CHAPTER IV



WHAT THE FOOTPRINTS TOLD


When Jad-bal-ja, the golden lion, was two years old, he was
as magnificent a specimen of his kind as the Greystokes had
ever looked upon. In size he was far above the average of
that attained by mature males; in conformation he was
superb, his noble head and his great black mane giving him
the appearance of a full-grown male, while in intelligence
he far outranked his savage brothers of the forest.

Jad-bal-ja was a never-ending source of pride and delight to
the ape-man who had trained him so carefully, and nourished
him cunningly for the purpose of developing to the full all
the latent powers within him. The lion no longer slept at
the foot of his master's bed, but occupied a strong cage
that Tarzan had had constructed for him at the rear of the
bungalow, for who knew better than the ape-man that a lion,
wherever he may be or however he may have been raised, is
yet a lion--a savage flesh-eater. For the first year he
had roamed at will about the house and grounds; after that
he went abroad only in the company of Tarzan. Often the two
roamed the plain and the jungle hunting together.  In a way
the lion was almost equally as familiar with Jane and Korak,
and neither of them feared or mistrusted him, but toward
Tarzan of the Apes did he show the greatest affection. The
blacks of Tarzan's household he tolerated, nor did he ever
offer to molest any of the domestic animals or fowl, after
Tarzan had impressed upon him in his early cubhood that
appropriate punishment followed immediately upon any
predatory excursion into the corrals or henhouses. The fact
that he was never permitted to become ravenously hungry was
doubtless the deciding factor in safeguarding the livestock
of the farm.

The man and the beast seemed to understand one another
perfectly. It is doubtful that the lion understood all that
Tarzan said to him, but be that as it may the ease with
which he communicated his wishes to the lion bordered upon
the uncanny. The obedience that a combination of sternness
and affection had elicited from the cub had become largely
habit in the grown lion. At Tarzan's command he would go to
great distances and bring back antelope or zebra, laying his
kill at his master's feet without offering to taste the
flesh himself, and he had even retrieved living animals
without harming them. Such, then, was the golden lion that
roamed the primeval forest with his godlike master.

It was at about this time that there commenced to drift in
to the ape-man rumors of a predatory band to the west and
south of his estate; ugly stories of ivory-raiding,
slave-running and torture, such as had not disturbed the
quiet of the ape-man's savage jungle since the days of Sheik
Amor Ben Khatour, and there came other tales, too, that
caused Tarzan of the Apes to pucker his brows in puzzlement
and thought, and then a month elapsed during which Tarzan
heard no more of the rumors from the west.


* * * * *


The war had reduced the resources of the Greystokes to but a
meager income. They had given practically all to the cause
of the Allies, and now what little had remained to them had
been all but exhausted in the rehabilitation of Tarzan's
African estate.

"It looks very much, Jane," he said to his wife one night,
"as though another trip to Opar were on the books."

"I dread to think of it.  I do not want you to go," she
said. "You have come away from that awful city twice, but
barely with your life. The third time you may not be so
fortunate. We have enough, John, to permit us to live here
in comfort and in happiness.  Why jeopardize those two
things which are greater than all wealth in another attempt
to raid the treasure vaults?"

"There is no danger, Jane," he assured her. "The last time
Werper dogged my footsteps, and between him and the
earthquake I was nearly done for. But there is no chance of
any such combination of circumstances thwarting me again.

"You will not go alone, John?" she asked. "You will take
Korak with you?"

"No," he said, "I shall not take him. He must remain here
with you, for really my long absences are more dangerous to
you than to me. I shall take fifty of the Waziri, as
porters, to carry the gold, and thus we should be able to
bring out enough to last us for a long time.

"And Jad-bal-ja," she asked, "shall you take him?"

"No, he had better remain here; Korak can look after him and
take him out for a hunt occasionally. I am going to travel
light and fast and it would be too hard a trip for him--
lions don't care to move around much in the hot sun, and as
we shall travel mostly by day I doubt if Jad-bal-ja would
last long."

