For some time she lay there, a victim of vain regrets; and then she realized the futility of repining, and by an effort of the will seized control of her shaken nerves. She told herself that she must not give up, that even this last, terrible blow must not stop her. She still lived, and she had not found Jerry. She would go on. She would try to reach the river; she would try in some way to cross it, and she would find Old Timer's camp and enlist the aid of his partner. But she must have food, strength-giving flesh. She could not carry on in her weakened condition. The bow that he had made, and that she had hugged to her breast as she lay in the shelter, would furnish her the means to secure meat; and with this thought in mind she arose and went out to gather up the arrows. It was still not too late to hunt.
As she emerged from the frail hut she saw one of the creatures that she had long feared inwardly, knowing that this forest abounded in them—a leopard. The beast was standing at the edge of the jungle looking toward her. As its yellow eyes discovered her, it dropped to its belly, its face grimacing in a horrid snarl. Then it started to creep cautiously toward her, its tail weaving sinuously. It could have charged and destroyed her without these preliminaries; but it seemed to be playing with her, as a cat plays with a mouse.
Nearer and nearer it came. The girl fitted an arrow to the bow. She knew how futile a gesture it would be to launch that tiny missile at this great engine of destruction; but she was courageous, and she would not give up her life without defending it to the last.
The beast was coming closer. She wondered when it would charge. Many things passed through her mind, but clear and outstanding above all the rest was the image of a man in rags and tatters. Then, beyond the leopard, she saw a figure emerge from the jungle—a giant white man, naked but for a loin cloth.
He did not hesitate. She saw him running quickly forward toward the leopard; and she saw that the beast did not see him, for its eyes were upon her. The man made no sound as he sprang lightly across the soft turf. Suddenly, to her horror, she saw that he was unarmed.
The leopard raised its body a little from the ground. It gathered its hind feet beneath it. It was about to start the swift rush that would end in death for her. Then she saw the running man launch himself through the air straight for the back of the grim beast. She wanted to close her eyes to shut out the horrid scene that she knew must ensue as the leopard turned and tore his rash antagonist to ribbons.
What followed after the bronzed body of the white man closed with that of the great cat defied her astonished eyes to follow. There was a swift intermingling of spotted hide and bronzed skin, of arms and legs, of talons and teeth; and above all rose the hideous growls of two blood-mad beasts. To her horror she realized that not the cat alone was the author of them; the growls of the man were as savage as those of the beast.
From the midst of the whirling mass she saw the man suddenly rise to his feet, dragging the leopard with him. His powerful fingers encircled the throat of the carnivore from behind. The beast struck and struggled to free itself from that grip of death, but no longer did it growl. Slowly its struggles lessened in violence, and at last it went limp; then the man released one hand and twisted its neck until the vertebrae snapped, after which he cast the carcass to the ground. For a moment he stood over it. He seemed to have forgotten the girl; then he placed a foot upon it, and the forest reechoed to the victory cry of the bull ape.
Kali Bwana shuddered. She felt her flesh turn cold. She thought to flee from this terrible wild man of the forest; then he turned toward her, and she knew that it was too late. She still held the bow and arrow ready in her hands. She wondered if she could hold him off with these. He did not appear an easy man to frighten.
Then he spoke to her. "I seem to have arrived just in time," he said quietly. "Your friend will be here presently," he added, for he saw that she was afraid of him. That one should fear him was no new thing to Tarzan of the Apes. There were many who had feared him, and perhaps for this reason he had come to expect it from every stranger. "You may put down your bow. I shall not harm you."
She lowered the weapon to her side. "My friend!" she repeated. "Who? Whom do you mean?"
"I do not know his name. Have you many friends here?"
"Only one, but I thought him dead. A huge ape carried him away."
"He is safe," the ape-man assured her. "He is following behind me."
Kali Bwana sank limply to the ground. "Thank God!" she murmured.
Tarzan stood with folded arms watching her. How small and delicate she looked! He wondered that she had been able to survive all that she had passed through. The Lord of the Jungle admired courage, and he knew what courage this slender girl must possess to have undergone what she had undergone and still be able to face a charging leopard with that puny weapon lying on the grass beside her.
Presently he heard some one approaching and knew it was the man. When he appeared he was breathing hard from his exertion, but at sight of the girl he ran forward. "You are all right?" he cried. He had seen the dead leopard lying near her.
"Yes," she replied.
To Tarzan, her manner seemed constrained, and so did that of the man. He did not know what had passed between them just before they had been separated. He could not guess what was in the heart of each, nor could Old Timer guess what was in the heart of the girl. Being a girl, now that the man was safe, she sought to hide her true emotions from him. And Old Timer was ill at ease. Fresh in his mind were the events of the afternoon; ringing in his ears her bitter cry, "I hate you!"
Briefly he told her all that had occurred since the ape had carried him away, and then they planned with Tarzan for the future. He told them that he would remain with them until they had reached the man's camp, or that he would accompany them down river to the first station; but to Old Timer's surprise the girl said that she would go to his camp and there attempt to organize a new safari, either to accompany her down river or in the further prosecution of her search for Jerry Jerome.
