VI. — THE BALLOT OF DEATH ／ 第６章 死の投票
訳：小川温
AS the Bukena warriors closed in upon him, Tarzan stood with folded arms, ignoring them. He was surrounded by many spears; and he knew that at this instant, if he sought to escape or give battle, a dozen spear-points would transfix him instantly.
His one hope lay in gaining time, and he felt that he could accomplish this best by feigning indifference.
"Kill the Kavuru!" shouted a woman in rear of the warriors. "They stole my daughter."
"And mine," screamed another.
"Kill him! Kill him!" urged others of the savage throng.
A very old man, who had been squatting beside Udalo, leaped to his feet. "No! No!" he screamed. "Do not kill him. If he be a Kavuru, his people will come and punish us. They will kill many of us and take all of our girls."
Instantly the blacks commenced arguing among themselves. Some insisted upon killing him, others wanted to take him prisoner, while others thought that he should be released to mollify the Kavuru.
As they jabbered, the spearmen in the front rank relaxed their vigilance. Some of them turned around and sought to expound their views to those behind them, and in this circumstance Tarzan thought he saw his chance to escape. With the speed of Ara, the lightning, and the strength of Gorgo, the buffalo, he leaped upon a nearby warrior and holding him as a shield in front of him, charged through the human ring that surrounded him, turning constantly so that no weapon could be directed against him without endangering the life of the black.
So quickly had he acted that the blacks were taken entirely off their guard; and he had won almost to the clear, where he might have made a quick run for the village gate, when something struck him heavily on the back of the head.
When he regained consciousness, he found himself in the dark interior of an evil-smelling hut, his wrists and ankles securely bound.
With the return of consciousness came recollection of what had transpired; and the ape-man could not restrain a slow smile, for it was evident to him that the faction that had been afraid to kill him was more powerful than that which would have taken his life. Once again luck was with him.
For the time being, therefore, he was safe; and so he was certain of escape; for he was so constituted that while life remained in him, he could not conceive a permanent captivity; nor could anything for long shake his confidence in his ability to extricate himself from any predicament that might overtake him; for was he not Tarzan of the Apes, Lord of the Jungle?
Presently he commenced to test the bonds that secured his wrists and ankles. They were very strong and there were a great many strands, and soon he saw that it would be hopeless to attempt to liberate himself. There was nothing to do, therefore, but wait.
Unlike an ordinary man, he did not waste time wondering what his fate would be. Instead, he composed himself as comfortably as he could and fell asleep.
And while he slept, a council of warriors plotted in the council house with Udalo, the chief. It was they who were wondering what Tarzan's fate should be.
The old man who had first warned them against killing their prisoner was still his staunchest defender. He was Gupingu, the witch-doctor. He prophesied that dire calamity would befall them if they harmed this man who, he assured them, was a Kavuru. But there were others who spoke quite as insistently for death.
"If he is a Kavuru," said one of these, "his people will come and punish us as soon as they find that we have attacked him and made him prisoner. If we kill him, he cannot go back to them and tell them; and the chances are that they will never know what became of him."
"Those are true words," said another; "a dead Kavuru is better than a live one."
Then Udalo spoke. "It is not for one man to decide," he said. "The talk of many men is better than the talk of one."
On the ground beside him were two bowls. One contained kernels of corn and the other small, round pebbles. He passed one of these bowls to the warrior upon his right and one to him upon his left. "Let each warrior take a kernel of corn and a pebble—just one of each, not more," he said.
They passed the bowls from hand to hand about the circle; and each warrior took a kernel of corn and a pebble; and when the bowls were returned to Udalo, he set them down beside him and picked up a gourd with a small neck.
"We will pass this gourd around the circle," he said, "and each man shall speak either with a kernel of corn or with a pebble for the life or the death of the stranger. If you wish him to live, put a kernel of corn in the gourd; if you wish him to die, put a pebble."
In silence, the gourd was passed around the grim circle as savage eyes followed it from the tense, painted faces of the warriors.
The dropping of the fateful ballots into the hollow gourd sounded distinctly in every part of the large council-house. At last the gourd completed the circle and came back to Udalo.
There were fully a hundred warriors in the circle; and Udalo could not count to a hundred, but he had an equally certain way of determining the outcome of the voting even though he was unable to determine how many votes were cast upon each side.
He emptied the contents of the gourd upon the ground in front of him. Then with one hand, he picked up a grain of corn and, simultaneously, with the other, a pebble, and placed each in its respective bowl; and this he continued to do as long as there were kernels of corn and pebbles to match one another. But this was not for long, for he soon ran out of corn; and even then there were seventy-five or eighty pebbles left, showing that only a few had voted to spare the life of the ape-man.
