Adventure stories; Fantasy fiction; Tarzan (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
Lukedi entered the hut and in the dim light saw the figure of a giant
white man sitting upon the dirt floor gazing at him. The man's wrists
were bound together behind his back and his ankles were secured with
tough fiber strands.
"Here is food," said Lukedi, setting the gourd upon the ground near the
prisoner.
"How can I eat with my hands tied behind my back?" demanded Tarzan.
Lukedi scratched his head. "I do not know," he said. "Nyuto sent me
with the food. He did not tell me to free your hands."
"Cut the bond," said Tarzan, "otherwise I cannot eat."
One of the spearmen entered the hut. "What is he saying," he demanded.
"He says that he cannot eat unless his hands are freed," said Lukedi.
"Did Nyuto tell you to free his hands?" asked the spearman.
"No," said the Lukedi.
The spearman shrugged his shoulders. "Leave the food then; that is all
you were asked to do."
Lukedi turned to leave the hut. "Wait," said Tarzan. "Who is Nyuto?"
"He is chief of the Bagegos," said Lukedi.
"Go to him and tell him that I wish to see him. Tell him also that I
cannot eat with my hands tied behind my back."
Lukedi was gone for half an hour. When he returned he brought an old,
rusted slave chain and an ancient padlock.
"Nyuto says that we may chain him to the center pole and then cut the
bonds that secure his hands," he said to the guard.
The three men entered the hut where Lukedi passed one end of the chain
around the center pole, pulling it through a ring on the other end; the
free end he then passed around Tarzan's neck, securing it there with
the old slave padlock.
"Cut the bonds that hold his wrists," said Lukedi to one of the
spearmen.
"Do it yourself," retorted the warrior. "Nyuto sent you to do it. He
did not tell me to cut the bonds."
Lukedi hesitated. It was apparent that he was afraid.
"We will stand ready with our spears," said the guardsman; "then he
cannot harm you."
"I shall not harm him," said Tarzan. "Who are you anyway and who do you
think I am?"
One of the guardsmen laughed. "He asked who we are as though he did not
know!"
"We know who you are, all right," said the other warrior.
"I am Tarzan of the Apes," said the prisoner, "and I have no quarrel
with the Bagegos."
The guardsman who had last spoken laughed again derisively. "That may
be your name," he said. "You men of The Lost Tribe have strange names.
Perhaps you have no quarrel with the Bagegos, but the Bagegos have a
quarrel with you," and still laughing he left the hut followed by his
companion, but the youth Lukedi remained, apparently fascinated by the
prisoner at whom he stood staring as he might have stared at a deity.
Tarzan reached for the gourd and drank the milk it contained, and never
once did Lukedi take his eyes from him.
"What is your name?" asked Tarzan.
"Lukedi," replied the youth.
"And you have never heard of Tarzan of the Apes?"
"No," replied the youth.
"Who do you think I am?" demanded the ape-man.
"We know that you belong to The Lost Tribe."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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