 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 son of the jungle. And now in the very words of Mr. Burroughs, the story of the trail of death. If it were possible for any man to know and to love jungle as much as Tarzan, that man was Captain Lawrence of the governmental police. And so it was natural that he disliked his new desk job in Tarak. The constant hubbub of the city jarned his nerves, the lusty odor of its rambling native section offended his nostrils, and the principal duty of his office tired his patience. It was now Captain Lawrence's responsibility to grant official permission to a constant stream of bloodthirsty hunters to go into the jungle to plunder and kill. And the two who sat opposite him now were among the worst it had been his misfortune to meet, the weak-looking, pasty-faced youth and the square-jawed, overbearing older man. See here, Lawrence, can't you cut a little of this red tape? I'm very sorry, Mr. Fellows, but the questionnaires have to be filled out before I can grant you permission to leave on your safari. Perhaps I could take care of the details, Uncle. I wouldn't trust you to mail a picture postcard. I just thought if you wanted to go back to the hotel... Get on with the questions, Lawrence. Your full name and address? I've already told you that. George Anthony Fellows, 40 Cousin Street, Mayfair, London. And your name, sir? My nephew's name is Malcolm Fellows, same address. Captain, since he was 12, he hasn't the gumption enough to get out and get a job or a flat for himself. Really, Uncle? I don't think Captain Lawrence is interested in... Continue with the questions, Lawrence. We can't spend the rest of the day here. Your reason for wanting to go into the interior? Reason? You're going hunting, I suppose. Well, yes. Put down hunting. Your intended destination? See here, Lawrence, it seems to me I've answered enough questions. I'm a British citizen and I feel... I don't make the laws, Mr. Fellows. I merely enforce them. Regulations require that you answer all the questions on this form. Your intended destination. We're going to try to locate the Mutear Scarpment. The Mutear Scarpment? That's right. I can't approve your papers. And why not? Because I have absolutely no intention of giving you permission to commit suicide. To commit suicide? Why do you say that? Because not even the greatest of Africa's hunters ever attempted the escarpment. Livingstone? That's right, Mr. Fellows. Not even the great Livingstone was willing to risk his neck there. What's so very special about that section of the jungle? First of all, it lies just beyond the most savage tribe on the entire continent, one that hasn't even begun to become civilized. Secondly, it extends beyond a rampart of crags and precipices so steep they say not even the egos will have raised their height. And what about thirdly? There's always a thirdly. Yes, and this is no exception. Thirdly, this scarpment is inhabited by a roaming band of giant apes and a herd of wild elephants fiercer and louder than any elephants ever brought back to civilization. The elephants? They're there. Just like you said, Uncle Charles. Shut up. Oh. So you're out to kill a few elephants, eh, Fellows? Not exactly. He wants to find those who are already dead. I told you to keep quiet. Oh, I might have guessed. You're out to find the secret graveyard where elephants go to die. So what? If I'm willing to risk my life, that's my business. If I can find that secret burial ground, I'll have the greatest treasure in ivory ever discovered by man. Tons of it. Just lying at my feet, waiting to be picked up. By whom? I won't approve your treatment. Without my approval, you won't be able to hire a guide or a safari member in Tarrak. Or anywhere else, for that matter. You civil servants in Africa make me sick. Your nobility in protecting me from a land where no white man has yet trod is just a trifle old hat. I didn't say no white man had ever been to mute your scarpment. Tarzan lived there most of his life, as a matter of fact. But you're not Tarzan, and you're not Livingston. And you're not my superior officer. So, unless you'd like to amend your application, leave our business together, is over, Mr. Fellows? Very well, Mr. Lawrence. Come on, Malcolm. I'll try to keep some people from killing themselves when they take it as a personal fun. I beg your pardon, that's where you're going next time. Come on, Malcolm, stop digging. I'm putting my signature on the table. I knew you were getting a bit older, Captain Lawrence, but I didn't know you'd begun talking to yourself. Tarzan! How are you, Lawrence? A little better now. The sight of you was a real tonic. I'm glad I came to Tarak. Oh, that's very flattering. You didn't travel all the way here to bolster my wavering morale. Perhaps I came to