Chapter IX
Man and Man
Tarzan of the Apes lived on in his wild, jungle existence with littlechange for several years, only that he grew stronger and wiser, andlearned from his books more and more of the strange worlds which laysomewhere outside his primeval forest.
To him life was never monotonous or stale. There was always Pisah, thefish, to be caught in the many streams and the little lakes, and Sabor,with her ferocious cousins to keep one ever on the alert and give zestto every instant that one spent upon the ground.
Often they hunted him, and more often he hunted them, but though theynever quite reached him with those cruel, sharp claws of theirs, yetthere were times when one could scarce have passed a thick leaf betweentheir talons and his smooth hide.
Quick was Sabor, the lioness, and quick were Numa and Sheeta, butTarzan of the Apes was lightning.
With Tantor, the elephant, he made friends. How? Ask not. But thisis known to the denizens of the jungle, that on many moonlight nightsTarzan of the Apes and Tantor, the elephant, walked together, and wherethe way was clear Tarzan rode, perched high upon Tantor's mighty back.
Many days during these years he spent in the cabin of his father, wherestill lay, untouched, the bones of his parents and the skeleton ofKala's baby. At eighteen he read fluently and understood nearly all heread in the many and varied volumes on the shelves.
Also could he write, with printed letters, rapidly and plainly, butscript he had not mastered, for though there were several copy booksamong his treasure, there was so little written English in the cabinthat he saw no use for bothering with this other form of writing,though he could read it, laboriously.
Thus, at eighteen, we find him, an English lordling, who could speak noEnglish, and yet who could read and write his native language. Neverhad he seen a human being other than himself, for the little areatraversed by his tribe was watered by no greater river to bring downthe savage natives of the interior.
High hills shut it off on three sides, the ocean on the fourth. It wasalive with lions and leopards and poisonous snakes. Its untouchedmazes of matted jungle had as yet invited no hardy pioneer from thehuman beasts beyond its frontier.
But as Tarzan of the Apes sat one day in the cabin of his fatherdelving into the mysteries of a new book, the ancient security of hisjungle was broken forever.
At the far eastern confine a strange cavalcade strung, in single file,over the brow of a low hill.
In advance were fifty black warriors armed with slender wooden spearswith ends hard baked over slow fires, and long bows and poisonedarrows. On their backs were oval shields, in their noses huge rings,while from the kinky wool of their heads protruded tufts of gayfeathers.
Across their foreheads were tattooed three parallel lines of color, andon each breast three concentric circles. Their yellow teeth were filedto sharp points, and their great protruding lips added still further tothe low and bestial brutishness of their appearance.
Following them were several hundred women and children, the formerbearing upon their heads great burdens of cooking pots, householdutensils and ivory. In the rear were a hundred warriors, similar inall respects to the advance guard.
That they more greatly feared an attack from the rear than whateverunknown enemies lurked in their advance was evidenced by the formationof the column; and such was the fact, for they were fleeing from thewhite man's soldiers who had so harassed them for rubber and ivory thatthey had turned upon their conquerors one day and massacred a whiteofficer and a small detachment of his black troops.
For many days they had gorged themselves on meat, but eventually astronger body of troops had come and fallen upon their village by nightto revenge the death of their comrades.
That night the black soldiers of the white man had had meat a-plenty,and this little remnant of a once powerful tribe had slunk off into thegloomy jungle toward the unknown, and freedom.
But that which meant freedom and the pursuit of happiness to thesesavage blacks meant consternation and death to many of the wilddenizens of their new home.
For three days the little cavalcade marched slowly through the heart ofthis unknown and untracked forest, until finally, early in the fourthday, they came upon a little spot near the banks of a small river,which seemed less thickly overgrown than any ground they had yetencountered.
Here they set to work to build a new village, and in a month a greatclearing had been made, huts and palisades erected, plantains, yams andmaize planted, and they had taken up their old life in their new home.Here there were no white men, no soldiers, nor any rubber or ivory tobe gathered for cruel and thankless taskmasters.
Several moons passed by ere the blacks ventured far into the territorysurrounding their new village. Several had already fallen prey to oldSabor, and because the jungle was so infested with these fierce andbloodthirsty cats, and with lions and leopards, the ebony warriorshesitated to trust themselves far from the safety of their palisades.
