\nsome sort--things which she never could pass out of the village with by\nday without being subjected to curious questioning that surely would\ncome immediately to the ears of Mbonga.\n\nSo Momaya bided her time until night, and just before the gates of the\nvillage were closed, she slipped through into the darkness and the\njungle.  She was much frightened, but she set her face resolutely\ntoward the north, and though she paused often to listen, breathlessly,\nfor the huge cats which, here, were her greatest terror, she\nnevertheless continued her way staunchly for several hours, until a low\nmoan a little to her right and behind her brought her to a sudden stop.\n\nWith palpitating heart the woman stood, scarce daring to breathe, and\nthen, very faintly but unmistakable to her keen ears, came the stealthy\ncrunching of twigs and grasses beneath padded feet.\n\nAll about Momaya grew the giant trees of the tropical jungle, festooned\nwith hanging vines and mosses.  She seized upon the nearest and started\nto clamber, apelike, to the branches above.  As she did so, there was a\nsudden rush of a great body behind her, a menacing roar that caused the\nearth to tremble, and something crashed into the very creepers to which\nshe was clinging--but below her.\n\nMomaya drew herself to safety among the leafy branches and thanked the\nforesight which had prompted her to bring along the dried human ear\nwhich hung from a cord about her neck.  She always had known that that\near was good medicine.  It had been given her, when a girl, by the\nwitch-doctor of her town tribe, and was nothing like the poor, weak\nmedicine of Mbonga's witch-doctor.\n\nAll night Momaya clung to her perch, for although the lion sought other\nprey after a short time, she dared not descend into the darkness again,\nfor fear she might encounter him or another of his kind; but at\ndaylight she clambered down and resumed her way.\n\nTarzan of the Apes, finding that his balu never ceased to give evidence\nof terror in the presence of the apes of the tribe, and also that most\nof the adult apes were a constant menace to Go-bu-balu's life, so that\nTarzan dared not leave him alone with them, took to hunting with the\nlittle black boy farther and farther from the stamping grounds of the\nanthropoids.\n\n\nLittle by little his absences from the tribe grew in length as he\nwandered farther away from them, until finally he found himself a\ngreater distance to the north than he ever before had hunted, and with\nwater and ample game and fruit, he felt not at all inclined to return\nto the tribe.\n\nLittle Go-bu-balu gave evidences of a greater interest in life, an\ninterest which varied in direct proportion to the distance he was from\nthe apes of Kerchak.  He now trotted along behind Tarzan when the\nape-man went upon the ground, and in the trees he even did his best to\nfollow his mighty foster parent.  The boy was still sad and lonely.\nHis thin, little body had grown steadily thinner since he had come\namong the apes, for while, as a young cannibal, he was not overnice in\nthe matter of diet, he found it not always to his taste to stomach the\nweird things which tickled the palates of epicures among the apes.\n\nHis large eyes were very large indeed now, his cheeks sunken, and every\nrib of his emaciated body plainly discernible to whomsoever should care\nto count them.  Constant terror, perhaps, had had as much to do with\nhis physical condition as had improper food.  Tarzan noticed the change\nand was worried.  He had hoped to see his balu wax sturdy and strong.\nHis disappointment was great.  In only one respect did Go-bu-balu seem\nto progress--he readily was mastering the language of the apes.  Even\nnow he and Tarzan could converse in a fairly satisfactory manner by\nsupplementing the meager ape speech with signs; but for the most part,\nGo-bu-balu was silent other than to answer questions put to him.  His\ngreat sorrow was yet too new and too poignant to be laid aside even\nmomentarily.  Always he pined for Momaya--shrewish, hideous, repulsive,\nperhaps, she would have been to you or me, but to Tibo she was mamma,\nthe personification of that one great love which knows no selfishness\nand which does not consume itself in its own fires.\n\nAs the two hunted, or rather as Tarzan hunted and Go-bu-balu tagged\nalong in his wake, the ape-man noticed many things and thought much.\nOnce they came upon Sabor moaning in the tall grasses.  About her\nromped and played two little balls of fur, but her eyes were for one\nwhich lay between her great forepaws and did not romp, one who never\nwould romp again.\n\nTarzan read aright the anguish and the suffering of the huge mother\ncat.  He had been minded to bait her.  It was to do this that he had\nsneaked silently through the trees until he had come almost above her,\nbut something held the ape-man as he saw the lioness grieving over her\ndead cub.  With the acquisition of Go-bu-balu, Tarzan had come to\nrealize the responsibilities and sorrows of parentage, without its\njoys.  His heart went out to Sabor as it might not have done a few\nweeks before.  As he watched her, there rose quite unbidden before him\na vision of Momaya, the skewer through the septum of her nose, her\npendulous under lip sagging beneath the weight which dragged it down.\nTarzan saw not her unloveliness; he saw only the same anguish that was\nSabor's, and he winced.  That strange functioning of the mind which\nsometimes is called association of ideas snapped Teeka and Gazan before\nthe ape-man's mental vision.  What if one should come and take Gazan\nfrom Teeka.  Tarzan uttered a low and ominous growl as though Gazan\nwere his own.  Go-bu-balu glanced here and there apprehensively,\nthinking that Tarzan had espied an enemy.  Sabor sprang suddenly to her\nfeet, her yellow-green eyes blazing, her tail lashing as she cocked her\nears, and raising her muzzle, sniffed the air for possible danger.  The\ntwo little cubs, which had been playing, scampered quickly to her, and\nstanding beneath her, peered out from between her forelegs, their big\nears upstanding, their little heads cocked first upon one side and then\nupon the other.\n\nWith a shake of his black shock, Tarzan turned away and resumed his\nhunting in another direction; but all day there rose one after another,\nabove the threshold of his objective mind, memory portraits of Sabor,\nof Momaya, and of Teeka--a lioness, a cannibal, and a she-ape, yet to\nthe ape-man they were identical through motherhood.\n\nIt was noon of the third day when Momaya came within sight of the cave\nof Bukawai, the unclean.  The old witch-doctor had rigged a framework\nof interlaced boughs to close the mouth of the cave from predatory\nbeasts.  This was now set to one side, and the black cavern beyond\nyawned mysterious and repellent.  Momaya shivered as from a cold wind\nof the rainy season.  No sign of life appeared about the cave, yet\nMomaya experienced that uncanny sensation as of unseen eyes regarding\nher malevolently.  Again she shuddered.  She tried to force her\nunwilling feet onward toward the cave, when from its depths issued an\nuncanny sound that was neither brute nor human, a weird sound that was\nakin to mirthless laughter.\n\nWith a stifled scream, Momaya turned and fled into the jungle.  For a\nhundred yards she ran before she could control her terror, and then she\npaused, listening.  Was all her labor, were all the terrors and dangers\nthrough which she had passed to go for naught? She tried to steel\nherself to return to the cave, but again fright overcame her.\n\nSaddened, disheartened, she turned slowly upon the back trail toward\nthe village of Mbonga.  Her young shoulders now were drooped like those\nof an old woman who bears a great burden of many years with their\naccumulated pains and sorrows, and she walked with tired feet and a\nhalting step.  The spring of youth was gone from Momaya.\n\nFor another hundred yards she dragged her weary way, her brain half\nparalyzed from dumb terror and suffering, and then there came to her\nthe memory of a little babe that suckled at her breast, and of a slim\nboy who romped, laughing, about her, and they were both Tibo--her Tibo!\n\nHer shoulders straightened.  She shook her savage head, and she turned\nabout and walked boldly back to the mouth of the cave of Bukawai, the\nunclean--of Bukawai, the witch-doctor.\n\nAgain, from the interior of the cave came the hideous laughter that was\nnot laughter.  This time Momaya recognized it for what it was, the\nstrange cry of a hyena.  No more did she shudder, but she held her\nspear ready and called aloud to Bukawai to come out.\n\nInstead of Bukawai came the repulsive head of a hyena.  Momaya poked at\nit with her spear, and the ugly, sullen brute drew back with an angry\ngrowl.  Again Momaya called Bukawai by name, and this time there came\nan answer in mumbling tones that were scarce more human than those of\nthe beast.\n\n\"Who comes to Bukawai?\" queried the voice.\n\n\"It is Momaya,\" replied the woman; \"Momaya from the village of Mbonga,\nthe chief.\n\n\"What do you want?\"\n\n\"I want good medicine, better medicine than Mbonga's witch-doctor can\nmake,\" replied Momaya.  \"The great, white, jungle god has stolen my\nTibo, and I want medicine to bring him back, or to find where he is\nhidden that I may go and get him.\"\n\n\"Who is Tibo?\" asked Bukawai.\n\nMomaya told him.\n\n\"Bukawai's medicine is very strong,\" said the voice.  \"Five goats and a\nnew sleeping mat are scarce enough in exchange for Bukawai's medicine.\"\n\n\"Two goats are enough,\" said Momaya, for the spirit of barter is strong\nin the breasts of the blacks.\n\nThe pleasure of haggling over the price was a sufficiently potent lure\nto draw Bukawai to the mouth of the cave.  Momaya was sorry when she\nsaw him that he had not remained within.  There are some things too\nhorrible, too hideous, too repulsive for description--Bukawai's face\nwas of these.  When Momaya saw him she understood why it was that he\nwas almost inarticulate.\n\nBeside him were two hyenas, which rumor had said were his only and\nconstant companions.  They made an excellent trio--the most repulsive\nof beasts with the most repulsive of humans.\n\n\"Five goats and a new sleeping mat,\" mumbled Bukawai.\n\n\"Two fat goats and a sleeping mat.\" Momaya raised her bid; but Bukawai\nwas obdurate.  He stuck for the five goats and the sleeping mat for a\nmatter of half an hour, while the hyenas sniffed and growled and\nlaughed hideously.  Momaya was determined to give all that Bukawai\nasked if she could do no better, but haggling is second nature to black\nbarterers, and in the end it partly repaid her, for a compromise\nfinally was reached which included three fat goats, a new sleeping mat,\nand a piece of copper wire.\n\n\"Come back tonight,\" said Bukawai, \"when the moon is two hours in the\nsky.  Then will I make the strong medicine which shall bring Tibo back\nto you.  Bring with you the three fat goats, the new sleeping mat, and\nthe piece of copper wire the length of a large man's forearm.\"\n\n\"I cannot bring them,\" said Momaya.  \"You will have to come after them.\nWhen you have restored Tibo to me, you shall have them all at the\nvillage of Mbonga.\"\n\nBukawai shook his head.\n\n\"I will make no medicine,\" he said, \"until I have the goats and the mat\nand the copper wire.\"\n\nMomaya pleaded and threatened, but all to no avail.  Finally, she\nturned away and started off through the jungle toward the village of\nMbonga.  How she could get three goats and a sleeping mat out of the\nvillage and through the jungle to the cave of Bukawai, she did not\nknow, but that she would do it somehow she was quite positive--she\nwould do it or die.  Tibo must be restored to her.\n\nTarzan coming lazily through the jungle with little Go-bu-balu, caught\nthe scent of Bara, the deer.  Tarzan hungered for the flesh of Bara.\nNaught tickled his palate so greatly; but to stalk Bara with Go-bu-balu\nat his heels, was out of the question, so he hid the child in the\ncrotch of a tree where the thick foliage screened him from view, and\nset off swiftly and silently upon the spoor of Bara.\n\nTibo alone was more terrified than Tibo even among the apes.  Real and\napparent dangers are less disconcerting than those which we imagine,\nand only the gods of his people knew how much Tibo imagined.\n\nHe had been but a short time in his hiding place when he heard\nsomething approaching through the jungle.  He crouched closer to the\nlimb upon which he lay and prayed that Tarzan would return quickly.\nHis wide eyes searched the jungle in the direction of the moving\ncreature.\n\nWhat if it was a leopard that had caught his scent! It would be upon\nhim in a minute.  Hot tears flowed from the large eyes of little Tibo.\nThe curtain of jungle foliage rustled close at hand.  The thing was but\na few paces from his tree!  His eyes fairly popped from his black face\nas he watched for the appearance of the dread creature which presently\nwould thrust a snarling countenance from between the vines and creepers.\n\nAnd then the curtain parted and a woman stepped into full view.  With a\ngasping cry, Tibo tumbled from his perch and raced toward her.  Momaya\nsuddenly started back and raised her spear, but a second later she cast\nit aside and caught the thin body in her strong arms.\n\nCrushing it to her, she cried and laughed all at one and the same time,\nand hot tears of joy, mingled with the tears of Tibo, trickled down the\ncrease between her naked breasts.\n\nDisturbed by the noise so close at hand, there arose from his sleep in\na near-by thicket Numa, the lion.  He looked through the tangled\nunderbrush and saw the black woman and her young.  He licked his chops\nand measured the distance between them and himself.  A short charge and\na long leap would carry him upon them.  He flicked the end of his tail\nand sighed.\n\nA vagrant breeze, swirling suddenly in the wrong direction, carried the\nscent of Tarzan to the sensitive nostrils of Bara, the deer.  There was\na startled tensing of muscles and cocking of ears, a sudden dash, and\nTarzan's meat was gone.  The ape-man angrily shook his head and turned\nback toward the spot where he had left Go-bu-balu. He came softly, as\nwas his way.  Before he reached the spot he heard strange sounds--the\nsound of a woman laughing and of a woman weeping, and the two which\nseemed to come from one throat were mingled with the convulsive sobbing\nof a child.  Tarzan hastened, and when Tarzan hastened, only the birds\nand the wind went faster.\n\nAnd as Tarzan approached the sounds, he heard another, a deep sigh.\nMomaya did not hear it, nor did Tibo; but the ears of Tarzan were as\nthe ears of Bara, the deer.  He heard the sigh, and he knew, so he\nunloosed the heavy spear which dangled at his back.  Even as he sped\nthrough the branches of the trees, with the same ease that you or I\nmight take out a pocket handkerchief as we strolled nonchalantly down a\nlazy country lane, Tarzan of the Apes took the spear from its thong\nthat it might be ready against any emergency.\n\nNuma, the lion, did not rush madly to attack.  He reasoned again, and\nreason told him that already the prey was his, so he pushed his great\nbulk through the foliage and stood eyeing his meat with baleful,\nglaring eyes.\n\nMomaya saw him and shrieked, drawing Tibo closer to her breast.  To\nhave found her child and to lose him, all in a moment!  She raised her\nspear, throwing her hand far back of her shoulder.  Numa roared and\nstepped slowly forward.  Momaya cast her weapon.  It grazed the tawny\nshoulder, inflicting a flesh wound which aroused all the terrific\nbestiality of the carnivore, and the lion charged.\n\nMomaya tried to close her eyes, but could not.  She saw the flashing\nswiftness of the huge, oncoming death, and then she saw something else.\nShe saw a mighty, naked white man drop as from the heavens into the\npath of the charging lion.  She saw the muscles of a great arm flash in\nthe light of the equatorial sun as it filtered, dappling, through the\nfoliage above.  She saw a heavy hunting spear hurtle through the air to\nmeet the lion in midleap.\n\nNuma brought up upon his haunches, roaring terribly and striking at the\nspear which protruded from his breast.  His great blows bent and\ntwisted the weapon.  Tarzan, crouching and with hunting knife in hand,\ncircled warily about the frenzied cat.  Momaya, wide-eyed, stood rooted\nto the spot, watching, fascinated.\n\nIn sudden fury Numa hurled himself toward the ape-man, but the wiry\ncreature eluded the blundering charge, side-stepping quickly only to\nrush in upon his foe.  Twice the hunting blade flashed in the air.\nTwice it fell upon the back of Numa, already weakening from the spear\npoint so near his heart.  The second stroke of the blade pierced far\ninto the beast's spine, and with a last convulsive sweep of the\nfore-paws, in a vain attempt to reach his tormentor, Numa sprawled upon\nthe ground, paralyzed and dying.\n\nBukawai, fearful lest he should lose any recompense, followed Momaya\nwith the intention of persuading her to part with her ornaments of\ncopper and iron against her return with the price of the medicine--to\npay, as it were, for an option on his services as one pays a retaining\nfee to an attorney, for, like an attorney, Bukawai knew the value of\nhis medicine and that it was well to collect as much as possible in\nadvance.\n\nThe witch-doctor came upon the scene as Tarzan leaped to meet the\nlion's charge.  He saw it all and marveled, guessing immediately that\nthis must be the strange white demon concerning whom he had heard vague\nrumors before Momaya came to him.\n\nMomaya, now that the lion was past harming her or hers, gazed with new\nterror upon Tarzan.  It was he who had stolen her Tibo.  Doubtless he\nwould attempt to steal him again.  Momaya hugged the boy close to her.\nShe was determined to die this time rather than suffer Tibo to be taken\nfrom her again.\n\nTarzan eyed them in silence.  The sight of the boy clinging, sobbing,\nto his mother aroused within his savage breast a melancholy loneliness.\nThere was none thus to cling to Tarzan, who yearned so for the love of\nsomeone, of something.\n\nAt last Tibo looked up, because of the quiet that had fallen upon the\njungle, and saw Tarzan.  He did not shrink.\n\n\"Tarzan,\" he said, in the speech of the great apes of the tribe of\nKerchak, \"do not take me from Momaya, my mother.  Do not take me again\nto the lair of the hairy, tree men, for I fear Taug and Gunto and the\nothers.  Let me stay with Momaya, O Tarzan, God of the Jungle! Let me\nstay with Momaya, my mother, and to the end of our days we will bless\nyou and put food before the gates of the village of Mbonga that you may\nnever hunger.\"\n\nTarzan sighed.\n\n\"Go,\" he said, \"back to the village of Mbonga, and Tarzan will follow\nto see that no harm befalls you.\"\n\nTibo translated the words to his mother, and the two turned their backs\nupon the ape-man and started off toward home.  In the heart of Momaya\nwas a great fear and a great exultation, for never before had she\nwalked with God, and never had she been so happy.  She strained little\nTibo to her, stroking his thin cheek.  Tarzan saw and sighed again.\n\n\"For Teeka there is Teeka's balu,\" he soliloquized; \"for Sabor there\nare balus, and for the she-Gomangani, and for Bara, and for Manu, and\neven for Pamba, the rat; but for Tarzan there can be none--neither a\nshe nor a balu.  Tarzan of the Apes is a man, and it must be that man\nwalks alone.\"\n\nBukawai saw them go, and he mumbled through his rotting face, swearing\na great oath that he would yet have the three fat goats, the new\nsleeping mat, and the bit of copper wire.\n\n\n\n\n                           6\n\n           The Witch-Doctor Seeks Vengeance\n\nLORD GREYSTOKE was hunting, or, to be more accurate, he was shooting\npheasants at Chamston-Hedding. Lord Greystoke was immaculately and\nappropriately garbed--to the minutest detail he was vogue.  To be sure,\nhe was among the forward guns, not being considered a sporting shot,\nbut what he lacked in skill he more than made up in appearance.  At the\nend of the day he would, doubtless, have many birds to his credit,\nsince he had two guns and a smart loader--many more birds than he could\neat in a year, even had he been hungry, which he was not, having but\njust arisen from the breakfast table.\n\nThe beaters--there were twenty-three of them, in white smocks--had but\njust driven the birds into a patch of gorse, and were now circling to\nthe opposite side that they might drive down toward the guns.  Lord\nGreystoke was quite as excited as he ever permitted himself to become.\nThere was an exhilaration in the sport that would not be denied.  He\nfelt his blood tingling through his veins as the beaters approached\ncloser and closer to the birds.  In a vague and stupid sort of way Lord\nGreystoke felt, as he always felt upon such occasions, that he was\nexperiencing a sensation somewhat akin to a reversion to a prehistoric\ntype--that the blood of an ancient forbear was coursing hot through\nhim, a hairy, half-naked forbear who had lived by the hunt.\n\nAnd far away in a matted equatorial jungle another Lord Greystoke, the\nreal Lord Greystoke, hunted.  By the standards which he knew, he, too,\nwas vogue--utterly vogue, as was the primal ancestor before the first\neviction.  The day being sultry, the leopard skin had been left behind.\nThe real Lord Greystoke had not two guns, to be sure, nor even one,\nneither did he have a smart loader; but he possessed something\ninfinitely more efficacious than guns, or loaders, or even twenty-three\nbeaters in white smocks--he possessed an appetite, an uncanny\nwoodcraft, and muscles that were as steel springs.\n\nLater that day, in England, a Lord Greystoke ate bountifully of things\nhe had not killed, and he drank other things which were uncorked to the\naccompaniment of much noise.  He patted his lips with snowy linen to\nremove the faint traces of his repast, quite ignorant of the fact that\nhe was an impostor and that the rightful owner of his noble title was\neven then finishing his own dinner in far-off Africa.  He was not using\nsnowy linen, though.  Instead he drew the back of a brown forearm and\nhand across his mouth and wiped his bloody fingers upon his thighs.\nThen he moved slowly through the jungle to the drinking place, where,\nupon all fours, he drank as drank his fellows, the other beasts of the\njungle.\n\nAs he quenched his thirst, another denizen of the gloomy forest\napproached the stream along the path behind him.  It was Numa, the\nlion, tawny of body and black of mane, scowling and sinister, rumbling\nout low, coughing roars.  Tarzan of the Apes heard him long before he\ncame within sight, but the ape-man went on with his drinking until he\nhad had his fill; then he arose, slowly, with the easy grace of a\ncreature of the wilds and all the quiet dignity that was his birthright.\n\nNuma halted as he saw the man standing at the very spot where the king\nwould drink.  His jaws were parted, and his cruel eyes gleamed.  He\ngrowled and advanced slowly.  The man growled, too, backing slowly to\none side, and watching, not the lion's face, but its tail.  Should that\ncommence to move from side to side in quick, nervous jerks, it would be\nwell to be upon the alert, and should it rise suddenly erect, straight\nand stiff, then one might prepare to fight or flee; but it did neither,\nso Tarzan merely backed away and the lion came down and drank scarce\nfifty feet from where the man stood.\n\nTomorrow they might be at one another's throats, but today there\nexisted one of those strange and inexplicable truces which so often are\nseen among the savage ones of the jungle.  Before Numa had finished\ndrinking, Tarzan had returned into the forest, and was swinging away in\nthe direction of the village of Mbonga, the black chief.\n\nIt had been at least a moon since the ape-man had called upon the\nGomangani.  Not since he had restored little Tibo to his grief-stricken\nmother had the whim seized him to do so.  The incident of the adopted\nbalu was a closed one to Tarzan.  He had sought to find something upon\nwhich to lavish such an affection as Teeka lavished upon her balu, but\na short experience of the little black boy had made it quite plain to\nthe ape-man that no such sentiment could exist between them.\n\nThe fact that he had for a time treated the little black as he might\nhave treated a real balu of his own had in no way altered the vengeful\nsentiments with which he considered the murderers of Kala.  The\nGomangani were his deadly enemies, nor could they ever be aught else.\nToday he looked forward to some slight relief from the monotony of his\nexistence in such excitement as he might derive from baiting the blacks.\n\nIt was not yet dark when he reached the village and took his place in\nthe great tree overhanging the palisade.  From beneath came a great\nwailing out of the depths of a near-by hut.  The noise fell\ndisagreeably upon Tarzan's ears--it jarred and grated.  He did not like\nit, so he decided to go away for a while in the hopes that it might\ncease; but though he was gone for a couple of hours the wailing still\ncontinued when he returned.\n\nWith the intention of putting a violent termination to the annoying\nsound, Tarzan slipped silently from the tree into the shadows beneath.\nCreeping stealthily and keeping well in the cover of other huts, he\napproached that from which rose the sounds of lamentation.  A fire\nburned brightly before the doorway as it did before other doorways in\nthe village.  A few females squatted about, occasionally adding their\nown mournful howlings to those of the master artist within.\n\nThe ape-man smiled a slow smile as he thought of the consternation\nwhich would follow the quick leap that would carry him among the\nfemales and into the full light of the fire.  Then he would dart into\nthe hut during the excitement, throttle the chief screamer, and be gone\ninto the jungle before the blacks could gather their scattered nerves\nfor an assault.\n\nMany times had Tarzan behaved similarly in the village of Mbonga, the\nchief.  His mysterious and unexpected appearances always filled the\nbreasts of the poor, superstitious blacks with the panic of terror;\nnever, it seemed, could they accustom themselves to the sight of him.\nIt was this terror which lent to the adventures the spice of interest\nand amusement which the human mind of the ape-man craved.  Merely to\nkill was not in itself sufficient.  Accustomed to the sight of death,\nTarzan found no great pleasure in it.  Long since had he avenged the\ndeath of Kala, but in the accomplishment of it, he had learned the\nexcitement and the pleasure to be derived from the baiting of the\nblacks.  Of this he never tired.\n\nIt was just as he was about to spring forward with a savage roar that a\nfigure appeared in the doorway of the hut.  It was the figure of the\nwailer whom he had come to still, the figure of a young woman with a\nwooden skewer through the split septum of her nose, with a heavy metal\nornament depending from her lower lip, which it had dragged down to\nhideous and repulsive deformity, with strange tattooing upon forehead,\ncheeks, and breasts, and a wonderful coiffure built up with mud and\nwire.\n\nA sudden flare of the fire threw the grotesque figure into high relief,\nand Tarzan recognized her as Momaya, the mother of Tibo.  The fire also\nthrew out a fitful flame which carried to the shadows where Tarzan\nlurked, picking out his light brown body from the surrounding darkness.\nMomaya saw him and knew him.  With a cry, she leaped forward and Tarzan\ncame to meet her.  The other women, turning, saw him, too; but they did\nnot come toward him.  Instead they rose as one, shrieked as one, fled\nas one.\n\nMomaya threw herself at Tarzan's feet, raising supplicating hands\ntoward him and pouring forth from her mutilated lips a perfect cataract\nof words, not one of which the ape-man comprehended.  For a moment he\nlooked down upon the upturned, frightful face of the woman.  He had\ncome to slay, but that overwhelming torrent of speech filled him with\nconsternation and with awe.  He glanced about him apprehensively, then\nback at the woman.  A revulsion of feeling seized him.  He could not\nkill little Tibo's mother, nor could he stand and face this verbal\ngeyser.  With a quick gesture of impatience at the spoiling of his\nevening's entertainment, he wheeled and leaped away into the darkness.\nA moment later he was swinging through the black jungle night, the\ncries and lamentations of Momaya growing fainter in the distance.\n\nIt was with a sigh of relief that he finally reached a point from which\nhe could no longer hear them, and finding a comfortable crotch high\namong the trees, composed himself for a night of dreamless slumber,\nwhile a prowling lion moaned and coughed beneath him, and in far-off\nEngland the other Lord Greystoke, with the assistance of a valet,\ndisrobed and crawled between spotless sheets, swearing irritably as a\ncat meowed beneath his window.\n\nAs Tarzan followed the fresh spoor of Horta, the boar, the following\nmorning, he came upon the tracks of two Gomangani, a large one and a\nsmall one.  The ape-man, accustomed as he was to questioning closely\nall that fell to his perceptions, paused to read the story written in\nthe soft mud of the game trail.  You or I would have seen little of\ninterest there, even if, by chance, we could have seen aught.  Perhaps\nhad one been there to point them out to us, we might have noted\nindentations in the mud, but there were countless indentations, one\noverlapping another into a confusion that would have been entirely\nmeaningless to us.  To Tarzan each told its own story.  Tantor, the\nelephant, had passed that way as recently as three suns since.  Numa\nhad hunted here the night just gone, and Horta, the boar, had walked\nslowly along the trail within an hour; but what held Tarzan's attention\nwas the spoor tale of the Gomangani.  It told him that the day before\nan old man had gone toward the north in company with a little boy, and\nthat with them had been two hyenas.\n\nTarzan scratched his head in puzzled incredulity.  He could see by the\noverlapping of the footprints that the beasts had not been following\nthe two, for sometimes one was ahead of them and one behind, and again\nboth were in advance, or both were in the rear.  It was very strange\nand quite inexplicable, especially where the spoor showed where the\nhyenas in the wider portions of the path had walked one on either side\nof the human pair, quite close to them.  Then Tarzan read in the spoor\nof the smaller Gomangani a shrinking terror of the beast that brushed\nhis side, but in that of the old man was no sign of fear.\n\nAt first Tarzan had been solely occupied by the remarkable\njuxtaposition of the spoor of Dango and Gomangani, but now his keen\neyes caught something in the spoor of the little Gomangani which\nbrought him to a sudden stop.  It was as though, finding a letter in\nthe road, you suddenly had discovered in it the familiar handwriting of\na friend.\n\n\"Go-bu-balu!\" exclaimed the ape-man, and at once memory flashed upon\nthe screen of recollection the supplicating attitude of Momaya as she\nhad hurled herself before him in the village of Mbonga the night\nbefore.  Instantly all was explained--the wailing and lamentation, the\npleading of the black mother, the sympathetic howling of the shes about\nthe fire.  Little Go-bu-balu had been stolen again, and this time by\nanother than Tarzan.  Doubtless the mother had thought that he was\nagain in the power of Tarzan of the Apes, and she had been beseeching\nhim to return her balu to her.\n\nYes, it was all quite plain now; but who could have stolen Go-bu-balu\nthis time? Tarzan wondered, and he wondered, too, about the presence of\nDango.  He would investigate.  The spoor was a day old and it ran\ntoward the north.  Tarzan set out to follow it.  In places it was\ntotally obliterated by the passage of many beasts, and where the way\nwas rocky, even Tarzan of the Apes was almost baffled; but there was\nstill the faint effluvium which clung to the human spoor, appreciable\nonly to such highly trained perceptive powers as were Tarzan's.