Jungle Tales of Tarzan Read online

  8

  The Lion

  NUMA, THE LION, crouched behind a thorn bush close beside the drinkingpool where the river eddied just below the bend. There was a fordthere and on either bank a well-worn trail, broadened far out at theriver's brim, where, for countless centuries, the wild things of thejungle and of the plains beyond had come down to drink, the carnivorawith bold and fearless majesty, the herbivora timorous, hesitating,fearful.

  Numa, the lion, was hungry, he was very hungry, and so he was quitesilent now. On his way to the drinking place he had moaned often androared not a little; but as he neared the spot where he would lie inwait for Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, or some other of the manyluscious-fleshed creatures who came hither to drink, he was silent. Itwas a grim, a terrible silence, shot through with yellow-green light offerocious eyes, punctuated with undulating tremors of sinuous tail.

  It was Pacco, the zebra, who came first, and Numa, the lion, couldscarce restrain a roar of anger, for of all the plains people, none aremore wary than Pacco, the zebra. Behind the black-striped stallioncame a herd of thirty or forty of the plump and vicious littlehorselike beasts. As he neared the river, the leader paused often,cocking his ears and raising his muzzle to sniff the gentle breeze forthe tell-tale scent spoor of the dread flesh-eaters.

  Numa shifted uneasily, drawing his hind quarters far beneath his tawnybody, gathering himself for the sudden charge and the savage assault.His eyes shot hungry fire. His great muscles quivered to theexcitement of the moment.

  Pacco came a little nearer, halted, snorted, and wheeled. There was apattering of scurrying hoofs and the herd was gone; but Numa, the lion,moved not. He was familiar with the ways of Pacco, the zebra. He knewthat he would return, though many times he might wheel and fly beforehe summoned the courage to lead his harem and his offspring to thewater. There was the chance that Pacco might be frightened offentirely. Numa had seen this happen before, and so he became almostrigid lest he be the one to send them galloping, waterless, back to theplain.

  Again and again came Pacco and his family, and again and again did theyturn and flee; but each time they came closer to the river, until atlast the plump stallion dipped his velvet muzzle daintily into thewater. The others, stepping warily, approached their leader. Numaselected a sleek, fat filly and his flaming eyes burned greedily asthey feasted upon her, for Numa, the lion, loves scarce anything betterthan the meat of Pacco, perhaps because Pacco is, of all thegrass-eaters, the most difficult to catch.

  Slowly the lion rose, and as he rose, a twig snapped beneath one of hisgreat, padded paws. Like a shot from a rifle he charged upon thefilly; but the snapped twig had been enough to startle the timorousquarry, so that they were in instant flight simultaneously with Numa'scharge.

  The stallion was last, and with a prodigious leap, the lion catapultedthrough the air to seize him; but the snapping twig had robbed Numa ofhis dinner, though his mighty talons raked the zebra's glossy rump,leaving four crimson bars across the beautiful coat.

  It was an angry Numa that quitted the river and prowled, fierce,dangerous, and hungry, into the jungle. Far from particular now washis appetite. Even Dango, the hyena, would have seemed a tidbit tothat ravenous maw. And in this temper it was that the lion came uponthe tribe of Kerchak, the great ape.

  One does not look for Numa, the lion, this late in the morning. Heshould be lying up asleep beside his last night's kill by now; but Numahad made no kill last night. He was still hunting, hungrier than ever.

  The anthropoids were idling about the clearing, the first keen desireof the morning's hunger having been satisfied. Numa scented them longbefore he saw them. Ordinarily he would have turned away in search ofother game, for even Numa respected the mighty muscles and the sharpfangs of the great bulls of the tribe of Kerchak, but today he kept onsteadily toward them, his bristled snout wrinkled into a savage snarl.

  Without an instant's hesitation, Numa charged the moment he reached apoint from where the apes were visible to him. There were a dozen ormore of the hairy, manlike creatures upon the ground in a little glade.In a tree at one side sat a brown-skinned youth. He saw Numa's swiftcharge; he saw the apes turn and flee, huge bulls trampling upon littlebalus; only a single she held her ground to meet the charge, a youngshe inspired by new motherhood to the great sacrifice that her balumight escape.

