Chapter VII. The Light of Knowledge

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

　　After what seemed an eternity to the little sufferer he wasable to walk once more, and from then on his recoverywas so rapid that in another month he was as strong andactive as ever.

　　During his convalescence he had gone over in his mindmany times the battle with the gorilla, and his first thoughtwas to recover the wonderful little weapon which had transformedhim from a hopelessly outclassed weakling to the superiorof the mighty terror of the jungle.

　　Also, he was anxious to return to the cabin and continuehis investigations of its wondrous contents.

　　So, early one morning, he set forth alone upon his quest.After a little search he located the clean-picked bones of hislate adversary, and close by, partly buried beneath the fallenleaves, he found the knife, now red with rust from its exposureto the dampness of the ground and from the dried bloodof the gorilla.

　　He did not like the change in its former bright and gleamingsurface; but it was still a formidable weapon, and onewhich he meant to use to advantage whenever the opportunitypresented itself. He had in mind that no more would herun from the wanton attacks of old Tublat.

　　In another moment he was at the cabin, and after a shorttime had again thrown the latch and entered. His first concernwas to learn the mechanism of the lock, and this he didby examining it closely while the door was open, so that hecould learn precisely what caused it to hold the door, and bywhat means it released at his touch.

　　He found that he could close and lock the door fromwithin, and this he did so that there would be no chanceof his being molested while at his investigation.

　　He commenced a systematic search of the cabin; but hisattention was soon riveted by the books which seemed toexert a strange and powerful influence over him, so that hecould scarce attend to aught else for the lure of the wondrouspuzzle which their purpose presented to him.

　　Among the other books were a primer, some child's readers,numerous picture books, and a great dictionary. All ofthese he examined, but the pictures caught his fancy most,though the strange little bugs which covered the pages wherethere were no pictures excited his wonder and deepest thought.

　　Squatting upon his haunches on the table top in the cabinhis father had built--his smooth, brown, naked little bodybent over the book which rested in his strong slender hands, andhis great shock of long, black hair falling about his well-shaped head and bright, intelligent eyes--Tarzan of the apes,little primitive man, presented a picture filled, at once, withpathos and with promise--an allegorical figure of the primordialgroping through the black night of ignorance toward thelight of learning.

　　His little face was tense in study, for he had partiallygrasped, in a hazy, nebulous way, the rudiments of a thoughtwhich was destined to prove the key and the solution to thepuzzling problem of the strange little bugs.

　　In his hands was a primer opened at a picture of a littleape similar to himself, but covered, except for hands andface, with strange, colored fur, for such he thought the jacketand trousers to be. Beneath the picture were three little bugs--

　　Boy.

　　And now he had discovered in the text upon the page thatthese three were repeated many times in the same sequence.

　　Another fact he learned--that there were comparativelyfew individual bugs; but these were repeated many times,occasionally alone, but more often in company with others.

　　Slowly he turned the pages, scanning the pictures and thetext for a repetition of the combination B-O-Y. Presently hefound it beneath a picture of another little ape and a strangeanimal which went upon four legs like the jackal and resembledhim not a little. Beneath this picture the bugs appeared as:

　　A Boy and a Dog

　　There they were, the three little bugs which always accompaniedthe little ape.

　　And so he progressed very, very slowly, for it was a hardand laborious task which he had set himself without knowingit--a task which might seem to you or me impossible--learningto read without having the slightest knowledge of letters orwritten language, or the faintest idea that such things existed.

　　He did not accomplish it in a day, or in a week, or in amonth, or in a year; but slowly, very slowly, he learned afterhe had grasped the possibilities which lay in those little bugs,so that by the time he was fifteen he knew the variouscombinations of letters which stood for every pictured figurein the little primer and in one or two of the picture books.

　　Of the meaning and use of the articles and conjunctions, verbsand adverbs and pronouns he had but the faintest conception.

　　One day when he was about twelve he found a number oflead pencils in a hitherto undiscovered drawer beneath thetable, and in scratching upon the table top with one of themhe was delighted to discover the black line it left behind it.

　　He worked so assiduously with this new toy that the tabletop was soon a mass of scrawly loops and irregular lines andhis pencil-point worn down to the wood. Then he took anotherpencil, but this time he had a definite object in view.

　　He would attempt to reproduce some of the little bugs thatscrambled over the pages of his books.

