Chapter 22

Son of Tarzan

by Edgar R. Burroughs

CHAPTER 22, SON OF TARZAN by Edgar R. Burroughs
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As Meriem struggled with Malbihn, her hands pinioned to her
sides by his brawny grip, hope died within her. She did not
utter a sound for she knew that there was none to come to her
assistance, and, too, the jungle training of her earlier life
had taught her the futility of appeals for succor in the savage
world of her up-bringing.

But as she fought to free herself one hand came in contact with
the butt of Malbihn's revolver where it rested in the holster at
his hip. Slowly he was dragging her toward the blankets, and
slowly her fingers encircled the coveted prize and drew it from
its resting place.

Then, as Malbihn stood at the edge of the disordered pile of
blankets, Meriem suddenly ceased to draw away from him, and
as quickly hurled her weight against him with the result that
he was thrown backward, his feet stumbled against the bedding
and he was hurled to his back. Instinctively his hands flew out
to save himself and at the same instant Meriem leveled the
revolver at his breast and pulled the trigger.

But the hammer fell futilely upon an empty shell, and Malbihn
was again upon his feet clutching at her. For a moment she
eluded him, and ran toward the entrance to the tent, but at the
very doorway his heavy hand fell upon her shoulder and dragged
her back. Wheeling upon him with the fury of a wounded lioness
Meriem grasped the long revolver by the barrel, swung it high
above her head and crashed it down full in Malbihn's face.

With an oath of pain and rage the man staggered backward,
releasing his hold upon her and then sank unconscious to
the ground. Without a backward look Meriem turned and fled
into the open. Several of the blacks saw her and tried to
intercept her flight, but the menace of the empty weapon kept
them at a distance. And so she won beyond the encircling
boma and disappeared into the jungle to the south.

Straight into the branches of a tree she went, true to the
arboreal instincts of the little mangani she had been, and
here she stripped off her riding skirt, her shoes and her
stockings, for she knew that she had before her a journey and
a flight which would not brook the burden of these garments.
Her riding breeches and jacket would have to serve as protection
from cold and thorns, nor would they hamper her over much;
but a skirt and shoes were impossible among the trees.

She had not gone far before she commenced to realize how slight
were her chances for survival without means of defense or a
weapon to bring down meat. Why had she not thought to strip
the cartridge belt from Malbihn's waist before she had left
his tent! With cartridges for the revolver she might hope to
bag small game, and to protect herself from all but the most
ferocious of the enemies that would beset her way back to the
beloved hearthstone of Bwana and My Dear.

With the thought came determination to return and obtain
the coveted ammunition. She realized that she was taking
great chances of recapture; but without means of defense
and of obtaining meat she felt that she could never hope to
reach safety. And so she turned her face back toward the
camp from which she had but just escaped.

She thought Malbihn dead, so terrific a blow had she dealt him,
and she hoped to find an opportunity after dark to enter the
camp and search his tent for the cartridge belt; but scarcely
had she found a hiding place in a great tree at the edge of the
boma where she could watch without danger of being discovered,
when she saw the Swede emerge from his tent, wiping blood from
his face, and hurling a volley of oaths and questions at his
terrified followers.

Shortly after the entire camp set forth in search of her and
when Meriem was positive that all were gone she descended
from her hiding place and ran quickly across the clearing to
Malbihn's tent. A hasty survey of the interior revealed no
ammunition; but in one corner was a box in which were packed
the Swede's personal belongings that he had sent along by his
headman to this westerly camp.

Meriem seized the receptacle as the possible container of
extra ammunition. Quickly she loosed the cords that held the
canvas covering about the box, and a moment later had raised the
lid and was rummaging through the heterogeneous accumulation of
odds and ends within. There were letters and papers and cuttings
from old newspapers, and among other things the photograph of a
little girl upon the back of which was pasted a cutting from a
Paris daily--a cutting that she could not read, yellowed and
dimmed by age and handling--but something about the photograph
of the little girl which was also reproduced in the newspaper
cutting held her attention. Where had she seen that picture before?
And then, quite suddenly, it came to her that this was a picture
of herself as she had been years and years before.

Where had it been taken? How had it come into the possession of
this man? Why had it been reproduced in a newspaper? What was
the story that the faded type told of it?

Meriem was baffled by the puzzle that her search for ammunition
had revealed. She stood gazing at the faded photograph for a
time and then bethought herself of the ammunition for which she
had come. Turning again to the box she rummaged to the bottom
and there in a corner she came upon a little box of cartridges.
A single glance assured her that they were intended for the weapon
she had thrust inside the band of her riding breeches, and slipping
them into her pocket she turned once more for an examination of the
baffling likeness of herself that she held in her hand.

