Chapter 13 person to person

Tarzan went on living his life in a savage, jungle way, not changing much for years, only growing stronger and wiser.He learned more and more from books that there is a wonderful world outside the primeval forest. For him, life has never been monotonous and boring.In many creeks and small lakes, there is always Pisha - a fish to catch.And Shanbao and its cousins ​​keep them on their toes, adding "flavor" to every minute you spend on the ground. They chased him often, and he chased them more often.Although the ferocious, sharp claws never managed to touch a hair on him, there were indeed moments of danger of that kind of "close shot".

Although Shan Bao, the lioness, is agile, and Numa and Zita can run like lightning, but Tarzan the ape is lightning! He befriends Tante the elephant.How it was handed in is unknown.Anyhow, as everyone in the Woods knew, there were many moonlit nights when Tarzan and Tante the Elephant walked together.When the road was clear, Tarzan climbed onto Tante's broad back and rode high on it. He spent many hours in his father's cabin over the years.The remains of the parents and the skeleton of the young ape lay there, untouched by anyone.By the age of eighteen he was a proficient reader and could comprehend almost all the different books on the shelf.

He also learned to write, in print, of course, quickly and clearly.He failed to master handwriting.Because among his treasures, although there are a few copybooks, there are not many English handwritings in the hut, so he feels no need to spend time and energy practicing another writing method.But he could read it, just with a little effort. In this way, at the age of eighteen, although the young master of the British aristocrat could not speak English, he could already read and write his mother tongue.He had never seen anyone else but himself.Because the scope of his tribe's activities is very small, and there are no big rivers in this area, it is difficult for the aborigines in the inland to go down the river and set foot in this jungle.

Surrounded by mountains on three sides and water on one side, it is a good place where lions, leopards and poisonous snakes come and go.The labyrinth of winding paths of untouched primeval forest, covered with dead branches and leaves, has not yet invited the brave pioneers of human society to break its silence. But one day, when Tarzan was sitting in his father's hut, concentrating on a wonderful new book, the ancient and long silence of this primeval forest was broken forever. On the east side of this jungle, there is a strange team, lined up in a single file, climbing up a not too high hill.

These were fifty black warriors, armed with wooden spears, hard bows, and poisoned arrows whose heads were hardened by drying them over a warm fire.It has an oval shield on its back and a large ring on its nose.Curly hair, with clusters of beautiful feathers on it. They have three parallel colored stripes tattooed on their foreheads.On the chest are three concentric circles.Their teeth were sharply filed, and their thick lips added to the savagery of an already fierce visage. Behind them were hundreds of women and children.The women carried cooking pots, household utensils and ivory on their heads.Behind the formation was another hundred warriors, dressed roughly in the same manner as the avant-garde troops.

The formation of this team shows that although there may be unknown enemies lurking in front of them, the attack from behind makes them even more afraid.In fact, it is true.Because they just escaped from white soldiers.The whites were always harassing them, demanding rubber and ivory.One day they could not bear to rebel against the conquerors, and wiped out a white officer and a small detachment of his native troops. For many days they rewarded themselves with feasts of human flesh, but then a stronger force took their village by night to avenge their fallen comrades. That night, the black soldiers under white rule still had a big feast.As a result, there are only a few warriors, women and children left in this powerful tribe that once ruled the roost.They had to retreat to the dark jungle, where there was always freedom, though their future was uncertain.

But the freedom and pursuit of happiness of these black people means panic and death for the residents living on this newly opened land. The little team walked slowly through the unknown and pathless forest for three days, until the morning of the fourth day, they came to a small river, where the trees were thicker than they had passed. should be sparse. They started to build a new village here, and it took only a month to clear a large open space, build huts, fence in, and plant plantains. Sweet potatoes and corn.In this way, they started their old life in this "new home".There are no white men here, no soldiers, no rubber and ivory that those murderous heartless foremen demand.

