18 - Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Among the Maniacs

Episode Transcript

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Chapter eighteen of Tarzan the Untamed.This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
recordings are in the public domain.For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Recording byDan Mason, Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar
Burroughs, Chapter eighteen. Among theManiacs. As the lions swarmed over her

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protectors bare, the cuacher shrank backin the cave in a momentary paralysis of
right, superinduced, perhaps by thelong days of terrific nerves, strain which
she had undergone. Mingled with theroars of the lions, had been the
voices of men, and presently,out of the confusion and turmoil, she
felt the near presence of a humanbeing. And then Hans resed, forced

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and seized her. It was darkand she could see but little, nor
any sign of the English officer orthe ape man. The man who seized
her kept the lions from her withwhat appeared to be a stout spear,
the half to which he used tobeat off the beasts. The fellow dragged
her from the cavern, the whilehe shouted what appeared to be commands and
warnings to the lions. Once outupon the light sands in the bottom of

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the gorge, objects became more distinguishable, and then she saw that there were
other men in the party, andthat two half led and half carried the
stumbling figure of a third, whomshe guessed must be Smith Oldwick. For
a time, the lions made frenziedefforts to reach the two captives, but
always the men with them succeeded inbeating them off. The fellows seemed utterly

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unafraid of the great beasts, leapingand snarling about them, handling them as
much as the same one might handlea pack of obstreperous dogs. Along the
bed of the old watercourse that onceran through the gorge, they made their
way, and as the first faintlighting of the eastern horizon presaged the coming
dawn, they paused for a momentupon the edge of a declovity, which

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appeared to the girl in the strangelight of the waning night, as a
vast, bottomless pit. But astheir captors resumed their way and the night
of the new day became stronger,she saw that they were moving downward towards
a dense forest. Once beneath theoverarching trees, all was again Sumerian darkness.
Nor was the gloom relieved until thesun finally arose beyond the eastern cliffs,

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when she saw that they were followingwhat appeared to be a broad and
well beaten game trail through a forestof great trees. The ground was unusually
dry for an African forest, andthe underbrush, while heavily foliaged, was
not nearly so rank and impenetrable asthat which she had been accustomed to find
in similar woods. It was asthough the trees and the bushes grew in

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a waterless country. Nor was therethe musty odor of decaying vegetation, or
the myriad of tiny insects such asare bred in damp places. As they
proceeded and the sun rose higher,the voices of the arboreal jungle life rose
in discordant notes and a loud chatteringabout them. Innumerable monkeys scolded and screamed
in the branches overhead, while harshvoiced birds of brilliant plumage darted hither and

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thither. It was presently that theircaptors often cast apprehensive glances in the direction
of the birds, and on numerousoccasions seemed to be addressing the winged denizens
of the forest. One incident madea marked impression on her. The man
who immediately preceded her was a fellowof powerful build Yet, when a brilliantly
colored parrot swooped down towards him,he dropped upon his knees and covering his

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face, with his arms bent forwarduntil his head touched the ground. Some
of the others looked at him andlaughed nervously. Presently, the man glanced
upward, and, seeing that thebird was gone, rose to his feet
and continued along the trail. Itwas at this brief halt that smith Oldwick
was brought to her side by theman who had been supporting him. He

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had been rather badly mauled by oneof the lions, but was now able
to walk alone, though he wasextremely weak from shock and loss of blood.
Pretty mess what, he remarked,with a wry smile, indicating his
bloody and disheveled state. It isterrible, said the girl. I hope
you are not so, not asmuch as I should have expected, he

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replied, But I feel as weakas a fool. What sort of creatures
are of these beggars? Anyway?I don't know, she replied, there's
something terribly uncanny about their appearance.The man regarded one of their captors closely
for a moment, and then,turning to the girl, asked, did
you ever visit a madhouse? Shelooked up at him in a quick understanding

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and with a horrified expression in hereyes. That's it, she cried.
They have all the ear marks,he said, whites of the eyes showing
all around, the irises, hairgrowing stiffly erect from the scalp and low
down on the forehead. Even theirmannerisms and their carriage are those of maniac's.
The girl shuddered. Another thing aboutthem, continued the Englishman that doesn't

