登陆注册
5232000000027

第27章 Tarzan and the Black Boy(3)

Tarzan reached its side a little below the clearing where squat the thatched huts of the Negroes. The river life was ever fascinating to the ape-man. He found pleasure in watching the ungainly antics of Duro, the hippopotamus, and keen sport in tormenting the sluggish crocodile, Gimla, as he basked in the sun. Then, too, there were the shes and the balus of the black men of the Gomangani to frighten as they squatted by the river, the shes with their meager washing, the balus with their primitive toys.

This day he came upon a woman and her child farther down stream than usual. The former was searching for a species of shellfish which was to be found in the mud close to the river bank. She was a young black woman of about thirty. Her teeth were filed to sharp points, for her people ate the flesh of man. Her under lip was slit that it might support a rude pendant of copper which she had worn for so many years that the lip had been dragged downward to prodigious lengths, exposing the teeth and gums of her lower jaw. Her nose, too, was slit, and through the slit was a wooden skewer. Metal ornaments dangled from her ears, and upon her forehead and cheeks;upon her chin and the bridge of her nose were tattooings in colors that were mellowed now by age. She was naked except for a girdle of grasses about her waist.

Altogether she was very beautiful in her own estimation and even in the estimation of the men of Mbonga's tribe, though she was of another people--a trophy of war seized in her maidenhood by one of Mbonga's fighting men.

Her child was a boy of ten, lithe, straight and, for a black, handsome. Tarzan looked upon the two from the concealing foliage of a near-by bush. He was about to leap forth before them with a terrifying scream, that he might enjoy the spectacle of their terror and their incontinent flight; but of a sudden a new whim seized him.

Here was a balu fashioned as he himself was fashioned.

Of course this one's skin was black; but what of it?

Tarzan had never seen a white man. In so far as he knew, he was the sole representative of that strange form of life upon the earth. The black boy should make an excellent balu for Tarzan, since he had none of his own.

He would tend him carefully, feed him well, protect him as only Tarzan of the Apes could protect his own, and teach him out of his half human, half bestial lore the secrets of the jungle from its rotting surface vegetation to the high tossed pinnacles of the forest's upper terraces.

* * *

Tarzan uncoiled his rope, and shook out the noose.

The two before him, all ignorant of the near presence of that terrifying form, continued preoccupied in the search for shellfish, poking about in the mud with short sticks.

Tarzan stepped from the jungle behind them; his noose lay open upon the ground beside him. There was a quick movement of the right arm and the noose rose gracefully into the air, hovered an instant above the head of the unsuspecting youth, then settled. As it encompassed his body below the shoulders, Tarzan gave a quick jerk that tightened it about the boy's arms, pinioning them to his sides. A scream of terror broke from the lad's lips, and as his mother turned, affrighted at his cry, she saw him being dragged quickly toward a great white giant who stood just beneath the shade of a near-by tree, scarcely a dozen long paces from her.

With a savage cry of terror and rage, the woman leaped fearlessly toward the ape-man. In her mien Tarzan saw determination and courage which would shrink not even from death itself.

She was very hideous and frightful even when her face was in repose; but convulsed by passion, her expression became terrifyingly fiendish. Even the ape-man drew back, but more in revulsion than fear--fear he knew not.

Biting and kicking was the black she's balu as Tarzan tucked him beneath his arm and vanished into the branches hanging low above him, just as the infuriated mother dashed forward to seize and do battle with him. And as he melted away into the depth of the jungle with his still struggling prize, he meditated upon the possibilities which might lie in the prowess of the Gomangani were the hes as formidable as the shes.

Once at a safe distance from the despoiled mother and out of earshot of her screams and menaces, Tarzan paused to inspect his prize, now so thoroughly terrorized that he had ceased his struggles and his outcries.

The frightened child rolled his eyes fearfully toward his captor, until the whites showed gleaming all about the irises.

"I am Tarzan," said the ape-man, in the vernacular of the anthropoids. "I will not harm you. You are to be Tarzan's balu. Tarzan will protect you. He will feed you.

