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Volume 0803
 |
A Collector's
|
HAROLD FOSTER'S DEBUT ON THE SUNDAY TARZAN STRIP
Taken over in mid-stream from Rex Maxon
September 27 - December 20, 1931
HAWK OF THE DESERT
and the
FOREIGN LEGION
Click the Title Names to see the actual Sunday pages
Sunday Page Directory
TERROR FROM THE SKIES ~ 31.09.27A French Navy amphibian plane following the course of the African River halts its motor as Pennock signals wildly from the shore. The plane swings in a wide circle, over the treetops, preparing to land on the river. The pilot is Captain D’Arnot of the French Navy. Through the treetops he sees Tarzan fighting for his life against the ape horde.
With a swift flash of recognition, D’Arnot recalls the night of terror when he was bound to the stake by savages, and Tarzan came crashing down form the trees to put the frightened savages to flight. Tarzan fights gallantly, but the conclusion is foregone -- the odds are too great. D’Arnot leaps to the rescue of his friend, while his plane crashes near the apes, frightening most of them away. D’Arnot alights just in time to stop the charge of the remaining apes. So do two old friends meet once more in the jungle.
THE LAST OUTPOST ~ 31.10.04Bek-El-Abir, an ancient Moorish fort, now flies the tricolor of the French Republic. But for more than two months now a cordon of tribesmen has surrounded the French Garrison. The garrison has been kept in supplies every week by airplane. Only this week the plane has failed to arrive and Captain Du Fours scans the skies in vain.
Cut off from rations, the soldiers are constantly asking, “When is it that we eat?”
Captain D’Arnot’s joy in rescuing Tarzan from the apes soon gives way to brooding sadness. “The crash of my plane means starvation for the garrison at Bek-El-Abir,” he tells the Ape-Man.
“It means we can’t delay a second,” says Tarzan when he hears D’Arnot’s story. “We’ll get the supplies through on foot.” In a moment, he is in the plane, hurling packages into D’Arnot’s hands.
Burt, after the attack of Bolat, the ape, is ill with wounds and fever. Pennock is nursing him.
“We’ll have to leave you two tenderfeet here, Pennock,” Tarzan explains sadly. “It’s a choice between staying with you or saving three hundred men. Good Luck! We’ll be back.”
Fiercely clattering their mess kits, the soldiers at the garrison keep up a constant cry for food.
Captain DuFours interrupts them, commanding silence. “You’re fighting men, not babies who cry for food.” He says, “Who will volunteer to fight through the enemy lines for supplies?”
Every man in the garrison waves his hands on high and shouts, “Let’s go!”
That night a patrol under command of young Lieutenant Carnot leaves the fort to go out through the desert, where the savage tribesmen stand waiting.
THE BOY LIEUTENANT ~ 31.10.11 Captain Du Fours, having sent his picked men from the fort to fight through the tribesmen's lines for supplies, fears he is sacrificing them to the clamor of the garrison, crying for food. As young Lieutenant Carnot leads the attack... his mother at home is praying for him... his fiancee is dreaming of him... The tribesmen are waiting for him. They have seen him and his men from afar and have massed for the attack. At at word from their chief, they advance to destroy the Frenchmen.
The Clash!
Only Lieutenant Carnot breaks through the Cordon. But in a moment his mount is shot form under him. Wounded himself, he staggers on toward the forest road. There, two days later, he is found by Tarzan and D'Arnot, who have come carrying the supplies for the soldiers at the fort.
"It is war," says Tarzan.
"War to the death!" cries D'Arnot.
THROUGH THE ENEMY LINES! 31.10.18 On their way to carry emergency rations to the beleaguered fort of Bek-El-Abir, Tarzan and Captain D'Arnot find young Lieutenant Carnot, wounded leader and sole survivor of a desperate sortie from the fort through the lines of the Moorish tribesmen. Lieutenant Carnot urges Tarzan and Captain D'Arnot to leave him and push on with the food. Both men, however, refuse to abandon the youth. Nearing the fort they see Moorish tribesmen ahead. They crouch in a hollow in the sand, waiting for the night but. . . they have been seen by the keen eyes of the desert-trained tribesmen. The fierce tribesmen dash to the attack. With escape seemingly impossible Tarzan and the two French officers are determined to fight to a finish in their sand hole. Surrounded by tribesmen, the ape-man and his companions fight desperately and in the meantime. . .
