The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Chapter 11
Tambudza
Tarzan scooped a shallow grave for the Kincaid's cook, beneath whoserepulsive exterior had beaten the heart of a chivalrous gentleman.That was all he could do in the cruel jungle for the man who had givenhis life in the service of his little son and his wife.
Then Tarzan took up again the pursuit of Rokoff. Now that he waspositive that the woman ahead of him was indeed Jane, and that she hadagain fallen into the hands of the Russian, it seemed that with all theincredible speed of his fleet and agile muscles he moved at but asnail's pace.
It was with difficulty that he kept the trail, for there were manypaths through the jungle at this point--crossing and crisscrossing,forking and branching in all directions, and over them all had passednatives innumerable, coming and going. The spoor of the white men wasobliterated by that of the native carriers who had followed them, andover all was the spoor of other natives and of wild beasts.
It was most perplexing; yet Tarzan kept on assiduously, checking hissense of sight against his sense of smell, that he might more surelykeep to the right trail. But, with all his care, night found him at apoint where he was positive that he was on the wrong trail entirely.
He knew that the pack would follow his spoor, and so he had beencareful to make it as distinct as possible, brushing often against thevines and creepers that walled the jungle-path, and in other waysleaving his scent-spoor plainly discernible.
As darkness settled a heavy rain set in, and there was nothing for thebaffled ape-man to do but wait in the partial shelter of a huge treeuntil morning; but the coming of dawn brought no cessation of thetorrential downpour.
For a week the sun was obscured by heavy clouds, while violent rain andwind storms obliterated the last remnants of the spoor Tarzanconstantly though vainly sought.
During all this time he saw no signs of natives, nor of his own pack,the members of which he feared had lost his trail during the terrificstorm. As the country was strange to him, he had been unable to judgehis course accurately, since he had had neither sun by day nor moon norstars by night to guide him.
When the sun at last broke through the clouds in the fore-noon of theseventh day, it looked down upon an almost frantic ape-man.
For the first time in his life, Tarzan of the Apes had been lost in thejungle. That the experience should have befallen him at such a timeseemed cruel beyond expression. Somewhere in this savage land his wifeand son lay in the clutches of the arch-fiend Rokoff.
What hideous trials might they not have undergone during those sevenawful days that nature had thwarted him in his endeavours to locatethem? Tarzan knew the Russian, in whose power they were, so well thathe could not doubt but that the man, filled with rage that Jane hadonce escaped him, and knowing that Tarzan might be close upon histrail, would wreak without further loss of time whatever vengeance hispolluted mind might be able to conceive.
But now that the sun shone once more, the ape-man was still at a lossas to what direction to take. He knew that Rokoff had left the riverin pursuit of Anderssen, but whether he would continue inland or returnto the Ugambi was a question.
The ape-man had seen that the river at the point he had left it wasgrowing narrow and swift, so that he judged that it could not benavigable even for canoes to any great distance farther toward itssource. However, if Rokoff had not returned to the river, in whatdirection had he proceeded?
From the direction of Anderssen's flight with Jane and the child Tarzanwas convinced that the man had purposed attempting the tremendous featof crossing the continent to Zanzibar; but whether Rokoff would dare sodangerous a journey or not was a question.
Fear might drive him to the attempt now that he knew the manner ofhorrible pack that was upon his trail, and that Tarzan of the Apes wasfollowing him to wreak upon him the vengeance that he deserved.
At last the ape-man determined to continue toward the northeast in thegeneral direction of German East Africa until he came upon natives fromwhom he might gain information as to Rokoff's whereabouts.
The second day following the cessation of the rain Tarzan came upon anative village the inhabitants of which fled into the bush the instanttheir eyes fell upon him. Tarzan, not to be thwarted in any suchmanner as this, pursued them, and after a brief chase caught up with ayoung warrior. The fellow was so badly frightened that he was unableto defend himself, dropping his weapons and falling upon the ground,wide-eyed and screaming as he gazed on his captor.
It was with considerable difficulty that the ape-man quieted thefellow's fears sufficiently to obtain a coherent statement from him asto the cause of his uncalled-for terror.
From him Tarzan learned, by dint of much coaxing, that a party ofwhites had passed through the village several days before. These menhad told them of a terrible white devil that pursued them, warning thenatives against it and the frightful pack of demons that accompanied it.
