登陆注册
5232000000056

第56章 The Battle for Teeka(2)

From the tree above him little Gazan looked down and witnessed the stranger bull's discomfiture. Being young, and thinking himself safe above the reach of the heavy male, Gazan screamed an ill-timed insult at their tormentor.

Toog looked up. Teeka had halted at a little distance--she would not go far from her balu; that Toog quickly realized and as quickly determined to take advantage of. He saw that the tree in which the young ape squatted was isolated and that Gazan could not reach another without coming to earth. He would obtain the mother through her love for her young.

He swung himself into the lower branches of the tree.

Little Gazan ceased to insult him; his expression of deviltry changed to one of apprehension, which was quickly followed by fear as Toog commenced to ascend toward him.

Teeka screamed to Gazan to climb higher, and the little fellow scampered upward among the tiny branches which would not support the weight of the great bull; but nevertheless Toog kept on climbing. Teeka was not fearful. She knew that he could not ascend far enough to reach Gazan, so she sat at a little distance from the tree and applied jungle opprobrium to him. Being a female, she was a past master of the art.

But she did not know the malevolent cunning of Toog's little brain. She took it for granted that the bull would climb as high as he could toward Gazan and then, finding that he could not reach him, resume his pursuit of her, which she knew would prove equally fruitless.

So sure was she of the safety of her balu and her own ability to take care of herself that she did not voice the cry for help which would soon have brought the other members of the tribe flocking to her side.

Toog slowly reached the limit to which he dared risk his great weight to the slender branches. Gazan was still fifteen feet above him. The bull braced himself and seized the main branch in his powerful hands, then he commenced shaking it vigorously. Teeka was appalled.

Instantly she realized what the bull purposed.

Gazan clung far out upon a swaying limb. At the first shake he lost his balance, though he did not quite fall, clinging still with his four hands; but Toog redoubled his efforts; the shaking produced a violent snapping of the limb to which the young ape clung. Teeka saw all too plainly what the outcome must be and forgetting her own danger in the depth of her mother love, rushed forward to ascend the tree and give battle to the fearsome creature that menaced the life of her little one.

But before ever she reached the bole, Toog had succeeded, by violent shaking of the branch, to loosen Gazan's hold.

With a cry the little fellow plunged down through the foliage, clutching futilely for a new hold, and alighted with a sickening thud at his mother's feet, where he lay silent and motionless. Moaning, Teeka stooped to lift the still form in her arms; but at the same instant Toog was upon her.

Struggling and biting she fought to free herself; but the giant muscles of the great bull were too much for her lesser strength.

Toog struck and choked her repeatedly until finally, half unconscious, she lapsed into quasi submission.

Then the bull lifted her to his shoulder and turned back to the trail toward the south from whence he had come.

Upon the ground lay the quiet form of little Gazan.

He did not moan. He did not move. The sun rose slowly toward meridian. A mangy thing, lifting its nose to scent the jungle breeze, crept through the underbrush.

It was Dango, the hyena. Presently its ugly muzzle broke through some near-by foliage and its cruel eyes fastened upon Gazan.

Early that morning, Tarzan of the Apes had gone to the cabin by the sea, where he passed many an hour at such times as the tribe was ranging in the vicinity.

On the floor lay the skeleton of a man--all that remained of the former Lord Greystoke--lay as it had fallen some twenty years before when Kerchak, the great ape, had thrown it, lifeless, there. Long since had the termites and the small rodents picked clean the sturdy English bones. For years Tarzan had seen it lying there, giving it no more attention than he gave the countless thousand bones that strewed his jungle haunts.

On the bed another, smaller, skeleton reposed and the youth ignored it as he ignored the other. How could he know that the one had been his father, the other his mother? The little pile of bones in the rude cradle, fashioned with such loving care by the former Lord Greystoke, meant nothing to him-- that one day that little skull was to help prove his right to a proud title was as far beyond his ken as the satellites of the suns of Orion.

To Tarzan they were bones--just bones. He did not need them, for there was no meat left upon them, and they were not in his way, for he knew no necessity for a bed, and the skeleton upon the floor he easily could step over.

Today he was restless. He turned the pages first of one book and then of another. He glanced at pictures which he knew by heart, and tossed the books aside. He rummaged for the thousandth time in the cupboard. He took out a bag which contained several small, round pieces of metal.

He had played with them many times in the years gone by;but always he replaced them carefully in the bag, and the bag in the cupboard, upon the very shelf where first he had discovered it. In strange ways did heredity manifest itself in the ape-man. Come of an orderly race, he himself was orderly without knowing why. The apes dropped things wherever their interest in them waned--in the tall grass or from the high-flung branches of the trees.

What they dropped they sometimes found again, by accident;but not so the ways of Tarzan. For his few belongings he had a place and scrupulously he returned each thing to its proper place when he was done with it.

