Adventure stories; Fantasy fiction; Tarzan (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
"No," replied the youth. "Many years ago, before I can remember, two
white men came who said that they were not members of The Lost Tribe,
but we did not believe them and they were killed. I must go now. I
shall bring you more milk tomorrow."
After Lukedi had left, Tarzan commenced examining the chain, padlock,
and the center pole of the hut in an effort to discover some means of
escape. The hut was cylindrical and surmounted by a conical roof of
grass. The side walls were of stakes set upright a few inches in the
ground and fastened together at their tops and bottoms by creepers. The
center pole was much heavier and was secured in position by rafters
radiating from it to the top of the wall. The interior of the hut
was plastered with mud, which had been thrown on with force and then
smoothed with the palm of the hand. It was a common type with which
Tarzan was familiar. He knew that there was a possibility that he might
be able to raise the center pole and withdraw the chain from beneath it.
It would, of course, be difficult to accomplish this without attracting
the attention of the guards, and there was a possibility that the
center pole might be set sufficiently far in the ground to render
it impossible for him to raise it. If he were given time he could
excavate around the base of it, but inasmuch as one or the other of
the sentries was continually poking his head into the hut to see that
all was well, Tarzan saw little likelihood of his being able to free
himself without being discovered.
As darkness settled upon the village Tarzan stretched himself upon
the hard dirt floor of the hut and sought to sleep. For some time the
noises of the village kept him awake, but at last he slept. How long
thereafter it was that he was awakened he did not know. From childhood
he had shared with the beasts, among whom he had been raised, the
ability to awaken quickly and in full command of all his faculties. He
did so now, immediately conscious that the noise that had aroused him
came from an animal upon the roof of the hut. Whatever it was, it was
working quietly, but to what end the ape-man could not imagine.
The acrid fumes of the village cook fires so filled the air that
Tarzan was unable to catch the scent of the creature upon the roof. He
carefully reviewed all the possible purposes for which an animal might
be upon the thatched, dry-grass roof of the Bagego hut and through a
process of elimination he could reach but one conclusion. That was that
the thing upon the outside wished to come in and either it did not have
brains enough to know that there was a doorway, or else it was too
cunning to risk detection by attempting to pass the sentries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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