by J. T. Edson
Apart from four men who were standing watch over the prisoners, the hobbled gatahs and their companions, the Mun-Gatahs had removed their helmets and breastplates. The garments were close to them as they lay sleeping. So was each man’s lance, sword and, in some cases, a fighting axe. Although they would not have time to don the protective clothing, they had arms readily available with which to defend themselves.
Despite surprise being in his party’s favor, the blond giant knew that victory was anything but a sinecure. With the deaths of the four outer sentries, the odds were slightly in their favor, but they would be contending against trained warriors.
‘We’re ready, Bunduki!’ Lo-Pak stated sotto voce as he returned. Although his face showed tension, his voice was steady. The shilva in his right hand was grasped with grim determination. ‘Give the signal!’
The blond giant nodded.
The time was come!
The moment of truth had arrived for the Telonga hunters!
Chapter Sixteen – They’ve Already Taken Dawn Away
‘AAAH—EEE—AAAH—EEE—AAGH!’
Loud and menacing as the rumble of thunder directly overhead, the fearsome challenge of a bull-Mangani roared into the silence of the night. In addition to it being the signal awaited by his companions, it produced the kind of effect which Bunduki had anticipated.
Hampered by their hobbles, the assorted gatahs reared, plunged, and some of them fell as they tried to flee from whatever terrible creature might have produced the awesome sound.
Giving frightened cries and screams, those of the prisoners who were not sleeping came to their feet and disturbed such of their fellow sufferers who had not been awakened by the blond giant’s call.
No less startled, the Mun-Gatahs’ guards stared into the darkness. Even the pair nearest to the gatahs did nothing to try and avert the panic among them. Aroused from their slumbers, the rest of the warriors began to snatch up weapons. Before they could do so, their attackers were erupting from the bushes and falling upon them.
Snapping his right arm back and forward, Bunduki flung the m’kuki at the nearest guard. Effective as the warrior’s breastplate would have been against practically any weapon in the possession of the other nations of Zillikian, it offered no more protection from the superior design and steel of the m’kuki than it would have done if one of the blond giant’s modern arrows discharged by the custom built Super Kodiak bow had struck it. Impaled through the chest even as his mouth opened to raise the alarm, the stricken man twirled around and fell.
Being aware of the danger posed by the armored sentries, Bunduki had given instructions regarding their treatment. The methods to be used were those he had already advised as being most suitable for dealing with such well protected enemies. All were staring in his direction and only one managed to turn as At-Vee, Gar-Zok and Am-Kok rushed forward to take advantage of their lack of vigilance.
Fortunately perhaps, the exception was a man selected by At-Vee. What was more, finding himself confronted by a man who had the appearance of being one of the despised Telongas but who was carrying a weapon and showed no fear, the warrior was taken aback. Nor was he granted an opportunity to recover from his surprise. Coming into range, the big hunter struck as he had when dealing with the Mun-Gatah at the village. Passing below the rim of the helmet, the spike of the shilva sank home with the same deadly effect.
Before either of the other two guards became aware of their peril, it was too late. Swung overhand, the hammer-like end of Gar-Zok’s shilva descended on to the top of his victim’s head. Despite its metal covering, the recipient of the blow was driven to his knees. On landing, his helmet was jolted off. Again the shilva swung, to smash open his now unprotected skull.
Although Am-Kok delivered his blow in the same manner as had At-Vee, he followed Gar-Zok’s example in using the hammer and not the point. The result was just as deadly. Caught with terrible force at the back of the skull, the man went down with a broken neck.
Then the battle was joined!
Taken unawares, amazed to find themselves under attack by men who looked like their prisoners but who were in an un-Telonga-like ferocity, the freshly awakened Mun-Gatahs were far from at their best. For all that, they began to fight and, but for one factor, might have overcome their assailants.
