10
The Battle for Teeka
THE DAY WAS perfect. A cool breeze tempered the heat of the equatorialsun. Peace had reigned within the tribe for weeks and no alien enemyhad trespassed upon its preserves from without. To the ape-mind allthis was sufficient evidence that the future would be identical withthe immediate past--that Utopia would persist.
The sentinels, now from habit become a fixed tribal custom, eitherrelaxed their vigilance or entirely deserted their posts, as the whimseized them. The tribe was far scattered in search of food. Thus maypeace and prosperity undermine the safety of the most primitivecommunity even as it does that of the most cultured.
Even the individuals became less watchful and alert, so that one mighthave thought Numa and Sabor and Sheeta entirely deleted from the schemeof things. The shes and the balus roamed unguarded through the sullenjungle, while the greedy males foraged far afield, and thus it was thatTeeka and Gazan, her balu, hunted upon the extreme southern edge of thetribe with no great male near them.
Still farther south there moved through the forest a sinister figure--ahuge bull ape, maddened by solitude and defeat. A week before he hadcontended for the kingship of a tribe far distant, and now battered,and still sore, he roamed the wilderness an outcast. Later he mightreturn to his own tribe and submit to the will of the hairy brute hehad attempted to dethrone; but for the time being he dared not do so,since he had sought not only the crown but the wives, as well, of hislord and master. It would require an entire moon at least to bringforgetfulness to him he had wronged, and so Toog wandered a strangejungle, grim, terrible, hate-filled.
It was in this mental state that Toog came unexpectedly upon a youngshe feeding alone in the jungle--a stranger she, lithe and strong andbeautiful beyond compare. Toog caught his breath and slunk quickly toone side of the trail where the dense foliage of the tropicalunderbrush concealed him from Teeka while permitting him to feast hiseyes upon her loveliness.
But not alone were they concerned with Teeka--they roved thesurrounding jungle in search of the bulls and cows and balus of hertribe, though principally for the bulls. When one covets a she of analien tribe one must take into consideration the great, fierce, hairyguardians who seldom wander far from their wards and who will fight astranger to the death in protection of the mate or offspring of afellow, precisely as they would fight for their own.
Toog could see no sign of any ape other than the strange she and ayoung balu playing near by. His wicked, blood-shot eyes half closed asthey rested upon the charms of the former--as for the balu, one snap ofthose great jaws upon the back of its little neck would prevent it fromraising any unnecessary alarm.
Toog was a fine, big male, resembling in many ways Teeka's mate, Taug.Each was in his prime, and each was wonderfully muscled, perfectlyfanged and as horrifyingly ferocious as the most exacting andparticular she could wish. Had Toog been of her own tribe, Teeka mightas readily have yielded to him as to Taug when her mating time arrived;but now she was Taug's and no other male could claim her without firstdefeating Taug in personal combat. And even then Teeka retained somerights in the matter. If she did not favor a correspondent, she couldenter the lists with her rightful mate and do her part towarddiscouraging his advances, a part, too, which would prove no meanassistance to her lord and master, for Teeka, even though her fangswere smaller than a male's, could use them to excellent effect.
Just now Teeka was occupied in a fascinating search for beetles, to theexclusion of all else. She did not realize how far she and Gazan hadbecome separated from the balance of the tribe, nor were her defensivesenses upon the alert as they should have been. Months of immunityfrom danger under the protecting watchfulness of the sentries, whichTarzan had taught the tribe to post, had lulled them all into a senseof peaceful security based on that fallacy which has wrecked manyenlightened communities in the past and will continue to wreck othersin the future--that because they have not been attacked they never willbe.
Toog, having satisfied himself that only the she and her balu were inthe immediate vicinity, crept stealthily forward. Teeka's back wastoward him when he finally rushed upon her; but her senses were at lastawakened to the presence of danger and she wheeled to face the strangebull just before he reached her. Toog halted a few paces from her.His anger had fled before the seductive feminine charms of thestranger. He made conciliatory noises--a species of clucking soundwith his broad, flat lips--that were, too, not greatly dissimilar tothat which might be produced in an osculatory solo.
But Teeka only bared her fangs and growled. Little Gazan started torun toward his mother, but she warned him away with a quick "Kreeg-ah!"telling him to run high into a tall tree. Evidently Teeka was notfavorably impressed by her new suitor. Toog realized this and alteredhis methods accordingly. He swelled his giant chest, beat upon it withhis calloused knuckles and swaggered to and fro before her.