The soldiers of Fort Bek-El-Abir, desperate from hunger have mutinied. They are determined to escape from the fort, and Captain DuFours is equally determined that they shall not. He faces them, revolver in hand.
As one of the Moors plunges into the sand hole, Tarzan reaches for the horse's bridle. In a second, the Ape-Man is on the horse's back and away. The swiftness of his action gives him a long lead in the race to the fort. Reaching the fort, Tarzan pounds on the massive gate. But there is no answer. There is not a living person on the parapets. The fort appears to be deserted.
MUTINY! ~ 31.10.25 Leaving Lieutenant Carnot and Captain D'Arnot to fight off the attack of Moorish tribesmen, Tarzan reaches Fort Bek-El-Abir, which he finds apparently deserted. Some of the Moors are close at his heels as he scales the wall. There is no sign of life within the fort. Reaching the parapet Tarzan finds that the Moors are preparing to storm the fort. He seizes a machine gun and with its sweeping fire, breaks up the attack of the tribesmen. Making a quick investigation of the fort, the Ape Man finds the prone body of a French officer.
"My men mutinied!" Captain Du Fours whispers through weak lips." After many years of service in the Legion, my men mutinied! And I... I drove my soldiers into the barracks and locked them in," Captain DuFours said. "Then I came back to the parapet, and a tribesman's bullet found me." His voice trailed off.
Aroused by the renewed firing the imprisoned Legionnaires strain like wild beasts to break the bars that keep them from liberty. Tarzan opens the doors that imprison the soldiers.
"Food! Food!. . ." the Legionnaires shout.
"I will take you to food," the Ape Man tells them. "It is on the desert and you will have to fight for it."
Back in the shell hole, Captain D'Arnot and Lieutenant Carnot realize that they won't be able to keep the Moors at bay much longer.
"Sound the call for attack!" Tarzan commands.
TO THE RESCUE! ~ 31.11.01 Rallying the mutinous soldiers, Tarzan leads them into the desert in quest of Captain D'Arnot and Lieutenant Carnot, whom he has left behind fighting off the attack of desert horsemen.
Realizing that he cannot much longer fight off the Moors, Captain D'Arnot buries the supply of good, young Lieutenant Carnot is unconscious, and Captain D'Arnot himself almost exhausted.
The Moors attack the small French column. Weak from hunger and shaken by the force of the Moorish attack, the French soldiers waver. "It is a trap into which you have betrayed us!" shouts one of the leaders. But spurred by Tarzan's example, the desperate soldiers fight their way forward.
A stray bullet wounds Captain D'Arnot slightly, and a Moorish scout finds the two officers completely at his mercy. "Bind the infidels!" cries Abd-El-Krim, the Moorish leader, "They shall live to be slaves in the tent of the Hawk of the Desert."
Tarzan leads a ferocious charge. Daunted by the fierce attack of the French, the savage tribesmen retreat.
Reaching the place where he had left his companions, Tarzan is dismayed to find they have disappeared. The soldiers, furious because they have found no food, attack him. In the struggle Tarzan stumbles over the hidden food! The food satisfies the soldiers, but Tarzan is dismayed. What has happened to his companions?
HAWK OF THE DESERT ~ 31.11.08 With the soldiers safely back in Fort Bek-El-Abir, Tarzan determines to disguise himself and seek Captain D'Arnot and young Lieutenant Carnot, captured by Moorish horsemen during the fight in the desert. As night bathes the desert, Tarzan puts many miles between himself and the safety of fort Bek-El-Abir. At dawn a Moorish robber attempts to hold up and rob the lone rider. But after a brief struggle the Ape-Man is the victor.
"I am one of the men of Abd-El-Krim, called the Hawk of the Desert," the robber admits.
"Quick!" cries Tarzan, "Where can I find him?"
The robber hands him a map. The map contains the information the Ape-Man desires. It shows the location of Abd-El-Krim's stronghold, the oasis of Meeza.
Safe in his desert stronghold, Abd-El-Krim taunts his two prisoners. "Infidels!" He cries, "You are my slaves. Never again will you see men of your own race."
"Courage!" Captain D'Arnot whispers to h is young companion, "A fight's never lost while we breathe!"
Trusting to his disguise, the Ape-Man penetrates to Abd-El-Krim's tent. Tarzan attempts to make the Moorish leader believe that he is a native trader. But the shrewd eyes of the Hawk of the Desert penetrate his disguise. The Moor gives a signal with his hand and in response to his master's signal, the giant slave strikes Tarzan a stunning blow, and the Ape-Man is thrown into prison.
