Mugambi
By the time that Tarzan had travelled entirely about the coast of the
island, and made several trips inland from various points, he was sure
that he was the only human being upon it.
Nowhere had he found any sign that men had stopped even temporarily
upon this shore, though, of course, he knew that so quickly does the
rank vegetation of the tropics erase all but the most permanent of
human monuments that he might be in error in his deductions.
The day following the killing of Numa, Tarzan and Sheeta came upon the
tribe of Akut. At sight of the panther the great apes took to flight,
but after a time Tarzan succeeded in recalling them.
It had occurred to him that it would be at least an interesting
experiment to attempt to reconcile these hereditary enemies. He
welcomed anything that would occupy his time and his mind beyond the
filling of his belly and the gloomy thoughts to which he fell prey the
moment that he became idle.
To communicate his plan to the apes was not a particularly difficult
matter, though their narrow and limited vocabulary was strained in the
effort; but to impress upon the little, wicked brain of Sheeta that he
was to hunt with and not for his legitimate prey proved a task almost
beyond the powers of the ape-man.
Tarzan, among his other weapons, possessed a long, stout cudgel, and
after fastening his rope about the panther’s neck he used this
instrument freely upon the snarling beast, endeavouring in this way to
impress upon its memory that it must not attack the great, shaggy
manlike creatures that had approached more closely once they had seen
the purpose of the rope about Sheeta’s neck.
That the cat did not turn and rend Tarzan is something of a miracle
which may possibly be accounted for by the fact that twice when it
turned growling upon the ape-man he had rapped it sharply upon its
sensitive nose, inculcating in its mind thereby a most wholesome fear
of the cudgel and the ape-beasts behind it.
It is a question if the original cause of his attachment for Tarzan was
still at all clear in the mind of the panther, though doubtless some
subconscious suggestion, superinduced by this primary reason and aided
and abetted by the habit of the past few days, did much to compel the
beast to tolerate treatment at his hands that would have sent it at the
throat of any other creature.
Then, too, there was the compelling force of the manmind exerting its
powerful influence over this creature of a lower order, and, after all,
it may have been this that proved the most potent factor in Tarzan’s
supremacy over Sheeta and the other beasts of the jungle that had from
time to time fallen under his domination.
Be that as it may, for days the man, the panther, and the great apes
roamed their savage haunts side by side, making their kills together
and sharing them with one another, and of all the fierce and savage
band none was more terrible than the smooth-skinned, powerful beast
that had been but a few short months before a familiar figure in many a
London drawing room.
Sometimes the beasts separated to follow their own inclinations for an
hour or a day, and it was upon one of these occasions when the ape-man
had wandered through the tree-tops toward the beach, and was stretched
in the hot sun upon the sand, that from the low summit of a near-by
promontory a pair of keen eyes discovered him.
For a moment the owner of the eyes looked in astonishment at the figure
of the savage white man basking in the rays of that hot, tropic sun;
then he turned, making a sign to some one behind him. Presently another
pair of eyes were looking down upon the ape-man, and then another and
another, until a full score of hideously trapped, savage warriors were
lying upon their bellies along the crest of the ridge watching the
white-skinned stranger.
They were down wind from Tarzan, and so their scent was not carried to
him, and as his back was turned half toward them he did not see their
cautious advance over the edge of the promontory and down through the
rank grass toward the sandy beach where he lay.
Big fellows they were, all of them, their barbaric headdresses and
grotesquely painted faces, together with their many metal ornaments and
gorgeously coloured feathers, adding to their wild, fierce appearance.
Once at the foot of the ridge, they came cautiously to their feet, and,
bent half-double, advanced silently upon the unconscious white man,
their heavy war-clubs swinging menacingly in their brawny hands.
The mental suffering that Tarzan’s sorrowful thoughts induced had the
effect of numbing his keen, perceptive faculties, so that the advancing
savages were almost upon him before he became aware that he was no
longer alone upon the beach.
So quickly, though, were his mind and muscles wont to react in unison
to the slightest alarm that he was upon his feet and facing his
enemies, even as he realized that something was behind him. As he
sprang to his feet the warriors leaped toward him with raised clubs and
savage yells, but the foremost went down to sudden death beneath the
long, stout stick of the ape-man, and then the lithe, sinewy figure was
among them, striking right and left with a fury, power, and precision
that brought panic to the ranks of the blacks.
For a moment they withdrew, those that were left of them, and consulted
together at a short distance from the ape-man, who stood with folded
arms, a half-smile upon his handsome face, watching them. Presently
they advanced upon him once more, this time wielding their heavy
war-spears. They were between Tarzan and the jungle, in a little
semicircle that closed in upon him as they advanced.
There seemed to the ape-man but slight chance to escape the final
charge when all the great spears should be hurled simultaneously at
him; but if he had desired to escape there was no way other than
through the ranks of the savages except the open sea behind him.
