Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 23, 1924 — page 131: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

SS TARZAN AND. THE ANT-MEN. not so Tarzan of the Apes. He was think- ing of Adendrohahkis. He had bent no knee to him and he did not propose to do greater honor to Elkomoelhago, whose very courtiers and slaves despised him, than he had done to a really great king. Elkomoelhago glared at him. “ The fel- low is not kneeling,” he whispered to Zoan- throhago, who had been leaning back so far that he had not noticed the new slave’s act of disrespect. The Zertol glanced toward ‘Tarzan. “Down, fellow!” he cried, and then recall- ing that he understood no Minunian, he commanded Komodoflorensal to order him to kneel, but when the Trohanadalmakusian zertolosto pretended so to do Tarzan only shook his head. Elkomoelhago signaled the others to arise. “We will let it pass this time,” he said, for something in the attitude of the slave told him that Zuanthrol never would kneel to him and as he was valuable because of the experiment of which he was the subject the king preferred to swallow his pride rather than risk having the slave killed in an effort to compel him to kneel. ‘“ He is but an ignorant Zertalacolol. See that he is properly instructed before we observe him again.” CHAPTER XIV. THE SECRET FORMULA. HE Alali women, fifty strong, sallied forth into the forest to chastise their recalcitrant males. They carried their heavy bludgeons and many feathered pebbles, but most formidable of all was their terrible rage. Never in the memory of one of them had man dared question their authority, never had he presumed to show aught but fear of them; and now, instead of slinking away at their approach, he dared defy them, to attack them, to slay them! But such a con- dition was too preposterous, too unnatural, to exist, nor would it exist much longer. Had they had speech they would have said that and a number of other things. It was looking black for the men: the women were in an ugly mood—but what else could 9A 289 be expected of women who were denied the power of speech? And in this temper they came upon the men in a large clearing where the renegades had built a fire and were cooking the flesh of a number of antelope. Never had the women seen their men so sleek and trim. Always before had they appeared skinny to the verge of cadaverousness, for in the past they had never fared so well as since the day that Tarzan of the Apes had given weapons to the son of the First Woman: Where before they had spent their lives fleeing in terror from their terrible women, with scarcely time to hunt for decent food, now they had leisure and peace of mind and their weapons brought them flesh that otherwise they might not have tasted once in a year. From caterpillars and grubs and worms they had been graduated to an almost steady diet of antelope meat. ‘But the women gave very little heed at the moment to the physical appearance of the men. They had found them. That was enough, The shes were creeping nearer when one of the men looked up and discovered them, and so insistent are the demands of habit that he forgot his new-found independence and, leaping to his feet, bolted for the trees. The others, hardly waiting to know the cause of his precipitancy, followed close upon his heels. The women raced across the clearing as the men disappeared among the trees upon the opposite side. They knew what: the men would do. Once in the forest they would stop behind the nearest trees and look back to see if their pursuers were com- ing in their direction. It was this silly habit of the males that permitted their being easily caught by the less agile females. But all the men had not disappeared. One had taken a few steps in the mad race ‘for safety and had then halted and wheeled about, facing the oncoming women. He was the son of the First Woman, and to him Tarzan had imparted something more than knowledge of new weapons, for from the Lord of the Jungle, whom he wor- shiped with doglike devotion, he had ac-. quired the first rudiments of courage. And so it now happened that when his EOPMIG OOO KS (e (E@) ' ‘ aed Pe 8 bs ue ad A OTTERS aT ak aR Tae pes thy ii ahha