Chapter 7

Son of Tarzan

by Edgar R. Burroughs

CHAPTER 7, SON OF TARZAN by Edgar R. Burroughs
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Akut, discovering that the boy was not close behind him,
turned back to search for him. He had gone but a short
distance in return when he was brought to a sudden and startled
halt by sight of a strange figure moving through the trees
toward him. It was the boy, yet could it be? In his hand was
a long spear, down his back hung an oblong shield such as the
black warriors who had attacked them had worn, and upon ankle and
arm were bands of iron and brass, while a loin cloth was twisted
about the youth's middle. A knife was thrust through its folds.

When the boy saw the ape he hastened forward to exhibit
his trophies. Proudly he called attention to each of his
newly won possessions. Boastfully he recounted the details
of his exploit.

"With my bare hands and my teeth I killed him," he said.
"I would have made friends with them but they chose to be
my enemies. And now that I have a spear I shall show Numa, too,
what it means to have me for a foe. Only the white men and the
great apes, Akut, are our friends. Them we shall seek, all others
must we avoid or kill. This have I learned of the jungle."

They made a detour about the hostile village, and resumed
their journey toward the coast. The boy took much pride in his
new weapons and ornaments. He practiced continually with the
spear, throwing it at some object ahead hour by hour as they
traveled their loitering way, until he gained a proficiency such
as only youthful muscles may attain to speedily. All the while
his training went on under the guidance of Akut. No longer was
there a single jungle spoor but was an open book to the keen
eyes of the lad, and those other indefinite spoor that elude the
senses of civilized man and are only partially appreciable to his
savage cousin came to be familiar friends of the eager boy.
He could differentiate the innumerable species of the herbivora
by scent, and he could tell, too, whether an animal was approaching
or departing merely by the waxing or waning strength of its effluvium.
Nor did he need the evidence of his eyes to tell him whether there
were two lions or four up wind,--a hundred yards away or half a mile.

Much of this had Akut taught him, but far more was instinctive
knowledge--a species of strange intuition inherited from
his father. He had come to love the jungle life. The constant
battle of wits and senses against the many deadly foes that lurked
by day and by night along the pathway of the wary and the unwary
appealed to the spirit of adventure which breathes strong in the
heart of every red-blooded son of primordial Adam. Yet, though
he loved it, he had not let his selfish desires outweigh the
sense of duty that had brought him to a realization of the
moral wrong which lay beneath the adventurous escapade that
had brought him to Africa. His love of father and mother was
strong within him, too strong to permit unalloyed happiness
which was undoubtedly causing them days of sorrow. And so
he held tight to his determination to find a port upon the coast
where he might communicate with them and receive funds for
his return to London. There he felt sure that he could now
persuade his parents to let him spend at least a portion of his
time upon those African estates which from little careless remarks
dropped at home he knew his father possessed. That would be
something, better at least than a lifetime of the cramped and
cloying restrictions of civilization.

And so he was rather contented than otherwise as he made
his way in the direction of the coast, for while he enjoyed the
liberty and the savage pleasures of the wild his conscience was at
the same time clear, for he knew that he was doing all that lay
in his power to return to his parents. He rather looked forward,
too, to meeting white men again--creatures of his own kind--
for there had been many occasions upon which he had longed
for other companionship than that of the old ape. The affair with
the blacks still rankled in his heart. He had approached them in
such innocent good fellowship and with such childlike assurance
of a hospitable welcome that the reception which had been accorded
him had proved a shock to his boyish ideals. He no longer looked
upon the black man as his brother; but rather as only another of
the innumerable foes of the bloodthirsty jungle--a beast of prey
which walked upon two feet instead of four.

