When the Lion Fed
Kudu, the sun, was well up in the heavens when Tarzan awoke. The
ape-man stretched his giant limbs, ran his fingers through his thick
hair, and swung lightly down to earth. Immediately he took up the
trail he had come in search of, following it by scent down into
a deep ravine. Cautiously he went now, for his nose told him that
the quarry was close at hand, and presently from an overhanging
bough he looked down upon Horta, the boar, and many of his kinsmen.
Un-slinging his bow and selecting an arrow, Tarzan fitted the shaft
and, drawing it far back, took careful aim at the largest of the
great pigs. In the ape-man's teeth were other arrows, and no sooner
had the first one sped, than he had fitted and shot another bolt.
Instantly the pigs were in turmoil, not knowing from whence the
danger threatened. They stood stupidly at first and then commenced
milling around until six of their number lay dead or dying about
them; then with a chorus of grunts and squeals they started off at
a wild run, disappearing quickly in the dense underbrush.
Tarzan then descended from the tree, dispatched those that were not
already dead and proceeded to skin the carcasses. As he worked,
rapidly and with great skill, he neither hummed nor whistled as
does the average man of civilization. It was in numerous little
ways such as these that he differed from other men, due, probably,
to his early jungle training. The beasts of the jungle that he had
been reared among were playful to maturity but seldom thereafter.
His fellow-apes, especially the bulls, became fierce and surly as
they grew older. Life was a serious matter during lean seasons--one
had to fight to secure one's share of food then, and the habit once
formed became lifelong. Hunting for food was the life labor of the
jungle bred, and a life labor is a thing not to be approached with
levity nor prosecuted lightly. So all work found Tarzan serious,
though he still retained what the other beasts lost as they grew
older--a sense of humor, which he gave play to when the mood suited
him. It was a grim humor and sometimes ghastly; but it satisfied
Tarzan.
Then, too, were one to sing and whistle while working on the ground,
concentration would be impossible. Tarzan possessed the ability to
concentrate each of his five senses upon its particular business.
Now he worked at skinning the six pigs and his eyes and his fingers
worked as though there was naught else in all the world than these
six carcasses; but his ears and his nose were as busily engaged
elsewhere--the former ranging the forest all about and the latter
assaying each passing zephyr. It was his nose that first discovered
the approach of Sabor, the lioness, when the wind shifted for a
moment.
As clearly as though he had seen her with his eyes, Tarzan knew
that the lioness had caught the scent of the freshly killed pigs
and immediately had moved down wind in their direction. He knew
from the strength of the scent spoor and the rate of the wind about
how far away she was and that she was approaching from behind him.
He was finishing the last pig and he did not hurry. The five pelts
lay close at hand--he had been careful to keep them thus together
and near him--an ample tree waved its low branches above him.
He did not even turn his head for he knew she was not yet in sight;
but he bent his ears just a bit more sharply for the first sound
of her nearer approach. When the final skin had been removed he
rose. Now he heard Sabor in the bushes to his rear, but not yet
too close. Leisurely he gathered up the six pelts and one of the
carcasses, and as the lioness appeared between the boles of two
trees he swung upward into the branches above him. Here he hung
the hides over a limb, seated himself comfortably upon another with
his back against the bole of the tree, cut a hind quarter from
the carcass he had carried with him and proceeded to satisfy his
hunger. Sabor slunk, growling, from the brush, cast a wary eye
upward toward the ape-man and then fell upon the nearest carcass.
Tarzan looked down upon her and grinned, recalling an argument he
had once had with a famous big-game hunter who had declared that
the king of beasts ate only what he himself had killed. Tarzan knew
better for he had seen Numa and Sabor stoop even to carrion.
Having filled his belly, the ape-man fell to work upon the hides--all
large and strong. First he cut strips from them about half an inch
wide. When he had sufficient number of these strips he sewed two of
the hides together, afterwards piercing holes every three or four
inches around the edges. Running another strip through these
holes gave him a large bag with a drawstring. In similar fashion he
produced four other like bags, but smaller, from the four remaining
hides and had several strips left over.
All this done he threw a large, juicy fruit at Sabor, cached the
remainder of the pig in a crotch of the tree and swung off toward
the southwest through the middle terraces of the forest, carrying
his five bags with him. Straight he went to the rim of the gulch
where he had imprisoned Numa, the lion. Very stealthily he approached
the edge and peered over. Numa was not in sight. Tarzan sniffed
and listened. He could hear nothing, yet he knew that Numa must be
within the cave. He hoped that he slept--much depended upon Numa
not discovering him.
