Chapter Eight

Ska, perched upon the horn of dead Gorgo, became suddenly aware of a

movement in a nearby thicket. He turned his head in the direction of the

sound and saw Sabor the lioness emerge from the foliage and walk slowly

toward him. Ska was not terrified. He would leave, but he would leave

with dignity. He crouched to spring upward, and extended his great wings

to aid him in taking off. But Ska, the vulture, never rose. As he essayed

to do so, something pulled suddenly upon his neck and held him down. He

scrambled to his feet and, violently this time, strove to fly away. Again

he was dragged back. Now Ska was terrified. The hateful thing that had

been dangling about his neck for so long was holding him to earth--the

swinging loop of the golden chain had caught around the horn of Gorge,

the buffalo. Ska was trapped. He struggled, beating his wings. Sabor

stopped to regard him and his wild antics. Ska was flopping around in a

most surprising manner. Sabor had never seen Ska behave thus before, and

lions are sensitive, temperamental animals; so Sabor was not surprised

only, she was inclined to be frightened. For another moment she watched

the unaccountable antics of Ska and then she turned tail and slunk back

into the undergrowth, turning an occasional growling countenance back

upon the vulture, as much as to say; "Pursue me at your peril!" But Ska

had no thought of pursuing Sabor. Never again would Ska, the vulture,

pursue aught.

"They are coming!" announced Komodoflorensal prince of Trohanadalmakus.

As Tarzan looked out across the rolling country in the direction of the

enemy, he presently saw, from his greater height, the advance of the

Veltopismakusians.

"Our scouts are falling back," he announced to Komodoflorensal.

"You can see the enemy?" demanded the prince.

"Yes."

"Keep me advised as to their movements."

"They are advancing in several long lines, deployed over a considerable

front," reported the ape-man. "The scouts are falling back upon the

outpost which seems to be standing its ground to receive them. It will be

overwhelmed--if not by the first line then by those that succeed it."

Komodoflorensal gave a short command. A thousand mounted men leaped

forward, urging their diadets into bounding leaps that cleared five, six

and even seven feet at a time. Straight for the outpost ahead of them

they raced, deploying as they went.

Another thousand moved quickly toward the right and a third toward the

left of the advance cavalry's position following Tarzan's announcement

that the enemy had divided into two bodies just before it engaged the

outpost, and that one of these was moving as though with the intention of

turning the right flank of the main cavalry of Trohanadalmakus, while the

other circled in the direction of the left flank.

"They are striking boldly and quickly for prisoners," said the prince to

Tarzan.

"Their second and third lines are ploying upon the center and moving

straight for us," said Tarzan. "They have reached the outpost, which is

racing forward with them, giving battle vigorously with rapiers."

Komodoflorensal was dispatching messengers toward the rear. "It is thus

that we fight," he said, evidently in explanation of the action of the

outpost. "It is time that you returned to the rear, for in another few

moments you will be surrounded by the enemy if you remain. When they

reach us we, too, will turn and fight them hand-to-hand back toward the

city. If it still is their intention to enter the city, the battle will

resemble more a race than aught else, for the speed will be too great for

effective fighting; but if they have abandoned that idea and intend

contenting themselves with prisoners there will be plenty of fighting

before we reach the infantry, past which I doubt if they will advance.

"With their greatly superior numbers they will take some prisoners, and

we shall take some--but, quick! you must get back to the city, if already

it is not too late."

"I think I shall remain here," replied the ape-man.

"But they will take you prisoner, or kill you."

Tarzan of the Apes smiled and shook his leafy branch. "I do not fear

them," he said, simply.

"That is because you do not know them," replied the prince. "Your great

size makes you overconfident, but remember that you are only four times

the size of a Minunian and there may be thirty thousand seeking to

overthrow you."

The Veltopismakusians were driving swiftly forward. The prince could give

no more time to what he saw was but a futile attempt to persuade Tarzan

to retreat, and while he admired the strange giant's courage he likewise

deplored his ignorance. Komodoflorensal had grown fond of their strange

guest and he would have saved him had it been possible, but now he must

turn to the command of his troops, since the enemy was almost upon them.

