Edgar Rice Burroughs - Tarzan the Terrible

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TARZAN THE TERRIBLE

Edgar Rice Burroughs

CHAPTER

I The Pithecanthropus

II "To the Death!"

III Pan-at-lee

IV Tarzan-jad-guru

V In the Kor-ul-gryf

VI The Tor-o-don

VII Jungle Craft

VIII A-lur

IX Blood-Stained Altars

X The Forbidden Garden

XI The Sentence of Death

XII The Giant Stranger

XIII The Masquerader

XIV The Temple of the Gryf

XV "The King Is Dead!"

XVI The Secret Way

XVII By Jad-bal-lul

XVIII The Lion Pit of Tu-lur

XIX Diana of the Jungle

XX Silently in the Night

XXI The Maniac

XXII A Journey on a Gryf

XXIII Taken Alive

XXIV The Messenger of Death

XXV Home

Glossary

The Pithecanthropus

SILENT as the shadows through which he moved, the great beast

slunk through the midnight jungle, his yellow-green eyes round

and staring, his sinewy tail undulating behind him, his head

lowered and flattened, and every muscle vibrant to the thrill of

the hunt. The jungle moon dappled an occasional clearing which

the great cat was always careful to avoid. Though he moved

through thick verdure across a carpet of innumerable twigs,

broken branches, and leaves, his passing gave forth no sound that

might have been apprehended by dull human ears.

Apparently less cautious was the hunted thing moving even as

silently as the lion a hundred paces ahead of the tawny

carnivore, for instead of skirting the moon-splashed natural

clearings it passed directly across them, and by the tortuous

record of its spoor it might indeed be guessed that it sought

these avenues of least resistance, as well it might, since,

unlike its grim stalker, it walked erect upon two feet--it walked

upon two feet and was hairless except for a black thatch upon its

head; its arms were well shaped and muscular; its hands powerful

and slender with long tapering fingers and thumbs reaching almost

to the first joint of the index fingers. Its legs too were

shapely but its feet departed from the standards of all races of

men, except possibly a few of the lowest races, in that the great

toes protruded at right angles from the foot.

Pausing momentarily in the full light of the gorgeous African

moon the creature turned an attentive ear to the rear and then,

his head lifted, his features might readily have been discerned

in the moonlight. They were strong, clean cut, and

regular--features that would have attracted attention for their

masculine beauty in any of the great capitals of the world. But

was this thing a man? It would have been hard for a watcher in

the trees to have decided as the lion's prey resumed its way

across the silver tapestry that Luna had laid upon the floor of

the dismal jungle, for from beneath the loin cloth of black fur

that girdled its thighs there depended a long hairless, white

tail.

In one hand the creature carried a stout club, and suspended at

its left side from a shoulder belt was a short, sheathed knife,

while a cross belt supported a pouch at its right hip. Confining

these straps to the body and also apparently supporting the loin

cloth was a broad girdle which glittered in the moonlight as

though encrusted with virgin gold, and was clasped in the center

of the belly with a huge buckle of ornate design that

scintillated as with precious stones.

Closer and closer crept Numa, the lion, to his intended victim,

and that the latter was not entirely unaware of his danger was

evidenced by the increasing frequency with which he turned his

ear and his sharp black eyes in the direction of the cat upon his

trail. He did not greatly increase his speed, a long swinging

walk where the open places permitted, but he loosened the knife

in its scabbard and at all times kept his club in readiness for

instant action.

Forging at last through a narrow strip of dense jungle vegetation

the man-thing broke through into an almost treeless area of

considerable extent. For an instant he hesitated, glancing

quickly behind him and then up at the security of the branches of

the great trees waving overhead, but some greater urge than fear

or caution influenced his decision apparently, for he moved off

again across the little plain leaving the safety of the trees

behind him. At greater or less intervals leafy sanctuaries dotted

the grassy expanse ahead of him and the route he took, leading

from one to another, indicated that he had not entirely cast

discretion to the winds. But after the second tree had been left

behind the distance to the next was considerable, and it was then

that Numa walked from the concealing cover of the jungle and,

seeing his quarry apparently helpless before him, raised his tail

stiffly erect and charged.

