Bomba the jungle boy

“ Bomba wondered whether he would ever see that strange and wonderful city or others like it, wondered if he would always have to spend his life in the jungle, with none save Casson and a few natives for his friends, to none of whom he could speak of the longings that obsessed him, of the aspirations that seemed doomed forever to be thwarted.
He spoke to himself half aloud:
“I am not as well off as the beasts and reptiles of the jungle. They live together and have plenty of their own kind. They do not hunt and live alone as I do. The monkeys gather in flocks, the wild peccaries hunt in droves. ”

“ Bomba tried to hold his head above the ooze, raising it by the sheer strength of his shoulders until the straining muscles could no longer bear the weight. And when, groaning, he let his head sink back, the mud sucked at it gloatingly.
“This, then, is the end of Bomba,” the lad muttered to himself gloomily. “He would have liked to die on his feet, fighting. But he must die here alone like any trapped beast of the jungle.” ”

“ Until now, this phase of his terrible danger had not struck Bomba. The painful freeing of his right hand, the fear that in the fall he might have sustained an injury that would cripple him and leave him a prey to the first beast of the jungle that might roam that way, the dread that he might never be able to free himself from those ruthless, imprisoning branches had blinded him to another and more imminent peril that threatened. ”

“ Even the big cats, the hungry jaguars, have their companions. Why am I, Bomba, always alone? I do not belong here in the jungle, which is the only place I know. And I cannot go to the wonderful world where Frank and other boys and many people live and laugh and slap each other on the back. ”

“ Bomba went over to Polulu. The old puma was exhausted and bleeding from a dozen wounds.
Bomba put his arm about the neck of his friend, and Polulu rubbed his head against the boy and tried to lick his face.
“Polulu!” exclaimed Bomba, as he caressed the great head, “you are brave. You are strong. You are the best of all the beasts of the jungle.” ”

“ At any moment a boa constrictor might drop like a flash from a tree above and seek to enfold him in its crushing coils. A turn of the trail might bring him face to face with a crouching jaguar. Or a cooanaradi, deadliest of all venomous snakes, might launch itself from the underbrush and inject its poison into his veins.
There were human foes, too, against whom Bomba had to be on his guard. With the natives who dwelt in that part of the jungle he was on comparatively friendly terms, though he never mingled with them on a footing of intimacy. ”

“ Bomba and Neram bathed the arm and applied a plaster of river mud. Then they propped the man as comfortably as they could against the back of a tree, first making a careful examination of the branches to see that no other monster lurked above.
“Bomba is great,” murmured the grateful sufferer, as he looked with a shudder at the hideous body of the dead snake. “Bomba is good. There is no one so brave as Bomba in the jungle. And none can shoot as straight and kill as quickly.” ”

“ For the flash of lightning had revealed no lurking jaguar, hungry for its prey. The foes of Bomba were of a far deadlier kind, deadlier even than the wicked anaconda with its folds of steel. For these were headhunters—bloodthirsty, cruel, cunning—bucks of the tribe of the dreaded chief, Nascanora.
The eyes of Bomba, keen as those of the big cats that stalked the jungle, had counted three of these in the brief space of the lightning flash. They stood like naked statues, each gripping a [3] spear, the eyes of each prodding the deeper shadows beneath the overhanging rock. ”

“ In the distance could be heard something like the soughing of a great wind. It grew in volume until it swelled into a roar. Then the jungle about the hut was alive with monkeys, scores of them, hundreds of them, with every passing moment increasing their numbers.
They saw the burning hut, and sensed Bomba’s extremity. They saw the lurking savages, and realized that they were Bomba’s foes. ”

“ Bomba talked to him. Bomba knows how to talk with the cooanaradi. He will not hurt Bomba. Bomba has his hand on him now,” and he reached down and touched the grisly coils. “He will not hurt any one who does not mean harm to Bomba.”
A yell of fright came from the superstitious natives. What magic was this of which the stranger was master, this mysterious lad who spoke of the dreaded scourge of the jungle as though it were a cooing dove, who could place his hand upon it and still remain alive? ”

