15 - Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Mysterious Footprints

Episode Transcript

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Chapter fifteen of Tarzan the Untamed.This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
recordings are in the public domain.For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Recording byLynne Thompson, Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar
Burrows, Chapter fifteen, Mysterious Footprints. As the British plane, piloted by

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Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith Oldwick, roseabove the jungle wilderness where Bertha Kircher's life
had so often been, upon thepoint of extinction, and sped toward the
east, the girl felt a suddencontraction of the muscles in her throat.
She tried very hard to swallow somethingthat was not there. It seemed strange

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to her that she should feel regretin leaving behind her such hideous perils,
and yet it was plain to herthat such was the fact, for she
was also leaving behind something beside theday that had menaced her, a unique
figure that had entered her life andfor which she felt an unaccountable attraction.
Before her, in the pilot's seatsat an English officer and gentleman whom she

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knew loved her. And yet shedared to feel regret in his company at
leaving the stamping ground of a wildbeast. Lieutenant Smith Oldwick, on his
part, was in the seventh heavenof elation. He was in possession again
of his beloved ship. He wasflying swiftly in the direction of his comrades
and his duty, and with himwas the woman he loved. The fly

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in the ointment. However, wasthe accusation Tarzan had made against this woman.
He has said that she was aGerman and a spy. And from
the heights of bliss the English officerwas occasionally plunged to the depths of despair
in contemplation of the inevitable were theape man's charges to prove true. He

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found himself torn between sentiments of loveand honor. On the one hand,
he could not surrender the woman heloved to the certain fate that must be
meeted out to her if she were, in truth an enemy's spy, while
on the other it would be equallyimpossible for him, as an Englishman and
an officer, to give her aidor protection. The young man contented himself

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therefore, with repeated mental denials ofher guilt. He tried to convince himself
that Tarzan was mistaken, and thenhe conjured upon the screen of recollection the
face of the girl behind him.He was doubly reassured that those lines of
sweet femininity and character, those clearand honest eyes, could not belong to
one of the hated alien race.And so they sped toward the east,

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each wrapped in his own thoughts.Below them, they saw the dense vegetation
of the jungle give place to thescantier growth upon the hill side, and
then before them spread the wide expanseof arid waste lands, marked by the
deep scarring of the narrow gorges thatlong gone rivers had cut there in some
forgotten age. Shortly after they passedthe summit of the ridge, which formed

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the boundary between the desert and thefertile country. Scar the vulture, wringing
his way at a high altitude towardshis eerie, caught sight of a strange
new bird of gigantic proportions encroaching uponthe preserves of his aerial domain. Whether
the intent to give battle to theinterloper or milli impelled by curiosity, scar

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rose suddenly upward to meet the plane. Doubtless he misjudged the speed of the
newcomer. But be that as itmay. The tip of the propeller blade
touched him, and simultaneously many thingshappened. The lifeless body of scar torn
and bleeding, dropped plummet like towardthe ground. A bit of splintered spruce
drove backward to strike the pilot onthe forehead. The plane shuddered and trembled,

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and as Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith Oldwicksank forward in momentary unconsciousness, the
ship dived headlong toward the earth.Only for an instant was the pilot unconscious,
but that instant almost proved their undoing. When he woke to a realization
of their peril, it was alsoto discover that his motor had stalled,

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the plane had attained frightful momentum,and the ground seemed too close for him
to hope to flatten out in timeto make a safe landing. Directly behind
him was a deep rift in theplateau, a narrow gorge, the bottom
of which appeared comparatively level and sandcovered. In the brief instant in which
he must reach a decision, thesafest plan seemed to attempt a landing in

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the gorge, and this he did, but not without considerable damage to the
plane and a severe shaking up forhimself and his passenger. Fortunately neither of
them was injured, but their conditionseemed indeed a hopeless one. It was
a grave question as to whether theman could repair his plane and continued a
journey, and it seemed equally questionableas to their ability in to proceed on

