Re: Tarzan The Magnificent Movie Download In Mp4
Ania Cozzolino
If this tale should seem in part incredible, please bear thisaxiom in mind. It had its beginning more than twenty years ago,unless one wishes to go further back to the first amoeba or evenbeyond that to the cosmos shattering clash of two forgotten suns;but we shall confine our story, other than by occasionalreference, to the stage, the actors, and the business of thepresent time.
The searing sun rays scorch down upon a shriveled plain ascant five degrees north of the equator. A man, clothed in tornshirt and trousers upon which dried blood has caked and turned arusty brown, staggers and falls to lie inert.
Not far to the south, at the edge of the dry plain, anotherman swings easily toward the north. No sign of fatigue orexhaustion here. The bronze skin glows with health, full musclesglide beneath it. The free gait, the noiseless tread might bethose of Sheeta, the panther; but there is no slinking here. Itis the carriage of one who knows neither doubt nor fear, of alord in his own domain.
He is encumbered by but a single garment, a loincloth of doe-skin. A coil of grass rope is looped over one shoulder, behindthe other hangs a quiver of arrows; a scabbarded knife swings athis hip; a bow and a short spear complete his equipment. A shockof black hair falls in disorder above serene, grey eyes, eyesthat can reflect the light of a summer sea or the flashing steelof a rapier.
He is far to the north of his ancient haunts, yet this is nounfamiliar terrain. He has been here many times before. He knowswhere water may be had for the digging. He knows where thenearest water hole lies where he can make a kill and fill hisbelly.
As Tarzan swung with easy strides out across the plain, nosound escaped his keen ears; no moving thing, his eyes; no scent,borne upon the soft bosom of Usha the wind, went unidentified.Far in the distance he saw Numa the lion standing upon his rockyledge; he saw Ska the vulture circling above something thatTarzan could not see. In all that he saw or heard or smelled heread a story; for to him this savage world was an open book,sometimes a thrilling, always an interesting narrative of love,of hate, of life, of death.
Tarzan paused to investigate, for to him in his world nothingis too trivial to pass by without question. He saw that theskeleton was that of a Negro and that it had lain there for along time, years probably; which was entirely possible in thishot, dry plain. He could not tell how the man had come to hisdeath, but he guessed that it might have been from thirst.
Then he saw something lying by the bones of a hand, somethinghalf buried by shifting soil; and he stopped and picked it up,drawing it carefully out of the earth. It was a split stick ofhardwood in the split end of which was wedged a thin parcel ofoiled silk.
It was written in English in a small, extremely legible hand.Tarzan read it with interest, interest that was perhapsstimulated by the date at the top of the sheet. Twenty years hadelapsed since that letter had been written. For twenty years ithad lain here beside the skeleton of its bearer in mute testimonyto the loneliness of this barren plain.
Tarzan of the Apes read the letter through twice. Mountford!Almost ever since he could remember, it seemed, the mysteriousdisappearance of Lord and Lady Mountford had been recalled to theminds of men by rumors that they still lived, until they hadbecome a legend of the wilderness.
And now at last the truth had come, but too late. LadyMountford had been dead for twenty years, and it was quiteimprobable that her husband still lived. The child must, ofcourse, have died or been killed by the Kaji. It could scarcelyhave survived among those savage people through infancy.
To the jungle bred ape-man death was a commonplace phenomenonof existence and far less remarkable than many othermanifestations of nature, for it came eventually to all livingthings; so the possibility of the death of the man and the childinduced no reaction of sorrow or regret. It simply meant nothingto him whatsoever. He would deliver the letter to the Englishauthorities at the first opportunity, and that would be all thatthere would be to it. Or so Tarzan thought. He continued his way,putting the matter from his mind. He was more interested in themaneuvers of Ska the vulture, for they indicated that Ska wascircling about some creature not yet dead and which, because ofits size or nature, he hesitated to attack.
As Tarzan approached the spot above which Ska wheeled onstatic wings he saw Numa the lion drop from the ledge upon whichhe had been standing and move cautiously toward the thing thathad aroused the man's curiosity. Though the latter was in plainsight, Numa seemingly ignored his presence; nor did Tarzan alterhis course because of the lion. If neither changed his pace orhis direction they would meet close to the thing above which Skahovered.
To the right of it, a hundred yards away, was Numa. Presentlythe man stirred. He was not dead. He raised his head and saw thelion; then he struggled to rise, but he was very weak and couldonly manage to raise himself to one knee. Behind him was Tarzan,whom he did not see.
