17
By Jad-bal-lul
As Mo-sar carried Jane Clayton from the palace of Ko-tan, the king,
the woman struggled incessantly to regain her freedom. He tried
to compel her to walk, but despite his threats and his abuse she
would not voluntarily take a single step in the direction in which
he wished her to go. Instead she threw herself to the ground each
time he sought to place her upon her feet, and so of necessity he
was compelled to carry her though at last he tied her hands and
gagged her to save himself from further lacerations, for the beauty
and slenderness of the woman belied her strength and courage. When
he came at last to where his men had gathered he was glad indeed
to turn her over to a couple of stalwart warriors, but these too
were forced to carry her since Mo-sar's fear of the vengeance of
Ko-tan's retainers would brook no delays.
And thus they came down out of the hills from which A-lur is carved,
to the meadows that skirt the lower end of Jad-ben-lul, with Jane
Clayton carried between two of Mo-sar's men. At the edge of the lake
lay a fleet of strong canoes, hollowed from the trunks of trees,
their bows and sterns carved in the semblance of grotesque beasts
or birds and vividly colored by some master in that primitive school
of art, which fortunately is not without its devotees today.
Into the stern of one of these canoes the warriors tossed their
captive at a sign from Mo-sar, who came and stood beside her as
the warriors were finding their places in the canoes and selecting
their paddles.
"Come, Beautiful One," he said, "let us be friends and you shall
not be harmed. You will find Mo-sar a kind master if you do his
bidding," and thinking to make a good impression on her he removed
the gag from her mouth and the thongs from her wrists, knowing well
that she could not escape surrounded as she was by his warriors, and
presently, when they were out on the lake, she would be as safely
imprisoned as though he held her behind bars.
And so the fleet moved off to the accompaniment of the gentle
splashing of a hundred paddles, to follow the windings of the rivers
and lakes through which the waters of the Valley of Jad-ben-Otho
empty into the great morass to the south. The warriors, resting
upon one knee, faced the bow and in the last canoe Mo-sar tiring
of his fruitless attempts to win responses from his sullen captive,
squatted in the bottom of the canoe with his back toward her and
resting his head upon the gunwale sought sleep.
Thus they moved in silence between the verdure-clad banks of the
little river through which the waters of Jad-ben-lul emptied--now
in the moonlight, now in dense shadow where great trees overhung
the stream, and at last out upon the waters of another lake, the
black shores of which seemed far away under the weird influence of
a moonlight night.
Jane Clayton sat alert in the stern of the last canoe. For months
she had been under constant surveillance, the prisoner first of one
ruthless race and now the prisoner of another. Since the long-gone
day that Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and his band of native German
troops had treacherously wrought the Kaiser's work of rapine
and destruction on the Greystoke bungalow and carried her away to
captivity she had not drawn a free breath. That she had survived
unharmed the countless dangers through which she had passed
she attributed solely to the beneficence of a kind and watchful
Providence.
At first she had been held on the orders of the German High Command
with a view of her ultimate value as a hostage and during these
months she had been subjected to neither hardship nor oppression,
but when the Germans had become hard pressed toward the close of
their unsuccessful campaign in East Africa it had been determined
to take her further into the interior and now there was an element
of revenge in their motives, since it must have been apparent that
she could no longer be of any possible military value.
Bitter indeed were the Germans against that half-savage mate of hers
who had cunningly annoyed and harassed them with a fiendishness of
persistence and ingenuity that had resulted in a noticeable loss
in morale in the sector he had chosen for his operations. They had
to charge against him the lives of certain officers that he had
deliberately taken with his own hands, and one entire section of
trench that had made possible a disastrous turning movement by the
British. Tarzan had out-generaled them at every point. He had met
cunning with cunning and cruelty with cruelties until they feared
and loathed his very name. The cunning trick that they had played
upon him in destroying his home, murdering his retainers, and covering
the abduction of his wife in such a way as to lead him to believe
that she had been killed, they had regretted a thousand times,
for a thousandfold had they paid the price for their senseless
ruthlessness, and now, unable to wreak their vengeance directly upon
him, they had conceived the idea of inflicting further suffering
upon his mate.
In sending her into the interior to avoid the path of the victorious
British, they had chosen as her escort Lieutenant Erich Obergatz
who had been second in command of Schneider's company, and who
alone of its officers had escaped the consuming vengeance of the
ape-man. For a long time Obergatz had held her in a native village,
the chief of which was still under the domination of his fear
of the ruthless German oppressors. While here only hardships and
discomforts assailed her, Obergatz himself being held in leash by
the orders of his distant superior but as time went on the life in
the village grew to be a veritable hell of cruelties and oppressions
practiced by the arrogant Prussian upon the villagers and the members
of his native command--for time hung heavily upon the hands of the
lieutenant and with idleness combining with the personal discomforts
he was compelled to endure, his none too agreeable temper found
an outlet first in petty interference with the chiefs and later in
the practice of absolute cruelties upon them.
