2
The Capture of Tarzan
THE BLACK WARRIORS labored in the humid heat of the jungle's stiflingshade. With war spears they loosened the thick, black loam and thedeep layers of rotting vegetation. With heavy-nailed fingers theyscooped away the disintegrated earth from the center of the age-oldgame trail. Often they ceased their labors to squat, resting andgossiping, with much laughter, at the edge of the pit they were digging.
Against the boles of near-by trees leaned their long, oval shields ofthick buffalo hide, and the spears of those who were doing thescooping. Sweat glistened upon their smooth, ebon skins, beneath whichrolled rounded muscles, supple in the perfection of nature'suncontaminated health.
A reed buck, stepping warily along the trail toward water, halted as aburst of laughter broke upon his startled ears. For a moment he stoodstatuesque but for his sensitively dilating nostrils; then he wheeledand fled noiselessly from the terrifying presence of man.
A hundred yards away, deep in the tangle of impenetrable jungle, Numa,the lion, raised his massive head. Numa had dined well until almostdaybreak and it had required much noise to awaken him. Now he liftedhis muzzle and sniffed the air, caught the acrid scent spoor of thereed buck and the heavy scent of man. But Numa was well filled. Witha low, disgusted grunt he rose and slunk away.
Brilliantly plumaged birds with raucous voices darted from tree totree. Little monkeys, chattering and scolding, swung through theswaying limbs above the black warriors. Yet they were alone, for theteeming jungle with all its myriad life, like the swarming streets of agreat metropolis, is one of the loneliest spots in God's great universe.
But were they alone?
Above them, lightly balanced upon a leafy tree limb, a gray-eyed youthwatched with eager intentness their every move. The fire of hate,restrained, smoldered beneath the lad's evident desire to know thepurpose of the black men's labors. Such a one as these it was who hadslain his beloved Kala. For them there could be naught but enmity, yethe liked well to watch them, avid as he was for greater knowledge ofthe ways of man.
He saw the pit grow in depth until a great hole yawned the width of thetrail--a hole which was amply large enough to hold at one time all ofthe six excavators. Tarzan could not guess the purpose of so great alabor. And when they cut long stakes, sharpened at their upper ends,and set them at intervals upright in the bottom of the pit, hiswonderment but increased, nor was it satisfied with the placing of thelight cross-poles over the pit, or the careful arrangement of leavesand earth which completely hid from view the work the black men hadperformed.
When they were done they surveyed their handiwork with evidentsatisfaction, and Tarzan surveyed it, too. Even to his practiced eyethere remained scarce a vestige of evidence that the ancient game trailhad been tampered with in any way.
So absorbed was the ape-man in speculation as to the purpose of thecovered pit that he permitted the blacks to depart in the direction oftheir village without the usual baiting which had rendered him theterror of Mbonga's people and had afforded Tarzan both a vehicle ofrevenge and a source of inexhaustible delight.
Puzzle as he would, however, he could not solve the mystery of theconcealed pit, for the ways of the blacks were still strange ways toTarzan. They had entered his jungle but a short time before--the firstof their kind to encroach upon the age-old supremacy of the beastswhich laired there. To Numa, the lion, to Tantor, the elephant, to thegreat apes and the lesser apes, to each and all of the myriad creaturesof this savage wild, the ways of man were new. They had much to learnof these black, hairless creatures that walked erect upon their hindpaws--and they were learning it slowly, and always to their sorrow.
Shortly after the blacks had departed, Tarzan swung easily to thetrail. Sniffing suspiciously, he circled the edge of the pit.Squatting upon his haunches, he scraped away a little earth to exposeone of the cross-bars. He sniffed at this, touched it, cocked his headupon one side, and contemplated it gravely for several minutes. Thenhe carefully re-covered it, arranging the earth as neatly as had theblacks. This done, he swung himself back among the branches of thetrees and moved off in search of his hairy fellows, the great apes ofthe tribe of Kerchak.
Once he crossed the trail of Numa, the lion, pausing for a moment tohurl a soft fruit at the snarling face of his enemy, and to taunt andinsult him, calling him eater of carrion and brother of Dango, thehyena. Numa, his yellow-green eyes round and burning with concentratedhate, glared up at the dancing figure above him. Low growls vibratedhis heavy jowls and his great rage transmitted to his sinuous tail asharp, whiplike motion; but realizing from past experience the futilityof long distance argument with the ape-man, he turned presently andstruck off into the tangled vegetation which hid him from the view ofhis tormentor. With a final scream of jungle invective and an apelikegrimace at his departing foe, Tarzan continued along his way.
