Argosy All-Story Weekly, March 15, 1924 — page 157: what you’re looking at

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

_.. 786 _, ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. Three days after finding the child’s skele- ~ ton, as he moved silently along the trail close to the Great Thorn Forest he came suddenly to a halt, the hand grasping his heavy spear, tensing in readiness. In a little open place he saw a man, an almost naked man, lying upon the ground. The man was alive—he saw him move—but what was he doing? Usula crept closer, making no noise. He moved around until he could observe the man from another angle and then he saw a horrid sight. This man was white and he Jay beside the carcass of a long dead buffalo, greedily devouring the dried remnants of hide that clung to the bleaching bones. The man raised his head a little, and Usula, catching a better view of his face, gave accry of horror. Then the man looked up and grinned foolishly. It was the Big. Bwana! Usula ran to him and raised. him upon his knees, but the man only smiled and grinned like an infant as yet without the power of speech. At his side, caught over one of the horns of the buffalo, was the Big Bwana’s golden locket with the great diamonds set in it.. Usula replaced it about the master’s neck. He then built a strong shelter for him near by and hunted food, and for many days he remained until Tarzan’s strength came back; but his mind did not come back, | nor did his speech. And thus, in this con- dition, the. faithful Usula led his master home. . | They found many wounds and bruises upon his body and his head; some old, some new, some trivial, some serious; and they sent to England for a great surgeon to come out to Africa to seek to mend the poor thing that once had been Tarzan of the Apes. The dogs that had once loved Lord Grey- stoke slunk uneasily from this brainless creature. Jad-bal-ja, the Golden Lion, -growled when the man was brought near his cage. Korak, the killer, paced the floor in dumb despair, for his mother was on her way from England, and what would be the effect upon her of this awful. blow? He hesitated even to contemplate it. The surgeon arrived first at the bunga- © low of the ape-man. He examined his pa- tient at great length, payirig particular at- tention to the skull. And the puzzled shak- ing of the scientist’s head was an added ter- ror to the hearts of Korak and Merriem, his wife. Being'a truly great surgeon, he did not operate at once. Instead, he discoursed learnedly of “ fictitious imbecility,” ‘am- nesia,” “ aphasia,” and the like, and then. courteously translated the terms into com- mon prases for his lay hearers. “Tarzan has sustained some subtle shock,” he declared, “‘ and there probably is lacking only a slight vibration to restore him to his normal senses. You. will observe that he has not the true signs of imbecility —his head does not loll on his neck; he . does not drool at the mouth. ‘““ His amnesia—loss of memory——is com- plete for the moment, as .is his aphasia— loss of speech. ‘As opposed to these dis- abilities is the fact that he reacts swiftly to a brusque touch or harsh sound. ‘“ Undoubtedly, he fled for many hours in the jungle from pursuing beasts of prey and, perhaps, imaginary dangers until he dropped exhausted. Those hardships, how- ever, do not account for his mental con- dition. “JT shall await the arrival of his wife be- fore operating on the head.” Lady Greystoke was a tired and dusty traveler as she alighted before the rose em- bowered entrance of the bungalow. Korak, her son, would have detained her in the hope that -his words of warning might pre- pare her for the worst.. He had not dared to put all the truth in his cable and radio messages. She gently put his hands aside. “Take me to my man, at once!” she said, softly but imperiously. Her distressed son motioned to Merriem and the surgeon to accompany them, and. so the four entered the room where Tar- _zan of the Apes sat staring dully at the shining world visible through the window. He glanced with a blank air at the intrud- ers, and turned again to his brainless con- templation. COMmiicbdoo S C@