“ He vowed to the gods of the thunder and the rain that he would protect his friend to the last gasp; that if Casson were to die, he, Bomba, would die with him, stretched across his body.
But it was too early yet to think of death. Too long had Bomba braved the perils of the jungle not to know the fleetness of his foot, the sureness of his eye, the strength of his muscles. Bomba had fought the braves of Nascanora’s tribe before; had beaten and outwitted them. He [4] would fight them again, matching his strength against their strength, his brain against their brain. ”

“ The great wind, the forerunner of the tropical thunderstorm, had come at the moment of Bomba’s greatest need.
All creatures of the jungle fly to shelter before the fury of the storm. Bomba knew this full well, as did all living creatures of these wilds, large and small.
At the first blast of that fierce gale the parrakeets flew screaming to shelter. The animals of the forests rushed for their dens and the earth dwellers scurried into their holes.
Even the savage vultures retreated before the onset of the gale and the rain of castanha nuts shaken from the bending trees. ”

“ Bomba knew what it was, knew even before he saw the glint of the evil eyes in the wicked head. It was a cooanaradi, the most deadly and terrible snake of the South American jungle, a species that sometimes grows to twelve feet in length, is noted for its ferocity and speed and its eagerness to attack man even when retreat is possible. ”

“ He knew that none of the natives had any weapon of the kind. Could it be some man like Casson, a man with a white skin like Casson’s and his own?
A white skin! Something tugged at Bomba’s heart. He could not have told what it was. It might have been memory, intuition, instinct. But whatever it was, it took instant and entire possession of him.
He must find out who had fired the iron stick!
The primal law of the jungle is to mind one’s own business. Intrusion on the affairs of another is never welcomed and usually resented. Bomba had learned to obey that law. ”

“ Like a beast at bay, Bomba crouched, pulled his bow from his shoulder and plucked an arrow from his pouch.
Before he could fit the arrow to the string a [60] hideous chorus of shouts rent the air, and like magic the jungle was filled with men, men with the ferocious faces of demons, who rushed upon him, shouting and brandishing their sharp, murderous knives above their heads.
Bomba had no time to turn and flee. He dropped his bow, whipped out his machete and backed toward a tree, only to feel himself seized from behind and borne helpless to the ground. ”

“ Bomba has been away for many days and has seen many things. He has met men whose hearts are black. He has seen mountains break apart and fire come from the top. Snakes and jaguars have tried to kill him.”
The monkey uttered sounds that would have been unintelligible to many, but that Bomba knew were meant to express sympathy. The boy had an almost uncanny power over animals, and had many friends among the less savage denizens of the jungle, such as the monkeys and parrots. ”

“ Bomba longed to be off to the shadowy depths of the jungle. He had enemies there, but he also had friends. He would call these friends to him, Kiki and Woowoo, Doto, the giant monkey, and Tatuc, head of the monkey tribe.
They were the warmest friends he had in that vast tangled wilderness besides Casson. He understood them, and they loved and trusted him. He was scarcely ever lonesome when with them.
It was very bad to be lonesome. That ache was more terrible to Bomba than any tearing of his flesh. He shrank from it as he did from no physical pain. ”

“ Jungle bred as Bomba was and used to fighting for his right to live, a momentary doubt entered his heart as to whether he ought to ask Polulu, his friend Polulu, to give battle against such odds in a quarrel not his own.
But such thoughts were idle. In the jungle, if one lived at all, one must not question but must act. Moreover, the puma was filled now with the excitement and joy of battle and could not be [Pg 156] stopped before victory or defeat had come to him.
Polulu started forward, his big head swinging from side to side, yellow eyes gleaming, lips drawn back wickedly from his fangs. ”

