Rahan. Episode Twenty-Three. The People of the Trees. by Roger Lecureux. A Puke (TM) Comic.

Rahan.

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Episode Twenty-Three.

The People of the Trees.

Story by Roger Lecureux.
Drawing by Andre Cheret.

Rahan does not want to die as his family died.
The volcanic eruption suddenly set the sky ablaze and Rahan thought he was transported back fifty seasons, to that tragic night when the blue mountain had buried his horde under its fiery entrails.

A torrent of lava, glowing redder than the setting sun, rushed down towards the great forest.

Rahan knows that the river of fire always stops before the river of water!
He knows how to discover this river!

Page Two:

Blazing hailstones crackled over the jungle, setting fire here and there to the parched bushes.

A flaming barrier suddenly rose in front of the son of Crao.
Another rose up behind him.

But Rahan had discovered a way to overcome these obstacles.
He rose above the curtain of fire.

And came face to face with another!
All the copses are burning!
All that remains for Rahan is the path of the tall trees!

As he climbed an enormous trunk, fires multiplied on all sides.
And the volcano in the distance was still thundering, spewing its lava.

Page Three:

Flocks of birds, mingling with their deafening cries, fled into the branches.

Tribes of maddened monkeys flitted from vine to vine.
"Those-who-live-in-the-trees" are very lucky!
Rahan envies their agility!

The son of Crao now towered over the burning forest.
He distinguished in the distance, very far, the slender serpent of a river.
If Rahan can reach it, he will be safe!

Fleeing the fire, beasts of all species rushed into the jungle.
The same panic pushed them all in the same direction.

There were boars and buffaloes, lions and panthers, tigers and mammoths.
These animals, which yesterday would have killed each other, shared in front of the fire, the same fear.

Page Four:

Rahan will fly from branch to branch like those of the Tree People!
Hanging from a solid vine, he swung above the flames.
To another refuge.
He settled on this one when.

What are you still doing here?
Has yours forgotten you?

The very young monkey, paralyzed by fear, clung to a branch.
The crackling of the fires smothered his plaintive cries.

Come with Rahan!
You will find your brothers at the edge of the river!
Too panicked to escape, the young monkey let himself be seized by the man.

A moment later, with the monkey in his protection tucked under one arm, the son of fierce ages was swinging toward another tree.

Page Five:

This flight into the foliage lasted a long time.
The ground was no more than an immense carpet of fire with, here and there, a few light spots still spared.

Oh!
What are you doing?
Intrigued by the knife of Rahan, the young monkey had drawn it.

And his fingers suddenly let fall the ivory weapon.
Ah!
Rahan should have abandoned you to your fate!

Rahan, furious, put the monkey on a branch.
And slid down the vine to the place where the precious knife had fallen.

He caught a glimpse of it stuck in the ground beyond a nascent fire.
He leapt into the midst of the flames.

Page Six:

He retrieved his weapon when terrifying cracks sounded.
Rahan will no longer be able to follow the path of branches.

Indeed, the fire was devouring the vines that hung from the foliage.
The fire devoured the bark of the trees!

The son of Crao could make out high up in the smoke the young monkey who had managed to flee his refuge.

Your curiosity has Rahan lost, "Four-Hands"!
Rahan can no longer climb trees.
He will therefore no longer find the river!

Which side is the river on!?
Surrounded by a barrier of fire, Rahan wondered, when a fantastic herd arose.

Page Seven:

These beasts know where the river is!
Their instinct guides them!
Rahan must follow them!!

The son of Crao joined with the disparate herd which had just made a breakthrough in the rampart of fire!

Long-horned antelope leaped by his side.
Growling lions leapt near him.
A rhinoceros surged a few steps away.

Panthers and pumas made gigantic leaps without paying the slightest attention to the man.
From the smallest to the largest, these beasts passed in the same wind of terror.
All had only one goal, with the forest on fire, to reach the river.

Page Eight:

As this mad race exhausted him, Rahan threw himself on the woolly spine of a large rhinoceros.

Rahan begs you "Long Nose"!
Don't worry about him!
Flee! Flee! Flee!

The pachyderm must have been too scared, because not for a moment did he care about this burden!

When the river finally appeared, wide and sparkling, the son of fierce ages launched his shout of victory.
Ra-ha-ha!

On all sides, around him, animals were throwing themselves into the water.
Some resolutely, others after some hesitation.

Page Nine:

Abandoning his "Mount", Rahan dived.
He observed the gigantic flames which were devouring the forest, and had approached the bank, when.

You again, little "Four-hands!"
Ah!
Rahan understands.
You are afraid of the river!
Greek! Greek!

The son of Crao could have been carried away by the current, worrying about his own fate.
But he had always felt a friendship for the "People of the Trees"

An instant later.
Do not gesticulate so much "Four Hands”!
Rahan will lead you to the other shore. You will be safe there.

The big cats, having crossed the river, were fighting precisely at this bank.
And Rahan had not put the young monkey on the bank.

Page Ten:

Then a panther threw itself on him.
The beast, unleashed, seemed to want revenge for all his emotions.

Ra-ha-ha!
The ivory knife dealt the fatal blow when.
Greek! Greek!

Other beasts appeared!
Rahan cannot face all these enemies at once!
Rahan is going to die for trying to save the little "Four Hands"!
Rahan retreated into the thickets.
Greek! Greek!

