Chapter 7
Betrayed
The two savages, Kaviri and Mugambi, squatting before the entrance toKaviri's hut, looked at one another--Kaviri with ill-concealed alarm.
"What is it?" he whispered.
"It is Bwana Tarzan and his people," replied Mugambi. "But what theyare doing I know not, unless it be that they are devouring your peoplewho ran away."
Kaviri shuddered and rolled his eyes fearfully toward the jungle. Inall his long life in the savage forest he had never heard such anawful, fearsome din.
Closer and closer came the sounds, and now with them were mingled theterrified shrieks of women and children and of men. For twenty longminutes the blood-curdling cries continued, until they seemed but astone's throw from the palisade. Kaviri rose to flee, but Mugambiseized and held him, for such had been the command of Tarzan.
A moment later a horde of terrified natives burst from the jungle,racing toward the shelter of their huts. Like frightened sheep theyran, and behind them, driving them as sheep might be driven, cameTarzan and Sheeta and the hideous apes of Akut.
Presently Tarzan stood before Kaviri, the old quiet smile upon his lips.
"Your people have returned, my brother," he said, "and now you mayselect those who are to accompany me and paddle my canoe."
Tremblingly Kaviri tottered to his feet, calling to his people to comefrom their huts; but none responded to his summons.
"Tell them," suggested Tarzan, "that if they do not come I shall sendmy people in after them."
Kaviri did as he was bid, and in an instant the entire population ofthe village came forth, their wide and frightened eyes rolling from oneto another of the savage creatures that wandered about the villagestreet.
Quickly Kaviri designated a dozen warriors to accompany Tarzan. Thepoor fellows went almost white with terror at the prospect of closecontact with the panther and the apes in the narrow confines of thecanoes; but when Kaviri explained to them that there was noescape--that Bwana Tarzan would pursue them with his grim horde shouldthey attempt to run away from the duty--they finally went gloomily downto the river and took their places in the canoe.
It was with a sigh of relief that their chieftain saw the partydisappear about a headland a short distance up-river.
For three days the strange company continued farther and farther intothe heart of the savage country that lies on either side of the almostunexplored Ugambi. Three of the twelve warriors deserted during thattime; but as several of the apes had finally learned the secret of thepaddles, Tarzan felt no dismay because of the loss.
As a matter of fact, he could have travelled much more rapidly onshore, but he believed that he could hold his own wild crew together tobetter advantage by keeping them to the boat as much as possible.Twice a day they landed to hunt and feed, and at night they slept uponthe bank of the mainland or on one of the numerous little islands thatdotted the river.
Before them the natives fled in alarm, so that they found only desertedvillages in their path as they proceeded. Tarzan was anxious to getin touch with some of the savages who dwelt upon the river's banks, butso far he had been unable to do so.
Finally he decided to take to the land himself, leaving his company tofollow after him by boat. He explained to Mugambi the thing that hehad in mind, and told Akut to follow the directions of the black.
"I will join you again in a few days," he said. "Now I go ahead tolearn what has become of the very bad white man whom I seek."
At the next halt Tarzan took to the shore, and was soon lost to theview of his people.
The first few villages he came to were deserted, showing that news ofthe coming of his pack had travelled rapidly; but toward evening hecame upon a distant cluster of thatched huts surrounded by a rudepalisade, within which were a couple of hundred natives.
The women were preparing the evening meal as Tarzan of the Apes poisedabove them in the branches of a giant tree which overhung the palisadeat one point.
The ape-man was at a loss as to how he might enter into communicationwith these people without either frightening them or arousing theirsavage love of battle. He had no desire to fight now, for he was upona much more important mission than that of battling with every chancetribe that he should happen to meet with.
At last he hit upon a plan, and after seeing that he was concealed fromthe view of those below, he gave a few hoarse grunts in imitation of apanther. All eyes immediately turned upward toward the foliage above.
It was growing dark, and they could not penetrate the leafy screenwhich shielded the ape-man from their view. The moment that he had wontheir attention he raised his voice to the shriller and more hideousscream of the beast he personated, and then, scarce stirring a leaf inhis descent, dropped to the ground once again outside the palisade,and, with the speed of a deer, ran quickly round to the village gate.
Here he beat upon the fibre-bound saplings of which the barrier wasconstructed, shouting to the natives in their own tongue that he was afriend who wished food and shelter for the night.
Tarzan knew well the nature of the black man. He was aware that thegrunting and screaming of Sheeta in the tree above them would set theirnerves on edge, and that his pounding upon their gate after dark wouldstill further add to their terror.
