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06 - Jungle Battles · Tarzan of the Apes

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  Speaker 1: Chapter six, jungle battles. The wanderings of the tribe brought
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  Speaker 1: them often near the closed and silent cabin by the
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  Speaker 1: little landlocked Tarbor. To Tarzan, this was always a source
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  Speaker 1: of never ending mystery and pleasure. He would peek into
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  Speaker 1: the curtained windows, or, climbing upon the roof, peer down
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  Speaker 1: the black depths of the chimney in vain endeavor to
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  Speaker 1: solve the unknown wonders that lay within those strong walls.
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  Speaker 1: His childlike imagination pictured wonderful creatures within, and the very
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  Speaker 1: impossibility of forcing entrance added a thousandfold to his desire
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  Speaker 1: to do so. He would clamber about the roof and
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  Speaker 1: windows for hours, attempting to discover means of ingress. But
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  Speaker 1: to the door he paid little attention, for this was
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  Speaker 1: apparently as solid as the walls. It was in the
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  Speaker 1: next visit to the Vicinity, following the adventure with Old Sabor,
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  Speaker 1: that as he approached the cabin, Tarzan noted that, from
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  Speaker 1: a distance, the door appeared to be an independent part
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  Speaker 1: of the wall in which it was set, and for
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  Speaker 1: the first time it occurred to him that this might
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  Speaker 1: prove the means of entrance which had so long eluded him.
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  Speaker 1: He was alone, as was often the case when he
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  Speaker 1: visited the cabin, for the Apes had no love for it.
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  Speaker 1: The story of the Thunderstick, having lost nothing in the
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  Speaker 1: telling during these ten years, had quite surrounded the white
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  Speaker 1: man's deserted abode with an atmosphere of weirdness and terror.
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  Speaker 1: For the Simians, the story of his own connection with
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  Speaker 1: the cabin had never been told him. The language of
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  Speaker 1: the Apes had so few words that they could talk
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  Speaker 1: but little of what they had seen in the cabin,
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  Speaker 1: having no words to accurately describe either the strange people
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  Speaker 1: or their belongings, and so long before Tarzan was old
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  Speaker 1: enough to understand, the subject had been forgotten by the tribe.
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  Speaker 1: Only in a dim, vague way had Kayla explained to
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  Speaker 1: him that his father had been a strange white Ape,
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  Speaker 1: but he did not know that Kayla was not his own.
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  Speaker 1: On this day, then he went directly to the door
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  Speaker 1: and spent hours examining it and fussing with the hinges,
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  Speaker 1: the knob, and the latch. Finally he stumbled upon the
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  Speaker 1: right combination, and the door swung creakingly open before his
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  Speaker 1: astonished eyes. For some minutes, he did not dare venture within.
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  Speaker 1: But finally, as his eyes became accustomed to the dim
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  Speaker 1: light of the interior, he slowly and cautiously entered. In
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  Speaker 1: the middle of the floor lay a skeleton, every vestige
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  Speaker 1: of flesh gone from the bones, to which still clung
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  Speaker 1: the mildewed and moldering remnants of what had once been clothing.
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  Speaker 1: Upon the bed lay a similar gruesome thing, but smaller,
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  Speaker 1: while in a tiny cradle nearby was a third, a
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  Speaker 1: wee mite of a skeleton. To none of these evidences
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  Speaker 1: of a fearful tragedy, of a long dead day did
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  Speaker 1: little Tarzan give but passing heed. His wild jungle life
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  Speaker 1: had inured him to the sight of dead and dying animal,
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  Speaker 1: And had he known that he was looking upon the
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  Speaker 1: remains of his own father and mother, he would have
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  Speaker 1: been no more greatly moved. The furnishings and other contents
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  Speaker 1: of the room, it was that which riveted his attention.
