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10 - The Fear-Phantom · Tarzan of the Apes

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  Speaker 1: Chapter ten, The Fear Phantom. From a lofty perch, Tarzan
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  Speaker 1: viewed the village of thatched huts across the intervening plantation.
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  Speaker 1: He saw that at one point the forest touched the village,
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  Speaker 1: and to this spot he made his way, lured by
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  Speaker 1: a fever of curiosity to behold animals of his own kind,
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  Speaker 1: and to learn more of their ways and view the
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  Speaker 1: strange lairs in which they lived. His savage life among
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  Speaker 1: the fierce wild brutes of the jungle left no opening
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  Speaker 1: for any thought that these could be aught else than enemies.
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  Speaker 1: Similarity of form led him into no erroneous conception of
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  Speaker 1: the welcome that would be accorded him should he be
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  Speaker 1: discovered by these, the first of his own kind he
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  Speaker 1: had ever seen. Tarzan of the Apes was no sentimentalist.
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  Speaker 1: He knew nothing of the brotherhood of man. All things
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  Speaker 1: outside his own tribe were his deadly enemies, with a
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  Speaker 1: few exceptions, of which Tantor the elephant was a marked example,
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  Speaker 1: And he realized all this without malice or hatred. To
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  Speaker 1: kill was the law of the wild world. He knew.
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  Speaker 1: Few were his primitive pleasures, but the greatest of these
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  Speaker 1: was to hunt and kill and so he accorded to
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  Speaker 1: others the right to cherish the same desires as he,
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  Speaker 1: even though he himself might be the object of their hunt.
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  Speaker 1: His strange life had left him neither morose nor bloodthirsty.
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  Speaker 1: That he joyed in killing, and that he killed with
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  Speaker 1: a joyous laugh upon his handsome lips, betokened no innate cruelty.
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  Speaker 1: He killed for food most often, but being a man,
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  Speaker 1: he sometimes killed for pleasure, a thing which no other
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  Speaker 1: animal does, for it has remained for man alone among
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  Speaker 1: all creatures, to kill senselessly and wantonly for the mere
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  Speaker 1: pleasure of inflicting suffering and death. And when he killed
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  Speaker 1: for revenge or in self defense, he did that also
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  Speaker 1: without hysteria, for it was a very business like proceeding
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  Speaker 1: which admitted of no levity. So it was that now,
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  Speaker 1: as he cautiously approached the village of Mbonga, he was
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  Speaker 1: quite prepared either to kill or be killed, should he
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  Speaker 1: be discovered. He proceeded with unwonted stealth, for Kolonga had
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  Speaker 1: taught him great respect for the little sharp splinters of
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  Speaker 1: wood which dealt death so swiftly and unerringly. At length,
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  Speaker 1: he came to a great tree, heavy laden with thick
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  Speaker 1: foliage and loaded with pendent loops of giant creepers. From
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  Speaker 1: this almost impenetrable bower above the village, he crouched, looking
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  Speaker 1: down upon the scene below him, wandering over every feature
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  Speaker 1: of this new strange life. There were naked children running
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  Speaker 1: and playing in the village street. There were women grinding
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  Speaker 1: dry plantin and crude stone mortars, while others were fashioning
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  Speaker 1: cakes from the powdered flower. Out in the fields he
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  Speaker 1: could see still other women hoeing, weeding, and gathering. All
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  Speaker 1: wore strange, protruding girdles of dried grass about their hips,
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  Speaker 1: and many were loaded with brass and copper anklets, armlets
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  Speaker 1: and bracelets. Around many, a dusky neck hung curiously coiled
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  Speaker 1: strands of wire, while several were further ornamented by huge
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  Speaker 1: nose rings. Tarzaned the apes, looked with growing wonder at
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  Speaker 1: these strange creatures. Dozing in the shade, he saw several men.