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appear normal, is that they areafraid of parrots and utterly fearless of lions.
Yes, said the girl, Anddid you notice that the birds seemed
utterly fearless of them, really seemedto hold them in contempt. Have you
any idea of what language they speak? No, said the man. I've
been trying to figure that out.It's not like any of the few native

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dialects of which I have any knowledge. It doesn't sound at all like the
native language, said the girl.But there's something familiar about it, you
know, every now and then Ifeel that I'm just on the verge of
understanding what they're saying, or atleast that somewhere I've heard their tongue before,
but final recognition always eludes me.I doubt if you ever heard their

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language spoken, said the man.These people must have lived in this out
of the way valley for ages,and even if they had retained the original
language of their ancestors without change,which is doubtful, it must be some
tongue that is no longer spoken inthe outer world. At one point,
where the stream of water crossed thetrail, the party halted while the lions

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and the men drank. They motionedto their captives to drink too, and
as Bertha Character and Smith Oldwick,lying prone upon the ground, drank from
the clear, cool water of therivulet, they were suddenly startled by the
thunderous roar of a lion a shortdistance ahead of them. Instantly, the
lions with them set up a hideousresponse, moving restlessly to and fro with

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their eyes always either turned in thedirection from which the roar had come,
or towards their master, against whomthe tawny beasts slunk. The men loosened
the sabers in their scabbards, theweapons that had aroused smith Oldwick's curiosity as
they had Tarzans, and grasped theirspears more firmly. Evidently there were lions
and lions, and while the evidencedno fear the beasts which accompanied them,

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it was quite evidence that the voiceof the newcomer had an entirely different effect
upon them. Although the men seemedless terrified than the lions, neither however,
showed any indication of an inclination toflee. On the contrary, the
entire party advanced along the trail inthe direction of the menacing roars, and
presently there appeared in the center ofthe path a black lion of gigantic proportions.

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To Smith Oldwick and the girl,he appeared to be the same lion
that they had encountered at the planeand from which Tarzan had rescued them,
but it was not Numa of thePit, although he resembled him closely.
The black beast stood directly in thecenter of the trail, lashing his tail
and growling menacely at the advancing party. The men urged on their own beasts,

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who growled in wine, but hesitatedto charge. Evidently becoming impatient and
in full consciousness of his might,the intruder raised his tail, stiffly erect
and shot forward. Several of thedefending lions made a half hearted attempt to
obstruct his passage, but they mightas well have placed themselves in the path
of an express train, as whirlingthem aside. The great beasts left straight

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from one of the men, Adozen spears were launched at him, and
a dozen sabers leapt from their scabbards, gleaming raised Red's weapons. They were,
but for an instant rendered feudal bythe terrific speed of the charging beast.
Two of the spears entered his body, but served a further enrage him,
as with demonacle roars, he sprangupon the hapless man he had singled

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out for his prey. Scarcely pausingin his charge, he seized the fellow
by the shoulder, and, turningquickly at right angles, leapt into the
concealing foliage that flanked the trail,and was gone, burying his victim with
him. So quickly had the wholeoccurrence transpired that the formation of little party
was scarcely altered there had been noopportunity for flight, even if it had

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been contemplated, And now that thelion was gone with his prey, the
men made no move to pursue him. They paused only long enough to recall
the two or three of their linesthat had scattered, and then resumed The
march along the trail might be aneveryday occurrence. From all the effect at
Hasslem, remarked Smith Oldwick to thegirl. Yes, she said, they

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seemed to be neither surprised nor disconcerted, and evidently they're quite sure that the
lion, having got what he camefor, will not molest them. Further,
I had thought, said the Englishman, that the lines of the Wamabo
country were about the most ferocious inexistence. But they're regular tabby cats by
comparison with these big blackfellows. Didyou ever see anything more utterly fearless or

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more terribly irresistible than that charge?For a while, as they walked side
by side, their thoughts and conversationcentered upon this latest experience, until the
trail emerged from the forest, opento their view a walled city and an
area of cultivated land. Neither couldsuppress an exclamation of surprise. Why that

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wall is a regular engineering job,exclaimed Smith Oldwick. And look at the
domes and minarets of the city beyond, cried the girl. There must be
civilized people beyond that wall. Possiblywe are fortunate to have fallen into their
hands. Smith Oldwick shrugged his shoulders. I hope, so, he said,
though I'm not at all sure aboutpeople who travel about with lions and

