Part 1 (1/2)
The Son of Tarzan
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Chapter 1
The long boat of the Marjorie W was floating down the broad Uga this respite fro up stream Three miles below them lay the Marjorie W herself, quite ready to sail so soon as they should have cla boat to its davits Presently the attention of everyto the northern bank of the river There, screa at them in a cracked falsetto and with skinny are apparition of a man
”Wot the 'ell?” ejaculated one of the crew
”A white man!” muttered the mate, and then: ”Man the oars, boys, and we'll just pull over an' see what he wants”
When they came close to the shore they saw an eled and matted The thin, bent body was naked but for a loin cloth Tears were rolling down the sunken pock-ue
”Rooshun,” hazarded the lish?” he called to the ly, as though it had been ed them to take him with them away froer told his rescuers a pitiful tale of privation, hardshi+ps, and torture, extending over a period of ten years How he happened to have co theotten the incidents of his life prior to the frightful ordeals that had wrecked him mentally and physically He did not even tell them his true name, and so they knew him only as Michael Sabrov, nor was there any reseh unprincipled, Alexis Paulvitch of old
It had been ten years since the Russian had escaped the fate of his friend, the arch-fiend Rokoff, and not once, butthose ten years had Paulvitch cursed the fate that had given to Nicholas Rokoff death and i while it had meted to him the hideous terrors of an existence infinitely worse than the death that persistently refused to claile when he had seen the beasts of Tarzan and their savage lord swarm the deck of the Kincaid, and in his terror lest Tarzan pursue and capture hile, only to fall at last into the hands of one of the savage cannibal tribes that had felt the weight of Rokoff's evil tee whim of the chief of this tribe saved Paulvitch froe him into a life of misery and torture For ten years he had been the butt of the village, beaten and stoned by the woured by the warriors; a victinant variety Yet he did not die S him unspeakably branded with its repulsive marks Between it and the attentions of the tribe the countenance of Alexis Paulvitch was so altered that his own nized in the pitiful gly, yellohite locks had supplanted the thick, dark hair that had covered his head His li, unsteady gait, his body doubled forward His teeth were gone-knocked out by his savage masters Even his mentality was but a sorry mockery of what it once had been
They took him aboard the Marjorie W, and there they fed and nursed hith; but his appearance never altered for the better-a human derelict, battered and wrecked, they had found him; a human derelict, battered and wrecked, he would reh still in his thirties, Alexis Paulvitch could easily have passed for eighty Inscrutable Nature had dereater penalty than his principal had paid
In the e-only a dull hatred of the man whom he and Rokoff had tried to break, and failed There was hatred, too, of the memory of Rokoff, for Rokoff had led hione There was hatred of the police of a score of cities from which he had had to flee There was hatred of law, hatred of order, hatred of everything Every ht of hatred-he had become mentally as he was physically in outward appearance, the personification of the blighting e to do with the men who had rescued him He was too weak to work and too morose for company, and so they quickly left him alone to his own devices
The Marjorie W had been chartered by a syndicate of wealthy manufacturers, equipped with a laboratory and a staff of scientists, and sent out to search for some natural product which thefrom South America at an enormous cost What the product was none on board the Marjorie W knew except the scientists, nor is it of any moment to us, other than that it led the shi+p to a certain island off the coast of Africa after Alexis Paulvitch had been taken aboard
The shi+p lay at anchor off the coast for several weeks Thefor the crew They went often ashore, and finally Paulvitch asked to acco sameness of existence upon the shi+p
The island was heavily tile ran down al their search for the valuable commodity that native ruht be found here in marketable quantity The shi+p's company fished, hunted, and explored Paulvitch shuffled up and down the beach, or lay in the shade of the great trees that skirted it One day, as thethe body of a panther that had fallen to the gun of one of the beneath his tree He akened by the touch of a hand upon his shoulder With a start he sat up to see a huge, anthropoid ape squatting at his side, inspecting hilanced toward the sailors-they were a couple of hundred yards away Again the ape plucked at his shoulder, jabbering plaintively Paulvitch saw no aze, or in the attitude of the beast He got slowly to his feet The ape rose at his side
Half doubled, the man shuffled cautiously away toward the sailors The apeone of his arms They had come almost to the little knot of men before they were seen, and by this time Paulvitch had become assured that the beast meant no harm The animal evidently was accustos It occurred to the Russian that the ape represented a certain considerable money value, and before they reached the sailors he had decided he should be the one to profit by it
When thetoward them they were filled with amazement, and started on a run toward the two The ape showed no sign of fear Instead he grasped each sailor by the shoulder and peered long and earnestly into his face Having inspected them all he returned to Paulvitch's side, disappointe
ThePaulvitchhis co further would he offer-but kept harping continually upon the sa of Paulvitch, one of theabout behind the ape he prodded the anthropoid in the back with a pin Like a flash the beast wheeled upon its tor, the placid, friendly anirin that had sat upon the sailor's face as he perpetrated his little joke froze to an expression of terror He atte ar knife that hung at his belt With a single wrench the ape tore the weapon fro it to one side, then his yellow fangs were buried in the sailor's shoulder
With sticks and knives the man's companions fell upon the beast, while Paulvitch danced around the cursing, snarling packpleas and threats He saw his visions of wealth rapidly dissipating before the weapons of the sailors
The ape, however, proved no easy victim to the superior nu froiant shoulders, freeing hi to his back, and with hty blows of his open pal hither and thither with the agility of a sht had been witnessed by the captain andfro forith drawn revolvers while the two sailors who had brought the about hi a renewal of the attack or was deliberating which of his foes he should exteruess, however, was that thedistance of the beast they would put an end to hi were done and done quickly to prevent The ape had made no move to attack the Russian but even so the ht happen were he to interfere with the savage beast, now thoroughly aroused to bestial rage, and with the smell of new spilled blood fresh in its nostrils For an instant he hesitated, and then again there rose before hireat anthropoid would doubtless turn to realities once Paulvitch had landed hireatto hiht have a shot at the animal; but instead Paulvitch shuffled to the ape's side, and though the man's hair quivered at its roots he mastered his fear and laid hold of the ape's ared to pull the beast fro up in wide eyed fright or crawling away from their conqueror upon hands and knees
Slowly the ape perhtest indication of a desire to harm the Russian The captain came to a halt a few paces from the odd pair
”Get aside, Sabrov!” he commanded ”I'll put that brute where he won't chew up any more able seamen”