Betrayed
The two savages, Kaviri and Mugambi, squatting before the entrance to
Kaviri’s hut, looked at one another—Kaviri with ill-concealed alarm.
“What is it?” he whispered.
“It is Bwana Tarzan and his people,” replied Mugambi. “But what they
are doing I know not, unless it be that they are devouring your people
who ran away.”
Kaviri shuddered and rolled his eyes fearfully toward the jungle. In
all his long life in the savage forest he had never heard such an
awful, fearsome din.
Closer and closer came the sounds, and now with them were mingled the
terrified shrieks of women and children and of men. For twenty long
minutes the blood-curdling cries continued, until they seemed but a
stone’s throw from the palisade. Kaviri rose to flee, but Mugambi
seized and held him, for such had been the command of Tarzan.
A moment later a horde of terrified natives burst from the jungle,
racing toward the shelter of their huts. Like frightened sheep they
ran, and behind them, driving them as sheep might be driven, came
Tarzan and Sheeta and the hideous apes of Akut.
Presently Tarzan stood before Kaviri, the old quiet smile upon his
lips.
“Your people have returned, my brother,” he said, “and now you may
select those who are to accompany me and paddle my canoe.”
Tremblingly Kaviri tottered to his feet, calling to his people to come
from their huts; but none responded to his summons.
“Tell them,” suggested Tarzan, “that if they do not come I shall send
my people in after them.”
Kaviri did as he was bid, and in an instant the entire population of
the village came forth, their wide and frightened eyes rolling from one
to another of the savage creatures that wandered about the village
street.
Quickly Kaviri designated a dozen warriors to accompany Tarzan. The
poor fellows went almost white with terror at the prospect of close
contact with the panther and the apes in the narrow confines of the
canoes; but when Kaviri explained to them that there was no escape—that
Bwana Tarzan would pursue them with his grim horde should they attempt
to run away from the duty—they finally went gloomily down to the river
and took their places in the canoe.
It was with a sigh of relief that their chieftain saw the party
disappear about a headland a short distance up-river.
For three days the strange company continued farther and farther into
the heart of the savage country that lies on either side of the almost
unexplored Ugambi. Three of the twelve warriors deserted during that
time; but as several of the apes had finally learned the secret of the
paddles, Tarzan felt no dismay because of the loss.
As a matter of fact, he could have travelled much more rapidly on
shore, but he believed that he could hold his own wild crew together to
better advantage by keeping them to the boat as much as possible. Twice
a day they landed to hunt and feed, and at night they slept upon the
bank of the mainland or on one of the numerous little islands that
dotted the river.
Before them the natives fled in alarm, so that they found only deserted
villages in their path as they proceeded. Tarzan was anxious to get in
touch with some of the savages who dwelt upon the river’s banks, but so
far he had been unable to do so.
Finally he decided to take to the land himself, leaving his company to
follow after him by boat. He explained to Mugambi the thing that he had
in mind, and told Akut to follow the directions of the black.
“I will join you again in a few days,” he said. “Now I go ahead to
learn what has become of the very bad white man whom I seek.”
At the next halt Tarzan took to the shore, and was soon lost to the
view of his people.
The first few villages he came to were deserted, showing that news of
the coming of his pack had travelled rapidly; but toward evening he
came upon a distant cluster of thatched huts surrounded by a rude
palisade, within which were a couple of hundred natives.
The women were preparing the evening meal as Tarzan of the Apes poised
above them in the branches of a giant tree which overhung the palisade
at one point.
The ape-man was at a loss as to how he might enter into communication
with these people without either frightening them or arousing their
savage love of battle. He had no desire to fight now, for he was upon a
much more important mission than that of battling with every chance
tribe that he should happen to meet with.
At last he hit upon a plan, and after seeing that he was concealed from
the view of those below, he gave a few hoarse grunts in imitation of a
panther. All eyes immediately turned upward toward the foliage above.
It was growing dark, and they could not penetrate the leafy screen
which shielded the ape-man from their view. The moment that he had won
their attention he raised his voice to the shriller and more hideous
scream of the beast he personated, and then, scarce stirring a leaf in
his descent, dropped to the ground once again outside the palisade,
and, with the speed of a deer, ran quickly round to the village gate.
Here he beat upon the fibre-bound saplings of which the barrier was
constructed, shouting to the natives in their own tongue that he was a
friend who wished food and shelter for the night.
Tarzan knew well the nature of the black man. He was aware that the
grunting and screaming of Sheeta in the tree above them would set their
nerves on edge, and that his pounding upon their gate after dark would
still further add to their terror.
