Tarzan of the Apes

By

Edgar Rice Burroughs

 CONTENTS

 I Out to Sea II The Savage Home III Life and Death IV The Apes V The White Ape VI Jungle Battles VII The Light of Knowledge VIII The Tree-top Hunter IX Man and Man X The Fear-Phantom XI "King of the Apes" XII Man's Reason XIII His Own Kind XIV At the Mercy of the Jungle XV The Forest God XVI "Most Remarkable" XVII Burials XVIII The Jungle Toll XIX The Call of the Primitive XX Heredity XXI The Village of Torture XXII The Search Party XXIII Brother Men XXIV Lost Treasure XXV The Outpost of the World XXVI The Height of Civilization XXVII The Giant Again XXVIII Conclusion

Chapter I

Out to Sea

I had this story from one who had no business to tell it to me, or toany other. I may credit the seductive influence of an old vintage uponthe narrator for the beginning of it, and my own skeptical incredulityduring the days that followed for the balance of the strange tale. 

When my convivial host discovered that he had told me so much, and thatI was prone to doubtfulness, his foolish pride assumed the task the oldvintage had commenced, and so he unearthed written evidence in the formof musty manuscript, and dry official records of the British ColonialOffice to support many of the salient features of his remarkablenarrative. 

I do not say the story is true, for I did not witness the happeningswhich it portrays, but the fact that in the telling of it to you I havetaken fictitious names for the principal characters quite sufficientlyevidences the sincerity of my own belief that it MAY be true. 

The yellow, mildewed pages of the diary of a man long dead, and therecords of the Colonial Office dovetail perfectly with the narrative ofmy convivial host, and so I give you the story as I painstakinglypieced it out from these several various agencies. 

If you do not find it credible you will at least be as one with me inacknowledging that it is unique, remarkable, and interesting. 

From the records of the Colonial Office and from the dead man's diarywe learn that a certain young English nobleman, whom we shall call JohnClayton, Lord Greystoke, was commissioned to make a peculiarly delicateinvestigation of conditions in a British West Coast African Colony fromwhose simple native inhabitants another European power was known to berecruiting soldiers for its native army, which it used solely for theforcible collection of rubber and ivory from the savage tribes alongthe Congo and the Aruwimi. The natives of the British Colonycomplained that many of their young men were enticed away through themedium of fair and glowing promises, but that few if any ever returnedto their families. 

The Englishmen in Africa went even further, saying that these poorblacks were held in virtual slavery, since after their terms ofenlistment expired their ignorance was imposed upon by their whiteofficers, and they were told that they had yet several years to serve. 

And so the Colonial Office appointed John Clayton to a new post inBritish West Africa, but his confidential instructions centered on athorough investigation of the unfair treatment of black Britishsubjects by the officers of a friendly European power. Why he wassent, is, however, of little moment to this story, for he never made aninvestigation, nor, in fact, did he ever reach his destination. 

Clayton was the type of Englishman that one likes best to associatewith the noblest monuments of historic achievement upon a thousandvictorious battlefields--a strong, virile man--mentally, morally, andphysically. 

In stature he was above the average height; his eyes were gray, hisfeatures regular and strong; his carriage that of perfect, robusthealth influenced by his years of army training. 

Political ambition had caused him to seek transference from the army tothe Colonial Office and so we find him, still young, entrusted with adelicate and important commission in the service of the Queen. 

When he received this appointment he was both elated and appalled. Thepreferment seemed to him in the nature of a well-merited reward forpainstaking and intelligent service, and as a stepping stone to postsof greater importance and responsibility; but, on the other hand, hehad been married to the Hon. Alice Rutherford for scarce a threemonths, and it was the thought of taking this fair young girl into thedangers and isolation of tropical Africa that appalled him. 

For her sake he would have refused the appointment, but she would nothave it so. Instead she insisted that he accept, and, indeed, take herwith him. 

There were mothers and brothers and sisters, and aunts and cousins toexpress various opinions on the subject, but as to what they severallyadvised history is silent. 

We know only that on a bright May morning in 1888, John, LordGreystoke, and Lady Alice sailed from Dover on their way to Africa. 

A month later they arrived at Freetown where they chartered a smallsailing vessel, the Fuwalda, which was to bear them to their finaldestination. 

And here John, Lord Greystoke, and Lady Alice, his wife, vanished fromthe eyes and from the knowledge of men. 

Two months after they weighed anchor and cleared from the port ofFreetown a half dozen British war vessels were scouring the southAtlantic for trace of them or their little vessel, and it was almostimmediately that the wreckage was found upon the shores of St. Helenawhich convinced the world that the Fuwalda had gone down with all onboard, and hence the search was stopped ere it had scarce begun; thoughhope lingered in longing hearts for many years. 

The Fuwalda, a barkentine of about one hundred tons, was a vessel ofthe type often seen in coastwise trade in the far southern Atlantic, their crews composed of the offscourings of the sea--unhanged murderersand cutthroats of every race and every nation. 

The Fuwalda was no exception to the rule. Her officers were swarthybullies, hating and hated by their crew. The captain, while acompetent seaman, was a brute in his treatment of his men. He knew, orat least he used, but two arguments in his dealings with them--abelaying pin and a revolver--nor is it likely that the motleyaggregation he signed would have understood aught else. 

So it was that from the second day out from Freetown John Clayton andhis young wife witnessed scenes upon the deck of the Fuwalda such asthey had believed were never enacted outside the covers of printedstories of the sea. 

It was on the morning of the second day that the first link was forgedin what was destined to form a chain of circumstances ending in a lifefor one then unborn such as has never been paralleled in the history ofman. 

Two sailors were washing down the decks of the Fuwalda, the first matewas on duty, and the captain had stopped to speak with John Clayton andLady Alice. 

The men were working backwards toward the little party who were facingaway from the sailors. Closer and closer they came, until one of themwas directly behind the captain. In another moment he would havepassed by and this strange narrative would never have been recorded. 

But just that instant the officer turned to leave Lord and LadyGreystoke, and, as he did so, tripped against the sailor and sprawledheadlong upon the deck, overturning the water-pail so that he wasdrenched in its dirty contents. 

For an instant the scene was ludicrous; but only for an instant. Witha volley of awful oaths, his face suffused with the scarlet ofmortification and rage, the captain regained his feet, and with aterrific blow felled the sailor to the deck. 

The man was small and rather old, so that the brutality of the act wasthus accentuated. The other seaman, however, was neither old norsmall--a huge bear of a man, with fierce black mustachios, and a greatbull neck set between massive shoulders. 

As he saw his mate go down he crouched, and, with a low snarl, sprangupon the captain crushing him to his knees with a single mighty blow. 

From scarlet the officer's face went white, for this was mutiny; andmutiny he had met and subdued before in his brutal career. Withoutwaiting to rise he whipped a revolver from his pocket, firing pointblank at the great mountain of muscle towering before him; but, quickas he was, John Clayton was almost as quick, so that the bullet whichwas intended for the sailor's heart lodged in the sailor's leg instead, for Lord Greystoke had struck down the captain's arm as he had seen theweapon flash in the sun. 

Words passed between Clayton and the captain, the former making itplain that he was disgusted with the brutality displayed toward thecrew, nor would he countenance anything further of the kind while heand Lady Greystoke remained passengers. 

The captain was on the point of making an angry reply, but, thinkingbetter of it, turned on his heel and black and scowling, strode aft. 

He did not care to antagonize an English official, for the Queen'smighty arm wielded a punitive instrument which he could appreciate, andwhich he feared--England's far-reaching navy. 

The two sailors picked themselves up, the older man assisting hiswounded comrade to rise. The big fellow, who was known among his matesas Black Michael, tried his leg gingerly, and, finding that it bore hisweight, turned to Clayton with a word of gruff thanks. 

Though the fellow's tone was surly, his words were evidently wellmeant. Ere he had scarce finished his little speech he had turned andwas limping off toward the forecastle with the very apparent intentionof forestalling any further conversation. 

They did not see him again for several days, nor did the captain accordthem more than the surliest of grunts when he was forced to speak tothem. 

They took their meals in his cabin, as they had before the unfortunateoccurrence; but the captain was careful to see that his duties neverpermitted him to eat at the same time. 

The other officers were coarse, illiterate fellows, but little abovethe villainous crew they bullied, and were only too glad to avoidsocial intercourse with the polished English noble and his lady, sothat the Claytons were left very much to themselves. 

This in itself accorded perfectly with their desires, but it alsorather isolated them from the life of the little ship so that they wereunable to keep in touch with the daily happenings which were toculminate so soon in bloody tragedy. 

There was in the whole atmosphere of the craft that undefinablesomething which presages disaster. Outwardly, to the knowledge of theClaytons, all went on as before upon the little vessel; but that therewas an undertow leading them toward some unknown danger both felt, though they did not speak of it to each other. 

On the second day after the wounding of Black Michael, Clayton came ondeck just in time to see the limp body of one of the crew being carriedbelow by four of his fellows while the first mate, a heavy belaying pinin his hand, stood glowering at the little party of sullen sailors. 

Clayton asked no questions--he did not need to--and the following day, as the great lines of a British battleship grew out of the distanthorizon, he half determined to demand that he and Lady Alice be putaboard her, for his fears were steadily increasing that nothing butharm could result from remaining on the lowering, sullen Fuwalda. 

Toward noon they were within speaking distance of the British vessel, but when Clayton had nearly decided to ask the captain to put themaboard her, the obvious ridiculousness of such a request becamesuddenly apparent. What reason could he give the officer commandingher majesty's ship for desiring to go back in the direction from whichhe had just come!

What if he told them that two insubordinate seamen had been roughlyhandled by their officers? They would but laugh in their sleeves andattribute his reason for wishing to leave the ship to but onething--cowardice. 

John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, did not ask to be transferred to theBritish man-of-war. Late in the afternoon he saw her upper works fadebelow the far horizon, but not before he learned that which confirmedhis greatest fears, and caused him to curse the false pride which hadrestrained him from seeking safety for his young wife a few short hoursbefore, when safety was within reach--a safety which was now goneforever. 

It was mid-afternoon that brought the little old sailor, who had beenfelled by the captain a few days before, to where Clayton and his wifestood by the ship's side watching the ever diminishing outlines of thegreat battleship. The old fellow was polishing brasses, and as he cameedging along until close to Clayton he said, in an undertone:

"'Ell's to pay, sir, on this 'ere craft, an' mark my word for it, sir. 'Ell's to pay. "

"What do you mean, my good fellow?" asked Clayton. 

"Wy, hasn't ye seen wats goin' on? Hasn't ye 'eard that devil's spawnof a capting an' is mates knockin' the bloomin' lights outen 'arf thecrew?

"Two busted 'eads yeste'day, an' three to-day. Black Michael's as goodas new agin an' 'e's not the bully to stand fer it, not 'e; an' mark myword for it, sir. "

"You mean, my man, that the crew contemplates mutiny?" asked Clayton. 

"Mutiny!" exclaimed the old fellow. "Mutiny! They means murder, sir, an' mark my word for it, sir. "

"When?"

"Hit's comin', sir; hit's comin' but I'm not a-sayin' wen, an' I'vesaid too damned much now, but ye was a good sort t'other day an' Ithought it no more'n right to warn ye. But keep a still tongue in yer'ead an' when ye 'ear shootin' git below an' stay there. 

"That's all, only keep a still tongue in yer 'ead, or they'll put apill between yer ribs, an' mark my word for it, sir, " and the oldfellow went on with his polishing, which carried him away from wherethe Claytons were standing. 

"Deuced cheerful outlook, Alice, " said Clayton. 

"You should warn the captain at once, John. Possibly the trouble mayyet be averted, " she said. 

"I suppose I should, but yet from purely selfish motives I am almostprompted to 'keep a still tongue in my 'ead. ' Whatever they do now theywill spare us in recognition of my stand for this fellow Black Michael, but should they find that I had betrayed them there would be no mercyshown us, Alice. "

"You have but one duty, John, and that lies in the interest of vestedauthority. If you do not warn the captain you are as much a party towhatever follows as though you had helped to plot and carry it out withyour own head and hands. "

"You do not understand, dear, " replied Clayton. "It is of you I amthinking--there lies my first duty. The captain has brought thiscondition upon himself, so why then should I risk subjecting my wife tounthinkable horrors in a probably futile attempt to save him from hisown brutal folly? You have no conception, dear, of what would followwere this pack of cutthroats to gain control of the Fuwalda. "

"Duty is duty, John, and no amount of sophistries may change it. Iwould be a poor wife for an English lord were I to be responsible forhis shirking a plain duty. I realize the danger which must follow, butI can face it with you. "

"Have it as you will then, Alice, " he answered, smiling. "Maybe we areborrowing trouble. While I do not like the looks of things on boardthis ship, they may not be so bad after all, for it is possible thatthe 'Ancient Mariner' was but voicing the desires of his wicked oldheart rather than speaking of real facts. 

"Mutiny on the high sea may have been common a hundred years ago, butin this good year 1888 it is the least likely of happenings. 

"But there goes the captain to his cabin now. If I am going to warnhim I might as well get the beastly job over for I have little stomachto talk with the brute at all. "

So saying he strolled carelessly in the direction of the companionwaythrough which the captain had passed, and a moment later was knockingat his door. 

"Come in, " growled the deep tones of that surly officer. 

And when Clayton had entered, and closed the door behind him:

"Well?"

"I have come to report the gist of a conversation I heard to-day, because I feel that, while there may be nothing to it, it is as wellthat you be forearmed. In short, the men contemplate mutiny andmurder. "

"It's a lie!" roared the captain. "And if you have been interferingagain with the discipline of this ship, or meddling in affairs thatdon't concern you you can take the consequences, and be damned. Idon't care whether you are an English lord or not. I'm captain of thishere ship, and from now on you keep your meddling nose out of mybusiness. "

The captain had worked himself up to such a frenzy of rage that he wasfairly purple of face, and he shrieked the last words at the top of hisvoice, emphasizing his remarks by a loud thumping of the table with onehuge fist, and shaking the other in Clayton's face. 

Greystoke never turned a hair, but stood eying the excited man withlevel gaze. 

"Captain Billings, " he drawled finally, "if you will pardon my candor, I might remark that you are something of an ass. "

Whereupon he turned and left the captain with the same indifferent easethat was habitual with him, and which was more surely calculated toraise the ire of a man of Billings' class than a torrent of invective. 

So, whereas the captain might easily have been brought to regret hishasty speech had Clayton attempted to conciliate him, his temper wasnow irrevocably set in the mold in which Clayton had left it, and thelast chance of their working together for their common good was gone. 

"Well, Alice, " said Clayton, as he rejoined his wife, "I might havesaved my breath. The fellow proved most ungrateful. Fairly jumped atme like a mad dog. 

"He and his blasted old ship may hang, for aught I care; and until weare safely off the thing I shall spend my energies in looking after ourown welfare. And I rather fancy the first step to that end should beto go to our cabin and look over my revolvers. I am sorry now that wepacked the larger guns and the ammunition with the stuff below. "

They found their quarters in a bad state of disorder. Clothing fromtheir open boxes and bags strewed the little apartment, and even theirbeds had been torn to pieces. 

"Evidently someone was more anxious about our belongings than we, " saidClayton. "Let's have a look around, Alice, and see what's missing. "

A thorough search revealed the fact that nothing had been taken butClayton's two revolvers and the small supply of ammunition he had savedout for them. 

"Those are the very things I most wish they had left us, " said Clayton, "and the fact that they wished for them and them alone is mostsinister. "

"What are we to do, John?" asked his wife. "Perhaps you were right inthat our best chance lies in maintaining a neutral position. 

"If the officers are able to prevent a mutiny, we have nothing to fear, while if the mutineers are victorious our one slim hope lies in nothaving attempted to thwart or antagonize them. "

"Right you are, Alice. We'll keep in the middle of the road. "

As they started to straighten up their cabin, Clayton and his wifesimultaneously noticed the corner of a piece of paper protruding frombeneath the door of their quarters. As Clayton stooped to reach for ithe was amazed to see it move further into the room, and then herealized that it was being pushed inward by someone from without. 

Quickly and silently he stepped toward the door, but, as he reached forthe knob to throw it open, his wife's hand fell upon his wrist. 

"No, John, " she whispered. "They do not wish to be seen, and so wecannot afford to see them. Do not forget that we are keeping to themiddle of the road. "

Clayton smiled and dropped his hand to his side. Thus they stoodwatching the little bit of white paper until it finally remained atrest upon the floor just inside the door. 

Then Clayton stooped and picked it up. It was a bit of grimy, whitepaper roughly folded into a ragged square. Opening it they found acrude message printed almost illegibly, and with many evidences of anunaccustomed task. 

Translated, it was a warning to the Claytons to refrain from reportingthe loss of the revolvers, or from repeating what the old sailor hadtold them--to refrain on pain of death. 

"I rather imagine we'll be good, " said Clayton with a rueful smile. "About all we can do is to sit tight and wait for whatever may come. "

Chapter II

The Savage Home

Nor did they have long to wait, for the next morning as Clayton wasemerging on deck for his accustomed walk before breakfast, a shot rangout, and then another, and another. 

The sight which met his eyes confirmed his worst fears. Facing thelittle knot of officers was the entire motley crew of the Fuwalda, andat their head stood Black Michael. 

At the first volley from the officers the men ran for shelter, and frompoints of vantage behind masts, wheel-house and cabin they returned thefire of the five men who represented the hated authority of the ship. 

Two of their number had gone down before the captain's revolver. Theylay where they had fallen between the combatants. But then the firstmate lunged forward upon his face, and at a cry of command from BlackMichael the mutineers charged the remaining four. The crew had beenable to muster but six firearms, so most of them were armed with boathooks, axes, hatchets and crowbars. 

The captain had emptied his revolver and was reloading as the chargewas made. The second mate's gun had jammed, and so there were but twoweapons opposed to the mutineers as they bore down upon the officers, who now started to give back before the infuriated rush of their men. 

Both sides were cursing and swearing in a frightful manner, which, together with the reports of the firearms and the screams and groans ofthe wounded, turned the deck of the Fuwalda to the likeness of amadhouse. 

Before the officers had taken a dozen backward steps the men were uponthem. An ax in the hands of a burly Negro cleft the captain fromforehead to chin, and an instant later the others were down: dead orwounded from dozens of blows and bullet wounds. 

Short and grisly had been the work of the mutineers of the Fuwalda, andthrough it all John Clayton had stood leaning carelessly beside thecompanionway puffing meditatively upon his pipe as though he had beenbut watching an indifferent cricket match. 

As the last officer went down he thought it was time that he returnedto his wife lest some members of the crew find her alone below. 

Though outwardly calm and indifferent, Clayton was inwardlyapprehensive and wrought up, for he feared for his wife's safety at thehands of these ignorant, half-brutes into whose hands fate had soremorselessly thrown them. 

As he turned to descend the ladder he was surprised to see his wifestanding on the steps almost at his side. 

"How long have you been here, Alice?"

"Since the beginning, " she replied. "How awful, John. Oh, how awful!What can we hope for at the hands of such as those?"

"Breakfast, I hope, " he answered, smiling bravely in an attempt toallay her fears. 

"At least, " he added, "I'm going to ask them. Come with me, Alice. Wemust not let them think we expect any but courteous treatment. "

The men had by this time surrounded the dead and wounded officers, andwithout either partiality or compassion proceeded to throw both livingand dead over the sides of the vessel. With equal heartlessness theydisposed of their own dead and dying. 

Presently one of the crew spied the approaching Claytons, and with acry of: "Here's two more for the fishes, " rushed toward them withuplifted ax. 

But Black Michael was even quicker, so that the fellow went down with abullet in his back before he had taken a half dozen steps. 

With a loud roar, Black Michael attracted the attention of the others, and, pointing to Lord and Lady Greystoke, cried:

"These here are my friends, and they are to be left alone. D'yeunderstand?

"I'm captain of this ship now, an' what I says goes, " he added, turningto Clayton. "Just keep to yourselves, and nobody'll harm ye, " and helooked threateningly on his fellows. 

The Claytons heeded Black Michael's instructions so well that they sawbut little of the crew and knew nothing of the plans the men weremaking. 

Occasionally they heard faint echoes of brawls and quarreling among themutineers, and on two occasions the vicious bark of firearms rang outon the still air. But Black Michael was a fit leader for this band ofcutthroats, and, withal held them in fair subjection to his rule. 

On the fifth day following the murder of the ship's officers, land wassighted by the lookout. Whether island or mainland, Black Michael didnot know, but he announced to Clayton that if investigation showed thatthe place was habitable he and Lady Greystoke were to be put ashorewith their belongings. 

"You'll be all right there for a few months, " he explained, "and bythat time we'll have been able to make an inhabited coast somewhere andscatter a bit. Then I'll see that yer gover'ment's notified where yoube an' they'll soon send a man-o'war to fetch ye off. 

"It would be a hard matter to land you in civilization without a lot o'questions being asked, an' none o' us here has any very convincin'answers up our sleeves. "

Clayton remonstrated against the inhumanity of landing them upon anunknown shore to be left to the mercies of savage beasts, and, possibly, still more savage men. 

But his words were of no avail, and only tended to anger Black Michael, so he was forced to desist and make the best he could of a badsituation. 

About three o'clock in the afternoon they came about off a beautifulwooded shore opposite the mouth of what appeared to be a land-lockedharbor. 

Black Michael sent a small boat filled with men to sound the entrancein an effort to determine if the Fuwalda could be safely worked throughthe entrance. 

In about an hour they returned and reported deep water through thepassage as well as far into the little basin. 

Before dark the barkentine lay peacefully at anchor upon the bosom ofthe still, mirror-like surface of the harbor. 

The surrounding shores were beautiful with semitropical verdure, whilein the distance the country rose from the ocean in hill and tableland, almost uniformly clothed by primeval forest. 

No signs of habitation were visible, but that the land might easilysupport human life was evidenced by the abundant bird and animal lifeof which the watchers on the Fuwalda's deck caught occasional glimpses, as well as by the shimmer of a little river which emptied into theharbor, insuring fresh water in plenitude. 

As darkness settled upon the earth, Clayton and Lady Alice still stoodby the ship's rail in silent contemplation of their future abode. Fromthe dark shadows of the mighty forest came the wild calls of savagebeasts--the deep roar of the lion, and, occasionally, the shrill screamof a panther. 

The woman shrank closer to the man in terror-stricken anticipation ofthe horrors lying in wait for them in the awful blackness of the nightsto come, when they should be alone upon that wild and lonely shore. 

Later in the evening Black Michael joined them long enough to instructthem to make their preparations for landing on the morrow. They triedto persuade him to take them to some more hospitable coast near enoughto civilization so that they might hope to fall into friendly hands. But no pleas, or threats, or promises of reward could move him. 

"I am the only man aboard who would not rather see ye both safely dead, and, while I know that's the sensible way to make sure of our ownnecks, yet Black Michael's not the man to forget a favor. Ye saved mylife once, and in return I'm goin' to spare yours, but that's all I cando. 

"The men won't stand for any more, and if we don't get ye landed prettyquick they may even change their minds about giving ye that much show. I'll put all yer stuff ashore with ye as well as cookin' utensils an'some old sails for tents, an' enough grub to last ye until ye can findfruit and game. 

"With yer guns for protection, ye ought to be able to live here easyenough until help comes. When I get safely hid away I'll see to itthat the British gover'ment learns about where ye be; for the life ofme I couldn't tell 'em exactly where, for I don't know myself. Butthey'll find ye all right. "

After he had left them they went silently below, each wrapped in gloomyforebodings. 

Clayton did not believe that Black Michael had the slightest intentionof notifying the British government of their whereabouts, nor was heany too sure but that some treachery was contemplated for the followingday when they should be on shore with the sailors who would have toaccompany them with their belongings. 

Once out of Black Michael's sight any of the men might strike themdown, and still leave Black Michael's conscience clear. 

And even should they escape that fate was it not but to be faced withfar graver dangers? Alone, he might hope to survive for years; for hewas a strong, athletic man. 

But what of Alice, and that other little life so soon to be launchedamidst the hardships and grave dangers of a primeval world?

The man shuddered as he meditated upon the awful gravity, the fearfulhelplessness, of their situation. But it was a merciful Providencewhich prevented him from foreseeing the hideous reality which awaitedthem in the grim depths of that gloomy wood. 

Early next morning their numerous chests and boxes were hoisted on deckand lowered to waiting small boats for transportation to shore. 

There was a great quantity and variety of stuff, as the Claytons hadexpected a possible five to eight years' residence in their new home. Thus, in addition to the many necessities they had brought, there werealso many luxuries. 

Black Michael was determined that nothing belonging to the Claytonsshould be left on board. Whether out of compassion for them, or infurtherance of his own self-interests, it would be difficult to say. 

There was no question but that the presence of property of a missingBritish official upon a suspicious vessel would have been a difficultthing to explain in any civilized port in the world. 

So zealous was he in his efforts to carry out his intentions that heinsisted upon the return of Clayton's revolvers to him by the sailorsin whose possession they were. 

Into the small boats were also loaded salt meats and biscuit, with asmall supply of potatoes and beans, matches, and cooking vessels, achest of tools, and the old sails which Black Michael had promised them. 

As though himself fearing the very thing which Clayton had suspected, Black Michael accompanied them to shore, and was the last to leave themwhen the small boats, having filled the ship's casks with fresh water, were pushed out toward the waiting Fuwalda. 

As the boats moved slowly over the smooth waters of the bay, Claytonand his wife stood silently watching their departure--in the breasts ofboth a feeling of impending disaster and utter hopelessness. 

And behind them, over the edge of a low ridge, other eyeswatched--close set, wicked eyes, gleaming beneath shaggy brows. 

As the Fuwalda passed through the narrow entrance to the harbor and outof sight behind a projecting point, Lady Alice threw her arms aboutClayton's neck and burst into uncontrolled sobs. 

Bravely had she faced the dangers of the mutiny; with heroic fortitudeshe had looked into the terrible future; but now that the horror ofabsolute solitude was upon them, her overwrought nerves gave way, andthe reaction came. 

He did not attempt to check her tears. It were better that nature haveher way in relieving these long-pent emotions, and it was many minutesbefore the girl--little more than a child she was--could again gainmastery of herself. 

"Oh, John, " she cried at last, "the horror of it. What are we to do?What are we to do?"

"There is but one thing to do, Alice, " and he spoke as quietly asthough they were sitting in their snug living room at home, "and thatis work. Work must be our salvation. We must not give ourselves timeto think, for in that direction lies madness. 

"We must work and wait. I am sure that relief will come, and comequickly, when once it is apparent that the Fuwalda has been lost, eventhough Black Michael does not keep his word to us. "

"But John, if it were only you and I, " she sobbed, "we could endure itI know; but--"

"Yes, dear, " he answered, gently, "I have been thinking of that, also;but we must face it, as we must face whatever comes, bravely and withthe utmost confidence in our ability to cope with circumstanceswhatever they may be. 

"Hundreds of thousands of years ago our ancestors of the dim anddistant past faced the same problems which we must face, possibly inthese same primeval forests. That we are here today evidences theirvictory. 

"What they did may we not do? And even better, for are we not armedwith ages of superior knowledge, and have we not the means ofprotection, defense, and sustenance which science has given us, but ofwhich they were totally ignorant? What they accomplished, Alice, withinstruments and weapons of stone and bone, surely that may weaccomplish also. "

"Ah, John, I wish that I might be a man with a man's philosophy, but Iam but a woman, seeing with my heart rather than my head, and all thatI can see is too horrible, too unthinkable to put into words. 

"I only hope you are right, John. I will do my best to be a braveprimeval woman, a fit mate for the primeval man. "

Clayton's first thought was to arrange a sleeping shelter for thenight; something which might serve to protect them from prowling beastsof prey. 

He opened the box containing his rifles and ammunition, that they mightboth be armed against possible attack while at work, and then togetherthey sought a location for their first night's sleeping place. 

A hundred yards from the beach was a little level spot, fairly free oftrees; here they decided eventually to build a permanent house, but forthe time being they both thought it best to construct a little platformin the trees out of reach of the larger of the savage beasts in whoserealm they were. 

To this end Clayton selected four trees which formed a rectangle abouteight feet square, and cutting long branches from other trees heconstructed a framework around them, about ten feet from the ground, fastening the ends of the branches securely to the trees by means ofrope, a quantity of which Black Michael had furnished him from the holdof the Fuwalda. 

Across this framework Clayton placed other smaller branches quite closetogether. This platform he paved with the huge fronds of elephant'sear which grew in profusion about them, and over the fronds he laid agreat sail folded into several thicknesses. 

Seven feet higher he constructed a similar, though lighter platform toserve as roof, and from the sides of this he suspended the balance ofhis sailcloth for walls. 

When completed he had a rather snug little nest, to which he carriedtheir blankets and some of the lighter luggage. 

It was now late in the afternoon, and the balance of the daylight hourswere devoted to the building of a rude ladder by means of which LadyAlice could mount to her new home. 

All during the day the forest about them had been filled with excitedbirds of brilliant plumage, and dancing, chattering monkeys, whowatched these new arrivals and their wonderful nest building operationswith every mark of keenest interest and fascination. 

Notwithstanding that both Clayton and his wife kept a sharp lookoutthey saw nothing of larger animals, though on two occasions they hadseen their little simian neighbors come screaming and chattering fromthe near-by ridge, casting frightened glances back over their littleshoulders, and evincing as plainly as though by speech that they werefleeing some terrible thing which lay concealed there. 

Just before dusk Clayton finished his ladder, and, filling a greatbasin with water from the near-by stream, the two mounted to thecomparative safety of their aerial chamber. 

As it was quite warm, Clayton had left the side curtains thrown backover the roof, and as they sat, like Turks, upon their blankets, LadyAlice, straining her eyes into the darkening shadows of the wood, suddenly reached out and grasped Clayton's arms. 

"John, " she whispered, "look! What is it, a man?"

As Clayton turned his eyes in the direction she indicated, he sawsilhouetted dimly against the shadows beyond, a great figure standingupright upon the ridge. 

For a moment it stood as though listening and then turned slowly, andmelted into the shadows of the jungle. 

"What is it, John?"

"I do not know, Alice, " he answered gravely, "it is too dark to see sofar, and it may have been but a shadow cast by the rising moon. "

"No, John, if it was not a man it was some huge and grotesque mockeryof man. Oh, I am afraid. "

He gathered her in his arms, whispering words of courage and love intoher ears. 

Soon after, he lowered the curtain walls, tying them securely to thetrees so that, except for a little opening toward the beach, they wereentirely enclosed. 

As it was now pitch dark within their tiny aerie they lay down upontheir blankets to try to gain, through sleep, a brief respite offorgetfulness. 

Clayton lay facing the opening at the front, a rifle and a brace ofrevolvers at his hand. 

Scarcely had they closed their eyes than the terrifying cry of apanther rang out from the jungle behind them. Closer and closer itcame until they could hear the great beast directly beneath them. Foran hour or more they heard it sniffing and clawing at the trees whichsupported their platform, but at last it roamed away across the beach, where Clayton could see it clearly in the brilliant moonlight--a great, handsome beast, the largest he had ever seen. 

During the long hours of darkness they caught but fitful snatches ofsleep, for the night noises of a great jungle teeming with myriadanimal life kept their overwrought nerves on edge, so that a hundredtimes they were startled to wakefulness by piercing screams, or thestealthy moving of great bodies beneath them. 

Chapter III

Life and Death

Morning found them but little, if at all refreshed, though it was witha feeling of intense relief that they saw the day dawn. 

As soon as they had made their meager breakfast of salt pork, coffeeand biscuit, Clayton commenced work upon their house, for he realizedthat they could hope for no safety and no peace of mind at night untilfour strong walls effectually barred the jungle life from them. 

The task was an arduous one and required the better part of a month, though he built but one small room. He constructed his cabin of smalllogs about six inches in diameter, stopping the chinks with clay whichhe found at the depth of a few feet beneath the surface soil. 

At one end he built a fireplace of small stones from the beach. Thesealso he set in clay and when the house had been entirely completed heapplied a coating of the clay to the entire outside surface to thethickness of four inches. 

In the window opening he set small branches about an inch in diameterboth vertically and horizontally, and so woven that they formed asubstantial grating that could withstand the strength of a powerfulanimal. Thus they obtained air and proper ventilation without fear oflessening the safety of their cabin. 

The A-shaped roof was thatched with small branches laid close togetherand over these long jungle grass and palm fronds, with a final coatingof clay. 

The door he built of pieces of the packing-boxes which had held theirbelongings, nailing one piece upon another, the grain of contiguouslayers running transversely, until he had a solid body some threeinches thick and of such great strength that they were both moved tolaughter as they gazed upon it. 

Here the greatest difficulty confronted Clayton, for he had no meanswhereby to hang his massive door now that he had built it. After twodays' work, however, he succeeded in fashioning two massive hardwoodhinges, and with these he hung the door so that it opened and closedeasily. 

The stuccoing and other final touches were added after they moved intothe house, which they had done as soon as the roof was on, piling theirboxes before the door at night and thus having a comparatively safe andcomfortable habitation. 

The building of a bed, chairs, table, and shelves was a relatively easymatter, so that by the end of the second month they were well settled, and, but for the constant dread of attack by wild beasts and the evergrowing loneliness, they were not uncomfortable or unhappy. 

At night great beasts snarled and roared about their tiny cabin, but, so accustomed may one become to oft repeated noises, that soon theypaid little attention to them, sleeping soundly the whole night through. 

Thrice had they caught fleeting glimpses of great man-like figures likethat of the first night, but never at sufficiently close range to knowpositively whether the half-seen forms were those of man or brute. 

The brilliant birds and the little monkeys had become accustomed totheir new acquaintances, and as they had evidently never seen humanbeings before they presently, after their first fright had worn off, approached closer and closer, impelled by that strange curiosity whichdominates the wild creatures of the forest and the jungle and theplain, so that within the first month several of the birds had gone sofar as even to accept morsels of food from the friendly hands of theClaytons. 

One afternoon, while Clayton was working upon an addition to theircabin, for he contemplated building several more rooms, a number oftheir grotesque little friends came shrieking and scolding through thetrees from the direction of the ridge. Ever as they fled they castfearful glances back of them, and finally they stopped near Claytonjabbering excitedly to him as though to warn him of approaching danger. 

At last he saw it, the thing the little monkeys so feared--theman-brute of which the Claytons had caught occasional fleeting glimpses. 

It was approaching through the jungle in a semi-erect position, now andthen placing the backs of its closed fists upon the ground--a greatanthropoid ape, and, as it advanced, it emitted deep guttural growlsand an occasional low barking sound. 

Clayton was at some distance from the cabin, having come to fell aparticularly perfect tree for his building operations. Grown carelessfrom months of continued safety, during which time he had seen nodangerous animals during the daylight hours, he had left his rifles andrevolvers all within the little cabin, and now that he saw the greatape crashing through the underbrush directly toward him, and from adirection which practically cut him off from escape, he felt a vaguelittle shiver play up and down his spine. 

He knew that, armed only with an ax, his chances with this ferociousmonster were small indeed--and Alice; O God, he thought, what willbecome of Alice?

There was yet a slight chance of reaching the cabin. He turned and rantoward it, shouting an alarm to his wife to run in and close the greatdoor in case the ape cut off his retreat. 

Lady Greystoke had been sitting a little way from the cabin, and whenshe heard his cry she looked up to see the ape springing with almostincredible swiftness, for so large and awkward an animal, in an effortto head off Clayton. 

With a low cry she sprang toward the cabin, and, as she entered, gave abackward glance which filled her soul with terror, for the brute hadintercepted her husband, who now stood at bay grasping his ax with bothhands ready to swing it upon the infuriated animal when he should makehis final charge. 

"Close and bolt the door, Alice, " cried Clayton. "I can finish thisfellow with my ax. "

But he knew he was facing a horrible death, and so did she. 

The ape was a great bull, weighing probably three hundred pounds. Hisnasty, close-set eyes gleamed hatred from beneath his shaggy brows, while his great canine fangs were bared in a horrid snarl as he pauseda moment before his prey. 

Over the brute's shoulder Clayton could see the doorway of his cabin, not twenty paces distant, and a great wave of horror and fear sweptover him as he saw his young wife emerge, armed with one of his rifles. 

She had always been afraid of firearms, and would never touch them, butnow she rushed toward the ape with the fearlessness of a lionessprotecting its young. 

"Back, Alice, " shouted Clayton, "for God's sake, go back. "

But she would not heed, and just then the ape charged, so that Claytoncould say no more. 

The man swung his ax with all his mighty strength, but the powerfulbrute seized it in those terrible hands, and tearing it from Clayton'sgrasp hurled it far to one side. 

With an ugly snarl he closed upon his defenseless victim, but ere hisfangs had reached the throat they thirsted for, there was a sharpreport and a bullet entered the ape's back between his shoulders. 

Throwing Clayton to the ground the beast turned upon his new enemy. There before him stood the terrified girl vainly trying to fire anotherbullet into the animal's body; but she did not understand the mechanismof the firearm, and the hammer fell futilely upon an empty cartridge. 

Almost simultaneously Clayton regained his feet, and without thought ofthe utter hopelessness of it, he rushed forward to drag the ape fromhis wife's prostrate form. 

With little or no effort he succeeded, and the great bulk rolledinertly upon the turf before him--the ape was dead. The bullet haddone its work. 

A hasty examination of his wife revealed no marks upon her, and Claytondecided that the huge brute had died the instant he had sprung towardAlice. 

Gently he lifted his wife's still unconscious form, and bore her to thelittle cabin, but it was fully two hours before she regainedconsciousness. 

Her first words filled Clayton with vague apprehension. For some timeafter regaining her senses, Alice gazed wonderingly about the interiorof the little cabin, and then, with a satisfied sigh, said:

"O, John, it is so good to be really home! I have had an awful dream, dear. I thought we were no longer in London, but in some horribleplace where great beasts attacked us. "

"There, there, Alice, " he said, stroking her forehead, "try to sleepagain, and do not worry your head about bad dreams. "

That night a little son was born in the tiny cabin beside the primevalforest, while a leopard screamed before the door, and the deep notes ofa lion's roar sounded from beyond the ridge. 

Lady Greystoke never recovered from the shock of the great ape'sattack, and, though she lived for a year after her baby was born, shewas never again outside the cabin, nor did she ever fully realize thatshe was not in England. 

Sometimes she would question Clayton as to the strange noises of thenights; the absence of servants and friends, and the strange rudenessof the furnishings within her room, but, though he made no effort todeceive her, never could she grasp the meaning of it all. 

In other ways she was quite rational, and the joy and happiness shetook in the possession of her little son and the constant attentions ofher husband made that year a very happy one for her, the happiest ofher young life. 

That it would have been beset by worries and apprehension had she beenin full command of her mental faculties Clayton well knew; so thatwhile he suffered terribly to see her so, there were times when he wasalmost glad, for her sake, that she could not understand. 

Long since had he given up any hope of rescue, except through accident. With unremitting zeal he had worked to beautify the interior of thecabin. 

Skins of lion and panther covered the floor. Cupboards and bookcaseslined the walls. Odd vases made by his own hand from the clay of theregion held beautiful tropical flowers. Curtains of grass and bamboocovered the windows, and, most arduous task of all, with his meagerassortment of tools he had fashioned lumber to neatly seal the wallsand ceiling and lay a smooth floor within the cabin. 

That he had been able to turn his hands at all to such unaccustomedlabor was a source of mild wonder to him. But he loved the workbecause it was for her and the tiny life that had come to cheer them, though adding a hundredfold to his responsibilities and to theterribleness of their situation. 

During the year that followed, Clayton was several times attacked bythe great apes which now seemed to continually infest the vicinity ofthe cabin; but as he never again ventured outside without both rifleand revolvers he had little fear of the huge beasts. 

He had strengthened the window protections and fitted a unique woodenlock to the cabin door, so that when he hunted for game and fruits, asit was constantly necessary for him to do to insure sustenance, he hadno fear that any animal could break into the little home. 

At first he shot much of the game from the cabin windows, but towardthe end the animals learned to fear the strange lair from whence issuedthe terrifying thunder of his rifle. 

In his leisure Clayton read, often aloud to his wife, from the store ofbooks he had brought for their new home. Among these were many forlittle children--picture books, primers, readers--for they had knownthat their little child would be old enough for such before they mighthope to return to England. 

At other times Clayton wrote in his diary, which he had always beenaccustomed to keep in French, and in which he recorded the details oftheir strange life. This book he kept locked in a little metal box. 

A year from the day her little son was born Lady Alice passed quietlyaway in the night. So peaceful was her end that it was hours beforeClayton could awake to a realization that his wife was dead. 

The horror of the situation came to him very slowly, and it is doubtfulthat he ever fully realized the enormity of his sorrow and the fearfulresponsibility that had devolved upon him with the care of that weething, his son, still a nursing babe. 

The last entry in his diary was made the morning following her death, and there he recites the sad details in a matter-of-fact way that addsto the pathos of it; for it breathes a tired apathy born of long sorrowand hopelessness, which even this cruel blow could scarcely awake tofurther suffering:

My little son is crying for nourishment--O Alice, Alice, what shall Ido?

And as John Clayton wrote the last words his hand was destined ever topen, he dropped his head wearily upon his outstretched arms where theyrested upon the table he had built for her who lay still and cold inthe bed beside him. 

For a long time no sound broke the deathlike stillness of the junglemidday save the piteous wailing of the tiny man-child. 

Chapter IV

The Apes

In the forest of the table-land a mile back from the ocean old Kerchakthe Ape was on a rampage of rage among his people. 

The younger and lighter members of his tribe scampered to the higherbranches of the great trees to escape his wrath; risking their livesupon branches that scarce supported their weight rather than face oldKerchak in one of his fits of uncontrolled anger. 

The other males scattered in all directions, but not before theinfuriated brute had felt the vertebra of one snap between his great, foaming jaws. 

A luckless young female slipped from an insecure hold upon a highbranch and came crashing to the ground almost at Kerchak's feet. 

With a wild scream he was upon her, tearing a great piece from her sidewith his mighty teeth, and striking her viciously upon her head andshoulders with a broken tree limb until her skull was crushed to ajelly. 

And then he spied Kala, who, returning from a search for food with heryoung babe, was ignorant of the state of the mighty male's temper untilsuddenly the shrill warnings of her fellows caused her to scamper madlyfor safety. 

But Kerchak was close upon her, so close that he had almost grasped herankle had she not made a furious leap far into space from one tree toanother--a perilous chance which apes seldom if ever take, unless soclosely pursued by danger that there is no alternative. 

She made the leap successfully, but as she grasped the limb of thefurther tree the sudden jar loosened the hold of the tiny babe where itclung frantically to her neck, and she saw the little thing hurled, turning and twisting, to the ground thirty feet below. 

With a low cry of dismay Kala rushed headlong to its side, thoughtlessnow of the danger from Kerchak; but when she gathered the wee, mangledform to her bosom life had left it. 

With low moans, she sat cuddling the body to her; nor did Kerchakattempt to molest her. With the death of the babe his fit ofdemoniacal rage passed as suddenly as it had seized him. 

Kerchak was a huge king ape, weighing perhaps three hundred and fiftypounds. His forehead was extremely low and receding, his eyesbloodshot, small and close set to his coarse, flat nose; his ears largeand thin, but smaller than most of his kind. 

His awful temper and his mighty strength made him supreme among thelittle tribe into which he had been born some twenty years before. 

Now that he was in his prime, there was no simian in all the mightyforest through which he roved that dared contest his right to rule, nordid the other and larger animals molest him. 

Old Tantor, the elephant, alone of all the wild savage life, feared himnot--and he alone did Kerchak fear. When Tantor trumpeted, the greatape scurried with his fellows high among the trees of the secondterrace. 

The tribe of anthropoids over which Kerchak ruled with an iron hand andbared fangs, numbered some six or eight families, each familyconsisting of an adult male with his females and their young, numberingin all some sixty or seventy apes. 

Kala was the youngest mate of a male called Tublat, meaning brokennose, and the child she had seen dashed to death was her first; for shewas but nine or ten years old. 

Notwithstanding her youth, she was large and powerful--a splendid, clean-limbed animal, with a round, high forehead, which denoted moreintelligence than most of her kind possessed. So, also, she had agreat capacity for mother love and mother sorrow. 

But she was still an ape, a huge, fierce, terrible beast of a speciesclosely allied to the gorilla, yet more intelligent; which, with thestrength of their cousin, made her kind the most fearsome of thoseawe-inspiring progenitors of man. 

When the tribe saw that Kerchak's rage had ceased they came slowly downfrom their arboreal retreats and pursued again the various occupationswhich he had interrupted. 

The young played and frolicked about among the trees and bushes. Someof the adults lay prone upon the soft mat of dead and decayingvegetation which covered the ground, while others turned over pieces offallen branches and clods of earth in search of the small bugs andreptiles which formed a part of their food. 

Others, again, searched the surrounding trees for fruit, nuts, smallbirds, and eggs. 

They had passed an hour or so thus when Kerchak called them together, and, with a word of command to them to follow him, set off toward thesea. 

They traveled for the most part upon the ground, where it was open, following the path of the great elephants whose comings and goingsbreak the only roads through those tangled mazes of bush, vine, creeper, and tree. When they walked it was with a rolling, awkwardmotion, placing the knuckles of their closed hands upon the ground andswinging their ungainly bodies forward. 

But when the way was through the lower trees they moved more swiftly, swinging from branch to branch with the agility of their smallercousins, the monkeys. And all the way Kala carried her little deadbaby hugged closely to her breast. 

It was shortly after noon when they reached a ridge overlooking thebeach where below them lay the tiny cottage which was Kerchak's goal. 

He had seen many of his kind go to their deaths before the loud noisemade by the little black stick in the hands of the strange white apewho lived in that wonderful lair, and Kerchak had made up his brutemind to own that death-dealing contrivance, and to explore the interiorof the mysterious den. 

He wanted, very, very much, to feel his teeth sink into the neck of thequeer animal that he had learned to hate and fear, and because of this, he came often with his tribe to reconnoiter, waiting for a time whenthe white ape should be off his guard. 

Of late they had quit attacking, or even showing themselves; for everytime they had done so in the past the little stick had roared out itsterrible message of death to some member of the tribe. 

Today there was no sign of the man about, and from where they watchedthey could see that the cabin door was open. Slowly, cautiously, andnoiselessly they crept through the jungle toward the little cabin. 

There were no growls, no fierce screams of rage--the little black stickhad taught them to come quietly lest they awaken it. 

On, on they came until Kerchak himself slunk stealthily to the verydoor and peered within. Behind him were two males, and then Kala, closely straining the little dead form to her breast. 

Inside the den they saw the strange white ape lying half across atable, his head buried in his arms; and on the bed lay a figure coveredby a sailcloth, while from a tiny rustic cradle came the plaintivewailing of a babe. 

Noiselessly Kerchak entered, crouching for the charge; and then JohnClayton rose with a sudden start and faced them. 

The sight that met his eyes must have frozen him with horror, forthere, within the door, stood three great bull apes, while behind themcrowded many more; how many he never knew, for his revolvers werehanging on the far wall beside his rifle, and Kerchak was charging. 

When the king ape released the limp form which had been John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, he turned his attention toward the little cradle; butKala was there before him, and when he would have grasped the child shesnatched it herself, and before he could intercept her she had boltedthrough the door and taken refuge in a high tree. 

As she took up the little live baby of Alice Clayton she dropped thedead body of her own into the empty cradle; for the wail of the livinghad answered the call of universal motherhood within her wild breastwhich the dead could not still. 

High up among the branches of a mighty tree she hugged the shriekinginfant to her bosom, and soon the instinct that was as dominant in thisfierce female as it had been in the breast of his tender and beautifulmother--the instinct of mother love--reached out to the tinyman-child's half-formed understanding, and he became quiet. 

Then hunger closed the gap between them, and the son of an English lordand an English lady nursed at the breast of Kala, the great ape. 

In the meantime the beasts within the cabin were warily examining thecontents of this strange lair. 

Once satisfied that Clayton was dead, Kerchak turned his attention tothe thing which lay upon the bed, covered by a piece of sailcloth. 

Gingerly he lifted one corner of the shroud, but when he saw the bodyof the woman beneath he tore the cloth roughly from her form and seizedthe still, white throat in his huge, hairy hands. 

A moment he let his fingers sink deep into the cold flesh, and then, realizing that she was already dead, he turned from her, to examine thecontents of the room; nor did he again molest the body of either LadyAlice or Sir John. 

The rifle hanging upon the wall caught his first attention; it was forthis strange, death-dealing thunder-stick that he had yearned formonths; but now that it was within his grasp he scarcely had thetemerity to seize it. 

Cautiously he approached the thing, ready to flee precipitately shouldit speak in its deep roaring tones, as he had heard it speak before, the last words to those of his kind who, through ignorance or rashness, had attacked the wonderful white ape that had borne it. 

