 CHAPTER 18 THE JUNGLE TOLE Early the next morning Tarzan awoke, and his first thought of the new day, as the last of yesterday, was of the wonderful writing which lay hidden in his quiver. Hurdly he brought it forth, hoping against hope that he could read what the beautiful white girl had written there the preceding evening. At the first glance he suffered a bitter disappointment. Never before had he so yearned for anything as now he did for the ability to interpret a message from that golden-haired divinity who had come so suddenly and so unexpectedly into his life. What did it matter if the message were not intended for him? It was an expression of her thoughts, and that was sufficient for Tarzan of the apes. And now to be baffled by strange uncouth characters the like of which he had never seen before, why they even tipped in the opposite direction from all that he had ever examined, either in printed books or the difficult script of the few letters he had found. Even the little bugs of the black book were familiar friends, though their arrangement meant nothing to him, but these bugs were new and unheard of. For twenty minutes he poured over them, when suddenly they commenced to take familiar though distorted shapes. Ah, they were his old friends, but badly crippled. Then he began to make out a word here and a word there. His heart leaped for joy. He could read it, and he would. In another half-hour he was progressing rapidly, and but for an exceptional word now and again he found it very plain sailing. Here is what he read. Next Coast of Africa, about ten degrees south latitude, so Mr. Clayton says. February three, question mark, 1909. Dearest Hazel, it seems foolish to write you a letter that you may never see, but I simply must tell somebody of our awful experiences since we sailed from Europe on the ill-fated arrow. If we never return to civilization, as now seems only too likely, this will at least prove a brief record of the events which led up to our final fate, whatever it may be. As you know, we were supposed to have set out upon a scientific expedition to the Congo. Papa was presumed to entertain some wondrous theory of an unthinkably ancient civilization, the remains of which lay buried somewhere in the Congo Valley. But after we were well under sail the truth came out. It seems that an old bookworm who has a book and curio shop in Baltimore discovered between the leaves of a very old Spanish manuscript, a letter written in 1550 detailing the adventures of a crew of mutineers of a Spanish galleon bound from Spain to South America with a vast treasure of doubloons and pieces of bait, I suppose, for they certainly sound weird in piracy. The writer had been one of the crew, and the letter was to his son, who was, at the very time the letter was written, master of a Spanish merchant man. Many years had elapsed since the events the letter narrated had transpired, and the old man had become a respected citizen of an obscure Spanish town, but the love of gold was still so strong upon him that he risked all to acquaint his son with the means of obtaining fabulous wealth for them both. The writer told how when but a week out from Spain the crew had mutinied and murdered every officer and man who opposed them, but they defeated their own ends by this very act, for there was none left competent to navigate a ship at sea. They were blown hither and thither for two months, until, sick and dying of scurvy, starvation and thirst, they had been wrecked on a small islet. The galleon was washed high upon the beach where she went to pieces, but not before the survivors, who numbered but ten souls, had rescued one of the great chests of treasure. This they buried well up on the island and for three years they lived there in constant hope of being rescued. One by one they sickened and died, until only one man was left, the writer of the letter. The men had built a boat from the wreckage of the galleon, but having no idea where the island was located, they had not dared to put it to sea. When all were dead except himself, however, the awful loneliness so weighed upon the mind of the soul's survivor that he could endure it no longer, and choosing to risk death upon the open sea rather than madness on the lonely isle, he set sail in his little boat after nearly a year of solitude. Fortunately he sailed due north, and within a week was in the track of the Spanish merchant men plying between the West Indies and Spain, and was picked up by one of these vessels homeward bound. The story he told was merely one of shipwreck in which all but a few had perished, the balance except himself dying after they reached the island. He did not mention the mutiny or the chest of buried treasure. The master of the merchant men assured him that from the position at which they had picked him up, and the prevailing winds for the past week, he could have been on no other island than one of the Cape Verde group, which lie off the west coast of Africa in about sixteen or seventeen degrees north latitude. His letter described the island minutely, as well as the location of the treasure, and was accompanied by the crudest, funniest little old map you ever saw, with trees and rocks all marked by scrawly Xs to show the exact spot where the treasure had been buried. When Papa explained the real nature of the expedition, my heart sank, for I know so well how visionary and impractical the poor deer has always been that I feared that he had again been duped, especially when he told me he had paid a thousand dollars for the letter and map. To add to my distress I learned that he had borrowed ten thousand dollars more from Robert Candler and had given his notes for the amount. Mr. Candler had asked for no security, and you know, dearie, what that will mean for me if Papa cannot meet them. Oh, how I detest that man! We all tried to look on the bright side of things, but Mr. Philander and Mr. Clayton, he joined us in London just for the adventure, both felt as skeptical as I. Well, to make a long story short, we found the island and the treasure, a great ironbound oak chest wrapped in many layers of oiled sailcloth and as strong and firm as when it had been buried nearly two hundred years ago. It was simply filled with gold coin and was so heavy that forement bent underneath its weight. The hard thing seems to bring nothing but murder and misfortune to those who have anything to do with it. For three days after we sailed from the Cape Verde Islands, our own crew mutinied and killed every one of their officers. Oh, it was the most terrifying experience one could imagine. I cannot even write of it. They were going to kill us, too, but one of them, the leader named King, would not let them, and so they sailed south along the coast to a lonely spot where they found a good harbor and here they landed and have left us. They sailed away with the treasure to-day, but Mr. Clayton says they will meet with a fate similar to the mutineers of the ancient galleon because King, the only man aboard who knew odd of navigation, was murdered on the beach by one of the men the day we landed. I wish you could know, Mr. Clayton, he is the dearest fellow imaginable, and unless I am mistaken he has fallen very much in love with me. He is the only son of Lord Grey Stoke, and some day will inherit the title and estates. In addition, he is wealthy in his own right, but the fact that he is going to be an English lord makes me very sad. You know what my sentiments have always been relative to American girls who married titled foreigners. Oh, if he were only a plain American gentleman. But it isn't his fault, poor fellow, and in everything except birth he would do credit to my country, and that is the greatest compliment I know how to pay any man. We have had the most weird experiences since we were landed here. Papa and Mr. Philander lost in the jungle and chased by a real lion. Mr. Clayton lost and attacked twice by wild beasts. Esmerelda and I cornered in an old cabin by a perfectly awful man-eating lioness. Oh, it was simply terrific, as Esmerelda would say. But the strangest part of it all is the wonderful creature who rescued us. I have not seen him, but Mr. Clayton and Papa and Mr. Philander have, and they say that he is a perfectly God-like white man, tan to a dusky brown, with the strength of a wild elephant, the agility of a monkey, and the bravery of a lion. He speaks no English, and vanishes as quickly and as mysteriously after he has performed some valorous deed as though he were a disembodied spirit. Then we have another weird neighbor who printed a beautiful sign in English and tacked it on the door of his cabin, which we have preempted, warning us to destroy none of his belongings and signing himself Tarzan of the Apes. We have never seen him, though we think he is about, for one of the sailors who was going to shoot Mr. Clayton in the back received a spear in his shoulder from some unseen hand in the jungle. The sailors left us but a meager supply of food, so as we have only a single revolver with but three cartridges left in it. We do not know how we can procure meat, though Mr. Philander says that we can exist indefinitely on the wild fruit and nuts which abound in the jungle. I am very tired now, so I shall go to my funny bed of grasses which Mr. Clayton gathered for me, but we'll add to this from day to day as things happen. Lovingly, Jane Porter to Hazel Strong Baltimore, Maryland. Tarzan sat at a brown study for a long time after he finished reading the letter. It was filled with so many new and wonderful things that his brain was in a whirl as he attempted to digest them all. So they did not know that he was Tarzan of the Apes. He would tell them. In his tree he had constructed a rude shelter of leaves and boughs beneath which, protected from the rain, he had placed a few treasures brought from the cabin. Among these were some pencils. He took one and beneath Jane Porter's signature he wrote, I am Tarzan of the Apes. He thought that would be sufficient. Later he would return the letter to the cabin. In the matter of food, thought Tarzan, they had no need to worry. He would provide and he did. The next morning Jane found her missing letter in the exact spot from which it had disappeared two nights before. She was mystified, but when she saw the printed words beneath her signature she felt a cold, clammy chill run up her spine. She showed the letter, or rather the last sheet with the signature, to Clayton. And to think, she said, that uncanny thing was probably watching me all the time that I was writing. It makes me shudder just to think of it. But he must be friendly, reassured Clayton, for he has returned your letter, nor did he offer to harm you, and unless I am mistaken he left a very substantial memento of his friendship outside the cabin door last night, for I just found the carcass of a wild boar there as I came out. From then on scarcely a day passed that did not bring its offering of game or other food. Sometimes it was a young deer, again a quantity of strange cooked food, cassava cakes pilfered from the village of Mabanga, or a boar, or leopard, and once a lion. Tarzan derived the greatest pleasure of his life in hunting meat for these strangers. It seemed to him that no pleasure on earth could compare with laboring for the welfare and