bolster my own. I'm giving up, Captain Lawrence. Giving up what? Trying to be the Robin Hood of the jungle, or whatever I've been aiming at. In the last half-dozen years, I haven't met a half-a-dozen people who proved worthwhile risking my life for. You sound very bitter. I'm getting that way, and I don't want to be. So, at least for a little while, I'm going back home, away from people. Do you see Coast Cabin? No, no, really away to a place where no white man will come. That's why I traveled to Tarak to bid you goodbye, Captain Lawrence. You're my closest friend, and I wanted you to know, just in case I've never seen or heard of again, that I've decided to return to the land of the great apes and the giant elephants. I'm going back to the mutia escarpment. In just a moment, we'll return to our story of Tarzan. Count it, Malcolm. I can't hear myself think. Close that window. All right. Why were you gaping out the window anyway? Looking at Captain Lawrence's office across the street. I wanted to see if he'd come out yet. That jungle savage you gawked at as we left Lawrence's office? He's not really a savage, sir. I read all about him once. He's really an English nobleman by the name of Lord Greisto. Nonsense. It's time you learned to read something other than penny comics, Malcolm. But I read that in a Daily Mail. It said that in Africa, he was known as Tarzan. Are you sure? Yes, sir. They had his picture in the paper, too. Tarzan, the one man who knows the mutia escarpment. Malcolm, maybe we can turn the trick yet. How good an actor are you? Actor? If you can help me pull this off, you'll be rich, Malcolm. Half of what I get from the ivory will be yours. You can buy a business of your own. You can take your own flat. You can be your own man. Gosh, do you mean it, Uncle? I thought we've got to work fast. I've got a little tool kit in that top drawer over there. Find it for me. Yes, Uncle. And bring that bottle of mercuricrome from the top of the dresser. Found the tool kit, sir. Mercuricrome? Yes, yes, yes. And hurry. We've got to get this whole affair planned before Tarzan leaves that office. Here they are, sir. What are you doing with that pistol? I've got to rig up a blank cartridge and make a slight adjustment on the firing mechanism. Oh, but we'll get you fixed up first. Can you jacket? Yes, sir. Ah, there we are. The mercuricrome. All over my clean shirt. Close your jacket now. We don't want those blood stains to be seen until the right time. Now then, take some of that whiskey over there and sprinkle it liberally all over yourself. On my clothes? That's right. And put on your thinking cap. Maybe we won't have to resort to this little scheme, but if we do, you'll have to play your role to the teeth. I'm counting heavily on you, Malcolm. And there's nothing I can say or do to make you change your mind, Tarzan. Oh, Captain Lawrence, you've been most eloquent and a great deal of what you've said has been true, but I've decided to go home. Home. The heart of the wildest terrain on the continent. Is that still your concept of a home? I spent a great many happy years there, and there's a chance that my treehouse may still be intact. Oh, you know, there's not a chance of that. The more Tongers were glad to see their lifelong enemy leave the escarpment, and you can bet your last barb they've tried to erase every memory of you. Ah, perhaps. And they'll do their best to keep you from coming back, Tarzan. Don't you? I promise to be very, very careful. Now, it's time for me to head for the jungle and time for you to get back to that pile of papers. Blasted. Paperwork. Goodbye, Captain Lawrence. Goodbye, Tarzan. But take my word for it. You'll be back. If you don't come back, I may decide to brave the escarpment and come after you. Well, if anyone could reach the escarpment, it would be you, Lawrence. Goodbye. Lord Greystone. Lord Greystone? Sorry, I forgot you preferred to be called Tarzan here. It's been a long time since anyone called me Lord Greystone. I used to hear you referred to by that name at home. We have a great many friends in common. Oh, who? Well, I can't put my tongue on their names at the moment, but I've heard dozens of people speak intimately of you. Won't you join me for a drink? Oh, I'm sorry, but I don't drink. I feel very fortunate in having bumped into you like this. Perhaps you'll sit with me while I sip a cord. I don't like to be ungracious, but I am about to leave for the jungle. Surely you can spare five minutes for a fellow Britisher. I'd like to, but... But how stupid of me! I haven't even observed the social amenities. Name's Fellows. George Anthony Fellows. Come along now. I won't take no for an answer. Yes, I can see that. Now Tarzan, you just admitted you're going there yourself. Well, I shouldn't have admitted