Tarzan
LORD OF THE JUNGLE
By EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK
Copyright 1928 by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.
_Copyright renewed 1956 by John Coleman Burroughs_
_All Rights Reserved_
_Printed in the United States of America_
_Contents_
Tantor the Elephant
Comrades of the Wild
The Apes of Toyat
Bolgani the Gorilla
The Tarmangani
Ara the Lightning
The Cross
The Snake Strikes
Sir Richard
The Return of Ulala
Sir James
"Tomorrow Thou Diest!"
In the Beyt of Zeyd
Sword and Buckler
The Lonely Grave
The Great Tourney
"The Saracens!"
The Black Knight
Lord Tarzan
"I Love You!"
"For Every Jewel a Drop of Blood!"
Bride of the Ape
Jad-bal-ja
Where Trails Met
TARZAN
_Lord of the Jungle_
CHAPTER I
_Tantor the Elephant_
His great bulk swaying to and fro as he threw his weight first upon
one side and then upon the other, Tantor the elephant lolled in the
shade of the father of forests. Almost omnipotent, he, in the realm of
his people. Dango, Sheeta, even Numa the mighty were as naught to the
pachyderm. For a hundred years he had come and gone up and down the
land that had trembled to the comings and the goings of his forebears
for countless ages.
In peace he had lived with Dango the hyena, Sheeta the leopard and Numa
the lion. Man alone had made war upon him. Man, who holds the unique
distinction among created things of making war on all living creatures,
even to his own kind. Man, the ruthless; man, the pitiless; man, the
most hated living organism that Nature has evolved.
Always during the long hundred years of his life, Tantor had known
man. There had been black men, always. Big black warriors with spears
and arrows, little black warriors, swart Arabs with crude muskets and
white men with powerful express rifles and elephant guns. The white men
had been the last to come and were the worst. Yet Tantor did not hate
men--not even white men. Hate, vengeance, envy, avarice, lust are a few
of the delightful emotions reserved exclusively for Nature's noblest
work--the _lower_ animals do not know them. Neither do they know fear
as man knows it, but rather a certain bold caution that sends the
antelope and the zebra, watchful and wary, to the water hole with the
lion.
Tantor shared this caution with his fellows and avoided men--especially
white men; and so had there been other eyes there that day to see,
their possessor might almost have questioned their veracity, or
attributed their error to the half-light of the forest as they scanned
the figure sprawling prone upon the rough back of the elephant, half
dozing in the heat to the swaying of the great body; for, despite the
sun-bronzed hide, the figure was quite evidently that of a white man.
But there were no other eyes to see and Tantor drowsed in the heat
of midday and Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, dozed upon the back of his
mighty friend. A sultry air current moved sluggishly from the north,
bringing to the keen nostrils of the ape-man no disquieting perception.
Peace lay upon the jungle and the two beasts were content.
In the forest Fahd and Motlog, of the tribe el-Harb, hunted north from
the menzil of Sheik Ibn Jad of the Beny Salem fendy el-Guad. With them
were black slaves. They advanced warily and in silence upon the fresh
spoor of el-fil the elephant, the thoughts of the swart 'Aarab dwelling
upon ivory, those of the black slaves upon fresh meat. The 'abd
Fejjuan, black Galla slave, sleek, ebon warrior, eater of raw meat,
famed hunter, led the others.
Fejjuan, as his comrades, thought of fresh meat, but also he thought
of el-Habash, the land from which he had been stolen as a boy. He
thought of coming again to the lonely Galla hut of his parents. Perhaps
el-Habash was not far off now. For months Ibn Jad had been traveling
south and now he had come east for a long distance. El-Habash must be
near. When he was sure of that his days of slavery would be over and
Ibn Jad would have lost his best Galla slave.
Two marches to the north, in the southern extremity of Abyssinia, stood
the round dwelling of the father of Fejjuan, almost on the roughly
mapped route that Ibn Jad had planned nearly a year since when he had
undertaken this mad adventure upon the advice of a learned Sahar, a
magician of repute. But of either the exact location of his father's
house or the exact plans of Ibn Jad, Fejjuan was equally ignorant. He
but dreamed, and his dreams were flavored with raw meat.
The leaves of the forest drowsed in the heat above the heads of the
hunters. Beneath the drowsing leaves of other trees a stone's throw
ahead of them Tarzan and Tantor slept, their perceptive faculties
momentarily dulled by the soothing influence of fancied security and
the somnolence that is a corollary of equatorial midday.