\n\n\nIt had all happened to little Tibo very suddenly and unexpectedly\nwithin the brief span of two suns.  First had come Bukawai, the\nwitch-doctor--Bukawai, the unclean--with the ragged bit of flesh which\nstill clung to his rotting face.  He had come alone and by day to the\nplace at the river where Momaya went daily to wash her body and that of\nTibo, her little boy.  He had stepped out from behind a great bush\nquite close to Momaya, frightening little Tibo so that he ran screaming\nto his mother's protecting arms.\n\nBut Momaya, though startled, had wheeled to face the fearsome thing\nwith all the savage ferocity of a she-tiger at bay.  When she saw who\nit was, she breathed a sigh of partial relief, though she still clung\ntightly to Tibo.\n\n\"I have come,\" said Bukawai without preliminary, \"for the three fat\ngoats, the new sleeping mat, and the bit of copper wire as long as a\ntall man's arm.\"\n\n\"I have no goats for you,\" snapped Momaya, \"nor a sleeping mat, nor any\nwire.  Your medicine was never made.  The white jungle god gave me back\nmy Tibo.  You had nothing to do with it.\"\n\n\"But I did,\" mumbled Bukawai through his fleshless jaws.  \"It was I who\ncommanded the white jungle god to give back your Tibo.\"\n\nMomaya laughed in his face.  \"Speaker of lies,\" she cried, \"go back to\nyour foul den and your hyenas.  Go back and hide your stinking face in\nthe belly of the mountain, lest the sun, seeing it, cover his face with\na black cloud.\"\n\n\"I have come,\" reiterated Bukawai, \"for the three fat goats, the new\nsleeping mat, and the bit of copper wire the length of a tall man's\narm, which you were to pay me for the return of your Tibo.\"\n\n\"It was to be the length of a man's forearm,\" corrected Momaya, \"but\nyou shall have nothing, old thief.  You would not make medicine until I\nhad brought the payment in advance, and when I was returning to my\nvillage the great, white jungle god gave me back my Tibo--gave him to\nme out of the jaws of Numa.  His medicine is true medicine--yours is\nthe weak medicine of an old man with a hole in his face.\"\n\n\"I have come,\" repeated Bukawai patiently, \"for the three fat--\" But\nMomaya had not waited to hear more of what she already knew by heart.\nClasping Tibo close to her side, she was hurrying away toward the\npalisaded village of Mbonga, the chief.\n\nAnd the next day, when Momaya was working in the plantain field with\nothers of the women of the tribe, and little Tibo had been playing at\nthe edge of the jungle, casting a small spear in anticipation of the\ndistant day when he should be a full-fledged warrior, Bukawai had come\nagain.\n\nTibo had seen a squirrel scampering up the bole of a great tree.  His\nchildish mind had transformed it into the menacing figure of a hostile\nwarrior.  Little Tibo had raised his tiny spear, his heart filled with\nthe savage blood lust of his race, as he pictured the night's orgy when\nhe should dance about the corpse of his human kill as the women of his\ntribe prepared the meat for the feast to follow.\n\nBut when he cast the spear, he missed both squirrel and tree, losing\nhis missile far among the tangled undergrowth of the jungle.  However,\nit could be but a few steps within the forbidden labyrinth.  The women\nwere all about in the field.  There were warriors on guard within easy\nhail, and so little Tibo boldly ventured into the dark place.\n\nJust behind the screen of creepers and matted foliage lurked three\nhorrid figures--an old, old man, black as the pit, with a face half\neaten away by leprosy, his sharp-filed teeth, the teeth of a cannibal,\nshowing yellow and repulsive through the great gaping hole where his\nmouth and nose had been.  And beside him, equally hideous, stood two\npowerful hyenas--carrion-eaters consorting with carrion.\n\nTibo did not see them until, head down, he had forced his way through\nthe thickly growing vines in search of his little spear, and then it\nwas too late.  As he looked up into the face of Bukawai, the old\nwitch-doctor seized him, muffling his screams with a palm across his\nmouth.  Tibo struggled futilely.\n\nA moment later he was being hustled away through the dark and terrible\njungle, the frightful old man still muffling his screams, and the two\nhideous hyenas pacing now on either side, now before, now behind,\nalways prowling, always growling, snapping, snarling, or, worst of all,\nlaughing hideously.\n\nTo little Tibo, who within his brief existence had passed through such\nexperiences as are given to few to pass through in a lifetime, the\nnorthward journey was a nightmare of terror.  He thought now of the\ntime that he had been with the great, white jungle god, and he prayed\nwith all his little soul that he might be back again with the\nwhite-skinned giant who consorted with the hairy tree men.\nTerror-stricken he had been then, but his surroundings had been nothing\nby comparison with those which he now endured.\n\nThe old man seldom addressed Tibo, though he kept up an almost\ncontinuous mumbling throughout the long day.  Tibo caught repeated\nreferences to fat goats, sleeping mats, and pieces of copper wire.\n\"Ten fat goats, ten fat goats,\" the old Negro would croon over and over\nagain.  By this little Tibo guessed that the price of his ransom had\nrisen.  Ten fat goats? Where would his mother get ten fat goats, or\nthin ones, either, for that matter, to buy back just a poor little boy?\nMbonga would never let her have them, and Tibo knew that his father\nnever had owned more than three goats at the same time in all his life.\nTen fat goats! Tibo sniffled.  The putrid old man would kill him and\neat him, for the goats would never be forthcoming.  Bukawai would throw\nhis bones to the hyenas.  The little black boy shuddered and became so\nweak that he almost fell in his tracks.  Bukawai cuffed him on an ear\nand jerked him along.\n\nAfter what seemed an eternity to Tibo, they arrived at the mouth of a\ncave between two rocky hills.  The opening was low and narrow.  A few\nsaplings bound together with strips of rawhide closed it against stray\nbeasts.  Bukawai removed the primitive door and pushed Tibo within.\nThe hyenas, snarling, rushed past him and were lost to view in the\nblackness of the interior.  Bukawai replaced the saplings and seizing\nTibo roughly by the arm, dragged him along a narrow, rocky passage.\nThe floor was comparatively smooth, for the dirt which lay thick upon\nit had been trodden and tramped by many feet until few inequalities\nremained.\n\nThe passage was tortuous, and as it was very dark and the walls rough\nand rocky, Tibo was scratched and bruised from the many bumps he\nreceived.  Bukawai walked as rapidly through the winding gallery as one\nwould traverse a familiar lane by daylight.  He knew every twist and\nturn as a mother knows the face of her child, and he seemed to be in a\nhurry.  He jerked poor little Tibo possibly a trifle more ruthlessly\nthan necessary even at the pace Bukawai set; but the old witch-doctor,\nan outcast from the society of man, diseased, shunned, hated, feared,\nwas far from possessing an angelic temper.  Nature had given him few of\nthe kindlier characteristics of man, and these few Fate had eradicated\nentirely.  Shrewd, cunning, cruel, vindictive, was Bukawai, the\nwitch-doctor.\n\nFrightful tales were whispered of the cruel tortures he inflicted upon\nhis victims.  Children were frightened into obedience by the threat of\nhis name.  Often had Tibo been thus frightened, and now he was reaping\na grisly harvest of terror from the seeds his mother had innocently\nsown.  The darkness, the presence of the dreaded witch-doctor, the pain\nof the contusions, with a haunting premonition of the future, and the\nfear of the hyenas combined to almost paralyze the child.  He stumbled\nand reeled until Bukawai was dragging rather than leading him.\n\nPresently Tibo saw a faint lightness ahead of them, and a moment later\nthey emerged into a roughly circular chamber to which a little daylight\nfiltered through a rift in the rocky ceiling.  The hyenas were there\nahead of them, waiting.  As Bukawai entered with Tibo, the beasts slunk\ntoward them, baring yellow fangs.  They were hungry.  Toward Tibo they\ncame, and one snapped at his naked legs.  Bukawai seized a stick from\nthe floor of the chamber and struck a vicious blow at the beast, at the\nsame time mumbling forth a volley of execrations.  The hyena dodged and\nran to the side of the chamber, where he stood growling.  Bukawai took\na step toward the creature, which bristled with rage at his approach.\nFear and hatred shot from its evil eyes, but, fortunately for Bukawai,\nfear predominated.\n\nSeeing that he was unnoticed, the second beast made a short, quick rush\nfor Tibo.  The child screamed and darted after the witch-doctor, who\nnow turned his attention to the second hyena.  This one he reached with\nhis heavy stick, striking it repeatedly and driving it to the wall.\nThere the two carrion-eaters commenced to circle the chamber while the\nhuman carrion, their master, now in a perfect frenzy of demoniacal\nrage, ran to and fro in an effort to intercept them, striking out with\nhis cudgel and lashing them with his tongue, calling down upon them the\ncurses of whatever gods and demons he could summon to memory, and\ndescribing in lurid figures the ignominy of their ancestors.\n\nSeveral times one or the other of the beasts would turn to make a stand\nagainst the witch-doctor, and then Tibo would hold his breath in\nagonized terror, for never in his brief life had he seen such frightful\nhatred depicted upon the countenance of man or beast; but always fear\novercame the rage of the savage creatures, so that they resumed their\nflight, snarling and bare-fanged, just at the moment that Tibo was\ncertain they would spring at Bukawai's throat.\n\nAt last the witch-doctor tired of the futile chase.  With a snarl quite\nas bestial as those of the beast, he turned toward Tibo.  \"I go to\ncollect the ten fat goats, the new sleeping mat, and the two pieces of\ncopper wire that your mother will pay for the medicine I shall make to\nbring you back to her,\" he said.  \"You will stay here.  There,\" and he\npointed toward the passage which they had followed to the chamber, \"I\nwill leave the hyenas.  If you try to escape, they will eat you.\"\n\nHe cast aside the stick and called to the beasts.  They came, snarling\nand slinking, their tails between their legs.  Bukawai led them to the\npassage and drove them into it.  Then he dragged a rude lattice into\nplace before the opening after he, himself, had left the chamber.\n\"This will keep them from you,\" he said.  \"If I do not get the ten fat\ngoats and the other things, they shall at least have a few bones after\nI am through.\" And he left the boy to think over the meaning of his\nall-too-suggestive words.\n\nWhen he was gone, Tibo threw himself upon the earth floor and broke\ninto childish sobs of terror and loneliness.  He knew that his mother\nhad no ten fat goats to give and that when Bukawai returned, little\nTibo would be killed and eaten.  How long he lay there he did not know,\nbut presently he was aroused by the growling of the hyenas.  They had\nreturned through the passage and were glaring at him from beyond the\nlattice.  He could see their yellow eyes blazing through the darkness.\nThey reared up and clawed at the barrier.  Tibo shivered and withdrew\nto the opposite side of the chamber.  He saw the lattice sag and sway\nto the attacks of the beasts.  Momentarily he expected that it would\nfall inward, letting the creatures upon him.\n\nWearily the horror-ridden hours dragged their slow way.  Night came,\nand for a time Tibo slept, but it seemed that the hungry beasts never\nslept.  Always they stood just beyond the lattice growling their\nhideous growls or laughing their hideous laughs.  Through the narrow\nrift in the rocky roof above him, Tibo could see a few stars, and once\nthe moon crossed.  At last daylight came again.  Tibo was very hungry\nand thirsty, for he had not eaten since the morning before, and only\nonce upon the long march had he been permitted to drink, but even\nhunger and thirst were almost forgotten in the terror of his position.\n\nIt was after daylight that the child discovered a second opening in the\nwalls of the subterranean chamber, almost opposite that at which the\nhyenas still stood glaring hungrily at him.  It was only a narrow slit\nin the rocky wall.  It might lead in but a few feet, or it might lead\nto freedom! Tibo approached it and looked within.  He could see\nnothing.  He extended his arm into the blackness, but he dared not\nventure farther.  Bukawai never would have left open a way of escape,\nTibo reasoned, so this passage must lead either nowhere or to some\nstill more hideous danger.\n\nTo the boy's fear of the actual dangers which menaced him--Bukawai and\nthe two hyenas--his superstition added countless others quite too\nhorrible even to name, for in the lives of the blacks, through the\nshadows of the jungle day and the black horrors of the jungle night,\nflit strange, fantastic shapes peopling the already hideously peopled\nforests with menacing figures, as though the lion and the leopard, the\nsnake and the hyena, and the countless poisonous insects were not quite\nsufficient to strike terror to the hearts of the poor, simple creatures\nwhose lot is cast in earth's most fearsome spot.\n\n\nAnd so it was that little Tibo cringed not only from real menaces but\nfrom imaginary ones.  He was afraid even to venture upon a road that\nmight lead to escape, lest Bukawai had set to watch it some frightful\ndemon of the jungle.\n\nBut the real menaces suddenly drove the imaginary ones from the boy's\nmind, for with the coming of daylight the half-famished hyenas renewed\ntheir efforts to break down the frail barrier which kept them from\ntheir prey.  Rearing upon their hind feet they clawed and struck at the\nlattice.  With wide eyes Tibo saw it sag and rock.  Not for long, he\nknew, could it withstand the assaults of these two powerful and\ndetermined brutes.  Already one corner had been forced past the rocky\nprotuberance of the entrance way which had held it in place.  A shaggy\nforearm protruded into the chamber.  Tibo trembled as with ague, for he\nknew that the end was near.\n\nBacking against the farther wall he stood flattened out as far from the\nbeasts as he could get.  He saw the lattice give still more.  He saw a\nsavage, snarling head forced past it, and grinning jaws snapping and\ngaping toward him.  In another instant the pitiful fabric would fall\ninward, and the two would be upon him, rending his flesh from his\nbones, gnawing the bones themselves, fighting for possession of his\nentrails.\n\n* * *\n\nBukawai came upon Momaya outside the palisade of Mbonga, the chief.  At\nsight of him the woman drew back in revulsion, then she flew at him,\ntooth and nail; but Bukawai threatening her with a spear held her at a\nsafe distance.\n\n\"Where is my baby?\" she cried.  \"Where is my little Tibo?\"\n\nBukawai opened his eyes in well-simulated amazement.  \"Your baby!\" he\nexclaimed.  \"What should I know of him, other than that I rescued him\nfrom the white god of the jungle and have not yet received my pay.  I\ncome for the goats and the sleeping mat and the piece of copper wire\nthe length of a tall man's arm from the shoulder to the tips of his\nfingers.\" \"Offal of a hyena!\" shrieked Momaya.  \"My child has been\nstolen, and you, rotting fragment of a man, have taken him.  Return him\nto me or I shall tear your eyes from your head and feed your heart to\nthe wild hogs.\"\n\nBukawai shrugged his shoulders.  \"What do I know about your child?\" he\nasked.  \"I have not taken him.  If he is stolen again, what should\nBukawai know of the matter? Did Bukawai steal him before? No, the white\njungle god stole him, and if he stole him once he would steal him\nagain.  It is nothing to me.  I returned him to you before and I have\ncome for my pay.  If he is gone and you would have him returned,\nBukawai will return him--for ten fat goats, a new sleeping mat and two\npieces of copper wire the length of a tall man's arm from the shoulder\nto the tips of his fingers, and Bukawai will say nothing more about the\ngoats and the sleeping mat and the copper wire which you were to pay\nfor the first medicine.\"\n\n\"Ten fat goats!\" screamed Momaya.  \"I could not pay you ten fat goats\nin as many years.  Ten fat goats, indeed!\"\n\n\"Ten fat goats,\" repeated Bukawai.  \"Ten fat goats, the new sleeping\nmat and two pieces of copper wire the length of--\"\n\nMomaya stopped him with an impatient gesture.  \"Wait!\" she cried.  \"I\nhave no goats.  You waste your breath.  Stay here while I go to my man.\nHe has but three goats, yet something may be done.  Wait!\"\n\nBukawai sat down beneath a tree.  He felt quite content, for he knew\nthat he should have either payment or revenge.  He did not fear harm at\nthe hands of these people of another tribe, although he well knew that\nthey must fear and hate him.  His leprosy alone would prevent their\nlaying hands upon him, while his reputation as a witch-doctor rendered\nhim doubly immune from attack.  He was planning upon compelling them to\ndrive the ten goats to the mouth of his cave when Momaya returned.\nWith her were three warriors--Mbonga, the chief, Rabba Kega, the\nvillage witch-doctor, and Ibeto, Tibo's father.  They were not pretty\nmen even under ordinary circumstances, and now, with their faces marked\nby anger, they well might have inspired terror in the heart of anyone;\nbut if Bukawai felt any fear, he did not betray it.  Instead he greeted\nthem with an insolent stare, intended to awe them, as they came and\nsquatted in a semi-circle before him.\n\n\"Where is Ibeto's son?\" asked Mbonga.\n\n\"How should I know?\" returned Bukawai.  \"Doubtless the white devil-god\nhas him.  If I am paid I will make strong medicine and then we shall\nknow where is Ibeto's son, and shall get him back again.  It was my\nmedicine which got him back the last time, for which I got no pay.\"\n\n\"I have my own witch-doctor to make medicine,\" replied Mbonga with\ndignity.\n\nBukawai sneered and rose to his feet.  \"Very well,\" he said, \"let him\nmake his medicine and see if he can bring Ibeto's son back.\" He took a\nfew steps away from them, and then he turned angrily back.  \"His\nmedicine will not bring the child back--that I know, and I also know\nthat when you find him it will be too late for any medicine to bring\nhim back, for he will be dead.  This have I just found out, the ghost\nof my father's sister but now came to me and told me.\"\n\nNow Mbonga and Rabba Kega might not take much stock in their own magic,\nand they might even be skeptical as to the magic of another; but there\nwas always a chance of _something_ being in it, especially if it were not\ntheir own.  Was it not well known that old Bukawai had speech with the\ndemons themselves and that two even lived with him in the forms of\nhyenas! Still they must not accede too hastily.  There was the price to\nbe considered, and Mbonga had no intention of parting lightly with ten\ngoats to obtain the return of a single little boy who might die of\nsmallpox long before he reached a warrior's estate.\n\n\"Wait,\" said Mbonga.  \"Let us see some of your magic, that we may know\nif it be good magic.  Then we can talk about payment.  Rabba Kega will\nmake some magic, too.  We will see who makes the best magic.  Sit down,\nBukawai.\"\n\n\"The payment will be ten goats--fat goats--a new sleeping mat and two\npieces of copper wire the length of a tall man's arm from the shoulder\nto the ends of his fingers, and it will be made in advance, the goats\nbeing driven to my cave.  Then will I make the medicine, and on the\nsecond day the boy will be returned to his mother.  It cannot be done\nmore quickly than that because it takes time to make such strong\nmedicine.\"\n\n\"Make us some medicine now,\" said Mbonga.  \"Let us see what sort of\nmedicine you make.\"\n\n\"Bring me fire,\" replied Bukawai, \"and I will make you a little magic.\"\n\nMomaya was dispatched for the fire, and while she was away Mbonga\ndickered with Bukawai about the price.  Ten goats, he said, was a high\nprice for an able-bodied warrior.  He also called Bukawai's attention\nto the fact that he, Mbonga, was very poor, that his people were very\npoor, and that ten goats were at least eight too many, to say nothing\nof a new sleeping mat and the copper wire; but Bukawai was adamant.\nHis medicine was very expensive and he would have to give at least five\ngoats to the gods who helped him make it.  They were still arguing when\nMomaya returned with the fire.\n\nBukawai placed a little on the ground before him, took a pinch of\npowder from a pouch at his side and sprinkled it on the embers.  A\ncloud of smoke rose with a puff.  Bukawai closed his eyes and rocked\nback and forth.  Then he made a few passes in the air and pretended to\nswoon.  Mbonga and the others were much impressed.  Rabba Kega grew\nnervous.  He saw his reputation waning.  There was some fire left in\nthe vessel which Momaya had brought.  He seized the vessel, dropped a\nhandful of dry leaves into it while no one was watching and then\nuttered a frightful scream which drew the attention of Bukawai's\naudience to him.  It also brought Bukawai quite miraculously out of his\nswoon, but when the old witch-doctor saw the reason for the disturbance\nhe quickly relapsed into unconsciousness before anyone discovered his\n_faux pas_.\n\nRabba Kega, seeing that he had the attention of Mbonga, Ibeto, and\nMomaya, blew suddenly into the vessel, with the result that the leaves\ncommenced to smolder, and smoke issued from the mouth of the\nreceptacle.  Rabba Kega was careful to hold it so that none might see\nthe dry leaves.  Their eyes opened wide at this remarkable\ndemonstration of the village witch-doctor's powers.  The latter,\ngreatly elated, let himself out.  He shouted, jumped up and down, and\nmade frightful grimaces; then he put his face close over the mouth of\nthe vessel and appeared to be communing with the spirits within.\n\nIt was while he was thus engaged that Bukawai came out of his trance,\nhis curiosity finally having gotten the better of him.  No one was\npaying him the slightest attention.  He blinked his one eye angrily,\nthen he, too, let out a loud roar, and when he was sure that Mbonga had\nturned toward him, he stiffened rigidly and made spasmodic movements\nwith his arms and legs.\n\n\"I see him!\" he cried.  \"He is far away.  The white devil-god did not\nget him.  He is alone and in great danger; but,\" he added, \"if the ten\nfat goats and the other things are paid to me quickly there is yet time\nto save him.\"\n\nRabba Kega had paused to listen.  Mbonga looked toward him.  The chief\nwas in a quandary.  He did not know which medicine was the better.\n\"What does your magic tell you?\" he asked of Rabba Kega.\n\n\"I, too, see him,\" screamed Rabba Kega; \"but he is not where Bukawai\nsays he is.  He is dead at the bottom of the river.\"\n\nAt this Momaya commenced to howl loudly.\n\n\nTarzan had followed the spoor of the old man, the two hyenas, and the\nlittle black boy to the mouth of the cave in the rocky canyon between\nthe two hills.  Here he paused a moment before the sapling barrier\nwhich Bukawai had set up, listening to the snarls and growls which came\nfaintly from the far recesses of the cavern.\n\nPresently, mingled with the beastly cries, there came faintly to the\nkeen ears of the ape-man, the agonized moan of a child.  No longer did\nTarzan hesitate.  Hurling the door aside, he sprang into the dark\nopening.  Narrow and black was the corridor; but long use of his eyes\nin the Stygian blackness of the jungle nights had given to the ape-man\nsomething of the nocturnal visionary powers of the wild things with\nwhich he had consorted since babyhood.\n\nHe moved rapidly and yet with caution, for the place was dark,\nunfamiliar and winding.  As he advanced, he heard more and more loudly\nthe savage snarls of the two hyenas, mingled with the scraping and\nscratching of their paws upon wood.  The moans of a child grew in\nvolume, and Tarzan recognized in them the voice of the little black boy\nhe once had sought to adopt as his balu.\n\nThere was no hysteria in the ape-man's advance.  Too accustomed was he\nto the passing of life in the jungle to be greatly wrought even by the\ndeath of one whom he knew; but the lust for battle spurred him on.  He\nwas only a wild beast at heart and his wild beast's heart beat high in\nanticipation of conflict.\n\nIn the rocky chamber of the hill's center, little Tibo crouched low\nagainst the wall as far from the hunger-crazed beasts as he could drag\nhimself.  He saw the lattice giving to the frantic clawing of the\nhyenas.  He knew that in a few minutes his little life would flicker\nout horribly beneath the rending, yellow fangs of these loathsome\ncreatures.\n\nBeneath the buffetings of the powerful bodies, the lattice sagged\ninward, until, with a crash it gave way, letting the carnivora in upon\nthe boy.  Tibo cast one affrighted glance toward them, then closed his\neyes and buried his face in his arms, sobbing piteously.\n\nFor a moment the hyenas paused, caution and cowardice holding them from\ntheir prey.  They stood thus glaring at the lad, then slowly,\nstealthily, crouching, they crept toward him.  It was thus that Tarzan\ncame upon them, bursting into the chamber swiftly and silently; but not\nso silently that the keen-eared beasts did not note his coming.  With\nangry growls they turned from Tibo upon the ape-man, as, with a smile\nupon his lips, he ran toward them.  For an instant one of the animals\nstood its ground; but the ape-man did not deign even to draw his\nhunting knife against despised Dango.  Rushing in upon the brute he\ngrasped it by the scruff of the neck, just as it attempted to dodge\npast him, and hurled it across the cavern after its fellow which\nalready was slinking into the corridor, bent upon escape.\n\nThen Tarzan picked Tibo from the floor, and when the child felt human\nhands upon him instead of the paws and fangs of the hyenas, he rolled\nhis eyes upward in surprise and incredulity, and as they fell upon\nTarzan, sobs of relief broke from the childish lips and his hands\nclutched at his deliverer as though the white devil-god was not the\nmost feared of jungle creatures.\n\nWhen Tarzan came to the cave mouth the hyenas were nowhere in sight,\nand after permitting Tibo to quench his thirst in the spring which rose\nnear by, he lifted the boy to his shoulders and set off toward the\njungle at a rapid trot, determined to still the annoying howlings of\nMomaya as quickly as possible, for he shrewdly had guessed that the\nabsence of her balu was the cause of her lamentation.\n\n\n\"He is not dead at the bottom of the river,\" cried Bukawai.  \"What does\nthis fellow know about making magic? Who is he, anyway, that he dare\nsay Bukawai's magic is not good magic? Bukawai sees Momaya's son.  He\nis far away and alone and in great danger.  Hasten then with the ten\nfat goats, the--\"\n\nBut he got no further.  There was a sudden interruption from above,\nfrom the branches of the very tree beneath which they squatted, and as\nthe five blacks looked up they almost swooned in fright as they saw the\ngreat, white devil-god looking down upon them; but before they could\nflee they saw another face, that of the lost little Tibo, and his face\nwas laughing and very happy.\n\nAnd then Tarzan dropped fearlessly among them, the boy still upon his\nback, and deposited him before his mother.  Momaya, Ibeto, Rabba Kega,\nand Mbonga were all crowding around the lad trying to question him at\nthe same time.  Suddenly Momaya turned ferociously to fall upon\nBukawai, for the boy had told her all that he had suffered at the hands\nof the cruel old man; but Bukawai was no longer there--he had required\nno recourse to black art to assure him that the vicinity of Momaya\nwould be no healthful place for him after Tibo had told his story, and\nnow he was running through the jungle as fast as his old legs would\ncarry him toward the distant lair where he knew no black would dare\npursue him.\n\nTarzan, too, had vanished, as he had a way of doing, to the\nmystification of the blacks.  Then Momaya's eyes lighted upon Rabba\nKega.  The village witch-doctor saw something in those eyes of hers\nwhich boded no good to him, and backed away.\n\n\"So my Tibo is dead at the bottom of the river, is he?\" the woman\nshrieked.  \"And he's far away and alone and in great danger, is he?\nMagic!\" The scorn which Momaya crowded into that single word would have\ndone credit to a Thespian of the first magnitude.  \"Magic, indeed!\" she\nscreamed.  \"Momaya will show you some magic of her own,\" and with that\nshe seized upon a broken limb and struck Rabba Kega across the head.\nWith a howl of pain, the man turned and fled, Momaya pursuing him and\nbeating him across the shoulders, through the gateway and up the length\nof the village street, to the intense amusement of the warriors, the\nwomen, and the children who were so fortunate as to witness the\nspectacle, for one and all feared Rabba Kega, and to fear is to hate.\n\nThus it was that to his host of passive enemies, Tarzan of the Apes\nadded that day two active foes, both of whom remained awake long into\nthe night planning means of revenge upon the white devil-god who had\nbrought them into ridicule and disrepute, but with their most\nmalevolent schemings was mingled a vein of real fear and awe that would\nnot down.\n\nYoung Lord Greystoke did not know that they planned against him, nor,\nknowing, would have cared.  He slept as well that night as he did on\nany other night, and though there was no roof above him, and no doors\nto lock against intruders, he slept much better than his noble relative\nin England, who had eaten altogether too much lobster and drank too\nmuch wine at dinner that night.\n\n\n\n\n                           7\n\n                  The End of Bukawai\n\nWHEN TARZAN OF the Apes was still but a boy he had learned, among other\nthings, to fashion pliant ropes of fibrous jungle grass.  Strong and\ntough were the ropes of Tarzan, the little Tarmangani.  Tublat, his\nfoster father, would have told you this much and more.  Had you tempted\nhim with a handful of fat caterpillars he even might have sufficiently\nunbended to narrate to you a few stories of the many indignities which\nTarzan had heaped upon him by means of his hated rope; but then Tublat\nalways worked himself into such a frightful rage when he devoted any\nconsiderable thought either to the rope or to Tarzan, that it might not\nhave proved comfortable for you to have remained close enough to him to\nhear what he had to say.\n\nSo often had that snakelike noose settled unexpectedly over Tublat's\nhead, so often had he been jerked ridiculously and painfully from his\nfeet when he was least looking for such an occurrence, that there is\nlittle wonder he found scant space in his savage heart for love of his\nwhite-skinned foster child, or the inventions thereof.  There had been\nother times, too, when Tublat had swung helplessly in midair, the noose\ntightening about his neck, death staring him in the face, and little\nTarzan dancing upon a near-by limb, taunting him and making unseemly\ngrimaces.\n\nThen there had been another occasion in which the rope had figured\nprominently--an occasion, and the only one connected with the rope,\nwhich Tublat recalled with pleasure.  Tarzan, as active in brain as he\nwas in body, was always inventing new ways in which to play.  It was\nthrough the medium of play that he learned much during his childhood.\nThis day he learned something, and that he did not lose his life in the\nlearning of it, was a matter of great surprise to Tarzan, and the fly\nin the ointment, to Tublat.\n\nThe man-child had, in throwing his noose at a playmate in a tree above\nhim, caught a projecting branch instead.  When he tried to shake it\nloose it but drew the tighter.  Then Tarzan started to climb the rope\nto remove it from the branch.  