Chapter 17 Tarzan is king

When the eyes of the Manzhima fell on the strange man standing in front of him with a steel knife in his hand, his eyes widened with fear.He forgot the gun he was holding and even forgot to shout "Coming".The flames of the campfire flickered on Tarzan's bulging muscles and strong chest.The Manzhima had only one thought, to run away from this hideous white savage. But before he could turn around, Tai Shan had already rushed over, and it was too late to call for help.He was thrown to the ground, his throat was tightly grasped by a big hand.The Manzhima struggled desperately, but to no avail.Like a brave bulldog, Taishan pinched the man's neck tightly with his terrifying fingers, and strangled him to death in a short while.

The poor sentry, with bulging eyes, outstretched tongue, bruised face, spasms of increasingly stiff muscles, lay motionless at last. Tarzan carried the corpse on his shoulder, picked up his gun, and ran silently through the sleeping village street until he reached the big tree that made it so easy for him to get inside the fence, and then , Carried the corpse and climbed the densely branched tree. He first untied the bullet bag and his favorite decorations from the sentry, and carefully stuffed them between the branches of the big tree, and then groped the man with his nimble fingers, looking for the spoils that could not be seen clearly in the dark.After searching, he walked up to the branch with the gun in hand, from which the huts in the village could be seen clearly.

He aimed carefully at the hut where the Arab chieftain was staying, and pulled the trigger.There was a groan from the cabin following a shot.There was a smile on Tarzan's face.He got lucky and hit again. With the gunshot, the village was shrouded in silence for a moment.Then the Manzhimas and Arabs swarmed out of the huts like a swarm of angry hornets. However, if they knew the truth of the matter, they would definitely be more afraid, and they would not be able to get angry.Both whites and blacks were frightened by the tense atmosphere of the day, and now the gunshots that sounded in the middle of the night aroused all kinds of terrible speculations in their fearful minds.

When they found that the sentinel was missing, they became more and more frightened.For courage, he hastily fired at the closed gate.Although there was no sign of an enemy at all. In the chaos, Taishan fired at the mob behind him in the din of dense gunfire. On the street, people's voices and gunshots were chaotic, and no one heard Taishan shooting. But the soldiers huddled together suddenly felt that the comrade next to him had fallen to the ground, and when everyone bent down to take a closer look, he was already dead.The soldiers were frightened to death, and the Arabs exerted their authority, and with great difficulty they stopped the Manzhimas, who were fleeing disconcertedly into the jungle—they felt that it would be better to flee anywhere than to stay in this wicked village.

It was a long while before they began to quiet down.Everyone was relieved that there had been no more mysterious deaths.It's a pity that the good times didn't last long. They just thought that no one would come to harass them again, when Taishan suddenly let out a terrible cry. The gangsters raised their heads and looked in the direction of the sound.Tarzan the ape was standing on the tree, grabbing the two arms of the sentinel, swinging back and forth, and then suddenly threw the corpse over the heads of the group of villains. The crowd screamed and fled in all directions, thinking that the monster that had fallen from the sky was some new beast that had come upon them.Because of fear, even their imagination is distorted.In their view, the body of the sentinel who fell from the sky sprawled like a giant beast catching prey.They fled desperately, and many Manzhima climbed the fence, and others pulled out the jacksticks and ran frantically across the clearing in front of the village and into the forest.

For a long time no one dared to turn to look at the thing that had scared them out of their wits.But Tarzan knew that they would find out after a while.When they found out that it was just the body of a sentinel, they must have been shocked at first, but once they settled down, they would take some action.Therefore, Mount Tai immediately climbed to the south silently.The moonlight was like water, and he rushed to Wan Qirui's camp through the "upper channel" of the forest. After a while, one of the Arabs turned his head and saw the thing that had jumped towards them from the tree, still lying motionless in the middle of the village street.Boldly, he walked over cautiously, and saw that the thing was a person.He walked over a few steps and recognized the Manzhima sentry standing guard by the gate.