But if the blacks were his enemies there were those in the
world who were not. There were those who always would welcome
him with open arms; who would accept him as a friend and brother,
and with whom he might find sanctuary from every enemy.
Yes, there were always white men. Somewhere along the coast
or even in the depths of the jungle itself there were white men.
To them he would be a welcome visitor. They would befriend him.
And there were also the great apes--the friends of his father
and of Akut. How glad they would be to receive the son of
Tarzan of the Apes! He hoped that he could come upon them before
he found a trading post upon the coast. He wanted to be able to
tell his father that he had known his old friends of the jungle,
that he had hunted with them, that he had joined with them in
their savage life, and their fierce, primeval ceremonies--the
strange ceremonies of which Akut had tried to tell him. It cheered
him immensely to dwell upon these happy meetings. Often he
rehearsed the long speech which he would make to the apes, in
which he would tell them of the life of their former king since
he had left them.

At other times he would play at meeting with white men. Then he
would enjoy their consternation at sight of a naked white boy
trapped in the war togs of a black warrior and roaming the jungle
with only a great ape as his companion.

And so the days passed, and with the traveling and the hunting
and the climbing the boy's muscles developed and his agility
increased until even phlegmatic Akut marvelled at the prowess
of his pupil. And the boy, realizing his great strength and
revelling in it, became careless. He strode through the jungle,
his proud head erect, defying danger. Where Akut took to the trees
at the first scent of Numa, the lad laughed in the face of the king
of beasts and walked boldly past him. Good fortune was with
him for a long time. The lions he met were well-fed, perhaps,
or the very boldness of the strange creature which invaded their
domain so filled them with surprise that thoughts of attack were
banished from their minds as they stood, round-eyed, watching
his approach and his departure. Whatever the cause, however,
the fact remains that on many occasions the boy passed within
a few paces of some great lion without arousing more than a
warning growl.

But no two lions are necessarily alike in character or temper.
They differ as greatly as do individuals of the human family.
Because ten lions act similarly under similar conditions one
cannot say that the eleventh lion will do likewise--the
chances are that he will not. The lion is a creature of high
nervous development. He thinks, therefore he reasons. Having a
nervous system and brains he is the possessor of temperament,
which is affected variously by extraneous causes. One day the
boy met the eleventh lion. The former was walking across a small
plain upon which grew little clumps of bushes. Akut was a few yards
to the left of the lad who was the first to discover the presence
of Numa.

"Run, Akut," called the boy, laughing. "Numa lies hid in the
bushes to my right. Take to the trees. Akut! I, the son of
Tarzan, will protect you," and the boy, laughing, kept straight
along his way which led close beside the brush in which Numa
lay concealed.

The ape shouted to him to come away, but the lad only flourished
his spear and executed an improvised war dance to show his
contempt for the king of beasts. Closer and closer to the
dread destroyer he came, until, with a sudden, angry growl, the
lion rose from his bed not ten paces from the youth. A huge
fellow he was, this lord of the jungle and the desert. A shaggy
mane clothed his shoulders. Cruel fangs armed his great jaws.
His yellow-green eyes blazed with hatred and challenge.

The boy, with his pitifully inadequate spear ready in his hand,
realized quickly that this lion was different from the others he
had met; but he had gone too far now to retreat. The nearest
tree lay several yards to his left--the lion could be upon him
before he had covered half the distance, and that the beast
intended to charge none could doubt who looked upon him now.
Beyond the lion was a thorn tree--only a few feet beyond him.
It was the nearest sanctuary but Numa stood between it and his prey.

The feel of the long spear shaft in his hand and the sight of
the tree beyond the lion gave the lad an idea--a preposterous
idea--a ridiculous, forlorn hope of an idea; but there was no
time now to weigh chances--there was but a single chance, and
that was the thorn tree. If the lion charged it would be too late--
the lad must charge first, and to the astonishment of Akut and
none the less of Numa, the boy leaped swiftly toward the beast.
Just for a second was the lion motionless with surprise and in
that second Jack Clayton put to the crucial test an accomplishment
which he had practiced at school.

Straight for the savage brute he ran, his spear held butt
foremost across his body. Akut shrieked in terror and amazement.
The lion stood with wide, round eyes awaiting the attack, ready
to rear upon his hind feet and receive this rash creature with
blows that could crush the skull of a buffalo.