What the self-sufficient German could not see was plain to Jane
Clayton--that the sympathies of Obergatz' native soldiers lay with
the villagers and that all were so heartily sickened by his abuse
that it needed now but the slightest spark to detonate the mine
of revenge and hatred that the pig-headed Hun had been assiduously
fabricating beneath his own person.
And at last it came, but from an unexpected source in the form of
a German native deserter from the theater of war. Footsore, weary,
and spent, he dragged himself into the village late one afternoon,
and before Obergatz was even aware of his presence the whole
village knew that the power of Germany in Africa was at an end. It
did not take long for the lieutenant's native soldiers to realize
that the authority that held them in service no longer existed and
that with it had gone the power to pay them their miserable wage.
Or at least, so they reasoned. To them Obergatz no longer represented
aught else than a powerless and hated foreigner, and short indeed
would have been his shrift had not a native woman who had conceived
a doglike affection for Jane Clayton hurried to her with word of
the murderous plan, for the fate of the innocent white woman lay
in the balance beside that of the guilty Teuton.
"Already they are quarreling as to which one shall possess you,"
she told Jane.
"When will they come for us?" asked Jane. "Did you hear them say?"
"Tonight," replied the woman, "for even now that he has none to
fight for him they still fear the white man. And so they will come
at night and kill him while he sleeps."
Jane thanked the woman and sent her away lest the suspicion of her
fellows be aroused against her when they discovered that the two
whites had learned of their intentions. The woman went at once to
the hut occupied by Obergatz. She had never gone there before and
the German looked up in surprise as he saw who his visitor was.
Briefly she told him what she had heard. At first he was inclined
to bluster arrogantly, with a great display of bravado but she
silenced him peremptorily.
"Such talk is useless," she said shortly. "You have brought upon
yourself the just hatred of these people. Regardless of the truth
or falsity of the report which has been brought to them, they
believe in it and there is nothing now between you and your Maker
other than flight. We shall both be dead before morning if we are
unable to escape from the village unseen. If you go to them now
with your silly protestations of authority you will be dead a little
sooner, that is all."
"You think it is as bad as that?" he said, a noticeable alteration
in his tone and manner.
"It is precisely as I have told you," she replied. "They will come
tonight and kill you while you sleep. Find me pistols and a rifle
and ammunition and we will pretend that we go into the jungle to
hunt. That you have done often. Perhaps it will arouse suspicion
that I accompany you but that we must chance. And be sure my dear
Herr Lieutenant to bluster and curse and abuse your servants unless
they note a change in your manner and realizing your fear know
that you suspect their intention. If all goes well then we can go
out into the jungle to hunt and we need not return.
"But first and now you must swear never to harm me, or otherwise
it would be better that I called the chief and turned you over to
him and then put a bullet into my own head, for unless you swear
as I have asked I were no better alone in the jungle with you than
here at the mercies of these degraded blacks."
"I swear," he replied solemnly, "in the names of my God and my
Kaiser that no harm shall befall you at my hands, Lady Greystoke."
"Very well," she said, "we will make this pact to assist each other
to return to civilization, but let it be understood that there
is and never can be any semblance even of respect for you upon my
part. I am drowning and you are the straw. Carry that always in
your mind, German."
If Obergatz had held any doubt as to the sincerity of her word it
would have been wholly dissipated by the scathing contempt of her
tone. And so Obergatz, without further parley, got pistols and an
extra rifle for Jane, as well as bandoleers of cartridges. In his
usual arrogant and disagreeable manner he called his servants,
telling them that he and the white kali were going out into the brush
to hunt. The beaters would go north as far as the little hill and
then circle back to the east and in toward the village. The gun
carriers he directed to take the extra pieces and precede himself
and Jane slowly toward the east, waiting for them at the ford about
half a mile distant. The blacks responded with greater alacrity
than usual and it was noticeable to both Jane and Obergatz that
they left the village whispering and laughing.
"The swine think it is a great joke," growled Obergatz, "that the
afternoon before I die I go out and hunt meat for them."
As soon as the gun bearers disappeared in the jungle beyond the
village the two Europeans followed along the same trail, nor was
there any attempt upon the part of Obergatz' native soldiers, or
the warriors of the chief to detain them, for they too doubtless
were more than willing that the whites should bring them in one
more mess of meat before they killed them.
