登陆注册
15448300000043

第43章 7 The End of Bukawai(3)

From his one eye Bukawai could see; but had he had a dozen eyes he could have found no beauty in the fresh sweetness of the revivified jungle, for to such things, in the chemistry of temperament, his brain failed to react; nor, even had he had a nose, which he had not for years, could he have found enjoyment or sweetness in the clean-washed air.

At either side of the leper stood his sole and constant companions, the two hyenas, sniffing the air.

Presently one of them uttered a low growl and with flattened head started, sneaking and wary, toward the jungle.

The other followed. Bukawai, his curiosity aroused, trailed after them, in his hand a heavy knob-stick.

The hyenas halted a few yards from the prostrate Tarzan, sniffing and growling. Then came Bukawai, and at first he could not believe the witness of his own eyes; but when he did and saw that it was indeed the devil-god his rage knew no bounds, for he thought him dead and himself cheated of the revenge he had so long dreamed upon.

The hyenas approached the ape-man with bared fangs.

Bukawai, with an inarticulate scream, rushed upon them, striking cruel and heavy blows with his knob-stick, for there might still be life in the apparently lifeless form.

The beasts, snapping and snarling, half turned upon their master and their tormentor, but long fear still held them from his putrid throat. They slunk away a few yards and squatted upon their haunches, hatred and baffled hunger gleaming from their savage eyes.

Bukawai stooped and placed his ear above the ape-man's heart.

It still beat. As well as his sloughed features could register pleasure they did so; but it was not a pretty sight.

At the ape-man's side lay his long, grass rope.

Quickly Bukawai bound the limp arms behind his prisoner's back, then he raised him to one of his shoulders, for, though Bukawai was old and diseased, he was still a strong man.

The hyenas fell in behind as the witch-doctor set off toward the cave, and through the long black corridors they followed as Bukawai bore his victim into the bowels of the hills. Through subterranean chambers, connected by winding passageways, Bukawai staggered with his load.

At a sudden turning of the corridor, daylight flooded them and Bukawai stepped out into a small, circular basin in the hill, apparently the crater of an ancient volcano, one of those which never reached the dignity of a mountain and are little more than lava-rimmed pits closed to the earth's surface.

Steep walls rimmed the cavity. The only exit was through the passageway by which Bukawai had entered.

A few stunted trees grew upon the rocky floor. A hundred feet above could be seen the ragged lips of this cold, dead mouth of hell.

Bukawai propped Tarzan against a tree and bound him there with his own grass rope, leaving his hands free but securing the knots in such a way that the ape-man could not reach them.

The hyenas slunk to and fro, growling. Bukawai hated them and they hated him. He knew that they but waited for the time when he should be helpless, or when their hatred should rise to such a height as to submerge their cringing fear of him.

In his own heart was not a little fear of these repulsive creatures, and because of that fear, Bukawai always kept the beasts well fed, often hunting for them when their own forages for food failed, but ever was he cruel to them with the cruelty of a little brain, diseased, bestial, primitive.

He had had them since they were puppies. They had known no other life than that with him, and though they went abroad to hunt, always they returned. Of late Bukawai had come to believe that they returned not so much from habit as from a fiendish patience which would submit to every indignity and pain rather than forego the final vengeance, and Bukawai needed but little imagination to picture what that vengeance would be.

Today he would see for himself what his end would be;but another should impersonate Bukawai.

When he had trussed Tarzan securely, Bukawai went back into the corridor, driving the hyenas ahead of him, and pulling across the opening a lattice of laced branches, which shut the pit from the cave during the night that Bukawai might sleep in security, for then the hyenas were penned in the crater that they might not sneak upon a sleeping Bukawai in the darkness.

Bukawai returned to the outer cave mouth, filled a vessel with water at the spring which rose in the little canon close at hand and returned toward the pit. The hyenas stood before the lattice looking hungrily toward Tarzan.