　　It was a difficult task, for he held the pencil as one wouldgrasp the hilt of a dagger, which does not add greatly to easein writing or to the legibility of the results.

　　But he persevered for months, at such times as he was ableto come to the cabin, until at last by repeated experimentinghe found a position in which to hold the pencil that bestpermitted him to guide and control it, so that at last he couldroughly reproduce any of the little bugs.

　　Thus he made a beginning of writing.

　　Copying the bugs taught him another thing--their number;and though he could not count as we understand it, yet hehad an idea of quantity, the base of his calculations beingthe number of fingers upon one of his hands.

　　His search through the various books convinced him thathe had discovered all the different kinds of bugs most oftenrepeated in combination, and these he arranged in properorder with great ease because of the frequency with which hehad perused the fascinating alphabet picture book.

　　His education progressed; but his greatest finds were in theinexhaustible storehouse of the huge illustrated dictionary, forhe learned more through the medium of pictures than text,even after he had grasped the significance of the bugs.

　　When he discovered the arrangement of words in alphabeticalorder he delighted in searching for and finding thecombinations with which he was familiar, and the words whichfollowed them, their definitions, led him still further into themazes of erudition.

　　By the time he was seventeen he had learned to read thesimple, child's primer and had fully realized the true andwonderful purpose of the little bugs.

　　No longer did he feel shame for his hairless body or hishuman features, for now his reason told him that he was of adifferent race from his wild and hairy companions. He was aM-A-N, they were A-P-E-S, and the little apes which scurriedthrough the forest top were M-O-N-K-E-Y-S. He knew, too,that old Sabor was a L-I-O-N-E-S-S, and Histah a S-N-A-K-E,and Tantor an E-L-E-P-H-A-N-T. And so he learned to read.From then on his progress was rapid. With the help of thegreat dictionary and the active intelligence of a healthy mindendowed by inheritance with more than ordinary reasoningpowers he shrewdly guessed at much which he could notreally understand, and more often than not his guesses wereclose to the mark of truth.

　　There were many breaks in his education, caused by themigratory habits of his tribe, but even when removed fromhis books his active brain continued to search out themysteries of his fascinating avocation.

　　Pieces of bark and flat leaves and even smooth stretches ofbare earth provided him with copy books whereon to scratchwith the point of his hunting knife the lessons he was learning.

　　Nor did he neglect the sterner duties of life while followingthe bent of his inclination toward the solving of the mysteryof his library.

　　He practiced with his rope and played with his sharp knife,which he had learned to keep keen by whetting upon flat stones.

　　The tribe had grown larger since Tarzan had come amongthem, for under the leadership of Kerchak they had beenable to frighten the other tribes from their part of the jungleso that they had plenty to eat and little or no loss frompredatory incursions of neighbors.

　　Hence the younger males as they became adult found itmore comfortable to take mates from their own tribe, or ifthey captured one of another tribe to bring her back toKerchak's band and live in amity with him rather than attemptto set up new establishments of their own, or fight with theredoubtable Kerchak for supremacy at home.

　　Occasionally one more ferocious than his fellows wouldattempt this latter alternative, but none had come yet whocould wrest the palm of victory from the fierce and brutal ape.

　　Tarzan held a peculiar position in the tribe. They seemedto consider him one of them and yet in some way different.The older males either ignored him entirely or else hated himso vindictively that but for his wondrous agility and speedand the fierce protection of the huge Kala he would havebeen dispatched at an early age.

　　Tublat was his most consistent enemy, but it was throughTublat that, when he was about thirteen, the persecution ofhis enemies suddenly ceased and he was left severely alone,except on the occasions when one of them ran amuck in thethroes of one of those strange, wild fits of insane rage whichattacks the males of many of the fiercer animals of the jungle.Then none was safe.

　　On the day that Tarzan established his right to respect, thetribe was gathered about a small natural amphitheater whichthe jungle had left free from its entangling vines and creepersin a hollow among some low hills.

　　The open space was almost circular in shape. Upon everyhand rose the mighty giants of the untouched forest, with thematted undergrowth banked so closely between the hugetrunks that the only opening into the little, level arena wasthrough the upper branches of the trees.

　　Here, safe from interruption, the tribe often gathered. Inthe center of the amphitheater was one of those strangeearthen drums which the anthropoids build for the queer ritesthe sounds of which men have heard in the fastnesses of thejungle, but which none has ever witnessed.

