The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-03-19
CHAPTER u.
The White Ape.

"ENDERLY Kala nursed her lit
tie waif, wondering silently
why it did not gain strength
and agility as did the little apes
Of other mothers. 1t was nearly a year
from the time the little fellow came
into her possession before he would
walk alone. and as for climbing-my,
but how stupid he was!
Kala sometimes talked with the older
females about her young hopeful, but
none of them could understand how a
child could be so slow and backward
In learning to care for itself. Why, it
could not " find food alone, and
more than twelve moons had passed
since Kala had come upon 1t.
Had they known that the child had
seen thirteen o before 1t had come
into Kala's possession they would have
considered Its case as absolutely hope
less.
Tublat, Kala's husband. was sorely
vexed and but for the females careful
watching would have put the child out
Of the way.
"He will never be a great ape he
argued. Always will you have to
carry him and protect him. What good
will he be to the tribe? None. Only
q burden.
LET us leave him quietly sleeping
among the tall grasses, that you may
bear other and stronger apes to guard
us in our old age"
Never, Broken Nose" replied Kala.
IF l must carry him forever, so be it."
Tublat went to Kerchak to urge him
to use his authority with Kala and
force her to give up little Tarzan,
which was the name they had given to
the tiny Lord Greystoke and which
meant white skin"
But when Kerchak spoke to her
about it Kala threatened to run away
from the tribe If they did not leave her
in peace with the child, and as this is
n Of the unalienable rights Of the
jungle folk, If they be dissatisfied
among their own people, they bothered
her no more, for Kala vas a fine,
clean limbed young female, and they
0lQ not WISH TO lose ner.
As Tarzan grew he made more rapid
strides, so that by the time he was ten
years old he was an excellent climber
and on the ground could do many won
derful things which were beyond the
powers of his little brothers and sisters.
In many ways did he differ from
them, and they often marveled at his
superior cunning, but in strength and
size he was deficient, for at ten the
great anthropoids were fully grown,
some Of them towering over six feet
in height, while little Tarzan was still
but a half grown boy.
Yet such a boy!
From early infancy he had used his
hands to swing from branch to branch
after the manner of his giant mother,
and as he grew older he spent hour
upon hour daily speeding through the
treetops with his brothers and sisters.
He could spring twenty feet across
space at the dizzy heights Of the forest
top and grasp with unerring precision
and without apparent jar a limb wav-
ing wildly in the path of an approach
ing tornado.
He could drop twenty feet at a
stretch from limb to limb in rapid de-
scent to the ground. or he could gain
the utmost pinnacle Of the loftiest trOp-
ical giant with the ease and swiftness
of a squirrel. Though but ten years
old. he was fully as strong as the aver
age man Of thirty and far more agile
than the most practiced athlete ever
becomes. And day by day his strength
was increasing.
His life among the fierce apes had
been happy. for his recollection held
no other life. nor did he know that
there existed within the universe aught
else than his little forest and the wild
jungle animals with which he was IA
miliar.
He was nearly ten before he COM
menced to realize that a great differ
ence existed between himself and his
fellows. His little body. burned al
most black by exposure. suddenly caus-
ed him feelings of intense shame. for
he realized that 1t was entirely hair
less, like some low snake or reptile.
In the higher land which his tribe
%frequented was a little lake. and it
was here that Tarzan first saw his face
in the clear. still waters of its bosom.
1t was on a sultry day Of the dry
season that he and one of his cousins
had gone down to the bank to drink.
As they leaned i've both little faces
were mirrored on the placid pool. the
fierce and terrible features of the ape
beside those Of the aristocratic scion
Of an old English house.
Tarzan was appalled,. 1T had been
bad enough to be hairless. but to own
such a countenance! He wondered that
the other apea could look at him at all.