protection of the beautiful white girl. Someday he would venture into the camp in daylight and talk with these people through the medium of the little bugs which were familiar to them and to Tarzan. But he found it difficult to overcome the timidity of the wild thing of the forest, and so day followed day without seeing a fulfillment of his good intentions. The party in the camp, emboldened by familiarity, wandered farther and yet farther into the jungle in search of nuts and fruit. Scarcely a day passed that did not find Professor Porter straying in his preoccupied indifference towards the jaws of death. Mr. Samuel T. Philander, never what one might call robust, was warned to the shadow of a shadow through the ceaseless worry and mental distraction, resultant from his herculean efforts to safeguard the professor. A month passed. Tarzan had finally determined to visit the camp by daylight. It was early afternoon. Clayton had wandered to the point at the harbour's mouth to look for passing vessels. Here he kept a great mass of wood, high piled, ready to be ignited as a signal should a steamer or a sail top the far horizon. Professor Porter was wandering along the beach south of the camp with Mr. Philander at his elbow, urging him to turn his steps back before the tube became again the sport of some savage beast. The others gone. Jane and Esmerelda had wandered into the jungle to gather fruit, and in their search were led farther and farther from the cabin. Tarzan waited in silence before the door of the little house until they should return. His thoughts were of the beautiful white girl. They were always of her now. He wondered if she would fear him, and thought all but caused him to relinquish his plan. He was rapidly becoming impatient for her return that he might feast his eyes upon her and be near her, perhaps touch her. The eight man knew no God, but he was as near to worshipping his divinity as mortal man ever comes to worship. While he waited he passed the time printing a message to her, whether he intended giving it to her he himself could not have told, but he took infinite pleasure in seeing his thoughts expressed in print, in which he was not so uncivilized after all. He wrote, I am Tarzan of the apes. I watch you. I am yours. You are mine. We live here together always in my house. I will bring you the best of the fruits, the tenderest deer, the finest meats that roam the jungle. I will hunt for you. I am the greatest of the jungle fighters. I will fight for you. I am the mightiest of the jungle fighters. You are Jane Porter. I saw it in your letter. When you see this you will know that it is for you and that Tarzan of the apes loves you. As he stood, straight as a young Indian by the door, waiting after he had finished the message, there came to his keen ears a familiar sound. It was the passing of a great ape through the lower branches of the forest. For an instant he listened intently, and then from the jungle came the agonized scream of a woman, and Tarzan of the apes, dropping his first love letter upon the ground, shot like a panther into the forest. Clayton also heard the scream, and Professor Porter and Mr. Flander, and in a few minutes they came panting to the cabin, calling out to each other a volley of excited questions as they approached. A glance within confirmed their worst fears. Jane and Esmerelda were not there. Instantly Clayton, followed by the two old men, plunged into the jungle, calling the girl's name aloud. For half an hour they stumbled on, until Clayton, by mirest chance, came upon the prostrate form of Esmerelda. He stopped beside her, feeling for her pulse, and then listening for her heartbeats. She lived. He shook her. Esmerelda! he shrieked in her ear. Esmerelda, for God's sake, where is Miss Porter? What has happened? Esmerelda! Slowly Esmerelda opened her eyes. She saw Clayton. She saw the jungle about her. Oh, Gabrielle! She screamed and fainted again. By this time Professor Porter and Mr. Flander had come up. What shall we do, Mr. Clayton? asked the old Professor. Where shall we look? God could not have been so cruel as to take my little girl away from me now. We must arouse Esmerelda first, replied Clayton. She can tell us what has happened. Esmerelda! he cried again, shaking the black woman roughly by the shoulder. Oh, Gabrielle! I want to die! cried the poor woman, but with eyes fast closed. Let me die, dear Lord! Don't let me see that awful face again! Come, come, Esmerelda! cried Clayton. The Lord isn't here. It's Mr. Clayton. Open your eyes! Esmerelda did as she was bade. Oh, Gabrielle! Thank the Lord! she said. Where's Miss Porter? What happened? questioned Clayton. Ain't Miss Jane here? cried Esmerelda, sitting up with wonderful celerity for one of her bulk. Oh, Lord! Now I remember! It must have took her away! and the negris commenced to sob and wail her lamentations. What took her away? cried Professor Porter. A great big giant all covered with hair! A gorilla, Esmerelda? questioned Mr. Flander, and the three men scarcely breezed as he voiced the horrible thought. I thought it was the devil, but I guess it must have been one of them guerrilla-fants. Oh, my poor baby, my poor little honey! And again Esmerelda broke into uncontrollable sobbing. Clayton immediately began to look about for tracks, but he could find nothing save a confusion of trampled grasses in the close vicinity, and his woodcraft was too meager for the translation of what he did see. All the balance of the day they sought through the jungle, but as night drew on they were forced to give up in despair and hopelessness, for they did not even know in what direction the thing had borne Jane. It was long after dark ere they reached the cabin, and a sad and grief-stricken party it was that sat silently within the little structure. Professor Porter finally broke the silence. His tones were no longer those the erudite pedant theorizing upon the abstract and the unknowable, but those of the man of action, determined, but tinged also by a note of indescribable hopelessness and grief which rung an answering pang from Clayton's heart. I shall lie down now, said the old man, and try to sleep. Early to-morrow, as soon as it is light, I shall take what food I can carry and continue the search until I have found Jane. I will not return without her. His companions did not reply at once. Each was immersed in his own sorrowful thoughts, and each knew, as did the old professor, what the last words meant. Professor Porter would never return from the jungle. At length Clayton arose and laid his hand gently upon Professor Porter's bent old shoulder. I shall go with you, of course, he said. I knew that you would offer, that you would wish to go, Mr. Clayton, but you must not. Jane is beyond human assistance now. What was once my dear little girl shall not lie alone and friendless in the awful jungle? The same vines and leaves will cover us, the same rains beat upon us, and when the spirit of her mother is abroad it will find us together in death, as it has always found us in life. No, it is I alone who may go, for she was my daughter, all that was left on earth for me to love. I shall go with you, said Clayton simply. The old man looked up, regarding the strong, handsome face of William Cecil Clayton intently. Perhaps he read there the love that lay in the heart beneath, the love for his daughter. He had been too preoccupied with his own scholarly thoughts in the past to consider the little occurrences, the chance words which would have indicated to a more practical man that these young people were being drawn more and more closely to one another. Now they came back to him, one by one. As you wish, he said, You may count on me also, said Mr. Flander. No, my dear old friend, said Professor Porter, we may not all go. It would be cruelly wicked to leave poor Esmeralda here alone, and three of us would be no more successful than one. There be enough dead things in the cruel forest as it is. Come, let us try to sleep a little. CHAPTER 19 The Call of the Primitive From the time Tarzan left the tribe of great anthropoids in which he had been raised, it was torn by continual strife and discord. To cause proved a cruel and capricious king, so that, one by one, many of the older and weaker apes, upon whom he was particularly prone to vent his brutish nature, took their families and sought the quiet and safety of the far interior. But at last those who remained were driven to desperation by the continued treculence of Turkos, and it so happened that one of them recalled the parting admonition of Tarzan. If you have a chief who is cruel, do not do as the other apes do, and attempt any one of you to pit yourself against him alone. But instead let two or three or four of you attack him together. Then, if you will do this, no chief will dare to be other than he should be, for four of you can kill any chief who may ever be over you. And the ape who recalled this widest council repeated it to several of his fellows, so that when Turkos returned to the tribe that day he found a warm reception awaiting him. There were no formalities, as Turkos reached the group. Five huge hairy beasts sprang upon him. At heart he was an errant coward, which is the way with bullies among apes, as well as among men, so he did not remain to fight and die, but tore himself away from them as quickly as he could, and fled into the sheltering boughs of the forest. Two more attempts he made to rejoin the tribe, but on each occasion he was set upon and driven away. At last he gave it up, and turned, foaming with rage and hatred, into the jungle. For several days he wandered aimlessly, nursing his spite and looking for some weak thing on which to vent his pent-anger. It was in this state of mind that the horrible man-like beast, swinging from tree to tree, came suddenly upon two women in the jungle. He was right above them when he discovered them. The first intimation Jane Porter had of his presence was when the great hairy body dropped to the earth beside her, and she saw the awful face and the snarling hideous mouth thrust within a foot of her. One piercing scream escaped her lips as the brute hand clutched her arm. Then she was dragged toward those awful fangs which yawned at her throat. But ere they touched that fair skin, another mood claimed the anthropoid. The tribe had kept his women. He must find others to replace them. This hairless white ape would be the first of his new household, and so he threw her roughly across his broad hairy shoulders and leaped back into the trees, bearing Jane away. Esmeralda's scream of terror had mingled once with that of Jane, and then, as was Esmeralda's manner under stress of emergency, which required presence of mind, she swooned. But Jane did not once lose consciousness. It is true that that awful face, pressing close to hers, and the stench of the foul breath beating upon her nostrils, paralyzed her with terror. But her brain was clear, and she comprehended all that transpired. With what seemed to her marvellous rapidity the brute bore her through the forest. But still she did not cry out or struggle. The sudden advent of the ape had confused her to such an extent that she thought now that he was bearing her toward the beach. For this reason she conserved her energies and her voice, until she could see