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04 - The Apes · Tarzan of the Apes

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  Speaker 1: Chapter four, The Apes. In the forest of the Tableland,
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  Speaker 1: a mile back from the ocean, Old Kirchak the Ape
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  Speaker 1: was on a rampage of rage among his people. The
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  Speaker 1: younger and lighter members of his tribe scampered to the
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  Speaker 1: higher branches of the great trees to escape his wrath,
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  Speaker 1: risking their lives upon branches that scarce supported their weight
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  Speaker 1: rather than face Old Kirchak in one of his fits
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  Speaker 1: of uncontrolled anger. The other males scattered in all directions,
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  Speaker 1: but not before the infuriated brute had felt the vertebra
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  Speaker 1: of one snap between his great, foaming jaws. A luckless
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  Speaker 1: young female slipped from an insecure hold upon a high
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  Speaker 1: branch and came crashing to the ground, almost at Kirchak's
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  Speaker 1: feet with a wild scream. He was upon her, tearing
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  Speaker 1: a great piece from her side with his mighty teeth
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  Speaker 1: and striking her viciously upon her head and shoulders with
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  Speaker 1: a broken tree limb until her skull was crushed to
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  Speaker 1: a jelly. And then he spied Kayla, who, returning from
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  Speaker 1: a search for food with her young babe, was ignorant
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  Speaker 1: of the state of the mighty male's temper until suddenly.
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  Speaker 1: The shrill warnings of her fellows caused her to scamper
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  Speaker 1: madly for safety. But Kirjak was close upon her, so
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  Speaker 1: close that he had almost grasped her ankle, had she
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  Speaker 1: not made a furious leap far into space from one
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  Speaker 1: tree to another, a perilous chance which ape seldom, if
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  Speaker 1: ever take, unless so closely pursued by danger that there
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  Speaker 1: is no alternative. She made the leap successfully, but as
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  Speaker 1: she grasped the limb of the further tree, the sudden
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  Speaker 1: jar loosened the hold of the tiny babe, where clung
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  Speaker 1: frantically to her neck, and she saw the little thing hurled,
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  Speaker 1: turning and twisting to the ground thirty feet below. With
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  Speaker 1: a low cry of dismay. Kayla rushed headlong to its side,
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  Speaker 1: thoughtless now of the danger from Kirjak. But when she
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  Speaker 1: gathered the wee mangled form to her bosom, life had
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  Speaker 1: left it. With low moans. She sat cuddling the body
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  Speaker 1: to her. Nor did Kuchak attempt to molest her. With
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  Speaker 1: the death of the babe, his fit of demoniacal rage
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  Speaker 1: passed as suddenly as it had seized him. Kuchak was
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  Speaker 1: a huge king ape weighing perhaps three hundred and fifty pounds.
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  Speaker 1: His forehead was extremely low and receding, his eyes bloodshot,
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  Speaker 1: small and close set to his coarse, flat nose, his
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  Speaker 1: ears large and thin, but smaller than most of his kind.
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  Speaker 1: His awful temper and his mighty strength made him supreme
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  Speaker 1: among the little tribe into which she had been born
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  Speaker 1: some twenty years before. Now that he was in his prime,
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  Speaker 1: there was no simion in all the mighty forest through
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  Speaker 1: which he roved that dare contest his right to rule.
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  Speaker 1: Nor did the other in larger animals molest him. Old
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  Speaker 1: Tantor the elephant alone of all the wild savage life,
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  Speaker 1: feared him not, And he alone did Kirjak fear. When
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  Speaker 1: Tantor trumpeted. The great apes scurried with his fellows high
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  Speaker 1: among the trees of the second terrace. The tribe of
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  Speaker 1: anthropoids over which Kirchak ruled with an iron hand and
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  Speaker 1: bared fangs, numbered some six or eight families, each family
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  Speaker 1: consisting of an adult male, with his females and their young,
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  Speaker 1: numbering in all some sixty or seventy apes. Kayla was
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  Speaker 1: the youngest mate of a male called Tublat, meaning broken nose,
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  Speaker 1: and the child she had seen dashed to death was
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  Speaker 1: her first, for she was but nine or ten years old.
