The Beasts of Tarzan
Page 21
Chapter 21
The Law of the Jungle
In Tarzan's camp, by dint of threats and promised rewards, the ape-manhad finally succeeded in getting the hull of a large skiff almostcompleted. Much of the work he and Mugambi had done with their ownhands in addition to furnishing the camp with meat.
Schneider, the mate, had been doing considerable grumbling, and had atlast openly deserted the work and gone off into the jungle with Schmidtto hunt. He said that he wanted a rest, and Tarzan, rather than add tothe unpleasantness which already made camp life almost unendurable, hadpermitted the two men to depart without a remonstrance.
Upon the following day, however, Schneider affected a feeling ofremorse for his action, and set to work with a will upon the skiff.Schmidt also worked good-naturedly, and Lord Greystoke congratulatedhimself that at last the men had awakened to the necessity for thelabour which was being asked of them and to their obligations to thebalance of the party.
It was with a feeling of greater relief than he had experienced formany a day that he set out that noon to hunt deep in the jungle for aherd of small deer which Schneider reported that he and Schmidt hadseen there the day before.
The direction in which Schneider had reported seeing the deer wastoward the south-west, and to that point the ape-man swung easilythrough the tangled verdure of the forest.
And as he went there approached from the north a half-dozenill-featured men who went stealthily through the jungle as go men bentupon the commission of a wicked act.
They thought that they travelled unseen; but behind them, almost fromthe moment they quitted their own camp, a tall man crept upon theirtrail. In the man's eyes were hate and fear, and a great curiosity.Why went Kai Shang and Momulla and the others thus stealthily towardthe south? What did they expect to find there? Gust shook hislow-browed head in perplexity. But he would know. He would followthem and learn their plans, and then if he could thwart them hewould--that went without question.
At first he had thought that they searched for him; but finally hisbetter judgment assured him that such could not be the case, since theyhad accomplished all they really desired by chasing him out of camp.Never would Kai Shang or Momulla go to such pains to slay him oranother unless it would put money into their pockets, and as Gust hadno money it was evident that they were searching for someone else.
Presently the party he trailed came to a halt. Its members concealedthemselves in the foliage bordering the game trail along which they hadcome. Gust, that he might the better observe, clambered into thebranches of a tree to the rear of them, being careful that the leafyfronds hid him from the view of his erstwhile mates.
He had not long to wait before he saw a strange white man approachcarefully along the trail from the south.
At sight of the new-comer Momulla and Kai Shang arose from their placesof concealment and greeted him. Gust could not overhear what passedbetween them. Then the man returned in the direction from which he hadcome.
He was Schneider. Nearing his camp he circled to the opposite side ofit, and presently came running in breathlessly. Excitedly he hastenedto Mugambi.
"Quick!" he cried. "Those apes of yours have caught Schmidt and willkill him if we do not hasten to his aid. You alone can call them off.Take Jones and Sullivan--you may need help--and get to him as quick asyou can. Follow the game trail south for about a mile. I will remainhere. I am too spent with running to go back with you," and the mateof the Kincaid threw himself upon the ground, panting as though he wasalmost done for.
Mugambi hesitated. He had been left to guard the two women. He didnot know what to do, and then Jane Clayton, who had heard Schneider'sstory, added her pleas to those of the mate.
"Do not delay," she urged. "We shall be all right here. Mr.Schneider will remain with us. Go, Mugambi. The poor fellow must besaved."
Schmidt, who lay hidden in a bush at the edge of the camp, grinned.Mugambi, heeding the commands of his mistress, though still doubtful ofthe wisdom of his action, started off toward the south, with Jones andSullivan at his heels.
No sooner had he disappeared than Schmidt rose and darted north intothe jungle, and a few minutes later the face of Kai Shang of Fachanappeared at the edge of the clearing. Schneider saw the Chinaman, andmotioned to him that the coast was clear.
Jane Clayton and the Mosula woman were sitting at the opening of theformer's tent, their backs toward the approaching ruffians. The firstintimation that either had of the presence of strangers in camp was thesudden appearance of a half-dozen ragged villains about them.
"Come!" said Kai Shang, motioning that the two arise and follow him.
Jane Clayton sprang to her feet and looked about for Schneider, only tosee him standing behind the newcomers, a grin upon his face. At hisside stood Schmidt. Instantly she saw that she had been made thevictim of a plot.
"What is the meaning of this?" she asked, addressing the mate.
"It means that we have found a ship and that we can now escape fromJungle Island," replied the man.
"Why did you send Mugambi and the others into the jungle?" she inquired.
"They are not coming with us--only you and I, and the Mosula woman."
"Come!" repeated Kai Shang, and seized Jane Clayton's wrist.
