XII. — TARZAN RESCUES THE MOON
The moon shone
down out of a cloudless sky - a huge, swollen moon that seemed so close to
earth that one might wonder that she did not brush the crooning tree tops. It
was night, and Tarzan was abroad in the jungle - Tarzan, the ape-man; mighty
fighter, mighty hunter. Why he swung through the dark shadows of the somber
forest he could not have told you. It was not that he was hungry - he had fed
well this day, and in a safe cache were the remains of his kill, ready against
the coming of a new appetite. Perhaps it was the very joy of living that urged
him from his arboreal couch to pit his muscles and his senses against the
jungle night, and then, too, Tarzan always was goaded by an intense desire to
know.
The
jungle which is presided over by Kudu, the sun, is a very different jungle from
that of Goro, the moon. The diurnal jungle has its own aspect - its own lights
and shades, its own birds, its own blooms, its own beasts; its noises are the
noises of the day. The lights and shades of the nocturnal jungle are as different
as one might imagine the lights and shades of another world to differ from
those of our world; its beasts, its blooms, and its birds are not those of the
jungle of Kudu, the sun.
Because
of these differences Tarzan loved to investigate the jungle by night. Not only
was the life another life; but it was richer in numbers and in romance; it was
richer in dangers, too, and to Tarzan of the Apes danger was the spice of life.
And the noises of the jungle night - the roar of the lion, the scream of the
leopard, the hideous laughter of Dango, the hyena, were music to the ears of
the ape-man.
The
soft padding of unseen feet, the rustling of leaves and grasses to the passage
of fierce beasts, the sheen of opalesque eyes flaming through the dark, the
million sounds which proclaimed the teeming life that one might hear and scent,
though seldom see, constituted the appeal of the nocturnal jungle to Tarzan.
Tonight
he had swung a wide circle - toward the east first and then toward the south,
and now he was rounding back again into the north. His eyes, his ears and his
keen nostrils were ever on the alert. Mingled with the sounds he knew, there
were strange sounds - weird sounds which he never heard until after Kudu had
sought his lair below the far edge of the big water - sounds which belonged to
Goro, the moon - and to the mysterious period of Goro's supremacy. These sounds
often caused Tarzan profound speculation. They baffled him because he thought
that he knew his jungle so well that there could be nothing within it unfamiliar
to him. Sometimes he thought that as colors and forms appeared to differ by
night from their familiar daylight aspects, so sounds altered with the passage
of Kudu and the coming of Goro, and these thoughts roused within his brain a
vague conjecture that perhaps Goro and Kudu influenced these changes. And what
more natural that eventually he came to attribute to the sun and the moon
personalities as real as his own? The sun was a living creature and ruled the
day. The moon, endowed with brains and miraculous powers, ruled the night.
Thus
functioned the untrained man-mind groping through the dark night of ignorance
for an explanation of the things he could not touch or smell or hear and of the
great, unknown powers of nature which he could not see.
As
Tarzan swung north again upon his wide circle the scent of the Gomangani came
to his nostrils, mixed with the acrid odor of wood smoke. The ape-man moved
quickly in the direction from which the scent was borne down to him upon the
gentle night wind. Presently the ruddy sheen of a great fire filtered through
the foliage to him ahead, and when Tarzan came to a halt in the trees near it,
he saw a party of half a dozen black warriors huddled close to the blaze. It
was evidently a hunting party from the village of Mbonga, the chief, caught out
in the jungle after dark. In a rude circle about them they had constructed a
thorn boma which, with the aid of the fire, they apparently hoped would
discourage the advances of the larger carnivora.
That
hope was not conviction was evidenced by the very palpable terror in which they
crouched, wide-eyed and trembling, for already Numa and Sabor were moaning
through the jungle toward them. There were other creatures, too, in the shadows
beyond the firelight. Tarzan could see their yellow eyes flaming there. The
blacks saw them and shivered. Then one arose and grasping a burning branch from
the fire hurled it at the eyes, which immediately disappeared. The black sat
down again. Tarzan watched and saw that it was several minutes before the eyes
began to reappear in twos and fours.