Into the thick of the enemy and the first to reach them was Bunduki, the huge Randall bowie knife in his right hand. He was no longer civilized and the rage that he exhibited was terrible to behold. Yet his savagery was not that of a bull-Mangani in the kind of homicidal frenzy that had been a contributory element in their extinction on Earth. Rather he was answering to the call of the Viking blood which had flowed through the veins of his two illustrious ancestors, Mark Counter and Sir Henry Curtis. He acted like a berserker from the old Norse legends.
As the blond giant hurled himself into the fray, his knife and shield seemed to take on a life and independent will of their own. While the former laid open one warrior’s throat, the latter swung to protect its wielder from a second Mun-Gatah’s sword. Brushing the attacking weapon aside with the shield, Bunduki thrust the clip point of the bowie knife into the man’s heart.
Inspired by Bunduki’s example and their memories of the atrocities committed by the men they were attacking, the hunters fought with grim and awesome determination. Nor, in the heat of the battle, did they have time to consider the nature of the warriors they were opposing. Shilvas and spears were blooded as they would have been when dealing with an encircled band of mandrills whose depredations made it imperative that they be destroyed. The latter weapons were particularly effective as they out-ranged the Mun-Gatahs’ swords or axes. The Mun-Gatah lances were not brought into use.
Bleeding from a gash in his thigh, At-Vee snatched his shilvas spike free from the skull of the man who had wounded him. To his right, he saw the People-Taker kill one of the Rol-Mat hunters. Swinging around, the Mun-Gatah rushed at At-Vee with his bloody sword driving forward in a lunge. Hardly able to stand, the big hunter used the hammerhead of his shilva to good effect. Meant to batter aside his assailant’s weapon, the force of the impact shattered its blade. Up drove the shilva in a backhand swing. The spike went in beneath the People-Taker’s chin with such force that it reached his brain and he collapsed like a punctured balloon.
Axe in hand and snarling with rage as he watched the last of his men being killed by their infuriated attackers, Dryaka’s captain charged at the man he guessed was the primary cause of his misfortunes.
Catching sight of his latest assailant from the corner of his eye as his knife dealt death to another warrior, Bunduki responded without the need for conscious thought. Like a flash, he inserted the top edge of his shield under the handle of the captain’s axe as it was approaching his head, and heaved. For all his strength, the Mun-Gatah could not prevent his weapon from being knocked upwards. An instant later, a slash from the gore-red bowie knife’s false edge disemboweled him.
Then the fighting was over!
Not one of the People-Taker’s detachment survived the merciless onslaught of their enraged assailants. However, because of the unexpected nature of the hunters’ arrival and actions, only six of the Telongas had been killed and ten were suffering from various degrees of wounds.
Bursting from among the horrified huddle of prisoners, Joar-Fane rushed across the clearing. It said much for the devotion which had grown between herself and Dawn Drummond-Clayton that, despite seeing At-Vee was injured, she went straight to the blond giant.
‘You—you’re too late, Bunduki!’ the little Telonga girl gasped out. They’ve already taken Dawn away!’
Sobbing and behaving as she was to blame, Joar-Fane went on to explain what had happened to the blond giant’s bride-to-be. Although the little girl had been unconscious at the time, she had on recovering learned the details from the other captives. Instead of being carried along by the abducted villagers, Dawn had been placed in a sturdy bamboo cage on a light-weight cart drawn by four
gatahs—which Joar-Fane had described as the ‘striped animals ridden by the Mun-Gatahs’—and sent ahead of the main body with a small mounted escort. The little girl had been warned by the People-Taker that if she tried to make another escape, he would have twenty of her fellow captives put to death in a most painful manner. She insisted that, despite the warning, she had been determined to do so during the night if help did not come.
‘Bunduki!’ cried Joar-Fane at the end of her story, tears pouring down her cheeks and her expressive face showing the misery she was suffering. ‘What are we to do?’