that they had approached near enough to the camp to attract the sucker she craved. She could not have known it, but she was being born farther and farther into the impenetrable jungle. The scream that had brought Clayton and the two older men stumbling through the undergrowth had led Tarzan of the apes straight to where Esmeralda lay, but it was not Esmeralda in whom his interest centered, though pausing over her he saw that she was unhurt. For a moment he scrutinized the ground below and the trees above, until the ape that was in him by virtue of training and environment, combined with the intelligence that was his by right of birth, told his wondrous woodcraft the whole story as plainly as though he had seen the thing happen with his own eyes. And then he was gone again into the swaying trees, following the high flung spore which no other human eye could have detected, much less translated. At bow's ends were the antherpoids swings from one tree to another. There is most to mark the trail, but least to point the direction of the quarry, for there the pressure is downward always, toward the small end of the branch, whether the ape be leaving or entering a tree. Nearer the center of the tree, where the signs of passage are fainter, the direction is plainly marked. Here on this branch a caterpillar has been crushed by the fugitive's great foot, and Tarzan knows instinctively where that same foot would touch in the next stride. Here he looks to find a tiny particle of the demolished larva, off times not more than a speck of moisture. Again a minute bit of bark has been upturned by the scraping hand, and the direction of the brick indicates the direction of the passage. Or some great limb, or the stem of the tree itself, has been brushed by the hairy body, and a tiny shred of hair tells him by the direction from which it is wedged beneath the bark that he is on the right trail. Or does he need to check his speed to catch these seemingly faint records of the fleeing beast? To Tarzan they stand out boldly against all the myriad other scars and bruises and signs upon the leafy way. But strongest of all is the scent, for Tarzan is pursuing up the wind, and his trained nostrils are as sensitive as a hounds. There are those who believe that the lower orders are especially endowed by nature with better olfactory nerves than man. But it is merely a matter of development. Man's survival does not hinge so greatly upon the perfection of his senses. His power to reason has relieved them of many of their duties, and so they have to some extent atrophied, as have the muscles which move the ears and scalp merely from disuse. The muscles are there, about the ears and beneath the scalp, and so are the nerves which transmit sensations to the brain. But they are underdeveloped because they are not needed. Not so with Tarzan of the apes. From early infancy his survival had depended upon acuteness of eyesight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste, far more than upon the more slowly developed organ of reason. The least developed of all in Tarzan was the sense of taste, where he could eat luscious fruits or raw flesh long buried with almost equal appreciation, but in that he differed but slightly from more civilized epicurus. Almost silently the eight-man sped on in the track of Turkoz and his prey, but the sound of his approach reached the ears of the fleeing beast and spurred it on to greater speed. Three miles were covered before Tarzan overtook them, and then Turkoz, seeing that further flight was futile, dropped to the ground in a small open glade that he might turn and fight for his prize, or be free to escape unhampered if he saw that the pursuer was more than a match for him. He still grasped Jane in one great arm as Tarzan bounded like a leopard into the arena which nature had provided for this prime evil-like battle. When Turkoz saw that it was Tarzan who pursued him, he jumped to the conclusion that this was Tarzan's woman, since they were of the same kind, white and hairless, and so he rejoiced at this opportunity for double revenge upon his hated enemy. To Jane the strange apparition of this godlike man was as swine to sick nerves. From the description which Clayton and her father and Mr. Philander had given her, she knew that it must be the same wonderful creature who would save them, and she saw in him only a protector and a friend. But as Turkoz pushed her roughly aside to meet Tarzan's charge, and she saw the great proportions of the ape and the mighty muscles and the fierce fangs, her heart quailed. How could any vanquish such a mighty antagonist? Like two charging bulls they came together, and like two wolves sought each other's throat. Against the long canines of the ape was pitted the thin blade of the man's knife. Jane, her lithe young form flattened against the trunk of a great tree, her hands tightly pressed against her rising and falling bosom, and her eyes wide with mingled horror, fascination, fear, and admiration, watched the primordial ape battle with the primeval man for possession of a woman. As the great muscles of the man's back and shoulders knotted beneath the tension of his efforts, and the huge biceps and forearm held at bay those mighty tusks, the veil of centuries of civilization and culture were swept from the blurred vision of the Baltimore girl. When the long knife drank deep a dozen times of Turkoz's heart's blood, and the great carcass rolled lifeless upon the ground, it was a primeval woman who sprang forward with outstretched arms toward the primeval man who had fought for her and won her. And Tarzan? He did what no red-blooded man needs lessons in doing. He took his woman in his arms and smothered her upturned panting lips with kisses. For a moment Jane lay there with half-closed eyes. For a moment, the first in her young life, she knew the meaning of love. But as suddenly as the veil had been withdrawn it dropped again, and an outraged conscience suffused her face with its scarlet mantle, and a mortified woman thrust Tarzan in the apes from her and buried her face in her hands. Tarzan had been surprised when he had found the girl he had learned to love after a vague and abstract manner, a willing prisoner in his arms. Now he was surprised that she repulsed him. He came close to her once more and took hold of her arm. She turned upon him like a Tigris striking his great breast with her tiny hands. Tarzan could not understand it. A moment ago, and it had been his intention to hasten Jane back to her people, but that little moment was lost now in the dim and distant past of things which were but can never be again, and with it the good intentions had gone to join the impossible. Since then Tarzan and the apes had felt a warm, lithe form close press to his. Hot, sweet breath against his cheek and mouth had fanned a new flame to life within his breast, and perfect lips had clung to his in burning kisses that had seared a deep brand into his soul, a brand which marked a new Tarzan. Again he laid his hand upon her arm. Again she repulsed him. And then Tarzan and the apes did just what his first ancestor would have done. He took his woman in his arms and carried her into the jungle. Early the following morning the four within the little cabin by the beach were awakened by the booming of a cannon. Clayton was the first to rush out, and there was a harbour. Clayton was the first to rush out, and there, beyond the harbour's mouth, he saw two vessels lying at anchor. One was the arrow, and the other a small French cruiser. The sides of the ladder were crowded with men gazing shoreward, and it was evident to Clayton, as to the others who had now joined him, that the gun which they had heard had been fired to attract their attention if they still remained at the cabin. Both vessels lay at a considerable distance from shore, and it was doubtful if their glasses would locate the waving hats of the little party far in between the harbour's points. Esmerelda had removed her red apron and was waving it frantically above her head. But Clayton, still fearing that even this might not be seen, hurried off toward the northern point where lay his signal-pire ready for the match. It seemed an age to him, as to those who waited breathlessly behind ere he reached the great pile of dry branches and underbrush. As he broke from the dense wood and came inside of the vessels again, he was filled with consternation to see that the arrow was making sail and that the cruiser was already under way. Quickly lighting the pire in a dozen places, he hurried to the extreme point of the promontory, where he stripped off his shirt and tying it to a fallen branch, stood waving it back and forth above him. But still the vessels continued to stand out, and he had given up all hope when the great column of smoke rising above the forest in one dense vertical shaft attracted the attention of a lookout aboard the cruiser and instantly a dozen glasses were leveled on the beach. Presently Clayton saw the two ships come about again, and while the arrow lay drifting quietly on the ocean the cruiser steamed slowly back toward shore. At some distance away she stopped and a boat was lowered and dispatched toward the beach. As it was drawn up a young officer stepped out. Mr. Clayton, I presume, he asked. Thank God you have come, was Clayton's reply, and it may be that it is not too late even now. What do you mean, monsieur? asked the officer. Clayton told of the abduction of Jane Porter and the need of armed men to aid in the search for her. Mon Dieu! exclaimed the officer sadly. Yesterday and it would not have been too late. Today and it may be better that the poor lady were never found. It is horrible, monsieur. It is too horrible. Other boats had now put off from the cruiser, and Clayton, having pointed out the harbour's entrance to the officer, entered the boat with him and its nose was turned toward the little landlocked bay into which the other craft followed. Soon the entire party had landed where stood Professor Porter, Mr. Philander, and the weeping Esmeralda. Among the officers in the last boats to put off from the cruiser was the commander of the vessel, and when he had heard the story of Jane's abduction he generously called for volunteers to accompany Professor Porter and Clayton in their search. Not an officer or a man was there of those brave and sympathetic Frenchmen who did not quickly leave to be one of the expedition. The commander selected twenty men and two officers, Lieutenant Darno and Lieutenant Charpentier. A boat was dispatched to the cruiser for provisions, ammunition and carbines. The men were already armed with revolvers. Then, to Clayton's inquiries as to how they had happened to anchor offshore and fire a signal gun, the commander, Captain Dufron, explained that a month before they had sighted the arrow bearing south-west under considerable canvas and that when they had signalled her to come about she had but crowded on more sail. They had kept her hull up until sunset, firing several shots after her, but the next morning she was nowhere to be seen. They had then continued to cruise up and down the coast for several weeks and had about forgotten the incident of the recent chase when, early one morning, a few days before, the lookout had described a vessel laboring in the trough of a