Tarzan watched the coming of the little men on their agile, wiry mounts.

Line after line poured across the rolling country toward him, carrying to

his mind a suggestion of their similarity to the incoming rollers of the

ocean's surf, each drop of which was soft and harmless, but in their

countless numbers combined into a relentless and terrifying force of

destruction, and the ape-man glanced at his leafy bough and smiled,

albeit a trifle ruefully.

But now his whole attention was riveted by the fighting in the first two

lines of the advancing horde. Racing neck and neck with the

Veltopismakusian warriors were the men of Adendrohahkis' outpost and the

thousands who had reinforced them. Each had selected an enemy rider whom

he sought to strike from his saddle, and at top speed each duel was

carried on with keen rapiers, though here and there was a man wielding

his spear, and sometimes to good effect. A few riderless diadets leaped

forward with the vanguard, while others, seeking to break back or to the

flanks, fouled the racing ranks, often throwing beasts and riders to the

ground; but more frequently the warriors leaped their mounts entirely

over these terrified beasts. The riding of the Minunians was superb, and

their apparently effortless control of their swift and nervous steeds

bordered upon the miraculous. Now a warrior, lifting his mount high into

the air, cleared an adversary and as he rose above him cut down viciously

with his rapier at his foe-man's head, striking him from the saddle; but

there was scarce time to catch more than a fleeting, kaleidoscopic

impression of the swift-moving spectacle before the great horde swarmed

down upon him.

With his leafy bough, Tarzan had thought to sweep the little men from his

path, but now friend and foe were so intermingled that he dared not

attempt it for fear of unseating and injuring some of the warriors of his

hosts. He raised the bough above their heads and waited until the first

lines should have passed him and then, with only the enemies of

Adendrohahkis about him, he would brush them aside and break the center

of their charge.

He saw the surprised expressions upon the faces of the men of

Veltopismakus as they passed near him--surprise, but no fear--and he heard

their shouts as one more fortunate than his fellows was able to rein

closer to him and cut viciously at his legs as he sped past. Then indeed

it became naught other than a matter of self-preservation to attempt to

fend these off with his bough, nor was this impossible as the first lines

moved past in loose ranks; but presently the solid mass of the

Veltopismakusian cavalry was upon him. There was no veering aside to

avoid him. In unbroken ranks, file after file, they bore down upon him.

He threw his useless bough before him to impede their progress and

grappled them with his fingers, tearing the riders from their mounts and

hurling them back upon their on rushing fellows; but still they came.

They jumped then--diadets over every obstruction. One rider, leaping

straight for him, struck him head on in the pit of the stomach, half

winding him and sending him back a step. Another and another struck his

legs and sides. Again and again the needlelike points of their rapiers

pierced his brown hide until from hips to feet he was red with his own

blood, and always there were more thousands bearing down upon him. His

weapons, useless against them, he made no attempt to use and though he

wrought havoc among them with his bare hands there were always a hundred

to take the place of each that he disposed of.

He smiled grimly as he realized that in these little people, scarce

one-fourth his size, he, the incomparable Tarzan, the Lord of the Jungle,

had met his Wellington. He realized that he was entirely surrounded by

the Veltopismakusians now, the warriors of Trohanadalmakus having engaged

the advancing enemy were racing onward with them toward the seven

thousand dismounted men who were to receive the brunt of that terrific

charge. Tarzan wished that he might have witnessed this phase of the

battle, but he had fighting enough and to spare to engage all his

attention where he was.

Again he was struck in the stomach by a charging rider and again the blow

staggered him. Before he could recover himself another struck him in the

same place and this time he went down, and instantly he was covered,

buried by warriors and diadets, swarming over him, like ants, in

countless numbers. He tried to rise and that was the last he remembered

before he sank into unconsciousness.

