The Alalus youth, son of The First Woman, ranged the forest in search
of the ape-man, the only creature that ever had stirred within his
savage, primitive breast any emotion even slightly akin to affection;
but he did not find him. Instead he fell in with two older males of his
own species, and these three hunted together, as was occasionally the
custom of these inoffensive creatures. His new acquaintances showed
little interest in his strange armament--they were quite content with
a stick and a stone knife. To the former an occasional rodent fell
and the latter discovered many a luscious grub and insect beneath the
mold that floored the forest or hidden under the bark of a tree. For
the most part, however, they fed upon fruits, nuts and tubers. Not so
the son of The First Woman, however. He brought in many birds and an
occasional antelope, for he was becoming daily more proficient with
the bow and the spear, and as he often brought in more than he could
eat and left the remainder to his two fellows, they were permanently
attached to him, or at least until such time as some fearsome woman
should appear upon the scene to shatter their idyllic existence and
drag one of them away to her corral.
They wondered a little at him in their slow and stupid minds, for he
seemed to differ in some vague, intangible way from them and all others
of their sex that they had known. He held his chin higher for one thing
and his gaze was far less shifty and apologetic. He strode with a
firmer step and with less caution; but perhaps they smiled inwardly as
they cogitated muddily upon that inevitable moment that would discover
one of their coarse, brutal, hairy shes felling him with her bludgeon
and dragging him off toward the caves by the hair of his head.
And then one day the thing happened, or at least a part of it
happened--they met a huge she suddenly in an open place in the forest.
The two who accompanied the son of The First Woman turned in flight,
but when they had reached the vantage ground of close-growing timber
they paused and looked back to see if the woman was pursuing them and
what had become of their companion. To their relief they saw that the
woman was not following them and to their consternation that their
fellow had not fled, but was facing her defiantly, and motioning her to
go away, or be killed. Such crass stupidity! He must have been whelped
without brains. It never occurred to them to attribute his act to
courage. Courage was for the shes; the male spent his life in fleeing
danger and the female of his species.
But they were grateful to him, for his rash act would save them since
the she would take but one of them and that one would be he who thus
foolishly remained behind to defy her.
The woman, unaccustomed to having her rights challenged by mere man,
was filled with surprise and righteous anger. Her surprise brought her
to a sudden halt twenty paces from the man and her anger caused her to
reach for one of the stone missiles hanging at her girdle. That was
her undoing. The son of The First Woman, standing before her with an
arrow already fitted to his bow, waited not to discover her further
intentions, but even as the woman's fingers loosed the feathered
messenger of defeat from the leather thong of her girdle, he drew the
shaft to his cheek and released it.
His two companions, watching from the seclusion of the wood, saw the
woman stiffen, her face contorted in a spasm of pain; they saw her
clutch frantically at a feathered shaft protruding from her chest,
sink to her knees and then sprawl to earth, where she lay kicking with
her feet and clutching with her fingers for a brief moment before she
relapsed into eternal quiet; then they emerged from their concealment,
and as the son of The First Woman approached his victim and wrenched
the arrow from her heart they joined him, half stunned as they were by
surprise, and gazed first at the corpse of the she with expressions
of incredulity and then at him with what was close akin to awe and
reverence.
They examined his bow and arrows and again and again they returned to
the wound in the woman's chest. It was all quite too amazing. And the
son of The First Woman? He held his head high and his chest out and
strutted proudly. Never before had he or any other man been cast in
the role of hero and he enjoyed it. But he would impress them further.
Seizing the corpse of the woman he dragged it to a nearby tree where he
propped it in a sitting posture against the bole; then he walked away
some twenty feet and, signing his fellows to observe him closely, he
raised his heavy spear and hurled it at his realistic target, through
which it passed to embed itself in the tree behind.
The others were greatly excited. One of them wanted to attempt this
wondrous feat and when he had thrown, and missed, his fellow insisted
upon having a turn. Later they craved practice with the bow and arrow.
For hours the three remained before their grisly target, nor did they
desist until hunger prompted them to move on and the son of The First
Woman had promised to show them how to fashion weapons similar to
his own--a momentous occurrence in the history of the Alali, though
these three sensed it as little as did the hundreds of Alalus women
repairing to their caves that night in blissful ignorance of the blow
that had been struck at their supremacy by the militant suffragists of
Minuni.
