Chapter 9

Man and Man



Tarzan of the Apes lived on in his wild, jungle existence

with little change for several years, only that he grew

stronger and wiser, and learned from his books more and

more of the strange worlds which lay somewhere outside his

primeval forest.



To him life was never monotonous or stale. There was always

Pisah, the fish, to be caught in the many streams and the

little lakes, and Sabor, with her ferocious cousins to keep

one ever on the alert and give zest to every instant that one

spent upon the ground.



Often they hunted him, and more often he hunted them,

but though they never quite reached him with those cruel,

sharp claws of theirs, yet there were times when one could

scarce have passed a thick leaf between their talons and his

smooth hide.



Quick was Sabor, the lioness, and quick were Numa and

Sheeta, but Tarzan of the Apes was lightning.



With Tantor, the elephant, he made friends. How? Ask not.

But this is known to the denizens of the jungle, that on

many moonlight nights Tarzan of the Apes and Tantor, the

elephant, walked together, and where the way was clear Tarzan

rode, perched high upon Tantor's mighty back.



Many days during these years he spent in the cabin of his

father, where still lay, untouched, the bones of his parents

and the skeleton of Kala's baby. At eighteen he read

fluently and understood nearly all he read in the many and

varied volumes on the shelves.



Also could he write, with printed letters, rapidly and plainly,

but script he had not mastered, for though there were several

copy books among his treasure, there was so little written

English in the cabin that he saw no use for bothering with this

other form of writing, though he could read it, laboriously.



Thus, at eighteen, we find him, an English lordling, who

could speak no English, and yet who could read and write his

native language. Never had he seen a human being other

than himself, for the little area traversed by his tribe was

watered by no greater river to bring down the savage natives of

the interior.



High hills shut it off on three sides, the ocean on the

fourth. It was alive with lions and leopards and poisonous

snakes. Its untouched mazes of matted jungle had as yet

invited no hardy pioneer from the human beasts beyond its

frontier.



But as Tarzan of the Apes sat one day in the cabin of his

father delving into the mysteries of a new book, the ancient

security of his jungle was broken forever.



At the far eastern confine a strange cavalcade strung, in

single file, over the brow of a low hill.



In advance were fifty black warriors armed with slender

wooden spears with ends hard baked over slow fires, and long

bows and poisoned arrows. On their backs were oval shields,

in their noses huge rings, while from the kinky wool of their

heads protruded tufts of gay feathers.



Across their foreheads were tattooed three parallel lines of

color, and on each breast three concentric circles. Their

yellow teeth were filed to sharp points, and their great

protruding lips added still further to the low and bestial

brutishness of their appearance.



Following them were several hundred women and children,

the former bearing upon their heads great burdens of cooking

pots, household utensils and ivory. In the rear were a

hundred warriors, similar in all respects to the advance guard.



That they more greatly feared an attack from the rear than

whatever unknown enemies lurked in their advance was

evidenced by the formation of the column; and such was the

fact, for they were fleeing from the white man's soldiers who

had so harassed them for rubber and ivory that they had

turned upon their conquerors one day and massacred a white

officer and a small detachment of his black troops.



For many days they had gorged themselves on meat, but

eventually a stronger body of troops had come and fallen upon

their village by night to revenge the death of their comrades.



That night the black soldiers of the white man had had

meat a-plenty, and this little remnant of a once powerful

tribe had slunk off into the gloomy jungle toward the

unknown, and freedom.



But that which meant freedom and the pursuit of happiness

to these savage blacks meant consternation and death to

many of the wild denizens of their new home.



For three days the little cavalcade marched slowly through

the heart of this unknown and untracked forest, until finally,

early in the fourth day, they came upon a little spot near the

banks of a small river, which seemed less thickly overgrown

than any ground they had yet encountered.



Here they set to work to build a new village, and in a

month a great clearing had been made, huts and palisades

erected, plantains, yams and maize planted, and they had

taken up their old life in their new home. Here there were no

white men, no soldiers, nor any rubber or ivory to be gathered

for cruel and thankless taskmasters.



Several moons passed by ere the blacks ventured far into

the territory surrounding their new village. Several had

already fallen prey to old Sabor, and because the jungle was so

infested with these fierce and bloodthirsty cats, and with lions

and leopards, the ebony warriors hesitated to trust themselves

far from the safety of their palisades.