When he was part way up a frolicsome\nplaymate seized that part of the rope which lay upon the ground and ran\noff with it as far as he could go.  When Tarzan screamed at him to\ndesist, the young ape released the rope a little and then drew it tight\nagain.  The result was to impart a swinging motion to Tarzan's body\nwhich the ape-boy suddenly realized was a new and pleasurable form of\nplay.  He urged the ape to continue until Tarzan was swinging to and\nfro as far as the short length of rope would permit, but the distance\nwas not great enough, and, too, he was not far enough above the ground\nto give the necessary thrills which add so greatly to the pastimes of\nthe young.\n\nSo he clambered to the branch where the noose was caught and after\nremoving it carried the rope far aloft and out upon a long and powerful\nbranch.  Here he again made it fast, and taking the loose end in his\nhand, clambered quickly down among the branches as far as the rope\nwould permit him to go; then he swung out upon the end of it, his\nlithe, young body turning and twisting--a human bob upon a pendulum of\ngrass--thirty feet above the ground.\n\nAh, how delectable! This was indeed a new play of the first magnitude.\nTarzan was entranced.  Soon he discovered that by wriggling his body in\njust the right way at the proper time he could diminish or accelerate\nhis oscillation, and, being a boy, he chose, naturally, to accelerate.\nPresently he was swinging far and wide, while below him, the apes of\nthe tribe of Kerchak looked on in mild amaze.\n\nHad it been you or I swinging there at the end of that grass rope, the\nthing which presently happened would not have happened, for we could\nnot have hung on so long as to have made it possible; but Tarzan was\nquite as much at home swinging by his hands as he was standing upon his\nfeet, or, at least, almost.  At any rate he felt no fatigue long after\nthe time that an ordinary mortal would have been numb with the strain\nof the physical exertion.  And this was his undoing.\n\nTublat was watching him as were others of the tribe.  Of all the\ncreatures of the wild, there was none Tublat so cordially hated as he\ndid this hideous, hairless, white-skinned, caricature of an ape.  But\nfor Tarzan's nimbleness, and the zealous watchfulness of savage Kala's\nmother love, Tublat would long since have rid himself of this stain\nupon his family escutcheon.  So long had it been since Tarzan became a\nmember of the tribe, that Tublat had forgotten the circumstances\nsurrounding the entrance of the jungle waif into his family, with the\nresult that he now imagined that Tarzan was his own offspring, adding\ngreatly to his chagrin.\n\n\nWide and far swung Tarzan of the Apes, until at last, as he reached the\nhighest point of the arc the rope, which rapidly had frayed on the\nrough bark of the tree limb, parted suddenly.  The watching apes saw\nthe smooth, brown body shoot outward, and down, plummet-like. Tublat\nleaped high in the air, emitting what in a human being would have been\nan exclamation of delight.  This would be the end of Tarzan and most of\nTublat's troubles.  From now on he could lead his life in peace and\nsecurity.\n\nTarzan fell quite forty feet, alighting on his back in a thick bush.\nKala was the first to reach his side--ferocious, hideous, loving Kala.\nShe had seen the life crushed from her own balu in just such a fall\nyears before.  Was she to lose this one too in the same way? Tarzan was\nlying quite still when she found him, embedded deeply in the bush.  It\ntook Kala several minutes to disentangle him and drag him forth; but he\nwas not killed.  He was not even badly injured.  The bush had broken\nthe force of the fall.  A cut upon the back of his head showed where he\nhad struck the tough stem of the shrub and explained his\nunconsciousness.\n\nIn a few minutes he was as active as ever.  Tublat was furious.  In his\nrage he snapped at a fellow-ape without first discovering the identity\nof his victim, and was badly mauled for his ill temper, having chosen\nto vent his spite upon a husky and belligerent young bull in the full\nprime of his vigor.\n\nBut Tarzan had learned something new.  He had learned that continued\nfriction would wear through the strands of his rope, though it was many\nyears before this knowledge did more for him than merely to keep him\nfrom swinging too long at a time, or too far above the ground at the\nend of his rope.\n\nThe day came, however, when the very thing that had once all but killed\nhim proved the means of saving his life.\n\nHe was no longer a child, but a mighty jungle male.  There was none now\nto watch over him, solicitously, nor did he need such.  Kala was dead.\nDead, too, was Tublat, and though with Kala passed the one creature\nthat ever really had loved him, there were still many who hated him\nafter Tublat departed unto the arms of his fathers.  It was not that he\nwas more cruel or more savage than they that they hated him, for though\nhe was both cruel and savage as were the beasts, his fellows, yet too\nwas he often tender, which they never were.  No, the thing which\nbrought Tarzan most into disrepute with those who did not like him, was\nthe possession and practice of a characteristic which they had not and\ncould not understand--the human sense of humor.  In Tarzan it was a\ntrifle broad, perhaps, manifesting itself in rough and painful\npractical jokes upon his friends and cruel baiting of his enemies.\n\nBut to neither of these did he owe the enmity of Bukawai, the\nwitch-doctor, who dwelt in the cave between the two hills far to the\nnorth of the village of Mbonga, the chief.  Bukawai was jealous of\nTarzan, and Bukawai it was who came near proving the undoing of the\nape-man. For months Bukawai had nursed his hatred while revenge seemed\nremote indeed, since Tarzan of the Apes frequented another part of the\njungle, miles away from the lair of Bukawai.  Only once had the black\nwitch-doctor seen the devil-god, as he was most often called among the\nblacks, and upon that occasion Tarzan had robbed him of a fat fee, at\nthe same time putting the lie in the mouth of Bukawai, and making his\nmedicine seem poor medicine.  All this Bukawai never could forgive,\nthough it seemed unlikely that the opportunity would come to be\nrevenged.\n\nYet it did come, and quite unexpectedly.  Tarzan was hunting far to the\nnorth.  He had wandered away from the tribe, as he did more and more\noften as he approached maturity, to hunt alone for a few days.  As a\nchild he had enjoyed romping and playing with the young apes, his\ncompanions; but now these play-fellows of his had grown to surly,\nlowering bulls, or to touchy, suspicious mothers, jealously guarding\nhelpless balus.  So Tarzan found in his own man-mind a greater and a\ntruer companionship than any or all of the apes of Kerchak could afford\nhim.\n\nThis day, as Tarzan hunted, the sky slowly became overcast.  Torn\nclouds, whipped to ragged streamers, fled low above the tree tops.\nThey reminded Tarzan of frightened antelope fleeing the charge of a\nhungry lion.  But though the light clouds raced so swiftly, the jungle\nwas motionless.  Not a leaf quivered and the silence was a great, dead\nweight--insupportable.  Even the insects seemed stilled by apprehension\nof some frightful thing impending, and the larger things were\nsoundless.  Such a forest, such a jungle might have stood there in the\nbeginning of that unthinkably far-gone age before God peopled the world\nwith life, when there were no sounds because there were no ears to hear.\n\nAnd over all lay a sickly, pallid ocher light through which the\nscourged clouds raced.  Tarzan had seen all these conditions many times\nbefore, yet he never could escape a strange feeling at each recurrence\nof them.  He knew no fear, but in the face of Nature's manifestations\nof her cruel, immeasurable powers, he felt very small--very small and\nvery lonely.\n\nNow he heard a low moaning, far away.  \"The lions seek their prey,\" he\nmurmured to himself, looking up once again at the swift-flying clouds.\nThe moaning rose to a great volume of sound.  \"They come!\" said Tarzan\nof the Apes, and sought the shelter of a thickly foliaged tree.  Quite\nsuddenly the trees bent their tops simultaneously as though God had\nstretched a hand from the heavens and pressed His flat palm down upon\nthe world.  \"They pass!\" whispered Tarzan.  \"The lions pass.\" Then came\na vivid flash of lightning, followed by deafening thunder.  \"The lions\nhave sprung,\" cried Tarzan, \"and now they roar above the bodies of\ntheir kills.\"\n\nThe trees were waving wildly in all directions now, a perfectly\ndemoniacal wind threshed the jungle pitilessly.  In the midst of it the\nrain came--not as it comes upon us of the northlands, but in a sudden,\nchoking, blinding deluge.  \"The blood of the kill,\" thought Tarzan,\nhuddling himself closer to the bole of the great tree beneath which he\nstood.\n\nHe was close to the edge of the jungle, and at a little distance he had\nseen two hills before the storm broke; but now he could see nothing.\nIt amused him to look out into the beating rain, searching for the two\nhills and imagining that the torrents from above had washed them away,\nyet he knew that presently the rain would cease, the sun come out again\nand all be as it was before, except where a few branches had fallen and\nhere and there some old and rotted patriarch had crashed back to enrich\nthe soil upon which he had fatted for, maybe, centuries.  All about him\nbranches and leaves filled the air or fell to earth, torn away by the\nstrength of the tornado and the weight of the water upon them.  A gaunt\ncorpse toppled and fell a few yards away; but Tarzan was protected from\nall these dangers by the wide-spreading branches of the sturdy young\ngiant beneath which his jungle craft had guided him.  Here there was\nbut a single danger, and that a remote one.  Yet it came.  Without\nwarning the tree above him was riven by lightning, and when the rain\nceased and the sun came out Tarzan lay stretched as he had fallen, upon\nhis face amidst the wreckage of the jungle giant that should have\nshielded him.\n\nBukawai came to the entrance of his cave after the rain and the storm\nhad passed and looked out upon the scene.  From his one eye Bukawai\ncould see; but had he had a dozen eyes he could have found no beauty in\nthe fresh sweetness of the revivified jungle, for to such things, in\nthe chemistry of temperament, his brain failed to react; nor, even had\nhe had a nose, which he had not for years, could he have found\nenjoyment or sweetness in the clean-washed air.\n\nAt either side of the leper stood his sole and constant companions, the\ntwo hyenas, sniffing the air.  Presently one of them uttered a low\ngrowl and with flattened head started, sneaking and wary, toward the\njungle.  The other followed.  Bukawai, his curiosity aroused, trailed\nafter them, in his hand a heavy knob-stick.\n\nThe hyenas halted a few yards from the prostrate Tarzan, sniffing and\ngrowling.  Then came Bukawai, and at first he could not believe the\nwitness of his own eyes; but when he did and saw that it was indeed the\ndevil-god his rage knew no bounds, for he thought him dead and himself\ncheated of the revenge he had so long dreamed upon.\n\nThe hyenas approached the ape-man with bared fangs.  Bukawai, with an\ninarticulate scream, rushed upon them, striking cruel and heavy blows\nwith his knob-stick, for there might still be life in the apparently\nlifeless form.  The beasts, snapping and snarling, half turned upon\ntheir master and their tormentor, but long fear still held them from\nhis putrid throat.  They slunk away a few yards and squatted upon their\nhaunches, hatred and baffled hunger gleaming from their savage eyes.\n\nBukawai stooped and placed his ear above the ape-man's heart.  It still\nbeat.  As well as his sloughed features could register pleasure they\ndid so; but it was not a pretty sight.  At the ape-man's side lay his\nlong, grass rope.  Quickly Bukawai bound the limp arms behind his\nprisoner's back, then he raised him to one of his shoulders, for,\nthough Bukawai was old and diseased, he was still a strong man.  The\nhyenas fell in behind as the witch-doctor set off toward the cave, and\nthrough the long black corridors they followed as Bukawai bore his\nvictim into the bowels of the hills.  Through subterranean chambers,\nconnected by winding passageways, Bukawai staggered with his load.  At\na sudden turning of the corridor, daylight flooded them and Bukawai\nstepped out into a small, circular basin in the hill, apparently the\ncrater of an ancient volcano, one of those which never reached the\ndignity of a mountain and are little more than lava-rimmed pits closed\nto the earth's surface.\n\nSteep walls rimmed the cavity.  The only exit was through the\npassageway by which Bukawai had entered.  A few stunted trees grew upon\nthe rocky floor.  A hundred feet above could be seen the ragged lips of\nthis cold, dead mouth of hell.\n\nBukawai propped Tarzan against a tree and bound him there with his own\ngrass rope, leaving his hands free but securing the knots in such a way\nthat the ape-man could not reach them.  The hyenas slunk to and fro,\ngrowling.  Bukawai hated them and they hated him.  He knew that they\nbut waited for the time when he should be helpless, or when their\nhatred should rise to such a height as to submerge their cringing fear\nof him.\n\nIn his own heart was not a little fear of these repulsive creatures,\nand because of that fear, Bukawai always kept the beasts well fed,\noften hunting for them when their own forages for food failed, but ever\nwas he cruel to them with the cruelty of a little brain, diseased,\nbestial, primitive.\n\n\nHe had had them since they were puppies.  They had known no other life\nthan that with him, and though they went abroad to hunt, always they\nreturned.  Of late Bukawai had come to believe that they returned not\nso much from habit as from a fiendish patience which would submit to\nevery indignity and pain rather than forego the final vengeance, and\nBukawai needed but little imagination to picture what that vengeance\nwould be.  Today he would see for himself what his end would be; but\nanother should impersonate Bukawai.\n\nWhen he had trussed Tarzan securely, Bukawai went back into the\ncorridor, driving the hyenas ahead of him, and pulling across the\nopening a lattice of laced branches, which shut the pit from the cave\nduring the night that Bukawai might sleep in security, for then the\nhyenas were penned in the crater that they might not sneak upon a\nsleeping Bukawai in the darkness.\n\nBukawai returned to the outer cave mouth, filled a vessel with water at\nthe spring which rose in the little canyon close at hand and returned\ntoward the pit.  The hyenas stood before the lattice looking hungrily\ntoward Tarzan.  They had been fed in this manner before.\n\nWith his water, the witch-doctor approached Tarzan and threw a portion\nof the contents of the vessel in the ape-man's face.  There was\nfluttering of the eyelids, and at the second application Tarzan opened\nhis eyes and looked about.\n\n\"Devil-god,\" cried Bukawai, \"I am the great witch-doctor.  My medicine\nis strong.  Yours is weak.  If it is not, why do you stay tied here\nlike a goat that is bait for lions?\"\n\nTarzan understood nothing the witch-doctor said, therefore he did not\nreply, but only stared straight at Bukawai with cold and level gaze.\nThe hyenas crept up behind him.  He heard them growl; but he did not\neven turn his head.  He was a beast with a man's brain.  The beast in\nhim refused to show fear in the face of a death which the man-mind\nalready admitted to be inevitable.\n\nBukawai, not yet ready to give his victim to the beasts, rushed upon\nthe hyenas with his knob-stick. There was a short scrimmage in which\nthe brutes came off second best, as they always did.  Tarzan watched\nit.  He saw and realized the hatred which existed between the two\nanimals and the hideous semblance of a man.\n\nWith the hyenas subdued, Bukawai returned to the baiting of Tarzan; but\nfinding that the ape-man understood nothing he said, the witch-doctor\nfinally desisted.  Then he withdrew into the corridor and pulled the\nlatticework barrier across the opening.  He went back into the cave and\ngot a sleeping mat, which he brought to the opening, that he might lie\ndown and watch the spectacle of his revenge in comfort.\n\nThe hyenas were sneaking furtively around the ape-man.  Tarzan strained\nat his bonds for a moment, but soon realized that the rope he had\nbraided to hold Numa, the lion, would hold him quite as successfully.\nHe did not wish to die; but he could look death in the face now as he\nhad many times before without a quaver.\n\nAs he pulled upon the rope he felt it rub against the small tree about\nwhich it was passed.  Like a flash of the cinematograph upon the\nscreen, a picture was flashed before his mind's eye from the storehouse\nof his memory.  He saw a lithe, boyish figure swinging high above the\nground at the end of a rope.  He saw many apes watching from below, and\nthen he saw the rope part and the boy hurtle downward toward the\nground.  Tarzan smiled.  Immediately he commenced to draw the rope\nrapidly back and forth across the tree trunk.\n\nThe hyenas, gaining courage, came closer.  They sniffed at his legs;\nbut when he struck at them with his free arms they slunk off.  He knew\nthat with the growth of hunger they would attack.  Coolly,\nmethodically, without haste, Tarzan drew the rope back and forth\nagainst the rough trunk of the small tree.\n\nIn the entrance to the cavern Bukawai fell asleep.  He thought it would\nbe some time before the beasts gained sufficient courage or hunger to\nattack the captive.  Their growls and the cries of the victim would\nawaken him.  In the meantime he might as well rest, and he did.\n\nThus the day wore on, for the hyenas were not famished, and the rope\nwith which Tarzan was bound was a stronger one than that of his\nboyhood, which had parted so quickly to the chafing of the rough tree\nbark.  Yet, all the while hunger was growing upon the beasts and the\nstrands of the grass rope were wearing thinner and thinner.  Bukawai\nslept.\n\nIt was late afternoon before one of the beasts, irritated by the\ngnawing of appetite, made a quick, growling dash at the ape-man. The\nnoise awoke Bukawai.  He sat up quickly and watched what went on within\nthe crater.  He saw the hungry hyena charge the man, leaping for the\nunprotected throat.  He saw Tarzan reach out and seize the growling\nanimal, and then he saw the second beast spring for the devil-god's\nshoulder.  There was a mighty heave of the great, smooth-skinned body.\nRounded muscles shot into great, tensed piles beneath the brown\nhide--the ape-man surged forward with all his weight and all his great\nstrength--the bonds parted, and the three were rolling upon the floor\nof the crater snarling, snapping, and rending.\n\nBukawai leaped to his feet.  Could it be that the devil-god was to\nprevail against his servants? Impossible! The creature was unarmed, and\nhe was down with two hyenas on top of him; but Bukawai did not know\nTarzan.\n\nThe ape-man fastened his fingers upon the throat of one of the hyenas\nand rose to one knee, though the other beast tore at him frantically in\nan effort to pull him down.  With a single hand Tarzan held the one,\nand with the other hand he reached forth and pulled toward him the\nsecond beast.\n\nAnd then Bukawai, seeing the battle going against his forces, rushed\nforward from the cavern brandishing his knob-stick.  Tarzan saw him\ncoming, and rising now to both feet, a hyena in each hand, he hurled\none of the foaming beasts straight at the witch-doctor's head.  Down\nwent the two in a snarling, biting heap.  Tarzan tossed the second\nhyena across the crater, while the first gnawed at the rotting face of\nits master; but this did not suit the ape-man.  With a kick he sent the\nbeast howling after its companion, and springing to the side of the\nprostrate witch-doctor, dragged him to his feet.\n\nBukawai, still conscious, saw death, immediate and terrible, in the\ncold eyes of his captor, so he turned upon Tarzan with teeth and nails.\nThe ape-man shuddered at the proximity of that raw face to his.  The\nhyenas had had enough and disappeared through the small aperture\nleading into the cave.  Tarzan had little difficulty in overpowering\nand binding Bukawai.  Then he led him to the very tree to which he had\nbeen bound; but in binding Bukawai, Tarzan saw to it that escape after\nthe same fashion that he had escaped would be out of the question; then\nhe left him.\n\nAs he passed through the winding corridors and the subterranean\napartments, Tarzan saw nothing of the hyenas.\n\n\"They will return,\" he said to himself.\n\nIn the crater between the towering walls Bukawai, cold with terror,\ntrembled, trembled as with ague.\n\n\"They will return!\" he cried, his voice rising to a fright-filled\nshriek.\n\nAnd they did.\n\n\n\n\n                           8\n\n                       The Lion\n\nNUMA, THE LION, crouched behind a thorn bush close beside the drinking\npool where the river eddied just below the bend.  There was a ford\nthere and on either bank a well-worn trail, broadened far out at the\nriver's brim, where, for countless centuries, the wild things of the\njungle and of the plains beyond had come down to drink, the carnivora\nwith bold and fearless majesty, the herbivora timorous, hesitating,\nfearful.\n\nNuma, the lion, was hungry, he was very hungry, and so he was quite\nsilent now.  On his way to the drinking place he had moaned often and\nroared not a little; but as he neared the spot where he would lie in\nwait for Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, or some other of the many\nluscious-fleshed creatures who came hither to drink, he was silent.  It\nwas a grim, a terrible silence, shot through with yellow-green light of\nferocious eyes, punctuated with undulating tremors of sinuous tail.\n\nIt was Pacco, the zebra, who came first, and Numa, the lion, could\nscarce restrain a roar of anger, for of all the plains people, none are\nmore wary than Pacco, the zebra.  Behind the black-striped stallion\ncame a herd of thirty or forty of the plump and vicious little\nhorselike beasts.  As he neared the river, the leader paused often,\ncocking his ears and raising his muzzle to sniff the gentle breeze for\nthe tell-tale scent spoor of the dread flesh-eaters.\n\nNuma shifted uneasily, drawing his hind quarters far beneath his tawny\nbody, gathering himself for the sudden charge and the savage assault.\nHis eyes shot hungry fire.  His great muscles quivered to the\nexcitement of the moment.\n\nPacco came a little nearer, halted, snorted, and wheeled.  There was a\npattering of scurrying hoofs and the herd was gone; but Numa, the lion,\nmoved not.  He was familiar with the ways of Pacco, the zebra.  He knew\nthat he would return, though many times he might wheel and fly before\nhe summoned the courage to lead his harem and his offspring to the\nwater.  There was the chance that Pacco might be frightened off\nentirely.  Numa had seen this happen before, and so he became almost\nrigid lest he be the one to send them galloping, waterless, back to the\nplain.\n\nAgain and again came Pacco and his family, and again and again did they\nturn and flee; but each time they came closer to the river, until at\nlast the plump stallion dipped his velvet muzzle daintily into the\nwater.  The others, stepping warily, approached their leader.  Numa\nselected a sleek, fat filly and his flaming eyes burned greedily as\nthey feasted upon her, for Numa, the lion, loves scarce anything better\nthan the meat of Pacco, perhaps because Pacco is, of all the\ngrass-eaters, the most difficult to catch.\n\nSlowly the lion rose, and as he rose, a twig snapped beneath one of his\ngreat, padded paws.  Like a shot from a rifle he charged upon the\nfilly; but the snapped twig had been enough to startle the timorous\nquarry, so that they were in instant flight simultaneously with Numa's\ncharge.\n\nThe stallion was last, and with a prodigious leap, the lion catapulted\nthrough the air to seize him; but the snapping twig had robbed Numa of\nhis dinner, though his mighty talons raked the zebra's glossy rump,\nleaving four crimson bars across the beautiful coat.\n\nIt was an angry Numa that quitted the river and prowled, fierce,\ndangerous, and hungry, into the jungle.  Far from particular now was\nhis appetite.  Even Dango, the hyena, would have seemed a tidbit to\nthat ravenous maw.  And in this temper it was that the lion came upon\nthe tribe of Kerchak, the great ape.\n\nOne does not look for Numa, the lion, this late in the morning.  He\nshould be lying up asleep beside his last night's kill by now; but Numa\nhad made no kill last night.  He was still hunting, hungrier than ever.\n\nThe anthropoids were idling about the clearing, the first keen desire\nof the morning's hunger having been satisfied.  Numa scented them long\nbefore he saw them.  Ordinarily he would have turned away in search of\nother game, for even Numa respected the mighty muscles and the sharp\nfangs of the great bulls of the tribe of Kerchak, but today he kept on\nsteadily toward them, his bristled snout wrinkled into a savage snarl.\n\nWithout an instant's hesitation, Numa charged the moment he reached a\npoint from where the apes were visible to him.  There were a dozen or\nmore of the hairy, manlike creatures upon the ground in a little glade.\nIn a tree at one side sat a brown-skinned youth.  He saw Numa's swift\ncharge; he saw the apes turn and flee, huge bulls trampling upon little\nbalus; only a single she held her ground to meet the charge, a young\nshe inspired by new motherhood to the great sacrifice that her balu\nmight escape.\n\nTarzan leaped from his perch, screaming at the flying bulls beneath and\nat those who squatted in the safety of surrounding trees.  Had the\nbulls stood their ground, Numa would not have carried through that\ncharge unless goaded by great rage or the gnawing pangs of starvation.\nEven then he would not have come off unscathed.\n\nIf the bulls heard, they were too slow in responding, for Numa had\nseized the mother ape and dragged her into the jungle before the males\nhad sufficiently collected their wits and their courage to rally in\ndefense of their fellow.  Tarzan's angry voice aroused similar anger in\nthe breasts of the apes.  Snarling and barking they followed Numa into\nthe dense labyrinth of foliage wherein he sought to hide himself from\nthem.  The ape-man was in the lead, moving rapidly and yet with\ncaution, depending even more upon his ears and nose than upon his eyes\nfor information of the lion's whereabouts.\n\nThe spoor was easy to follow, for the dragged body of the victim left a\nplain trail, blood-spattered and scentful.  Even such dull creatures as\nyou or I might easily have followed it.  To Tarzan and the apes of\nKerchak it was as obvious as a cement sidewalk.\n\nTarzan knew that they were nearing the great cat even before he heard\nan angry growl of warning just ahead.  Calling to the apes to follow\nhis example, he swung into a tree and a moment later Numa was\nsurrounded by a ring of growling beasts, well out of reach of his fangs\nand talons but within plain sight of him.  The carnivore crouched with\nhis fore-quarters upon the she-ape. Tarzan could see that the latter\nwas already dead; but something within him made it seem quite necessary\nto rescue the useless body from the clutches of the enemy and to punish\nhim.\n\nHe shrieked taunts and insults at Numa, and tearing dead branches from\nthe tree in which he danced, hurled them at the lion.  The apes\nfollowed his example.  Numa roared out in rage and vexation.  He was\nhungry, but under such conditions he could not feed.\n\nThe apes, if they had been left to themselves, would doubtless soon\nhave left the lion to peaceful enjoyment of his feast, for was not the\nshe dead? They could not restore her to life by throwing sticks at\nNuma, and they might even now be feeding in quiet themselves; but\nTarzan was of a different mind.  Numa must be punished and driven away.\nHe must be taught that even though he killed a Mangani, he would not be\npermitted to feed upon his kill.  The man-mind looked into the future,\nwhile the apes perceived only the immediate present.  They would be\ncontent to escape today the menace of Numa, while Tarzan saw the\nnecessity, and the means as well, of safeguarding the days to come.\n\nSo he urged the great anthropoids on until Numa was showered with\nmissiles that kept his head dodging and his voice pealing forth its\nsavage protest; but still he clung desperately to his kill.\n\nThe twigs and branches hurled at Numa, Tarzan soon realized, did not\nhurt him greatly even when they struck him, and did not injure him at\nall, so the ape-man looked about for more effective missiles, nor did\nhe have to look long.  An out-cropping of decomposed granite not far\nfrom Numa suggested ammunition of a much more painful nature.  Calling\nto the apes to watch him, Tarzan slipped to the ground and gathered a\nhandful of small fragments.  He knew that when once they had seen him\ncarry out his idea they would be much quicker to follow his lead than\nto obey his instructions, were he to command them to procure pieces of\nrock and hurl them at Numa, for Tarzan was not then king of the apes of\nthe tribe of Kerchak.  That came in later years.  Now he was but a\nyouth, though one who already had wrested for himself a place in the\ncouncils of the savage beasts among whom a strange fate had cast him.\nThe sullen bulls of the older generation still hated him as beasts hate\nthose of whom they are suspicious, whose scent characteristic is the\nscent characteristic of an alien order and, therefore, of an enemy\norder.  The younger bulls, those who had grown up through childhood as\nhis playmates, were as accustomed to Tarzan's scent as to that of any\nother member of the tribe.  They felt no greater suspicion of him than\nof any other bull of their acquaintance; yet they did not love him, for\nthey loved none outside the mating season, and the animosities aroused\nby other bulls during that season lasted well over until the next.\nThey were a morose and peevish band at best, though here and there were\nthose among them in whom germinated the primal seeds of\nhumanity--reversions to type, these, doubtless; reversions to the\nancient progenitor who took the first step out of ape-hood toward\nhumanness, when he walked more often upon his hind feet and discovered\nother things for idle hands to do.\n\nSo now Tarzan led where he could not yet command.  He had long since\ndiscovered the apish propensity for mimicry and learned to make use of\nit.  Having filled his arms with fragments of rotted granite, he\nclambered again into a tree, and it pleased him to see that the apes\nhad followed his example.\n\nDuring the brief respite while they were gathering their ammunition,\nNuma had settled himself to feed; but scarce had he arranged himself\nand his kill when a sharp piece of rock hurled by the practiced hand of\nthe ape-man struck him upon the cheek.  His sudden roar of pain and\nrage was smothered by a volley from the apes, who had seen Tarzan's\nact.  Numa shook his massive head and glared upward at his tormentors.\nFor a half hour they pursued him with rocks and broken branches, and\nthough he dragged his kill into densest thickets, yet they always found\na way to reach him with their missiles, giving him no opportunity to\nfeed, and driving him on and on.\n\nThe hairless ape-thing with the man scent was worst of all, for he had\neven the temerity to advance upon the ground to within a few yards of\nthe Lord of the Jungle, that he might with greater accuracy and force\nhurl the sharp bits of granite and the heavy sticks at him.  Time and\nagain did Numa charge--sudden, vicious charges--but the lithe, active\ntormentor always managed to elude him and with such insolent ease that\nthe lion forgot even his great hunger in the consuming passion of his\nrage, leaving his meat for considerable spaces of time in vain efforts\nto catch his enemy.