Tarzan the Terrible | Page 4

the
Kor-ul-gryf VI The Tor-o-don VII Jungle Craft VIII A-lur IX Blood-Stained Altars X
The Forbidden Garden XI The Sentence of Death XII The Giant Stranger XIII The
Masquerader XIV The Temple of the Gryf XV "The King Is Dead!" XVI The Secret Way
XVII By Jad-bal-lul XVIII The Lion Pit of Tu-lur XIX Diana of the Jungle XX Silently
in the Night XXI The Maniac XXII A Journey on a Gryf XXIII Taken Alive XXIV The
Messenger of Death XXV Home Glossary

1

The Pithecanthropus

Silent as the shadows through which he moved, the great beast slunk through the
midnight jungle, his yellow-green eyes round and staring, his sinewy tail undulating
behind him, his head lowered and flattened, and every muscle vibrant to the thrill of the
hunt. The jungle moon dappled an occasional clearing which the great cat was always
careful to avoid. Though he moved through thick verdure across a carpet of innumerable
twigs, broken branches, and leaves, his passing gave forth no sound that might have been
apprehended by dull human ears.
Apparently less cautious was the hunted thing moving even as silently as the lion a
hundred paces ahead of the tawny carnivore, for instead of skirting the moon-splashed
natural clearings it passed directly across them, and by the tortuous record of its spoor it
might indeed be guessed that it sought these avenues of least resistance, as well it might,
since, unlike its grim stalker, it walked erect upon two feet--it walked upon two feet and
was hairless except for a black thatch upon its head; its arms were well shaped and
muscular; its hands powerful and slender with long tapering fingers and thumbs reaching
almost to the first joint of the index fingers. Its legs too were shapely but its feet departed
from the standards of all races of men, except possibly a few of the lowest races, in that
the great toes protruded at right angles from the foot.
Pausing momentarily in the full light of the gorgeous African moon the creature turned an
attentive ear to the rear and then, his head lifted, his features might readily have been
discerned in the moonlight. They were strong, clean cut, and regular--features that would
have attracted attention for their masculine beauty in any of the great capitals of the
world. But was this thing a man? It would have been hard for a watcher in the trees to
have decided as the lion's prey resumed its way across the silver tapestry that Luna had
laid upon the floor of the dismal jungle, for from beneath the loin cloth of black fur that
girdled its thighs there depended a long hairless, white tail.
In one hand the creature carried a stout club, and suspended at its left side from a
shoulder belt was a short, sheathed knife, while a cross belt supported a pouch at its right
hip. Confining these straps to the body and also apparently supporting the loin cloth was
a broad girdle which glittered in the moonlight as though encrusted with virgin gold, and
was clasped in the center of the belly with a huge buckle of ornate design that scintillated
as with precious stones.
Closer and closer crept Numa, the lion, to his intended victim, and that the latter was not
entirely unaware of his danger was evidenced by the increasing frequency with which he
turned his ear and his sharp black eyes in the direction of the cat upon his trail. He did not
greatly increase his speed, a long swinging walk where the open places permitted, but he
loosened the knife in its scabbard and at all times kept his club in readiness for instant
action.
Forging at last through a narrow strip of dense jungle vegetation the man-thing broke
through into an almost treeless area of considerable extent. For an instant he hesitated,

glancing quickly behind him and then up at the security of the branches of the great trees
waving overhead, but some greater urge than fear or caution influenced his decision
apparently, for he moved off again across the little plain leaving the safety of the trees
behind him. At greater or less intervals leafy sanctuaries dotted the grassy expanse ahead
of him and the route he took, leading from one to another, indicated that he had not
entirely cast discretion to the winds. But after the second tree had been left behind the
distance to the next was considerable, and it was then that Numa walked from the
concealing cover of the jungle and, seeing his quarry apparently helpless before him,
raised his tail stiffly erect and charged.
Two months--two long, weary months filled with hunger, with thirst, with hardships, with
disappointment, and, greater than all, with gnawing pain--had passed since Tarzan of the