Two months--two long, weary months filled with hunger, with

thirst, with hardships, with disappointment, and, greater than

all, with gnawing pain--had passed since Tarzan of the Apes

learned from the diary of the dead German captain that his wife

still lived. A brief investigation in which he was

enthusiastically aided by the Intelligence Department of the

British East African Expedition revealed the fact that an attempt

had been made to keep Lady Jane in hiding in the interior, for

reasons of which only the German High Command might be cognizant.

In charge of Lieutenant Obergatz and a detachment of native

German troops she had been sent across the border into the Congo

Free State.

Starting out alone in search of her, Tarzan had succeeded in

finding the village in which she had been incarcerated only to

learn that she had escaped months before, and that the German

officer had disappeared at the same time. From there on the

stories of the chiefs and the warriors whom he quizzed, were

vague and often contradictory. Even the direction that the

fugitives had taken Tarzan could only guess at by piecing

together bits of fragmentary evidence gleaned from various

sources.

Sinister conjectures were forced upon him by various observations

which he made in the village. One was incontrovertible proof that

these people were man-eaters; the other, the presence in the

village of various articles of native German uniforms and

equipment. At great risk and in the face of surly objection on

the part of the chief, the ape-man made a careful inspection of

every hut in the village from which at least a little ray of hope

resulted from the fact that he found no article that might have

belonged to his wife.

Leaving the village he had made his way toward the southwest,

crossing, after the most appalling hardships, a vast waterless

steppe covered for the most part with dense thorn, coming at last

into a district that had probably never been previously entered

by any white man and which was known only in the legends of the

tribes whose country bordered it. Here were precipitous

mountains, well-watered plateaus, wide plains, and vast swampy

morasses, but neither the plains, nor the plateaus, nor the

mountains were accessible to him until after weeks of arduous

effort he succeeded in finding a spot where he might cross the

morasses--a hideous stretch infested by venomous snakes and other

larger dangerous reptiles. On several occasions he glimpsed at

distances or by night what might have been titanic reptilian

monsters, but as there were hippopotami, rhinoceri, and elephants

in great numbers in and about the marsh he was never positive

that the forms he saw were not of these.

When at last he stood upon firm ground after crossing the

morasses he realized why it was that for perhaps countless ages

this territory had defied the courage and hardihood of the heroic

races of the outer world that had, after innumerable reverses and

unbelievable suffering penetrated to practically every other

region, from pole to pole.

From the abundance and diversity of the game it might have

appeared that every known species of bird and beast and reptile

had sought here a refuge wherein they might take their last stand

against the encroaching multitudes of men that had steadily

spread themselves over the surface of the earth, wresting the

hunting grounds from the lower orders, from the moment that the

first ape shed his hair and ceased to walk upon his knuckles.

Even the species with which Tarzan was familiar showed here

either the results of a divergent line of evolution or an

unaltered form that had been transmitted without variation for

countless ages.

Too, there were many hybrid strains, not the least interesting of

which to Tarzan was a yellow and black striped lion. Smaller

than the species with which Tarzan was familiar, but still a most

formidable beast, since it possessed in addition to sharp

saber-like canines the disposition of a devil. To Tarzan it

presented evidence that tigers had once roamed the jungles of

Africa, possibly giant saber-tooths of another epoch, and these

apparently had crossed with lions with the resultant terrors that

he occasionally encountered at the present day.

The true lions of this new, Old World differed but little from

those with which he was familiar; in size and conformation they

were almost identical, but instead of shedding the leopard spots

of cubhood, they retained them through life as definitely marked

as those of the leopard.

Two months of effort had revealed no slightest evidence that she

he sought had entered this beautiful yet forbidding land. His

investigation, however, of the cannibal village and his

questioning of other tribes in the neighborhood had convinced him

that if Lady Jane still lived it must be in this direction that

he seek her, since by a process of elimination he had reduced the

direction of her flight to only this possibility. How she had

crossed the morass he could not guess and yet something within

seemed to urge upon him belief that she had crossed it, and that

if she still lived it was here that she must be sought. But this

unknown, untraversed wild was of vast extent; grim, forbidding

mountains blocked his way, torrents tumbling from rocky

fastnesses impeded his progress, and at every turn he was forced

to match wits and muscles with the great carnivora that he might

procure sustenance.