"I am Toog," he boasted. "Look at my fighting fangs. Look at my greatarms and my mighty legs. With one bite I can slay your biggest bull.Alone have I slain Sheeta. I am Toog. Toog wants you." Then he waitedfor the effect, nor did he have long to wait. Teeka turned with aswiftness which belied her great weight and bolted in the oppositedirection. Toog, with an angry growl, leaped in pursuit; but thesmaller, lighter female was too fleet for him. He chased her for a fewyards and then, foaming and barking, he halted and beat upon the groundwith his hard fists.
From the tree above him little Gazan looked down and witnessed thestranger bull's discomfiture. Being young, and thinking himself safeabove the reach of the heavy male, Gazan screamed an ill-timed insultat their tormentor. Toog looked up. Teeka had halted at a littledistance--she would not go far from her balu; that Toog quicklyrealized and as quickly determined to take advantage of. He saw thatthe tree in which the young ape squatted was isolated and that Gazancould not reach another without coming to earth. He would obtain themother through her love for her young.
He swung himself into the lower branches of the tree. Little Gazanceased to insult him; his expression of deviltry changed to one ofapprehension, which was quickly followed by fear as Toog commenced toascend toward him. Teeka screamed to Gazan to climb higher, and thelittle fellow scampered upward among the tiny branches which would notsupport the weight of the great bull; but nevertheless Toog kept onclimbing. Teeka was not fearful. She knew that he could not ascendfar enough to reach Gazan, so she sat at a little distance from thetree and applied jungle opprobrium to him. Being a female, she was apast master of the art.
But she did not know the malevolent cunning of Toog's little brain.She took it for granted that the bull would climb as high as he couldtoward Gazan and then, finding that he could not reach him, resume hispursuit of her, which she knew would prove equally fruitless. So surewas she of the safety of her balu and her own ability to take care ofherself that she did not voice the cry for help which would soon havebrought the other members of the tribe flocking to her side.
Toog slowly reached the limit to which he dared risk his great weightto the slender branches. Gazan was still fifteen feet above him. Thebull braced himself and seized the main branch in his powerful hands,then he commenced shaking it vigorously. Teeka was appalled.Instantly she realized what the bull purposed. Gazan clung far outupon a swaying limb. At the first shake he lost his balance, though hedid not quite fall, clinging still with his four hands; but Toogredoubled his efforts; the shaking produced a violent snapping of thelimb to which the young ape clung. Teeka saw all too plainly what theoutcome must be and forgetting her own danger in the depth of hermother love, rushed forward to ascend the tree and give battle to thefearsome creature that menaced the life of her little one.
But before ever she reached the bole, Toog had succeeded, by violentshaking of the branch, to loosen Gazan's hold. With a cry the littlefellow plunged down through the foliage, clutching futilely for a newhold, and alighted with a sickening thud at his mother's feet, wh
ere helay silent and motionless. Moaning, Teeka stooped to lift the stillform in her arms; but at the same instant Toog was upon her.
Struggling and biting she fought to free herself; but the giant musclesof the great bull were too much for her lesser strength. Toog struckand choked her repeatedly until finally, half unconscious, she lapsedinto quasi submission. Then the bull lifted her to his shoulder andturned back to the trail toward the south from whence he had come.
Upon the ground lay the quiet form of little Gazan. He did not moan.He did not move. The sun rose slowly toward meridian. A mangy thing,lifting its nose to scent the jungle breeze, crept through theunderbrush. It was Dango, the hyena. Presently its ugly muzzle brokethrough some near-by foliage and its cruel eyes fastened upon Gazan.
Early that morning, Tarzan of the Apes had gone to the cabin by thesea, where he passed many an hour at such times as the tribe wasranging in the vicinity. On the floor lay the skeleton of a man--allthat remained of the former Lord Greystoke--lay as it had fallen sometwenty years before when Kerchak, the great ape, had thrown it,lifeless, there. Long since had the termites and the small rodentspicked clean the sturdy English bones. For years Tarzan had seen itlying there, giving it no more attention than he gave the countlessthousand bones that strewed his jungle haunts. On the bed another,smaller, skeleton reposed and the youth ignored it as he ignored theother. How could he know that the one had been his father, the otherhis mother? The little pile of bones in the rude cradle, fashioned withsuch loving care by the former Lord Greystoke, meant nothing tohim--that one day that little skull was to help prove his right to aproud title was as far beyond his ken as the satellites of the suns ofOrion. To Tarzan they were bones--just bones. He did not need them,for there was no meat left upon them, and they were not in his way, forhe knew no necessity for a bed, and the skeleton upon the floor heeasily could step over.
