| SERIAL | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Tarzan, the Tiger | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Chapter 8 - Loop of Death! | ||||||||||||||||||||
| We pick up the adventure in Chapter 8. At Lady Jane's insistence, Tarzan finally focuses his attention in Jane's direction and spots the barrel of a gun pointed at him. He reaches over and rips the rifle from the hands of the intruder. As he does so, the rifle accidentally fires and shoots the lion to death in the far corner of the cave. He now concludes that Al would have killed him for the 'pebbles' that he holds so dear to his ...er... heart? Al and his sidekick, make a beeline for the nearest exit since they don't want anything to do with a madman with a rifle in his hands. After struggling with the rock blocking the room entrance, Tarzan grabs Lady Jane (with rifle in her hand) and make for the exit. Al and his crony hide in the bushes awaiting Tarzan's exit from the cave. Tarzan tells Jane that he will call upon a friend to supply transportation to the hut where Jane has hidden the pretty 'pebbles'. Jane, thinking that it might be Tom Cruse or Johnny Weismiller, immediately daydreams of a romantic encounter prior to Tarzans reawakening. Throwing a rope into a nearby tree, Tarzan climbs up to the limb. From there, he swings to another tree, climbs up higher and screams out his pathetic, off-key yell. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Tantor hears Tarzan's call for help, shrieks back and rambles toward the direction of the yell. Climbing back down from the tree, Tarzan tells Jane that their ride is approaching. He signals to Tantor to kneel down and they climb aboard the elephant's back for the long ride to Tarzan's parents hut. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| As dusk approaches, Tarzan and Jane set up housekeeping ... er ... camp. Jane throws herself at Tarzan and requests that he should not leave her alone. Tarzan, being the noble gentleman that he is, removes her arms from around his neck but she collapses to the ground and pulls him with her. She blurts out that she is happy with hopes that he will soon start to remember her. As of that moment though, he remembers nothing but the strange memories of her voice. He says he knows of no wife. Try as she will to get Tarzan to stay with her, he makes his bed in the trees and has Tantor stand guard below. Jane, with a look of disgust on her face, grabs the rifle and lays down in the hay near Tantor for protection. She wonders about getting off a clean shot in the trees in order to get a rise out of Tarzan but has second thoughts. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| At daybreak, Jane heads to a nearby river for a bath while waiting for Tarzan to awaken. When he awakes, he looks down as she begins to undress for her bath in the river. His hormones begin to rage. He dashes after her and spots her in the water. She reminisces about when they first met. Tarzan sits down and puts on his thinking cap (if that is possible in Tarzan's current mental state) but knowing the old saying, "You can't get blood out of a turnip", he grabs Jane's rifle and gives it a quick exam while Lady Jane gets dressed. Ed. Note: It should be time for 'El Stinko', himself to have his bath too, but ....) Al arrives on the scene with his partner in crime to keep an eye (all four) on the proceedings. Tarzan, not being too sure of how a rifle works, inadvertently pulls the trigger firing a shot in the air. Ed. Note: Sounds like a normal Fourth of July celebration in Phoenix. Because of this, he gets so angry, he raises the rifle over his head and bends the barrel in the shape of a "U". Jane arrives to view what 'Mr. Dummy', has just done and scolds him for destroying the only weapon they have for protection. All they have now for protection is their old buddy Tantor and if he decides to take a powder, the fat lady will start singing. Ed. Note: But wait a minute, Jane's not fat so maybe they're in luck after all. They make a quick decision to dispense with the lollygaging and head directly for the hut (where Tarzan's parents died and left him to be raised by the apes). Ed. Note: So that's why Tarzan is a wild-eyed milkaholic. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Al is taking this all in stride and decides to head quickly to the hut to beat Tarzan and Jane. Al and sidekick are the first to arrive and they begin to ransack the place. Al looks out the window and spots Tarzan and Jane in the distance ambling toward the hut. Al conveniently finds a rope and sets about to make a trap for Tarzan. He makes a noose at one end of the rope and loosely attaches it to the ceiling. Al's business partner tests the trap by pulling the rope and the noose drops over Al's head. Ed. Note: This was Al's sidekick's one and only chance to dispose of Al but he MUFFed it up, like a teacher in Physics class. The test appeared to work as designed. They quickly reset the noose in the ceiling and throw the other end of the rope out the back window and then go out the back way to await the dynamic duo. The two enter the hut and Jane goes immediately to a container high up on one of the walls. She pulls it down, opens it up and retrieves a small bag. She takes the bag over to a cot and sits down with Tarzan to examine its contents. She asks Tarzan to try remembering where he got the pretty 'pebbles'. She asks him if they were from the Temple of Opar. All the while, Al is watching through the window. As Tarzan thinks about the pebbles, he stirs up visions of native women dancing but he still doesn't remember Opar. As Tarzan gets up and walks near the center of the hut, Al springs his trap. The noose drops over Tarzan, who is immediately dragged to the window and then beat over the head with the limb of a tree. Tarzan falls face down in a bowl of gruel on the table. Al enters the hut with knife in hand. In one blinding flash, he throws back his arm to plunge the knife into Tarzan's vertebra and... | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Will Tarzan get his head out of the gruel long enough to continue breathing? | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Will Al finish off Mr. T. and return Lady Jane to the auction block? | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Will Lady Jane get back at Al for selling her to one of the Arab sheiks? | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Why didn't Al's partner take revenge for not paying him off for past services performed? | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Will Tantor save the day by trampling down the hut and smashing Al to smithereens? | ||||||||||||||||||||
END OF CHAPTER 8