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  Speaker 1: Notwithstanding her youth, she was large and powerful, a splendid,
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  Speaker 1: clean limbed animal with a round, high forehead which denoted
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  Speaker 1: more intelligence than most of her kind possessed. So also
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  Speaker 1: she had had a great capacity for mother love and
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  Speaker 1: mother's sorrow. But she was still an ape, a huge, fierce,
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  Speaker 1: terrible beast of a species closely allied to the gorilla,
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  Speaker 1: yet more intelligent, which with the strength of their cousin,
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  Speaker 1: made her kind the most fearsome of those awe inspiring
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  Speaker 1: progenitors of man. When the tribes saw the Kuchak's rage
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  Speaker 1: had ceased, they came slowly down from their arboreal retreats
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  Speaker 1: and pursued again the various occupations which he had interrupted.
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  Speaker 1: The young played and froliced about among the trees and bushes.
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  Speaker 1: Some of the adults lay prone upon the soft mat
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  Speaker 1: of dead and decaying vegetation which covered the ground, while
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  Speaker 1: others turned over pieces of fallen branches and clods of
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  Speaker 1: earth in search of the small bugs and reptiles which
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  Speaker 1: formed part of their food. Others again searched the surrounding
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  Speaker 1: trees for fruit, nuts, small birds, and eggs. They had
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  Speaker 1: passed an hour or so thus when Kirjak called them together, and,
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  Speaker 1: with a word of command to them to follow him,
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  Speaker 1: set off toward the sea. They traveled for the most
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  Speaker 1: part upon the ground where it was open, following the
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  Speaker 1: path of the great elephants, whose comings and goings break
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  Speaker 1: the only roads through those tangled mazes of bush, vine,
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  Speaker 1: creeper and tree. When they walked, it was with a rolling,
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  Speaker 1: awkward motion, placing the knuckles of their closed hands upon
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  Speaker 1: the ground and swinging their ungainly bodies forward. But when
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  Speaker 1: the way was through the lower trees, they moved more swiftly,
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  Speaker 1: swinging from branch to branch with the agility of their
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  Speaker 1: smaller cousins, the monkeys, And all the way Kayla carried
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  Speaker 1: her little dead baby, hugged closely to her breast. It
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  Speaker 1: was shortly after noon when they reached the ridge overlooking
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  Speaker 1: the beach, where below them lay the tidy cottage, which
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  Speaker 1: was Kirchak's goal. He had seen many of his kind
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  Speaker 1: go to their deaths before the loud noise made by
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  Speaker 1: the little black stick in the hands of the strange
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  Speaker 1: white ape who lived in that wonderful lair, and Kirchak
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  Speaker 1: had made up his brute mind to own that death
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  Speaker 1: dealing contrivance and to explore the interior of the mysterious den.
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  Speaker 1: He wanted very very much to feel his teeth sink
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  Speaker 1: into the neck of the queer animal that he had
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  Speaker 1: learned to hate in fear, And because of this he
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  Speaker 1: came often with his tribe to reconnoiter, waiting for a
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  Speaker 1: time when the white ape should be off his guard.
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  Speaker 1: Of late, they had quit attacking or even showing themselves,
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  Speaker 1: for every time they had done so in the past,
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  Speaker 1: the little Stick had roared out its terrible message of
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  Speaker 1: death to some member of the tribe. Today there was
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  Speaker 1: no sign of the man about, and from where they
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  Speaker 1: watched they could see that the cabin door was open. Slowly,
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  Speaker 1: cautiously and noiselessly, they crept through the jungle toward them
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  Speaker 1: little cabin. There were no growls, no fierce screams of rage.
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  Speaker 1: The little black Stick had taught them to come quietly
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  Speaker 1: lest they awaken it. On on they came, until Kirjak
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  Speaker 1: himself slunk stealthily to the very door and peered within
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  Speaker 1: behind him were two mails, and then Kayla closely straining
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  Speaker 1: the little dead form to her breast. Inside the den,
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  Speaker 1: they saw the strange white ape lying half across a table,
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  Speaker 1: his head buried in his arms, and on the bed
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  Speaker 1: lay a figure covered by a sailcloth, while from a
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  Speaker 1: tiny rustic cradle came the plaintive wailing of a babe noiselessly.