Then
came Numa, the lion, and Sabor, his mate. The other eyes scattered to right and
left before the menacing growls of the great cats, and then the huge orbs of
the man-eaters flamed alone out of the darkness. Some of the blacks threw
themselves upon their faces and moaned; but he who before had hurled the
burning branch now hurled another straight at the faces of the hungry lions,
and they, too, disappeared as had the lesser lights before them. Tarzan was
much interested. He saw a new reason for the nightly fires maintained by the
blacks - a reason in addition to those connected with warmth and light and
cooking. The beasts of the jungle feared fire, and so fire was, in a measure, a
protection from them. Tarzan himself knew a certain awe of fire. Once he had,
in investigating an abandoned fire in the village of the blacks, picked up a
live coal. Since then he had maintained a respectful distance from such fires
as he had seen. One experience had sufficed.
For
a few minutes after the black hurled the firebrand no eyes appeared, though
Tarzan could hear the soft padding of feet all about him. Then flashed once
more the twin fire spots that marked the return of the lord of the jungle and a
moment later, upon a slightly lower level, there appeared those of Sabor, his
mate.
For
some time they remained fixed and unwavering - a constellation of fierce stars
in the jungle night - then the male lion advanced slowly toward the boma, where
all but a single black still crouched in trembling terror. When this lone
guardian saw that Numa was again approaching, he threw another firebrand, and,
as before, Numa retreated and with him Sabor, the lioness; but not so far, this
time, nor for so long. Almost instantly they turned and began circling the
boma, their eyes turning constantly toward the firelight, while low, throaty
growls evidenced their increasing displeasure. Beyond the lions glowed the
flaming eyes of the lesser satellites, until the black jungle was shot all around
the black men's camp with little spots of fire.
Again
and again the black warrior hurled his puny brands at the two big cats; but
Tarzan noticed that Numa paid little or no attention to them after the first
few retreats. The ape-man knew by Numa's voice that the lion was hungry and
surmised that he had made up his mind to feed upon a Gomangani; but would he
dare a closer approach to the dreaded flames?
Even
as the thought was passing in Tarzan's mind, Numa stopped his restless pacing
and faced the boma. For a moment he stood motionless, except for the quick,
nervous upcurving of his tail, then he walked deliberately forward, while Sabor
moved restlessly to and fro where he had left her. The black man called to his
comrades that the lion was coming, but they were too far gone in fear to do
more than huddle closer together and moan more loudly than before.
Seizing
a blazing branch the man cast it straight into the face of the lion. There was
an angry roar, followed by a swift charge. With a single bound the savage beast
cleared the boma wall as, with almost equal agility, the warrior cleared it
upon the opposite side and, chancing the dangers lurking in the darkness,
bolted for the nearest tree.
Numa
was out of the boma almost as soon as he was inside it; but as he went back
over the low thorn wall, he took a screaming negro with him. Dragging his
victim along the ground he walked back toward Sabor, the lioness, who joined
him, and the two continued into the blackness, their savage growls mingling
with the piercing shrieks of the doomed and terrified man.
At
a little distance from the blaze the lions halted, there ensued a short
succession of unusually vicious growls and roars, during which the cries and
moans of the black man ceased - forever.
Presently
Numa reappeared in the firelight. He made a second trip into the boma and the
former grisly tragedy was reenacted with another howling victim.
Tarzan
rose and stretched lazily. The entertainment was beginning to bore him. He
yawned and turned upon his way toward the clearing where the tribe would be
sleeping in the encircling trees.
Yet
even when he had found his familiar crotch and curled himself for slumber, he
felt no desire to sleep. For a long time he lay awake thinking and dreaming. He
looked up into the heavens and watched the moon and the stars. He wondered what
they were and what power kept them from falling. His was an inquisitive mind.
Always he had been full of questions concerning all that passed around him; but
there never had been one to answer his questions. In childhood he had wanted to
know, and, denied almost all knowledge, he still, in manhood, was filled with
the great, unsatisfied curiosity of a child.
He
was never quite content merely to perceive that things happened - he desired to
know why they happened. He wanted to know what made things go. The secret of
life interested him immensely. The miracle of death he could not quite fathom.
Upon innumerable occasions he had investigated the internal mechanism of his
kills, and once or twice he had opened the chest cavity of victims in time to
see the heart still pumping.
He
had learned from experience that a knife thrust through this organ brought
immediate death nine times out of ten, while he might stab an antagonist
innumerable times in other places without even disabling him. And so he had
come to think of the heart, or, as he called it, "the red thing that
breathes," as the seat and origin of life.
