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08 - The Tree-Top Hunter · Tarzan of the Apes

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight, The Tree Top Hunter. The morning after the
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  Speaker 1: dumb Dum, the tribe started slowly back through the forest
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  Speaker 1: towards the coast. The body of Tublat lay where it
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  Speaker 1: had fallen. For the people of Kerchak do not eat
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  Speaker 1: their own dead. The march was but a leisurely search
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  Speaker 1: for food. Cabbage, palm and gray plum, pisang and cidamine
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  Speaker 1: they found in abundance, with wild pine apple and occasionally
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  Speaker 1: small mammals, birds, eggs, reptiles, and insects. The nuts they
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  Speaker 1: cracked between their powerful jaws, or, if too hard, broke
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  Speaker 1: by pounding between stones. Once Old Sabor crossing their path
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  Speaker 1: sent them scurrying to the safety of the higher branches.
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  Speaker 1: For if she respected their number and their sharp fangs, they,
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  Speaker 1: on their part, held her cruel and mighty ferocity in
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  Speaker 1: equal esteem. Upon a low hanging branch, sat Tarzan directly
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  Speaker 1: above the majestic supple body as it forged silently through
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  Speaker 1: the thick jungle. He hurled a pine apple at the
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  Speaker 1: ancient enemy of his people. The great beast stopped and turning,
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  Speaker 1: eyed the taunting figure above her. With an angry lash
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  Speaker 1: of her tail, she bared her yellow fangs curling her
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  Speaker 1: great lips in a hideous snarl that wrinkled her bristling
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  Speaker 1: snout in serried ridges, and closed her wicked eyes to
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  Speaker 1: two narrow slits of rage and hatred. With laid back ears,
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  Speaker 1: she looked straight into the eyes of Tarzan of the
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  Speaker 1: Apes and sounded her fierce, shrill challenge. And from the
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  Speaker 1: safety of his overhanging limb, the ape child sent back
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  Speaker 1: the fiercome answer of his kind. For a moment the
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  Speaker 1: two eyed each other in silence, and then the great
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  Speaker 1: cat turned into the jungle, which swallowed her as the
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  Speaker 1: ocean engulsa tossed pebble. But into the mind of Tarzan,
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  Speaker 1: a great plan sprang. He had killed the fierce tublat,
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  Speaker 1: So was he not therefore a mighty fighter? Now what
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  Speaker 1: he tracked down the mighty sabor and slay her. Likewise
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  Speaker 1: he would be a mighty hunter. Also. At the bottom
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  Speaker 1: of his little English heart beat the great desire to
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  Speaker 1: cover his nakedness with clothes, for he had learned from
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  Speaker 1: his picture books that all men were so covered, while
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  Speaker 1: monkeys and apes and every other living thing went naked.
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  Speaker 1: Clothes therefore must be truly a badge of greatness. The
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  Speaker 1: insignia of the superiority of man over all other animals,
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  Speaker 1: For surely there could be no other reason for wearing
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  Speaker 1: the hideous things. Many moons ago, when he had been
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  Speaker 1: much smaller, he had desired the skin of Sabor the lioness,
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  Speaker 1: or Numa the lion, or Sheita the leopard, to cover
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  Speaker 1: his hairless body, that he might no longer resemble hideous
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  Speaker 1: Hista the snake. But now he was proud of his
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  Speaker 1: sleek skin, for it betokened his descent from a mighty race,
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  Speaker 1: and the conflicting desires to go naked in prideful proof
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  Speaker 1: of his ancestry, or to conform to the customer of
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  Speaker 1: his own kind, And where hideous and uncomfortable apparel found
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  Speaker 1: first one and then the other in the ascendancy. As
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  Speaker 1: the tribe continued their slow way through the forest after
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  Speaker 1: the passing of Sabor, Tarzan's head was filled with his
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  Speaker 1: great scheme for slaying his enemy, and for many days
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  Speaker 1: thereafter he thought of little else. On this day, however,
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  Speaker 1: he presently had other and more immediate interest to attract
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  Speaker 1: his attention. Suddenly it became as midnight the noises of
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  Speaker 1: the jungle ceased, the trees stood motionless, as though in
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  Speaker 1: paralyzed expectancy of some great and imminent disaster. All nature waited,
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  Speaker 1: but not for long. Faintly, from a distance came a low,
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  Speaker 1: sad moaning. Nearer and nearer it approached, mounting louder and
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  Speaker 1: louder in volume. The great trees bent in unison, as
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  Speaker 1: though pressed earthward by a mighty hand. Farther and farther
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  Speaker 1: toward the ground, they inclined, and still there was no
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  Speaker 1: sound save the deep and awesome moaning of the wind.
