Just at dusk he found a canoe moored1 to the bank of a small tributary2 of the Ugambi at a point where he had felt certain that he should find one.
Without loss of time he piled his hideous3 fellows into the craft and shoved out into the stream. So quickly had they taken possession of the canoe that the warrior4 had not noticed that it was already occupied. The huddled5 figure sleeping in the bottom had entirely6 escaped his observation in the darkness of the night that had now fallen.
But no sooner were they afloat than a savage7 growling9 from one of the apes directly ahead of him in the dugout attracted his attention to a shivering and cowering10 figure that trembled between him and the great anthropoid11. To Mugambi's astonishment12 he saw that it was a native woman. With difficulty he kept the ape from her throat, and after a time succeeded in quelling13 her fears.
It seemed that she had been fleeing from marriage with an old man she loathed14 and had taken refuge for the night in the canoe she had found upon the river's edge.
Mugambi did not wish her presence, but there she was, and rather than lose time by returning her to the shore the black permitted her to remain on board the canoe.
As quickly as his awkward companions could paddle the dugout down-stream toward the Ugambi and the Kincaid they moved through the darkness. It was with difficulty that Mugambi could make out the shadowy form of the steamer, but as he had it between himself and the ocean it was much more apparent than to one upon either shore of the river.
As he approached it he was amazed to note that it seemed to be receding15 from him, and finally he was convinced that the vessel16 was moving down-stream. Just as he was about to urge his creatures to renewed efforts to overtake the steamer the outline of another canoe burst suddenly into view not three yards from the bow of his own craft.
At the same instant the occupants of the stranger discovered the proximity17 of Mugambi's horde18, but they did not at first recognize the nature of the fearful crew. A man in the bow of the oncoming boat challenged them just as the two dugouts were about to touch.
For answer came the menacing growl8 of a panther, and the fellow found himself gazing into the flaming eyes of Sheeta, who had raised himself with his forepaws upon the bow of the boat, ready to leap in upon the occupants of the other craft.
Instantly Rokoff realized the peril19 that confronted him and his fellows. He gave a quick command to fire upon the occupants of the other canoe, and it was this volley and the scream of the terrified native woman in the canoe with Mugambi that both Tarzan and Jane had heard.
Before the slower and less skilled paddlers in Mugambi's canoe could press their advantage and effect a boarding of the enemy the latter had turned swiftly down-stream and were paddling for their lives in the direction of the Kincaid, which was now visible to them.
The vessel after striking upon the bar had swung loose again into a slow-moving eddy20, which returns up-stream close to the southern shore of the Ugambi only to circle out once more and join the downward flow a hundred yards or so farther up. Thus the Kincaid was returning Jane Clayton directly into the hands of her enemies.
It so happened that as Tarzan sprang into the river the vessel was not visible to him, and as he swam out into the night he had no idea that a ship drifted so close at hand. He was guided by the sounds which he could hear coming from the two canoes.
As he swam he had vivid recollections of the last occasion upon which he had swum in the waters of the Ugambi, and with them a sudden shudder21 shook the frame of the giant.
But, though he twice felt something brush his legs from the slimy depths below him, nothing seized him, and of a sudden he quite forgot about crocodiles in the astonishment of seeing a dark mass loom23 suddenly before him where he had still expected to find the open river.
So close was it that a few strokes brought him up to the thing, when to his amazement24 his outstretched hand came in contact with a ship's side.
As the agile25 ape-man clambered over the vessel's rail there came to his sensitive ears the sound of a struggle at the opposite side of the deck.
Noiselessly he sped across the intervening space.
The moon had risen now, and, though the sky was still banked with clouds, a lesser26 darkness enveloped27 the scene than that which had blotted28 out all sight earlier in the night. His keen eyes, therefore, saw the figures of two men grappling with a woman.
That it was the woman who had accompanied Anderssen toward the interior he did not know, though he suspected as much, as he was now quite certain that this was the deck of the Kincaid upon which chance had led him.
But he wasted little time in idle speculation29. There was a woman in danger of harm from two ruffians, which was enough excuse for the ape-man to project his giant thews into the conflict without further investigation30.
The first that either of the sailors knew that there was a new force at work upon the ship was the falling of a mighty31 hand upon a shoulder of each. As if they had been in the grip of a fly-wheel, they were jerked suddenly from their prey32.
"What means this?" asked a low voice in their ears.
They were given no time to reply, however, for at the sound of that voice the young woman had sprung to her feet and with a little cry of joy leaped toward their assailant.
"Tarzan!" she cried.
The ape-man hurled33 the two sailors across the deck, where they rolled, stunned34 and terrified, into the scuppers upon the opposite side, and with an exclamation35 of incredulity gathered the girl into his arms.
Brief, however, were the moments for their greeting.
