The Walled City
Dropping to the ground once more he picked up the trail of the girl
and her captors, which he followed easily along what appeared to
be a well-beaten trail. It was not long before he came to a small
stream, where he quenched his thirst, and thereafter he saw that
the trail followed in the general direction of the stream, which
ran southwesterly. Here and there were cross trails and others
which joined the main avenue, and always upon each of them were the
tracks and scent of the great cats, of Numa, the lion, and Sheeta,
the panther.
With the exception of a few small rodents there appeared to be no
other wild life on the surface of the valley. There was no indication
of Bara, the deer, or Horta, the boar, or of Gorgo, the buffalo,
Buto, Tantor, or Duro. Histah, the snake, was there. He saw him in
the trees in greater numbers than he ever had seen Histah before;
and once beside a reedy pool he caught a scent that could have
belonged to none other than Gimla the crocodile, but upon none of
these did the Tarmangani care to feed.
And so, as he craved meat, he turned his attention to the birds
above him. His assailants of the night before had not disarmed
him. Either in the darkness and the rush of the charging lions the
human foe had overlooked him or else they had considered him dead;
but whatever the reason he still retained his weapons--his spear
and his long knife, his bow and arrows, and his grass rope.
Fitting a shaft to his bow Tarzan awaited an opportunity to bring
down one of the larger birds, and when the opportunity finally
presented itself he drove the arrow straight to its mark. As the
gaily plumaged creature fluttered to earth its companions and the
little monkeys set up a most terrific chorus of wails and screaming
protests. The whole forest became suddenly a babel of hoarse screams
and shrill shrieks.
Tarzan would not have been surprised had one or two birds in the
immediate vicinity given voice to terror as they fled, but that the
whole life of the jungle should set up so weird a protest filled
him with disgust. It was an angry face that he turned up toward
the monkeys and the birds as there suddenly stirred within him a
savage inclination to voice his displeasure and his answer to what
he considered their challenge. And so it was that there broke upon
this jungle for the first time Tarzan's hideous scream of victory
and challenge.
The effect upon the creatures above him was instantaneous. Where
before the air had trembled to the din of their voices, now utter
silence reigned and a moment later the ape-man was alone with his
puny kill.
The silence following so closely the previous tumult carried
a sinister impression to the ape-man, which still further aroused
his anger. Picking the bird from where it had fallen he withdrew
his arrow from the body and returned it to his quiver. Then with
his knife he quickly and deftly removed the skin and feathers
together. He ate angrily, growling as though actually menaced by
a near-by foe, and perhaps, too, his growls were partially induced
by the fact that he did not care for the flesh of birds. Better
this, however, than nothing and from what his senses had told him
there was no flesh in the vicinity such as he was accustomed to
and cared most for. How he would have enjoyed a juicy haunch from
Pacco, the zebra, or a steak from the loin of Gorgo, the buffalo!
The very thought made his mouth water and increased his resentment
against this unnatural forest that harbored no such delicious
quarry.
He had but partially consumed his kill when he suddenly became
aware of a movement in the brush at no great distance from him
and downwind, and a moment later his nostrils picked up the scent
of Numa from the opposite direction, and then upon either side he
caught the fall of padded feet and the brushing of bodies against
leafy branches. The ape-man smiled. What stupid creature did they
think him, to be surprised by such clumsy stalkers? Gradually the
sounds and scents indicated that lions were moving upon him from
all directions, that he was in the center of a steadily converging
circle of beasts. Evidently they were so sure of their prey that
they were making no effort toward stealth, for he heard twigs crack
beneath their feet, and the brushing of their bodies against the
vegetation through which they forced their way.
He wondered what could have brought them. It seemed unreasonable
to believe that the cries of the birds and the monkeys should
have summoned them, and yet, if not, it was indeed a remarkable
coincidence. His judgment told him that the death of a single bird
in this forest which teemed with birds could scarce be of sufficient
moment to warrant that which followed. Yet even in the face of reason
and past experience he found that the whole affair perplexed him.
He stood in the center of the trail awaiting the coming of the lions
and wondering what would be the method of their attack or if they
would indeed attack. Presently a maned lion came into view along
the trail below him. At sight of him the lion halted. The beast was
similar to those that had attacked him earlier in the day, a trifle
larger and a trifle darker than the lions of his native jungles,
but neither so large nor so black as Numa of the pit.
Presently he distinguished the outlines of other lions in the
surrounding brush and among the trees. Each of them halted as it
came within sight of the ape-man and there they stood regarding
him in silence. Tarzan wondered how long it would be before they
charged and while he waited he resumed his feeding, though with
every sense constantly alert.
