The Return of Tarzan Read online

  Chapter 9

  Numa "El Adrea"

  On the same day that Kadour ben Saden rode south the diligence from thenorth brought Tarzan a letter from D'Arnot which had been forwardedfrom Sidi-bel-Abbes. It opened the old wound that Tarzan would havebeen glad to have forgotten; yet he was not sorry that D'Arnot hadwritten, for one at least of his subjects could never cease to interestthe ape-man. Here is the letter:

  MY DEAR JEAN:

  Since last I wrote you I have been across to London on a matter ofbusiness. I was there but three days. The very first day I came uponan old friend of yours--quite unexpectedly--in Henrietta Street. Nowyou never in the world would guess whom. None other than Mr. Samuel T.Philander. But it is true. I can see your look of incredulity. Noris this all. He insisted that I return to the hotel with him, andthere I found the others--Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, Miss Porter,and that enormous black woman, Miss Porter's maid--Esmeralda, you willrecall. While I was there Clayton came in. They are to be marriedsoon, or rather sooner, for I rather suspect that we shall receiveannouncements almost any day. On account of his father's death it isto be a very quiet affair--only blood relatives.

  While I was alone with Mr. Philander the old fellow became ratherconfidential. Said Miss Porter had already postponed the wedding onthree different occasions. He confided that it appeared to him thatshe was not particularly anxious to marry Clayton at all; but this timeit seems that it is quite likely to go through.

  Of course they all asked after you, but I respected your wishes in thematter of your true origin, and only spoke to them of your presentaffairs.

  Miss Porter was especially interested in everything I had to say aboutyou, and asked many questions. I am afraid I took a ratherunchivalrous delight in picturing your desire and resolve to go backeventually to your native jungle. I was sorry afterward, for it didseem to cause her real anguish to contemplate the awful dangers towhich you wished to return. "And yet," she said, "I do not know.There are more unhappy fates than the grim and terrible jungle presentsto Monsieur Tarzan. At least his conscience will be free from remorse.And there are moments of quiet and restfulness by day, and vistas ofexquisite beauty. You may find it strange that I should say it, whoexperienced such terrifying experiences in that frightful forest, yetat times I long to return, for I cannot but feel that the happiestmoments of my life were spent there."

  There was an expression of ineffable sadness on her face as she spoke,and I could not but feel that she knew that I knew her secret, and thatthis was her way of transmitting to you a last tender message from aheart that might still enshrine your memory, though its possessorbelonged to another.

  Clayton appeared nervous and ill at ease while you were the subject ofconversation. He wore a worried and harassed expression. Yet he wasvery kindly in his expressions of interest in you. I wonder if hesuspects the truth about you?

  Tennington came in with Clayton. They are great friends, you know. Heis about to set out upon one of his interminable cruises in that yachtof his, and was urging the entire party to accompany him. Tried toinveigle me into it, too. Is thinking of circumnavigating Africa thistime. I told him that his precious toy would take him and some of hisfriends to the bottom of the ocean one of these days if he didn't getit out of his head that she was a liner or a battleship.

  I returned to Paris day before yesterday, and yesterday I met the Countand Countess de Coude at the races. They inquired after you. De Coudereally seems quite fond of you. Doesn't appear to harbor the least illwill. Olga is as beautiful as ever, but a trifle subdued. I imaginethat she learned a lesson through her acquaintance with you that willserve her in good stead during the balance of her life. It isfortunate for her, and for De Coude as well, that it was you and notanother man more sophisticated.

  Had you really paid court to Olga's heart I am afraid that there wouldhave been no hope for either of you.

  She asked me to tell you that Nikolas had left France. She paid himtwenty thousand francs to go away, and stay. She is congratulatingherself that she got rid of him before he tried to carry out a threathe recently made her that he should kill you at the first opportunity.She said that she should hate to think that her brother's blood was onyour hands, for she is very fond of you, and made no bones in saying sobefore the count. It never for a moment seemed to occur to her thatthere might be any possibility of any other outcome of a meetingbetween you and Nikolas. The count quite agreed with her in that. Headded that it would take a regiment of Rokoffs to kill you. He has amost healthy respect for your prowess.

  Have been ordered back to my ship. She sails from Havre in two daysunder sealed orders. If you will address me in her care, the letterswill find me eventually. I shall write you as soon as anotheropportunity presents.

  Your sincere friend, PAUL D'ARNOT.

  "I fear," mused Tarzan, half aloud, "that Olga has thrown away hertwenty thousand francs."

