Chapter 3
Beasts at Bay
Slowly Tarzan unfolded the note the sailor had thrust into his hand,and read it. At first it made little impression on his sorrow-numbedsenses, but finally the full purport of the hideous plot of revengeunfolded itself before his imagination.
"This will explain to you" [the note read] "the exact nature of myintentions relative to your offspring and to you.
"You were born an ape. You lived naked in the jungles--to your own wehave returned you; but your son shall rise a step above his sire. Itis the immutable law of evolution.
"The father was a beast, but the son shall be a man--he shall take thenext ascending step in the scale of progress. He shall be no nakedbeast of the jungle, but shall wear a loin-cloth and copper anklets,and, perchance, a ring in his nose, for he is to be reared by men--atribe of savage cannibals.
"I might have killed you, but that would have curtailed the fullmeasure of the punishment you have earned at my hands.
"Dead, you could not have suffered in the knowledge of your son'splight; but living and in a place from which you may not escape to seekor succour your child, you shall suffer worse than death for all theyears of your life in contemplation of the horrors of your son'sexistence.
"This, then, is to be a part of your punishment for having dared to pityourself against
N. R.
"P.S.--The balance of your punishment has to do with what shallpresently befall your wife--that I shall leave to your imagination."
As he finished reading, a slight sound behind him brought him back witha start to the world of present realities.
Instantly his senses awoke, and he was again Tarzan of the Apes.
As he wheeled about, it was a beast at bay, vibrant with the instinctof self-preservation, that faced a huge bull-ape that was alreadycharging down upon him.
The two years that had elapsed since Tarzan had come out of the savageforest with his rescued mate had witnessed slight diminution of themighty powers that had made him the invincible lord of the jungle. Hisgreat estates in Uziri had claimed much of his time and attention, andthere he had found ample field for the practical use and retention ofhis almost superhuman powers; but naked and unarmed to do battle withthe shaggy, bull-necked beast that now confronted him was a test thatthe ape-man would scarce have welcomed at any period of his wildexistence.
But there was no alternative other than to meet the rage-maddenedcreature with the weapons with which nature had endowed him.
Over the bull's shoulder Tarzan could see now the heads and shouldersof perhaps a dozen more of these mighty fore-runners of primitive man.
He knew, however, that there was little chance that they would attackhim, since it is not within the reasoning powers of the anthropoid tobe able to weigh or appreciate the value of concentrated action againstan enemy--otherwise they would long since have become the dominantcreatures of their haunts, so tremendous a power of destruction lies intheir mighty thews and savage fangs.
With a low snarl the beast now hurled himself at Tarzan, but theape-man had found, among other things in the haunts of civilized man,certain methods of scientific warfare that are unknown to the junglefolk.
Whereas, a few years since, he would have met the brute rush with bruteforce, he now sidestepped his antagonist's headlong charge, and as thebrute hurtled past him swung a mighty right to the pit of the ape'sstomach.
With a howl of mingled rage and anguish the great anthropoid bentdouble and sank to the ground, though almost instantly he was againstruggling to his feet.
Before he could regain them, however, his white-skinned foe had wheeledand pounced upon him, and in the act there dropped from the shouldersof the English lord the last shred of his superficial mantle ofcivilization.
Once again he was the jungle beast revelling in bloody conflict withhis kind. Once again he was Tarzan, son of Kala the she-ape.
His strong, white teeth sank into the hairy throat of his enemy as hesought the pulsing jugular.
Powerful fingers held the mighty fangs from his own flesh, or clenchedand beat with the power of a steam-hammer upon the snarling,foam-flecked face of his adversary.
In a circle about them the balance of the tribe of apes stood watchingand enjoying the struggle. They muttered low gutturals of approval asbits of white hide or hairy bloodstained skin were torn from onecontestant or the other. But they were silent in amazement andexpectation when they saw the mighty white ape wriggle upon the back oftheir king, and, with steel muscles tensed beneath the armpits of hisantagonist, bear down mightily with his open palms upon the back of thethick bullneck, so that the king ape could but shriek in agony andflounder helplessly about upon the thick mat of jungle grass.
