Adventure stories; Fantasy fiction; Tarzan (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
From the far end of the garden, above the din of breaking battle, rose
a savage cry--a new note that attracted the startled attention of the
contestants upon both sides. Tarzan's head snapped to attention. His
nostrils sniffed the air. Recognition, hope, surprise, incredulity
surged through his consciousness as he stood there with flashing eyes
looking out over the heads of his adversaries.
In increasing volume the savage roar rolled into the garden of Caesar.
The legionaries turned to face the vanguard of an army led by a horde
of ebon warriors, glistening giants from whose proud heads floated
white feather war-bonnets and from whose throats issued the savage
war-cry that had filled the heart of Tarzan--the Waziri had come.
At their head Tarzan saw Muviro and with him was Lukedi, but what the
ape-man did not see, and what none of those in the garden of Caesar
saw until later, was the horde of warriors from the outer villages of
Castra Sanguinarius that, following the Waziri into the city, were
already over-running the palace seeking the vengeance that had so long
been denied them.
As the last of the legionaries in the garden threw down their arms and
begged Tarzan's protection, Muviro ran to the ape-man and, kneeling
at his feet, kissed his hand, and at the same instant a little monkey
dropped from an overhanging tree onto Tarzan's shoulder.
"The gods of our ancestors have been good to the Waziri," said Muviro,
"otherwise we should have been too late."
"I was puzzled as to how you found me," said Tarzan, "until I saw
Nkima."
"Yes, it was Nkima," said Muviro. "He came back to the country of the
Waziri, to the land of Tarzan, and led us here. Many times we would
have turned back thinking that he was mad, but he urged us on and we
followed him, and now the big Bwana can come back with us to the home
of his own people."
"No," said Tarzan, shaking his head, "I cannot come yet. The son of my
good friend is still in this valley, but you are just in time to help
me rescue him, nor is there any time to lose."
Legionaries, throwing down their arms, were running from the palace,
from which came the shrieks and groans of the dying and the savage
hoots and cries of the avenging horde. Praeclarus stepped to Tarzan's
side.
"The barbarians of the outer villages are attacking the city, murdering
all who fall into their hands," he cried. "We must gather what men we
can and make a stand against them. Will these blacks, who have just
come, fight with us against them?"
"They will fight as I direct," replied Tarzan, "but I think it will not
be necessary to make war upon the barbarians. Lukedi, where are the
white officers who command the barbarians?"
"Once they neared the palace," replied Lukedi, "the warriors became
so excited that they broke away from their white leaders and followed
their own chieftain."
"Go and fetch their greatest chief," directed Tarzan.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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