Edgar Rice Burroughs - Jungle Tales Of Tarzan

Jungle Tales of Tarzan

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Contents

CHAPTER

1 Tarzan's First Love

2 The Capture of Tarzan

3 The Fight for the Balu

4 The God of Tarzan

5 Tarzan and the Black Boy

6 The Witch-Doctor Seeks Vengeance

7 The End of Bukawai

8 The Lion

9 The Nightmare

10 The Battle for Teeka

11 A Jungle Joke

12 Tarzan Rescues the Moon

1

Tarzan's First Love

TEEKA, STRETCHED AT luxurious ease in the shade of the

tropical forest, presented, unquestionably, a most alluring

picture of young, feminine loveliness. Or at least so

thought Tarzan of the Apes, who squatted upon a low-swinging

branch in a near-by tree and looked down upon her.

Just to have seen him there, lolling upon the swaying

bough of the jungle-forest giant, his brown skin mottled

by the brilliant equatorial sunlight which percolated

through the leafy canopy of green above him, his clean-limbed

body relaxed in graceful ease, his shapely head partly

turned in contemplative absorption and his intelligent,

gray eyes dreamily devouring the object of their devotion,

you would have thought him the reincarnation of some

demigod of old.

You would not have guessed that in infancy he had suckled

at the breast of a hideous, hairy she-ape, nor that in all

his conscious past since his parents had passed away in the

little cabin by the landlocked harbor at the jungle's verge,

he had known no other associates than the sullen bulls

and the snarling cows of the tribe of Kerchak, the great ape.

Nor, could you have read the thoughts which passed through

that active, healthy brain, the longings and desires

and aspirations which the sight of Teeka inspired,

would you have been any more inclined to give credence

to the reality of the origin of the ape-man. For,

from his thoughts alone, you could never have gleaned

the truth--that he had been born to a gentle English lady

or that his sire had been an English nobleman of time-honored

lineage.

Lost to Tarzan of the Apes was the truth of his origin.

That he was John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, with a seat

in the House of Lords, he did not know, nor, knowing,

would have understood.

Yes, Teeka was indeed beautiful!

Of course Kala had been beautiful--one's mother is always

that--but Teeka was beautiful in a way all her own,

an indescribable sort of way which Tarzan was just

beginning to sense in a rather vague and hazy manner.

For years had Tarzan and Teeka been play-fellows, and Teeka

still continued to be playful while the young bulls of her own

age were rapidly becoming surly and morose. Tarzan, if he

gave the matter much thought at all, probably reasoned

that his growing attachment for the young female could

be easily accounted for by the fact that of the former

playmates she and he alone retained any desire to frolic as of

old.

But today, as he sat gazing upon her, he found himself

noting the beauties of Teeka's form and features--something

he never had done before, since none of them had aught

to do with Teeka's ability to race nimbly through the lower

terraces of the forest in the primitive games of tag and

hide-and-go-seek which Tarzan's fertile brain evolved.

Tarzan scratched his head, running his fingers deep

into the shock of black hair which framed his shapely,

boyish face--he scratched his head and sighed.

Teeka's new-found beauty became as suddenly his despair.

He envied her the handsome coat of hair which covered

her body. His own smooth, brown hide he hated with a

hatred born of disgust and contempt. Years back he had

harbored a hope that some day he, too, would be clothed

in hair as were all his brothers and sisters; but of late

he had been forced to abandon the delectable dream.

Then there were Teeka's great teeth, not so large as the males,

of course, but still mighty, handsome things by comparison

with Tarzan's feeble white ones. And her beetling brows,

and broad, flat nose, and her mouth! Tarzan had often

practiced making his mouth into a little round circle and then

puffing out his cheeks while he winked his eyes rapidly;

but he felt that he could never do it in the same cute

and irresistible way in which Teeka did it.

And as he watched her that afternoon, and wondered,

a young bull ape who had been lazily foraging for food

beneath the damp, matted carpet of decaying vegetation

at the roots of a near-by tree lumbered awkwardly

in Teeka's direction. The other apes of the tribe

of Kerchak moved listlessly about or lolled restfully

in the midday heat of the equatorial jungle. From time

to time one or another of them had passed close to Teeka,

and Tarzan had been uninterested. Why was it then that his

brows contracted and his muscles tensed as he saw Taug

pause beside the young she and then squat down close to her?