Just in front of the lion the boy placed the butt of his spear
upon the ground, gave a mighty spring, and, before the bewildered
beast could guess the trick that had been played upon him,
sailed over the lion's head into the rending embrace of the thorn
tree--safe but lacerated.

Akut had never before seen a pole-vault. Now he leaped up
and down within the safety of his own tree, screaming taunts
and boasts at the discomfited Numa, while the boy, torn and
bleeding, sought some position in his thorny retreat in which he
might find the least agony. He had saved his life; but at
considerable cost in suffering. It seemed to him that the lion
would never leave, and it was a full hour before the angry brute
gave up his vigil and strode majestically away across the plain.
When he was at a safe distance the boy extricated himself from the
thorn tree; but not without inflicting new wounds upon his already
tortured flesh.

It was many days before the outward evidence of the lesson
he had learned had left him; while the impression upon his mind
was one that was to remain with him for life. Never again did
he uselessly tempt fate.

He took long chances often in his after life; but only when the
taking of chances might further the attainment of some cherished
end--and, always thereafter, he practiced pole-vaulting.

For several days the boy and the ape lay up while the former
recovered from the painful wounds inflicted by the sharp thorns.
The great anthropoid licked the wounds of his human friend,
nor, aside from this, did they receive other treatment, but they
soon healed, for healthy flesh quickly replaces itself.

When the lad felt fit again the two continued their journey
toward the coast, and once more the boy's mind was filled with
pleasurable anticipation.

And at last the much dreamed of moment came. They were
passing through a tangled forest when the boy's sharp eyes
discovered from the lower branches through which he was
traveling an old but well-marked spoor--a spoor that set his
heart to leaping--the spoor of man, of white men, for among
the prints of naked feet were the well defined outlines of
European made boots. The trail, which marked the passage of
a good-sized company, pointed north at right angles to the
course the boy and the ape were taking toward the coast.

Doubtless these white men knew the nearest coast settlement.
They might even be headed for it now. At any rate it would be
worth while overtaking them if even only for the pleasure of
meeting again creatures of his own kind. The lad was all excitement; palpitant with eagerness to be
off in pursuit. Akut demurred.
He wanted nothing of men. To him the lad was a fellow ape,
for he was the son of the king of apes. He tried to dissuade
the boy, telling him that soon they should come upon a tribe of
their own folk where some day when he was older the boy should
be king as his father had before him. But Jack was obdurate.
He insisted that he wanted to see white men again. He wanted to
send a message to his parents. Akut listened and as he listened
the intuition of the beast suggested the truth to him--the boy
was planning to return to his own kind.

The thought filled the old ape with sorrow. He loved the boy
as he had loved the father, with the loyalty and faithfulness of
a hound for its master. In his ape brain and his ape heart he had
nursed the hope that he and the lad would never be separated.
He saw all his fondly cherished plans fading away, and yet he
remained loyal to the lad and to his wishes. Though disconsolate
he gave in to the boy's determination to pursue the safari of
the white men, accompanying him upon what he believed would be
their last journey together.

The spoor was but a couple of days old when the two discovered it,
which meant that the slow-moving caravan was but a few hours
distant from them whose trained and agile muscles could carry
their bodies swiftly through the branches above the tangled
undergrowth which had impeded the progress of the laden carriers
of the white men.

The boy was in the lead, excitement and anticipation carrying
him ahead of his companion to whom the attainment of their
goal meant only sorrow. And it was the boy who first saw the
rear guard of the caravan and the white men he had been so
anxious to overtake.

Stumbling along the tangled trail of those ahead a dozen
heavily laden blacks who, from fatigue or sickness, had dropped
behind were being prodded by the black soldiers of the rear
guard, kicked when they fell, and then roughly jerked to their
feet and hustled onward. On either side walked a giant white
man, heavy blonde beards almost obliterating their countenances.
The boy's lips formed a glad cry of salutation as his eyes first
discovered the whites--a cry that was never uttered, for almost
immediately he witnessed that which turned his happiness to anger
as he saw that both the white men were wielding heavy whips
brutally upon the naked backs of the poor devils staggering along
beneath loads that would have overtaxed the strength and endurance
of strong men at the beginning of a new day.

