Adventure stories; Fantasy fiction; Tarzan (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
She stopped now, her ears bent forward, her nostrils, expanded,
sniffing the air. Some scent or sound that our dead sensitory organs
could not have perceived had attracted her attention. Warily she crept
forward along the trail until, at a turning, she saw before her a
figure lying face downward in the path. It was Tarzan of the Apes.
Unconscious he lay while above him the splintered wreckage of his plane
was wedged among the branches of the great tree that had caused its
downfall.
The woman gripped her club more firmly and approached. Her expression
reflected the puzzlement the discovery of this strange creature had
engendered in her elementary mind, but she evinced no fear. She walked
directly to the side of the prostrate man, her club raised to strike;
but something stayed her hand. She knelt beside him and fell to
examining his clothing. She turned him over on his back and placed
one of her ears above his heart. Then she fumbled with the front of
his shirt for a moment and suddenly taking it in her two mighty hands
tore it apart. Again she listened, her ear this time against his
naked flesh. She arose and looked about, sniffing and listening, then
she stooped and lifting the body of the ape-man she swung it lightly
across one of her broad shoulders and continued along the trail in the
direction she had been going. The trail, winding through the forest,
broke presently from the leafy shade into an open, parklike strip of
rolling land that stretched at the foot of rocky hills, and, crossing
this, disappeared within the entrance of a narrow gorge eroded by the
elements, from the native sandstone, fancifully as the capricious
architecture of a dream, among whose grotesque domes and miniature
rocks the woman bore her burden.
A half mile from the entrance to the gorge the trail entered a roughly
circular amphitheater, the precipitous walls of which were pierced by
numerous cave-mouths before several of which squatted creatures similar
to that which bore Tarzan into this strange, savage environment.
As she entered the amphitheater all eyes were upon her, for the
large, sensitive ears had warned them of her approach long before she
had arrived within scope of their vision. Immediately they beheld
her and her burden several of them arose and came to meet her. All
females, these, similar in physique and scant garb to the captor of
the ape-man, though differing in proportions and physiognomy as do
the individuals of all races differ from their fellows. They spoke no
words nor uttered any sounds, nor did she whom they approached, as she
moved straight along her way which was evidently directed toward one
of the cave-mouths, but she gripped her bludgeon firmly and swung it
to and fro, while her eyes, beneath their scowling brows, kept sullen
surveillance upon the every move of her fellows.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account