5
Tarzan and the Black Boy
TARZAN OF THE Apes sat at the foot of a great tree braiding a new grassrope. Beside him lay the frayed remnants of the old one, torn andsevered by the fangs and talons of Sheeta, the panther. Only half theoriginal rope was there, the balance having been carried off by theangry cat as he bounded away through the jungle with the noose stillabout his savage neck and the loose end dragging among the underbrush.
Tarzan smiled as he recalled Sheeta's great rage, his frantic effortsto free himself from the entangling strands, his uncanny screams thatwere part hate, part anger, part terror. He smiled in retrospection atthe discomfiture of his enemy, and in anticipation of another day as headded an extra strand to his new rope.
This would be the strongest, the heaviest rope that Tarzan of the Apesever had fashioned. Visions of Numa, the lion, straining futilely inits embrace thrilled the ape-man. He was quite content, for his handsand his brain were busy. Content, too, were his fellows of the tribeof Kerchak, searching for food in the clearing and the surroundingtrees about him. No perplexing thoughts of the future burdened theirminds, and only occasionally, dimly arose recollections of the nearpast. They were stimulated to a species of brutal content by thedelectable business of filling their bellies. Afterward they wouldsleep--it was their life, and they enjoyed it as we enjoy ours, you andI--as Tarzan enjoyed his. Possibly they enjoyed theirs more than weenjoy ours, for who shall say that the beasts of the jungle do notbetter fulfill the purposes for which they are created than does manwith his many excursions into strange fields and his contraventions ofthe laws of nature? And what gives greater content and greaterhappiness than the fulfilling of a destiny?
As Tarzan worked, Gazan, Teeka's little balu, played about him whileTeeka sought food upon the opposite side of the clearing. No more didTeeka, the mother, or Taug, the sullen sire, harbor suspicions ofTarzan's intentions toward their first-born. Had he not courted deathto save their Gazan from the fangs and talons of Sheeta? Did he notfondle and cuddle the little one with even as great a show of affectionas Teeka herself displayed? Their fears were allayed and Tarzan nowfound himself often in the role of nursemaid to a tiny anthropoid--anavocation which he found by no means irksome, since Gazan was anever-failing fount of surprises and entertainment.
Just now the apeling was developing those arboreal tendencies whichwere to stand him in such good stead during the years of his youth,when rapid flight into the upper terraces was of far more importanceand value than his undeveloped muscles and untried fighting fangs.Backing off fifteen or twenty feet from the bole of the tree beneaththe branches of which Tarzan worked upon his rope, Gazan scamperedquickly forward, scrambling nimbly upward to the lower limbs. Here hewould squat for a moment or two, quite proud of his achievement, thenclamber to the ground again and repeat. Sometimes, quite often infact, for he was an ape, his attention was distracted by other things,a beetle, a caterpillar, a tiny field mouse, and off he would go inpursuit; the caterpillars he always caught, and sometimes the beetles;but the field mice, never.
Now he discovered the tail of the rope upon which Tarzan was working.Grasping it in one small hand he bounced away, for all the world likean animated rubber ball, snatching it from the ape-man's hand andrunning off across the clearing. Tarzan leaped to his feet and was inpursuit in an instant, no trace of anger on his face or in his voice ashe called to the roguish little balu to drop his rope.
Straight toward his mother raced Gazan, and after him came Tarzan.Teeka looked up from her feeding, and in the first instant that sherealized that Gazan was fleeing and that another was in pursuit, shebared her fangs and bristled; but when she saw that the pursuer wasTarzan she turned back to the business that had been occupying herattention. At her very feet the ape-man overhauled the balu and,though the youngster squealed and fought when Tarzan seized him, Teekaonly glanced casually in their direction. No longer did she fear harmto her first-born at the hands of the ape-man. Had he not saved Gazanon two occasions?
Rescuing his rope, Tarzan returned to his tree and resumed his labor;but thereafter it was necessary to watch carefully the playful balu,who was now possessed to steal it whenever he thought his great,smooth-skinned cousin was momentarily off his guard.
But even under this handicap Tarzan finally completed the rope, a long,pliant weapon, stronger than any he ever had made before. Thediscarded piece of his former one he gave to Gazan for a plaything, forTarzan had it in his mind to instruct Teeka's balu after ideas of hisown when the youngster should be old and strong enough to profit by hisprecepts. At present the little ape's innate aptitude for mimicrywould be sufficient to familiarize him with Tarzan's ways and weapons,and so the ape-man swung off into the jungle, his new rope coiled overone shoulder, while little Gazan hopped about the clearing dragging theold one after him in childish glee.
As Tarzan traveled, dividing his quest for food with one for asufficiently noble quarry whereupon to test his new weapon, his mindoften was upon Gazan. The ape-man had realized a deep affection forTeeka's balu almost from the first, partly because the child belongedto Teeka, his first love, and partly for the little ape's own sake, andTarzan's human longing for some sentient creature upon which to expendthose natural affections of the soul which are inherent to all normalmembers of the GENUS HOMO. Tarzan envied Teeka. It was true that Gazanevidenced a considerable reciprocation of Tarzan's fondness for him,even preferring him to his own surly sire; but to Teeka the little oneturned when in pain or terror, when tired or hungry. Then it was thatTarzan felt quite alone in the world and longed desperately for one whoshould turn first to him for succor and protection.
Taug had Teeka; Teeka had Gazan; and nearly every other bull and cow ofthe tribe of Kerchak had one or more to love and by whom to be loved.Of course Tarzan could scarcely formulate the thought in precisely thisway--he only knew that he craved something which was denied him;something which seemed to be represented by those relations whichexisted between Teeka and her balu, and so he envied Teeka and longedfor a balu of his own.