The black had recognized Tarzan as the white devil from thedescriptions given by the whites and their black servants. Behind himhe had expected to see a horde of demons disguised as apes and panthers.
In this Tarzan saw the cunning hand of Rokoff. The Russian wasattempting to make travel as difficult as possible for him by turningthe natives against him in superstitious fear.
The native further told Tarzan that the white man who had led therecent expedition had promised them a fabulous reward if they wouldkill the white devil. This they had fully intended doing should theopportunity present itself; but the moment they had seen Tarzan theirblood had turned to water, as the porters of the white men had toldthem would be the case.
Finding the ape-man made no attempt to harm him, the native at lastrecovered his grasp upon his courage, and, at Tarzan's suggestion,accompanied the white devil back to the village, calling as he went forhis fellows to return also, as "the white devil has promised to do youno harm if you come back right away and answer his questions."
One by one the blacks straggled into the village, but that their fearswere not entirely allayed was evident from the amount of white thatshowed about the eyes of the majority of them as they cast constant andapprehensive sidelong glances at the ape-man.
The chief was among the first to return to the village, and as it washe that Tarzan was most anxious to interview, he lost no time inentering into a palaver with the black.
The fellow was short and stout, with an unusually low and degradedcountenance and apelike arms. His whole expression denoteddeceitfulness.
Only the superstitious terror engendered in him by the stories pouredinto his ears by the whites and blacks of the Russian's party kept himfrom leaping upon Tarzan with his warriors and slaying him forthwith,for he and his people were inveterate maneaters. But the fear that hemight indeed be a devil, and that out there in the jungle behind himhis fierce demons waited to do his bidding, kept M'ganwazam fromputting his desires into action.
Tarzan questioned the fellow closely, and by comparing his statementswith those of the young warrior he had first talked with he learnedthat Rokoff and his safari were in terror-stricken retreat in thedirection of the far East Coast.
Many of the Russian's porters had already deserted him. In that veryvillage he had hanged five for theft and attempted desertion. Judging,however, from what the Waganwazam had learned from those of theRussian's blacks who were not too far gone in terror of the brutalRokoff to fear even to speak of their plans, it was apparent that hewould not travel any great distance before the last of his porters,cooks, tent-boys, gun-bearers, askari, and even his headman, would haveturned back into the bush, leaving him to the mercy of the mercilessjungle.
M'ganwazam denied that there had been any white woman or child with theparty of whites; but even as he spoke Tarzan was convinced that helied. Several times the ape-man approached the subject from differentangles, but never was he successful in surprising the wily cannibalinto a direct contradiction of his original statement that there hadbeen no women or children with the party.
At last, convinced that these people knew a great deal more than theyhad told him concerning the whereabouts of the Russian and the fate ofJane and the child, Tarzan determined to remain overnight among them inthe hope of discovering something further of importance.
When he had stated his decision to the chief he was rather surprised tonote the sudden change in the fellow's attitude toward him. Fromapparent dislike and suspicion M'ganwazam became a most eager andsolicitous host.
Nothing would do but that the ape-man should occupy the best hut in thevillage, from which M'ganwazam's oldest wife was forthwith summarilyejected, while the chief took up his temporary abode in the hut of oneof his younger consorts.
Had Tarzan chanced to recall the fact that a princely reward had beenoffered the blacks if they should succeed in killing him, he might havemore quickly interpreted M'ganwazam's sudden change in front.
To have the white giant sleeping peacefully in one of his own hutswould greatly facilitate the matter of earning the reward, and so thechief was urgent in his suggestions that Tarzan, doubtless being verymuch fatigued after his travels, should retire early to the comforts ofthe anything but inviting palace.
As much as the ape-man detested the thought of sleeping within a nativehut, he had determined to do so this night, on the chance that he mightbe able to induce one of the younger men to sit and chat with himbefore the fire that burned in the centre of the smoke-filled dwelling,and from him draw the truths he sought. So Tarzan accepted theinvitation of old M'ganwazam, insisting, however, that he muchpreferred sharing a hut with some of the younger men rather thandriving the chief's old wife out in the cold.
