of it, and my own skeptical incredulity during
the days that followed for the balance of the
strange tale.

When my convivial host discovered that he
had told me so much, and that I was prone
to doubtfulness, his foolish pride assumed
the task the old vintage had commenced,
and so he unearthed written evidence in the
form of musty manuscript, and dry official
records of the British Colonial Office to
support many of the salient features of his
remarkable narrative.

I do not say the story is true, for I did not
witness the happenings which it portrays,
but the fact that in the telling of it to you I have
taken fictitious names for the principal
characters quite sufficiently evidences the
sincerity of my own belief that it may be true.

The yellow, mildewed pages of the diary of
a man long dead, and the records of the
Colonial Office dovetail perfectly with the
narrative of my convivial host, and so I give
you the story as I painstakingly pieced it out
from these several various agencies.

If you do not find it credible you will at least
be as one with me in acknowledging that it
is unique, remarkable, and interesting.

From the records of the Colonial Office and
from the dead man's diary we learn that a
certain young English nobleman, whom we

-1-

training.

Political ambition had caused him to seek
transference from the army to the Colonial
Office and so we find him, still young,
entrusted with a delicate and important
commission in the service of the Queen.

When he received this appointment he was
both elated and appalled. The preferment
seemed to him in the nature of a well-
merited reward for painstaking and
intelligent service, and as a stepping stone
to posts of greater importance and
responsibility; but, on the other hand, he
had been married to the Hon. Alice
Rutherford for scarce a three months, and it
was the thought of taking this fair young girl
into the dangers and isolation of tropical
Africa that appalled him.

For her sake he would have refused the
appointment, but she would not have it so.
Instead she insisted that he accept, and,
indeed, take her with him.

There were mothers and brothers and
sisters, and aunts and cousins to express
various opinions on the subject, but as to
what they severally advised history is silent.

We know only that on a bright May morning
in 1888, John, Lord Greystoke, and Lady
Alice sailed from Dover on their way to
Africa.

A month later they arrived at Freetown
where they chartered a small sailing vessel,
the Fuwalda, which was to bear them to
their final destination.

And here John, Lord Greystoke, and Lady
Alice, his wife, vanished from the eyes and
from the knowledge of men.

Two months after they weighed anchor and

-2-

John Clayton and Lady Alice.

The men were working backwards toward
the little party who were facing away from
the sailors. Closer and closer they came,
until one of them was directly behind the
captain. In another moment he would have
passed by and this strange narrative would
never have been recorded.

But just that instant the officer turned to
leave Lord and Lady Greystoke, and, as he
did so, tripped against the sailor and
sprawled headlong upon the deck,
overturning the water-pail so that he was
drenched in its dirty contents.

For an instant the scene was ludicrous; but
only for an instant. With a volley of awful
oaths, his face suffused with the scarlet of
mortification and rage, the captain
regained his feet, and with a terrific blow
felled the sailor to the deck.

The man was small and rather old, so that
the brutality of the act was thus accentuated.
The other seaman, however, was neither
old nor small--a huge bear of a man, with
fierce black mustachios, and a great bull
neck set between massive shoulders.

As he saw his mate go down he crouched,
and, with a low snarl, sprang upon the
captain crushing him to his knees with a
single mighty blow.

From scarlet the officer's face went white,
for this was mutiny; and mutiny he had met
and subdued before in his brutal career.
Without waiting to rise he whipped a
revolver from his pocket, firing point blank
at the great mountain of muscle towering
before him; but, quick as he was, John
Clayton was almost as quick, so that the
bullet which was intended for the sailor's
heart lodged in the sailor's leg instead, for

-3-

same time.

The other officers were coarse, illiterate
fellows, but little above the villainous crew
they bullied, and were only too glad to avoid
social intercourse with the polished English
noble and his lady, so that the Claytons
were left very much to themselves.

This in itself accorded perfectly with their
desires, but it also rather isolated them from
the life of the little ship so that they were
unable to keep in touch with the daily
happenings which were to culminate so
soon in bloody tragedy.

There was in the whole atmosphere of the
craft that undefinable something which
presages disaster. Outwardly, to the
knowledge of the Claytons, all went on as
before upon the little vessel; but that there
was an undertow leading them toward
some unknown danger both felt, though they
did not speak of it to each other.

On the second day after the wounding of
Black Michael, Clayton came on deck just
in time to see the limp body of one of the
crew being carried below by four of his
fellows while the first mate, a heavy
belaying pin in his hand, stood glowering at
the little party of sullen sailors.

Clayton asked no questions--he did not
need to--and the following day, as the
great lines of a British battleship grew out of
the distant horizon, he half determined to
demand that he and Lady Alice be put
aboard her, for his fears were steadily
increasing that nothing but harm could result
from remaining on the lowering, sullen
Fuwalda.

Toward noon they were within speaking
distance of the British vessel, but when
Clayton had nearly decided to ask the

-4-

"Two busted 'eads yeste'day, an' three to-
day. Black Michael's as good as new agin
an' 'e's not the bully to stand fer it, not 'e;
an' mark my word for it, sir."

"You mean, my man, that the crew
contemplates mutiny?" asked Clayton.

"Mutiny!" exclaimed the old fellow. "Mutiny!
They means murder, sir, an' mark my word
for it, sir."

"When?"

"Hit's comin', sir; hit's comin' but I'm not a-
sayin' wen, an' I've said too damned much
now, but ye was a good sort t'other day an' I
thought it no more'n right to warn ye. But
keep a still tongue in yer 'ead an' when ye
'ear shootin' git below an' stay there.

"That's all, only keep a still tongue in yer
'ead, or they'll put a pill between yer ribs,
an' mark my word for it, sir," and the old
fellow went on with his polishing, which
carried him away from where the Claytons
were standing.

"Deuced cheerful outlook, Alice," said
Clayton.

"You should warn the captain at once, John.
Possibly the trouble may yet be averted,"
she said.

"I suppose I should, but yet from purely
selfish motives I am almost prompted to
`keep a still tongue in my 'ead.' Whatever
they do now they will spare us in recognition
of my stand for this fellow Black Michael,
but should they find that I had betrayed them
there would be no mercy shown us, Alice."

"You have but one duty, John, and that lies in
the interest of vested authority. If you do not
warn the captain you are as much a party to

-5-

"Come in," growled the deep tones of that
surly officer.

And when Clayton had entered, and closed
the door behind him:

"Well?"

"I have come to report the gist of a
conversation I heard to-day, because I feel
that, while there may be nothing to it, it is as
well that you be forearmed. In short, the men
contemplate mutiny and murder."

"It's a lie!" roared the captain. "And if you
have been interfering again with the
discipline of this ship, or meddling in affairs
that don't concern you you can take the
consequences, and be damned. I don't
care whether you are an English lord or not.
I'm captain of this here ship, and from now
on you keep your meddling nose out of my
business."

The captain had worked himself up to such
a frenzy of rage that he was fairly purple of
face, and he shrieked the last words at the
top of his voice, emphasizing his remarks
by a loud thumping of the table with one
huge fist, and shaking the other in Clayton's
face.

Greystoke never turned a hair, but stood
eying the excited man with level gaze.

"Captain Billings," he drawled finally, "if you
will pardon my candor, I might remark that
you are something of an ass."

Whereupon he turned and left the captain
with the same indifferent ease that was
habitual with him, and which was more
surely calculated to raise the ire of a man of
Billings' class than a torrent of invective.

So, whereas the captain might easily have

-6-

"If the officers are able to prevent a mutiny,
we have nothing to fear, while if the
mutineers are victorious our one slim hope
lies in not having attempted to thwart or
antagonize them."

"Right you are, Alice. We'll keep in the
middle of the road."

As they started to straighten up their cabin,
Clayton and his wife simultaneously noticed
the corner of a piece of paper protruding
from beneath the door of their quarters. As
Clayton stooped to reach for it he was
amazed to see it move further into the room,
and then he realized that it was being
pushed inward by someone from without.

Quickly and silently he stepped toward the
door, but, as he reached for the knob to
throw it open, his wife's hand fell upon his
wrist.

"No, John," she whispered. "They do not
wish to be seen, and so we cannot afford to
see them. Do not forget that we are keeping
to the middle of the road."

Clayton smiled and dropped his hand to his
side. Thus they stood watching the little bit
of white paper until it finally remained at rest
upon the floor just inside the door.

Then Clayton stooped and picked it up. It
was a bit of grimy, white paper roughly
folded into a ragged square. Opening it they
found a crude message printed almost
illegibly, and with many evidences of an
unaccustomed task.

Translated, it was a warning to the Claytons
to refrain from reporting the loss of the
revolvers, or from repeating what the old
sailor had told them--to refrain on pain of
death.

-7-

groans of the wounded, turned the deck of
the Fuwalda to the likeness of a madhouse.

Before the officers had taken a dozen
backward steps the men were upon them.
An ax in the hands of a burly Negro cleft the
captain from forehead to chin, and an
instant later the others were down: dead or
wounded from dozens of blows and bullet
wounds.

Short and grisly had been the work of the
mutineers of the Fuwalda, and through it all
John Clayton had stood leaning carelessly
beside the companionway puffing
meditatively upon his pipe as though he had
been but watching an indifferent cricket
match.

As the last officer went down he thought it
was time that he returned to his wife lest
some members of the crew find her alone
below.

Though outwardly calm and indifferent,
Clayton was inwardly apprehensive and
wrought up, for he feared for his wife's
safety at the hands of these ignorant, half-
brutes into whose hands fate had so
remorselessly thrown them.

As he turned to descend the ladder he was
surprised to see his wife standing on the
steps almost at his side.

"How long have you been here, Alice?"

"Since the beginning," she replied. "How
awful, John. Oh, how awful! What can we
hope for at the hands of such as those?"

"Breakfast, I hope," he answered, smiling
bravely in an attempt to allay her fears.

"At least," he added, "I'm going to ask them.
Come with me, Alice. We must not let them

-8-

ship's officers, land was sighted by the
lookout. Whether island or mainland, Black
Michael did not know, but he announced to
Clayton that if investigation showed that the
place was habitable he and Lady Greystoke
were to be put ashore with their belongings.

"You'll be all right there for a few months,"
he explained, "and by that time we'll have
been able to make an inhabited coast
somewhere and scatter a bit. Then I'll see
that yer gover'ment's notified where you be
an' they'll soon send a man-o'war to fetch
ye off.

"It would be a hard matter to land you in
civilization without a lot o' questions being
asked, an' none o' us here has any very
convincin' answers up our sleeves."

Clayton remonstrated against the
inhumanity of landing them upon an
unknown shore to be left to the mercies of
savage beasts, and, possibly, still more
savage men.

But his words were of no avail, and only
tended to anger Black Michael, so he was
forced to desist and make the best he could
of a bad situation.

About three o'clock in the afternoon they
came about off a beautiful wooded shore
opposite the mouth of what appeared to be
a land-locked harbor.

Black Michael sent a small boat filled with
men to sound the entrance in an effort to
determine if the Fuwalda could be safely
worked through the entrance.

In about an hour they returned and reported
deep water through the passage as well as
far into the little basin.

Before dark the barkentine lay peacefully at

-9-

the man to forget a favor. Ye saved my life
once, and in return I'm goin' to spare yours,
but that's all I can do.

"The men won't stand for any more, and if
we don't get ye landed pretty quick they may
even change their minds about giving ye
that much show. I'll put all yer stuff ashore
with ye as well as cookin' utensils an' some
old sails for tents, an' enough grub to last ye
until ye can find fruit and game.

"With yer guns for protection, ye ought to be
able to live here easy enough until help
comes. When I get safely hid away I'll see to
it that the British gover'ment learns about
where ye be; for the life of me I couldn't tell
'em exactly where, for I don't know myself.
But they'll find ye all right."

After he had left them they went silently
below, each wrapped in gloomy
forebodings.

Clayton did not believe that Black Michael
had the slightest intention of notifying the
British government of their whereabouts,
nor was he any too sure but that some
treachery was contemplated for the
following day when they should be on shore
with the sailors who would have to
accompany them with their belongings.

Once out of Black Michael's sight any of the
men might strike them down, and still leave
Black Michael's conscience clear.

And even should they escape that fate was
it not but to be faced with far graver
dangers? Alone, he might hope to survive
for years; for he was a strong, athletic man.