He saw Sheeta and his mate with their little family of three; anddeeper inland toward the rocky hills, where one might lie up during theheat of the day, in the dense shade of a tangled thicket close underthe cool face of an overhanging rock, Tarzan had found the lair ofNuma, the lion, and of Sabor, the lioness. Here he had watched themwith their little balus--playful creatures, spotted leopard-like. Andhe had seen the young fawn with Bara, the deer, and with Buto, therhinoceros, its ungainly little one. Each of the creatures of thejungle had its own--except Tarzan. It made the ape-man sad to thinkupon this thing, sad and lonely; but presently the scent of gamecleared his young mind of all other considerations, as catlike hecrawled far out upon a bending limb above the game trail which led downto the ancient watering place of the wild things of this wild world.
How many thousands of times had this great, old limb bent to the savageform of some blood-thirsty hunter in the long years that it had spreadits leafy branches above the deep-worn jungle path! Tarzan, theape-man, Sheeta, the panther, and Histah, the snake, it knew well.They had worn smooth the bark upon its upper surface.
Today it was Horta, the boar, which came down toward the watcher in theold tree--Horta, the boar, whose formidable tusks and diabolical temperpreserved him from all but the most ferocious or most famished of thelargest carnivora.
But to Tarzan, meat was meat; naught that was edible or tasty mightpass a hungry Tarzan unchallenged and unattacked. In hunger, as inbattle, the ape-man out-savaged the dreariest denizens of the jungle.He knew neither fear nor mercy, except upon rare occasions when somestrange, inexplicable force stayed his hand--a force inexplicable tohim, perhaps, because of his ignorance of his own origin and of all theforces of humanitarianism and civilization that were his rightfulheritage because of that origin.
So today, instead of staying his hand until a less formidable feastfound its way toward him, Tarzan dropped h
is new noose about the neckof Horta, the boar. It was an excellent test for the untried strands.The angered boar bolted this way and that; but each time the new ropeheld him where Tarzan had made it fast about the stem of the tree abovethe branch from which he had cast it.
As Horta grunted and charged, slashing the sturdy jungle patriarch withhis mighty tusks until the bark flew in every direction, Tarzan droppedto the ground behind him. In the ape-man's hand was the long, keenblade that had been his constant companion since that distant day uponwhich chance had directed its point into the body of Bolgani, thegorilla, and saved the torn and bleeding man-child from what else hadbeen certain death.
Tarzan walked in toward Horta, who swung now to face his enemy. Mightyand muscled as was the young giant, it yet would have appeared but themaddest folly for him to face so formidable a creature as Horta, theboar, armed only with a slender hunting knife. So it would have seemedto one who knew Horta even slightly and Tarzan not at all.
For a moment Horta stood motionless facing the ape-man. His wicked,deep-set eyes flashed angrily. He shook his lowered head.
"Mud-eater!" jeered the ape-man. "Wallower in filth. Even your meatstinks, but it is juicy and makes Tarzan strong. Today I shall eatyour heart, O Lord of the Great Tusks, that it shall keep savage thatwhich pounds against my own ribs."
Horta, understanding nothing of what Tarzan said, was none the lessenraged because of that. He saw only a naked man-thing, hairless andfutile, pitting his puny fangs and soft muscles against his ownindomitable savagery, and he charged.
Tarzan of the Apes waited until the upcut of a wicked tusk would havelaid open his thigh, then he moved--just the least bit to one side; butso quickly that lightning was a sluggard by comparison, and as hemoved, he stooped low and with all the great power of his right armdrove the long blade of his father's hunting knife straight into theheart of Horta, the boar. A quick leap carried him from the zone ofthe creature's death throes, and a moment later the hot and drippingheart of Horta was in his grasp.
His hunger satisfied, Tarzan did not seek a lying-up place for sleep,as was sometimes his way, but continued on through the jungle more insearch of adventure than of food, for today he was restless. And so itcame that he turned his footsteps toward the village of Mbonga, theblack chief, whose people Tarzan had baited remorselessly since thatday upon which Kulonga, the chief's son, had slain Kala.
A river winds close beside the village of the black men. Tarzanreached its side a little below the clearing where squat the thatchedhuts of the Negroes. The river life was ever fascinating to theape-man. He found pleasure in watching the ungainly antics of Duro, thehippopotamus, and keen sport in tormenting the sluggish crocodile,Gimla, as he basked in the sun. Then, too, there were the shes and thebalus of the black men of the Gomangani to frighten as they squatted bythe river, the shes with their meager washing, the balus with theirprimitive toys.
This day he came upon a woman and her child farther down stream thanusual. The former was searching for a species of shellfish which wasto be found in the mud close to the river bank. She was a young blackwoman of about thirty. Her teeth were filed to sharp points, for herpeople ate the flesh of man. Her under lip was slit that it mightsupport a rude pendant of copper which she had worn for so many yearsthat the lip had been dragged downward to prodigious lengths, exposingthe teeth and gums of her lower jaw. Her nose, too, was slit, andthrough the slit was a wooden skewer. Metal ornaments dangled from herears, and upon her forehead and cheeks; upon her chin and the bridge ofher nose were tattooings in colors that were mellowed now by age. Shewas naked except for a girdle of grasses about her waist. Altogethershe was very beautiful in her own estimation and even in the estimationof the men of Mbonga's tribe, though she was of another people--atrophy of war seized in her maidenhood by one of Mbonga's fighting men.