  He read over that part of D'Arnot's letter several times in which hehad quoted from his conversation with Jane Porter. Tarzan derived arather pathetic happiness from it, but it was better than no happinessat all.

  The following three weeks were quite uneventful. On several occasionsTarzan saw the mysterious Arab, and once again he had been exchangingwords with Lieutenant Gernois; but no amount of espionage or shadowingby Tarzan revealed the Arab's lodgings, the location of which Tarzanwas anxious to ascertain.

  Gernois, never cordial, had kept more than ever aloof from Tarzan sincethe episode in the dining-room of the hotel at Aumale. His attitude onthe few occasions that they had been thrown together had beendistinctly hostile.

  That he might keep up the appearance of the character he was playing,Tarzan spent considerable time hunting in the vicinity of Bou Saada.He would spend entire days in the foothills, ostensibly searching forgazelle, but on the few occasions that he came close enough to any ofthe beautiful little animals to harm them he invariably allowed them toescape without so much as taking his rifle from its boot. The ape-mancould see no sport in slaughtering the most harmless and defenseless ofGod's creatures for the mere pleasure of killing.

  In fact, Tarzan had never killed for "pleasure," nor to him was therepleasure in killing. It was the joy of righteous battle that heloved--the ecstasy of victory. And the keen and successful hunt forfood in which he pitted his skill and craftiness against the skill andcraftiness of another; but to come out of a town filled with food toshoot down a soft-eyed, pretty gazelle--ah, that was crueller than thedeliberate and cold-blooded murder of a fellow man. Tarzan would havenone of it, and so he hunted alone that none might discover the shamthat he was practicing.

  And once, probably because of the fact that he rode alone, he was liketo have lost his life. He was riding slowly through a little ravinewhen a shot sounded close behind him, and a bullet passed through thecork helmet he wore. Although he turned at once and galloped rapidlyto the top of the ravine, there was no sign of any enemy, nor did hesee aught of another human being until he reached Bou Saada.

  "Yes," he soliloquized, in recalling the occurrence, "Olga has indeedthrown away her twenty thousand francs."

  That night he was Captain Gerard's guest at a little dinner.

  "Your hunting has not been very fortunate?" questioned the officer.

  "No," replied Tarzan; "the game hereabout is timid, nor do I careparticularly about hunting game birds or antelope. I think I shallmove on farther south, and have a try at some of your Algerian lions."

  "Good!" exclaimed the captain. "We are marching toward Djelfa on themorrow. You shall have company that far at least. Lieutenant Gernoisand I, with a hundred men, are ordered south to patrol a district inwhich the marauders are giving considerable trouble. Possibly we mayhave the pleasure of hunting the lion together--what say you?"

  Tarzan was more than pleased, nor did he hesitate to say so; but thecaptain would have been astonished h
ad he known the real reason ofTarzan's pleasure. Gernois was sitting opposite the ape-man. He didnot seem so pleased with his captain's invitation.

  "You will find lion hunting more exciting than gazelle shooting,"remarked Captain Gerard, "and more dangerous."

  "Even gazelle shooting has its dangers," replied Tarzan. "Especiallywhen one goes alone. I found it so today. I also found that while thegazelle is the most timid of animals, it is not the most cowardly."

  He let his glance rest only casually upon Gernois after he had spoken,for he did not wish the man to know that he was under suspicion, orsurveillance, no matter what he might think. The effect of his remarkupon him, however, might tend to prove his connection with, orknowledge of, certain recent happenings. Tarzan saw a dull red creepup from beneath Gernois' collar. He was satisfied, and quickly changedthe subject.

  When the column rode south from Bou Saada the next morning there werehalf a dozen Arabs bringing up the rear.

  "They are not attached to the command," replied Gerard in response toTarzan's query. "They merely accompany us on the road forcompanionship."

  Tarzan had learned enough about Arab character since he had been inAlgeria to know that this was no real motive, for the Arab is neveroverfond of the companionship of strangers, and especially of Frenchsoldiers. So his suspicions were aroused, and he decided to keep asharp eye on the little party that trailed behind the column at adistance of about a quarter of a mile. But they did not come closeenough even during the halts to enable him to obtain a close scrutinyof them.

  He had long been convinced that there were hired assassins on histrail, nor was he in great doubt but that Rokoff was at the bottom ofthe plot. Whether it was to be revenge for the several occasions inthe past that Tarzan had defeated the Russian's purposes and humiliatedhim, or was in some way connected with his mission in the Gernoisaffair, he could not determine. If the latter, and it seemed probablesince the evidence he had had that Gernois suspected him, then he hadtwo rather powerful enemies to contend with, for there would be manyopportunities in the wilds of Algeria, for which they were bound, todispatch a suspected enemy quietly and without attracting suspicion.