The
brain and its functionings he did not comprehend at all. That his sense
perceptions were transmitted to his brain and there translated, classified, and
labeled was something quite beyond him. He thought that his fingers knew when
they touched something, that his eyes knew when they saw, his ears when they
heard, his nose when it scented.
He
considered his throat, epidermis, and the hairs of his head as the three
principal seats of emotion. When Kala had been slain a peculiar choking
sensation had possessed his throat; contact with Histah, the snake, imparted an
unpleasant sensation to the skin of his whole body; while the approach of an
enemy made the hairs on his scalp stand erect.
Imagine,
if you can, a child filled with the wonders of nature, bursting with queries
and surrounded only by beasts of the jungle to whom his questionings were as
strange as Sanskrit would have been. If he asked Gunto what made it rain, the
big old ape would but gaze at him in dumb astonishment for an instant and then
return to his interesting and edifying search for fleas; and when he questioned
Mumga, who was very old and should have been very wise, but wasn't, as to the
reason for the closing of certain flowers after Kudu had deserted the sky, and
the opening of others during the night, he was surprised to discover that Mumga
had never noticed these interesting facts, though she could tell to an inch
just where the fattest grubworm should be hiding.
To
Tarzan these things were wonders. They appealed to his intellect and to his
imagination. He saw the flowers close and open; he saw certain blooms which
turned their faces always toward the sun; he saw leaves which moved when there
was no breeze; he saw vines crawl like living things up the boles and over the
branches of great trees; and to Tarzan of the Apes the flowers and the vines
and the trees were living creatures. He often talked to them, as he talked to
Goro, the moon, and Kudu, the sun, and always was he disappointed that they did
not reply. He asked them questions; but they could not answer, though he knew
that the whispering of the leaves was the language of the leaves - they talked
with one another.
The
wind he attributed to the trees and grasses. He thought that they swayed
themselves to and fro, creating the wind. In no other way could he account for
this phenomenon. The rain he finally attributed to the stars, the moon, and the
sun; but his hypothesis was entirely unlovely and unpoetical.
Tonight
as Tarzan lay thinking, there sprang to his fertile imagination an explanation
of the stars and the moon. He became quite excited about it. Taug was sleeping
in a nearby crotch. Tarzan swung over beside him.
"Taug!"
he cried. Instantly the great bull was awake and bristling, sensing danger from
the nocturnal summons. "Look, Taug!" exclaimed Tarzan, pointing
toward the stars. "See the eyes of Numa and Sabor, of Sheeta and Dango.
They wait around Goro to leap in upon him for their kill. See the eyes and the
nose and the mouth of Goro. And the light that shines upon his face is the
light of the great fire he has built to frighten away Numa and Sabor and Dango
and Sheeta.
"All
about him are the eyes, Taug, you can see them! But they do not come very close
to the fire - there are few eyes close to Goro. They fear the fire! It is the
fire that saves Goro from Numa. Do you see them, Taug? Some night Numa will be
very hungry and very angry - then he will leap over the thorn bushes which
encircle Goro and we will have no more light after Kudu seeks his lair - the
night will be black with the blackness that comes when Goro is lazy and sleeps
late into the night, or when he wanders through the skies by day, forgetting
the jungle and its people."
Taug
looked stupidly at the heavens and then at Tarzan. A meteor fell, blazing a
flaming way through the sky.
"Look!"
cried Tarzan. "Goro has thrown a burning branch at Numa."
Taug
grumbled. "Numa is down below," he said. "Numa does not hunt
above the trees." But he looked curiously and a little fearfully at the
bright stars above him, as though he saw them for the first time, and doubtless
it was the first time that Taug ever had seen the stars, though they had been
in the sky above him every night of his life. To Taug they were as the gorgeous
jungle blooms - he could not eat them and so he ignored them.
Taug
fidgeted and was nervous. For a long time he lay sleepless, watching the stars
- the flaming eyes of the beasts of prey surrounding Goro, the moon - Goro, by
whose light the apes danced to the beating of their earthen drums. If Goro
should be eaten by Numa there could be no more Dum-Dums. Taug was overwhelmed
by the thought. He glanced at Tarzan half fearfully. Why was his friend so
different from the others of the tribe? No one else whom Taug ever had known
had had such queer thoughts as Tarzan. The ape scratched his head and wondered,
dimly, if Tarzan was a safe companion, and then he recalled slowly, and by a
laborious mental process, that Tarzan had served him better than any other of
the apes, even the strong and wise bulls of the tribe.