heavy sea and evidently entirely out of control. As they steamed nearer to the derelict they were surprised to note that it was the same vessel that had run from them a few weeks earlier. Her force-dacil and mizzen spanker were set as though an effort had been made to hold her head up into the wind, but the sheets had parted and the sails were tearing to ribbons in the half-gale of wind. In the high sea that it was running it was a difficult and dangerous task to attempt to put a prize-crew aboard her, and as no signs of life had been seen above deck it was decided to stand by until the wind and sea abated, but just then a figure was seen clinging to the rail and feebly waving a mute signal of despair toward them. Immediately a boat's crew was ordered out and an attempt was successfully made to board the arrow. The sight that met the Frenchman's eyes as they clambered over the ship's side was appalling. A dozen dead and dying men rolled hither and thither upon the pitching deck, the living intermingled with the dead. Two of the corpses appeared to have been partially devoured as though by wolves. The prize-crew soon had the vessel under proper sail once more, and the living members of the ill-starred company carried below to their hammocks. The dead were wrapped in turpaulins and lashed on deck to be identified by their comrades before being consigned to the deep. None of the living was conscious when the Frenchman reached the arrow's deck, even the poor devil who had waved the single despairing signal of distress had lapsed into unconsciousness before he had learned whether it had availed or not. It did not take the French officer long to learn what had caused the terrible condition aboard, for when water and brandy were sought to restore the men, it was found that there was none, nor even food of any description. He immediately signalled to the cruiser to send water, medicine and provisions, and another boat made the perilous trip to the arrow. When restoratives had been applied, several of the men regained consciousness, and then the whole story was told. That part of it we know up to the sailing of the arrow after the murder of Snipes and the burial of his body above the treasure chest. It seems that the pursuit by the cruiser had so terrorized the mutineers that they had continued out across the Atlantic for days after losing her. But on discovering the meager supply of water and provisions aboard, they had turned back toward the east. With no one on board who understood navigation, discussions soon arose as to their whereabouts, and as three days sailing to the east did not raise land, they bore off to the north, fearing that the high north winds that it prevailed had driven them south of the southern extremity of Africa. They kept on a north-northeasterly course for two days, when they were overtaken by a calm which lasted for nearly a week. Their water was gone, and in another day they would be without food. Conditions changed rapidly, from bad to worse. One man went mad and leaped overboard. Soon another opened his veins and drank his own blood. When he died they threw him overboard also, though there were those among them who wanted to keep the corpse on board. Hunger was changing them from human beasts to wild beasts. Two days before they had been picked up by the cruiser, they had become too weak to handle the vessel, and that same day three men died. On the following morning it was seen that one of the corpses had been partially devoured. All that day the men laid glaring at each other like beasts of prey, and the following morning two of the corpses lay almost entirely stripped of flesh. The men were but little stronger for their ghoulish repast, for the want of water was by far the greatest agony with which they had to contend, and then the cruiser had come. When those who could had recovered, the entire story had been told to the French commander, but the men were too ignorant to be able to tell him at just what point on the coast the professor and his party had been marooned. So the cruiser had steam slowly along within sight of land, firing occasional signal guns, and scanning every inch of the beach with glasses. They had anchored by night so as not to neglect a particle of the shoreline, and it had happened that the preceding night had brought them off the very beach where lay the little camp they sought. The signal guns of the afternoon before had not been heard by those unsure. It was presumed, because they had doubtless been in the thick of the jungle searching for Jane Porter, where the noise of their own crashing through the underbrush would have drowned the report of a far distant gun. By the time the two parties had narrated their several adventures, the cruiser's boat had returned with supplies and arms for the expedition. Within a few minutes the little body of sailors and the two French officers, together with Professor Porter and Clayton, set off upon their hopeless and ill-fated quest into the untracked jungle. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs Chapter 20 Heredity When Jane realized that she was being borne away a captive by the strange force creature who had rescued her from the clutches of the ape, she struggled desperately to escape, but the strong arms that held her as easily as though she had been but a day old babe only pressed a little more tightly. So presently she gave up the futile effort and lay quietly, looking through half-closed lids at the faces of the man who strode easily through the tangled undergrowth with her. The face above her was one of extraordinary beauty. A perfect type of the strongly masculine, unmarred by dissipation or brutal or degrading passions. For though Tarzan of the Apes was a killer of men and of beasts, he killed as the hunter kills, dispassionately, except on those rare occasions when he had killed for hate, though not the brooding malevolent hate which marks the features of its own with hideous lines. When Tarzan killed, he more often smiled than scowled, and smiles are the foundation of beauty. One thing the girl had noticed particularly when she had seen Tarzan rushing upon turkose, the vivid scarlet band upon his forehead, from above the left eye to the scalp, but now as she scanned his features she noticed that it was gone and only a thin white line marked the spot where he had been. As she lay more quietly in his arms, Tarzan slightly relaxed his grip upon her. Once he looked down into her eyes and smiled, and the girl had to close her own to shut out the vision of that handsome, winning face. Presently Tarzan took to the trees, and Jane, wondering that she felt no fear, began to realize that in many respects she had never felt more secure in her whole life than now as she lay in the arms of this strong, wild creature being born, God alone knew where or to what fate, deeper and deeper into the savage fastness of the untamed forest. When, with closed eyes, she commenced to speculate upon the future and terrifying fears were conjured by a vivid imagination, she had but to raise her lids and look upon that noble face so close to hers to dissipate the last remnant of apprehension. No, he could never harm her. Of that she was convinced when she translated the fine features and the frank brave eyes above her into the chivalry which they proclaimed. On and on they went through what seemed to Jane a solid massive verdure. Yet ever there appeared to open before this forest God a passage, as by magic, which closed behind them as they passed, scarce a branch scraped against her, yet above and below, before and behind, the view presented not but a solid mass of inextricably interwoven branches and creepers. As Tarzan moved steadily onward his mind was occupied with many strange and new thoughts. Here was a problem the like of which he had never encountered and he felt rather than reasoned that he must meet it as a man and not as an ape. The free movement through the middle terrace, which was the route he had followed for the most part, had helped to cool the ardour of the first fierce passion of his newfound love. Now he had discovered himself speculating upon the fate which would have fallen to the girl had he not rescued her from Turkoz. He knew why the ape had not killed her and he commenced to compare his intentions with those of Turkoz. True it was the order of the jungle for the male to take his mate by force, but could Tarzan be guided by the laws of the beasts? Was not Tarzan a man? What did men do? He was puzzled, for he did not know. He wished that he might ask the girl and that it came to him that she had already answered him in the futile struggle she had made to escape and to repulse him. But now they had come to their destination and Tarzan of the apes with Jane in his strong arms swung lightly to the turf of the arena where the great apes held their councils and danced the wild orgy of the dum-dum. Though they had come many miles, it was still but mid-afternoon and the apa theater was bathed in the half-light which filtered through the maze of encircling foliage. The green turf looked soft and cool and inviting. The myriad noises of the jungle seemed far distant and hushed to a mere echo of blurred sounds rising and falling like the surf upon a remote shore. A feeling of dreamy peacefulness stole over Jane as she sank down upon the grass where Tarzan had placed her and as she looked up at his great figure towering above her there was added a strange sense of perfect security. As she watched him from beneath half-closed lids Tarzan crossed the little circular clearing toward the trees upon the farther side. She noted the graceful majesty of his carriage, the perfect symmetry of his magnificent figure and the poise of his well-shaped head upon his broad shoulders. What a perfect creature! There could be not of cruelty or baseness beneath that godlike exterior. Never, she thought, had such a man strode the earth since God created the first in his own image. With a bound Tarzan sprang into the trees and disappeared. Jane wondered where he had gone. Had he left her there to her fate in the lonely jungle? She glanced nervously about. Every vine and bush seemed but the lurking place of some huge and horrible beast waiting to bury gleaming fangs into her soft flesh. Every sound she magnified into the stealthy creeping of a sinuous and malignant body. How different now that he had left her! For a few minutes that seemed hours to the frightened girl she sat with tense nerves waiting for the spring of the crouching thing that was to end her misery of apprehension. She almost prayed for the cruel teeth that would give her unconsciousness and surcease from the agony of fear. She heard a sudden slight sound behind her. With a cry she sprang to her feet and turned to face her end. There stood Tarzan, his arms filled with ripe and luscious fruit. Jane reeled and would have fallen, had not Tarzan dropping his burden, caught her in his arms. She did not lose consciousness, what she clung tightly to him, shuddering and trembling like a frightened deer. Tarzan of the ape stroked her soft air and tried to comfort and quiet her as Kayla had him when, as a little ape, he had been frightened by Sabor, the lioness, or Hista, the snake. Once he pressed his lips lightly upon her forehead and she did not move, but closed her