 From the heart of the jungle comes a savage cry of victory. This is Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle. From the black core of dark Africa, land of enchantment, mystery and violence comes one of the most colorful figures of all time. Transcribed from the immortal pen of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan, the bronzed white sun of the jungle. And now in the very words of Mr. Burroughs, the story of Tarzan and the decoy. Long ago, Tarzan had learned to hate the Tamangani, the dread white men who came with their thundersticks to cheat and rob and kill. Nor had he any great love for the Gomangani, the black men. But his need for human companionship was beginning to make itself felt. And for many months he'd remained in the camp of the Punya tribe, teaching the lore of the jungle to Torgul, the small native boy. In the middle. That was a fine shot, Torgul. You learned quickly. Now, Torgul, be great, Hunter. Bring home much meat and many skins. Torgul, leave for Tarzan now. Torgul, I'm back here. You working for something, Tarzan? Sit down. Sit down. Here, Torgul, on this rock. Yes, Tarzan. Torgul, someday you will be a great hunter. But now you're only a very small boy who's just beginning to learn the secrets of the jungle. Torgul hit the target? A target stuffed with grass and leaves. But in the forest you will find targets that move quickly, that have inside them not grass and leaves, but treachery and cunning and great strength. There will be many lessons before you can go into the jungle alone. But Torgul want to hunt Numa the lion and bring home the skin for his mother. I have a new game, Torgul. If you aren't too old for games. A new game? We will tie a long rope to Manu, the monkey. And at the end of the rope we will tie the target. Then as Manu runs, we can pretend that the target is Numa, the lion, fleeing from our arrows. Doesn't that sound like fun? Yes, I guess so. And if you hit the moving target, Torgul, you will have learned something new and Tarzan will go into the jungle and bring you back a prize. Perhaps a lion skin to give your mother. But if Tarzan and the small Torgul were engaged in a harmless game, the game that was being planned in a small cafe in Nairobi, in the Kenya country, was far from harmless. There, Varian, the wild animal agent, sat at a corner table in the foul smelling dimly lighted room. As he sipped slowly from his glass, he scowled at the huge hunter who sat opposite him. I can't stand stupidity, Hemet. And you're stupid. You can't talk to me that way, Varian. I think I can, since I'm the only one who'll take the injured animals you bring back from the jungle. Can I help it if some of the elephants get hurt when they drop into the pitfalls? You sell them, don't you? Only because I find new buyers each time. And right now I have a market for a hundred perfect bull elephants. Where am I going to get a hundred perfect specimens? I'm going along this time, Hemet. And we're going to bring them back from the Punya country. That's Tarzan's country. He'll never let us get a hundred elephants out, Varian. And Tarzan's not going to have anything to say about it. Because, you see, I plan on capturing him, too. He'll make quite an attraction in some sideshow. Don't make me laugh. You've got as much chance of capturing Tarzan as you have of getting a hundred elephants without injuring any of them. I admit that the odds would be very low when you're directing the hunt, Hemet. But I intend to use cunning in place of brute force. What do you mean? You've been capturing elephants by building pitfalls. Is that not right, Mr. Hemet? Of course it's right. You know that. Stupid as you are, you probably haven't even heard of building a great keda for them. A keda? A stockade. A corral. Big enough to hold a hundred huge bull elephants. And after we've got it built, we send the bulls an invitation to come in. Varian? In a way, we use specially trained, tame, female elephants who have been schooled in the art of luring the bulls into the enclosure. Come to think of it, I have heard of that system. But what about Tarzan? I'm going to use a lure or a decoy to capture not only the elephants, but also the mighty Tarzan. The decoy with which I plan to lure Tarzan is my daughter, Zaira. What? I think you'll agree that Zaira's beautiful. She's gorgeous. And clever and ruthless. Just as the tame female elephants have been trained for their job, so have I trained Zaira. It's the craziest thing I ever heard of. I take this as a compliment, Hemet, for only by a fantastically mad plot can Tarzan ever be captured. Rest assured, my stupid friend, that when we return to civilization, we shall have the mighty Tarzan in chains. We shall return in just a moment with the story of Tarzan and the decoy. A few days later, a mighty safari set out from Narobi, a troop of vicious native Ascari with guns strapped to their backs. Gimliadide Mahouts leading the decoy elephants, huge cages, and near the end of the Bizarre Parade, surrounded by giant Senegalese guards, came