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foot to the coast or retrace theirway to the country they had just left.
The man was confident that they couldnot hope to cross the desert country
to the east in the face ofthirst and hunger, while behind them in
the Valley of Plenty lay almost equaldanger in the form of carnivores and the
warlike natives. After the plane cameto its sudden and disastrous stop, Smith

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Oldwick turned quickly to see what theeffect of the accident had been on the
girl. He found her pale butsmiling, and for several seconds the two
sat looking at each other in silence. This is the end, the girl
asked. The Englishman shook his head. It is the end of the first
leg anyway, he replied. Butyou can't hope to make repairs here,

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she said, dubiously. No,he said, not if they amount to
anything. But I may be ableto patch it up. I will have
to look her over a bit first. Let us hope there is nothing serious.
It's a long long way to theTanga railway. We would not get
far, said the girl, aslight note of hopelessness in her tone.

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Entirely unarmed as we are, itwould be little less than a miracle if
we covered even a small fraction ofthe distance. But we are not unarmed,
replied the man. I have anextra pistol here that the beggars didn't
discover, And removing the cover ofa compartment, he drew forth an automatic.
Bertha Kircher leaned back in her seatand laughed aloud, a mirthless,

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half hysterical laugh. That pot gun, she exclaimed. What earthly good would
it do other than to infuriate anybeast of prey you might happen to hit
with it? Psmith Oldwick looked rathercrestfallen. But it is a weapon,
he said. You will have toadmit that, and certainly I could kill
a man with it. You couldif you happened to hit him, said

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the girl. Or the thing didn'tjam really I haven't much faith in an
automatic I have used them myself.Oh, of course, he said ironically.
An express rifle would be better,for who knows, but we might
meet an elephant here in the desert. The girl saw that he was hurt,
and she was sorry, for sherealized that there was nothing he would

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not do in her service of protection, and that it was through no thought
of his that he was so illyarmed. Doubts too. He realized as
well as she the futility of hisweapon, and he had only called attention
to it in the hope of reassuringher and lessening her anxiety. Forgive me,
she said, I did not meanto be nasty, but this accident

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is the proverbial last straw. Itseems to me that I have borne all
that I can. Though I waswilling to give my life in the service
of my country, I did notimagine that my death agonies would be so
long drawn out. For I realizednow that I have been dying for many
weeks. What do you mean,he exclaimed, What do you mean by

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that you are not dying? Thereis nothing the matter with you. Oh,
not that, she said, Idid not mean that. What I
mean is that At the moment theblack sergeant Dusanga and his renegade German native
Treats captured me and brought me inland. My death warrant was signed.
Sometimes I have imagined that a reprievehas been granted. Sometimes I have hoped

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that I might be on the vergeof winning of all pardon. But really,
in the depths of my heart,I have known that I should never
live to regain civilization. I havedone my bit for my country, and
though it was not much, Ican at least go with the realization that
it was the best I was ableto offer. Or that I can hope
for now, or that I askfor is the speedy fulfillment of the death

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sentence. I do not wish tolinger any more, to face constant terror
and apprehension. Even physical torture willbe preferable to what I have passed through.
I have no doubt that you considerme a brave woman, But really
my terror has been boundless. Thecries of the carnivores at night filled me
with a dread so tangible that Iam in actual pain. I feel the

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rending talons in my flesh, andthe cruel fangs munching upon my bones.
It is as real to me asthough I were actually enduring the horrors of
such a death. I doubt ifyou can understand it. Men are so
different, Yes, he said,I think I can understand it. And
because I understand, I can appreciatemore than you imagine the heroism you have

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shown in your endurance of all thatyou have passed through. There can be
no bravery where there is no fear. A child might walk into a lions
den, but it would take avery brave man to go to its rescue.
Thank you, she said, ButI am not brave at all,
and now I am very much ashamedof my thoughtlessness of your own feelings.
I will try and take a newgrip upon myself, and we will both

