Argosy All-Story Weekly, January 13, 1923 — page 139: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

TARZAN AND THE GOLDEN LION. ing through the village gateway into’ the jungle. “ Mein Gott!” exclaimed Bluber. “ He vent out dere, und he vent alone, in der middle of der night. He must have been crazy = = “Gawd!” cried Throck. want to do that for?”’ ‘You ain’t missed nothin’, have you?” asked Peebles of the other two. “ ’E might ‘ave stolen somethin’.”’ “Ot! Oi! Vot have ve got to steal?” cried Bluber. ‘‘ Our guns, our ammunition —dey are here beside us. He did not take them. Besides dose ve have nothing of value except my tventy guinea suit.” ‘But what did ’e do it for?’’ demanded Peebles. ‘°F must ’ave been walkin’ in his bloom- in’ sleep,” said Throck. And that was as near to an explanation of Kraski’s mysterious disappearance as the three could reach. An hour later they set out toward the coast under the protection of a company of the chief’s warriors. Kraski, his rifle slung over his shoulder, moved doggedly along the jungle trail, a heavy automatic pistol grasped in his right hand. His ears were constantly strained for the first intimation of pursuit as well as for whatever other dangers might lurk before or upon either side. Alone in the mysterious jungle he was experiencing a nightmare of terror, and with each mile that he traveled the value of the diamonds be- came less and less by comparison with the frightful ordeal that he realized he must pass through before he could hope to reach the coast. Once Histah, the snake, swinging from a low-hung branch across the trail, barred his way, and the man dared not fire at him for fear of attracting the attention of possible pursuers to his position. He was forced, therefore, to make a detour through the tangled mass of underbrush which grew closely upon either side of the narrow trail. When he reached it again, beyond the snake, his clothing was more torn and tat- tered than before, and his flesh was scratched and cut and bleeding from the innumerable thorns past which he had been compelled to force his way. He was soaked “ What did he BE ee ee ee ; senna a er ri 601 with perspiration and panting from exhaus- tion, and his clothing was filled with ants whose vicious attacks upon his flesh ren- dered him half mad with pain. Once again in the clear, he tore his cloth- ing from him and sought frantically to rid himself of the torturing pests. So thick were the myriad ants upon his clothing that he dared not attempt to reclaim it. Only the sack of diamonds, his ammunition and his weapons did he snatch from the ravening horde whose numbers were rapidly increas- ing, apparently by millions, as they sought again to lay hold upon him and devour him. Shaking the bulk of the ants from the articles he had retrieved, Kraski dashed madly along the trail as naked as the day he was born, and when, a half hour later, stumbling and at last falling exhausted, he lay panting upon the damp jungle earth he realized the utter futility of his mad attempt to reach the coast alone, even more fully than he ever could have under any other circumstances, since there is nothing that so paralyzes the courage and self-con- fidence of a civilized man as to be deprived of his clothing. However scant the protection that might have been afforded by the torn and tattered garments he had discarded, he could not have felt more helpless had he lost his weapons and ammunition: instead, for, to such an extent are we the creatures of habit and environment. It was, therefore, a ter- rified Kraski, already foredoomed to fail- ure, who crawled fearfully along the trail. That night, hungry and cold, he slept in the crotch of a great tree while the hunting carnivores roared and coughed and growled through the blackness of the jungle about him. Shivering with terror, he started mo- mentarily to fearful wakefulness, and when, from exhaustion, he would doze again, it was not to rest but to dream of horrors that a sudden roar would merge into reality. Thus the long hours of frightful night dragged out their tedious length, until it seemed that dawn would never come. But come it did, and once again he took up his stumbling way toward the west. Reduced by fear and fatigue and pain to a state bordering upon half-consciousness, he blundered on, with each passing hour COMIC OO KS “eet. ats ~~ com,