And as suddenly, with more immediate results, the even tenor of
Tarzan's existence in the city of Trohanadalmakus was altered and a
series of events initiated that were to lead to the maddest and most
unbelievable dénouement.
The ape-man lay upon a bed of grasses beneath a great tree that grew
beside the city of King Adendrohahkis. Dawn was flushing the sky above
the forest to the east of Trohanadalmakus, when Tarzan, his ear close
to the ground, was suddenly awakened by a strange reverberation that
seemed to come faintly from the bowels of the earth. It was such a dim
and distant sound that it would scarce have been appreciable to you or
to me had we placed an ear flat against the ground after having been
told that the noise existed; but to Tarzan it was an interruption of
the ordinary noises of the night and, therefore, however slight, of
sufficient import to impinge upon his consciousness even in sleep.
Awakened, he still lay listening intently. He knew that the sound did
not come from the bowels of the earth, but from the surface and he
guessed that it originated at no great distance, and also, he knew,
that it was coming closer rapidly. For just a moment it puzzled him and
then a great light dawned upon him and he sprang to his feet. The dome
of the king, Adendrohahkis, lay a hundred yards away and toward it he
bent his steps. Just before the south entrance he was challenged by a
tiny sentinel.
"Take word to your king," the ape-man directed him, "that Tarzan hears
many diadets galloping toward Trohanadalmakus and that unless he is
much mistaken each carries a hostile warrior upon its back."
The sentinel turned and hallooed down the corridor leading from the
entrance, and a moment later an officer and several other warriors
appeared. At sight of Tarzan they halted.
"What is wrong?" demanded the officer.
"The King's Guest says that he heard many diadets approaching," replied
the sentinel.
"From what direction?" demanded the officer, addressing Tarzan.
"From that direction the sounds appeared to come," replied the ape-man,
pointing toward the west.
"The Veltopismakusians!" exclaimed the officer, and then, turning to
those who had accompanied him from the interior of the king's dome:
"Quick! arouse Trohanadalmakus--I will warn the king's dome and the
king," and he wheeled and ran quickly within, while the others sped
away to awaken the city.
In an incredibly short space of time Tarzan saw thousands of warriors
streaming from each of the ten domes. From the north and the south
doors of each dome rode mounted men, and from the east and west marched
the foot soldiers. There was no confusion; everything moved with
military precision and evidently in accordance with a plan of defense
in which each unit had been thoroughly drilled.
Small detachments of cavalry galloped quickly to the four points of the
compass--these were scouts each detail of which spread fan-wise just
beyond the limits of the domes until the city was encircled by a thin
line of mounted men that would halt when it had reached a predetermined
distance from the city, and fall back with information before an
advancing enemy. Following these, stronger detachments of mounted men
moved out to north and south and east and west to take positions just
inside the line of scouts. These detachments were strong enough to
engage the enemy and impede his progress as they fell back upon the
main body of the cavalry which might by this plan be summoned in time
to the point at which the enemy was making his boldest effort to reach
the city.
And then the main body of the cavalry moved out, and in this instance
toward the west, from which point they were already assured the foe was
approaching; while the infantry, which had not paused since it emerged
from the domes, marched likewise toward the four points of the compass
in four compact bodies of which by far the largest moved toward the
west. The advance foot troops took their stations but a short distance
outside the city, while within the area of the domes the last troops to
emerge from them, both cavalry and infantry, remained evidently as a
reserve force, and it was with these troops that Adendrohahkis took his
post that he might be centrally located for the purpose of directing
the defense of his city to better advantage.
Komodoflorensal, the prince, had gone out in command of the main body
of cavalry that was to make the first determined stand against the
oncoming foe. This body consisted of seven thousand five hundred men
and its position lay two miles outside the city, half a mile behind a
cavalry patrol of five hundred men, of which there were four, one at
each point of the compass, and totaling two thousand men. The balance
of the ten thousand advance troops consisted of the five hundred
mounted scouts or vedettes who, in turn, were half a mile in advance of
the picket patrols, at two hundred foot intervals, entirely surrounding
the city at a distance of three miles. Inside the city fifteen thousand
mounted men were held in reserve.