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hope for the best. I willhelp you all I can, if you
will tell me what I may do. The first thing, he replied,
is to find out just how seriousour damage is, and then to see
what we can do in the wayof repairs. For two days, Smith
Oldwood worked upon the damaged plane,worked in the face of the fact that
from the first he realized the casewas hopeless, And at last he told

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her I knew it. She said, but I believed that I felt,
much as you must have, thathowever futile our efforts here might be,
it would be infinitely as fatal toattempt to retrace our way to the jungle
we just left, or to goon toward the coast. You know,
and I know, that we couldnot reach the Tangle railway on foot.

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We should die of first and salvationbefore we had covered half the distance.
And if we returned to the jungle, even were we able to reach it,
it would be but to court anequally certain, though different fate.
So we might as well sit hereand wait for death as to uselessly waste
our energies in what we know wouldbe a futile attempt at escape. He

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asked, no, she replied,I shall never give up like that.
What I meant was that it wasuseless to attempt to reach either of the
places where we know that there isfood and water in abundance. So we
must strike out in a new direction. Somewhere there may be water in this
wilderness, and if there is thebest chance of our finding it would be
to follow this gorge downward. Wehave enough food and water left if we

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are careful of it. For acouple of days, and in that time
we might stumble upon a spring,or possibly even reach the fertile country which
we knows lies to the south.When Usanga brought me to the Wamabo country
from the coast, he took asoutherly route along which there was usually water
and game in plenty. It wasnot until we neared our destination that the

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country became overwhelm with carnivores. Sothere is hope if we reach the fertile
country south of us, that wecan manage to pull through to the coast.
The man shook his head dubiously.We can try it, he said,
personally, I do not fancy sittinghere waiting for death. Smith Oldwick
was leaning against the ship, hisdejected gaze directed upon the ground at his

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feet. The girl was looking southdown the gorge in the direction of their
one slender chance of life. Suddenlyshe touched him on the arm. Look,
she whispered. The man raised hiseyes quickly in the direction of her
gaze to see the massive head ofa great lion who was regarding them from
beyond a rocky projection at the firstturning of the gorge. Whew, he

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exclaimed, the beggars are everywhere.They do not go far from water,
do they asked the girl hopefully.I should imagine not, he replied.
A lion is not particularly strong onendurance, then he is a harbinger of
hope, she exclaimed. The manlaughed. Cute, little harbinger of hope,
he said, reminds me of cockRobin heralding spring. The girl cast

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a quick glance at him. Don'tbe silly, and I don't care if
you do. Laugh. He fillsme with hope. It is probably mutual,
replied Smith Oldwick, as we doubtlessfill him with hope. The lion,
evidently having satisfied himself as to thenature of the creatures before him,
advanced slowly now in their direction.Come, said the man. Let's climb

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aboard, and he helped the girlover the side of the ship. Can't
he get in here, she asked. I think he can, said the
man. You are reassuring, shereturned, I don't feel so. He
drew his pistol. For heaven's sake, she cried, don't shoot at him
with that thing. You might hithim. I don't intend to shoot at

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him, but I might succeed infrightening him away if he attempts to reach
us here. Haven't you ever seena train and work with lions? He
carries a silly little pop gun loadedwith blank cartridges. With that and a
kitchen chair, he subdues the mostferocious of beasts. But you haven't a
kitchen chair, she reminded him.No, he said, government is always

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muddling things. I have always maintainedthe airplane should be equipped with kitchen chairs.
Bertha Kircher laughed as evenly and withas little hysteria, as though she
were moved by this small toor ofan afternoon tea. Numa. The lion
came steadily toward them, His attitudeseemed more that of curiosity than of belligerency.

