Chapter 12 Man's Reason

There was one of the tribe of Tarzan who questioned his

authority, and that was Terkoz, the son of Tublat, but he

so feared the keen knife and the deadly arrows of his new

lord that he confined the manifestation of his objections to

petty disobediences and irritating mannerisms; Tarzan knew,

however, that he but waited his opportunity to wrest the

kingship from him by some sudden stroke of treachery, and

so he was ever on his guard against surprise.

For months the life of the little band went on much as it

had before, except that Tarzan's greater intelligence and his

ability as a hunter were the means of providing for them

more bountifully than ever before. Most of them, therefore,

were more than content with the change in rulers.

Tarzan led them by night to the fields of the black men,

and there, warned by their chief's superior wisdom, they ate

only what they required, nor ever did they destroy what they

could not eat, as is the way of Manu, the monkey, and of

most apes.

So, while the blacks were wroth at the continued pilfering

of their fields, they were not discouraged in their efforts to

cultivate the land, as would have been the case had Tarzan

permitted his people to lay waste the plantation wantonly.

During this period Tarzan paid many nocturnal visits to the

village, where he often renewed his supply of arrows. He

soon noticed the food always standing at the foot of the tree

which was his avenue into the palisade, and after a little, he

commenced to eat whatever the blacks put there.

When the awe-struck savages saw that the food disappeared

overnight they were filled with consternation and dread,

for it was one thing to put food out to propitiate a god

or a devil, but quite another thing to have the spirit really

come into the village and eat it. Such a thing was unheard of,

and it clouded their superstitious minds with all manner of

vague fears.