Adventure stories; Fantasy fiction; Tarzan (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
"What are we supposed to do?" asked Tarzan of Hasta.
"The reds will fight against the whites until all the reds are killed
or all the whites."
"They should see blood enough to suit them now," said Tarzan.
"They can never get enough of it," replied Metellus.
The two parties marched to the opposite end of the arena and received
their instructions from the praefect in charge of the games, and then
they were formed, the reds upon one side of the arena, the whites upon
the other. Trumpets sounded and the armed men advanced toward one
another.
Tarzan smiled to himself as he considered the weapons with which he was
supposed to defend himself. The pike he was sure of, for the Waziri
are great spearmen and Tarzan excelled even among them, and with the
dagger he felt at home, so long had the hunting-knife of his father
been his only weapon of protection--but the Spanish sword, he felt,
would probably prove more of a liability than an asset, while the net
in his hands could be nothing more than a sorry joke. He would like to
have thrown his shield aside, for he did not like shields, considering
them, as a rule, useless encumbrances, but he had used them before when
the Waziri had fought other native tribes, and knowing that they were
constructed as a defense against the very weapons that his opponents
were using he retained his and advanced with the others toward the
white line. He had determined that their only hope lay in accounting
for as many of their adversaries in the first clash of arms as was
possible, and this word he had passed down the line with the further
admonition that the instant that a man had disposed of an antagonist he
turn immediately to help the red nearest him, or the one most sorely
beset.
As the two lines drew closer, each man selected the opponent opposite
him and Tarzan found that he faced a black warrior from the outer
villages. They came closer. Some of the men, more eager or nervous
than the others were in advance; some, more fearful, lagged behind.
Tarzan's opponent came upon him. Already pikes were flying through the
air. Tarzan and the black hurled their missiles at the same instant,
and back of the ape-man's throw was all the skill and all the muscle
and all the weight that he could command. Tarzan struck upward with his
shield and his opponent's pike struck it a glancing blow, but with such
force that the spear haft was shattered, while Tarzan's weapon passed
through the shield of his opponent and pierced the fellow's heart.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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