 From the heart of the jungle comes the 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 boroughs. Tarzan, the bronzed white son of the jungle. And now on the very words of Mr. Boroughs, the story of Tarzan and the Leipegor. Although both are on the dark continent, Tarzan's jungle and the city of Cape Town have little in common. No jagged peaks mark Cape Town's beautiful table mountain. Swimming with popular whizzenbird carries no threat of flesh-hungry crocodiles. And the shadowy elephant trails of the Congo are a far cry from the well-paid sidewalks of South Africa's oldest city. Yet a cruelty and violence were being borne at very moment in the modern hospital-like building just off Ribick Square, site of the old slave mart. In the white-tiled laboratory, a slim young woman in a crisp uniform was bending over a bubbling retort. But no native sorceress, sprinkling magical powders into a seeding cauldron and uttering strange incantations could have ever threatened Tarzan's life more seriously. 38, 39, 41, perfect. 41 times. 11 hours and 32 minutes. Temperature, 61 degrees, integrate. Pressure, density, volume. Oh, my God. And you've only come at us since 7 this morning. You started one, bro. I didn't know you had plain, all-ordinary reactions to things. Well, I have. I just didn't notice you came in. Why should you, Sabina? What are my charms compared to those of chromosomes or genes or whatever you got swimming around in that long-necked fishbowl years? This has been a very exciting day, Ralph. I've been working on this experiment for over six months. And you finally managed to combine a what-sits with a who-sits to produce a what-who-sits. I can understand your relation. But don't you ever think of parties and theaters and dresses and silly hats? No. I get my pleasure here, working with hybrids and mutations. Sabina, I can understand when someone works on making a combination of species to produce a nectarine or a special strain of cow that'll give more milk or a chicken that'll lay more eggs. But that doesn't interest you at all. Your life begins and ends with those test tubes. That's my business, isn't it? I'd like it to be mine. We've been over that before, Ralph. I think you're very nice, but I haven't got time for that sort of thing. Oh, I think I'd better get ready to go home. Well, you're not going home from here. What? I said you're not going home to pour over books and figure out a new way to improve on nature. Not tonight, Sabina. I'm taking you to dinner. We're going to the boxing matches at the Sportsmen's Club. Boxing matches? Fighting? Well, at least the men in the ring are ashamed of human feelings. And then we're going out afterward and dance. And you're going to have to pretend that you're enjoying my company. After that, we can say goodbye. For good, maybe. But I'm going to say at least for once how you act when you're not hemmed in between a crucible and a Bunsen burner. Oh, despite her objections, Dr. Sabina Meadows found herself panning in a fashionable restaurant and then joining the thong that poured into the Sportsmen's Club. And at that very moment, hundreds of miles away, the men of the Oguaki tribe were pouring into the enormous Palaver House of their village. They had come not to witness a series of fights, but to plan one. The brilliant war clays smeared across their ebony faces gleamed in the torchlight. The plumes of their headdresses waved defiantly, and their foul teeth were exposed in savage grins of anticipation as they squatted in their places and watched the neopara prepare to give the signal for the commencement of the Marchore, the conclave of war. Men of Oguaki, aye, your teeth have summoned you to Marchore. Aye! Aye! When kudu the sun rise in heaven, we march to crawl of boy-baco people. Aye! Aye! Aye! We meet there as curry in battle, blow guns, not carries knives. Aye! Aye! And when us curry dead, we fall upon village of boy-baco, take women and children prisoner. Aye! Aye! And then, we destroy their crawl as they seek to destroy ours. Aye! Aye! And all the jungle come! Wait! How can come to Shorik? Why you stop Marchore, jungle lord? Because you threaten to destroy the people of Muibaco, and they have turned no spear against you. They try to destroy our village. I have just come from within their boma. I was summoned there because they had heard of your conclave of war. They deny harming any of your people or destroying any of your property. It's lying. They make Narogi against us. Narogi? The magic that kills? Narogi of Muibaco, people destroy our homes. Who's battering rams or flaming arrows to demolish your hemmas? Nothing I could say would stop you from massacring them. But surely you're willing to delay your battle preparations long enough to explain to me how a curse pronounced many miles from here could have ruined your homes. In Muibaco village is great sorcerer. He have much strong medicine and he hate our people. In his Mutunda, he build small hemma of sticks and mud. He say words over it, then strike down with bark of hand. Here in village, house falls, women, children hurt. Many times he do this. Surely you cannot believe such fantasy. I know your homes are built much more solidly than those of most villages that you use as heavy timbers in their foundations as those that support this great Palava house. So surely mere words could not possibly cause them to set Palava house. It seems badly hurt. You see what sorcerer of Muibaco do to us? No enemy is within many miles of here. The building look as solid as the rocks of a jungle quarry. And there have often been many more people crowded into it than were there tonight. Yet it collapsed as though it were made of thin paper. It is strange. Those of the aboriginal natives would probably destroy their neighbors. The sportsmen of Cape Town watched one of the most brutal battles in boxing animals. Both men's faces were badly cut and bleeding. Science had been forgotten as both men swung wildly, hoping for a kill. And of all the fascinated crowd, the most enthralled