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are afraid of parrots. There mustbe something wrong with them. The party
followed the trail across the field toan arched gateway, which opened at the
summons of one of their captors,who beat upon the heavy wooden panels with
its spear. Beyond the gate openedinto a narrow street, which seemed but
a continuation of the jungle trail leadingfrom the forest. Buildings on either hand

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adjoined the wall and fronted the narrow, winding street, which was only visible
for a short distance ahead. Thehouses were practically all two storied structures,
The upper stories flushed with the street, while the walls of the first story
were set back some ten feet.A series of simple columns and arches supporting
the front of the second story andforming an arcade on either side of the

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narrow thoroughfare. The pathway in thecenter of the street was unpaved, but
the floors of the arcades were cutstone of various shapes and sizes, but
all carefully fitted and laid without mortar. These floors gave evidence of great antiquity,
there being a distinct depression down thecenter, as though the stone had
been worn away by the passage ofcountless sandaled feet, turning the ages that

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it had lain there. There werefew people to stir at this early hour,
and these were the same type astheir captors. At first, those
whom they saw were only men,but as they went deeper into the city,
they came upon a few naked childrenplaying in the soft dust of the
roadway. Many they passed showed thegreatest surprise and curiosity in the prisoners,
and often made inquiries of the guards, which the two assumed must have been

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in relation to themselves, while theothers appeared not to notice them at all.
I wish we could understand their boylanguage, exclaimed smith Oldwick. Yes,
said the girl. I would liketo ask them what they're going to
do with us. That would beinteresting, said the man. I've been
doing considerable wandering along that line myself. I don't like the way their canine

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teeth are filed, said the girl. It's too suggestive of some of the
cannibals I've seen. You don't reallybelieve they are cannibals, do you,
asked the man. You don't thinkwhite people are ever cannibals. Do you
are these people? Light asked thegirl. They're not negroes, that's certain,
rejoined the man. Their skin isyellow, but yet it doesn't resemble

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the Chinese exactly, nor are anyof their features Chinese. It was at
this juncture that they caught their firstglimpse of a native woman. She was
similar in most respects to the men, though her stature was smaller and her
figure was more symmetrical. Her facewas more repulsive than that of the men,
possibly because of the fact that shewas a woman, which rather accentuated

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the idiosyncrasy of the eyes, pendulouslips, pointed tusks, and a stiff,
low growing hair. The latter waslonger than that of the men and
much heavier. It hung about hershoulders and was confined by a colored bit
of some lacy fabric. Her singlegarment appeared to mean nothing more than a
flimsy scarf which was wound tightly aroundher body from below, her naked breasts

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being caught up some way in thebottom near her ankles. Bits of shiny
metal resembling gold or emitted both thehead dress and the skirt. Otherwise the
woman was entirely without jewelry. Herbare arms were slender and shapely, and
her hands and feet were well proportionedand symmetrical. She came close to the
party as they passed her, jabberingto the guards, who paid no attention

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to her. The prisoners had anopportunity to observe her closely as she followed
at their side for a short distance. The figure of a hoary remarked Smith
Oldwick with a face of an imbecile. The street they followed was intersected at
irregular intervals by cross roads, which, as they glanced down them, proved
to be as equally torturous as thatthrough which they were being conducted. The

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houses varied, but with little indesign. Occasionally there were bits of collar
or some attempt at other architectural ornamentation. Through open windows and doors, they
could see that the walls of thehouses were very thick, and that all
The apertures were quite small, asthough the people had built against extreme heat,
which they realized must have been necessaryin this valley very deep and African

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desert. Ahead they occasionally caught glimpsesof larger structures, and as they approached
them, came upon what was evidentlya part of the business section of the
city. There were numerous small shopsand bazaars interspersed among the residences, and
over the doors of these were signspainted in characters strongly suggesting Greek origin,
And yet it was not Greek,as both the Englishmen and the girl knew.