One by one the lions lay down, but always their faces were toward
him and their eyes upon him. There had been no growling and no
roaring--just the quiet drawing of the silent circle about him.
It was all so entirely foreign to anything that Tarzan ever before
had seen lions do that it irritated him so that presently, having
finished his repast, he fell to making insulting remarks to first
one and then another of the lions, after the habit he had learned
from the apes of his childhood.
"Dango, eater of carrion," he called them, and he compared them most
unfavorably with Histah, the snake, the most loathed and repulsive
creature of the jungle. Finally he threw handfuls of earth at them
and bits of broken twigs, and then the lions growled and bared
their fangs, but none of them advanced.
"Cowards," Tarzan taunted them. "Numa with a heart of Bara, the
deer." He told them who he was, and after the manner of the jungle
folk he boasted as to the horrible things he would do to them, but
the lions only lay and watched him.
It must have been a half hour after their coming that Tarzan caught
in the distance along the trail the sound of footsteps approaching.
They were the footsteps of a creature who walked upon two legs,
and though Tarzan could catch no scent spoor from that direction
he knew that a man was approaching. Nor had he long to wait before
his judgment was confirmed by the appearance of a man who halted
in the trail directly behind the first lion that Tarzan had seen.
At sight of the newcomer the ape-man realized that here was one
similar to those who had given off the unfamiliar scent spoor that
he had detected the previous night, and he saw that not only in
the matter of scent did the man differ from other human beings with
whom Tarzan was familiar.
The fellow was strongly built with skin of a leathery appearance,
like parchment yellowed with age. His hair, which was coal black
and three or four inches in length, grew out stiffly at right angles
to his scalp. His eyes were close set and the irises densely black
and very small, so that the white of the eyeball showed around
them. The man's face was smooth except for a few straggly hairs on
his chin and upper lip. The nose was aquiline and fine, but the
hair grew so far down on the forehead as to suggest a very low
and brutal type. The upper lip was short and fine while the lower
lip was rather heavy and inclined to be pendulous, the chin being
equally weak. Altogether the face carried the suggestion of a
once strong and handsome countenance entirely altered by physical
violence or by degraded habits and thoughts. The man's arms were
long, though not abnormally so, while his legs were short, though
straight.
He was clothed in tight-fitting nether garments and a loose,
sleeveless tunic that fell just below his hips, while his feet
were shod in soft-soled sandals, the wrappings of which extended
halfway to his knees, closely resembling a modern spiral military
legging. He carried a short, heavy spear, and at his side swung
a weapon that at first so astonished the ape-man that he could
scarcely believe the evidence of his senses--a heavy saber in
a leather-covered scabbard. The man's tunic appeared to have been
fabricated upon a loom--it was certainly not made of skins, while
the garments that covered his legs were quite as evidently made
from the hides of rodents.
Tarzan noted the utter unconcern with which the man approached the
lions, and the equal indifference of Numa to him. The fellow paused
for a moment as though appraising the ape-man and then pushed on
past the lions, brushing against the tawny hide as he passed him
in the trail.
About twenty feet from Tarzan the man stopped, addressing the former
in a strange jargon, no syllable of which was intelligible to the
Tarmangani. His gestures indicated numerous references to the lions
surrounding them, and once he touched his spear with the forefinger
of his left hand and twice he struck the saber at his hip.
While he spoke Tarzan studied the fellow closely, with the result
that there fastened itself upon his mind a strange conviction--that
the man who addressed him was what might only be described as a
rational maniac. As the thought came to the ape-man he could not
but smile, so paradoxical the description seemed. Yet a closer
study of the man's features, carriage, and the contour of his head
carried almost incontrovertibly the assurance that he was insane,
while the tones of his voice and his gestures resembled those of
a sane and intelligent mortal.
Presently the man had concluded his speech and appeared to be waiting
questioningly Tarzan's reply. The ape-man spoke to the other first
in the language of the great apes, but he soon saw that the words
carried no conviction to his listener. Then with equal futility
he tried several native dialects but to none of these did the man
respond.
By this time Tarzan began to lose patience. He had wasted sufficient
time by the road, and as he had never depended much upon speech in
the accomplishment of his ends, he now raised his spear and advanced
toward the other. This, evidently, was a language common to both,
for instantly the fellow raised his own weapon and at the same time
a low call broke from his lips, a call which instantly brought to
action every lion in the hitherto silent circle. A volley of roars
shattered the silence of the forest and simultaneously lions sprang
into view upon all sides as they closed in rapidly upon their
quarry. The man who had called them stepped back, his teeth bared
in a mirthless grin.