Cautiously he lowered himself over the edge of the cliff, and with
utter noiselessness commenced the descent toward the bottom of the
gulch. He stopped often and turned his keen eyes and ears in the
direction of the cave's mouth at the far end of the gulch, some
hundred feet away. As he neared the foot of the cliff his danger
increased greatly. If he could reach the bottom and cover half
the distance to the tree that stood in the center of the gulch he
would feel comparatively safe for then, even if Numa appeared, he
felt that he could beat him either to the cliff or to the tree,
but to scale the first thirty feet of the cliff rapidly enough to
elude the leaping beast would require a running start of at least
twenty feet as there were no very good hand- or footholds close
to the bottom--he had had to run up the first twenty feet like
a squirrel running up a tree that other time he had beaten an
infuriated Numa to it. He had no desire to attempt it again unless
the conditions were equally favorable at least, for he had escaped
Numa's raking talons by only a matter of inches on the former
occasion.
At last he stood upon the floor of the gulch. Silent as a disembodied
spirit he advanced toward the tree. He was half way there and no
sign of Numa. He reached the scarred bole from which the famished
lion had devoured the bark and even torn pieces of the wood itself
and yet Numa had not appeared. As he drew himself up to the lower
branches he commenced to wonder if Numa were in the cave after
all. Could it be possible that he had forced the barrier of rocks
with which Tarzan had plugged the other end of the passage where
it opened into the outer world of freedom? Or was Numa dead? The
ape-man doubted the verity of the latter suggestion as he had fed
the lion the entire carcasses of a deer and a hyena only a few
days since--he could not have starved in so short a time, while the
little rivulet running across the gulch furnished him with water
a-plenty.
Tarzan started to descend and investigate the cavern when it occurred
to him that it would save effort were he to lure Numa out instead.
Acting upon the thought he uttered a low growl. Immediately he was
rewarded by the sound of a movement within the cave and an instant
later a wild-eyed, haggard lion rushed forth ready to face the
devil himself were he edible. When Numa saw Tarzan, fat and sleek,
perched in the tree he became suddenly the embodiment of frightful
rage. His eyes and his nose told him that this was the creature
responsible for his predicament and also that this creature was
good to eat. Frantically the lion sought to scramble up the bole of
the tree. Twice he leaped high enough to catch the lowest branches
with his paws, but both times he fell backward to the earth. Each
time he became more furious. His growls and roars were incessant
and horrible and all the time Tarzan sat grinning down upon him,
taunting him in jungle billingsgate for his inability to reach
him and mentally exulting that always Numa was wasting his already
waning strength.
Finally the ape-man rose and un-slung his rope. He arranged the
coils carefully in his left hand and the noose in his right, and
then he took a position with each foot on one of two branches that
lay in about the same horizontal plane and with his back pressed
firmly against the stem of the tree. There he stood hurling insults
at Numa until the beast was again goaded into leaping upward at
him, and as Numa rose the noose dropped quickly over his head and
about his neck. A quick movement of Tarzan's rope hand tightened
the coil and when Numa slipped backward to the ground only his hind
feet touched, for the ape-man held him swinging by the neck.
Moving slowly outward upon the two branches Tarzan swung Numa out
so that he could not reach the bole of the tree with his raking
talons, then he made the rope fast after drawing the lion clear
of the ground, dropped his five pigskin sacks to earth and leaped
down himself. Numa was striking frantically at the grass rope with
his fore claws. At any moment he might sever it and Tarzan must,
therefore, work rapidly.
First he drew the larger bag over Numa's head and secured it about
his neck with the draw string, then he managed, after considerable
effort, during which he barely escaped being torn to ribbons by
the mighty talons, to hog-tie Numa--drawing his four legs together
and securing them in that position with the strips trimmed from
the pigskins.
By this time the lion's efforts had almost ceased--it was evident
that he was being rapidly strangled and as that did not at all
suit the purpose of the Tarmangani the latter swung again into the
tree, unfastened the rope from above and lowered the lion to the
ground where he immediately followed it and loosed the noose about
Numa's neck. Then he drew his hunting knife and cut two round holes
in the front of the head bag opposite the lion's eyes for the double
purpose of permitting him to see and giving him sufficient air to
breathe.
This done Tarzan busied himself fitting the other bags, one over
each of Numa's formidably armed paws. Those on the hind feet he
secured not only by tightening the draw strings but also rigged
garters that fastened tightly around the legs above the hocks.