Deep in the beast's intelligence was something which assured him thatthe thunder-stick was only dangerous when in the hands of one who couldmanipulate it, but yet it was several minutes ere he could bringhimself to touch it. 

Instead, he walked back and forth along the floor before it, turninghis head so that never once did his eyes leave the object of his desire. 

Using his long arms as a man uses crutches, and rolling his hugecarcass from side to side with each stride, the great king ape paced toand fro, uttering deep growls, occasionally punctuated with theear-piercing scream, than which there is no more terrifying noise inall the jungle. 

Presently he halted before the rifle. Slowly he raised a huge handuntil it almost touched the shining barrel, only to withdraw it oncemore and continue his hurried pacing. 

It was as though the great brute by this show of fearlessness, andthrough the medium of his wild voice, was endeavoring to bolster up hiscourage to the point which would permit him to take the rifle in hishand. 

Again he stopped, and this time succeeded in forcing his reluctant handto the cold steel, only to snatch it away almost immediately and resumehis restless beat. 

Time after time this strange ceremony was repeated, but on eachoccasion with increased confidence, until, finally, the rifle was tornfrom its hook and lay in the grasp of the great brute. 

Finding that it harmed him not, Kerchak began to examine it closely. He felt of it from end to end, peered down the black depths of themuzzle, fingered the sights, the breech, the stock, and finally thetrigger. 

During all these operations the apes who had entered sat huddled nearthe door watching their chief, while those outside strained and crowdedto catch a glimpse of what transpired within. 

Suddenly Kerchak's finger closed upon the trigger. There was adeafening roar in the little room and the apes at and beyond the doorfell over one another in their wild anxiety to escape. 

Kerchak was equally frightened, so frightened, in fact, that he quiteforgot to throw aside the author of that fearful noise, but bolted forthe door with it tightly clutched in one hand. 

As he passed through the opening, the front sight of the rifle caughtupon the edge of the inswung door with sufficient force to close ittightly after the fleeing ape. 

When Kerchak came to a halt a short distance from the cabin anddiscovered that he still held the rifle, he dropped it as he might havedropped a red hot iron, nor did he again attempt to recover it--thenoise was too much for his brute nerves; but he was now quite convincedthat the terrible stick was quite harmless by itself if left alone. 

It was an hour before the apes could again bring themselves to approachthe cabin to continue their investigations, and when they finally didso, they found to their chagrin that the door was closed and sosecurely fastened that they could not force it. 

The cleverly constructed latch which Clayton had made for the door hadsprung as Kerchak passed out; nor could the apes find means of ingressthrough the heavily barred windows. 

After roaming about the vicinity for a short time, they started backfor the deeper forests and the higher land from whence they had come. 

Kala had not once come to earth with her little adopted babe, but nowKerchak called to her to descend with the rest, and as there was nonote of anger in his voice she dropped lightly from branch to branchand joined the others on their homeward march. 

Those of the apes who attempted to examine Kala's strange baby wererepulsed with bared fangs and low menacing growls, accompanied by wordsof warning from Kala. 

When they assured her that they meant the child no harm she permittedthem to come close, but would not allow them to touch her charge. 

It was as though she knew that her baby was frail and delicate andfeared lest the rough hands of her fellows might injure the littlething. 

Another thing she did, and which made traveling an onerous trial forher. Remembering the death of her own little one, she clungdesperately to the new babe, with one hand, whenever they were upon themarch. 

The other young rode upon their mothers' backs; their little armstightly clasping the hairy necks before them, while their legs werelocked beneath their mothers' armpits. 

Not so with Kala; she held the small form of the little Lord Greystoketightly to her breast, where the dainty hands clutched the long blackhair which covered that portion of her body. She had seen one childfall from her back to a terrible death, and she would take no furtherchances with this. 

Chapter V

The White Ape

Tenderly Kala nursed her little waif, wondering silently why it did notgain strength and agility as did the little apes of other mothers. Itwas nearly a year from the time the little fellow came into herpossession before he would walk alone, and as for climbing--my, but howstupid he was!

Kala sometimes talked with the older females about her young hopeful, but none of them could understand how a child could be so slow andbackward in learning to care for itself. Why, it could not even findfood alone, and more than twelve moons had passed since Kala had comeupon it. 

Had they known that the child had seen thirteen moons before it hadcome into Kala's possession they would have considered its case asabsolutely hopeless, for the little apes of their own tribe were as faradvanced in two or three moons as was this little stranger aftertwenty-five. 

Tublat, Kala's husband, was sorely vexed, and but for the female'scareful watching would have put the child out of the way. 

"He will never be a great ape, " he argued. "Always will you have tocarry him and protect him. What good will he be to the tribe? None;only a burden. 

"Let us leave him quietly sleeping among the tall grasses, that you maybear other and stronger apes to guard us in our old age. "

"Never, Broken Nose, " replied Kala. "If I must carry him forever, sobe it. "

And then Tublat went to Kerchak to urge him to use his authority withKala, and force her to give up little Tarzan, which was the name theyhad given to the tiny Lord Greystoke, and which meant "White-Skin. "

But when Kerchak spoke to her about it Kala threatened to run away fromthe tribe if they did not leave her in peace with the child; and asthis is one of the inalienable rights of the jungle folk, if they bedissatisfied among their own people, they bothered her no more, forKala was a fine clean-limbed young female, and they did not wish tolose her. 

As Tarzan grew he made more rapid strides, so that by the time he wasten years old he was an excellent climber, and on the ground could domany wonderful things which were beyond the powers of his littlebrothers and sisters. 

In many ways did he differ from them, and they often marveled at hissuperior cunning, but in strength and size he was deficient; for at tenthe great anthropoids were fully grown, some of them towering over sixfeet in height, while little Tarzan was still but a half-grown boy. 

Yet such a boy!

From early childhood he had used his hands to swing from branch tobranch after the manner of his giant mother, and as he grew older hespent hour upon hour daily speeding through the tree tops with hisbrothers and sisters. 

He could spring twenty feet across space at the dizzy heights of theforest top, and grasp with unerring precision, and without apparentjar, a limb waving wildly in the path of an approaching tornado. 

He could drop twenty feet at a stretch from limb to limb in rapiddescent to the ground, or he could gain the utmost pinnacle of theloftiest tropical giant with the ease and swiftness of a squirrel. 

Though but ten years old he was fully as strong as the average man ofthirty, and far more agile than the most practiced athlete everbecomes. And day by day his strength was increasing. 

His life among these fierce apes had been happy; for his recollectionheld no other life, nor did he know that there existed within theuniverse aught else than his little forest and the wild jungle animalswith which he was familiar. 

He was nearly ten before he commenced to realize that a greatdifference existed between himself and his fellows. His little body, burned brown by exposure, suddenly caused him feelings of intenseshame, for he realized that it was entirely hairless, like some lowsnake, or other reptile. 

He attempted to obviate this by plastering himself from head to footwith mud, but this dried and fell off. Besides it felt souncomfortable that he quickly decided that he preferred the shame tothe discomfort. 

In the higher land which his tribe frequented was a little lake, and itwas here that Tarzan first saw his face in the clear, still waters ofits bosom. 

It was on a sultry day of the dry season that he and one of his cousinshad gone down to the bank to drink. As they leaned over, both littlefaces were mirrored on the placid pool; the fierce and terriblefeatures of the ape beside those of the aristocratic scion of an oldEnglish house. 

Tarzan was appalled. It had been bad enough to be hairless, but to ownsuch a countenance! He wondered that the other apes could look at himat all. 

That tiny slit of a mouth and those puny white teeth! How they lookedbeside the mighty lips and powerful fangs of his more fortunatebrothers!

And the little pinched nose of his; so thin was it that it looked halfstarved. He turned red as he compared it with the beautiful broadnostrils of his companion. Such a generous nose! Why it spread halfacross his face! It certainly must be fine to be so handsome, thoughtpoor little Tarzan. 

But when he saw his own eyes; ah, that was the final blow--a brownspot, a gray circle and then blank whiteness! Frightful! not even thesnakes had such hideous eyes as he. 

So intent was he upon this personal appraisement of his features thathe did not hear the parting of the tall grass behind him as a greatbody pushed itself stealthily through the jungle; nor did hiscompanion, the ape, hear either, for he was drinking and the noise ofhis sucking lips and gurgles of satisfaction drowned the quiet approachof the intruder. 

Not thirty paces behind the two she crouched--Sabor, the hugelioness--lashing her tail. Cautiously she moved a great padded pawforward, noiselessly placing it before she lifted the next. Thus sheadvanced; her belly low, almost touching the surface of the ground--agreat cat preparing to spring upon its prey. 

Now she was within ten feet of the two unsuspecting littleplayfellows--carefully she drew her hind feet well up beneath her body, the great muscles rolling under the beautiful skin. 

So low she was crouching now that she seemed flattened to the earthexcept for the upward bend of the glossy back as it gathered for thespring. 

No longer the tail lashed--quiet and straight behind her it lay. 

An instant she paused thus, as though turned to stone, and then, withan awful scream, she sprang. 

Sabor, the lioness, was a wise hunter. To one less wise the wild alarmof her fierce cry as she sprang would have seemed a foolish thing, forcould she not more surely have fallen upon her victims had she butquietly leaped without that loud shriek?

But Sabor knew well the wondrous quickness of the jungle folk and theiralmost unbelievable powers of hearing. To them the sudden scraping ofone blade of grass across another was as effectual a warning as herloudest cry, and Sabor knew that she could not make that mighty leapwithout a little noise. 

Her wild scream was not a warning. It was voiced to freeze her poorvictims in a paralysis of terror for the tiny fraction of an instantwhich would suffice for her mighty claws to sink into their soft fleshand hold them beyond hope of escape. 

So far as the ape was concerned, Sabor reasoned correctly. The littlefellow crouched trembling just an instant, but that instant was quitelong enough to prove his undoing. 

Not so, however, with Tarzan, the man-child. His life amidst thedangers of the jungle had taught him to meet emergencies withself-confidence, and his higher intelligence resulted in a quickness ofmental action far beyond the powers of the apes. 

So the scream of Sabor, the lioness, galvanized the brain and musclesof little Tarzan into instant action. 

Before him lay the deep waters of the little lake, behind him certaindeath; a cruel death beneath tearing claws and rending fangs. 

Tarzan had always hated water except as a medium for quenching histhirst. He hated it because he connected it with the chill anddiscomfort of the torrential rains, and he feared it for the thunderand lightning and wind which accompanied them. 

The deep waters of the lake he had been taught by his wild mother toavoid, and further, had he not seen little Neeta sink beneath its quietsurface only a few short weeks before never to return to the tribe?

But of the two evils his quick mind chose the lesser ere the first noteof Sabor's scream had scarce broken the quiet of the jungle, and beforethe great beast had covered half her leap Tarzan felt the chill watersclose above his head. 

He could not swim, and the water was very deep; but still he lost noparticle of that self-confidence and resourcefulness which were thebadges of his superior being. 

Rapidly he moved his hands and feet in an attempt to scramble upward, and, possibly more by chance than design, he fell into the stroke thata dog uses when swimming, so that within a few seconds his nose wasabove water and he found that he could keep it there by continuing hisstrokes, and also make progress through the water. 

He was much surprised and pleased with this new acquirement which hadbeen so suddenly thrust upon him, but he had no time for thinking muchupon it. 

He was now swimming parallel to the bank and there he saw the cruelbeast that would have seized him crouching upon the still form of hislittle playmate. 

The lioness was intently watching Tarzan, evidently expecting him toreturn to shore, but this the boy had no intention of doing. 

Instead he raised his voice in the call of distress common to histribe, adding to it the warning which would prevent would-be rescuersfrom running into the clutches of Sabor. 

Almost immediately there came an answer from the distance, andpresently forty or fifty great apes swung rapidly and majesticallythrough the trees toward the scene of tragedy. 

In the lead was Kala, for she had recognized the tones of her bestbeloved, and with her was the mother of the little ape who lay deadbeneath cruel Sabor. 

Though more powerful and better equipped for fighting than the apes, the lioness had no desire to meet these enraged adults, and with asnarl of hatred she sprang quickly into the brush and disappeared. 

Tarzan now swam to shore and clambered quickly upon dry land. Thefeeling of freshness and exhilaration which the cool waters hadimparted to him, filled his little being with grateful surprise, andever after he lost no opportunity to take a daily plunge in lake orstream or ocean when it was possible to do so. 

For a long time Kala could not accustom herself to the sight; forthough her people could swim when forced to it, they did not like toenter water, and never did so voluntarily. 

The adventure with the lioness gave Tarzan food for pleasurablememories, for it was such affairs which broke the monotony of his dailylife--otherwise but a dull round of searching for food, eating, andsleeping. 

The tribe to which he belonged roamed a tract extending, roughly, twenty-five miles along the seacoast and some fifty miles inland. Thisthey traversed almost continually, occasionally remaining for months inone locality; but as they moved through the trees with great speed theyoften covered the territory in a very few days. 

Much depended upon food supply, climatic conditions, and the prevalenceof animals of the more dangerous species; though Kerchak often led themon long marches for no other reason than that he had tired of remainingin the same place. 

At night they slept where darkness overtook them, lying upon theground, and sometimes covering their heads, and more seldom theirbodies, with the great leaves of the elephant's ear. Two or threemight lie cuddled in each other's arms for additional warmth if thenight were chill, and thus Tarzan had slept in Kala's arms nightly forall these years. 

That the huge, fierce brute loved this child of another race is beyondquestion, and he, too, gave to the great, hairy beast all the affectionthat would have belonged to his fair young mother had she lived. 

When he was disobedient she cuffed him, it is true, but she was nevercruel to him, and was more often caressing him than chastising him. 

Tublat, her mate, always hated Tarzan, and on several occasions hadcome near ending his youthful career. 

Tarzan on his part never lost an opportunity to show that he fullyreciprocated his foster father's sentiments, and whenever he couldsafely annoy him or make faces at him or hurl insults upon him from thesafety of his mother's arms, or the slender branches of the highertrees, he did so. 

His superior intelligence and cunning permitted him to invent athousand diabolical tricks to add to the burdens of Tublat's life. 

Early in his boyhood he had learned to form ropes by twisting and tyinglong grasses together, and with these he was forever tripping Tublat orattempting to hang him from some overhanging branch. 

By constant playing and experimenting with these he learned to tie rudeknots, and make sliding nooses; and with these he and the younger apesamused themselves. What Tarzan did they tried to do also, but he aloneoriginated and became proficient. 

One day while playing thus Tarzan had thrown his rope at one of hisfleeing companions, retaining the other end in his grasp. By accidentthe noose fell squarely about the running ape's neck, bringing him to asudden and surprising halt. 

Ah, here was a new game, a fine game, thought Tarzan, and immediatelyhe attempted to repeat the trick. And thus, by painstaking andcontinued practice, he learned the art of roping. 

Now, indeed, was the life of Tublat a living nightmare. In sleep, uponthe march, night or day, he never knew when that quiet noose would slipabout his neck and nearly choke the life out of him. 

Kala punished, Tublat swore dire vengeance, and old Kerchak took noticeand warned and threatened; but all to no avail. 

Tarzan defied them all, and the thin, strong noose continued to settleabout Tublat's neck whenever he least expected it. 

The other apes derived unlimited amusement from Tublat's discomfiture, for Broken Nose was a disagreeable old fellow, whom no one liked, anyway. 

In Tarzan's clever little mind many thoughts revolved, and back ofthese was his divine power of reason. 

If he could catch his fellow apes with his long arm of many grasses, why not Sabor, the lioness?

It was the germ of a thought, which, however, was destined to mullaround in his conscious and subconscious mind until it resulted inmagnificent achievement. 

But that came in later years. 

Chapter VI

Jungle Battles

The wanderings of the tribe brought them often near the closed andsilent cabin by the little land-locked harbor. To Tarzan this wasalways a source of never-ending mystery and pleasure. 

He would peek into the curtained windows, or, climbing upon the roof, peer down the black depths of the chimney in vain endeavor to solve theunknown wonders that lay within those strong walls. 

His child-like imagination pictured wonderful creatures within, and thevery impossibility of forcing entrance added a thousandfold to hisdesire to do so. 

He could clamber about the roof and windows for hours attempting todiscover means of ingress, but to the door he paid little attention, for this was apparently as solid as the walls. 

It was in the next visit to the vicinity, following the adventure withold Sabor, that, as he approached the cabin, Tarzan noticed that from adistance the door appeared to be an independent part of the wall inwhich it was set, and for the first time it occurred to him that thismight prove the means of entrance which had so long eluded him. 

He was alone, as was often the case when he visited the cabin, for theapes had no love for it; the story of the thunder-stick having lostnothing in the telling during these ten years had quite surrounded thewhite man's deserted abode with an atmosphere of weirdness and terrorfor the simians. 

The story of his own connection with the cabin had never been told him. The language of the apes had so few words that they could talk butlittle of what they had seen in the cabin, having no words toaccurately describe either the strange people or their belongings, andso, long before Tarzan was old enough to understand, the subject hadbeen forgotten by the tribe. 

Only in a dim, vague way had Kala explained to him that his father hadbeen a strange white ape, but he did not know that Kala was not his ownmother. 

On this day, then, he went directly to the door and spent hoursexamining it and fussing with the hinges, the knob and the latch. Finally he stumbled upon the right combination, and the door swungcreakingly open before his astonished eyes. 

For some minutes he did not dare venture within, but finally, as hiseyes became accustomed to the dim light of the interior he slowly andcautiously entered. 

In the middle of the floor lay a skeleton, every vestige of flesh gonefrom the bones to which still clung the mildewed and moldered remnantsof what had once been clothing. Upon the bed lay a similar gruesomething, but smaller, while in a tiny cradle near-by was a third, a weemite of a skeleton. 

To none of these evidences of a fearful tragedy of a long dead day didlittle Tarzan give but passing heed. His wild jungle life had inuredhim to the sight of dead and dying animals, and had he known that hewas looking upon the remains of his own father and mother he would havebeen no more greatly moved. 

The furnishings and other contents of the room it was which riveted hisattention. He examined many things minutely--strange tools andweapons, books, paper, clothing--what little had withstood the ravagesof time in the humid atmosphere of the jungle coast. 

He opened chests and cupboards, such as did not baffle his smallexperience, and in these he found the contents much better preserved. 

Among other things he found a sharp hunting knife, on the keen blade ofwhich he immediately proceeded to cut his finger. Undaunted hecontinued his experiments, finding that he could hack and hew splintersof wood from the table and chairs with this new toy. 

For a long time this amused him, but finally tiring he continued hisexplorations. In a cupboard filled with books he came across one withbrightly colored pictures--it was a child's illustrated alphabet--

 A is for Archer Who shoots with a bow. B is for Boy, His first name is Joe. 

The pictures interested him greatly. 

There were many apes with faces similar to his own, and further over inthe book he found, under "M, " some little monkeys such as he saw dailyflitting through the trees of his primeval forest. But nowhere waspictured any of his own people; in all the book was none that resembledKerchak, or Tublat, or Kala. 

At first he tried to pick the little figures from the leaves, but hesoon saw that they were not real, though he knew not what they mightbe, nor had he any words to describe them. 

The boats, and trains, and cows and horses were quite meaningless tohim, but not quite so baffling as the odd little figures which appearedbeneath and between the colored pictures--some strange kind of bug hethought they might be, for many of them had legs though nowhere couldhe find one with eyes and a mouth. It was his first introduction tothe letters of the alphabet, and he was over ten years old. 

Of course he had never before seen print, or ever had spoken with anyliving thing which had the remotest idea that such a thing as a writtenlanguage existed, nor ever had he seen anyone reading. 

So what wonder that the little boy was quite at a loss to guess themeaning of these strange figures. 

Near the middle of the book he found his old enemy, Sabor, the lioness, and further on, coiled Histah, the snake. 

Oh, it was most engrossing! Never before in all his ten years had heenjoyed anything so much. So absorbed was he that he did not note theapproaching dusk, until it was quite upon him and the figures wereblurred. 

He put the book back in the cupboard and closed the door, for he didnot wish anyone else to find and destroy his treasure, and as he wentout into the gathering darkness he closed the great door of the cabinbehind him as it had been before he discovered the secret of its lock, but before he left he had noticed the hunting knife lying where he hadthrown it upon the floor, and this he picked up and took with him toshow to his fellows. 

He had taken scarce a dozen steps toward the jungle when a great formrose up before him from the shadows of a low bush. At first he thoughtit was one of his own people but in another instant he realized that itwas Bolgani, the huge gorilla. 

So close was he that there was no chance for flight and little Tarzanknew that he must stand and fight for his life; for these great beastswere the deadly enemies of his tribe, and neither one nor the otherever asked or gave quarter. 

Had Tarzan been a full-grown bull ape of the species of his tribe hewould have been more than a match for the gorilla, but being only alittle English boy, though enormously muscular for such, he stood nochance against his cruel antagonist. In his veins, though, flowed theblood of the best of a race of mighty fighters, and back of this wasthe training of his short lifetime among the fierce brutes of thejungle. 

He knew no fear, as we know it; his little heart beat the faster butfrom the excitement and exhilaration of adventure. Had the opportunitypresented itself he would have escaped, but solely because his judgmenttold him he was no match for the great thing which confronted him. Andsince reason showed him that successful flight was impossible he metthe gorilla squarely and bravely without a tremor of a single muscle, or any sign of panic. 

In fact he met the brute midway in its charge, striking its huge bodywith his closed fists and as futilely as he had been a fly attacking anelephant. But in one hand he still clutched the knife he had found inthe cabin of his father, and as the brute, striking and biting, closedupon him the boy accidentally turned the point toward the hairy breast. As the knife sank deep into its body the gorilla shrieked in pain andrage. 

But the boy had learned in that brief second a use for his sharp andshining toy, so that, as the tearing, striking beast dragged him toearth he plunged the blade repeatedly and to the hilt into its breast. 

The gorilla, fighting after the manner of its kind, struck terrificblows with its open hand, and tore the flesh at the boy's throat andchest with its mighty tusks. 

For a moment they rolled upon the ground in the fierce frenzy ofcombat. More and more weakly the torn and bleeding arm struck homewith the long sharp blade, then the little figure stiffened with aspasmodic jerk, and Tarzan, the young Lord Greystoke, rolledunconscious upon the dead and decaying vegetation which carpeted hisjungle home. 

A mile back in the forest the tribe had heard the fierce challenge ofthe gorilla, and, as was his custom when any danger threatened, Kerchakcalled his people together, partly for mutual protection against acommon enemy, since this gorilla might be but one of a party ofseveral, and also to see that all members of the tribe were accountedfor. 

It was soon discovered that Tarzan was missing, and Tublat was stronglyopposed to sending assistance. Kerchak himself had no liking for thestrange little waif, so he listened to Tublat, and, finally, with ashrug of his shoulders, turned back to the pile of leaves on which hehad made his bed. 

But Kala was of a different mind; in fact, she had not waited but tolearn that Tarzan was absent ere she was fairly flying through thematted branches toward the point from which the cries of the gorillawere still plainly audible. 

Darkness had now fallen, and an early moon was sending its faint lightto cast strange, grotesque shadows among the dense foliage of theforest. 

Here and there the brilliant rays penetrated to earth, but for the mostpart they only served to accentuate the Stygian blackness of thejungle's depths. 

Like some huge phantom, Kala swung noiselessly from tree to tree; nowrunning nimbly along a great branch, now swinging through space at theend of another, only to grasp that of a farther tree in her rapidprogress toward the scene of the tragedy her knowledge of jungle lifetold her was being enacted a short distance before her. 

The cries of the gorilla proclaimed that it was in mortal combat withsome other denizen of the fierce wood. Suddenly these cries ceased, and the silence of death reigned throughout the jungle. 

Kala could not understand, for the voice of Bolgani had at last beenraised in the agony of suffering and death, but no sound had come toher by which she possibly could determine the nature of his antagonist. 

That her little Tarzan could destroy a great bull gorilla she knew tobe improbable, and so, as she neared the spot from which the sounds ofthe struggle had come, she moved more warily and at last slowly andwith extreme caution she traversed the lowest branches, peering eagerlyinto the moon-splashed blackness for a sign of the combatants. 

Presently she came upon them, lying in a little open space full underthe brilliant light of the moon--little Tarzan's torn and bloody form, and beside it a great bull gorilla, stone dead. 

With a low cry Kala rushed to Tarzan's side, and gathering the poor, blood-covered body to her breast, listened for a sign of life. Faintlyshe heard it--the weak beating of the little heart. 

Tenderly she bore him back through the inky jungle to where the tribelay, and for many days and nights she sat guard beside him, bringinghim food and water, and brushing the flies and other insects from hiscruel wounds. 

Of medicine or surgery the poor thing knew nothing. She could but lickthe wounds, and thus she kept them cleansed, that healing nature mightthe more quickly do her work. 

At first Tarzan would eat nothing, but rolled and tossed in a wilddelirium of fever. All he craved was water, and this she brought himin the only way she could, bearing it in her own mouth. 

No human mother could have shown more unselfish and sacrificingdevotion than did this poor, wild brute for the little orphaned waifwhom fate had thrown into her keeping. 

At last the fever abated and the boy commenced to mend. No word ofcomplaint passed his tight set lips, though the pain of his wounds wasexcruciating. 

A portion of his chest was laid bare to the ribs, three of which hadbeen broken by the mighty blows of the gorilla. One arm was nearlysevered by the giant fangs, and a great piece had been torn from hisneck, exposing his jugular vein, which the cruel jaws had missed but bya miracle. 

With the stoicism of the brutes who had raised him he endured hissuffering quietly, preferring to crawl away from the others and liehuddled in some clump of tall grasses rather than to show his miserybefore their eyes. 

Kala, alone, he was glad to have with him, but now that he was bettershe was gone longer at a time, in search of food; for the devotedanimal had scarcely eaten enough to support her own life while Tarzanhad been so low, and was in consequence, reduced to a mere shadow ofher former self. 

Chapter VII

The Light of Knowledge

After what seemed an eternity to the little sufferer he was able towalk once more, and from then on his recovery was so rapid that inanother month he was as strong and active as ever. 

During his convalescence he had gone over in his mind many times thebattle with the gorilla, and his first thought was to recover thewonderful little weapon which had transformed him from a hopelesslyoutclassed weakling to the superior of the mighty terror of the jungle. 

Also, he was anxious to return to the cabin and continue hisinvestigations of its wondrous contents. 

So, early one morning, he set forth alone upon his quest. After alittle search he located the clean-picked bones of his late adversary, and close by, partly buried beneath the fallen leaves, he found theknife, now red with rust from its exposure to the dampness of theground and from the dried blood of the gorilla. 

He did not like the change in its former bright and gleaming surface;but it was still a formidable weapon, and one which he meant to use toadvantage whenever the opportunity presented itself. He had in mindthat no more would he run from the wanton attacks of old Tublat. 

In another moment he was at the cabin, and after a short time had againthrown the latch and entered. His first concern was to learn themechanism of the lock, and this he did by examining it closely whilethe door was open, so that he could learn precisely what caused it tohold the door, and by what means it released at his touch. 

He found that he could close and lock the door from within, and this hedid so that there would be no chance of his being molested while at hisinvestigation. 

He commenced a systematic search of the cabin; but his attention wassoon riveted by the books which seemed to exert a strange and powerfulinfluence over him, so that he could scarce attend to aught else forthe lure of the wondrous puzzle which their purpose presented to him. 

Among the other books were a primer, some child's readers, numerouspicture books, and a great dictionary. All of these he examined, butthe pictures caught his fancy most, though the strange little bugswhich covered the pages where there were no pictures excited his wonderand deepest thought. 

Squatting upon his haunches on the table top in the cabin his fatherhad built--his smooth, brown, naked little body bent over the bookwhich rested in his strong slender hands, and his great shock of long, black hair falling about his well-shaped head and bright, intelligenteyes--Tarzan of the apes, little primitive man, presented a picturefilled, at once, with pathos and with promise--an allegorical figure ofthe primordial groping through the black night of ignorance toward thelight of learning. 

His little face was tense in study, for he had partially grasped, in ahazy, nebulous way, the rudiments of a thought which was destined toprove the key and the solution to the puzzling problem of the strangelittle bugs. 

In his hands was a primer opened at a picture of a little ape similarto himself, but covered, except for hands and face, with strange, colored fur, for such he thought the jacket and trousers to be. Beneath the picture were three little bugs--

 BOY. 

And now he had discovered in the text upon the page that these threewere repeated many times in the same sequence. 

Another fact he learned--that there were comparatively few individualbugs; but these were repeated many times, occasionally alone, but moreoften in company with others. 

Slowly he turned the pages, scanning the pictures and the text for arepetition of the combination B-O-Y. Presently he found it beneath apicture of another little ape and a strange animal which went upon fourlegs like the jackal and resembled him not a little. Beneath thispicture the bugs appeared as:

 A BOY AND A DOG

There they were, the three little bugs which always accompanied thelittle ape. 

And so he progressed very, very slowly, for it was a hard and laborioustask which he had set himself without knowing it--a task which mightseem to you or me impossible--learning to read without having theslightest knowledge of letters or written language, or the faintestidea that such things existed. 

He did not accomplish it in a day, or in a week, or in a month, or in ayear; but slowly, very slowly, he learned after he had grasped thepossibilities which lay in those little bugs, so that by the time hewas fifteen he knew the various combinations of letters which stood forevery pictured figure in the little primer and in one or two of thepicture books. 

Of the meaning and use of the articles and conjunctions, verbs andadverbs and pronouns he had but the faintest conception. 

One day when he was about twelve he found a number of lead pencils in ahitherto undiscovered drawer beneath the table, and in scratching uponthe table top with one of them he was delighted to discover the blackline it left behind it. 

He worked so assiduously with this new toy that the table top was soona mass of scrawly loops and irregular lines and his pencil-point worndown to the wood. Then he took another pencil, but this time he had adefinite object in view. 

He would attempt to reproduce some of the little bugs that scrambledover the pages of his books. 

It was a difficult task, for he held the pencil as one would grasp thehilt of a dagger, which does not add greatly to ease in writing or tothe legibility of the results. 

But he persevered for months, at such times as he was able to come tothe cabin, until at last by repeated experimenting he found a positionin which to hold the pencil that best permitted him to guide andcontrol it, so that at last he could roughly reproduce any of thelittle bugs. 

Thus he made a beginning of writing. 

Copying the bugs taught him another thing--their number; and though hecould not count as we understand it, yet he had an idea of quantity, the base of his calculations being the number of fingers upon one ofhis hands. 

His search through the various books convinced him that he haddiscovered all the different kinds of bugs most often repeated incombination, and these he arranged in proper order with great easebecause of the frequency with which he had perused the fascinatingalphabet picture book. 

His education progressed; but his greatest finds were in theinexhaustible storehouse of the huge illustrated dictionary, for helearned more through the medium of pictures than text, even after hehad grasped the significance of the bugs. 

When he discovered the arrangement of words in alphabetical order hedelighted in searching for and finding the combinations with which hewas familiar, and the words which followed them, their definitions, ledhim still further into the mazes of erudition. 

By the time he was seventeen he had learned to read the simple, child'sprimer and had fully realized the true and wonderful purpose of thelittle bugs. 

No longer did he feel shame for his hairless body or his humanfeatures, for now his reason told him that he was of a different racefrom his wild and hairy companions. He was a M-A-N, they were A-P-E-S, and the little apes which scurried through the forest top wereM-O-N-K-E-Y-S. He knew, too, that old Sabor was a L-I-O-N-E-S-S, andHistah a S-N-A-K-E, and Tantor an E-L-E-P-H-A-N-T. And so he learnedto read. From then on his progress was rapid. With the help of thegreat dictionary and the active intelligence of a healthy mind endowedby inheritance with more than ordinary reasoning powers he shrewdlyguessed at much which he could not really understand, and more oftenthan not his guesses were close to the mark of truth. 

There were many breaks in his education, caused by the migratory habitsof his tribe, but even when removed from his books his active braincontinued to search out the mysteries of his fascinating avocation. 

Pieces of bark and flat leaves and even smooth stretches of bare earthprovided him with copy books whereon to scratch with the point of hishunting knife the lessons he was learning. 

Nor did he neglect the sterner duties of life while following the bentof his inclination toward the solving of the mystery of his library. 

He practiced with his rope and played with his sharp knife, which hehad learned to keep keen by whetting upon flat stones. 

The tribe had grown larger since Tarzan had come among them, for underthe leadership of Kerchak they had been able to frighten the othertribes from their part of the jungle so that they had plenty to eat andlittle or no loss from predatory incursions of neighbors. 

Hence the younger males as they became adult found it more comfortableto take mates from their own tribe, or if they captured one of anothertribe to bring her back to Kerchak's band and live in amity with himrather than attempt to set up new establishments of their own, or fightwith the redoubtable Kerchak for supremacy at home. 

Occasionally one more ferocious than his fellows would attempt thislatter alternative, but none had come yet who could wrest the palm ofvictory from the fierce and brutal ape. 

Tarzan held a peculiar position in the tribe. They seemed to considerhim one of them and yet in some way different. The older males eitherignored him entirely or else hated him so vindictively that but for hiswondrous agility and speed and the fierce protection of the huge Kalahe would have been dispatched at an early age. 

Tublat was his most consistent enemy, but it was through Tublat that, when he was about thirteen, the persecution of his enemies suddenlyceased and he was left severely alone, except on the occasions when oneof them ran amuck in the throes of one of those strange, wild fits ofinsane rage which attacks the males of many of the fiercer animals ofthe jungle. Then none was safe. 

On the day that Tarzan established his right to respect, the tribe wasgathered about a small natural amphitheater which the jungle had leftfree from its entangling vines and creepers in a hollow among some lowhills. 

The open space was almost circular in shape. Upon every hand rose themighty giants of the untouched forest, with the matted undergrowthbanked so closely between the huge trunks that the only opening intothe little, level arena was through the upper branches of the trees. 

Here, safe from interruption, the tribe often gathered. In the centerof the amphitheater was one of those strange earthen drums which theanthropoids build for the queer rites the sounds of which men haveheard in the fastnesses of the jungle, but which none has everwitnessed. 

Many travelers have seen the drums of the great apes, and some haveheard the sounds of their beating and the noise of the wild, weirdrevelry of these first lords of the jungle, but Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, is, doubtless, the only human being who ever joined in the fierce, mad, intoxicating revel of the Dum-Dum. 

From this primitive function has arisen, unquestionably, all the formsand ceremonials of modern church and state, for through all thecountless ages, back beyond the uttermost ramparts of a dawninghumanity our fierce, hairy forebears danced out the rites of theDum-Dum to the sound of their earthen drums, beneath the bright lightof a tropical moon in the depth of a mighty jungle which standsunchanged today as it stood on that long forgotten night in the dim, unthinkable vistas of the long dead past when our first shaggy ancestorswung from a swaying bough and dropped lightly upon the soft turf ofthe first meeting place. 

On the day that Tarzan won his emancipation from the persecution thathad followed him remorselessly for twelve of his thirteen years oflife, the tribe, now a full hundred strong, trooped silently throughthe lower terrace of the jungle trees and dropped noiselessly upon thefloor of the amphitheater. 

The rites of the Dum-Dum marked important events in the life of thetribe--a victory, the capture of a prisoner, the killing of some largefierce denizen of the jungle, the death or accession of a king, andwere conducted with set ceremonialism. 

Today it was the killing of a giant ape, a member of another tribe, andas the people of Kerchak entered the arena two mighty bulls were seenbearing the body of the vanquished between them. 

They laid their burden before the earthen drum and then squatted therebeside it as guards, while the other members of the community curledthemselves in grassy nooks to sleep until the rising moon should givethe signal for the commencement of their savage orgy. 

For hours absolute quiet reigned in the little clearing, except as itwas broken by the discordant notes of brilliantly feathered parrots, orthe screeching and twittering of the thousand jungle birds flittingceaselessly amongst the vivid orchids and flamboyant blossoms whichfestooned the myriad, moss-covered branches of the forest kings. 

At length as darkness settled upon the jungle the apes commenced tobestir themselves, and soon they formed a great circle about theearthen drum. The females and young squatted in a thin line at theouter periphery of the circle, while just in front of them ranged theadult males. Before the drum sat three old females, each armed with aknotted branch fifteen or eighteen inches in length. 

Slowly and softly they began tapping upon the resounding surface of thedrum as the first faint rays of the ascending moon silvered theencircling tree tops. 

As the light in the amphitheater increased the females augmented thefrequency and force of their blows until presently a wild, rhythmic dinpervaded the great jungle for miles in every direction. Huge, fiercebrutes stopped in their hunting, with up-pricked ears and raised heads, to listen to the dull booming that betokened the Dum-Dum of the apes. 

Occasionally one would raise his shrill scream or thunderous roar inanswering challenge to the savage din of the anthropoids, but none camenear to investigate or attack, for the great apes, assembled in all thepower of their numbers, filled the breasts of their jungle neighborswith deep respect. 

As the din of the drum rose to almost deafening volume Kerchak spranginto the open space between the squatting males and the drummers. 

Standing erect he threw his head far back and looking full into the eyeof the rising moon he beat upon his breast with his great hairy pawsand emitted his fearful roaring shriek. 

One--twice--thrice that terrifying cry rang out across the teemingsolitude of that unspeakably quick, yet unthinkably dead, world. 

Then, crouching, Kerchak slunk noiselessly around the open circle, veering far away from the dead body lying before the altar-drum, but, as he passed, keeping his little, fierce, wicked, red eyes upon thecorpse. 

Another male then sprang into the arena, and, repeating the horridcries of his king, followed stealthily in his wake. Another andanother followed in quick succession until the jungle reverberated withthe now almost ceaseless notes of their bloodthirsty screams. 

It was the challenge and the hunt. 

When all the adult males had joined in the thin line of circlingdancers the attack commenced. 

Kerchak, seizing a huge club from the pile which lay at hand for thepurpose, rushed furiously upon the dead ape, dealing the corpse aterrific blow, at the same time emitting the growls and snarls ofcombat. The din of the drum was now increased, as well as thefrequency of the blows, and the warriors, as each approached the victimof the hunt and delivered his bludgeon blow, joined in the mad whirl ofthe Death Dance. 

Tarzan was one of the wild, leaping horde. His brown, sweat-streaked, muscular body, glistening in the moonlight, shone supple and gracefulamong the uncouth, awkward, hairy brutes about him. 

None was more stealthy in the mimic hunt, none more ferocious than hein the wild ferocity of the attack, none who leaped so high into theair in the Dance of Death. 

As the noise and rapidity of the drumbeats increased the dancersapparently became intoxicated with the wild rhythm and the savageyells. Their leaps and bounds increased, their bared fangs drippedsaliva, and their lips and breasts were flecked with foam. 

For half an hour the weird dance went on, until, at a sign fromKerchak, the noise of the drums ceased, the female drummers scamperinghurriedly through the line of dancers toward the outer rim of squattingspectators. Then, as one, the males rushed headlong upon the thingwhich their terrific blows had reduced to a mass of hairy pulp. 

Flesh seldom came to their jaws in satisfying quantities, so a fitfinale to their wild revel was a taste of fresh killed meat, and it wasto the purpose of devouring their late enemy that they now turned theirattention. 

Great fangs sunk into the carcass tearing away huge hunks, themightiest of the apes obtaining the choicest morsels, while the weakercircled the outer edge of the fighting, snarling pack awaiting theirchance to dodge in and snatch a dropped tidbit or filch a remainingbone before all was gone. 

Tarzan, more than the apes, craved and needed flesh. Descended from arace of meat eaters, never in his life, he thought, had he oncesatisfied his appetite for animal food; and so now his agile littlebody wormed its way far into the mass of struggling, rending apes in anendeavor to obtain a share which his strength would have been unequalto the task of winning for him. 

At his side hung the hunting knife of his unknown father in a sheathself-fashioned in copy of one he had seen among the pictures of histreasure-books. 

At last he reached the fast disappearing feast and with his sharp knifeslashed off a more generous portion than he had hoped for, an entirehairy forearm, where it protruded from beneath the feet of the mightyKerchak, who was so busily engaged in perpetuating the royalprerogative of gluttony that he failed to note the act of LESE-MAJESTE. 

So little Tarzan wriggled out from beneath the struggling mass, clutching his grisly prize close to his breast. 

Among those circling futilely the outskirts of the banqueters was oldTublat. He had been among the first at the feast, but had retreatedwith a goodly share to eat in quiet, and was now forcing his way backfor more. 

So it was that he spied Tarzan as the boy emerged from the clawing, pushing throng with that hairy forearm hugged firmly to his body. 

Tublat's little, close-set, bloodshot, pig-eyes shot wicked gleams ofhate as they fell upon the object of his loathing. In them, too, wasgreed for the toothsome dainty the boy carried. 

But Tarzan saw his arch enemy as quickly, and divining what the greatbeast would do he leaped nimbly away toward the females and the young, hoping to hide himself among them. Tublat, however, was close upon hisheels, so that he had no opportunity to seek a place of concealment, but saw that he would be put to it to escape at all. 

Swiftly he sped toward the surrounding trees and with an agile boundgained a lower limb with one hand, and then, transferring his burden tohis teeth, he climbed rapidly upward, closely followed by Tublat. 

Up, up he went to the waving pinnacle of a lofty monarch of the forestwhere his heavy pursuer dared not follow him. There he perched, hurling taunts and insults at the raging, foaming beast fifty feetbelow him. 

And then Tublat went mad. 

With horrifying screams and roars he rushed to the ground, among thefemales and young, sinking his great fangs into a dozen tiny necks andtearing great pieces from the backs and breasts of the females who fellinto his clutches. 

In the brilliant moonlight Tarzan witnessed the whole mad carnival ofrage. He saw the females and the young scamper to the safety of thetrees. Then the great bulls in the center of the arena felt the mightyfangs of their demented fellow, and with one accord they melted intothe black shadows of the overhanging forest. 

There was but one in the amphitheater beside Tublat, a belated femalerunning swiftly toward the tree where Tarzan perched, and close behindher came the awful Tublat. 

It was Kala, and as quickly as Tarzan saw that Tublat was gaining onher he dropped with the rapidity of a falling stone, from branch tobranch, toward his foster mother. 

Now she was beneath the overhanging limbs and close above her crouchedTarzan, waiting the outcome of the race. 

She leaped into the air grasping a low-hanging branch, but almost overthe head of Tublat, so nearly had he distanced her. She should havebeen safe now but there was a rending, tearing sound, the branch brokeand precipitated her full upon the head of Tublat, knocking him to theground. 

Both were up in an instant, but as quick as they had been Tarzan hadbeen quicker, so that the infuriated bull found himself facing theman-child who stood between him and Kala. 

Nothing could have suited the fierce beast better, and with a roar oftriumph he leaped upon the little Lord Greystoke. But his fangs neverclosed in that nut brown flesh. 

A muscular hand shot out and grasped the hairy throat, and anotherplunged a keen hunting knife a dozen times into the broad breast. Likelightning the blows fell, and only ceased when Tarzan felt the limpform crumple beneath him. 

As the body rolled to the ground Tarzan of the Apes placed his footupon the neck of his lifelong enemy and, raising his eyes to the fullmoon, threw back his fierce young head and voiced the wild and terriblecry of his people. 

One by one the tribe swung down from their arboreal retreats and formeda circle about Tarzan and his vanquished foe. When they had all comeTarzan turned toward them. 

"I am Tarzan, " he cried. "I am a great killer. Let all respect Tarzanof the Apes and Kala, his mother. There be none among you as mighty asTarzan. Let his enemies beware. "

Looking full into the wicked, red eyes of Kerchak, the young LordGreystoke beat upon his mighty breast and screamed out once more hisshrill cry of defiance. 

Chapter VIII

The Tree-top Hunter

The morning after the Dum-Dum the tribe started slowly back through theforest toward the coast. 

The body of Tublat lay where it had fallen, for the people of Kerchakdo not eat their own dead. 

The march was but a leisurely search for food. Cabbage palm and grayplum, pisang and scitamine they found in abundance, with wildpineapple, and occasionally small mammals, birds, eggs, reptiles, andinsects. The nuts they cracked between their powerful jaws, or, if toohard, broke by pounding between stones. 

Once old Sabor, crossing their path, sent them scurrying to the safetyof the higher branches, for if she respected their number and theirsharp fangs, they on their part held her cruel and mighty ferocity inequal esteem. 

Upon a low-hanging branch sat Tarzan directly above the majestic, supple body as it forged silently through the thick jungle. He hurleda pineapple at the ancient enemy of his people. The great beaststopped and, turning, eyed the taunting figure above her. 

With an angry lash of her tail she bared her yellow fangs, curling hergreat lips in a hideous snarl that wrinkled her bristling snout inserried ridges and closed her wicked eyes to two narrow slits of rageand hatred. 

With back-laid ears she looked straight into the eyes of Tarzan of theApes and sounded her fierce, shrill challenge. And from the safety ofhis overhanging limb the ape-child sent back the fearsome answer of hiskind. 

For a moment the two eyed each other in silence, and then the great catturned into the jungle, which swallowed her as the ocean engulfs atossed pebble. 

But into the mind of Tarzan a great plan sprang. He had killed thefierce Tublat, so was he not therefore a mighty fighter? Now would hetrack down the crafty Sabor and slay her likewise. He would be amighty hunter, also. 

At the bottom of his little English heart beat the great desire tocover his nakedness with CLOTHES for he had learned from his picturebooks that all MEN were so covered, while MONKEYS and APES and everyother living thing went naked. 

CLOTHES therefore, must be truly a badge of greatness; the insignia ofthe superiority of MAN over all other animals, for surely there couldbe no other reason for wearing the hideous things. 

Many moons ago, when he had been much smaller, he had desired the skinof Sabor, the lioness, or Numa, the lion, or Sheeta, the leopard tocover his hairless body that he might no longer resemble hideousHistah, the snake; but now he was proud of his sleek skin for itbetokened his descent from a mighty race, and the conflicting desiresto go naked in prideful proof of his ancestry, or to conform to thecustoms of his own kind and wear hideous and uncomfortable apparelfound first one and then the other in the ascendency. 

As the tribe continued their slow way through the forest after thepassing of Sabor, Tarzan's head was filled with his great scheme forslaying his enemy, and for many days thereafter he thought of littleelse. 

On this day, however, he presently had other and more immediateinterests to attract his attention. 

Suddenly it became as midnight; the noises of the jungle ceased; thetrees stood motionless as though in paralyzed expectancy of some greatand imminent disaster. All nature waited--but not for long. 

Faintly, from a distance, came a low, sad moaning. Nearer and nearerit approached, mounting louder and louder in volume. 

The great trees bent in unison as though pressed earthward by a mightyhand. Farther and farther toward the ground they inclined, and stillthere was no sound save the deep and awesome moaning of the wind. 

Then, suddenly, the jungle giants whipped back, lashing their mightytops in angry and deafening protest. A vivid and blinding lightflashed from the whirling, inky clouds above. The deep cannonade ofroaring thunder belched forth its fearsome challenge. The delugecame--all hell broke loose upon the jungle. 

The tribe shivering from the cold rain, huddled at the bases of greattrees. The lightning, darting and flashing through the blackness, showed wildly waving branches, whipping streamers and bending trunks. 

Now and again some ancient patriarch of the woods, rent by a flashingbolt, would crash in a thousand pieces among the surrounding trees, carrying down numberless branches and many smaller neighbors to add tothe tangled confusion of the tropical jungle. 

Branches, great and small, torn away by the ferocity of the tornado, hurtled through the wildly waving verdure, carrying death anddestruction to countless unhappy denizens of the thickly peopled worldbelow. 

For hours the fury of the storm continued without surcease, and stillthe tribe huddled close in shivering fear. In constant danger fromfalling trunks and branches and paralyzed by the vivid flashing oflightning and the bellowing of thunder they crouched in pitiful miseryuntil the storm passed. 

The end was as sudden as the beginning. The wind ceased, the sun shoneforth--nature smiled once more. 

The dripping leaves and branches, and the moist petals of gorgeousflowers glistened in the splendor of the returning day. And, so--asNature forgot, her children forgot also. Busy life went on as it hadbeen before the darkness and the fright. 

But to Tarzan a dawning light had come to explain the mystery ofCLOTHES. How snug he would have been beneath the heavy coat of Sabor!And so was added a further incentive to the adventure. 

For several months the tribe hovered near the beach where stoodTarzan's cabin, and his studies took up the greater portion of histime, but always when journeying through the forest he kept his rope inreadiness, and many were the smaller animals that fell into the snareof the quick thrown noose. 

Once it fell about the short neck of Horta, the boar, and his mad lungefor freedom toppled Tarzan from the overhanging limb where he had lainin wait and from whence he had launched his sinuous coil. 