The best in the jungle shall be for Tarzan's balu, for Tarzan is a mighty hunter. None need you fear, not even Numa, the lion, for Tarzan is a mighty fighter.

None so great as Tarzan, son of Kala. Do not fear."But the child only whimpered and trembled, for he did not understand the tongue of the great apes, and the voice of Tarzan sounded to him like the barking and growling of a beast. Then, too, he had heard stories of this bad, white forest god. It was he who had slain Kulonga and others of the warriors of Mbonga, the chief.

It was he who entered the village stealthily, by magic, in the darkness of the night, to steal arrows and poison, and frighten the women and the children and even the great warriors. Doubtless this wicked god fed upon little boys. Had his mother not said as much when he was naughty and she threatened to give him to the white god of the jungle if he were not good? Little black Tibo shook as with ague.

"Are you cold, Go-bu-balu?" asked Tarzan, using the simian equivalent of black he-baby in lieu of a better name.

"The sun is hot; why do you shiver?"

Tibo could not understand; but he cried for his mamma and begged the great, white god to let him go, promising always to be a good boy thereafter if his plea were granted.

Tarzan shook his head. Not a word could he understand.

同类推荐
  • 亳州牡丹史

    亳州牡丹史

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Plain Tales from the Hills

    Plain Tales from the Hills

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 月江正印禅师语录

    月江正印禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 伤寒审证表

    伤寒审证表

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说圣法印经

    佛说圣法印经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 亘古传奇之陌殇

    亘古传奇之陌殇

    浮沉大地,恩怨情长,多少辉煌已成往事云烟;开天辟地,正义凛然,多少战乱毁灭无数英豪;泣歌悲舞,浑然天成,尘世儿女看遍尽红尘觞。神州大地自女娲创建以来,出现最大劫难,然而此时的人类,已经得不到诸神的帮助,完全的依靠自己的能力来对抗邪魔,人类究竟有什么法宝呢?她最后神者的后裔,出身高贵且殊荣,但她并没有被世俗牵绊,而是坚定的走着自己的道路,强化自我,提升修为;时而活泼,时而玩闹,时而温柔,她觉得生存在美丽富饶的神州大地是最幸福的事,同时伴随着邪魔的滋生,她要誓死守护美丽可爱的大地,所有的一切,因为爱。他是神界上古神者之一,也是神资最高,修为最深,力量最强的天神;然而奈何天地万物自然法规,拥有最强力量的他,竟拯救不了自己心爱之人,但却发现了一个可以超乎自然法则的她,完完全全的培养她,因为她可以在不违规自然法则的情况下救出心爱之人。他是妖族三王之一,淡泊名利,悠然自得的狼王;然而生活并不想让他就此平淡下去,给予诸多考验,让他遇到他今生最大的麻烦,就是她,那个眼中只有苍生大地的女孩,一直看着别人生活的女孩;即便女孩看着别人,他也不在意,因为人生最艰难的不是做出选择,而是做出选择前的犹豫不定,绞尽脑汁。
  • 未云谣

    未云谣

    仙君带着他心爱的徒弟闯荡江湖,第一日他们住了霸王店被迫打工,第三日他们在街边卖艺。徒弟:早知今日何必当初?师父:我乐意徒弟:我不乐意啊啊啊!
  • 绝代妖娆

    绝代妖娆

    说第一遍时,妖娆耐心地劝解她,过去的已经过去了,下辈子做人时要认清这一点。第二遍时,妖娆佯装同情地拍拍她的肩膀,告诉她要坚强。但是那女孩儿似乎并没有准备就此打住:“我真——”皇甫妖娆真的是受不了这个祥林嫂了,毫不留情地打断了女子幽怨的诉苦,大声替她说道:“你真傻,你怎么能相信男人呢?你把他的甜言蜜语当成了永世不变的誓言,结果换来的却是这个下场!”那女子,嘴皮翻了翻,最终……
  • 血宋

