Chapter 6
His first night in the jungle was one which the son of Tarzan held
longest in his memory. No savage carnivora menaced him. There was
never a sign of hideous barbarian. Or, if there were, the boy's
troubled mind took no cognizance of them. His conscience was harassed
by the thought of his mother's suffering. Self-blame plunged him
into the depths of misery. The killing of the American caused
him little or no remorse. The fellow had earned his fate. Jack's
regret on this score was due mainly to the effect which the death
of Condon had had upon his own plans. Now he could not return
directly to his parents as he had planned. Fear of the primitive,
borderland law, of which he had read highly colored, imaginary tales,
had thrust him into the jungle a fugitive. He dared not return
to the coast at this point--not that he was so greatly influenced
through personal fear as from a desire to shield his father
and mother from further sorrow and from the shame of having their
honored name dragged through the sordid degradation of a murder
trial.
With returning day the boy's spirits rose. With the rising sun
rose new hope within his breast. He would return to civilization
by another way. None would guess that he had been connected with
the killing of the stranger in the little out-of-the-way trading
post upon a remote shore.
Crouched close to the great ape in the crotch of a tree the boy
had shivered through an almost sleepless night. His light pajamas
had been but little protection from the chill dampness of the jungle,
and only that side of him which was pressed against the warm body
of his shaggy companion approximated to comfort. And so he welcomed
the rising sun with its promise of warmth as well as light--the
blessed sun, dispeller of physical and mental ills.
He shook Akut into wakefulness.
"Come," he said. "I am cold and hungry. We will search for food,
out there in the sunlight," and he pointed to an open plain, dotted
with stunted trees and strewn with jagged rock.
The boy slid to the ground as he spoke, but the ape first looked
carefully about, sniffing the morning air. Then, satisfied that
no danger lurked near, he descended slowly to the ground beside
the boy."
"Numa, and Sabor his mate, feast upon those who descend first and
look afterward, while those who look first and descend afterward
live to feast themselves." Thus the old ape imparted to the son of
Tarzan the boy's first lesson in jungle lore. Side by side they
set off across the rough plain, for the boy wished first to be
warm. The ape showed him the best places to dig for rodents and
worms; but the lad only gagged at the thought of devouring the
repulsive things. Some eggs they found, and these he sucked raw,
as also he ate roots and tubers which Akut unearthed. Beyond
the plain and across a low bluff they came upon water--brackish,
ill-smelling stuff in a shallow water hole, the sides and bottom
of which were trampled by the feet of many beasts. A herd of zebra
galloped away as they approached.
The lad was too thirsty by now to cavil at anything even remotely
resembling water, so he drank his fill while Akut stood with raised
head, alert for any danger. Before the ape drank he cautioned the
boy to be watchful; but as he drank he raised his head from time
to time to cast a quick glance toward a clump of bushes a hundred
yards away upon the opposite side of the water hole. When he had
done he rose and spoke to the boy, in the language that was their
common heritage--the tongue of the great apes.
"There is no danger near?" he asked.
"None," replied the boy. "I saw nothing move while you drank."
"Your eyes will help you but little in the jungle," said the ape.
"Here, if you would live, you must depend upon your ears and your
nose but most upon your nose. When we came down to drink I knew
that no danger lurked near upon this side of the water hole, for
else the zebras would have discovered it and fled before we came;
but upon the other side toward which the wind blows danger might
lie concealed. We could not smell it for its scent is being blown
in the other direction, and so I bent my ears and eyes down wind
where my nose cannot travel."
"And you found--nothing?" asked the lad, with a laugh.
"I found Numa crouching in that clump of bushes where the tall
grasses grow," and Akut pointed.
"A lion?" exclaimed the boy. "How do you know? I can see nothing."
"Numa is there, though," replied the great ape. "First I heard
him sigh. To you the sigh of Numa may sound no different from the
other noises which the wind makes among the grasses and the trees;
but later you must learn to know the sigh of Numa. Then I watched
and at last I saw the tall grasses moving at one point to a force
other than the force of the wind. See, they are spread there upon
either side of Numa's great body, and as he breathes--you see?
You see the little motion at either side that is not caused by the
wind--the motion that none of the other grasses have?"
The boy strained his eyes--better eyes than the ordinary boy
inherits--and at last he gave a little exclamation of discovery.