As she stood thus in vain endeavor to fathom this inexplicable
mystery the sound of voices broke upon her ears. Instantly she
was all alert. They were coming closer! A second later she
recognized the lurid profanity of the Swede. Malbihn, her
persecutor, was returning! Meriem ran quickly to the opening of
the tent and looked out. It was too late! She was fairly cornered!
The white man and three of his black henchmen were coming straight
across the clearing toward the tent. What was she to do? She slipped
the photograph into her waist. Quickly she slipped a cartridge
into each of the chambers of the revolver. Then she backed toward
the end of the tent, keeping the entrance covered by her weapon.
The man stopped outside, and Meriem could hear Malbihn profanely
issuing instructions. He was a long time about it, and while he
talked in his bellowing, brutish voice, the girl sought some
avenue of escape. Stooping, she raised the bottom of the canvas
and looked beneath and beyond. There was no one in sight upon
that side. Throwing herself upon her stomach she wormed beneath
the tent wall just as Malbihn, with a final word to his men,
entered the tent.

Meriem heard him cross the floor, and then she rose and, stooping
low, ran to a native hut directly behind. Once inside this she
turned and glanced back. There was no one in sight. She had not
been seen. And now from Malbihn's tent she heard a great cursing.
The Swede had discovered the rifling of his box. He was shouting
to his men, and as she heard them reply Meriem darted from the hut
and ran toward the edge of the boma furthest from Malbihn's tent.
Overhanging the boma at this point was a tree that had been too
large, in the eyes of the rest-loving blacks, to cut down. So they
had terminated the boma just short of it. Meriem was thankful
for whatever circumstance had resulted in the leaving of that
particular tree where it was, since it gave her the much-needed
avenue of escape which she might not otherwise have had.

From her hiding place she saw Malbihn again enter the jungle, this
time leaving a guard of three of his boys in the camp. He went
toward the south, and after he had disappeared, Meriem skirted
the outside of the enclosure and made her way to the river.
Here lay the canoes that had been used in bringing the party from
the opposite shore. They were unwieldy things for a lone girl to
handle, but there was no other way and she must cross the river.

The landing place was in full view of the guard at the camp.
To risk the crossing under their eyes would have meant
undoubted capture. Her only hope lay in waiting until
darkness had fallen, unless some fortuitous circumstance
should arise before. For an hour she lay watching the guard,
one of whom seemed always in a position where he would
immediately discover her should she attempt to launch one
of the canoes.

Presently Malbihn appeared, coming out of the jungle, hot
and puffing. He ran immediately to the river where the canoes
lay and counted them. It was evident that it had suddenly
occurred to him that the girl must cross here if she wished to
return to her protectors. The expression of relief on his face
when he found that none of the canoes was gone was ample evidence
of what was passing in his mind. He turned and spoke hurriedly
to the head man who had followed him out of the jungle and
with whom were several other blacks.

Following Malbihn's instructions they launched all the canoes
but one. Malbihn called to the guards in the camp and a moment
later the entire party had entered the boats and were paddling
up stream.

Meriem watched them until a bend in the river directly above
the camp hid them from her sight. They were gone! She was
alone, and they had left a canoe in which lay a paddle! She could
scarce believe the good fortune that had come to her. To delay
now would be suicidal to her hopes. Quickly she ran from her
hiding place and dropped to the ground. A dozen yards lay
between her and the canoe.

Up stream, beyond the bend, Malbihn ordered his canoes in
to shore. He landed with his head man and crossed the little
point slowly in search of a spot where he might watch the canoe
he had left at the landing place. He was smiling in anticipation
of the almost certain success of his stratagem--sooner or later
the girl would come back and attempt to cross the river in one
of their canoes. It might be that the idea would not occur to her
for some time. They might have to wait a day, or two days; but
that she would come if she lived or was not captured by the men
he had scouting the jungle for her Malbihn was sure. That she
would come so soon, however, he had not guessed, and so when
he topped the point and came again within sight of the river he
saw that which drew an angry oath from his lips--his quarry
already was half way across the river.