But one day, Kulonga, a son of the old king, Mbonga,

wandered far into the dense mazes to the west. Warily he

stepped, his slender lance ever ready, his long oval shield

firmly grasped in his left hand close to his sleek ebony body.



At his back his bow, and in the quiver upon his shield

many slim, straight arrows, well smeared with the thick, dark,

tarry substance that rendered deadly their tiniest needle prick.



Night found Kulonga far from the palisades of his father's

village, but still headed westward, and climbing into the fork

of a great tree he fashioned a rude platform and curled himself

for sleep.



Three miles to the west slept the tribe of Kerchak.



Early the next morning the apes were astir, moving

through the jungle in search of food. Tarzan, as was his

custom, prosecuted his search in the direction of the cabin so

that by leisurely hunting on the way his stomach was filled by

the time he reached the beach.



The apes scattered by ones, and twos, and threes in all

directions, but ever within sound of a signal of alarm.



Kala had moved slowly along an elephant track toward the

east, and was busily engaged in turning over rotted limbs and

logs in search of succulent bugs and fungi, when the faintest

shadow of a strange noise brought her to startled attention.



For fifty yards before her the trail was straight, and down

this leafy tunnel she saw the stealthy advancing figure of a

strange and fearful creature.



It was Kulonga.



Kala did not wait to see more, but, turning, moved rapidly back

along the trail. She did not run; but, after the manner of her

kind when not aroused, sought rather to avoid than to escape.



Close after her came Kulonga. Here was meat. He could

make a killing and feast well this day. On he hurried, his

spear poised for the throw.



At a turning of the trail he came in sight of her again

upon another straight stretch. His spear hand went far back

the muscles rolled, lightning-like, beneath the sleek hide. Out

shot the arm, and the spear sped toward Kala.



A poor cast. It but grazed her side.



With a cry of rage and pain the she-ape turned upon her

tormentor. In an instant the trees were crashing beneath the

weight of her hurrying fellows, swinging rapidly toward the

scene of trouble in answer to Kala's scream.



As she charged, Kulonga unslung his bow and fitted an

arrow with almost unthinkable quickness. Drawing the shaft

far back he drove the poisoned missile straight into the heart

of the great anthropoid.



With a horrid scream Kala plunged forward upon her face

before the astonished members of her tribe.



Roaring and shrieking the apes dashed toward Kulonga,

but that wary savage was fleeing down the trail like a

frightened antelope.



He knew something of the ferocity of these wild, hairy

men, and his one desire was to put as many miles between

himself and them as he possibly could.



They followed him, racing through the trees, for a long

distance, but finally one by one they abandoned the chase

and returned to the scene of the tragedy.



None of them had ever seen a man before, other than Tarzan,

and so they wondered vaguely what strange manner of

creature it might be that had invaded their jungle.



On the far beach by the little cabin Tarzan heard the faint

echoes of the conflict and knowing that something was

seriously amiss among the tribe he hastened rapidly toward the

direction of the sound.



When he arrived he found the entire tribe gathered jabbering

about the dead body of his slain mother.



Tarzan's grief and anger were unbounded. He roared out

his hideous challenge time and again. He beat upon his great

chest with his clenched fists, and then he fell upon the body

of Kala and sobbed out the pitiful sorrowing of his lonely heart.



To lose the only creature in all his world who ever had

manifested love and affection for him was the greatest

tragedy he had ever known.



What though Kala was a fierce and hideous ape! To Tarzan

she had been kind, she had been beautiful.



Upon her he had lavished, unknown to himself, all the

reverence and respect and love that a normal English boy

feels for his own mother. He had never known another, and

so to Kala was given, though mutely, all that would have

belonged to the fair and lovely Lady Alice had she lived.



After the first outburst of grief Tarzan controlled himself,

and questioning the members of the tribe who had witnessed

the killing of Kala he learned all that their meager vocabulary

could convey.



It was enough, however, for his needs. It told him of a

strange, hairless, black ape with feathers growing upon its

head, who launched death from a slender branch, and then ran,

with the fleetness of Bara, the deer, toward the rising sun.



Tarzan waited no longer, but leaping into the branches of the

trees sped rapidly through the forest. He knew the windings

of the elephant trail along which Kala's murderer had

flown, and so he cut straight through the jungle to intercept

the black warrior who was evidently following the tortuous

detours of the trail.



