12
The Giant Stranger
And while the warriors and the priests of A-lur searched the temple
and the palace and the city for the vanished ape-man there entered
the head of Kor-ul-ja down the precipitous trail from the mountains, a
naked stranger bearing an Enfield upon his back. Silently he moved
downward toward the bottom of the gorge and there where the ancient
trail unfolded more levelly before him he swung along with easy
strides, though always with the utmost alertness against possible
dangers. A gentle breeze came down from the mountains behind
him so that only his ears and his eyes were of value in detecting
the presence of danger ahead. Generally the trail followed along
the banks of the winding brooklet at the bottom of the gorge, but
in some places where the waters tumbled over a precipitous ledge
the trail made a detour along the side of the gorge, and again it
wound in and out among rocky outcroppings, and presently where it
rounded sharply the projecting shoulder of a cliff the stranger
came suddenly face to face with one who was ascending the gorge.
Separated by a hundred paces the two halted simultaneously. Before
him the stranger saw a tall white warrior, naked but for a loin
cloth, cross belts, and a girdle. The man was armed with a heavy,
knotted club and a short knife, the latter hanging in its sheath at
his left hip from the end of one of his cross belts, the opposite
belt supporting a leathern pouch at his right side. It was Ta-den
hunting alone in the gorge of his friend, the chief of Kor-ul-ja.
He contemplated the stranger with surprise but no wonder, since he
recognized in him a member of the race with which his experience
of Tarzan the Terrible had made him familiar and also, thanks to
his friendship for the ape-man, he looked upon the newcomer without
hostility.
The latter was the first to make outward sign of his intentions,
raising his palm toward Ta-den in that gesture which has been
a symbol of peace from pole to pole since man ceased to walk upon
his knuckles. Simultaneously he advanced a few paces and halted.
Ta-den, assuming that one so like Tarzan the Terrible must be a
fellow-tribesman of his lost friend, was more than glad to accept
this overture of peace, the sign of which he returned in kind as
he ascended the trail to where the other stood. "Who are you?" he
asked, but the newcomer only shook his head to indicate that he
did not understand.
By signs he tried to carry to the Ho-don the fact that he was
following a trail that had led him over a period of many days from
some place beyond the mountains and Ta-den was convinced that the
newcomer sought Tarzan-jad-guru. He wished, however, that he might
discover whether as friend or foe.
The stranger perceived the Ho-don's prehensile thumbs and great toes
and his long tail with an astonishment which he sought to conceal,
but greater than all was the sense of relief that the first inhabitant
of this strange country whom he had met had proven friendly, so
greatly would he have been handicapped by the necessity for forcing
his way through a hostile land.
Ta-den, who had been hunting for some of the smaller mammals, the
meat of which is especially relished by the Ho-don, forgot his
intended sport in the greater interest of his new discovery. He
would take the stranger to Om-at and possibly together the two would
find some way of discovering the true intentions of the newcomer.
And so again through signs he apprised the other that he would
accompany him and together they descended toward the cliffs of
Om-at's people.
As they approached these they came upon the women and children
working under guard of the old men and the youths--gathering the
wild fruits and herbs which constitute a part of their diet, as well
as tending the small acres of growing crops which they cultivate. The
fields lay in small level patches that had been cleared of trees
and brush. Their farm implements consisted of metal-shod poles
which bore a closer resemblance to spears than to tools of peaceful
agriculture. Supplementing these were others with flattened blades
that were neither hoes nor spades, but instead possessed the
appearance of an unhappy attempt to combine the two implements in
one.
At first sight of these people the stranger halted and unslung his
bow for these creatures were black as night, their bodies entirely
covered with hair. But Ta-den, interpreting the doubt in the other's
mind, reassured him with a gesture and a smile. The Waz-don, however,
gathered around excitedly jabbering questions in a language which
the stranger discovered his guide understood though it was entirely
unintelligible to the former. They made no attempt to molest him
and he was now sure that he had fallen among a peaceful and friendly
people.
It was but a short distance now to the caves and when they reached
these Ta-den led the way aloft upon the wooden pegs, assured that
this creature whom he had discovered would have no more difficulty
in following him than had Tarzan the Terrible. Nor was he mistaken
for the other mounted with ease until presently the two stood within
the recess before the cave of Om-at, the chief.