The mighty tusker turned at the sound of his falling body, and, seeingonly the easy prey of a young ape, he lowered his head and chargedmadly at the surprised youth. 

Tarzan, happily, was uninjured by the fall, alighting catlike upon allfours far outspread to take up the shock. He was on his feet in aninstant and, leaping with the agility of the monkey he was, he gainedthe safety of a low limb as Horta, the boar, rushed futilely beneath. 

Thus it was that Tarzan learned by experience the limitations as wellas the possibilities of his strange weapon. 

He lost a long rope on this occasion, but he knew that had it beenSabor who had thus dragged him from his perch the outcome might havebeen very different, for he would have lost his life, doubtless, intothe bargain. 

It took him many days to braid a new rope, but when, finally, it wasdone he went forth purposely to hunt, and lie in wait among the densefoliage of a great branch right above the well-beaten trail that led towater. 

Several small animals passed unharmed beneath him. He did not wantsuch insignificant game. It would take a strong animal to test theefficacy of his new scheme. 

At last came she whom Tarzan sought, with lithe sinews rolling beneathshimmering hide; fat and glossy came Sabor, the lioness. 

Her great padded feet fell soft and noiseless on the narrow trail. Herhead was high in ever alert attention; her long tail moved slowly insinuous and graceful undulations. 

Nearer and nearer she came to where Tarzan of the Apes crouched uponhis limb, the coils of his long rope poised ready in his hand. 

Like a thing of bronze, motionless as death, sat Tarzan. Sabor passedbeneath. One stride beyond she took--a second, a third, and then thesilent coil shot out above her. 

For an instant the spreading noose hung above her head like a greatsnake, and then, as she looked upward to detect the origin of theswishing sound of the rope, it settled about her neck. With a quickjerk Tarzan snapped the noose tight about the glossy throat, and thenhe dropped the rope and clung to his support with both hands. 

Sabor was trapped. 

With a bound the startled beast turned into the jungle, but Tarzan wasnot to lose another rope through the same cause as the first. He hadlearned from experience. The lioness had taken but half her secondbound when she felt the rope tighten about her neck; her body turnedcompletely over in the air and she fell with a heavy crash upon herback. Tarzan had fastened the end of the rope securely to the trunk ofthe great tree on which he sat. 

Thus far his plan had worked to perfection, but when he grasped therope, bracing himself behind a crotch of two mighty branches, he foundthat dragging the mighty, struggling, clawing, biting, screaming massof iron-muscled fury up to the tree and hanging her was a verydifferent proposition. 

The weight of old Sabor was immense, and when she braced her huge pawsnothing less than Tantor, the elephant, himself, could have budged her. 

The lioness was now back in the path where she could see the author ofthe indignity which had been placed upon her. Screaming with rage shesuddenly charged, leaping high into the air toward Tarzan, but when herhuge body struck the limb on which Tarzan had been, Tarzan was nolonger there. 

Instead he perched lightly upon a smaller branch twenty feet above theraging captive. For a moment Sabor hung half across the branch, whileTarzan mocked, and hurled twigs and branches at her unprotected face. 

Presently the beast dropped to the earth again and Tarzan came quicklyto seize the rope, but Sabor had now found that it was only a slendercord that held her, and grasping it in her huge jaws severed it beforeTarzan could tighten the strangling noose a second time. 

Tarzan was much hurt. His well-laid plan had come to naught, so he satthere screaming at the roaring creature beneath him and making mockinggrimaces at it. 

Sabor paced back and forth beneath the tree for hours; four times shecrouched and sprang at the dancing sprite above her, but might as wellhave clutched at the illusive wind that murmured through the tree tops. 

At last Tarzan tired of the sport, and with a parting roar of challengeand a well-aimed ripe fruit that spread soft and sticky over thesnarling face of his enemy, he swung rapidly through the trees, ahundred feet above the ground, and in a short time was among themembers of his tribe. 

Here he recounted the details of his adventure, with swelling chest andso considerable swagger that he quite impressed even his bitterestenemies, while Kala fairly danced for joy and pride. 

Chapter IX

Man and Man

Tarzan of the Apes lived on in his wild, jungle existence with littlechange for several years, only that he grew stronger and wiser, andlearned from his books more and more of the strange worlds which laysomewhere outside his primeval forest. 

To him life was never monotonous or stale. There was always Pisah, thefish, to be caught in the many streams and the little lakes, and Sabor, with her ferocious cousins to keep one ever on the alert and give zestto every instant that one spent upon the ground. 

Often they hunted him, and more often he hunted them, but though theynever quite reached him with those cruel, sharp claws of theirs, yetthere were times when one could scarce have passed a thick leaf betweentheir talons and his smooth hide. 

Quick was Sabor, the lioness, and quick were Numa and Sheeta, butTarzan of the Apes was lightning. 

With Tantor, the elephant, he made friends. How? Ask not. But thisis known to the denizens of the jungle, that on many moonlight nightsTarzan of the Apes and Tantor, the elephant, walked together, and wherethe way was clear Tarzan rode, perched high upon Tantor's mighty back. 

Many days during these years he spent in the cabin of his father, wherestill lay, untouched, the bones of his parents and the skeleton ofKala's baby. At eighteen he read fluently and understood nearly all heread in the many and varied volumes on the shelves. 

Also could he write, with printed letters, rapidly and plainly, butscript he had not mastered, for though there were several copy booksamong his treasure, there was so little written English in the cabinthat he saw no use for bothering with this other form of writing, though he could read it, laboriously. 

Thus, at eighteen, we find him, an English lordling, who could speak noEnglish, and yet who could read and write his native language. Neverhad he seen a human being other than himself, for the little areatraversed by his tribe was watered by no greater river to bring downthe savage natives of the interior. 

High hills shut it off on three sides, the ocean on the fourth. It wasalive with lions and leopards and poisonous snakes. Its untouchedmazes of matted jungle had as yet invited no hardy pioneer from thehuman beasts beyond its frontier. 

But as Tarzan of the Apes sat one day in the cabin of his fatherdelving into the mysteries of a new book, the ancient security of hisjungle was broken forever. 

At the far eastern confine a strange cavalcade strung, in single file, over the brow of a low hill. 

In advance were fifty black warriors armed with slender wooden spearswith ends hard baked over slow fires, and long bows and poisonedarrows. On their backs were oval shields, in their noses huge rings, while from the kinky wool of their heads protruded tufts of gayfeathers. 

Across their foreheads were tattooed three parallel lines of color, andon each breast three concentric circles. Their yellow teeth were filedto sharp points, and their great protruding lips added still further tothe low and bestial brutishness of their appearance. 

Following them were several hundred women and children, the formerbearing upon their heads great burdens of cooking pots, householdutensils and ivory. In the rear were a hundred warriors, similar inall respects to the advance guard. 

That they more greatly feared an attack from the rear than whateverunknown enemies lurked in their advance was evidenced by the formationof the column; and such was the fact, for they were fleeing from thewhite man's soldiers who had so harassed them for rubber and ivory thatthey had turned upon their conquerors one day and massacred a whiteofficer and a small detachment of his black troops. 

For many days they had gorged themselves on meat, but eventually astronger body of troops had come and fallen upon their village by nightto revenge the death of their comrades. 

That night the black soldiers of the white man had had meat a-plenty, and this little remnant of a once powerful tribe had slunk off into thegloomy jungle toward the unknown, and freedom. 

But that which meant freedom and the pursuit of happiness to thesesavage blacks meant consternation and death to many of the wilddenizens of their new home. 

For three days the little cavalcade marched slowly through the heart ofthis unknown and untracked forest, until finally, early in the fourthday, they came upon a little spot near the banks of a small river, which seemed less thickly overgrown than any ground they had yetencountered. 

Here they set to work to build a new village, and in a month a greatclearing had been made, huts and palisades erected, plantains, yams andmaize planted, and they had taken up their old life in their new home. Here there were no white men, no soldiers, nor any rubber or ivory tobe gathered for cruel and thankless taskmasters. 

Several moons passed by ere the blacks ventured far into the territorysurrounding their new village. Several had already fallen prey to oldSabor, and because the jungle was so infested with these fierce andbloodthirsty cats, and with lions and leopards, the ebony warriorshesitated to trust themselves far from the safety of their palisades. 

But one day, Kulonga, a son of the old king, Mbonga, wandered far intothe dense mazes to the west. Warily he stepped, his slender lance everready, his long oval shield firmly grasped in his left hand close tohis sleek ebony body. 

At his back his bow, and in the quiver upon his shield many slim, straight arrows, well smeared with the thick, dark, tarry substancethat rendered deadly their tiniest needle prick. 

Night found Kulonga far from the palisades of his father's village, butstill headed westward, and climbing into the fork of a great tree hefashioned a rude platform and curled himself for sleep. 

Three miles to the west slept the tribe of Kerchak. 

Early the next morning the apes were astir, moving through the junglein search of food. Tarzan, as was his custom, prosecuted his search inthe direction of the cabin so that by leisurely hunting on the way hisstomach was filled by the time he reached the beach. 

The apes scattered by ones, and twos, and threes in all directions, butever within sound of a signal of alarm. 

Kala had moved slowly along an elephant track toward the east, and wasbusily engaged in turning over rotted limbs and logs in search ofsucculent bugs and fungi, when the faintest shadow of a strange noisebrought her to startled attention. 

For fifty yards before her the trail was straight, and down this leafytunnel she saw the stealthy advancing figure of a strange and fearfulcreature. 

It was Kulonga. 

Kala did not wait to see more, but, turning, moved rapidly back alongthe trail. She did not run; but, after the manner of her kind when notaroused, sought rather to avoid than to escape. 

Close after her came Kulonga. Here was meat. He could make a killingand feast well this day. On he hurried, his spear poised for the throw. 

At a turning of the trail he came in sight of her again upon anotherstraight stretch. His spear hand went far back the muscles rolled, lightning-like, beneath the sleek hide. Out shot the arm, and thespear sped toward Kala. 

A poor cast. It but grazed her side. 

With a cry of rage and pain the she-ape turned upon her tormentor. Inan instant the trees were crashing beneath the weight of her hurryingfellows, swinging rapidly toward the scene of trouble in answer toKala's scream. 

As she charged, Kulonga unslung his bow and fitted an arrow with almostunthinkable quickness. Drawing the shaft far back he drove thepoisoned missile straight into the heart of the great anthropoid. 

With a horrid scream Kala plunged forward upon her face before theastonished members of her tribe. 

Roaring and shrieking the apes dashed toward Kulonga, but that warysavage was fleeing down the trail like a frightened antelope. 

He knew something of the ferocity of these wild, hairy men, and his onedesire was to put as many miles between himself and them as he possiblycould. 

They followed him, racing through the trees, for a long distance, butfinally one by one they abandoned the chase and returned to the sceneof the tragedy. 

None of them had ever seen a man before, other than Tarzan, and so theywondered vaguely what strange manner of creature it might be that hadinvaded their jungle. 

On the far beach by the little cabin Tarzan heard the faint echoes ofthe conflict and knowing that something was seriously amiss among thetribe he hastened rapidly toward the direction of the sound. 

When he arrived he found the entire tribe gathered jabbering about thedead body of his slain mother. 

Tarzan's grief and anger were unbounded. He roared out his hideouschallenge time and again. He beat upon his great chest with hisclenched fists, and then he fell upon the body of Kala and sobbed outthe pitiful sorrowing of his lonely heart. 

To lose the only creature in all his world who ever had manifested loveand affection for him was the greatest tragedy he had ever known. 

What though Kala was a fierce and hideous ape! To Tarzan she had beenkind, she had been beautiful. 

Upon her he had lavished, unknown to himself, all the reverence andrespect and love that a normal English boy feels for his own mother. He had never known another, and so to Kala was given, though mutely, all that would have belonged to the fair and lovely Lady Alice had shelived. 

After the first outburst of grief Tarzan controlled himself, andquestioning the members of the tribe who had witnessed the killing ofKala he learned all that their meager vocabulary could convey. 

It was enough, however, for his needs. It told him of a strange, hairless, black ape with feathers growing upon its head, who launcheddeath from a slender branch, and then ran, with the fleetness of Bara, the deer, toward the rising sun. 

Tarzan waited no longer, but leaping into the branches of the treessped rapidly through the forest. He knew the windings of the elephanttrail along which Kala's murderer had flown, and so he cut straightthrough the jungle to intercept the black warrior who was evidentlyfollowing the tortuous detours of the trail. 

At his side was the hunting knife of his unknown sire, and across hisshoulders the coils of his own long rope. In an hour he struck thetrail again, and coming to earth examined the soil minutely. 

In the soft mud on the bank of a tiny rivulet he found footprints suchas he alone in all the jungle had ever made, but much larger than his. His heart beat fast. Could it be that he was trailing a MAN--one ofhis own race?

There were two sets of imprints pointing in opposite directions. Sohis quarry had already passed on his return along the trail. As heexamined the newer spoor a tiny particle of earth toppled from theouter edge of one of the footprints to the bottom of its shallowdepression--ah, the trail was very fresh, his prey must have butscarcely passed. 

Tarzan swung himself to the trees once more, and with swiftnoiselessness sped along high above the trail. 

He had covered barely a mile when he came upon the black warriorstanding in a little open space. In his hand was his slender bow towhich he had fitted one of his death dealing arrows. 

Opposite him across the little clearing stood Horta, the boar, withlowered head and foam flecked tucks, ready to charge. 

Tarzan looked with wonder upon the strange creature beneath him--solike him in form and yet so different in face and color. His books hadportrayed the NEGRO, but how different had been the dull, dead print tothis sleek thing of ebony, pulsing with life. 

As the man stood there with taut drawn bow Tarzan recognized him not somuch the NEGRO as the ARCHER of his picture book--

 A stands for Archer

How wonderful! Tarzan almost betrayed his presence in the deepexcitement of his discovery. 

But things were commencing to happen below him. The sinewy black armhad drawn the shaft far back; Horta, the boar, was charging, and thenthe black released the little poisoned arrow, and Tarzan saw it flywith the quickness of thought and lodge in the bristling neck of theboar. 

Scarcely had the shaft left his bow ere Kulonga had fitted another toit, but Horta, the boar, was upon him so quickly that he had no time todischarge it. With a bound the black leaped entirely over the rushingbeast and turning with incredible swiftness planted a second arrow inHorta's back. 

Then Kulonga sprang into a near-by tree. 

Horta wheeled to charge his enemy once more; a dozen steps he took, then he staggered and fell upon his side. For a moment his musclesstiffened and relaxed convulsively, then he lay still. 

Kulonga came down from his tree. 

With a knife that hung at his side he cut several large pieces from theboar's body, and in the center of the trail he built a fire, cookingand eating as much as he wanted. The rest he left where it had fallen. 

Tarzan was an interested spectator. His desire to kill burned fiercelyin his wild breast, but his desire to learn was even greater. He wouldfollow this savage creature for a while and know from whence he came. He could kill him at his leisure later, when the bow and deadly arrowswere laid aside. 

When Kulonga had finished his repast and disappeared beyond a nearturning of the path, Tarzan dropped quietly to the ground. With hisknife he severed many strips of meat from Horta's carcass, but he didnot cook them. 

He had seen fire, but only when Ara, the lightning, had destroyed somegreat tree. That any creature of the jungle could produce thered-and-yellow fangs which devoured wood and left nothing but fine dustsurprised Tarzan greatly, and why the black warrior had ruined hisdelicious repast by plunging it into the blighting heat was quitebeyond him. Possibly Ara was a friend with whom the Archer was sharinghis food. 

But, be that as it may, Tarzan would not ruin good meat in any suchfoolish manner, so he gobbled down a great quantity of the raw flesh, burying the balance of the carcass beside the trail where he could findit upon his return. 

And then Lord Greystoke wiped his greasy fingers upon his naked thighsand took up the trail of Kulonga, the son of Mbonga, the king; while infar-off London another Lord Greystoke, the younger brother of the realLord Greystoke's father, sent back his chops to the club's CHEF becausethey were underdone, and when he had finished his repast he dipped hisfinger-ends into a silver bowl of scented water and dried them upon apiece of snowy damask. 

All day Tarzan followed Kulonga, hovering above him in the trees likesome malign spirit. Twice more he saw him hurl his arrows ofdestruction--once at Dango, the hyena, and again at Manu, the monkey. In each instance the animal died almost instantly, for Kulonga's poisonwas very fresh and very deadly. 

Tarzan thought much on this wondrous method of slaying as he swungslowly along at a safe distance behind his quarry. He knew that alonethe tiny prick of the arrow could not so quickly dispatch these wildthings of the jungle, who were often torn and scratched and gored in afrightful manner as they fought with their jungle neighbors, yet asoften recovered as not. 

No, there was something mysterious connected with these tiny slivers ofwood which could bring death by a mere scratch. He must look into thematter. 

That night Kulonga slept in the crotch of a mighty tree and far abovehim crouched Tarzan of the Apes. 

When Kulonga awoke he found that his bow and arrows had disappeared. The black warrior was furious and frightened, but more frightened thanfurious. He searched the ground below the tree, and he searched thetree above the ground; but there was no sign of either bow or arrows orof the nocturnal marauder. 

Kulonga was panic-stricken. His spear he had hurled at Kala and hadnot recovered; and, now that his bow and arrows were gone, he wasdefenseless except for a single knife. His only hope lay in reachingthe village of Mbonga as quickly as his legs would carry him. 

That he was not far from home he was certain, so he took the trail at arapid trot. 

From a great mass of impenetrable foliage a few yards away emergedTarzan of the Apes to swing quietly in his wake. 

Kulonga's bow and arrows were securely tied high in the top of a gianttree from which a patch of bark had been removed by a sharp knife nearto the ground, and a branch half cut through and left hanging aboutfifty feet higher up. Thus Tarzan blazed the forest trails and markedhis caches. 

As Kulonga continued his journey Tarzan closed on him until he traveledalmost over the black's head. His rope he now held coiled in his righthand; he was almost ready for the kill. 

The moment was delayed only because Tarzan was anxious to ascertain theblack warrior's destination, and presently he was rewarded, for theycame suddenly in view of a great clearing, at one end of which lay manystrange lairs. 

Tarzan was directly over Kulonga, as he made the discovery. The forestended abruptly and beyond lay two hundred yards of planted fieldsbetween the jungle and the village. 

Tarzan must act quickly or his prey would be gone; but Tarzan's lifetraining left so little space between decision and action when anemergency confronted him that there was not even room for the shadow ofa thought between. 

So it was that as Kulonga emerged from the shadow of the jungle aslender coil of rope sped sinuously above him from the lowest branch ofa mighty tree directly upon the edge of the fields of Mbonga, and erethe king's son had taken a half dozen steps into the clearing a quicknoose tightened about his neck. 

So quickly did Tarzan of the Apes drag back his prey that Kulonga's cryof alarm was throttled in his windpipe. Hand over hand Tarzan drew thestruggling black until he had him hanging by his neck in mid-air; thenTarzan climbed to a larger branch drawing the still threshing victimwell up into the sheltering verdure of the tree. 

Here he fastened the rope securely to a stout branch, and then, descending, plunged his hunting knife into Kulonga's heart. Kala wasavenged. 

Tarzan examined the black minutely, for he had never seen any otherhuman being. The knife with its sheath and belt caught his eye; heappropriated them. A copper anklet also took his fancy, and this hetransferred to his own leg. 

He examined and admired the tattooing on the forehead and breast. Hemarveled at the sharp filed teeth. He investigated and appropriatedthe feathered headdress, and then he prepared to get down to business, for Tarzan of the Apes was hungry, and here was meat; meat of the kill, which jungle ethics permitted him to eat. 

How may we judge him, by what standards, this ape-man with the heartand head and body of an English gentleman, and the training of a wildbeast?

Tublat, whom he had hated and who had hated him, he had killed in afair fight, and yet never had the thought of eating Tublat's fleshentered his head. It could have been as revolting to him as iscannibalism to us. 

But who was Kulonga that he might not be eaten as fairly as Horta, theboar, or Bara, the deer? Was he not simply another of the countlesswild things of the jungle who preyed upon one another to satisfy thecravings of hunger?

Suddenly, a strange doubt stayed his hand. Had not his books taughthim that he was a man? And was not The Archer a man, also?

Did men eat men? Alas, he did not know. Why, then, this hesitancy!Once more he essayed the effort, but a qualm of nausea overwhelmed him. He did not understand. 

All he knew was that he could not eat the flesh of this black man, andthus hereditary instinct, ages old, usurped the functions of hisuntaught mind and saved him from transgressing a worldwide law of whosevery existence he was ignorant. 

Quickly he lowered Kulonga's body to the ground, removed the noose, andtook to the trees again. 

Chapter X

The Fear-Phantom

From a lofty perch Tarzan viewed the village of thatched huts acrossthe intervening plantation. 

He saw that at one point the forest touched the village, and to thisspot he made his way, lured by a fever of curiosity to behold animalsof his own kind, and to learn more of their ways and view the strangelairs in which they lived. 

His savage life among the fierce wild brutes of the jungle left noopening for any thought that these could be aught else than enemies. Similarity of form led him into no erroneous conception of the welcomethat would be accorded him should he be discovered by these, the firstof his own kind he had ever seen. 

Tarzan of the Apes was no sentimentalist. He knew nothing of thebrotherhood of man. All things outside his own tribe were his deadlyenemies, with the few exceptions of which Tantor, the elephant, was amarked example. 

And he realized all this without malice or hatred. To kill was the lawof the wild world he knew. Few were his primitive pleasures, but thegreatest of these was to hunt and kill, and so he accorded to othersthe right to cherish the same desires as he, even though he himselfmight be the object of their hunt. 

His strange life had left him neither morose nor bloodthirsty. That hejoyed in killing, and that he killed with a joyous laugh upon hishandsome lips betokened no innate cruelty. He killed for food mostoften, but, being a man, he sometimes killed for pleasure, a thingwhich no other animal does; for it has remained for man alone among allcreatures to kill senselessly and wantonly for the mere pleasure ofinflicting suffering and death. 

And when he killed for revenge, or in self-defense, he did that alsowithout hysteria, for it was a very businesslike proceeding whichadmitted of no levity. 

So it was that now, as he cautiously approached the village of Mbonga, he was quite prepared either to kill or be killed should he bediscovered. He proceeded with unwonted stealth, for Kulonga had taughthim great respect for the little sharp splinters of wood which dealtdeath so swiftly and unerringly. 

At length he came to a great tree, heavy laden with thick foliage andloaded with pendant loops of giant creepers. From this almostimpenetrable bower above the village he crouched, looking down upon thescene below him, wondering over every feature of this new, strange life. 

There were naked children running and playing in the village street. There were women grinding dried plantain in crude stone mortars, whileothers were fashioning cakes from the powdered flour. Out in thefields he could see still other women hoeing, weeding, or gathering. 

All wore strange protruding girdles of dried grass about their hips andmany were loaded with brass and copper anklets, armlets and bracelets. Around many a dusky neck hung curiously coiled strands of wire, whileseveral were further ornamented by huge nose rings. 

Tarzan of the Apes looked with growing wonder at these strangecreatures. Dozing in the shade he saw several men, while at theextreme outskirts of the clearing he occasionally caught glimpses ofarmed warriors apparently guarding the village against surprise from anattacking enemy. 

He noticed that the women alone worked. Nowhere was there evidence ofa man tilling the fields or performing any of the homely duties of thevillage. 

Finally his eyes rested upon a woman directly beneath him. 

Before her was a small cauldron standing over a low fire and in itbubbled a thick, reddish, tarry mass. On one side of her lay aquantity of wooden arrows the points of which she dipped into theseething substance, then laying them upon a narrow rack of boughs whichstood upon her other side. 

Tarzan of the Apes was fascinated. Here was the secret of the terribledestructiveness of The Archer's tiny missiles. He noted the extremecare which the woman took that none of the matter should touch herhands, and once when a particle spattered upon one of her fingers hesaw her plunge the member into a vessel of water and quickly rub thetiny stain away with a handful of leaves. 

Tarzan knew nothing of poison, but his shrewd reasoning told him thatit was this deadly stuff that killed, and not the little arrow, whichwas merely the messenger that carried it into the body of its victim. 

How he should like to have more of those little death-dealing slivers. If the woman would only leave her work for an instant he could dropdown, gather up a handful, and be back in the tree again before shedrew three breaths. 

As he was trying to think out some plan to distract her attention heheard a wild cry from across the clearing. He looked and saw a blackwarrior standing beneath the very tree in which he had killed themurderer of Kala an hour before. 

The fellow was shouting and waving his spear above his head. Now andagain he would point to something on the ground before him. 

The village was in an uproar instantly. Armed men rushed from theinterior of many a hut and raced madly across the clearing toward theexcited sentry. After them trooped the old men, and the women andchildren until, in a moment, the village was deserted. 

Tarzan of the Apes knew that they had found the body of his victim, butthat interested him far less than the fact that no one remained in thevillage to prevent his taking a supply of the arrows which lay belowhim. 

Quickly and noiselessly he dropped to the ground beside the cauldron ofpoison. For a moment he stood motionless, his quick, bright eyesscanning the interior of the palisade. 

No one was in sight. His eyes rested upon the open doorway of a nearbyhut. He would take a look within, thought Tarzan, and so, cautiously, he approached the low thatched building. 

For a moment he stood without, listening intently. There was no sound, and he glided into the semi-darkness of the interior. 

Weapons hung against the walls--long spears, strangely shaped knives, acouple of narrow shields. In the center of the room was a cooking pot, and at the far end a litter of dry grasses covered by woven mats whichevidently served the owners as beds and bedding. Several human skullslay upon the floor. 

Tarzan of the Apes felt of each article, hefted the spears, smelled ofthem, for he "saw" largely through his sensitive and highly trainednostrils. He determined to own one of these long, pointed sticks, buthe could not take one on this trip because of the arrows he meant tocarry. 

As he took each article from the walls, he placed it in a pile in thecenter of the room. On top of all he placed the cooking pot, inverted, and on top of this he laid one of the grinning skulls, upon which hefastened the headdress of the dead Kulonga. 

Then he stood back, surveyed his work, and grinned. Tarzan of the Apesenjoyed a joke. 

But now he heard, outside, the sounds of many voices, and long mournfulhowls, and mighty wailing. He was startled. Had he remained too long?Quickly he reached the doorway and peered down the village streettoward the village gate. 

The natives were not yet in sight, though he could plainly hear themapproaching across the plantation. They must be very near. 

Like a flash he sprang across the opening to the pile of arrows. Gathering up all he could carry under one arm, he overturned theseething cauldron with a kick, and disappeared into the foliage abovejust as the first of the returning natives entered the gate at the farend of the village street. Then he turned to watch the proceedingbelow, poised like some wild bird ready to take swift wing at the firstsign of danger. 

The natives filed up the street, four of them bearing the dead body ofKulonga. Behind trailed the women, uttering strange cries and weirdlamentation. On they came to the portals of Kulonga's hut, the veryone in which Tarzan had wrought his depredations. 

Scarcely had half a dozen entered the building ere they came rushingout in wild, jabbering confusion. The others hastened to gather about. There was much excited gesticulating, pointing, and chattering; thenseveral of the warriors approached and peered within. 

Finally an old fellow with many ornaments of metal about his arms andlegs, and a necklace of dried human hands depending upon his chest, entered the hut. 

It was Mbonga, the king, father of Kulonga. 

For a few moments all was silent. Then Mbonga emerged, a look ofmingled wrath and superstitious fear writ upon his hideous countenance. He spoke a few words to the assembled warriors, and in an instant themen were flying through the little village searching minutely every hutand corner within the palisades. 

Scarcely had the search commenced than the overturned cauldron wasdiscovered, and with it the theft of the poisoned arrows. Nothing morethey found, and it was a thoroughly awed and frightened group ofsavages which huddled around their king a few moments later. 

Mbonga could explain nothing of the strange events that had takenplace. The finding of the still warm body of Kulonga--on the veryverge of their fields and within easy earshot of the village--knifedand stripped at the door of his father's home, was in itselfsufficiently mysterious, but these last awesome discoveries within thevillage, within the dead Kulonga's own hut, filled their hearts withdismay, and conjured in their poor brains only the most frightful ofsuperstitious explanations. 

They stood in little groups, talking in low tones, and ever castingaffrighted glances behind them from their great rolling eyes. 

Tarzan of the Apes watched them for a while from his lofty perch in thegreat tree. There was much in their demeanor which he could notunderstand, for of superstition he was ignorant, and of fear of anykind he had but a vague conception. 

The sun was high in the heavens. Tarzan had not broken fast this day, and it was many miles to where lay the toothsome remains of Horta theboar. 

So he turned his back upon the village of Mbonga and melted away intothe leafy fastness of the forest. 

Chapter XI

"King of the Apes"

It was not yet dark when he reached the tribe, though he stopped toexhume and devour the remains of the wild boar he had cached thepreceding day, and again to take Kulonga's bow and arrows from the treetop in which he had hidden them. 

It was a well-laden Tarzan who dropped from the branches into the midstof the tribe of Kerchak. 

With swelling chest he narrated the glories of his adventure andexhibited the spoils of conquest. 

Kerchak grunted and turned away, for he was jealous of this strangemember of his band. In his little evil brain he sought for some excuseto wreak his hatred upon Tarzan. 

The next day Tarzan was practicing with his bow and arrows at the firstgleam of dawn. At first he lost nearly every bolt he shot, but finallyhe learned to guide the little shafts with fair accuracy, and ere amonth had passed he was no mean shot; but his proficiency had cost himnearly his entire supply of arrows. 

The tribe continued to find the hunting good in the vicinity of thebeach, and so Tarzan of the Apes varied his archery practice withfurther investigation of his father's choice though little store ofbooks. 

It was during this period that the young English lord found hidden inthe back of one of the cupboards in the cabin a small metal box. Thekey was in the lock, and a few moments of investigation andexperimentation were rewarded with the successful opening of thereceptacle. 

In it he found a faded photograph of a smooth faced young man, a goldenlocket studded with diamonds, linked to a small gold chain, a fewletters and a small book. 

Tarzan examined these all minutely. 

The photograph he liked most of all, for the eyes were smiling, and theface was open and frank. It was his father. 

The locket, too, took his fancy, and he placed the chain about his neckin imitation of the ornamentation he had seen to be so common among theblack men he had visited. The brilliant stones gleamed strangelyagainst his smooth, brown hide. 

The letters he could scarcely decipher for he had learned little ornothing of script, so he put them back in the box with the photographand turned his attention to the book. 

This was almost entirely filled with fine script, but while the littlebugs were all familiar to him, their arrangement and the combinationsin which they occurred were strange, and entirely incomprehensible. 

Tarzan had long since learned the use of the dictionary, but much tohis sorrow and perplexity it proved of no avail to him in thisemergency. Not a word of all that was writ in the book could he find, and so he put it back in the metal box, but with a determination towork out the mysteries of it later on. 

Little did he know that this book held between its covers the key tohis origin--the answer to the strange riddle of his strange life. Itwas the diary of John Clayton, Lord Greystoke--kept in French, as hadalways been his custom. 

Tarzan replaced the box in the cupboard, but always thereafter hecarried the features of the strong, smiling face of his father in hisheart, and in his head a fixed determination to solve the mystery ofthe strange words in the little black book. 

At present he had more important business in hand, for his supply ofarrows was exhausted, and he must needs journey to the black men'svillage and renew it. 

Early the following morning he set out, and, traveling rapidly, he camebefore midday to the clearing. Once more he took up his position inthe great tree, and, as before, he saw the women in the fields and thevillage street, and the cauldron of bubbling poison directly beneathhim. 

For hours he lay awaiting his opportunity to drop down unseen andgather up the arrows for which he had come; but nothing now occurred tocall the villagers away from their homes. The day wore on, and stillTarzan of the Apes crouched above the unsuspecting woman at thecauldron. 

Presently the workers in the fields returned. The hunting warriorsemerged from the forest, and when all were within the palisade thegates were closed and barred. 

Many cooking pots were now in evidence about the village. Before eachhut a woman presided over a boiling stew, while little cakes ofplantain, and cassava puddings were to be seen on every hand. 

Suddenly there came a hail from the edge of the clearing. 

Tarzan looked. 

It was a party of belated hunters returning from the north, and amongthem they half led, half carried a struggling animal. 

As they approached the village the gates were thrown open to admitthem, and then, as the people saw the victim of the chase, a savage cryrose to the heavens, for the quarry was a man. 

As he was dragged, still resisting, into the village street, the womenand children set upon him with sticks and stones, and Tarzan of theApes, young and savage beast of the jungle, wondered at the cruelbrutality of his own kind. 

Sheeta, the leopard, alone of all the jungle folk, tortured his prey. The ethics of all the others meted a quick and merciful death to theirvictims. 

Tarzan had learned from his books but scattered fragments of the waysof human beings. 

When he had followed Kulonga through the forest he had expected to cometo a city of strange houses on wheels, puffing clouds of black smokefrom a huge tree stuck in the roof of one of them--or to a sea coveredwith mighty floating buildings which he had learned were called, variously, ships and boats and steamers and craft. 

He had been sorely disappointed with the poor little village of theblacks, hidden away in his own jungle, and with not a single house aslarge as his own cabin upon the distant beach. 

He saw that these people were more wicked than his own apes, and assavage and cruel as Sabor, herself. Tarzan began to hold his own kindin low esteem. 

Now they had tied their poor victim to a great post near the center ofthe village, directly before Mbonga's hut, and here they formed adancing, yelling circle of warriors about him, alive with flashingknives and menacing spears. 

In a larger circle squatted the women, yelling and beating upon drums. It reminded Tarzan of the Dum-Dum, and so he knew what to expect. Hewondered if they would spring upon their meat while it was still alive. The Apes did not do such things as that. 

The circle of warriors about the cringing captive drew closer andcloser to their prey as they danced in wild and savage abandon to themaddening music of the drums. Presently a spear reached out andpricked the victim. It was the signal for fifty others. 

Eyes, ears, arms and legs were pierced; every inch of the poor writhingbody that did not cover a vital organ became the target of the cruellancers. 

The women and children shrieked their delight. 

The warriors licked their hideous lips in anticipation of the feast tocome, and vied with one another in the savagery and loathsomeness ofthe cruel indignities with which they tortured the still consciousprisoner. 

Then it was that Tarzan of the Apes saw his chance. All eyes werefixed upon the thrilling spectacle at the stake. The light of day hadgiven place to the darkness of a moonless night, and only the fires inthe immediate vicinity of the orgy had been kept alight to cast arestless glow upon the restless scene. 

Gently the lithe boy dropped to the soft earth at the end of thevillage street. Quickly he gathered up the arrows--all of them thistime, for he had brought a number of long fibers to bind them into abundle. 

Without haste he wrapped them securely, and then, ere he turned toleave, the devil of capriciousness entered his heart. He looked aboutfor some hint of a wild prank to play upon these strange, grotesquecreatures that they might be again aware of his presence among them. 

Dropping his bundle of arrows at the foot of the tree, Tarzan creptamong the shadows at the side of the street until he came to the samehut he had entered on the occasion of his first visit. 

Inside all was darkness, but his groping hands soon found the objectfor which he sought, and without further delay he turned again towardthe door. 

He had taken but a step, however, ere his quick ear caught the sound ofapproaching footsteps immediately without. In another instant thefigure of a woman darkened the entrance of the hut. 

Tarzan drew back silently to the far wall, and his hand sought thelong, keen hunting knife of his father. The woman came quickly to thecenter of the hut. There she paused for an instant feeling about withher hands for the thing she sought. Evidently it was not in itsaccustomed place, for she explored ever nearer and nearer the wallwhere Tarzan stood. 

So close was she now that the ape-man felt the animal warmth of hernaked body. Up went the hunting knife, and then the woman turned toone side and soon a guttural "ah" proclaimed that her search had atlast been successful. 

Immediately she turned and left the hut, and as she passed through thedoorway Tarzan saw that she carried a cooking pot in her hand. 

He followed closely after her, and as he reconnoitered from the shadowsof the doorway he saw that all the women of the village were hasteningto and from the various huts with pots and kettles. These they werefilling with water and placing over a number of fires near the stakewhere the dying victim now hung, an inert and bloody mass of suffering. 

Choosing a moment when none seemed near, Tarzan hastened to his bundleof arrows beneath the great tree at the end of the village street. Ason the former occasion he overthrew the cauldron before leaping, sinuous and catlike, into the lower branches of the forest giant. 

Silently he climbed to a great height until he found a point where hecould look through a leafy opening upon the scene beneath him. 

The women were now preparing the prisoner for their cooking pots, whilethe men stood about resting after the fatigue of their mad revel. Comparative quiet reigned in the village. 

Tarzan raised aloft the thing he had pilfered from the hut, and, withaim made true by years of fruit and coconut throwing, launched ittoward the group of savages. 

Squarely among them it fell, striking one of the warriors full upon thehead and felling him to the ground. Then it rolled among the women andstopped beside the half-butchered thing they were preparing to feastupon. 

All gazed in consternation at it for an instant, and then, with oneaccord, broke and ran for their huts. 

It was a grinning human skull which looked up at them from the ground. The dropping of the thing out of the open sky was a miracle well aimedto work upon their superstitious fears. 

Thus Tarzan of the Apes left them filled with terror at this newmanifestation of the presence of some unseen and unearthly evil powerwhich lurked in the forest about their village. 

Later, when they discovered the overturned cauldron, and that once moretheir arrows had been pilfered, it commenced to dawn upon them thatthey had offended some great god by placing their village in this partof the jungle without propitiating him. From then on an offering offood was daily placed below the great tree from whence the arrows haddisappeared in an effort to conciliate the mighty one. 

But the seed of fear was deep sown, and had he but known it, Tarzan ofthe Apes had laid the foundation for much future misery for himself andhis tribe. 

That night he slept in the forest not far from the village, and earlythe next morning set out slowly on his homeward march, hunting as hetraveled. Only a few berries and an occasional grub worm rewarded hissearch, and he was half famished when, looking up from a log he hadbeen rooting beneath, he saw Sabor, the lioness, standing in the centerof the trail not twenty paces from him. 

The great yellow eyes were fixed upon him with a wicked and balefulgleam, and the red tongue licked the longing lips as Sabor crouched, worming her stealthy way with belly flattened against the earth. 

Tarzan did not attempt to escape. He welcomed the opportunity forwhich, in fact, he had been searching for days past, now that he wasarmed with something more than a rope of grass. 

Quickly he unslung his bow and fitted a well-daubed arrow, and as Saborsprang, the tiny missile leaped to meet her in mid-air. At the sameinstant Tarzan of the Apes jumped to one side, and as the great catstruck the ground beyond him another death-tipped arrow sunk deep intoSabor's loin. 

With a mighty roar the beast turned and charged once more, only to bemet with a third arrow full in one eye; but this time she was too closeto the ape-man for the latter to sidestep the onrushing body. 

Tarzan of the Apes went down beneath the great body of his enemy, butwith gleaming knife drawn and striking home. For a moment they laythere, and then Tarzan realized that the inert mass lying upon him wasbeyond power ever again to injure man or ape. 

With difficulty he wriggled from beneath the great weight, and as hestood erect and gazed down upon the trophy of his skill, a mighty waveof exultation swept over him. 

With swelling breast, he placed a foot upon the body of his powerfulenemy, and throwing back his fine young head, roared out the awfulchallenge of the victorious bull ape. 

The forest echoed to the savage and triumphant paean. Birds fellstill, and the larger animals and beasts of prey slunk stealthily away, for few there were of all the jungle who sought for trouble with thegreat anthropoids. 

And in London another Lord Greystoke was speaking to HIS kind in theHouse of Lords, but none trembled at the sound of his soft voice. 

Sabor proved unsavory eating even to Tarzan of the Apes, but hungerserved as a most efficacious disguise to toughness and rank taste, andere long, with well-filled stomach, the ape-man was ready to sleepagain. First, however, he must remove the hide, for it was as much forthis as for any other purpose that he had desired to destroy Sabor. 

Deftly he removed the great pelt, for he had practiced often on smalleranimals. When the task was finished he carried his trophy to the forkof a high tree, and there, curling himself securely in a crotch, hefell into deep and dreamless slumber. 

What with loss of sleep, arduous exercise, and a full belly, Tarzan ofthe Apes slept the sun around, awakening about noon of the followingday. He straightway repaired to the carcass of Sabor, but was angeredto find the bones picked clean by other hungry denizens of the jungle. 

Half an hour's leisurely progress through the forest brought to sight ayoung deer, and before the little creature knew that an enemy was neara tiny arrow had lodged in its neck. 

So quickly the virus worked that at the end of a dozen leaps the deerplunged headlong into the undergrowth, dead. Again did Tarzan feastwell, but this time he did not sleep. 

Instead, he hastened on toward the point where he had left the tribe, and when he had found them proudly exhibited the skin of Sabor, thelioness. 

"Look!" he cried, "Apes of Kerchak. See what Tarzan, the mightykiller, has done. Who else among you has ever killed one of Numa'speople? Tarzan is mightiest amongst you for Tarzan is no ape. Tarzanis--" But here he stopped, for in the language of the anthropoidsthere was no word for man, and Tarzan could only write the word inEnglish; he could not pronounce it. 

The tribe had gathered about to look upon the proof of his wondrousprowess, and to listen to his words. 

Only Kerchak hung back, nursing his hatred and his rage. 

Suddenly something snapped in the wicked little brain of theanthropoid. With a frightful roar the great beast sprang among theassemblage. 

Biting, and striking with his huge hands, he killed and maimed a dozenere the balance could escape to the upper terraces of the forest. 

Frothing and shrieking in the insanity of his fury, Kerchak lookedabout for the object of his greatest hatred, and there, upon a near-bylimb, he saw him sitting. 

"Come down, Tarzan, great killer, " cried Kerchak. "Come down and feelthe fangs of a greater! Do mighty fighters fly to the trees at thefirst approach of danger?" And then Kerchak emitted the volleyingchallenge of his kind. 

Quietly Tarzan dropped to the ground. Breathlessly the tribe watchedfrom their lofty perches as Kerchak, still roaring, charged therelatively puny figure. 

Nearly seven feet stood Kerchak on his short legs. His enormousshoulders were bunched and rounded with huge muscles. The back of hisshort neck was as a single lump of iron sinew which bulged beyond thebase of his skull, so that his head seemed like a small ball protrudingfrom a huge mountain of flesh. 

His back-drawn, snarling lips exposed his great fighting fangs, and hislittle, wicked, blood-shot eyes gleamed in horrid reflection of hismadness. 

Awaiting him stood Tarzan, himself a mighty muscled animal, but his sixfeet of height and his great rolling sinews seemed pitifully inadequateto the ordeal which awaited them. 

His bow and arrows lay some distance away where he had dropped themwhile showing Sabor's hide to his fellow apes, so that he confrontedKerchak now with only his hunting knife and his superior intellect tooffset the ferocious strength of his enemy. 

As his antagonist came roaring toward him, Lord Greystoke tore his longknife from its sheath, and with an answering challenge as horrid andbloodcurdling as that of the beast he faced, rushed swiftly to meet theattack. He was too shrewd to allow those long hairy arms to encirclehim, and just as their bodies were about to crash together, Tarzan ofthe Apes grasped one of the huge wrists of his assailant, and, springing lightly to one side, drove his knife to the hilt intoKerchak's body, below the heart. 

Before he could wrench the blade free again, the bull's quick lunge toseize him in those awful arms had torn the weapon from Tarzan's grasp. 

Kerchak aimed a terrific blow at the ape-man's head with the flat ofhis hand, a blow which, had it landed, might easily have crushed in theside of Tarzan's skull. 

The man was too quick, and, ducking beneath it, himself delivered amighty one, with clenched fist, in the pit of Kerchak's stomach. 

The ape was staggered, and what with the mortal wound in his side hadalmost collapsed, when, with one mighty effort he rallied for aninstant--just long enough to enable him to wrest his arm free fromTarzan's grasp and close in a terrific clinch with his wiry opponent. 

Straining the ape-man close to him, his great jaws sought Tarzan'sthroat, but the young lord's sinewy fingers were at Kerchak's ownbefore the cruel fangs could close on the sleek brown skin. 

Thus they struggled, the one to crush out his opponent's life withthose awful teeth, the other to close forever the windpipe beneath hisstrong grasp while he held the snarling mouth from him. 

The greater strength of the ape was slowly prevailing, and the teeth ofthe straining beast were scarce an inch from Tarzan's throat when, witha shuddering tremor, the great body stiffened for an instant and thensank limply to the ground. 

Kerchak was dead. 

Withdrawing the knife that had so often rendered him master of farmightier muscles than his own, Tarzan of the Apes placed his foot uponthe neck of his vanquished enemy, and once again, loud through theforest rang the fierce, wild cry of the conqueror. 

And thus came the young Lord Greystoke into the kingship of the Apes. 

Chapter XII

Man's Reason

There was one of the tribe of Tarzan who questioned his authority, andthat was Terkoz, the son of Tublat, but he so feared the keen knife andthe deadly arrows of his new lord that he confined the manifestation ofhis objections to petty disobediences and irritating mannerisms; Tarzanknew, however, that he but waited his opportunity to wrest the kingshipfrom him by some sudden stroke of treachery, and so he was ever on hisguard against surprise. 

For months the life of the little band went on much as it had before, except that Tarzan's greater intelligence and his ability as a hunterwere the means of providing for them more bountifully than ever before. Most of them, therefore, were more than content with the change inrulers. 

Tarzan led them by night to the fields of the black men, and there, warned by their chief's superior wisdom, they ate only what theyrequired, nor ever did they destroy what they could not eat, as is theway of Manu, the monkey, and of most apes. 

So, while the blacks were wroth at the continued pilfering of theirfields, they were not discouraged in their efforts to cultivate theland, as would have been the case had Tarzan permitted his people tolay waste the plantation wantonly. 

During this period Tarzan paid many nocturnal visits to the village, where he often renewed his supply of arrows. He soon noticed the foodalways standing at the foot of the tree which was his avenue into thepalisade, and after a little, he commenced to eat whatever the blacksput there. 

When the awe-struck savages saw that the food disappeared overnightthey were filled with consternation and dread, for it was one thing toput food out to propitiate a god or a devil, but quite another thing tohave the spirit really come into the village and eat it. Such a thingwas unheard of, and it clouded their superstitious minds with allmanner of vague fears. 

Nor was this all. The periodic disappearance of their arrows, and thestrange pranks perpetrated by unseen hands, had wrought them to such astate that life had become a veritable burden in their new home, andnow it was that Mbonga and his head men began to talk of abandoning thevillage and seeking a site farther on in the jungle. 

Presently the black warriors began to strike farther and farther southinto the heart of the forest when they went to hunt, looking for a sitefor a new village. 

More often was the tribe of Tarzan disturbed by these wanderinghuntsmen. Now was the quiet, fierce solitude of the primeval forestbroken by new, strange cries. No longer was there safety for bird orbeast. Man had come. 

Other animals passed up and down the jungle by day and bynight--fierce, cruel beasts--but their weaker neighbors only fled fromtheir immediate vicinity to return again when the danger was past. 

With man it is different. When he comes many of the larger animalsinstinctively leave the district entirely, seldom if ever to return;and thus it has always been with the great anthropoids. They flee manas man flees a pestilence. 

For a short time the tribe of Tarzan lingered in the vicinity of thebeach because their new chief hated the thought of leaving thetreasured contents of the little cabin forever. But when one day amember of the tribe discovered the blacks in great numbers on the banksof a little stream that had been their watering place for generations, and in the act of clearing a space in the jungle and erecting manyhuts, the apes would remain no longer; and so Tarzan led them inlandfor many marches to a spot as yet undefiled by the foot of a humanbeing. 

Once every moon Tarzan would go swinging rapidly back through theswaying branches to have a day with his books, and to replenish hissupply of arrows. This latter task was becoming more and moredifficult, for the blacks had taken to hiding their supply away atnight in granaries and living huts. 

This necessitated watching by day on Tarzan's part to discover wherethe arrows were being concealed. 

Twice had he entered huts at night while the inmates lay sleeping upontheir mats, and stolen the arrows from the very sides of the warriors. But this method he realized to be too fraught with danger, and so hecommenced picking up solitary hunters with his long, deadly noose, stripping them of weapons and ornaments and dropping their bodies froma high tree into the village street during the still watches of thenight. 

These various escapades again so terrorized the blacks that, had it notbeen for the monthly respite between Tarzan's visits, in which they hadopportunity to renew hope that each fresh incursion would prove thelast, they soon would have abandoned their new village. 

The blacks had not as yet come upon Tarzan's cabin on the distantbeach, but the ape-man lived in constant dread that, while he was awaywith the tribe, they would discover and despoil his treasure. So itcame that he spent more and more time in the vicinity of his father'slast home, and less and less with the tribe. Presently the members ofhis little community began to suffer on account of his neglect, fordisputes and quarrels constantly arose which only the king might settlepeaceably. 