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  Speaker 1: Then suddenly the jungle giants whipped back, lashing their muddy
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  Speaker 1: tops in angry and deafening protests. A vivid, in blinding
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  Speaker 1: light flashed from the whirling, inky clouds above. The deep
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  Speaker 1: cannonade of roaring thunder belched forth its fearsome challenge. The
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  Speaker 1: deluge came. All hell broke loose upon the jungle. The tribe,
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  Speaker 1: shivering from the cold rain, huddled at the bases of
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  Speaker 1: great trees. The lightning, darting and flashing through the blackness
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  Speaker 1: showed wildly, waving branches, whipping streamers, and bending trunks. Now
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  Speaker 1: and again, some ancient patriarch of the woods, rent by
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  Speaker 1: a flashing bolt would crash in a thousand pieces among
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  Speaker 1: the surrounding trees, carrying down numberless branches and many smaller
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  Speaker 1: neighbors to add to the tangled confusion of the tropical jungle.
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  Speaker 1: Branes great and small, torn away by the ferocity of
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  Speaker 1: the tornado, hurtled through the wildly waving verdure, carrying death
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  Speaker 1: and destruction to countless unhappy denizens of the thickly peopled
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  Speaker 1: world below. For hours, the fury of the storm continued
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  Speaker 1: without surcease, and still the tribe huddled close in shivering fear,
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  Speaker 1: in constant danger from falling trunks and branches, and paralyzed
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  Speaker 1: by the vivid flashing of lightning and the bellowing of thunder,
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  Speaker 1: they crouched in pitiful misery until the storm passed. The
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  Speaker 1: end was as sudden as the beginning. The wind ceased,
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  Speaker 1: the sun shone forth, Nature smiled once more, The dripping
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  Speaker 1: leaves and branches, and the moist petals of gorgeous flowers
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  Speaker 1: glistened in the splendor of the returning day. And so
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  Speaker 1: as Nature forgot, her children forgot also busy life went
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  Speaker 1: on as it had been before the darkness and the fright.
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  Speaker 1: But to Tarzan, a dawning light had come to explain
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  Speaker 1: the mystery of clothes, how snuggy would have been beneath
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  Speaker 1: the heavy coat of Sabor, and so was added a
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  Speaker 1: further incentive to the adventure. For several months the tribe
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  Speaker 1: hovered near the beach where stood Tarzan's cabin, and his
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  Speaker 1: studies took up the greater portion of his time. But
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  Speaker 1: always when journeying through the forest, he kept his rope
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  Speaker 1: in readiness, and many were the smaller animals that fell
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  Speaker 1: into the snare of the quick thrown noose. Once it
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  Speaker 1: fell about the short neck of Horta, the boar and
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  Speaker 1: his mad lunge for freedom, toppled Tarzan from the overhanging
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  Speaker 1: limb where he had lain in wait, and from whence
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  Speaker 1: he had launched his sinuous coil. The mighty tusker turned
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  Speaker 1: at the sound of his falling body, and seeing only
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  Speaker 1: the easy prey of a young ape, he lowered his
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  Speaker 1: head and charged madly at the surprised youth. Tarzan happily
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  Speaker 1: was uninjured by the fall a lighting catlike upon all
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  Speaker 1: fours far outspread to take up the shock. He was
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  Speaker 1: on his feet in an instant and leaping with the
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  Speaker 1: agility of the monkey he was, he gained the safety
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  Speaker 1: of a low limb as Horta, the boar rushed futally beneath.
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  Speaker 1: Thus it was that Tarzan learned by experience the limitations
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  Speaker 1: as well as the possibilities of his strange weapon. He
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  Speaker 1: lost a long rope on this occasion, but he knew
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  Speaker 1: that had it been Sabor who had thus dragged him
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  Speaker 1: from his perch, the outcome might have been very different,
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  Speaker 1: for he would have lost his life, doubtless into the bargain.
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  Speaker 1: It took him many days to braid a new rope,
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  Speaker 1: but when finally it was done, he went forth purposely
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  Speaker 1: to hunt and lie in wait among the dense foliage
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  Speaker 1: of a great branch, right above the well beaten trail
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  Speaker 1: that led to water. Several small animals passed unharmed beneath him.
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  Speaker 1: He did not want such insignify game. It would take
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  Speaker 1: a strong animal to test the efficacy of his new scheme.