Another mile and a shifting wind brought to his keen nostrils afamiliar, pungent odor close at hand, and a moment later there loomedbeneath him a huge, gray-black bulk forging steadily along the jungletrail. Tarzan seized and broke a small tree limb, and at the suddencracking sound the ponderous figure halted. Great ears were thrownforward, and a long, supple trunk rose quickly to wave to and fro insearch of the scent of an enemy, while two weak, little eyes peeredsuspiciously and futilely about in quest of the author of the noisewhich had disturbed his peaceful way.
Tarzan laughed aloud and came closer above the head of the pachyderm.
"Tantor! Tantor!" he cried. "Bara, the deer, is less fearful thanyou--you, Tantor, the elephant, greatest of the jungle folk with thestrength of as many Numas as I have toes upon my feet and fingers uponmy hands. Tantor, who can uproot great trees, trembles with fear atthe sound of a broken twig."
A rumbling noise, which might have been either a sign of contempt or asigh of relief, was Tantor's only reply as the uplifted trunk and earscame down and the beast's tail dropped to normal; but his eyes stillroved about in search of Tarzan. He was not long kept in suspense,however, as to the whereabouts of the ape-man, for a second later theyouth dropped lightly to the broad head of his old friend. Thenstretching himself at full length, he drummed with his bare toes uponthe thick hide, and as his fingers scratched the more tender surfacesbeneath the great ears, he talked to Tantor of the gossip of the jungleas though the great beast understood every word that he said.
Much there was which Tarzan could make Tantor understand, and thoughthe small talk of the wild was beyond the great, gray dreadnaught ofthe jungle, he stood with blinking eyes and gently swaying trunk asthough drinking in every word of it with keenest appreciation. As amatter of fact it was the pleasant, friendly voice and caressing handsbehind his ears which he enjoyed, and the close proximity of him whomhe had often borne upon his back since Tarzan, as a little child, hadonce fearlessly approached the great bull, assuming upon the part ofthe pachyderm the same friendliness which filled his own heart.
In the years of their association Tarzan had discovered that hepossessed an inexplicable power to govern and direct his mighty friend.At his bidding, Tantor would come from a great distance--as far as hiskeen ears could detect the shrill and piercing summons of theape-man--and when Tarzan was squatted upon his head, Tantor wouldlumber through the jungle in any direction which his rider bade him go.It was the power of the man-mind over that of the brute and it was justas effective as though both fully understood its origin, though neitherdid.
For half an hour Tarzan sprawled there upon Tantor's back. Time had nomeaning for either of them. Life, as they saw it, consistedprincipally in keeping their stomachs filled. To Tarzan this was aless arduous labor than to Tantor, for Tarzan's stomach was smaller,and being omnivorous, food was less difficult to obtain. If one sortdid not come readily to hand, there were always many others to satisfyhis hunger. He was less particular as to his diet than Tantor, whowould eat only the bark of certain trees, and the wood of others, whilea
third appealed to him only through its leaves, and these, perhaps,just at certain seasons of the year.
Tantor must needs spend the better part of his life in filling hisimmense stomach against the needs of his mighty thews. It is thus withall the lower orders--their lives are so occupied either with searchingfor food or with the processes of digestion that they have little timefor other considerations. Doubtless it is this handicap which has keptthem from advancing as rapidly as man, who has more time to give tothought upon other matters.
However, these questions troubled Tarzan but little, and Tantor not atall. What the former knew was that he was happy in the companionshipof the elephant. He did not know why. He did not know that because hewas a human being--a normal, healthy human being--he craved some livingthing upon which to lavish his affection. His childhood playmatesamong the apes of Kerchak were now great, sullen brutes. They felt norinspired but little affection. The younger apes Tarzan still playedwith occasionally. In his savage way he loved them; but they were farfrom satisfying or restful companions. Tantor was a great mountain ofcalm, of poise, of stability. It was restful and satisfying to sprawlupon his rough pate and pour one's vague hopes and aspirations into thegreat ears which flapped ponderously to and fro in apparentunderstanding. Of all the jungle folk, Tantor commanded Tarzan'sgreatest love since Kala had been taken from him. Sometimes Tarzanwondered if Tantor reciprocated his affection. It was difficult toknow.