At his side was the hunting knife of his unknown sire, and

across his shoulders the coils of his own long rope. In an

hour he struck the trail again, and coming to earth examined

the soil minutely.



In the soft mud on the bank of a tiny rivulet he found

footprints such as he alone in all the jungle had ever made,

but much larger than his. His heart beat fast. Could it be

that he was trailing a MAN--one of his own race?



There were two sets of imprints pointing in opposite directions.

So his quarry had already passed on his return along the

trail. As he examined the newer spoor a tiny particle of

earth toppled from the outer edge of one of the footprints to

the bottom of its shallow depression--ah, the trail was very

fresh, his prey must have but scarcely passed.



Tarzan swung himself to the trees once more, and with

swift noiselessness sped along high above the trail.



He had covered barely a mile when he came upon the

black warrior standing in a little open space. In his hand

was his slender bow to which he had fitted one of his death

dealing arrows.



Opposite him across the little clearing stood Horta, the

boar, with lowered head and foam flecked tucks, ready to

charge.



Tarzan looked with wonder upon the strange creature beneath

him--so like him in form and yet so different in face

and color. His books had portrayed the NEGRO, but how

different had been the dull, dead print to this sleek thing of

ebony, pulsing with life.



As the man stood there with taut drawn bow Tarzan recognized him

not so much the NEGRO as the ARCHER of his picture book--



A stands for Archer





How wonderful! Tarzan almost betrayed his presence in

the deep excitement of his discovery.



But things were commencing to happen below him. The sinewy

black arm had drawn the shaft far back; Horta, the

boar, was charging, and then the black released the little

poisoned arrow, and Tarzan saw it fly with the quickness of

thought and lodge in the bristling neck of the boar.



Scarcely had the shaft left his bow ere Kulonga had fitted

another to it, but Horta, the boar, was upon him so quickly

that he had no time to discharge it. With a bound the black

leaped entirely over the rushing beast and turning with

incredible swiftness planted a second arrow in Horta's back.



Then Kulonga sprang into a near-by tree.



Horta wheeled to charge his enemy once more; a dozen steps

he took, then he staggered and fell upon his side. For a

moment his muscles stiffened and relaxed convulsively, then

he lay still.



Kulonga came down from his tree.



With a knife that hung at his side he cut several large

pieces from the boar's body, and in the center of the trail he

built a fire, cooking and eating as much as he wanted. The

rest he left where it had fallen.



Tarzan was an interested spectator. His desire to kill

burned fiercely in his wild breast, but his desire to learn

was even greater. He would follow this savage creature for a

while and know from whence he came. He could kill him at

his leisure later, when the bow and deadly arrows were laid

aside.



When Kulonga had finished his repast and disappeared beyond

a near turning of the path, Tarzan dropped quietly to

the ground. With his knife he severed many strips of meat

from Horta's carcass, but he did not cook them.



He had seen fire, but only when Ara, the lightning, had

destroyed some great tree. That any creature of the jungle

could produce the red-and-yellow fangs which devoured

wood and left nothing but fine dust surprised Tarzan greatly,

and why the black warrior had ruined his delicious repast by

plunging it into the blighting heat was quite beyond him.

Possibly Ara was a friend with whom the Archer was sharing his food.



But, be that as it may, Tarzan would not ruin good meat in

any such foolish manner, so he gobbled down a great quantity

of the raw flesh, burying the balance of the carcass beside

the trail where he could find it upon his return.



And then Lord Greystoke wiped his greasy fingers upon

his naked thighs and took up the trail of Kulonga, the son of

Mbonga, the king; while in far-off London another Lord

Greystoke, the younger brother of the real Lord Greystoke's

father, sent back his chops to the club's CHEF because they

were underdone, and when he had finished his repast he

dipped his finger-ends into a silver bowl of scented water

and dried them upon a piece of snowy damask.



All day Tarzan followed Kulonga, hovering above him in

the trees like some malign spirit. Twice more he saw him

hurl his arrows of destruction--once at Dango, the hyena,

and again at Manu, the monkey. In each instance the animal

died almost instantly, for Kulonga's poison was very fresh

and very deadly.