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  Speaker 1: He examined many things, minutely, strange tools and weapons, books, paper, clothing,
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  Speaker 1: what little had withstood the ravages of time and the
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  Speaker 1: human atmosphere of the jungle coast. He opened chests and
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  Speaker 1: cupboards such as did not baffle his small experience and
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  Speaker 1: in these he found the contents much better preserved. Among
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  Speaker 1: other things, he found a sharp hunting knife on the
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  Speaker 1: keen blade of which he immediately proceeded to cut his finger. Undaunted,
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  Speaker 1: he continued his experiments, finding that he could hack and
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  Speaker 1: hew splinters of wood from the table and chairs with
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  Speaker 1: this new toy. For a long time this amused him,
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  Speaker 1: but finally tiring, he continued his explorations. In a cupboard
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  Speaker 1: filled with books, came across one with brightly colored pictures.
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  Speaker 1: It was a child's illustrated alphabet. A is for archer
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  Speaker 1: who shoots with a bow. B is for boy. His
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  Speaker 1: first name is Joe. The pictures interested him greatly. There
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  Speaker 1: were many apes with faces similar to his own, and furtherover.
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  Speaker 1: In the book he found under m some little monkeys,
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  Speaker 1: such as he saw daily flitting through the trees of
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  Speaker 1: his primeval forest. But nowhere was pictured any of his
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  Speaker 1: own people, and all the book was none that resembled Kuchak,
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  Speaker 1: or too Blat or Kayla. At first, he tried to
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  Speaker 1: pick the little figures from the leaves, but he soon
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  Speaker 1: saw that they were not real, though he knew not
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  Speaker 1: what they might be, nor had he any words to
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  Speaker 1: describe them. The boats and trains, and cows and horses
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  Speaker 1: were quite meaningless to him, but not quite so baffling
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  Speaker 1: as the odd little figures which appeared beneath them between
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  Speaker 1: the colored pictures. Some strange kind of bug, he thought
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  Speaker 1: they might be, for many of them had legs, though
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  Speaker 1: nowhere could he find one with eyes and a mouth.
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  Speaker 1: It was his first introduction to the letters of the alphabet,
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  Speaker 1: and he was over ten years old. Of course, he
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  Speaker 1: had never before seen print, or ever had spoken with
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  Speaker 1: any living thing which had the remotest idea that such
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  Speaker 1: a thing as a written language existed, nor ever had
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  Speaker 1: he seen anyone reading. So what wonder that the little
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  Speaker 1: boy was quite at a loss to guess the meaning
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  Speaker 1: of these strange figures. Near the middle of the book
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  Speaker 1: he found his old enemy Sabor the lioness, and further
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  Speaker 1: on coiled Histah the snake. Oh, it was most engrossing.
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  Speaker 1: Never before in all his ten years had he enjoyed
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  Speaker 1: anything so much. So absorbed was he that he did
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  Speaker 1: not note the approaching dusk until it was quite upon him,
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  Speaker 1: and the figures were blurred. He put the book back
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  Speaker 1: in the cupboard and closed the door for he did
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  Speaker 1: not wish any one else to find and destroy his treasure,
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  Speaker 1: and as he went out into the gathering darkness, he
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  Speaker 1: closed the great door of the cabin behind him, as
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  Speaker 1: it had been before he discovered the secret of its lock.
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  Speaker 1: But before he left, he had noticed the hunting knife
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  Speaker 1: lying where he had thrown it upon the floor, and
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  Speaker 1: this he picked up and took with him to show
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  Speaker 1: to his fellows. He had taken scarce a dozen steps
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  Speaker 1: toward the jungle when a great form rose up before
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  Speaker 1: him from the shadows of a low bush. At first
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  Speaker 1: he thought it was one of his own people, but
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  Speaker 1: in another instant he realized it was Bulgani, the huge gorilla.
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  Speaker 1: So close was he that there was no chance for flight,
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  Speaker 1: and little Tarzan knew that he must stand and fight
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  Speaker 1: for his life, for these great beasts were the deadly
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  Speaker 1: enemies of his tribe, and neither one nor the other
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  Speaker 1: ever asked or gave quarter. Had Tarzan been a full
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  Speaker 1: grown bull ape of the species of his tribe, he
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  Speaker 1: would have been more than a match for the gorilla,
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  Speaker 1: But being only a little English boy, though enormously muscular
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  Speaker 1: for such, he stood no chance against his cruel antagonists.