Today he was restless. He turned the pages first of one book and thenof another. He glanced at pictures which he knew by heart, and tossedthe books aside. He rummaged for the thousandth time in the cupboard.He took out a bag which contained several small, round pieces of metal.He had played with them many times in the years gone by; but always hereplaced them carefully in the bag, and the bag in the cupboard, uponthe very shelf where first he had discovered it. In strange ways didheredity manifest itself in the ape-man. Come of an orderly race, hehimself was orderly without knowing why. The apes dropped thingswherever their interest in them waned--in the tall grass or from thehigh-flung branches of the trees. What they dropped they sometimesfound again, by accident; but not so the ways of Tarzan. For his fewbelongings he had a place and scrupulously he returned each thing toits proper place when he was done with it. The round pieces of metalin the little bag always interested him. Raised pictures were uponeither side, the meaning of which he did not quite understand. Thepieces were bright and shiny. It amused him to arrange them in variousfigures upon the table. Hundreds of times had he played thus. Today,while so engaged, he dropped a lovely yellow piece--an Englishsovereign--which rolled beneath the bed where lay all that was mortalof the once beautiful Lady Alice.
True to form, Tarzan at once dropped to his hands and knees andsearched beneath the bed for the lost gold piece. Strange as it mightappear, he had never before looked beneath the bed. He found the goldpiece, and something else he found, too--a small wooden box with aloose cover. Bringing them both out he returned the sovereign to itsbag and the bag to its shelf within the cupboard; then he investigatedthe box. It contained a quantity of cylindrical bits of metal,cone-shaped at one end and flat at the other, with a projecting rim.They were all quite green and dull, coated with years of verdigris.
Tarzan removed a handful of them from the box and examined them. Herubbed one upon another and discovered that the green came off, leavinga shiny surface for two-thirds of their length and a dull gray over thecone-shaped end. Finding a bit of wood he rubbed one of the cylindersrapidly and was rewarded by a lustrous sheen which pleased him.
At his side hung a pocket pouch taken from the body of one of thenumerous black warriors he had slain. Into this pouch he put a handfulof the new playthings, thinking to polish them at his leisure; then hereplaced the box beneath the bed, and finding nothing more to amusehim, left the cabin and started back in the direction of the tribe.
Shortly before he reached them he heard a great commotion ahead ofhim--the loud screams of shes and balus, the savage, angry barking andgrowling of the great bulls. Instantly he increased his speed, for the"Kreeg-ahs" that came to his ears warned him that something was amisswith his fellows.
While Tarzan had been occupied with his own devices in the cabin of hisdead sire, Taug, Teeka's mighty mate, had been hunting a mile to thenorth of the tribe. At last, his belly filled, he had turned lazilyback toward the clearing where he had last seen the tribe and presentlycommenced passing its members scattered alone or in twos or threes.Nowhere did he see Teeka or Gazan, and soon he began inquiring of theother apes where they might be; but none had seen them recently.
Now the lower orders are not highly imaginative. They do not, as youand I, paint vivid mental pictures of things which might have occurred,and so Taug did not now apprehend that any misfortune had overtaken hismate and their off-spring--he merely knew that he wished to find Teekathat he might lie down in the shade and have her scratch his back whilehis breakfast digested; but though he called to her and searched forher and asked each whom he met, he could find no trace of Teeka, nor ofGazan either.
He was beginning to become peeved and had about made up his mind tochastise Teeka for wandering so far afield when he wanted her. He wasmoving south along a game trail, his calloused soles and knucklesgiving forth no sound, when he came upon Dango at the opposite side ofa small clearing. The eater of carrion did not see Taug, for all hiseyes were for something which lay in the grass beneath atree--something upon which he was sneaking with the cautious stealth ofhis breed.
Taug, always cautious himself, as it behooves one to be who fares upand down the jungle and desires to survive, swung noiselessly into atree, where he could have a better view of the clearing. He did notfear Dango; but he wanted to see what it was that Dango stalked. In away, possibly, he was actuated as much by curiosity as by caution.