At last some of the older apes spoke to Tarzan on the subject, and fora month thereafter he remained constantly with the tribe. 

The duties of kingship among the anthropoids are not many or arduous. 

In the afternoon comes Thaka, possibly, to complain that old Mungo hasstolen his new wife. Then must Tarzan summon all before him, and if hefinds that the wife prefers her new lord he commands that mattersremain as they are, or possibly that Mungo give Thaka one of hisdaughters in exchange. 

Whatever his decision, the apes accept it as final, and return to theiroccupations satisfied. 

Then comes Tana, shrieking and holding tight her side from which bloodis streaming. Gunto, her husband, has cruelly bitten her! And Gunto, summoned, says that Tana is lazy and will not bring him nuts andbeetles, or scratch his back for him. 

So Tarzan scolds them both and threatens Gunto with a taste of thedeath-bearing slivers if he abuses Tana further, and Tana, for herpart, is compelled to promise better attention to her wifely duties. 

And so it goes, little family differences for the most part, which, ifleft unsettled would result finally in greater factional strife, andthe eventual dismemberment of the tribe. 

But Tarzan tired of it, as he found that kingship meant the curtailmentof his liberty. He longed for the little cabin and the sun-kissedsea--for the cool interior of the well-built house, and for thenever-ending wonders of the many books. 

As he had grown older, he found that he had grown away from his people. Their interests and his were far removed. They had not kept pace withhim, nor could they understand aught of the many strange and wonderfuldreams that passed through the active brain of their human king. Solimited was their vocabulary that Tarzan could not even talk with themof the many new truths, and the great fields of thought that hisreading had opened up before his longing eyes, or make known ambitionswhich stirred his soul. 

Among the tribe he no longer had friends as of old. A little child mayfind companionship in many strange and simple creatures, but to a grownman there must be some semblance of equality in intellect as the basisfor agreeable association. 

Had Kala lived, Tarzan would have sacrificed all else to remain nearher, but now that she was dead, and the playful friends of hischildhood grown into fierce and surly brutes he felt that he muchpreferred the peace and solitude of his cabin to the irksome duties ofleadership amongst a horde of wild beasts. 

The hatred and jealousy of Terkoz, son of Tublat, did much tocounteract the effect of Tarzan's desire to renounce his kingship amongthe apes, for, stubborn young Englishman that he was, he could notbring himself to retreat in the face of so malignant an enemy. 

That Terkoz would be chosen leader in his stead he knew full well, fortime and again the ferocious brute had established his claim tophysical supremacy over the few bull apes who had dared resent hissavage bullying. 

Tarzan would have liked to subdue the ugly beast without recourse toknife or arrows. So much had his great strength and agility increasedin the period following his maturity that he had come to believe thathe might master the redoubtable Terkoz in a hand to hand fight were itnot for the terrible advantage the anthropoid's huge fighting fangsgave him over the poorly armed Tarzan. 

The entire matter was taken out of Tarzan's hands one day by force ofcircumstances, and his future left open to him, so that he might go orstay without any stain upon his savage escutcheon. 

It happened thus:

The tribe was feeding quietly, spread over a considerable area, when agreat screaming arose some distance east of where Tarzan lay upon hisbelly beside a limpid brook, attempting to catch an elusive fish in hisquick, brown hands. 

With one accord the tribe swung rapidly toward the frightened cries, and there found Terkoz holding an old female by the hair and beatingher unmercifully with his great hands. 

As Tarzan approached he raised his hand aloft for Terkoz to desist, forthe female was not his, but belonged to a poor old ape whose fightingdays were long over, and who, therefore, could not protect his family. 

Terkoz knew that it was against the laws of his kind to strike thiswoman of another, but being a bully, he had taken advantage of theweakness of the female's husband to chastise her because she hadrefused to give up to him a tender young rodent she had captured. 

When Terkoz saw Tarzan approaching without his arrows, he continued tobelabor the poor woman in a studied effort to affront his hatedchieftain. 

Tarzan did not repeat his warning signal, but instead rushed bodilyupon the waiting Terkoz. 

Never had the ape-man fought so terrible a battle since that long-goneday when Bolgani, the great king gorilla had so horribly manhandled himere the new-found knife had, by accident, pricked the savage heart. 

Tarzan's knife on the present occasion but barely offset the gleamingfangs of Terkoz, and what little advantage the ape had over the man inbrute strength was almost balanced by the latter's wonderful quicknessand agility. 

In the sum total of their points, however, the anthropoid had a shadethe better of the battle, and had there been no other personalattribute to influence the final outcome, Tarzan of the Apes, the youngLord Greystoke, would have died as he had lived--an unknown savagebeast in equatorial Africa. 

But there was that which had raised him far above his fellows of thejungle--that little spark which spells the whole vast differencebetween man and brute--Reason. This it was which saved him from deathbeneath the iron muscles and tearing fangs of Terkoz. 

Scarcely had they fought a dozen seconds ere they were rolling upon theground, striking, tearing and rending--two great savage beasts battlingto the death. 

Terkoz had a dozen knife wounds on head and breast, and Tarzan was tornand bleeding--his scalp in one place half torn from his head so that agreat piece hung down over one eye, obstructing his vision. 

But so far the young Englishman had been able to keep those horriblefangs from his jugular and now, as they fought less fiercely for amoment, to regain their breath, Tarzan formed a cunning plan. He wouldwork his way to the other's back and, clinging there with tooth andnail, drive his knife home until Terkoz was no more. 

The maneuver was accomplished more easily than he had hoped, for thestupid beast, not knowing what Tarzan was attempting, made noparticular effort to prevent the accomplishment of the design. 

But when, finally, he realized that his antagonist was fastened to himwhere his teeth and fists alike were useless against him, Terkoz hurledhimself about upon the ground so violently that Tarzan could but clingdesperately to the leaping, turning, twisting body, and ere he hadstruck a blow the knife was hurled from his hand by a heavy impactagainst the earth, and Tarzan found himself defenseless. 

During the rollings and squirmings of the next few minutes, Tarzan'shold was loosened a dozen times until finally an accidentalcircumstance of those swift and everchanging evolutions gave him a newhold with his right hand, which he realized was absolutely unassailable. 

His arm was passed beneath Terkoz's arm from behind and his hand andforearm encircled the back of Terkoz's neck. It was the half-Nelson ofmodern wrestling which the untaught ape-man had stumbled upon, butsuperior reason showed him in an instant the value of the thing he haddiscovered. It was the difference to him between life and death. 

And so he struggled to encompass a similar hold with the left hand, andin a few moments Terkoz's bull neck was creaking beneath a full-Nelson. 

There was no more lunging about now. The two lay perfectly still uponthe ground, Tarzan upon Terkoz's back. Slowly the bullet head of theape was being forced lower and lower upon his chest. 

Tarzan knew what the result would be. In an instant the neck wouldbreak. Then there came to Terkoz's rescue the same thing that had puthim in these sore straits--a man's reasoning power. 

"If I kill him, " thought Tarzan, "what advantage will it be to me?Will it not rob the tribe of a great fighter? And if Terkoz be dead, he will know nothing of my supremacy, while alive he will ever be anexample to the other apes. "

"KA-GODA?" hissed Tarzan in Terkoz's ear, which, in ape tongue, means, freely translated: "Do you surrender?"

For a moment there was no reply, and Tarzan added a few more ounces ofpressure, which elicited a horrified shriek of pain from the greatbeast. 

"KA-GODA?" repeated Tarzan. 

"KA-GODA!" cried Terkoz. 

"Listen, " said Tarzan, easing up a trifle, but not releasing his hold. "I am Tarzan, King of the Apes, mighty hunter, mighty fighter. In allthe jungle there is none so great. 

"You have said: 'KA-GODA' to me. All the tribe have heard. Quarrelno more with your king or your people, for next time I shall kill you. Do you understand?"

"HUH, " assented Terkoz. 

"And you are satisfied?"

"HUH, " said the ape. 

Tarzan let him up, and in a few minutes all were back at theirvocations, as though naught had occurred to mar the tranquility oftheir primeval forest haunts. 

But deep in the minds of the apes was rooted the conviction that Tarzanwas a mighty fighter and a strange creature. Strange because he hadhad it in his power to kill his enemy, but had allowed him tolive--unharmed. 

That afternoon as the tribe came together, as was their wont beforedarkness settled on the jungle, Tarzan, his wounds washed in the watersof the stream, called the old males about him. 

"You have seen again to-day that Tarzan of the Apes is the greatestamong you, " he said. 

"HUH, " they replied with one voice, "Tarzan is great. "

"Tarzan, " he continued, "is not an ape. He is not like his people. His ways are not their ways, and so Tarzan is going back to the lair ofhis own kind by the waters of the great lake which has no farthershore. You must choose another to rule you, for Tarzan will notreturn. "

And thus young Lord Greystoke took the first step toward the goal whichhe had set--the finding of other white men like himself. 

Chapter XIII

His Own Kind

The following morning, Tarzan, lame and sore from the wounds of hisbattle with Terkoz, set out toward the west and the seacoast. 

He traveled very slowly, sleeping in the jungle at night, and reachinghis cabin late the following morning. 

For several days he moved about but little, only enough to gather whatfruits and nuts he required to satisfy the demands of hunger. 

In ten days he was quite sound again, except for a terrible, half-healed scar, which, starting above his left eye ran across the topof his head, ending at the right ear. It was the mark left by Terkozwhen he had torn the scalp away. 

During his convalescence Tarzan tried to fashion a mantle from the skinof Sabor, which had lain all this time in the cabin. But he found thehide had dried as stiff as a board, and as he knew naught of tanning, he was forced to abandon his cherished plan. 

Then he determined to filch what few garments he could from one of theblack men of Mbonga's village, for Tarzan of the Apes had decided tomark his evolution from the lower orders in every possible manner, andnothing seemed to him a more distinguishing badge of manhood thanornaments and clothing. 

To this end, therefore, he collected the various arm and leg ornamentshe had taken from the black warriors who had succumbed to his swift andsilent noose, and donned them all after the way he had seen them worn. 

About his neck hung the golden chain from which depended the diamondencrusted locket of his mother, the Lady Alice. At his back was aquiver of arrows slung from a leathern shoulder belt, another piece ofloot from some vanquished black. 

About his waist was a belt of tiny strips of rawhide fashioned byhimself as a support for the home-made scabbard in which hung hisfather's hunting knife. The long bow which had been Kulonga's hungover his left shoulder. 

The young Lord Greystoke was indeed a strange and war-like figure, hismass of black hair falling to his shoulders behind and cut with hishunting knife to a rude bang upon his forehead, that it might not fallbefore his eyes. 

His straight and perfect figure, muscled as the best of the ancientRoman gladiators must have been muscled, and yet with the soft andsinuous curves of a Greek god, told at a glance the wondrouscombination of enormous strength with suppleness and speed. 

A personification, was Tarzan of the Apes, of the primitive man, thehunter, the warrior. 

With the noble poise of his handsome head upon those broad shoulders, and the fire of life and intelligence in those fine, clear eyes, hemight readily have typified some demigod of a wild and warlike bygonepeople of his ancient forest. 

But of these things Tarzan did not think. He was worried because hehad not clothing to indicate to all the jungle folks that he was a manand not an ape, and grave doubt often entered his mind as to whether hemight not yet become an ape. 

Was not hair commencing to grow upon his face? All the apes had hairupon theirs but the black men were entirely hairless, with very fewexceptions. 

True, he had seen pictures in his books of men with great masses ofhair upon lip and cheek and chin, but, nevertheless, Tarzan was afraid. Almost daily he whetted his keen knife and scraped and whittled at hisyoung beard to eradicate this degrading emblem of apehood. 

And so he learned to shave--rudely and painfully, it is true--but, nevertheless, effectively. 

When he felt quite strong again, after his bloody battle with Terkoz, Tarzan set off one morning towards Mbonga's village. He was movingcarelessly along a winding jungle trail, instead of making his progressthrough the trees, when suddenly he came face to face with a blackwarrior. 

The look of surprise on the savage face was almost comical, and beforeTarzan could unsling his bow the fellow had turned and fled down thepath crying out in alarm as though to others before him. 

Tarzan took to the trees in pursuit, and in a few moments came in viewof the men desperately striving to escape. 

There were three of them, and they were racing madly in single filethrough the dense undergrowth. 

Tarzan easily distanced them, nor did they see his silent passage abovetheir heads, nor note the crouching figure squatted upon a low branchahead of them beneath which the trail led them. 

Tarzan let the first two pass beneath him, but as the third cameswiftly on, the quiet noose dropped about the black throat. A quickjerk drew it taut. 

There was an agonized scream from the victim, and his fellows turned tosee his struggling body rise as by magic slowly into the dense foliageof the trees above. 

With frightened shrieks they wheeled once more and plunged on in theirefforts to escape. 

Tarzan dispatched his prisoner quickly and silently; removed theweapons and ornaments, and--oh, the greatest joy of all--a handsomedeerskin breechcloth, which he quickly transferred to his own person. 

Now indeed was he dressed as a man should be. None there was who couldnow doubt his high origin. How he should have liked to have returnedto the tribe to parade before their envious gaze this wondrous finery. 

Taking the body across his shoulder, he moved more slowly through thetrees toward the little palisaded village, for he again needed arrows. 

As he approached quite close to the enclosure he saw an excited groupsurrounding the two fugitives, who, trembling with fright andexhaustion, were scarce able to recount the uncanny details of theiradventure. 

Mirando, they said, who had been ahead of them a short distance, hadsuddenly come screaming toward them, crying that a terrible white andnaked warrior was pursuing him. The three of them had hurried towardthe village as rapidly as their legs would carry them. 

Again Mirando's shrill cry of mortal terror had caused them to lookback, and there they had seen the most horrible sight--theircompanion's body flying upwards into the trees, his arms and legsbeating the air and his tongue protruding from his open mouth. Noother sound did he utter nor was there any creature in sight about him. 

The villagers were worked up into a state of fear bordering on panic, but wise old Mbonga affected to feel considerable skepticism regardingthe tale, and attributed the whole fabrication to their fright in theface of some real danger. 

"You tell us this great story, " he said, "because you do not dare tospeak the truth. You do not dare admit that when the lion sprang uponMirando you ran away and left him. You are cowards. "

Scarcely had Mbonga ceased speaking when a great crashing of branchesin the trees above them caused the blacks to look up in renewed terror. The sight that met their eyes made even wise old Mbonga shudder, forthere, turning and twisting in the air, came the dead body of Mirando, to sprawl with a sickening reverberation upon the ground at their feet. 

With one accord the blacks took to their heels; nor did they stop untilthe last of them was lost in the dense shadows of the surroundingjungle. 

Again Tarzan came down into the village and renewed his supply ofarrows and ate of the offering of food which the blacks had made toappease his wrath. 

Before he left he carried the body of Mirando to the gate of thevillage, and propped it up against the palisade in such a way that thedead face seemed to be peering around the edge of the gatepost down thepath which led to the jungle. 

Then Tarzan returned, hunting, always hunting, to the cabin by thebeach. 

It took a dozen attempts on the part of the thoroughly frightenedblacks to reenter their village, past the horrible, grinning face oftheir dead fellow, and when they found the food and arrows gone theyknew, what they had only too well feared, that Mirando had seen theevil spirit of the jungle. 

That now seemed to them the logical explanation. Only those who sawthis terrible god of the jungle died; for was it not true that noneleft alive in the village had ever seen him? Therefore, those who haddied at his hands must have seen him and paid the penalty with theirlives. 

As long as they supplied him with arrows and food he would not harmthem unless they looked upon him, so it was ordered by Mbonga that inaddition to the food offering there should also be laid out an offeringof arrows for this Munan-go-Keewati, and this was done from then on. 

If you ever chance to pass that far off African village you will stillsee before a tiny thatched hut, built just without the village, alittle iron pot in which is a quantity of food, and beside it a quiverof well-daubed arrows. 

When Tarzan came in sight of the beach where stood his cabin, a strangeand unusual spectacle met his vision. 

On the placid waters of the landlocked harbor floated a great ship, andon the beach a small boat was drawn up. 

But, most wonderful of all, a number of white men like himself weremoving about between the beach and his cabin. 

Tarzan saw that in many ways they were like the men of his picturebooks. He crept closer through the trees until he was quite closeabove them. 

There were ten men, swarthy, sun-tanned, villainous looking fellows. Now they had congregated by the boat and were talking in loud, angrytones, with much gesticulating and shaking of fists. 

Presently one of them, a little, mean-faced, black-bearded fellow witha countenance which reminded Tarzan of Pamba, the rat, laid his handupon the shoulder of a giant who stood next him, and with whom all theothers had been arguing and quarreling. 

The little man pointed inland, so that the giant was forced to turnaway from the others to look in the direction indicated. As he turned, the little, mean-faced man drew a revolver from his belt and shot thegiant in the back. 

The big fellow threw his hands above his head, his knees bent beneathhim, and without a sound he tumbled forward upon the beach, dead. 

The report of the weapon, the first that Tarzan had ever heard, filledhim with wonderment, but even this unaccustomed sound could not startlehis healthy nerves into even a semblance of panic. 

The conduct of the white strangers it was that caused him the greatestperturbation. He puckered his brows into a frown of deep thought. Itwas well, thought he, that he had not given way to his first impulse torush forward and greet these white men as brothers. 

They were evidently no different from the black men--no more civilizedthan the apes--no less cruel than Sabor. 

For a moment the others stood looking at the little, mean-faced man andthe giant lying dead upon the beach. 

Then one of them laughed and slapped the little man upon the back. There was much more talk and gesticulating, but less quarreling. 

Presently they launched the boat and all jumped into it and rowed awaytoward the great ship, where Tarzan could see other figures movingabout upon the deck. 

When they had clambered aboard, Tarzan dropped to earth behind a greattree and crept to his cabin, keeping it always between himself and theship. 

Slipping in at the door he found that everything had been ransacked. His books and pencils strewed the floor. His weapons and shields andother little store of treasures were littered about. 

As he saw what had been done a great wave of anger surged through him, and the new made scar upon his forehead stood suddenly out, a bar ofinflamed crimson against his tawny hide. 

Quickly he ran to the cupboard and searched in the far recess of thelower shelf. Ah! He breathed a sigh of relief as he drew out thelittle tin box, and, opening it, found his greatest treasuresundisturbed. 

The photograph of the smiling, strong-faced young man, and the littleblack puzzle book were safe. 

What was that?

His quick ear had caught a faint but unfamiliar sound. 

Running to the window Tarzan looked toward the harbor, and there he sawthat a boat was being lowered from the great ship beside the onealready in the water. Soon he saw many people clambering over thesides of the larger vessel and dropping into the boats. They werecoming back in full force. 

For a moment longer Tarzan watched while a number of boxes and bundleswere lowered into the waiting boats, then, as they shoved off from theship's side, the ape-man snatched up a piece of paper, and with apencil printed on it for a few moments until it bore several lines ofstrong, well-made, almost letter-perfect characters. 

This notice he stuck upon the door with a small sharp splinter of wood. Then gathering up his precious tin box, his arrows, and as many bowsand spears as he could carry, he hastened through the door anddisappeared into the forest. 

When the two boats were beached upon the silvery sand it was a strangeassortment of humanity that clambered ashore. 

Some twenty souls in all there were, fifteen of them rough andvillainous appearing seamen. 

The others of the party were of different stamp. 

One was an elderly man, with white hair and large rimmed spectacles. His slightly stooped shoulders were draped in an ill-fitting, thoughimmaculate, frock coat, and a shiny silk hat added to the incongruityof his garb in an African jungle. 

The second member of the party to land was a tall young man in whiteducks, while directly behind came another elderly man with a very highforehead and a fussy, excitable manner. 

After these came a huge Negress clothed like Solomon as to colors. Hergreat eyes rolled in evident terror, first toward the jungle and thentoward the cursing band of sailors who were removing the bales andboxes from the boats. 

The last member of the party to disembark was a girl of about nineteen, and it was the young man who stood at the boat's prow to lift her highand dry upon land. She gave him a brave and pretty smile of thanks, but no words passed between them. 

In silence the party advanced toward the cabin. It was evident thatwhatever their intentions, all had been decided upon before they leftthe ship; and so they came to the door, the sailors carrying the boxesand bales, followed by the five who were of so different a class. Themen put down their burdens, and then one caught sight of the noticewhich Tarzan had posted. 

"Ho, mates!" he cried. "What's here? This sign was not posted an hourago or I'll eat the cook. "

The others gathered about, craning their necks over the shoulders ofthose before them, but as few of them could read at all, and then onlyafter the most laborious fashion, one finally turned to the little oldman of the top hat and frock coat. 

"Hi, perfesser, " he called, "step for'rd and read the bloomin' notis. "

Thus addressed, the old man came slowly to where the sailors stood, followed by the other members of his party. Adjusting his spectacleshe looked for a moment at the placard and then, turning away, strolledoff muttering to himself: "Most remarkable--most remarkable!"

"Hi, old fossil, " cried the man who had first called on him forassistance, "did je think we wanted of you to read the bloomin' notisto yourself? Come back here and read it out loud, you old barnacle. "

The old man stopped and, turning back, said: "Oh, yes, my dear sir, athousand pardons. It was quite thoughtless of me, yes--verythoughtless. Most remarkable--most remarkable!"

Again he faced the notice and read it through, and doubtless would haveturned off again to ruminate upon it had not the sailor grasped himroughly by the collar and howled into his ear. 

"Read it out loud, you blithering old idiot. "

"Ah, yes indeed, yes indeed, " replied the professor softly, andadjusting his spectacles once more he read aloud:

 THIS IS THE HOUSE OF TARZAN, THE KILLER OF BEASTS AND MANY BLACK MEN. DO NOT HARM THE THINGS WHICH ARE TARZAN'S. TARZAN WATCHES. TARZAN OF THE APES. 

"Who the devil is Tarzan?" cried the sailor who had before spoken. 

"He evidently speaks English, " said the young man. 

"But what does 'Tarzan of the Apes' mean?" cried the girl. 

"I do not know, Miss Porter, " replied the young man, "unless we havediscovered a runaway simian from the London Zoo who has brought back aEuropean education to his jungle home. What do you make of it, Professor Porter?" he added, turning to the old man. 

Professor Archimedes Q. Porter adjusted his spectacles. 

"Ah, yes, indeed; yes indeed--most remarkable, most remarkable!" saidthe professor; "but I can add nothing further to what I have alreadyremarked in elucidation of this truly momentous occurrence, " and theprofessor turned slowly in the direction of the jungle. 

"But, papa, " cried the girl, "you haven't said anything about it yet. "

"Tut, tut, child; tut, tut, " responded Professor Porter, in a kindlyand indulgent tone, "do not trouble your pretty head with such weightyand abstruse problems, " and again he wandered slowly off in stillanother direction, his eyes bent upon the ground at his feet, his handsclasped behind him beneath the flowing tails of his coat. 

"I reckon the daffy old bounder don't know no more'n we do about it, "growled the rat-faced sailor. 

"Keep a civil tongue in your head, " cried the young man, his facepaling in anger, at the insulting tone of the sailor. "You've murderedour officers and robbed us. We are absolutely in your power, butyou'll treat Professor Porter and Miss Porter with respect or I'llbreak that vile neck of yours with my bare hands--guns or no guns, " andthe young fellow stepped so close to the rat-faced sailor that thelatter, though he bore two revolvers and a villainous looking knife inhis belt, slunk back abashed. 

"You damned coward, " cried the young man. "You'd never dare shoot aman until his back was turned. You don't dare shoot me even then, " andhe deliberately turned his back full upon the sailor and walkednonchalantly away as if to put him to the test. 

The sailor's hand crept slyly to the butt of one of his revolvers; hiswicked eyes glared vengefully at the retreating form of the youngEnglishman. The gaze of his fellows was upon him, but still hehesitated. At heart he was even a greater coward than Mr. WilliamCecil Clayton had imagined. 

Two keen eyes had watched every move of the party from the foliage of anearby tree. Tarzan had seen the surprise caused by his notice, andwhile he could understand nothing of the spoken language of thesestrange people their gestures and facial expressions told him much. 

The act of the little rat-faced sailor in killing one of his comradeshad aroused a strong dislike in Tarzan, and now that he saw himquarreling with the fine-looking young man his animosity was stillfurther stirred. 

Tarzan had never seen the effects of a firearm before, though his bookshad taught him something of them, but when he saw the rat-faced onefingering the butt of his revolver he thought of the scene he hadwitnessed so short a time before, and naturally expected to see theyoung man murdered as had been the huge sailor earlier in the day. 

So Tarzan fitted a poisoned arrow to his bow and drew a bead upon therat-faced sailor, but the foliage was so thick that he soon saw thearrow would be deflected by the leaves or some small branch, andinstead he launched a heavy spear from his lofty perch. 

Clayton had taken but a dozen steps. The rat-faced sailor had halfdrawn his revolver; the other sailors stood watching the scene intently. 

Professor Porter had already disappeared into the jungle, whither hewas being followed by the fussy Samuel T. Philander, his secretary andassistant. 

Esmeralda, the Negress, was busy sorting her mistress' baggage from thepile of bales and boxes beside the cabin, and Miss Porter had turnedaway to follow Clayton, when something caused her to turn again towardthe sailor. 

And then three things happened almost simultaneously. The sailorjerked out his weapon and leveled it at Clayton's back, Miss Porterscreamed a warning, and a long, metal-shod spear shot like a bolt fromabove and passed entirely through the right shoulder of the rat-facedman. 

The revolver exploded harmlessly in the air, and the seaman crumpled upwith a scream of pain and terror. 

Clayton turned and rushed back toward the scene. The sailors stood ina frightened group, with drawn weapons, peering into the jungle. Thewounded man writhed and shrieked upon the ground. 

Clayton, unseen by any, picked up the fallen revolver and slipped itinside his shirt, then he joined the sailors in gazing, mystified, intothe jungle. 

"Who could it have been?" whispered Jane Porter, and the young manturned to see her standing, wide-eyed and wondering, close beside him. 

"I dare say Tarzan of the Apes is watching us all right, " he answered, in a dubious tone. "I wonder, now, who that spear was intended for. If for Snipes, then our ape friend is a friend indeed. 

"By jove, where are your father and Mr. Philander? There's someone orsomething in that jungle, and it's armed, whatever it is. Ho!Professor! Mr. Philander!" young Clayton shouted. There was noresponse. 

"What's to be done, Miss Porter?" continued the young man, his faceclouded by a frown of worry and indecision. 

"I can't leave you here alone with these cutthroats, and you certainlycan't venture into the jungle with me; yet someone must go in search ofyour father. He is more than apt to wandering off aimlessly, regardless of danger or direction, and Mr. Philander is only a trifleless impractical than he. You will pardon my bluntness, but our livesare all in jeopardy here, and when we get your father back somethingmust be done to impress upon him the dangers to which he exposes you aswell as himself by his absent-mindedness. "

"I quite agree with you, " replied the girl, "and I am not offended atall. Dear old papa would sacrifice his life for me without aninstant's hesitation, provided one could keep his mind on so frivolousa matter for an entire instant. There is only one way to keep him insafety, and that is to chain him to a tree. The poor dear is SOimpractical. "

"I have it!" suddenly exclaimed Clayton. "You can use a revolver, can't you?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I have one. With it you and Esmeralda will be comparatively safe inthis cabin while I am searching for your father and Mr. Philander. Come, call the woman and I will hurry on. They can't have gone far. "

Jane did as he suggested and when he saw the door close safely behindthem Clayton turned toward the jungle. 

Some of the sailors were drawing the spear from their wounded comradeand, as Clayton approached, he asked if he could borrow a revolver fromone of them while he searched the jungle for the professor. 

The rat-faced one, finding he was not dead, had regained his composure, and with a volley of oaths directed at Clayton refused in the name ofhis fellows to allow the young man any firearms. 

This man, Snipes, had assumed the role of chief since he had killedtheir former leader, and so little time had elapsed that none of hiscompanions had as yet questioned his authority. 

Clayton's only response was a shrug of the shoulders, but as he leftthem he picked up the spear which had transfixed Snipes, and thusprimitively armed, the son of the then Lord Greystoke strode into thedense jungle. 

Every few moments he called aloud the names of the wanderers. Thewatchers in the cabin by the beach heard the sound of his voice growingever fainter and fainter, until at last it was swallowed up by themyriad noises of the primeval wood. 

When Professor Archimedes Q. Porter and his assistant, Samuel T. Philander, after much insistence on the part of the latter, had finallyturned their steps toward camp, they were as completely lost in thewild and tangled labyrinth of the matted jungle as two human beingswell could be, though they did not know it. 

It was by the merest caprice of fortune that they headed toward thewest coast of Africa, instead of toward Zanzibar on the opposite sideof the dark continent. 

When in a short time they reached the beach, only to find no camp insight, Philander was positive that they were north of their properdestination, while, as a matter of fact they were about two hundredyards south of it. 

It never occurred to either of these impractical theorists to callaloud on the chance of attracting their friends' attention. Instead, with all the assurance that deductive reasoning from a wrong premiseinduces in one, Mr. Samuel T. Philander grasped Professor Archimedes Q. Porter firmly by the arm and hurried the weakly protesting oldgentleman off in the direction of Cape Town, fifteen hundred miles tothe south. 

When Jane and Esmeralda found themselves safely behind the cabin doorthe Negress's first thought was to barricade the portal from theinside. With this idea in mind she turned to search for some means ofputting it into execution; but her first view of the interior of thecabin brought a shriek of terror to her lips, and like a frightenedchild the huge woman ran to bury her face on her mistress' shoulder. 

Jane, turning at the cry, saw the cause of it lying prone upon thefloor before them--the whitened skeleton of a man. A further glancerevealed a second skeleton upon the bed. 

"What horrible place are we in?" murmured the awe-struck girl. Butthere was no panic in her fright. 

At last, disengaging herself from the frantic clutch of the stillshrieking Esmeralda, Jane crossed the room to look into the littlecradle, knowing what she should see there even before the tiny skeletondisclosed itself in all its pitiful and pathetic frailty. 

What an awful tragedy these poor mute bones proclaimed! The girlshuddered at thought of the eventualities which might lie beforeherself and her friends in this ill-fated cabin, the haunt ofmysterious, perhaps hostile, beings. 

Quickly, with an impatient stamp of her little foot, she endeavored toshake off the gloomy forebodings, and turning to Esmeralda bade hercease her wailing. 

"Stop, Esmeralda, stop it this minute!" she cried. "You are onlymaking it worse. "

She ended lamely, a little quiver in her own voice as she thought ofthe three men, upon whom she depended for protection, wandering in thedepth of that awful forest. 

Soon the girl found that the door was equipped with a heavy wooden barupon the inside, and after several efforts the combined strength of thetwo enabled them to slip it into place, the first time in twenty years. 

Then they sat down upon a bench with their arms about one another, andwaited. 

Chapter XIV

At the Mercy of the Jungle

After Clayton had plunged into the jungle, the sailors--mutineers ofthe Arrow--fell into a discussion of their next step; but on one pointall were agreed--that they should hasten to put off to the anchoredArrow, where they could at least be safe from the spears of theirunseen foe. And so, while Jane Porter and Esmeralda were barricadingthemselves within the cabin, the cowardly crew of cutthroats werepulling rapidly for their ship in the two boats that had brought themashore. 

So much had Tarzan seen that day that his head was in a whirl ofwonder. But the most wonderful sight of all, to him, was the face ofthe beautiful white girl. 

Here at last was one of his own kind; of that he was positive. And theyoung man and the two old men; they, too, were much as he had picturedhis own people to be. 

But doubtless they were as ferocious and cruel as other men he hadseen. The fact that they alone of all the party were unarmed mightaccount for the fact that they had killed no one. They might be verydifferent if provided with weapons. 

Tarzan had seen the young man pick up the fallen revolver of thewounded Snipes and hide it away in his breast; and he had also seen himslip it cautiously to the girl as she entered the cabin door. 

He did not understand anything of the motives behind all that he hadseen; but, somehow, intuitively he liked the young man and the two oldmen, and for the girl he had a strange longing which he scarcelyunderstood. As for the big black woman, she was evidently connected insome way to the girl, and so he liked her, also. 

For the sailors, and especially Snipes, he had developed a greathatred. He knew by their threatening gestures and by the expressionupon their evil faces that they were enemies of the others of theparty, and so he decided to watch closely. 

Tarzan wondered why the men had gone into the jungle, nor did it everoccur to him that one could become lost in that maze of undergrowthwhich to him was as simple as is the main street of your own home townto you. 

When he saw the sailors row away toward the ship, and knew that thegirl and her companion were safe in his cabin, Tarzan decided to followthe young man into the jungle and learn what his errand might be. Heswung off rapidly in the direction taken by Clayton, and in a shorttime heard faintly in the distance the now only occasional calls of theEnglishman to his friends. 

Presently Tarzan came up with the white man, who, almost fagged, wasleaning against a tree wiping the perspiration from his forehead. Theape-man, hiding safe behind a screen of foliage, sat watching this newspecimen of his own race intently. 

At intervals Clayton called aloud and finally it came to Tarzan that hewas searching for the old man. 

Tarzan was on the point of going off to look for them himself, when hecaught the yellow glint of a sleek hide moving cautiously through thejungle toward Clayton. 

It was Sheeta, the leopard. Now, Tarzan heard the soft bending ofgrasses and wondered why the young white man was not warned. Could itbe he had failed to note the loud warning? Never before had Tarzanknown Sheeta to be so clumsy. 

No, the white man did not hear. Sheeta was crouching for the spring, and then, shrill and horrible, there rose from the stillness of thejungle the awful cry of the challenging ape, and Sheeta turned, crashing into the underbrush. 

Clayton came to his feet with a start. His blood ran cold. Never inall his life had so fearful a sound smote upon his ears. He was nocoward; but if ever man felt the icy fingers of fear upon his heart, William Cecil Clayton, eldest son of Lord Greystoke of England, didthat day in the fastness of the African jungle. 

The noise of some great body crashing through the underbrush so closebeside him, and the sound of that bloodcurdling shriek from above, tested Clayton's courage to the limit; but he could not know that itwas to that very voice he owed his life, nor that the creature whohurled it forth was his own cousin--the real Lord Greystoke. 

The afternoon was drawing to a close, and Clayton, disheartened anddiscouraged, was in a terrible quandary as to the proper course topursue; whether to keep on in search of Professor Porter, at the almostcertain risk of his own death in the jungle by night, or to return tothe cabin where he might at least serve to protect Jane from the perilswhich confronted her on all sides. 

He did not wish to return to camp without her father; still more, heshrank from the thought of leaving her alone and unprotected in thehands of the mutineers of the Arrow, or to the hundred unknown dangersof the jungle. 

Possibly, too, he thought, the professor and Philander might havereturned to camp. Yes, that was more than likely. At least he wouldreturn and see, before he continued what seemed to be a most fruitlessquest. And so he started, stumbling back through the thick and mattedunderbrush in the direction that he thought the cabin lay. 

To Tarzan's surprise the young man was heading further into the junglein the general direction of Mbonga's village, and the shrewd youngape-man was convinced that he was lost. 

To Tarzan this was scarcely incomprehensible; his judgment told himthat no man would venture toward the village of the cruel blacks armedonly with a spear which, from the awkward way in which he carried it, was evidently an unaccustomed weapon to this white man. Nor was hefollowing the trail of the old men. That, they had crossed and leftlong since, though it had been fresh and plain before Tarzan's eyes. 

Tarzan was perplexed. The fierce jungle would make easy prey of thisunprotected stranger in a very short time if he were not guided quicklyto the beach. 

Yes, there was Numa, the lion, even now, stalking the white man a dozenpaces to the right. 

Clayton heard the great body paralleling his course, and now there roseupon the evening air the beast's thunderous roar. The man stopped withupraised spear and faced the brush from which issued the awful sound. The shadows were deepening, darkness was settling in. 

God! To die here alone, beneath the fangs of wild beasts; to be tornand rended; to feel the hot breath of the brute on his face as thegreat paw crushed down up his breast!

For a moment all was still. Clayton stood rigid, with raised spear. Presently a faint rustling of the bush apprised him of the stealthycreeping of the thing behind. It was gathering for the spring. Atlast he saw it, not twenty feet away--the long, lithe, muscular bodyand tawny head of a huge black-maned lion. 

The beast was upon its belly, moving forward very slowly. As its eyesmet Clayton's it stopped, and deliberately, cautiously gathered itshind quarters behind it. 

In agony the man watched, fearful to launch his spear, powerless to fly. 

He heard a noise in the tree above him. Some new danger, he thought, but he dared not take his eyes from the yellow green orbs before him. There was a sharp twang as of a broken banjo-string, and at the sameinstant an arrow appeared in the yellow hide of the crouching lion. 

With a roar of pain and anger the beast sprang; but, somehow, Claytonstumbled to one side, and as he turned again to face the infuriatedking of beasts, he was appalled at the sight which confronted him. Almost simultaneously with the lion's turning to renew the attack ahalf-naked giant dropped from the tree above squarely on the brute'sback. 

With lightning speed an arm that was banded layers of iron muscleencircled the huge neck, and the great beast was raised from behind, roaring and pawing the air--raised as easily as Clayton would havelifted a pet dog. 

The scene he witnessed there in the twilight depths of the Africanjungle was burned forever into the Englishman's brain. 

The man before him was the embodiment of physical perfection and giantstrength; yet it was not upon these he depended in his battle with thegreat cat, for mighty as were his muscles, they were as nothing bycomparison with Numa's. To his agility, to his brain and to his longkeen knife he owed his supremacy. 

His right arm encircled the lion's neck, while the left hand plungedthe knife time and again into the unprotected side behind the leftshoulder. The infuriated beast, pulled up and backwards until he stoodupon his hind legs, struggled impotently in this unnatural position. 

Had the battle been of a few seconds' longer duration the outcome mighthave been different, but it was all accomplished so quickly that thelion had scarce time to recover from the confusion of its surprise ereit sank lifeless to the ground. 

Then the strange figure which had vanquished it stood erect upon thecarcass, and throwing back the wild and handsome head, gave out thefearsome cry which a few moments earlier had so startled Clayton. 

Before him he saw the figure of a young man, naked except for a loincloth and a few barbaric ornaments about arms and legs; on the breast apriceless diamond locket gleaming against a smooth brown skin. 

The hunting knife had been returned to its homely sheath, and the manwas gathering up his bow and quiver from where he had tossed them whenhe leaped to attack the lion. 

Clayton spoke to the stranger in English, thanking him for his braverescue and complimenting him on the wondrous strength and dexterity hehad displayed, but the only answer was a steady stare and a faint shrugof the mighty shoulders, which might betoken either disparagement ofthe service rendered, or ignorance of Clayton's language. 

When the bow and quiver had been slung to his back the wild man, forsuch Clayton now thought him, once more drew his knife and deftlycarved a dozen large strips of meat from the lion's carcass. Then, squatting upon his haunches, he proceeded to eat, first motioningClayton to join him. 

The strong white teeth sank into the raw and dripping flesh in apparentrelish of the meal, but Clayton could not bring himself to share theuncooked meat with his strange host; instead he watched him, andpresently there dawned upon him the conviction that this was Tarzan ofthe Apes, whose notice he had seen posted upon the cabin door thatmorning. 

If so he must speak English. 

Again Clayton attempted speech with the ape-man; but the replies, nowvocal, were in a strange tongue, which resembled the chattering ofmonkeys mingled with the growling of some wild beast. 

No, this could not be Tarzan of the Apes, for it was very evident thathe was an utter stranger to English. 

When Tarzan had completed his repast he rose and, pointing a verydifferent direction from that which Clayton had been pursuing, startedoff through the jungle toward the point he had indicated. 

Clayton, bewildered and confused, hesitated to follow him, for hethought he was but being led more deeply into the mazes of the forest;but the ape-man, seeing him disinclined to follow, returned, and, grasping him by the coat, dragged him along until he was convinced thatClayton understood what was required of him. Then he left him tofollow voluntarily. 

The Englishman, finally concluding that he was a prisoner, saw noalternative open but to accompany his captor, and thus they traveledslowly through the jungle while the sable mantle of the impenetrableforest night fell about them, and the stealthy footfalls of padded pawsmingled with the breaking of twigs and the wild calls of the savagelife that Clayton felt closing in upon him. 

Suddenly Clayton heard the faint report of a firearm--a single shot, and then silence. 

In the cabin by the beach two thoroughly terrified women clung to eachother as they crouched upon the low bench in the gathering darkness. 

The Negress sobbed hysterically, bemoaning the evil day that hadwitnessed her departure from her dear Maryland, while the white girl, dry eyed and outwardly calm, was torn by inward fears and forebodings. She feared not more for herself than for the three men whom she knew tobe wandering in the abysmal depths of the savage jungle, from which shenow heard issuing the almost incessant shrieks and roars, barkings andgrowlings of its terrifying and fearsome denizens as they sought theirprey. 

And now there came the sound of a heavy body brushing against the sideof the cabin. She could hear the great padded paws upon the groundoutside. For an instant, all was silence; even the bedlam of theforest died to a faint murmur. Then she distinctly heard the beastoutside sniffing at the door, not two feet from where she crouched. Instinctively the girl shuddered, and shrank closer to the black woman. 

"Hush!" she whispered. "Hush, Esmeralda, " for the woman's sobs andgroans seemed to have attracted the thing that stalked there justbeyond the thin wall. 

A gentle scratching sound was heard on the door. The brute tried toforce an entrance; but presently this ceased, and again she heard thegreat pads creeping stealthily around the cabin. Again theystopped--beneath the window on which the terrified eyes of the girl nowglued themselves. 

"God!" she murmured, for now, silhouetted against the moonlit skybeyond, she saw framed in the tiny square of the latticed window thehead of a huge lioness. The gleaming eyes were fixed upon her inintent ferocity. 

"Look, Esmeralda!" she whispered. "For God's sake, what shall we do?Look! Quick! The window!"

Esmeralda, cowering still closer to her mistress, took one frightenedglance toward the little square of moonlight, just as the lionessemitted a low, savage snarl. 

The sight that met the poor woman's eyes was too much for the alreadyoverstrung nerves. 

"Oh, Gaberelle!" she shrieked, and slid to the floor an inert andsenseless mass. 

For what seemed an eternity the great brute stood with its forepawsupon the sill, glaring into the little room. Presently it tried thestrength of the lattice with its great talons. 

The girl had almost ceased to breathe, when, to her relief, the headdisappeared and she heard the brute's footsteps leaving the window. But now they came to the door again, and once more the scratchingcommenced; this time with increasing force until the great beast wastearing at the massive panels in a perfect frenzy of eagerness to seizeits defenseless victims. 

Could Jane have known the immense strength of that door, built piece bypiece, she would have felt less fear of the lioness reaching her bythis avenue. 

Little did John Clayton imagine when he fashioned that crude but mightyportal that one day, twenty years later, it would shield a fairAmerican girl, then unborn, from the teeth and talons of a man-eater. 

For fully twenty minutes the brute alternately sniffed and tore at thedoor, occasionally giving voice to a wild, savage cry of baffled rage. At length, however, she gave up the attempt, and Jane heard herreturning toward the window, beneath which she paused for an instant, and then launched her great weight against the timeworn lattice. 

The girl heard the wooden rods groan beneath the impact; but they held, and the huge body dropped back to the ground below. 

Again and again the lioness repeated these tactics, until finally thehorrified prisoner within saw a portion of the lattice give way, and inan instant one great paw and the head of the animal were thrust withinthe room. 

Slowly the powerful neck and shoulders spread the bars apart, and thelithe body protruded farther and farther into the room. 

As in a trance, the girl rose, her hand upon her breast, wide eyesstaring horror-stricken into the snarling face of the beast scarce tenfeet from her. At her feet lay the prostrate form of the Negress. Ifshe could but arouse her, their combined efforts might possibly availto beat back the fierce and bloodthirsty intruder. 

Jane stooped to grasp the black woman by the shoulder. Roughly sheshook her. 

"Esmeralda! Esmeralda!" she cried. "Help me, or we are lost. "

Esmeralda opened her eyes. The first object they encountered was thedripping fangs of the hungry lioness. 

With a horrified scream the poor woman rose to her hands and knees, andin this position scurried across the room, shrieking: "O Gaberelle! OGaberelle!" at the top of her lungs. 

Esmeralda weighed some two hundred and eighty pounds, and her extremehaste, added to her extreme corpulency, produced a most amazing resultwhen Esmeralda elected to travel on all fours. 

For a moment the lioness remained quiet with intense gaze directed uponthe flitting Esmeralda, whose goal appeared to be the cupboard, intowhich she attempted to propel her huge bulk; but as the shelves werebut nine or ten inches apart, she only succeeded in getting her headin; whereupon, with a final screech, which paled the jungle noises intoinsignificance, she fainted once again. 

With the subsidence of Esmeralda the lioness renewed her efforts towriggle her huge bulk through the weakening lattice. 

The girl, standing pale and rigid against the farther wall, sought withever-increasing terror for some loophole of escape. Suddenly her hand, tight-pressed against her bosom, felt the hard outline of the revolverthat Clayton had left with her earlier in the day. 

Quickly she snatched it from its hiding-place, and, leveling it full atthe lioness's face, pulled the trigger. 

There was a flash of flame, the roar of the discharge, and an answeringroar of pain and anger from the beast. 

Jane Porter saw the great form disappear from the window, and then she, too, fainted, the revolver falling at her side. 

But Sabor was not killed. The bullet had but inflicted a painful woundin one of the great shoulders. It was the surprise at the blindingflash and the deafening roar that had caused her hasty but temporaryretreat. 

In another instant she was back at the lattice, and with renewed furywas clawing at the aperture, but with lessened effect, since thewounded member was almost useless. 

She saw her prey--the two women--lying senseless upon the floor. Therewas no longer any resistance to be overcome. Her meat lay before her, and Sabor had only to worm her way through the lattice to claim it. 

Slowly she forced her great bulk, inch by inch, through the opening. Now her head was through, now one great forearm and shoulder. 

Carefully she drew up the wounded member to insinuate it gently beyondthe tight pressing bars. 

A moment more and both shoulders through, the long, sinuous body andthe narrow hips would glide quickly after. 

It was on this sight that Jane Porter again opened her eyes. 

Chapter XV

The Forest God

When Clayton heard the report of the firearm he fell into an agony offear and apprehension. He knew that one of the sailors might be theauthor of it; but the fact that he had left the revolver with Jane, together with the overwrought condition of his nerves, made himmorbidly positive that she was threatened with some great danger. Perhaps even now she was attempting to defend herself against somesavage man or beast. 

What were the thoughts of his strange captor or guide Clayton couldonly vaguely conjecture; but that he had heard the shot, and was insome manner affected by it was quite evident, for he quickened his paceso appreciably that Clayton, stumbling blindly in his wake, was down adozen times in as many minutes in a vain effort to keep pace with him, and soon was left hopelessly behind. 

Fearing that he would again be irretrievably lost, he called aloud tothe wild man ahead of him, and in a moment had the satisfaction ofseeing him drop lightly to his side from the branches above. 

For a moment Tarzan looked at the young man closely, as thoughundecided as to just what was best to do; then, stooping down beforeClayton, he motioned him to grasp him about the neck, and, with thewhite man upon his back, Tarzan took to the trees. 

The next few minutes the young Englishman never forgot. High intobending and swaying branches he was borne with what seemed to himincredible swiftness, while Tarzan chafed at the slowness of hisprogress. 

From one lofty branch the agile creature swung with Clayton through adizzy arc to a neighboring tree; then for a hundred yards maybe thesure feet threaded a maze of interwoven limbs, balancing like atightrope walker high above the black depths of verdure beneath. 

From the first sensation of chilling fear Clayton passed to one of keenadmiration and envy of those giant muscles and that wondrous instinctor knowledge which guided this forest god through the inky blackness ofthe night as easily and safely as Clayton would have strolled a Londonstreet at high noon. 

Occasionally they would enter a spot where the foliage above was lessdense, and the bright rays of the moon lit up before Clayton'swondering eyes the strange path they were traversing. 

At such times the man fairly caught his breath at sight of the horriddepths below them, for Tarzan took the easiest way, which often ledover a hundred feet above the earth. 

And yet with all his seeming speed, Tarzan was in reality feeling hisway with comparative slowness, searching constantly for limbs ofadequate strength for the maintenance of this double weight. 

Presently they came to the clearing before the beach. Tarzan's quickears had heard the strange sounds of Sabor's efforts to force her waythrough the lattice, and it seemed to Clayton that they dropped astraight hundred feet to earth, so quickly did Tarzan descend. Yetwhen they struck the ground it was with scarce a jar; and as Claytonreleased his hold on the ape-man he saw him dart like a squirrel forthe opposite side of the cabin. 