Her child was a boy of ten, lithe, straight and, for a black, handsome.Tarzan looked upon the two from the concealing foliage of a near-bybush. He was about to leap forth before them with a terrifying scream,that he might enjoy the spectacle of their terror and their incontinentflight; but of a sudden a new whim seized him. Here was a balufashioned as he himself was fashioned. Of course this one's skin wasblack; but what of it? Tarzan had never seen a white man. In so faras he knew, he was the sole representative of that strange form of lifeupon the earth. The black boy should make an excellent balu forTarzan, since he had none of his own. He would tend him carefully,feed him well, protect him as only Tarzan of the Apes could protect hisown, and teach him out of his half human, half bestial lore the secretsof the jungle from its rotting surface vegetation to the high tossedpinnacles of the forest's upper terraces.
* * *
Tarzan uncoiled his rope, and shook out the noose. The two before him,all ignorant of the near presence of that terrifying form, continuedpreoccupied in the search for shellfish, poking about in the mud withshort sticks.
Tarzan stepped from the jungle behind them; his noose lay open upon theground beside him. There was a quick movement of the right arm and thenoose rose gracefully into the air, hovered an instant above the headof the unsuspecting youth, then settled. As it encompassed his bodybelow the shoulders, Tarzan gave a quick jerk that tightened it aboutthe boy's arms, pinioning them to his sides. A scream of terror brokefrom the lad's lips, and as his mother turned, affrighted at his cry,she saw him being dragged quickly toward a great white giant who stoodjust beneath the shade of a near-by tree, scarcely a dozen long pacesfrom her.
With a savage cry of terror and rage, the woman leaped fearlesslytoward the ape-man. In her mien Tarzan saw determination and couragewhich would shrink not even from death itself. She was very hideousand frightful even when her face was in repose; but convulsed bypassion, her expression became terrifyingly fiendish. Even the ape-mandrew back, but more in revulsion than fear--fear he knew not.
Biting and kicking was the black she's balu as Tarzan tucked himbeneath his arm and vanished into the branches hanging low above him,just as the infuriated mother dashed forward to seize and do battlewith him. And as he melted away into the depth of the jungle with hisstill struggling prize, he meditated upon the possibilities which mightlie in the prowess of the Gomangani were the hes as formidable as theshes.
Once at a safe distance from the despoiled mother and out of earshot ofher screams and menaces, Tarzan paused to inspect his prize, now sothoroughly terrorized that he had ceased his struggles and his outcries.
The frightened child rolled his eyes fearfully toward his captor, untilthe whites showed gleaming all about the irises.
"I am Tarzan," said the ape-man, in the vernacular of the anthropoids."I will not harm you. You are to be Tarzan's balu. Tarzan willprotect you. He will feed you. The best in the jungle shall be forTarzan's balu, for Tarzan is a mighty hunter. None need you fear, noteven Numa, the lion, for Tarzan is a mighty fighter. None so great asTarzan, son of Kala. Do not fear."
But the child only whimpered and trembled, for he did not understandthe tongue of the great apes, and the voice of Tarzan sounded to himlike the barking and growling of a beast. Then, too, he had heardstories of this bad, white forest god. It was he who had slain Kulongaand others of the warriors of Mbonga, the chief. It was he who enteredthe village stealthily, by magic, in the darkness of the night, tosteal arrows and poison, and frighten the women and the children andeven the great warriors. Doubtless this wicked god fed upon littleboys. Had his mother not said as much when he was naughty and shethreatened to give him to the white god of the jungle if he were notgood? Little black Tibo shook as with ague.
"Are you cold, Go-bu-balu?" asked Tarzan, using the simian equivalentof black he-baby in lieu of a better name. "The sun is hot; why do youshiver?"
Tibo could not understand; but he cried for his mamma and begged thegreat, white god to let him go, promising always to be a good boythereafter if his plea were granted. Tarzan shook his head. Not aword could he understand. This would never do! He m
ust teachGo-bu-balu a language which sounded like talk. It was quite certain toTarzan that Go-bu-balu's speech was not talk at all. It sounded quiteas senseless as the chattering of the silly birds. It would be best,thought the ape-man, quickly to get him among the tribe of Kerchakwhere he would hear the Mangani talking among themselves. Thus hewould soon learn an intelligible form of speech.
Tarzan rose to his feet upon the swaying branch where he had halted farabove the ground, and motioned to the child to follow him; but Tiboonly clung tightly to the bole of the tree and wept. Being a boy, anda native African, he had, of course, climbed into trees many timesbefore this; but the idea of racing off through the forest, leapingfrom one branch to another, as his captor, to his horror, had done whenhe had carried Tibo away from his mother, filled his childish heartwith terror.
Tarzan sighed. His newly acquired balu had much indeed to learn. Itwas pitiful that a balu of his size and strength should be so backward.He tried to coax Tibo to follow him; but the child dared not, so Tarzanpicked him up and carried him upon his back. Tibo no longer scratchedor bit. Escape seemed impossible. Even now, were he set upon theground, the chance was remote, he knew, that he could find his way backto the village of Mbonga, the chief. Even if he could, there were thelions and the leopards and the hyenas, any one of which, as Tibo waswell aware, was particularly fond of the meat of little black boys.
So far the terrible white god of the jungle had offered him no harm.He could not expect even this much consideration from the frightful,green-eyed man-eaters. It would be the lesser of two evils, then, tolet the white god carry him away without scratching and biting, as hehad done at first.