And when Taug reached a place in the branches from which he could havean unobstructed view of the clearing he saw Dango already sniffing atsomething directly beneath him--something which Taug instantlyrecognized as the lifeless form of his little Gazan.
With a cry so frightful, so bestial, that it momentarily paralyzed thestartled Dango, the great ape launched his mighty bulk upon thesurprised hyena. With a cry and a snarl, Dango, crushed to earth,turned to tear at his assailant; but as effectively might a sparrowturn upon a hawk. Taug's great, gnarled fingers closed upon thehyena's throat and back, his jaws snapped once on the mangy neck,crushing the vertebrae, and then he hurled the dead body contemptuouslyaside.
Again he raised his voice in the call of the bull ape to its mate, butthere was no reply; then he leaned down to sniff at the body of Gazan.In the breast of this savage, hideous beast there beat a heart whichwas moved, however slightly, by the same emotions of paternal lovewhich affect us. Even had we no actual evidence of this, we must knowit still, since only thus might be explained the survival of the humanrace in which the jealousy and selfishness of the bulls would, in theearliest stages of the race, have wiped out the young as rapidly asthey were brought into the world had not God implanted in the savagebosom that paternal love which evidences itself most strongly in theprotective instinct of the male.
In Taug the protective instinct was not alone highly developed; butaffection for his offspring as well, for Taug was an unusuallyintelligent specimen of these great, manlike apes which the natives ofthe Gobi speak of in whispers; but which no white man ever had seen,or, if seeing, lived to tell of until Tarzan of the Apes came amongthem.
And so Taug felt sorrow as any other fa
ther might feel sorrow at theloss of a little child. To you little Gazan might have seemed ahideous and repulsive creature, but to Taug and Teeka he was asbeautiful and as cute as is your little Mary or Johnnie or ElizabethAnn to you, and he was their firstborn, their only balu, and ahe--three things which might make a young ape the apple of any fondfather's eye.
For a moment Taug sniffed at the quiet little form. With his muzzleand his tongue he smoothed and caressed the rumpled coat. From hissavage lips broke a low moan; but quickly upon the heels of sorrow camethe overmastering desire for revenge.
Leaping to his feet he screamed out a volley of "Kreegahs," punctuatedfrom time to time by the blood-freezing cry of an angry, challengingbull--a rage-mad bull with the blood lust strong upon him.
Answering his cries came the cries of the tribe as they swung throughthe trees toward him. It was these that Tarzan heard on his returnfrom his cabin, and in reply to them he raised his own voice andhurried forward with increased speed until he fairly flew through themiddle terraces of the forest.
When at last he came upon the tribe he saw their members gathered aboutTaug and something which lay quietly upon the ground. Dropping amongthem, Tarzan approached the center of the group. Taug was stillroaring out his challenges; but when he saw Tarzan he ceased andstooping picked up Gazan in his arms and held him out for Tarzan tosee. Of all the bulls of the tribe, Taug held affection for Tarzanonly. Tarzan he trusted and looked up to as one wiser and morecunning. To Tarzan he came now--to the playmate of his balu days, thecompanion of innumerable battles of his maturity.
When Tarzan saw the still form in Taug's arms, a low growl broke fromhis lips, for he too loved Teeka's little balu.
"Who did it?" he asked. "Where is Teeka?"
"I do not know," replied Taug. "I found him lying here with Dangoabout to feed upon him; but it was not Dango that did it--there are nofang marks upon him."
Tarzan came closer and placed an ear against Gazan's breast. "He isnot dead," he said. "Maybe he will not die." He pressed through thecrowd of apes and circled once about them, examining the ground step bystep. Suddenly he stopped and placing his nose close to the earthsniffed. Then he sprang to his feet, giving a peculiar cry. Taug andthe others pressed forward, for the sound told them that the hunter hadfound the spoor of his quarry.
"A stranger bull has been here," said Tarzan. "It was he that hurtGazan. He has carried off Teeka."
Taug and the other bulls commenced to roar and threaten; but they didnothing. Had the stranger bull been within sight they would have tornhim to pieces; but it did not occur to them to follow him.
