WHAT THE FOOTPRINTS TOLD
WHEN Jad-bal-ja, the golden lion, was two years old, he was as
magnificent a specimen of his kind as the Greystokes had ever looked
upon. In size he was far above the average of that attained by mature
males; in conformation he was superb, his noble head and his great black
mane giving him the appearance of a full-grown male, while in
intelligence he far outranked his savage brothers of the forest.
Jad-bal-ja was a never-ending source of pride and delight to the ape-man
who had trained him so carefully, and nourished him cunningly for the
purpose of developing to the full all the latent powers within him. The
lion no longer slept at the foot of his master’s bed, but occupied a
strong cage that Tarzan had had constructed for him at the rear of the
bungalow, for who knew better than the ape-man that a lion, wherever he
may be or however he may have been raised, is yet a lion—a savage
flesh-eater. For the first year he had roamed at will about the house
and grounds; after that he went abroad only in the company of Tarzan.
Often the two roamed the plain and the jungle hunting together. In a way
the lion was almost equally as familiar with Jane and Korak, and neither
of them feared or mistrusted him, but toward Tarzan of the Apes did he
show the greatest affection. The blacks of Tarzan’s household he
tolerated, nor did he ever offer to molest any of the domestic animals
or fowl, after Tarzan had impressed upon him in his early cubhood that
appropriate punishment followed immediately upon any predatory excursion
into the corrals or henhouses. The fact that he was never permitted to
become ravenously hungry was doubtless the deciding factor in
safeguarding the live stock of the farm.
The man and the beast seemed to understand one another perfectly. It is
doubtful that the lion understood all that Tarzan said to him, but be
that as it may the ease with which he communicated his wishes to the
lion bordered upon the uncanny. The obedience that a combination of
sternness and affection had elicited from the cub had become largely
habit in the grown lion. At Tarzan’s command he would go to great
distances and bring back antelope or zebra, laying his kill at his
master’s feet without offering to taste the flesh himself, and he had
even retrieved living animals without harming them. Such, then, was the
golden lion that roamed the primeval forest with his godlike master.
It was at about this time that there commenced to drift in to the
ape-man rumors of a predatory band to the west and south of his estate;
ugly stories of ivory-raiding, slave-running and torture, such as had
not disturbed the quiet of the ape-man’s savage jungle since the days of
Sheik Amor Ben Khatour, and there came other tales, too, that caused
Tarzan of the Apes to pucker his brows in puzzlement and thought, and
then a month elapsed during which Tarzan heard no more of the rumors
from the west.
The war had reduced the resources of the Greystokes to but a meager
income. They had given practically all to the cause of the Allies, and
now what little had remained to them had been all but exhausted in the
rehabilitation of Tarzan’s African estate.
“It looks very much, Jane,” he said to his wife one night, “as though
another trip to Opar were on the books.”
“I dread to think of it. I do not want you to go,” she said. “You have
come away from that awful city twice, but barely with your life. The
third time you may not be so fortunate. We have enough, John, to permit
us to live here in comfort and in happiness. Why jeopardize those two
things which are greater than all wealth in another attempt to raid the
treasure vaults?”
“There is no danger, Jane,” he assured her. “The last time Werper dogged
my footsteps, and between him and the earthquake I was nearly done for.
But there is no chance of any such combination of circumstances
thwarting me again.”
“You will not go alone, John?” she asked. “You will take Korak with
you?”
“No,” he said, “I shall not take him. He must remain here with you, for
really my long absences are more dangerous to you than to me. I shall
take fifty of the Waziri, as porters, to carry the gold, and thus we
should be able to bring out enough to last us for a long time.”
“And Jad-bal-ja,” she asked, “shall you take him?”
“No, he had better remain here; Korak can look after him and take him
out for a hunt occasionally. I am going to travel light and fast and it
would be too hard a trip for him—lions don’t care to move around much
in the hot sun, and as we shall travel mostly by day I doubt if
Jad-bal-ja would last long.”