But what of Alice, and that other little life so
soon to be launched amidst the hardships
and grave dangers of a primeval world?

-10-

was the last to leave them when the small
boats, having filled the ship's casks with
fresh water, were pushed out toward the
waiting Fuwalda.

As the boats moved slowly over the smooth
waters of the bay, Clayton and his wife
stood silently watching their departure--in
the breasts of both a feeling of impending
disaster and utter hopelessness.

And behind them, over the edge of a low
ridge, other eyes watched--close set,
wicked eyes, gleaming beneath shaggy
brows.

As the Fuwalda passed through the narrow
entrance to the harbor and out of sight
behind a projecting point, Lady Alice threw
her arms about Clayton's neck and burst
into uncontrolled sobs.

Bravely had she faced the dangers of the
mutiny; with heroic fortitude she had looked
into the terrible future; but now that the
horror of absolute solitude was upon them,
her overwrought nerves gave way, and the
reaction came.

He did not attempt to check her tears. It
were better that nature have her way in
relieving these long-pent emotions, and it
was many minutes before the girl--little
more than a child she was--could again
gain mastery of herself.

"Oh, John," she cried at last, "the horror of it.
What are we to do? What are we to do?"

"There is but one thing to do, Alice," and he
spoke as quietly as though they were sitting
in their snug living room at home, "and that
is work. Work must be our salvation. We
must not give ourselves time to think, for in
that direction lies madness.

-11-

prowling beasts of prey.

He opened the box containing his rifles and
ammunition, that they might both be armed
against possible attack while at work, and
then together they sought a location for their
first night's sleeping place.

A hundred yards from the beach was a little
level spot, fairly free of trees; here they
decided eventually to build a permanent
house, but for the time being they both
thought it best to construct a little platform in
the trees out of reach of the larger of the
savage beasts in whose realm they were.

To this end Clayton selected four trees
which formed a rectangle about eight feet
square, and cutting long branches from
other trees he constructed a framework
around them, about ten feet from the
ground, fastening the ends of the branches
securely to the trees by means of rope, a
quantity of which Black Michael had
furnished him from the hold of the Fuwalda.

Across this framework Clayton placed other
smaller branches quite close together. This
platform he paved with the huge fronds of
elephant's ear which grew in profusion
about them, and over the fronds he laid a
great sail folded into several thicknesses.

Seven feet higher he constructed a similar,
though lighter platform to serve as roof, and
from the sides of this he suspended the
balance of his sailcloth for walls.

When completed he had a rather snug little
nest, to which he carried their blankets and
some of the lighter luggage.

It was now late in the afternoon, and the
balance of the daylight hours were devoted
to the building of a rude ladder by means of
which Lady Alice could mount to her new

-12-

"What is it, John?"

"I do not know, Alice," he answered gravely,
"it is too dark to see so far, and it may have
been but a shadow cast by the rising moon."

"No, John, if it was not a man it was some
huge and grotesque mockery of man. Oh, I
am afraid."

He gathered her in his arms, whispering
words of courage and love into her ears.

Soon after, he lowered the curtain walls,
tying them securely to the trees so that,
except for a little opening toward the beach,
they were entirely enclosed.

As it was now pitch dark within their tiny
aerie they lay down upon their blankets to try
to gain, through sleep, a brief respite of
forgetfulness.

Clayton lay facing the opening at the front, a
rifle and a brace of revolvers at his hand.

Scarcely had they closed their eyes than the
terrifying cry of a panther rang out from the
jungle behind them. Closer and closer it
came until they could hear the great beast
directly beneath them. For an hour or more
they heard it sniffing and clawing at the
trees which supported their platform, but at
last it roamed away across the beach,
where Clayton could see it clearly in the
brilliant moonlight--a great, handsome
beast, the largest he had ever seen.

During the long hours of darkness they
caught but fitful snatches of sleep, for the
night noises of a great jungle teeming with
myriad animal life kept their overwrought
nerves on edge, so that a hundred times
they were startled to wakefulness by
piercing screams, or the stealthy moving of
great bodies beneath them.

-13-

contiguous layers running transversely, until
he had a solid body some three inches thick
and of such great strength that they were
both moved to laughter as they gazed upon
it.

Here the greatest difficulty confronted
Clayton, for he had no means whereby to
hang his massive door now that he had built
it. After two days' work, however, he
succeeded in fashioning two massive
hardwood hinges, and with these he hung
the door so that it opened and closed easily.

The stuccoing and other final touches were
added after they moved into the house,
which they had done as soon as the roof
was on, piling their boxes before the door at
night and thus having a comparatively safe
and comfortable habitation.

The building of a bed, chairs, table, and
shelves was a relatively easy matter, so that
by the end of the second month they were
well settled, and, but for the constant dread
of attack by wild beasts and the ever
growing loneliness, they were not
uncomfortable or unhappy.

At night great beasts snarled and roared
about their tiny cabin, but, so accustomed
may one become to oft repeated noises,
that soon they paid little attention to them,
sleeping soundly the whole night through.

Thrice had they caught fleeting glimpses of
great man-like figures like that of the first
night, but never at sufficiently close range to
know positively whether the half-seen
forms were those of man or brute.

The brilliant birds and the little monkeys had
become accustomed to their new
acquaintances, and as they had evidently
never seen human beings before they
presently, after their first fright had worn off,

-14-

chances with this ferocious monster were
small indeed--and Alice; O God, he
thought, what will become of Alice?

There was yet a slight chance of reaching
the cabin. He turned and ran toward it,
shouting an alarm to his wife to run in and
close the great door in case the ape cut off
his retreat.

Lady Greystoke had been sitting a little way
from the cabin, and when she heard his cry
she looked up to see the ape springing with
almost incredible swiftness, for so large
and awkward an animal, in an effort to head
off Clayton.

With a low cry she sprang toward the cabin,
and, as she entered, gave a backward
glance which filled her soul with terror, for
the brute had intercepted her husband, who
now stood at bay grasping his ax with both
hands ready to swing it upon the infuriated
animal when he should make his final
charge.

"Close and bolt the door, Alice," cried
Clayton. "I can finish this fellow with my ax."

But he knew he was facing a horrible death,
and so did she.

The ape was a great bull, weighing
probably three hundred pounds. His nasty,
close-set eyes gleamed hatred from
beneath his shaggy brows, while his great
canine fangs were bared in a horrid snarl as
he paused a moment before his prey.

Over the brute's shoulder Clayton could see
the doorway of his cabin, not twenty paces
distant, and a great wave of horror and fear
swept over him as he saw his young wife
emerge, armed with one of his rifles.

She had always been afraid of firearms,

-15-

Gently he lifted his wife's still unconscious
form, and bore her to the little cabin, but it
was fully two hours before she regained
consciousness.

Her first words filled Clayton with vague
apprehension. For some time after
regaining her senses, Alice gazed
wonderingly about the interior of the little
cabin, and then, with a satisfied sigh, said:

"O, John, it is so good to be really home! I
have had an awful dream, dear. I thought we
were no longer in London, but in some
horrible place where great beasts attacked
us."

"There, there, Alice," he said, stroking her
forehead, "try to sleep again, and do not
worry your head about bad dreams."

That night a little son was born in the tiny
cabin beside the primeval forest, while a
leopard screamed before the door, and the
deep notes of a lion's roar sounded from
beyond the ridge.

Lady Greystoke never recovered from the
shock of the great ape's attack, and, though
she lived for a year after her baby was born,
she was never again outside the cabin, nor
did she ever fully realize that she was not in
England.

Sometimes she would question Clayton as
to the strange noises of the nights; the
absence of servants and friends, and the
strange rudeness of the furnishings within
her room, but, though he made no effort to
deceive her, never could she grasp the
meaning of it all.

In other ways she was quite rational, and the
joy and happiness she took in the
possession of her little son and the constant
attentions of her husband made that year a

-16-

game and fruits, as it was constantly
necessary for him to do to insure
sustenance, he had no fear that any animal
could break into the little home.

At first he shot much of the game from the
cabin windows, but toward the end the
animals learned to fear the strange lair from
whence issued the terrifying thunder of his
rifle.

In his leisure Clayton read, often aloud to his
wife, from the store of books he had
brought for their new home. Among these
were many for little children--picture
books, primers, readers--for they had
known that their little child would be old
enough for such before they might hope to
return to England.

At other times Clayton wrote in his diary,
which he had always been accustomed to
keep in French, and in which he recorded
the details of their strange life. This book he
kept locked in a little metal box.

A year from the day her little son was born
Lady Alice passed quietly away in the night.
So peaceful was her end that it was hours
before Clayton could awake to a realization
that his wife was dead.

The horror of the situation came to him very
slowly, and it is doubtful that he ever fully
realized the enormity of his sorrow and the
fearful responsibility that had devolved upon
him with the care of that wee thing, his son,
still a nursing babe.

The last entry in his diary was made the
morning following her death, and there he
recites the sad details in a matter-of-fact
way that adds to the pathos of it; for it
breathes a tired apathy born of long sorrow
and hopelessness, which even this cruel
blow could scarcely awake to further

-17-

And then he spied Kala, who, returning from
a search for food with her young babe, was
ignorant of the state of the mighty male's
temper until suddenly the shrill warnings of
her fellows caused her to scamper madly
for safety.

But Kerchak was close upon her, so close
that he had almost grasped her ankle had
she not made a furious leap far into space
from one tree to another--a perilous
chance which apes seldom if ever take,
unless so closely pursued by danger that
there is no alternative.

She made the leap successfully, but as she
grasped the limb of the further tree the
sudden jar loosened the hold of the tiny
babe where it clung frantically to her neck,
and she saw the little thing hurled, turning
and twisting, to the ground thirty feet below.

With a low cry of dismay Kala rushed
headlong to its side, thoughtless now of the
danger from Kerchak; but when she
gathered the wee, mangled form to her
bosom life had left it.

With low moans, she sat cuddling the body
to her; nor did Kerchak attempt to molest
her. With the death of the babe his fit of
demoniacal rage passed as suddenly as it
had seized him.

Kerchak was a huge king ape, weighing
perhaps three hundred and fifty pounds. His
forehead was extremely low and receding,
his eyes bloodshot, small and close set to
his coarse, flat nose; his ears large and
thin, but smaller than most of his kind.

His awful temper and his mighty strength
made him supreme among the little tribe
into which he had been born some twenty
years before.

-18-

The young played and frolicked about
among the trees and bushes. Some of the
adults lay prone upon the soft mat of dead
and decaying vegetation which covered the
ground, while others turned over pieces of
fallen branches and clods of earth in search
of the small bugs and reptiles which formed
a part of their food.

Others, again, searched the surrounding
trees for fruit, nuts, small birds, and eggs.

They had passed an hour or so thus when
Kerchak called them together, and, with a
word of command to them to follow him, set
off toward the sea.

They traveled for the most part upon the
ground, where it was open, following the
path of the great elephants whose comings
and goings break the only roads through
those tangled mazes of bush, vine, creeper,
and tree. When they walked it was with a
rolling, awkward motion, placing the
knuckles of their closed hands upon the
ground and swinging their ungainly bodies
forward.

But when the way was through the lower
trees they moved more swiftly, swinging
from branch to branch with the agility of their
smaller cousins, the monkeys. And all the
way Kala carried her little dead baby
hugged closely to her breast.

It was shortly after noon when they reached
a ridge overlooking the beach where below
them lay the tiny cottage which was
Kerchak's goal.

He had seen many of his kind go to their
deaths before the loud noise made by the
little black stick in the hands of the strange
white ape who lived in that wonderful lair,
and Kerchak had made up his brute mind to
own that death-dealing contrivance, and to

-19-

never knew, for his revolvers were hanging
on the far wall beside his rifle, and Kerchak
was charging.

When the king ape released the limp form
which had been John Clayton, Lord
Greystoke, he turned his attention toward
the little cradle; but Kala was there before
him, and when he would have grasped the
child she snatched it herself, and before he
could intercept her she had bolted through
the door and taken refuge in a high tree.

As she took up the little live baby of Alice
Clayton she dropped the dead body of her
own into the empty cradle; for the wail of the
living had answered the call of universal
motherhood within her wild breast which the
dead could not still.

High up among the branches of a mighty
tree she hugged the shrieking infant to her
bosom, and soon the instinct that was as
dominant in this fierce female as it had
been in the breast of his tender and
beautiful mother--the instinct of mother
love--reached out to the tiny man-child's
half-formed understanding, and he
became quiet.

