Chapter 15 hunting elephant

They fought with Numa the lion, shouting and roaring.The sound drew a throng of excited natives from the nearby villages.Immediately after the lion was killed, Tarzan and the Negro were surrounded by agile, dark-skinned warriors.They were gesturing and gesticulating, and they were asking questions in one go, chattering and chattering, but no one could understand what they said. Later, women and children also gathered around.Seeing Taishan, they were all very strange, eager to know the inside story, they asked more and more questions, and quarreled.Tarzan's new friend finally gets his explanations through.After hearing what happened, the villagers, whether they were men or women, rushed to pay respects to Mount Tai.Because he not only saved their brothers and sisters, but also defeated the vicious Numa with his bare hands.

They took him back to the village and gave him gifts of rare birds, goats, and cooked food.He pointed to the weapons they were wearing, and the warriors hurried to fetch spears, shields, bows, and arrows.The friend who had shared life and death with him also gave him the hunting knife that killed Numa.In fact, there was nothing in this village that he could not have. Taishan thought to himself, isn't this much easier than satisfying one's own demands by means of murder or robbery?He had almost killed this stranger who was expressing his friendship and affection in all primitive ways.Tarzan the ape felt extremely ashamed.From now on, he must find out whether those who may become ghosts under the knife really deserve what they deserve, and then kill them.

This view reminded him of Zhukov again.He wished he could have spent a few minutes with the Russian in the dark jungle.If anyone in the world should be killed, the number one culprit is this Rukov.If he had seen at this moment how Rukov was doing his best to court the beautiful Miss Strong, and try to win her favor, he would have more than ever wished for his immediate death. On the first night that the natives spent with them on Mount Tai, they held a carnival full of savage colors specially for him. As trophies, the hunters brought back an antelope and a zebra.So they put on a big feast and brought a lot of low-alcohol beer brewed by themselves.When the warriors danced under the light of the fire, their well-proportioned figures and correct facial features left a deep impression on Mount Tai.They don't look exactly like the natives of the West African coast.Their noses are not so flat, and their lips are not so thick.When calm, men appear smart and dignified, and women are charming.

As the Negroes danced, Tarzan noticed for the first time that some of the men and many of the women wore gold ornaments—mostly heavy anklets and bracelets, and apparently made of solid gold.When he expressed to a woman that he wanted to take a look at her bracelet, the woman quickly took it off and handed it to him, and expressed through gestures that Tai Shan must accept it as a gift from her.Examining the ornament carefully, he was convinced that it was made of pure gold, and was greatly astonished.Because this was the first time he saw African natives wearing gold ornaments.And the Negroes who lived near the coast wore trinkets traded or stolen from the Europeans.He tried to ask them where he got the gold, but they could not understand him.

After the dance, Tarzan told them to leave the village.The blacks begged him to take shelter in the big hut that the chief used alone.He tried to explain to them that he would be back next morning, but they could not understand him.Then he walked away from them and took a few steps towards the village opposite the gate, implying that he was coming back.But they were still at a loss as to his intentions. Tarzan has his own ideas.Past experience told him that there are many rats, bedbugs and lice in the villages of the aborigines.He hated these things, and would rather sleep in a big tree swaying in the wind and breathe fresh air than sleep in a smelly thatched hut.

The natives followed him until they came to a big tree beside the fence.Like a monkey, Taishan jumped onto a branch that was not too high, and disappeared without a trace among the dense branches and leaves in the blink of an eye. The group of natives shouted loudly in surprise.They stood there shouting for half an hour, hoping that he would come back.Later, because they couldn't hear his answer, they had to scatter and go back to the hut to sleep. Taishan didn't go far in the forest before he found a big tree suitable for his requirements.Then climbed up, curled up on a thick tree, and soon fell asleep.

The next morning he reappeared in the village as suddenly as he had disappeared the night before.The natives were in shock for a while, until they recognized him as the guest from the previous night, and then laughed and cheered.On this day, he went hunting in the nearby plain with a group of warriors.The warriors admired Tarzan even more when they saw him skillfully wielding their primitive, crude weapons. For several weeks Tarzan lived with his black friends.In order to eat meat, he went with them to hunt bison, antelope, and zebra; in order to get ivory, he also hunted elephants.He quickly learned their simple language, their living habits, and the primitive creeds and rules of the tribe.He discovered that they were not a race of cannibals.In fact, they sneered at such things as cannibalism and were very contemptuous.

