Chapter 24
Sometimes lolling upon Tantor's back, sometimes roaming the jungle insolitude, Korak made his way slowly toward the West and South. He madebut a few miles a day, for he had a whole lifetime before him and noplace in particular to go. Possibly he would have moved more rapidlybut for the thought which continually haunted him that each mile hetraversed carried him further and further away from Meriem--no longerhis Meriem, as of yore, it is true! but still as dear to him as ever.
Thus he came upon the trail of The Sheik's band as it traveled downriver from the point where The Sheik had captured Meriem to his ownstockaded village. Korak pretty well knew who it was that had passed,for there were few in the great jungle with whom he was not familiar,though it had been years since he had come this far north. He had noparticular business, however, with the old Sheik and so he did notpropose following him--the further from men he could stay the betterpleased he would be--he wished that he might never see a human faceagain. Men always brought him sorrow and misery.
The river suggested fishing and so he dawdled upon its shores, catchingfish after a fashion of his own devising and eating them raw. Whennight came he curled up in a great tree beside the stream--the one fromwhich he had been fishing during the afternoon--and was soon asleep.Numa, roaring beneath him, awoke him. He was about to call out inanger to his noisy neighbor when something else caught his attention.He listened. Was there something in the tree beside himself? Yes, heheard the noise of something below him trying to clamber upward.Presently he heard the click of a crocodile's jaws in the watersbeneath, and then, low but distinct: "By George! The beggar nearly gotme." The voice was familiar.
Korak glanced downward toward the speaker. Outlined against the faintluminosity of the water he saw the figure of a man clinging to a lowerbranch of the tree. Silently and swiftly the ape-man clambereddownward. He felt a hand beneath his foot. He reached down andclutched the figure beneath him and dragged it up among the branches.It struggled weakly and struck at him; but Korak paid no more attentionthan Tantor to an ant. He lugged his burden to the higher safety andgreater comfort of a broad crotch, and there he propped it in a sittingposition against the bole of the tree. Numa still was roaring beneaththem, doubtless in anger that he had been robbed of his prey. Korakshouted down at him, calling him, in the language of the great apes,"Old green-eyed eater of carrion," "Brother of Dango," the hyena, andother choice appellations of jungle opprobrium.
The Hon. Morison Baynes, listening, felt assured that a gorilla hadseized upon him. He felt for his revolver, and as he was drawing itstealthily from its holster a voice asked in perfectly good English,"Who are you?"
Baynes started so that he nearly fell from the branch.
"My God!" he exclaimed. "Are you a man?"
"What did you think I was?" asked Korak.
"A gorilla," replied Baynes, honestly.
Korak laughed.
"Who are you?" he repeated.
"I'm an Englishman by the name of Baynes; but who the devil are you?"asked the Hon. Morison.
"They call me The Killer," replied Korak, giving the Englishtranslation of the name that Akut had given him. And then after apause during which the Hon. Morison attempted to pierce the darknessand catch a glimpse of the features of the strange being into whosehands he had fallen, "You are the same whom I saw kissing the girl atthe edge of the great plain to the East, that time that the lioncharged you?"
"Yes," replied Baynes.
"What are you doing here?"
"The girl was stolen--I am trying to rescue her."
"Stolen!" The word was shot out like a bullet from a gun. "Who stoleher?"
"The Swede trader, Hanson," replied Baynes.
"Where is he?"
Baynes related to Korak all that had transpired since he had come uponHanson's camp. Before he was done the first gray dawn had relieved thedarkness. Korak made the Englishman comfortable in the tree. Hefilled his canteen from the river and fetched him fruits to eat. Thenhe bid him good-bye.
"I am going to the Swede's camp," he announced. "I will bring the girlback to you here."
"I shall go, too, then," insisted Baynes. "It is my right and my duty,for she was to have become my wife."
Korak winced. "You are wounded. You could not make the trip," hesaid. "I can go much faster alone."
"Go, then," replied Baynes; "but I shall follow. It is my right andduty."
"As you will," replied Korak, with a shrug. If the man wanted to bekilled it was none of his affair. He wanted to kill him himself, butfor Meriem's sake he would not. If she loved him then he must do whathe could to preserve him, but he could not prevent his following him,more than to advise him against it, and this he did, earnestly.
And so Korak set out rapidly toward the North, and limping slowly andpainfully along, soon far to the rear, came the tired and woundedBaynes. Korak had reached the river bank opposite Malbihn's campbefore Baynes had covered two miles. Late in the afternoon theEnglishman was still plodding wearily along, forced to stop often forrest when he heard the sound of the galloping feet of a horse behindhim. Instinctively he drew into the concealing foliage of theunderbrush and a moment later a white-robed Arab dashed by. Baynes didnot hail the rider. He had heard of the nature of the Arabs whopenetrate thus far to the South, and what he had heard had convincedhim that a snake or a panther would as quickly befriend him as one ofthese villainous renegades from the Northland.
