Transition Plan Chapter 37 - First Homecoming part 24

Tarzan and Jane realized that one observation would not be enough to determine the oil explorers' patterns and defenses, so over the next couple of weeks they came back several times. Each time they chose another angle to observe and remained undiscovered. The pair got bolder with each trip back to the drilling site, and got very close to the fence perimeter during their first nighttime observation. Tarzan actually tested the strength of the barbed wire, and experimented with the wire cutter part of his knife. It snapped louder than he had hoped and Jane covered her mouth in worry.

The security chief Quentin was working the fence line that night, and as the most experienced of his team, the rattling of the fence and the snap of a severed wire was enough to trigger his response. He whirled and fired his shotgun over their heads.

"Go away beast! Or get a face full of lead!" Quentin yelled. He hated night patrols. All the biggest predators came out then. But their meat always fed his men for several days.

Tarzan and Jane scurried away, but the security chief caught their movement, and it seemed like the shapes were very big, and they ran nearly erect. In the partial moonlight, he glimpsed the big belly of one and the cheeks of their brown bottoms as they turned away and ran.

Quentin yelled, "Apes! If we bag those nasty beasts, we can sell them to a museum! Release the dogs!"

A colleague opened the door to the kennel building and released them toward the sounds of the animals' retreat and scents. The man grabbed his rifle, rope, and a burlap sack, and joined the security chief in pursuit of the apes.

As they ran, Quentin made plans in haste with his coworker, "Once we tree them, we can pick them off with the rifles. The boss will love this. We can get real money for a stuffed one."

…

The pair turned and rushed away from the warning gunshot, and Jane asked in near panic in their gorilla language as they heard barking increase in volume, "Dogs? Why didn't we see them before?"

There are some parts of the compound they couldn't see. The safe treeline only bordered two sides.

Tarzan surmised, "They obviously they kept them on the far side of compound, and the dogs lay quiet during the heat of the day."

They ran as fast as they could, but Jane tired quickly, stopping and supporting her belly, "Tarzan, I can't go any further. I'll hurt myself and the baby."

"Get up this tree. Fast. Let me help you. I will defend us."

As he aided her climb, Jane warned, "No, Tarzan, they'll tear you apart. And the guards are not far behind with guns."

Tarzan said confidently, "I will convince them."

Jane disagreed, "I know you can't talk the dogs' language. We weren't around my dogs long enough to learn their words."

"I have another way," he growled, with his narrowed feral eyes and jaw set toward the onrushing sounds of the pack of hunting dogs. She understood.

He heard the dogs crashing through the brush. Jane held her breath. The animalistic Tarzan was truly formidable against any foe, but too many vicious dogs could overwhelm even the Lord of the Jungle. She nocked a multi-arrow spread in her bow twenty feet above Tarzan and prayed she'd not have to use them. That would clearly give them away to the oilmen as human and they would stage a manhunt.

Tarzan stood his ground away from the tree that held Jane, in a clearing. He steeled himself in an aggressive stance, holding his blade at the ready in one hand, and very large and gnarled branch in the other hand for a club.

The dogs broke through the underbrush into the clearing and beheld Tarzan. They were not prepared for the sight of a man, especially one that was camouflaged. They all hesitated, but stood as a pack ready for an opening for an attack against Tarzan, or for their masters to come. They had never seen such a wild look from a man, nor smelled a victim who had no fear. Tarzan's muscles flexed and he waved his knife at them. There were so many canines, and they growled ominously together. If he could take down the alpha male dog, the others might relent. But he needed to try something else first.

Without breaking his stare down with the lead dog, Tarzan opened his mouth, and he uttered an unearthly screech and snarl that was part caracal, part gorilla, and part bear. Tarzan continued to snap and growl at the dogs and advanced on them. His lips curled and quivered with his resonant snarl, and he bared and gnashed his teeth. That threat was the same in any language. The dog pack recoiled in fear, totally unprepared for this. They yelped and whimpered, and started to turn away.

Getting closer to the noises of the dogs who had obviously encountered something, the oilmen stopped at the vicious sound neither of them had heard before.

Tarzan snarled again and gave the full-throated howl of a wolf, English dogs' natural worst enemy. Tarzan had heard and seen the wolf packs from the Castle parapets. That was enough for the canines. The dogs tucked their tails between their legs and ran back to the camp, running past their masters at full speed, whining in fear, and would not stop for their commands. As they ran, Tarzan leaped into the tree, grabbed Jane, and carried her in his arms in a high speed retreat by the vines. He had tried to leave no trace but knew there was simply not enough time.

"What was that?" the dog keeper asked in fear.

"I've never heard such a noise. And there are no wolves in this jungle," said the security chief Quentin.

"Let's investigate."

They got to the clearing where the dogs had encountered Tarzan. It was muddy. Amid the paw prints could see two sets of feet and some knuckle prints as well.

Quentin snorted in disdain seeing the dissimilar-sized footprints, "A male and a female. Stupid animals. Curiosity nearly killed them. Odd that gorilla mates were out alone at night. That's unusual."

They went to the tree, and noted that one set of footprints disappeared, and then the other. They looked up into the trees, and saw a vine still swaying. The gorilla pair had escaped in the trees.

Quentin crouched down, scrutinizing the tracks further, using his considerable tracking skills. A look of trepidation came over his face, and he said to dog keeper warily, who kept a watch over them, "I know what ape feet look like. And great apes don't normally climb."

Quentin stood and looked around nervously, realizing what left the unmistakable prints. He brandished his gun more securely, and cocked the trigger. A trickle of sweat came down his brow, even on a coolish night, and he said with great concern, "Henry, we are not dealing with apes…"

"What, then?"

"Not what. Who. The Nigerians themselves are spying on us," he came to mistaken conclusion.