a great metal-covered wagon. Inside were the masters of the safari, Hemet and Varin, and the excitingly beautiful Zaira. This heat's unbearable already. Hemet, get me something cool to drink. Okay, Zaira. Miss Varin, if you don't mind. I would just be a nice and not your servant, Miss Varin. Get her to drink, Hemet, and address her the way she said, and bid out sarcasm. I'm darned if I will. Zair, maybe they'll teach you some manners. You... you slapped me. Next time I'll call the guards to do it. They get their pay from me, and I think they'll do what I tell them. Now, get my daughter to drink the last four. Here you are, Miss Varin. Thank you, Hemet. I didn't really mean to start off us. I guess the heat makes us all a little ill-tempered. Yeah, I guess it does. Here, sit down by me. Tell me you do forgive me. Don't waste words on that fool, Zaira, and save your child for thousand. He'll be about to fortune to us, and he'll bring him back. Don't worry, Father. I won't fail you. The Turks followed weeks, and the safari came closer and closer to the land of the Pugna tribe. But Tarzan was unaware of the coming of the dread Tarman Gane, the white men. He sat alone in the native compound. The Waziri were away on a hunting trip. The women were out searching for dye roots, and small Torgol, armed with his bow and arrows, had wandered toward a nearby riverbed. Suddenly the ape-man's nostrils twitched. His keen senses came alive. He had caught the scent of Numa, the lion. He rushed toward the riverbed, but Torgol was gone. The grass was still bent where the native boy had been sitting, and Tarzan followed the spore from there. It led in the same direction from which Tarzan had sensed the coming of Numa. Tarzan ran through the forest, approaching rapidly the roar of the lion in the scent of the native boy, and then suddenly he came into a small clearing. Twenty feet in front of Tarzan stood a ferocious lion, and the lion stood Torgol trying to hold his toy-like bow steady as he aimed his arrow. No, no, Torgol, no, don't shoot at Numa! Yes, Torgol, shoot! No, you'll only wound him! Tarzan grasped a hanging vine and swung upward, then leaped from tree to tree approaching the snarling animal. He was just overhead when Torgol let go an arrow. The animal opened his cavernous mouth with rage. He felt slower, then sprang, and at the same moment Tarzan leaped down his knife, flashing in his hand. He hit the lion in mid-air, circling his throat with one steel-coated arm, and with the other he plunged the knife deep into the lion's brain, again and again and again. Then Tarzan put one foot on the dead animal and raised his head in the gesture of the victorious, Aboriginal ape. We killed Numa. Mother, be proud of Torgol. Now we skin him and take home meat and fur. It's not far to the village. I'll throw no more over my shoulder, and your father can skin him when he returns home. Torgol was very brave. He heard Numa in the forest, and he ran to find him. Torgol ran so hard his legs. When Torgol's mother hears about this, some other part of Torgol is going to hurt. Oh, Tarzan, you treat Torgol like a tiny baloo. Torgol not a baby. No, you're a fine little man, and I want you to live to be a fine big man. The jungle is alive with dangers of all kinds. But Numa is dead. Torgol's arrow killed him. Tarzan's knife helped, though. Numa has many brothers and sisters in the jungle, and Shita, the panther, hunts for food, so does Dango, the hyena, and Gimla, the crocodile, and many other fierce beasts. I don't see them now. Our enemies seldom reveal their coming, Torgol. And yet, for one raised by the apes, the scent of distant animals comes from afar. The sounds of an ant walking can be heard in the distance. Tarzan teases Torgol. How can Tarzan hear an ant walk? Does Torgol hear anything now? No. Torgol hears nothing. Tarzan hears something. Far in the distance, men are driving stakes into the ground. Do you know what that means, Torgol? What does it mean, Tarzan? Men are building a camp. No other native tribe would dare build in the Punya country, so it means that the most dangerous enemy of all has come again. The white men have returned to Tarzan's jungle. The tarmungani are here. When the sun had dropped from the sky, Tarzan swung over the almost completed walls of the Kedah, and sat in a crotch of a tree examining the camp of the enemy. Three of them stood before an enormous metal-covered house on wheels. One was a small, crew-looking man. One was a huge muscular man with a figure of a hunter, and the third was the most beautiful human Tarzan had ever seen. He swung down noiselessly and dropped a few feet from Baron and Hammett and Zyra. Where did he come from? How did he get here? Who is he? Guards! Guards! Wake up, you lazy fools! Guards! You need no warriors. Tarzan means you're no harm. Tarzan? It's all I could. Never mind the guards. You should have told us right away that you were Tarzan. You know my name? The theme of Tarzan has spread to many countries. No one ever said how handsome you are. My ape