And Kong came! He loomed out of the darkness, roaring terrifically, and beating his great chest. Ann flung a horrified look at the gates as she heard the dreadful sounds, and she saw that they were closing.
Bereft of even the power to scream, Ann stared at Kong. He was a monstrous gorilla, towering fully fifty feet, dwarfing the trees and huts. He walked erect, stopping now and then to beat his enormous bare chest with mighty paws, and roar through awful gleaming teeth. He tore down trees, trod tall grasses underfoot as he made steadily towards the altar. When he reached it he stood, neither man nor beast, looking puzzled at the sacrifice set for him.
Suddenly, he tore away the ropes that held Ann, and took her in one of his paws, holding her as an ordinary man would hold a fragile china doll. He looked up at the torch-carrying
natives on the wall and roaring at them, then turned to go away; and Jack Driscoll shouted madly.
He had just reached a window in the wall, having outdistanced his companions in the rush through the village. The natives, intent on their ceremony, had taken no heed of the white men. It was only when the sailors rushed to unbar the gate, that their presence was realised. The bar was drawn out and the gates opened. Driscoll rushed through with Denham and half their force at their heels.
By this time, however, Kong had disappeared. But the anxious little band pressed into the jungle following the broad path made by the passage of the tremendous lumbering gorilla. None but Driscoll knew what Monstrous Thing they were pursuing.
Dawn came and the little band of white men had not caught up with Kong. That they were on the right trail, however, was verified by the sudden, startled exclamation of one of the sailors.
‘Get a load of that foot!’ he breathed.
The others crowded round him and gazed in silent wonder at the huge imprint to which he pointed.
‘Yeah, that’s his track all right,’ Denham muttered at last. ‘Look at the size of it. Come on, fellows, and keep those guns cocked!’
On and on they went, following the enormous footprints until they came in sight of a mist-enshrouded swamp. Suddenly a harsh, ear-shattering roar brought the whole party to a halt. Had they overtaken Kong? Denham peered through the steamy atmosphere, then whispered hoarsely.
‘Keep quiet! Give me one of those bombs!’
Then it was that the rest of the men saw what he had found. Right across their path was an enormous three-horned dinosaurus, and its tremendous body, ending in a spiked tail, was covered with horny scales. The brute scented them as Denham took the bomb. Like some nightmare demon the monster charged, and in sheer panic, the men fired, while Denham hurled the gas bomb.
It exploded right at the feet of the beast, which dropped ponderously to the swampy ground. The men, taking no chances, poured in another fusillade, but the brute was tenacious of life. It roared, rose up, tried to make for them, and Denham planted the death-shot in its head.
Once more the intrepid party pressed on to the swamp, filled with unknown and unnameable terrors. To traverse the swamp seemed impossible, until Driscoll, seeing a great many fallen trees, set the men to work making a raft.
Precious time was lost, but at last they were able to pole off. Hardly had the shore disappeared from view when they heard a strange, terrifying roar on their left. Startled they peered into the fog – and their horrified eyes saw a hideous head raising from the water, towering on top of a tall column that they knew was the neck of some other monster.
Denham knew what it was, but before he could tell his companions that it was a brontosaurus, they had fired. Whether they hit the brute or not they could not tell, for, with water pouring from its mouth like twin fountains, it curved its neck downwards and disappeared. A moment later, the raft rose into the air as if lifted by giant hands, Every man on board hurtled into the water, screaming as they went, fear clutching at their hearts.
It was every man for himself. None knew what happened to his companions, except those who saw the brontosaurus pick up another man here and there in its mouth and crush out his life. Some of the men found shallower water and floundered through it on to dry land. Denham and Driscoll were there and, weaponless, except for a revolver or two, they had no alternative but to go forward. They dared not risk returning through that awful swamp.
Driscoll forged ahead, the rest following close on his heels. They crowded up behind him as he came to a halt on the edge of a deep ravine, across which lay an age-old fallen tree. For a moment they hesitated and then Driscoll sprang on to the tree, the rest hard on his heels. Midway across the chasm, however, they stopped, frozen with horror at the sight before them.