\n\nThe apes and Tarzan pursued the great beast to a natural clearing,\nwhere Numa evidently determined to make a last stand, taking up his\nposition in the center of the open space, which was far enough from any\ntree to render him practically immune from the rather erratic throwing\nof the apes, though Tarzan still found him with most persistent and\naggravating frequency.\n\nThis, however, did not suit the ape-man, since Numa now suffered an\noccasional missile with no more than a snarl, while he settled himself\nto partake of his delayed feast.  Tarzan scratched his head, pondering\nsome more effective method of offense, for he had determined to prevent\nNuma from profiting in any way through his attack upon the tribe.  The\nman-mind reasoned against the future, while the shaggy apes thought\nonly of their present hatred of this ancestral enemy.  Tarzan guessed\nthat should Numa find it an easy thing to snatch a meal from the tribe\nof Kerchak, it would be but a short time before their existence would\nbe one living nightmare of hideous watchfulness and dread.  Numa must\nbe taught that the killing of an ape brought immediate punishment and\nno rewards.  It would take but a few lessons to insure the former\nsafety of the tribe.  This must be some old lion whose failing strength\nand agility had forced him to any prey that he could catch; but even a\nsingle lion, undisputed, could exterminate the tribe, or at least make\nits existence so precarious and so terrifying that life would no longer\nbe a pleasant condition.\n\n\"Let him hunt among the Gomangani,\" thought Tarzan.  \"He will find them\neasier prey.  I will teach ferocious Numa that he may not hunt the\nMangani.\"\n\nBut how to wrest the body of his victim from the feeding lion was the\nfirst question to be solved.  At last Tarzan hit upon a plan.  To\nanyone but Tarzan of the Apes it might have seemed rather a risky plan,\nand perhaps it did even to him; but Tarzan rather liked things that\ncontained a considerable element of danger.  At any rate, I rather\ndoubt that you or I would have chosen a similar plan for foiling an\nangry and a hungry lion.\n\nTarzan required assistance in the scheme he had hit upon and his\nassistant must be equally as brave and almost as active as he.  The\nape-man's eyes fell upon Taug, the playmate of his childhood, the rival\nin his first love and now, of all the bulls of the tribe, the only one\nthat might be thought to hold in his savage brain any such feeling\ntoward Tarzan as we describe among ourselves as friendship.  At least,\nTarzan knew, Taug was courageous, and he was young and agile and\nwonderfully muscled.\n\n\"Taug!\" cried the ape-man. The great ape looked up from a dead limb he\nwas attempting to tear from a lightning-blasted tree.  \"Go close to\nNuma and worry him,\" said Tarzan.  \"Worry him until he charges.  Lead\nhim away from the body of Mamka.  Keep him away as long as you can.\"\n\nTaug nodded.  He was across the clearing from Tarzan.  Wresting the\nlimb at last from the tree he dropped to the ground and advanced toward\nNuma, growling and barking out his insults.  The worried lion looked up\nand rose to his feet.  His tail went stiffly erect and Taug turned in\nflight, for he knew that warming signal of the charge.\n\nFrom behind the lion, Tarzan ran quickly toward the center of the\nclearing and the body of Mamka.  Numa, all his eyes for Taug, did not\nsee the ape-man. Instead he shot forward after the fleeing bull, who\nhad turned in flight not an instant too soon, since he reached the\nnearest tree but a yard or two ahead of the pursuing demon.  Like a cat\nthe heavy anthropoid scampered up the bole of his sanctuary.  Numa's\ntalons missed him by little more than inches.\n\nFor a moment the lion paused beneath the tree, glaring up at the ape\nand roaring until the earth trembled, then he turned back again toward\nhis kill, and as he did so, his tail shot once more to rigid erectness\nand he charged back even more ferociously than he had come, for what he\nsaw was the naked man-thing running toward the farther trees with the\nbloody carcass of his prey across a giant shoulder.\n\nThe apes, watching the grim race from the safety of the trees, screamed\ntaunts at Numa and warnings to Tarzan.  The high sun, hot and\nbrilliant, fell like a spotlight upon the actors in the little\nclearing, portraying them in glaring relief to the audience in the\nleafy shadows of the surrounding trees.  The light-brown body of the\nnaked youth, all but hidden by the shaggy carcass of the killed ape,\nthe red blood streaking his smooth hide, his muscles rolling, velvety,\nbeneath.  Behind him the black-maned lion, head flattened, tail\nextended, racing, a jungle thoroughbred, across the sunlit clearing.\n\nAh, but this was life! With death at his heels, Tarzan thrilled with\nthe joy of such living as this; but would he reach the trees ahead of\nthe rampant death so close behind?\n\nGunto swung from a limb in a tree before him.  Gunto was screaming\nwarnings and advice.\n\n\"Catch me!\" cried Tarzan, and with his heavy burden leaped straight for\nthe big bull hanging there by his hind feet and one forepaw.  And Gunto\ncaught them--the big ape-man and the dead weight of the slain\nshe-ape--caught them with one great, hairy paw and whirled them upward\nuntil Tarzan's fingers closed upon a near-by branch.\n\nBeneath, Numa leaped; but Gunto, heavy and awkward as he may have\nappeared, was as quick as Manu, the monkey, so that the lion's talons\nbut barely grazed him, scratching a bloody streak beneath one hairy arm.\n\nTarzan carried Mamka's corpse to a high crotch, where even Sheeta, the\npanther, could not get it.  Numa paced angrily back and forth beneath\nthe tree, roaring frightfully.  He had been robbed of his kill and his\nrevenge also.  He was very savage indeed; but his despoilers were well\nout of his reach, and after hurling a few taunts and missiles at him\nthey swung away through the trees, fiercely reviling him.\n\nTarzan thought much upon the little adventure of that day.  He foresaw\nwhat might happen should the great carnivora of the jungle turn their\nserious attention upon the tribe of Kerchak, the great ape, but equally\nhe thought upon the wild scramble of the apes for safety when Numa\nfirst charged among them.  There is little humor in the jungle that is\nnot grim and awful.  The beasts have little or no conception of humor;\nbut the young Englishman saw humor in many things which presented no\nhumorous angle to his associates.\n\nSince earliest childhood he had been a searcher after fun, much to the\nsorrow of his fellow-apes, and now he saw the humor of the frightened\npanic of the apes and the baffled rage of Numa even in this grim jungle\nadventure which had robbed Mamka of life, and jeopardized that of many\nmembers of the tribe.\n\nIt was but a few weeks later that Sheeta, the panther, made a sudden\nrush among the tribe and snatched a little balu from a tree where it\nhad been hidden while its mother sought food.  Sheeta got away with his\nsmall prize unmolested.  Tarzan was very wroth.  He spoke to the bulls\nof the ease with which Numa and Sheeta, in a single moon, had slain two\nmembers of the tribe.\n\n\"They will take us all for food,\" he cried.  \"We hunt as we will\nthrough the jungle, paying no heed to approaching enemies.  Even Manu,\nthe monkey, does not so.  He keeps two or three always watching for\nenemies.  Pacco, the zebra, and Wappi, the antelope, have those about\nthe herd who keep watch while the others feed, while we, the great\nMangani, let Numa, and Sabor, and Sheeta come when they will and carry\nus off to feed their balus.\n\n\"Gr-r-rmph,\" said Numgo.\n\n\"What are we to do?\" asked Taug.\n\n\"We, too, should have two or three always watching for the approach of\nNuma, and Sabor, and Sheeta,\" replied Tarzan.  \"No others need we fear,\nexcept Histah, the snake, and if we watch for the others we will see\nHistah if he comes, though gliding ever so silently.\"\n\nAnd so it was that the great apes of the tribe of Kerchak posted\nsentries thereafter, who watched upon three sides while the tribe\nhunted, scattered less than had been their wont.\n\nBut Tarzan went abroad alone, for Tarzan was a man-thing and sought\namusement and adventure and such humor as the grim and terrible jungle\noffers to those who know it and do not fear it--a weird humor shot with\nblazing eyes and dappled with the crimson of lifeblood.  While others\nsought only food and love, Tarzan of the Apes sought food and joy.\n\nOne day he hovered above the palisaded village of Mbonga, the chief,\nthe jet cannibal of the jungle primeval.  He saw, as he had seen many\ntimes before, the witch-doctor, Rabba Kega, decked out in the head and\nhide of Gorgo, the buffalo.  It amused Tarzan to see a Gomangani\nparading as Gorgo; but it suggested nothing in particular to him until\nhe chanced to see stretched against the side of Mbonga's hut the skin\nof a lion with the head still on.  Then a broad grin widened the\nhandsome face of the savage beast-youth.\n\nBack into the jungle he went until chance, agility, strength, and\ncunning backed by his marvelous powers of perception, gave him an easy\nmeal.  If Tarzan felt that the world owed him a living he also realized\nthat it was for him to collect it, nor was there ever a better\ncollector than this son of an English lord, who knew even less of the\nways of his forbears than he did of the forbears themselves, which was\nnothing.\n\nIt was quite dark when Tarzan returned to the village of Mbonga and\ntook his now polished perch in the tree which overhangs the palisade\nupon one side of the walled enclosure.  As there was nothing in\nparticular to feast upon in the village there was little life in the\nsingle street, for only an orgy of flesh and native beer could draw out\nthe people of Mbonga.  Tonight they sat gossiping about their cooking\nfires, the older members of the tribe; or, if they were young, paired\noff in the shadows cast by the palm-thatched huts.\n\nTarzan dropped lightly into the village, and sneaking stealthily in the\nconcealment of the denser shadows, approached the hut of the chief,\nMbonga.  Here he found that which he sought.  There were warriors all\nabout him; but they did not know that the feared devil-god slunk\nnoiselessly so near them, nor did they see him possess himself of that\nwhich he coveted and depart from their village as noiselessly as he had\ncome.\n\nLater that night, as Tarzan curled himself for sleep, he lay for a long\ntime looking up at the burning planets and the twinkling stars and at\nGoro the moon, and he smiled.  He recalled how ludicrous the great\nbulls had appeared in their mad scramble for safety that day when Numa\nhad charged among them and seized Mamka, and yet he knew them to be\nfierce and courageous.  It was the sudden shock of surprise that always\nsent them into a panic; but of this Tarzan was not as yet fully aware.\nThat was something he was to learn in the near future.\n\nHe fell asleep with a broad grin upon his face.\n\nManu, the monkey, awoke him in the morning by dropping discarded bean\npods upon his upturned face from a branch a short distance above him.\nTarzan looked up and smiled.  He had been awakened thus before many\ntimes.  He and Manu were fairly good friends, their friendship\noperating upon a reciprocal basis.  Sometimes Manu would come running\nearly in the morning to awaken Tarzan and tell him that Bara, the deer,\nwas feeding close at hand, or that Horta, the boar, was asleep in a\nmudhole hard by, and in return Tarzan broke open the shells of the\nharder nuts and fruits for Manu, or frightened away Histah, the snake,\nand Sheeta, the panther.\n\nThe sun had been up for some time, and the tribe had already wandered\noff in search of food.  Manu indicated the direction they had taken\nwith a wave of his hand and a few piping notes of his squeaky little\nvoice.\n\n\"Come, Manu,\" said Tarzan, \"and you will see that which shall make you\ndance for joy and squeal your wrinkled little head off.  Come, follow\nTarzan of the Apes.\"\n\nWith that he set off in the direction Manu had indicated and above him,\nchattering, scolding and squealing, skipped Manu, the monkey.  Across\nTarzan's shoulders was the thing he had stolen from the village of\nMbonga, the chief, the evening before.\n\nThe tribe was feeding in the forest beside the clearing where Gunto,\nand Taug, and Tarzan had so harassed Numa and finally taken away from\nhim the fruit of his kill.  Some of them were in the clearing itself.\nIn peace and content they fed, for were there not three sentries, each\nwatching upon a different side of the herd? Tarzan had taught them\nthis, and though he had been away for several days hunting alone, as he\noften did, or visiting at the cabin by the sea, they had not as yet\nforgotten his admonitions, and if they continued for a short time\nlonger to post sentries, it would become a habit of their tribal life\nand thus be perpetuated indefinitely.\n\nBut Tarzan, who knew them better than they knew themselves, was\nconfident that they had ceased to place the watchers about them the\nmoment that he had left them, and now he planned not only to have a\nlittle fun at their expense but to teach them a lesson in preparedness,\nwhich, by the way, is even a more vital issue in the jungle than in\ncivilized places.  That you and I exist today must be due to the\npreparedness of some shaggy anthropoid of the Oligocene.  Of course the\napes of Kerchak were always prepared, after their own way--Tarzan had\nmerely suggested a new and additional safeguard.\n\nGunto was posted today to the north of the clearing.  He squatted in\nthe fork of a tree from where he might view the jungle for quite a\ndistance about him.  It was he who first discovered the enemy.  A\nrustling in the undergrowth attracted his attention, and a moment later\nhe had a partial view of a shaggy mane and tawny yellow back.  Just a\nglimpse it was through the matted foliage beneath him; but it brought\nfrom Gunto's leathern lungs a shrill \"Kreeg-ah!\" which is the ape for\nbeware, or danger.\n\nInstantly the tribe took up the cry until \"Kreeg-ahs!\" rang through the\njungle about the clearing as apes swung quickly to places of safety\namong the lower branches of the trees and the great bulls hastened in\nthe direction of Gunto.\n\nAnd then into the clearing strode Numa, the lion--majestic and mighty,\nand from a deep chest issued the moan and the cough and the rumbling\nroar that set stiff hairs to bristling from shaggy craniums down the\nlength of mighty spines.\n\nInside the clearing, Numa paused and on the instant there fell upon him\nfrom the trees near by a shower of broken rock and dead limbs torn from\nage-old trees.  A dozen times he was hit, and then the apes ran down\nand gathered other rocks, pelting him unmercifully.\n\nNuma turned to flee, but his way was barred by a fusilade of\nsharp-cornered missiles, and then, upon the edge of the clearing, great\nTaug met him with a huge fragment of rock as large as a man's head, and\ndown went the Lord of the Jungle beneath the stunning blow.\n\nWith shrieks and roars and loud barkings the great apes of the tribe of\nKerchak rushed upon the fallen lion.  Sticks and stones and yellow\nfangs menaced the still form.  In another moment, before he could\nregain consciousness, Numa would be battered and torn until only a\nbloody mass of broken bones and matted hair remained of what had once\nbeen the most dreaded of jungle creatures.\n\nBut even as the sticks and stones were raised above him and the great\nfangs bared to tear him, there descended like a plummet from the trees\nabove a diminutive figure with long, white whiskers and a wrinkled\nface.  Square upon the body of Numa it alighted and there it danced and\nscreamed and shrieked out its challenge against the bulls of Kerchak.\n\nFor an instant they paused, paralyzed by the wonder of the thing.  It\nwas Manu, the monkey, Manu, the little coward, and here he was daring\nthe ferocity of the great Mangani, hopping about upon the carcass of\nNuma, the lion, and crying out that they must not strike it again.\n\nAnd when the bulls paused, Manu reached down and seized a tawny ear.\nWith all his little might he tugged upon the heavy head until slowly it\nturned back, revealing the tousled, black head and clean-cut profile of\nTarzan of the Apes.\n\nSome of the older apes were for finishing what they had commenced; but\nTaug, sullen, mighty Taug, sprang quickly to the ape-man's side and\nstraddling the unconscious form warned back those who would have struck\nhis childhood playmate.  And Teeka, his mate, came too, taking her\nplace with bared fangs at Taug's side.  Others followed their example,\nuntil at last Tarzan was surrounded by a ring of hairy champions who\nwould permit no enemy to approach him.\n\nIt was a surprised and chastened Tarzan who opened his eyes to\nconsciousness a few minutes later.  He looked about him at the\nsurrounding apes and slowly there returned to him a realization of what\nhad occurred.\n\nGradually a broad grin illuminated his features.  His bruises were many\nand they hurt; but the good that had come from his adventure was worth\nall that it had cost.  He had learned, for instance, that the apes of\nKerchak had heeded his teaching, and he had learned that he had good\nfriends among the sullen beasts whom he had thought without sentiment.\nHe had discovered that Manu, the monkey--even little, cowardly\nManu--had risked his life in his defense.\n\nIt made Tarzan very glad to know these things; but at the other lesson\nhe had been taught he reddened.  He had always been a joker, the only\njoker in the grim and terrible company; but now as he lay there half\ndead from his hurts, he almost swore a solemn oath forever to forego\npractical joking--almost; but not quite.\n\n\n\n\n                           9\n\n                     The Nightmare\n\nTHE BLACKS OF the village of Mbonga, the chief, were feasting, while\nabove them in a large tree sat Tarzan of the Apes--grim, terrible,\nempty, and envious.  Hunting had proved poor that day, for there are\nlean days as well as fat ones for even the greatest of the jungle\nhunters.  Oftentimes Tarzan went empty for more than a full sun, and he\nhad passed through entire moons during which he had been but barely\nable to stave off starvation; but such times were infrequent.\n\nThere once had been a period of sickness among the grass-eaters which\nhad left the plains almost bare of game for several years, and again\nthe great cats had increased so rapidly and so overrun the country that\ntheir prey, which was also Tarzan's, had been frightened off for a\nconsiderable time.\n\nBut for the most part Tarzan had fed well always.  Today, though, he\nhad gone empty, one misfortune following another as rapidly as he\nraised new quarry, so that now, as he sat perched in the tree above the\nfeasting blacks, he experienced all the pangs of famine and his hatred\nfor his lifelong enemies waxed strong in his breast.  It was\ntantalizing, indeed, to sit there hungry while these Gomangani filled\nthemselves so full of food that their stomachs seemed almost upon the\npoint of bursting, and with elephant steaks at that!\n\nIt was true that Tarzan and Tantor were the best of friends, and that\nTarzan never yet had tasted of the flesh of the elephant; but the\nGomangani evidently had slain one, and as they were eating of the flesh\nof their kill, Tarzan was assailed by no doubts as to the ethics of his\ndoing likewise, should he have the opportunity.  Had he known that the\nelephant had died of sickness several days before the blacks discovered\nthe carcass, he might not have been so keen to partake of the feast,\nfor Tarzan of the Apes was no carrion-eater. Hunger, however, may blunt\nthe most epicurean taste, and Tarzan was not exactly an epicure.\n\nWhat he was at this moment was a very hungry wild beast whom caution\nwas holding in leash, for the great cooking pot in the center of the\nvillage was surrounded by black warriors, through whom not even Tarzan\nof the Apes might hope to pass unharmed.  It would be necessary,\ntherefore, for the watcher to remain there hungry until the blacks had\ngorged themselves to stupor, and then, if they had left any scraps, to\nmake the best meal he could from such; but to the impatient Tarzan it\nseemed that the greedy Gomangani would rather burst than leave the\nfeast before the last morsel had been devoured.  For a time they broke\nthe monotony of eating by executing portions of a hunting dance, a\nmaneuver which sufficiently stimulated digestion to permit them to fall\nto once more with renewed vigor; but with the consumption of appalling\nquantities of elephant meat and native beer they presently became too\nloggy for physical exertion of any sort, some reaching a stage where\nthey no longer could rise from the ground, but lay conveniently close\nto the great cooking pot, stuffing themselves into unconsciousness.\n\nIt was well past midnight before Tarzan even could begin to see the end\nof the orgy.  The blacks were now falling asleep rapidly; but a few\nstill persisted.  From before their condition Tarzan had no doubt but\nthat he easily could enter the village and snatch a handful of meat\nfrom before their noses; but a handful was not what he wanted.  Nothing\nless than a stomachful would allay the gnawing craving of that great\nemptiness.  He must therefore have ample time to forage in peace.\n\nAt last but a single warrior remained true to his ideals--an old\nfellow whose once wrinkled belly was now as smooth and as tight as the\nhead of a drum.  With evidences of great discomfort, and even pain, he\nwould crawl toward the pot and drag himself slowly to his knees, from\nwhich position he could reach into the receptacle and seize a piece of\nmeat.  Then he would roll over on his back with a loud groan and lie\nthere while he slowly forced the food between his teeth and down into\nhis gorged stomach.\n\nIt was evident to Tarzan that the old fellow would eat until he died,\nor until there was no more meat.  The ape-man shook his head in\ndisgust.  What foul creatures were these Gomangani? Yet of all the\njungle folk they alone resembled Tarzan closely in form.  Tarzan was a\nman, and they, too, must be some manner of men, just as the little\nmonkeys, and the great apes, and Bolgani, the gorilla, were quite\nevidently of one great family, though differing in size and appearance\nand customs.  Tarzan was ashamed, for of all the beasts of the jungle,\nthen, man was the most disgusting--man and Dango, the hyena.  Only man\nand Dango ate until they swelled up like a dead rat.  Tarzan had seen\nDango eat his way into the carcass of a dead elephant and then continue\nto eat so much that he had been unable to get out of the hole through\nwhich he had entered.  Now he could readily believe that man, given the\nopportunity, would do the same.  Man, too, was the most unlovely of\ncreatures--with his skinny legs and his big stomach, his filed teeth,\nand his thick, red lips.  Man was disgusting.  Tarzan's gaze was\nriveted upon the hideous old warrior wallowing in filth beneath him.\n\nThere! the thing was struggling to its knees to reach for another\nmorsel of flesh.  It groaned aloud in pain and yet it persisted in\neating, eating, ever eating.  Tarzan could endure it no longer--neither\nhis hunger nor his disgust.  Silently he slipped to the ground with the\nbole of the great tree between himself and the feaster.\n\nThe man was still kneeling, bent almost double in agony, before the\ncooking pot.  His back was toward the ape-man.  Swiftly and noiselessly\nTarzan approached him.  There was no sound as steel fingers closed\nabout the black throat.  The struggle was short, for the man was old\nand already half stupefied from the effects of the gorging and the beer.\n\nTarzan dropped the inert mass and scooped several large pieces of meat\nfrom the cooking pot--enough to satisfy even his great hunger--then he\nraised the body of the feaster and shoved it into the vessel.  When the\nother blacks awoke they would have something to think about! Tarzan\ngrinned.  As he turned toward the tree with his meat, he picked up a\nvessel containing beer and raised it to his lips, but at the first\ntaste he spat the stuff from his mouth and tossed the primitive tankard\naside.  He was quite sure that even Dango would draw the line at such\nfilthy tasting drink as that, and his contempt for man increased with\nthe conviction.\n\nTarzan swung off into the jungle some half mile or so before he paused\nto partake of his stolen food.  He noticed that it gave forth a strange\nand unpleasant odor, but assumed that this was due to the fact that it\nhad stood in a vessel of water above a fire.  Tarzan was, of course,\nunaccustomed to cooked food.  He did not like it; but he was very\nhungry and had eaten a considerable portion of his haul before it was\nreally borne in upon him that the stuff was nauseating.  It required\nfar less than he had imagined it would to satisfy his appetite.\n\nThrowing the balance to the ground he curled up in a convenient crotch\nand sought slumber; but slumber seemed difficult to woo.  Ordinarily\nTarzan of the Apes was asleep as quickly as a dog after it curls itself\nupon a hearthrug before a roaring blaze; but tonight he squirmed and\ntwisted, for at the pit of his stomach was a peculiar feeling that\nresembled nothing more closely than an attempt upon the part of the\nfragments of elephant meat reposing there to come out into the night\nand search for their elephant; but Tarzan was adamant.  He gritted his\nteeth and held them back.  He was not to be robbed of his meal after\nwaiting so long to obtain it.\n\nHe had succeeded in dozing when the roaring of a lion awoke him.  He\nsat up to discover that it was broad daylight.  Tarzan rubbed his eyes.\nCould it be that he had really slept? He did not feel particularly\nrefreshed as he should have after a good sleep.  A noise attracted his\nattention, and he looked down to see a lion standing at the foot of the\ntree gazing hungrily at him.  Tarzan made a face at the king of beasts,\nwhereat Numa, greatly to the ape-man's surprise, started to climb up\ninto the branches toward him.  Now, never before had Tarzan seen a lion\nclimb a tree, yet, for some unaccountable reason, he was not greatly\nsurprised that this particular lion should do so.\n\nAs the lion climbed slowly toward him, Tarzan sought higher branches;\nbut to his chagrin, he discovered that it was with the utmost\ndifficulty that he could climb at all.  Again and again he slipped\nback, losing all that he had gained, while the lion kept steadily at\nhis climbing, coming ever closer and closer to the ape-man. Tarzan\ncould see the hungry light in the yellow-green eyes.  He could see the\nslaver on the drooping jowls, and the great fangs agape to seize and\ndestroy him.  Clawing desperately, the ape-man at last succeeded in\ngaining a little upon his pursuer.  He reached the more slender\nbranches far aloft where he well knew no lion could follow; yet on and\non came devil-faced Numa.  It was incredible; but it was true.  Yet\nwhat most amazed Tarzan was that though he realized the incredibility\nof it all, he at the same time accepted it as a matter of course, first\nthat a lion should climb at all and second that he should enter the\nupper terraces where even Sheeta, the panther, dared not venture.\n\nTo the very top of a tall tree the ape-man clawed his awkward way and\nafter him came Numa, the lion, moaning dismally.  At last Tarzan stood\nbalanced upon the very utmost pinnacle of a swaying branch, high above\nthe forest.  He could go no farther.  Below him the lion came steadily\nupward, and Tarzan of the Apes realized that at last the end had come.\nHe could not do battle upon a tiny branch with Numa, the lion,\nespecially with such a Numa, to which swaying branches two hundred feet\nabove the ground provided as substantial footing as the ground itself.\n\nNearer and nearer came the lion.  Another moment and he could reach up\nwith one great paw and drag the ape-man downward to those awful jaws.\nA whirring noise above his head caused Tarzan to glance apprehensively\nupward.  A great bird was circling close above him.  He never had seen\nso large a bird in all his life, yet he recognized it immediately, for\nhad he not seen it hundreds of times in one of the books in the little\ncabin by the land-locked bay--the moss-grown cabin that with its\ncontents was the sole heritage left by his dead and unknown father to\nthe young Lord Greystoke?\n\nIn the picture-book the great bird was shown flying far above the\nground with a small child in its talons while, beneath, a distracted\nmother stood with uplifted hands.  The lion was already reaching forth\na taloned paw to seize him when the bird swooped and buried no less\nformidable talons in Tarzan's back.  The pain was numbing; but it was\nwith a sense of relief that the ape-man felt himself snatched from the\nclutches of Numa.\n\nWith a great whirring of wings the bird rose rapidly until the forest\nlay far below.  It made Tarzan sick and dizzy to look down upon it from\nso great a height, so he closed his eyes tight and held his breath.\nHigher and higher climbed the huge bird.  Tarzan opened his eyes.  The\njungle was so far away that he could see only a dim, green blur below\nhim, but just above and quite close was the sun.  Tarzan reached out\nhis hands and warmed them, for they were very cold.  Then a sudden\nmadness seized him.  Where was the bird taking him? Was he to submit\nthus passively to a feathered creature however enormous? Was he, Tarzan\nof the Apes, mighty fighter, to die without striking a blow in his own\ndefense? Never!\n\nHe snatched the hunting blade from his gee-string and thrusting upward\ndrove it once, twice, thrice into the breast above him.  The mighty\nwings fluttered a few more times, spasmodically, the talons relaxed\ntheir hold, and Tarzan of the Apes fell hurtling downward toward the\ndistant jungle.\n\nIt seemed to the ape-man that he fell for many minutes before he\ncrashed through the leafy verdure of the tree tops.  The smaller\nbranches broke his fall, so that he came to rest for an instant upon\nthe very branch upon which he had sought slumber the previous night.\nFor an instant he toppled there in a frantic attempt to regain his\nequilibrium; but at last he rolled off, yet, clutching wildly, he\nsucceeded in grasping the branch and hanging on.\n\nOnce more he opened his eyes, which he had closed during the fall.\nAgain it was night.  With all his old agility he clambered back to the\ncrotch from which he had toppled.  Below him a lion roared, and,\nlooking downward, Tarzan could see the yellow-green eyes shining in the\nmoonlight as they bored hungrily upward through the darkness of the\njungle night toward him.\n\nThe ape-man gasped for breath.  Cold sweat stood out from every pore,\nthere was a great sickness at the pit of Tarzan's stomach.  Tarzan of\nthe Apes had dreamed his first dream.\n\nFor a long time he sat watching for Numa to climb into the tree after\nhim, and listening for the sound of the great wings from above, for to\nTarzan of the Apes his dream was a reality.\n\nHe could not believe what he had seen and yet, having seen even these\nincredible things, he could not disbelieve the evidence of his own\nperceptions.  Never in all his life had Tarzan's senses deceived him\nbadly, and so, naturally, he had great faith in them.  Each perception\nwhich ever had been transmitted to Tarzan's brain had been, with\nvarying accuracy, a true perception.  He could not conceive of the\npossibility of apparently having passed through such a weird adventure\nin which there was no grain of truth.  That a stomach, disordered by\ndecayed elephant flesh, a lion roaring in the jungle, a picture-book,\nand sleep could have so truly portrayed all the clear-cut details of\nwhat he had seemingly experienced was quite beyond his knowledge; yet\nhe knew that Numa could not climb a tree, he knew that there existed in\nthe jungle no such bird as he had seen, and he knew, too, that he could\nnot have fallen a tiny fraction of the distance he had hurtled\ndownward, and lived.