Came Tarzan

Tarzan the Untamed

by Edgar R. Burroughs

CAME TARZAN, TARZAN THE UNTAMED by Edgar R. Burroughs
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Just before dark that evening, an almost exhausted flier
entered the headquarters of Colonel Capell of the Second
Rhodesians and saluted.

"Well, Thompson," asked the superior, "what luck? The
others have all returned. Never saw a thing of Oldwick or his
plane. I guess we shall have to give it up unless you were
more successful."

"I was," replied the young officer. "I found the plane."

"No!" ejaculated Colonel Capell. "Where was it? Any sign
of Oldwick?"

"It is in the rottenest hole in the ground you ever saw, quite
a bit inland. Narrow gorge. Saw the plane all right but can't
reach it. There was a regular devil of a lion wandering around
it. I landed near the edge of the cliff and was going to climb
down and take a look at the plane. But this fellow hung
around for an hour or more and I finally had to give it up."

"Do you think the lions got Oldwick?" asked the colonel.

"I doubt it," replied Lieutenant Thompson, "from the fact
that there was no indication that the lion had fed anywhere
about the plane. I arose after I found it was impossible to get
down around the plane and reconnoitered up and down the
gorge. Several miles to the south I found a small, wooded
valley in the center of which -- please don't think me crazy, sir
-- is a regular city -- streets, buildings, a central plaza with
a
lagoon, good-sized buildings with domes and minarets and
all that sort of stuff."

The elder officer looked at the younger compassionately.
"You're all wrought up, Thompson," he said. "Go and take a
good sleep. You have been on this job now for a long while
and it must have gotten on your nerves."

The young man shook his head a bit irritably. "Pardon me,
sir," he said, "but I am telling you the truth. I am not mis-
taken. I circled over the place several times. It may be that
Oldwick has found his way there -- or has been captured by
these people."

"Were there people in the city?" asked the colonel.

"Yes, I saw them in the streets."

"Do you think cavalry could reach the valley?" asked the
colonel.

"No," replied Thompson, "the country is all cut up with
these deep gorges. Even infantry would have a devil of a
time of it, and there is absolutely no water that I could dis-
cover for at least a two days' march."

It was at this juncture that a big Vauxhall drew up in front
of the headquarters of the Second Rhodesians and a moment
later General Smuts alighted and entered. Colonel Capell arose
from his chair and saluted his superior, and the young lieu-
tenant saluted and stood at attention.

"I was passing," said the general, "and I thought I would
stop for a chat. By the way, how is the search for Lieutenant
Smith-Oldwick progressing? I see Thompson here and I believe
he was one of those detailed to the search."

"Yes," said Capell, "he was. He is the last to come in. He
found the lieutenant's ship," and then he repeated what Lieu-
tenant Thompson had reported to him. The general sat down
at the table with Colonel Capell, and together the two officers,
with the assistance of the flier, marked the approximate loca-
tion of the city which Thompson had reported he'd discovered.

"It's a mighty rough country," remarked Smuts, "but we
can't leave a stone unturned until we have exhausted every re-
source to find that boy. We will send out a small force; a small
one will be more likely to succeed than a large one. About one
company, Colonel, or say two, with sufficient motor lorries for
transport of rations and water. Put a good man in command
and let him establish a base as far to the west as the motors
can travel. You can leave one company there and send the
other forward. I am inclined to believe you can establish your
base within a day's march of the city and if such is the case the
force you send ahead should have no trouble on the score of
lack of water as there certainly must be water in the valley
where the city lies. Detail a couple of planes for reconnais-
sance and messenger service so that the base can keep in touch
at all times with the advance party. When can your force
move out?"

"We can load the lorries tonight," replied Capell, "and
march about one o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Good," said the general, "keep me advised," and returning
the others' salutes he departed.

As Tarzan leaped for the vines he realized that the lion was
close upon him and that his life depended upon the strength
of the creepers clinging to the city walls; but to his intense
relief he found the stems as large around as a man's arm, and
the tendrils which had fastened themselves to the wall so
firmly fixed, that his weight upon the stem appeared to have
no appreciable effect upon them.

He heard Numa's baffled roar as the lion slipped downward
clawing futilely at the leafy creepers, and then with the agility
of the apes who had reared him, Tarzan bounded nimbly aloft
to the summit of the wall.

A few feet below him was the flat roof of the adjoining
building and as he dropped to it his back was toward the niche
from which an embrasure looked out upon the gardens and
the forest beyond, so that he did not see the figure crouching
there in the dark shadow. But if he did not see he was not
long in ignorance of the fact that he was not alone, for scarcely
had his feet touched the roof when a heavy body leaped upon
him from behind and brawny arms encircled him about the
waist.

Taken at a disadvantage and lifted from his feet, the ape-
man was, for the time being, helpless. Whatever the creature
was that had seized him, it apparently had a well-defined
purpose in mind, for it walked directly toward the edge of the
roof so that it was soon apparent to Tarzan that he was to be
hurled to the pavement below -- a most efficacious manner of
disposing of an intruder. That he would be either maimed or
killed the ape-man was confident; but he had no intention
of permitting his assailant to carry out the plan.

