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Tarzan the Untamed

E >> Edgar Rice Burroughs >> Tarzan the Untamed




The heavy limb bent beneath the weight of the two beasts as Sheeta
crept cautiously out upon it and Tarzan backed slowly away, growling.
The wind had risen to the proportions of a gale so that even the
greatest giants of the forest swayed, groaning, to its force and
the branch upon which the two faced each other rose and fell like
the deck of a storm-tossed ship. Goro was now entirely obscured,
but vivid flashes of lightning lit up the jungle at brief intervals,
revealing the grim tableau of primitive passion upon the swaying
limb.

Tarzan backed away, drawing Sheeta farther from the stem of the
tree and out upon the tapering branch, where his footing became
ever more precarious. The cat, infuriated by the pain of spear
wounds, was overstepping the bounds of caution. Already he had
reached a point where he could do little more than maintain a secure
footing, and it was this moment that Tarzan chose to charge. With
a roar that mingled with the booming thunder from above he leaped
toward the panther, who could only claw futilely with one huge paw
while he clung to the branch with the other; but the ape-man did
not come within that parabola of destruction. Instead he leaped
above menacing claws and snapping fangs, turning in mid-air and
alighting upon Sheeta's back, and at the instant of impact his knife
struck deep into the tawny side. Then Sheeta, impelled by pain and
hate and rage and the first law of Nature, went mad. Screaming
and clawing he attempted to turn upon the ape-thing clinging to
his back. For an instant he toppled upon the now wildly gyrating
limb, clutched frantically to save himself, and then plunged downward
into the darkness with Tarzan still clinging to him. Crashing
through splintering branches the two fell. Not for an instant did
the ape-man consider relinquishing his death-hold upon his adversary.
He had entered the lists in mortal combat and true to the primitive
instincts of the wild--the unwritten law of the jungle--one or both
must die before the battle ended.

Sheeta, catlike, alighted upon four out-sprawled feet, the weight
of the ape-man crushing him to earth, the long knife again imbedded
in his side. Once the panther struggled to rise; but only to sink
to earth again. Tarzan felt the giant muscles relax beneath him.
Sheeta was dead. Rising, the ape-man placed a foot upon the body of
his vanquished foe, raised his face toward the thundering heavens,
and as the lightning flashed and the torrential rain broke upon
him, screamed forth the wild victory cry of the bull ape.

Having accomplished his aim and driven the enemy from his lair,
Tarzan gathered an armful of large fronds and climbed to his dripping
couch. Laying a few of the fronds upon the poles he lay down and
covered himself against the rain with the others, and despite the
wailing of the wind and the crashing of the thunder, immediately
fell asleep.





The Lion's Cave




The rain lasted for twenty-four hours and much of the time it fell
in torrents so that when it ceased, the trail he had been following
was entirely obliterated. Cold and uncomfortable--it was a savage
Tarzan who threaded the mazes of the soggy jungle. Manu, the
monkey, shivering and chattering in the dank trees, scolded and fled
at his approach. Even the panthers and the lions let the growling
Tarmangani pass unmolested.

When the sun shone again upon the second day and a wide, open plain
let the full heat of Kudu flood the chilled, brown body, Tarzan's
spirits rose; but it was still a sullen, surly brute that moved
steadily onward into the south where he hoped again to pick up the
trail of the Germans. He was now in German East Africa and it was
his intention to skirt the mountains west of Kilimanjaro, whose
rugged peaks he was quite willing to give a wide berth, and then
swing eastward along the south side of the range to the railway that
led to Tanga, for his experience among men suggested that it was
toward this railroad that German troops would be likely to converge.

Two days later, from the southern slopes of Kilimanjaro, he heard
the boom of cannon far away to the east. The afternoon had been
dull and cloudy and now as he was passing through a narrow gorge a
few great drops of rain began to splatter upon his naked shoulders.
Tarzan shook his head and growled his disapproval; then he cast his
eyes about for shelter, for he had had quite enough of the cold and
drenching. He wanted to hasten on in the direction of the booming
noise, for he knew that there would be Germans fighting against the
English. For an instant his bosom swelled with pride at the thought
that he was English and then he shook his head again viciously.
"No!" he muttered, "Tarzan of the Apes is not English, for the
English are men and Tarzan is Tarmangani;" but he could not hide
even from his sorrow or from his sullen hatred of mankind in general
that his heart warmed at the thought it was Englishmen who fought
the Germans. His regret was that the English were human and not
great white apes as he again considered himself.

