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the white god carry him away without scratching and biting, as he had done at first.
As Tarzan swung rapidly through the trees, little Tibo closed his eyes in terror rather than look longer
down into the frightful abysses beneath. Never before in all his life had Tibo been so frightened, yet as the
white giant sped on with him through the forest there stole over the child an inexplicable sensation of
security as he saw how true were the leaps of the ape-man, how unerring his grasp upon the swaying
limbs which gave him hand-hold, and then, too, there was safety in the middle terraces of the forest, far
above the reach of the dreaded lions.
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And so Tarzan came to the clearing where the tribe fed, dropping among them with his new balu clinging
tightly to his shoulders. He was fairly in the midst of them before Tibo spied a single one of the great hairy
forms, or before the apes realized that Tarzan was not alone. When they saw the little Gomangani
perched upon his back some of them came forward in curiosity with upcurled lips and snarling mien.
An hour before little Tibo would have said that he knew the uttermost depths of fear; but now, as he saw
these fearsome beasts surrounding him, he realized that all that had gone before was as nothing by
comparison. Why did the great white giant stand there so unconcernedly? Why did he not flee before
these horrid, hairy, tree men fell upon them both and tore them to pieces? And then there came to Tibo a
numbing recollection. It was none other than the story he had heard passed from mouth to mouth,
fearfully, by the people of Mbonga, the chief, that this great white demon of the jungle was naught other
than a hairless ape, for had not he been seen in company with these?
Tibo could only stare in wide-eyed horror at the approaching apes. He saw their beetling brows, their
great fangs, their wicked eyes. He noted their mighty muscles rolling beneath their shaggy hides. Their
every attitude and expression was a menace. Tarzan saw this, too. He drew Tibo around in front of him.
"This is Tarzan's Go-bu-balu," he said. "Do not harm him, or Tarzan will kill you," and he bared his own
fangs in the teeth of the nearest ape.
"It is a Gomangani," replied the ape. "Let me kill it. It is a Gomangani. The Gomangani are our enemies.
Let me kill it."
"Go away," snarled Tarzan. "I tell you, Gunto, it is Tarzan's balu. Go away or Tarzan will kill you," and
the apeman took a step toward the advancing ape.
The latter sidled off, quite stiff and haughty, after the manner of a dog which meets another and is too
proud to fight and too fearful to turn his back and run.
Next came Teeka, prompted by curiosity. At her side skipped little Gazan. They were filled with wonder
like the others; but Teeka did not bare her fangs. Tarzan saw this and motioned that she approach.
"Tarzan has a balu now," he said. "He and Teeka's balu can play together."
"It is a Gomangani," replied Teeka. "It will kill my balu. Take it away, Tarzan."
Tarzan laughed. "It could not harm Pamba, the rat," he said. "It is but a little balu and very frightened. Let
Gazan play with it."
Teeka still was fearful, for with all their mighty ferocity the great anthropoids are timid; but at last,
assured by her great confidence in Tarzan, she pushed Gazan forward toward the little black boy. The
small ape, guided by instinct, drew back toward its mother, baring its small fangs and screaming in
mingled fear and rage.
Tibo, too, showed no signs of desiring a closer acquaintance with Gazan, so Tarzan gave up his efforts
for the time.
During the week which followed, Tarzan found his time much occupied. His balu was a greater
responsibility than he had counted upon. Not for a moment did he dare leave it, since of all the tribe,
Teeka alone could have been depended upon to refrain from slaying the hapless black had it not been for
Tarzan's constant watchfulness. When the ape-man hunted, he must carry Go-bu-balu about with him. It
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was irksome, and then the little black seemed so stupid and fearful to Tarzan. It was quite helpless
against even the lesser of the jungle creatures. Tarzan wondered how it had survived at all. He tried to
teach it, and found a ray of hope in the fact that Go-bu-balu had mastered a few words of the language
of the anthropoids, and that he could now cling to a high-tossed branch without screaming in fear; but
there was something about the child which worried Tarzan. He often had watched the blacks within their
village. He had seen the children playing, and always there had been much laughter; but little Go-bu-balu
never laughed. It was true that Tarzan himself never laughed. Upon occasion he smiled, grimly, but to
laughter he was a stranger. The black, however, should have laughed, reasoned the ape-man. It was the
way of the Gomangani.
Also, he saw that the little fellow often refused food and was growing thinner day by day. At times he
surprised the boy sobbing softly to himself. Tarzan tried to comfort him, even as fierce Kala had
comforted Tarzan when the ape-man was a balu, but all to no avail. Go-bu-balu merely no longer feared
Tarzan that was all. He feared every other living thing within the jungle. He feared the jungle days with
their long excursions through the dizzy tree tops. He feared the jungle nights with their swaying, perilous
couches far above the ground, and the grunting and coughing of the great carnivora prowling beneath
him.
Tarzan did not know what to do. His heritage of English blood rendered it a difficult thing even to
consider a surrender of his project, though he was forced to admit to himself that his balu was not all that
he had hoped. Though he was faithful to his self-imposed task, and even found that he had grown to like
Go-bu-balu, he could not deceive himself into believing that he felt for it that fierce heat of passionate
affection which Teeka revealed for Gazan, and which the black mother had shown for Go-bu-balu.
The little black boy from cringing terror at the sight of Tarzan passed by degrees into trustfulness and
admiration. Only kindness had he ever received at the hands of the great white devil-god, yet he had seen
with what ferocity his kindly captor could deal with others. He had seen him leap upon a certain he-ape
which persisted in attempting to seize and slay Go-bu-balu. He had seen the strong, white teeth of the
ape-man fastened in the neck of his adversary, and the mighty muscles tensed in battle. He had heard the
savage, bestial snarls and roars of combat, and he had realized with a shudder that he could not
differentiate between those of his guardian and those of the hairy ape.
He had seen Tarzan bring down a buck, just as Numa, the lion, might have done, leaping upon its back
and fastening his fangs in the creature's neck. Tibo had shuddered at the sight, but he had thrilled, too,
and for the first time there entered his dull, Negroid mind a vague desire to emulate his savage foster
parent. But Tibo, the little black boy, lacked the divine spark which had permitted Tarzan, the white boy,
to benefit by his training in the ways of the fierce jungle. In imagination he was wanting, and imagination is
but another name for super-intelligence.
Imagination it is which builds bridges, and cities, and empires. The beasts know it not, the blacks only a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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