Tarzan's arms and legs were free but he was in such a disad-
vantageous position that he could not use them to any good
effect. His only hope lay in throwing the creature off its
balance, and to this end Tarzan straightened his body and
leaned as far back against his captor as he could, and then
suddenly lunged forward. The result was as satisfactory as
he could possibly have hoped. The great weight of the ape-
man thrown suddenly out from an erect position caused the
other also to lunge violently forward with the result that to
save himself he involuntarily released his grasp. Catlike in
his movements, the ape-man had no sooner touched the roof
than he was upon his feet again, facing his adversary, a man
almost as large as himself and armed with a saber which he
now whipped from its scabbard. Tarzan, however, had no
mind to allow the use of this formidable weapon and so he
dove for the other's legs beneath the vicious cut that was
directed at him from the side, and as a football player tackles
an opposing runner, Tarzan tackled his antagonist, carrying
him backward several yards and throwing him heavily to the
roof upon his back.

No sooner had the man touched the roof than the ape-man
was upon his chest, one brawny hand sought and found the
sword wrist and the other the throat of the yellow-tunicked
guardsman. Until then the fellow had fought in silence but
just as Tarzan's fingers touched his throat he emitted a single
piercing shriek that the brown fingers cut off almost instantly.
The fellow struggled to escape the clutch of the naked creature
upon his breast but equally as well might he have fought to
escape the talons of Numa, the lion.

Gradually his struggles lessened, his pin-point eyes popped
from their sockets, rolling horribly upward, while from his
foam-flecked lips his swollen tongue protruded. As his
struggles ceased Tarzan arose, and placing a foot upon the
carcass of his kill, was upon the point of screaming forth his
victory cry when the thought that the work before him
required the utmost caution sealed his lips.

Walking to the edge of the roof he looked down into the
narrow, winding street below. At intervals, apparently at each
street intersection, an oil flare sputtered dimly from brackets
set in the walls a trifle higher than a man's head. For the
most part the winding alleys were in dense shadow and even
in the immediate vicinity of the flares the illumination was far
from brilliant. In the restricted area of his vision he could see
that there were still a few of the strange inhabitants moving
about the narrow thoroughfares.

To prosecute his search for the young officer and the girl
he must be able to move about the city as freely as possible,
but to pass beneath one of the corner flares, naked as he was
except for a loin cloth, and in every other respect markedly
different from the inhabitants of the city, would be but to court
almost immediate discovery. As these thoughts flashed
through his mind and he cast about for some feasible plan of
action, his eyes fell upon the corpse upon the roof near him,
and immediately there occurred to him the possibility of
disguising himself in the raiment of his conquered adversary.

It required but a few moments for the ape-man to clothe
himself in the tights, sandals, and parrot emblazoned yellow
tunic of the dead soldier. Around his waist he buckled the
saber belt but beneath the tunic he retained the hunting knife
of his dead father. His other weapons he could not lightly dis-
card, and so, in the hope that he might eventually recover
them, he carried them to the edge of the wall and dropped
them among the foliage at its base. At the last moment he
found it difficult to part with his rope, which, with his knife,
was his most accustomed weapon, and one which he had used
for the greatest length of time. He found that by removing the
saber belt he could wind the rope about his waist beneath his
tunic, and then replacing the belt still retain it entirely con-
cealed from chance observation.

At last, satisfactorily disguised, and with even his shock of
black hair adding to the verisimilitude of his likeness to the
natives of the city, he sought for some means of reaching the
street below. While he might have risked a drop from the
eaves of the roof he feared to do so lest he attract the
attention
of passers-by, and probable discovery. The roofs of the build-
ings varied in height but as the ceilings were all low he found
that he could easily travel along the roof tops and this he did
for some little distance, until he suddenly discovered just
ahead of him several figures reclining upon the roof of a
near-by building.

He had noticed openings in each roof, evidently giving
ingress to the apartments below, and now, his advance cut off
by those ahead of him, he decided to risk the chance of
reaching the street through the interior of one of the build-
ings. Approaching one of the openings he leaned over the
black hole and, listened for sounds of life in the apartment
below. Neither his ears nor his nose registered evidence of
the presence of any living creature in the immediate vicinity,
and so without further hesitation the ape-man lowered his
body through the aperture and was about to drop when his
foot came in contact with the rung of a ladder, which he im-
mediately took advantage of to descend to the floor of the
room below.

Here, all was almost total darkness until his eyes became
accustomed to the interior, the darkness of which was slightly
alleviated by the reflected light from a distant street flare
which shone intermittently through the narrow windows front-
ing the thoroughfare. Finally, assured that the apartment was
unoccupied, Tarzan sought for a stairway to the ground floor.
This he found in a dark hallway upon which the room opened
-- a flight of narrow stone steps leading downward toward
the street. Chance favored him so that he reached the shadows
of the arcade without encountering any of the inmates of the
house.

Once on the street he was not at a loss as to the direction in
which he wished to go, for he had tracked the two Europeans
practically to the gate, which he felt assured must have given
them entry to the city. His keen sense of direction and loca-
tion made it possible for him to judge with considerable ac-
curacy the point within the city where he might hope to pick
up the spoor of those whom he sought.