In the increasing light of dawn Tarzan watched these methodical
preparations for defense with growing admiration for the tiny
Minunians. There was no shouting and no singing, but on the face
of every warrior who passed close enough for the ape-man to discern
his features was an expression of exalted rapture. No need here for
war cries or battle hymns to bolster the questionable courage of the
weak--there were no weak.
The pounding of the hoofs of the advancing Veltopismakusian horde
had ceased. It was evident that their scouts had discovered that the
intended surprise had failed. Were they altering the plan or point of
attack, or had they merely halted the main body temporarily to await
the result of a reconnaissance? Tarzan asked a nearby officer if,
perchance, the enemy had abandoned his intention of attacking at all.
The man smiled and shook his head.
"Minunians never abandon an attack," he said.
As Tarzan's eyes wandered over the city's ten domes, illuminated now
by the rays of the rising sun, he saw in each of the numerous window
embrasures, that pierced the domes at regular intervals at each of
their thirty odd floors, a warrior stationed at whose side lay a great
bundle of short javelins, while just to his rear was piled a quantity
of small, round stones. The ape-man smiled.
"They overlook no possible contingency," he thought. "But the quarry
slaves! what of them? Would they not turn against their masters at the
first opportunity for escape that an impending battle such as this
would be almost certain to present to them?" He turned again to the
officer and put the question to him.
The latter turned and pointed toward the entrance to the nearest
quarry, where Tarzan saw hundreds of white-tunicked slaves piling rocks
upon it while a detachment of infantry leaned idly upon their spears as
their officers directed the labor of the slaves.
"There is another detachment of warriors bottled up inside the quarry
entrance," explained the officer to Tarzan. "If the enemy gains the
city and this outer guard is driven into the domes or killed or
captured, the inner guard can hold off an entire army, as only one man
can attack them at a time. Our slaves are safe, therefore, unless the
city falls and that has not happened to any Minunian city within the
memory of man. The best that the Veltopismakusians can hope for now is
to pick up a few prisoners, but they will doubtless leave behind as
many as they take. Had their surprise been successful they might have
forced their way into one of the domes and made way with many women and
much loot. Now, though, our forces are too well disposed to make it
possible for any but a greatly superior force to seriously threaten the
city itself. I even doubt if our infantry is engaged at all."
"How is the infantry disposed?" asked Tarzan.
"Five thousand men are stationed within the windows of the domes,"
replied the officer; "five thousand more comprise the reserve which you
see about you, and from which detachments have been detailed to guard
the quarries. A mile from the city are four other bodies of infantry;
those to the east, north and south having a strength of one thousand
men each, while the one to the west, facing the probable point of
attack, consists of seven thousand warriors."
"Then you think the fighting will not reach the city?" asked Tarzan.
"No. The lucky men today are in the advance cavalry--they will get
whatever fighting there is. I doubt if an infantryman draws a sword or
casts a spear; but that is usually the case--it is the cavalry that
fights, always."
"I take it that you feel unfortunate in not being attached to a cavalry
unit. Could you not be transferred?"
"Oh, we must all take our turns of duty in each branch," explained
the officer. "We are all mounted except for defense of the city
and for that purpose we are assigned to the foot troops for four
moons, followed by five moons in the cavalry"--the word he used was
_diadetax_--"five thousand men being transferred from one to the other
the night of each new moon."
Tarzan turned and looked out across the plain toward the west. He could
see the nearer troops standing at ease, awaiting the enemy. Even
the main body of cavalry, two miles away, he could discern, because
there were so many of them; but the distant pickets and vedettes were
invisible. As he stood leaning upon his spear watching this scene, a
scene such as no other man of his race ever had witnessed, and realized
the seriousness of these little men in the business of war that
confronted them, he could not but think of the people of his own world
lining up their soldiers for purposes usually far less momentous to
them than the call to arms that had brought the tough little warriors
of Adendrohahkis swarming from their pallets in the defense of home and
city.
