Edgar Rice Burroughs

Tarzan the Terrible Edgar Rice Burroughs

Silent as the shadows through which he moved, the great beast slunk through the midnightjungle, his yellow-green eyes round and staring, his sinewy tail undulating behind him, his headlowered and flattened, and every muscle vibrant to the thrill of the hunt. The jungle moon dappledan occasional clearing which the great cat was always careful to avoid. Though he moved throughthick verdure across a carpet of innumerable twigs, broken branches, and leaves, his passing gaveforth no sound that might have been apprehended by dull human ears. Apparently less cautious was the hunted thing moving even as silently as the lion a hundredpaces ahead of the tawny carnivore, for instead of skirting the moon-splashed natural clearings itpassed directly across them, and by the tortuous record of its spoor it might indeed be guessed thatit sought these avenues of least resistance, as well it might, since, unlike its grim stalker, it walkederect upon two feet-it walked upon two feet and was hairless except for a black thatch upon itshead; its arms were well shaped and muscular; its hands powerful and slender with long taperingfingers and thumbs reaching almost to the first joint of the index fingers. Its legs too were shapelybut its feet departed from the standards of all races of men, except possibly a few of the lowestraces, in that the great toes protruded at right angles from the foot. Pausing momentarily in the full light of the gorgeous African moon the creature turned anattentive ear to the rear and then, his head lifted, his features might readily have been discerned inthe moonlight. They were strong, clean cut, and regular-features that would have attractedattention for their masculine beauty in any of the great capitals of the world. But was this thing aman? It would have been hard for a watcher in the trees to have decided as the lion's prey resumedits way across the silver tapestry that Luna had laid upon the floor of the dismal jungle, for frombeneath the loin cloth of black fur that girdled its thighs there depended a long hairless, white tail. In one hand the creature carried a stout club, and suspended at its left side from a shoulder beltwas a short, sheathed knife, while a cross belt supported a pouch at its right hip. Confining thesestraps to the body and also apparently supporting the loin cloth was a broad girdle which glittered inthe moonlight as though encrusted with virgin gold, and was clasped in the center of the belly with ahuge buckle of ornate design that scintillated as with precious stones. Closer and closer crept Numa, the lion, to his intended victim, and that the latter was notentirely unaware of his danger was evidenced by the increasing frequency with which he turned hisear and his sharp black eyes in the direction of the cat upon his trail. He did not greatly increase hisspeed, a long swinging walk where the open places permitted, but he loosened the knife in itsscabbard and at all times kept his club in readiness for instant action.