As Tarzan had overcome the huge Terkoz that time years before when hehad been about to set out upon his quest for human beings of his ownkind and colour, so now he overcame this other great ape with the samewrestling hold upon which he had stumbled by accident during that othercombat. The little audience of fierce anthropoids heard the creakingof their king's neck mingling with his agonized shrieks and hideousroaring.
Then there came a sudden crack, like the breaking of a stout limbbefore the fury of the wind. The bullet-head crumpled forward upon itsflaccid neck against the great hairy chest--the roaring and theshrieking ceased.
The little pig-eyes of the onlookers wandered from the still form oftheir leader to that of the white ape that was rising to its feetbeside the vanquished, then back to their king as though in wonder thathe did not arise and slay this presumptuous stranger.
They saw the new-comer place a foot upon the neck of the quiet figureat his feet and, throwing back his head, give vent to the wild, uncannychallenge of the bull-ape that has made a kill. Then they knew thattheir king was dead.
Across the jungle rolled the horrid notes of the victory cry. Thelittle monkeys in the tree-tops ceased their chattering. Theharsh-voiced, brilliant-plumed birds were still. From afar came theanswering wail of a leopard and the deep roar of a lion.
It was the old Tarzan who turned questioning eyes upon the little knotof apes before him. It was the old Tarzan who shook his head as thoughto toss back a heavy mane that had fallen before his face--an old habitdating from the days that his great shock of thick, black hair hadfallen about his shoulders, and often tumbled before his eyes when ithad meant life or death to him to have his vision unobstructed.
The ape-man knew that he might expect an immediate attack on the partof that particular surviving bull-ape who felt himself best fitted tocontend for the kingship of the tribe. Among his own apes he knewthat it was not unusual for an entire stranger to enter a communityand, after having dispatched the king, assume the leadership of thetribe himself, together with the fallen monarch's mates.
On the other hand, if he made no attempt to follow them, they mightmove slowly away from him, later to fight among themselves for thesupremacy. That he could be king of them, if he so chose, he wasconfident; but he was not sure he cared to assume the sometimes irksomeduties of that position, for he could see no particular advantage to begained thereby.
One of the younger apes, a huge, splendidly muscled brute, was edgingthreateningly closer to the ape-man. Through his bared fighting fangsthere issued a low, sullen growl.
Tarzan watched his every move, standing rigid as a statue. To havefallen back a step would have been to precipitate an immediate charge;to have rushed forward to meet the other might have had the sameresult, or it might have put the bellicose one to flight--it alldepended upon the young bull's stock of courage.
To stand perfectly still, waiting, was the middle course. In thisevent the bull would, according to custom, approach quite close to theobject of his attention, growling hideously and baring slavering fangs.Slowly he would circle about the other, as though with a chip upon hisshoulder; and this he did, even as Tarzan had foreseen.
It might be a bluff royal, or, on the other hand, so unstable is themind of an ape, a
passing impulse might hurl the hairy mass, tearingand rending, upon the man without an instant's warning.
As the brute circled him Tarzan turned slowly, keeping his eyes everupon the eyes of his antagonist. He had appraised the young bull asone who had never quite felt equal to the task of overthrowing hisformer king, but who one day would have done so. Tarzan saw that thebeast was of wondrous proportions, standing over seven feet upon hisshort, bowed legs.
His great, hairy arms reached almost to the ground even when he stooderect, and his fighting fangs, now quite close to Tarzan's face, wereexceptionally long and sharp. Like the others of his tribe, hediffered in several minor essentials from the apes of Tarzan's boyhood.
At first the ape-man had experienced a thrill of hope at sight of theshaggy bodies of the anthropoids--a hope that by some strange freak offate he had been again returned to his own tribe; but a closerinspection had convinced him that these were another species.
As the threatening bull continued his stiff and jerky circling of theape-man, much after the manner that you have noted among dogs when astrange canine comes among them, it occurred to Tarzan to discover ifthe language of his own tribe was identical with that of this otherfamily, and so he addressed the brute in the language of the tribe ofKerchak.
"Who are you," he asked, "who threatens Tarzan of the Apes?"
The hairy brute looked his surprise.
"I am Akut," replied the other in the same simple, primal tongue whichis so low in the scale of spoken languages that, as Tarzan hadsurmised, it was identical with that of the tribe in which the firsttwenty years of his life had been spent.