Several months passed, and these blacks still did not dare to leave the new village and go to the depths of the dense forest to have a look.Several partners have already died under the claws of Lao Shanbao.Because this dense forest is ferocious and haunted by bloodthirsty lions and leopards, these dark-skinned warriors dare not take a step away from the gate easily. But one day, Kulonga, the son of the tribal chief Mubenga, got into the dense forest and walked westward.He walked cautiously, holding a spear in his right hand and an oval shield in his left, clinging to his smooth, dark body.He also carried a bow on his back, and his quiver hung on his shield, containing many slender, straight arrows.The arrowheads were thickly coated with something like tar, which would kill a person if it got on the body.

At night, Kulonga was far away from his father's village, but he kept walking westward until very late, before he climbed to the right of a big tree and curled up to sleep. Three miles further to the west, Kochak's tribe was also sleeping. Early in the morning of the second day, the group of apes started another day of activities.They wandered about in the jungle, looking for food.Taishan went to the cabin to continue his studies as usual.Along the way, I collected some food casually, and when I reached the beach, I would fill my stomach. The apes were scattered here and there in twos and threes, but they never strayed far, always within audible range of danger signals.

Carla walked slowly eastward along a path trodden by elephants, frantically turning over dead branches and leaves, looking for delicious beetles and mushrooms, when she heard a small, strange sound, she couldn't help being startled. The path before her was straight for a full fifty yards.Under the thick shade, she saw a terrifying figure she had never seen before stalking forward. It was Kulonga. Carla didn't look carefully, turned around and walked quickly along the path.She didn't run away, but like her kind, she would rather avoid for a while than run away before she figured out what was going on.

