Tenderly Kala nursed her little
waif, wondering silently why
it did not gain strength and
agility as did the little apes
of other mothers. It was nearly
a year from the time the little
fellow came into her possession
before he would walk alone, and
as for climbing--my, but how
stupid he was!
Kala sometimes talked with
the older females about her young
hopeful, but none of them could
understand how a child could
be so slow and backward in learning
to care for itself. Why, it could
not even find food alone, and
more than twelve moons had passed
since Kala had come upon it.
Had they known that the child
had seen thirteen moons before
it had come into Kala's possession
they would have considered its
case as absolutely hopeless,
for the little apes of their
own tribe were as far advanced
in two or three moons as was
this little stranger after twenty-five.
Tublat, Kala's husband, was
sorely vexed, and but for the
female's careful watching would
have put the child out of the
way.
"He will never be a great ape," he
argued. "Always will you have
to carry him and protect him.
What good will he be to the tribe?
None; only a burden.
"Let us leave
him quietly sleeping among
the tall grasses, that
you may bear other and stronger
apes to guard us in our old age."
"Never, Broken Nose," replied
Kala. "If I must carry him forever,
so be it."
And then Tublat
went to Kerchak to urge him
to use his authority
with Kala, and force her to give
up little Tarzan, which was the
name they had given to the tiny
Lord Greystoke, and which meant "White-Skin."
But when Kerchak spoke to her
about it Kala threatened to run
away from the tribe if they did
not leave her in peace with the
child; and as this is one of
the inalienable rights of the
jungle folk, if they be dissatisfied
among their own people, they
bothered her no more, for Kala
was a fine clean-limbed young
female, and they did not wish
to lose her.
As Tarzan grew he made more
rapid strides, so that by the
time he was ten years old he
was an excellent climber, and
on the ground could do many wonderful
things which were beyond the
powers of his little brothers
and sisters.
In many ways did he differ
from them, and they often marveled
at his superior cunning, but
in strength and size he was deficient;
for at ten the great anthropoids
were fully grown, some of them
towering over six feet in height,
while little Tarzan was still
but a half-grown boy.
Yet such a boy!
From early childhood he had
used his hands to swing from
branch to branch after the manner
of his giant mother, and as he
grew older he spent hour upon
hour daily speeding through the
tree tops with his brothers and
sisters.
He could spring twenty feet
across space at the dizzy heights
of the forest top, and grasp
with unerring precision, and
without apparent jar, a limb
waving wildly in the path of
an approaching tornado.
He could drop twenty feet at
a stretch from limb to limb in
rapid descent to the ground,
or he could gain the utmost pinnacle
of the loftiest tropical giant
with the ease and swiftness of
a squirrel.
Though but ten years old he
was fully as strong as the average
man of thirty, and far more agile
than the most practiced athlete
ever becomes. And day by day
his strength was increasing.
His life among these fierce
apes had been happy; for his
recollection held no other life,
nor did he know that there existed
within the universe aught else
than his little forest and the
wild jungle animals with which
he was familiar.
He was nearly ten before he
commenced to realize that a great
difference existed between himself
and his fellows. His little body,
burned brown by exposure, suddenly
caused him feelings of intense
shame, for he realized that it
was entirely hairless, like some
low snake, or other reptile.
He attempted to obviate this
by plastering himself from head
to foot with mud, but this dried
and fell off. Besides it felt
so uncomfortable that he quickly
decided that he preferred the
shame to the discomfort.
In the higher land which his
tribe frequented was a little
lake, and it was here that Tarzan
first saw his face in the clear,
still waters of its bosom.
It was on a sultry day of the
dry season that he and one of
his cousins had gone down to
the bank to drink. As they leaned
over, both little faces were
mirrored on the placid pool;
the fierce and terrible features
of the ape beside those of the
aristocratic scion of an old
English house.
Tarzan was appalled. It had
been bad enough to be hairless,
but to own such a countenance!
He wondered that the other apes
could look at him at all.
That tiny slit of a mouth and
those puny white teeth! How they
looked beside the mighty lips
and powerful fangs of his more
fortunate brothers!
And the little pinched nose
of his; so thin was it that it
looked half starved. He turned
red as he compared it with the
beautiful broad nostrils of his
companion. Such a generous nose!