And so it befell that Tarzan of the Apes set out once more upon the long
trail that leads to Opar. Behind him marched fifty giant Waziri, the
pick of the warlike tribe that had adopted Tarzan as its Chief. Upon the
veranda of the bungalow stood Jane and Korak waving their adieux, while
from the rear of the building there came to the ape-man’s ears the
rumbling roar of Jad-bal-ja, the golden lion. And as they marched away
the voice of Numa accompanied them out upon the rolling plain, until at
last it trailed off to nothingness in the distance.
His speed determined by that of the slowest of the blacks, Tarzan made
but comparatively rapid progress. Opar lay a good twenty-five days’ trek
from the farm for men traveling light, as were these, but upon the
return journey, laden as they would be with the ingots of gold, their
progress would be slower. And because of this the ape-man had allotted
two months for the venture. His safari, consisting of seasoned warriors
only, permitted of really rapid progress. They carried no supplies, for
they were all hunters and were moving through a country in which game
was abundant—no need then for burdening themselves with the cumbersome
impedimenta of white huntsmen.
A thorn boma and a few leaves furnished their shelter for the night,
while spears and arrows and the powers of their great white chief
insured that their bellies would never go empty. With the picked men
that he had brought with him Tarzan expected to make the trip to Opar in
twenty-one days, though had he been traveling alone he would have moved
two or three times as fast, since, when Tarzan elected to travel with
speed, he fairly flew through the jungle, equally at home in it by day
or by night and practically tireless.
It was a mid-afternoon the third week of the march that Tarzan, ranging
far ahead of his blacks in search of game, came suddenly upon the
carcass of Bara, the deer, a feathered arrow protruding from its flank.
It was evident that Bara had been wounded at some little distance from
where it had lain down to die, for the location of the missile indicated
that the wound could not have caused immediate death. But what
particularly caught the attention of the ape-man, even before he had
come close enough to make a minute examination, was the design of the
arrow, and immediately he withdrew it from the body of the deer he knew
it for what it was, and was filled with such wonderment as might come to
you or to me were we to see a native Swazi headdress upon Broadway or
the Strand, for the arrow was precisely such as one may purchase in most
any sporting-goods house in any large city of the world—such an arrow
as is sold and used for archery practice in the parks and suburbs.
Nothing could have been more incongruous than this silly toy in the
heart of savage Africa, and yet that it had done its work effectively
was evident by the dead body of Bara, though the ape-man guessed that
the shaft had been sped by no practiced, savage hand.
Tarzan’s curiosity was aroused and also his inherent jungle caution. One
must know his jungle well to survive long the jungle, and if one would
know it well he must let no unusual occurrence or circumstance go
unexplained. And so it was that Tarzan set out upon the back track of
Bara for the purpose of ascertaining, if possible, the nature of Bara’s
slayer. The bloody spoor was easily followed and the ape-man wondered
why it was that the hunter had not tracked and overtaken his quarry,
which had evidently been dead since the previous day. He found that Bara
had traveled far, and the sun was already low in the west before Tarzan
came upon the first indications of the slayer of the animal. These were
in the nature of footprints that filled him with quite as much surprise
as had the arrow. He examined them carefully, and, stooping low, even
sniffed at them with his sensitive nostrils. Improbable, nay impossible
though it seemed, the naked footprints were those of _a white man_—a
large man, probably as large as Tarzan himself. As the foster-son of
Kala stood gazing upon the spoor of the mysterious stranger he ran the
fingers of one hand through his thick, black hair in a characteristic
gesture indicative of deep puzzlement.
What naked white man could there be in Tarzan’s jungle who slew Tarzan’s
game with the pretty arrow of an archery club? It was incredible that
there should be such a one, and yet there recurred to the ape-man’s mind
the vague rumors that he had heard weeks before. Determined to solve the
mystery he set out now upon the trail of the stranger—an erratic trail
which wound about through the jungle, apparently aimlessly, prompted,
Tarzan guessed, by the ignorance of an inexperienced hunter. But night
fell before he had arrived at a solution of the riddle, and it was pitch
dark as the ape-man turned his steps toward camp.