it. Look, Mr. Fellows, the Murier escarpment is no place for white men. But you're white? Mr. Fellows, I am not a guide, and even if I were, no amount of persuasion would make me take you there. All right, Tarzan, skip the whole thing. I want it to go there, but if you advise against it, it's a closed matter. Let's drink on it. I told you I don't drink. A Britisher who doesn't drink? Why don't you? Because I've seen what liquor can do to men. Look at that youth over there, the one who's been staring at us. He couldn't be out of his teens, and he's reeling with whiskey. You can even smell it from here. See, that young chap has got a bit of a load on. Has he been staring at us? Yes, and now he's walking over this way. I think it's time for me to say goodbye. Oh, come now, Tarzan. It's just the shank of the evening. Are you Tarzan? Yes, that's my name. Tarzan, huh? The lord of the jungle? See, here, young man, Tarzan's my friend, and I don't like to see him annoyed by drugs. Tarzan couldn't be annoyed by anything. He's fearless. He can handle lions, and tigers, and cannibals, and everything. I couldn't even scare him with this gun. Put that gun away, you silly fool. Steady now, young fellow. Gun's a danger, isn't it? I'll say that, dangerous. You got twice my size, but I could unfasten the safety class and put my finger around the trigger. Tarzan, take the gun away from that truck. I won't let you take my gun. You shot him. I barely touched the gun. I didn't even have my finger near the trigger. He's bleeding terribly. We better get out of here. I've got to help him if I can. He's beyond help. He's dead. The police will be here in seconds, and you mustn't be found. But I can't run away. You don't know what you're saying. You're stunned. You're not thinking clearly. Let me do your thinking for the moment. We've got to get out of here right now. Where have you brought me, Mr. Fellows? This is a little shack no one else knows about. It's on the edge of town, and the jungle's right at our elbows. We can be miles away before morning. I can't do it, Mr. Fellows. I can't run away. You're not thinking very clearly yet, Tarzan. No, I'm not. I'm still dazed by what happened. Do you know what they'd do to you if you went back? I don't know. I suppose they'd arrest me and let it put me on trial. And you know what the outcome of the trial would be? You added up. A half dozen white men in the bar who'd identify you. Your fingerprints on the gun, a victim, a teenage boy who couldn't have had a gun permit. They'd swear the gun was yours and that you'd shot him in cold blood. But Captain Lawrence would tell them that I'd never carried a gun in my life. Oh, he tried to help you, Tarzan, but he couldn't do you any good. The verdict would be guilty. Guilty! And they wouldn't even give you the blessed release of the electric chair or the rope. What would they do? They'd wait patiently for life. You'd spend the rest of your days in captivity behind bars, like a caged animal. Is that what you want? Oh, no, no, I couldn't stand that. I've always been free. I can't even stand the restrictions of a city. You'd spend the rest of your days in a musty cell, a dark cell, Tarzan, no light, no trees, no flowers, no animals. Just fall bare walls of stare day after day, year after year. What shall I do? Go beyond the reaches of man. You must flee to the most remote spot in the entire jungle, some place where you can never be found. Oh, yes. There's a mutia escarpment. I was going there. We must leave for there tonight. We? You're in no condition to go alone, so I'm coming with you. I'm your friend. Yes, you are my friend. Shall we leave now, Mr. Fellows? I'll be back in half an hour. I want to take care of her first. I want to go along, Uncle. I want to see the graveyard of the elephants. Don't be a fool, Malcolm. If Tarzan saw you, he'd realize he hadn't shot you. That the whole thing had been a trick. But I could disguise myself. I'm a very good actor. Didn't I do everything just the way you said? You did very well, Malcolm, but it may take months to reach the escarpment and you couldn't fool Tarzan all that time. But what will I do until you get back? What do I care what you do? You're not coming back. But you don't really intend to give it to me. You never did. Now, take it easy, Malcolm. Why shouldn't I give you a share of the money? Because you're greedy, that's why. You took the money my mother and father left me. Every shilling of it. And you intend to take all the money from the ivory, too. I know it. Well, I won't let you get away with it. Hands off of me, Malcolm. Don't cheat me again. You think I'm a fool, but I'm not. I warn you, Malcolm. I've got the gun. I don't care what you've got. I won't let you cheat me. Don't stop this instant. You'll be sorry. I'll make you take me along with