Time and again Tarzan and Numa stalked the same quarry and now

one, now the other bore off the prize. Seldom however did the

ape-man go hungry for the country was rich in game animals and

birds and fish, in fruit and the countless other forms of

vegetable life upon which the jungle-bred man may subsist.

Tarzan often wondered why in so rich a country he found no

evidences of man and had at last come to the conclusion that the

parched, thorn-covered steppe and the hideous morasses had formed

a sufficient barrier to protect this country effectively from the

inroads of mankind.

After days of searching he had succeeded finally in discovering a

pass through the mountains and, coming down upon the opposite

side, had found himself in a country practically identical with

that which he had left. The hunting was good and at a water hole

in the mouth of a canon where it debouched upon a tree-covered

plain Bara, the deer, fell an easy victim to the ape-man's

cunning.

It was just at dusk. The voices of great four-footed hunters rose

now and again from various directions, and as the canon

afforded among its trees no comfortable retreat the ape-man

shouldered the carcass of the deer and started downward onto the

plain. At its opposite side rose lofty trees--a great forest

which suggested to his practiced eye a mighty jungle. Toward this

the ape-man bent his step, but when midway of the plain he

discovered standing alone such a tree as best suited him for a

night's abode, swung lightly to its branches and, presently, a

comfortable resting place.

Here he ate the flesh of Bara and when satisfied carried the

balance of the carcass to the opposite side of the tree where he

deposited it far above the ground in a secure place. Returning

to his crotch he settled himself for sleep and in another moment

the roars of the lions and the howlings of the lesser cats fell

upon deaf ears.

The usual noises of the jungle composed rather than disturbed the

ape-man but an unusual sound, however imperceptible to the

awakened ear of civilized man, seldom failed to impinge upon the

consciousness of Tarzan, however deep his slumber, and so it was

that when the moon was high a sudden rush of feet across the

grassy carpet in the vicinity of his tree brought him to alert

and ready activity. Tarzan does not awaken as you and I with the

weight of slumber still upon his eyes and brain, for did the

creatures of the wild awaken thus, their awakenings would be few.

As his eyes snapped open, clear and bright, so, clear and bright

upon the nerve centers of his brain, were registered the various

perceptions of all his senses.

Almost beneath him, racing toward his tree was what at first

glance appeared to be an almost naked white man, yet even at the

first instant of discovery the long, white tail projecting

rearward did not escape the ape-man. Behind the fleeing figure,

escaping, came Numa, the lion, in full charge. Voiceless the

prey, voiceless the killer; as two spirits in a dead world the

two moved in silent swiftness toward the culminating tragedy of

this grim race.

Even as his eyes opened and took in the scene beneath him--even

in that brief instant of perception, followed reason, judgment,

and decision, so rapidly one upon the heels of the other that

almost simultaneously the ape-man was in mid-air, for he had seen

a white-skinned creature cast in a mold similar to his own,

pursued by Tarzan's hereditary enemy. So close was the lion to

the fleeing man-thing that Tarzan had no time carefully to choose

the method of his attack. As a diver leaps from the springboard

headforemost into the waters beneath, so Tarzan of the Apes dove

straight for Numa, the lion; naked in his right hand the blade of

his father that so many times before had tasted the blood of

lions.

A raking talon caught Tarzan on the side, inflicting a long, deep

wound and then the ape-man was on Numa's back and the blade was

sinking again and again into the savage side. Nor was the

man-thing either longer fleeing, or idle. He too, creature of the

wild, had sensed on the instant the truth of the miracle of his

saving, and turning in his tracks, had leaped forward with raised

bludgeon to Tarzan's assistance and Numa's undoing. A single

terrific blow upon the flattened skull of the beast laid him

insensible and then as Tarzan's knife found the wild heart a few

convulsive shudders and a sudden relaxation marked the passing of

the carnivore.