The Englishman sprang quickly after him just in time to see the hindquarters of some huge animal about to disappear through the window ofthe cabin. 

As Jane opened her eyes to a realization of the imminent peril whichthreatened her, her brave young heart gave up at last its final vestigeof hope. But then to her surprise she saw the huge animal being slowlydrawn back through the window, and in the moonlight beyond she saw theheads and shoulders of two men. 

As Clayton rounded the corner of the cabin to behold the animaldisappearing within, it was also to see the ape-man seize the long tailin both hands, and, bracing himself with his feet against the side ofthe cabin, throw all his mighty strength into the effort to draw thebeast out of the interior. 

Clayton was quick to lend a hand, but the ape-man jabbered to him in acommanding and peremptory tone something which Clayton knew to beorders, though he could not understand them. 

At last, under their combined efforts, the great body was slowlydragged farther and farther outside the window, and then there came toClayton's mind a dawning conception of the rash bravery of hiscompanion's act. 

For a naked man to drag a shrieking, clawing man-eater forth from awindow by the tail to save a strange white girl, was indeed the lastword in heroism. 

Insofar as Clayton was concerned it was a very different matter, sincethe girl was not only of his own kind and race, but was the one womanin all the world whom he loved. 

Though he knew that the lioness would make short work of both of them, he pulled with a will to keep it from Jane Porter. And then herecalled the battle between this man and the great, black-maned lionwhich he had witnessed a short time before, and he commenced to feelmore assurance. 

Tarzan was still issuing orders which Clayton could not understand. 

He was trying to tell the stupid white man to plunge his poisonedarrows into Sabor's back and sides, and to reach the savage heart withthe long, thin hunting knife that hung at Tarzan's hip; but the manwould not understand, and Tarzan did not dare release his hold to dothe things himself, for he knew that the puny white man never couldhold mighty Sabor alone, for an instant. 

Slowly the lioness was emerging from the window. At last her shoulderswere out. 

And then Clayton saw an incredible thing. Tarzan, racking his brainsfor some means to cope single-handed with the infuriated beast, hadsuddenly recalled his battle with Terkoz; and as the great shoulderscame clear of the window, so that the lioness hung upon the sill onlyby her forepaws, Tarzan suddenly released his hold upon the brute. 

With the quickness of a striking rattler he launched himself full uponSabor's back, his strong young arms seeking and gaining a full-Nelsonupon the beast, as he had learned it that other day during his bloody, wrestling victory over Terkoz. 

With a roar the lioness turned completely over upon her back, fallingfull upon her enemy; but the black-haired giant only closed tighter hishold. 

Pawing and tearing at earth and air, Sabor rolled and threw herselfthis way and that in an effort to dislodge this strange antagonist; butever tighter and tighter drew the iron bands that were forcing her headlower and lower upon her tawny breast. 

Higher crept the steel forearms of the ape-man about the back ofSabor's neck. Weaker and weaker became the lioness's efforts. 

At last Clayton saw the immense muscles of Tarzan's shoulders andbiceps leap into corded knots beneath the silver moonlight. There wasa long sustained and supreme effort on the ape-man's part--and thevertebrae of Sabor's neck parted with a sharp snap. 

In an instant Tarzan was upon his feet, and for the second time thatday Clayton heard the bull ape's savage roar of victory. Then he heardJane's agonized cry:

"Cecil--Mr. Clayton! Oh, what is it? What is it?"

Running quickly to the cabin door, Clayton called out that all wasright, and shouted to her to open the door. As quickly as she couldshe raised the great bar and fairly dragged Clayton within. 

"What was that awful noise?" she whispered, shrinking close to him. 

"It was the cry of the kill from the throat of the man who has justsaved your life, Miss Porter. Wait, I will fetch him so you may thankhim. "

The frightened girl would not be left alone, so she accompanied Claytonto the side of the cabin where lay the dead body of the lioness. 

Tarzan of the Apes was gone. 

Clayton called several times, but there was no reply, and so the tworeturned to the greater safety of the interior. 

"What a frightful sound!" cried Jane, "I shudder at the mere thought ofit. Do not tell me that a human throat voiced that hideous andfearsome shriek. "

"But it did, Miss Porter, " replied Clayton; "or at least if not a humanthroat that of a forest god. "

And then he told her of his experiences with this strange creature--ofhow twice the wild man had saved his life--of the wondrous strength, and agility, and bravery--of the brown skin and the handsome face. 

"I cannot make it out at all, " he concluded. "At first I thought hemight be Tarzan of the Apes; but he neither speaks nor understandsEnglish, so that theory is untenable. "

"Well, whatever he may be, " cried the girl, "we owe him our lives, andmay God bless him and keep him in safety in his wild and savage jungle!"

"Amen, " said Clayton, fervently. 

"For the good Lord's sake, ain't I dead?"

The two turned to see Esmeralda sitting upright upon the floor, hergreat eyes rolling from side to side as though she could not believetheir testimony as to her whereabouts. 

And now, for Jane Porter, the reaction came, and she threw herself uponthe bench, sobbing with hysterical laughter. 

Chapter XVI

"Most Remarkable"

Several miles south of the cabin, upon a strip of sandy beach, stoodtwo old men, arguing. 

Before them stretched the broad Atlantic. At their backs was the DarkContinent. Close around them loomed the impenetrable blackness of thejungle. 

Savage beasts roared and growled; noises, hideous and weird, assailedtheir ears. They had wandered for miles in search of their camp, butalways in the wrong direction. They were as hopelessly lost as thoughthey suddenly had been transported to another world. 

At such a time, indeed, every fiber of their combined intellects musthave been concentrated upon the vital question of the minute--thelife-and-death question to them of retracing their steps to camp. 

Samuel T. Philander was speaking. 

"But, my dear professor, " he was saying, "I still maintain that but forthe victories of Ferdinand and Isabella over the fifteenth-centuryMoors in Spain the world would be today a thousand years in advance ofwhere we now find ourselves. The Moors were essentially a tolerant, broad-minded, liberal race of agriculturists, artisans andmerchants--the very type of people that has made possible suchcivilization as we find today in America and Europe--while theSpaniards--"

"Tut, tut, dear Mr. Philander, " interrupted Professor Porter; "theirreligion positively precluded the possibilities you suggest. Moslemismwas, is, and always will be, a blight on that scientific progress whichhas marked--"

"Bless me! Professor, " interjected Mr. Philander, who had turned hisgaze toward the jungle, "there seems to be someone approaching. "

Professor Archimedes Q. Porter turned in the direction indicated by thenearsighted Mr. Philander. 

"Tut, tut, Mr. Philander, " he chided. "How often must I urge you toseek that absolute concentration of your mental faculties which alonemay permit you to bring to bear the highest powers of intellectualityupon the momentous problems which naturally fall to the lot of greatminds? And now I find you guilty of a most flagrant breach of courtesyin interrupting my learned discourse to call attention to a merequadruped of the genus FELIS. As I was saying, Mr. --"

"Heavens, Professor, a lion?" cried Mr. Philander, straining his weakeyes toward the dim figure outlined against the dark tropicalunderbrush. 

"Yes, yes, Mr. Philander, if you insist upon employing slang in yourdiscourse, a 'lion. ' But as I was saying--"

"Bless me, Professor, " again interrupted Mr. Philander; "permit me tosuggest that doubtless the Moors who were conquered in the fifteenthcentury will continue in that most regrettable condition for the timebeing at least, even though we postpone discussion of that worldcalamity until we may attain the enchanting view of yon FELIS CARNIVORAwhich distance proverbially is credited with lending. "

In the meantime the lion had approached with quiet dignity to withinten paces of the two men, where he stood curiously watching them. 

The moonlight flooded the beach, and the strange group stood out inbold relief against the yellow sand. 

"Most reprehensible, most reprehensible, " exclaimed Professor Porter, with a faint trace of irritation in his voice. "Never, Mr. Philander, never before in my life have I known one of these animals to bepermitted to roam at large from its cage. I shall most certainlyreport this outrageous breach of ethics to the directors of theadjacent zoological garden. "

"Quite right, Professor, " agreed Mr. Philander, "and the sooner it isdone the better. Let us start now. "

Seizing the professor by the arm, Mr. Philander set off in thedirection that would put the greatest distance between themselves andthe lion. 

They had proceeded but a short distance when a backward glance revealedto the horrified gaze of Mr. Philander that the lion was followingthem. He tightened his grip upon the protesting professor andincreased his speed. 

"As I was saying, Mr. Philander, " repeated Professor Porter. 

Mr. Philander took another hasty glance rearward. The lion also hadquickened his gait, and was doggedly maintaining an unvarying distancebehind them. 

"He is following us!" gasped Mr. Philander, breaking into a run. 

"Tut, tut, Mr. Philander, " remonstrated the professor, "this unseemlyhaste is most unbecoming to men of letters. What will our friendsthink of us, who may chance to be upon the street and witness ourfrivolous antics? Pray let us proceed with more decorum. "

Mr. Philander stole another observation astern. 

The lion was bounding along in easy leaps scarce five paces behind. 

Mr. Philander dropped the professor's arm, and broke into a mad orgy ofspeed that would have done credit to any varsity track team. 

"As I was saying, Mr. Philander--" screamed Professor Porter, as, metaphorically speaking, he himself "threw her into high. " He, too, had caught a fleeting backward glimpse of cruel yellow eyes and halfopen mouth within startling proximity of his person. 

With streaming coat tails and shiny silk hat Professor Archimedes Q. Porter fled through the moonlight close upon the heels of Mr. Samuel T. Philander. 

Before them a point of the jungle ran out toward a narrow promontory, and it was for the heaven of the trees he saw there that Mr. Samuel T. Philander directed his prodigious leaps and bounds; while from theshadows of this same spot peered two keen eyes in interestedappreciation of the race. 

It was Tarzan of the Apes who watched, with face a-grin, this odd gameof follow-the-leader. 

He knew the two men were safe enough from attack in so far as the lionwas concerned. The very fact that Numa had foregone such easy prey atall convinced the wise forest craft of Tarzan that Numa's belly alreadywas full. 

The lion might stalk them until hungry again; but the chances were thatif not angered he would soon tire of the sport, and slink away to hisjungle lair. 

Really, the one great danger was that one of the men might stumble andfall, and then the yellow devil would be upon him in a moment and thejoy of the kill would be too great a temptation to withstand. 

So Tarzan swung quickly to a lower limb in line with the approachingfugitives; and as Mr. Samuel T. Philander came panting and blowingbeneath him, already too spent to struggle up to the safety of thelimb, Tarzan reached down and, grasping him by the collar of his coat, yanked him to the limb by his side. 

Another moment brought the professor within the sphere of the friendlygrip, and he, too, was drawn upward to safety just as the baffled Numa, with a roar, leaped to recover his vanishing quarry. 

For a moment the two men clung panting to the great branch, whileTarzan squatted with his back to the stem of the tree, watching themwith mingled curiosity and amusement. 

It was the professor who first broke the silence. 

"I am deeply pained, Mr. Philander, that you should have evinced such apaucity of manly courage in the presence of one of the lower orders, and by your crass timidity have caused me to exert myself to such anunaccustomed degree in order that I might resume my discourse. As Iwas saying, Mr. Philander, when you interrupted me, the Moors--"

"Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, " broke in Mr. Philander, in icy tones, "the time has arrived when patience becomes a crime and mayhem appearsgarbed in the mantle of virtue. You have accused me of cowardice. Youhave insinuated that you ran only to overtake me, not to escape theclutches of the lion. Have a care, Professor Archimedes Q. Porter! Iam a desperate man. Goaded by long-suffering patience the worm willturn. "

"Tut, tut, Mr. Philander, tut, tut!" cautioned Professor Porter; "youforget yourself. "

"I forget nothing as yet, Professor Archimedes Q. Porter; but, believeme, sir, I am tottering on the verge of forgetfulness as to yourexalted position in the world of science, and your gray hairs. "

The professor sat in silence for a few minutes, and the darkness hidthe grim smile that wreathed his wrinkled countenance. Presently hespoke. 

"Look here, Skinny Philander, " he said, in belligerent tones, "if youare lookin' for a scrap, peel off your coat and come on down on theground, and I'll punch your head just as I did sixty years ago in thealley back of Porky Evans' barn. "

"Ark!" gasped the astonished Mr. Philander. "Lordy, how good thatsounds! When you're human, Ark, I love you; but somehow it seems asthough you had forgotten how to be human for the last twenty years. "

The professor reached out a thin, trembling old hand through thedarkness until it found his old friend's shoulder. 

"Forgive me, Skinny, " he said, softly. "It hasn't been quite twentyyears, and God alone knows how hard I have tried to be 'human' forJane's sake, and yours, too, since He took my other Jane away. "

Another old hand stole up from Mr. Philander's side to clasp the onethat lay upon his shoulder, and no other message could better havetranslated the one heart to the other. 

They did not speak for some minutes. The lion below them pacednervously back and forth. The third figure in the tree was hidden bythe dense shadows near the stem. He, too, was silent--motionless as agraven image. 

"You certainly pulled me up into this tree just in time, " said theprofessor at last. "I want to thank you. You saved my life. "

"But I didn't pull you up here, Professor, " said Mr. Philander. "Blessme! The excitement of the moment quite caused me to forget that Imyself was drawn up here by some outside agency--there must be someoneor something in this tree with us. "

"Eh?" ejaculated Professor Porter. "Are you quite positive, Mr. Philander?"

"Most positive, Professor, " replied Mr. Philander, "and, " he added, "Ithink we should thank the party. He may be sitting right next to younow, Professor. "

"Eh? What's that? Tut, tut, Mr. Philander, tut, tut!" said ProfessorPorter, edging cautiously nearer to Mr. Philander. 

Just then it occurred to Tarzan of the Apes that Numa had loiteredbeneath the tree for a sufficient length of time, so he raised hisyoung head toward the heavens, and there rang out upon the terrifiedears of the two old men the awful warning challenge of the anthropoid. 

The two friends, huddled trembling in their precarious position on thelimb, saw the great lion halt in his restless pacing as theblood-curdling cry smote his ears, and then slink quickly into thejungle, to be instantly lost to view. 

"Even the lion trembles in fear, " whispered Mr. Philander. 

"Most remarkable, most remarkable, " murmured Professor Porter, clutching frantically at Mr. Philander to regain the balance which thesudden fright had so perilously endangered. Unfortunately for themboth, Mr. Philander's center of equilibrium was at that very momenthanging upon the ragged edge of nothing, so that it needed but thegentle impetus supplied by the additional weight of Professor Porter'sbody to topple the devoted secretary from the limb. 

For a moment they swayed uncertainly, and then, with mingled and mostunscholarly shrieks, they pitched headlong from the tree, locked infrenzied embrace. 

It was quite some moments ere either moved, for both were positive thatany such attempt would reveal so many breaks and fractures as to makefurther progress impossible. 

At length Professor Porter made an attempt to move one leg. To hissurprise, it responded to his will as in days gone by. He now drew upits mate and stretched it forth again. 

"Most remarkable, most remarkable, " he murmured. 

"Thank God, Professor, " whispered Mr. Philander, fervently, "you arenot dead, then?"

"Tut, tut, Mr. Philander, tut, tut, " cautioned Professor Porter, "I donot know with accuracy as yet. "

With infinite solicitude Professor Porter wiggled his right arm--joy!It was intact. Breathlessly he waved his left arm above his prostratebody--it waved!

"Most remarkable, most remarkable, " he said. 

"To whom are you signaling, Professor?" asked Mr. Philander, in anexcited tone. 

Professor Porter deigned to make no response to this puerile inquiry. Instead he raised his head gently from the ground, nodding it back andforth a half dozen times. 

"Most remarkable, " he breathed. "It remains intact. "

Mr. Philander had not moved from where he had fallen; he had not daredthe attempt. How indeed could one move when one's arms and legs andback were broken?

One eye was buried in the soft loam; the other, rolling sidewise, wasfixed in awe upon the strange gyrations of Professor Porter. 

"How sad!" exclaimed Mr. Philander, half aloud. "Concussion of thebrain, superinducing total mental aberration. How very sad indeed! andfor one still so young!"

Professor Porter rolled over upon his stomach; gingerly he bowed hisback until he resembled a huge tom cat in proximity to a yelping dog. Then he sat up and felt of various portions of his anatomy. 

"They are all here, " he exclaimed. "Most remarkable!"

Whereupon he arose, and, bending a scathing glance upon the stillprostrate form of Mr. Samuel T. Philander, he said:

"Tut, tut, Mr. Philander; this is no time to indulge in slothful ease. We must be up and doing. "

Mr. Philander lifted his other eye out of the mud and gazed inspeechless rage at Professor Porter. Then he attempted to rise; norcould there have been any more surprised than he when his efforts wereimmediately crowned with marked success. 

He was still bursting with rage, however, at the cruel injustice ofProfessor Porter's insinuation, and was on the point of rendering atart rejoinder when his eyes fell upon a strange figure standing a fewpaces away, scrutinizing them intently. 

Professor Porter had recovered his shiny silk hat, which he had brushedcarefully upon the sleeve of his coat and replaced upon his head. Whenhe saw Mr. Philander pointing to something behind him he turned tobehold a giant, naked but for a loin cloth and a few metal ornaments, standing motionless before him. 

"Good evening, sir!" said the professor, lifting his hat. 

For reply the giant motioned them to follow him, and set off up thebeach in the direction from which they had recently come. 

"I think it the better part of discretion to follow him, " said Mr. Philander. 

"Tut, tut, Mr. Philander, " returned the professor. "A short time sinceyou were advancing a most logical argument in substantiation of yourtheory that camp lay directly south of us. I was skeptical, but youfinally convinced me; so now I am positive that toward the south wemust travel to reach our friends. Therefore I shall continue south. "

"But, Professor Porter, this man may know better than either of us. Heseems to be indigenous to this part of the world. Let us at leastfollow him for a short distance. "

"Tut, tut, Mr. Philander, " repeated the professor. "I am a difficultman to convince, but when once convinced my decision is unalterable. Ishall continue in the proper direction, if I have to circumambulate thecontinent of Africa to reach my destination. "

Further argument was interrupted by Tarzan, who, seeing that thesestrange men were not following him, had returned to their side. 

Again he beckoned to them; but still they stood in argument. 

Presently the ape-man lost patience with their stupid ignorance. Hegrasped the frightened Mr. Philander by the shoulder, and before thatworthy gentleman knew whether he was being killed or merely maimed forlife, Tarzan had tied one end of his rope securely about Mr. Philander's neck. 

"Tut, tut, Mr. Philander, " remonstrated Professor Porter; "it is mostunbeseeming in you to submit to such indignities. "

But scarcely were the words out of his mouth ere he, too, had beenseized and securely bound by the neck with the same rope. Then Tarzanset off toward the north, leading the now thoroughly frightenedprofessor and his secretary. 

In deathly silence they proceeded for what seemed hours to the twotired and hopeless old men; but presently as they topped a little riseof ground they were overjoyed to see the cabin lying before them, not ahundred yards distant. 

Here Tarzan released them, and, pointing toward the little building, vanished into the jungle beside them. 

"Most remarkable, most remarkable!" gasped the professor. "But yousee, Mr. Philander, that I was quite right, as usual; and but for yourstubborn willfulness we should have escaped a series of mosthumiliating, not to say dangerous accidents. Pray allow yourself to beguided by a more mature and practical mind hereafter when in need ofwise counsel. "

Mr. Samuel T. Philander was too much relieved at the happy outcome totheir adventure to take umbrage at the professor's cruel fling. Instead he grasped his friend's arm and hastened him forward in thedirection of the cabin. 

It was a much-relieved party of castaways that found itself once moreunited. Dawn discovered them still recounting their various adventuresand speculating upon the identity of the strange guardian and protectorthey had found on this savage shore. 

Esmeralda was positive that it was none other than an angel of theLord, sent down especially to watch over them. 

"Had you seen him devour the raw meat of the lion, Esmeralda, " laughedClayton, "you would have thought him a very material angel. "

"There was nothing heavenly about his voice, " said Jane Porter, with alittle shudder at recollection of the awful roar which had followed thekilling of the lioness. 

"Nor did it precisely comport with my preconceived ideas of the dignityof divine messengers, " remarked Professor Porter, "whenthe--ah--gentleman tied two highly respectable and erudite scholarsneck to neck and dragged them through the jungle as though they hadbeen cows. "

Chapter XVII

Burials

As it was now quite light, the party, none of whom had eaten or sleptsince the previous morning, began to bestir themselves to prepare food. 

The mutineers of the Arrow had landed a small supply of dried meats, canned soups and vegetables, crackers, flour, tea, and coffee for thefive they had marooned, and these were hurriedly drawn upon to satisfythe craving of long-famished appetites. 

The next task was to make the cabin habitable, and to this end it wasdecided to at once remove the gruesome relics of the tragedy which hadtaken place there on some bygone day. 

Professor Porter and Mr. Philander were deeply interested in examiningthe skeletons. The two larger, they stated, had belonged to a male andfemale of one of the higher white races. 

The smallest skeleton was given but passing attention, as its location, in the crib, left no doubt as to its having been the infant offspringof this unhappy couple. 

As they were preparing the skeleton of the man for burial, Claytondiscovered a massive ring which had evidently encircled the man'sfinger at the time of his death, for one of the slender bones of thehand still lay within the golden bauble. 

Picking it up to examine it, Clayton gave a cry of astonishment, forthe ring bore the crest of the house of Greystoke. 

At the same time, Jane discovered the books in the cupboard, and onopening the fly-leaf of one of them saw the name, JOHN CLAYTON, LONDON. In a second book which she hurriedly examined was the single name, GREYSTOKE. 

"Why, Mr. Clayton, " she cried, "what does this mean? Here are thenames of some of your own people in these books. "

"And here, " he replied gravely, "is the great ring of the house ofGreystoke which has been lost since my uncle, John Clayton, the formerLord Greystoke, disappeared, presumably lost at sea. "

"But how do you account for these things being here, in this savageAfrican jungle?" exclaimed the girl. 

"There is but one way to account for it, Miss Porter, " said Clayton. "The late Lord Greystoke was not drowned. He died here in this cabinand this poor thing upon the floor is all that is mortal of him. "

"Then this must have been Lady Greystoke, " said Jane reverently, indicating the poor mass of bones upon the bed. 

"The beautiful Lady Alice, " replied Clayton, "of whose many virtues andremarkable personal charms I often have heard my mother and fatherspeak. Poor woman, " he murmured sadly. 

With deep reverence and solemnity the bodies of the late Lord and LadyGreystoke were buried beside their little African cabin, and betweenthem was placed the tiny skeleton of the baby of Kala, the ape. 

As Mr. Philander was placing the frail bones of the infant in a bit ofsail cloth, he examined the skull minutely. Then he called ProfessorPorter to his side, and the two argued in low tones for several minutes. 

"Most remarkable, most remarkable, " said Professor Porter. 

"Bless me, " said Mr. Philander, "we must acquaint Mr. Clayton with ourdiscovery at once. "

"Tut, tut, Mr. Philander, tut, tut!" remonstrated Professor ArchimedesQ. Porter. "'Let the dead past bury its dead. '"

And so the white-haired old man repeated the burial service over thisstrange grave, while his four companions stood with bowed and uncoveredheads about him. 

From the trees Tarzan of the Apes watched the solemn ceremony; but mostof all he watched the sweet face and graceful figure of Jane Porter. 

In his savage, untutored breast new emotions were stirring. He couldnot fathom them. He wondered why he felt so great an interest in thesepeople--why he had gone to such pains to save the three men. But hedid not wonder why he had torn Sabor from the tender flesh of thestrange girl. 

Surely the men were stupid and ridiculous and cowardly. Even Manu, themonkey, was more intelligent than they. If these were creatures of hisown kind he was doubtful if his past pride in blood was warranted. 

But the girl, ah--that was a different matter. He did not reason here. He knew that she was created to be protected, and that he was createdto protect her. 

He wondered why they had dug a great hole in the ground merely to burydry bones. Surely there was no sense in that; no one wanted to stealdry bones. 

Had there been meat upon them he could have understood, for thus alonemight one keep his meat from Dango, the hyena, and the other robbers ofthe jungle. 

When the grave had been filled with earth the little party turned backtoward the cabin, and Esmeralda, still weeping copiously for the twoshe had never heard of before today, and who had been dead twentyyears, chanced to glance toward the harbor. Instantly her tears ceased. 

"Look at them low down white trash out there!" she shrilled, pointingtoward the Arrow. "They-all's a desecrating us, right here on thishere perverted island. "

And, sure enough, the Arrow was being worked toward the open sea, slowly, through the harbor's entrance. 

"They promised to leave us firearms and ammunition, " said Clayton. "The merciless beasts!"

"It is the work of that fellow they call Snipes, I am sure, " said Jane. "King was a scoundrel, but he had a little sense of humanity. If theyhad not killed him I know that he would have seen that we were properlyprovided for before they left us to our fate. "

"I regret that they did not visit us before sailing, " said ProfessorPorter. "I had proposed requesting them to leave the treasure with us, as I shall be a ruined man if that is lost. "

Jane looked at her father sadly. 

"Never mind, dear, " she said. "It wouldn't have done any good, becauseit is solely for the treasure that they killed their officers andlanded us upon this awful shore. "

"Tut, tut, child, tut, tut!" replied Professor Porter. "You are a goodchild, but inexperienced in practical matters, " and Professor Porterturned and walked slowly away toward the jungle, his hands claspedbeneath his long coat tails and his eyes bent upon the ground. 

His daughter watched him with a pathetic smile upon her lips, and thenturning to Mr. Philander, she whispered:

"Please don't let him wander off again as he did yesterday. We dependupon you, you know, to keep a close watch upon him. "

"He becomes more difficult to handle each day, " replied Mr. Philander, with a sigh and a shake of his head. "I presume he is now off toreport to the directors of the Zoo that one of their lions was at largelast night. Oh, Miss Jane, you don't know what I have to contend with. "

"Yes, I do, Mr. Philander; but while we all love him, you alone arebest fitted to manage him; for, regardless of what he may say to you, he respects your great learning, and, therefore, has immense confidencein your judgment. The poor dear cannot differentiate between eruditionand wisdom. "

Mr. Philander, with a mildly puzzled expression on his face, turned topursue Professor Porter, and in his mind he was revolving the questionof whether he should feel complimented or aggrieved at Miss Porter'srather backhanded compliment. 

Tarzan had seen the consternation depicted upon the faces of the littlegroup as they witnessed the departure of the Arrow; so, as the ship wasa wonderful novelty to him in addition, he determined to hasten out tothe point of land at the north of the harbor's mouth and obtain anearer view of the boat, as well as to learn, if possible, thedirection of its flight. 

Swinging through the trees with great speed, he reached the point onlya moment after the ship had passed out of the harbor, so that heobtained an excellent view of the wonders of this strange, floatinghouse. 

There were some twenty men running hither and thither about the deck, pulling and hauling on ropes. 

A light land breeze was blowing, and the ship had been worked throughthe harbor's mouth under scant sail, but now that they had cleared thepoint every available shred of canvas was being spread that she mightstand out to sea as handily as possible. 

Tarzan watched the graceful movements of the ship in rapt admiration, and longed to be aboard her. Presently his keen eyes caught thefaintest suspicion of smoke on the far northern horizon, and hewondered over the cause of such a thing out on the great water. 

About the same time the look-out on the Arrow must have discerned it, for in a few minutes Tarzan saw the sails being shifted and shortened. The ship came about, and presently he knew that she was beating backtoward land. 

A man at the bows was constantly heaving into the sea a rope to the endof which a small object was fastened. Tarzan wondered what the purposeof this action might be. 

At last the ship came up directly into the wind; the anchor waslowered; down came the sails. There was great scurrying about on deck. 

A boat was lowered, and in it a great chest was placed. Then a dozensailors bent to the oars and pulled rapidly toward the point whereTarzan crouched in the branches of a tree. 

In the stern of the boat, as it drew nearer, Tarzan saw the rat-facedman. 

It was but a few minutes later that the boat touched the beach. Themen jumped out and lifted the great chest to the sand. They were onthe north side of the point so that their presence was concealed fromthose at the cabin. 

The men argued angrily for a moment. Then the rat-faced one, withseveral companions, ascended the low bluff on which stood the tree thatconcealed Tarzan. They looked about for several minutes. 

"Here is a good place, " said the rat-faced sailor, indicating a spotbeneath Tarzan's tree. 

"It is as good as any, " replied one of his companions. "If they catchus with the treasure aboard it will all be confiscated anyway. Wemight as well bury it here on the chance that some of us will escapethe gallows to come back and enjoy it later. "

The rat-faced one now called to the men who had remained at the boat, and they came slowly up the bank carrying picks and shovels. 

"Hurry, you!" cried Snipes. 

"Stow it!" retorted one of the men, in a surly tone. "You're noadmiral, you damned shrimp. "

"I'm Cap'n here, though, I'll have you to understand, you swab, "shrieked Snipes, with a volley of frightful oaths. 

"Steady, boys, " cautioned one of the men who had not spoken before. "It ain't goin' to get us nothing by fightin' amongst ourselves. "

"Right enough, " replied the sailor who had resented Snipes' autocratictones; "but it ain't a-goin' to get nobody nothin' to put on airs inthis bloomin' company neither. "

"You fellows dig here, " said Snipes, indicating a spot beneath thetree. "And while you're diggin', Peter kin be a-makin' of a map of thelocation so's we kin find it again. You, Tom, and Bill, take a couplemore down and fetch up the chest. "

"Wot are you a-goin' to do?" asked he of the previous altercation. "Just boss?"

"Git busy there, " growled Snipes. "You didn't think your Cap'n wasa-goin' to dig with a shovel, did you?"

The men all looked up angrily. None of them liked Snipes, and thisdisagreeable show of authority since he had murdered King, the realhead and ringleader of the mutineers, had only added fuel to the flamesof their hatred. 

"Do you mean to say that you don't intend to take a shovel, and lend ahand with this work? Your shoulder's not hurt so all-fired bad asthat, " said Tarrant, the sailor who had before spoken. 

"Not by a damned sight, " replied Snipes, fingering the butt of hisrevolver nervously. 

"Then, by God, " replied Tarrant, "if you won't take a shovel you'lltake a pickax. "

With the words he raised his pick above his head, and, with a mightyblow, he buried the point in Snipes' brain. 

For a moment the men stood silently looking at the result of theirfellow's grim humor. Then one of them spoke. 

"Served the skunk jolly well right, " he said. 

One of the others commenced to ply his pick to the ground. The soilwas soft and he threw aside the pick and grasped a shovel; then theothers joined him. There was no further comment on the killing, butthe men worked in a better frame of mind than they had since Snipes hadassumed command. 

When they had a trench of ample size to bury the chest, Tarrantsuggested that they enlarge it and inter Snipes' body on top of thechest. 

"It might 'elp fool any as 'appened to be diggin' 'ereabouts, " heexplained. 

The others saw the cunning of the suggestion, and so the trench waslengthened to accommodate the corpse, and in the center a deeper holewas excavated for the box, which was first wrapped in sailcloth andthen lowered to its place, which brought its top about a foot below thebottom of the grave. Earth was shovelled in and tramped down about thechest until the bottom of the grave showed level and uniform. 

Two of the men rolled the rat-faced corpse unceremoniously into thegrave, after first stripping it of its weapons and various otherarticles which the several members of the party coveted for their own. 

They then filled the grave with earth and tramped upon it until itwould hold no more. 

The balance of the loose earth was thrown far and wide, and a mass ofdead undergrowth spread in as natural a manner as possible over thenew-made grave to obliterate all signs of the ground having beendisturbed. 

Their work done the sailors returned to the small boat, and pulled offrapidly toward the Arrow. 

The breeze had increased considerably, and as the smoke upon thehorizon was now plainly discernible in considerable volume, themutineers lost no time in getting under full sail and bearing awaytoward the southwest. 

Tarzan, an interested spectator of all that had taken place, satspeculating on the strange actions of these peculiar creatures. 

Men were indeed more foolish and more cruel than the beasts of thejungle! How fortunate was he who lived in the peace and security ofthe great forest!

Tarzan wondered what the chest they had buried contained. If they didnot want it why did they not merely throw it into the water? Thatwould have been much easier. 

Ah, he thought, but they do want it. They have hidden it here becausethey intend returning for it later. 

Tarzan dropped to the ground and commenced to examine the earth aboutthe excavation. He was looking to see if these creatures had droppedanything which he might like to own. Soon he discovered a spade hiddenby the underbrush which they had laid upon the grave. 

He seized it and attempted to use it as he had seen the sailors do. Itwas awkward work and hurt his bare feet, but he persevered until he hadpartially uncovered the body. This he dragged from the grave and laidto one side. 

Then he continued digging until he had unearthed the chest. This alsohe dragged to the side of the corpse. Then he filled in the smallerhole below the grave, replaced the body and the earth around and aboveit, covered it over with underbrush, and returned to the chest. 

Four sailors had sweated beneath the burden of its weight--Tarzan ofthe Apes picked it up as though it had been an empty packing case, andwith the spade slung to his back by a piece of rope, carried it offinto the densest part of the jungle. 

He could not well negotiate the trees with his awkward burden, but hekept to the trails, and so made fairly good time. 

For several hours he traveled a little north of east until he came toan impenetrable wall of matted and tangled vegetation. Then he took tothe lower branches, and in another fifteen minutes he emerged into theamphitheater of the apes, where they met in council, or to celebratethe rites of the Dum-Dum. 

Near the center of the clearing, and not far from the drum, or altar, he commenced to dig. This was harder work than turning up the freshlyexcavated earth at the grave, but Tarzan of the Apes was perseveringand so he kept at his labor until he was rewarded by seeing a holesufficiently deep to receive the chest and effectually hide it fromview. 

Why had he gone to all this labor without knowing the value of thecontents of the chest?

Tarzan of the Apes had a man's figure and a man's brain, but he was anape by training and environment. His brain told him that the chestcontained something valuable, or the men would not have hidden it. Histraining had taught him to imitate whatever was new and unusual, andnow the natural curiosity, which is as common to men as to apes, prompted him to open the chest and examine its contents. 

But the heavy lock and massive iron bands baffled both his cunning andhis immense strength, so that he was compelled to bury the chestwithout having his curiosity satisfied. 

By the time Tarzan had hunted his way back to the vicinity of thecabin, feeding as he went, it was quite dark. 

Within the little building a light was burning, for Clayton had foundan unopened tin of oil which had stood intact for twenty years, a partof the supplies left with the Claytons by Black Michael. The lampsalso were still useable, and thus the interior of the cabin appeared asbright as day to the astonished Tarzan. 

He had often wondered at the exact purpose of the lamps. His readingand the pictures had told him what they were, but he had no idea of howthey could be made to produce the wondrous sunlight that some of hispictures had portrayed them as diffusing upon all surrounding objects. 

As he approached the window nearest the door he saw that the cabin hadbeen divided into two rooms by a rough partition of boughs andsailcloth. 

In the front room were the three men; the two older deep in argument, while the younger, tilted back against the wall on an improvised stool, was deeply engrossed in reading one of Tarzan's books. 

Tarzan was not particularly interested in the men, however, so hesought the other window. There was the girl. How beautiful herfeatures! How delicate her snowy skin!

She was writing at Tarzan's own table beneath the window. Upon a pileof grasses at the far side of the room lay the Negress asleep. 

For an hour Tarzan feasted his eyes upon her while she wrote. How helonged to speak to her, but he dared not attempt it, for he wasconvinced that, like the young man, she would not understand him, andhe feared, too, that he might frighten her away. 

At length she arose, leaving her manuscript upon the table. She wentto the bed upon which had been spread several layers of soft grasses. These she rearranged. 

Then she loosened the soft mass of golden hair which crowned her head. Like a shimmering waterfall turned to burnished metal by a dying sun itfell about her oval face; in waving lines, below her waist it tumbled. 

Tarzan was spellbound. Then she extinguished the lamp and all withinthe cabin was wrapped in Cimmerian darkness. 

Still Tarzan watched. Creeping close beneath the window he waited, listening, for half an hour. At last he was rewarded by the sounds ofthe regular breathing within which denotes sleep. 

Cautiously he intruded his hand between the meshes of the lattice untilhis whole arm was within the cabin. Carefully he felt upon the desk. At last he grasped the manuscript upon which Jane Porter had beenwriting, and as cautiously withdrew his arm and hand, holding theprecious treasure. 

Tarzan folded the sheets into a small parcel which he tucked into thequiver with his arrows. Then he melted away into the jungle as softlyand as noiselessly as a shadow. 

Chapter XVIII

The Jungle Toll

Early the following morning Tarzan awoke, and his first thought of thenew day, as the last of yesterday, was of the wonderful writing whichlay hidden in his quiver. 

Hurriedly he brought it forth, hoping against hope that he could readwhat the beautiful white girl had written there the preceding evening. 

At the first glance he suffered a bitter disappointment; never beforehad he so yearned for anything as now he did for the ability tointerpret a message from that golden-haired divinity who had come sosuddenly and so unexpectedly into his life. 

What did it matter if the message were not intended for him? It was anexpression of her thoughts, and that was sufficient for Tarzan of theApes. 

And now to be baffled by strange, uncouth characters the like of whichhe had never seen before! Why, they even tipped in the oppositedirection from all that he had ever examined either in printed books orthe difficult script of the few letters he had found. 

Even the little bugs of the black book were familiar friends, thoughtheir arrangement meant nothing to him; but these bugs were new andunheard of. 

For twenty minutes he pored over them, when suddenly they commenced totake 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 heartleaped for joy. He could read it, and he would. 

In another half hour he was progressing rapidly, and, but for anexceptional word now and again, he found it very plain sailing. 

Here is what he read:

WEST COAST OF AFRICA, ABOUT 10 DEGREES SOUTH LATITUDE. (So Mr. Clayton says. ) February 3 (?), 1909. 

DEAREST HAZEL:

It seems foolish to write you a letter that you may never see, but Isimply must tell somebody of our awful experiences since we sailed fromEurope on the ill-fated Arrow. 

If we never return to civilization, as now seems only too likely, thiswill at least prove a brief record of the events which led up to ourfinal fate, whatever it may be. 

As you know, we were supposed to have set out upon a scientificexpedition to the Congo. Papa was presumed to entertain some wondroustheory of an unthinkably ancient civilization, the remains of which layburied somewhere in the Congo valley. But after we were well undersail the truth came out. 

It seems that an old bookworm who has a book and curio shop inBaltimore discovered between the leaves of a very old Spanishmanuscript a letter written in 1550 detailing the adventures of a crewof mutineers of a Spanish galleon bound from Spain to South Americawith a vast treasure of "doubloons" and "pieces of eight, " I suppose, for they certainly sound weird and piraty. 

The writer had been one of the crew, and the letter was to his son, whowas, at the very time the letter was written, master of a Spanishmerchantman. 

Many years had elapsed since the events the letter narrated hadtranspired, and the old man had become a respected citizen of anobscure Spanish town, but the love of gold was still so strong upon himthat he risked all to acquaint his son with the means of attainingfabulous wealth for them both. 

The writer told how when but a week out from Spain the crew hadmutinied and murdered every officer and man who opposed them; but theydefeated their own ends by this very act, for there was none leftcompetent to navigate a ship at sea. 

They were blown hither and thither for two months, until sick and dyingof scurvy, starvation, and thirst, they had been wrecked on a smallislet. 

The galleon was washed high upon the beach where she went to pieces;but not before the survivors, who numbered but ten souls, had rescuedone of the great chests of treasure. 

This they buried well up on the island, and for three years they livedthere in constant hope of being rescued. 

One by one they sickened and died, until only one man was left, thewriter of the letter. 

The men had built a boat from the wreckage of the galleon, but havingno idea where the island was located they had not dared to put to sea. 

When all were dead except himself, however, the awful loneliness soweighed upon the mind of the sole survivor that he could endure it nolonger, and choosing to risk death upon the open sea rather thanmadness on the lonely isle, he set sail in his little boat after nearlya year of solitude. 

Fortunately he sailed due north, and within a week was in the track ofthe Spanish merchantmen plying between the West Indies and Spain, andwas picked up by one of these vessels homeward bound. 

The story he told was merely one of shipwreck in which all but a fewhad perished, the balance, except himself, dying after they reached theisland. He did not mention the mutiny or the chest of buried treasure. 

The master of the merchantman assured him that from the position atwhich they had picked him up, and the prevailing winds for the pastweek he could have been on no other island than one of the Cape Verdegroup, which lie off the West Coast of Africa in about 16 degrees or 17degrees north latitude. 

His letter described the island minutely, as well as the location ofthe treasure, and was accompanied by the crudest, funniest little oldmap you ever saw; with trees and rocks all marked by scrawly X's toshow 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 dear hasalways been that I feared that he had again been duped; especially whenhe 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 thousanddollars more from Robert Canler, and had given his notes for the amount. 

Mr. Canler had asked for no security, and you know, dearie, what thatwill 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--bothfelt as skeptical as I. 

Well, to make a long story short, we found the island and thetreasure--a great iron-bound oak chest, wrapped in many layers of oiledsailcloth, and as strong and firm as when it had been buried nearly twohundred years ago. 

It was SIMPLY FILLED with gold coin, and was so heavy that four menbent underneath its weight. 

The horrid thing seems to bring nothing but murder and misfortune tothose who have anything to do with it, for three days after we sailedfrom the Cape Verde Islands our own crew mutinied and killed every oneof their officers. 

Oh, it was the most terrifying experience one could imagine--I cannoteven write of it. 

They were going to kill us too, but one of them, the leader, namedKing, would not let them, and so they sailed south along the coast to alonely spot where they found a good harbor, and here they landed andhave left us. 

They sailed away with the treasure to-day, but Mr. Clayton says theywill meet with a fate similar to the mutineers of the ancient galleon, because King, the only man aboard who knew aught of navigation, wasmurdered 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 Greystoke, and some day will inherit thetitle and estates. In addition, he is wealthy in his own right, butthe fact that he is going to be an English Lord makes me very sad--youknow what my sentiments have always been relative to American girls whomarried titled foreigners. Oh, if he were only a plain Americangentleman!

But it isn't his fault, poor fellow, and in everything except birth hewould do credit to my country, and that is the greatest compliment Iknow how to pay any man. 

We have had the most weird experiences since we were landed here. Papaand Mr. Philander lost in the jungle, and chased by a real lion. 

Mr. Clayton lost, and attacked twice by wild beasts. Esmeralda and Icornered in an old cabin by a perfectly awful man-eating lioness. Oh, it was simply "terrifical, " as Esmeralda would say. 

But the strangest part of it all is the wonderful creature who rescuedus. I have not seen him, but Mr. Clayton and papa and Mr. Philanderhave, and they say that he is a perfectly god-like white man tanned toa dusky brown, with the strength of a wild elephant, the agility of amonkey, and the bravery of a lion. 

He speaks no English and vanishes as quickly and as mysteriously afterhe has performed some valorous deed, as though he were a disembodiedspirit. 

Then we have another weird neighbor, who printed a beautiful sign inEnglish and tacked it on the door of his cabin, which we havepreempted, warning us to destroy none of his belongings, and signinghimself "Tarzan of the Apes. "

We have never seen him, though we think he is about, for one of thesailors, who was going to shoot Mr. Clayton in the back, received aspear 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 asingle revolver with but three cartridges left in it, we do not knowhow we can procure meat, though Mr. Philander says that we can existindefinitely 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 will add to this from day to day as thingshappen. Lovingly, JANE PORTER. 

TO HAZEL STRONG, BALTIMORE, MD. 

Tarzan sat in a brown study for a long time after he finished readingthe letter. It was filled with so many new and wonderful things thathis 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 tellthem. 

In his tree he had constructed a rude shelter of leaves and boughs, beneath which, protected from the rain, he had placed the few treasuresbrought 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 letterto the cabin. 

In the matter of food, thought Tarzan, they had no need to worry--hewould provide, and he did. 

The next morning Jane found her missing letter in the exact spot fromwhich it had disappeared two nights before. She was mystified; butwhen she saw the printed words beneath her signature, she felt a cold, clammy chill run up her spine. She showed the letter, or rather thelast sheet with the signature, to Clayton. 

"And to think, " she said, "that uncanny thing was probably watching meall the time that I was writing--oo! It makes me shudder just to thinkof it. "

"But he must be friendly, " reassured Clayton, "for he has returned yourletter, nor did he offer to harm you, and unless I am mistaken he lefta very substantial memento of his friendship outside the cabin doorlast night, for I just found the carcass of a wild boar there as I cameout. "

From then on scarcely a day passed that did not bring its offering ofgame or other food. Sometimes it was a young deer, again a quantity ofstrange, cooked food--cassava cakes pilfered from the village ofMbonga--or a boar, or leopard, and once a lion. 

Tarzan derived the greatest pleasure of his life in hunting meat forthese strangers. It seemed to him that no pleasure on earth couldcompare with laboring for the welfare and protection of the beautifulwhite girl. 

Some day he would venture into the camp in daylight and talk with thesepeople through the medium of the little bugs which were familiar tothem and to Tarzan. 

But he found it difficult to overcome the timidity of the wild thing ofthe forest, and so day followed day without seeing a fulfillment of hisgood intentions. 

The party in the camp, emboldened by familiarity, wandered farther andyet farther into the jungle in search of nuts and fruit. 

Scarcely a day passed that did not find Professor Porter straying inhis preoccupied indifference toward the jaws of death. Mr. Samuel T. Philander, never what one might call robust, was worn to the shadow ofa shadow through the ceaseless worry and mental distraction resultantfrom his Herculean efforts to safeguard the professor. 

A month passed. Tarzan had finally determined to visit the camp bydaylight. 

It was early afternoon. Clayton had wandered to the point at theharbor's mouth to look for passing vessels. Here he kept a great massof wood, high piled, ready to be ignited as a signal should a steameror a sail top the far horizon. 

Professor Porter was wandering along the beach south of the camp withMr. Philander at his elbow, urging him to turn his steps back beforethe two became again the sport of some savage beast. 

The others gone, Jane and Esmeralda had wandered into the jungle togather fruit, and in their search were led farther and farther from thecabin. 

Tarzan waited in silence before the door of the little house until theyshould return. His thoughts were of the beautiful white girl. Theywere always of her now. He wondered if she would fear him, and thethought all but caused him to relinquish his plan. 

He was rapidly becoming impatient for her return, that he might feasthis eyes upon her and be near her, perhaps touch her. The ape-man knewno god, but he was as near to worshipping his divinity as mortal manever comes to worship. While he waited he passed the time printing amessage to her; whether he intended giving it to her he himself couldnot have told, but he took infinite pleasure in seeing his thoughtsexpressed in print--in which he was not so uncivilized after all. Hewrote:

I am Tarzan of the Apes. I want you. I am yours. You are mine. Welive here together always in my house. I will bring you the best offruits, the tenderest deer, the finest meats that roam the jungle. Iwill hunt for you. I am the greatest of the jungle fighters. I willfight for you. I am the mightiest of the jungle fighters. You areJane Porter, I saw it in your letter. When you see this you will knowthat 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 hehad 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 theforest. 

For an instant he listened intently, and then from the jungle came theagonized scream of a woman, and Tarzan of the Apes, dropping his firstlove letter upon the ground, shot like a panther into the forest. 

Clayton, also, heard the scream, and Professor Porter and Mr. Philander, and in a few minutes they came panting to the cabin, callingout to each other a volley of excited questions as they approached. Aglance within confirmed their worst fears. 

Jane and Esmeralda were not there. 

Instantly, Clayton, followed by the two old men, plunged into thejungle, calling the girl's name aloud. For half an hour they stumbledon, until Clayton, by merest chance, came upon the prostrate form ofEsmeralda. 

He stopped beside her, feeling for her pulse and then listening for herheartbeats. She lived. He shook her. 

"Esmeralda!" he shrieked in her ear. "Esmeralda! For God's sake, where is Miss Porter? What has happened? Esmeralda!"

Slowly Esmeralda opened her eyes. She saw Clayton. She saw the jungleabout her. 

"Oh, Gaberelle!" she screamed, and fainted again. 

By this time Professor Porter and Mr. Philander had come up. 

"What shall we do, Mr. Clayton?" asked the old professor. "Where shallwe look? God could not have been so cruel as to take my little girlaway from me now. "

"We must arouse Esmeralda first, " replied Clayton. "She can tell uswhat has happened. Esmeralda!" he cried again, shaking the black womanroughly by the shoulder. 

"O Gaberelle, I want to die!" cried the poor woman, but with eyes fastclosed. "Let me die, dear Lord, don't let me see that awful faceagain. "

"Come, come, Esmeralda, " cried Clayton. 

"The Lord isn't here; it's Mr. Clayton. Open your eyes. "

Esmeralda did as she was bade. 

