_The Apes of Toyat_
Three days crawled slowly out of the east and followed one another
across the steaming jungle and over the edge of the world beyond. For
three days the 'Aarab moved slowly northward toward el-Habash. For
three days Tarzan of the Apes lay in the little clearing, bound and
helpless, while Tantor the elephant stood guard above him. Once each
day the great bull brought the ape-man food and water.
The camel leather thongs held securely and no outside aid appeared
to release Tarzan from the ever increasing discomfort and danger of
his predicament. He had called to Manu the monkey to come and gnaw
the strands apart, but Manu, ever irresponsible, had only promised
and forgotten. And so the ape-man lay uncomplaining, as is the way of
beasts, patiently waiting for release, knowing that it might come in
the habiliment of death.
Upon the morning of the fourth day Tantor gave evidences of
restlessness. His brief foragings had exhausted the nearby supply of
food for himself and his charge. He wanted to move on and take Tarzan
with him; but the ape-man was now convinced that to be carried farther
into the elephant country would lessen his chances for succor, for he
felt that the only one of the jungle people who could release him was
Mangani the great ape. Tarzan knew that already he was practically at
the outer limits of the Mangani country, yet there was a remote chance
that a band of the great anthropoids might pass this way and discover
him, while, should Tantor carry him farther north even this meager
likelihood of release would be lost forever.
Tantor wanted to be gone. He nudged Tarzan with his trunk and rolled
him over. He raised him from the ground.
"Put me down, Tantor," said the ape-man, and the pachyderm obeyed, but
he turned and walked away. Tarzan watched him cross the clearing to the
trees upon the far side. There Tantor hesitated, stopped, turned. He
looked back at Tarzan and trumpeted. He dug up the earth with a great
tusk and appeared angry.
"Go and feed," said Tarzan, "and then return. Tomorrow the Mangani may
come."
Tantor trumpeted again and, wheeling about, disappeared in the jungle.
For a long time the ape-man lay listening to the retreating footfalls
of his old friend.
"He is gone," he mused. "I cannot blame him. Perhaps it is as well.
What matter whether it be today, tomorrow, or the day after?"
The morning passed. The noonday silence lay upon the jungle. Only the
insects were abroad. They annoyed Tarzan as they did the other jungle
beasts, but to the poison of their stings he was immune through a
lifetime of inoculation.
Suddenly there came a great scampering through the trees. Little Manu
and his brothers, his sisters and his cousins came trooping madly
through the middle terrace, squealing, chattering and scolding.
"Manu!" called Tarzan. "What comes?"
"The Mangani! The Mangani!" shrieked the monkeys.
"Go and fetch them, Manu!" commanded the ape-man.
"We are afraid."
"Go and call to them from the upper terraces," urged Tarzan. "They
cannot reach you there. Tell them that one of their people lies
helpless here. Tell them to come and release me."
"We are afraid."
"They cannot reach you in the upper terraces. Go! They will be your
friends then."
"They cannot climb to the upper terraces," said an old monkey. "I will
go."
The others, halted in their flight, turned and watched the gray-beard
as he scampered quickly off amongst the loftiest branches of the great
trees, and Tarzan waited.
Presently he heard the deep gutturals of his own people, the great
apes, the Mangani. Perhaps there would be those among them who knew
him. Perhaps, again, the band may have come from afar and have no
knowledge of him, though that he doubted. In them, however, was his
only hope. He lay there, listening, waiting. He heard Manu screaming
and chattering as he scampered about high above the Mangani, then, of
a sudden, silence fell upon the jungle. There was only the sound of
insects, buzzing, humming.
The ape-man lay looking in the direction from which had come the sounds
of the approaching anthropoids. He knew what was transpiring behind
that dense wall of foliage. He knew that presently a pair of fierce
eyes would be examining him, surveying the clearing, searching for an
enemy, warily probing for a trick or a trap. He knew that the first
sight of him might arouse distrust, fear, rage; for what reason had
they to love or trust the cruel and merciless Tarmangani?
There lay great danger in the possibility that, seeing him, they might
quietly withdraw without showing themselves. That, then, would be the
end, for there were no others than the Mangani to whom he might look
for rescue. With this in mind he spoke.
"I am a friend," he called to them. "The Tarmangani caught me and bound
my wrists and ankles. I cannot move. I cannot defend myself. I cannot
get food nor water. Come and remove my bonds."
From just behind the screen of foliage a voice replied. "You are a
Tarmangani."
"I am Tarzan of the Apes," replied the ape-man.
"Yes," screamed Manu, "he is Tarzan of the Apes. The Tarmangani and the
Gomangani bound him and Tantor brought him here. Four times has Kudu
hunted across the sky while Tarzan of the Apes lay bound."
"I know Tarzan," said another voice from behind the foliage and
presently the leaves parted and a huge, shaggy ape lumbered into the
clearing. Swinging along with knuckles to the ground the brute came
close to Tarzan.
"M'walat!" exclaimed the ape-man.
"It is Tarzan of the Apes," said the great ape, but the others did not
understand.
"What?" they demanded.
"Whose band is this?" asked Tarzan.
"Toyat is king," replied M'walat.
"Then do not tell them it is really I," whispered Tarzan, "until
you have cut these bonds. Toyat hates me. He will kill me if I am
defenseless."
"Yes," agreed M'walat.
"Here," said Tarzan, raising his bound wrists. "Bite these bonds in
two."