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Smith Oldwick was by this time beginningto feel more acute to the pain
of his wounds and the consequent weaknessthat was greatly aggravated by the loss of
blood. He staggered now occasionally,and the girl, seeing his plight,
offered him her arm. No,he expostulated, you have passed through too
much yourself to have an extra burdenimposed upon you. But though he made

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a valiant effort to keep up withtheir captors, the occasionally lagged, and
upon one such occasion, the guardsfor the first time showed a disposition towards
brutality. It was a big fellowwho walked at Smith Oldwick's left. Times,
he took hold of the Englishman's armand pushed him forward, not urgently,
but when the captive lagged again andagain, the fellow suddenly and certainly

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with no just provocation, flew intoa perfect frenzy of rage. He leapt
upon the wounded man, striking himviciously with his fists and baring him to
the ground, grasping his throat inhis left hand, while his right he
drew his long, sharp saber.Screaming terribly, he waved the blade over
his head. The others stopped andturned to look upon the encounter, with
no particular show of interest. Itwas as though one of the party had

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paused to readjust the sandal, andthe others merely waited until he was ready
to march on again. But iftheir captors were indifferent, Bertha Kircher was
not. The close set blazing eyes, the snarling, fanged face, and
the frightful screams filled her with horror, while the brutal and wanton attack upon
the wounded man aroused within her thespirit of protection. For the week that
his inherited. All women forgetful ofeverything other than that a weak and defenseless

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man was being brutally murdered before hereyes. The girl, cast aside discretion,
and, rushing to smith Oldwick's assistance, seized the uplift sword arm of
the shrieking creature upon the prostrate englishman. Clinging desperately to the fellow, she
surged backward with all her weight andstrength, with the result that she overbalanced
him and sent him sprawling to thepavement on his back. In his effort

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to save himself, he relaxed hisgrasp upon the grip of his saber,
which had no sooner fallen to theground than it was seized upon by the
girl. Standing erect beside the prostrateform of the English officer, beareth the
cureacher the razor edge weapon grass firmlyin her hand, faced their captors.
She was a brave figure. Evenher soiled and torn riding togs and disheveled

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hair detracted nothing from her appearance.The creature she had felled scrambled quickly to
his feet, and in the instanthis whole demeanor changed from demoniacal rage.
He became suddenly convulse with hysterical laughter. Although it was a question in the
girl's mind as to which was themore terrified. His companions stood looking on

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with vacuous grins upon their countenances,while he from whom the girl had wrestled
the weapon, leapt up and down, shrieking with laughter. If Bertha Kircher
had needed further evidence to assure herthat they were in the hands of a
mentally deranged people, the man's presentactions would have been sufficient to convince her.
The sudden, uncontrolled range and nowequally uncontrolled and mirthless laughter but emphasized

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the facial attributes of idiocy. Suddenlyrealizing how helpless she was in the event
any one of the men should seekto overpower her, and moved by a
sudden revulsion of feeling that brought onalmost a nausea of disgust, the girl
hurled the weapon upon the ground atthe feet of the laughing maniac, and
turning, kneeled beside the Englishman.It was wonderful of you, he said,

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but you shouldn't have done it.Don't antagonize them. I believe they
are all mad, and you knowthey say that one should always humor a
madman. She shook her head.I could see him kill you, she
said. A sudden light sprang intothe man's eyes as he reached out a
hand and grasped the girl's fingers.Do you care a little now, he
asked, Can you tell me thatyou do just a bit. She did

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not withdraw her hand from his,but she shook her head sadly. Please
don't, she said. I amsorry that I can only like you very
much. The light died from hiseyes, and his fingers relaxed their grasp
on hers. Please forgive me,he murmured. I intended waiting until we
got out of this mess and youwere safe among your own people. It

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must have been the shock or somethinglike that, and seeing you defending me
as you did anyway, I couldn'thelp it. And really it doesn't make
much difference what I say now,does it. What do you mean,
she asked quickly. He shrugged andsmiled ruefully. I will never leave this
city alive, he said. Iwouldn't mention it, except that I realized

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that you must know it as wellas I. I was pretty badly torn
up by the lion, and thisfellow here has about finished me. There
might be some hope if we wereamong civilized people. But here with these
frightful creatures, what care could weget even if they were friendly? Bertha
Keircher knew that he spoke the truth, and yet she could not bring herself

