Chapter 12
Two tall, bearded white men moved cautiously through the jungle fromtheir camp beside a wide river. They were Carl Jenssen and SvenMalbihn, but little altered in appearance since the day, years before,that they and their safari had been so badly frightened by Korak andAkut as the former sought haven with them.
Every year had they come into the jungle to trade with the natives, orto rob them; to hunt and trap; or to guide other white men in the landthey knew so well. Always since their experience with The Sheik hadthey operated at a safe distance from his territory.
Now they were closer to his village than they had been for years, yetsafe enough from discovery owing to the uninhabited nature of theintervening jungle and the fear and enmity of Kovudoo's people for TheSheik, who, in time past, had raided and all but exterminated the tribe.
This year they had come to trap live specimens for a Europeanzoological garden, and today they were approaching a trap which theyhad set in the hope of capturing a specimen of the large baboons thatfrequented the neighborhood. As they approached the trap they becameaware from the noises emanating from its vicinity that their effortshad been crowned with success. The barking and screaming of hundredsof baboons could mean naught else than that one or more of their numberhad fallen a victim to the allurements of the bait.
The extreme caution of the two men was prompted by former experienceswith the intelligent and doglike creatures with which they had to deal.More than one trapper has lost his life in battle with enraged baboonswho will hesitate to attack nothing upon one occasion, while uponanother a single gun shot will disperse hundreds of them.
Heretofore the Swedes had always watched near-by their trap, for as arule only the stronger bulls are thus caught, since in their greedinessthey prevent the weaker from approaching the covered bait, and whenonce within the ordinary rude trap woven on the spot of interlacedbranches they are able, with the aid of their friends upon the outside,to demolish their prison and escape. But in this instance the trappershad utilized a special steel cage which could withstand all thestrength and cunning of a baboon. It was only necessary, therefore, todrive away the herd which they knew were surrounding the prison andwait for their boys who were even now following them to the trap.
As they came within sight of the spot they found conditions preciselyas they had expected. A large male was battering frantically againstthe steel wires of the cage that held him captive. Upon the outsideseveral hundred other baboons were tearing and tugging in his aid, andall were roaring and jabbering and barking at the top of their lungs.
But what neither the Swedes nor the baboons saw was the half-nakedfigure of a youth hidden in the foliage of a nearby tree. He had comeupon the scene at almost the same instant as Jenssen and Malbihn, andwas watching the activities of the baboons with every mark of interest.
Korak's relations with the baboons had never been over friendly. Aspecies of armed toleration had marked their occasional meetings. Thebaboons and Akut had walked stiff legged and growling past one another,while Korak had maintained a bared fang neutrality. So now he was notgreatly disturbed by the predicament of their king. Curiosity promptedhim to tarry a moment, and in that moment his quick eyes caught theunfamiliar coloration of the clothing of the two Swedes behind a bushnot far from him. Now he was all alertness. Who were theseinterlopers? What was their business in the jungle of the Mangani?Korak slunk noiselessly around them to a point where he might get theirscent as well as a better view of them, and scarce had he done so whenhe recognized them--they were the men who had fired upon him yearsbefore. His eyes blazed. He could feel the hairs upon his scalpstiffen at the roots. He watched them with the intentness of a pantherabout to spring upon its prey.
He saw them rise and, shouting, attempt to frighten away the baboons asthey approached the cage. Then one of them raised his rifle and firedinto the midst of the surprised and angry herd. For an instant Korakthought that the baboons were about to charge, but two more shots fromthe rifles of the white men sent them scampering into the trees. Thenthe two Europeans advanced upon the cage. Korak thought that they weregoing to kill the king. He cared nothing for the king but he caredless for the two white men. The king had never attempted to killhim--the white men had. The king was a denizen of his own belovedjungle--the white men were aliens. His loyalty therefore was to thebaboon against the human. He could speak the language of thebaboon--it was identical to that of the great apes. Across theclearing he saw the jabbering horde watching.
Raising his voice he shouted to them. The white men turned at thesound of this new factor behind them. They thought it was anotherbaboon that had circled them; but though they searched the trees withtheir eyes they saw nothing of the now silent figure hidden by thefoliage. Again Korak shouted.
