Latest / The Eternal Savage / Chapter 10: Gron's Revenge

Transcript

Chapter 10: Gron's Revenge · The Eternal Savage

0:00
Section twenty three of The Eternal Savage by Edgar Rice Burroughs. This LibriVox recording
0:08
is in the public domain. Chapter ten Gron's Revenge. Gron, suffering and
0:17
exhausted from the effects of the cruel beating ur head, administered, lay all
0:21
the following day in her shelter. Terre did not molest her further, Apparently
0:27
he had forgotten her, a suggestion which aroused all her primitive savagery and jealousy
0:32
as no amount of brutal punishment might have done. All day, she lay,
0:37
suffering and hating ter. All day she planned new and diabolical schemes for
0:42
revenge. Close to her breast, she hugged her stone knife. It was
0:48
well for u that he did not chance to venture near her. Then,
0:53
while he had beaten her, the knife had remained in her loincloth, nor
0:57
had the thought to use it against her. Mate entered the head of Gron.
1:00
But now now that he had deserted her, now that he was doubtless
1:06
thinking upon a new mate, her thoughts constantly reverted to the weapon. It
1:11
was not until after nightfall that Gron crawled from beneath the hides and thatch of
1:15
her shelter. She had not eaten for twenty four hours, yet she felt
1:19
no hunger. Every other sense and emotion was paralyzed by the poison of jealousy
1:25
and hate. Gron slunk about the outskirts of the crowd that pressed around the
1:30
figure at the stake ah. They were about to torture the prisoner. What
1:36
pleasure they would derive from that. Gron raised herself on tiptoe to look over
1:41
the shoulder of a woman. The latter turned, and, recognizing her,
1:45
grinned ter will enjoy the death agonies of the mate of the woman he is
1:49
going to take in your stead, Gron taunted her friend. Gron made no
1:55
reply. It was not the way of her period to betray the emotion of
2:00
the heart. She would rather have died than let this woman know that she
2:04
suffered. That is why he was so angry, continued the Tormentor when you
2:10
tried to rob him of this pleasure. With the woman's words, a sudden
2:15
inspiration flashed into the mind of Gron. Yes, ur would be made mad
2:22
if the prisoner escaped, So would scarb the chief who had commanded her to
2:28
beat her and to take another mate. Gron raised herself again upon her toes,
2:32
and looked long and earnestly at the face of the man bound to the
2:37
stake. Already the flames of the encircling fires illuminated his figure and his every
2:43
feature. They stood out as distinctly as by sunlight. The man was very
2:49
handsome. There was no man among the tribe of Scarb who could compare with
2:53
the stranger in physical perfection and beauty. A gleam of pleasure shot Groan's dark
2:59
eyes. If she could only find such another man and run off with him,
3:04
then indeed would she be revenged upon tour. If it could be this
3:09
very man, Ah, then indeed would Scarb and Terr both be punished.
3:15
But that, of course was impossible. The man would be dead in a
3:20
few hours. Graun wandered about the village, too filled with her hate to
3:24
remain long in one place. Like an angry tigress. She paced to and
3:30
fro now and again. Some other woman of the tribe hurled a taunt or
3:36
a reproach at her. It would be, ever, thus how she hated
3:42
them, every one of them. As she passed her shelter in her restless
3:46
rounds, she heard the plaintive wailing of her child. She had almost forgotten
3:52
him. She hurried within, snatching up the infant from where it lay upon
3:55
a pile of otter and fox skins. This was Urr's child, his manchild.
4:02
Already it commenced to resemble the father. How proud ur was of it?
