62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 |
1 | 61 | 121 | 182 | 242 |
www.freeclassicebooks.com
"
You are going to die as befits your kind," said Tarzan, "with blood on your hands
and a lie on your lips." He started across the room toward the burly Hauptmann.
Schneider was a large and powerful man--about the height of the ape-man but
much heavier. He saw that neither threats nor pleas would avail him and so he
prepared to fight as a cornered rat fights for its life with all the maniacal rage,
cunning, and ferocity that the first law of nature imparts to many beasts.
Lowering his bull head he charged for the ape-man and in the center of the floor
the two clinched. There they stood locked and swaying for a moment until Tarzan
succeeded in forcing his antagonist backward over a table which crashed to the
floor, splintered by the weight of the two heavy bodies.
The girl stood watching the battle with wide eyes. She saw the two men rolling
hither and thither across the floor and she heard with horror the low growls that
came from the lips of the naked giant. Schneider was trying to reach his foe's
throat with his fingers while, horror of horrors, Bertha Kircher could see that the
other was searching for the German's jugular with his teeth!
Schneider seemed to realize this too, for he redoubled his efforts to escape and
finally succeeded in rolling over on top of the ape-man and breaking away.
Leaping to his feet he ran for the window; but the ape-man was too quick for him
and before he could leap through the sash a heavy hand fell upon his shoulder
and he was jerked back and hurled across the room to the opposite wall. There
Tarzan followed him, and once again they locked, dealing each other terrific
blows, until Schneider in a piercing voice screamed, "Kamerad! Kamerad!"
Tarzan grasped the man by the throat and drew his hunting knife. Schneider's
back was against the wall so that though his knees
wobbled he was held erect by the ape-man. Tarzan brought the sharp point to the
lower part of the German's abdomen.
"
Thus you slew my mate," he hissed in a terrible voice. "Thus shall you die!"
The girl staggered forward. "Oh, God, no!" she cried. "Not that. You are too brave-
-you cannot be such a beast as that!"
Tarzan turned at her. "No," he said, "you are right, I cannot do it--I am no
German," and he raised the point of his blade and sunk it deep into the putrid
heart of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider, putting a bloody period to the Hun's last
gasping cry: "I did not do it! She is not--"
Then Tarzan turned toward the girl and held out his hand. "Give me my locket,"
he said.
6
4
Page
Quick Jump
|