"I am The Killer," he cried. "These men are my enemies and yours. Iwill help you free your king. Run out upon the strangers when you seeme do so, and together we will drive them away and free your king."
And from the baboons came a great chorus: "We will do what you say,Korak."
Dropping from his tree Korak ran toward the two Swedes, and at the sameinstant three hundred baboons followed his example. At sight of thestrange apparition of the half-naked white warrior rushing upon themwith uplifted spear Jenssen and Malbihn raised their rifles and firedat Korak; but in the excitement both missed and a moment later thebaboons were upon them. Now their only hope of safety lay in escape,and dodging here and there, fighting off the great beasts that leapedupon their backs, they ran into the jungle. Even then they would havedied but for the coming of their men whom they met a couple of hundredyards from the cage.
Once the white men had turned in flight Korak gave them no furtherattention, turning instead to the imprisoned baboon. The fastenings ofthe door that had eluded the mental powers of the baboons, yieldedtheir secret immediately to the human intelligence of The Killer, and amoment later the king baboon stepped forth to liberty. He wasted nobreath in thanks to Korak, nor did the young man expect thanks. Heknew that none of the baboons would ever forget his service, though asa matter of fact he did not care if they did. What he had done hadbeen prompted by a desire to be revenged upon the two white men. Thebaboons could never be of service to him. Now they were racing in thedirection of the battle that was being waged between their fellows andthe followers of the two Swedes, and as the din of battle subsided inthe distance, Korak turned and resumed his journey toward the villageof Kovudoo.
On the way he came upon a herd of elephants standing in an open forestglade. Here the trees were too far apart to permit Korak to travelthrough the branches--a trail he much preferred not only because of itsfreedom from dense underbrush and the wider field of vision it gave himbut from pride in his arboreal ability. It was exhilarating to swingfrom tree to tree; to test the prowess of his mighty muscles; to reapthe pleasurable fruits of his hard won agility. Korak joyed in thethrills of the highflung upper terraces of the great forest, where,unhampered and unhindered, he might laugh down upon the great bruteswho must keep forever to the darkness and the gloom of the musty soil.
But here, in this open glade where Tantor flapped his giant ears andswayed his huge bulk from side to side, the ape-man must pass along thesurface of the ground--a pygmy amongst giants. A great bull raised histrunk to rattle a low warning as he sensed the coming of an intruder.His weak eyes roved hither and thither but it was his keen scent andacute hearing which first located the ape-man. The herd movedrestlessly, prepared for fight, for the old bull had caught the scentof man.
"Peace, Tantor," called The Killer. "It is I, Korak, Tarmangani."
The bull lowered his trunk and the herd resumed their interruptedmeditations. Korak passed within a foot of the great bull. A sinuoustrunk undulated toward him, touching his brown hide in a half caress.Korak slapped the great shoulder affectionately as he went by. Foryears he had been upon good terms with Tantor and his people. Of allthe jungle folk he loved best the might
y pachyderm--the most peacefuland at the same time the most terrible of them all. The gentle gazellefeared him not, yet Numa, lord of the jungle, gave him a wide berth.Among the younger bulls, the cows and the calves Korak wound his way.Now and then another trunk would run out to touch him, and once aplayful calf grasped his legs and upset him.
The afternoon was almost spent when Korak arrived at the village ofKovudoo. There were many natives lolling in shady spots beside theconical huts or beneath the branches of the several trees which hadbeen left standing within the enclosure. Warriors were in evidenceupon hand. It was not a good time for a lone enemy to prosecute asearch through the village. Korak determined to await the coming ofdarkness. He was a match for many warriors; but he could not, unaided,overcome an entire tribe--not even for his beloved Meriem. While hewaited among the branches and foliage of a near-by tree he searched thevillage constantly with his keen eyes, and twice he circled it,sniffing the vagrant breezes which puffed erratically from first onepoint of the compass and then another. Among the various stenchespeculiar to a native village the ape-man's sensitive nostrils werefinally rewarded by cognizance of the delicate aroma which marked thepresence of her he sought. Meriem was there--in one of those huts!But which one he could not know without closer investigation, and so hewaited, with the dogged patience of a beast of prey, until night hadfallen.