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  Speaker 1: Kirjak entered, crouching for the charge, and then John Clayton
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  Speaker 1: rose with a sudden start and faced them. The sight
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  Speaker 1: that met his eyes must have frozen him with horror,
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  Speaker 1: for there within the door stood three great bull apes,
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  Speaker 1: while behind them crowded many more, how many he never knew,
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  Speaker 1: for his revolvers were hanging on the far wall beside
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  Speaker 1: his rifle, and Kirjak was charging. When the king Ate
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  Speaker 1: released the limp form, which had been John Clayton, Lord Greystoke.
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  Speaker 1: He turned his attention toward the little cradle, but Cayla
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  Speaker 1: was there before him, and when he would have grasped
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  Speaker 1: the child, she snatched it herself, and before he could
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  Speaker 1: intercept her, she had bolted through the door and taken
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  Speaker 1: refuge in a high tree. As she took up the
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  Speaker 1: little live baby of Alice Clayton. She dropped the dead
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  Speaker 1: body of her own into the empty cradle, for the
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  Speaker 1: wail of the living had answered the call of universal
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  Speaker 1: motherhood within her wild breast, which the dead could not.
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  Speaker 1: Still high up among the branches of a mighty tree,
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  Speaker 1: she hugged the shrieking infant to her bosom, and soon
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  Speaker 1: the instinct that was as dominant in this fierce female
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  Speaker 1: as it had been in the breast of his tender
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  Speaker 1: and beautiful mother, the instinct of mother love reached out
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  Speaker 1: to the tiny manchild's half formed understanding, and he became quiet.
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  Speaker 1: Then hunger closed the gap between them and the son
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  Speaker 1: of an English lord and an English lady nursed at
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  Speaker 1: the breast of Kayla, the Great Ape. In the meantime,
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  Speaker 1: the beasts within the cabin were warily examining the contents
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  Speaker 1: of this strange lair. Once satisfied that Clayton was dead,
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  Speaker 1: Kirjak turned his attention to the thing which lay upon
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  Speaker 1: the bed, covered by a piece of sailcloth. Gingerly, he
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  Speaker 1: lifted one corner of the shroud, but when he saw
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  Speaker 1: the body of the woman beneath, he tore the cloth
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  Speaker 1: roughly from her form and seized the still white throat
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  Speaker 1: in his huge, hairy hands. A moment he let his
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  Speaker 1: fingers sink deep into the cold flesh, and then, realizing
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  Speaker 1: that she was already dead, he turned from her to
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  Speaker 1: examine the contents of the room. Nor did he he
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  Speaker 1: again molest the body of either Lady Alice or Sir John.
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  Speaker 1: The rifle hanging upon the wall caught his first attention.
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  Speaker 1: It was for this strange, death dealing thunderstick that he
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  Speaker 1: had yearned for months, But now that it was within
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  Speaker 1: his grasp, he scarcely had the temerity to seize it. Cautiously,
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  Speaker 1: he approached the thing, ready to flee precipitately should it
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  Speaker 1: speak in its deep, roaring tones, as he had heard
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  Speaker 1: it speak before, the last words to those of his
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  Speaker 1: kind who, through ignorance or rashness, had attacked the wonderful
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  Speaker 1: white ape that had borne it. Deep in the beast's
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  Speaker 1: intelligence was something which assured him that the thunderstick was
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  Speaker 1: only dangerous when in the hands of one who could
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  Speaker 1: manipulate it. But yet it was several minutes ere he
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  Speaker 1: could bring himself to touch it. Instead, he walked back and
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  Speaker 1: forth along the floor before it turning his head so
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  Speaker 1: that never once did his eyes leave the object of
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  Speaker 1: his desire. Using his long arms as a man uses crutches,
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  Speaker 1: and rolling his huge carcass from side to side with
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  Speaker 1: each stride, the great king ape paced to and fro,
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  Speaker 1: uttering deep growls occasionally punctuated with the ear piercing scream
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  Speaker 1: than which there is no more terrifying noise in all
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  Speaker 1: the jungle. Presently, he halted before the rifle. Slowly he
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  Speaker 1: raised a huge hand until it almost touched the shining barrel,
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  Speaker 1: only to withdraw it once more and continue his hurried pacing.
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  Speaker 1: It was as though the great Brute, by this show
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  Speaker 1: of fearlessness and through the medium of his wild voice,
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  Speaker 1: was endeavoring to bolster up his courage to the point
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  Speaker 1: which would permit him to take the rifle in his hand. Again.