mother thought that I was ugly because I was different from the other Baloo's of the tribe. We've heard the story of your adoption by the apes, Tarzan. It's incredible. Oh, not as incredible as those muscles. I've never seen anyone like you, Tarzan. Nor have I ever seen anyone like you. What do they call you, white goddess? My name is Zyra. And my name is Daryn, and this is Hammett. Zyra, Varen, Hammett. Why do you come to Tarzan's jungle? Well, we're on a sort of scientific expedition. Then why do you build a keda? Let's go inside. We can talk a whole lot better over a drink. I don't like the inside. We can talk here. It's getting cold out. I'm going in. Won't you please come in, Tarzan? For the white goddess. Yes. Thank you, Hammett. Now, fill Tarzan's glass. No, no, no. Your wine is strong and your food rich. I prefer to dine on freshly caught game. You might get to like a lot of things civilization has to offer. That is true. I marvel at the wonders of this house on wheels you've brought into the jungle. You might find the people outside the jungle as amazing as the things in their homes. Yes, sometimes I am not satisfied with my friends in the jungle. Sometimes I long to know men of my own kind. There are no other men of your kind, Tarzan. You're very special. I... I think perhaps I'd better check the cam. Hammett, I'm sure you have things to attend to also. Yeah, yeah. I was just going out for a breath of air. The air does lie heavy here. I'm used to the smells of the jungle and yet there is a heavy sweetness about this room. It's my perfume, Tarzan. Do you like it? Well, my daughter will keep you company, Tarzan. I'll return soon. Don't hurry, Father. We have a lot to talk about. Go, go. Yes, Warner. I want you to reel the special cage as far back into that crump of trees as you can. Go. Vienna, come over. So long. Sure. Yes, Warner. If your men tear down branches and cover the cage, leave the only opening uncovered. That's right. And then we get Tarzan inside. You're to close the door as quickly as you can. If you let him escape, I'll kill every one of you. Do you understand? Gura, understand much. May I come in? Come in, Father. Have you convinced Tarzan of the attractiveness of our world while I've been gone? Your daughter makes your world appear very attractive. Thank you, Tarzan. Is all in readiness about the camp, Father? Everything is perfect. Pardon me. I guess the long trip into the jungle has been more tiring than I imagined. The jungle is no place for a woman like you, Zyra. I think you should retire for the night, my dear. Yes, I think I will if our guest will excuse me. Oh, of course. Your father and I will talk outside. There are questions you have not answered, Mr. Varen. Oh, no. Stay here and talk. I'll sleep better if I take a little stroll before I turn in. I'll be back in a few minutes, Tarzan. Don't go far. The night jungle is full of harm. I couldn't be afraid with you here. If I were to meet any trouble, I'd call out. Good. You would come if you thought I were in trouble. I would dare the steel jaws of death for you. My white goddess. In just a moment, we'll continue with Tarzan and the decoy. Zyra made her way quickly toward the distant end of the compound. They're taking her place behind the heavily camouflaged cage of steel. And in the meantime, Tarzan tried in vain to get a straight answer from the slippery-tongued Varen. And the Kedda you've built? Oh, just for collecting some specimens of animal life. For study. He'll set them free later. Good. Because in Tarzan's country, animals are killed only in self-defense or for food. Wild things are left free. There it is as it should be. Only sometimes a man who thinks he's free... That's Zyra. She's in trouble. I must get to her. I'm coming, Zyra. Tarzan raced out of the van. His fleet footsteps carrying him rapidly in the direction from which Zyra's voice had come. And behind the cage, deep in the brush, crouched Zyra. Leading Tarzan on. Leading him toward the cage. He come. He catch Tarzan. He's not in there, you fools. No. He not in there. Dark Gura Nazi. Where he go? Grabbed a vine and swung himself up just at the last minute. There he is. Tarzan escaped. Not go in the cage. Oh, then wrong with the pen. I will tell you your mistake, Kamangani. It's him. No father don't shoot. Find out what went wrong. What mistake did we make, Tarzan? At the last minute, the White She-Devil yelled that a panther was about to spring. But Tarzan did not catch the scent of She-Tarza panther. Only that a pamba, the rat, killed him. There are to be no rations for the men tonight. But Hunter need food. Tarzan say it was because White Lady saved Panther. I'm not discussing the matter, Itugura. I'm telling you. And if your men aren't more successful in hunting elephants than they were in capturing Tarzan, I'll pay only half the gold I promised you. We've seen one. And stop your biting. What is that you have with you, Hemmit? It's a little native boy. I found him sneaking around the camp. Probably see it trying to find out what he could