Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-05-24
CHAPTER VIII.
THE TREE-ToP HUNTER.

THE morning after the Dum-Duin 'ne
80. .,orted slowly back through the for
est toward the coast.
The body of Tublat lay where II hau
fallen. for the people of Kerchak do not
.at their own dead.
rho march was but a leisurely search
o. food. Cabbage-palm and gray Plum
-,,arg and scitamine they found In
sb,ndance, with Wild pineapple and oc-
o.s,onally small mammals, birds, eggs
,ontes and insects. The nuts they
...orsd between their powerful jaws, or.
!, too hard broke by pounding between
stones.
orce old sabor, crossing their path.
-, Them scurrying to the safety OF
a. higher branches, for II she respected
,helr number and their sharp tanss,
thev on their part held her cruel ana
mighty ferocity in equal esteem
ITnon low hanging branch sat TAR
.ar directly above the majestic supple
hodv as II forged silently through the
tbick Jungle. He hurled pineapple at
The ancient enemy Of his people. The
great beast stopped and, turning eyed
the tauntng figure above her.
with an angry lash of her tall she
bared her yellow fangs curling her great
iIps in a hideous snarl that wrinkled her
bristlng snout in serried rldses anu
closed her wicked eyes TO TWO harro"
silts of rage and hatred.
with back-laid ears she looked straight
into the eyes of Tarzan of the Apes and
sounded her fierce shrill challenge.
And from the safety of his overhang-
ing limb the ape-child sent back the FEAR
some answer of his kind.
For moment the two eyed each otner
IN silence and then the great cat turned
into the jungle, which swallowed her as
the ocean enEulfs tossed pebble
But into the mind of Tarzan great
plan sprang. He had killed the fierce
1ublat so was he not therefore n mighty
lighter? Now would he track down the
crafty Sabor and slay her likewise. he
would be a mighty hunter, also.
At the bottom of his little English heart
heat the great desire to cover his naked
ness with clothes for he had learned from
his picture books that all men we're SO
covered, while monkeys and apes and
every other living thing went naked.
Clothes therefore, must be truly
badge of greatness; the insignia OF the
superiority of man over all other ami
mails for surely there could be no other
reason for wearing the hideous things
Many moons ago, when he had been
much smaller, he had desired the skin of
Habor, the loness, or Numa, the lion, or
Sheeta, the leopard to cover his hairless
body that he might no longer resemble
was proud OF his sleek skin for 1t be-
tokened his descent from a rightly race.
and the conflicting desires to go naked
in prldeful proof of his ancestry, or to
conform to the customs of his own klnd
and wear hideous and uncomfortable ap-
pare found first one and then the other
b in the ascendencyA
AS the tribe continued their slow way
through the forest after the passing OF
sabor, Tarzan's head was filled with his
great scheme for Staying his enemy, and
for many days thereafter he thought OF
little else.
-on this day, however, he presently had
ether and more immediate interests TO
attract his attention.
OF a sudden II became as midnight; the
noises of the jungle ceased; the trees
stood motionless as though in paralyzed
expectancy of some great and imminent
disaster. All nature waited-but not for
long.
Family, from a distance. came low,
sad moaning. Nearer and nearer 1t ap-
preached, mounting louder and louder In
volume.
The great trees bent in unison as
though pressed earthward by a mighty
hand. Further and further toward the
ground they inclined. and still there was
no sound save the deep and awesome
moaning of the wind.
Then, SUDDENLY the jungle giants whip
ped back, lashng their mighty tops In
angry and deafening protest. vivid
and binding light flashed from the whirl-
ing, inky clouds above. The deep canon
ade Of roaring thunder belched forth its
fearsome challenge. The deluge came
all hell broke loose upon the jungle.
The tribe huddled. shivering from the
cold rain at the bases OF .great trees.
The lightning darting and flashing
through the blackness, showed wildly
waving branches, whipping streamers and
bending trunks.
Now and again some ancient patriarch
ol the woods, rent by a flashing bolt,
would crash In thousand pieces among
the surrounding trees carrying down
numherless branches and many smaller
neishbors to add TO the tangled confusion
., the tropical jungle.
branches, great and small, torn away
py the ferocity of the tornado, hurtled
thIough the wildly waving verdure,
carrying death and destruction to count
.sss unhappy denizens of the thickly peo-
pied world below,
For hours the fury of the storm con-
unped without surcease. and still the
ttpe huddled close in shiYering fear In
CONSTANT danger from falling trunks and
branches and paralyzed by the vivid
ussning OF lightning and the believing
u snlnder they crouched in pitiful misery
ennl the storm passed
no END was as sudden as the Begin
1lhs. The wind ceased, the sun shone
'osin-nature smiled once more.
ne dripping leaves and branches. and
tae moist petals of gorgeous flowers
thstened in the splendor of the return
et day, And. so-as Nature forgot. her
saiiaren forgot also. Busy life went on
i had been before the darkness and
ihs fright
nut to Tarzan a dawning light had come
explain the mystery of clothes. How
has he would have been beneath the
-safy coat OF Sabor And so was added
Lurther incentive to the adventure.
Fef several months the tribe hovered
- the beach where stood Tarzan's
spln' and his studies took up the greater
te.uon OF his time, but always when
aneying through the forest he kept
~ rope In readiness, and many were
smaller animals that fell into the
-lste or the quick thrown moose,
Ance II fell about tha short mack Of