He secured the front-feet bags in place similarly above the great
knees. Now, indeed, was Numa, the lion, reduced to the harmlessness
of Bara, the deer.
By now Numa was showing signs of returning life. He gasped for
breath and struggled; but the strips of pigskin that held his four
legs together were numerous and tough. Tarzan watched and was sure
that they would hold, yet Numa is mightily muscled and there was
the chance, always, that he might struggle free of his bonds after
which all would depend upon the efficacy of Tarzan's bags and draw
strings.
After Numa had again breathed normally and was able to roar
out his protests and his rage, his struggles increased to Titanic
proportions for a short time; but as a lion's powers of endurance
are in no way proportionate to his size and strength he soon tired
and lay quietly. Amid renewed growling and another futile attempt
to free himself, Numa was finally forced to submit to the further
indignity of having a rope secured about his neck; but this time
it was no noose that might tighten and strangle him; but a bowline
knot, which does not tighten or slip under strain.
The other end of the rope Tarzan fastened to the stem of the tree,
then he quickly cut the bonds securing Numa's legs and leaped aside
as the beast sprang to his feet. For a moment the lion stood with
legs far outspread, then he raised first one paw and then another,
shaking them energetically in an effort to dislodge the strange
footgear that Tarzan had fastened upon them. Finally he began to paw
at the bag upon his head. The ape-man, standing with ready spear,
watched Numa's efforts intently. Would the bags hold? He sincerely
hoped so. Or would all his labor prove fruitless?
As the clinging things upon his feet and face resisted his every
effort to dislodge them, Numa became frantic. He rolled upon the
ground, fighting, biting, scratching, and roaring; he leaped to his
feet and sprang into the air; he charged Tarzan, only to be brought
to a sudden stop as the rope securing him to the tree tautened.
Then Tarzan stepped in and rapped him smartly on the head with the
shaft of his spear. Numa reared upon his hind feet and struck at
the ape-man and in return received a cuff on one ear that sent him
reeling sideways. When he returned to the attack he was again sent
sprawling. After the fourth effort it appeared to dawn upon the king
of beasts that he had met his master, his head and tail dropped and
when Tarzan advanced upon him he backed away, though still growling.
Leaving Numa tied to the tree Tarzan entered the tunnel and removed
the barricade from the opposite end, after which he returned to
the gulch and strode straight for the tree. Numa lay in his path
and as Tarzan approached growled menacingly. The ape-man cuffed
him aside and unfastened the rope from the tree. Then ensued a
half-hour of stubbornly fought battle while Tarzan endeavored to
drive Numa through the tunnel ahead of him and Numa persistently
refused to be driven. At last, however, by dint of the unrestricted
use of his spear point, the ape-man succeeded in forcing the lion
to move ahead of him and eventually guided him into the passageway.
Once inside, the problem became simpler since Tarzan followed closely
in the rear with his sharp spear point, an unremitting incentive
to forward movement on the part of the lion. If Numa hesitated he
was prodded. If he backed up the result was extremely painful and
so, being a wise lion who was learning rapidly, he decided to keep
on going and at the end of the tunnel, emerging into the outer
world, he sensed freedom, raised his head and tail and started off
at a run.
Tarzan, still on his hands and knees just inside the entrance, was
taken unaware with the result that he was sprawled forward upon
his face and dragged a hundred yards across the rocky ground before
Numa was brought to a stand. It was a scratched and angry Tarzan
who scrambled to his feet. At first he was tempted to chastise
Numa; but, as the ape-man seldom permitted his temper to guide him
in any direction not countenanced by reason, he quickly abandoned
the idea.
Having taught Numa the rudiments of being driven, he now urged him
forward and there commenced as strange a journey as the unrecorded
history of the jungle contains. The balance of that day was eventful
both for Tarzan and for Numa. From open rebellion at first the lion
passed through stages of stubborn resistance and grudging obedience
to final surrender. He was a very tired, hungry, and thirsty lion
when night overtook them; but there was to be no food for him that
day or the next--Tarzan did not dare risk removing the head bag,
though he did cut another hole which permitted Numa to quench his
thirst shortly after dark. Then he tied him to a tree, sought food
for himself, and stretched out among the branches above his captive
for a few hours' sleep.