A quarter of a mile from the village, Obergatz turned toward the
south from the trail that led to the ford and hurrying onward the
two put as great a distance as possible between them and the village
before night fell. They knew from the habits of their erstwhile
hosts that there was little danger of pursuit by night since the
villagers held Numa, the lion, in too great respect to venture
needlessly beyond their stockade during the hours that the king of
beasts was prone to choose for hunting.
And thus began a seemingly endless sequence of frightful days and
horror-laden nights as the two fought their way toward the south
in the face of almost inconceivable hardships, privations, and
dangers. The east coast was nearer but Obergatz positively refused
to chance throwing himself into the hands of the British by returning
to the territory which they now controlled, insisting instead upon
attempting to make his way through an unknown wilderness to South
Africa where, among the Boers, he was convinced he would find willing
sympathizers who would find some way to return him in safety to
Germany, and the woman was perforce compelled to accompany him.
And so they had crossed the great thorny, waterless steppe and
come at last to the edge of the morass before Pal-ul-don. They had
reached this point just before the rainy season when the waters of
the morass were at their lowest ebb. At this time a hard crust is
baked upon the dried surface of the marsh and there is only the
open water at the center to materially impede progress. It is a
condition that exists perhaps not more than a few weeks, or even
days at the termination of long periods of drought, and so the two
crossed the otherwise almost impassable barrier without realizing
its latent terrors. Even the open water in the center chanced to
be deserted at the time by its frightful denizens which the drought
and the receding waters had driven southward toward the mouth
of Pal-ul-don's largest river which carries the waters out of the
Valley of Jad-ben-Otho.
Their wanderings carried them across the mountains and into the
Valley of Jad-ben-Otho at the source of one of the larger streams
which bears the mountain waters down into the valley to empty them
into the main river just below The Great Lake on whose northern
shore lies A-lur. As they had come down out of the mountains they
had been surprised by a party of Ho-don hunters. Obergatz had
escaped while Jane had been taken prisoner and brought to A-lur.
She had neither seen nor heard aught of the German since that time
and she did not know whether he had perished in this strange land,
or succeeded in successfully eluding its savage denizens and making
his way at last into South Africa.
For her part, she had been incarcerated alternately in the palace
and the temple as either Ko-tan or Lu-don succeeded in wresting
her temporarily from the other by various strokes of cunning and
intrigue. And now at last she was in the power of a new captor,
one whom she knew from the gossip of the temple and the palace to
be cruel and degraded. And she was in the stern of the last canoe,
and every enemy back was toward her, while almost at her feet
Mo-sar's loud snores gave ample evidence of his unconsciousness to
his immediate surroundings.
The dark shore loomed closer to the south as Jane Clayton, Lady
Greystoke, slid quietly over the stern of the canoe into the chill
waters of the lake. She scarcely moved other than to keep her
nostrils above the surface while the canoe was yet discernible in
the last rays of the declining moon. Then she struck out toward
the southern shore.
Alone, unarmed, all but naked, in a country overrun by savage beasts
and hostile men, she yet felt for the first time in many months
a sensation of elation and relief. She was free! What if the next
moment brought death, she knew again, at least a brief instant of
absolute freedom. Her blood tingled to the almost forgotten sensation
and it was with difficulty that she restrained a glad triumphant
cry as she clambered from the quiet waters and stood upon the silent
beach.
Before her loomed a forest, darkly, and from its depths came those
nameless sounds that are a part of the night life of the jungle--the
rustling of leaves in the wind, the rubbing together of contiguous
branches, the scurrying of a rodent, all magnified by the darkness
to sinister and awe-inspiring proportions; the hoot of an owl, the
distant scream of a great cat, the barking of wild dogs, attested
the presence of the myriad life she could not see--the savage life,
the free life of which she was now a part. And then there came to
her, possibly for the first time since the giant ape-man had come
into her life, a fuller realization of what the jungle meant to him,
for though alone and unprotected from its hideous dangers she yet
felt its lure upon her and an exaltation that she had not dared
hope to feel again.
Ah, if that mighty mate of hers were but by her side! What utter
joy and bliss would be hers! She longed for no more than this. The
parade of cities, the comforts and luxuries of civilization held
forth no allure half as insistent as the glorious freedom of the
jungle.
