Tarzan of the Apes - The Original Classic Edition. Burroughs Edgar

So it was that he spied Tarzan as the boy emerged from the clawing,

       pushing throng with that hairy forearm hugged firmly to his body.

       Tublat's little, close-set, bloodshot, pig-eyes shot wicked gleams of hate as they fell upon the object of his loathing. In them, too, was greed for the toothsome dainty the boy carried.

       But Tarzan saw his arch enemy as quickly, and divining what the great beast would do he leaped nimbly away toward the females and the young, hoping to hide himself among them. Tublat, however, was close upon his heels, so that he had no opportunity to seek a place of concealment,

       but saw that he would be put to it to escape at all.

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       Swiftly he sped toward the surrounding trees and with an agile bound gained a lower limb with one hand, and then, transferring his burden to his teeth, he climbed rapidly upward, closely followed by Tublat.

       Up, up he went to the waving pinnacle of a lofty monarch of the forest where his heavy pursuer dared not follow him. There he perched, hurling taunts and insults at the raging, foaming beast fifty feet

       below him.

       And then Tublat went mad.

       With horrifying screams and roars he rushed to the ground, among the females and young, sinking his great fangs into a dozen tiny necks and tearing great pieces from the backs and breasts of the females who fell into his clutches.

       In the brilliant moonlight Tarzan witnessed the whole mad carnival of rage. He saw the females and the young scamper to the safety of the trees. Then the great bulls in the center of the arena felt the mighty fangs of their demented fellow, and with one accord they melted into the black shadows of the overhanging forest.

       There was but one in the amphitheater beside Tublat, a belated female running swiftly toward the tree where Tarzan perched, and close behind her came the awful Tublat.

       It was Kala, and as quickly as Tarzan saw that Tublat was gaining on

       her he dropped with the rapidity of a falling stone, from branch to

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       branch, toward his foster mother.

       Now she was beneath the overhanging limbs and close above her crouched

       Tarzan, waiting the outcome of the race.

       She leaped into the air grasping a low-hanging branch, but almost over the head of Tublat, so nearly had he distanced her. She should have been safe now but there was a rending, tearing sound, the branch broke and precipitated her full upon the head of Tublat, knocking him to the ground.

       Both were up in an instant, but as quick as they had been Tarzan had been quicker, so that the infuriated bull found himself facing the

       man-child who stood between him and Kala.

       Nothing could have suited the fierce beast better, and with a roar of triumph he leaped upon the little Lord Greystoke. But his fangs never closed in that nut brown flesh.

       A muscular hand shot out and grasped the hairy throat, and another plunged a keen hunting knife a dozen times into the broad breast. Like lightning the blows fell, and only ceased when Tarzan felt the limp form crumple beneath him.

       As the body rolled to the ground Tarzan of the Apes placed his foot upon the neck of his lifelong enemy and, raising his eyes to the full moon, threw back his fierce young head and voiced the wild and terrible cry of his people.

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       One by one the tribe swung down from their arboreal retreats and formed a circle about Tarzan and his vanquished foe. When they had all come Tarzan turned toward them.

       "I am Tarzan," he cried. "I am a great killer. Let all respect Tarzan

       of the Apes and Kala, his mother. There be none among you as mighty as

       Tarzan. Let his enemies beware."

       Looking full into the wicked, red eyes of Kerchak, the young Lord Greystoke beat upon his mighty breast and screamed out once more his shrill cry of defiance.

       Chapter VIII

       The Tree-top Hunter

       The morning after the Dum-Dum the tribe started slowly back through the forest toward the coast.