'"My friend," Captain D'Arnot says, "while Tarzan lives we all live!"
OVER DESERT SANDS ~ 31.11.15 Tarzan, captured in his brave attempt to rescue the French officers, Captain D'Arnot and Lieutenant Carnot is in prison with them when a bodyguard of Abd-El-Krim, called the Hawk of the Desert summons them to appear before his master. Hating all Frenchmen, Abd-El-Krim bargains with a chief of a mountain tribe to sell the two French officers into slavery. The wounded young lieutenant and Captain D'Arnot are placed on the slave block. Angered at the sight of his companions' humiliation, the Ape-Man exerts his mighty strength to the utmost, as he breaks his bonds and attacks Abd-El-Krim. But the Desert Hawk's bodyguards are quick to the rescue. The two Frenchmen are sold into lifelong slavery.
As Captain D'Arnot and Lieutenant Carnot are led away, Tarzan shouts, "Courage! It's not good-bye! We will meet again... soon!"
A witness to the sale of the Frenchmen is Ahema, the prettiest of the Hawk's dancing girls. Her eyes follow the young lieutenant.
The two Frenchmen, bound and helpless, are placed on camels and carried away.
"And as for your fate," the Hawk cries to the Ape-Man, "I will put you to the torture for your attempt to kill me!"
Ahema, the dancing girl, frees Tarzan. "Quick!" she cries. "We have not a minute to spare. I have a fast camel waiting."
Thus starts the mad ride to . . .
DEATH IN THE MOUNTAINS ~ 31.11.22 The camel train, with Captain D'Arnot and Lieutenant Carnot as prisoners arrives near the mountain chief's dread retreat. Forced to walk up the steep mountain passes, Lieutenant Carnot, weak from his wounds, staggers and falls.
"Arise, slave!" the chief commands.
"I am not a slave! I am a French officer! I will never be a slave!" says the boy proudly.
"You can choose slavery or death," says the chief.
"I choose death!" the boy replies quickly.
Meanwhile Tarzan races across the desert, urged on always to greater speed by Ahema, the dancing girl, who has confessed that, at sight, she has fallen in love with the young lieutenant.
Carnot, blindfolded and bound is placed in front of a firing squad.
Leaving the camel, Tarzan, followed by Ahema, dashes up the steep mountain pass.
"Ready! Aim! the chief commands. . .
At that moment Tarzan arrives with the slave girl. Ahema rushes to the young Frenchman and throws her arms about him.
"Fire!" the mountain chief commands.
Tarzan rushes to the little dancing girl and picks her up tenderly. . . She lies lifeless in his arms!
A DUEL FOR LIFE! ~ 31.11.29 After the death of Ahema, the dancing girl, Lieutenant Carnot faints from his wounds. Tarzan leaps protectingly over his body and defies the mountain chief.
"I challenge you to fight me!" the Ape-Man cries. "If I lose, my companions will be your willing slaves for life!"
Angered at Tarzan's words, and knowing himself to be an excellent swordsman, the mountain chief accepts Tarzan's challenge.
Learning of the escape of Tarzan and the dancing girl, Abd-El-Krim, Hawk of the Desert, rides in swift pursuit.
With a mighty stroke the Ape-Man disarms his opponent. "I have won!" Tarzan cries, "Command your men to release my companions!"
Treacherously, one of the mountain chief's guards springs at the victorious Ape-Man.
Abd-El-Krim and his followers reach the village.
With his back to the wall the Ape-Man fights off the fierce attack of the treacherous natives. For a moment, his betrayers have Tarzan down.
"I demand my prisoner!" the Hawk of the Desert cries.
"But he escaped from you," the mountain chief replies angrily. "He is now my prisoner."
Unable to reach an agreement, the two Moorish leaders decide to throw dice for the ownership of Tarzan.
A rescue column sets out from Fort Bek-El-Abir seeking trace of the two French officers and Tarzan.
With mingled emotions the three prisoners follow the dice. If Abd-El-Krim wins, it means they will be separated. They watch as the mountain chief throws the dice.
SLAVES OF THE INFIDEL! 31.12.06 By throwing dice, Abd-El-Krim and the mountain chief decide the fate of Tarzan, Captain D'Arnot and Lieutenant Carnot. Abd-El-Krim wins Tarzan as his captive and the Ape-Man is thrown on a horse to be taken to the desert village.
Almost exhausted from their hardships, the two French officers are forced to work as slaves. With Tarzan gone, they feel that their last hope has failed them.