Busuri - the warrior who was followed to the village by Tarzan told him many anecdotes of their tribe.He told him how, many years ago, their tribe had traveled a long way from the far north to come here.And told him that they had once been a mighty tribe, but that they had suffered terribly from the raids of slave-traders armed with firearms and murderous.The few remaining people are simply incomparable to that powerful tribe. "They hunted us like wild beasts," Busuri said. "Without the slightest bit of mercy. Either for slaves or for ivory, but generally, both. Our men were killed by them, and our women They chased them away like sheep. We have fought against them for many years, but how could spears, bows and arrows beat their 'sticks' that can breathe flames and kill people.

Our strongest archers do not shoot their arrows as far as their bullets.Then, when my father was a boy, the Arabs came again. But our warriors spotted them far from the Horde.The chief of the year, Jowanmbi, quickly told everyone to pack up, and followed him to flee to the far south until they found this place where the Arabs had never been. "Back then, according to the chief's instructions, everyone took all the things, including a lot of ivory, and trekked for several months. It was really difficult and dangerous. Because the road had to pass through dense virgin forests and climb many mountains. At last we came to this place. Although the chief sent several parties to find a more suitable place to live in, no one found it."

"Those slave traders never found you here?" Tarzan asked. "About a year ago, a small group of Arabs came, but we drove them away and killed many of them. The hunters chased them for several days, picking them up one by one like wild animals. A bunch of bad guys got away." When Busuri spoke, he caressed the heavy gold bracelet on his smooth left arm from time to time.Taishan's eyes were also looking at this decoration, but his mind was elsewhere.After a while, he remembered the question he had asked when he first came to this tribe.Back then, he failed to make them understand what he meant.For weeks, he had forgotten such trivial matters as gold.For now he is a primitive man again, who regards everything as an external thing.But the golden light that flashed in front of his eyes suddenly awakened the consciousness of a civilized person that was dormant in his heart, and thus gave birth to the desire for wealth again.He had learned this lesson in his casual acquaintance with civilized people, that money meant pleasure and power.He pointed to the gold bracelet.

