Chapter 5
Mugambi
By the time that Tarzan had travelled entirely about the coast of
the island, and made several trips inland from various points, he
was sure that he was the only human being upon it.
Nowhere had he found any sign that men had stopped even temporarily
upon this shore, though, of course, he knew that so quickly does
the rank vegetation of the tropics erase all but the most permanent
of human monuments that he might be in error in his deductions.
The day following the killing of Numa, Tarzan and Sheeta came upon
the tribe of Akut. At sight of the panther the great apes took to
flight, but after a time Tarzan succeeded in recalling them.
It had occurred to him that it would be at least an interesting
experiment to attempt to reconcile these hereditary enemies. He
welcomed anything that would occupy his time and his mind beyond
the filling of his belly and the gloomy thoughts to which he fell
prey the moment that he became idle.
To communicate his plan to the apes was not a particularly difficult
matter, though their narrow and limited vocabulary was strained in
the effort; but to impress upon the little, wicked brain of Sheeta
that he was to hunt with and not for his legitimate prey proved a
task almost beyond the powers of the ape-man.
Tarzan, among his other weapons, possessed a long, stout cudgel,
and after fastening his rope about the panther's neck he used this
instrument freely upon the snarling beast, endeavouring in this
way to impress upon its memory that it must not attack the great,
shaggy manlike creatures that had approached more closely once they
had seen the purpose of the rope about Sheeta's neck.
That the cat did not turn and rend Tarzan is something of a miracle
which may possibly be accounted for by the fact that twice when
it turned growling upon the ape-man he had rapped it sharply upon
its sensitive nose, inculcating in its mind thereby a most wholesome
fear of the cudgel and the ape-beasts behind it.
It is a question if the original cause of his attachment for Tarzan
was still at all clear in the mind of the panther, though doubtless
some subconscious suggestion, superinduced by this primary reason
and aided and abetted by the habit of the past few days, did much
to compel the beast to tolerate treatment at his hands that would
have sent it at the throat of any other creature.
Then, too, there was the compelling force of the manmind exerting
its powerful influence over this creature of a lower order, and,
after all, it may have been this that proved the most potent factor
in Tarzan's supremacy over Sheeta and the other beasts of the jungle
that had from time to time fallen under his domination.
Be that as it may, for days the man, the panther, and the great
apes roamed their savage haunts side by side, making their kills
together and sharing them with one another, and of all the fierce
and savage band none was more terrible than the smooth-skinned,
powerful beast that had been but a few short months before a familiar
figure in many a London drawing room.
Sometimes the beasts separated to follow their own inclinations
for an hour or a day, and it was upon one of these occasions when
the ape-man had wandered through the tree-tops toward the beach,
and was stretched in the hot sun upon the sand, that from the low
summit of a near-by promontory a pair of keen eyes discovered him.
For a moment the owner of the eyes looked in astonishment at the
figure of the savage white man basking in the rays of that hot,
tropic sun; then he turned, making a sign to some one behind him.
Presently another pair of eyes were looking down upon the ape-man,
and then another and another, until a full score of hideously
trapped, savage warriors were lying upon their bellies along the
crest of the ridge watching the white-skinned stranger.
They were down wind from Tarzan, and so their scent was not carried
to him, and as his back was turned half toward them he did not see
their cautious advance over the edge of the promontory and down
through the rank grass toward the sandy beach where he lay.
Big fellows they were, all of them, their barbaric headdresses and
grotesquely painted faces, together with their many metal ornaments
and gorgeously coloured feathers, adding to their wild, fierce
appearance.
Once at the foot of the ridge, they came cautiously to their feet,
and, bent half-double, advanced silently upon the unconscious white
man, their heavy war-clubs swinging menacingly in their brawny
hands.
The mental suffering that Tarzan's sorrowful thoughts induced had
the effect of numbing his keen, perceptive faculties, so that the
advancing savages were almost upon him before he became aware that
he was no longer alone upon the beach.
So quickly, though, were his mind and muscles wont to react in
unison to the slightest alarm that he was upon his feet and facing
his enemies, even as he realized that something was behind him. As
he sprang to his feet the warriors leaped toward him with raised
clubs and savage yells, but the foremost went down to sudden death
beneath the long, stout stick of the ape-man, and then the lithe,
sinewy figure was among them, striking right and left with a fury,
power, and precision that brought panic to the ranks of the blacks.
For a moment they withdrew, those that were left of them, and
consulted together at a short distance from the ape-man, who stood
with folded arms, a half-smile upon his handsome face, watching
them. Presently they advanced upon him once more, this time wielding
their heavy war-spears. They were between Tarzan and the jungle,
in a little semicircle that closed in upon him as they advanced.
There seemed to the ape-man but slight chance to escape the final
charge when all the great spears should be hurled simultaneously
at him; but if he had desired to escape there was no way other than
through the ranks of the savages except the open sea behind him.