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  Speaker 1: In his veins, though flowed the blood of the best
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  Speaker 1: of a race of mighty fighters, and back of this
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  Speaker 1: was the training of his short lifetime. Among the fierce
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  Speaker 1: brutes of the jungle. He knew no fear, as we
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  Speaker 1: know it. His little heart beat the faster, but from
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  Speaker 1: the excitement and exhilaration of adventure. Had the opportunity presented itself,
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  Speaker 1: he would have escaped, but solely because this judgment told
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  Speaker 1: him he was no match for the great thing which
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  Speaker 1: confronted him, and since reason showed him that successful flight
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  Speaker 1: was impossible, he met the gorilla squarely and bravely, without
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  Speaker 1: a tremor of a single muscle or any sign of panic.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, he met the brute midway in its charge,
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  Speaker 1: striking its huge body with his closed fists and as
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  Speaker 1: futilely as if he had been a fly attacking an elephant.
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  Speaker 1: But in one hand he still clutched the knife he
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  Speaker 1: had found in the case of his father, And as
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  Speaker 1: the brute, striking and biting, closed upon him, the boy
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  Speaker 1: accidentally turned the point toward the hairy breast. As the
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  Speaker 1: knife sank deep into its body, the gorilla shrieked in
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  Speaker 1: pain and rage, but the boy had learned in that
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  Speaker 1: brief second a use for his sharp and shining toy,
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  Speaker 1: so that as the tearing, striking beast dragged him to earth,
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  Speaker 1: he plunged the blade repeatedly and to the hilt into
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  Speaker 1: its breast. The gorilla, fighting after the manner of its kind,
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  Speaker 1: struck terrific blows with its open hand and tore the
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  Speaker 1: flesh at the boy's throat and chest with its mighty tusks.
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  Speaker 1: For a moment they rolled upon the ground in the
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  Speaker 1: fierce frenzy of combat. More and more weakly, the torn
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  Speaker 1: and bleeding arm struck home with the long sharp blade.
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  Speaker 1: Then the little figure stiffened with a spasmodic jerk, and tarzan,
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  Speaker 1: the young lord Greystoke rolled unconscious upon the dead and
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  Speaker 1: decaying vegetation which carpeted his jungle home a mile back
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  Speaker 1: in the forest. The tribe had heard the fierce challenge
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  Speaker 1: of the gorilla, and, as was his custom when any
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  Speaker 1: danger threatened, Kerchak called his people together, partly for mutual
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  Speaker 1: protection against a common enemy, since this gorilla might be
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  Speaker 1: but one of a party of several, and also to
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  Speaker 1: see that all members of the tribe were accounted for.
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  Speaker 1: It was soon discovered that Tarzan was missing, and Tooblat
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  Speaker 1: was strongly opposed to sending assistance. Kerchak himself had no
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  Speaker 1: liking for the strange little waif, so he listened to
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  Speaker 1: Tublat and finally, with a shrug of his shoulders, turned
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  Speaker 1: back to the pile of leaves on which he had
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  Speaker 1: made his bed. But Kayla was of a different mind.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, she had not waited but to learn that
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  Speaker 1: Tarzan was absent ere. She was fairly flying through the
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  Speaker 1: matted branches toward the point from which the cries of
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  Speaker 1: the gorilla were still plainly audible. Darkness had now fallen,
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  Speaker 1: and an early moon was sending its faint light to
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  Speaker 1: cast strange grotee gasque shadows among the dense foliage of
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  Speaker 1: the forest. Here and there the brilliant rays penetrated to Earth,
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  Speaker 1: but for the most part they only served to accentuate
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  Speaker 1: the stygian blackness of the jungle's depths. Like some huge phantom,
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  Speaker 1: Kayla swung noiselessly from tree to tree, now running nimbly
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  Speaker 1: along a great branch, now swinging through space at the
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  Speaker 1: end of another, only to grasp that of a farther tree.