Leaping to his feet the ape-man placed his foot upon the carcass

of his kill and, raising his face to Goro, the moon, voiced the

savage victory cry that had so often awakened the echoes of his

native jungle.

As the hideous scream burst from the ape-man's lips the man-thing

stepped quickly back as in sudden awe, but when Tarzan returned

his hunting knife to its sheath and turned toward him the other

saw in the quiet dignity of his demeanor no cause for

apprehension.

For a moment the two stood appraising each other, and then the

man-thing spoke. Tarzan realized that the creature before him was

uttering articulate sounds which expressed in speech, though in a

language with which Tarzan was unfamiliar, the thoughts of a man

possessing to a greater or less extent the same powers of reason

that he possessed. In other words, that though the creature

before him had the tail and thumbs and great toes of a monkey, it

was, in all other respects, quite evidently a man.

The blood, which was now flowing down Tarzan's side, caught the

creature's attention. From the pocket-pouch at his side he took a

small bag and approaching Tarzan indicated by signs that he

wished the ape-man to lie down that he might treat the wound,

whereupon, spreading the edges of the cut apart, he sprinkled the

raw flesh with powder from the little bag. The pain of the wound

was as nothing to the exquisite torture of the remedy but,

accustomed to physical suffering, the ape-man withstood it

stoically and in a few moments not only had the bleeding ceased

but the pain as well.

In reply to the soft and far from unpleasant modulations of the

other's voice, Tarzan spoke in various tribal dialects of the

interior as well as in the language of the great apes, but it was

evident that the man understood none of these. Seeing that they

could not make each other understood, the pithecanthropus

advanced toward Tarzan and placing his left hand over his own

heart laid the palm of his right hand over the heart of the

ape-man. To the latter the action appeared as a form of friendly

greeting and, being versed in the ways of uncivilized races, he

responded in kind as he realized it was doubtless intended that

he should. His action seemed to satisfy and please his new-found

acquaintance, who immediately fell to talking again and finally,

with his head tipped back, sniffed the air in the direction of

the tree above them and then suddenly pointing toward the carcass

of Bara, the deer, he touched his stomach in a sign language

which even the densest might interpret. With a wave of his hand

Tarzan invited his guest to partake of the remains of his savage

repast, and the other, leaping nimbly as a little monkey to the

lower branches of the tree, made his way quickly to the flesh,

assisted always by his long, strong sinuous tail.

The pithecanthropus ate in silence, cutting small strips from the

deer's loin with his keen knife. From his crotch in the tree

Tarzan watched his companion, noting the preponderance of human

attributes which were doubtless accentuated by the paradoxical

thumbs, great toes, and tail.

He wondered if this creature was representative of some strange

race or if, what seemed more likely, but an atavism. Either

supposition would have seemed preposterous enough did he not have

before him the evidence of the creature's existence. There he

was, however, a tailed man with distinctly arboreal hands and

feet. His trappings, gold encrusted and jewel studded, could have

been wrought only by skilled artisans; but whether they were the

work of this individual or of others like him, or of an entirely

different race, Tarzan could not, of course, determine.

His meal finished, the guest wiped his fingers and lips with

leaves broken from a nearby branch, looked up at Tarzan with a

pleasant smile that revealed a row of strong white teeth, the

canines of which were no longer than Tarzan's own, spoke a few

words which Tarzan judged were a polite expression of thanks and

then sought a comfortable place in the tree for the night.

The earth was shadowed in the darkness which precedes the dawn

when Tarzan was awakened by a violent shaking of the tree in

which he had found shelter. As he opened his eyes he saw that his

companion was also astir, and glancing around quickly to

apprehend the cause of the disturbance, the ape-man was astounded

at the sight which met his eyes.