His predicament was indeed most serious when an idea occurred to
him that altered his smile to a broad grin. The warriors were
still some little distance away, advancing slowly, making, after
the manner of their kind, a frightful din with their savage yells
and the pounding of their naked feet upon the ground as they leaped
up and down in a fantastic war dance.
Then it was that the ape-man lifted his voice in a series of wild,
weird screams that brought the blacks to a sudden, perplexed halt.
They looked at one another questioningly, for here was a sound
so hideous that their own frightful din faded into insignificance
beside it. No human throat could have formed those bestial notes,
they were sure, and yet with their own eyes they had seen this
white man open his mouth to pour forth his awful cry.
But only for a moment they hesitated, and then with one accord they
again took up their fantastic advance upon their prey; but even
then a sudden crashing in the jungle behind them brought them once
more to a halt, and as they turned to look in the direction of this
new noise there broke upon their startled visions a sight that may
well have frozen the blood of braver men than the Wagambi.
Leaping from the tangled vegetation of the jungle's rim came a
huge panther, with blazing eyes and bared fangs, and in his wake
a score of mighty, shaggy apes lumbering rapidly toward them,
half erect upon their short, bowed legs, and with their long arms
reaching to the ground, where their horny knuckles bore the weight
of their ponderous bodies as they lurched from side to side in
their grotesque advance.
The beasts of Tarzan had come in answer to his call.
Before the Wagambi could recover from their astonishment the frightful
horde was upon them from one side and Tarzan of the Apes from the
other. Heavy spears were hurled and mighty war-clubs wielded, and
though apes went down never to rise, so, too, went down the men of
Ugambi.
Sheeta's cruel fangs and tearing talons ripped and tore at the black
hides. Akut's mighty yellow tusks found the jugular of more than
one sleek-skinned savage, and Tarzan of the Apes was here and there
and everywhere, urging on his fierce allies and taking a heavy toll
with his long, slim knife.
In a moment the blacks had scattered for their lives, but of the
score that had crept down the grassy sides of the promontory only
a single warrior managed to escape the horde that had overwhelmed
his people.
This one was Mugambi, chief of the Wagambi of Ugambi, and as he
disappeared in the tangled luxuriousness of the rank growth upon the
ridge's summit only the keen eyes of the ape-man saw the direction
of his flight.
Leaving his pack to eat their fill upon the flesh of their
victims--flesh that he could not touch--Tarzan of the Apes pursued
the single survivor of the bloody fray. Just beyond the ridge he
came within sight of the fleeing black, making with headlong leaps
for a long war-canoe that was drawn well up upon the beach above
the high tide surf.
Noiseless as the fellow's shadow, the ape-man raced after the
terror-stricken black. In the white man's mind was a new plan,
awakened by sight of the war-canoe. If these men had come to his
island from another, or from the mainland, why not utilize their
craft to make his way to the country from which they had come?
Evidently it was an inhabited country, and no doubt had occasional
intercourse with the mainland, if it were not itself upon the
continent of Africa.
A heavy hand fell upon the shoulder of the escaping Mugambi before
he was aware that he was being pursued, and as he turned to do
battle with his assailant giant fingers closed about his wrists
and he was hurled to earth with a giant astride him before he could
strike a blow in his own defence.
In the language of the West Coast, Tarzan spoke to the prostrate
man beneath him.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Mugambi, chief of the Wagambi," replied the black.
"I will spare your life," said Tarzan, "if you will promise to help
me to leave this island. What do you answer?"
"I will help you," replied Mugambi. "But now that you have killed
all my warriors, I do not know that even I can leave your country,
for there will be none to wield the paddles, and without paddlers
we cannot cross the water."
Tarzan rose and allowed his prisoner to come to his feet. The
fellow was a magnificent specimen of manhood--a black counterpart
in physique of the splendid white man whom he faced.
"Come!" said the ape-man, and started back in the direction from
which they could hear the snarling and growling of the feasting
pack. Mugambi drew back.
"They will kill us," he said.
"I think not," replied Tarzan. "They are mine."
Still the black hesitated, fearful of the consequences of approaching
the terrible creatures that were dining upon the bodies of his
warriors; but Tarzan forced him to accompany him, and presently the
two emerged from the jungle in full view of the grisly spectacle
upon the beach. At sight of the men the beasts looked up with
menacing growls, but Tarzan strode in among them, dragging the
trembling Wagambi with him.
As he had taught the apes to accept Sheeta, so he taught them
to adopt Mugambi as well, and much more easily; but Sheeta seemed
quite unable to understand that though he had been called upon to
devour Mugambi's warriors he was not to be allowed to proceed after
the same fashion with Mugambi. However, being well filled, he
contented himself with walking round the terror-stricken savage,
emitting low, menacing growls the while he kept his flaming, baleful
eyes riveted upon the black.