Then hunger closed the gap between them,
and the son of an English lord and an
English lady nursed at the breast of Kala,
the great ape.

In the meantime the beasts within the cabin
were warily examining the contents of this
strange lair.

Once satisfied that Clayton was dead,
Kerchak turned his attention to the thing
which lay upon the bed, covered by a piece
of sailcloth.

Gingerly he lifted one corner of the shroud,
but when he saw the body of the woman

-20-

Presently he halted before the rifle. Slowly
he raised a huge hand until it almost
touched the shining barrel, only to withdraw
it once more and continue his hurried
pacing.

It was as though the great brute by this show
of fearlessness, and through the medium of
his wild voice, was endeavoring to bolster
up his courage to the point which would
permit him to take the rifle in his hand.

Again he stopped, and this time succeeded
in forcing his reluctant hand to the cold steel,
only to snatch it away almost immediately
and resume his restless beat.

Time after time this strange ceremony was
repeated, but on each occasion with
increased confidence, until, finally, the rifle
was torn from its hook and lay in the grasp
of the great brute.

Finding that it harmed him not, Kerchak
began to examine it closely. He felt of it from
end to end, peered down the black depths
of the muzzle, fingered the sights, the
breech, the stock, and finally the trigger.

During all these operations the apes who
had entered sat huddled near the door
watching their chief, while those outside
strained and crowded to catch a glimpse of
what transpired within.

Suddenly Kerchak's finger closed upon the
trigger. There was a deafening roar in the
little room and the apes at and beyond the
door fell over one another in their wild
anxiety to escape.

Kerchak was equally frightened, so
frightened, in fact, that he quite forgot to
throw aside the author of that fearful noise,
but bolted for the door with it tightly clutched
in one hand.

-21-

When they assured her that they meant the
child no harm she permitted them to come
close, but would not allow them to touch her
charge.

It was as though she knew that her baby
was frail and delicate and feared lest the
rough hands of her fellows might injure the
little thing.

Another thing she did, and which made
traveling an onerous trial for her.
Remembering the death of her own little
one, she clung desperately to the new
babe, with one hand, whenever they were
upon the march.

The other young rode upon their mothers'
backs; their little arms tightly clasping the
hairy necks before them, while their legs
were locked beneath their mothers'
armpits.

Not so with Kala; she held the small form of
the little Lord Greystoke tightly to her breast,
where the dainty hands clutched the long
black hair which covered that portion of her
body. She had seen one child fall from her
back to a terrible death, and she would take
no further chances with this.

Chapter 5 The White Ape

Tenderly Kala nursed her little waif,
wondering silently why it did not gain
strength and agility as did the little apes of
other mothers. It was nearly a year from the
time the little fellow came into her
possession before he would walk alone,
and as for climbing--my, but how stupid he
was!

Kala sometimes talked with the older
females about her young hopeful, but none
of them could understand how a child could
be so slow and backward in learning to care

-22-

old he was an excellent climber, and on the
ground could do many wonderful things
which were beyond the powers of his little
brothers and sisters.

In many ways did he differ from them, and
they often marveled at his superior cunning,
but in strength and size he was deficient; for
at ten the great anthropoids were fully
grown, some of them towering over six feet
in height, while little Tarzan was still but a
half-grown boy.

Yet such a boy!

From early childhood he had used his hands
to swing from branch to branch after the
manner of his giant mother, and as he grew
older he spent hour upon hour daily
speeding through the tree tops with his
brothers and sisters.

He could spring twenty feet across space at
the dizzy heights of the forest top, and grasp
with unerring precision, and without
apparent jar, a limb waving wildly in the
path of an approaching tornado.

He could drop twenty feet at a stretch from
limb to limb in rapid descent to the ground,
or he could gain the utmost pinnacle of the
loftiest tropical giant with the ease and
swiftness of a squirrel.

Though but ten years old he was fully as
strong as the average man of thirty, and far
more agile than the most practiced athlete
ever becomes. And day by day his strength
was increasing.

His life among these fierce apes had been
happy; for his recollection held no other life,
nor did he know that there existed within the
universe aught else than his little forest and
the wild jungle animals with which he was
familiar.

-23-

the final blow --a brown spot, a gray circle
and then blank whiteness! Frightful! not
even the snakes had such hideous eyes as
he.

So intent was he upon this personal
appraisement of his features that he did not
hear the parting of the tall grass behind him
as a great body pushed itself stealthily
through the jungle; nor did his companion,
the ape, hear either, for he was drinking
and the noise of his sucking lips and gurgles
of satisfaction drowned the quiet approach
of the intruder.

Not thirty paces behind the two she
crouched--Sabor, the huge lioness--
lashing her tail. Cautiously she moved a
great padded paw forward, noiselessly
placing it before she lifted the next. Thus
she advanced; her belly low, almost
touching the surface of the ground--a great
cat preparing to spring upon its prey.

Now she was within ten feet of the two
unsuspecting little playfellows--carefully
she drew her hind feet well up beneath her
body, the great muscles rolling under the
beautiful skin.

So low she was crouching now that she
seemed flattened to the earth except for the
upward bend of the glossy back as it
gathered for the spring.

No longer the tail lashed--quiet and straight
behind her it lay.

An instant she paused thus, as though
turned to stone, and then, with an awful
scream, she sprang.

Sabor, the lioness, was a wise hunter. To
one less wise the wild alarm of her fierce
cry as she sprang would have seemed a
foolish thing, for could she not more surely

-24-

feared it for the thunder and lightning and
wind which accompanied them.

The deep waters of the lake he had been
taught by his wild mother to avoid, and
further, had he not seen little Neeta sink
beneath its quiet surface only a few short
weeks before never to return to the tribe?

But of the two evils his quick mind chose the
lesser ere the first note of Sabor's scream
had scarce broken the quiet of the jungle,
and before the great beast had covered half
her leap Tarzan felt the chill waters close
above his head.

He could not swim, and the water was very
deep; but still he lost no particle of that self-
confidence and resourcefulness which
were the badges of his superior being.

Rapidly he moved his hands and feet in an
attempt to scramble upward, and, possibly
more by chance than design, he fell into the
stroke that a dog uses when swimming, so
that within a few seconds his nose was
above water and he found that he could
keep it there by continuing his strokes, and
also make progress through the water.

He was much surprised and pleased with
this new acquirement which had been so
suddenly thrust upon him, but he had no time
for thinking much upon it.

He was now swimming parallel to the bank
and there he saw the cruel beast that would
have seized him crouching upon the still
form of his little playmate.

The lioness was intently watching Tarzan,
evidently expecting him to return to shore,
but this the boy had no intention of doing.

Instead he raised his voice in the call of
distress common to his tribe, adding to it

-25-

continually, occasionally remaining for
months in one locality; but as they moved
through the trees with great speed they
often covered the territory in a very few
days.

Much depended upon food supply, climatic
conditions, and the prevalence of animals
of the more dangerous species; though
Kerchak often led them on long marches for
no other reason than that he had tired of
remaining in the same place.

At night they slept where darkness overtook
them, lying upon the ground, and
sometimes covering their heads, and more
seldom their bodies, with the great leaves
of the elephant's ear. Two or three might lie
cuddled in each other's arms for additional
warmth if the night were chill, and thus
Tarzan had slept in Kala's arms nightly for
all these years.

That the huge, fierce brute loved this child of
another race is beyond question, and he,
too, gave to the great, hairy beast all the
affection that would have belonged to his
fair young mother had she lived.

When he was disobedient she cuffed him, it
is true, but she was never cruel to him, and
was more often caressing him than
chastising him.

Tublat, her mate, always hated Tarzan, and
on several occasions had come near
ending his youthful career.

Tarzan on his part never lost an opportunity
to show that he fully reciprocated his foster
father's sentiments, and whenever he could
safely annoy him or make faces at him or
hurl insults upon him from the safety of his
mother's arms, or the slender branches of
the higher trees, he did so.

-26-

The other apes derived unlimited
amusement from Tublat's discomfiture, for
Broken Nose was a disagreeable old
fellow, whom no one liked, anyway.

In Tarzan's clever little mind many thoughts
revolved, and back of these was his divine
power of reason.

If he could catch his fellow apes with his
long arm of many grasses, why not Sabor,
the lioness?

It was the germ of a thought, which,
however, was destined to mull around in his
conscious and subconscious mind until it
resulted in magnificent achievement.

But that came in later years.

Chapter 6 Jungle Battles

The wanderings of the tribe brought them
often near the closed and silent cabin by the
little land-locked harbor. To Tarzan this was
always a source of never-ending mystery
and pleasure.

He would peek into the curtained windows,
or, climbing upon the roof, peer down the
black depths of the chimney in vain
endeavor to solve the unknown wonders
that lay within those strong walls.

His child-like imagination pictured
wonderful creatures within, and the very
impossibility of forcing entrance added a
thousandfold to his desire to do so.

He could clamber about the roof and
windows for hours attempting to discover
means of ingress, but to the door he paid
little attention, for this was apparently as
solid as the walls.

It was in the next visit to the vicinity,

-27-

In the middle of the floor lay a skeleton,
every vestige of flesh gone from the bones
to which still clung the mildewed and
moldered remnants of what had once been
clothing. Upon the bed lay a similar
gruesome thing, but smaller, while in a tiny
cradle near-by was a third, a wee mite of a
skeleton.

To none of these evidences of a fearful
tragedy of a long dead day did little Tarzan
give but passing heed. His wild jungle life
had inured him to the sight of dead and
dying animals, and had he known that he
was looking upon the remains of his own
father and mother he would have been no
more greatly moved.

The furnishings and other contents of the
room it was which riveted his attention. He
examined many things minutely--strange
tools and weapons, books, paper, clothing
what little had withstood the ravages of time
in the humid atmosphere of the jungle
coast.

He opened chests and cupboards, such as
did not baffle his small experience, and in
these he found the contents much better
preserved.

Among other things he found a sharp
hunting knife, on the keen blade of which he
immediately proceeded to cut his finger.
Undaunted he continued his experiments,
finding that he could hack and hew splinters
of wood from the table and chairs with this
new toy.

For a long time this amused him, but finally
tiring he continued his explorations. In a
cupboard filled with books he came across
one with brightly colored pictures--it was a
child's illustrated alphabet

-28-

Oh, it was most engrossing! Never before
in all his ten years had he enjoyed anything
so much. So absorbed was he that he did
not note the approaching dusk, until it was
quite upon him and the figures were blurred.

He put the book back in the cupboard and
closed the door, for he did not wish anyone
else to find and destroy his treasure, and as
he went out into the gathering darkness he
closed the great door of the cabin behind
him as it had been before he discovered the
secret of its lock, but before he left he had
noticed the hunting knife lying where he had
thrown it upon the floor, and this he picked
up and took with him to show to his fellows.

He had taken scarce a dozen steps toward
the jungle when a great form rose up before
him from the shadows of a low bush. At first
he thought it was one of his own people but
in another instant he realized that it was
Bolgani, the huge gorilla.

So close was he that there was no chance
for flight and little Tarzan knew that he must
stand and fight for his life; for these great
beasts were the deadly enemies of his
tribe, and neither one nor the other ever
asked or gave quarter.

Had Tarzan been a full-grown bull ape of
the species of his tribe he would have been
more than a match for the gorilla, but being
only a little English boy, though enormously
muscular for such, he stood no chance
against his cruel antagonist. In his veins,
though, flowed the blood of the best of a
race of mighty fighters, and back of this
was the training of his short lifetime among
the fierce brutes of the jungle.

He knew no fear, as we know it; his little
heart beat the faster but from the excitement
and exhilaration of adventure. Had the
opportunity presented itself he would have

-29-

might be but one of a party of several, and
also to see that all members of the tribe
were accounted for.

It was soon discovered that Tarzan was
missing, and Tublat was strongly opposed
to sending assistance. Kerchak himself had
no liking for the strange little waif, so he
listened to Tublat, and, finally, with a shrug
of his shoulders, turned back to the pile of
leaves on which he had made his bed.

But Kala was of a different mind; in fact,
she had not waited but to learn that Tarzan
was absent ere she was fairly flying through
the matted branches toward the point from
which the cries of the gorilla were still plainly
audible.