The latter was not there and it was mid-afternoon before he
returned, but in the meantime many warriors came to look upon the
visitor and in each instance the latter was more thoroughly impressed
with the friendly and peaceable spirit of his hosts, little guessing
that he was being entertained by a ferocious and warlike tribe who
never before the coming of Ta-den and Tarzan had suffered a stranger
among them.
At last Om-at returned and the guest sensed intuitively that he
was in the presence of a great man among these people, possibly
a chief or king, for not only did the attitude of the other black
warriors indicate this but it was written also in the mien and
bearing of the splendid creature who stood looking at him while
Ta-den explained the circumstances of their meeting. "And I believe,
Om-at," concluded the Ho-don, "that he seeks Tarzan the Terrible."
At the sound of that name, the first intelligible word that had
fallen upon the ears of the stranger since he had come among them,
his face lightened. "Tarzan!" he cried, "Tarzan of the Apes!" and
by signs he tried to tell them that it was he whom he sought.
They understood, and also they guessed from the expression of his
face that he sought Tarzan from motives of affection rather than
the reverse, but of this Om-at wished to make sure. He pointed to
the stranger's knife, and repeating Tarzan's name, seized Ta-den
and pretended to stab him, immediately turning questioningly toward
the stranger.
The latter shook his head vehemently and then first placing a hand
above his heart he raised his palm in the symbol of peace.
"He is a friend of Tarzan-jad-guru," exclaimed Ta-den.
"Either a friend or a great liar," replied Om-at.
"Tarzan," continued the stranger, "you know him? He lives? O God,
if I could only speak your language." And again reverting to sign
language he sought to ascertain where Tarzan was. He would pronounce
the name and point in different directions, in the cave, down into
the gorge, back toward the mountains, or out upon the valley below,
and each time he would raise his brows questioningly and voice
the universal "eh?" of interrogation which they could not fail to
understand. But always Om-at shook his head and spread his palms
in a gesture which indicated that while he understood the question
he was ignorant as to the whereabouts of the ape-man, and then the
black chief attempted as best he might to explain to the stranger
what he knew of the whereabouts of Tarzan.
He called the newcomer Jar-don, which in the language of Pal-ul-don
means "stranger," and he pointed to the sun and said as. This he
repeated several times and then he held up one hand with the fingers
outspread and touching them one by one, including the thumb, repeated
the word adenen until the stranger understood that he meant five.
Again he pointed to the sun and describing an arc with his forefinger
starting at the eastern horizon and terminating at the western, he
repeated again the words as adenen. It was plain to the stranger
that the words meant that the sun had crossed the heavens five
times. In other words, five days had passed. Om-at then pointed to
the cave where they stood, pronouncing Tarzan's name and imitating
a walking man with the first and second fingers of his right hand
upon the floor of the recess, sought to show that Tarzan had walked
out of the cave and climbed upward on the pegs five days before,
but this was as far as the sign language would permit him to go.
This far the stranger followed him and, indicating that he understood
he pointed to himself and then indicating the pegs leading above
announced that he would follow Tarzan.
"Let us go with him," said Om-at, "for as yet we have not punished
the Kor-ul-lul for killing our friend and ally."
"Persuade him to wait until morning," said Ta-den, "that you may take
with you many warriors and make a great raid upon the Kor-ul-lul,
and this time, Om-at, do not kill your prisoners. Take as many
as you can alive and from some of them we may learn the fate of
Tarzan-jad-guru."
"Great is the wisdom of the Ho-don," replied Om-at. "It shall be as
you say, and having made prisoners of all the Kor-ul-lul we shall
make them tell us what we wish to know. And then we shall march
them to the rim of Kor-ul-gryf and push them over the edge of the
cliff."
Ta-den smiled. He knew that they would not take prisoner all the
Kor-ul-lul warriors--that they would be fortunate if they took one
and it was also possible that they might even be driven back in
defeat, but he knew too that Om-at would not hesitate to carry out
his threat if he had the opportunity, so implacable was the hatred
of these neighbors for each other.
It was not difficult to explain Om-at's plan to the stranger or to
win his consent since he was aware, when the great black had made
it plain that they would be accompanied by many warriors, that
their venture would probably lead them into a hostile country and
every safeguard that he could employ he was glad to avail himself
of, since the furtherance of his quest was the paramount issue.