It was the call of the stomach--the most compelling and insistent callwhich the jungle knows--that took Tarzan finally back to the trees andoff in search of food, while Tantor continued his interrupted journeyin the opposite direction.
For an hour the ape-man foraged. A lofty nest yielded its fresh, warmharvest. Fruits, berries, and tender plantain found a place upon hismenu in the order that he happened upon them, for he did not seek suchfoods. Meat, meat, meat! It was always meat that Tarzan of the Apeshunted; but sometimes meat eluded him, as today.
And as he roamed the jungle his active mind busied itself not alonewith his hunting, but with many other subjects. He had a habit ofrecalling often the events of the preceding days and hours. He livedover his visit with Tantor; he cogitated upon the digging blacks andthe strange, covered pit they had left behind them. He wondered againand again what its purpose might be. He compared perceptions andarrived at judgments. He compared judgments, reaching conclusions--notalways correct ones, it is true, but at least he used his brain for thepurpose God intended it, which was the less difficult because he wasnot handicapped by the second-hand, and usually erroneous, judgment ofothers.
And as he puzzled over the covered pit, there loomed suddenly beforehis mental vision a huge, gray-black bulk which lumbered ponderouslyalong a jungle trail. Instantly Tarzan tensed to the shock of a suddenfear. Decision and action usually occurred simultaneously in the lifeof the ape-man, and now he was away through the leafy branches ere therealization of the pit's purpose had scarce formed in his mind.
Swinging from swaying limb to swaying limb, he raced through the middleterraces where the trees grew close together. Again he dropped to theground and sped, silently and light of foot, over the carpet ofdecaying vegetation, only to leap again into the trees where thetangled undergrowth precluded rapid advance upon the surface.
In his anxiety he cast discretion to the winds. The caution of thebeast was lost in the loyalty of the man, and so it came that heentered a large clearing, denuded of trees, without a thought of whatmight lie there or upon the farther edge to dispute the way with him.
He was half way across when directly in his path and but a few yardsaway there rose from a clump of tall grasses a half dozen chatteringbirds. Instantly Tarzan turned aside, for he knew well enough whatmanner of creature the presence of these little sentinels proclaimed.Simultaneously Buto, the rhinoceros, scrambled to his short legs andcharged furiously. Haphazard charges Buto, the rhinoceros. With hisweak eyes he sees but poorly even at short distances, and whether hiserratic rushes are due to the panic of fear as he attempts to escape,or to the irascible temper with which he is generally credited, it isdifficult to determine. Nor is the matter of little moment to one whomButo charges, for if he be caught and tossed, the chances are thatnaught will interest him thereafter.
And today it chanced that Buto bore down straight upon Tarzan, acrossthe few yards of knee-deep grass which separated them. Accidentstarted him in the direction of the ape-man, and then his weak eyesdiscerned the enemy, and with a series of snorts he charged straightfor him. The little rhino birds fluttered and circled about theirgiant ward. Among the branches of the trees at the edge of theclearing, a score or more monkeys chattered and scolded as the loudsnorts of the angry beast sent them scurrying affrightedly to the upperterraces. Tarzan alone appeared indifferent and serene.
Directly in the path of the charge he stood. There had been no time toseek safety in the trees beyond the clearing, nor had Tarzan any mindto delay his journey because of Buto. He had met the stupid beastbefore and held him in fine contempt.
And now Buto was upon him, the massive head lowered and the long, heavyhorn inclined for the frightful work for which nature had designed it;but as he struck upward, his weapon raked only thin air, for theape-man had sprung lightly aloft with a catlike leap that carried himabove the threatening horn to the broad back of the rhinoceros.Another spring and he was on the ground behind the brute and racinglike a deer for the trees.
Buto, angered and mystified by the strange disappearance of his prey,wheeled and charged frantically in another direction, which chanced tobe not the direction of Tarzan's flight, and so the ape-man came insafety to the trees and continued on his swift way through the forest.
Some distance ahead of him Tantor moved steadily along the well-wornelephant trail, and ahead of Tantor a crouching, black warrior listenedintently in the middle of the path. Presently he heard the sound forwhich he had been hoping--the cracking, snapping sound which heraldedthe approach of an elephant.
