Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-10-22
T ARR AN OF
T H E. A P E S
By EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS

II
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 apes could look at him at all.
So intent was he upon his personal
appraisement Of his features that he
did not hear the parting Of the tall
grass behind him as a great body
pushed itself steadily through the
jungle, nor did his companion, the ape,
hear either for he was drinking, and
the noise Of his sucking lips drowned
the quiet approach Of the intruder.
Not thirty PAGES behind the two he
crouched-Sabor, the tiger-lashing his
tail. Cautiously he moved a great
paded paw forward, noiselessly plac-
ing it before he lifted the next. Thus
he advanced, his belly low, almost
touching the surface of the ground-a
great cat preparing to spring upon it's
prey.
Now he was within ten feet Of the
two unsuspecting little playfellows.
Carefully he drew his hind feet well
up beneath his body, the great muscles
rolling under the beautiful skin Of
black and yellow. So low he was
crouching that he seemed flattened TO
the earth except for the upward bend
of the glossy back as it gathered for
the spring.
No longer the tail lashed. Quiet and
straight behind him 1t lay.
An instant he paused thus as though
turned to stone, and then, with an
awful scream, he sprang.
Sabor, the tiger, was wise hunter.
To one less wise the wild alarm Of his
fierce cry as he sprang would have
seemed a foolish thing, for could he
not more surely have fallen upon his
victims had he but quietly leaped with
out that loud shrek?
But Sabor knew we'll the wondrous
quickness of the jungle folk and their
almost unbelievable powers Of hearing.
To them the sudden scraping Of one
blade Of grass across another was as
effectual warning as his loudest cry,
and Sabor knew that he could not
make that leap without a little noise.
His wild scream was not warning,
but instead was meant to freeze his
poor victims in a paralysis Of terror
for the tiny fraction Of an instant,
which would suffice for his mighty
claws to sink into their soft flesh and
hold them beyond peradventure Of es-
cape.
In so far as the ape was concerned
Sabor reasoned correctly. The little
fellow crouched trembling just an in
slant. but that instant was quite long
enough to prove his undoing.
Not so, however, with Tarzan, the
man child. Before him lay the deep
waters Of the little lake, behind him
certain death-a cruel death beneath
tearing claws and rending fangs.
.Tarzan had always hated water, ex-
cept as medium for quenching his
thirst. He hated it because he con-
nected it with the chill and discomfort
Of the torrential rains and he feared
it for the thunder and lightning and
wind which accompanied it.
But Of the two evils his quick mind
chose the lesser, and before the great
beast had covered half his leap Tarzan
felt the chill waters close above his
head.
He could not swim, and the water
was very deep But still he lost no
particle Of that self reliance and re-
sourcefulness which were the badges
of his superior being.
Rapidly he moved his hands and feet
in an attempt to scramble upward,
and, possibly more chance than de-
sign, he fell into the stroke that a dog
uses when swimming, so that within a
few seconds his nose was above water,
and he found that he could keep it
there by continuing his strokes and
also make progress through the water.
He was much surprised and pleased
with this new requirement which had
he had no time for thinking much up
on it,
He was now swimming parallel to
the bank, and there he saw the cruel
beast that would have seized him
crouching upon the still form of his
playmate.
The tiger was intently watching Tar
zan, evidently expecting him to return
tion of doing.
Instead he raised his voice in the call
of distress common to his tribe, adding
to it the warning which would prevent
wOuld-be rescuers from running into
the clutches Of Sabor.
Almost Immediately there came an
answer from the distance, and pres
emily forty or fifty great apes swung
rapidly and majestically through the
trees toward the scene Of tragedy.
| In the van was Kala, for she had
recognized he tones Of her best be-
loved, ar tn her was the mother of
the little who lay dead beneath
cruel Sabol
| Though more powerful and better
equipped for fighting than the apes, the
tiger had no desire to meet these en-
ragged adults, and with a snarl of
hatred he sprang quickly into the brush
and disappeared
TarZan now swan to shore and
clambered quickly upon dry land. The
feeling of freshness and eXhilaration
which the cool waters had impaired to
him filled his being with grateful sur
prise, and ever after he lost no oppor-
tunity to take a daily plunge in lake
or stream or ocean when it was pos
Sible to do so.
| For long time Kala could not ac-
custom herself to the sight, for, though
her people could swim when forced TO
it. they did not like to enter water and
never did so voluntarily.
| That the huge fierce brute loved her
child of another race is beyond ques-
tion, and he. too, gave to the great
/ ba baact ba that wOul0