As Tarzan swung rapidly through the trees, little Tibo closed his eyesin terror rather than look longer down into the frightful abyssesbeneath. Never before in all his life had Tibo been so frightened, yetas the white giant sped on with him through the forest there stole overthe child an inexplicable sensation of security as he saw how true werethe leaps of the ape-man, how unerring his grasp upon the swaying limbswhich gave him hand-hold, and then, too, there was safety in the middleterraces of the forest, far above the reach of the dreaded lions.
And so Tarzan came to the clearing where the tribe fed, dropping amongthem with his new balu clinging tightly to his shoulders. He wasfairly in the midst of them before Tibo spied a single one of the greathairy forms, or before the apes realized that Tarzan was not alone.When they saw the little Gomangani perched upon his back some of themcame forward in curiosity with upcurled lips and snarling mien.
An hour before little Tibo would have said that he knew the uttermostdepths of fear; but now, as he saw these fearsome beasts surroundinghim, he realized that all that had gone before was as nothing bycomparison. Why did the great white giant stand there sounconcernedly? Why did he not flee before these horrid, hairy, treemen fell upon them both and tore them to pieces? And then there came toTibo a numbing recollection. It was none other than the story he hadheard passed from mouth to mouth, fearfully, by the people of Mbonga,the chief, that this great white demon of the jungle was naught otherthan a hairless ape, for had not he been seen in company with these?
Tibo could only stare in wide-eyed horror at the approaching apes. Hesaw their beetling brows, their great fangs, their wicked eyes. Henoted their mighty muscles rolling beneath their shaggy hides. Theirevery attitude and expression was a menace. Tarzan saw this, too. Hedrew Tibo around in front of him.
"This is Tarzan's Go-bu-balu," he said. "Do not harm him, or Tarzanwill kill you," and he bared his own fangs in the teeth of the nearestape.
"It is a Gomangani," replied the ape. "Let me kill it. It is aGomangani. The Gomangani are our enemies. Let me kill it."
"Go away," snarled Tarzan. "I tell you, Gunto, it is Tarzan's balu.Go away or Tarzan will kill you," and the ape-man took a step towardthe advancing ape.
The latter sidled off, quite stiff and haughty, after the manner of adog which meets another and is too proud to fight and too fearful toturn his back and run.
Next came Teeka, prompted by curiosity. At her side skipped littleGazan. They were filled with wonder like the others; but Teeka did notbare her fangs. Tarzan saw this and motioned that she approach.
"Tarzan has a balu now," he said. "He and Teeka's balu can playtogether."
"It is a Gomangani," replied Teeka. "It will kill my balu. Take itaway, Tarzan."
Tarzan laughed. "It could not harm Pamba, the rat," he said. "It isbut a little balu and very frightened. Let Gazan play with it."
Teeka still was fearful, for with all their mighty ferocity the greatanthropoids are timid; but at last, assured by her great confidence inTarzan, she pushed Gazan forward toward the little black boy. Thesmall ape, guided by instinct, drew back toward its mother, baring itssmall fangs and screaming in mingled fear and rage.
Tibo, too, showed no signs of desiring a closer acquaintance withGazan, so Tarzan gave up his efforts for the time.
During the week which followed, Tarzan found his time much occupied.His balu was a greater responsibility than he had counted upon. Notfor a moment did he dare leave it, since of all the tribe, Teeka alonecould have been depended upon to refrain from slaying the hapless blackhad it not been for Tarzan's constant watchfulness. When the ape-manhunted, he must carry Go-bu-balu about with him. It was irksome, andthen the little black seemed so stupid and fearful to Tarzan. It wasquite helpless against even the lesser of the jungle creatures. Tarzanwondered how it had survived at all. He tried to teach it, and found aray of hope in the fact that Go-bu-balu had mastered a few words of thelanguage of the anthropoids, and that he could now cling to ahigh-tossed branch without screaming in fear; but there was somethingabout the child which worried Tarzan. He often had watched the blackswithin their village. He had seen the children playing, and alwaysthere had been much laughter; but little Go-bu-balu never laughed. Itwas true that Tarzan himself never laughed. Upon occasion he smiled,grimly, but to laughter he was a stranger. The black, however, shouldhave laughed, reasoned the ape-man. It was the way of the Gomangani.
Also, he saw that the little fellow often refused food and was growingthinner day by day. At times he surprised the boy sobbing softly tohimself. Tarzan tried to comfort him, even as fierce Kala hadcomforted Tarzan when the ape-man was a balu, but all to no avail.Go-bu-balu merely no longer feared Tarzan--that was all. He fearedevery other living thing within the jungle. He feared the jungle dayswith their long excursions through the dizzy tree tops. He feared thejungle nights with their swaying, perilous couches far above theground, and the grunting and coughing of the great carnivora prowlingbeneath him.
Tarzan did not know what to do. His heritage of English blood renderedit a difficult thing even to consider a surrender of his project,though he was forced to admit to himself that his balu was not all thathe had hoped. Though he was faithful to his self-imposed task, andeven found that he had grown to like Go-bu-balu, he could not deceivehimself into believing that he felt for it that fierce heat ofpassionate affection which Teeka revealed for Gazan, and which theblack mother had shown for Go-bu-balu.
The little black boy from cringing terror at the sight of Tarzan passedby degrees into trustfulness and admiration. Only kindness had he everreceived at the hands of the great white devil-god, yet he had seenwith what ferocity his kindly captor could deal with others. He hadseen him leap upon a certain he-ape which persisted in attempting toseize and slay Go-bu-balu. He had seen the strong, white teeth of theape-man fastened in the neck of his adversary, and the mighty musclestensed in battle. He had heard the savage, bestial snarls and roars ofcombat, and he had realized with a shudder that he could notdifferentiate between those of his guardian and those of the hairy ape.