Coming towards them from the other side was – Kong! His hands were empty, but as he lumbered up to them Driscoll heard Ann screaming somewhere behind the gorilla. The terrified men, seeing Kong for the first time, tried to back away. In the panic and confusion some of them were hurled into the depths. Driscoll saw a vine dangling down the side and he leapt for it, a split-second before Kong lifted the trunk and sent it, with its human burden, crashing into the abyss.
Horrified at the fate of his companions, yet unable to do anything for them, Driscoll sprang into a cave just below the edge of the ravine. He risked a look out and down and as he did so Kong’s arm reached down groping into the cave for him. With fiercely drumming pulses, Driscoll sprang back out of reach.
Again and again Kong’s great paw sought for him without success. His hand came so close, however, that Driscoll slashed at it with his hunting knife. Kong jerked the paw up and looked at it in surprise and anger.
At that moment Driscoll saw the vine in front of the cave tauten. Something or someone was coming up from the bottom of the ravine.
Driscoll thought it might be one of his companions, miraculously saved, and he dared to peer over in case he could help. It was no human being coming up the vine, however, but a gigantic polysauro, a mighty prehistoric reptile, and, at sight of it, Driscoll was almost rendered powerless to move.
With a supreme effort, however, he leapt back into the cave, as Kong’s paw stabbed down at him. Kong above and the reptile below, he faced death in a horrible form. But he must not be killed.
He sprang for the vine, braving Kong’s paw. He gripped the vine with one hand and began to saw at it with his knife, moving this way and that to avoid the groping hand of the monster above. After what seemed an eternity, the vine parted. The reptile crashed horribly, terrifyingly, as Driscoll backed into the cave away from Kong.
To his surprise, however, the giant gorilla’s paw jerked away, and then he heard the heavy tread of the brute as it moved away from the ravine edge. And a new sound made itself heard above Kong’s angry bark, and then came the din of battle. Kong was fighting – but what?
To Driscoll it seemed a heaven-sent chance to do something for Ann. He began to climb the vine, and, getting near the top, saw Kong and his foe – a prehistoric meat-eater. With teeth and claws they fought, biting, tearing, rending. A mighty blow from the meat-eater’s long, powerful tail floored Kong. The giant ape-man was up in a flash and leapt on its enemy’s back. Together they crashed into the tree, in which Ann had been left. Horror-stricken, Driscoll saw it topple, and heavy-foliaged branches pinned the girl to the ground.
The two battling brutes were between Driscoll and where Ann lay, and he could only peer at them, waiting for a chance to spring in to her. But the chance did not come. For suddenly Kong, seizing the meat-eater’s jaws, wrenched them apart and let his mighty antagonist’s body fall limply to the ground.
Kong stood up, beating his chest triumphantly, and looked round for Ann. He saw her, and, heaving away the branches that held her down, took her into his great paw and set off along the trail.
Driscoll, sick at heart, clawed his way on to the top of the ravine, and as he got there he heard Denham’s voice calling him. A moment later Driscoll saw the movie man on the other side of the ravine.
‘It didn’t get you, then?’ Driscoll gasped. His body was tense, and
he was impatient to be going after Kong.
‘No, I got to cover, the same as you did,’ Denham panted. ‘Think we’re safe now?’
Driscoll did not answer that question. Instead he flung across the ravine the only words that seemed to fit the occasion.
‘There are only two of us left alive to save the girl, Denham!’
‘Well,’ the film man said, after a split-second of silence, ‘I can’t get across to you now, so–’
‘Don’t want you to,’ snapped Jack. ‘You’ve got to go back and get some more bombs, while I stay on Kong’s trail!’
Driscoll turned and tore down the trail that Kong had taken, while Denham stared helplessly after him.
Jack Driscoll could never afterwards describe that aweful journey through the jungle. He was haunted by the bellowing of Kong, mingled now and again with the shrill screams of Ann Darrow. After a terrible, nerve-racking pursuit, he crept into a vast cathedral-like cave, moist and hot with steam from a boiling pool; and there he saw Kong with Ann Darrow.
Ann was on a ledge high up in the side of the cave and Kong was close by, fighting with a huge water snake, fully sixty feet long, coiled about his neck.