But one day, Kulonga, a son of the old king, Mbonga, wandered far intothe dense mazes to the west. Warily he stepped, his slender lance everready, his long oval shield firmly grasped in his left hand close tohis sleek ebony body.
At his back his bow, and in the quiver upon his shield many slim,straight arrows, well smeared with the thick, dark, tarry substancethat rendered deadly their tiniest needle prick.
Night found Kulonga far from the palisades of his father's village, butstill headed westward, and climbing into the fork of a great tree hefashioned a rude platform and curled himself for sleep.
Three miles to the west slept the tribe of Kerchak.
Early the next morning the apes were astir, moving through the junglein search of food. Tarzan, as was his custom, prosecuted his search inthe direction of the cabin so that by leisurely hunting on the way hisstomach was filled by the time he reached the beach.
The apes scattered by ones, and twos, and threes in all directions, butever within sound of a signal of alarm.
Kala had moved slowly along an elephant track toward the east, and wasbusily engaged in turning over rotted limbs and logs in search ofsucculent bugs and fungi, when the faintest shadow of a strange noisebrought her to startled attention.
For fifty yards before her the trail was straight, and down this leafytunnel she saw the stealthy advancing figure of a strange and fearfulcreature.
It was Kulonga.
Kala did not wait to see more, but, turning, moved rapidly back alongthe trail. She did not run; but, after the manner of her kind when notaroused, sought rather to avoid than to escape.
Close after her came Kulonga. Here was meat. He could make a killingand feast well this day. On he hurried, his spear poised for the throw.
At a turning of the trail he came in sight of her again upon anotherstraight stretch. His spear hand went far back, the muscles rolled,lightning-like, beneath the sleek hide. Out shot the arm, and thespear sped toward Kala.
A poor cast. It but grazed her side.
With a cry of rage and pain the she-ape turned upon her tormentor. Inan instant the trees were crashing beneath the weight of her hurryingfellows, swinging rapidly toward the scene of trouble in answer toKala's scream.
As she charged, Kulonga unslung his bow and fitted an arrow with almostunthinkable quickness. Drawing the shaft far back he drove thepoisoned missile straight into the heart of the great anthropoid.
With a horrid scream Kala plunged forward upon her face before theastonished members of her tribe.
Roaring and shrieking the apes dashed toward Kulonga, but that warysavage was fleeing down the trail like a frightened antelope.
He knew something of the ferocity of these wild, hairy men, and his onedesire was to put as many miles between himself and them as he possiblycould.
They followed him, racing through the trees, for a long distance, butfinally one by one they abandoned the chase and returned to the sceneof the tragedy.
None of them had ever seen a man be
fore, other than Tarzan, and so theywondered vaguely what strange manner of creature it might be that hadinvaded their jungle.
On the far beach by the little cabin Tarzan heard the faint echoes ofthe conflict and knowing that something was seriously amiss among thetribe he hastened rapidly toward the direction of the sound.
When he arrived he found the entire tribe gathered jabbering about thedead body of his slain mother.
Tarzan's grief and anger were unbounded. He roared out his hideouschallenge time and again. He beat upon his great chest with hisclenched fists, and then he fell upon the body of Kala and sobbed outthe pitiful sorrowing of his lonely heart.
To lose the only creature in all his world who ever had manifested loveand affection for him was the greatest tragedy he had ever known.
What though Kala was a fierce and hideous ape! To Tarzan she had beenkind, she had been beautiful.
Upon her he had lavished, unknown to himself, all the reverence andrespect and love that a normal English boy feels for his own mother.He had never known another, and so to Kala was given, though mutely,all that would have belonged to the fair and lovely Lady Alice had shelived.
After the first outburst of grief Tarzan controlled himself, andquestioning the members of the tribe who had witnessed the killing ofKala he learned all that their meager vocabulary could convey.
It was enough, however, for his needs. It told him of a strange,hairless, black ape with feathers growing upon its head, who launcheddeath from a slender branch, and then ran, with the fleetness of Bara,the deer, toward the rising sun.
Tarzan waited no longer, but leaping into the branches of the treessped rapidly through the forest. He knew the windings of the elephanttrail along which Kala's murderer had flown, and so he cut straightthrough the jungle to intercept the black warrior who was evidentlyfollowing the tortuous detours of the trail.