One of the Maoris grasped the black woman by the arm, and when shewould have screamed struck her across the mouth.
Mugambi raced through the jungle toward the south. Jones and Sullivantrailed far behind. For a mile he continued upon his way to the reliefof Schmidt, but no signs saw he of the missing man or of any of theapes of Akut.
At last he halted and called aloud the summons which he and Tarzan hadused to hail the great anthropoids. There was no response. Jones andSullivan came up with the black warrior as the latter stood voicing hisweird call. For another half-mile the black searched, callingoccasionally.
Finally the truth flashed upon him, and then, like a frightened deer,he wheeled and dashed back toward camp. Arriving there, it was but amoment before full confirmation of his fears was impressed upon him.Lady Greystoke and the Mosula woman were gone. So, likewise, wasSchneider.
When Jones and Sullivan joined Mugambi he would have killed them in hisanger, thinking them parties to the plot; but they finally succeeded inpartially convincing him that they had known nothing of it.
As they stood speculating upon the probable whereabouts of the womenand their abductor, and the purpose which Schneider had in mind intaking them from camp, Tarzan of the Apes swung from the branches of atree and crossed the clearing toward them.
His keen eyes detected at once that something was radically wrong, andwhen he had heard Mugambi's story his jaws clicked angrily together ashe knitted his brows in thought.
What could the mate hope to accomplish by taking Jane Clayton from acamp upon a small island from which there was no escape from thevengeance of Tarzan? The ape-man could not believe the fellow such afool, and then a slight realization of the truth dawned upon him.
Schneider would not have committed such an act unless he had beenreasonably sure that there was a way by which he could quit JungleIsland with his prisoners. But why had he taken the black woman aswell? There must have been others, one of whom wanted the dusky female.
"Come," said Tarzan, "there is but one thing to do now, and that is tofollow the trail."
As he finished speaking a tall, ungainly figure emerged from the junglenorth of the camp. He came straight toward the four men. He was anentire stranger to all of them, not one of whom had dreamed thatanother human being than those of their own camp dwelt upon theunfriendly shores of Jungle Island.
It was Gust. He came directly to the point.
"Your women were stolen," he said. "If you want ever to see themagain, come quickly and follow me. If we do not hurry the Cowrie willbe standing out to sea by the time we reach her anchorage."
"Who are you?" asked Tarzan. "What do you know of the theft of my wifeand the black woman?"
Gust led the four men of the Kincaid's camp at a rapid trot through thejungle toward the north. Would they come to the sea in time? But afew more minutes would answer the question.
And when at last the little party did break through the last of thescreening foliage, and the harbour and the ocean lay before them, theyrealized that fate had been most cruelly unkind, for the Cowrie wasalready under sail and moving slowly out of the mouth of the harbourinto the open sea.
What were they to do? Tarzan's broad chest rose and fell to the forceof his pent emotions. The last blow seemed to have fallen, and if everin all his life Tarzan of the Apes had had occasion to abandon hope itwas now that he saw the ship bearing his wife to some frightful fatemoving gracefully over the rippling water, so very near and yet sohideously far away.
In silence he stood watching the vessel. He saw it turn toward theeast and finally disappear around a headland on its way he knew notwhither. Then he dropped upon his haunches and buried his face in hishands.
It was after dark that the five men returned to the camp on the eastshore. The night was hot and sultry. No slightest breeze ruffled thefoliage of the trees or rippled the mirror-like surface of the ocean.Only a gentle swell rolled softly in upon the beach.
Never had Tarzan seen the great Atlantic so ominously at peace. He wasstanding at the edge of the beach gazing out to sea in the direction ofthe mainland, his mind filled with sorrow and hopelessness, when fromthe jungle close behind the camp came the uncanny wail of a panther.
There was a familiar note in the weird cry, and almost mechanicallyTarzan turned his head and answered. A moment later the tawny figureof Sheeta slunk out into the half-light of the beach. There was nomoon, but the sky was brilliant with stars. Silently the savage brutecame to the side of the man. It had been long since Tarzan had seenhis old fighting companion, but the soft purr was sufficient to assurehim that the animal still recalled the bonds which had united them inthe past.
The ape-man let his fingers fall upon the beast's coat, and as Sheetapressed close against his leg he caressed and fondled the wicked headwhile his eyes continued to search the blackness of the waters.
Presently he started. What was that? He strained his eyes into thenight. Then he turned and called aloud to the men smoking upon theirblankets in the camp. They came running to his side; but Gusthesitated when he saw the nature of Tarzan's companion.
"Look!" cried Tarzan. "A light! A ship's light! It must be theCowrie. They are becalmed." And then with an exclamation of renewedhope, "We can reach them! The skiff will carry us easily."