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Close to the side of the ship, he stopped and stood gazing up
at them. Magnificent, isn't heexclaimed the man. I never saw a
more beautiful creature, she replied,nor one with such a dark coat.
Why he is almost black. Thesound of their voices seemed not to please
the Lord of the jungle, forhe suddenly wrinkled his great face into deep

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furrows as he bared his fangs beneath, snarling lips and gave vent to an
angry growl. Almost simultaneously, hecrouched for a spring, and immediately smith
Oldwick discharged his pistol into the groundin front of the lion. The effect
of the noise upon Numa seemed butto enrage him further, and with a
horrid roar, he sprang for theauthor of the new and disquieting sound that

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it outraged his ears. Simultaneously,Lieutenant Harold Percy smith old Wick vaulted nimbly
out of the cockpit on the oppositeside of his plane, calling the girl
to follow his example. The girl, realizing the futility of leaping to the
ground, chose the remaining alternative andclamber to the top of the upper plane.

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Numa, unaccustomed to the idiosyncrasies ofconstruction of an airship, and having
gained the forward cockpit, watched thegirl clamber out of his reach without at
first endeavoring to prevent her. Havingtaken possession of the plane, his anger
seemed suddenly to leave him, andhe made no immediate move towards following smith
Oldwick. The girl, realizing thecomparative safety of her position, had crawled

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to the outer edge of the wing, and was calling to the man to
try and reach the opposite end ofthe upper plane. It was this scene
upon which Tarzan of vi eights lookedas he rounded the bend of the gorge
above the plane, after the pistolshot had detracted his attention. The girl
was so intent upon watching the effortsof the Englishman to reach a place of
safety, and the latter was sobusily occupied in attempting to do so,

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that neither at once noticed the silentapproach of the ape man. It was
Numa who first noticed the intruder.The lion immediately evinced his displeasure by directing
towards him a snarling countenance and aseries of warning growls. His action called
the attention of the two upon theupper plane to the newcomer, eliciting a

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stifled thank God from the girl,even though she could scarce credit the evidence
of her own eyes that it wasindeed the savage man, whose presence always
assured her of safety, who hadcome so providentially in the nick of time.
Almost immediately, both were horrified tosee Numa leap from the cockpit and
advance upon Tarzan, the ape Mancarrying his stout spear in readiness, moved

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deliberately onward to meet the carnival,which he had recognized as the lion of
the Wamabo's pit. He knew fromthe manner of Numa's approach what neither Bertha
Kircher nor Smith Oldrich knew. Thatthere was more of curiosity than belligerency in
it, and he wondered if inthat great head there might not be a
semblance of gratitude for the kindness thatTarzan had done him. There was no

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question in Tarzan's mind but that Numarecognized him, for he knew his fellows
of the jungle well enough to knowthat while they oftimes forgot certain sensations more
quickly than man, there were otherswhich remain in their memories for years.
A well defined senseboor might never beforgotten by a beast if it had first
been sensed under unusual circumstances. Andso Tarzan was confident that Numu's knows had

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already reminded him of all the circumstancesof their brief connection. Love of the
sporting chance is inherent in the AngloSaxon race, and it was not now
Tarzan of the apes, but ratherJohn Clayton, Lord Greystoke, who smilingly
welcomed the sporting chance which he musttake to discover how far reaching was Numa's

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gratitude. Smith Oldwick and the girlsaw the two nearing each other. The
former swar was softly beneath his breathwhile he nervously fingered the pitiful weapon at
his hip. The girl pressed heropen palms to her cheeks as she leaned
forward in stony eyed horror stricken silence. While she had every confidence in the
prowess of the godlike creature who thusdared brazenly to face the king of beasts,

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she had no false conception of whatmust certainly happen when they met.
She had seen Tarzan battle with Sheetathe Panther, and she had realized then
that powerful as the man was,it was only agility, cunning, and
chance that placed him upon anywhere nearan equal footing with his savage adversary,
and that of the three factors uponhis side, chance was the greatest.