That they did not reply to his hail was no surprise, for natives are
fearful of any voice that comes out of the night from beyond their
palisades, attributing it always to some demon or other ghostly
visitor; but still he continued to call.
“Let me in, my friends!” he cried. “I am a white man pursuing the very
bad white man who passed this way a few days ago. I follow to punish
him for the sins he has committed against you and me.
“If you doubt my friendship, I will prove it to you by going into the
tree above your village and driving Sheeta back into the jungle before
he leaps among you. If you will not promise to take me in and treat me
as a friend I shall let Sheeta stay and devour you.”
For a moment there was silence. Then the voice of an old man came out
of the quiet of the village street.
“If you are indeed a white man and a friend, we will let you come in;
but first you must drive Sheeta away.”
“Very well,” replied Tarzan. “Listen, and you shall hear Sheeta fleeing
before me.”
The ape-man returned quickly to the tree, and this time he made a great
noise as he entered the branches, at the same time growling ominously
after the manner of the panther, so that those below would believe that
the great beast was still there.
When he reached a point well above the village street he made a great
commotion, shaking the tree violently, crying aloud to the panther to
flee or be killed, and punctuating his own voice with the screams and
mouthings of an angry beast.
Presently he raced toward the opposite side of the tree and off into
the jungle, pounding loudly against the boles of trees as he went, and
voicing the panther’s diminishing growls as he drew farther and farther
away from the village.
A few minutes later he returned to the village gate, calling to the
natives within.
“I have driven Sheeta away,” he said. “Now come and admit me as you
promised.”
For a time there was the sound of excited discussion within the
palisade, but at length a half-dozen warriors came and opened the
gates, peering anxiously out in evident trepidation as to the nature of
the creature which they should find waiting there. They were not much
relieved at sight of an almost naked white man; but when Tarzan had
reassured them in quiet tones, protesting his friendship for them, they
opened the barrier a trifle farther and admitted him.
When the gates had been once more secured the self-confidence of the
savages returned, and as Tarzan walked up the village street toward the
chief’s hut he was surrounded by a host of curious men, women, and
children.
From the chief he learned that Rokoff had passed up the river a week
previous, and that he had horns growing from his forehead, and was
accompanied by a thousand devils. Later the chief said that the very
bad white man had remained a month in his village.
Though none of these statements agreed with Kaviri’s, that the Russian
was but three days gone from the chieftain’s village and that his
following was much smaller than now stated, Tarzan was in no manner
surprised at the discrepancies, for he was quite familiar with the
savage mind’s strange manner of functioning.
What he was most interested in knowing was that he was upon the right
trail, and that it led toward the interior. In this circumstance he
knew that Rokoff could never escape him.
After several hours of questioning and cross-questioning the ape-man
learned that another party had preceded the Russian by several
days—three whites—a man, a woman, and a little man-child, with several
Mosulas.
Tarzan explained to the chief that his people would follow him in a
canoe, probably the next day, and that though he might go on ahead of
them the chief was to receive them kindly and have no fear of them, for
Mugambi would see that they did not harm the chief’s people, if they
were accorded a friendly reception.
“And now,” he concluded, “I shall lie down beneath this tree and sleep.
I am very tired. Permit no one to disturb me.”
The chief offered him a hut, but Tarzan, from past experience of native
dwellings, preferred the open air, and, further, he had plans of his
own that could be better carried out if he remained beneath the tree.
He gave as his reason a desire to be close at hand should Sheeta
return, and after this explanation the chief was very glad to permit
him to sleep beneath the tree.
Tarzan had always found that it stood him in good stead to leave with
natives the impression that he was to some extent possessed of more or
less miraculous powers. He might easily have entered their village
without recourse to the gates, but he believed that a sudden and
unaccountable disappearance when he was ready to leave them would
result in a more lasting impression upon their childlike minds, and so
as soon as the village was quiet in sleep he rose, and, leaping into
the branches of the tree above him, faded silently into the black
mystery of the jungle night.
All the balance of that night the ape-man swung rapidly through the
upper and middle terraces of the forest. When the going was good there
he preferred the upper branches of the giant trees, for then his way
was better lighted by the moon; but so accustomed were all his senses
to the grim world of his birth that it was possible for him, even in
the dense, black shadows near the ground, to move with ease and
rapidity. You or I walking beneath the arcs of Main Street, or
Broadway, or State Street, could not have moved more surely or with a
tenth the speed of the agile ape-man through the gloomy mazes that
would have baffled us entirely.
