登陆注册
15448300000041

第41章 7 The End of Bukawai(1)

WHEN TARZAN OF the Apes was still but a boy he had learned, among other things, to fashion pliant 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 sufficiently 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 a frightful rage when he devoted 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 to say.

So often had that snakelike noose 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 inventions thereof.

There had been other times, too, when Tublat had swung helplessly in midair, the noose tightening about his neck, death staring him in the face, and little Tarzan dancing upon a near-by limb, taunting him and making unseemly grimaces.

Then there had been another occasion 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.

It 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 noose at a playmate in a tree above him, caught a 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 a frolicsome 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 a swinging motion to Tarzan's body which the ape-boy suddenly realized was a 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 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 noose was caught and after removing it carried the rope far aloft and out upon a long and powerful 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 lithe, young body turning and twisting--a human bob upon a pendulum of grass--thirty feet above the ground.

Ah, how delectable! This was indeed a new play of the first magnitude. 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 a boy, he chose, naturally, to accelerate.

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 it 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 mortal 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 zealous 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 a member of the tribe, that Tublat had forgotten the circumstances surrounding the entrance of the jungle waif into his family, with the result that he now imagined that Tarzan was his own offspring, adding greatly to his chagrin.

Wide and far swung Tarzan of the Apes, until at last, as he reached the highest point of the arc the rope, which rapidly had frayed on the rough bark of the tree limb, parted suddenly. The watching apes saw the smooth, brown body shoot outward, and down, plummet-like. Tublat leaped high in the air, emitting what in a human being would have been an exclamation of delight. This would be the end of Tarzan and most of Tublat's troubles.

From now on he could lead his life in peace and security.

Tarzan fell quite forty feet, alighting on his back in a thick bush.

Kala was the first to reach his side--ferocious, hideous, loving Kala. She had seen the life crushed from her own balu in just such a fall years before. 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.

It took Kala several minutes to disentangle him and drag him forth; but he was not killed. He was not even badly injured. 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 unconsciousness.

In a few minutes he was as active as ever. Tublat was furious.

In his rage he snapped at a fellow-ape without first discovering the identity of his victim, and was badly mauled for his ill temper, having chosen to vent his spite upon a husky and belligerent young bull in the full prime of his vigor.

同类推荐
  • 尚论后篇

    尚论后篇

    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。
  • 复堂词话

    复堂词话

    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。
  • 注同教问答

    注同教问答

    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。
  • 关窍要旨

    关窍要旨

    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。
  • 光宣诗坛点将录

    光宣诗坛点将录

    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
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 快穿:落之泪婉之霜

    快穿:落之泪婉之霜

    她是呆萌妹妹,可是姐姐的沉睡,却让她不得不变强大,成为任务者。历经万千世界的她,真的能救活姐姐吗?姐姐沉睡的原因,真的这么简单吗?这一切背后,又隐藏了什么?
  • 宝鼎记

    宝鼎记

    李子敬从小和师父修道山中,师父死后让他去洛阳求学,因缘际会卷入了一场是非之中,他几历艰辛,九死一生,不知道这个在道家独占,而佛教消亡的世界中却酷爱佛学的少年一路何往?是喜是悲?是兴是叹?暮回首,灯火阑珊再看时,萧山依旧
  • 伴你一路

    伴你一路

    有一天,凉柒的爱情多出了个小三,一气之下分手被竹马君抓住机会带回了家,经过一系列坑蒙拐骗,终于娇妻入怀~~
  • 法外之人

    法外之人

    本是天赋异禀之人,在最兴奋之时从云端跌入炼狱,这天要封我,那我就逆天而行。我——凌天,要做凌驾苍天的法外之人!
  • 与天不灭

    与天不灭

    在这世上,所有至爱之人都离我而去,凌云一无所有。放弃尊严,放弃骄傲,放弃不甘!唯一拥有的,就是无限的机会,因为我像老天爷那般,永远不死不灭!永远有再来一次的机会!没有天赋又如何,那就自己去摸索修行之道,身死千次万次又何妨?踩着荆棘,踏上通天之路!与天不灭!
  • 暴走狂妃:邪王不乖

    暴走狂妃:邪王不乖

    酒醒后,她却身在庙里,火势凶猛的正在燃烧……爹要将她献祭给玉慈大神,送她去-死-二十一世纪富家千金,魂穿在波族废材三小姐身上。不但没死成,恢复了修炼灵根。得到了只此一家的法宝。在庙外还捡了个这普天之下傲世无敌的美男-从此,他对她百般捉弄,紧追不舍,死缠难打,用心良苦,宠她到癫狂……阴晴不定,残暴依然不改的-某男:来人,把这个女人拖出去砍了。【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 第七预言

    第七预言

    玛雅人的预言到底隐藏着怎么样的秘密?当末日降临,究竟地球人何去何从?当整个地球都是被遗弃被封印的宇宙的瑕疵,幸存的地球人如何自处?追杀,围捕,地球上最后一群人,为了心中的信念,经历着怎样的磨难?他们越发强大,越发知道一点一滴的关于地球,关于宇宙的秘密······
  • 暖熙

    暖熙

    他说过,他像一把小火,却温暖了他整个人生。他说过,他像一道熙光,却照亮了他整个人生。也许就是这样,两人才能在一起,组成一道“暖熙”
  • 冷魅三公主的复仇生涯

    冷魅三公主的复仇生涯

    她冰冷,她可爱,她温柔。他是著名的冰血王子,他是帅气而花心的花心少爷,他是以微笑出名的体贴天使。而他们同为杀手,当他们在校园中偶遇时,缘分因此而开始……