Every now and then the rear guard and the white men cast
apprehensive glances rearward as though momentarily expecting the
materialization of some long expected danger from that quarter.
The boy had paused after his first sight of the caravan, and now
was following slowly in the wake of the sordid, brutal spectacle.
Presently Akut came up with him. To the beast there was less of
horror in the sight than to the lad, yet even the great ape growled
beneath his breath at useless torture being inflicted upon the
helpless slaves. He looked at the boy. Now that he had caught
up with the creatures of his own kind, why was it that he did not
rush forward and greet them? He put the question to his companion.

"They are fiends," muttered the boy. "I would not travel
with such as they, for if I did I should set upon them and kill
them the first time they beat their people as they are beating
them now; but," he added, after a moment's thought, "I can
ask them the whereabouts of the nearest port, and then, Akut,
we can leave them."

The ape made no reply, and the boy swung to the ground and
started at a brisk walk toward the safari. He was a hundred
yards away, perhaps, when one of the whites caught sight of him.
The man gave a shout of alarm, instantly levelling his rifle upon
the boy and firing. The bullet struck just in front of its mark,
scattering turf and fallen leaves against the lad's legs. A second
later the other white and the black soldiers of the rear guard were
firing hysterically at the boy.

Jack leaped behind a tree, unhit. Days of panic ridden flight
through the jungle had filled Carl Jenssen and Sven Malbihn with
jangling nerves and their native boys with unreasoning terror.
Every new note from behind sounded to their frightened ears the
coming of The Sheik and his bloodthirsty entourage. They were
in a blue funk, and the sight of the naked white warrior stepping
silently out of the jungle through which they had just passed had
been sufficient shock to let loose in action all the pent nerve energy
of Malbihn, who had been the first to see the strange apparition.
And Malbihn's shout and shot had set the others going.

When their nervous energy had spent itself and they came to
take stock of what they had been fighting it developed that
Malbihn alone had seen anything clearly. Several of the blacks
averred that they too had obtained a good view of the creature
but their descriptions of it varied so greatly that Jenssen, who
had seen nothing himself, was inclined to be a trifle skeptical.
One of the blacks insisted that the thing had been eleven feet
tall, with a man's body and the head of an elephant. Another had
seen THREE immense Arabs with huge, black beards; but when,
after conquering their nervousness, the rear guard advanced upon
the enemy's position to investigate they found nothing, for Akut
and the boy had retreated out of range of the unfriendly guns.

Jack was disheartened and sad. He had not entirely recovered
from the depressing effect of the unfriendly reception he had
received at the hands of the blacks, and now he had found an
even more hostile one accorded him by men of his own color.

"The lesser beasts flee from me in terror," he murmured, half to
himself, "the greater beasts are ready to tear me to pieces
at sight. Black men would kill me with their spears or arrows.
And now white men, men of my own kind, have fired upon me
and driven me away. Are all the creatures of the world
my enemies? Has the son of Tarzan no friend other than Akut?"

The old ape drew closer to the boy.

"There are the great apes," he said. "They only will be the
friends of Akut's friend. Only the great apes will welcome the
son of Tarzan. You have seen that men want nothing of you. Let us
go now and continue our search for the great apes--our people."

The language of the great apes is a combination of monosyllabic
gutturals, amplified by gestures and signs. It may not be
literally translated into human speech; but as near as may be
this is what Akut said to the boy.

The two proceeded in silence for some time after Akut had spoken.
The boy was immersed in deep thought--bitter thoughts in which
hatred and revenge predominated. Finally he spoke: "Very well,
Akut," he said, "we will find our friends, the great apes."

The anthropoid was overjoyed; but he gave no outward demonstration
of his pleasure. A low grunt was his only response, and a moment
later he had leaped nimbly upon a small and unwary rodent that had
been surprised at a fatal distance from its burrow. Tearing the
unhappy creature in two Akut handed the lion's share to the lad.