"Yes," he said, "I see. He lies there," and he pointed. "His head
is toward us. Is he watching us?"
"Numa is watching us," replied Akut, "but we are in little danger,
unless we approach too close, for he is lying upon his kill. His
belly is almost full, or we should hear him crunching the bones.
He is watching us in silence merely from curiosity. Presently he
will resume his feeding or he will rise and come down to the water
for a drink. As he neither fears or desires us he will not try to
hide his presence from us; but now is an excellent time to learn
to know Numa, for you must learn to know him well if you would live
long in the jungle. Where the great apes are many Numa leaves us
alone. Our fangs are long and strong, and we can fight; but when
we are alone and he is hungry we are no match for him. Come, we
will circle him and catch his scent. The sooner you learn to know
it the better; but keep close to the trees, as we go around him,
for Numa often does that which he is least expected to do. And
keep your ears and your eyes and your nose open. Remember always
that there may be an enemy behind every bush, in every tree and
amongst every clump of jungle grass. While you are avoiding Numa
do not run into the jaws of Sabor, his mate. Follow me," and Akut
set off in a wide circle about the water hole and the crouching
lion.
The boy followed close upon his heels, his every sense upon the
alert, his nerves keyed to the highest pitch of excitement. This
was life! For the instant he forgot his resolutions of a few
minutes past to hasten to the coast at some other point than that
at which he had landed and make his way immediately back to London.
He thought now only of the savage joy of living, and of pitting
one's wits and prowess against the wiles and might of the savage
jungle brood which haunted the broad plains and the gloomy forest
aisles of the great, untamed continent. He knew no fear. His
father had had none to transmit to him; but honor and conscience he
did have and these were to trouble him many times as they battled
with his inherent love of freedom for possession of his soul.
They had passed but a short distance to the rear of Numa when the
boy caught the unpleasant odor of the carnivore. His face lighted
with a smile. Something told him that he would have known that
scent among a myriad of others even if Akut had not told him that
a lion lay near. There was a strange familiarity--a weird familiarity
in it that made the short hairs rise at the nape of his neck, and
brought his upper lip into an involuntary snarl that bared his
fighting fangs. There was a sense of stretching of the skin about
his ears, for all the world as though those members were flattening
back against his skull in preparation for deadly combat. His skin
tingled. He was aglow with a pleasurable sensation that he never
before had known. He was, upon the instant, another creature--wary,
alert, ready. Thus did the scent of Numa, the lion, transform the
boy into a beast.
He had never seen a lion--his mother had gone to great pains to
prevent it. But he had devoured countless pictures of them, and now
he was ravenous to feast his eyes upon the king of beasts in the
flesh. As he trailed Akut he kept an eye cocked over one shoulder,
rearward, in the hope that Numa might rise from his kill and reveal
himself. Thus it happened that he dropped some little way behind
Akut, and the next he knew he was recalled suddenly to a contemplation
of other matters than the hidden Numa by a shrill scream of warning
from the Ape. Turning his eyes quickly in the direction of his
companion, the boy saw that, standing in the path directly before
him, which sent tremors of excitement racing along every nerve of
his body. With body half-merging from a clump of bushes in which
she must have lain hidden stood a sleek and beautiful lioness.
Her yellow-green eyes were round and staring, boring straight into
the eyes of the boy. Not ten paces separated them. Twenty paces
behind the lioness stood the great ape, bellowing instructions to
the boy and hurling taunts at the lioness in an evident effort to
attract her attention from the lad while he gained the shelter of
a near-by tree.
But Sabor was not to be diverted. She had her eyes upon the lad.
He stood between her and her mate, between her and the kill. It
was suspicious. Probably he had ulterior designs upon her lord
and master or upon the fruits of their hunting. A lioness is short
tempered. Akut's bellowing annoyed her. She uttered a little
rumbling growl, taking a step toward the boy.
"The tree!" screamed Akut.
The boy turned and fled, and at the same instant the lioness charged.
The tree was but a few paces away. A limb hung ten feet from the
ground, and as the boy leaped for it the lioness leaped for him.
Like a monkey he pulled himself up and to one side. A great
forepaw caught him a glancing blow at the hips--just grazing him.
One curved talon hooked itself into the waist band of his pajama
trousers, ripping them from him as the lioness sped by. Half-naked
the lad drew himself to safety as the beast turned and leaped for
him once more.