Tarzan
it was who had freed him from the blacks at the very time that Taug had thought
Tarzan wanted Teeka. It was Tarzan who had saved Taug's little balu from death.
It was Tarzan who had conceived and carried out the plan to pursue Teeka's
abductor and rescue the stolen one. Tarzan had fought and bled in Taug's
service so many times that Taug, although only a brutal ape, had had impressed
upon his mind a fierce loyalty which nothing now could swerve - his friendship
for Tarzan had become a habit, a tradition almost, which would endure while
Taug endured. He never showed any outward demonstration of affection - he
growled at Tarzan as he growled at the other bulls who came too close while he
was feeding - but he would have died for Tarzan. He knew it and Tarzan knew it;
but of such things apes do not speak - their vocabulary, for the finer
instincts, consisting more of actions than words. But now Taug was worried, and
he fell asleep again still thinking of the strange words of his fellow.
The
following day he thought of them again, and without any intention of disloyalty
he mentioned to Gunto what Tarzan had suggested about the eyes surrounding
Goro, and the possibility that sooner or later Numa would charge the moon and
devour him. To the apes all large things in nature are male, and so Goro, being
the largest creature in the heavens by night, was, to them, a bull.
Gunto
bit a sliver from a horny finger and recalled the fact that Tarzan had once
said that the trees talked to one another, and Gozan recounted having seen the
ape-man dancing alone in the moonlight with Sheeta, the panther. They did not
know that Tarzan had roped the savage beast and tied him to a tree before he
came to earth and leaped about before the rearing cat, to tantalize him.
Others
told of seeing Tarzan ride upon the back of Tantor, the elephant; of his
bringing the black boy, Tibo, to the tribe, and of mysterious things with which
he communed in the strange lair by the sea. They had never understood his
books, and after he had shown them to one or two of the tribe and discovered
that even the pictures carried no impression to their brains, he had desisted.
"Tarzan
is not an ape," said Gunto. "He will bring Numa to eat us, as he is
bringing him to eat Goro. We should kill him."
Immediately
Taug bristled. Kill Tarzan! "First you will kill Taug," he said, and
lumbered away to search for food.
But
others joined the plotters. They thought of many things which Tarzan had done -
things which apes did not do and could not understand. Again Gunto voiced the
opinion that the Tarmangani, the white ape, should be slain, and the others,
filled with terror about the stories they had heard, and thinking Tarzan was
planning to slay Goro, greeted the proposal with growls of accord.
Among
them was Teeka, listening with all her ears; but her voice was not raised in
furtherance of the plan. Instead she bristled, showing her fangs, and afterward
she went away in search of Tarzan; but she could not find him, as he was
roaming far afield in search of meat. She found Taug, though, and told him what
the others were planning, and the great bull stamped upon the ground and roared.
His bloodshot eyes blazed with wrath, his upper lip curled up to expose his
fighting fangs, and the hair upon his spine stood erect, and then a rodent
scurried across the open and Taug sprang to seize it. In an instant he seemed
to have forgotten his rage against the enemies of his friend; but such is the
mind of an ape.
Several
miles away Tarzan of the Apes lolled upon the broad head of Tantor, the
elephant. He scratched beneath the great ears with the point of a sharp stick,
and he talked to the huge pachyderm of everything which filled his
black-thatched head. Little, or nothing, of what he said did Tantor understand;
but Tantor is a good listener. Swaying from side to side he stood there
enjoying the companionship of his friend, the friend he loved, and absorbing
the delicious sensations of the scratching.
Numa,
the lion, caught the scent of man, and warily stalked it until he came within
sight of his prey upon the head of the mighty tusker; then he turned, growling
and muttering, away in search of more propitious hunting grounds.
The
elephant caught the scent of the lion, borne to him by an eddying breeze, and
lifting his trunk trumpeted loudly. Tarzan stretched back luxuriously, lying
supine at full length along the rough hide. Flies swarmed about his face; but
with a leafy branch torn from a tree he lazily brushed them away.
"Tantor,"
he said, "it is good to be alive. It is good to lie in the cool shadows.
It is good to look upon the green trees and the bright colors of the flowers - upon
everything which Bulamutumumo has put here for us. He is very good to us,
Tantor; He has given you tender leaves and bark, and rich grasses to eat; to me
He has given Bara and Horta and Pisah, the fruits and the nuts and the roots.