"If the three bulls had been watching around the tribe this would nothave happened," said Tarzan. "Such things will happen as long as youdo not keep the three bulls watching for an enemy. The jungle is fullof enemies, and yet you let your shes and your balus feed where theywill, alone and unprotected. Tarzan goes now--he goes to find Teekaand bring her back to the tribe."
The idea appealed to the other bulls. "We will all go," they cried.
"No," said Tarzan, "you will not all go. We cannot take shes and baluswhen we go out to hunt and fight. You must remain to guard them or youwill lose them all."
They scratched their heads. The wisdom of his advice was dawning uponthem, but at first they had been carried away by the new idea--the ideaof following up an enemy offender to wrest his prize from him andpunish him. The community instinct was ingrained in their charactersthrough ages of custom. They did not know why they had not thought topursue and punish the offender--they could not know that it was becausethey had as yet not reached a mental plane which would permit them towork as individuals. In times of stress, the community instinct sentthem huddling into a compact herd where the great bulls, by the weightof their combined strength and ferocity, could best protect them froman enemy. The idea of separating to do battle with a foe had not yetoccurred to them--it was too foreign to custom, too inimical tocommunity interests; but to Tarzan it was the first and most naturalthought. His senses told him that there was but a single bullconnected with the attack upon Teeka and Gazan. A single enemy did notrequire the entire tribe for his punishment. Two swift bulls couldquickly overhaul him and rescue Teeka.
In the past no one ever had thought to go forth in search of the shesthat were occasionally stolen from the tribe. If Numa, Sabor, Sheetaor a wandering bull ape from another tribe chanced to carry off a maidor a matron while no one was looking, that was the end of it--she wasgone, that was all. The bereaved husband, if the victim chanced tohave been mated, growled around for a day or two and then, if he werestrong enough, took another mate within the tribe, and if not, wanderedfar into the jungle on the chance of stealing one from anothercommunity.
In the past Tarzan of the Apes had condoned this practice for thereason that he had had no interest in those who had been stolen; butTeeka had been his first love and Teeka's balu held a place in hisheart such as a balu of his own would have held. Just once before hadTarzan wished to follow and revenge. That had been years before whenKulonga, the son of Mbonga, the chief, had slain Kala. Then,single-handed, Tarzan had pursued and avenged. Now, though to a lesserdegree, he was moved by the same passion.
He turned toward Taug. "Leave Gazan with Mumga," he said. "She is oldand her fangs are broken and she is no good; but she can take care ofGazan until we return with Teeka, and if Gazan is dead when we comeback," he turned to address Mumga, "I will kill you, too."
"Where are we going?" asked Taug.
"We are going to get Teeka," replied the ape-man, "and kill the bullwho has stolen her. Come!"
He turned again to the spoor of the stranger bull, which showed plainlyto his trained senses, nor did he glance back to note if Taug followed.The latter laid Gazan in Mumga's arms with a parting: "If he diesTarzan will kill you," and he followed after the brown-skinned figurethat already was moving at a slow trot along the jungle trail.
No other bull of the tribe of Kerchak was so good a trailer as Tarzan,for his trained senses were aided by a high order of intelligence. Hisjudgment told him the natural trail for a quarry to follow, so that heneed but note the most apparent marks upon the way, and today the trailof Toog was as plain to him as type upon a printed page to you or me.
Following close behind the lithe figure of the ape-man came the hugeand shaggy bull ape. No words passed between them. They moved assilently as two shadows among the myriad shadows of the forest. Alertas his eyes and ears, was Tarzan's patrician nose. The spoor wasfresh, and now that they had passed from the range of the strong apeodor of the tribe he had little difficulty in following Toog and Teekaby scent alone. Teeka's familiar scent spoor told both Tarzan and Taugthat they were upon her trail, and soon the scent of Toog became asfamiliar as the other.
They were progressing rapidly when suddenly dense clouds overcast thesun. Tarzan accelerated his pace. Now he fairly flew along the jungletrail, or, where Toog had taken to the trees, followed nimbly as asquirrel along the bending, undulating pathway of the foliage branches,swinging from tree to tree as Toog had swung before them; but morerapidly because they were not handicapped by a burden such as Toog's.
Tarzan felt that they must be almost upon the quarry, for the scentspoor was becoming stronger and stronger, when the jungle was suddenlyshot by livid lightning, and a deafening roar of thunder reverberatedthrough the heavens and the forest until the earth trembled and shook.Then came the rain--not as it comes to us of the temperate zones, butas a mighty avalanche of water--a deluge which spills tons instead ofdrops upon the bending forest giants and the terrified creatures whichhaunt their shade.