He had seen Tarzan bring down a buck, just as Numa, the lion, mighthave done, leaping upon its back and fastening his fangs in thecreature's neck. Tibo had shuddered at the sight, but he had thrilled,too, and for the first time there entered his du
ll, Negroid mind avague desire to emulate his savage foster parent. But Tibo, the littleblack boy, lacked the divine spark which had permitted Tarzan, thewhite boy, to benefit by his training in the ways of the fierce jungle.In imagination he was wanting, and imagination is but another name forsuper-intelligence.
Imagination it is which builds bridges, and cities, and empires. Thebeasts know it not, the blacks only a little, while to one in a hundredthousand of earth's dominant race it is given as a gift from heaventhat man may not perish from the earth.
While Tarzan pondered his problem concerning the future of his balu,Fate was arranging to take the matter out of his hands. Momaya, Tibo'smother, grief-stricken at the loss of her boy, had consulted the tribalwitch-doctor, but to no avail. The medicine he made was not goodmedicine, for though Momaya paid him two goats for it, it did not bringback Tibo, nor even indicate where she might search for him withreasonable assurance of finding him. Momaya, being of a short temperand of another people, had little respect for the witch-doctor of herhusband's tribe, and so, when he suggested that a further payment oftwo more fat goats would doubtless enable him to make strongermedicine, she promptly loosed her shrewish tongue upon him, and withsuch good effect that he was glad to take himself off with his zebra'stail and his pot of magic.
When he had gone and Momaya had succeeded in partially subduing heranger, she gave herself over to thought, as she so often had done sincethe abduction of her Tibo, in the hope that she finally might discoversome feasible means of locating him, or at least assuring herself as towhether he were alive or dead.
It was known to the blacks that Tarzan did not eat the flesh of man,for he had slain more than one of their number, yet never tasted theflesh of any. Too, the bodies always had been found, sometimesdropping as though from the clouds to alight in the center of thevillage. As Tibo's body had not been found, Momaya argued that hestill lived, but where?
Then it was that there came to her mind a recollection of Bukawai, theunclean, who dwelt in a cave in the hillside to the north, and who itwas well known entertained devils in his evil lair. Few, if any, hadthe temerity to visit old Bukawai, firstly because of fear of his blackmagic and the two hyenas who dwelt with him and were commonly known tobe devils masquerading, and secondly because of the loathsome diseasewhich had caused Bukawai to be an outcast--a disease which was slowlyeating away his face.
Now it was that Momaya reasoned shrewdly that if any might know thewhereabouts of her Tibo, it would be Bukawai, who was in friendlyintercourse with gods and demons, since a demon or a god it was who hadstolen her baby; but even her great mother love was sorely taxed tofind the courage to send her forth into the black jungle toward thedistant hills and the uncanny abode of Bukawai, the unclean, and hisdevils.
Mother love, however, is one of the human passions which closelyapproximates to the dignity of an irresistible force. It drives thefrail flesh of weak women to deeds of heroic measure. Momaya wasneither frail nor weak, physically, but she was a woman, an ignorant,superstitious, African savage. She believed in devils, in black magic,and in witchcraft. To Momaya, the jungle was inhabited by far moreterrifying things than lions and leopards--horrifying, nameless thingswhich possessed the power of wreaking frightful harm under variousinnocent guises.
From one of the warriors of the village, whom she knew to have oncestumbled upon the lair of Bukawai, the mother of Tibo learned how shemight find it--near a spring of water which rose in a small rocky canyonbetween two hills, the easternmost of which was easily recognizablebecause of a huge granite boulder which rested upon its summit. Thewesterly hill was lower than its companion, and was quite bare ofvegetation except for a single mimosa tree which grew just a littlebelow its summit.
These two hills, the man assured her, could be seen for some distancebefore she reached them, and together formed an excellent guide to herdestination. He warned her, however, to abandon so foolish anddangerous an adventure, emphasizing what she already quite well knew,that if she escaped harm at the hands of Bukawai and his demons, thechances were that she would not be so fortunate with the greatcarnivora of the jungle through which she must pass going and returning.
The warrior even went to Momaya's husband, who, in turn, having littleauthority over the vixenish lady of his choice, went to Mbonga, thechief. The latter summoned Momaya, threatening her with the direstpunishment should she venture forth upon so unholy an excursion. Theold chief's interest in the matter was due solely to that age-oldalliance which exists between church and state. The localwitch-doctor, knowing his own medicine better than any other knew it,was jealous of all other pretenders to accomplishments in the blackart. He long had heard of the power of Bukawai, and feared lest,should he succeed in recovering Momaya's lost child, much of the tribalpatronage and consequent fees would be diverted to the unclean one. AsMbonga received, as chief, a certain proportion of the witch-doctor'sfees and could expect nothing from Bukawai, his heart and soul were,quite naturally, wrapped up in the orthodox church.
But if Momaya could view with intrepid heart an excursion into thejungle and a visit to the fear-haunted abode of Bukawai, she was notlikely to be deterred by threats of future punishment at the hands ofold Mbonga, whom she secretly despised. Yet she appeared to accede tohis injunctions, returning to her hut in silence.
She would have preferred starting upon her quest by day-light, but thiswas now out of the question, since she must carry food and a weapon ofsome sort--things which she never could pass out of the village with byday without being subjected to curious questioning that surely wouldcome immediately to the ears of Mbonga.
