READ THE NOVEL- Chapters 1-31 - ERBzine

Tarzan on Mars
XVI
THE QUESTION OF THE AGES
CHURG was less a great white ape than he was a
missing link in the chain of evolution. For in his little brain
had been born the glimmering spark of curiosity—a vague
yearning for enlightenment and a more interesting, if not
better, way of life.
There were others of his kind, extremely rare and
seldom seen or even suspected, who imitated man, as did
Churg, by wearing the semblance of harness. It was crude,
fashioned of poorly cured animal hid, and as yet purposeless,
for it was only a mimicry of the men which Churg and his kind
desired to become.
But it was a beginning.
Of such was the tribe of Churg, the great white ape of
Barsoom. The secret urge was never constant, to be sure.
Still did they lie in wait like any other white ape to fall upon
their prey, human or otherwise. Still were they savage and
carnivorous. But, withal, they were haunted in their embryonic
souls by the distant call to something, and ethnic destiny,
as it were, which lay beyond the horizons of beastly instinct.
So, when their bellies were full with the meat of their
kills, they sometimes watched the activities of the green men
who shared the lonely environment of the dead sea bottoms
and the ancient deserted cities with them. They would
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