And so it befell that Tarzan of the Apes set out once more
upon the long trail that leads to Opar. Behind him marched
fifty giant Waziri, the pick of the warlike tribe that had
adopted Tarzan as its Chief. Upon the veranda of the
bungalow stood Jane and Korak waving their adieux, while
from the rear of the building there came to the ape-man's
ears the rumbling roar of Jad-bal-ja, the golden lion. And
as they marched away the voice of Numa accompanied them out
upon the rolling plain, until at last it trailed off to
nothingness in the distance.

His speed determined by that of the slowest of the blacks,
Tarzan made but comparatively rapid progress. Opar lay a
good twenty-five days' trek from the farm for men traveling
light, as were these, but upon the return journey, laden as
they would be with the ingots of gold, their progress would
be slower.  And because of this the ape-man had allotted two
months for the venture. His safari, consisting of seasoned
warriors only, permitted of really rapid progress. They
carried no supplies, for they were all hunters and were
moving through a country in which game was abundant--no
need then for burdening themselves with the cumbersome
impedimenta of white huntsmen.

A thorn boma and a few leaves furnished their shelter for
the night, while spears and arrows and the powers of their
great white chief ensured that their bellies would never go
empty. With the picked men that he had brought with him,
Tarzan expected to make the trip to Opar in twenty-one days,
though had he been traveling alone he would have moved two
or three times as fast, since, when Tarzan elected to travel
with speed, he fairly flew through the jungle, equally at
home in it by day or by night and practically tireless.

It was a mid-afternoon the third week of the march that
Tarzan, ranging far ahead of his blacks in search of game,
came suddenly upon the carcass of Bara, the deer, a
feathered arrow protruding from its flank. It was evident
that Bara had been wounded at some little distance from
where it had lain down to die, for the location of the
missile indicated that the wound could not have caused
immediate death. But what particularly caught the attention
of the ape-man, even before he had come close enough to make
a minute examination, was the design of the arrow, and
immediately he withdrew it from the body of the deer he knew
it for what it was, and was filled with such wonderment as
might come to you or to me were we to see a native Swazi
headdress upon Broadway or the Strand, for the arrow was
precisely such as one may purchase in most any
sporting-goods house in any large city of the world--such
an arrow as is sold and used for archery practice in the
parks and suburbs. Nothing could have been more incongruous
than this silly toy in the heart of savage Africa, and yet
that it had done its work effectively was evident by the
dead body of Bara, though the ape-man guessed that the shaft
had been sped by no practiced savage hand.

Tarzan's curiosity was aroused and also his inherent jungle
caution. One must know his jungle well to survive long the
jungle, and if one would know it well he must let no unusual
occurrence or circumstance go unexplained. And so it was
that Tarzan set out upon the back track of Bara for the
purpose of ascertaining, if possible, the nature of Bara's
slayer. The bloody spoor was easily followed and the ape-man
wondered why it was that the hunter had not tracked and
overtaken his quarry, which had evidently been dead since
the previous day. He found that Bara had traveled far, and
the sun was already low in the west before Tarzan came upon
the first indications of the slayer of the animal. These
were in the nature of footprints that filled him with quite
as much surprise as had the arrow. He examined them
carefully, and, stooping low, even sniffed at them with his
sensitive nostrils. Improbable, nay impossible though it
seemed, the naked footprints were those of a white man--a
large man, probably as large as Tarzan himself. As the
foster-son of Kala stood gazing upon the spoor of the
mysterious stranger he ran the fingers of one hand through
his thick, black hair in a characteristic gesture indicative
of deep puzzlement.

What naked white man could there be in Tarzan's jungle who
slew Tarzan's game with the pretty arrow of an archery club?
It was incredible that there should be such a one, and yet
there recurred to the ape-man's mind the vague rumors that
he had heard weeks before. Determined to solve the mystery
he set out now upon the trail of the stranger--an erratic
trail which wound about through the jungle, apparently
aimlessly, prompted, Tarzan guessed, by the ignorance of an
inexperienced hunter.  But night fell before he had arrived
at a solution of the riddle, and it was pitch dark as the
ape-man turned his steps toward camp.

