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Chapter 6 - A Hideous Crew
The war-canoe with its savage load moved slowly toward the break in the reef
through which it must pass to gain the open sea. Tarzan, Mugambi, and Akut
wielded the paddles, for the shore kept the west wind from the little sail.
Sheeta crouched in the bow at the ape-man's feet, for it had seemed best to
Tarzan always to keep the wicked beast as far from the other members of the
party as possible, since it would require little or no provocation to send him at the
throat of any than the white man, whom he evidently now looked upon as his
master.
In the stern was Mugambi, and just in front of him squatted Akut, while between
Akut and Tarzan the twelve hairy apes sat upon their haunches, blinking
dubiously this way and that, and now and then turning their eyes longingly back
toward shore.
All went well until the canoe had passed beyond the reef. Here the breeze struck
the sail, sending the rude craft lunging among the waves that ran higher and
higher as they drew away from the shore.
With the tossing of the boat the apes became panic-stricken. They first moved
uneasily about, and then commenced grumbling and whining. With difficulty
Akut kept them in hand for a time; but when a particularly large wave struck the
dugout simultaneously with a little squall of wind their terror broke all bounds,
and, leaping to their feet, they all but overturned the boat before Akut and Tarzan
together could quiet them. At last calm was restored, and eventually the apes
became accustomed to the strange antics of their craft, after which no more
trouble was experienced with them.
The trip was uneventful, the wind held, and after ten hours' steady sailing the
black shadows of the coast loomed close before the straining eyes of the ape-man
in the bow. It was far too dark to distinguish whether they had approached close
to the mouth of the Ugambi or not, so Tarzan ran in through the surf at the
closest point to await the dawn.
The dugout turned broadside the instant that its nose touched the sand, and
immediately it rolled over, with all its crew scrambling madly for the shore. The
next breaker rolled them over and over, but eventually they all succeeded in
crawling to safety, and in a moment more their ungainly craft had been washed
up beside them.
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