Chapter 4

Trees virtually surrounded the old abandoned river dock, so the hunters focused their rifles on the only foot trail that provided ingress to the site. Their expected target did not use boats, so therefore he would enter through this passage; thus was their logic. The fiend who had proved to be the greatest nuisance to ivory hunters would meet his end at that point.

One marksman briefly took his attention away from his sniper scope to check on his fellows: to his right was his bespectacled leader, bearing a pistol; next to him was another rifleman maintaining his concentration on that spot. Two Askari guides stayed back ready to support the ambush if needed.

The man tied to the mooring post was a reluctant participant, he was Charlie Allnutt the grizzeled, unshaven skipper of the boat in dock: the African Queen 2 or was it 3; no matter it had served its purpose. As soon as the soldiers were finished here they would sink it along with its drunken skipper.

"Why don't you all give up and go back to camp?" Yelled Charlie. "You're wasting far more than your time you know."

The bespectacled leader turned to him and said. "You called him on the radio, we made sure of that, he will come."

"That's what I meant and that's exactly why you should get out of here."

The sniper turned to his leader. "Shall we give him another bottle of whiskey."

"Certainly not. He's loud enough as it is."

A command was given to the Askari to gag him and they promptly obliged then resumed their posts.

Charlie Allnut had resumed his whiskey guzzling and disshelved appearance after his prim missionary wife had left him to work in a field hospital for wounded soldiers. The war gave him his wife and the war took her away. Now he was bound and helpless after these bad men forced him to call one of his casual acquaintances on the radio, thus setting him up to be murdered.

These ivory hunters had experienced great trouble, even casualties, while trying to shoot elephants in this area. They were going to make the author of this trouble pay, as soon as he shows up.

"I think he's coming." Said a rifleman.

The other rifleman quickly gazed through his scope at the leafy passage. He did notice a dark shape somewhere near the designated entry point. A strange movement of leafy branches certainly indicated a presence there; just one more second, and he should be visible. The rifleman's finger tensed on the trigger but released when a intensely sharp pain struck his back and chest.

A look down revealed a bloody arrow head sticking out of his chest, it had been fired from above, passed through his upper back and out his rib cage. Whatever scream that began was drowned by the blood gushing out of his mouth; he dropped his firearm and keeled forward.

The bespectacled leader tried to help the dying comrade, not seeing behind him a looped vine coiled about the neck of the other rifleman, who was stunned by disbelief that he didn't notice his own peril till the loop tightened and raised him, by his neck towards the treetops. He could not scream, just kick the air.

Charlie Allnut saw the counterweight for the rifleman's ascent descend to the ground at a point right behind the two native guides; they had only just noticed the misfortune of the hunters, not the presence behind them which let go of the taut vine. This was noticed by the bespectacled leader; through the blur of sunspots he saw the vague figure assault each guide from behind and knock them both out.

Aiming the pistol in that direction was cut short when the limp body of the strangled rifleman fell from the height it was raised to and landed partially on top of him. The pistol was dropped and the spectacles lost, while he was struggling to regain his senses he heard a bone cracking sound. If the hanging hadn't killed the rifleman the personal neck breaking most certainly did.

He groped the ground for his pistol, it was found after a desperate few seconds,seized and aimed at the blurry attacker. His hand exploded with pain before he could fire; his scream echoed throughout the surrounding jungle. His fingers wouldn't obey his commands anymore, most of them were severed, the hand had been cut with strongly wielded knife.

The remaining hand moved along the ground to help regain his balance, it touched his spectacles. Both frame and lenses were intact but smudged with dirt, when he frantically put them on he could see through a clear spot in the right lens the figure before him.

Athletic and tanned stood the tall man who was naked but for a loin cloth. A quiver of arrows was strapped to his back and a bow hung from his shoulder. His eyes were grey, framed by his long black hair. A empty short scabbard was next to his loin cloth, the large hunting knife was in his hand. So this was Tarzan of the Apes, the man they tried to ambush.

A quick flick of the knife and the bespectacled ivory hunter's throat was cut open; as he lied down to his death position, he engaged his remaining hand in a futile effort to stop the flow of blood. The spectacles stayed on, but his vision faded away.

A light simian like sound was uttered by the tanned figure; a black haired anthropoid came out of his hiding place in the leafy passage and answered the call. After a couple of verbal exchanges the ape retired to the thick jungle to seek out fruit.

Tarzan moved to the mooring post and cut Charlie Allnut free. "They made you radio me?"

Charlie removed his gag. "Yes, they had a pistol to my head. Thank you Tarzan for being smarter than them. I see your ape friend distracted them while you position yourself above them, that was brilliant."

"Why you call me twice?" Demanded Tarzan.

"The second time was when they made me do it. They didn't know about the first time.'

Charley Allnut reached into a supply cupboard on the African Queen and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. Tarzan signaled a decline to join him.

"You not call Tarzan to have drink I hope." Asked the jungle lord.

Charley put away the glasses and drank feverishly from the bottle. "No, the first call was made because someone is coming to meet you."

"Who."

The brash unshaven skipper put his face up to pour another few gulps of whiskey down his throat and did so with relish.

"Them." He said as he pointed his finger to the sky.

What Tarzan saw challenged his knowledge of the world. Flying through the sky was a huge bulk much like a whale, it had multiple propellers spinning on its outside. Attached to its stomach was a windowed structure like the deck of a ship. It was lowering itself towards this riverdock.

He knew enough of civilization to know about powered aircraft and soon realised that this was a zeppelin.

Tarzan seized Charley. "Germans have zeppelins. You bring Germans here?"

"Relax, They're not Germans, they're French."

Sure enough a familiar French voice bellowed out of a megaphone; it was Paul D'Arnot the French Naval officer who first taught Tarzan to speak.

"Hello Jean, or should I still say Tarzan?"

The Jungle Lord dismissed all caution when he heard his old friend. Within ten minutes he had said goodbye to Charley Allnut and ascended the gangplank into the zeppelin's gondola.

Paul D'Arnot was there to greet him with a kiss on each cheek and a jovial welcome. What perplexed the apeman was that the visible crew was predominantly made up of Indians in turbans all working diligently at their posts, with minimal distractied attention towards him. Another French officer was introduced to Tarzan, he was referred to as Captain Brieux; he wore a higher ranking uniform, leaving the visitor to assume that this was the airship's captain.

Tarzan was then informed that he was only the Executive Officer.

"My dear Jean." Said Brieux. "Airships have taken me to strange places but this ship's Commanding Officer has had adventures that defy imagination."

Brieux noticed an approaching presence around the corner. "Tarzan, let me introduce you to the man."

A splendidly uniformed figure turned the corner and greeted the visitor; he removed a black silk domino mask from his face revealing a fine mustache, friendly smile along with his German accent.

Brieux finished the introduction. "Captain Mors, the Luftpirate."