Tarzan the Terrible, Page 2

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  "To the Death!"

  In the moment of discovery Tarzan saw that the creature was almost acounterpart of his companion in size and conformation, with theexception that his body was entirely clothed with a coat of shaggyblack hair which almost concealed his features, while his harness andweapons were similar to those of the creature he had attacked. EreTarzan could prevent the creature had struck the ape-man's companion ablow upon the head with his knotted club that felled him, unconscious,to the earth; but before he could inflict further injury upon hisdefenseless prey the ape-man had closed with him.

  Instantly Tarzan realized that he was locked with a creature of almostsuperhuman strength. The sinewy fingers of a powerful hand sought histhroat while the other lifted the bludgeon above his head. But if thestrength of the hairy attacker was great, great too was that of hissmooth-skinned antagonist. Swinging a single terrific blow withclenched fist to the point of the other's chin, Tarzan momentarilystaggered his assailant and then his own fingers closed upon the shaggythroat, as with the other hand he seized the wrist of the arm thatswung the club. With equal celerity he shot his right leg behind theshaggy brute and throwing his weight forward hurled the thing over hiship heavily to the ground, at the same time precipitating his own bodyupon the other's chest.

  With the shock of the impact the club fell from the brute's hand andTarzan's hold was wrenched from its throat. Instantly the two werelocked in a deathlike embrace. Though the creature bit at Tarzan thelatter was quickly aware that this was not a particularly formidablemethod of offense or defense, since its canines were scarcely moredeveloped than his own. The thing that he had principally to guardagainst was the sinuous tail which sought steadily to wrap itself abouthis throat and against which experience had afforded him no defense.

  Struggling and snarling the two rolled growling about the sward at thefoot of the tree, first one on top and then the other but each moreoccupied at present in defending his throat from the other's chokinggrasp than in aggressive, offensive tactics. But presently the ape-mansaw his opportunity and as they rolled about he forced the creaturecloser and closer to the pool, upon the banks of which the battle wasprogressing. At last they lay upon the very verge of the water and nowit remained for Tarzan to precipitate them both beneath the surface butin such a way that he might remain on top.

  At the same instant there came within range of Tarzan's vision, justbehind the prostrate form of his companion, the crouching, devil-facedfigure of the striped saber-tooth hybrid, eyeing him with snarling,malevolent face.

  Almost simultaneously Tarzan's shaggy antagonist discovered themenacing figure of the great cat. Immediately he ceased his belligerentactivities against Tarzan and, jabbering and chattering to the ape-man,he tried to disengage himself from Tarzan's hold but in such a way thatindicated that as far as he was concerned their battle was over.Appreciating the danger to his unconscious companion and being anxiousto protect him from the saber-tooth the ape-man relinquished his holdupon his adversary and together the two rose to their feet.

  Drawing his knife Tarzan moved slowly toward the body of his companion,expecting that his recent antagonist would grasp the opportunity forescape. To his surprise, however, the beast, after regaining its club,advanced at his side.

  The great cat, flattened upon its belly, remained motionless except fortwitching tail and snarling lips where it lay perhaps fifty feet beyondthe body of the pithecanthropus. As Tarzan stepped over the body of thelatter he saw the eyelids quiver and open, and in his heart he felt astrange sense of relief that the creature was not dead and arealization that without his suspecting it there had arisen within hissavage bosom a bond of attachment for this strange new friend.

  Tarzan continued to approach the saber-tooth, nor did the shaggy beastat his right lag behind. Closer and closer they came until at adistance of about twenty feet the hybrid charged. Its rush was directedtoward the shaggy manlike ape who halted in his tracks with upraisedbludgeon to meet the assault. Tarzan, on the contrary, leaped forwardand with a celerity second not even to that of the swift-moving cat, hethrew himself headlong upon him as might a Rugby tackler on an Americangridiron. His right arm circled the beast's neck in front of the rightshoulder, his left behind the left foreleg, and so great was the forceof the impact that the two rolled over and over several times upon theground, the cat screaming and clawing to liberate itself that it mightturn upon its attacker, the man clinging desperately to his hold.

