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Zu-tag hunted alone far from the balance of the tribe of Go-lat, the great ape. Zu-
tag (Big-neck) was a young bull but recently arrived at maturity. He was large,
powerful, and ferocious and at the same time far above the average of his kind in
intelligence as was denoted by a fuller and less receding forehead. Already Go-lat
saw in this young ape a possible contender for the laurels of his kingship and
consequently the old bull looked upon Zu-tag with jealousy and disfavor. It was
for this reason, possibly, as much as another that Zu-tag hunted so often alone;
but it was his utter fearlessness that permitted him to wander far afield away
from the protection which numbers gave the great apes. One of the results of this
habit was a greatly increased resourcefulness which found him constantly
growing in intelligence and powers of observation.
Today he had been hunting toward the south and was returning along the river
upon a path he often followed because it led by the village of the Gomangani
whose strange and almost apelike actions and peculiar manners of living had
aroused his interest and curiosity. As he had done upon other occasions he took
up his position in a tree from which he could overlook the interior of the village
and watch the blacks at their vocations in the street below.
Zu-tag had scarcely more than established himself in his tree when, with the
blacks, he was startled by the crashing of Tarzan's body from the branches of
another jungle giant to the ground within the palisade. He saw the Negroes gather
about the prostrate form and later carry it into the hut; and once he rose to his
full height upon the limb where he had been squatting and raised his face to the
heavens to scream out a savage protest and a challenge, for he had recognized in
the brown-skinned Tarmangani the strange white ape who had come among them
a night or two before in the midst of their Dum-Dum, and who by so easily
mastering the greatest among them, had won the savage respect and admiration
of this fierce young bull.
But Zu-tag's ferocity was tempered by a certain native cunning and caution.
Before he had voiced his protest there formed in his mind the thought that he
would like to save this wonderful white ape from the common enemy, the
Gomangani, and so he screamed forth no challenge, wisely determined that more
could be accomplished by secrecy and stealth than by force of muscle and fang.
At first he thought to enter the village alone and carry off the Tarmangani; but
when he saw how numerous were the warriors and that several sat directly before
the entrance to the lair into which the prisoner had been carried, it occurred to
him that this was work for many rather than one, and so, as silently as he had
come, he slipped away though the foliage toward the north.
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