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She saw the man and the lionsstop simultaneously, not more than a yard
apart. She saw the beast's tailwhipping from side to side, and she
could hear his deep throated growls rumblingfrom his cavernous breast, but she could
read correctly neither the movement of herlashing tail nor the notes of the growl.
To her, they seemed to indicatenothing but bestial rage, while to

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Tarzan of the Apes, they wereconciliatory and reassuring in the extreme. And
then she saw Numa move forward againuntil his nose touched the man's naked leg,
and she closed her eyes and coveredthem with her palms for what seemed
an eternity. She waited for thehorrid sound of the conflict, which she
knew must come, but all sheheard was an explosive sigh of relief from

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Smith Oldwick, and a half hystericalBy Jove, just fancy it. She
looked up to see the great lionrubbing his shaggy head against the man's hip,
and Tarzan's free hand entangled in theblack mane as he scratched Numa,
the lion behind a back laid ear. Strange friendships are often formed between the

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lower animals of different species, butless often between man and the savage philidy
because of the former's inherent fear ofthe great cats. And so after all,
therefore, the friendship so suddenly developedbetween the Savage Lion and the Savage
Man was not inexplicable. As Tarzanapproached the plain, Numa walked at his
side, and when Tarzan stopped andlooked up at the girl and the man,

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Numa stopped also. I had aboutgiven up hope of finding you,
said the ape man. And itis evident that I found you just in
time. But how did you knowwe were in trouble? Asked the English
officer. I saw your plain forreplied Tarzan, as watching you from a
tree beside the clearing where you tookoff. I didn't have much to locate

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you by other than the general direction, but it seems that you've oleplaned a
considerable distance toward the south. Afteryou disappeared from my view behind the hills.
I have been looking for you furthertoward the north. I was just
about to turn back when I heardyour pistol shot. Is your ship beyond
repair? Yes, replied Smith Oldwick. This is hopeless. What are your

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plans, then? What do youwish to do? Tarzan directed his question
to the girl. We want toreach the coast. She said that it
seems impossible now, I should havethought so a little while ago, replied
the ape man. But if Numais here, there must be water within
a reasonable distance. I ran acrossthis lion two days ago in the Wamabo
country. I liberated him from oneof their pits. To have reached this

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spot, he must have come bysome trail unknown to me. At least,
I crossed no game trail and nospoor of any animal after I came
over the hills out of the fertilecountry. From which direction did he come
upon you? It was from thesouth, replied the girl. We thought
too that there must be water inthat direction. Let's find out, then,

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said Tarzan. But how about thelion, asked smith Oldwick. That
we will have to discover, repliedthe ape man. And we can only
do so if you will come downfrom your perch. The officer shrugged his
shoulders. The girl turned her gazeupon him to note the effect of Tarzan's
proposal. The Englishman grew suddenly verywhite, but there was a smile upon

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his lips as without a word,he slipped over the edge of the plane
and clambered to the ground behind Tarzan. Bertha Kircher realized that the man was
afraid, nor did she blame him, and she also realized the remarkable courage
that he had shown in thus facinga danger that was very real to him.
Numa, standing close to Tarzan's side, raised his head and glared at
the young englishman, growled once andlooked up at the ape man. Tarzan

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retained a hold upon the beast's mainand spoke to him in the language of
the great Apes. To the girland Smith Oldwick, the growling gutturals falling
from the human lips sounded uncanny inthe extreme, but whether Numa understood them
or not, they appeared to havethe desired effect upon him as he ceased
growling, and as Tarzan walked toSmith Oldwick's side, Numa accompanied him,

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nor did he offered to molest theofficer. What did you say to him,
asked the girl. Tarzan smiled,I told him. He replied that
I am Tarzan of the Apes,mighty hunter, killer of beasts, lord
of the jungle, and that youare my friends. I have never been
sure that all of the other beastsunderstand the language of the Mangani. I
know that Manu the monkey speaks nearlythe same tongue, and I am sure

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that Tantar the elephant understands all thatI say to him. We of the
jungle are great boasters, in ourspeech, in our carriage, in every
single detail of our demeanor. Wemust impress others with our physical prowess and
our ferocity. That is why wegrowl at our enemies. We are telling
them to beware, or we shallfall upon them and tear them to pieces.