\n\nTo say the least, he was a very puzzled Tarzan as he tried to compose\nhimself once more for slumber--a very puzzled and a very nauseated\nTarzan.\n\nAs he thought deeply upon the strange occurrences of the night, he\nwitnessed another remarkable happening.  It was indeed quite\npreposterous, yet he saw it all with his own eyes--it was nothing less\nthan Histah, the snake, wreathing his sinuous and slimy way up the bole\nof the tree below him--Histah, with the head of the old man Tarzan had\nshoved into the cooking pot--the head and the round, tight, black,\ndistended stomach.  As the old man's frightful face, with upturned\neyes, set and glassy, came close to Tarzan, the jaws opened to seize\nhim.  The ape-man struck furiously at the hideous face, and as he\nstruck the apparition disappeared.\n\nTarzan sat straight up upon his branch trembling in every limb,\nwide-eyed and panting.  He looked all around him with his keen,\njungle-trained eyes, but he saw naught of the old man with the body of\nHistah, the snake, but on his naked thigh the ape-man saw a\ncaterpillar, dropped from a branch above him.  With a grimace he\nflicked it off into the darkness beneath.\n\nAnd so the night wore on, dream following dream, nightmare following\nnightmare, until the distracted ape-man started like a frightened deer\nat the rustling of the wind in the trees about him, or leaped to his\nfeet as the uncanny laugh of a hyena burst suddenly upon a momentary\njungle silence.  But at last the tardy morning broke and a sick and\nfeverish Tarzan wound sluggishly through the dank and gloomy mazes of\nthe forest in search of water.  His whole body seemed on fire, a great\nsickness surged upward to his throat.  He saw a tangle of almost\nimpenetrable thicket, and, like the wild beast he was, he crawled into\nit to die alone and unseen, safe from the attacks of predatory\ncarnivora.\n\nBut he did not die.  For a long time he wanted to; but presently nature\nand an outraged stomach relieved themselves in their own therapeutic\nmanner, the ape-man broke into a violent perspiration and then fell\ninto a normal and untroubled sleep which persisted well into the\nafternoon.  When he awoke he found himself weak but no longer sick.\n\nOnce more he sought water, and after drinking deeply, took his way\nslowly toward the cabin by the sea.  In times of loneliness and trouble\nit had long been his custom to seek there the quiet and restfulness\nwhich he could find nowhere else.\n\nAs he approached the cabin and raised the crude latch which his father\nhad fashioned so many years before, two small, blood-shot eyes watched\nhim from the concealing foliage of the jungle close by.  From beneath\nshaggy, beetling brows they glared maliciously upon him, maliciously\nand with a keen curiosity; then Tarzan entered the cabin and closed the\ndoor after him.  Here, with all the world shut out from him, he could\ndream without fear of interruption.  He could curl up and look at the\npictures in the strange things which were books, he could puzzle out\nthe printed word he had learned to read without knowledge of the spoken\nlanguage it represented, he could live in a wonderful world of which he\nhad no knowledge beyond the covers of his beloved books.  Numa and\nSabor might prowl about close to him, the elements might rage in all\ntheir fury; but here at least, Tarzan might be entirely off his guard\nin a delightful relaxation which gave him all his faculties for the\nuninterrupted pursuit of this greatest of all his pleasures.\n\nToday he turned to the picture of the huge bird which bore off the\nlittle Tarmangani in its talons.  Tarzan puckered his brows as he\nexamined the colored print.  Yes, this was the very bird that had\ncarried him off the day before, for to Tarzan the dream had been so\ngreat a reality that he still thought another day and a night had\npassed since he had lain down in the tree to sleep.\n\nBut the more he thought upon the matter the less positive he was as to\nthe verity of the seeming adventure through which he had passed, yet\nwhere the real had ceased and the unreal commenced he was quite unable\nto determine.  Had he really then been to the village of the blacks at\nall, had he killed the old Gomangani, had he eaten of the elephant\nmeat, had he been sick? Tarzan scratched his tousled black head and\nwondered.  It was all very strange, yet he knew that he never had seen\nNuma climb a tree, or Histah with the head and belly of an old black\nman whom Tarzan already had slain.\n\nFinally, with a sigh he gave up trying to fathom the unfathomable, yet\nin his heart of hearts he knew that something had come into his life\nthat he never before had experienced, another life which existed when\nhe slept and the consciousness of which was carried over into his\nwaking hours.\n\nThen he commenced to wonder if some of these strange creatures which he\nmet in his sleep might not slay him, for at such times Tarzan of the\nApes seemed to be a different Tarzan, sluggish, helpless and\ntimid--wishing to flee his enemies as fled Bara, the deer, most fearful\nof creatures.\n\nThus, with a dream, came the first faint tinge of a knowledge of fear,\na knowledge which Tarzan, awake, had never experienced, and perhaps he\nwas experiencing what his early forbears passed through and transmitted\nto posterity in the form of superstition first and religion later; for\nthey, as Tarzan, had seen things at night which they could not explain\nby the daylight standards of sense perception or of reason, and so had\nbuilt for themselves a weird explanation which included grotesque\nshapes, possessed of strange and uncanny powers, to whom they finally\ncame to attribute all those inexplicable phenomena of nature which with\neach recurrence filled them with awe, with wonder, or with terror.\n\nAnd as Tarzan concentrated his mind on the little bugs upon the printed\npage before him, the active recollection of the strange adventures\npresently merged into the text of that which he was reading--a story of\nBolgani, the gorilla, in captivity.  There was a more or less lifelike\nillustration of Bolgani in colors and in a cage, with many remarkable\nlooking Tarmangani standing against a rail and peering curiously at the\nsnarling brute.  Tarzan wondered not a little, as he always did, at the\nodd and seemingly useless array of colored plumage which covered the\nbodies of the Tarmangani.  It always caused him to grin a trifle when\nhe looked at these strange creatures.  He wondered if they so covered\ntheir bodies from shame of their hairlessness or because they thought\nthe odd things they wore added any to the beauty of their appearance.\nParticularly was Tarzan amused by the grotesque headdresses of the\npictured people.  He wondered how some of the shes succeeded in\nbalancing theirs in an upright position, and he came as near to\nlaughing aloud as he ever had, as he contemplated the funny little\nround things upon the heads of the hes.\n\nSlowly the ape-man picked out the meaning of the various combinations\nof letters on the printed page, and as he read, the little bugs, for as\nsuch he always thought of the letters, commenced to run about in a most\nconfusing manner, blurring his vision and befuddling his thoughts.\nTwice he brushed the back of a hand smartly across his eyes; but only\nfor a moment could he bring the bugs back to coherent and intelligible\nform.  He had slept ill the night before and now he was exhausted from\nloss of sleep, from sickness, and from the slight fever he had had, so\nthat it became more and more difficult to fix his attention, or to keep\nhis eyes open.\n\nTarzan realized that he was falling asleep, and just as the realization\nwas borne in upon him and he had decided to relinquish himself to an\ninclination which had assumed almost the proportions of a physical\npain, he was aroused by the opening of the cabin door.  Turning quickly\ntoward the interruption Tarzan was amazed, for a moment, to see bulking\nlarge in the doorway the huge and hairy form of Bolgani, the gorilla.\n\nNow there was scarcely a denizen of the great jungle with whom Tarzan\nwould rather not have been cooped up inside the small cabin than\nBolgani, the gorilla, yet he felt no fear, even though his quick eye\nnoted that Bolgani was in the throes of that jungle madness which\nseizes upon so many of the fiercer males.  Ordinarily the huge gorillas\navoid conflict, hide themselves from the other jungle folk, and are\ngenerally the best of neighbors; but when they are attacked, or the\nmadness seizes them, there is no jungle denizen so bold and fierce as\nto deliberately seek a quarrel with them.\n\nBut for Tarzan there was no escape.  Bolgani was glowering at him from\nred-rimmed, wicked eyes.  In a moment he would rush in and seize the\nape-man. Tarzan reached for the hunting knife where he had lain it on\nthe table beside him; but as his fingers did not immediately locate the\nweapon, he turned a quick glance in search of it.  As he did so his\neyes fell upon the book he had been looking at which still lay open at\nthe picture of Bolgani.  Tarzan found his knife, but he merely fingered\nit idly and grinned in the direction of the advancing gorilla.\n\nNot again would he be fooled by empty things which came while he slept!\nIn a moment, no doubt, Bolgani would turn into Pamba, the rat, with the\nhead of Tantor, the elephant.  Tarzan had seen enough of such strange\nhappenings recently to have some idea as to what he might expect; but\nthis time Bolgani did not alter his form as he came slowly toward the\nyoung ape-man.\n\nTarzan was a bit puzzled, too, that he felt no desire to rush\nfrantically to some place of safety, as had been the sensation most\nconspicuous in the other of his new and remarkable adventures.  He was\njust himself now, ready to fight, if necessary; but still sure that no\nflesh and blood gorilla stood before him.\n\nThe thing should be fading away into thin air by now, thought Tarzan,\nor changing into something else; yet it did not.  Instead it loomed\nclear-cut and real as Bolgani himself, the magnificent dark coat\nglistening with life and health in a bar of sunlight which shot across\nthe cabin through the high window behind the young Lord Greystoke.\nThis was quite the most realistic of his sleep adventures, thought\nTarzan, as he passively awaited the next amusing incident.\n\nAnd then the gorilla charged.  Two mighty, calloused hands seized upon\nthe ape-man, great fangs were bared close to his face, a hideous growl\nburst from the cavernous throat and hot breath fanned Tarzan's cheek,\nand still he sat grinning at the apparition.  Tarzan might be fooled\nonce or twice, but not for so many times in succession!  He knew that\nthis Bolgani was no real Bolgani, for had he been he never could have\ngained entrance to the cabin, since only Tarzan knew how to operate the\nlatch.\n\nThe gorilla seemed puzzled by the strange passivity of the hairless\nape.  He paused an instant with his jaws snarling close to the other's\nthroat, then he seemed suddenly to come to some decision.  Whirling the\nape-man across a hairy shoulder, as easily as you or I might lift a\nbabe in arms, Bolgani turned and dashed out into the open, racing\ntoward the great trees.\n\nNow, indeed, was Tarzan sure that this was a sleep adventure, and so\ngrinned largely as the giant gorilla bore him, unresisting, away.\nPresently, reasoned Tarzan, he would awaken and find himself back in\nthe cabin where he had fallen asleep.  He glanced back at the thought\nand saw the cabin door standing wide open.  This would never do! Always\nhad he been careful to close and latch it against wild intruders.\nManu, the monkey, would make sad havoc there among Tarzan's treasures\nshould he have access to the interior for even a few minutes.  The\nquestion which arose in Tarzan's mind was a baffling one.  Where did\nsleep adventures end and reality commence? How was he to be sure that\nthe cabin door was not really open?  Everything about him appeared\nquite normal--there were none of the grotesque exaggerations of his\nformer sleep adventures.  It would be better then to be upon the safe\nside and make sure that the cabin door was closed--it would do no harm\neven if all that seemed to be happening were not happening at all.\n\nTarzan essayed to slip from Bolgani's shoulder; but the great beast\nonly growled ominously and gripped him tighter.  With a mighty effort\nthe ape-man wrenched himself loose, and as he slid to the ground, the\ndream gorilla turned ferociously upon him, seized him once more and\nburied great fangs in a sleek, brown shoulder.\n\nThe grin of derision faded from Tarzan's lips as the pain and the hot\nblood aroused his fighting instincts.  Asleep or awake, this thing was\nno longer a joke! Biting, tearing, and snarling, the two rolled over\nupon the ground.  The gorilla now was frantic with insane rage.  Again\nand again he loosed his hold upon the ape-man's shoulder in an attempt\nto seize the jugular; but Tarzan of the Apes had fought before with\ncreatures who struck first for the vital vein, and each time he\nwriggled out of harm's way as he strove to get his fingers upon his\nadversary's throat.  At last he succeeded--his great muscles tensed and\nknotted beneath his smooth hide as he forced with every ounce of his\nmighty strength to push the hairy torso from him.  And as he choked\nBolgani and strained him away, his other hand crept slowly upward\nbetween them until the point of the hunting knife rested over the\nsavage heart--there was a quick movement of the steel-thewed wrist and\nthe blade plunged to its goal.\n\nBolgani, the gorilla, voiced a single frightful shriek, tore himself\nloose from the grasp of the ape-man, rose to his feet, staggered a few\nsteps and then plunged to earth.  There were a few spasmodic movements\nof the limbs and the brute was still.\n\nTarzan of the Apes stood looking down upon his kill, and as he stood\nthere he ran his fingers through his thick, black shock of hair.\nPresently he stooped and touched the dead body.  Some of the red\nlife-blood of the gorilla crimsoned his fingers.  He raised them to his\nnose and sniffed.  Then he shook his head and turned toward the cabin.\nThe door was still open.  He closed it and fastened the latch.\nReturning toward the body of his kill he again paused and scratched his\nhead.\n\nIf this was a sleep adventure, what then was reality? How was he to\nknow the one from the other? How much of all that had happened in his\nlife had been real and how much unreal?\n\nHe placed a foot upon the prostrate form and raising his face to the\nheavens gave voice to the kill cry of the bull ape.  Far in the\ndistance a lion answered.  It was very real and, yet, he did not know.\nPuzzled, he turned away into the jungle.\n\nNo, he did not know what was real and what was not; but there was one\nthing that he did know--never again would he eat of the flesh of\nTantor, the elephant.\n\n\n\n\n                          10\n\n                 The Battle for Teeka\n\nTHE DAY WAS perfect.  A cool breeze tempered the heat of the equatorial\nsun.  Peace had reigned within the tribe for weeks and no alien enemy\nhad trespassed upon its preserves from without.  To the ape-mind all\nthis was sufficient evidence that the future would be identical with\nthe immediate past--that Utopia would persist.\n\nThe sentinels, now from habit become a fixed tribal custom, either\nrelaxed their vigilance or entirely deserted their posts, as the whim\nseized them.  The tribe was far scattered in search of food.  Thus may\npeace and prosperity undermine the safety of the most primitive\ncommunity even as it does that of the most cultured.\n\nEven the individuals became less watchful and alert, so that one might\nhave thought Numa and Sabor and Sheeta entirely deleted from the scheme\nof things.  The shes and the balus roamed unguarded through the sullen\njungle, while the greedy males foraged far afield, and thus it was that\nTeeka and Gazan, her balu, hunted upon the extreme southern edge of the\ntribe with no great male near them.\n\nStill farther south there moved through the forest a sinister figure--a\nhuge bull ape, maddened by solitude and defeat.  A week before he had\ncontended for the kingship of a tribe far distant, and now battered,\nand still sore, he roamed the wilderness an outcast.  Later he might\nreturn to his own tribe and submit to the will of the hairy brute he\nhad attempted to dethrone; but for the time being he dared not do so,\nsince he had sought not only the crown but the wives, as well, of his\nlord and master.  It would require an entire moon at least to bring\nforgetfulness to him he had wronged, and so Toog wandered a strange\njungle, grim, terrible, hate-filled.\n\nIt was in this mental state that Toog came unexpectedly upon a young\nshe feeding alone in the jungle--a stranger she, lithe and strong and\nbeautiful beyond compare.  Toog caught his breath and slunk quickly to\none side of the trail where the dense foliage of the tropical\nunderbrush concealed him from Teeka while permitting him to feast his\neyes upon her loveliness.\n\nBut not alone were they concerned with Teeka--they roved the\nsurrounding jungle in search of the bulls and cows and balus of her\ntribe, though principally for the bulls.  When one covets a she of an\nalien tribe one must take into consideration the great, fierce, hairy\nguardians who seldom wander far from their wards and who will fight a\nstranger to the death in protection of the mate or offspring of a\nfellow, precisely as they would fight for their own.\n\nToog could see no sign of any ape other than the strange she and a\nyoung balu playing near by.  His wicked, blood-shot eyes half closed as\nthey rested upon the charms of the former--as for the balu, one snap of\nthose great jaws upon the back of its little neck would prevent it from\nraising any unnecessary alarm.\n\nToog was a fine, big male, resembling in many ways Teeka's mate, Taug.\nEach was in his prime, and each was wonderfully muscled, perfectly\nfanged and as horrifyingly ferocious as the most exacting and\nparticular she could wish.  Had Toog been of her own tribe, Teeka might\nas readily have yielded to him as to Taug when her mating time arrived;\nbut now she was Taug's and no other male could claim her without first\ndefeating Taug in personal combat.  And even then Teeka retained some\nrights in the matter.  If she did not favor a correspondent, she could\nenter the lists with her rightful mate and do her part toward\ndiscouraging his advances, a part, too, which would prove no mean\nassistance to her lord and master, for Teeka, even though her fangs\nwere smaller than a male's, could use them to excellent effect.\n\nJust now Teeka was occupied in a fascinating search for beetles, to the\nexclusion of all else.  She did not realize how far she and Gazan had\nbecome separated from the balance of the tribe, nor were her defensive\nsenses upon the alert as they should have been.  Months of immunity\nfrom danger under the protecting watchfulness of the sentries, which\nTarzan had taught the tribe to post, had lulled them all into a sense\nof peaceful security based on that fallacy which has wrecked many\nenlightened communities in the past and will continue to wreck others\nin the future--that because they have not been attacked they never will\nbe.\n\nToog, having satisfied himself that only the she and her balu were in\nthe immediate vicinity, crept stealthily forward.  Teeka's back was\ntoward him when he finally rushed upon her; but her senses were at last\nawakened to the presence of danger and she wheeled to face the strange\nbull just before he reached her.  Toog halted a few paces from her.\nHis anger had fled before the seductive feminine charms of the\nstranger.  He made conciliatory noises--a species of clucking sound\nwith his broad, flat lips--that were, too, not greatly dissimilar to\nthat which might be produced in an osculatory solo.\n\nBut Teeka only bared her fangs and growled.  Little Gazan started to\nrun toward his mother, but she warned him away with a quick \"Kreeg-ah!\"\ntelling him to run high into a tall tree.  Evidently Teeka was not\nfavorably impressed by her new suitor.  Toog realized this and altered\nhis methods accordingly.  He swelled his giant chest, beat upon it with\nhis calloused knuckles and swaggered to and fro before her.\n\n\"I am Toog,\" he boasted.  \"Look at my fighting fangs.  Look at my great\narms and my mighty legs.  With one bite I can slay your biggest bull.\nAlone have I slain Sheeta.  I am Toog.  Toog wants you.\" Then he waited\nfor the effect, nor did he have long to wait.  Teeka turned with a\nswiftness which belied her great weight and bolted in the opposite\ndirection.  Toog, with an angry growl, leaped in pursuit; but the\nsmaller, lighter female was too fleet for him.  He chased her for a few\nyards and then, foaming and barking, he halted and beat upon the ground\nwith his hard fists.\n\nFrom the tree above him little Gazan looked down and witnessed the\nstranger bull's discomfiture.  Being young, and thinking himself safe\nabove the reach of the heavy male, Gazan screamed an ill-timed insult\nat their tormentor.  Toog looked up.  Teeka had halted at a little\ndistance--she would not go far from her balu; that Toog quickly\nrealized and as quickly determined to take advantage of.  He saw that\nthe tree in which the young ape squatted was isolated and that Gazan\ncould not reach another without coming to earth.  He would obtain the\nmother through her love for her young.\n\nHe swung himself into the lower branches of the tree.  Little Gazan\nceased to insult him; his expression of deviltry changed to one of\napprehension, which was quickly followed by fear as Toog commenced to\nascend toward him.  Teeka screamed to Gazan to climb higher, and the\nlittle fellow scampered upward among the tiny branches which would not\nsupport the weight of the great bull; but nevertheless Toog kept on\nclimbing.  Teeka was not fearful.  She knew that he could not ascend\nfar enough to reach Gazan, so she sat at a little distance from the\ntree and applied jungle opprobrium to him.  Being a female, she was a\npast master of the art.\n\nBut she did not know the malevolent cunning of Toog's little brain.\nShe took it for granted that the bull would climb as high as he could\ntoward Gazan and then, finding that he could not reach him, resume his\npursuit of her, which she knew would prove equally fruitless.  So sure\nwas she of the safety of her balu and her own ability to take care of\nherself that she did not voice the cry for help which would soon have\nbrought the other members of the tribe flocking to her side.\n\nToog slowly reached the limit to which he dared risk his great weight\nto the slender branches.  Gazan was still fifteen feet above him.  The\nbull braced himself and seized the main branch in his powerful hands,\nthen he commenced shaking it vigorously.  Teeka was appalled.\nInstantly she realized what the bull purposed.  Gazan clung far out\nupon a swaying limb.  At the first shake he lost his balance, though he\ndid not quite fall, clinging still with his four hands; but Toog\nredoubled his efforts; the shaking produced a violent snapping of the\nlimb to which the young ape clung.  Teeka saw all too plainly what the\noutcome must be and forgetting her own danger in the depth of her\nmother love, rushed forward to ascend the tree and give battle to the\nfearsome creature that menaced the life of her little one.\n\nBut before ever she reached the bole, Toog had succeeded, by violent\nshaking of the branch, to loosen Gazan's hold.  With a cry the little\nfellow plunged down through the foliage, clutching futilely for a new\nhold, and alighted with a sickening thud at his mother's feet, where he\nlay silent and motionless.  Moaning, Teeka stooped to lift the still\nform in her arms; but at the same instant Toog was upon her.\n\nStruggling and biting she fought to free herself; but the giant muscles\nof the great bull were too much for her lesser strength.  Toog struck\nand choked her repeatedly until finally, half unconscious, she lapsed\ninto quasi submission.  Then the bull lifted her to his shoulder and\nturned back to the trail toward the south from whence he had come.\n\nUpon the ground lay the quiet form of little Gazan.  He did not moan.\nHe did not move.  The sun rose slowly toward meridian.  A mangy thing,\nlifting its nose to scent the jungle breeze, crept through the\nunderbrush.  It was Dango, the hyena.  Presently its ugly muzzle broke\nthrough some near-by foliage and its cruel eyes fastened upon Gazan.\n\nEarly that morning, Tarzan of the Apes had gone to the cabin by the\nsea, where he passed many an hour at such times as the tribe was\nranging in the vicinity.  On the floor lay the skeleton of a man--all\nthat remained of the former Lord Greystoke--lay as it had fallen some\ntwenty years before when Kerchak, the great ape, had thrown it,\nlifeless, there.  Long since had the termites and the small rodents\npicked clean the sturdy English bones.  For years Tarzan had seen it\nlying there, giving it no more attention than he gave the countless\nthousand bones that strewed his jungle haunts.  On the bed another,\nsmaller, skeleton reposed and the youth ignored it as he ignored the\nother.  How could he know that the one had been his father, the other\nhis mother? The little pile of bones in the rude cradle, fashioned with\nsuch loving care by the former Lord Greystoke, meant nothing to\nhim--that one day that little skull was to help prove his right to a\nproud title was as far beyond his ken as the satellites of the suns of\nOrion.  To Tarzan they were bones--just bones.  He did not need them,\nfor there was no meat left upon them, and they were not in his way, for\nhe knew no necessity for a bed, and the skeleton upon the floor he\neasily could step over.\n\nToday he was restless.  He turned the pages first of one book and then\nof another.  He glanced at pictures which he knew by heart, and tossed\nthe books aside.  He rummaged for the thousandth time in the cupboard.\nHe took out a bag which contained several small, round pieces of metal.\nHe had played with them many times in the years gone by; but always he\nreplaced them carefully in the bag, and the bag in the cupboard, upon\nthe very shelf where first he had discovered it.  In strange ways did\nheredity manifest itself in the ape-man. Come of an orderly race, he\nhimself was orderly without knowing why.  The apes dropped things\nwherever their interest in them waned--in the tall grass or from the\nhigh-flung branches of the trees.  What they dropped they sometimes\nfound again, by accident; but not so the ways of Tarzan.  For his few\nbelongings he had a place and scrupulously he returned each thing to\nits proper place when he was done with it.  The round pieces of metal\nin the little bag always interested him.  Raised pictures were upon\neither side, the meaning of which he did not quite understand.  The\npieces were bright and shiny.  It amused him to arrange them in various\nfigures upon the table.  Hundreds of times had he played thus.  Today,\nwhile so engaged, he dropped a lovely yellow piece--an English\nsovereign--which rolled beneath the bed where lay all that was mortal\nof the once beautiful Lady Alice.\n\nTrue to form, Tarzan at once dropped to his hands and knees and\nsearched beneath the bed for the lost gold piece.  Strange as it might\nappear, he had never before looked beneath the bed.  He found the gold\npiece, and something else he found, too--a small wooden box with a\nloose cover.  Bringing them both out he returned the sovereign to its\nbag and the bag to its shelf within the cupboard; then he investigated\nthe box.  It contained a quantity of cylindrical bits of metal,\ncone-shaped at one end and flat at the other, with a projecting rim.\nThey were all quite green and dull, coated with years of verdigris.\n\nTarzan removed a handful of them from the box and examined them.  He\nrubbed one upon another and discovered that the green came off, leaving\na shiny surface for two-thirds of their length and a dull gray over the\ncone-shaped end.  Finding a bit of wood he rubbed one of the cylinders\nrapidly and was rewarded by a lustrous sheen which pleased him.\n\nAt his side hung a pocket pouch taken from the body of one of the\nnumerous black warriors he had slain.  Into this pouch he put a handful\nof the new playthings, thinking to polish them at his leisure; then he\nreplaced the box beneath the bed, and finding nothing more to amuse\nhim, left the cabin and started back in the direction of the tribe.\n\nShortly before he reached them he heard a great commotion ahead of\nhim--the loud screams of shes and balus, the savage, angry barking and\ngrowling of the great bulls.  Instantly he increased his speed, for the\n\"Kreeg-ahs\" that came to his ears warned him that something was amiss\nwith his fellows.\n\nWhile Tarzan had been occupied with his own devices in the cabin of his\ndead sire, Taug, Teeka's mighty mate, had been hunting a mile to the\nnorth of the tribe.  At last, his belly filled, he had turned lazily\nback toward the clearing where he had last seen the tribe and presently\ncommenced passing its members scattered alone or in twos or threes.\nNowhere did he see Teeka or Gazan, and soon he began inquiring of the\nother apes where they might be; but none had seen them recently.\n\nNow the lower orders are not highly imaginative.  They do not, as you\nand I, paint vivid mental pictures of things which might have occurred,\nand so Taug did not now apprehend that any misfortune had overtaken his\nmate and their off-spring--he merely knew that he wished to find Teeka\nthat he might lie down in the shade and have her scratch his back while\nhis breakfast digested; but though he called to her and searched for\nher and asked each whom he met, he could find no trace of Teeka, nor of\nGazan either.\n\nHe was beginning to become peeved and had about made up his mind to\nchastise Teeka for wandering so far afield when he wanted her.  He was\nmoving south along a game trail, his calloused soles and knuckles\ngiving forth no sound, when he came upon Dango at the opposite side of\na small clearing.  The eater of carrion did not see Taug, for all his\neyes were for something which lay in the grass beneath a\ntree--something upon which he was sneaking with the cautious stealth of\nhis breed.\n\nTaug, always cautious himself, as it behooves one to be who fares up\nand down the jungle and desires to survive, swung noiselessly into a\ntree, where he could have a better view of the clearing.  He did not\nfear Dango; but he wanted to see what it was that Dango stalked.  In a\nway, possibly, he was actuated as much by curiosity as by caution.\n\nAnd when Taug reached a place in the branches from which he could have\nan unobstructed view of the clearing he saw Dango already sniffing at\nsomething directly beneath him--something which Taug instantly\nrecognized as the lifeless form of his little Gazan.\n\nWith a cry so frightful, so bestial, that it momentarily paralyzed the\nstartled Dango, the great ape launched his mighty bulk upon the\nsurprised hyena.  With a cry and a snarl, Dango, crushed to earth,\nturned to tear at his assailant; but as effectively might a sparrow\nturn upon a hawk.  Taug's great, gnarled fingers closed upon the\nhyena's throat and back, his jaws snapped once on the mangy neck,\ncrushing the vertebrae, and then he hurled the dead body contemptuously\naside.\n\nAgain he raised his voice in the call of the bull ape to its mate, but\nthere was no reply; then he leaned down to sniff at the body of Gazan.\nIn the breast of this savage, hideous beast there beat a heart which\nwas moved, however slightly, by the same emotions of paternal love\nwhich affect us.  Even had we no actual evidence of this, we must know\nit still, since only thus might be explained the survival of the human\nrace in which the jealousy and selfishness of the bulls would, in the\nearliest stages of the race, have wiped out the young as rapidly as\nthey were brought into the world had not God implanted in the savage\nbosom that paternal love which evidences itself most strongly in the\nprotective instinct of the male.