Chapter Four

ESTEBAN MIRANDA, clinging tightly to the wrist of little Uhha, crouched

in the darkness of another forest twenty miles away and trembled as the

thunderous notes of another lion reverberated through the jungle.

The girl felt the trembling of the body of the big man at her side and

turned contemptuously upon him.

"You are not the river devil!" she cried. "You are afraid. You are not

even Tarzan, for Khamis, my father, has told me that Tarzan is afraid of

nothing. Let me go that I may climb a tree--only a coward or a fool would

stand here dead with terror waiting for the lion to come and devour him.

Let me go, I say!" and she attempted to wrench her wrist free from his

grasp.

"Shut up!" he hissed. "Do you want to attract the lion to us?" But her

words and struggles had aroused him from his paralysis and stooping he

seized her and lifted her until she could grasp the lower branches of the

tree beneath which they stood. Then, as she clambered to safety, he swung

himself easily to her side.

Presently, higher up among the branches, he found a safer and more

comfortable resting place, and there the two settled down to await the

coming of the dawn, while below them Numa the lion prowled for a while,

coughing and grunting, and occasionally voicing a deep roar that shook

the jungle.

When daylight came at last the two, exhausted by a sleepless night,

slipped to the ground. The girl would have delayed, hoping that the

warriors of Obebe might overtake them; but the man harbored a fear rather

than a hope of the same contingency and was, therefore, for hastening on

as rapidly as possible that he might put the greatest possible distance

between himself and the black cannibal chief.

He was completely lost, having not the remotest idea of where he should

search for a reasonably good trail to the coast, nor, at present, did he

care; his one wish being to escape recapture by Obebe, and so he elected

to move northward, keeping always an eye open for any indication of a

well-marked trail toward the west. Eventually, he hoped, he might

discover a village of friendly natives who would aid him upon his journey

toward the coast, and so the two moved as rapidly as they could in a

northerly direction, their way skirting the Great Thorn Forest along the

eastern edge of which they traveled.

The sun beating down upon the hot corral of The First Woman found it

deserted of life. Only the corpse of a youth lay sprawled where it had

fallen the previous evening. A speck appeared in the distant blue. It

grew larger as it approached until it took upon itself the form of a bird

gliding easily upon motionless wings. Nearer and nearer it came, now and

again winging great, slow circles, until at last it swung above the

corral of The First Woman. Once again it circled and then dropped to

earth within the enclosure--Ska, the vulture, had come. Within the hour

the body of the youth was hidden by a mantle of the great birds. It was a

two-days feast, and when they left, only the clean picked bones remained,

and entangled about the neck of one of the birds was a golden chain from

which depended a diamond-encrusted locket. Ska fought the bauble that

swung annoyingly beneath him when he flew and impeded his progress when

he walked upon the ground, but it was looped twice about his neck and he

was unable to dislodge it, and so he winged away across the Great Thorn

Forest, the bright gems gleaming and scintillating in the sun.

Tarzan of the Apes, after eluding the women that had chased him and the

Alalus youth into the forest, halted in the tree beneath which the

frightened son of The First Woman had come to a terrified pause. He was

there, close above him, when Numa charged, and reaching quickly down had

seized the youth by the hair and dragged him to safety as the lion's

raking talons embraced thin air beneath the feet of the Alalus.

The following day the ape-man concerned himself seriously in the hunt for

food, weapons and apparel. Naked and unarmed as he was it might have gone

hard with him had he been other than Tarzan of the Apes, and it might

have gone hard with the Alalus had it not been for the ape-man. Fruits

and nuts Tarzan found, and birds' eggs, but he craved meat and for meat

he hunted assiduously, not alone because of the flesh of the kill, but

for the skin and the gut and the tendons, that he could use in the

fabrication of the things he required for the safety and comfort of his

primitive existence.

As he searched for the spoor of his prey he searched also for the proper

woods for a spear and for bow and arrows, nor were they difficult to find

in this forest of familiar trees, but the day was almost done before the

gentle wind, up which he had been hunting, carried to his sensitive

nostrils the scent spoor of Bara the deer.

