Edgar Rice Burroughs

Tarzan and the Golden Lion Edgar Rice Burroughs

AND so Tarzan of the Apes, and Jane Clayton, and Korak came home after a long absenceand with them came Jad-bal-ja, the golden lion, and Za, the bitch. Among the first to meetthem and to welcome them home was old Muviro, father of Wasimbu, who had given hislife in defense of the home and wife of the ape-man."Ah, Bwana," cried the faithful black, "my old eyes are made young again by the sight ofyou. It has been long that you have been gone, but though many doubted that you wouldreturn, old Muviro knew that the great world held nothing that might overcome his master. And so he knew, too, that his master would return to the home of his love and the landwhere his faithful Waziri awaited him; but that she, whom we have mourned as dead, should have returned is beyond belief, and great shall be the rejoicing in the huts of theWaziri tonight. And the earth shall tremble to the dancing feet of the warriors and theheavens ring with the glad cries of their women, since the three they love most on earthhave come back to them."And in truth, great indeed was the rejoicing in the huts of the Waziri. And not for onenight alone, but for many nights did the dancing and the rejoicing continue until Tarzanwas compelled to put a stop to the festivities that he and his family might gain a few hoursof unbroken slumber. The ape-man found that not only had his faithful Waziri, under theequally faithful guidance of his English foreman, Jervis, completely rehabilitated his stables, corrals, and outbuildings as well as the native huts, but had restored the interior of thebungalow, so that in all outward appearances the place was precisely as it had been beforethe raid of the Germans. Jervis was at Nairobi on the business of the estate, and it was some days after theirarrival that he returned to the ranch. His surprise and happiness were no less genuine thanthose of the Waziri. With the chief and warriors he sat for hours at the feet of the BigBwana, listening to an account of the strange land of Pal-ul-don and the adventures thathad befallen the three during Lady Greystoke's captivity there, and with the Waziri hemarveled at the queer pets the ape-man had brought back with him. That Tarzan mighthave fancied a mongrel native cur was strange enough, but that he should have adopted acub of his hereditary enemies, Numa and Sabor, seemed beyond all belief. And equallysurprising to them all was the manner of Tarzan's education of the cub. The golden lion and his foster mother occupied a corner of the ape-man's bedroom, andmany was the hour each day that he spent in training and educating the little spotted, yellow ball-all playfulness and affection now, but one day to grow into a great, savagebeast of pr