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  Speaker 1: At last came she whom Tarzan sought with lithe sinews.
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  Speaker 1: Rolling beneath shimmering hide, fat and glossy, came Sabor, the lioness.
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  Speaker 1: Her great padded feet fell soft and noiseless, on the
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  Speaker 1: narrow trail. Her head was high and ever alert attention.
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  Speaker 1: Her long tail moved slowly, insinuous and graceful undulations. Nearer
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  Speaker 1: and nearer she came to where Tarzan and the apes
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  Speaker 1: crouched upon his limb. The coils of his long rope
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  Speaker 1: poised ready in his hand like a thing of bronze,
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  Speaker 1: motionless as death sat Tarzan. Sabor passed beneath once, tried beyond.
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  Speaker 1: She took a second, a third, and then the silent
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  Speaker 1: coil shot out above her. For an instant, the spreading
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  Speaker 1: noose hung above her head like a great snake, and then,
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  Speaker 1: as she looked upward to detect the origin of the
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  Speaker 1: swishing sound of the rope, it settled about her neck.
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  Speaker 1: With a quick jerk, Tarzan snapped the noose tight about
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  Speaker 1: the glossy throat, and then he dropped the rope and
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  Speaker 1: clung to his support with both hands. Sabor was trapped
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  Speaker 1: with a bound. The startled beast turned into the jungle,
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  Speaker 1: but Tarzan was not to lose another rope through the
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  Speaker 1: same cause as the first. He had learned from experience.
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  Speaker 1: The lioness had taken but half her second bound when
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  Speaker 1: she felt the rope tighten about her neck. Her body
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  Speaker 1: turned completely over in the air, and she fell with
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  Speaker 1: a heavy crash upon her back. Tarzan had fastened the
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  Speaker 1: end of the rope securely to the trunk of the
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  Speaker 1: great tree on which he sat. Thus far, his plan
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  Speaker 1: had worked to perfection. But when he grasped the rope,
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  Speaker 1: bracing himself behind a crotch of two mighty branches, he
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  Speaker 1: found that dragging the mighty, struggling, clawing, biting, screaming mass
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  Speaker 1: of iron muscled fel fjury up to the tree and
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  Speaker 1: hanging her was a very different proposition. The weight of
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  Speaker 1: old Sabor was immense, and when she braced her huge paws,
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  Speaker 1: nothing less than Tantor the elephant himself could have budged her.
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  Speaker 1: The lioness was now back in the path where she
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  Speaker 1: could see the author of the indignity which had been
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  Speaker 1: placed upon her. Screaming with rage, she suddenly charged, leaping
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  Speaker 1: high into the air toward Tarzan. But when her huge
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  Speaker 1: body struck the limb on which Tarzan had been, Tarzan
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  Speaker 1: was no longer there. Instead, he perched lightly upon a
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  Speaker 1: smaller branch twenty feet above the raging captive. For a
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  Speaker 1: moment Sabor hung half across the branch while Tarzan mocked
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  Speaker 1: and hurled twigs and branches at her unprotected face. Presently,
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  Speaker 1: the beast dropped to the earth again, and Tarzan came
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  Speaker 1: quickly to seize the rope. But Sabor had now found
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  Speaker 1: that it was only a slender cord that held her, and,
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  Speaker 1: grasping in her huge paws, severed it before Tarzan could
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  Speaker 1: tighten the strangly noose a second time. Tarzan was much hurt.
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  Speaker 1: His well laid plan had come to naught, so he
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  Speaker 1: sat there, screaming at the roaring creature beneath him and
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  Speaker 1: making mocking grimaces at it. Saber paced back and forth
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  Speaker 1: beneath the tree for hours. Four times she crouched and
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  Speaker 1: sprang at the dancing sprite above her, but might as
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  Speaker 1: well have clutched at the elusive wind that murmured through
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  Speaker 1: the tree tops. At last, Tarzan tired of the sport, and,
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  Speaker 1: with a parting roar of challenge and a well aimed
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  Speaker 1: ripe fruit that spread soft and sticky over the snarling
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  Speaker 1: face of his enemy, he swung rapidly through the trees
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  Speaker 1: a hundred feet above the ground, and in a short
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  Speaker 1: time was among the members of his tribe. Here he
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  Speaker 1: recounted the details of his adventure with swelling chest and
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  Speaker 1: so considerable swagger that he quite impressed even his bitterest enemies,
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  Speaker 1: while Kayla fairly danced for joy and pride. End of
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  Speaker 1: chapter