\n\nIn Taug the protective instinct was not alone highly developed; but\naffection for his offspring as well, for Taug was an unusually\nintelligent specimen of these great, manlike apes which the natives of\nthe Gobi speak of in whispers; but which no white man ever had seen,\nor, if seeing, lived to tell of until Tarzan of the Apes came among\nthem.\n\nAnd so Taug felt sorrow as any other father might feel sorrow at the\nloss of a little child.  To you little Gazan might have seemed a\nhideous and repulsive creature, but to Taug and Teeka he was as\nbeautiful and as cute as is your little Mary or Johnnie or Elizabeth\nAnn to you, and he was their firstborn, their only balu, and a\nhe--three things which might make a young ape the apple of any fond\nfather's eye.\n\nFor a moment Taug sniffed at the quiet little form.  With his muzzle\nand his tongue he smoothed and caressed the rumpled coat.  From his\nsavage lips broke a low moan; but quickly upon the heels of sorrow came\nthe overmastering desire for revenge.\n\nLeaping to his feet he screamed out a volley of \"Kreegahs,\" punctuated\nfrom time to time by the blood-freezing cry of an angry, challenging\nbull--a rage-mad bull with the blood lust strong upon him.\n\nAnswering his cries came the cries of the tribe as they swung through\nthe trees toward him.  It was these that Tarzan heard on his return\nfrom his cabin, and in reply to them he raised his own voice and\nhurried forward with increased speed until he fairly flew through the\nmiddle terraces of the forest.\n\nWhen at last he came upon the tribe he saw their members gathered about\nTaug and something which lay quietly upon the ground.  Dropping among\nthem, Tarzan approached the center of the group.  Taug was still\nroaring out his challenges; but when he saw Tarzan he ceased and\nstooping picked up Gazan in his arms and held him out for Tarzan to\nsee.  Of all the bulls of the tribe, Taug held affection for Tarzan\nonly.  Tarzan he trusted and looked up to as one wiser and more\ncunning.  To Tarzan he came now--to the playmate of his balu days, the\ncompanion of innumerable battles of his maturity.\n\nWhen Tarzan saw the still form in Taug's arms, a low growl broke from\nhis lips, for he too loved Teeka's little balu.\n\n\"Who did it?\" he asked.  \"Where is Teeka?\"\n\n\"I do not know,\" replied Taug.  \"I found him lying here with Dango\nabout to feed upon him; but it was not Dango that did it--there are no\nfang marks upon him.\"\n\nTarzan came closer and placed an ear against Gazan's breast.  \"He is\nnot dead,\" he said.  \"Maybe he will not die.\" He pressed through the\ncrowd of apes and circled once about them, examining the ground step by\nstep.  Suddenly he stopped and placing his nose close to the earth\nsniffed.  Then he sprang to his feet, giving a peculiar cry.  Taug and\nthe others pressed forward, for the sound told them that the hunter had\nfound the spoor of his quarry.\n\n\"A stranger bull has been here,\" said Tarzan.  \"It was he that hurt\nGazan.  He has carried off Teeka.\"\n\nTaug and the other bulls commenced to roar and threaten; but they did\nnothing.  Had the stranger bull been within sight they would have torn\nhim to pieces; but it did not occur to them to follow him.\n\n\"If the three bulls had been watching around the tribe this would not\nhave happened,\" said Tarzan.  \"Such things will happen as long as you\ndo not keep the three bulls watching for an enemy.  The jungle is full\nof enemies, and yet you let your shes and your balus feed where they\nwill, alone and unprotected.  Tarzan goes now--he goes to find Teeka\nand bring her back to the tribe.\"\n\nThe idea appealed to the other bulls.  \"We will all go,\" they cried.\n\n\"No,\" said Tarzan, \"you will not all go.  We cannot take shes and balus\nwhen we go out to hunt and fight.  You must remain to guard them or you\nwill lose them all.\"\n\nThey scratched their heads.  The wisdom of his advice was dawning upon\nthem, but at first they had been carried away by the new idea--the idea\nof following up an enemy offender to wrest his prize from him and\npunish him.  The community instinct was ingrained in their characters\nthrough ages of custom.  They did not know why they had not thought to\npursue and punish the offender--they could not know that it was because\nthey had as yet not reached a mental plane which would permit them to\nwork as individuals.  In times of stress, the community instinct sent\nthem huddling into a compact herd where the great bulls, by the weight\nof their combined strength and ferocity, could best protect them from\nan enemy.  The idea of separating to do battle with a foe had not yet\noccurred to them--it was too foreign to custom, too inimical to\ncommunity interests; but to Tarzan it was the first and most natural\nthought.  His senses told him that there was but a single bull\nconnected with the attack upon Teeka and Gazan.  A single enemy did not\nrequire the entire tribe for his punishment.  Two swift bulls could\nquickly overhaul him and rescue Teeka.\n\nIn the past no one ever had thought to go forth in search of the shes\nthat were occasionally stolen from the tribe.  If Numa, Sabor, Sheeta\nor a wandering bull ape from another tribe chanced to carry off a maid\nor a matron while no one was looking, that was the end of it--she was\ngone, that was all.  The bereaved husband, if the victim chanced to\nhave been mated, growled around for a day or two and then, if he were\nstrong enough, took another mate within the tribe, and if not, wandered\nfar into the jungle on the chance of stealing one from another\ncommunity.\n\nIn the past Tarzan of the Apes had condoned this practice for the\nreason that he had had no interest in those who had been stolen; but\nTeeka had been his first love and Teeka's balu held a place in his\nheart such as a balu of his own would have held.  Just once before had\nTarzan wished to follow and revenge.  That had been years before when\nKulonga, the son of Mbonga, the chief, had slain Kala.  Then,\nsingle-handed, Tarzan had pursued and avenged.  Now, though to a lesser\ndegree, he was moved by the same passion.\n\nHe turned toward Taug.  \"Leave Gazan with Mumga,\" he said.  \"She is old\nand her fangs are broken and she is no good; but she can take care of\nGazan until we return with Teeka, and if Gazan is dead when we come\nback,\" he turned to address Mumga, \"I will kill you, too.\"\n\n\"Where are we going?\" asked Taug.\n\n\"We are going to get Teeka,\" replied the ape-man, \"and kill the bull\nwho has stolen her.  Come!\"\n\nHe turned again to the spoor of the stranger bull, which showed plainly\nto his trained senses, nor did he glance back to note if Taug followed.\nThe latter laid Gazan in Mumga's arms with a parting: \"If he dies\nTarzan will kill you,\" and he followed after the brown-skinned figure\nthat already was moving at a slow trot along the jungle trail.\n\nNo other bull of the tribe of Kerchak was so good a trailer as Tarzan,\nfor his trained senses were aided by a high order of intelligence.  His\njudgment told him the natural trail for a quarry to follow, so that he\nneed but note the most apparent marks upon the way, and today the trail\nof Toog was as plain to him as type upon a printed page to you or me.\n\nFollowing close behind the lithe figure of the ape-man came the huge\nand shaggy bull ape.  No words passed between them.  They moved as\nsilently as two shadows among the myriad shadows of the forest.  Alert\nas his eyes and ears, was Tarzan's patrician nose.  The spoor was\nfresh, and now that they had passed from the range of the strong ape\nodor of the tribe he had little difficulty in following Toog and Teeka\nby scent alone.  Teeka's familiar scent spoor told both Tarzan and Taug\nthat they were upon her trail, and soon the scent of Toog became as\nfamiliar as the other.\n\nThey were progressing rapidly when suddenly dense clouds overcast the\nsun.  Tarzan accelerated his pace.  Now he fairly flew along the jungle\ntrail, or, where Toog had taken to the trees, followed nimbly as a\nsquirrel along the bending, undulating pathway of the foliage branches,\nswinging from tree to tree as Toog had swung before them; but more\nrapidly because they were not handicapped by a burden such as Toog's.\n\nTarzan felt that they must be almost upon the quarry, for the scent\nspoor was becoming stronger and stronger, when the jungle was suddenly\nshot by livid lightning, and a deafening roar of thunder reverberated\nthrough the heavens and the forest until the earth trembled and shook.\nThen came the rain--not as it comes to us of the temperate zones, but\nas a mighty avalanche of water--a deluge which spills tons instead of\ndrops upon the bending forest giants and the terrified creatures which\nhaunt their shade.\n\nAnd the rain did what Tarzan knew that it would do--it wiped the spoor\nof the quarry from the face of the earth.  For a half hour the torrents\nfell--then the sun burst forth, jeweling the forest with a million\nscintillant gems; but today the ape-man, usually alert to the changing\nwonders of the jungle, saw them not.  Only the fact that the spoor of\nTeeka and her abductor was obliterated found lodgment in his thoughts.\n\nEven among the branches of the trees there are well-worn trails, just\nas there are trails upon the surface of the ground; but in the trees\nthey branch and cross more often, since the way is more open than among\nthe dense undergrowth at the surface.  Along one of these well-marked\ntrails Tarzan and Taug continued after the rain had ceased, because the\nape-man knew that this was the most logical path for the thief to\nfollow; but when they came to a fork, they were at a loss.  Here they\nhalted, while Tarzan examined every branch and leaf which might have\nbeen touched by the fleeing ape.\n\nHe sniffed the bole of the tree, and with his keen eyes he sought to\nfind upon the bark some sign of the way the quarry had taken.  It was\nslow work and all the time, Tarzan knew, the bull of the alien tribe\nwas forging steadily away from them--gaining precious minutes that\nmight carry him to safety before they could catch up with him.\n\nFirst along one fork he went, and then another, applying every test\nthat his wonderful junglecraft was cognizant of; but again and again he\nwas baffled, for the scent had been washed away by the heavy downpour,\nin every exposed place.  For a half hour Tarzan and Taug searched,\nuntil at last, upon the bottom of a broad leaf, Tarzan's keen nose\ncaught the faint trace of the scent spoor of Toog, where the leaf had\nbrushed a hairy shoulder as the great ape passed through the foliage.\n\nOnce again the two took up the trail, but it was slow work now and\nthere were many discouraging delays when the spoor seemed lost beyond\nrecovery.  To you or me there would have been no spoor, even before the\ncoming of the rain, except, possibly, where Toog had come to earth and\nfollowed a game trail.  In such places the imprint of a huge handlike\nfoot and the knuckles of one great hand were sometimes plain enough for\nan ordinary mortal to read.  Tarzan knew from these and other\nindications that the ape was yet carrying Teeka.  The depth of the\nimprint of his feet indicated a much greater weight than that of any of\nthe larger bulls, for they were made under the combined weight of Toog\nand Teeka, while the fact that the knuckles of but one hand touched the\nground at any time showed that the other hand was occupied in some\nother business--the business of holding the prisoner to a hairy\nshoulder.  Tarzan could follow, in sheltered places, the changing of\nthe burden from one shoulder to another, as indicated by the deepening\nof the foot imprint upon the side of the load, and the changing of the\nknuckle imprints from one side of the trail to the other.\n\nThere were stretches along the surface paths where the ape had gone for\nconsiderable distances entirely erect upon his hind feet--walking as a\nman walks; but the same might have been true of any of the great\nanthropoids of the same species, for, unlike the chimpanzee and the\ngorilla, they walk without the aid of their hands quite as readily as\nwith.  It was such things, however, which helped to identify to Tarzan\nand to Taug the appearance of the abductor, and with his individual\nscent characteristic already indelibly impressed upon their memories,\nthey were in a far better position to know him when they came upon him,\neven should he have disposed of Teeka before, than is a modern sleuth\nwith his photographs and Bertillon measurements, equipped to recognize\na fugitive from civilized justice.\n\nBut with all their high-strung and delicately attuned perceptive\nfaculties the two bulls of the tribe of Kerchak were often sore pressed\nto follow the trail at all, and at best were so delayed that in the\nafternoon of the second day, they still had not overhauled the\nfugitive.  The scent was now strong, for it had been made since the\nrain, and Tarzan knew that it would not be long before they came upon\nthe thief and his loot.  Above them, as they crept stealthily forward,\nchattered Manu, the monkey, and his thousand fellows; squawked and\nscreamed the brazen-throated birds of plumage; buzzed and hummed the\ncountless insects amid the rustling of the forest leaves, and, as they\npassed, a little gray-beard, squeaking and scolding upon a swaying\nbranch, looked down and saw them.  Instantly the scolding and squeaking\nceased, and off tore the long-tailed mite as though Sheeta, the\npanther, had been endowed with wings and was in close pursuit of him.\nTo all appearances he was only a very much frightened little monkey,\nfleeing for his life--there seemed nothing sinister about him.\n\nAnd what of Teeka during all this time? Was she at last resigned to her\nfate and accompanying her new mate in the proper humility of a loving\nand tractable spouse?  A single glance at the pair would have answered\nthese questions to the utter satisfaction of the most captious.  She\nwas torn and bleeding from many wounds, inflicted by the sullen Toog in\nhis vain efforts to subdue her to his will, and Toog too was disfigured\nand mutilated; but with stubborn ferocity, he still clung to his now\nuseless prize.\n\nOn through the jungle he forced his way in the direction of the\nstamping ground of his tribe.  He hoped that his king would have\nforgotten his treason; but if not he was still resigned to his\nfate--any fate would be better than suffering longer the sole\ncompanionship of this frightful she, and then, too, he wished to\nexhibit his captive to his fellows.  Maybe he could wish her on the\nking--it is possible that such a thought urged him on.\n\nAt last they came upon two bulls feeding in a parklike grove--a\nbeautiful grove dotted with huge boulders half embedded in the rich\nloam--mute monuments, possibly, to a forgotten age when mighty glaciers\nrolled their slow course where now a torrid sun beats down upon a\ntropic jungle.\n\nThe two bulls looked up, baring long fighting fangs, as Toog appeared\nin the distance.  The latter recognized the two as friends.  \"It is\nToog,\" he growled.  \"Toog has come back with a new she.\"\n\nThe apes waited his nearer approach.  Teeka turned a snarling, fanged\nface toward them.  She was not pretty to look upon, yet through the\nblood and hatred upon her countenance they realized that she was\nbeautiful, and they envied Toog--alas! they did not know Teeka.\n\nAs they squatted looking at one another there raced through the trees\ntoward them a long-tailed little monkey with gray whiskers.  He was a\nvery excited little monkey when he came to a halt upon the limb of a\ntree directly overhead.  \"Two strange bulls come,\" he cried.  \"One is a\nMangani, the other a hideous ape without hair upon his body.  They\nfollow the spoor of Toog.  I saw them.\"\n\nThe four apes turned their eyes backward along the trail Toog had just\ncome; then they looked at one another for a minute.  \"Come,\" said the\nlarger of Toog's two friends, \"we will wait for the strangers in the\nthick bushes beyond the clearing.\"\n\nHe turned and waddled away across the open place, the others following\nhim.  The little monkey danced about, all excitement.  His chief\ndiversion in life was to bring about bloody encounters between the\nlarger denizens of the forest, that he might sit in the safety of the\ntrees and witness the spectacles.  He was a glutton for gore, was this\nlittle, whiskered, gray monkey, so long as it was the gore of others--a\ntypical fight fan was the graybeard.\n\nThe apes hid themselves in the shrubbery beside the trail along which\nthe two stranger bulls would pass.  Teeka trembled with excitement.\nShe had heard the words of Manu, and she knew that the hairless ape\nmust be Tarzan, while the other was, doubtless, Taug.  Never, in her\nwildest hopes, had she expected succor of this sort.  Her one thought\nhad been to escape and find her way back to the tribe of Kerchak; but\neven this had appeared to her practically impossible, so closely did\nToog watch her.\n\nAs Taug and Tarzan reached the grove where Toog had come upon his\nfriends, the ape scent became so strong that both knew the quarry was\nbut a short distance ahead.  And so they went even more cautiously, for\nthey wished to come upon the thief from behind if they could and charge\nhim before he was aware of their presence.  That a little\ngray-whiskered monkey had forestalled them they did not know, nor that\nthree pairs of savage eyes were already watching their every move and\nwaiting for them to come within reach of itching paws and slavering\njowls.\n\nOn they came across the grove, and as they entered the path leading\ninto the dense jungle beyond, a sudden \"Kreeg-ah!\" shrilled out close\nbefore them--a \"Kreeg-ah\" in the familiar voice of Teeka.  The small\nbrains of Toog and his companions had not been able to foresee that\nTeeka might betray them, and now that she had, they went wild with\nrage.  Toog struck the she a mighty blow that felled her, and then the\nthree rushed forth to do battle with Tarzan and Taug.  The little\nmonkey danced upon his perch and screamed with delight.\n\nAnd indeed he might well be delighted, for it was a lovely fight.\nThere were no preliminaries, no formalities, no introductions--the five\nbulls merely charged and clinched.  They rolled in the narrow trail and\ninto the thick verdure beside it.  They bit and clawed and scratched\nand struck, and all the while they kept up the most frightful chorus of\ngrowlings and barkings and roarings.  In five minutes they were torn\nand bleeding, and the little graybeard leaped high, shrilling his\nprimitive bravos; but always his attitude was \"thumbs down.\" He wanted\nto see something killed.  He did not care whether it were friend or\nfoe.  It was blood he wanted--blood and death.\n\nTaug had been set upon by Toog and another of the apes, while Tarzan\nhad the third--a huge brute with the strength of a buffalo.  Never\nbefore had Tarzan's assailant beheld so strange a creature as this\nslippery, hairless bull with which he battled.  Sweat and blood covered\nTarzan's sleek, brown hide.  Again and again he slipped from the\nclutches of the great bull, and all the while he struggled to free his\nhunting knife from the scabbard in which it had stuck.\n\nAt length he succeeded--a brown hand shot out and clutched a hairy\nthroat, another flew upward clutching the sharp blade.  Three swift,\npowerful strokes and the bull relaxed with a groan, falling limp\nbeneath his antagonist.  Instantly Tarzan broke from the clutches of\nthe dying bull and sprang to Taug's assistance.  Toog saw him coming\nand wheeled to meet him.  In the impact of the charge, Tarzan's knife\nwas wrenched from his hand and then Toog closed with him.  Now was the\nbattle even--two against two--while on the verge, Teeka, now recovered\nfrom the blow that had felled her, slunk waiting for an opportunity to\naid.  She saw Tarzan's knife and picked it up.  She never had used it,\nbut knew how Tarzan used it.  Always had she been afraid of the thing\nwhich dealt death to the mightiest of the jungle people with the ease\nthat Tantor's great tusks deal death to Tantor's enemies.\n\nShe saw Tarzan's pocket pouch torn from his side, and with the\ncuriosity of an ape, that even danger and excitement cannot entirely\ndispel, she picked this up, too.\n\nNow the bulls were standing--the clinches had been broken.  Blood\nstreamed down their sides--their faces were crimsoned with it.  Little\ngraybeard was so fascinated that at last he had even forgotten to\nscream and dance; but sat rigid with delight in the enjoyment of the\nspectacle.\n\nBack across the grove Tarzan and Taug forced their adversaries.  Teeka\nfollowed slowly.  She scarce knew what to do.  She was lame and sore\nand exhausted from the frightful ordeal through which she had passed,\nand she had the confidence of her sex in the prowess of her mate and\nthe other bull of her tribe--they would not need the help of a she in\ntheir battle with these two strangers.\n\nThe roars and screams of the fighters reverberated through the jungle,\nawakening the echoes in the distant hills.  From the throat of Tarzan's\nantagonist had come a score of \"Kreeg-ahs!\" and now from behind came\nthe reply he had awaited.  Into the grove, barking and growling, came a\nscore of huge bull apes--the fighting men of Toog's tribe.\n\nTeeka saw them first and screamed a warning to Tarzan and Taug.  Then\nshe fled past the fighters toward the opposite side of the clearing,\nfear for a moment claiming her.  Nor can one censure her after the\nfrightful ordeal from which she was still suffering.\n\nDown upon them came the great apes.  In a moment Tarzan and Taug would\nbe torn to shreds that would later form the PIECE DE RESISTANCE of the\nsavage orgy of a Dum-Dum.  Teeka turned to glance back.  She saw the\nimpending fate of her defenders and there sprung to life in her savage\nbosom the spark of martyrdom, that some common forbear had transmitted\nalike to Teeka, the wild ape, and the glorious women of a higher order\nwho have invited death for their men.  With a shrill scream she ran\ntoward the battlers who were rolling in a great mass at the foot of one\nof the huge boulders which dotted the grove; but what could she do? The\nknife she held she could not use to advantage because of her lesser\nstrength.  She had seen Tarzan throw missiles, and she had learned this\nwith many other things from her childhood playmate.  She sought for\nsomething to throw and at last her fingers touched upon the hard\nobjects in the pouch that had been torn from the ape-man. Tearing the\nreceptacle open, she gathered a handful of shiny cylinders--heavy for\ntheir size, they seemed to her, and good missiles.  With all her\nstrength she hurled them at the apes battling in front of the granite\nboulder.\n\nThe result surprised Teeka quite as much as it did the apes.  There was\na loud explosion, which deafened the fighters, and a puff of acrid\nsmoke.  Never before had one there heard such a frightful noise.\nScreaming with terror, the stranger bulls leaped to their feet and fled\nback toward the stamping ground of their tribe, while Taug and Tarzan\nslowly gathered themselves together and arose, lame and bleeding, to\ntheir feet.  They, too, would have fled had they not seen Teeka\nstanding there before them, the knife and the pocket pouch in her hands.\n\n\"What was it?\" asked Tarzan.\n\nTeeka shook her head.  \"I hurled these at the stranger bulls,\" and she\nheld forth another handful of the shiny metal cylinders with the dull\ngray, cone-shaped ends.\n\nTarzan looked at them and scratched his head.\n\n\"What are they?\" asked Taug.\n\n\"I do not know,\" said Tarzan.  \"I found them.\"\n\nThe little monkey with the gray beard halted among the trees a mile\naway and huddled, terrified, against a branch.  He did not know that\nthe dead father of Tarzan of the Apes, reaching back out of the past\nacross a span of twenty years, had saved his son's life.\n\nNor did Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, know it either.\n\n\n\n\n                          11\n\n                     A Jungle Joke\n\nTIME SELDOM HUNG heavily upon Tarzan's hands.  Even where there is\nsameness there cannot be monotony if most of the sameness consists in\ndodging death first in one form and then in another; or in inflicting\ndeath upon others.  There is a spice to such an existence; but even\nthis Tarzan of the Apes varied in activities of his own invention.\n\nHe was full grown now, with the grace of a Greek god and the thews of a\nbull, and, by all the tenets of apedom, should have been sullen,\nmorose, and brooding; but he was not.  His spirits seemed not to age at\nall--he was still a playful child, much to the discomfiture of his\nfellow-apes. They could not understand him or his ways, for with\nmaturity they quickly forgot their youth and its pastimes.\n\nNor could Tarzan quite understand them.  It seemed strange to him that\na few moons since, he had roped Taug about an ankle and dragged him\nscreaming through the tall jungle grasses, and then rolled and tumbled\nin good-natured mimic battle when the young ape had freed himself, and\nthat today when he had come up behind the same Taug and pulled him over\nbackward upon the turf, instead of the playful young ape, a great,\nsnarling beast had whirled and leaped for his throat.\n\nEasily Tarzan eluded the charge and quickly Taug's anger vanished,\nthough it was not replaced with playfulness; yet the ape-man realized\nthat Taug was not amused nor was he amusing.  The big bull ape seemed\nto have lost whatever sense of humor he once may have possessed.  With\na grunt of disappointment, young Lord Greystoke turned to other fields\nof endeavor.  A strand of black hair fell across one eye.  He brushed\nit aside with the palm of a hand and a toss of his head.  It suggested\nsomething to do, so he sought his quiver which lay cached in the hollow\nbole of a lightning-riven tree.  Removing the arrows he turned the\nquiver upside down, emptying upon the ground the contents of its\nbottom--his few treasures.  Among them was a flat bit of stone and a\nshell which he had picked up from the beach near his father's cabin.\n\nWith great care he rubbed the edge of the shell back and forth upon the\nflat stone until the soft edge was quite fine and sharp.  He worked\nmuch as a barber does who hones a razor, and with every evidence of\nsimilar practice; but his proficiency was the result of years of\npainstaking effort.  Unaided he had worked out a method of his own for\nputting an edge upon the shell--he even tested it with the ball of his\nthumb--and when it met with his approval he grasped a wisp of hair\nwhich fell across his eyes, grasped it between the thumb and first\nfinger of his left hand and sawed upon it with the sharpened shell\nuntil it was severed.  All around his head he went until his black\nshock was rudely bobbed with a ragged bang in front.  For the\nappearance of it he cared nothing; but in the matter of safety and\ncomfort it meant everything.  A lock of hair falling in one's eyes at\nthe wrong moment might mean all the difference between life and death,\nwhile straggly strands, hanging down one's back were most\nuncomfortable, especially when wet with dew or rain or perspiration.\n\nAs Tarzan labored at his tonsorial task, his active mind was busy with\nmany things.  He recalled his recent battle with Bolgani, the gorilla,\nthe wounds of which were but just healed.  He pondered the strange\nsleep adventures of his first dreams, and he smiled at the painful\noutcome of his last practical joke upon the tribe, when, dressed in the\nhide of Numa, the lion, he had come roaring upon them, only to be\nleaped upon and almost killed by the great bulls whom he had taught how\nto defend themselves from an attack of their ancient enemy.\n\nHis hair lopped off to his entire satisfaction, and seeing no\npossibility of pleasure in the company of the tribe, Tarzan swung\nleisurely into the trees and set off in the direction of his cabin; but\nwhen part way there his attention was attracted by a strong scent spoor\ncoming from the north.  It was the scent of the Gomangani.\n\nCuriosity, that best-developed, common heritage of man and ape, always\nprompted Tarzan to investigate where the Gomangani were concerned.\nThere was that about them which aroused his imagination.  Possibly it\nwas because of the diversity of their activities and interests.  The\napes lived to eat and sleep and propagate.  The same was true of all\nthe other denizens of the jungle, save the Gomangani.\n\nThese black fellows danced and sang, scratched around in the earth from\nwhich they had cleared the trees and underbrush; they watched things\ngrow, and when they had ripened, they cut them down and put them in\nstraw-thatched huts.  They made bows and spears and arrows, poison,\ncooking pots, things of metal to wear around their arms and legs.  If\nit hadn't been for their black faces, their hideously disfigured\nfeatures, and the fact that one of them had slain Kala, Tarzan might\nhave wished to be one of them.  At least he sometimes thought so, but\nalways at the thought there rose within him a strange revulsion of\nfeeling, which he could not interpret or understand--he simply knew\nthat he hated the Gomangani, and that he would rather be Histah, the\nsnake, than one of these.\n\nBut their ways were interesting, and Tarzan never tired of spying upon\nthem, and from them he learned much more than he realized, though\nalways his principal thought was of some new way in which he could\nrender their lives miserable.  The baiting of the blacks was Tarzan's\nchief divertissement.\n\nTarzan realized now that the blacks were very near and that there were\nmany of them, so he went silently and with great caution.  Noiselessly\nhe moved through the lush grasses of the open spaces, and where the\nforest was dense, swung from one swaying branch to another, or leaped\nlightly over tangled masses of fallen trees where there was no way\nthrough the lower terraces, and the ground was choked and impassable.\n\nAnd so presently he came within sight of the black warriors of Mbonga,\nthe chief.  They were engaged in a pursuit with which Tarzan was more\nor less familiar, having watched them at it upon other occasions.  They\nwere placing and baiting a trap for Numa, the lion.  In a cage upon\nwheels they were tying a kid, so fastening it that when Numa seized the\nunfortunate creature, the door of the cage would drop behind him,\nmaking him a prisoner.\n\nThese things the blacks had learned in their old home, before they\nescaped through the untracked jungle to their new village.  Formerly\nthey had dwelt in the Belgian Congo until the cruelties of their\nheartless oppressors had driven them to seek the safety of unexplored\nsolitudes beyond the boundaries of Leopold's domain.\n\nIn their old life they often had trapped animals for the agents of\nEuropean dealers, and had learned from them certain tricks, such as\nthis one, which permitted them to capture even Numa without injuring\nhim, and to transport him in safety and with comparative ease to their\nvillage.\n\nNo longer was there a white market for their savage wares; but there\nwas still a sufficient incentive for the taking of Numa--alive. First\nwas the necessity for ridding the jungle of man-eaters, and it was only\nafter depredations by these grim and terrible scourges that a lion hunt\nwas organized.  Secondarily was the excuse for an orgy of celebration\nwas the hunt successful, and the fact that such fetes were rendered\ndoubly pleasurable by the presence of a live creature that might be put\nto death by torture.\n\nTarzan had witnessed these cruel rites in the past.  Being himself more\nsavage than the savage warriors of the Gomangani, he was not so shocked\nby the cruelty of them as he should have been, yet they did shock him.\nHe could not understand the strange feeling of revulsion which\npossessed him at such times.  He had no love for Numa, the lion, yet he\nbristled with rage when the blacks inflicted upon his enemy such\nindignities and cruelties as only the mind of the one creature molded\nin the image of God can conceive.