"O Gaberelle! Thank the Lord, " she said. 

"Where's Miss Porter? What happened?" questioned Clayton. 

"Ain't Miss Jane here?" cried Esmeralda, sitting up with wonderfulcelerity for one of her bulk. "Oh, Lord, now I remember! It must havetook her away, " and the Negress commenced to sob, and wail herlamentations. 

"What took her away?" cried Professor Porter. 

"A great big giant all covered with hair. "

"A gorilla, Esmeralda?" questioned Mr. Philander, and the three menscarcely breathed as he voiced the horrible thought. 

"I thought it was the devil; but I guess it must have been one of themgorilephants. Oh, my poor baby, my poor little honey, " and againEsmeralda broke into uncontrollable sobbing. 

Clayton immediately began to look about for tracks, but he could findnothing save a confusion of trampled grasses in the close vicinity, andhis 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 nightdrew on they were forced to give up in despair and hopelessness, forthey 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 andgrief-stricken party it was that sat silently within the littlestructure. 

Professor Porter finally broke the silence. His tones were no longerthose of the erudite pedant theorizing upon the abstract and theunknowable; but those of the man of action--determined, but tinged alsoby a note of indescribable hopelessness and grief which wrung ananswering pang from Clayton's heart. 

"I shall lie down now, " said the old man, "and try to sleep. Earlyto-morrow, as soon as it is light, I shall take what food I can carryand continue the search until I have found Jane. I will not returnwithout her. "

His companions did not reply at once. Each was immersed in his ownsorrowful thoughts, and each knew, as did the old professor, what thelast words meant--Professor Porter would never return from the jungle. 

At length Clayton arose and laid his hand gently upon ProfessorPorter'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 oncemy dear little girl shall not lie alone and friendless in the awfuljungle. 

"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 togetherin death, as it has always found us in life. 

"No; it is I alone who may go, for she was my daughter--all that wasleft 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 WilliamCecil Clayton intently. Perhaps he read there the love that lay in theheart beneath--the love for his daughter. 

He had been too preoccupied with his own scholarly thoughts in the pastto consider the little occurrences, the chance words, which would haveindicated to a more practical man that these young people were beingdrawn 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. Philander. 

"No, my dear old friend, " said Professor Porter. "We may not all go. It would be cruelly wicked to leave poor Esmeralda here alone, andthree of us would be no more successful than one. 

"There be enough dead things in the cruel forest as it is. Come--letus try to sleep a little. "

Chapter XIX

The Call of the Primitive

From the time Tarzan left the tribe of great anthropoids in which hehad been raised, it was torn by continual strife and discord. Terkozproved a cruel and capricious king, so that, one by one, many of theolder and weaker apes, upon whom he was particularly prone to vent hisbrutish nature, took their families and sought the quiet and safety ofthe far interior. 

But at last those who remained were driven to desperation by thecontinued truculence of Terkoz, and it so happened that one of themrecalled the parting admonition of Tarzan:

"If you have a chief who is cruel, do not do as the other apes do, andattempt, any one of you, to pit yourself against him alone. But, instead, let two or three or four of you attack him together. Then, ifyou will do this, no chief will dare to be other than he should be, forfour of you can kill any chief who may ever be over you. "

And the ape who recalled this wise counsel repeated it to several ofhis fellows, so that when Terkoz returned to the tribe that day hefound a warm reception awaiting him. 

There were no formalities. As Terkoz reached the group, five huge, hairy beasts sprang upon him. 

At heart he was an arrant coward, which is the way with bullies amongapes as well as among men; so he did not remain to fight and die, buttore himself away from them as quickly as he could and fled into thesheltering boughs of the forest. 

Two more attempts he made to rejoin the tribe, but on each occasion hewas 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 lookingfor 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 intimationJane Porter had of his presence was when the great hairy body droppedto 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 herarm. Then she was dragged toward those awful fangs which yawned at herthroat. But ere they touched that fair skin another mood claimed theanthropoid. 

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 sohe threw her roughly across his broad, hairy shoulders and leaped backinto the trees, bearing Jane away. 

Esmeralda's scream of terror had mingled once with that of Jane, andthen, as was Esmeralda's manner under stress of emergency whichrequired presence of mind, she swooned. 

But Jane did not once lose consciousness. It is true that that awfulface, pressing close to hers, and the stench of the foul breath beatingupon her nostrils, paralyzed her with terror; but her brain was clear, and she comprehended all that transpired. 

With what seemed to her marvelous rapidity the brute bore her throughthe forest, but still she did not cry out or struggle. The suddenadvent of the ape had confused her to such an extent that she thoughtnow that he was bearing her toward the beach. 

For this reason she conserved her energies and her voice until shecould see that they had approached near enough to the camp to attractthe succor she craved. 

She could not have known it, but she was being borne farther andfarther into the impenetrable jungle. 

The scream that had brought Clayton and the two older men stumblingthrough the undergrowth had led Tarzan of the Apes straight to whereEsmeralda 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, untilthe ape that was in him by virtue of training and environment, combinedwith the intelligence that was his by right of birth, told his wondrouswoodcraft the whole story as plainly as though he had seen the thinghappen with his own eyes. 

And then he was gone again into the swaying trees, following thehigh-flung spoor which no other human eye could have detected, muchless translated. 

At boughs' ends, where the anthropoid swings from one tree to another, there is most to mark the trail, but least to point the direction ofthe quarry; for there the pressure is downward always, toward the smallend 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'sgreat foot, and Tarzan knows instinctively where that same foot wouldtouch in the next stride. Here he looks to find a tiny particle of thedemolished larva, ofttimes not more than a speck of moisture. 

Again, a minute bit of bark has been upturned by the scraping hand, andthe direction of the break indicates the direction of the passage. Orsome great limb, or the stem of the tree itself has been brushed by thehairy body, and a tiny shred of hair tells him by the direction fromwhich it is wedged beneath the bark that he is on the right trail. 

Nor does he need to check his speed to catch these seemingly faintrecords of the fleeing beast. 

To Tarzan they stand out boldly against all the myriad other scars andbruises and signs upon the leafy way. But strongest of all is thescent, for Tarzan is pursuing up the wind, and his trained nostrils areas sensitive as a hound's. 

There are those who believe that the lower orders are specially endowedby nature with better olfactory nerves than man, but it is merely amatter of development. 

Man's survival does not hinge so greatly upon the perfection of hissenses. His power to reason has relieved them of many of their duties, and so they have, to some extent, atrophied, as have the muscles whichmove the ears and scalp, merely from disuse. 

The muscles are there, about the ears and beneath the scalp, and so arethe nerves which transmit sensations to the brain, but they areunder-developed because they are not needed. 

Not so with Tarzan of the Apes. From early infancy his survival haddepended upon acuteness of eyesight, hearing, smell, touch, and tastefar more than upon the more slowly developed organ of reason. 

The least developed of all in Tarzan was the sense of taste, for hecould eat luscious fruits, or raw flesh, long buried with almost equalappreciation; but in that he differed but slightly from more civilizedepicures. 

Almost silently the ape-man sped on in the track of Terkoz and hisprey, but the sound of his approach reached the ears of the fleeingbeast and spurred it on to greater speed. 

Three miles were covered before Tarzan overtook them, and then Terkoz, seeing that further flight was futile, dropped to the ground in a smallopen glade, that he might turn and fight for his prize or be free toescape unhampered if he saw that the pursuer was more than a match forhim. 

He still grasped Jane in one great arm as Tarzan bounded like a leopardinto the arena which nature had provided for this primeval-like battle. 

When Terkoz saw that it was Tarzan who pursued him, he jumped to theconclusion that this was Tarzan's woman, since they were of the samekind--white and hairless--and so he rejoiced at this opportunity fordouble revenge upon his hated enemy. 

To Jane the strange apparition of this god-like man was as wine to sicknerves. 

From the description which Clayton and her father and Mr. Philander hadgiven her, she knew that it must be the same wonderful creature who hadsaved them, and she saw in him only a protector and a friend. 

But as Terkoz pushed her roughly aside to meet Tarzan's charge, and shesaw the great proportions of the ape and the mighty muscles and thefierce fangs, her heart quailed. How could any vanquish such a mightyantagonist?

Like two charging bulls they came together, and like two wolves soughteach other's throat. Against the long canines of the ape was pittedthe thin blade of the man's knife. 

Jane--her lithe, young form flattened against the trunk of a greattree, her hands tight pressed against her rising and falling bosom, andher eyes wide with mingled horror, fascination, fear, andadmiration--watched the primordial ape battle with the primeval man forpossession of a woman--for her. 

As the great muscles of the man's back and shoulders knotted beneaththe tension of his efforts, and the huge biceps and forearm held at baythose mighty tusks, the veil of centuries of civilization and culturewas swept from the blurred vision of the Baltimore girl. 

When the long knife drank deep a dozen times of Terkoz' heart's blood, and the great carcass rolled lifeless upon the ground, it was aprimeval woman who sprang forward with outstretched arms toward theprimeval man who had fought for her and won her. 

And Tarzan?

He did what no red-blooded man needs lessons in doing. He took hiswoman in his arms and smothered her upturned, panting lips with kisses. 

For a moment Jane lay there with half-closed eyes. For a moment--thefirst in her young life--she knew the meaning of love. 

But as suddenly as the veil had been withdrawn it dropped again, and anoutraged conscience suffused her face with its scarlet mantle, and amortified woman thrust Tarzan of the Apes from her and buried her facein her hands. 

Tarzan had been surprised when he had found the girl he had learned tolove 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 turnedupon him like a tigress, 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 herpeople, but that little moment was lost now in the dim and distant pastof things which were but can never be again, and with it the goodintentions had gone to join the impossible. 

Since then Tarzan of the Apes had felt a warm, lithe form close pressedto his. Hot, sweet breath against his cheek and mouth had fanned a newflame to life within his breast, and perfect lips had clung to his inburning kisses that had seared a deep brand into his soul--a brandwhich marked a new Tarzan. 

Again he laid his hand upon her arm. Again she repulsed him. And thenTarzan of 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 thebeach were awakened by the booming of a cannon. Clayton was the firstto rush out, and there, beyond the harbor's mouth, he saw two vesselslying at anchor. 

One was the Arrow and the other a small French cruiser. The sides ofthe latter were crowded with men gazing shoreward, and it was evidentto Clayton, as to the others who had now joined him, that the gun whichthey had heard had been fired to attract their attention if they stillremained at the cabin. 

Both vessels lay at a considerable distance from shore, and it wasdoubtful if their glasses would locate the waving hats of the littleparty far in between the harbor's points. 

Esmeralda had removed her red apron and was waving it frantically aboveher head; but Clayton, still fearing that even this might not be seen, hurried off toward the northern point where lay his signal pyre readyfor 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 in sight of the vessels again, he was filled with consternation to see that the Arrow was making sailand that the cruiser was already under way. 

Quickly lighting the pyre in a dozen places, he hurried to the extremepoint of the promontory, where he stripped off his shirt, and, tying itto a fallen branch, stood waving it back and forth above him. 

But still the vessels continued to stand out; and he had given up allhope, when the great column of smoke, rising above the forest in onedense vertical shaft, attracted the attention of a lookout aboard thecruiser, and instantly a dozen glasses were leveled on the beach. 

Presently Clayton saw the two ships come about again; and while theArrow lay drifting quietly on the ocean, the cruiser steamed slowlyback toward shore. 

At some distance away she stopped, and a boat was lowered anddispatched toward the beach. 

As it was drawn up a young officer stepped out. 

"Monsieur Clayton, I presume?" he asked. 

"Thank God, you have come!" was Clayton's reply. "And it may be thatit 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 mento aid in the search for her. 

"MON DIEU!" exclaimed the officer, sadly. "Yesterday and it would nothave been too late. Today and it may be better that the poor lady werenever found. It is horrible, Monsieur. It is too horrible. "

Other boats had now put off from the cruiser, and Clayton, havingpointed out the harbor's entrance to the officer, entered the boat withhim and its nose was turned toward the little landlocked bay, intowhich 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 wasthe commander of the vessel; and when he had heard the story of Jane'sabduction, he generously called for volunteers to accompany ProfessorPorter and Clayton in their search. 

Not an officer or a man was there of those brave and sympatheticFrenchmen who did not quickly beg leave to be one of the expedition. 

The commander selected twenty men and two officers, Lieutenant D'Arnotand Lieutenant Charpentier. A boat was dispatched to the cruiser forprovisions, ammunition, and carbines; the men were already armed withrevolvers. 

Then, to Clayton's inquiries as to how they had happened to anchor offshore and fire a signal gun, the commander, Captain Dufranne, explainedthat a month before they had sighted the Arrow bearing southwest underconsiderable canvas, and that when they had signaled her to come aboutshe 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 thencontinued to cruise up and down the coast for several weeks, and hadabout forgotten the incident of the recent chase, when, early onemorning a few days before the lookout had described a vessel laboringin the trough of a heavy sea and evidently entirely out of control. 

As they steamed nearer to the derelict they were surprised to note thatit was the same vessel that had run from them a few weeks earlier. Herforestaysail and mizzen spanker were set as though an effort had beenmade to hold her head up into the wind, but the sheets had parted, andthe sails were tearing to ribbons in the half gale of wind. 

In the high sea that was running it was a difficult and dangerous taskto attempt to put a prize crew aboard her; and as no signs of life hadbeen seen above deck, it was decided to stand by until the wind and seaabated; but just then a figure was seen clinging to the rail and feeblywaving a mute signal of despair toward them. 

Immediately a boat's crew was ordered out and an attempt wassuccessfully made to board the Arrow. 

The sight that met the Frenchmen's eyes as they clambered over theship's side was appalling. 

A dozen dead and dying men rolled hither and thither upon the pitchingdeck, the living intermingled with the dead. Two of the corpsesappeared to have been partially devoured as though by wolves. 

The prize crew soon had the vessel under proper sail once more and theliving members of the ill-starred company carried below to theirhammocks. 

The dead were wrapped in tarpaulins and lashed on deck to be identifiedby their comrades before being consigned to the deep. 

None of the living was conscious when the Frenchmen reached the Arrow'sdeck. Even the poor devil who had waved the single despairing signalof distress had lapsed into unconsciousness before he had learnedwhether it had availed or not. 

It did not take the French officer long to learn what had caused theterrible condition aboard; for when water and brandy were sought torestore the men, it was found that there was none, nor even food of anydescription. 

He immediately signalled to the cruiser to send water, medicine, andprovisions, and another boat made the perilous trip to the Arrow. 

When restoratives had been applied several of the men regainedconsciousness, and then the whole story was told. That part of it weknow up to the sailing of the Arrow after the murder of Snipes, and theburial of his body above the treasure chest. 

It seems that the pursuit by the cruiser had so terrorized themutineers that they had continued out across the Atlantic for severaldays after losing her; but on discovering the meager supply of waterand provisions aboard, they had turned back toward the east. 

With no one on board who understood navigation, discussions soon aroseas to their whereabouts; and as three days' sailing to the east did notraise land, they bore off to the north, fearing that the high northwinds that had prevailed had driven them south of the southernextremity of Africa. 

They kept on a north-northeasterly course for two days, when they wereovertaken by a calm which lasted for nearly a week. Their water wasgone, and in another day they would be without food. 

Conditions changed rapidly from bad to worse. One man went mad andleaped overboard. Soon another opened his veins and drank his ownblood. 

When he died they threw him overboard also, though there were thoseamong them who wanted to keep the corpse on board. Hunger was changingthem from human beasts to wild beasts. 

Two days before they had been picked up by the cruiser they had becometoo weak to handle the vessel, and that same day three men died. Onthe following morning it was seen that one of the corpses had beenpartially devoured. 

All that day the men lay glaring at each other like beasts of prey, andthe following morning two of the corpses lay almost entirely strippedof flesh. 

The men were but little stronger for their ghoulish repast, for thewant of water was by far the greatest agony with which they had tocontend. And then the cruiser had come. 

When those who could had recovered, the entire story had been told tothe French commander; but the men were too ignorant to be able to tellhim at just what point on the coast the professor and his party hadbeen marooned, so the cruiser had steamed slowly along within sight ofland, firing occasional signal guns and scanning every inch of thebeach 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 offthe very beach where lay the little camp they sought. 

The signal guns of the afternoon before had not been heard by those onshore, it was presumed, because they had doubtless been in the thick ofthe jungle searching for Jane Porter, where the noise of their owncrashing through the underbrush would have drowned the report of a fardistant gun. 

By the time the two parties had narrated their several adventures, thecruiser's boat had returned with supplies and arms for the expedition. 

Within a few minutes the little body of sailors and the two Frenchofficers, together with Professor Porter and Clayton, set off upontheir hopeless and ill-fated quest into the untracked jungle. 

Chapter XX

Heredity

When Jane realized that she was being borne away a captive by thestrange forest creature who had rescued her from the clutches of theape she struggled desperately to escape, but the strong arms that heldher as easily as though she had been but a day-old babe only pressed alittle more tightly. 

So presently she gave up the futile effort and lay quietly, lookingthrough half-closed lids at the faces of the man who strode easilythrough the tangled undergrowth with her. 

The face above her was one of extraordinary beauty. 

A perfect type of the strongly masculine, unmarred by dissipation, orbrutal or degrading passions. For, though Tarzan of the Apes was akiller of men and of beasts, he killed as the hunter kills, dispassionately, except on those rare occasions when he had killed forhate--though not the brooding, malevolent hate which marks the featuresof its own with hideous lines. 

When Tarzan killed he more often smiled than scowled, and smiles arethe foundation of beauty. 

One thing the girl had noticed particularly when she had seen Tarzanrushing upon Terkoz--the vivid scarlet band upon his forehead, fromabove the left eye to the scalp; but now as she scanned his featuresshe noticed that it was gone, and only a thin white line marked thespot where it had been. 

As she lay more quietly in his arms Tarzan slightly relaxed his gripupon her. 

Once he looked down into her eyes and smiled, and the girl had to closeher own to shut out the vision of that handsome, winning face. 

Presently Tarzan took to the trees, and Jane, wondering that she feltno fear, began to realize that in many respects she had never felt moresecure in her whole life than now as she lay in the arms of thisstrong, wild creature, being borne, God alone knew where or to whatfate, deeper and deeper into the savage fastness of the untamed forest. 

When, with closed eyes, she commenced to speculate upon the future, andterrifying fears were conjured by a vivid imagination, she had but toraise her lids and look upon that noble face so close to hers todissipate the last remnant of apprehension. 

No, he could never harm her; of that she was convinced when shetranslated the fine features and the frank, brave eyes above her intothe chivalry which they proclaimed. 

On and on they went through what seemed to Jane a solid mass ofverdure, yet ever there appeared to open before this forest god apassage, as by magic, which closed behind them as they passed. 

Scarce a branch scraped against her, yet above and below, before andbehind, the view presented naught but a solid mass of inextricablyinterwoven branches and creepers. 

As Tarzan moved steadily onward his mind was occupied with many strangeand new thoughts. Here was a problem the like of which he had neverencountered, and he felt rather than reasoned that he must meet it as aman and not as an ape. 

The free movement through the middle terrace, which was the route hehad followed for the most part, had helped to cool the ardor of thefirst fierce passion of his new found love. 

Now he discovered himself speculating upon the fate which would havefallen to the girl had he not rescued her from Terkoz. 

He knew why the ape had not killed her, and he commenced to compare hisintentions with those of Terkoz. 

True, it was the order of the jungle for the male to take his mate byforce; but could Tarzan be guided by the laws of the beasts? Was notTarzan a Man? But what did men do? He was puzzled; for he did notknow. 

He wished that he might ask the girl, and then it came to him that shehad already answered him in the futile struggle she had made to escapeand to repulse him. 

But now they had come to their destination, and Tarzan of the Apes withJane in his strong arms, swung lightly to the turf of the arena wherethe great apes held their councils and danced the wild orgy of theDum-Dum. 

Though they had come many miles, it was still but midafternoon, and theamphitheater was bathed in the half light which filtered through themaze of encircling foliage. 

The green turf looked soft and cool and inviting. The myriad noises ofthe jungle seemed far distant and hushed to a mere echo of blurredsounds, rising and falling like the surf upon a remote shore. 

A feeling of dreamy peacefulness stole over Jane as she sank down uponthe grass where Tarzan had placed her, and as she looked up at hisgreat figure towering above her, there was added a strange sense ofperfect security. 

As she watched him from beneath half-closed lids, Tarzan crossed thelittle circular clearing toward the trees upon the further side. Shenoted the graceful majesty of his carriage, the perfect symmetry of hismagnificent figure and the poise of his well-shaped head upon his broadshoulders. 

What a perfect creature! There could be naught of cruelty or basenessbeneath that godlike exterior. Never, she thought had such a manstrode the earth since God created the first in his own image. 

With a bound Tarzan sprang into the trees and disappeared. Janewondered where he had gone. Had he left her there to her fate in thelonely jungle?

She glanced nervously about. Every vine and bush seemed but thelurking-place of some huge and horrible beast waiting to bury gleamingfangs into her soft flesh. Every sound she magnified into the stealthycreeping 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 satwith tense nerves waiting for the spring of the crouching thing thatwas to end her misery of apprehension. 

She almost prayed for the cruel teeth that would give herunconsciousness and surcease from the agony of fear. 

She heard a sudden, slight sound behind her. With a cry she sprang toher 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, but she clungtightly to him, shuddering and trembling like a frightened deer. 

Tarzan of the Apes stroked her soft hair and tried to comfort and quiether as Kala had him, when, as a little ape, he had been frightened bySabor, the lioness, or Histah, the snake. 

Once he pressed his lips lightly upon her forehead, and she did notmove, 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 leaveher future to fate; for the last few hours had taught her to trust thisstrange wild creature of the forest as she would have trusted but fewof the men of her acquaintance. 

As she thought of the strangeness of it, there commenced to dawn uponher the realization that she had, possibly, learned something elsewhich she had never really known before--love. She wondered and thenshe smiled. 

And still smiling, she pushed Tarzan gently away; and looking at himwith a half-smiling, half-quizzical expression that made her facewholly entrancing, she pointed to the fruit upon the ground, and seatedherself upon the edge of the earthen drum of the anthropoids, forhunger was asserting itself. 

Tarzan quickly gathered up the fruit, and, bringing it, laid it at herfeet; and then he, too, sat upon the drum beside her, and with hisknife opened and prepared the various fruits for her meal. 

Together and in silence they ate, occasionally stealing sly glances atone another, until finally Jane broke into a merry laugh in whichTarzan joined. 

"I wish you spoke English, " said the girl. 

Tarzan shook his head, and an expression of wistful and patheticlonging sobered his laughing eyes. 

Then Jane tried speaking to him in French, and then in German; but shehad to laugh at her own blundering attempt at the latter tongue. 

"Anyway, " she said to him in English, "you understand my German as wellas they did in Berlin. "

Tarzan had long since reached a decision as to what his futureprocedure should be. He had had time to recollect all that he had readof the ways of men and women in the books at the cabin. He would actas he imagined the men in the books would have acted were they in hisplace. 

Again he rose and went into the trees, but first he tried to explain bymeans of signs that he would return shortly, and he did so well thatJane understood and was not afraid when he had gone. 

Only a feeling of loneliness came over her and she watched the pointwhere he had disappeared, with longing eyes, awaiting his return. Asbefore, 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 ofbranches. 

Then he went back again into the jungle and in a few minutes reappearedwith 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 flatbed, and above it leaned many branches together so that they met a fewfeet over its center. Upon these he spread layers of huge leaves ofthe great elephant's ear, and with more branches and more leaves heclosed one end of the little shelter he had built. 

Then they sat down together again upon the edge of the drum and triedto talk by signs. 

The magnificent diamond locket which hung about Tarzan's neck, had beena source of much wonderment to Jane. She pointed to it now, and Tarzanremoved it and handed the pretty bauble to her. 

She saw that it was the work of a skilled artisan and that the diamondswere of great brilliancy and superbly set, but the cutting of themdenoted that they were of a former day. She noticed too that thelocket opened, and, pressing the hidden clasp, she saw the two halvesspring apart to reveal in either section an ivory miniature. 

One was of a beautiful woman and the other might have been a likenessof the man who sat beside her, except for a subtle difference ofexpression that was scarcely definable. 

She looked up at Tarzan to find him leaning toward her gazing on theminiatures with an expression of astonishment. He reached out his handfor the locket and took it away from her, examining the likenesseswithin with unmistakable signs of surprise and new interest. Hismanner clearly denoted that he had never before seen them, nor imaginedthat the locket opened. 

This fact caused Jane to indulge in further speculation, and it taxedher imagination to picture how this beautiful ornament came into thepossession of a wild and savage creature of the unexplored jungles ofAfrica. 

Still more wonderful was how it contained the likeness of one who mightbe a brother, or, more likely, the father of this woodland demi-god whowas even ignorant of the fact that the locket opened. 

Tarzan was still gazing with fixity at the two faces. Presently heremoved the quiver from his shoulder, and emptying the arrows upon theground reached into the bottom of the bag-like receptacle and drewforth a flat object wrapped in many soft leaves and tied with bits oflong grass. 

Carefully he unwrapped it, removing layer after layer of leaves untilat length he held a photograph in his hand. 

Pointing to the miniature of the man within the locket he handed thephotograph to Jane, holding the open locket beside it. 

The photograph only served to puzzle the girl still more, for it wasevidently another likeness of the same man whose picture rested in thelocket beside that of the beautiful young woman. 

Tarzan was looking at her with an expression of puzzled bewilderment inhis eyes as she glanced up at him. He seemed to be framing a questionwith his lips. 

The girl pointed to the photograph and then to the miniature and thento him, as though to indicate that she thought the likenesses were ofhim, but he only shook his head, and then shrugging his greatshoulders, he took the photograph from her and having carefullyrewrapped 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 overin an endeavor to find some further clue that might lead to theidentity of its original owner. 

At length a simple explanation occurred to her. 

The locket had belonged to Lord Greystoke, and the likenesses were ofhimself and Lady Alice. 

This wild creature had simply found it in the cabin by the beach. Howstupid of her not to have thought of that solution before. 

But to account for the strange likeness between Lord Greystoke and thisforest god--that was quite beyond her, and it is not strange that shecould not imagine that this naked savage was indeed an English nobleman. 

At length Tarzan looked up to watch the girl as she examined thelocket. He could not fathom the meaning of the faces within, but hecould read the interest and fascination upon the face of the live youngcreature by his side. 

She noticed that he was watching her and thinking that he wished hisornament again she held it out to him. He took it from her and takingthe chain in his two hands he placed it about her neck, smiling at herexpression of surprise at his unexpected gift. 

Jane shook her head vehemently and would have removed the golden linksfrom about her throat, but Tarzan would not let her. Taking her handsin 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 herlips. 

Tarzan did not know precisely what she meant, but he guessed correctlythat it was her way of acknowledging the gift, and so he rose, andtaking the locket in his hand, stooped gravely like some courtier ofold, and pressed his lips upon it where hers had rested. 

It was a stately and gallant little compliment performed with the graceand dignity of utter unconsciousness of self. It was the hall-mark ofhis aristocratic birth, the natural outcropping of many generations offine breeding, an hereditary instinct of graciousness which a lifetimeof uncouth and savage training and environment could not eradicate. 

It was growing dark now, and so they ate again of the fruit which wasboth food and drink for them; then Tarzan rose, and leading Jane to thelittle bower he had erected, motioned her to go within. 

For the first time in hours a feeling of fear swept over her, andTarzan felt her draw away as though shrinking from him. 

Contact with this girl for half a day had left a very diferent Tarzanfrom the one on whom the morning's 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 asavage ape-man, but at last the instincts of the former predominated, and over all was the desire to please the woman he loved, and to appearwell in her eyes. 

So Tarzan of the Apes did the only thing he knew to assure Jane of hersafety. He removed his hunting knife from its sheath and handed it toher hilt first, again motioning her into the bower. 

The girl understood, and taking the long knife she entered and lay downupon the soft grasses while Tarzan of the Apes stretched himself uponthe 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 thepreceding day, and so she wondered at her odd surroundings--the littleleafy bower, the soft grasses of her bed, the unfamiliar prospect fromthe opening at her feet. 

Slowly the circumstances of her position crept one by one into hermind. And then a great wonderment arose in her heart--a mighty wave ofthankfulness and gratitude that though she had been in such terribledanger, yet she was unharmed. 

She moved to the entrance of the shelter to look for Tarzan. He wasgone; but this time no fear assailed her for she knew that he wouldreturn. 

In the grass at the entrance to her bower she saw the imprint of hisbody where he had lain all night to guard her. She knew that the factthat he had been there was all that had permitted her to sleep in suchpeaceful security. 

With him near, who could entertain fear? She wondered if there wasanother man on earth with whom a girl could feel so safe in the heartof this savage African jungle. Even the lions and panthers had nofears for her now. 

She looked up to see his lithe form drop softly from a near-by tree. As he caught her eyes upon him his face lighted with that frank andradiant smile that had won her confidence the day before. 

As he approached her Jane's heart beat faster and her eyes brightenedas they had never done before at the approach of any man. 

He had again been gathering fruit and this he laid at the entrance ofher bower. Once more they sat down together to eat. 

Jane commenced to wonder what his plans were. Would he take her backto the beach or would he keep her here? Suddenly she realized that thematter did not seem to give her much concern. Could it be that she didnot care!

She began to comprehend, also, that she was entirely contented sittinghere by the side of this smiling giant eating delicious fruit in asylvan paradise far within the remote depths of an African jungle--thatshe was contented and very happy. 

She could not understand it. Her reason told her that she should betorn by wild anxieties, weighted by dread fears, cast down by gloomyforebodings; but instead, her heart was singing and she was smilinginto the answering face of the man beside her. 

When they had finished their breakfast Tarzan went to her bower andrecovered his knife. The girl had entirely forgotten it. She realizedthat it was because she had forgotten the fear that prompted her toaccept it. 

Motioning her to follow, Tarzan walked toward the trees at the edge ofthe 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 couldnot understand the sudden feeling of loneliness and sorrow which creptover her. 

For hours they swung slowly along. 

Tarzan of the Apes did not hurry. He tried to draw out the sweetpleasure of that journey with those dear arms about his neck as long aspossible, and so he went far south of the direct route to the beach. 

Several times they halted for brief rests, which Tarzan did not need, and at noon they stopped for an hour at a little brook, where theyquenched 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 junglegrass and pointed out the little cabin to her. 

She took him by the hand to lead him to it, that she might tell herfather 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 humanhabitation swept over Tarzan of the Apes. He drew back, shaking hishead. 

The girl came close to him, looking up with pleading eyes. Somehow shecould not bear the thought of his going back into the terrible junglealone. 

Still he shook his head, and finally he drew her to him very gently andstooped to kiss her, but first he looked into her eyes and waited tolearn if she were 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 andkissed him--unashamed. 

"I love you--I love you, " she murmured. 

From far in the distance came the faint sound of many guns. Tarzan andJane raised their heads. 

From the cabin came Mr. Philander and Esmeralda. 

From where Tarzan and the girl stood they could not see the two vesselslying at anchor in the harbor. 

Tarzan pointed toward the sounds, touched his breast and pointed again. She understood. He was going, and something told her that it wasbecause 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. Philanderwas very near sighted. 

"Quickly, Esmeralda!" he cried. "Let us seek safety within; it is alioness. Bless me!"

Esmeralda did not bother to verify Mr. Philander's vision. His tonewas enough. She was within the cabin and had slammed and bolted thedoor before he had finished pronouncing her name. The "Bless me" wasstartled out of Mr. Philander by the discovery that Esmeralda, in theexuberance of her haste, had fastened him upon the same side of thedoor as was the close-approaching lioness. 

He beat furiously upon the heavy portal. 

"Esmeralda! Esmeralda!" he shrieked. "Let me in. I am being devouredby a lion. "

Esmeralda thought that the noise upon the door was made by the lionessin her attempts to pursue her, so, after her custom, she fainted. 

Mr. Philander cast a frightened glance behind him. 

Horrors! The thing was quite close now. He tried to scramble up theside of the cabin, and succeeded in catching a fleeting hold upon thethatched roof. 

For a moment he hung there, clawing with his feet like a cat on aclothesline, 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 leaped tohis mind. If one feigns death lions and lionesses are supposed toignore one, according to Mr. Philander's faulty memory. 

So Mr. Philander lay as he had fallen, frozen into the horrid semblanceof death. As his arms and legs had been extended stiffly upward as hecame to earth upon his back the attitude of death was anything butimpressive. 

Jane had been watching his antics in mild-eyed surprise. Now shelaughed--a little choking gurgle of a laugh; but it was enough. Mr. Philander rolled over upon his side and peered about. At length hediscovered her. 

"Jane!" he cried. "Jane Porter. Bless me!"

He scrambled to his feet and rushed toward her. He could not believethat it was she, and alive. 

"Bless me!" Where did you come from? Where in the world have youbeen? How--"

"Mercy, Mr. Philander, " interrupted the girl, "I can never remember somany questions. "

"Well, well, " said Mr. Philander. "Bless me! I am so filled withsurprise and exuberant delight at seeing you safe and well again that Iscarcely know what I am saying, really. But come, tell me all that hashappened to you. "

Chapter XXI

The Village of Torture

As the little expedition of sailors toiled through the dense junglesearching for signs of Jane Porter, the futility of their venturebecame more and more apparent, but the grief of the old man and thehopeless eyes of the young Englishman prevented the kind heartedD'Arnot 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 bysome beast of prey. He deployed his men into a skirmish line from thepoint where Esmeralda had been found, and in this extended formationthey pushed their way, sweating and panting, through the tangled vinesand creepers. It was slow work. Noon found them but a few milesinland. They halted for a brief rest then, and after pushing on for ashort distance further one of the men discovered a well-marked trail. 

It was an old elephant track, and D'Arnot after consulting withProfessor Porter and Clayton decided to follow it. 

The path wound through the jungle in a northeasterly direction, andalong it the column moved in single file. 

Lieutenant D'Arnot was in the lead and moving at a quick pace, for thetrail was comparatively open. Immediately behind him came ProfessorPorter, but as he could not keep pace with the younger man D'Arnot wasa hundred yards in advance when suddenly a half dozen black warriorsarose about him. 

D'Arnot 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 draggedinto the jungle. 

His cry had alarmed the sailors and a dozen of them sprang forward pastProfessor Porter, running up the trail to their officer's aid. 

They did not know the cause of his outcry, only that it was a warningof danger ahead. They had rushed past the spot where D'Arnot had beenseized 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 directionfrom which the missiles had come. 

By this time the balance of the party had come up, and volley aftervolley was fired toward the concealed foe. It was these shots thatTarzan and Jane Porter had heard. 

Lieutenant Charpentier, who had been bringing up the rear of thecolumn, now came running to the scene, and on hearing the details ofthe ambush ordered the men to follow him, and plunged into the tangledvegetation. 

In an instant they were in a hand-to-hand fight with some fifty blackwarriors of Mbonga's village. Arrows and bullets flew thick and fast. 

Queer African knives and French gun butts mingled for a moment insavage and bloody duels, but soon the natives fled into the jungle, leaving the Frenchmen to count their losses. 

Four of the twenty were dead, a dozen others were wounded, andLieutenant D'Arnot was missing. Night was falling rapidly, and theirpredicament was rendered doubly worse when they could not even find theelephant trail which they had been following. 

There was but one thing to do, make camp where they were untildaylight. Lieutenant Charpentier ordered a clearing made and acircular abatis of underbrush constructed about the camp. 

This work was not completed until long after dark, the men building ahuge 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 savagemen, Lieutenant Charpentier placed sentries about the little camp andthe tired and hungry men threw themselves upon the ground to sleep. 

The groans of the wounded, mingled with the roaring and growling of thegreat beasts which the noise and firelight had attracted, kept sleep, except in its most fitful form, from the tired eyes. It was a sad andhungry party that lay through the long night praying for dawn. 

The blacks who had seized D'Arnot had not waited to participate in thefight which followed, but instead had dragged their prisoner a littleway through the jungle and then struck the trail further on beyond thescene of the fighting in which their fellows were engaged. 

They hurried him along, the sounds of battle growing fainter andfainter as they drew away from the contestants until there suddenlybroke upon D'Arnot's vision a good-sized clearing at one end of whichstood a thatched and palisaded village. 

It was now dusk, but the watchers at the gate saw the approaching trioand distinguished one as a prisoner ere they reached the portals. 

A cry went up within the palisade. A great throng of women andchildren rushed out to meet the party. 

And then began for the French officer the most terrifying experiencewhich man can encounter upon earth--the reception of a white prisonerinto a village of African cannibals. 

To add to the fiendishness of their cruel savagery was the poignantmemory of still crueler barbarities practiced upon them and theirs bythe white officers of that arch hypocrite, Leopold II of Belgium, because of whose atrocities they had fled the Congo Free State--apitiful remnant of what once had been a mighty tribe. 

They fell upon D'Arnot tooth and nail, beating him with sticks andstones and tearing at him with claw-like hands. Every vestige ofclothing was torn from him, and the merciless blows fell upon his bareand quivering flesh. But not once did the Frenchman cry out in pain. He breathed a silent prayer that he be quickly delivered from historture. 

But the death he prayed for was not to be so easily had. Soon thewarriors beat the women away from their prisoner. He was to be savedfor nobler sport than this, and the first wave of their passion havingsubsided they contented themselves with crying out taunts and insultsand spitting upon him. 

Presently they reached the center of the village. There D'Arnot wasbound securely to the great post from which no live man had ever beenreleased. 

A number of the women scattered to their several huts to fetch pots andwater, while others built a row of fires on which portions of the feastwere to be boiled while the balance would be slowly dried in strips forfuture use, as they expected the other warriors to return with manyprisoners. The festivities were delayed awaiting the return of thewarriors 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 danceof death commenced to circle around the doomed officer. 

Half fainting from pain and exhaustion, D'Arnot watched from beneathhalf-closed lids what seemed but the vagary of delirium, or some horridnightmare from which he must soon awake. 

The bestial faces, daubed with color--the huge mouths and flabbyhanging lips--the yellow teeth, sharp filed--the rolling, demoneyes--the shining naked bodies--the cruel spears. Surely no suchcreatures really existed upon earth--he must indeed be dreaming. 

The savage, whirling bodies circled nearer. Now a spear sprang forthand touched his arm. The sharp pain and the feel of hot, tricklingblood assured him of the awful reality of his hopeless position. 

Another spear and then another touched him. He closed his eyes andheld his teeth firm set--he would not cry out. 

He was a soldier of France, and he would teach these beasts how anofficer and a gentleman died. 

Tarzan of the Apes needed no interpreter to translate the story ofthose distant shots. With Jane Porter's kisses still warm upon hislips he was swinging with incredible rapidity through the forest treesstraight toward the village of Mbonga. 

He was not interested in the location of the encounter, for he judgedthat 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 neither been killed or escaped that hehastened. And he knew that he would find them by the great post in thecenter of Mbonga village. 

Many times had Tarzan seen Mbonga's black raiding parties return fromthe northward with prisoners, and always were the same scenes enactedabout that grim stake, beneath the flaring light of many fires. 

He knew, too, that they seldom lost much time before consummating thefiendish purpose of their captures. He doubted that he would arrive intime to do more than avenge. 

On he sped. Night had fallen and he traveled high along the upperterrace where the gorgeous tropic moon lighted the dizzy pathwaythrough the gently undulating branches of the tree tops. 

Presently he caught the reflection of a distant blaze. It lay to theright of his path. It must be the light from the camp fire the two menhad built before they were attacked--Tarzan knew nothing of thepresence of the sailors. 

So sure was Tarzan of his jungle knowledge that he did not turn fromhis course, but passed the glare at a distance of a half mile. It wasthe camp fire of the Frenchmen. 

In a few minutes more Tarzan swung into the trees above Mbonga'svillage. Ah, he was not quite too late! Or, was he? He could nottell. The figure at the stake was very still, yet the black warriorswere but pricking it. 

Tarzan knew their customs. The death blow had not been struck. Hecould tell almost to a minute how far the dance had gone. 

In another instant Mbonga's knife would sever one of the victim'sears--that would mark the beginning of the end, for very shortly afteronly a writhing mass of mutilated flesh would remain. 

There would still be life in it, but death then would be the onlycharity it craved. 

The stake stood forty feet from the nearest tree. Tarzan coiled hisrope. Then there rose suddenly above the fiendish cries of the dancingdemons the awful challenge of the ape-man. 

The dancers halted as though turned to stone. 

The rope sped with singing whir high above the heads of the blacks. Itwas quite invisible in the flaring lights of the camp fires. 

D'Arnot 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, movedquickly toward the shadows beneath the trees. 

The blacks, their eyes protruding in horror, watched spellbound. 

Once beneath the trees, the body rose straight into the air, and as itdisappeared into the foliage above, the terrified negroes, screamingwith fright, broke into a mad race for the village gate. 

D'Arnot was left alone. 

He was a brave man, but he had felt the short hairs bristle upon thenape of his neck when that uncanny cry rose upon the air. 

As the writhing body of the black soared, as though by unearthly power, into the dense foliage of the forest, D'Arnot felt an icy shiver runalong his spine, as though death had risen from a dark grave and laid acold and clammy finger on his flesh. 

As D'Arnot watched the spot where the body had entered the tree heheard the sounds of movement there. 

The branches swayed as though under the weight of a man's body--therewas a crash and the black came sprawling to earth again, --to lie veryquietly where he had fallen. 

Immediately after him came a white body, but this one alighted erect. 

D'Arnot saw a clean-limbed young giant emerge from the shadows into thefirelight and come quickly toward him. 

What could it mean? Who could it be? Some new creature of torture anddestruction, doubtless. 

D'Arnot waited. His eyes never left the face of the advancing man. Nor did the other's frank, clear eyes waver beneath D'Arnot's fixedgaze. 

D'Arnot was reassured, but still without much hope, though he felt thatthat face could not mask a cruel heart. 

Without a word Tarzan of the Apes cut the bonds which held theFrenchman. Weak from suffering and loss of blood, he would have fallenbut for the strong arm that caught him. 

He felt himself lifted from the ground. There was a sensation as offlying, and then he lost consciousness. 

Chapter XXII

The Search Party

When dawn broke upon the little camp of Frenchmen in the heart of thejungle it found a sad and disheartened group. 

As soon as it was light enough to see their surroundings LieutenantCharpentier sent men in groups of three in several directions to locatethe trail, and in ten minutes it was found and the expedition washurrying back toward the beach. 

It was slow work, for they bore the bodies of six dead men, two morehaving succumbed during the night, and several of those who werewounded required support to move even very slowly. 

Charpentier had decided to return to camp for reinforcements, and thenmake an attempt to track down the natives and rescue D'Arnot. 

It was late in the afternoon when the exhausted men reached theclearing by the beach, but for two of them the return brought so greata happiness that all their suffering and heartbreaking grief wasforgotten on the instant. 

As the little party emerged from the jungle the first person thatProfessor Porter and Cecil Clayton saw was Jane, standing by the cabindoor. 

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 forthe first time since they had been cast upon this hideous andadventurous shore. 

Professor Porter strove manfully to suppress his own emotions, but thestrain upon his nerves and weakened vitality were too much for him, andat length, burying his old face in the girl's shoulder, he sobbedquietly like a tired child. 

Jane led him toward the cabin, and the Frenchmen turned toward thebeach from which several of their fellows were advancing to meet them. 

Clayton, wishing to leave father and daughter alone, joined the sailorsand remained talking with the officers until their boat pulled awaytoward the cruiser whither Lieutenant Charpentier was bound to reportthe unhappy outcome of his adventure. 

Then Clayton turned back slowly toward the cabin. His heart was filledwith happiness. The woman he loved was safe. 

He wondered by what manner of miracle she had been spared. To see heralive seemed almost unbelievable. 

As he approached the cabin he saw Jane coming out. When she saw himshe hurried forward to meet him. 

"Jane!" he cried, "God has been good to us, indeed. Tell me how youescaped--what form Providence took to save you for--us. "

He had never before called her by her given name. Forty-eight hoursbefore it would have suffused Jane with a soft glow of pleasure to haveheard that name from Clayton's lips--now it frightened her. 

"Mr. Clayton, " she said quietly, extending her hand, "first let methank you for your chivalrous loyalty to my dear father. He has toldme how noble and self-sacrificing you have been. How can we repay you!"

Clayton noticed that she did not return his familiar salutation, but hefelt no misgivings on that score. She had been through so much. Thiswas no time to force his love upon her, he quickly realized. 

"I am already repaid, " he said. "Just to see you and Professor Porterboth safe, well, and together again. I do not think that I could muchlonger have endured the pathos of his quiet and uncomplaining grief. 

"It was the saddest experience of my life, Miss Porter; and then, addedto it, there was my own grief--the greatest I have ever known. But hiswas so hopeless--his was pitiful. It taught me that no love, not eventhat of a man for his wife may be so deep and terrible andself-sacrificing as the love of a father for his daughter. "

The girl bowed her head. There was a question she wanted to ask, butit seemed almost sacrilegious in the face of the love of these two menand the terrible suffering they had endured while she sat laughing andhappy beside a godlike creature of the forest, eating delicious fruitsand looking with eyes of love into answering eyes. 

But love is a strange master, and human nature is still stranger, soshe asked her question. 

"Where is the forest man who went to rescue you? Why did he notreturn?"

"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? Youhave not told me anything of your adventure, you know. "

"But the wood man, " she urged. "Have you not seen him? When we heardthe shots in the jungle, very faint and far away, he left me. We hadjust reached the clearing, and he hurried off in the direction of thefighting. 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 wasso deeply moved--so anxious to know the whereabouts of this strangecreature. 

Yet a feeling of apprehension of some impending sorrow haunted him, andin his breast, unknown to himself, was implanted the first germ ofjealousy 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. " Andthen after a moment of thoughtful pause: "Possibly he joined his owntribe--the men who attacked us. " He did not know why he had said it, for he did not believe it. 

The girl looked at him wide eyed for a moment. 

"No!" she exclaimed vehemently, much too vehemently he thought. "Itcould not be. They were savages. "

Clayton looked puzzled. 

"He is a strange, half-savage creature of the jungle, Miss Porter. Weknow nothing of him. He neither speaks nor understands any Europeantongue--and his ornaments and weapons are those of the West Coastsavages. "

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 tosome other equally savage--he may even be a cannibal. "

Jane blanched. 

"I will not believe it, " she half whispered. "It is not true. Youshall see, " she said, addressing Clayton, "that he will come back andthat he will prove that you are wrong. You do not know him as I do. Itell you that he is a gentleman. "

Clayton was a generous and chivalrous man, but something in the girl'sbreathless defense of the forest man stirred him to unreasoningjealousy, so that for the instant he forgot all that they owed to thiswild demi-god, and he answered her with a half sneer upon his lip. 

"Possibly you are right, Miss Porter, " he said, "but I do not thinkthat any of us need worry about our carrion-eating acquaintance. Thechances are that he is some half-demented castaway who will forget usmore quickly, but no more surely, than we shall forget him. He is onlya beast of the jungle, Miss Porter. "

The girl did not answer, but she felt her heart shrivel within her. 

She knew that Clayton spoke merely what he thought, and for the firsttime she began to analyze the structure which supported her newfoundlove, and to subject its object to a critical examination. 

Slowly she turned and walked back to the cabin. She tried to imagineher wood-god by her side in the saloon of an ocean liner. She saw himeating with his hands, tearing his food like a beast of prey, andwiping his greasy fingers upon his thighs. She shuddered. 

She saw him as she introduced him to her friends--uncouth, illiterate--a boor; and the girl winced. 

She had reached her room now, and as she sat upon the edge of her bedof ferns and grasses, with one hand resting upon her rising and fallingbosom, 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 withtear-blurred eyes bent upon it. Then she raised it to her lips, andcrushing it there buried her face in the soft ferns, sobbing. 

"Beast?" she murmured. "Then God make me a beast; for, man or beast, Iam yours. "

She did not see Clayton again that day. Esmeralda brought her supperto her, and she sent word to her father that she was suffering from thereaction following her adventure. 

The next morning Clayton left early with the relief expedition insearch of Lieutenant D'Arnot. There were two hundred armed men thistime, with ten officers and two surgeons, and provisions for a week. 

They carried bedding and hammocks, the latter for transporting theirsick and wounded. 

It was a determined and angry company--a punitive expedition as well asone of relief. They reached the sight of the skirmish of the previousexpedition shortly after noon, for they were now traveling a knowntrail and no time was lost in exploring. 

From there on the elephant-track led straight to Mbonga's village. Itwas but two o'clock when the head of the column halted upon the edge ofthe clearing. 

Lieutenant Charpentier, who was in command, immediately sent a portionof 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 the balance upon the south side of the clearing. 