He knew that his Waziri would be expecting meat and it was
not Tarzan's intention to disappoint them, though he then
discovered that he was not the only carnivore hunting the
district that night. The coughing grunt of a lion close by
apprised him of it first, and then, from the distance, the
deep roar of another.  But of what moment was it to the
ape-man that others hunted? It would not be the first time
that he had pitted his cunning, his strength, and his
agility against the other hunters of his savage world--
both man and beast.

And so it was that Tarzan made his kill at last, snatching
it almost from under the nose of a disappointed and
infuriated lion--a fat antelope that the latter had marked
as his own. Throwing his kill to his shoulder almost in the
path of the charging Numa, the ape-man swung lightly to the
lower terraces and with a taunting laugh for the infuriated
cat, vanished noiselessly into the night.

He found the camp and his hungry Waziri without trouble, and
so great was their faith in him that they not for a moment
doubted but that he would return with meat for them.


Early the following morning Tarzan set out again toward
Opar, and directing his Waziri to continue the march in the
most direct way, he left them that he might pursue further
his investigations of the mysterious presence in his jungle
that the arrow and the footsteps had apprised him of.

Coming again to the spot at which darkness had forced him to
abandon his investigations, he took up the spoor of the
stranger. Nor had he followed it far before he came upon
further evidence of the presence of this new and malign
personality--stretched before him in the trail was the
body of a giant ape, one of the tribe of great anthropoids
among whom Tarzan had been raised. Protruding from the hairy
abdomen of the Mangani was another of the machine-made
arrows of civilization. The ape-man's eyes narrowed and a
scowl darkened his brow. Who was this who dared invade his
sacred preserves and slaughter thus ruthlessly Tarzan's
people?

A low growl rumbled in the throat of the ape-man. Sloughed
with the habiliments of civilization was the thin veneer of
civilization that Tarzan wore among white men. No English
lord was this who looked upon the corpse of his hairy
cousin, but another jungle beast in whose breast raged the
unquenchable fire of suspicion and hatred for the man-thing
that is the heritage of the jungle-bred.  A beast of prey
viewed the bloody work of ruthless man. Nor was there in the
consciousness of Tarzan any acknowledgment of his blood
relationship to the killer.

Realizing that the trail had been made upon the second day
before, Tarzan hastened on in pursuit of the slayer. There
was no doubt in his mind but that plain murder had been
committed, for he was sufficiently familiar with the traits
of the Mangani to know that none of them would provoke
assault unless driven to it.

Tarzan was traveling up wind, and some half-hour after he
had discovered the body of the ape his keen nostrils caught
the scent-spoor of others of its kind. Knowing the timidity
of these fierce denizens of the jungle he moved forward now
with great wariness, lest, warned of his approach, they take
flight before they were aware of his identity. He did not
see them often, yet he knew that there were always those
among them who recalled him, and that through these he could
always establish amicable relations with the balance of the
tribe.

Owing to the denseness of the undergrowth Tarzan chose the
middle terraces for his advance, and here, swinging freely
and swiftly among the leafy boughs, he came presently upon
the giant anthropoids. There were about twenty of them in
the band, and they were engaged, in a little natural
clearing, in their never-ending search for caterpillars and
beetles, which formed important items in the diet of the
Mangani.

A faint smile overspread the ape-man's face as he paused
upon a great branch, himself hidden by the leafy foliage
about him, and watched the little band below him. Every
action, every movement of the great apes, recalled vividly
to Tarzan's mind the long years of his childhood, when,
protected by the fierce mother-love of Kala, the she-ape, he
had ranged the jungle with the tribe of Kerchak. In the
romping young, he saw again Neeta and his other childhood
playmates and in the adults all the great, savage brutes he
had feared in youth and conquered in manhood. The ways of
man may change but the ways of the ape are the same,
yesterday, today and forever.