"I am Akut," said the ape. "Molak is dead. I am king. Go away or Ishall kill you!"
"You saw how easily I killed Molak," replied Tarzan. "So I could killyou if I cared to be king. But Tarzan of the Apes would not be king ofthe tribe of Akut. All he wishes is to live in peace in this country.Let us be friends. Tarzan of the Apes can help you, and you can helpTarzan of the Apes."
"You cannot kill Akut," replied the other. "None is so great as Akut.Had you not killed Molak, Akut would have done so, for Akut was readyto be king."
For answer the ape-man hurled himself upon the great brute who duringthe conversation had slightly relaxed his vigilance.
In the twinkling of an eye the man had seized the wrist of the greatape, and before the other could grapple with him had whirled him aboutand leaped upon his broad back.
Down they went together, but so well had Tarzan's plan worked out thatbefore ever they touched the ground he had gained the same hold uponAkut that had broken Molak's neck.
Slowly he brought the pressure to bear, and then as in days gone by hehad given Kerchak the chance to surrender and live, so now he gave toAkut--in whom he saw a possible ally of great strength andresource--the option of living in amity with him or dying as he hadjust seen his savage and heretofore invincible king die.
"Ka-Goda?" whispered Tarzan to the ape beneath him.
It was the same question that he had whispered to Kerchak, and in thelanguage of the apes it means, broadly, "Do you surrender?"
Akut thought of the creaking sound he had heard just before Molak'sthick neck had snapped, and he shuddered.
He hated to give up the kingship, though, so again he struggled to freehimself; but a sudden torturing pressure upon his vertebra brought anagonized "ka-goda!" from his lips.
Tarzan relaxed his grip a trifle.
"You may still be king, Akut," he said. "Tarzan told you that he didnot wish to be king. If any question your right, Tarzan of the Apeswill help you in your battles."
The ape-man rose, and Akut came slowly to his feet. Shaking hisbullet head and growling angrily, he waddled toward his tribe, lookingfirst at one and then at another of the larger bulls who might beexpected to challenge his leadership.
But none did so; instead, they drew away as he approached, andpresently the whole pack moved off into the jungle, and Tarzan was leftalone once more upon the beach.
The ape-man was sore from the wounds that Molak had inflicted upon him,but he was inured to physical suffering and endured it with the calmand fortitude of the wild beasts that had taught him to lead the junglelife after the manner of all those that are born to it.
His first need, he realized, was for weapons of offence and defence,for his encounter with the apes, and the distant notes of the savagevoices of Numa the lion, and Sheeta, the panther, warned him that hiswas to be no life of indolent ease and security.
It was but a return to the old existence of constant bloodshed anddanger--to the hunting and the being hunted. Grim beasts would stalkhim, as they had stalked him in the past, and never would there be amoment, by savage day or by cruel night, that he might not have instantneed of such crude weapons as he could fashion from the materials athand.
Upon the shore he found an out-cropping of brittle, igneous rock. Bydint of much labour he managed to chip off a narrow sliver some twelveinches long by a quarter of an inch thick. One edge was quite thin fora few inches near the tip. It was the rudiment of a knife.
With it he went into the jungle, searching until he found a fallen treeof a certain species of hardwood with which he was familiar. From thishe cut a small straight branch, which he pointed at one end.
Then he scooped a small, round hole in the surface of the prostratetrunk. Into this he crumbled a few bits of dry bark, minutelyshredded, after which he inserted the tip of his pointed stick, and,sitting astride the bole of the tree, spun the slender rod rapidlybetween his palms.
After a time a thin smoke rose from the little mass of tinder, and amoment later the whole broke into flame. Heaping some larger twigsand sticks upon the tiny fire, Tarzan soon had quite a respectableblaze roaring in the enlarging cavity of the dead tree.
Into this he thrust the blade of his stone knife, and as it becamesuperheated he would withdraw it, touching a spot near the thin edgewith a drop of moisture. Beneath the wetted area a little flake of theglassy material would crack and scale away.
Thus, very slowly, the ape-man commenced the tedious operation ofputting a thin edge upon his primitive hunting-knife.