“ It was Bomba who first broke the silence, and in the deep stillness of the shadow-filled jungle his voice sounded hollow in his own ears.
“The mad monkey! If he is alone, all will be well. But if there are others——”
“There are others,” interrupted Ashati. “One mad monkey needs but bite another, and that one too will become mad. It is in that way the evil [111] spirits get possession of a flock of monkeys and set loose a thousand demons upon the jungle.”
“And the bite of one sets loose an evil spirit within ourselves, and we become even as the mad monkeys,” said Neram, his teeth chattering. ”

“ Had the lad’s fingers relaxed the merest trifle, the fangs would have found their mark. But those fingers kept up their relentless pressure until the thrashing coils gradually grew limp.
To make assurance doubly sure, Bomba beat the reptile’s head against a rock, then flung the hideous thing far from him into the bushes.
“The snake is quick,” said the boy to himself, in justified pride, “but Bomba is quicker.” ”

“ Tragedies like these were common in the cruel jungle where the life of one thrived on the death of others. So while a bitter ache shot through Bomba at the loss of Tatuc, his best and oldest friend of the monkey tribe, he dared not linger in the spot. ”

“ The jungle was friendly again. Far above, the sun streamed out through broken clouds. Monkeys chattered, parrots screamed, and the timid small creatures once more ventured out from their hiding places.
In Bomba’s heart was a great thankfulness for his escape. Yet at the same time he bemoaned the hurt to his legs, since he could not hasten as quickly [89] as he had hoped to the rescue of Casson, Pipina and little Pirah. ”

“ The gods will watch over him. The serpent will not strike him, the jaguar will not spring upon him. For they know that he is mad and fear him.”
Though Bomba shook his head, the words of Pipina brought a little comfort to his heart. He knew that the savage beasts of the jungle, like the savage men of the jungle, had fear of all that was not sane and shunned it. Still, poor Cody Casson’s feebleness of mind seemed but a doubtful protection, and Bomba’s heart misgave him. ”

“ But Pirah showed no intention of going away. She stamped her foot and clung the more tightly to Bomba’s hand.
The boy recognized her then as the youngest child of the chief, Hondura. He had seen her more than once when he had skirted the village in some of his hunting excursions.
Although the women of the jungle are as a rule even more stolid than the men, Pirah promised to be an exception to the rule.
She it was who liked to play at hunting, shouldering a bow as big as herself and learning to shoot at a target when her baby hands could barely stretch the strings. ”

“ Bomba was beside him on the instant, caressing the great brute’s shaggy head. The animal’s eyes, of late so furious, were now soft with affection, and it tried weakly to lick Bomba’s hand.
“Good Polulu!” cried the lad. “Brave Polulu! There is no beast of the jungle so strong as Polulu, the friend of Bomba. He has saved Bomba’s life.” ”

“ Maybe he go to find Bomba.”
“He cannot find his way anywhere,” declared Bomba sadly. “He will be like a child in the jungle. He will be at the mercy of the big cats, of the anacondas, of the other creeping things that watch and spring upon their prey. Casson might as well have stayed in the hut of fire, for his death in the jungle is as sure.”
Pipina wrung her hands and continued the rocking motion of her body.
“He is mad,” she chanted in a singsong voice. “There is a strange power about him that will keep off evil. ”

“ At least half of the raiders had been incapacitated, and among the wounded had been Nascanora himself, and all the unwounded survivors were at that moment rushing pell-mell through the jungle, frantically eager to put as many miles as possible between themselves and the cabin, where the white man’s magic had been capped by the calling of the jungle beasts to help.
As soon as Casson had been restored to consciousness and Bomba had bandaged his burns as well as he could, the lad turned his attention to the cabin.
But there was nothing he could do that nature was not doing still better. ”

“ But it was likely that the Araos would know something of the whereabouts of the head-hunters, who were as much a foe of theirs as of the two whites. Bomba thought he might make some kind of a treaty with the more friendly natives to help him and Casson in case of need, or at least to keep him informed by some swift courier of any threatening developments.
Nature was beautiful in the jungle after the storm. The sky above was turquoise and the air, washed clean by rain, was like topaz. The vivid green of the shrubs and the grasses shone like emerald. ”