Why it spread half across his
face! It certainly must be fine
to be so handsome, thought poor
little Tarzan.
But when he saw his own eyes;
ah, that was the final blow --a
brown spot, a gray circle and
then blank whiteness! Frightful!
not even the snakes had such
hideous eyes as he.
So intent was he upon this
personal appraisement of his
features that he did not hear
the parting of the tall grass
behind him as a great body pushed
itself stealthily through the
jungle; nor did his companion,
the ape, hear either, for he
was drinking and the noise of
his sucking lips and gurgles
of satisfaction drowned the quiet
approach of the intruder.
Not thirty paces behind the
two she crouched--Sabor, the
huge lioness--lashing her tail.
Cautiously she moved a great
padded paw forward, noiselessly
placing it before she lifted
the next. Thus she advanced;
her belly low, almost touching
the surface of the ground--a
great cat preparing to spring
upon its prey.
Now she was within ten feet
of the two unsuspecting little
playfellows--carefully she drew
her hind feet well up beneath
her body, the great muscles rolling
under the beautiful skin.
So low she was crouching now
that she seemed flattened to
the earth except for the upward
bend of the glossy back as it
gathered for the spring.
No longer the tail lashed--quiet
and straight behind her it lay.
An instant she paused thus,
as though turned to stone, and
then, with an awful scream, she
sprang.
Sabor, the lioness, was a wise
hunter. To one less wise the
wild alarm of her fierce cry
as she sprang would have seemed
a foolish thing, for could she
not more surely have fallen upon
her victims had she but quietly
leaped without that loud shriek?
But Sabor knew well the wondrous
quickness of the jungle folk
and their almost unbelievable
powers of hearing. To them the
sudden scraping of one blade
of grass across another was as
effectual a warning as her loudest
cry, and Sabor knew that she
could not make that mighty leap
without a little noise.
Her wild scream was not a warning.
It was voiced to freeze her poor
victims in a paralysis of terror
for the tiny fraction of an instant
which would suffice for her mighty
claws to sink into their soft
flesh and hold them beyond hope
of escape.
So far as the ape was concerned,
Sabor reasoned correctly. The
little fellow crouched trembling
just an instant, but that instant
was quite long enough to prove
his undoing.
Not so, however, with Tarzan,
the man-child. His life amidst
the dangers of the jungle had
taught him to meet emergencies
with self-confidence, and his
higher intelligence resulted
in a quickness of mental action
far beyond the powers of the
apes.
So the scream of Sabor, the
lioness, galvanized the brain
and muscles of little Tarzan
into instant action.
Before him lay the deep waters
of the little lake, behind him
certain death; a cruel death
beneath tearing claws and rending
fangs.
Tarzan had always hated water
except as a medium for quenching
his thirst. He hated it because
he connected it with the chill
and discomfort of the torrential
rains, and he feared it for the
thunder and lightning and wind
which accompanied them.
The deep waters of the lake
he had been taught by his wild
mother to avoid, and further,
had he not seen little Neeta
sink beneath its quiet surface
only a few short weeks before
never to return to the tribe?
But of the two evils his quick
mind chose the lesser ere the
first note of Sabor's scream
had scarce broken the quiet of
the jungle, and before the great
beast had covered half her leap
Tarzan felt the chill waters
close above his head.
He could not swim, and the
water was very deep; but still
he lost no particle of that self-confidence
and resourcefulness which were
the badges of his superior being.
Rapidly he moved his hands
and feet in an attempt to scramble
upward, and, possibly more by
chance than design, he fell into
the stroke that a dog uses when
swimming, so that within a few
seconds his nose was above water
and he found that he could keep
it there by continuing his strokes,
and also make progress through
the water.
He was much surprised and pleased
with this new acquirement which
had been so suddenly thrust upon
him, but he had no time for thinking
much upon it.
He was now swimming parallel
to the bank and there he saw
the cruel beast that would have
seized him crouching upon the
still form of his little playmate.
The lioness was intently watching
Tarzan, evidently expecting him
to return to shore, but this
the boy had no intention of doing.
Instead he raised his voice
in the call of distress common
to his tribe, adding to it the
warning which would prevent would-be
rescuers from running into the
clutches of Sabor.
