By Edgar Rice Burroughs
| It was not yet dark when he reached the tribe, though he
stopped to exhume and devour the remains of the wild boar he had cached the
preceding day, and again to take Kulonga's bow and arrows from the tree top in
which he had hidden them. It was a well-laden Tarzan who dropped from the branches into the midst of the tribe of Kerchak. With swelling chest he narrated the glories of his adventure and exhibited the spoils of conquest. Kerchak grunted and turned away, for he was jealous of this strange member of his band. In his little evil brain he sought for some excuse to wreak his hatred upon Tarzan. The next day Tarzan was practicing with his bow and arrows at the first gleam of dawn. At first he lost nearly every bolt he shot, but finally he learned to guide the little shafts with fair accuracy, and ere a month had passed he was no mean shot; but his proficiency had cost him nearly his entire supply of arrows. |
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|
The tribe continued to find the hunting good in the vicinity of the beach, and
so Tarzan of the Apes varied his archery practice with further investigation of
his father's choice though little store of books. It was during this period that the young English lord found hidden in the back of one of the cupboards in the cabin a small metal box. The key was in the lock, and a few moments of investigation and experimentation were rewarded with the successful opening of the receptacle. In it he found a faded photograph of a smooth faced young man, a golden locket studded with diamonds, linked to a small gold chain, a few letters and a small book. Tarzan examined these all minutely. The photograph he liked most of all, for the eyes were smiling, and the face was open and frank. It was his father. The locket, too, took his fancy, and he placed the chain about his neck in imitation of the ornamentation he had seen to be so common among the black men he had visited. The brilliant stones gleamed strangely against his smooth, brown hide. The letters he could scarcely decipher for he had learned little or nothing of script, so he put them back in the box with the photograph and turned his attention to the book. This was almost entirely filled with fine script, but while the little bugs were all familiar to him, their arrangement and the combinations in which they occurred were strange, and entirely incomprehensible.
Tarzan had long since learned the use of the dictionary, but much to his sorrow
and perplexity it proved of no avail to him in this emergency. Not a word of all
that was writ in the book could he find, and so he put it back in the metal box,
but with a determination to work out the mysteries of it later on. |
Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollestonecraft (Godwin) Shelley Boots and Saddles, the legend of General Custer. The Invisible Man, by H. G. Wells My Life on the Plains, by General George A. Custer David Crockett a man known to millions in his own lifetime. Call of the Wild the immortal classic by Jack London Wuthering Heights the original and still best gothic. The Seventh Man, by Max Brand. Bull Hunter by Max Brand The Virginian by Owen Wister The Life and Adventures of Calamity Jane, by Herself At The Earth's Core, by Edgar Rice Burroughs Riders of the Purple Sage, by Zane Grey A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens |
| At present he had more important business in hand, for his supply of arrows was
exhausted, and he must needs journey to the black men's village and renew it. Early the following morning he set out, and, traveling rapidly, he came before midday to the clearing. Once more he took up his position in the great tree, and, as before, he saw the women in the fields and the village street, and the cauldron of bubbling poison directly beneath him. 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. Tarzan had learned from his books but scattered fragments of the ways of human beings. When he had followed Kulonga through the forest he had expected to come to a city of strange houses on wheels, puffing clouds of black smoke from a huge tree stuck in the roof of one of them--or to a sea covered with mighty floating buildings which he had learned were called, variously, ships and boats and steamers and craft. He had been sorely disappointed with the poor little village of the blacks, hidden away in his own jungle, and with not a single house as large as his own cabin upon the distant beach. He saw that these people were more wicked than his own apes, and as savage and cruel as Sabor, herself. Tarzan began to hold his own kind in low esteem.
Now they had tied their poor victim to a great post near the center of the
village, directly before Mbonga's hut, and here they formed a dancing, yelling
circle of warriors about him, alive with flashing knives and menacing spears. |
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson Looking Backward From 2000 to 1887 by Edward Bellamy Arizona Sketches by Joseph A. Munk ULLR UPRISING, an illustrated science fiction novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte which was one of the original gothics, and I believe it is still one of the best gothic novels ever written.
David
Copperfield is available in pdf -- OR --
David Copperfield
can be downloaded as a page-turning PC book. Just remember, this
book is twice as long as Pride and Prejudice.
Oh, one
more thing, To Open The Page-Turning Book, click in the bottom right
hand corner of the front cover.
Mansfield
Park was the most unpopular novel written by the classic producer,
Jane Austen. It has been newly arranged and
typeset by Lin Stone, then
published as an electronic book by Browzer Books.
Gold Fever is the insane compulsion to set aside
the little diamonds we already have -- and tear off
across parts dangerous and unknown to reach the
latest gold strike. "The Cure for Gold Fever" is Lin
Stone's funniest work so far. It is the obviously true
life story of how he cured himself forever of gold fever. |
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Then it was that Tarzan of the Apes saw his chance. All eyes were fixed upon the
thrilling spectacle at the stake. The light of day had given place to the
darkness of a moonless night, and only the fires in the immediate vicinity of
the orgy had been kept alight to cast a restless glow upon the restless scene. |