He greeted his companions, and they all rushed over.After discussing excitedly for a while, he took action according to Taishan's judgment and reasoning just now - he raised his gun and fired at the big tree where the body was thrown down.If Taishan was still there, he would definitely be beaten to pieces by them. The Arabs and Manzhimas found the only scar on their dead companion to be a gigantic finger print on the swollen neck. This further plunged them into deep anxiety and despair.They were shocked that Xin Ye was not safe staying in the village surrounded by fences at midnight. What made them even more unreasonable was, how could anyone dare to go to the campsite and kill their sentry with just one hand?So the superstitious Manzhima began to attribute their bad luck to some supernatural cause.The Arabs could not come up with any other better explanation.

At least 50 of these gangsters fled into the dark jungle. The rest of them didn't know when the cunning enemy would start this merciless massacre against them again. They tossed and turned, couldn't sleep, and waited anxiously for dawn .The Arabs made a wish to everyone to leave the village at dawn and return to their own lands.The Manzhima reluctantly agreed to stay in the village for a few more hours.At this moment, the fear of the newborn has far exceeded the fear of the cruel master. The next morning, Taishan and his warriors harassed the enemy again, and found the bandits were about to leave the village, and the Manzhima carried the stolen ivory.Taishan grinned when he saw it.Because he knew that they would have to drop these treasures and run for their lives before they could go far.However, when he saw a group of Manzhima people lighting torches from the embers of the fire and preparing to burn the house, he became anxious.

Crouching on a big tree, just a few hundred yards from the fence, Tarzan rolled his hands into the shape of a trumpet and shouted in Arabic: "Don't burn the house! Or we'll kill you all! Don't burn the house! Otherwise We'll kill you all!" He kept shouting more than ten times, but the Manzhima hesitated.Then a guy dropped his torch.The others were about to do the same when an Arab rushed at them with a stick and drove them towards the hut.Tarzan saw that he was ordering them to burn the thatched huts.So he steadied himself on a wobbly branch a good 100 feet above the ground, raised the rifle he had snatched from the Arab, aimed carefully, and pulled the trigger.With the gunshot, the Arab who forced everyone to burn the house fell to the ground.The Manzhima quickly threw away the torches in their hands and fled to the outside of the village.Tarzan saw them running desperately toward the great forest, and the Arabs shot at them on their knees.

However, however angry the Arabs were at the insubordination of their slaves, one thing they were convinced was that it would be better not to burn the village that had twice brought them doom.They swore in their hearts that they would regroup and make a comeback, razing a hundred miles to the ground until there was no trace of life at all. They kept looking for the man who had just spoken, but even the best eyes could not find this strange man who sent the house-burning slaves running away with a few words.After Tarzan fired, the Arabs had seen a cloud of green smoke rising from the branches and leaves of the big tree.They shot at the tree at once, but no one was wounded or killed.