Kulonga followed closely.This is meat to the mouth.Today, he can kill a lot and have a full meal.He was in hot pursuit, and had raised his spear to throw it. The path turned a bend, but after the turn there was another straight road ahead.Therefore, Carla has never been able to escape his vision.At this moment, his hand holding the spear was thrown back vigorously, and the muscles of his arm bulged high under the smooth skin.Then with a jerk of the arm, the spear flew toward Carla. He was such a bad hunter that the spear only grazed Carla's stomach. With a cry of anger and pain, the mother ape turned and swooped at the creature that had caused him pain.Immediately, there was a creaking sound in the woods, and the partners heard Carla's scream, and hurried to the accident site with branches swinging. With unbelievable agility, Kuronga unfastened his bow and nocked his arrow as Carla lunged.In the blink of an eye, the bow was like a full moon, and a poisonous arrow shot straight into the heart of the giant ape. With a scream, Kara fell face down on the ground in front of the shocked tribe members. Screaming and roaring, the apes rushed towards Kulonga.But the cautious fellow had gone off like a frightened antelope flying down the path. He knew how powerful these hairy "savages" were, and his only hope was to distance himself from them as much as possible. They followed him for a long time in the forest, but at last they gave up the pursuit one by one, and returned to the place where the tragedy happened. Before, they had never seen anyone except Taishan.Now they felt vaguely that some strange animal must have invaded their jungle. Tai Shan was on the beach next to the hut, vaguely heard the ferocious battle, understood that something serious happened to his tribe, and hurried to the direction where the sound came from. When he ran to the scene of the accident, he found that the members of the tribe were chattering around the dead Kara. Taishan's sadness and anger are beyond words.Again and again he raised his head to the sky and screamed, a terrible challenge to his enemies.He clenched his fists and beat his own strong chest, then threw himself on Kara, whimpering, a lonely heart filled with pitiful great pain. In this world, the only one who gave him maternal love and warmth was Carla, but now she lost her.For Taishan, this is the greatest tragedy he has ever experienced in his life! Although Kara is a fierce and ugly ape, for Tarzan, she has always been a symbol of kindness and beauty! He gave an ordinary English boy the respect due to his mother. Admiration and love are dedicated to her without hesitation.He didn't know that he had a biological mother.So he gave Carla everything that the pretty and lovely Lady Alice deserved.Although this dedication is silent. After the initial outburst of pain, Tarzan struggled to restrain himself, and questioned the apes who had seen Kara killed, and understood what their meager vocabulary could express. For him, that's enough.They told him that a strange black ape with a feather in his head and a hairless body shot Karla with a twig, and rose toward the sun like the clever Bara-deer. place ran. Tai Shan didn't wait any longer, he leaped onto a big tree with dense branches and leaves, and tracked him through the vast forest.He knew every winding path that elephants trod, and he knew that the murderer of Kara could only escape along these paths. Therefore, he crossed the dense forest to intercept the black warrior in the middle. His late father's hunting knife was hung by his side, and his long rope was wrapped around his shoulders. An hour later, the forest path was seen again.He jumped down and examined the dirt on the road. On the soft muddy bank of a small river, he found a trail of footprints. This kind of footprints in the whole jungle, only he can leave.But these are much bigger than his.His heart beat violently.Was he after a man—his kind? After a while, Taishan found two more footprints in opposite directions.So it could be seen that the fellow he was following had come back down the trail, and as he looked at the newer row, one of the footprints had caved in a small patch of dirt on the outer edge.Taishan concluded that these were the footprints left just now, and the target he was chasing must have just passed here. Taishan climbed the big tree again, and passed through the path silently and quickly. He had just walked a mile when he saw the black warrior standing in a small clearing, holding a slender bow in his hand, and he had already attached a deadly poison arrow. Across the clearing stood Horta—the Bear.It was lowering its head, baring its fangs and spraying white foam, ready to attack. Tarzan looked in amazement at the strange creature standing below.His body shape is so similar to his own, but the face and skin color are completely different from his own.There were portraits of negroes in his books, but what a difference between the rigidly printed little figure and the strong, vigorous, dark-skinned living person in front of him! When this man was standing there drawing a bow and shooting arrows, Taishan felt that he was more like the "archer" in "Learning by Pictures" than the black people printed in the book.He remembered the nursery rhyme: Archer starts with an A This is wonderful!This discovery made Taishan so happy that he almost revealed his hiding place. At this time, a fierce battle was about to start below him.The muscular, black arm had pulled the arrow back from the string.Horta has also rushed over, and the black man released a poisoned arrow.Tarzan saw the arrow hit the bear's bristling neck like lightning. No sooner had the arrow left the string than Kulonga hit another one.But Horta had already swooped in, and the black man leaped forward, brushing the bear's head and jumping over.Then, with lightning speed, he turned around and shot an arrow, hitting Horta's back. Kulonga climbed up a nearby tree. Horta turned and charged at his foe again.But after only running about ten steps, he staggered and fell to the ground, convulsing all over his body, and died in a short while. Kulonga then climbed down from the tree.He cut off several large pieces of meat from the bear with the knife that hung by his side, and having a fire built in the middle of the path, he roasted the meat and ate a feast.Throw the rest there and don't want it. Taishan watched with great interest.The desire to kill an enemy burned like a fire in his chest.But the desire to learn something from the Negro was even stronger.He was going to follow the savage