"You are Tarzan of the Apes, the friend of M'walat. M'walat will do as
you ask," replied the ape.
Of course, in the meager language of the apes, their conversation did
not sound at all like a conversation between men, but was rather a
mixture of growls and grunts and gestures which, however, served every
purpose that could have been served by the most formal and correct of
civilized speech since it carried its messages clearly to the minds of
both the Mangani and the Tarmangani, the Great Ape and the Great White
Ape.
As the other members of the band pressed forward into the clearing,
seeing that M'walat was not harmed, the latter stooped and with
powerful teeth severed the camel leather thongs that secured the wrists
of the ape-man, and similarly he freed his ankles.
As Tarzan came to his feet the balance of the fierce and shaggy band
swung into the clearing. In the lead was Toyat, king ape, and at his
heels eight more full grown males with perhaps six or seven females
and a number of young. The young and the shes hung back, but the bulls
pressed forward to where Tarzan stood with M'walat at his side.
The king ape growled menacingly. "Tarmangani!" he cried. Wheeling in
a circle he leaped into the air and came down on all fours; he struck
the ground savagely with his clenched fists; he growled and foamed, and
leaped again and again. Toyat was working himself to a pitch of rage
that would nerve him to attack the Tarmangani, and by these maneuvers
he hoped also to arouse the savage fighting spirit of his fellows.
"It is Tarzan of the Apes, friend of the Mangani," said M'walat.
"It is a Tarmangani, enemy of the Mangani," cried Toyat. "They come
with great thunder sticks and kill us. They make our shes and our balus
dead with a loud noise. Kill the Tarmangani."
"It is Tarzan of the Apes," growled Gayat. "When I was a little balu he
saved me from Numa. Tarzan of the Apes is the friend of the Mangani."
"Kill the Tarmangani!" shrieked Toyat, leaping high into the air.
Several of the other bulls were now circling and leaping into the air
as Gayat placed himself at Tarzan's side. The ape-man knew them well.
He knew that sooner or later one of them would have excited himself to
such a pitch of maniacal frenzy that he would leap suddenly upon him.
M'walat and Gayat would attack in his defense; several more bulls would
launch themselves into the battle and there would ensue a free for all
fight from which not all of them would emerge alive, and none without
more or less serious injuries; but Tarzan of the Apes did not wish to
battle with his friends.
"Stop!" he commanded raising his opened palm to attract attention. "I
am Tarzan of the Apes, mighty hunter, mighty fighter; long did I range
with the tribe of Kerchak; when Kerchak died I became king ape; many of
you know me; all know that I am first a Mangani; that I am friend to
all Mangani. Toyat would have you kill me because Toyat hates Tarzan
of the Apes. He hates him not because he is a Tarmangani but because
Tarzan once kept Toyat from becoming king. That was many rains ago when
some of you were still balus. If Toyat has been a good king Tarzan is
glad, but now he is not acting like a good king for he is trying to
turn you against your best friend.
"You, Zutho!" he exclaimed, suddenly pointing a finger at a huge bull.
"You leap and growl and foam at the mouth. You would sink your fangs
into the flesh of Tarzan. Have you forgotten, Zutho, the time that you
were sick and the other members of the tribe left you to die? Have you
forgotten who brought you food and water? Have you forgotten who it was
that kept Sabor the lioness and Sheeta the panther and Dango the hyena
from you during those long nights?"
As Tarzan spoke, his tone one of quiet authority, the apes gradually
paused to listen to his words. It was a long speech for the jungle
folk. The great apes nor the little monkeys long concentrated upon one
idea. Already, before he had finished, one of the bulls was overturning
a rotted log in search of succulent insects. Zutho was wrinkling his
brows in unaccustomed recollection. Presently he spoke.
"Zutho remembers," he said. "He is the friend of Tarzan," and ranged
himself beside M'walat. With this the other bulls, except Toyat,
appeared to lose interest in the proceedings and either wandered off in
search of food or squatted down in the grass.
Toyat still fumed, but as he saw his cause deserted he prosecuted his
war dance at a safer distance from Tarzan and his defenders, and it was
not long before he, too, was attracted by the more profitable business
of bug hunting.
And so Tarzan ranged again with the great apes. And as he loafed lazily
through the forest with the shaggy brutes he thought of his foster
mother, Kala, the great she-ape, the only mother he had ever known; he
recalled with a thrill of pride her savage defense of him against all
their natural enemies of the jungle and against the hate and jealousy
of old Tublat, her mate, and against the enmity of Kerchak, the
terrible old king ape.
As it had been but yesterday since he had seen him, Tarzan's memory
projected again upon the screen of recollection the huge bulk and
the ferocious features of old Kerchak. What a magnificent beast he
had been! To the childish mind of the ape-boy Kerchak had been the
personification of savage ferocity and authority, and even today he
recalled him with almost a sensation of awe. That he had overthrown
and slain this gigantic ruler still seemed to Tarzan almost incredible.
He fought again his battles with Terkoz and with Bolgani the gorilla.
He thought of Teeka, whom he had loved, and of Thaka and Tana, and
of the little black boy, Tibo, whom he had endeavored to adopt; and
so he dreamed through lazy daylight hours while Ibn Jad crept slowly
northward toward the leopard city of Nimmr and in another part of the
jungle events were transpiring that were to entangle Tarzan in the
meshes of a great adventure.