by this marvelous spectacle were the unemotional Dr. Sabina Meadows. I didn't think. Sabina. Hit him again. Hit him again now. Sabina. I don't know what's come over you, right? The fight's over now, isn't it? Yeah, he won't get up from that one in a hurry. Come on, let's get out of here. Yes, I guess we'd better. I asked for the food, didn't I? Oh, I guess a lot of mild-mannered people are stirred up by seeing a fight. I never would have guessed you to be one of them, Sabina. You always seem so. So, uh... Cold? Unfeeling? I guess I've been that way ever since... someone I was very fond of was killed in the war. So, that explains why no one could ever get a smile out of you. You're one of those people I thought existed only in stories. Trying to lose themselves in work after someone they love is killed in battle. He wasn't killed in battle. He was tortured to death in a prison camp. Tonight, when I watched that fight, something came over me. As though every blow that was being struck was being directed against those who hurt him. I see. Well, things are still like that after all this time. It's just as well that I'm going away. Did you say you were going away from here? Maybe in the morning. I signed on it as a field worker in the Endicott expedition. We're heading north through the most dangerous part of the jungle. So, this might be goodbye for a long, long time. I want to go with you. What? Do you mean it, Sabina? Do you mean that you want to... As a scientist, I know Dr. Endicott. And if I saw him, he might be willing to add me to his staff, even at the last moment. Sure. He'd be glad to get a scientist at your reputation, doctor. And I'll try to remember that you're only another of my superiors in the party as we fight our way through the jungle. Dr. Sabina Meadows was a member of the party. A well-financed safari. It carried many native porters, astari, and trained jungle men. And with a large crew to cut through the tangle of undergrowth, Dr. Endicott elected to go do north through the wild regions of the many nations. Within a few weeks, they would pass the territory of the Ogwaki tribe. But at this moment, as the safari left the city, Sabina had heard neither of the Ogwaki people nor of Tarzan. Nor had he any thoughts of a white woman who would soon peril his life. That morning, he was busily engaged, attempting to determine the cause of last night's strange accident. After many hours of investigation, he emerged from under the wreckage of the Palaver House. Sunlight again. Tarzan burrowed like a small animal. But with more success than one, you'll find something as this. Who's nothing but piece wood. A fragment of the main supporting beam. Firm and salad on the outside, and nothing but crumbling dust within. Each timber of the Palaver building was no more than a hollow shell. He's powerful now, Ogwaki. Well, perhaps, but not the Neurogi of any other tribesmen. I suspect that the enemy lives on the very edge of your own crawl. Is no traitor among people of Ogwaki. It was heartless to have teased you. You have no traitors, great chief. Not unless you count the occupants of those large mounds outside the Boma. Those homes of ants? Exactly, white ants who live on a diet of wood. And they have found, like their cousins, the termites of some civilized lands that finished lumber as a much easier diet than natural trees. What do we do? I don't know yet. They would be unimpressed with your blowguns, your knob curries, or your knives, judging by the size of those mounds, would take more ant-eating animals than we could capture in many moons to make any impression at all. And each new piece of wood you might put into bolster a rotten one would be just one more tempting tidbit with which to fatten the enemy. Do you run spears into mounds or hammer down? Well, we can try. But some of the mounds are 20 feet high. Their surface is like the hardest granite. And there are more mounds than there are able-bodied men in the entire village. It looks as though the people of Ogwaki may easily lose their village to an army of ants. And so the Ogwakis began the almost hopeless battle against the small marauders. And while Tarzan led the nays of the village in their ceaseless labor that went on week after week, the Endicott expedition pressed its way northward against equally unfavorable odds. The weather was unseasonably hot. Several quarters made off with a large quantity of provisions, and jungle animals claimed more than the customary number of lives among the beaters. Yet, surrounded by violence during every waking hour, Sabina Meadows seemed to thrive. It was almost as though she reveled in the daily evidence of nature's savagery. Are you weathering this all right, Sabina? I'm fine, Dr. Endicott. You needn't worry about us. I'd be glad to carry your pack. I can do my share, Ralph. I'm feeling perfect. Sorry I had to apportion loads to everyone, but the remaining bearers have their hands full-drained to cut through this part of the jungle. It says on the map that this is the territory of the Ogwaki tribe. A bloodthirsty lord if you can believe the guidebooks. That's right. No wandering off to watch a couple of jungle lions battling it out. I'm sorry about that, but it was fascinating. And dangerous. Well, anyway, things go well. We'll be in Beccurata by tomorrow at this time, and we can then... Beccurata? Ralph, isn't that where you said they held those sites? What slipped out? I didn't mean it. You certainly wouldn't want to witness those, Sabina. A couple of greased natives fighting it out with bare fists until one of them drops? That's not for you, my dear. No. No, of course not. The tide's since early morning. I've even seen a mind-out pounding. Smaller now. Much smaller. Butty, sporty hair. Sabina and Endicott from the narrow trail with a flick of a slimy body. The powerful reptile had wound itself around Ralph. Now its mighty coils constricted about its helpless victim. Suddenly a bronze sandwich leaked from the trees. This knife flashed in the air and then turned