登陆注册
15448300000034

第34章 6 The Witch-Doctor Seeks Vengeance(1)

LORD GREYSTOKE was hunting, or, to be more accurate, he was shooting pheasants at Chamston-Hedding. Lord Greystoke was immaculately and appropriately garbed--to the minutest detail he was vogue. To be sure, he was among the forward guns, not being considered a sporting shot, but what he lacked in skill he more than made up in appearance. At the end of the day he would, doubtless, have many birds to his credit, since he had two guns and a smart loader-- many more birds than he could eat in a year, even had he been hungry, which he was not, having but just arisen from the breakfast table.

The beaters--there were twenty-three of them, in white smocks--had but just driven the birds into a patch of gorse, and were now circling to the opposite side that they might drive down toward the guns. Lord Greystoke was quite as excited as he ever permitted himself to become.

There was an exhilaration in the sport that would not be denied. He felt his blood tingling through his veins as the beaters approached closer and closer to the birds.

In a vague and stupid sort of way Lord Greystoke felt, as he always felt upon such occasions, that he was experiencing a sensation somewhat akin to a reversion to a prehistoric type--that the blood of an ancient forbear was coursing hot through him, a hairy, half-naked forbear who had lived by the hunt.

And far away in a matted equatorial jungle another Lord Greystoke, the real Lord Greystoke, hunted. By the standards which he knew, he, too, was vogue--utterly vogue, as was the primal ancestor before the first eviction.

The day being sultry, the leopard skin had been left behind.

The real Lord Greystoke had not two guns, to be sure, nor even one, neither did he have a smart loader; but he possessed something infinitely more efficacious than guns, or loaders, or even twenty-three beaters in white smocks--he possessed an appetite, an uncanny woodcraft, and muscles that were as steel springs.

Later that day, in England, a Lord Greystoke ate bountifully of things he had not killed, and he drank other things which were uncorked to the accompaniment of much noise.

He patted his lips with snowy linen to remove the faint traces of his repast, quite ignorant of the fact that he was an impostor and that the rightful owner of his noble title was even then finishing his own dinner in far-off Africa.

He was not using snowy linen, though. Instead he drew the back of a brown forearm and hand across his mouth and wiped his bloody fingers upon his thighs. Then he moved slowly through the jungle to the drinking place, where, upon all fours, he drank as drank his fellows, the other beasts of the jungle.

As he quenched his thirst, another denizen of the gloomy forest approached the stream along the path behind him.

It was Numa, the lion, tawny of body and black of mane, scowling and sinister, rumbling out low, coughing roars.

Tarzan of the Apes heard him long before he came within sight, but the ape-man went on with his drinking until he had had his fill; then he arose, slowly, with the easy grace of a creature of the wilds and all the quiet dignity that was his birthright.

Numa halted as he saw the man standing at the very spot where the king would drink. His jaws were parted, and his cruel eyes gleamed. He growled and advanced slowly.

The man growled, too, backing slowly to one side, and watching, not the lion's face, but its tail.

Should that commence to move from side to side in quick, nervous jerks, it would be well to be upon the alert, and should it rise suddenly erect, straight and stiff, then one might prepare to fight or flee; but it did neither, so Tarzan merely backed away and the lion came down and drank scarce fifty feet from where the man stood.

Tomorrow they might be at one another's throats, but today there existed one of those strange and inexplicable truces which so often are seen among the savage ones of the jungle.

Before Numa had finished drinking, Tarzan had returned into the forest, and was swinging away in the direction of the village of Mbonga, the black chief.

It had been at least a moon since the ape-man had called upon the Gomangani. Not since he had restored little Tibo to his grief-stricken mother had the whim seized him to do so.

The incident of the adopted balu was a closed one to Tarzan.

He had sought to find something upon which to lavish such an affection as Teeka lavished upon her balu, but a short experience of the little black boy had made it quite plain to the ape-man that no such sentiment could exist between them.

The fact that he had for a time treated the little black as he might have treated a real balu of his own had in no way altered the vengeful sentiments with which he considered the murderers of Kala. The Gomangani were his deadly enemies, nor could they ever be aught else.

Today he looked forward to some slight relief from the monotony of his existence in such excitement as he might derive from baiting the blacks.

It was not yet dark when he reached the village and took his place in the great tree overhanging the palisade.

From beneath came a great wailing out of the depths of a near-by hut. The noise fell disagreeably upon Tarzan's ears--it jarred and grated. He did not like it, so he decided to go away for a while in the hopes that it might cease; but though he was gone for a couple of hours the wailing still continued when he returned.