  Tarzan leaped from his perch, screaming at the flying bulls beneath andat those who squatted in the safety of surrounding trees. Had thebulls stood their ground, Numa would not have carried through thatcharge unless goaded by great rage or the gnawing pangs of starvation.Even then he would not have come off unscathed.

  If the bulls heard, they were too slow in responding, for Numa hadseized the mother ape and dragged her into the jungle before the maleshad sufficiently collected their wits and their courage to rally indefense of their fellow. Tarzan's angry voice aroused similar anger inthe breasts of the apes. Snarling and barking they followed Numa intothe dense labyrinth of foliage wherein he sought to hide himself fromthem. The ape-man was in the lead, moving rapidly and yet withcaution, depending even more upon his ears and nose than upon his eyesfor information of the lion's whereabouts.

  The spoor was easy to follow, for the dragged body of the victim left aplain trail, blood-spattered and scentful. Even such dull creatures asyou or I might easily have followed it. To Tarzan and the apes ofKerchak it was as obvious as a cement sidewalk.

  Tarzan knew that they were nearing the great cat even before he heardan angry growl of warning just ahead. Calling to the apes to followhis example, he swung into a tree and a moment later Numa wassurrounded by a ring of growling beasts, well out of reach of his fangsand talons but within plain sight of him. The carnivore crouched withhis fore-quarters upon the she-ape. Tarzan could see that the latterwas already dead; but something within him made it seem quite necessaryto rescue the useless body from the clutches of the enemy and to punishhim.

  He shrieked taunts and insults at Numa, and tearing dead branches fromthe tree in which he danced, hurled them at the lion. The apesfollowed his example. Numa roared out in rage and vexation. He washungry, but under such conditions he could not feed.

  The apes, if they had been left to themselves, would doubtless soonhave left the lion to peaceful enjoyment of his feast, for was not theshe dead? They could not restore her to life by throwing sticks atNuma, and they might even now be feeding in quiet themselves; butTarzan was of a different mind. Numa must be punished and driven away.He must be taught that even though he killed a Mangani, he would not bepermitted to feed upon his kill. The man-mind looked into the future,while the apes perceived only the immediate present. They would becontent to escape today the menace of Numa, while Tarzan saw thenecessity, and the means as well, of safeguarding the days to come.

  So he urged the great anthropoids on until Numa was showered withmissiles that kept his head dodging and his voice pealing forth itssavage protest; but still he clung desperately to his kill.

  The twigs and branches hurled at Numa, Tarzan soon realized, did nothurt him greatly even when they struck him, and did not injure him atall, so the ape-man looked about for more effective missiles, nor didhe have to look long. An out-cropping of decomposed granite not farfrom Numa suggested ammunition of a much more painful nature. Callingto the apes to watch him, Tarzan slipped to the ground and gathered ahandful of small fragments. He knew that when once they had seen himcarry out his idea they would be much quicker to follow his lead thanto obey his instructions, were he to command them to procure pieces ofrock and hurl them at Numa, for Tarzan was not then king of the apes ofthe tribe of Kerchak. That came in later years. Now he was but ayouth, though one who already had wrested for himself a place in thecouncils of the savage beasts among whom a strange fate had cast him.The sullen bulls of the older generation still hated him as beasts hatethose of whom they are suspicious, whose scent characteristic is thescent characteris
tic of an alien order and, therefore, of an enemyorder. The younger bulls, those who had grown up through childhood ashis playmates, were as accustomed to Tarzan's scent as to that of anyother member of the tribe. They felt no greater suspicion of him thanof any other bull of their acquaintance; yet they did not love him, forthey loved none outside the mating season, and the animosities arousedby other bulls during that season lasted well over until the next.They were a morose and peevish band at best, though here and there werethose among them in whom germinated the primal seeds ofhumanity--reversions to type, these, doubtless; reversions to theancient progenitor who took the first step out of ape-hood towardhumanness, when he walked more often upon his hind feet and discoveredother things for idle hands to do.

  So now Tarzan led where he could not yet command. He had long sincediscovered the apish propensity for mimicry and learned to make use ofit. Having filled his arms with fragments of rotted granite, heclambered again into a tree, and it pleased him to see that the apeshad followed his example.