Tarzan always had liked Taug. Since childhood they

had romped together. Side by side they had squatted

near the water, their quick, strong fingers ready to

leap forth and seize Pisah, the fish, should that wary

denizen of the cool depths dart surfaceward to the lure

of the insects Tarzan tossed upon the face of the pool.

Together they had baited Tublat and teased Numa, the lion.

Why, then, should Tarzan feel the rise of the short hairs

at the nape of his neck merely because Taug sat close to Teeka?

It is true that Taug was no longer the frolicsome ape

of yesterday. When his snarling-muscles bared his giant

fangs no one could longer imagine that Taug was in as

playful a mood as when he and Tarzan had rolled upon

the turf in mimic battle. The Taug of today was a huge,

sullen bull ape, somber and forbidding. Yet he and Tarzan

never had quarreled.

For a few minutes the young ape-man watched Taug press

closer to Teeka. He saw the rough caress of the huge

paw as it stroked the sleek shoulder of the she,

and then Tarzan of the Apes slipped catlike to the ground

and approached the two.

As he came his upper lip curled into a snarl, exposing his

fighting fangs, and a deep growl rumbled from his

cavernous chest. Taug looked up, batting his blood-shot eyes.

Teeka half raised herself and looked at Tarzan.

Did she guess the cause of his perturbation? Who may

say? At any rate, she was feminine, and so she reached

up and scratched Taug behind one of his small, flat ears.

Tarzan saw, and in the instant that he saw, Teeka was no

longer the little playmate of an hour ago; instead she

was a wondrous thing--the most wondrous in the world--and

a possession for which Tarzan would fight to the death

against Taug or any other who dared question his right

of proprietorship.

Stooped, his muscles rigid and one great shoulder turned

toward the young bull, Tarzan of the Apes sidled nearer

and nearer. His face was partly averted, but his keen

gray eyes never left those of Taug, and as he came,

his growls increased in depth and volume.

Taug rose upon his short legs, bristling. His fighting

fangs were bared. He, too, sidled, stiff-legged, and growled.

"Teeka is Tarzan's," said the ape-man, in the low gutturals

of the great anthropoids.

"Teeka is Taug's," replied the bull ape.

Thaka and Numgo and Gunto, disturbed by the growlings

of the two young bulls, looked up half apathetic,

half interested. They were sleepy, but they sensed a fight.

It would break the monotony of the humdrum jungle life

they led.

Coiled about his shoulders was Tarzan's long grass rope,

in his hand was the hunting knife of the long-dead father

he had never known. In Taug's little brain lay a great

respect for the shiny bit of sharp metal which the ape-boy

knew so well how to use. With it had he slain Tublat,

his fierce foster father, and Bolgani, the gorilla.

Taug knew these things, and so he came warily, circling about

Tarzan in search of an opening. The latter, made cautious

because of his lesser bulk and the inferiority of his

natural armament, followed similar tactics.

For a time it seemed that the altercation would

follow the way of the majority of such differences

between members of the tribe and that one of them would

finally lose interest and wander off to prosecute some

other line of endeavor. Such might have been the end

of it had the CASUS BELLI been other than it was;

but Teeka was flattered at the attention that was being

drawn to her and by the fact that these two young bulls

were contemplating battle on her account. Such a thing

never before had occurred in Teeka's brief life.

She had seen other bulls battling for other and older shes,

and in the depth of her wild little heart she had longed

for the day when the jungle grasses would be reddened

with the blood of mortal combat for her fair sake.

So now she squatted upon her haunches and insulted

both her admirers impartially. She hurled taunts at

them for their cowardice, and called them vile names,

such as Histah, the snake, and Dango, the hyena.

She threatened to call Mumga to chastise them with a

stick--Mumga, who was so old that she could no longer

climb and so toothless that she was forced to confine

her diet almost exclusively to bananas and grub-worms.

The apes who were watching heard and laughed.

Taug was infuriated. He made a sudden lunge for Tarzan,

but the ape-boy leaped nimbly to one side, eluding him,

and with the quickness of a cat wheeled and leaped back

again to close quarters. His hunting knife was raised

above his head as he came in, and he aimed a vicious blow

at Taug's neck. The ape wheeled to dodge the weapon

so that the keen blade struck him but a glancing blow upon

the shoulder.

The spurt of red blood brought a shrill cry of delight

from Teeka. Ah, but this was something worth while!

She glanced about to see if others had witnessed this

evidence of her popularity. Helen of Troy was never

one whit more proud than was Teeka at that moment.