Turning, he ran rapidly back to his boats, the head man at
his heels. Throwing themselves in, Malbihn urged his paddlers
to their most powerful efforts. The canoes shot out into the
stream and down with the current toward the fleeing quarry.
She had almost completed the crossing when they came in sight
of her. At the same instant she saw them, and redoubled her
efforts to reach the opposite shore before they should
overtake her. Two minutes' start of them was all Meriem
cared for. Once in the trees she knew that she could
outdistance and elude them. Her hopes were high--they could
not overtake her now--she had had too good a start of them.

Malbihn, urging his men onward with a stream of hideous oaths
and blows from his fists, realized that the girl was again
slipping from his clutches. The leading canoe, in the bow of
which he stood, was yet a hundred yards behind the fleeing
Meriem when she ran the point of her craft beneath the
overhanging trees on the shore of safety.

Malbihn screamed to her to halt. He seemed to have gone mad
with rage at the realization that he could not overtake her,
and then he threw his rifle to his shoulder, aimed carefully at
the slim figure scrambling into the trees, and fired.

Malbihn was an excellent shot. His misses at so short a distance
were practically non-existent, nor would he have missed this time
but for an accident occurring at the very instant that his finger
tightened upon the trigger--an accident to which Meriem owed her
life--the providential presence of a water-logged tree trunk, one
end of which was embedded in the mud of the river bottom and the
other end of which floated just beneath the surface where the prow
of Malbihn's canoe ran upon it as he fired. The slight deviation
of the boat's direction was sufficient to throw the muzzle of the
rifle out of aim. The bullet whizzed harmlessly by Meriem's head
and an instant later she had disappeared into the foliage of the tree.

There was a smile on her lips as she dropped to the ground to
cross a little clearing where once had stood a native village
surrounded by its fields. The ruined huts still stood in
crumbling decay. The rank vegetation of the jungle overgrew the
cultivated ground. Small trees already had sprung up in what had
been the village street; but desolation and loneliness hung like a
pall above the scene. To Meriem, however, it presented but a place
denuded of large trees which she must cross quickly to regain the
jungle upon the opposite side before Malbihn should have landed.

The deserted huts were, to her, all the better because they were
deserted--she did not see the keen eyes watching her from a dozen
points, from tumbling doorways, from behind tottering granaries.
In utter unconsciousness of impending danger she started up the
village street because it offered the clearest pathway to the jungle.

A mile away toward the east, fighting his way through the
jungle along the trail taken by Malbihn when he had brought
Meriem to his camp, a man in torn khaki--filthy, haggard,
unkempt--came to a sudden stop as the report of Malbihn's rifle
resounded faintly through the tangled forest. The black man just
ahead of him stopped, too.

"We are almost there, Bwana," he said. There was awe and
respect in his tone and manner.

The white man nodded and motioned his ebon guide forward
once more. It was the Hon. Morison Baynes--the fastidious--
the exquisite. His face and hands were scratched and smeared
with dried blood from the wounds he had come by in thorn
and thicket. His clothes were tatters. But through the blood
and the dirt and the rags a new Baynes shone forth--a handsomer
Baynes than the dandy and the fop of yore.

In the heart and soul of every son of woman lies the germ of
manhood and honor. Remorse for a scurvy act, and an honorable
desire to right the wrong he had done the woman he now knew he
really loved had excited these germs to rapid growth in Morison
Baynes--and the metamorphosis had taken place.

Onward the two stumbled toward the point from which the single
rifle shot had come. The black was unarmed--Baynes, fearing his
loyalty had not dared trust him even to carry the rifle which
the white man would have been glad to be relieved of many times
upon the long march; but now that they were approaching their goal,
and knowing as he did that hatred of Malbihn burned hot in the
black man's brain, Baynes handed him the rifle, for he guessed
that there would be fighting--he intended that there should, or
he had come to avenge. Himself, an excellent revolver shot,
would depend upon the smaller weapon at his side.

As the two forged ahead toward their goal they were startled
by a volley of shots ahead of them. Then came a few scattering
reports, some savage yells, and silence. Baynes was frantic in
his endeavors to advance more rapidly, but there the jungle
seemed a thousand times more tangled than before. A dozen
times he tripped and fell. Twice the black followed a blind trail
and they were forced to retrace their steps; but at last they came
out into a little clearing near the big afi--a clearing that once
held a thriving village, but lay somber and desolate in decay and ruin.

In the jungle vegetation that overgrew what had once been the
main village street lay the body of a black man, pierced through
the heart with a bullet, and still warm. Baynes and his companion
looked about in all directions; but no sign of living being
could they discover. They stood in silence listening intently.

What was that! Voices and the dip of paddles out upon the river?