4:09
Grown grasped at the hideous thought that followed remorselessly upon the heels of this
4:13
recollection. She held the child at arm's length and tried to scrutinize its features
4:17
in the dim interior of the hut. How tur would suffer if harm befell
4:24
his first manchild, his only offspring. Grown almost threw the wee bundle of
4:30
humanity back upon its pile of skins, and, leaping to her feet,
4:33
ran from the shelter. For half an hour, she roamed restlessly among the
4:39
camp. Her brain was a whirling chaos of conflicting emotions. A dozen times
4:44
she approached the death fires that were slowly roasting alive the man bound to the
4:47
stake they encircled. As yet, they had not injured him, but given
4:54
him a taste of the suffering to come. That was all. Suddenly she
4:59
came face to face with terror, involuntarily. Her hands went out in a
5:03
gesture of appeal and supplication. She was directly in r's path. The man
5:10
stopped and looked at her for an instant, then, with a sneer that
5:14
was half snarl, he raised his hand and struck her in the face.
5:18
Get out of my way, woman, he growled, and passed on.
5:24
A group of women standing near had seen. They laughed boisterously at the discomfiture
5:29
of their sister. But let us not judge them too harshly. It was
5:33
to require countless ages of humanizing culture before their sisters, yet unborn, were
5:40
to be able to hide the same emotions. Gron went cold and hot and
5:45
cold again. She burned with rage and humiliation. She froze with resolve,
5:50
a horrid resolve, and suddenly she went mad, Wheeling from where she stood,
5:58
she ran to the shelter that housed her babe. In the darkness,
6:01
she found the wee thing. It was ters ter loved it. For a
6:06
moment. She pressed the soft cheek to her own. She strained the warm
6:11
body close to her breasts. Then, make God forgive her, for she
6:16
was only a wild thing, goaded to desperation. Dropping the pitiful bundle to
6:20
the floor of the shelter. Gron ran back into the open. She was
6:26
wild eyed and disheveled. Her long black hair streamed about her face and across
6:30
her shoulders. She ran to the outskirts of the crowd that was watching the
6:33
victim, who obstinately refused to gratify their appetite for human suffering. Knew would
6:40
not WinCE. Already the heat of the flames must have caused him excruciating agony.
6:46
Yet not by the movement of a muscle did he admit knowledge of either
6:49
the surrounding fires or the savage eager spectators. Gron watched him for a moment.
6:57
His fate was to be hers when Ur and Scarp discovered the deed she
7:00
had committed for a manchild was a sacred thing. And now there sprang to
7:06
Gron's mind a recurrence of the thought that the taunting female's words had implanted there
7:12
earlier in the evening. How could she compass this last stroke of revenge?
7:16
It seemed practically impossible. The stake was hemmed in upon all sides by the
7:21
clustering horde of eager tribesmen. Gron turned and ran to the opposite side,
7:28
of the village beyond the shelters, there was no one there. Even the
7:31
girls tending the fires had deserted their post to witness the last agonies of the
7:36
prisoner. Gron seized a leafy branch that lay among the firewood that was to
7:42
replenish the blaze with it. She beat out two of the fires, leaving
7:46
an open avenue into the enclosure through which savage beasts might reasonably be expected to
7:51
venture. Then she ran back to the crowding ring of watchers. As she
7:57
approached them, she cried out and apparently inherent terror, those nearest her turned,
8:03
startled by her shrieks zoors. She cried, the fires have died,
8:07
and four of them have entered the shelters, where they are devouring the babes
8:11
on that side, and she pointed to the opposite side of the enclosure.
8:16
Instantly the whole tribe rushed toward the ring of huts, first the warriors,
8:22
then the women and children. The victim of the stake was deserted. Scarce
8:26
was every back turned toward the prisoner than Gron leaped through the fiery girdle to
8:31
his side. Nus saw the woman and recognized her. He saw the knife
8:37
in her hand. She had tried to kill him the previous night, and
8:41
now she was going to have her way. Well, it was better than
8:45
the slow death by fire. But Gron's knife did not touch New. Instead,
8:52
it cut quickly through the bullock sinews that bound him to the stake.