Uhha, daughter of Khamis the witch doctor of the tribe of Obebe the

cannibal, lay huddled upon a little pile of grasses in a rude thorn

shelter in an open jungle. It was night but she was not asleep. Through

narrowed lids she watched a giant white man who squatted just outside the

shelter before a tiny fire. The girl's lids were narrowed in hate as her

smoldering eyes rested upon the man. There was no fear of the

supernatural in her expression--just hate, undying hate.

Long since had Uhha ceased to think of Esteban Miranda as the River

Devil. His obvious fear of the greater beasts of the jungle and of the

black men-beasts had at first puzzled and later assured her that her

companion was an impostor; river devils do not fear anything. She was

even commencing to doubt that the fellow was Tarzan, of whom she had

heard so many fabulous stories during her childhood that she had come to

look upon him as almost a devil himself--her people had no gods, only

devils--which answer just as good a purpose among the ignorant and

superstitious as do gods among the educated and superstitious.

And when Esteban Miranda quite conclusively proved by his actions that he

feared lions and that he was lost in the jungle these things did not

square at all with her preconceived estimate of the powers and attributes

of the famous Tarzan.

With the loss of her respect for him she lost, also, nearly all her fear.

He was stronger than she and brutal. He could and would hurt her if she

angered him, but he could not harm her in any other way than physically

and not at all if she could keep out of his clutches. Many times had she

rehearsed plans for escape, but always she had hesitated because of the

terrible fear she had of being alone in the jungle. Recently, however,

she had been coming to realize more and more clearly that the white man

was little or no protection to her. In fact, she might be better off

without him, for at the first hint of danger it had been Miranda's habit

to bolt for the nearest tree, and where trees were not numerous this

habit of his had always placed Uhha under a handicap in the race for

self-preservation, since Esteban, being stronger, could push her aside if

she impeded his progress towards safety.

Yes, she would be as well off alone in the jungle as in the company of

this man whom she thoroughly despised and hated, but before she left him

she must, her savage little brain assured her, revenge herself upon him

for having tricked her into aiding him in his escape from the village of

Obebe the chief as well as for having forced her to accompany him.

Uhha was sure that she could find her way to the village, albeit they had

traveled long and far, and she was sure too that she could find the means

for subsistence along the way and elude the fiercer beasts of prey that

might beset the way. Only man she feared; but in this she was not unlike

all other created things. Man alone of all the creations of God is

universally hunted and feared and not only by the lower orders but by his

own kind, for of them all man alone joys in the death of others--the

great coward who, of all creation, fears death the most.

And so the little Negro girl lay watching the Spaniard and her eyes

glittered, for in his occupation she saw a means to her revenge.

Squatting before his fire, leaning far forward, Esteban Miranda, gloated

over the contents of a small buckskin bag which he had partially emptied

into the palm of one of his hands. Little Uhha knew how highly the white

man prized these glittering stones, though she was entirely ignorant of

their intrinsic worth. She did not even know them for diamonds. All she

knew was that the white man loved them, that he valued them more highly

than his other possessions and that he had repeatedly told her that he

would die sooner than he would part with them.

For a long time Miranda played with the diamonds and for a long time Uhha

watched him; but at last he returned them to their bag, which he fastened

securely inside his loincloth. Then he crawled beneath the thorn shelter

dragged a pile of thorns into the entrance to close it against the

inroads of prowling beasts, and lay down upon the grasses beside Uhha.

How was this little girl going to accomplish the theft of the diamonds

from the huge, Amazonian Spaniard? She could not filch them by stealth,

for the bag that contained them was so fastened inside his loincloth that

it would be impossible to remove it without awakening him; and certainly

this frail child could never wrest the jewels from Esteban by physical

prowess. No, the whole scheme must die where it was born--inside Uhha's

thick little skull.