His predicament was indeed most serious when an idea occurred to him
that altered his smile to a broad grin. The warriors were still some
little distance away, advancing slowly, making, after the manner of
their kind, a frightful din with their savage yells and the pounding of
their naked feet upon the ground as they leaped up and down in a
fantastic war dance.
Then it was that the ape-man lifted his voice in a series of wild,
weird screams that brought the blacks to a sudden, perplexed halt. They
looked at one another questioningly, for here was a sound so hideous
that their own frightful din faded into insignificance beside it. No
human throat could have formed those bestial notes, they were sure, and
yet with their own eyes they had seen this white man open his mouth to
pour forth his awful cry.
But only for a moment they hesitated, and then with one accord they
again took up their fantastic advance upon their prey; but even then a
sudden crashing in the jungle behind them brought them once more to a
halt, and as they turned to look in the direction of this new noise
there broke upon their startled visions a sight that may well have
frozen the blood of braver men than the Wagambi.
Leaping from the tangled vegetation of the jungle’s rim came a huge
panther, with blazing eyes and bared fangs, and in his wake a score of
mighty, shaggy apes lumbering rapidly toward them, half erect upon
their short, bowed legs, and with their long arms reaching to the
ground, where their horny knuckles bore the weight of their ponderous
bodies as they lurched from side to side in their grotesque advance.
The beasts of Tarzan had come in answer to his call.
Before the Wagambi could recover from their astonishment the frightful
horde was upon them from one side and Tarzan of the Apes from the
other. Heavy spears were hurled and mighty war-clubs wielded, and
though apes went down never to rise, so, too, went down the men of
Ugambi.
Sheeta’s cruel fangs and tearing talons ripped and tore at the black
hides. Akut’s mighty yellow tusks found the jugular of more than one
sleek-skinned savage, and Tarzan of the Apes was here and there and
everywhere, urging on his fierce allies and taking a heavy toll with
his long, slim knife.
In a moment the blacks had scattered for their lives, but of the score
that had crept down the grassy sides of the promontory only a single
warrior managed to escape the horde that had overwhelmed his people.
This one was Mugambi, chief of the Wagambi of Ugambi, and as he
disappeared in the tangled luxuriousness of the rank growth upon the
ridge’s summit only the keen eyes of the ape-man saw the direction of
his flight.
Leaving his pack to eat their fill upon the flesh of their
victims—flesh that he could not touch—Tarzan of the Apes pursued the
single survivor of the bloody fray. Just beyond the ridge he came
within sight of the fleeing black, making with headlong leaps for a
long war-canoe that was drawn well up upon the beach above the high
tide surf.
Noiseless as the fellow’s shadow, the ape-man raced after the
terror-stricken black. In the white man’s mind was a new plan, awakened
by sight of the war-canoe. If these men had come to his island from
another, or from the mainland, why not utilize their craft to make his
way to the country from which they had come? Evidently it was an
inhabited country, and no doubt had occasional intercourse with the
mainland, if it were not itself upon the continent of Africa.
A heavy hand fell upon the shoulder of the escaping Mugambi before he
was aware that he was being pursued, and as he turned to do battle with
his assailant giant fingers closed about his wrists and he was hurled
to earth with a giant astride him before he could strike a blow in his
own defence.
In the language of the West Coast, Tarzan spoke to the prostrate man
beneath him.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“Mugambi, chief of the Wagambi,” replied the black.
“I will spare your life,” said Tarzan, “if you will promise to help me
to leave this island. What do you answer?”
“I will help you,” replied Mugambi. “But now that you have killed all
my warriors, I do not know that even I can leave your country, for
there will be none to wield the paddles, and without paddlers we cannot
cross the water.”
Tarzan rose and allowed his prisoner to come to his feet. The fellow
was a magnificent specimen of manhood—a black counterpart in physique
of the splendid white man whom he faced.
“Come!” said the ape-man, and started back in the direction from which
they could hear the snarling and growling of the feasting pack. Mugambi
drew back.
“They will kill us,” he said.
“I think not,” replied Tarzan. “They are mine.”
Still the black hesitated, fearful of the consequences of approaching
the terrible creatures that were dining upon the bodies of his
warriors; but Tarzan forced him to accompany him, and presently the two
emerged from the jungle in full view of the grisly spectacle upon the
beach. At sight of the men the beasts looked up with menacing growls,
but Tarzan strode in among them, dragging the trembling Wagambi with
him.
As he had taught the apes to accept Sheeta, so he taught them to adopt
Mugambi as well, and much more easily; but Sheeta seemed quite unable
to understand that though he had been called upon to devour Mugambi’s
warriors he was not to be allowed to proceed after the same fashion
with Mugambi. However, being well filled, he contented himself with
walking round the terror-stricken savage, emitting low, menacing growls
the while he kept his flaming, baleful eyes riveted upon the black.