for a while to find out where it came from.Then finish him off when he let his guard down and put that bow and deadly arrow aside. After Cullonga had a good meal, turned left along the road and disappeared. Tarzan quietly jumped down from the tree, and with the hunting knife cut off many strips of flesh from Horta, but he did not roast them. He'd seen fire before, but only when Allah—thunderbolts knocked down trees.But now, in the depths of the dense forest, someone actually ignited a golden flame, and it could swallow the wood, leaving only a pile of ashes, which really surprised Taishan.Also, he was puzzled that the black man actually put such delicious meat on the fire and roasted it.Perhaps, he thought, Allah was the archer's friend, and they were eating meat together! But what the heck!Taishan would not waste such good meat in his stupid way.So he gobbled up a large pile of raw meat, and buried the rest of the bear meat by the side of the path to bring back when he was going back to the tribe. Then Lord Greystoke wiped his greasy fingers on his bald feet, and set out on the trail of Kulonga, the son of Chief Woodenga. And now, in far away London, another Lord Greystoke, the younger brother of the real Lord Greystoke's father, was given back to the nightclub cook because the ribs were not cooked.After eating the delicious food, he dipped his fingertips in a silver bowl full of fragrant soup and wiped it with a piece of snow-white brocade. Tarzan followed Kulonga all day, like a wicked spirit, "flying" among the trees above his head. He saw him shoot two more arrows, once at a hyena and once at a monkey.Both times, the animals who were shot were killed almost immediately.Because Kulonga's poison was freshly made, it was very poisonous. Tarzan slowly swayed the branches to keep a proper distance from Kulonga.All the while he was thinking about this wonderful method of death.He knew that the little hole shot by the arrow alone would not kill the wild beasts of the jungle.When these beasts fought with each other, they often tore and bit, and they were terribly wounded, but it didn't take long for them to recover as before. So there must be something miraculous about those little splinter arrowheads that kill with just a scratch.He must figure out the mystery. That night Kulonga slept on a branch of a big tree, and Tarzan squatted on a branch high above him. When Kulonga awoke to find his bow and arrows gone, the black warrior was angry and frightened, but more frightened.He looked under the tree, and then up the tree.But there was neither bow nor arrow, nor was there a trace of burglars. Cullen was in a hurry.His spear had been lost in the attack on Kara, and now his bow and arrows were gone, and he had no weapons for self-defense except a knife. His only hope is to return to Mubenga's village as soon as possible. He estimated that it was not far from home, so he hurried along the path. Tarzan emerged from under an impenetrable clump of leaves only a few yards away, and followed him silently. Kulonga's bow and arrows were fastened securely to the top of a towering tree.The trunk of the tree near the ground had been stripped of its bark by a sharp knife, and one of its branches had also been cut, and hung about fifty feet in the air. In this way, Taishan made a signpost on the forest path and marked the place where he hid things. Kulonga continued on his way, and Tarzan was in hot pursuit, passing almost right over the black man's head.He had coiled the rope in his right hand and was about to start the kill. It was only because Taishan was eager to find out the destination of the black warrior that he didn't act immediately.Soon he got his wish.Because they suddenly came to a large open space, and there were many strange-shaped shacks at one end of the open space. Tarzan found the clearing just above Kulonga's head.The forest suddenly stopped here, and the first two hundred yards to the new village were cultivated land. Taishan must act now, or his "prey" will escape. But Tarzan's life experience in emergencies hadn't taught him to make up his mind before taking action.In fact, without even thinking about it, he dropped the noose. Therefore, as soon as Kulonga stepped out of the shadow cast by the dense forest, a thin rope snaked down from the lowest branch of the big tree close to Mubenga's land. After six steps, the noose was tightly wrapped around his neck. Tarzan yanked back his prey, and Kulonga's horrified cry was stuck in his throat, never to be uttered.Pulling the rope one by one, Tarzan hoisted the desperately struggling black man into the air, then, climbing up a thick branch, pulled the still swinging victim into the leafy canopy. He tied the rope firmly to a thick branch, climbed down and stabbed Kulonga in the heart, avenging Carla. Tarzan studied the Negro carefully, for he had never seen anyone before. He took a fancy to Kulonga's sheathed knife and belt, and took them for himself.He liked the copper leg, and he took it off and put it on his leg. He admired the tattoos on Kulonga's forehead and chest and marveled how sharply he had filed his teeth.He looked at the feather headdress for a while, and it belonged to him.Then, he prepares to attack Kulonga.For Tarzan was hungry, and there was plenty of meat—the morality of the jungle allowed him to devour the prey he had killed. By what standard should we measure him?This ape had the heart, mind, and body of an English gentleman, but was raised among wild beasts! In the case of Tabrante, Tarzan hated him, he hated Tarzan, and in a fair fight he killed him, but it never occurred to him to eat Tabrante's flesh.This may be because, as much as we abhor cannibalism, he did not eat members of his own tribe. But why can't kulonga be eaten?In Tarzan's eyes, he was no different from the bear-Horta, or the deer-Bala.Was he not one of the innumerable wild creatures of the jungle?In order not to starve, doesn't he hunt and kill each other like other animals? But suddenly, a doubt stopped him.Don't his books tell him that he is a human being?And isn't this archer also a human being? Can people eat people?Oh, he didn't know.But why so hesitant? He tried to strike Kulonga again, but felt sick.Why, he couldn't even tell himself. All he knew was that he couldn't eat this black man.Thus hereditary instincts prevailed over the faculties of his untamed mind, and saved him from violating the laws of our great world, though he knew nothing of their existence. Soon he put Kulonga's body on the ground, untied the noose, and climbed up the tree again.