Scarcely had they recognized one another than the clouds above them parted to show the figures of a half-dozen men clambering over the side of the Kincaid to the steamer's deck.
Foremost among them was the Russian. As the brilliant rays of the equatorial moon lighted the deck, and he realized that the man before him was Lord Greystoke, he screamed hysterical36 commands to his followers37 to fire upon the two.
Tarzan pushed Jane behind the cabin near which they had been standing38, and with a quick bound started for Rokoff. The men behind the Russian, at least two of them, raised their rifles and fired at the charging ape-man; but those behind them were otherwise engaged—for up the monkey-ladder in their rear was thronging39 a hideous horde.
First came five snarling40 apes, huge, manlike beasts, with bared fangs41 and slavering jaws42; and after them a giant black warrior, his long spear gleaming in the moonlight.
Behind him again scrambled43 another creature, and of all the horrid44 horde it was this they most feared—Sheeta, the panther, with gleaming jaws agape and fiery45 eyes blazing at them in the mightiness46 of his hate and of his blood lust47.
The shots that had been fired at Tarzan missed him, and he would have been upon Rokoff in another instant had not the great coward dodged48 backward between his two henchmen, and, screaming in hysterical terror, bolted forward toward the forecastle.
For the moment Tarzan's attention was distracted by the two men before him, so that he could not at the time pursue the Russian. About him the apes and Mugambi were battling with the balance of the Russian's party.
Beneath the terrible ferocity of the beasts the men were soon scampering50 in all directions—those who still lived to scamper49, for the great fangs of the apes of Akut and the tearing talons51 of Sheeta already had found more than a single victim.
Four, however, escaped and disappeared into the forecastle, where they hoped to barricade52 themselves against further assault. Here they found Rokoff, and, enraged53 at his desertion of them in their moment of peril, no less than at the uniformly brutal54 treatment it had been his wont55 to accord them, they gloated upon the opportunity now offered them to revenge themselves in part upon their hated employer.
Despite his prayers and grovelling56 pleas, therefore, they hurled him bodily out upon the deck, delivering him to the mercy of the fearful things from which they had themselves just escaped.
Tarzan saw the man emerge from the forecastle—saw and recognized his enemy; but another saw him even as soon.
It was Sheeta, and with grinning jaws the mighty beast slunk silently toward the terror-stricken man.
When Rokoff saw what it was that stalked him his shrieks57 for help filled the air, as with trembling knees he stood, as one paralyzed, before the hideous death that was creeping upon him.
Tarzan took a step toward the Russian, his brain burning with a raging fire of vengeance58. At last he had the murderer of his son at his mercy. His was the right to avenge59.
Once Jane had stayed his hand that time that he sought to take the law into his own power and mete60 to Rokoff the death that he had so long merited; but this time none should stay him.
His fingers clenched61 and unclenched spasmodically as he approached the trembling Russ, beastlike and ominous62 as a brute63 of prey.
Presently he saw that Sheeta was about to forestall64 him, robbing him of the fruits of his great hate.
He called sharply to the panther, and the words, as if they had broken a hideous spell that had held the Russian, galvanized him into sudden action. With a scream he turned and fled toward the bridge.
Tarzan was about to leap after the two when he felt a light touch upon his arm. Turning, he found Jane at his elbow.
"Do not leave me," she whispered. "I am afraid."
Tarzan glanced behind her.
All about were the hideous apes of Akut. Some, even, were approaching the young woman with bared fangs and menacing guttural warnings.
The ape-man warned them back. He had forgotten for the moment that these were but beasts, unable to differentiate66 his friends and his foes67. Their savage natures were roused by their recent battle with the sailors, and now all flesh outside the pack was meat to them.
Tarzan turned again toward the Russian, chagrined68 that he should have to forgo22 the pleasure of personal revenge—unless the man should escape Sheeta. But as he looked he saw that there could be no hope of that. The fellow had retreated to the end of the bridge, where he now stood trembling and wide-eyed, facing the beast that moved slowly toward him.
The panther crawled with belly69 to the planking, uttering uncanny mouthings. Rokoff stood as though petrified70, his eyes protruding71 from their sockets72, his mouth agape, and the cold sweat of terror clammy upon his brow.
Below him, upon the deck, he had seen the great anthropoids, and so had not dared to seek escape in that direction. In fact, even now one of the brutes73 was leaping to seize the bridge-rail and draw himself up to the Russian's side.
Rokoff could not move. His knees trembled. His voice broke in inarticulate shrieks. With a last piercing wail75 he sank to his knees—and then Sheeta sprang.
As the great fangs tore at the throat and chest, Jane Clayton turned away in horror; but not so Tarzan of the Apes. A cold smile of satisfaction touched his lips. The scar upon his forehead that had burned scarlet77 faded to the normal hue78 of his tanned skin and disappeared.
