Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 23, 1924 — page 121: what you’re looking at

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

TARZAN AND THE ANT-MEN. 219 eyes narrowed and she paused, up-pricking her great, flat ears to listen; sniffing the air. Men! She increased her gait to a-trot, bearing down upon them. There was more than one—there were several. If she came upon them suddenly they would be startled, filled with confusion, and no doubt she could seize one of them before they took to flight. If not—the feathered pebbles at her girdle would seek one out. For some time men had been scarce. Many women of her tribe who had gone out into the forest to capture mates had never returned. She had seen the corpses of several of these herself, lying in the for- est. She had wondered what had killed them. But here were men at last, the first she had discovered in two moons, and this time she would not return empty handed to her cave. At a sudden turning of the forest trail she came within sight of them, but saw, to her dismay, that they were still a long way off. They would be sure to escape if they saw her, and she was upon the point. of hiding when she realized that already it was too Jate. One of them was pointing at her. Loosening a missile from her girdle and grasping her cudgel more firmly she started toward them at a rapid, lumbering run. She was both surprised and pleased when she saw that they made no attempt to es- cape. How terrified they must be to stand thus docilely while she approached them. But what was this? They were advanc- ing to meet her! And now she saw the ex- pressions upon their faces. No fear there —only rage and menace. What were the strange things they carried in their hands? One who was running toward her, the nearest, paused and hurled a long pointed stick at her.. It was sharp and when it erazed her shoulder it brought blood. An- other paused and holding a little stick across a longer stick, the ends of which were bent back with a piece of gut, sud- denly released the smaller stick, which leaped through the air and pierced the flesh beneath one of her arms. And behind these two the others were rushing upon her with similar weapons. She recalled the corpses of women she had seen in the forest and the dearth of men for the last several moons, and although she was dull of wit yet she was not without reasoning faculties and so she compared these facts with the occurrences of the last few seconds with a resultant judgment that sent her Jumbering away, in the direction from which she had come, as fast as her hairy legs would carry her. Nor did she once pause in her mad flight until she sank exhausted at the mouth of her own cave. The men did not pursue her. As yet they had not reached that stage in their emancipation that was to give them suffi- cient courage and confidence in themselves to overcome entirely their hereditary fear of women. To chase one away was suffi- cient. To pursue her would have been tempting Providence. When the other women of the tribe saw their sister brute stagger to her cave and sensed that her condition was the result of terror and the physical strain of long flight they seized their cudgels and ran forth, prepared to meet and vanquish her pursuer, which they immediately assumed to be a lion. But no lion appeared and then some of them wandered to the side of the woman who lay panting on her threshold. “From what did you run?” they asked her in their simple sign language. ‘“ Men,” she replied. Disgust showed plainly upon every face, and one of them kicked her and SnGIREE spat upon her. ‘There were many,” she told them, ‘“and they would have killed me with fly- ing sticks, Look!” and she showed them the spear wound and the arrow still em- bedded in the flesh beneath her arm. ‘They did not run from me, but came forward to attack me. Thus have all the women been killed whose corpses we have seen in the forest during the past few moons.” This troubled them. They ceased to an- noy the prostrate woman. Their leader, the fiercest of them, paced to and fro, mak- ing hideous faces. Suddenly she halted. ‘“Come!”’ she signalled. ‘ We shall go forth together and find these men, and bring them back and punish them.” She shook PE PEN TEP SO! els Am OTR UNI PAE RUT Y oe POE ES MAR ONE UT VEAL, CRYO Syaeins Seam) or MMe ieee sy ted, G9 AA ne hme A/TIeGs Youte! heute Ano Gomichbooks