Adventure stories; Fantasy fiction; Tarzan (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
The son of The First Woman and his savage band escorted Tarzan to the
edge of the thorn forest. Further than that they could not go. A moment
later they saw him disappear among the thorns, with a wave of farewell
to them. For two days Tarzan, no larger than a Minunian, made his way
through the thorn forest. He met small animals that were now large
enough to be dangerous to him, but he met nothing that he could not
cope with. By night he slept in the burrows of the larger burrowing
animals. Birds and eggs formed his food supply.
During the second night he awoke with a feeling of nausea suffusing
him. A premonition of danger assailed him. It was dark as the grave in
the burrow he had selected for the night. Suddenly the thought smote
him that he might be about to pass through the ordeal of regaining his
normal stature. To have this thing happen while he lay buried in this
tiny burrow would mean death, for he would be crushed, strangled, or
suffocated before he regained consciousness.
Already he felt dizzy, as one might feel who was upon the verge of
unconsciousness. He stumbled to his knees and clawed his way up the
steep acclivity that led to the surface. Would he reach it in time? He
stumbled on and then, suddenly, a burst of fresh, night air smote his
nostrils. He staggered to his feet. He was out! He was free!
Behind him he heard a low growl. Grasping his sword, he lunged forward
among the thorn trees. How far he went, or in what direction he did not
know. It was still dark when he stumbled and fell unconscious to the
ground.
CHAPTER XXII
A Waziri, returning from the village of Obebe the cannibal, saw a bone
lying beside the trail. This, in itself, was nothing remarkable. Many
bones lie along savage trails in Africa. But this bone caused him to
pause. It was the bone of a child. Nor was that alone enough to give
pause to a warrior hastening through an unfriendly country back toward
his own people.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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