At his side was the hunting knife of his unknown sire, and across hisshoulders the coils of his own long rope. In an hour he struck thetrail again, and coming to earth examined the soil minutely.
In the soft mud on the bank of a tiny rivulet he found footprints suchas he alone in all the jungle had ever made, but much larger than his.His heart beat fast. Could it be that he was trailing a MAN--one ofhis own race?
There were two sets of imprints pointing in opposite directions. Sohis quarry had already passed on his return along the trail. As heexamined the newer spoor a tiny particle of earth toppled from theouter edge of one of the footprints to the bottom of its shallowdepression--ah, the trail was very fresh, his prey must have butscarcely passed.
Tarzan swung himself to the trees once more, and with swiftnoiselessness sped along high above the trail.
He had covered barely a mile when he came upon the black warriorstanding in a little open space. In his hand was his slender bow towhich he had fitted one of his death dealing arrows.
Opposite him across the little clearing stood Horta, the boar, withlowered head and foam flecked tusks, ready to charge.
Tarzan looked with wonder upon the strange creature beneath him--solike him in form and yet so different in face and color. His books hadportrayed the NEGRO, but how different had been the dull, dead print tothis sleek thing of ebony, pulsing with life.
As the man stood there with taut drawn bow Tarzan recognized him not somuch the NEGRO as the ARCHER of his picture book--
A stands for Archer
How wonderful! Tarzan almost betrayed his presence in the deepexcitement of his discovery.
But things were commencing to happen below him. The sinewy black armhad drawn the shaft far back; Horta, the boar, was charging, and thenthe black released the little poisoned arrow, and Tarzan saw it flywith the quickness of thought and lodge in the bristling neck of theboar.
Scarcely had the shaft left his bow ere Kulonga had fitted another toit, but Horta, the boar, was upon him so quickly that he had no time todischarge it. With a bound the black leaped entirely over the rushingbeast and turning with incredible swiftness planted a second arrow inHorta's back.
Then Kulonga sprang into a near-by tree.
Horta wheeled to charge his enemy once more; a dozen steps he took,then he staggered and fell upon his side. For a moment his musclesstiffened and relaxed convulsively, then he lay still.
Kulonga came down from his tree.
With a knife that hung at his side he cut several large pieces from theboar's body, and in the center of the trail he built a fire, cookingand eating as much as he wanted. The rest he left where it had fallen.
Tarzan was an interested spectator. His desire to kill burned fiercelyin his wild breast, but his desire to learn was even greater. He wouldfollow this savage creature for a while and know from whence he came.He could kill him at his leisure later, when the bow and deadly arrowswere laid aside.
When Kulonga had finished his repast and disappeared beyond a nearturning of the path, Tarzan dropped quietly to the ground. With hisknife he severed many strips of meat from Horta's carcass, but he didnot cook them.
He had seen fire, but only when Ara, the lightning, had destroyed somegreat tree. That any creature of the jungle could produce thered-and-yellow fangs which devoured wood and left nothing but fine dustsurprised Tarzan greatly, and why the black warrior had ruined hisdelicious repast by plunging it into the blighting heat was quitebeyond him. Possibly Ara was a friend with whom the Archer was sharinghis food.
But, be that as it may, Tarzan would not ruin good meat in any suchfoolish manner, so he gobbled down a great quantity of the raw flesh,burying the balance of the carcass beside the trail where he could findit upon his return.
And then Lord Greystoke wiped his greasy fingers upon his naked thighsand took up the trail of Kulonga, the son of Mbonga, the king; while infar-off London another Lord Greystoke, the younger brother of the realLord Greystoke's father, sent back his chops to the club's CHEF becausethey were underdone, and when he had finished his repast he dipped hisfinger-ends into a silver bowl of scented water and dried them upon apiece of snowy damask.
All day Tarzan followed Kulonga, hovering above him in the trees likesome malign spirit. Twice more he saw him hurl his arrows ofdestruction--once at Dango, the hyena, and again at Manu, the monkey.In each instance the animal died almost instantly, for Kulonga's poisonwas very fresh and very deadly.
