Chapter 12
Two tall, bearded white men moved cautiously through the jungle
from their camp beside a wide river. They were Carl Jenssen and
Sven Malbihn, but little altered in appearance since the day, years
before, that they and their safari had been so badly frightened by
Korak and Akut as the former sought haven with them.
Every year had they come into the jungle to trade with the natives,
or to rob them; to hunt and trap; or to guide other white men in
the land they knew so well. Always since their experience with
The Sheik had they operated at a safe distance from his territory.
Now they were closer to his village than they had been for years,
yet safe enough from discovery owing to the uninhabited nature of
the intervening jungle and the fear and enmity of Kovudoo's people
for The Sheik, who, in time past, had raided and all but exterminated
the tribe.
This year they had come to trap live specimens for a European
zoological garden, and today they were approaching a trap which they
had set in the hope of capturing a specimen of the large baboons
that frequented the neighborhood. As they approached the trap they
became aware from the noises emanating from its vicinity that their
efforts had been crowned with success. The barking and screaming
of hundreds of baboons could mean naught else than that one or more
of their number had fallen a victim to the allurements of the bait.
The extreme caution of the two men was prompted by former experiences
with the intelligent and doglike creatures with which they had to
deal. More than one trapper has lost his life in battle with enraged
baboons who will hesitate to attack nothing upon one occasion, while
upon another a single gun shot will disperse hundreds of them.
Heretofore the Swedes had always watched near-by their trap, for
as a rule only the stronger bulls are thus caught, since in their
greediness they prevent the weaker from approaching the covered
bait, and when once within the ordinary rude trap woven on the
spot of interlaced branches they are able, with the aid of their
friends upon the outside, to demolish their prison and escape. But
in this instance the trappers had utilized a special steel cage
which could withstand all the strength and cunning of a baboon. It
was only necessary, therefore, to drive away the herd which they
knew were surrounding the prison and wait for their boys who were
even now following them to the trap.
As they came within sight of the spot they found conditions precisely
as they had expected. A large male was battering frantically
against the steel wires of the cage that held him captive. Upon
the outside several hundred other baboons were tearing and tugging
in his aid, and all were roaring and jabbering and barking at the
top of their lungs.
But what neither the Swedes nor the baboons saw was the half-naked
figure of a youth hidden in the foliage of a nearby tree. He
had come upon the scene at almost the same instant as Jenssen and
Malbihn, and was watching the activities of the baboons with every
mark of interest.
Korak's relations with the baboons had never been over friendly. A
species of armed toleration had marked their occasional meetings.
The baboons and Akut had walked stiff legged and growling past one
another, while Korak had maintained a bared fang neutrality. So
now he was not greatly disturbed by the predicament of their king.
Curiosity prompted him to tarry a moment, and in that moment his
quick eyes caught the unfamiliar coloration of the clothing of the
two Swedes behind a bush not far from him. Now he was all alertness.
Who were these interlopers? What was their business in the jungle
of the Mangani? Korak slunk noiselessly around them to a point
where he might get their scent as well as a better view of them,
and scarce had he done so when he recognized them--they were the
men who had fired upon him years before. His eyes blazed. He could
feel the hairs upon his scalp stiffen at the roots. He watched them
with the intentness of a panther about to spring upon its prey.
He saw them rise and, shouting, attempt to frighten away the
baboons as they approached the cage. Then one of them raised his
rifle and fired into the midst of the surprised and angry herd.
For an instant Korak thought that the baboons were about to charge,
but two more shots from the rifles of the white men sent them
scampering into the trees. Then the two Europeans advanced upon
the cage. Korak thought that they were going to kill the king.
He cared nothing for the king but he cared less for the two white
men. The king had never attempted to kill him--the white men had.
The king was a denizen of his own beloved jungle--the white men
were aliens. His loyalty therefore was to the baboon against the
human. He could speak the language of the baboon--it was identical
to that of the great apes. Across the clearing he saw the jabbering
horde watching.
Raising his voice he shouted to them. The white men turned at the
sound of this new factor behind them. They thought it was another
baboon that had circled them; but though they searched the trees
with their eyes they saw nothing of the now silent figure hidden
by the foliage. Again Korak shouted.
"I am The Killer," he cried. "These men are my enemies and yours.
