up in the heavens when Tarzan awoke. The
ape-man stretched his giant limbs, ran his fingers through his thick
hair, and swung lightly down to earth. Immediately he took up the
trail he had come in search of, following it by scent down into
a deep ravine. Cautiously he went now, for his nose told him that
the quarry was close at hand, and presently from an overhanging
bough he looked down upon Horta, the boar, and many of his kinsmen.
Un-slinging his bow and selecting an arrow, Tarzan fitted the shaft
and, drawing it far back, took careful aim at the largest of the
great pigs. In the ape-man's teeth were other arrows, and no sooner
had the first one sped, than he had fitted and shot another bolt.
Instantly the pigs were in turmoil, not knowing from whence the
danger threatened. They stood stupidly at first and then commenced
milling around until six of their number lay dead or dying about
them; then with a chorus of grunts and squeals they started off at
a wild run, disappearing quickly in the dense underbrush.
Tarzan then descended from the tree, dispatched those that were not
already dead and proceeded to skin the carcasses. As he worked,
rapidly and with great skill, he neither hummed nor whistled as
does the average man of civilization. It was in numerous little
ways such as these that he differed from other men, due, probably,
to his early jungle training. The beasts of the jungle that he had
been reared among were playful to maturity but seldom thereafter.
His fellow-apes, especially the bulls, became fierce and surly as
they grew older. Life was a serious matter during lean seasons--one
had to fight to secure one's share of food then, and the habit once
formed became lifelong. Hunting for food was the life labor of the
jungle bred, and a life labor is a thing not to be approached with
levity nor prosecuted lightly. So all work found Tarzan serious,
though he still retained what the other beasts lost as they grew
older--a sense of humor, which he gave play to when the mood suited
him. It was a grim humor and sometimes ghastly; but it satisfied
Tarzan.
Then, too, were one to sing and whistle while working on the ground,
concentration would be impossible. Tarzan possessed the ability to
concentrate each of his five senses upon its particular business.
Now he worked at skinning the six pigs and his eyes and his fingers
worked as though there was naught else in all the world than these
six carcasses; but his ears
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