Adventure stories; Fantasy fiction; Tarzan (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
Tarzan determined to circle this long hidden land of mystery before
setting the nose of his ship toward home, and, to obtain a closer view,
he accordingly dropped nearer the earth. Beneath him was a great forest
and beyond that an open veldt that ended at the foot of precipitous,
rocky hills. He saw that absorbed as he had been in the strange, new
country he had permitted the plane to drop too low. Coincident with the
realization and before he could move the control within his hand, the
ship touched the leafy crown of some old monarch of the jungle, veered,
swung completely around and crashed downward through the foliage amidst
the snapping and rending of broken branches and the splintering of its
own wood-work. Just for a second this and then silence.
Along a forest trail slouched a mighty creature, manlike in its
physical attributes, yet vaguely inhuman; a great brute that walked
erect upon two feet and carried a club in one horny, calloused hand.
Its long hair fell, unkempt, about its shoulders, and there was hair
upon its chest and a little upon its arms and legs, though no more
than is found upon many males of civilized races. A strip of hide
about its waist supported the ends of a narrow G-string as well as
numerous rawhide strands to the lower ends of which were fastened
round stones from one to two inches in diameter. Close to each stone
were attached several small feathers, for the most part of brilliant
hues. The strands supporting the stones being fastened to the belt at
intervals of one to two inches and the strands themselves being about
eighteen inches long the whole formed a skeleton skirt, fringed with
round stones and feathers, that fell almost to the creature's knees.
Its large feet were bare and its white skin tanned to a light brown by
exposure to the elements. The illusion of great size was suggested more
by the massiveness of the shoulders and the development of the muscles
of the back and arms than by height, though the creature measured close
to six feet. Its face was massive, with a broad nose and a wide,
full-lipped mouth, the eyes, of normal size, being set beneath heavy,
beetling brows, topped by a wide, low forehead. As it walked it flapped
its large, flat ears and occasionally moved rapidly portions of its
skin on various parts of its head and body to dislodge flies, as you
have seen a horse do with the muscles along its sides and flanks.
It moved silently, its dark eyes constantly on the alert, while the
flapping ears were often momentarily stilled as the woman listened for
sounds of quarry or foe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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