Early the following morning they resumed their journey, winding over
the low foothills south of Kilimanjaro, toward the east. The beasts
of the jungle who saw them took one look and fled. The scent spoor
of Numa, alone, might have been enough to have provoked flight in
many of the lesser animals, but the sight of this strange apparition
that smelled like a lion, but looked like nothing they ever had
seen before, being led through the jungles by a giant Tarmangani
was too much for even the more formidable denizens of the wild.
Sabor, the lioness, recognizing from a distance the scent of her
lord and master intermingled with that of a Tarmangani and the
hide of Horta, the boar, trotted through the aisles of the forest
to investigate. Tarzan and Numa heard her coming, for she voiced
a plaintive and questioning whine as the baffling mixture of odors
aroused her curiosity and her fears, for lions, however terrible
they may appear, are often timid animals and Sabor, being of the
gentler sex, was, naturally, habitually inquisitive as well.
Tarzan un-slung his spear for he knew that he might now easily have
to fight to retain his prize. Numa halted and turned his outraged
head in the direction of the coming she. He voiced a throaty growl
that was almost a purr. Tarzan was upon the point of prodding him
on again when Sabor broke into view, and behind her the ape-man saw
that which gave him instant pause--four full-grown lions trailing
the lioness.
To have goaded Numa then into active resistance might have brought
the whole herd down upon him and so Tarzan waited to learn first
what their attitude would be. He had no idea of relinquishing his
lion without a battle; but knowing lions as he did, he knew that
there was no assurance as to just what the newcomers would do.
The lioness was young and sleek, and the four males were in their
prime--as handsome lions as he ever had seen. Three of the males
were scantily maned but one, the foremost, carried a splendid,
black mane that rippled in the breeze as he trotted majestically
forward. The lioness halted a hundred feet from Tarzan, while the
lions came on past her and stopped a few feet nearer. Their ears
were upstanding and their eyes filled with curiosity. Tarzan could
not even guess what they might do. The lion at his side faced them
fully, standing silent now and watchful.
Suddenly the lioness gave vent to another little whine, at which
Tarzan's lion voiced a terrific roar and leaped forward straight
toward the beast of the black mane. The sight of this awesome
creature with the strange face was too much for the lion toward
which he leaped, dragging Tarzan after him, and with a growl the
lion turned and fled, followed by his companions and the she.
Numa attempted to follow them; Tarzan held him in leash and when
he turned upon him in rage, beat him unmercifully across the head
with his spear. Shaking his head and growling, the lion at last moved
off again in the direction they had been traveling; but it was an
hour before he ceased to sulk. He was very hungry--half famished
in fact--and consequently of an ugly temper, yet so thoroughly
subdued by Tarzan's heroic methods of lion taming that he was
presently pacing along at the ape-man's side like some huge St.
Bernard.
It was dark when the two approached the British right, after a
slight delay farther back because of a German patrol it had been
necessary to elude. A short distance from the British line of
out-guard sentinels Tarzan tied Numa to a tree and continued on
alone. He evaded a sentinel, passed the out-guard and support, and
by devious ways came again to Colonel Capell's headquarters, where
he appeared before the officers gathered there as a disembodied
spirit materializing out of thin air.
When they saw who it was that came thus unannounced they smiled
and the colonel scratched his head in perplexity.
"Someone should be shot for this," he said. "I might just as well
not establish an out-post if a man can filter through whenever he
pleases."
Tarzan smiled. "Do not blame them," he said, "for I am not a man.
I am Tarmangani. Any Mangani who wished to, could enter your camp
almost at will; but if you have them for sentinels no one could
enter without their knowledge."
"What are the Mangani?" asked the colonel. "Perhaps we might enlist
a bunch of the beggars."
Tarzan shook his head. "They are the great apes," he explained; "my
people; but you could not use them. They cannot concentrate long
enough upon a single idea. If I told them of this they would be
much interested for a short time--I might even hold the interest
of a few long enough to get them here and explain their duties to
them; but soon they would lose interest and when you needed them
most they might be off in the forest searching for beetles instead
of watching their posts. They have the minds of little children--that
is why they remain what they are."
"You call them Mangani and yourself Tarmangani--what is the
difference?" asked Major Preswick.
"Tar means white," replied Tarzan, "and Mangani, great ape. My name--the
name they gave me in the tribe of Kerchak--means White-skin. When
I was a little balu my skin, I presume, looked very white indeed
against the beautiful, black coat of Kala, my foster mother
and so they called me Tarzan, the Tarmangani. They call you, too,
Tarmangani," he concluded, smiling.