That they did not reply to his hail was no surprise, for natives arefearful of any voice that comes out of the night from beyond theirpalisades, attributing it always to some demon or other ghostlyvisitor; but still he continued to call.
"Let me in, my friends!" he cried. "I am a white man pursuing the verybad white man who passed this way a few days ago. I follow to punishhim for the sins he has committed against you and me.
"If you doubt my friendship, I will prove it to you by going into thetree above your village and driving Sheeta back into the jungle beforehe leaps among you. If you will not promise to take me in and treat meas a friend I shall let Sheeta stay and devour you."
For a moment there was silence. Then the voice of an old man came outof the quiet of the village street.
"If you are indeed a white man and a friend, we will let you come in;but first you must drive Sheeta away."
"Very well," replied Tarzan. "Listen, and you shall hear Sheetafleeing before me."
The ape-man returned quickly to the tree, and this time he made a greatnoise as he entered the branches, at the same time growling ominouslyafter the manner of the panther, so that those below would believe thatthe great beast was still there.
When he reached a point well above the village street he made a greatcommotion, shaking the tree violently, crying aloud to the panther toflee or be killed, and punctuating his own voice with the screams andmouthings of an angry beast.
Presently he raced toward the opposite side of the tree and off intothe jungle, pounding loudly against the boles of trees as he went, andvoicing the panther's diminishing growls as he drew farther and fartheraway from the village.
A few minutes later he returned to the village gate, calling to thenatives within.
"I have driven Sheeta away," he said. "Now come and admit me as youpromised."
For a time there was the sound of excited discussion within thepalisade, but at length a half-dozen warriors came and opened thegates, peering anxiously out in evident trepidation as to the nature ofthe creature which they should find waiting there. They were not muchrelieved at sight of an almost naked white man; but when Tarzan hadreassured them in quiet tones, protesting his friendship for them, theyopened the barrier a trifle farther and admitted him.
When the gates had been once more secured the self-confidence of thesavages returned, and as Tarzan walked up the village street toward thechief's hut he was surrounded by a host of curious men, women, andchildren.
From the chief he learned that Rokoff had passed up the river a weekprevious, and that he had horns growing from his forehead, and wasaccompanied by a thousand devils. Later the chief said that the verybad white man had remained a month in his v
illage.
Though none of these statements agreed with Kaviri's, that the Russianwas but three days gone from the chieftain's village and that hisfollowing was much smaller than now stated, Tarzan was in no mannersurprised at the discrepancies, for he was quite familiar with thesavage mind's strange manner of functioning.
What he was most interested in knowing was that he was upon the righttrail, and that it led toward the interior. In this circumstance heknew that Rokoff could never escape him.
After several hours of questioning and cross-questioning the ape-manlearned that another party had preceded the Russian by severaldays--three whites--a man, a woman, and a little man-child, withseveral Mosulas.
Tarzan explained to the chief that his people would follow him in acanoe, probably the next day, and that though he might go on ahead ofthem the chief was to receive them kindly and have no fear of them, forMugambi would see that they did not harm the chief's people, if theywere accorded a friendly reception.
"And now," he concluded, "I shall lie down beneath this tree and sleep.I am very tired. Permit no one to disturb me."
The chief offered him a hut, but Tarzan, from past experience of nativedwellings, preferred the open air, and, further, he had plans of hisown that could be better carried out if he remained beneath the tree.He gave as his reason a desire to be close at hand should Sheetareturn, and after this explanation the chief was very glad to permithim to sleep beneath the tree.
Tarzan had always found that it stood him in good stead to leave withnatives the impression that he was to some extent possessed of more orless miraculous powers. He might easily have entered their villagewithout recourse to the gates, but he believed that a sudden andunaccountable disappearance when he was ready to leave them wouldresult in a more lasting impression upon their childlike minds, and soas soon as the village was quiet in sleep he rose, and, leaping intothe branches of the tree above him, faded silently into the blackmystery of the jungle night.
All the balance of that night the ape-man swung rapidly through theupper and middle terraces of the forest. When the going was good therehe preferred the upper branches of the giant trees, for then his waywas better lighted by the moon; but so accustomed were all his sensesto the grim world of his birth that it was possible for him, even inthe dense, black shadows near the ground, to move with ease andrapidity. You or I walking beneath the arcs of Main Street, orBroadway, or State Street, could not have moved more surely or with atenth the speed of the agile ape-man through the gloomy mazes thatwould have baffled us entirely.
