Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1920-02-13
CHAPTER II.-Continued.


?
The Belgian did not have long to
wait, for the following day his ennis
sary returned with word that Tarzan
and a party of fifty Waziri warriors
had set out toward the southeast early
in the morning.
Werper called his head man to him,
after writing a long letter to Achmet
Eek. This letter he handed to the head
man.
"Send a runner at once to Achmet
Eek with this" he instructed the head
man. Remain here in camp awaiting
further instructions from him or from
me. If any come from the bungalow of
the Englishman, tell them that l am
very i'll within my tent and can see no
one. Now, give me six porters and six
as6aris-the strongest and bravest of
the safari-and l will march after the
Engllshman and discover where his
gold is hidden"
And so it was that as Tarzan,
stripped to the loin cloth and armed
after the primitive fashion he best
loved, led his loyal Waziri toward the
dead city of Opar, Werper, the rene
gade haunted his trail through the
long, hot days and camped close be-
hind him by night.
And as they marched, Achmet Eek
rode with his entire following south
ward toward the Greystoke farm.
To Tarzan of the Apes the expedi-
ton was in the nature of a holiday
outing. His civilization was at best
but an outward veneer which he glad
ly peeled off with his uncomfortable
European clothes whenever any roa-
sonable pretext presented itself. II
was woman's love which kept Tar.
ian even to the semblance of civiliza-
tion-a condition for which familiarity
had bred contempt. He hated the
shams and the hypocrisies of it and
with the clear vision of an unspoiled
mind he had penetrated to the rotten
core of the heart Of the thing-the
vcowardly greed for peace and ease and
the safeguarding Of property rights.
And so Tarzan always came back tc
nature in the spirit Of lover keeping
long-deferred tryst after a period be
hind prison walls. His Wazirl, al
marrow, were more civilized than he
They cooked their meat before they
ate 1t and they Stunned many articles
Of food as unclean that Tarzan had
eaten with gust0 all his life, and so in.
sidlous is the virus of hypocrisy that
even the stalwart ape-man hesitated
to give rein to his natural longings be.
fore them. He ate burnt flesh when
he would have preferred it raw and
unspOiled, and he brought down game
with arrow or spear when he would
far rather have leaped upon it from
ambush and sunk his strong teeth in
its iugular; but at last the call Of the
milk Of the savage mother that had
sucked him in infancy rose to an in.
sistent demand--he craved the hot
blood of a fresh kill and his muscles
yearned to pit themselves against the
savage Jungle in the battte for exist.
ence that had been his sole birthrlght
for the first twenty years Of his life.
Moved by these vague yet all-power.
rul urgings the ape-man lay awake one
night in the little thorn bona that pro.
tected in a way, his party from the
depredations Of the great carnivora Of
The jungle. A single warrior stood
sleepy guard beside the fire that vel
low eyes out of the darkness beyond
the camp made imperative. The means
and the coughing of the big eats
mingled with the myriad noises of the
lesser denizens of the jungle to fan the
savage flame in the breast of this say
age English lord. He tossed upon his
bed of grasses, sleepless, for an houl
and then he rose, DoiSeess as a wrath
and while the Waziri's back was
turned, vaulted the bona wall in the
face of the flaming eyes, swung silent
/ ly into a great tree and was gone.
For q time in sheer eXuberance o.
animal spirit he raced swiftly through
the middle terrace, swinging perilousll
across wide spans from one jungle
giant to the next, and then he clam
bered upward to the swaying, lesser
boughs of the upper terrace where tht
moon shone full upon him and the all
was stirred by little breezes and dealt
lurked ready in each frail branch
Here he paused and raised his face t
Goro, the moon. With uplifted arm
he stood, the cry of the bull ape quiv
ering upon his lips, yet he remained
silent lest he arouse his faithful Wa
ziri, who we're all too familiar with thu
hldeous challenge Of their master.
And then he went on more slowl,
and with greater stealth and caution
for now Tarzan of the Apes was seek
ing a kill. Down to the ground h,
came in the utter blackness Of tn,
| cloSe-set holes and the oyerhanrinl