Fejjuan, the Galla slave, halted in his tracks, stopping those behind
him by the silent mandate of an upraised hand. Directly before him,
seen dimly between the boles and through the foliage, swayed the giant
bulk of el-fil. Fejjuan motioned to Fahd, who moved stealthily to the
side of the black. The Galla slave pointed through the foliage toward a
patch of gray hide. Fahd raised el-Lazzary, his ancient matchlock, to
his shoulder. There was a flash of flame, a burst of smoke, a roar and
el-fil, unhit, was bolting through the forest.
As Tantor surged forward at the sound of the report Tarzan started to
spring to an upright position, and at the same instant the pachyderm
passed beneath a low hanging limb which struck the ape-man's head,
sweeping him to the ground, where he lay stunned and unconscious.
Terrified, Tantor thought only of escape as he ran north through the
forest, leaving in his wake felled trees, trampled or uptorn bushes.
Perhaps he did not know that his friend lay helpless and injured, at
the mercy of the common enemy, man. Tantor never thought of Tarzan
as one of the Tarmangani, for the white man was synonymous with
discomfort, pain, annoyance, whereas Tarzan of the Apes meant to him
restful companionship, peace, happiness. Of all the jungle beasts,
except his own kind, he fraternized with Tarzan only.
"Billah! Thou missed," exclaimed Fejjuan.
"Gluck!" ejaculated Fahd. "Sheytan guided the bullet. But let us
see--perhaps el-fil is hit."
"Nay, thou missed."
The two men pushed forward, followed by their fellows, looking for the
hoped-for carmine spoor. Fahd suddenly stopped.
"Wellah! What have we here?" he cried. "I fired at el-fil and killed a
Nasrany."
The others crowded about. "It is indeed a Christian dog, and naked,
too," said Motlog.
"Or some wild man of the forest," suggested another. "Where didst thy
bullet strike him, Fahd?"
They stooped and rolled Tarzan over. "There is no mark of bullet upon
him."
"Is he dead? Perhaps he, too, hunted el-fil and was slain by the great
beast."
"He is not dead," announced Fejjuan, who had kneeled and placed an ear
above the ape-man's heart. "He lives and from the mark upon his head
I think but temporarily out of his wits from a blow. See, he lies in
the path that el-fil made when he ran away--he was struck down in the
brute's flight."
"I will finish him," said Fahd, drawing his khusa.
"By Ullah, no! Put back thy knife, Fahd," said Motlog. "Let the sheykh
say if he shall be killed. Thou art always too eager for blood."
"It is but a Nasrany," insisted Fahd. "Think thou to carry him back to
the menzil?"
"He moves," said Fejjuan. "Presently he will be able to walk there
without help. But perhaps he will not come with us, and look, he hath
the size and muscles of a giant. Wellah! What a man!"
"Bind him," commanded Fahd. So with thongs of camel hide they made the
ape-man's two wrists secure together across his belly, nor was the
work completed any too soon. They had scarce done when Tarzan opened
his eyes and looked them slowly over. He shook his head, like some
great lion, and presently his senses cleared. He recognized the 'Aarab
instantly for what they were.
"Why are my wrists bound?" he asked them in their own tongue. "Remove
the thongs!"
Fahd laughed. "Thinkest thou, Nasrany, that thou art some great sheykh
that thou canst order about the Beduw as they were dogs?"
"I am Tarzan," replied the ape-man, as one might say, "I am the sheykh
of sheykhs."
"Tarzan!" exclaimed Motlog. He drew Fahd aside. "Of all men," he said,
lowering his voice, "that it should be our ill fortune to offend this
one! In every village that we have entered in the past two weeks we
have heard his name. 'Wait,' they have said, 'until Tarzan, Lord of
the Jungle, returns. He will slay you when he learns that you have
taken slaves in his country'."
"When I drew my khusa thou shouldst not have stopped my hand, Motlog,"
complained Fahd; "but it is not too late yet." He placed his hand upon
the hilt of his knife.
"Billah, nay!" cried Motlog. "We have taken slaves in this country.
They are with us now and some of them will escape. Suppose they carry
word to the fendy of this great sheykh that we have slain him? Not one
of us will live to return to Beled el-Guad."
"Let us then take him before Ibn Jad that the responsibility may be
his," said Fahd.
"Wellah, you speak wisely," replied Motlog. "What the sheykh doeth with
this man is the sheykh's business. Come!"
As they returned to where Tarzan stood he eyed them questioningly.