8:56
As the last strand parted, the woman seized him by the hand. Come,
9:01
she cried, quick before they return. There are no zors in the
9:03
village. New did not pause to question her or her motives. For a
9:09
few steps. He staggered drunkenly, for the bonds had stopped the circulation in
9:13
his arms and legs. But Gron, half supporting, half dragging him,
9:20
pulled him across the fires about the stake, on past the outer circle of
9:24
the beast fires, toward the stygy in blackness that enveloped the beach, toward
9:26
the sea. As New advanced, the blood commenced to circulate once more through
9:33
the veins from which it had been choked, so that by the time they
9:37
came to the water he was almost in perfect command of his muscles. Here,
9:41
Gron led them to a dugout. Quick she urged as the two seized
9:46
it, to run it through the surf. They will soon be upon us,
9:48
and then we shall both die. Already angry shouts were plainly distinguishable from
9:56
the village, and the fire light disclosed the tribe running hither and thither about
10:00
the fires that encircle the stake to which Nu had been secured. The boat
10:05
was through the surf and riding the waves beyond. Gron had clambered in,
10:09
and Knew was taking his place in the opposite end of the craft. When
10:13
a new note arose from the village. The savage shouting carried a different tone.
10:18
Now there were battle cries, where before there had been but howls of
10:22
rage. Even at the distance at which they were, Groan and New could
10:26
see that a battle was raging among the shelters of the boat builders. What
10:31
could it mean? They have fallen upon one another, said Gron, And
10:37
while they fight, let us hasten to put as great a distance between them
10:41
and ourselves as we can before day returns. But New was not so anxious
10:48
to leave. He wanted to know more of the cause of the battle.
10:52
It was not within the bounds of reason that the villagers could have set upon
10:56
one another with such apparent unanimity, and without any seeming provocation. And two
11:03
it appeared to know that there were more people in the village now than there
11:07
had been before he left it. What did all this mean? Why?
11:11
It meant to the troglodite that the village had been attacked by enemies, and
11:16
he wished to wait until he might discover the identity of the invaders. But
11:20
Gron did not wish to wait. She seized her paddle and commenced to ply
11:24
it wait, urged Nw, but the woman insisted that they must hasten or
11:31
be lost. Even as they argued, Gron suddenly leaned forward, pointing toward
11:35
the beach. See, she whispered, They have discovered us. We are
11:41
being pursued. Nu looked in the direction that she pointed, and sure enough,
11:46
dimly through the night he descried two forms racing toward the beach. As
11:50
he looked, he saw them seize upon a boat and start launching it.
11:54
And then he knew that only in immediate flight lay safety. He seized his
12:00
paddle, and, in concert with Gron, struck out for the open sea.
12:05
We can turn to one side presently and elude them, whispered the Womannu
12:09
nodded, we will turn north toward my country, he said. Gron did
12:16
not demur. She might as well go north as south. Her life was
12:20
spent. There was to be no more happiness for her. Her thoughts haunted
12:24
the dim interior of a high shelter, where lay a pathetic bundle upon a
12:28
pile of fox and otter skins. For a while both were silent, paddling
12:35
out away from shore. Behind them, they now and then discerned the darker
12:39
blotch of the pursuing canoe upon the dark waters of the sea. Why did
12:46
you save me, asked Nu at length, because I hated ter, replied
12:50
the woman. Nu fell silent, thinking, But he was not thinking of
12:56
Gron. His mind was filled with speculations as to the fate of Natoul.
13:01
Whither had she fled when she had escaped from the clutches of the boat builders.
13:05
Could she have reached the tribe in safety? Had she known that it
13:11
was new who had entered the shelter where she lay and rescued her from terre,
13:16
He thought not, For had she known it, he was sure that
13:18
she would have remained and fought with him. Presently, graun interrupted his reveries.
13:24
She was pointing over the stern of the boat. There not fifty yards
13:30
away, Neu saw the outlines of another craft with two paddlers within. Hasten
13:35
whispered Gron, They are overtaking us, and but for my knife, we
13:39
are unarmed. New bent to his paddle on the boat wallowed toward the open
13:46
sea. There was no chance to elude the pursuers and turn north. First.