They had been fed in this manner before.

With his water, the witch-doctor approached Tarzan and threw a portion of the contents of the vessel in the ape-man's face.

There was fluttering of the eyelids, and at the second application Tarzan opened his eyes and looked about.

"Devil-god," cried Bukawai, "I am the great witch-doctor.

My medicine is strong. Yours is weak. If it is not, why do you stay tied here like a goat that is bait for lions?"Tarzan understood nothing the witch-doctor said, therefore he did not reply, but only stared straight at Bukawai with cold and level gaze. The hyenas crept up behind him.

He heard them growl; but he did not even turn his head.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 阿拉德佣兵

    阿拉德佣兵

    阿拉德大陆备受卡赞诅咒的煎熬在大陆上出现了一个成员不一般的佣兵团他们能打破卡赞诅咒吗?敬请期待……
  • 七年离索

    七年离索

    情路难,不在水,不在山,只在人情反复间。
  • 瓢泉吟稿

    瓢泉吟稿

    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。
  • 叱咤风云的军事家(1)(世界名人成长历程)

    叱咤风云的军事家(1)(世界名人成长历程)

    《世界名人成长历程——叱咤风云的军事家(1)》本书分为圣马丁、安东万·约米尼、左宗棠等部分。
  • 关律师的彪悍人生

    关律师的彪悍人生

    律师写律师,真正接地气。每一个人物都有原型,每一个案例都是亲身经历。且看一个双子座的女律师,她是如何游刃有余地周旋于法官、当事人、律师同行之间,她又有着怎样的爱恨情仇。
  • 星云女神

    星云女神

    (异能宠文)天神授予了女主银歌星云之力,是防御还是治愈?自己的能力到底是什么,银歌满头雾水!经过男主幻麒怎样的一番调教,竟让女小白一跃成为了星云女神!还由她亲手在帝斯世界创立了神秘组织“曼陀罗”。一面是众多爱慕者的强势追求,一面是外星种族的大肆侵犯,两人能否冲破重重阻碍走到一起,并击退入侵者呢?然而,他们击退的是真正的入侵者吗……
  • 爱之幻:圣魔之恋

    爱之幻:圣魔之恋

    一切的一切似乎都在按着正常的生活轨迹进行着,高中里一个耀眼的男子,成了所有女生的花痴对象,然而谁知道他身上不可告人的身份?学校里被男生们喜爱的校花,揭开面具又是什么面貌?看似无辜的她,其实才是这一切的起因,事情已经发生,就没有挽回的余地。谁都不会想到,一场无人伤亡的车祸造成了事情的起因,一张普通的血型化验单成为了她身份的证明,一场迟到的表白成为了事情的关键……
  • 快穿之败者暖床

    快穿之败者暖床

    她为一代影后,却因为系统的肆意妄为开始了被追杀的快穿之旅。——★——☆——“你输了。”一声长长的叹息他轻轻地搂着她,在她耳边呢喃:“胜者为王,败者暖床。”她蓦然睁开眼,一脸不可思议:等等,哪里不对,剧情,我们再来一遍。——☆看文指南★——①女主狠毒,也许手段不能让人接受。②这是一本男女主互相往死里整对方的快穿文。③此文强强联合,男女主是疯子,全文无虐点,不喜绕坑。
  • 圣弑之心

    圣弑之心

    天才游戏玩家来到游戏世界,武力的较量,智慧的比拼,他从来不会输。在这个世界里,他将成为绝对的王者,将所有敌人踩在脚下。
  • 隔壁腹黑小萝莉

    隔壁腹黑小萝莉

    她8岁把10岁的他,当马来骑,等家长找来时,她却哭丧着一张小包子脸,说“那位帅哥哥欺负我,拿我当马骑。”所有的家长都责怪他不懂事,他并没有做过多的解释,这件事不了了之。十年后他们再次相遇会擦出怎样的火花