Rokoff fought furiously but futilely79 against the growling, rending80 fate that had overtaken him. For all his countless81 crimes he was punished in the brief moment of the hideous death that claimed him at the last.
After his struggles ceased Tarzan approached, at Jane's suggestion, to wrest82 the body from the panther and give what remained of it decent human burial; but the great cat rose snarling above its kill, threatening even the master it loved in its savage way, so that rather than kill his friend of the jungle, Tarzan was forced to relinquish83 his intentions.
All that night Sheeta, the panther, crouched upon the grisly thing that had been Nikolas Rokoff. The bridge of the Kincaid was slippery with blood. Beneath the brilliant tropic moon the great beast feasted until, when the sun rose the following morning, there remained of Tarzan's great enemy only gnawed84 and broken bones.
Of the Russian's party, all were accounted for except Paulvitch. Four were prisoners in the Kincaid's forecastle. The rest were dead.
With these men Tarzan got up steam upon the vessel, and with the knowledge of the mate, who happened to be one of those surviving, he planned to set out in quest of Jungle Island; but as the morning dawned there came with it a heavy gale85 from the west which raised a sea into which the mate of the Kincaid dared not venture. All that day the ship lay within the shelter of the mouth of the river; for, though night witnessed a lessening86 of the wind, it was thought safer to wait for daylight before attempting the navigation of the winding87 channel to the sea.
Upon the deck of the steamer the pack wandered without let or hindrance88 by day, for they had soon learned through Tarzan and Mugambi that they must harm no one upon the Kincaid; but at night they were confined below.
Tarzan's joy had been unbounded when he learned from his wife that the little child who had died in the village of M'ganwazam was not their son. Who the baby could have been, or what had become of their own, they could not imagine, and as both Rokoff and Paulvitch were gone, there was no way of discovering.
There was, however, a certain sense of relief in the knowledge that they might yet hope. Until positive proof of the baby's death reached them there was always that to buoy89 them up.
It seemed quite evident that their little Jack90 had not been brought aboard the Kincaid. Anderssen would have known of it had such been the case, but he had assured Jane time and time again that the little one he had brought to her cabin the night he aided her to escape was the only one that had been aboard the Kincaid since she lay at Dover.
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1
moored
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| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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tributary
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| n.支流；纳贡国；adj.附庸的；辅助的；支流的 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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8
growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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cowering
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
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anthropoid
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| adj.像人类的，类人猿的；n.类人猿；像猿的人 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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quelling
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| v.（用武力）制止，结束，镇压( quell的现在分词 ) | |
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14
loathed
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| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢 | |
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15
receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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proximity
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| n.接近，邻近 | |
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horde
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| n.群众，一大群 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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eddy
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| n.漩涡，涡流 | |
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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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forgo
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| v.放弃，抛弃 | |
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loom
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| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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agile
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| adj.敏捷的，灵活的 | |
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lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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33
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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34
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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thronging
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的现在分词 ) | |
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40
snarling
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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41
fangs
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| n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座 | |
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42
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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43
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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44
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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45
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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46
mightiness
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| n.强大 | |
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47
lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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48
dodged
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| v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避 | |
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49
scamper
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| v.奔跑，快跑 | |
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50
scampering
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| v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的现在分词 ) | |
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51
talons
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| n.（尤指猛禽的）爪( talon的名词复数 )；（如爪般的）手指；爪状物；锁簧尖状突出部 | |
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52
barricade
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| n.路障，栅栏，障碍；vt.设路障挡住 | |
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53
enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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54
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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55
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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56
grovelling
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| adj.卑下的，奴颜婢膝的v.卑躬屈节，奴颜婢膝( grovel的现在分词 )；趴 | |
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57
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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60
mete
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| v.分配；给予 | |
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61
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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forestall
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| vt.抢在…之前采取行动；预先阻止 | |
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65
pounced
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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66
differentiate
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| vi.(between)区分；vt.区别；使不同 | |
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foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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68
chagrined
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| adj.懊恼的，苦恼的v.使懊恼，使懊丧，使悔恨( chagrin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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70
petrified
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| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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71
protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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73
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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74
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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75
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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76
tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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77
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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78
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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79
futilely
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| futile（无用的）的变形； 干 | |
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80
rending
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| v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 )；分裂；（因愤怒、痛苦等而）揪扯（衣服或头发等）；（声音等）刺破 | |
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81
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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82
wrest
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| n.扭，拧，猛夺；v.夺取，猛扭，歪曲 | |
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83
relinquish
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| v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手 | |
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84
gnawed
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| 咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物 | |
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85
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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86
lessening
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| 减轻，减少，变小 | |
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87
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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88
hindrance
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| n.妨碍，障碍 | |
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89
buoy
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| n.浮标；救生圈；v.支持，鼓励 | |
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90
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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