It was arranged that the party which was to take its position to thenorth, and which would be the last to gain its station should commencethe assault, and that their opening volley should be the signal for aconcerted rush from all sides in an attempt to carry the village bystorm at the first charge. 

For half an hour the men with Lieutenant Charpentier crouched in thedense foliage of the jungle, waiting the signal. To them it seemedlike hours. They could see natives in the fields, and others moving inand out of the village gate. 

At length the signal came--a sharp rattle of musketry, and like oneman, an answering volley tore from the jungle to the west and to thesouth. 

The natives in the field dropped their implements and broke madly forthe palisade. The French bullets mowed them down, and the Frenchsailors bounded over their prostrate bodies straight for the villagegate. 

So sudden and unexpected the assault had been that the whites reachedthe gates before the frightened natives could bar them, and in anotherminute the village street was filled with armed men fighting hand tohand in an inextricable tangle. 

For a few moments the blacks held their ground within the entrance tothe street, but the revolvers, rifles and cutlasses of the Frenchmencrumpled the native spearmen and struck down the black archers withtheir bows halfdrawn. 

Soon the battle turned to a wild rout, and then to a grim massacre; forthe French sailors had seen bits of D'Arnot's uniform upon several ofthe black warriors who opposed them. 

They spared the children and those of the women whom they were notforced to kill in self-defense, but when at length they stopped, parting, blood covered and sweating, it was because there lived tooppose them no single warrior of all the savage village of Mbonga. 

Carefully they ransacked every hut and corner of the village, but nosign of D'Arnot could they find. They questioned the prisoners bysigns, and finally one of the sailors who had served in the FrenchCongo found that he could make them understand the bastard tongue thatpasses for language between the whites and the more degraded tribes ofthe coast, but even then they could learn nothing definite regardingthe fate of D'Arnot. 

Only excited gestures and expressions of fear could they obtain inresponse to their inquiries concerning their fellow; and at last theybecame convinced that these were but evidences of the guilt of thesedemons who had slaughtered and eaten their comrade two nights before. 

At length all hope left them, and they prepared to camp for the nightwithin the village. The prisoners were herded into three huts wherethey were heavily guarded. Sentries were posted at the barred gates, and finally the village was wrapped in the silence of slumber, exceptfor the wailing of the native women for their dead. 

The next morning they set out upon the return march. Their originalintention had been to burn the village, but this idea was abandoned andthe prisoners were left behind, weeping and moaning, but with roofs tocover them and a palisade for refuge from the beasts of the jungle. 

Slowly the expedition retraced its steps of the preceding day. Tenloaded hammocks retarded its pace. In eight of them lay the moreseriously wounded, while two swung beneath the weight of the dead. 

Clayton and Lieutenant Charpentier brought up the rear of the column;the Englishman silent in respect for the other's grief, for D'Arnot andCharpentier had been inseparable friends since boyhood. 

Clayton could not but realize that the Frenchman felt his grief themore keenly because D'Arnot's sacrifice had been so futile, since Janehad been rescued before D'Arnot had fallen into the hands of thesavages, and again because the service in which he had lost his lifehad been outside his duty and for strangers and aliens; but when hespoke of it to Lieutenant Charpentier, the latter shook his head. 

"No, Monsieur, " he said, "D'Arnot would have chosen to die thus. Ionly 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 indeedan officer and a gentleman--a title conferred on many, but deserved byso few. 

"He did not die futilely, for his death in the cause of a strangeAmerican girl will make us, his comrades, face our ends the morebravely, however they may come to us. "

Clayton did not reply, but within him rose a new respect for Frenchmenwhich remained undimmed ever after. 

It was quite late when they reached the cabin by the beach. A singleshot before they emerged from the jungle had announced to those in campas well as on the ship that the expedition had been too late--for ithad been prearranged that when they came within a mile or two of campone shot was to be fired to denote failure, or three for success, whiletwo would have indicated that they had found no sign of either D'Arnotor his black captors. 

So it was a solemn party that awaited their coming, and few words werespoken as the dead and wounded men were tenderly placed in boats androwed silently toward the cruiser. 

Clayton, exhausted from his five days of laborious marching through thejungle and from the effects of his two battles with the blacks, turnedtoward the cabin to seek a mouthful of food and then the comparativeease 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, " heanswered, his face drawn with fatigue and the sorrow he felt for poorD'Arnot and he emphasized the word before. 

"BEFORE they killed him! What do you mean? They are not--? They arenot--?"

She was thinking of what Clayton had said of the forest man's probablerelationship to this tribe and she could not frame the awful word. 

"Yes, Miss Porter, they were--cannibals, " he said, almost bitterly, forto him too had suddenly come the thought of the forest man, and thestrange, unaccountable jealousy he had felt two days before swept overhim once more. 

And then in sudden brutality that was as unlike Clayton as courteousconsideration is unlike an ape, he blurted out:

"When your forest god left you he was doubtless hurrying to the feast. "

He was sorry ere the words were spoken though he did not know howcruelly they had cut the girl. His regret was for his baselessdisloyalty 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 but one suitable reply to your assertion, Mr. Clayton, "she said icily, "and I regret that I am not a man, that I might makeit. " She turned quickly and entered the cabin. 

Clayton was an Englishman, so the girl had passed quite out of sightbefore he deduced what reply a man would have made. 

"Upon my word, " he said ruefully, "she called me a liar. And I fancy Ijolly well deserved it, " he added thoughtfully. "Clayton, my boy, Iknow you are tired out and unstrung, but that's no reason why youshould 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 ofthe sailcloth partition, for he wished to apologize, but he might aswell have addressed the Sphinx. Then he wrote upon a piece of paperand shoved it beneath the partition. 

Jane saw the little note and ignored it, for she was very angry andhurt and mortified, but--she was a woman, and so eventually she pickedit up and read it. 

MY DEAR MISS PORTER:

I had no reason to insinuate what I did. My only excuse is that mynerves must be unstrung--which is no excuse at all. 

Please try and think that I did not say it. I am very sorry. I wouldnot have hurt YOU, above all others in the world. Say that you forgiveme. 

 WM. CECIL CLAYTON. 

"He did think it or he never would have said it, " reasoned 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 YOUabove all others in the world. "

A week ago that sentence would have filled her with delight, now itdepressed her. 

She wished she had never met Clayton. She was sorry that she had everseen the forest god. No, she was glad. And there was that other noteshe had found in the grass before the cabin the day after her returnfrom the jungle, the love note signed by Tarzan of the Apes. 

Who could be this new suitor? If he were another of the wild denizensof 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 knowperfectly well that the world is filled with sorrow. "

"Gaberelle!" screamed Esmeralda, sitting up. "What is it now? Ahipponocerous? Where is he, Miss Jane?"

"Nonsense, Esmeralda, there is nothing. Go back to sleep. You are badenough asleep, but you are infinitely worse awake. "

"Yes honey, but what's the matter with you, precious? You acts sort ofdisgranulated this evening. "

"Oh, Esmeralda, I'm just plain ugly to-night, " said the girl. "Don'tpay 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 ripotamuses and man eating geniuses that MisterPhilander been telling about--Lord, it ain't no wonder we all getnervous prosecution. "

Jane crossed the little room, laughing, and kissing the faithful woman, bid Esmeralda good night. 

Chapter XXIII

Brother Men. 

When D'Arnot regained consciousness, he found himself lying upon a bedof soft ferns and grasses beneath a little "A" shaped shelter of boughs. 

At his feet an opening looked out upon a green sward, and at a littledistance beyond was the dense wall of jungle and forest. 

He was very lame and sore and weak, and as full consciousness returnedhe felt the sharp torture of many cruel wounds and the dull aching ofevery bone and muscle in his body as a result of the hideous beating hehad received. 

Even the turning of his head caused him such excruciating agony that helay still with closed eyes for a long time. 

He tried to piece out the details of his adventure prior to the time helost consciousness to see if they would explain his presentwhereabouts--he wondered if he were among friends or foes. 

At length he recollected the whole hideous scene at the stake, andfinally recalled the strange white figure in whose arms he had sunkinto oblivion. 

D'Arnot wondered what fate lay in store for him now. He could neithersee nor hear any signs of life about him. 

The incessant hum of the jungle--the rustling of millions ofleaves--the buzz of insects--the voices of the birds and monkeys seemedblended into a strangely soothing purr, as though he lay apart, farfrom the myriad life whose sounds came to him only as a blurred echo. 

At length he fell into a quiet slumber, nor did he awake again untilafternoon. 

Once more he experienced the strange sense of utter bewilderment thathad marked his earlier awakening, but soon he recalled the recent past, and looking through the opening at his feet he saw the figure of a mansquatting on his haunches. 

The broad, muscular back was turned toward him, but, tanned though itwas, D'Arnot saw that it was the back of a white man, and he thankedGod. 

The Frenchman called faintly. The man turned, and rising, came towardthe shelter. His face was very handsome--the handsomest, thoughtD'Arnot, that he had ever seen. 

Stooping, he crawled into the shelter beside the wounded officer, andplaced a cool hand upon his forehead. 

D'Arnot spoke to him in French, but the man only shook his head--sadly, it seemed to the Frenchman. 

Then D'Arnot tried English, but still the man shook his head. Italian, Spanish and German brought similar discouragement. 

D'Arnot knew a few words of Norwegian, Russian, Greek, and also had asmattering of the language of one of the West Coast negro tribes--theman denied them all. 

After examining D'Arnot's wounds the man left the shelter anddisappeared. In half an hour he was back with fruit and a hollowgourd-like vegetable filled with water. 

D'Arnot drank and ate a little. He was surprised that he had no fever. Again he tried to converse with his strange nurse, but the attempt wasuseless. 

Suddenly the man hastened from the shelter only to return a few minuteslater with several pieces of bark and--wonder of wonders--a lead pencil. 

Squatting beside D'Arnot he wrote for a minute on the smooth innersurface of the bark; then he handed it to the Frenchman. 

D'Arnot was astonished to see, in plain print-like characters, amessage in English:

I am Tarzan of the Apes. Who are you? Can you read this language?

D'Arnot seized the pencil--then he stopped. This strange man wroteEnglish--evidently he was an Englishman. 

"Yes, " said D'Arnot, "I read English. I speak it also. Now we maytalk. First let me thank you for all that you have done for me. "

The man only shook his head and pointed to the pencil and the bark. 

"MON DIEU!" cried D'Arnot. "If you are English why is it then that youcannot speak English?"

And then in a flash it came to him--the man was a mute, possibly a deafmute. 

So D'Arnot wrote a message on the bark, in English. 

I am Paul d'Arnot, Lieutenant in the navy of France. I thank you forwhat you have done for me. You have saved my life, and all that I haveis yours. May I ask how it is that one who writes English does notspeak it?

Tarzan's reply filled D'Arnot with still greater wonder:

I speak only the language of my tribe--the great apes who wereKerchak's; and a little of the languages of Tantor, the elephant, andNuma, the lion, and of the other folks of the jungle I understand. With a human being I have never spoken, except once with Jane Porter, by signs. This is the first time I have spoken with another of my kindthrough written words. 

D'Arnot was mystified. It seemed incredible that there lived uponearth a full-grown man who had never spoken with a fellow man, andstill more preposterous that such a one could read and write. 

He looked again at Tarzan's message--"except once, with Jane Porter. "That was the American girl who had been carried into the jungle by agorilla. 

A sudden light commenced to dawn on D'Arnot--this then was the"gorilla. " He seized the pencil and wrote:

Where is Jane Porter?

And Tarzan replied, below:

Back with her people in the cabin of Tarzan of the Apes. 

She is not dead then? Where was she? What happened to her?

She is not dead. She was taken by Terkoz to be his wife; but Tarzan ofthe Apes took her away from Terkoz and killed him before he could harmher. 

None in all the jungle may face Tarzan of the Apes in battle, and live. I am Tarzan of the Apes--mighty fighter. 

D'Arnot wrote:

I am glad she is safe. It pains me to write, I will rest a while. 

And then Tarzan:

Yes, rest. When you are well I shall take you back to your people. 

For many days D'Arnot lay upon his bed of soft ferns. The second day afever had come and D'Arnot thought that it meant infection and he knewthat he would die. 

An idea came to him. He wondered why he had not thought of it before. 

He called Tarzan and indicated by signs that he would write, and whenTarzan had fetched the bark and pencil, D'Arnot wrote:

Can you go to my people and lead them here? I will write a messagethat you may take to them, and they will follow you. 

Tarzan shook his head and taking the bark, wrote:

I had thought of that--the first day; but I dared not. The great apescome often to this spot, and if they found you here, wounded and alone, they would kill you. 

D'Arnot turned on his side and closed his eyes. He did not wish todie; but he felt that he was going, for the fever was mounting higherand higher. That night he lost consciousness. 

For three days he was in delirium, and Tarzan sat beside him and bathedhis head and hands and washed his wounds. 

On the fourth day the fever broke as suddenly as it had come, but itleft D'Arnot a shadow of his former self, and very weak. Tarzan had tolift him that he might drink from the gourd. 

The fever had not been the result of infection, as D'Arnot had thought, but one of those that commonly attack whites in the jungles of Africa, and either kill or leave them as suddenly as D'Arnot's had left him. 

Two days later, D'Arnot was tottering about the amphitheater, Tarzan'sstrong arm about him to keep him from falling. 

They sat beneath the shade of a great tree, and Tarzan found somesmooth bark that they might converse. 

D'Arnot wrote the first message:

What can I do to repay you for all that you have done for me?

And Tarzan, in reply:

Teach me to speak the language of men. 

And so D'Arnot commenced at once, pointing out familiar objects andrepeating their names in French, for he thought that it would be easierto teach this man his own language, since he understood it himself bestof all. 

It meant nothing to Tarzan, of course, for he could not tell onelanguage from another, so when he pointed to the word man which he hadprinted upon a piece of bark he learned from D'Arnot that it waspronounced HOMME, and in the same way he was taught to pronounce ape, SINGE and tree, ARBRE. 

He was a most eager student, and in two more days had mastered so muchFrench that he could speak little sentences such as: "That is a tree, ""this is grass, " "I am hungry, " and the like, but D'Arnot found that itwas difficult to teach him the French construction upon a foundation ofEnglish. 

The Frenchman wrote little lessons for him in English and had Tarzanrepeat them in French, but as a literal translation was usually verypoor French Tarzan was often confused. 

D'Arnot realized now that he had made a mistake, but it seemed too lateto go back and do it all over again and force Tarzan to unlearn allthat he had learned, especially as they were rapidly approaching apoint where they would be able to converse. 

On the third day after the fever broke Tarzan wrote a message askingD'Arnot if he felt strong enough to be carried back to the cabin. Tarzan was as anxious to go as D'Arnot, for he longed to see Jane again. 

It had been hard for him to remain with the Frenchman all these daysfor that very reason, and that he had unselfishly done so spoke moreglowingly of his nobility of character than even did his rescuing theFrench officer from Mbonga's clutches. 

D'Arnot, only too willing to attempt the journey, wrote:

But you cannot carry me all the distance through this tangled forest. 

Tarzan laughed. 

"MAIS OUI, " he said, and D'Arnot laughed aloud to hear the phrase thathe used so often glide from Tarzan's tongue. 

So they set out, D'Arnot marveling as had Clayton and Jane at thewondrous strength and agility of the apeman. 

Mid-afternoon brought them to the clearing, and as Tarzan dropped toearth from the branches of the last tree his heart leaped and boundedagainst his ribs in anticipation of seeing Jane so soon again. 

No one was in sight outside the cabin, and D'Arnot was perplexed tonote that neither the cruiser nor the Arrow was at anchor in the bay. 

An atmosphere of loneliness pervaded the spot, which caught suddenly atboth men as they strode toward the cabin. 

Neither spoke, yet both knew before they opened the closed door whatthey would find beyond. 

Tarzan lifted the latch and pushed the great door in upon its woodenhinges. It was as they had feared. The cabin was deserted. 

The men turned and looked at one another. D'Arnot knew that his peoplethought him dead; but Tarzan thought only of the woman who had kissedhim in love and now had fled from him while he was serving one of herpeople. 

A great bitterness rose in his heart. He would go away, far into thejungle and join his tribe. Never would he see one of his own kindagain, nor could he bear the thought of returning to the cabin. Hewould leave that forever behind him with the great hopes he had nursedthere of finding his own race and becoming a man among men. 

And the Frenchman? D'Arnot? What of him? He could get along asTarzan had. Tarzan did not want to see him more. He wanted to getaway from everything that might remind him of Jane. 

As Tarzan stood upon the threshold brooding, D'Arnot had entered thecabin. Many comforts he saw that had been left behind. He recognizednumerous articles from the cruiser--a camp oven, some kitchen utensils, a rifle and many rounds of ammunition, canned foods, blankets, twochairs and a cot--and several books and periodicals, mostly American. 

"They must intend returning, " thought D'Arnot. 

He walked over to the table that John Clayton had built so many yearsbefore to serve as a desk, and on it he saw two notes addressed toTarzan of the Apes. 

One was in a strong masculine hand and was unsealed. The other, in awoman's hand, was sealed. 

"Here are two messages for you, Tarzan of the Apes, " cried D'Arnot, turning toward the door; but his companion was not there. 

D'Arnot walked to the door and looked out. Tarzan was nowhere insight. He called aloud but there was no response. 

"MON DIEU!" exclaimed D'Arnot, "he has left me. I feel it. He hasgone back into his jungle and left me here alone. "

And then he remembered the look on Tarzan's face when they haddiscovered that the cabin was empty--such a look as the hunter sees inthe eyes of the wounded deer he has wantonly brought down. 

The man had been hard hit--D'Arnot realized it now--but why? He couldnot understand. 

The Frenchman looked about him. The loneliness and the horror of theplace commenced to get on his nerves--already weakened by the ordeal ofsuffering and sickness he had passed through. 

To be left here alone beside this awful jungle--never to hear a humanvoice or see a human face--in constant dread of savage beasts and moreterribly savage men--a prey to solitude and hopelessness. It was awful. 

And far to the east Tarzan of the Apes was speeding through the middleterrace back to his tribe. Never had he traveled with such recklessspeed. He felt that he was running away from himself--that by hurtlingthrough the forest like a frightened squirrel he was escaping from hisown thoughts. But no matter how fast he went he found them always withhim. 

He passed above the sinuous body of Sabor, the lioness, going in theopposite direction--toward the cabin, thought Tarzan. 

What could D'Arnot do against Sabor--or if Bolgani, the gorilla, shouldcome upon him--or Numa, the lion, or cruel Sheeta?

Tarzan paused in his flight. 

"What are you, Tarzan?" he asked aloud. "An ape or a man?"

"If you are an ape you will do as the apes would do--leave one of yourkind to die in the jungle if it suited your whim to go elsewhere. 

"If you are a man, you will return to protect your kind. You will notrun away from one of your own people, because one of them has run awayfrom you. "

D'Arnot closed the cabin door. He was very nervous. Even brave men, and D'Arnot was a brave man, are sometimes frightened by solitude. 

He loaded one of the rifles and placed it within easy reach. Then hewent to the desk and took up the unsealed letter addressed to Tarzan. 

Possibly it contained word that his people had but left the beachtemporarily. He felt that it would be no breach of ethics to read thisletter, so he took the enclosure from the envelope and read:

TO TARZAN OF THE APES:

We thank you for the use of your cabin, and are sorry that you did notpermit us the pleasure of seeing and thanking you in person. 

We have harmed nothing, but have left many things for you which may addto your comfort and safety here in your lonely home. 

If you know the strange white man who saved our lives so many times, and brought us food, and if you can converse with him, thank him, also, for his kindness. 

We sail within the hour, never to return; but we wish you and thatother jungle friend to know that we shall always thank you for what youdid for strangers on your shore, and that we should have doneinfinitely more to reward you both had you given us the opportunity. 

 Very respectfully, WM. CECIL CLAYTON. 

"'Never to return, '" muttered D'Arnot, and threw himself face downwardupon the cot. 

An hour later he started up listening. Something was at the doortrying to enter. 

D'Arnot reached for the loaded rifle and placed it to his shoulder. 

Dusk was falling, and the interior of the cabin was very dark; but theman could see the latch moving from its place. 

He felt his hair rising upon his scalp. 

Gently the door opened until a thin crack showed something standingjust beyond. 

D'Arnot sighted along the blue barrel at the crack of the door--andthen he pulled the trigger. 

Chapter XXIV

Lost Treasure

When the expedition returned, following their fruitless endeavor tosuccor D'Arnot, Captain Dufranne was anxious to steam away as quicklyas possible, and all save Jane had acquiesced. 

"No, " she said, determinedly, "I shall not go, nor should you, forthere are two friends in that jungle who will come out of it some dayexpecting to find us awaiting them. 

"Your officer, Captain Dufranne, is one of them, and the forest man whohas saved the lives of every member of my father's party is the other. 

"He left me at the edge of the jungle two days ago to hasten to the aidof my father and Mr. Clayton, as he thought, and he has stayed torescue Lieutenant D'Arnot; of that you may be sure. 

"Had he been too late to be of service to the lieutenant he would havebeen back before now--the fact that he is not back is sufficient proofto me that he is delayed because Lieutenant D'Arnot is wounded, or hehas had to follow his captors further than the village which yoursailors attacked. "

"But poor D'Arnot's uniform and all his belongings were found in thatvillage, Miss Porter, " argued the captain, "and the natives showedgreat excitement when questioned as to the white man's fate. "

"Yes, Captain, but they did not admit that he was dead and as for hisclothes and accouterments being in their possession--why more civilizedpeoples than these poor savage negroes strip their prisoners of everyarticle of value whether they intend killing them or not. 

"Even the soldiers of my own dear South looted not only the living butthe dead. It is strong circumstantial evidence, I will admit, but itis not positive proof. "

"Possibly your forest man, himself was captured or killed by thesavages, " suggested Captain Dufranne. 

The girl laughed. 

"You do not know him, " she replied, a little thrill of pride settingher nerves a-tingle at the thought that she spoke of her own. 

"I admit that he would be worth waiting for, this superman of yours, "laughed the captain. "I most certainly should like to see him. "

"Then wait for him, my dear captain, " urged the girl, "for I intenddoing so. "

The Frenchman would have been a very much surprised man could he haveinterpreted the true meaning of the girl's words. 

They had been walking from the beach toward the cabin as they talked, and now they joined a little group sitting on camp stools in the shadeof a great tree beside the cabin. 

Professor Porter was there, and Mr. Philander and Clayton, withLieutenant Charpentier and two of his brother officers, while Esmeraldahovered in the background, ever and anon venturing opinions andcomments with the freedom of an old and much-indulged family servant. 

The officers arose and saluted as their superior approached, andClayton surrendered his camp stool to Jane. 

"We were just discussing poor Paul's fate, " said Captain Dufranne. "Miss Porter insists that we have no absolute proof of his death--norhave we. And on the other hand she maintains that the continuedabsence of your omnipotent jungle friend indicates that D'Arnot isstill in need of his services, either because he is wounded, or stillis a prisoner in a more distant native village. "

"It has been suggested, " ventured Lieutenant Charpentier, "that thewild man may have been a member of the tribe of blacks who attacked ourparty--that he was hastening to aid THEM--his own people. "

Jane shot a quick glance at Clayton. 

"It seems vastly more reasonable, " said Professor Porter. 

"I do not agree with you, " objected Mr. Philander. "He had ampleopportunity to harm us himself, or to lead his people against us. Instead, during our long residence here, he has been uniformlyconsistent in his role of protector and provider. "

"That is true, " interjected Clayton, "yet we must not overlook the factthat except for himself the only human beings within hundreds of milesare savage cannibals. He was armed precisely as are they, whichindicates that he has maintained relations of some nature with them, and the fact that he is but one against possibly thousands suggeststhat these relations could scarcely have been other than friendly. "

"It seems improbable then that he is not connected with them, " remarkedthe captain; "possibly a member of this tribe. "

"Otherwise, " added another of the officers, "how could he have lived asufficient length of time among the savage denizens of the jungle, brute and human, to have become proficient in woodcraft, or in the useof African weapons. "

"You are judging him according to your own standards, gentlemen, " saidJane. "An ordinary white man such as any of you--pardon me, I did notmean just that--rather, a white man above the ordinary in physique andintelligence could never, I grant you, have lived a year alone andnaked in this tropical jungle; but this man not only surpasses theaverage white man in strength and agility, but as far transcends ourtrained athletes and 'strong men' as they surpass a day-old babe; andhis courage and ferocity in battle are those of the wild beast. "

"He has certainly won a loyal champion, Miss Porter, " said CaptainDufranne, laughing. "I am sure that there be none of us here but wouldwillingly face death a hundred times in its most terrifying forms todeserve the tributes of one even half so loyal--or so beautiful. "

"You would not wonder that I defend him, " said the girl, "could youhave seen him as I saw him, battling in my behalf with that huge hairybrute. 

"Could you have seen him charge the monster as a bull might charge agrizzly--absolutely without sign of fear or hesitation--you would havebelieved him more than human. 

"Could you have seen those mighty muscles knotting under the brownskin--could you have seen them force back those awful fangs--you toowould have thought him invincible. 

"And could you have seen the chivalrous treatment which he accorded astrange girl of a strange race, you would feel the same absoluteconfidence in him that I feel. "

"You have won your suit, my fair pleader, " cried the captain. "Thiscourt finds the defendant not guilty, and the cruiser shall wait a fewdays longer that he may have an opportunity to come and thank thedivine Portia. "

"For the Lord's sake honey, " cried Esmeralda. "You all don't mean totell ME that you're going to stay right here in this here land ofcarnivable animals when you all got the opportunity to escapade on thatboat? Don't you tell me THAT, honey. "

"Why, Esmeralda! You should be ashamed of yourself, " cried Jane. "Isthis any way to show your gratitude to the man who saved your lifetwice?"

"Well, Miss Jane, that's all jest as you say; but that there forest mannever did save us to stay here. He done save us so we all could getAWAY from here. I expect he be mighty peevish when he find we ain'tgot no more sense than to stay right here after he done give us thechance to get away. 

"I hoped I'd never have to sleep in this here geological garden anothernight and listen to all them lonesome noises that come out of thatjumble after dark. "

"I don't blame you a bit, Esmeralda, " said Clayton, "and you certainlydid hit it off right when you called them 'lonesome' noises. I neverhave been able to find the right word for them but that's it, don't youknow, lonesome noises. "

"You and Esmeralda had better go and live on the cruiser, " said Jane, in fine scorn. "What would you think if you HAD to live all of yourlife in that jungle as our forest man has done?"

"I'm afraid I'd be a blooming bounder as a wild man, " laughed Clayton, ruefully. "Those noises at night make the hair on my head bristle. Isuppose that I should be ashamed to admit it, but it's the truth. "

"I don't know about that, " said Lieutenant Charpentier. "I neverthought much about fear and that sort of thing--never tried todetermine whether I was a coward or brave man; but the other night aswe lay in the jungle there after poor D'Arnot was taken, and thosejungle noises rose and fell around us I began to think that I was acoward indeed. It was not the roaring and growling of the big beaststhat affected me so much as it was the stealthy noises--the ones thatyou heard suddenly close by and then listened vainly for a repetitionof--the unaccountable sounds as of a great body moving almostnoiselessly, and the knowledge that you didn't KNOW how close it was, or whether it were creeping closer after you ceased to hear it? It wasthose noises--and the eyes. 

"MON DIEU! I shall see them in the dark forever--the eyes that yousee, and those that you don't see, but feel--ah, they are the worst. "

All were silent for a moment, and then Jane spoke. 

"And he is out there, " she said, in an awe-hushed whisper. "Those eyeswill be glaring at him to-night, and at your comrade LieutenantD'Arnot. Can you leave them, gentlemen, without at least renderingthem the passive succor which remaining here a few days longer mightinsure them?"

"Tut, tut, child, " said Professor Porter. "Captain Dufranne is willingto remain, and for my part I am perfectly willing, perfectlywilling--as I always have been to humor your childish whims. "

"We can utilize the morrow in recovering the chest, Professor, "suggested Mr. Philander. 

"Quite so, quite so, Mr. Philander, I had almost forgotten thetreasure, " exclaimed Professor Porter. "Possibly we can borrow somemen from Captain Dufranne to assist us, and one of the prisoners topoint out the location of the chest. "

"Most assuredly, my dear Professor, we are all yours to command, " saidthe captain. 

And so it was arranged that on the next day Lieutenant Charpentier wasto take a detail of ten men, and one of the mutineers of the Arrow as aguide, and unearth the treasure; and that the cruiser would remain fora full week in the little harbor. At the end of that time it was to beassumed that D'Arnot was truly dead, and that the forest man would notreturn while they remained. Then the two vessels were to leave withall the party. 

Professor Porter did not accompany the treasure-seekers on thefollowing day, but when he saw them returning empty-handed toward noon, he hastened forward to meet them--his usual preoccupied indifferenceentirely vanished, and in its place a nervous and excited manner. 

"Where is the treasure?" he cried to Clayton, while yet a hundred feetseparated them. 

Clayton shook his head. 

"Gone, " he said, as he neared the professor. 

"Gone! It cannot be. Who could have taken it?" cried Professor Porter. 

"God only knows, Professor, " replied Clayton. "We might have thoughtthe fellow who guided us was lying about the location, but his surpriseand consternation on finding no chest beneath the body of the murderedSnipes were too real to be feigned. And then our spades showed us thatSOMETHING had been buried beneath the corpse, for a hole had been thereand it had been filled with loose earth. "

"But who could have taken it?" repeated Professor Porter. 

"Suspicion might naturally fall on the men of the cruiser, " saidLieutenant Charpentier, "but for the fact that sub-lieutenant Janviershere assures me that no men have had shore leave--that none has been onshore since we anchored here except under command of an officer. I donot know that you would suspect our men, but I am glad that there isnow no chance for suspicion to fall on them, " he concluded. 

"It would never have occurred to me to suspect the men to whom we oweso much, " replied Professor Porter, graciously. "I would as soonsuspect my dear Clayton here, or Mr. Philander. "

The Frenchmen smiled, both officers and sailors. It was plain to seethat a burden had been lifted from their minds. 

"The treasure has been gone for some time, " continued Clayton. "Infact the body fell apart as we lifted it, which indicates that whoeverremoved the treasure did so while the corpse was still fresh, for itwas intact when we first uncovered it. "

"There must have been several in the party, " said Jane, who had joinedthem. "You remember that it took four men to carry it. "

"By jove!" cried Clayton. "That's right. It must have been done by aparty of blacks. Probably one of them saw the men bury the chest andthen returned immediately after with a party of his friends, andcarried it off. "

"Speculation is futile, " said Professor Porter sadly. "The chest isgone. We shall never see it again, nor the treasure that was in it. "

Only Jane knew what the loss meant to her father, and none there knewwhat it meant to her. 

Six days later Captain Dufranne announced that they would sail early onthe morrow. 

Jane would have begged for a further reprieve, had it not been that shetoo had begun to believe that her forest lover would return no more. 

In spite of herself she began to entertain doubts and fears. Thereasonableness of the arguments of these disinterested French officerscommenced to convince her against her will. 

That he was a cannibal she would not believe, but that he was anadopted member of some savage tribe at length seemed possible to her. 

She would not admit that he could be dead. It was impossible tobelieve that that perfect body, so filled with triumphant life, couldever cease to harbor the vital spark--as soon believe that immortalitywere dust. 

As Jane permitted herself to harbor these thoughts, others equallyunwelcome forced themselves upon her. 

If he belonged to some savage tribe he had a savage wife--a dozen ofthem perhaps--and wild, half-caste children. The girl shuddered, andwhen they told her that the cruiser would sail on the morrow she wasalmost glad. 

It was she, though, who suggested that arms, ammunition, supplies andcomforts be left behind in the cabin, ostensibly for that intangiblepersonality who had signed himself Tarzan of the Apes, and for D'Arnotshould he still be living, but really, she hoped, for her forestgod--even though his feet should prove of clay. 

And at the last minute she left a message for him, to be transmitted byTarzan of the Apes. 

She was the last to leave the cabin, returning on some trivial pretextafter the others had started for the boat. 

She kneeled down beside the bed in which she had spent so many nights, and offered up a prayer for the safety of her primeval man, andcrushing his locket to her lips she murmured:

"I love you, and because I love you I believe in you. But if I did notbelieve, still should I love. Had you come back for me, and had therebeen no other way, I would have gone into the jungle with you--forever. "

Chapter XXV

The Outpost of the World

With the report of his gun D'Arnot saw the door fly open and the figureof a man pitch headlong within onto the cabin floor. 

The Frenchman in his panic raised his gun to fire again into theprostrate form, but suddenly in the half dusk of the open door he sawthat the man was white and in another instant realized that he had shothis friend and protector, Tarzan of the Apes. 

With a cry of anguish D'Arnot sprang to the ape-man's side, andkneeling, lifted the latter's head in his arms--calling Tarzan's namealoud. 

There was no response, and then D'Arnot placed his ear above the man'sheart. To his joy he heard its steady beating beneath. 

Carefully he lifted Tarzan to the cot, and then, after closing andbolting the door, he lighted one of the lamps and examined the wound. 

The bullet had struck a glancing blow upon the skull. There was anugly flesh wound, but no signs of a fracture of the skull. 

D'Arnot breathed a sigh of relief, and went about bathing the bloodfrom Tarzan's face. 

Soon the cool water revived him, and presently he opened his eyes tolook in questioning surprise at D'Arnot. 

The latter had bound the wound with pieces of cloth, and as he saw thatTarzan had regained consciousness he arose and going to the table wrotea message, which he handed to the ape-man, explaining the terriblemistake he had made and how thankful he was that the wound was not moreserious. 

Tarzan, after reading the message, sat on the edge of the couch andlaughed. 

"It is nothing, " he said in French, and then, his vocabulary failinghim, he wrote:

You should have seen what Bolgani did to me, and Kerchak, and Terkoz, before I killed them--then you would laugh at such a little scratch. 

D'Arnot handed Tarzan the two messages that had been left for him. 

Tarzan read the first one through with a look of sorrow on his face. The second one he turned over and over, searching for an opening--hehad never seen a sealed envelope before. At length he handed it toD'Arnot. 

The Frenchman had been watching him, and knew that Tarzan was puzzledover the envelope. How strange it seemed that to a full-grown whiteman an envelope was a mystery. D'Arnot opened it and handed the letterback to Tarzan. 

Sitting on a camp stool the ape-man spread the written sheet before himand read:

TO TARZAN OF THE APES:

Before I leave let me add my thanks to those of Mr. Clayton for thekindness you have shown in permitting us the use of your cabin. 

That you never came to make friends with us has been a great regret tous. We should have liked so much to have seen and thanked our host. 

There is another I should like to thank also, but he did not come back, though I cannot believe that he is dead. 

I do not know his name. He is the great white giant who wore thediamond locket upon his breast. 

If you know him and can speak his language carry my thanks to him, andtell him that I waited seven days for him to return. 

Tell him, also, that in my home in America, in the city of Baltimore, there will always be a welcome for him if he cares to come. 

I found a note you wrote me lying among the leaves beneath a tree nearthe cabin. I do not know how you learned to love me, who have neverspoken to me, and I am very sorry if it is true, for I have alreadygiven my heart to another. 

But know that I am always your friend, JANE PORTER. 

Tarzan sat with gaze fixed upon the floor for nearly an hour. It wasevident to him from the notes that they did not know that he and Tarzanof the Apes were one and the same. 

"I have given my heart to another, " he repeated over and over again tohimself. 

Then she did not love him! How could she have pretended love, andraised him to such a pinnacle of hope only to cast him down to suchutter depths of despair!

Maybe her kisses were only signs of friendship. How did he know, whoknew nothing of the customs of human beings?

Suddenly he arose, and, bidding D'Arnot good night as he had learned todo, threw himself upon the couch of ferns that had been Jane Porter's. 

D'Arnot extinguished the lamp, and lay down upon the cot. 

For a week they did little but rest, D'Arnot coaching Tarzan in French. At the end of that time the two men could converse quite easily. 

One night, as they were sitting within the cabin before retiring, Tarzan turned to D'Arnot. 

"Where is America?" he said. 

D'Arnot pointed toward the northwest. 

"Many thousands of miles across the ocean, " he replied. "Why?"

"I am going there. "

D'Arnot shook his head. 

"It is impossible, my friend, " he said. 

Tarzan rose, and, going to one of the cupboards, returned with awell-thumbed geography. 

Turning to a map of the world, he said:

"I have never quite understood all this; explain it to me, please. "

When D'Arnot had done so, showing him that the blue represented all thewater on the earth, and the bits of other colors the continents andislands, Tarzan asked him to point out the spot where they now were. 

D'Arnot did so. 

"Now point out America, " said Tarzan. 

And as D'Arnot placed his finger upon North America, Tarzan smiled andlaid his palm upon the page, spanning the great ocean that lay betweenthe two continents. 

"You see it is not so very far, " he said; "scarce the width of my hand. "

D'Arnot laughed. How could he make the man understand?

Then he took a pencil and made a tiny point upon the shore of Africa. 

"This little mark, " he said, "is many times larger upon this map thanyour cabin is upon the earth. Do you see now how very far it is?"

Tarzan thought for a long time. 

"Do any white men live in Africa?" he asked. 

"Yes. "

"Where are the nearest?"

D'Arnot pointed out a spot on the shore just north of them. 

"So close?" asked Tarzan, in surprise. 

"Yes, " said D'Arnot; "but it is not close. "

"Have they big boats to cross the ocean?"

"Yes. "

"We shall go there to-morrow, " announced Tarzan. 

Again D'Arnot smiled and shook his head. 

"It is too far. We should die long before we reached them. "

"Do you wish to stay here then forever?" asked Tarzan. 

"No, " said D'Arnot. 

"Then we shall start to-morrow. I do not like it here longer. Ishould rather die than remain here. "

"Well, " answered D'Arnot, with a shrug, "I do not know, my friend, butthat I also would rather die than remain here. If you go, I shall gowith you. "

"It is settled then, " said Tarzan. "I shall start for Americato-morrow. "

"How will you get to America without money?" asked D'Arnot. 

"What is money?" inquired Tarzan. 

It took a long time to make him understand even imperfectly. 

"How do men get money?" he asked at last. 

"They work for it. "

"Very well. I will work for it, then. "

"No, my friend, " returned D'Arnot, "you need not worry about money, norneed you work for it. I have enough money for two--enough for twenty. Much more than is good for one man and you shall have all you need ifever we reach civilization. "

So on the following day they started north along the shore. Each mancarrying a rifle and ammunition, beside bedding and some food andcooking utensils. 

The latter seemed to Tarzan a most useless encumbrance, so he threw hisaway. 

"But you must learn to eat cooked food, my friend, " remonstratedD'Arnot. "No civilized men eat raw flesh. "

"There will be time enough when I reach civilization, " said Tarzan. "Ido not like the things and they only spoil the taste of good meat. "

For a month they traveled north. Sometimes finding food in plenty andagain going hungry for days. 

They saw no signs of natives nor were they molested by wild beasts. Their journey was a miracle of ease. 

Tarzan asked questions and learned rapidly. D'Arnot taught him many ofthe refinements of civilization--even to the use of knife and fork; butsometimes Tarzan would drop them in disgust and grasp his food in hisstrong brown hands, tearing it with his molars like a wild beast. 

Then D'Arnot would expostulate with him, saying:

"You must not eat like a brute, Tarzan, while I am trying to make agentleman of you. MON DIEU! Gentlemen do not thus--it is terrible. "

Tarzan would grin sheepishly and pick up his knife and fork again, butat heart he hated them. 

On the journey he told D'Arnot about the great chest he had seen thesailors bury; of how he had dug it up and carried it to the gatheringplace of the apes and buried it there. 

"It must be the treasure chest of Professor Porter, " said D'Arnot. "Itis too bad, but of course you did not know. "

Then Tarzan recalled the letter written by Jane to her friend--the onehe had stolen when they first came to his cabin, and now he knew whatwas in the chest and what it meant to Jane. 

"To-morrow we shall go back after it, " he announced to D'Arnot. 

"Go back?" exclaimed D'Arnot. "But, my dear fellow, we have now beenthree weeks upon the march. It would require three more to return tothe treasure, and then, with that enormous weight which required, yousay, four sailors to carry, it would be months before we had againreached this spot. "

"It must be done, my friend, " insisted Tarzan. "You may go on towardcivilization, and I will return for the treasure. I can go very muchfaster alone. "

"I have a better plan, Tarzan, " exclaimed D'Arnot. "We shall go ontogether to the nearest settlement, and there we will charter a boatand sail back down the coast for the treasure and so transport iteasily. That will be safer and quicker and also not require us to beseparated. What do you think of that plan?"

"Very well, " said Tarzan. "The treasure will be there whenever we gofor it; and while I could fetch it now, and catch up with you in a moonor two, I shall feel safer for you to know that you are not alone onthe trail. When I see how helpless you are, D'Arnot, I often wonderhow the human race has escaped annihilation all these ages which youtell me about. Why, Sabor, single handed, could exterminate a thousandof you. "

D'Arnot laughed. 

"You will think more highly of your genus when you have seen its armiesand navies, its great cities, and its mighty engineering works. Thenyou will realize that it is mind, and not muscle, that makes the humananimal greater than the mighty beasts of your jungle. 

"Alone and unarmed, a single man is no match for any of the largerbeasts; but if ten men were together, they would combine their wits andtheir muscles against their savage enemies, while the beasts, beingunable to reason, would never think of combining against the men. Otherwise, Tarzan of the Apes, how long would you have lasted in thesavage wilderness?"

"You are right, D'Arnot, " replied Tarzan, "for if Kerchak had come toTublat's aid that night at the Dum-Dum, there would have been an end ofme. But Kerchak could never think far enough ahead to take advantageof any such opportunity. Even Kala, my mother, could never plan ahead. She simply ate what she needed when she needed it, and if the supplywas very scarce, even though she found plenty for several meals, shewould never gather any ahead. 

"I remember that she used to think it very silly of me to burden myselfwith extra food upon the march, though she was quite glad to eat itwith me, if the way chanced to be barren of sustenance. "

"Then you knew your mother, Tarzan?" asked D'Arnot, in surprise. 

"Yes. She was a great, fine ape, larger than I, and weighing twice asmuch. "

"And your father?" asked D'Arnot. 

"I did not know him. Kala told me he was a white ape, and hairlesslike myself. I know now that he must have been a white man. "

D'Arnot looked long and earnestly at his companion. 

"Tarzan, " he said at length, "it is impossible that the ape, Kala, wasyour mother. If such a thing can be, which I doubt, you would haveinherited some of the characteristics of the ape, but you have not--youare pure man, and, I should say, the offspring of highly bred andintelligent parents. Have you not the slightest clue to your past?"

"Not the slightest, " replied Tarzan. 

"No writings in the cabin that might have told something of the livesof its original inmates?"

"I have read everything that was in the cabin with the exception of onebook which I know now to be written in a language other than English. Possibly you can read it. "

Tarzan fished the little black diary from the bottom of his quiver, andhanded it to his companion. 

D'Arnot glanced at the title page. 

"It is the diary of John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, an English nobleman, and it is written in French, " he said. 

Then he proceeded to read the diary that had been written over twentyyears before, and which recorded the details of the story which wealready know--the story of adventure, hardships and sorrow of JohnClayton and his wife Alice, from the day they left England until anhour before he was struck down by Kerchak. 

D'Arnot read aloud. At times his voice broke, and he was forced tostop reading for the pitiful hopelessness that spoke between the lines. 

Occasionally he glanced at Tarzan; but the ape-man sat upon hishaunches, like a carven image, his eyes fixed upon the ground. 

Only when the little babe was mentioned did the tone of the diary alterfrom the habitual note of despair which had crept into it by degreesafter the first two months upon the shore. 

Then the passages were tinged with a subdued happiness that was evensadder than the rest. 

One entry showed an almost hopeful spirit. 

To-day our little boy is six months old. He is sitting in Alice's lapbeside the table where I am writing--a happy, healthy, perfect child. 

Somehow, even against all reason, I seem to see him a grown man, takinghis father's place in the world--the second John Clayton--and bringingadded honors to the house of Greystoke. 

There--as though to give my prophecy the weight of his endorsement--hehas grabbed my pen in his chubby fists and with his inkbegrimed littlefingers has placed the seal of his tiny finger prints upon the page. 

And there, on the margin of the page, were the partially blurredimprints of four wee fingers and the outer half of the thumb. 

When D'Arnot had finished the diary the two men sat in silence for someminutes. 

"Well! Tarzan of the Apes, what think you?" asked D'Arnot. "Does notthis little book clear up the mystery of your parentage?

"Why man, you are Lord Greystoke. "

"The book speaks of but one child, " he replied. "Its little skeletonlay in the crib, where it died crying for nourishment, from the firsttime I entered the cabin until Professor Porter's party buried it, withits father and mother, beside the cabin. 

"No, that was the babe the book speaks of--and the mystery of my originis deeper than before, for I have thought much of late of thepossibility of that cabin having been my birthplace. I am afraid thatKala spoke the truth, " he concluded sadly. 

D'Arnot shook his head. He was unconvinced, and in his mind had sprungthe determination to prove the correctness of his theory, for he haddiscovered the key which alone could unlock the mystery, or consign itforever to the realms of the unfathomable. 

A week later the two men came suddenly upon a clearing in the forest. 

In the distance were several buildings surrounded by a strong palisade. Between them and the enclosure stretched a cultivated field in which anumber of negroes were working. 

The two halted at the edge of the jungle. 

Tarzan fitted his bow with a poisoned arrow, but D'Arnot placed a handupon his arm. 

"What would you do, Tarzan?" he asked. 

"They will try to kill us if they see us, " replied Tarzan. "I preferto be the killer. "

"Maybe they are friends, " suggested D'Arnot. 

"They are black, " was Tarzan's only reply. 

And again he drew back his shaft. 

"You must not, Tarzan!" cried D'Arnot. "White men do not killwantonly. MON DIEU! but you have much to learn. 

"I pity the ruffian who crosses you, my wild man, when I take you toParis. I will have my hands full keeping your neck from beneath theguillotine. "

Tarzan lowered his bow and smiled. 

"I do not know why I should kill the blacks back there in my jungle, yet not kill them here. Suppose Numa, the lion, should spring out uponus, I should say, then, I presume: Good morning, Monsieur Numa, how isMadame Numa; eh?"

"Wait until the blacks spring upon you, " replied D'Arnot, "then you maykill them. Do not assume that men are your enemies until they proveit. "

"Come, " said Tarzan, "let us go and present ourselves to be killed, "and he started straight across the field, his head high held and thetropical sun beating upon his smooth, brown skin. 

Behind him came D'Arnot, clothed in some garments which had beendiscarded at the cabin by Clayton when the officers of the Frenchcruiser had fitted him out in more presentable fashion. 

Presently one of the blacks looked up, and beholding Tarzan, turned, shrieking, toward the palisade. 

In an instant the air was filled with cries of terror from the fleeinggardeners, but before any had reached the palisade a white man emergedfrom the enclosure, rifle in hand, to discover the cause of thecommotion. 

What he saw brought his rifle to his shoulder, and Tarzan of the Apeswould have felt cold lead once again had not D'Arnot cried loudly tothe man with the leveled gun:

"Do not fire! We are friends!"

"Halt, then!" was the reply. 

"Stop, Tarzan!" cried D'Arnot. "He thinks we are enemies. "

Tarzan dropped into a walk, and together he and D'Arnot advanced towardthe white man by the gate. 

The latter eyed them in puzzled bewilderment. 

"What manner of men are you?" he asked, in French. 

"White men, " replied D'Arnot. "We have been lost in the jungle for along time. "

The man had lowered his rifle and now advanced with outstretched hand. 

"I am Father Constantine of the French Mission here, " he said, "and Iam glad to welcome you. "

"This is Monsieur Tarzan, Father Constantine, " replied D'Arnot, indicating the ape-man; and as the priest extended his hand to Tarzan, D'Arnot added: "and I am Paul D'Arnot, of the French Navy. "

Father Constantine took the hand which Tarzan extended in imitation ofthe priest's act, while the latter took in the superb physique andhandsome face in one quick, keen glance. 

And thus came Tarzan of the Apes to the first outpost of civilization. 

For a week they remained there, and the ape-man, keenly observant, learned much of the ways of men; meanwhile black women sewed white duckgarments for himself and D'Arnot so that they might continue theirjourney properly clothed. 

Chapter XXVI

The Height of Civilization

Another month brought them to a little group of buildings at the mouthof a wide river, and there Tarzan saw many boats, and was filled withthe timidity of the wild thing by the sight of many men. 

Gradually he became accustomed to the strange noises and the odd waysof civilization, so that presently none might know that two shortmonths before, this handsome Frenchman in immaculate white ducks, wholaughed and chatted with the gayest of them, had been swinging nakedthrough primeval forests to pounce upon some unwary victim, which, raw, was to fill his savage belly. 