Swinging into a tree he motioned the Alalus to follow him, but so inept

and awkward was the creature that Tarzan was compelled to drag him to a

place among the branches, where, by signs, he attempted to impart to him

the fact that he wished him to remain where he was, watching the

materials that the ape-man had collected for his weapons, while the

latter continued the hunt alone.

That the youth understood him he was not at all sure, but at least he did

not follow when Tarzan swung off silently through the branches of the

forest along the elusive trail of the ruminant, the scent of which was

always translated to the foster son of Kala the she-ape as Bara the deer,

though in fact, as practically always, the animal was an antelope. But

strong are the impressions of childhood and since that long-gone day upon

which be had pored over the colored alphabet primer in the far-off cabin

of his dead father beside the landlocked harbor on the West Coast, and

learned that "D stands for Deer," and had admired the picture of the

pretty animal, the thing that most closely resembled it, with which he

was familiar in his daily life, the antelope, became for him then, and

always remained, Bara the deer.

To approach sufficiently close to Bara to bring him down with spear or

arrow requires cunning and woodcraft far beyond the limited range of

civilized man's ability. The native hunter loses more often than he wins

in this game of wits and percipience. Tarzan, however, must excel them

both and the antelope, too, in the keenness of his perceptive faculties

and in coordination of mind and muscles if he were to lay Bara low with

only the weapons with which nature had endowed him.

As Tarzan sped silently through the jungle, guided by his nostrils, in

the direction of Bara the deer increasing strength of the familiar

effluvium apprised him that not far ahead Bara foregathered in numbers,

and the mouth of the savage ape-man watered in anticipation of the feast

that but awaited his coming. And as the strength of the scent increased,

more warily went the great beast, moving silently, a shadow among the

shadows of the forest, until he came at last to the verge of an opening

in which he saw a dozen antelope grazing.

Squatting motionless upon a low hanging limb the ape-man watched the

movements of the herd against the moment that one might come close enough

to the encircling trees to give a charge at least a shadow of a chance

for success. To wait patiently, oftentimes hour upon hour, for the quarry

to expose itself to more certain death is a part of the great game that

the hunters of the wild must play. A single ill-timed or thoughtless

movement may send the timorous prey scampering off into the far distance

from which they may not return for days.

To avoid this Tarzan remained in statuesque immobility waiting for chance

to send one of the antelope within striking distance, and while he waited

there came to his nostrils, faintly, the scent of Numa the lion. Tarzan

scowled. He was downwind from Bara and the lion was not between him and

the antelope. It must, therefore, be upwind from the quarry as well as

from himself; but why had not the sensitive nostrils of the Herbivores

caught the scent of their archenemy before it had reached the ape-man;

that they had not was evidenced by their placidity as they grazed

contentedly, their tails switching and occasionally a head raised to look

about with up-pricked ears though with no symptom of the terror that

would immediately follow the discovery of Numa in their vicinity.

The ape-man concluded that one of those freaks of the air currents that

so often leave a motionless pocket of air directly in the path of the

flow had momentarily surrounded the antelope, insulating them, as it

were, from their immediate surroundings. And while he was thinking these

things and wishing that Numa would go away he was shocked to hear a

sudden crashing in the underbrush upon the opposite side of the clearing

beyond the antelope, who were instantly upon the alert and poised for

flight. Almost simultaneously there broke into view a young lion which,

upon coming in sight of the antelope, set up a terrific roaring as it

charged. Tarzan could have torn his hair in rage and disappointment. The

blundering stupidity of a young lion had robbed him of his meat--the

ruminants were scattering in all directions. The lion, charging futilely,

had lost his own meat and Tarzan's too; but wait! what was this? A

terrified buck, blind to all save the single thought of escape from the

talons of the dread carnivore, was bolting straight for the tree in which

Tarzan sat. As it came beneath him a sleek brown body shot headforemost

from the foliage, steel fingers gripped the throat of the buck, strong

teeth fastened in its neck. The weight of the savage hunter carried the

quarry to its knees and before it could stumble to its feet again a quick

wrench with those powerful hands had twisted and broken its neck.