Taishan is too shrewd to throw himself into the trap.Immediately after firing the shot, he jumped to the ground and sprinted toward a large tree about 100 yards away.He found another shelter in the tree where he could observe the gangsters' every move. He really wanted to have fun with them again, so he raised the "loudspeaker" again. "Drop the ivory!" he cried. "Drop the ivory! What use is ivory to a man who is about to meet God?" Some Manzhima began to drop their ivory from their shoulders.However, for the greedy Arabs, this is too much.They yelled and cursed at the top of their voices, pointed their guns at the slaves carrying ivory, and threatened that anyone who dared to let go would be punished on the spot! They may not burn down the black villages, but it is impossible for them to give up this huge wealth-they would rather die than throw away the treasures they have acquired. In this way, they left the village of Wanqirui, slaves carrying a lot of fine ivory on their shoulders.They set off to the north, where their hometown was—deep in the primeval forest, an unknown wild land on the banks of the Congo River.At this time, many blacks who were missing and full of hatred were quietly marching on both sides of the team. Under the leadership of Taishan, the black warriors of the Wanqirui tribe ambushed in the thickest bushes on both sides of the path, and the distance between them was quite far.When the bandits approached, a poisoned arrow or a spear whizzed past, piercing the hearts of the Manzhimas and Arabs.After the fight, they ran to the front as if flying, hid themselves, and waited for the opportunity to "show off again."They are all cautious, and they will never act rashly if they can't make every arrow.Therefore, although the number of arrows and spears thrown out were not many and the distances were far away, they hit every shot, and scared the bandits who were slowly moving forward with heavy ivory on their shoulders.Their partners who fell suddenly made them terrified and chilled, and they didn't know when they would suffer the same bad luck. It took a lot of effort for the Arabs to keep their slaves under control.Like terrified rabbits, these Manzhimas tried to drop the things on their shoulders and run away along the path to the north.Thus passed a day, a dreadful nightmare for the bandits, and an exhausting but glorious day for Van Qiri's warriors.At night, the Arabs opened up a campsite in an open space beside a small river, and then piled up deer stockades to sleep in the open. At night, gunshots passed over their heads from time to time.Amidst the gunshots, some of the dozen or so sentinels standing guard around fell to the ground and died.The situation was simply intolerable.Because they see that if this continues, they will all be wiped out, and the other party will not lose even a hair.But the insatiable greed of the white man made these Arabs cling to the looted treasure.After dawn, they forced the demoralized Manzhima to carry the ivory, which meant death, and staggered towards the jungle. For three more days the dwindling procession trembled on the perilous road.Every hour they were accompanied by the poisoned arrows and spears of Death.The night became more and more frightening, and gunshots sounded from time to time in the dark. Going out to stand guard is tantamount to going to the execution ground. On the morning of the fourth day, the Arabs had to kill two Manzhimas in order to force everyone to pick up the hateful ivory and continue on their way.At this time, a clear and powerful voice sounded in the jungle: "Brothers Manzhima! If you don't put down your ivory, you will die anyway. Fight back and kill the cruel master! You have guns in your hands, why not use them ?Kill those Arabs, we will do no harm to you! We will bring you back to our village, feed you, and send you out of our tribal territory in peace. Lay down your ivory and go beat your master, we I will help you, or you will die!" As soon as the shout fell, the gangsters stood there dumbfounded.The Arabs looked at the group of Manzhima slaves, and the slaves also looked at each other, waiting for someone to lead.Now there are only more than 30 Arabs left, but there are 150 Manzhimas.They all had guns, and even the porters carried rifles slung across their shoulders. The Arabs gathered together, and the chief ordered the Manjima to continue on their way.As he spoke, he cocked the hammer of the rifle and held it flat.But at this moment, a black man threw down the ivory he was carrying on his shoulder, took his rifle from his body, and shot the Arab.The crowd immediately shouted and cursed into chaos, knives flashed, rifles and pistols were fired.The Arabs stood together and struggled to protect their lives.However, the slaves rained bullets on them, and Wan Qirui's men in the jungle also shot poisonous arrows and spears.In this way, the Arabs were all killed in less than ten minutes from the time when the first porter dropped the ivory from his shoulder. After the battle, Taishan shouted to the Manzhima people: "Carry the ivory and send it back to the village, and return it to the original owner. We will not harm you!" The Manzhima hesitated for a moment.They didn't want to go back the same way and trek for three more days.They talked together in low voices for a while, and then one of them turned his face in the direction of the jungle and shouted at the big tree where Tarzan was hiding. "How can we know that when we return to the village, you promise not to kill us?" he asked. Taishan replied: "We promise not to harm you. But you should understand that if you don't follow my order, we can kill you at any time. If you annoy us, the possibility of being killed is not even