eyes and sighed. She could not analyze her feelings nor did she wish to attempt it. She was satisfied to feel the safety of those strong arms and to leave her future to fate. For the last few hours had taught her to trust this strange wild creature of the forest as she would have trusted but few of the men of her acquaintance. As she thought of the strangeness of it, there commenced to dawn upon her the realization that she had, possibly, learned something else which she had never really known before. Love. She wondered and then she smiled. And still smiling she pushed Tarzan gently away and looking at him with a half-smiling, half-quizzical expression that made her face wholly entrancing. She pointed to the fruit upon the ground and seated herself upon the edge of the earthen drum of the anthropoids for hunger was asserting itself. Tarzan quickly gathered up the fruit and, bringing it, laid it at her feet and then he too sat upon the drum beside her and with his knife opened and prepared the various fruits for her meal. Together and in silence they ate, occasionally stealing sly glances at one another until finally Jane broke into a merry laugh in which Tarzan joined. I wish you spoke English, said the girl. Tarzan shook his head and an expression of wistful and pathetic longing sobered his laughing eyes. Then Jane tried speaking to him in French and in German, but she had to laugh at her own blundering attempt at the latter tongue. Anyway, she said to him in English, you understand my German as well as they did in Berlin. Tarzan had long since reached a decision as to what his future procedure should be. He had had time to recollect all that he had read of the ways of men and women in the books at the cabin. He would act as he imagined the men in the books would have acted were they in his place. Again he rose and went into the trees, but first he tried to explain by means of signs that he would return shortly, and he did so well that Jane understood and was not afraid when he had gone. Only a feeling of loneliness came over her and she watched the point where he had disappeared with longing eyes awaiting his return. As before she was appraised of his presence by a soft sound behind her and turned to see him coming across the turf with a great armful of branches. Then he went back again into the jungle and in a few minutes reappeared with a quantity of soft grasses and ferns. Two more trips he made until he had quite a pile of material at hand. Then he spread the ferns and grasses upon the ground in a soft flat bed and above it leaned many branches together so that they met a few feet over its center. Upon these he spread layers of huge leaves of a great elephant seer and with more branches and more leaves he closed one end of the little shelter he had built. Then they sat down together again upon the edge of the drum and tried to talk by signs. The magnificent diamond locket which hung about Tarzan's neck had been a source of much wonderment to Jane. She pointed to it now and Tarzan removed it with a pretty bobble to her. She saw that it was the work of a skilled artisan and that the diamonds were of great brilliancy and superbly set, but the cutting of them denoted that they were of a former day. She noticed too that the locket opened and, pressing the hidden clasp, she saw the two halves spring apart to reveal in either section an ivory miniature. One was of a beautiful woman and the other might have been a likeness of a man who sat beside her except for a subtle difference of expression that was scarcely definable. She looked up at Tarzan to find him leaning toward her gazing on the miniatures with an expression of astonishment. He reached out his hand for the locket and took it away from her, examining the likenesses within it with unmistakable signs of surprise and new interest. His manner clearly denoted that he had never before seen them or imagined that the locket opened. This fact caused change to indulge in further speculation and it taxed her imagination to picture how this beautiful ornament came into the possession of a wild and savage creature of the unexplored jungles of Africa. Still more wonderful was how it contained the likeness of one who might be a brother or, more likely, the father of this woodland demigod who was even ignorant of the fact that the locket opened. Tarzan was still gazing with fixity at the two faces. Presently he removed the quiver from his shoulder and emptying the arrows upon the ground reached into the bottom of the bag-like receptacle and drew forth a flat object wrapped in many soft leaves and tied with bits of long grass. Carefully he unwrapped it removing layer after layer of leaves until at length he held a photograph in his hand. Pointing to the miniature of the man within the locket he handed the photograph to Jane holding the open locket beside it. The photograph only served to puzzle the girl still more for it was evidently another likeness of the same man whose picture rested in the locket beside that of the beautiful young woman. Tarzan was looking at her with an expression of puzzled bewilderment in his eyes as she glanced up at him. He seemed to be framing a question with his lips. The girl pointed to the photograph and then to the miniature and then to him as though to indicate that she thought the likenesses were of him but he only shook his head and then shrugging his great shoulders he took the photograph from her and having carefully re-wrapped it placed it again in the bottom of his quiver. For a few moments he sat in silence his eyes bent upon the ground while Jane held the little locket in her hand turning it over and over in an endeavour to find some further clue that might lead to the identity of its original owner. At length a simple explanation occurred to her. The locket had belonged to Lord Greystoke and the likenesses were of himself and Lady Alice. This wild creature had simply found it in the cabin by the beach. How stupid of her not to have thought of that solution before! But to account for the strange likeness between Lord Greystoke and this forest god that was quite beyond her and it is not strange that she could not imagine that this naked savage was indeed an English nobleman. At length Tarzan looked up to watch the girl as she examined the locket. He could not fathom the meaning of the faces within but he could read the interest in fascination upon the face of the live young creature by his side. She noticed that he was watching her and thinking that he wished his ornament again she held it out to him. He took it from her and taking the chain in his two hands he placed it about her neck smiling at her expression of surprise at this unexpected gift. Jane shook her head vehemently and would have removed the golden links from about her throat but Tarzan would not let her. Taking her hands in his, when she insisted upon it he held them tightly to prevent her. At last she desisted and with a little laugh raised the locket to her lips. Tarzan did not know precisely what she meant but he guessed correctly that it was her way of acknowledging the gift and so he rose and taking the locket in his hand stoop gravely like some courtier of old and pressed his lips upon it where hers had rested. It was a stately and gallant little compliment performed with a grace and dignity of utter unconsciousness of self. It was the hallmark of his aristocratic birth the natural outcropping of many generations of fine breeding and a redditary instinct of graciousness which a lifetime of uncouth and savage training and environment could not eradicate. It was growing dark now and so they ate again of the fruit which was both food and drink for them. Then Tarzan rose and leading Jane to the little bower he had erected motioned her to go within. For the first time in hours a feeling of fear swept over her and Tarzan felt her draw away as though shrinking from him. Contact with this girl for half a day had left a very different Tarzan from the one on whom the morning sun had risen. Now in every fiber of his being heredity spoke louder than training. He had not in one swift transition become a polished gentleman from a savage ape-man but at last the instincts of the former predominated and overall was the desire to please the woman he loved and to appear well in her eyes. So Tarzan of the apes did the only thing he knew to assure Jane of her safety. He removed his hunting-knife from its sheath and handed it to her hilt first again motioning her into the bower. The girl understood and taking the long knife she entered and lay down upon the soft grasses while Tarzan of the apes stretched himself upon the ground across the entrance and thus the rising sun found them in the morning. When Jane awoke she did not at first recall the strange events of the preceding day and so she wandered at her odd surroundings the little leafy bower the soft grasses of her bed the unfamiliar prospect from the opening at her feet. Slowly the circumstances of her position crept one by one into her mind and then a great wonderment arose in her heart a mighty wave of thankfulness and gratitude that though she had been in such terrible danger yet she was unharmed. She moved to the entrance of the shelter to look for Tarzan. He was gone but this time no fear assailed her for she knew that he would return. In the grass at the entrance to her bower she saw the imprint of his body where he had lain all night to guard her. She knew that the fact that he had been there was all that had permitted her to sleep in such peaceful security. With him near who could entertain fear? She wondered if there was another man on earth with whom a girl could feel so safe in the heart of this savage African jungle even the lions and panthers had no fears for her now. She looked up to see his lithe form drop softly from a nearby tree. As he caught her eyes upon him his face lighted with that frank and radiant smile that had won her confidence the day before. As he approached her Jane's heart beat faster and her eyes brightened as they had never done before at the approach of any man. He had again been gathering fruit and this he laid at the entrance of her bower. Once more they sat down together to eat. Jane commenced to wonder what his plans were. Would he take her back to the beach? Or would he keep her here? Suddenly she realized that the matter did not seem to give her much concern. Could it be that she did not care? She began to comprehend also that she was entirely contented sitting here by the side of this smiling giant eating delicious fruit in a silvan paradise far within the remote depths of an African jungle. That she was contented and very happy. She could not understand it. Her reason told her that she should be torn by wild anxieties weighted by dread fears cast down by gloomy forebodings. But instead her heart was singing and she was smiling into the answering face of the man beside her. When they had finished their breakfast Tarzan went to her bower and recovered his knife. The girl had entirely forgotten it. She realized that it was because she had forgotten the fear that prompted her to accept it. Motioning her to follow, Tarzan walked towards the trees at the edge of the arena and taking her in one strong arm swung to the branches above. The girl knew that he was taking her back to