  Seemingly the attack was one of mad, senseless ferocity unguided byeither reason or skill. Nothing, however, could have been farther fromthe truth than such an assumption since every muscle in the ape-man'sgiant frame obeyed the dictates of the cunning mind that longexperience had trained to meet every exigency of such an encounter. Thelong, powerful legs, though seemingly inextricably entangled with thehind feet of the clawing cat, ever as by a miracle, escaped the rakingtalons and yet at just the proper instant in the midst of all therolling and tossing they were where they should be to carry out theape-man's plan of offense. So that on the instant that the cat believedit had won the mastery of its antagonist it was jerked suddenly upwardas the ape-man rose to his feet, holding the striped back close againsthis body as he rose and forcing it backward until it could but claw theair helplessly.

  Instantly the shaggy black rushed in with drawn knife which it buriedin the beast's heart. For a few moments Tarzan retained his hold butwhen the body had relaxed in final dissolution he pushed it from himand the two who had formerly been locked in mortal combat stood facingeach other across the body of the common foe.

  Tarzan waited, ready either for peace or war. Presently two shaggyblack hands were raised; the left was laid upon its own heart and theright extended until the palm touched Tarzan's breast. It was the sameform of friendly salutation with which the pithecanthropus had sealedhis alliance with the ape-man and Tarzan, glad of every ally he couldwin in this strange and savage world, quickly accepted the profferedfriendship.

  At the conclusion of the brief ceremony Tarzan, glancing in thedirection of the hairless pithecanthropus, discovered that the latterhad recovered consciousness and was sitting erect watching themintently. He now rose slowly and at the same time the shaggy blackturned in his direction and addressed him in what evidently was theircommon language. The hairless one replied and the two approached eachother slowly. Tarzan watched interestedly the outcome of their meeting.They halted a few paces apart, first one and then the other speakingrapidly but without apparent excitement, each occasionally glancing ornodding toward Tarzan, indicating that he was to some extent thesubject of their conversation.

  Presently they advanced again until they met, whereupon was repeatedthe brief ceremony of alliance which had previously marked thecessation of hostilities between Tarzan and the black. They thenadvanced toward the ape-man addressing him earnestly as thoughendeavoring to convey to him some important information. Presently,however, they gave it up as an unprofitable job and, resorting to signlanguage, conveyed to Tarzan that they were proceeding upon their waytogether and were urging him to accompany them.

  As the direction they indicated was a route which Tarzan had notpreviously traversed he was extremely willing to accede to theirrequest, as he had determined thoroughly to explore this unknown landbefore definitely abandoning search for Lady Jane therein.

  For several days their way led through the foothills parallel to thelofty range towering above. Often were they menaced by the savagedenizens of this remote fastness, and occasionally Tarzan glimpsedweird forms of gigantic proportions amidst the shadows of the nights.

  On the third day they came upon a large natural cave in the face of alow cliff at the foot of which tumbled one of the numerous mountainbrooks that watered the plain below and fed the morasses in thelowlands at the country's edge. Here the three took up their temporaryabode where Tarzan's instruction in the language of his companionsprogressed more rapidly than while on the march.

  The cave gave evidence of having
harbored other manlike forms in thepast. Remnants of a crude, rock fireplace remained and the walls andceiling were blackened with the smoke of many fires. Scratched in thesoot, and sometimes deeply into the rock beneath, were strangehieroglyphics and the outlines of beasts and birds and reptiles, someof the latter of weird form suggesting the extinct creatures ofJurassic times. Some of the more recently made hieroglyphics Tarzan'scompanions read with interest and commented upon, and then with thepoints of their knives they too added to the possibly age-old record ofthe blackened walls.

  Tarzan's curiosity was aroused, but the only explanation at which hecould arrive was that he was looking upon possibly the world's mostprimitive hotel register. At least it gave him a further insight intothe development of the strange creatures with which Fate had thrownhim. Here were men with the tails of monkeys, one of them as haircovered as any fur-bearing brute of the lower orders, and yet it wasevident that they possessed not only a spoken, but a written language.The former he was slowly mastering and at this new evidence ofunlooked-for civilization in creatures possessing so many of thephysical attributes of beasts, Tarzan's curiosity was still furtherpiqued and his desire quickly to master their tongue strengthened, withthe result that he fell to with even greater assiduity to the task hehad set himself. Already he knew the names of his companions and thecommon names of the fauna and flora with which they had most often comein contact.