red as it found its mark. Releasing its grip, the rep of its attacker. But Tarzan moved like lightning. His muscles broke the vice-like grip. This knife rose and fell like some great steel piston to the ground, a motionless specter. Never has there been such a battle. Do you often fight jungle animals? I have had more than my share of fights. With lion and panther? Yes, often. And obviously you've never been defeated by any of them. Not until these past few weeks, no. A large colony of small ants that eat the inside of timbers has proven more than my match. Oh, white ants that build huge mounds? Yes, they practically ruined an entire village. Termus Nettolensis. One queen can lay as many as a million eggs. It would be difficult to defeat them without considerable scientific knowledge. You have such knowledge? Yes, she does, but we're on an important expedition and we haven't... I'm leaving the expedition, Dr. Endicuff. I'm staying here in the jungle and helping Tarzan defeat this small enemy. I should be happy to do anything you ask if you could accomplish that. When are you successful? Find yourself with test tubes and retorts. Really, Sabina? I didn't ask you to desert the expedition just because I did. Who you might have known I wouldn't leave you here alone. Hardly alone. There's Tarzan, several hundred natives and billions of ants. Good afternoon, Sabina. Ralph? You always move so silently, Tarzan. You didn't hear what we were talking about? No, but I hoped you were discussing a solution to our great problem. Yes, we were. And I think you'll be glad to know that I've managed with the help of the native you assigned me to isolate many of the queens. I want them taken many, many miles away to a desolate spot where the ants who follow their queen can do no damage. That will dispose of a great portion of them. And the rest? I have finally succeeded in producing a rapidly multiplying species, the gematophile, which when introduced into the remaining ant colonies will eradicate the rest of them. That sounds too good to be true. Could I ask what a gematophile is? Is it too technical to explain to us, Sabina? Not at all. A gematophile or a lover of termites is usually present among them, but in such numbers that they can prey on only a small percentage. But when artificially increased the numbers of this natural enemy becomes more powerful than that which has long withstood its attacks. That goes to prove, I suppose, that nothing is invincible. Well, there's a clever scientist around. That's true. Nothing. Or no one is beyond destruction. With the aid of science, a natural enemy can always be made stronger. More ferocious. More diabolically cunning. How about you, Sabina? And no price that you could ask would be too great. You said I could name my own reward. Of course. I want a laboratory and living quarters built in some remote spot. They're here, perhaps, so the people of Ogwaki can provide me with food and other requirements. My people happy to do. And I shall need several very strong cages. An excellent settlement of lions, panthers and gorillas. Were anyone else to make such a request, I would refuse, despite my promise for I do not believe in capturing animals. But I'm sure you'll require them for some great scientific experiment that will aid mankind. I would say it's to prove one of my scientific theories. It's mad, Sabina, and it's impossible. Maybe not. A lion and a royal Bengal tiger have already been successfully cross-bred. Well, yes, I've heard of a lion. Well, they're both members of the cat family. Which made the accomplishment of the mutation relatively simple. But were I to produce a mutation combining three species? Two receptive, one non-receptive. It would really be a feat. Actually, intend to go ahead with your fantastic scheme, don't you? A life agar. A fearlessness and bold courage of the lion. The stealth and cunning of the panther. The gargantuan size, strength and ferocity of a man-hating gorilla. And a year of your time. But at the end of that year, Tarzan has promised to return. And I shall be able to prove that no one is invincible before the onslaught of a natural enemy. Aided by science. Not even Tarzan. Mr. Sabina. Correction. Art created a life agar. Well, the natives think it's a monster. They've never seen it. Of course not. They won't come anywhere near this place, but they've heard it. And I've heard their talk when I go there at night. Their dialect is fairly simple when you study it. When I visited the chief yesterday, I learned that the talking drums speak of Tarzan's coming. Yes, he's due today. And the moment he gets here, I'm going to... Jambo, my friends. I've returned as I promised. Yes, you have kept your word. And I have kept mine. What kind of a horrible creature is that? Come closer, Tarzan. I want to show you what... Stay here, Tarzan. Sabina plans to... Sabina, leave that catch alone. If you let that beast out... But this is the end of my great experiment. In consciousness, the mighty beast turned its hand of fury on the two men. Tarzan leaped, Leland claws, fingering his arms, seemed like ours. But finally, Tarzan rested himself free and the knife found its mark between the ribs of the Lipidore's body. And as though the unique animal were a creature of someone's insane imagination, it seemed to die even before it struck the floor inches away from its creator, the first and the last of the Lipidore's. I warn you, Tarzan. Just as I've tried to keep her from this mad scheme ever since it was born. That brilliant but twisted mind will give birth to no further schemes. That was good, Enner. I hoped I could erase the bed. Life is a constant struggle between the two forces. And in the battle there are always casualties. You are one of the casualties this time, Ralph. Well, I guess I'll go back to Cape Town now. Perhaps the years will heal my injuries. And you? I shall return to my jungle. My wounds will heal quickly. And if I'm ever forced to battle a lion, a panther, and a gorilla again, I hope to meet them one at a time.