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15 - The Forest God · Tarzan of the Apes

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen, The Forest God. When Clayton heard the report
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  Speaker 1: of the firearm, he fell into an agony of fear
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  Speaker 1: and apprehension. He knew that one of the sailors might
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  Speaker 1: be the author of it, but the fact that he
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  Speaker 1: had left the revolver with Jane, together with the overwrought
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  Speaker 1: condition of his nerves, made him morbidly positive that she
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  Speaker 1: was threatened with some great danger. Perhaps even now she
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  Speaker 1: was attempting to defend herself against some savage man or beast.
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  Speaker 1: What were the thoughts of his strange captor or guide.
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  Speaker 1: Clayton could only vaguely conjecture, but that he had heard
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  Speaker 1: the shot and was in some manner affected by it
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  Speaker 1: was quite evident, for he quickened his pace so appreciably
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  Speaker 1: that Clayton, stumbling blindly in his wake, was down a
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  Speaker 1: dozen times in as many minutes in a vain effort
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  Speaker 1: to keep pace with him, and soon was left hopelessly behind.
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  Speaker 1: Fearing that he would again be irretrievably lost, he called
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  Speaker 1: aloud to the wild man ahead of him, and in
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  Speaker 1: a moment had the satisfaction of seeing him drop lightly
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  Speaker 1: to his side from the branches above. For a moment,
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  Speaker 1: Tarzan looked at the young man closely, as though undecided
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  Speaker 1: as to just what was best to do. Then, stooping
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  Speaker 1: down before Clayton, he motioned him to grasp him about
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  Speaker 1: the neck, and with a white man upon his back,
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  Speaker 1: Tarzan took to the trees. The next few minutes, the
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  Speaker 1: young Englishman never forgot high into bending and swaying branches.
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  Speaker 1: He was born with what seemed to him incredible swiftness,
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  Speaker 1: While Tarzan chafed at the slowness of his progress. From
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  Speaker 1: one lofty branch, the agile creature swung with Clayton through
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  Speaker 1: a dizzy arc to a neighboring tree. Then for a
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  Speaker 1: hundred yards maybe the sure feet threaded a maze of
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  Speaker 1: interwoven limbs, balancing like a tight rope walker high above
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  Speaker 1: the black depths of Verdure beneath. From the first sensation
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  Speaker 1: of chilling fear, Clayton passed to one of keen admiration
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  Speaker 1: and envy of those giant muscles and that wondrous instinct
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  Speaker 1: or knowledge which guided this forest god through the inky
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  Speaker 1: blackness of the night as easily and safely as Clayton
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  Speaker 1: would have strolled a London street at high noon. Occasionally
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  Speaker 1: they would enter a spot where the foliage above was
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  Speaker 1: less dense, and the bright rays of the moon lit
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  Speaker 1: up before Clayton's wandering eyes the strange path they were traversing.
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  Speaker 1: At such times, the man fairly caught his breath at
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  Speaker 1: sight of the horrid depths below them. For Tarzan took
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  Speaker 1: the easiest way, which often led over a hundred feet
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  Speaker 1: above the earth. And yet with all his seeming speed,
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  Speaker 1: Tarzan was in reality feeling his way with comparative slowness,
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  Speaker 1: searching constantly for limbs of adequate strength for the maintenance
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  Speaker 1: of this double weight. Presently they came to the clearing
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  Speaker 1: before the beach. Tarzan's quick ears had heard the strange
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  Speaker 1: sounds of sabers efforts to force her way through the lattice,
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  Speaker 1: and it seemed to Clayton that they dropped a straight
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  Speaker 1: hundred feet to earth. So quickly did Tarzan descend. Yet
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  Speaker 1: when they struck the ground, it was with scarce a jar,
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  Speaker 1: and as Clayton released his hold on the ape man,
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  Speaker 1: he saw him dart like a squirrel for the opposite
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  Speaker 1: side of the cabin. The Englishman sprang quickly after him,
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  Speaker 1: just in time to see the hind quarters of some
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  Speaker 1: huge animal about to disappear through the window of the cabin.