He provides for each the food that each likes best. All that He asks is that we
be strong enough or cunning enough to go forth and take it. Yes, Tantor, it is
good to live. I should hate to die."
Tantor
made a little sound in his throat and curled his trunk upward that he might
caress the ape-man's cheek with the finger at its tip.
"Tantor,"
said Tarzan presently, "turn and feed in the direction of the tribe of
Kerchak, the great ape, that Tarzan may ride home upon your head without
walking."
The
tusker turned and moved slowly off along a broad, tree-arched trail, pausing
occasionally to pluck a tender branch, or strip the edible bark from an
adjacent tree. Tarzan sprawled face downward upon the beast's head and back,
his legs hanging on either side, his head supported by his open palms, his
elbows resting on the broad cranium. And thus they made their leisurely way
toward the gathering place of the tribe.
Just
before they arrived at the clearing from the north there reached it from the
south another figure - that of a well-knit black warrior, who stepped
cautiously through the jungle, every sense upon the alert against the many
dangers which might lurk anywhere along the way. Yet he passed beneath the
southernmost sentry that was posted in a great tree commanding the trail from
the south. The ape permitted the Gomangani to pass unmolested, for he saw that
he was alone; but the moment that the warrior had entered the clearing a loud
"Kreeg-ah!" rang out from behind him, immediately followed by a
chorus of replies from different directions, as the great bulls crashed through
the trees in answer to the summons of their fellow.
The
black man halted at the first cry and looked about him. He could see nothing,
but he knew the voice of the hairy tree men whom he and his kind feared, not
alone because of the strength and ferocity of the savage beings, but as well
through a superstitious terror engendered by the manlike appearance of the
apes.
But
Bulabantu was no coward. He heard the apes all about him; he knew that escape
was probably impossible, so he stood his ground, his spear ready in his hand
and a war cry trembling on his lips. He would sell his life dearly, would
Bulabantu, under-chief of the village of Mbonga, the chief.
Tarzan
and Tantor were but a short distance away when the first cry of the sentry rang
out through the quiet jungle. Like a flash the ape-man leaped from the
elephant's back to a near-by tree and was swinging rapidly in the direction of
the clearing before the echoes of the first "Kreeg-ah" had died away.
When he arrived he saw a dozen bulls circling a single Gomangani. With a
blood-curdling scream Tarzan sprang to the attack. He hated the blacks even
more than did the apes, and here was an opportunity for a kill in the open.
What had the Gomangani done? Had he slain one of the tribe?
Tarzan
asked the nearest ape. No, the Gomangani had harmed none. Gozan, being on
watch, had seen him coming through the forest and had warned the tribe - that
was all. The ape-man pushed through the circle of bulls, none of which as yet
had worked himself into sufficient frenzy for a charge, and came where he had a
full and close view of the black. He recognized the man instantly. Only the
night before he had seen him facing the eyes in the dark, while his fellows
groveled in the dirt at his feet, too terrified even to defend themselves. Here
was a brave man, and Tarzan had deep admiration for bravery. Even his hatred of
the blacks was not so strong a passion as his love of courage. He would have
joyed in battling with a black warrior at almost any time; but this one he did
not wish to kill - he felt, vaguely, that the man had earned his life by his
brave defense of it on the preceding night, nor did he fancy the odds that were
pitted against the lone warrior.
He
turned to the apes. "Go back to your feeding," he said, "and let
this Gomangani go his way in peace. He has not harmed us, and last night I saw
him fighting Numa and Sabor with fire, alone in the jungle. He is brave. Why
should we kill one who is brave and who has not attacked us? Let him go."
The
apes growled. They were displeased. "Kill the Gomangani!" cried one.
"Yes,"
roared another, "kill the Gomangani and the Tarmangani as well."
"Kill
the white ape!" screamed Gozan. "He is no ape at all; but a Gomangani
with his skin off."
"Kill
Tarzan!" bellowed Gunto. "Kill! Kill! Kill!"
The
bulls were now indeed working themselves into the frenzy of slaughter; but
against Tarzan rather than the black man. A shaggy form charged through them,
hurling those it came in contact with to one side as a strong man might scatter
children. It was Taug - great, savage Taug.
"Who
says 'kill Tarzan'?" he demanded. "Who kills Tarzan must kill Taug,
too. Who can kill Taug? Taug will tear your insides from you and feed them to
Dango."