At dawn he stopped to feed, and then he slept for several hours, takingup the pursuit again toward noon.
Twice he came upon natives, and, though he had considerable difficultyin approaching them, he succeeded in each instance in quieting boththeir fears and bellicose intentions toward him, and learned from themthat he was upon the trail of the Russian.
Two days later, still following up the Ugambi, he came upon a largevillage. The chief, a wicked-looking fellow with the sharp-filed teeththat often denote the cannibal, received him with apparent friendliness.
The ape-man was now thoroughly fatigued, and had determined to rest foreight or ten hours that he might be fresh and strong when he caught upwith Rokoff, as he was sure he must do within a very short time.
The chief told him that the bearded white man had left his village onlythe morning before, and that doubtless he would be able to overtake himin a short time. The other party the chief had not seen or heard of,so he said.
Tarzan did not like the appearance or manner of the fellow, who seemed,though friendly enough, to harbour a certain contempt for thishalf-naked white man who came with no followers and offered nopresents; but he needed the rest and food that the village would affordhim with less effort than the jungle, and so, as he knew no fear ofman, beast, or devil, he curled himself up in the shadow of a hut andwas soon asleep.
Scarcely had he left the chief than the latter called two of hiswarriors, to whom he whispered a few instructions. A moment later thesleek, black bodies were racing along the river path, up-stream, towardthe east.
In the village the chief maintained perfect quiet. He would permit noone to approach the sleeping visitor, nor any singing, nor loudtalking. He was remarkably solicitous lest his guest be disturbed.
Three hours later several canoes came silently into view from up theUgambi. They were being pushed ahead rapidly by the brawny muscles oftheir black crews. Upon the bank before the river stood the chief, hisspear raised in a horizontal position above his head, as though in somemanner of predetermined signal to those within the boats.
And such indeed was the purpose of his attitude--which meant that thewhite stranger within his village still slept peacefully.
In the bows of two of the canoes were the runners that the chief hadsent forth three hours earlier. It was evident that they had beendispatched to follow and bring back this party, and that the signalfrom the bank was one that had been determined upon before they leftthe village.
In a few moments the dugouts drew up to the verdure-clad bank. Thenative warriors filed out, and with them a half-dozen white men.Sullen, ugly-looking customers they were, and none more so than theevil-faced, black-bearded man who commanded them.
"Where is the white man your messengers report to be with you?" heasked of the chief.
"This way, bwana," replied the native. "Carefully have I kept silencein the village that he might be still asleep when you returned. I donot know that he is one who seeks you to do you harm, but he questionedme closely about your coming and your going, and his appearance is asthat of the one you described, but whom you believed safe in thecountry which you called Jungle Island.
"Had you not told me this tale I should not have recognized him, andthen he might have gone after and slain you. If he is a friend and noenemy, then no harm has been done, bwana; but if he proves to be anenemy, I should like very much to have a rifle and some ammunition."
"You have done well," replied the white man, "and you shall have therifle and ammunition whether he be a friend or enemy, provided that youstand with me."
"I shall stand with you, bwana," said the chief, "and now come and lookupon the stranger, who sleeps within my village."
So saying, he turned and led the way toward the hut, in the shadow ofwhich the unconscious Tarzan slept peacefully.
Behind the two men came the remaining whites and a score of warriors;but the raised forefingers of the chief and his companion held them allto perfect silence.
As they turned the corner of the hut, cautiously and upon tiptoe, anugly smile touched the lips of the white as his eyes fell upon thegiant figure of the sleeping ape-man.
The chief looked at the other inquiringly. The latter nodded his head,to signify that the chief had made no mistake in his suspicions. Thenhe turned to those behind him and, pointing to the sleeping man,motioned for them to seize and bind him.
A moment later a dozen brutes had leaped upon the surprised Tarzan, andso quickly did they work that he was securely bound before he couldmake half an effort to escape.
Then they threw him down upon his back, and as his eyes turned towardthe crowd that stood near, they fell upon the malign face of NikolasRokoff.
A sneer curled the Russian's lips. He stepped quite close to Tarzan.
"Pig!" he cried. "Have you not learned sufficient wisdom to keep awayfrom Nikolas Rokoff?"
Then he kicked the prostrate man full in the face.
"That for your welcome," he said.
"Tonight, before my Ethiop friends eat you, I shall tell you what hasalready befallen your wife and child, and what further plans I have fortheir futures."