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to an admission that smith Oldwick woulddie. She was fond of him.
In fact, her great regret wasthat she did not love him. But
she knew that she did not.It seemed to her that it could be
such an easy thing for any girlto love Lieutenant Harold Percy smith Oldwick,
an English officer and a gentleman,the scion of an old family, and

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himself a man of ample means,young, good looking, and a fowl.
What more could a girl ask for? That they have such a man
love her, and that she possessedsmith Oldwick's love. There was no doubt
in bear the Kircher's mind. Shesighed, and then, laying her hand
impulsively on his forehead, she hewhispered, do not give up hope,

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though, try to live. Formy sake, and for your sake,
I will try to love you.It was as though new life had suddenly
been injected into the man's veins.His face lightened instantly and with strength that
he himself did not know he possessed. He rose slowly to his feet,
albeit somewhat unsteadily. The girl helpedhim and supported him after he had arisen.

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For the moment, they had beenentirely unconscious of their surroundings, and
now as she looked at their captors, she saw that they had fallen again
into their almost habitual manner of stolidindifference, and at a gesture from one
of them, the march was resumed, as though no untoward incident had occurred.
Bertha Kircher experienced a sudden reaction fromthe momentary exultation of her recent promise

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to the Englishman. She knew thatshe had spoken more for him than for
herself. But now that it wasover, she realized, as she had
realized the moment before she spoken,that it was unlikely she would ever care
for him the way he wished.But what had she promised? Only that
she would try to love him?And now she asked herself, she realized

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that there might be little hope oftheir ever returning to civilization. Even if
these people should prove to be friendlyand willing to let them depart in peace,
how would they to find their wayback to the coast with Tarzan dead,
as she fully believed him after seeinghis body lying lifeless at the mouth
of the cave when she had beendragged forth by her captor. There seemed
no power at their command which couldguide them safely. The two had scarcely

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mentioned the ape man since their capture, for each realized fully what his loss
meant to them. They had comparednotes relative to those few exciting moments of
the final attack and capture, andhad found that they agreed perfectly upon all
that had occurred. Smith Oldwick hadeven seen the lion leap upon Tarzan at
the instance that the former was awakenedby the roars of the charging beasts,

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and though the night had been dark, he had been able to see that
the body of the savage ape menhad never moved from the instant that had
come down beneath the beast, andso if at other times within the past
few weeks, Bertha Kircher had feltthat her situation was particularly hopeless. She
was now ready to admit that hopewas absolutely extinct. The streets were beginning

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to fill with strange men and womenof this strange city. Sometimes individuals would
notice them and seemed to take agreat interest in them, and again others
would pass with vacant stairs, seeminglyunconscious of their immediate surroundings, and paying
no attention whatsoever to the prisoners.Once they heard hideous screams up a side

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street, and looking, they sawa man in the throes of demonical outbursts
of rage similar to that which shehad witnessed in the recent attack upon smith
Oldwick. This creature was venting hisinsane rage upon a child, which he
repeatedly struck in bit, pausing onlylong enough to shriek at frequent intervals.
Finally, just before they passed outof sight, the creature raised the limp

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body of the child high above hishead and cast it down with all his
strength upon the pavement, and then, wheeling and screaming madly at the top
of his lungs, he dashed headlongup the winding street. Two women and
several men had stood looking on atthe cruel attack. They were at too
great a distance for the Europeans toknow whether their facial expressions portrayed pity or

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rage. But be that as itmay, none offered to interfere. A
few yards farther, on a hideoushag leaned from a second story window,
where she laughed and gibbered and madehorrid grimaces to all who passed her.
Others went their ways, apparently attendingto whatever duties called them, and soberly
as the inhabitants of any civilized community. God muttered smith Oldwick, What an

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awful place. The girl turned suddenlytowards him. You still have your pistol,
she asked him. Yes, hereplied, I tucked it inside my
shirt. They did not search me, and it was so dark for them
to see whether I carried any weaponor not, so I hid it in
the hope that I might get throughwith it. She moved closer to him

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and took hold of his hand.Save one cartridge for me, please,
she begged. Smith Oldwick looked downat her and blinked his eyes. Very
rapidly, and unfamiliar and disconcerting moisturehad come into them. He had realized,
of course, how bad a plightwas theirs, but somehow it had
seemed to affect him only. Itdid not seem possible that anyone could harm

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this sweet and beautiful girl, andthat she should have to be destroyed,
destroyed by him. It was toohideous. It was unbelievable, unthinkable.
If he had been filled with apprehensionbefore, he was doubly perturbed. Now
I don't believe I could do it, Bertha, he said, not even
to save me from something worse.She asked. He shook his head dismayly.