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  Speaker 1: While at the extreme outskirts of the clearing, he occasionally
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  Speaker 1: caught glimpses of armed warriors, apparently guarding the village against
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  Speaker 1: surprise from an attacking enemy. He noticed that the women
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  Speaker 1: alone worked. Nowhere was there evidence of a man tilling
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  Speaker 1: the fields, or performing any of the homely duties of
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  Speaker 1: the village. Finally, his eyes rested upon a woman directly
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  Speaker 1: beneath him. Before her was a small cauldron standing over
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  Speaker 1: a low fire, and in it bubbled a thick, reddish
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  Speaker 1: tarry mass. On one side of her lay a quantity
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  Speaker 1: of wooden arrows, the points of which she dipped into
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  Speaker 1: the seething substance, then laying them upon a narrow rack
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  Speaker 1: of boughs, which stood upon her other side. Tarzan and
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  Speaker 1: the Apes was fascinated. Here was the secret of the
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  Speaker 1: terrible destructiveness of the archer's tiny missiles. He noted the
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  Speaker 1: extreme care which the woman took that none of the
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  Speaker 1: matter should touch her hands, and once, when a particle
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  Speaker 1: splattered upon one of her fingers, he saw her plunge
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  Speaker 1: the member into a vessel of water, and quickly rubbed
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  Speaker 1: the tiny stain away with a handful of leaves. Tarzan
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  Speaker 1: knew nothing of poison, but his shrewd reasoning told him
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  Speaker 1: that it was this deadly stuff that killed, and not
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  Speaker 1: the little arrow, which was merely the messenger that carried
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  Speaker 1: it into the body of his victim. How he should
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  Speaker 1: like to have more of those little death dealing slivers.
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  Speaker 1: If the woman would only leave her work for an instant,
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  Speaker 1: he could drop down, gather up a handful, and be
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  Speaker 1: bad back in the tree again before she drew three breaths.
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  Speaker 1: As he was trying to think out some plan to
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  Speaker 1: distract her attention, he heard a wild cry from across
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  Speaker 1: the clearing. He looked and saw a black warrior standing
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  Speaker 1: beneath the very tree in which he had killed the
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  Speaker 1: murderer of Kayla an hour before. The fellow was shouting
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  Speaker 1: and waving his spear above his head. Now and again
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  Speaker 1: he would point to something on the ground before him.
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  Speaker 1: The village was in an uproar. Instantly, armed men rushed
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  Speaker 1: from the interior of many a hut and raced madly
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  Speaker 1: across the clearing towards the excited sentry. After them trooped
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  Speaker 1: the old men and the women and children, until in
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  Speaker 1: a moment the village was deserted. Tarzan and the Apes
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  Speaker 1: knew that they had found the body of his victim,
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  Speaker 1: but that interested him far less than the fact that
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  Speaker 1: no one remained in the village to prevent his taking
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  Speaker 1: a supply of the arrows which lay below him. Quickly
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  Speaker 1: and noiselessly, he dropped to the ground beside the cauldron
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  Speaker 1: of poison. For a moment, he stood motionless, his quick,
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  Speaker 1: bright eyes scanning the interior of the palisade. No one
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  Speaker 1: was in sight. His eyes rested upon the open doorway
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  Speaker 1: of a nearby hut. He would take a look within,
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  Speaker 1: thought Tarzan, and so cautiously he approached the low thatched building.
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  Speaker 1: For a moment, he stood without listening intently. There was
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  Speaker 1: no sound, and he glided into the semi darkness of
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  Speaker 1: the interior. Weapons hung against the walls, long spears, strangely
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  Speaker 1: shaped knives, a couple of narrow shields. In the center
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  Speaker 1: of the room was a cooking pot, and at the
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  Speaker 1: far end a litter of dry grasses covered by woven mats,
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  Speaker 1: which evidently served the owners as beds and bedding. Several
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  Speaker 1: human skulls lay upon the floor. Tarzan, and the apes
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  Speaker 1: felt of each article hefted. The spears smelled of them,
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  Speaker 1: for he saw largely through his sensitive and highly trained nostrils.
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  Speaker 1: He determined to own one of these long pointed sticks,
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  Speaker 1: but he could not take one on this trip because
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  Speaker 1: of the arrows he meant to carry. As he took
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  Speaker 1: each article from the walls. He placed it in a
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  Speaker 1: pile in the center of the room. On top of
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  Speaker 1: all he placed the cooking pot inverted, and on top
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  Speaker 1: of this he laid one of the grinning skulls, upon
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  Speaker 1: which he fastened the head dress of the dead Koolonga.