When Abdul Kamak had passed out of sight toward the North Baynesresumed his weary march. A half hour later he was again surprised bythe unmistakable sound of galloping horses. This time there were many.Once more he sought a hiding place; but it chanced that he was crossinga clearing which offered little opportunity for concealment. He brokeinto a slow trot--the best that he could do in his weakened condition;but it did not suffice to carry him to safety and before he reached theopposite side of the clearing a band of white-robed horsemen dashedinto view behind him.
At sight of him they shouted in Arabic, which, of course, he could notunderstand, and then they closed about him, threatening and angry.Their questions were unintelligible to him, and no more could theyinterpret his English. At last, evidently out of patience, the leaderordered two of his men to seize him, which they lost no time in doing.They disarmed him and ordered him to climb to the rump of one of thehorses, and then the two who had been detailed to guard him turned androde back toward the South, while the others continued their pursuit ofAbdul Kamak.
As Korak came out upon the bank of the river across from which he couldsee the camp of Malbihn he was at a loss as to how he was to cross. Hecould see men moving about among the huts inside the boma--evidentlyHanson was still there. Korak did not know the true identity ofMeriem's abductor.
How was he to cross. Not even he would dare the perils of theriver--almost certain death. For a moment he thought, then wheeled andsped away into the jungle, uttering a peculiar cry, shrill andpiercing. Now and again he would halt to listen as though for ananswer to his weird call, then on again, deeper and deeper into thewood.
At last his listening ears were rewarded by the sound they craved--thetrumpeting of a bull elephant, and a few moments later Korak brokethrough the trees into the presence of Tantor, standing with upraisedtrunk, waving his great ears.
"Quick, Tantor!" shouted the ape-man, and the beast swung him to hishead. "Hurry!" and the mighty pachyderm lumbered off through thejungle, guided by kicking of naked heels against the sides of his head.
Toward the northwest Korak guided his huge mount, until they came outupon the river a mile or more above the Swede's camp, at a point whereKorak knew that there was an elephant ford. Never pausing the ape-manurged the beast into the river, and with trunk held high Tantor forgedsteadily toward the opposite bank. Once an unwary crocodile attackedhim but the sinuous trunk dove beneath the surface and grasping theamphibian about the middle dragged it to light and hurled it a hundredfeet down stream. And so, in
safety, they made the opposite shore,Korak perched high and dry above the turgid flood.
Then back toward the South Tantor moved, steadily, relentlessly, andwith a swinging gait which took no heed of any obstacle other than thelarger jungle trees. At times Korak was forced to abandon the broadhead and take to the trees above, so close the branches raked the backof the elephant; but at last they came to the edge of the clearingwhere lay the camp of the renegade Swede, nor even then did theyhesitate or halt. The gate lay upon the east side of the camp, facingthe river. Tantor and Korak approached from the north. There was nogate there; but what cared Tantor or Korak for gates.
At a word from the ape man and raising his tender trunk high above thethorns Tantor breasted the boma, walking through it as though it hadnot existed. A dozen blacks squatted before their huts looked up atthe noise of his approach. With sudden howls of terror and amazementthey leaped to their feet and fled for the open gates. Tantor wouldhave pursued. He hated man, and he thought that Korak had come to huntthese; but the ape man held him back, guiding him toward a large,canvas tent that rose in the center of the clearing--there should bethe girl and her abductor.
Malbihn lay in a hammock beneath canopy before his tent. His woundswere painful and he had lost much blood. He was very weak. He lookedup in surprise as he heard the screams of his men and saw them runningtoward the gate. And then from around the corner of his tent loomed ahuge bulk, and Tantor, the great tusker, towered above him. Malbihn'sboy, feeling neither affection nor loyalty for his master, broke andran at the first glimpse of the beast, and Malbihn was left alone andhelpless.
The elephant stopped a couple of paces from the wounded man's hammock.Malbihn cowered, moaning. He was too weak to escape. He could onlylie there with staring eyes gazing in horror into the blood rimmed,angry little orbs fixed upon him, and await his death.
Then, to his astonishment, a man slid to the ground from the elephant'sback. Almost at once Malbihn recognized the strange figure as that ofthe creature who consorted with apes and baboons--the white warrior ofthe jungle who had freed the king baboon and led the whole angry hordeof hairy devils upon him and Jenssen. Malbihn cowered still lower.
"Where is the girl?" demanded Korak, in English.