It was then that Tarzan first noticed that the fellow's upper canines
were unusually long and exceedingly sharp. It was just a flashing
glimpse he got of them as he leaped agilely from the ground and, to
the consternation of both the lions and their master, disappeared
in the foliage of the lower terrace, flinging back over his shoulder
as he swung rapidly away: "I am Tarzan of the Apes; mighty hunter;
mighty fighter! None in the jungle more powerful, none more cunning
than Tarzan!"
A short distance beyond the point at which they had surrounded him,
Tarzan came to the trail again and sought for the spoor of Bertha
Kircher and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick. He found them quickly and
continued upon his search for the two. The spoor lay directly along
the trail for another half-mile when the way suddenly debouched
from the forest into open land and there broke upon the astonished
view of the ape-man the domes and minarets of a walled city.
Directly before him in the wall nearest him Tarzan saw a low-arched
gateway to which a well-beaten trail led from that which he had
been following. In the open space between the forest and the city
walls, quantities of garden stuff was growing, while before him
at his feet, in an open man-made ditch, ran a stream of water! The
plants in the garden were laid out in well-spaced, symmetrical rows
and appeared to have been given excellent attention and cultivation.
Tiny streams were trickling between the rows from the main ditch
before him and at some distance to his right he could see people
at work among the plants.
The city wall appeared to be about thirty feet in height, its
plastered expanse unbroken except by occasional embrasures. Beyond
the wall rose the domes of several structures and numerous minarets
dotted the sky line of the city. The largest and central dome
appeared to be gilded, while others were red, or blue, or yellow.
The architecture of the wall itself was of uncompromising simplicity.
It was of a cream shade and appeared to be plastered and painted.
At its base was a line of well-tended shrubs and at some distance
towards its eastern extremity it was vine covered to the top.
As he stood in the shadow of the trail, his keen eyes taking in every
detail of the picture before him, he became aware of the approach
of a party in his rear and there was borne to him the scent of the
man and the lions whom he had so readily escaped. Taking to the
trees Tarzan moved a short distance to the west and, finding a
comfortable crotch at the edge of the forest where he could watch
the trail leading through the gardens to the city gate, he awaited
the return of his would-be captors. And soon they came--the strange
man followed by the pack of great lions. Like dogs they moved along
behind him down the trail among the gardens to the gate.
Here the man struck upon the panels of the door with the butt of
his spear, and when it opened in response to his signal he passed
in with his lions. Beyond the open door Tarzan, from his distant
perch, caught but a fleeting glimpse of life within the city, just
enough to indicate that there were other human creatures who abode
there, and then the door closed.
Through that door he knew that the girl and the man whom he sought
to succor had been taken into the city. What fate lay in store
for them or whether already it had been meted out to them he could
not even guess, nor where, within that forbidding wall, they were
incarcerated he could not know. But of one thing he was assured:
that if he were to aid them he could not do it from outside the
wall. He must gain entrance to the city first, nor did he doubt,
that once within, his keen senses would eventually reveal the
whereabouts of those whom he sought.
The low sun was casting long shadows across the gardens when Tarzan
saw the workers returning from the eastern field. A man came first,
and as he came he lowered little gates along the large ditch of
running water, shutting off the streams that had run between the rows
of growing plants; and behind him came other men carrying burdens
of fresh vegetables in great woven baskets upon their shoulders.
Tarzan had not realized that there had been so many men working in
the field, but now as he sat there at the close of the day he saw
a procession filing in from the east, bearing the tools and the
produce back into the city.
And then, to gain a better view, the ape-man ascended to the topmost
branches of a tall tree where he overlooked the nearer wall. From
this point of vantage he saw that the city was long and narrow, and
that while the outer walls formed a perfect rectangle, the streets
within were winding. Toward the center of the city there appeared
to be a low, white building around which the larger edifices of
the city had been built, and here, in the fast-waning light, Tarzan
thought that between two buildings he caught the glint of water,
but of that he was not sure. His experience of the centers of
civilization naturally inclined him to believe that this central
area was a plaza about which the larger buildings were grouped
and that there would be the most logical place to search first for
Bertha Kircher and her companion.
And then the sun went down and darkness quickly enveloped the
city--a darkness that was accentuated for the ape-man rather than
relieved by the artificial lights which immediately appeared in
many of the windows visible to him.