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  Speaker 1: In her rapid progress, toward the scene of the tragedy,
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  Speaker 1: her knowledge of jungle life told her was being enacted
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  Speaker 1: a short distance before her. The cries of the gorilla
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  Speaker 1: proclaimed that it was in mortal combat with some other
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  Speaker 1: denizen of the fierce wood. Suddenly those cries ceased, and
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  Speaker 1: the silence of death reigned throughout the jungle. Kayla could
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  Speaker 1: not understand, for the voice of Bulgani had at last
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  Speaker 1: been raised in the agony of suffering and death, but
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  Speaker 1: no sound had come to her by which she possibly
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  Speaker 1: could determine the nature of his antagonist. That her little
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  Speaker 1: Tarzan could destroy a great bull gorilla she knew to
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  Speaker 1: be improbable, and so as she neared the spot from
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  Speaker 1: which the sounds of the struggle had come, she moved
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  Speaker 1: more warily, and at last slowly and with extreme caution.
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  Speaker 1: She traversed the lowest branches, peering eagerly into the moon's
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  Speaker 1: splash blackness for a sign of the combatants. Presently she
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  Speaker 1: came upon them, lying in a little open space, full
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  Speaker 1: under the brilliant light of the moon, little Tarzan's torn
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  Speaker 1: and bloody form, and beside it a great bull gorilla,
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  Speaker 1: stone dead. With a low cry, Kayla rushed to Tarzan's side,
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  Speaker 1: and gathering the poor blood covered body to her breast,
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  Speaker 1: listened for a sign of life. Faintly she heard it,
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  Speaker 1: the weak beating of the little heart. Tenderly she bore
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  Speaker 1: him back through the inky jungle to where the tribe lay,
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  Speaker 1: and for many days and nights she sat guard beside him,
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  Speaker 1: bringing him food and water, and brushing the flies and
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  Speaker 1: other insects from his cruel wounds. Of medicine or surgery,
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  Speaker 1: The poor thing knew nothing she could but lick the wounds,
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  Speaker 1: and thus she kept them cleansed, that healing nature might
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  Speaker 1: the more quickly do her work. At first, Tarzan would
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  Speaker 1: eat nothing but rolled and tossed in a wild delirium
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  Speaker 1: of fever. All he craved was water, and this she
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  Speaker 1: brought him in the only way she could, bearing it
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  Speaker 1: in her own mouth. No human mother could have shown
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  Speaker 1: more unselfish and sacrificing devotion than did this poor wild
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  Speaker 1: brute for the little orphaned waif whom fate had thrown
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  Speaker 1: into her keeping. At last, the fever abated, and the
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  Speaker 1: boy commenced to mend. No word of complaint passed his
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  Speaker 1: tight set lips, though the pain of his wounds was excruciating.
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  Speaker 1: A portion of his chest was laid bare to the ribs,
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  Speaker 1: three of which had been broken by the mighty blows
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  Speaker 1: of the gorilla. One arm was nearly severed by the
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  Speaker 1: giant fangs, and a great piece had been torn from
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  Speaker 1: his neck, exposing his jugular vein which the cruel jaws
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  Speaker 1: had missed. But by a miracle, with the stoicism of
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  Speaker 1: the brutes who had raised him, he endured his suffering quietly,
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  Speaker 1: preferring to crawl away from the others and lie huddled
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  Speaker 1: in some clump of tall grasses, rather than to show
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  Speaker 1: his misery before their eyes. Kayla alone he was glad
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  Speaker 1: to have with him, But now that he was better,
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  Speaker 1: she was gone longer at a time in search of food,
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  Speaker 1: for the devoted animal had scarcely eaten enough to support
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  Speaker 1: her own life, while Tarzan had been so low and
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  Speaker 1: was in consequence reduced to a mere shadow of her
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  Speaker 1: former self. End of chapter