her people and she could not understand the sudden feeling of loneliness and sorrow which crept over her. For hours they swung slowly along. Tarzan of the apes did not hurry. He tried to draw out the sweet pleasure of that journey with those dear arms about his neck as long as possible and so he went far south of the direct route to the beach. Several times they hauled for brief rests which Tarzan did not need and at noon they stopped for an hour at a little brook where they quenched their thirst and ate. So it was nearly sunset when they came to the clearing and Tarzan, dropping to the ground beside a great tree, parted the tall jungle grass and pointed out the little cabin to her. She took him by the hand to lead him to it that she might tell her father that this man had saved her from death and worse than death, that he had watched over her as carefully as a mother might have done. But again, the timidity of the wild thing in the face of human habitation swept over Tarzan of the apes. He drew back, shaking his head. The girl came closer to him, looking up with pleading eyes. Somehow she could not bear the thought of his going back into the terrible jungle alone. Still he shook his head and finally he drew her to him very gently and stooped to kiss her. But first he looked into her eyes and waited to learn if she was pleased or if she would repulse him. Just an instant the girl hesitated and then she realized the truth and throwing her arms about his neck she drew his face to hers and kissed him, unashamed. I love you, I love you," she murmured. From far in the distance came the faint sound of many guns. Tarzan and Jane raised their heads. From the cabin came Mr. Philander and Esmeralda. From where Tarzan and the girl stood they could not see the two vessels lying at anchor in the harbor. Tarzan pointed towards the sounds, touched his breast and pointed again. She understood. He was going and something told her that it was because he thought her people were in danger. Again he kissed her. Come back to me," she whispered. I shall wait for you. Always. He was gone and Jane turned to walk across the clearing to the cabin. Mr. Philander was the first to see her. It was dusk and Mr. Philander was very near-sighted. Quickly, Esmeralda, he cried. Let us seek safety within. It is a lioness. Bless me!" Esmeralda did not bother to verify Mr. Philander's vision. His tone was enough. She was within the cabin and had slammed and bolted the door before he had finished pronouncing her name. The bless me was startled out of Mr. Philander by the discovery that Esmeralda, in the exuberance of her haste, had fastened him upon the same side of the door as was the close approaching lioness. He beat furiously upon the heavy portal. Esmeralda, Esmeralda! He shrieked. Let me in. I am being devoured by a lion. Esmeralda thought that the noise upon the door was made by the lioness in her attempts to pursue her, so after her custom she fainted. Mr. Philander cast a fright and glads behind him. Horrors the thing was quite close now. He tried to scramble up the side of the cabin and succeeded in catching a fleeting hold upon the thatched roof. For a moment he hung there, clawing with his feet like a cat on a clothesline, but presently a piece of the thatch came away, and Mr. Philander, preceding it, was precipitated upon his back. At the instant he fell a remarkable item of natural history leaked to his mind. If one feigns death, lions and lionesses are supposed to ignore one, according to Mr. Philander's faulty memory. So Mr. Philander lay as he had fallen, frozen into the horrid semblance of death. As his arms and legs had been extended stiffly upward as he came to earth upon his back, the attitude of death was anything but impressive. Jane had been watching his antics and mild-eyed surprise. Now she laughed. A little choking gurgle of a laugh, but it was enough. Mr. Philander rolled over upon his side and peered about. At length he discovered her. Jane, he cried, Jane Porter, bless me! He scrambled to his feet and rushed toward her. He could not believe that it was she, and alive. Bless me, where did you come from? Where in the world have you been? How—mercy, Mr. Philander! Interrupted the girl. I can never remember so many questions. Well, well, said Mr. Philander, bless me! I am so filled with surprise and exuberant delight at seeing you safe and well again, that I scarcely know what I am saying, really. But come, tell me all that has happened to you. CHAPTER XXI THE VILLAGE OF TORTURE As the little expedition of sailors toiled through the dense jungle, searching for signs of Jane Porter, the futility of their venture became more and more apparent, but the grief of the old man and the hopeless eyes of the young Englishman prevented the kind-hearted Darno from turning back. He thought that there might be a bare possibility of finding her body, or the remains of it, for he was positive that she had been devoured by some beast of prey. He deployed his men into a skirmish line from the point where Esmeralda had been found, and in this extended formation they pushed their way, sweating and panting, through the tangled vines and creepers. It was slow work. Noon found them but a few miles inland. They hauled for a brief rest, then, and after pushing on for a short distance further, one of the men discovered a well-marked trail. It was an old elephant track, and Darno, after consulting with Professor Porter and Clayton, decided to follow it. The path wound through the jungle in a northeasterly direction, and along it the column moved in single file. Lieutenant Darno was in the lead and moving at a quick pace, for the trail was comparatively open. Immediately behind him came Professor Porter, but as he could not keep pace with the younger man, Darno was a hundred yards in advance, when suddenly a half-dozen black warriors arose about him. Darno gave a warning shout to his column as the blacks closed on him, but before he could draw his revolver, he had been pinioned and dragged into the jungle. His cry had alarmed the sailors, and a dozen of them sprang forward past Professor Porter, running up the trail to their officer's aid. They did not know the cause of his outcry, only that it was a warning of danger ahead. They had rushed past the spot where Darno had been seized when a spear hurled from the jungle transfixed one of the men, and then a volley of arrows fell among them. Raising their rifles they fired into the underbrush in the direction from which the missiles had come. By this time the balance of the party had come up, and volley after volley was fired toward the concealed foe. It was these shots that Tarzan and Jane Porter had heard. Lieutenant Charpentier, who had been bringing up the rear of the column, now came running to the scene, and on hearing the details of the ambush, ordered the men to follow him and plunged into the tangled vegetation. In an instant they were in a hand-to-hand fight with some fifty black warriors of Mabanga's village. Arrows and bullets flew thick and fast. Queer African knives and French gun-butts mingled for a moment in savage and bloody duels, but soon the natives fled into the jungle, leaving the Frenchmen to count their losses. Four of the twenty were dead, others were wounded, and Lieutenant Darno was missing. Night was falling rapidly, and their predicament was rendered doubly worse when they could not even find the elephant trail which they had been following. There was but one thing to do, make camp where they were until daylight. Lieutenant Charpentier ordered a clearing-made and a circular abatee of underbrush constructed about the camp. This work was not completed until long after dark. The men building a huge fire in the center of the clearing to give them light to work by. When all was safe as possible against attack of wild beasts and savage men, Lieutenant Charpentier placed sentries about the little camp, and the tired and hungry men threw themselves upon the ground to sleep. The groans of the wounded mingled with the roaring and growling of the great beasts which the noise and fire-light had attracted, kept sleep except in its most fitful form from the tired eyes. It was a sad and hungry party that lay through the long night praying for dawn. The blacks who had seized Darneau had not waited to participate in the fight which followed, but instead had dragged their prisoner a little way through the jungle and then struck the trail further on beyond the scene of the fighting in which their fellows were engaged. They hurried him along, the sounds of battle-growing fainter and fainter as they drew away from the contestants until their suddenly broke upon Darneau's vision a good-sized clearing at the end of which stood a thatched and palisaded village. It was now dusk, but the watchers at the gate saw the approaching trio and distinguished one as a prisoner ere they reached the portals. A cry went up within the palisade. A great throng of women and children rushed out to meet the party and then began for the French officer the most terrifying experience which man can encounter upon earth the reception of a white prisoner into a village of African cannibals. To add to the fiendishness of their cruel savagery was the poignant memory of still-cruelder barbarities practised upon them and theirs by the white officers of that arch-hypocrite Leopold II of Belgium because of whose atrocities they had fled the Congo Free State a pitiful remnant of what once had been a mighty tribe. They fell upon Darneau tooth and nail beating him with sticks and stones and tearing at him with claw-like hands every vestige of clothing was torn from him and the merciless blows fell upon his bare and quivering flesh but not once did the Frenchman cry out in pain he breathed the silent prayer that he be quickly delivered from his torture but the death he prayed for was not to be so easily had soon the warriors beat the women away from their prisoner. He was to be saved for nobler sport than this and the first wave of their passion having subsided they contended themselves with crying out taunts and insults and spitting upon him. Presently they reached the centre of the village there Darneau was bound securely to the great post from which no live man had ever been released. A number of the women scattered to their several huts to fetch pots and water while others built a row of fires on which portions of the feast were to be broiled while the balance would be slowly dried in strips for future use as they expected the other warriors to return with many prisoners. The festivities were delayed awaiting the return of the warriors who had remained to engage in the skirmish with the white men so that it was quite late when all were in the village and the dance of death commenced to circle around the doomed officer. Half fainting from pain and exhaustion Darneau watched from beneath half-closed lids what seemed but the vagary of delirium or some horrid nightmare from which he must soon awake. The bestial faces dopped with colour the huge mouths and flabby hanging lips the yellow teeth sharp-filed the rolling demon eyes the shining naked bodies the cruel spears Surely no such creatures really existed upon earth he must indeed be dreaming. The savage whirling body circled nearer now a spear sprang forth and touched his