He did not attempt to accomplish the feat all in one sitting. At firsthe was content to achieve a cutting edge of a couple of inches, withwhich he cut a long, pliable bow, a handle for his knife, a stoutcudgel, and a goodly supply of arrows.
These he cached in a tall tree beside a little stream, and here also heconstructed a platform with a roof of palm-leaves above it.
When all these things had been finished it was growing dusk, and Tarzanfelt a strong desire to eat.
He had noted during the brief incursion he had made into the forestthat a short distance up-stream from his tree there was a much-usedwatering place, where, from the trampled mud of either bank, it wasevident beasts of all sorts and in great numbers came to drink. Tothis spot the hungry ape-man made his silent way.
Through the upper terrace of the tree-tops he swung with the grace andease of a monkey. But for the heavy burden upon his heart he wouldhave been happy in this return to the old free life of his boyhood.
Yet even with that burden he fell into the little habits and manners ofhis early life that were in reality more a part of him than the thinveneer of civilization that the past three years of his associationwith the white men of the outer world had spread lightly over him--aveneer that only hid the crudities of the beast that Tarzan of the Apeshad been.
Could his fellow-peers of the House of Lords have seen him then theywould have held up their noble hands in holy horror.
Silently he crouched in the lower branches of a great forest giant thatoverhung the trail, his keen eyes and sensitive ears strained into thedistant jungle, from which he knew his dinner would presently emerge.
Nor had he long to wait.
Scarce had he settled himself to a comfortable position, his lithe,muscular legs drawn well up beneath him as the panther draws hishindquarters in preparation for the spring, t
han Bara, the deer, camedaintily down to drink.
But more than Bara was coming. Behind the graceful buck came anotherwhich the deer could neither see nor scent, but whose movements wereapparent to Tarzan of the Apes because of the elevated position of theape-man's ambush.
He knew not yet exactly the nature of the thing that moved sostealthily through the jungle a few hundred yards behind the deer; buthe was convinced that it was some great beast of prey stalking Bara forthe selfsame purpose as that which prompted him to await the fleetanimal. Numa, perhaps, or Sheeta, the panther.
In any event, Tarzan could see his repast slipping from his graspunless Bara moved more rapidly toward the ford than at present.
Even as these thoughts passed through his mind some noise of thestalker in his rear must have come to the buck, for with a sudden starthe paused for an instant, trembling, in his tracks, and then with aswift bound dashed straight for the river and Tarzan. It was hisintention to flee through the shallow ford and escape upon the oppositeside of the river.
Not a hundred yards behind him came Numa.
Tarzan could see him quite plainly now. Below the ape-man Bara wasabout to pass. Could he do it? But even as he asked himself thequestion the hungry man launched himself from his perch full upon theback of the startled buck.
In another instant Numa would be upon them both, so if the ape-man wereto dine that night, or ever again, he must act quickly.
Scarcely had he touched the sleek hide of the deer with a momentum thatsent the animal to its knees than he had grasped a horn in either hand,and with a single quick wrench twisted the animal's neck completelyround, until he felt the vertebrae snap beneath his grip.
The lion was roaring in rage close behind him as he swung the deeracross his shoulder, and, grasping a foreleg between his strong teeth,leaped for the nearest of the lower branches that swung above his head.
With both hands he grasped the limb, and, at the instant that Numasprang, drew himself and his prey out of reach of the animal's crueltalons.
There was a thud below him as the baffled cat fell back to earth, andthen Tarzan of the Apes, drawing his dinner farther up to the safety ofa higher limb, looked down with grinning face into the gleaming yelloweyes of the other wild beast that glared up at him from beneath, andwith taunting insults flaunted the tender carcass of his kill in theface of him whom he had cheated of it.
With his crude stone knife he cut a juicy steak from the hindquarters,and while the great lion paced, growling, back and forth below him,Lord Greystoke filled his savage belly, nor ever in the choicest of hisexclusive London clubs had a meal tasted more palatable.
The warm blood of his kill smeared his hands and face and filled hisnostrils with the scent that the savage carnivora love best.
And when he had finished he left the balance of the carcass in a highfork of the tree where he had dined, and with Numa trailing below him,still keen for revenge, he made his way back to his tree-top shelter,where he slept until the sun was high the following morning.
The Beasts of Tarzan Page 3