"We
can kill you all," replied Gunto. "There are many of us and few of
you," and he was right. Tarzan knew that he was right. Taug knew it; but
neither would admit such a possibility. It is not the way of bull apes.
"I
am Tarzan," cried the ape-man. "I am Tarzan. Mighty hunter; mighty
fighter. In all the jungle none so great as Tarzan."
Then,
one by one, the opposing bulls recounted their virtues and their prowess. And
all the time the combatants came closer and closer to one another. Thus do the
bulls work themselves to the proper pitch before engaging in battle.
Gunto
came, stiff-legged, close to Tarzan and sniffed at him, with bared fangs.
Tarzan rumbled forth a low, menacing growl. They might repeat these tactics a
dozen times; but sooner or later one bull would close with another and then the
whole hideous pack would be tearing and rending at their prey.
Bulabantu,
the black man, had stood wide-eyed in wonder from the moment he had seen Tarzan
approaching through the apes. He had heard much of this devil-god who ran with
the hairy tree people; but never before had he seen him in full daylight. He
knew him well enough from the description of those who had seen him and from
the glimpses he had had of the marauder upon several occasions when the ape-man
had entered the village of Mbonga, the chief, by night, in the perpetration of
one of his numerous ghastly jokes.
Bulabantu
could not, of course, understand anything which passed between Tarzan and the
apes; but he saw that the ape-man and one of the larger bulls were in argument
with the others. He saw that these two were standing with their back toward him
and between him and the balance of the tribe, and he guessed, though it seemed
improbable, that they might be defending him. He knew that Tarzan had once
spared the life of Mbonga, the chief, and that he had succored Tibo, and Tibo's
mother, Momaya. So it was not impossible that he would help Bulabantu; but how
he could accomplish it Bulabantu could not guess; nor as a matter of fact could
Tarzan, for the odds against him were too great.
Gunto
and the others were slowly forcing Tarzan and Taug back toward Bulabantu. The
ape-man thought of his words with Tantor just a short time before: "Yes,
Tantor, it is good to live. I should hate to die." And now he knew that he
was about to die, for the temper of the great bulls was mounting rapidly
against him. Always had many of them hated him, and all were suspicious of him.
They knew he was different. Tarzan knew it too; but he was glad that he was - he
was a MAN; that he had learned from his picture-books, and he was very proud of
the distinction. Presently, though, he would be a dead man.
Gunto
was preparing to charge. Tarzan knew the signs. He knew that the balance of the
bulls would charge with Gunto. Then it would soon be over. Something moved
among the verdure at the opposite side of the clearing. Tarzan saw it just as
Gunto, with the terrifying cry of a challenging ape, sprang forward. Tarzan
voiced a peculiar call and then crouched to meet the assault. Taug crouched,
too, and Bulabantu, assured now that these two were fighting upon his side,
couched his spear and sprang between them to receive the first charge of the
enemy.
Simultaneously
a huge bulk broke into the clearing from the jungle behind the charging bulls.
The trumpeting of a mad tusker rose shrill above the cries of the anthropoids,
as Tantor, the elephant, dashed swiftly across the clearing to the aid of his
friend.
Gunto
never closed upon the ape-man, nor did a fang enter flesh upon either side. The
terrific reverberation of Tantor's challenge sent the bulls scurrying to the
trees, jabbering and scolding. Taug raced off with them. Only Tarzan and
Bulabantu remained. The latter stood his ground because he saw that the
devil-god did not run, and because the black had the courage to face a certain
and horrible death beside one who had quite evidently dared death for him.
But
it was a surprised Gomangani who saw the mighty elephant come to a sudden halt
in front of the ape-man and caress him with his long, sinuous trunk.
Tarzan
turned toward the black man. "Go!" he said in the language of the
apes, and pointed in the direction of the village of Mbonga. Bulabantu
understood the gesture, if not the word, nor did he lose time in obeying.
Tarzan stood watching him until he had disappeared. He knew that the apes would
not follow. Then he said to the elephant: "Pick me up!" and the
tusker swung him lightly to his head.
"Tarzan
goes to his lair by the big water," shouted the ape-man to the apes in the
trees. "All of you are more foolish than Manu, except Taug and Teeka. Taug
and Teeka may come to see Tarzan; but the others must keep away. Tarzan is done
with the tribe of Kerchak."
He
prodded Tantor with a calloused toe and the big beast swung off across the
clearing, the apes watching them until they were swallowed up by the jungle.