  Ta-den, he of the hairless, white skin, having assumed the role oftutor, prosecuted his task with a singleness of purpose that wasreflected in his pupil's rapid mastery of Ta-den's mother tongue.Om-at, the hairy black, also seemed to feel that there rested upon hisbroad shoulders a portion of the burden of responsibility for Tarzan'seducation, with the result that either one or the other of them wasalmost constantly coaching the ape-man during his waking hours. Theresult was only what might have been expected--a rapid assimilation ofthe teachings to the end that before any of them realized it,communication by word of mouth became an accomplished fact.

  Tarzan explained to his companions the purpose of his mission butneither could give him any slightest thread of hope to weave into thefabric of his longing. Never had there been in their country a womansuch as he described, nor any tailless man other than himself that theyever had seen.

  "I have been gone from A-lur while Bu, the moon, has eaten seventimes," said Ta-den. "Many things may happen in seven timestwenty-eight days; but I doubt that your woman could have entered ourcountry across the terrible morasses which even you found an almostinsurmountable obstacle, and if she had, could she have survived theperils that you already have encountered beside those of which you haveyet to learn? Not even our own women venture into the savage landsbeyond the cities."

  "'A-lur,' Light-city, City of Light," mused Tarzan, translating theword into his own tongue. "And where is A-lur?" he asked. "Is it yourcity, Ta-den, and Om-at's?"

  "It is mine," replied the hairless one; "but not Om-at's. The Waz-donhave no cities--they live in the trees of the forests and the caves ofthe hills--is it not so, black man?" he concluded, turning toward thehairy giant beside him.

  "Yes," replied Om-at, "We Waz-don are free--only the Hodon imprisonthemselves in cities. I would not be a white man!"

  Tarzan smiled. Even here was the racial distinction between white manand black man--Ho-don and Waz-don. Not even the fact that they appearedto be equals in the matter of intelligence made any difference--one waswhite and one was black, and it was easy to see that the whiteconsidered himself superior to the other--one could see it in his quietsmile.

  "Where is A-lur?" Tarzan asked again. "You are returning to it?"

  "It is beyond the mountains," replied Ta-den. "I do not return toit--not yet. Not until Ko-tan is no more."

  "Ko-tan?" queried Tarzan.

  "Ko-tan is king," explained the pithecanthropus. "He rules this land. Iwas one of his warriors. I lived in the palace of Ko-tan and there Imet O-lo-a, his daughter. We loved, Likestar-light, and I; but Ko-tanwould have none of me. He sent me away to fight with the men of thevillage of Dak-at, who had refused to pay his tribute to the king,thinking that I would be killed, for Dak-at is famous for his many finewarriors. And I was not killed. Instead I returned victorious with thetribute and with Dak-at himself my prisoner; but Ko-tan was not pleasedbecause he saw that O-lo-a loved me even more than before, her lovebeing strengthened and fortified by pride in my achievement.

  "Powerful is my father, Ja-don, the Lion-man, chief of the largestvillage outside of A-lur. Him Ko-tan hesitated to affront and so hecould not but praise me for my success, though he did it with half asmile. But you do not understand! It is what we call a smile that movesonly the muscles of the face and affects not the light of the eyes--itmeans hypocrisy and duplicity. I must be praised and rewarded. Whatbetter than that he reward me with the hand of O-lo-a, his daughter?But no, he saves O-lo-a for Bu-lot, son of Mo-sar, the chief whosegreat-grandfather was king and who thinks that he should be king. Thuswould Ko-tan appease the wrath of Mo-sar and win the friendship ofthose who think with Mo-sar that Mo-sar should be king.

  "But what reward shall repay the faithful Ta-den? Greatly do we honorour priests. Within the temples even the chiefs and the king himselfbow down to them. No greater honor could Ko-tan confer upon asubject--who wished to be a priest, but I did not so wish. Priestsother than the high priest must become eunuchs for they may never marry.

  "It was O-lo-a herself who brought word to me that her father had giventhe commands that would set in motion the machinery of the temple. Amessenger was on his way in search of me to summon me to Ko-tan'spresence. To have refused the priesthood once it was offered me by theking would have been to have affronted the temple and the gods--thatwould have meant death; but if I did not appear before Ko-tan I wouldnot have to refuse anything. O-lo-a and I decided that I must notappear. It was better to fly, carrying in my bosom a shred of hope,than to remain and, with my priesthood, abandon hope forever.