Tarzan had noticed that the roofs of most of the buildings were
flat, the few exceptions being those of what he imagined to be the
more pretentious public structures. How this city had come to exist
in this forgotten part of unexplored Africa the ape-man could not
conceive. Better than another, he realized something of the unsolved
secrets of the Great Dark Continent, enormous areas of which have
as yet been untouched by the foot of civilized man. Yet he could
scarce believe that a city of this size and apparently thus well
constructed could have existed for the generations that it must
have been there, without intercourse with the outer world. Even
though it was surrounded by a trackless desert waste, as he knew
it to be, he could not conceive that generation after generation
of men could be born and die there without attempting to solve the
mysteries of the world beyond the confines of their little valley.
And yet, here was the city surrounded by tilled land and filled
with people!
With the coming of night there arose throughout the jungle the cries
of the great cats, the voice of Numa blended with that of Sheeta,
and the thunderous roars of the great males reverberated through
the forest until the earth trembled, and from within the city came
the answering roars of other lions.
A simple plan for gaining entrance to the city had occurred to
Tarzan, and now that darkness had fallen he set about to put it
into effect. Its success hinged entirely upon the strength of the
vines he had seen surmounting the wall toward the east. In this
direction he made his way, while from out of the forest about him
the cries of the flesh-eaters increased in volume and ferocity. A
quarter of a mile intervened between the forest and the city wall--a
quarter of a mile of cultivated land unrelieved by a single tree.
Tarzan of the Apes realized his limitations and so he knew that
it would undoubtedly spell death for him to be caught in the open
space by one of the great black lions of the forest if, as he had
already surmised, Numa of the pit was a specimen of the forest lion
of the valley.
He must, therefore, depend entirely upon his cunning and his speed,
and upon the chance that the vine would sustain his weight.
He moved through the middle terrace, where the way is always
easiest, until he reached a point opposite the vine-clad portion
of the wall, and there he waited, listening and scenting, until he
might assure himself that there was no Numa within his immediate
vicinity, or, at least, none that sought him. And when he was quite
sure that there was no lion close by in the forest, and none in
the clearing between himself and the wall, he dropped lightly to
the ground and moved stealthily out into the open.
The rising moon, just topping the eastern cliffs, cast its bright
rays upon the long stretch of open garden beneath the wall. And, too,
it picked out in clear relief for any curious eyes that chanced to
be cast in that direction, the figure of the giant ape-man moving
across the clearing. It was only chance, of course, that a great
lion hunting at the edge of the forest saw the figure of the man
halfway between the forest and the wall. Suddenly there broke upon
Tarzan's ears a menacing sound. It was not the roar of a hungry
lion, but the roar of a lion in rage, and, as he glanced back in
the direction from which the sound came, he saw a huge beast moving
out from the shadow of the forest toward him.
Even in the moonlight and at a distance Tarzan saw that the lion
was huge; that it was indeed another of the black-maned monsters
similar to Numa of the pit. For an instant he was impelled to turn
and fight, but at the same time the thought of the helpless girl
imprisoned in the city flashed through his brain and, without an
instant's hesitation, Tarzan of the Apes wheeled and ran for the
wall. Then it was that Numa charged.
Numa, the lion, can run swiftly for a short distance, but he lacks
endurance. For the period of an ordinary charge he can cover the
ground with greater rapidity possibly than any other creature in
the world. Tarzan, on the other hand, could run at great speed for
long distances, though never as rapidly as Numa when the latter
charged.
The question of his fate, then, rested upon whether, with his start
he could elude Numa for a few seconds; and, if so, if the lion would
then have sufficient stamina remaining to pursue him at a reduced
gait for the balance of the distance to the wall.
Never before, perhaps, was staged a more thrilling race, and yet it
was run with only the moon and stars to see. Alone and in silence
the two beasts sped across the moonlit clearing. Numa gained with
appalling rapidity upon the fleeing man, yet at every bound Tarzan
was nearer to the vine-clad wall. Once the ape-man glanced back.
Numa was so close upon him that it seemed inevitable that at the
next bound he should drag him down; so close was he that the ape-man
drew his knife as he ran, that he might at least give a good account
of himself in the last moments of his life.
But Numa had reached the limit of his speed and endurance. Gradually
he dropped behind but he did not give up the pursuit, and now Tarzan
realized how much hinged upon the strength of the untested vines.
If, at the inception of the race, only Goro and the stars had looked
down upon the contestants, such was not the case at its finish,
since from an embrasure near the summit of the wall two close-set
black eyes peered down upon the two. Tarzan was a dozen yards
ahead of Numa when he reached the wall. There was no time to stop
and institute a search for sturdy stems and safe handholds. His
fate was in the hands of chance and with the realization he gave a
final spurt and running catlike up the side of the wall among the
vines, sought with his hands for something that would sustain his
weight. Below him Numa leaped also.