you. Make you take me to the graveyard of the elephants. I won't let you cheat me. I warn you, Malcolm. Maybe it was better that way. No one can ever clean the ivory I'll find with the help of my friend Tarzan. In just a moment, the exciting conclusion of the trail of death. As Mr. Fellows had predicted, Tarzan and he were far from the city of Tarac by dawn of the next day. And though Tarzan's heart was heavy, they continued to press on day after day and week after week until suddenly beyond the maze of riotous jungle growth, they loomed a mountainous palisade. Its summit lost in a haze of purple mist. This was the gateway to the mutia escarpment. Fantastic. I feel strange. I thought the sight of the escarpment would let me feel free again, but it doesn't. What do you mean? There's no peace for me there now. There or anywhere else. We're turning back. But you can't do that to me. To you. That's right. I'm in this just as deeply as you are. I helped a murderer escape. I'm in accessory to the crime, and if we went back, I'd face the same fate you do. Is that to be my payment for befriending you? No, I... I suppose I couldn't do that to you. Then let's get started again. This is it. My fear is though, I were on top of the world. You are, almost. Are you all right? Am I all right? You carried me halfway up those clips and literally dragged me the rest of the way. Don't you think you would better stop the rest for a while? We're almost to the spot where my treehouse was. I want to see if it's still there. Besides, it isn't safe to stop with the moatangas on our trail. I haven't seen them during the last hour or so. They aren't very far behind, but unless they've gained new bravery, they won't come this far. They always felt that I was some sort of a demon and that the land about my treehouse was full of dangerous jungle spirits. They didn't take very frightened of you, and we encountered them back in that clearing. Well, that was their part of the jungle, but look, it's still there, my treehouse. It is it that. But it's a long way up. I don't believe I... Hold on! You really gave me a start picking me up like that and swinging me up here. Hey, that's quite a house. Come inside. All right. It's still in perfect condition. They haven't touched it. Apparently, they're still afraid to come here. It's quite an amazing house. Much bigger than it looked from the ground. But it's still not a sanctuary for me. Having committed a murder, I'll never find peace again. Look, Taz, look, you'll be safe here until morning. I shall return. Don't leave me up here all alone. Mr. Fellows, I never should have brought you to the escarpment, but I've done so and I promise that I shall guard your life with my own as long as you're here, but I must leave you until morning. But where are you going? To find the companions of my childhood. The wild apes and the giant elephants who were once my friends. Perhaps with them, I shall find an answer. This might well have been the Tarzan of old, clamoring through the upper level, soaring like a bird as he swung from tree to tree, clinging to the topmost branch of a giant kayak as he raised his voice in the triumphant call of the bull-ape. And as his call reverberated through the escarpment, the denizens of the jungle listened and became aware that Tarzan had returned. Like a mighty army, they started toward the sound of his voice. For to them, Tarzan was still their leader. They undisputed, Lord of the jungle. And that night, while Tarzan roamed the forests with friends who asked nothing of him, Mr. Fellows deserted the treehouse, cautiously made his way to the ground and followed the trail back until he arrived at the camp of the savage Moatangas. I'd like to see your chief. Your headman, your leader. Leader. Look, look, there must be someone here who speaks English. I've come here to do you a favor. I'm your friend. Friend, friend. He co-attends awfully. I'm your friend, I tell you. I've come to warn you that Tarzan's going to drive you out. He's come back to kill the Moatangas, but I can bring him within your power. How? So, now you speak English, eh? Be quiet, man. I'll speak only to your chief. Here is chief. Oh, hello there. How you help us destroy Mandevil Tarzan? Not so fast. I've got a bargain to make. You show me the graveyard of the elephants and furnish me enough men to carry the ivory back to civilization and I'll cook up a little plan to bring Tarzan into your camp here. Tarzan, come now to save friend who is captive. The chief of the Moatangas had spoken the truth. Tarzan had already discovered the absence of his friend and even now he was entering the Moatanga forest of the escarpment. He traveled in the back of a giant elephant and the army he brought to battle the savage horde of natives consisted of a dozen similar