"Tomorrow," he thought, "I will travel that way and find the Germans,"
and then he set himself to the immediate task of discovering some
shelter from the storm. Presently he espied the low and narrow
entrance to what appeared to be a cave at the base of the cliffs
which formed the northern side of the gorge. With drawn knife he
approached the spot warily, for he knew that if it were a cave it
was doubtless the lair of some other beast. Before the entrance lay
many large fragments of rock of different sizes, similar to others
scattered along the entire base of the cliff, and it was in Tarzan's
mind that if he found the cave unoccupied he would barricade the
door and insure himself a quiet and peaceful night's repose within
the sheltered interior. Let the storm rage without-Tarzan would
remain within until it ceased, comfortable and dry. A tiny rivulet
of cold water trickled outward from the opening.

Close to the cave Tarzan kneeled and sniffed the ground. A low
growl escaped him and his upper lip curved to expose his fighting
fangs. "Numa!" he muttered; but he did not stop. Numa might not be
at home--he would investigate. The entrance was so low that the
ape-man was compelled to drop to all fours before he could poke
his head within the aperture; but first he looked, listened, and
sniffed in each direction at his rear--he would not be taken by
surprise from that quarter.

His first glance within the cave revealed a narrow tunnel with
daylight at its farther end. The interior of the tunnel was not so
dark but that the ape-man could readily see that it was untenanted
at present. Advancing cautiously he crawled toward the opposite
end imbued with a full realization of what it would mean if Numa
should suddenly enter the tunnel in front of him; but Numa did not
appear and the ape-man emerged at length into the open and stood
erect, finding himself in a rocky cleft whose precipitous walls
rose almost sheer on every hand, the tunnel from the gorge passing
through the cliff and forming a passageway from the outer world
into a large pocket or gulch entirely enclosed by steep walls of
rock. Except for the small passageway from the gorge, there was no
other entrance to the gulch which was some hundred feet in length
and about fifty in width and appeared to have been worn from the
rocky cliff by the falling of water during long ages. A tiny stream
from Kilimanjaro's eternal snow cap still trickled over the edge
of the rocky wall at the upper end of the gulch, forming a little
pool at the bottom of the cliff from which a small rivulet wound
downward to the tunnel through which it passed to the gorge beyond.
A single great tree flourished near the center of the gulch, while
tufts of wiry grass were scattered here and there among the rocks
of the gravelly floor.

The bones of many large animals lay about and among them were
several human skulls. Tarzan raised his eyebrows. "A man-eater,"
he murmured, "and from appearances he has held sway here for a long
time. Tonight Tarzan will take the lair of the man-eater and Numa
may roar and grumble upon the outside."

The ape-man had advanced well into the gulch as he investigated
his surroundings and now as he stood near the tree, satisfied that
the tunnel would prove a dry and quiet retreat for the night, he
turned to retrace his way to the outer end of the entrance that he
might block it with boulders against Numa's return, but even with
the thought there came something to his sensitive ears that froze
him into statuesque immobility with eyes glued upon the tunnel's
mouth. A moment later the head of a huge lion framed in a great
black mane appeared in the opening. The yellow-green eyes glared,
round and unblinking, straight at the trespassing Tarmangani, a low
growl rumbled from the deep chest, and lips curled back to expose
the mighty fangs.

"Brother of Dango!" shouted Tarzan, angered that Numa's return should
have been so timed as to frustrate his plans for a comfortable
night's repose. "I am Tarzan of the Apes, Lord of the Jungle.
Tonight I lair here--go!"

But Numa did not go. Instead he rumbled forth a menacing roar and
took a few steps in Tarzan's direction. The ape-man picked up a
rock and hurled it at the snarling face. One can never be sure of
a lion. This one might turn tail and run at the first intimation
of attack--Tarzan had bluffed many in his time--but not now. The
missile struck Numa full upon the snout--a tender part of a cat's
anatomy--and instead of causing him to flee it transformed him into
an infuriated engine of wrath and destruction.

Up went his tail, stiff and erect, and with a series of frightful
roars he bore down upon the Tarmangani at the speed of an express
train. Not an instant too soon did Tarzan reach the tree and swing
himself into its branches and there he squatted, hurling insults at
the king of beasts while Numa paced a circle beneath him, growling
and roaring in rage.