With the intention of putting a violent termination to the annoying sound, Tarzan slipped silently from the tree into the shadows beneath. Creeping stealthily and keeping well in the cover of other huts, he approached that from which rose the sounds of lamentation. A fire burned brightly before the doorway as it did before other doorways in the village.

A few females squatted about, occasionally adding their own mournful howlings to those of the master artist within.

The ape-man smiled a slow smile as he thought of the consternation which would follow the quick leap that would carry him among the females and into the full light of the fire.

同类推荐
  • 春雨二首

    春雨二首

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 两汉开国中兴传志

    两汉开国中兴传志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 龙源介清禅师语录

    龙源介清禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 抱一函三秘诀

    抱一函三秘诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 翼庵禅师语录

    翼庵禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 办案要略

    办案要略

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 坐断十方

    坐断十方

    万古之前,一场惊天大战毁灭苍穹,一场惊天阴谋动荡十方;命运之轮悄然转动,万古之后,一切慢慢浮出水面......
  • 四分之一生活录

    四分之一生活录

    一个2b的生活录,从出生到生长所经历的事情,自己骂自己2b,这感觉还挺特别的
  • 段妃

    段妃

    他沙漠的王,她乐府的小婢,一段至死不愉的爱情,让一个为爱执著的女人落泪,让一只沙漠的雄鹰收翅,从此生死相随,天涯海角
  • 鬼武至尊

    鬼武至尊

    这里是阿拉德,一片奇异的大陆,一个武技、魔法、念气、科技并存的世界。而他,阿尔德,是一名……鬼剑士。
  • 弃妃别想逃

    弃妃别想逃

    从青楼被带回皇宫后,宋华橙对南柯百般折磨,让她沦为下堂妃,住进冷宫后连奴婢都敢在南柯的头上放肆,只要南柯过的不好,宋华橙就会唇角上扬,他像是圈养宠物的主人,高高在上。南柯觉得自己简直倒霉透了,人家穿越都是吃香喝辣的,自己怎么就被一个疯子天天折磨?更要命的是,她竟然对这个疯子有感情!南柯小产的时候,宋华橙让她亲眼看着自己和别的女人欢爱,羞辱的字眼令人难堪“南柯,你肚子里的野种活该没了,朕这辈子都不想看到你,滚回南国去吧!”一年后,宋华橙高高在上的对南非墨开口“三十座城池你拿走,朕只要南柯!”带着面纱的女人轻笑道“宋华橙,除非你放弃你的江山,否则我死都不会和你回去!”
  • 以武证道

    以武证道

    何为武,何为道,我即是武,我即是道,以武证道,以道证武,人阻杀人,天阻杀天,武道天途,以我为尊!
  • 倾城女子的传奇:魅世红颜(全)

    倾城女子的传奇:魅世红颜(全)

    宛洲大国,四家纷争,风起云涌,群雄争霸。 她,是南宫独女,身世显赫,颜倾天下。 他,是受宠皇子,足智多谋,包揽大权。 从小,他教她写,执子之手,与子偕老。长大,他对她说,几生几世,唯爱一人。可是竟……!当爱情与权利相冲撞之时,江山美人孰轻孰重? 为了爱情,面对无情,她是继续隐忍还是唯有逃离?……敬请关注《魅世红颜》
  • 易烊千玺之梨涡少年轻轻笑

    易烊千玺之梨涡少年轻轻笑

    尹陌雅一直在想,当初他们的相遇就只是个错吧,但如果让她重新再选一次,也一定会再次选择回中国。或许再次遇到种种的事,但她从来都没有后悔过。就在这样一个普通又特殊的夏天,她遇见了一群伙伴,一群和以前都不同的伙伴,简单快乐,做自己。她也遇见了自己喜欢的人,尝到了不同于味蕾可以品尝的酸甜苦辣,还有一次次的……心痛。在一次次爱情追逐中,在一次次心疼中,她终于身心疲惫,不愿意在这场游戏中当一个随时阵亡的炮灰,命运的齿轮继续转动,他们终究该何去何从,这场故事的结尾,到底是欢天喜地的喜剧还是只有她一人伤心的悲剧……
  • 冰山军少的娇妻

    冰山军少的娇妻

    他等着她,他答应她长大后就就来娶她。边疆传来他牺牲的消息,她终日以泪洗面。终于,他居然回来了,他吻着她,说“芷芸,我回来了……”