  "Beneath the shadows of the great trees that grow within the palacegrounds I pressed her to me for, perhaps, the last time and then, lestby ill-fate I meet the messenger, I scaled the great wall that guardsthe palace and passed through the darkened city. My name and rankcarried me beyond the city gate. Since then I have wandered far fromthe haunts of the Ho-don but strong within me is the urge to return ifeven but to look from without her walls upon the city that holds hermost dear to me and again to visit the village of my birth, to seeagain my father and my mother."

  "But the risk is too great?" asked Tarzan.

  "It is great, but not too great," replied Ta-den. "I shall go."

  "And I shall go with you, if I may," said the ape-man, "for I must seethis City of Light, this A-lur of yours, and search there for my lostmate even though you believe that there is little chance that I findher. And you, Om-at, do you come with us?"

  "Why not?" asked the hairy one. "The lairs of my tribe lie in the cragsabove A-lur and though Es-sat, our chief, drove me out I should like toreturn again, for there is a she there upon whom I should be glad tolook once more and who would be glad to look upon me. Yes, I will gowith you. Es-sat feared that I might become chief and who knows butthat Es-sat was right. But Pan-at-lee! it is she I seek first evenbefore a chieftainship."

  "We three, then, shall travel together," said Tarzan.

  "And fight together," added Ta-den; "the three as one," and as he spokehe drew his knife and held it above his head.

  "The three as one," repeated Om-at, drawing his weapon and duplicatingTa-den's act. "It is spoken!"

  "The three as one!" cried Tarzan of the Apes. "To the death!" and hisblade flashed in the sunlight.

  "Let us go, then," said Om-at; "my knife is dry and cries aloud for theblood of Es-sat."

  The trail over which Ta-den and Om-at led and which scarcely could bedignified even by the name of trail was suited more to mountain sheep,monkeys, or birds than to man; but the three that followed it weretrained to ways which no ordinary man might essay. Now, upon the
lowerslopes, it led through dense forests where the ground was so mattedwith fallen trees and over-rioting vines and brush that the way heldalways to the swaying branches high above the tangle; again it skirtedyawning gorges whose slippery-faced rocks gave but momentary footholdeven to the bare feet that lightly touched them as the three leapedchamois-like from one precarious foothold to the next. Dizzy andterrifying was the way that Om-at chose across the summit as he ledthem around the shoulder of a towering crag that rose a sheer twothousand feet of perpendicular rock above a tumbling river. And when atlast they stood upon comparatively level ground again Om-at turned andlooked at them both intently and especially at Tarzan of the Apes.

  "You will both do," he said. "You are fit companions for Om-at, theWaz-don."

  "What do you mean?" asked Tarzan.

  "I brought you this way," replied the black, "to learn if either lackedthe courage to follow where Om-at led. It is here that the youngwarriors of Es-sat come to prove their courage. And yet, though we areborn and raised upon cliff sides, it is considered no disgrace to admitthat Pastar-ul-ved, the Father of Mountains, has defeated us, for ofthose who try it only a few succeed--the bones of the others lie at thefeet of Pastar-ul-ved."

  Ta-den laughed. "I would not care to come this way often," he said.

  "No," replied Om-at; "but it has shortened our journey by at least afull day. So much the sooner shall Tarzan look upon the Valley ofJad-ben-Otho. Come!" and he led the way upward along the shoulder ofPastar-ul-ved until there lay spread below them a scene of mystery andof beauty--a green valley girt by towering cliffs of marblewhiteness--a green valley dotted by deep blue lakes and crossed by theblue trail of a winding river. In the center a city of the whiteness ofthe marble cliffs--a city which even at so great a distance evidenced astrange, yet artistic architecture. Outside the city there were visibleabout the valley isolated groups of buildings--sometimes one, again twoand three and four in a cluster--but always of the same glaringwhiteness, and always in some fantastic form.

  About the valley the cliffs were occasionally cleft by deep gorges,verdure filled, giving the appearance of green rivers rioting downwardtoward a central sea of green.

  "Jad Pele ul Jad-ben-Otho," murmured Tarzan in the tongue of thepithecanthropi; "The Valley of the Great God--it is beautiful!"