Udalo looked up and around the table. "The stranger dies," he said. A savage, sinister shout rose from the assembled warriors.
"Let us go and kill him now," said one, "before the Kavuru can come and find him among us."
"No," said Udalo, "tomorrow night he dies. Thus will the women have time to prepare a feast. Tomorrow night we shall eat and drink and dance, while we torture the Kavuru. Let him suffer as he has made us suffer when he stole our children."
A roar of approval and satisfaction greeted this suggestion.
The council was over. The warriors had returned to their huts. Fires were banked. Silence had fallen upon the village of the Bukena. Even the usually yapping curs were silent. The kraal was wrapped in slumber.
From a hut near the chief's, a figure crept silently into the night. It paused in the shadow of the hut from which it had emerged and looked fearfully about.
Nothing stirred, and silently as a ghostly shadow the figure crept along the village streets.
Tarzan had been awakened by the savage cries from the council-house; and he had lain sleepless for some time because of the discomfort of his bonds, but presently he dozed again.
He was not yet fully asleep when something awakened him—a sound that you or I, with our dull ears, might not have heard—the sound of naked feet creeping slowly and stealthily toward the hut where he lay.
Tarzan rolled over so that he could see the entrance to the hut, and presently it was filled by a shadowy form. Someone was entering. Was it the executioner coming to destroy him?ブケナ族の戦士達が迫って来ると、ターザンは彼らを無視して立ち上がり手を組んだ。沢山の槍に囲まれた。もし、この時自分が逃げるか戦う様子を見せたらたちまち多くの槍が突き刺さることは分かっていた。
ただ一つの望みは雰囲気を飲むことで、無関心を装うことがベストだと感じていた。
「カブルー族を殺せ！」と戦士達の後ろに居た一人の女が叫んだ。「やつらは私の娘を盗んだ。」
「私の娘も、」と別の女が悲鳴のように声を上げた。
「殺せ！ 殺せ！」と他の野蛮人たちもせきたてた。
ユダロの横にあぐらをかいていた一人のかなりの老人がすっと立ち上がった。「駄目だ！」と彼は叫んだ。「殺してはいかん。もしこの男がカブルーなら仲間が来て仕返しされる。やつらはわしらを大勢殺して娘達を全員連れて行く。」
すぐに黒人たちのあいだで論戦が始まった。ターザンを殺す事を主張する者、捕虜にすることを望む者、あるいはカブルー族をなだめるために解放するべきだという者がいた。
一同がさかんに議論している間、前列にいる戦士たちは警戒を怠っていた。振り向いて後ろの者に自分の主張を説明しようとしたりしていた。そして、この状況でターザンは逃げる機会を掴んだ。エイラ（稲光）の速さ、ゴルゴ（バッファロー）の強さでそばに居る戦士に飛びつき、自分の前に置いて盾にし、周りの人の輪に突進し、絶えず向きを変えたので敵はその黒人の命を守るためターザンを攻撃できなかった。
ターザンの行動ははいきなりだったので黒人達はすっかり警戒態勢を解いていた。そして彼は村の入り口そばの空き地に殆ど到達した。その時、彼の後頭部を何かが激しく打った。
意識を取り戻すと、手足をしっかりと縛られ、ひどい臭いのする暗い内部の小屋に居た。
