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

y
Was she to lose this one, too, in the
same way? Tarzan was lying quite
still when she found him, embedded
deeply in the bush. 1t took Kala
several minutes to disentangle him
and drag him forth, but he was not
killed. He was not even badly in
jured. The bush had broken the
force Of the fall. A cut upon the
back of his head showed where he
had struck the tough stem Of the
shrub and explained his unconscious
ness.
In a few minutes he was rs active
as ever. Tublat was furious. In his
rage he snapped at fcllow-apc
without first discovering the identity
of his victim, and was badly mauled
for his i'll temper, having chosen to
vent his spite upon a husky and
belligercnt young bull in the full
prime of his vigor.
But Tarzan had learned something
new. He had learned that continued
friction would wear through the
strands of his rope, though it was
many years before this knowledge
did more for him than merely to
keep him from swinging too long
at a time. or too far above the
ground at the end of his rope.
The dav came, however. when the
very thing that had once all but
killed him proved the means Of say
ing his life.
He was no longer a child but a
mighty jungle male. There was none
now to watch over him, solicitously.
nor did he need such. Kala was dead.
Dead, too, was Tublat, and though
with Kala has passed the ono Great
ure that ever really had loved him,
there were still many who hated him
after Tublat departed unto the arms
of his fathers. 1t was not that he was
more cruel or more savage than they
that they hated him, for though he
was both cruel and savage as were
the beasts, his fellows, yet too was
he often tender, which they never
were. No, the thing which brought
Tarzan most into disrepute with
those who did not like him was the
possession and practice of a charac-
teristic which they had not and
could not understandable human
sense of humor. In Tarzan it was a
trife broad, perhaps, manifesting
himself in rough and painful prac-
tical jokes upon his friends and cruel
batting of his enemies.
But to neither of these did he owe
the enmity of Bukawai, the witch
doctor, who dwelt in the cave be-
tween the two hills far to the north
of the village of Mbonga, the chief.
Bukawai was jealous of Tarzan, and
Bukawai it was who came near prov
ing the undoing of the ape-man. For
months Bukawai had nursed his
hatred while revenge seemed remote
indeed, since Tarzan of the Apes fire.
quented another part of the jungle,
miles away from the lair of Bukawai.
Only once had the black witch doctor
seen the devil-god, as he was most
often called among the blacks, and
upon that occasion Tarzan had
robbed him of fat fee, at the same
time putting the lie in the mouth of
Bukawai, and making his medicine
seem poor medicine. All this Buka~
wal never could forgive, though it
seemed unlikely that the opportunity
would come to be revenged.
Yet it did come, and quite unex-
pectedly. Tarzan was hunting far to
the north. He had wandered away
from the tribe, as he did more and
more often as he approached matur-
ity, to hunt alone for a few days.
AS a child he had enjoyed romping
and playing with the young apes, his
companions, but now these playfel-
lows of his had grown to surly, low
ering bulls, or to touchy, suspicious
mothers, jealously guarding helpless
balus. So Tarzan found in his own
man-mind a greater and truer COM
panionship than any or all of the
apes Of Kerchak could afford him.
This day, as Tarzan hunted, the
sky slowly became overcast. Torn
clouds, whipped to ragged streamers,
fled low above the tree tops. They
reminded Tarzan of frightened
antelope fleeing the charge of a
hungry lion. But though the light
clouds raced so swiftly, the Jungle
was motionless. Not leaf quivered
and the silence was a great, dead
weight-insupportable. Even the in
sects seemed stilled by apprehension
Of some frightful thing impending,
and the larger things were soundless.
Such forest, such a jungle might
have stood there in the beginning of
that unthinkably far-gone age before
God peopled the world with life,
when there were no sounds because
there were no ears to hear.
And over all lay a sickly, pallid
ocher light through which the
scourged clouds raced. Tarzan had
seen all these conditions many times
before, yet he never could escape a
strange feeling at each recurrence of
them. He knew no fear, but in the
| faca nf Naturn'S manifestations Of