　　Many travelers have seen the drums of the great apes, andsome have heard the sounds of their beating and the noise ofthe wild, weird revelry of these first lords of the jungle, butTarzan, Lord Greystoke, is, doubtless, the only human beingwho ever joined in the fierce, mad, intoxicating revel of theDum-Dum.

　　From this primitive function has arisen, unquestionably, allthe forms and ceremonials of modern church and state, forthrough all the countless ages, back beyond the uttermostramparts of a dawning humanity our fierce, hairy forebearsdanced out the rites of the Dum-Dum to the sound of theirearthen drums, beneath the bright light of a tropical moon inthe depth of a mighty jungle which stands unchanged todayas it stood on that long forgotten night in the dim, unthinkablevistas of the long dead past when our first shaggy ancestorswung from a swaying bough and dropped lightly uponthe soft turf of the first meeting place.

　　On the day that Tarzan won his emancipation from thepersecution that had followed him remorselessly for twelve ofhis thirteen years of life, the tribe, now a full hundred strong,trooped silently through the lower terrace of the jungle treesand dropped noiselessly upon the floor of the amphitheater.

　　The rites of the Dum-Dum marked important events in thelife of the tribe--a victory, the capture of a prisoner, thekilling of some large fierce denizen of the jungle, the death oraccession of a king, and were conducted with set ceremonialism.

　　Today it was the killing of a giant ape, a member of anothertribe, and as the people of Kerchak entered the arenatwo mighty bulls were seen bearing the body of thevanquished between them.

　　They laid their burden before the earthen drum and thensquatted there beside it as guards, while the other members ofthe community curled themselves in grassy nooks to sleepuntil the rising moon should give the signal for thecommencement of their savage orgy.

　　For hours absolute quiet reigned in the little clearing,except as it was broken by the discordant notes of brilliantlyfeathered parrots, or the screeching and twittering of thethousand jungle birds flitting ceaselessly amongst the vividorchids and flamboyant blossoms which festooned the myriad,moss-covered branches of the forest kings.

　　At length as darkness settled upon the jungle the apescommenced to bestir themselves, and soon they formed a greatcircle about the earthen drum. The females and young squattedin a thin line at the outer periphery of the circle, whilejust in front of them ranged the adult males. Before the drumsat three old females, each armed with a knotted branch fifteenor eighteen inches in length.

　　Slowly and softly they began tapping upon the resoundingsurface of the drum as the first faint rays of the ascendingmoon silvered the encircling tree tops.

　　As the light in the amphitheater increased the femalesaugmented the frequency and force of their blows until presentlya wild, rhythmic din pervaded the great jungle for miles inevery direction. Huge, fierce brutes stopped in their hunting,with up-pricked ears and raised heads, to listen to the dullbooming that betokened the Dum-Dum of the apes.

　　Occasionally one would raise his shrill scream or thunderousroar in answering challenge to the savage din of theanthropoids, but none came near to investigate or attack, forthe great apes, assembled in all the power of their numbers,filled the breasts of their jungle neighbors with deep respect.

　　As the din of the drum rose to almost deafening volumeKerchak sprang into the open space between the squattingmales and the drummers.

　　Standing erect he threw his head far back and looking fullinto the eye of the rising moon he beat upon his breast withhis great hairy paws and emitted his fearful roaring shriek.

　　One--twice--thrice that terrifying cry rang out across theteeming solitude of that unspeakably quick, yet unthinkablydead, world.

　　Then, crouching, Kerchak slunk noiselessly around theopen circle, veering far away from the dead body lying beforethe altar-drum, but, as he passed, keeping his little,fierce, wicked, red eyes upon the corpse.

　　Another male then sprang into the arena, and, repeatingthe horrid cries of his king, followed stealthily in his wake.Another and another followed in quick succession until thejungle reverberated with the now almost ceaseless notes oftheir bloodthirsty screams.

　　It was the challenge and the hunt.

　　When all the adult males had joined in the thin line ofcircling dancers the attack commenced.

　　Kerchak, seizing a huge club from the pile which lay athand for the purpose, rushed furiously upon the dead ape,dealing the corpse a terrific blow, at the same time emittingthe growls and snarls of combat. The din of the drum wasnow increased, as well as the frequency of the blows, and thewarriors, as each approached the victim of the hunt anddelivered his bludgeon blow, joined in the mad whirl of theDeath Dance.

