Jungle Tales #5

Jungle Fangs!

Jann is swinging through the jungle so that her friend Pat Mahoney can snap photos of her in action. Their photo shoot is interrupted when they are visited by Bogo, one of the local tribesmen, comes to them in a panic. He tells the pair that his tribe refuses to work for Pat any more. Spotting a note on the ground, Jann believes that the strike is something serious, but before she can read the note it is shot out of her hands by an arrow. Jann goes after it and stops a cobra that stands in her way, but before she can retrieve the note from a tree she is stopped by a man dressed in ceremonial garb armed with a blow gun, who snatches the note away and vanishes into the jungle.

Jann then swings back to the village where she finds the tribesmen have taken Pat prisoner and intend to execute him as they believe that their land belongs to them and refuse to allow white man to trespass. Finding that the entire mantra of the tribe smacks of communist ideals, Jann suddenly hears someone shouting for help in a nearby hut. Rushing past flying spears Jann enters the hut and finds Krueger, Pat's new assistant. Krueger tells Jann that the he is being held hostage. Rescuing Krueger, the trio then flee to Bagu pass to try to figure out what is going on.

There Jann suspects that communist agents are influencing the local and refuses to be chased out of the region. She leaves Pat and Krueger behind while she goes to find where these agents are and put a stop to them. Along the way she is attacked by the masked man and they struggle with each other until the masked man is knocked near a pile of snakes. Trying to flee the reptiles he is chased off by a gorilla and then has his masked swiped off by a lion, revealing him to be Krueger. Surrounded by animals, Krueger begs Jann to rescue him and after she does, she surrenders and explains the whole plot to Pat before turning Krueger over to the authorities.

Recurring Characters

• Jann of the Jungle

• Pat Mahoney

Blood Brothers to the Lions!

A group of Bantu's led by Kom rebel against Waku's leadership, leading to Waku and Kom fighting it out, a battle that Waku wins. With the other rebels bowing to Waku's superiority, the tribal leader then exiles Kom from the tribe. Kom vows to get revenge and kill Waku. Hearing this Waku's lover Lalei believes that Waku should have accepted Kom back into the tribe as well and goes off after Kom to talk to him. Hearing this, and knowing that Kom will kill her, Waku takes a caged lion and rides out into the jungle to look for both.

Meanwhile, Lalei is capture by Kom who hopes to use her to get revenge against Waku when suddenly Waku arrives riding on the lion. Waku jumps up into the tree where Kom has Lalei, and the rogue tribesman throws her, forcing Waku to swing on a vine to save her. The pair are then confronted by the gorilla known as Chong. Waku throws his spear at the giant ape, but it strikes some flint rock causing a brush fire.

While the flames scare the gorilla away, the flames spread trapping Waku and Lalei between a wall of fire and alligator infested waters as Kom gloats. However, the couple manage to get to safety when Waku calls to his lion and the big cat brings forth an group of lions that help get them out of danger. Kom however finds himself trapped by the flames and he begs Waku to save him. The leader of the Bantu then comes to his rescue taking Kom and Lalei to safety. Back at the tribe, Kom bows to Waku acknowledging him as their true leader as he was able to command the lions of the jungle and the former rebel is welcomed back to the tribe.

Recurring Characters

• Waku

• Lalei

The Trap!

Cliff Mason is hired by Mr. Warren to go on an elephant hunt in Africa. When an elephant charges at them Warren refuses to shoot the animal until it gets dangerously close forcing Mason to shoot it dead instead. Angered, Warren tells Mason that he will see to it that the hunter will never get work again, then storms off into the jungle to hunt alone. As night is falling, Mason and his guide Zabo decided to follow after him in secret to insure that nothing bad happens to the inexperienced hunter.

While travelling through the jungle, they find a young girl in the wilds as well. They are soon spotted by Warren who warned them to not to follow him and he is shocked to also find his daughter Gwen -- the young girl -- in the jungle with them. He tells Gwen that he has made up his mind and nothing can stop him and then climbs across a canyon on vines, cutting them down to prevent the others from following. Gwen explains that her father is seeking to end his life after selling stock in African gold in a region that surveyors have since told him had no riches and the subsequent fraud accusations.

Seeking to stop him from harming himself, Cliff has Zabo get other jungle guides to form a human chain across the canyon so the trio can cross it and continue after Mr. Warren. Meanwhile, not far away, Mr. Warren is attacked by a gorilla and flees, but falls through a gorilla trap. When the gorilla approaches, Warren uses the last of his bullets to kill it, but the shots attract another gorillas to the pit. Spotting this, Cliff jumps down into the pit to help defend Warren. When the gorilla grabs for a bludgeoning weapon, they are shocked to find that it is gold. However the creatures search for a weapon causes a partial cave in that kills the beast and uncovers a cache of gold.

Happy with the discovery of gold, Mr. Warren has a new lease on life, now able to return to his investors and clear his name.

Recurring Characters

• Cliff Mason