So Momaya bided her time until night, and just before the gates of thevillage were closed, she slipped through into the darkness and thejungle. She was much frightened, but she set her face resolutelytoward the north, and though she paused often to listen, breathlessly,for the huge cats which, here, were her greatest terror, shenevertheless continued her way staunchly for several hours, until a lowmoan a little to her right and behind her brought her to a sudden stop.
With palpitating heart the woman stood, scarce daring to breathe, andthen, very faintly but unmistakable to her keen ears, came the stealthycrunching of twigs and grasses beneath padded feet.
All about Momaya grew the giant trees of the tropical jungle, festoonedwith hanging vines and mosses. She seized upon the nearest and startedto clamber, apelike, to the branches above. As she did so, there was asudden rush of a great body behind her, a menacing roar that caused theearth to tremble, and something crashed into the very creepers to whichshe was clinging--but below her.
Momaya drew herself to safety among the leafy branches and thanked theforesight which had prompted her to bring along the dried human earwhich hung from a cord about her neck. She always had known that thatear was good medicine. It had been given her, when a girl, by thewitch-doctor of her town tribe, and was nothing like the poor, weakmedicine of Mbonga's witch-doctor.
All night Momaya clung to her perch, for although the lion sought otherprey after a short time, she dared not descend into the darkness again,for fear she might encounter him or another of his kind; but atdaylight she clambered down and resumed her way.
Tarzan of the Apes, finding that his balu never ceased to give evidenceof terror in the presence of the apes of the tribe, and also that mostof the adult apes were a constant menace to Go-bu-balu's life, so thatTarzan dared not leave him alone with them, took to hunting with thelittle black boy farther and farther from the stamping grounds of theanthropoids.
Little by little his absences from the tribe grew in length as hewandered farther away from them, until finally he found himself agreater distance to the north than he ever before had hunted, and withwater and ample game and fruit, he felt not at all inclined to returnto the tribe.
Little Go-bu-balu gave evidences of a greater interest in life, aninterest which varied in direct proportion to the distance he was fromthe apes of Kerchak. He now trotted along behind Tarzan when theape-m
an went upon the ground, and in the trees he even did his best tofollow his mighty foster parent. The boy was still sad and lonely.His thin, little body had grown steadily thinner since he had comeamong the apes, for while, as a young cannibal, he was not overnice inthe matter of diet, he found it not always to his taste to stomach theweird things which tickled the palates of epicures among the apes.
His large eyes were very large indeed now, his cheeks sunken, and everyrib of his emaciated body plainly discernible to whomsoever should careto count them. Constant terror, perhaps, had had as much to do withhis physical condition as had improper food. Tarzan noticed the changeand was worried. He had hoped to see his balu wax sturdy and strong.His disappointment was great. In only one respect did Go-bu-balu seemto progress--he readily was mastering the language of the apes. Evennow he and Tarzan could converse in a fairly satisfactory manner bysupplementing the meager ape speech with signs; but for the most part,Go-bu-balu was silent other than to answer questions put to him. Hisgreat sorrow was yet too new and too poignant to be laid aside evenmomentarily. Always he pined for Momaya--shrewish, hideous, repulsive,perhaps, she would have been to you or me, but to Tibo she was mamma,the personification of that one great love which knows no selfishnessand which does not consume itself in its own fires.
As the two hunted, or rather as Tarzan hunted and Go-bu-balu taggedalong in his wake, the ape-man noticed many things and thought much.Once they came upon Sabor moaning in the tall grasses. About herromped and played two little balls of fur, but her eyes were for onewhich lay between her great forepaws and did not romp, one who neverwould romp again.
Tarzan read aright the anguish and the suffering of the huge mothercat. He had been minded to bait her. It was to do this that he hadsneaked silently through the trees until he had come almost above her,but something held the ape-man as he saw the lioness grieving over herdead cub. With the acquisition of Go-bu-balu, Tarzan had come torealize the responsibilities and sorrows of parentage, without itsjoys. His heart went out to Sabor as it might not have done a fewweeks before. As he watched her, there rose quite unbidden before hima vision of Momaya, the skewer through the septum of her nose, herpendulous under lip sagging beneath the weight which dragged it down.Tarzan saw not her unloveliness; he saw only the same anguish that wasSabor's, and he winced. That strange functioning of the mind whichsometimes is called association of ideas snapped Teeka and Gazan beforethe ape-man's mental vision. What if one should come and take Gazanfrom Teeka. Tarzan uttered a low and ominous growl as though Gazanwere his own. Go-bu-balu glanced here and there apprehensively,thinking that Tarzan had espied an enemy. Sabor sprang suddenly to herfeet, her yellow-green eyes blazing, her tail lashing as she cocked herears, and raising her muzzle, sniffed the air for possible danger. Thetwo little cubs, which had been playing, scampered quickly to her, andstanding beneath her, peered out from between her forelegs, their bigears upstanding, their little heads cocked first upon one side and thenupon the other.
With a shake of his black shock, Tarzan turned away and resumed hishunting in another direction; but all day there rose one after another,above the threshold of his objective mind, memory portraits of Sabor,of Momaya, and of Teeka--a lioness, a cannibal, and a she-ape, yet tothe ape-man they were identical through motherhood.
It was noon of the third day when Momaya came within sight of the caveof Bukawai, the unclean. The old witch-doctor had rigged a frameworkof interlaced boughs to close the mouth of the cave from predatorybeasts. This was now set to one side, and the black cavern beyondyawned mysterious and repellent. Momaya shivered as from a cold windof the rainy season. No sign of life appeared about the cave, yetMomaya experienced that uncanny sensation as of unseen eyes regardingher malevolently. Again she shuddered. She tried to force herunwilling feet onward toward the cave, when from its depths issued anuncanny sound that was neither brute nor human, a weird sound that wasakin to mirthless laughter.