He slept that night upon a pile of furs in one of the compartments
of Om-at's ancestral cave, and early the next day following the
morning meal they sallied forth, a hundred savage warriors swarming
up the face of the sheer cliff and out upon the summit of the ridge,
the main body preceded by two warriors whose duties coincided with
those of the point of modern military maneuvers, safeguarding the
column against the danger of too sudden contact with the enemy.
Across the ridge they went and down into the Kor-ul-lul and there
almost immediately they came upon a lone and unarmed Waz-don who
was making his way fearfully up the gorge toward the village of
his tribe. Him they took prisoner which, strangely, only added to
his terror since from the moment that he had seen them and realized
that escape was impossible, he had expected to be slain immediately.
"Take him back to Kor-ul-ja," said Om-at, to one of his warriors,
"and hold him there unharmed until I return."
And so the puzzled Kor-ul-lul was led away while the savage company
moved stealthily from tree to tree in its closer advance upon the
village. Fortune smiled upon Om-at in that it gave him quickly what
he sought--a battle royal, for they had not yet come in sight of
the caves of the Kor-ul-lul when they encountered a considerable
band of warriors headed down the gorge upon some expedition.
Like shadows the Kor-ul-ja melted into the concealment of the foliage
upon either side of the trail. Ignorant of impending danger, safe
in the knowledge that they trod their own domain where each rock
and stone was as familiar as the features of their mates, the
Kor-ul-lul walked innocently into the ambush. Suddenly the quiet
of that seeming peace was shattered by a savage cry and a hurled
club felled a Kor-ul-lul.
The cry was a signal for a savage chorus from a hundred Kor-ul-ja
throats with which were soon mingled the war cries of their enemies.
The air was filled with flying clubs and then as the two forces
mingled, the battle resolved itself into a number of individual
encounters as each warrior singled out a foe and closed upon him.
Knives gleamed and flashed in the mottling sunlight that filtered
through the foliage of the trees above. Sleek black coats were
streaked with crimson stains.
In the thick of the fight the smooth brown skin of the stranger
mingled with the black bodies of friend and foe. Only his keen
eyes and his quick wit had shown him how to differentiate between
Kor-ul-lul and Kor-ul-ja since with the single exception of apparel
they were identical, but at the first rush of the enemy he had
noticed that their loin cloths were not of the leopard-matted hides
such as were worn by his allies.
Om-at, after dispatching his first antagonist, glanced at Jar-don.
"He fights with the ferocity of jato," mused the chief. "Powerful
indeed must be the tribe from which he and Tarzan-jad-guru come,"
and then his whole attention was occupied by a new assailant.
The fighters surged to and fro through the forest until those
who survived were spent with exhaustion. All but the stranger who
seemed not to know the sense of fatigue. He fought on when each
new antagonist would have gladly quit, and when there were no more
Kor-ul-lul who were not engaged, he leaped upon those who stood
pantingly facing the exhausted Kor-ul-ja.
And always he carried upon his back the peculiar thing which Om-at
had thought was some manner of strange weapon but the purpose of
which he could not now account for in view of the fact that Jar-don
never used it, and that for the most part it seemed but a nuisance
and needless encumbrance since it banged and smashed against its
owner as he leaped, catlike, hither and thither in the course of
his victorious duels. The bow and arrows he had tossed aside at
the beginning of the fight but the Enfield he would not discard,
for where he went he meant that it should go until its mission had
been fulfilled.
Presently the Kor-ul-ja, seemingly shamed by the example of Jar-don
closed once more with the enemy, but the latter, moved no doubt
to terror by the presence of the stranger, a tireless demon who
appeared invulnerable to their attacks, lost heart and sought to
flee. And then it was that at Om-at's command his warriors surrounded
a half-dozen of the most exhausted and made them prisoners.
It was a tired, bloody, and elated company that returned victorious
to the Kor-ul-ja. Twenty of their number were carried back and six
of these were dead men. It was the most glorious and successful
raid that the Kor-ul-ja had made upon the Kor-ul-lul in the memory
of man, and it marked Om-at as the greatest of chiefs, but that
fierce warrior knew that advantage had lain upon his side largely
because of the presence of his strange ally. Nor did he hesitate
to give credit where credit belonged, with the result that Jar-don
and his exploits were upon the tongue of every member of the tribe
of Kor-ul-ja and great was the fame of the race that could produce
two such as he and Tarzan-jad-guru.
