The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-10-15
CHAPTER XVI.
In the jungle

uIOuS the lTdll lOWdIu tue
drinking place. A moment
more and it came in view. 1t was
Horta, the boar. Here was delicious
meat. and Tarzan's mouth watered.
The grasses where Numa lay were
very still now, ominously still. HOrta
passed beneath TarZan. A few mor
steps and he would be within the
radius Of Numa's spring. Tarzan
could imagine how old Numa's eyes
were shining, how he was already
sucking In his breath for the awful
roar which would freeze his prey for
the brief instant between the moment
of the spring and the sinking Of terri
bic fangs into splintering bones.
But as Numa gathered himself q
slender rope few through the air from
the low branches of a nearby tree. A
moose settled about Horta's neck.
There was a frightened grunt. a Squeal,
and then Numa saw his quarry drag
ged backward up the trail. and as he
sprang Horta. the boar. scared upward
beyond his clutches into the tree
above. and a knocking face looked
down and laughed into his own.
Then indeed did Numa roar. Angry.
threatening, hungry, he paced back
and forth beneath the haunting ape
man. Now he stopped and. rising on
his hind legs against the stem Of the
tree that held his enemy. ~sharpened
his huge claws upon the bark, tearing
out great pieces that lay bare the white
wood beneath.
And in the meantime Tarzan had
dragged the struggling Horta to the
limb beside him. Sinewy fingers com
pleted the work the choking moose had
commenced. The ape-man had no
knife. but nature had equipped him
with the means Of tearing his food
from the ~quivering flank Of his prey.
and cleaning teeth sank ntO the sue
culent flesh while the raging lion look
ed on from below as another enjoyed
the dinner that he had thought al
ready his.
1t was quite dark by the time Tar
zan had gorged himself. All. but it
had been delicious. Never had he
quite accustomed himself to the ruined
flesh that civilized men had served
heart there had constantly been the
craving for the warm meat OF the
fresh killed and the rich. red blood.
He wiped his bloody hands upon a
bunch Of leaves, slung the remains of
his kill across his shoulder aud swung
Off through the middle terrace Of the
forest toward his cabin. and at the
same instant Jane Porter and William
Cecil Clayton arose from a sumptuous
dinner upon the Lady Alice. thousands
Of miles to the east in the Indian
ocean.
Beneath Tarzan walked Numa. the
lion. and when the ape-man deigned to
glance downward he caught occasional
glimpses of the baleful green eyes fol
lowing through the darkness. Numa
did not roar now. Instead he moved
stealthily, like the shadow Of q great
cat, but yet he took no step that did
not reach the sensitive ears Of the ape
man.
Tarzan wondered if he would stalk
him to his cabin door. He hoped not,
for that would mean a nights slee[
curled in the crotch Of a tree. and he
much preferred the bed Of grasses
within his own abode. But he knew
just the tree and the most comfortable
crotch if necessity demanded that ht
sleep out. A hundred times In the pas
some great jungle cat had followed hin
home and compelled him to seek shell
ter in this same tree until another
mood or the rising sun had sent his
enemy away.
But presently Numa gave up the
chase and. with a series Of blOOdcur
ding oan and rOars. turned angrily
back In search Of another and easier
dinner.
A few moments later Tarzan was
curled up In the mildewed remnants OF
what had once been a bed Of grasses
Thus easily did NJ. Jean G. Tarzan
slough the thin skin Of his artificial
civilization and sink happy and con
tented into the deep sleep Of the wild
beast that has fed to repletiOn. YET
woman's yes" would have bound him
to that other life forever and made the
thought Of this savage existence repui'
sive.
Tarzan slept late into the following
forenoon. for be had e very tired
from the labors and exertiOn Of the
long night and day upon the ocean and
the jungle jaunt that had brought into
play muscles that he had scarce used
for nearly two years. When he awoke
he ran to the brook first to drink
Then he took a plunge into the sea,
swimming about for a quarter Of an
hour. Afterward he returned to his
cabin and breakfasted OF the 6esh OF