And the rain did what Tarzan knew that it would do--it wiped the spoorof the quarry from the face of the earth. For a half hour the torrentsfell--then the sun burst forth, jeweling the forest with a millionscintillant gems; but today the ape-man, usually alert to the changingwonders of the jungle, saw them not. Only the fact that the spoor ofTeeka and her abductor was obliterated fo
und lodgment in his thoughts.
Even among the branches of the trees there are well-worn trails, justas there are trails upon the surface of the ground; but in the treesthey branch and cross more often, since the way is more open than amongthe dense undergrowth at the surface. Along one of these well-markedtrails Tarzan and Taug continued after the rain had ceased, because theape-man knew that this was the most logical path for the thief tofollow; but when they came to a fork, they were at a loss. Here theyhalted, while Tarzan examined every branch and leaf which might havebeen touched by the fleeing ape.
He sniffed the bole of the tree, and with his keen eyes he sought tofind upon the bark some sign of the way the quarry had taken. It wasslow work and all the time, Tarzan knew, the bull of the alien tribewas forging steadily away from them--gaining precious minutes thatmight carry him to safety before they could catch up with him.
First along one fork he went, and then another, applying every testthat his wonderful junglecraft was cognizant of; but again and again hewas baffled, for the scent had been washed away by the heavy downpour,in every exposed place. For a half hour Tarzan and Taug searched,until at last, upon the bottom of a broad leaf, Tarzan's keen nosecaught the faint trace of the scent spoor of Toog, where the leaf hadbrushed a hairy shoulder as the great ape passed through the foliage.
Once again the two took up the trail, but it was slow work now andthere were many discouraging delays when the spoor seemed lost beyondrecovery. To you or me there would have been no spoor, even before thecoming of the rain, except, possibly, where Toog had come to earth andfollowed a game trail. In such places the imprint of a huge handlikefoot and the knuckles of one great hand were sometimes plain enough foran ordinary mortal to read. Tarzan knew from these and otherindications that the ape was yet carrying Teeka. The depth of theimprint of his feet indicated a much greater weight than that of any ofthe larger bulls, for they were made under the combined weight of Toogand Teeka, while the fact that the knuckles of but one hand touched theground at any time showed that the other hand was occupied in someother business--the business of holding the prisoner to a hairyshoulder. Tarzan could follow, in sheltered places, the changing ofthe burden from one shoulder to another, as indicated by the deepeningof the foot imprint upon the side of the load, and the changing of theknuckle imprints from one side of the trail to the other.
There were stretches along the surface paths where the ape had gone forconsiderable distances entirely erect upon his hind feet--walking as aman walks; but the same might have been true of any of the greatanthropoids of the same species, for, unlike the chimpanzee and thegorilla, they walk without the aid of their hands quite as readily aswith. It was such things, however, which helped to identify to Tarzanand to Taug the appearance of the abductor, and with his individualscent characteristic already indelibly impressed upon their memories,they were in a far better position to know him when they came upon him,even should he have disposed of Teeka before, than is a modern sleuthwith his photographs and Bertillon measurements, equipped to recognizea fugitive from civilized justice.
But with all their high-strung and delicately attuned perceptivefaculties the two bulls of the tribe of Kerchak were often sore pressedto follow the trail at all, and at best were so delayed that in theafternoon of the second day, they still had not overhauled thefugitive. The scent was now strong, for it had been made since therain, and Tarzan knew that it would not be long before they came uponthe thief and his loot. Above them, as they crept stealthily forward,chattered Manu, the monkey, and his thousand fellows; squawked andscreamed the brazen-throated birds of plumage; buzzed and hummed thecountless insects amid the rustling of the forest leaves, and, as theypassed, a little gray-beard, squeaking and scolding upon a swayingbranch, looked down and saw them. Instantly the scolding and squeakingceased, and off tore the long-tailed mite as though Sheeta, thepanther, had been endowed with wings and was in close pursuit of him.To all appearances he was only a very much frightened little monkey,fleeing for his life--there seemed nothing sinister about him.