…

Jane said in their gorilla language as they were safely far from the oil drilling site, "That was too close, Tarzan."

"I know Jane. They are better hunters than we thought. I was careless. I was wrong to put you and our child in such danger."

"No you weren't. We have to know everything if we have to fight. And Jonathan, remember long ago we made this commitment that we do everything together. I will tell you the day I should stay home. Expectant mothers know when it is time to nest."

"I trust your judgment Jane. Speaking of fighting," Tarzan said, "It's time to call the Jungle Council together. We need to be ready on our own to defeat these men whether the freighter gets here on time or not. It's the only way to defeat them. Especially with dogs. That changes everything. D'Arnot has the same amount of men as these people and are not nearly as well armed. We need all our animal friends. I was hoping never to bring them into this."

She knew what that meant and gave him a worried look, touching his chest with her hand, "But Tarzan. The men will know."

Tarzan shook his head, "They already know. We left tracks. I really need to do this. The fight may come to us before d'Arnot's men get here."

"As long as you don't think the oilmen will come search for us."

"We cannot be absolutely certain. I am counting on my call being unnerving to them, and that it will force them to cower and protect themselves in the compound, rather than making them curious and come looking for us in an endless jungle, leaving their defenses divided. We are not dealing with soldiers."

It was amazing how much military strategy Tarzan had gleaned from d'Arnot and from his ancestor's journals and books in the Castle library. Jane understood that being a good warrior was just a Greystoke clan family trait, "Go ahead, husband. I support you."

He cut loose his jungle yell, louder and longer than ever. It was a little different from normal, as it contained more information. Every animal species in the jungle heard and would understand the message. In five days they would be at the gathering place at White Rock. Their child heard it loud and clear too, and did somersaults in his mother's womb – probably frightened. She soothed the infant within her hand on her belly, and the baby settled quickly, with Jane's reassuring words, "Get used to that honey. Daddy does that a lot…"

Tarzan gave Jane a big grin and added his hand on top of hers on her swelled stomach. He noted happily she was getting really big.

…

A lone sentry from the Nigerian tribal village startled from a fitful rest in the nighttime depths of the jungle far to the east of the grasslands and the land of the Mangani, put there on the western fringes of their own territory to simply listen for a certain call. He heard its faint echoes, and listened very closely.

He ran like the wind for miles in the middle of the night to his chieftain's hut, knocked urgently on the leader's hut entrance, and he heaved with the words over his gasps for air, "Sire… I must… see you."

While the chief really didn't want the interruption, he knew this was the special sentry with the news he absolutely needed to hear. He was amidst lovemaking with his mate. He interrupted his activity, to which she reacted with a very unhappy pout, but kept her legs spread wide to remind her husband of what he really needed to focus on.

The chief stood erect, and said to the sentry, "Enter."

The guard tried to look only at his chieftain's face and not his sweat-covered nude wife – the guard's twin sister - or his physical state.

"What is it?" the chief asked with some irritation.

"Sire, It's… it's time. The call came."

The chief drew himself up confidently, "You and the battle chief will accompany me to White Rock. In the morning we depart. it will take five days to get there. Now go home and greet your wife. You served me well."

"Y-y-yes, Chief Abassi. Goodnight to both you and Femi," the guard said nervously, turned, and left quickly, wishing he could forget what he had seen. Seeing his sister and chief naked every day in village life was one thing. It was their way. Seeing them engaged in their lovemaking was quite another.

"Goodnight, Taiwo," she giggled at her brother, amused at his discomfort, knowing full well his new bride Yahimba would be waiting up for him and reward him for serving the Chief in an important job for the man-spirit.

Chief Abassi hesitated, lost in his thoughts for a moment over the plan coming together. He worried about a human joining the legendary Jungle Council, but trusted the man-spirit since the minute he met him as the new Count. It would be unprecedented. Man and animals sitting together.

His mate Femi reached up to him anxiously, "Husband? You are not yet finished. It is a bad omen not to finish with me. I see your body still yearns for me and your seed has not yet come. You must not stop now."

Noting that fact, "It's all right, dear wife. I was just thinking about the morning. But you will make the night sweet. Where were we?" he said lovingly, and slid back into his intimate embrace with her. A short time later, their cries of ecstasy broke the night silence. Nine months later the labor cries of a new mother would fill the air from the same hut.

…

At the expedition site, Wallace, the head of the oil expedition, was very worried, standing next to the cut fence line as Quentin and the dog handler stood explaining the encounter with 'the apes who were not apes'. Just then, Tarzan's eerie call rang out all over the jungle, and Wallace quieted his colleagues, listening to the echoes, and the dog keeper asked, "What was that?"

Wallace said, "I don't know. It's coming from somewhere, but seems like it is coming from everywhere. I don't like it."

Quentin warned, "Something's afoot and we need to be ready. The freighter is due back soon with a new load of equipment and men to expand our work here. I will double the guard. We want to be alive when they get here."

Wallace was very concerned, "I hope it comes soon. We have gotten nowhere in over six months. Their equipment will let us drill deeper. I sure don't want to face that Nigerian Council empty-handed. I don't fancy my handsome face being a head on their spears. Cedric and Clayton - if he ever shows up again - can deal with them. We just need to deliver."

…

Tarzan and Jane, after a long vine swing through the jungle to throw any tracker off the real trail, rejoined the nervous gorilla family, and Kirok had a million questions about Tarzan's jungle yell and the meeting at White Rock. It was a long, serious discussion.

Settled in their nest later that night, the pair held each other more tightly than normal. Despite their snuggling, they had a very restless sleep, knowing what they had learned tonight about the dogs was troubling, and what the oil men most assuredly knew about them now.

But they didn't know everything, and that was still to Tarzan's advantage.