If Teeka had not been so absorbed in her own vaingloriousness

she might have noted the rustling of leaves in the

tree above her--a rustling which was not caused by

any movement of the wind, since there was no wind.

And had she looked up she might have seen a sleek body

crouching almost directly over her and wicked yellow

eyes glaring hungrily down upon her, but Teeka did not look up.

With his wound Taug had backed off growling horribly.

Tarzan had followed him, screaming insults at him,

and menacing him with his brandishing blade. Teeka moved

from beneath the tree in an effort to keep close to

the duelists.

The branch above Teeka bent and swayed a trifle with the

movement of the body of the watcher stretched along it.

Taug had halted now and was preparing to make a new stand.

His lips were flecked with foam, and saliva drooled from

his jowls. He stood with head lowered and arms outstretched,

preparing for a sudden charge to close quarters.

Could he but lay his mighty hands upon that soft,

brown skin the battle would be his. Taug considered

Tarzan's manner of fighting unfair. He would not close.

Instead, he leaped nimbly just beyond the reach of Taug's

muscular fingers.

The ape-boy had as yet never come to a real trial

of strength with a bull ape, other than in play,

and so he was not at all sure that it would be safe to put

his muscles to the test in a life and death struggle.

Not that he was afraid, for Tarzan knew nothing of fear.

The instinct of self-preservation gave him caution--that

was all. He took risks only when it seemed necessary,

and then he would hesitate at nothing.

His own method of fighting seemed best fitted to his build

and to his armament. His teeth, while strong and sharp, were,

as weapons of offense, pitifully inadequate by comparison

with the mighty fighting fangs of the anthropoids.

By dancing about, just out of reach of an antagonist,

Tarzan could do infinite injury with his long,

sharp hunting knife, and at the same time escape

many of the painful and dangerous wounds which would

be sure to follow his falling into the clutches of a bull ape.

And so Taug charged and bellowed like a bull, and Tarzan

of the Apes danced lightly to this side and that,

hurling jungle billingsgate at his foe, the while he

nicked him now and again with his knife.

There were lulls in the fighting when the two would stand

panting for breath, facing each other, mustering their

wits and their forces for a new onslaught. It was

during a pause such as this that Taug chanced to let

his eyes rove beyond his foeman. Instantly the entire

aspect of the ape altered. Rage left his countenance

to be supplanted by an expression of fear.

With a cry that every ape there recognized, Taug turned

and fled. No need to question him--his warning proclaimed

the near presence of their ancient enemy.

Tarzan started to seek safety, as did the other members

of the tribe, and as he did so he heard a panther's

scream mingled with the frightened cry of a she-ape.

Taug heard, too; but he did not pause in his flight.

With the ape-boy, however, it was different. He looked

back to see if any member of the tribe was close pressed

by the beast of prey, and the sight that met his eyes

filled them with an expression of horror.

Teeka it was who cried out in terror as she fled across

a little clearing toward the trees upon the opposite side,

for after her leaped Sheeta, the panther, in easy,

graceful bounds. Sheeta appeared to be in no hurry.

His meat was assured, since even though the ape reached

the trees ahead of him she could not climb beyond his

clutches before he could be upon her.

Tarzan saw that Teeka must die. He cried to Taug

and the other bulls to hasten to Teeka's assistance,

and at the same time he ran toward the pursuing beast,

taking down his rope as he came. Tarzan knew that once

the great bulls were aroused none of the jungle,

not even Numa, the lion, was anxious to measure fangs

with them, and that if all those of the tribe who chanced

to be present today would charge, Sheeta, the great cat,

would doubtless turn tail and run for his life.

Taug heard, as did the others, but no one came to Tarzan's

assistance or Teeka's rescue, and Sheeta was rapidly

closing up the distance between himself and his prey.

The ape-boy, leaping after the panther, cried aloud to

the beast in an effort to turn it from Teeka or otherwise

distract its attention until the she-ape could gain the

safety of the higher branches where Sheeta dared not go.

He called the panther every opprobrious name that fell

to his tongue. He dared him to stop and do battle with him;

but Sheeta only loped on after the luscious titbit now

almost within his reach.

Tarzan was not far behind and he was gaining, but the

distance was so short that he scarce hoped to overhaul

the carnivore before it had felled Teeka. In his right hand

the boy swung his grass rope above his head as he ran.

He hated to chance a miss, for the distance was much

greater than he ever had cast before except in practice.

It was the full length of his grass rope which separated

him from Sheeta, and yet there was no other thing to do.

He could not reach the brute's side before it overhauled Teeka.