Without a backward glance the ape-man threw the carcass to his shoulder

and leaped into the nearest tree. He had no need to waste time in looking

back to know what Numa would be doing, for he realized that he had leaped

upon Bara full in the sight of the king of beasts. Scarce had he drawn

himself to safety ere the great cat crashed across the spot where he had

stood.

Numa, baffled, roared terribly as he returned to glare up at the ape-man

perched above him. Tarzan smiled.

"Son of Dango, the hyena," he taunted, "go hungry until you learn to

hunt," and casting a broken branch contemptuously in the lion's face the

ape-man vanished among the leafy branches bearing his kill lightly across

one broad shoulder.

It was still daylight when Tarzan returned to where the Alalus was

awaiting him. The youth had a small stone knife and with this the ape-man

hacked off a generous portion of the antelope for the whelp of The First

Woman and another for himself. Into the raw flesh, hungrily, sank the

strong white teeth of the English lord, while the Alalus youth, gazing at

him in surprise, sought materials for fire making. Amused, Tarzan watched

him until the other had succeeded in preparing his food as he thought it

should be prepared--the outside burned to a cinder, the inside raw, yet it

was cooked food and doubtless imparted to its partaker a feeling of great

superiority over the low beasts that devoured their meat raw, just as

though he had been a civilized epicure eating decaying game and putrid

cheeses at some fashionable club in London.

Tarzan smiled as he thought how vague, after all, the line that separates

primitive from civilized man in matters pertaining to their instincts and

their appetites. Some of his French friends, with whom he was dining upon

a certain occasion, were horrified when they learned that in common with

many of the African tribes and the apes he ate caterpillars, and they

voiced their horror between mouthfuls of the snails they were eating with

relish at the time. The provincial American scoffs at the French for

eating frogs' legs, the while he munches upon the leg of a pig! The

Esquimaux eat raw blubber, the Amazonians, both white and native, eat the

contents of the stomachs of parrots and monkeys and consider them

delicacies, the Chinese coolie asks not how his meat came by its death,

nor how long since, and there is a man in New York, an estimable and

otherwise harmless man, who eats Limburger cheese on Bartlett pears.

The following day, with sufficient meat to last them several days, Tarzan

set to work upon his weapons and his loincloth. Showing the Alalus how to

scrape the antelope hide with his stone knife, the ape-man set to work,

with nothing more in the way of tools than bits of stone picked from the

bed of a stream, to fashion weapons with which to cope successfully with

the Alali women, the great carnivores and whatever other enemies time

might reveal to him.

And as he worked he watched the Alalus youth and wondered of what use the

poor creature could be to him in finding his way through the encircling

thorn forest that he must pass to reach familiar country and the trail

for home. That the poor thing was timid had been evidenced by its manner

when fleeing from the Alali women and its terror when confronted by Numa.

Its speechlessness made it useless as a companion and it was entirely

without woodcraft other than a certain crude, instinctive kind that was

of no use to Tarzan. But it had placed itself at his side during the

altercation in the corral and although it could not have been of any help

to him yet it had won a right to his consideration by its act. Moreover

it was evident, quite evident, that the creature had attached itself to

Tarzan and intended to remain with him.

An idea occurred to Tarzan as he worked upon his weapons and thought upon

the Alalus--he would make similar weapons for the youth and teach him how

to use them. He had seen that the crude weapons of the Alali would be no

match against one armed with a bow and arrows, or even a good spear.

Accurately they could not hope to throw their missiles as far as a good

bowman could speed his shaft and their bludgeons were helpless in the

face of a well-thrown spear.

Yes, he would make weapons for the youth and train him in their use and

then he could be made of service in the hunt and, if necessary, in the

fight, and as Tarzan of the Apes thought upon the matter the Alalus

suddenly paused in his work and bent an ear close to the ground, then he

lifted his head and turned his eyes upon Tarzan, pointing at him, at his

ear, and then at the ground. The ape-man understood that he was to listen

as the other had and when he did so he distinctly heard approaching

footsteps resounding upon the hard-worn trail.

Gathering up his belongings he carried them high among the trees to a

safe cache with the remnants of Bara the deer and then returning helped

the youth into the tree beside him.