I will help you free your king. Run out upon the strangers when
you see me do so, and together we will drive them away and free
your king."
And from the baboons came a great chorus: "We will do what you
say, Korak."
Dropping from his tree Korak ran toward the two Swedes, and at the
same instant three hundred baboons followed his example. At sight
of the strange apparition of the half-naked white warrior rushing
upon them with uplifted spear Jenssen and Malbihn raised their
rifles and fired at Korak; but in the excitement both missed and
a moment later the baboons were upon them. Now their only hope
of safety lay in escape, and dodging here and there, fighting off
the great beasts that leaped upon their backs, they ran into the
jungle. Even then they would have died but for the coming of their
men whom they met a couple of hundred yards from the cage.
Once the white men had turned in flight Korak gave them no further
attention, turning instead to the imprisoned baboon. The fastenings
of the door that had eluded the mental powers of the baboons,
yielded their secret immediately to the human intelligence of The
Killer, and a moment later the king baboon stepped forth to liberty.
He wasted no breath in thanks to Korak, nor did the young man
expect thanks. He knew that none of the baboons would ever forget
his service, though as a matter of fact he did not care if they
did. What he had done had been prompted by a desire to be revenged
upon the two white men. The baboons could never be of service
to him. Now they were racing in the direction of the battle that
was being waged between their fellows and the followers of the two
Swedes, and as the din of battle subsided in the distance, Korak
turned and resumed his journey toward the village of Kovudoo.
On the way he came upon a herd of elephants standing in an open
forest glade. Here the trees were too far apart to permit Korak
to travel through the branches--a trail he much preferred not only
because of its freedom from dense underbrush and the wider field
of vision it gave him but from pride in his arboreal ability. It
was exhilarating to swing from tree to tree; to test the prowess
of his mighty muscles; to reap the pleasurable fruits of his hard
won agility. Korak joyed in the thrills of the highflung upper
terraces of the great forest, where, unhampered and unhindered,
he might laugh down upon the great brutes who must keep forever to
the darkness and the gloom of the musty soil.
But here, in this open glade where Tantor flapped his giant ears
and swayed his huge bulk from side to side, the ape-man must pass
along the surface of the ground--a pygmy amongst giants. A great
bull raised his trunk to rattle a low warning as he sensed the
coming of an intruder. His weak eyes roved hither and thither but
it was his keen scent and acute hearing which first located the
ape-man. The herd moved restlessly, prepared for fight, for the
old bull had caught the scent of man.
"Peace, Tantor," called The Killer. "It is I, Korak, Tarmangani."
The bull lowered his trunk and the herd resumed their interrupted
meditations. Korak passed within a foot of the great bull.
A sinuous trunk undulated toward him, touching his brown hide in
a half caress. Korak slapped the great shoulder affectionately
as he went by. For years he had been upon good terms with Tantor
and his people. Of all the jungle folk he loved best the mighty
pachyderm--the most peaceful and at the same time the most terrible
of them all. The gentle gazelle feared him not, yet Numa, lord of
the jungle, gave him a wide berth. Among the younger bulls, the
cows and the calves Korak wound his way. Now and then another
trunk would run out to touch him, and once a playful calf grasped
his legs and upset him.
The afternoon was almost spent when Korak arrived at the village
of Kovudoo. There were many natives lolling in shady spots beside
the conical huts or beneath the branches of the several trees
which had been left standing within the enclosure. Warriors were
in evidence upon hand. It was not a good time for a lone enemy to
prosecute a search through the village. Korak determined to await
the coming of darkness. He was a match for many warriors; but
he could not, unaided, overcome an entire tribe--not even for his
beloved Meriem. While he waited among the branches and foliage
of a near-by tree he searched the village constantly with his keen
eyes, and twice he circled it, sniffing the vagrant breezes which
puffed erratically from first one point of the compass and then
another. Among the various stenches peculiar to a native village
the ape-man's sensitive nostrils were finally rewarded by cognizance
of the delicate aroma which marked the presence of her he sought.
Meriem was there--in one of those huts! But which one he could
not know without closer investigation, and so he waited, with the
dogged patience of a beast of prey, until night had fallen.