Darkness had now fallen, and an early
moon was sending its faint light to cast
strange, grotesque shadows among the
dense foliage of the forest.

Here and there the brilliant rays penetrated
to earth, but for the most part they only
served to accentuate the Stygian blackness
of the jungle's depths.

Like some huge phantom, Kala swung
noiselessly from tree to tree; now running
nimbly along a great branch, now swinging
through space at the end of another, only to
grasp that of a farther tree in her rapid
progress toward the scene of the tragedy
her knowledge of jungle life told her was
being enacted a short distance before her.

The cries of the gorilla proclaimed that it
was in mortal combat with some other
denizen of the fierce wood. Suddenly these
cries ceased, and the silence of death
reigned throughout the jungle.

Kala could not understand, for the voice of
Bolgani had at last been raised in the agony

-30-

this poor, wild brute for the little orphaned
waif whom fate had thrown into her
keeping.

At last the fever abated and the boy
commenced to mend. No word of complaint
passed his tight set lips, though the pain of
his wounds was excruciating.

A portion of his chest was laid bare to the
ribs, three of which had been broken by the
mighty blows of the gorilla. One arm was
nearly severed by the giant fangs, and a
great piece had been torn from his neck,
exposing his jugular vein, which the cruel
jaws had missed but by a miracle.

With the stoicism of the brutes who had
raised him he endured his suffering quietly,
preferring to crawl away from the others
and lie huddled in some clump of tall
grasses rather than to show his misery
before their eyes.

Kala, alone, he was glad to have with him,
but now that he was better she was gone
longer at a time, in search of food; for the
devoted animal had scarcely eaten enough
to support her own life while Tarzan had
been so low, and was in consequence,
reduced to a mere shadow of her former
self.

Chapter 7 The Light of Knowledge

After what seemed an eternity to the little
sufferer he was able to walk once more,
and from then on his recovery was so rapid
that in another month he was as strong and
active as ever.

During his convalescence he had gone over
in his mind many times the battle with the
gorilla, and his first thought was to recover
the wonderful little weapon which had
transformed him from a hopelessly

-31-

Among the other books were a primer,
some child's readers, numerous picture
books, and a great dictionary. All of these
he examined, but the pictures caught his
fancy most, though the strange little bugs
which covered the pages where there were
no pictures excited his wonder and deepest
thought.

Squatting upon his haunches on the table
top in the cabin his father had built--his
smooth, brown, naked little body bent over
the book which rested in his strong slender
hands, and his great shock of long, black
hair falling about his well-shaped head and
bright, intelligent eyes--Tarzan of the apes,
little primitive man, presented a picture
filled, at once, with pathos and with
promise--an allegorical figure of the
primordial groping through the black night of
ignorance toward the light of learning.

His little face was tense in study, for he had
partially grasped, in a hazy, nebulous way,
the rudiments of a thought which was
destined to prove the key and the solution to
the puzzling problem of the strange little
bugs.

In his hands was a primer opened at a
picture of a little ape similar to himself, but
covered, except for hands and face, with
strange, colored fur, for such he thought the
jacket and trousers to be. Beneath the
picture were three little bugs

Boy.

And now he had discovered in the text upon
the page that these three were repeated
many times in the same sequence.

Another fact he learned--that there were
comparatively few individual bugs; but
these were repeated many times,
occasionally alone, but more often in

-32-

He worked so assiduously with this new toy
that the table top was soon a mass of
scrawly loops and irregular lines and his
pencil-point worn down to the wood. Then
he took another pencil, but this time he had
a definite object in view.

He would attempt to reproduce some of the
little bugs that scrambled over the pages of
his books.

It was a difficult task, for he held the pencil
as one would grasp the hilt of a dagger,
which does not add greatly to ease in
writing or to the legibility of the results.

But he persevered for months, at such times
as he was able to come to the cabin, until at
last by repeated experimenting he found a
position in which to hold the pencil that best
permitted him to guide and control it, so that
at last he could roughly reproduce any of the
little bugs.

Thus he made a beginning of writing.

Copying the bugs taught him another thing--
their number; and though he could not count
as we understand it, yet he had an idea of
quantity, the base of his calculations being
the number of fingers upon one of his
hands.

His search through the various books
convinced him that he had discovered all the
different kinds of bugs most often repeated
in combination, and these he arranged in
proper order with great ease because of
the frequency with which he had perused
the fascinating alphabet picture book.

His education progressed; but his greatest
finds were in the inexhaustible storehouse
of the huge illustrated dictionary, for he
learned more through the medium of
pictures than text, even after he had

-33-

Nor did he neglect the sterner duties of life
while following the bent of his inclination
toward the solving of the mystery of his
library.

He practiced with his rope and played with
his sharp knife, which he had learned to
keep keen by whetting upon flat stones.

The tribe had grown larger since Tarzan had
come among them, for under the leadership
of Kerchak they had been able to frighten
the other tribes from their part of the jungle
so that they had plenty to eat and little or no
loss from predatory incursions of
neighbors.

Hence the younger males as they became
adult found it more comfortable to take
mates from their own tribe, or if they
captured one of another tribe to bring her
back to Kerchak's band and live in amity
with him rather than attempt to set up new
establishments of their own, or fight with the
redoubtable Kerchak for supremacy at
home.

Occasionally one more ferocious than his
fellows would attempt this latter alternative,
but none had come yet who could wrest the
palm of victory from the fierce and brutal
ape.

Tarzan held a peculiar position in the tribe.
They seemed to consider him one of them
and yet in some way different. The older
males either ignored him entirely or else
hated him so vindictively that but for his
wondrous agility and speed and the fierce
protection of the huge Kala he would have
been dispatched at an early age.

Tublat was his most consistent enemy, but it
was through Tublat that, when he was about
thirteen, the persecution of his enemies
suddenly ceased and he was left severely

-34-

the depth of a mighty jungle which stands
unchanged today as it stood on that long
forgotten night in the dim, unthinkable vistas
of the long dead past when our first shaggy
ancestor swung from a swaying bough and
dropped lightly upon the soft turf of the first
meeting place.

On the day that Tarzan won his
emancipation from the persecution that had
followed him remorselessly for twelve of his
thirteen years of life, the tribe, now a full
hundred strong, trooped silently through the
lower terrace of the jungle trees and
dropped noiselessly upon the floor of the
amphitheater.

The rites of the Dum-Dum marked
important events in the life of the tribe--a
victory, the capture of a prisoner, the killing
of some large fierce denizen of the jungle,
the death or accession of a king, and were
conducted with set ceremonialism.

Today it was the killing of a giant ape, a
member of another tribe, and as the people
of Kerchak entered the arena two mighty
bulls were seen bearing the body of the
vanquished between them.

They laid their burden before the earthen
drum and then squatted there beside it as
guards, while the other members of the
community curled themselves in grassy
nooks to sleep until the rising moon should
give the signal for the commencement of
their savage orgy.

For hours absolute quiet reigned in the little
clearing, except as it was broken by the
discordant notes of brilliantly feathered
parrots, or the screeching and twittering of
the thousand jungle birds flitting
ceaselessly amongst the vivid orchids and
flamboyant blossoms which festooned the
myriad, moss-covered branches of the

-35-

shriek.

One--twice--thrice that terrifying cry rang
out across the teeming solitude of that
unspeakably quick, yet unthinkably dead,
world.

Then, crouching, Kerchak slunk noiselessly
around the open circle, veering far away
from the dead body lying before the altar-
drum, but, as he passed, keeping his little,
fierce, wicked, red eyes upon the corpse.

Another male then sprang into the arena,
and, repeating the horrid cries of his king,
followed stealthily in his wake. Another and
another followed in quick succession until
the jungle reverberated with the now almost
ceaseless notes of their bloodthirsty
screams.

It was the challenge and the hunt.

When all the adult males had joined in the
thin line of circling dancers the attack
commenced.

Kerchak, seizing a huge club from the pile
which lay at hand for the purpose, rushed
furiously upon the dead ape, dealing the
corpse a terrific blow, at the same time
emitting the growls and snarls of combat.
The din of the drum was now increased, as
well as the frequency of the blows, and the
warriors, as each approached the victim of
the hunt and delivered his bludgeon blow,
joined in the mad whirl of the Death Dance.

Tarzan was one of the wild, leaping horde.
His brown, sweat-streaked, muscular
body, glistening in the moonlight, shone
supple and graceful among the uncouth,
awkward, hairy brutes about him.

None was more stealthy in the mimic hunt,
none more ferocious than he in the wild

-36-

At his side hung the hunting knife of his
unknown father in a sheath self-fashioned
in copy of one he had seen among the
pictures of his treasure-books.

At last he reached the fast disappearing
feast and with his sharp knife slashed off a
more generous portion than he had hoped
for, an entire hairy forearm, where it
protruded from beneath the feet of the
mighty Kerchak, who was so busily
engaged in perpetuating the royal
prerogative of gluttony that he failed to note
the act of lese-majeste.

So little Tarzan wriggled out from beneath
the struggling mass, clutching his grisly
prize close to his breast.

Among those circling futilely the outskirts of
the banqueters was old Tublat. He had been
among the first at the feast, but had
retreated with a goodly share to eat in quiet,
and was now forcing his way back for more.

So it was that he spied Tarzan as the boy
emerged from the clawing, pushing throng
with that hairy forearm hugged firmly to his
body.

Tublat's little, close-set, bloodshot, pig-
eyes shot wicked gleams of hate as they fell
upon the object of his loathing. In them, too,
was greed for the toothsome dainty the boy
carried.

But Tarzan saw his arch enemy as quickly,
and divining what the great beast would do
he leaped nimbly away toward the females
and the young, hoping to hide himself
among them. Tublat, however, was close
upon his heels, so that he had no
opportunity to seek a place of concealment,
but saw that he would be put to it to escape
at all.

-37-

She leaped into the air grasping a low-
hanging branch, but almost over the head of
Tublat, so nearly had he distanced her. She
should have been safe now but there was a
rending, tearing sound, the branch broke
and precipitated her full upon the head of
Tublat, knocking him to the ground.

Both were up in an instant, but as quick as
they had been Tarzan had been quicker, so
that the infuriated bull found himself facing
the man-child who stood between him and
Kala.

Nothing could have suited the fierce beast
better, and with a roar of triumph he leaped
upon the little Lord Greystoke. But his fangs
never closed in that nut brown flesh.

A muscular hand shot out and grasped the
hairy throat, and another plunged a keen
hunting knife a dozen times into the broad
breast. Like lightning the blows fell, and only
ceased when Tarzan felt the limp form
crumple beneath him.

As the body rolled to the ground Tarzan of
the Apes placed his foot upon the neck of
his lifelong enemy and, raising his eyes to
the full moon, threw back his fierce young
head and voiced the wild and terrible cry of
his people.

One by one the tribe swung down from their
arboreal retreats and formed a circle about
Tarzan and his vanquished foe. When they
had all come Tarzan turned toward them.

"I am Tarzan," he cried. "I am a great killer.
Let all respect Tarzan of the Apes and Kala,
his mother. There be none among you as
mighty as Tarzan. Let his enemies beware."

Looking full into the wicked, red eyes of
Kerchak, the young Lord Greystoke beat
upon his mighty breast and screamed out

-38-

sent back the fearsome answer of his kind.

For a moment the two eyed each other in
silence, and then the great cat turned into
the jungle, which swallowed her as the
ocean engulfs a tossed pebble.

But into the mind of Tarzan a great plan
sprang. He had killed the fierce Tublat, so
was he not therefore a mighty fighter? Now
would he track down the crafty Sabor and
slay her likewise. He would be a mighty
hunter, also.

At the bottom of his little English heart beat
the great desire to cover his nakedness with
clothes for he had learned from his picture
books that all men were so covered, while
monkeys and apes and every other living
thing went naked.

clothes therefore, must be truly a badge of
greatness; the insignia of the superiority of
man over all other animals, for surely there
could be no other reason for wearing the
hideous things.

Many moons ago, when he had been much
smaller, he had desired the skin of Sabor,
the lioness, or Numa, the lion, or Sheeta,
the leopard to cover his hairless body that
he might no longer resemble hideous
Histah, the snake; but now he was proud of
his sleek skin for it betokened his descent
from a mighty race, and the conflicting
desires to go naked in prideful proof of his
ancestry, or to conform to the customs of his
own kind and wear hideous and
uncomfortable apparel found first one and
then the other in the ascendency.