It was raining now in earnest adding to the ape-man's discomfort
and disappointment. He was very angry; but as only direct necessity
had ever led him to close in mortal combat with a lion, knowing
as he did that he had only luck and agility to pit against the
frightful odds of muscle, weight, fangs, and talons, he did not now
even consider descending and engaging in so unequal and useless a
duel for the mere reward of a little added creature comfort. And
so he sat perched in the tree while the rain fell steadily and the
lion padded round and round beneath, casting a baleful eye upward
after every few steps.

Tarzan scanned the precipitous walls for an avenue of escape. They
would have baffled an ordinary man; but the ape-man, accustomed
to climbing, saw several places where he might gain a foothold,
precarious possibly; but enough to give him reasonable assurance
of escape if Numa would but betake himself to the far end of the
gulch for a moment. Numa, however, notwithstanding the rain, gave
no evidence of quitting his post so that at last Tarzan really
began to consider seriously if it might not be as well to take the
chance of a battle with him rather than remain longer cold and wet
and humiliated in the tree.

But even as he turned the matter over in his mind Numa turned
suddenly and walked majestically toward the tunnel without even a
backward glance. The instant that he disappeared, Tarzan dropped
lightly to the ground upon the far side of the tree and was away at
top speed for the cliff. The lion had no sooner entered the tunnel
than he backed immediately out again and, pivoting like a flash,
was off across the gulch in full charge after the flying ape-man;
but Tarzan's lead was too great--if he could find finger or foothold
upon the sheer wall he would be safe; but should he slip from the
wet rocks his doom was already sealed as he would fall directly into
Numa's clutches where even the Great Tarmangani would be helpless.

With the agility of a cat Tarzan ran up the cliff for thirty feet
before he paused, and there finding a secure foothold, he stopped
and looked down upon Numa who was leaping upward in a wild and
futile attempt to scale the rocky wall to his prey. Fifteen or
twenty feet from the ground the lion would scramble only to fall
backward again defeated. Tarzan eyed him for a moment and then
commenced a slow and cautious ascent toward the summit. Several
times he had difficulty in finding holds but at last he drew himself
over the edge, rose, picked up a bit of loose rock, hurled it at
Numa and strode away.

Finding an easy descent to the gorge, he was about to pursue his
journey in the direction of the still-booming guns when a sudden
thought caused him to halt and a half-smile to play about his lips.
Turning, he trotted quickly back to the outer opening of Numa's
tunnel. Close beside it he listened for a moment and then rapidly
began to gather large rocks and pile them within the entrance.
He had almost closed the aperture when the lion appeared upon the
inside--a very ferocious and angry lion that pawed and clawed at
the rocks and uttered mighty roars that caused the earth to tremble;
but roars did not frighten Tarzan of the Apes. At Kala's shaggy
breast he had closed his infant eyes in sleep upon countless nights
in years gone by to the savage chorus of similar roars. Scarcely a
day or night of his jungle life--and practically all his life had
been spent in the jungle--had he not heard the roaring of hungry
lions, or angry lions, or love-sick lions. Such sounds affected
Tarzan as the tooting of an automobile horn may affect you--if you
are in front of the automobile it warns you out of the way, if you
are not in front of it you scarcely notice it. Figuratively Tarzan
was not in front of the automobile--Numa could not reach him and
Tarzan knew it, so he continued deliberately to choke the entrance
until there was no possibility of Numa's getting out again. When
he was quite through he made a grimace at the hidden lion beyond
the barrier and resumed his way toward the east. "A man-eater who
will eat no more men," he soliloquized.

That night Tarzan lay up under an overhanging shelf of rock. The
next morning he resumed his journey, stopping only long enough to
make a kill and satisfy his hunger. The other beasts of the wild
eat and lie up; but Tarzan never let his belly interfere with his
plans. In this lay one of the greatest differences between the ape-man
and his fellows of the jungles and forests. The firing ahead rose
and fell during the day. He had noticed that it was highest at
dawn and immediately after dusk and that during the night it almost
ceased. In the middle of the afternoon of the second day he came
upon troops moving up toward the front. They appeared to be raiding
parties, for they drove goats and cows along with them and there
were native porters laden with grain and other foodstuffs. He saw
that these natives were all secured by neck chains and he also saw
that the troops were composed of native soldiers in German uniforms.
The officers were white men. No one saw Tarzan, yet he was here and
there about and among them for two hours. He inspected the insignia
upon their uniforms and saw that they were not the same as that
which he had taken from one of the dead soldiers at the bungalow
and then he passed on ahead of them, unseen in the dense bush. He
had come upon Germans and had not killed them; but it was because
the killing of Germans at large was not yet the prime motive of
his existence--now it was to discover the individual who slew his
mate.