The toothless old hag grinned her appreciation of this suggestion, andas the plan still better suited the chief's scheme, in that it wouldpermit him to surround Tarzan with a gang of picked assassins, hereadily assented, so that presently Tarzan had been installed in a hutclose to the village gate.
As there was to be a dance that night in honour of a band of recentlyreturned hunters, Tarzan was left alone in the hut, the young men, asM'ganwazam explained, having to take part in the festivities.
As soon as the ape-man was safely installed in the trap, M'Ganwazamcalled about him the young warriors whom he had selected to spend thenight with the white devil!
None of them was overly enthusiastic about the plan, since deep intheir superstitious hearts lay an exaggerated fear of the strange whitegiant; but the word of M'ganwazam was law among his people, so not onedared refuse the duty he was called upon to perform.
As M'ganwazam unfolded his plan in whispers to the savages squattingabout him the old, toothless hag, to whom Tarzan had saved her hut forthe night, hovered about the conspirators ostensibly to replenish thesupply of firewood for the blaze about which the men sat, but really todrink in as much of their conversation as possible.
Tarzan had slept for perhaps an hour or two despite the savage din ofthe revellers when his keen senses came suddenly alert to asuspiciously stealthy movement in the hut in which he lay. The firehad died down to a little heap of glowing embers, which accentuatedrather than relieved the darkness that shrouded the interior of theevil-smelling dwelling, yet the trained senses of the ape-man warnedhim of another presence creeping almost silently toward him through thegloom.
He doubted that it was one of his hut mates returning from thefestivities, for he still heard the wild cries of the dancers and thedin of the tom-toms in the village street without. Who could it bethat took such pains to conceal his approach?
As the presence came within reach of him the ape-man bounded lightly tothe opposite side of the hut, his spear poised ready at his side.
"Who is it," he asked, "that creeps upon Tarzan of the Apes, like ahungry lion out of the darkness?"
"Silence, bwana!" replied an old cracked voice. "It is Tambudza--shewhose hut you would not take, and thus drive an old woman out into thecold night."
"What does Tambudza want of Tarzan of the Apes?" asked the ape-man.
"You were kind to me to whom none is now kind, and I have come to warnyou in payment of your kindness," answered the old hag.
"Warn me of what?"
"M'ganwazam has chosen the young men who are to sleep in the hut withyou," replied Tambudza. "I was near as he talked with them, and heardhim issuing his instructions to them. When the dance is run well intothe morning they are to come to the hut.
"If you are awake they are to pretend that they have come to sleep, butif you sleep it is M'ganwazam's command that you be killed. If you arenot then asleep they will wait quietly beside you until you do sleep,and then they will all fall upon you together and slay you. M'ganwazamis determined to win the reward the white man has offered."
"I had forgotten the reward," said Tarzan, half to himself, and then headded, "How may M'ganwazam hope to collect the reward now that thewhite men who are my enemies have left his country and gone he knowsnot where?"
"Oh, they have not gone far," replied Tambudza. "M'ganwazam knowswhere they camp. His runners could quickly overtake them--they moveslowly."
"Where are they?" asked Tarzan.
"Do you wish to come to them?" asked Tambudza in way of reply.
Tarzan nodded.
"I cannot tell you where they lie so that you could come to the placeyourself, but I could lead you to them, bwana."
In their interest in the conversation neither of the speakers hadnoticed the little figure which crept into the darkness of the hutbehind them, nor did they see it when it slunk noiselessly out again.
It was little Buulaoo, the chief's son by one of his younger wives--avindictive, degenerate little rascal who hated Tambudza, and was everseeking opportunities to spy upon her and report her slightest breachof custom to his father.
"Come, then," said Tarzan quickly, "let us be on our way."
This Buulaoo did not hear, for he was already legging it up the villagestreet to where his hideous sire guzzled native beer, and watched theevolutions of the frantic dancers leaping high in the air and cavortingwildly in their hysterical capers.
So it happened that as Tarzan and Tambudza sneaked warily from thevillage and melted into the Stygian darkness of the jungle two litherunners took their way in the same direction, though by another trail.
When they had come sufficiently far from the village to make it safefor them to speak above a whisper, Tarzan asked the old woman if shehad seen aught of a white woman and a little child.
"Yes, bwana," replied Tambudza, "there was a woman with them and alittle child--a little white piccaninny. It died here in our villageof the fever and they buried it!"