And what of Teeka during all this time? Was she at last resigned to herfate and accompanying her new mate in the proper humility of a lovingand tractable spouse? A single glance at the pair would have answeredthese questions to the utter satisfaction of the most captious. Shewas torn and bleeding from many wounds, inflicted by the sullen Toog inhis vain efforts to subdue her to his will, and Toog too was disfiguredand mutilated; but with stubborn ferocity, he still clung to his nowuseless prize.
On through the jungle he forced his way in the direction of thestamping ground of his tribe. He hoped that his king would haveforgotten his treason; but if not he was still resigned to hisfate--any fate would be better than suffering longer the solecompanionship of this frightful she, and then, too, he wished toexhibit his captive to his fellows. Maybe he could wish her on theking--it is possible that such a thought urged him on.
At last they came upon two bulls feeding in a parklike grove--abeautiful grove dotted with huge boulders half embedded in the richloam--mute monuments, possibly, to a forgotten age when mighty glaciersrolled their slow course where now a torrid sun beats down upon atropic jungle.
The two bulls looked up, baring long fighting fangs, as Toog appearedin the distance. The latter recognized the two as friends. "It isToog," he growled. "Toog has come back with a new she."
The apes waited his nearer approach. Teeka turned a snarling, fangedface toward them. She was not pretty to look upon, yet through theblood and hatred upon her countenance they realized that she wasbeautiful, and they envied Toog--alas! they did not know Teeka.
As they squatted looking at one another there raced through the treestoward them a long-tailed little monkey with gray whiskers. He was avery excited little monkey when he came to a halt upon the limb of atree directly overhead. "Two strange bulls come," he cried. "One is aMangani, the other a hideous ape without hair upon his body. Theyfollow the spoor of Toog. I saw them."
The four apes turned their eyes backward along the trail Toog had justcome; then they looked at one another for a minute. "Come," said thelarger of Toog's two friends, "we will wait for the strangers in thethick bushes beyond the clearing."
He turned and waddled away across the open place, the others followinghim. The little monkey danced about, all excitement. His chiefdiversion in life was to bring about bloody encounters between thelarger denizens of the forest, that he might sit in the safety of thetrees and witness the spectacles. He was a glutton for gore, was thislittle, whiskered, gray monkey, so long as it was the gore of others--atypical fight fan was the graybeard.
The apes hid themselves in the shrubbery beside the trail along whichthe two stranger bulls would pass. Teeka trembled with excitement.She had heard the words of Manu, and she knew that the hairless apemust be Tarzan, while the other was, doubtless, Taug. Never, in herwildest hopes, had she expected succor of this sort. Her one thoughthad been to escape and find her way back to the tribe of Kerchak; buteven this had appeared to her practically impossible, so closely didToog watch her.
As Taug and Tarzan reached the grove where Toog had come upon hisfriends, the ape scent became so strong that both knew the quarry wasbut a short distance ahead. And so they went even more cautiously, forthey wished to come upon the thief from behind if they could and chargehim before he was aware of their presence. That a littlegray-whiskered monkey had forestalled them they did not know, nor thatthree pairs of savage eyes were already watching their every move andwaiting for them to come within reach of itching paws and slaveringjowls.
On they came across the grove, and as they entered the path leadinginto the dense jungle beyond, a sudden "Kreeg-ah!" shrilled out closebefore them--a "Kreeg-ah" in the familiar voice of Teeka. The smallbrains of Toog and his companions had not been able to foresee thatTeeka might betray them, and now that she had, they went wild withrage. Toog struck the she a mighty blow that felled her, and then thethree rushed forth to do battle with Tar
zan and Taug. The littlemonkey danced upon his perch and screamed with delight.
And indeed he might well be delighted, for it was a lovely fight.There were no preliminaries, no formalities, no introductions--the fivebulls merely charged and clinched. They rolled in the narrow trail andinto the thick verdure beside it. They bit and clawed and scratchedand struck, and all the while they kept up the most frightful chorus ofgrowlings and barkings and roarings. In five minutes they were tornand bleeding, and the little graybeard leaped high, shrilling hisprimitive bravos; but always his attitude was "thumbs down." He wantedto see something killed. He did not care whether it were friend orfoe. It was blood he wanted--blood and death.