After he had accounted for him he would take up the little matter
of slaying ALL Germans who crossed his path, and he meant that many
should cross it, for he would hunt them precisely as professional
hunters hunt the man-eaters.

As he neared the front lines the troops became more numerous. There
were motor trucks and ox teams and all the impedimenta of a small
army and always there were wounded men walking or being carried
toward the rear. He had crossed the railroad some distance back and
judged that the wounded were being taken to it for transportation
to a base hospital and possibly as far away as Tanga on the coast.

It was dusk when he reached a large camp hidden in the foothills of
the Pare Mountains. As he was approaching from the rear he found
it but lightly guarded and what sentinels there were, were not
upon the alert, and so it was an easy thing for him to enter after
darkness had fallen and prowl about listening at the backs of tents,
searching for some clew to the slayer of his mate.

As he paused at the side of a tent before which sat a number of
native soldiers he caught a few words spoken in native dialect that
riveted his attention instantly: "The Waziri fought like devils;
but we are greater fighters and we killed them all. When we were
through the captain came and killed the woman. He stayed outside
and yelled in a very loud voice until all the men were killed.
Underlieutenant von Goss is braver--he came in and stood beside the
door shouting at us, also in a very loud voice, and bade us nail
one of the Waziri who was wounded to the wall, and then he laughed
loudly because the man suffered. We all laughed. It was very funny."

Like a beast of prey, grim and terrible, Tarzan crouched in the
shadows beside the tent. What thoughts passed through that savage
mind? Who may say? No outward sign of passion was revealed by the
expression of the handsome face; the cold, gray eyes denoted only
intense watchfulness. Presently the soldier Tarzan had heard first
rose and with a parting word turned away. He passed within ten
feet of the ape-man and continued on toward the rear of the camp.
Tarzan followed and in the shadows of a clump of bushes overtook
his quarry. There was no sound as the man beast sprang upon the
back of his prey and bore it to the ground for steel fingers closed
simultaneously upon the soldier's throat, effectually stifling
any outcry. By the neck Tarzan dragged his victim well into the
concealment of the bushes.

"Make no sound," he cautioned in the man's own tribal dialect as
he released his hold upon the other's throat.

The fellow gasped for breath, rolling frightened eyes upward to
see what manner of creature it might be in whose power he was. In
the darkness he saw only a naked brown body bending above him; but
he still remembered the terrific strength of the mighty muscles
that had closed upon his wind and dragged him into the bushes as
though he had been but a little child. If any thought of resistance
had crossed his mind he must have discarded it at once, as he made
no move to escape.

"What is the name of the officer who killed the woman at the bungalow
where you fought with the Waziri?" asked Tarzan.

"Hauptmann Schneider," replied the black when he could again command
his voice.

"Where is he?" demanded the ape-man.

"He is here. It may be that he is at headquarters. Many of the
officers go there in the evening to receive orders."

"Lead me there," commanded Tarzan, "and if I am discovered I will
kill you immediately. Get up!"

The black rose and led the way by a roundabout route back through
the camp. Several times they were forced to hide while soldiers
passed; but at last they reached a great pile of baled hay from about
the corner of which the black pointed out a two-story building in
the distance.

"Headquarters," he said. "You can go no farther unseen. There are
many soldiers about."

Tarzan realized that he could not proceed farther in company with
the black. He turned and looked at the fellow for a moment as though
pondering what disposition to make of him.

"You helped to crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri," he accused in a low
yet none the less terrible tone.

The black trembled, his knees giving beneath him. "He ordered us
to do it," he plead.

"Who ordered it done?" demanded Tarzan.

"Underlieutenant von Goss," replied the soldier. "He, too, is here."

"I shall find him," returned Tarzan, grimly. "You helped to crucify
Wasimbu, the Waziri, and, while he suffered, you laughed."