Tarzan thought much on this wondrous method of slaying as he swungslowly along at a safe distance behind his quarry. He knew that alonethe tiny prick of the arrow could not so quickly dispatch these wildthings of the jungle, who were often torn and scratched and gored in afrightful manner as they fought with their jungle neighbors, yet asoften recovered as not.
No, there was something mysterious connected with these tiny slivers ofwood which could bring death by a mere scratch. He must look into thematter.
That night Kulonga slept in the crotch of a mighty tree and far abovehim crouched Tarzan of the Apes.
When Kulonga awoke he found that his bow and arrows had disappeared.The black warrior was furious and frightened, but more frightened thanfurious. He searched the ground below the tree, and he searched thetree above the ground; but there was no sign of either bow or arrows orof the nocturnal marauder.
Kulonga was panic-stricken. His spear he had hurled at Kala and hadnot recovered; and, now that his bow and arrows were gone, he wasdefenseless except for a single knife. His only hope lay in reachingthe village of Mbonga as quickly as his legs would carry him.
That he was not far from home he was certain, so he took the trail at arapid trot.
From a great mass of impenetrable foliage a few yards away emergedTarzan of the Apes to swing quietly in his wake.
Kulonga's bow and arrows were securely tied high in the top of a gianttree from which a patch of bark had been removed by a sharp knife nearto the ground, and a branch half cut through and left hanging aboutfifty feet higher up. Thus Tarzan blazed the forest trails and markedhis caches.
As
Kulonga continued his journey Tarzan closed on him until he traveledalmost over the black's head. His rope he now held coiled in his righthand; he was almost ready for the kill.
The moment was delayed only because Tarzan was anxious to ascertain theblack warrior's destination, and presently he was rewarded, for theycame suddenly in view of a great clearing, at one end of which lay manystrange lairs.
Tarzan was directly over Kulonga, as he made the discovery. The forestended abruptly and beyond lay two hundred yards of planted fieldsbetween the jungle and the village.
Tarzan must act quickly or his prey would be gone; but Tarzan's lifetraining left so little space between decision and action when anemergency confronted him that there was not even room for the shadow ofa thought between.
So it was that as Kulonga emerged from the shadow of the jungle aslender coil of rope sped sinuously above him from the lowest branch ofa mighty tree directly upon the edge of the fields of Mbonga, and erethe king's son had taken a half dozen steps into the clearing a quicknoose tightened about his neck.
So quickly did Tarzan of the Apes drag back his prey that Kulonga's cryof alarm was throttled in his windpipe. Hand over hand Tarzan drew thestruggling black until he had him hanging by his neck in mid-air; thenTarzan climbed to a larger branch drawing the still threshing victimwell up into the sheltering verdure of the tree.
Here he fastened the rope securely to a stout branch, and then,descending, plunged his hunting knife into Kulonga's heart. Kala wasavenged.
Tarzan examined the black minutely, for he had never seen any otherhuman being. The knife with its sheath and belt caught his eye; heappropriated them. A copper anklet also took his fancy, and this hetransferred to his own leg.
He examined and admired the tattooing on the forehead and breast. Hemarveled at the sharp filed teeth. He investigated and appropriatedthe feathered headdress, and then he prepared to get down to business,for Tarzan of the Apes was hungry, and here was meat; meat of the kill,which jungle ethics permitted him to eat.
How may we judge him, by what standards, this ape-man with the heartand head and body of an English gentleman, and the training of a wildbeast?
Tublat, whom he had hated and who had hated him, he had killed in afair fight, and yet never had the thought of eating Tublat's fleshentered his head. It would have been as revolting to him as iscannibalism to us.
But who was Kulonga that he might not be eaten as fairly as Horta, theboar, or Bara, the deer? Was he not simply another of the countlesswild things of the jungle who preyed upon one another to satisfy thecravings of hunger?
Suddenly, a strange doubt stayed his hand. Had not his books taughthim that he was a man? And was not The Archer a man, also?
Did men eat men? Alas, he did not know. Why, then, this hesitancy!Once more he essayed the effort, but a qualm of nausea overwhelmed him.He did not understand.
All he knew was that he could not eat the flesh of this black man, andthus hereditary instinct, ages old, usurped the functions of hisuntaught mind and saved him from transgressing a worldwide law of whosevery existence he was ignorant.
Quickly he lowered Kulonga's body to the ground, removed the noose, andtook to the trees again.