Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar Read online

  11

  Tarzan Becomes a Beast Again

  For a moment Werper had stood above the sleeping ape-man, his murderousknife poised for the fatal thrust; but fear stayed his hand. What ifthe first blow should fail to drive the point to his victim's heart?Werper shuddered in contemplation of the disastrous consequences tohimself. Awakened, and even with a few moments of life remaining, thegiant could literally tear his assailant to pieces should he choose,and the Belgian had no doubt but that Tarzan would so choose.

  Again came the soft sound of padded footsteps in the reeds--closer thistime. Werper abandoned his design. Before him stretched the wideplain and escape. The jewels were in his possession. To remain longerwas to risk death at the hands of Tarzan, or the jaws of the huntercreeping ever nearer. Turning, he slunk away through the night, towardthe distant forest.

  Tarzan slept on. Where were those uncanny, guardian powers that hadformerly rendered him immune from the dangers of surprise? Could thisdull sleeper be the alert, sensitive Tarzan of old?

  Perhaps the blow upon his head had numbed his senses, temporarily--whomay say? Closer crept the stealthy creature through the reeds. Therustling curtain of vegetation parted a few paces from where thesleeper lay, and the massive head of a lion appeared. The beastsurveyed the ape-man intently for a moment, then he crouched, his hindfeet drawn well beneath him, his tail lashing from side to side.

  It was the beating of the beast's tail against the reeds which awakenedTarzan. Jungle folk do not awaken slowly--instantly, fullconsciousness and full command of their every faculty returns to themfrom the depth of profound slumber.

  Even as Tarzan opened his eyes he was upon his feet, his spear graspedfirmly in his hand and ready for attack. Again was he Tarzan of theApes, sentient, vigilant, ready.

  No two lions have identical characteristics, nor does the same lioninvariably act similarly under like circumstances. Whether it wassurprise, fear or caution which prompted the lion crouching ready tospring upon the man, is immaterial--the fact remains that he did notcarry out his original design, he did not spring at the man at all,but, instead, wheeled and sprang back into the reeds as Tarzan aroseand confronted him.

  The ape-man shrugged his broad shoulders and looked about for hiscompanion. Werper was nowhere to be seen. At first Tarzan suspectedthat the man had been seized and dragged off by another lion, but uponexamination of the ground he soon discovered that the Belgian had goneaway alone out into the plain.

  For a moment he was puzzled; but presently came to the conclusion thatWerper had been frightened by the approach of the lion, and had sneakedoff in terror. A sneer touched Tarzan's lips as he pondered the man'sact--the desertion of a comrade in time of danger, and without warning.Well, if that was the sort of creature Werper was, Tarzan wishednothing more of him. He had gone, and for all the ape-man cared, hemight remain away--Tarzan would not search for him.

  A hundred yards from where he stood grew a large tree, alone upon theedge of the reedy jungle. Tarzan made his way to it, clambered intoit, and finding a comfortable crotch among its branches, reposedhimself for uninterrupted sleep until morning.

  And when morning came Tarzan slept on long after the sun had risen.His mind, reverted to the primitive, was untroubled by any more seriousobligations than those of providing sustenance, and safeguarding hislife. Therefore, there was nothing to awaken for until dangerthreatened, or the pangs of hunger assailed. It was the latter whicheventually aroused him.

  Opening his eyes, he stretched his giant thews, yawned, rose and gazedabout him through the leafy foliage of his retreat. Across the wastedmeadowlands and fields of John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, Tarzan of theApes looked, as a stranger, upon the moving figures of Basuli and hisbraves as they prepared their morning meal and made ready to set outupon the expedition which Basuli had planned after discovering thehavoc and disaster which had befallen the estate of his dead master.

  The ape-man eyed the blacks with curiosity. In the back of his brainloitered a fleeting sense of familiarity with all that he saw, yet hecould not connect any of the various forms of life, animate andinanimate, which had fallen within the range of his vision since he hademerged from the darkness of the pits of Opar, with any particularevent of the past.

  Hazily he recalled a grim and hideous form, hairy, ferocious. A vaguetenderness dominated his savage sentiments as this phantom memorystruggled for recognition. His mind had reverted to his childhooddays--it was the figure of the giant she-ape, Kala, that he saw; butonly half recognized. He saw, too, other grotesque, manlike forms.They were of Terkoz, Tublat, Kerchak, and a smaller, less ferociousfigure, that was Neeta, the little playmate of his boyhood.