Hope ran high in Driscoll’s heart: it looked as if the snake were going to strangle Kong. But the man-ape held the snake’s head from his throat, and with amazing strength, dragged its coiled length from around his neck. He smashed the snake’s head against a rock, and with a bellow of triumph, flung it from him; next moment he snatched Ann from the ledge and disappeared behind great rocks.
With wildly beating heart, Driscoll crawled after him, and came at last to another entrance to the cave. Peering out, Driscoll saw Kong squatting on the edge of a cliff, holding Ann in one hand, touching her pale, terror-stricken face with the other, stroking the golden hair.
Suddenly Kong put her down and looked around suspiciously. Ann screamed in terror as a pterodactyl, a great flying reptile, swooped for her and seized her in its claws. Kong whirled at Ann’s screams, and moving with lightning-like rapidity, snatched the bird as it rose with her. He loosed Ann from its claws, tore the fighting, squawking reptile to bits, and flung the pieces over the cliff.
At last Driscoll saw his chance. Kong’s back was to him and Ann, and Jack crawled to where the girl lay. She started to scream, but he clapped a hand over her mouth, lifted her to her feet and tore towards the edge of the cliff. He had seen the root-end of a vine there, and he slithered over the edge, seized the rope, took Ann on his shoulder, and a moment later they started sliding down the vine.
Kong turned to look for Ann. He missed her, and, roaring with fury, looked over the cliff. He saw the girl and, roaring, grabbed the rope and started to haul it up.
As he felt himself rising, Driscoll did the only thing possible. Below was water, and with a reassuring word to Ann, he let go of the vine.
Down, down they dropped, seemingly for an eternity. At last, with a terrific impact, they struck water, and sank deep beneath the surface. They came up again in a few moments, to find themselves in a great pool formed by a waterfall, now thundering behind them. Somehow, they managed to reach the land, and Driscoll got Ann out. Then, staggering, panting, they flung themselves into the jungle growth, with the roar of Kong sounding above the thunder of the falling waters.
On top of the great wall of the native village, men from the Venture stood, armed and watching. On the steps leading to the gates sat Denham and Captain Englehorn, waiting for Driscoll and Ann.
Suddenly, one of the sailors on the wall gave a great shout.
‘Hey, look!’ he bellowed, and there was a rush to the window. ‘Mr Driscoll and the lady, they’re coming back!’
They were there in time to see Driscoll carry Ann to the gates, which were opened, and then the fugitives were through.
‘Jack, you got her!’ shouted Denham, and as Driscoll set Ann down she collapsed.
‘We’ll have you back to the ship in no time,’ said the captain. ‘I–’
‘Here, wait a minute,’ snapped Denham, as Driscoll was moving away, supporting Ann. ‘What about Kong?’
‘What about him?’ Driscoll jerked back.
‘We’ve got those gas bombs,’ Denham shouted. ‘If we can capture Kong alive–’
‘You’re crazy,’ Driscoll flicked the words at him. ‘Besides, he’s on a cliff where a whole army couldn’t get at him!’
At that moment, out beyond the wall, there came a sound that struck terror in the hearts of all there: Kong was approaching! He was coming back – for Ann!
Denham roared the order for the gates to be closed. Some of the sailors rushed to where the great bar lay, ready to be moved into position when the gates were shut. Others bore on the gates themselves. A sailor on the wall brought his rifle-butt down on the great gong there and from the village huts poured a horde of natives.
They raced to the gate and threw their weight upon it, closing it. On the wall, men shouted and fired rifles but Kong came on. He reached the gate, thudded his great fists on it, pressed his weight against it. Even with the bar over, and thehordes of people pushing, the gates swayed inwards to his thrust.
The bar creaked, splintered, and men and women, white and black, streamed away in terror as the great bulk of Kong stood there between the gates, swinging them back with his vast paws. Then he entered – saw Ann, the Golden Woman. He tore down an obstructing hut and threw the wreckage away. He scooped up scurrying natives and hurled them from him.
‘Hey, come back with those bombs!’ Denham roared at the man who was carrying them; but Briggs had gone, stampeding with the crowd.
Kong charged at some natives on a staging, snatched first one, then another, smashed them, flung them away. He brought a great paw down on the staging and it scattered like a burst bundle of firewood. Fallen natives were crushed beneath his feet, and then Kong was off in pursuit of fleeing men and women.