arm the sharp pain and the feel of hot trickling blood assured him of the awful reality of his hopeless position another spear and then another touched him he closed his eyes and held his teeth firm set he would not cry out. He was a soldier of France and he would teach these beasts how an officer and a gentleman died. Tarzan of the apes needed no interpreter to translate the story of those distant shots with Jane Porter's kisses still warm upon his lips he was swinging with incredible rapidity through the forest trees straight toward the village of Mabanga he was not interested in the location of the encounter for he judged that that would soon be over those who were killed he could not aid those who escaped would not need his assistance it was to those who had either been killed or escaped that he hastened and he knew that he would find them by the great post in the center of Mabanga village many times had Tarzan seen Mabanga's black raiding parties return from the northward with prisoners and always were the same scenes enacted about that grim steak beneath the flaring light of many fires he knew too that they seldom lost much time before consummating the fiendish purpose of their captures he doubted that he would arrive in time to do more than avenge on he sped night had fallen and he traveled high along the upper terrace where the gorgeous tropic moon lighted the dizzy pathway through the gently undulating branches of the treetops presently he caught the reflection of a distant blaze it lay to the right of his path it must be the light from the campfire the two men had built before they were attacked Tarzan knew nothing of the presence of the sailors so sure was Tarzan of his jungle knowledge that he did not turn from his course but passed the glare at a distance of a half mile it was the campfire of the Frenchman in a few minutes more Tarzan swung into the trees above Mabanga's village ah, he was not quite too late or was he? he could not tell the figure at the stake was very still yet the black warriors were but pricking it Tarzan knew their customs the death-blow had not been struck he could tell almost to a minute how far the dance had gone in another instant Mabanga's knife would sever one of the victim's ears that would mark the beginning of the end for very shortly after only a writhing mass of mutilated flesh would remain there would still be life in it but death then would be the only charity it craved the stake stood forty feet from the nearest tree Tarzan coiled his rope then there rose suddenly above the fiendish cries of the dancing demons the awful challenge of the ape-man the dancers halted as though turned to stone the rope sped with singing whirr high above the heads of the blacks he was quite invisible in the flaring lights of the campfires Darneau opened his eyes a huge black standing directly before him lunged backward as though felled by an invisible hand struggling and shrieking his body rolling from side to side moved quickly toward the shadows beneath the leaves the blacks their eyes protruding in horror watched spellbound once beneath the trees the body rose straight into the air and as it disappeared into the foliage above the terrified negroes screaming with fright broken to a mad race for the village gate Darneau was left alone he was a brave man but he had felt the short hairs bristle upon the nape of his neck when that uncanny cry rose upon the air as the writhing body of the black sword as though by unearthly power into the dense foliage of the forest Darneau felt an icy shiver run along his spine as though death had risen from a dark grave and laid a cold and clammy finger on his flesh as Darneau watched the spot where the body had entered the tree he heard the sounds of movement there the branches swayed as though under the weight of a man's body there was a crash and the black came sprawling to earth again to lie very quietly where he had fallen immediately after him came a white body but this one alighted erect Darneau saw a clean-limbed young giant emerge from the shadows into the firelight and come quickly toward him what could it mean? who could it be? some new creature of torture and destruction, doubtless Darneau waited his eyes never left the face of the advancing man nor did the other's frank clear eyes waver beneath Darneau's fixed gaze Darneau was reassured but still without much hope though he felt that that face could not mask a cruel heart without a word Tarzan of the apes cut the bonds which held the Frenchman weak from suffering and loss of blood he would have fallen but for the strong arm that caught him he felt himself lifted from the ground there was a sensation as a flying and then he lost consciousness End of chapter Chapter 22 of Tarzan of the apes This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina Tarzan of the apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs Chapter 22 The Search Party When dawn broke upon the little camp of Frenchmen in the heart of the jungle it found a sad and disheartened group As soon as it was light enough to see their surroundings Lieutenant Charpentier sent men in groups of three in several directions to locate the trail and in ten minutes it was found and the expedition was hurrying back toward the beach It was slow work for they bore the bodies of six dead men two more having succumbed during the night and several of those who were wounded required support to move even very slowly Charpentier had decided to return to camp for reinforcements and then make an attempt to track down the natives and rescue Darno It was late in the afternoon when the exhausted men reached the clearing by the beach but for two of them the return brought so great a happiness that all their suffering and heartbreaking grief was forgotten on the instant as the little party emerged from the jungle the first person that Professor Porter and Cecil Clayton saw was Jane standing by the cabin door With a little cry of joy and relief she ran forward to greet them throwing her arms about her father's neck and bursting into tears for the first time since they had been cast upon this hideous and adventurous shore Professor Porter strove manfully to suppress his own emotions but the strain upon his nerves and weakened vitality were too much for him and at length, burying his old face in the girl's shoulder he stopped quietly like a tired child Jane led him toward the cabin and the Frenchmen turned toward the beach from which several of their fellows were advancing to meet them Clayton, wishing to leave father and daughter alone joined the sailors and remained talking with the officers the boat pulled away toward the cruiser with their Lieutenant Charpentier was bound to report the unhappy outcome of his adventure then Clayton turned back slowly toward the cabin his heart was filled with happiness the woman he loved was safe he wondered by what manner of miracle she had been spared to see her alive seemed almost unbelievable as he approached the cabin he saw Jane coming out when she saw him she hurried forward to meet him Jane he cried God has been good to us indeed tell me how you escaped what form Providence took to save you for us he had never before called her by her given name forty-eight hours before it would have suffused Jane with a soft glow of pleasure to have heard that name from Clayton's lips now it frightened her Mr. Clayton she said quietly extending her hand first let me thank you for your chivalrous loyalty to my dear father he has told me how noble and self-sacrificing you have been how can we repay you Clayton noticed that she did not return his familiar salutation but he felt no misgivings on that score she had been through so much this was no time to force his love upon her he quickly realized I am already repaid he said just to see you and Professor Porter both safe well and together again I do not think that I could much longer have endured the pathos of his quiet and uncomplaining grief it was the saddest experience of my life Miss Porter and then added to it there was my own grief the greatest I have ever known but his was so hopeless his was pitiful it taught me that no love not even that of a man for his wife may be so deep and terrible and self-sacrificing as the love of a father for his daughter the girl bowed her head there was a question she wanted to ask but it seemed almost sacrilegious in the face of the love of these two men and the terrible suffering they had endured while she sat laughing and happy beside a god-like creature of the forest eating delicious fruits and looking with eyes of love into answering eyes but love is a strange master and human nature is still stranger so she asked her question where is the forest man who went to rescue you why did he not return I do not understand said Clayton whom do you mean he who has saved each of us who saved me from the gorilla oh! cried Clayton in surprise it was he who rescued you you have not told me anything of your adventure you know but the wood man she urged have you not seen him when we heard the shots in the jungle very faint and far away he left me we had just reached the clearing and he hurried off in the direction of the fighting I know he went to aid you her tone was almost pleading her manner tense with suppressed emotion Clayton could not but notice it and he wondered vaguely why she was so deeply moved so anxious to know the whereabouts of this strange creature yet a feeling of apprehension of some impending sorrow haunted him and in his breast unknown to himself was implanted the first germ of jealousy and suspicion of the ape man to whom he owed his life we did not see him he replied quietly he did not join us and then after a moment of thoughtful pause possibly he joined his own tribe the men who attacked us he did not know why he had said it before he did not believe it the girl looked at him wide eyed for a moment no, she exclaimed vehemently much too vehemently he thought it could not be they were savages Clayton looked puzzled he is a strange half-savage creature of the jungle, Miss Porter we know nothing of him he neither speaks nor understands any European tongue and his ornaments and weapons are those of the West Coast savages Clayton was speaking rapidly there are no other human beings than savages within hundreds of miles, Miss Porter he must belong to the tribes which attacked us or to some other equally savage he may even be a cannibal Jane blanched I will not believe it she half-whispered it is not true see, she said, addressing Clayton that he will come back and that he will prove that you are wrong you do not know him as I do I tell you that he is a gentleman Clayton was a generous and chivalrous man but something in the girl's breathless defense of the forest man stirred him to unreasoning jealousy so that for the instant he forgot all that they owed to this wild demigod and he answered it with a half sneer upon his lip possibly you are right, Miss Porter, he said but I do not think that any of us need worry about our carion-eating acquaintance the chances are that he is some half-demented castaway who will forget us more quickly but no more surely then we shall forget him he is only a beast of the jungle, Miss Porter the girl did not answer or she felt her heart shrivel within her she knew the Clayton spoke merely