  Slowly, very slowly, as these visions of the past animated hislethargic memory, he came to recognize them. They took definite shapeand form, adjusting themselves nicely to the various incidents of hislife with which they had been intimately connected. His boyhood amongthe apes spread itself in a slow panorama before him, and as itunfolded it induced within him a mighty longing for the companionshipof the shaggy, low-browed brutes of his past.

  He watched the blacks scatter their cook fire and depart; but thoughthe face of each of them had but recently been as familiar to him ashis own, they awakened within him no recollections whatsoever.

  When they had gone, he descended from the tree and sought food. Outupon the plain grazed numerous herds of wild ruminants. Toward asleek, fat bunch of zebra he wormed his stealthy way. No intricateprocess of reasoning caused him to circle widely until he was down windfrom his prey--he acted instinctively. He took advantage of every formof cover as he crawled upon all fours and often flat upon his stomachtoward them.

  A plump young mare and a fat stallion grazed nearest to him as heneared the herd. Again it was instinct which selected the former forhis meat. A low bush grew but a few yards from the unsuspecting two.The ape-man reached its shelter. He gathered his spear firmly in hisgrasp. Cautiously he drew his feet beneath him. In a single swiftmove he rose and cast his heavy weapon at the mare's side. Nor did hewait to note the effect of his assault, but leaped cat-like after hisspear, his hunting knife in his hand.

  For an instant the two animals stood motionless. The tearing of thecruel barb into her side brought a sudden scream of pain and frightfrom the mare, and then they both wheeled and broke for safety; butTarzan of the Apes, for a distance of a few yards, could equal thespeed of even these, and the first stride of the mare found heroverhauled, with a savage beast at her shoulder. She turned, bitingand kicking at her foe. Her mate hesitated for an instant, as thoughabout to rush to her assistance; but a backward glance revealed to himthe flying heels of the balance of the herd, and with a snort and ashake of his head he wheeled and dashed away.

  Clinging with one hand to the short mane of his quarry, Tarzan struckagain and again with his knife at the unprotected heart. The resulthad, from the first, been inevitable. The mare fought bravely, buthopelessly, and presently sank to the earth, her heart pierced. Theape-man placed a foot upon her carcass and raised his voice in thevictory call of the Mangani. In the distance, Basuli halted as thefaint notes of the hideous scream broke upon his ears.

  "The great apes," he said to his companion. "It has been long since Ihave heard them in the country of the Waziri. What could have broughtthem back?"

  Tarzan grasped his kill and dragged it to the partial seclusion of thebush which had hidden his own near approach, and there he squatted uponit, cut a huge hunk of flesh from the loin and proceeded to satisfy hishunger with the warm and dripping meat.

  Attracted by the shrill screams of the mare, a pair of hyenas slunkpresently into view. They trotted to a point a few yards from thegorging ape-man, and halted. Tarzan looked up, bared his fightingfangs and growled. The hyenas returned the compliment, and withdrew acouple of paces. They made no move to attack; but continued to sit ata respectful distance until Tarzan had concluded his meal. After theape-man had cut a few strips from the c
arcass to carry with him, hewalked slowly off in the direction of the river to quench his thirst.His way lay directly toward the hyenas, nor did he alter his coursebecause of them.

  With all the lordly majesty of Numa, the lion, he strode straighttoward the growling beasts. For a moment they held their ground,bristling and defiant; but only for a moment, and then slunk away toone side while the indifferent ape-man passed them on his lordly way.A moment later they were tearing at the remains of the zebra.

  Back to the reeds went Tarzan, and through them toward the river. Aherd of buffalo, startled by his approach, rose ready to charge or tofly. A great bull pawed the ground and bellowed as his bloodshot eyesdiscovered the intruder; but the ape-man passed across their front asthough ignorant of their existence. The bull's bellowing lessened to alow rumbling, he turned and scraped a horde of flies from his side withhis muzzle, cast a final glance at the ape-man and resumed his feeding.His numerous family either followed his example or stood gazing afterTarzan in mild-eyed curiosity, until the opposite reeds swallowed himfrom view.

  At the river, Tarzan drank his fill and bathed. During the heat of theday he lay up under the shade of a tree near the ruins of his burnedbarns. His eyes wandered out across the plain toward the forest, and alonging for the pleasures of its mysterious depths possessed histhoughts for a considerable time. With the next sun he would cross theopen and enter the forest! There was no hurry--there lay before him anendless vista of tomorrows with naught to fill them but the satisfyingof the appetites and caprices of the moment.

