I was fighting one of them, the other one carried my woman
away. I trailed them through the night, but this morning the tracks
separated, and I followed the gorilla-man who did not have my
woman."
"An' you caught up with him, my boys told me," said Chief Robert
Spelvin, "and really polished him off."
"I killed him," Ki-Gor corrected, "and now I must find the other
gorilla-man and take my woman away from him."
"Um," said Robert, "that's real bad. I'm sorry to say this, but I'm awful
afraid you ain't goin' to see your woman, again. There's some awful
queer doin's over th' other side of the mountain. I don't know just what
it is. But these yere great big gorilla-men comes around in pairs and
grabs people and carries 'em away and don't nobody ever see 'em
again."
"Where do the gorilla-men carry those people?" Ki-Gor demanded.
"Over th' other side of the mountain is all I know," Robert replied.
"There's a story around yere about a queer kind of place over there,
where there's a man who's kind of King of the gorilla-men. They say
the big apes kidnaps the people, an' then they is just slaves in this place
for the rest of their lives. They never come out, once they is carried in."
"Then I must go there quickly," said Ki-Gor, "and take my woman
away. She must not be a slave."
"Man, you haven't got a chance,"' Robert said, earnestly. "I went over
the east shoulder of the mountain, once with some of my boys, and we
come out on to the entrance of a deep rocky canyon. The boys told me
that was the entrance to the Land of the Living Dead, and there was a
whole lot of the biggest gorilla-men I ever seen around there. I just said,
'C'mon boys,' an' walked away from there.
"I once went two rounds with Dempsey 'fore he was champ, but I don't
believe in messing around with no gorilla."
The jungle man stood up, blue eyes flashing, "I am Ki-Gor, Lord of the
Jungle," he said, "and I am going into the Land of the Living Dead, and
take my woman away from the gorilla-men, no matter how many they
are. Give me a boy to guide me to that entrance, I am going now."
"But, Mr. Ki-Gor," said Robert, "you ain't got a chance. One man can't
lick an army, no matter how big or strong he is."
"I will find a way," said Ki-Gor.
"Say, you must set a great store by your woman," Robert said, with an
admiring shake of his head, "is she English, too?"
"Her name is Helene" said Ki-Gor. "She has a white face and red hair,
and she says she is of the tribe of 'Mericans."
"An American girl!" Robert shouted. "Wait a minute! That's different!
Hold on, now, we can't let them apes take an American girl into that
awful place."
"You know her tribe?" Ki-Gor asked, curiously.
"Know 'em!" cried Robert. "I'm American, myself."
"But you have a black skin," Ki-Gor said, blankly.
"Don' make no difference," said Robert, stoutly. "I'm jus' as good an
American as anybody else. An' I suttinly don' aim to leave another
American lay in the Land of the Livin' Dead, I don' care how many
gorillas is guardin' the place."
"You mean you will come with me?" said Ki-Gor.
"I do," said Robert, emphatically, "an' moreover, we'll take my army
along. As head man of this yere M'balla tribe I c'n call out about
seventy good fightin' spearmen. I got a rifle and a Luger of my own
with plenty of bullets. I'll let you use the rifle-"
"I don't know how to shoot a rifle," Ki-Gor interrupted. "Give me some
assegais."
"Mr. Ki-Gor," said Robert, "someday when we got mo' time, I'm going
to set down and really ask you-. Right now we better get goin'."
The huge negro stood up and bellowed some orders. Feet padded out of
the house, and a moment later, a great drum began to throb.
"C'mon out an watch this," Robert said. "I got to give the boys a fight
talk."
Outside, in the open space in the middle of the village, men, women
and children were assembling. They came running from all directions,
and squatted on the ground, arranging themselves in a wide circle. Into
the middle of the circle, Robert strode, carrying his giant frame like an
Emperor. The excited crowd ceased its chattering and fell silent under
his commanding gaze. Then Robert's deep voice rolled forth in the
rapid dialect of the M'balla.
He had hardly begun before he was interrupted by cries of anguish and
terror from all about him. He whirled about and raised a threatening
hand, and the
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