Gust demurred. "They are well armed," he warned. "We could not takethe ship--just five of us."
"There are six now," replied Tarzan, pointing to Sheeta, "and we canhave more still in a half-hour. Sheeta is the equivalent of twentymen, and the few others I can bring will add full a hundred to ourfighting strength. You do not know them."
The ape-man turned and raised his head toward the jungle, while therepealed from his lips, time after time, the fearsome cry of the bull-apewho would summon his fellows.
Presently from the jungle came an answering cry, and then another andanother. Gust shuddered. Among what sort of creatures had fate thrownhim? Were not Kai Shang and Momulla to be preferred to this greatwhite giant who stroked a panther and called to the beasts of thejungle?
In a few minutes the apes of Akut came crashing through the underbrushand out upon the beach, while in the meantime the five men had beenstruggling with the unwieldy bulk of the skiff's hull.
By dint of Herculean efforts they had managed to get it to the water'sedge. The oars from the two small boats of the Kincaid, which had beenwashed away by an off-shore wind the very night that the party hadlanded, had been in use to support the canvas of the sailcloth tents.These were hastily requisitioned, and by the time Akut and hisfollowers came down to the water all was ready for embarkation.
Once again the hideous crew entered the service of their master, andwithout question took up their places in the skiff. The four men, forGust could not be prevailed upon to accompany the party, fell to theoars, using them paddle-wise, while some of the apes followed theirexample, and presently the ungainly skiff was moving quietly out to seain the direction of the light which rose and fell gently with the swell.
A sleepy sailor kept a poor vigil upon the Cowrie's deck, while in thecabin below Schneider paced up and down arguing with Jane Clayton. Thewoman had found a revolver in a table drawer in the room in which shehad been locked, and now she kept the mate of the Kincaid at bay withthe weapon.
The Mosula woman kneeled behind her, while Schneider paced up and downbefore the door, threatening and pleading and promising, but all to noavail. Presently from the deck above came a shout of warning and ashot. For an instant Jane Clayton relaxed her vigilance, and turnedher eyes toward the cabin skylight. Simultaneously Schneider was uponher.
The first intimation the watch had that there was another craft withina thousand miles of the Cowrie came when he saw the head and shouldersof a man poked over the ship's side. Instantly the fellow sprang tohis feet with a cry and levelled his revolver at the intruder. It washis cry and the subsequent report of the revolver which threw JaneClayton off her guard.
Upon deck the quiet of fancied security soon gave place to the wildestpandemonium. The crew of the Cowrie rushed above armed with revolvers,cutlasses, and the long knives that many of them habitually wore; butthe alarm had come too late. Already the beasts of Tarzan were uponthe ship's deck, with Tarzan and the two men of the Kincaid's crew.
In the face of the frightful beasts the courage of the mutineerswavered and broke. Those with revolvers fired a few scattering shotsand then raced for some place of supposed safety. Into the shroudswent some; but the apes of Akut were more at home there than they.
Screaming with terror the Maoris were dragged from their lofty perches.The beasts, uncontrolled by Tarzan who had gone in search of Jane,loosed the full fury of their savage natures upon the unhappywretches who fell into their clutches.
Sheeta, in the meanwhile, had felt his great fangs sink into but asingle jugular. For a moment he mauled the corpse, and then he spiedKai Shang darting down the companionway toward his cabin.
With a shrill scream Sheeta was after him--a scream which awoke analmost equally uncanny cry in the throat of the terror-strickenChinaman.
But Kai Shang reached his cabin a fraction of a second ahead of thepanther, and leaping within slammed the door--just too late. Sheeta'sgreat body hurtled against it before the catch engaged, and a momentlater Kai Shang was gibbering and shrieking in the back of an upperberth.
Lightly Sheeta sprang after his victim, and presently the wicked daysof Kai Shang of Fachan were ended, and Sheeta was gorging himself upontough and stringy flesh.
A moment scarcely had elapsed after Schneider leaped upon Jane Claytonand wrenched the revolver from her hand, when the door of the cabinopened and a tall and half-naked white man stood framed within theportal.
Silently he leaped across the cabin. Schneider felt sinewy fingers athis throat. He turned his head to see who had attacked him, and hiseyes went wide when he saw the face of the ape-man close above his own.
Grimly the fingers tightened upon the mate's throat. He tried toscream, to plead, but no sound came forth. His eyes protruded as hestruggled for freedom, for breath, for life.
Jane Clayton seized her husband's hands and tried to drag them from thethroat of the dying man; but Tarzan only shook his head.