Capell smiled. "It is no reproach, Greystoke," he said; "and, by
Jove, it would be a mark of distinction if a fellow could act the
part. And now how about your plan? Do you still think you can empty
the trench opposite our sector?"
"Is it still held by Gomangani?" asked Tarzan.
"What are Gomangani?" inquired the colonel. "It is still held by
native troops, if that is what you mean."
"Yes," replied the ape-man, "the Gomangani are the great black
apes--the Negroes."
"What do you intend doing and what do you want us to do?" asked
Capell.
Tarzan approached the table and placed a finger on the map. "Here
is a listening post," he said; "they have a machine gun in it. A
tunnel connects it with this trench at this point." His finger moved
from place to place on the map as he talked. "Give me a bomb and
when you hear it burst in this listening post let your men start
across No Man's Land slowly. Presently they will hear a commotion
in the enemy trench; but they need not hurry, and, whatever they
do, have them come quietly. You might also warn them that I may be
in the trench and that I do not care to be shot or bayoneted."
"And that is all?" queried Capell, after directing an officer to
give Tarzan a hand grenade; "you will empty the trench alone?"
"Not exactly alone," replied Tarzan with a grim smile; "but I shall
empty it, and, by the way, your men may come in through the tunnel
from the listening post if you prefer. In about half an hour,
Colonel," and he turned and left them.
As he passed through the camp there flashed suddenly upon the screen
of recollection, conjured there by some reminder of his previous
visit to headquarters, doubtless, the image of the officer he had
passed as he quit the colonel that other time and simultaneously
recognition of the face that had been revealed by the light from
the fire. He shook his head dubiously. No, it could not be and
yet the features of the young officer were identical with those of
Fraulein Kircher, the German spy he had seen at German headquarters
the night he took Major Schneider from under the nose of the Hun
general and his staff.
Beyond the last line of sentinels Tarzan moved quickly in the
direction of Numa, the lion. The beast was lying down as Tarzan
approached, but he rose as the ape-man reached his side. A low
whine escaped his muzzled lips. Tarzan smiled for he recognized in
the new note almost a supplication--it was more like the whine of
a hungry dog begging for food than the voice of the proud king of
beasts.
"Soon you will kill--and feed," he murmured in the vernacular of
the great apes.
He unfastened the rope from about the tree and, with Numa close
at his side, slunk into No Man's Land. There was little rifle fire
and only an occasional shell vouched for the presence of artillery
behind the opposing lines. As the shells from both sides were
falling well back of the trenches, they constituted no menace to
Tarzan; but the noise of them and that of the rifle fire had a marked
effect upon Numa who crouched, trembling, close to the Tarmangani
as though seeking protection.
Cautiously the two beasts moved forward toward the listening post
of the Germans. In one hand Tarzan carried the bomb the English had
given him, in the other was the coiled rope attached to the lion.
At last Tarzan could see the position a few yards ahead. His keen
eyes picked out the head and shoulders of the sentinel on watch.
The ape-man grasped the bomb firmly in his right hand. He measured
the distance with his eye and gathered his feet beneath him, then
in a single motion he rose and threw the missile, immediately
flattening himself prone upon the ground.
Five seconds later there was a terrific explosion in the center of
the listening post. Numa gave a nervous start and attempted to break
away; but Tarzan held him and, leaping to his feet, ran forward,
dragging Numa after him. At the edge of the post he saw below him
but slight evidence that the position had been occupied at all,
for only a few shreds of torn flesh remained. About the only thing
that had not been demolished was a machine gun which had been
protected by sand bags.
There was not an instant to lose. Already a relief might be crawling
through the communication tunnel, for it must have been evident to
the sentinels in the Hun trenches that the listening post had been
demolished. Numa hesitated to follow Tarzan into the excavation;
but the ape-man, who was in no mood to temporize, jerked him roughly
to the bottom. Before them lay the mouth of the tunnel that led
back from No Man's Land to the German trenches. Tarzan pushed Numa
forward until his head was almost in the aperture, then as though
it were an afterthought, he turned quickly and, taking the machine
gun from the parapet, placed it in the bottom of the hole close
at hand, after which he turned again to Numa, and with his knife
quickly cut the garters that held the bags upon his front paws.
Before the lion could know that a part of his formidable armament
was again released for action, Tarzan had cut the rope from his
neck and the head bag from his face, and grabbing the lion from
the rear had thrust him partially into the mouth of the tunnel.