A lion moaned in the blackness to her right, eliciting delicious
thrills that crept along her spine. The hair at the back of
her head seemed to stand erect--yet she was unafraid. The muscles
bequeathed her by some primordial ancestor reacted instinctively
to the presence of an ancient enemy--that was all. The woman moved
slowly and deliberately toward the wood. Again the lion moaned;
this time nearer. She sought a low-hanging branch and finding it
swung easily into the friendly shelter of the tree. The long and
perilous journey with Obergatz had trained her muscles and her
nerves to such unaccustomed habits. She found a safe resting place
such as Tarzan had taught her was best and there she curled herself,
thirty feet above the ground, for a night's rest. She was cold
and uncomfortable and yet she slept, for her heart was warm with
renewed hope and her tired brain had found temporary surcease from
worry.
She slept until the heat of the sun, high in the heavens, awakened
her. She was rested and now her body was well as her heart was warm.
A sensation of ease and comfort and happiness pervaded her being.
She rose upon her gently swaying couch and stretched luxuriously,
her naked limbs and lithe body mottled by the sunlight filtering
through the foliage above combined with the lazy gesture to impart
to her appearance something of the leopard. With careful eye she
scrutinized the ground below and with attentive ear she listened for
any warning sound that might suggest the near presence of enemies,
either man or beast. Satisfied at last that there was nothing
close of which she need have fear she clambered to the ground. She
wished to bathe but the lake was too exposed and just a bit too far
from the safety of the trees for her to risk it until she became
more familiar with her surroundings. She wandered aimlessly through
the forest searching for food which she found in abundance. She
ate and rested, for she had no objective as yet. Her freedom was
too new to be spoiled by plannings for the future. The haunts of
civilized man seemed to her now as vague and unattainable as the
half-forgotten substance of a dream. If she could but live on here
in peace, waiting, waiting for--him. It was the old hope revived.
She knew that he would come some day, if he lived. She had always
known that, though recently she had believed that he would come too
late. If he lived! Yes, he would come if he lived, and if he did
not live she were as well off here as elsewhere, for then nothing
mattered, only to wait for the end as patiently as might be.
Her wanderings brought her to a crystal brook and there she drank
and bathed beneath an overhanging tree that offered her quick asylum
in the event of danger. It was a quiet and beautiful spot and she
loved it from the first. The bottom of the brook was paved with
pretty stones and bits of glassy obsidian. As she gathered a handful
of the pebbles and held them up to look at them she noticed that
one of her fingers was bleeding from a clean, straight cut. She fell
to searching for the cause and presently discovered it in one of
the fragments of volcanic glass which revealed an edge that was
almost razor-like. Jane Clayton was elated. Here, God-given to
her hands, was the first beginning with which she might eventually
arrive at both weapons and tools--a cutting edge. Everything was
possible to him who possessed it--nothing without.
She sought until she had collected many of the precious bits
of stone--until the pouch that hung at her right side was almost
filled. Then she climbed into the great tree to examine them at
leisure. There were some that looked like knife blades, and some
that could easily be fashioned into spear heads, and many smaller
ones that nature seemed to have intended for the tips of savage
arrows.
The spear she would essay first--that would be easiest. There was
a hollow in the bole of the tree in a great crotch high above the
ground. Here she cached all of her treasure except a single knifelike
sliver. With this she descended to the ground and searching out a
slender sapling that grew arrow-straight she hacked and sawed until
she could break it off without splitting the wood. It was just the
right diameter for the shaft of a spear--a hunting spear such as
her beloved Waziri had liked best. How often had she watched them
fashioning them, and they had taught her how to use them, too--them
and the heavy war spears--laughing and clapping their hands as her
proficiency increased.
She knew the arborescent grasses that yielded the longest and
toughest fibers and these she sought and carried to her tree with
the spear shaft that was to be. Clambering to her crotch she bent
to her work, humming softly a little tune. She caught herself and
smiled--it was the first time in all these bitter months that song
had passed her lips or such a smile.
"I feel," she sighed, "I almost feel that John is near--my John--my
Tarzan!"
She cut the spear shaft to the proper length and removed the twigs
and branches and the bark, whittling and scraping at the nubs
until the surface was all smooth and straight. Then she split one
end and inserted a spear point, shaping the wood until it fitted
perfectly. This done she laid the shaft aside and fell to splitting
the thick grass stems and pounding and twisting them until she had
separated and partially cleaned the fibers. These she took down
to the brook and washed and brought back again and wound tightly
around the cleft end of the shaft, which she had notched to receive
them, and the upper part of the spear head which she had also
notched slightly with a bit of stone. It was a crude spear but the
best that she could attain in so short a time. Later, she promised
herself, she should have others--many of them--and they would be
spears of which even the greatest of the Waziri spear-men might be
proud.