Taug had been set upon by Toog and another of the apes, while Tarzanhad the third--a huge brute with the strength of a buffalo. Neverbefore had Tarzan's assailant beheld so strange a creature as thisslippery, hairless bull with which he battled. Sweat and blood coveredTarzan's sleek, brown hide. Again and again he slipped from theclutches of the great bull, and all the while he struggled to free hishunting knife from the scabbard in which it had stuck.
At length he succeeded--a brown hand shot out and clutched a hairythroat, another flew upward clutching the sharp blade. Three swift,powerful strokes and the bull relaxed with a groan, falling limpbeneath his antagonist. Instantly Tarzan broke from the clutches ofthe dying bull and sprang to Taug's assistance. Toog saw him comingand wheeled to meet him. In the impact of the charge, Tarzan's knifewas wrenched from his hand and then Toog closed with him. Now was thebattle even--two against two--while on the verge, Teeka, now recoveredfrom the blow that had felled her, slunk waiting for an opportunity toaid. She saw Tarzan's knife and picked it up. She never had used it,but knew how Tarzan used it. Always had she been afraid of the thingwhich dealt death to the mightiest of the jungle people with the easethat Tantor's great tusks deal death to Tantor's enemies.
She saw Tarzan's pocket pouch torn from his side, and with thecuriosity of an ape, that even danger and excitement cannot entirelydispel, she picked this up, too.
Now the bulls were standing--the clinches had been broken. Bloodstreamed down their sides--their faces were crimsoned with it. Littlegraybeard was so fascinated that at last he had even forgotten toscream and dance; but sat rigid with delight in the enjoyment of thespectacle.
Back across the grove Tarzan and Taug forced their adversaries. Teekafollowed slowly. She scarce knew what to do. She was lame and soreand exhausted from the frightful ordeal through which she had passed,and she had the confidence of her sex in the prowess of her mate andthe other bull of her tribe--they would not need the help of a she intheir battle with these two strangers.
The roars and screams of the fighters reverberated through the jungle,awakening the echoes in the distant hills. From the throat of Tarzan'santagonist had come a score of "Kreeg-ahs!" and now from behind camethe reply he had awaited. Into the grove, barking and growling, came ascore of huge bull apes--the fighting men of Toog's tribe.
Teeka saw them first and screamed a warning to Tarzan and Taug. Thenshe fled past the fighters toward the opposite side of the clearing,fear for a moment claiming her. Nor can one censure her after thefrightful ordeal from which she was still suffering.
Down upon them came the great apes. In a moment Tarzan and Taug wouldbe torn to shreds that would later form the PIECE DE RESISTANCE of thesavage orgy of a Dum-Dum. Teeka turned to glance back. She saw theimpending fate of her defenders and there sprung to life in her savagebosom the spark of martyrdom, that some common forbear had transmittedalike to Teeka, the wild ape, and the glorious women of a higher orderwho have invited death for their men. With a shrill scream she rantoward the battlers who were rolling in a great mass at the foot of oneof the huge boulders which dotted the grove; but what could she do? Theknife she held she could not use to advantage because of her lesserstrength. She had seen Tarzan throw missiles, and she had learned thiswith many other things from her childhood playmate. She sought forsomething to throw and at last her fingers touched upon the hardobjects in the pouch that had been torn from the ape-man. Tearing thereceptacle open, she gathered a handful of shiny cylinders--heavy fortheir size, they seemed to her, and good missiles. With all herstrength she hurled them at the apes battling in front of the graniteboulder.
The result surprised Teeka quite as much as it did the apes. There wasa loud explosion, which deafened the fighters, and a puff of acridsmoke. Never before had one there heard such a frightful noise.Screaming with terror, the stranger bulls leaped to their feet and fledback toward the stamping ground of their tribe, while Taug and Tarzanslowly gathered themselves together and arose, lame and bleeding, totheir feet. They, too, would have fled had they not seen Teekastanding there before them, the knife and the pocket pouch in her hands.
"What was it?" asked Tarzan.
Teeka shook her head. "I hurled these at the stranger bulls," and sheheld forth another handful of the shiny metal cylinders with the dullgray, cone-shaped ends.
Tarzan looked at them and scratched his head.
"What are they?" asked Taug.
"I do not know," said Tarzan. "I found them."
The little monkey with the gray beard halted among the trees a mileaway and huddled, terrified, against a branch. He did not know thatthe dead father of Tarzan of the Apes, reaching back out of the pastacross a span of twenty years, had saved his son's life.
Nor did Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, know it either.