Akut, from a near-by tree, jabbered and scolded, calling the lioness
all manner of foul names. The boy, patterning his conduct after
that of his preceptor, unstoppered the vials of his invective upon
the head of the enemy, until in realization of the futility of
words as weapons he bethought himself of something heavier to hurl.
There was nothing but dead twigs and branches at hand, but these
he flung at the upturned, snarling face of Sabor just as his father
had before him twenty years ago, when as a boy he too had taunted
and tantalized the great cats of the jungle.
The lioness fretted about the bole of the tree for a short time;
but finally, either realizing the uselessness of her vigil, or
prompted by the pangs of hunger, she stalked majestically away and
disappeared in the brush that hid her lord, who had not once shown
himself during the altercation.
Freed from their retreats Akut and the boy came to the ground, to
take up their interrupted journey once more. The old ape scolded
the lad for his carelessness.
"Had you not been so intent upon the lion behind you you might have
discovered the lioness much sooner than you did,"
"But you passed right by her without seeing her," retorted the boy.
Akut was chagrined.
"It is thus," he said, "that jungle folk die. We go cautiously
for a lifetime, and then, just for an instant, we forget, and--"
he ground his teeth in mimicry of the crunching of great jaws in
flesh. "It is a lesson," he resumed. "You have learned that you
may not for too long keep your eyes and your ears and your nose
all bent in the same direction."
That night the son of Tarzan was colder than he ever had been in
all his life. The pajama trousers had not been heavy; but they
had been much heavier than nothing. And the next day he roasted in
the hot sun, for again their way led much across wide and treeless
plains.
It was still in the boy's mind to travel to the south, and circle
back to the coast in search of another outpost of civilization.
He had said nothing of this plan to Akut, for he knew that the old
ape would look with displeasure upon any suggestion that savored
of separation.
For a month the two wandered on, the boy learning rapidly the laws
of the jungle; his muscles adapting themselves to the new mode of
life that had been thrust upon them. The thews of the sire had
been transmitted to the son--it needed only the hardening of use
to develop them. The lad found that it came quite naturally to him
to swing through the trees. Even at great heights he never felt
the slightest dizziness, and when he had caught the knack of the
swing and the release, he could hurl himself through space from
branch to branch with even greater agility than the heavier Akut.
And with exposure came a toughening and hardening of his smooth,
white skin, browning now beneath the sun and wind. He had removed
his pajama jacket one day to bathe in a little stream that was too
small to harbor crocodiles, and while he and Akut had been disporting
themselves in the cool waters a monkey had dropped down from the
over hanging trees, snatched up the boy's single remaining article
of civilized garmenture, and scampered away with it.
For a time Jack was angry; but when he had been without the jacket
for a short while he began to realize that being half-clothed
is infinitely more uncomfortable than being entirely naked. Soon
he did not miss his clothing in the least, and from that he came
to revel in the freedom of his unhampered state. Occasionally a
smile would cross his face as he tried to imagine the surprise of
his schoolmates could they but see him now. They would envy him.
Yes, how they would envy him. He felt sorry for them at such
times, and again as he thought of them amid luxuries and comforts
of their English homes, happy with their fathers and mothers, a
most uncomfortable lump would arise into the boy's throat, and he
would see a vision of his mother's face through a blur of mist that
came unbidden to his eyes. Then it was that he urged Akut onward,
for now they were headed westward toward the coast. The old ape
thought that they were searching for a tribe of his own kind, nor
did the boy disabuse his mind of this belief. It would do to tell
Akut of his real plans when they had come within sight of civilization.
One day as they were moving slowly along beside a river they came
unexpectedly upon a native village. Some children were playing
beside the water. The boy's heart leaped within his breast at
sight of them--for over a month he had seen no human being. What
if these were naked savages? What if their skins were black? Were
they not creatures fashioned in the mold of their Maker, as was
he? They were his brothers and sisters! He started toward them.
With a low warning Akut laid a hand upon his arm to hold him back.
The boy shook himself free, and with a shout of greeting ran forward
toward the ebon players.
The sound of his voice brought every head erect. Wide eyes viewed
him for an instant, and then, with screams of terror, the children
turned and fled toward the village. At their heels ran their
mothers, and from the village gate, in response to the alarm, came
a score of warriors, hastily snatched spears and shields ready in
their hands.