    血宋

    一部集历史、军事、推理和悬疑等诸多题材,包含围棋、算数、易理、茶道、琴棋书画和古代科学等多方面的社会百科全书式武侠。本书所展现的将是历史的的厚重与沧桑之感,喜欢爽文流的勿进。一个初入江湖的梁山之后,如何一步步成长,背负家国使命的同时却遭遇坎坷,执着的理念,坚毅的性格和不离不弃的爱情让他坚持,但坚持换来的一定是收获么?本书在回目标题上,致敬金庸先生《天龙八部》,回目成词。
  • 师傅在上,请和徒儿三拜

    师傅在上,请和徒儿三拜

    芊雪想尽一切办法终于成了祝司晨的徒弟。可她不想做他徒弟,她想做他妻子,但他是高岭之花温和又淡漠。她觉得做不了他妻子,做他徒弟整天跟在他身边也好。可两人竟阴差阳错的分离了千年。千年后再重逢,师傅对徒儿有些地方不一样了……以前他从不主动碰她,现在居然主动为她擦手。以前他都是唤她芊雪,现在居然温柔地喊她阿雪。以前他看她的眼神从来都是淡漠又疏离,现在居然深沉又炙热。以前他对她虽温和却也是师傅的姿态,现在居然像她的丈夫,各种宠溺她……“所以,师傅在上,请和徒儿三拜。”“不知阿雪所言三拜,是何意思?”“自然是,一拜天地!二拜高堂!三夫妻对拜!”男女主wkkk.net.身心双处温馨治愈悬疑灵异文,多轻松…
  • 斩神

    斩神

    我,张浩宇傲视九天,崛起于红尘,横扫诸界无敌天下不过一念之间!诸天修士只为寻求堪破生死,但我只为游戏红尘!传说九天之上有神灵,然我要做的就是斩神!
  • 暖婚爱妻

    暖婚爱妻

    “我将来考高中,要念大学。”亲妈:你就吹牛逼吧,你以为谁都能上大学的?就你这样的你还上大学,你家里蹲着吧,你看看子聪和子纤人家那才是念书的材料,你要是能考上大学,我从楼上跳下去。*【系统】:一个是面似潘安,一个是翩若惊鸿。小妹与毒毒毒毒毒毒结成夫妻,祝这对新人鹣鲽情深,白头偕老。世界【贞德】:我操,别让我看见你们,看见一次砍一次。世界【飞花入丛】:这是肿么了?难道我眼花了?世界【裤衩满天飞】:女神来我的怀抱吧。世界【丧失鬼】:楼上的裤衩掉了……世界【小手冰凉】:祝贺小妹帮主新婚快乐,那些个不男不女的人是装不久的,死人妖。世界【灵之舞】:是啊,那些人妖骗人装备死全家的,有本事语音视频真人见面,我们小妹可是美女。据说大神可爷是人妖,据说可爷骗了很多装备,据说可爷……*简单的说就是一个网游发展到现实的故事,同居早婚,键盘!金鼎鼎最美好的时光遇上了最美好的闵贤宇!
  • 宦游纪略

    宦游纪略

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 老人与海(海明威中短篇小说选)

    老人与海(海明威中短篇小说选)

    海明威的作品很多,我们这个选本,除了《老人与海》之外,还收录了另一篇“硬汉风格”作品《不败之人》,以及他的“意识流风格”代表作《乞力马扎罗的雪》,后者并不好读,但能够反映海明威文学风格的另一面。
  • 剑法

    剑法

    全大陆有记载的剑士排行榜第七的强者,在大陆灾难末世奋战而亡,却原地少血复活,有了一次重生的机会。偏偏天意弄人,陈立居然重生在了一个同名却顽劣的少年身上,最可怕的是,这个少年觉醒的是魔法师天赋!——还是最最不被大陆战士们看好的:雷电魔法师!呼雷唤电,打起架来电闪雷鸣,炫是够了,却‘打草惊蛇’——冒险者小队、佣兵团什么的,最讨厌雷电魔法师了!好吧,我只好改头换面,重新做人,用一把魔法大剑,做一个举世独一的剑法——用剑的法师!这将是一段真正属于‘传奇’的英雄的传记,这将是一曲未曾鸣响过的伟岸战歌!