  During the brief respite while they were gathering their ammunition,Numa had settled himself to feed; but scarce had he arranged himselfand his kill when a sharp piece of rock hurled by the practiced hand ofthe ape-man struck him upon the cheek. His sudden roar of pain andrage was smothered by a volley from the apes, who had seen Tarzan'sact. Numa shook his massive head and glared upward at his tormentors.For a half hour they pursued him with rocks and broken branches, andthough he dragged his kill into densest thickets, yet they always founda way to reach him with their missiles, giving him no opportunity tofeed, and driving him on and on.

  The hairless ape-thing with the man scent was worst of all, for he hadeven the temerity to advance upon the ground to within a few yards ofthe Lord of the Jungle, that he might with greater accuracy and forcehurl the sharp bits of granite and the heavy sticks at him. Time andagain did Numa charge--sudden, vicious charges--but the lithe, activetormentor always managed to elude him and with such insolent ease thatthe lion forgot even his great hunger in the consuming passion of hisrage, leaving his meat for considerable spaces of time in vain effortsto catch his enemy.

  The apes and Tarzan pursued the great beast to a natural clearing,where Numa evidently determined to make a last stand, taking up hisposition in the center of the open space, which was far enough from anytree to render him practically immune from the rather erratic throwingof the apes, though Tarzan still found him with most persistent andaggravating frequency.

  This, however, did not suit the ape-man, since Numa now suffered anoccasional missile with no more than a snarl, while he settled himselfto partake of his delayed feast. Tarzan scratched his head, ponderingsome more effective method of offense, for he had determined to preventNuma from profiting in any way through his attack upon the tribe. Theman-mind reasoned against the future, while the shaggy apes thoughtonly of their present hatred of this ancestral enemy. Tarzan guessedthat should Numa find it an easy thing to snatch a meal from the tribeof Kerchak, it would be but a short time before their existence wouldbe one living nightmare of hideous watchfulness and dread. Numa mustbe taught that the killing of an ape brought immediate punishment andno rewards. It would take but a few lessons to insure the formersafety of the tribe. This must be some old lion whose failing strengthand agility had forced him to any prey that he could catch; but even asingle lion, undisputed, could exterminate the tribe, or at least makeits existence so precarious and so terrifying that life would no longerbe a pleasant condition.

  "Let him hunt among the Gomangani," thought Tarzan. "He will find themeasier prey. I will teach ferocious Numa that he may not hunt theMangani."

  But how to wrest the body of his victim from the feeding lion was thefirst question to be solved. At last Tarzan hit upon a plan. Toanyone but Tarzan of the Apes it might have seemed rather a risky plan,and perhaps it did even to him; but Tarzan rather liked things thatcontained a considerable element of danger. At any rate, I ratherdoubt that you or I would have chosen a similar plan for foiling anangry and a hungry lion.

  Tarzan required assistance in the scheme he had hit upon and hisassistant must be equally as brave and almost as active as he. Theape-man's eyes fell upon Taug, the playmate of his childhood, the rivalin his first love and now, of all the bulls of the tribe, the only onethat might be thought to hold in his savage brain any such feelingtoward Tarzan as we describe among ourselves as friendship. At least,Tarzan knew, Taug was courageous, and he was young and agile andwonderfully muscled.

  "Taug!" cried the ape-man. The great ape looked up from a dead limb hewas attempting to tear from a lightning-blasted tree. "Go close toNuma and worry him," said Tarzan. "Worry him until he charges. Leadhim away from the body of Mamka. Keep him away as long as you can."

  Taug nodded. He was across the clearing from Tarzan. Wresting thelimb at last from the tree he dropped to the ground and advanced towardNuma, growling and barking out his insults. The worried lion looked upand rose to his feet. His tail went stiffly erect and Taug turned inflight, for he knew that warming signal of the charge.

  From behind the lion, Tarzan ran quickly toward the center of theclearing and the body of Mamka. Numa, all his eyes for Taug, did notsee the ape-man. Instead he shot forward after the fleeing bull, whohad turned in flight not an instant too soon, since he reached thenearest tree but a yard or two ahead of the pursuing demon. Like a catthe heavy anthropoid scampered up the bole of his sanctuary. Numa'stalons missed him by little more than inches.