  After camping at Djelfa for two days the column moved to the southwest,from whence word had come that the marauders were operating against thetribes whose DOUARS were situated at the foot of the mountains.

  The little band of Arabs who had accompanied them from Bou Saada haddisappeared suddenly the very night that orders had been given toprepare for the morrow's march from Djelfa. Tarzan made casualinquiries among the men, but none could tell him why they had left, orin what direction they had gone. He did not like the looks of it,especially in view of the fact that he had seen Gernois in conversationwith one of them some half hour after Captain Gerard had issued hisinstructions relative to the new move. Only Gernois and Tarzan knewthe direction of the proposed march. All the soldiers knew was thatthey were to be prepared to break camp early the next morning. Tarzanwondered if Gernois could have revealed their destination to the Arabs.

  Late that afternoon they went into camp at a little oasis in which wasthe DOUAR of a sheik whose flocks were being stolen, and whose herdsmenwere being killed. The Arabs came out of their goatskin tents, andsurrounded the soldiers, asking many questions in the native tongue,for the soldiers were themselves natives. Tarzan, who, by this time,with the assistance of Abdul, had picked up quite a smattering of Arab,questioned one of the younger men who had accompanied the sheik whilethe latter paid his respects to Captain Gerard.

  No, he had seen no party of six horsemen riding from the direction ofDjelfa. There were other oases scattered about--possibly they had beenjourneying to one of these. Then there were the marauders in themountains above--they often rode north to Bou Saada in small parties,and even as far as Aumale and Bouira. It might indeed have been a fewmarauders returning to the band from a pleasure trip to one of thesecities.

  Early the next morning Captain Gerard split his command in two, givingLieutenant Gernois command of one party, while he headed the other.They were to scour the mountains upon opposite sides of the plain.

  "And with which detachment will Monsieur Tarzan ride?" asked thecaptain. "Or maybe it is that monsieur does not care to huntmarauders?"

  "Oh, I shall be delighted to go," Tarzan hastened to explain. He waswondering what excuse he could make to accompany Gernois. Hisembarrassment was short-lived, and was relieved from a most unexpectedsource. It was Gernois himself who spoke.

  "If my captain will forego the pleasure of Monsieur Tarzan's companyfor this once, I shall esteem it an honor indeed to have monsieur ridewith me today," he said, nor was his tone lacking in cordiality. Infact, Tarzan imagined that he had overdone it a trifle, but, even so,he was both astounded and pleased, hastening to express his delight atthe arrangement.

  And so it was that Lieutenant Gernois and Tarzan rode off side by sideat the head of the little detachment of SPAHIS. Gernois' cordialitywas short-lived. No sooner had they ridden out of sight of CaptainGerard and his men than he lapsed once more into his accustomedtaciturnity. As they advanced the ground became rougher. Steadily itascended toward the mountains, into which they filed through a narrowcanon close to noon. By the side of a little rivulet Gernois calledthe midday halt. Here the men prepared and ate their frugal meal, andrefilled their canteens.

  After an hour's rest they advanced again along the canon, until theypresently came to a little valley, from which several rocky gorgesdiverged. Here they halted, while Gernois minutely examined thesurrounding heights from the center of the depression.

  "We shall separate here," he said, "several riding into each of thesegorges," and then he commenced to detail his various squads and issueinstructions to the non-commissioned officers who were to command them.When he had done he turned to Tarzan. "Monsieur will be so good as toremain here until we return."

  Tarzan demurred, but the officer cut him short. "There may be fightingfor one of these sections," he said, "and troops cannot be embarrassedby civilian noncombatants during action."

  "But, my dear lieutenant," expostulated Tarzan, "I am most ready andwilling to place myself under command of yourself or any of yoursergeants or corporals, and to fight in the ranks as they direct. Itis what I came for."

  "I should be glad to think so," retorted Gernois, with a sneer he madeno attempt to disguise. Then shortly: "You are under my orders, andthey are that you remain here until we return. Let that end thematter," and he turned and spurred away at the head of his men. Amoment later Tarzan found himself alone in the midst of a desolatemountain fastness.