He knew that his Waziri would be expecting meat and it was not Tarzan’s
intention to disappoint them, though he then discovered that he was not
the only carnivore hunting the district that night. The coughing grunt
of a lion close by apprised him of it first, and then, from the
distance, the deep roar of another. But of what moment was it to the
ape-man that others hunted? It would not be the first time that he had
pitted his cunning, his strength, and his agility against the other
hunters of his savage world—both man and beast.
And so it was that Tarzan made his kill at last, snatching it almost
from under the nose of a disappointed and infuriated lion—a fat
antelope that the latter had marked as his own. Throwing his kill to his
shoulder almost in the path of the charging Numa, the ape-man swung
lightly to the lower terraces and with a taunting laugh for the
infuriated cat, vanished noiselessly into the night.
He found the camp and his hungry Waziri without trouble, and so great
was their faith in him that they not for a moment doubted but that he
would return with meat for them.
Early the following morning Tarzan set out again toward Opar, and
directing his Waziri to continue the march in the most direct way, he
left them that he might pursue further his investigations of the
mysterious presence in his jungle that the arrow and the footsteps had
apprised him of. Coming again to the spot at which darkness had forced
him to abandon his investigations, he took up the spoor of the stranger.
Nor had he followed it far before he came upon further evidence of the
presence of this new and malign personality—stretched before him in the
trail was the body of a giant ape, one of the tribe of great anthropoids
among whom Tarzan had been raised. Protruding from the hairy abdomen of
the Mangani was another of the machine-made arrows of civilization. The
ape-man’s eyes narrowed and a scowl darkened his brow. Who was this who
dared invade his sacred preserves and slaughter thus ruthlessly Tarzan’s
people?
A low growl rumbled in the throat of the ape-man. Sloughed with the
habiliments of civilization was the thin veneer of civilization that
Tarzan wore among white men. No English lord was this who looked upon
the corpse of his hairy cousin, but another jungle beast in whose breast
raged the unquenchable fire of suspicion and hatred for the man-thing
that is the heritage of the jungle-bred. A beast of prey viewed the
bloody work of ruthless man. Nor was there in the consciousness of
Tarzan any acknowledgment of his blood relationship to the killer.
Realizing that the trail had been made upon the second day before,
Tarzan hastened on in pursuit of the slayer. There was no doubt in his
mind but that plain murder had been committed, for he was sufficiently
familiar with the traits of the Mangani to know that none of them would
provoke assault unless driven to it.
Tarzan was traveling up wind, and some half-hour after he had discovered
the body of the ape his keen nostrils caught the scent spoor of others
of its kind. Knowing the timidity of these fierce denizens of the jungle
he moved forward now with great wariness, lest, warned of his approach,
they take flight before they were aware of his identity. He did not see
them often, yet he knew that there were always those among them who
recalled him, and that through these he could always establish amicable
relations with the balance of the tribe.
Owing to the denseness of the undergrowth Tarzan chose the middle
terraces for his advance, and here, swinging freely and swiftly among
the leafy boughs, he came presently upon the giant anthropoids. There
were about twenty of them in the band, and they were engaged, in a
little natural clearing, in their never-ending search for caterpillars
and beetles, which formed important items in the diet of the Mangani.
A faint smile overspread the ape-man’s face as he paused upon a great
branch, himself hidden by the leafy foliage about him, and watched the
little band below him. Every action, every movement of the great apes,
recalled vividly to Tarzan’s mind the long years of his childhood, when,
protected by the fierce mother-love of Kala, the she-ape, he had ranged
the jungle with the tribe of Kerchak. In the romping young, he saw again
Neeta and his other childhood playmates and in the adults all the great,
savage brutes he had feared in youth and conquered in manhood. The ways
of man may change but the ways of the ape are the same, yesterday, today
and forever.
He watched them in silence for some minutes. How glad they would be to
see him when they discovered his identity! For Tarzan of the Apes was
known the length and the breadth of the great jungle as the friend and
protector of the Mangani. At first they would growl at him and threaten
him, for they would not depend solely on either their eyes or their ears
for confirmation of his identity. Not until he had entered the clearing,
and bristling bulls with bared fighting fangs had circled him stiffly
until they had come close enough for their nostrils to verify the
evidence of their eyes and ears, would they finally accept him. Then
doubtless there would be great excitement for a few minutes, until,
following the instincts of the ape mind, their attention was weaned from
him by a blowing leaf, a caterpillar, or a bird’s egg, and then they
would move about their business, taking no further notice of him more
than of any other member of the tribe. But this would not come until
after each individual had smelled of him, and perhaps, pawed his flesh
with calloused hands.