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I could never do it, hereplied. The street that they were
found suddenly opened upon a wide avenue, and before them spread a broad and
beautiful lagoon, the quiet surface ofwhich mirrored the clear Serullian of the sky.
Here the aspect of all their surroundingschanged. The buildings were higher and
much more pretentious in design and ornamentation. The street itself was paved in mosaics

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of barbaric but stunningly beautiful design.In the ornamentation of the buildings there was
considerable color, and a great dealof what appeared to be gold leaf.
In all the decorations there was utilized, in various ways the conventional figure of
the parrot, and to a lesserextent, that of the lion and the
monkey. Their captors led them alongthe pavement beside the lagoon for a short

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distance, and then threw an archeddoorway into one of the buildings facing the
avenue. Here, directly within theentrance was a large room furnished with massive
benches and tables, many of whichwere elaborately hand carved with the figures of
the inevitable parrot, the lion,or the monkey, the parrot always predominating.
Behind one of the tables sat aman who differed in no way that

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the captives could discover from those whoaccompanied them. Before this person, the
party halted, and one of themen who had brought them made what seemed
to be an oral report. Whetherthey were before a judge, a military
officer, or a civil dignitary,they could not know, but evidently he
was a man of authority, forafter listening to whatever recital was being made

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to him, though while he closelyscrutinized the two captives, he made a
single feudal attempt to converse with them, and then issued some curt orders to
him who had made the report.Almost immediately, two of the men approached
Bertha Kircher and signaled her to accompanythem. Smith Oldwick started to follow her,
but was intercepted by one of theirguards. The girl stopped then and

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turned back at the same time lookingat the man at the table, and
making signs with her hands, indicatingas best she could that she wished Smith
Oldwick to remain with her, Butthe fell only shook his head negatively and
motioned to the guards to remove her. The Englishman again attempted to follow,
but was restrained. He was tooweak and helpless to even make an attempt

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to enforce his wishes. He thoughtof the pistol inside his shirt, and
then of the futility of attempting toovercome an entire city with a few rounds
of ammunition left to him. Sofar, with the single exception of the
attack made upon him, they hadno reason to believe that they might not
receive fair treatment from their captors,and so he reasoned that it might be
wiser to avoid antagonizing them until sucha time as he became thoroughly convinced that

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their intentions were entirely hostile. Hesaw the girl led from the building,
and just before she disappeared from hisview, she turned and waved her hand
to him. Good luck, shecried, and was gone. The lions
that had entered the building with theparty had, during their examination by the
man at the table, been drivenfrom the apartment through a doorway behind him.

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Toward the same doorway the two mennow led Smith Oldwick, he found
himself in a long corridor, fromthe sides of which other doorways opened,
presumably into other apartments in the building. At the far end of the corridor
he saw a heavy grating, beyondwhich appeared an open courtyard. Into this
courtyard the prisoner was conducted, andas he entered it with the two guards,

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he found himself in an opening whichwas bound by the inner walls of
the building. It was in thenature of a garden in which a number
of trees and flowering shrubs grew Beneath. Sever of the trees were benches,
and there was a bench along thesouth wall. But what aroused his most
immediate attention was the fact that thelions, who had assisted in their capture
and who had accompanied them upon thereturn to the city, lay sprawled upon

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the ground, or wandered restlessly toand fro just inside the gate. His
guard halted. The two men exchangeda few words, and then turned and
re entered the corridor. The Englishmanwas horror stricken as the full realization of
his terrible plight forced himself upon histire. He turned and seized the grating

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in an attempt to open it andgain the safety of the corridor, but
he found it securely locked against hisevery effort. And then he called aloud
to the retreating figure of the manwithin. The only reply he received was
a high pitched, mirthless laugh.And then the two passed through the doorway
at the far end of the corridor, and he was alone with the lions.

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End of Chapter eighteen. Recording byDan Mason of Midland, Michigan.