The dim shadow of a colossal form reared close beside the tree

and he saw that it was the scraping of the giant body against the

branches that had awakened him. That such a tremendous creature

could have approached so closely without disturbing him filled

Tarzan with both wonderment and chagrin. In the gloom the ape-man

at first conceived the intruder to be an elephant; yet, if so,

one of greater proportions than any he had ever before seen, but

as the dim outlines became less indistinct he saw on a line with

his eyes and twenty feet above the ground the dim silhouette of a

grotesquely serrated back that gave the impression of a creature

whose each and every spinal vertebra grew a thick, heavy horn.

Only a portion of the back was visible to the ape-man, the rest

of the body being lost in the dense shadows beneath the tree,

from whence there now arose the sound of giant jaws powerfully

crunching flesh and bones. From the odors that rose to the

ape-man's sensitive nostrils he presently realized that beneath

him was some huge reptile feeding upon the carcass of the lion

that had been slain there earlier in the night.

As Tarzan's eyes, straining with curiosity, bored futilely into

the dark shadows he felt a light touch upon his shoulder, and,

turning, saw that his companion was attempting to attract his

attention. The creature, pressing a forefinger to his own lips as

to enjoin silence, attempted by pulling on Tarzan's arm to

indicate that they should leave at once.

Realizing that he was in a strange country, evidently infested by

creatures of titanic size, with the habits and powers of which he

was entirely unfamiliar, the ape-man permitted himself to be

drawn away. With the utmost caution the pithecanthropus descended

the tree upon the opposite side from the great nocturnal prowler,

and, closely followed by Tarzan, moved silently away through the

night across the plain.

The ape-man was rather loath thus to relinquish an opportunity to

inspect a creature which he realized was probably entirely

different from anything in his past experience; yet he was wise

enough to know when discretion was the better part of valor and

now, as in the past, he yielded to that law which dominates the

kindred of the wild, preventing them from courting danger

uselessly, whose lives are sufficiently filled with danger in

their ordinary routine of feeding and mating.

As the rising sun dispelled the shadows of the night, Tarzan

found himself again upon the verge of a great forest into which

his guide plunged, taking nimbly to the branches of the trees

through which he made his way with the celerity of long habitude

and hereditary instinct, but though aided by a prehensile tail,

fingers, and toes, the man-thing moved through the forest with no

greater ease or surety than did the giant ape-man.

It was during this journey that Tarzan recalled the wound in his

side inflicted upon him the previous night by the raking talons

of Numa, the lion, and examining it was surprised to discover

that not only was it painless but along its edges were no

indications of inflammation, the results doubtless of the

antiseptic powder his strange companion had sprinkled upon it.

They had proceeded for a mile or two when Tarzan's companion came

to earth upon a grassy slope beneath a great tree whose branches

overhung a clear brook. Here they drank and Tarzan discovered the

water to be not only deliciously pure and fresh but of an icy

temperature that indicated its rapid descent from the lofty

mountains of its origin.

Casting aside his loin cloth and weapons Tarzan entered the

little pool beneath the tree and after a moment emerged, greatly

refreshed and filled with a keen desire to breakfast. As he came

out of the pool he noticed his companion examining him with a

puzzled expression upon his face. Taking the ape-man by the

shoulder he turned him around so that Tarzan's back was toward

him and then, touching the end of Tarzan's spine with his

forefinger, he curled his own tail up over his shoulder and,

wheeling the ape-man about again, pointed first at Tarzan and

then at his own caudal appendage, a look of puzzlement upon his

face, the while he jabbered excitedly in his strange tongue.

The ape-man realized that probably for the first time his

companion had discovered that he was tailless by nature rather

than by accident, and so he called attention to his own great

toes and thumbs to further impress upon the creature that they

were of different species.

The fellow shook his head dubiously as though entirely unable to

comprehend why Tarzan should differ so from him but at last,

apparently giving the problem up with a shrug, he laid aside his

own harness, skin, and weapons and entered the pool.