  "Here, in A-lur, lives Ko-tan, the king, ruler over all Pal-ul-don,"said Ta-den.

  "And here in these gorges live the Waz-don," exclaimed Om-at, "who donot acknowledge that Ko-tan is the ruler over all the Land-of-man."

  Ta-den smiled and shrugged. "We will not quarrel, you and I," he saidto Om-at, "over that which all the ages have not proved sufficient timein which to reconcile the Ho-don and Waz-don; but let me whisper to youa secret, Om-at. The Ho-don live together in greater or less peaceunder one ruler so that when danger threatens them they face the enemywith many warriors, for every fighting Ho-don of Pal-ul-don is there.But you Waz-don, how is it with you? You have a dozen kings who fightnot only with the Ho-don but with one another. When one of your tribesgoes forth upon the fighting trail, even against the Ho-don, it mustleave behind sufficient warriors to protect its women and its childrenfrom the neighbors upon either hand. When we want eunuchs for thetemples or servants for the fields or the homes we march forth in greatnumbers upon one of your villages. You cannot even flee, for uponeither side of you are enemies and though you fight bravely we comeback with those who will presently be eunuchs in the temples andservants in our fields and homes. So long as the Waz-don are thusfoolish the Ho-don will dominate and their king will be king ofPal-ul-don."

  "Perhaps you are right," admitted Om-at. "It is because our neighborsare fools, each thinking that his tribe is the greatest and should ruleamong the Waz-don. They will not admit that the warriors of my tribeare the bravest and our shes the most beautiful."

  Ta-den grinned. "Each of the others presents precisely the samearguments that you present, Om-at," he said, "which, my friend, is thestrongest bulwark of defense possessed by the Ho-don."

  "Come!" exclaimed Tarzan; "such discussions often lead to quarrels andwe three must have no quarrels. I, of course, am interested in learningwhat I can of the political and economic conditions of your land; Ishould like to know something of your religion; but not at the expenseof bitterness between my only friends in Pal-ul-don. Possibly, however,you hold to the same god?"

  "There indeed we do differ," cried Om-at, somewhat bitterly and with atrace of excitement in his voice.

  "Differ!" almost shouted Ta-den; "and why should we not differ? Whocould agree with the preposterous----"

  "Stop!" cried Tarzan. "Now, indeed, have I stirred up a hornets' nest.Let us speak no more of matters political or religious."

  "That is wiser," agreed Om-at; "but I might mention, for yourinformation, that the one and only god has a long tail."

  "It is sacrilege," cried Ta-den, laying his hand upon his knife;"Jad-ben-Otho has no tail!"

  "Stop!" shrieked Om-at, springing forward; but instantly Tarzaninterposed himself between them.

  "Enough!" he snapped. "Let us be true to our oaths of friendship thatwe may be honorable in the sight of God in whatever form we conceiveHim."

  "You are right, Tailless One," said Ta-den. "Come, Om-at, let us lookafter our friendship and ourselves, secure in the conviction thatJad-ben-Otho is sufficiently powerful to look after himself."

  "Done!" agreed Om-at, "but----"

  "No 'buts,' Om-at," admonished Tarzan.

  The shaggy black shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Shall we make ourway down toward the valley?" he asked. "The gorge below us isuninhabited; that to the left contains the caves of my people. I wouldsee Pan-at-lee once more. Ta-den would visit his father in the valleybelow and Tarzan seeks entrance to A-lur in search of the mate thatwould be better dead than in the clutches of the Ho-don priests ofJad-ben-Otho. How shall we proceed?"

  "Let us remain together as long as possible," urged Ta-den. "You,Om-at, must seek Pan-at-lee by night and by stealth, for three, even wethree, may not hope to overcome Es-sat and all his warriors. At anytime may we go to the village where my father is chief, for Ja-donalways will welcome the friends of his son. But for Tarzan to enterA-lur is another matter, though there is a way and he has the courageto put it to the test--listen, come close for Jad-ben-Otho has keenears and this he must not hear," and with his lips close to the ears ofhis companions Ta-den, the Tall-tree, son of Ja-don, the Lion-man,unfolded his daring plan.

  And at the same moment, a hundred miles away, a lithe figure, naked butfor a loin cloth and weapons, moved silently across a thorn-covered,waterless steppe, searching always along the ground before him withkeen eyes and sensitive nostrils.