He watched them in silence for some minutes. How glad they
would be to see him when they discovered his identity! For
Tarzan of the Apes was known the length and the breadth of
the great jungle as the friend and protector of the Mangani.
At first they would growl at him and threaten him, for they
would not depend solely on either their eyes or their ears
for confirmation of his identity. Not until he had entered
the clearing, and bristling bulls with bared fighting fangs
had circled him stiffly until they had come close enough for
their nostrils to verify the evidence of their eyes and
ears, would they finally accept him. Then doubtless there
would be great excitement for a few minutes, until,
following the instincts of the ape mind, their attention was
weaned from him by a blowing leaf, a caterpillar, or a
bird's egg, and then they would move about their business,
taking no further notice of him more than of any other
member of the tribe. But this would not come until after
each individual had smelled of him, and perhaps, pawed his
flesh with calloused hands.

Now it was that Tarzan made a friendly sound of greeting,
and, as the apes looked up, stepped from his concealment into
plain view of them.  "I am Tarzan of the Apes," he said,
"mighty fighter, friend of the Mangani. Tarzan comes in
friendship to his people," and with these words he dropped
lightly to the lush grass of the clearing.

Instantly pandemonium reigned.  Screaming warnings, the shes
raced with the young for the opposite side of the clearing,
while the bulls, bristling and growling, faced the intruder.

"Come," cried Tarzan, "do you not know me? I am Tarzan of
the Apes, friend of the Mangani, son of Kala, and king of
the tribe of Kerchak."

"We know you," growled one of the old bulls; "yesterday we
saw you when you killed Gobu. Go away or we shall kill you."

"I did not kill Gobu," replied the ape-man.  "I found his
dead body yesterday and I was following the spoor of his
slayer, when I came upon you."

"We saw you," repeated the old bull; "go away or we shall
kill you. You are no longer the friend of the Mangani."

The ape-man stood with brows contracted in thought. It was
evident that these apes really believed that they had seen
him kill their fellow. What was the explanation? How could
it be accounted for?  Did the naked footprints of the great
white man whom he had been following mean more, then, than
he had guessed? Tarzan wondered. He raised his eyes and
again addressed the bulls.

"It was not I who killed Gobu," he insisted. "Many of you
have known me all your lives. You know that only in fair
fight, as one bull fights another, have I ever killed a
Mangani.  You know that, of all the jungle people, the
Mangani are my best friends, and that Tarzan of the Apes is
the best friend the Mangani have.  How, then, could I slay
one of my own people?"

"We only know," replied the old bull, "that we saw you kill
Gobu. With our own eyes we saw you kill him. Go away
quickly, therefore, or we shall kill you. Mighty fighter is
Tarzan of the Apes, but mightier even than he are all the
great bulls of Pagth. I am Pagth, king of the tribe of
Pagth. Go away before we kill you."

Tarzan tried to reason with them but they would not listen,
so confident were they that it was he who had slain their
fellow, the bull Gobu. Finally, rather than chance a quarrel
in which some of them must inevitably be killed, he turned
sorrowfully away. But more than ever, now, was he determined
to seek out the slayer of Gobu that he might demand an
accounting of one who dared thus invade his lifelong domain.

Tarzan trailed the spoor until it mingled with the tracks of
many men--barefooted blacks, mostly, but among them the
footprints of booted white men, and once he saw the
footprints of a woman or a child, which, he could not tell.
The trail led apparently toward the rocky hills which
protected the barren valley of Opar.

Forgetful now of his original mission and imbued only with a
savage desire to wrest from the interlopers a full
accounting for their presence in the jungle, and to mete out
to the slayer of Gobu his just deserts, Tarzan forged ahead
upon the now broad and well-marked trail of the considerable
party which could not now be much more than a half-day's
march ahead of him, which meant that they were doubtless now
already upon the rim of the valley of Opar, if this was
their ultimate destination. And what other they could have
in view Tarzan could not imagine.

He had always kept closely to himself the location of Opar.
In so far as he knew no white person other than Jane, and
their son, Korak, knew of the location of the forgotten city
of the ancient Atlantians. Yet what else could have drawn
these white men, with so large a party, into the savage,
unexplored wilderness which hemmed Opar upon all sides?

Such were the thoughts that occupied Tarzan's mind as he
followed swiftly the trail that led toward Opar. Darkness
fell, but so fresh was the spoor that the ape-man could
follow it by scent even when he could not see the imprints
upon the ground, and presently, in the distance, he saw the
light of a camp ahead of him.