The fellow reeled. It was as though in the accusation he read also
his death sentence. With no other word Tarzan seized the man again
by the neck. As before there was no outcry. The giant muscles tensed.
The arms swung quickly upward and with them the body of the black
soldier who had helped to crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri, described a
circle in the air--once, twice, three times, and then it was flung
aside and the ape-man turned in the direction of General Kraut's
headquarters.

A single sentinel in the rear of the building barred the way.
Tarzan crawled, belly to the ground, toward him, taking advantage
of cover as only the jungle-bred beast of prey can do. When the
sentinel's eyes were toward him, Tarzan hugged the ground, motionless
as stone; when they were turned away, he moved swiftly forward.
Presently he was within charging distance. He waited until the man
had turned his back once more and then he rose and sped noiselessly
down upon him. Again there was no sound as he carried the dead
body with him toward the building.

The lower floor was lighted, the upper dark. Through the windows
Tarzan saw a large front room and a smaller room in rear of it.
In the former were many officers. Some moved about talking to one
another, others sat at field tables writing. The windows were open
and Tarzan could hear much of the conversation; but nothing that
interested him. It was mostly about the German successes in Africa
and conjectures as to when the German army in Europe would reach
Paris. Some said the Kaiser was doubtlessly already there, and
there was a great deal of damning Belgium.

In the smaller back room a large, red-faced man sat behind a table.
Some other officers were also sitting a little in rear of him,
while two stood at attention before the general, who was questioning
them. As he talked, the general toyed with an oil lamp that stood
upon the table before him. Presently there came a knock upon the
door and an aide entered the room. He saluted and reported: "Fraulein
Kircher has arrived, sir."

"Bid her enter," commanded the general, and then nodded to the two
officers before him in sign of dismissal.

The Fraulein, entering, passed them at the door. The officers in
the little room rose and saluted, the Fraulein acknowledging the
courtesy with a bow and a slight smile. She was a very pretty
girl. Even the rough, soiled riding habit and the caked dust upon
her face could not conceal the fact, and she was young. She could
not have been over nineteen.

She advanced to the table behind which the general stood and, taking
a folded paper from an inside pocket of her coat, handed it to him.

"Be seated, Fraulein," he said, and another officer brought her
a chair. No one spoke while the general read the contents of the
paper.

Tarzan appraised the various people in the room. He wondered if one
might not be Hauptmann Schneider, for two of them were captains.
The girl he judged to be of the intelligence department--a spy.
Her beauty held no appeal for him--without a glimmer of compunction
he could have wrung that fair, young neck. She was German and that
was enough; but he had other and more important work before him.
He wanted Hauptmann Schneider.

Finally the general looked up from the paper.

"Good," he said to the girl, and then to one of his aides, "Send
for Major Schneider."

Major Schneider! Tarzan felt the short hairs at the back of his
neck rise. Already they had promoted the beast who had murdered
his mate--doubtless they had promoted him for that very crime.

The aide left the room and the others fell into a general conversation
from which it became apparent to Tarzan that the German East African
forces greatly outnumbered the British and that the latter were
suffering heavily. The ape-man stood so concealed in a clump of
bushes that he could watch the interior of the room without being
seen from within, while he was at the same time hidden from the view
of anyone who might chance to pass along the post of the sentinel
he had slain. Momentarily he was expecting a patrol or a relief to
appear and discover that the sentinel was missing, when he knew an
immediate and thorough search would be made.

Impatiently he awaited the coming of the man he sought and at
last he was rewarded by the reappearance of the aide who had been
dispatched to fetch him accompanied by an officer of medium size
with fierce, upstanding mustaches. The newcomer strode to the table,
halted and saluted, reporting. The general acknowledged the salute
and turned toward the girl.

"Fraulein Kircher," he said, "allow me to present Major Schneider--"

Tarzan waited to hear no more. Placing a palm upon the sill of
the window he vaulted into the room into the midst of an astounded
company of the Kaiser's officers. With a stride he was at the table
and with a sweep of his hand sent the lamp crashing into the fat
belly of the general who, in his mad effort to escape cremation,
fell over backward, chair and all, upon the floor. Two of the aides
sprang for the ape-man who picked up the first and flung him in the
face of the other. The girl had leaped from her chair and stood
flattened against the wall. The other officers were calling aloud
for the guard and for help. Tarzan's purpose centered upon but
a single individual and him he never lost sight of. Freed from
attack for an instant he seized Major Schneider, threw him over his
shoulder and was out of the window so quickly that the astonished
assemblage could scarce realize what had occurred.

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