As the man half rose, the lion growled. It was only a warningin which there was no immediate menace. Tarzan recognized it assuch. He knew that Numa had been attracted by curiosity and notby hunger. His belly was full.
Then he heard another low growl behind him and, turning hiseyes quickly in that direction, saw an almost naked man comingtoward him. For an instant he did not understand, for he saw noother beast; then he heard the growl again and saw that it camefrom the throat of the bronzed giant approaching him.
Numa heard the growl too and paused. He shook his head andsnarled. Tarzan did not pause; he continued on toward the man.There was no sanctuary should the lion attack, no tree to offerthe safety of its branches; there were only Tarzan's weapons andhis great strength and his skill; but greatest of all was hisconviction that Numa would not attack.
The Lord of the Jungle well knew the art of bluff and itsvalue. Suddenly he raised his head and voiced the hideouswarning-cry of the bull ape. The man shuddered as he heard thebestial cry issue from the lips of a human being. Numa, with aparting growl, turned and stalked away.
The voice of a beast coming from the lips of this strangewhite giant had been no more disconcerting to the man than now tohear him speak in English. He did not know whether to be afraidor not. He glanced hurriedly in the direction of the lion and sawit moving off in the direction from which it had come, and he wasfilled with a new awe of this creature who could frighten theking of beasts from its prey.
When he returned, the man was sleeping peacefully and nightwas falling. Tarzan built a fire and prepared a brace of quailand a hare that he had brought down with arrows from his bow. Thequail he wrapped in wet clay and laid in the embers; the hare hejointed and grilled on sharpened sticks.
The voice was low and deep. It questioned, but it alsocommanded. The stranger felt that. It was the well modulated,assured voice of a man who was always obeyed. He wondered whothis almost naked white giant could be. A regular Tarzan, hethought. When he looked at the man he could almost believe thatsuch a creature existed outside of story and legend and that thiswas, indeed, he.
"Perhaps you had better eat first," said the ape-man; "thenyou may answer my questions." He took a ball of hard baked clayfrom the fire, scraping it out with a stick; then with the hiltof his knife he broke it open, and the baked clay fell away fromthe body of the quail, taking the feathers with it. He impaledthe bird on the stick and handed it to the man. "It is hot," hesaid.
It was, but the half-famished stranger risked burning for aninitial morsel. Without seasoning, as it was, no food had evertasted better. Only its high temperature restrained him fromwolfing it. He ate one quail and half the rabbit before he layback, at least partially satisfied.
"Because of this relative affluence you found me alone and onthe point of death in an untracked wilderness; but though youfound me deserted and destitute without even a crust of bread, Ihave here in my head material for such a travel book as has neverbeen written by modern man. I have seen things of whichcivilization does not dream and will not believe; and I haveseen, too, the largest diamond in the world. I have held it in myhands. I even had the temerity to believe that I could bring itaway with me.
"Well, their story held for me such a glamour of romance andmystery that for years I toyed with the idea of organizing anexpedition that would track down every rumor until it had beenproved false or true. I would find Lord and Lady Mountford or Iwould learn their fate.
"Well, I gabbled so much about my plans to Bob van Eyk that hegot all hepped up himself; and insisted on going along andsharing the expenses; which meant, of course, that we could equipmuch more elaborately than I had planned to and therefore morecertainly ensure the success of our undertaking.
"We spent a whole year in research, both in England andAfrica, with the result that we were pretty thoroughly convincedthat Lord and Lady Mountford had disappeared from a point on theNeubari River somewhere northwest of Lake Rudolph. Everythingseemed to point to that, although practically everything wasbased on rumor.
"Everything went well until we got a little way up theNeubari. The country was sparsely inhabited, and the farther wepushed in the fewer natives we saw. These were wild and fearful.We couldn't get a thing out of them about what lay ahead, butthey talked to our boys. They put the fear o' God into 'em.
"Well, when I told Spike and Troll, the white hunters, whatthe trouble was, they pooh-poohed the whole business, of course.Said it was just an excuse to make us turn back because ourcarriers didn't like the idea of being so far from their owncountry and were getting homesick.
"When we woke up in the morning there were the four of us, Bobvan Eyk, Spike, Troll, and myself, four white men all alone withloads for fifty porters; our personal boys, our gun bearers, ouraskaris all gone.
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