‘You can take your people back to Jey-Mat and have all the Telongas make preparations to defend themselves in case the rest of the Mun-Gatahs come seeking revenge,’ the blond giant replied.
‘But what about Dawn?’ Joar-Fane insisted.
‘I’m going after her,’ Bunduki answered and looking at him, the little Telonga girl felt that she would be sorry for the man, or beast, that tried to halt him in his quest.
What happens next will be told in: SACRIFICE FOR THE QUAGGA GOD
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More on J. T. EDSON
i Details of Mark Counter’s history are given in the ‘Floating Outfit’ series of biographies by J. T. Edson.
ii If Sir Henry Curtis’s biographer, H. Rider Haggard, knew of the illegitimate son, he was too tactful to mention the matter in either KING SOLOMON’S MINES or ALLAN QUATERMAIN.
iii How this came about is told in; BUNDUKI.
iv What happened to James Bowie’s knife after his death during the Siege of the Alamo Mission—at San Antonio de Bexar, Texas, on March the 6th, 1836—is told in: THE QUEST FOR BOWIE’S BLADE.
v Clip point: one where the back of the blade curves to meet the main cutting edge in a concave line. In the case of the Randall Model 12 ‘Smithsonian’ bowie knife, the arcs ‘false’ or Hop’ cutting edge is five and a quarter inches in length and as sharp as the blade’s main cutting surface.
vi How this came about is told in: TARZAN AF THE APES by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
vii The Mangani of Zillikian, a pre-human phase of hominid evolution, were a transtory stage between Australopithecus and Homo Erectus Erectus and slightly further advanced than those which raised the 7th Lord Greystoke. Due to a lack of details when Mr. Commissioner—later Sir Henry—Sanders, CM.G. (see the various volumes of biography by Edgar Wallace for information regarding Sanders of the River’s career) told Edgar Rice Burroughs about Tarzan and, later, in deference to Lord Greystoke’s desire to protect the Mangani from interference and exploitation by human beings, they were described as being giant Anthropoid Apes. Since they are now extinct on Earth, the restrictions have been lifted and it can be stated that they were a late species of Australopithecus Robustus. To avoid possible prosecution for contravening the British Official Secrets Act, neither E.R.B. nor Mr. Wallace disclosed the true identity of the formers informant.
viii * Like many primitive peoples on Earth, the nations of Zillikian used the twenty-eight day cycle of their moon as a means of measuring the passage of time. Their year was further divided into two periods, each preceded by a rainy season.
ix Raiding and warfare between the Mun-Gatahs and the other warrior nations served to keep their populations within the bounds that their territories could sustain.
x What the ‘Thunder Powder’ is and the use to which it was put is told in: SACRIFICE FOR THE QUAGGA GOD.
xi Quagga: exterminated in South Africa during the 1870s, Equus Quagga was a species of zebra characterized by having lark stripes only on the head, neck and front part of its brownish body. The name is onomatopoeic, being derived from the quagga’s snort of alarm.
xii Because of its Spanish and Mexican connotations, Texans rarely use the word ‘cinch.’
xiii Dwelling upon the plains, the Mun-Gatahs were so dependent upon their domesticated zebras that their entire culture was based upon the different sub-species of Equus Quagga. In fact, their nations name meant ‘Riders of the Striped Animals.’ The lowest social order rode the grar-gatah, which had the black and white striping and gridiron pattern on the hind quarters of a Grant’s zebra. People of the next higher grade used the ocha-gatah, with the orange or cream and black striped colouration of the Burchell’s. The aristocracy had the banar-gatah, which resembled the Grevy’s by being larger and having numerous narrow black stripes but no transverse bars on the rump. A further division among the classes came from whether one sat a stallion, a mare, or a gelding. Because of its standing in their religious beliefs, only the Council of Elders, the High Priest, the Protectress, the six District Administrators and their wives were allowed to ride the rarest of the sub-species, the quagga.