Mugambi, on his part, clung closely to Tarzan, so that the ape-man
could scarce control his laughter at the pitiable condition to which
the chief's fear had reduced him; but at length the white took the
great cat by the scruff of the neck and, dragging it quite close
to the Wagambi, slapped it sharply upon the nose each time that it
growled at the stranger.
At the sight of the thing--a man mauling with his bare hands one of
the most relentless and fierce of the jungle carnivora--Mugambi's
eyes bulged from their sockets, and from entertaining a sullen respect
for the giant white man who had made him prisoner, the black felt
an almost worshipping awe of Tarzan.
The education of Sheeta progressed so well that in a short time
Mugambi ceased to be the object of his hungry attention, and the
black felt a degree more of safety in his society.
To say that Mugambi was entirely happy or at ease in his new
environment would not be to adhere strictly to the truth. His
eyes were constantly rolling apprehensively from side to side as
now one and now another of the fierce pack chanced to wander near
him, so that for the most of the time it was principally the whites
that showed.
Together Tarzan and Mugambi, with Sheeta and Akut, lay in wait at
the ford for a deer, and when at a word from the ape-man the four
of them leaped out upon the affrighted animal the black was sure
that the poor creature died of fright before ever one of the great
beasts touched it.
Mugambi built a fire and cooked his portion of the kill; but Tarzan,
Sheeta, and Akut tore theirs, raw, with their sharp teeth, growling
among themselves when one ventured to encroach upon the share of
another.
It was not, after all, strange that the white man's ways should
have been so much more nearly related to those of the beasts than
were the savage blacks. We are, all of us, creatures of habit,
and when the seeming necessity for schooling ourselves in new ways
ceases to exist, we fall naturally and easily into the manners and
customs which long usage has implanted ineradicably within us.
Mugambi from childhood had eaten no meat until it had been cooked,
while Tarzan, on the other hand, had never tasted cooked food of
any sort until he had grown almost to manhood, and only within the
past three or four years had he eaten cooked meat. Not only did
the habit of a lifetime prompt him to eat it raw, but the craving
of his palate as well; for to him cooked flesh was spoiled flesh
when compared with the rich and juicy meat of a fresh, hot kill.
That he could, with relish, eat raw meat that had been buried by
himself weeks before, and enjoy small rodents and disgusting grubs,
seems to us who have been always "civilized" a revolting fact; but
had we learned in childhood to eat these things, and had we seen
all those about us eat them, they would seem no more sickening to
us now than do many of our greatest dainties, at which a savage
African cannibal would look with repugnance and turn up his nose.
For instance, there is a tribe in the vicinity of Lake Rudolph that
will eat no sheep or cattle, though its next neighbors do so. Near
by is another tribe that eats donkey-meat--a custom most revolting
to the surrounding tribes that do not eat donkey. So who may say
that it is nice to eat snails and frogs' legs and oysters, but
disgusting to feed upon grubs and beetles, or that a raw oyster,
hoof, horns, and tail, is less revolting than the sweet, clean meat
of a fresh-killed buck?
The next few days Tarzan devoted to the weaving of a barkcloth sail
with which to equip the canoe, for he despaired of being able to
teach the apes to wield the paddles, though he did manage to get
several of them to embark in the frail craft which he and Mugambi
paddled about inside the reef where the water was quite smooth.
During these trips he had placed paddles in their hands, when
they attempted to imitate the movements of him and Mugambi, but so
difficult is it for them long to concentrate upon a thing that he
soon saw that it would require weeks of patient training before they
would be able to make any effective use of these new implements,
if, in fact, they should ever do so.
There was one exception, however, and he was Akut. Almost from
the first he showed an interest in this new sport that revealed a
much higher plane of intelligence than that attained by any of his
tribe. He seemed to grasp the purpose of the paddles, and when
Tarzan saw that this was so he took much pains to explain in the
meagre language of the anthropoid how they might be used to the
best advantage.
From Mugambi Tarzan learned that the mainland lay but a short distance
from the island. It seemed that the Wagambi warriors had ventured
too far out in their frail craft, and when caught by a heavy tide
and a high wind from offshore they had been driven out of sight of
land. After paddling for a whole night, thinking that they were
headed for home, they had seen this land at sunrise, and, still
taking it for the mainland, had hailed it with joy, nor had Mugambi
been aware that it was an island until Tarzan had told him that
this was the fact.
The Wagambi chief was quite dubious as to the sail, for he had
never seen such a contrivance used. His country lay far up the
broad Ugambi River, and this was the first occasion that any of
his people had found their way to the ocean.
Tarzan, however, was confident that with a good west wind he
could navigate the little craft to the mainland. At any rate, he
decided, it would be preferable to perish on the way than to remain
indefinitely upon this evidently uncharted island to which no ships
might ever be expected to come.
And so it was that when the first fair wind rose he embarked upon
his cruise, and with him he took as strange and fearsome a crew as
ever sailed under a savage master.
Mugambi and Akut went with him, and Sheeta, the panther, and a
dozen great males of the tribe of Akut.
