登陆注册
14924500000039

第39章 Tarzan and the Great Apes.(5)

He had entered the trees again and was outside the palisade when there came faintly to his ears from far beyond the vil-lage an old, familiar sound. Balancing lightly upon a swaying branch he stood, a graceful statue of a forest god, listening intently. For a minute he stood thus and then there broke from his lips the long, weird cry of ape calling to ape and he was away through the jungle toward the sound of the boom-ing drum of the anthropoids leaving behind him an awakened and terrified village of cringing blacks, who would forever after connect that eerie cry with the disappearance of their white prisoner and the death of their fellow-warrior.

Bertha Kircher, hurrying through the jungle along a well-beaten game trail, thought only of putting as much distance as possible between herself and the village before daylight could permit pursuit of her. Whither she was going she did not know, nor was it a matter of great moment since death must be her lot sooner or later.

Fortune favored her that night, for she passed unscathed through as savage and lion-ridden an area as there is in all Africa -- a natural hunting ground which the white man has not yet discovered, where deer and antelope and zebra, giraffe and elephant, buffalo, rhinoceros, and the other herbivorous animals of central Africa abound unmolested by none but their natural enemies, the great cats which, lured here by easy prey and immunity from the rifles of big-game hunters, swarm the district.

She had fled for an hour or two, perhaps, when her attention was arrested by the sound of animals moving about, muttering and growling close ahead. Assured that she had covered a sufficient distance to insure her a good start in the morning before the blacks could take to her trail, and fearful of what the creatures might be, she climbed into a large tree with the intention of spending the balance of the night there.

She had no sooner reached a safe and comfortable branch when she discovered that the tree stood upon the edge of a small clearing that had been hidden from her by the heavy undergrowth upon the ground below, and simultaneously she discovered the identity of the beasts she had heard.

In the center of the clearing below her, clearly visible in the bright moonlight, she saw fully twenty huge, manlike apes -- great, shaggy fellows who went upon their hind feet with only slight assistance from the knuckles of their hands. The moonlight glanced from their glossy coats, the numerous gray-tipped hairs imparting a sheen that made the hideous creatures almost magnificent in their appearance.

The girl had watched them but a minute or two when the little band was joined by others, coming singly and in groups until there were fully fifty of the great brutes gathered there in the moonlight. Among them were young apes and several little ones clinging tightly to their mothers' shaggy shoulders.

Presently the group parted to form a circle about what ap-peared to be a small, flat-topped mound of earth in the center of the clearing. Squatting close about this mound were three old females armed with short, heavy clubs with which they presently began to pound upon the flat top of the earth mound which gave forth a dull, booming sound, and almost imme-diately the other apes commenced to move about restlessly, weaving in and out aimlessly until they carried the impression of a moving mass of great, black maggots.

The beating of the drum was in a slow, ponderous cadence, at first without time but presently settling into a heavy rhythm to which the apes kept time with measured tread and sway-ing bodies. Slowly the mass separated into two rings, the outer of which was composed of shes and the very young, the inner of mature bulls. The former ceased to move and squatted upon their haunches, while the bulls now moved slowly about in a circle the center of which was the drum and all now in the same direction.

It was then that there came faintly to the ears of the girl from the direction of the village she had recently quitted a weird and high-pitched cry. The effect upon the apes was electrical -- they stopped their movements and stood in atti-tudes of intent listening for a moment, and then one fellow, huger than his companions, raised his face to the heavens and in a voice that sent the cold shudders through the girl's slight frame answered the far-off cry.

Once again the beaters took up their drumming and the slow dance went on. There was a certain fascination in the savage ceremony that held the girl spellbound, and as there seemed little likelihood of her being discovered, she felt that she might as well remain the balance of the night in her tree and r?sum?

her flight by the comparatively greater safety of daylight.

Assuring herself that her packet of papers was safe she sought as comfortable a position as possible among the branches, and settled herself to watch the weird proceedings in the clearing below her.

A half-hour passed, during which the cadence of the drum increased gradually. Now the great bull that had replied to the distant call leaped from the inner circle to dance alone between the drummers and the other bulls. He leaped and crouched and leaped again, now growling and barking, again stopping to raise his hideous face to Goro, the moon, and, beating upon his shaggy breast, uttered a piercing scream --the challenge of the bull ape, had the girl but known it.

He stood thus in the full glare of the great moon, motionless after screaming forth his weird challenge, in the setting of the primeval jungle and the circling apes a picture of primitive savagery and power -- a mightily muscled Hercules out of the dawn of life -- when from close behind her the girl heard an answering scream, and an instant later saw an almost naked white man drop from a near-by tree into the clearing.