To his right and left in other parts of the jungle other warriors werewatching. A low signal, passed from one to another, apprised the mostdistant that the quarry was afoot. Rapidly they converged toward thetrail, taking positions in trees down wind from the point at whichTantor must pass them. Silently they waited and presently wererewarded by the sight of a mighty tusker carrying an amount of ivory inhis long tusks that set their greedy hearts to palpitating.
No sooner had he passed their positions than the warriors clamberedfrom their perches. No longer were they silent, but instead clappedtheir hands and shouted as they reached the ground. For an instantTantor, the elephant, paused with upraised trunk and tail, with greatears up-pricked, and then he swung on along the trail at a rapid,shuffling pace--straight toward the covered pit with its sharpenedstakes upstanding in the ground.
Behind him came the yelling warriors, urging him on in the rapid flightwhich would not permit a careful examination of the ground before him.Tantor, the elephant, who could have turned and scattered hisadversaries with a single charge, fled like a frightened deer--fledtoward a hideous, torturing death.
And behind them all came Tarzan of the Apes, racing through the jungleforest with the speed and agility of a squirrel, for he had heard theshouts of the warriors and had interpreted them correctly. Once heuttered a piercing call that reverberated through the jungle; butTantor, in the panic of terror, either failed to hear, or hearing,dared not pause to heed.
Now the giant pachyderm was but a few yards from the hidden deathlurking in his path, and the blacks, certain of success, were screamingand dancing in his wake, waving their war spears and celebrating inadvance the acquisition of the splendid ivory carried by their prey andthe surfeit of elephant meat which would be theirs this night.
So intent were they upon their gratulations that they entirely failedto note the silent passage of the man-beast above their heads, nor didTantor, either, see or hear him, even though Tarzan called to him tostop.
&nb
sp; A few more steps would precipitate Tantor upon the sharpened stakes;Tarzan fairly flew through the trees until he had come abreast of thefleeing animal and then had passed him. At the pit's verge the ape-mandropped to the ground in the center of the trail. Tantor was almostupon him before his weak eyes permitted him to recognize his old friend.
"Stop!" cried Tarzan, and the great beast halted to the upraised hand.
Tarzan turned and kicked aside some of the brush which hid the pit.Instantly Tantor saw and understood.
"Fight!" growled Tarzan. "They are coming behind you." But Tantor, theelephant, is a huge bunch of nerves, and now he was half panic-strickenby terror.
Before him yawned the pit, how far he did not know, but to right andleft lay the primeval jungle untouched by man. With a squeal the greatbeast turned suddenly at right angles and burst his noisy way throughthe solid wall of matted vegetation that would have stopped any but him.
Tarzan, standing upon the edge of the pit, smiled as he watchedTantor's undignified flight. Soon the blacks would come. It was bestthat Tarzan of the Apes faded from the scene. He essayed a step fromthe pit's edge, and as he threw the weight of his body upon his leftfoot, the earth crumbled away. Tarzan made a single Herculean effortto throw himself forward, but it was too late. Backward and downwardhe went toward the sharpened stakes in the bottom of the pit.
When, a moment later, the blacks came they saw even from a distancethat Tantor had eluded them, for the size of the hole in the pitcovering was too small to have accommodated the huge bulk of anelephant. At first they thought that their prey had put one great footthrough the top and then, warned, drawn back; but when they had come tothe pit's verge and peered over, their eyes went wide in astonishment,for, quiet and still, at the bottom lay the naked figure of a whitegiant.
Some of them there had glimpsed this forest god before and they drewback in terror, awed by the presence which they had for some timebelieved to possess the miraculous powers of a demon; but others therewere who pushed forward, thinking only of the capture of an enemy, andthese leaped into the pit and lifted Tarzan out.
There was no scar upon his body. None of the sharpened stakes hadpierced him--only a swollen spot at the base of the brain indicated thenature of his injury. In the falling backward his head had struck uponthe side of one of the stakes, rendering him unconscious. The blackswere quick to discover this, and equally quick to bind their prisoner'sarms and legs before he should regain consciousness, for they hadlearned to harbor a wholesome respect for this strange man-beast thatconsorted with the hairy tree folk.