  The ape-man's mind was untroubled by regret for the past, or aspirationfor the future. He could lie at full length along a swaying branch,stretching his giant limbs, and luxuriating in the blessed peace ofutter thoughtlessness, without an apprehension or a worry to sap hisnervous energy and rob him of his peace of mind. Recalling only dimlyany other existence, the ape-man was happy. Lord Greystoke had ceasedto exist.

  For several hours Tarzan lolled upon his swaying, leafy couch untilonce again hunger and thirst suggested an excursion. Stretching lazilyhe dropped to the ground and moved slowly toward the river. The gametrail down which he walked had become by ages of use a deep, narrowtrench, its walls topped on either side by impenetrable thicket anddense-growing trees closely interwoven with thick-stemmed creepers andlesser vines inextricably matted into two solid ramparts of vegetation.Tarzan had almost reached the point where the trail debouched upon theopen river bottom when he saw a family of lions approaching along thepath from the direction of the river. The ape-man counted seven--amale and two lionesses, full grown, and four young lions as large andquite as formidable as their parents. Tarzan halted, growling, and thelions paused, the great male in the lead baring his fangs and rumblingforth a warning roar. In his hand the ape-man held his heavy spear;but he had no intention of pitting his puny weapon against seven lions;yet he stood there growling and roaring and the lions did likewise. Itwas purely an exhibition of jungle bluff. Each was trying to frightenoff the other. Neither wished to turn back and give way, nor dideither at first desire to precipitate an encounter. The lions were fedsufficiently so as not to be goaded by pangs of hunger and as forTarzan he seldom ate the meat of the carnivores; but a point of ethicswas at stake and neither side wished to back down. So they stood therefacing one another, making all sorts of hideous noises the while theyhurled jungle invective back and forth. How long this bloodless duelwould have persisted it is difficult to say, though eventually Tarzanwould have been forced to yield to superior numbers.

  There came, however, an interruption which put an end to the deadlockand it came from Tarzan's rear. He and the lions had been making somuch noise that neither could hear anything above their concertedbedlam, and so it was that Tarzan did not hear the great bulk bearingdown upon him from behind until an instant before it was upon him, andthen he turned to see Buto, the rhinoceros, his little, pig eyesblazing, charging madly toward him and already so close that escapeseemed impossible; yet so perfectly were mind and muscles coordinatedin this unspoiled, primitive man that almost simultaneously with thesense perception of the threatened danger he wheeled and hurled hisspear at Buto's chest. It was a heavy spear shod with iron, and behindit were the giant muscles of the ape-man, while coming to meet it wasthe enormous weight of Buto and the momentum of his rapid rush. Allthat happened in the instant that Tarzan turned to meet the charge ofthe irascible rhinoceros might take long to tell, and yet would havetaxed the swiftest lens to record. As his spear left his hand theape-man was looking down upon the mighty horn lowered to toss him, soclose was Buto to him. The spear entered the rhinoceros' neck at itsjunction with the left shoulder and passed almost entirely through thebeast's body, and at the instant that he launched it, Tarzan leapedstraight into the air alighting upon Buto's back but escaping themighty horn.

  Then Buto espied the lions and bore madly down upon them while Tarzanof the Apes leaped nimbly into the tangled creepers at one side of thetrail. The first lion met Buto's charge and was tossed high over theback of the maddened brute, torn and dying, and then the six remaininglions were upon the rhinoceros, rending and tearing the while they werebeing gored or trampled. From the safety of his perch Tarzan watchedthe royal battle with the keenest interest, for the more intelligent ofthe jungle folk are interested in such encounters. They are to themwhat the racetrack and the prize ring, the theater and the movies areto us. They see them often; but always they enjoy them for no two areprecisely alike.

  For a time it seemed to Tarzan that Buto, the rhinoceros, would provevictor in the gory battle. Already had he accounted for four of theseven lions and badly wounded the three remaining when in a momentarylull in the encounter he sank limply to his knees and rolled over uponhis side. Tarzan's spear had done its work. It was the man-madeweapon which killed the great beast that might easily have survived theassault of seven mighty lions, for Tarzan's spear had pierced the greatlungs, and Buto, with victory almost in sight, succumbed to internalhemorrhage.

  Then Tarzan came down from his sanctuary and as the wounded lions,growling, dragged themselves away, the ape-man cut his spear from thebody of Buto, hacked off a steak and vanished into the jungle. Theepisode was over. It had been all in the day's work--something whichyou and I might talk about for a lifetime Tarzan dismissed from hismind the moment that the scene passed from his sight.