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Perhaps Numa does not understand the wordsthat I use, but I believe
that my tones and my manner carrythe impression that I wish them to convey.
Now you may come down and beintroduced. It required all the courage
that Bertha Kirchip possessed to lower herselfto the ground within reach of the talons
and fangs of this untamed forest beast. But she did it. Nor did

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Numa do more than bare his teethand growl a little as she came close
to the ape man. I thinkyou are safe from him as long as
I am present, said the apeman. The best thing to do is
simply to ignore him. Make noadvances, but be sure to give no
indication of fear, and if possible, always keep me between you and him.
He will go away presently, Iam sure, and the chances are

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that we shall not see him again. At Tarzan's suggestion, smith Oldwick removed
the remaining water and provisions from theplain, and distributing the burden among them,
they set off towards the south.Numa did not follow them, but
stood by the plane, watching untilthey finally disappeared from view around a bend
in the gorge. Tarzan had pickedup Numa's trail with the intention of following

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it southward, in the belief thatit would lead to water in the sand
that floored the bottom the gorge.Tracks were plain and easily followed. At
first, only the fresh tracks ofNuma were visible, but later in the
day the ape man discovered the oldertracks of other lions, and just before
dark he stopped suddenly in evident surprise. His two companions looked at him questioningly,

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and in answer to their implied interrogations, he pointed to the ground directly
in front of him. Look atthose, he exclaimed. At first,
neither smith Oldwick nor the girl sawanything but a confusion of intermingal prints of
padded feet in the sand, Butpresently The girl discovered what Tarzan had seen,
and an exclamation of surprise broke fromher lips. The imprint of human

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feet, she cried. Tarzan nodded, But there are no toes, the
girl pointed out. The feet wereshod with a soft sandal, exclaimed Tarzan.
Then there must be a native villagesomewhere in the vicinity, said Smith
Oldwick. Yes, replied the apeman, But not the sort of natives
were which we would expect to findhere in this part of Africa, where

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others all go unshod, with theexception of a few of Usanga's renegade German
native troops who wear German army shoes. I don't know that you can notice
it, but it is evident tome that the foot inside the sandal that
made these imprints were not the footof a negro. If you will examine
them carefully, you will notice thatthe impression of the heel and ball of
the foot are well marked, eventhrough the soul of the sandal. The

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weight comes more nearly at the centerof a negro's footprint. Then do you
think these were made by a whiteperson? It looks that way, replied
tarzans and Suddenly, to the surpriseof both the girl and Smith Oldwick,
he dropped to his hands and kneesand sniffed at the tracks again a beast,
utilizing the senses and morecraft of abeast over an area of several square

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yards, His keen nostrils sought theidentity of the makers of the tracks.
At length, he rose to hisfeet. It is not the sport of
the Gomangani, he said, noris it exactly like that of white men.
There were three who came this way. They were men, but of
what race I do not know.There was no apparent change in the nature
of the gorge, except that ithad steadily grown deeper as they followed it

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downward, until now the rocky andprecipitous sides rose far above them. At
different points, natural caves, whichappeared to have been eroded by the action
of water in some forgotten age,fitted the sidewalls at various heights. Near
them was such a cavity at theground's level, an arched cavern floored with
white sand. Tarzan indicated it witha gesture of his hand. We will

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lay here to night, he said, and then, with one of his
rare slow smiles, we will camphere to night. Having eaten their meager
supper, Tarzan bade the girl enterthe chavern. You will sleep inside,
he said the lieutenant, and Iwill lie outside at the entrance. End
of chapter fifteen. Most of themost Pas