"Where did you get that yellow metal, Busuri?" he asked. The negro pointed south. "It will take a month, maybe more," he replied. "Have you ever been there?" Tarzan asked. "No, but many years ago, when my father was a young man, someone from our tribe went there. When they had just settled here, a group of people followed the chief on a trek to find better conditions for the tribe. They met A strange people. Those people wear ornaments made of this yellow metal. Their gun points, arrowheads, and cooking pots are also made of the same metal as my bracelet. "They live in a very large village, surrounded by high walls, and the houses in the village are built of stone. They are very fierce, and they fight with our warriors without asking questions. We are not many, Standing fast on a hill. The fierce ones did not return to their wicked 'castle' till sundown. Our warriors came down from the hill and took many of these yellow ornaments from the corpses of their enemies, Then hurried away from that canyon. No one has been there since. "It's a brutal race. They're neither white like you nor black like us, but furry like Borgani the gorilla. Yes, they are really bad.The old chief Jowanmbi was very happy to escape from those people's territory. " "Is there any warrior alive now who went to that wonderful castle with Jowanmby and saw those queer people?" asked Tarzan. "Our current chief, Wan Qirui, went there," replied Busuja. "At that time he was very young, but he was always with Jowan Mbi—he was his father." Taishan went to ask Wan Qirui about it that night.Wan Qiduan is already a very old man.He said that the place was far away from here, but he remembered clearly that the road was not difficult to walk. "We walked for ten days along the small river next to the village. We walked towards the source of the river until the tenth day, when we saw a mountain spring on the high slope of a big mountain. The river came from there The next day, we turned over the mountain, and on the other side of the mountain, we found a small stream, and walked into a large forest along the stream. Gradually, the small stream became a big river, and flowed into a The valley. In this way, we walked for many days along the winding river bed. "Later, we walked along this big river to its source, hoping to find an open land. From the time we overturned that big mountain and walked out of the tribal boundary, we walked another 20 days to climb a big mountain. The big river is on the hillside It turned into a stream again. There is a small cave near the top of the mountain, and this cave is the source of the river. "I remember, we camped there that night, because the mountain was high and it was very cold. On the second day, we decided to climb to the top of the mountain to see what it was like on the other side. If the conditions there were not worse than we have already gone The place they lived in is good, so they plan to return to the village and tell everyone that they have found the best place to live and thrive in this world. "Climb up a stone wall and you'll reach the top of the mountain. The top of the mountain is very flat, and there's a narrow, not too deep canyon not far from us. There's a big stone city on the other side of the canyon, but many houses have collapsed and become ruins." The second half of Wan Qirui's account is roughly the same as Busuri's. "I want to see this strange stone city," said Tarzan, "and get some gold from its fierce inhabitants." "It's too far," Van Qirui said, "and I'm old too. But when the rainy season is over and the river stops rising, I'll send some warriors with you." Tarzan agreed with this arrangement, even though he had to start early in the morning - he was like an impatient child.In fact, Taishan is really ten children, or a primitive man.In a sense, there is not much difference between the two. The next day a small party of hunters returned to the village from the south to report a herd of elephants a few miles away.They climbed up the big tree and could see clearly.Speaking of this herd of elephants, they were so familiar with each other, they all said that there were many female elephants and young elephants, but there were also full-grown male elephants, whose tusks were very worthwhile. This afternoon and evening, the villagers are actively preparing for the next day's large-scale hunting.Spears were sharpened, quiveres refilled, bows relaced.The witch doctor squeezed back and forth among the busy crowd, drew amulets and chanted spells to protect the hunter from injury and wish everyone good luck in hunting the next day. At dawn the hunters set out—fifty black warriors in all.The ape Tarzan was agile, light and easy, walking among them like a young satyr, his brown skin contrasted sharply with his black companions.Except for his skin color, he was completely one of them.The ornaments he wore, the weapons he wielded, and the language he spoke were all the same as theirs.He laughed out loud and joked with them from time to time.When they left the village, they shouted and danced that simple dance with everyone.He was, in fact, one of a group of savages whom he undoubtedly felt far more dear to him than his friends in Paris, although he had succeeded in "monkeying" in the past few months. imitated their way of life. Thinking of D'Arnot, he opened his mouth, showing his white teeth, and smiled happily.He pictured in his mind what the innocent and kind Frenchman would look like if he saw him now.Poor Paul, who once prided himself on uprooting the wildness from his friends. "I'm really 'falling'!" Taishan thought, but deep down in his heart, he didn't think it was a kind of "falling".Instead, he pitied the citizens of Paris.Like prisoners, they are shackled in stupid clothes, their every move is watched by the police, and their life can never be completely free from hypocrisy and artificiality. Two hours later, they arrived at the place where the herd of elephants had been haunted the day before. From here, the hunters walked lightly and quietly, looking for the traces of