13:50
They must put sufficient distance between them that the others might not see which
13:54
way they turned, But there seemed little likelihood of their being able to accomplish
14:00
this. For strive as they would, they could not shake off the silent
14:03
twain. The darkest hours of the night were upon them. Those that proceede
14:09
dawn, they struggled to outdistance their pursuers. That they were lengthening the distance
14:15
between the two boats seemed certain. In another few minutes they might risk the
14:20
stratagem. But they had scarcely more than turned when the surge of surf upon
14:24
a beach rose directly before them. Both were nonplussed. What had happened?
14:31
Where were they? They had been moving straight out to sea for some time,
14:35
and yet there could be no mistaking that familiar sound land was directly ahead
14:41
of them to turn back now would mean to run straight into the arms of
14:46
their pursuers, which neither had the slightest desire to do. Had New been
14:50
armed, he would not have hesitated to grapple with the two occupants of the
14:54
boat that had clung so tenaciously to their wake. But with only the woman's
14:58
knife and a couple of wooden paddles, it would have been a fruitless thing
15:03
to do. Exerting all their strength, the two drove the dugout through the
15:07
surf until its nose ran upon the sand. Then they leapt out and dragged
15:11
the boat still further up beyond the reach of the mightiest roller. Where were
15:16
they? New guessed a part of the truth, He reasoned that they had
15:22
fallen upon the same island from which he had seen Nadual snatched by the boat
15:26
builder, and from which he himself had escaped so recently. But he was
15:31
not quite right. Their strenuous paddling during the hours of darkness had carried them
15:35
to the north of the nearer island and beyond it. As a matter of
15:41
fact, they had been deposited upon the southern coast of the largest island of
15:45
the group, which lay several miles northeast of the one with which Nu had
15:48
had acquaintance, But what mattered it? One was as bad as another.
15:54
Both belonged to the mysterious country. They were inhabited by hideous flying reptiles,
16:00
and legend held that frightful men dwelt upon them and knew was without weapons of
16:06
defense. Who of us has not dreamed of going abroad upon the public streets
16:11
and scant attire or in no attire. Whatever what painful emotions we have suffered,
16:18
Yet how insignificant our plight by comparison with that of a primeval troglodite,
16:22
thrown into a strange country without his weapons, without even a knife. New
16:30
was lost, but far from hopeless. He did not turn to the woman
16:33
with the question what shall we do now? If primeval man was anything,
16:38
he was self reliant, heredity, environment, and all of nature's mightiest laws
16:44
combined to make him so. Otherwise he would have perished off the face of
16:49
the earth long before he had had an opportunity to transmit his image to posterity.
16:56
There would have been no posterity for him. Some other warm than ours
17:00
would have exhumed his bones from the drift of the ages and wondered upon the
17:03
structure and habits of the extinct monstrosity, whose hinder limbs were so much longer
17:08
than his forelimbs. That locomotion must have been a tiresome and painful process,
17:15
interrupted by many disastrous tumbles upon the prehistoric countenance. But Knu, the son
17:22
of Nu, was not of a race doomed to extinction. He knew when
17:26
to fight and when to flee. At present there was nothing to flee from.
17:30
But a place of safe hiding must be their first concern. He grasped
17:36
Groan by the wrist. Come, he said, we must find a cave
17:40
or tree to preserve us until the day comes again. The woman cast a
17:45
backward glance over her shoulder, away with women look, She whispered and pointed
17:51
toward the surf. Nu looked, and there upon the crest of a great
17:56
wave, outlined against the dark horizon, loomed a boat in which sat two
18:00
figures plying paddles. One glance was enough. The pursuers were close upon them.
18:07
Knu, still holding Gron's wrist, started toward the black shadows above the
18:11
beach. The woman ran swiftly by his side. New wonder not a little
18:17
that the woman should thus flee her own people to save him, a stranger
18:21
and an enemy. Again, he raised the question that Groan had so illy
18:26
answered. Why do you seek to save me? He asked from your own
18:30
people. I do not seek to save you, replied the woman. I
18:36
wish to make Ter mad. That is all he will think I have run
18:40
off to mate with you when he thinks that you may die. For all
18:45
that I care. I hate you, but not quite so much as I
18:48
hate Ter. End of Section twenty three h