No chicanery of politics here, no thinly veiled ambition of some
potential tyrant, no mad conception of hair-brained dreamers seized by
the avaricious criminal for self-aggrandizement and riches; none of
these, but patriotism of purest strain energized by the powerful urge
of self-preservation. The perfect fighters, the perfect warriors, the
perfect heroes these. No need for blaring trumpets; of no use to them
the artificial aids to courage conceived by captains of the outer world
who send unwilling men to battle for they know not what, deceived by
lying propaganda, enraged by false tales of the barbarity of the foe,
whose anger has been aroused against them by similar means.
During the lull that followed the departure from the city of the last
of the advance troops Tarzan approached Adendrohahkis where he sat
astride his diadet surrounded by a number of his high officers. The
king was resplendent in golden jerkin, a leathern garment upon which
small discs of gold were sewn, overlapping one another. About his
waist was a wide belt of heavy leather, held in place by three buckles
of gold, and of such dimensions as to have almost the appearance of
a corset. This belt supported his rapier and knife, the scabbards of
which were heavily inlaid with gold and baser metals in intricate and
beautiful designs. Leather cuisses protected his upper legs, in front,
covering the thighs to the knees, while his forearms were encased in
metal armlets from wrists almost to elbows. Upon his feet were strapped
tough sandals, with a circular golden plate protecting each ankle bone.
A well-shaped leather casque fitted his head closely.
As Tarzan stopped before him the king recognized the ape-man with a
pleasant greeting. "The captain of the guard reports that it is to
you we owe the first warning of the coming of the Veltopismakusians.
Once again have you placed the people of Trohanadalmakus under deep
obligations. However are we to repay our debt?"
Tarzan gestured deprecatively. "You owe me nothing, King of
Trohanadalmakus," he replied. "Give me your friendship and tell me that
I may go forward and join your noble son, the prince; then all the
obligations shall be upon my head."
"Until the worms of death devour me I shall be your friend always,
Tarzan," returned the king graciously. "Go where you will and that you
choose to go where there should be fighting surprises me not."
It was the first time that any Minunian had addressed him by his name.
Always had he been called Saviour of the Prince, Guest of the King,
Giant of the Forest and by other similar impersonal appellations. Among
the Minunians a man's name is considered a sacred possession, the use
of which is permitted only his chosen friends and the members of his
family, and to be called Tarzan by Adendrohahkis was equivalent to an
invitation, or a command, to the closest personal friendship with the
king.
The ape-man acknowledged the courtesy with a bow. "The friendship
of Adendrohahkis is a sacred honor, ennobling those who wear it. I
shall guard it always with my life, as my most treasured possession,"
he said in a low voice; nor was the Lord of the Jungle moved by any
maudlin sentimentality as he addressed the king. For these little
people he had long since acknowledged to himself a keen admiration
and for the personal character of Adendrohahkis he had come to have
the most profound respect. Never since he had learned their language
had he ceased his inquiries concerning the manners and the customs
of these people, and he had found the personality of Adendrohahkis
so inextricably interwoven with the lives of his subjects that in
receiving the answers to his questions he could not but absorb
unquestionable evidence of the glories of the king's character.
Adendrohahkis seemed pleased with his words, which he acknowledged
graciously, and then the ape-man withdrew and started toward the front.
On the way he tore a leafy branch from a tree that grew beside his path
for the thought had occurred to him that such a weapon might be useful
against Minunians and he knew not what the day might hold.
He had just passed the advanced infantry when a courier sped by him
on a mad race toward the city. Tarzan strained his eyes ahead, but
he could see no sign of battle and when he reached the main cavalry
advance there was still no indication of an enemy as far ahead as he
could see.
Prince Komodoflorensal greeted him warmly and looked a little
wonderingly, perhaps, at the leafy branch he carried across one
shoulder.
"What news?" asked Tarzan.
"I have just sent a messenger to the king," replied the prince,
"reporting that our scouts have come in touch with those of the enemy,
who are, as we thought, the Veltopismakusians. A strong patrol from
the outpost in our front pushed through the enemy's scout line and
one courageous warrior even managed to penetrate as far as the summit
of the Hill of Gartolas, from which he saw the entire main body of the
enemy forming for attack. He says there are between twenty and thirty
thousand of them."
As Komodoflorensal ceased speaking, a wave of sound came rolling toward
them from the west.
"They are coming!" announced the prince.