He must chance a throw.

And just as Teeka sprang for the lower limb of a great tree,

and Sheeta rose behind her in a long, sinuous leap,

the coils of the ape-boy's grass rope shot swiftly

through the air, straightening into a long thin line

as the open noose hovered for an instant above the savage

head and the snarling jaws. Then it settled--clean

and true about the tawny neck it settled, and Tarzan,

with a quick twist of his rope-hand, drew the noose taut,

bracing himself for the shock when Sheeta should have

taken up the slack.

Just short of Teeka's glossy rump the cruel talons raked

the air as the rope tightened and Sheeta was brought to a

sudden stop--a stop that snapped the big beast over upon

his back. Instantly Sheeta was up--with glaring eyes,

and lashing tail, and gaping jaws, from which issued

hideous cries of rage and disappointment.

He saw the ape-boy, the cause of his discomfiture,

scarce forty feet before him, and Sheeta charged.

Teeka was safe now; Tarzan saw to that by a quick glance

into the tree whose safety she had gained not an instant

too soon, and Sheeta was charging. It was useless to risk

his life in idle and unequal combat from which no good

could come; but could he escape a battle with the enraged

cat? And if he was forced to fight, what chance had he

to survive? Tarzan was constrained to admit that his

position was aught but a desirable one. The trees were

too far to hope to reach in time to elude the cat.

Tarzan could but stand facing that hideous charge.

In his right hand he grasped his hunting knife--a puny,

futile thing indeed by comparison with the great rows

of mighty teeth which lined Sheeta's powerful jaws,

and the sharp talons encased within his padded paws;

yet the young Lord Greystoke faced it with the same courageous

resignation with which some fearless ancestor went down

to defeat and death on Senlac Hill by Hastings.

From safety points in the trees the great apes watched,

screaming hatred at Sheeta and advice at Tarzan, for the

progenitors of man have, naturally, many human traits.

Teeka was frightened. She screamed at the bulls to hasten

to Tarzan's assistance; but the bulls were otherwise

engaged--principally in giving advice and making faces.

Anyway, Tarzan was not a real Mangani, so why should they

risk their lives in an effort to protect him?

And now Sheeta was almost upon the lithe, naked body,

and--the body was not there. Quick as was the great cat,

the ape-boy was quicker. He leaped to one side almost

as the panther's talons were closing upon him, and as Sheeta

went hurtling to the ground beyond, Tarzan was racing

for the safety of the nearest tree.

The panther recovered himself almost immediately and,

wheeling, tore after his prey, the ape-boy's rope

dragging along the ground behind him. In doubling back

after Tarzan, Sheeta had passed around a low bush.

It was a mere nothing in the path of any jungle creature

of the size and weight of Sheeta--provided it had no

trailing rope dangling behind. But Sheeta was handicapped

by such a rope, and as he leaped once again after Tarzan

of the Apes the rope encircled the small bush, became

tangled in it and brought the panther to a sudden stop.

An instant later Tarzan was safe among the higher branches

of a small tree into which Sheeta could not follow him.

Here he perched, hurling twigs and epithets at the raging

feline beneath him. The other members of the tribe now

took up the bombardment, using such hard-shelled fruits

and dead branches as came within their reach, until Sheeta,

goaded to frenzy and snapping at the grass rope,

finally succeeded in severing its strands. For a moment

the panther stood glaring first at one of his tormentors

and then at another, until, with a final scream of rage,

he turned and slunk off into the tangled mazes of the jungle.

A half hour later the tribe was again upon the ground,

feeding as though naught had occurred to interrupt the somber

dullness of their lives. Tarzan had recovered the greater

part of his rope and was busy fashioning a new noose,

while Teeka squatted close behind him, in evident token

that her choice was made.

Taug eyed them sullenly. Once when he came close,

Teeka bared her fangs and growled at him, and Tarzan

showed his canines in an ugly snarl; but Taug did not

provoke a quarrel. He seemed to accept after the manner

of his kind the decision of the she as an indication

that he had been vanquished in his battle for her favors.

Later in the day, his rope repaired, Tarzan took to the trees

in search of game. More than his fellows he required meat,

and so, while they were satisfied with fruits and herbs

and beetles, which could be discovered without much effort

upon their part, Tarzan spent considerable time hunting

the game animals whose flesh alone satisfied the cravings

of his stomach and furnished sustenance and strength

to the mighty thews which, day by day, were building

beneath the soft, smooth texture of his brown hide.