\n\nUpon two occasions he had freed Numa from the trap before the blacks\nhad returned to discover the success or failure of their venture.  He\nwould do the same today--that he decided immediately he realized the\nnature of their intentions.\n\nLeaving the trap in the center of a broad elephant trail near the\ndrinking hole, the warriors turned back toward their village.  On the\nmorrow they would come again.  Tarzan looked after them, upon his lips\nan unconscious sneer--the heritage of unguessed caste.  He saw them\nfile along the broad trail, beneath the overhanging verdure of leafy\nbranch and looped and festooned creepers, brushing ebon shoulders\nagainst gorgeous blooms which inscrutable Nature has seen fit to lavish\nmost profusely farthest from the eye of man.\n\nAs Tarzan watched, through narrowed lids, the last of the warriors\ndisappear beyond a turn in the trail, his expression altered to the\nurge of a newborn thought.  A slow, grim smile touched his lips.  He\nlooked down upon the frightened, bleating kid, advertising, in its fear\nand its innocence, its presence and its helplessness.\n\nDropping to the ground, Tarzan approached the trap and entered.\nWithout disturbing the fiber cord, which was adjusted to drop the door\nat the proper time, he loosened the living bait, tucked it under an arm\nand stepped out of the cage.\n\nWith his hunting knife he quieted the frightened animal, severing its\njugular; then he dragged it, bleeding, along the trail down to the\ndrinking hole, the half smile persisting upon his ordinarily grave\nface.  At the water's edge the ape-man stooped and with hunting knife\nand quick strong fingers deftly removed the dead kid's viscera.\nScraping a hole in the mud, he buried these parts which he did not eat,\nand swinging the body to his shoulder took to the trees.\n\nFor a short distance he pursued his way in the wake of the black\nwarriors, coming down presently to bury the meat of his kill where it\nwould be safe from the depredations of Dango, the hyena, or the other\nmeat-eating beasts and birds of the jungle.  He was hungry.  Had he\nbeen all beast he would have eaten; but his man-mind could entertain\nurges even more potent than those of the belly, and now he was\nconcerned with an idea which kept a smile upon his lips and his eyes\nsparkling in anticipation.  An idea, it was, which permitted him to\nforget that he was hungry.\n\nThe meat safely cached, Tarzan trotted along the elephant trail after\nthe Gomangani.  Two or three miles from the cage he overtook them and\nthen he swung into the trees and followed above and behind\nthem--waiting his chance.\n\nAmong the blacks was Rabba Kega, the witch-doctor. Tarzan hated them\nall; but Rabba Kega he especially hated.  As the blacks filed along the\nwinding path, Rabba Kega, being lazy, dropped behind.  This Tarzan\nnoted, and it filled him with satisfaction--his being radiated a grim\nand terrible content.  Like an angel of death he hovered above the\nunsuspecting black.\n\nRabba Kega, knowing that the village was but a short distance ahead,\nsat down to rest.  Rest well, O Rabba Kega! It is thy last opportunity.\n\nTarzan crept stealthily among the branches of the tree above the\nwell-fed, self-satisfied witch-doctor.  He made no noise that the dull\nears of man could hear above the soughing of the gentle jungle breeze\namong the undulating foliage of the upper terraces, and when he came\nclose above the black man he halted, well concealed by leafy branch and\nheavy creeper.\n\nRabba Kega sat with his back against the bole of a tree, facing Tarzan.\nThe position was not such as the waiting beast of prey desired, and so,\nwith the infinite patience of the wild hunter, the ape-man crouched\nmotionless and silent as a graven image until the fruit should be ripe\nfor the plucking.  A poisonous insect buzzed angrily out of space.  It\nloitered, circling, close to Tarzan's face.  The ape-man saw and\nrecognized it.  The virus of its sting spelled death for lesser things\nthan he--for him it would mean days of anguish.  He did not move.  His\nglittering eyes remained fixed upon Rabba Kega after acknowledging the\npresence of the winged torture by a single glance.  He heard and\nfollowed the movements of the insect with his keen ears, and then he\nfelt it alight upon his forehead.  No muscle twitched, for the muscles\nof such as he are the servants of the brain.  Down across his face\ncrept the horrid thing--over nose and lips and chin.  Upon his throat\nit paused, and turning, retraced its steps.  Tarzan watched Rabba Kega.\nNow not even his eyes moved.  So motionless he crouched that only death\nmight counterpart his movelessness.  The insect crawled upward over the\nnut-brown cheek and stopped with its antennae brushing the lashes of\nhis lower lid.  You or I would have started back, closing our eyes and\nstriking at the thing; but you and I are the slaves, not the masters of\nour nerves.  Had the thing crawled upon the eyeball of the ape-man, it\nis believable that he could yet have remained wide-eyed and rigid; but\nit did not.  For a moment it loitered there close to the lower lid,\nthen it rose and buzzed away.\n\nDown toward Rabba Kega it buzzed and the black man heard it, saw it,\nstruck at it, and was stung upon the cheek before he killed it.  Then\nhe rose with a howl of pain and anger, and as he turned up the trail\ntoward the village of Mbonga, the chief, his broad, black back was\nexposed to the silent thing waiting above him.\n\nAnd as Rabba Kega turned, a lithe figure shot outward and downward from\nthe tree above upon his broad shoulders.  The impact of the springing\ncreature carried Rabba Kega to the ground.  He felt strong jaws close\nupon his neck, and when he tried to scream, steel fingers throttled his\nthroat.  The powerful black warrior struggled to free himself; but he\nwas as a child in the grip of his adversary.\n\nPresently Tarzan released his grip upon the other's throat; but each\ntime that Rabba Kega essayed a scream, the cruel fingers choked him\npainfully.  At last the warrior desisted.  Then Tarzan half rose and\nkneeled upon his victim's back, and when Rabba Kega struggled to arise,\nthe ape-man pushed his face down into the dirt of the trail.  With a\nbit of the rope that had secured the kid, Tarzan made Rabba Kega's\nwrists secure behind his back, then he rose and jerked his prisoner to\nhis feet, faced him back along the trail and pushed him on ahead.\n\nNot until he came to his feet did Rabba Kega obtain a square look at\nhis assailant.  When he saw that it was the white devil-god his heart\nsank within him and his knees trembled; but as he walked along the\ntrail ahead of his captor and was neither injured nor molested his\nspirits slowly rose, so that he took heart again.  Possibly the\ndevil-god did not intend to kill him after all.  Had he not had little\nTibo in his power for days without harming him, and had he not spared\nMomaya, Tibo's mother, when he easily might have slain her?\n\nAnd then they came upon the cage which Rabba Kega, with the other black\nwarriors of the village of Mbonga, the chief, had placed and baited for\nNuma.  Rabba Kega saw that the bait was gone, though there was no lion\nwithin the cage, nor was the door dropped.  He saw and he was filled\nwith wonder not unmixed with apprehension.  It entered his dull brain\nthat in some way this combination of circumstances had a connection\nwith his presence there as the prisoner of the white devil-god.\n\nNor was he wrong.  Tarzan pushed him roughly into the cage, and in\nanother moment Rabba Kega understood.  Cold sweat broke from every pore\nof his body--he trembled as with ague--for the ape-man was binding him\nsecurely in the very spot the kid had previously occupied.  The\nwitch-doctor pleaded, first for his life, and then for a death less\ncruel; but he might as well have saved his pleas for Numa, since\nalready they were directed toward a wild beast who understood no word\nof what he said.\n\nBut his constant jabbering not only annoyed Tarzan, who worked in\nsilence, but suggested that later the black might raise his voice in\ncries for succor, so he stepped out of the cage, gathered a handful of\ngrass and a small stick and returning, jammed the grass into Rabba\nKega's mouth, laid the stick crosswise between his teeth and fastened\nit there with the thong from Rabba Kega's loin cloth.  Now could the\nwitch-doctor but roll his eyes and sweat.  Thus Tarzan left him.\n\nThe ape-man went first to the spot where he had cached the body of the\nkid.  Digging it up, he ascended into a tree and proceeded to satisfy\nhis hunger.  What remained he again buried; then he swung away through\nthe trees to the water hole, and going to the spot where fresh, cold\nwater bubbled from between two rocks, he drank deeply.  The other\nbeasts might wade in and drink stagnant water; but not Tarzan of the\nApes.  In such matters he was fastidious.  From his hands he washed\nevery trace of the repugnant scent of the Gomangani, and from his face\nthe blood of the kid.  Rising, he stretched himself not unlike some\nhuge, lazy cat, climbed into a near-by tree and fell asleep.\n\nWhen he awoke it was dark, though a faint luminosity still tinged the\nwestern heavens.  A lion moaned and coughed as it strode through the\njungle toward water.  It was approaching the drinking hole.  Tarzan\ngrinned sleepily, changed his position and fell asleep again.\n\nWhen the blacks of Mbonga, the chief, reached their village they\ndiscovered that Rabba Kega was not among them.  When several hours had\nelapsed they decided that something had happened to him, and it was the\nhope of the majority of the tribe that whatever had happened to him\nmight prove fatal.  They did not love the witch-doctor. Love and fear\nseldom are playmates; but a warrior is a warrior, and so Mbonga\norganized a searching party.  That his own grief was not unassuagable\nmight have been gathered from the fact that he remained at home and\nwent to sleep.  The young warriors whom he sent out remained steadfast\nto their purpose for fully half an hour, when, unfortunately for Rabba\nKega--upon so slight a thing may the fate of a man rest--a honey bird\nattracted the attention of the searchers and led them off for the\ndelicious store it previously had marked down for betrayal, and Rabba\nKega's doom was sealed.\n\nWhen the searchers returned empty handed, Mbonga was wroth; but when he\nsaw the great store of honey they brought with them his rage subsided.\nAlready Tubuto, young, agile and evil-minded, with face hideously\npainted, was practicing the black art upon a sick infant in the fond\nhope of succeeding to the office and perquisites of Rabba Kega.\nTonight the women of the old witch-doctor would moan and howl.\nTomorrow he would be forgotten.  Such is life, such is fame, such is\npower--in the center of the world's highest civilization, or in the\ndepths of the black, primeval jungle.  Always, everywhere, man is man,\nnor has he altered greatly beneath his veneer since he scurried into a\nhole between two rocks to escape the tyrannosaurus six million years\nago.\n\nThe morning following the disappearance of Rabba Kega, the warriors set\nout with Mbonga, the chief, to examine the trap they had set for Numa.\nLong before they reached the cage, they heard the roaring of a great\nlion and guessed that they had made a successful bag, so it was with\nshouts of joy that they approached the spot where they should find\ntheir captive.\n\nYes! There he was, a great, magnificent specimen--a huge, black-maned\nlion.  The warriors were frantic with delight.  They leaped into the\nair and uttered savage cries--hoarse victory cries, and then they came\ncloser, and the cries died upon their lips, and their eyes went wide so\nthat the whites showed all around their irises, and their pendulous\nlower lips drooped with their drooping jaws.  They drew back in terror\nat the sight within the cage--the mauled and mutilated corpse of what\nhad, yesterday, been Rabba Kega, the witch-doctor.\n\nThe captured lion had been too angry and frightened to feed upon the\nbody of his kill; but he had vented upon it much of his rage, until it\nwas a frightful thing to behold.\n\nFrom his perch in a near-by tree Tarzan of the Apes, Lord Greystoke,\nlooked down upon the black warriors and grinned.  Once again his\nself-pride in his ability as a practical joker asserted itself.  It had\nlain dormant for some time following the painful mauling he had\nreceived that time he leaped among the apes of Kerchak clothed in the\nskin of Numa; but this joke was a decided success.\n\nAfter a few moments of terror, the blacks came closer to the cage, rage\ntaking the place of fear--rage and curiosity.  How had Rabba Kega\nhappened to be in the cage? Where was the kid? There was no sign nor\nremnant of the original bait.  They looked closely and they saw, to\ntheir horror, that the corpse of their erstwhile fellow was bound with\nthe very cord with which they had secured the kid.  Who could have done\nthis thing? They looked at one another.\n\nTubuto was the first to speak.  He had come hopefully out with the\nexpedition that morning.  Somewhere he might find evidence of the death\nof Rabba Kega.  Now he had found it, and he was the first to find an\nexplanation.\n\n\"The white devil-god,\" he whispered.  \"It is the work of the white\ndevil-god!\"\n\nNo one contradicted Tubuto, for, indeed, who else could it have been\nbut the great, hairless ape they all so feared? And so their hatred of\nTarzan increased again with an increased fear of him.  And Tarzan sat\nin his tree and hugged himself.\n\nNo one there felt sorrow because of the death of Rabba Kega; but each\nof the blacks experienced a personal fear of the ingenious mind which\nmight discover for any of them a death equally horrible to that which\nthe witch-doctor had suffered.  It was a subdued and thoughtful company\nwhich dragged the captive lion along the broad elephant path back to\nthe village of Mbonga, the chief.\n\nAnd it was with a sigh of relief that they finally rolled it into the\nvillage and closed the gates behind them.  Each had experienced the\nsensation of being spied upon from the moment they left the spot where\nthe trap had been set, though none had seen or heard aught to give\ntangible food to his fears.\n\nAt the sight of the body within the cage with the lion, the women and\nchildren of the village set up a most frightful lamentation, working\nthemselves into a joyous hysteria which far transcended the happy\nmisery derived by their more civilized prototypes who make a business\nof dividing their time between the movies and the neighborhood funerals\nof friends and strangers--especially strangers.\n\nFrom a tree overhanging the palisade, Tarzan watched all that passed\nwithin the village.  He saw the frenzied women tantalizing the great\nlion with sticks and stones.  The cruelty of the blacks toward a\ncaptive always induced in Tarzan a feeling of angry contempt for the\nGomangani.  Had he attempted to analyze this feeling he would have\nfound it difficult, for during all his life he had been accustomed to\nsights of suffering and cruelty.  He, himself, was cruel.  All the\nbeasts of the jungle were cruel; but the cruelty of the blacks was of a\ndifferent order.  It was the cruelty of wanton torture of the helpless,\nwhile the cruelty of Tarzan and the other beasts was the cruelty of\nnecessity or of passion.\n\nPerhaps, had he known it, he might have credited this feeling of\nrepugnance at the sight of unnecessary suffering to heredity--to the\ngerm of British love of fair play which had been bequeathed to him by\nhis father and his mother; but, of course, he did not know, since he\nstill believed that his mother had been Kala, the great ape.\n\nAnd just in proportion as his anger rose against the Gomangani his\nsavage sympathy went out to Numa, the lion, for, though Numa was his\nlifetime enemy, there was neither bitterness nor contempt in Tarzan's\nsentiments toward him.  In the ape-man's mind, therefore, the\ndetermination formed to thwart the blacks and liberate the lion; but he\nmust accomplish this in some way which would cause the Gomangani the\ngreatest chagrin and discomfiture.\n\nAs he squatted there watching the proceeding beneath him, he saw the\nwarriors seize upon the cage once more and drag it between two huts.\nTarzan knew that it would remain there now until evening, and that the\nblacks were planning a feast and orgy in celebration of their capture.\nWhen he saw that two warriors were placed beside the cage, and that\nthese drove off the women and children and young men who would have\neventually tortured Numa to death, he knew that the lion would be safe\nuntil he was needed for the evening's entertainment, when he would be\nmore cruelly and scientifically tortured for the edification of the\nentire tribe.\n\nNow Tarzan preferred to bait the blacks in as theatric a manner as his\nfertile imagination could evolve.  He had some half-formed conception\nof their superstitious fears and of their especial dread of night, and\nso he decided to wait until darkness fell and the blacks partially\nworked to hysteria by their dancing and religious rites before he took\nany steps toward the freeing of Numa.  In the meantime, he hoped, an\nidea adequate to the possibilities of the various factors at hand would\noccur to him.  Nor was it long before one did.\n\nHe had swung off through the jungle to search for food when the plan\ncame to him.  At first it made him smile a little and then look\ndubious, for he still retained a vivid memory of the dire results that\nhad followed the carrying out of a very wonderful idea along almost\nidentical lines, yet he did not abandon his intention, and a moment\nlater, food temporarily forgotten, he was swinging through the middle\nterraces in rapid flight toward the stamping ground of the tribe of\nKerchak, the great ape.\n\nAs was his wont, he alighted in the midst of the little band without\nannouncing his approach save by a hideous scream just as he sprang from\na branch above them.  Fortunate are the apes of Kerchak that their kind\nis not subject to heart failure, for the methods of Tarzan subjected\nthem to one severe shock after another, nor could they ever accustom\nthemselves to the ape-man's peculiar style of humor.\n\nNow, when they saw who it was they merely snarled and grumbled angrily\nfor a moment and then resumed their feeding or their napping which he\nhad interrupted, and he, having had his little joke, made his way to\nthe hollow tree where he kept his treasures hid from the inquisitive\neyes and fingers of his fellows and the mischievous little manus.  Here\nhe withdrew a closely rolled hide--the hide of Numa with the head on; a\nclever bit of primitive curing and mounting, which had once been the\nproperty of the witch-doctor, Rabba Kega, until Tarzan had stolen it\nfrom the village.\n\nWith this he made his way back through the jungle toward the village of\nthe blacks, stopping to hunt and feed upon the way, and, in the\nafternoon, even napping for an hour, so that it was already dusk when\nhe entered the great tree which overhung the palisade and gave him a\nview of the entire village.  He saw that Numa was still alive and that\nthe guards were even dozing beside the cage.  A lion is no great\nnovelty to a black man in the lion country, and the first keen edge of\ntheir desire to worry the brute having worn off, the villagers paid\nlittle or no attention to the great cat, preferring now to await the\ngrand event of the night.\n\nNor was it long after dark before the festivities commenced.  To the\nbeating of tom-toms, a lone warrior, crouched half doubled, leaped into\nthe firelight in the center of a great circle of other warriors, behind\nwhom stood or squatted the women and the children.  The dancer was\npainted and armed for the hunt and his movements and gestures suggested\nthe search for the spoor of game.  Bending low, sometimes resting for a\nmoment on one knee, he searched the ground for signs of the quarry;\nagain he poised, statuesque, listening.  The warrior was young and\nlithe and graceful; he was full-muscled and arrow-straight. The\nfirelight glistened upon his ebon body and brought out into bold relief\nthe grotesque designs painted upon his face, breasts, and abdomen.\n\nPresently he bent low to the earth, then leaped high in air.  Every\nline of face and body showed that he had struck the scent.  Immediately\nhe leaped toward the circle of warriors about him, telling them of his\nfind and summoning them to the hunt.  It was all in pantomime; but so\ntruly done that even Tarzan could follow it all to the least detail.\n\nHe saw the other warriors grasp their hunting spears and leap to their\nfeet to join in the graceful, stealthy \"stalking dance.\" It was very\ninteresting; but Tarzan realized that if he was to carry his design to\na successful conclusion he must act quickly.  He had seen these dances\nbefore and knew that after the stalk would come the game at bay and\nthen the kill, during which Numa would be surrounded by warriors, and\nunapproachable.\n\nWith the lion's skin under one arm the ape-man dropped to the ground in\nthe dense shadows beneath the tree and then circled behind the huts\nuntil he came out directly in the rear of the cage, in which Numa paced\nnervously to and fro.  The cage was now unguarded, the two warriors\nhaving left it to take their places among the other dancers.\n\nBehind the cage Tarzan adjusted the lion's skin about him, just as he\nhad upon that memorable occasion when the apes of Kerchak, failing to\npierce his disguise, had all but slain him.  Then, on hands and knees,\nhe crept forward, emerged from between the two huts and stood a few\npaces back of the dusky audience, whose whole attention was centered\nupon the dancers before them.\n\nTarzan saw that the blacks had now worked themselves to a proper pitch\nof nervous excitement to be ripe for the lion.  In a moment the ring of\nspectators would break at a point nearest the caged lion and the victim\nwould be rolled into the center of the circle.  It was for this moment\nthat Tarzan waited.\n\nAt last it came.  A signal was given by Mbonga, the chief, at which the\nwomen and children immediately in front of Tarzan rose and moved to one\nside, leaving a broad path opening toward the caged lion.  At the same\ninstant Tarzan gave voice to the low, coughing roar of an angry lion\nand slunk slowly forward through the open lane toward the frenzied\ndancers.\n\nA woman saw him first and screamed.  Instantly there was a panic in the\nimmediate vicinity of the ape-man. The strong light from the fire fell\nfull upon the lion head and the blacks leaped to the conclusion, as\nTarzan had known they would, that their captive had escaped his cage.\n\nWith another roar, Tarzan moved forward.  The dancing warriors paused\nbut an instant.  They had been hunting a lion securely housed within a\nstrong cage, and now that he was at liberty among them, an entirely\ndifferent aspect was placed upon the matter.  Their nerves were not\nattuned to this emergency.  The women and children already had fled to\nthe questionable safety of the nearest huts, and the warriors were not\nlong in following their example, so that presently Tarzan was left in\nsole possession of the village street.\n\nBut not for long.  Nor did he wish to be left thus long alone.  It\nwould not comport with his scheme.  Presently a head peered forth from\na near-by hut, and then another and another until a score or more of\nwarriors were looking out upon him, waiting for his next move--waiting\nfor the lion to charge or to attempt to escape from the village.\n\nTheir spears were ready in their hands against either a charge or a\nbolt for freedom, and then the lion rose erect upon its hind legs, the\ntawny skin dropped from it and there stood revealed before them in the\nfirelight the straight young figure of the white devil-god.\n\nFor an instant the blacks were too astonished to act.  They feared this\napparition fully as much as they did Numa, yet they would gladly have\nslain the thing could they quickly enough have gathered together their\nwits; but fear and superstition and a natural mental density held them\nparalyzed while the ape-man stooped and gathered up the lion skin.\nThey saw him turn then and walk back into the shadows at the far end of\nthe village.  Not until then did they gain courage to pursue him, and\nwhen they had come in force, with brandished spears and loud war cries,\nthe quarry was gone.\n\nNot an instant did Tarzan pause in the tree.  Throwing the skin over a\nbranch he leaped again into the village upon the opposite side of the\ngreat bole, and diving into the shadow of a hut, ran quickly to where\nlay the caged lion.  Springing to the top of the cage he pulled upon\nthe cord which raised the door, and a moment later a great lion in the\nprime of his strength and vigor leaped out into the village.\n\nThe warriors, returning from a futile search for Tarzan, saw him step\ninto the firelight.  Ah! there was the devil-god again, up to his old\ntrick.  Did he think he could twice fool the men of Mbonga, the chief,\nthe same way in so short a time? They would show him!  For long they\nhad waited for such an opportunity to rid themselves forever of this\nfearsome jungle demon.  As one they rushed forward with raised spears.\n\nThe women and the children came from the huts to witness the slaying of\nthe devil-god. The lion turned blazing eyes upon them and then swung\nabout toward the advancing warriors.\n\nWith shouts of savage joy and triumph they came toward him, menacing\nhim with their spears.  The devil-god was theirs!\n\nAnd then, with a frightful roar, Numa, the lion, charged.\n\nThe men of Mbonga, the chief, met Numa with ready spears and screams of\nraillery.  In a solid mass of muscled ebony they waited the coming of\nthe devil-god; yet beneath their brave exteriors lurked a haunting fear\nthat all might not be quite well with them--that this strange creature\ncould yet prove invulnerable to their weapons and inflict upon them\nfull punishment for their effrontery.  The charging lion was all too\nlifelike--they saw that in the brief instant of the charge; but beneath\nthe tawny hide they knew was hid the soft flesh of the white man, and\nhow could that withstand the assault of many war spears?\n\nIn their forefront stood a huge young warrior in the full arrogance of\nhis might and his youth.  Afraid? Not he! He laughed as Numa bore down\nupon him; he laughed and couched his spear, setting the point for the\nbroad breast.  And then the lion was upon him.  A great paw swept away\nthe heavy war spear, splintering it as the hand of man might splinter a\ndry twig.\n\nDown went the black, his skull crushed by another blow.  And then the\nlion was in the midst of the warriors, clawing and tearing to right and\nleft.  Not for long did they stand their ground; but a dozen men were\nmauled before the others made good their escape from those frightful\ntalons and gleaming fangs.\n\nIn terror the villagers fled hither and thither.  No hut seemed a\nsufficiently secure asylum with Numa ranging within the palisade.  From\none to another fled the frightened blacks, while in the center of the\nvillage Numa stood glaring and growling above his kills.\n\nAt last a tribesman flung wide the gates of the village and sought\nsafety amid the branches of the forest trees beyond.  Like sheep his\nfellows followed him, until the lion and his dead remained alone in the\nvillage.\n\nFrom the nearer trees the men of Mbonga saw the lion lower his great\nhead and seize one of his victims by the shoulder and then with slow\nand stately tread move down the village street past the open gates and\non into the jungle.  They saw and shuddered, and from another tree\nTarzan of the Apes saw and smiled.\n\nA full hour elapsed after the lion had disappeared with his feast\nbefore the blacks ventured down from the trees and returned to their\nvillage.  Wide eyes rolled from side to side, and naked flesh\ncontracted more to the chill of fear than to the chill of the jungle\nnight.\n\n\"It was he all the time,\" murmured one.  \"It was the devil-god.\"\n\n\"He changed himself from a lion to a man, and back again into a lion,\"\nwhispered another.\n\n\"And he dragged Mweeza into the forest and is eating him,\" said a\nthird, shuddering.\n\n\"We are no longer safe here,\" wailed a fourth.  \"Let us take our\nbelongings and search for another village site far from the haunts of\nthe wicked devil-god.\"\n\nBut with morning came renewed courage, so that the experiences of the\npreceding evening had little other effect than to increase their fear\nof Tarzan and strengthen their belief in his supernatural origin.\n\nAnd thus waxed the fame and the power of the ape-man in the mysterious\nhaunts of the savage jungle where he ranged, mightiest of beasts\nbecause of the man-mind which directed his giant muscles and his\nflawless courage.\n\n\n\n\n                          12\n\n                Tarzan Rescues the Moon\n\nTHE MOON SHONE down out of a cloudless sky--a huge, swollen moon that\nseemed so close to earth that one might wonder that she did not brush\nthe crooning tree tops.  It was night, and Tarzan was abroad in the\njungle--Tarzan, the ape-man; mighty fighter, mighty hunter.  Why he\nswung through the dark shadows of the somber forest he could not have\ntold you.  It was not that he was hungry--he had fed well this day, and\nin a safe cache were the remains of his kill, ready against the coming\nof a new appetite.  Perhaps it was the very joy of living that urged\nhim from his arboreal couch to pit his muscles and his senses against\nthe jungle night, and then, too, Tarzan always was goaded by an intense\ndesire to know.\n\nThe jungle which is presided over by Kudu, the sun, is a very different\njungle from that of Goro, the moon.  The diurnal jungle has its own\naspect--its own lights and shades, its own birds, its own blooms, its\nown beasts; its noises are the noises of the day.  The lights and\nshades of the nocturnal jungle are as different as one might imagine\nthe lights and shades of another world to differ from those of our\nworld; its beasts, its blooms, and its birds are not those of the\njungle of Kudu, the sun.\n\nBecause of these differences Tarzan loved to investigate the jungle by\nnight.  Not only was the life another life; but it was richer in\nnumbers and in romance; it was richer in dangers, too, and to Tarzan of\nthe Apes danger was the spice of life.  And the noises of the jungle\nnight--the roar of the lion, the scream of the leopard, the hideous\nlaughter of Dango, the hyena, were music to the ears of the ape-man.\n\nThe soft padding of unseen feet, the rustling of leaves and grasses to\nthe passage of fierce beasts, the sheen of opalesque eyes flaming\nthrough the dark, the million sounds which proclaimed the teeming life\nthat one might hear and scent, though seldom see, constituted the\nappeal of the nocturnal jungle to Tarzan.\n\nTonight he had swung a wide circle--toward the east first and then\ntoward the south, and now he was rounding back again into the north.\nHis eyes, his ears and his keen nostrils were ever on the alert.\nMingled with the sounds he knew, there were strange sounds--weird\nsounds which he never heard until after Kudu had sought his lair below\nthe far edge of the big water--sounds which belonged to Goro, the\nmoon--and to the mysterious period of Goro's supremacy.  These sounds\noften caused Tarzan profound speculation.  They baffled him because he\nthought that he knew his jungle so well that there could be nothing\nwithin it unfamiliar to him.  Sometimes he thought that as colors and\nforms appeared to differ by night from their familiar daylight aspects,\nso sounds altered with the passage of Kudu and the coming of Goro, and\nthese thoughts roused within his brain a vague conjecture that perhaps\nGoro and Kudu influenced these changes.  And what more natural that\neventually he came to attribute to the sun and the moon personalities\nas real as his own? The sun was a living creature and ruled the day.\nThe moon, endowed with brains and miraculous powers, ruled the night.