　　Tarzan was one of the wild, leaping horde. His brown,sweat-streaked, muscular body, glistening in the moonlight,shone supple and graceful among the uncouth, awkward,hairy brutes about him.

　　None was more stealthy in the mimic hunt, none moreferocious than he in the wild ferocity of the attack, nonewho leaped so high into the air in the Dance of Death.

　　As the noise and rapidity of the drumbeats increased thedancers apparently became intoxicated with the wild rhythmand the savage yells. Their leaps and bounds increased, theirbared fangs dripped saliva, and their lips and breasts wereflecked with foam.

　　For half an hour the weird dance went on, until, at a signfrom Kerchak, the noise of the drums ceased, the femaledrummers scampering hurriedly through the line of dancerstoward the outer rim of squatting spectators. Then, as one,the males rushed headlong upon the thing which their terrificblows had reduced to a mass of hairy pulp.

　　Flesh seldom came to their jaws in satisfying quantities, soa fit finale to their wild revel was a taste of fresh killed meat,and it was to the purpose of devouring their late enemy thatthey now turned their attention.

　　Great fangs sunk into the carcass tearing away huge hunks,the mightiest of the apes obtaining the choicest morsels,while the weaker circled the outer edge of the fighting,snarling pack awaiting their chance to dodge in and snatch adropped tidbit or filch a remaining bone before all was gone.

　　Tarzan, more than the apes, craved and needed flesh.Descended from a race of meat eaters, never in his life, hethought, had he once satisfied his appetite for animal food;and so now his agile little body wormed its way far into themass of struggling, rending apes in an endeavor to obtain ashare which his strength would have been unequal to the taskof winning for him.

　　At his side hung the hunting knife of his unknown fatherin a sheath self-fashioned in copy of one he had seen amongthe pictures of his treasure-books.

　　At last he reached the fast disappearing feast and with hissharp knife slashed off a more generous portion than he hadhoped for, an entire hairy forearm, where it protruded frombeneath the feet of the mighty Kerchak, who was so busilyengaged in perpetuating the royal prerogative of gluttony thathe failed to note the act of lese-majeste.

　　So little Tarzan wriggled out from beneath the strugglingmass, clutching his grisly prize close to his breast.

　　Among those circling futilely the outskirts of the banqueterswas old Tublat. He had been among the first at the feast,but had retreated with a goodly share to eat in quiet, and wasnow forcing his way back for more.

　　So it was that he spied Tarzan as the boy emerged fromthe clawing, pushing throng with that hairy forearm huggedfirmly to his body.

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

　　But Tarzan saw his arch enemy as quickly, and diviningwhat the great beast would do he leaped nimbly away towardthe females and the young, hoping to hide himself amongthem. Tublat, however, was close upon his heels, so that hehad no opportunity to seek a place of concealment, but sawthat he would be put to it to escape at all.

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

　　Up, up he went to the waving pinnacle of a lofty monarchof 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 theground, among the females and young, sinking his greatfangs into a dozen tiny necks and tearing great pieces fromthe backs and breasts of the females who fell into hisclutches.

　　In the brilliant moonlight Tarzan witnessed the whole madcarnival of rage. He saw the females and the young scamperto the safety of the trees. Then the great bulls in the center ofthe arena felt the mighty fangs of their demented fellow, andwith one accord they melted into the black shadows of theoverhanging forest.

　　There was but one in the amphitheater beside Tublat, abelated female running swiftly toward the tree where Tarzanperched, and close behind her came the awful Tublat.

　　It was Kala, and as quickly as Tarzan saw that Tublat wasgaining on her he dropped with the rapidity of a fallingstone, from branch to branch, toward his foster mother.

　　Now she was beneath the overhanging limbs and closeabove her crouched Tarzan, waiting the outcome of the race.

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

　　Both were up in an instant, but as quick as they had beenTarzan had been quicker, so that the infuriated bull foundhimself facing the man-child who stood between him and Kala.

　　Nothing could have suited the fierce beast better, and witha 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 intothe broad breast. Like lightning the blows fell, and onlyceased when Tarzan felt the limp form crumple beneath him.

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

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

　　"I am Tarzan," he cried. "I am a great killer. Let allrespect Tarzan of the Apes and Kala, his mother. There benone among you as mighty as Tarzan. Let his enemies beware."

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