"What girl?" asked Malbihn. "There is no girl here--only the women ofmy boys. Is it one of them you want?"
"The white girl," replied Korak. "Do not lie to me--you lured her fromher friends. You have her. Where is she?"
"It was not I," cried Malbihn. "It was an Englishman who hired me tosteal her. He wished to take her to London with him. She was willingto go. His name is Baynes. Go to him, if you want to know where thegirl is."
"I have just come from him," said Korak. "He sent me to you. The girlis not with him. Now stop your lying and tell me the truth. Where isshe?" Korak took a threatening step toward the Swede.
Malbihn shrank from the anger in the other's face.
"I will tell you," he cried. "Do not harm me and I will tell you allthat I know. I had the girl here; but it was Baynes who persuaded herto leave her friends--he had promised to marry her. He does not knowwho she is; but I do, and I know that there is a great reward forwhoever takes her back to her people. It was the only reward I wanted.But she escaped and crossed the river in one of my canoes. I followedher, but The Sheik was there, God knows how, and he captured her andattacked me and drove me back. Then came Baynes, angry because he hadlost the girl, and shot me. If you want her, go to The Sheik and askhim for her--she has passed as his daughter since childhood."
"She is not The Sheik's daughter?" asked Korak.
"She is not," replied Malbihn.
"Who is she then?" asked Korak.
Here Malbihn saw his chance. Possibly he could make use of hisknowledge after all--it might even buy back his life for him. He wasnot so credulous as to believe that this savage ape-man would have anycompunctions about slaying him.
"When you find her I will tell you," he said, "if you will promise tospare my life and divide the reward with me. If you kill me you willnever know, for only The Sheik knows and he will never tell. The girlherself is ignorant of her origin."
"If you have told me the truth I will spare you," said Korak. "I shallgo now to The Sheik's village and if the girl is not there I shallreturn and slay you. As for the other information you have, if thegirl wants it when we have found her we will find a way to purchase itfrom you."
The look in the Killer's eyes and his emphasis of the word "purchase"were none too reassuring to Malbihn. Evidently, unless he found meansto escape, this devil would have both his secret and his life before hewas done with him. He wished he would be gone and take his evil-eyedcompanion away with him. The swaying bulk towering high above him, andthe ugly little eyes of the elephant watching his every move madeMalbihn nervous.
Korak stepped into the Swede's tent to assure himself that Meriem wasnot hid there. As he disappeared from view Tantor, his eyes stillfixed upon Malbihn, took a step nearer the man. An elephant's eyesightis none too good; but the great tusker evidently had harboredsuspicions of this yellow-bearded white man from the first. Now headvanced his snake-like trunk toward the Swede, who shrank still deeperinto his hammock.
The sensitive member felt and smelled back and forth along the body ofthe terrified Malbihn. Tantor uttered a low, rumbling sound. Hislittle eyes blazed. At last he had recognized the creature who hadkilled his mate long years before. Tantor, the elephant, never forgetsand never forgives. Malbihn saw in the demoniacal visage above him themurderous purpose of the beast. He shrieked aloud to Korak. "Help!Help! The devil is going to kill me!"
Korak ran from the tent just in time to see the enraged elephant'strunk encircle the beast's victim, and then hammock, canopy and manwere swung high over Tantor's head. Korak leaped before the animal,commanding him to put down his prey unharmed; but as well might he haveordered the eternal river to reverse its course. Tantor wheeled aroundlike a cat, hurled Malbihn to the earth and kneeled upon him with thequickness of a cat. Then he gored the prostrate thing through andthrough with his mighty tusks, trumpeting and roaring in his rage, andat last, convinced that no slightest spark of life remained in thecrushed and lacerated flesh, he lifted the shapeless clay that had beenSven Malbihn far aloft and hurled the bloody mass, still entangled incanopy and hammock, over the boma and out into the jungle.
Korak stood looking sorrowfully on at the tragedy he gladly would haveaverted. He had no love for the Swede, in fact only hatred; but hewould have preserved the man for the sake of the secret he possessed.Now that secret was gone forever unless The Sheik could be made todivulge it; but in that possibility Korak placed little faith.
The ape-man, as unafraid of the mighty Tantor as though he had not justwitnessed his shocking murder of a human being, signalled the beast toapproach and lift him to its head, and Tantor came as he was bid,docile as a kitten, and hoisted The Killer tenderly aloft.
From the safety of their hiding places in the jungle Malbihn's boys hadwitnessed the killing of their master, and now, with wide, frightenedeyes, they saw the strange white warrior, mounted upon the head of hisferocious charger, disappear into the jungle at the point from which hehad emerged upon their terrified vision.
The Son of Tarzan Page 24