\n\nThus functioned the untrained man-mind groping through the dark night\nof ignorance for an explanation of the things he could not touch or\nsmell or hear and of the great, unknown powers of nature which he could\nnot see.\n\nAs Tarzan swung north again upon his wide circle the scent of the\nGomangani came to his nostrils, mixed with the acrid odor of wood\nsmoke.  The ape-man moved quickly in the direction from which the scent\nwas borne down to him upon the gentle night wind.  Presently the ruddy\nsheen of a great fire filtered through the foliage to him ahead, and\nwhen Tarzan came to a halt in the trees near it, he saw a party of half\na dozen black warriors huddled close to the blaze.  It was evidently a\nhunting party from the village of Mbonga, the chief, caught out in the\njungle after dark.  In a rude circle about them they had constructed a\nthorn boma which, with the aid of the fire, they apparently hoped would\ndiscourage the advances of the larger carnivora.\n\nThat hope was not conviction was evidenced by the very palpable terror\nin which they crouched, wide-eyed and trembling, for already Numa and\nSabor were moaning through the jungle toward them.  There were other\ncreatures, too, in the shadows beyond the firelight.  Tarzan could see\ntheir yellow eyes flaming there.  The blacks saw them and shivered.\nThen one arose and grasping a burning branch from the fire hurled it at\nthe eyes, which immediately disappeared.  The black sat down again.\nTarzan watched and saw that it was several minutes before the eyes\nbegan to reappear in twos and fours.\n\nThen came Numa, the lion, and Sabor, his mate.  The other eyes\nscattered to right and left before the menacing growls of the great\ncats, and then the huge orbs of the man-eaters flamed alone out of the\ndarkness.  Some of the blacks threw themselves upon their faces and\nmoaned; but he who before had hurled the burning branch now hurled\nanother straight at the faces of the hungry lions, and they, too,\ndisappeared as had the lesser lights before them.  Tarzan was much\ninterested.  He saw a new reason for the nightly fires maintained by\nthe blacks--a reason in addition to those connected with warmth and\nlight and cooking.  The beasts of the jungle feared fire, and so fire\nwas, in a measure, a protection from them.  Tarzan himself knew a\ncertain awe of fire.  Once he had, in investigating an abandoned fire\nin the village of the blacks, picked up a live coal.  Since then he had\nmaintained a respectful distance from such fires as he had seen.  One\nexperience had sufficed.\n\nFor a few minutes after the black hurled the firebrand no eyes\nappeared, though Tarzan could hear the soft padding of feet all about\nhim.  Then flashed once more the twin fire spots that marked the return\nof the lord of the jungle and a moment later, upon a slightly lower\nlevel, there appeared those of Sabor, his mate.\n\nFor some time they remained fixed and unwavering--a constellation of\nfierce stars in the jungle night--then the male lion advanced slowly\ntoward the boma, where all but a single black still crouched in\ntrembling terror.  When this lone guardian saw that Numa was again\napproaching, he threw another firebrand, and, as before, Numa retreated\nand with him Sabor, the lioness; but not so far, this time, nor for so\nlong.  Almost instantly they turned and began circling the boma, their\neyes turning constantly toward the firelight, while low, throaty growls\nevidenced their increasing displeasure.  Beyond the lions glowed the\nflaming eyes of the lesser satellites, until the black jungle was shot\nall around the black men's camp with little spots of fire.\n\nAgain and again the black warrior hurled his puny brands at the two big\ncats; but Tarzan noticed that Numa paid little or no attention to them\nafter the first few retreats.  The ape-man knew by Numa's voice that\nthe lion was hungry and surmised that he had made up his mind to feed\nupon a Gomangani; but would he dare a closer approach to the dreaded\nflames?\n\nEven as the thought was passing in Tarzan's mind, Numa stopped his\nrestless pacing and faced the boma.  For a moment he stood motionless,\nexcept for the quick, nervous upcurving of his tail, then he walked\ndeliberately forward, while Sabor moved restlessly to and fro where he\nhad left her.  The black man called to his comrades that the lion was\ncoming, but they were too far gone in fear to do more than huddle\ncloser together and moan more loudly than before.\n\nSeizing a blazing branch the man cast it straight into the face of the\nlion.  There was an angry roar, followed by a swift charge.  With a\nsingle bound the savage beast cleared the boma wall as, with almost\nequal agility, the warrior cleared it upon the opposite side and,\nchancing the dangers lurking in the darkness, bolted for the nearest\ntree.\n\nNuma was out of the boma almost as soon as he was inside it; but as he\nwent back over the low thorn wall, he took a screaming negro with him.\nDragging his victim along the ground he walked back toward Sabor, the\nlioness, who joined him, and the two continued into the blackness,\ntheir savage growls mingling with the piercing shrieks of the doomed\nand terrified man.\n\nAt a little distance from the blaze the lions halted, there ensued a\nshort succession of unusually vicious growls and roars, during which\nthe cries and moans of the black man ceased--forever.\n\nPresently Numa reappeared in the firelight.  He made a second trip into\nthe boma and the former grisly tragedy was reenacted with another\nhowling victim.\n\nTarzan rose and stretched lazily.  The entertainment was beginning to\nbore him.  He yawned and turned upon his way toward the clearing where\nthe tribe would be sleeping in the encircling trees.\n\nYet even when he had found his familiar crotch and curled himself for\nslumber, he felt no desire to sleep.  For a long time he lay awake\nthinking and dreaming.  He looked up into the heavens and watched the\nmoon and the stars.  He wondered what they were and what power kept\nthem from falling.  His was an inquisitive mind.  Always he had been\nfull of questions concerning all that passed around him; but there\nnever had been one to answer his questions.  In childhood he had wanted\nto KNOW, and, denied almost all knowledge, he still, in manhood, was\nfilled with the great, unsatisfied curiosity of a child.\n\nHe was never quite content merely to perceive that things happened--he\ndesired to know WHY they happened.  He wanted to know what made things\ngo.  The secret of life interested him immensely.  The miracle of death\nhe could not quite fathom.  Upon innumerable occasions he had\ninvestigated the internal mechanism of his kills, and once or twice he\nhad opened the chest cavity of victims in time to see the heart still\npumping.\n\nHe had learned from experience that a knife thrust through this organ\nbrought immediate death nine times out of ten, while he might stab an\nantagonist innumerable times in other places without even disabling\nhim.  And so he had come to think of the heart, or, as he called it,\n\"the red thing that breathes,\" as the seat and origin of life.\n\nThe brain and its functionings he did not comprehend at all.  That his\nsense perceptions were transmitted to his brain and there translated,\nclassified, and labeled was something quite beyond him.  He thought\nthat his fingers knew when they touched something, that his eyes knew\nwhen they saw, his ears when they heard, his nose when it scented.\n\nHe considered his throat, epidermis, and the hairs of his head as the\nthree principal seats of emotion.  When Kala had been slain a peculiar\nchoking sensation had possessed his throat; contact with Histah, the\nsnake, imparted an unpleasant sensation to the skin of his whole body;\nwhile the approach of an enemy made the hairs on his scalp stand erect.\n\nImagine, if you can, a child filled with the wonders of nature,\nbursting with queries and surrounded only by beasts of the jungle to\nwhom his questionings were as strange as Sanskrit would have been.  If\nhe asked Gunto what made it rain, the big old ape would but gaze at him\nin dumb astonishment for an instant and then return to his interesting\nand edifying search for fleas; and when he questioned Mumga, who was\nvery old and should have been very wise, but wasn't, as to the reason\nfor the closing of certain flowers after Kudu had deserted the sky, and\nthe opening of others during the night, he was surprised to discover\nthat Mumga had never noticed these interesting facts, though she could\ntell to an inch just where the fattest grubworm should be hiding.\n\nTo Tarzan these things were wonders.  They appealed to his intellect\nand to his imagination.  He saw the flowers close and open; he saw\ncertain blooms which turned their faces always toward the sun; he saw\nleaves which moved when there was no breeze; he saw vines crawl like\nliving things up the boles and over the branches of great trees; and to\nTarzan of the Apes the flowers and the vines and the trees were living\ncreatures.  He often talked to them, as he talked to Goro, the moon,\nand Kudu, the sun, and always was he disappointed that they did not\nreply.  He asked them questions; but they could not answer, though he\nknew that the whispering of the leaves was the language of the\nleaves--they talked with one another.\n\nThe wind he attributed to the trees and grasses.  He thought that they\nswayed themselves to and fro, creating the wind.  In no other way could\nhe account for this phenomenon.  The rain he finally attributed to the\nstars, the moon, and the sun; but his hypothesis was entirely unlovely\nand unpoetical.\n\nTonight as Tarzan lay thinking, there sprang to his fertile imagination\nan explanation of the stars and the moon.  He became quite excited\nabout it.  Taug was sleeping in a nearby crotch.  Tarzan swung over\nbeside him.\n\n\"Taug!\" he cried.  Instantly the great bull was awake and bristling,\nsensing danger from the nocturnal summons.  \"Look, Taug!\" exclaimed\nTarzan, pointing toward the stars.  \"See the eyes of Numa and Sabor, of\nSheeta and Dango.  They wait around Goro to leap in upon him for their\nkill.  See the eyes and the nose and the mouth of Goro.  And the light\nthat shines upon his face is the light of the great fire he has built\nto frighten away Numa and Sabor and Dango and Sheeta.\n\n\"All about him are the eyes, Taug, you can see them! But they do not\ncome very close to the fire--there are few eyes close to Goro.  They\nfear the fire! It is the fire that saves Goro from Numa.  Do you see\nthem, Taug? Some night Numa will be very hungry and very angry--then he\nwill leap over the thorn bushes which encircle Goro and we will have no\nmore light after Kudu seeks his lair--the night will be black with the\nblackness that comes when Goro is lazy and sleeps late into the night,\nor when he wanders through the skies by day, forgetting the jungle and\nits people.\"\n\nTaug looked stupidly at the heavens and then at Tarzan.  A meteor fell,\nblazing a flaming way through the sky.\n\n\"Look!\" cried Tarzan.  \"Goro has thrown a burning branch at Numa.\"\n\nTaug grumbled.  \"Numa is down below,\" he said.  \"Numa does not hunt\nabove the trees.\" But he looked curiously and a little fearfully at the\nbright stars above him, as though he saw them for the first time, and\ndoubtless it was the first time that Taug ever had seen the stars,\nthough they had been in the sky above him every night of his life.  To\nTaug they were as the gorgeous jungle blooms--he could not eat them and\nso he ignored them.\n\nTaug fidgeted and was nervous.  For a long time he lay sleepless,\nwatching the stars--the flaming eyes of the beasts of prey surrounding\nGoro, the moon--Goro, by whose light the apes danced to the beating of\ntheir earthen drums.  If Goro should be eaten by Numa there could be no\nmore Dum-Dums. Taug was overwhelmed by the thought.  He glanced at\nTarzan half fearfully.  Why was his friend so different from the others\nof the tribe? No one else whom Taug ever had known had had such queer\nthoughts as Tarzan.  The ape scratched his head and wondered, dimly, if\nTarzan was a safe companion, and then he recalled slowly, and by a\nlaborious mental process, that Tarzan had served him better than any\nother of the apes, even the strong and wise bulls of the tribe.\n\nTarzan it was who had freed him from the blacks at the very time that\nTaug had thought Tarzan wanted Teeka.  It was Tarzan who had saved\nTaug's little balu from death.  It was Tarzan who had conceived and\ncarried out the plan to pursue Teeka's abductor and rescue the stolen\none.  Tarzan had fought and bled in Taug's service so many times that\nTaug, although only a brutal ape, had had impressed upon his mind a\nfierce loyalty which nothing now could swerve--his friendship for\nTarzan had become a habit, a tradition almost, which would endure while\nTaug endured.  He never showed any outward demonstration of\naffection--he growled at Tarzan as he growled at the other bulls who\ncame too close while he was feeding--but he would have died for Tarzan.\nHe knew it and Tarzan knew it; but of such things apes do not\nspeak--their vocabulary, for the finer instincts, consisting more of\nactions than words.  But now Taug was worried, and he fell asleep again\nstill thinking of the strange words of his fellow.\n\nThe following day he thought of them again, and without any intention\nof disloyalty he mentioned to Gunto what Tarzan had suggested about the\neyes surrounding Goro, and the possibility that sooner or later Numa\nwould charge the moon and devour him.  To the apes all large things in\nnature are male, and so Goro, being the largest creature in the heavens\nby night, was, to them, a bull.\n\nGunto bit a sliver from a horny finger and recalled the fact that\nTarzan had once said that the trees talked to one another, and Gozan\nrecounted having seen the ape-man dancing alone in the moonlight with\nSheeta, the panther.  They did not know that Tarzan had roped the\nsavage beast and tied him to a tree before he came to earth and leaped\nabout before the rearing cat, to tantalize him.\n\nOthers told of seeing Tarzan ride upon the back of Tantor, the\nelephant; of his bringing the black boy, Tibo, to the tribe, and of\nmysterious things with which he communed in the strange lair by the\nsea.  They had never understood his books, and after he had shown them\nto one or two of the tribe and discovered that even the pictures\ncarried no impression to their brains, he had desisted.\n\n\"Tarzan is not an ape,\" said Gunto.  \"He will bring Numa to eat us, as\nhe is bringing him to eat Goro.  We should kill him.\"\n\nImmediately Taug bristled.  Kill Tarzan! \"First you will kill Taug,\" he\nsaid, and lumbered away to search for food.\n\nBut others joined the plotters.  They thought of many things which\nTarzan had done--things which apes did not do and could not understand.\nAgain Gunto voiced the opinion that the Tarmangani, the white ape,\nshould be slain, and the others, filled with terror about the stories\nthey had heard, and thinking Tarzan was planning to slay Goro, greeted\nthe proposal with growls of accord.\n\nAmong them was Teeka, listening with all her ears; but her voice was\nnot raised in furtherance of the plan.  Instead she bristled, showing\nher fangs, and afterward she went away in search of Tarzan; but she\ncould not find him, as he was roaming far afield in search of meat.\nShe found Taug, though, and told him what the others were planning, and\nthe great bull stamped upon the ground and roared.  His bloodshot eyes\nblazed with wrath, his upper lip curled up to expose his fighting\nfangs, and the hair upon his spine stood erect, and then a rodent\nscurried across the open and Taug sprang to seize it.  In an instant he\nseemed to have forgotten his rage against the enemies of his friend;\nbut such is the mind of an ape.\n\nSeveral miles away Tarzan of the Apes lolled upon the broad head of\nTantor, the elephant.  He scratched beneath the great ears with the\npoint of a sharp stick, and he talked to the huge pachyderm of\neverything which filled his black-thatched head.  Little, or nothing,\nof what he said did Tantor understand; but Tantor is a good listener.\nSwaying from side to side he stood there enjoying the companionship of\nhis friend, the friend he loved, and absorbing the delicious sensations\nof the scratching.\n\nNuma, the lion, caught the scent of man, and warily stalked it until he\ncame within sight of his prey upon the head of the mighty tusker; then\nhe turned, growling and muttering, away in search of more propitious\nhunting grounds.\n\nThe elephant caught the scent of the lion, borne to him by an eddying\nbreeze, and lifting his trunk trumpeted loudly.  Tarzan stretched back\nluxuriously, lying supine at full length along the rough hide.  Flies\nswarmed about his face; but with a leafy branch torn from a tree he\nlazily brushed them away.\n\n\"Tantor,\" he said, \"it is good to be alive.  It is good to lie in the\ncool shadows.  It is good to look upon the green trees and the bright\ncolors of the flowers--upon everything which Bulamutumumo has put here\nfor us.  He is very good to us, Tantor; He has given you tender leaves\nand bark, and rich grasses to eat; to me He has given Bara and Horta\nand Pisah, the fruits and the nuts and the roots.  He provides for each\nthe food that each likes best.  All that He asks is that we be strong\nenough or cunning enough to go forth and take it.  Yes, Tantor, it is\ngood to live.  I should hate to die.\"\n\nTantor made a little sound in his throat and curled his trunk upward\nthat he might caress the ape-man's cheek with the finger at its tip.\n\n\"Tantor,\" said Tarzan presently, \"turn and feed in the direction of the\ntribe of Kerchak, the great ape, that Tarzan may ride home upon your\nhead without walking.\"\n\nThe tusker turned and moved slowly off along a broad, tree-arched\ntrail, pausing occasionally to pluck a tender branch, or strip the\nedible bark from an adjacent tree.  Tarzan sprawled face downward upon\nthe beast's head and back, his legs hanging on either side, his head\nsupported by his open palms, his elbows resting on the broad cranium.\nAnd thus they made their leisurely way toward the gathering place of\nthe tribe.\n\nJust before they arrived at the clearing from the north there reached\nit from the south another figure--that of a well-knit black warrior,\nwho stepped cautiously through the jungle, every sense upon the alert\nagainst the many dangers which might lurk anywhere along the way.  Yet\nhe passed beneath the southernmost sentry that was posted in a great\ntree commanding the trail from the south.  The ape permitted the\nGomangani to pass unmolested, for he saw that he was alone; but the\nmoment that the warrior had entered the clearing a loud \"Kreeg-ah!\"\nrang out from behind him, immediately followed by a chorus of replies\nfrom different directions, as the great bulls crashed through the trees\nin answer to the summons of their fellow.\n\nThe black man halted at the first cry and looked about him.  He could\nsee nothing, but he knew the voice of the hairy tree men whom he and\nhis kind feared, not alone because of the strength and ferocity of the\nsavage beings, but as well through a superstitious terror engendered by\nthe manlike appearance of the apes.\n\nBut Bulabantu was no coward.  He heard the apes all about him; he knew\nthat escape was probably impossible, so he stood his ground, his spear\nready in his hand and a war cry trembling on his lips.  He would sell\nhis life dearly, would Bulabantu, under-chief of the village of Mbonga,\nthe chief.\n\nTarzan and Tantor were but a short distance away when the first cry of\nthe sentry rang out through the quiet jungle.  Like a flash the ape-man\nleaped from the elephant's back to a near-by tree and was swinging\nrapidly in the direction of the clearing before the echoes of the first\n\"Kreeg-ah\" had died away.  When he arrived he saw a dozen bulls\ncircling a single Gomangani.  With a blood-curdling scream Tarzan\nsprang to the attack.  He hated the blacks even more than did the apes,\nand here was an opportunity for a kill in the open.  What had the\nGomangani done? Had he slain one of the tribe?\n\nTarzan asked the nearest ape.  No, the Gomangani had harmed none.\nGozan, being on watch, had seen him coming through the forest and had\nwarned the tribe--that was all.  The ape-man pushed through the circle\nof bulls, none of which as yet had worked himself into sufficient\nfrenzy for a charge, and came where he had a full and close view of the\nblack.  He recognized the man instantly.  Only the night before he had\nseen him facing the eyes in the dark, while his fellows groveled in the\ndirt at his feet, too terrified even to defend themselves.  Here was a\nbrave man, and Tarzan had deep admiration for bravery.  Even his hatred\nof the blacks was not so strong a passion as his love of courage.  He\nwould have joyed in battling with a black warrior at almost any time;\nbut this one he did not wish to kill--he felt, vaguely, that the man\nhad earned his life by his brave defense of it on the preceding night,\nnor did he fancy the odds that were pitted against the lone warrior.\n\nHe turned to the apes.  \"Go back to your feeding,\" he said, \"and let\nthis Gomangani go his way in peace.  He has not harmed us, and last\nnight I saw him fighting Numa and Sabor with fire, alone in the jungle.\nHe is brave.  Why should we kill one who is brave and who has not\nattacked us? Let him go.\"\n\nThe apes growled.  They were displeased.  \"Kill the Gomangani!\" cried\none.\n\n\"Yes,\" roared another, \"kill the Gomangani and the Tarmangani as well.\"\n\n\"Kill the white ape!\" screamed Gozan, \"he is no ape at all; but a\nGomangani with his skin off.\"\n\n\"Kill Tarzan!\" bellowed Gunto.  \"Kill! Kill! Kill!\"\n\nThe bulls were now indeed working themselves into the frenzy of\nslaughter; but against Tarzan rather than the black man.  A shaggy form\ncharged through them, hurling those it came in contact with to one side\nas a strong man might scatter children.  It was Taug--great, savage\nTaug.\n\n\"Who says 'kill Tarzan'?\" he demanded.  \"Who kills Tarzan must kill\nTaug, too.  Who can kill Taug? Taug will tear your insides from you and\nfeed them to Dango.\"\n\n\"We can kill you all,\" replied Gunto.  \"There are many of us and few of\nyou,\" and he was right.  Tarzan knew that he was right.  Taug knew it;\nbut neither would admit such a possibility.  It is not the way of bull\napes.\n\n\"I am Tarzan,\" cried the ape-man. \"I am Tarzan.  Mighty hunter; mighty\nfighter.  In all the jungle none so great as Tarzan.\"\n\nThen, one by one, the opposing bulls recounted their virtues and their\nprowess.  And all the time the combatants came closer and closer to one\nanother.  Thus do the bulls work themselves to the proper pitch before\nengaging in battle.\n\nGunto came, stiff-legged, close to Tarzan and sniffed at him, with\nbared fangs.  Tarzan rumbled forth a low, menacing growl.  They might\nrepeat these tactics a dozen times; but sooner or later one bull would\nclose with another and then the whole hideous pack would be tearing and\nrending at their prey.\n\nBulabantu, the black man, had stood wide-eyed in wonder from the moment\nhe had seen Tarzan approaching through the apes.  He had heard much of\nthis devil-god who ran with the hairy tree people; but never before had\nhe seen him in full daylight.  He knew him well enough from the\ndescription of those who had seen him and from the glimpses he had had\nof the marauder upon several occasions when the ape-man had entered the\nvillage of Mbonga, the chief, by night, in the perpetration of one of\nhis numerous ghastly jokes.\n\nBulabantu could not, of course, understand anything which passed\nbetween Tarzan and the apes; but he saw that the ape-man and one of the\nlarger bulls were in argument with the others.  He saw that these two\nwere standing with their back toward him and between him and the\nbalance of the tribe, and he guessed, though it seemed improbable, that\nthey might be defending him.  He knew that Tarzan had once spared the\nlife of Mbonga, the chief, and that he had succored Tibo, and Tibo's\nmother, Momaya.  So it was not impossible that he would help Bulabantu;\nbut how he could accomplish it Bulabantu could not guess; nor as a\nmatter of fact could Tarzan, for the odds against him were too great.\n\nGunto and the others were slowly forcing Tarzan and Taug back toward\nBulabantu.  The ape-man thought of his words with Tantor just a short\ntime before: \"Yes, Tantor, it is good to live.  I should hate to die.\"\nAnd now he knew that he was about to die, for the temper of the great\nbulls was mounting rapidly against him.  Always had many of them hated\nhim, and all were suspicious of him.  They knew he was different.\nTarzan knew it too; but he was glad that he was--he was a MAN; that he\nhad learned from his picture-books, and he was very proud of the\ndistinction.  Presently, though, he would be a dead man.\n\nGunto was preparing to charge.  Tarzan knew the signs.  He knew that\nthe balance of the bulls would charge with Gunto.  Then it would soon\nbe over.  Something moved among the verdure at the opposite side of the\nclearing.  Tarzan saw it just as Gunto, with the terrifying cry of a\nchallenging ape, sprang forward.  Tarzan voiced a peculiar call and\nthen crouched to meet the assault.  Taug crouched, too, and Bulabantu,\nassured now that these two were fighting upon his side, couched his\nspear and sprang between them to receive the first charge of the enemy.\n\nSimultaneously a huge bulk broke into the clearing from the jungle\nbehind the charging bulls.  The trumpeting of a mad tusker rose shrill\nabove the cries of the anthropoids, as Tantor, the elephant, dashed\nswiftly across the clearing to the aid of his friend.\n\nGunto never closed upon the ape-man, nor did a fang enter flesh upon\neither side.  The terrific reverberation of Tantor's challenge sent the\nbulls scurrying to the trees, jabbering and scolding.  Taug raced off\nwith them.  Only Tarzan and Bulabantu remained.  The latter stood his\nground because he saw that the devil-god did not run, and because the\nblack had the courage to face a certain and horrible death beside one\nwho had quite evidently dared death for him.\n\nBut it was a surprised Gomangani who saw the mighty elephant come to a\nsudden halt in front of the ape-man and caress him with his long,\nsinuous trunk.\n\nTarzan turned toward the black man.  \"Go!\" he said in the language of\nthe apes, and pointed in the direction of the village of Mbonga.\nBulabantu understood the gesture, if not the word, nor did he lose time\nin obeying.  Tarzan stood watching him until he had disappeared.  He\nknew that the apes would not follow.  Then he said to the elephant:\n\"Pick me up!\" and the tusker swung him lightly to his head.\n\n\"Tarzan goes to his lair by the big water,\" shouted the ape-man to the\napes in the trees.  \"All of you are more foolish than Manu, except Taug\nand Teeka.  Taug and Teeka may come to see Tarzan; but the others must\nkeep away.  Tarzan is done with the tribe of Kerchak.\"\n\nHe prodded Tantor with a calloused toe and the big beast swung off\nacross the clearing, the apes watching them until they were swallowed\nup by the jungle.\n\nBefore the night fell Taug killed Gunto, picking a quarrel with him\nover his attack upon Tarzan.\n\nFor a moon the tribe saw nothing of Tarzan of the Apes.  Many of them\nprobably never gave him a thought; but there were those who missed him\nmore than Tarzan imagined.  Taug and Teeka often wished that he was\nback, and Taug determined a dozen times to go and visit Tarzan in his\nseaside lair; but first one thing and then another interfered.\n\nOne night when Taug lay sleepless looking up at the starry heavens he\nrecalled the strange things that Tarzan once had suggested to him--that\nthe bright spots were the eyes of the meat-eaters waiting in the dark\nof the jungle sky to leap upon Goro, the moon, and devour him.  The\nmore he thought about this matter the more perturbed he became.\n\nAnd then a strange thing happened.  Even as Taug looked at Goro, he saw\na portion of one edge disappear, precisely as though something was\ngnawing upon it.  Larger and larger became the hole in the side of\nGoro.  With a scream, Taug leaped to his feet.  His frenzied\n\"Kreeg-ahs!\" brought the terrified tribe screaming and chattering\ntoward him.\n\n\"Look!\" cried Taug, pointing at the moon.  \"Look! It is as Tarzan said.\nNuma has sprung through the fires and is devouring Goro.  You called\nTarzan names and drove him from the tribe; now see how wise he was.\nLet one of you who hated Tarzan go to Goro's aid.  See the eyes in the\ndark jungle all about Goro.  He is in danger and none can help\nhim--none except Tarzan.  Soon Goro will be devoured by Numa and we\nshall have no more light after Kudu seeks his lair.  How shall we dance\nthe Dum-Dum without the light of Goro?\"\n\nThe apes trembled and whimpered.  Any manifestation of the powers of\nnature always filled them with terror, for they could not understand.\n\n\"Go and bring Tarzan,\" cried one, and then they all took up the cry of\n\"Tarzan!\" \"Bring Tarzan!\" \"He will save Goro.\" But who was to travel\nthe dark jungle by night to fetch him?\n\n\"I will go,\" volunteered Taug, and an instant later he was off through\nthe Stygian gloom toward the little land-locked harbor by the sea.\n\nAnd as the tribe waited they watched the slow devouring of the moon.\nAlready Numa had eaten out a great semicircular piece.  At that rate\nGoro would be entirely gone before Kudu came again.  The apes trembled\nat the thought of perpetual darkness by night.  They could not sleep.\nRestlessly they moved here and there among the branches of trees,\nwatching Numa of the skies at his deadly feast, and listening for the\ncoming of Taug with Tarzan.\n\nGoro was nearly gone when the apes heard the sounds of the approach\nthrough the trees of the two they awaited, and presently Tarzan,\nfollowed by Taug, swung into a nearby tree.\n\nThe ape-man wasted no time in idle words.  In his hand was his long bow\nand at his back hung a quiver full of arrows, poisoned arrows that he\nhad stolen from the village of the blacks; just as he had stolen the\nbow.  Up into a great tree he clambered, higher and higher until he\nstood swaying upon a small limb which bent low beneath his weight.\nHere he had a clear and unobstructed view of the heavens.  He saw Goro\nand the inroads which the hungry Numa had made into his shining surface.\n\nRaising his face to the moon, Tarzan shrilled forth his hideous\nchallenge.  Faintly and from afar came the roar of an answering lion.\nThe apes shivered.  Numa of the skies had answered Tarzan.\n\nThen the ape-man fitted an arrow to his bow, and drawing the shaft far\nback, aimed its point at the heart of Numa where he lay in the heavens\ndevouring Goro.  There was a loud twang as the released bolt shot into\nthe dark heavens.  Again and again did Tarzan of the Apes launch his\narrows at Numa, and all the while the apes of the tribe of Kerchak\nhuddled together in terror.\n\nAt last came a cry from Taug.  \"Look! Look!\" he screamed.  \"Numa is\nkilled.  Tarzan has killed Numa.  See! Goro is emerging from the belly\nof Numa,\" and, sure enough, the moon was gradually emerging from\nwhatever had devoured her, whether it was Numa, the lion, or the shadow\nof the earth; but were you to try to convince an ape of the tribe of\nKerchak that it was aught but Numa who so nearly devoured Goro that\nnight, or that another than Tarzan preserved the brilliant god of their\nsavage and mysterious rites from a frightful death, you would have\ndifficulty--and a fight on your hands.\n\nAnd so Tarzan of the Apes came back to the tribe of Kerchak, and in his\ncoming he took a long stride toward the kingship, which he ultimately\nwon, for now the apes looked up to him as a superior being.\n\nIn all the tribe there was but one who was at all skeptical about the\nplausibility of Tarzan's remarkable rescue of Goro, and that one,\nstrange as it may seem, was Tarzan of the Apes."