Part 5 (1/2)
At sight of what lay beneath both men stepped back-involuntary oaths upon their lips-for there before them lay the dead body of Mbeeda, the faithless head man
Fiveits way rapidly toward the west, nervous askaris guarding the rear from the attack they ht in the jungle was one which the son of Tarzan held longest in his n of hideous barbarian Or, if there were, the boy's troubled nizance of theht of his ed hi of the American caused him little or no reret on this score was due mainly to the effect which the death of Condon had had upon his own plans Now he could not return directly to his parents as he had planned Fear of the prihly colored, iitive He dared not return to the coast at this point-not that he was so greatly influenced through personal fear as from a desire to shi+eld his father andtheir honored naradation of aday the boy's spirits rose With the rising sun rose new hope within his breast He would return to civilization by another way None would guess that he had been connected with the killing of the stranger in the little out-of-the-way trading post upon a rereat ape in the crotch of a tree the boy had shi+vered through an alht pajamas had been but little protection frole, and only that side of hiy co sun with its proht-the blessed sun, dispeller of physical and mental ills
He shook Akut into wakefulness
”Cory We will search for food, out there in the sunlight,” and he pointed to an open plain, dotted with stunted trees and streith jagged rock
The boy slid to the ground as he spoke, but the ape first looked carefully about, sniffing the er lurked near, he descended slowly to the ground beside the boy
”Numa, and Sabor his mate, feast upon those who descend first and look afterward, while those who look first and descend afterward live to feast themselves” Thus the old ape ile lore Side by side they set off across the rough plain, for the boy wished first to be war for rodents and wor the repulsive things Sos they found, and these he sucked raw, as also he ate roots and tubers which Akut unearthed Beyond the plain and across a low bluff they ca stuff in a shalloater hole, the sides and bottom of which were traalloped away as they approached
The lad was too thirsty by now to cavil at anything even re water, so he drank his fill while Akut stood with raised head, alert for any danger Before the ape drank he cautioned the boy to be watchful; but as he drank he raised his head frolance toward a clump of bushes a hundred yards away upon the opposite side of the water hole When he had done he rose and spoke to the boy, in the language that was their coreat apes
”There is no danger near?” he asked
”None,” replied the boy ”I saw nothing move while you drank”
”Your eyes will help you but little in the jungle,” said the ape
”Here, if you would live, you must depend upon your ears and your nose but most upon your nose When we caer lurked near upon this side of the water hole, for else the zebras would have discovered it and fled before we caer ht lie concealed We could not s blown in the other direction, and so I bent my ears and eyes dohere ?” asked the lad, with a laugh
”I found Nurasses grow,” and Akut pointed
”A lion?” exclai”
”Nureat ape ”First I heard hih of Numa may sound no different frorasses and the trees; but later you h of Nu at one point to a force other than the force of the wind See, they are spread there upon either side of Nureat body, and as he breathes-you see? You see the little motion at either side that is not caused by the wind-the rasses have?”
The boy strained his eyes-better eyes than the ordinary boy inherits-and at last he gave a little exclamation of discovery
”Yes,” he said, ”I see He lies there,” and he pointed ”His head is toward us Is he watching us?”
”Nuer, unless we approach too close, for he is lying upon his kill His belly is al the bones He is watching us in silenceor he will rise and come down to the water for a drink As he neither fears or desires us he will not try to hide his presence from us; but now is an excellent time to learn to know Nu in the jungle Where the great apes are , and we can fight; but e are alone and he is hungry we are no match for him Come, ill circle him and catch his scent The sooner you learn to know it the better; but keep close to the trees, as we go around him, for Numa often does that which he is least expected to do And keep your ears and your eyes and your nose open Remember always that there st every clu Numa do not run into the jaws of Sabor, his mate Follow me,” and Akut set off in a wide circle about the water hole and the crouching lion
The boy followed close upon his heels, his every sense upon the alert, his nerves keyed to the highest pitch of exciteot his resolutions of a few minutes past to hasten to the coast at some other point than that at which he had landed and ht now only of the savage joy of living, and of pitting one's wits and prowess against the wiles and le brood which haunted the broad plains and the glooreat, untamed continent He knew no fear His father had had none to transmit to him; but honor and conscience he did have and these were to trouble him many times as they battled with his inherent love of freedom for possession of his soul
They had passed but a short distance to the rear of Nuht the unpleasant odor of the carnivore His face lighted with a s told hi a myriad of others even if Akut had not told hie familiarity-a weird familiarity in it that ht his upper lip into an involuntary snarl that bared his fighting fangs There was a sense of stretching of the skin about his ears, for all the world as though those ainst his skull in preparation for deadly coloith a pleasurable sensation that he never before had known He was, upon the instant, another creature-wary, alert, ready Thus did the scent of Numa, the lion, transform the boy into a beast
He had never seen a lion-his reat pains to prevent it But he had devoured countless pictures of the of beasts in the flesh As he trailed Akut he kept an eye cocked over one shoulder, rearward, in the hope that Nuht rise from his kill and reveal himself Thus it happened that he dropped some little way behind Akut, and the next he kneas recalled suddenly to a contemplation of otherfro his eyes quickly in the direction of his co in the path directly before hi every nerve of his body With body half- from a clump of bushes in which she must have lain hidden stood a sleek and beautiful lioness Her yellow-green eyes were round and staring, boring straight into the eyes of the boy Not ten paces separated thereat ape, bellowing instructions to the boy and hurling taunts at the lioness in an evident effort to attract her attention froained the shelter of a near-by tree