Almost immediately there came
an answer from the distance,
and presently forty or fifty
great apes swung rapidly and
majestically through the trees
toward the scene of tragedy.
In the lead was Kala, for she
had recognized the tones of her
best beloved, and with her was
the mother of the little ape
who lay dead beneath cruel Sabor.
Though more powerful and better
equipped for fighting than the
apes, the lioness had no desire
to meet these enraged adults,
and with a snarl of hatred she
sprang quickly into the brush
and disappeared.
Tarzan now swam to shore and
clambered quickly upon dry land.
The feeling of freshness and
exhilaration which the cool waters
had imparted to him, filled his
little being with grateful surprise,
and ever after he lost no opportunity
to take a daily plunge in lake
or stream or ocean when it was
possible to do so.
For a long time Kala could
not accustom herself to the sight;
for though her people could swim
when forced to it, they did not
like to enter water, and never
did so voluntarily.
The adventure with the lioness
gave Tarzan food for pleasurable
memories, for it was such affairs
which broke the monotony of his
daily life--otherwise but a dull
round of searching for food,
eating, and sleeping.
The tribe to which he belonged
roamed a tract extending, roughly,
twenty-five miles along the seacoast
and some fifty miles inland.
This they traversed almost continually,
occasionally remaining for months
in one locality; but as they
moved through the trees with
great speed they often covered
the territory in a very few days.
Much depended upon food supply,
climatic conditions, and the
prevalence of animals of the
more dangerous species; though
Kerchak often led them on long
marches for no other reason than
that he had tired of remaining
in the same place.
At night they slept where darkness
overtook them, lying upon the
ground, and sometimes covering
their heads, and more seldom
their bodies, with the great
leaves of the elephant's ear.
Two or three might lie cuddled
in each other's arms for additional
warmth if the night were chill,
and thus Tarzan had slept in
Kala's arms nightly for all these
years.
That the huge, fierce brute
loved this child of another race
is beyond question, and he, too,
gave to the great, hairy beast
all the affection that would
have belonged to his fair young
mother had she lived.
When he was disobedient she
cuffed him, it is true, but she
was never cruel to him, and was
more often caressing him than
chastising him.
Tublat, her mate, always hated
Tarzan, and on several occasions
had come near ending his youthful
career.
Tarzan on his part never lost
an opportunity to show that he
fully reciprocated his foster
father's sentiments, and whenever
he could safely annoy him or
make faces at him or hurl insults
upon him from the safety of his
mother's arms, or the slender
branches of the higher trees,
he did so.
His superior intelligence and
cunning permitted him to invent
a thousand diabolical tricks
to add to the burdens of Tublat's
life.
Early in his boyhood he had
learned to form ropes by twisting
and tying long grasses together,
and with these he was forever
tripping Tublat or attempting
to hang him from some overhanging
branch.
By constant playing and experimenting
with these he learned to tie
rude knots, and make sliding
nooses; and with these he and
the younger apes amused themselves.
What Tarzan did they tried to
do also, but he alone originated
and became proficient.
One day while playing thus
Tarzan had thrown his rope at
one of his fleeing companions,
retaining the other end in his
grasp. By accident the noose
fell squarely about the running
ape's neck, bringing him to a
sudden and surprising halt.
Ah, here was a new game, a
fine game, thought Tarzan, and
immediately he attempted to repeat
the trick. And thus, by painstaking
and continued practice, he learned
the art of roping.
Now, indeed, was the life of
Tublat a living nightmare. In
sleep, upon the march, night
or day, he never knew when that
quiet noose would slip about
his neck and nearly choke the
life out of him.
Kala punished, Tublat swore
dire vengeance, and old Kerchak
took notice and warned and threatened;
but all to no avail.
Tarzan defied them all, and
the thin, strong noose continued
to settle about Tublat's neck
whenever he least expected it.
The other apes derived unlimited
amusement from Tublat's discomfiture,
for Broken Nose was a disagreeable
old fellow, whom no one liked,
anyway.
In Tarzan's clever little mind
many thoughts revolved, and back
of these was his divine power
of reason.
If he could catch his fellow
apes with his long arm of many
grasses, why not Sabor, the lioness?
It was the germ of a thought,
which, however, was destined
to mull around in his conscious
and subconscious mind until it
resulted in magnificent achievement.
But that came in later years.
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