The camp fires of the blacks dotted the gloom with little points
of light, casting their feeble rays in tiny circles of luminosity
that brought into glistening relief the naked bodies of those who
lay or squatted about them. It was then that Korak slid silently
from the tree that had hidden him and dropped lightly to the ground
within the enclosure.
Keeping well in the shadows of the huts he commenced a systematic
search of the village--ears, eyes and nose constantly upon the
alert for the first intimation of the near presence of Meriem. His
progress must of necessity be slow since not even the keen-eared
curs of the savages must guess the presence of a stranger within
the gates. How close he came to a detection on several occasions
The Killer well knew from the restless whining of several of them.
It was not until he reached the back of a hut at the head of the
wide village street that Korak caught again, plainly, the scent of
Meriem. With nose close to the thatched wall Korak sniffed eagerly
about the structure--tense and palpitant as a hunting hound.
Toward the front and the door he made his way when once his nose
had assured him that Meriem lay within; but as he rounded the side
and came within view of the entrance he saw a burly Negro armed
with a long spear squatting at the portal of the girl's prison.
The fellow's back was toward him, his figure outlined against the
glow of cooking fires further down the street. He was alone. The
nearest of his fellows were beside a fire sixty or seventy feet
beyond. To enter the hut Korak must either silence the sentry or
pass him unnoticed. The danger in the accomplishment of the former
alternative lay in the practical certainty of alarming the warriors
near by and bringing them and the balance of the village down upon
him. To achieve the latter appeared practically impossible. To
you or me it would have been impossible; but Korak, The Killer,
was not as you or I.
There was a good twelve inches of space between the broad back of
the black and the frame of the doorway. Could Korak pass through
behind the savage warrior without detection? The light that fell
upon the glistening ebony of the sentry's black skin fell also upon
the light brown of Korak's. Should one of the many further down
the street chance to look long in this direction they must surely
note the tall, light-colored, moving figure; but Korak depended
upon their interest in their own gossip to hold their attention fast
where it already lay, and upon the firelight near them to prevent
them seeing too plainly at a distance into the darkness at the
village end where his work lay.
Flattened against the side of the hut, yet not arousing a single
warning rustle from its dried thatching, The Killer came closer
and closer to the watcher. Now he was at his shoulder. Now he
had wormed his sinuous way behind him. He could feel the heat of
the naked body against his knees. He could hear the man breathe.
He marveled that the dull-witted creature had not long since been
alarmed; but the fellow sat there as ignorant of the presence of
another as though that other had not existed.
Korak moved scarcely more than an inch at a time, then he would
stand motionless for a moment. Thus was he worming his way behind
the guard when the latter straightened up, opened his cavernous
mouth in a wide yawn, and stretched his arms above his head. Korak
stood rigid as stone. Another step and he would be within the hut.
The black lowered his arms and relaxed. Behind him was the frame
work of the doorway. Often before had it supported his sleepy
head, and now he leaned back to enjoy the forbidden pleasure of a
cat nap.
But instead of the door frame his head and shoulders came in contact
with the warm flesh of a pair of living legs. The exclamation
of surprise that almost burst from his lips was throttled in his
throat by steel-thewed fingers that closed about his windpipe with
the suddenness of thought. The black struggled to arise--to turn
upon the creature that had seized him--to wriggle from its hold;
but all to no purpose. As he had been held in a mighty vise of
iron he could not move. He could not scream. Those awful fingers
at his throat but closed more and more tightly. His eyes bulged
from their sockets. His face turned an ashy blue. Presently he
relaxed once more--this time in the final dissolution from which
there is no quickening. Korak propped the dead body against the
door frame. There it sat, lifelike in the gloom. Then the ape-man
turned and glided into the Stygian darkness of the hut's interior.
"Meriem!" he whispered.
"Korak! My Korak!" came an answering cry, subdued by fear of
alarming her captors, and half stifled by a sob of joyful welcome.
The youth knelt and cut the bonds that held the girl's wrists and
ankles. A moment later he had lifted her to her feet, and grasping
her by the hand led her towards the entrance. Outside the grim
sentinel of death kept his grisly vigil. Sniffing at his dead feet
whined a mangy native cur. At sight of the two emerging from the
hut the beast gave an ugly snarl and an instant later as it caught
the scent of the strange white man it raised a series of excited
yelps. Instantly the warriors at the near-by fire were attracted.