Outside the shelter the fire flickered, lighting the jungle grasses about

it and casting weird, fantastic shadows that leaped and danced in the

jungle night. Something moved stealthily among the lush vegetation a score

of paces from the tiny camp. It was something large, for the taller

grasses spread to its advance. They parted and a lion's head appeared.

The yellow-green eyes gazed uneasily at the fire. From beyond came the

odor of man and Numa was hungry; too, upon occasion he had eaten of man

and found him good--also of all his prey the slowest and the least able to

protect himself; but Numa did not like the looks of things here and so he

turned and disappeared from whence he had come. He was not afraid of the

fire. Had he been he would have been afraid of the sun by day, for the

sun he could not even look at without discomfort, and to Numa the fire

and the sun might have been one, for he had no way of knowing which was

sixty feet away and which ninety-three million miles. It was the dancing

shadows that caused his nervous apprehension. Huge, grotesque creatures

of which he had had no experience seemed to be leaping all about him,

threatening bun from every side. But Uhha paid no attention to the

dancing shadows and she had not seen Numa the lion. She lay very still

now, listening. The fire flared less high as the slow minutes dragged

their leaden feet along. It was not so very long that she lay thus, but

it seemed long to Uhha, for she had her plan all matured and ready for

execution. A civilized girl of twelve might have conceived it, but it is

doubtful that she would have carried it to its conclusion. Uhha, however,

was not civilized and being what she was she was not hampered by any

qualms of conscience.

Presently the Spaniard's breathing indicated that he was asleep. Uhha

waited a little longer to make assurance doubly sure, then she reached

beneath the grasses just beside her and when she withdrew her hand again

she brought forth a short, stout cudgel. Slowly and cautiously she rose

until she kneeled beside the recumbent form of the sleeping Spaniard.

Then she raised her weapon above her head and brought it down once,

heavily, upon Esteban's skull. She did not continue to beat him--the one

blow was enough. She hoped that she had not killed him, for he must live

if her scheme of revenge was to be realized; he must live and know that

Uhha had stolen the bag of pebbles that he so worshiped. Uhha

appropriated the knife that swung at Miranda's hip and with it she cut

away his loincloth and took possession of the buckskin bag and its

contents. Then she removed the thorns from the entrance to the shelter,

slipped out into the night and vanished into the jungle. During all her

wanderings with the Spaniard she had not once lost her sense of the

direction which pointed toward her home, and now, free, she set her face

resolutely toward the southwest and the village of Obebe the cannibal. An

elephant trail formed a jungle highway along which she moved at a

swinging walk, her way lighted by the rays of a full moon that filtered

through the foliage of a sparse forest. She feared the jungle night and

the nocturnal beasts of prey, but she knew that she must take this chance

that she might put as great a distance as possible between herself and

the white man before he regained consciousness and started in pursuit.

A hundred yards ahead of her, in the dense thicket that bordered the

trail, Numa the lion sniffed, and listened with up-pricked ears bent in

her direction. No dancing shadows here to suggest menacing forms to

Numa's high-strung nervous system--only the scent of man coming closer and

closer--a young she-man, most tender of its kind. Numa licked his

slavering jowls and waited.

The girl came rapidly along the trail. Now she was abreast the lion, but

the king of beasts did not spring. There is something in the scent of the

man-thing and the sight of the man-thing that awakens strange terrors in

the breast of Numa. When he stalks Horta the boar or Bara the deer there

is nothing in the near presence of either that arouses a similar

sensation in the savage carnivore; then he knows no hesitancy when the

instant comes to spring upon his prey. It is only the man-thing, helpless

and leaden-footed, that causes him to pause in indecision at the crucial

moment.

Uhha passed, ignorant of the fact that a great lion, hunting and hungry,

stood within two paces of her. When she had passed Numa slunk into the

trail behind her, and there he followed, stalking his tender quarry until

the moment should come when the mists of his indecision should be

dispelled. And so they went through the jungle night-the great lion,

creeping on stealthy, noiseless pads, and just ahead of him the little

black girl, unconscious of the grim death stalking her through the

dappled moonlight.