同类推荐
  • 温氏母训

    温氏母训

    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。
  • 笔札华梁

    笔札华梁

    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。
  • 望仙

    望仙

    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。
  • 茅亭客话

    茅亭客话

    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。
  • 仙杂记

    仙杂记

    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
  • 梵天之武破真镜

    梵天之武破真镜

    神州大地,以武为尊。高踞神坛的他,意外的跌落凡尘。哪怕天地弃之,亦敢迎难而上勇于争之。逆天改命,造就不世神体,破而后立。北抗魔族,南击蛮夷,上抵众神,下镇龙脉。誓要绝巅战仙魔!
  • 易烊千玺之玫瑰花的爱恋

    易烊千玺之玫瑰花的爱恋

    她是多么的爱他,他也对她一见钟情,一次一次的挫折,一次一次流泪,也许上帝被他们的爱打动了,最终成全了他们。『如花美眷,似水流年』
  • 末世大混乱

    末世大混乱

    这不仅仅是惨无人道的末世,还是生物进化的最佳时机。而在这场末世的背后,却是被一个庞大的势力所掌控着。在末世中,食物链发生了改变,人类变得卑微,弱小。但炫丽多彩的异能,单调强大的基因战士,却是人们在这个地球上活下去的唯一资本。一个普通的少年张天,带领着他的伙伴,一步步地解开这场末世之迷。
  • 替身恋人(全本完)

    替身恋人(全本完)

    在他的眼中,她犹如天使一般,阴差阳错,她代替好友来应征,这几乎将她打入地狱。她的背叛是他心底最深的痛,如果她想做替身,那就让她继续做吧……所有的一切都是有预谋的,他已渐渐爱上她,到最后他该如何抉择……
  • 亿万新娘:总裁请离婚

    亿万新娘:总裁请离婚

    华庭夏,华氏集团最果决的上位者,云烟市站在金字塔顶端的男人。容嫣,宋家失散多年的二小姐,一场车祸,她连自己叫什么都不知道,却误打误撞成了他的总裁夫人。一场婚宴,她欣喜若狂,竟被告知自己抢了别人的人生。他给的蚀骨宠爱,她步步沦陷,却要在他和孩子之间困难抉择。身份曝光,他败给了真情,不计前嫌,她狠心拒绝,“我当初失忆了,难道你也失忆了吗?”夺子之争,孩子判给了他,她当庭晕倒,他赢了官司,却输了她。真相大白,他念念不忘,悔恨不已。一不小心,他把她丢了,遍寻无处。五年后,她重新回到云烟市,带着老公和孩子,他是原配还是小三?再见时,恍如隔世,他深情凝望着她,再给我一次机会。给还是不给?
  • 冷宫废后:穿越皇后最嚣张(完)

    冷宫废后:穿越皇后最嚣张(完)

    群号:103302164,“朕要干嘛,对一个青楼的妓女,阅男无数的女人,不知道是要做什么吗?”苍帝残忍的看着花朵朵,根本没有丝毫的怜悯之情,无辜的花朵朵躲避不过,终于是忍不住哭了起来,她不过就是一个穿越者,干嘛要虐待她啦?5555,放过她了,好不好,她不要洞房啦~~
  • 高冷首席:逆袭女神请留步

    高冷首席:逆袭女神请留步

    她是个寄人篱下的养女,受尽了人间疾苦之后,又被逐出家门,这已经够惨了吧?可是这还不够上天又给她派来了一个让她恨不得挫骨扬灰的男人。难过时他说“快去死吧!活在世上浪费资源干什么?”谈恋爱时他说“就你这个丑样子还有人要?”直到后来他们都长大了,她才懂得他是为了让她更快的适应这个冷漠世界。他没有保护她,却教会了她如何让保护自己。他没有说爱自己,可是却比说爱自己的人,更爱自己,发现这些的时候她才知道,她早已沦陷…………
  • 北海南风

    北海南风

    五月,还未高考就被告知患癌,有没有搞错,她才十八。黎子悠更想不到她的主治医生竟是熟悉的好友巫子墨。她从不知道肿瘤科的低沉气氛,也不知道巫子墨承受的压力,他不敢爱,不敢投入过多。可是她第一个喜欢上的人,又怎么会轻易错过。//“巫子墨,如果我醒不过来的话,你一定要负责啊,我还没有去北海吹南风呢!”“想去我的家乡,任何时候都可以。不要轻易把不好的挂在嘴上,我听多了,不会同情你的。”
  • 绝世修罗诀

    绝世修罗诀

    【绝世修罗诀】闪亮登场、让我们一起崛起修罗风云、、
  • 东徒

    东徒

    一次纯粹的西藏之旅,意外受伤后,脑垂体变异。完全是意外。只是生活大都是意外组成,意料之外。所以,生活变得色彩斑斓。物质,空间,时间,精神,四大异能体系。