At dawn he stopped to feed, and then he slept for several hours, taking
up the pursuit again toward noon.
Twice he came upon natives, and, though he had considerable difficulty
in approaching them, he succeeded in each instance in quieting both
their fears and bellicose intentions toward him, and learned from them
that he was upon the trail of the Russian.
Two days later, still following up the Ugambi, he came upon a large
village. The chief, a wicked-looking fellow with the sharp-filed teeth
that often denote the cannibal, received him with apparent
friendliness.
The ape-man was now thoroughly fatigued, and had determined to rest for
eight or ten hours that he might be fresh and strong when he caught up
with Rokoff, as he was sure he must do within a very short time.
The chief told him that the bearded white man had left his village only
the morning before, and that doubtless he would be able to overtake him
in a short time. The other party the chief had not seen or heard of, so
he said.
Tarzan did not like the appearance or manner of the fellow, who seemed,
though friendly enough, to harbour a certain contempt for this
half-naked white man who came with no followers and offered no
presents; but he needed the rest and food that the village would afford
him with less effort than the jungle, and so, as he knew no fear of
man, beast, or devil, he curled himself up in the shadow of a hut and
was soon asleep.
Scarcely had he left the chief than the latter called two of his
warriors, to whom he whispered a few instructions. A moment later the
sleek, black bodies were racing along the river path, up-stream, toward
the east.
In the village the chief maintained perfect quiet. He would permit no
one to approach the sleeping visitor, nor any singing, nor loud
talking. He was remarkably solicitous lest his guest be disturbed.
Three hours later several canoes came silently into view from up the
Ugambi. They were being pushed ahead rapidly by the brawny muscles of
their black crews. Upon the bank before the river stood the chief, his
spear raised in a horizontal position above his head, as though in some
manner of predetermined signal to those within the boats.
And such indeed was the purpose of his attitude—which meant that the
white stranger within his village still slept peacefully.
In the bows of two of the canoes were the runners that the chief had
sent forth three hours earlier. It was evident that they had been
dispatched to follow and bring back this party, and that the signal
from the bank was one that had been determined upon before they left
the village.
In a few moments the dugouts drew up to the verdure-clad bank. The
native warriors filed out, and with them a half-dozen white men.
Sullen, ugly-looking customers they were, and none more so than the
evil-faced, black-bearded man who commanded them.
“Where is the white man your messengers report to be with you?” he
asked of the chief.
“This way, bwana,” replied the native. “Carefully have I kept silence
in the village that he might be still asleep when you returned. I do
not know that he is one who seeks you to do you harm, but he questioned
me closely about your coming and your going, and his appearance is as
that of the one you described, but whom you believed safe in the
country which you called Jungle Island.
“Had you not told me this tale I should not have recognized him, and
then he might have gone after and slain you. If he is a friend and no
enemy, then no harm has been done, bwana; but if he proves to be an
enemy, I should like very much to have a rifle and some ammunition.”
“You have done well,” replied the white man, “and you shall have the
rifle and ammunition whether he be a friend or enemy, provided that you
stand with me.”
“I shall stand with you, bwana,” said the chief, “and now come and look
upon the stranger, who sleeps within my village.”
So saying, he turned and led the way toward the hut, in the shadow of
which the unconscious Tarzan slept peacefully.
Behind the two men came the remaining whites and a score of warriors;
but the raised forefingers of the chief and his companion held them all
to perfect silence.
As they turned the corner of the hut, cautiously and upon tiptoe, an
ugly smile touched the lips of the white as his eyes fell upon the
giant figure of the sleeping ape-man.
The chief looked at the other inquiringly. The latter nodded his head,
to signify that the chief had made no mistake in his suspicions. Then
he turned to those behind him and, pointing to the sleeping man,
motioned for them to seize and bind him.
A moment later a dozen brutes had leaped upon the surprised Tarzan, and
so quickly did they work that he was securely bound before he could
make half an effort to escape.
Then they threw him down upon his back, and as his eyes turned toward
the crowd that stood near, they fell upon the malign face of Nikolas
Rokoff.
A sneer curled the Russian’s lips. He stepped quite close to Tarzan.
“Pig!” he cried. “Have you not learned sufficient wisdom to keep away
from Nikolas Rokoff?”
Then he kicked the prostrate man full in the face.
“That for your welcome,” he said.
“Tonight, before my Ethiop friends eat you, I shall tell you what has
already befallen your wife and child, and what further plans I have for
their futures.”