what he thought and for the first time she began to analyze the structure which supported her newfound love and to subject its object to a critical examination slowly she turned and walked back to the cabin she tried to imagine her wood-god by her side in the saloon of an ocean liner she saw him eating with his hands putting into his food like a beast of prey and wiping his greasy fingers upon his thighs she shuttered she saw him as she introduced him to her friends uncouth, illiterate, abhor and the girl winced she had reached her room now and as she sat upon the edge of her bed of ferns and grasses with one hand resting upon her rising and falling bosom she felt the hard outlines of the man's locket she drew it out holding it in the palm of her hand for a moment with tear-blurred eyes bent upon it then she raised it to her lips and crushing it there buried her face in the soft ferns sobbing beast, she murmured then God make me a beast for man or beast, I am yours she did not see Clayton again that day as Moralda brought her supper to her and she sent word to her father that she was suffering from the reaction following her adventure the next morning Clayton left early with the relief expedition in search of Lieutenant Darno there were two hundred armed men this time with ten officers and two surgeons and provisions for a week they carried bedding and hammocks the latter for transporting their sick and wounded it was a determined and angry company a punitive expedition as well as one of relief they reached the site of the skirmish of the previous expedition shortly afternoon for they were now travelling a known trail and no time was lost in exploring from there on the elephant track led straight to Mabanga's village it was but two o'clock when the head of the column halted upon the edge of the clearing Lieutenant Charpentier who was in command immediately sent a portion of his force through the jungle to the opposite side of the village another detachment was dispatched to a point before the village gate while he remained with a balance upon the south side of the clearing it was arranged that the party which was to take its position to the north and which would be the last to gain its station should commence the assault and that their opening volley should be the signal for a concerted rush from all sides in an attempt to carry the village by storm at the first charge for half an hour the men with Lieutenant Charpentier crouched in the dense foliage of the jungle waiting the signal to them at seen-like hours they could see natives in the fields and others moving in and out of the village gate at length the signal came a sharp rattle of musketry and like one man an answering volley tore from the jungle to the west and to the south the natives in the field dropped their implements and broke madly for the palisade the French bullets mowed them down and the French sailors bounded over their prostrate bodies straight for the village gate so sudden and unexpected the assault had been that the whites reached the gates before the frightened natives could bar them and in another minute the village street was filled with armed men fighting hand-to-hand in inextricable tangle for a few moments the blacks held their ground within the entrance to the street but the revolvers, rifles and cutlasses of the Frenchmen crumpled the natives spearmen and struck down the black archers with their bows half-drawn soon the battle turned to a wild route and then to a grim massacre for the French sailors had seen bits of Darno's uniform upon several of the black warriors who opposed them they spared the children and those of the women whom they were not forced to kill in self-defense but when at length they stopped panting, blood covered in sweating it was because their live to oppose them no single warrior of all the savage village of Mabonga carefully they ransacked every hut and corner of the village but no sign of Darno could they find they questioned the prisoners by signs and finally one of the sailors who had served in the French Congo found that he could make them understand the bastard tongue that passes for language between the whites and the more degraded tribes of the coast but even then they could learn nothing definite regarding the fate of Darno only excited gestures and expressions of fear could they obtain in response to their inquiries concerning their fellow and at last they became convinced that these were but evidences of the guilt of these demons who had slaughtered and eaten their comrade two nights before at length all hope left them and they prepared to camp for the night within the village the prisoners were herded into three huts where they were heavily guarded sentries were posted at the barred gates and finally the village was wrapped in the silence of slumber except for the wailing of the native women for their dead the next morning they set out upon the return march their original intention had been to burn the village but this idea was abandoned and the prisoners were left behind weeping and moaning but with roofs to cover them and a palisade for refuge from the beasts of the jungle slowly the expedition retraced its steps of the preceding day ten loaded hammocks retarded its pace and eight of them lay the more seriously wounded while two swung beneath the weight of the dead Clayton and Lieutenant Charpentier brought up the rear of the column the Englishmen silent in respect for the others' grief for Darno and Charpentier had been inseparable friends since boyhood Clayton could not but realize that the Frenchmen felt his grief the more keenly because Darno's sacrifice had been so futile since Jane had been rescued before Darno had fallen into the hands of the savages and again because the service in which he had lost his life had been outside his duty and for strangers and aliens but when he spoke of it to Lieutenant Charpentier the latter shook his head No, Monsieur, he said Darno would have chosen to die thus I only grieve that I could not have died for him or at least with him I wish that you could have known him better, Monsieur he was indeed an officer and a gentleman a title conferred on many but deserved by so few he did not die futile for his death and the cause of a strange American girl will make us his comrades face our ends the more bravely however they may come to us Clayton did not reply but within him rose a new respect for Frenchmen which remained undimmed ever after it was quite late when they reached the cabin by the beach a single shot before they emerged from the jungle had announced to those in camp as well as on the ship that the expedition had been too late for it had been prearranged that when they came within a mile or two of camp one shot was to be fired to denote failure or three for success while two would have indicated that they found no sign of either Darno or his black captors so it was a solemn party that awaited their coming and few words were spoken as the dead and wounded men were tenderly placed in boats and rode silently toward the cruiser Clayton exhausted from his five days of laborious marching through the jungle and from the effects of his two battles with the blacks turned toward the cabin to seek him out full of food and then the comparative ease of his bed of grasses after two nights in the jungle by the cabin door stood Jane the poor lieutenant she asked did you find no trace of him we were too late Miss Porter he replied sadly tell me what had happened she asked I cannot Miss Porter it is too horrible you do not mean that they had tortured him she whispered we do not know what they did to him before they killed him he answered his face drawn with fatigue and the sorrow he felt for poor Darno and he emphasized the word before before they killed him what do you mean they're not they're not she was thinking of what Clayton had said of the forest man's probable relationship to this tribe and she could not frame the awful word yes Miss Porter they were cannibals he said almost bitterly for to him too had suddenly come the thought of the forest man and the strange unaccountable jealousy he had felt two days before swept over him once more and then in sudden brutality that was as unlike Clayton as Curdie's consideration is unlike an ape he blurted out when your forest god left you he was sorry ere the words were spoken though he did not know how cruelly they had cut the girl his regret was for his baseless disloyalty to one who had saved the lives of every member of his party and offered harm to none the girl's head went high there could be what one suitable reply to your assertion Mr. Clayton she said icily and I regret that I am not a man that I might make it she turned quickly and entered the cabin Clayton was an Englishman so the girl had passed quite out of sight before he deduced what reply a man would have made upon my word he said ruefully she called me a liar and I fancy I jolly well deserved it he added thoughtfully Clayton my boy I know you're tired out and unstrung but that's no reason why you should make an ass of yourself you'd better go to bed but before he did so he called gently to Jane upon the opposite side of the sail-cloth partition for he wished to apologize but he might as well have addressed the Sphinx then he wrote upon a piece of paper and shoved it beneath the partition Jane saw the little note and ignored it for she was very angry and hurt and mortified but she was a woman and so eventually she picked it up and read it my dear Miss Porter I had no reason to insinuate what I did my only excuse is that my nerves must be unstrung which is no excuse at all please try and think that I did not say it I am very sorry I would not have hurt you above all others in the world say that you forgive me William Cecil Clayton he did think it or he would never have said it reason the girl but it cannot be true oh I know it is not true one sentence in the letter frightened her I would not have hurt you above all others in the world a week ago that sentence would have filled her with delight now it depressed her she wished she had never met Clayton she was sorry that she had ever seen the forest god no she was glad and there was that other note she had found in the grass before the cabin the day after her return from the jungle the love note signed by Tarzan of the apes who could be this new suitor if he were another of the wild denizens of this terrible forest what might he not do to claim her Esmeralda wake up she cried you make me so irritable sleeping there peacefully when you know perfectly well that the world is filled with sorrow Gabriel screamed Esmeralda sitting up what is it now a hipponuroceros where is he Miss Jane nonsense Esmeralda there is nothing go back to sleep you have bad enough asleep but you are infinitely worse awake yes honey but what's the matter with you precious you act sort of discranulated this evening oh Esmeralda I'm just plain ugly tonight said the girl don't pay any attention to me that's a dear yes honey now you go right to sleep your nerves are all on edge what with all these ripotomouses and man-eating geniuses that Mr. Philander been telling about Lord I ain't no wonder we all get nervous prosecution Jane crossed the little room laughing and kissing the faithful woman bet Esmeralda good night End of chapter