  The sun was hot, so he sought the shelter of a nearby tree, where hetethered his horse, and sat down upon the ground to smoke. Inwardly heswore at Gernois for the trick he had played upon him. A mean littlerevenge, thought Tarzan, and then suddenly it occurred to him that theman would not be such a fool as to antagonize him through a trivialannoyance of so petty a description. There must be something deeperthan this behind it. With the thought he arose and removed his riflefrom its boot. He looked to its loads and saw that the magazine wasfull. Then he inspected his revolver. After this preliminaryprecaution he scanned the surrounding heights and the mouths of theseveral gorges--he was determined that he should not be caught napping.

  The sun sank lower and lower, yet there was no sign of returningSPAHIS. At last the valley was submerged in shadow Tarzan was tooproud to go back to camp until he had given the detachment ample timeto return to the valley, which he thought was to have been theirrendezvous. With the closing in of night he felt safer from attack,for he was at home in the dark. He knew that none might approach himso cautiously as to elude those alert and sensitive ears of his; thenthere were his eyes, too, for he could see well at night; and his nose,if they came toward him from up-wind, would apprise him of the approachof an enemy while they were still a great way off.

  So he felt that he was in little danger, and thus lulled to a sense ofsecurity he
fell asleep, with his back against the tree.

  He must have slept for several hours, for when he was suddenly awakenedby the frightened snorting and plunging of his horse the moon wasshining full upon the little valley, and there, not ten paces beforehim, stood the grim cause of the terror of his mount.

  Superb, majestic, his graceful tail extended and quivering, and his twoeyes of fire riveted full upon his prey, stood Numa EL ADREA, the blacklion. A little thrill of joy tingled through Tarzan's nerves. It waslike meeting an old friend after years of separation. For a moment hesat rigid to enjoy the magnificent spectacle of this lord of thewilderness.

  But now Numa was crouching for the spring. Very slowly Tarzan raisedhis gun to his shoulder. He had never killed a large animal with a gunin all his life--heretofore he had depended upon his spear, hispoisoned arrows, his rope, his knife, or his bare hands. Instinctivelyhe wished that he had his arrows and his knife--he would have feltsurer with them.

  Numa was lying quite flat upon the ground now, presenting only hishead. Tarzan would have preferred to fire a little from one side, forhe knew what terrific damage the lion could do if he lived two minutes,or even a minute after he was hit. The horse stood trembling in terrorat Tarzan's back. The ape-man took a cautious step to one side--Numabut followed him with his eyes. Another step he took, and thenanother. Numa had not moved. Now he could aim at a point between theeye and the ear.

  His finger tightened upon the trigger, and as he fired Numa sprang. Atthe same instant the terrified horse made a last frantic effort toescape--the tether parted, and he went careening down the canon towardthe desert.

  No ordinary man could have escaped those frightful claws when Numasprang from so short a distance, but Tarzan was no ordinary man. Fromearliest childhood his muscles had been trained by the fierceexigencies of his existence to act with the rapidity of thought. Asquick as was EL ADREA, Tarzan of the Apes was quicker, and so the greatbeast crashed against a tree where he had expected to feel the softflesh of man, while Tarzan, a couple of paces to the right, pumpedanother bullet into him that brought him clawing and roaring to hisside.

  Twice more Tarzan fired in quick succession, and then EL ADREA laystill and roared no more. It was no longer Monsieur Jean Tarzan; itwas Tarzan of the Apes that put a savage foot upon the body of hissavage kill, and, raising his face to the full moon, lifted his mightyvoice in the weird and terrible challenge of his kind--a bull ape hadmade his kill. And the wild things in the wild mountains stopped intheir hunting, and trembled at this new and awful voice, while down inthe desert the children of the wilderness came out of their goatskintents and looked toward the mountains, wondering what new and savagescourge had come to devastate their flocks.

  A half mile from the valley in which Tarzan stood, a score ofwhite-robed figures, bearing long, wicked-looking guns, halted at thesound, and looked at one another with questioning eyes. But presently,as it was not repeated, they took up their silent, stealthy way towardthe valley.

  Tarzan was now confident that Gernois had no intention of returning forhim, but he could not fathom the object that had prompted the officerto desert him, yet leave him free to return to camp. His horse gone,he decided that it would be foolish to remain longer in the mountains,so he set out toward the desert.

  He had scarcely entered the confines of the canon when the first of thewhite-robed figures emerged into the valley upon the opposite side.For a moment they scanned the little depression from behind shelteringbowlders, but when they had satisfied themselves that it was empty theyadvanced across it. Beneath the tree at one side they came upon thebody of EL ADREA. With muttered exclamations they crowded about it.Then, a moment later, they hurried down the canon which Tarzan wasthreading a brief distance in advance of them. They moved cautiouslyand in silence, taking advantage of shelter, as men do who are stalkingman.