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  Speaker 1: He stopped, and this time succeeded in forcing his reluctant
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  Speaker 1: hand to the cold steel, only to snatch it away
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  Speaker 1: almost immediately and resume his restless beat. Time after time,
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  Speaker 1: this strange ceremony was repeated, but on each occasion with
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  Speaker 1: increased confidence, until finally the rifle was torn from its
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  Speaker 1: hook and lay in the grasp of the great brute.
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  Speaker 1: Finding that it harmed him not, Kirjak began to examine
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  Speaker 1: it closely. He felt of it from end to end,
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  Speaker 1: peered down the black depths of the muzzle, fingered the sights,
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  Speaker 1: the breech, the stalk, and finally the trigger. During all
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  Speaker 1: these operations, the apes who had entered sat huddled near
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  Speaker 1: the door, watching their chief, while those outside strained and
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  Speaker 1: crowded to catch a glimpse of what transpired within. Suddenly
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  Speaker 1: Kirjak's finger closed upon the trigger. There was a deafening
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  Speaker 1: roar in the little room, and the apes at and
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  Speaker 1: beyond the door fell over one another in their wild
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  Speaker 1: anxiety to escape. Kujak was equally frightened, so frightened, in fact,
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  Speaker 1: that he quite forgot to throw aside the author of
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  Speaker 1: that fearful noise, but bolded for the door, with it
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  Speaker 1: tightly clutched in one hand. As he passed through the opening,
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  Speaker 1: the front side of the rifle caught upon the edge
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  Speaker 1: of the innswung door with sufficient force to close it tightly.
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  Speaker 1: After the fleeing ape, when Kujak came to a halt
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  Speaker 1: a short distance from the cabin and discovered that he
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  Speaker 1: still held the rifle, he dropped it as he might
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  Speaker 1: have dropped a red hot iron. Nor did he again
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  Speaker 1: attempt to recover it. The noise was too much for
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  Speaker 1: his brute nerves. But he was now quite convinced that
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  Speaker 1: the terrible stick was quite harmless by itself if left alone.
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  Speaker 1: It was an hour before the Apes could again bring
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  Speaker 1: themselves to approach the cabin to continue their investigations, and
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  Speaker 1: when they finally did so, they found to their chagrin
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  Speaker 1: that the door was closed and so securely fastened that
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  Speaker 1: they could not force it. The cleverly constructed latch which
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  Speaker 1: Clayton had made for the door had sprung as Kirjak
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  Speaker 1: passed out, nor could the abes find means of ingress
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  Speaker 1: through the heavily barred windows. After roaming about the vicinity
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  Speaker 1: for a short time, they started back for the deeper
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  Speaker 1: forests and the higher land from whence they had come.
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  Speaker 1: Kayla had not once come to earth with her little
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  Speaker 1: adopted babe, but now Kirchak called to her to descend
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  Speaker 1: with the rest, and as there was no note of
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  Speaker 1: anger in his voice, she dropped lightly from branch to
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  Speaker 1: branch and joined the others on their homeward march. Those
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  Speaker 1: of the apes who attempted to examine Kayla's strange baby
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  Speaker 1: were repulsed with bared fangs and low, menacing growls, accompanied
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  Speaker 1: by words of warning from Kayla. When they assured her
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  Speaker 1: that they meant the child no harm, she permitted them
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  Speaker 1: to come close, but would not allow them to touch
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  Speaker 1: her charge. It was as though she knew that her
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  Speaker 1: baby was frail and delicate, and feared lest the rough
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  Speaker 1: hands of her fellows might injure the little thing. Another
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  Speaker 1: thing she did, and which made her traveling an onerous
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  Speaker 1: trial for her, Remembering the death of her own little one,
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  Speaker 1: she clung desperately to the new babe with one hand.
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  Speaker 1: Whenever they were upon the march. The other young rode
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  Speaker 1: upon their mother's backs, their little arms tightly clasping the
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  Speaker 1: hairy necks before them, while their legs were locked beneath
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  Speaker 1: their mother's arm pits. Not so with Caela. She held
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  Speaker 1: the small form of the little Lord Greystoke tightly to
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  Speaker 1: her breast, where the dainty hands clutched the long black
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  Speaker 1: hair which covered that portion of her body. She had
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  Speaker 1: seen one child fall from her back to a terrible death,
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  Speaker 1: and she would take no further chances. With this end
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  Speaker 1: of chapter