Mugambi, on his part, clung closely to Tarzan, so that the ape-man
could scarce control his laughter at the pitiable condition to which
the chief’s fear had reduced him; but at length the white took the
great cat by the scruff of the neck and, dragging it quite close to the
Wagambi, slapped it sharply upon the nose each time that it growled at
the stranger.
At the sight of the thing—a man mauling with his bare hands one of the
most relentless and fierce of the jungle carnivora—Mugambi’s eyes
bulged from their sockets, and from entertaining a sullen respect for
the giant white man who had made him prisoner, the black felt an almost
worshipping awe of Tarzan.
The education of Sheeta progressed so well that in a short time Mugambi
ceased to be the object of his hungry attention, and the black felt a
degree more of safety in his society.
To say that Mugambi was entirely happy or at ease in his new
environment would not be to adhere strictly to the truth. His eyes were
constantly rolling apprehensively from side to side as now one and now
another of the fierce pack chanced to wander near him, so that for the
most of the time it was principally the whites that showed.
Together Tarzan and Mugambi, with Sheeta and Akut, lay in wait at the
ford for a deer, and when at a word from the ape-man the four of them
leaped out upon the affrighted animal the black was sure that the poor
creature died of fright before ever one of the great beasts touched it.
Mugambi built a fire and cooked his portion of the kill; but Tarzan,
Sheeta, and Akut tore theirs, raw, with their sharp teeth, growling
among themselves when one ventured to encroach upon the share of
another.
It was not, after all, strange that the white man’s ways should have
been so much more nearly related to those of the beasts than were the
savage blacks. We are, all of us, creatures of habit, and when the
seeming necessity for schooling ourselves in new ways ceases to exist,
we fall naturally and easily into the manners and customs which long
usage has implanted ineradicably within us.
Mugambi from childhood had eaten no meat until it had been cooked,
while Tarzan, on the other hand, had never tasted cooked food of any
sort until he had grown almost to manhood, and only within the past
three or four years had he eaten cooked meat. Not only did the habit of
a lifetime prompt him to eat it raw, but the craving of his palate as
well; for to him cooked flesh was spoiled flesh when compared with the
rich and juicy meat of a fresh, hot kill.
That he could, with relish, eat raw meat that had been buried by
himself weeks before, and enjoy small rodents and disgusting grubs,
seems to us who have been always “civilized” a revolting fact; but had
we learned in childhood to eat these things, and had we seen all those
about us eat them, they would seem no more sickening to us now than do
many of our greatest dainties, at which a savage African cannibal would
look with repugnance and turn up his nose.
For instance, there is a tribe in the vicinity of Lake Rudolph that
will eat no sheep or cattle, though its next neighbors do so. Near by
is another tribe that eats donkey-meat—a custom most revolting to the
surrounding tribes that do not eat donkey. So who may say that it is
nice to eat snails and frogs’ legs and oysters, but disgusting to feed
upon grubs and beetles, or that a raw oyster, hoof, horns, and tail, is
less revolting than the sweet, clean meat of a fresh-killed buck?
The next few days Tarzan devoted to the weaving of a barkcloth sail
with which to equip the canoe, for he despaired of being able to teach
the apes to wield the paddles, though he did manage to get several of
them to embark in the frail craft which he and Mugambi paddled about
inside the reef where the water was quite smooth.
During these trips he had placed paddles in their hands, when they
attempted to imitate the movements of him and Mugambi, but so difficult
is it for them long to concentrate upon a thing that he soon saw that
it would require weeks of patient training before they would be able to
make any effective use of these new implements, if, in fact, they
should ever do so.
There was one exception, however, and he was Akut. Almost from the
first he showed an interest in this new sport that revealed a much
higher plane of intelligence than that attained by any of his tribe. He
seemed to grasp the purpose of the paddles, and when Tarzan saw that
this was so he took much pains to explain in the meagre language of the
anthropoid how they might be used to the best advantage.
From Mugambi Tarzan learned that the mainland lay but a short distance
from the island. It seemed that the Wagambi warriors had ventured too
far out in their frail craft, and when caught by a heavy tide and a
high wind from off-shore they had been driven out of sight of land.
After paddling for a whole night, thinking that they were headed for
home, they had seen this land at sunrise, and, still taking it for the
mainland, had hailed it with joy, nor had Mugambi been aware that it
was an island until Tarzan had told him that this was the fact.
The Wagambi chief was quite dubious as to the sail, for he had never
seen such a contrivance used. His country lay far up the broad Ugambi
River, and this was the first occasion that any of his people had found
their way to the ocean.
Tarzan, however, was confident that with a good west wind he could
navigate the little craft to the mainland. At any rate, he decided, it
would be preferable to perish on the way than to remain indefinitely
upon this evidently uncharted island to which no ships might ever be
expected to come.
And so it was that when the first fair wind rose he embarked upon his
cruise, and with him he took as strange and fearsome a crew as ever
sailed under a savage master.
Mugambi and Akut went with him, and Sheeta, the panther, and a dozen
great males of the tribe of Akut.