Then Numa balked, only to feel the sharp prick of Tarzan's knife
point in his hind quarters. Goading him on the ape-man finally
succeeded in getting the lion sufficiently far into the tunnel
so that there was no chance of his escaping other than by going
forward or deliberately backing into the sharp blade at his rear.
Then Tarzan cut the bags from the great hind feet, placed his
shoulder and his knife point against Numa's seat, dug his toes
into the loose earth that had been broken up by the explosion of
the bomb, and shoved.
Inch by inch at first Numa advanced. He was growling now and presently
he commenced to roar. Suddenly he leaped forward and Tarzan knew
that he had caught the scent of meat ahead. Dragging the machine
gun beside him the ape-man followed quickly after the lion whose
roars he could plainly hear ahead mingled with the unmistakable
screams of frightened men. Once again a grim smile touched the lips
of this man-beast.
"They murdered my Waziri," he muttered; "they crucified Wasimbu,
son of Muviro."
When Tarzan reached the trench and emerged into it there was no one
in sight in that particular bay, nor in the next, nor the next as
he hurried forward in the direction of the German center; but in the
fourth bay he saw a dozen men jammed in the angle of the traverse
at the end while leaping upon them and rending with talons and fangs
was Numa, a terrific incarnation of ferocity and ravenous hunger.
Whatever held the men at last gave way as they fought madly with
one another in their efforts to escape this dread creature that
from their infancy had filled them with terror, and again they
were retreating. Some clambered over the parados and some even over
the parapet preferring the dangers of No Man's Land to this other
soul-searing menace.
As the British advanced slowly toward the German trenches, they
first met terrified blacks who ran into their arms only too willing
to surrender. That pandemonium had broken loose in the Hun trench
was apparent to the Rhodesians not only from the appearance of the
deserters, but from the sounds of screaming, cursing men which came
clearly to their ears; but there was one that baffled them for it
resembled nothing more closely than the infuriated growling of an
angry lion.
And when at last they reached the trench, those farthest on the left
of the advancing Britishers heard a machine gun sputter suddenly
before them and saw a huge lion leap over the German parados with
the body of a screaming Hun soldier between his jaws and vanish
into the shadows of the night, while squatting upon a traverse to
their left was Tarzan of the Apes with a machine gun before him
with which he was raking the length of the German trenches.
The foremost Rhodesians saw something else--they saw a huge German
officer emerge from a dugout just in rear of the ape-man. They saw
him snatch up a discarded rifle with bayonet fixed and creep upon
the apparently unconscious Tarzan. They ran forward, shouting
warnings; but above the pandemonium of the trenches and the machine
gun their voices could not reach him. The German leaped upon the
parapet behind him--the fat hands raised the rifle butt aloft for
the cowardly downward thrust into the naked back and then, as moves
Ara, the lightning, moved Tarzan of the Apes.
It was no man who leaped forward upon that Boche officer, striking
aside the sharp bayonet as one might strike aside a straw in a
baby's hand--it was a wild beast and the roar of a wild beast was
upon those savage lips, for as that strange sense that Tarzan owned
in common with the other jungle-bred creatures of his wild domain
warned him of the presence behind him and he had whirled to meet
the attack, his eyes had seen the corps and regimental insignia upon
the other's blouse--it was the same as that worn by the murderers
of his wife and his people, by the despoilers of his home and his
happiness.
It was a wild beast whose teeth fastened upon the shoulder of the
Hun--it was a wild beast whose talons sought that fat neck. And
then the boys of the Second Rhodesian Regiment saw that which will
live forever in their memories. They saw the giant ape-man pick
the heavy German from the ground and shake him as a terrier might
shake a rat--as Sabor, the lioness, sometimes shakes her prey.
They saw the eyes of the Hun bulge in horror as he vainly struck
with his futile hands against the massive chest and head of his
assailant. They saw Tarzan suddenly spin the man about and placing
a knee in the middle of his back and an arm about his neck bend
his shoulders slowly backward. The German's knees gave and he sank
upon them, but still that irresistible force bent him further and
further. He screamed in agony for a moment--then something snapped
and Tarzan cast him aside, a limp and lifeless thing.
The Rhodesians started forward, a cheer upon their lips--a cheer
that never was uttered--a cheer that froze in their throats, for
at that moment Tarzan placed a foot upon the carcass of his kill
and, raising his face to the heavens, gave voice to the weird and
terrifying victory cry of the bull ape.
Underlieutenant von Goss was dead.
Without a backward glance at the awe-struck soldiers Tarzan leaped
the trench and was gone.