Slowly, already, the Alalus was becoming more at ease in the trees and

could help himself to a greater extent in climbing into them, but he was

still practically helpless in Tarzan's estimation.

The two had not long to wait before there swung down the trail one of the

terrible women of the amphitheater, and behind her at ten or fifteen

paces another, and behind the second a third. It was not often that they

traveled thus, for theirs was a solitary existence, the Alali being

almost devoid of gregarious instincts, yet they did occasionally start

out upon their hunts together, especially when they were hunting some

dangerous beast that had encroached upon their rights, or when, failing

to collect sufficient men from the forest during the mating season, the

unfortunate ones banded together to make a raid upon the corrals of a

neighboring tribe.

The three, slouching along the trail, passed directly beneath the tree

from which Tarzan and the youth watched them. The great, flat ears

flapped lazily, the dark eyes wandered from side to side, and from time

to time they moved rapidly the skin upon some portions of their bodies as

they sought to dislodge annoying insects.

The two in the tree remained motionless while the three brute-women

passed along down the trail to be presently lost to their view at a

turning of the forest highway, then, after a short interval of listening,

they descended to the ground and resumed their interrupted labors. The

ape-man smiled as he idly pondered the events of the past few

minutes--Tarzan of the Apes, Lord of the Jungle, hiding among the trees to

escape the notice of three women! But such women! He knew little about

them or their ways as yet, but what he did know was sufficient to

convince him that they were as formidable foes as ever he had encountered

and that while he remained weaponless he was no match against their great

bludgeons and swift-thrown missiles.

The days passed; the ape-man and his silent companion perfected the

weapons that would more easily give them food, the latter working

mechanically, following the instructions of his master, until at last the

time came when Tarzan and the Alalus were fully equipped and then they

hunted together, the man training the youth in the use of bow and spear

and the long grass rope that from boyhood had formed a unique feature of

the ape-man's armament.

During these days of hunting there came over the Alalus youth, quite

suddenly, a great change. It had been his habit to glide stealthily

through the forest, stopping often to look this way and that, fearful,

apparently, of every creature that roamed the shadowed trails; his one

great fear the ferocious females of his kind; but suddenly all this

changed as by magic. Slowly he was mastering the bow and the spear; with

deep interest and a sense of awe and respect he had watched Tarzan bring

down many animals, great and small, for food, and once he had seen him

dispatch Sabor the lioness with a single thrust of his great spear when

Sabor had caught the ape-man in a clearing too far from the sanctuary of

his beloved trees, and then his own day came. He and Tarzan were hunting

when the former disturbed a small herd of wild pigs, bringing down two

with his arrows. The others scattered in all directions and one of these,

a boar, sighting the Alalus, charged him. The youth was of a mind to

flee, for ages of inherited instinct prompted him to flight Always the

male Alalus fled from danger, and between fleeing from carnivorous

animals and from their own women they had become very swift, so swift

that no dangerous enemy could overtake them--an Alalus man could be

captured only by craft. He could have escaped the boar by flight and for

an instant he was upon the verge of flight, but a sudden thought checked

him--back flew his spear hand as the ape-man had taught him and then

forward with all the weight of his body behind the cast. The boar was

coming straight for him. The spear struck in front of the left shoulder

and ranged downward through the heart. Horta the boar dropped in his

tracks.

A new expression came into the eyes and spread over the countenance of

the Alalus. He no longer wore that hunted expression; he no longer slunk

through the forest casting fearful glances from side to side. Now he

walked erect, boldly and with fearless mien, and, perhaps, instead of

dreading the appearance of a female he rather courted the event. He was

the personification of avenging manhood. Within him rankled countless

ages of contemptuous treatment and abuse at the hands of his shes.

Doubtless he never thought of the matter in this way at all, but the fact

remained, and Tarzan realized it, that the first woman unfortunate enough

to stumble upon this youth was going to get the surprise of her life.

And while Tarzan and the Alalus roamed the strange land hemmed in by the

Great Thorn Forest and the ape-man sought for an avenue of escape,

Esteban Miranda and little Uhha, daughter of Khamis the witch doctor,

wandered along the forest's outer verge in search of a trail toward the

west and the coast.