elephants, their strong yellow tusks gleaming in the early light of dawn. The Moatangas had tied fellows by their council ring, but his guards fell back as Tarzan and his army entered the clearing. Spears flashed in the air. With Tarzan's knife, Greek vengeance, the yellow tusks like angry scimitaries tore through the ranks of the enemy. Then as Tarzan shouted orders, one of the elephants stressed fellows and swung them under his back. Now the herd of elephants, one bearing Tarzan, another bearing fellows, swarmed from the camp and turned back toward the heart of the escarpment. After them came the natives, their poisoned chip, Asagais, filling the air. It looks as though we're coming to some sort of a pass through the rocks. We can make a stand here and try to fight them off. Tarzan, the elephants, they're forming a barricade here. They'll keep the Moatangas from getting through the pass and we can go on. I won't leave them here to die for us. Oh yes you will. A gun! You've had that all along. What good would it have done for me to kill two or three of them? I'm amazed they didn't take it from you when they held you captive. They didn't know what it was for, but I do. Now hurry before they get here. Hurry, or I'll shoot. No, no, no, don't shoot. I can't afford to die yet. I will go on, fellas, but you'll have to change mounts. Your elephant's been wounded and he's dying. I'm not getting off you. But you must! He has a journey to make before he dies. I know he has. A journey to the secret graveyard of elephants. Well, I'll be right with him. I'm going to find out where it is, and someday I'll come back. I'll come back and get that fortune and ivory. I'll come back, I tell you. So that was the reason you became my friend. That was why you came with me to the escarpment. Come on, Tangas, they're almost done. Get going, Tarzan, get going. I'll shoot you, I'll kill you. I'll kill you, I tell you. And so, with the balance of the elephant herd barricading the pass against the enraged Moatangas, Tarzan and fellows moved on. The great beast that the Englishman rode was dying. But he picked his way carefully along a narrow upward trail that would have challenged the footing of a mountain goat. And through it all, fellows kept his gun trained on Tarzan. It never wavered as they climbed steadily up the sheer slopes of the escarpment. Through the endless caves of the giant bats, along the winding underground passageway of the trail of death, and at last into the eerie silver-lighted cavern where tens of thousands of elephants had come to die. Look at them. Look at them, thousands of huge skeletons. Thousands of ivory tusks. Enough to make me rich as a king. Yes, you've seen what no other white man except me has ever seen. I was afraid they might not bring me here unless you were along. But I have no need for you now, Tarzan. I know it'll be hard to make my way back, but with his ivory as a girl, I... Watch out, fellows. Your elephant is dying. He's about... He's fully... All right, fellows. You can get up to your feet. And you won't be needing a miscarriage. What? What? But what are you going to do to me? Nothing. Nothing. But I'll keep an eye on you. We're leaving the escarpment at once. We're going to Tarrak. But I've decided that I must accept whatever fate holds in store for me there. I shall have to face the murder charge. You face no murder charge, Tarzan. Captain Lawrence! I told you that if you didn't come back, I'd find my way to the escarpment. I didn't anticipate the things I've been through. What did you mean when you said I faced no murder charge? The lad you supposedly killed was more rugged than he looked. He even managed to survive a real bullet. I had at him my his dear uncle. Malcolm's alive. Well, enough not to testify against you, Mr. Fellows. You're under arrest. I wish I knew what this is all about. I'll tell you the whole story and return trip to Tarrak. Unless you're staying here. No. No, I'm ready to come back, Captain Lawrence. I've learned that freedom is not a matter of geography. A state of the heart. We'll return in a moment with a preview of our next exciting story of Tarzan. Africa is a violent place, used to the savagery of man and of beast, and yet the actions of one man cause a wave of horror to sweep over the entire continent. The government officials, the native police, and even crime hardened convicts joined in the human web that spreads through the Congo in a giant manhunt. And Tarzan becomes a central figure in the bizarre chase for there's a killer at large. Included in our cast were Jack Moyle's Walter White III, Shep Menken, and John Stevenson. 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. Listen to our next story, Killer at Large, another thrilling episode of The Lord of the Jungle. Charles Arlington speaking.