At sight of the consternation he had wrought the boy halted. The
glad smile faded from his face as with wild shouts and menacing
gestures the warriors ran toward him. Akut was calling to him from
behind to turn and flee, telling him that the blacks would kill
him. For a moment he stood watching them coming, then he raised
his hand with the palm toward them in signal for them to halt,
calling out at the same time that he came as a friend--that he had
only wanted to play with their children. Of course they did not
understand a word that he addressed to them, and their answer was
what any naked creature who had run suddenly out of the jungle upon
their women and children might have expected--a shower of spears.
The missiles struck all about the boy, but none touched him. Again
his spine tingled and the short hairs lifted at the nape of his
neck and along the top of his scalp. His eyes narrowed. Sudden
hatred flared in them to wither the expression of glad friendliness
that had lighted them but an instant before. With a low snarl,
quite similar to that of a baffled beast, he turned and ran into
the jungle. There was Akut awaiting him in a tree. The ape urged
him to hasten in flight, for the wise old anthropoid knew that they
two, naked and unarmed, were no match for the sinewy black warriors
who would doubtless make some sort of search for them through the
jungle.
But a new power moved the son of Tarzan. He had come with a boy's
glad and open heart to offer his friendship to these people who
were human beings like himself. He had been met with suspicion
and spears. They had not even listened to him. Rage and hatred
consumed him. When Akut urged speed he held back. He wanted to
fight, yet his reason made it all too plain that it would be but
a foolish sacrifice of his life to meet these armed men with his
naked hands and his teeth--already the boy thought of his teeth,
of his fighting fangs, when possibility of combat loomed close.
Moving slowly through the trees he kept his eyes over his shoulder,
though he no longer neglected the possibilities of other dangers
which might lurk on either hand or ahead--his experience with the
lioness did not need a repetition to insure the permanency of the
lesson it had taught. Behind he could hear the savages advancing
with shouts and cries. He lagged further behind until the pursuers
were in sight. They did not see him, for they were not looking
among the branches of the trees for human quarry. The lad kept
just ahead of them. For a mile perhaps they continued the search,
and then they turned back toward the village. Here was the boy's
opportunity, that for which he had been waiting, while the hot
blood of revenge coursed through his veins until he saw his pursuers
through a scarlet haze.
When they turned back he turned and followed them. Akut was no
longer in sight. Thinking that the boy followed he had gone on
further ahead. He had no wish to tempt fate within range of those
deadly spears. Slinking silently from tree to tree the boy dogged
the footsteps of the returning warriors. At last one dropped behind
his fellows as they followed a narrow path toward the village. A
grim smile lit the lad's face. Swiftly he hurried forward until he
moved almost above the unconscious black--stalking him as Sheeta,
the panther, stalked his prey, as the boy had seen Sheeta do on
many occasions.
Suddenly and silently he leaped forward and downward upon the broad
shoulders of his prey. In the instant of contact his fingers sought
and found the man's throat. The weight of the boy's body hurled
the black heavily to the ground, the knees in his back knocking the
breath from him as he struck. Then a set of strong, white teeth
fastened themselves in his neck, and muscular fingers closed tighter
upon his wind-pipe. For a time the warrior struggled frantically,
throwing himself about in an effort to dislodge his antagonist;
but all the while he was weakening and all the while the grim and
silent thing he could not see clung tenaciously to him, and dragged
him slowly into the bush to one side of the trail.
Hidden there at last, safe from the prying eyes of searchers,
should they miss their fellow and return for him, the lad choked
the life from the body of his victim. At last he knew by the sudden
struggle, followed by limp relaxation, that the warrior was dead.
Then a strange desire seized him. His whole being quivered and
thrilled. Involuntarily he leaped to his feet and placed one foot
upon the body of his kill. His chest expanded. He raised his face
toward the heavens and opened his mouth to voice a strange, weird
cry that seemed screaming within him for outward expression, but
no sound passed his lips--he just stood there for a full minute,
his face turned toward the sky, his breast heaving to the pent
emotion, like an animate statue of vengeance.
The silence which marked the first great kill of the son of Tarzan
was to typify all his future kills, just as the hideous victory
cry of the bull ape had marked the kills of his mighty sire.