The camp fires of the blacks dotted the gloom with little points oflight, casting their feeble rays in tiny circles of luminosity thatbrought into glistening relief the naked bodies of those who lay orsquatted about them. It was then that Korak slid silently from thetree that had hidden him and dropped lightly to the ground within theenclosure.
Keeping well in the shadows of the huts he commenced a systematicsearch of the village--ears, eyes and nose constantly upon the alertfor the first intimation of the near presence of Meriem. His progressmust of necessity be slow since not even the keen-eared curs of thesavages must guess the presence of a stranger within the gates. Howclose he came to a detection on several occasions The Killer well knewfrom the restless whining of several of them.
It was not until he reached the back of a hut at the head of the widevillage street that Korak caught again, plainly, the scent of Meriem.With nose close to the thatched wall Korak sniffed eagerly about thestructure--tense and palpitant as a hunting hound. Toward the frontand the door he made his way when once his nose had assured him thatMeriem lay within; but as he rounded the side and came within view ofthe entrance he saw a burly Negro armed with a long spear squatting atthe portal of the girl's prison. The fellow's back was toward him, hisfigure outlined against the glow of cooking fires further down thestreet. He was alone. The nearest of his fellows were beside a firesixty or seventy feet beyond. To enter the hut Korak must eithersilence the sentry or pass him unnoticed. The danger in theaccomplishment of the former alternative lay in the practical certaintyof alarming the warriors near by and bringing them and the balance ofthe village down upon him. To achieve the latter appeared practicallyimpossible. To you or me it would have been impossible; but Korak, TheKiller, was not as you or I.
There was a good twelve inches of space between the broad back of theblack and the frame of the doorway. Could Korak pass through behindthe savage warrior without detection? The light that fell upon theglistening ebony of the sentry's black skin fell also upon the lightbrown of Korak's. Should one of the many further down the streetchance to look long in this direction they must surely note the tall,light-colored, moving figure; but Korak depended upon their interest intheir own gossip to hold their attention fast where it already lay, andupon the firelight near them to prevent them seeing too plainly at adistance into the darkness at the village end where his work lay.
Flattened against the side of the hut, yet not arousing a singlewarning rustle from its dried thatching, The Killer came closer andcloser to the watcher. Now he was at his shoulder. Now he had wormedhis sinuous way behind him. He could feel the heat of the naked bodyagainst his knees. He could hear the man breathe. He marveled thatthe dull-witted creature had not long since been alarmed; but thefellow sat there as ignorant of the presence of another as though thatother had not existed.
Korak moved scarcely more than an inch at a time, then he would standmotionless for a moment. Thus was he worming his way behind the guardwhen the latter straightened up, opened his cavernous mouth in a wideyawn, and stretched his arms above his head. Korak stood rigid asstone. Another step and he would be within the hut. The black loweredhis arms and relaxed. Behind him was the frame work of the doorway.Often before had it supported his sleepy head, and now he leaned backto enjoy the forbidden pleasure of a cat nap.
But instead of the door frame his head and shoulders came in contactwith the warm flesh of a pair of living legs. The exclamation ofsurprise that almost burst from his lips was throttled in his throat bysteel-thewed fingers that closed about his windpipe with the suddennessof thought. The black struggled to arise--to turn upon the creaturethat had seized him--to wriggle from its hold; but all to no purpose.As he had been held in a mighty vise of iron he could not move. Hecould not scream. Those awful fingers at his throat but closed more andmore tightly. His eyes bulged from their sockets. His face turned anashy blue. Presently he relaxed once more--this time in the finaldissolution from which there is no quickening. Korak propped the deadbody against the door frame. There it sat, lifelike in the gloom.Then the ape-man turned and glided into the Stygian darkness of thehut's interior.
"Meriem!" he whispered.
"Korak! My Korak!" came an answering cry, subdued by fear of alarmingher captors, and half stifled by a sob of joyful welcome.
The youth knelt and cut the bonds that held the girl's wrists andankles. A moment later he had lifted her to her feet, and grasping herby the hand led her towards the entrance. Outside the grim sentinel ofdeath kept his grisly vigil. Sniffing at his dead feet whined a mangynative cur. At sight of the two emerging from the hut the beast gavean ugly snarl and an instant later as it caught the scent of thestrange white man it raised a series of excited yelps. Instantly thewarriors at the near-by fire were attracted. They turned their headsin the direction of the commotion. It was impossible that they shouldfail to see the white skins of the fugitives.