  For a moment the lion paused beneath the tree, glaring up at the apeand roaring until the earth trembled, then he turned back again towardhis kill, and as he did so, his tail shot once more to rigid erectnessand he charged back even more ferociously than he had come, for what hesaw was the naked man-thing running toward the farther trees with thebloody carcass of his prey across a giant shoulder.

  The apes, watching the grim race from the safety of the trees, screamedtaunts at Numa and warnings to Tarzan. The high sun, hot andbrilliant, fell like a spotlight upon the actors in the littleclearing, portraying them in glaring relief to the audience in theleafy shadows of the surrounding trees. The light-brown body of thenaked youth, all but hidden by the shaggy carcass of the killed ape,the red blood streaking his smooth hide, his muscles rolling, velvety,beneath. Behind him the black-maned lion, head flattened, tailextended, racing, a jungle thoroughbred, across the sunlit clearing.

  Ah, but this was life! With death at his heels, Tarzan thrilled withthe joy of such living as this; but would he reach the trees ahead ofthe rampant death so close behind?

  Gunto swung from a limb in a tree before him. Gunto was screamingwarnings and advice.

  "Catch me!" cried Tarzan, and with his heavy burden leaped straight forthe big bull hanging there by his hind feet and one forepaw. And Guntocaught them--the big ape-man and the dead weight of the slainshe-ape--caught them with one great, hairy paw and whirled them upwarduntil Tarzan's fingers closed upon a near-by branch.

  Beneath, Numa leaped; but Gunto, heavy and awkward as he may haveappeared, was as quick as Manu, the monkey, so that the lion's talonsbut barely grazed him, scratching a bloody streak beneath one hairy arm.

  Tarzan carried Mamka's corpse to a high crotch, where even Sheeta, thepanther, could not get it. Numa paced angrily back and forth beneaththe tree, roaring frightfully. He had been robbed of his kill and hisrevenge also. He was very savage indeed; but his despoilers were wellout of his reach, and after hurling a few taunts and missiles at himthey swung away through the trees, fiercely reviling him.

  Tarzan thought much upon the little adventure of that day. He foresawwhat might happen should the great carnivora of the jungle turn theirserious attention upon the tribe of Kerchak, the great ape, but equallyhe thought upon the wild scramble of the apes for safety when Numafirst charged among them. There is little humor in the jungle that isnot grim and awful. The beasts have little or no conception of humor;but the young Englishman saw humor in many things wh
ich presented nohumorous angle to his associates.

  Since earliest childhood he had been a searcher after fun, much to thesorrow of his fellow-apes, and now he saw the humor of the frightenedpanic of the apes and the baffled rage of Numa even in this grim jungleadventure which had robbed Mamka of life, and jeopardized that of manymembers of the tribe.

  It was but a few weeks later that Sheeta, the panther, made a suddenrush among the tribe and snatched a little balu from a tree where ithad been hidden while its mother sought food. Sheeta got away with hissmall prize unmolested. Tarzan was very wroth. He spoke to the bullsof the ease with which Numa and Sheeta, in a single moon, had slain twomembers of the tribe.

  "They will take us all for food," he cried. "We hunt as we willthrough the jungle, paying no heed to approaching enemies. Even Manu,the monkey, does not so. He keeps two or three always watching forenemies. Pacco, the zebra, and Wappi, the antelope, have those aboutthe herd who keep watch while the others feed, while we, the greatMangani, let Numa, and Sabor, and Sheeta come when they will and carryus off to feed their balus.

  "Gr-r-rmph," said Numgo.

  "What are we to do?" asked Taug.

  "We, too, should have two or three always watching for the approach ofNuma, and Sabor, and Sheeta," replied Tarzan. "No others need we fear,except Histah, the snake, and if we watch for the others we will seeHistah if he comes, though gliding ever so silently."

  And so it was that the great apes of the tribe of Kerchak postedsentries thereafter, who watched upon three sides while the tribehunted, scattered less than had been their wont.