The round pieces of metal in the little bag always interested him. Raised pictures were upon either side, the meaning of which he did not quite understand.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 梦旅人

    梦旅人

    他是程聿舟,患有低潜在抑制症的金牌律师。他骂声无声、饱受争议,却始终站在金字塔尖,令人仰视。年少时,他的特殊“天赋”,导致至亲枉死。从那以后,他犹如困兽,亲手拔掉自己的尖牙利齿,却又拼命想要冲破牢笼。她是顾久,性情冷漠的心理咨询师。年幼时,患有精神分裂症的母亲,选择亲手结束自己的生命,成了她挥之不去的噩梦。她和他,生命力微弱,残缺而破碎,却是同一类人。一场罗生门,谎言丛生;一段案中案,步步疑云。她和他,游走其中,生死未卜……
  • 读档修仙

    读档修仙

    【读档流】修仙不易,更别说一个普通的凡人,想要在这个命如草芥,生死由天的世界修行。在这个人吃人的疯狂世界,卓不凡唯一能做的,就只有不断地将自己的修仙生涯存档,因为他不知道自己什么时候会莫名其妙的死亡。及时存档,然后死亡读档。究竟是将残酷的命运再经历一次,还是将悲惨的结局重新改写。——————新书《超神封魔师》已经发布,还请新老书友,多多支持!谢谢!!
  • 神者玄才

    神者玄才

    大陆第一势力的公子旗木林,天赋异禀,光圈环绕,却毅然舍去一切,甘愿在这红尘争渡,历幻海沉浮,游荡八方结一世好友,从零走起,一样威震八方,寰宇执掌!是笑傲江湖,站在最巅峰?还是沉沦苦海,弥渡一生?看小小少年如何成为一代神玄霸者!一切尽在神才!
  • 城的灯

    城的灯

    作家通过历史与现实的相互观照,透视中国城市与乡村的二元结构中,农民“逃离”乡村,进入城市的艰难历程。本书建构了一个独特的“围城”世界:城里有“荣光照耀”,怡然而洁净;城外,则是一个巨大的不断为黑暗所吞食的黑洞,在欲望的渊薮中,罪恶肆意横行。在这城里城外的相互纠缠、撕咬的阵痛中,李佩甫通过他笔下的人物给我们展示了生命在对苦难与欲望的抗争中所具有的厚重感,这种抗争也是他对生存境况与价值理想的一次更为深刻的反思。
  • 义(青少年仁义礼智信释读)

    义(青少年仁义礼智信释读)

    “仁义礼智信”为儒家“五常”。这“五常”贯穿于中华伦理的发展中,成为中国价值体系中的最核心因素。义者,人字出头,加一点。在别人有难时出手出头,帮人一把,即为义。
  • 闯海南

    闯海南

    疯狂的淘金热潮!小人物的奋斗历程!一批转业军人、大学生、小商贩,闯荡海南,经历了贫穷、卑贱、屈辱、困惑、迷茫、陷阱、欺骗,几乎倒毙在椰子树下;他们同时又享受了爱情、友谊、真诚、援助、机遇、成功。他们在荒芜的旷野中寻找自己的精神栖息地,顽强地对抗着坚硬的现实,招扬着真善美的旗帜……
  • 平安轶事:柔情小王爷

    平安轶事:柔情小王爷

    “不管你有意还是无意,你今日在众目睽睽之下接近了我,就已成为众矢之的。”他示意她往外看。“你不会对我怎么样的。”她抬起他的下颌,俯身吻住了他。他迟疑道:“你希望我娶你吗?”她反问:“你希望娶我吗?”“我不知道。”他托起她的脸,“看着你的眼睛就知道你很不诚实,也许你是真的在利用我,目的达到就会把我扔弃。”用一世柔情,换一生相伴。
  • 绝世邪神

    绝世邪神

    生死间的行走,善恶中的杀戮,血与骨的王座,只有强者,才能登顶!地球上的方恒穿越到了一个血脉稀薄的少年身上,得逆天血脉,悟武学真谛,战大陆强者,在大陆上翻云覆雨,只手遮天!“战斗吧,只有战斗,才能变的更强!”
  • 人力资源部管理制度范本大全

    人力资源部管理制度范本大全

    本书是“企业规范化管理制度范本大全”丛书之一,由“时代光华管理培训研究中心”整体策划完成。由中国商学院MBA成就奖获得者李晶编著。本书立足中国企业实际,结合企业管理的实际需要,将枯燥的理论简单化、流程化、制度化,对人力资源部门管理的相关制度、流程、管理表格、文案等进行了介绍。本书囊括了几乎所有的与企业人力资源部门相关的管理制度、管理流程以及相关管理表格。
  • 人的本性是自私的吗:进化心理学视角下的人性论

    人的本性是自私的吗:进化心理学视角下的人性论

    人的行为是由思想决定,还是由自身生理需要决定?人是利己的,还是利他的?这是几千年来全世界争论不休的问题,谁都能说出自己的看法;然而,这个问题是无法从表面上把握的,它植根于人们对人内在动力的认识。人是自然界的产物,对事关人内在动力的研究必须着眼于人的自然。本书以此为原则,用达尔文生物进化论、心理学、生物学、生理学和自然界中的大量事实研究人内在的动力,从而最终揭示:人的机体上不仅存在着生理需要,而且存在着情感需要;人快乐痛苦的感觉是人的直接动力,机体需要是人内在的根本动力,情感需要是人内在的两大动力之一;不图回报的利他行为根源于人的情感需要,人在本性上有利他的一面。