steal. Not steal. Meet Torgo. Look for my friend Tarzan. Oh, is Tarzan a friend of yours? Good friend. Let me sneak away from village to find him. Oh, for goodness sake, let's go back to the van. Not so fast, my dear Zyra. Tarzan's friend here is going to be very valuable to us. Dye him up and throw him into the cage, Hemmit. We now have fresh bait for our trap. Tarzan traveled north, away from the Whites, away from the Punya tribe, away from all men. But the next day he learned that elephants were being lured into Varan's Kedda and a desire to help his wild friends joined a growing urge for revenge. And he turned back in the direction of Varan's camp. When he was almost there, he saw a lone hunter in the woods. And the man was Hammett. Tarzan leaped down, knocking the gun from Hammett's hands and raising his gleaming knife to Hammett's throat. No, please, please, Tarzan, let me speak. Whatever you want to speak of, they have your little friend, Torgo. Torgo? That ain't has him. You lie. No, no, I swear it. They're going to use Torgo to try to catch you again. You said you'd return. I'll show you how to save him. Why should you do this? Because I'm an animal hunter. Not a man hunter. I never liked the idea of trying to capture you, and I don't like the idea of holding a small native boy. That's too much. But you're still one of Varan's men. A footstool for him to kick around. Him and Zyra. Well, they've kicked me for the last time. I'm in this with you. If you'll trust me, Tarzan. I have to trust you. Tell me your plan. There's the hiding place of the first century. But be careful. He's at First Senkili's. Tarzan can handle. Those of the last two, Tarzan, at the edge of the kedoth and behind the tangled growth to the left. We must finish this quickly. Take care of the guards. Only Varan and Zyra and the porters are left in camp now. Gura is the headman of the porters. Yeah. And he's next. Me, friend. Me, friend of Tarzan. How do I know that? Gura. Gura, see guard disappear. No, no say anything. Gura, his men not fight Tarzan. I can't count on that. I swear, great Varna, no black men raise hand against you. Us hate devil Varan. Us hate she-devil too. Like dog, they treat black men. All right. Tell all your black men to leave the camp at once then. Is so, great Varna. Varan and she-devil will soon be left alone. Of course, I'm scared. The elephants trumpeting and kicking against the sides of the Kedda. It's not a soul in camp except us. Come on. We've got to get to the cage with Togo. Well, at least it's on the opposite side of the camp and the elephants. Where did everyone go, father? Tarzan must have taken them. I know. We've got rid of Hammett. And then the Senegalese and the porters and the Ascari. How? I don't know. But as long as we have the native boy, you have a chance. Keep your back against the cage so you can be surprised. You take one side and I'll take the other. Here's a rifle for you. I wish they'd stop that. It's getting on my nerves. Togo wants out. Togo's scared. Shut up or I'll turn this rifle your way. Togo. Shut up, I said. Tarzan. It sounded like a signal. Look. There's Hammett. He's over there by the gate that holds the elephant. Maybe he will- He's opening the gate. He's letting them out. They are calming this way. Everything was swept away by the onrush of the elephants as they fought their way back into the jungle. Tharan fell beneath their mighty hooves and the cage that had held Togo was smashed in a thousand pieces. Broken fragments of two rifles littered the ground. But high overhead, a great bronzed god of the jungle held under one arm a small native boy and under the other, the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. As the herd disappeared in the distance and the dust settled, he placed them both on the ground. I want to go home. I'll take you home, Togo. No. Don't leave me, Tarzan. Hammett will see that you come to no harm. Hammett. He was the one who opened the gates. He killed my father. I'm sorry, Zara. I planned to save him too, but he ran into the path of the elephants. Oh. It was horrible. The jungle is a place of violence. Goro will gather his guards and a safari will be formed to take you home. I have no home now. My father's gone. Tarzan, let me stay here in the jungle with you. You shall go back. But you called me your white goddess. You said I was beautiful. Your beauty is only of the outside. Inside, you're as cruel and as ugly as the civilization that spawned you. And to that, will you return? We'll return to tell you about the next story of Tarzan in just a moment. In our next story, we relate the experience of Tarzan and black ivory. Black ivory, a precious commodity more sought after than white ivory or gold or diamonds. A search that spells danger and hatred and death deep in the heart of the jungle. Deep in the heart of Africa. Tarzan, a transcribed creation of the famous Edgar Rice Burroughs, is produced by Walter White Jr. Prepared for radio by Bud Lesser with original music by Albert Glasser. This is a Commodore production.