  But Tarzan went abroad alone, for Tarzan was a man-thing and soughtamusement and adventure and such humor as the grim and terrible jungleoffers to those who know it and do not fear it--a weird humor shot withblazing eyes and dappled with the crimson of lifeblood. While otherssought only food and love, Tarzan of the Apes sought food and joy.

  One day he hovered above the palisaded village of Mbonga, the chief,the jet cannibal of the jungle primeval. He saw, as he had seen manytimes before, the witch-doctor, Rabba Kega, decked out in the head andhide of Gorgo, the buffalo. It amused Tarzan to see a Gomanganiparading as Gorgo; but it suggested nothing in particular to him untilhe chanced to see stretched against the side of Mbonga's hut the skinof a lion with the head still on. Then a broad grin widened thehandsome face of the savage beast-youth.

  Back into the jungle he went until chance, agility, strength, andcunning backed by his marvelous powers of perception, gave him an easymeal. If Tarzan felt that the world owed him a living he also realizedthat it was for him to collect it, nor was there ever a bettercollector than this son of an English lord, who knew even less of theways of his forbears than he did of the forbears themselves, which wasnothing.

  It was quite dark when Tarzan returned to the village of Mbonga andtook his now polished perch in the tree which overhangs the palisadeupon one side of the walled enclosure. As there was nothing inparticular to feast upon in the village there was little life in thesingle street, for only an orgy of flesh and native beer could draw outthe people of Mbonga. Tonight they sat gossiping about their cookingfires, the older members of the tribe; or, if they were young, pairedoff in the shadows cast by the palm-thatched huts.

  Tarzan dropped lightly into the village, and sneaking stealthily in theconcealment of the denser shadows, approached the hut of the chief,Mbonga. Here he found that which he sought. There were warriors allabout him; but they did not know that the feared devil-god slunknoiselessly so near them, nor did they see him possess himself of thatwhich he coveted and depart from their village as noiselessly as he hadcome.

  Later that night, as Tarzan curled himself for sleep, he lay for a longtime looking up at the burning planets and the twinkling stars and atGoro the moon, and he smiled. He recalled how ludicrous the greatbulls had appeared in their mad scramble for safety that day when Numahad charged among them and seized Mamka, and yet he knew them to befierce and courageous. It was the sudden shock of surprise that alwayssent them into a panic; but of this Tarzan was not as yet fully aware.That was something he was to learn in the near future.

  He fell asleep with a broad grin upon his face.

  Manu, the monkey, awoke him in the morning by dropping discarded beanpods upon his upturned face from a branch a short distance above him.Tarzan looked up and smiled. He had been awakened thus before manytimes. He and Manu were fairly good friends, their friendshipoperating upon a reciprocal basis. Sometimes Manu would come runningearly in the morning to awaken Tarzan and tell him that Bara, the deer,was feeding close at hand, or that Horta, the boar, was asleep in amudhole hard by, and in return Tarzan broke open the shells of theharder nuts and fruits for Manu, or frightened away Histah, the snake,and Sheeta, the panther.

  The sun had been up for some time, and the tribe had already wanderedoff in search of food. Manu indicated the direction they had takenwith a wave of his hand and a few piping notes of his squeaky littlevoice.

  "Come, Manu," said Tarzan, "and you will see that which shall make youdance for joy and squeal your wrinkled little head off. Come, followTarzan of the Apes."

  With that he set off in the direction Manu had indicated and above him,chattering, scolding and squealing, skipped Manu, the monkey. AcrossTarzan's shoulders was the thing he had stolen from the village ofMbonga, the chief, the evening before.

  The tribe was feeding in the forest beside the clearing where Gunto,and Taug, and Tarzan had so harassed Numa and finally taken away fromhim the fruit of his kill. Some of them were in the clearing itself.In peace and content they fed, for were there not three sentries, eachwatching upon a different side of the herd? Tarzan had taught themthis, and though he had been away for several days hunting alone, as heoften did, or visiting at the cabin by the sea, they had not as yetforgotten his admonitions, and if they continued for a short timelonger to post sentries, it would become a habit of their tribal lifeand thus be perpetuated indefinitely.