Baynes ran across the dead village toward the fringe of jungle
upon the river's brim. The black was at his side. Together they
forced their way through the screening foliage until they could
obtain a view of the river, and there, almost to the other shore,
they saw Malbihn's canoes making rapidly for camp. The black
recognized his companions immediately.

"How can we cross?" asked Baynes.

The black shook his head. There was no canoe and the crocodiles
made it equivalent to suicide to enter the water in an attempt to
swim across. Just then the fellow chanced to glance downward.
Beneath him, wedged among the branches of a tree, lay the canoe
in which Meriem had escaped. The Negro grasped Baynes' arm and
pointed toward his find. The Hon. Morison could scarce repress
a shout of exultation. Quickly the two slid down the drooping
branches into the boat. The black seized the paddle and Baynes
shoved them out from beneath the tree. A second later the canoe
shot out upon the bosom of the river and headed toward the
opposite shore and the camp of the Swede. Baynes squatted in
the bow, straining his eyes after the men pulling the other
canoes upon the bank across from him. He saw Malbihn step from
the bow of the foremost of the little craft. He saw him turn
and glance back across the river. He could see his start of
surprise as his eyes fell upon the pursuing canoe, and called
the attention of his followers to it.

Then he stood waiting, for there was but one canoe and
two men--little danger to him and his followers in that.
Malbihn was puzzled. Who was this white man? He did not
recognize him though Baynes' canoe was now in mid stream
and the features of both its occupants plainly discernible
to those on shore. One of Malbihn's blacks it was who first
recognized his fellow black in the person of Baynes' companion.
Then Malbihn guessed who the white man must be, though he could
scarce believe his own reasoning. It seemed beyond the pale
of wildest conjecture to suppose that the Hon. Morison Baynes
had followed him through the jungle with but a single companion--
and yet it was true. Beneath the dirt and dishevelment he
recognized him at last, and in the necessity of admitting that
it was he, Malbihn was forced to recognize the incentive that
had driven Baynes, the weakling and coward, through the savage
jungle upon his trail.

The man had come to demand an accounting and to avenge.
It seemed incredible, and yet there could be no other explanation.
Malbihn shrugged. Well, others had sought Malbihn for similar
reasons in the course of a long and checkered career. He fingered
his rifle, and waited.

Now the canoe was within easy speaking distance of the shore.

"What do you want?" yelled Malbihn, raising his weapon threateningly.

The Hon. Morison Baynes leaped to his feet.

"You, damn you!" he shouted, whipping out his revolver and
firing almost simultaneously with the Swede.

As the two reports rang out Malbihn dropped his rifle, clutched
frantically at his breast, staggered, fell first to his knees
and then lunged upon his face. Baynes stiffened. His head flew
back spasmodically. For an instant he stood thus, and then
crumpled very gently into the bottom of the boat.

The black paddler was at a loss as to what to do. If Malbihn
really were dead he could continue on to join his fellows without
fear; but should the Swede only be wounded he would be safer
upon the far shore. Therefore he hesitated, holding the canoe
in mid stream. He had come to have considerable respect for his
new master and was not unmoved by his death. As he sat gazing
at the crumpled body in the bow of the boat he saw it move.
Very feebly the man essayed to turn over. He still lived.
The black moved forward and lifted him to a sitting position.
He was standing in front of him, his paddle in one hand, asking
Baynes where he was hit when there was another shot from
shore and the Negro pitched head long overboard, his paddle
still clutched in his dead fingers--shot through the forehead.

Baynes turned weakly in the direction of the shore to see
Malbihn drawn up upon his elbows levelling his rifle at him.
The Englishman slid to the bottom of the canoe as a bullet
whizzed above him. Malbihn, sore hit, took longer in aiming,
nor was his aim as sure as formerly. With difficulty Baynes
turned himself over on his belly and grasping his revolver in his
right hand drew himself up until he could look over the edge of
the canoe.

Malbihn saw him instantly and fired; but Baynes did not flinch
or duck. With painstaking care he aimed at the target upon the
shore from which he now was drifting with the current. His finger
closed upon the trigger--there was a flash and a report, and
Malbihn's giant frame jerked to the impact of another bullet.

But he was not yet dead. Again he aimed and fired, the bullet
splintering the gunwale of the canoe close by Baynes' face.
Baynes fired again as his canoe drifted further down stream and
Malbihn answered from the shore where he lay in a pool of his
own blood. And thus, doggedly, the two wounded men continued
to carry on their weird duel until the winding African river
had carried the Hon. Morison Baynes out of sight around a
wooded point.