When the desert tribesmen camp for the night Tarzan lies near the fire, apparently exhausted, but taking advantage of the inattention of his guards, he places his bound hands into a bowl of water, thus loosing the raw-hide with which he is tied. Tarzan is free! The startled guards fall before his sudden attack. Making his escape from the tribesmen under the cover of darkness, Tarzan finds himself at dawn in a strange country. Above him crouches a lion. Swift is the attack... but the Ape-Man is swifter. He side-steps, hurls the lion to the ground, and pins it there with his mighty hands. Gradually the struggle ceases. The lithe form relaxes.
Advancing across the desert is the column of French soldiers sent out from the fort to rescue Captain D'Arnot and Lieutenant Carnot.
"Quick! cries the Ape-Man as he greets the bearded sergeant. "We must hurry if we are to find our friends!"
After a forced march, Tarzan leads the soldiers to within sight of the mountain village. "Charge!" the Ape-Man cries, and with a shout the soldiers leap forward. The soldiers struggle in the village street!
Sensing defeat, the mountain chief attempts to kill his two prisoners. Just then Tarzan arrives. . .
SAVAGE WARRIORS! ~ 31.12.13 Heading a French rescue column, Tarzan arrives in time to save his friends, Captain D'Arnot and Lieutenant Carnot, from a life in slavery. The French soldiers raise a hoarse cheer at the sight of their liberated officers.
Back at Fort Bel-El-Abir, the Ape-Man bids his French friends goodbye. They urge him to remain.
"No," he replies, "I have work to do in the jungle."
And in the meantime. . .
Pennock and Burt, the two Americans left by the Ape-Man in the jungle, are in danger. While they have awaited his return, hardships and privations have taken their toll, and Burt lies gravely ill of fever. Men of a fierce warrior tribe stalk the unfortunate and almost defenseless Americans.
Tarzan, worried about the fate of his friends, swings swiftly toward them through the forest trees.
Like black shadows, the warriors creep on Burt and Pennock. Surprised by the black warriors, the two Americans are easy captives. But Pennock, in his struggles sets the shelter afire.
With unerring sense of direction, the Ape-Man hastens to his friends. The burning shelter is a signal to h im that there is danger ahead. Fiercely Tarzan charges the black warriors. The Ape Man's swift and deadly attack routs the tribesmen. Those who escape dive into the river and swim to safety under water.
"I am afraid you have come too late, Tarzan," Pennock tells the Ape-Man sadly. "Our companion is dying with the dread black fever."
A NOTE FROM TARZAN ~ 31.12.20 That night Tarzan wrote a brief note to the doctor whom he had summoned to attend Burt in the hut beside the African river. Then he swung himself into the trees and disappeared into the darkness of the jungle.
When Pennock had told Tarzan that Burt was hopelessly ill with black fever, Tarzan replied, "He still lives, doesn't he? And there's a serum that will save him."
Like Bara, the deer, Tarzan sped to a seashore settlement on the West coast. There he dictated an urgent message to the radio operator. The radio message was delivered to the head of the French Bacteriological Laboratory at the African medical center. Within half an hour, a young doctor took off with a pilot in a seaplane, marking a compass course to the spot Tarzan's radiogram had indicated. Even before the fleet Tarzan could return from the seacoast, the seaplane had traversed eight hundred miles to bring serum to the fever-stricken Burt. Carefully, efficiently, the young doctor attended the sick man. The day came when Burt was well again, but on that day there was no sign of Tarzan at the camp. There was only the note he had written to the doctor. It said. . .
Congratulations, doctor for saving Burt's life. Airplanes, serums, radio and motors have brought civilization to the jungles; and with civilization whole armies of man hunters, animal hunters and treasure hunters have invaded my old domain. They are destroying the Africa I love, but there is some of it left and I am returning to it. Tell Burt and Pennock to take the treasure and to reward you handsomely. I need no funds where I go. ~~ Tarzan of the Apes
As the great seaplane carried Burt and Pennock back to civilization, Tarzan was deep in the jungle where no white man had ever penetrated. Again he was one of the leaping horde of apes in the mad dance of the Dum-Dum.
42 ~ TARZAN'S FIRST CHRISTMAS ~ 31.12.26 
|
are from taken from a set of scans of Tarzan Sunday pages in the Dale Broadhurst collection |
THE HAL FOSTER YEARS
September 27, 1931 to May 2,
1937
CONTENTS
(Work in Progress)
Volume
0803
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