xiv Being unable to care for his younger brother adequately after the deaths of their parents, Captain Hugh ‘Bulldog’ Drummond, q.v., accepted Lord and Lady Greystoke’s suggestion that they adopt John. As a result, the boy became known as Drummond-Clayton, the latter being the Greystokes’ family name.
xv How this came about is told in THE SON OF TARZAN by Edgar Rice Burroughs. However, at Lord Greystoke’s request, E.R.B. did not reveal John Drummond-Clayton’s true identity in this book. Permission now having been granted, the situation has been clarified by fictionist geneaologist Philip José Farmer in his biographical work; TARZAN ALIVE.
xvi The history of Captain Hugh ‘Bulldog’ Drummond is recorded in the books of H. C. ‘Sapper’ Melville and Gerald Fairlie. They were instructed to avoid making any references to the Captain’s younger brother so that his enemies would not learn of the boy’s whereabouts.
xvii Although Armand John Drummond-Clayton and his wife had served in the same Resistance Group as Miss Amelia Benkinsop, M.A., B.Sc. (Oxon), Hon Mem. H.O.G.A. (Holloway Old Girls’ Association)—-some of whom’s exploits are recorded in BLONDE GENIUS by J. T. Edson—their family background did not meet with the specialized requirements for Dawn to attend Benkinsop’s Academy For The Daughters of Gentlefolk.
xviii Kopje: a small hill, from the Afrikaans’ word meaning a peak’.
xix Esmeralda Moreland, Lady Greystoke’s Negress maid who also acted as Dawn’s nurse.
xx Tar-Numa: Mangani name, Tar, white, Numa, lion. The lioness is Sabor, the different appearances of the male and female of the species Pantheras Leo Leo being so obvious that each could be given its own name.
xxi The correct, grammatically perfect original language was called ‘Ki-Swahili.’
xxii Fungua safari: Start the journey. Amri kwa nani?: By whose order? Literally, Order of who? Amri ya bwana mkubwa: By order of the big master. In the version sung by members of the King’s African Rifles, the last two lines were:—Amri ya bwana captain, Amri ya K.R., meaning order of K.R., King’s Regulations.
xxiii Knowing that there was no longer any future for them in Kenya after Independence had been granted, all the other members of the Greystoke clan had accepted an invitation from David Innes —details of whose career are given in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ series of Pellucidar biographies, while Lord Greystoke’s first visit is described in TARZAN AT THE EARTH’S CORE by the same author—to make their new homes in his primitive world inside the Earth, Dawn and Bunduki could have gone, but they were employed as instructress of physical education at the University of Ambagasali and Chief Warden of the Ambagasali Wild Life Reserve and had decided to remain in the posts until their contracts expired.
xxiv Raptors, birds of prey, trained for falconry are kept hooded and fastened to stands, not in cages.
xxv To avoid confusion, the author uses Earth’s and not Zillikian’s names for animals—except in the case of the different kinds of gatahs—distances, and the measuring of time.
xxvi Moran: a member of a warrior clan.
> xxvii M’kuki: a throwing, as opposed to stabbing, spear.
xxviii Details of Clark Savage, Jr.’s, life and adventures are given in Kenneth Robeson’s series of ‘Doc Savage’ biographies—published in Great Britain by Corgi Books—and in DOC SAVAGE, HIS APOCALYPTIC LIFE by Philip José Farmer. Unfortunately, the doctor had been unable to isolate the immunity element of the Kavuru pills so that it could be reproduced without the added effect of increasing the recipients’ life expectancy, a factor which tendered the pills unsuitable for general use.
xxix Told in; TARZAN’S QUEST by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
xxx Jiggers: also known as ‘chiggers’ or ‘chigoes.’ The Tunga Penetrans flea, the females of which bury under skin, particularly of the feet, to lay eggs. On hatching the larvae feed upon the host’s flesh, causing sores and, in extreme cases, resulting in the loss of the toes.