The first need, however, was to discover a street paralleling
the northern wall along which he could make his way in the
direction of the gate he had seen from the forest. Realizing
that his greatest hope of success lay in the boldness of his
operations he moved off in the direction of the nearest street
flare without making any other attempt at concealment than
keeping in the shadows of the arcade, which he judged would
draw no particular attention to him in that he saw other
pedestrians doing likewise. The few he passed gave him no
heed, and he had almost reached the nearest intersection when
he saw several men wearing yellow tunics identical to that
which he had taken from his prisoner.

They were coming directly toward him and the ape-man
saw that should he continue on he would meet them directly
at the intersection of the two streets in the full light of the
flare. His first inclination was to go steadily on, for
personally
he had no objection to chancing a scrimmage with them; but a
sudden recollection of the girl, possibly a helpless prisoner in
the hands of these people, caused him to seek some other and
less hazardous plan of action.

He had almost emerged from the shadow of the arcade into
the full light of the flare and the approaching men were but a
few yards from him, when he suddenly kneeled and pretended
to adjust the wrappings of his sandals -- wrappings, which, by
the way, he was not at all sure that he had adjusted as their
makers had intended them to be adjusted. He was still kneel-
ing when the soldiers came abreast of him. Like the others
he had passed they paid no attention to him and the moment
they were behind him he continued upon his way, turning to
the right at the intersection of the two streets.

The street he now took was, at this point, so extremely
winding that, for the most part, it received no benefit from the
flares at either corner, so that he was forced practically to
grope his way in the dense shadows of the arcade. The street
became a little straighter just before he reached the next flare,
and as he came within sight of it he saw silhouetted against a
patch of light the figure of a lion. The beast was coming
slowly down the street in Tarzan's direction.

A woman crossed the way directly in front of it and the lion
paid no attention to her, nor she to the lion. An instant later a
little child ran after the woman and so close did he run before
the lion that the beast was forced to turn out of its way a step
to avoid colliding with the little one. The ape-man grinned
and crossed quickly to the opposite side of the street, for his
delicate senses indicated that at this point the breeze stirring
through the city streets and deflected by the opposite wall
would now blow from the lion toward him as the beast passed,
whereas if he remained upon the side of the street upon which
he had been walking when he discovered the carnivore, his
scent would have been borne to the nostrils of the animal, and
Tarzan was sufficiently jungle-wise to realize that while he
might deceive the eyes of man and beast he could not so easily
disguise from the nostrils of one of the great cats that he was a
creature of a different species from the inhabitants of the city,
the only human beings, possibly, that Numa was familiar with.
In him the cat would recognize a stranger, and, therefore, an
enemy, and Tarzan had no desire to be delayed by an en-
counter with a savage lion. His ruse worked successfully, the
lion passing him with not more than a side glance in his
direction.

He had proceeded for some little distance and had about
reached a point where he judged he would find the street
which led up from the city gate when, at an intersection of two
streets, his nostrils caught the scent spoor of the girl. Out of
a maze of other scent spoors the ape-man picked the familiar
odor of the girl and, a second later, that of Smith-Oldwick.
He had been forced to accomplish it, however, by bending
very low at each street intersection in repeated attention to his
sandal wrappings, bringing his nostrils as close to the pave-
ment as possible.

As he advanced along the street through which the two had
been conducted earlier in the day he noted, as had they, the
change in the type of buildings as he passed from a residence
district into that portion occupied by shops and bazaars. Here
the number of flares was increased so that they appeared not
only at street intersections but midway between as well, and
there were many more people abroad. The shops were open
and lighted, for with the setting of the sun the intense heat of
the day had given place to a pleasant coolness. Here also the
number of lions, roaming loose through the thoroughfares,
increased, and also for the first time Tarzan noted the idiosyn-
crasies of the people.

Once he was nearly upset by a naked man running rapidly
through the street screaming at the top of his voice. And
again he nearly stumbled over a woman who was making her
way in the shadows of one of the arcades upon all fours. At
first the ape-man thought she was hunting for something she
had dropped, but as he drew to one side to watch her, he saw
that she was doing nothing of the kind -- that she had merely
elected to walk upon her hands and knees rather than erect
upon her feet. In another block he saw two creatures strug-
gling upon the roof of an adjacent building until finally one of
them, wrenching himself free from the grasp of the other, gave
his adversary a mighty push which hurled him to the pavement
below, where he lay motionless upon the dusty road. For an
instant a wild shriek re-echoed through the city from the lungs
of the victor and then, without an instant's hesitation, the fel-
low leaped headfirst to the street beside the body of his
victim. A lion moved out from the dense shadows of a door-
way and approached the two bloody and lifeless things before
him. Tarzan wondered what effect the odor of blood would
have upon the beast and was surprised to see that the animal
only sniffed at the corpses and the hot red blood and then lay
down beside the two dead men.

He had passed the lion but a short distance when his atten-
tion was called to the figure of a man lowering himself la-
boriously from the roof of a building upon the east side of the
thoroughfare. Tarzan's curiosity was aroused.