His ablutions completed and his meager apparel redonned he seated

himself at the foot of the tree and motioning Tarzan to a place

beside him, opened the pouch that hung at his right side taking

from it strips of dried flesh and a couple of handfuls of

thin-shelled nuts with which Tarzan was unfamiliar. Seeing the

other break them with his teeth and eat the kernel, Tarzan

followed the example thus set him, discovering the meat to be

rich and well flavored. The dried flesh also was far from

unpalatable, though it had evidently been jerked without salt, a

commodity which Tarzan imagined might be rather difficult to

obtain in this locality.

As they ate Tarzan's companion pointed to the nuts, the dried

meat, and various other nearby objects, in each instance

repeating what Tarzan readily discovered must be the names of

these things in the creature's native language. The ape-man could

but smile at this evident desire upon the part of his new-found

acquaintance to impart to him instructions that eventually might

lead to an exchange of thoughts between them. Having already

mastered several languages and a multitude of dialects the

ape-man felt that he could readily assimilate another even though

this appeared one entirely unrelated to any with which he was

familiar.

So occupied were they with their breakfast and the lesson that

neither was aware of the beady eyes glittering down upon them

from above; nor was Tarzan cognizant of any impending danger

until the instant that a huge, hairy body leaped full upon his

companion from the branches above them.

"To the Death!"

IN THE moment of discovery Tarzan saw that the creature was

almost a counterpart of his companion in size and conformation,

with the exception that his body was entirely clothed with a coat

of shaggy black hair which almost concealed his features, while

his harness and weapons were similar to those of the creature he

had attacked. Ere Tarzan could prevent the creature had struck

the ape-man's companion a blow upon the head with his knotted

club that felled him, unconscious, to the earth; but before he

could inflict further injury upon his defenseless prey the

ape-man had closed with him.

Instantly Tarzan realized that he was locked with a creature of

almost superhuman strength. The sinewy fingers of a powerful hand

sought his throat while the other lifted the bludgeon above his

head. But if the strength of the hairy attacker was great, great

too was that of his smooth-skinned antagonist. Swinging a single

terrific blow with clenched fist to the point of the other's

chin, Tarzan momentarily staggered his assailant and then his own

fingers closed upon the shaggy throat, as with the other hand he

seized the wrist of the arm that swung the club. With equal

celerity he shot his right leg behind the shaggy brute and

throwing his weight forward hurled the thing over his hip heavily

to the ground, at the same time precipitating his own body upon

the other's chest.

With the shock of the impact the club fell from the brute's hand

and Tarzan's hold was wrenched from its throat. Instantly the two

were locked in a deathlike embrace. Though the creature bit at

Tarzan the latter was quickly aware that this was not a

particularly formidable method of offense or defense, since its

canines were scarcely more developed than his own. The thing that

he had principally to guard against was the sinuous tail which

sought steadily to wrap itself about his throat and against which

experience had afforded him no defense.

Struggling and snarling the two rolled growling about the sward

at the foot of the tree, first one on top and then the other but

each more occupied at present in defending his throat from the

other's choking grasp than in aggressive, offensive tactics. But

presently the ape-man saw his opportunity and as they rolled

about he forced the creature closer and closer to the pool, upon

the banks of which the battle was progressing. At last they lay

upon the very verge of the water and now it remained for Tarzan

to precipitate them both beneath the surface but in such a way

that he might remain on top.

At the same instant there came within range of Tarzan's vision,

just behind the prostrate form of his companion, the crouching,

devil-faced figure of the striped saber-tooth hybrid, eyeing him

with snarling, malevolent face.

Almost simultaneously Tarzan's shaggy antagonist discovered the

menacing figure of the great cat. Immediately he ceased his

belligerent activities against Tarzan and, jabbering and

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摘要：

TARZANTHETERRIBLEEdgarRiceBurroughsCHAPTERIThePithecanthropusII"TotheDeath!"IIIPan-at-leeIVTarzan-jad-guruVIntheKor-ul-gryfVITheTor-o-donVIIJungleCraftVIIIA-lurIXBlood-StainedAltarsXTheForbiddenGardenXITheSentenceofDeathXIITheGiantStrangerXIIITheMasqueraderXIVTheTempleoftheGryfXV"TheKingIsDead!"XVIT...

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Edgar Rice Burroughs - Tarzan the Terrible

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