They had carried him but a short distance toward their village when theape-man's eyelids quivered and raised. He looked about him wonderinglyfor a moment, and then full consciousness returned and he realized theseriousness of his predicament. Accustomed almost from birth torelying solely upon his own resources, he did not cast about foroutside aid now, but devoted his mind to a consideration of thepossibilities for escape which lay within himself and his own powers.
He did not dare test the strength of his bonds while the blacks werecarrying him, for fear they would become apprehensive and add to them.Presently his captors discovered that he was conscious, and as they hadlittle stomach for carrying a heavy man through the jungle heat, theyset him upon his feet and forced him forward among them, pricking himnow and then with their spears, yet with every manifestation of thesuperstitious awe in which they held him.
When they discovered that their prodding brought no outward evidence ofsuffering, their awe increased, so that they soon desisted, halfbelieving that this strange white giant was a supernatural being and sowas immune from pain.
As they approached their village, they shouted aloud the victoriouscries of successful warriors, so that by the time they reached thegate, dancing and waving their spears, a great crowd of men, women, andchildren were gathered there to greet them and hear the story of theiradventure.
As the eyes of the villagers fell upon the prisoner, they went wild,and heavy jaws fell open in astonishment and incredulity. For monthsthey had lived in perpetual terror of a weird, white demon whom but fewhad ever glimpsed and lived to describe. Warriors had disappeared fromthe paths almost within sight of the village and from the midst oftheir companions as mysteriously and completely as though they had beenswallowed by the earth, and later, at night, their dead bodies hadfallen, as from the heavens, into the village street.
This fearsome creature had appeared by night in the huts of thevillage, killed, and disappeared, leaving behind him in the huts withhis dead, strange and terrifying evidences of an uncanny sense of humor.
But now he was in their power! No longer could he terrorize them.Slowly the realization of this dawned upon them. A woman, screaming,ran forward and struck the ape-man across the face. Another andanother followed her example, until Tarzan of the Apes was surroundedby a fighting, clawing, yelling mob of natives.
And then Mbonga, the chief, came, and laying his spear heavily acrossthe shoulders of his people, drove them from their prey.
"We will save him until night," he said.
Far out in the jungle Tantor, the elephant, his first panic of fearallayed, stood with up-pricked ears and undulating trunk. What waspassing through the convolutions of his savage brain? Could he besearching for Tarzan? Could he recall and measure the service theape-man had performed for him? Of that there can be no doubt. But didhe feel gratitude? Would he have risked his own life to have savedTarzan could he have known of the danger which confronted his friend?You will doubt it. Anyone at all familiar with elephants will doubtit. Englishmen who have hunted much with elephants in India will tellyou that they never have heard of an instance in which one of theseanimals has gone to the aid of a man in danger, even though the man hadoften befriended it. And so it is to be doubted that Tantor would haveattempted to overcome his instinctive fear of the black men in aneffort to succor Tarzan.
The screams of the infuriated villagers came faintly to his sensitiveears, and he wheeled, as though in terror, contemplating flight; butsomething stayed him, and again he turned about, raised his trunk, andgave voice to a shrill cry.
Then he stood listening.
In the distant village where Mbonga had restored quiet and order, thevoice of Tantor was scarcely audible to the blacks, but to the keenears of Tarzan of the Apes it bore its message.
His captors were leading him to a hut where he might be confined andguarded against the coming of the nocturnal orgy that would mark historture-laden death. He halted as he heard the notes of Tantor's call,and raising his head, gave vent to a terrifying scream that sent coldchills through the superstitious blacks and caused the warriors whoguarded him to leap back even though their prisoner's arms weresecurely bound behind him.
With raised spears they encircled him as for a moment longer he stoodlistening. Faintly from the distance came another, an answering cry,and Tarzan of the Apes, satisfied, turned and quietly pursued his waytoward the hut where he was to be imprisoned.
The afternoon wore on. From the surrounding village the ape-man heardthe bustle of preparation for the feast. Through the doorway of thehut he saw the women laying the cooking fires and filling their earthencaldrons with water; but above it all his ears were bent across thejungle in eager listening for the coming of Tantor.
Even Tarzan but half believed that he would come. He knew Tantor evenbetter than Tantor knew himself. He knew the timid heart which lay inthe giant body. He knew the panic of terror which the scent of theGomangani inspired within that savage breast, and as night drew on,hope died within his heart and in the stoic calm of the wild beastwhich he was, he resigned himself to meet the fate which awaited him.