Before night fell Tarzan had brought meat to the camp, using the bow and arrows that Old Timer had made, and the man and the girl cooked theirs over a fire while the apeman sat apart tearing at the raw flesh with his strong, white teeth. Little Nkima, perched upon his shoulder, nodded sleepily.
CHAPTER 23.—CONVERGING TRAILS
Early the next morning they started for the river, but they had not gone far when the wind veered into the north, and Tarzan halted. His delicate nostrils questioned the tell-tale breeze.
"There is a camp just ahead of us," he announced. "There are white men in it."
Old Timer strained his eyes into the forest. "I can see nothing," he said.
"Neither can I," admitted Tarzan; "but I have a nose."
"You can smell them?" asked Kali.
"Certainly, and because my nose tells me that there are white men there I assume that it is a friendly camp; but we will have a look at it before we go too close. Wait here."
He swung into the trees and was gone, leaving the man and the girl alone together; yet neither spoke what was in his heart. The constraint of yesterday still lay heavily upon him. He wanted to ask her forgiveness for having taken her into his arms, for having dared to kiss her. She wanted him to take her into his arms again and kiss her. But they stood there in silence like two strangers until Tarzan returned.
"They are all right," announced the ape-man. "It is a company of soldiers with their white officers and one civilian. Come! They may prove the solution of all your difficulties."
The soldiers were breaking camp as Tarzan and his companions arrived. The surprised shouts of the black soldiers attracted the attention of the white men—two officers and a civilian—who came forward to meet them. As his eyes fell upon the civilian, Old Timer voiced an exclamation of surprise.
"The Kid!" he exclaimed, and the girl brushed past him and ran forward, a glad cry upon her lips.
"Jerry! Jerry!" she cried as she threw herself into The Kid's arms.
Old Timor's heart
sank. Jerry! Jerry Jerome, his best friend! What cruel tricks fate can play.
When the greetings and the introductions were over, the strange combination of circumstances that had brought them together thus unexpectedly were explained as the story of each was unfolded.
"Not long ago," the lieutenant in command of the expedition explained to Kali, "we heard rumors of the desertion of your men. We arrested some of them in their villages and got the whole story. Then I was ordered out to search for you. We had come as far as Bobolo's yesterday when we got an inkling of your whereabouts from a girl named Nsenene. We started for the Betete village at once and met this young man wandering about, lost, just as we were going into camp here. Now you have assured the success of my mission by walking in on me this morning. There remains nothing now but to take you back to civilization."
"There is one other thing that you can do while you are here," said Old Timer.
"'And that?" inquired the lieutenant.
"There are two known Leopard Men in the village of Bobolo. Three of us have seen them in the temple of the Leopard God taking active parts in the rites. If you wish to arrest them it will be easy."
"I certainly do," replied the officer. "Do you know them by sight?"
"Absolutely," stated Old Timer. "One of them is an old witch- doctor named Sobito, and the other is Bobolo himself."
"Sobito!" exclaimed Tarzan. "Are you sure?"
"He is the same man you carried away from the temple, the man you called Sobito. I saw him drifting down the river in a canoe the morning after I escaped."
"We shall arrest them both," said the officer, "and now as the men are ready to march, we will be off."
"I shall leave you here," said the ape-man. "You are safe now," he added, turning to the girl. "Go out of the jungle with these men and do not come back; it is no place for a white girl alone."
"Do not go yet," exclaimed the officer. "I shall need you to identify Sobito."
"You will need no one to identify Sobito," replied the ape-man, and swinging into a tree, he vanished from their sight.
"And that is that," commented The Kid.
On the march toward Bobolo's village the girl and The Kid walked close together, while Old Timer followed dejectedly behind. Finally The Kid turned and addressed him. "Come on up here, old man, and join us; I was just telling Jessie about a strange coincidence in something I said in Bobolo's village last night. There is a girl there named Nsenene. You probably remember her, Old Timer. Well, she told me about this white girl who was a captive in the pygmy village; and when I showed interest in her and wanted to know where the village was so that I could try to get the girl away from them, the little rascal got jealous. I discovered that she had a crush on me; so I had to think quickly to explain my interest in the white girl, and the first thing that entered my head was to tell her that the girl was my sister. Wasn't that a mighty strange coincidence?"
"Where's the coincidence?" demanded Old Timer.
The Kid looked at him blankly. "Why, didn't you know," he exclaimed. "Jessie is my sister."
Old Timer's jaw dropped. "Your sister!" Once again the sun shone and the birds sang. "Why didn't you tell me you were looking for your brother?" he demanded of Kali.
"Why didn't you tell me that you knew Jerry Jerome?" she countered.
"I didn't know that I knew him," he explained. "I never knew The Kid's name. He didn't tell me and I never asked."
"There was a reason why I couldn't tell you," said The Kid; "but it's all right now. Jessie just told me."
"You see,—" she hesitated.
"Hi," prompted Old Timer.