意識の回復とともに記憶がはっきりしてきた。そして、自分の命を取ろうとする者より殺すことを恐れる者の派閥の方が強かったことがはっきりして、猿人は少し笑いが浮ぶのを押さえられなかった。チャンスはまだあったのだ。
そのため、しばらくは安全だった。そして彼は逃げられることを確信していた。というのは、彼は生きている限り、このまま捕らわれの身で居るつもりは毛頭なかったし、自分にふりかかった災難から自分自身を救い出す可能性を放棄することなど到底想像することなどできはしなかった。彼はジャングルの王類猿人ターザンなのだから。
やがて、彼は手首と足首を縛っている紐を試しはじめた。それはかなり頑丈で、たくさんの繊維で縒（よ）ってあったので、自由になる望みはないとすぐに分かった。やるべきことはなかった、つまり、待つこと以外。
普通の人間のように自分の悲運を思い悩んで時間を無駄にするようなことはしなかった。そのかわりに、できるだけ楽な姿勢になり熟睡した。
彼が眠っている間に会議所で酋長ユダロと戦士達の会議が行われていた。議題はターザンのこれからをどうするべきかということだった。
最初に捕虜を殺さないように警告した老人は今でもターザンの最も頼りになる擁護者だった。彼はグピングという呪い師だった。彼は、もし自分達がカブルー族に間違いないと確信しているあの男に危害を加えると恐ろしい災難がふりかかると予言した。しかし、あくまでも死を強要する者もいた。
「もし、あいつがカブルー族なら、」とその一人が言った、「自分達があいつを痛めつけて捕虜にしたことが分かればすぐにあいつの部族の者がやってきて我々に仕返しをする。もし、自分達があいつを殺してしまえば、あいつは戻ってしゃべれることができない。あいつがどうなったのかあの部族が知ることはない。」
「それは正しい言葉だ、」と他の者が言った、「死んだカブルー族は生きているカブルー族よりよい」
それからユダロが話した。「これは一人で決められる問題ではない、」と言った。「大勢の人間の話の方が一人の人間の話より良い。」
彼のかたわらの地面には二つの碗があった。ひとつにはトウモロコシの粒が入っていた。もう一方には丸い小石が入っていた。彼は右手の戦士に碗の一つを、左手の戦士にもう一つを渡した。「それぞれの戦士にトウモロコシと小石を一つずつ取らせろ---一つずつだ、それ以上持つな、」と彼は言った。
碗は手から手にぐるりと渡り、それぞれトウモロコシと小石を一つずつ手にした。そして、両方の碗がユダロの手に戻った時、彼はそれをかたわらに置き、少しくびれた瓢箪を一つ取り上げた。
「この瓢箪をみんなに廻す、」と彼は言った、「それぞれ、トウモロコシの粒か小石であのよそ者の生か死を決めるんだ。生かす方を望む者は瓢箪にトウモロコシの粒を入れろ、死なせたい者は小石を入れろ。」
声を立てることも無く、瓢箪は冷酷な輪を巡った。戦士達の緊張し、彩色された顔の野蛮な眼がそれを追った。
空ろな瓢箪のなかに落ちる生死を決める投票の音が広い会議所の隅々にまでくっきりと響いた。ついに瓢箪は一巡しユダロの所に戻った。
円は百人以上の戦士からなっていた。そして、ウダロは百まで数えることができなかった。だから、それぞれに何票投じられたかは分からなかったが、それと同等に投票の結果を決定する確かな方法を持っていた。
彼は瓢箪の中身を自分の前の地面にあけた。それから、片手でトウモロコシを一粒つまみ上げた。そして同時にもう片方の手で小石を一つ。そしてそれぞれの碗に入れた。それを両方がある限り続けた。しかし、この作業は長くはつづかなかった。まもなく、トウモロコシがなくなってしまった。そして、その時七十五から八十個の小石が残っていた。このことは猿人の命を救う方には数個が投票されただけだということを示していた。
ユダロは顔を上げ一同を見回した。「よそ者は死ぬ、」と彼は言った。集まった戦士から野蛮で悪意のこもった叫びが上がった。
「すぐに殺しに行こう、」と一人が言った、「カブルー族がやってきてここであいつを見つける前に。」
「駄目だ、」とユダロが言った、「明日の夜、あいつは死ぬ。そうすれば、女たちには宴会の準備をする時間がある。明日の夜、カブルーを苦しめる間、みんなで食べて飲んで踊ろう。あいつがわしらの子供たちを盗んだ時わしらに味わわせた苦痛をあいつにも味わわせるぞ。」
この提案を歓迎して、賛成と満足のどよめきが起こった。
会議は終った。戦士たちはそれぞれの小屋に戻った。焚火が組まれた。静寂がブケナの村に訪れた。普通は吠える犬も静かだった。村は眠りに包まれた。
酋長の近くの小屋から一つの姿が闇の中に這い出てきた。出てきた小屋の陰で止まり、辺りをこわごわと見回した。
動くものはなかった。そして、音もなく幽霊の影のようにその姿は村の通りを這い進んだ。
ターザンは会議所からの野蛮な叫びで眼を覚ました。そして縛めの窮屈さにしばらく眠れずに横になっていたが、やがてまたうとうとしてきた。
何かが彼を起こした時、彼はまだ完全に眠ってはいなかった---物音、筆者や読者のような普通の耳では聞えない、裸足の足音がゆっくりと忍び足で彼が寝ている小屋に近づいてくる足音だった。
ターザンは小屋の入り口が見えるように寝返りを打った。すると、やがて入り口は一つの姿の影でいっぱいになった。誰かが入ってきた。彼を殺すための死刑執行人であろうか？