Tarzan thought much on this wondrous method of slaying

as he swung slowly along at a safe distance behind his

quarry. He knew that alone the tiny prick of the arrow could

not so quickly dispatch these wild things of the jungle, who

were often torn and scratched and gored in a frightful manner

as they fought with their jungle neighbors, yet as often

recovered as not.



No, there was something mysterious connected with these

tiny slivers of wood which could bring death by a mere

scratch. He must look into the matter.



That night Kulonga slept in the crotch of a mighty tree

and far above him crouched Tarzan of the Apes.



When Kulonga awoke he found that his bow and arrows

had disappeared. The black warrior was furious and

frightened, but more frightened than furious. He searched

the ground below the tree, and he searched the tree above the

ground; but there was no sign of either bow or arrows or of

the nocturnal marauder.



Kulonga was panic-stricken. His spear he had hurled at

Kala and had not recovered; and, now that his bow and arrows

were gone, he was defenseless except for a single knife.

His only hope lay in reaching the village of Mbonga as

quickly as his legs would carry him.



That he was not far from home he was certain, so he took

the trail at a rapid trot.



From a great mass of impenetrable foliage a few yards

away emerged Tarzan of the Apes to swing quietly in his wake.



Kulonga's bow and arrows were securely tied high in the

top of a giant tree from which a patch of bark had been

removed by a sharp knife near to the ground, and a branch

half cut through and left hanging about fifty feet higher up.

Thus Tarzan blazed the forest trails and marked his caches.



As Kulonga continued his journey Tarzan closed on him

until he traveled almost over the black's head. His rope he

now held coiled in his right hand; he was almost ready for

the kill.



The moment was delayed only because Tarzan was anxious to

ascertain the black warrior's destination, and presently he

was rewarded, for they came suddenly in view of a great

clearing, at one end of which lay many strange lairs.



Tarzan was directly over Kulonga, as he made the discovery.

The forest ended abruptly and beyond lay two hundred

yards of planted fields between the jungle and the village.



Tarzan must act quickly or his prey would be gone; but

Tarzan's life training left so little space between decision and

action when an emergency confronted him that there was not

even room for the shadow of a thought between.



So it was that as Kulonga emerged from the shadow of the

jungle a slender coil of rope sped sinuously above him from

the lowest branch of a mighty tree directly upon the edge of

the fields of Mbonga, and ere the king's son had taken a half

dozen steps into the clearing a quick noose tightened about

his neck.



So quickly did Tarzan of the Apes drag back his prey that

Kulonga's cry of alarm was throttled in his windpipe. Hand

over hand Tarzan drew the struggling black until he had him

hanging by his neck in mid-air; then Tarzan climbed to a

larger branch drawing the still threshing victim well up into

the sheltering verdure of the tree.



Here he fastened the rope securely to a stout branch, and

then, descending, plunged his hunting knife into Kulonga's

heart. Kala was avenged.



Tarzan examined the black minutely, for he had never

seen any other human being. The knife with its sheath and

belt caught his eye; he appropriated them. A copper anklet

also took his fancy, and this he transferred to his own leg.



He examined and admired the tattooing on the forehead

and breast. He marveled at the sharp filed teeth.

He investigated and appropriated the feathered headdress,

and then he prepared to get down to business, for Tarzan

of the Apes was hungry, and here was meat; meat of the kill,

which jungle ethics permitted him to eat.



How may we judge him, by what standards, this ape-man

with the heart and head and body of an English gentleman,

and the training of a wild beast?



Tublat, whom he had hated and who had hated him, he

had killed in a fair fight, and yet never had the thought of

eating Tublat's flesh entered his head. It could have been as

revolting to him as is cannibalism to us.



But who was Kulonga that he might not be eaten as fairly

as Horta, the boar, or Bara, the deer? Was he not simply

another of the countless wild things of the jungle who preyed

upon one another to satisfy the cravings of hunger?



Suddenly, a strange doubt stayed his hand. Had not his

books taught him that he was a man? And was not The

Archer a man, also?



Did men eat men? Alas, he did not know. Why, then, this

hesitancy! Once more he essayed the effort, but a qualm of

nausea overwhelmed him. He did not understand.



All he knew was that he could not eat the flesh of this

black man, and thus hereditary instinct, ages old, usurped the

functions of his untaught mind and saved him from transgressing

a worldwide law of whose very existence he was ignorant.



Quickly he lowered Kulonga's body to the ground, removed

the noose, and took to the trees again.

****

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