The young monkey howled, and howled.
And suddenly, as if answering his calls, a cluster of chimpanzees let themselves fall from the foliage.

Falling between Rahan and the beasts, they attract the wrath of the beasts against them!

Page Eleven:

The "Tree People" thank Rahan for saving the little "Four-Hands"!

Rahan can return to the river!
The monkeys were in effect scattered on all sides, chased by wild animals.

The son of fierce ages bounded towards the shore when branches gave way beneath him.
Ah! A trap!

The trap was shallow.
Rahan clearly perceived the tumult of the battles between the beasts, not far away.

If a beast falls into this trap Rahan will have to fight it.
Or he will be crushed!

Page Twelve:

Clinging to the roots, the son of Crao risked a look out of the trap, and.
Oh!

A rhinoceros was rushing towards the trap!
He had not seen the man but he was charging straight ahead, stupidly.

Rahan, who no longer had time to climb out of the pit, clung to the wall, his heart beating.

He heard the ground shake.
The huge pachyderm could only be ten steps from the trap.

Sticking to the wall, Rahan saw the sky darken when the rhinoceros fell into the pit.
The monster's woolly side scratched his body.

Page Thirteen:

The trap was tight and the pachyderm had a hard time getting up.
At this moment Rahan could have killed him.

But he recovered the beast that had served as his "Mount".
Rahan will not steal your life "Long-Nose"!
But he will leave with you!

When he emerged from the trap, the big cats were still killing each other all along the shore.
Rahan will have to wait for them to disperse to reach the river!

The son of Crao hoisted himself into a tree where he would only have to fear cougars and panthers.

Soon after, he towered over the wild fight of those beasts that the fire had excited.
This fire which now surrounded the whole opposite bank.

Page Fourteen:

He was thus squatting on a branch when he was struck by a familiar “Greek-Greek”.

He didn't have time to raise his head when the "Young Four-Hands" fell on his shoulders!
And what was just a game for the chimpanzee, became drama.
Argh!

And although he hit a thick carpet of creepers, the son of Crao lost consciousness.
Greek? Greek?

"Four-Hands" suddenly cried out in apprehension.
Over there, fleeing the fighting, a big mammoth was charging!!!
Greek! Greek!

Page Fifteen:

Like the rhinoceros a moment earlier, this mammoth rushed towards the man without having seen him.

Greek! Greek!
But Rahan was lifeless this time and could not escape the danger.

Had the time come for the son of Crao to join the "Territory of Shadows"?
Greek!!

The monster was only thirty paces away when a cluster of adult chimpanzees tumbled from the branches.

Imitating the young "Four-hands", they clung to the carpet of vines on which lay "He-who-walks-upright"!
Greek!

Page Sixteen:

The mammoth was only a few feet away when they pulled this carpet of vines.
Sneaking away the man just as the monstrous paws were about to crush him!

The pachyderm, continuing its mad race, was already far away when Rahan regained consciousness. Seeing that the creepers had been moved, he understood.

The "Tree People" saved Rahan!
Rahan will not forget "Those-who-live-in-the-trees", his brothers with "Four hands"!

Page Seventeen:

The wild animals along the river were still fighting fiercely.
The fire has pushed all the beasts of the forest back to this territory!

And Rahan must flee them as soon as possible, if he wants to see the sunrise again!
Abandoning this too dangerous shore, the son of Crao rushed straight ahead of him, into the jungle.

He ran like that for a long time. Escorted by the "People of the trees" whose piercing cries resounded under the high foliage.

When a wide chasm opened before him Rahan knew salvation lay on the other side.
No beast can make such a leap!

Since he had discovered the slipknot, the son of the fierce ages knew how to make a lasso in a few moments.

Page Eighteen:

And then.
Only Rahan and the "Tree People" can cross this precipice!

The vine stretched over the void constituted a very fragile "Bridge"!
Let it come to break. And.

It would be a mortal fall into this vertiginous gorge!
But the line resisted.

So, as Rahan reached the other side of the defile.
Ra-ha-ha!
You "Four-hands"! Imitate Rahan!

In the forest, the roars rose, closer and closer.
The wild animals, too, had fled the river bank.

Page Nineteen:

When the first ones appeared the monkeys were already crossing the precipice!

Even more agile than was the son of Crao, they joined him.
Rahan has paid his debt to the "Tree People"!

Greek! Greek!
Your clan will go its way, and Rahan will go his way!

Panthers, pumas and lions were now massed on the other side of the ravine.

Greek! Greek!
But this one was too wide, and was impassable for them!
And the monkeys, mocked and taunted these beasts with their cries.

Page Twenty:

So Rahan, had esteem for the "Tree People".
He did not always appreciate their noisy company.
So he slipped away discreetly.

When the young “Four-hands” saw him!
The son of Crao Sighed.
Greek! Greek!

Rahan knows what they are like!
They will cling to his footsteps, until the day their capricious mood draws them elsewhere!

The son of Crao knew how to take his troubles patiently.
For days and days the bawling clan of monkeys escorted him.

But one morning, Rahan woke up in the greatest silence.
The "Tree People" had left him to fly towards their destiny!
The son of fierce ages, knife at the hip, went towards his.

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