Now it was that Tarzan made a friendly sound of greeting, and as the
apes looked up stepped from his concealment into plain view of them. “I
am Tarzan of the Apes,” he said, “mighty fighter, friend of the Mangani.
Tarzan comes in friendship to his people,” and with these words he
dropped lightly to the lush grass of the clearing.
Instantly pandemonium reigned. Screaming warnings, the shes raced with
the young for the opposite side of the clearing, while the bulls,
bristling and growling, faced the intruder.
“Come,” cried Tarzan, “do you not know me? I am Tarzan of the Apes,
friend of the Mangani, son of Kala, and king of the tribe of Kerchak.”
“We know you,” growled one of the old bulls; “yesterday we saw you when
you killed Gobu. Go away or we shall kill you.”
“I did not kill Gobu,” replied the ape-man. “I found his dead body
yesterday and I was following the spoor of his slayer, when I came upon
you.”
“We saw you,” repeated the old bull; “go away or we shall kill you. You
are no longer the friend of the Mangani.”
The ape-man stood with brows contracted in thought. It was evident that
these apes really believed that they had seen him kill their fellow.
What was the explanation? How could it be accounted for? Did the naked
footprints of the great white man whom he had been following mean more,
then, than he had guessed? Tarzan wondered. He raised his eyes and again
addressed the bulls.
“It was not I who killed Gobu,” he insisted. “Many of you have known me
all your lives. You know that only in fair fight, as one bull fights
another, have I ever killed a Mangani. You know that, of all the jungle
people, the Mangani are my best friends, and that Tarzan of the Apes is
the best friend the Mangani have. How, then, could I slay one of my own
people?”
“We only know,” replied the old bull, “that we saw you kill Gobu. With
our own eyes we saw you kill him. Go away quickly, therefore, or we
shall kill you. Mighty fighter is Tarzan of the Apes, but mightier even
than he are all the great bulls of Pagth. I am Pagth, king of the tribe
of Pagth. Go away before we kill you.”
Tarzan tried to reason with them but they would not listen, so confident
were they that it was he who had slain their fellow, the bull Gobu.
Finally, rather than chance a quarrel in which some of them must
inevitably be killed, he turned sorrowfully away. But more than ever,
now, was he determined to seek out the slayer of Gobu that he might
demand an accounting of one who dared thus invade his life-long domain.
Tarzan trailed the spoor until it mingled with the tracks of many
men—barefooted blacks, mostly, but among them the footprints of booted
white men, and once he saw the footprints of a woman or a child, which,
he could not tell. The trail led apparently toward the rocky hills which
protected the barren valley of Opar.
Forgetful now of his original mission and imbued only with a savage
desire to wrest from the interlopers a full accounting for their
presence in the jungle, and to mete out to the slayer of Gobu his just
deserts, Tarzan forged ahead upon the now broad and well-marked trail of
the considerable party which could not now be much more than a
half-day’s march ahead of him, which meant that they were doubtless now
already upon the rim of the valley of Opar, if this was their ultimate
destination. And what other they could have in view Tarzan could not
imagine.
He had always kept closely to himself the location of Opar. In so far as
he knew no white person other than Jane, and their son, Korak, knew of
the location of the forgotten city of the ancient Atlantians. Yet what
else could have drawn these white men, with so large a party, into the
savage, unexplored wilderness which hemmed Opar upon all sides?
Such were the thoughts that occupied Tarzan’s mind as he followed
swiftly the trail that led toward Opar. Darkness fell, but so fresh was
the spoor that the ape-man could follow it by scent even when he could
not see the imprints upon the ground, and presently, in the distance, he
saw the light of a camp ahead of him.
[Illustration: Before him was the body of a giant anthropoid]