The girl smiled and flushed slightly. "You see, Hi," she commenced again, "Jerry thought that he had killed a man. I am going to tell you the whole story because you and he have been such close friends.
"Jerry was in love with a girl in our town. He learned one night that an older man, a man with a vile reputation, had enticed her to his apartment. Jerry went there and broke in. The man was furious, and in the fight that followed Jerry shot him. Then he took the girl home, swearing her to secrecy about her part in the affair. That same night he ran away, leaving a note saying that he had shot Sam Berger, but giving no reason.
"Berger did not die and refused to prosecute; so the case was dropped. We knew that Jerry had run away to save the girl from notoriety, more than from fear of punishment; but we did not know where he had gone. I didn't know where to look for him for a long time.
"Then Berger was shot and killed by another girl, and in the meantime I got a clue from an old school friend of Jerry's and knew that he had come to Africa. Now there was absolutely no reason why he should not return home; and I started out to look for him."
"And you found him," said Old Timer.
"I found something else," said the girl, but he did not catch her meaning.
It was late when they arrived at the village of Bobolo, which they found in a state of excitement. The officer marched his men directly into the village and formed them so that they could command any situation that might arise.
At sight of The Kid and Old Timer and the girl Bobolo appeared frightened. He sought to escape from the village, but the soldiers stopped him, and then the officer informed him that he was under arrest. Bobolo did not ask why. He knew.
"Where is the witch-doctor called Sobito?" demanded the officer.
Bobolo trembled. "He is gone," he said.
"Where?" demanded the officer.
"To Tumbai," replied Bobolo. "A little while ago a demon came and carried him away. He dropped into the village from the sky and took Sobito up in his arms as though he had no weight at all. Then he cried, 'Sobito is going back to the village of Tumbai!', and he ran through the gateway and was gone into the forest before anyone could stop him."
"Did anyone try?" inquired Old Timer with a grin.
"No," admitted Bobolo. "Who could stop a spirit?"
The sun was sinking behind the western forest, its light playing upon the surging current of the great river that rolled past the village of Bobolo. A man and a woman stood looking out across the water that was plunging westward in its long journey to the sea down to the trading posts and the towns and the ships, which are the frail links that connect the dark forest with civilization.
"Tomorrow you will start," said the man. "In six or eight weeks you will be home. Home!" There was a world of wistfulness in the simple, homely word. He sighed. "I am so glad for both of you."
She came closer to him and stood directly in front of him, looking straight into his eyes. "You are coming with us," she said.
"What makes you think so?" he asked.
"Because I love you, you will come."
* * *
THE END
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
TARZAN'S QUEST
BOOK 19 IN THE TARZAN SERIES
Serialized in The Blue Book Magazine, October 1935—March 1936
First Book Edition—Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., September 1936
* * *
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1. The Princess Sborov
Chapter 2. Sound Above The Storm
Chapter 3. Out Of Gas
Chapter 4. In The Kraal Of Udalo
Chapter 5. "The Lion Is Coming!"
Chapter 6. The Ballot Of Death
Chapter 7. The Merry Company
Chapter 8. Ydeni, The Kavuru
Chapter 9. Sheeta, The Leopard
Chapter 10. Abduction
Chapter 11. "Seventy Million Dollars"
Chapter 12. Murder In The Night
Chapter 13. Treachery
Chapter 14. Nkima Forgets
Chapter 15. A Bit Of Cloth
Chapter 16. The Message
Chapter 17. The Snake
Chapter 18. A Bit OF Paper
Chapter 19. Hate And Lust
Chapter 20. Nkima Plays A Game
Chapter 21.
Only Two Left
Chapter 22. Stalked By Numa
Chapter 23. Captive
Chapter 24. Down Into Darkness
Chapter 25. Defeat
Chapter 26. Tarzan Stalks Brown
Chapter 27. Madmen And Leopards
Chapter 28. Kavandavanda
Chapter 29. To What Doom?
Chapter 30. "The Dead Men Fly!"
Chapter 31. The Wages Of Sin
* * *
1. THE PRINCESS SBOROV
"My dear Jane, you know everyone."
"Not quite, Hazel; but one sees everyone in the Savoy."
"Who is that woman at the second table to our right?—the one who spoke so cordially. There is something very familiar about her—I'm sure I've seen her before."
"You probably have. Don't you remember Kitty Krause?"
"O-oh, yes; now I recall her. But she went with an older crowd."
"Yes, she's a full generation ahead of us; but Kitty'd like to forget that and have everyone else forget it."
"Let's see—she married Peters, the cotton king, didn't she?"
"Yes, and when he died he left her so many millions she didn't have enough fingers to count 'em on; so the poor woman will never know how rich she is."
"Is that her son with her?"
"Son, my dear! That's her new husband."
"Husband? Why, she's old enough to—"
"Yes, of course; but you see he's a prince, and Kitty always was— er—well, ambitious."
"Yes, I recall now—something of a climber; but she climbed pretty high, even in aristocratic old Baltimore, with those Peters millions."
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