Before
the night fell Taug killed Gunto, picking a quarrel with him over his attack
upon Tarzan.
For
a moon the tribe saw nothing of Tarzan of the Apes. Many of them probably never
gave him a thought; but there were those who missed him more than Tarzan
imagined. Taug and Teeka often wished that he was back, and Taug determined a
dozen times to go and visit Tarzan in his seaside lair; but first one thing and
then another interfered.
One
night when Taug lay sleepless looking up at the starry heavens he recalled the
strange things that Tarzan once had suggested to him - that the bright spots
were the eyes of the meat-eaters waiting in the dark of the jungle sky to leap
upon Goro, the moon, and devour him. The more he thought about this matter the
more perturbed he became.
And
then a strange thing happened. Even as Taug looked at Goro, he saw a portion of
one edge disappear, precisely as though something was gnawing upon it. Larger
and larger became the hole in the side of Goro. With a scream, Taug leaped to
his feet. His frenzied "Kreeg-ahs!" brought the terrified tribe
screaming and chattering toward him.
"Look!"
cried Taug, pointing at the moon. "Look! It is as Tarzan said. Numa has
sprung through the fires and is devouring Goro. You called Tarzan names and
drove him from the tribe; now see how wise he was. Let one of you who hated
Tarzan go to Goro's aid. See the eyes in the dark jungle all about Goro. He is
in danger and none can help him - none except Tarzan. Soon Goro will be
devoured by Numa and we shall have no more light after Kudu seeks his lair. How
shall we dance the Dum-Dum without the light of Goro?"
The
apes trembled and whimpered. Any manifestation of the powers of nature always
filled them with terror, for they could not understand.
"Go
and bring Tarzan," cried one, and then they all took up the cry of
"Tarzan!" "Bring Tarzan!" "He will save Goro."
But who was to travel the dark jungle by night to fetch him?
"I
will go," volunteered Taug, and an instant later he was off through the
Stygian gloom toward the little land-locked harbor by the sea.
And
as the tribe waited they watched the slow devouring of the moon. Already Numa
had eaten out a great semicircular piece. At that rate Goro would be entirely
gone before Kudu came again. The apes trembled at the thought of perpetual
darkness by night. They could not sleep. Restlessly they moved here and there
among the branches of trees, watching Numa of the skies at his deadly feast,
and listening for the coming of Taug with Tarzan.
Goro
was nearly gone when the apes heard the sounds of the approach through the
trees of the two they awaited, and presently Tarzan, followed by Taug, swung
into a nearby tree.
The
ape-man wasted no time in idle words. In his hand was his long bow and at his
back hung a quiver full of arrows, poisoned arrows that he had stolen from the
village of the blacks; just as he had stolen the bow. Up into a great tree he
clambered, higher and higher until he stood swaying upon a small limb which
bent low beneath his weight. Here he had a clear and unobstructed view of the
heavens. He saw Goro and the inroads which the hungry Numa had made into his
shining surface.
Raising
his face to the moon, Tarzan shrilled forth his hideous challenge. Faintly and
from afar came the roar of an answering lion. The apes shivered. Numa of the
skies had answered Tarzan.
Then
the ape-man fitted an arrow to his bow, and drawing the shaft far back, aimed
its point at the heart of Numa where he lay in the heavens devouring Goro.
There was a loud twang as the released bolt shot into the dark heavens. Again
and again did Tarzan of the Apes launch his arrows at Numa, and all the while
the apes of the tribe of Kerchak huddled together in terror.
At
last came a cry from Taug. "Look! Look!" he screamed. "Numa is
killed. Tarzan has killed Numa. See! Goro is emerging from the belly of
Numa," and, sure enough, the moon was gradually emerging from whatever had
devoured her, whether it was Numa, the lion, or the shadow of the earth; but
were you to try to convince an ape of the tribe of Kerchak that it was aught
but Numa who so nearly devoured Goro that night, or that another than Tarzan
preserved the brilliant god of their savage and mysterious rites from a
frightful death, you would have difficulty - and a fight on your hands.
And
so Tarzan of the Apes came back to the tribe of Kerchak, and in his coming he
took a long stride toward the kingship, which he ultimately won, for now the
apes looked up to him as a superior being.
In
all the tribe there was but one who was at all skeptical about the plausibility
of Tarzan's remarkable rescue of Goro, and that one, strange as it may seem,
was Tarzan of the Apes.
THE END
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