With a stifled scream, Momaya turned and fled into the jungle. For ahundred yards she ran before she could control her terror, and then shepaused, listening. Was all her labor, were all the terrors and dangersthrough which she had passed to go for naught? She tried to steelherself to return to the cave, but again fright overcame her.
Saddened, disheartened, she turned slowly upon the back trail towardthe village of Mbonga. Her young shoulders now were drooped like thoseof an old woman who bears a great burden of many years with theiraccumulated pains and sorrows, and she walked with tired feet and ahalting step. The spring of youth was gone from Momaya.
For another hundred yards she dragged her weary way, her brain halfparalyzed from dumb terror and suffering, and then there came to herthe memory of a little babe that suckled at her breast, and of a slimboy who romped, laughing, about her, and they were both Tibo--her Tibo!
Her shoulders straightened. She shook her savage head, and she turnedabout and walked boldly back to the mouth of the cave of Bukawai, theunclean--of Bukawai, the witch-doctor.
Again, from the interior of the cave came the hideous laughter that wasnot laughter. This time Momaya recognized it for what it was, thestrange cry of a hyena. No more did she shudder, but she held herspear ready and called aloud to Bukawai to come out.
Instead of Bukawai came the repulsive head of a hyena. Momaya poked atit with her spear, and the ugly, sullen brute drew back with an angrygrowl. Again Momaya called Bukawai by name, and this time there camean answer in mumbling tones that were scarce more human than those ofthe beast.
"Who comes to Bukawai?" queried the voice.
"It is Momaya," replied the woman; "Momaya from the village of Mbonga,the chief.
"What do you want?"
"I want good medicine, better medicine than Mbonga's witch-doctor canmake," replied Momaya. "The great, white, jungle god has stolen myTibo, and I want medicine to bring him back, or to find where he ishidden that I may go and get him."
"Who is Tibo?" asked Bukawai.
Momaya told him.
"Bukawai's medicine is very strong," said the voice. "Five goats and anew sleeping mat are scarce enough in exchange for Bukawai's medicine."
"Two goats are enough," said Momaya, for the spirit of barter is strongin the breasts of the blacks.
The pleasure of haggling over the price was a sufficiently potent lureto draw Bukawai to the mouth of the cave. Momaya was sorry when shesaw him that he had not remained within. There are some things toohorrible, too hideous, too repulsive for description--Bukawai's facewas of these. When Momaya saw him she understood why it was that hewas almost inarticulate.
Beside him were two hyenas, which rumor had said were his only andconstant companions. They made an excellent trio--the most repulsiveof beasts with the most repulsive of humans.
"Five goats and a new sleeping mat," mumbled Bukawai.
"Two fat goats and a sleeping mat." Momaya raised her bid; but Bukawaiwas obdurate. He stuck for the five goats and the sleeping mat for amatter of half an hour, while the hyenas sniffed and growled andlaughed hideously. Momaya was determined to give all that Bukawaiasked if she could do no better, but haggling is second nature to blackbarterers, and in the end it partly repaid her, for a compromisefinally was reached which included three fat goats, a new sleeping mat,and a piece of copper wire.
"Come back tonight," said Bukawai, "when the moon is two hours in thesky. Then will I make the strong medicine which shall bring Tibo backto you. Bring with you the three fat goats, the new sleeping mat, andthe piece of copper wire the length of a large man's forearm."
"I cannot bring them," said Momaya. "You will have to come after them.When you have restored Tibo to me, you shall have them all at thevillage of Mbonga."
Bukawai shook his head.
"I will make no medicine," he said, "until I have the goats and the matand the copper wire."
Momaya pleaded and threatened, but all to no avail. Finally, sheturned away and started off through the jungle toward the village ofMbonga. Ho
w she could get three goats and a sleeping mat out of thevillage and through the jungle to the cave of Bukawai, she did notknow, but that she would do it somehow she was quite positive--shewould do it or die. Tibo must be restored to her.
Tarzan coming lazily through the jungle with little Go-bu-balu, caughtthe scent of Bara, the deer. Tarzan hungered for the flesh of Bara.Naught tickled his palate so greatly; but to stalk Bara with Go-bu-baluat his heels, was out of the question, so he hid the child in thecrotch of a tree where the thick foliage screened him from view, andset off swiftly and silently upon the spoor of Bara.
Tibo alone was more terrified than Tibo even among the apes. Real andapparent dangers are less disconcerting than those which we imagine,and only the gods of his people knew how much Tibo imagined.
He had been but a short time in his hiding place when he heardsomething approaching through the jungle. He crouched closer to thelimb upon which he lay and prayed that Tarzan would return quickly.His wide eyes searched the jungle in the direction of the movingcreature.
What if it was a leopard that had caught his scent! It would be uponhim in a minute. Hot tears flowed from the large eyes of little Tibo.The curtain of jungle foliage rustled close at hand. The thing was buta few paces from his tree! His eyes fairly popped from his black faceas he watched for the appearance of the dread creature which presentlywould thrust a snarling countenance from between the vines and creepers.
And then the curtain parted and a woman stepped into full view. With agasping cry, Tibo tumbled from his perch and raced toward her. Momayasuddenly started back and raised her spear, but a second later she castit aside and caught the thin body in her strong arms.
Crushing it to her, she cried and laughed all at one and the same time,and hot tears of joy, mingled with the tears of Tibo, trickled down thecrease between her naked breasts.