As the tribe continued their slow way
through the forest after the passing of
Sabor, Tarzan's head was filled with his
great scheme for slaying his enemy, and for
many days thereafter he thought of little

-39-

Branches, great and small, torn away by the
ferocity of the tornado, hurtled through the
wildly waving verdure, carrying death and
destruction to countless unhappy denizens
of the thickly peopled world below.

For hours the fury of the storm continued
without surcease, and still the tribe huddled
close in shivering fear. In constant danger
from falling trunks and branches and
paralyzed by the vivid flashing of lightning
and the bellowing of thunder they crouched
in pitiful misery until the storm passed.

The end was as sudden as the beginning.
The wind ceased, the sun shone forth--
nature smiled once more.

The dripping leaves and branches, and the
moist petals of gorgeous flowers glistened
in the splendor of the returning day. And, so-
-as Nature forgot, her children forgot also.
Busy life went on as it had been before the
darkness and the fright.

But to Tarzan a dawning light had come to
explain the mystery of clothes. How snug he
would have been beneath the heavy coat of
Sabor! And so was added a further
incentive to the adventure.

For several months the tribe hovered near
the beach where stood Tarzan's cabin, and
his studies took up the greater portion of his
time, but always when journeying through
the forest he kept his rope in readiness, and
many were the smaller animals that fell into
the snare of the quick thrown noose.

Once it fell about the short neck of Horta, the
boar, and his mad lunge for freedom
toppled Tarzan from the overhanging limb
where he had lain in wait and from whence
he had launched his sinuous coil.

The mighty tusker turned at the sound of his

-40-

Nearer and nearer she came to where
Tarzan of the Apes crouched upon his limb,
the coils of his long rope poised ready in his
hand.

Like a thing of bronze, motionless as death,
sat Tarzan. Sabor passed beneath. One
stride beyond she took--a second, a third,
and then the silent coil shot out above her.

For an instant the spreading noose hung
above her head like a great snake, and
then, as she looked upward to detect the
origin of the swishing sound of the rope, it
settled about her neck. With a quick jerk
Tarzan snapped the noose tight about the
glossy throat, and then he dropped the rope
and clung to his support with both hands.

Sabor was trapped.

With a bound the startled beast turned into
the jungle, but Tarzan was not to lose
another rope through the same cause as the
first. He had learned from experience. The
lioness had taken but half her second bound
when she felt the rope tighten about her
neck; her body turned completely over in the
air and she fell with a heavy crash upon her
back. Tarzan had fastened the end of the
rope securely to the trunk of the great tree
on which he sat.

Thus far his plan had worked to perfection,
but when he grasped the rope, bracing
himself behind a crotch of two mighty
branches, he found that dragging the
mighty, struggling, clawing, biting,
screaming mass of iron-muscled fury up to
the tree and hanging her was a very
different proposition.

The weight of old Sabor was immense, and
when she braced her huge paws nothing
less than Tantor, the elephant, himself,
could have budged her.

-41-

impressed even his bitterest enemies,
while Kala fairly danced for joy and pride.

Chapter 9 Man and Man

Tarzan of the Apes lived on in his wild,
jungle existence with little change for
several years, only that he grew stronger
and wiser, and learned from his books
more and more of the strange worlds which
lay somewhere outside his primeval forest.

To him life was never monotonous or stale.
There was always Pisah, the fish, to be
caught in the many streams and the little
lakes, and Sabor, with her ferocious
cousins to keep one ever on the alert and
give zest to every instant that one spent
upon the ground.

Often they hunted him, and more often he
hunted them, but though they never quite
reached him with those cruel, sharp claws
of theirs, yet there were times when one
could scarce have passed a thick leaf
between their talons and his smooth hide.

Quick was Sabor, the lioness, and quick
were Numa and Sheeta, but Tarzan of the
Apes was lightning.

With Tantor, the elephant, he made friends.
How? Ask not. But this is known to the
denizens of the jungle, that on many
moonlight nights Tarzan of the Apes and
Tantor, the elephant, walked together, and
where the way was clear Tarzan rode,
perched high upon Tantor's mighty back.

Many days during these years he spent in
the cabin of his father, where still lay,
untouched, the bones of his parents and the
skeleton of Kala's baby. At eighteen he
read fluently and understood nearly all he
read in the many and varied volumes on the
shelves.

-42-

protruding lips added still further to the low
and bestial brutishness of their
appearance.

Following them were several hundred
women and children, the former bearing
upon their heads great burdens of cooking
pots, household utensils and ivory. In the
rear were a hundred warriors, similar in all
respects to the advance guard.

That they more greatly feared an attack
from the rear than whatever unknown
enemies lurked in their advance was
evidenced by the formation of the column;
and such was the fact, for they were fleeing
from the white man's soldiers who had so
harassed them for rubber and ivory that they
had turned upon their conquerors one day
and massacred a white officer and a small
detachment of his black troops.

For many days they had gorged themselves
on meat, but eventually a stronger body of
troops had come and fallen upon their
village by night to revenge the death of their
comrades.

That night the black soldiers of the white
man had had meat a-plenty, and this little
remnant of a once powerful tribe had slunk
off into the gloomy jungle toward the
unknown, and freedom.

But that which meant freedom and the
pursuit of happiness to these savage blacks
meant consternation and death to many of
the wild denizens of their new home.

For three days the little cavalcade marched
slowly through the heart of this unknown and
untracked forest, until finally, early in the
fourth day, they came upon a little spot near
the banks of a small river, which seemed
less thickly overgrown than any ground they
had yet encountered.

-43-

by leisurely hunting on the way his stomach
was filled by the time he reached the beach.

The apes scattered by ones, and twos, and
threes in all directions, but ever within sound
of a signal of alarm.

Kala had moved slowly along an elephant
track toward the east, and was busily
engaged in turning over rotted limbs and
logs in search of succulent bugs and fungi,
when the faintest shadow of a strange
noise brought her to startled attention.

For fifty yards before her the trail was
straight, and down this leafy tunnel she saw
the stealthy advancing figure of a strange
and fearful creature.

It was Kulonga.

Kala did not wait to see more, but, turning,
moved rapidly back along the trail. She did
not run; but, after the manner of her kind
when not aroused, sought rather to avoid
than to escape.

Close after her came Kulonga. Here was
meat. He could make a killing and feast well
this day. On he hurried, his spear poised for
the throw.

At a turning of the trail he came in sight of
her again upon another straight stretch. His
spear hand went far back the muscles
rolled, lightning-like, beneath the sleek
hide. Out shot the arm, and the spear sped
toward Kala.

A poor cast. It but grazed her side.

With a cry of rage and pain the she-ape
turned upon her tormentor. In an instant the
trees were crashing beneath the weight of
her hurrying fellows, swinging rapidly
toward the scene of trouble in answer to

-44-

the body of Kala and sobbed out the pitiful
sorrowing of his lonely heart.

To lose the only creature in all his world who
ever had manifested love and affection for
him was the greatest tragedy he had ever
known.

What though Kala was a fierce and hideous
ape! To Tarzan she had been kind, she had
been beautiful.

Upon her he had lavished, unknown to
himself, all the reverence and respect and
love that a normal English boy feels for his
own mother. He had never known another,
and so to Kala was given, though mutely, all
that would have belonged to the fair and
lovely Lady Alice had she lived.

After the first outburst of grief Tarzan
controlled himself, and questioning the
members of the tribe who had witnessed
the killing of Kala he learned all that their
meager vocabulary could convey.

It was enough, however, for his needs. It
told him of a strange, hairless, black ape
with feathers growing upon its head, who
launched death from a slender branch, and
then ran, with the fleetness of Bara, the
deer, toward the rising sun.

Tarzan waited no longer, but leaping into
the branches of the trees sped rapidly
through the forest. He knew the windings of
the elephant trail along which Kala's
murderer had flown, and so he cut straight
through the jungle to intercept the black
warrior who was evidently following the
tortuous detours of the trail.

At his side was the hunting knife of his
unknown sire, and across his shoulders the
coils of his own long rope. In an hour he
struck the trail again, and coming to earth

-45-

How wonderful! Tarzan almost betrayed his
presence in the deep excitement of his
discovery.

But things were commencing to happen
below him. The sinewy black arm had
drawn the shaft far back; Horta, the boar,
was charging, and then the black released
the little poisoned arrow, and Tarzan saw it
fly with the quickness of thought and lodge
in the bristling neck of the boar.

Scarcely had the shaft left his bow ere
Kulonga had fitted another to it, but Horta,
the boar, was upon him so quickly that he
had no time to discharge it. With a bound the
black leaped entirely over the rushing beast
and turning with incredible swiftness
planted a second arrow in Horta's back.

Then Kulonga sprang into a near-by tree.

Horta wheeled to charge his enemy once
more; a dozen steps he took, then he
staggered and fell upon his side. For a
moment his muscles stiffened and relaxed
convulsively, then he lay still.

Kulonga came down from his tree.

With a knife that hung at his side he cut
several large pieces from the boar's body,
and in the center of the trail he built a fire,
cooking and eating as much as he wanted.
The rest he left where it had fallen.

Tarzan was an interested spectator. His
desire to kill burned fiercely in his wild
breast, but his desire to learn was even
greater. He would follow this savage
creature for a while and know from whence
he came. He could kill him at his leisure
later, when the bow and deadly arrows
were laid aside.

When Kulonga had finished his repast and

-46-

Tarzan thought much on this wondrous
method of slaying as he swung slowly along
at a safe distance behind his quarry. He
knew that alone the tiny prick of the arrow
could not so quickly dispatch these wild
things of the jungle, who were often torn
and scratched and gored in a frightful
manner as they fought with their jungle
neighbors, yet as often recovered as not.

No, there was something mysterious
connected with these tiny slivers of wood
which could bring death by a mere scratch.
He must look into the matter.

That night Kulonga slept in the crotch of a
mighty tree and far above him crouched
Tarzan of the Apes.

When Kulonga awoke he found that his bow
and arrows had disappeared. The black
warrior was furious and frightened, but
more frightened than furious. He searched
the ground below the tree, and he searched
the tree above the ground; but there was no
sign of either bow or arrows or of the
nocturnal marauder.

Kulonga was panic-stricken. His spear he
had hurled at Kala and had not recovered;
and, now that his bow and arrows were
gone, he was defenseless except for a
single knife. His only hope lay in reaching
the village of Mbonga as quickly as his legs
would carry him.

That he was not far from home he was
certain, so he took the trail at a rapid trot.

From a great mass of impenetrable foliage
a few yards away emerged Tarzan of the
Apes to swing quietly in his wake.

Kulonga's bow and arrows were securely
tied high in the top of a giant tree from which
a patch of bark had been removed by a

-47-

drawing the still threshing victim well up into
the sheltering verdure of the tree.

Here he fastened the rope securely to a
stout branch, and then, descending,
plunged his hunting knife into Kulonga's
heart. Kala was avenged.

Tarzan examined the black minutely, for he
had never seen any other human being. The
knife with its sheath and belt caught his eye;
he appropriated them. A copper anklet also
took his fancy, and this he transferred to his
own leg.

He examined and admired the tattooing on
the forehead and breast. He marveled at the
sharp filed teeth. He investigated and
appropriated the feathered headdress, and
then he prepared to get down to business,
for Tarzan of the Apes was hungry, and
here was meat; meat of the kill, which
jungle ethics permitted him to eat.

How may we judge him, by what standards,
this ape-man with the heart and head and
body of an English gentleman, and the
training of a wild beast?

Tublat, whom he had hated and who had
hated him, he had killed in a fair fight, and
yet never had the thought of eating Tublat's
flesh entered his head. It could have been
as revolting to him as is cannibalism to us.

But who was Kulonga that he might not be
eaten as fairly as Horta, the boar, or Bara,
the deer? Was he not simply another of the
countless wild things of the jungle who
preyed upon one another to satisfy the
cravings of hunger?

Suddenly, a strange doubt stayed his hand.
Had not his books taught him that he was a
man? And was not The Archer a man, also?

-48-

hatred. To kill was the law of the wild world
he knew. Few were his primitive pleasures,
but the greatest of these was to hunt and kill,
and so he accorded to others the right to
cherish the same desires as he, even
though he himself might be the object of
their hunt.