They turned their heads in the direction of the commotion. It
was impossible that they should fail to see the white skins of the
fugitives.
Korak slunk quickly into the shadows at the hut's side, drawing
Meriem with him; but he was too late. The blacks had seen enough
to arouse their suspicions and a dozen of them were now running to
investigate. The yapping cur was still at Korak's heels leading
the searchers unerringly in pursuit. The youth struck viciously
at the brute with his long spear; but, long accustomed to dodging
blows, the wily creature made a most uncertain target.
Other blacks had been alarmed by the running and shouting of their
companions and now the entire population of the village was swarming
up the street to assist in the search. Their first discovery was
the dead body of the sentry, and a moment later one of the bravest
of them had entered the hut and discovered the absence of the
prisoner. These startling announcements filled the blacks with
a combination of terror and rage; but, seeing no foe in evidence
they were enabled to permit their rage to get the better of their
terror, and so the leaders, pushed on by those behind them, ran
rapidly around the hut in the direction of the yapping of the mangy
cur. Here they found a single white warrior making away with
their captive, and recognizing him as the author of numerous raids
and indignities and believing that they had him cornered and at a
disadvantage, they charged savagely upon him.
Korak, seeing that they were discovered, lifted Meriem to his
shoulders and ran for the tree which would give them egress from
the village. He was handicapped in his flight by the weight of the
girl whose legs would but scarce bear her weight, to say nothing of
maintaining her in rapid flight, for the tightly drawn bonds that
had been about her ankles for so long had stopped circulation and
partially paralyzed her extremities.
Had this not been the case the escape of the two would have been a
feat of little moment, since Meriem was scarcely a whit less agile
than Korak, and fully as much at home in the trees as he. But
with the girl on his shoulder Korak could not both run and fight
to advantage, and the result was that before he had covered half
the distance to the tree a score of native curs attracted by the
yelping of their mate and the yells and shouts of their masters had
closed in upon the fleeing white man, snapping at his legs and at
last succeeding in tripping him. As he went down the hyena-like
brutes were upon him, and as he struggled to his feet the blacks
closed in.
A couple of them seized the clawing, biting Meriem, and subdued
her--a blow upon the head was sufficient. For the ape-man they
found more drastic measures would be necessary.
Weighted down as he was by dogs and warriors he still managed to
struggle to his feet. To right and left he swung crushing blows
to the faces of his human antagonists--to the dogs he paid not the
slightest attention other than to seize the more persistent and
wring their necks with a single quick movement of the wrist.
A knob stick aimed at him by an ebon Hercules he caught and wrested
from his antagonist, and then the blacks experienced to the full the
possibilities for punishment that lay within those smooth flowing
muscles beneath the velvet brown skin of the strange, white giant.
He rushed among them with all the force and ferocity of a bull
elephant gone mad. Hither and thither he charged striking down the
few who had the temerity to stand against him, and it was evident
that unless a chance spear thrust brought him down he would rout
the entire village and regain his prize. But old Kovudoo was not
to be so easily robbed of the ransom which the girl represented,
and seeing that their attack which had up to now resulted in a
series of individual combats with the white warrior, he called his
tribesmen off, and forming them in a compact body about the girl
and the two who watched over her bid them do nothing more than
repel the assaults of the ape-man.
Again and again Korak rushed against this human barricade bristling
with spear points. Again and again he was repulsed, often with
severe wounds to caution him to greater wariness. From head to
foot he was red with his own blood, and at last, weakening from the
loss of it, he came to the bitter realization that alone he could
do no more to succor his Meriem.
Presently an idea flashed through his brain. He called aloud to
the girl. She had regained consciousness now and replied.
"Korak goes," he shouted; "but he will return and take you from the
Gomangani. Good-bye, my Meriem. Korak will come for you again."
"Good-bye!" cried the girl. "Meriem will look for you until you
come."
Like a flash, and before they could know his intention or prevent
him, Korak wheeled, raced across the village and with a single
leap disappeared into the foliage of the great tree that was his
highroad to the village of Kovudoo. A shower of spears followed
him, but their only harvest was a taunting laugh flung back from
out the darkness of the jungle.