Disturbed by the noise so close at hand, there arose from his sleep ina near-by thicket Numa, the lion. He looked through the tangledunderbrush and saw the black woman and her young. He licked his chopsand measured the distance between them and himself. A short charge anda long leap would carry him upon them. He flicked the end of his tailand sighed.
A vagrant breeze, swirling suddenly in the wrong direction, carried thescent of Tarzan to the sensitive nostrils of Bara, the deer. There wasa startled tensing of muscles and cocking of ears, a sudden dash, andTarzan's meat was gone. The ape-man angrily shook his head and turnedback toward the spot where he had left Go-bu-balu. He came softly, aswas his way. Before he reached the spot he heard strange sounds--thesound of a woman laughing and of a woman weeping, and the two whichseemed to come from one throat were mingled with the convulsive sobbingof a child. Tarzan hastened, and when Tarzan hastened, only the birdsand the wind went faster.
And as Tarzan approached the sounds, he heard another, a deep sigh.Momaya did not hear it, nor did Tibo; but the ears of Tarzan were asthe ears of Bara, the deer. He heard the sigh, and he knew, so heunloosed the heavy spear which dangled at his back. Even as he spedthrough the branches of the trees, with the same ease that you or Imight take out a pocket handkerchief as we strolled nonchalantly down alazy country lane, Tarzan of the Apes took the spear from its thongthat it might be ready against any emergency.
Numa, the lion, did not rush madly to attack. He reasoned again, andreason told him that already the prey was his, so he pushed his greatbulk through the foliage and stood eyeing his meat with baleful,glaring eyes.
Momaya saw him and shrieked, drawing Tibo closer to her breast. Tohave found her child and to lose him, all in a moment! She raised herspear, throwing her hand far back of her shoulder. Numa roared andstepped slowly forward. Momaya cast her weapon. It grazed the tawnyshoulder, inflicting a flesh wound which aroused all the terrificbestiality of the carnivore, and the lion charged.
Momaya tried to close her eyes, but could not. She saw the flashingswiftness of the huge, oncoming death, and then she saw something else.She saw a mighty, naked white man drop as from the heavens into thepath of the charging lion. She saw the muscles of a great arm flash inthe light of the equatorial sun as it filtered, dappling, through thefoliage above. She saw a heavy hunting spear hurtle through the air tomeet the lion in midleap.
Numa brought up upon his haunches, roaring terribly and striking at thespear which protruded from his breast. His great blows bent andtwisted the weapon. Tarzan, crouching and with hunting knife in hand,circled warily about the frenzied cat. Momaya, wide-eyed, stood rootedto the spot, watching, fascinated.
In sudden fury Numa hurled himself toward the ape-man, but the wirycreature eluded the blundering charge, side-stepping quickly only torush in upon his foe. Twice the hunting blade flashed in the air.Twice it fell upon the back of Numa, already weakening from the spearpoint so near his heart. The second stroke of the blade pierced farinto the beast's spine, and with a last convulsive sweep of thefore-paws, in a vain attempt to reach his tormentor, Numa sprawled uponthe ground, paralyzed and dying.
Bukawai, fearful lest he should lose any recompense, followed Momayawith the intention of persuading her to part with her ornaments ofcopper and iron against her return with the price of the medicine--topay, as it were, for an option on his services as one pays a retainingfee to an attorney, for, like an attorney, Bukawai knew the value ofhis medicine and that it was well to collect as much as possible inadvance.
The witch-doctor came upon the scene as Tarzan leaped to meet thelion's charge. He saw it all and marveled, guessing immediately thatthis must be the strange white demon concerning whom he had heard vaguerumors before Momaya came to him.
Momaya, now that the lion was past harming her or hers, gazed with newterror upon Tarzan. It was he who had stolen her Tibo. Doubtless hewould attempt to steal him again. Momaya hugged the boy close to her.She was determined to die this time rather than suffer Tibo to be takenfrom her again.
Tarzan eyed them in silence. The sight of the boy clinging, sobbing,to his mother aroused within his savage breast a melancholy loneliness.There was none thus to cling to Tarzan, who yearned so for the love ofsomeone, of something.
At last Tibo looked up, because of the quiet that had fallen upon thejungle, and saw Tarzan. He did not shrink.
"Tarzan," he said, in the speech of the great apes of the tribe ofKerchak, "do not take me from Momaya, my mother. Do not take me againto the lair of the hairy, tree men, for I fear Taug and Gunto and theothers. Let me stay with Momaya, O Tarzan, God of the Jungle! Let mestay with Momaya, my mother, and to the end of our days we will blessyou and put food before the gates of the village of Mbonga that you maynever hunger."
Tarzan sighed.
"Go," he said, "back to the village of Mbonga, and Tarzan will followto see that no harm befalls you."
Tibo translated the words to his mother, and the two turned their backsupon the ape-man and started off toward home. In the heart of Momayawas a great fear and a great exultation, for never before had shewalked with God, and never had she been so happy. She strained littleTibo to her, stroking his thin cheek. Tarzan saw and sighed again.
"For Teeka there is Teeka's balu," he soliloquized; "for Sabor thereare balus, and for the she-Gomangani, and for Bara, and for Manu, andeven for Pamba, the rat; but for Tarzan there can be none--neither ashe nor a balu. Tarzan of the Apes is a man, and it must be that manwalks alone."
Bukawai saw them go, and he mumbled through his rotting face, swearinga great oath that he would yet have the three fat goats, the newsleeping mat, and the bit of copper wire.