His strange life had left him neither morose
nor bloodthirsty. That he joyed in killing, and
that he killed with a joyous laugh upon his
handsome lips betokened no innate cruelty.
He killed for food most often, but, being a
man, he sometimes killed for pleasure, a
thing which no other animal does; for it has
remained for man alone among all
creatures to kill senselessly and wantonly
for the mere pleasure of inflicting suffering
and death.

And when he killed for revenge, or in self-
defense, he did that also without hysteria,
for it was a very businesslike proceeding
which admitted of no levity.

So it was that now, as he cautiously
approached the village of Mbonga, he was
quite prepared either to kill or be killed
should he be discovered. He proceeded
with unwonted stealth, for Kulonga had
taught him great respect for the little sharp
splinters of wood which dealt death so
swiftly and unerringly.

At length he came to a great tree, heavy
laden with thick foliage and loaded with
pendant loops of giant creepers. From this
almost impenetrable bower above the
village he crouched, looking down upon the
scene below him, wondering over every
feature of this new, strange life.

There were naked children running and
playing in the village street. There were
women grinding dried plantain in crude
stone mortars, while others were fashioning

-49-

with a handful of leaves.

Tarzan knew nothing of poison, but his
shrewd reasoning told him that it was this
deadly stuff that killed, and not the little
arrow, which was merely the messenger
that carried it into the body of its victim.

How he should like to have more of those
little death-dealing slivers. If the woman
would only leave her work for an instant he
could drop down, gather up a handful, and
be back in the tree again before she drew
three breaths.

As he was trying to think out some plan to
distract her attention he heard a wild cry
from across the clearing. He looked and
saw a black warrior standing beneath the
very tree in which he had killed the murderer
of Kala an hour before.

The fellow was shouting and waving his
spear above his head. Now and again he
would point to something on the ground
before him.

The village was in an uproar instantly.
Armed men rushed from the interior of many
a hut and raced madly across the clearing
toward the excited sentry. After them
trooped the old men, and the women and
children until, in a moment, the village was
deserted.

Tarzan of the Apes knew that they had
found the body of his victim, but that
interested him far less than the fact that no
one remained in the village to prevent his
taking a supply of the arrows which lay
below him.

Quickly and noiselessly he dropped to the
ground beside the cauldron of poison. For a
moment he stood motionless, his quick,
bright eyes scanning the interior of the

-50-

The natives were not yet in sight, though he
could plainly hear them approaching across
the plantation. They must be very near.

Like a flash he sprang across the opening
to the pile of arrows. Gathering up all he
could carry under one arm, he overturned
the seething cauldron with a kick, and
disappeared into the foliage above just as
the first of the returning natives entered the
gate at the far end of the village street. Then
he turned to watch the proceeding below,
poised like some wild bird ready to take
swift wing at the first sign of danger.

The natives filed up the street, four of them
bearing the dead body of Kulonga. Behind
trailed the women, uttering strange cries
and weird lamentation. On they came to the
portals of Kulonga's hut, the very one in
which Tarzan had wrought his
depredations.

Scarcely had half a dozen entered the
building ere they came rushing out in wild,
jabbering confusion. The others hastened
to gather about. There was much excited
gesticulating, pointing, and chattering; then
several of the warriors approached and
peered within.

Finally an old fellow with many ornaments of
metal about his arms and legs, and a
necklace of dried human hands depending
upon his chest, entered the hut.

It was Mbonga, the king, father of Kulonga.

For a few moments all was silent. Then
Mbonga emerged, a look of mingled wrath
and superstitious fear writ upon his hideous
countenance. He spoke a few words to the
assembled warriors, and in an instant the
men were flying through the little village
searching minutely every hut and corner
within the palisades.

-51-

cached the preceding day, and again to
take Kulonga's bow and arrows from the
tree top in which he had hidden them.

It was a well-laden Tarzan who dropped
from the branches into the midst of the tribe
of Kerchak.

With swelling chest he narrated the glories
of his adventure and exhibited the spoils of
conquest.

Kerchak grunted and turned away, for he
was jealous of this strange member of his
band. In his little evil brain he sought for
some excuse to wreak his hatred upon
Tarzan.

The next day Tarzan was practicing with his
bow and arrows at the first gleam of dawn.
At first he lost nearly every bolt he shot, but
finally he learned to guide the little shafts
with fair accuracy, and ere a month had
passed he was no mean shot; but his
proficiency had cost him nearly his entire
supply of arrows.

The tribe continued to find the hunting good
in the vicinity of the beach, and so Tarzan of
the Apes varied his archery practice with
further investigation of his father's choice
though little store of books.

It was during this period that the young
English lord found hidden in the back of one
of the cupboards in the cabin a small metal
box. The key was in the lock, and a few
moments of investigation and
experimentation were rewarded with the
successful opening of the receptacle.

In it he found a faded photograph of a
smooth faced young man, a golden locket
studded with diamonds, linked to a small
gold chain, a few letters and a small book.

-52-

At present he had more important business
in hand, for his supply of arrows was
exhausted, and he must needs journey to
the black men's village and renew it.

Early the following morning he set out, and,
traveling rapidly, he came before midday to
the clearing. Once more he took up his
position in the great tree, and, as before, he
saw the women in the fields and the village
street, and the cauldron of bubbling poison
directly beneath him.

For hours he lay awaiting his opportunity to
drop down unseen and gather up the arrows
for which he had come; but nothing now
occurred to call the villagers away from their
homes. The day wore on, and still Tarzan of
the Apes crouched above the unsuspecting
woman at the cauldron.

Presently the workers in the fields returned.
The hunting warriors emerged from the
forest, and when all were within the
palisade the gates were closed and barred.

Many cooking pots were now in evidence
about the village. Before each hut a woman
presided over a boiling stew, while little
cakes of plantain, and cassava puddings
were to be seen on every hand.

Suddenly there came a hail from the edge
of the clearing.

Tarzan looked.

It was a party of belated hunters returning
from the north, and among them they half
led, half carried a struggling animal.

As they approached the village the gates
were thrown open to admit them, and then,
as the people saw the victim of the chase, a
savage cry rose to the heavens, for the
quarry was a man.

-53-

what to expect. He wondered if they would
spring upon their meat while it was still alive.
The Apes did not do such things as that.

The circle of warriors about the cringing
captive drew closer and closer to their prey
as they danced in wild and savage abandon
to the maddening music of the drums.
Presently a spear reached out and pricked
the victim. It was the signal for fifty others.

Eyes, ears, arms and legs were pierced;
every inch of the poor writhing body that did
not cover a vital organ became the target of
the cruel lancers.

The women and children shrieked their
delight.

The warriors licked their hideous lips in
anticipation of the feast to come, and vied
with one another in the savagery and
loathsomeness of the cruel indignities with
which they tortured the still conscious
prisoner.

Then it was that Tarzan of the Apes saw his
chance. All eyes were fixed upon the thrilling
spectacle at the stake. The light of day had
given place to the darkness of a moonless
night, and only the fires in the immediate
vicinity of the orgy had been kept alight to
cast a restless glow upon the restless
scene.

Gently the lithe boy dropped to the soft earth
at the end of the village street. Quickly he
gathered up the arrows--all of them this
time, for he had brought a number of long
fibers to bind them into a bundle.

Without haste he wrapped them securely,
and then, ere he turned to leave, the devil of
capriciousness entered his heart. He
looked about for some hint of a wild prank
to play upon these strange, grotesque

-54-

various huts with pots and kettles. These
they were filling with water and placing over
a number of fires near the stake where the
dying victim now hung, an inert and bloody
mass of suffering.

Choosing a moment when none seemed
near, Tarzan hastened to his bundle of
arrows beneath the great tree at the end of
the village street. As on the former occasion
he overthrew the cauldron before leaping,
sinuous and catlike, into the lower branches
of the forest giant.

Silently he climbed to a great height until he
found a point where he could look through a
leafy opening upon the scene beneath him.

The women were now preparing the
prisoner for their cooking pots, while the
men stood about resting after the fatigue of
their mad revel. Comparative quiet reigned
in the village.

Tarzan raised aloft the thing he had pilfered
from the hut, and, with aim made true by
years of fruit and coconut throwing,
launched it toward the group of savages.

Squarely among them it fell, striking one of
the warriors full upon the head and felling
him to the ground. Then it rolled among the
women and stopped beside the half-
butchered thing they were preparing to
feast upon.

All gazed in consternation at it for an instant,
and then, with one accord, broke and ran
for their huts.

It was a grinning human skull which looked
up at them from the ground. The dropping of
the thing out of the open sky was a miracle
well aimed to work upon their superstitious
fears.

-55-

daubed arrow, and as Sabor sprang, the
tiny missile leaped to meet her in mid-air. At
the same instant Tarzan of the Apes
jumped to one side, and as the great cat
struck the ground beyond him another
death-tipped arrow sunk deep into Sabor's
loin.

With a mighty roar the beast turned and
charged once more, only to be met with a
third arrow full in one eye; but this time she
was too close to the ape-man for the latter
to sidestep the onrushing body.

Tarzan of the Apes went down beneath the
great body of his enemy, but with gleaming
knife drawn and striking home. For a
moment they lay there, and then Tarzan
realized that the inert mass lying upon him
was beyond power ever again to injure man
or ape.

With difficulty he wriggled from beneath the
great weight, and as he stood erect and
gazed down upon the trophy of his skill, a
mighty wave of exultation swept over him.

With swelling breast, he placed a foot upon
the body of his powerful enemy, and
throwing back his fine young head, roared
out the awful challenge of the victorious bull
ape.

The forest echoed to the savage and
triumphant paean. Birds fell still, and the
larger animals and beasts of prey slunk
stealthily away, for few there were of all the
jungle who sought for trouble with the great
anthropoids.

And in London another Lord Greystoke was
speaking to his kind in the House of Lords,
but none trembled at the sound of his soft
voice.

Sabor proved unsavory eating even to

-56-

is--" But here he stopped, for in the
language of the anthropoids there was no
word for man, and Tarzan could only write
the word in English; he could not pronounce
it.

The tribe had gathered about to look upon
the proof of his wondrous prowess, and to
listen to his words.

Only Kerchak hung back, nursing his hatred
and his rage.

Suddenly something snapped in the wicked
little brain of the anthropoid. With a frightful
roar the great beast sprang among the
assemblage.

Biting, and striking with his huge hands, he
killed and maimed a dozen ere the balance
could escape to the upper terraces of the
forest.

Frothing and shrieking in the insanity of his
fury, Kerchak looked about for the object of
his greatest hatred, and there, upon a near-
by limb, he saw him sitting.

"Come down, Tarzan, great killer," cried
Kerchak. "Come down and feel the fangs of
a greater! Do mighty fighters fly to the trees
at the first approach of danger?" And then
Kerchak emitted the volleying challenge of
his kind.

Quietly Tarzan dropped to the ground.
Breathlessly the tribe watched from their
lofty perches as Kerchak, still roaring,
charged the relatively puny figure.

Nearly seven feet stood Kerchak on his
short legs. His enormous shoulders were
bunched and rounded with huge muscles.
The back of his short neck was as a single
lump of iron sinew which bulged beyond the
base of his skull, so that his head seemed

-57-

with clenched fist, in the pit of Kerchak's
stomach.

The ape was staggered, and what with the
mortal wound in his side had almost
collapsed, when, with one mighty effort he
rallied for an instant--just long enough to
enable him to wrest his arm free from
Tarzan's grasp and close in a terrific clinch
with his wiry opponent.

Straining the ape-man close to him, his
great jaws sought Tarzan's throat, but the
young lord's sinewy fingers were at
Kerchak's own before the cruel fangs could
close on the sleek brown skin.

Thus they struggled, the one to crush out his
opponent's life with those awful teeth, the
other to close forever the windpipe beneath
his strong grasp while he held the snarling
mouth from him.

The greater strength of the ape was slowly
prevailing, and the teeth of the straining
beast were scarce an inch from Tarzan's
throat when, with a shuddering tremor, the
great body stiffened for an instant and then
sank limply to the ground.

Kerchak was dead.

Withdrawing the knife that had so often
rendered him master of far mightier
muscles than his own, Tarzan of the Apes
placed his foot upon the neck of his
vanquished enemy, and once again, loud
through the forest rang the fierce, wild cry of
the conqueror.

