For hours he lay awaiting his opportunity to drop down
unseen and gather up the arrows for which he had come; but
nothing now occurred to call the villagers away from their
homes. The day wore on, and still Tarzan of the Apes
crouched above the unsuspecting woman at the cauldron.
Presently the workers in the fields returned. The hunting
warriors emerged from the forest, and when all were within
the palisade the gates were closed and barred.
Many cooking pots were now in evidence about the village.
Before each hut a woman presided over a boiling stew, while
little cakes of plantain, and cassava puddings were to be seen
on every hand.
Suddenly there came a hail from the edge of the clearing.
Tarzan looked.
It was a party of belated hunters returning from the north,
and among them they half led, half carried a struggling animal.
As they approached the village the gates were thrown open
to admit them, and then, as the people saw the victim of the
chase, a savage cry rose to the heavens, for the quarry was a man.
As he was dragged, still resisting, into the village street, the
women and children set upon him with sticks and stones, and
Tarzan of the Apes, young and savage beast of the jungle,
wondered at the cruel brutality of his own kind.
Sheeta, the leopard, alone of all the jungle folk, tortured
his prey. The ethics of all the others meted a quick and
merciful death to their victims.
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