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  Speaker 1: Then he stood back, surveyed his work, and grinned. Tarzan
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  Speaker 1: of the apes. Enjoyed a joke. But now he heard
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  Speaker 1: outside the sounds of many voices, and long, mournful howls,
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  Speaker 1: and mighty wailing. He was startled had he remained too long.
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  Speaker 1: Quickly he reached the doorway and peered down the village
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  Speaker 1: street toward the village gate. The natives were not yet
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  Speaker 1: in sight, though he could plainly hear them approaching across
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  Speaker 1: the plantation. They must be very near. Like a flash,
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  Speaker 1: he sprang across the opening to the pile of arrows.
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  Speaker 1: Gathering up all he could carry on under one arm,
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  Speaker 1: he overturned the seething cauldron with a kick and disappeared
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  Speaker 1: into the foliage above, just as the first of the
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  Speaker 1: returning natives entered the gate at the far end of
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  Speaker 1: the village street. Then he turned to watch the preceding below,
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  Speaker 1: poised like some wild bird, ready to take swift wing.
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  Speaker 1: At the first sign of danger, the natives filed up
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  Speaker 1: the street, four of them, bearing the dead body of
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  Speaker 1: Koulonga behind, trailed the women, uttering strange cries and weird lamentation.
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  Speaker 1: On they came to the portals of Kolonga's hut, the
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  Speaker 1: very one in which Tarzan had wrought his depredations. Scarcely
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  Speaker 1: at half a dozen entered the building. Ere they came
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  Speaker 1: rushing out in wild jabbering confusion. The others hastened to
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  Speaker 1: gather about. There was much excited gesticulating, pointing, and chattering.
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  Speaker 1: Then several of the warriors approached and peered within. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: an old fellow with many ornaments of metal about his
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  Speaker 1: arms and legs, and a necklace of dried human hands
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  Speaker 1: depending upon his chest, entered the hut. It was Mubanga,
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  Speaker 1: the king father of Koulonga. For a few moments all
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  Speaker 1: was silent. Then Mubonga emerged, a look of mingled wrath
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  Speaker 1: and superstitious fear writ upon his hideous countenance. He spoke
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  Speaker 1: a few words to the assembled warriors, and in an
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  Speaker 1: instant the men were flying through the little village, searching
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  Speaker 1: minutely every hut and corner within the palisades. Scarcely had
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  Speaker 1: the search commenced than the overturned cauldron was discovered, and
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  Speaker 1: with it the theft of the poisoned arrows. Nothing more
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  Speaker 1: they found, and it was a thoroughly odd and frightened
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  Speaker 1: group of savages which huddled around their kings a few
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  Speaker 1: moments later. Mubonga could explain nothing of strange events that
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  Speaker 1: had taken place. The finding of the still warm body
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  Speaker 1: of Koulongo on the very verge of their fields, and
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  Speaker 1: with an easy earshot of the village, knifed and stripped
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  Speaker 1: at the door of his father's home, was in itself
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  Speaker 1: sufficiently mysterious. But these last awesome discoveries within the village,
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  Speaker 1: within the ded Coulunga's own hut, filled their hearts with dismay,
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  Speaker 1: and conjured in their poor brains only the most frightful
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  Speaker 1: of superstitious explanations. They stood in little groups, talking in
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  Speaker 1: low tones, and ever casting affrighted glances behind them from
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  Speaker 1: their great rolling eyes. Tarzan of the Apes watched them
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  Speaker 1: for a while from his lofty perch in the Great Tree.
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  Speaker 1: There was much in their demeanor which he could not understand,
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  Speaker 1: For of superstition. He was ignorant, and of fear of
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  Speaker 1: any kind. He had but a vague conception. The sun
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  Speaker 1: was high in the heavens. Tarzan had not broken fast
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  Speaker 1: this day, and it was many miles to where lay
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  Speaker 1: the toothsome remains of Horta the boar. So he turned
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  Speaker 1: his back upon the village of Mbonga and melted away
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  Speaker 1: into the leaf. Keep fastness of the forest. End of
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  Speaker 1: chapter