And thus came the young Lord Greystoke
into the kingship of the Apes.

Chapter 12 Man's Reason

There was one of the tribe of Tarzan who

-58-

spirit really come into the village and eat it.
Such a thing was unheard of, and it clouded
their superstitious minds with all manner of
vague fears.

Nor was this all. The periodic
disappearance of their arrows, and the
strange pranks perpetrated by unseen
hands, had wrought them to such a state
that life had become a veritable burden in
their new home, and now it was that
Mbonga and his head men began to talk of
abandoning the village and seeking a site
farther on in the jungle.

Presently the black warriors began to strike
farther and farther south into the heart of the
forest when they went to hunt, looking for a
site for a new village.

More often was the tribe of Tarzan
disturbed by these wandering huntsmen.
Now was the quiet, fierce solitude of the
primeval forest broken by new, strange
cries. No longer was there safety for bird or
beast. Man had come.

Other animals passed up and down the
jungle by day and by night--fierce, cruel
beasts--but their weaker neighbors only
fled from their immediate vicinity to return
again when the danger was past.

With man it is different. When he comes
many of the larger animals instinctively
leave the district entirely, seldom if ever to
return; and thus it has always been with the
great anthropoids. They flee man as man
flees a pestilence.

For a short time the tribe of Tarzan lingered
in the vicinity of the beach because their
new chief hated the thought of leaving the
treasured contents of the little cabin forever.
But when one day a member of the tribe
discovered the blacks in great numbers on

-59-

the vicinity of his father's last home, and
less and less with the tribe. Presently the
members of his little community began to
suffer on account of his neglect, for
disputes and quarrels constantly arose
which only the king might settle peaceably.

At last some of the older apes spoke to
Tarzan on the subject, and for a month
thereafter he remained constantly with the
tribe.

The duties of kingship among the
anthropoids are not many or arduous.

In the afternoon comes Thaka, possibly, to
complain that old Mungo has stolen his new
wife. Then must Tarzan summon all before
him, and if he finds that the wife prefers her
new lord he commands that matters remain
as they are, or possibly that Mungo give
Thaka one of his daughters in exchange.

Whatever his decision, the apes accept it as
final, and return to their occupations
satisfied.

Then comes Tana, shrieking and holding
tight her side from which blood is
streaming. Gunto, her husband, has cruelly
bitten her! And Gunto, summoned, says that
Tana is lazy and will not bring him nuts and
beetles, or scratch his back for him.

So Tarzan scolds them both and threatens
Gunto with a taste of the death-bearing
slivers if he abuses Tana further, and Tana,
for her part, is compelled to promise better
attention to her wifely duties.

And so it goes, little family differences for
the most part, which, if left unsettled would
result finally in greater factional strife, and
the eventual dismemberment of the tribe.

But Tarzan tired of it, as he found that

-60-

the ferocious brute had established his
claim to physical supremacy over the few
bull apes who had dared resent his savage
bullying.

Tarzan would have liked to subdue the ugly
beast without recourse to knife or arrows.
So much had his great strength and agility
increased in the period following his
maturity that he had come to believe that he
might master the redoubtable Terkoz in a
hand to hand fight were it not for the terrible
advantage the anthropoid's huge fighting
fangs gave him over the poorly armed
Tarzan.

The entire matter was taken out of Tarzan's
hands one day by force of circumstances,
and his future left open to him, so that he
might go or stay without any stain upon his
savage escutcheon.

It happened thus:

The tribe was feeding quietly, spread over a
considerable area, when a great screaming
arose some distance east of where Tarzan
lay upon his belly beside a limpid brook,
attempting to catch an elusive fish in his
quick, brown hands.

With one accord the tribe swung rapidly
toward the frightened cries, and there found
Terkoz holding an old female by the hair and
beating her unmercifully with his great
hands.

As Tarzan approached he raised his hand
aloft for Terkoz to desist, for the female was
not his, but belonged to a poor old ape
whose fighting days were long over, and
who, therefore, could not protect his family.

Terkoz knew that it was against the laws of
his kind to strike this woman of another, but
being a bully, he had taken advantage of the

-61-

ere they were rolling upon the ground,
striking, tearing and rending--two great
savage beasts battling to the death.

Terkoz had a dozen knife wounds on head
and breast, and Tarzan was torn and
bleeding--his scalp in one place half torn
from his head so that a great piece hung
down over one eye, obstructing his vision.

But so far the young Englishman had been
able to keep those horrible fangs from his
jugular and now, as they fought less fiercely
for a moment, to regain their breath, Tarzan
formed a cunning plan. He would work his
way to the other's back and, clinging there
with tooth and nail, drive his knife home until
Terkoz was no more.

The maneuver was accomplished more
easily than he had hoped, for the stupid
beast, not knowing what Tarzan was
attempting, made no particular effort to
prevent the accomplishment of the design.

But when, finally, he realized that his
antagonist was fastened to him where his
teeth and fists alike were useless against
him, Terkoz hurled himself about upon the
ground so violently that Tarzan could but
cling desperately to the leaping, turning,
twisting body, and ere he had struck a blow
the knife was hurled from his hand by a
heavy impact against the earth, and Tarzan
found himself defenseless.

During the rollings and squirmings of the
next few minutes, Tarzan's hold was
loosened a dozen times until finally an
accidental circumstance of those swift and
everchanging evolutions gave him a new
hold with his right hand, which he realized
was absolutely unassailable.

His arm was passed beneath Terkoz's arm
from behind and his hand and forearm

-62-

not releasing his hold. "I am Tarzan, King of
the Apes, mighty hunter, mighty fighter. In all
the jungle there is none so great.

"You have said: `ka-goda' to me. All the
tribe have heard. Quarrel no more with your
king or your people, for next time I shall kill
you. Do you understand?"

"Huh," assented Terkoz.

"And you are satisfied?"

"Huh," said the ape.

Tarzan let him up, and in a few minutes all
were back at their vocations, as though
naught had occurred to mar the tranquility of
their primeval forest haunts.

But deep in the minds of the apes was
rooted the conviction that Tarzan was a
mighty fighter and a strange creature.
Strange because he had had it in his power
to kill his enemy, but had allowed him to live-
-unharmed.

That afternoon as the tribe came together,
as was their wont before darkness settled
on the jungle, Tarzan, his wounds washed
in the waters of the stream, called the old
males about him.

"You have seen again to-day that Tarzan of
the Apes is the greatest among you," he
said.

"Huh," they replied with one voice, "Tarzan
is great."

"Tarzan," he continued, "is not an ape. He is
not like his people. His ways are not their
ways, and so Tarzan is going back to the
lair of his own kind by the waters of the
great lake which has no farther shore. You
must choose another to rule you, for Tarzan

-63-

various arm and leg ornaments he had
taken from the black warriors who had
succumbed to his swift and silent noose,
and donned them all after the way he had
seen them worn.

About his neck hung the golden chain from
which depended the diamond encrusted
locket of his mother, the Lady Alice. At his
back was a quiver of arrows slung from a
leathern shoulder belt, another piece of loot
from some vanquished black.

About his waist was a belt of tiny strips of
rawhide fashioned by himself as a support
for the home-made scabbard in which hung
his father's hunting knife. The long bow
which had been Kulonga's hung over his left
shoulder.

The young Lord Greystoke was indeed a
strange and war-like figure, his mass of
black hair falling to his shoulders behind
and cut with his hunting knife to a rude bang
upon his forehead, that it might not fall
before his eyes.

His straight and perfect figure, muscled as
the best of the ancient Roman gladiators
must have been muscled, and yet with the
soft and sinuous curves of a Greek god, told
at a glance the wondrous combination of
enormous strength with suppleness and
speed.

A personification, was Tarzan of the Apes,
of the primitive man, the hunter, the warrior.

With the noble poise of his handsome head
upon those broad shoulders, and the fire of
life and intelligence in those fine, clear
eyes, he might readily have typified some
demigod of a wild and warlike bygone
people of his ancient forest.

But of these things Tarzan did not think. He

-64-

see his silent passage above their heads,
nor note the crouching figure squatted upon
a low branch ahead of them beneath which
the trail led them.

Tarzan let the first two pass beneath him,
but as the third came swiftly on, the quiet
noose dropped about the black throat. A
quick jerk drew it taut.

There was an agonized scream from the
victim, and his fellows turned to see his
struggling body rise as by magic slowly into
the dense foliage of the trees above.

With frightened shrieks they wheeled once
more and plunged on in their efforts to
escape.

Tarzan dispatched his prisoner quickly and
silently; removed the weapons and
ornaments, and--oh, the greatest joy of all-
-a handsome deerskin breechcloth, which
he quickly transferred to his own person.

Now indeed was he dressed as a man
should be. None there was who could now
doubt his high origin. How he should have
liked to have returned to the tribe to parade
before their envious gaze this wondrous
finery.

Taking the body across his shoulder, he
moved more slowly through the trees
toward the little palisaded village, for he
again needed arrows.

As he approached quite close to the
enclosure he saw an excited group
surrounding the two fugitives, who,
trembling with fright and exhaustion, were
scarce able to recount the uncanny details
of their adventure.

Mirando, they said, who had been ahead of
them a short distance, had suddenly come

-65-

made to appease his wrath.

Before he left he carried the body of
Mirando to the gate of the village, and
propped it up against the palisade in such a
way that the dead face seemed to be
peering around the edge of the gatepost
down the path which led to the jungle.

Then Tarzan returned, hunting, always
hunting, to the cabin by the beach.

It took a dozen attempts on the part of the
thoroughly frightened blacks to reenter their
village, past the horrible, grinning face of
their dead fellow, and when they found the
food and arrows gone they knew, what they
had only too well feared, that Mirando had
seen the evil spirit of the jungle.

That now seemed to them the logical
explanation. Only those who saw this
terrible god of the jungle died; for was it not
true that none left alive in the village had
ever seen him? Therefore, those who had
died at his hands must have seen him and
paid the penalty with their lives.

As long as they supplied him with arrows
and food he would not harm them unless
they looked upon him, so it was ordered by
Mbonga that in addition to the food offering
there should also be laid out an offering of
arrows for this Munan-go-Keewati, and
this was done from then on.

If you ever chance to pass that far off
African village you will still see before a tiny
thatched hut, built just without the village, a
little iron pot in which is a quantity of food,
and beside it a quiver of well-daubed
arrows.

When Tarzan came in sight of the beach
where stood his cabin, a strange and
unusual spectacle met his vision.

-66-

He puckered his brows into a frown of deep
thought. It was well, thought he, that he had
not given way to his first impulse to rush
forward and greet these white men as
brothers.

They were evidently no different from the
black men--no more civilized than the
apes--no less cruel than Sabor.

For a moment the others stood looking at
the little, mean-faced man and the giant
lying dead upon the beach.

Then one of them laughed and slapped the
little man upon the back. There was much
more talk and gesticulating, but less
quarreling.

Presently they launched the boat and all
jumped into it and rowed away toward the
great ship, where Tarzan could see other
figures moving about upon the deck.

When they had clambered aboard, Tarzan
dropped to earth behind a great tree and
crept to his cabin, keeping it always
between himself and the ship.

Slipping in at the door he found that
everything had been ransacked. His books
and pencils strewed the floor. His weapons
and shields and other little store of
treasures were littered about.

As he saw what had been done a great
wave of anger surged through him, and the
new made scar upon his forehead stood
suddenly out, a bar of inflamed crimson
against his tawny hide.

Quickly he ran to the cupboard and
searched in the far recess of the lower
shelf. Ah! He breathed a sigh of relief as he
drew out the little tin box, and, opening it,
found his greatest treasures undisturbed.

-67-

large rimmed spectacles. His slightly
stooped shoulders were draped in an ill-
fitting, though immaculate, frock coat, and a
shiny silk hat added to the incongruity of his
garb in an African jungle.

The second member of the party to land
was a tall young man in white ducks, while
directly behind came another elderly man
with a very high forehead and a fussy,
excitable manner.

After these came a huge Negress clothed
like Solomon as to colors. Her great eyes
rolled in evident terror, first toward the
jungle and then toward the cursing band of
sailors who were removing the bales and
boxes from the boats.

The last member of the party to disembark
was a girl of about nineteen, and it was the
young man who stood at the boat's prow to
lift her high and dry upon land. She gave him
a brave and pretty smile of thanks, but no
words passed between them.