Taug saw him depart, and then, quite casually, the big beast

hunted closer and closer to Teeka in his search for food.

At last he was within a few feet of her, and when he shot

a covert glance at her he saw that she was appraising him

and that there was no evidence of anger upon her face.

Taug expanded his great chest and rolled about on his

short legs, making strange growlings in his throat.

He raised his lips, baring his fangs. My, but what great,

beautiful fangs he had! Teeka could not but notice them.

She also let her eyes rest in admiration upon Taug's beetling

brows and his short, powerful neck. What a beautiful

creature he was indeed!

Taug, flattered by the unconcealed admiration in her eyes,

strutted about, as proud and as vain as a peacock.

Presently he began to inventory his assets, mentally,

and shortly he found himself comparing them with those

of his rival.

Taug grunted, for there was no comparison. How could

one compare his beautiful coat with the smooth and naked

hideousness of Tarzan's bare hide? Who could see beauty

in the stingy nose of the Tarmangani after looking at

Taug's broad nostrils? And Tarzan's eyes! Hideous things,

showing white about them, and entirely unrimmed with red.

Taug knew that his own blood-shot eyes were beautiful,

for he had seen them reflected in the glassy surface of many

a drinking pool.

The bull drew nearer to Teeka, finally squatting close

against her. When Tarzan returned from his hunting a short

time later it was to see Teeka contentedly scratching

the back of his rival.

Tarzan was disgusted. Neither Taug nor Teeka saw him

as he swung through the trees into the glade. He paused

a moment, looking at them; then, with a sorrowful grimace,

he turned and faded away into the labyrinth of leafy

boughs and festooned moss out of which he had come.

Tarzan wished to be as far away from the cause of his heartache

as he could. He was suffering the first pangs of blighted love,

and he didn't quite know what was the matter with him.

He thought that he was angry with Taug, and so he couldn't

understand why it was that he had run away instead

of rushing into mortal combat with the destroyer of his

happiness.

He also thought that he was angry with Teeka, yet a

vision of her many beauties persisted in haunting him,

so that he could only see her in the light of love

as the most desirable thing in the world.

The ape-boy craved affection. From babyhood until the

time of her death, when the poisoned arrow of Kulonga

had pierced her savage heart, Kala had represented

to the English boy the sole object of love which he had known.

In her wild, fierce way Kala had loved her adopted son,

and Tarzan had returned that love, though the outward

demonstrations of it were no greater than might have

been expected from any other beast of the jungle.

It was not until he was bereft of her that the boy

realized how deep had been his attachment for his mother,

for as such he looked upon her.

In Teeka he had seen within the past few hours a

substitute for Kala--someone to fight for and to hunt

for--someone to caress; but now his dream was shattered.

Something hurt within his breast. He placed his hand

over his heart and wondered what had happened to him.

Vaguely he attributed his pain to Teeka. The more he

thought of Teeka as he had last seen her, caressing Taug,

the more the thing within his breast hurt him.

Tarzan shook his head and growled; then on and on

through the jungle he swung, and the farther he traveled

and the more he thought upon his wrongs, the nearer

he approached becoming an irreclaimable misogynist.

Two days later he was still hunting alone--very morose

and very unhappy; but he was determined never to return

to the tribe. He could not bear the thought of seeing

Taug and Teeka always together. As he swung upon

a great limb Numa, the lion, and Sabor, the lioness,

passed beneath him, side by side, and Sabor leaned

against the lion and bit playfully at his cheek.

It was a half-caress. Tarzan sighed and hurled a nut at them.

Later he came upon several of Mbonga's black warriors.

He was upon the point of dropping his noose about the

neck of one of them, who was a little distance from

his companions, when he became interested in the thing

which occupied the savages. They were building a cage

in the trail and covering it with leafy branches.

When they had completed their work the structure was

scarcely visible.

Tarzan wondered what the purpose of the thing might be,

and why, when they had built it, they turned away and started

back along the trail in the direction of their village.

It had been some time since Tarzan had visited the blacks

and looked down from the shelter of the great trees which

overhung their palisade upon the activities of his enemies,

from among whom had come the slayer of Kala.

Although he hated them, Tarzan derived considerable

entertainment in watching them at their daily life within

the village, and especially at their dances, when the

fires glared against their naked bodies as they leaped

and turned and twisted in mimic warfare. It was rather

in the hope of witnessing something of the kind that he

Edgar Rice Burroughs - Jungle Tales Of Tarzan

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