"What have you decided to do with me?" he demanded. "If you are wise
you will cut these bonds and lead me to your sheykh. I wish a word with
him."
"We are only poor men," said Motlog. "It is not for us to say what
shall be done, and so we shall take you to our sheykh who will decide."
The Sheik Ibn Jad of the fendy el-Guad squatted in the open men's
compartment of his beyt es-sh'ar, and beside him in the mukaad of his
house of hair sat Tollog, his brother, and a young Beduin, Zeyd, who,
doubtless, found less attraction in the company of the shiek than in
the proximity of the sheik's hareem whose quarters were separated from
the mukaad only by a breast high curtain suspended between the waist
poles of the beyt, affording thus an occasional glimpse of Ateja, the
daughter of Ibn Jad. That it also afforded an occasional glimpse of
Hirfa, his wife, raised not the temperature of Zeyd an iota.
As the men talked the two women were busy within their apartment at
their housewifely duties. In a great brazen jidda Hirfa was placing
mutton to be boiled for the next meal while Ateja fashioned sandals
from an old bag of camel leather impregnated with the juice of the
dates that it had borne upon many a rahla, and meanwhile they missed
naught of the conversation that passed in the mukaad.
"We have come a long way without mishap from our own beled," Ibn Jad
was remarking, "and the way has been longer because I wished not to
pass through el-Habash lest we be set upon or followed by the people of
that country. Now may we turn north again and enter el-Habash close to
the spot where the magician foretold we should find the treasure city
of Nimmr."
"And thinkest thou to find this fabled city easily, once we are within
the boundaries of el-Habash?" asked Tollog, his brother.
"Wellah, yes. It is known to the people of this far south Habash.
Fejjuan, himself an Habashy, though he has never been there, heard of
it as a boy. We shall take prisoners among them and, by the grace of
Ullah, we shall find the means to loose their tongues and have the
truth from them."
"By Ullah, I hope it does not prove like the treasure that lies upon
the great rock el-Howwara in the plain of Medain Salih," said Zeyd. "An
afrit guards it where it lays sealed in a stone tower and they say that
should it be removed disaster would befall man-kind; for men would turn
upon their friends, and even upon their brothers, the sons of their
fathers and mothers, and the kings of the world would give battle, one
against another."
"Yea," testified Tollog, "I had it from one of the fendy Hazim that
a wise Moghreby came by there in his travels and consulting the
cabalistic signs in his book of magic discovered that indeed the
treasure lay there."
"But none dared take it up," said Zeyd.
"Billah!" exclaimed Ibn Jad. "There be no afrit guarding the treasures
of Nimmr. Naught but flesh and blood Habash that may be laid low with
ball and powder. The treasure is ours for the taking."
"Ullah grant that it may be as easily found as the treasure of
Geryeh," said Zeyd, "which lays a journey north of Tebuk in the ancient
ruins of a walled city. There, each Friday, the pieces of money roll
out of the ground and run about over the desert until sunset."
"Once we are come to Nimmr there will be no difficulty finding the
treasure," Ibn Jad assured them. "The difficulty will lie in getting
out of el-Habash with the treasure and the woman; and if she is as
beautiful as the sahar said, the men of Nimmr may protect her even more
savagely than they would the treasure."
"Often do magicians lie," said Tollog.
"Who comes?" exclaimed Ibn Jad, looking toward the jungle that hemmed
the menzil upon all sides.
"Billah! it is Fahd and Motlog returning from the hunt," said Tollog.
"Ullah grant that they bring ivory and meat."
"They return too soon," said Zeyd.
"But they do not come empty handed," and Ibn Jad pointed toward the
naked giant that accompanied the returning hunters.
The group surrounding Tarzan approached the sheik's beyt and halted.
Wrapped in his soiled calico thob, his head kerchief drawn across the
lower part of his face, Ibn Jad exposed but two villainous eyes to
the intent scrutiny of the ape-man which simultaneously included the
pock-marked, shifty-eyed visage of Tollog, the sheik's brother, and
the not ill-favored countenance of the youthful Zeyd.
"Who is sheykh here?" demanded Tarzan in tones of authority that belied
the camel leather thongs about his wrists.
Ibn Jad permitted his thorrib to fall from before his face. "Wellah, I
am sheykh," he said, "and by what name art thou known, Nasrany?"
"They call me Tarzan of the Apes, Moslem."
"Tarzan of the Apes," mused Ibn Jad. "I have heard the name."