And in the gorge of Kor-ul-lul beyond the ridge the survivors spoke
in bated breath of this second demon that had joined forces with
their ancient enemy.
Returned to his cave Om-at caused the Kor-ul-lul prisoners to be
brought into his presence singly, and each he questioned as to the
fate of Tarzan. Without exception they told him the same story--that
Tarzan had been taken prisoner by them five days before but that he
had slain the warrior left to guard him and escaped, carrying the
head of the unfortunate sentry to the opposite side of Kor-ul-lul
where he had left it suspended by its hair from the branch of
a tree. But what had become of him after, they did not know; not
one of them, until the last prisoner was examined, he whom they
had taken first--the unarmed Kor-ul-lul making his way from the
direction of the Valley of Jad-ben-Otho toward the caves of his
people.
This one, when he discovered the purpose of their questioning,
bartered with them for the lives and liberty of himself and his
fellows. "I can tell you much of this terrible man of whom you ask,
Kor-ul-ja," he said. "I saw him yesterday and I know where he is,
and if you will promise to let me and my fellows return in safety
to the caves of our ancestors I will tell you all, and truthfully,
that which I know."
"You will tell us anyway," replied Om-at, "or we shall kill you."
"You will kill me anyway," retorted the prisoner, "unless you make
me this promise; so if I am to be killed the thing I know shall go
with me."
"He is right, Om-at," said Ta-den, "promise him that they shall
have their liberty."
"Very well," said Om-at. "Speak Kor-ul-lul, and when you have told
me all, you and your fellows may return unharmed to your tribe."
"It was thus," commenced the prisoner. "Three days since I was
hunting with a party of my fellows near the mouth of Kor-ul-lul not
far from where you captured me this morning, when we were surprised
and set upon by a large number of Ho-don who took us prisoners and
carried us to A-lur where a few were chosen to be slaves and the
rest were cast into a chamber beneath the temple where are held for
sacrifice the victims that are offered by the Ho-don to Jad-ben-Otho
upon the sacrificial altars of the temple at A-lur.
"It seemed then that indeed was my fate sealed and that lucky were
those who had been selected for slaves among the Ho-don, for they
at least might hope to escape--those in the chamber with me must
be without hope.
"But yesterday a strange thing happened. There came to the temple,
accompanied by all the priests and by the king and many of his
warriors, one whom all did great reverence, and when he came to the
barred gateway leading to the chamber in which we wretched ones
awaited our fate, I saw to my surprise that it was none other
than that terrible man who had so recently been a prisoner in the
village of Kor-ul-lul--he whom you call Tarzan-jad-guru but whom
they addressed as Dor-ul-Otho. And he looked upon us and questioned
the high priest and when he was told of the purpose for which we
were imprisoned there he grew angry and cried that it was not the
will of Jad-ben-Otho that his people be thus sacrificed, and he
commanded the high priest to liberate us, and this was done.
"The Ho-don prisoners were permitted to return to their homes and
we were led beyond the City of A-lur and set upon our way toward
Kor-ul-lul. There were three of us, but many are the dangers that
lie between A-lur and Kor-ul-lul and we were only three and unarmed.
Therefore none of us reached the village of our people and only
one of us lives. I have spoken."
"That is all you know concerning Tarzan-jad-guru?" asked Om-at.
"That is all I know," replied the prisoner, "other than that he
whom they call Lu-don, the high priest at A-lur, was very angry,
and that one of the two priests who guided us out of the city said
to the other that the stranger was not Dor-ul-Otho at all; that
Lu-don had said so and that he had also said that he would expose
him and that he should be punished with death for his presumption.
That is all they said within my hearing.
"And now, chief of Kor-ul-ja, let us depart."
Om-at nodded. "Go your way," he said, "and Ab-on, send warriors to
guard them until they are safely within the Kor-ul-lul.
"Jar-don," he said beckoning to the stranger, "come with me," and
rising he led the way toward the summit of the cliff, and when they
stood upon the ridge Om-at pointed down into the valley toward the
City of A-lur gleaming in the light of the western sun.
"There is Tarzan-jad-guru," he said, and Jar-don understood.