The whites were swarming into their boats when Kong broke into view. He lumbered down upon them – but came to a coughing, choking halt as Denham hurled a gas-bomb. The bomb went off with a terrific crash at Kong’s feet, and he leant back, as if to escape the rising fumes. Kong swayed as he tried to lift a great rock to hurl it at his tormentors, but he could not move it. He staggered again, tried to save himself, but crashed to the beach. He clawed weakly at the ground, trying to rise. But he failed, slumped heavily at full length, and lay still.
‘Come on, men,’ Denham shouted. ‘He’ll be out for hours. Send to the ship for anchor-chains and tools.’
The wondering men gathered round him and Englehorn asked the wild-looking movie man what he reckoned he was going to do. Denham snapped the answer. He was going to build a raft and float him to the ship.
‘Why,’ he exclaimed, ‘the whole world will pay to see this! He’s always been King in his world, but we’ll teach him – fear! In a few months it’ll be up in lights on Broadway. Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World!’
The incredible had happened. Kong – King Kong – had been subdued, had been brought from the distant South Seas. Thousands of New Yorkers were crowded in the great theatre Denham had rented to exhibit Kong!
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ said Denham, standing on the stage. ‘I am here tonight to tell you a very strange story, a story so strange that no one will believe it. But, ladies and gentlemen, seeing is believing, and we, my partners and I, have brought back the living proof of our adventure. I am going to show you the greatest thing you have ever beheld. Look at Kong. . . the Eighth Wonder of the World!’
People strained forward as the curtain began to rise. At sight of the Beast, chained to a massive steel beam and straining in his shackles, they gasped, spoke, laughed – and some of them wanted to scream.
‘Ladies and gentlemen.’ Silence fell at the sound of Denham’s voice. ‘Now I want to introduce you to Miss Ann Darrow, the bravest girl I have ever known.’ He took Ann’s hand as she stepped up to him, eyes troubled, heart fluttering. ‘She has lived through an expe
rience no other woman ever dreamed of. And now I want you to meet a very brave gentleman, Mr John Driscoll!’
As a great roar of applause went up, Driscoll stepped beside Ann, and, at a sign from Denham, Press camera-men came on to the stage. This was showmanship: the papers would be mad over this thing – but not madder than Kong was, as he fought against his chains.
‘Wait a minute,’ Denham cried to the camera-men. ‘Kong thinks you’re attacking the girl.’
The warning came too late. Driven to a mighty frenzy by the flashlights, the giant was roaring and struggling, pulling at his shackles. Suddenly, Kong broke one arm loose. With a mighty tug he got the other free, and reached down to tackle the chains at his waist and ankles. The stage cleared as by magic.
Then Kong was free. It seemed that in all that tumult he had had no eyes for any but Ann. He seemed to know the way she had gone. He lumbered into the wings, and found himself in the great foyer, outside which men and women were milling madly. Syrens were howling, and as Kong stepped out of the building, a car smashed into a pillar, its driver paralysed with fright. With a triumphant roar, King Kong started to climb the face of the building.
In a room high up the theatre building, Jack Driscoll was trying to comfort Ann.
‘Now, now, it’s all right. Don’t worry,’ Jack soothed her. ‘I’m going to stay right here with you. Anyhow, you know, they’re bound to get him and–
Ann Darrow screamed, and Driscoll spun round – to see the face of Kong at the window. A long arm reached in, a great paw opened and shut – and Driscoll, seizing a chair, smashed it down on the paw. The chair broke into a hundred pieces and the paw struck Driscoll down.
Then it reached for the bed on which Ann was sitting, petrified with horror. It dragged the thing to the window, and Kong snatched the girl up, beginning at once to clamber down.
At sight of his descending figure the crowd broke and ran screaming. Then Kong reached earth: a king, it seemed, in a deserted kingdom. He was towering above an elevated railway. A train roared past him. He swatted at it, missed it, wrenched up the track in a mad fury. Another train came thundering, its headlight nearly blinding him. It swooped up the shattered track, toppled over, and Kong pounded the steel thing and smashed it, picked it up and hurled it from him, spilling men and women from it in a torrent.
Movie Monsters Page 11