harm her, or her balu, which is the ape
word for baby.

And now, above the pain of his injured arm and the hurt to his pride,
rose a still stronger desire to come close and inspect the new-born son
of Taug. Possibly you will wonder that Tarzan of the Apes, mighty
fighter that he was, should have fled before the irritable attack of a
she, or that he should hesitate to return for the satisfaction of his
curiosity when with ease he might have vanquished the weakened mother
of the new-born cub; but you need not wonder. Were you an ape, you
would know that only a bull in the throes of madness will turn upon a
female other than to gently chastise her, with the occasional exception
of the individual whom we find exemplified among our own kind, and who
delights in beating up his better half because she happens to be
smaller and weaker than he.

Tarzan again came toward the young mother--warily and with his line of
retreat safely open. Again Teeka growled ferociously. Tarzan
expostulated.

"Tarzan of the Apes will not harm Teeka's balu," he said. "Let me see
it."

"Go away!" commanded Teeka. "Go away, or I will kill you."

"Let me see it," urged Tarzan.

"Go away," reiterated the she-ape. "Here comes Taug. He will make you
go away. Taug will kill you. This is Taug's balu."

A savage growl close behind him apprised Tarzan of the nearness of
Taug, and the fact that the bull had heard the warnings and threats of
his mate and was coming to her succor.

Now Taug, as well as Teeka, had been Tarzan's play-fellow while the
bull was still young enough to wish to play. Once Tarzan had saved
Taug's life; but the memory of an ape is not overlong, nor would
gratitude rise above the parental instinct. Tarzan and Taug had once
measured strength, and Tarzan had been victorious. That fact Taug
could be depended upon still to remember; but even so, he might readily
face another defeat for his first-born--if he chanced to be in the
proper mood.

From his hideous growls, which now rose in strength and volume, he
seemed to be in quite the mood. Now Tarzan felt no fear of Taug, nor
did the unwritten law of the jungle demand that he should flee from
battle with any male, unless he cared to from purely personal reasons.
But Tarzan liked Taug. He had no grudge against him, and his man-mind
told him what the mind of an ape would never have deduced--that Taug's
attitude in no sense indicated hatred. It was but the instinctive ur