Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-12

atHOug OCner JnlnRS, 10 laSnlOn plldil
ropes Of fibrous jungle grass. Strong
and tough were the ropes of Tarzan
the little Tarmangani. Tublat, his
foster father, would have told you
this much and more. Had you
tempted him with a handful Of fat
caterpillars he even might have suf.
ficiently unbended to narrate to you
a few stories of the many indignities
which Tarzan had heaped upon him
by means of his hated rope, but then
Tublat always worked himself into
such frightful rage when he de-
voted any considerable thought
either to the rope or to Tarzan that
it might not have proved comfortable
for you to have remained close
enough to him to hear what he had
3 to say.
So often had that snakelike moose
settled Unexpectedly over Tublat's
head, so often had he been jerked
ridiculously and painfully from his
feet when he was least looking for
such an occurrence. that there is
little wonder he found scant space in
his savage heart for love of his
white-skinned foster child, or the in
ventions thereof There had been
other times, too, when Tublat had
swung helplessly in midair, the moose
Tightening about his neck, death
staring him in the face, and little
Tarzan dancing upon a nearby limb,
taunting him and making unsoemly
grimaces.
Then there had been another oc-
casion in which the rope had figured
prominently-an occasion, and the
only one connected with the rope,
which Tublat recalled with pleasure.
Tarzan, as active in brain as he was
in body, was always inventing new
ways in which to play. 1t was
through the medium of play that he
learned much during his childhood.
This day he learned something, and
that he did not lose his life in the
learning of it was a matter of great
surprise to Tarzan, and the fly in
the ointment to Tublat.
The man-child had, in throwing
his moose at a playmate in tree
above him, caught projecting
branch instead. When he tried to
shake it loose it but drew the tighter
Then Tarzan started to climb the
rope to remove it from the branch.
When he was part way up 1rOlic-
some playmate seized that part of
the rope which lay upon the ground
and ran off with it as far as he could
go. When Tarzan screamed at him
to desist, the young ape released the
rope a little and then drew it tight
again. The result was to impart
swinging motion to Tarzan's body
which the ape-boy suddenly realized
was new and pleasurable form of
play. He urged the ape to continue
until Tarzan was swinging to and
FRO as far as the short length of the
rope would permit, but the distance
was not great enough, and, too, he
was not far enough above the ground
to give the necessary thrills which
add so greatly to the pastimes of the
young.
So he clambered to the branch
where the moose was caught and
after removing it carried the rope far
aloft and out upon long and power
full branch. Here he again made it
fast, and taking the loose end in his
hand, clambered quickly down among
the branches as far as the rope would
permit him to go; then he swung
out upon the end of it, his 1.-THE,
young body turning and twitting-
human bob upon pendulum of
grass-thirty feet above the ground.
All, how delectablel This was in
deed new play of the first magni-
tude. Tarzan was entranced. Soon
he discovered that by wriggling his
body in just the right way at the
proper time he could diminish or
accelerate his oscillation, and, being
boy, he chose, naturally, to accel-
crate. Presently he was swinging
far and wide, while below him, the
apes Of the tribe of Kerchak looked
on in mild amaze.
Had it been you or I swinging
there at the end of that grass rope,
the thing which presently happened
would not have happened, for we
could not have hung on so long as to
have made 1t possible, but Tarzan
was quite as much at home swinging
by his hands as he was standing
upon his feet, or, at least, almost.
AT any rate he felt no fatigue long
after the time that an ordinary NOR
tai would have been numb with the
strain of the physical exertion. And
this was his undoing.
Tublat was watching him as were
others of the tribe. OF all the
creatures of the wild there was
none Tublat so cordially hated as he
did this hideous, hairless, white
skinned, caricature of an ape. But
for Tarzan's nimbleness, and the
jealous watchfulness of savage
Kala's mother love, Tublat would
long since have rid himself of this
stain upon his family escutcheon. So
long had it been since Tarzan became
ysaa,,nhar nf tho triha tbot T,,hio !