this group of giant beasts.After a while they came upon a rutted track where the elephants had walked not so long ago.The hunters walked in a single file along this path for about half an hour.Houwei Taishan raised a hand to signal to everyone that the prey was nearby.His keen nose told him that the herd was not far ahead. The hunters were skeptical after hearing this. "Follow me!" said Tarzan, "and you will see that I am right." He climbed up a big tree as quickly as a squirrel, and quickly reached the top of the tree.A Negro followed, crawling slowly and cautiously.After he climbed to a tall branch next to Tarzan, Tarzan pointed to the south.The black man saw dozens of yards away, in the tall grass in the forest, a considerable number of elephants were slowly swaying, and the black backs were exposed on the grass tips.He pointed in the direction of the elephants to the hunters under the tree, and gestured with his fingers, telling them how many elephants he had seen. The hunters immediately surrounded the elephant herd.The black man on the tree also quickly climbed down.Mount Tai followed his own way, climbing away from the "middle zone" with lush foliage in the forest. Hunting elephants with such primitive tools is no joke.Tarzan knew that few tribes of natives dared to take such a dangerous risk.So proud of his tribe for this behavior - he can't help counting himself as a member of this tribe. Just as Mount Tai was climbing up the big tree without a sound, the warriors formed a semicircle below and surrounded the undiscovered elephant.After a while, the group of giant beasts were close in sight.They chose two large bull elephants from among them, and at the sound of a command, all fifty hunters jumped out of their hiding places, and threw their spears at the prey.No one made a mistake, and each behemoth was hit by 25 spears.One elephant, under the blow of a spear, before he could even struggle, fell forward on his knees, and then lay on his side, dead. For the spears thrown by two hunters pierced its heart. But the other end was standing facing the hunter, and it was not easy to hit the vital point. Therefore, although the "spears were flawless", none of them pierced its heart.The gigantic creature stood there uttering a trumpet-like roar of rage and pain, its small eyes looking here and there for the culprit of its misery.The elephant's eyesight is weak, and before his eyes can catch the enemy, the negro has disappeared into the dense forest.But the sound of their retreating footsteps did not escape its ears.So the giant beast rushed towards the direction of the sound, trampled down the bushes, broke the branches, and made a terrible noise. By coincidence, the elephant was chasing Busuri just in time.Although the black man ran desperately, trying to escape the claws of death, but compared with the speed of the elephant, he seemed to be standing still.Taishan was on a big tree next to him and witnessed the whole process of the accident.Seeing the impending doom of his friend, he cried out, clambered on to the branches of the trees, and rushed at the enraged beast, hoping to draw its attention to himself. But the useless, pissed-off elephant was blind and deaf to everything around him except the one particular object that was running uselessly and desperately ahead of him.Tarzan saw that, barring a miracle, Busuri was doomed.So, in order to save the black warrior's life, he jumped to the ground and blocked the mad elephant.And the ruthlessness and indifference in his heart were exactly the same as when he was tracking Busuri more than ten days ago. Taishan gripped the spear tightly.When the elephant was only six or seven steps away from Bushuri, he suddenly saw a very strong white warrior descending from the sky, blocking his way.The elephant turned sharply to the right and charged at the man who had dared stand between him and his prey.But it didn't expect that Taishan's steel and iron body could move as fast as lightning, even if he had a pair of eyes with better eyesight, he wouldn't be able to figure out what was going on. In an instant, everyone was still ignorant, and the new opponent had jumped up from the small path, piercing the heart with a sharp spear piercing through the thick flesh of the shoulder.The elephant was like a hill, slumped at the foot of Tarzan, and died. Busuri couldn't see how he escaped from the hand of death, but the old chief Wan Qirui and several other warriors witnessed the elegance of Mount Tai with their own eyes.They swarmed and cheered loudly for him and his mastery.Tarzan leaped upon the huge carcass of the elephant, and with a terrible cry, declared his victory to the forest and the mountains.The blacks backed away in fright.Because in their opinion, only the ferocious gorilla Bulgani can make this cry, and they are as afraid of Borgani as they are afraid of Numa the lion.Fear and awe mingled in their minds now, and they saw Tarzan's cry as a mysterious, supernatural power. However, when Taishan lowered his head and smiled at the hunters, everyone felt at ease again.Although they did not understand why Tarzan made such a terrible cry, nor did they fully understand why this strange man was as agile as a monkey when climbing trees, and more comfortable when walking on the ground than they were.Except that his skin color was different from theirs, he was stronger than ten of them, and he could beat any vicious enemy in the forest with his bare hands. After all the warriors had gathered, the hunting continued.Everyone tiptoed again, searching for the elephants that had just been frightened away.But just after searching about 100 yards away, there was a strange, bang bang bang indistinctly behind him. The hunters stopped at once, like a group of statues, standing there motionless, holding their breath, listening to the sound coming from a distance.Then Tarzan spoke. "It's gunshots!" he said. "Our village is being attacked." "Let's go!" Wan Qirui shouted loudly, "the Arab bandits must be bringing their cannibal slaves to snatch our ivory and women again!"