In silence the party advanced toward the
cabin. It was evident that whatever their
intentions, all had been decided upon
before they left the ship; and so they came
to the door, the sailors carrying the boxes
and bales, followed by the five who were of
so different a class. The men put down their
burdens, and then one caught sight of the
notice which Tarzan had posted.

"Ho, mates!" he cried. "What's here? This
sign was not posted an hour ago or I'll eat
the cook."

The others gathered about, craning their
necks over the shoulders of those before
them, but as few of them could read at all,
and then only after the most laborious
fashion, one finally turned to the little old
man of the top hat and frock coat.

-68-

"He evidently speaks English," said the
young man.

"But what does `Tarzan of the Apes'
mean?" cried the girl.

"I do not know, Miss Porter," replied the
young man, "unless we have discovered a
runaway simian from the London Zoo who
has brought back a European education to
his jungle home. What do you make of it,
Professor Porter?" he added, turning to the
old man.

Professor Archimedes Q. Porter adjusted
his spectacles.

"Ah, yes, indeed; yes indeed--most
remarkable, most remarkable!" said the
professor; "but I can add nothing further to
what I have already remarked in elucidation
of this truly momentous occurrence," and
the professor turned slowly in the direction
of the jungle.

"But, papa," cried the girl, "you haven't said
anything about it yet."

"Tut, tut, child; tut, tut," responded
Professor Porter, in a kindly and indulgent
tone, "do not trouble your pretty head with
such weighty and abstruse problems," and
again he wandered slowly off in still another
direction, his eyes bent upon the ground at
his feet, his hands clasped behind him
beneath the flowing tails of his coat.

"I reckon the daffy old bounder don't know
no more'n we do about it," growled the rat-
faced sailor.

"Keep a civil tongue in your head," cried the
young man, his face paling in anger, at the
insulting tone of the sailor. "You've
murdered our officers and robbed us. We
are absolutely in your power, but you'll treat

-69-

So Tarzan fitted a poisoned arrow to his
bow and drew a bead upon the rat-faced
sailor, but the foliage was so thick that he
soon saw the arrow would be deflected by
the leaves or some small branch, and
instead he launched a heavy spear from his
lofty perch.

Clayton had taken but a dozen steps. The
rat-faced sailor had half drawn his revolver;
the other sailors stood watching the scene
intently.

Professor Porter had already disappeared
into the jungle, whither he was being
followed by the fussy Samuel T. Philander,
his secretary and assistant.

Esmeralda, the Negress, was busy sorting
her mistress' baggage from the pile of
bales and boxes beside the cabin, and
Miss Porter had turned away to follow
Clayton, when something caused her to turn
again toward the sailor.

And then three things happened almost
simultaneously. The sailor jerked out his
weapon and leveled it at Clayton's back,
Miss Porter screamed a warning, and a
long, metal-shod spear shot like a bolt from
above and passed entirely through the right
shoulder of the rat-faced man.

The revolver exploded harmlessly in the air,
and the seaman crumpled up with a scream
of pain and terror.

Clayton turned and rushed back toward the
scene. The sailors stood in a frightened
group, with drawn weapons, peering into
the jungle. The wounded man writhed and
shrieked upon the ground.

Clayton, unseen by any, picked up the fallen
revolver and slipped it inside his shirt, then
he joined the sailors in gazing, mystified,

-70-

"I have it!" suddenly exclaimed Clayton. "You
can use a revolver, can't you?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I have one. With it you and Esmeralda will
be comparatively safe in this cabin while I
am searching for your father and Mr.
Philander. Come, call the woman and I will
hurry on. They can't have gone far."

Jane did as he suggested and when he saw
the door close safely behind them Clayton
turned toward the jungle.

Some of the sailors were drawing the spear
from their wounded comrade and, as
Clayton approached, he asked if he could
borrow a revolver from one of them while he
searched the jungle for the professor.

The rat-faced one, finding he was not
dead, had regained his composure, and
with a volley of oaths directed at Clayton
refused in the name of his fellows to allow
the young man any firearms.

This man, Snipes, had assumed the role of
chief since he had killed their former leader,
and so little time had elapsed that none of
his companions had as yet questioned his
authority.

Clayton's only response was a shrug of the
shoulders, but as he left them he picked up
the spear which had transfixed Snipes, and
thus primitively armed, the son of the then
Lord Greystoke strode into the dense
jungle.

Every few moments he called aloud the
names of the wanderers. The watchers in
the cabin by the beach heard the sound of
his voice growing ever fainter and fainter,
until at last it was swallowed up by the
myriad noises of the primeval wood.

-71-

whitened skeleton of a man. A further
glance revealed a second skeleton upon the
bed.

"What horrible place are we in?" murmured
the awe-struck girl. But there was no panic
in her fright.

At last, disengaging herself from the frantic
clutch of the still shrieking Esmeralda, Jane
crossed the room to look into the little
cradle, knowing what she should see there
even before the tiny skeleton disclosed
itself in all its pitiful and pathetic frailty.

What an awful tragedy these poor mute
bones proclaimed! The girl shuddered at
thought of the eventualities which might lie
before herself and her friends in this ill-
fated cabin, the haunt of mysterious,
perhaps hostile, beings.

Quickly, with an impatient stamp of her little
foot, she endeavored to shake off the
gloomy forebodings, and turning to
Esmeralda bade her cease her wailing.

"Stop, Esmeralda, stop it this minute!" she
cried. "You are only making it worse."

She ended lamely, a little quiver in her own
voice as she thought of the three men, upon
whom she depended for protection,
wandering in the depth of that awful forest.

Soon the girl found that the door was
equipped with a heavy wooden bar upon
the inside, and after several efforts the
combined strength of the two enabled them
to slip it into place, the first time in twenty
years.

Then they sat down upon a bench with their
arms about one another, and waited.

Chapter 14 At the Mercy of the Jungle

-72-

had developed a great hatred. He knew by
their threatening gestures and by the
expression upon their evil faces that they
were enemies of the others of the party, and
so he decided to watch closely.

Tarzan wondered why the men had gone
into the jungle, nor did it ever occur to him
that one could become lost in that maze of
undergrowth which to him was as simple as
is the main street of your own home town to
you.

When he saw the sailors row away toward
the ship, and knew that the girl and her
companion were safe in his cabin, Tarzan
decided to follow the young man into the
jungle and learn what his errand might be.
He swung off rapidly in the direction taken
by Clayton, and in a short time heard faintly
in the distance the now only occasional calls
of the Englishman to his friends.

Presently Tarzan came up with the white
man, who, almost fagged, was leaning
against a tree wiping the perspiration from
his forehead. The ape-man, hiding safe
behind a screen of foliage, sat watching
this new specimen of his own race intently.

At intervals Clayton called aloud and finally it
came to Tarzan that he was searching for
the old man.

Tarzan was on the point of going off to look
for them himself, when he caught the yellow
glint of a sleek hide moving cautiously
through the jungle toward Clayton.

It was Sheeta, the leopard. Now, Tarzan
heard the soft bending of grasses and
wondered why the young white man was not
warned. Could it be he had failed to note the
loud warning? Never before had Tarzan
known Sheeta to be so clumsy.

-73-

And so he started, stumbling back through
the thick and matted underbrush in the
direction that he thought the cabin lay.

To Tarzan's surprise the young man was
heading further into the jungle in the general
direction of Mbonga's village, and the
shrewd young ape-man was convinced that
he was lost.

To Tarzan this was scarcely
incomprehensible; his judgment told him
that no man would venture toward the village
of the cruel blacks armed only with a spear
which, from the awkward way in which he
carried it, was evidently an unaccustomed
weapon to this white man. Nor was he
following the trail of the old men. That, they
had crossed and left long since, though it
had been fresh and plain before Tarzan's
eyes.

Tarzan was perplexed. The fierce jungle
would make easy prey of this unprotected
stranger in a very short time if he were not
guided quickly to the beach.

Yes, there was Numa, the lion, even now,
stalking the white man a dozen paces to the
right.

Clayton heard the great body paralleling his
course, and now there rose upon the
evening air the beast's thunderous roar. The
man stopped with upraised spear and
faced the brush from which issued the awful
sound. The shadows were deepening,
darkness was settling in.

God! To die here alone, beneath the fangs
of wild beasts; to be torn and rended; to feel
the hot breath of the brute on his face as the
great paw crushed down up his breast!

For a moment all was still. Clayton stood
rigid, with raised spear. Presently a faint

-74-

of physical perfection and giant strength;
yet it was not upon these he depended in his
battle with the great cat, for mighty as were
his muscles, they were as nothing by
comparison with Numa's. To his agility, to
his brain and to his long keen knife he owed
his supremacy.

His right arm encircled the lion's neck, while
the left hand plunged the knife time and
again into the unprotected side behind the
left shoulder. The infuriated beast, pulled up
and backwards until he stood upon his hind
legs, struggled impotently in this unnatural
position.

Had the battle been of a few seconds'
longer duration the outcome might have
been different, but it was all accomplished
so quickly that the lion had scarce time to
recover from the confusion of its surprise
ere it sank lifeless to the ground.

Then the strange figure which had
vanquished it stood erect upon the carcass,
and throwing back the wild and handsome
head, gave out the fearsome cry which a
few moments earlier had so startled
Clayton.

Before him he saw the figure of a young
man, naked except for a loin cloth and a few
barbaric ornaments about arms and legs;
on the breast a priceless diamond locket
gleaming against a smooth brown skin.

The hunting knife had been returned to its
homely sheath, and the man was gathering
up his bow and quiver from where he had
tossed them when he leaped to attack the
lion.

Clayton spoke to the stranger in English,
thanking him for his brave rescue and
complimenting him on the wondrous
strength and dexterity he had displayed, but

-75-

seeing him disinclined to follow, returned,
and, grasping him by the coat, dragged him
along until he was convinced that Clayton
understood what was required of him. Then
he left him to follow voluntarily.

The Englishman, finally concluding that he
was a prisoner, saw no alternative open but
to accompany his captor, and thus they
traveled slowly through the jungle while the
sable mantle of the impenetrable forest
night fell about them, and the stealthy
footfalls of padded paws mingled with the
breaking of twigs and the wild calls of the
savage life that Clayton felt closing in upon
him.

Suddenly Clayton heard the faint report of a
firearm--a single shot, and then silence.

In the cabin by the beach two thoroughly
terrified women clung to each other as they
crouched upon the low bench in the
gathering darkness.

The Negress sobbed hysterically,
bemoaning the evil day that had witnessed
her departure from her dear Maryland, while
the white girl, dry eyed and outwardly calm,
was torn by inward fears and forebodings.
She feared not more for herself than for the
three men whom she knew to be wandering
in the abysmal depths of the savage jungle,
from which she now heard issuing the
almost incessant shrieks and roars,
barkings and growlings of its terrifying and
fearsome denizens as they sought their
prey.

And now there came the sound of a heavy
body brushing against the side of the cabin.
She could hear the great padded paws
upon the ground outside. For an instant, all
was silence; even the bedlam of the forest
died to a faint murmur. Then she distinctly
heard the beast outside sniffing at the door,

-76-

when, to her relief, the head disappeared
and she heard the brute's footsteps leaving
the window. But now they came to the door
again, and once more the scratching
commenced; this time with increasing force
until the great beast was tearing at the
massive panels in a perfect frenzy of
eagerness to seize its defenseless victims.

Could Jane have known the immense
strength of that door, built piece by piece,
she would have felt less fear of the lioness
reaching her by this avenue.

Little did John Clayton imagine when he
fashioned that crude but mighty portal that
one day, twenty years later, it would shield a
fair American girl, then unborn, from the
teeth and talons of a man-eater.

For fully twenty minutes the brute alternately
sniffed and tore at the door, occasionally
giving voice to a wild, savage cry of baffled
rage. At length, however, she gave up the
attempt, and Jane heard her returning
toward the window, beneath which she
paused for an instant, and then launched
her great weight against the timeworn
lattice.

The girl heard the wooden rods groan
beneath the impact; but they held, and the
huge body dropped back to the ground
below.

Again and again the lioness repeated these
tactics, until finally the horrified prisoner
within saw a portion of the lattice give way,
and in an instant one great paw and the
head of the animal were thrust within the
room.

Slowly the powerful neck and shoulders
spread the bars apart, and the lithe body
protruded farther and farther into the room.