  But Tarzan, who knew them better than they knew themselves, wasconfident that they had ceased to place the watchers about them themoment that he had left them, and now he planned not only to have alittle fun at their expense but to teach them a lesson in preparedness,which, by the way, is even a more vital issue in the jungle than incivilized places. That you and I exist today must be due to thepreparedness of some shaggy anthropoid of the Oligocene. Of course theapes of Kerchak were always prepared, after their own way--Tarzan hadmerely suggested a new and additional safeguard.

  Gunto was posted today to the north of the clearing. He squatted inthe fork of a tree from where he might view the jungle for quite adistance about him. It was he who first discovered the enemy. Arustling in the undergrowth attracted his attention, and a moment laterhe had a partial view of a shaggy mane and tawny yellow back. Just aglimpse it was through the matted foliage beneath him; but it broughtfrom Gunto's leathern lungs a shrill "Kreeg-ah!" which is the ape forbeware, or danger.

  Instantly the tribe took up the cry until "Kreeg-ahs!" rang through thejungle about the clearing as apes swung quickly to places of safetyamong the lower branches of the trees and the great bulls hastened inthe direction of Gunto.

  And then into the clearing strode Numa, the lion--majestic and mighty,and from a deep chest issued the moan and the cough and the rumblingroar that set stiff hairs to bristling from shaggy craniums down thelength of mighty spines.

  Inside the clearing, Numa paused and on the instant there fell upon himfrom the trees near by a shower of broken rock and dead limbs torn fromage-old trees. A dozen times he was hit, and then the apes ran downand gathered other rocks, pelting him unmercifully.

  Numa turned to flee, but his way was barred by a fusilade ofsharp-cornered missiles, and then, upon the edge of the clearing, greatTaug met him with a huge fragment of rock as large as a man's head, anddown went the Lord of the Jungle beneath the stunning blow.

  With shrieks and roars and loud barkings the great apes of the tribe ofK
erchak rushed upon the fallen lion. Sticks and stones and yellowfangs menaced the still form. In another moment, before he couldregain consciousness, Numa would be battered and torn until only abloody mass of broken bones and matted hair remained of what had oncebeen the most dreaded of jungle creatures.

  But even as the sticks and stones were raised above him and the greatfangs bared to tear him, there descended like a plummet from the treesabove a diminutive figure with long, white whiskers and a wrinkledface. Square upon the body of Numa it alighted and there it danced andscreamed and shrieked out its challenge against the bulls of Kerchak.

  For an instant they paused, paralyzed by the wonder of the thing. Itwas Manu, the monkey, Manu, the little coward, and here he was daringthe ferocity of the great Mangani, hopping about upon the carcass ofNuma, the lion, and crying out that they must not strike it again.

  And when the bulls paused, Manu reached down and seized a tawny ear.With all his little might he tugged upon the heavy head until slowly itturned back, revealing the tousled, black head and clean-cut profile ofTarzan of the Apes.

  Some of the older apes were for finishing what they had commenced; butTaug, sullen, mighty Taug, sprang quickly to the ape-man's side andstraddling the unconscious form warned back those who would have struckhis childhood playmate. And Teeka, his mate, came too, taking herplace with bared fangs at Taug's side. Others followed their example,until at last Tarzan was surrounded by a ring of hairy champions whowould permit no enemy to approach him.

  It was a surprised and chastened Tarzan who opened his eyes toconsciousness a few minutes later. He looked about him at thesurrounding apes and slowly there returned to him a realization of whathad occurred.

  Gradually a broad grin illuminated his features. His bruises were manyand they hurt; but the good that had come from his adventure was worthall that it had cost. He had learned, for instance, that the apes ofKerchak had heeded his teaching, and he had learned that he had goodfriends among the sullen beasts whom he had thought without sentiment.He had discovered that Manu, the monkey--even little, cowardlyManu--had risked his life in his defense.

  It made Tarzan very glad to know these things; but at the other lessonhe had been taught he reddened. He had always been a joker, the onlyjoker in the grim and terrible company; but now as he lay there halfdead from his hurts, he almost swore a solemn oath forever to foregopractical joking--almost; but not quite.