All afternoon he had been working, working, working with the bonds thatheld his wrists. Very slowly they were giving. He might free hishands before they came to lead him out to be butchered, and if hedid--Tarzan licked his lips in anticipation, and smiled a cold, grimsmile. He could imagine the feel of soft fl
esh beneath his fingers andthe sinking of his white teeth into the throats of his foemen. Hewould let them taste his wrath before they overpowered him!
At last they came--painted, befeathered warriors--even more hideousthan nature had intended them. They came and pushed him into the open,where his appearance was greeted by wild shouts from the assembledvillagers.
To the stake they led him, and as they pushed him roughly against itpreparatory to binding him there securely for the dance of death thatwould presently encircle him, Tarzan tensed his mighty thews and with asingle, powerful wrench parted the loosened thongs which had securedhis hands. Like thought, for quickness, he leaped forward among thewarriors nearest him. A blow sent one to earth, as, growling andsnarling, the beast-man leaped upon the breast of another. His fangswere buried instantly in the jugular of his adversary and then a halfhundred black men had leaped upon him and borne him to earth.
Striking, clawing, and snapping, the ape-man fought--fought as hisfoster people had taught him to fight--fought like a wild beastcornered. His strength, his agility, his courage, and his intelligencerendered him easily a match for half a dozen black men in ahand-to-hand struggle, but not even Tarzan of the Apes could hope tosuccessfully cope with half a hundred.
Slowly they were overpowering him, though a score of them bled fromugly wounds, and two lay very still beneath the trampling feet, and therolling bodies of the contestants.
Overpower him they might, but could they keep him overpowered whilethey bound him? A half hour of desperate endeavor convinced them thatthey could not, and so Mbonga, who, like all good rulers, had circledin the safety of the background, called to one to work his way in andspear the victim. Gradually, through the milling, battling men, thewarrior approached the object of his quest.
He stood with poised spear above his head waiting for the instant thatwould expose a vulnerable part of the ape-man's body and still notendanger one of the blacks. Closer and closer he edged about,following the movements of the twisting, scuffling combatants. Thegrowls of the ape-man sent cold chills up the warrior's spine, causinghim to go carefully lest he miss at the first cast and lay himself opento an attack from those merciless teeth and mighty hands.
At last he found an opening. Higher he raised his spear, tensing hismuscles, rolling beneath his glistening, ebon hide, and then from thejungle just beyond the palisade came a thunderous crashing. Thespear-hand paused, the black cast a quick glance in the direction ofthe disturbance, as did the others of the blacks who were not occupiedwith the subjugation of the ape-man.
In the glare of the fires they saw a huge bulk topping the barrier.They saw the palisade belly and sway inward. They saw it burst asthough built of straws, and an instant later Tantor, the elephant,thundered down upon them.
To right and left the blacks fled, screaming in terror. Some whohovered upon the verge of the strife with Tarzan heard and made goodtheir escape, but a half dozen there were so wrapt in the blood-madnessof battle that they failed to note the approach of the giant tusker.
Upon these Tantor charged, trumpeting furiously. Above them hestopped, his sensitive trunk weaving among them, and there, at thebottom, he found Tarzan, bloody, but still battling.
A warrior turned his eyes upward from the melee. Above him towered thegigantic bulk of the pachyderm, the little eyes flashing with thereflected light of the fires--wicked, frightful, terrifying. Thewarrior screamed, and as he screamed, the sinuous trunk encircled him,lifted him high above the ground, and hurled him far after the fleeingcrowd.
Another and another Tantor wrenched from the body of the ape-man,throwing them to right and to left, where they lay either moaning orvery quiet, as death came slowly or at once.
At a distance Mbonga rallied his warriors. His greedy eyes had notedthe great ivory tusks of the bull. The first panic of terror relieved,he urged his men forward to attack with their heavy elephant spears;but as they came, Tantor swung Tarzan to his broad head, and, wheeling,lumbered off into the jungle through the great rent he had made in thepalisade.
Elephant hunters may be right when they aver that this animal would nothave rendered such service to a man, but to Tantor, Tarzan was not aman--he was but a fellow jungle beast.
And so it was that Tantor, the elephant, discharged an obligation toTarzan of the Apes, cementing even more closely the friendship that hadexisted between them since Tarzan as a little, brown boy rode uponTantor's huge back through the moonlit jungle beneath the equatorialstars.