"Not again," he said quietly. "Before have I permitted scoundrels tolive, only to suffer and to have you suffer for my mercy. This time weshall make sure of one scoundrel--sure that he will never again harm usor another," and with a sudden wrench he twisted the neck of theperfidious mate until there was a sharp
crack, and the man's body laylimp and motionless in the ape-man's grasp. With a gesture of disgustTarzan tossed the corpse aside. Then he returned to the deck, followedby Jane and the Mosula woman.
The battle there was over. Schmidt and Momulla and two others aloneremained alive of all the company of the Cowrie, for they had foundsanctuary in the forecastle. The others had died, horribly, and asthey deserved, beneath the fangs and talons of the beasts of Tarzan,and in the morning the sun rose on a grisly sight upon the deck of theunhappy Cowrie; but this time the blood which stained her whiteplanking was the blood of the guilty and not of the innocent.
Tarzan brought forth the men who had hidden in the forecastle, andwithout promises of immunity from punishment forced them to help workthe vessel--the only alternative was immediate death.
A stiff breeze had risen with the sun, and with canvas spread theCowrie set in toward Jungle Island, where a few hours later, Tarzanpicked up Gust and bid farewell to Sheeta and the apes of Akut, forhere he set the beasts ashore to pursue the wild and natural life theyloved so well; nor did they lose a moment's time in disappearing intothe cool depths of their beloved jungle.
That they knew that Tarzan was to leave them may be doubted--exceptpossibly in the case of the more intelligent Akut, who alone of all theothers remained upon the beach as the small boat drew away toward theschooner, carrying his savage lord and master from him.
And as long as their eyes could span the distance, Jane and Tarzan,standing upon the deck, saw the lonely figure of the shaggy anthropoidmotionless upon the surf-beaten sands of Jungle Island.
It was three days later that the Cowrie fell in with H.M. sloop-of-warShorewater, through whose wireless Lord Greystoke soon got incommunication with London. Thus he learned that which filled his andhis wife's heart with joy and thanksgiving--little Jack was safe atLord Greystoke's town house.
It was not until they reached London that they learned the details ofthe remarkable chain of circumstances that had preserved the infantunharmed.
It developed that Rokoff, fearing to take the child aboard the Kincaidby day, had hidden it in a low den where nameless infants wereharboured, intending to carry it to the steamer after dark.
His confederate and chief lieutenant, Paulvitch, true to the long yearsof teaching of his wily master, had at last succumbed to the treacheryand greed that had always marked his superior, and, lured by thethoughts of the immense ransom that he might win by returning the childunharmed, had divulged the secret of its parentage to the woman whomaintained the foundling asylum. Through her he had arranged for thesubstitution of another infant, knowing full well that never until itwas too late would Rokoff suspect the trick that had been played uponhim.
The woman had promised to keep the child until Paulvitch returned toEngland; but she, in turn, had been tempted to betray her trust by thelure of gold, and so had opened negotiations with Lord Greystoke'ssolicitors for the return of the child.
Esmeralda, the old Negro nurse whose absence on a vacation in Americaat the time of the abduction of little Jack had been attributed by heras the cause of the calamity, had returned and positively identifiedthe infant.
The ransom had been paid, and within ten days of the date of hiskidnapping the future Lord Greystoke, none the worse for hisexperience, had been returned to his father's home.
And so that last and greatest of Nikolas Rokoff's many rascalities hadnot only miserably miscarried through the treachery he had taught hisonly friend, but it had resulted in the arch-villain's death, and givento Lord and Lady Greystoke a peace of mind that neither could ever havefelt so long as the vital spark remained in the body of the Russian andhis malign mind was free to formulate new atrocities against them.
Rokoff was dead, and while the fate of Paulvitch was unknown, they hadevery reason to believe that he had succumbed to the dangers of thejungle where last they had seen him--the malicious tool of his master.
And thus, in so far as they might know, they were to be freed for everfrom the menace of these two men--the only enemies which Tarzan of theApes ever had had occasion to fear, because they struck at him cowardlyblows, through those he loved.
It was a happy family party that were reunited in Greystoke House theday that Lord Greystoke and his lady landed upon English soil from thedeck of the Shorewater.
Accompanying them were Mugambi and the Mosula woman whom he had foundin the bottom of the canoe that night upon the bank of the littletributary of the Ugambi.
The woman had preferred to cling to her new lord and master ratherthan return to the marriage she had tried to escape.
Tarzan had proposed to them that they might find a home upon his vastAfrican estates in the land of the Waziri, where they were to be sentas soon as opportunity presented itself.
Possibly we shall see them all there amid the savage romance of thegrim jungle and the great plains where Tarzan of the Apes loves best tobe.
Who knows?