"Doubtless. It is not unknown to 'Aarab slave raiders. Why, then, came
you to my country, knowing I do not permit my people to be taken into
slavery?"
"We do not come for slaves," Ibn Jad assured him. "We do but trade in
peace for ivory."
"Thou liest in thy beard, Moslem," returned Tarzan, quietly. "I
recognize both Manyuema and Galla slaves in thy menzil, and I know that
they are not here of their own choosing. Then, too, was I not present
when your henchmen fired a shot at el-fil? Is that peaceful trading for
ivory? No! it is poaching, and that Tarzan of the Apes does not permit
in his country. You are raiders and poachers."
"By Ullah! we are honest men," cried Ibn Jad. "Fahd and Motlog did but
hunt for meat. If they shot el-fil it must be that they mistook him for
another beast."
"Enough!" cried Tarzan. "Remove the thongs that bind me and prepare
to return north from whence thou came. Thou shalt have an escort and
bearers to the Soudan. These will I arrange for."
"We have come a long way and wish only to trade in peace," insisted Ibn
Jad. "We shall pay our bearers for their labor and take no slaves, nor
shall we again fire upon el-fil. Let us go our way and when we return
we will pay you well for permission to pass through your country."
Tarzan shook his head. "No! you shall go at once. Come, cut these
bonds!"
Ibn Jad's eyes narrowed. "We have offered thee peace and profits,
Nasrany," he said, "but if thou wouldst have war let it be war. Thou
art in our power and remember that dead enemies are harmless. Think it
over." And to Fahd: "Take him away and bind his feet."
"Be careful, Moslem," warned Tarzan, "the arms of the ape-man are
long--they may reach out even in death and their fingers encircle your
throat."
"Thou shalt have until dark to decide, Nasrany, and thou mayest know
that Ibn Jad will not turn back until he hath that for which he came."
They took Tarzan then and at a distance from the beyt of Ibn Jad they
pushed him into a small hejra; but once within this tent it required
three men to throw him to the ground and bind his ankles, even though
his wrists were already bound.
In the beyt of the sheik the Beduins sipped their coffee, sickish with
clove, cinnamon and other spice, the while they discussed the ill
fortune that had befallen them; for, regardless of his bravado, Ibn Jad
knew full well that only speed and most propitious circumstances could
now place the seal of success upon his venture.
"But for Motlog," said Fahd, "we would now have no cause for worry
concerning the Nasrany, for I had my knife ready to slit the dog's
throat when Motlog interfered."
"And had word of his slaying spread broadcast over his country before
another sunset and all his people at our heels," countered Motlog.
"Wellah," said Tollog, the sheik's brother. "I wish Fahd had done the
thing he wished. After all how much better off are we if we permit the
Nasrany to live? Should we free him we know that he will gather his
people and drive us from the country. If we keep him prisoner and an
escaped slave carries word of it to his people will they not be upon us
even more surely than as though we had slain him?"
"Tollog, thou speakest words of wisdom," said Ibn Jad, nodding
appreciatively.
"But wait," said Tollog, "I have within me, unspoken, words of even
greater worth." He leaned forward motioning the others closer and
lowered his voice. "Should this one whom they call Tarzan escape during
the night, or should we set him free, there would be no bad word for
an escaped slave to bear to his people."
"Billah!" exclaimed Fahd disgustedly. "There would be no need for an
escaped slave to bring word to his people--the Nasrany himself would do
that and lead them upon us in person. Bah! the brains of Tollog are as
camel's dung."
"Thou hast not heard all that I would say, brother," continued Tollog,
ignoring Fahd. "It would only _seem_ to the slaves that this man had
escaped, for in the morning he would be gone and we would make great
lamentation over the matter, or we would say: 'Wellah, it is true that
Ibn Jad made peace with the stranger, who departed into the jungle,
blessing him'."
"I do not follow thee, brother," said Ibn Jad.
"The Nasrany lies bound in yonder hejra. The night will be dark. A slim
knife between his ribs were enough. There be faithful Habash among
us who will do our bidding, nor speak of the matter after. They can
prepare a trench from the bottom of which a dead Tarzan may not reach
out to harm us."
"By Ullah, it is plain that thou art of sheykhly blood, Tollog,"
exclaimed Ibn Jad. "The wisdom of thy words proclaims it. Thou shalt
attend to the whole matter. Then will it be done secretly and well. The
blessings of Ullah be upon thee!" and Ibn Jad arose and entered the
quarters of his hareem.