greater. ?" "Who are you? How do you speak the Arabic our master speaks?" cried the Manjima "spokesman." "Let us see you and give you an answer." Tai Shan came out of the jungle and stood about ten meters away from them. "Look!" he said.The Manzhima were startled to see a white man standing before them.Never seen a white savage before.As for his well-developed muscles and burly body, they were even more amazed. "You can trust me," said Tarzan, "as long as you do what I tell you, and don't hurt my people, we will never hurt you. In a word, you plan to carry the ivory on your shoulders and go back to our home with us obediently." What about the village! Or would you rather let us follow you northward as we have done for the past three days?" Thinking of everything he had experienced in the past three days, the Manzhima finally made up his mind. After a brief discussion, they picked up the ivory and walked towards the village of Wanqirui along the same road. On the third day, they entered the gate of the village, and the survivors of the massacre ran out together to welcome the triumphant return of the samurai.On the day the bandits withdrew from the village, Taishan sent people to the temporary camp and told them that they could go back to the village safely. Men, women and children in the Wanqirui tribe gritted their teeth with hatred for these Manzhima people, wishing they could pounce on them and tear them to pieces.Taishan persuaded them with kind words and reprimanded them severely, insisting not to let them do this.He explained to the group that he had promised the Manzhima that nothing would be done to them as long as they returned the stolen ivory to where it came from.The villagers, thinking that they owed all their victory to Tarzan, had to agree with him and allow the cannibals to rest in the fence. On this night, the warriors held a grand ceremony to celebrate the victory and elect a new leader.Since the death of Wan Qirui, Taishan has been leading the warriors in battle, and the command power naturally falls into his hands.At that time, the situation was urgent and there was no time to choose a leader from among our own people; the second was that under the command of Mount Tai, they had achieved brilliant results, and everyone was afraid that the power would change hands and lose the victories they had won, so there was no discussion about this matter. , These days, everyone has seen with their own eyes the consequences of not listening to the advice of this white savage.Take old Wan Qirui's attack on the village as an example. If he had listened to Mount Tai, the attack would never fail, and he himself would not die.Based on the above facts, it is a matter of course for Taishan to be finally elected as the tribal leader. The chieftains of the tribe formed a circle around a small ridge fire, discussing the merits and demerits of the nominees to be Van Qiri's successor.Busuri spoke first: "Van Qirui is dead and has no son. According to past experience, only one of us can make a good king; only one can lead us successfully to defeat the white men who are armed with guns. In case of loss, win. There is only one man, and that is the white man who has been leading us in battle for the past few days!" Busuri jumped up, holding a spear in his hand, bowed his waist, and surrounded the Taishan danced slowly, dancing to the beat of his footsteps, and sang a song of praise: "Wan Qiduan, the king of the tribe, Wan Qirui, the hero who wiped out the Arab bandits! Wan Qirui, the king of the tribe!" !" One by one the other warriors joined in the solemn dance, expressing their assent in this unique way.The women came too, squatting by the fire, clapping their hands to the beat of the dancers' steps, and joining the chorus of warriors.Tarzan the ape sits in the middle of the circle of people.Now he has become the leader of the Wanqirui tribe - Wan Qiduan.Because like his predecessors, he was going to take the tribe's name as his own. The dancers moved faster and faster, and the savage cries rose louder and louder. The women stood up and sang along with the men, screaming at the top of their voices.They waved their spears frantically, bent down from time to time, and beat the hard-trodden dirt of the village street with their shields.This is a primitive and barbaric picture of a long, long time ago when human beings were still in their ignorance. The dancers became more and more excited, and Tarzan joined the wild dance.He jumped and yelled among the swarthy and shiny black brothers, imitating their appearance and frantically swinging the spear in his hand, and the last trace of civilized people disappeared. At this moment, he was already a complete primitive people.He is completely indulging in the joy of freedom and savagery that he loves, and he is also satisfied with his "throne" among these blacks. If Olga de'Caud saw him now, how could she recognize that well-dressed, elegant-looking, impeccably-mannered, well-bred young man with whom she had been so enamored a few months ago?And Jenny Potter!Could she still love the savage tribal chief who danced naked among his naked "subjects"?As for D'Arnot, could he believe that this was the young gentleman whom he had introduced to a carefully selected group of the most elegant clubs in Paris?If, in the House of Lords, one pointed to this dancing giant with his savage headdress and tin feet, and said, "Gentlemen, this is John Clayton, Lord Greystoke," the nobles would With what kind of eyes do you look at him? In this way, Tarzan the ape became the real king of the tribe.Along the evolutionary path of his ancestors, he moved forward slowly and step by step.Because didn't he just start from the bottom of this evolution?