The knife and fork, so contemptuously flung aside a month before, Tarzan now manipulated as exquisitely as did the polished D'Arnot. 

So apt a pupil had he been that the young Frenchman had laboredassiduously to make of Tarzan of the Apes a polished gentleman in sofar as nicety of manners and speech were concerned. 

"God made you a gentleman at heart, my friend, " D'Arnot had said; "butwe want His works to show upon the exterior also. "

As soon as they had reached the little port, D'Arnot had cabled hisgovernment of his safety, and requested a three-months' leave, whichhad been granted. 

He had also cabled his bankers for funds, and the enforced wait of amonth, under which both chafed, was due to their inability to charter avessel for the return to Tarzan's jungle after the treasure. 

During their stay at the coast town "Monsieur Tarzan" became the wonderof both whites and blacks because of several occurrences which toTarzan seemed the merest of nothings. 

Once a huge black, crazed by drink, had run amuck and terrorized thetown, until his evil star had led him to where the black-haired Frenchgiant lolled upon the veranda of the hotel. 

Mounting the broad steps, with brandished knife, the Negro madestraight for a party of four men sitting at a table sipping theinevitable absinthe. 

Shouting in alarm, the four took to their heels, and then the blackspied Tarzan. 

With a roar he charged the ape-man, while half a hundred heads peeredfrom sheltering windows and doorways to witness the butchering of thepoor Frenchman by the giant black. 

Tarzan met the rush with the fighting smile that the joy of battlealways brought to his lips. 

As the Negro closed upon him, steel muscles gripped the black wrist ofthe uplifted knife-hand, and a single swift wrench left the handdangling below a broken bone. 

With the pain and surprise, the madness left the black man, and asTarzan dropped back into his chair the fellow turned, crying withagony, and dashed wildly toward the native village. 

On another occasion as Tarzan and D'Arnot sat at dinner with a numberof other whites, the talk fell upon lions and lion hunting. 

Opinion was divided as to the bravery of the king of beasts--somemaintaining that he was an arrant coward, but all agreeing that it waswith a feeling of greater security that they gripped their expressrifles when the monarch of the jungle roared about a camp at night. 

D'Arnot and Tarzan had agreed that his past be kept secret, and so noneother than the French officer knew of the ape-man's familiarity withthe beasts of the jungle. 

"Monsieur Tarzan has not expressed himself, " said one of the party. "Aman of his prowess who has spent some time in Africa, as I understandMonsieur Tarzan has, must have had experiences with lions--yes?"

"Some, " replied Tarzan, dryly. "Enough to know that each of you areright in your judgment of the characteristics of the lions--you havemet. But one might as well judge all blacks by the fellow who ranamuck last week, or decide that all whites are cowards because one hasmet a cowardly white. 

"There is as much individuality among the lower orders, gentlemen, asthere is among ourselves. Today we may go out and stumble upon a lionwhich is over-timid--he runs away from us. To-morrow we may meet hisuncle or his twin brother, and our friends wonder why we do not returnfrom the jungle. For myself, I always assume that a lion is ferocious, and so I am never caught off my guard. "

"There would be little pleasure in hunting, " retorted the firstspeaker, "if one is afraid of the thing he hunts. "

D'Arnot smiled. Tarzan afraid!

"I do not exactly understand what you mean by fear, " said Tarzan. "Like lions, fear is a different thing in different men, but to me theonly pleasure in the hunt is the knowledge that the hunted thing haspower to harm me as much as I have to harm him. If I went out with acouple of rifles and a gun bearer, and twenty or thirty beaters, tohunt a lion, I should not feel that the lion had much chance, and sothe pleasure of the hunt would be lessened in proportion to theincreased safety which I felt. "

"Then I am to take it that Monsieur Tarzan would prefer to go nakedinto the jungle, armed only with a jackknife, to kill the king ofbeasts, " laughed the other, good naturedly, but with the merest touchof sarcasm in his tone. 

"And a piece of rope, " added Tarzan. 

Just then the deep roar of a lion sounded from the distant jungle, asthough to challenge whoever dared enter the lists with him. 

"There is your opportunity, Monsieur Tarzan, " bantered the Frenchman. 

"I am not hungry, " said Tarzan simply. 

The men laughed, all but D'Arnot. He alone knew that a savage beasthad spoken its simple reason through the lips of the ape-man. 

"But you are afraid, just as any of us would be, to go out there naked, armed only with a knife and a piece of rope, " said the banterer. "Isit not so?"

"No, " replied Tarzan. "Only a fool performs any act without reason. "

"Five thousand francs is a reason, " said the other. "I wager you thatamount you cannot bring back a lion from the jungle under theconditions we have named--naked and armed only with a knife and a pieceof rope. "

Tarzan glanced toward D'Arnot and nodded his head. 

"Make it ten thousand, " said D'Arnot. 

"Done, " replied the other. 

Tarzan arose. 

"I shall have to leave my clothes at the edge of the settlement, sothat if I do not return before daylight I shall have something to wearthrough the streets. "

"You are not going now, " exclaimed the wagerer--"at night?"

"Why not?" asked Tarzan. "Numa walks abroad at night--it will beeasier to find him. "

"No, " said the other, "I do not want your blood upon my hands. It willbe foolhardy enough if you go forth by day. "

"I shall go now, " replied Tarzan, and went to his room for his knifeand rope. 

The men accompanied him to the edge of the jungle, where he left hisclothes in a small storehouse. 

But when he would have entered the blackness of the undergrowth theytried to dissuade him; and the wagerer was most insistent of all thathe abandon his foolhardy venture. 

"I will accede that you have won, " he said, "and the ten thousandfrancs are yours if you will but give up this foolish attempt, whichcan only end in your death. "

Tarzan laughed, and in another moment the jungle had swallowed him. 

The men stood silent for some moments and then slowly turned and walkedback to the hotel veranda. 

Tarzan had no sooner entered the jungle than he took to the trees, andit was with a feeling of exultant freedom that he swung once morethrough the forest branches. 

This was life! Ah, how he loved it! Civilization held nothing likethis in its narrow and circumscribed sphere, hemmed in by restrictionsand conventionalities. Even clothes were a hindrance and a nuisance. 

At last he was free. He had not realized what a prisoner he had been. 

How easy it would be to circle back to the coast, and then make towardthe south and his own jungle and cabin. 

Now he caught the scent of Numa, for he was traveling up wind. Presently his quick ears detected the familiar sound of padded feet andthe brushing of a huge, fur-clad body through the undergrowth. 

Tarzan came quietly above the unsuspecting beast and silently stalkedhim until he came into a little patch of moonlight. 

Then the quick noose settled and tightened about the tawny throat, and, as he had done it a hundred times in the past, Tarzan made fast the endto a strong branch and, while the beast fought and clawed for freedom, dropped to the ground behind him, and leaping upon the great back, plunged his long thin blade a dozen times into the fierce heart. 

Then with his foot upon the carcass of Numa, he raised his voice in theawesome victory cry of his savage tribe. 

For a moment Tarzan stood irresolute, swayed by conflicting emotions ofloyalty to D'Arnot and a mighty lust for the freedom of his own jungle. At last the vision of a beautiful face, and the memory of warm lipscrushed to his dissolved the fascinating picture he had been drawing ofhis old life. 

The ape-man threw the warm carcass of Numa across his shoulders andtook to the trees once more. 

The men upon the veranda had sat for an hour, almost in silence. 

They had tried ineffectually to converse on various subjects, andalways the thing uppermost in the mind of each had caused theconversation to lapse. 

"MON DIEU, " said the wagerer at length, "I can endure it no longer. Iam going into the jungle with my express and bring back that mad man. "

"I will go with you, " said one. 

"And I"--"And I"--"And I, " chorused the others. 

As though the suggestion had broken the spell of some horrid nightmarethey hastened to their various quarters, and presently were headedtoward the jungle--each one heavily armed. 

"God! What was that?" suddenly cried one of the party, an Englishman, as Tarzan's savage cry came faintly to their ears. 

"I heard the same thing once before, " said a Belgian, "when I was inthe gorilla country. My carriers said it was the cry of a great bullape who has made a kill. "

D'Arnot remembered Clayton's description of the awful roar with whichTarzan had announced his kills, and he half smiled in spite of thehorror which filled him to think that the uncanny sound could haveissued from a human throat--from the lips of his friend. 

As the party stood finally near the edge of the jungle, debating as tothe best distribution of their forces, they were startled by a lowlaugh near them, and turning, beheld advancing toward them a giantfigure bearing a dead lion upon its broad shoulders. 

Even D'Arnot was thunderstruck, for it seemed impossible that the mancould have so quickly dispatched a lion with the pitiful weapons he hadtaken, or that alone he could have borne the huge carcass through thetangled jungle. 

The men crowded about Tarzan with many questions, but his only answerwas a laughing depreciation of his feat. 

To Tarzan it was as though one should eulogize a butcher for hisheroism in killing a cow, for Tarzan had killed so often for food andfor self-preservation that the act seemed anything but remarkable tohim. But he was indeed a hero in the eyes of these men--men accustomedto hunting big game. 

Incidentally, he had won ten thousand francs, for D'Arnot insisted thathe keep it all. 

This was a very important item to Tarzan, who was just commencing torealize the power which lay beyond the little pieces of metal and paperwhich always changed hands when human beings rode, or ate, or slept, orclothed themselves, or drank, or worked, or played, or shelteredthemselves from the rain or cold or sun. 

It had become evident to Tarzan that without money one must die. D'Arnot had told him not to worry, since he had more than enough forboth, but the ape-man was learning many things and one of them was thatpeople looked down upon one who accepted money from another withoutgiving something of equal value in exchange. 

Shortly after the episode of the lion hunt, D'Arnot succeeded inchartering an ancient tub for the coastwise trip to Tarzan'sland-locked harbor. 

It was a happy morning for them both when the little vessel weighedanchor and made for the open sea. 

The trip to the beach was uneventful, and the morning after theydropped anchor before the cabin, Tarzan, garbed once more in his jungleregalia and carrying a spade, set out alone for the amphitheater of theapes where lay the treasure. 

Late the next day he returned, bearing the great chest upon hisshoulder, and at sunrise the little vessel worked through the harbor'smouth and took up her northward journey. 

Three weeks later Tarzan and D'Arnot were passengers on board a Frenchsteamer bound for Lyons, and after a few days in that city D'Arnot tookTarzan to Paris. 

The ape-man was anxious to proceed to America, but D'Arnot insistedthat he must accompany him to Paris first, nor would he divulge thenature of the urgent necessity upon which he based his demand. 

One of the first things which D'Arnot accomplished after their arrivalwas to arrange to visit a high official of the police department, anold friend; and to take Tarzan with him. 

Adroitly D'Arnot led the conversation from point to point until thepoliceman had explained to the interested Tarzan many of the methods invogue for apprehending and identifying criminals. 

Not the least interesting to Tarzan was the part played by fingerprints in this fascinating science. 

"But of what value are these imprints, " asked Tarzan, "when, after afew years the lines upon the fingers are entirely changed by thewearing out of the old tissue and the growth of new?"

"The lines never change, " replied the official. "From infancy tosenility the fingerprints of an individual change only in size, exceptas injuries alter the loops and whorls. But if imprints have beentaken of the thumb and four fingers of both hands one must needs loseall entirely to escape identification. "

"It is marvelous, " exclaimed D'Arnot. "I wonder what the lines upon myown fingers may resemble. "

"We can soon see, " replied the police officer, and ringing a bell hesummoned an assistant to whom he issued a few directions. 

The man left the room, but presently returned with a little hardwoodbox which he placed on his superior's desk. 

"Now, " said the officer, "you shall have your fingerprints in a second. "

He drew from the little case a square of plate glass, a little tube ofthick ink, a rubber roller, and a few snowy white cards. 

Squeezing a drop of ink onto the glass, he spread it back and forthwith the rubber roller until the entire surface of the glass wascovered to his satisfaction with a very thin and uniform layer of ink. 

"Place the four fingers of your right hand upon the glass, thus, " hesaid to D'Arnot. "Now the thumb. That is right. Now place them injust the same position upon this card, here, no--a little to the right. We must leave room for the thumb and the fingers of the left hand. There, that's it. Now the same with the left. "

"Come, Tarzan, " cried D'Arnot, "let's see what your whorls look like. "

Tarzan complied readily, asking many questions of the officer duringthe operation. 

"Do fingerprints show racial characteristics?" he asked. "Could youdetermine, for example, solely from fingerprints whether the subjectwas Negro or Caucasian?"

"I think not, " replied the officer. 

"Could the finger prints of an ape be detected from those of a man?"

"Probably, because the ape's would be far simpler than those of thehigher organism. "

"But a cross between an ape and a man might show the characteristics ofeither progenitor?" continued Tarzan. 

"Yes, I should think likely, " responded the official; "but the sciencehas not progressed sufficiently to render it exact enough in suchmatters. I should hate to trust its findings further than todifferentiate between individuals. There it is absolute. No twopeople born into the world probably have ever had identical lines uponall their digits. It is very doubtful if any single fingerprint willever be exactly duplicated by any finger other than the one whichoriginally made it. "

"Does the comparison require much time or labor?" asked D'Arnot. 

"Ordinarily but a few moments, if the impressions are distinct. "

D'Arnot drew a little black book from his pocket and commenced turningthe pages. 

Tarzan looked at the book in surprise. How did D'Arnot come to havehis book?

Presently D'Arnot stopped at a page on which were five tiny littlesmudges. 

He handed the open book to the policeman. 

"Are these imprints similar to mine or Monsieur Tarzan's or can you saythat they are identical with either?" The officer drew a powerful glassfrom his desk and examined all three specimens carefully, makingnotations meanwhile upon a pad of paper. 

Tarzan realized now what was the meaning of their visit to the policeofficer. 

The answer to his life's riddle lay in these tiny marks. 

With tense nerves he sat leaning forward in his chair, but suddenly herelaxed and dropped back, smiling. 

D'Arnot looked at him in surprise. 

"You forget that for twenty years the dead body of the child who madethose fingerprints lay in the cabin of his father, and that all my lifeI have seen it lying there, " said Tarzan bitterly. 

The policeman looked up in astonishment. 

"Go ahead, captain, with your examination, " said D'Arnot, "we will tellyou the story later--provided Monsieur Tarzan is agreeable. "

Tarzan nodded his head. 

"But you are mad, my dear D'Arnot, " he insisted. "Those little fingersare buried on the west coast of Africa. "

"I do not know as to that, Tarzan, " replied D'Arnot. "It is possible, but if you are not the son of John Clayton then how in heaven's namedid you come into that God forsaken jungle where no white man otherthan John Clayton had ever set foot?"

"You forget--Kala, " said Tarzan. 

"I do not even consider her, " replied D'Arnot. 

The friends had walked to the broad window overlooking the boulevard asthey talked. For some time they stood there gazing out upon the busythrong beneath, each wrapped in his own thoughts. 

"It takes some time to compare finger prints, " thought D'Arnot, turningto look at the police officer. 

To his astonishment he saw the official leaning back in his chairhastily scanning the contents of the little black diary. 

D'Arnot coughed. The policeman looked up, and, catching his eye, raised his finger to admonish silence. D'Arnot turned back to thewindow, and presently the police officer spoke. 

"Gentlemen, " he said. 

Both turned toward him. 

"There is evidently a great deal at stake which must hinge to a greateror lesser extent upon the absolute correctness of this comparison. Itherefore ask that you leave the entire matter in my hands untilMonsieur Desquerc, our expert returns. It will be but a matter of afew days. "

"I had hoped to know at once, " said D'Arnot. "Monsieur Tarzan sailsfor America tomorrow. "

"I will promise that you can cable him a report within two weeks, "replied the officer; "but what it will be I dare not say. There areresemblances, yet--well, we had better leave it for Monsieur Desquercto solve. "

Chapter XXVII

The Giant Again

A taxicab drew up before an oldfashioned residence upon the outskirtsof Baltimore. 

A man of about forty, well built and with strong, regular features, stepped out, and paying the chauffeur dismissed him. 

A moment later the passenger was entering the library of the old home. 

"Ah, Mr. Canler!" exclaimed an old man, rising to greet him. 

"Good evening, my dear Professor, " cried the man, extending a cordialhand. 

"Who admitted you?" asked the professor. 

"Esmeralda. "

"Then she will acquaint Jane with the fact that you are here, " said theold man. 

"No, Professor, " replied Canler, "for I came primarily to see you. "

"Ah, I am honored, " said Professor Porter. 

"Professor, " continued Robert Canler, with great deliberation, asthough carefully weighing his words, "I have come this evening to speakwith you about Jane. "

"You know my aspirations, and you have been generous enough to approvemy suit. "

Professor Archimedes Q. Porter fidgeted in his armchair. The subjectalways made him uncomfortable. He could not understand why. Canlerwas a splendid match. 

"But Jane, " continued Canler, "I cannot understand her. She puts meoff first on one ground and then another. I have always the feelingthat she breathes a sigh of relief every time I bid her good-by. "

"Tut, tut, " said Professor Porter. "Tut, tut, Mr. Canler. Jane is amost obedient daughter. She will do precisely as I tell her. "

"Then I can still count on your support?" asked Canler, a tone ofrelief marking his voice. 

"Certainly, sir; certainly, sir, " exclaimed Professor Porter. "Howcould you doubt it?"

"There is young Clayton, you know, " suggested Canler. "He has beenhanging about for months. I don't know that Jane cares for him; butbeside his title they say he has inherited a very considerable estatefrom his father, and it might not be strange, --if he finally won her, unless--" and Canler paused. 

"Tut--tut, Mr. Canler; unless--what?"

"Unless, you see fit to request that Jane and I be married at once, "said Canler, slowly and distinctly. 

"I have already suggested to Jane that it would be desirable, " saidProfessor Porter sadly, "for we can no longer afford to keep up thishouse, and live as her associations demand. "

"What was her reply?" asked Canler. 

"She said she was not ready to marry anyone yet, " replied ProfessorPorter, "and that we could go and live upon the farm in northernWisconsin which her mother left her. 

"It is a little more than self-supporting. The tenants have alwaysmade a living from it, and been able to send Jane a trifle beside, eachyear. She is planning on our going up there the first of the week. Philander and Mr. Clayton have already gone to get things in readinessfor us. "

"Clayton has gone there?" exclaimed Canler, visibly chagrined. "Whywas I not told? I would gladly have gone and seen that every comfortwas provided. "

"Jane feels that we are already too much in your debt, Mr. Canler, "said Professor Porter. 

Canler was about to reply, when the sound of footsteps came from thehall without, and Jane entered the room. 

"Oh, I beg your pardon!" she exclaimed, pausing on the threshold. "Ithought you were alone, papa. "

"It is only I, Jane, " said Canler, who had risen, "won't you come inand join the family group? We were just speaking of you. "

"Thank you, " said Jane, entering and taking the chair Canler placed forher. "I only wanted to tell papa that Tobey is coming down from thecollege tomorrow to pack his books. I want you to be sure, papa, toindicate all that you can do without until fall. Please don't carrythis entire library to Wisconsin, as you would have carried it toAfrica, if I had not put my foot down. "

"Was Tobey here?" asked Professor Porter. 

"Yes, I just left him. He and Esmeralda are exchanging religiousexperiences on the back porch now. "

"Tut, tut, I must see him at once!" cried the professor. "Excuse mejust a moment, children, " and the old man hastened from the room. 

As soon as he was out of earshot Canler turned to Jane. 

"See here, Jane, " he said bluntly. "How long is this thing going onlike this? You haven't refused to marry me, but you haven't promisedeither. I want to get the license tomorrow, so that we can be marriedquietly before you leave for Wisconsin. I don't care for any fuss orfeathers, and I'm sure you don't either. "

The girl turned cold, but she held her head bravely. 

"Your father wishes it, you know, " added Canler. 

"Yes, I know. "

She spoke scarcely above a whisper. 

"Do you realize that you are buying me, Mr. Canler?" she said finally, and in a cold, level voice. "Buying me for a few paltry dollars? Ofcourse you do, Robert Canler, and the hope of just such a contingencywas in your mind when you loaned papa the money for that hair-brainedescapade, which but for a most mysterious circumstance would have beensurprisingly successful. 

"But you, Mr. Canler, would have been the most surprised. You had noidea that the venture would succeed. You are too good a businessmanfor that. And you are too good a businessman to loan money for buriedtreasure seeking, or to loan money without security--unless you hadsome special object in view. 

"You knew that without security you had a greater hold on the honor ofthe Porters than with it. You knew the one best way to force me tomarry you, without seeming to force me. 

"You have never mentioned the loan. In any other man I should havethought that the prompting of a magnanimous and noble character. Butyou are deep, Mr. Robert Canler. I know you better than you think Iknow you. 

"I shall certainly marry you if there is no other way, but let usunderstand each other once and for all. "

While she spoke Robert Canler had alternately flushed and paled, andwhen she ceased speaking he arose, and with a cynical smile upon hisstrong face, said:

"You surprise me, Jane. I thought you had more self-control--morepride. Of course you are right. I am buying you, and I knew that youknew it, but I thought you would prefer to pretend that it wasotherwise. I should have thought your self respect and your Porterpride would have shrunk from admitting, even to yourself, that you werea bought woman. But have it your own way, dear girl, " he addedlightly. "I am going to have you, and that is all that interests me. "

Without a word the girl turned and left the room. 

Jane was not married before she left with her father and Esmeralda forher little Wisconsin farm, and as she coldly bid Robert Canler goodbyas her train pulled out, he called to her that he would join them in aweek or two. 

At their destination they were met by Clayton and Mr. Philander in ahuge touring car belonging to the former, and quickly whirled awaythrough the dense northern woods toward the little farm which the girlhad not visited before since childhood. 

The farmhouse, which stood on a little elevation some hundred yardsfrom the tenant house, had undergone a complete transformation duringthe three weeks that Clayton and Mr. Philander had been there. 

The former had imported a small army of carpenters and plasterers, plumbers and painters from a distant city, and what had been but adilapidated shell when they reached it was now a cosy little two-storyhouse filled with every modern convenience procurable in so short atime. 

"Why, Mr. Clayton, what have you done?" cried Jane Porter, her heartsinking within her as she realized the probable size of the expenditurethat had been made. 

"S-sh, " cautioned Clayton. "Don't let your father guess. If you don'ttell him he will never notice, and I simply couldn't think of himliving in the terrible squalor and sordidness which Mr. Philander and Ifound. It was so little when I would like to do so much, Jane. Forhis sake, please, never mention it. "

"But you know that we can't repay you, " cried the girl. "Why do youwant to put me under such terrible obligations?"

"Don't, Jane, " said Clayton sadly. "If it had been just you, believeme, I wouldn't have done it, for I knew from the start that it wouldonly hurt me in your eyes, but I couldn't think of that dear old manliving in the hole we found here. Won't you please believe that I didit just for him and give me that little crumb of pleasure at least?"

"I do believe you, Mr. Clayton, " said the girl, "because I know you arebig enough and generous enough to have done it just for him--and, ohCecil, I wish I might repay you as you deserve--as you would wish. "

"Why can't you, Jane?"

"Because I love another. "

"Canler?"

"No. "

"But you are going to marry him. He told me as much before I leftBaltimore. "

The girl winced. 

"I do not love him, " she said, almost proudly. 

"Is it because of the money, Jane?"

She nodded. 

"Then am I so much less desirable than Canler? I have money enough, and far more, for every need, " he said bitterly. 

"I do not love you, Cecil, " she said, "but I respect you. If I mustdisgrace myself by such a bargain with any man, I prefer that it be oneI already despise. I should loathe the man to whom I sold myselfwithout love, whomsoever he might be. You will be happier, " sheconcluded, "alone--with my respect and friendship, than with me and mycontempt. "

He did not press the matter further, but if ever a man had murder inhis heart it was William Cecil Clayton, Lord Greystoke, when, a weeklater, Robert Canler drew up before the farmhouse in his purring sixcylinder. 

A week passed; a tense, uneventful, but uncomfortable week for all theinmates of the little Wisconsin farmhouse. 

Canler was insistent that Jane marry him at once. 

At length she gave in from sheer loathing of the continued and hatefulimportuning. 

It was agreed that on the morrow Canler was to drive to town and bringback the license and a minister. 

Clayton had wanted to leave as soon as the plan was announced, but thegirl's tired, hopeless look kept him. He could not desert her. 

Something might happen yet, he tried to console himself by thinking. And in his heart, he knew that it would require but a tiny spark toturn his hatred for Canler into the blood lust of the killer. 

Early the next morning Canler set out for town. 

In the east smoke could be seen lying low over the forest, for a firehad been raging for a week not far from them, but the wind still lay inthe west and no danger threatened them. 

About noon Jane started off for a walk. She would not let Claytonaccompany her. She wanted to be alone, she said, and he respected herwishes. 

In the house Professor Porter and Mr. Philander were immersed in anabsorbing discussion of some weighty scientific problem. Esmeraldadozed in the kitchen, and Clayton, heavy-eyed after a sleepless night, threw himself down upon the couch in the living room and soon droppedinto a fitful slumber. 

To the east the black smoke clouds rose higher into the heavens, suddenly they eddied, and then commenced to drift rapidly toward thewest. 

On and on they came. The inmates of the tenant house were gone, for itwas market day, and none was there to see the rapid approach of thefiery demon. 

Soon the flames had spanned the road to the south and cut off Canler'sreturn. A little fluctuation of the wind now carried the path of theforest fire to the north, then blew back and the flames nearly stoodstill as though held in leash by some master hand. 

Suddenly, out of the northeast, a great black car came careening downthe road. 

With a jolt it stopped before the cottage, and a black-haired giantleaped out to run up onto the porch. Without a pause he rushed intothe house. On the couch lay Clayton. The man started in surprise, butwith a bound was at the side of the sleeping man. 

Shaking him roughly by the shoulder, he cried:

"My God, Clayton, are you all mad here? Don't you know you are nearlysurrounded by fire? Where is Miss Porter?"

Clayton sprang to his feet. He did not recognize the man, but heunderstood the words and was upon the veranda in a bound. 

"Scott!" he cried, and then, dashing back into the house, "Jane! Jane!where are you?"

In an instant Esmeralda, Professor Porter and Mr. Philander had joinedthe two men. 

"Where is Miss Jane?" cried Clayton, seizing Esmeralda by the shouldersand shaking her roughly. 

"Oh, Gaberelle, Mister Clayton, she done gone for a walk. "

"Hasn't she come back yet?" and, without waiting for a reply, Claytondashed out into the yard, followed by the others. "Which way did shego?" cried the black-haired giant of Esmeralda. 

"Down that road, " cried the frightened woman, pointing toward the southwhere a mighty wall of roaring flames shut out the view. 

"Put these people in the other car, " shouted the stranger to Clayton. "I saw one as I drove up--and get them out of here by the north road. 

"Leave my car here. If I find Miss Porter we shall need it. If Idon't, no one will need it. Do as I say, " as Clayton hesitated, andthen they saw the lithe figure bound away cross the clearing toward thenorthwest where the forest still stood, untouched by flame. 

In each rose the unaccountable feeling that a great responsibility hadbeen raised from their shoulders; a kind of implicit confidence in thepower of the stranger to save Jane if she could be saved. 

"Who was that?" asked Professor Porter. 

"I do not know, " replied Clayton. "He called me by name and he knewJane, for he asked for her. And he called Esmeralda by name. "

"There was something most startlingly familiar about him, " exclaimedMr. Philander, "And yet, bless me, I know I never saw him before. "

"Tut, tut!" cried Professor Porter. "Most remarkable! Who could ithave been, and why do I feel that Jane is safe, now that he has set outin search of her?"

"I can't tell you, Professor, " said Clayton soberly, "but I know I havethe same uncanny feeling. "

"But come, " he cried, "we must get out of here ourselves, or we shallbe shut off, " and the party hastened toward Clayton's car. 

When Jane turned to retrace her steps homeward, she was alarmed to notehow near the smoke of the forest fire seemed, and as she hastenedonward her alarm became almost a panic when she perceived that therushing flames were rapidly forcing their way between herself and thecottage. 

At length she was compelled to turn into the dense thicket and attemptto force her way to the west in an effort to circle around the flamesand reach the house. 

In a short time the futility of her attempt became apparent and thenher one hope lay in retracing her steps to the road and flying for herlife to the south toward the town. 

The twenty minutes that it took her to regain the road was all that hadbeen needed to cut off her retreat as effectually as her advance hadbeen cut off before. 

A short run down the road brought her to a horrified stand, for therebefore her was another wall of flame. An arm of the main conflagrationhad shot out a half mile south of its parent to embrace this tiny stripof road in its implacable clutches. 

Jane knew that it was useless again to attempt to force her way throughthe undergrowth. 

She had tried it once, and failed. Now she realized that it would bebut a matter of minutes ere the whole space between the north and thesouth would be a seething mass of billowing flames. 

Calmly the girl kneeled down in the dust of the roadway and prayed forstrength to meet her fate bravely, and for the delivery of her fatherand her friends from death. 

Suddenly she heard her name being called aloud through the forest:

"Jane! Jane Porter!" It rang strong and clear, but in a strange voice. 

"Here!" she called in reply. "Here! In the roadway!"

Then through the branches of the trees she saw a figure swinging withthe speed of a squirrel. 

A veering of the wind blew a cloud of smoke about them and she could nolonger see the man who was speeding toward her, but suddenly she felt agreat arm about her. Then she was lifted up, and she felt the rushingof the wind and the occasional brush of a branch as she was borne along. 

She opened her eyes. 

Far below her lay the undergrowth and the hard earth. 

About her was the waving foliage of the forest. 

From tree to tree swung the giant figure which bore her, and it seemedto Jane that she was living over in a dream the experience that hadbeen hers in that far African jungle. 

Oh, if it were but the same man who had borne her so swiftly throughthe tangled verdure on that other day! but that was impossible! Yetwho else in all the world was there with the strength and agility to dowhat this man was now doing?

She stole a sudden glance at the face close to hers, and then she gavea little frightened gasp. It was he!

"My forest man!" she murmured, "No, I must be delerious!"

"Yes, your man, Jane Porter. Your savage, primeval man come out of thejungle to claim his mate--the woman who ran away from him, " he addedalmost fiercely. 

"I did not run away, " she whispered. "I would only consent to leavewhen they had waited a week for you to return. "

They had come to a point beyond the fire now, and he had turned back tothe clearing. 

Side by side they were walking toward the cottage. The wind hadchanged once more and the fire was burning back upon itself--anotherhour like that and it would be burned out. 

"Why did you not return?" she asked. 

"I was nursing D'Arnot. He was badly wounded. "

"Ah, I knew it!" she exclaimed. 

"They said you had gone to join the blacks--that they were your people. "

He laughed. 

"But you did not believe them, Jane?"

"No;--what shall I call you?" she asked. "What is your name?"

"I was Tarzan of the Apes when you first knew me, " he said. 

"Tarzan of the Apes!" she cried--"and that was your note I answeredwhen I left?"

"Yes, whose did you think it was?"

"I did not know; only that it could not be yours, for Tarzan of theApes had written in English, and you could not understand a word of anylanguage. "

Again he laughed. 

"It is a long story, but it was I who wrote what I could not speak--andnow D'Arnot has made matters worse by teaching me to speak Frenchinstead of English. 

"Come, " he added, "jump into my car, we must overtake your father, theyare only a little way ahead. "

As they drove along, he said:

"Then when you said in your note to Tarzan of the Apes that you lovedanother--you might have meant me?"

"I might have, " she answered, simply. 

"But in Baltimore--Oh, how I have searched for you--they told me youwould possibly be married by now. That a man named Canler had come uphere to wed you. Is that true?"

"Yes. "

"Do you love him?"

"No. "

"Do you love me?"

She buried her face in her hands. 

"I am promised to another. I cannot answer you, Tarzan of the Apes, "she cried. 

"You have answered. Now, tell me why you would marry one you do notlove. "

"My father owes him money. "

Suddenly there came back to Tarzan the memory of the letter he hadread--and the name Robert Canler and the hinted trouble which he hadbeen unable to understand then. 

He smiled. 

"If your father had not lost the treasure you would not feel forced tokeep your promise to this man Canler?"

"I could ask him to release me. "

"And if he refused?"

"I have given my promise. "

He was silent for a moment. The car was plunging along the uneven roadat a reckless pace, for the fire showed threateningly at their right, and another change of the wind might sweep it on with raging furyacross this one avenue of escape. 

Finally they passed the danger point, and Tarzan reduced their speed. 

"Suppose I should ask him?" ventured Tarzan. 

"He would scarcely accede to the demand of a stranger, " said the girl. "Especially one who wanted me himself. "

"Terkoz did, " said Tarzan, grimly. 

Jane shuddered and looked fearfully up at the giant figure beside her, for she knew that he meant the great anthropoid he had killed in herdefense. 

"This is not the African jungle, " she said. "You are no longer asavage beast. You are a gentleman, and gentlemen do not kill in coldblood. "

"I am still a wild beast at heart, " he said, in a low voice, as thoughto himself. 

Again they were silent for a time. 

"Jane, " said the man, at length, "if you were free, would you marry me?"

She did not reply at once, but he waited patiently. 

The girl was trying to collect her thoughts. 

What did she know of this strange creature at her side? What did heknow of himself? Who was he? Who, his parents?

Why, his very name echoed his mysterious origin and his savage life. 

He had no name. Could she be happy with this jungle waif? Could shefind anything in common with a husband whose life had been spent in thetree tops of an African wilderness, frolicking and fighting with fierceanthropoids; tearing his food from the quivering flank of fresh-killedprey, sinking his strong teeth into raw flesh, and tearing away hisportion while his mates growled and fought about him for their share?

Could he ever rise to her social sphere? Could she bear to think ofsinking to his? Would either be happy in such a horrible misalliance?

"You do not answer, " he said. "Do you shrink from wounding me?"

"I do not know what answer to make, " said Jane sadly. "I do not knowmy own mind. "

"You do not love me, then?" he asked, in a level tone. 

"Do not ask me. You will be happier without me. You were never meantfor the formal restrictions and conventionalities ofsociety--civilization would become irksome to you, and in a littlewhile you would long for the freedom of your old life--a life to whichI am as totally unfitted as you to mine. "

"I think I understand you, " he replied quietly. "I shall not urge you, for I would rather see you happy than to be happy myself. I see nowthat you could not be happy with--an ape. "

There was just the faintest tinge of bitterness in his voice. 

"Don't, " she remonstrated. "Don't say that. You do not understand. "

But before she could go on a sudden turn in the road brought them intothe midst of a little hamlet. 

Before them stood Clayton's car surrounded by the party he had broughtfrom the cottage. 

Chapter XXVIII

Conclusion

At the sight of Jane, cries of relief and delight broke from every lip, and as Tarzan's car stopped beside the other, Professor Porter caughthis daughter in his arms. 

For a moment no one noticed Tarzan, sitting silently in his seat. 

Clayton was the first to remember, and, turning, held out his hand. 

"How can we ever thank you?" he exclaimed. "You have saved us all. You called me by name at the cottage, but I do not seem to recallyours, though there is something very familiar about you. It is asthough I had known you well under very different conditions a long timeago. "

Tarzan smiled as he took the proffered hand. 

"You are quite right, Monsieur Clayton, " he said, in French. "You willpardon me if I do not speak to you in English. I am just learning it, and while I understand it fairly well I speak it very poorly. "

"But who are you?" insisted Clayton, speaking in French this timehimself. 

"Tarzan of the Apes. "

Clayton started back in surprise. 

"By Jove!" he exclaimed. "It is true. "

And Professor Porter and Mr. Philander pressed forward to add theirthanks to Clayton's, and to voice their surprise and pleasure at seeingtheir jungle friend so far from his savage home. 

The party now entered the modest little hostelry, where Clayton soonmade arrangements for their entertainment. 

They were sitting in the little, stuffy parlor when the distantchugging of an approaching automobile caught their attention. 

Mr. Philander, who was sitting near the window, looked out as the cardrew in sight, finally stopping beside the other automobiles. 

"Bless me!" said Mr. Philander, a shade of annoyance in his tone. "Itis Mr. Canler. I had hoped, er--I had thought or--er--how very happywe should be that he was not caught in the fire, " he ended lamely. 

"Tut, tut! Mr. Philander, " said Professor Porter. "Tut, tut! I haveoften admonished my pupils to count ten before speaking. Were I you, Mr. Philander, I should count at least a thousand, and then maintain adiscreet silence. "

"Bless me, yes!" acquiesced Mr. Philander. "But who is the clericalappearing gentleman with him?"

Jane blanched. 

Clayton moved uneasily in his chair. 

Professor Porter removed his spectacles nervously, and breathed uponthem, but replaced them on his nose without wiping. 

The ubiquitous Esmeralda grunted. 

Only Tarzan did not comprehend. 

Presently Robert Canler burst into the room. 

"Thank God!" he cried. "I feared the worst, until I saw your car, Clayton. I was cut off on the south road and had to go away back totown, and then strike east to this road. I thought we'd never reachthe cottage. "

No one seemed to enthuse much. Tarzan eyed Robert Canler as Sabor eyesher prey. 

Jane glanced at him and coughed nervously. 

"Mr. Canler, " she said, "this is Monsieur Tarzan, an old friend. "

Canler turned and extended his hand. Tarzan rose and bowed as onlyD'Arnot could have taught a gentleman to do it, but he did not seem tosee Canler's hand. 

Nor did Canler appear to notice the oversight. 

"This is the Reverend Mr. Tousley, Jane, " said Canler, turning to theclerical party behind him. "Mr. Tousley, Miss Porter. "

Mr. Tousley bowed and beamed. 

Canler introduced him to the others. 

"We can have the ceremony at once, Jane, " said Canler. "Then you and Ican catch the midnight train in town. "

Tarzan understood the plan instantly. He glanced out of half-closedeyes at Jane, but he did not move. 

The girl hesitated. The room was tense with the silence of taut nerves. 

All eyes turned toward Jane, awaiting her reply. 

"Can't we wait a few days?" she asked. "I am all unstrung. I havebeen through so much today. "

Canler felt the hostility that emanated from each member of the party. It made him angry. 

"We have waited as long as I intend to wait, " he said roughly. "Youhave promised to marry me. I shall be played with no longer. I havethe license and here is the preacher. Come Mr. Tousley; come Jane. There are plenty of witnesses--more than enough, " he added with adisagreeable inflection; and taking Jane Porter by the arm, he startedto lead her toward the waiting minister. 

But scarcely had he taken a single step ere a heavy hand closed uponhis arm with a grip of steel. 

Another hand shot to his throat and in a moment he was being shakenhigh above the floor, as a cat might shake a mouse. 

Jane turned in horrified surprise toward Tarzan. 

And, as she looked into his face, she saw the crimson band upon hisforehead that she had seen that other day in far distant Africa, whenTarzan of the Apes had closed in mortal combat with the greatanthropoid--Terkoz. 

She knew that murder lay in that savage heart, and with a little cry ofhorror she sprang forward to plead with the ape-man. But her fears were more for Tarzan than for Canler. Sherealized the stern retribution which justice metes to the murderer. 

Before she could reach them, however, Clayton had jumped to Tarzan'sside and attempted to drag Canler from his grasp. 

With a single sweep of one mighty arm the Englishman was hurled acrossthe room, and then Jane laid a firm white hand upon Tarzan's wrist, andlooked up into his eyes. 

"For my sake, " she said. 

The grasp upon Canler's throat relaxed. 

Tarzan looked down into the beautiful face before him. 

"Do you wish this to live?" he asked in surprise. 

"I do not wish him to die at your hands, my friend, " she replied. "Ido not wish you to become a murderer. "

Tarzan removed his hand from Canler's throat. 

"Do you release her from her promise?" he asked. "It is the price ofyour life. "

Canler, gasping for breath, nodded. 

"Will you go away and never molest her further?"

Again the man nodded his head, his face distorted by fear of the deaththat had been so close. 

Tarzan released him, and Canler staggered toward the door. In anothermoment he was gone, and the terror-stricken preacher with him. 

Tarzan turned toward Jane. 

"May I speak with you for a moment, alone, " he asked. 

The girl nodded and started toward the door leading to the narrowveranda of the little hotel. She passed out to await Tarzan and so didnot hear the conversation which followed. 

"Wait, " cried Professor Porter, as Tarzan was about to follow. 

The professor had been stricken dumb with surprise by the rapiddevelopments of the past few minutes. 

"Before we go further, sir, I should like an explanation of the eventswhich have just transpired. By what right, sir, did you interferebetween my daughter and Mr. Canler? I had promised him her hand, sir, and regardless of our personal likes or dislikes, sir, that promisemust be kept. "

"I interfered, Professor Porter, " replied Tarzan, "because yourdaughter does not love Mr. Canler--she does not wish to marry him. That is enough for me to know. "

"You do not know what you have done, " said Professor Porter. "Now hewill doubtless refuse to marry her. "

"He most certainly will, " said Tarzan, emphatically. 

"And further, " added Tarzan, "you need not fear that your pride willsuffer, Professor Porter, for you will be able to pay the Canler personwhat you owe him the moment you reach home. "

"Tut, tut, sir!" exclaimed Professor Porter. "What do you mean, sir?"

"Your treasure has been found, " said Tarzan. 

"What--what is that you are saying?" cried the professor. "You aremad, man. It cannot be. "

"It is, though. It was I who stole it, not knowing either its value orto whom it belonged. I saw the sailors bury it, and, ape-like, I hadto dig it up and bury it again elsewhere. When D'Arnot told me what itwas and what it meant to you I returned to the jungle and recovered it. It had caused so much crime and suffering and sorrow that D'Arnotthought it best not to attempt to bring the treasure itself on here, ashad been my intention, so I have brought a letter of credit instead. 

"Here it is, Professor Porter, " and Tarzan drew an envelope from hispocket and handed it to the astonished professor, "two hundred andforty-one thousand dollars. The treasure was most carefully appraisedby experts, but lest there should be any question in your mind, D'Arnothimself bought it and is holding it for you, should you prefer thetreasure to the credit. "

"To the already great burden of the obligations we owe you, sir, " saidProfessor Porter, with trembling voice, "is now added this greatest ofall services. You have given me the means to save my honor. "

Clayton, who had left the room a moment after Canler, now returned. 

"Pardon me, " he said. "I think we had better try to reach town beforedark and take the first train out of this forest. A native just rodeby from the north, who reports that the fire is moving slowly in thisdirection. "

This announcement broke up further conversation, and the entire partywent out to the waiting automobiles. 

Clayton, with Jane, the professor and Esmeralda occupied Clayton's car, while Tarzan took Mr. Philander in with him. 

"Bless me!" exclaimed Mr. Philander, as the car moved off afterClayton. "Who would ever have thought it possible! The last time Isaw you you were a veritable wild man, skipping about among thebranches of a tropical African forest, and now you are driving me alonga Wisconsin road in a French automobile. Bless me! But it is mostremarkable. "

"Yes, " assented Tarzan, and then, after a pause, "Mr. Philander, do yourecall any of the details of the finding and burying of three skeletonsfound in my cabin beside that African jungle?"

"Very distinctly, sir, very distinctly, " replied Mr. Philander. 

"Was there anything peculiar about any of those skeletons?"

Mr. Philander eyed Tarzan narrowly. 

"Why do you ask?"

"It means a great deal to me to know, " replied Tarzan. "Your answermay clear up a mystery. It can do no worse, at any rate, than to leaveit still a mystery. I have been entertaining a theory concerning thoseskeletons for the past two months, and I want you to answer my questionto the best of your knowledge--were the three skeletons you buried allhuman skeletons?"

"No, " said Mr. Philander, "the smallest one, the one found in the crib, was the skeleton of an anthropoid ape. "

"Thank you, " said Tarzan. 

In the car ahead, Jane was thinking fast and furiously. She had feltthe purpose for which Tarzan had asked a few words with her, and sheknew that she must be prepared to give him an answer in the very nearfuture. 

He was not the sort of person one could put off, and somehow that verythought made her wonder if she did not really fear him. 

And could she love where she feared?

She realized the spell that had been upon her in the depths of thatfar-off jungle, but there was no spell of enchantment now in prosaicWisconsin. 

Nor did the immaculate young Frenchman appeal to the primal woman inher, as had the stalwart forest god. 

Did she love him? She did not know--now. 

She glanced at Clayton out of the corner of her eye. Was not here aman trained in the same school of environment in which she had beentrained--a man with social position and culture such as she had beentaught to consider as the prime essentials to congenial association?

Did not her best judgment point to this young English nobleman, whoselove she knew to be of the sort a civilized woman should crave, as thelogical mate for such as herself?

Could she love Clayton? She could see no reason why she could not. Jane was not coldly calculating by nature, but training, environmentand heredity had all combined to teach her to reason even in matters ofthe heart. 

That she had been carried off her feet by the strength of the younggiant when his great arms were about her in the distant African forest, and again today, in the Wisconsin woods, seemed to her onlyattributable to a temporary mental reversion to type on her part--tothe psychological appeal of the primeval man to the primeval woman inher nature. 

If he should never touch her again, she reasoned, she would never feelattracted toward him. She had not loved him, then. It had beennothing more than a passing hallucination, super-induced by excitementand by personal contact. 

Excitement would not always mark their future relations, should shemarry him, and the power of personal contact eventually would be dulledby familiarity. 

Again she glanced at Clayton. He was very handsome and every inch agentleman. She should be very proud of such a husband. 

And then he spoke--a minute sooner or a minute later might have madeall the difference in the world to three lives--but chance stepped inand pointed out to Clayton the psychological moment. 

"You are free now, Jane, " he said. "Won't you say yes--I will devotemy life to making you very happy. "

"Yes, " she whispered. 

That evening in the little waiting room at the station Tarzan caughtJane alone for a moment. 

"You are free now, Jane, " he said, "and _I_ have come across the agesout of the dim and distant past from the lair of the primeval man toclaim you--for your sake I have become a civilized man--for your sake Ihave crossed oceans and continents--for your sake I will be whateveryou will me to be. I can make you happy, Jane, in the life you knowand love best. Will you marry me?"

For the first time she realized the depths of the man's love--all thathe had accomplished in so short a time solely for love of her. Turningher head she buried her face in her arms. 

What had she done? Because she had been afraid she might succumb tothe pleas of this giant, she had burned her bridges behind her--in hergroundless apprehension that she might make a terrible mistake, she hadmade a worse one. 

And then she told him all--told him the truth word by word, withoutattempting to shield herself or condone her error. 

"What can we do?" he asked. "You have admitted that you love me. Youknow that I love you; but I do not know the ethics of society by whichyou are governed. I shall leave the decision to you, for you know bestwhat will be for your eventual welfare. "

"I cannot tell him, Tarzan, " she said. "He too, loves me, and he is agood man. I could never face you nor any other honest person if Irepudiated my promise to Mr. Clayton. I shall have to keep it--and youmust help me bear the burden, though we may not see each other againafter tonight. "

The others were entering the room now and Tarzan turned toward thelittle window. 

But he saw nothing outside--within he saw a patch of greenswardsurrounded by a matted mass of gorgeous tropical plants and flowers, and, above, the waving foliage of mighty trees, and, over all, the blueof an equatorial sky. 

In the center of the greensward a young woman sat upon a little moundof earth, and beside her sat a young giant. They ate pleasant fruitand looked into each other's eyes and smiled. They were very happy, and they were all alone. 

His thoughts were broken in upon by the station agent who enteredasking if there was a gentleman by the name of Tarzan in the party. 

"I am Monsieur Tarzan, " said the ape-man. 

"Here is a message for you, forwarded from Baltimore; it is a cablegramfrom Paris. "

Tarzan took the envelope and tore it open. The message was fromD'Arnot. 

It read:

Fingerprints prove you Greystoke. Congratulations. D'ARNOT. 

As Tarzan finished reading, Clayton entered and came toward him withextended hand. 

Here was the man who had Tarzan's title, and Tarzan's estates, and wasgoing to marry the woman whom Tarzan loved--the woman who loved Tarzan. A single word from Tarzan would make a great difference in this man'slife. 

It would take away his title and his lands and his castles, and--itwould take them away from Jane Porter also. "I say, old man, " criedClayton, "I haven't had a chance to thank you for all you've done forus. It seems as though you had your hands full saving our lives inAfrica and here. 

"I'm awfully glad you came on here. We must get better acquainted. Ioften thought about you, you know, and the remarkable circumstances ofyour environment. 

"If it's any of my business, how the devil did you ever get into thatbally jungle?"

"I was born there, " said Tarzan, quietly. "My mother was an Ape, andof course she couldn't tell me much about it. I never knew who myfather was. "

 FOR THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF LORD GREYSTOKE READ THE RETURN OF TARZAN