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  Speaker 1: As Jane opened her eyes to a realization of the
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  Speaker 1: imminent peril which threatened her, her brave young heart gave
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  Speaker 1: up at last its final vestige of hope. But then,
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  Speaker 1: to her surprise, she saw the huge animal being slowly
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  Speaker 1: drawn back through the window, and in the moonlight beyond,
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  Speaker 1: she saw the heads and shoulders of two men. As
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  Speaker 1: Clayton rounded the corner of the cabin to behold the
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  Speaker 1: animal disappearing within, it was also to see the ape man,
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  Speaker 1: and seized the long tail in both hands, and, bracing
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  Speaker 1: himself with his feet against the side of the cabin,
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  Speaker 1: throw all his mighty strength into the effort to draw
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  Speaker 1: the beast out of the interior. Clayton was quick to
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  Speaker 1: lend a hand, but the ape man jabbered to him
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  Speaker 1: in a commanding and peremptory tone, something which Clayton knew
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  Speaker 1: to be orders, though he could not understand them. At last,
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  Speaker 1: under their combined efforts, the great body was slowly dragged
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  Speaker 1: farther and farther outside the window, and then there came
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  Speaker 1: to Clayton's mind a dawning conception of the rash bravery
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  Speaker 1: of his companion's act. For a naked man to drag
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  Speaker 1: a shrieking, clawing man eater forth from a window by
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  Speaker 1: the tail to save a strange white girl was indeed
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  Speaker 1: the last word in heroism. In so far as Clayton
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  Speaker 1: was concerned. It was a very different matter, since the
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  Speaker 1: girl was not only of his own kind in race,
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  Speaker 1: but was the one woman in all the world whom
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  Speaker 1: he loved. Though he knew that the lioness would make
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  Speaker 1: short work of both of them, he pulled with a
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  Speaker 1: will to keep it from Jane Porter. And then he
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  Speaker 1: recalled the battle between this man and the great black
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  Speaker 1: maned Lion, which he had witnessed a short time before,
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  Speaker 1: and he commenced to feel more assurance. Tarzan was still
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  Speaker 1: issuing orders which Clayton could not understand. He was trying
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  Speaker 1: to tell the stupid white man to plunge his poisoned
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  Speaker 1: arrows into sabers back and sides, and to reach the
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  Speaker 1: savage heart with a long, thin hunting knife that hung
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  Speaker 1: at Tarzan's hip. But the man would not understand, and
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  Speaker 1: Tarzan did not dare release his hold to do the
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  Speaker 1: things himself, for he saw that the puny white man
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  Speaker 1: never could hold mighty Saber alone for an instant. Slowly
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  Speaker 1: the Lioness was emerging from the window. At last her
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  Speaker 1: shoulders were out, and then Clayton saw an incredible thing. Tarzan,
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  Speaker 1: racking his brains for some means to cope single handed
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  Speaker 1: with the infuriated beast, had suddenly recalled his battle with
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  Speaker 1: to Koz, And as the great shoulders came clear of
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  Speaker 1: the window, so that the Lioness hung upon the still
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  Speaker 1: only by her fore paws, Tarzan suddenly released his hold
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  Speaker 1: upon the brute. With the quickness of a striking rattler.
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  Speaker 1: He launched himself full upon Sabor's back, his strong young arms,
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  Speaker 1: seeking and gaining a full half nelson upon the beast,
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  Speaker 1: as he had learned it that other day during his
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  Speaker 1: bloody wrestling victory over to Koz. With the roar, the
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  Speaker 1: Lioness turned completely over upon her back, falling fully upon
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  Speaker 1: her enemy. But the black haired giant only closed tighter
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  Speaker 1: his hold, Pawing and tearing at earth and air. Sabor
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  Speaker 1: rolled and threw herself this way and that in an
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  Speaker 1: effort to dislodge the strange antagonist, but ever tighter and tighter,
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  Speaker 1: drew the iron bands that were forcing her head lower
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  Speaker 1: and lower upon her top breast. Higher crept the steel
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  Speaker 1: forearms of the ape man about the back of Sabor's neck.
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  Speaker 1: Weaker and weaker became the lioness's efforts. At last, Clayton
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  Speaker 1: saw the immense muscles of Tarzan's shoulders and biceps leap
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  Speaker 1: into corded knots beneath the silver moonlight. There was a long,
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  Speaker 1: sustained and supreme effort on the ape man's part, and
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  Speaker 1: the vertebrae of Sabor's neck parted with a sharp snap.
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  Speaker 1: In an instant, Tarzan was upon his feet, and for
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  Speaker 1: the second time that day, Clayton heard the bull ape's
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  Speaker 1: savage roar of victory. Then he heard Jane's agonized cry, cecil,
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  Speaker 1: mister Clayton, Oh, what is it? What is it? Running
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  Speaker 1: quickly to the cabin door, Clayton called out that all
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  Speaker 1: was right and shouted to her to open the door
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  Speaker 1: as quickly as she could. She raised the great bar
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  Speaker 1: and fairly dragged Clayton within. What was that awful noise,
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  Speaker 1: she whispered, shrinking close to him. It was the cry
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  Speaker 1: of the kill from the throat of the man who
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  Speaker 1: has just saved your life, Miss Porter, wait, I will
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  Speaker 1: fetch him so that you may thank him. The frightened
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  Speaker 1: girl would not be left alone, so she accompanied Clayton
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  Speaker 1: to the side of the cabin where lay the dead
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  Speaker 1: body of the lioness Tarzan, and the apes was gone.
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  Speaker 1: Clayton called several times, but there was no reply, and
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  Speaker 1: so the two returned to the greater safety of the anterior.
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  Speaker 1: What a frightful sound, cried Jane. I shudder at the
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  Speaker 1: mere thought of it. Do not tell me that a
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  Speaker 1: human throat voiced that hideous and fearsome shriek. But it did,
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  Speaker 1: Miss Porter, replied Clayton, Or at least, if not a
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  Speaker 1: human throat, that of a forest god. And then he
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  Speaker 1: told her of his experiences with this strange creature, of
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  Speaker 1: how twice the wild man had saved his life, the
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  Speaker 1: wondrous strength and agility and bravery of the brown skin,
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  Speaker 1: and the handsome face. I cannot make it out at all,
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  Speaker 1: he concluded. At first I thought he might be Tarzan
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  Speaker 1: of the Apes, but he neither speaks nor understands English,
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  Speaker 1: so that theory is untenable. Well, whatever he may be,
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  Speaker 1: cried the girl. We owe him our lives, and may
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  Speaker 1: God bless him and keep him in safety in his
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  Speaker 1: wild and savage jungle. Amen, said Clayton, fervently, for the
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  Speaker 1: good Lord's sake, Ain't I dead? The two turned to
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  Speaker 1: see as Marelda sitting up right upon the floor, her
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  Speaker 1: great eyes rolling from side to side, as though she
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  Speaker 1: could not believe their testimony as to her whereabouts? And
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  Speaker 1: Now for Jane Porter, the reaction came, and she threw
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  Speaker 1: herself upon the bench, sobbing with hysterical laughter. Chapter