Korak slunk quickly into the shadows at the hut's side, drawing Meriemwith him; but he was too late. The blacks had seen enough to arousetheir suspicions and a dozen of them were now running to investigate.The yapping cur was still at Korak's heels leading the searchersunerringly in pursuit. The youth struck viciously at the brute withhis long spear; but, long accustomed to dodging blows, the wilycreature made a most uncertain target.
Other blacks had been alarmed by the running and shouting of theircompanions and now the entire population of the village was swarming upthe street to assist in the search. Their first discovery was the deadbody of the sentry, and a moment later one of the bravest of them hadentered the hut and discovered the absence of the prisoner. Thesestartling announcements filled the blacks with a combination of terrorand rage; but, seeing no foe in evidence they were enabled to permittheir rage to get the better of their terror, and so the leaders,pushed on by those behind them, ran rapidly around the hut in thedirection of the yapping of the mangy cur. Here they found a singlewhite warrior making away with their captive, and recognizing him asthe author of numerous raids and indignities and believing that theyhad him cornered and at a disadvantage, they charged savagely upon him.
Korak, seeing that they were discovered, lifted Meriem to his shouldersand ran for the tree which would give them egress from the village. Hewas handicapped in his flight by the weight of the girl whose legswould but scarce bear her weight, to say nothing of maintaining her inrapid flight, for the tightly drawn bonds that had been about herankles for so long had stopped circulation and partially paralyzed herextremities.
Had this not been the case the escape of the two would have been a featof little moment, since Meriem wa
s scarcely a whit less agile thanKorak, and fully as much at home in the trees as he. But with the girlon his shoulder Korak could not both run and fight to advantage, andthe result was that before he had covered half the distance to the treea score of native curs attracted by the yelping of their mate and theyells and shouts of their masters had closed in upon the fleeing whiteman, snapping at his legs and at last succeeding in tripping him. Ashe went down the hyena-like brutes were upon him, and as he struggledto his feet the blacks closed in.
A couple of them seized the clawing, biting Meriem, and subdued her--ablow upon the head was sufficient. For the ape-man they found moredrastic measures would be necessary.
Weighted down as he was by dogs and warriors he still managed tostruggle to his feet. To right and left he swung crushing blows to thefaces of his human antagonists--to the dogs he paid not the slightestattention other than to seize the more persistent and wring their neckswith a single quick movement of the wrist.
A knob stick aimed at him by an ebon Hercules he caught and wrestedfrom his antagonist, and then the blacks experienced to the full thepossibilities for punishment that lay within those smooth flowingmuscles beneath the velvet brown skin of the strange, white giant. Herushed among them with all the force and ferocity of a bull elephantgone mad. Hither and thither he charged striking down the few who hadthe temerity to stand against him, and it was evident that unless achance spear thrust brought him down he would rout the entire villageand regain his prize. But old Kovudoo was not to be so easily robbedof the ransom which the girl represented, and seeing that their attackwhich had up to now resulted in a series of individual combats with thewhite warrior, he called his tribesmen off, and forming them in acompact body about the girl and the two who watched over her bid themdo nothing more than repel the assaults of the ape-man.
Again and again Korak rushed against this human barricade bristlingwith spear points. Again and again he was repulsed, often with severewounds to caution him to greater wariness. From head to foot he wasred with his own blood, and at last, weakening from the loss of it, hecame to the bitter realization that alone he could do no more to succorhis Meriem.
Presently an idea flashed through his brain. He called aloud to thegirl. She had regained consciousness now and replied.
"Korak goes," he shouted; "but he will return and take you from theGomangani. Good-bye, my Meriem. Korak will come for you again."
"Good-bye!" cried the girl. "Meriem will look for you until you come."
Like a flash, and before they could know his intention or prevent him,Korak wheeled, raced across the village and with a single leapdisappeared into the foliage of the great tree that was his highroad tothe village of Kovudoo. A shower of spears followed him, but theironly harvest was a taunting laugh flung back from out the darkness ofthe jungle.